Saturday, January 28, 2012

Crawling, sitting, standing...

Jacob turns 7 months this coming week. He has two teeth, a good patch of hair, and is crawling all over. Mostly towards cords. He is also able to sit from a crawl position and pull himself to standing.

Sleeping through the night though...well...

After our three weeks of travel and illness, no one is back on schedule yet. And we haven't forced it. I have a new work schedule where I am off on MW entirely, and F mornings, which means weekday naps. Because of that the nights aren't getting me down quite as much as before.  That was a *quite* as much. 

Anyway. Aside from no sleep and no exercise...the kids are amazing. Kate is delightful.  She amazes me all the time.

Crawling explorations

Now that he can reach whatever he wants to, he can play with the big kid toys. Right now his fav is rolling the shopping cart wheels around.


Getting TLC from my 3 year old

Getting TLC from my 3 year old

Living it up

Living it up by S. Griesemer
Living it up, a photo by S. Griesemer on Flickr.

Living it up

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Darn you, Amazon

I have lived my Kindle Fire. I use it all the time to surf news blogs while Paul watches sports.

But this morning...my love was called into question. I have been betrayed.

My 3 year old bought 15 bucks worth of Blues Clues while I was getting dressed. Ah, the simplicity of technology. So easy, a 3 year old can do it.

Monday, January 16, 2012

Oldie but goodie


Kate's photography

Things I find on my phone... Sweet little buried treasures.









Saturday, January 14, 2012

Calling Daddy

Having Daddy P away was rough, but survivable.  We'll just overlook the fact I had a nanny Tuesday, Thursday and babysitter all afternoon/evening on Wednesday.  All you need to know is that kid #2 had an ear infection, and got two teeth, and kid #1 had night terrors and sleep walked.  Oh and piss-over-yourself level tantrums.  (Her, not me, but close.)

Yet, the kids still love me.  Some fear, but mostly love.  House still standing.

Or RIGHT, did I mention a house blew up four streets away as Kate and I climbed into the car.  We drove by the fully-engulfed house on the way to her school just as fire crews pulled up.  (the collective neighborhood lesson learned:  if you smell gas, and the gas company doesn't come out to fix it, move the freak out of there.)

So, eventful week.

Kate really really really missed her dad.  We are all quite happy now.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Oooh, so THAT'S **REALLY** why you weren't sleeping...

What happens when Daddy P leaves town?

A house 5 streets over explodes as we are getting in the car to drive to school so that the trucks are arriving just as we are driving by it.

Jacob wakes up from nap with a fever so we go to the doctor.

Kate and I have a really nice time making dinner together.  Lentils with roasted root veggies.  She gobbled it up, too.

We fed our babies:  baby horsey (who, since Christmas, has been referred to as "Baby Rudolph" and suddenly has a red nose) and Jacob.  Horsey's a very good eater.  Jacob stole the spoon and bowl off the table when I walked away and fed himself.  Messily, but he managed to get the spoon and some food in.

So, good and bad.

But mostly, we just miss Daddy P.  Kate "called" him earlier on her play phone.  Will try to upload the picture later...

Come back soon!  We love you!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

Oooh, so THAT'S why you weren't sleeping

Jacob was up and down all night Thursday night.  Paul and I were so frustrated.  We kept saying things like "it's been a week that we've been home, it should be BETTER by now" and "I'm going to kill that f*ing baby!" (okay, that was more me than Paul, but...).

Then.  Last night.  Paul is changing Jacob's clothes and sees... a tooth.

Ahhh, got it...

Almost crawling at 6 months...

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Making Dinner

Walk into the room and Kate declares she is making dinner.  Next thing you know she is cutting tomatoes and making salad.

Crazy!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

December 2011

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December 2011, a set on Flickr.

Check out our pictures from December

6 months old!

My beautiful kid is 6 months old. Six months ago, after waiting for two long weeks for this kid to come out, we forced him out. With a little nudge he came out in three hours. That really does describe him well. Stubborn, but if you set a limit, he complies fairly quickly.

Take our trip. We were all sleeping in one room in Florida, so we decided to just nurse him when he woke so Kate could get good sleep. When we left home he was going to bed at 8pm, waking at 11pm to nurse, then again at 5am, and then sleeping until 7:30am. By the end of the trip, he was waking every 1.25 hours to nurse. I kid you not. The last two nights I hardly slept. We come home, and after two nights of letting him cry, he's back to sleeping through the night. Last night he woke at 3am and cried for 15 minutes before falling asleep, but otherwise he slept from 8pm to 5am. Much much better.

On top of that change, we are in the midst of other big changes. We fired our nanny before break and hired a new one. Our new nanny, a 26 year old music teacher at a nearby Elementary school, started yesterday. Because of her schedule and because I was fried from my hectic work schedule, I will now only work TThF and some Saturdays. Which means, Mondays and Wednesdays I have for me and Jacob. This feels like the most amazing relief and blessing right now. Time to go to the store, go for a run, wash clothes, play with him, enjoy him.... I'm really thrilled. Before break my schedule had devolved into something like work Monday 4-8, then Tuesday morning, then home, then Tuesday night, then Wednesday morning, then Thursday morning, and Thursday night, then Friday from noon on, then Saturday... Yep, Sunday was my only day off. It wasn't smart. It just kinda happened.

We'll give this a shot. I'm nervous. Making enough money to cover my overhead and daycare in those 2 1/2 days might not be reasonable. We are trying it for two months and then we'll decide what to do. But I've been in mourning over this being my last baby so I need to do it.

No one warned me about that. How hard it hit me that this could be the end. That it likely will be. That I will never carry a baby in me again. Or nurse a baby after Jacob. There haven't been many "ends" in my life yet. Things that I know I will never do again, but this one hit me hard. It feels like facing my mortality and time in a very direct way. Ah well. I can always surrogate. ;)











Studying a small piece of something...
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Sunday, January 1, 2012

Montessori Math

I used some of my free time to refresh our activities inside. We've got some blocks, counting, and now some addition work to give Kate an edge on all those Indians.





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Happy New Year!

We rang in the New Year with lots of kids around. An early new year, but a happy one with friends.








We had a lovely time seeing the family, but are recovering from thorough exhaustion. Luckily, as soon as we returned to our own beds everyone started sleeping again (after a week of Kate not napping, and Jacob not sleeping at night). The circles under our eyes are starting to leave, and we are not as snippy as we've been. One more vacation day before returning to the real world. We are sorting through toys (some taking a break in the garage, others going to new homes) and putting away decorations.

Something about the end of decorations... so sad... but, soon we will herald in baseball season which always lifts the Mister's mood.

Happy 2012 everyone! Wishing you many moments of peace in your heart.
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