One year old

My baby is one. She's not a baby anymore. Officially, she's a toddler. But she doesn't toddle. She runs. She never really toddled. She started walking at 10 months and never looked back. She's recently become very interested in climbing. She climbs onto small little stools, toys, and pieces of furniture and sits on them. She climbs on the sofa and on chairs and hangs out a while, and then she backs down off of them. She even climbs on the sofa and does summersaults off the sofa onto E's floor chair and then onto the ground. She is fearless and adventurous. She loves books. She loves to look at them and have them to read to her, and she's all about the flaps. She's independent. She likes to feed herself, and she plays really well by herself. She's loving and social. She says "Hey," and "bye" and "night, night." She's started giving hugs and kisses, kind of.
She loves music. She delights in fun music and dances and spins around. She is starting to talk, and realizes that things have names. She can say "dog" and "ball" and "thank you" and her favorite, "Uh-oh." At her check-up she was 23 lbs, 75%, and some length that was almost off the charts!! She's such a part of our family that after only one year I can't imagine our family without her.

Big sister is really growing. I just can't believe how grown-up she is. Everything about her. The way she talks, and reasons, and jokes. She loves art. She loves to draw and paint and create things. She is so into imaginary play. She dresses up like princesses and ballerinas and lines up her animals and puts on little plays and tea parties. She loves her friends and believes in being honest and doing the right thing (most of the time). She is a delightful human being and I am unbelievably blessed to be her mother.

Sisters

When I was expecting my second child, I told everyone that I didn't care what the gender of the baby was, but that it would be nice if it were a boy...then I'd have one of each. When I found out that I was having a girl, I was honestly, absolutely thrilled. I think deep down inside I really wanted a girl. I don 't have a sister, so I don't know what it's like to have one. But I have always imagined that it would be wonderful. Now my girls will be able to share that very, very close and special relationship. I'm already praying that they will be close, and really love each other. So far, so good.
Em was 10 months old on Sat. On that day, she took her first tentative steps. Just one or two, but so thrilling. She'll be running around the house in no time. At the moment one of her hobbies is sneaking in the bathroom and wreaking all kind of havoc -- unrolling the toilet paper, turning on the tub faucet, and - yuck- playing in the toilet! El had her 4 year check up last week. She was 44 pounds and 44 inches. Her hearing was great and her vision was great, too. Her only problem is that she coughs alot. Probably allergies, possibly reflux. She's about to start taking allergy meds. 4 is a wonderful age. She's a little more mature, so a LITTLE more controlable. But still free and fun. She loves her dolls and playing princess and making tea parties for her animals. She makes a mess faster than anyone I've ever seen in my life. And she HATES soccer. More on that later. She also states as fact things that she wishes were true. For example, she really wants me to go back to work so that her little sister can go to her school. So she tells her teacher, "my mommy is at work today." Wishful thinking. If you say something enough, maybe it will come true. Hey...I think I've found the Secret!!

parenthood

Babies are easy. I used to think they would be hard, but I think they are easy. If you love them, and feed them, and change them, and give them a routine and some consistency and some stimulation and an opportunity for attachment to their parents and other significant caregivers, then they learn that the world is a safe place and that their needs will be met and that there are people whom they love and that love them that they can count on. Babies are adorable. At least mine is. She is pure delight. She crawls around exploring her home. She loves to examine all kind of objects and will just look at little toys and play with them for a long time. She will play in a play pen and just enjoy those toys and hang out. She loves being in her big sister's room and she really loves being in the tub. She also loves her pacifier, which her big sister didn't. She can find it now and put it in her mouth. She's just....so.....cute. I adore her. She really wants to stand up on her own. She can pull up and stand for a while holding on to something. You can tell that she wants to walk like her big sister. She is very tactile. She wants to touch everything. She's not an observer. She doesn't sit back and survey the situation. She's right there in the middle of it. She can also communicate. She waves (backwards) and sometimes says bye-bye. She can say da-da and ma-ma but doesn't say it often. But she can. Much earlier than big sister. Her eating skills are slow. She can only eat very pureed foods. She gets choked easily. But she loves her veggies and her fruit and cereals. She'll get there.
And then there is big sister. So much love and devotion. But so much drama and whining. It's exhausting. Lots of love, but I need the patience of Job, which I don't always have. The older they get, the smarter they get. E.A. is a master negotiator. It's like some kind of constant arbitration at my house. How many books? When is snack time? What's for snack? When can I go outside? Do I have to clean my room? How about later? Nothing, nothing, nothing is easy. But the joy. And the love. And the fun. It's all worth it. E.A. said yesterday, "I want to be 2 (she's almost 4). I don't want to grow up." It's tough to be big sister and to see a baby, whom you love, treated differently than you. But E.A. loves her sister. She loves being a big sister. She also loves that she can control her. When she grabs a toy out of baby Em's hand, there's no reaction, really. It's not gonna last, and it's gonna get interesting. But both my girls are delightful. Everyone told me, don't have another one, because Elizabeth was a great baby and apparently that only happens once. They were wrong. When I asked Elizabeth what she wanted for her birthday she said, "I want a horse with wings that can take me to rainbow land." Does anybody know where I can get one of those??? Elizabeth is smart, and creative, and strong, and beautiful. I never dreamed I could love someone like this. And be so challenged by someone so young. There are questions I can't answer, like, "why did that dog die and where is she?" Grief. I miss Jenny (Aunt Britt's dog who died). Dreams, good and bad -- monsters and scary creatures, or kitty cats and butterflies. And Fantasy, "You know, there's an alien in my room now. We'd better be careful."
9 months and 4 years. It's magical, and challenging, and daunting. Lord, give me wisdom and knowledge and patience and endurance!!!

7 months old

Emily is 7 months old. She can sit up. The world is a different place for her now. She has started playing with her toys. She wants to grab anything and everything. She has NO USE for any time spent changing diapers or getting dressed. The minute you lay her down on her changing bed she flips herself onto her tummy, looking for something to do or see or touch. It has become a kind of wrestling match. She says da-da-da alot, much sooner than Elizabeth did. I'm not sure if it's just babbling or if she's saying daddy. I kinda think it's just babbling. She loves to eat! She'll eat large portions of almost anything you give her. She loves sweet potatoes and rice cereal made with formula. She loves fruit, but not peaches. She likes squash and peas and different fruit/grain foods. She's started eating these little yum-yum rice crackers. It's so cute to see her munching on them. She really loves her big sister and her mommy and daddy (especially mommy). She seems to have some separation anxiety. Whenever anyone comes over she gets fussy and starts crying. I think she believes that we are going to leave. I hope she grows out of that!

It's so sweet to see Elizabeth with her. Elizabeth really enjoys her. They have started playing together, sort of. Elizabeth is very kind to her and that makes me happy. She's an awesome big sister. Emily is probably days away from crawling. She scoots and rolls around. She gets up on her knees but just hasn't quite gotten the crawl down pat.

Emily can take a bath in the big tub now that she can sit up. She LOVES it. Elizabeth "helps" bathe her, and it is very sweet. She's a wonderful baby and I love seeing her grow. She was 28 " (0ff the charts) and 14 lbs. 13 oz. (25%) at her 6 month check-up. So she's long, but kind of lean. Danny calls her a supermodel baby.

The pic I posted is in honor of the facebook look-a-like week. People always used to tell me that I looked like Ally Sheedy. I don't see it, but that's the best I could do.

A New Year

A new year is here. 2010. It seems like time is flying by. E.A. is going to be 4 this year. Elizabeth is changing so much. She's really curious about things. She wants to know why things happen. I have a hard time answering her questions. How do you know it's going to snow? Because they said so on TV! How do they know? Why did Brittany's dog Jenny die? When is she coming back? Where is she? Are monsters real? Oh....and don't even think of saying....not every little girl has a pretty bed like yours (after a request for another bed). The response is: really? Do you know someone who doesn't have a bed? What's her name? She's also getting really imaginative. She said if a friendly giant would come by and lift her up she could touch the sky. She's all about princesses right now. And she's decided she doesn't like the color white -- she likes pink. She loves to do crafts - painting and cutting and taping and gluing. Her latest thing has been making "cookies." Painting glitter glue onto pieces of old play dough. And she loves her baby sister. Her latest thing to tell people is: "We're 2 sisters. I'm the big sister and she's the little sister." Little sister is growing. She's six months old. She can roll all over the place. She was 14 lbs. 13 oz. at her 6 month check up - 25%. And she was 28 inches long. Off the charts! She isn't a very good napper, which is frustrating. Some days she hardly naps at all! At least she sleeps through the night. Being home with these girls is a challenge. So much mess. So much clutter. So much whining. So much fun. So much love. I wouldn't be anywhere else.