Belle in her new bed

Nap time!

Mommy and Emily

Snuggling cheek to cheek.

A Happy and Clean Emily

Napping

"It is so boring when Mommy and Daddy make me sit in my bouncy seat while they shower. Yawn. Zzzzzzzz."

Look where Belle slept last night for the first time:

Belle slept in her "purple room" in her REAL big girl bed last night!  She LOVES her new room and finally asked to sleep in it, rather than just read bedtime books in it.  She knew the rule: no babbas (pacifiers) in the big girl room and so she never actually asked for her pacifier at all during the bedtime process.  She had trouble settling because she was so excited to be sleeping in her new room in her new bed (she kept saying all through the bedtime routine how excited she was and how much she loved her new room).  When we said goodnight and left her, she was singing and talking (and there was no pacifier in her mouth to keep her quiet or calm her down), but she didn't actually call for Mommy or Daddy (we just listened with one ear to her sweet talking and singing).  Twice before 11pm and once at 4:30am, she called for us.  Craig went to her and sang her a song or read her a book.  He reported that she never actually asked for the babba, but rather she wanted the company (and song or book).  I, of course, didn't go to her because she and I both know that I'm a huge sucker and would have given her the pacifier or agreed to sit on the floor of the room or something like that.  Not Craig.  He calmed her down and got himself back to bed within minutes.

The bottom line is that it was not such a bad night.  We are making a big deal about what a big girl she is; how proud of her we are.  I gave her a present this morning (a magic wand), and Craig made a special breakfast that the two shared together (scrambled eggs).  She needs a good nap and then we'll try again tonight.

One note on the pic: I thought Belle would look so tiny in her big girl bed, but it's just the opposite: Belle looks like a real little girl (not a little baby) in her big girl bed.  She is nearly two-and-a-half and she seems so grown-up to me.  No more crib, no more toddler bed, no more pacifier (well, hopefully no more pacifier soon, since one pacifier-free night does not a two-year-old habit break).

Canada Dry and Gatorade

Canada Dry Ginger Ale is far superior to Schwepps, and orange-flavored Gatorade beats other flavors of Gatorade and Powerade. You see, I've become a bit of a connoisseur of such beverages of late. I've been dealing with variations of stomach bugs on and off for the better half of the month. It's a bummer to be under the weather, it's a trial to feel less than100% while fulfilling my mom/wife responsibilities, and it's quite taxing to nurse through the days like today when I ate almost nothing. I recall battling cold after cold after cold during Belle's first winter, which is clearly not a coincidence. That lack of sleep required of a mom to an infant coupled with the many new responsibilities and stressors (plus the aforementioned biology of my body taking whatever it can from me to produce sustenance for my infant) weakens my immune system. It's not the end of the world: it's afforded me the opportunity to become a connoisseur of electrolyte-full beverages (I even tried salty-tasting Pedialyte) and tummy-settling ginger ales.

"Emily is a train conductor!"

So announced Belle after she put this hat on Emily's head. So goes silly times before dinner.

Emily's 3-month check-up

I took Emily for her three-month check-up today.  Emily is growing well and the pediatrician is pleased.  Emily is 23 inches long (34th percentile), 13 pound and 7.5 ounces in weight (77th percentile) and her head is 15.5 inches in circumference (32nd percentile).  The important take-away, according to Emily's doctor, is that she is growing and she is growing proportionally (she is nearly in the same percentiles as she was at her two-month check-up).  Emily also showed off her skills to the doc: she smiled and even laughed; responded with voice to conversation; held her head well showing off her strong neck muscles.  Emily is A-OK.

One interesting thing the pediatrician noticed is Emily's coordination in getting her left thumb in her mouth. All babies are soothed by sucking but most young infants can't physically get their own finger in their mouths.  Instead, they accidentally poke themselves in the cheek or nose. Not Emily. She shoves her left thumb so far into her mouth that she sometimes gags herself.  Time for me to push the pacifier.  A pacifier can be limited and eventually removed.  Thumbs are hard to regulate.  My brother gave up his pacifier at he 3.  I was still sucking  my fingers when I was in elementary school.  Here we go, baba!

Full Moon

Craig: That was a delicious dinner. I sure am full. Belle, are you full?
Belle: No, I'm not full. The MOON is full.

Emily is 3 months old today!

Charlie and the girls

Sister snuggles

Lunch at Daddy's office

Tufts class of 2032/2033?

Leila (Amanda's daughter), Belle and (a sleeping) Emily, and Jackson (Jen's son) at a Jumbo-friendly play date this afternoon.

Four Nearly-2 1/2-year-olds Playing

Walking Mom kids Belle, Jennifer, Gemma, Marc (plus three baby siblings not shown: 6-month-old Marianna, 5-month-old Aaron, and our baby Emily) together for a play date like old times.

Good morning snuggles

Two happy girls playing

Up and Down

UP

[Gasp] "It's beautiful!  I love it!  Mommy, I love it!"  Then she danced around the room singing, "I love it!  I love it!  I love it!"

This was Belle's reaction when I showed her her new big girl room with the walls painted pale lavender ("it's my purple room!"), the colorful soft rug on the floor, and the "real" big girl bed (not a toddler bed) made with fun raspberry and purple linens.  I felt as if I was on an episode of some make-over reality show. Belle was just so genuinely overjoyed with how her room looks (and I'm not even done!). 

Belle is such a rewarding child. And this beautiful moment illustrates what a roller-coaster motherhood is: 



DOWN

Craig caught the stomach bug that wrecked me.  I'm not yet 100% recovered (still can't eat much), but I'm home caring for an infant, a stuffy-nosed toddler, and a sick husband.  And it snowed, so I shoveled our driveway, walkway to the front door, cleared the minivan of snow, and then took Belle to school and picked her up based on the modified schedule due to the weather.  I feel beat.

Dish Washing

This afternoon's highlight was dish washing   Belle was clamoring to climb up the step ladder, soap up a sponge, and wash dishes.  It was wet but fun.  She only agreed to leave the sink to eat her dinner when I promised her she could wash her dinner dishes after she'd eaten from them (which she did: eat and clean, that is).  I fully intend to remind her of her love of dish washing when she's old enough to do chores.

Cousins at the Train Show

Belle and Cousin Noah enjoy the Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Gardens (holding hands and then smiling sweetly while checking out the choo choo trains).

Emily and I had to sit this adventure out because I was sick all night. A sleepless night caused by a sick child makes for a difficult day. A sleepless night caused by my own illness makes it nearly impossible to be a good caregiver to my little girls. There's no calling in sick; no sub who can step in. I am so thrilled Belle is enjoying the trains with Craig and his parents and Cousin Noah and his parents anyway. Hopefully Emily and I won't have to miss it next winter.  And hopefully I'll get my strength back quickly so I can be Mommy again instead of the blob that I am today.

Justifying this Blog/Digital Scrapbook

This blog started as a travelogue when Craig and I traveled around the world in the summer of 2009 (7 counties on 4 continents in 9 week).  It has since morphed into a digital scrapbook of our life as a family, growing from a couple to the TriCeps with Belle's birth in 2010 to the QuadriCeps when we recently welcomed Emily to the team.  This blog details how parenthood is harder yet better than I had expected.  No one knows the future of the Internet or of blogspot.com, but I hope this blog will remain live and accessible for many years to come. I would love for the girls to be able to look at it when they've grown some to enjoy seeing pictures and reading stories of their early days.

Last year, in my "real" (non-mom) job as a high school English teacher, I assigned a memoir-writing project. In preparation for a larger writing piece, I asked my ninth grade students to bring in a photograph of themselves, and then write a description of what is happening in the picture, and explain its significance both then (when the picture was taken) and now. One young lady brought in a 3X5 photo of a beaming man glowingly looking at a toddler who was smiling a toothy smile while holding a balloon. The student explained that the she was the toddler and the picture was taken at her second birthday party. She has no recollection of that day or of any of the events surrounding it, but she is able to describe the photo because her parents have told her about it, and that she is the birthday girl and the man in the picture is her father.  She continued to write that the photo is significant because it proves to her that her parents, specifically her father who is in the photo, loved her even before she had any awareness of anything. She says she tries to remember this now that she is a teenager and her parents often get on her nerves.  

That reasoning from a wise fifteen-year-old justifies this blog to me. I would love for the girls to look at this digital scrapbook in the future and then never ever doubt how much we love them (really, how much they are loved by their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and each other). I hope they understand how we appreciate the joy they bring us. Emily is now only two-months-old and Belle just two-years-old, and neither are able to form and retain memories.  I hope this blog is a memory-preserver and proof of our adoration for Belle and Emily.

Welcome To Motherhood

Especially appropriate today, when I spent nearly all day (pretty successfully!) cleaning vomit, poop, and spit up from half a dozen different materials, including a goose down pillow.  All in a day's work.

Emily in the Bumbo Seat

"Emily is on my bed with all my friends!"

I brought Emily to Belle's room this morning and Belle wanted me to put Emily on the bed so Belle could introduce Emily to all of the friends who join Belle in bed: Princess, Kitty, Kermit, and Elmo.

"I'm helping Emily"

Belle rushed to "help" Emily play on the playmat. Belle is holding Emily's hand and making the giraffe rattle.

Strawberry Shortcake Soccer Mom (in training)

Riding the escalator

While Mommy and Emily shopped with Grammy, Belle rode up and down (and up and down and up and down and...) the escalator with Grampy. She enjoyed herself, gained self-confidence, and was safe (holding Grampy's hand and the rail each ride.  Who knew the mall could be so much fun?

Relaxing with Daddy

Banana Bread

When life give you over ripe bananas, bake chocolate chip banana bread!
(That I could bake banana bread from scratch among my other chores is a testament to what a good baby Emily is.)

3 stores in 1 hour

I left my parents with the two girls and ran all my errands (3 stores) in less than an hour. These same errands might have otherwise taken twice the time, plus a diaper change and tantrum or two. Amazing how efficient I can be when I shop solo.

Napping in rain boots

This is how I found Belle post-nap: in rain boots. She put them on while she was playing in her room per-nap and decided to lie down on her bed in them.

Baking sugar cookies on NYD

Belle helped bake sugar cookies.

Angelic Emily slept through the experience.

Happy 2013!