motherhood

morning break

I had a dentist appointment this morning. I love the dentist. I get to go by myself, sit in a chair with my eyes closed without getting jumped on, breath in the nitrous, and laugh to MTV playing on the ceiling. So what if I have a drill in my mouth and my jaw is going to hurt after.

I've started back with the mothers helpers this week also. I have 2-3 days a week for 1-2 hours each. Anna has even gotten into it. It has given me a much needed break in the afternoons.

Aidan is pretty much potty trained, except that he is holding his poop. Poop got on his shirt one day and it has totally traumatized him. He says that poop is "yucky gross" and won't go. He'll hold it for 3 days, at which point I've been giving him a liquid glycerin suppository to encourage him to go. I hate this and I cant wait for it to be over. We're doing books, DVDs, sitting together on the potty(s), and then he walks around with on his tip-toes saying his bum hurts because he's getting the urge to go. It sucks!

Anna is walking and getting into everything! She keeps us on our toes and is the cutest thing ever! Sleeping has been a little rough, since her body gets the urge to stand up at every slighty awake moment. She rolls onto her tummy in her sleep and stands up, which then really wakes her up, and she starts to cry. It is cute and sad at the same time. At least it doesnt happen when she's in bed with me. I have been starting the night apart though, and that isn't lasting very long right now. At least Aidan is doing good at night, and Adam has been giving me an extra 15-60 min every morning to lay in bed by myself and unkink from pretzeling around Anna all night. Sleep is sleep though.

Family is coming to town for Christmas and I am so excited. Not only is Christmas right around the corner but I have another dentist appointment in two weeks :) LOL

I'm back from CA, my dad was here for a week, and there's not much time for blogging.

Aidan has decided it is time to potty train.

Anna has decided it is time to try walking (at 8mo).

I participated in a nurse-in at the airport yesterday and was on the news.

I spent all my free time last night using the Magic Extractor in Photoshop elements for my sister's holiday card. That is an awesome tool! Thanks Gen for the task!

I am cleaning my house myself (it is 4300 sq ft).

We fished all last week in our neighborhood ponds.

It is the holidays, the weather is chilly, and there is shopping to be done.

I am cooking a 20lb turkey tomorrow for just the 4 of us. It was the only turkey left at the health food store.

My trip was recharging, just like it was supposed to be. I am home. I should post pics but...see sentence one of this post. Adam is home for the next four days though, so maybe...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Scattered Update

I've been feeling a little frozen lately. I don't feel like I have a real rock right now. My life is stuck in a blender. The good news is, I think the blender has stopped and the mix is starting to settle and separate.

I'm off to CA next week to visit and stabilize things a little. I feel terrible about leaving Adam at home alone, especially since work is crazy for him right now, but he has assured me that he will be fine. I can't be his rock right now without making this trip. My grandpa has just been diagnnosed with prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bone. The thought of him being sick drains me. I love him, I miss him.

My best FL friend moved a couple of months ago and I feel a little isolated without her. We didn't even talk every week, but she was real. She is a good friend. It is hard that I don't have a good friend close right now. It makes me even more homesick. I miss my family.

At least Adam and I are good in our marriage. We are a both a little needy right now, but I am thankful to have him in my life. He is constant. He is amazing.

Halloween was great, Aidan is able to say trick-or-treat now and still doesn't know what candy is. That's a good thing since we had to give away 90% of his candy to keep the dairy out of the house.

I'm excited about the holidays approaching. I can't wait for the cool weather. I am governed by inertia in the heat.

I started putting Anna in the bedroom to nap yeaterday instead of in the swing in the family room. What a difference! She's already been napping for 2hrs this morning. That and Little Bear have given me a nice little break.

Anna can stand all by herself now, without pulling up on anything. Its weird to see. A little baby (7mo and small for her age) standing in the middle of the room squatting and recovering. It freaks people out.

turn around

last week was a rough week. this week WILL be better.

more differences

Anna cut her first tooth over the weekend at 6.5 months old. Aidan was over 10 months old when he got his first tooth.

Anna continues to be a mover and stands up at everything, even the walls. She cruises a little along the furniture and even tries to let go and take steps but she's still wobbly at best and hasn't successfully completed a step.

Aidan has a little runny nose and while I was nursing Anna to sleep in the living room, went and fell asleep on his bed for a nap, by himself without the tv on or anything. I thought he was in his playroom and after putting Anna in the swing I had to go looking for him. I found him asleep, curled up with his Little Mermaid doll, Cinderella cup, pink lovey and Cinderella toothbrush. That is one good boy. I really hope he doesn't get more than just a runny nose. I'm not up for it.

Anna at 6mo

Last week Anna turned six months old. I predicted she'd crawl by her 6mo birthday, but she took an extra 5 days to really get the hands and knees and move all at the same time. Her want to stand kind of threw a wrench in the plans. She's a perfect little crawler at 6mo 1wk, and she has combined it with the pull up to get to furniture to stand at. She's much more independant that Aidan was at her age. At 6mo, Aidan was just ssitting well by himself and never seemed to even want to move. He didn't crawl until 9.5mo. Anna can also get to sitting now all by herself from laying on her stomach.

One thing that is harder though is that she falls over more and hits her head. Aidan was always so controlled and sure and she just wants to go without really having the strength or stability. I think we'll need to Anna-proof a little. She's starting to have an eye for exploring the tile at the end of the carpet.

Nursing seems to be mostly for nutrition and less for comfort than I remember with Aidan. Our nursing sessions are very quick as she gulps the letdown and then she's ready to explore. She does like to nurse to sleep but she struggles sometimes with fullness and the want to continue nursing to sleep. She seems to spit up at these times if she stays awake. Other than that, she very rarely spits up.

I don't see any teeth trying to swell or cut their way through, but she does like to chew on things. We haven't really tried any solid foods yet. A few weeks ago, Adam and I were talking about when we thought we'd try and we both kinda shrugged and thought she was still so little, had no teeth, and didn't really seem that interested. Then I read about this over here. That sounds pretty good to me. I'm not interested in shoveling food into her mouth to spit onto a bib. We'll see how it goes as I'm relaxed and folowing my mommy-instincts on this one.

Last night Anna spent her first night starting on the bed on the floor. She lasted about 3 hours, about 2.5 longer than I thought she would. I'm impressed, and optimistic that she'll keep it going. I don't mind having her in our bed, but now that she's mobile and starting to sit up and move around the bed in the middle of the night, she needs to be between Adam and I instead of on an end. It has been cute thus far, catching her standing at Adam's back at 3am or seeing her cuddled up with him, but I seem to start getting my mojo back at around 6mo postpartum and I'd like to be able to lay next to my hubby. Of course there are other rooms in our house, but now that she can quietly move around and potentially launch off the bed, I can't leave her in the room by herself.

Anna continues to be a very happy, easy-going baby. She loves to flirt from my arms or floor but doesn't seem to like being held by others very much (except Adam). She did pretty good one morning at my mom's house. I took Anna into my mom's room at 5am and asked her to play Mimi while I went back to bed with Aidan. I heard her screaming in delight and laughing as I lay in bed, unable to go back to sleep. She is really happy in the mornings.

I've also noticed that I can leave her in a room now for a few minutes at a time to get laundry or go to the bathroom. She'll crawl around and explore while I'm gone without panicking at my absence. That is very differnet from Aidan and oh so nice!

Aidan gets upset sometimes when he finds her playing with "his" toys but we've created a rule that he must give her a new toy before taking one away. This works for now, as she really doesn't care, and it's really cute to see his frantically search for a toy to swap and then throw the old toy off to the side. It is funny how he didn't want to play with the original toy but just didn't want her to have it.

Anna loves attention she gets from Aidan. He'll grab her head to kiss or jump over her, knocking her in the process and she sucks it up. She smiles at him and loves watching him play. I am amazed at how well they get along so far.

******
I know I need to write about Aidan too, so I'll start with a little story until I get to his 2.5yo next month.

Last night he was nursing and chatting about something at the same time (he almost never does this) and he stopped both, said "na-nas good mommy. yummy," and continued nursing and chatting about something I couldn't understand. He's been so happy lately and he lights up my days. It's a good thing, because the whining kills me.

Back in mommy land

We're back from So Cal. And we had a great time. We missed our flight the morning we were supposed to leave and ended up spending 4 hours in the Jax airport and 5 hours in the Houston airport, but we made the most of it with crayons and coloring books and Anna learning how to crawl on the airport floor. All in all, it was a great family day. There were no distractions.

We spent a few days in a hotel visiting family and friends. It was the first time most of them had seen Anna. She charmed them all, of course. Then we went to my mom's house for a night, had a family party and played in the pool. We were even able too hook up with Adam's parents after a canceled flight and two days of trying to get there.

Aidan wanted to be home the entire last day and once we made it, he was so happy, hugging us and jumping around. The night we got home, Anna started full-on crawling, on hands and knees. She crawls to furniture and pulls up. It weird because she's so small still. She's a do-er and Aidan is a thinker. It is very different.

I read a book on our trip, Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner. It was not the kind of boook I should have been reading as I had to leave my family and come home to my neighborhood. Oh well. I wish there was a way to have everything. I'm just thankful I get to stay home with my kids and have the husband of my dreams.

We had our pictures taken by the same photographer who did our engagement, wedding, and other family photos. It will be another week or two before we get to see them, and I can't wait. He spent a couple of hours with us, in our hotel room and it is hard to imagine what he got, with two kids wanting to do their own things. The anticipation is killing me.

Have a great weekend.

Balance

After I wrote that last post, Aidan pooped in the bath. He was paralyzed with fear at the sight of his poo in the water. Poor thing. Poor toys.

It is still good

Life is still treating me like a queen, or spoiled bratt if you prefer. We had a great weekend, eating corn pancakes every day (where the 3rd and 4th ingredients are sugar and lard :(), dancing with the kids, eating lunch out.

Adam and are are bestest friends. I absolutely love spending time with him and our little family. He adds so much to my life. And he's sexy too.

Aidan is his own little episode of project runway. He amazes me everyday with his choice in clothing and footwear.

Anna is still on her quest for the perfect crawl. She can rotate around on the floor but has yet to crawl. She tries everyday and gets closer and closer. Her arms are gaining strength. If I am to win the poll, she has to crawl by Sunday, her 6mo birthday.

We're going to CA next week and I CAN"T WAIT!!!!! We're having family pics taken again and I can hardly stand the anticipation.

TTFN. Baby calling.

Crawling poll

Anna REALLY wants to crawl. Anyone want to take guesses for a crawl poll? As of now, she really has very little arm strength. She sits totally by herself, reaches forward for toys or to try and crawl, but once she gets on her knees from sitting, her arms give out and she is on her face, kicking and trying to crawl but only pushing her face into the ground. Damn, she's cute!

Aidan didn't crawl until 9.5 mo. He was always content to just sit and play with whatever was within easy reach. Anna wants to go, even if there aren't toys she wants. She can reach out for toys then go back to sitting, rocking a little. She won't be 6mo until 9/17.