Growing at the speed of cute

Here are some recent snaps of Amalia. She is outgrowing the cute clothes her primas gave her faster than I can change them! In terms of milestones, she is rolling not quite over, but over to each side. I think she doesn't go all the way because she hates being on her tummy, and really prefers her side. It's helping with the baldness and my fear of flat-headedness. She is also putting every thing in her mouth (as you can see) and drooling like a mad dog, I think teeth are in her future some time soon. If she's anything like Domi it'll be before the end of the month. (D was barely over 4 months when his bottom 2 teeth sprouted without much ado!)



I love her face in this one, she is so focused on her chupete!


The hunter becomes the hunted.


those cheeks!



those toes!



I love the "slimming" outfits that give the illusion that she is something other than an uberchub, but her wristlets and cankles are showing!


"ok, enough with the photos it's nap time lady!"

Fun in the (occasional) sun

"The sand people are easily startled but will be back and in greater numbers."


This weekend we were back in Morris, hung out with the primas, went to a farm, carved some "pumpquins" as Domi likes to say. We are slowly but surely getting over our nasty colds just in time for staying indoors all the time weather. We still have to get Domi a costume for Halloween, but if all else fails, I think a cat princess is a good one!





she weighs almost as much as tia may


At the farm.


Way more into these gourds than anything else at the farm, pirate ship? slide? animals? NO, MAS GOURDS!!


Obligatory pumpkin patch pics.


baby jawa in the pumpkins.


love sheep


inside the teepee


Facing


Sweet Roxie, sleepy baby.


Scraping the bottom of the pumpkin.


Hard at work.


The finished product!

Happy 4th monthday!!

Amalia, in my sleep deprived condition, I almost forgot it's your official 4th monthday!! You are four months today, congratulations on graduating from the fourth trimester!! We made it. I hate to say it my dear, but it was touch and go for awhile there.

oh don't look so surprised, you know what I'm talking about.

But this month you have started to come into your own. We did so much great stuff, and you are really developing your own wonderful personality.
Very much like with your brother, I was reluctant to call the hours-long screamfests colic. And very much like your brother, you grew out of them at about 4 months, hmm, go figure. Don't get me wrong, you still wail like a banshee every now and again, and in fact last night your father got a taste of the awesome power of Amalia. But these episodes are really just that, short brief intervals of crying when it's bed time or nap time, and you've lost your pacifier, and it is so much easier than the rage baby we had a few weeks and months ago. We are still using the reflux medicine, because even though you are so much more pleasant now, it still definitely bothers you and you revert to your screaming back arching self when I forget to dose you (bad job mama). I don't think it was a magic bullet or anything because even after we started giving you the medicine, you would still cry a good deal of the time, and that has just slowly diminished with time alone.
But baby, look at you now!


You are so happy and laughy and smiley, it's awesome. Even while you are so sick and miserable, you can sneeze a face full of snot and in the next second smile this giant gorgeous smile. This makes me completely relax about the kind of temperament you are going to have. If you can be cheerful and not breathe, then you are going to be just fine. Maybe it was all those months of being uncomfortable for who knows what reason, and you are just so relieved to be done with it that you are in a super good mood? What ever it is, I'll take it (and should probably try to feel the same!)
You love watching everything around you, especially your brother. You watch him where ever he goes, and smile at him and laugh. He of course laps this up and will do things just to entertain you. It's really wonderful to see that you guys are already starting to have your own relationship separate from your father and me.
We are so much more mobile now that we have our hot new stroller. We go to the park almost every day, and the store is one of your favorite places these days. You look at all the crazy colors and then pass out with out much ado. And mama can be smug and thrifty by not using gas to get to the store!


We hung out with our friends from California and baby O. showed you how to mix it up Cali style. We got to go to the cottage post labor day and it was so beautiful up there, we have to do it again soon!

Pow right in the eye!

Our dr. appointment this month showed how much you are growing. You've come a long way from the string bean you were when you were born. You are still very long, but since then you've filled out those chubby cheeks and your thighs have more rolls than a toilet paper factory! I love each an every one of them and could spend hours just kissing your little neck chub. In terms of milestones, your are pretty good at holding your head up without support, you still hate tummy time, so are a little weak in the upper body- gotta blast those peck lady! And have yet to roll over, sit up or play fetch. But you can follow things with your eyes 180 degrees, you grab for things, you can put your pacifier in and out of your mouth (pulling it out is easier, so sometimes you get enraged when you can't get it back in) you also "found" your fingers and enjoy sucking and chomping on those too. And you are SO chatty. You will garble and blabble for hours. Sleep during the day is still short and sporadic, but at night you are an angel and only wake up to eat once or twice(unless you have a cold and can't breathe, but still nothing too terrible) and fall instantly back to sleep when you're done. Twice I've even had to feed you in your sleep because I was going to explode. That was great.
Speaking of eating, you are still a champion nurser. And I know mothers are not supposed to admit this, but for the longest time I didn't feel that "nursing magic", that serene bonding adoration while you quietly happily nursed. These first few months were hard. The first few weeks were REALLY hard. Of course, I never minded, but would often complain, and it felt more like a fulfilling a duty rather than a pleasure. But now, I will sometimes look down at you while you are filling up your greedy belly, smacking your lips, and nuzzling in a deep as you can, and I want to squeeze you so tight it frightens me! I get that crazed clench-jawed look that Domi gets when he wants to tackle the twins, and sometime just have to squinch you. What can I say, you've grown on me. It's wonderful.

I can't believe how quickly these past four months have gone. I am so glad I get to spend the next two at home with you guys too. I know it will go at lightening speed, but I'm going to cherish every minute.
Love,
Mama

Kids are ready to join CTU

Or for those of you who don't watch 24, these guys are little torturers. Domingo and Amalia are both pretty sick, the only treatment allowed these days is sleep, but they choose to sleep at completely different intervals. Amalia is having a tough time at night these days because she can't breathe while on her back and really dislikes mouth breathing for some reason. She tries to breath through her nose and it's stuffed so she flails around and finally gasps through her mouth and gets pissed. So I've been awake a lot the last few nights. This wouldn't be that bad if during Domi's quite long afternoon nap she would also go down, but of course she wakes up minutes after he is snug in his bed. So I jump out of the warm coziness to pick her up. It's really too cruel. But her snotty little smile makes it all worth while. I have to keep reminding myself that this is how it was with Domingo until he was like 6 months. So a few weeks of being up every hour or so isn't the end of the world. But it is taking a toll on my looks that's for sure, unless you go for that "just been punched" under eye blackness I'm rockin' these days.
Enough whining, here are some photos from this weekend!




Can you tell I'm really proud of my icing skillz?


singing happy birthday (sofia's in the pink flower shirt for those who couldn't tell)


snotty mommy, snotty baby.


Presents!

Another busy weekend

We were in Morris again from Thursday on, and just got back this morning. It was such a gorgeous fall weekend, we did lots outside while we still can.
We spent a lot of time with the twins this weekend. We celebrated the their birthday over the weekend, and in keeping with the tradition they started last year, they got a BOUNCE HOUSE!!!
It was so awesome, but I have to admit that I liked it much more than Domingo. He was really not into the bounce this time, and only went in it when I was there and would only sit down. He got mad when I would get up and jump, but tough luck kiddo, mama's got to get her bounce on.
Domingo is now walking around our house with a pack of wipes saying "this is a present, I want to open this present". At the twins' house it was more like, "this is my present, I want to play with MY present". Ok, still need some work on 1.)sharing 2.) what MINE means.
The final pandora's box was opened this weekend, and Domingo watched The Little Mermaid with his cousins. Oh my. I remember seeing that movie and having the cassette tape of the songs. Hearing them totally took me back to being a little kid. It was pretty nuts. Needless to say, Domingo did not want to do much else besides watch "la sirenita" read la sirenita, and play la sirenita. He even said he was a serenito in the bath tub. Why do I do this to myself?
Everyone is sick now. It is just plain no fun. Domingo has a nasty hacking cough, and I'm now waiting for the mucus works to kick in. Amalia has this horrible cough and has fits and fits of coughing where I start to freak out because she's not breathing. It's so funny that even though she is miserably sick, she is in such a happy smiley mood these days. I think it is in part because of the reflux medicine, because that doesn't seem to be plaguing her anymore, but mostly because it's just the end of the "4th trimester". She is just such a joy these days, I can't get over it. I want to squinch her little chubby legs and cover her little cheeks with kisses all the time. I have to be careful not to squeeze too hard because I can get kind of carried away (hmmm, I wonder where Domingo gets it from?). So, yeah, I guess she's grown on me, and I suppose we won't pack her off to the circus... yet.
Pictures to come, but I'm too tired to put them up now!

While she is sleeping

I'm blogging and Domi is playing with dinosaurs.

Amalia has a nasty cold. She's asleep right now which, since they've outlawed children's cold meds, is all we can do to help. For awhile it was just a junky sounding cough, but now she has a stuffed up nose, which makes it impossible for her to sleep, or eat, let alone eat and sleep at night, because she can't breathe. And the pacifier just makes her angry because she wants it, but can't breathe with it in her mouth. GRRRR. Last night we were up again all night. I'm pretty wasted. But here are some pictures from our fun weekend that already feels like a year ago!


fun at the farmer's market


inside the tractor's studio


beautiful day at the beach


no throwing sand!


pre-sicky smiles


jumping in the 60 degree water, again, my genes no where in sight.







dinner at baby Polly's


And in this corner... Actually, my genes show up here, in the annoying reaction to mosquito bites near the eye. I felt so bad for him the other night when he was tossing and turning and couldn't sleep because he was itchy. He turned to me and said "mama, algo pasa a mi ojo!" Something is wrong with my eye! I so sympathize with you baby boy! I remember saying when he got 4 or 5 bites by his eye at cornfest that if that were me, my eye would be swollen shut, well here we are. Thank goodness for children's benadryl, he's much less swollen and itchy.

Showing off the Third Coast

We had our good friends visiting from SF this weekend, and we had such a great time. It was definitely a whirlwind weekend, and we even made a trip out to the cottage in Michigan. I think at least 1/4 of our time was spent in transit, but at least it was all packed in one car so we could chat. They must have felt exhausted by the time they made it home, since I felt exhausted by the time we got back here this morning. But we are so glad they made the effort.
Domingo did great! So did little Q. There were many moments of, "that's mine!" "no quiero compartir!" but there were also lots of hugs and chasing, and playing and laughing, and even a brief moment or two of non-forced sharing. It was so great.
I have some pictures and as soon as I get the camera out of the car, I'll post them up here!

Stat sheet...

Amalia had her 4 month check up a little early this time around. But never fear, she's still as enormous as ever. Here are the numbers with the percentages based on other 3.5 month olds.
Weight: 15 pounds 10.5 ounces (90%)
Length: 25.5 inches (>95%)
Head Circ.: 16.5 inches (75-90%)

The doctor saw me in the waiting room and said, "She is not allowed to wait!" I laughed and said we had just got there. She gave me the follow up on what happened with the rude employee that caused us to wait over an hour last time and was totally obnoxious with Chris. The doctor said that when she asked the employee about what had happened she was very inappropriate in her response. So the manager was brought in and they had a long discussion, and she's been much better since then. So our concerns were taken seriously. Like Chris said, it wasn't something personal, and it's not even like we are so high maintenance, but you come to expect a certain level of courtesy when you go to any professional office, and this was just so outrageous that we had to say something. Chris and I are both actually pretty non-confrontational (kind of funny for lawyers) so you know it had to be a big deal for us to even mention it.
Then to the good stuff. Amalia is doing great. She is growing right along her (large) curve, she is doing everything she is supposed to be doing. She's even getting better at tummy time, which she usually hates with a white hot passion. Now she'll tolerate it for a minute or two, and lifts her head up without a problem. Her head is still just a little wobbly, but her neck is getting stronger every day. She has long stretches of time without crying, and laughs and smiles and "talks" all day long. Her day sleep is still a little fragmented, partly I think because we go on walks and to the park and she falls asleep in the stroller, but partly because she's just a very naughty baby. But at night she's a trooper, only wakes up 2 or 3 times max. and just nurses quickly and goes back to sleep. She never cries, and never wakes her brother or dad only a few inches away. I can't complain. She gets up for the day around 8 or 9 and then we are off to the park while the weather is still nice. We upped her reflux medicine based on her weight, and the doctor said that usually 4-6 months is the worst for reflux, and then around 6 or 7 months her digestive system will have matured some more and the sphincter above her stomach will have gotten tighter so she won't need to take the medicine any more!

25th Monthday!

I just realized when I hit publish of that last, not so glowing post about you, that it was your 25th monthday Domingo.
Oh yes. We've definitely come into the "terrible twos". You are so much better in some ways than 18-24 months, but oh so "different" in other ways. As I was lamenting, there are definitely moments when my sweet gentle little baby disappears and a not so nice little imp takes over.



When I asked you what you did in the park today you told me in no uncertain terms that you pushed a little boy in the sand. When I told you that we never never do that, you turned away like the lint under the sofa was oh so much more interesting than what I was saying. But I am heartened when I see how sweet you still can be with other children, and especially your sister.
You are becoming more and more interested in what she's doing, and she just adores you. She loves watching you and smiles and laughs when you are around and playing with her. You laugh when she smiles at you or laughs or makes a weird sound. You want to get right into where ever she is and play. You are sometimes a little too excited and can get rougher than she's able to handle just yet, but soon enough she'll be able to take what ever you can dish out. I know that it's hard, but I'm glad you are learning to tolerate her and the attention that she takes from you.



While I sometimes worry that you'll be anti-social, painfully shy, or socially awkward, I know that these things just take time, patience and practice, and you'll be just fine. It helps that I can tell you love to be around other kids. You adore your primas and cousins, and even though you very articulately say "I don't want to share with Sofia", you are just as articulate when you say you want to play with them.

In terms of things that have happened this last month, we got our big new stroller and have been going to the park every day some times twice, you continue to take naps in your big boy bed, you have mastered the art of going down the "biggest slide" at the park, you have developed an obsession with all things dinosaur related, and have started sharing bath time with your little sister.
Even with the events of today shaking my confidence in my parenting skills, I definitely still think that one of the best things about being on maternity leave is getting to spend every day with you during this stage in your life. You are so much fun, you talk so much, you learn new words and skills everyday. I love reading with you, watching your dinosaur movie together, playing, singing old mcdonald had a black panther, and just being with you every day. Some days are harder than others, but I'm sure you feel the same way.

One thing is for sure, I'm so glad and so lucky to be with you now, and I really do appreciate every minute.
Love,
Mama.

El terrible grandulon

The big bully.
A less than stellar day over here in the world formerly known as Domi's. Just yesterday we were at the park and Domingo met a little girl who was a total kindred spirit. Unis just moved here from Germany, and speaks no English. She is a little 3 year old who speaks French, Albanian and German. She and Domi looked like they could be siblings, both with golden brown hair and brown eyes, laughing and playing in the park. Domingo was trying to get her to run around with him. He was showing her his sticks and going down the "biggest" slide with her. It was too cute. I was breathing a sigh of relief that, yes, finally, he's starting to behave like a normal social 2 year old.
Then today at the park, a little boy, not quite two decided to play in "Domi's" sandbox. He had a ball, and actually wanted to share it with Domi. Domi was playing fine, throwing the ball back to the boy and they were doing great. Then Domi leaned back and SHOVED this poor little kid right onto his butt.
I gasped and grabbed Domingo and picked up the stunned boy and apologized for being such a terrible mother. Actually, I apologized and then put Domi in time out for two minutes. I sat with him while the other little boy played on the park toys and explained that we never ever hit or push other people. I asked him to say he was sorry, which he did, although I've read that you aren't supposed to make children say they are sorry because it's not genuine. I was so embarrassed, mortified and although I was joking about the "bad mother" thing, that is really how I felt.
Me, so smug a few months ago reading mommy blogs rant and rave and pull their hair out over bad little boys who hit and kicked and bit and pushed. Not MY child. He's so sweet and gentle and loving. He would NEVER do that. Those people must be raising the next Hitler. Oh hubris, you win again. Won't we ever learn?
But honestly, lately Domingo has been a little destructocon. He runs around knocking on mirrors and windows and his sister's head. He tosses the piles of folded laundry or diapers from the diaper bag and rolls around in the mess. He bashes his toys into one another and is just such a "boy". ARGH!
So here we are, tired, frustrated, and afraid to go back to the park in case godzilla strikes again. But the only way to learn is to get out there and try try again, and hopefully there will be more encounters like yesterday and fewer like today.

No joy in Mudville

Amalia expresses what all us Cubfans are feeling today.

Despite being out of the playoffs already, we managed to have a nice weekend after all. Chris and I dropped the kiddos off at Tia Jennifer's house Saturday and got to go out to brunch with Chris's old boss, the judge from when we lived out in Washington.
Domi and Amalia had a lot of fun with the cousins. When we told Domi we were going over to tia Jennifer's he immediately started naming off the toys he wanted to play with at her house. I think the last time we were there was like a month ago, yet he remembers their toys better than anything!



Then these guys took their first ever bath together. Thankfully mama was edited out of this photo. Amalia loves bath time, and Domingo was willing to share, as long as she got out first and he got to play (and "swim") more.




Then this morning we got out, I got to go for a run, and Domi and Amalia and Chris walked. Then we stopped at the park while Amalia napped and Domi got to complain every time another child dared to go on one of the park toys. Learning to share is next on the to do list.




zzzz...


"feeding" the duck


Hey, what is she doing on MY slide?