What's worse

What's worse than me being sick?

ALL of us being sick.

That's all.

mg

Today was worse.

Ok, I feel worse. More of the same for the girls. Overall not to shabby.

mg

The many ways in which I ruined my children today

I am sick and although I've been in this job for almost three years I still haven't earned a single sick day. Man, my job can really suck.* So because of my inability to focus or breath through my nose I have spent today doing the best I can to get us all to the end of the day in one piece. A masterpiece of parenting it is not.

Without further delay, the ways in which I ruined my offspring today:

• The television was on from 8:30am to about 12pm. I can kid myself into thinking that it is ok because it was tuned to our local PBS station, and therefore educational. However, Madeline watched Barney for the first time EVER and when she becomes a sociopath in her mid to late teens I know I will look back on that 30 minutes as the turning point in her sweet little life.
• I let Madeline dress herself so she wore a long sleeve t-shirt and tights all day. I suggested she put on a skirt, but I was rebuffed and I didn't have the energy to get off the couch, not to mention demand she put on socially appropriate clothing. She didn't leave the house so I shouldn't worry right?
• I confined Lydia to her sling. Why do you ask? Well why would I want her to gain trunk control or roll over? That's insane. And independent play on the floor is over rated. Not to mention the fact that I wanted her as close to my germs as possible. Can't get much closer than the sling. >>please don't call DFS, I am using a heaping dose of sarcasm here. That being said she was in the sling a lot today, but that is mainly because if she wasn't attached to me she was screaming and my head could not handle the high decibels.<<
• I exposed them repeatedly to my crabby attitude, not to mention the germs. I tried to keep it in check but tantrums and hacking cough do not mix well.
• I startled Lydia with my coughing no less than 30 times today. The pure fear and panic on her face was so sad. I am sure that has caused some serious emotional trauma which will manifest itself at about age 13.
  

Not everything was the pits today:

• Madeline ate healthier than she has in days. So at least while she is socially stunted she'll be physically strong.
• Lydia took a 2 hour morning nap NOT attached to me. That's a record.
• Madeline wore her big kid "underwears" all day without an accident. Including nap time. That is a "sick day" miracle. Heck, that's an everyday miracle!
  
• We all ended the day in one piece.

Here's to tomorrow and hoping I feel better and the girlies don't get sick.

__________
* I love my "job." The perks far out weigh the pits. I wouldn't mind a sick/personal day every once in a while however...

mg

Lydia is 4 months old

Four months. Wow. That's about all I have to say about that.

At her check up yesterday she was given a completely clean bill of health.

If you can't read that (taken with my iPhone) it says Lydia is 13 # 6 oz (50th percentile) and 25 3/4 " (95th percentile). She is long, lean and totally adorable! Both the Dr. and the nurse say so, and they are the professionals.

She's been cleared to start solid foods, but I don't know how I feel about that one yet. Why? I am still exclusively breast feeding Lydia. Although I look forward to others being able to share the responsibility of feeding her it is just so easy to sit down with her for 15 minutes and have her be fed. There is no prep work, no mess, no clean up.

Which leads to a nursing update. It is obviously going really really well. I was happy to nurse Madeline for her first year of life and although I never addressed it here on the blog she self weened by her first birthday. Her last nursing was May 5th. It was bittersweet, because I wasn't sure I was ready to loose that connection, but since I had pretty much been requiring her to nurse for the last month or so, until she could drink cow's milk, I knew it was time. Lydia is a champion nurser, like her sister was early on. I have been very lucky that both girls took to nursing very quickly and it has been a very positive experience for me. I know that isn't the case for many mothers and I know I am lucky.


Lydia is our little social butterfly. She loves to be a part of the action. More and more she doesn't like to be put down... which means she hasn't mastered rolling in either direction... on January 25th she rolled from her tummy to her back five times in a matter of minutes. She hasn't done that since. She's much more content in the sling or sitting on a lap.


Sleep? I hate to compare her to Madeline, but I am going to do it anyway. Madeline was sleeping through the night at 8 weeks, only getting up to nurse once. By 12 weeks she was sleeping 12+ hours at night. It was glorious.

Our social butterfly likes to see mommy and daddy in the middle of the night. Lydia is still getting up twice a night to nurse. That being said, she has slept 11 hours in a row the last two nights (dropping the 12:30 am nursing). So let's hope that this is a turning point and she will continue to drop this feeding on her own.

She is currently sleeping 12+ hours at night and wakes up between 7:30 and 8am. Then she is back down for about an hour at about 9:30-10am. She's awake for another 2 hours, then back down around 1:30p for about 40 minutes and then a little cat nap at about 4 or 5pm. Her final bedtime is 7pm. Which is drastically better than her previous night owl schedule of 11p or 12a.


I mentioned before that Lydia is not rolling over, but she is sitting up. As long as she has a little support for her lower back, she can sit up without too much help.


And do you see that smile? Kevin and I were talking about it tonight, we really think she is ridiculously cute. She smiles with all of her face and is always so expressive. If we thought Madeline was a little drama queen, we might have our hands full. Lydia is already starting to give Madeline a run for her money.

Which brings me to the sisters. Boy do they love each other. Yesterday Lydia was crying in her bed after nap and Kevin was upstairs with her. So I kept cleaning up the kitchen and Madeline walked up to me, very concerned and said, "Mom?!? Go get my sister!" She hates to hear her cry. And the love goes both ways. All Madeline has to do is walk into the room and Lydia lights up. She waves her arms and shrieks each time her sister talks to her. I hope they know how lucky they are to have one another. I know they won't always get along but I hope they will always love each other as much as they do right now.

Life with two is crazy. We are getting used to it... and the stress that comes with it. A few months ago a friend announced her second pregnancy to the world. I held my tongue, but I wanted to scream... DON'T DO IT!!! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!? But that was when I wasn't sleeping more than and hour and a half at a time and Madeline's attention getting behaviors made me want to rip my hair out. I am feeling much more balanced now although I still haven't mastered the art of errands with two on my own.

Happy four months Bitter-Boo.

mg

Chubs

After waking up from a three hour nap yesterday Lydia was a very happy camper. So were her parents.

mg

My First....

GIGGLES!!!



Please ignore the high pitched squealing I am using to get those little chuckles.

I love this time in a babies development. She is becoming so social. With this increased awareness and sociability, comes smiles, giggles and interactive coos on the positive side. On the more negative side, Lydia is already showing signs of separation anxiety. She recognizes my face and Kevin's and gets a little anxious when we aren't around or if we walk out of a room. She is just too smart for her own good!

I love those giggles though.

mg

Happy Valentine's Day

Do you know how hard it is to take good photos of two young children at the same time? I'd say it is impossible.


Spent the day with my girlies. Made pizza from scratch and had my family over for Sunday night dinner. All in all, just another day... with a few more hearts and "I love you"s.

Hope you are all feeling the love today.


mg

Thumb Sucka!

She might just be the cutest thumb sucker out there.

*FYI-photo taken in low light with my phone.

mg

Motherly guilt

Are my children making me feel guilty you ask? Absolutely not (yet).

My main source of guilt is my mother*.

I don't have much time for this blog. That is upsetting to me, but with two kiddos I don't have a lot of free time in my day. Once the girlies are in bed** I have just enough time to catch up on work around the house that didn't get done during the day and have a 5 minute conversation with Kevin before he falls asleep. (Can I mention that he gets up most days at 3:50am so I am in NO WAY upset when he falls asleep early at night...)

It has already been established that showering is one thing I have sacrificed to motherhood. This blog is another. Is spending time raising her grand daughters enough for my mother? No. She wants timely photographic proof. So prepare to be overloaded. Her latest request?

Funny photos of Lydia.

Dec 9- Lydia channels Uncle Fester.

Jan 5- what? Eventually I'll have to feed myself? No fair.

Jan 7- what chew talkin' 'bout Granny?

Jan 9

Jan 16

Jan 11- put em up... put em up!

Jan 20- could I be any cuter?

Jan 31

So Mom,

You're welcome. Now get off my case.

Love you.

M

__________
*I love my mother. A lot. Did I mention that before? I mean, A lot!

**which I don't want to jinx because they have both been going to bed at about the same time each night and I really am enjoying a little more of my night back for the first time in 6 months.***

*** do you remember that even before I had Lydia Madeline was like a jack in the box at bed time for months? Yep. Glad that happy fun time has come to an end.

mg

What little girl wouldn't love some power tools of her own?

Madeline's Christmas list was very simple.

• her own camera
• balloons to blow up and let go (thus sending them flying across the room and squeals of delight ringing through the air)

AND

• her own tools, like daddy's

That was all she talked about for weeks, no, make that months before Santa's arrival. If Santa was mentioned she would say, "I am asking Santa for..." and recite the list above. What can I say? Our little big girl is easy to please.

So two balloons made it into her stocking. Squealing is abundant. Santa managed to find a PURPLE camera for her to call her own. Photos taken by Madeline will be saved for post all their own. AND her tools. Oh, how that girlie loves her tools.

We have started painting the first floor of our house. We moved in the last week of March 09 and until last week we hadn't painted any of the rooms on the first floor. So now it begins... but that means the ladder has been out and Madeline insists on helping with the redecoration.

Kevin, being the awesome dad that he his, got Madeline involved in a smaller project too. (We don't really trust her with a paint brush in her hands!)


I've wanted hooks in the closet down low for the girls to hang their coats and bags on. So Madeline and Kevin broke out the power tools.


And her play tools too. That hammer might be plastic, but it can still pound a nail.


Inspecting their handy work.

It was Madeline's idea to wear the 'safety goggles'. I mean how cute are they?!?!?

So Santa* did a good job. The tools are a hit and she has played with them for hours since Christmas day. Madeline loved her 'project' with daddy. So much so she was disappointed when it was over. So today when I suggested she and I do a project together she ran to her playroom and grabbed her tools. She was very disappointed when I told her she didn't need her tools for the craft I had planned. Unless there was hammering involved I don't think she was interested.

She might just be a future handy woman.

__________
*in the case of the tools Santa was my in-laws.

mg

February 2010

I read a couple of blogs where the women are frequently "setting up photo shoots" for their children. Most days I am lucky if I remember to put on deodorant not to mention get my camera out. But I fell to the pressure and had a "photo shoot" with my girlies today. The new masthead is proof of that. More photos to come as this 'holiday' approaches.

Those using a reader click here.

These girls crack me up. I can't help but think of this.

mg