Oddities

This is Daxton.  He was all dressed up because he had his three month pictures.  Pretty adorable, huh?  I am not sure what I love more, the tie or the hat.  Our girls are supposed to go in for their three month and 18 months pictures tomorrow but both are pretty snot-filled today, so we'll see.  Huge globs of snot running out the nose and dried crusty snot stuck to the face and hair do not generally make cute pictures.

This is Oma with her two smallest grandbabies.  We keep trying to get good pictures of the kids together or with parents or with grandparents but it is proving impossible!  But I guess there really is no such thing as a "good" picture because often the best shots are the ones that are unplanned and the most genuine.  This photograph depicts reality.  It is an Oma trying to hold onto two babies and barely managing.  IAnd it is two babies who are simply trying to figure out the world around them.

It is so much fun to watch Dax and Veda together.  They whack each other across the face, occasionally grab each other's clothing and sometimes even hold a hand or a finger or two.  They frequently talk back and forth, and I can only ponder what the exchange is all about.  Babies are fantastic.  Most of the time.

At three months babies are supposed to begin becoming really fun.  They turn into expressive beings.  They smile and coo and sometimes laugh.  They are happy to see you and get noticeably excited at the sound of your voice.  And in the case of Sylvia, she finally began to emerge from her horrible state of colic.  Veda never got this memo about turning three months.  She was a pretty good baby her first few months, but now she has taken to screaming uncontrollably at night.  We feed and rock and soothe and pat and burp and diaper change and clothing change and bathe and more to try and calm her:

But nothing works.  There are only two things that seem to offer any comfort to her.  The first is sitting in a tub of warm water:

The second is going on a car ride.  So . . .   This week has seen a number of warm bath sessions followed by a quick bundling of the baby and throwing her in the car so I can drive around for an hour or more to get her calm and asleep.  Believe me, this is not how I want to spend my nights.  Generally I like to be asleep after midnight, or at least curled up with a good book or some knitting.  Eventually this will pass, but it is taking its toll on us in the meantime.

Sylvia, on the other hand, has been pretty good these past couple of weeks.  She is beginning to talk more and more and every day, if I pay close enough attention, I catch another word or phrase she is trying to use.  She also has a set of rather peculiar activities.  The most recent:

Last weekend she suddenly emerged from her room carrying two pair of socks.  She then placed them on top of this cat tree and trotted back to her room to grab two more pair.  She continued doing this until her sock box was empty and the top of the cat tree was overflowing.  She then gathered up an armful from the cat tree and walked them back to their spot in her room and continued until they were all put away.

Strange.  Very strange.  I often wonder what goes on in a toddler's mind.

Growing, Growing, Growing!

Sylvia was very excited to get her picture taken yesterday morning, and she was so cute in her little getup too! She has such a tiny waist and I have a terrible time finding pants that will stay around her and not start creeping down to her knees. The pair she is wearing in the photo are from the Gap and they fit her great! I found this pair on clearance, and will have to keep an eye out for more.

She turned 18 months this past Saturday. My baby is a year and a half! Actually, she is not even my baby anymore. Veda is my baby. Sylvia is my *gulp* "Big Girl." She had her 18 month wellness check yesterday and she looked great! She is still tall and thin: Her weight was 23 pounds and 12 ounces (25-50th percentile) and her height was a hair over 33" (90th percentile).

I realize this is a horrible photograph but I included it because I can't believe how old the Little Pumpkin looks in this picture. It seems like just yesterday she rolled over for the first time:

This was a year ago, when she was six months. But I still even think that this:

was just yesterday.

My Little Darlings

This was kind of a difficult week around here. At least for Mom. The week started with a migraine, saw a power (and therefore water) outage in the middle, and ended with a very long Friday. But it was still filled with its precious moments.
This past weekend we learned that Sylvia can stack seven blocks on the carpet and ten blocks on the linoleum. Her eighth and eleventh block attempts were very nearly successful too. She will be 18 months tomorrow and the "average" 18 month old stacks about four blocks. Yeah, we know. She's a genius. Or, at least, her fine motor skills are superb. (Yes!!! This means she will be a knitter for sure!)

And my little Veda. She is such a doll. I cannot believe how beautiful she is.

I have a poop story about her. (You know you are a mother through and through when you are eager to tell a poop story!) On Monday of this week Lovebug had been constipated for a few days so we gave her some prune juice to help move things along, so to speak. After her feeding I had her propped up by me and within the hour she let lose. Afterward she got this larger than life smile and look of absolute bliss on her face. This continued for minutes! I have never seen such a thoroughly contented look in my life.

(And in the years to come I cannot wait for the look of horror on her face when she realizes her mother published this story!)

This is what I found yesterday morning. I was, again, doing the dishes and when I looked over my shoulder I was astonished to see that Sylvia had climbed into Veda's basket and was trying to give her a pipe. This girl is unbelievable. She is a very high energy child, stubborn, totally in love with her sister, and thinks she can do anything-- absolutely anything.

Catching Up

I realize it has been a while since I have written. To be honest, my life is consumed by my children. When I am not changing a diaper or feeding someone, I am washing clothes or folding clothes or picking up toys or reading to the Pumpkin or stacking blocks with her or rocking Lovebug or washing bottles or dealing with a toddler tantrum or soothing a crying infant or . . . You get the idea. I was talking with a couple of good friends, one via email and the other on the phone, and revealed to them that I am behind on everything. I hate that. I am behind on the housework, the bills, the laundry (which just keeps coming and coming and coming!), and I am so sick of dumping another can of soup on top of a couple of chicken breasts and calling it dinner. But most of all, I hate that I am behind with everyone else. My contacts with these two friends earlier this week were long overdue, and these are only two people of many, many wonderful people whom I desire to reconnect with.

But this will be my life for a while, and I am okay with that. I am trying to treasure these moments I have with my little ones while they are still little. It won't be long and I will be looking back on these days and missing those little socks that always seem to disappear in the washing machine and wondering how my babies who always needed me are suddenly independent.

So . . . On to enjoying the now! When I finally uploaded the pictures from my camera there were well over 200! While there will be a lot of pictures this post, I will not share all 200 with you! This series will work backwards, starting with Easter.
The girls had matching dresses for Easter, and they were too cute! The compliments they received at church were numerous. Sadly, I never got a good picture of the two of them together. Above is Sylvia hugging my parents' newest foster dog, Naomi. I really like her, and so does Sylvia. But I am not sure how much Naomi likes Sylvia!

Here is another attempt at getting a picture of all three cousins. Better. But we have yet to get a truly "good" one. Thanks, Dads, for the additional help in acquiring this shot!

These are some goofy bunny glasses that Grandma gave Sylvia a few weeks ago. She actually really enjoys wearing them, but only for a very short duration! The girls each got a clothing change after arriving at my folks' to try and keep the Sunday clothes looking Sunday appropriate. When Dave and I were out shopping the Friday before, we found this bright pink fufu skirt and we just knew that the Pumpkin was going to LOVE it. And, she does.

Yep. Sylvia had her first Easter Egg Hunt this Easter. I filled the eggs with such treasures as stickers, two finger puppets, a couple of half dollars and even four "Newmans" (what we call the Paul Newman organic chocolate alphabet cookies). She kind of got the egg hunt concept. She spotted several of the eggs on her own and she would collect them, but she had a very difficult time releasing them to Daddy to put in her bag. She kept wanting to hold all of them at once. I didn't reveal to her that there were goodies on the inside of these eggs until after we got back in the house. Once she learned this additional surprise she was thrilled and kept handing me egg after egg expecting more prizes.

In fact, this afternoon we stopped by Aunt Keeley's house to pick up cute little baskets that she had put together for the girls. Included in the baskets were decorated, but empty, Easter eggs. Sylvia got so excited to see those eggs and she kept bringing them to me after we got home. Just try and imagine her disappointment when she learned these eggs held no goodies!

The end of last week surprised us with some magnificent weather and one afternoon I took the girls outside to enjoy the sun. Sylvia has taken a number of walks with Dave around our property in the afternoon, but this was her first time getting to wander on her own a bit more while I watched from a short distance away with Veda. She loved grabbing the dirt and dead grass and leaves and throwing them up in the air! And I could tell she must have had a great time because of all the dirt that was attached to her fingers and knees and clothes and hair when we got inside!

And Veda enjoyed her time outdoors while safely sitting under the visor of the stroller.Okay. So, this is quite something. That same afternoon when I took the girls outside I decided to let Sylvia "hold" Veda. I figured both were big enough now that it could be done with very careful supervision. I asked Sylvia if she was interested in this and she nodded her head. I placed Sylvia on this green chair and then brought Veda to her and gently laid her in Sylvia's lap. Sylvia would stroke her head and coo at her. It was really sweet. Then when I thought she had had enough, I began to reach for Veda to take her away. Sylvia immediately wrapped her arms around Veda in protest! She absolutely did not want her sister to be taken from her. It is amazing how strongly Sylvia is attached to her little sister already, and the reverse holds true as well . . .

Veda is finally beginning to smile consistently at the sound of our voice or seeing our faces and last weekend she even smiled at her big sister! I love watching this bond between the two of them already forming.

And do you remember me mentioning that Sylvia nodded her head? Well, she does that now. She also shakes her head. I thought she was opinionated before, but now that she has learned these magic codes for "yes" and "no" her true colors are even further revealed. Let me reiterate, I have one very stubborn daughter! Ever heard of a strong-willed child? I have one. Prayers are appreciated!

And our little Lovebug had her two month wellness check last week. She continues to look great! She is lagging slightly behind other infants her age, but this is simply because she decided to make her debut a little earlier than most. She also started antacid medication. I feel kind of badly about this. I knew she had acid reflux, but I had no idea how severely she had it until the doctor began asking me different things regarding her behaviour and diapers, etc. My poor baby was in a lot of pain and I didn't even realize it! Since beginning the medication we have noticed some improvement but she is still struggling. Hopefully another week and we will see some continued change.

And her size: She weighed in at 9 lbs. 1 oz. And her height was 21". Both of these place her in the 10th percentile. This is actually very good, as it means she is gaining. At two weeks she was only in the 5th percentile. I do not remember her head circumference, but it was within the normal range.

I put away all of her newborn items two weekends ago. It was kind of difficult for this Mama to do, especially as Lovebug may be our last baby. I am certainly very thankful that she is growing and thriving but it also makes me very sad to realize that all these baby joys may never be revisited.

Some other interesting tidbits about the girls:

Sylvia is VERY tall. She can now reach my kitchen counter tops! This is quite distressing as it means that there is virtually no "safe" surface that exists in my house anymore!

Two mornings ago I was holding Veda after a feeding and Sylvia came over to talk to her sister. As she was standing there jabbering away I finally picked up one of the things she was saying. She was "asking" her sister, "Is that so?" This is something that Dave and I say to the girls quite frequently and it was too cute to hear her repeating it to Veda.

Finally, the other morning I asked Sylvia if she wanted to go to Oma's house. She ran off to get her shoes, grabbed her hoodie and promptly stood at the door ready to go!

Butterflies! For Dave's birthday his dad took Dave, Sylvia and me to see the butterflies at the Frederik Meijer Gardens. I hadn't been in several years and I had forgotten how fantastic it is. Sylvia really enjoyed herself and was even able to spot several butterflies all by herself. The Gardens are such a lovely place and I particularly like their Victorian Garden. I told Dave that if I had the time and a babysitter and the money to visit, I would go just to sit in the Victorian Garden and knit. I could happily sit there for hours with my yarn and needles breathing in the glorious scent and basking in the warm and airy atmosphere.

I acknowledge that this has been one long post and was possibly rather laborious to read, but if you made it all the way through then I commend you and thank you for your endurance! I will try and be more consistent in my blogging again, but please bear with me during these early childhood years!

Eight Weeks and Counting

Veda is eight weeks old today. It is, of course, so very hard for this mama to believe. And this past week has seen a major growth spurt! I feel like she has grown an inch and gained a pound and a half. I am eager for her two month check on Monday, because I think this girl is up to nine pounds already! Sunday we were at my folks' to celebrate my youngest sister's birthday. The Dax Man was dressed in his finest and both of the girls were in a cupcake motif-- all thanks to their daddy.This is currently the only picture of the three cousins we have. I have a feeling it could be quite a while before we have a good one of everyone together.

Sylvia is also on the verge of a major growth spurt, but I am thinking hers is going to be a language explosion and not a physical growth spurt. She has gotten up on the wrong side of the crib a lot these past couple of weeks and the above is her "I want, I want, I want!" face right before she breaks out into a cry. She has been a bit of a pistol as of late. But, of course, she is still the most adorable and cutest thing ever and despite how many tantrums she throws she is still the light of my life.

Yesterday was a big day. My dad was in Detroit, so I think my mom was a little lonely and wanted company. Veda also needed to meet her Great Grandpa and Great Great Aunt Selma. Both of the "elderlies" (as my mom refers to them) were so happy to see her. They both really love little ones and there is something so precious about seeing the old with the new.

I especially like this picture of Aunt Selma with Veda. For a woman who never had children of her own, she certainly has a passion for babies! She simply LOVES them. She was so eager to hold Veda that as soon as I got her out of her car seat Aunt Selma was ready to take her. I told her she needed to sit down first and then I would give her Veda. There is something about having a 93 year old handling an infant while standing that just didn't seem like a good idea.

Today the Lovebug sported her "darth veda" shirt given to her by her Uncle Chris. Uncle Chris and his friend, Mark, were the only ones to figure out Veda's name before she was born (using my clue of an owl). The first thing Chris asked me is if he could make Darth Vader jokes. And before she was even born he made this shirt-- twice. This is the first size. She has another one to grow into.

And in "big" Veda news: Saturday she gave me her first "real" smile! She is still not doing it very often, but as those smiles increase I am sure I will get a marvelous picture to share with you.

This afternoon Cousin Jack and Nana Jeanne stopped by for a visit. Jack was in great spirits and really enjoyed seeing Veda. He would look at her and smile and then laugh and laugh. It was too cute. Jack, by the way, is nine months already.

And my brilliant child did it again. I was putting away laundry and I heard Veda beginning to fuss. I couldn't attend to her right away so it was a couple minutes before I could make it out to her. When I did arrive I found this bottle of already mixed formula sitting there for her. (The little hand in the picture is Sylvia ready to take the bottle back. I guess Veda didn't move fast enough!)

I was actually really surprised that the Pumpkin remembered what these were. She hasn't seen Veda drinking from one in quite a while. Veda virtually only drinks breast milk and when she does receive formula it is typically very early in the morning, before Sylvia is even awake. The girl amazes me.

So, there has been some interest expressed about the freebies I find. The above are my freebies that arrived in the mailbox today. There are six instant coffee mixes and this lovely tote bag. I have no idea where the bag came from but it is marvelous. So . . . For those of you interested in trying to acquire these odds and ends here is my little guide:

1. Become friends with freebies4mom on facebook. Alternately, you can "favorite" her website by the same name.

2. Places like Wal*Mart, Costco and Sam's Club often have free samples available. And not always do you need a membership to receive items from Costco and Sam's Club (which is good because we do not have one).

3. Items like Pampers and Huggies have rewards points attached to some of their products. There are also "bonus" points that are sometimes available, but if you are friends with freebies4mom she will notify you of them. Once points are collected they can be traded for prizes, lottery type games, or even used for donations.

4. http://www.absurdlycool.com lists available free items on a daily basis. The site is not terribly descriptive, so it can be hard to tell what offerings there are but it is worth checking out once or twice a week.

5. http://www.mypoints.com/ is a website that I have used for about two years. I do a lot of online shopping and mypoints allows me to collect points for a number of the places I shop at. Once enough points are collected I can exchange them for gift cards. This is how we paid for a large portion of our shed last year.

6. Check out your credit cards. One of my credit cards gives me points for purchases. Similar to mypoints, once enough points are collected I can exchange them for gift cards. (And if I use that card while shopping through mypoints I get twice the goods!)

7. Finally, shop around! I spend a lot of time reviewing my purchases and checking around for the best price and looking for free shipping. There is also a site, http://www.retailmenot.com/ that will post any available coupon codes for many different online stores.

**Added bit of information: You may also be interested in checking out http://www.filleritem.com/ where you can find items that will bring you to the $25.00 free shipping offered by amazon.com.**

There are, of course, many other ways to achieve great deals with things such as freecyle.com and even craig's list, but this is just a list of the things that have worked the best for me.

And that tote bag that I got today?

Yeah, it's now housing my newest knitting project!

St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Everyone! It was a rather ho-hum sort of day around here. The morning was rough: Everyone needed me at the same time, everyone pooped at the same time (including the cats), everyone needed to eat at the same time (including me but, of course, I get to wait until last), and everyone was a little fussy. Around 2:00 things leveled out and the rest of the day was actually rather pleasant.

Sylvia wore her special green duds and even brushed her hair to make herself extra attractive for this festive day.

Veda wore her green outfit, even if it wasn't especially "St. Patrickish." She is finally beginning to outgrow newborn clothing, but some of those 0-3 month pieces are still quite large on her, including today's outfit. (Those footies contain no feet!)

This afternoon Veda and I played while Daddy and Sylvia went for a walk outside. It was another gorgeous day up here and the Little Pumpkin is loving her time outdoors. Last year she was afraid of grass. This year thus far, that fear seems to be a thing of the past. I suspect we will have lots of fun this summer!

Last week an old family friend asked me what I do. Aside from the obvious, watching my girls and trying to run the house, I really came up short in my answer. I am so very busy with these two girls and chores that I don't get to "do" much for myself. So, this got me thinking: What exactly do I do for pleasure?

I am on a free sample kick and will spend my spare moment or two surfing the web looking for freebies. This is what came in the mail for me today. Today's haul was especially good!

And I still do a lot of reading but it has kind of taken a different form. Other than the obvious interest displayed, it is generally things that can be put down on a moment's notice. And so, knitting magazines are a favorite (and more are desired, so if you happen to have any . . . ), and knitting instruction books are great reads too! And when I do have enough time to read for fifteen plus minutes consecutively, then I read my typical murder mystery or romance. And someday when my brain power can be used for thinking again then I will return to my more "academic" reading. (I wonder if that day will ever truly come . . .)

While my reading is widely knitting related, my actual knitting looks more like this. That is not quite true. I have three ongoing projects right now. This is extremely rare for me, as I tend to knit one project at a time. But somehow I ended up with these three projects and have been slowly (very slowly) working on them for the last six weeks or so.

And, yes, I am currently watching a lot of television. We don't have satellite or anything so it is all on dvd. Netflix started as a one month gift from a fabulous friend and we loved it so much that, despite not being able to really afford it, we continue to keep the subscription. It has been a lifesaver. Baby Einstein is in there intentionally. It is part of my daily viewing. Feedings have become very difficult as Sylvia insists on trying to push her sister out of my lap or simply sitting on her to reclaim the spot. Videos have become a necessity and she only intently watches Baby Einstein. Call me a horrible parent, but I would rather let her watch twenty minutes of a video than squash her baby sister.

That's what I "do."

In closing, I will leave you with a very sweet story:

This is how I found Veda Friday morning. I had been washing dishes in the kitchen and when I came back into the living room I found Veda with these two baby toys on either side of her. They were lovingly put there by her big sister.

Sisterly Love

Video no. 1: Sylvia giving Veda a kiss.

Video no. 2: Continues directly after video no.1 ends, Sylvia being "helpful."