Blog Archive

Friday, May 29, 2009

She's in love with the boy

I spoke with another mom this past week and we lamented the sad fact of just how quickly time passes with little ones. It really does seem as if the last four months have flown by since Caleb joined our family. (Ironic, isn't it, how each day seems to drag by so slowly, but when you look back at the past months, they seem to have passed in the blink of an eye?)

At four months our little man is growing cuter and more active by the day. He's proven he can roll over (or be rolled by his sister if she gets tired of waiting for him to flop onto his belly on his own), but he doesn't do it often. I think he realizes that rolling over lands him on his tummy. (Tummy time is classified as one of his very least favorite things ever...so much so that he'll blister his toes kicking and pushing against the floor to try to flip back over.)

He's ticklish in the oddest of places. Belly poking and running fingers over the bottoms of his little feet do little to amuse him, but something about getting dressed and undressed just tickles him silly. It seems the backs of his arms and his neck are terribly sensitive, which makes peeling clothes on and off of him a pretty intense giggle-fest.

He's quite social, and rewards whatever attention he gets from us with a big toothless grin that shows off his adorable dimples. Look away, and it only takes an instant for that smile to turn into a pretty exaggerated pout.

Caleb's getting more and more adept with his hands and fingers. He loves to grab at his toys, my hair and his big sister's curls, and finds sucking on his index and middle finger to be quite satisfying. When those two fingers aren't enough, he'll punch at his own face until he lands a couple of fingers from each hand into his mouth.

His little grunts and coos are nonstop in the morning and when he wakes up from his naps, and are starting to take on more vocal sounds. After 12 hours of sleep, it seems as if he's got lots to catch us up on after breakfast. His naps have fallen into a predictable routine: two hours in the morning, 2.5 hours in the afternoon and about an hour at night. (I had a mommy victory a few weeks ago when I managed to organize their naps in such a way that I have both of them napping at the same time after lunch. Yay for 2.5 hours of peace and quiet each afternoon!)

Caleb's four-month check-up found him in excellent health, weighing in at a hefty 16 lbs, 3 oz. and stretching out to 26 inches tall. His development seems to be right on track, and the doctor was pleased with how well he sits up with assistance. He's been trying to pull his upper body up on his own, but so far can only lift his head and shoulders off the floor. When we offer him our fingers as leverage, he's able to pull his chunky little body into a sitting position. From this angle, his head is usually on a swivel as he tries to keep his eyes on his big sister running circles around him.

I still get emotional thinking back to a year ago when we found out we were pregnant and the uncertainty that came with the positive pregnancy test. Seeing our little Peanut--just a little blob of a baby at that point--moving around on the ultrasound was an answer to the first of many prayers that would mark my second pregnancy. Now here he is, our little miracle, a true testimony of God's faithfulness!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Not the squarest of meals

After Abby spent our entire car ride home from the grocery store yesterday chanting "donut! donut!" I decided I'd treat her to a special breakfast. So this morning, armed with a banana and some orange juice to round out our healthy morning meal, I took her to a local donut shop for a sweet treat. Her custom donut (honey glaze and colorful sprinkles) hit the spot, and she was wired for the rest of the morning.

I'm not sure why she was chanting "donut" yesterday, since it's been weeks since she's had one, but the kid's got a mind of her own, and the words that come out of her mouth never cease to surprise me--like when the cashier handed me my cup of decaf this morning and Abby pointed to it and said "cawkee!"

"Yes Abby, that's mommy's coffee," I affirmed for her.

"Abby cawkee?" she asked.

Oh brother...

Monday, May 25, 2009

Priorities in parenting

Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
~Proverbs 22:6


I've commented before on how seriously we take our responsibility as parents. There is nothing more rewarding as a parent than to see your training paying off.

We've done our best to imbue Abby with a sincere appreciation for good barbecue. It's been hard, living far from our favorite southern BBQ pits with their backyard smokers and sweet tea, but we're committed to our cause. So at least once a month, we trek out to the one good barbecue joint we've found and allow Abby to experience brisket, pulled pork, homestyle mac n' cheese, and even a sip of Cheerwine now and then.

And whenever possible, we allow her to sample from the smorgasbord of barbecue sauces we stock our fridge with. Such was the case this weekend. As our darling daughter dipped everything from apples to chicken nuggets to pickles to pineapple in her Sticky Fingers Tennessee Whiskey sauce, her dad and I beamed with pride. And when she ran out of food to dip, we watched as she proceeded to scoop heaping spoonfuls of sauce into her mouth.

"Mmmmm," she sang with every bite.

I looked across the table at my husband and nodded. A job well done, I thought to myself, and knew he was thinking the same.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Fat Rolls

Caleb's taking charge. Look at the sense of accomplishment reflected in those steel blue eyes. You can almost feel the pride radiating from his chunky little body.How did he get into this uncomfortable position with one arm tucked under him and his head tilted oddly to one side?

He rolled there.

He's been rolling onto his side for some time now, but today he finally managed a complete turnover. This is a big deal. It's not easy moving that much fat around. (I've been nine months pregnant before...I know.)

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Hope for the future

Abby likes to read to herself, or to whatever happens to be nearby. She'll sit on the couch or the floor flipping pages in her favorite books and babbling along, interjecting words for things she recognizes ("puppy! shoe! hat! umbrella!") or yelling out letters she knows in her alphabet books (which are her current favorites).

This morning, she was reading to her giant duck while I prepared lunch. After I put the kids down to nap, I went into the living room to clean up her books, and this is what I found. Maybe there's hope after all...



Tuesday, May 19, 2009

I heart trees

...especially when they're not scraping the side of my house anymore.

While the kids were napping, we felled a tree on Sunday. It was pretty awesome.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Who says white men can't jump?

I had totally forgotten how fun this age is. Caleb's normal rotation from the swing to the play mat to tummy time to the Bumbo seat was getting a little boring, when suddenly I thought to myself, "Self! What about the jumpy thing?"

And voila! A whole new level of fun is added to our day. Caleb's body is too small for the seat on this spring-loaded baby bungee toy, so it takes packing in a couple of rolled-up dish towels to get him comfy in it, but once he's secure, he loves it. He'll pump his fat little legs and bounce himself up and down until Abby comes by with a resounding "wheee" and gives him a satisfying and slightly dangerous push. He prefers for her to keep a safe distance (and so do I).

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Playin' it cool

Spike's got some cool new shades. He's pretty much the hippest kid at the playground now. Not that he needed any help being hip...

Thanks Mimi. I think the kid looks good in his Foakleys.

Friday, May 15, 2009

Math for moms

I did not like math in school. It terrified me, to say the least. Math, with its absolutes and imaginary numbers, its step-by-step proofs and logic, made little sense to my right-brained mind. But I'm thankful now for the quirky algebra teacher who forced me to confront those squiggly lines that pretended to be numbers and the patient geometry teacher who made me walk the halls to calm down before taking my exam. It is to their credit, and with the help of a left-brained husband, that I was able to calculate the inch/pound rating for a toy box lid in order to purchase the proper hinge to keep it from slamming down on Abby's fingers. And basic math skills are to thank for the fact that those letters I adhered to the front are perfectly spaced and centered. But I'll thank my design professor from j-school for teaching me the proper use of a fancy font in displaying Abby's name.

Not bad for an old ugly toy box I picked up at the thrift store for $5, if I do say so myself. I think it cleaned up pretty nice.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Planes will land on it

I had an award-winning pout as a kid. Okay, not officially. But if there was a prize for most over-exaggerated pout, I'm fairly certain I would have won it. Until now. Caleb's pout takes the cake. Hands down, no one sticks his lip out better than my kid.