Watch out world!

Patrick learned how to crawl yesterday!!!

I had a friend ask recently if all the milestones were as exciting w/ the second child as they are with the first and I can answer that with a resounding YES!

Nattie & I went to his classroom to pick him up and I could tell that Jenelle had something going on because she was acting odd. I was milling around picking up Bunky's bag and bottles and such and holding him while I was doing it. Jenelle finally came over to me and took him out of my arms & put him on the floor and then we all cheered him on while he did his thing! So cute! We tried to get video but he was beat tired last night and not in the mood to perform so it'll have to wait a bit.

Yay Paddy Cakes!

Pictures!

Nattie's been really into dress up lately. Caught these today. I'm sure there will be more to follow :)
wearing Patrick's snow suit. Crazy that its only too small in the arm & leg length.
This super hero was giving her favorite sidekick a hug!

Patrick wasn't especially excited to be a tiara wearing superhero queen.

Just thought this one was hilarious. She told me that when she wears her super hero headband over her eyes that she can see in the dark. LMBO!

You can take the girl out of Vermont...

but you can't take Vermont out of the girl....

Natalie has developed a strong liking for wearing socks w/ her sandals in the middle of winter :)

updates - mostly medical stuff

I know, I know.

Patrick got another tooth on Monday. He's more congenial again.

I took him to see a GI last Friday and she asked a bunch of questions. Confirmed he has reflux and gave us an Rx to try. The new med works with the prevacid and is supposed to calm the smooth muscles in his stomach and if it works we'll see a marked improvement. If it doesn't work we'll take him back off of it and keep doing laundry. He's been given the green light to eat meat & yogurt and we were encouraged to get him to table food as quickly as possible since its even more difficult to throw that up. He was 27" and 17lb 14oz.

Today I finally caved and called the pedi for Natalie. She's been complaining of her "tummy hurtin" for months and I've chalked it up to attention seeking, motrin seeking, motion sickness, needing to poop and being hungry. Well, perhaps its none of those things. So, she & I went this morning and there is nothing obviously wrong w/ her based on the external exam. So, we went to the lab. Turns out you can convince her to pee in a cup if you offer 2 pieces of gum at once. AND its so distracting that she barely flinched when they drew 5 vials of blood. Both the pedi & I are confident the tests will come back normal and at that point we can start narrowing down her diet to see if she's having problems with reflux (jeezum!) or a food sensitivity. She was 30lbs!!!!

So, just in case anyone reading is wondering how I'm holding up... I want to smash my head off of something hard to put myself out of my misery over these belly issues. I would also like to poke my eyes out to render myself unconsious so I don't have to think about how I"m going to plan Christmas and a vacation for the same week. Been feeling absolutely insane amounts of anxiety and rage lately so I hauled my cookies to the OB and confessed a fear of delayed PPD. She hooked me up w/ some Zoloft. So far I can't tell a difference...but I did manage not to put my pj's on last night until 6:30pm which I suppose is an improvement.

I know...no pictures right now. I'll get off my duff soon and take some.

FIRSTS!

Patrick finally popped his first tooth thru. After actively teething for 3 months we have a lovely little pearly white! Here's hoping he either gets a couple more quickly or we get a mini break from crankinatordroolypants.

and...

we had flurries today. Our first "snow" of the season. Not much to write home about but I still manage to feel giddy over a few flakes.

This Morning...

N: Mommy!
K: Yes?
N: Your hair looks pretty today!
K: Thank you!
N: Like mine only more like a wrinkly chicken nugget.

LMBO!

Amazing day!

Last week was awful as far as the weather was concerned. "A Historic Storm" said the Weather Channel. Very high winds and a ton of rain. Today the sun came back and we took full advantage of it! We spent the whole day outside enjoying a perfect 70* and sunshine. I got the camera out this afternoon and here are some of my favorites :)

Natalie....

Today Natalie gets her seasonal flu vax. She spent the entire morning commute complaining because she only gets 3 vaccines and why does Patrick get to have 4. Is she serious?

She has also started diapering herself and baby. She's stealing Patrick's size 2 diapers. The truly crazy thing is that the size 2's fit all 3 of them...though on Nattie they look like a teensy bulgy bikini. She doesn't pee in them. Just gets naked and then diapers herself. What a weirdo.

and finally....the icing on the cake...

She saw me putting a liner in my undies the other day during my period. I explained to her that I was keeping my undies clean. She now lines her underpants w/ toilet paper every time she goes. That's been fun to explain to the preschool staff.

*sighs, shakes head, rolls eyes and quakes with fear of her teenage years*

Ah Bah Blah Ah Bah Blah Ah Ma Mah Ba Ma Bah Blah

PATRICK BABBLES!

It started last night. I know I'm overreacting but Nattie never babbled and so this was music to my ears.

Better late than never - HALLOWEEN :)

Here are the pictures from Halloween. Enjoy!

This was Patrick being pleasant. He was not impressed w/ having to hold still and observe.

very serious business this pumpkin carving...go muscles! And I promise - we do feed her!

I promise to wear make-up and get some sleep before I get into any other photo's!

Taking it all in. Cutest pumpkin ever!

Daddy & Pretty Princess!

Love the rain boots :)

Hay ride! Patrick is skeptical!

Girlfriend does love the cotton candy :)

bounce house face! She loved it and went in twice. Due to her super bouncing skills this was the only picture that came out clearly and its hilarious!

I do love my Nattie!

*bad language disclaimer*

There is a punkass little shitstained jerk of a turd in the preschool named Douglas Boardman. He is the type of crap that hurts other kids and gets a rush from it. You can see it in his face. Almost every day we hear some story from Nattie about how Douglas hit her or Douglas pushed her or xyz to one of her friends. This week he has hit her over the head w/ a wooden block (think big - like step stool size) and hit her in the stomach. Jame & I reached our limit with letting the kids work it out, etc and he told her to hit him back. I decided that probably wasn't the best advice and so I went to talk to the admin staff. I got a very PC song and dance about how "Douglas has a hard time expressing his 'big' feelings and difficulties making friends". Um, duh. I basically told them, point blank, that I was starting to be concerned that Nattie was going to get more than her feelings hurt and that was absofrikkenlutely unacceptable. I also called him a shitstain which they attempted to ignore but I could tell they were trying not to laugh.

Anyway, they have apparently had plenty of parent complaints and god knows how many teacher complaints about the little wet fart of a kid and so they are watching him closely and apparently doing a lot of one on one "counseling" with him on his behavior. Mom and Dad are "oh so important" and I guess are refusing to acknowledge that their little cherub might have a behavioral problem. Great, highly educated idiot surgeons... note heavy smart person sarcasm... I digress.

Then the admin people say that they think one of the reasons Nattie winds up in the thick of his abuse is because she doesn't back down from him. If he has done something bad, or hurt someone, etc she will stand up to him and fight for the rights of the good kids. (have I mentioned I love her?)

I just got a call from Jelena... Nattie came to her a little while ago and confessed that Douglas hit her...so she hit him back. Then she stole his toy. As Nattie would say..."Momma, he was cryin' and cryin'" I love her I love her I love her! I hope she hit him hard!

Conversation with Natalie - 10/29/09

Last week a big spider (think quarter sized) ran into our garage and under the car. We never saw it again. Nattie & Jame looked around but it was 'gone' somewhere and that was the end of the issue...or so I thought. FF to yesterday morning. we're driving to school and she starts talking about the spider under our car. I try to explain that he's home in the garage but she is adamant that he's under the car.

Me: no he's not still under the car because he fell off a few days ago when we went over a big pot hole.
Nattie: Nope, he's definitely still there.

Hmmmm....really wracking my brain now....and then I had an AHA! moment.

Me: He's definitely not there because spiders don't wear seatbelts and he fell off when his spider leg couldn't hold on.
Nattie: Yes, I think so too. Spiders don't wear seatbelts. He fell off!

She accepts this and agrees with me. We move on to another topic.... FF to last night.

"Mommy?! I think that spiders do wear seatbelts. I think they wear tiny, special seatbelts. One's made just for spiders. They have to or the police will yell at their Mommy's. I'll bet you he's still under the car!"

How do you argue with that?

And in keeping with tradition

Here's a link to view the 6 month pictures of the little monkeys!

Click here to view photos

Happy Half-a-Year Birthday Patrick!

My big boy spent his half-a-year birthday home w/ pink eye and a viral rash.

Some new stuff he's doing....

He can sit totally independently now for long long periods of time. 15 minutes or more. However, a good part of the time he chooses not to because he sees something that he wants and so will lunge for it. This has resulted in lots of rug burn on his face. He will also wriggle toward something or roll for it. He has also started flipping to his belly to sleep but then getting riteously pissed when he wakes and no one comes to flip him back over. Silly monkey!

Today I took him to have his 6 month well visit and he was a trooper. He is 16lbs and 26.5" which means he's in the 10% for weight and the 50% for height. Way to grow! He also got 6 vax. Took 'em like a champ. Mommy is breathing a MAJOR sigh of relief that 2 of the vax were seasonal and H1N1 flu. He'll still need boosters and hopefully there will still be supply in a month. But at least we've bought some time. Now, to get his sister some protection!

Took this picture yesterday. He was drooling like a maniac but since that's his deal these days I figure it'll be the perfect picture to represent him for 6m!

Pictures from this weekend

Every once in awhile I have one of those days where it just feels like all of the pictures are coming out great and its too hard to choose. This is about as 'narrowed down' as I could get. We had a really nice morning at the pumpkin patch. Here's the evidence :)

Natalie's sweater :)

I finally got her to model it for me. I think it came out beautiful but she refuses to wear it because "It's too hot!"

Patrick got motivated!

Saturday started like any other day..... But after lunch I plopped Patrick down on the floor and he sat there. All by himself. For about 10 minutes. The more times we did this the better he got...until he got tired. Anyway, he also decided that toys are cool and that sitting up gives you a lunging advantage when you want one. So, from a sitting position he will lunge forward into a complete face plant and then try to scootch toward the toy. Poor kid's got a decent amount of rug burn on his face. If he is your lap he will flop onto his belly or back and roll away.

Now...the really funny part... What does the boy want more than anything in the world? Our TV remote. Priceless!

24 hour project

The preschool/daycare decided to do "A Day in the Life" project and asked parents to take pictures to cover every hour of the day. Since the daycare serves a hospital, university and staff there's a good chance that lots of people actually are up, with their kids, at all hours. Very cool idea! I've cherry picked a few of my favorites from yesterday. Enjoy!

Lunch with Patrick!

Lovely girl!

Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?

I love this picture of us. Nattie wanted to take a few and Jame obliged. I am always on the other side of the camera and am just so pleased to have gotten such a good picture of the two of us!

CONGRATULATIONS JAMES!

Saturday afternoon James completed all his required course work to complete his Associates degree. He says it still doesn't feel real but after 2 years of non-stop classes I suspect it will feel more real when he doesn't have a new class start today.

We gave him a card to thank and congratulate him for his hard work and accomplishment and treated him to a Sunday afternoon of snacking, baseball and football.

Natalie drew him a rainbow and Patrick didn't throw up on him at all :)

He has obviously born the brunt of this work but our family has sacrificed a lot to support him in this. So, while I would like to focus on his accomplishment I'd like to give us all a big group hug for being so absolutely fabulous together!

CIO(lite) updates

Night one went pretty well - I had a talk w/ P before bed and let him know that we were done w/ the nonsense. He woke up around 11 but only fussed and went back to sleep until his usual 3:30. At that point he was full on crying and I decided I was giving him 20 minutes. After 20 he was still crying so I went in to find poo. Cleaned him up, put him back in bed and didn't hear another peep until I woke him to eat at 5.

Night two - I think definitely successful and am feeling optimistic! He did not wake at all until 3:30 (big surprise) but only fussed and fell back to sleep on his own around the 15 minute mark.

I would like to say to all those reading that even better than the CIO(lite) success is the fact that I stayed in my bed from 9pm until 5am! I didn't get up to help Patrick. Natalie did not wake screaming from t-storms. The dog didn't go out. The cat didn't come in. Even my bladder got on board and didn't need an emergency pee. I think its been more than a year since I stayed in bed for 8 straight hours. Miracle!

and we're on to Night 3. We'll see how it goes!

Game On, Patrick!

Patrick is 5 months and 7 days old and has NEVER slept thru the night. In fact I don't think he's ever slept for more than 4.5 hours at a stretch. I'm cooked! Over the weekend he was up every 45ish minutes from midnight on...all three nights.

I'm done. Tonight Patrick will being learning how to self-soothe. If he can find and reinsert his binky then thats beautiful...if he can't he needs to figure out how to go back to sleep. Farting at 3am does not constitute screaming loud enough to bring Mommy into the room.

So, its CIO or bust. I'm going to set our video monitor up this evening and if he isn't wedged half out of his crib or covered in vomit he's going to have to work it out on his own...because Mommy is alone, tired and working full time...and enough is enough is enough is enough.

So there!

5 month comparison

I think these month to month comparisons are so fun. Not that there is much chance these 2 could deny eachother at this point.... right down to the matching drooly chins ;) I can't believe how blue Nattie's eyes used to be. They're green now.

Two Firsts! and some photos :)

Here are the kids in their pat's gear. Bunky had to change into his alternate shirt because the drool and puke were too much for the first option ;)
And here is his classic deer caught in the headlights expression.

Typical exuberance!

And the first joint tubby! How insanely cute is this!

Next trick will be getting them both looking at the camera at the same time. Maybe we'll perfect that in time for the Christmas card photo!

And for the firsts - the tub was a biggy. But Patrick also mastered a super raspberry. not just any raspberry...but a super one. He was a spit bubble, noise making machine. Hilarious.

I am curious when that noise will cease to be cute. For now its adorable!

Project Number 2 - Complete

And successful in my opinion. I think based on Bunky's pace of lengthwise growth that it will fit for about 24 hours but I'm still really proud of it.

Nattie has decided she wants one too so I've got to figure out how to make this into a size 3. Hopefully it won't rattle my brain too much.

Today Nattie & I went to Michaels together to pick out the buttons for Patrick's sweater and for her buttons to go on her future matching sweater. She also picked out her yarn. A really pretty fushia and deep purple for the trim.

I think I will make them both matching hats too...just for fun :)

Lovey & Bunky - September '09

Looking awfully proud of her new "big sister" t-shirt!

Love this picture!

Not the greatest but they're both (sort of) looking at the camera so definitely worth sharing!

fake laugh and pissy baby - such is life!

Good Dog!

I've got a hobby dammit! (or damnit!)

So, for awhile there things got pretty crazy. After neglecting my garden to the point of having to rip it out w/ 3 months left in the season I got super upset about not having a single hobby. Thanks to Amy for the inspiration and the encouragement toward picking crochet back up. I completed my first project last night!

I even got Nattie to stop "shakin' her booty" for about 5 seconds this morning to take a picture. She was irritated about having to stay still, hence the forced smile.

and yeah....I realize this would be cuter over a long sleeved white shirt. But you're all going to need to use your imagination because it was 6am!


Not bad a'tall for a first try!