Month marker

It’s time once again to chronicle the children; it seems that Miss M keeps growing up quicker and quicker. No one warned me that #2 grows up exponentially faster than #1! We’ve had quite a streak of good days (weeks!) in the homestead, so I want to be sure to make note of it. As it says in the pumping room at work – “we don’t remember days, we remember moments.”

H boy (20 months)

• Loves – loves – LOVES cornhole. At the lake he likes to play with the big boys, but I found a desk size set from Aunt Bec with 2 inch x 2 inch bags and all. I don’t think he’s put them down since I got them out!
• He’s learning to dress – well, undress- himself. We can ask him to take his pants off and sure enough (5 minutes later) he can get them off. What a big boy. 
• We went swimming at the hotel last weekend and he enjoyed that; he’d float in the raft or hang on to a parent with a death grip. 
• At the wedding last weekend we noticed he is in a more social stage – wanted to run around with the kids (who he didn’t know!) and play on the dance floor. No more sitting with mom and dad at the table?
• His babbling just keeps progressing and you can now notice what words he’s targeting – “what’s that?” or “there it is”. KLR came over last week and started filling in some big gaps for what she thought he was saying and it all seemed to make sense. Turns out H’s speech is fine – it’s mommy that needs a translator. (Should I, in typical American-meets-non-native-english-speaker fashion, I just start speaking LOUDER??). 
• We are also in that phase of leaving no ball untouched. And since he owns no less than 8000 different balls, we hear continuously “ba? ba! BABA!”
• When he’s excited, there’s definately jumping involved – today I even saw 2 feet leave the ground! 
• Feeding himself? Old hat. Well, except spaghetti. And daddy has some difficulty with that one, so there’s time. 
• One of the best parts of the day is after H wakes up and daddy goes in to retrieve him. Their conversations are hilarious. One day they named the diapers. Who comes up with that? It’s one of the many reasons I love both of them. 
• Oh, and those size 4 shoes I shopped around for weeks to find? We’re now in a 6. Thanks to grandma Carol, however, our feet are covered. 
• I should also mention that because “all good bananas come to an end” (words of wisdom from daddy) and we’ve limited his intake, he’s moved on to raisins as a favorite snack. Those have been relocated to the top of the fridge or he’ll just bring the container out and mow down. I suppose it’s better than candy, right?
• H loves to share (well, on his own terms. He’s not even 2, after all), especially with his sister. He even brought over his bean bags the other day for her to hold. Now that’s love.
• A few times now H has not wanted to continue in a napping pattern. We lay him on the big bed and he’s suddenly into it. Perhaps a change of nocturnal setting will be coming for him soon?

Miss M (13 weeks)

• She has gotten so big! We go to the doc to find out exact weight this week. But I can tell from lifting she’s surpassed a good number of pounds. 
• What a giggly girl! She loves to laugh, especially at her brother.
• She’s especially ticklish under her feet.
• She’s starting to get this sleeping thing down pat. We’re taking 2-3 regular long naps with a few short catnaps here and there in between. We go to bed every night around 7-7:30 with typically only one short snack in the middle of the night. If we’re good to her and put her down in a timely fashion, she goes right to sleep, no real bouncing required.
• However, her favorite time of day is 6:30am. I’ve tried convincing her in many ways that the hour is best enjoyed while sleeping, but alas, she wants to spend the time talking about her feelings. What. a. girl. 
• She enjoys sitting in her Bumbo now, so she’s regularly a part of the family meal. We’re going to outgrow that countertop soon. 
• M also enjoyed the swim time at the hotel, which was a relief since bathtime isn’t high on the list of favorites. But she stayed in for a long time – it was mommy that decided enough was enough. 
• She’s still got her baby blues, but hair is shading toward a reddish hue. Not so much like her mama’s; more like her daddy when he grows facial hair. A ‘berry blond she might be? 
• She’s also now pretty good in the car. The only unhappy time is when she’s within 5-10 min of a nap and she has to be a bit vocal in letting us all know she is attempting sleep. Perhaps her way of asking nicely, “mother, would you please turn down that radio?”

The caregivers
Daddy has taken on numerous projects as of late: planning my 30th birthday (did you know he has trouble keeping secrets?); painting the house (we have several windows done, several more to go); researching pools (no, we can’t even have one in this house – must have a fence with it and we’re not allowed a fence – ergo…); looking at HUD houses (because we’ve found so much time to work on this one!); interviewing (3 in the last week!) and lots of cornhole playing with H. His softball season is winding down, so he should be able to walk on Tuesdays again very soon.

I’ve finally switched it up to the 8-noon work schedule and I LOVE IT. Oh, happiness! It gets me moving for the day (I put on pants with a zipper by 7:30 at least 4 days out of the week!), I feel functional and I’m around others, but then I’m home in time that I only miss one of M’s feedings (decreased stress there), enjoy lunch that SuperHusband made, get stuff done during naps, figure out dinner and enjoy the evening. Today I even found myself with more than enough time on my hands. So I baked. I’ve been needing to add variety to our snack life, and it’s blueberry season, so I’ve made a few batches of blueberry muffins. Tonight’s utilized spelt instead of white flour, oats & wheat germ, banana, walnuts and, of course, blueberries. I find them to be quite delish and filling as well. I also did a round of granola bars with peanut butter. I’ve finished off several books as of late (reviews coming – one was quite thought provoking!), and I’ve even fit in a workout about 4 nights a week. Jillian and I are becoming pretty good friends. I must say, it’s quite exciting when the next step up gets easier after doing it only once. But oh, the soreness that is the day after! With much hope, results will soon be evident.

So, that’s about it on the home front. Just a quick note to self to remind me how sweet life really is.