Celebrate good times (come on!)

I have a five-year-old. That’s like, a real kid ‘n stuff. An amazing, wonderful, fun, smart, clever, be-dimpled little kid.

We had a wonderful time celebrating The Big Sis’ birthday over the weekend. We took her out to dinner on Friday night, her actual birthday, for crab legs. Yes, the girl is picky about so many things, including most typical kid foods, yet she inhales crab legs faster than I can crack them open — and I’m pretty good at it!

On Saturday morning we hung out around the house until it was time to go pick up her cake (Beauty and the Beast theme) and head to the party. It was held at a local indoor playground, one of her favorite places to go. We had a pretty good turnout of 15 kids who gobbled up pizza and cake, watched patiently as The Big Sis opened her presents, and then played like energetic four- and five-year-olds tend to do on play equipment. The party was exhausting for me trying to make sure everything ran smoothly, and it would have been difficult to pull off without some good help with The Little Sis (who I didn’t see much of for about two hours), but we managed just fine and The Big Sis had a blast.

That afternoon we came home and recharged a bit. Or rather: The Husband, The Little Sis, and I recharged a bit while The Big Sis played with some of her toys, including her sparkling new dollhouse. I took her out for dinner to Jimmy John’s (her favorite and mine too!) and then we met one of her preschool friends and his mom to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D. (Did I mention this is her favorite movie? And not really mine, but I was still nice and took her because I knew she’d love it. Which she did.) Five years old and her first date already? They grow up so fast these days. 😉

On Sunday, she would normally have gone to the grocery store with me, but we had her stay home so she could have more time to play with her new stuff.

Sometimes when there’s too much going on, The Big Sis can become a bit overwhelmed and really act out — but she was great the whole weekend. She was a perfect delight the entire time, truly getting age 5 started on a good note. (It caught up with her a bit when she returned to school on Monday, but hey, at least the weekend was good.)

But where, oh, where has the time gone? We’ll register her for kindergarten next month, and she’ll start that in mid-August. Wasn’t she just my itty-bitty? Not that long ago she was the size of The Little Sis. And now she’s a little girl with opinions and a sense of humor and an incredible love of life. It doesn’t really make me sad — more just stunned that time can pass so quickly.

But as I tell her often, she might not be a baby, but she’ll always be my baby.

FIVE!!!

Wordless Wednesday: The best cake ever!

Having her cake and sharing it too

The Big Sis turns 5 on Friday, and her birthday party will be on Saturday. When we were talking about her cake for the party (which we will get from a bakery), she said she wanted written on it: “Big Sister [Name] and Little Sister [Name].”

“But, sweetie, it’s your birthday! Shouldn’t it have just YOUR name on it?” I asked. But she kept insisting, so we came up with a compromise. In addition to the party cake, we’d bake a cake at home — and I’d let her make the whole thing all by herself — and then I would write on there whatever she wanted. She was happy with that solution.

So she made the cake last night, and today was decorating day. We’d gotten some glitter gel for writing, but I wasn’t sure how well it would write on the cake and how legible it would turn out, so I warned her that I might not be able to write all of her requested cake message. I suggested that maybe instead of words, she could use the gel to draw some pictures and decorations.

She said, “Well, maybe I could just put ‘Big Sister [Name]’ on there.” I told her that would work.

But then she hesitated. She said very thoughtfully, “Well, since my sister is so new and she hasn’t had her own birthday yet, maybe we could write just ‘Little Sister’ on there.”

“On your cake?” I asked. “That’s all you want?”

She declared that’s all she wanted on there.

Turns out we were able to get both of them on the cake, but I’m still just floored that she had the chance to have her own name on her cake — her once-a-year chance to make it all about her, and for the first birthday after her life became not-nearly-all-about-her — and yet she was choosing to have her sister’s name on there instead.

What a sweet girl.

Bring on the ice cream!

Ever have one of those days that’s just one of those days?

That’s been my day today. Mostly about work stuff, so I won’t bore anyone with details, but suffice it to say that I’ve had better work days.

I actually enjoy what I do, but it’s days like today where I have to repeat my mantra: I’m thankful I have a job. I’m thankful I have a job. I’m thankful I have a job.

Where’s the ice cream?

Loose ends

It’s Friday night and it’s been a long week, therefore I don’t feel like writing coherently, at least not with transitions and such. I’m working on a bigger post, but for now this will have to do:

*The Little Sis had to stay home from daycare on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, but she returned there today. Health-wise she seems to be back to normal. She’s still a little fussy, which just isn’t like her, but she’s improved each day. Unfortunately, this ear infection has messed with her sleeping big time, and it hasn’t helped that the (NEW) swing broke earlier this week. A replacement motor head is on its way from Fisher Price, but that doesn’t help us while we wait.

*Each day, The Little Sis is becoming more steady with sitting up, though she still can’t be trusted to sit there alone yet because it’s likely she’ll topple over in one direction or another at some point.

*The Big Sis’ drama class is going well, and she really seems to be enjoying it. I’m glad we decided to have her do it. It’s not something we can do very often since it does require that The Husband leave work early, but it’s nice to add to our rotation of classes. I think next up she’s going to do the Y’s “Little Chefs” class.

*I’ll probably get into this a little more with the bigger post I’m working on, but we have decided to severely limit The Big Sis’ exposure to TV, as it’s become quite clear that it negatively affects her behavior. She watched no TV before age 2, but once she broke her leg, we started letting her watch stuff, and it just got out of control once The Little Sis arrived and we needed occasional distractions for her. She now has an incentive system wherein she has to buy TV time. For each day, she has the opportunity to earn one gemstone (she picked amber), and we’ll have the choice to give her bonus stones for exceptionally good behavior. She can buy a TV show for 2 stones, or she can buy a movie for 4 stones. Her behavior is much improved since we cut back on TV a couple weeks ago, and I’m hoping that our incentive system will also teach her lessons about budgeting and saving in terms she can understand.

*The Big Sis has really gotten into painting with watercolors over the past few weeks. That’s the first thing she wants to do when she arrives at school each morning when they have free play before circle time.

*The Big Sis tends to be super grumpy when we have to go in and wake her up on school days. However, we have figured out the perfect solution to that: Wake up The Little Sis first and take her in The Big Sis’ room. It’s amazing how quickly her mood turns, and within seconds of some sister snuggle time she’s happy and ready to get up.

*The Big Sis has now asked for a new puppy. She wants a golden retriever. (Another one.) She wants it to be a girl. She wants to name it Marcia. I explained that The Little Sis is a lot of work right now, so we can consider getting one when both girls are old enough to help take care of a dog. I asked when she thought that was. She said when The Little Sis is 4 years old. I agreed…yes, we will consider another dog when The Little Sis is 4. Any chance she’ll forget by then? I’m not holding my breath.

Wordless Wednesday: Oh, sweetie, that’s how *I* feel about bows too!

First

First smile…

First laugh…

First…ear infection.

[sigh]

It began a couple days ago with gunky, crusty eyes for The Little Sis, which last time she had with a cold and the doctor said that could be a sign of an ear infection (last time it wasn’t one). This time she had no cold symptoms, but first had the yucky eyes then developed a fever today, and I strongly suspected ear infection. Sure enough, The Husband took her to The Pediatrician and her right ear is infected.

Her first EI at just over 5 months old. Here’s hoping it’s not the start of a trend of ear infections leading to tubes like it did for The Big Sis. The Little Sis is just like The Big Sis in many ways, and that’s one way I want them to be very different!

Wordless Wednesday: Double take

A picture is worth a thousand baby outfits

We are done with two children. About that, there has never been any doubt. I’ve occasionally let myself play the “what if?” game and entertain the idea of a third just to make sure I’m confident in that assertion…but then always very quickly come back to the initial decision, basically before I’ve finished the initial thought.

However, I’ve always been a little afraid that something unexpected would catch me off-guard and I’d find myself longing for another child even though it’s something we’ve never considered at all.

I passed the first such test when I recently gave to a coworker some of our baby items that we’re done with — and also packed up some baby clothes to give to a friend who is due in the spring, including the tiny newborn size and some of my favorite itty-bitty baby outfits. I know that a lot of moms, whether they’re done with children or not, have trouble packing up the clothes, either to put them away in storage or to give them away. Memories are made in those clothes, and we often attach a great sense of importance and meaning to them.

Honestly, I’ve always kind of felt like an outsider in that regard. Yes, I have my favorite baby outfits, but I guess I’ve always just looked at them as things — not as the memories themselves. For a long time now I’ve been trying to figure out why I don’t have that emotional attachment to the clothes, and it recently hit me: I take pictures all the time — nearly every day, even if we’re just hanging out around the house. The memories are contained not only in my mind but in those photos. I look at them to take me back to that place and time, so I guess I don’t feel the need to keep the clothes in a storage tote in the garage for an indefinite amount of time. I did keep their hospital outfits, as well as one dress that was handmade by The Husband’s aunt, but so far that’s all I’ve kept. And confession: Even then, I didn’t feel the need to keep them, but just felt like I should. At one point I had considered making a quilt out of the baby clothes, but for some reason that doesn’t feel quite right, either, though it’s harder to put into words why.

It does help that so far I’ve been able to pass clothes and other things to people I know — both first-time moms — so I know they’re going to be used well and appreciated. I do have a couple boxes of clothes packed up and ready to sell, and I’m okay with that, though I’ll pass them on to someone if a recipient comes along before I sell them. My memories were made in those clothes, and they can go on to have another life providing memories for other families.

In fact, getting rid of the clothes has been the ultimate affirmation that we are indeed very happy with our two children and do not, in fact, desire more.

So I will continue to take pictures of my children in abundance, holding onto those adorable clothes not physically but in picture form, and being thankful that we had the opportunity to dress another child in those adorable clothes each morning.

The toenail polish

The other day, The Husband looked at my poor, neglected toes and wondered aloud, “Why don’t you take the rest of that nail polish off?”

Admittedly, the purple nail polish was looking a little ragged. At the end of summer, I tend to have my toenails looking great until that last time I wear open-toed shoes, then I often let the polish wear away on its own. This was no different. Or was it?

I said to him, “I can’t bring myself to.”

Confused, he appropriately asked, “Huh?”

I said, “I can’t. Because it’s from that spa pedicure I had. You know, right before my water broke with The Little Sis.”

I can’t really explain why I can’t just use some remover and take the rest of it off. There’s not much left there anyway. It serves no real purpose for being there. Yet I want to let it wear away completely on its own.

In a weird way, it’s almost the exact opposite of The Little Sis — as my pedicure looks uglier with every day that passes, The Little Sis becomes more and more beautiful.

I have many other things that connect me to that experience, yet for some reason that’s one I hung on to. And so I will get the full mileage (and beyond!) from this pedicure. For no other reason than it just reminds me of a very special time in my life.

(My sincerest apologies for a picture of feet. I mean, ewwwwww, right? Further proof that this blog is primarily for my record-keeping, because if it were solely for everyone else, I certainly wouldn’t post that. Thank you for putting up with it.)

Sitting up

She’s not sitting up reliably on her own all of the time, but she’s getting less wobbly for longer periods of time. It won’t be long before we can sit her upright and we won’t have to have hands at the ready just in case!

Five months!

By andbabybmakes3 at 2012-01-07

Catching up

*The whole sleeping thing really came unglued with The Little Sis earlier this week, culminating in a night in which she didn’t get to sleep until 12:30 a.m. and then I had to wake her at 6:30 a.m. Not nearly enough sleep for most people, let alone a baby her age (and one that routinely sleeps 12 to 14 hours consecutively at night). At that point we were pretty much at the end of our rope, unable to solve the sleep mystery that had gripped our house. The next night, I made a big effort to get her to bed even earlier. We’d had a consistent bedtime of around 6:30 or 6:45 p.m.since I returned to work, but the craziness of the holidays made us a little lax in that area, and I’m wondering if that’s what caused the issue…the past two nights I got her to bed at 6:15 p.m. and 6:05 p.m., respectively, and she slept through without a peep until we woke her at 6:30 a.m. And right now, night three, I got her to bed at 6:15 p.m. and so far she’s been silent for five hours — quite a departure from how things were earlier in the week. Getting her to bed that early presents definite issues on weeknights, mainly getting dinner made on time since we usually don’t get home until between 5:30 and 5:45 p.m. and The Husband isn’t home until at least 6 p.m. and sometimes closer to 6:15 p.m., but I’d much rather deal with that than the sleep issue. I don’t know if the problem has been solved permanently, but I’m appreciating it for the moment.

*The Husband picked up The No-Cry Sleep Solution from the library on Thursday. So far it seems as though just having the book in the house has made her sleeping better. (Score!) Seriously, though, I plan to read through the book so I’m armed with some tips for the next sleep regression phase, whether that’s tomorrow night or in a few months. Side note, though: Why in the WORLD is there not an audio version of this book available at the library? Aren’t sleep-deprived parents a bit short on time to be reading such a book?

*I’m feeling very good about my milk supply at this point. I now have just over 1,400 ounces of milk in the freezer, and each day I’m able to bag up about four or five 4-oz. bags of milk beyond what The Little Sis gets each day. I know this could tank at any moment, but here’s hoping that’s not the case. For the record: I still hate pumping, but I must say it’s not nearly as bad with the pumping bra that I fashioned myself from an old too-tight bra that I should’ve gotten rid of long ago.

*The Little Sis is starting to get stronger with sitting in a tripod stance, though she’s still pretty wobbly when she tries to sit unsupported without putting her hands on the ground. Still, it’s neat to see her getting stronger with this every day. In other milestone news, she still hasn’t rolled from back to front yet, but I suspect that’s coming any day.

*The Little Sis will be five months old tomorrow. How is that even possible??

*The Big Sis started a drama class at the Y this week. She attended her first class on Thursday, and so far so good. It’s taught by the same woman who taught her ballet class over the summer, and we liked her a lot, so I’m optimistic that this will be a good thing. I’m not sure how regular a thing we can make it, though…the only time the class is offered is Thursdays at 4 p.m., and The Husband asked his boss if he can leave early that day for the eight weeks of the class. His boss has been flexible and agreed to the arrangement, but I doubt it could be a permanent thing. Still, I’m glad he’s able to work it out for her to attend this class, and we’ll see where this goes.

*The Big Sis has been doing AWESOME with her bedtimes over the past two or three weeks. I don’t know what clicked for her — I don’t know if she took pity on us for dealing with The Little Sis’ sleep disaster or what — but I’m so glad it clicked, whatever it was. Fingers are majorly crossed that this continues.

*The Big Sis will be five years old in three weeks. Three weeks! Five!

*Kindergarten registration starts next month. The Big Sis will begin kindergarten in just seven months. Oh my!

 

Wordless Wednesday: Family pinwheel

Off the treadmill

For the past few years, it’s felt like I’ve lived my life on pause, on a treadmill that I couldn’t get off. While we most certainly appreciated the life we had with The Big Sis, we always knew there was something more — something missing — that we needed to find before we could take those real steps forward.

And we did indeed find it this year. The Little Sis has been all we ever wanted and more.

Even when she takes 2+ hours to go to sleep at night. 🙂

In the midst of such frustrations, there’s always a voice in the back of my head that reminds me that I’d much rather be frustrated over putting a baby to sleep than frustrated because we can’t get off the damn treadmill.

So 2011 began with a tiny glimmer of hope, as I was pretty newly pregnant … and it ends with an amazing 4.5-month-old baby that has taken her place in our family seamlessly. It seems like she’s always been with us.

May 2012 be a year of taking many steps forward and truly taking in these wonderful moments with these awesome girls. We will laugh. We will cry. We will travel. We will stay home. There will be ups. There will be downs.

But there will be fun.

And there will be love.

XOXO

Happy New Year!