Wiping noses

So I've been thinking a lot about my blog. And not writing a lot.

I have a bunch of ideas for posts: some reflections on being newly married; some thoughts about how birth order affects parenting and children; the potty training journey we have traversed this month; the one facet of house-wifery I do well; the other twenty facets I don't do well; my attempt to learn to use our camera.

But this posts isn't about any of those things. All I have to say is that I've been wiping noses and rocking babies. The last two months has brought us a constant stream of colds, runny noses, and ear infections. Coupled with Caroline's vomiting and difficulty sleeping, this has been a challenging month. This has probably been rougher than the first few months of having two kids (and that was ROUGH). We are thankful for love and support from our families and friends.

Anyway, we're getting through it and making it and just trying to remember that winter doesn't last forever; neither does their infancy. Our babies are growing and learning, even through the mess. And they are healthy in general. Caroline has five teeth and is crawling like a champ. Catherine can tell you the opposite of most any word she knows and knows all of her letters. She knows her right and left. After night after night of minimal sleep, I'm glad I have her to remind me of which is which.

Runny nose. Yes, I took a picture.

Sad, tired, don't feel so good baby (and Daddy!)

So we'll be returning to public contact . . . maybe in June? Maybe I'll get a chance to write some of those posts before then.

Funny Girl

"My silly face"

 Not like the Barbara Streisand kind of funny girl . . . well, she does like to sing.

A few goofy stories about the way things are around here right now. Our big girl Catherine has developed quite a sense of humor. One of her favorite expressions lately is, "Oh, that's funny!" Sometimes she uses it in appropriate context, other times, not so much. But then, it's funny to us when she uses it wrong.

"My goldfish face"

Catherine's favorite pastime these days is singing. Her singing voice has one volume. It's very loud. When I'm lucky, I get a medley of all Catherine's favorite songs. If you're happy and you know it, Jesus loves me, Frosty, Jingle Bells, the Itsy Bitsy Spider, and the Grand Finale the ABC's. Now, I think she can carry a tune fairly well for a two-year-old. But still, much of the melody is lost in single note repetition. Did I mention it's really loud? It's one thing in the car, but she's also taken to doing it in public. Hobby Lobby, the grocery store, even Home Depot last week. "Mommy, I said touch your nose!!" I guess I just must not be happy. Or maybe I don't know it. No, my finger does usually end up on my nose.

"My tongue face"

 So one of the things she's been saying lately is, "____ made a mess!" I guess she hears that a lot. We've had a really rough month around here. We've had six ear infections, two colds for each girl, and a round of RSV for Caroline that seems to linger on and on. Unfortunately, when Caroline gets congested and then cries, she tends to vomit. That's been happening way too much this month. So that is so unpleasant, but each time she does, it is met with Catherine exclaiming, "Ca-wo-wine made a mess, Mommy!" She also said "I made a mess," when she dropped a large pyrex bowl, which shattered into a thousand pieces on the kitchen floor last week. Don't you love understatement?

Other funnies:
When Caroline is crying, she often says, "Mommy, she's just falling apart." Or she'll repeat other expressions we've used. "She needs a nap!" She regularly refers to Flash as "Buddy." As in, "Don't eat my food, Buddy."
She feels compelled to name the color of each article of clothing you are wearing. Also to point it out if anything is different about your wardrobe. "Gasses, Mommy!! Mommy is wearing gasses!" (Glasses, of course.) 

Her baby dolls are named "Alabama" and "Julie." The family of stuffed animals that live in her bed are Tigee (he's the baby, she says), Lamb (the big brother), Pink Monkey (the mommy), and Brown ("bown") Monkey, the daddy. They have all sorts of adventures. Most of which involve using the potty, putting the babies down for napses (her expression), kissing boo boos, and making lunch.

Catherine is cutting her two-year molars. It's a whole different game when they cut teeth after they have gained the ability to communicate. Yesterday, she said her mouth hurt. And could I please kiss the inside of her mouth. In the back. Please? Please?

And this "silly face?" I looked up from feeding Caroline lunch today. And this is what I saw. Catherine, why aren't you eating? Because this is my silly face. Readers, was it one of you who taught her this? I'm pretty sure I didn't. Or the goldfish face.

"My silly face again"

 

Don't blink!

You just might miss a year and a half of your life.

So . . . I actually stopped updating the blog because just before making my last post, I discovered I was pregnant with our second child. Yes, when Catherine was just 9 months, I learned that #2 was on the way. I had no spare energy for blogging. Or bathing sometimes. Well, that hasn't really changed, but I am going to try again. There's just too much happening that I want to hold on to, to remember, to record. I'm awful about baby books and such things. The one thing we do well is take lots of pictures. Lots. Anyway, I know if I can record anything that happens here, it will be better than none at all. Let's be real, I'll never blog like Big Jen (aka the Punisher). But I think I'll try again.


So back in March, we welcomed our second little girl, Caroline, into the world. She is a joy. So different from her big sister, but so wonderful just the same. Caroline would have done quite well with attachment parenting. As a nine month old (who is twenty pounds, by the way), her favorite spots in the world are on my hip or strapped to me in the carrier. Catherine never had much interest in being held, carried, snuggled. Our little Miss Independent, Catherine just wanted out from day 1. I already know Caroline will be affectionate and loving as she grows up. It's just how she is.

Here is Caroline at 7 days old. Caroline was born at 6 lb, 6 oz and well under 6 by the time we left the hospital. There were a few problems in utero that kept her from getting full nutrition, but they had no long-term detriments. She came out hungry! I know that there are lots of babies out there who have an even smaller start to life, but I couldn't believe how small and skinny she really was. Anyway, she's up in the 60th %ile for weight now and is much bigger than her sister was at the same age. She is doing great. The girls are crazy about each other. I love having two little girls!! It's so much fun!

Since it's the last day of 2012, I'll give you a couple of the highlights. In June, we traveled with a two month old and a nineteen month old to San Antonio to see Uncle David marry Aunt Liz. (Whew, it was as wonderful and as exhausting as you might be imagining...) At the end of July, Caroline was baptized at our church, Southwood Presbyterian. We celebrated Catherine's second birthday in October. Thanksgiving this year was spent at home. Uncle Josh and Nana came to enjoy the holiday with us. And we just wrapped up a wonderful Christmas holiday with Peaches, Grandpa, and Aunt Allison.

It's been a whirlwind of a year. Having kids creates a time warp. You get through, day after day, doing the same thing and then you look back and realize a month or more has just, well, passed.

The most recent family picture, on our way to the service Christmas Eve. I have to admit, I was actually wearing a pink shirt. I used photoshop elements to change it to match the girls' dresses. I just learned how to do that and I think it's SO cool. :) Happy new year to all.

Farewell, old friend!

We got our first dog, Bandit, from the animal shelter in downtown Atlanta the spring after R and I got married. We had talked about getting a dog from the time we got engaged. As soon as R had the promise of a full-time job, we went to pick out a furry friend.

I remember looking at apartments in Huntsville before we had even moved here. In every apartment we saw, we talked about where we could walk "our dog" and all the things about it that would be good for "our dog." All before we even had "our dog." We planned and hoped for him for a long time.

We brought Bandit home from Fulton County Animal Services in May of '06. This shelter was the saddest place I've ever been. They told us they got up to 200 new dogs a day sometimes. And the majority of them wouldn't find permanent homes. The shelter guessed Bandit, the German Shepherd mix we'd picked, was 6 months old, but the vet told us he was more like three. He was skinny and nervous, wrought with intestinal parasites and mange. After two months of living with us, he had doubled his weight, cleared his skin, and really come out of his shell. He became our instant companion. Bandit was the most loyal animal I have ever encountered.

This is on the day we brought the Bandit home. Can't you see why we picked him?

 

 

 

In this picture, Bandit is about five months old. Lovin' on his daddy!

We joked that this would be a great ad for Angel Soft toilet paper.

Unfortunately, with intense loyalty comes suspicion. As Bandit lived with us, he grew skittish and fearful of others who didn't look and act just like R and me. This included children. Toddlers particularly frightened him, with their squeals and sudden movements. Naturally, this was getting to be a problem for us. Though Bandit was always very good with C, even when she would grab at him or squeal and shriek, he remained cautious and wary around our friends' children. We started to look for a new home for our long-time companion.

Bandit went to live with a friend of Aunt Allison and we hope he's doing well. We really miss him. He always made us laugh with his quirkiness. When we broke with his usual daily routine, he liked to hide in the closet. His favorite position was sitting on your lap. He really loved chewing up glossy paper. Unlike a certain second dog who lives in this house, BANDIT never destroyed anything (except the occasional piece of junk mail). He loved to give hugs. He is a sweet, sweet dog and he is greatly missed.

Flash has been mourning the loss of Bandit by getting into tons of trouble. Since Bandit's been gone, Flash has been on a quest to eat all the food in the house. Once, I left him out on accident when I left for the afternoon with C. He tore up any food that was out in the kitchen that time. A second time, I didn't get his crate closed well and he tore up all kinds of things...including a diaper genie full of diapers. I'll spare you the details, but it was disgusting. He has been snatching C's food from the table or her high chair. And most of all, he thinks we should play with him ALL the time. Ball, ball, ball. I think he really does miss his companion, but he sure has a weird way of showing it. It's a rough transition, but I know Bandit has a good home where he won't be terrorized by small people who do unpredictable things. Life's rough.

Our boys snuggled up together. On a down comforter. They both love soft things. And have expensive taste...

Bandit . . . on my lap.

Where to begin

Arg. I have not updated this blog in months. Unless you are one of little C's grandmamas, you have probably stopped looking to see if I have updated it. So here we are. I'm gonna TRY to make a couple of posts a few days in a row to catch up on what's new.

June was a rough month around here, hence the lack of blog updating. The advent of June brought us two baby teeth, a week of VBS and C missing her morning nap four days running, and learning to sit up in the crib. It brought us all these things, which, as you mamas out there know, means it brought us sleep deprivation too. Major schedule upsets and the discovery that sitting and playing (or just sitting and crying) were way more fun than just laying down and going to sleep at night lead to lots of rough nights. We are thankful that stage did pass.

During late June and early July, our house was abuzz with company. C's Nana came for five days and then Peaches and Aunt Allison dropped by for a visit. Here are a few pics from their visits. C got crawling down really well during Nana's visit and within a day or two, she was unstoppable. In fact, we had a lot of trouble getting good pics with Nana, because all she wanted to do was go, go, go! Um, yes, we have lots of baby gates now.

Sorry, C, just one bathtime picture, please?

Just before C's first ever trip to the pool! She loved it!

I think they are discussing the deeper things in life.

I should certainly do better with my blog updates, but there's a little info for those of you who are actually still reading this. Many other crazy things have been going on, but I think one update a day is all I have in me. (Or maybe one update every two months is all I have in me.) The dishes beckon. The dishes always beckon.

Photo sessions

I don't have time to write a lengthy post, since little one will be up from her nap any minute now, but I just wanted to share some of my favorite photos from the last month or so (we're still learning to use the camera...Daddy is way better at it than Mommy!).
Time goes by so fast and our baby is growing so much. I can't believe it!

 

Sweet home Alabama

What a strange seven days here in North Alabama. Most of you know that our state (and much of the South) endured the powerful force of hundreds of tornadoes last Wednesday. Whole neighborhoods and communities have been completely wiped away from the Alabama landscape. The storms did not hit our home directly, but did hit many places in our community, particularly several miles north of where we live. I have only seen small parts of the destruction (the worst affected areas are closed to traffic), but what I have seen has reminded me that the forces of nature (and indeed of God himself) are stronger, more powerful, and more mysterious than we can even understand.

 

We are so thankful all we had to endure was a lengthy loss of electricity in our home. As you will see below, I actually enjoyed it, but in no way do I mean that I enjoyed the reason for the power outage. It was nice to be without power for a spell, but I don't mean at all that I'm glad for the storms. 

 

All told, we spend 104 hours in our home without power. This is a small inconvenience, when you consider those who lost so much more than power. I have included a few photos . . . in case you were wondering how you fill five days without power.

A few comments about living without power . . .

Many of our friends left town and were even kind enough to offer their parents' homes for us to come stay in. While I know that would have been great and was greatly appreciated, I'm so glad we made the choice to stay and "tough it out." We had almost a week of time together. Time to walk the dogs, play with C, plan complicated meals, discover all the things in our freezer and pantry long forgotten, play games, read books...many things we opt not to do when the options of tv and internet are available. Without power, so much of the pressure to "get stuff done" was lifted. No work for Russell, no tutoring for me, no laundry, minimal cleaning, no blogging, no facebooking, nothing. Just hours to fill. The dogs are definitely spoiled now, after days of way too much attention and way too many rounds of fetch. We met neighbors we hadn't met before. People were out in their yards, on their porches, talking to each other. Smiling. Sharing food. Offering resources. Making the best of it. (Not to mention the thousands who have already volunteered to help clear debris, house the homeless, feed the displaced, etc . . . there has been a remarkable outpouring of goodwill and neighborly love in our community.) It was wonderful. What a great couple of days. We even had a beautiful (mostly) acoustic church service Sunday.

There were a few things we missed. The hot water heater. The vacuum cleaner (you would too if you shared a house with Bandit for a week...) The washing machine. But really, the list ends there for me. Doing dishes by hand was just fine (what other pressing matter did I have?), the loss of TV and internet was not much of a sacrifice, and even indoor lighting was only missed a little bit. I am glad that we won't have to worry again for quite some time about where and when we might find ice, gas, refrigerated foods, etc. Thankful for and reminded of our usual abundance we take for granted.

So we are grateful to have had the experience and so thankful that our friends and family are safe. We are looking for ways now to help Alabama rebuild and help people piece back together their homes and their lives.

I was in the middle of laundry when the power went out. We hung out the contents of the washing machine to dry in the dining room!

We grilled this frozen pizza after it had thawed in our "freezer." Um, it was really charred. We scraped the cheese off and ate it.

Other than the incident with the pizza, we really ate like kings, trying to keep all the best contents of the freezer from going to waste. Our dinner Friday night was steak, mashed potatoes (made on the side burner of the grill), and corn on the cob. Thank you Publix, for putting that on sale the week before the storm!

After the first 36 hours or so, we got cell phone coverage back. It was tough to keep the phones charged, since we had one car charger that took about five times as long as a wall charger. We were glad to have a connection with the outside world, though. We learned about Bin Laden via text message. After dark each night, we played games and read by candlelight and flashlight.

So thankful toys operate on BATTERIES!! I don't think C ever even knew anything was different. It was just one big party with daddy home every day and nothing to do but play, eat, and take naps. Which is pretty much life everyday when you are a six-month-old. Another note - she is pretty much sitting up now! Wow!

She holds the book along with you. Love it. See, the best things in life don't require a single watt.