Life Updates

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Strawberry Shortcake for Breakfast?

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Sure, why not?

Right now nap schedules pretty much keep us home from 9am until 3pm. Which severely limits what we’re able to do or where we’re able to go on the weekends. It’s a lot of staying home, playing in the yard, or splitting up kids and leaving the house with just one at a time.

Which is fine. That’s the season we’re in, and I rank sleep as more important than almost everything else, so I don’t mind staying home. But every once in a while we want to do something special, and it takes a bit of creativity. Which is what we did last weekend.

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VIDEOS!

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Finally!

They’re much shorter, and very late, but I managed to finally put together some video summaries of the last few months. The funny thing is the fact these are so late proves why they’re so important. I was looking at videos from January and I already don’t remember these days. G has become a completely different baby, and the struggles of those early days are slowly fading away.

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Six Months

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Holy personality baby!

I think month 6 is when things click for me. You’ve gone from generic baby who sits there and we fulfill needs, to a tiny adorable person. You’re fun now, you smile and laugh and interact. You’ll grab at our faces and try to eat our nose. You’ll laugh if I pretend to bite your hand. You still don’t give laughs away very easily, and increasingly make us work harder to get them, but they’re so rewarding when we do. Your personality is coming out more and more every day, and I love it.

A New Bear

E had his 2 year check up recently, which meant it was time for another blood test. So this past weekend I took him to the hospital to get that done. The further into the hospital we got, the more nervous he got. His happy chatter stopped, he traded running for walking, and asked for a pacifier. Still, he did great. In the waiting room I asked him to pick a chair, and he climbed up in it himself and sat there waiting. When we were called back, he sat on my lap and silently watched everything going on.

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Other Things

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I’m back at work full time again, which is an adjustment (again) but I’ve been trying to get back in the groove, and figure out everything that’s changed. One thing I noticed that’s changed, is the mural in Dewey Square. This may be one of my favorites! It’s so realistic in person and kind of surreal that it’s so large on the side of a building.

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A Kitty Update

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Thank you to everyone who helped us through our rough time with our kitty, and has been asking about her since. We took her to the vet again recently, to recheck her labs and see how she was doing. As always, baby G tagged along for the trip. When we got there, instead of bringing us back into an exam room, the vet tech said they’d just grab Maia and get her labs, and we could wait up front.

I will say, it was a pretty odd feeling. I was sitting next to a woman with her new puppy, and across from a guy and his cat. And I was sitting there… with my baby?

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A Week with Grandma

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I don’t think we realized when we got pregnant with E, that we had timed things perfectly. Our parental leave ended in September, and that’s one of the easiest times to get a daycare placement, since all the kid’s “move up” to the next grade. June is not. It’s not as bad as February for example, but we still weren’t able to get a spot when we needed it. So we’ve been patching together coverage until G’s spot opens up.

Luckily we have some great family who have agreed to give up a week of their time to come hang out with us and take care of G while we work. Considering he’s almost 20 lbs, likes to pinch loose skin, and scream randomly in your face, it’s a pretty big commitment!

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Hacked Play Kitchen

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Okay we all know I can go a little overboard at times, yes? And sometimes I’ll admit that I’m not sure if I can actually pull off what I’ve dreamed up or not. This was one of those projects.

Almost a year ago we started talking about getting E a play kitchen. I spent some time looking at what was out there, and trying to decide what we wanted. A lot of them were pretty, but a bit plastic, and I wasn’t sure how well they’d hold up.

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SECOND Birthday

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There are a lot of things that E gets excited about when he sees them. BIG TRUCKS, bikes, turkeys, and school buses! He also loves us to sing songs for him, and one of his most requested is “Wheels on the Bus.” He knows all the hand motions to all of the verses, and it’s the cutest thing ever.

So when I was deciding what to do for his second birthday, it just seemed like the perfect theme. I actually had more fun than I thought I would creating decorations for it, but we all know that any crafting is fun crafting for me haha.

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Progress

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It’s amazing to watch a toddler’s brain develop. It changes week by week, and it’s awesome to watch them learn something in real time.

Now that E can officially say his name, he’s using it all the time. Of course he won’t just say it, he’ll beat his chest like an ape and yell it out loud. He’s also learning how to put sentences together, and it’s so fun to watch. The other day he dumped out his box of blocks, and they were all over his playpen. I held my hands up to my face and said “Oh no! What a mess! Who could have done this??” He looked up at me proudly, slammed his chest with his hand and goes “E DID IT!” I’m not sure what’s better. The brutal honesty, or the cuteness overload.

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TWO

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Two. TWO. TWO?????

Have you really been here for two full years?

I feel a little bad that this year is starting with so many changes, but I’m sure you’re going to be absolutely THRILLED with all the upcoming visitors. I have a feeling you’ll be a little less thrilled with my maternity leave ending. For whatever reason, you’ve decided that you need to be attached to me at all times. You want me to put on your bib or lift you out of your high chair or clean your hands. You want to be in my arms, carried everywhere, in my sight, with me, at all times. You ask for me the minute you wake up. And lately that’s been fine, since I’m always home. But tomorrow you’re going to wake up, and I won’t be here, and it breaks my heart to know how unhappy you’ll be. Because I live to make you happy and hear those giggles.

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Five Months

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Didn’t I just post one of these? This month FLEW by. I wish I could say it’s because you’re sleeping, but nothing is consistent there. We actually started out the month with you sleeping through the night and doing GREAT, but then you started rolling and hit your 4 month sleep regression and everything changed. You can’t really roll from your belly to your back, so that makes you incredibly angry in the middle of the night, and you’re still trying to figure out what to do with your hands. So we’re all tired. So tired.

Mother's Day

Yeah, yeah, it’s a little late. I’m going to stand by my statement that Mother’s Day should be moved to a less busy month. May is just so full already, that I don’t really have time for Mother’s Day. Which is probably why I did my hotel getaway months after Mother’s Day last year, and why I planned a family photoshoot for the fall this year, which is when (and how) I’d really like to celebrate.

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And How Was Your Night?

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Every time I pick E up at daycare, I think that there has to be an easier way. I lug G in his carseat, which is heavy and hurts my wrists and back. I get into the room and am swarmed by toddlers who all try to climb in on top of G, or rock him like crazy until he cries. Then when I’m at the car with both kids, I try to hold E’s hand while I maneuver G’s carseat into the car. It’s not pretty, and it’s super hard on my back. I’m just not strong enough.

I see other mom’s use their stroller, but that seemed like a lot of work too. But today I finally decided to try it. I clicked G into the stroller, and headed to the door. Oh. This is harder. I had to type in my code, open the door towards me, move the stroller out of the way and then try to hold the door open and get the stroller through the door. For three doors. Phew.

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These Days

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These days…

E has been dumping all of his toys into an empty laundry basket, and then crawling inside. He’ll sit in there and play with his toys or read books for longer than he’ll do anything else at this point. Every time I try to clean it up during the day, he’ll come home from daycare and within minutes he’ll be back in that basket.

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Four Months

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You’ve done a lot of growing this past month, and I finally feel like I can say that I know you a bit. While you’re getting more and more content playing alone, you’re still happiest hanging out in our arms. When I do set you down to play, you’ve started to bat at toys and grab a few even. You’re getting frustrated that your hands don’t work the way you want them to, but you get so excited when you actually grab a toy.

You suck on everything, especially your fingers. You often have at least three fingers in your mouth at a time, and recently you’ve started sucking on your arm. Whatever you can get. (And when you can get one of our fingers, you go for that too!)