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.

Welcome to the family, Emily

Next week our new baby will be 3 months old. She is an absolute delight. She's been sleeping through the night since she was about 2 weeks old, starting at about 5-6 hour stretches and now she goes 8-9 hours at night. She's a beautiful, happy, sweet little baby. She doesn't cry that much -- usually just at night, when she gets tired or hungry or sometimes gassy. She was 11 pounds and 24 inches at her 2 month check-up. Elizabeth adores her. She's always giving her hugs and kisses. She's very gentle with her and she's learning to back up a bit when she talks to her, and not get RIGHT IN HER FACE when she's saying, "Hi, baby sister." Everyone talks about regression. Elizabeth has had some, but not too much. She'll put a pacifier in her mouth every now and then, and she'll want me to carry her around some (which isn't easy at 40 pounds!) and she'll whine some and try to sit in my lap when I'm holding the baby, but for the most part, she's been great.

Being home full-time with both girls is a big change for me. Some days I simply can't get much done because if I'm not tending to one, I'm tending to the other. But I really enjoy being with them. As a dear friend of mine recently said to me, "The days are long but the years are short." I can't believe how Elizabeth is growing. The other day we were all together in the den, just kind of hanging out and I started to hum a tune. She turned to me and said, "Mommy, be quiet, I"m doing my homework!" And sometimes after she goes to bed, if she hears us talking, she'll come out of her room and say in an annoyed tone, "be quiet guys, I'm trying to sleep." She's funny! She's had a cough lately and the doctor gave her some medicine. He said it might make her sleepy....not so much. She still ran around and jumped and danced and twirled as much as usual. I'm not even sure she remembers how to walk because she runs everywhere she goes.

I think she's going to be a princess for Halloween. As she often tells us, "I love princesses and pink is my favorite color." She has started putting her baby dolls to sleep around the house in different places. She'll put them on little blankets with a pillow and sometimes a cover. And she puts her baby dolls in time-out, too.
She's really interested in the alphabet. She wants to read and write so badly. She can recognize all the letters. She can write most of the letters, and she's trying to learn how to write her name. Maybe I should have named her something shorter, like Tina.

3 years Old

It's been MONTHS since I've posted. I've been in a pregnancy fog since November, but I felt inspired to document E.A.'s 3rd birthday. Time is going by. In general, I don't feel sad that she's getting older. I love that I can talk to her and to see how she's growing and how much she's learning. She's pretty much potty trained. The worst of it was a short phase of pooping in her room durning nap time, taking off her diaper and stashing the poop in a bag somewhere in her room. Thank GOODNESS that didn't last long. She's doing great and doesn't even use pull-ups or diapers anymore. Woo-Hoo! At 3, she's really starting to develop some interests. She loves to paint and color. She is fascinated with bugs and insects and is really worried about them coming in the house. She loves to play dolls now. She wraps them in blankets and sometimes spanks them and puts them in time out. And she loves pouring water or bubbles or anything she can get her hands on to pour from one container to another. She loves to be outside. She loves to see animals and she loves flowers. She calls dandelions "poofy heads." She loves to climb and swing and jump. Especially jump. I'm thinking of getting her a little trampoline. She loves music. She loves to sing and especially to dance. She's really excited about being a ballerina at school next year. She loves books, and she can write the letter E. Every little picture she colors at school comes home with the letter E on it, that she wrote. She's also getting excited about her baby sister, who is due on July 4. She loves Camila, a Brazilian student who has lived with us since August and is moving out this week. We will all miss her so much. And she is starting to say hilarious things. Some examples: At school she walked in one day and told her teacher: "My room has a bad smell. It smells like a racoon." She also told the kids in her class that she had a swimming pool with a big diving board, and invited them over to swim. We don't have a pool. She makes up crazy things to try to get out of going to sleep. The other night she said, "Momma, I can't go to sleep because the ants might come and eat my hair." She's smart and beautiful and funny and delightful. But I"m totally biased, I know!

The Big Event

What: Yard Sale
When: Saturday, September 13, 2008 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Where: My house

Come one, Come all, and shop, shop, shop!!!!

back to work

It's official. Labor Day is over and I'm back at work full time. My summer of fun is over. I love my job and I love the students but it's still hard to go back. E.A. and I had such a good time together this summer. We did fun things like go to storytime at the library, go to imagination place, go to the playground, play outside and swing and play ball and play in the sprinkler. We watered the plants and went for walks in the neighborhood and watched TV -- Max and Ruby and the Backyardigans are my personal favorites! I'm looking forward to a great year, but this summer was probably one of my best summers ever! Thanks, E.A., for being such a blast!!

terrible 2's

The terrible 2's are here. I know what they mean now. They mean your otherwise angelic, adorable child (see photo) who turns into someone you've never met before. She pushes, and hits, and screams, and grabs, and won't even think about letting anyone else touch anything that belongs to her. Play date? How can you play with someone who's crying because you just pushed her down and grabbed the fake peas out of hand? Heaven forbid that your friend play with one piece of your 100 piece playfood set! Later that night, after the disastrous "play date" was over (which ended in a bath, since E.A. ground dirt into the other kid's hair while the moms weren't looking), E.A. looked at me and said, "I don't want my friends to cry." I just said, "Well then you need to share your toys and be sweet to them. If you hit your friends they will cry." She thought about it, and said, "O.K. mommy." We'll see.

Sleeping Woes

A new era has begun. It's the big girl bed era. After numerous successful attempts to crawl out of her crib when she just didn't feel like being in there, we decided it was time to change to a bed. So it was bye-bye crib (oh how I miss you, old friend) and hello bed. We decided on a single bed, since we could use it for a long time (as opposed to a toddler bed). In the days of the crib, bedtime was pretty easy. A bath, some quiet play, a few books in the rocker, and then off to the crib where a relatively contented E.A. would read and play and talk and sing herself to sleep. The rules are different now. There's still the bath, and the play, and the books...but no more contented toddler cocooned in her own little world. Now there's a preschooler in a real bed who doesn't WANT to go to sleep. Who wails and cries and demands all kinds of unreasonable things. "I want to sleep in your room." "I need some milk...some water." "Where's my little teddy bear." and on and on and on. After about 10 days of hysterics and night wakings and trying to convince her to stay in or go back to her bed and lying in the bed with her and sitting in the chair forever and, and, and....we have a system. After story time and prayers, We (meaning me - Momma)sit in a rocking chair near the door until she falls asleep. Then around 2:30, she gets up and comes in our room where she sleeps on a little pallet on the floor. She seems to be O.K. with it, and until further notice this is how it is!

2nd birthday party

 

These are pics from E.A.'s 2nd birthday party. She prayed hard for a swingset and her prayers were answered! I can't believe she's already 2. The party was fun. It was a sweet family time.


If you haven't noticed...I have a new blog name. Stormy Wunderblatt. It was given to me as my spy club name and I'm VERY proud of it. Thanks, Spy Club president. I don't know your name and I hate to reveal your true identity.

One of my duties in the spy club is writing limericks. I'd better get to work!

First Birthday Part 2

 

Here she is diving into her cake -- a first birthday right of passage. I'm thinking of trying to make my own cake, or cupcakes, this year. Any suggestions??

Elizabeth's First Birthday

 

Elizabeth is coming up on her 2nd birthday. I can't believe it! This is how she looked one year ago. I can't believe how she's grown!!!!

She's growing up

 

Elizabeth is growing up. She likes to drive her car. She LOVES her baby dolls and every Pooh character. She's afraid of the count on Sesame Street. She's really into nursery rhymes right now. Her favorites are "Ring around the Rosies," "Little Bo Peep has lost her Sheeps," "Baa-Baa Black Sheep," "Yankee Doodle," and tons more!! Her vocabulary is AMAZING. She has some kickin' grammar. Example:

Me: "Where's your xylophone?"
E: "I don't know. Let me check. I'll be right back." (goes to her room and then runs back). "It's not in there
Momma."
Me: "Yes it is."
E: "Oh. It must be in my closet." (Runs back in her room and then back to me). "Here it is."

She knows the alphabet. She can count to 12 (sometimes she leaves out 8). She makes stuff up. Yesterday in the car she said, "There's a unicorn, Momma." Ha-Ha.

She is VERY auditory. She hears every little sound outside. Birds, dogs, cats. Sometimes when she hears an ambulance she says, "There's an ambulance. Somebody needs help."

She loves to roar like a lion, but she's not very scary. :)

She's also really into hanging out in the bathroom. She loves "washing" her hands and "brushing" her teeth. She REALLY wants to put on makeup and she's obsessed with chapstick. Unfortunately, she recently discovered the toilet. She has no interest in going potty. The bathroom is her playground.

That's all for now. I can't believe she'll be 2 in just over a month!!

Bah Humbug!

We did our annual Christmas photo shoot, sans Dame Catoe, on Saturday morning. We missed her, but I think Danny did a good job. This is how she really feels about photo shoots, but she enjoyed being outside on the beautiful grounds of the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection.

On a completely different note, Elizabeth's weekly day at preschool always goes smoothly. She never cries when I drop her off. I've figured out why: It's the pampers my mom bought her. They have Elmo on them, and we don't have them at home. She knows that when she goes to school she gets Elmo diapers. The last two Mondays one of the first things she does when she gets there is go up to her teacher, Judy, and say "Elmo diapers." I can't believe the pull of brand name products has already got her in its grasp.

18 months

At this rate, I'll only be blogging at E.A's annual check-ups. There has been a lot going on. We bought a house and moved and that's been kind of crazy and we are renovating our new house which has been more craziness and we have tons of stuff to unpack which is even crazier and, and, and.... We love our house and we have cool new red furniture and we're happy about moving forward.

E.A. got her 18 month check-up today. I'm not at all satisfied with her measurements, though. They had new ways of measuring and weighing her, and I'm not convinced that they are accurate. Anyway, they said that she was 33 1/2" long and
29 1/2 lbs. That means she grew 1/2" and gained 3 1/2 lbs. Possible, but I think she gained more like 2 lbs and probably grew at least an inch. Anyway....she was healthy and happy and cried the most she ever has when she got her shots. 3 this time. She got the MMR shot, which is a big one. No more shots until she's 4. YEA!

15 Months

Elizabeth had her 15 month check-up last week. She's growing like a weed! When the nurse measured her at 34 1/2 inches long, and then the doctor came in, he re-measured her. The nurse had messed up and she was actually 33 inches long.
"On the charts, not Amazonian" were the doctor's exact words! She was 26 pound, which puts her at the 95th percentile for height and the 90th percentile for weight. She's not gonna be a petite girl, that's for sure!

This was the first doctor's visit that she seemed to know where she was. And she wasn't happy to be there. She cried and fussed a little, and watched the whole time while she was getting her shots. She got the Chicken pox shot this time. Next time, at 18 months, she gets the dreaded MMR, among others. After that, no more shots until she's 4. Woo Hoo!

The Gym

One of my goals this summer is to get in shape. So I decided a gym was a must. After a failed attempt at one gym (another customer service NIGHTMARE -- oh cruel fate...) I found my way to the oasis that is the YMCA. They are friendly and helpful and wonderful. Today was the first day that I took Elizabeth to the childcare room and went and worked out. I was nervous leaving her there, and actually snuck down once and peeked in on her. She had a blast! The girls said that she spent a lot of time just watching the other kids, and then she starting exploring the room and looking at things and playing a little. When I went to pick her up one the workers was holding her and looking at things out the window with her. They said, "Please bring her back...she's so sweet." That made me feel really good. I know that she's wonderful, and it makes me happy to share that with others.

Sick!

Elizabeth had her first official sickness. Last Friday, I noticed after a short walk that she seemed warm. I took her temp. and it was 100.7! Danny took her to the doctor (one that was referred by her regular doc who was on vacation). She had a virus, one that we could even name -- Roseola. It gave her a fever for 3 days, she didn't eat much, she was cranky and fussy, and then she broke out in a rash at the end of it that cleared up in a day. Not such a big deal. But when your child gets sick, and it's your first one, you freak out. I was so worried about her, taking her temperature all the time and constantly monitoring her condition. We even got up in the middle of the night to check on her. She had a mild stomach bug a couple of week ago, but it wasn't so bad so we just waited for it to pass, which it did! But this was different. I was so worried about her. We gave her tylenol and motrin every 4 hours, and I kept taking her temp. constantly. We even missed a family shrimp boil / swimming party with Danny's family. That was a bummer, but that's the way it goes. Apparantly, this virus is responsible for the first fever in more than 50% of babies. We found that on the internet.

She's better now, and growing so fast. I look at pictures and I can't believe how fast she is changing. She's babbling so much now. She can say several words, like Momma, Daddy, ball, duck, baby, bye, la-la (for her cousin Lauren), and circle, kind of. She mostly just babbles consonant and vowel sounds. She understands TONS. She can wave, and give hugs to people and her dolls. It's so amazing to watch her grow and learn new things every day.

Sonic Stinks!

Well, this blog is an infrequent update on the life of my daughter. I write so seldom that I'm sure no one reads it anymore. But I just had to vent about my trip to Sonic today.

I went out to run a few errands, and decided to pick up a fresh-fruit slushy for the trip. A summer treat that I always enjoy. Long story short...I got to Sonic, ordered my strawberry slushy, and the girl came out and told me that it was $2.75. I was like, "what??" On the menu, all of the drinks were listed with one price at the bottom, ranging from $1.39 - $1.69. Since I ordered a small, I expected to pay about $1.50.

I asked her about the price, and showed her the menu. She huffed and puffed, grabbed the drink, stormed off, and said she would ring it up at that price. She mumbled something about fresh strawberries being more expensive, but ran away before we could discuss it. She came back out and had a lower price, and I looked at the slushy and just prayed that she hadn't spit in it or something gross like that. Elizabeth and I both drank it and we're O.K.....so far.

I showed her the menu again, and suggested that maybe they should list a price for the slushy. THERE WAS NO PRICE LISTED FOR THE SLUSHY. She looked at me like she wanted to shoot me and said, "I"ll put that in the suggestion box." And she was a manager. So unbelievably unprofessional and RUDE. It annoyed me, and I drove away from Sonic disturbed and unhappy.

I don't think that Sonic is the only place where good customer service is lacking. There are a lot of businesses in this community with helpful, friendly employees, but more and more that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. We need a customer service revolution!!!

Summer is Here!

I officially began my summer vacation this week. Except for a few days of substituting, I'm spending the entire summer home with Elizabeth. Last night our 9 year old nephew, Logan, spent the night with us. Elizabeth loves having company, and we had fun playing putt-putt this morning at Nocalula.

Elizabeth had a first this week: throwing up. I went in her room to check on her like I do every night before I go to bed and she was lying next to a giant pile of throw up. So gross!!! We got her up and cleaned her up, and she went back to bed. She got sick again the next morning, but then was fine all day and didn't get sick again, so far. I was worried about her, but she seems fine. Of all of the things that scared me about motherhood, throw up was probably the worst. I just have always had a weak stomach and didn't think I would be able to handle it. With Danny's help, we made it through the first episode.

Elizabeth's language development is really growing. She can say several words, like Momma, Dada, ball, duck, la la, and bye-bye. And she understands a lot! She goes to the gate when I say "let's go upstairs." She goes in the kitchen to the refrigerator when I say "It's time to eat." She goes to the door when I say, "Let's go get the mail." She can bring me different objects that I ask for, like, Pooh, a ball, her bunny, or a book. It's so awesome to see her learning new things every day. She gives hugs now. So if you ask for a hug she will give you one. And she's obsessed with phones, not play ones but real ones. Especially cell phones. She called Jim on the phone this morning while she was playing around with my cell phone. Sorry, Jim!