I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday. I’m happy to be waking up in my own bed this year (as opposed to a hospital bed last year!) and am excited to see how both children react to the day.
ONE YEAR
I’ve been counting down for this for a year, but still somehow I can’t believe that we’re here. I barely remember you as an infant, those days were so long ago. And these last 6 months have flown by.
You are so much fun right now. Always laughing, always moving. You’re still “talking” and mimicking us all like crazy, and have started pointing all over the place to tell us your opinions and what you’d like. You have strong feelings and get angry quick if I tell you that you can’t have my phone or something else you want.
Lately
Hi! Still here!
We’ve been feeling like we can’t catch up lately. Lack of sleep or extra things to do or who knows, but our to do list is piling up and nothing is getting crossed off fast enough. Which means that even though I probably have cute stories to tell, my brain is so foggy I can’t remember them.
Anyway, here’s a quick update on the tiny humans. As cute as ever, keeping us as busy as ever.
Baby G has decided that since his first birthday is coming right up, he would no longer like to be a baby, and this toddler thing seems great. He has stared babbling like crazy, entering the phase I loved with E. He’ll look at something, point to it, and tell you a whole story in his own language. And then he’ll look at you with these big eyes because he completely expects you to understand. Which I feel like I do, in the moment.
Thanksgiving
If you know me, you know that Christmas is my favorite holiday. In my opinion, there is no competition. However, my children might disagree. E is becoming all about that orange holiday otherwise known as Halloween, and we might just have found baby G’s favorite holiday. Hanging out with lots of people and eating tons of food? Yup, that sounds like him.
Hello Toddler
Thanksgiving day marks E’s half birthday this year, making him officially two and a half. Guys, two is a lot of fun. One year olds are the cutest, but two is full of surprises so far.
We all know that E has been into cooking a lot lately, and that’s definitely still a thing. But his love of art has also been growing, and it’s making his craft loving Mama very happy. He’s been less into painting lately, and all about the “projects.” Give him a glue stick, and this kid is super happy. We’ve been cutting and pasting all over the place, and it’s amazing to realize that we can actually complete a real art project together, as opposed to when he used to just smear the paint over the paper and I’d peel up tape to reveal a more finished look. (We still utilize this for the baby though! He is all about the paint!). I’m always impressed at not only his ability, but the attention span he has, and the joy he gets out of doing these projects with me.
Eleven Months!
Holy cow, only one month to go!
I know I keep saying this, but I’m shocked this is where we are. How are you almost a year old? I feel like we’ve all survived some big battle and have come out victorious! We’ve survived, everyone is happy (mostly), and we’re really figuring out this family of four thing. Not that I didn’t think we’d get here, but I’m so proud of all that we’ve accomplished this past year, and it’s gone by so quickly! (When I sleep I forget all those rough months and I’m much happier - remember that!)
A Visit with Santa
Okay, we held off as long as we could (okay that’s a lie, we started back in October), but I think it’s Christmas season here! We’ve pulled out the Christmas PJs, and we’ve even squeezed in a visit with Santa! The boys did great, mostly. E always goes into his happy place and just sits there quietly when put in a new situation, so I knew he’d do fine. Baby G was the question mark. When we handed him over, Santa looked at him and said “Oh hello, I love you!” It might have helped that he was dressed as a tiny elf.
We got a few pictures taken before G looked around and realized he wasn’t sure about his situation and started to cry. A quick reassurance, and he calmed down, and then we were done! Afterwards E let me know that he doesn’t actually like “Big Santa” and would rather be Santa himself haha. So even though they were both unsure, we got our picture, and they got a new experience.
The Not So Little Baby
Big developments in the baby department!!
Guys, little G has been busy. For starters, he has a tooth! We’re not really sure when it came, but it’s pretty recent, since it’s not all the way down. Looking at him, it’s the top right side of his mouth (not the middle teeth that everyone else but our children get first..). I think he’s the winner. I’ll have to go back and look at when I got my first teeth, but it was 10-11 months I think. And we all know that E was 14 months. Also, there is another one on the top left that is cutting through currently, and there are some spots on the bottom that look like they could become teeth soon.
But we’re a bit surprised we didn’t notice. It was a big deal with E, and he’d only eat soft food for a few days when his tooth came, but we’ve noticed no changes in G’s eating. He still eats everything, anything, all the things.
Random Thoughts
I kept trying to tie all this together but in reality, here’s a brain dump of things. I’ll blame it on Sicktober, which yes, has followed us into a new month. I refuse to believe that we’re just going to be sick forever. Croup, De Quervain’s Tenosynovis, Scarlet Fever/ Strep Throat, colds, viruses, infected noses. We’ve had it ALL, and I’m done with it. But please excuse any randomness or confusion on the many things I’m trying to recover from.
The Halloween Post
I’ve realized there are a lot of people with a lot of strong opinions about Halloween. And most of them (or at least the loud ones) believe that Trick or Treating should always be on October 31st, after dark, regardless of the weather. It could be a hurricane, tornado, ten feet of snow, and they expect children to put on their costumes and ring their bells. The thought of moving it to a Saturday when parents don’t have to work and cars don’t need to be on the road is the dumbest idea anyone has ever had.
Maybe because my Saturdays usually aren’t that busy, or maybe because I have an hour commute home and actually had to take time off of work to make sure I could be all the places I wanted to be on Halloween, but I would LOVE Saturday Trick or Treating. In fact, I’d love it from 3- 5:00 in the evenings if you’re asking.
Songs We Sing
I don’t really enjoy singing. I rarely sing hymns at church, unless it’s a song I really like. I’ve already admitted that I never do more than mouth “Happy Birthday.”
But there’s something about having tiny children that has changed that.
I’m still not sure that I enjoy it, but I definitely do it a lot. Half the time it’s because I get asked to sing a specific song. “Old McDonald! Horsey! Cow! Horsey! Duck! Cow!” Over and over again. You never realize how short and weird a song is until you’ve sung “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” a couple hundred times. But the other half of the time? They’re made up songs that have popped into my head and stuck.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN
A more detailed post with costumes coming (get excited!), but I’ll give you a special treat for today.
I’m not sure why I didn’t do this with E. Probably because I was an overwhelmed first time parent and this was too much work, but it definitely would have been easier. Mostly because E was only 5 months old at his first Halloween and small for his age, and G… isn’t.
Toddler Speak
I love all the weird sayings and phrases that toddlers come up with. I never correct them, and I always mourn when they disappear. When there’s a loud noise, E used to say “Oh so noise!” but now he says “I herr-d that!” Both are cute, but I miss his ‘so noise’ that he used to say. Just like he didn’t know the word for crayons, so he used to call them colors. The other day he told me he wanted to color with crayons. I’m thrilled he’s learning, but it’s a little sad to let go. No longer do I get the “Um-me!!” when he’s hungry. Now I get “want snacks!”
Ten Months
So nine months snuck up on me, but I’ve been calling you ten months for the past few weeks. I don’t really understand why some months seem longer than others, or you seem seem to grow faster at some points and slower at others. I think because of this, it seems like you haven’t changed much this month, but you actually have!
Still Here
My goal was to write a post about how tired I am, and explain that’s why I haven’t been posting much anywhere. But I’m so tired it seems overwhelming to do this?
That’s what happens. When I’m tired, overwhelmed, or haven’t had enough down time, my creative brain goes away. I can barely think or form sentences, let alone do anything additional.
October Things!
October. The month that says summer is finally over, and it’s time to embrace fall. Pumpkin lattes, crisp leaves, sweaters and pumpkins. You can either spend your time mourning the end to a fun summer, or you can have some fall fun.
Which is probably why whenever I look at my phone I see all of my friends at apple orchards and petting zoos and pumpkin patches. It looks like a ton of fun and makes me want to do it too. But it also seems like a lot, and sometimes it stresses me out. Am I making plans because it’s fun, or because I’ll feel like I’m missing out if I don’t?
Baby G is His Own Person
G is a very different baby than E was. Two years in, we feel like we understand our toddler pretty well. We know how to comfort him, how to put him back to sleep if he wakes up, what makes him happy and what doesn’t. And it’s lead us to a false sense of confidence that we know babies/children in general.
But G is a very different baby.
Orange Happy Birthday
We’re still obsessed with happy birthday over here. E can almost sing it by himself, but he still prefers it if we sing it, or we watch his two minute clip on Netflix. The drive home from daycare is prime happy birthday singing time. Lately, singing it is no longer enough. He’s requested that we merge his two favorite things, and sing “Orange Happy Birthday.”
A Big Adventure
It all started with an Instagram ad.
Huh - that’s interesting, I remember thinking. I texted it to Tom as an almost joke – wouldn’t we be crazy if we did this? He immediately was on board and started talking about logistics and I got scared and backed way off. I wasn’t serious! We couldn’t do that! Let me think about it.
And I thought about it the entire way home. And after I put the boys to bed. And it seemed… possible?
So I went back to Tom and told him I think we should attempt it. Because why not. If we failed miserably, at least we’d have something to put in the baby book.
If it Barks Like a Seal...
So croup’s fun, huh?
On a Monday recently, I was sitting at my desk at work, leisurely eating my breakfast while planning out my day. What projects I was going to work on, what I was going to get for lunch, and making plans with a co-worker to get coffee after our 8:30 team meeting. It was during that 8:30 meeting that I saw daycare’s number pop up on my phone.