Mrs. Ca

Dubious Superpowers and Two Other Fun Things

2012-02-08T13:41:00.000-05:00

1. I'm convinced that everybody has a superpower of some sort. I have two, but they're not the best superpowers to have. They are always chosing the seat at a table that is right in front of the table leg (I often come away from conferences/meetings and formal events with a bruised shin) and the ability to travel down any road that the pothole filling truck has just visited. My car suffers greatly from that second one - I'm always having to take it through the carwash to rinse off the tar and rocks.

2. Sophie has started saying hi, and it's adorable. It's especially adorable because she likes to walk around the house and say hi every time she enters a room, occupied or not. Since our house is arranged in a loop, she walks around in circles saying hi repeatedly, while waving and smiling. I love having little kids for reasons like this one.

3. Aaron has been training for a 10K, which takes place in one of my very favorite places on earth (Traverse City, MI) on Memorial Day weekend. This is a pretty big race, so hotels have, of course, raised their rates for that weekend accordingly. We've stayed at a couple bed and breakfasts up there, and with the hotel rates being even higher than the B&B rates, we booked a room at our favorite for the weekend. This is also a weekend that is proceeded by me attending a meeting in New Orleans during the early part of the week. Gabbie turns four (!!!) that Friday, and then we have the following Monday off work. This is shaping up to be the best week ever, for serious.

Two? Three?

2012-02-06T10:33:00.004-05:00

Ever since Sophie hit the one year mark, and started being more toddler than baby, Aaron and I have been having "the talk." The "are we good with two" talk. As we put away baby toys, and baby gear that she has outgrown (or set it aside for my brother's baby due this summer), we are experiencing all sorts of feelings and thoughts. I think, if we're just going with feelings, we would like to have another kid. I mean, our family, as it is, would feel fine and complete to me, but there's always room in my heart for more.

Back in November, we were pretty set on trying for another in a couple years. As of right now (and the whining, obnoxious child-filled weekend we just had), two seems to fit us just fine. Babies are a lot of money and time, and we're about at our limit on the availability of both of those things. But, then I see a friend with her nine-week-old, or I finally put away some of Sophie's newborn clothes (and completely tear up over several different tiny oufits), and I'm not so sure.

So I think we're officially on the no-plan plan. If we do ever have another kid, it won't be until Gabbie is in grade school (there's no way in hell we can afford three in daycare), which is a little later than we'd like to have kids. But, oh, another tiny baby would be so awesome.

How does anyone ever make this decision?

Suddenly, Toddlerhood

2012-01-31T09:26:00.003-05:00

So. Last week was a rough one. There were a lot of things going on, including my special monthly visitor, that really didn't help the situation, which ultimately was this: my baby is not so much a baby anymore and it kind of hit me all at once and really hard.

Last week was her first full week in the toddler room at daycare. She loves it there and is truly thriving, trying to catch up with the bigger kids. What this also meant, though, is that she went from taking two to three bottles per day to zero, pretty much overnight. So I went from nursing/pumping from six to eight times a day (usually eight) to three or four overnight and the resulting hormone mess was a nightmare. I had zero patience with anyone and I couldn't stop crying over every single thing.

And then there was Thursday morning, when I realized I was out of bottles to pump into because I was still pumping but Sophie wasn't eating any of it. That's when I went back to bed, and stayed there most of the day.

Sophie is so great. Much more challenging in many ways than her quiet, compliant older sister, but really great. She is a cuddly, smily, fun girl. It just seems like she went from being a baby to a toddler within a month. No gradual transition at all, just BAM! Toddler. A walking, getting into things, eating real people food, signing and using words, responding to questions, toddler.

I knew this day would come, I just didn't know I would have such a hard time with it.

In my defense: I did fold one (small) load of laundry

2012-01-17T13:35:00.001-05:00

Since yesterday was MLK day, my office was closed in observation of the holiday. Aaron's office, however, was not, and daycare was open, and since we still would have had to pay for the day whether we sent the girls or not, I chose to send them to school and take the day to do whatever I wanted.

And whatever I wanted included eating snack foods without having to share, finishing a crochet project (that I started 3 years ago), and watching some shows without distraction. I accomplished basically nothing else, but I did eat an entire bag of popcorn without a three year old scolding me to not eat it all. I also watched the entire first season of Downton Abbey. That crochet project is very nearly finished - I only have about a foot of the border left to do and I plan to accomplish that tonight after putting the girls to bed and starting up the first episode of Downton Abbey season two.

I think that Aaron was a little annoyed that I didn't get anything done - the house really needs some picking up, and while I did load the dishwasher, I apparently forgot to actually push the button to start it. However, a day all to myself was sorely needed (insert some slightly whiny statement about Sophie weaning a bit during the same week I'm about to get my monthly visitor, resulting wacky hormones), and greatly appreciated.

As an aside: I totally recommend Downton Abbey, if you couldn't gather that from the above paragraphs. (Very slightly spoilerish information ahead.) The only problem is I can't decide if I like or dislike most of the characters. I mean some (Thomas and O'Brien) are easy to dislike, while others (Sybil) are mostly likeable). However, I kind of feel sorry for the otherwise mostly unlikeable Edith, and Mary is a brat but I want her to get what she wants. Also, Matthew's blue eyes are second only in awesomeness to my husband's.

In sum, it was an awesome day. The only thing that would have made it better was a house staff even a fraction of the size of that in Downton Abbey. (A cook and a house maid would be fantastic.)

The Things We're Doing These Days

2012-01-09T15:51:00.000-05:00

I was sick last week with some sort of weird bug that had me down for the count with a headache, light-headedness, a little bit of congestion, and a whole lot of exhaustion. I am feeling better for the most part, save for still having a headache and now with the added fun of constant heartburn. So what I'm saying is, I kind of feel like crap still and planning to have tomato soup for dinner tonight was not my smartest idea ever. What proves to be even a less smart idea is that I'm still totally going to eat that tomato soup because it sounds really damn delicious.

Not feeling well, of course, put me in an excellent mood over the weekend. Aaron caught the bug, too, coming down with it on Friday (which actually made me a little better, because the symptoms are so weird I thought maybe it was just me, but no! Confirmation!). So we shared that excellent mood. The girls fed off of our bad moods, so it was really fun to be in our house this weekend, I'm sure.

Despite our household-wide surliness, we did have some fun this weekend. Gabbie got to go to the neighborhood park and play with the neighborhood kids. Reportedly they played some sort of tag (Aaron went along and also played tag, while Sophie and I napped), which sounds like a lot of fun. There aren't many kids Gabbie's age in the neighborhood, but there are a lot of girls, who have adopted Gabbie as one of their own, and if she's around they include her in their games. It's pretty fantastic.

Sophie is working really hard at walking. She can actually walk, but lacks the confidence to do so. She'll walk halfway across the room, stop when she realizes what she's doing, and then she'll drop and crawl. Alternately, she'll wait until we're all watching, take a few steps, then stand there and clap for herself. She's pretty darn adorable, overall.

I'm really excited for Aaron, who started with a running group last night through a local shoe store. I think this will be really good for him and it sounds like a great group. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little jealous, because I totally am. This will definitely be an adjustment, as he'll be out of the house for runs two nights a week and on Saturday mornings until his 10K in May. However, I'm all about it given his family history and my desire to keep him around for a long time. One of his grandpas died in his forties from a sudden and massive heart attack, and I'd like to avoid that happening to him if at all possible. So, support for excersize it is! I can't wait to go cheer him on in his sure-to-be many races in the future!

As for me, well, I'm working on things. I need to get out of the house more too. I feel kind of bad that my hermit-tendencies make Aaron feel bad for wanting to go out and do things with other people. I need to make more friends and find time for the friends I already have. I'm sure once Sophie is a little less dependent on me due to nursing, I'll be more likely to feel like I can go out. I meant to sign up for a cake decorating class at Joann's this month, but forgot to do it on Saturday, which ended up being the first day of the month-long class. Hopefully they'll offer it again soon! We're also talking about finding a church we can all agree on, with families with young kids, and then possibly we can make some friends there. I'm still in that being-a-mom-is-lonely phase of babyhood and I'm starting to get itchy to get out of it.

2012, Here I come!

2012-01-03T09:48:00.000-05:00

I don't know if it was the time off over the holidays, finishing two big soul-sucking projects, or what it was, but I feel absolutely restored to my full self here at the beginning of 2012. We'll see if that feeling lasts, now that I'm back to the daily grind. (I really hope it does, and I'm working to make it so!) I feel like I have the energy to take on this year and make it my best yet, which is saying something, because I have had some pretty great years!

Aaron and I have both felt like we've put ourselves on the backburner in recent years. Two kids in 2.5 years will do that to you, I guess! Anyway, we talked about our resolutions this year (something we've never really done before) and they center on taking better care of ourselves, our relationship, our family, and our home. Here are my resolutions for 2012!

1. Read more - 26 books at least!
2. Be a better friend - that means go out with friends, make new ones, and call or write people more often.
3. Get in better shape - I am going to do that couch to 5k program this year. I'm going to!
4. Do something new - this is starting out with a cake decorating class. I can bake delicious cakes, but they sure are ugly. It's time to do something about that (and perhaps make new friends in the process?).
5. Spend at least 15 minutes a day cleaning the house - I tend to procrastinate, and save it all for the weekend, and then on the weekend I'm so exhausted from the week that half the stuff I want to get done
6. Read more to the kids - we have a ton of books, and while I read to them nearly every day, I want to start a bedtime routine of reading a book or two before they go to sleep every night.
7. Be present when I'm at home - no playing on my phone or the computer until after the kids are in bed and my chores are done!
8. Communicate with my husband - I know this is last on the list, but it should be number one as far as priorities go. Far too often we expect each other to just intuit what we need, but that obviously is not the best method for keeping a relationship going. We are going to work on using our words this year.

Now She Is One

2012-01-01T13:07:00.001-05:00

I don't have enough time in the world to do justice to describing Sophie and her first year. She is my soul, and I can't imagine life without her. It's not surprising that the second child gets her happy birthday post more than a week late, but that's mostly because I've spent the past week playing and snuggling with she and her sister, time that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

Here she is a year ago:

And now:

Happy, happy, happy Birthday my sweet girl. I love you to the moon and back!

Gabbie's Horrible, Awful, No Good Week

2011-12-15T13:35:00.001-05:00

Poor Gabbie has had a rough week, for many reasons, including:

Croup - She was fine on Saturday evening when she went to bed at eight. Three hours later she had a barking cough and a fever. She spent Sunday through Tuesday resting and recouperating, even though she was not happy about it. On Tuesday she was suffering more from Cabin Fever than the Croup (but she still had to stay home from school because the last time she was running a fever was less than 24 hours before), so we went out for lunch - Chinese food, her choice. She got vegetable fried rice, and I had the most amazing Pho Ga. (Also, Gabbie ate all my cilantro. Plain. It is so weird to me, a cilantro-tolerater-because-my-family-likes-it kind of person, when she does that.)

Then she had a temper tantrum at the grocery store because she wanted to hold the yogurt covered pretzels, and I had the nerve to put them in the cart without thinking that possibly she would rather hold them.
Then, I had the nerve to make her take a nap (she finally submitted when I offered to rock her to sleep).
Yesterday she threw a fit when, after she asked me what kind of animal we are, I told her that we're humans. She doesn't want to be a human!
She has been testing out the whole lying thing lately, and I am amazed at how stupid she obviously thinks I am. I will catch her doing something, (SEE IT WITH MY OWN EYES!) and then she'll deny it. ARGH!
The toughest part for me was today, after her preschool Holiday Party, when she had to stay instead of going home with me, and she lost her shit in a spectacular fashion. She had to be peeled off of me by a teacher. It didn't help that I forgot something in the room and couldn't get another teacher's attention so she could hand it to me, so I had to slip in real quick to get it and she saw me again.

There's only one more day left this week, and I'm hoping I can make it a good one for her. Then this weekend, she gets a mommy date, and we're going to bake cookies with the rest of the women in Aaron's family. Gabbie's no good week needs turned around, and I think those two things may just be the way to do it.

Reason 193 That I'm Sure She's My Child

2011-12-12T11:23:00.000-05:00

If we let her, she would subsist solely on food that consists of carbs and cheese.

Thanksgiving Weekend Highs and Lows with Gabbie

2011-11-28T13:00:00.001-05:00

There was a conversation on Twitter yesterday about three-year-olds, and how the highs are so incredibly high, and the lows are head-explodingly low, and I could not agree more with that sentiment. In my line of work, I couldn't present such a statement without some sort of follow-up evidence, so I present to you: The High Point and Low Point of Our Long Thanksgiving Weekend!

High Point:

Gabbie helped me make pieson Thanksgiving eve/morning. She made a cookie crumb crust almost entirely by herself, by crushing the cookies with her miniature rolling pin, pouring the crumbs in a bowl, mixing in the sugar and melted butter I added, pouring it into the pie pan, and pushing it down on the bottom and sides. All I had to do was the baking part. I can't believe how big and capable she (mostly) is these days!

Then the next morning, she sat at the counter with me and helped peel and slice apples (using an apple peeler/slicer/corer thing - she turned the crank while I did the rest), and kept me company while I did the rest of the pie making. I also taught her how to make pie treats (sprinkle leftover pie crust with cinnamon and sugar and bake), which we shared while the pies were baking. She also was assigned duties as chief spoon/whisk/bowl licker with the spoon/whisk/bowl that resulted from making banana cream pie. (SO GOOD!)

It was lovely and picturesque. She was doing the things I remember doing when I was a kid, and I loved sharing these moments with her. It's moments like that when I just want to scoop her up and put her someplace for safe-keeping, so she never, ever changes how she is right now.

Low Point:

Most of yesterday was not quite so awesome. She was obviously exhausted, but is dropping her nap (I am NOT READY for this), and so was insisting that she wasn't tired and didn't need to nap. There were instances of talking back ("Gabbie, stop it." "No, Mom, you stop it."), being generally unkind to her sister (like holding out one of Sophie's toys just out of reach, saying, "Sophie, you can't play with this," and then snatching it away), and then came the cherry on top of the crap Sunday (haha - I love a good pun!). She was playing with Sophie's walk and ride toy, and I asked her not to ride it onto the wood floor, because she's a little heavy for it and so I was afraid the wheels would leave scrapes on the floor. Not two minutes later, I look over and see her watching me as she slowly and deliberately rode the toy onto the wood floor. (!!!)

At this point, I got a headache due to lack of ability to make my head actually explode, and she was placed in time out for five minutes, because I had absolutely had it. Up to HERE even!

Of course, at the end of her time out, she came over and gave me a big hug and some cuddles and was all sorts of cute and wonderful again.

Three. Man, oh, man is it a ride.

Green Beans, Two Ways

2011-11-15T13:27:00.001-05:00

This is, surprisingly, not a recipe post.

The other night I was preparing some green beans for dinner, and the following conversation occurred:

Gabbie: Mom, what are you doing?
Me: Cooking green beans.
Gabbie: How are you cooking them?
Me: I'm steaming them.
Gabbie: Oh....that's not how I do it. I cook green beans different at my pink house.*
Me: Oh, yeah?
Gabbie: Yeah. Here's how me and my baby** make them. First we put down butter. Then we put the green beans on top. Then we sprinkle them with oatmeal. They're really delicious.
Me: Sounds that way.

At his point, she walked out of the kitchen, and I had to wipe a tear of laughter from my eye. She is just so awesome and her imagination is the best. I remember living in a world that existed almost entirely in my imagination when I was little, and I think it's fantastic that she's in that phase right now.

* Gabbie has lots of things at her "pink house," which is the place where she lives in her imagination, apparently. Her friends also have imaginary houses, including a yellow house and a purple house, and sometimes they trade, although the trading hasn't happened in a while. Often, when Gabbie sees something new, after we've explained it to her, she will say, "Oh! I have one at my pink house, too." Alternately, if there's something she doesn't like, it won't be at her pink house, or she'll do it differently at her pink house, hence the cooking of the green beans differently. I love hearing about her pink house.

**Gabbie also has an imaginary baby (sometimes two - yesterday there were two, one who was three like her and one who is 21, whose birthday was yesterday (her baby has a birthday almost every day - often a colored one, as in, "Today is my baby's blue birthday" - which stems from Gabbie's Very Pink 3rd Birthday Party). Her baby often does things differently than we do them, or her baby gets to do things that we don't let Gabbie do, as in, "My baby doesn't have to wash her hands after she goes potty."

Catching Up Tidbits

2011-10-24T10:48:00.003-04:00

Sophie is at that awesome stage where she learns a new trick almost every day. Here is a list of things she has started doing in the last three weeks: crawling, pulling up to stand, walking while holding on to our fingers, clapping, signing "more", raising her hands above her head whenever we say, "Sophie's so big!" or, "Touchdown!", giving high fives, putting her hands on her head when we say, "Oh, no!" (or, conversely, putting her hands on her head and waiting for us to notice and say, "Oh, no!").... The list goes on, but I think I've captured most of them.

She's still not too interested in food, and would rather nurse, unless she's at daycare, then she doesn't want her bottles and would rather eat food. All in all she's a happy, healthy girl, and if every baby were guaranteed to be so awesome, I'd have a dozen more. (I'm not going to have a dozen more.) She turned 10 months old yesterday, which I'm not sure is even possible. How in the heck is this year passing so quickly?

Gabbie is So. Very. Three. It's maddening and yet makes me love her all the much more at the same time. She and Sophie have started playing together, and will get each other squealing with laughter, and it sets my heart aflame with pride and love. These girls are so awesome I can't even stand it.

Gabbie is also thriving in preschool, although I still can't get anything out of her regarding what they did at preschool other than what they have for snack and, sometimes, what was brought in for show and tell that day. A couple of weeks ago she had her first field trip to a local apple orchard and pumpkin patch. I went along, and it was a blast. Of course, most of the kids liked the hay ride and donuts and cider the best, so the rest of the tour of where they make cider was a little difficult to get them through. It was nice getting to know some of the other kids and their parents, and I'm so glad I went.

We also have a halloween party this week in preschool, and she is so excited that it's going to be a long wait until Thursday for her! She's doubly excited because we signed up to make brownies. She's convinced she's never had brownies before (she has), and she can't wait to try them. (We have to designate all foods these days into two categories: she's eaten it before, or she's never eaten it before. She's very often wrong about the assigned category, which cracks me up. I love seeing her little quirks emerge as she gets older.)

Gabbie's first parent-teacher conference is coming up in a couple of weeks, and I can't wait to hear how things are going with her and preschool from the teacher's perspective, and perhaps even find out what they do every day!

Gabbie's favorite thing in the world to do these days is to go to the zoo. Any zoo will do, although she is partial to our local zoo, just because she knows it best (although she does wish that they'd have an elephant or a giraffe). A few weeks back on a beautiful Saturday, we headed over to the Detroit Zoo and had a blast. Then, just yesterday, we went to Boo at the Zoo here in town. It was a gorgeous fall day, and all the little kids were completely adorable in their costumes. And, because we go so often (and we got to skip the line to sign up), we bought an annual membership to the zoo.

I have pictures of everything above, but haven't had time to download them from my new camera, with which I am in deep love. I plan on doing that this week before it gets some major use this coming weekend. Hopefully.

It's nice to know my family has so much faith in me

2011-10-11T09:14:00.002-04:00

Today is likely one of the last warm days of the year, so I decided to live it up and wear a skirt. It's all excitement around here all the time, as you can tell! Anyway, I already had the iron out to press Gabbie's dress for picture day today, so I thought I'd wear my favorite khaki skirt that I never wear because it always has to be pressed. The iron was downstairs, so I came down in just my underpants (and a shirt, of course) with my skirt in hand on the way to the ironing board.

Halfway down the stairs Gabbie looked at me and said, all incredulous-like, "Mom! You forgot your pants!"

About five minutes later (I was waiting for the iron to heat up, so I was still pants-less) Aaron walked into the kitchen, and said, "Um, Jess? You know you're not wearing pants, right?"

Now I know that my family thinks I am the type of person that would forget to wear pants.

My Sweet Girls

2011-10-06T11:43:00.000-04:00

Due to various circumstances, including a nice bonus from work and our old camera dying, I got my birthday/Christmas present incredibly early this year - a Nikon DSLR! I have been wanting a better camera for a long time now; we've had our previous camera for about 7 years which is forever for a digital camera.

Of course, I had to break it out as soon as I could last night and have some fun with it!

Sophie, at just over 9 months, is not crawling yet, but is not far from being on the move:

I finally managed to get Gabbie to give me a good smile, not a goofy three-year-old funny face. (My secret: telling her to say, "I'm a silly monkey!" It's a hit with the preschool set.)

Between these two and the busiest time of year at work I feel like I barely have time to breathe these days, but I'm glad I have these two around to keep me smiling. They're so busy being adorable most of the time, that I just about melt on a daily basis.

Overheard in my house this morning

2011-09-14T09:51:00.001-04:00

We were running very late this morning, and so we were rushing around trying to get out the door. While I was wrestling with Sophie trying to put on her shoes (she hates her shoes because they thwart her efforts to remove her socks from her feet as quickly as humanly possible - down with socks!), I hear Gabbie in the other room say in a slightly confused tone of voice, "You punched me in the face."

Aaron replied, "You ran your face into my fist. For once, that is actually true."

(Not meaning for once, as if he regularly punches her in the face, but for once, in all the times in the world that excuse is used, it was actually true.)

Then we all laughed. I'm still laughing. My family makes me happy in so many, varied ways.

P.S. She's fine, was not hurt, just a little confused as to why she got punched in the face, ever so lightly.

How I'm getting what I need

2011-09-01T13:50:00.000-04:00

Aaron and I grew up in very different types of homes. I mean there are many similarities, including loving families, parents who are still together, close extended families, etc. In many other ways, though, our families are just really, really different, which is funny to me because he and I are alike in so very many ways. Or maybe our differences just complement each other so nicely that we simply fit together well. I don't know.

Anyway, one of the many, many differences happens to be home-keeping styles. Aaron's mom is very, very neat. He often tells the story about how his parents were away for the weekend and he and his brother threw a party. After the party they cleaned the house from top to bottom leaving absolutely zero traces that anything had happened there at all. Their mom walked in the door and asked what the heck had they been up to, because she knew something had happened there while they were away. How did she know? A single candle was an inch out of place. Seriously. Busted for a candle moved an inch. That's a house where everything has its place, for sure!

My mom was recently taking a class where the participants discussed their upbringings and how they have shaped the person/artist they are today. Many of the women were talking about how they made their bed first thing each morning, how this helped them feel ready to start the day, and how their moms had taught them to do this every morning before school. Their houses are neat as pins. My mom shared how her mom's philosophy was that children should play, not work, so they never had to do any chores when they were small children. Still, with eight kids in her family, their house was never messy, but she definitely wasn't the one doing the work. Growing up in my house, it was never dirty, but it has definitely been cluttered. A little messy. Aaron thinks it's chaos, but it feels homey to me. My mom's philosophy is that a clean house is the sign of a misspent life.

So, you can imagine how this all comes to play in our home now. I am okay if things are in a little bit of disarray, while the same state drives Aaron absolutely insane. Again, I clean regularly enough, our house really isn't dirty. It's just a bit messy at times. With two small children who help in the mess making, and who wear me out by bedtime, there are often toys left laying out, a pile of mail left unopened, stacks of things that need to be put away here and there. (And my deepest, darkest secret: sometimes the dishes don't get done until the next day. I'm so ashamed!)

Marriage can be hard sometimes, and I'm convinced that there's not much that's harder on a marriage than babies and small children. You love them with all of your heart, but they suck up all your time, affection, emotion, and soul. There are times when I feel like I'm not getting the kind of attention and affection I want from my husband, and it's hard. It sucks! I know my reality is that my kids are at a stage where their needs are more important than mine in most instances (they can't do much for themselves, and are completely dependent, so it just makes sense), but that doesn't make me feel my needs any less acutely.

After some navel gazing during my trip to Minnesota a few weeks ago (I had time to think! It's rare these days!), I realized that maybe I'm not getting what I need because he's not getting what he needs. Light bulb! Also, duh! I realized that maybe I should get up off my butt every once in a while, set down my phone, and stop wasting all my time (I will still waste a little of it, because everyone needs a little down time), and do some things around the house that will make him feel more at ease. He has a hard time relaxing when there's chaos all around, so it makes sense that he's tense and frustrated sometimes.

So, I'm working harder these days at being more present, thinking about what he may need, and doing what I can to make our life easier. He's a great partner, and no slouch in the housekeeping arena either. He does his part, but now I'm making sure to do more of mine. It's still early, but I think I see it working already. I'm getting what I need by making it about him sometimes too.

Alligator Juice

2011-08-23T10:02:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, my sister was in the state and Gabbie and I went to pick her up from a bachelorette party she had attended. The girls were all just waking up when we got there, so we got a chance to sit around and chat for a little while. Most of the girls have known Gabbie since she was a baby, so they were excited to see her and spoiled her rotten, sending her home with a bagel, a pink feather boa, and a bottle of yellow Gatorade all for herself.

Gabbie slowly drank that bottle of Gatorade, making it last for the entire day. She thought it was the coolest thing ever (the child can be entertained for hours by a bottled water, so you can imagine the excitement that comes when you add color, sugar, and a little flavor to that water). Between cooking dinner, talking with my parents and sister, and being a ball of nervous energy about my upcoming work trip, I wasn't paying too much attention to what Gabbie and my mom were discussing, but my mom filled me in the next day.

Gabbie told my mom all about how we saw the girls and they gave her a "Fancy Nancy" (the pink feather boa) and some alligator juice. My mom was a little confused, but went along with it. Then Gabbie asked my mom to get it for her from the refrigerator. My mom opened the fridge, and it didn't immediately dawn on her what Gabbie meant, so she lifted her up so she could get it herself. She grabbed the Gatorade, and my mom had a good chuckle.

Thinking about it, Gatorade/alligator juice makes total sense. I really don't know where she comes up with these things, but I hope she continues on with it for a long time. She's just so adorable in so many ways that I can hardly stand it!

Five Things

2011-08-22T10:03:00.000-04:00

1. The current mosquito situation in Michigan is HORRIBLE. They are everywhere. They follow you in from the outside and bite you while you're sitting on the couch. We keep waking up with new bites, including the nickel-sized bite on the bottom of my foot I woke up with yesterday. This may be the worst location for a bug bite, ever! They have been so bad they've kept us inside, away from the gorgeous weather we've been having lately, and I am sick of it. There was enough of a breeze last night that we could actually spend some time outside without getting about 15 bites apiece in 10 minutes, and it was lovely. I hope those little suckers die off soon!

Poor Gabbie got a bite on her face in the car the other day while we were driving downtown (they follow us everywhere!), and now it looks like her eye is a little swollen. Poor baby! See that pink spot on her cheek? That's all a bite. There's one on her nose, too.

(Also, she really liked that pizza!)

2. I went to Minneapolis for work last week, and, surprisingly, the world did not end. I was completely stressed out and worried about the actual travel (I'm not a huge fan of flying, to say the very least), and about leaving Sophie, who was (and still is) in the midst of teething. (Last time I travelled she was in the middle of a growth spurt. I am not looking forward to whatever she has planned for when I travel in October.) I have to give mad props, though, to my wonderful husband. All I had to do (and really I didn't have to do this, but it was nice of me to do), was stock up the fridge with essentials, and he was good to go. My mom was telling me about how she used to have to cook, leave a schedule, do all the laundry, and get basically everything prepared for every day she was gone in order to leave to go anywhere. And my dad was pretty with it as far as dads go. Aaron, hands down, is the best dad I know. He helps me with all the girls' stuff every day, and so it wasn't too far of a stretch to remove me from the situation for a couple days.

So what if the girls didn't get baths at all while I was gone. They may have been a little stinky, but that didn't make me any less excited to see them when I got home.

3. Sophie is getting huge. Seriously. When Gabbie was a baby she didn't wear a size until she was whatever age was on the label, and sometimes even those things were a little big (although, length-wise, my poor girl is forever in flood pants just so her pants fit around her waist (she still can fit comfortably into size 24 months shorts)). Sophie, however, is already comfortably in nine month size clothing and she doesn't turn 8 months until tomorrow. She even has two teeth now, and sits up all by herself! We went out for dinner the other night (me being gone kind of ruined the whole "no eating out in August" thing a little, because we were all still so worn out from the busy week), and she sat in a high chair all by herself:

She thought she was big stuff, for sure! The blur (because she never, ever stops moving. Seriously never.) was a coaster that she nabbed as soon as I sat her down (she's fast and has amazing aim), so I inserted the pacifier to keep the coaster out of her mouth. She dropped it a couple of times and screamed at the top of her lungs until I crawled under the table to retrieve it and handed it back to her. She is not quite the well-behaved-angel-in-public that her big sister has always been. I just can't believe how big she's getting these days and how fast it's happening. I swear she was just a newborn.

4. One cool/scary thing I saw in Minneapolis was a sink hole. It opened up sometime in the hour between when we got to an event and when we left the event. It was right in the middle of a (thankfully quiet) intersection, and was probably about 8 feet across. There were a few guys right up next to it taking pictures, but I was not quite that brave. (Aaron gave me crap, because he would have loved to see pictures.) I mean, seriously. There was a large hole in the earth that wasn't there minutes prior. Does it make any sense at all to go stand at the edge? Ever since I saw pictures of this massive sinkhole in Guatamala that looks like crazy CGI, but isn't, I've been wary of sinkholes. Nice, normal fear, right?

5. Last night at dinner we were coming up with topics to discuss with Gabbie to keep her from singing (no singing at the table, especially when we're in public, is a new dinnertime rule). Aaron asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up. After a few, thoughtful seconds of reflection, she announced, "A mom. With noobs." (Apparently that's Gabbie's shorthand for "nursing b00bs.") I about choked I was laughing so hard. Hilarious, and adorable. And I'm glad she thinks so much of me that her life goal is to be just like me.

New Category: Nerd Power!

2011-08-03T12:27:00.001-04:00

It may not be any sort of secret, but just in case you haven't noticed, I am a giant (and proud of it) nerd. I come from a long line of nerds, and we love to do very nerdy things. (I am, however, out-nerded by my brother, although he says he has seen the fringe of nerd-dom and he is nowhere near that nerdy) (apparently nuclear physicists have a propensity to be very nerdy).

Anyway, one thing I nerd out about is Harry Potter. So much so that Gabbie is in love with Harry Potter and can identify anything having to do with Harry Potter from a glance or a few notes of the movie theme music alone. She's allowed to watch the first two Harry Potter movies and loves them with all her heart (although she does hide her eyes when the giant, three headed dog comes on the screen in the first movie).

All this to preface what may be the most exciting thing that has happened to me in months (!!!):

In the off-chance you might be a little bored...

2011-08-02T14:44:00.001-04:00

Today I have found myself stuck in a Reddit-caused internet wormhole, which started from the following posted question:

"What are the best random facts you know, Reddit?"

I'm not very far down the list, but this exchange, so far, is my favorite (and completely made me LOL):

"[–]joonyung 127 points128 points129 points 5 hours ago

'stewardesses' is the longest word that is entirely typed with your left hand on the keyboard.

[–]sleepyworm 380 points381 points382 points 3 hours ago

That's only because nobody believes me when I tell them that breasttastetester is a word."

I love this kind of stuff (and people are funny)!

My favorite random fact from recent history includes this awesomeness/Scrabble tip: The last word in the OED is "zxyt."

Once I start down this random fact road, I always want more. So, hit me up. What is your favorite random fact?

August Challenge

2011-08-01T10:07:00.000-04:00

I love my kids more than anything else, ever, but hot damn, kids are expensive. Sophie started day care in March and since then it's like we've had our fingers in our ears, singing, "La, la, la!" refusing to acknowledge that maybe, possibly we should stop spending like we still have that extra money to play around with. We haven't put any money into savings since January, and we're carrying a (relatively small, but still) credit card balance, which is something we haven't done in a while.

Yesterday Aaron and I were talking about this and decided that something really needs to change. One of the things that has helped us get a little out of control with our spending is our propensity to eat out way too much, including nearly every day for lunch. Not to mention, it's not exactly helping our waistline or health either.

So, this month we've challenged ourselves to not eat out at all. No money spent on eating out. (I do have a lunch meeting this week, but work is paying for that, so I'm not counting it.) I know we can do it, it's just going to take a little extra time and effort, but we need to stop being so lazy anyway. I'm betting that by the end of the month I'm going to feel a lot better anyway, and bringing lunch with me will be more of a habit.

So, here's to four and a half weeks of home-cooked goodness!

Daydreaming

2011-07-29T14:17:00.000-04:00

Whenever I have something I want to avoid doing, I come up with some Big Project I would like to do. Now, I'm not quite sure what I'm avoiding right now, but I have several Big Projects on which I'm ruminating.

One is a redo of our downstairs half bath.

We already have a white medicine cabinet to hang up in there, so I thought this vanity would go nicely:

Along with this faucet (except for less money if I can find something similar):

I really like the squared-off look of this one. It makes it a little different than the others, and I prefer straight lines whenever possible. Although, if I'm going be honest, I really, really want this faucet, but can also think of better ways to spend over $900 (!).

Also, does anyone really still buy faucets like this one?

I mean, if you purposely went out and bought this faucet, I'm sure it's beautiful and you obviously have wonderful taste. It's just not for me. It looks dated and reminds me of my grandma's house. Also I have these on every bathroom sink in my house right now, so, you know, I'm in no place to judge.

(Side note - I'm at least going to make Aaron go out and buy and replace the half bath faucet this week. His parents are coming in just over a week and they've never been to our house before and my nesting is worse now than it ever was when I was pregnant.)

Of course, if I'm going to replace everything else in the bathroom, I will also have to paint. So far we have painted one room on our main floor and I'm trying to make the colors flow nicely from one room to the next, so - the family room is this color:

I kind of like yellow and blue or grey together, so this color might work well:

Although, if I'm honest, I also like this color, with a white bead board on the bottom half of the wall:

However, like hell is Aaron ever going to let me paint any walls any color even resembling pink. He also doesn't understand my love of florals and botanicals. I say they remind me of my grandmother (who had excellent taste), and he says EXACTLY.

Anyway, that's probably enough daydreaming for right now. I just have one more thing to share. So, let's say your husband came home with a new video game last night, and felt guilty about spending the money on it, and so he said you were also free to go out and buy something of your choosing, whatever you want. How sad would it be if the thing you wanted was a new mopping system? Yeah. I thought so.

Even a mom to two can act like a noob sometimes

2011-07-27T13:31:00.002-04:00

As always, Sophie decided to be OMG-SO-HUNGRY-FEED-ME-NOW right when I sat down to eat dinner last night. It's awesome and happens about 99% of the time. So, I took her over to the rocker to nurse her and as I layed her down, I noticed something strange. She had a weird raised bump on her neck right behind her ear that hadn't been there earlier.

Since she will not hold still for even a split second, I had a hard time looking at it, but started to get worried. I called Aaron over to take a look, and he was a little worried too. Neither one of us wanted to touch it; it kind of looked painful and we didn't want to mess with it too much. My usual response to any suspicious looking red marks is to undress my kids to see if they have any more spots. Since it was almost bath time anyway, I decided to take her upstairs and examine it in the brighter bathroom light where I could distract her with bath toys.

So we go up and get her undressed - there were no other red marks I could find - and put her in the bath. That mark was still bothering me though, so I decided to touch it with my now-wet hands.

And it came off.

I'm a dork.

Then I recalled the raspberry flavored yogurt covered pretzels that Gabbie had been eating earlier, right before she decided to hug and kiss her sister. And apparently plot to nearly give her parents heart attacks.

Our Girls' First Camping Trip

2011-07-25T14:04:00.002-04:00

This weekend we continued our string of great-camping-trips-cancelled-prematurely-due-to-the-sky-opening-up-and-flooding-us-out. Meaning, we were having a good time and then it rained about an inch and a half in fifteen minutes. So we packed up a night early and headed to my parents' house (halfway between the campsite and home) arriving at 11:00 at night. (As an aside, I haven't been in bed before 11:00 pm in over a week, and oh my goodness am I EXHAUSTED).

But, before the deluge we had a fabulous time. On Saturday morning at 5:30 the girls got to experience one "fun" facet of sleeping outside: birds. It started with crows that I swear were sitting on top of our tent, and then proceeded to all sorts of different birds calling out and singing and generally celebrating day-break. It was loud and sudden, and even though the noise died down after only about ten minutes, we were up for good. Gabbie's eyes got great big, and I could just see her brain going behind them. I know that she might not remember this camping trip when she's older, but it was so much fun to get to watch her experience all these things for the first time. (Including s'mores - she thought they were okay, but in true Gabbie fashion, eschewed the s'more as a package deal, and was perfectly happy dining on marshmallows and chocolate bars. Also, a sugar detox is happening for the child this week, because we totally sugared her up all weekend.)

We were in the absolute minority at the campground in that we camped in a tent and cooked all of our food over the campfire. Aaron and I are both of the mindset that staying in a camper or RV that is equipped with a full kitchen or at least a grill, a tv, a bed, and air conditioning is not "camping." It is simply moving your comfortable living situation to a more nature-filled place. So, we went with our tent, a few sleeping mats and sleeping bags (and a pack and play for Sophie so she had a safe place to sleep), and a grill grate to put atop the campfire pit. It was awesome fun. We didn't do pretty much anything we had planned to do (another trend in our vacations), but we still had a great time. We took a couple of walks, watched the sun set over the bay, sat in chairs around the campsite and read books while holding napping babies, and ate our fair share of junk food (candy, chips, s'mores, etc. - also a camping tradition).

Unfortunately, we have the girls completely off schedule, and they both seem to think that 10:00 pm is a perfectly acceptable bedtime, so this week will be spent getting them back to sleeping at a more reasonable hour. However, the camping trip was so much fun I kind of want to head out again this weekend. We won't, but it will be happening again sometime soon.

Here are a couple pictures of the girls in the (orange, so that's the cause of the pictures' tint) tent.

Early morning portrait of a girl who just spent her first night in a tent and loved it.

Ditto.

Silly Girls

2011-07-19T11:09:00.001-04:00

I am a big fan of encouraging silliness at all (appropriate) times with my kiddos. Which is good, because they're all for silliness, intentional or not, as well. For example:

Intentional silliness. What you can't see (at least not well) here is that she's wearing a chef's hat, an apron, and no pants. And she was dancing and making up a song, while serving me imaginary cupcakes. It was awesome.

Unintentional silliness. Sophie's teachers put her "Crabby Pants" outfit on backwards. I couldn't stop laughing at this, especially because this takes some effort due to the fact that there are snaps all the way up the supposed-to-be-front, so she had to be flipped over and snapped, and she doesn't stay still when she's on her belly, not even a little bit.

First thing in the morning silliness. My mom started a tradition with us when we were kids that I'm carrying on with my kids, which is that first thing we do in the morning is pile into mom and dad's bed and talk about the coming day. The girls usually get each other giggling during this time and love to give each other hugs. It's more than fantastic.

Speaking of fantastic, we took Sophie to see an orthopedist yesterday to check on her hips; a precaution due to Gabbie's problems with hip dysplasia which can be genetic. She had a checkup for them at six weeks, which showed she was fine, but the doctor wanted to see her again at six months just to make sure. She had some x-rays done and after the doctor checked these out, she proclaimed them perfect, and so we never have to see the orthopedist again (unless we have more kids, then they need to be checked out too)! It feels so great to be able to be done with all this mess. After the appointment I told Aaron that I felt like I finally let go of a breath I didn't know I was holding. We're done worrying about hips, probably for always, and I am over the moon about that.

This is why I have a category called "Random Randomness"

2011-07-12T14:39:00.000-04:00

I'm pretty sure I just burned my butt when I got into my car, simply by sitting down on the seat. It has been (as with pretty much everywhere else) ridiculously hot lately, and I am looking forward to the cool-down promised for tomorrow. Highs in the mid-70s? Yes, please! That sounds like perfection.

I have been sick for about a week now, and my biggest issue right now is that it feels like my ears need to pop and I can't get them to do it. Thankfully I feel approximately 95% better than I did just a few days ago. Stupid allergies plus a sinus infection. Summer colds are the worst!

I hesitate posting this next part, because I'm not completely, 100% sold on the idea that it's purposeful, but Sophie has been saying "mama" for a while now, and on Sunday, when the girls and I got home from visiting my parents over the weekend, she looked at Aaron and said "dada." Several times, in fact, and she has been saying both regularly ever since, and sometimes it really seems like she's using it correctly. If she is, in fact, using the sounds as words, she has Gabbie beat on a first word by about six months. Craziness.

Sophie has never been quite as good at keeping herself entertained as Gabbie was, so we have had to be creative in ways to keep her occupied so we can get something (anything) done around the house. One surefire thing that buys us a good ten minutes? Ice cubes. We put them in either the mesh feeder or a sippy cup. One day last week I needed about twenty minutes to get dinner together, so I gave her two ice cubes, one in the mesh feeder (which she will then eat) and one in the sippy cup (which she can't quite figure out, so she shakes it to make noise and then pours out the water as it melts, and then splashes in the water (I taught her how to splash and so now if she sees liquid, it's splash city!)), and you would have thought I gave her a diamond-encrusted puppy for how excited she was. So, of course, I had to take a picture (see the cuteness above).

Over the long weekend two weekens ago now, we decided to go out to dinner one night. While waiting for our food to arrive, we were looking for ways to keep Sophie entertained (this is what takes up the majority of my time and energy when I'm not at work lately; I'm totally blaming her for the fact that it has been nearly a month since my last blog post. I'm brain-dead because of my adorable (time consuming) baby!), and Aaron thought he would try to see what she could do with a straw. So he put his water near her, and she grasped the straw, put it in her mouth, and started drinking his water. She's a straw savant!

While she will drink pretty much anything, this girl will not eat food (hey! There's a thing she has in common with her sister (grumble, grumble)). We've tried rice cereal (she will eat it for the daycare ladies, but not me), sweet potatoes (gag city) and pears (four bites then gag city), and she's not much of a fan of any of them. I'm going to keep on keeping on, though. Tonight? Bananas! (I'm guessing it will be Banana Gag City!) She remains a huge fan of nursing and would nurse 24-7 if I let her (I don't let her (don't worry, I'm not starving her, but I'm also not letting her use me as a human pacifier)).

Despite the fact that neither of my daughters will give me the satisfaction of eating one damn bite of real food (okay, Gabbie will take "a couple more bites", but that's it), both have been doing some major growing lately. One weekend a few weeks ago, Gabbie's shoes fit on Friday, but not on Monday. Needless to say, Gabbie has new shoes. We went for her 3-year appointment the following week and she had grown an inch and a pound in a little less than a month. Craziness. She's been complaining of growing pains lately, and I swear she wakes up noticibly taller than she goes to sleep some days. Sophie's 6 months size clothes are starting to get tight - Gabbie never got into a size until she was at least that age, and Sophie is growing out of things at approximately the age listed on the label. Despite all of Gabbie's growing, it has, as usual, gone to getting taller, not wider, and she can still comfortably wear size 24 month shorts (and does - I'm not spending money if I don't need to). I'm not looking forward to winter, when I have to make sure her pants are long enough, and will probably be shoping for tiny, pink belts.

Speaking of my girls getting bigger, we are almost completely done getting Sophie's room together. We just have to remove the blue tape from the trim and arrange the furniture, and she'll be sleeping in her own room. We painted the walls a pale green ("Celery"), and painted the trim a cream color (creatively titled, "Creamy" (Aaron says he hopes I like the trim in the rest of the house, because never again! (I say I hope he forgets soon because he is SO painting the trim in the family room))). I'm hoping to get some Beatrix Potter wall stickers or posters for decorations and then her room will be complete (and I'll post pictures!).

He also painted the family room over the past weekend. We chose "Afternoon," which is gorgeous in person, but looks really bright in pictures. I will try to take some good pictures soon, when we have everything more assembled. Aaron had been complaining that because we still had the same furniture and hadn't really done any decorating, he still felt like we were living in an apartment. Decorate away, I told him, and he is. We've actually let Gabbie pick out every paint color we've used so far, except the color we used in our bedroom, and she has done a great job! (We have not, and need to repaint the bedroom, because it's not great.)

Lessons from my Weekend

2011-06-21T10:34:00.002-04:00

We had one heck of a busy and wonderful weekend; I'm still kind of recovering from all the (good) craziness. I also learned several things this weekend that I thought I should share:

1. Jamie Oliver's basic pizza recipe is fan-damn-tastic. Especially if you bake it on a pizza stone. It's the best pizza I've ever made at home and much better than any of the delivery places we have in town. Now I just have to find an equally delicious deep-dish recipe and I'll be all set.

2. It is not wise to take two kids, one of whom is (mostly) non-mobile, by yourself to go strawberry picking. For several reasons, the least of which is that you may still be sore in the thighs and rear three days later because of the child juggling and bending down and the awkwardness of it all.

3. Telling Gabbie something is dirty is the quickest way to get her to leave it alone. All the other children at the strawberry patch came out very berry-stained around the mouth and hands. Gabbie however? Only ate one berry because I told her it was okay. She's a good kid, that one.

4. Also related to strawberry picking - don't pick more than you can process the same day. I was very sad to have to throw out more than a pound of what we had picked.

5. If you set my youngest child on the floor these days, it is not unlike you have placed a child on a hill - she rolls and rolls and picks up speed. Then she gets stuck under the couch or the entertainment center and yells. It's adorable but also makes me even more busy than I was before!

6. If, in one single weekend, you: make pizza, pick strawberries, go to a jazz fest, run a million little errands, go to the zoo, cook three meals a day, parent your children, make and can strawberry jam, make a strawberry lemonade icebox pie, and read an entire book? You may end up crying from exhaustion at around 7 pm on a Sunday night.

There were some other lessons I had in mind, but then I got busy and forgot them. Also? I'm still exhausted.

All Kinds of Updates

2011-06-14T12:57:00.042-04:00

Life marches on, busy as always. I feel, and I know Aaron agrees, that we barely have time to remember to breathe these days. It's crazy, but crazy good too.

Sophie will be 6 months old next week! Don't ask me how that happened, because I don't have any idea either. She is a rolling fool these days, and basically doesn't stop moving, ever. Since she started rolling over we stopped swaddling her at night. I was scared of this day (mostly because it was not an easy process when we did it with her big sister), but it didn't phase her one bit. She just rolled on to her side and fell asleep. Maybe it's because she's older than Gabbie was when we attempted it, but maybe more because she's just (and I realize I'm blessed and possibly jinxing myself here) an easy baby. A happy, easy baby that is so cute I could just die.

We tried rice cereal with Sophie this past weekend, and, well, it wasn't a hit (yet another way in which she's different from her big sister). We expected her to love it because she watches everyone else eat so intently, but instead she gagged a little and pushed it back out of her mouth. She's just not ready yet, and that's fine with me. It's easier to just nurse anyway. We'll try again in a week or two.

Also, and I may be crazy here, but I swear she has started to say "mama." It doesn't happen all the time, but when I don't pick her up as fast as she'd like, she says, "ma ma ma ma ma MA MA MA." Gabbie didn't make consonant sounds until she was much older (I remember being very worried about this; now she never, ever, ever shuts up, so I didn't need to be so worried), but Sophie is all about them. That and blowing raspberries. It's so super adorable.

Gabbie wants nothing more in life than to be big. (She is so like me it is not even funny.) Not too long ago we were playing around after bath, but before bed, and I asked her if she wanted me to make her hair curly for school tomorrow. She jumped right on that idea, and so we braided her hair. The next day at school she preened every time anyone mentioned her hair (which was often). It was adorable and also made me very aware of how aware she is of her looks already. Raising girls is hard, yo!

The other day we were driving home just as the church in our neighborhood was letting out from their Saturday evening service. Some guy looked like he wasn't going to stop at the stop sign (and therefore looked like he was going to hit us), and Aaron called him a douche bag. From the back seat we hear, "douche bag?" Lesson learned yet again - we need to watch our mouths around this one. She doesn't miss a beat.

Gabbie is very, very three, and I agree with everyone that three is so much harder to take than two. However, she's still very smart and funny, and just a really great kid. However, again, she's having issues pop up, especially at school, that are a little trying. Her morning teacher seems to relish telling me about how Gabbie misbehaved the day before, and I think that this needs to stop. We don't need to talk about Gabbie being bad right in front of her. She needs to hear how great she is, too. I need to figure out how to make her teacher knock it off; it hurts even me to hear the "misbehaving report" every day, when I know that it's just a small part of her day.

On Sunday, Aaron totally made Gabbie's day by taking her fishing, then to the big kids park, and then out for "coffee" (steamed milk with flavored syrup for Gabbs). She even caught a fish! It's so nice seeing the two of them have their own relationship. I absolutely love it, and seeing Aaron be such a good dad makes me fall even more in love with him every time.

When I was growing up I knew I wanted to be a mom. Before I became a mom, I know I'd love it. I just didn't know how happy getting exactly what I wanted would make me. I'm happier than I ever thought possible; this family of mine is pretty awesome.

Yelling was a definite theme of the evening

2011-06-01T11:53:00.000-04:00

Yesterday nearly killed me, for so many, various reasons that its ridiculous. So, let's start the list here: after an intense day I was at work almost two hours past my normal quitting time. When we got home, Aaron and I had a huge fight which resulted in me yelling so hard that I hurt my back (not my proudest moment, that's for sure). We had both had rough days, and are still in that post-partum, sensitive, everything is tense, constantly talking to each other in capital letters phase. I know it passes, and I'm trying to be kind, but some days it's just hard.

After I was done yelling, Gabbie started yelling. She wanted a cookie. She didn't want her dinner. She did want her dinner because she had to eat it to get a cookie, but she didn't want to eat her dinner. After letting her yell at her dinner for approximately half an hour, we took it away from her. We were done. Dinner time is hard, and the day had been long, and we were just done. So, of course she started screaming and jumping up and down and screaming some more and falling dramatically to the ground, tears streaming down her face. So I picked her up, made her go potty, and then put her in bed (early at about 7:15). We cuddled for a while because we both needed it, and then she fell asleep.

Shortly after, I went and got Sophie ready for bed, and she fell asleep nursing. I put her in bed and went to accomplish some things from my to do list. Finally getting those things done, I played a couple of games online and then laid down to fall asleep at about ten. At about 10:05, Sophie woke up SCREAMING like someone was torturing her. Long story short, she screamed for two hours straight. I finally got her calmed down, but only if I was holding her in a very specific position which required me to be sitting up straight in a chair. I finally nodded off at about 1:30, and she woke me up so she could eat at 4:30, and then was wiggly until 6:30 when she wanted to eat again.

To recap: everyone screamed and then I got three hours of sleep sitting up.

I'm not my best self today, that's for sure. Sophie has never screamed like that before (we are very lucky in the calm/sleeping department with her and I've never written about it because I don't want that to change, so that's all I'll say here), so we made the executive decision in the middle of the night that she'd be headed to the doctor's office today to get checked out. We got in at 8:30 (I called on the way to daycare to get what I expected to be an afternoon appointment, so I didn't have any diapers with me, so of course she filled her pants on the way there - my life is filled with awesomeness), and the verdict: she's gassy. See? Lots and lots of awesomeness.

Now, to follow all that whining, I need to express some good things. I'll go with five things that really are not sarcastically awesome right now.

1. Summer is finally here!
2. I went shopping this past weekend and bought a bunch of clothes that I love, so I have a new summer wardrobe.
3. We are taking a family walk the second we're all home tonight, and I can't wait to go out and enjoy this gloriously beautiful day.
4. My sister is coming for a visit again this weekend!
5. We're all going to my great grandmother's 97th birthday party on Saturday. How amazing is that?

(So, it's amazing what listing out those good things does for my mood. To pass on that good feeling: what's good with you these days?)

Now She is Three

2011-05-25T13:08:00.001-04:00

Three years ago today there was suddenly a pointy-headed screaming pink newborn in my life. I mean, I knew she was in there all along, but there's a disconnect between the squirming creature in your belly and this perfect (to you at least) baby in your arms. The whole process of her joining us out here was completely shocking to me; even so, it was one of the best things I've ever done, creating this perfect beautiful human.

Sure, those early days were not the easiest, but three years later my memories are mostly of the fond, rosy variety.

A year later she was a mobile, smiley, adorable not-so-much-baby. It really is amazing and not quite fair how quick they go from squirming pink blobs to little people.

Fast forward yet another year, and there was a talking, running toddler in my house.

Today. Today there is a three year old in my house. Three is so vastly different from two, which was vastly different from one, and so on, yet, she's still my same girl, one of the most beautiful people I've ever seen in real life, the person who daily makes me glad I decided to become her mom.

Happy Third Birthday to my sweet little Bitty (even if you aren't so little any more)!

I'm freaking out a little

2011-05-24T13:57:00.000-04:00

Today is my baby's last day of being two years old! How did this happen?

Also, my actual baby is now mobile. I put her down on her blanket last night, left the room to use the restroom, and came back to find her halfway across the room, pushing against a chair and yelling because she couldn't go any further (she scoots backwards by pushing her feet and aiming with her head).

These two are growing up much faster than the rate with which I am comfortable.

Nice 'Stache

2011-05-16T10:33:00.000-04:00

We had a very 'stache-tastic birthday party for Aaron this weekend, and some more photos and details are coming soon, but I couldn't resist posting these really quick while I had almost one second:

Yeah. We had fun.

Party Time

2011-05-13T14:24:00.000-04:00

I posted a really whiny post here yesterday that was eaten by Blogger being down, but I'm not going to repost it. I got out what I needed to vent, and it was pretty boring anyway.

In the meantime, we're in full-on party throwing mode in our house and Aaron even took the day off to get the house ready and supplies purchased so we can get down to business and get this party thrown.

Our only complaint? Our anticipated sunny, clear day is going to now be cold and rainy. We had planned on yard games and wearing all the kids out by letting them run around the yard. Instead we had to come up with alternate, indoor activities. So, I ran to the craft store today and picked up a big roll of paper and a few hand puppets. We're going to tape the paper to the wall and let the kids go at it with crayons. (We're about to paint the living room soon, so if they get a little on the wall we don't care too, too much.)

Here's hoping the party is successful, even if it's not going off according to original plan!

How to have an interesting (as in "interesting") month

2011-05-12T14:41:00.000-04:00

- Have two people in your family (Aaron and Gabbie) with two May birthdays
- Throw Mother's Day in there
- Have one child totally outgrow a bunch of her clothes right before the weather changes over (thank goodness for capris and sweaters)
- Have another child decide to finally roll over (!) during the one month in which you really didn't want to have to deal with the whole de-swadding training process (I'll take it though. She's rolling over!)
- Have 5 reports due for work, plus a million and five meetings, and throw in a huge grant proposal for good measure; don't forget to work in time for everyone and their brother to review and give feedback, meaning that you have to be done approximately a week ago (but you haven't even started)
- Get news that your proposal for a presentation to a national conference was accepted. Mull over the fact that you're going to have to travel without your precious baby!
- Decide to throw two huge birthday bashes for the birthday boy and girl
- Hear from your recently-moved-across-the-country sister that she's coming for a visit
- Still have to, on top of all of the above, function like a responsible adult and take care of your family too
- Find out that it's supposed to rain on the day of the first big birthday bash
- Also find out that the 80 degree temperatures are going away soon, to be replaced with highs in the 50s (oh, and it snowed just a couple weeks back)

I think I'm losing my mind, is what I'm saying.

My Kid is Awesome

2011-05-11T14:45:00.000-04:00

Backstory: We went to a birthday party for a 2-year-old friend of Gabbie's on Saturday. She received a bag of party favors which included some Dora temporary tatoos.

On Saturday night, Gabbie was playing with her favor bag and took out that tattoos. I was playing around on the computer (Ticket to Ride FTW!) and so wasn't really paying attention. She walked up to Aaron and requested something quietly, to which he responded, "I'm sorry, what?" She repeated her request, at which time I was summoned to join in on the conversation.

"Repeat for your mom what you just said to me."

Sheepishly, Gabbie replied, "Will you put these on my butt?"

And then I fell over and died of laughter.

We couldn't quite get out of her what made her ask for tattoos to be applied to her butt, but we quickly squashed the idea because:

1) Ladies don't put tattoos on their butts (at least 2-year-old ladies don't) (We had been having conversations all day about how ladies don't lift their dresses up in public and sit so their underwear isn't showing, so it seemed like a good way to frame the conversation.

and

2) If we put it on her butt, she wouldn't be able to see it.

Point number 2 won her over, and a tattoo was applied to her hand, where she could admire it the rest of the evening.

So, in summary: my kid is awesome and hilarious.

Getting It Together, All Over Again

2011-05-09T11:49:00.000-04:00

So. I got a new haircut on Friday (I still need to take a picture - I got about 7 inches taken off!), and I thought, "Hey! Bloggable Moment!" so I took a before picture in the stylist's chair. This picture will never, ever, ever see the light of day. Ever. Because even though I am at my pre-Sophie pregnancy weight, I still have a new mom shape around my mid-section. In fact, it looked like I was smuggling two of those floaty rings around my middle under my shirt (plus some inflatable somethings in my bra - these nursing boobs are humongous!).

Anyway, that was a definite turning point. I mean, I've been meaning to exercise and eat better, but you know, it's so much easier to not do those things, especially with a full time job and two little kids at home. Easier isn't cutting it any more. I have got to do something because I will be much happier with myself afterwards. I really want to be in a better shape, and with those two kiddos at home it's a hard thing to commit to working out and eating good for me food. In addition to the inspiration from that bad picture, one of the contestants on the Biggest Loser said something a while back that I've been trying to remember in all aspects of my life (and this is a paraphrase because I can't remember the exact words): "You can do whatever you want. You just have to do it."

Wise, wise words. I want to lose weight and get rid of the deflated baby belly, but it's not going anywhere unless I actively do something about it. So, I have some simple steps I'm using to get started. Here are my goals for this week:

1. Eat (at least) five servings of fruit and vegetables every day.
2. Don't eat anything I would be embarrased about eating (i.e. no more fast food, candy bars, soda).
3. If where I'm going is within reasonable walkable distance, walk there!
4. If it's not raining, turn off the tv and take the kids outside.

I'm hoping these simple steps will help get me moving in the right direction. I have a feeling that no matter what, I'll feel a lot better about myself by incorporating these things into my life. Next up: actual work outs. I'm all about easing into this to make it more sustainable, rather than going all gung-ho and then wearing myself out.

Counting My Blessings

2011-05-02T11:13:00.001-04:00

Recently a co-worker and I were talking about balance and family. We both decided that we were more work-to-live as opposed to live-to-work type people, meaning work for us is secondary in importance to the rest of our lives. As much as I love my job, my family far outweighs my job in importance and enjoyment.

Later on the day of this conversation, Aaron and I were chatting after the girls had gone to sleep. Even though each of us occasionally gets a case of the “wants,” I realized not long ago that I have everything I ever wanted. And even though I’ve been feeling pretty miserable for the past few months, I also have never been happier, so it’s a weird dichotomy. Talking about our many blessings (as well as recent warmth and sunny days) has really helped my mood.

Every night when I say my prayers, I recount the things I am thankful for:

A beautiful, healthy family.

More than adequate shelter.

More than adequate food.

Good, stable jobs.

Lots and lots of love.

Seriously, what more could I ask for?

(Unrelated adorable baby picture: guess who has found her feet?

)

The best things about Spring...

2011-04-27T10:14:00.000-04:00

The trees are all fuzzy and tinted with the green or pink that means leaves will be appearing soon.

Tulips. I absolutely love tulips.

Baseball.

Not having to wear a coat.

Sometimes taking a chance and wearing open toed shoes (which means no socks, which is great because I hate wearing socks).

Pedicure season starts again.

No mosquitos yet, so we can use our back yard.

Grilling season starts (once we buy our grill this weekend!!!).

Not having to bundle the girls up so much - and seeing how much Gabbie loves not wearing a coat. And a hat. And gloves. And a scarf. And boots. Man, winter is heavy to wear.

Yard work.

Rain (mostly because it's not snow).

Opening the windows and getting rid of the air that felt so heavy and stale all winter long.

And finally, some of the fog is lifting. The fog that was especially bad this year because of post-partum hormones. The fog that made me incapable of doing anything but the bare minimum that was required of me so that my world would keep running and my kids were fed and clothed and cared for. This wasn't the worst it's ever been, but the worst since I've been responsible for two small humans, which made me feel a million times worse about it. But, it's clearing. Slowly, but surely, I'm feeling more like myself. And that's the very best thing about spring.

I need a vacation

2011-04-20T11:15:00.000-04:00

And this is why...

I took the girls up north this past weekend, all by myself, which meant I had to be "on" 24-7. At least with Aaron around I can farm one of the kids off on him, or even leave both with him so I can get something done. However, even with my parents around to help out, I still had two girls basically sitting on me all weekend.

On Monday, Aaron had some sort of 24-hour bug, so I ended up taking both girls to Gabbie's tumbling class by myself (usually Aaron takes Gabbie, and Sophie and I cuddle at home and catch up on DVRed shows). Not difficult, but I had really been looking forward to that quiet time at home.

Then there was my day yesterday, which consisted of rushing around all morning, getting the girls to school, running to work to get through several back-to-back meetings, rushing out of work at 11:30 to get Sophie (barely on time) to her 4 month well visit (stats: 12 lb. 4 oz. (25th percentile) and 25 1/2 inches (94th percentile), with a 25th percentile head). Then I had to deal with a cranky-from-shots baby all afternoon, before running back out in the cold, drizzly day to pick up Gabbie from daycare.

I know this is normal mom stuff, and I'm hardly the first person to deal with being busy, but by the time dinner rolled around last night, I was ready for a break. I'm dealing with some sort of either weather-related or post-partum funk that just will not lift, and being away all weekend just makes the weeks seem harder because I don't have my typical weekend down-time. We're going away this weekend too, which I'm looking forward to, but I think I might need another weekend directly afterwards so I can get my self built up for the week.

Aaron gets it, he really does, but while he does do things to try to make me feel better (chocolates and flowers, extra cuddling whenever possible), he also tells me to buck up and do the things I need to do. He's right, I can't just mope all the time, it doesn't work with being a responsible parent/adult/breadwinner.

That said, I am fantasizing about a tropical vacation all by myself lately. Okay, Aaron can come too, but only if he keeps his mouth shut for large portions of each day. I think what I really need is some sun along with some peace and quiet. And a few really good books into which I can lose myself. A few adult-type beverages wouldn't hurt either.

Instead, I'll probably get a date this weekend while my parents watch the girls. And, that's okay too. (I'm also holding out for some pampering on Mother's Day in a couple of weeks. Just sayin'.)

Five Gabbie-isms

2011-04-12T15:44:00.000-04:00

Gabbie spends a good portion of her time lately making us giggle. Some ways she has been doing this:

1.
Me: Look at the bunnies outside! They must be getting ready for Easter!
Gabbie: I have a big booger. Can you get it?

2.
Gabbie: Daddy, my hands are dirty.
Aaron: No, they're not. They're fine.
Gabbie (mutters): Well, they are a little dirty.

3.
Me: Gabbie, time to get up!
Gabbie - mutters, rolls over.
Me: Okay you have five minutes.

Five minutes later -
Me: Gabrielle!
Gabbie (shoots straight up in bed): I'm up!
(She is so not old enough for that yet!)

4.
Gabbie: I wanna have a good time!
Me - puts on "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen
(My toddler roams around the house singing classic rock. Hilarious!)

5.
Gabbie: ...and Grandma's at home!
Me: No, she's not, Sweetie. I'm sorry.
Gabbie: But, I want her!
Me: She had to go to her house, Babe.
Gabbie (tears up): But, I want her!
Me: Sorry, Honey. She's not there.
Gabbie (sobs): BUT, I WANT HER!
Me (giggling because she's so adorable): You can have me.
Gabbie (sobbing): No, I want Grandma!

And now, a picture taken by Grandma yesterday morning of my two silly girls:

I just absolutely love them.

Time for me, us

2011-03-30T11:09:00.000-04:00

It felt good the other day to put that struggling feeling into words (as it usually does). Sophie had been sleeping really well since she was about six weeks old, so the not sleeping of the past week or so was really rough. Not unexpected, but definitely rough. She did so much better last night, and I'm feeling much more human today that I have been lately. (Although she's working on a new skill - rolling over - and as soon as she masters that we will have to stop with the swaddling. I foresee many more sleep-light nights in my future.)

Also helping that human-like feeling:

I took off work a couple hours early yesterday and went home and took a nap. It was fantastic.

Aaron took Monday off to relax and now he's in a much better mood.

The more well-rested feeling we're both experiencing means that our house is less of a disaster zone than it was (a messy house always makes my bad moods worse, but I often lack the motivation to do anything about it when I'm in a funk).

Temperatures are reaching the low 40s this week. That might not sound so amazing, but anything is better than the sub-freezing temperatures of the last few weeks.

Aaron and I are spending some time on us this week. We cuddled last night, and today we're meeting up for lunch. It feels good to reconnect as a couple; something I've been really, really missing.

I've also been eating a little better this week. Less junk food, more fruits and vegetables, and small frequent meals instead of the large, fattening meals I had been eating. Last night I even had an apple as a bedtime snack instead of the ice cream I was craving. I was pretty amazed with myself!

I've also been seeking out things that make me laugh. On the top of that list is damnyouautocorrect.com and the @bronxzooscobra Twitter feed. Another thing that's making me happy is good music, including Queen's Greatest Hits (especially Don't Stop Me Now) and many songs from the Glee soundtracks (especially Teenage Dream by the Warblers).

So far this week is kicking our asses a lot less than recent weeks. I hope - really, really hope - that this continues.

Two

2011-03-28T13:44:00.000-04:00

This is not a novel idea, or even news, but I have to say that having two kids is not double the work of one; it's exponential. I love these two girls as much as is humanly possible, but, damn am I struggling to stay afloat. The levels of busy, noise, attention needed, lack of sleep, etc. are threatening to swallow us whole. I keep thinking it will be better when... when it's warm, when Sophie is a little older, when we get more sleep, when whatever. And it will be. And I'm fine, really. I just want a nap, a little time to myself, some quiet time with my husband.

It's a good thing they're cute, is what I'm saying.

Grand Scheming

2011-03-23T10:57:00.000-04:00

Lately I have been in the mood to throw a party; a big, blow-out type party with a lot of friends and a lot of fun. Seeing as how Aaron has a birthday coming up in a little over a month, I am (selfishly, actually) planning a blow-out bash in his honor.

Here's how I see it:

Food made on our (soon to be in our possession) new grill.

A keg of one of Aaron's favorite micro-brews, as well as wine and watermelon margaritas for us non-beer-drinkers.

A fancy, delicious cake made by yours truly, accompanied by homemade ice-cream (note to self: contact KitchenAid about your broke-ass ice cream maker!).

Yard games/field events: bocce ball, ladder ball, that game where you try to throw wing-nuts through a hole in a board (there are several different names for it, none of which are even slightly appropriate), three legged races, egg/spoon relays, a water balloon toss (and squirt guns for the kids)...

My latest idea came from a wedding website, but I think it would be all kinds of fun for a birthday party too: a Candy Buffet! Aaron has the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know, so this would be awesome for him.

Friends (hopefully) traveling in for the day.

Now I just have to get to work. It's going to be a blast!

Sweet Sophie

2011-03-17T10:13:00.000-04:00

Nearly every month we get a newsletter from our kids' rooms at daycare. The newsletter from Sophie's classroom included updates on the new things each of the babies are doing, and had this little gem about my little Peanut: "Sophie just enjoys being cute for now."

And, man, is she cute! Even Aaron squeals about it from time to time, "She's just so cute!"

She's a smiley baby; she started early and seems now to smile with her whole body. Her face lights up, and her arms and legs start going, all of her incredibly excited to see you. It's fantastic.

She is so much better at nursing, and just eating in general, than her sister ever was. Gabbie never did what I'd consider "comfort nursing," but I can't say the same about Sophie. She wants to nurse for a good half hour or so when we get home at the end of the day, or pretty much any time I leave her sight for more than an hour. She'll nurse whenever I try, even if she just ate 20 minutes ago (I tested this out one day just for fun; such is the life of someone who spends 24-7 with a baby). She has taken to bottles very easily. I think that as long as it's food, she's happy.

Her spitting up problem has gotten much better. She still has days where it's bad, but as long as I watch what I eat, she does pretty well. I still can't eat onions, especially raw ones (ask me about the day I ate a Big Mac and what happened afterwards; it wasn't pretty), but she's now doing okay with broccoli, cabbage, and beans. A weird food that makes her tummy upset is peanut butter. My mom said I had the same issue when I was a baby, which is interesting, especially since peanut butter is one of my all-time favorite foods.

I'm not going to talk about sleeping, because I don't want to jinx anything. Although I will say the thing I miss most now that I'm back at work is her sleeping on my chest for her naps. That cuddle time was one of my favorite things ever.

Sophie is enamored with Gabbie. Big time. We first noticed she was following things with her eyes by the way she watched her big sister run around the room. She prefers to watch her from afar, though, as Gabbie still is learning about being gentle.

When Gabbie was a baby, we had regular visits with a physical therapist due to her hip dysplasia. Part of those visits tracked her development according to motor and social skills. It was pretty neat to know exactly where she was with everything, but I also like this experience, where I just enjoy my baby and am not worried about what she's doing (especially since she seems to be doing everything she needs to do). She's smiling, tracking objects with her eyes, bringing her hands to center, and holding her head up like a champ. We need to work on tummy time a little more (she HATES it), but other than that, she's just such a great baby. I don't know what I did to deserve these two great girls I have, but I'll gladly take them. I absolutely love being their mom.

Not constant awesomeness, but pretty darn close

2011-03-14T13:35:00.000-04:00

On a regular basis, Aaron and I remind ourselves how lucky we are to have such a good kid. Gabbie really is one of the most awesome kids I've ever met (although I am, admittedly, biased). She's kind, caring, smart, funny, cute, and just a generally great kid. She has her faults, like stubbornness and being a picky eater, for sure, but she's usually such a reliably good kid, that it makes her bad days seem so much worse.

An example of the good: she usually listens very well and is a stickler for following the rules. She follows the rules so well that we have been able to do something you wouldn't be able to do with many kids. She has a snack drawer that she can access whenever she wants, and we put all her treats in there too. Treats like sweet granola bars and all of her Valentines candy. And yet, she never once has eaten anything, not even her favorite candies, without asking first, and if we tell her no, even though she'll pout a little, she still won't do it.

Other good things include that she very rarely tantrums, she wants to cuddle almost all the time, and will do things, like her silly dance, on cue to entertain us.

Then there's the bad, which seemed to all coincide with the time change yesterday. There was a lot of bad (but it still wasn't as bad as it could be, I'm sure). There were hysterics following each and every time she was told "no." There was not listening, not even a little bit. There was using her hippity hop as a ball with an easy-launch handle, instead of for its intended use, tossing it hard right into our wood blinds, right next to the TV and her baby sister. That was one of the worst offenses for sure. She also made our house a huge mess and cried when I asked her to help pick it up.

The day ended abruptly when she did exactly the thing I had mere seconds before directed her not to do, and then when I reminded her that I had JUST TOLD HER NOT TO DO THAT, she gave me a look, a look I'm sure I'll see many times throughout the years and especially during her teenaged years, a look that pretty much said, "Gee Mom, you're stupid." And then she was deposited in her bed.

This was followed by about ten minutes of tears, but then she played in her room for a few minutes, crawled in bed, and feel asleep.

I feel like a horrible mom on days like yesterday, especially when everything finally boils over and I resort to yelling. I feel childish when I say things like, "You're ignoring what I said, so now I'm ignoring you." It's satisfying to give in and to say those things, for a second or two. Then comes the Mom Guilt.

So I'm glad that she's usually such an awesome kid. I don't have those days or that Mom Guilt very often, and for that I'm incredibly grateful. She is a blessing, no matter what. That's for sure.

Our New Normal

2011-03-09T10:56:00.001-05:00

Now that we’re three days into our new normal (-ish, since I’m only half days for the first two weeks), I have to say, it’s going pretty well. I’m actually making it to work more on time than I have in years, and we’re all adjusting incredibly well. Of course, it has been three mornings total now, so there’s still time for it to all go to shit, but I’m going to remain optimistic.

I was worried about three things with Sophie: 1 – taking a bottle (no problem there, the girl loves to eat!), 2 – the cloth diaper thing (aside from some confusion on the first day and needing to move up to the thicker inserts, that’s going well), and 3 – Sophie’s major preference for mommy and only mommy (no issues there aside from a couple of tears the first day). I’m so glad that my worries were unjustified. I attribute that to the power of worry; if I worry enough about it, it won’t happen. Right? Surely that’s true. It’s how I roll.

In addition to Sophie starting daycare this week, Gabbie moved up to the 3-year-olds room. Since she’s completely potty trained, speaks in paragraphs (who cares if all items in the paragraph aren’t necessarily related, she’s only 2 ½), and there was an opening (a key component) we all decided it was time. Her new teacher told me yesterday that it is as if she has been in that room for forever. Talk about a good transition. That’s my girl!

I also have to say, that this easing back into it slowly thing (see: half days for the first two weeks) really is the way to go. I haven’t cried once! I’m amazed at myself, since I normally cry at the drop of a hat (ask Aaron, I’m fun to live with I’m sure).

So, other news of the girls, since I’m doing horribly at this blogging thing lately and feeling guilty about not writing things down:

Sophie really, really prefers to be held, at all hours if possible. This has contributed to a bit of an, um, well, she has a flat spot on her head. I feel absolutely horrible about this. My kid has a funny shaped head! So, we’ve been working on more time not in mommy’s arms and more tummy time. My sister bought her a little play gym and that has helped, except she peed all over it yesterday, so it’s out of commission while in the wash. She’s also working at reaching for things and grasping them. She’s a pro at holding on to fingers, but not much else yet. We’re working on it. I have say, the second child thing is crazy. We worked with Gabbie on all her “skills” all the time, but with Sophie we’re a little more lax about everything, both because we are old hat at this parenting thing and not worrying as much, and because we’re busy with the other kid and don’t have all the free time in the world to concentrate on every little detail. Poor Sophie, it sounds like she’s being all kind of neglected. She is sooooo not.

Gabbie is awesome as usual. She’s stubborn as hell, but also amazingly funny (whether she’s trying to be or not). Our favorite anecdote from late is this: The other night, as a special treat, I was letting her fall asleep in our bed (special cuddle time with mommy). I thought she was asleep, when all of the sudden she announced she had to use the potty. She’s pro at using the potty, but her wiping skills leave a little to be desired at times. Consequently, her underpants got a little wet. She didn’t realize this until she got back into our bed, and she started crying, “I peed in your bed!” I assured her that she had not, and we went and got a fresh pair of underpants, and all was well. Shortly afterwards, Aaron came upstairs and following some conversation wherein she told him “no” about something, he got stern with her about telling him “no.” Half-way through this mini-lecture, she held up her hand at him, and said, very seriously, “I only peed in my pants a little bit, Aaron.” Then she sighed, like she was thinking, “oh, man , dealing with my parents is exhausting.” As you can imagine, all sternness from Aaron flew out the window as we broke into giggles. Kids are hilarious.

I don’t know how I imagined life with two kids. It is both better and way crazier then I ever thought it would be, but I definitely wouldn’t trade it. It seems like we’re finally starting to hit our stride, and I think we’re all thankful for that. I mean, sure, Aaron and I dream daily of running away for a long weekend to someplace warm without the kids, but I’m pretty sure all parents do that. Especially this time of year. Bring on the spring!

Distractions

2011-03-02T15:43:00.001-05:00

I cannot believe it's March already. The fact that it's March means that it's nearly time for me to go back to work. In fact, Friday is my last day of maternity leave. Although I do look forward to getting some adult interaction time, I am dreading not being home all day every day with my girls. However, this job is a large part of what allows us to live such a blessed life, so I'll go back happily.

But, I can't deny that I'll be missing these two so much it hurts.

At least we'll have a place to stay if we want to head to the Southwest

2011-02-09T11:38:00.000-05:00

I don't write about my family on here much - there's nothing to complain about and bragging on how awesome my parents and siblings are would get tiresome for those reading, I'm sure. However, on top of all the big things I have going on personally - the new baby, only a few weeks of maternity leave left and the mixed feelings about that, and so much more - I also have to deal with the fact that my baby sister, who has never lived more than 90 minutes away from me, is moving all the way across the country in just a couple of weeks.

I also have to deal with the fact that my baby sister is in fact not a baby, but a big shot accountant who is moving in with her long-term boyfriend who is working on his Ph.D. She is definitely NOT a baby. I can't handle the fact that she's so grown up (or that my baby brother, the middle child, is now in his late 20s; how did we all get so old?), or that she'll live a 30 hour car ride away instead of a quick hour and a half.

I'm happy for her, I really am, but I am going to miss her like absolute crazy. Not only is she my sister, she's also one of my very best friends and one of the coolest people I know. She's also one of Gabbie's absolute favorite people. We're all excited for her new adventure but also prone to tears at the drop of the hat when we think about how infrequently we'll get to see her. We already get teary every time we think about how infrequently we get to see my brother, who lives on the East coast, and he's only 9 hours away.

It's time, though, for her to move on to the next phase of her life. She'll be able to come home at least a few times a year, although her first trip back isn't scheduled until September. In the meantime, thank goodness for Skype!

A Million Little Updates

2011-02-08T08:53:00.000-05:00

It has finally happened: Sophie let me put her down for more than two seconds (it's actually been over an hour now that she has been sleeping in her crib) (and I probably will hear from her in two seconds now that I've typed that), and I remembered about this blog thing I have and how I desperately want to update more for me, so that I can remember things, than for anyone else.

Since I have a ton of little things I want to put up here, it's bullet time!

Gabbie is adorable with Sophie. She wants to help me with everything, including and especially diaper changes, giving Sophie her binky, and is constantly on the quest to get Sophie to hold her finger. She calls her Little One, Lil' Peanut, and Sophs (as do we all). She has just a little bit of jealousy happening, but it's really not too bad; just an occasional "I want you, Mom" when I have been holding onto Sophie for a while.
Aaron is also pretty adorable with Sophie. You can tell that each of his girls hold a special place in his heart. The cutest thing is that there are things that are Gabbie's or were Gabbie's that he's insisting are just hers - her special nickname, the dress she wore for her first portraits, etc. And then he insists on bonding time with Sophie (She has a strong Mommy preference and we're working to break her of it just a little). There's nothing I love more than watching him with his daughters.
Speaking of the strong Mommy preference, it's mostly because Mommy has "the Goods." If she could, Sophie would be attached 22-7. She needs a little time to look around, otherwise it would be 24-7. Also, "the Goods" are doing their job well. At her one month appointment yesterday (at six weeks, due to being previously cancelled for snow) she measured 9 lbs. 15 oz. (up exactly 2 pounds from birth), and 23 3/4 inches (up 2 3/4 inches from birth), landing her in the 50th percentile for weight and 98th percentile for height. Gabbie has always been about 5th to 10th percentile for weight and about 95th percentile for height, so this slightly chubbier baby thing is new to me (and I love it). And I apparently grow them tall.
Due to Gabbie's history of hip dysplasia, we had to take Sophie in to Gabbie's orthopedist for an ultrasound, because the condition can be genetic. The doctor doing the ultrasound said something about being able to move her right hip out of socket, and a harness, and my heart sunk. I so didn't want to deal with hip issues again! However, when we saw our actual doctor, she said everything looks fine, she's way above the threshold for acceptable, and we'll do an x-ray at 6 months just to make sure everything is still developing correctly. I think people two rooms over could hear our sighs of relief.
Sophie is smiling, and it melts my heart every time she does it. She's also much more alert these days and is trying to grab for things (her aim is still horrible, though). We're getting to see much more of her personality everyday, and I have to say: I'm so in love with this girl.
It's a good thing she's mastered the smiling thing, because the six week growth spurt has hit us. Hard. She doesn't like to sleep or really do anything but be held and to nurse at least every hour for most of the day. It's rough. Even though we hadn't been swaddling her, it looks like we're going to have to start that up again, because we tried it overnight and it has allowed her to sleep on her own for much longer stretches than we had been getting out of her. Which is excellent, because we're all in desperate need of some sleep.
We decided to do cloth diapers with Sophie, and I have to say I really like them. We've made a couple of tweaks to make the system work for us, but even Aaron is finally on board (he liked the idea if not the reality at first). The only thing we're bad at is letting her stay in one for two long from time to time, meaning that whoever is holding her gets wet. Hey, it could be worse.

And now, for some pictures of my adorable girls:

Chilling out in her bouncy chair, which she fortunately loves.

Those cheeks! They slay me!

I think 2 1/2 is the age when they officially start goofing off for every picture ever taken of them.

I just love this picture.

Does she look like trouble, or what?

Sisters!

And finally, because it's very fun, Gabbie Dances:

Distractions

2011-01-24T16:50:00.000-05:00

Man do these two keep me busy.

And with that, someone is demanding to be nursed again, so I'm off. I'll be back soon with something of substance.

She Sure Knows How to Make an Entrance

2011-01-06T15:49:00.000-05:00

Now that it's been two weeks since Sophie decided to come out and join us, I thought it high time to share her birth story. It's short and sweet, because that's pretty much how it went.

Just a few days before Sophie's birth, I looked like this:

Which, holy cow! No wonder I was ready for her to come out!

On the 22nd I was feeling pretty miserable, and not only that, I was feeling really anti-social which is totally unlike me. My sister, her boyfriend, friend, and my brother were here and all I wanted was a quiet house, so I'm sure I was a blast to be around. I should have known then that something was up, but I was pretty sure the baby was never coming out.

I was up late that night - I didn't get to bed until ten and it took me a while to settle in to sleep (clue number two that I ignored). I was completely restless and irritable; one large, crabby pregnant lady. And I felt horrible about it.

At about 11:45 I woke up to a weird popping feeling, which I thought was gas, but then I noticed that things were a little, well, damp.

I went to the bathroom, peed, stood up, and then sat back down because I had just soaked my pants. My water was definitely broken this time! I called for Aaron, who got me a towel and some other wetness-catching implements, and then started to run around like a crazy person. Luckily, my sister was still here to stay with Gabbie, so we woke her up to tell her the good news, and were on the road by midnight. My contractions started in the car, and were coming approximately every two minutes and lasting for nearly a minute (the same exact way my labor started with Gabbie - at least I'm consistent!).

So, one annoying side note, after whatever time, the front of the hospital is locked up tight, and they don't really have any good directions on how to get into the damn place. It was a little annoying to say the least, since I was wearing wet pants and it was freezing cold outside. Aaron found a place to park near an open door and wheeled me up to labor and delivery.

I spent a very short time in triage, and because I was reportedly 4 centimeters dilated, my water was definitely broken, and my contractions were two minutes apart. They wheeled me over to the delivery ward and into my room, where the nurse checked me and declared that I wasn't a 4, I was really just at 2-3 centimeters. Talk about disappointing. I got all set up in the bed with the monitors and settled in to labor away.

I should let you know here that my plan going into this was to go without any pain medication or epidural, and luckily the staff were very supportive of that - offering me anything I wanted but not pushing it when I said no, which was great.

At about 2:30 they checked me again and I was only at 3 centimeters. At three the shift changed, and we got our second awesome nurse of the night. Shortly after that she came in and said the doctor wanted to give me some pitocin. I really didn't want it, and asked if I could labor a bit longer on my own, and they said yes. Since Sophie was responding well during my contractions, they also let me get off the monitors and move around, which was wonderful. I stood for a little while, sat on the labor ball for a while, and then on the edge of the bed so that I could lean into Aaron during my contractions. This whole time my contractions were about 2 minutes apart but totally bearable. I figured if this was it I was in for a long ride. I even felt well enough to take cheesy pictures in which I look approximately the size of a whale.

They checked me again at around 3:30 and I was at 5 centimeters.

At around 4:30 it started getting painful. Really painful. I thought my back was going to rip in half kind of painful. Since I figured I was only at a 5 or so, and I knew I couldn't deal with that pain for too much longer, I called uncle and asked for an epidural. The anesthesiologist was in shortly thereafter and set up shop quickly. She managed to give me a couple of locals and to get in the spinal catheter before I declared, "I HAVE TO PUSH!" Also, "WHY IS THIS NOT WORKING? I CAN STILL FEEL EVERYTHING? WHEN IS IT GOING TO KICK IN?" (It wasn't working because she didn't get any medication in. There wasn't enough time.)

The nurse checked me, and then calmly hit the call button and said, "Please send in the doctor immediately." All this while I'm loudly moaning (I hope I didn't scare any of my neighbors) and asking why it still hurts so bad. Probably because I was in transition and the baby was coming out. Soon.

The doctors got there, set up shop, and I got in position to push. Five minutes and two pushes later, our second beautiful daughter was put in my arms.

I heard the nurse tell the doctor thank you for hurrying, because she doesn't "mind delivering babies, but prefer it when the doctor is there if possible." Yikes!

I got to do kangaroo care (skin to skin cuddling) right after she was born, and nursed shortly afterwards as well. I know many people don't put much stock in birth plans, me included, but this birth went exactly as I would have planned it if I could.

Both Sophie and I were doing so well that day and the next that we got to go home at 2:00 the next afternoon so we could be home on Christmas morning. Two weeks later and we're still doing great. Tired, but really, really great.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T18:27:00.000-05:00

After closing out 2010 with all that wonderful craziness, I'm looking forward to 2011 with peace in mind.

This one will be quick tonight ( almost time to nurse Sophie again), but I thought I'd hop on and post my resolutions for the year, all of which are intended to make my life more peaceful.

1. Be more organized (first part of this - deal with mail as soon as it comes in the house - I'll add a new part each month)

2. Eat 5 servings of fruit and vegetables every day (feel more peaceful about my health/body)

3. Read 26 books (cut in half from last year; maybe I can reach this goal, and it helps me carve out me time)

4. Take time each day to think about all I have for which I'm grateful.

5. Take a picture every day.

Five seems like a nice number. I think I'll stop there.

Sophie

2010-12-29T11:13:00.000-05:00

I feel like a horrible blogger - not updating my blog with our excellent news until nearly a week after it occurred, but I've been understandably busy.

Sophie Eloise arrived last Thursday morning at 5 in the morning. We're both doing great, and we're all a little tired, but still. Great. She's a really good baby, and I am over the moon about her.

Then of course, there was Christmas and a houseful of guests.

I don't think we've ever been so blessed at Christmastime.

Gabbie is an excellent big sister, and I'm so proud of how well she's doing. There have been a few additional tantrums, and, just to make things a little more interesting, she came down with a cold on Christmas eve, so she hasn't been able to hold and play with her baby sister as much as she wants.

Thankfully, there are plenty of new toys in the house to keep her busy. Her favorites include her toy kitchen:

And chapstick:

(I'm glad she's so easy to please.)

But now, I'm going back to my favorite activity - baby cuddling.

Tantrums

2010-12-15T10:41:00.000-05:00

Last night at bedtime we experienced the most epic 2-year-old tantrum to date. Gabbie is definitely not the kind of kid who calms down through crying; she just gets more and more upset until she's practically hyperventilating and we need to step in to calm her down. This kind of sucks because she gets the attention she wants which doesn't help to discourage the tantrums. But, she was over-tired (she has had short naps two days in a row, plus she refused to nap over the weekend), over-sugared, and over-indulged (it's hard not to give her what she wants these days because I feel guilty about how much her world is about to change without her having a choice in the matter), and she just lost it.

Also not helping the situation was the fact that Aaron and I couldn't help but laugh, something that sets her off even more because she gets embarrassed.

We finally got her calmed down and she was, of course, asleep two minutes later. Oh, Two. Two is interesting to say the least.

She's not the only one who regularly loses it these days, either. I am having a very hard time with concentration and patience, which doesn't lend itself well to finishing up tasks at home and work, or when dealing with a two-year-old. Last week I was feeling overwhelmed, over-tired (she's definitely not the only one; we're all exhausted these days), and it was my turn to lose it. Aaron laughed at me a little as I burst in to tears, exclaiming, "Everything is going to change!" (um, duh), and "How is my baby (Gabbie) going to handle it?" (As Aaron pointed out, we (both oldest children) and several million other oldest children have handled it just fine for thousands of years).

Someone else in our house, who shall not be named here, also threw a mini-fit about potato chips (or, really, the lack of) and how I need to replace what I finish off when I go shopping.

We're all clearly a little anxious. Even though I want the baby to show up now (GET OUT BABY!), I'll be fine with her coming next week, because then at least I'll be done with work (2.5 days left!) and then some of the anxiety will be alleviated. We're also reducing Gabbie's days in daycare during my leave, so hopefully that will also help her relax. I'm looking forward to a day of just the two of us together if we get it. If not, well, of course I have something else I can be excited about.

About as disjointed as I feel right now

2010-12-14T13:59:00.000-05:00

Ever since this past summer, when I found out I was pregnant and then accepted the Big Promotion at work, my poor blog has been sadly neglected. I kind of feel bad about this, especially since my pregnancy with baby number two has not been nearly as well documented as my pregnancy with Gabbie was.

Other things have fallen by the wayside as well. Reading. Getting my hair cut (it's seriously long). Pretty much anything other than work, spending quality time with my family, and basic house keeping (just enough to keep it from getting gross).

So, needless to say, even though having a new baby is definite craziness, I'm kind of looking forward to how much my life is going to slow down any day now. (ANY DAY NOW! DUE SUNDAY! AHHH!) As Aaron and I were dragging our butts out of bed way too late again this morning, we reflected at how we've hit the point in this pregnancy where it feels ridiculous for people to expect anything from us, and yet here I am, working away, trying to get yet another annual report done, data collection instruments drafted, participating in conference calls and meetings, getting everything as complete as possible before I leave people here to fend for themselves.

Also, my house, while fairly decorated for Christmas, is a mess right now. I lack both the energy and motivation to care about it.

Yet, I have so much to do, and I feel like I'm running out of time. The best part about the baby? I'm pretty sure I won't care about those other things for a while. I can't wait to meet her, and get to know her, and hibernate with her and the rest of my family.

I know for sure it's not going to be a walk in the park, but I still can't wait!

Week 39

2010-12-06T09:40:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe that I'm here already. There are less than two weeks until my due date and I'm sort of freaking out. Of course, the doctor told me again last week that I'll probably be late again. As a "hey, maybe this will make you feel better about that" kind of gesture, she told me that for babies born the week of Christmas there are special receiving blankets and they get Santa hats. I? Really don't care about blankets and hats. I just want to meet my baby!

I turned 31 last week, which was pretty much a non-event. Aaron and Gabbie got me a beautiful pair of diamond earrings and Gabbie also gave me her cold, which I have been battling ever since. I must note that coughing while having the entirety of a small person's weight on your bladder is not a gambling game I like to play. Also, pregnancy is super sexy. Obviously.

As a birthday present to myself, I scheduled a massage which ended up happening on Friday evening. In addition to being a fabulous way to end a long week, it alleviated the sciatic pain I had been dealing with for a couple of weeks. That itself was worth probably triple what the massage costs. I will be going back again.

This weekend we relaxed, which was sorely needed. My mom and sister stopped by and brought me some new comfy pajama pants and a robe, some completely adorable sweater/leggings sets for Gabbie, and a bunch of candy for Aaron. We got started on decorating the house for Christmas, and bought all but the last couple of things we need for the baby (we still just need burp cloths and about 12 more cloth diapers), and assembled the crib.

I rounded out the weekend by organizing my underwear/sock drawer and going through all of Gabbie's clothes to weed out those that don't fit her anymore. Can you say nesting? I also rounded out the weekend by daydreaming about hiring a housekeeper to do a top to bottom clean of the house. As I said to Aaron, that's how you know you're nesting but are also too sick to do anything that requires much energy.

Ways in Which my Weekend Sucked

2010-11-22T09:48:00.000-05:00

Experiencing pregnancy hormones that make me weepy at the drop of a hat
Carrying a baby that likes to bounce on my bladder making running errands quite interesting.
Wanting to eat out on Saturday night but being thwarted by the large crowds brought into town by the MSU/Purdue game (GO STATE!) causing hour plus waits at every restaurant in town.
Dealing with the worst heartburn I've ever had.
Aaron having an issue that makes it hard for him to move/lift things and causes him a lot of pain, but also having him not listen to me and do three hours plus of yard work that just made things worse.
Gabbie not using her listening ears. At all.
Burning the batch of granola I made that I had been looking forward to all week.
Not having ingredients I needed to make dinner yesterday (I fudged the recipe and it still turned out pretty darn delicious)
Slicing through my fingernail (near the cuticle) with a sharp serrated knife while trying to slice bread. (OUCH!)
Having my back go out last night.

However, my weekend was spent hanging out with my family, engaging in lots of cuddling and smiling a lot despite all the suckage, and really, no amount of suckage outweighs those things.

Leaving babyhood behind, far too quickly for my taste

2010-11-16T09:29:00.000-05:00

Intellectually I understand that Gabbie is not a "baby" anymore. However, every time we start to leave a babyish habit behind, I am a little bit sad. Currently she is without diapers, eats on our regular plates with our regular silverware, drinks out of a regular cup, and falls asleep by herself in her big girl bed. The only baby habit we had left was the binky, and it was far past time when the binky needed to go.

Gabbie, 5 months old, with The Bink

The Bink, as we called it, has been a fairly constant companion to Gabbie since we finally gave in and gave it to her when she was 10 weeks old (we are not planning to hold out this time). It has been easy to let her have it. We limited it to nights and naps (and in the car on long trips) only when she was about 18 months old, and that system has worked well for us, unless she's hurt and then it's hard not to give her something that helps comfort her so quickly. Sure, she got plenty of hugs and cuddles too, but The Bink has been our ace in the hole for all kinds of situations.

But she's closing in quickly on 2 1/2, and we are now fairly committed. The Bink has to go. Gabbie helped us along in this process last week at daycare. We had one Bink for daycare and one Bink for home. After her nap one day they couldn't find The Daycare Bink. Searching high and low yielded nothing, but they figured it would turn up when they cleaned the classroom at the end of the day. When it didn't, they gave her a loaner binky for nap the next day, and after nap they caught her about to put the loaner binky in the trash. When they asked if she had thrown away The Bink the day before, and she answered, "Yep!" before running off to play.

So, down to one Bink, we decided it was now or never. She didn't use The Bink for most of her naps at daycare last week, but I gave in a lot this weekend due to the whole single parenting gig while Aaron was at deer camp. Yesterday she went down for nap without The Bink with no problem, but then some noise by the school's maintenance crew woke her up and scared her, so they gave it to her. Last night, Aaron lied to her (and I told him it was all on him now if she caught him in the lie, which is something she's really good at) and told her that he left The Bink at school and so it would be a little while before he could go get it, and then he asked her to lay there and try to go to sleep in the meantime.

Five minutes later she was asleep and slept soundly all night with no Bink. Success! For one night at least.

This morning we sat her down for a little chat and told her that if she went all week without using The Bink, that the Binky Fairy would bring her a big present this weekend. She will do pretty much anything for even a little present, so we'll probably be heading out to the store soon to buy her the promised present. I'm so proud of my girl for being so big, but I'm still a little sad that yet another artifact from her babyhood is going away.

I'm also preparing for the battles that are likely to occur when or if she sees the baby using a bink.

She Sure is Cute!

2010-11-15T13:44:00.000-05:00

I know you all know the saying, "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." Yeah. That's why you're getting these pictures today.

Updates of the Random Variety

2010-11-08T11:42:00.000-05:00

Gabbie actually ate food last week! Real food! Without really any battles. It's amazing how much better my week goes when I don't have to fight with my child several times a day in order to get her to ingest a few calories. She even ate turkey pineapple chili and chicken spaghetti without a fight. It was amazing! Yesterday I was making pulled pork nachos for lunch (delicious!) and I knew she wouldn't eat those, but I gave her a plate with separate piles of chips, pork, cole slaw, and cheese sauce and she dug right in. There was a little bit of a battle to get her to try the cheese sauce, but once she did she loved it (who wouldn't?). Then she kept quoting Yo Gabba Gabba over and over again: "I tried it and I liked it!"

Of course, all of this eating doesn't come without consequence, and of course the pants that fit last week are flood pants this week.

As a reward for being so good last week, we took a family outing to local kids' science museum on Saturday morning, and she loved it. It was a blast, and we went early enough that we beat out the crowds, which were starting to get massive by the time we left. She, of course, loved it. (Especially the Bubble Room.)

Baby #2 provided all kinds of good news this morning at my OB appointment. My blood pressure was good, I didn't gain any weight since my last appointment (we've been eating healthy and avoiding take out as much as possible), Baby's heart rate was the same as always (it has been at 158 at every appointment), and the best news of all: she's head down! Now as long as she stays that way we're in business. I'm still not at the point where I'm uncomfortable all day (although I know that's not too far off), and I definitely have some limitations on what I can do, but I really can't complain all that much, which is awesome.

Lastly, I know it's only Monday, but I really can't wait until this weekend. Aaron is headed off to Beer Camp (aka Deer Camp, even though he doesn't hunt, he goes to hang out, eat fattening food, and drink good beer), and wanted to make sure someone was with me in case anything baby related went down, so my sister is spending the weekend with Gabbie and me. I'm especially excited, because I'm soaking in as much sister time as possible these days. Right now she lives with my parents (she works 60+ hours a week, and therefore would never see an apartment if she rented one) just 90 minutes away, but come March she's moving across the country to live with her boyfriend of five years (who is working on his PhD so is unable to move back here for another five years or so). I can't blame her, but I am going to miss her horribly. A girls' weekend with her sounds great right about now.

My Family is Nuts

2010-11-05T14:18:00.001-04:00

This week all my whole family has wanted to do is stay in bed and cuddle all day. None of us has wanted to go to work or daycare, or spend time apart from one another.

Of course, now that the weekend is here, Aaron and I have made all kinds of plans that will keep us from doing that much, if at all. We're planning on breakfast out, a trip to a museum and local city market, a couple of shopping trips for things for the house, and various other items on our to-do list. I don't know what it is about the weekends, but we seem to fit in as much as humanly possible and then spend the days we need to be out of the house craving to do the opposite. We're obviously nuts.

Still, it has been a fantastic (if not quick enough) week, and it's nice when we're not all sick of each other. I mean, really, how could I ever be sick of spending time these two goofballs?

I can't wait until I have three of these nuts to deal with!

The Desire to Hibernate is Strong

2010-11-04T11:24:00.000-04:00

I have to say, I am having a hard time thinking of anything to post about today. Despite two full-nights' sleep I am more tired today than normal. I blame being pregnant and the weather (it's supposed to snow tonight. Snow!). It's this time of year that I feel like doing nothing more than curling up on the couch with someone to cuddle, and alternately napping or watching a movie. Yep, that's about it.

Unfortunately I'm expected to do things, like work, parent, interact with my husband and others, cook, clean, etc. Don't people know it's hibernation time?

Fortunately I do get to hibernate for most of the winter. After the baby gets here, our only outings will likely be to daycare to drop Gabbie off or pick her up. I will be spending most of the winter cuddled up with the baby, watching movies or reading while she nurses or snoozes, and I kind of can't wait. Not kind of actually. I'm feeling ready for that to happen.

Now, off to do the million things I have to do before that happens, because, you know, feeling responsible and not wanting to leave extra work for others, and all that.

Updates On My Other Child

2010-11-03T08:54:00.000-04:00

There are a couple of those pregnancy/baby week-by-week apps on my phone, and as of Sunday they both informed me that my baby could already be five pounds and 18 inches long. Those, my friends, are real baby kind of stats. Aaron and I both promptly freaked the heck out.

Then Monday came around, and the calendar turned to November, making us realize that next month we will have a baby! Not to mention I got to hold a newborn on Monday. It's starting to get really real up in here for us.

So. Updates.

So far we have sorted through clothes, and that's all the baby-related progress we have made. This weekend Aaron's honey-do list is very, very long. While I'm washing baby clothes, he'll be moving furniture around, assembling the crib in our room, and possibly painting the nursery (although she likely won't be in there for about 6 months after she's born, so that one isn't quite as urgent). Then he'll be hauling a few baby items out of the basement so I can clean them and store them in her room.

The nesting urge is still going strong, although I lack the energy to do most of what I want to get done, and spend the energy I do have nagging my family to clean up their stuff, or following around after them cleaning it up. Every time I get up to do something, Aaron tells me to sit down and relax, which is nice, but is not helping me accomplish anything.

Nesting extended to the outdoors this past weekend, when I woke up on Sunday morning and informed Aaron he would be taking down one of the bushes in our front yard. It was looking way too overgrown out there and there was one bush I thought was causing the majority of the overgrownedness (it is too a word). I was right, but now that it looks somewhat nicer, there's a few clumps of flowers (that I hate) whose days are numbered. Luckily for them it's getting (really, really) cold outside (it's supposed to snow this week!), and I'm kind of a wuss about the cold, so they may get a brief reprieve unless I can nag Aaron into taking them out.

It's obviously a blast to live with me these days!

In other news, I actually slept through the night in my own bed last night. This hasn't happened much lately, as the baby and I usually wake up sometime between 1 and 3 and head downstairs to the couch to watch TV since we'll both be up for a while anyway. She likes to party in the middle of the night, apparently. She is still a very kicky baby, although things have slowed just a little, probably because she's running out of room in there.

I can't figure out yet if she's head down, but hopefully the doctor will be able to tell at my next appointment. Starting Monday I go in for weekly appointments, which, while kind of an inconvenience, is also kind of awesome because I get to hear her heartbeat every week. I love hearing her heartbeat.

Finally, we have definitely settled on her name, and have even let it slip to family members. So, unless she really doesn't look like what we've picked, she has a name, and I love it! Although I keep calling her by her sister's name (already - this doesn't bode well for my children), or my sister's name. No one here or on Twitter has guessed it yet - but I can give a hint. There's a "p" somewhere in her name.

As for me, I'm physically feeling pretty good, although I do run out of breath easily, my hips ache, and sometimes her kicks actually hurt. I'm fairly comfortable most of the time, unless I do a little too much. Then I start aching all over and have had a few big contractions when I've really overdone it. It's great to be this far along, and I'm really getting impatient to meet the newest member of our family.

Some Gabbie-isms

2010-11-02T09:27:00.001-04:00

This weekend was full of Gabbie-isms.

Gabbie-ism 1: She was mad at me on Saturday morning, so she pointed her finger at me accusingly, scowled, and declared, "You're not a princess!" I laughed which made her even more mad.

Gabbie-ism 2: Also on Saturday, I was upset in the morning. Gabbie grabbed my hand, rubbed it, and said, "It gonna be okay Mama." Cue the cute-induced melting right there.

Gabbie-ism 3: On Sunday we were lounging in bed watching a movie. Mid-movie, she looked at me and said, "I love you soooo much." And then I melted yet again.

Gabbie-ism 4: She has been asking "Why?" a lot lately, and it often gets to the point of the "because I said so" answer. We needed to clip her nails this weekend and she refused us several times (by throwing a fit). I finally asked her why she wouldn't let us cut her nails, and she answered, "Because I said so." I think that was the two-year-old version of getting lawyered.

Not quite a Gabbie-ism, but more a reminder to watch what I say: Gabbie said "Dammit" appropriately on three separate occasions this weekend. Thankfully they were all when we were alone.

Between these, the "Har Har Baby" pirating, and too many others to count, she definitely keeps us on our toes (and laughing heartily) these days.

Happy Halloween (with a side of NaBloPoMo)

2010-11-01T07:00:00.000-04:00

Gabbie woke up at six yesterday morning, asking if it was time to go trick or treating yet. I think we may have overhyped that part of Halloween. I mean she obviously takes her candy very seriously:

And we had practiced the week before at Boo at the Zoo (which also gave us a chance for a dry run with the homemade Tinkerbell wings):

You might not be able to tell from the picture, but the wings are very sparkly. And very pink. When we walked into the zoo event, a 5 year old girl stopped in her tracks, pointed, and said, "Mom! She's beautiful!" (And then I melted.)

Since she was so anxious, we started the day off with a little playing dress-up:

Gabbie the Pirate says "Har Har, Baby!" (We tried to get her to say "Argh Matey" and this is her interpretation.)

Things geared up around 4, when we carved our pumpkins (being out of town the entire week before a holiday kind of sucks), ate dinner (Mummy dogs and sweet potato fries (because they're orange)), and then, finally, around 5:45 we got her into costume for a photoshoot on the front porch.

Soon after this she became "Winter Time Tinkerbell" with a hat and gloves (or according to Gabbie, gwubs) because it was pretty darn chilly.

We had played up trick or treating because we were worried about it scaring her a little. She is very shy these days, and we thought approaching and talking to strangers (or at least neighbors that she doesn't see regularly) might be a bit overwhelming for her. Not to worry though, she did great. She made it to eight houses nearby before coming home and refusing to go inside because seeing all the other kids in their costumes was her favorite part of the evening. She did such a great job!

(At least until this morning when she cried that she couldn't have candy for breakfast.)

We had a good turn-out of Trick or Treaters and ended the night watching Ghost Hunters Live and eating leftover candy. It was a pretty spectacular Halloween.

P.S. I decided to give myself a kick in the metaphorical blogging pants and join up to try NaBloPoMo again this year. Maybe this will be the year I make it all the way through! Although with the major case of pregnancy brain I have lately, it's likely I'll forget a day. I'm also NaBloPoMoing it over here.

Vacations

2010-10-26T11:02:00.000-04:00

It is a little bit sad that attending a conference feels like vacation to me, but right now it does. I'm sitting in a cafe, working, drinking some coffee (decaf, sadly), and it's QUIET. And wonderful. Tonight I have a hotel room to myself, and even if I don't sleep well, I don't have to worry about disturbing anyone else while tossing and turning. I can even go to bed at eight and not feel guilty, like I should be doing something else with my family or that I'm leaving too many things for Aaron to do.

Aaron and Gabbie are also on "vacation" this week. Aaron has the house to himself, with no one else constantly messing it up. He can come and go as he pleases, and has a man-date scheduled for tonight to go out for beer and burgers. Gabbie is at my parents' house - we arrived last night and she has already been spoiled rotten. She literally pushed me out the door this morning. She wants her "Gwama" all to herself, thankyouverymuch.

It has definitely been a LONG past few months and we were all in desperate need for a break from one another. I'd like to say that things will be slowing down after this week, but I can't. I have another project ramping up at work (plus a new one we just landed that has to be fully set up and ready to go before I go on leave), and then of course finishing getting ready for the baby. I've always told Aaron that maternity leave is emphatically not a vacation, but it's kind of starting to look like one. Add in a brand new baby to snuggle all warm and cozy when it's so cold outside, and it's looking downright luxurious. I know once reality sets in those first few weeks, it will be far from the idyllic scene I imagine right now, but I'm really, really, looking forward to it.

The Weeks are Flying By

2010-10-22T10:01:00.000-04:00

I'm pretty sure that Gabbie has noticed something is going to change in our house. It's not just that we keep telling her about the baby and talking about it with her, watching babies on TV so she knows they cry a lot, and reading books about being a big sister. She seems to sense that something is different and she's having a bit of a hard time with this feeling. She has been extra clingy, crying at daycare drop off, when usually she runs into the school and jumps up to give her teachers a hug. She has wanted to sit on my lap nearly constantly or if I'm standing, be holding on to me in some way. It's adorable, but also makes it hard to accomplish nearly anything.

So we've been paying her lots of attention, and doing lots of fun things with her. Like going to the "kids park" (she calls it a kids park, not just a park, apparently so we know which park she means?) and playing on the swings and slide:

We have a small neighborhood park right near our house, but her favorite park is a little further down the road. We went last Friday, which is apparently the time all the neighborhood moms take their two-year-olds to the park. It was a blast, and I got to talk to another mom for a while. I've been meaning to make more mom friends, so I think we're going to have to head to this park on Fridays more often.

For a while now, Gabbie has been very into singing and music. She sings fairly constantly, and no matter where we are. A couple of weeks ago she was belting out the ABCs at the grocery store and some older gentleman gave me a dirty look. I returned the look, since she could have been doing something much more annoying, and she was being fairly adorable, actually. We encourage the singing, since my side of the family is fairly musical, and every once in a while she loses her camera shyness and lets us record her (and then wants to watch it over, and over, and over again). Just last weekend, we managed to capture one of her current favorites, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star:

She is so fun, and beginning to stress about what having a new baby will be like for her. I'm so excited she gets to have a sister, and I know it will be awesome in the long run. I just don't want it to be too hard on her now (like that's possible, or like we have a choice - it's a little late for that). It helps a lot that she LOVES babies, or else I'd be a lot more worried.

(And yes, this was mostly an excuse to post even more evidence of how cute I think she is.)

Proud (soon-to-be) Big Sister

2010-10-15T08:53:00.000-04:00

I was trying to take a belly shot this morning, and Gabbie decided she wanted in on the action. She's adorable, and I sometimes feel like I don't take nearly enough pictures of her, so of course I had to oblige.

(I totally flipped this around in Photoshop so her shirt would be readable. She's very excited about her "Sister Rainbow shirt!")

Unfortunately, due to Gabbie wearing black pants, it looks like she has no legs, I'm approximately 3 feet wide, adn there's a strange bump right below my actual bump (it's her knee). Still you can kind of see why, when I looked in the mirror today, I was fairly shocked at how enormous I am lately. I went to the dentist yesterday and they were all very kind, telling me I looked great for being 7 months along.

I also had a doctor's appointment this week. I'm on the every two-week schedule right now, which kind of blows my mind. In order to pass this feeling on to Aaron, I told him about the discussion I had with the doctor; how if I go in to labor after 36 weeks they most likely won't try to stop it. Then I went for it - 36 weeks is only 5 WEEKS AWAY. He had to lie down. We're also kind of drama queens/kings in our house lately, apparently. This whole already 31 weeks pregnant thing is blowing all of our minds. Well, except Gabbie's. She's just ready to have a baby of her very own living in her house.

Trying to Catch a Break

2010-10-12T15:15:00.000-04:00

Last night after dinner I had reached my limit with Two. To be exact, it was 20 minutes after everyone but Gabbie had finished dinner and moved on to other activities, while she was still sitting there avoiding even looking at her dinner for fear that some of it might actually end up in her mouth. She was also loudly lamenting the fact that she had been left alone at the table by her horribly mean parents. My head was ready to explode, and though I'm not proud of it, I finally let her down from the table but not without yelling at her first.

It may be the hormones talking, but this kid refusing to eat is the most frustrating thing I've ever had to deal with. It's worse than potty training, because in this situation she's not even bribable. We tried the whole, if you eat your dinner we'll give you dessert thing, but then it just puts the idea of a dessert in her head and then she won't eat anything else, and would rather not eat either dinner or dessert than ingest a single morsel of chili or chicken pot pie. She must think that I'm a horrible person for trying to get her to eat such apparently abhorent meals.

Anyway, Aaron had been outside working on a flower bed, but heard my rather boisterous lecture and came in to intervene. The funny thing is that he didn't come in to save her, but rather to save me. He's worried about my stress level, especially as I get larger and closer to my due date, so he came in and sent me packing for an hour. I was instructed to do whatever I wanted, so long as it was away from the house and the two of them. The man has a point - the only time I get free, and to myself, is when I'm at work, and that's not quite the quality time he thinks I need.

So I went to Target, seeing as it's near our house and there were a couple of baby items I wanted to check out. The only thing I ended up buying were some Halloween window decals to use with Gabbie to decorate our sliding door, but it was nice to have a few moments to just breathe. Aaron told me I definitely have to get out at least once weekly until bambino numero dos makes her appearance, which is fine with me. Next time I'm hitting up the craft store.

As to how to deal with Gabbie and eating, though, I have no idea. I may have to research some ideas online or learn how to meditate. She's just lucky she's so funny and cute!

Let the Countdown Begin!

2010-10-11T09:30:00.000-04:00

As of today, I have less than 10 weeks left until my due date. TEN WEEKS! We are slightly freaking out about this, seeing as we have accomplished exactly nothing off of our "To Do Before the Baby Gets Here" list. TEN WEEKS! This is craziness!

Some things about this pregnancy, since I have written so very little about it as compared to when I was pregnant with the Gabbster:

Even though my due date is in 10 weeks, at my last OB visit the doctor told me she expects me to go about a week over-due again. Aaron would like us to avoid this, because a week overdue means we'll likely be in the hospital on Christmas. He is compiling a list of things to do to bring on labor, because he wants her out "on time!" Unfortunately none of them worked last time. However, I did run across this recipe not too long ago that supposedly does a good job of spurring labor within 48 hours. We will have to give it a shot!
Speaking of appointments, I have an appointment this week, then in two weeks, then I go to weekly appointments. I cannot believe how fast this is all going!
This baby likes to move. She likes to move all day and all night long. I am more than slightly frightened for what this means for after she's born. She will sleep sometime, right? Right?
Just like last time, I failed all of my 28 week blood tests. I was slightly over on my glucose screening and more than slightly under on where my iron levels should be. I also was slightly under on my platelet count. I went in last week again for the 3-hour glucose test (I officially hate that test) and more blood work, and this time everything looked good. I'm still slightly anemic, but I don't have gestational diabetes, and my platelets were back in the normal range. I'll probably have to have more bloodwork done to monitor my platelet levels, but it is such a huge relief to have the second round of tests come back so much better.
Following said 3-hour glucose test, I had a major sugar crash. I was hot, then cold and clammy, then nauseous, then I couldn't keep my eyes open. I took the rest of the day off (using what precious little sick time I have), and it was glorious. I napped, read, watched my favorite shows, and generally enjoyed the quiet time for the entire afternoon. Ah, the quiet time.
In less happy news, my first stretch marks arrived this weekend. Last time I didn't get them until I was in the final month of my pregnancy, so I was hopeful I would see a repeat of that luck, but I guess since my belly expanded a bit more rapidly this time I should still count myself lucky.
I took a picture of my belly the other day, but I forgot to put it here. I will have to do that tonight. We've been horrible about taking belly pictures, so I'm determined to take one now every week until the baby gets here.
I have had a hell of a time sleeping lately. Between heartburn, a racing brain, a full bladder, and a kicking baby, I usually wake up a few times a night and am typically up for the day around five in the morning. Last night I slept nearly all night and woke up at six. It was heaven.
We have a name picked out! A name Aaron and I love, and that Gabbie can say, and we've had a hard time keeping it a secret. We've told a few friends and family members, but will probably keep it a secret everywhere else until she arrives. (Guesses are welcome, of course.)

Not So Perfect Timing

2010-10-05T11:20:00.000-04:00

On Sunday morning I woke up seriously early due to a nightmare. The nightmare was kind of silly, and brought on by someone possibly having hacked my iTunes account (which totally sucks!) - I dreamed that someone had broken into our house and only stolen our old laptop. Weird right? But disturbing enough that I was wide awake and trying to get one of my biggest fears out of my head.

Fast forward to Monday night (technically very early Tuesday morning). I had fallen asleep watching a Netflix movie on our iPad. (FYI...this post is not sponsored by Apple.) Anyway, I had the iPad propped up against an extra pillow on Aaron's side of the bed. I was half awake at around 2:30, and when I rolled over, I assumed that the lump on Aaron's side was him sleeping there. So, of course, when I heard a door shut downstairs, and then someone flush a toilet (why a robber would be using our bathroom, I have no idea), I seriously FREAKED.

Of course, the person downstairs was Aaron and the lump on his side of the bed was the pillow, which I discovered when I grabbed what was supposed to be Aaron's arm to wake him up and let him know that SOMEONE WAS USING OUR BATHROOM!

Aaron had fallen asleep on the couch, and headed up to our room following his bathroom trip. I was laughing to myself, and got him laughing too when I told him about what had happened. The timing, though, just after I had that dream, was impeccable.

Because I need to laugh

2010-09-24T13:05:00.000-04:00

This week is eating my soul, I think. All I know is I work from sun up to sun down and then crash the second my head hits the pillow, only to wake up at about 2:30 am and unable to sleep well the rest of the night. We're headed to my parents' house this weekend and I think I will use that time to hide in the guest room with Mockingjay and frequent naps. Man, that sounds like heaven.

Anyway, here are five things that have made me laugh this week, just when I needed the laughter most.

1. Aaron was outside picking pears off of our tree, and got stung. The funny part is where he got stung - on his butt! Even he was laughing.

2. Gabbie has had a couple of potty accidents this week, but we can't get too upset about them, because most have been because she was too excited to get back to what she was doing and didn't finish going before she stood up. Oh, the things we have to learn in this life!

3. The Big Bang Theory last night. It was awesome.

4. Gabbie, though being annoying due to moving approximately the pace of molasses in January, singing "I'm a Little Teapot" and dancing to the car this morning.

5. Gabbie, again, bossing us around at dinner last night. Such authority from such a little person! She really does think she's the boss.

I thought weekends were for making you less exhausted

2010-09-20T11:44:00.000-04:00

Oh, this past weekend is so on my list. Thank goodness it's over! It was a mix of not sleeping, toddlers refusing to eat, crabby adults, pregnancy aches, and a severe case of the pregnancy weepies. I really wish there was a do-over button, because I can think of a million ways to improve upon what just happened.

Can I rant on the toddlers refusing to eat for just a moment? We've been giving Gabbie the ability to choose what she wants to eat (within reason) for things like breakfast and weekend lunches. Yesterday we asked her what she would like to eat, and she said she wanted noodles and sauce. So we made her noodles and sauce. She ate one noodle, sans sauce, and then requested a treat. She is now grounded (what a milestone!) from treats until next Sunday, because she expects one for every piece of semi-healthy food she puts in her mouth and that's completely unacceptable. Aaron told Gabbie that she'd better eat up because I had threatened her with this and I don't make threats easily. I'm the more laid back parent, but when she does enough to make me upset? Watch out. I don't make idle threats. We even told her daycare teacher about the no sweets rule, and she totally agreed to make sure Gabbie got no treats this week. Consequences - she has to learn them, and this is the least painful way we can think of to teach that lesson.

I don't have too much to say about the pregnancy weepies other than they started out with a conversation about eclairs (seriously) and ended up with me wailing about how I can't handle a toddler that won't eat, a crabby husband (mostly about the not eating), AND a newborn, so they all have to shape up. Unreasonable, probably, but pregnancy hormones and reasonableness are not acquainted I don't think.

On Saturday we hosted my friend's husband and toddler for the day while she was in town for a couple of meetings. At the end of a (VERY LONG, mostly because it started at 4:45 am with a kicky baby) day we decided to all go out for dinner before they headed back home. That was a mistake, to say the very least. We realized at the end of the meal that the adults hadn't talked at all because we spent the entire time wrangling toddlers. Next time we're hiring a babysitter and doing an adults only dinner, because we totally deserve it.

The only redeeming thing about this weekend is that I didn't have to work and I got to spend quality time with my family. They're cute and all, so I think I'll keep them around, even if they do make me insane.

Friday Tidbits

2010-09-17T12:34:00.000-04:00

I seem to have lost my mind (or at least my memory), so you get short bits and pieces today, because I'm afraid I'd get lost if I tried to write more than that and make a coherent point. Pregnancy brain, sleepless nights (HEARTBURN!), and finally wrapping up my huge work project are to blame, I'm sure.

I had an OB appointment this morning and everything looks great with both me and the baby. Her heartbeat was strong and immediately present when the doppler hit my belly. I'm measuring perfectly and had the best blood pressure reading I've ever had when attending an OB appointment. I was already in a great mood this morning, and now I can't wipe the smile off my face. Such an excellent start to the day!
I feel like I could do a whole, "Kids Say the Darndest Things" episode from the things Gabbie comes up with each week. She's so incredibly verbal (even if I am the only one that understands her half the time), and picks up on EVERYTHING that is said. Seriously everything. She has been sort of anti-bath lately, as she'd rather keep playing than get clean. We've tried everything to get her in there and have found that humor is our best weapon. So, when it's bath time we tell her it's time to go clean up because she has a stinky butt. Bathroom humor works with toddlers every time! Well, the other morning as I was getting ready to jump in the shower, Gabbie started softly giggling to herself. I asked her what was so funny, and she replied, "Mommy has a stinky butt!" Hilarious, Kid. Thanks.
Is it sad that I've been looking forward to Saturday all week because I'm making meatball subs and I can't wait to eat them? I thought maybe.
Also on the food related front, I think I'm giving up fast food again. I had been going strong eating at some fast food place about twice a week for the past couple months, but something happened recently that has made me cut it out cold turkey. This is really gross, so you may want to skip over this bullet if you're eating or have a weak stomach. So, at a local Mickey D's they were having problems with their frozen drink (frappe latte and smoothie) machine. It was sometimes working and sometimes not, and had been going on for a while, so finally someone decided to see what was up. Do you want to know what was up? Maggots were up. They were clogging the machine. Even worse? An employee said they were pressured to keep selling the products even though the cleanup was not successfully completed. Thankfully (very, very thankfully) this is not a branch of the establishment that I've ever visited. And now I most certainly never will. EWWWW!
To change topics completely: I think I may be a geek. Today I told Aaron that instead of going to work today, I would prefer to stay home and watch Ghost Hunters and Destination Truth, along with a few other of my favorite SyFy shows. In fact, most of my favorite shows air on SyFy. It's a little sad how geeky I am. If only my sorority sisters could see me now.
And, I'll wrap up on pregnancy related stuff too. Aren't you excited? Anyway, I haven't had too many consistent cravings during this pregnancy, just mostly fleeting, "You know what would be really excellent right now?" thoughts that I can usually ignore. Not bad, and helpful in the weight gain deparment (in the third trimester and only up 10 pounds!). However, the one thing I have been craving consistently is totally weird, because it's something I have never liked up until about 10 weeks ago. I really always want sliced black olives on everything. Pizza? Load it up. Nachos? Sounds fabulous. In fact, right now I think that some cheese fries topped with black olives would be excellent.

Big Girl Type Accomplishments

2010-09-16T10:13:00.000-04:00

I haven't written about it much, other than to say that it might be the death of me, but we've been working hard on getting Gabbie potty trained. I really wanted a few months without diapers, and I don't want to jinx it, but it looks like we might have reached that goal! I have about three months left before our Littlest Miss gets here and Gabbie has been accident free for over a week now.

Potty training may be the hardest thing I ever did. Throw in a busy work schedule, a strong pregnancy gag reflex that caused my husband to have to be the only one who had to deal with the number two type accidents, and all kinds of evening and weekend plans, and you get one stressed out family. Gabbie was ready, though. I don't think we would be where we are without daycare, and their strong efforts in the potty training arena as well. The peer pressure from the other kids in her class, big girl underpants with "Melmo" (Elmo), "Ancy Ancy" (Fancy Nancy), and "Minnamuss" (Minnie Mouse) didn't hurt either.

I am not above bribery to get my way in certain situations, and so we bribed with treats, "big treats" (fancier candy when she did a number two), and small presents for entire days (or entire multiple days as she progressed) without accidents. Now that she has gone more than a week, I'm thinking we'll get her one more surprise and then call it quits with all the treats. We've been phasing them out anyway.

As our work stress levels have lessened a bit, we've been able to see more humor in the whole process. Aaron has taken a page out of Gabbie's book and run out of the bathroom announcing to the room, "I PEED!" (Then I about peed - he should know better than to make a pregnant lady laugh so hard.) She's so proud of herself, though, that she can't help but announce her success, and sometimes clap too, every time she goes to the potty.

The best humor came a few weeks ago when Gabbie came with me for a potty break in a fairly crowded department store restroom. As I was taking care of business, Gabbie busted out with the clapping and a "Yay Mommy" for my potty success. There was snickering from the rest of our audience in the room, and one mom reminisced with me about when she was going through the same thing. It was pretty awesome.

I'm so proud of my big girl. She is growing up so much every day, and I feel like every time I blink she's doing something new. Two may sometimes be terrible, but I have to admit I'm enjoying it quite a lot. Even more now that I don't have to change diapers!

Kids!

2010-09-14T13:20:00.001-04:00

This one's a little photo-heavy. Sorry if it takes forever to load!

On Sunday when my parents were here, Gabbie was playing alone by herself in the family room for a short time. All of the sudden she started running back and forth between the toy box and the couch, yelling, "Yes! Yes! Yes!" I let her continue for a couple of minutes before I checked up on what she was doing (with camera in hand, of course).

You can't really tell from the top picture as well as from this second one, so:

She was dressing up her baby with Mr. Potato Head parts. See the arms shoved in the baby's sleeves? And the nose in the baby's mouth? And my favorite, because she always tries to be just like me - the glasses shoved up on top of her head ("Glasses Hat!", or rather, "Gwasses Hat!")

I'm crying laughing right now because the whole thing was so hilarious. You may have had to be there for the full effect, but I just love how creative my girl is. She's full of imagination lately, and personality too. It's awesome.

Also awesome was getting to watch her interact with her second cousin once removed (? - Aaron's cousin's baby) a few weekends ago. I mean, I already knew she loved babies, but she was pretty darn adorable with this one.

She wanted to hold her the whole time we were there. She got to hold the baby a couple of times and was pleased as punch (until the baby pulled on her braid right after this picture was taken; then she was done).

And, just for fun, here's a picture of my other kid (!):

We have other, much better pictures of her from our most recent ultrasound experience, but our scanner isn't hooked up right now, and these were on a disc. You'll have to take my word on it, but she looks just like her sister. If this second kid is as cute, smart, and funny as Gabbie, we're in big trouble!

Feathering My Nest

2010-09-13T10:09:00.000-04:00

I am in little doubt that the nesting phase of this pregnancy is in full swing. I didn't really go through this at all with Gabbie, so it's a new feeling to me, this wanting to have my house in perfect order, everything set up where it needs to be and ready to go for when the baby gets here. I think it might have been apartment living that squelched the nesting last time. I couldn't really do anything other than wash and fold her clothes and get them put away, and make sure we had the gear we needed. So nesting last time was more like shopping, and I wanted to do that all the time.

This time, I don't really have the urge to shop, but if I could take off work and paint the baby's room today, I would. I'd also sew or knit her up a blanket, have all of Gabbie's baby clothes sorted, washed, and put into dresser drawers, have a freezer full of meals ready to go, and have my house sparkling clean from top to bottom, end to end. This is so weird!

Another example of the weirdness? I have an overwhelming urge to clean out my refrigerator, freezer, and pantry, get them well stocked, and ready to go. I also told Aaron this morning that we're going to make a Google calendar filled up with when we need to do certain chores, when bills are due, and other goals and milestones ready to go, so we don't get too disorganized when Baby J arrives. I also put up a dry erase board on the back door so that I can make sure to look at a list and have everything I need for the day when leaving in the morning. This is not normal for me at all!

As of today, I have slightly less than 2 weeks left until I'm in the third trimester, and if I could accomplish my huge to do list before then I would.

Speaking of the huge to do list, here are the things I'd like to do before Baby J gets here in December:

1. Paint nursery
2. Get furniture assembled and in place
3. Get baby gear cleaned up and in place
4. Get clothing organized/purchased, washed, and in place
5. Buy new life insurance
6. Get those wills in order
7. Decorate my entire house
8. Freeze a bunch of meals (try to talk Aaron into buying a small deep freeze so I can freeze even more. It's a sickness.)
9. Get all Christmas Shopping done by November
10. Can a bunch of jams and other foods
11. Get Gabbie's baby book completed, order a bound book full of Gabbie's baby photos, and organize all that related stuff
12. Clean the carpets throughout the house
13. Buy some containers to properly organize pantry
14. Finish unpacking or at least put unpacked boxes on shelves so the basement is organized
15. Take a nap

I think that's everything. Probably not. I also have to fit in work and family togetherness, plus all of the baking and other holiday prep that I love to do every year. Oh, and I'm hosting Thanksgiving, less than a month before my due date. I'm clearly crazy.

A Few Moments of Gabbie-Awesomeness

2010-08-25T05:49:00.000-04:00

This weekend was full of Gabbie-Awesomeness (as well as a few large puddles on the floor, but we'll ignore those for now. Potty training! I think it is what is going to break me!) She was mostly a happy, fun toddler, and acted adorably, even while being dragged around Ikea for nearly five hours on Sunday.

The best thing about Gabbie lately, I have to say, is all the talking and the kinds of things she tells us. At said Ikea we bought her a play tent because of how well she behaved. We set it up first thing when we got home and then let her play while we started dinner. Well, she wanted us to come play too, so she stood in the doorway to the kitchen and yelled. "Hey Guys! C'mon!" She calls us "guys" all the time lately and it's adorable.

Later that night I decided to tackle the large box of medications, dental floss, bandages, and other accoutrement that have existed under the sink since we moved. More than a year ago. So I sat on the bathroom floor and sorted. When the box was empty I had quite the mess on the floor to put away somewhere. This is when Gabbie came running around the corner, then froze in her tracks, eyes wide, paused for a second and then said, "Mama! Clean that up!" I had to go to the bathroom (like always these days) so I told her I would in a minute after I went potty. During the minute I was in there, she told me to, "Clean that up!" two more times. She's a little bossy sometimes. We say she knows what she wants and isn't afraid to let us know.

Gabbie accompanied me to the grocery store the other night and wanted to be mama's big helper, so I let her walk next to the cart, pick up the items I needed off the shelf, and put them in the cart. As she did, she's ask what each item was. "What's that, Mommy?" I'd let her know, and with each item, especially the bacon, she'd excitedly exlaim, "Ooo! I lika bacon too!" It was nice seeing all the smiles and giggles coming from the other shoppers. I was giggling along with them. She's just so cute and fun these days!

But my absolute favorite is how excited she gets when she does something for herself, which is what she tries to do all the time lately. She dresses herself, buckles herself into her car seat and booster at the table, climbs onto the couch, and on, and on. When she manages to accomplish what she's trying to do, she will typically excitingly exclaim, "I dood it!" I know it's far from proper English, but it's so cute I can't bring myself to correct her.

Bedroom Action (Not what you think)

2010-08-16T14:44:00.001-04:00

My brain is full of all sorts of uninteresting-to-a-blog-audience types of things (Logic models! All those emails I have to deal with! Meeting agendas! Oh my!). This new job while still wrapping up my old job thing is kind of kicking my ass.

So! A couple of semi-interesting (probably to only me) things going on right now include bedrooms. Gabbie's bedroom, our bedroom, and the soon-to-be nursery, to be exact. The top floor of our house is full of change and excitement (and sleep, thankfully)!

Gabbie's room has been painted (I need to get a better picture than I've been able to capture so far) a lovely pale lilac. It took us the better part of a day, but I have to say that Aaron and I do a darn fine job painting. It looks great!

This weekend we added a new feature to her room: a big girl bed. I really don't know how she's old enough for this already, but it seems she is. Instead of anything fancy, she has a twin-sized matress on the floor. The main reason for this is that she seems to have inherited a less-than-desirable trait from me: the propensity to fall out of bed on a regular basis. We are definitely lacking in the grace department overall, but most definitely in the falling category. My mom started me out in a regular bed, but then, after a couple of black eyes from hitting the floor with a great big smack, she learned her lesson and put me on a mattress on the floor. I'm taking that lesson learned and running with it because my heart cannot take too many additional falls (like the tumble she took down the stairs, or the near-fall in the shower, or when she tried to fall backwards onto her beanbag chair but missed and smacked her head on the couch (the hard part), all of which happened in less than 24 hours between Friday night and Saturday morning). She's trying to kill me, I swear it! We need to add a few finishing touches, like something on the walls, a lamp by our reading chair, and a bedspread (not that she keeps one on her) and then her big girl room will be complete.

Our room is also set to undergo quite the transformation. We bought a bedroom set last year, but now we want to paint the walls and trim (we have the paint purchased, just have to slap it up on the walls), put in wood floors, add a sitting area (i.e. purchase some more furniture), and possibly buy and mount a small television, and we'll be all set. Aaron wants to have this all done by the time I hit my third trimester (in just under six short weeks!) so that we have a nice, relaxing retreat. He's adorable, and I think I'll keep him around.

The nursery is getting the least amount of work done - we have to paint it, reassemble the crib, and move in my old dresser and the glider. Maybe some artwork on the walls too, we'll see. We're waiting until after my ultrasound this Friday, during which we'll get a firm answer on the baby's sex (HOPEFULLY!) and then we'll finalize our paint color decision (I'm pretty sure it will be green either way).

Having a house is a lot of work. Finally getting it the way you want it is even more. And the anxiety and challenges that accompany moving a toddler to a big girl bed? May just be what pushes me over the edge. I'm knocking on wood that she stays put just like she has the past two nights. I can deal with it taking her 45 minutes to fall asleep if only she promises not to wander in the middle of the night. Seriously, I don't think my heart can handle one more fright.

This is the toughest job I've ever had, that's for sure!

2010-08-11T09:32:00.000-04:00

Since I have the world's most OCD toddler, I should know better than to do things like leave my pajamas on the bathroom floor after a shower, or sit in the wrong chair at breakfast, or even wait longer than five minutes to throw away my popsicle stick. "Whassat, Mommy?" I hear every time something is out of place. Or, "No, Mommy! There!" when I've put something somewhere other than where it's supposed to go.

I know kids this age are very routine-driven and that the routines help them have some control over their mostly control-less world, but sometimes I don't want to get up right away because I just settled in and am finally comfortable. Sometimes I am slightly out of breath (because the baby is stealing my air, I swear it) and I want to sit down rather than bend over and pick up something I left on the floor. But if I do things my way instead of hers, I hear about it. Oh, boy, do I hear about it.

It's a hard balance, my wishes against her will. Sometimes she has to do things my way, because my way is the safe way, or the polite way, or we're finally going to get this potty training thing down, damnit (although, I know I can't force that one). Sometimes, I let things slide. I pick my battles. I may not let her play with playdoh on the carpet, but I'll let her have a cookie right before dinner. (The kid is way too skinny, so I let her get away with a lot of things food-wise. Still she picks fruits and vegetables most of the time.) I make her hold my hand when we're walking through parking lots or crossing streets, even though she hates it. If she doesn't hold my hand, we don't move. That one is slowly sinking in. However, if she insists on turning on the hallway light, because that's the one she can reach, or buckling herself into her carseat, I let her.

Two is tough. It's tough (yet kind of cute and funny) when someone is shrieking, "NO THANK YOU!" in your face because they don't want to change their diaper that you can smell from two rooms away. It's tough when she is disagreeing just for the sake of disagreeing because she wants her own way. It's tough not to tell her to shut up when she's being obnoxious. But I don't want to squash her personality, her will to fight for what she wants and speak up for her preferences. I tell her to play nice, but I don't want her to fall into that trap that many women do, where we only do the nice thing and compromise ourselves. I want her to be herself, but sometimes I just want her to do what I want her to do because I'm tired and I can't handle all the noise or run around or play on the floor like I used to. (I guess two and pregnant may be harder than just two by itself.) How do I balance my wants against her will? Raising her to be a good, polite citizen of the world without squashing her individuality?

There are many tough but important jobs out in the world, but in my opinion, being a good parent is the toughest and yet the most important. Because, maybe, if I'm good enough at my job, she'll go out there and change the world.

Lazy Weekend

2010-08-10T10:01:00.000-04:00

Following a weekend away and a hellishly busy work week during which I worked both my former and new jobs, our house looks not unlike a small tornado had gone through. Aaron and I were both looking forward to the weekend in order to get the place back into shape.

Then Saturday morning happened, when we all lazed around in bed until a time we haven't woken up to see in quite some time, then decided to head out for a day of family fun and togetherness. Nearly ten hours later we made it back home, having eaten breakfast, seen some ballet dancers, bought paint, gone for a walk, and then out to dinner. Then we all fell into bed.

Sunday was going to be it. We were going to get things done! We made a long list of everything we needed to accomplish and set out to get it done. Gabbie I made banana muffins while Aaron did some yard work. Then Aaron came in to check out something on the computer, which turned into a quick round of our new favorite computer game (Ticket to Ride, and yes I'm aware of what huge dorks we are). While Gabbie colored and played with her babies (and may have watched a movie - mama needed a nap), Aaron and I switched off playing our game until dinner time. This is not to say that we didn't get anything done - I framed some pictures and Aaron cleaned the kitchen and, um, that might have been it. However, those were just a very few of the things on our very long to-do list.

There was one thing about this weekend that we did accomplish, though. We all spent the weekend happy, which was a distinctly different mood from how we came into the weekend - exhausted and crabby at the world. So far the happiness has held, which makes me realize that I don't care if my house is in need of a little tidying up, what matters much more to me is that I have a house full of a happy family who had a great time hanging out together all weekend. That lazy weekend was just exactly what we all needed.

Snippets of the past two plus weeks

2010-08-03T13:29:00.000-04:00

On Friday the 23rd, we had our middle-of-the-pregnancy ultrasound. It went well, the baby looks healthy, but was also pretty uncooperative. We are fairly sure we're having another girl (!!!), but we will get another look to make sure (along with a better look at her heart, diaphragm, and her profile, as she was hiding these things too) on August 20th. I can't wait to get another peek in there at this little baby who insists on kicking me pretty much continuously these days! (I absolutely love that she kicks me pretty much continuously these days!)

Last Thursday I finally got word that I got the promotion I had applied for last month! Which is totally awesome, but also comes with a buttload more work, because I still have to keep on doing some of my former position duties. All in all though, this promotion is a great thing. I'm excited to go to work again! My days have flown by lately, and before I know it it's time to go home, and once I get home, I blink and it's time to go to bed. This is why I've sucked at blogging lately (among other lazy reasons).

Aaron and I escaped for a weekend up north on Friday. We took Gabbie to my parents' house and then headed up to our favorite place in the state - Traverse City. We stayed in a really, incredibly lovely bed and breakfast, and spent the whole weekend eating and sleeping and enjoying being together. It was wonderful, and I'm really glad we took the chance to get away just the two of us. We really needed it.

Weird pregnancy factoid - I have never in my life liked any kind of olives. I have tried to like them, but I just can't. Until lately, that is, because now I want sliced black olives on everything. So weird!

Weird pregnancy factoid #2 - Not that I've tested this out *ahem*, but this pregnancy has made fantastic changes to my hair, including the ability to go at least 3 days without showering and it still looks fresh. One of those pregnancy things I wish would stay around forever.

I found myself wishing today that I could vote a split ticket in the state's primaries. We have crap choices for our next governor, especially on the democrat side. I care much more about which republican candidates don't make it past the primary (there are some seriously shady and way-too-conservative choices over there), but I chose the most ethical choice and stuck to the democratic candidate who has better records and policy toward women and the environment. I still wish I could have played spoiler on the republican side though. Michigan polictics are such a mess (*ahem*Kwame*ahem*)!

Speaking of polictics, if you made it past that last painfully boring bullet point, there's something that has been cracking me up lately. I listen to NPR in the car (another weird pregnancy thing - I have a hard time listening to music or being around loud noise, it's just too much to handle), and they are frequently interviewing republican politicians who spend the whole interview complaining about Obama and the other democrats playing politics. I'm sorry, isn't that kind of their whole job as politicians? There are quite a few lawmakers over there that need to stop whining and actually do their jobs. (Okay, I'll step off my soapbox now.)

Okay, I'll end with something fun. (At least it's fun for people other than me.) Lately, when Gabbie doesn't want to do something she lets us know by saying, "No thank you," which yes, is polite. Until you hear it a million times or have it screamed in your face. Then it becomes less funny and polite. My family thought it was hilarious until they heard it a million times this past weekend. A couple of weeks ago, we were home in the afternoon, and Gabbie really needed to take a nap. She had refused to clean up her toys (instead kicking them under the couch), screamed at me for a treat (she is so two these days), and was throwing a huge tantrum. So, I picked her up and took her upstairs to her crib. She spent the next 30 minutes, laying down, kicking the matress and slats, and screaming, "NO THANK YOU" at the top of her lungs. I finally couldn't take it anymore (see the above weird noise thing) and took her downstairs and plopped her in front of a movie. But, even though it's annoying, I chuckled a little bit at her using politeness during a tantrum and I'm sure we'll look back at this a few years from now and think that it was all very adorable.

Tomorrow!

2010-07-22T09:15:00.000-04:00

At 10:00 tomorrow morning I'll be at my doctor's office hoping to God they'll let me pee a little bit before they do the ultrasound. Did those of you who haven't had kids know that they make you drink 32 oz. of water an hour before your ultrasound and you have to hold it until they're done? And it usually takes about 30 minutes for the ultrasound? All while a little person is kicking your bladder, like, "Hey! Give me some room here, Ma!" and you're hoping to all things holy you don't pee yourself? It's a good thing they let you look at the baby and will even tell you the baby's sex if possible, because otherwise that whole thing would totally not be worth it.

We have no clue what we're having. No inkling. No preference either, except for a healthy baby. We'd be heros on Aaron's side of the family if it's a boy, because this is probably the last chance to carry on the family name. My side would be happy either way, as long as they get to hold the baby as much as humanly possible once it arrives. I just can't wait to go get a peek at the baby tomorrow. I'm having trouble sitting still and am guessing I won't be able to sleep tonight. It's a good thing I took tomorrow off work, because I'm sure I'd be useless the whole day.

SO EXCITED!

So what say you? What do you out there think I'm having?

Spaghetti!

2010-07-21T10:20:00.000-04:00

So, so two

2010-07-15T09:22:00.000-04:00

Gabbie has been eating us out of house and home lately. She's still pretty picky, but she has been constantly requesting food. More, and more, and more food. We, of course, are thrilled that she finally seems to be subsisting on more than air and crackers, and give her dish after dish of food. She's still a skinny kid, so we were wondering where it was all going. Then I took this picture yesterday morning and realized:

Growth spurt! Look at how tall she is getting! Those legs look about a million miles long. (As is her hair!)

Two is pretty fun and challenging at the same time these days. There are plenty (PLENTY) of tears, but nearly as many hugs and laughs. This morning we were all sitting in bed, and out of nowhere Gabbie wagged her finger at Aaron, saying, "Stop, Daddy. Just. Stop." Aaron and I busted out laughing, so of course she continued telling each of us to, "Just stop!" (Apparently that's what she is told at school when she's crying for no reason whatsoever. Two!)

One of her new habits lately is that if she's sad she walks up to me with a pout on her face and says, "Bed." This can either mean she is ready to go to her bed or that she wants to go snuggle in my bed, and Lord help you if you pick the wrong one. Every time we go upstairs she has to climb ahead of us, up on the first stair, and turn on the hallway light. Again, if you do it for her? Hell to pay. Or, she'll turn it off and then on again. Same thing with her car seat. She MUST buckle it herself, and if you do it you will be rewarded with tears. But then there's the insisting on clinking glasses together and saying cheers before you drink. There's coloring and tickling and much, much laughter.

Gabbie likes things a certain way and isn't afraid to tell us. I hope this is something she keeps doing; it's so easy to compromise and go along with others, and that's not always bad, but she speaks up for herself and I want her to keep that trait. It's so much fun seeing the person she's growing into, and it makes me excited that we get to do this all over again, because choosing her dad and making her were the two best decisions I've ever made.

Bits and Pieces

2010-07-12T10:20:00.000-04:00

Coming off of a weekend that nice, it's hella hard to be back at work this morning. My brain hasn't quite regained the necessary focus, so I figured I'd brain-dump here and see if that helps. We shall see.

1. The baby has a new nickname. We started out calling the baby Baby J, but now he/she is known as Kicky. I'm seventeen weeks along and I'm getting some pretty strong kicks for such a small baby. It's awesome though. Kicks are my very, very favorite part of being pregnant. Oh, there it goes again! I don't remember Gabbie moving so much - she was kind of short on space in there and was a pretty calm baby. This one? I could be in for some major movement for the next 23 weeks. (I just had to do some subtraction on a calculator to figure that out. My brain? Is gone. The "pregnesia" this time is way worse than I had with Gabbie.)

2. This weekend we started to tackle potty training at home. It went pretty well - we only had one accident and one foot-stomping, wailing tantrum after her nap when she didn't want to give up the diaper (we soon found out it was because she was about to soil it and didn't want to try doing that on the potty just yet). I'm not above bribing her on this, and getting a treat every time she went on the potty seemed to work pretty well.

3. We went to see Dispicable Me on Saturday morning, and we all really enjoyed it. The sound in the theatre was a little loud and Gabbie didn't really like that part, but she really loved the minions and the music. She got down off my lap and danced a few times during the movie. Aaron laughed like crazy and I got in a few good giggles too. Ultimately, it was very sweet and it will be joining our movie collection when it comes out on DVD.

4. Our neighbors down the street celebrated the husband's 40th birthday this weekend, and his gift was a new dog that they brought home yesterday mid-day. A cute little beagle, that they haven't named yet. Last night just as True Blood was starting, the wife knocked on our door - the dog escaped and they can't find him. Aaron headed out on his bike to circle the wooded area near our house, and I kept a look out through the back yards. Neither of us spotted the dog and they were all still out looking when I went to bed. I feel so bad for them and can't get it out of my mind. I hope they will have good news by the time we get home tonight!

5. Speaking of - for those who watch it, what did you think of True Blood last night? Aaron thought it was a little too sensationalist - especially the dripping blood at the end (that shouldn't be a spoiler). My favorite part was the preview for next week which looks like it might finally move the story along a little more. I also wish they were doing more of the Alcide story - this was one of my favorite books and I'm missing the parts they're leaving out.

6. We did a lot of baking and cooking yesterday. We had a ton of eggs we needed to use, because we get a dozen every other week right now through the CSA. With more than a dozen sitting in the fridge and another dozen arriving on Wednesday, we had to come up with something that would use up some eggs. We had a baked egg dish for breakfast, I mixed up some brioche dough from the ABin5 cookbook, and Gabbie and Aaron made banana bread (Gabbie's favorite, especially when she gets to help bake it). We also made chicken taquitos and red rice for dinner last night, which was delicious. I'm sure you'll see much more about all of these things over at my other site this week. All that cooking was totally worth the three loads of dishes we had to do yesterday.

Why do short weeks always seem so long?

2010-07-09T11:59:00.000-04:00

I am, like most, I imagine, very incredibly gleeful that today is Friday. One would think that since I only worked three days this week (and yesterday was a short day because I left an hour early due to discomfort caused by ill-fitting pants), that I wouldn't be as eager as usual to get out of here, but I'm pretty sure I'm more eager than usual to make my escape. This week has been a long one, despite the short work-week.

Be forewarned - there is grossness ahead.

It all started last Friday night. Gabbie complained that her tummy hurt, but since she was a little, um, gassy, I figured that was it and we all sat down to eat our favorite Friday night type dinner - bowls of snacks while watching a family movie. Among those bowls of snacks were two of Gabbie's favorites, fresh strawberries and Cheetos (no judgement please). So she went to town. I tried to slow her down on the strawberries, and had to eventually take them away, because she did not need to eat an entire quart of berries on her own. Then she went to town on the Cheetos.

It was shortly after this that we realized the neighbor had his teenaged kids for the weekend. His teenaged kids who spent last weekend lighting off firecrackers at all hours of the night (including one in our mailbox, and they're lucky they were back at their mom's house when I found that). Accordingly, we hightailed it out of there 12 hours earlier than planned and headed north to my parents' house. The trip was fine apart from a few wails from the backseat due to a hurting tummy.

We should have known what was coming. (I would like to stop here, and comment on all the people who have told me they've never had to deal with a vomitting kiddo. They are lucky people and should keep their mouths shut when you're at the store buying Pedialyte pops and Saltines. Next time they get to deal with my frequent puker.)

Five minutes from my parents' house, Gabbie started crying again and then, suddenly, let loose a wave of vomit across the back seat. Strawberry, Cheeto vomit. (We aren't currently in the market for either of those two foods, thanks, and I don't think we will be for quite a while.) We pulled over, cleaned her up as best as possible, and threw her in the bath as soon as we arrived. This was followed by two more puking instances, and some really gross diapers the next day. I'm kind of glad now that we are lagging behind on our potty training plans.

Saturday afternoon she started acting like herself again, so we figured we were in the clear. Fast-forward to 12:30 AM on Monday, and you'd find me curled in a ball on my parents' couch completely understanding why Gabbie was crying about her stomach ache. I had the worst stomach cramps ever! Aaron was felled at about 4:30 AM and we both spent the day sleeping and being thankful that my parents were around to watch Gabbie, because we would have been horrible parents that day.

We finally felt that we could commit to the two hour car ride home mid-day on Tuesday, and I started feeling closer to 100% yesterday. I also would like to acknowledge here that a rumbly tummy accompanied by a kicky baby makes things twice as uncomfortable, at the very least. And tricky to judge.

This weekend? We're staying put and not committing to anything. Except maybe a trip to the pool or out to the movies. Fun things, since we missed out on all the fun last weekend.

Guessing Game

2010-07-02T10:39:00.000-04:00

I had another prenatal appointment this morning, and I got to do one of my very favorite things in the world: hear the baby's heartbeat! It took several long seconds to find it (just like the baby's big sister was, apparently, this baby is also not a fan of being pushed on with the doppler wand and moves away as soon as the pressure starts), but then the sound of a strong, quick heartrate filled the room, and it was glorious. Can I also talk about how cool my iPhone is and that I was able to record the heartbeat and then send it to Aaron so he could listen too? SO COOL!

Anyway, this appointment being over starts the countdown to the big ultrasound, now just three short weeks away. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going! I'm feeling pretty good, and other than having no appetite, no brain, and the dreaded hip-spreading pain, I have no complaints. The no brain thing has led to several interesting situations, including the time I couldn't find my keys (that were in my hand), the fact that I keep forgetting to order decaf coffee at the coffee shop (which has led Aaron to decide to buy me a Keurig so that I can make my decaf at home and stop freaking him out about the whole caffeine thing, even though technically the doctor said I could have one regular sized caffeine drink a day), or the conversation I had with my mom about Aaron getting his haircut up their this weekend so we didn't have to wait for the local butcher shop to open.

The other two symptoms have also left their mark; I lost another pound between the last appointment and this one even though I have a reminder set to remind me to eat regularly (and I've been eating plenty of junk food as well as the good stuff). At this point in my pregnancy with Gabbie I think I was about 15 pounds up, so I guess I won't complain about this unless the doctor starts to worry. The hip pain is really only evident at night or if I sit in my office chair for too long, so I'm not getting as much sleep as I'd like, and I'm forced to get up and take a walk several times a day, so it's good and bad.

Anyway, enough about me - let's talk about the baby! I know I've seen this elsewhere, but it seemed like fun so I'll do it here too. With only three weeks until we know for (99%) certain about the sex of the baby, this topic keeps coming up in conversation pretty regularly. Everyone has a theory based on some old wives tale or another, so I thought I'd collect them here. Here are the old wives tales, plus the genders they predict for Baby J:

* Craving sour foods vs. sweet foods; I crave sour: boy
* Mom has acne means a girl: boy
* Carrying low vs. high (I'm carrying low, but only because it's so early): boy
* Morning sickness that lasts all day early in the pregnancy means girl: girl
* Chinese lunar calendar: girl (although some say boy, so I don't really know for sure. We'll count it as girl.)
* Dad gains weight along with mom means boy: girl (although last time he gained weight with me, and this time neither of us has gained a pound, so I'm not sure.)
* Breast size, which is bigger (sorry for TMI); right means boy: boy (although the right one is always slightly bigger, so...)
* Baby's activity level; more active means boy: boy (this one never seems to stop!)
* Craving spicy foods vs. sweet foods; I crave spicy: boy
* Hair on legs grows faster than normal means boy: boy (with Gabbie it pretty much stopped growing which was awesome!)
* Feet colder than normal means boy: boy
* Pillow faces north (boy) or south (girl): boy (but it faced north with Gabbie too, so...)
* Urine, bright yellow (boy) or dull yellow (girl): boy
* Mom's age at conception plus number of month, if even means boy: girl
* Heartbeat, faster means girl, slower means boy: girl (but my heart was pounding pretty hard too, so that could have had some effect, plus this has been proven inaccurate by several very scientific studies)
* Mom has a strong orange juice craving means girl: boy
* If mom refuses to eat the heal of a loaf of bread this means girl: boy
* If your breasts have increased a lot in size this means girl: boy (thank goodness; I really couldn't stand them being too much bigger than they already are)

So, to tally that up that's 13 that predict boy and 5 for girl. I'm not really hoping for either, so this is pretty much pure fun. Has anyone else heard of any fun legends to predict gender? (I'm so not doing the drano test!) I'll be counting down the days until we get to find out for sure!

Hacked

2010-07-01T11:14:00.000-04:00

In a non-fun twist of events, my email has been hacked! So, if you get an email (or apparently a bunch of emails) from mrs.jessie.ca[at]gmail[dot]com, don't open it/them. I apologize if you're getting majorly spammed by account. I let Google know, so hopefully it will stop soon.

Just what I needed today. Grrr....

Right Now

2010-06-27T18:51:00.000-04:00

Right now, Gabbie is singing her favorite song (the Bumblebee song). She and I just finished up mixing together some banana bread because we had a whole bunch of bananas I let get overripe just for that very reason.

Baby J has been moving around all day, but right now he or she is quiet, probably because I've been up and around and rocking the baby to sleep. We bought a sleeper for the baby yesterday, the first thing we have ready for baby number two. It's really starting to hit us - we have just over five months left. We have about four weeks until we find out if this little one is a boy or a girl. We are starting to get even more excited.

Aaron is lounging, reading his latest Wired magazine, one of his birthday gifts from me. He loves it, and I just knew he would.

The evening sun is shining on the vegetable garden my mom and dad helped me plant last week. As of right now we have: 6 tomato plants, 3 sweet pepper plants, 4 jalepeno plants, 1 cayenne pepper plant, 1 basil plant, and two cucumber plants. I plan on adding in some additional herbs: parsley, cilantro, and chives, plus maybe a heirloom tomato plant or two. Come the end of next month and through August, I'm going to have more tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers than I know what to do with, except I will know what to do with them - canning ahoy!

Right now I'm blissfully content, sitting at my desk in our family room. I have a roof over my head, a full stomach, a loving husband and daughter, and another baby growing. I have everything I've ever wanted, and I couldn't be happier.

Some Summer Time Fun

2010-06-18T13:08:00.000-04:00

T-minus three days until the first official day of summer! It's not like it hasn't been summer-hot already, and for many in our area, summer started last week with the end of school. Still, I love the first day of summer, especially because it's the longest day of the year, and I sure do love long, sunny days.

The first day of summer, is, coincidentally, Gabbie's first day in her new room at day care. This morning while we were putting on Gabbie's sandals, I told her that I was a little sad because she is growing up so fast. She responded by patting me on the back, squeezing in for a hug, and saying, "Sorry, Mommy. S'okay, Mommy," which was just about the cutest thing I've ever witnessed.

Gabbie has been two for almost a month now, and earlier this week we finally made it in for her 2-year well-child visit (*sob* it's now "well-child" instead of "well-baby"). She's still as tall and skinny as ever, measuring in at 36 inches, and very nearly 23 whole pounds (22 lbs, 13 oz). Although, I do have to admit I cheated a little on that by feeding her some cookies and milk right before we left for the doctor. I mean, it was her regular snack-time anyway, so it's not really cheating, right?

Anyway, I have been thinking long and hard about some fun things that we can do with Gabbie this summer now that she's much more mobile and much more kid than baby. So, I thought I'd make a list of things I want to do with her this summer, her last summer of being an only child, and her first summer as a real kid.

Gabbie's Fun Big-Girl Summer List

1. Go to the zoo.

We have a small zoo here in town that's not too bad, but I think I want to take her to the Detroit zoo if at all possible.

2. Eat an ice cream cone.

Gabbie has plenty of ice cream-eating experience, but always out of a cup with a spoon. This summer sometime we're going to let her strip down and get as messy as she wants to with ice cream in a cone. Plenty of pictures will follow, of course.

3. Take her to a swimming pool.

She has been in one pool, when we were in Florida, but it was kind of chilly out and the experience lasted at total of about 5 minutes. Some weekend when we're at my parents' house, I want to take her to the neighborhood pool and have a few hours of splashing fun.

4. Catch fireflies.

This may be less than successful, since Miss Gabbie is all girl and a little squeamish about bugs. However, we typically get a ton of lightning bugs in our area, and I think this could be a fun treat, letting her stay up until it's dark out at the very least.

5. Watch fireworks.

She liked them last year, but has gotten to be a little more of a fraidy-cat so we'll see how this goes over. This is kind of related to the next one:

6. Go to a baseball game.

Again, she did do this last year, but she'll be so much more aware this year. Plus this is one of my favorite activities and I want to make sure we go at least once.

That's all I have so far, but I'm sure I'll come up with many more. Hopefully, with all this fun planned, this summer is going to rock!

We are such suckers for a good deal!

2010-06-14T10:17:00.000-04:00

This weekend Aaron and I reclaimed our titles as King and Queen of Major Appliance Impulse Buys, when we came upon a killer deal on a new (slightly scratched) washer and drier at Lowes. We were just there to buy some tools to work on the yard and a few flowers to plant, but were also trying to wear Gabbie out so she would sleep when we got home and we could work outside without worrying about entertaining her as well. Our method involves running her around Lowes a couple of times while daydreaming about all of the things we could do to our house. As we approached the appliance section, they were bringing out a washing machine that we had admired several times before. Then we noticed that it had a big 1/2 price sticker on it. When we saw them also bring out the drier we were sold. The guy working back there said that either we should buy it, or he was going to on his break in a little while, because it was such a great deal. We beat him to it, and are very happy to be replacing the current pair we use that is 20+ years old. It's especially nice because in just six short months we'll be doing a lot of extra laundry, and this way we can do it with less worrying about how much water and electricity we're using.

Other weekend highlights included finally taking Gabbie to see the new Shrek movie (we all loved it), working on our front yard so that the annoying guy down the block can finally stop whining about us (long story, he's a douche, although not the only reason we finally put some extra effort into the yard), feeling much less of the first trimester yuckiness I had been experiencing, hanging out with friends on our deck, and finding out that the new mosquito bite remedy I read about (put a little anti-persperant on the bite) actually seems to work!

Weekends are no where near as relaxing now that we're parents and home owners, but I have to say, this one was definitely not too shabby. The only problem I have is that it was a few days too short, but that's always the case.

(Post-Script: I just wrote cakes instead of case in that last sentence. Can you tell where my brain is this morning?)

Almost 1/3 Through

2010-06-08T09:49:00.000-04:00

I start my second trimester this week, and I can't believe it. This pregnancy is speeding by, but that's okay with me, because I am eager to get rid of things like the constant nausea and exhaustion that I've been dealing with for the entire first trimester. I was nauseous with Gabbie too, but it was nowhere near this bad. Also, with her, I at least had cravings and if I ate something I felt better. With this one, nothing sounds good and if I eat more than a few bites I start to feel worse. It should come as no surprise, then, that I just posted my first weight gain of this pregnancy, and am finally about 1 pound up from my lowest weight (and still about a pound less than when I first got pregnant). It would be surprising, though, if you saw me in person, because, well, look:

I'm huge already! There's no denying that there's something going on in there at this point! I don't think I was this big until about halfway through my pregnancy with Gabbie (for comparison's sake, here I am at 23 weeks with Gabbie). It's getting a little ridiculous.

Oh, well. I'm going to enjoy it while it lasts, because this is likely the last time I'll be pregnant. As long as I can start to enjoy food and be better company soon, I'll be all set.

Our weekend in numbers

2010-06-07T14:56:00.001-04:00

Comfy, stretchy, extra room in the belly dresses purchased: 2

Mountain bikes finally ordered by my husband (it has been a many-week decision process): 1

Dollars spent on these, additional outfits and many meals eaten at restaurants: entirely too many

Number of days toddler's only nap was in the car: 2

Number of parties attended: 1

Number of emergency rooms attended: also 1

Number of toddler elbows no longer dislocated: 1

Number of tears cried by toddler since injury fixed: 0

Number of (hot, guilty) tears cried by mom since injury fixed: approximately a million

Number of treats toddler Was given late yesterday: 10 or more (see: guilt)

Number of movies toddler was allowed to watch late yesterday: 3 (also attributed to guilt)

Number of terrifying, stress induced dreams had by mom last night: 4

Number of days that mom will likely still feel horrible about this: unknown, but probably very many

An Adorable Addition

2010-06-02T14:17:00.000-04:00

So, as I alluded to last week, there are some exciting things happening in our family right now. There's a new, higher, position in my company that is looking more and more like a possibility for me, Gabbie got the all-clear from her orthopedist last week who told us that Gabbie's hips now look completely normal and we don't have to schedule any more visits for her, and then, of course, there's this:

That's right, we're working on becoming a family of four, and I couldn't be happier about it! We had our first appointment with the doctor yesterday, and everything looks great. I mean, look at that tiny nose, mouth and eye on that cute baby up there! It was so awesome to see the baby and watch it move around. At one point Baby J (our current nickname for baby #2) jumped, which was awesome to see. The baby was moving and wiggling around in there the entire time the ultrasound tech was doing her thing.

I'm about 11 1/2 weeks along, but am outing myself now both because we saw the baby's little heart beating away nice and strong, and because I'm out in public lately as it's pretty impossible to hid my burgeoning baby belly already. I'm due in mid-December, and if the pregnancy continues to fly by the way it already has, that day will be here mighty fast!

What is it with old men at Lowe's?

2010-05-27T16:04:00.000-04:00

Several things that are too short for their own entry:

1. Many of my family members have been teasing me lately for something really weird - the amount of toilet paper I use. Apparently I go through it much faster than the average woman, even though I think I'm using a completely normal amount. The whole thing came about because we went through an entire roll of toilet paper one weekend when I was visiting, and they say that it takes them about a week to go through a roll on a normal basis. So I'm curious. How much toilet paper does a regular person use then, per visit to the throne? I'd say I use about 10 squares. Is that a ridiculous amount? Am I using way too much? I guess I just want to gauge whether I'm the weird one or if they're abnormal.

2. I am very excited about the 3-day-weekend coming up. We have a party on Friday night and then nothing else planned for the entire weekend, save for daily family naps. Seeing as how we've all been going about a hundred miles an hour for the entire month of May, I'm more than happy that we're ending it by relaxing.

3. Tomorrow morning we have what is, hopefully, Gabbie's last appointment with an orthopedist about her hips. She has to get an x-ray and then see the doctor, and if all is well we won't have to see the doctor again. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed on this one. We haven't seen any problems - she's walking, running, jumping, riding a bike, and dancing just fine. In fact, she never really stops moving. Still, I can't help but worry a little bit. We're keeping our fingers crossed that it goes as well as we expect it will.

4. If I have to watch Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs one more time in the near future, I may scream. Gabbie wakes up requesting, "Ice Age?" We indulged her on vacation and were very thankful the movie kept her busy while we were working on refinishing our deck last week (expect a post on that soon), but now she expects to watch television, and especially that movie, whenever she wants. I'm sure all the spoiling she received over the weekend didn't help my cause, but seriously. It was on our tv about 10 times last week, and I'm thinking that's about 8 times too many.

5. There's something exciting happening next Tuesday that I can't wait to tell you all about after the fact, and it has both Aaron and I up at night with anticipation. This is why we're looking forward to the family naps this weekend so much. Between croup and anxiety, we're quite the sleepless bunch.

6. So, the title. Several months ago we were at our local Lowe's and an old man stopped us to give Gabbie a dollar coin. A little weird, but we said thank you and were on our way. Then two weekends ago when we were there picking up deck supplies, another old man stopped us. This time, without asking us, he handed a sucker directly to Gabbie. Well, we said thank you, and again headed on our way. Since Gabbie has never before had a sucker and had basically no idea what it was, plus we wanted to avoid a meltdown in the middle of Lowe's that would most likely occur if we took it away from her, we let her hold it. She just held it and looked around and we figured we'd take it away when we were leaving and it would be no big deal.

At one point Aaron and Gabbie took off to find brushes while I was waiting for the paint guy to mix up a color sample of paint for Gabbie's room. Apparently Aaron was looking at the shelf, then looked back down and Gabbie had the sucker unwrapped and in her mouth. When they got back, I freaked a little (on the inside; I still didn't want to cause a fit), but I guess if anything bad were going to happen it would be too late - she had already had it in her mouth. Thankfully, she's just fine and the guy apparently had no bad intent (we didn't think he did, but you can never be too sure), but I still worried a little the rest of the afternoon.

Seriously, old guys at Lowe's, what's up? Why must you give candy and other goodies to strangers' kids? Is it just me or is this weird?

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Girl

2010-05-26T10:20:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Gabbie turned two. I know I'm a day late in wishing her a happy birthday here, but I have to admit, I'm still kind of in disbelief that this happened. I mean, how can this tiny baby:

Be this big girl:

Already?

She's not a baby any more. She's a kid. A getting-bigger-every-day kid, and I consider myself incredibly lucky that I get to be her mom. Even if she is already acting like a stereotypical two year old. I love her anyway, no matter what. And even if she's not technically a baby, she's still my baby, and she always will be.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Tomorrow I will have a 2 year old, yesterday she had a party

2010-05-24T09:41:00.000-04:00

(and today we're pretty sure she has croup.)

We threw Gabbie a big birthday party yesterday with a houseful of family and friends, though she was the only kid there (there were a couple of babies but all the kids we invited were busy). That was totally fine with her, because that meant she didn't have to share any of her birthday loot, and my what a load of loot she received - a talking tea set, a toddler-sized suitcase, an easel, a fairy treehouse play set, a set of musical instruments (thank the Lord she can't yet figure out how to play the harmonica; she has the xylophone playing down), and (from us) a tricycle.

But! Back to the party. I cleaned, decorated, and cooked my heart out for the party, and, if I do say so myself, it turned out pretty excellent!

I hope you're ready for a lot of pictures, because I have a lot to share.

I made a 2nd Birthday banner:

We made tissue paper pom-poms to decorate above the table and the deck:

We put up streamers and balloons.

Then we cooked for our taco bar (menu/recipes will be over here), decorated a cake, cut up fruit, and mixed up punch. In the middle of the final food prep, guests started to arrive. We had about 20 people over, and everybody seemed to have a good time. Finally it was time for the blowing out of candles. We sang Happy Birthday to Gabbie, which she wasn't too sure of, although it doesn't look like she completely hated it:

Then she blew out the candles:

And we dug in to the white chocolate raspberry cake and (Gabbie's favorite) ice cream. Shortly after we started Gabbie's absolutely favorite part of the day - opening presents! We saved the tricycle we got her for last, and it's safe to say that she loved it.

At first she looked stunned, then she wanted to touch each part without anyone trying to help her get on the bike, and then, finally, she wanted to ride it. Unfortunately, she can't quite reach the pedal when it's at its lowest point, but she is perfectly happy being pushed around on it.

Shortly after everyone left, she stripped down to her diaper, played with her toys for a little while, and then crashed HARD for a quick nap.

She woke up with a suspicious-sounding cough (croup is going around day care which is why we're pretty sure she has it), and although her throat hurt and she was coughing, she played for several more hours before fighting us tooth and nail at bed time because all she wanted to do was keep playing. Since everyone left full and content-looking, I think it's safe to say that we all had a great time and the party was a hit.

Back to real life already? Fine.

2010-05-18T06:54:00.000-04:00

We are back from our lovely, warm, sunny Florida vacation and had to acknowledge real life yesterday morning by heading back to work and daycare. Gabbie was the least excited of all of us and showed it by kicking and screaming from the time I entered the daycare parking lot until well after I left. Way to break my heart kiddo! I didn't want to go back either, but it was definitely time. (Although, I do have another 1 1/2 weeks of vacation time left...no, better save it.)

She was really, really great on vacation. We got compliments on how good she was on the plane after both plane rides. She did get sick our first full day there and so our first three days were fairly miserable. Our major problem with her getting sick is that she stops eating when she gets sick and this stresses Aaron and I out to no end. Still, we took her in to the urgent care based on our pediatrician's advice and got her the medicine she needed.

Within 24 hours of starting the medicine she was much better and we headed to Universal for Aaron's birthday. We all had a great time, but Gabbie especially. She went on four rides (some of them twice because she got off and promptly asked, "More?") and played in a splash park, and probably would have continued playing and running around as long as we let her (we cut her off after 4 1/2 hours since she had just been sick and needed to rest).

Outside of the theme park, she pretty much ran around her grandparents' house in her diaper and played with a Yahtzee set and Mardi Gras beads. Seriously, they kept her busy for four days. It was pretty cute, except for the zillion times that she tried to put the beads on my feet, because it tickled a ridiculous amount (I have very ticklish feet).

We also went to the beach, but those pictures are on Aaron's phone, so I'll have to steal them from him later. All in all, vacation was great and we're all sad it's over. Up next? Home improvement projects to get ready for Gabbie's 2nd birthday party this weekend! I can't believe my baby is going to be 2 in a week!

Gabbie's very first flight

2010-05-07T07:48:00.000-04:00

I'm going to be honest here. For the first half of this week I was a mess. I was worried about flying for the obvious reasons, but also terrified that Gabbie would be scared of the whole experience. Everyone told me she would be fine, and I totally should have listened, but I was worried about my baby!

Turns out everyone was right. Aaron and I even did better than we expected (we're both kind of nervous fliers). Gabbie was an absolute angel the entire flight, and wasn't scared if anything save for all the strangers paying attention to her.

Shortly after take-off we thought we may have some trouble, when Gabbie loudly announced, "I pooped!" We couldn't get out of our seats yet and we did get the evil eye from a couple of people around us (although admittedly fewer than the lady who delayed our flight by getting out of her seat to use the bathroom right when we were about to take off received). Thankfully it was just another instance of Gabbie being confused about pooping vs tooting. Very thankfully. I really didn't want to have to figure out how to change a diaper on the plane.

We did experience a few tears as we started our decent because her ears were bothering her. We were trying to get her to suck on her binky or to drink some water, both to no avail. Then I said the magic words that caused the crying to cease instantly - "do you want some candy?" She was fine the rest of the way down to the ground and we were all happy that we made it safe and sound via an excellent flight. And that is the story of Gabbie's first flight.