Gig 'Em

Our sweet little girl better not get any ideas in this "Aggie-at-heart" family...

The magical number 3.

I had been told by my pediatrician with David that 3-6 months was the "Gerber baby" stage - everyone wants another baby/when babies are at their best. David was about a month late on that one. Elizabeth seems right on time though!

While we had been getting 8-9 hours at a crack sleeping with E, she never slept through the night (no matter how late she was put to bed). She always woke up at 3-4 am. Suddenly, 3 months hit and she now sleeps 12+ hours each night from 6:30ish pm to 6:30 or 7 or even 8 am. She also started making the sweetest sounds a couple of days ago and is far more content (most of the time--if not tired or hungry). Perhaps the bump up in formula supplementing has helped on both fronts too; my baby is no longer hungry. Ah, if we could only get her to be willing to nap in the carseat, or at friend's houses, or anywhere--other than the crib...

(PS the bow was an afterthought to remind everyone that she is a girl, despite her blue shirt)

everything Daddy does

like father, like son

The sweetest thing happened two days ago - almost putting me to tears. David opened the back door and walked outside while I was in the kitchen. I was quick to run after him, intending to scold him. I found him (after putting crocs on, like his daddy does) walking to the trash can carrying a kitchen trash bag of wrapping paper that had been sitting next to our kitchen trash can. He informed me he was taking out the trash. I did not ask, nor did I even prompt him. What a sweet, grown-up boy!

Everything today is thoroughly modern

This is for my sister, the original flapper.

In the words of favorite poem...

There Was a Little Girl,

Who Had a Little Curl

There was a little girl,

Who had a little curl,

Right in the middle of her forehead.

When she was good,

She was very, very good,

But when she was bad, she was horrid.

(Anyone see the irony with my receding hairline daughter?)

the deal of the day

I went to CVS yesterday to get a few things. Somehow...in spite of rather haphazard planning, I scored! All below was gotten for $2.25 including tax. (original total before coupons would have been $70-$80 or so).

Daddy's turn...

Transition from Newborn to Baby

Little One,

You definitely made the transition this month from newborn to baby. You have also started to show your personality this month as well.

You show signs of needing sleep far less than your brother. It is not that you can't go long between feedings at night (you are still sleeping pretty well most nights) but you wake up early ready to play and sit up, sometimes in the middle of the night too. You also nap far worse too. If you catnap in the morning, however, I can normally count on a minimum 4 hour nap in the afternoon as you collapse into exhaustion. You are a very light sleeper though and will wake easily (despite no effort on our part to cut down on noise).

You are still nursed, but we have been supplementing a lot this month...especially at night time. Since you are pretty cheerful unless you are tired or hungry (unfortunately events that occur a lot), I have been trying to make life simpler by giving you a bottle at night even if you just ate 45 minutes earlier (the nursing just won't work that closely together). You will regularly drink 4 oz. in bottle form at a time now. You generally eat about 5 times a day now. You are on no particular schedule, but I can count on the fact that in the morning you want to eat every 3 hours and will go longer in the afternoon and shorter in the evening.

While you had learned to flip yourself over from tummy to back at 4 weeks old, you stopped doing it for a while. This month has brought that back, as well as a very concerted effort--not yet achieved--to go the opposite direction too. When in your carrier swing (a great invention for babies like you), you will even try to flip yourself over--and often end up in a sideways position.

You love your tummy!!! This does make it a bit more difficult to enjoy your toys, crib mobile, and what is going on, etc...but you have such an incredibly strong neck that you will just lift your head and stare around for 15-20 minutes at a time. You are so alert, that I often cannot sneak off after putting you in your crib or swing. You love to have me nearby and often let me know when I have gotten out of eyesight. (PS, you still want to sit up completely upright at all times though if not on your tummy)

While the pacifier still soothes you somewhat, you have found your fingers. They are attached permanently, after all. I predicted you would already be a thumb-sucker by now, but you have proven me wrong. Apparently you like to suck 2-3 fingers at a time instead. I regularly find you in your crib this way.

You look fantastic in chocolate brown. You are starting to get a bit of hair back on your receding hairline, even as your hair is lightening a bit. You still look very petite despite being 50th percentile.

You took your first airplane trip this month--to visit friends and grandparents. You did amazingly well for a 2 1/2 month old.

You will have to be a tough-cookie to put up with your brother's form of loving. He is very sweet most of the time but is not gentle at all! You are quite the drama queen though--screaming bloody murder even when not warranted.

I am really looking forward to the maturity that another month brings, as well as hopefully the last of your fussiness...for a while.

We love you, Elizabeth!!!

more at 34...

...months, that is.

David, you have become quite the talked this month. Your sentences are so much clearer and intelligible and more complete now. It is rare when we just don't understand you at all.

You have picked up the habit of spitting...all the time! We have tried spanking for this and are not sure what is causing it (it seems to be different things), but...

Your room actually stays moderately neat these days--meaning your playtime/naptime seems to be confined better to just a few toys, instead of dumping all toy tubs.

You are still a big helper with sister, but you can also get quite frustrated with her when she has a crying fit. I don't blame you, but... you must learn to be gentle with her even when you are frustrated. ...and learn to not shove the pacifier in her face when she is quietly sleeping or calming lying still.

You still hate to have your picture taken most of the time...

This has been a very busy month--and much of it spent at the church. However, you never tire of it. In fact, when I come pick you up after working out, you often cry because you want to stay in your classroom.

We have also gone swimming for the first time again this year. You absolutely loved it! You were grinning the whole time you were in the water. After a bit of adjusting, you even bravely asked to swim by yourself for a minute or two. You have not gotten the idea down yet, but I imagine you will by the end of summer if Mommy can take you often enough.

We took the opportunity to start potty training in earnest today. You ran around naked all morning. The first time you had an accident on the floor, you looked at me and said, "Uh, oh. I dripping, Mommy." Unfortunately, after the fact. You proceeded to have 3 more accidents within 30 minutes. We tried doing underwear. That was no more successful so then we sat on the potty reading until you had to go. That did not work, but finally after I was about to give up, you finally made it all in the toilet while sitting backward. You did that 3 times back to back but as soon as you stopped standing in the bathroom and went back to play, you had several more accidents...even when caught in the middle of one and still insisted on continuing to pee on the floor. You don't show too many signs of really caring. I have never been so tired! I will give it another try to see if this is worth pursuing any further right now.

I am so thankful for my little boy! God's little blessing!

one easy, one hard

I have been meaning to blog about my last two books for months now (finished for several months), and while I now am in danger of appearing a copycat (sister and friend have both blogged about one of the two books in the past week), here they are.
The first--the easy... Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg. It is a teen reader recommended by a friend. I love anything and everything Pride and Prejudice so decided to try it out. It was well written and fun to guess how she would apply the well-loved tale to a modern setting. It was very well-done (even using many of the exact same wordings). I do feel like the ending was a bit weak, but the rest was loads of fun.
Now for the hard. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp. I decided to call it hard for two reasons. Most noticeably, it is a bit challenging to plow through at times since it is written with lots of flowery language in almost a poetry form at times. However, the real reason to call it hard is that I found it challenging spiritually and practically too. There were many things that made me think and reexamine my heart. The main premise of the book is learning gratitude in the everyday things of life (including the trials). One of the things that stuck with me is the idea of not saying God is gracious only when things "go right." As I know mentally, I need to practice saying it in the hard times too...when things don't go as planned. God is gracious simple to give us another breath. Overall, well worth picking through the difficult writing style for the nuggets of difficult but necessary truth!

a trip down Memory Lane

We just returned from a Memorial Day trip. We started the fun with a trip to Huntsville, AL for the annual slot car race that some friends host. Both children were pretty decent on the plane. E slept for much of it and D was fascinated with going up in the air. Once in HSV, we stayed with the Nortons. They were tickled when we decided to bed Elizabeth in a pack and play in the laundry room (one door down from our guest room). I was unsure of how either child would sleep away from home but both slept quite well. D skipped his naps but slept soundly at night in the room (he had never slept in bed with us before--quite a sweet experience) even without door locks to keep him in. :)

It was fun to be back in Huntsville; it has been 3 1 /2 years for me. It still feels like home. Almost nothing new has come, and nothing has left. All is almost exactly the same--except the traffic. Horrible!!! While Michael raced slot cars, I watched D spend most of his time in the sandbox playing with Thomas (the train) and Mack (the middle Norton child). E was great the first day, and a bit fussy thereafter in HSV--no swing to catnap in. Friday, I visited with two dear friends. Saturday We had the annual cook-out at the Nortons, then I got the opportunity to visit with old church friends at Chick-fil-A. Then, I swung by our old house. Michael raced all day Saturday and ended up with 2nd place this year. Was that to avoid having to drink the Dale's Steak Sauce again this year (a tradition for the winner)? Sunday we got to see many more couples at church and two great couple friends+all kiddos for lunch.

I also got to spend a bit more time with one of my dearest friends before we headed out of town. Unfortunately, her daughter had caught pink eye so our time together during the weekend was brief. We did enjoy the time with them in their "country house" though! (and D had a great time playing with Alexander!)

Our drive on Sunday afternoon took us straight through a part of the state that had been hit by heavy tornadoes last month. It was intense to see the devastation as complete forests were leveled or uprooted and some houses missing. The long drive (4 1/2 hours) took us to the state of Georgia and my parent's house in Columbus. The kids were decent although we did have a few moments of stress when E was crying, D was whining, it was dark outside, both cell phones were dead and we were a bit lost (in the middle of nowhere-back roads). Nice to pull into the driveway at 11 pm. (PS the first few pictures here were taken at a farm right outside of my friend's house--D loved the goat and turkey sounds).

We spent the next 3 1/2 days with my parents in their lovely new home. We each had our own room there, but D (after being spoiled and sleeping with us in AL) tried to crawl into our bed again one night. No go. We generally took it easy those days. One day involved a drive around the downtown and historic part of Columbus. We also got out to walk the river walk and view the old water mill. Another day was spent shopping with my mom (how I managed to get everything back into the carry-ons amazes me) while kids napped. D enjoyed the sprinkler with my mom for the first time. Michael helped my dad do some hard labor (especially in the 100+ degree heat). Not that relaxing (my almost-3 year old and 3 month old ensured that), but sooo nice to spend time with my parents and fantastic to be taken care of (no cooking, etc...)!

We flew out of Atlanta on Thursday and made sure to allow ourselves enough time to get to the airport, return the rental car, and get through security. Great. However, when we arrived, we discovered our flight had been cancelled and we could not get out for another 4 hours. This is where our parents' prayers came in. God graciously calmed both children (potential disaster). He provided a 10 or 11-year old boy to play with D, and the five hours passed smoothly despite further delay and having to carry all our luggage--2 rolling bags, one shoulder bag, a huge backpack, a large purse, a camera bag, a carrier, and a rolling carseat-- down the stairs and back up again to the waiting plane (the walkway having broken). The flight home was wonderful since both kids were exhausted by this point and slept well.

I know it was the many prayers that protected our family during this trip. Protection from potential tantrums, injury, pinkeye, and other disagreeableness. What a "vacation!"