Baby's 1st Thanksgiving

Happy 1st Thanksgiving, bubbies!

Aunt Niecey & bubbies

Darling boy

My darling boy is almost walking on his own. We went to COSI last Thursday and he was all over the place crawling, playing and "walking" those little push cars. It was so amazing to see him GO! It was amazing to see my daughter as well. She played with her "s"riends and ran all over the place without mommy in site...which, I have to admit hurt my ego a bit; but, to see her pretend play and make new friends truly fills my heart with adoration. She'll just go up to another child and say "hello, what's your name?" Can she do that? Really?! Really?! Guess I can't be the center of her universe forever...*tear* *sigh* *tear*.

The baby is sleeping well in his own room. I thought that transition would be really hard on me, but I think I mourned for about 5 minutes and then was over it. As much as I put a roadblock up to change and am incredibly nostalgic, I am also very understanding to the fact that my children need to grow and I can't keep them as babies forever. On the flip side, I don't want to treat my children as if they are older than they are. Sometimes hubby does things that I really don't find appropriate for a 2 year old, maybe a 4 year old, but not a 2 year old. BUT, my 2 year responds well to whatever it is - for instance, going to the movies. Hubby took P to see Wall-E a few months ago. I was abhorrent to the idea, but I let it happen because I had to let hubby "do his thing" even if I didn't agree with it. That was REALLY hard considering I can be such a control freak. She had a great time...she can't remember her middle name, but she remembers Wall-E. ha! Now Madagascar 2 is coming and hubby promised P I was going to take her. We are movie lovers in this family, so I guess it is natural for her to love them too.

Do you mean ALONE?

Drink the juice Shelby

I actually had a ton of adult time this passed weekend, and it was niiiiiice. :) Granted, I missed my kids because they are generally attached to me, but I also enjoyed hanging out with my good friends and family. I actually felt back to the "old" me...if that makes any sense. It seems that since I have had kids I lost some of who I really am...and not the bad parts - the good parts. My friend Jocelyn posted some old pictures on FB and I had the light in my eyes that I have been clamoring to switch back on. Having kids made my controlling side out of control and my nervous side twitch...well, I am over it. I just want to have fun (now, I don't want to sound like I don't have fun, because I do, but I want the feeling of guilt to go away if I take time for me!) I told hubby I need to just change my mind on some of the ways I look at things and I need to focus on the goals I set for myself. Oh, it is much more complex than black and white...it always is.

Anyhow - I had a great weekend. Friday was my friend Geni's birthday and we went to the Cultural Arts Center to celebrate. It really only took one glass of wine for me to get the giggles and then it was over. My group of friends are so damn funny. Let's just say Seymore Luckoff will be resurrected. And, Daryl knows it is her fault. And, it was Daryl's fault that we were so obnoxious at the baby shower. She like a drug to me because when I am around her all I do is laugh.

Sunday we went up to Michigan with my Aunt and my cousin's family. P rode in the van with the girls and Auntie Carol, Candyce and Mitch. She had a great time. She was touching the ceiling of the van and telling Candyce how strong she was - hahaha! But, then she did something that is like her, but unlike her. She twirls her hair either on the side or the back - well, she twirled it so much that she twirled a chunk of hair out of her head. It didn't hurt her - it just came out. Early alopecia or just a hair twirlin' fool? I'll take the hair twirlin' fool one for a 1,000, Alex.

We got up to Michigan in plenty of time to drop the kids off with my sister-in-law and hit the auditorium to see my starlette niece as Shelby in Steel Magnolias. I choked back a few tears when I saw her walk on. The stage just lit up with her presence. It was awesome. Blush and bashful - enough pepto bismol pink to coat my house. :) I got a nice dose of reality for my birthday - the little girl taking tickets asked if I was Amanda's mom because "you look just like her." Amanda is 15 - YES, I know it is possible...but...I AM vain...sometimes. Lucky for Amanda she doesn't look like a troll or I'd be really pissed. haha! Carol, Candyce and I made menaces of ourselves during intermission...as per usual. Candyce and I have the same sense of humor and love to laugh at obsurdities...so does my Aunt, of course. And we decided that making funny, obnoxious faces during intermission and taking pictures of them was fun. I'll leave this post with a few fun weekend shots so my kids can see them later and say "gawd mom, you are such a dork" when they are old enough. My nephew said to hubby "I didn't know adults acted like this." Should I be embarressed? awwe, no. :)

Me, Candyce, fly-by Colby, Carol and my beautiful Amanda

The Wonder trio

B-day girl Peaches La Rue and pal Michelle

Buff, Me and johnnyLung

bubbies is 9 months old!

My baby boy is 9 months old! We had our check-up at the pediatrician's office yesterday and he is in good health - no more evil ear pain. Can I just say, yet again, that I love my pediatrician? They do such a great job with information, they make me feel like my choices for my children are the right ones (because every parenting style is different, and what makes it unique is it is your own! I love being my own unique mommy to my wonderful children), they have articles posted from our local papers that highlight children seen in the office (I love seeing that "Allison" got third place in swimming or what not), and they are just plain nice. One thing I DO wish, though, is that I got a comment from someone there like my mom got when I was born..."boy, that girl is built like a brick shithouse." no joke.

Stats:

Weight: 21 pounds 13 ounces (75th percentile)
Height: 30 inches (95th percentile)

Just this morning P said, "I luz him a lot." awwwe.

**I need to mention this because I keep forgetting: Papa calls bubbies Big E. Big E because he was/is such a big baby. I don't know...he is losing his running in weight to 25% of babies his age and 5% in height! Maybe he won't be a giant afterall...shucks.

Peepee project

I do believe that potty training is a sheer test of my patience. Seriously, what is the big deal about sitting on the potty? It is even Elmo's face for crying out loud? Friendly place to put your butt? Maybe I should create some sort of bathroom get-away? I am not happy.

Yesterday, P and I went to pick out panties. She chose Little Mermaid panties, which is not surprising because she loves mermaids and fairies, and she was extremely upset that I didn't have them washed for her to wear this morning. Well, "we" don't wear panties right now because "we" are not potty-trained, so the little "you don't have my panties washed" fit made me laugh. Then she got mad at me for a laughing.

Anyhow...on with it. Poor little thing has been constipated for about 4 days and has been on Miralax so her little poos aren't like rocks. I have been letting her drink juice every morning so I could lace it with the poo making granuels and, waiting and waiting for it to take effect. This morning it decided to....of course while she was in her panties (I talked her into wearing cotton training panties - which was hard because she kept saying they looked like baby brother's diapers...ugh).Well, about 15 minutes later I noticed her potty signals and grabbed her to go on the potty. She freaked out, peed down my leg, and then a turd fell on the floor as I was trying to get her on the potty. She WOULD not sit on the potty. As I was wrestling with her bubbies was following us and decided that standing supported by the toilet was the perfect place to get in on the action. I was so stressed out because I *really* didn't want him A.) crawling in the poo or B.) getting peed or pooed on. And, the fact that he was all handsy wandy all over the toilet was making me really ill. All he needed was a good hand washing, but what if he put his hands in his mouth BEfore I was able to get P all situated? During these thoughts I was man-handling P to actually put her butt on Elmo and she was FREAKING out and pulling her legs under her, essentially peeing on herself...and bubbies.

By this time she also scared her poopy back to its little home making me worried that she was going to get some sort of bowel obstruction. I ended up having to leave her screaming-little-fit-throwing-body in the bathroom while I put bubbies in his crib so he wouldn't crawl back to the toilet and lap the water up or something. It was horrible.

So, I have dirty training panties getting washed and Little Mermaid panties drying that P is currently very excited to put on. I am hoping this means I won't be diapering her through high school - maybe just cleaning up turds off the floor. Who knows.

It is SOOO getting easier

Well, all those parents with older kids were right...it gets easier. Now, if you asked me even one month ago I would have disagreed with them; but at this point with my children it is, in fact, easier. bubbies is 9 months old and Miss P just turned 2 and 1/2. They are officially starting to play together, P *wants* her baby brother around and he is smitten with her. When bubbies gets up from nappies P is the first one into greet him. Sometimes he is frightened by her, but generally he is happy to see his sissy and gives her a big fat 4 toothy grin.

I have noticed with the increase to 3 squares for the baby that his nursing throughout the day has decreased. .....give me a moment, ah, shed a tear....okay now I am over it. I have to say that with Miss P I didn't have nursing remorse, and I don't think I will with bubbies either. To me, breastfeeding is just what you do when they are babies and when they are through they are through. No biggie. But on the flipside to that, I do center my world around being a breastfeeding mama. I have missed out on many things this year to make the nursing commitment to my son, and I will never, ever, ever, ever, in a million years regret it. In fact, it is something I love to have been able to do for my children and I will always feel a special bond to them because of it. I feel like I brought them life and then sustained them once they were born just by my body. It is pretty cool. I am lucky to have been able to do it, stick with it and most of all endure it. I'll tell you, getting bitten is not fun...and the healing after a laceration on your nipple is even worse than the bite....but, it is what it is and we worked through it. Also, eliminating dairy from my diet has actually made my tummy feel better. It'll be interesting to see how my body reacts when I add it back in. I don't want to be yogurt and cheese-free forever! :)

I am already planning my first trip when bubbies is off the boobie. My friend Jill has sent me some great plane deals for a visit to South Beach...gonna have to take her up on it. Bloody Marys on the beach? Uhmmmm....what was the question? Just got get a bathing suit body...working on it, working on it.

October

I am really sad to see October go this year. The biggest reason is because it was the birth and death month of my Grandfather, but there other reasons too. We had a great early fall in spite of our loss, but we also got to see family we hadn't seen in years and I was able to do many fun things with the kids. We went to a few farms for festival days where we picked pumpkins, drank cider, fed animals, played in hay, enjoyed the wonderful weather and the beauty of the changing leaves, and mostly got to hang out with good friends and family. Our annual kids' Halloween party was so much fun, and trick-or-treating at Cousin Candyce's to "get candy, get candy, get candy" (in the words of Jerry Seinfeld) were some highlights as well.

I really enjoyed watching P experience new things. She was too young before, so this year she embraced feeding chickens, carving and painting pumpkins and her excitement to be with her "sriends" was adorable. One of my favorite memories stems back to the dread pirate chicken - why always chickens with me? I just don't know. Anyhow, P was feeding chickens at Stratford Farms and Grammies took her into the chicken coop so she could see chickens laying eggs. There were probably around 15 hens in the coop awaiting the arrival of their beautiful little hard-shelled goo filled babies, and a few nests had eggs in them. It was really neat to see P find the white treasure in the nests...ooh ahhh went mommy and grammies when we found a nest with an egg. Teaching P not to touch was easy - she is such a sweet and respectful little girl (disclaimers should be inserted here). But, then there was this hen that was very curious about P's intentions. Our little feathered friend kept peeking around to see if P...and only P ...was still lurking about the henhouse. It was quite funny to see that hen peak around the corner of her nest to check out the little intruder. I can only imagine what was going on inside that little feathered pea brain - "hey, kid, step away from the egg." or "YOU are still here, c'mon, I need a little privacy. Laying an EGG you know."