A Typical Day

What do parents and kids do all day? At the end of the day I can't think of much to tell Chucky, but I 'm on my feet all day and don't have much to show for it except some clean laundry. Here's what we did today:
Breakfast, dress Emma, feed Libby, dress Libby, shower for mommy, take Emma to potty, start laundry, start dinner in the crock pot, pack everyone up to run errands, go to mail a package, pick up a prescription, get one item at the grocery store. Get snack for Emma, feed Libby, change Libby, take Emma to potty, fix lunch, clean up lunch, deal with Emma tantrum, wash bottles, get more bottles ready, play a game with Emma. Let dogs out. Check on dinner, do more laundry, take Emma to potty. Call dogs in. Deal with Emma tantrum. Take a few pictures. Fold the laundry, feed Libby. Deal with Emma tantrum. Let dogs out. Daddy's home! Get dinner on the table, clean up dinner, give both kids baths, get Libby to bed while Chucky gets Emma to bed-when he tickles her so much she pees in the floor. Eat a peice of chocolate. Pack up myself and Libby for going out to work/daycare tomorrow. Get on the computer. Night-night. . . and for the record - this was a great day!
(Yesterday the dog's butt bled everywhere and in an unrelated event I had my arm deep in the back of the toilet getting something unstuck.)

Girl talk.

Heads up!

Phoebe, with us until Sunday when Ghee and PopPop return.

Six Years

Happy Anniversary to us. Six years in the slammer. We went out to the firehouse with the kids and Chucky's mother for an all-you-can-eat steamed shrimp and fried chicken dinner. The kids behaved and the food was good. Dreamdate.

Six years ago we got married in the morning followed by a luncheon for our closest friends and family. That night we had a big party/reception. The next day we left for a week at Disney World. It was hot and there were fussy kids and even worse parents everywhere. It was there we decided we didn't want any kids - they were bad! A few months later my nephew Chas was born and I watched my sister turn into a happy, proud mother. I watched Chas light up every room he entered . . . and I knew I wanted a baby of my own. I am so glad we changed our minds and our lives and our marriage and our future. I would do it all again in a heartbeat.

Yum-O!

Libby had her first taste of food today! Rice cereal went over well with her, and after a few bites she was opening her mouth when she saw the spoon coming. The doctor said to start solids when she starting drinking over a certain amount of formula per day. Baby food per mouthful has less calories than the formula, and this is really just to help her learn how to eat and taste new things. I don't plan on feeding her every day yet, only when the timing works out well and she seems interested in what we are eating. Emma and I were eating breakfast this morning and Libby was making mad sounds, so I fed her and she loved it!

4 Months

Today Libby had her four month check up and here are her stats:
Weight: 14.6 pounds (75%)
Length: 24.5" (50-75%)
Head: 40cm (25-50%)

By her next check up at 6 months, she should be eating baby food for two meals a day! And I will be shopping for a new car seat soon if anyone has any recommendations!

4-months-old-cutie-pie-chubs!

Libby can: smile, laugh, hold things, put things in her mouth, sit in the bumbo seat, spit-up-a-lot, sleep well at night but still gets up once to eat, smile so cutely you just want to freeze time!
Most pictures these days show Libby with her hands in her mouth. I have to pull them out and take another picture quickly. Here she is doing her favorite thing:

Gimme gimme

Libby can now hold things and they almost always go straight into her mouth. It's just a small task, but we are so proud! Right now it means watching her all the time to make sure she doesn't get anything too small that she could choke on, later it will mean she can feed herself at some point. Big step! Every little thing that babies do has a reason. I haven't read much about her development, but I read a lot about it when Emma was a baby, and it is fascinating.

Things that are great about having a baby:

Things that are great about having a baby:

You can get out of going to things you don't want to do. "We can't come . . . new baby . . . no sleep/too hot/too late . . . sorry!"

People bring you food!

A happy baby makes you feel proud, like you have done something worthwhile with your life.

It's a good way to meet new people, usually other mothers.

Seeing your husband as a "dad" is very funny, and endearing.

People don't notice that you haven't lost all your pregnancy weight because they are so busy looking at the baby.

More reasons to shop!

When they smile and coo at you, it makes you wonder why you wanted to write a list of things that are not great about having a baby.

Yorktown Beach

My friend Sarah from Randolph-Macon lives in Minnesota. She was in Grafton this week visiting her family and suggested we go to Yorktown beach. So I sent Libby to day care and Emma and I went to the beach today! Emma has only been to the beach/pool this summer a handful of times so she was really excited. Sarah came with her husband Dave and their children, Helene (3) and Gavin (8mos). Sarah's sister also came with her two children. Emma and Helene are the same age and seem to have to same "terrible three" issues going on. We both commented on how we were glad to see someone else's kid acting up. Emma and Helene got in several fights over the beach toys, but mostly it was a relaxing day for me in my beach chair and Emma splashing around in the water.

Helene and Emma


Gavin

Vacuum Update

The UPS guy finally found one of us at home and I got my new vacuum. I have vacuumed twice in two days, which is record-breaking considering I usually vacuum once, maybe twice a week. I need to vacuum every day with four people, one dog and one cat living here, but I just haven't been doing it because my vacuum is so heavy and such a pain to get out and use. My new one is only 15 pounds and very easy to push and turn. It has a clear canister so I can see what I am picking up and OH MY GOSH I could make another dog with all the hair!
Also, we tried some of our steaks tonight and weren't extremely impressed, but we weren't unhappy with them either. This time the cut was something called round steak, next time we are going to try the Tbone cuts.

Record/Sentinel Picnic

Wednesday night mom and dad hosted a picnic for both newspapers at their house. Emma had a blast there with so many people willing to play with her. Libby was good, too and the weather cooperated as well. It was nice to talk to people about life without having to hurry along and get back to work. Here are a few pictures from the picnic:

Emma gets swung down the steps by Julie.

Sawyer, are you getting tired?

I see you daddy!

Jean Dize - 90 years old and still beautiful, nice and funny!

The cake, made by Willaby's.

Hee-hee Ha-ha

Sweet Feet

Emma wanted a bib like Libby, but I was happy to see she found a big girl use for it.

Hello, sister

Are You Hungry?

Today I was upstairs dressing Libby when the phone rang. I was waiting for someone to call me right back so I answered it right away. Then the doorbell rang. I am also waiting for UPS delivery of my new vacuum cleaner, so I practically hung up on Chucky’s grandmother and grabbed Libby and called for Emma to come down with me. I flew open the door just sure all I would have to do is sign for my vacuum and then I could get Libby’s bottle, because she was getting hungry. It was also about 12:30 and Emma was ready for lunch, too. I was so disappointed to see that it was a salesman. I peered out to see his truck: Capital Meats, it read. Oh I’ll get rid of him, I thought. Well guess what I bought some meat!
He spread all his frozen goods all over my front porch while I tried to keep Libby quiet and Emma from getting in his face and making some strange noise. Apparently he has children of his own because he just smiled at her. I told him no after I saw the prices and he called his manager on his cell phone. While he did that I got Libby’s bottle ready and met him on the porch again. We were on the porch because when he asked if he could come inside I must have looked at him like he had 3 heads because he said never mind, and just started taking everything out on the porch. After talking to his manager several times and me whining about the price and saying I should call my husband, we finally agreed on a deal. He took out the hamburgers from the steak package (you get 6 or 8 steaks of different kinds like NY strip and T-bones) and substituted 3 lbs of flounder. I got something like 34 pieces of meat and 3 lbs of flounder for $168. That’s about $4 to $5 per piece. And supposedly I can take it straight to the grill from the freezer because its “flash frozen”. Whatever that means. I was worried it was all going to thaw on my fornt porch in the 90 degree heat while we sweated and talked about it.
Anyway I don’t feel like I got ripped off yet. I hope it tastes good. It’s USDA Choice – I hope that means something good. I am such a sucker.
OH and the vacuum never came – second day in a row. It has to be signed for and the UPS guy keeps missing us – I left him a note so maybe tomorrow will be the day. I need my vacuum!

Fat Baby Libby

3.5 months, 14 pounds
Libby blows raspberries, loves her feet kissed, loves to watch Emma, turns her head to look for Chucky's deep voice, and smiles big smiles - especially in the morning. She coos and squeals and is just starting to develop a little laugh. She goes to bed around 8, gets up for a bottle around 3 or 4, then sleeps until 6 or 7. She is a good baby who loves to be held. So far she will go to anyone, we haven't seen any stranger anxiety yet. I love her to pieces and thank God for her everyday and shower her with kisses. I love my fat baby!

Ticks ticks ticks ticks ticks

Today Emma put on her new camouflage pants and socks and one of Chucky’s camouflage hats, her Dale junior t-shirt and went out with Chucky to hang a camera in the woods. She looked like a little redneck and Chucky loved it. He is very excited about this camera that is supposed to take pictures of deer using heat-sensors. He and Emma returned and were headed to the bathtub because Chucky had seen some poison ivy in the woods.

Emma was scratching herself and complained that she was itchy. Chucky thought it was all her in head because he had said something about poison ivy. As soon as Emma got out of the tub, Chucky called me upstairs. Emma’s upper body and head were covered in teeny tiny “seed” ticks. After seeing what looked like hundreds and what Chucky said were thousands I called the doctor. She said the only way to get them out was to pick them all out. “No lice treatment? No rubbing alcohol?”, I asked. No, she said. That might kill them but they will stay attached if they have bitten her. I told the doctor I would need to sedate her for us to let her pick all those ticks off, just joking. And she actually said, “well you could dose her up good with some Benadryl.”

Emma was really itchy so I told her the medicine would help with the itching. She actually willingly drank the medicine (and I can’t believe I really did give her more than the recommended dose). We picked some ticks off, took a break, picked some more ticks, ate a little snack for lunch and she fell asleep in my arms in her bed for a nap. When she woke up, Chucky and I were out on the front porch with Libby. Chucky and I were talking, then he says “Hi, punkin!” She came out the back door looking for us, walked all the way around the house, and wasn’t even crying. I am ashamed that I had been outside without the monitor and that our child actually left the house and wandered around outside and I didn’t know it. I figured she was down for a good long nap. Wrong.

BUT the good news is we had a little angel with us the rest of the day. A normal day lately for Emma has been full of tantrums, whining and tears. An absolute struggle for us all. Today she let us pick ticks off of her on and off all afternoon and evening like we were monkeys, didn’t cry once and even told me she was sorry when all she did was brush by me when she was trying to reach something. Chucky and I often looked at each other and smiled as if to say, we have to cutest best kid ever, and to make sure the other one saw how great she just reacted to something that would normally set her off. Was it the Benadryl? I might be ordering it by the case! After our dinner out on the back deck, she ventured back into the woods behind our house to hang another camera with Chucky. Atta girl!

Bible School Again

Bible school week was totally crazy. We all got to bed too late each night and it seemed like a long 5 days. Emma loved it and already wants to go back. A few nights she did want me to walk her to her classroom and would only go in once the teacher came and held her. I'm glad she had her friends Pierce and Addison there with her. The good thing about the busy week is that I didn’t have much time for dinner and lost 3 pounds!

How awesome would it be if we could all just sleep on the floor whenever we wanted to?

Bible School

I’ve just returned home from leaving Emma at bible school. She has been really excited about going ever since I told her about it a week ago. I have been a little nervous about it, wondering if she would let me leave her in a place she had never been before, with teachers she has never met before, and if there would be any kids there that she knows. Each evening starts with dinner from 6-6:30, then bible school until 8:30. I stayed with her for dinner – where there was a puppet show and she had to put her hands up and close her mouth. She caught onto that right away and threw her hands up in the air when she was supposed to. She even echoed back during the blessing song. I was so proud of her. Then I walked her to her classroom where she went in and sat next to the only other child she knew and didn’t look back. I got in my car. I looked back. My eyes filled up with water.