Sibling Rivalry.

I love when all the children are getting along.

A Real Baby.

Adam is starting to turn into a real little person. He's awake more during the day, usually pretty happily. Most of that time he'd been spending sitting on my knees and being talked at, or snuggling with Ellie, who always wants to hold him and have him be her "pal." And sometimes he's sitting in the swing or bouncer. I felt like he needed a little more entertainment though, so we put together the play mat the other night. It's a hit! He is perfectly happy laying in it and looking up at the various animals and doo dads and all the bright colors. But of course, guess who REALLY loves it?

You guessed it. We have to remind her often to leave some room for him.

And not to squish him

Fearless Fish.

We've had a nice long weekend. Nothing too crazy or exciting - we did some cleaning around the house, we had friends over for dinner, and yesterday morning we went to a friend's house in Irvine and went to their community lagoon to swim. A couple local communities have these lagoon-type pools - it's a concrete bottom and five feet deep in places, but most of the pool is only deep enough for wading, and there's sand around the edges. So a man made beach/pool combo. A winning combination!

This particular one also has a slide. And boy, was Ellie into the slide:

She is an absolutely fearless swimmer and slider. Thank goodness we had four parents for the three toddlers in the water so there was someone to help the kids onto the slide and catch them at the bottom (none of the kids seem to get that they had to put their feet down and stand up.)

We had a total blast, but it also confirms for me my initial suspicion that we won't be going to the lagoon or the beach club with just me trying to take on the two kids. There is no way I could be hands on enough with Ellie with Adam strapped to my chest, and with her moxie, she needs a full time pool monitor!

Thank Heaven For Little Boys.

It's fun to me to play "compare the kids," especially since we're dealing with a son and a daughter. When I was pregnant, I heard a lot about how boys were this and girls were that. Boys are easier, girls are sweeter, boys always love their mommies, girls take care of you, blah blah blah. Mostly I rolled my eyes because I think kids are kids, and I'm hoping to raise my kids to be good people, not to do something specifically because Elizabeth is a girl or Adam is a boy. My comparisons thus far are more about looks, and their little personalities. 

Though one of the things I heard a lot about a boy is that they're snugglier, and every time someone told me that, I shuddered a little, because Ellie did not nap without me holding her until she was fourteen months old. FOURTEEN MONTHS. That is a lot of snuggling, since she woke up at 8am and went to bed at 9pm. 

Thus far though, Adam is much snugglier. He eats less than Ellie did and is less urgent about it, but in the past few days, I've had to hold him basically non stop from 4am until he goes to bed at 9pm. Tim provides breaks, but I am slowly losing my mind. We're trying everything we know - swaddling, not swaddling, extra blankets, sleeping in just his clothes, white noise machine, silent room, dim light, sleeping in the living room with lots of noise and lights, sleeping in the swing and none of it seems to get us more than a half hour. Sometimes, no more than ten minutes, despite him being fully asleep when I lay him down.

Thank goodness for wraps - it's the only way anything gets done. Today he rode in the moby so I could make cupcakes and wash dishes. His help is not that appreciated, but I do sometimes think of the poem: 

Mother, O' Mother, come shake out your cloth,

Empty the dustpan, poison the moth.

Hang out the washing, make up the bed,

Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?

She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,

Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.

Dishes are waiting and bills are past due,

Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek - peekaboo.

The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew,

And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo.

But I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.

Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?

Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow,

But children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!

I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

~ Ruth Hulbert Hamilton

Two Months.

Look at who's two months old already! Adam Howard is turning into quite the young gentleman.

He continues to be a pretty good baby. Eats well, does one decent stretch of sleep at night, but then during the day I feel like I'm lucky if he can go a whole half hour without needing to be picked up. In his ideal world, I would hold him all day long. The good thing is that he's happy to sleep in a baby carrier, so that I can run errands and do things with Ellie.

When he's awake and alert, he's usually fairly good spirited. Like Ellie, he likes to be held upright so that he can see the world.

Unfortunately for him, he can't quite get upright on his own yet.

Funny Face.

Picnic with all of our animals. First Ellie drags them in using her wagon, then she gets them all set up (some of the animals "are not good sitters" and have to lean against the wagon) and then she brings them some fabulous food. We've been picnicking a lot lately.

Ellie helps herself to some snacks.

SO DELICIOUS!

My little goofus.

Today in the car she went on this big soliloquy about how Elmo and Cookie Monster are friends, and they're going to come and visit her, and they don't like Luna Bars, so she'll have to eat all of them. Understood kiddo.

Big Sistering, Part II.

Last week Ellie's best friend Lexi became a big sister to a little brother too, and there was much rejoicing around our house hold. Well, rejoicing, and some screaming when I had to tell Ellie REPEATEDLY for several days running that no, we could not go visit the new baby. No, we were not going to Lexi's house. No, we had not been invited to go to the hospital. Fine, we can look at the picture of the new baby on my phone. No, we cannot go see him, I just told you that. She gets a little stir crazy if she doesn't see Lexi at least once a week, and add the excitement of a new baby into the mix and it was total looney toons time.

Today we got to meet baby Judd, and it was wonderful to see both little girls being big sisters today. Mostly we were glad that they didn't fight too much, so that neither of the new nursing moms had to spend time breaking up disagreements over dumb plastic toys - the best is when they fight over a piece of plastic food.

Of course, we took a few pictures so that when the boys grow up a little bit and become best friends too, we can show them their history together.

I cannot BELIEVE how huge Adam looks. Granted, they are a full seven weeks apart, but I can't believe that Adam was once that small! (they were both roughly the same size at birth.) Please enjoy Adam's lovely fat rolls. I love his chunky legs.

And of course, the big sisters got in on the action.

Such sweethearts!

It'll be good for the boys to have each other as they get bigger, because goodness knows Ellie and Lexi each have their own pair of bossy pants.

Big Sistering.

Even if Adam DOESN'T know it, he's happy and Ellie wants him to clap his hands.

Funny Kiddos.

Just a few random stories. Sometimes when I talk about someone being hungry, I describe them as a hungry bear. Ellie likes to correct me and say what animal she or Adam REALLY is. Apparently, she is a hungry squirrel, and Adam is a hungry giraffe. Both animals that are known to be ravenous, obviously.

Also animal related - when we do lotion time after bath, I rub some onto her cheeks and tell her I'm giving her kitty whiskers, then I sort of sweep my fingers off her cheeks like I'm making whiskers. She has now taking to lotioning her own face while saying "I'm doing my kitty whiskers, and my kitty belly, and my kitty knees, and my kitty butt," all while waving her hands around. No mention of a kitty tail though.

We have discovered her extreme love of play doh, which I also love because she will sit at the dining room table and play by herself, provided I look over and tell her that I like what she's making. It gives me a chance to nurse Adam without her being right in my face, or whining for me to help her. Thank you play doh, you are a godsend. I hope Ellie doesn't eat too much of you when I'm not looking.

The other day she announced to me that her daddy's name was Tim, and my name was Meg. I asked her what her name was, and she started crying and saying she didn't remember. She's been very into names lately - when Adam was in the car crying I said "oh Adam Adam, it's okay," and she said "that's not his name. His name is Adam Howard." She's trying to figure out her full name, and while she can say Adam Howard quite well, she cannot say Rosemarie for the life of her. She does however, understand that Howie and Rosie are Grizz's mommy and daddy.

Speaking of Grizz, I present to you, the last photo before his mustache grew in:

There is a strong family resemblance.

Smiley Doo.

It's been a looooooong day. It's been impossible to put Adam down and Ellie has just been straight up impossible. Any time that her brother was asleep, she was whining and crying and screaming about things (ie, we were not sitting and reading books or coloring or doing fun things that didn't involve him.) And then during the forty five minutes when both children were asleep and not being held, Lulu came and tried to stick her butt in my face. It is hard to be the most popular person in this house, and to be so out numbered.

But the upside is that this is beginning to happen:


Enjoy the terrible quality!

Mother's Day

We had a lovely family weekend with our darling kiddos. We all slept in until 7:30 on Saturday morning, and on Sunday I crawled back into bed post AM feeding and then got to sleep until 9. NINE! That is practically mid afternoon! When I got up, Tim had all of the children piled on his lap, watching Daniel Tiger, and once he was free from them, he went and got me coffee and a donut, and we opened all my cards. Perfect morning! Then we went over to celebrate with Gigi, which involved a trip to the park and a nice soak in the spa. I am amazed at how much bigger Ellie is in the pool - last year she'd walk around the spa and the water was up to her shoulders, now it's only waist level.

I had hoped that mom and I could get out to see the Great Gatsby, but the timing didn't end up working, so I went to the gym instead. That's the same thing as a movie, right? I thought I was doing such a good job with walking and jogging, but I almost died back on the elliptical. There is work left to do!

When everyone woke up and got cleaned up, we went over to celebrate Mimi, and had a nice, relaxed night. Ellie played outside with Pa, Adam ate a lot and slept a little and we had a nice dinner together. Plus Ellie convinced her grandparents to have a dance party, and told me to go away so that they could dance. Well excuuuuuuuse me.

This morning seven week old Adam had his six week check up. He's 11lbs, 13oz and 23 inches long, so he's gained nearly three pounds and grown two inches since his second week of life. He's in the 75th percentile for height and weight, with a head that it's in the 98th. Much less his giant melonheaded sister. Even though he was half a pound smaller at birth, he's a full pound bigger than she was at the same age, so it looks like thus far, he's avoided my short genes. He's also starting to coo a little and showed off for the doctor, who pronounced him perfect. He's a delightful little pork roast.

Performing a 45 pound dead lift. In a pinch, I can carry both of them and a diaper bag.

Everyone's looking at the camera! The bigger Adam gets, the greater resemblance I'm seeing between the kids. It's still funny to me to say "the kids." For so long, everything was "the baby" (as in Ellie) and sometimes, "the inside baby and the outside baby" when discussing both children. But now everything is "the kids." I am so lucky to have two such beautiful, sweet, funny kids.

Jammers.

Six weeks after he left the hospital wearing them, it's time to retire Adam's astronaut jammies. He's too big for them! Good thing we have more astronaut jammies in various sizes coming down the pipeline via hand me downs. Only the best for the little man who shares his birthday with Jim Lovell.

Growing.

Well, we sadly had to put Becca on a plane yesterday. Her help over the past week was amazing - having someone to hold Adam so I could get things done and entertain Ellie when I was nursing. She really was a team player - changing nasty blow out diapers, getting peed on once, having Ellie refuse to hold her hand (jerk!) It was so nice to have her keeping me company and making me laugh. Really, the only reason we let her go home is because I already have my plane tickets to see her in July and celebrate her wedding.

Meanwhile, we were back to our regular music class this morning. We missed last week because we were getting Bec at the airport. When we went to make the lesson up on Monday afternoon, Ellie lost her marbles over the fact that Lexi wouldn't be there. Then this morning when I told her Lexi was sick and wouldn't be at our regular class, there was copious weeping in the kitchen. Hopefully next week! We did get to go to the park beforehand, and then there was some dancing at music, like usual. Adam slept through most of it, which I appreciate. Then we were able to join the knitters at the newly reopened Pedros, where Ellie ate her very own taco, and I put down a burrito like I'd never eaten before. Nursing makes me hoooooongry.

Adam continues to be an excellent nurser. He is different from his sister in that he will get full and refuse to eat more - he'll actually cry if he's tired and full and milk goes into his mouth. Ellie would have eaten until her stomach exploded. Last weekend seemed to be a big growth spurt for our little guy, and after spending several days feeding him mostly nonstop, he's thankfully doing a lot more sleeping and when I did the laundry I had to pull out several outfits that he's outgrown. He's solidly into his 3 month outfits, while Ellie is pushing mostly into 3T clothing. My stack of laundry to space bag was almost larger than my stack of laundry to put back in the dressers. WHO AUTHORIZED THIS! They are all so big.

Adam is starting to look more like his sister to me. Everyone keeps commenting how similar they look, and I haven't really seen it. Then I took this picture and was forced to acknowledge the resemblance:

They are both cute - Tim and I make good babies.

Seis.

Adam is going to be six weeks old in a matter of hours. The time has gone amazingly fast. With Ellie, I was counting down the days until six weeks because I was told it was going to get "easier" but with Adam, we've just sort of moved right along. We have our tough moments, but there is much less sobbing, overall. He's a sweet little guy, and we are six weeks in with no big displays of jealousy from his big sister.

We had a crazy busy weekend. Becca and I are really having a blast together, and two of our LA girlfriends came down for visits, and then Frank and Jasmin and Lucas stopped by yesterday afternoon. Party all the time! Plus Ellie got to go to the petting zoo yesterday morning. And we had an additional animal sighting.

Yesterday morning most of us were up at 6am (hooray... yawn) and around 7 I was going to the garage to grab a Diet Coke. I opened the door and had a small creature scurry to my feet. I thought it was a rat and started screaming, and then as I was slamming the door shut, realized it was actually a possum. Tim came running out of bed in his underwear at the sound of my screams and the word "baby" (for baby possum.) Not the way we all wanted to start our mornings. I went and opened the garage door from the outside, and called animal control. They said they don't come out unless you can tell them exactly where the animal is, and in the case of a small possum, all they'd do is shoo it. Tim tried to tell me that since possums are marsupial, I couldn't have possibly seen a baby one, and I told him it was small, but I wouldn't have been screaming if it was an inch long pink eraser looking thing. It was a varmint! Maybe not a full grown varmint, but one none the less. When we finally went out to shoo, we found no possums in the garage, just a napkin he'd chewed. I am still a little nervous to go out there - I hope the whole family isn't living in the rafters and just waiting silently to drop on my head. We're pretty sure he came in because we accidentally left the garage door open the other night.

Ellie is IN LOVE with the idea of the possum. We discuss him multiple times a day now - how he came in to drink all our soda (Auntie Becca's contribution) and how I told him to go home and see his mommy, and how he scared me. She also likes to say how she went out and held him and shushed him (a bold faced lie) and how silly it all was. Silly in a wild animal surprising the crap out of me way.

Balancing Act.

Such head control. He's advanced.

Much like his sister before him.

(in both instances, Tim needs a hair cut.)

Auntie Becca.

Hello loyal blog friends. Sorry for the slow week. It's been a slow week, except for the fact that on Wednesday morning we picked Auntie Becca up at the airport, HOORAY! I am so happy to have her here, not only because I love her to death, but because lately I feel like the wheels are sort of coming off being a mother of two, and I am eternally grateful for the second pair of hands. Lately it feels impossible to do anything if both children are awake, because one baby is always screaming for me. And hearing screaming all day makes me a little loony. Thankfully, Adam loves snuggling with Becca, and Ellie loves looking at pictures of cats and playing in the tent with her. Also, Becca is sleeping on the trundle bed in Ellie's room. SLEEPOVER PARTY!

Adam has started to give some huge gassy smiles. I cannot WAIT until he gives me a real one. I will eat his face when that happens.

Becca told me I had to put Adam in a real piece of clothing instead of just pajamas. He is wearied by it. He is nearly six weeks old and this is only his second day out of footie pajamas (I had him in a onesie once.)

Considering smiling!

Someone is turning into a big fat fatty!

From Sunday evening - Ellie and her Mommy Matters pals got together at the park, and we tried to take a picture of all of them. As you may recall, Ellie has been SCREAMING through these pictures for the past year or so. This time she didn't scream, but she at first refused to sit.

Then I promised her a piece of candy

I didn't have any with me though. SUCKER. I cannot believe that they're all almost three, and that half of these kiddos are big siblings now or will be before the month is out (the two guys at the end are brothers, so cute!)