Crabby Mama

Physical – Adam is crawling all over. He is not too quick at it yet but he definitely gets anywhere he wants to go. His favorite things to pull/chew on are shoes and electrical cords. He seems to try to grab onto the coffee table to pull up but is not really good at standing yet. Addie LOVES his doorway jumper and really gets air now. He also has started to finally enjoy swinging outside. He likes to ride in the stroller (thank goodness) and the ERGObaby carrier on my back. He will fall asleep in the Ergo for about a half hour when I need to take him out during a nap.

Eating – So the past 3 weeks, Adam has had some strange bug. He had loose poop for 3 weeks. About a week ago, he kinda stopped eating solids. He would take a few bites and refuse the rest. He still pretty much loved finger foods, so I thought maybe he was gonna be like Erin and switch to finger foods completely. I tried giving him the 3rd foods that are chunkier and hoped he would like to chew. It helped a little, then stopped working. Just Monday Adam started taking baby food again. His poop has resumed normal consistency too. We are hoping all that is behind us now.

Sleep – Adam sleeps all night 7:30ish until 6:15ish. He takes two naps a day at approx 8:30-9am and 1pm for about 2 hours each. Sometimes he cries a bit before falling asleep, but it never lasts very long. Monday night, he was up twice crying. It took me 45 min to put him back to sleep at 11pm and he was up for the day at 5:30am. This must mean his next tooth will be through soon. He has three now, two bottom and one top.

Personality – Adam remains the happiest smiliest baby (except don’t get between him and his bottle, baby!) I know. He never meets a stranger and is always flirting in public. He does NOT like when you take away a toy he is playing with and lets you know LOUDLY. He is ticklish now and laughs big belly laughs when you squeeze his thighs or belly. He is my little love baby and I feel like I could just eat him up everyday.

Remember how I mentioned, long long ago, that I felt different about Erin than I did about Leah? Well, I totally feel better about that now. Because I feel different about Addie too. I want to literally EAT him UP! So I have determined that it is due to less stress about “how to take care of baby” AND just the fact that you do feel differently about each child. SO crisis averted.

I feel like I haven’t updated this in FOREVER with a real post. Let’s see, what’s the haps?

Adam: It got a LOT easier for a while. He was napping 2+ hours at a time and sleeping 6-8 hour stretches.

I interrupt this post to bring you a poop story. Erin just knocked on her door (she was in quiet time) to tell me she had to poop. So we rush to my bathroom. I whip off her diaper and notice a little smear. She finishes her business on the potty and we cheer. As we are exiting the bathroom, I notice my shoe making poop-tracks. I trace the tracks back to the toilet where unbeknownst to me a poop nugget had fallen from the diaper and gotten stepped on. That was fun to clean up.

Back to Adam: So things were going well. Then they were not going so well. Not as bad as they were before, just not quite as smoothly. He was napping a little less and not sleeping as well at night. I suspected growth spurt. He seems to be getting over the napping issues, but I am ready for some better night sleep again. Part of it may be that we are breaking him of sleeping swaddled in the papasan. He was starting to bust out of the swaddle and once Mike went in and it was wrapped around his neck! So we cut it out. And the papasan was purely for his congestion, which is better, so there wasn’t a need for it anymore. It was just a habit to strap him in and quite frankly it kept the swaddle firmly in place. So once the papasan went, the swaddle had to go too. Hopefully once he gets used to sleeping on his back and with free arms, the nights will get better again.

I am SO over breastfeeding. Not because I don’t like it, just because I am tired of stressing about the amount of milk Adam is getting. I solely pumped one day to test it out and he ate 26 oz from 7a-7p. This did not include his two night feedings. I think maybe 6 oz of that was formula. As a result, I am not really worried about it anymore. It’s just mentally exhausting.

Adam is talking a TON now. I have caught him throwing a few consonants in there on occasion too. He can reach very definitively for what he wants and bring it to his mouth smoothly now. On his tummy, he “swims” a lot. I haven’t seen him roll over in a long time, now that I think about it. He must be practicing something else.

Erin: For a while, Erin could have been the death of me with her tantrums and demands. But I must say, things are getting SOOOO much better. She is turning out to be a real sweetie and cracks me up on a daily basis. The secret to Erin is ROUTINE. If she knows what to expect when, we hardly have any issues. AND I suspect she is becoming a bit more empathetic because she is not nearly as rough with other kids as she used to be.

Erin is SO imaginative. Today we were walking in a parking lot. She said, “Oh no, it’s melting!” I asked her what was melting and she replied, “The ground! Quick we have to get into the store!” I REALLY need to write down those things more often, I will love to reread them when she is older.

In a little more than 2 weeks, we are getting rid of Erin’s daytime diapers completely and only using them at night. I remind her everyday. She keeps asking for Super Why and Little Einsteins underwear, which of course I can’t find. So I ordered a bunch of plain white ones from Children’s Place and I plan to do iron-on transfers to make her the ones she wants for Easter.

Leah: She is SOOOO ready for kindergarten. I bought a K math workbook and so far she is capable of doing it all herself with me reading the directions. This is her favorite thing to do while I am cooking dinner. I just have to pop over every few minutes and tell her what to do and she is off and running. I also bought her the Jump Start Kindergarten game for the computer. We haven’t spent enough time on it yet (it caused my laptop to overheat, so we have to install it on the other computer) but I am sure she will love it too.

Both schools that she may go to next year are year-round and have uniforms. So I may be taking my 30% off coupon for Old Navy and applying it to school uniforms. AND year-round school means she starts the last week in JULY! Talk about sneaking up on you. On one hand, I am giddy with anticipation for her because I KNOW she will love it and I LOVE shopping for school supplies. But on the other hand, I am sad to think that she will be gone from me all day every day from now until forever. Life as we know it is about to change for good.

So that is my kiddo update. I have a few more things I want to blog about, but they will be getting their own posts soon.

There was a time when I thought potty training Erin would be a breeze. And I guess it might have been if I had taken the time to devote to it. I just could NOT remember to take her to the potty every hour and she was soaking her pull-ups. They are more expensive, so I didn’t want to waste them. I started putting her back in regular diapers. And they are a pain to take on and off to sit on the potty. So I would get all annoyed when she would say, “I have to go pee pee!” instead of encouraging her. She seems to want to go potty at the most inopportune times (like when I am breastfeeding), not when I actually ask her if she has to go. She still mostly goes poop on the potty, but sometimes not. We are nowhere near being successfully potty trained.

Erin has been doing SO well going on the potty. I don’t think I have changed a poopy diaper of hers in at least a week. And whenever we remember to take her, she definitely goes pee. I tried pull-ups, but I think they feel too much like a diaper to her because she still sometimes wets in them. The only reason I still like them is because she can pull them down herself to go potty and we can get them back on easily if she was dry still.

This afternoon (about 3ish) I put training pants on her instead of a pull-up. She stayed dry until bedtime!!! We reminded her to go potty two or three times and she went. One of the times Mike & I were both preoccupied and by the time he got to the bathroom, Leah had helped Erin wipe and was trying to put her undies back on. How cute is that??? So I think I am going to try the training pants whenever we are at home and do the pull-ups when we are out (not ready for accidents at Walmart quite yet) and diapers still at night.

Today we went to the Warriors and Warbirds Veterans Day Celebration at the Monroe Airport. I am not kidding you when I say there is always something to do around here. I could find an activity for us every weekend. Anyway, it was an airshow with a whole bunch of planes from WWII. We arrived for the last performance, called Tora, Tora, Tora.

These planes were manufactured in 1967 for the movie Tora, Tora, Tora. They are modeled after the Japanese planes used to attack Pearl Harbor. The whole performance was a reenactment for the attack, with the planes actually dive bombing the airstrip. They used pyrotechnics to mimic the bombs too. I did not take pics because I was holding Leah. The pics here are from their website of past shows.

During the whole thing, the announcer was describing the scene for us. He explained exactly what happened to each ship that was hit, talked about the men who were able to get into planes to fight, and detailed the patterns of the attacking planes. I was teary practically the entire show, thinking about the battle and everything. It was pretty amazing. Erin, however, did not enjoy the noise. She squirmed and fussed the whole time, probably preventing Mike from truly enjoying it. Sorry, honey! Afterward, we were able to get into a helicopter and a CAT (communications-ammo transport AKA a big tank). There were so many old military vehicles there to see too. We had a great time.

Tonight we ate dinner at La Strada (the best pizza around these parts). While we were there, Erin said pee-pee again. I brought her into the bathroom. But you know how public toilets are. The opening in the front is as big as her bottom. So there was no comfortable way to sit her on the potty. She did go the tiniest bit, but just couldn’t relax enough to go for real. I can’t believe I will have to start carrying my potty seat cover in my diaper bag already!

Today we went to Cane Creek Park to bike on their trails. I knew the trails were going to be unpaved, I thought like dirt paths. Not so much. It was actual mountain biking, going over tree roots and piles of leaves. Mike had Leah and I had Erin on the backs of our bikes too. I have to admit I was TERRIFIED at first. And poor Erin on the back. Her helmet hit the back of the bike seat with every bump. She just kept saying, “Mama, Mama,” over and over. Then after a bit I heard her humming to herself. So I guess she got used to it. After I got over the fear of skidding on a root and losing control of my bike, I realized that biking through the woods this time of year is SO beautiful. I wish I had taken our “new” camera, but it’s not like I could have stopped to take pictures.

Also, remember how I mentioned potty training a few posts ago? Well, today when Erin said pee-pee, I rushed her to the potty. She sat for a minute and Leah brought us a book. While I was reading to her, she strained, saying “Pee-pee?” and out it came! She pooped on the potty after telling me she had to go! It would be awesome if she could poop on the potty.

Today Erin came over while we were getting ready for school and said, “Pee pee?” I immediately checked her diaper and it wasn’t warm, so I assumed that she was just talking. Five minutes later when we were loading into the car, I smelled it. She had pooped. So do you think she really knew it was coming? If so, we are ready to start potty training. Just kidding, I am not about to go there. But I thought it was cool that she seemed to recognize that she had to go.

I feel guilty that today was the first day I did not stick to my training schedule. I have been so tired lately and my back has been hurting. I have this pain underneath my left shoulder blade. It only bothers me if I am doing something. It hurts the most when I put Erin into her high chair or a grocery cart. I probably pulled or strained something the other day when I was doing pull-ups. Anyway, I have been extraordinarily lazy and I am not happy about that. I guess I won’t take a weekend day off.

I cannot wear my engagement ring anymore. I am so sad about it. It is not due to weight loss (I wish). It is because I think I am allergic to it all of the sudden. Every time I put it on I get this big ole rash on my ring finger that wakes me up at night. Once I take it off, it takes a week or so for the rash to go away. I have tried cleaning it well in case it was a chemical on the ring that was irritating me, but it didn’t help. I can still wear my wedding band, thank goodness. But it sucks.

On another note Erin pooped in the potty today! She was looking like she had to go during dinner, so Mike took her and sat her on the Dora potty ring on the big potty. She cried a bit because it was hard for her to go, but I think sitting on the potty actually helped with gravity and no diaper and all. And then there it was! How cool is that? No wonder I want another baby! My baby is not a baby anymore.

I have never in my life experienced a poop explosion of this magnitude. Here are the items sullied:

Erin’s entire romper
the changing pad
the carpet in spots from the kitchen to the living room behind the couch
Erin’s car seat
my shoe
my pants
Leah’s pants
the bathroom sink (where said romper was rinsed)
the dryer (where said romper was sprayed heavily with stain spray)
the washer (where said items of clothing are currently swishing away)

Mike & I were just talking the other day about how Erin has peed/pooped out of diapers MANY times less than Leah. She is just neater, even down to spitting up and eating (so far anyway). But today topped them all. Even Leah’s movie theater disaster didn’t touch this for sheer number of items requiring cleaning. Thank goodness I was just getting home is all I have to say.

Note: I believe this is due to the fact that Erin has had glycolax in a juice bottle every day for a week. This is the first poop of exploding consistency she has had since she was a newborn.

Okay, here is the deal. Leah goes to a 2 morning a week preschool. It is from 8:30 to noon and she gets lunch. I drive 20 minutes each way to bring her and pick her up. There are no special programs, just the teacher and an assistant with 12 kids doing art projects, circle time, playing outside, etc. She loves going. It costs us $260 a month.

When I was looking at preschools for her way back when, I had another school on my list to look at, but then I found Kids R Kids (where she is now) and did not look any farther. Well, just last week, Laurie went to visit the other one I never got to look at, First Presbyterian Church Preschool (they do not have a website that I can find). Their program runs 9-12 with no lunch. The place is MAX 10 minutes from me, in downtown Monroe. They do the “car rider pickup” in the afternoons so you don’t have to get out of your car. You just pull to the overhang and they put your kid in your car. They have music class every Tuesday (from one of those kids music programs, not just a teacher doing music with them). Once a month, a lady comes to do a hands-on science project with them and she brings live animals for the kids to touch. Oh and did I mention it costs $108 for 2 days a week?

So you say, where is the advice? Sign her up! Well, here is my concern. This is a church-based preschool. If you know Mike and I at all, you know that we are only religious on our own terms. We are not ready for someone else to dictate what our children learn about God. I asked the director if there are any specific religious things they do in class. They sing a prayer before snack. I have no problem with that. Once a week (or month, I can’t remember) the two and three yr olds have a Bible story lesson. She said they do ones like Noah & the Ark or Jonah & the Whale. The stories themselves I have no problem with. I am just afraid they will be pushing their own agenda and Leah is so intuitive she will pick up things that maybe I don’t agree with.

So here is my dilemma: do I let her go, save lots of $ and just see what she picks up? Should I even be concerned about it? Our personal religious position is awkward because it doesn’t fit into the tenets of any established religion. While I don’t object to Leah learning about organized religion, I think she is a bit too young to have it thrown at her by strangers. At this point, she believes anything grown-ups tell her. I would prefer that she were old enough to really discuss it with us.

Thoughts???

As far as Leah’s asthma, the steroids have helped some and she took the last dose this morning. She is now on Singulair, which is a daily medication for asthma. The dr said it will take at least 2 weeks to know whether it is working. Her goal is to completely eliminate the coughing. In a month we will re-evaluate and see if this is the best long term solution.

P.S. Erin pooped last night for the first time in a week! I was already preparing with all the tricks to try to get her to go. She had been eating prunes for 4 days and when I walked into her room at 5am it smelled like prunes so bad! I had to take the diaper out to the big trash can, it smelled so strong. So we are better now. I was nervous to have a repeat of Leah all over again but hopefully it was a one time thing.