She's Not A Bed!

Earlier this evening Bruce and I were sitting on the sofa and Bruce put his head on my shoulder. We were tired (shocking), catching up on the day and watching the kids play. Jack comes up to us and demands to his Daddy "don't lay on her!" We were surprised and Bruce asked why he shouldn't be laying on Mommy. Jack said "she's not a bed." Children are so wise.

Jack is also fascinated with Bruce going to the office or going to work. A couple of days ago Jack got some play keys and said "I have to go to work, I'm going to the office." I asked him what he did for work and he said "play with toys." Great work if you can get it.

I borrowed a great idea from a friend and picked up some squeaker shoes for Belle. The little dickens can walk but I'm hoping to motivate her to walk more, whenever she walks the shoes make a little squeak. The squeaker can be removed but I find it cute and it's nice to know where she is if I'm trying to get things done. However, I know my son and if Belle had squeaker shoes he would want some too so I went ahead and picked up a pair for him too. We have a pair of squeakers whenever we go out and both kids are entertained merely by walking!

I bought these for Belle:

And I got these ones for Jack:

I will be uploading more photos soon, it's been a very busy summer so once I get them off the camera watch out for picture overload!

From the Mouths of Babes

Jack and I were watching "The Little Mermaid" the other day and as she was going through her transformation he asked me what was happening to her. I told him that she was turning into a human. He looked at me quizzically and said "a human?" I said "yes, you're a human." As he thought about that I said "is daddy a human?" Jack said "yes" and then I asked if I was a human and he said "no." I was bemused so I asked him "what am I?" Jack said "you're a lady." After a series of questions about who in the family was a human, it turns out that to an almost three year old men and boys are humans and women and girls are ladies.

He still makes me smile when I thank him for something, he says "you're welcome, it's my pleasure." Such a polite little toddler.

Excuse Me Guys, I Have a Plan

Toddlers hear everything. While this is not a newsflash it does tend to surprise me when Jack repeats my common phrases. I obviously use the terms "guys" and "plan" on a very regular basis. The other day Bruce, his dad (Jack's Pappa) and I were talking. Jack comes up to us and says "excuse me guys, I have a plan." He then regaled us with said plan to our dumbfound surprise. Jack's Grammie has been visiting and he has been directing "Drammie" as to how things operate and where things go. After she read him a story a few nights ago she forgot the book on his bed. We start hearing him scream "you forgot to put the book away! Put the book away!" She went and got the book and started to put it away on a lower shelf and he told her to"put it on the top shelf" which is funny because the top shelf is dedicated to books that are more delicate and could easily be ripped, i.e. books that we don't want Jack to be able to get on his own. The next night she remembered to take the book and put it away but she heard a little voice call out "did you put it on the top shelf?" He also assured Grammie that playing with his whale toy in the bathroom was OK by telling her that "it's perfectly fine, Drammie." Jack also told her that as she was supervising his bathroom usage while eating a piece of cinnamon bread that "you can't eat in the bathroom Drammie, you have to eat at the table." He does know the rules even if he doesn't always follow them. When my mom was visiting he told her that he was going to come get her in the morning by knocking on her door "I'm going to knock knock knock on your door Dramma (Grandma)." He then showed her how he was going to knock by rapping his little knuckles on his bed. Too cute.



Jack is now totally diaper free! He hasn't had an accident during the day or at night for weeks and we couldn't be prouder of him. Now we just need to work on his aim when he's standing up...



Bruce and I are also dealing with a lot of phobias with Jack. He's developed a fear of the bathtub drain though it does seem to be getting better and he's a little afraid of the new humidifier. We just keep telling him that he's safe, we won't let anything happen to him and everything is OK. We keep telling ourselves that these are phases and they will pass as quickly as they came on.

We're also gearing up for the beginning of school. I can't believe that Jack and Belle are going to both be in school full time in a month! I know that it's going to be a lot harder on me than it will be for them but it's exciting nonetheless.

Belle's One Year Check-up

Belle is healthy just as we thought. When she was born she was 20.5 inches long and 10.8 lbs. Now she is 30 inches long and 19.7 lbs which puts her in the 75th percentile for length and 10-25th percentile for weight. At one, Jack was 30.5 inches long and 19.8 lbs so both of our kids are growing in a similar fashion. Belle is walking when she feels like it, she got across the room tonight because I had a toy that she wanted. She laughed the whole way across the floor because she thought that she was clever by holding back how skilled she is with the whole walking thing. Little devil.

Happy Birthday Belle!

I can't believe that Belle is one already. This past year went by incredibly fast, faster it seems than it did during Jack's first year. Having two kids makes everyday fly by so I really shouldn't feel surprised by her first birthday. We had a lovely day complete with pancakes and eggs for breakfast and cake for dessert. She loved her new toys and for the first time was more interested in playing with them than chewing on them. Of course Jack is also captivated by the new toys and he is learning that he has to ask Belle if he can play with her toys. She may not understand the concept of sharing but Jack is old enough to learn how sharing works. We did give Jack a small toy which did mitigate the jealousy but he still wanted to play with her toys first. Belle hasn't had her first year check up yet so I'll post her stats once we have them. She did take her first steps last night and she is getting much better at walking by herself. She thinks that she is pretty cool.

Since I didn't start blogging until Belle was six months old I thought that I would share her birth story. It really does feel like yesterday that we were waiting for her to make her arrival. I'll share Jack's on his birthday in August when he turns three!

Belle's due date was June 25, 2008. When I woke up that morning I was planning on having a quiet day at home with my mom and Jack. I woke up really tired and around 9:00 am I had a light breakfast. As I was sitting at the kitchen table I thought that I felt a contraction. Bruce was about to leave for work but stayed with me and started timing contractions. They were about ten minutes apart so I called our doula Mary. We had planned on calling her when they got to five minutes apart. I checked my email and got the rest of my hospital bag together. I saw a recall notice that Belle's crib had been recalled so I tore her crib apart and called customer service. It turned out that her crib was fine but it was an experience tearing apart a crib while in labor. By 10:00 am my contractions were five minutes apart and I called my doula to let her know. She was going to head over to our house and I went to shower. By the time I was done with my shower my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and Bruce called Mary who told us that she would meet us at the hospital. Bruce took our bags out to the car, we said goodbye to Jack and we started the drive to Little Rock. It's only 20-30 minutes to get to the hospital but my contractions were coming really strong and fast and we were honestly afraid that we were going to end up delivering in the car! We got to the hospital around 12:00 and we were settled into our room around 12:30 pm and I was already dilated to 8 cm. Our doula and the nursing staff were great and of course Bruce was an amazing coach. The nurses were very supportive of unmedicated births and they never once mentioned pain medication to me. The pain was quite bad but manageable, (thank you Bradley Method) I was grateful that I didn't have back labor like I did with Jack. By 2:00 pm we were ready to push and Dr. Wyatt almost didn't make it to the delivery. Belle was born at 2:15 PM weighing 10.8 lbs and she was 20.5 inches long. She was a big healthy girl and much easier to deliver than her brother! It was a great birth experience and I am still glad that she decided to be quick in her arrival. Belle did spend a day in the NICU due to the fact that we noticed a change in her personality and she kept on spitting up clear liquid. It turned out that she inhaled some fluid on her exit. It was a little scary for us initially but the staff did a great job explaining the situation. She nursed wonderfully from the very beginning and I am a little sad that our nursing time is coming to an end. She has turned one and she doesn't need me for all of her nutrients, it's time for her to become a big girl and for me to have my body to myself again. Except of course for all of those delicious kid snuggles from my two delightful children.

Happy Father's Day!

A very happy father's day to all of the fathers in my life, especially to Bruce the wonderful father of my children. I am so grateful for everything he does for me, Jack and Belle including taking the first morning shift with the kids and knowing when I need some alone time. I always know that we are equal partners in parenting.

We had a very relaxing day at home with the kids which included morning naps, my making brunch which included french toast waffles and Bruce grilling steaks. All in all a very lovely day for our family.

Happy Birthday Bruce!

Today is my dear husband's birthday, I made him birthday panna cotta to celebrate as he is not partial to cake. I simply love growing older together with this man as our relationship really has grown sweeter with time (although it's always been pretty sweet). Happy birthday baby, here's to many more years together laughing and loving.