Sibling Rivalry

I have, for the last three months, been trying to get a good picture of the kids together. I even went so far as to have professional pictures taken, only to find out that even professionals struggle to get a toddler to cooperate with having her smiling picture taken next to a baby.

The problem is not getting the two of them framed in the same shot. And I've given up caring if both of them are smiling, much less looking at the camera at the same time. The problem is that every time Abby is close enough to Caleb for his hand or foot to accidentally touch her, she pushes the offending appendage away and yells "Go!" as if he should understand and respect her personal space issues.

If I can snap the picture quick enough, I can catch them before Caleb invades his sister's personal space and before Abby realizes he's sitting so close. And voilà...a decent picture is born!

Brain Freeze

As has become our mid-week custom, Rebecca and I dragged the kiddos to Chick-fil-a for nuggets and some pre-nap playtime today. The girls were adorable, as usual, and kept each other entertained with some odd finger-grabbing game and a high-pitched squealing competition.

After lunch we treated them to ice cream (which Abby Jean calls "yummy!") and were brave/dumb enough to let them hold the cones by themselves for the first time. This experiment in independence actually went fairly well, as the girls are far less inclined to throw down ice cream than they are their sippy cups. Abby Jean is used to ice cream, and took her time enjoying her own personal kids cone. Abby Mae's family treats ice cream as less of an after-dinner standard and more of a special treat, so she was a bit more excited about her dessert. I think she probably would have eaten the paper if her mom hadn't rescued it.

Meanwhile, the boys, completely oblivious to the lunchtime mayhem, kept themselves entertained with a snoring contest in the corner.

A good night's sleep

Spike's been with us for 12 weeks now, and the Family of Fish is continuing to adjust to the excitement. We started to see a glimmer of normalcy creep back into our lives at around 6 weeks when Caleb finally pulled off an 8 hour stretch of uninterrupted nighttime sleep. After a few days of baby boot camp, I'm pleased to report that our son graduated with highest honors and at 12 weeks he's sleeping about 11 hours a night. It's amazing how much more effective our parenting is when we're well rested!

Naptime boot camp kicked off last week in an effort to establish some sort of day time sleep routine other than "Hey mom, I'm gonna sleep whenever I want and wake up screaming at a time that's real inconvenient for everyone...like Abby's naptime." We'll see how that goes...

Our not-so-little guy is weighing in at over 15 pounds now. He's a stocky little fellow, with plenty of fat rolls, a couple of chins, and absolutely no neck. Seriously, I looked. It's not there. He obviously finds his parents and older sister hysterical, because he spends a lot of time smiling at us as if he's in on some joke the rest of us are unaware of. He enjoys sitting up in his Bumbo seat and looking at himself in the mirror, and absolutely loathes being on his tummy. And by loathes, I mean screams bloody murder until someone flips him back over.

He's a good kid. I think we'll keep him.

Obedience training

The instructions were: "Abby, it's time to clean up. Go into your playroom and pick up all the toys off the floor and put them away."

Sure enough, when I checked on her a minute or so later, the floor of the playroom was clear of debris. The ball pit was another story. I guess in her 20-month-old mind, she did exactly what I asked.

Never too young

Teaching a toddler about the world around her is a full time job. And it's of utmost importance to us that our kids understand more than primary colors and how to stack blocks...so I've started, probably a little early, to try to impart some basic Bible truths to our 20-month-old.

So far every time I ask her "Abby, who made you?" she answers with "Mommy." Which is pretty smart, if you think about it...but the answer I'm looking for is "God." I was beginning to get discouraged, but I understand God is sort of a lofty abstract idea for a toddler, so I started telling her about how God made everything (Mommy, Daddy, Caleb, Abby, flowers, puppies, etc.) and how God is our Father in Heaven.

She was listening with uncommonly rapt attention, so I tried a new question that I hadn't asked before:

"Abby, where do we learn about God?"

My daughter's genius response: "Bible!"

She's starting to get the picture. Farewell, discouragement!

Actually, it has nothing to do with eggs

From Brightly colored babies

Resurrection Hymn

See, what a morning, gloriously bright, with the dawning of hope in Jerusalem;
Folded the grave-clothes, tomb filled with light, as the angels announce, "Christ is risen!"
See God's salvation plan, wrought in love, borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,
Fulfilled in Christ, the Man, for He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

See Mary weeping, "Where is He laid?" As in sorrow she turns from the empty tomb;
Hears a voice speaking, calling her name; it's the Master, the Lord raised to life again!
The voice that spans the years, speaking life, stirring hope, bringing peace to us,
Will sound till He appears, for He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

One with the Father, Ancient of Days, through the Spirit who clothes faith with certainty.
Honor and blessing, glory and praise to the King crowned with pow'r and authority!
And we are raised with Him, death is dead, love has won, Christ has conquered;
And we shall reign with Him, for He lives: Christ is risen from the dead!

Words and Music by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2003 Kingsway Thankyou Music

The incredible shrinking bear

Caleb's two month check-up confirmed what we already knew...he's a big, healthy baby. At just over two feet tall and weighing in at 13.5 pounds, it looks like we've got another good eater on our hands. He's off-the-charts tall for his age and in the 76th percentile for his weight. He may not be Abby's "little" brother for long.

What a difference a few weeks makes. I don't know how Caleb's bear shrunk so much between the time he was two weeks old (below) and two months old (above), but if this keeps up, I'm going to run out of room on this shag rug to take his picture.

He's still a great baby, with the exception of the post-bathtime screeching he insists on every night. He's sleeping about 10 hours a night now and eats and naps fairly consistently during the day. Oh, and he stays plenty warm--Abby insists on piling blankets on him whenever he's in his swing, and is somewhat obsessed with putting hats on his head (and by hat, I may mean an actual hat, or I may mean a plastic bowl from her toy kitchen).

Clean up on aisle five

Call me crazy, but I really had a good time lugging three kids to the grocery store. No one argued with my decision to park in the New and Expectant Mothers' spot up front when they saw me pull two toddlers and a baby out of my minivan. The girls had a blast driving their grocery car and screaming "beep beep" at each other while they honked the little plastic horns. So what if I had to follow some lady out to the parking lot in order to get the car with two working steering wheels? It was worth it when I saw the smiles on the Abbys' faces.

Also, I now know why moms always block traffic in both directions by driving these oversized buggies down the center of the aisle. All that stuff on the bottom shelves is just way too tempting for the 2-and-under crowd. Thanks to my watchful eye, I was able to replace the yams, sour patch kids and triscuits Abby Jean apparently wanted to bring home. I might have a little kleptomaniac on my hands.

Semantics

In her continued quest for autonomy, Abby has decided that she should have some say over what she answers to. She's okay with Abs, Curly, Abstinator, Greasy, Abby Jean and Cutie, but I have recently learned that there is one nickname to which she will no longer answer.

There was a foul stench permeating the playroom, and the usual suspect was once again surely at fault. Turning to my odiferous daughter, I asked a question with which she is all too familiar.

"Abby," I asked politely, "are you stinky?"

"No!" came her hasty reply.

Knowing she most certainly was stinky, I asked again, "Abby, are you stinky?"

"No!" she replied with utmost confidence.

This child knows when she's stinky, and is usually pretty quick to admit it and race toward her room for a diaper change. Her lying was beginning to confuse and annoy me at this point.

"Abby," I said, a little more firmly this time, "are you stinky?"

"No!" she answered, echoing my firmness. "I Abby!"

I guess I'll be rephrasing that question from now on.

The house that mom built

Okay, I admit it. Justin helped too. He's responsible for the detailed carving of the portholes and moon and star cutouts in the ceiling. But I'm taking credit for design and construction.

Our newest addition to the playroom is a spacious two room castle created by expanding our existing fort with the help of our latest shipment of diapers. The arched double doors in the grand foyer welcome you into the two-story great room featuring portholes on all four walls, and the porthole on the north is actually a working window that rotates open and closed. The open-air roof lets light in through the sun roof on the front and the multiple stars cut into the ceiling create a beautiful star-pattern inside when light shines in. A working extra-wide arched door leads into the reading room located off of the great room and both the door and the ceiling flaps can be opened or shut to offer more privacy. The exterior has been professionally decorated by none other than our own little Abby and her favorite red crayon. This cozy getaway was a huge hit with the three little girls I had running around my house yesterday. I'm pretty proud of our creation.

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