39 Weeks

When my baby was 39 weeks old she came into the world on March 3, 2009. She weighed 8lbs 9oz. And of course, I can't remember how long she measured. Today my baby is 39 weeks old on December 1, 2009. She weighs in close to 23 lbs. And again, I am not sure how long. She has her check up next week. She is more than two and a half times her birthweight. She crawls with great speed now, eats baby food, holds her own bottle, places her own paci, sleeps strong through the night, saysMama and Dada, makes raspberries and kissy lips, plays with her brother, enjoys long strolls, laughs and smiles with Mommy and Daddy and is the twinkle in our eyes!

We love you Bean!!

In the Midst of it All

There's always something funny if we look hard enough. This morning started off like usual. After I was ready for work I went toward Caleb's room to get him up and going. I still need to steer him in the right direction by helping him with his clothes and getting his breakfast ready. When it came to the bathroom he told me to go away and he wanted to do it all by himself. He's 3 and a half so he can, and I let him. I told him to go ahead and undress while I went in for his sister.

BLAMO!!! The stinch hit me like a brick wall when I entered her nursery. My poor bean was sleeping sound amidst her own wretch and soil. She looked pitiful but smelled even worse. I knew it was time for a bath.

I directed Caleb into the den with his clothes and told him to dress himself while I bathed the baby. First time I walked by I saw him naked as a jay bird wearing only socks pulled up to his knees. Well, that's a start and they were on the right body parts. I told him to put on his underwear. After bathing Madelyn I was carrying her back across the hall. I now found Caleb with his underwear on but OVER his pants. Hmmm...that won't work. I told him to take them off and put them on under his pants. As I dried baby and put her in a new sleeper he came in with his underwear on but inside out and backwards! I told him the tag goes in the back. After I finally got Maddy settled I came out to find Caleb once again in his birthday suit but this time the socks were on his hands up to his elbows. He kept saying "Mommy I made a snowball" as he rolled his clothes in a pile.

If nothing I have learned that children are so unpredictable! You just never know what is coming next.

Life's a Beach

Even when you have the flu. We were scheduled to leave for Folly Beach on vacation early Saturday morning, but when Caleb came home on Friday with a 103 degree fever and was diagnosed with the flu we weren't so sure. We watched him closely and were playing it by ear. By Saturday afternoon after his nap eventhough he still had fever he seemed as though he'd be well enough to travel. And I am so glad we decided to follow through with our vacation plans. We had the best vacation ever with Ita and Grandpa and some other visitors along the way.

This time Bean (Madelyn's nickname) was able to sit on the sand and put her toes in the sand. She loved it! And she especially loved when her big brother came close to her. Caleb showed no fear when it came to the ocean. And he took advantage of the super saline rinse from the salt water. No better way to clear his sinuses.

And of course, our little engineer found an old vacuum to put to good use. He would have played with it for hours if we'd allowed him.

Finally, it has come apparent that the Bean cannot be left unclipped. I heard her sqwauking from the other room to find her turned over in her bouncy seat. As soon as I pulled out the camera she gave me a pose and a smile!

Two for the Price of One

Evenings are chaotic these days. We have a couple of hours to eat dinner, bathe, and bedtime. And that's just the kids! So when we can we try to combine these activities. Thank goodness for the garden tub. Caleb asks to get in and bathe with Maddy. He likes to help wash her and rinse her hair. Hair? you say. Yes, she has a few more strands than when she was born and they are growing longer.

Mark picks up the children from school and begins dinner when he arrives home. Here is where Madelyn sits in her Bumbo. She grabs everything within reach. As long as it is only milk that she is funneling we should be fine!

While Mark was out of town recently, Mom found some hair gel and spiked Caleb's hair for the day. I think it looked rather nice. I am not sure what he thought! Here he is carrying a bag with his speakers and CD player. He goes everywhere with these speakers.

And here we are again...football season. I thought I would click this quick shot before Madelyn outgrew this adorable Panthers dress. She is going to be 6 months old this week and is already wearing 9-12 month clothes. My little butter bean!

Our Weekend in Pictures

Caleb sings and plays the piano.

Here is little bean in the high chair waiting anxiously for her oatmeal and pears.

Here is my little Bumbolina. Take notice of the teething ring that SHE placed on her own ankle. She loves grabbing things from the bowl next to her seat.

Caleb took Madelyn for an evening stroll. She loves her big brother.

The Land of Milk and Chocolate

I'm running on empty. All week I've been checking on my baby girl at daycare because she was sick for the first time. Sunday she had fever, cough, sneezing, restless, watery eyes and the need to be held. So I did just that, all day. I looked at my husband that night from my recliner and said, "Do you realize I have watched 7 episodes of Desperate Housewives back to back?" And these are 1-hour each not to mention the other random shows I watched in between. I suppose that alone might depress anyone. But at least it wasn't 7 hours of the same Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episode, which would have been the case if Caleb had been sick.

Maddy was well enough we decided to try to go to school on Monday, but I hated leaving her. On the one hand I did not want to be the mother who left a sick child for the others to be contaminated. Later in the week, I realized it didn't matter the entire group was sick. It's just part of building their immune systems. I remember the routine with Caleb. Do we take him? Do we stay home? Do we call another caretaker? As a mother, I just want to be there to soothe and comfort, but as a working mother I have to reserve my sick days for something of the serious nature.

Maddy's appetite has dropped off recently, too. I don't know if it's due to her cold or maybe she's growing. I don't think she's possibly teething although Caleb did start when he was 4 months old. She'll be 15 weeks old on Tuesday. With her taking less bottles at school, my refrigerator/freezer is getting stockpiled with little baggies of milk. I'm on week 3 of breastfeeding my baby and managing a full time job. It feels so unnatural. I get milked 3 times a day, once at home and twice at work. It's supposed to build her immune system, right? Well I guess it took her 2 weeks before she was sick rather than the 1 week it took Caleb. He was formula fed at that point in time. Healthwise I don't see much of a difference for baby, but I do see a difference in the cost. Breastfeeding costs time not money. Unfortunately, these days time and money are hard to find.

I am feeling down right now. I want to eat every piece of chocolate in the break room. We have lots of miniatures in there. Hmmm...let's see, I have 35 extra points a week on my Weight Watchers diet and each bar is a point. I guess a few wouldn't hurt, especially since I'm a nursing mother. I need those few extra calories, right?

Last One Standing

This is our cat Buttons. She is our only pet now. In the last 3 months we have lost our other cat and recently our dog. Buttons is our Wal-Mart kitty.  I was leaving Wal-Mart one day with my friend Grace and she pointed out a kitten under the lineup of lawnmowers.  She was chewing on a chicken bone with no meat. I knew for sure she would run, but she didn't. From day one she has been full of love. She has blossomed into our HUGE bundle of fur. 

Oliver is my cat who I adopted in Tallahassee, FL during the summer before I started graduate school. He was always a little high strung and nervous but he followed me faithfully. He lived in Charleston for a while, then Columbia until we settled in Rock Hill. He was primarily an indoor cat but when we moved into our home we had to put him outside since he misbehaved so much. He loved the outdoors.  Typically every Spring he'd come home with some sort of injury but always survived. This year after Madelyn's arrival he disappeared and hasn't been seen since. I miss my buddy!

This is Jake our beagle. He was my first dog and I wasn't particularly fond of him, but he was just beginning to grow on me. This week we lost him in a tragic accident that has been heart wrenching. The night before he was gone I observed him with Caleb and thought it was adorable how he played. He was following Caleb who was pushing his dump truck. He kept licking water out of the dump truck. Then he started sniffing Caleb's diaper. After that he ran to the backyard where I watched him play with Buttons. They were just becoming good friends. He would pounce all around her playfully and she would watch him with a look on her face that read "you big baffoon".  I am going to miss him more than I realized.  We have lost a real friend.

Top of the Food Chain

I have come to realize that with every ounce of breastmilk I produce, my brain cells die off proportionately. This wasn't a bad thing when I was sentenced to the recliner watching reruns of Desperate Housewives and Wife Swap*, but now I have returned to work. Yesterday was my first day and fortunately an uneventful one because half of the time I couldn't remember my own name. What do you mean the world didn't stop while I was on leave? I am overwhelmed with how much I need to catch up on. Plus I have to fit in time to pump liquid gold into little bottles for my baby girl who eats like she's never been fed. With every session I feel more of my brain is drained. When you become the top of someone else's food chain, you know where that puts you - the bottom. Where is that bolus of caffeine when you really need it?

In addition to Mommy and Madelyn's first day, Caleb started a new class which we've been preparing for over a week now. We have been talking about how he would have new teachers, new toys, new playground but the same friends. Then we would do role call. "Rachel, Derrick, Gaby, Zander, Julia, Benjamin" and so on. Also when asked what he was going to do in his new class his response was always, "Pee pee on the potty and get gummy bears." And with that said we had great celebration last night when Caleb peed on the potty at school for the first time!

We celebrated Caleb's third birthday this weekend while on our first true family vacation to Folly Beach. I have not uploaded these pictures yet, so look for a blog to follow soon. I've been trying to advance my technology by recently purchasing an Eye-fi, which is a wireless way to upload photos; however, it doesn't seem to be quite up to speed yet for my liking. Hopefully this weekend I'll have a chance to tinker with it more.

Now that I know someone out there is reading my blogs (you know who you are) I'm going to try to be more consistent. I've written many a blog in my mind. If only there was the technology to post them as I brainstorm, My-fi. Of course, half of them would probably be "swish-swish, swish-swish" the rythmic sounds of my brain pumping into a bottle.

*A new show I found particularly interesting is Pitchmen, a sort of behind the scenes with Billy Mays and Anthony Sullivan. Never in my right mind would I have watched this show as I ALWAYS mute the infamous Oxy-Clean commercials. I have found this particular show is not nearly as annoying. Plus I recently found a really cool product called What Odor? that has amazingly cut the stink on several of my favorite pairs of shoes.

Eight Legs and Counting

Look at that belly - an eating machine! 

Wrestlemania...

Brotherly Love...

Have you ever wondered what a panic button is really for on your keychain other than scaring your own pants off? And why is it that I can somehow manage to set off this tiny red button so easily but when it comes to finding it I am in sheer panic of embarrassment. Here I am 7 fresh weeks of being the mother of two. This morning (I think it's Wednesday, but it might be Thursday) I managed to dress myself and my toddler (a feat unto itself), feed myself, my toddler and infant - Whoa mama - and get us in the car and to school without a tear shed - by any of us! This sequence of events may only happen once in my lifetime, so I have to savour every minute, right? 

As we arrive the baby begins to cry and I hear "Mommy, I want..." I hop out the car and manage to successfully get both kids out and in our way in when I run into the newest mommy on the block. She has a son in Caleb's class and a less than a week old baby girl. Before I tell you about my encounter here let me back up to Monday (wow - was it only days ago). You see at a fresh 6 weeks of being a mother of two by Monday I was on the verge of breaking - chalk it up to hormones or lack of restful sleep. (I must insert here, though, that my precious little girl is sleeping 8-10 hours consistently). And so I digress...back to Monday. I brought Madelyn in to the classroom while dropping off Caleb. One of his teachers was meeting her for the first time. She was raving on about how this other child had just become a big brother and his mother had the baby the previous Thursday, was home on Friday, and bringing both children in on Monday. Well, whoop-de-do! Thank goodness nobody is handing out medals for a new mother who manages to shower everyday or brush their teeth for that matter.  And a double thank goodness that on Wednesday I am feeling much better - an upswing.

So here I am back to this morning, I hop out the car preparing to get both kids inside safely and who do I run into but the newest mommy on the block. Looking energetic, thin, and both kids in tow (Her that is, not me). Never having met before we briefly compare our babies birth weights. And as we move to go in the door what happens but all of a sudden my son manages to stumble between the brick wall and the front of her car parked too close, my panic button goes off screeching at levels louder than a cry that makes glass shatter, and the baby carrier seems bulkier than ever before. As I frantically search for that tiny red button I look up to see this mother whisking both children through the front door with such ease thinking to myself, "If it weren't for people like myself, where would the humor be in life?"

I am thankful each day that Jesus Christ is my panic button, especially on days like I was having Monday. Of course, I don't always remember this and it amazes me how loud He speaks when I press the button. Sometimes He is speaks so loud it scares me!

I want to share a new use for a simple item: A Balloon

Last week when Caleb's pinky finger was slammed in the hinge side of the door at school, I found that a balloon was perfect for holding a small bit of crushed ice. I used medical tape to wrap his two fingers together a couple times a day to reduce the swelling.  

And now for the first time ever, I present to you the "Ipsy Isy Spider" by Caleb Anderson:

Toddlers and Tiaras

Okay, so I don't think we are quite ready to sign Caleb up for his catwalk...

Caleb is becoming more independent each day and one of the things he is doing is learning how to dress himself. Here is an example of what he picks out. Here we have his Nemo pajama pants, favorite Thomas sweatshirt and boot shoes as he calls them. These are the only shoes he can manage to put on himself and usually they are on the wrong feet.

All is well on the home front as Madelyn continues to grow like a weed. She has already been to her first business meeting when I visited with my coworkers yesterday. She is also learning a lot about shopping. Her favorite store so far is Target! 

And on a sad note, my 9 year old cat, Oliver has disappeared. He left shortly after Madelyn came home and was gone for about 2 weeks. Then he reappeared one morning at 4:30am for breakfast and that's the last I've seen of him. I keep looking in the neighbors windows as I drive down the street half expecting him to be looking out frantically.  Here's to my little buddy whom I miss so much!

I don't even know what to say. I want to say something witty, something special. It's 2am the morning my baby girl is going to come into this world. I'd actually like to be asleep but she is a wiggle worm and I am full of nerves.  These last few days I have spent savouring Caleb and who he has become in the last 2 years and 9 months. Here is a little dedication to him in pictures: