Snapshots

- I am pretty sure my name is now "no mama" instead of just "mama"

- we had 2 crimes of opportunity that did not go over well with my 21 month old. I was feeding Ellie, so he decided that would be a great time to swipe my wallet from the table. When he did that, he put the 3 ritz crackers he was holding on the floor, and Sophie saw that as her chance and moved in. His frustration led us to have a little chat about hitting the dog and the word "mine."

- since Ellie will need the high chair in a month or so, I need to transition Drew out of it. I preferred him in there because it gave me a spot to put him where I knew he was stuck, but now he can Houdini his way out and I have found him standing in it on multiple occasions. So we sat him at the big table and he pushed the entire table away, uninterested in dinner. Then he put his feet on the table. Out of frustration, we turned his chair around, facing the window. He thought that was great, and now only wants to sit in his chair and look at cars. Fail.

- the best one? Yesterday my kids played together! Sneak peek at what is to come. He was kicking a ball to her (us). I held her under the arms and swung her so she "kicked" it back. They were both dying from laughing. It made me very very happy!

Never say never.

My 3 month old has an iPhone.  Actually, it's technically registered as "Callegari Kids."  And I guess technically it's an iPod touch now.

When Ellie was born I downloaded a white noise app on my iphone, which worked like a charm.  We got to where we listened to "violet noise" all night long.  Problem was every time Ellie was asleep, my phone needed to be with her.  And did you know newborns sleep up to 18 hours a day?  That's kind of a lot of time without a phone.

So yesterday I set about cleaning off my old iphone that was sitting in a drawer, downloading the white noise app, and putting all of the kid's music on it.  In the process I managed to delete all adult music from my current iphone (imagine my surprise when my morning jog was accompanied by "the wheels on the bus"), but I think I can fix that. 

So my phone is now mine again.  Drew is welcome to mess with the other phone as much as he wants, but since it has no email contacts or phone service plan I am not concerned about him firing off gibberish or calling China.

But now I just have to shake my head at the Lindsey that said "I have no idea why people give these young children phones!  As if!"

I eat my words, world.  I'm sure it won't be the last time.

3 Months!

[Edited to add: Look at Drew and Ellie's 3 month pics side by side in the sidebar.  Think they are related? :) ]

Ellie,

You are three months old!  Rather, you were three months old 11 days ago-- I'm keeping up the trend on being late writing these posts.  I blame it on two things.  First, I have two kids under 21 months old.  Second, my computer is TERRIBLE and your dad refuses to buy me a new one because he works in computers and always knows the next greatest thing coming out and wants to wait.  At this rate, I will get a new computer never.

4th of July at the pool

Biggest change from month two to three?  You have established yourself as a TALKER.  Oh my.  I'm pretty sure you've babbled more "words" this month than your brother did before he turned one. I am mentally preparing myself for "Ellie won't stop talking during class" notes from your future teachers.  But right now, it's precious.  You will totally have conversations with me-- pausing while I talk, and then responding.  On several occasions you have woken up in the middle of the night talking (sidenote- you are moving upstairs SOON).

Solving the world's problems, I'm sure.

Otherwise, you are SO MUCH like your brother as a baby.  And the same as your brother now. You want to go to bed at 7PM and wake up at 6:00AM-- Drew's exact schedule.  It's nice from the standpoint that your dad and I have our time after 7 and can almost depend on that, but it makes it REALLY hard to get you both to bed if one of us is doing it alone.  Your happiest time is in the morning right after you get up. You take about an hour to wake up before you want to eat, and you will talk and smile for all of it.  On July 15th you slept all night (YAY), but you followed it up by waking up a couple of times the next night.  But we are getting somewhere.

I told him to "hold your hand and smile."  He did this.

This month mommy got brave and started dropping you off in childcare-- something I didn't do with Drew until he was closer to 7-8 months old.  But I have gotten used to the workers in church child care and trust them, plus I think I have come to the realization that you CAN survive time without  me.  You have also gone into childcare at the gym, where you have made quite an impression.  You were declared the "favorite" of one of the workers there.  That makes a mama feel good.

Bear sneak attack.

But along with childcare came your first cold.  Actually, you, Drew and I all had it, but you and I had it the worst.  You never had a fever but battled a stuffy nose and cough for a couple of weeks.  I knew there was nothing a doctor could do for you (see that?  I'm learning!) so we just did the whole humidifier/elevate the mattress thing.  Eventually I took you in when I could hear junk in your chest because we were going to Houston and I didn't want you to get sicker there.  The doctor said you were fine, but we weighed you while we were there- 11.4 lbs.  You are SKINNY.

You are wearing 6 month clothes, mostly because of the length.  Anything that is two pieces you really need in 3 months size because your waist is so small.  You eat 4-5 ounces every 3-4 hours.

Mama was unsure about the tutu, but has now determined it is precious.

Ellie, we love you.  This month has been great- I look forward to seeing what happens next!

Mom, Dad and Drew

She did it!!

Slept from 10:30pm - 6am!! Hallelujah!

Six.

Six years ago today a young, clueless baby [me] walked down the aisle to a slightly older clueless baby [Rob] and said "I do."

Like all couples who have never before wed, we had no idea what we were getting into.

Looking back there are 1000 things I didn't consider when I decided Rob was "the one." Luckily not one of those things has come back to bite me because, thankfully, my 23 years of wisdom, good examples and common sense told me exactly what I needed to know- our hearts were in the same place and we valued the same things. I couldn't predict what issues would (and will) arise in our marriage, but I can predict EXACTLY how Rob will react to them when they do. And that knowledge allows us to conquer everything-- as a team.

Happy "iron" anniversary to the other half of my heart. I am so happy to call you my husband.

The Gym

Today I re-joined the gym. I was a member years ago (my card says "since 2006"), but I dropped it when I got pregnant with Drew because I preferred to get fat without trying to mitigate it.

I.Am.So.Excited.

Not just because of yesterday's blog post where I mentioned I needed to get on trimming up, but because THEY OFFER TWO FREE HOURS OF CHILDCARE PER DAY! Sure, I have to have the kids on the membership ($12/month), but that's like the best deal out there.

I can go to the gym and work out.

I can go to the gym and read by the pool.

I can go to the gym and get a manicure (it has a "spa").

I can go to the gym and sit in the cafe and play on pinterest.

The possibilities are endless.

I feel like I just won the lotto.

In all honesty I will probably just drop the kids off to work out (and maybe leave Ellie in a little longer so Drew and I can swim when I am done), but just knowing I can go up there and drop them off on a day when I really need a break is precious.

If nothing else my mental health is looking up already.

Now to work on my waistline.

A whole lot of randomness

I want you all to know that I compose about 4 blog post daily-- in my head. Only a few of them make it to "paper."  Here are bits and pieces of some of the most recent ones, in list form.

1. I left Ellie in the church nursery the other day while I had my MOPS leadership meeting.  It was a spur of the moment decision, so I didn't have things organized the way I normally would have.  When I came back to pick her up they informed me that when they went through the diaper bag the diapers they found were a little big, but it was all they could find in the moment.  After they got it on her they found hers and realized she was wearing one of Drew's size 4s.  I'm pretty sure I could have changed her a week later and it would have been fine.

2. I've taken to bribing myself to exercise.  About three weeks after I gave birth people kept telling me "you look great!" Music to a new mother's ears.  Problem is my kiddo will be 3 months old on Thursday and weight loss stalled about the 4 week mark.  So the new rules- NO coffee unless I run/walk in the morning first.  And NO wine at night unless I do some sort of ab workout during the day.  Problem is none of these "rules" prevent me from picking at the pan of brownies on the counter like I have been doing all day.

3. Ellie needs to move upstairs to sleep.  She's just too aware of her surroundings now, and will wake up when Rob and I come in our room to get ready for bed.  I have no idea how that will work with Drew being upstairs.  We could be in for some long nights ahead.

4. I'm stumped on potty training.  Drew totally gets it.  He can make himself pee on command (ALL boy!).  He wants to use the potty.  I actually went and bought a jar of M&M's to use as rewards for when he uses the potty, and I think he has the type of personality that will transition easily with the M&M reward (the kid dropped the paci and went to whole milk with no problems at all).  I'm just not sure I'm ready to do it.  I know once I start I can't go back.  There will never be a good time, will there?

These are the days of [my] [life]. Exciting, yes?