There's this thing that happens a lot, where we compare ourselves to others and decide everyone else has their life more together than we do. Other couples who seem to never fight. Other moms who have perfectly well behaved children. People who's house is always clean and have time to make dinner from scratch.
Eight Months
I heard someone say recently that nine months is peak cuteness for a baby, and I’ve got to say we are well on our way! You are just adorable lately. Dimples on full display, giggling all the time, totally squeezable. Just lots of fun. It would be nice if you’d pretend to care about me or Tom at all, but it’s more than obvious that all you want is your brother. It’s everything we dreamed of when we decided to have two kids so close together, so I guess I shouldn’t complain too much.
Mainely G
My last post about Maine was pretty E heavy. Mostly because he’s a toddler and is big about experiencing everything and sharing opinions about it. Baby G on the other hand, mostly goes along with whatever we’re doing. For every one of those memories about E, baby G was there too. Usually in someone’s arms or sitting on the floor watching everything that was going on.
There were a few very distinct G memories though, and so I thought I’d share them in their own post. I’ve already mentioned that G was feeling a little off during the week, and as a result, that surrounds most of my memories of him. We were constantly trying to either figure out what was going on, or trying to treat it. I’m not exaggerating when I say that we were minutes from bringing him to the ER (Tom had already called to verify they had a pediatrician on staff) when we abruptly changed our mind and decided he was fine.
Mainely Memories
We recently went on our annual trek to Maine. I guess it was technically a vacation, but these days that word has a very different meaning than it used to. At this point it’s all about building memories and doing things to make the kids happy. And I’m okay with that, as tiring as it is. (It definitely gives me a different perspective of all those years in Maine when I was younger, and what my mom was going through!)
We did have the added bonus of having a lot of family and friends come and stay with us, which was amazing. It meant extra hands to hold our babies, to entertain them, to play with them, and to feed us! All good things. And our kids were psyched! There was so much laughter and running around and smiles. Nothing is better, or makes me happier than seeing someone I love, love on my children. It makes my heart happy.
Keeping Me Guessing
I think I was wrong.
Not just wrong, but I had it completely backwards. I used to say that E was an extrovert and G was our introvert, but after a week of vacation, I’m rethinking that. We all have a bit of vacation hangover right now. It was a long week, a tiring week, and the most fun week ever. Totally worth it, but reentry is hard.
So as I’m watching how both of the small ones react to reentry and think about how their energy levels fluctuated over the week, I’m thinking that I’m changing my mind: E might be an introvert and G might be an extrovert!
Extra Mama Time
Here's what I believe about toddlers, at least two year old toddlers. They don't know how to misbehave, or how to do things to annoy you on purpose. They only know there are things that will get your attention, and things that won't.
And if they're doing something to get your attention, it's because they need you and don't know how to say so.
The Ride Home
It’s hard to pick a favorite part of my day, but it might be right after I pick up E at daycare. I grab him first, and then we go to pick up his brother. I open the door and tell E to go find his baby. And he runs around looking from baby to baby until he finds G. It’s seriously the cutest thing ever.
This part of the day is easy and fun. It’s before the dinner struggle. Before I have to fight to get them in PJs and deal with tears because they’re overtired but don’t want to go to bed.
The Vacuum
The Favorite
Seven Months
I knew it was coming.. in my head you were 6 months, but 7 was coming soon. Still, when Tom mentioned this morning that we should have taken the month pictures this past weekend, I was floored. 7 months today? Already? HOW?
I guess that means I’m not counting down days anymore to when things will get easier, because we’re here. We’ve got a schedule and a rhythm and although we are tired and busy, it’s more fun than not. You’re happy more often than not. You’re sleeping at night, and even most days at daycare. Which, by the way - DAYCARE. You started this month and you’re rocking it. It was so easy I almost forgot you haven’t been there that long.
Picture or it Didn't Happen
Twice Sunday there were moments where I wished I had my camera to capture what the kids were doing, but it was too far away and Tom didn’t have his either. At the time I get so torn between kicking myself for not having my camera, and just enjoying it as it happens. So as a compromise to myself, I’ll save the memory here so I won’t forget how awesome it was.
There was nothing special about Sunday, which is to say it was a typical weekend day for us. Lately we’ve both mentioned that we have so much fun staying at home and playing with the kids, that we don’t feel the need to go anywhere or do anything. The added bonus that they both get to stay on their nap schedule definitely helps. We’re usually awake and showered before E&G wake up, just because it makes the morning go smoother. Lately E has been into helping me “do cooking!” and so I got up early and measured out ingredients so we could make a zucchini casserole with minimal effort and maximum toddler happiness.
Flashback
MAAAMAAHHHHH
The Local Carnival
I’m not sure when it happened, but probably sometime during that newborn induced amnesia period. But suddenly I have a full blown kid who can do things, and my tiny toddler is gone!
E shocks me daily with all of the things he can do. He’s gone from kind of humming along when we sing to sort of making sounds similar to what we’re saying, to being able to sing “Twinkle Twinkle” all by himself. He doesn’t crawl up the stairs anymore, but walks while holding the wall (he’d hold the railing, but he’s still too short haha). He’ll bring us a bottle of sunscreen and ask us if we can go outside and play.
Time
Small children don’t understand the concept of time really. There’s either now or not now. When I wake E up in the morning, he tells me he was napping. Waiting for a play date an hour away might as well be days (so I often don’t tell him until it’s almost time). And they certainly don’t understand what it means to be late somewhere.
All that to say, grown-ups like to rush small children, and small children don’t understand why.
Strawberry Shortcake for Breakfast?
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.
First Day of School
VIDEOS!
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.
Six Months
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.