I'm so Happy

Time has gone by way to fast, way to quickly. The past few months have been a blur with developing a Mental Health Organization to start our own business with family and well trusted friends... and the daily life with my 2 bambinos. Caleb will be 8 months old this upcoming week! Sophie will be 3 in a couple of weeks... wow! Time sure does fly.

Looking back on Sophies developmental milestones, and the comparisons of others, I get sad and almost ashamed that Caleb is "behind" in areas... but it occurred to me the other day watching him lay on the floor watching his sisters every move... he is not behind! He is his own individual person- why should I compare him to others? Sophie is a do-er... a mover, one to strive to do the best... Caleb is my watcher. He is content to sit and watch the world move around with their busy selves, stressing out and rushing life to the next milestone... he is eager to watch the movements, the sounds, the lights and take it ALL in. So my soon to be 8 month old son will not sit up on his own because he will arch his back till he flops over wanting to lay down instead. He will not push himself up on his hands and stay on his belly... he is content to roll over onto his back and then when he gets bored he is content to lift his legs, grab his chubby toes and roll over on either side. He has no interest in anything else to drink, no bottles no sippies.... baby food is a joke to him as are teething cookies... however a popsicle he may share with you! He will bite you when you think it is cute to stick your finger in his mouth and feel his 2 bottom teeth and the next 2 coming in on the top... and he will laugh and giggle if you tell him he has stinky feet. He does not want to wave goodbye.. nor does he care to clap his hands... he is amused if you amuse him, just don't ask him to take part in it. He is at his happiest on my hip, wrapping his arm around my back and holding on for dear life... so don't make fun of him for wanting to be with his "mama" as he now calls me.... yes he is a mommys boy and he is okay with that! He loves to touch faces and will giggle at almost anything. Want to make him stop sputtering (he does not really cry but sputters and sounds like he needs a spark plug change)... put him on the ground and let him watch the world around him :) So no, Caleb is not behind... he is his own individual.

Sophie, my little furry of "let me help and try" has always exceeded all milestones. She talks on a 4-5 year old vocabulary at the early age of 2, walked by 10 months, full sentences at a year.... she is my do-er. She takes excitement out of the little things in life and looks past the bigger things that we as society push on kids. She is amused with mud puddles, junk mail and a simple dandelion. She begs to take tubbys and last night I let her take a shower at her Nannys. She was moving kind of odd, almost like she had to go to the potty, or soap was in her eye or that she was very uncomfortable in the shower. So when I asked her what was wrong, she replied on the verge of tears... Happy Tears that "I am so happy" and she was actually dancing! Her arms were going in odd directions, one foot up kicking to the back, one jumping on the floor, her head down and this what I later realized was, a laugh of pure delight! Sophie is her own individual too.

My kids have taught me a lot about life, and the recent lesson: Look at everything around you and absorb all information, don't rush, take your time and enjoy the small things in life that people often look over.

.5

Bubber roo is now 6 months old… wow did that go by quick! We celebrated with a half party for him yesterday with lots of goodies and no presents- just a day to celebrate our family, with our family. He has a new love for pureed pears and today tasted jello for the first time... YUMMMY as he bangs his hands on his highchair for more!

He has favorite toys now- and loves his blue blankie… if that is not around he will steal his sisters to chew on J Lay him down to sleep and give him a blanket and guaranteed he will pull it up to his chin to sleep! He has 1 tooth.. an odd one on the bottom and will grab a finger or knuckle from anyone near to gnaw on. I still haven’t given him a haircut and don’t want to J He is still a barrel of laughs and giggles and has a trademark finger sucking move in almost every picture we take of him.

Belly time is getting easier- but his Buddha belly prevents him from having much fun as his legs and arms are in the air J He has flipped over on his own a few times. His sleep patterns vary and I think he is going through another spurt or something as his night time 9-13 hour sleep patterns have turned to 1-2 hours.

His love for his sister has not changed. Sophie is getting better with being nice to him and letting him look at things- and sometimes even laugh before yelling at him J There is such a love that he has for her- he lights up and smiles. If she is upset, he will get upset.

Weigh in and check up happen in a few days- I'm betting he is pushing over 20 pounds. Ham hocks for thighs, tires for wrists and marshmallows for cankles.

He knows his family- and he loves his mommy. In his sleep you can hear him say moooommmmmma… and there is NOTHING like your baby reaching out intentionally to caress your face and look into your eyes – at that moment nothing else matters… he loves me and he knows he is loved J



Blankies

When pregnant with Sophie I thought that I could make a million things for her during that time, and make them absolutely positively beautiful and perfect... wow was I wrong!!! I started with a knit blanket pattern.. and 2.5 years later it is still in the works in a bag someplace in my living room tv cabinet... then I found out she was a girl... so I grabbed some pink yarn and crocheted till my hearts content! Then I realized a baby wont need a twin size length blanket.. that was kind of uneven and lopsided... so I finished it and put it away for a bit. I brought it out for her before she was 1.. about maybe 6 months or later I think. We packed it with us for trips and wrapped her up in it at the house... then at some point she started to "need" it with her all the time. With one dog at the time, and no addition on the house- we had small living quarters and the dog was always on it or the cat... so I grabbed some different color yarn and made her a smaller one.. this one EVEN MORE lopsided and funky. She didn't gravitate towards this new one.. she went with  both of them and there is the start of the "blankies" stories. She wont go anywhere without them- when she is tired, or scared there they are.. in the car, in the bed, at nap time... at dinner time.. all the time! It can be a fight to wash them so we alternate now and her "pink" has become her new favorite as of late. She tells us she "picks fuzz" off from them when she is tired but that must mean she is tired A LOT!!! Her purple one used to be her fav and has so many holes from her sticking her thumb in and toes through it. Last night I took them both to wash them.. I am SO TIRED of the dog hair on them.. so I swiped them from under her and threw them in the washer for a quick wash..... and then the power went out! My new lovely washer locks itself... and I could NOT get those blankets free at all for the life of me last night... what the heck was I going to tell' her???


She accepted it okay, we showed her them inside the washer door with the lantern and she could see they were in there safe and sound and then decided to take my grandmothers crocheted purple blanket we have in my closet to bed so she could pick fuzz from that, and she then pretended her "big" (huge body pillow) was her pink blanket and went to bed without an issue :) I never ever ever ever EVER thought we could go a night without those and a fight or a melt down... and my little girl did better then I EVER imagined :)


Now back to potty day... another blog for another day of Sophie's success with her new TinkerBells and potty chair!

The power of....

The power of routine... the power of consistency with children.. with adults for that matter!

The power of jammies... no matter the kind of day Caleb has had, if he slept all day, fussed due to teething, or was wide awake... put him in jammies and night time has begun! I think of those words "the power of jammies" every night and mean to post something cute, whimsical, or just random and I don't get a chance... but here I am finally!!!! (It is almost like hypnosis and BAM he is asleep!)

Little boy blue is teething... the 4th set that is scheduled to come in (bottom beside the middle teeth) has emerged. Just one on the left side and one upper canine or eye tooth as well. You can tell it bothers him. He is tired, he is drooly and EXTRA cuddly (loving this part). You cant put him down without a fuss... he just wants to be held, to be rocked, to be lulled into a land without tooth pain. Put him in his jammies and out he goes... I will not hear from him for another 8-13 hours as he sleeps soundly.. without any worries, pain or fuss.

Many parents complain about this process, and I will not! I CANNOT imagine the pain of multiple teeth coming thru... it is said to be equivalent or worse then a tooth ache. My darling Sophie was a great baby! You didn't know she was teething until the drool, the rash and the fever came... that was it! The circle/ring teethers are just dumb! She could never fit it in her mouth to where she wanted it, so cold or frozen wash clothes were her friends... she once had 6 teeth come in and we didn't know it until we saw them! Her last molars came in at some point between the last 4 months and we never knew it... either did she for that matter. So if Caleb is the opposite of this, I will take it with stride... my baby hurts and I quit my out of the home job to take this in home job... so I could BE THERE for him when he needed me... and I will take it with a smile on my face, vomit on my arm and shoulder and perhaps some sort of diaper contents on my leg from where he was sitting.... that's just how I roll!