Letters from Momma

Life happens + photos

2013-05-09T10:06:00.001-05:00

Life has been going super fast lately. I don't even know where to begin. How about where we left off.... Potty.

G has been "pee" potty trained for about 2 weeks now... Poop is another story. A few have gotten intentionally in the potty... Others are accidents. Just riding that out until she figures it out. She understands the concept. But has yet to consistently act on it. She's definitely "nap" trained but nights are about 80%. We check on her when we get up with J, and sometimes she'll want to get up and go, other times she wants to sleep--and sometimes she ends up peeing later in her bed which is a bummer. She gets really excited when she keeps a dry bed all night, and she knows she is supposed to. I'm really really proud of her for working through this whole potty thing. She's even used the potty away from home several times. She tells us when she has to go, although I have to ask sometimes too.

Then there's that baby. Man he is a handsome devil. And by devil I mean, sweet but mischievous already. He's not the best sleeper, sooo that's crappy, but he's hitting all the milestones & generally happy, so I can't be too disgruntled. He has pushed up on to his hands (with elbows off the ground)! 5/6 for that one.

5/8 for the first time he sat in his high chair--though he was propped up with some towels since he isn't quite sitting independently yet. He just loves watching everything & got to where he demanded to be held during meals so he could see... So we broke out the high chair. He is really interested in food. I figure if we make it to June without starting solids, we'll be lucky. I'm in no rush but he is always pulling our plates toward him + he is a CHUNK, so I'm sure he'd gobble some oatmeal up. He doesn't have any teeth yet, but I can see the outlines of several. It might just be because he's a second child, and despite his genetic abnormality, he seems farther along than G was in several ways. But in others, not so much. Just different kids...

So currently J goes to bed around 7:45 pm, wakes up about 4-4.5 hours later (yah, fuuuun), eats, wakes up about 4 hours later, eats, wakes up about 2 hours later...unless he's having an up every hour night like he did almost all last week and weekend. He naps 3 times a day, but only for 40 minutes each time.

I've done substantial sleep training for his age to reach these totals....so yah, he's just a crappy sleeper & I don't know why. Intelligence mixed with crappy breathing, my guess.

Speaking of intelligence. That big sister sure is genius. She's figured out her new jigsaw puzzles! She needs some guidance and support from us occasionally, but is doing them on her own. Letters are old news and we're kind of half way working on reading. Not crazy like, just some skills. A few sight words here and there, sounds and modeling sounding out words, and then my favorite...having her help us read books. That's basically memorization & recall but it's a step. So we'll read a book & then pause to see if she can say the next word. She usually can--as long as its a verb or noun. Prepositions and pronouns, not so much, sometimes she gets modifiers.

Friends are her favorite thing, and we've been having lots of play dates to make up for the home bound winter. She adores play dates. She's great at sharing & loves giggling/running around with kids her age. She's interested to know their names & letters, and talks about them for hours before/after we seen them. She prays for them at nap and bed time & that's simply darling.

Something that's come in handy lately is her ability to wait / understand a sequence of events. She's been able to follow directions for a year or so, and multi step directions since last summer...now that's turned into listening to me when I tell her that we will do Z after we do Y, but we have to do X first. For instance, if she is being whiney or something I can tell her that we will go to the park after nap time but she has to stop whining. 85% of the time that works, the rest of the time she keeps whining but knows nap time has to happen & then we'll go to the park. OR if I want to get her excited for something, I'll usually tell her what we're doing the next day & so she'll be happy knowing something fun is coming up. I remember the days when she'd want that right now, and sometimes she does, but she's learned some patience & I'm thrilled.

Church has been going well. Behavior is staying consistent & J is doing well too. Sitting up front & by the music is a life saver.

G is a great big sister, and we have a grand time playing together. She gets proud of J just like I do & she wants him to sit on her lap and lay on her tummy. She makes sure he's included and I've honestly not seen an ounce of jealousy. That's pretty spectacular. So thankful there!

I've been doing fine... Running is going well. Getting ready for a big trip....gonna wear me out but family should be happy. Still haven't heard when my genetic test will be but it should be soon. I've been doing a lot of baking & friend making.

Photo bombs;

Westchester Gray / Rhinestone House Paint {Sherwin Williams 2849 & 7656}

2013-04-30T14:48:00.001-05:00

For our paint color decision making blog post; click here.

Here are the pictures of our house before the new paint (taken last Fall when we looked at the house). I don't know what these colors are called.

Here is the big reveal!!!

this light/photo may make it seem blue, but it's totally not in person

our new patio furniture! sweet sale at Kohl's

the garage now matches the house! yah!

the best representation of the color (minus the shadows)

How to go crazy choosing Gray as your house exterior color

2013-04-29T15:15:00.003-05:00

Google "gray house exterior paint." I dare you. Your mind will be overwhelmed with options.

My husband and I knew pretty much right away that we wanted to paint the house gray. Well, actually, we didn't want to have to paint the house, but when it became apparent that the house had some wood rot areas bigger than we he needed to tackle, an expert became our only option. And at that point, painting the whole house was the most practice thing to do. My husband said, "why don't we just leave it the same color." I politely declined that one because I never did like the drab brown exterior. "But you just posted about painting your master bedroom brown!" Oh. I know, and gray was my first choice there too (okay, actually I wanted lavender, green, and gray, but that was never gonna happen). The main colors inside our home are versions of brown or taupe, and so a brown master just made sense....and it looks pretty awesome. But for the exterior, we would have a blank canvas, so to speak. Once the original color was nixed, gray was up!

Painting the exterior of your home is, quite frankly, the opposite of easy. You can't just pick "gray." You've got blue grays, green grays, brown grays, gold/yellow grays, black grays, pale grays, neutral grays, purple grays, and finally, after much searching, gray grays.

If you want a gray gray house, you have found the right blog.

We searched high and low, and slopped SIX samples on the side and front of our house. That's after heavy deliberation online to keep from buying 25 $7 samples at Sherwin Williams. We also drove around many neighborhoods.

The later selection method was helpful, but mostly in deciding what we did NOT want. Which was a blue gray house. There are so many sadly disgusting gray houses out there because the color turned out to pull toward the yucky blue side of gray. I certainly hope it was a mistake, because if it wasn't, those homeowners have horrible taste. Then there's the green gray, that I actually kinda like, but we decided was less appealing to a future-buyer. I love purple gray, but again, that was never going to fly by my husband. Brown gray was a maybe-possibility, but it was too similar to our neighbor's color and also too similar to our old color (which I wanted to get away from drastically).

So what do you need to know??

Look at the actual composition of the paint formula that you are interested in. Sherwin Williams (and I'm sure other brands too) will list the make-up of the paint on their website, app (I utilized this a LOT and it's free), or in store if you ask them. If you want gray gray, avoid colors that list too much of any one RGB color. Our final decision has 121 R, 122 G, 121 B. Because those numbers are so similar (with negligible more green), our final outcome is definitely gray gray.

Another thing you'll want to do is compare the colors you are deciding between. Looking at 6 grays next to each other really shows you which direction a non-gray gray will pull. We thought we liked one gray, until we saw how green-gray it looked next to a true gray-gray.

Here are our samples.

Above, L-R; Ellie Gray 7650 (nixed automatically for being too light), Night Owl 7061, Gauntlet Gray 7019 painted over Special Gray 6277 (special gray 6277 below, plain, nixed automatically by my husband for being too purple even though the swatch didn't look that way at all), Grizzle Gray 7068, Gauntlet Gray 7019, Westchester Gray 2849 (with Grizzle below)

Grizzle Gray, Gauntlet Gray, Westchester Gray

same colors as above, different lighting

Westchester Gray on top, Gauntlet Gray middle left, Night Owl middle right, Grizzle Gray on bottom

close up/different lighting of same colors above

As you can tell, different colors show differently in different light, so it is ultimately your job to look at your colors in varying lights and times of day.
We loved Night Owl, until we put it on the house and saw it in the bright mid day light. Too green.

night owl

We ultimately decided on Westchester Gray. Ironically, there is not a swatch of this you can go grab at Sherwin Williams. We discovered the color online, in the color visualizer program on Sherwin Williams website. When we went into the store to look at it in person, they said it had been discontinued. Insert panic face here. Luckily, though, that doesn't mean they can't make it, it just means they don't produce swatches. They had a tiny swatch on a color fan that we couldn't take out of the store...and that was good enough for us to know we wanted a sample (luckily we got some of our samples during the 40% off sale, so this one was only $4, not $7). I pretty much knew as soon as I saw it that it was the one. It was a long, tedious process of choosing from a million shades of gray, but we picked Westchester Gray SW2849 and it is currently drying on the outside of our home as I type this. I'll post final comparison shots later this week. Choosing the trim color was easy, we just went with the suggested coordinating color of Rhinestone 7656. Our front door is already a version of red, so we'll continue to have that since it looks awesome together.

ps. I just stepped outside to look it over, since they are done now...anddddddd ILOVEIT. if you want a dark gray-gray house. I highly recommend looking into Westchester Gray SW 2849

Fun in the sun!

2013-04-29T14:33:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a special day for G, and a beautiful day weather wise.

We spent the morning at a local park & had a picnic. (Went to mass at 5 pm)

Here's a photo description of what we did :)

"Good Job Booooooy" "It's fine" and other fun things

2013-04-25T14:40:00.001-05:00

Recently I commented to a friend that I have generally good days, with bad moments mixed in. I really can't stress that enough to new parents of two. Focus on the little fun and happy things, move past the annoying, trying, and tough things. Keep telling yourself that this too shall pass. Honestly, before we all know it, we will be our parents' ages and potentially have own grand kids. I hope you all realize how truly blessed and happy I feel to have my two awesome kids AND get to stay home with them. I marvel at G a lot, and get frustrated with her a little. I snuggle, kiss, and praise J tons, and get annoyed with his lack of sleep only sometimes. Life is what you make it, and more often than not, I really try to make it stress-free, happy, and memorable.

So onto a few fun, adorable things I hope I never forget;

G has started saying "it's fine" or "they're fine" or "I'm fine." I'll tell her we need to wash her hands and she'll say, "they're fine!" HA or I'll ask how J is doing on his play mat while I clean up after breakfast and she'll say "he fine" cracks me up.

She's interested in the house maintenance we have going on. She kept asking what the "guys" (her word for the painters) were doing to the house, so I told her that they were making it pretty. So now she goes around saying, "guys....outside....house....pretty!" wish I could get it on video (I originally typed tape...hilarious) for you all.

Because she's had some MAJOR potty successes lately (thank you JESUS! literally, I have prayed about this tons), we've had lots of "GOOD JOBS!!" around here and some major dance parties (#2 in the potty!!)--so G has had lots of excitement bubble over to other parts of our day to day life. Recently J rolled over, as he has done about 500 times a day since it becoming a regular thing last week, and G said, "Good job boooooyyy!!!" and patted him on the back and then clapped very loudly. Too bad you can't read the excitement with which she said it, but suffice it to say, we had an awesome day yesterday and her squeals just make life so beautiful.

Church with G has been going really well lately. I think she's finally got it; she truly seems to understand that Jesus and God love her. She knows we pray at church (and before meals/bed/etc), so we have to be quiet and listen. She absolutely adores the music, so we always sit near the choir area, about 3 rows from the front. It's the way to go. J has be awesome too. He just loves to people watch. He doesn't nap in church. Or anywhere, just about, but he's just silly like that.
Mass as a family is so nice these days, and it's how it is supposed to be. I recently read a blog post somewhere about how parents who 'split' up going to mass at different times have it all wrong. I couldn't agree more. We have never done that and I don't ever plan to. Mass is for the family, splitting it up, using the nursery or cry room definitely sends the wrong message. Sure, it's stressful sometimes, and we've had our fair share of poor behavior...but muster through. It's worth it, even if at the time you think you're getting nothing out of it, you're showing your kids that church is non-negotiable and that in your family, we praise God together.

G loves strawberry jam, but who doesn't. So for lunch I put some jam and peanut butter on her plate with a multigrain tortilla. I told her she could use the pb&j as a dip for the tortilla. I look over and she's got the whole spoonful of peanut butter and is stuffing it into her mouth by itself. Don't worry, and she washed it down with some milk. I was cracking up on the inside.

One of my favorite things as a stay at home mom is getting to give her choices throughout the day and see which she chooses. I think its super fun to watch her personality blossom. Her "favorites" change regularly, as kids are apt to do. "G, do you want eggs, oatmeal, or cereal for breakfast" This morning it was eggs, yesterday it was oatmeal, the day before it was cereal. She's got the rotation figured out I guess. Yesterday her favorite color was orange, but the day before it was purple. One thing that seems constant, though, is that when you ask what her favorite thing to do is, she'll usually say drawing.

I've been working with her for a while on a pencil grip. She's gotten pretty awesome at it, and yesterday I was watching her write/draw and she kept readjusting the pencil to get the grip right. SO PROUD!

For a 26 month old, her writing is fantastic! Everything pretty much looks like Ms or rough attempts at Ds or Gs--so mostly just scribbles--but she is totally getting there. She's really proud of herself too, because you can sure bet that I shower her with hugs and kisses when she attempts to do anything well.

As I mentioned above, J is a rolling fool. So happy about his milestone, but it's certainly affected his sleeping habits. Just a few nights ago he had to figure out how to sleep on his belly because he kept rolling--perhaps unintentionally? I feel bad for the kid, but I can't go in there every 5 seconds to roll him onto his back again. Just like his sister, he's got to learn to sleep on his belly if he's going to keep rolling. It was hard with G, but she eventually got it, and slept better than on her back. Hope that's what happens with J too. He took a two hour nap yesterday, on his belly, sooooo hooray!

He loves going to gymnastics almost as much as G does. G's class is on Saturday's because I didn't want to worry about what to do with J. But on Wednesday they have open gym, so we've been going to that too. I put J in the Gemini and ~~walk around helping G practice her skills~~ follow G around. This baby is a major, major people watcher. Can't get enough of the activity. Maybe it's because for the first 3 months of his life, we pretty much stayed in our house.

I'm doing better and better myself. Each day brings its own set of challenges, but when I look at how hard it was recovering from the traumatic surgery/birth, I'm so proud of where I am today. Sure, I'm not nearly where I planned to be weight / physical shape wise, but I had no clue J's birth would go down like that. I just want to be able to move right, take care of my kids without hurting, and feel generally positive about myself. I've got the first two down, but the last one is tough. I hate how I look in clothes that aren't the standard mom-uniform (you know, yoga pants and t-shirts), but then the other day I had a realization.

I have the entire rest of my life to get back into a size 8-10, but my kids will only be this age once
It was such a big break through for me. Yes, I hate having extra tummy weight hanging on, and I certainly don't like how I look in jeans anymore, let alone a swim suit, but as the kids grow, they'll require a bit less of my attention, and I can work out more regularly. I just gave birth 4 months ago. It took a while, but I've finally realized that I have to cut myself a little slack.

But I do love running, and it's beautiful outside today, so we are going for a job after nap time :-) and we went for a walk sans-stroller before nap time. I love spring!

On a final note, potty training has improved so much since I last wrote about it, but it is by no means perfect. G had an accident free day yesterday and initiated using the potty all by herself. Very proud of that, but had an accident right away this morning. Win some, lose some. She's gotten much more relaxed, and I'm not pulling my hair out any more. J's sleep training is also two steps forward, one step back...but like I said in the beginning.... this to shall pass.

Right?

Master Bedroom Paint Project

2013-04-23T15:12:00.000-05:00

"Paint is cheap."

I think that is a required statement that real estate agents say while showing you homes.... I know they want you to look at the "bones" of the house, rather than let horrible paint deter you from what could be ~~your dream~~ the house you end up buying, but I wish they would clarify. Paint isn't actually cheap, it's quite pricey, in my opinion...but relative to the cost of your house, I suppose it's "cheap."

So this past weekend, Sherwin Williams had a paint sale, 40% off to be exact. So my husband and I bucked up and bought the paint needed to paint our master bedroom. When we looked at the house, I didn't "hate" the color of the master, I just didn't love it. I hated the kitchen color, and you may recall it got painted the day the keys became ours. Over the past 6 months, various rooms have gotten paint make overs and it was finally time for our master retreat, if you will, to receive a paint job.

Choosing the paint colors wasn't nearly as difficult as choosing our exterior color (future blog, don't worry, it'll be a doozy). In fact, we looked through a lot of swatches and picked the two colors right away. I had originally wanted to go gray, but our bedding and curtains were already brown, so we went with brown to be economical. I am getting gray on the outside of the house though :-)

It took us three nights--one of them very very long, to complete the project. All that I need to do is find us a nice piece of tan/brown based artwork.

We chose Sherwin Williams Dry Dock (7502) and Chateau Brown (7510) --if you know us, that last one is ironic, no?

Peace out 80s/90s blues and hello modern HGTV style brown!

it doesn't look that bad in this picture, but in person it was pretty icky

just not my style

quality paint job, quality paint, happy momma

hotel style master bath area - our w/c is navy

love it! :-)

Some fun things about G

2013-04-17T16:58:00.001-05:00

I'm not doing monthly updates about #1 anymore, but I wanted to record a few things she's been up to lately.

First. She started saying please without being reminded last week. Yah!! Proud mom moment!! (but now she's kind of falling out of it again... hmmm)

She's had a few nights of dry bed (though that's been from us getting her up to pee, so it's not 100% her accomplishment, but still).

She's had a few days of 1 or less accidents...again, not 100% on her, because we've taken her...but still.

Her vocabulary is ginormous, and usually it just takes 1 time of hearing a word/associating it with an object, event, etc... and she's got it. She kind of talks in sentences, but it's usually broken up into one word, pause, wait for validation, one word, pause, validation, etc.... I think that's weird, but I suppose it's her way of making sure she's doing it right, or that we are listening? I've never seen another kid do it that way. For instance she'll say, "Cereal......Bowl........Orange........Spoon......Milk........Cheers!" instead of saying "My cereal bowl is orange, I use a spoon, here's my milk, Cheers!"

Yes, she loves Cheers-ing. It's adorable.

My husband said last night she has started calling him Dude. LOL

She also knows that he is my "man." That started when I asked her if she was my girl, and she said yes. Then she said, "J?" and I said, he's my boy. Then she said, Dadda? and I said, "he's my man!" sooo that's where she got that from ;-) She now has gender recognition, and in some of her books some girls have short hair cuts and she still calls them girls (or sometimes mommies), so that's pretty interesting. She knows J is a boy, and dad is a boy, I'm a girl, she's a girl, which of her friends are girls/boys, etc...

She's loving gymnastics and can pretty much do a somersault, but the form could use some help. She calls it her "fwip" (flip). I doubt we pay to continue past this month, for now, though, because it ain't cheap! I think we'll wait til the fall, or do dance, or something.

She can put her own clothes on, even shoes...but socks are pretty tough. She'll only do those by herself if she's in a hurry and I'm not moving at the pace she wants--LOL

She's still doing great with her letters, shapes, colors, numbers, etc... She's learned what several baby animals are called-- dog/puppy, cat/kitten, chicken/chick, bear/cub, etc... My dad taught her that a baby pigeon is a squab (sp?)...so that's fun. She knows a few opposites like hot/cold, wet/dry, etc... She knows under, on top, bottom, below, next to, near, beneath, over, etc... My husband recently taught her some food categories, so that's our newest "game," if you will. Me, holding a strawberry, "G, is this a fruit or vegetable?" G, "fruit!" (only it comes out more like "fewt!") Me putting ham on her plate, "G, what is this?" G, "Meat!"
She's also working on bigger/smaller. The obvious ones she can get, but if they are too similar, it's hit or miss. Counting is going well too. "Un, two, tree, two" is about what she's got so far, although she can identify numbers 0-9.

Toddler time is so fun! But man potty training this one is tough. At least she sleeps well...but that's a double edge sword because she peed her bed before she even fell asleep last night, we are assuming, because it was soaked and freezing cold at midnight when my husband went to get her up to pee....but she didn't cry out, call for us, or anything. SO STRANGE!!

To close this little update, here are a few of my favorite words she says and their translations; (she's honestly trying to say the full word, but it comes out all adorable like)

mew-mew -- music, or somethings movie
blay-blay -- blanket
chair -- share (also, chair, but she says share like chair)
Jesus -- Jesus ;-)
ah-mean -- amen
it's -- eats
papaw -- pah-pah! (sounds like a french accent lol)
puhpull -- purple
lohew -- love you :-)

J at 4 months

2013-04-17T16:55:00.001-05:00

Just a quick little update about the cutest nosed member of our family,

J is 4 months old now, and very very alert. He's super into watching his big sister, or any kid for that matter. He has rolled both front to back (3/17) and back to front (4/8). He does mini-push ups. He grabs for toys. He loves gnawing on things, so much so that we wonder if he's teething.
J does not like to nap, or at least he's great a faking like he hates it. He sleeps pretty good at night--usually a 7-8 hour stretch, eat, sleep for another 2 hours or if I'm lucky, longer.

He's gone for several chariot rides, and as long as he's fed, changed, and cozy...drifts right to sleep. Same for the car.

He's had a few play dates, now that we're out of flu season...though they've really just been for big sister, G.

He still nurses like a champ, and I'd say he does that about 5 times during the day, 2-3 times at night.

J had his 4 month well child check yesterday and weighed in at 14 pounds, 13 ounces. He was 25.5 inches tall, and his head is 17.5" inches around. That puts him around 39% for weight, 60% for height, and 99% for head. These are incredible stats for someone with CDPX1. We are so blessed that he's growing and hitting milestones. We haven't heard back on his bloodwork that's supposed to identify where exactly his genetic mutation/deletion is...I'm getting a bit antsy on that. I plan to call by the end of the week, though I know our counselor will call as soon as she hears something...

Recipe: Noosa Wheat Bread in the breadmaker

2013-04-11T15:00:00.000-05:00

Have I mentioned the bread maker I got for Christmas? I think I did. Anyways. I love it. Tons.

About two months after we got it, we bought some whole wheat bread and tried a few recipes. Then I altered one to include the most delectable thing one could ever eat. Noosa Yoghurt. I have told lots of people about Noosa, because it is Heaven on earth. Go buy some right now and get a spoon at the grocery store food court, plop yourself down in your car, and scarf the whole thing down. I dare you not to. It's not Greek yogurt, though we love that, and maybe you're a Chobani fan...that's cool, we like that too. But Noosa is creamier, richer, and just in a whole different ball park. It is dessert that you can get away with eating any time and attempting to call it healthy. I mean. It's not unhealthy, persay, but it isn't something you could eat all the time and not feel a teensy bit bad about. It isn't light at all, but it is real food. It's simple and good. Yum.
Continue Reading....

Potty Post, vol 1

2013-04-08T15:20:00.000-05:00

Yes, here comes the mom-blog-right-of-passage potty post I know you are all dreading/anticipating.

excited with her potty treat-gummies!

First, some background. I bought G's first potty around the time she hit 14 months old. She peed on the potty for the first (And only, I'd come to realize) time on Mother's Day. I got so excited, but didn't want to push anything. I took a pretty casual approach to potty time until July or so. My mother and mother-in-law had me and my husband potty trained around 18 months or so, and since G is a genius combination of both of us, I just knew G could do that. I tried a bare-bottom day, that turned into a morning, because I couldn't handle the constant cleaning up. Mistake one, I know. Lack of commitment. I caught a few poops on the potty, and we'd sit. Oh Lord, we'd sit. But no pee. Ever. Even after an hour of Elmo videos on my phone. There started my frustration, and her learning to hold it. Out of contempt, perhaps, or out of trying to please me, I don't know. Mistake two is right there...trying to find reason.

So potty training didn't happen before the move. I thought about doing it before J arrived, but meh. I was too worn out and trying to manage a new home with a "high(er) risk" pregnancy, it didn't happen. Then there was talk about training her in the 3 weeks my husband was planning to take off work after the baby was born. But then that crazy traumatic birth sitch happened, and the potty/new baby/recovering momma combo was completely ludicris.
Continue Reading....

First April Weekend

2013-04-08T07:46:00.001-05:00

Highlights of the weekend;
G went to her first gymnastics class. She did pretty well for her first time. She's a bit timid, so hopefully this will help her gain confidence and become for adventurous or outgoing. She had an accident a few minutes before the end, because she had been holding it since the night before!! (More on the potty later. Suffice to say its going miserably) after the accident she was in a much better mood and wanted to keep going, even though class was over. They have free open gym in Wednesday so I might try to add that in addition to Saturday class.
I think she looked adorbs in her leo that I got for $5!!

Mister man (J) had a fairly good weekend. Slept great at night, not so great during the day. That's his thing I guess. He got to go out side, which is good, but he doesn't like the brightness, even with his cute hat. He played really well and was sweet as always.

We got out for one run with the chariot. I'm loving being active again. Praise God for that.

We ate food off the grill, yummo!

We got a teensy bit of alone time when the kids napped at the same time. And we picked colors for the house, since its getting painted next week or the week after. Will post pics.

J went grocery shopping with me. Without G. That's the first time that's happened and it was so peaceful and lovely. He slept the whole time in the Beco. Before having two kids, I thought taking a baby to the grocery store was stressful. Not anymore. He even had a poop-tific diaper and needed to nurse... Managed it all easily. Too bad I can't go back and re-do the first year with G. It'd be a breeze.

We didn't make it to church. Meltdowns were ensuing with the potty situation. I prayed God would solve the problems on time for mass, but that didn't happen... Looked at it as though He was telling us we needed to stay home. Judge not.

Can't believe it's already Monday. Hopefully we have a potty miracle this week. Nothing else is really on the docket.

Love to all

J and the Ortho, general spine outlook

2013-04-03T07:57:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we went to the orthopedic doctor, who specializes in spines, at our children's clinic.

I had taken J to get some cervical spine x rays early in March, so the good news there was our appointment was much less painful than if we had had to do that too.

I knew going in that his spine wasn't in horrible shape because the radiologist report came back super fast and the genetic counselor called me that day to let me know that it didn't look bad, not great, but good considering his condition.

And that was pretty much the word yesterday. "Considering he has a skeletal dysplasia, his spine looks really really good!"
I feel kinda of blah about that because there's another * to his life, "good, but..."
I know it could be way worse, so no complaints, just meh.

His neck bones have some misshapen pieces and some good pieces. His spine has a good deal of speckling on it, and I finally understand what that means enough to explain it to you. There are spots on several of J's bones that never hardened into bone from cartilage, which is what all babies start out as before the bones harden en utero. So his genetic make up has a faulty piece that forgot to tell certain pieces of his cartilage to turn into bone. Most visibly, his nasal bridge.

The doctor said that if we could pull J's spine from his body and look at it, we wouldn't think it looked different from any other skeleton. It's on x ray and other imaging reports that we see the difference because that's where you see cartilage look different than bone. I think. Haha...bare with me as I try to explain a super rare condition in plain English.

So the prognosis is that there seems to be good enough space for his spinal cord to continue having freedom from compression as J grows. That's vital to continued use of his limbs and trunk, and also important for feeling, no tingling, no pain, etc... It also is a "wait and see" situation to see if he'll develop scoliosis. Which some CDPx1 kids do. The doctor also said his height situation (little person or not) will remain to be seen. For now he is hovering average length, but I guess that could drop off at any time, so more waiting there.

For now, we just support his head and neck--don't let it flop around. The doctor was very impressed with J's improved head control, and that he's meeting normal milestones.

J won't get to play contact sports or do much dare devil things...if he knows what's good for him... Which still leaves some athletics, but not the dangerous ones, like soccer or water skiing or football. Just running, swimming, bowling, fishing, etc. Which those are super fun anyways...just gonna be tough explaining to a little boy why he can't do those other ones. Especially coming from a paternal family of water skiers.

Anyways, so the appointment was shorter than expected, so my husband and I utilized the babysitter time to go get a treat. Not that our guts need it, but it was a nice little date courtesy of groupon. Before, taking a baby out with us wouldn't have been considered a date...but with two kids, having the baby at a frozen custard place, definitely seems easy enough to call it a date. Oh how things change ;)

Chariot and this momma are back

2013-04-01T07:53:00.001-05:00

Thanks to my amazing friend, I finally have a cougar 2--a chariot double stroller. She found it at a consignment sale and even though its an 04 model... I've been looking on Craigslist and eBay for the right one and never found the right fit...she really came through!
It's like buying a used car...makes more sense to buy used when we don't have the money to pay 900 for a jogging stroller plus bike cart. They hold their value, and while a new model would have been lovely to have, a used chariot is still better than the fanciest BOB. The suspension on these things is amazing and it rolls so nice while jogging. It is the Aston Martin of strollers. Just go to chariotcarriers.com to see what I am talking about.
J has an infant sling attachment that turns the chariot into a cozy bouncy seat and G loves having him in there with her.
I had a great first jog with it, probably ran about 10-15 min out of 30. Felt really awesome to get back into it. I know in no time I'll be up to 5k's.
Man I missed running
XOXO

Politics on gay marriage and abortion

2013-03-27T08:00:00.001-05:00

I've got a lot of ridiculous on Facebook right now, with both gay marriage and abortion. I want to clear the air about my own beliefs, but in a less in-your-face way. My blog is less popular than the 'book, so here's where I share my thoughts with people who want to read it, not forced to on their news feed.

Gay marriage should be legal. Sure, that's my opinion. Here's why, believe what you want, but this country was founded on separation of church and state, founded on equality for all. It's extremely unfair to keep legal rights from people based in something as trivial as who they love (or the color of their skin, glad we figured that one out). Yes, I am Catholic, but Jesus trumps a religion, and He said let those without sin, cast the first stone. I've sinned, you've sinned, lets move past calling gay people sinners. You can believe gay marriage is wrong but still support the legality of it. Gay people aren't asking churches to perform their marriages, they're asking judges or the like to do so...so that they can have the rights that my husband and I enjoy.
They've earned that by being born in a free country.
Would you imagine divorce being criminalized? I don't believe in divorce, but I'm not seeking to make it illegal simply because God said a man and wife are joined for life. (And don't get all preachy on me about how the bible condones divorce...I believe it says you can leave your spouse for certain reasons, but you are still bound to them & shouldn't get remarried, but hey, again with the casting stones thing...)
Long story short, I'm for equal rights. What happens after that isn't my business.

Now here's an ironic twist for many of you. I'm anti abortion. How's that not part of equal rights, you may wonder... It is. Equal rights for the baby, the mom already has her rights spoken for, but the baby needs us to fight for him/her.
I know the fundamental part of the pro/anti abortion issue is the argument for when life begins, and so I'll never be able to convince many that life begins at conception, but it does. For a variety of reasons.
There are many "memes" on the web nowadays that I've seen... One showed a picture of three different animal eggs, protected by federal law, then a human fetus and says, "nope" on that photo. How ridiculous is it that our government makes it illegal to mess with those eggs but not a human fetus? Very.
There was also a pro-"choice" meme I saw that said "just because I'm pro-choice doesn't mean I'm pro-abortion, it just means I know it's none of my d*$@ business"
Well, that's not true at all, silly. If you are pro choice, you are by definition, Pro abortion. You can't be anti abortion and yet be for the legality of that. Abortion is ending a life. Even if you think that baby isn't "alive" yet, you're allowing a woman to choose to end that baby's ability to have a beating heart & have a chance to breathe air once he or she has been officially born. That's taking away that baby's "equal rights" to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Sure it's the woman's body, and you think she should get to choose what happens to it. She did by having sex. Ok ok, I know there are instances of rape, and that's not her fault, but lets leave that aside for right now and focus on the issue of so-called elective abortions. That baby a woman just aborted could have been the person who would have cured cancer but her mom chose to end her life before it truly began. Good one. So what if the mom gets fat or poor... people make those choices all the time and we don't throw them in jail. Give some one some pills that will kill them, we certainly call those people murderers and put them in jail. But not a woman taking the pills to end the baby's life??

The argument about gay marriage isn't about if you are for or against people being gay, it's about equal rights.
The argument about abortion isn't about if you are for or against people having a right to chose, it's about murder.
In my mind, I don't know how someone could support one or the other issue, but not both.

Faces of J

2013-03-26T15:40:00.001-05:00

Today baby J was extra fun; so I took these photos
But then he got his synagis shot...
His weight was 13 pounds, 14 ounces (38%) and his height was 24.25" (41%)
So that's pretty decent.

Our weekend

2013-03-25T08:04:00.001-05:00

Friday night started with a trip to urgent care for J. Ended up being just a diaper rash-ish..long story short. No big deal, though it looked bad. Very red and irritated little boy part. My husband also learned a valuable lesson about J, who is uncut... When intact, don't retract.
G had her first Easter egg hunt in frigid temps, but beat the snow! She enjoyed it but was pretty scared of the Easter bunny up close--liked him from afar. She hop hop hopped for him though :)
J didn't nap longer than 15 minutes all weekend, so that's cool (not)
We had a family Target outing, it was nice.
I sold some stuff on a swap shop site & made a little cash that's going right back as I'm buy some swap shop gently used clothes for the summer for G & J, both of whom have small wardrobes. Can't beat $150 worth of stuff for $50.
Then we got 8 inches of snow.
My husbands cousin and wife came over for a super fun soup day :)
J continued to nap poorly.
I sliced my finger really good (sarcasm) while chopping onion. It'd been a while since I'd done that, figured it was about time. Ugh.
Took G to the baby store while my husband turned her crib into a toddler bed. We bought an extra camera for our video monitor, and G picked out a new potty for upstairs. She chose a cheap frog one and hop hop hopped for it. Fine by me.
Intense potty training starts Friday AM.
Boom.
She did great sleeping in her big kid bed :) she was just scared of the dark since her old monitor had a night light on it but her camera one doesn't. We solved it by using J's night light in her room. Maybe I'll let her pick out her own today.
That's about it :)

Three month old J

2013-03-20T14:48:00.001-05:00

March 16 2013

Little mister is a little over three months old today. He has also decided to throw revolutions at nap times. Fantastico!

I'm not sure how other moms of two young kids handle it, but for me...it involves some near hair-pulling out, some internal tantrums (adult style, you know, the kind with swearing), some MAJOR prayers, and a whole lot of "I cannot wait for this stage to be over" thoughts.

I've got G begging to be played with -- and oh I want to honey -- and J screaming because he's fed, changed, tired, and laying in his nice bed -- which is clearly not enough for a three month old but is more than plenty for this momma.

I have to find a balance between letting him cry so I can give G attention, and attending to him because he is, after all, only a three month old.

Today has been the hardest day to find that balance.

It's been a tough several days, with regards to J and his naps... He has hit that phase of reaching major physical and mental milestones that results in poor sleep. I'm super thankful he is on track with all of these milestones, just very worn out and unsure how to handle the combination of needs among my kids. Sometimes, no one wins and all three of us have tears. That's just real life, folks.

Parents with more than two kids, I tip my hat to you. I'd imagine there's a ton of screaming in your house, or you are smart/rich, and hire a nanny or day care.

So, back to the baby.

March 15 2013

He's in 6 month clothes! He must weigh nearly 14 lbs, but I'll know for sure next week at his second NICU follow-up. I can't really guess at his height, so I'll report back on that too.
He nurses 5-6 times during the day and 2-4 times at night.
His bed time is roughly 7:45 pm, but lately he's not been going to sleep easily. He will usually sleep about 6 hours, then eat, then sleep another 2-4, eat, then sleep another 1-2.
He doesn't really have a nap schedule, though I've tried to pencil-in one based on when he gets up for the day... it's truly a crap shoot. I'm well versed in the sleep training methods and procedures, as I went through the ringer with G, but none of my best stuff is working for the kid.

And that brings me to the milestones that are inducing this sleep crazy mess.
J rolled over! Okay, he technically kind-of rolled over (tummy to back) as a two month old, but he'd never really get flat onto his back, so I never counted it. We are officially counting tummy-to-back roll over on 3/16, exactly 3 months old. He's SO extremely close to rolling over from back to tummy. I've started several recordings, only to delete them when nothing pans out.... but it's very imminent. This is very exciting for us, because he's never been as strong as G was--she held her own head up pretty much from day 1. J didn't really hold his head very well until 2/26. J has great kicking motion, so I assume crawling won't be delayed.
When we found out about his condition, of course things ran through my mind about possible physical or mental delays...but for now...knock on wood...he's pretty much typical.
His breathing is okay. It took him about 2 weeks to get over a minor cold, but he's back to normal (for him) now, so that's nice.
He loves to laugh at G, or us if we say/do the right thing, and smile at anyone that gives him even the smallest reason to. He's truly a loveable boy, just going through some grouchies lately.
He loves to read books and look at toys. He recently started trying to bat at them and successfully does some of the time. His favorite seems to be a white Easter bunny that has pink teether paws and a little rattle inside.
He drools a ton, but I don't see any indication of teething. He had an umbilical hernia, but it seems to be almost gone. His hair is still about the same length, but his massive head keeps growing, so the hair is thinning out across the scalp, which makes for a comical hair-do.
He loves watching all the action, especially his big sister.
He went to mass for the first time this weekend and was AWAKE THE WHOLE TIME. There was only one instance where he almost got fussy, but reigned it in. He was pretty much an angel. It was lovely. It was our first mass as a full family of four, and it went great. It was on the six year anniversary of me meeting my husband. So that made it extra special.

march 8 2013 - (band-aid from blood draw)

Lessons of a first time home buyer

2013-03-13T20:14:00.001-05:00

This is not the tutorial type post it probably should be. I am stressed and annoyed. Irritated and mad. I'm really at my wits end. I'll start by saying, it was the only house in our budget that fit our needs at the time, so we had to take it because of our confined time.

If we had more time, this wouldn't have been our house. We would have kept looking.

That is lesson number one.
Take your time.

If you've read some previous house posts, you know about our plumbing issues- faucets, dishwasher, toilet. Not to mention the whole house filter doesn't work and the main shut off is shady. Then there's the water heater. At least that was paid for. Then the driveway meeds mud jacked. That's next week.

The basement bathroom needs help. There're several cracks and nails popping.

There's countless little things my sweet husband has fixed and continues to improve on. Painting, switches, caulking, ect...

But now we are facing a lot of wood rot damage that needs fixing. Our home inspection didn't not tell us how bad it was. It briefly mentioned a few places and said it wasn't bad. LIES. All of it.
The sad thing is the inspector offered to give us our money back after the plumbing issues and I took HER up on it. Sadly, there's not much we can go after her now...

Lesson number two. Get a good inspection. We "trusted" our agent when he told us his inspector was great. Ya I bet great for helping him sell houses. She screwed us over so bad. If we had know half this stuff was bad, we would have requested it be fixed or requested more money off the purchase price.

Lesson three. Don't be afraid to ask for money to cover repairs or for them to be done.

I think that's what I'm most mad about. We were advised by our realtor not to ask for much....lame! Should have trusted my gut. I wanted to request more, but didn't stand up for myself when other people told me to skate by on little requests.

Lesson four. Being a homeowner is nice and all but it sucks not having the five grand necessary to fix your house...for now. Who knows how much it'll be next time.

To recap; we bought a lemon.

Egg Salad Recipe {#Lent #meatless}

2013-03-11T15:33:00.001-05:00

My Friday Lent meal plan typically looks like this:

Fish (frozen), fries or mac and cheese, veggies

BORING! I know.

So then I pulled out my recipe book and was flipping through... I found egg salad and was totally like..."oh ya! I forgot about that!"

So I altered it beyond recognition and here's what I've got for you--- it's really good, not to mayo-ey and super full of protein.

Egg Salad Sandwiches

9 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into small chunks

to get perfect boiled eggs, lay eggs in the bottom of a pan, cover with cool water, put on stove on medium-high, heat until boiling, allow to boil one minute, remove from heat, cover pot with lid for 10 minutes, drain, remove eggs to bowl, fill bowl with cold water, refrigerate for 2 hours, drain, keep in refrigerator until needed

2 stalks of celery (organic is prefered), chopped small
2/3 cup mayo
1 tablespoon mustard
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
dill seasoning to taste (I love dill!)

combine in bowl, cover, refrigerate until needed
serve on toast
(I want to try these with bacon on top, but alas, that's not a Lent friendly Friday meal)

Church with G

2013-03-05T08:26:00.001-06:00

This past Sunday was the first time G had been to church since the day J was born. We aren't going as a family because J really needs to avoid all the germs that are swimming around a ginormous building full of coughing/sneezing people. G needs to avoid it too, plus church is easier for who ever is going if they don't take kids.

Long story short, my sister was in town, so we took G, because I figured the extra set of hands would help.

Truth be told I didn't even need them! G was on near angelic behavior!
She played with her books quietly, looked at the people around us, the goings on in the front (we sat in the third row, trying to keep her interested), the choir/piano to the left of us, and also folded her hands to pray. She says the cutest Ah-men in the world and does a pretty good version of the sign of the cross.

I had a super proud mom moment at Communion time... I asked her if she wanted me to carry her or if she wanted to walk. She said walk, so I showed her how to cross her arms for a blessing... And she walked up in front of me like a BIG girl. I melted.

She also tried to kneel a bit ! :)

The few awkward moments were when she clapped and said yay!! after a song, but that's cute so I hope no one minded.

Then there's her latest word... Ba-rah! Or, bra.

I was holding her while kneeling, she was giving me a hug and tried to pull my shirt off my shoulder to inspect my bra strap. I stopped her but she still said, "ba-rah!! Eeet's white!"

I felt super red, but what can you do... She's two! My sister said she couldn't really tell what G said until she saw my embarrassed face... Hopefully no one else heard/saw, except maybe other moms who have been there and done that, and found it hilarious.

I'm assuming that because she's older and understands more, she behaved better. She even tried to whisper instead of talking...sometimes.

I wonder, though, if she'll develop bad habits or resentment to quiet in church, as we are able to return to church as a family as flu season comes to an end soon (hopefully)....hope not! She had been doing fairly well with her behavior before J was born...who knows what bringing him along will do to her behavior too.

Regardless, it was a great mass and I'm super proud of her behavior this past Sunday.

Now if only I could stop dwelling on how our priest kept calling Jesus manure!! Oh jeez I about LOLed for real. (Context, the gospel was about giving a tree another chance to bear fruit, and he was saying that we are the tree and Jesus helps us get a second chance...he literally said, "and Jesus is the manure")

Here's a cute pic from G's two year old shoot

Cheese Blintzes

2013-03-04T15:36:00.001-06:00

This weekend I finally made one of my favorite foods ever- cheese blintzes. I've had them on plenty of fancy breakfast buffets, but had never thought to make them at home.
Now I'm pretty sure I want to make them every weekend.

They are basically like stuffed crepes, though they are Slovic not French. They are stuffed with a mix of cheese and sugar, and topped with fruit compote. (Though according to Wikipedia, they (like crepes) can have a great variety of fillings/toppings)

I thought of sharing my recipe, but maybe I'll sell it or compete at the county fair...they are that good!!

Milestone!

2013-03-01T16:51:00.001-06:00

Peace out cdpx1, we're breaking out!

J at two months + baptism

2013-02-24T16:11:00.000-06:00

A brief post, since I am a week late... J is actually 10 weeks old today!!

2 months, 1 day old, on the way out of his baptism

Can.NOT.Believe that it has been "so" long since he was born. He's a sweet boy who loves to smile and coo and is starting to make even more fun sounds. He is rather fussy sometimes, and I think it's related to his belly being upset or being over tired, so I believe his nature is actually quite pleasant over all. He is pretty alert, and it's my "expert" opinion that he's mentally advanced, but physically behind. I'd imagine that has to do with that pesky CDPX1. His breathing is stable, and generally noisy. He has had some stuffy nose stuff lately, but not too bad, even though his sister has a cold. Thanks breastfeeding!
He has a 100% head size, and is about 50% for weight and height, though most of his weight is his head and most of his height is his torso...so we'll see how all that potentially short stature stuff works out from the cdpx1.

weight - 12 lb, 5 oz
height - 22.75"
head - 16.9"

He hasn't accomplished many physical milestones, but he has done many social ones. He recognizes our faces/voices and favorite toys. He has started trying to suck on his hands. He squirms a good deal on his back, and gets his legs up under him on his belly. He has not rolled over, and doesn't really lift his head.

I'm proud to say that last night he slept from about 8:30 to 4:15 am and then again from 5 to 6 and 6:15 to 8:30. Holla!!! We'll see if that keeps up. He has consistently been sleeping a long chunk of about 6 hours then a few more hours after eating.

His third synagis shot will be this week, and he got the DTAP and HIB shots last week. He will have blood drawn (real style, not the heel prick) for his genetic test and xrays for his spine soon...this crazy snow weather is dampering my plans to get out for those!

His favorite things are being diaperless/naked. I think he'd be that way 24/7 if it wasn't too cold, and I didn't mind getting peed on! He loves nursing and also enjoys a warm bath.

In just a short time longer, he'll be three months old!!

J behaved perfectly at his baptism (not so for G at hers). He slept most of it and was happily alert for pictures :-)

Happy Second Birthday G!

2013-02-24T15:50:00.000-06:00

G turned two this past week, and we've had a grand time celebrating. The weekend before was her small birthday party. My parents and sister came into town, but there weren't any friends because we were trying to limit the germs brought into the house, for J's sake. But then he was baptized the next day...so it didn't even matter because she caught a cold anyways. Life goes on.

Her party was Caillou themed, though I would have preferred a Daniel Tiger theme, they aren't selling anything DT themed until 2014, so maybe next year. Caillou is a big name around our house, even though he can be a bit whiny for my taste. The cake turned out pretty good, despite me running out of no taste red dye. It was chocolate with raspberry filling and buttercream icing.

She got a special Caillou Mylar balloon, with three yellow balloons. We got her a special backpack with Caillou people (some that I used to decorate her cake), Caillou stickers and alphabet book, and a Caillou shirt from Etsy. My sister got her some awesome toys from the devil's store (you know, TRU)--foam abc mats, building blocks (The old school wood kind), and foam pieces for the bath (and money!). My parents got her adorable clothes and fun books.

My husband's cousin and wife got her a Caillou Jack in the Box! Some of our friends got her an adorable outfit with fun tutu style skirt that I plan to use for her two year photos; and my bff got her a St. Patrick book (pretty much our family patron saint).

My in-laws got her a fun bubble blowing lawn mower and sand/water table...noisy and messy....grandparent style ;-)

Thank you to everyone!

On her real birthday, there was about a foot of snow on the ground! My husband worked from home, so she was able to play out in it some--including building Bob the snowman and making her first snow angel. She got to drink her first hot cocoa--complete with marshmallows--which she loved.

I sang her happy birthday songs all day, including right when I got her up. She loved that :-) I made her chocolate chip (half whole wheat) pancakes with raspberries, and she helped of course. She got some left over ice cream cake (From J's baptism), and pretty much anything she wanted within reason. She did have a time out on her birthday, which was sad, but discipline must be consistent. Oh, and bonus, she went #2 on the potty! Woot!

Here are a few facts about G as a two year old:

Weight - 25.3 pounds

Height - 34.5 inches

Teeth - all but the back molars

Sleep - bed time around 8:30 pm, awake around 7:30 am, nap around 1:30 for about 1.5 hours

Favorite foods - Golden Grahams, any type of berry, juice box, quality mac & cheese or spaghetti, deli ham, chicken nuggets, peas

Favorite games - anything 'gymnastics' related (she'll get a mommy & me style class in May or June), like doing rolls, assisted hand stands, yoga moves, flips on dad, etc... She also likes building towers, playing school, playing babies, or cooking. She loves chase and pushing her stroller.

G is VERY assertive, like her momma, so I can't be mad about it, though it is very frustrating at times. She's generally a good big sister, and is loving when she wants to be. She's typically helpful and knows where everything's place is at. She uses the potty a few times a week, and sits on it daily (but often with no success). I know she'd be potty trained if I didn't have J to look after too.

She's developmentally advanced in all areas aside from speaking. I do not plan to put her in therapy; she's getting there at her own pace. She's known her colors since 18 months, followed multi-step directions since about 13 months, has been a great colorer since 15 months, and has self-fed for over a year. She knows A, B, C, D, E/F (confusion), G, I/J/T/L (confusion), M, O, P, S. We work on the alphabet daily. She can tell a few lower case letters correctly too. She knows 1 and 2...which is super fun, and we try to work on more but it's not happening yet. She knows the big shapes, and on her M&D puzzle, she knows trapezoid, diamond, pentagon; but I doubt that she'd know them away from that context. I've also tried to do shades of colors, but I think that's pretty advanced, and it generally gets lumped together under "red," "blue," etc... Her fine motor skills are unbelievable and she's got some great gross motor skills too....her doctor comminted on her ab strength and thinks she'd really benefit from gymnastics... as long as she doesn't get too tall, I'm all for that but my husband has his reservations since it's dangerous :-)

We do fun projects and try to limit TV exposure but that's tough some days. She watches DT every day, and knows he's on at 10 o clock, it's hilarious to watch her jump up and down and run around when she discovers it's 10 o clock. Hopefully the weather gets warmer ASAP because we've loved the few days we can get out for walks.

A few little quirks about her-- she has to wear her slippers inside, but lately we've had some success with just socks (it's been a battle, though, if her slippers get wet from accidents and they have to sit our drying, just tempting her that she can't wear them). G pretty much likes two - three drinks at meal time. I know that's something I could break, but I don't mind...so whatev. She's fine with one, but enjoys choices :-) I think that's good for her. She gets freaked out if you tell her something is hot...which is good, safety wise, but sad that she wouldn't blow out her candles on her cake! My husband told her that her cake was HOT, so she wouldn't try to grab the candles...and then she got all depressed/sad about it...It was pitiful and slightly embarassing- haha.

She still loves paying at the store, helping carry bags and put away groceries, loading/unloading packages, opening/getting the mail, and all big kid type things--including helping with chores still. She hasn't really gotten any new ones, still just helping with the dishwasher, dusting, swiffering, helping with the trash, putting out recycling that's safe, etc...

Clearly you can tell she's adorable, and I'm obviously very proud of her. I hope that she can tell how much we love her, and I know she's got such a bright future ahead of her. Can't wait to see what the next year brings, because this past one was developmentally HUGE and we all experienced so much together! Love you bitty girl!!

My sister made this instagram; 1 month/2 years

The little mister

2013-02-12T15:21:00.001-06:00