Weekend recap

This weekend I was flying solo with the kiddos! It went smoothly, but I missed Derek in the mornings. Abby is still an early riser, so my cute little alarm clock got me up at 4am and 5am on Saturday and Sunday. When Derek is home, he gets up with Grant and I get a little extra sleep, but I didn’t have that luxury this weekend and never got back to sleep after Abby’s early morning feeding. The stars DID aligned just right on Sunday though and I got a ONE HOUR NAP!

Saturday was gorgeous. During Grant’s nap, I tried a new recipe that is a knock off of Chick-fil-a’s nuggets. I wanted to do a practice round before the party on Sunday. They were delicious!!!

After Grant’s nap we went to the park and I tried to take a few photos of the kids. Grant, however, had to keep telling me about the DOG that was barking in a backyard across the creek and the SKY.



Because Abby needed a nap and I needed coffee, we took a road trip to the world’s finest Wal-mart (with a Dunkin inside). My kids were the most well-behaved in the store. But the competition wasn’t tough – I didn’t have to throw a screaming child over my shoulder like 2 other parents in the store did. I also bribed Grant with Munchkins (donut holes).

Sunday was pretty laid back – I got to nap during Grant’s nap, then we headed outside to play. Just as we got set up, Abby woke up so I nursed in the garage while Grant and Lola played. It’s actually a great set up (we have a rear-facing garage)! Don’t judge me.

I set the DVR for the Red Carpet and straightened up for my annual Oscar’s party! Grant really wanted to sit in my lap while I was rocking Abby, so we made it work. I hope he wasn’t scarred by the Praying Mantis (Giuliana Rancic). *Lolly’s observation, but I totally agree.*

Derek got home at 6, just in time for me to start cooking for the party. Most of the guests were there at 7 and we drank wine, chatted and watched the show in between. I don’t have any photos and probably couldn’t post them even if I did – we had several (intentional) nip slips just like J-Lo (but because of nursing and not some uber-expensive dress).

Sunday night Abby slept like a CHAMP until 6:30 am. So imagine my surprise when my sleep was interrupted… by my husband! His eye was swollen and he had bites on him. Still not sure why but it’s gone now. Of course it made me itch just being in bed so I slept worse than usual even though Abby was being a rock star.

I got excited about Abby sleeping 9 hours with a more normal wake time. Or at least I thought I was. This morning she was up at 4:30 am and ended up falling asleep on me. I gladly laid back down to rest with her on my chest and relished in the fact that I can still do that!

Top 5...

Top 5 things that we shouldn't have said to Grant:

1. Please don’t get your tears on mommy’s dress.
2. BOOBY! (Derek said it - I was nursing)
3. Daddy’s home!! (he wasn’t – but we needed a distraction)
4. Do you need a dress? (he was crying)
5. You need to go to sleep so I can have a glass of wine.

I'll update later with photos of the weekend. It seems like an eternity since I've updated my bloggity blog!

New tricks

Grant and Abby got to play with Grandma Rose the past 3 days. Poor Nathaniel was sick, and hopefully playing with Grandma Rose kept my babies from getting the worst of it!

Grandmas have a special sense. Yesterday Abby woke up just before I was leaving for work. She smiled and was so happy to see Grandma Rose! Grandma Rose also got Grant to sit through an ENTIRE book by working her grandma magic (Go Dog Go! - it's over 50 pages).

Grandmas also have great ideas. I've been trying to teach Grant that my milk is for the baby and his milk is for him. I could tell he was trying to process this but didn't quite understand. But after some time with Grandma Rose, he knows the milk in the bottle is "Baby's Juuuuice". (it seems calling it "juice" made him understand better - or Grandma just explains it better!)

Grandma Rose also raced with Grant and taught him to do a somersault. Remarkably simple games/lessons. And things I had never even thought of!

Grant has always been curious. He likes to watch the wheels of the trucks turn as he rolls them on the ground. He likes to fasten the safety straps on the car seat/bouncy chair/stroller/booster seat/anything he can get his hands on! Yesterday morning we were in the kitchen wait on his "wawa" (waffle) and I started tap dancing. Grant stopped whatever he was doing, got on the ground and looked at my feet (like you would look under a door). It was cute - he was trying to understand and also breathing like a fat kid. I kept dancing then asked him if he could do it. He beamed with pride and tried to tap like mama.

I know people say it all the time, but it's truly remarkable how much and how quickly these kids learn. Abby knows and loves Grandma Rose now. And coos at her because she has so much to share! Grant soaks up all the new games and tricks that Grandma Rose teaches him. Every day he's saying new words... words he's likely said for months but we can actually understand him now! He's combining words too ("No. Dada. Hooome." = Dada's not home.).

With all this learning, I think we're going to have to start watching what we say. *Sigh.*

On second thought, maybe with all this learning, he can learn "ear muffs" instead.

Bits

We’ve been trying to get Grant to say some funny things. “I like turtles” is pretty high up on Derek’s list. But Grant rarely chooses to say “turtle” (we know he can – he’s just stubborn), and stringing those 3 words together just hasn’t happened yet.

He can actually say “Hello Gov’nuh” pretty well. The “hello” is clear and so is the G sound. The rest just kinda gets thrown away, but Derek and I can hear it.

Next up on our “it’d be funny if we could Grant to say this” list is teaching him that a duck says “Aflac”. That’s pretty challenging too.

I think this inspiration for having someone innocent say something funny comes from my aunt Wanda. When she was young the doctors said she was “mentally retarded,” but that would surely be “special needs” in today’s PC world. Her siblings trained her to say funny things – my family knows them well, but I won’t repeat them here. She loved getting a laugh from these bits.

Any suggestions for funny bits to teach my new talker?

Playing around the house

We laid low this weekend - it was too cold to do much of anything anyway. And a day around the house calls for picutres!!

I tried to get some good shots of Abby:

Then I decided to try bouncing her on my legs (while on my back). I guess it was too close to feeding time. Grant was lined up and ready for his turn though!

Then it was time for dress up! If we don't start wearing outfits just because it's 2pm on a Sunday, so many will go to waste!!

Brother and sister:

Things I Love

Today I found perpetualkid.com. I instantly fell in love with 80% of the items for sale. How could I not?!

Some items are practical and some are down right ridiculous:

Corkcicle (actually Cat had mentioned it before).
Shot Glasses

Cutting board

Pencil Sharpener

Apron
Bacon band-aids

Baby dumbells (it's a rattle)
And my favorite: the Mustachifier!
I'm sure I'll be shopping on this site for gifts. That is your warning!!!

10 things I'm grateful for

It's been a while since I had one of these posts. It's not that I haven't been grateful, it's just that I've been perfecting this juggling act!

1. Oven Fan. A bizarre thing to be grateful for - unless you need to fix meals and get a baby to sleep at the same time. We use the oven fan even when it's not needed because it's soothing for Abby.

2. Lola. I'm so thankful for having a dog while we have a toddler running around. Especially since said toddler can now open the Snack Traps. ugh.

3. Maternity Leave. Today is my last day. I'm spending it getting an oil change and organizing closets. I lead an exciting life.

4. Dunkin' Donuts. I'm hooked on Dunkin's coffee and lattes.

5. Ellen - She is just so darn funny. I look forward to watching her every day!

6. Play dates. Before maternity leave is over, we will have had play dates with Kristin & Ethan, Hayley & Jackson, Ashley, Hayden and her Abby, and Dory & Dorothy. I even had to cancel several while the kiddos were sick!

7. Houzz - we are getting an itch to redo our kitchen (still a while away) and this app/website is great for ideas. It's like just for your house! Great place to spend some time while rocking a baby at 2am!

8. My Baylor cup. We are inseparable. I think I must take her to work with me when I start back. Did I just say "her"?

9. Bows. I love them!! So much fun to accessorize a girl! And I just looked at my cousin Mary's blog and her 6 year old was wearing a scarf. I got excited about fun girly accessories (that are not jewelry since we don't know if my allergy/sensitivity will pass to Abby).

10. Doors. Specifically I'm thankful that Grant can't open them. We sleep with a fan next to our bed for white noise. I keep the monitor for Abby on all night but don't switch on Grant's until 6:30 or 7am. This made me think he slept peacefully all night. Maybe he did. Or maybe not! Now that I'm up with Abby in the night, I hear him jabber and/or kick the wall from his bed almost every night. Maybe his cough or Abby's crying wakes him and this is just a short term fluke...

Do you think we look alike?

My grandpa would always say that when we were kids. The conversation went like this:

(Grandpa would hoist one of us up on his knee.)
Grandpa: "Grandma, do you think we look alike?"
(Grandpa's features were unmistakable - big ears, big nose and skin that showed his years of hard labor at the shop and at the farm).
Grandma: "Oh hush Big John! I'm not playing that game! Ya'll don't look nothing alike."
Grandpa: "Oh Grandma. Not even a little? Russell - do you think we look alike?"
Russ (shaking head): "Carrie, Carrie, Carrie..."
Grandpa (smiling and laughing): "I think we look almost exactly alike."
Russ (shrugging shoulders with arms crossed): ...."Eh."
Grandma: "Big John let them down to go play!"
The child would start to fidget hoping Grandpa would listen to Grandma.
Grandpa would then reach for the child's knee, which he would hammer (yes - hammer) with his middle finger - almost like a doctor checking reflexes but on the patella.
Grandpa: "You think there's a bone in there? I think there's a bone in there." (Child would wiggle around). "Listen" (hammer, hammer, hammer). "There's a bone in there!"

And so on for what seemed like 10 minutes and was probably only 1. And Russ's response was "Carrie, Carrie, Carrie" no matter who was in Grandpa's lap.

*Sidenote - when Derek and I took Grandpa to Shreveport, the dealers would ask his name and he would tell them "Big John." They all thought it was funny.*

**Disclaimer - this is a picture of a picture, so please disregard the big FLASH in the middle. The photo is from December 2009, a few weeks before my Grandpa passed away. I was pregnant with Grant but didn't know the gender yet. Grandpa said based upon how I looked, I was having a girl. He was basically blind from macular degeneration, so it's comical that he would have an opinion based on how I "look". **

And with that introduction, I give you a new semi-regular blog post called "Do you think we look alike?" Only this time, the comparison will be Grant and Abby. Please always read the title with a southern accent in honor of Big John.

Do You Think We Look Alike?
2 month edition


While I was trying to get a photo of Abby, Grant belly flopped onto the ground to get close to her and give her a kiss.

Abby is 2 months!!

Little girl is 2 months today, so we had a doctor's appointment and shots this morning!

Weight: 11 lbs, 9 oz (75th percentile)
Length: 22.75 inches (75th percentile)
Head: 39 cm (60th percentile)

For reference, Grant's 2 month stats are here.

I must say that I think she lost some weight when she was sick - she was eating 1.5 oz instead of 4. She isn't really sick anymore but the cough is still hanging around. Poor girl.

Her sleeping is all over the board, but again I blame RSV. She was going longer stretches until she got sick. Now she usually sleeps 4 hours, wakes up coughing, then repeats that in the night. Last night she went 7 hours between feedings (about 5 hrs of sleep) before she woke up coughing. I always feed her when she wakes up coughing bc I would want something to drink if I woke up coughing!!

During the day she eats 3-4 oz every 3 hours. I'm not holding her to a schedule. She's wearing size 2 diapers. And she's smiling often (especially if you sort of tease her with the pacifier). I've got over 300 ounces in the freezer, smoking my record stash that I had when Grant was this age.

In the next few days I will try to get Abby on a "schedule" for evenings. Right now her long stretch is from 7-2am. I'd rather it be 10-5am (well I'd REALLY rather it be 8pm-7am. While I'm wishing I might as well shoot for the stars). We'll see how the switch goes!

Outtakes from her 2 month shot:

This was right about 7pm - her bedtime!