This and That About the Kids

The kids have been sleeping in the same room lately. Baby Girl goes to bed earlier than Little Man, so when she first goes to sleep it's in the pack n' play in our room. Then when The Husband and I go to bed we move her upstairs to the crib. This gives Little Man a chance to have his bedtime routine with songs and books, and lets him have time to fall asleep without worrying about waking up his sister. We've been doing this for awhile now, and it's going ok, but not great. Baby Girl still wakes up in the night on occasion, as babies often do, and she usually wakes up Little Man in the process. Two kids awake and crying in the middle of the night is NOT fun. We are persevering, however, it is really important for us to get Baby Girl OUT OF OUR ROOM! Can you tell how strongly we feel about that? So last night, as I was giving Little Man his last hugs and kisses before he went to sleep, I said something about bringing Baby Sister (that's what Little Man call her, more often than he uses her real name) up in a little while, and he responded, "Mommy, don't bring Baby Sister up here. She's gonna get me all waked up."

So cute. :)


The kids are being really sweet to each other right now. Oh, how I'm enjoying it! This is an exchange that I overheard a few days ago, when Baby Girl was fussing.

Little Man: "It's ok, Baby Sister, I'm right here. I'm not leaving for school again."

Baby Girl continues to fuss, so Little Man says in the sweetest and most comforting tone he can manage, "It's ok Baby Sister, I'm right here."

Such a good, protective big brother.


One weekend morning recently, Little Man and The Husband were on their way to daddy's office. The Husband just had to stop in for a quick minute to pick up some paperwork he accidentally left the day before. It was early in the morning, so I hurriedly got Little Man dressed and ready, and walked him to the front door. As he was walking out I asked, "Can mama have a hug and kiss?" Little Man: "Oh, yeah, " and he gave me a sweet kiss on the cheek. Then he said, "Ok, I give Mama a hug," and proceeded to give me a great big hug. I walked him to the door, then stood on the front porch and waved as he walked to daddy's car. He turned around and said, "Okay, I see you later! I be back soon!"

When did he get to be so grown up?


Today was a milestone day! When I dropped Little Man off at his parent's day out, (he goes twice a week) he walked into the classroom, ran over to the table where the other children were playing, and started to play! Most days he is very clingy to Mama, and fusses a bit when I leave. He also begs for his paci and lovey when I leave. Now lately, his teacher has been great about distracting him so he doesn't need paci and lovey, for which I am so grateful. Today, as I was about to leave, he ran over to me and he whispered, "I want paci and lovey." I just responded, "You don't need paci and lovey, go play!" And off he went, skipping no less! And no fussing, either, when I left!

11 Months

Baby Girl is at the 11-month mark, and in the final stretch of her first year. It's so bittersweet to watch her grow. On one hand I just love seeing her develop and grow. Each new day brings about some exciting new skill, or shows a bit more of her personality. Every day has the feeling of knowing that you're going to get a present, but of having no idea of what it could be. So thrilling! Like most parents, I'm sure, her growing up is also a bit sad to me. My tiny little newborn is long gone, and each day I realize more and more that her babyhood won't last forever. I know that change is good, growing is definitely good...but I still miss my tiny baby. When Little Man was this age, we were already ready to try for another baby, and it wasn't so hard to let go of his babyhood. I think this will be my last baby, however, and every fleeting second seems so precious to me. Children are such a blessing and a joy!

Here's what sweet Baby Girl is doing these days...

Pulling up on anything and EVERYTHING, a scrap of cloth, a piece of lint (wink), you name it she can pull up on it.

Cruising like a champ

Standing on her own, without holding onto anything, for several seconds

Climbing stairs - she can climb the entire length of our staircase in seconds flat. No more forgetting to put up the baby gate!

Trying to climb other things, the step stool, chairs, the other day I found her in the toy box. She had climbed in and was stuck!

Drinking from a sippy cup, just water, unless we go to grandma's house, then grandma gives her juice. Baby Girl goes insane over it! Crack for babies!

Refusing baby food, or anything pureed. Evey yogurt, which she loves. She's stubborn about it, if she can't pick it up herself, she doesn't want to eat it.

Singing herself to sleep. This is the sweetest thing! Little Man did this when he was a baby, and I've never seen another baby do it, but they hum to themselves when they're falling asleep. It sounds almost like a kitten purring, it is so precious!

Saying several words: Mama, Dada, Baba (brother), dogo (doggie), bye-bye, uh-oh, and a-oo (thank you). The fact that she says thank you at appropriate times is amazing to me, but we really encourage Little Man to use it, and I guess she's been listening.

Baby Girl also gives the best hugs, she's a very cuddly baby, just like she should be!

She still nurses. My goal was to nurse as long as I could, up to her first birthday. However, I decided I didn't want to wean her in the middle of the cold and flu season, especially this cold and flu season, which in September has already been record-breaking. So I hope to continue nursing until the Spring.

Sweet Baby Girl, 11 months old - hard to believe!

Unusually Productive

Things have been going really smoothly around here lately. Maybe it's our reward for the past several weeks when we seemed to have constant chaos for weeks on end.

Little Man and Baby Girl are getting along and even enjoying playing together a bit.

The Husband has returned to a more regular work schedule.

We've all been well lately, what a huge relief!!

I've gotten to tackle a few projects, which has cleared some of the visual (and mental) clutter around here. Thank goodness!

For instance, I have ALL my pictures from 2007 in an album. Yes, in an album. With captions and cute little stickers, almost like a scrapbook. This took about three weeks. Now I'm organizing pictures for 2008. Baby Girl was born in 2008, so we have about... 1,000 pictures. Not kidding a bit. I have most of them printed, and in a crude order, like Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. It's a great start, and after 2008 I'll tackle '04, '05, '06, and '09. Small steps, small steps.

I've also been practicing my cake decorating. Here is a picture of a cake I made for my mom's birthday this week.




She absolutely loved it and felt so special, what a great feeling!

I also tried to make Petit Fours today, I'm hoping to make these for a baby shower I'm throwing next month.

My petit four-making needs some help, these did not turn out the way I had hoped. I did, however, learn a lot from my mistakes and I think I'll have it next time. And they tasted sooo good.

A few cute tidbits about the kids:

When I have several errands to run, or drive the long drive out to my mother-in-law's house, Baby Girl usually falls asleep. This is just too much temptation for Little Man, who then tries to wake her up by repeatedly yelling "HUH" at her. So the other day it was Little Man who fell asleep, and Baby Girl who stayed awake. She was looking over at big brother, and chatting to him a bit. I guess she realized he was asleep, because all of the sudden I hear a "HUH, HUH!" No, it wasn't Little Man, it was Baby Girl, giving payback to brother. She did wake him up, too! Little Man's response, "Mommy, Baby Sister is keeping me awake!"

Little Man's speech continues to crack me up. One of his favorite words right now is "something," only he says "someping." Sometimes it's just too much!

Tonight, as I was organizing the kids' closet with their fall clothes, Baby Girl got into the Aquaphor bottle. She smeared globs of it all over her face, her mouth, her hands, and hair. Oh yeah, and Little Man's bedspread. To top it off, she was MAD when I took it away, she loved it's squishy texture. I was worried about her swallowing all that thick, greasy lotion, but a call to Poison Control calmed my nerves. Tonight, she has the most velvety skin a baby ever had.

Well, I've given the cake decorating, or more specifically, the fondant, another try! Despite the fact that I soon won't be able to wear any of my clothes for the "tasting," I'm having so much fun! Here's my second attempt at fondant:






Turned out cute! It's a small cake because I had one 9 in round in the freezer, left over from trying to motivate Little Man during potty training. So I cut two circles in it, stacked them, and then decorated. This time I bought a commercial fondant, I wanted to try one out. A lot of people who take cake decorating very seriously (very, very, seriously it would seem) say they shudder at the thought of using a commercial fondant, but this novice decorator liked it. I loved the texture, it was much smoother than the one I made, which was way too greasy and pliable. It tasted great, too, without adding any flavoring. The only drawback is it's expensive. To cover a bigger cake would cost at least $15.00, and for that much I think I'll try a homemade recipe that doesn't call for as much shortening.

I hope Baby Girl loves her birthday cake, or realistically will love looking at pictures of it when she's older! I sure am loving trying to make it!

Lost..

Wow, what a day already!

Little Man must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed today, I don't know any other reason for his behavior. I made him go take a nap at 10:30 - 1. because I figured the way he was acting he must either be tired or not feeling well, and some rest could only do him good, and 2. I needed a break from him. Now he's blissfully fast asleep, and when he wakes up he'll probably be in the best mood and not really remember all the trouble he gave us this morning. The Husband went into work late today, and went upstairs to say goodbye just before Little Man fell asleep. When he came back downstairs he said, "Little Man and I had a talk. He said he's just having trouble with all this three-year old business. For instance, he wants Mommy's attention, but she's busy with this or that, or taking care of Baby Sister. And for that matter, Baby Sister is really bothering him. She always wants his toys, his lovey, or juice box, and she just won't leave him alone. He says he's bored and frustrated and just doesn't know what to do." It was really sweet the way The Husband put it.

So....now that both kids are asleep, thanks to Little Man's early nap, I'm in the middle of trying to organize all my pictures. I've let the pictures run rampant since, oh, mid-2007. And we take A LOT OF PICTURES! I have a pile about 8 inches tall for 2007, a similar one for 2008, and one already that tall for 2009. I can't decide how to organize them. An album for each year? An album for each birthday, Christmas, and vacation? Can't decide, leaning towards an album for each year, but it would have to hold a lot. We'll see how this pans out, I'm not betting I'll get this done anytime soon. ;)

Little Manisms of the day:

"Oh my goodness grief!," and "Goodness graciousness!"

Happy Monday!

We've stayed inside today, for it's been raining off and on. Just like it has been for the past week...

Anyway, Baby Girl's first birthday is fast approaching, so I tried my hand at something I've always wanted to do.

I was really happy with the results! Now don't get me wrong, my technique definitely needs tweaking, but I thought it was great for my first attempt. I need to work on the consistency of the fondant, it was a bit heavy and greasy, but who am I kidding, the whole family will enjoy the practice. :)

Other musings from today: Things I don't like hearing from my three-year old include, "Gross, Baby Sister, you have poo poo on your shirt. Where'd that poo poo come from, Baby Sister?" Thankfully, the "poo poo" turned out to be a rogue crumb from the above chocolate cake that was on Baby Sister's face, and not poo poo for real. I was about to be disgusted.

That's all for today, Happy Monday!

A Shift...

I'm happy to say that things are looking up around here. And, no, nothing has really changed, except for my perspective, I guess.

BTW, I just reread my last post, and, wow what a whiny baby I can be. After I read it I half wanted to delete it, but it is what it is, and that truly IS how I felt that day, so I left it. Judge away, if you must.

We've all been a little sick these past few days, since Saturday (it's now Wednesday) actually. All of us are on the mend except for Little Man, so I took him to the doctor today. I was worried it was the dreaded swine flu. I'm now laughing at myself for thinking that, but I looked up all the symptoms, and we had them all. We also know a few people who've had it, and may have been exposed, as they say. The only thing lacking in our symptoms was the severity. So I was kind of hoping that maybe we caught it, but only a mild case, so then maybe we had developed an immunity to it. That would be good, right? Turns out we only had one of those pesky summer viruses, no doubt brought home from Parent's Day Out by one of the kids. Mystery illness solved, and extra fluids, rest, and hugs ordered for Little Man.

Now the kids are both napping, and at the same time! A miracle, this happens maybe once a week! So I'm catching up on some "me" time. Emails, blog reading, facebooking, and now a nap. It's turning out to be a great day!