Friday, August 22, 2008

On the Move


It's been a busy week. Thankfully, it's been less stressful than last week, but still filled with somewhat notable happenings.
Weve enjoyed the weather, continued to watch the Olympics and spent time with friends, but mostly we've watched our kids grow up. They both seem to grow and change every day and it is hard to believe it, or keep up some of the time.

Joshua has taken up singing in the past week or so. We were shocked about a week ago when he sang, nearly perfectly no less, the "ABC" song. I knew he recognized a few letters, but didn't have any idea he knew the song and he's never really been in to singing even songs he knows well. (He loves to hear us sing and it's a big part of his routine, he just never joins in.) He's followed it up with renditions of "Jesus Loves Me" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" as well as "I'm a Little Teapot" as well as many made-up songs and snippets of TV-show themes, etc. All of our car rides recently have included hearty serenading, sometimes to the dismay of the stressed driver. All-in-all there's just nothing like your child singing almost anything in his sweet little voice. My favorite, however, came while we were walking the other night. Joshua was singing away to himself and started skipping along. Here's the conversations that ensued:

Joshua: "I'm skipping mommy"
Me: "I see that, why are you doing that?"
Joshua: "I'm skipping like 'myLou'!"

Lydia has decided that days of sitting and observing the world around her are over. And, she seems to think that one form of mobility at a time is not enough--she wants it all, and she wants it now! On Saturday she started full-blown crawling (defined by me as up on all fours, moving all limbs to locomote). On Sunday it was cruising--around the room and from item-to-item by Tuesday. Today we found out that she can climb up stairs...Yikes!


I've been instantly transformed into crazy child-proofing parent--except I've been lulled into complacency by 18 mos. of relative calm. I've gotten used to a child that knows what will support his weight or that you don't climb up if you can't get down. Now I'm trying to see things through a newly-mobile little one's eyes. Whew! It's just crazy to turn around and find Lydia someplace entirely different than where I placed her. The only time she's still is when she's sleeping...



Joshua is doing as well as can be expected with her ability to move to get the things she wants. Most of the time he's really proud of her--but when she takes something of his he's left lying around he tends to get really upset. We're trying to work on the "if you don't want her to get it put it away or up high" but he's not really gotten that concept yet. He's become quite the little boss recently and advises all of us (especially Lydia) about what we should or should not do.

It was mildly annoying at the time (but humorous in retrospect) when he decided to tell me when to pull out into an intersection the other day. Let's just say there's a reason that you have to be 16 to decide that on your own--his judgement was just a bit off, but he was very emphatic. As soon as the car in front of me pulled out, he started yelling "Go mommy--go now!" He is quite the champion on what the different light colors mean though. :)


Anyway, we're looking forward to enjoying a relaxing weekend and hopefully catching up on things around here, since we're leaving at the end of next week for an extended weekend with our extended families in Michigan. We're really looking forward to it, since we haven't seen any of them since June!

Friday, August 15, 2008

One of those weeks...

Ok, so if you just enjoy the cute pictures and really peppy "our life is amazing" and our kids are charming posts, you might want to stop reading now.

This week has been one of those weeks where I feel like if there were mommy licenses, mine would have been revoked! You know the days-- you raised your voice often (although 1/2 the times you would have liked to), muttered under your breath that you'd give your kids away to the highest bidder (or anyone who would take them and return them sweet and smiling even if you had to pay), and were in tears while TRYING to get them to sleep so you could get a shower. Yeah, it's been like that.

Don't get me wrong, the week hasn't been without it's bright spots: lunch with friends, another outing to the splash park, and dinner ALONE with James while friends watched the kids were all great! The weather has been gorgeous. But, I have to admit that I get to Friday and feel like the whole week is gone and I achieved nothing except escalating frustration.

Lydia just mastered sitting and pulling-up on her own in bed, so Sunday night she decided at 10pm that she was done sleeping in her bed. Three hours of trying-to-settle-her-down-repeatedly-to-screams later, we finally decided we all needed some sleep and she slept in bed with us until 5am or so. (Which I realize works great for some people, but co-sleeping in our house is not restful for any of us.)

Monday night, I got mastitis. For those of you who've experienced it you know what that means--for those of you who haven't (count yourself fortunate) think a bad case of the flu with intense pain. Anyway, that pretty much did me in for the next couple of days--thankfully my wonderful husband was able to combo sick-time and working from home to help out with the kids the first day, and they both slept at the same time letting me get a nap the next. I'm on the mend again, thanks to a good antibiotic, but that was not my plans for the week.

Tuesday, in a random act of meanness, Joshua kicked Lydia in the face while she was playing on the floor, making her bleed and giving her a black eye. I have no idea what the appropriate punishment is to something like that! (I can think of several, but they all seem weak in an area or two--or over his ability to understand.) I feel like I try to give him one-on-one attention and pay attention to his needs equally to Lydia's, so I don't know why he felt it was necessary to act-out by hurting his sister either. He was sort-of sorry after he saw she had an "owie" but I don't know how to evoke true remorse lovingly. Plus, I've gotten to take my daughter around all week looking like I either a.) don't watch her well or b.) hit her. She too is on the mend (in fact, the bruise is almost gone)--but I'm dreading this type of sibling violence, I didn't anticipate it, hopefully it is VERY short-lived.

Today has been probably my worst day with two kids since Lydia's first few weeks. It seems that they both have it in for me. Joshua is being 2 1/2 in all it's glory--mouthy, short-tempered, and at times downright mean. He's also been irrational and defiant. I feel like I've spent all day so far telling him "no" or putting him or his toys in "time-out." Lydia has decided that a great combo to that would be refusal to sleep. I just finally got her down 20 minutes ago (it's 3:30) for her first real nap of the day (she dozed for 10 minutes in the car around noon) after a 45 minute "battle" where she couldn't keep her eyes open, but screamed everytime I put her in her crib. She didn't want me to rock her or feed her, but didn't want to be in bed either. She'd be nearly asleep in my arms, but instantly wake-up and start fussing as soon as I lay her down. I finally caved and resorted to nursing her to sleep--even though she really didn't need to eat, but was just upset. So, this day has certainly added to my feelings of mommy-failure.

I'm sure in a couple of days, particularly days with an co-parent 24/7 my perspective will be back, but right now I think I might go crazy! Anyone else experience days (weeks) like this? I know we all do, but when you're in the middle of them, it seems that everyone but you has it all together. Sorry for the length and the rant, but I needed to let it go somewhere! :)

Have a great weekend...I'm blowing you all some of our clear, sunny, upper 70's "perfect" weather!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Quotes of the Day

James: Holy Cow!
Joshua: Where is the cow?


Joshua: I want to walk on the trail to daddy's work
James: We could do that someday.
Joshua: Or we could take a car...

Joshua: (I want) Big hugs and kisses daddy!
James: (From the doorway I blow hugs and kisses)
Joshua: No, that's not big hugs and kisses. Right Here! (Points to himself)

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Painting, Parks, and Fireworks, Oh my!

Ah! The weather has cooled from July's hot, often humid "air conditioning" weather to a more pleasant August warmth. August is my favorite of the summer months, long warm sunny days following by cool and refreshing nights, and just a tinge of fall creeps in.
We have been busy trying to absorb as much of that atmosphere as possible over the past week. Joshua is currently highly enamored with fireworks, so much so that he cannot stop talking about them even while watching them. ("It was green, Mommy--look, red AND purple, ooh silver...") We've been able to view them not once, but twice this week, so he's considering it a succesful one. Tuesday night's show was viewable from our deck (another of the perks of living in the heart of a small town) so we put Lydia to bed before they got started. Last night was following Concert in the Park, an annual outdoor orchestra concert, and not near the convenience of her bed. So, I was a bit tentative about how she'd do well-past her bedtime with extremely loud booms, but snuggled in Daddy's lap she didn't even flinch at the noises (past the first one, of course) and even seemed to enjoy watching the colors and lights.

We've continued to make daily visits to the local parks and it's more and more fun to watch Lydia. She starts bouncing and squealing when she sees the swings! Joshua is a little monkey and can't get enough of jumping and climbing on everything, though he scares me sometimes, because when it comes to park structures, he has no fear. We took a detour on our walk to the park this morning and swung by the fire station. Several of my friends with little boys have mentioned that our local fire station is happy to give tours pretty much anytime assuming there aren't any emergencies. We haven't taken advantage of it as of yet, so our completely unscheduled morning seemed like a good opportunity. Joshua was definitely in awe of the trucks, although a bit hesitant lest touching something should cause the sirens to start sounding. He got to climb into the jump-seat on one of the older trucks and probably could have spent the rest of the day climbing in and out. He also got to try on our friend Paul's helmet. It was way too cute! Alas, the sponteneity of the trip did prevent me from capturing any of it on film, but it was fun. I have a feeling we'll be returning at some point not too far in the future, so maybe next time.



We've also been trying to get some projects done around the house. The most recent is re-paining our deck as time allows. Joshua has insisted on "helping" James paint, and really for a two year old, he does a great job. The brush, however, is a bit worse for the wear. ;-)
I love keeping you all updated on our life story in pictures, BUT, my babies only sleep so long, so I should probably get something done with my remaining few minutes.






Monday, August 4, 2008

Quote from Joshua

James: Joshua, would you like a cup for your milk?
Joshua: I want the purple one. It is my "fravrite". I like purple. I *Like* Purple. I will use the purple one. I love it. Purple is my "fravrite" color.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

I do not like them, Lydia I am, I do not like Green Peas, no ma'am...

Lydia had her first taste of peas today. We were expecting it to be a pretty good introduction, peas were Joshua's favorite vegetable. He LOVED them, and still does to this day. James and I both enjoy peas. Well, let's just say, words are not needed to show you what Lydia thought, so without further ado:






Wow, who knew seven month olds already could make some of these faces. Hope it brought a smile to your face--it certainly did ours! We'll try peas again and keep you updated. (Update: She did eat some of them after I mixed them with one of her fruity favorites.)