E's Letter to Santa

I just 'found' this picture.  It reminded me of how far E's handwriting skills have come in the last year.  She's grown up so much.  Last January, our dear friend, Lindsey, joined the Peace Corps and left for Thailand.  E was so sad.  So, we started writing Lindsey letters.  E could write the letter "E" and that was all.  She wanted to learn how to sign her name at the bottom of her letters.  Consequently, we started 'school' in the afternoons while X was sleeping.  Now, I'm not very scheduled (I blame pregnancy and a newborn) and we don't 'do' school nearly enough.  I wish I had the energy/time to do it more, but she is progressing.

For Christmas, she was bound and determined that she was going to write Santa a letter by herself.  So, I spelled out the letters for the words and she wrote Santa a letter and addressed the envelope.  She was so excited.  The envelope says, "Santa Cla North Pole".  I didn't take a picture of the letter because I was hoping to do the old bait and switch at the post office and never send it and take a picture of it later.  However, she insisted on going to the post office to mail it and insisted on putting a stamp on it and insisted on putting it in the drop box herself.  We thought that the post office might just return it to sender and Jut did think to put our return address on it.

The post office did not return it.  Instead, "Santa" wrote a letter back to Miss E.  It was very nice.  She loved getting a letter from the North Pole.  I didn't know Santa wrote back to good little girls...but he did.

E didn't get anything on her wish list to Santa for Christmas.  She didn't seem to mind.  All of her wishes came out of a catalog that is very similar to American Girls and revolved around things for her dolls to play with...Santa had other ideas in mind for Miss E...that she could play with.  Thankfully, she hasn't complained or questioned one bit about her wishes not being granted.

It is amazing to see the changes that happen within a year's time!  Bring on 2012...especially if one of the changes means C sleeps all night!!!  :)

C at 2 months

My little man still likes to sleep...especially if he's being held! Aunt Stacey didn't see him awake all Christmas weekend because he was too cozy and comfortable to wake up.

C starting 'cooing' this month. He's not a big 'talker' yet. I think his siblings make too much noise for him to see the need. But, he does make the sweetest little noises.

C figured out how to quickly end tummy time this month. On the 10th, he was doing some tummy time at Mom and Dad's when all of a sudden he was back on his back. He surprised himself and us. I still don't know how intentional his flips are...but he commonly does it.

Smiles are becoming more common place and intentional. Nothing is cuter from a baby than a big toothless grin.

Sleeping is still an issue. He sleeps in the bassinet most nights. He gets up about every three hours to eat. He usually wakes up at least once each night with gastrointestinal distress. Needless to say, we sleep with his gas medicine. So, I'm usually up with him at least three times between 11 and 7. Makes for short nights.





Daytime sleeping is also not going well. He falls asleep fairly easy when rocked but doesn't stay asleep for more than 20 minutes...and usually it is really about 5. We are both frustrated by the end of a day. However, if you hold him, he'll sleep for at least an hour. Ugh.

Otherwise, I think that is all that is happening in baby land. Happy 2nd month B'day, little man!

Merry Christmas!!!

Becoming the Mother Merchants Fear

Today I needed to go to the post office and the grocery store. Jut had the car but it was a realitivly mild December morning, so I bundled us all up and out we went. We haven't meandered downtown since well before C joined us and I decided to make several stops along our journey.

Before I begin recounting our adventures, let me paint a picture of our appearance. Two visible kids with a double stroller and me. First there's E...adorable as always. She's looking stylish in her light pink coat, mittens and hat...with hot pink sweatpants that look huge on her skinny little frame. X is sporting froggie mittens and an orange tiger hat because he won't leave a hat on right now and so I can rarely find matching sets. However, I look the 'best' out of the three of us. I have C in the Moby wrap under my ski jacket. He looks like a very large lump...not a preggo bump b/c he rides entirely too high but he is a peculiar lump. I couldn't find my hat and so I have Jut's black knit hat that is awful. My mitten lost its mate and so I was wearing one mitten and one stretchy glove of a different color. C-L-A-S-S-Y, yup that's me. But, if you've forgotten life with a newborn...you have about a 2 hour window to get things done before they need to eat again. Searching for things is a forgotten luxury right now...especially when you don't start searching until the other two are ready to go. So to start the adventure we look the part of high class society.

We make our first stop at the Culli*gan store. No problem. We are quickly in and out with X is sitting nicely in the stroller. Our second stop doesn't go so smoothly. I stop at the shoe store for 1 item. A little thing...should only take a minute. Well, X wiggles out of the stroller as soon as I stop it. But, I figure it's not a big deal. It's a shoe store. No big deal and he has mittens on so he has very limited dexterity.

Well, I was wrong. First he decided to climb up on the foot stool...then he was climbing on the chairs...then he started bringing me the displayed shoes. E and I seriously spent less than two minutes deciding upon the item. X was like a little Tasmanian devil on the loose. The salesman was a young fellow that obviously did not have any little boys in his life...nor should he ever play poker. I could read the expression on his face..."you need to do something with that unruly child and get him out of my store!". Lovely. Glad I don't typically shop there.

Stop three was down the street and around the corner at the post office. We left the stroller outside because it is a small business area and it was packed. X stays with me willingly for about 1 minute. Then he starts wandering over to the po boxes and disappearing from view. I'm wearing C who is probably 13 lbs...and X is 30 lbs. Holding X is not really an option. After chasing him down the second time, we start playing "What letters do you see?". Probably annoyed everyone else waiting in line, but it kept both kids occupied and close by. Then, a train went through. No one had come in behind us, so we went outside and watched it until I noticed 5 people converging upon the entrance. I hurried the kiddos back inside. X told everyone about seeing the train...repeatedly. When someone didn't acknowledge him, he just repeated himself louder until they commented something back. Then, he proceeded to lay down in the middle of the floor and started scooting across it making train noises. I remarked something about being a tripping hazard and thankfully it was our turn at the counter and he got up without trouble.

Our fourth stop was the new jewelery store. I again left the stroller outside. In the first two minutes in the store, he's pressed his face against the display cases and dashed behind the counters checking everything out while I am questioning the owner about some things. I see a kids corner...PTL...and direct X to a book we've read before and thankfully another salesperson comes up and starts reading the book to the kids and I can finish my conversation with the owner.

Stop 5 was the local meat market. Carla gave them suckers upon arrival and they were angels.

Stop 6 was the second hand store and I kept both munchkins in the stroller and we zoomed in and out.

Our last stop was the grocery store. I needed one item for dinner. Unfortunately, I turned the wrong direction. We toured the store. When we located the dressing, I was looking for the off-brand and X said something about Chex. I was still looking at the shelves when E screamed, "Mom, X is running away!". Sure enough, I turn in time to see X's little legs running as fast as they go turning the corner down the far end of the aisle. Thankfully, it is a small store that we frequent regularly. I knew just where the end cap of Chex's was located. Sure enough, X was stacking boxes in the aisle when we reached him. We go to the check out and he was doing something mischivieous and the guy behind the counter laughs and says "You aren't being a tripping hazard anymore." to X. I said, "You were at the post office.". He smiled and gave me my change.

We obviously made entirely too many stops!

My Little House Girl

Last spring E and I started reading the picture books based on the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. E LOVED them. This summer we started reading the little novelettes that they made to corellate with them. By September, E was ready to tackle the actual books. I didn't know if she'd stay interested in them...the chapters were longer and there weren't many pictures. However, she continued to love the stories. We'd spend a week or two in each book reading every day before rest time and bedtime. On some days, we'd read for over a half hour and she'd sit there and listen attentively. It was our cuddly mother/daughter time every day. We both enjoyed it. Yesterday we finished the last book in the series. I was sad to see the series end. E informed me that we are going to start over in the Big Woods and read the series again.

All of E's dolls have names from the Little House series. They go for rides on covered wagons, go hunting with Pa, help Ma cook...her imagination is wonderful. I love listening to her imagination go. She is in love with he Little House story and characters. I'm so glad Laura is her hero right now and not a current socialite.

C at 1 month (although the post is 2 weeks late)

At 5 weeks old, C is 12 pounds 2 ounces and 24 inches. He's a growing boy! Tomorrow the 3 months will be put away and the 6 month clothes will take their place. C has finally learned that he can stretch out his legs and his sleepers are just way too short.

C started out life preferring to sleep while being held.  While we are still battling that preference, he is sleeping at least part of the night in the bassinet finally.  I am finally getting some good sleep since I don't have to hold him all night long.

 

My sister and I wondered we would ever do with a mixing bowl that was so big...the answer is that it is perfect to bathe a newborn...even if he is a big newborn.  C loves his baths.  He enjoys them very much and never poops in it like his brother always seemed to do.  :)

E and X are very smitten with C.  Although, they do tire of listening to his crying.  X loves to stick his finger in C's mouth when he's crying because he's seen me do it all to often.  X also loves playing peek-a-boo with C in his carseat in the car.  We try to discourage it because that means C is being exposed to the cool air of the unwarmed car.

The laundry of two in cloth diapers is a bit daunting, but when C was about 3 weeks old, we made the switch to him being in cloth.  It does give him a butt and makes his pants fit much better.  He's long and lean like E (at least right now), which makes getting pants to somewhat fit a bit of a problem.  But, cloth certainly helps with that issue.

E is 4.5!

Wow! Time is flying around here. E had her half B'day last week. We celebrated by measuring how much she's grown in the past 6 months. She has grown about an inch and a half. She's towering over X by about 9 inches. She's such a tall, thin little waif.

E is generally a delight but she has entered a much more challenging stage in life. She deems many things in life 'not fair'. Her dramatic reaction to things not going her way makes me crazy. She loves to aggravate X by playing with his toys or stealing his things. The two of them make me want to pull out my hair some days.

Dolls are E's favorite pastime. Our neighbor gave E bunk beds for her babies. Every night she has to put them to bed. During rest time, she reads to them and cares for them. She has renamed them Laura, Mary, Carrie, Grace and Nellie Olson...in honor of the Little House chapter books that we have been reading this fall. She loves her babies! Her Christmas list to Santa only included items for her babies this year...a high chair, a piano and something else that I can't remember. I'm a bit worried she'll be sadly disappointed when Santa doesn't deliver once she wants.

E got to be in her first parade tonight. She loved being on the float and throwing candy to other kids. It was cold at thirty degrees but she was a trooper.

Planning parties is a favorite pastime. She always wants to have her friends from church or the neighbor girls over for some type of party. One of these days, I'll have to actually have to make one of these parties happen. She's been to two 'girls only' parties this fall. One was a high school girls event and the other was a birthday party for one of her friends from church.

The neigborhood girls love to come over and play. E loves them! One is a year older than E and the other is a couple years older, but they play with her so well. They had a new brother born in April...so they have that in common also.

She loves drive X crazy...although he returns the favor quite well. She constantly wants to play with what he's playing with or be in his space. Their bickering drives me crazy.

Tonight she lost her dolls due to poor choices and she was trying to buy them back from Jut. She loves money and thinks she rich with her $8 and change of B'day money. She is always wanting to buy something. She's funny when she's not being exasperating.

She's a great big sister and helper and retrieves all sorts of things for me. I enjoy her help in the kitchen. She loves helping me bake and stir things. She loves kneading bread or biscuits. Her favorite thing is getting her own piece of dough to knead and put in the oven.

One thing is certain...life with a 4.5 year old is not boring. She's great!!