Friday, August 28, 2009

Fever and teething and constipation, oh my!

Jake needs baby tylenol. He's been waking up pretty much every two hours which results in me being up for an hour and a half, just dropping off to sleep, only to get up again!

It's either from his shots, from his teething, or from being constipated so tonight after a trip to the grocery store for some baby tylenol for fever/pain and baby orajel for teething (we've already got the prunes for the other issue), I'll be well armed to treat anything that comes my way tonight.

I'll consider this a success if I get more than 3 hours of sleep tonight.

We'll see.

Stop... In the name of the law!

Last night as I was using the "facilities" Katie stood in the doorway, put her hand up and said "Stop! In the name of the law". I thought at first that she was saying In the name of Love but then realized after a few more repititions that she had indeed "deputized" herself.

So she continued... Mommy, you get a ticket! Me, puzzled, "Why?"

She answered "because... (and I don't remember why I was getting the ticket now)" and she pushed her hip and tushy butt out to the side and made a motion like she was pulling a ticket book out of a holder then she made a big show of holding up a ginormous ticket (she held her hands out to the side like she was holding a piece of paper larger than her head) and putting it on the counter next to me.

It cracked me up. Oh, it just started with a little "isn't she cute" giggle but when she gave me another ticket for laughing (complete with pulling the ticket book out of the holder and holding her hands out to show me the ticket) I started to outright laugh.

Well! That resulted in another ticket complete with all of the motions, and another and another, and another, and another. Till she finally stopped giving me tickets for laughing and just joined in.

Where does she get this stuff?

Thursday, August 27, 2009

It's official... Jacob is a 20 lb 9 oz, 29" long bundle of joy!

Jake had his 6 month well check on Wednesday evening (only 2 weeks late so... yay mommy for finally scheduling it!) and Jacob is a healthy baby boy.

We (mommy, daddy, Katie, and Jake) got into the room and he looked around at everything. Sat on the scale for his weight without a peep and put up with me getting him undressed.

Katie was very curious about everything and was very well behaved while the doctor asked questions like:

How are his bowel movements?
Is he sleeping well?
Do you brush his teeth?
Do you give him juice?


My responses were:
Fine, I think.

Well, except for waking up once or twice. Once to cuddle and go back to sleep and once to have some formula.

No! I didn't know you were supposed to brush teeth at 6 months (and two weeks).

No! I didn't know you should give babies juice!
(This was a TRICK question since I guess you're really not supposed to give babies juice. The doc asked since it kind of goes along with the need to brush teeth smaller than a tic-tac.

Apparently, babies who drink juice have a habit of also getting cavities if no one brushes their tiny baby teeth for them. Not too much of a shock but I'm glad I wasn't planning to give Jake juice anytime soon.)

Katie, your Super Duper Juice (aka Sunny D) is safe for now!

So after the questions and the eye, nose, mouth, chest, back checks, Jake got a-okay from the doc.

He's in the 90 percentile for weight and 95th for height. (He and Katie are very similar. I think she was 95th percentile for both even through her 3 year well check.)

Then he got his shots and he was not happy. He cried loud but did pretty well. I looked at Katie when it was over and she had her hands over her ears. That wouldn't have been funny all on it's own but when the shots started, she was playing with two of Jakes diapers John stuck in the car seat just in case so she had one diaper in each hand and both hands over her ears. It looked a little strange. :)

We got into the car, Jake fell asleep, Katie told me more than once that she wanted me to be "back here" instead of up there, we got home and ate and that was that.

He was fussy during the night but I don't know if it was his legs, his teeth, or his tummy what with the toots! We'll see if he improves tonight.

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Katie

Not in the mood for a picture:


Really. Not in the mood. Imagine this with a nostril flare and a little "hmph"


How precious!


Just hanging out


Playing with Babydoll in the walker:


Not big into sharing said walker with Jake:


She loves to draw


She loves knex


And this shopping cart with alllll of the groceries.
(Thanks mom and dad for bringing it back from the lake this weekend!)


The End!

Weekend Fun - Just mommy, daddy, and Jakey

Daddy and Jake:


Jacob laughing at Daddy:


Daddy laughing at Jacob:


Jacob likes his fingers:




Mommy gets a "thumbs up":


Just so cute


Jake and Mommy


I change him on Katie's bed sometimes. He loves the blanket. It's got Disney princesses on it and he puts his face on Snow White's face... it looks like a kiss!

Here, he's just relaxing:


He loves the tag on this thing:


The End!

Katie having fun outside







Jacob can sit up!

(Please ignore my lengthy commentary. And yes, John is wearing shorts. )

Leche... what you drink with cookies

Katie had fun last night. She got to go with Grandpa to visit Jon Long at his assisted living apartment. She didn't want to leave so they sat on a bench and looked at the flowers and probably whatever else she could find to look at in order to stretch the time out. She's good at that.

After that Grandpa took her to the panaderia for some pan dulce. She loves that. She got a cookie and convinced Grandpa that they should sit on the curb in the parking lot to eat it. I think she was having too much fun with Grandpa and she didn't want to go home!

When they did get home, she was sleeping so grandpa carried her in and put her to bed. I got her shoes off and she woke up. She wanted to go with Grandpa downstairs (he promised she could when they got home) so we got jammies on and after a little funny play time with daddy where Katie asked:

Daddy, do you like Kipper?
Yeahhhh, I love it!
Daddy, do you like Caillou?
Yeahhh, I love it!
Daddy, do you like SpongeBob?
Yeahhh, I love it!
Daddy, do you like Barney?
Yeahhh, I love it!

And on and on. And every time he answered, she got the giggles. And then I got the giggles and John got the guy version of the giggles (you know, the manly, macho version...).

Then we went downstairs. Katie, Jake and me.

Grandpa asked if we wanted leche. Katie did. I asked her what leche is and she said "It's something you drink with your cookie" and I giggled cause she's just so cute!

She ate her cookie and then it was time to go. But Katie didn't want to go. She wanted to "sit and talk for a little bit." So we did for a few minutes and then we went upstairs and had lights out.

We were all in bed by 10:30 (which actually seems late to me now that I'm a mom) and I was up by midnight to cuddle Jake and feed him a little and again at 2:30 for the same thing and no sooner had Jake gotten to sleep to the point where I could lay him down, than Katie woke up. I laid Jakey down and picked Katie up and we cuddled in the living room. Katie was pretty awake and smiley and I asked her why she woke up... was it a bad dream? And it was. She asked me "where that giant go?" and I explained that giants don't exist... that there are tall people but not mean giants. Then she asked me if the tall people have lots of teeth. So I guess it was a pretty scary dream if she saw a teethy giant... I fell back on the "daddy sprayed monster juice and that covers giants too" then we prayed and then she mentioned that maybe the giant wanted to be nice but didn't know how. So then I decided that it was way to early in the morning for a big discussion into the thoughts and feelings of the average mean teethy giant and we went to bed to watch TV.

Finally Katie fell asleep and not an hour later I heard Jake fussing. I thought it was a good time to wake daddy up so he could enjoy the early morning thunder/lightning storm ... and so I could enjoy some shuteye.

Monday, August 24, 2009

What a weekend!

Katie went to the lake this weekend with Grandma and Grandpa.

Before she left, we had a long question and answer with her about going.

Are you going to be sad if mommy isn't there?

No.

Are you going to cry if mommy isn't there?

No.

You know mommy isn't coming to the lake, right?

Yes.

So after that, and a cute comment about "remember when Jakie went to the lake last time and we went to that place (the pow wow)... we should do that again" she was off.

No teary phone calls or any concern about Mommy all weekend, okay except for the comment on Friday night that she wanted her mommy, Katie was fine.

Me and John watched Jacob move around the living room without actually seeming to move... Just one minute he was in one spot and the next he was across the room. I should video this so we can play it back to see what really happens.

Oh, and he can sit up all by himself. I'll lay him down and a few seconds later, he's on his tummy and then pushing himself up to sitting. It's crazy. I saw it on Friday night and I was shocked. John was all like "I told you he was sitting up on his own... didn't you belive me?" But I didn't really get it till I saw him do it. He's so big!

We spent most of the weekend doing what we usually do. Changing diapers, feeding bottles, doing laundry, dishes... but it was fun to watch Jake do his baby thing. Usually he's watching Katie play and be a kid so this was new.

He also ate carrots and made a funny face with the first few bites. He got over that and started opening his mouth when he was ready for more. He has a big appetite.

Grandma and Grandpa... want to come over for dinner again?

John had an interview (we're not holding our breath on this one though) on Wednesday evening but it was a ways away and he had to pick Joe up (he had an interview at the same place) so he had to leave before I got home from work. Grammy and Grampy saved the day! They came over at about 3:30, after Grandpa had his eye surgery that same morning, to watch the kids.

When me, mom and dad got home, the house smelled wonderful! Grandma made a roast and salad and the whole deal.

Here's Grammy and Katie (Katie didn't want her pic taken. That's the first shot. The second shot was me being sneaky and catching her after she thought I was alllll done.)

Katie with an attitude:


Sneaky mommy getting the shot anyway:


I love that dinner. It's so homey and Grandma made gravy. Gravy... I think it looks so simple but deceptively so. I think you have to have at least 60 years on you before you can even come close to good gravy making skills. You may also have to know how to make stuffing from the actual bird parts before gravy skills can be mastered. I hope not though. I don't think I'll ever attempt that. It's pretty gross when you think about where that stuff has been. I'll stick to stovetop. On the other hand, I have mastered ramin noodles... but that's another post.

I did invite them for dinner when I talked to Grandma earlier in the day but my offering was frozen pizza... Luckily grandma already had the roast up her sleeve.

So we ate and talked and ate lots. Katie ate everything on her plate (okay, so I may have helped toward the end but she did pretty well).

I made a cake after dinner and we visited while it baked. John got home and we visited and tried to talk Grandma into joining Farmville. She was saying that she didn't have time to do something like that. Each time one of us would tell her "but you don't have to do anything! Just be my neighbor! (8 neighbors and you get to expand... 10 and you get to expand more and we all REALLY wanted that.)

Fianally the cake was ready but John had some catching up to do so he ate the leftovers while we ate dessert.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Pow Wow

We planned to go to the Mille Lacs Pow Wow on Saturday. I asked John when he wanted to leave on Saturday morning and when he said "Oh, about 5 or so" I almost cried. I am not an early riser and as a matter of fact, it's hard for me to get up for work in the morning at 7 a.m. so 5? Not easy. And on top of that, getting Katie up at 5 would be even less fun than dragging myself out of bed at 5. John... well, John has no problem getting up at 5. He could happily get up at 4 without any trouble... he is an early riser.

So, I told him to wake me up an hour before we needed to go. Fast forward to Saturday morning, I woke up to go to the bathroom and breathed a sigh of relief. It was almost 8 a.m. and John was up drinking his coffee and NOT waking me up. Whew. I went back to bed for just a little bit till I heard Katie get up and then we started to get ready to go. Left the house at about 9:30 and drove up. Stopped at 10:30 to eat at McDonalds and kept on driving. We were on 169 when traffic stopped. Literally. We could see the ambulances and fire trucks ahead and we just sat there. For about 15 or 20 minutes. Finally the police let cars go and we saw that it was a motorcycle accident. That was it. One motorcycle and one car with no bumper. Good thing we weren't involved in the accident!

Got to the pow wow and found John's dad and Rose and the rest of the gang. Sat and visited for a few minutes and then walked down to the circle to get our seats. The grand entrance started at 1:00. It's something to see. Drums and singing and each group of dancers being introduced by the type of dance - men's traditional, men's fancy, womens, jingle dancers, and so many I lost track. There's a story behind the types but I don't know them. Joe and Rose were in their costumes. When Katie saw Grandma Rose, she said, "Mommy, why gramma Rose in that *outfit*?" And she whispered the word outfit. It was cute.

After the grand entrance the royalty was introduced. I was pretty impressed when some of the kids answered the questions in the native language. Each age group danced later in the day.

It rained a few times throughout the day - I was just relieved that it wasn't 90 outside like it was supposed to be.

At 4:00 they announced that dinner would be served at 5 and that elders should stay seated and their food would be delivered to them. That was too ambiguous for me. I need to know at what age is someone an elder but I don't know if anyone could tell me. Sooo, me, John, and Katie went to get in line for dinner. In the rain. In the rain that got worse as we walked to the food area. It was so rainey that John gave Katie his hat to keep the rain off of her face. Then a kid came by, looked at John, and gave him a meal. I laughed so hard. I guess that if you have grey hair, you are an elder. I laughed so hard but John was holding his meal and I was still in line to get mine. I probably shouldn't have laughed so hard.

John graciously offered to share his food with me and Katie (or maybe I just told him that we could share food, then when we left we would stop at the casino and eat at the buffed... that might have been how the conversation went). I took Katie back to the seating area while John went to the car for blankets and jackets. Rose heard what happened and she waved down one of the kids delivering to the "elders" and got a second meal for us. Whew! It was pretty good food. We had chicken breast, wild rice, potatoes, fruit, green beans, a bun, and a brownie. John was happy to see that there was a second meal because I didn't really wait for him to get back before starting to eat!

We walked back to the camp area and sat for a bit in front of the fire and then we took off for the casino so we could go to the bathroom. Katie and I hadn't gone ALL day. I tried to get her to go but she said she didn't have to so I didn't push too hard since all that was available were the port-a-potties. Need I say more.

At the casino, we used a very nice bathroom and caught up with John who really wanted to play poker. This coincided greatly with my desire to eat at the buffet. We split up and I took Katie with me. We ate a very yummy meal and we were just about done when John was looking for us. He won $11 and decided to stop. He was up by $40 but it's a fickle game.

We got in the car to head home and I heard "Uh oh" from the back seat. Katie had lost her grip on her water bottle and it was spilling in great gurgles onto the floor of the back seat. Luckily her clothes from the day managed to catch the spill and the back seat wasn't too wet.

Got home and wound down and went to bed!

Here are some pics:
Joe and Katie:


Grandma Rose and Katie:




Katie loved the water cup


Sitting by the fire just before we left for the casino


Friday, August 14, 2009

Katie, Paigey, and the Park

Mike and Paige came over last night. We had a deeeelicious dinner of tuna sandwiches (with pickles), chips, and pear slices. Paigey had a deeeelicious pb&j sandwich with some puffy things.

Mike spilled juice on his shirt, then on the floor, at two different times. It was funny. But maybe only to me... his sister.

We got in the car to drive to the park (I know... we're so close we could have walked) and parked in a far away lot so we did get some extra excercise!

Katie and Paige went on almost ALL of the slides, climbed up some scary (for mommy to watch) climbing things, and went on the swings too.

The girls also tried to roll down the hill. It was funny.

We got home at about 8:30 and Katie went to sleep at about 10:00 so I think the park tired her out. (YAY!)

Huh?

Katie is either really imaginative or just plain strange.

This morning I woke up for work and checked on the kids. I had to check on Jacob because he only woke up once last night and I usually see his sweet baby face at least three times a night (since he's teething). I put the orajel on his gums and fed him a little bit of bottle and he fell asleep so I think it's helping him feel better.

Anyway, when I checked on him, she was not in her bed. I found her sleeping on the couch with her legs over the armrest. When I ask her why she was there, she said that "Lola was awake and that's why I need to be awake and on the couch sleepin."

This evening, she's attached her boxes of play food to the tops of her feet with hair binders and called them shoes. And walked around the house with them on for about 40 minutes.

And I've just finished telling her that no, you can't wear your shorts under your jammy shorts... please take off your outside shorts and put your jammys back on.

She's not having any trouble being alone with mommy and daddy. (Grandma and Grandpa took Jake to the lake with them so it's just the three of us.)

I think it's cuddle time now, she was up early this morning.

She's sitting on my lap pretending to type on the mousepad. It's so cute.

Ramin Noodles for Dinner

The other night I was trying to decide what to have for dinner and it was a toss-up between rack of lamb and duck l'orange.

Oooooo-kay, maybe a little bit of here's the truth about the other night.

I was walking from our pantry to the fridge and back again trying to decide what to have for dinner. Katie was following me back and forth and on about the 3rd trip into the pantry (I guess I just kept hoping something new would magically appear to no avail) Katie pulled out the ramin noodles I bought for John on our last grocery trip. (I don't make him eat these, he actually asked me to pick some up!)

Katie picked one out and said, "Mommy, I want to have this for lunch." I decided that lunch was close enough to dinner and if I add a pudding cup and an ear of corn, I would have an *almost* good-for-her dinner.

After reading the directions on the pack... at least three times because I have never in my whole life made ramin noodles and I thought there might be some kind of small print because they can't be that easy, can they? ... I boiled the water and got cookin'.

Katie was thrilled with her noodle soup and I actually liked it!

Now I just wonder... was it so tasty because I had worked up an appetite after my fridge to pantry workout?

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Play Dates

A few weeks ago I figured that the best way to see some of the new babies in the family (and when I say new, I mean 6 months old but new to me!) would be to host a play date.

So, I invited two cousins and my sis in law AND all of our kids for a play date last night. Well, the play date was last night but our facebook conversations have been going on for at least two weeks, if not longer! Yes, it's true. We never talked in person, we "facebooked". And it worked great! It's so hard to have any sort of conversation on the phone these days between diapers, bottles, sippy refills, meals, lost toy finding... well, I'm sure you get the picture. And though I was a little resistant to getting on Facebook (you can ready my long winded post of a few months back, if you really want to know how I feel!) now I'm a fan... at least of some parts (I'll be checking my crops later).

We ate pizza and cake and the kids played while we moms talked. Our kids are about the same age and it was fun to see how they reacted to each other. The babies... not so much of a reaction, more of a "huh, I know you're there but your toy is more fun to play with" but Katie, Alex, and Paige were fun to watch.

Katie is working very hard on sharing but it's still a challenge. She was very angsty about her toys being touched - even the bin of her "miscellaneous (junk)" toys. But everyone found something to play with and Katie didn't have any meltdowns!

Kim mentioned that it was fun and we should do it again. I totally agreed and wondered where we could meet... Jenny thought maybe we could go to her place...

and...

Lindsay said

"Let's facebook it."

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Caution **Mention of Inappropriate Tushy-Butt Showing**

Last night we were finally alone, just the four of us. We had visitors all weekend (Joe, Paige, and Hunter) and it was so quiet with just us.

Katie was standing on the back of her pink cushiony chair next to the window and as she leaned over, I joked that her tushy butt was showing. We laughed and I looked away for *just* a second. Next thing I heard was her little voice saying "Mommy..."

I looked at her and saw that my dear, sweet, darling daughter was ... MOONING her mommy.

To my credit, I did not laugh. I was very stern when I explained that showing her tushy butt is inappropriate and to fix her underpants and her skirt right this second. Then I heard John choking back his laughter. That made it extra hard to look her in the eye while she sorted it all out. Standing on her pink chair in the window. She was still staring at me and I was still trying to hold it in... until I just couldn't anymore (a combination of John's laughing and Katie's mischivious eye-twinkle). I started to laugh, John let loose and, trying to salvage the lesson I was trying to teach her, I started to say "Oh, Jacob... you're so funny!!!" and John did the same in between gales of laughter! Katie got in on it too after she gave me and Daddy a strange look.

Jake didn't seem to care. But boy was it funny.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Some random pics...

Jacob at the Western thing:


Jake just hanging out, back in May when he actually fit into his bathtub:


Katie gardening:


Katie having some Memorial Day fun:


Jake just being cute:


Jake and Paige:


Katie, Jake, and Daddy:


Katie, Paige, and Auntie Jenny having a ball:


Katie smelling flowers in Browerville:






Katie and Babydoll at the Carnival:


Katie and Grandpa fishin':


Jake in the swing:




Katie and her new pool:

Katie will plan the rest of our lives.

Jake woke me up on Saturday morning at about 7 a.m. I went in to the room he and Katie share to get him before he woke her up. Picked him up and got him smiling, then I thought I better check on Katie - she usually kicks all of her covers off during the night. I looked in on her but she wasn't there! I thought that maybe I was so tired that I was just not seeing right, so I walked over to her bed and looked again. Still not there. Walked into the living room because sometimes she'll go there to watch her "shows" and still no sign of her! It was weird. I walked back to the bedroom and called her name and heard her answer me from the bathroom. Sure enough, she was on the potty. Right away, she started to say "Mommy, I goin' potty then I go poop. When I done, you put Jakie down and you wipe me, okay?" She sure knew what she wanted to have happen.

This isn't the first time she's done this. She's given directions for stuff before too. It's very cute and a little strange that she has such a good idea of the order of things.

Thursday, August 6, 2009

We've had a busy week

Monday night mom, me and the kids went to Target, Sonic, and Cub. Sonic was fun and funny. Katie got strawberry shake all over her little sweet face, thanks to grandma, and gave mommy the idea for a previous post (nostril flare anyone?).

Tuesday night mom, me and the kids went to the bank to open accounts for them. Katie put her piggy bank money into the coin reader and we got cash from the teller. She gave it to the rep at the desk and sat in the chair next to me with her hands folded in her lap... till the lady brought out some hiliters for her to color with. She had fun! She whispered to me that "Honey was gonna open up a bank account too, at a BIG bank." and some other stuff that I can't remember now. I opened up a business account for the $50 you get (and I didn't have to order checks!).

Then we went to La Casita and dad met us there. Jacob sat in a high chair and chewed on my tube of carmex. He was very good, and very sturdy. Katie colored, ate chips with salsa and rice and beans, and talked.

I was going home to do some cleaning before my jewelry party on Wednesday and Mom and Dad were going to take the kids to Walmart. I got a ride from one end of the parking lot to the other, got out of the car, walked a few steps, went back to the car for my cell phone, and saw that Katie wasn't happy about the plan. She wanted me to go too. I gave her a dollar to spend at the store (so not a bribe... well, maybe a little) and took off.

Got to our street and saw the car there with Katie and Grandpa standing in the driveway. I pulled in and Katie started to cry. She was so clingy and wanted me to hold her and cuddle. This is so not like her! She's always "busy playin'" and can't spend 10 minutes sitting still with me so this was a melty moment.

I had to carry her inside and we cuddled till mom and dad left with Jake, then we got busy. I put some pictures in one of my frames, vacumed, dusted, and tried to clean our carpet. While I was spraying the 409 carpet cleaner on the floor, I was also telling Katie that if she can't be extra careful, there shouldn't be any more mint chocolate chip ice cream, *spray* no more red juice, *spray* no more orange juice, *spray* no more markers, *spray* no more pens, *spray* and no more pizza *spray* in the living room. By the time I was done spraying, the living room floor was dotted with patches of white, fluffy, cleaning foam. I followed the instructions, waiting "3 minutes before blotting with a dry, absorbant cloth" and... nothing. It didn't work. What a dissappointment. I wonder if I should write a letter. I'll do that! Maybe once I have more time... maybe when Jacob is 2.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Katie has perfected her "nostril flare"

Most of you aren't aware that my sweet Katie has a bit of an attitude. I know. At this point, I imagine you all exclaiming, "What a shock! Her mommy is such a sweet person with never a cross word." But it might be true that Katie gets some of her attitude from me.

I don't know where she gets the nostril flare though. I was strictly a nose turn-upper growing up (and presently, sometimes on rare occasions).

Yes, you haven't seen a good nostril flare till you've seen hers. Arms crossed, straight mouth - no smile or frown, creased brow, angry eyes, and the nose. Just the best interpretation of disdain I've ever seen. Actors, take note. It's subtle yet striking.

She uses it only in extreme cases, like when mommy wants a taste of the strawberry shake we're sharing, or when it's time to go potty and she doesn't think she has to go, or when she can't go outside because it's late and there are mosquitos. Yep, only on those rare occasions.

The other day we were at Sonic sharing a shake (strawberry - yum!) and I wanted a little. Katie looked at me, did all of the above, and was not happy. I looked at her and said "If you keep your attitude, you won't have any more shake. We're sharing this." As soon as I said those words she gave me a small smile. Nothing else changed. Just the small smile with her angry face and crossed arms. Then as soon as it appeared, it was gone.

She got her comeuppance later though. Grandma was holding the shake cup so Katie could drink out of it to get the last little bit. She reached over to grab Katie's balloon animal and I heard her laughing. When I looked over, I laughed too. Katie had strawberry shake on her face in a big "moustache" and in a big "unibrow" on her forehead, it was on her hand and on her dress. Just a little mess. She sat very still while I cleaned her up. Oh, and laughed too. It was too funny. She wasn't amused.

I think that 2 might be the “magic number”

Katie at 2 was pretty easy. Now that she’s 3, she’s almost a teenager! (Okay, maybe we’ve got a ways to go till then but really, she’s growing up so fast.) No huge diaper bag to carry around, no problem getting her into her booster seat for a quick jaunt to the store or wherever, meals weren’t a challenge because she was entertaining herself as I cooked. I like 3. I wonder if we anticipated this when we thought about more kids.

“2” is the magic number. It’s also when a mommy and daddy start to talk about how nice it would be to experience the baby-ness of it all… all over again. How nice it would be to have a sweet, tiny, cuddly bundle to hug and hold, to experience all of the firsts we have already been through with Katie all over again, to … mix bottles of formula until your arm feels like it’s going to stay that way; change diapers so stinky you need to pull your shirt neck up over your nose just to stop gagging; pack the stroller, swing, walker, formula, diapers, wipes, bottles, blankets, burp cloths, outfits, backup outfits, socks, and realize once you get to where you’re going that you’ve still forgotten 10 things! Whew! (This is the reason for my somewhat… detailed.. packing list.)

Ahem… happy thoughts… ahh, here we go:

An independent 3-year-old also makes mommy’s heart melt with her kindness to her baby brother. The “hello”s she gives him when he’s getting fussy and mommy is making a bottle and can’t run over to do a funny dance or make a silly face just then, the pitter patter of her little feet as she runs to the bedroom to get a burp cloth or blanket, the gentle hand giving her baby brother a toy and so much more that make me so happy I’m part of the “club” of people who also have kids 3 years apart.

An independent 3-year-old like my sweet, wonderful Katie, can make mommy and daddy forget how much work a new baby is and will be, and remember how much I’ll miss it when it’s gone. In the earlier months, sitting up with Jake at night, I would eagerly anticipate being able to start him on milk instead of formula, sleeping through the night, hearing him talk for the first time. Now I realize that, at 6 months, he’s growing up too fast. He’s not the tiny bundle he was when we brought him home. He’s starting to reach for people to pick him up and he’s grabbing for what he wants. He can roll over and sit up by himself. He’s learning his way around his little world… I wonder how long it will take before he realizes that he and Katie are the center of ours.