Katie's first play date

Katie had her first play date on Sunday. Rachel and her son Donovan (who's almost 4) came over at around noon and Katie was so excited. I guess he was too, he kept telling Rachel that he wanted to play with the girl. Before Donovan came over, we had a discussion about sharing. Katie went into her room and came out carrying three toys; a doll, a stuffed pink puppy, and a musical turtle appropriate for a baby to play with. She told me that Donovan could play with these. We had a talk about sharing and it must have helped because when he got here she was good about sharing all of her toys. Whew! The two of them played together with her Little People castle, kitchen, dolls and even the little turtle!

They also ran around and around and around the house. Then we decided it was time to eat. We went to McDonalds at around 1:30 (Jacob stayed home) and the kids ate happy meals and played in the play land. Katie was a little scared at first but he kept telling her Katie, come on and she followed him. It was fun to watch how much Donovan helped her through the tunnels. She didn't go down the slide but she did go across the netting sections - she saw me watching her from the table and said "Mama, I need you" but I told her that I couldn't get to her up there so she would have to come down. She did it and didn't cry the whole time she was playing in there. We went back to the house at about 3:45 and made brownies while the kids played. I overheard them playing in Katie's play kitchen. Donovan said "It's done now" and Katie said "Not yet, it's not done cooking yet..." Most of their conversations are in whispers so I couldn't hear much more. They left at around 6.


I took Katie to Target with me to get formula and she told me she loves to go on Katie Mommy dates with me. And gave me a big hug. We looked at toys and she got a book (Cat in the Hat). When we got home she wanted to help me put groceries away. She just kind of picks stuff up and goes to put it away so when I saw her carrying the gallon of milk, at first I didn't think about it too much but then I realized how heavy it was! She got to the fridge and told me I could take it now. She took the bottle of pop to put away too and when she put it on the shelf, the new bottle was "talking" to the old bottle saying hello friend I'm here and the other was saying I'm glad you're here. She cracks me up!!

The ears have corn or Watch what you say!

A few weeks ago I was changing Jacob's diaper. He was fussy and started to cry. Katie reached over and took his little hand and told him "It's okay Jakie, I know, it's hard to be a baby. It's so hard to be a little baby." This is the same thing I've always told her when she cries from the time she was a baby. To hear her tell Jacob the same thing was so cute and just priceless.

Katie tells it like it is

Katie surprises me sometimes. Today I was trying to whistle the theme to Caillou... this is a show she really likes. She likes it so much that she will usually watch 20 minutes of it without interruption and has told me to shush because she's watching her show. I whistled the whole song and started it again while both kids were laying on the floor (we had just gotten done with diaper changes) and Katie said "Mommy, stop singing now. Jacob is getting fussy." And sure enough, he was.

Speaking of diaper changes... Yes, Katie is still in diapers at almost three years old. She just doesn't want to adjust to going in the potty chair even though she'll tell us she's going to go in the potty chair every time we're changing her diaper. We actually believed her the first 15 or so times she said it but now we're realizing that she's maybe not too keen on follow through. I've started to tell her that other kids her age are already going potty in the potty chair and that she needs to start too because there are no diaper options after the size six diapers she's already wearing. She agrees that she needs to wear underpants and gets a very excited look on her face when she talks about it but this hasn't proven to be enough incentive. I think I'll try candy - she loves that but I try to limit it so maybe that will get her going (pun intended).

We were eating dinner at Old Country Buffet about 3 months ago with Katie's grandma and grandpa, Uncle Mike and Auntie Jenny and Paige. Partway into the meal Katie looked at me and asked "Mommy, is umpa your daddy?" and I said yes. Then she wanted to know if gamma was my mommy and I said yes... I thought it was so funny that she was putting these pieces together at OCB and it came out of the blue.

One last funny thing that cracks me up... Katie doesn't say Brrrrrr when it's cold, she says Frrrrrrr. Tee hee hee.

Doctors, times three

I called the clinic today to make an appointment for my 6-week well check - I'm only about 2 weeks late - and remembered that Katie and Jacob should also be scheduled for theirs so got that taken care of too. I had to ask the scheduler, who probably didn't expect to be on the phone with me for 10 hours, if there would be any shots at Katie's appointment and yes, I actually whispered the "s" word because Katie was sitting on the pantry floor not 2 feet away and if she would have heard that word, I would have been hearing about it for the next month. Along with "I don't want to go to the doctor office mommy." Luckily she doesn't need any at this next visit. Should be easy. Whew, a huge sigh of relief!

Is Jacob the next Jack Nicholson?

Every day I wonder if it will happen again and every evening at about 6:30, it does. Our beautiful, sweet, smiling son turns cranky, fussy, and inconsolable. Oh, he has moments, sometimes even minutes, of happy smiles until without warning his little face scrunches up and he starts to wail. This is not fun. At all. Especially after a full day of eating, diaper changes, and sleeping in his swing.

I thought it could be that he was getting too much sleep all day and that the swing was like a drug, pulling him into a comatose sleep for 3 hours at a stretch but today I was proved wrong. The batteries in the swing went dead after Jacob's first 3-hour nap. (Cue the thunder and lightning, light flicker, eerie music.) As a result, he was not lulled gently to sleep while looking out the window and as a result, I needed to hold him nearly all day. This isn't a bad thing, he's a sweet armful, but Katie has gotten used to me being available to play with her or look for things or fill her sippy cup right NOW and I had gotten used to throwing in a load of laundry, keeping toys coralled, and getting some time to clean and tidy up. That did not happen today. At least now I know that his evening irritability is definately not due to getting too much sleep during the day in his swing because he did it again tonight. I live in the hope that this is a very short phase in our little Jacob's life.

Katie and the priceless play-doh moment

Katie was downstairs playing with grandpa tonight and my dad told me a funny story about their play-doh playtime. I thought it was so cute and asked him to write it down so I could post it - I was holding Jacob at the time and didn't want to move him. It was the first time in about 3 hours he hadn't been fussing or crying and I didn't want to break the peace to get paper and pen to take this down!

In Grandpa's words:
Katie was playing with her new play dough tonight. I had a small piece of it and asked her what I should make. She said to make a face of baby Jakey. After I did that she gave me another piece and said to make mommy. I did, then she gave me another piece and said to make daddy. Then I suggested Katie. Then she wanted Paige. Then I made Uncle Mike and Jenny. Then she wanted someone whom I could not understand till she said ????? and Marvin so I said Janice and she said yes Janice and Marvin so I did. Then I said who are we missing, I thought she would say Grampa and Grama but she said Grampy and Gramy so I made them. I asked again who are we missing and pointed to me. She said grampa and grama. I said maybe we need a puppy and she said Chico with teeth. My note: Chico was our dog, a long-haired chihuahua, who we had for about 2 months before he went to live with a lady who was thrilled with him! We haven't had him here for at least 5 months if not longer! After Chico I suggested Tuffy and Maggie. One more piece left and I suggested Abuelito and she was pleased with that. She did have another piece left and I suggested that she do one by herself. We could not figure out what else to do and I suggested Jesus but she said no not Jesus. She wanted to make God. She stared to sing God loves me. God loves me. In my Bible book it says that God loves me. She rolled a ball and poked three holes and that was God.

Katie loves to sing that song. She is very specific about her songs. Sometimes she wants to hear one of the songs she knows, like Jesus Loves Me or Old McDonald, exclusively and other times she doesn't mind when I change it up a little. She also loves to hear me sing a song I made up for her when she was a baby and I've sung it so many times that it's a classic for her. I catch her singing it to herself a lot and I love it!

John is SOOOOO funny.

Ha Ha Ha. I was making dinner and Katie was in her usual spot - watching me from the kitchen counter. John came in with Jacob and asked Katie if she wanted to hold him. She said yes and I saw him giver Jacob to her and then he STEPPED AWAY! I whirled around and stared at this bundled up baby and said "John!!!" Well, he started laughing and moved the cover away so I could see that the baby was one of Katie's dolls. What a relief... not that John would ever do this and I knew he wouldn't but in that second I was so shocked I was speachless!

Katie and the icky habit

So, we were at church for the Christmas eve service a year ago and daddy was holding Katie. She had a little church pencil in her had and I looked over and had to chuckle. She was holding her pencil just like daddy holds his cigarette and while I watched, she started puffing away. I thought it was a fluke until today when she did it again with my tube of carmex. It's cute. I told her that it was icky though and she stopped. Wouldn't it be nice if that worked for everything I didn't want her to do?

Baby swings are the BEST and Work? What's that?

Jacob loves his baby swing. We've gotten into a good routine with him - diaper change, bottle, swing. We do this all day. It's on rotation every 3 hours. It works great and I have free time for Katie that isn't centered around Jacob's needs. This week we've baked cookies, made meals together, done laundry, had bath time, played tea party and all the while, Jacob is sleeping peacefully in his swing. I've even napped during a "swing cycle."

Katie's birthday is in a couple of weeks and I can't believe she'll be three years old already! I'm trying to think up a theme and I haven't asked Katie what she wants yet but she'll probably have an opinion... We were at Walmart a couple of weeks ago and walked through the party aisle and she pulled out some Diego cups, Hannah Montana plates, and napkins with another kids character. We've already done butterflies and flowers and pink - all girly and pretty and all "mommy approved"! I guess she's got to grow up sometime and she's always had a mind of her own... she's just been able to voice what she wants better now than in years past.

Well, Katie's feeding her baby doll in my chair so I think I might have a good chance at a little nap!

Katie and the "nah"-ty word

Katie has picked up a new word/form of expression. She's recently started saying "Nah." This is usually accompanied by a nose crinkle and sometimes said with force. It was cute at first, like so many things are, but after a couple of days it started to wear thin. I don't know where she heard this because I don't think John and I started it. Boy, I never thought I would miss hearing her say "No."

Our kids are on the way to wellness and Date Night was a success!

Well, today was Jacob's follow up appointment for his ear infection. We got to the clinic early (for once!) and went to check in, only to find that we were at the wrong clinic. I called the other clinic to see if we could still get in and got the okay. Luckily it worked out since the kids were both in good moods and no one was screaming or maaaaad (as Katie would say it). We got there and waited, which is totally normal for our doctor office and finally were let into the room, where we waited some more. Again, normal. Jacob is 12 lbs 5 oz at almost 6 weeks old, up from 9 lbs 5 oz at birth. His ear infection is cleared up and the doc accidentally broke the adhesion from his circumcision which I thought would hurt more than it must have. Jacob was totally fine through the entire appointment and smiling and in a great mood. Katie, of course, wanted to watch everything that was going on and was asking why with the enthusiasm that only a toddler can summon up! Then it was her turn to have her ears checked (we were supposed to go back for her follow up next week but I didn't want to pay another co-pay so I asked if he could do it for us) and she looked great. A little pink still with some fluid but not anything to worry about. Whew! I'm so relieved that both kids are doing well.

After the doctor visit, John and I went out on a date with JUST the two of us and mom and dad watched the kids. It was so nice to talk to each other over dinner (we went to Old Country Buffet) and just be alone together with no fussiness and no sweet little voice asking "Why?" When we got home, we planned to watch a movie online and while we were getting ready I went to see the kids and say hi to everyone. Things were fine (as usual) but when Katie heard that we were going to watch a movie, well, she picked up her toys and the one sock she had taken off and she started to head upstairs! She wanted to watch a movie with us too. It was cute - I finally coaxed her back by telling her that mommy and daddy were going to take a nap (I know... not the truth but she heard that and she turned around mid-step to go back to her grandma and grandpa.) We watched Watchmen and it was pretty good. It was super long at almost 150 minutes but it wasn't bad at all. The kids came up at about 9:45 and Katie went to sleep not long after (we paused the movie when they came home - it's really NOT a kids movie) and Jacob was sleeping when he came home. It was funny though that as soon as Katie was out, Jacob woke up.

All in all, it was a good date night. I'm hoping we can plan on a date night at least once a month!

I can see the headlines now... "Minnesota child talks to God on a cell phone"

Yes, you read the title correctly. Katie conversed with God on her cell phone today. She was sitting on the kitchen counter while I was making dinner and was saying things to God as if he were her buddy. And apparently He was answering. She was telling him about her doll and I guess God told her that her doll wasn't sick, so that's good...

We also went through a spoon phase a couple of weeks ago. She went to Walmart with her grandma and grandpa one evening and in the car they asked what she wanted to get at Walmart and she said "spoons". I know, interesting right? It cracks me up that the spoons she got with her 36 piece dish set just weren't cutting it. :) She came home with a package of 4 spoons for toddlers and we had to open them right away and she carried them around and they had conversations with each other. Who knew that spoons would have so much to talk about?

Life is never dull with her and Jacob in our lives. I'm so grateful.

Shouldn't this be less scary the second time around?

Well, when we had Katie everything was so new and I had no clue as to what I was doing. I knew the basics - keep them fed, diapered, clothed - but was totally surprised by the unpredictable illnesses, blowouts (and I don't mean the salon kind), blow ups, and just general paranoia a new parent feels about a new and very needy baby. I worried that she wasn't eating enough, that she wasn't pooping enough, that she wasn't alert enough, that she wasn't sleeping enough... pretty much everything that she did and didn't do throughout the day. She turned out fine... a healthy and happy almost 3-year-old. She's wonderful and funny and sweet and not sweet and most of the time we see all of these in 5 minutes. I had forgotten all of my earlier fears and was just enjoying her and her quirkiness when we found out I was pregnant again. I didn't think much about all of the "first baby fears" since I figured I had it all under my belt and wouldn't have any of the anxiousness I felt with a first child but, well, I was a tiny bit wrong.

Jacob came along and I worried about his leg having a little shake, why he drooled so much as he drank his bottle, was he eating enough, pooping enough, alert enough, sleeping enough... pretty much everything he did and didn't do throughout the day. You've maybe seen a pattern here? He's so precious and already such an important part in our little family that I just want him to be healthy and happy and to know that he's special. I think Katie knows that we feel that way about her - mostly because we tell her how wonderful she is and how much we lover her whenever we get the chance!

Movie time!

We (me and the kids) went to the lake this weekend and had a good time. Grandma and Grandpa do so much to help with Katie and Jacob so I get more sleep and relaxation. Katie loves it there - she's always busy doing something, either trailing around after her umpa, playing with playdoh with gamma, or playing bears by herself. Jacob is still too little to really "do" anything.

We watched Mama Mia! this weekend and it was really cute. Katie sat at the edge of the couch to watch and really paid attention (and I guess she's watched it many times before with grandma). Jacob slept through most of it so I got to actually pay attention to it! I liked it and would watch it again.

The kids went to church with grandma and grandpa on Sunday morning and I got some sleep.

A toddlers guide to sharing

Katie went to the grocery store with me today and saw the candy, the candy they put just at eye level when a kid is in the cart. I hate that. I was worried that she would want all of it but she said she wanted "one for gamma, one for umpa, one for mommy, one for daddy" and it was so cute that I couldn't say no. She was content to stick with the two chewier candies (the twizzlers and orange slices) and she got five of each of them. In the car on the way home, she said "I tired mama. I eat McDonalds and go to sleep." Then she paused and changed it to, "I eat my candy and go to sleep." It was cute. We got home and she ate her candy pretty quickly after eating lunch. When there were two pieces left, she brought one of them to daddy to open. He asked her if that candy wasn't for grandma or grandpa and she pointed to the piece sitting on the coffee table. He told her that one was grandma's and where is grandpa's? She pointed at the one piece left and said gamma and umpa share. We discouraged that train of thought and so when grandpa came home, she was able to give him the candy. She stared at the twizzlers for an extra long time but in the end, decided that she could share. I was impressed with her restraint because it seems like we've been going through a sharing phase with her... I came across these toddler rules the other day and cracked up. So true.

1. If I like it, it's mine.
2. If it's in my hand, it's mine.
3. If I can take it from you, it's mine.
4. If I had it a little while ago, it's mine.
5. If it's mine, it must NEVER appear to be yours in anyway.
6. If I'm doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.
7. If it looks just like mine, it is mine.
8. If I saw it first, it's mine.
9. If you are playing with something and you put it down, it automatically
becomes mine.
10. If it's broken, it's yours.

Actually, number ten should read, If it's broken, umpa will fix it and then it's mine again. That's Katie's answer to anything that breaks. She'll say "Umpa fix it." And he usually does.

The kids are feeling better. Katie has been on medicine since last Monday (the ear infection post) and Jacob is not on anything. We've got a follow up appointment on Wednesday for Jacob and hopefully the doctor can check Katie's ears to see how she's doing without us having to make another appointment and pay another co-pay and make a separate trip to the doctor.

Ear Infections are not fun

Katie started to complain that her head hurt at about 5:30 last night. She was saying owie, owie, owie and she cried and cried... and cried. Very loudly. It was so bad that we took her to urgent care (Grandma watched Jacob). On the way there she fell asleep in the car and when we got there and she woke up and realized where we were, she told me very firmly that she did not want to go to the doctor. She cried while I took her in and while we were in the waiting room - thank goodness we were the only ones there - but when we got into the room she was pretty calm. I was so proud of her. She did great! I couldn't believe it! The nurse listened to her pulse and then the doctor came in and looked in her ears (grimaced and said ooooh), listened to her breathing, and looked at her throat. She fussed a little at the end but it was a huge change from listening to her scream the ENTIRE time! She was awesome! We learned that she has ear infection in both ears and one of them (the left) was inflamed with puss and looked like it was about to burst. We left the clinic with two prescriptions and orders to come back in 2 weeks.

Her calm happy mood wasn't to last. When we got in the car she started to cry and kept crying the whole way home. And cried while we waited for daddy to bring her medicine - about 15 minutes at home. Finally we had the medicine and some ear drops to help with the pain. She fell asleep pretty early so I guess she felt better. At about 3:30 a.m. she woke up and called for me and wanted me to feed her from her sippy cup but she sounded better and was actually pretty cheery. Then she wanted medicine (she likes Tylenol way too much). So today she feels better, Jacob feels better, me and John aren't sick yet (fingers crossed) so we're hoping to be done with this soon!

I was bummed that she felt so bad because she had a blast with daddy until that point. They had an outing and went to Menards, Savers, then Costco. She was so thrilled that it was just them, she even asked me "just me mommy?" and got her excited look when I said yes, just you and not mommy and Jacob. Katie came home with four new toys and just had a really fun time alone with daddy.

Jacob's baby shower...

Jacob has officially greeted the world, or at least my part of it. Jacob, Katie, my sister in law Jenny, me and my mom went to a shower with my work friends today. There were about 20 people there and we played games, ate delicious food, opened gifts and visited. It was awesome!

Katie played with Paige and Donovan most of the time and the three of them were running around like short crazy people and having a great time.

It was a really fun time - I felt like a "real" person again. I was wearing actual clothes and not just my best sweat pants and t-shirt.

Now we're at home and he's fussy and Katie is still awake. She's eating an apple. It's 12:30 a.m. and I'm hoping that both of them will fall asleep soon. We're tired and ready to go to bed but these kids are night owls. Although we might be in luck soon with K. She's laying on the coffee table eating her apple (it's cut into small pieces) and in between bites she's closing her eyes like she's going to sleep... ahhh. Oh, false alarm. An up to the minute report --- she's sitting up and telling her daddy to sit "there" which in this case is the recliner... and he can't sit because he's walking with J. Now she's off to find daddy and is walking around with him. She cracks me up.

It's now 12:36 a.m. and Katie has crawled back onto the coffee table. And she's off again. I better see if I can move this along with the promise of cartoons in mommy and daddy's room. Probably not, but at this point I'm willing to try!

Finally! She fell asleep and John happened to catch her on video. This is what happens a lot of nights. She doesn't want to fall asleep in her own bed, it's usually on the floor or chair or couch. :)

Such a shame this cuteness won't last...

I mean, she'll have to grow up sometime, right? I just have to remember that right now, Katie is the cutest little, ahem, BIG girl in the entire world. We've been up at the lake this weekend and mom and I made a quick run to Walmart. I can't just run in and out so we took a peek at the kids shoes and I found some cute ones. The price was good (I can't spend too much on a pair of shoes she'll either wear out or outgrow quickly) so I bought them along with a cute pair of boots for next year. I pulled them out and showed Katie when we got home and she really liked them. She put them on and didn't want to take them off. She wobbled over to grandpa so he could cut the string that connected them together. Then it was time to show her the cute purple boots I bought for next year. She opened the box and looked at them... and that was it. She wasn't jumping for joy or looking at me with the wide eyed WOW look she gives me when she's super excited. I took them out so she could try them on but she set them back in the box and put the cover back on. I asked if she liked them and she said she did but I guess the lure of her shoes was too great. She walked around in them for a lot of the night and I caught her walking with a lot of bounce in her step every so often.

About a half hour later, I got up from my chair and Katie came over to me and said, "Thank you mama" and then "Why you buy me these shoes mama?" I told her that we (mommy and daddy) knew she would need a new pair of shoes and these were very pretty so we bought them for her. She hugged my legs and asked again (in a quiet, kind of shocked voice) "Mama, why you buy them for me?" and I crouched down to her level and told her the same thing, we wanted her to have new shoes. She said thank you again as I got a big hug. Then she was off, running around in her new shoes.

Why do they have to grow up? There will come a time, I'm sure, when she will not want anything to do with her mommy... but I guess that's when I'll know that I've done my job right and been a mommy first, friend second. Bummer.

Who invented Facebook?

All I know is that I held off signing on to Facebook because, let's face it, there are plenty of internet sites requiring passwords out there. Not to mention the plethora of passwords needed for banking, insurance benefits, access at work and I just didn't want to throw another one into the mix. That is, until I found out that my brother, mom, aunt and uncle, grandma, HUSBAND (who knew?!), cousins... well, everyone and their brother were on Facebook. I mean literally everyone and their brother... and sister, father, mother - the list goes on and on!

I'm not too familiar with how it works yet but so far I've managed to type comments and post one picture. I think I'm doing pretty well and it's been fun to look at pictures of new babies, see how people have grown up, and find out what everyone's been up to.

So, if you see me out there (my friends and family only please!) say hi or invite me to be your friend. I've made some progress (see above comment on posting pictures and typing comments) but I don't know how long it will take me to figure out how to send a friend invitation so I'll be counting on you all to get me in the loop.

A New Milestone for Jacob (and other stuff I threw in because I haven't posted anything yet!)

Jacob caught his first cold/virus. This is a milestone I wish we could have put off for a few months but unfortunately it's wasn't our decision. He started to get a runny nose on Friday and a cough shortly after that. I took him to the doctor on Monday (Katie stayed home with Daddy even though she's been doing well with doctor visits lately - more on that later!) and he was diagnosed with RSV and an ear infection. There is a prescription for the ear infection but not the virus... that will just need to run it's course over 7 to 10 days. He should be getting over the worst of it soon - hopefully by Friday he'll feel better because we plan to go to the lake for the weekend and my friend Lori is holding a baby shower for Jacob on Sunday so it would be nice if he's happy and healthy!

The only good thing is that we've gotten up to the moment measurements for him! He's now 22 1/4 inches and 10 lbs 15 oz. He's growing well!

Katie's still doing great. We took her to a doctor appointment for Jacob a couple of weeks ago and she didn't cry or tell us she wanted to go home (the usual stuff she does when we go for her appointments). She watched what the doctor did with Jacob and just hung out drinking a cup of water and being a big girl. I was surprised that she was so relaxed. She'll have to go in for her 3-year checkup in April and she won't have to have any shots so hopefully she'll reinforce that a doctor visit isn't always a bad thing.

We had a nice visit with grandma and grandpa over the last few days. They had a busy social calendar while here but we found time to sit and visit and they were able to hold Jacob before he started to really get big.

I was most worried about getting enough sleep with a newborn in the house but John and I have been taking turns sleeping - one of us takes the night shift and the other gets up at around 7 a.m. to take the morning shift. It's working well. I think we're both managing to find enough rest so far!

I'm planning to go back to work on April 17th but that's not set in stone. I wish I had more time off work to stay home but at least I like my job so it's not such a hardship!

John will need to post some recent pictures since that's too advanced for me at this early stage!