Miss M's special tent

It was a little rainy this morning. Mr. Man took a decent nap this morning so we couldn't go anywhere so Miss M and I decided to built a tent.  I got a sheet and threw it over the dining room table, taped some christmas lights to the top of the table, and then threw down some blankets.  Miss M enjoyed laying there and playing under the table this morning.

This afternoon she used it as a quiet place to go and lay down without going to her room when she was tired.  As in she actually went there herself to be still for a few minutes. She never is just still unless she happens to fall asleep for her nap.  Yesterday I heard the pitter patter of feet upstairs when she was supposed to be napping and so I went upstairs and she was in our bathroom. I asked her what she was doing and she told me she was awake (clearly) and when I asked why she wasn't sleeping she told me it was because she was a ballerina and proceeded to twirl.  Good grief.

I think the tent might become a permanent decoration in the dining room.

On a random note: This morning we were playing in the basement and she said to me "I have this all under control".  She also likes to tell me that she "has this all herself".  She's an independent little thing.  I appreciate her independence most of the time but sometimes I find it absolutely exhausting.

Pics with Aunt Janany

Aunt Janany leaves tomorrow.  It will be sad to see her leave. Next week we will get to spend a couple days with Aunt Nessie (yay!!!).

We were sitting outside killing time before a baby melted down and a two year old needed to go to bed so I remembered to get out the camera and take a few pictures.

Here's a picture of the front of the house. It's a nice looking house.  

T.O.

Miss M has a T.O (time out) box made of painters tape on the stairs.

I needed to do something.  She's become very argumentative and I don't have time to explain everything or listen to why she can't do things.  She has a reason for everything.

We can't go to the store because it's closed.
We can't go outside because it's too sunny, too cold, too rainy, too dark.
We can't go to the zoo because it's not Tuesday.  She's obsessed with Tuesday.

She's only had one real T.O. but we do find her sitting in her T.O. box occasionally.  She doesn't realize that a T.O. isn't where she wants to be.  Let's hope we don't have to use our T.O. box very often but she should be warned...I am not afraid to use it.

Scary

I found these too.

And to just make sure we never lose these pictures I wanted to post them.

Enjoy.

I don't know the circa of these pictures but it doesn't matter.  They are both terrible.

Bald Craig.

 Permed Craig

Miss M and Mr Man

I was cleaning out some pictures and found a picture of Miss M around 2 or 2.5 months and then took a picture of Mr. Man around the same time period.

I don't really think they look alike but people comment how they think they look similar. They both have big brown eyes. His eyes are officially brown although I am not sure they were ever blue.  And they both have Uncle Craig's chin. Both are adorable. 

Update from around here

We signed Miss M up for gymnastics class through the local park district. They are supposed to have a really good program and actually teach the kids stuff.  She seems to enjoy the activities.  I signed her up for another session.  The coach/instructor is really good with the kids and understands how 2 year olds operate which is helpful when you have a very opinionated 2 year old.

Miss M can do a forward roll by herself rather well.  The instructor gives the kids homework before they leave each week. The homework is a little sheet of paper where it has an activity for them to work on. This week she's working on laying on her stomach and grabbing her feet and looking up in a "fish flop".  She's pretty good at it and enjoys having activities to do at home.

As I have been out of commission for serious activities ie running around a gym chasing and lifting a 2 year old Andrew has been able to help her in class.

 Miss M doing a forward roll "all her self".  She is quite independent - all the time.

Grandma D and Mr. Man are best friends.  Grandma D left on Saturday after being here for about 10 days. It was sad to see her go. I think Mr. Man was the saddest. She fed him, talked to him, bathed him, rocked him, and carried him around.  He was well fed while Grandma was here.  Grandma's motto was "when in doubt - feed him".  

Grandma left on Saturday and Aunt Janany came Monday via the train.  We were able to go to the train station and pick her up. Miss M was pretty impressed with the train station and watching the train come in from a distance.  She was rather terrified of the train when it pulled into the station because it was really loud and not as sweet as the cartoon trains. Aunt Janany made us dinner Monday night and Miss M was able to help her make homemade rolls.  She loves to help in the kitchen.

Aunt Janany thinks it's important to bathe the children on a daily basis. I think weekly is fine.  I have stated that Miss M hates baths which is probably why I feel like a weekly bath is sufficient.  She has discovered a travel baby tub for Mr. Man and insists on having it in the tub with her.  Whatever works.

Happy Birthday to Madcat

Miss M thinks that just about every day is her birthday. She announces it's her birthday and then she tells me she needs birthday cake.

I don't know why she thinks every day is her birthday. She's two. End of story.

Since she thought yesterday was her birthday she let me take birthday pictures of her.

The inevitable

I bought a crib for Mr. Man because I didn't want to move Miss M out of her crib (her crib converts to a toddler bed and a full size bed so we'll get plenty of use out of it).  The idea of a toddler sleeping in a bed she can get out of anytime she wanted to gave me nightmares.

But then I had surgery and couldn't lift her and while Grandma D was here to help sometimes she was occupied with Mr. Man.  I would go to Miss M's room and try to stall her out but eventually she won.  I had her stand on the step stool and throw her leg over the crib rail to get in bed. And when it was time to get out of bed I put the step stool in her crib and had her shimmy down! It wasn't the safest or smartest idea I have had so Grandma and I changed her crib to a toddler bed.

So far it's been a success. I don't think she yet realizes that she can get in and out of her bed. Or her room is dark enough all the time that she is scared to get out of her bed without an adult or the light on. Either way. She's staying in her bed.  The first nap was a disaster. She didn't sleep but this isn't uncommon. She skips naps on me a lot.  She went right to bed the first night but woke up at 5:50 am when she normally wakes between 7:30 and 8:00 am.  It was a rough morning as 5:50 am is unacceptable when there's a newborn in the house.  She's since been on track and has been taking naps and sleeping in her bed quite well.  We are lucky she can't open the door so she's sort of trapped in there for now if she would get out of bed.

She's obsessed with measuring tapes.

 She's so excited she's throwing Handy Manny around.

Now that we have her sleeping arrangement figured out we can start decorating her room instead of having empty walls. Putting stuff on the walls feels like such a commitment.  And I don't know what I want to do yet. 

Surgery

Yesterday Andrew and I woke up bright and early to head to the hospital for my abdominal hernia surgery.  After Mr. Man was born I noticed I felt nauseous frequently and when I did dishes or put Miss M in her bed there was a pain where the counter/crib hit my stomach.  Then one day when I was wondering around Costco with the children and Mimi I noticed there was a bulge in the area of my abdomen corresponding with the pain. I webmd'ed myself and then called the doctor. The doctor confirmed what I already knew and sent me to a surgeon.  The surgeon then again confirmed what I had already determined and we scheduled a surgery date. 

Grandma D arrived Monday evening and Tuesday morning we left for an outpatient procedure.  We did a lot of sitting around before we actually had the surgery.  We had our own room to wait but there was no bed in the room rather just a chair. I was kind of looking forward to just sleeping before and after the surgery (to catch up from the past few weeks/months of loss of sleep/interrupted sleep) but it was hard to get too comfortable in a plastic hospital chair.

Sexy.

This was before he broke out the computer and phone and worked all morning and afternoon. At least he was productive. There's nothing like getting out of surgery and feeling crummy and listening to your husband yammer on a conference call for an hour an a half.

While we were gone Grandma pumped Mr. Man full of formula. He loves formula and Grandma loves to feed babies and make them fat.  I think it would be safe to cancel his appointment in a few weeks for a weight check since I have no doubt he will have gained an adequate amount of weight since the last appointment. Grandma then rocked Mr. Man to sleep around 10pm. I went in at 11:00pm and shoved his pacifier back in his mouth and rocked him in his sleeper. I woke up at 5:15am to go check on him and see if he was still breathing. And it's currently 6:40am and I don't think he's awake yet and if he is he isn't making much noise (I am in the basement, however, and he's on the top floor).  

I don't know if there's a correlation between the amount of food he ingested all day and his sleeping or if he just knew that it was Andrew's night to wake up and feed him since I can't lift him due to soreness but it doesn't matter. He has the capability to sleep all night! Now we just need this to be the norm! I would love to sleep all night again on a regular basis!

Grandma's next task...potty train Miss M!

Weekend fun

The second child gets shorted in ways the first one didn't. I didn't realize how many ways there would be.  Miss M took a bath every night. Mr. Man is lucky to get a bath once a week.  As previously mentioned, Miss M is not into taking baths and the idea of both of them at the same time was initially overwhelming but we did it this weekend and it worked well.  Granted we were playing man to man and not the typical zone defense that goes on around here so it helped but I think maybe I can do this by myself...maybe.

While taking a bath with Mr. Man, Miss M was willing to sit down and take a bath like a normal person and she was more than happy to dump water all over Mr. Man.

We went to a new park this weekend and picked up a bucket of chicken and sides on the way. It was nice to not have to prepare the picnic food and it was even better to throw it all away before leaving the park and not bringing a mess home. We ate our food, played some kick ball, and then walked to the playground equipment to run off the remaining energy of the day.  It seems like all these parks have sandboxes. I wish they didn't. I think sandboxes are dirty and breeding grounds for germs but Miss M seems drawn to them like a moth to the flame. And it's almost impossible to distract her from wanting to play in them.  I need to find non-sandbox parks.

 We just hung out outside when we got home - shockingly Miss M insisted on watching shows.

Another day

Mr. Man was not at his best post 2 month appointment. His leg swelled from the shots and he was irritable.  We slept like this most of the evening.  We did find out that his blood levels from his heel prick came back normal so he's not a sun burnt baby but rather just a darker complected baby.  

Miss M likes her pool but prefers to play on the outside of it. She doesn't like the pool to be dirty so we have to empty the pool and refill it every time she wants to play in it.  She asks to be a naked baby when she plays in the pool.

Mr. Man has taken to formula like a fish to water. The boy loves himself some food.  He eats all the time. He is so much more content after eating and he doesn't scream at me as much.  The doctor said he would/should (I don't know which is appropriate) eat between 4-6 oz every 4 hours.  It's only been a couple days but I have a difficult time getting him to make it four hours before he wants to eat again or before he starts screaming at me and I solve the problem with food.  The guy is going to get huge quick.

Miss M loves to help. Today I was preparing bottles by just putting water in them so I am at least 10 seconds ahead of Mr. Man freaking out when he's hungry.  Her job was to put the cap on each of the bottles but before I knew it she was drinking the water from each of the bottles. She refuses to drink water. She chokes on water every time she drinks it. I don't know what her aversion to water is but apparently she likes water from Mr. Man's bottles.  Needless to say I had to clean the nipples and refill the bottles when she was done playing/helping.

Mr. Man's 2 month appt

We loaded up the car and headed into the city so Mr. Man and I could go to his 2 month check up and Miss M could go with Aunt Nessie to the zoo.  Miss M loves the zoo and Aunt Nessie.

The zoo would have been way more fun than Mr. Man's appointment.

We learned the following:

Weight: 12 lbs 3 ozs - 50%
Height: 24.5 inches long - 100%
Head circumference: 50%

He has stayed consistent in his height and head circumference but unfortunately his weight shows he is under gaining.  He was in the 75% last time we went and this time he's in the 50%.  The good news is he's gaining.  The bad news is that he isn't gaining enough. It was determined that he's not getting enough food and therefore we are going to start bottle feeding him immediately to monitor his consumption intake. He should be eating around 4-6 ounces (per the doctor) and he's eating around 3 ounces.  I am upset with myself and therefore having a pity party about what a negligent parent I am to not know this.

After our appointment, I drowned my sorrows in a cheeseburger, fries, Coke and cookie milkshake and feel better pretty quickly!  I also did some online shopping to make myself feel a little better.


The doctor and I also talked about his coloring.  I get asked a lot whether he's sun burnt. Uh no.  I might be negligent and not feed him enough but I am not negligent enough to sunburn him (cough...grandma).  The doctor said she agreed he looked a little yellow but thought his eyes looked white enough but to be sure we went to the children's hospital for outpatient lab work.  I was so thankful Miss M wasn't with us.  They were relatively quick to get us in but then struggled to get enough blood out of his heel.  He has such skinny heels and it hurts me to think what it feels like to be stabbed in the heel for a blood draw. He survived. So did I.

He essentially slept the rest of the day until I woke him at 8pm to eat.  I wish I could have slept too.

He's a sweet one. These are pictures from yesterdays tummy time.

This is a picture of Mr. Man and his friend Sam.  Sam is the son of Andrew's college friend who lives in the city and just found out their bid on a house in our town was accepted.  They will move to the area in August and will live exactly .5 miles away but they won't go to the same schools until they go to high school.  This is baffling to me.  We are excited to have friends move close by.

Mr. Man is 2 months old! and other random notes

We head to the doctor tomorrow for updated stats and hopefully some answers to questions! But everyone really just wants pictures! So here ya go!

 He started smiling which melts my heart especially since it comes with sweet coos.

He has large dark eyes like Miss M.  I don't think his eyes were ever really blue but rather dark on the verge of brown since he was born.

He has expressions similar to his sister also!

While Mr. Man celebrated his 2 month birthday with a long nap Miss M painted pictures.  She likes to craft.

She loves these hand-me-down Thomas pj's we got from Aunt Jessie.  They are flannel and it's summer.  That's how much she likes them.  She wore them all day until bath time when I convinced her (forced her) to take them off for a bath.  After her bath she put on her other favorite hand-me-down Mouse pj's. Bath time has become quite a miserable experience for everyone. She won't sit down and doesn't want washed. She screams like you're cutting off a limb.  I have no idea why.  She's been doing this for awhile now.  It's exhausting.  I tried bathing her in the middle of the day thinking she didn't want a bath because she associated it with bedtime but same nonsense.  I think it's because she's traumatized from having water poured on her head but she can't figure out how to look up and not washing her hair isn't an option.

Here's me and my munchkins

Daddy's helper

Andrew worked on his wood working projects this weekend in the garage and Miss M was excited to help him. She went in the house and found her toolbox and helped him most of Saturday and Sunday.

Andrew's "cheese" smile.

 Andrew's regular smile.

And Mr. Man slept in the stroller in his suit that helps (but doesn't prevent) the twitching.