Overlooked

I have free reign over Brandon's computer for now, so I have been looking through lots of old pictures for ones to photoshop.  Sometimes I see a picture once but I don't realize for awhile how beautiful it is.  I guess that's the great thing about going through old pics.  

I think this one looks like a painting.  It was a drive-by shot we took while we were in Montana, and the blurriness and crooked horizon may bug some people (I know it bugs Brandon).  But for some reason I love those little imperfections.

Johnston Canyon.  The pictures we took there never seemed to do this place justice, but this one caught a little of the ice blue water and beaming light.

Another drive-by shot.  People think there isn't much in Idaho, and in some parts it's true.  But there is value in simplicity.

Rialto beach.  I was in one heck of a bad mood on the way there, but once I stepped out of the car and saw this beach, even my stubborn pride couldn't keep me from having fun.

Catching up on the cameras

I'm not a very good blogger lately.  I could blame it on having a second child but that actually just gives me more to blog about, so that isn't the reason for my delinquency.  The reason is that whenever I get on my computer, Violet whines and begs me to let her watch videos of herself.  I know, she is just like me.  And when Violet is not whining at me, my computer usually refuses to let me transfer photos from my camera.  And let's face it, without cute pictures of my kids, nobody cares about my posts.

So we shall start the weekly recap with Valentine's day.  Ours was about as romantic as you can get when you're sharing your bedroom with 2 kids.  (Yes, that is still going on.  Is it sad to say that I've just gotten used to it at this point?) But Brandon got me a nice new rug for our living room and he played golf with Violet on it all evening, so it turned out to be a good day.

 

 The next day, Violet decided that she would force me into potty training her.  Yes, the day after I get a brand-new rug.  Perfect timing.  And how did she force me into this?  Turns out, all you have to do to force your mother into potty training you is to take off your pants and diaper every chance you get and run around the house naked.  So I said, "Okay, but you had better go in the potty."  And she did.  I almost took a picture of it when she did.  Yes, a picture of pee.  But it's not just any pee.  It's Violet's first pee on the potty.

On Friday Violet went to her cousin's birthday party at Stephen F. Austin state park in the pouring rain.  It was just about the cutest party I had ever seen.  But what did the kids get excited about?  Running through the mud, obviously.  This is what Violet looked like when she was all done. 

We found some dirt in her ear at church today. 

 Am I forgetting something?  Oh, yes.  I have a second child.  No, really, sometimes I forget. He's that good.  Violet has been really cute with him lately and sometimes she snuggles up with him when he is on the couch and puts her blanket over them both.  She then gives him a stuffed animal and puts his binkie back in his mouth whenever it falls out.  She's a very loving sister.

 Also, she has figured out how to take pictures.  Hehe.

 And this last one is one I found on the camera from when Brandon's family was here.  She got to try a space helmet on at Johnson Space Station. I thought it was pretty cute.

I'm drooling

It was a good week to be a mom.  It started out with Charlie's baby blessing on Sunday and can I just say, I have never seen a more handsome baby boy in a little white outfit.  I practically drooled over it.

 When Charlie sleeps (which is a lot) he keeps us entertained with his little sleep smiles.  They're small and fleeting, but I caught one here.  Again, I drool in adoration.

 Mega drool.  I never want to forget these tiny little rolls.

 Little glimpses of a personality are starting to show through on him.  He can recognize me (or at least I'm convinced that he does).  His eyes follow me (roughly) across the room and when I come and play with him he smiles a lot.  He makes little happy noises and LOVES to cuddle. 

And my other child-- she is fun, too.  I take advantage of every holiday because she gets really excited about celebrating little things.   On Monday she helped me make a little Valentine's box and on Wednesday she went to a party and came back with it overflowing with love and candy. 

 Later that week it was raining so we stayed inside and made a tent in our living room.  I gave her a bowl of Craisins and a pillow and let her watch the Lion King.  She was one happy girl.

My monsters

Whatever happened to my newborn? He turned into a giant chunk of "I take up half the couch." Mmmmm... I love chunks.

And Violet? She is still insane. She convinced me to buy Oreos on Monday and the next day I found her with a bajillion of them on our coffee table, opening them and just licking the cream out. Lately she has been under the impression that I will buy anything she sticks in the cart. Maybe that's because it's true. It doesn't take much to convince me to buy Oreos.

She has been delighted by all the rain here. I can't blame her. I did the same thing when I was little.

Is it bad that I'm jealous of her legs and she's 2 years old? What am I going to do when she's 17?

I'm not sure what to make of this face.

The happy puddle splashing was just the calm before the storm. It's a good thing that I don't mind being stared at, because I've had to carry her to the car screaming quite frequently this week. She REALLY didn't want to leave those puddles.

The pictures on my blog tell a lot of lies.

I used to be honest. Down-to-earth. Realistic. But from the looks of my last post, now I'm just one of those moms who does nothing but post cheesy pictures of her kids and talk about how precious they are. Someone shoot me now.

So maybe I should tell everyone what the past couple of weeks have really been like. They started off with a 2-day stay in the NICU for what was really just a bad case of the sniffles. (Okay, so it was RSV, but there was no fever and his lungs were clear.) That was followed by our insurance company telling us that even though they charged us for Charlie's coverage, they didn't actually add him to the plan. (insert angry conversation with insurance company here.)

We came home from that and everything was back to normal for a few days. Then Saturday morning we noticed that Violet's carpet was a bit sloshy. As you probably know, sloshy is not a word you should ever be able to use when describing your carpet. So we had to pull her bed and everything else to the front of her room and pull up the carpet by the wall (the paint on the wall was also bulging with water underneath.) Apparently a pipe had broken in the wall. On Monday some workers came to fix the pipe by tearing holes in Violet's wall, exposing rusty pipes and moldy plywood, and leaving us without running water for the day. Luckily I have a friend a few units down, so I was able to run to her house and use the bathroom from time to time. The last time I used the bathroom, however, the workers finished and left while I was out... and they locked me out of my house. I had to jump the fence onto our porch to get back in, and after that we went to HEB to get some groceries. When that was done and I came back to my car, I realized that I had lost my keys and couldn't get home. (Not to worry-- I had a huge bag of Julios chips that I emotionally purchased to keep me company.) I sat searching my car for the keys with a screaming baby for about 30 minutes before I finally remembered to check the cart we had used-- by some miracle, they were still in there. After that I figured I had earned a BerryHill fish taco. (And that makes twice that I mention rewarding myself with food. Maybe next time I should reward myself with a strenuous workout.)

And right now our family members outnumber our bedrooms four to one. The emotional eating might be going on for awhile.

Can't they just stay this way forever?

Violet keeps things interesting

Anyone want to see a list of the medical problems we have had in the last week?
abnormal newborn screening results
abnormal re-test results
fever
sore throats
runny noses
congestion
coughs
yeast infection (or in Violet's words, "itchy bum")
eye infection
and my favorite... projectile vomiting.
And somehow, I still enjoy having two kids more than I thought I would. Not that I thought that I wouldn't enjoy it, but I did think that there would be days where I wanted to shoot myself mixed moments where I loved it. Instead, there are days when I love it and moments when I want to shoot myself-- a totally manageable combination. For me, having two kids isn't much more difficult than having one. Of course, it isn't easy when your one kid likes to communicate by screaming, or try to see how high Charlie's bouncy chair will bounce while he's still in it, or point to your stretch marks and ask why you have stripes, or tell you that she wants to potty train and then proceed to pee on the floor and yell "I'm pee-peeing!" and then poop in the closet after she specifically told you she didn't have to poop, or try to lift your cover and expose you while nursing at the park, or shove you out of the way 86 times a day and yell "Let me do it!"
That's okay, because no matter how hard it is to deal with these things as they happen, I laughed even harder thinking about them just now. I totally love my kids.

Cracks me up

So, Violet LOVES Charlie. Pretty much thinks he's the coolest thing in the world. And when she talks about him, she makes me laugh.

Violet: I want to feed Charlie.
Me: How do you plan on doing that?
Violet: With my big breasts!
Me: I don't think so. Only mommy can feed him.
Violet: Oh yeah. I have little ones.
.............
(as Charlie is crying in the car)
Me: Violet, can you find Charlie's binkie?
Violet: No.
Me: Please? He really needs his binkie.
Violet: No, he's fine.

This year's plans

Last year's failures have not deterred me from making a list of resolutions for this year.  I've heard a lot of people say that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  I'm pretty sure that's actually not the definition of insanity.  But if it is, then we are all insane for making resolutions year after year.  I guess there are worse things to be than insane.

1.  Enjoy cooking more.  I really don't like to cook.  Violet tries to "help" and Brandon doesn't like a lot of the same foods that I do (sour cream, avocado, tomato, bell peppers, cream cheese, soups). If I find easier recipes that my family actually likes, maybe it will be less stressful for me.  And maybe with Bexar's help, I will make more desserts, too!

2.  Make more friends.  I've finally accepted that Jennifer isn't around anymore to go out to lunch with me all the time.

3. Paint 5 things.  Didn't happen last year, and who knows if it will this year.  But there's no harm in making a goal.

4. Excercise... a little.  Maybe I will do a 10k by the end of the year now that I have a nice jogging stroller.  I know, I'm really reaching for the stars here.

5. Take a fun family trip.  Maybe Sea World, or Enchanted Rock, or Guadalupe, or all three.  Brandon gets to go to Chile, Australia, and France this year, so I think we can manage a small Texas trip.  Or I could just go to France with him.

6.  Take good pictures.  I took a few baby pictures of Charlie already, but I still haven't captured that bright-eyed look he has in the morning.  But I LOVE those chubby cheeks.

 

By the way, Charlie was 9 lbs 12 oz at his 2 week checkup.  Normally they only expect the baby to be back at birth weight at the 2-week checkup.  Mine gained a pound and a half.  He is a beast.

2011: the year of good intentions.

I had such good intentions for 2011, but once more, my plans all blew up in my face. I guess my expectations for last year could be divided into 2 categories: things I wanted to do, and things I wanted Brandon to do. Let's have some fun and take a look at how these resolutions turned out.

Things I wanted to do:

go camping at least 3 times

go on a trip in May

paint 5 pictures

pick dewberries

go kayaking

Okay... I did none of these things. Well, I did go on a trip in May. I threw up for the first day of it and spent most of the rest of it in bed. Between the drought and the ridiculously hot summer, camping and dewberry picking were not in the cards this year. Ditto for kayaking. I managed to paint 2 pictures but after that, my laziness got the best of me.

Things I wanted Brandon to do:

finish his last full year of school

enjoy his internship

interview for a full-time, non-internship job

This part makes me laugh out loud. Instead of finishing school, Brandon committed to 2 more years of schooling. He enjoyed his internship but turned down their full-time job offer. And their part-time job offer. And now he is planning on another internship next summer.

Yeah, things don't go as planned. But it's good. We still managed to have some fun, and Brandon is now on his way to getting a Ph.D and being even more employable. I can wait, because I have these to keep me company:

Happy New Year's Eve

Don't worry, Charlie was only in the sun for the time it took to take these pictures.

Bedrest

Remember how I posted a bunch of baby pics on Monday and then never gave any updates?  Well, this week has not gone exactly as expected.  I am on bedrest. Apparently there was a complication in my epidural where I leaked some spinal fluid and now I have a spinal headache that is suppsed to last for 5-7 days.  If you're not familiar with that, it's a massive throbbing pain that comes on any time you lift your head.  For me, it sucks.  For those around me, it's quite entertaining.  I still have to get up to do things like go to the bathroom, but I can only do it bent over so that my head isn't upright.  So just imagine me walking around like I'm trying to touch my toes.  It's cute.  And to think I was looking forward to a speedy recovery...

Luckily, Charlie is awesome.  I was worried about having to nurse a newborn baby while being physically unable to sit upright or lift my head, but he figured out how to do it while I'm laying down.  Last night he woke up only one time in an 8-hour stretch, so I'm surprisingly well rested, too.  Violet is having fun with her aunt right now so the only thing I really need to worry about is entertaining myself while on my back all day.

This is the fourth day since my epidural.  If all goes well, I will be fully functional within the next couple of days.  But there is a chance that I may have to experience Christmas horizontally this year.

Welcome to the world

This is Charlie.

8 lbs, 4.7 oz.

Eats like a lion, sleeps like a lamb.

Delivered by the best doctor ever.

Loved by everyone.

And about to meet his big sister...

The ghost in the house

It seems that Mom has been going crazy.  Brandon and I may not have helped with that.  Every week we drive out to my appointment and afterwards spend awhile at her house when no one else is there.  So this week, Mom came home to her Christmas lights already turned on, her packages on the kitchen counter instead of at the front door, some cookies eaten, and her leaves raked.  I would like to say that Brandon was just being a good son-in-law and raking the leaves for her, but he actually did it so that he and Violet could play around in them.  And they did.

But it left Mom a little confused.  Oh well.

Some holiday cheer

Just in case my last post makes you think that I'm about to lose it...

Violet has actually been very good lately (during hours when she isn't supposed to be sleeping).  She loves everything about the Christmas season and I'm thrilled to be sharing it with her this year.

 Oh, and I may have forgotten to mention that Brandon did get an internship lined up for next summer.  And as if a job offer weren't enough, his company sent us a "holiday package" with a bunch of treats in it.  Just for kicks.  It's like they knew he had a pregnant wife and a toddler to eat them all.

 On Saturday I went to the nutcracker with Mom and the Peterson girls.  It was beautiful, as usual.  During intermission I took a picture of Santa on this giant gingerbread house they had out in the lobby.  I showed Violet and she loved it, but I think she expected Santa to be small and plastic when we took her to meet him last night.

 Alas, he was large and human.  Here's how meeting him went over:

 Didn't catch that?  Let's get a close-up of that face:

It was actually a funny story.  As soon as she saw him, she made it clear that she didn't want to be near him.  Brandon walked her up to him and he gave her some candy.  She was ok with that.  But when Brandon tried to sit her on his lap, she thought "Is this the price I have to pay for getting candy?  I don't think so!" and she threw the candy (quite forcefully) back at Santa and screamed, NOOOO!!! MOMMY!!!!!! 

"You can have your stupid candy back, Santa, just don't touch me!"

Help

What do you do with a 2-year-old who refuses to nap, can climb out of her crib, won't stay in her room, and doesn't play quietly by herself? Seriously, this is not a riddle, I'm really wondering what to do with Violet.  Several weeks ago, Violet would go to bed without a fight at about 8:30 and sleep until 8 AM.  She would fight her naps but eventually fall asleep in her crib and nap from 2-4 PM.  This schedule was bliss. 

Since Daylight Savings ended, she gets up at 7 (Brandon gets up with her, thankfully) and won't nap until 3 or later.  One would think that naptime would be at 1 now, but that failed. This is because she figured out how to climb out of her crib, so the only way to get her to bed is to lie in bed with her and sing songs until she falls asleep. And this only works if she is REALLY tired; otherwise, I can be singing songs for up to an hour and she just stares at me.  Not going to happen.  People tell me that she's outgrowing her nap and just needs to have quiet time in her room, which would be fine if I could keep her in her room.  That is not the case.  I have spent 45 minutes holding her door shut while she pulls on the handle and screams, "Mommy read a book!  Mommy do blocks!"  On Friday I got her to stay in her room while I napped on her bed (I broke down and said that she could stay up as long as she let me nap) but it required me to fall asleep while she stuck blocks in my face and said, "After finish the blocks you can take nap."  When she does nap, it's so late and she's so tired that she will sleep until 6 if I let her.  So, I have to wake her up no later than 4:30 if I want her to go to bed at a reasonable hour (which is actually not reasonable for a toddler).  An hour of fighting for an hour of napping does not seem justified to me.

Bedtime is just as bad.  The same ordeal happens, except that she falls asleep around 10.  SERIOUSLY?!?!  This can't be healthy for either of us.  I feel like I've tried everything, but what works one day doesn't work the next day.  I don't consider myself the kind of mom that would be ok locking her child in a room; I don't want naptime to be a traumatic experience. But I'm running out of ideas.

I need to figure something out soon.  I have 10 days or less until I have another child.  I'm afraid that if I have to deal with this and a new baby, I will develop post-partum depression and end up throwing myself out a window.  Or maybe I just need to have this baby so that it will force me to stop treating Violet like an only child.

Nesting

You know how some women get a burst of energy before they have their baby and do crazy things like make meals for a month and deep-clean their bath tubs? Well, that hasn't happened to me. I have no energy, I still don't like to cook, and no amount of pre-labor hormones could make me bend over far enough to scrub my bath tub. Violet and I have been taking it easy and this Friday we went to the zoo.

 But even taking it easy can be hard.  After walking around the zoo for an hour, I could practically feel myself effacing with each step.  My body doesn't seem too eager to push this baby out, but at times I feel like it could fall out at any time.

Even if I haven't been deep-cleaning my whole house, I've been getting ready for baby in my own little way.  The car is cleaned out and the car seat is installed.  I put the bumpers I made in the crib since Violet has figured out how to climb out of it and no longer naps in there.  I'm making a Christmas coming-home onesie. Brandon even painted my toenails and put an avocado mask on me last night.  He sure loves me.

And you're probably wondering what an avocado mask has to do with preparing for the baby.  Honestly, who is going to notice my toenails and pores when I am in labor?  Probably nobody.  But I've just gained 40 lbs and will soon have a roomful of people see me half naked.  It's just my way of doing anything to make myself feel a little better.

And that is how nesting happens for me.

(Yeah, I know, the AAP doesn't recommend these. If baby figures out how to roll, I'll take them out so baby doesn't suffocate on them. I mostly plan on using them during the time that baby can crawl backwards and get his/her legs stuck between the slats.)



Bring on the season.

The Christmas season has gotten off to a great start.  Awhile ago, I mentioned to Brandon that I might get him a nice TV if I find a good black friday special.  It took him no time to find one he liked and the day before Thanksgiving, we got this ginormous TV delivered to us.  I had planned on wrapping it and waiting until Christmas to open it, but Brandon was too eager and had Christmas early. I guess he won't have much to open on Christmas morning.

 Thanksgiving was a blast for everyone.  All of my siblings were gone, so Mom and Dad tailored the meal around what the pregnant lady was craving (tons of jello cranberry salad, mexican sodas, and more banana cream pie than any non-pregnant person could handle).  Violet was pretty overwhelmed by all the food (see picture below) and afterwards we went on a drive to look for Christmas lights, which ended up being the most exciting part of the day for her.  She is starting to love this season.

 Tonight we decorated our little Christmas tree for family night.  Violet was squealing the whole time and handing me "orna-minutes" every 5 seconds. 

 After she went to bed, I took some close-ups of our tree.  The festivity and glowiness of the decorations make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. 

 Joy.

Finally, tomorrow I will be full term.  (WHAT? That means I will have a baby in 3 weeks or less!  Totally blows my mind.)  And although I'm having trouble sleeping, staying awake, bending over, walking, and putting my clothes on, I am really enjoying myself right now.  I'm pregnant enough to use it as an excuse to get out of doing anything I don't want to, but at the same time, I get to do whatever I want because I don't have a tiny baby to take care of.  But with the cold weather and decorations up, I feel like I could take this baby home any time now.  I'm ready.

Grateful

Turns out explosive diarrhea is better than non-stop vomiting.  I can handle this.

Rough day for Violet

Today I am thankful for 2 things: laminate floors and nice weather.  Because if Violet had thrown up on carpet and if it had been too hot/cold to open all the windows and air our my apartment, I don't think I would still be sane.  Those 2 simple things saved my day.

Before I get into the lovely details of Violet's sickness, let me tell you about how lately she has been obsessing over being clean. About a week ago, her diaper gave out in the middle of the night and she ended up leaking pee on her bed (which was covered by a waterproof mattress pad).  We cleaned it up but ever since then, when we put her to bed, she will stand on the bed and point to it and say, "No, it's yucky!  I peed the bed!"

And today she threw up all over the floor.  She was screaming and crying afterwards and after gasping for air, she pointed to the vomit and yelled, "MOMMY WIPE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  Not exactly the reaction I expected.  I cleaned it up and it happened a few more times, getting on her favorite blanket once.  When it was time to go pick up Brandon, I tried to comfort her by saying that she could bring her blanket in the car (I had forgotten that she threw up on it).  Instead of getting excited like she normally does when I talk about her blanket, she yelled, "NOOOO!!!! Blankie yucky!"  Oh, right.

When we got home, she threw up a few more times.  The worst was when I saw her coughing and knew it was about to come, so I told her to go into the bathroom.  So she started running to the bathroom and threw up on the way there.  She then slipped in her own vomit, fell backwards, and hit her head on the floor. Our poor baby.

After Brandon cleaned her off, I came in and held her.  I commented that she smelled badly (her hair was covered in vomit) and Brandon said, "Oh, are you stinky?" to which she responded, "No, Mommy tooted."  That was followed by uncontrollable laughter from me.

Now she's in bed and I'm still going in every once in awhile when she throws up.  I'm just glad we've been able to get through it so far, and hopefully she will feel better tomorrow.