Archive for ‘life’

May 21st, 2013

for the love

 together

I know it’s almost cliche, but they grow up too fast!

Miss Lilly

Five things I’m loving about Lilly:

  1. She’s *almost* walking! She stands up and takes several steps a day, any day now she’ll just keep going and we’ll have another TODDLER.
  2. How she’s growing and blossoming all at once. Lilly interacts with us in a whole new way now; grabbing our hands to make us do something, raising cups to my lips to make me drink, holding my phone by my head and using the buttons, etc. If her hairbow falls out of her hair, she picks it up and tries to put it back in her hair. When she wants a kiss, she moves my face to give me one. Lilly makes the most hilarious facial expressions; we always know how she feels.
  3. The way she plays with my hair and wraps her arm around my neck when she eats. Lilly is so cuddly! She loves to rub soft blankets next to her face and give be hugs to stuffed animals. She likes to pull the throw pillows off the couch and on them on the floor.
  4. When she initiates a game of “peek-a-boo” with me. It’s so stinking cute!
  5. The way she gets excited to see David after a long separation (like an hour long nap). A few nights ago, Lilly crawled over to David and leaned in and gave him a big wet kiss. Pretty much the sweetest moment to ever happen.

 Mr D

Five things I’m loving about David:

  1. His talking! Seriously, he’s off the charts with his vocabulary, problem solving, memory, etc. It’s just nuts. I love that I can just talk to him–so much so that I often have to remind myself that he’s still only two and not much older. A couple weeks ago I found a ceramic decorative bird at TJ Maxx. David quickly adopted it, named it “Hypothesis,” and carried it around with him for the following week.
  2. David has been singing like crazy lately. And dancing. And drumming. And making instruments (he lined up some colored pencils and pretended they made a xylophone). His favorite songs are the alphabet, Twinkle Twinkle, I Am a Child of God, and “Dinosaur Train” (really, just the words Dinosaur and train sung over and over again while he bounces his foot like a mini Elvis).
  3. His sweetness. David is the sweetest kid there ever was. Since he was born, it’s usually the first or second thing people say about him–that he’s sweet (and then a comment on his blue eyes). Today while Lilly was napping, David and I just cuddled under a blanket and giggled and played.
  4. He goes to the bathroom completely on his own! He won’t even tell me he needs to go or make me come with him, he just gets up and goes into the bathroom. It’s SO nice to have him be independent. We still have to remind him sometimes, but for a majority of the day he goes all on his own.
  5. David is so helpful! He’ll bring me diapers for Lilly, throw things away, get his shoes, etc. By the end of the summer, I’m hoping he does shoes and the buckles on his car seat all on his own. We’re almost there with shoes already (or we were until I got him new ones).

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March 3rd, 2013

ten things going on now

one Lilly is pulling herself up to stand pretty much everywhere these days. Her favorite perch is the toilet.

 

two I’ve been hoarding pictures on my phone. I NEED to post some. I have over 1,000 pictures on my phone and 55 videos. Lots of cute things happen, are photographed and that’s all the farther I get. Shame on me.

 

three Lilly is growing her first TWO teeth. I’m so excited about it! No really, I am. For a while I was starting to wonder if she’d still be toothless at her senior prom.

 

four David is a talking MACHINE. It’s constant. His funny thing this week: There is a baby Elmo illustration on the diaper box we recently got. David keeps telling me that it’s a “mammal wearing glasses.” I get such a kick out of it. Oh, and a week or so ago I was telling him about something I was working on, and he walks over to me and puts his hands on my cheeks and says, “Mommy, what are you talking about?”

 

five Up until this week, I’ve been a sewing machine. I need to post about my projects. I estimate that I completed over 20 projects in 2012, and I’m well on my way to surpassing that for 2013 (8 completed, and many more I’m eager to do).

 

six David is our junior paleontologist. He is obsessed with dinosaurs. He knows their names, what they eat, etc. As a result, I’ve been learning a lot too.

 

seven Lilly will lean on empty boxes and the legs of her high chair to walk for short periods of time.

 

eight David sings the alphabet all the way through all by himself. I’m not even going to beat around the bush: I’m super proud.

 

nine Going on right this second: Lilly really needs a nap.

 

ten Things developed kind of quickly and unexpectedly, but we find ourselves moving to a townhouse April 5. That’s 33 days away (I asked the internet). We’re really excited and I’ll write much more on it later.

I’ll leave you with one of the pictures I’ve been hoarding. Okay, two.

 

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January 25th, 2013

tidbits

Some of the little moments that make me smile.

The week before Christmas I was in the kitchen doing dishes while David and Lilly ‘played’ in the front room. Lilly started fussing out of tiredness and boredom, so David went over and laid down by her. Soon I was overhearing him explain to her that monsters and dinosaurs are only on TV (a similar explanation that I gave David not too long ago …). I thought it was sweet and funny that he thought she was crying because she was scared of monsters.

One night while getting ready for bed David was throwing a mega fit because we told him he couldn’t read more books because it was time for bed. I went in his room and pulled him onto my lap, and explained that he was crying because his body was saying he was tired and needed to go to sleep. We talked about it for a little bit, and then he suddenly sits up and thinks for a minute. Then he tells me with his little finger in front of his face, “My body says I need to read ONE more book!” Well played, buddy. Well played.

David found a box of “Mom’s” granola bars and really wanted one, it was lunchtime so I told him if he was hungry we needed to go make lunch. He asked for “one Mom’s ‘nola bars?” and I again told him that he couldn’t have “one” of Mom’s granola bars because we were going to eat lunch. He beamed at me and said, “Okay, TWO Mom’s ‘nola bars?” He does the same thing with books and movies, etc; ask for “one” more, when we say no, he’ll ask for TWO more. Silly kid.

David has learned the word “yet” but doesn’t use it right. One of his favorite uses: “It’s too late to go to bed yet!”

[Side note: One of our neighbors is singing at the TOP of his lungs. I can't tell where it's coming from ... it's very distracting ...]

David has started kissing his own boo-boos better. It’s pretty cute, people.

When David helps us say prayers, he’s started to throw his own things in too. Soon he’ll be saying prayers without any prompts at all. He likes to be thankful for Lilly, trains, “cereal time,” and outside.

I LOVE that they love each other.

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November 30th, 2012

being grateful

I couldn’t let another November go by without a post (you know, like last year …). I’ve been super preoccupied with projects and holidays and more projects and preparing for more holidays that blogging has been on my farthest-back burner.

In a nutshell my feelings this November:

Grateful. Grateful for two beautiful, happy, healthy, darling, nearly-perfect children. Grateful for a loving, helpful, supportive, hard-working husband. Grateful for families. Grateful for holidays and the magic they bring. Grateful for parents. Grateful for every day. I’m just grateful.

On a completely unrelated note, my very first blog post was about a box of Twinkies. I haven’t had a Twinkie in ages, but I am more than a little bummed about the Hostess fiasco. Oh well, we need to eat more salad anyway.

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October 11th, 2012

the 411 on potty training

Disclaimer: I’m not an expert and I’m not claiming to be one. I’ve never potty trained a child before, I’m just writing down what we’ve done and what we’re having success with on this new adventure so I can remember for next time. I won’t make any wild promises to others who read this; this is simply what I’ve done for those who are curious and have questions.

I read a few blog posts found via Pinterest about “potty training a child in one day.” While these posts contained helpful tips and advice, I ultimately decided that this wasn’t the right choice for David and me. I think trying to make a toddler make all the connections needed for potty training success in one day is a bit extreme, and you’re both just going to get burned out and frustrated by the end of the day. My method is slow and steady.

I approached potty training in three phases. Phase One: creating interest, Phase Two: active training, Phase Three: reinforcement.

Phase One

After David started showing a lot of the signs of being ready to be potty trained (telling me when his diaper was wet/poopy, becoming regular, etc), I started flushing his poop in the toilet. My hope with this was to show him what we use the toilet for and help get him excited and interested. We’d run to the bathroom and I’d dump his poop in the toilet and have him flush it. If he flushed his poop in the toilet he got an M&M candy. We did this for a couple weeks while we waited to see other signs of him being ready (staying dry for a couple hours at a time, including naps, etc). During this same time I made a big deal whenever I needed to go to the bathroom: “Mommy has use the toilet!” and run off to the bathroom. If he came into the bathroom while I was going, I’d tell him that Mommy uses the toilet because Mommy doesn’t wear diapers.

I took him to the store and helped him pick out a potty seat that sits on top of the regular toilet seat.* For an entire month I had him sit on the toilet once a day. I just had him sit; no expectation or pressure for him to go. At first he was a little timid and didn’t want to sit there. I’d smile and encourage him and tell him what a big boy he was. I’d have him sit for one song (Twinkle Twinkle, Popcorn Popping, etc) and then help him down telling him how proud I was of him for sitting on the toilet. Every time he sat on the toilet he got a smiley face sticker and an M&M.

By the end of the month, sitting on the toilet wasn’t scary for him anymore. I took him to the store and he picked out ‘big boy’ underwear. With some encouragement and the help of increased fluids and sitting longer than usual on the toilet, David went potty in the toilet. I made a HUGE deal about it and we called important people to tell them the big news (Daddy, Nana and Papa, etc). For going potty on the toilet he got a Cars sticker and a couple M&Ms. I encouraged him to try again the next day with success.

Phase Two

Since we have Lilly who needs attention too, I didn’t want to actively potty train David until there was a down week when there wasn’t a lot going on and I didn’t have to be anywhere and when I could get Matt’s help the first couple of days. For us, this time was immediately after his initial success of going potty in the toilet. Success is motivating, for both parent and child, so we were all excited to start.

After David got up in the morning we changed his diaper and put him in a pair of his ‘big boy’ underwear and explained that he’s a big boy and doesn’t wear diapers anymore and needs to go to potty in the toilet. I increased his fluids (gave him some Gatorade in his sippy) to increase our chances of having more success right off the bat to keep him motivated. I had him play with his toys on a cheap plastic tablecloth (in case of an accident so it wasn’t on our carpet). The first morning we had a few accidents in a row, naturally. He’d get wet and look at us concerned and we’d run him to the bathroom and sit him on the toilet. If he went, he got a Car sticker and M&Ms. After lunch we didn’t have any accidents until the evening when he got tired, Matt left, and I had to feed Lilly.

On day two he had one tiny leak in the morning before running to the bathroom and another accident in the evening. Seeing the pattern, on the third day I made sure he was on the toilet during the times he had accidents previous days: success, no accidents.

The key is to stay overly excited and encouraging and to go “try” when you think they need to go. I don’t always wait for David to tell me when he needs to go; in the afternoon he likes to play with his toys and “hold” it for as long as he possibly can. When it’s been a while since he’s gone and I can tell he’s starting to get uncomfortable, I have him sit on the toilet and sing songs until he goes. For some kids, distraction helps them relax and go. For David, he does better when I leave the bathroom briefly to get a drink, check on Lilly, etc. When David was listening, I’d tell Lilly what a big boy David was being and tell her that David didn’t wear diapers anymore. It seems silly, but it really helped David stay proud of himself.

Right before bed, we put David in a diaper. I didn’t want to buy pull-ups when we still had a few diapers left. In the five mornings we’ve been potty training, David has woken up dry three so I think in another week we may not even need diapers.

Phase Three

(We’re currently in this phase.) After several days of little or no accidents, he got a little less interested and started getting lazy. We busted out sparkly Cars stickers, stayed excited, and had him make more phone calls to share his success. After several accident-free days, it’s time to make some short outings to practice being away from home and build confidence. We got a foldable potty seat to use in public restrooms to make them less scary. I’ll let you know how it goes.

* The decision to use a potty seat that goes on a regular toilet instead of a toddler-size potty was personal preference (space saving) and in hopes of him not being timid of public restrooms when we leave home. 

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October 6th, 2012

LillyLillyLilly

That’s how David often greets Lilly: “LillyLillyLilly.” (As he climbs on top of her to smother her. I mean, ‘hug’ her.) It’s caught on, I find myself calling her that more and more. We also call her Lils, Lilly Billy, and Lilly Bean. And Cute, because she’s cute.

People ask how David likes having a baby sister. He still crazy loves her. She’s starting to like him, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lilly sitting alone on the couch being cute with her hands.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David finds her. Man, I love her facial expressions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David pulling her off the couch by her ankles.

 

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September 26th, 2012

chitter chatter

I have several posts that need posting, but I wanted to write down some funny things David’s been up to lately before I forget them.

When David holds up his toy camera, he says, “Cheese stick!” Some people say, “Say cheese!” when they take pictures, he’s just adapted it to something he understands better.

Instead of saying, “No, thank you,” David says, “No, please.”

On Matt’s birthday, he walked around saying, “Happy day! Happy day, Daddy!” Instead of, “Happy birthday, Daddy!”

His favorite phrases include:

  • “What’s that noise, Mommy?”
  • “Who’s that?” He assumes I know everyone, everywhere.
  • “What’s that?”
Since we’re always holding things up and asking him questions about it (“What color is the car?” etc), now David will make noises and then ask, “What’s that?” wanting us to guess what animal/truck/airplane/train sound he was making. It’s a pretty fun game.

Any time David talks on his toy phone (or anything he pretends is a phone), he talks to Sir Topham Hatt (from the Thomas the Tank Engine stories). Their conversations consist of “Yes sir,” “Okay sir,” “Bye sir,” and “Amen, sir.”

He’s pretty good at joining our adult conversations by chipping in at appropriate times with, “Oh, right,” or “I see,” or “Exactly,” or “Uh huh.”

Some of his books he can “read” now because he has each page memorized; or sing along to the songs they play.

He knows most shapes and colors now and is pretty obsessed with triangles; he sees triangles everywhere we go and points them out to me. His favorite breakfast is “triangle toast” (a slice of toast cut diagonally).

I was telling David that his shirt said, “I love my Papa.” He scoffed at me and said, “No, I love Mommy!” He said it in the sweetest way. He loves Papa, too and talks about him EVERY day since Nana and Papa visited after Lilly’s birth. Every day, multiple times. Every day for  almost three months I’ve heard, “Nana Papa go in black car.”

When David starts getting bored in the car, we sing “The Wheels on the Bus.” When he sings at home, every song has a very enthusiastic, “All through the town!” We were babysitting Lindsy’s six-month-old son, Klev, a few days ago, and when Klev would get fussy, David would go over and talk to him; ask him, “What are you doing, Klev?” A few times David went over and started singing the alphabet to him. David’s alphabet went a lot like, “ABC … truck … monkeys … H … Q … airplane … XYZ … Next … All through the town!!”

David has started really playing; his imagination bloomed overnight and now everything explodes (no idea where he got that), is an airplane, talks, etc. He’s also really friendly right now. David often says goodbye to trucks in the parking lot (or calls out very dramatically, “Nooo! Come back truck, come back!”). When he sees an airplane flying outside, he reaches up and pretends to grab it from the sky. He thinks every bug is a ladybug and has conversations with them, “How are you doing, ladybug?” “Sorry, ladybug.”

When he trips, he’ll immediately call out, “Fine!” before I can ask.

If Matt or I kneel on the floor David will run up behind us and wrap his arms around our necks and ask for a ride. He calls them “camel rides.” I think it’s hilarious that they’re not horsey rides.

And some pictures he took of us:

 

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September 16th, 2012

man of the hour

I honestly feel sorry for all the other wives on the planet: there’s no way their husbands are as great as mine. No really, I’m serious.

Here’s proof.

  • Since David was born (so about two years now), Matt has made breakfast 70% of the time. I cannot tell you how many times I wake up to a warm breakfast waiting for me. At least three times a week.
  • Matt lets me sleep in as much as he can. He takes the morning shift with David while I catch some extra zzzs.
  • He gets up with David at night just as much as I do (if Lilly got up for more than a snack, he’d probably get up with her too; I know, it’s backwards).
  • Matt does the majority of David’s bedtime routine.
  • He frequently asks, “What can I do to help?” in a way that doesn’t imply he thinks I’m a failure at being a housewife.
  • He’s not addicted to video games. Apparently that’s an epidemic destroying marriages in our age group.
  • I’m positive that if I asked him right this second to rub my feet, he would. Not only would he do it, but he’d do it without making a face or grunting or sighing or anything. He might even smile.
  • He lets me do whatever I want. He claims that’s because I never want to do anything ridiculous …
  • Matt handles all things car and technology related. I’m grateful for this. I have no idea how anyone else manages to survive in this world without an in-house IT expert.
  • He knows A LOT (or maybe I don’t know much so I think he knows a lot …). I am always asking him random questions and he almost always has an answer.
  • He spoils me (if that wasn’t obvious from the rest of the list).
  • If I so much as hint about wanting to do something, he bends over backwards to try and make it happen. He goes above and beyond being “supportive.”
  • He has no problem dropping what he’s doing to help me (or come to my rescue). He recently stayed home from work for two days in a row while I was on my deathbed with a mastitis infection (I really was that miserable). If you know Matt, it’s a big deal, he doesn’t miss many days of work–including most holidays. He likes me that much.
  • He gave me a diamond necklace for our recent five year wedding anniversary. I mean, really.
  • He’s always leaving me nice notes or sending me texts/emails telling me he loves me.

I could go on and on for days, but I won’t. You get the picture: Matt’s the best.

He just came out of our room in his “pajamas” and asked, “Do you remember if we have a crowbar?” And put a hammer in my purse. I think I should go …

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July 26th, 2012

one month

I realized yesterday that I’ve only written one post about Lilly. I’m so sorry.

Lillian is already a month old. Yikes that was fast.

 

Lilly continues to be a wonderful baby, and we’re all so in love with her.

Two things:

  • She eats and sleeps like a champ, by newborn standards. We’ve had a couple long nights, just to remind us how good we have it the rest of the time. Seriously, David typically gets up more than she does at night.
  • Lilly is strong. She holds her head up for long periods of time and tries to push up on her arms during tummy time. Oh, and she ROLLS over and scoots herself all over her crib. I almost never find her where I left her.

David still loves her to pieces. We have to watch him closely because he doesn’t always know when he’s being too rough or that he can’t carry her. I can never leave him alone with her, because he tries to carry her off or feed her or push her in her swing (with such enthusiasm it might as well be an amusement park ride).

I let him help me burp her and change her diaper. When she cries when I’m getting clothes, diapers, putting something away, etc, David will stand next to her and say, “Shhh, mommy coming, mommy coming.” It’s the sweetest thing. He tries to share his toys and play ‘catch’ with her (that never ends well).

This is what happens when I do leave them alone, even for a minute: Lilly sleeping and hanging half off the couch because David tried to take her somewhere.

 

Here is David trying to “play” with Lilly. He doesn’t know she can’t breathe. I was actually trying to just take a picture of her with her headband, and right when I took the picture he decided to pinch her nose.

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July 4th, 2012

my mother’s daughter

I grew up listening to stories of my brother being born before my mom could even change into a hospital gown, and my mom going from nothing to delivering my sister in 27 minutes.

I should have been more prepared.

Lilly was born about 35 minutes after we parked in the hospital parking lot, and 10(ish) minutes after my water broke. If you want the short version of what happens when you deliver that fast, here it is: no delivery room, no epidural, no doctor, one push.

The long version, for the curious few:

Around 9:30 Sunday night my contractions were 40 seconds long and 2-3 minutes apart, so I decided we’d wait an hour and then go to the hospital. I was painstakingly waiting for the ‘one-minute long, 3-5 minutes apart for an hour’ contractions they tell you to. I was also annoyingly paranoid of being one of those women who show up at the hospital ‘in labor’ and get sent home, so I kept waiting.

Feel free to laugh at me.

At 10:40, we called the babysitter (my sister). At this point, my contractions were uncomfortable, but still manageable. I didn’t feel like it was urgent that we get to the hospital. During our brief drive to the hospital, I looked at the clock at 11:16 and joked with Matt that unless she was born in 45 minutes, she’d be born on June 25th. It wasn’t so funny later. I also made a comment about how I didn’t think I was more than 3 centimeters dilated.

Feel free to laugh at me again (I was off by 5-6 centimeters).

We get to the hospital, the slowest nurse on duty eventually comes with a wheelchair, we go into a generic exam room to change into a hospital gown, and answer dozens of questions I felt could have been asked at a different time. After about 20 minutes of questions and waiting for the nurse to do something, I started jokingly asking about an epidural (I wasn’t really joking, I was just trying to be pleasant. I should have been like those screaming women in the movies).

Shortly after me ‘joking’ about an epidural and the nurse telling me that she was ‘almost done’ asking me questions and then she’d get us moved to a delivery room and check to see how far along I was, my water broke (it was about 11:50). That’s when I knew we weren’t leaving the exam room. The nurse finally checked to see how progressed I was and declared, “holy crap girl, you’re nine and a half centimeters” and left the room mumbling something about my epidural under her breath. She came back with a wheelchair and said that they were going to try to move me to a delivery room. She came to help me get into the wheelchair, but soon left the room swearing. With the wheelchair. (No one told me this then, but apparently they could all see Lilly’s head.)

It’s a sad moment when you realize you’re giving birth without so much as a cough drop for pain. And yes, at this point I was in considerable pain. I don’t have the words to describe it, and you probably don’t want me to anyway. I’ll admit that I was no longer trying to be pleasant, no longer just sitting in silence through contractions, and my arms hurt for two days after because of how hard I was gripping the side of the bed (and Matt). Eventually I resorted to biting the sleeve of Matt’s shirt and squeezing the life out of anything I could get ahold of.

The next 10 minutes were spent in frantic insanity. Nurses were RUNNING in and out with supplies to deliver a baby (this room had only a bed, sink, and computer for asking questions), my doctor was finally called (he didn’t make it in time), I was yelled at not to push. Suddenly I was told, “push for the shoulders” and Lilly was born at exactly midnight.

It’s hard to convey in written form just how fast it all happened; it went FAST.

My ‘recovery’ has been great. Aside from the painkillers they finally gave me almost 2 hours after giving birth, I only asked for 2 ibuprofen for a nurse-induced headache a day or so later. The hospital has a big jacuzzi tub in the maternity wing that I could use literally whenever I wanted, and that my friends is how you spend your nights at a hospital: in a big jacuzzi with water as hot as you can stand it and jets blowing full-blast.

Lilly is absolutely worth it. She’s seriously the BEST baby. I’ve been ‘on my own’ for the last few days, and so far having two kids is completely underwhelming. I’ve honestly been a little bored. I’ve cleaned the bathrooms, reorganized the pantry, cleaned out the fridge, made bread, did all the laundry, played with David, and napped.

If you’re not sick, feel free to visit.

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