So Long, Old Year!

The kids decided to make the last day of 2011 pooptastic. Elise had a fever yesterday and she was all whiny and grouchy today, even though her fever went down. Henry had a 30 minute temper tantrum this morning. Georgia's favorite form of communication today was spitting. And Clark had a little bit of blood in his poop this evening (just a teensy bit, but still...).

Ugh.

Also, Elise is back to threatening me. Not with biting this time, at least. But here's her new fun thing to talk about.

"Elisey pee pee in bed?"

"No. Don't pee in your bed."

"Pee pee on floor?"

"Pee in the potty, not on the floor, please."

And here's the latest addition: "Elisey pee pee on MOMMY!"

"You'd better not. Not funny, Elise."

Okay. Kind of funny. But I don't let HER see me smile about it.

10 to Go

125! Ten pounds away from my pre-pregnancy weight! It only took me 12.5 weeks to get this far...

I once read somewhere that the average American woman gains a permanent 5 pounds for each pregnancy she has. In other words, she never loses the last 5 pounds of her pregnancy weight each time she has a baby. So if I don't lose another pound, at least I'll be average. Two babies, I've earned 10 pounds.

But I will lose it.

Eventually.

Night Travel

we drove to visit family for the recent christmas holiday. for the first time since we've started parenting, husband and i wised up to the best way to travel with little ones. we began our journey right around their bedtime. we hoped they would sleep and we could make fewer stops. and it worked! we drove straight there without a single stop. we shaved hours off our time. literally hours. even clark slept. we had a very successful trip on the way back, too. awesome. this is how we'll be travelling from now on: kids in jammies, snuggled down into their car seats with their blankies and teddies. night night! we'll wake you up when we get there!

Not ROWS, Exactly...

Well, I've been working on learning how to do cornrows in Georgia's hair. I've braided her hair probably 4 or 5 times now. I'm getting sliiiiiiiiiiightly better at it. On a scale of 1 to 10 I'm probably up to a 2 in overall presentation. Part of the problem is that her hair is really, really short. The other part is that she wont sit still for 10 seconds. I've even tried to do her hair while she's strapped into her highchair and eating dinner-- she still manages to swing her head around and mess me up.

I'm really trying, though.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...

Elbows and a Big "What's Up?"

Clark decided today that tummy time should be had while resting on his elbows. No more lying on his tummy screaming and kicking his feet. He propped himself up on his elbows and was like, "Oh. This isn't so bad. What's up, Mommy? I kind of like tummy time now."

And speaking of "what's up," Elise has now adopted that phrase, but she only uses it on Georgia. Elise spent part of Christmas running through my mother-in-law's house yelling, "What's up, Gigi?!?! What's up, Gigi?!?!" It was weird.

Happy Holidays

hey! haven't posted in a few days. we've been busy with family and holiday stuff. i'll tell you what, holidays are so much more special with little kids around. seeing their excitement and the smiles on their little faces is the best present a mommy can get.

happy holidays!

Big Girl Medicine

successful mommy trick #1! elise didn't want to take her eye drop medicine the first time i raised the bottle to her eye. so i said, "this is big girl medicine! only big girls can take it. can you act like a big girl and let me put the drops in? show me that you can be a big girl and hold still." and it worked. now i just say, "time to take your big girl medicine!" and she lays down for her eye drops. yay!

Here We Go Again

elise has a middle ear infection in her left ear. her left eye is swollen, red, and gunky because of it. she looks pathetic. :(

Naughty or Nice?

Tonight the kids were opening books that we had wrapped in gift bags stuffed with paper. Henry opened his and Husband and I shouted, "Henry got a book! Yay!" Then Georgia opened hers and we said, "Georgia got a book, too! Yay!" Elise looked inside of her bag and only saw the paper. She happily yelled, "Elisey got trash!!!"

Another Story About How Big Clark Is

As we were leaving a store today, I gave Elise a quarter to put in the Salvation Army bucket. You know how the Salvation Army has people outside of stores collecting money and ringing bells around the holidays. Well, I'm sure that job is very boring and it's probably annoying to have people avoid making eye contact with you all day, so as we paused to put the quarter in the bucket, the lady bell ringer struck up a conversation.

Eventually she asked, "How old is the little one?" indicating Clark.

"Two months." Her eyebrow shot up, so I added, "He's big for his age."

"How much did he weigh when he was born?"

"9 lbs, 5 oz."

"My daughter-in-law, she just had a 9 lb baby. He's 5 months old now and he already weighs 17 POUNDS! Can you believe that? 17 POUNDS! He just eats and eats and eats all day long..." blah blah blah.

I didn't bother to mention that Clark is already 15 lbs and putting on about 3/4 of a pound every week.

Elise's First Haircut

I gave Elise her first haircut last night.

When Elise was born her hair was really patchy. Right under the curve of the back of her head was where her hair was longest, and it's stayed long in that one spot for her entire 21 months of existence. Consequently, she's looked for a while now like she has a baby mullet. Or a rattail. Remember those things? (Click here.)

I put a rubber band around her long hairs and cut. But I saved the lock. It's beautiful.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Elise's version of Itsy Bitsy Spider:

It's tee tee tee spider
climb up down
spout
Down down down rain
and boppa spider out
Tee tee tee tee sun
dry uppa rain
It's tee tee tee spider
climb up down

Evening Roundup

Notes from today:

1. I took Georgia and Henry to get their second flu shots today (because little kiddos have to get two in one season the first time they get immunized) and I also had Clark with me. There was another little baby in the waiting room with us and she looked so tiny and cute. I asked her father how old she is... "Five months." Clark was way bigger than she was. Way bigger.

2. Elise did fine in her toddler bed today at nap time. I kind of figured she would. She always did well when she was sleeping in Henry's toddler bed while he and Georgia were at school during the week. It's on the weekends when Georgia is home during the day time and the girls are in their room together that everything goes haywire. It's so strange because we don't have any problems with the girls at nighttime, but they never want to take naps during the day when they're in a room together. They have a little baby party. You can hear them on the other side of the house, laughing at each other and singing songs.

We have a gate up across our hall so no babies can wander into the living room or kitchen. When Henry wakes up he either stays in bed and cries or he comes into our room. Elise hasn't gotten up during the night since she's had her bed, but I have a feeling she'll stay in bed and cry for us. If not, she certainly knows where our bedroom is. Our bathroom door is childproofed, so the kids can't get into the bathroom on their own. The worst thing that can happen is that they get up and play with their toys. But none of the kids have the faintest idea of how to be quiet yet, so even that will wake the adults up.

Our foster son Bo lived with us while he was 3 years old. He would wake up in the mornings before us sometimes. He usually didn't wake us-- he would just turn his light on and play with his toys. I think Bo felt like he was doing something sneaky. Of course, you can't dump a bucket of legos onto the floor with out making a huge racket. Husband and I would hear him and just lay in bed for a little while longer and let him play and not know that we were listening to him move around. It was nice to not have to jump out of bed just because he was awake.

3. This evening Husband and I both got stuck in the hallway while the kids were playing in Henry's room. Clark puked down my back and Husband was helping me. Then we hear Henry scream. So we hurry into the room and Elise has a death grip on Henry's leg for some reason. She looks up and says, "Elisey do bad." I hate it when she's cute while she's misbehaving.

Screw Naptime

Elise and Georgia didn't sleep one wink today during nap time. The toddler bed has thrown Elise for a loop; she could not hold still. Georgia was in her crib on the other side of the room, egging Elise on. Nap time was a disaster.

Somehow, Elise did okay during the rest of her sleep-deficient day. She didn't get all cranky or emotional or mean like I thought she would. Georgia got kind of fussy, but I also had to do her hair tonight and that puts her on edge in even the best of circumstances.

I can't wait until Elise gets used to her new bed.

At least the girls will sleep well tonight. (I hope.)

Big Girl Bed

Yesterday Elise got to open her toddler bed Christmas present. All of the kids got to open a big present, just to make it fair. But the reason we let Elise open the toddler bed is that we knew Elise would need an adjustment period with her new sleeping arrangement and we wanted to just get it over with.

Like we called it, Elise is drunk on the power of being able to get up out of her bed anytime she wants. She's okay at nighttime. The room is dark and she's not so inclined to roam around. But nap time today was redonkulous. She and Georgia share a room, you know. So after walking in about 5 times on Elise not only out of her bed but climbing Georgia's crib, I ended up sitting in there with them until they fell asleep. This was me: "Lay down... Hush... Lay down... Be quiet... Stay in bed... SHHHHH..." It took them forever to go to sleep.

I hope she stays in bed tonight.

Twist and Shout

Clark almost rolled over today. He was lying on his back. He pulled his legs up into the air, flopped onto his side, got his hips twisted around, but couldn't quite get past his shoulder and all the way onto his belly. So he got really mad and yelled. Poor Babu.

He is really such a good baby. So quiet and happy and sweet. I love him so much. My gentle giant.

Christmas Spirit

Today Elise was singing, "Jingle buns! Jingle buns! Jingle on the way..."

I Tooted!

Elise announces it every time she farts now. "I tooted! Scuse me!" At least she excuses herself. Half the time you wouldn't know she farted if she didn't say something. And, of course, she says it TWICE as loud when we're in public. She has to make sure that everyone on the other side of the grocery store knows.

Sweet Sweet Sleep

Clark slept for 5 1/2 hours straight two nights ago.

Yes! High five!

I can remember in the beginning feeling happy if Elise would sleep for 2 hours straight. This is awesome.

Big Baby and Big Talker

We're adjusting our life insurance coverage (because that's what you do when you have lots of kids) and today we had a nurse at our house as part of that process. After I picked Clark up from his swing and the nurse got a good look at him she said, "You said he's only two months old? He's kind of big, isn't he?" Yes, yes. Thank you for stating the obvious. She asked how long he was when he was born. I told her. "My son was 22 inches when he was born. And he's 6'5" now!" I wonder if Clark will be tall, too.

Elise was talking and talking while the nurse was here. Finally the nurse asked, "How old is she?" 21 months, I told her. "That's just great. She's a good talker. She'll be reading soon!" I don't know about THAT... but Elise is quite the chatterbox.

Elise does memorize books and recite them back fairly well. Her favorite right now is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" She says, "Bown bear, bown bear do do you see?" After I read her a book 2 or 3 times in a row and I'm sick of reading it but she asks "again?" I tell her "You read it to me." She gives it a try.

Husband Gives His First Haircut, Elise Sings In French

Husband and I bought some hair clippers today. We're really lousy about taking Henry to get regular haircuts. We haven't found a place that we really like, and since he's so young, there aren't very many places that will cut his hair anyhow. He sits still and does really well while his hair is being trimmed, but most of the places we've talked to simply wont cut a child's hair who is under 3 years old. So we decided that we'd learn to do it ourselves. Save a little money in the process.

As today was the first time Husband has ever cut hair, we agreed that he wouldn't attempt anything fancy. All one length. Just cut it all off. Buzz, buzz, buzz. And it looked okaaaaaaaaaaaay... but kind of... off somehow. Quick Google search. And we found out the trick to cutting hair with clippers. Husband clipped from back to front and then front to back, or "with the grain and against the grain" as he called it. But you have to also clip from the left side of the head to the right side, and then from the right side to the left side. Those hairs must be buzzed from every direction. And it looked much better. Yay, Husband! You did it!

In other news:

Elise has been singing "Frere Jacques" like crazy lately. She sings the tune perfectly. It's especially adorable, though, because she has her own silly words for the song. "Frarah Jocka, frarah Jocka, do moo moo? Do moo moo?..."

I love talking with her because she's a little bit crazy. The other day we were in the car and it was close to lunch time. I was telling her that we'd go home and eat soon. "Mommy eating lunch?" Yes, I said, I would be eating lunch. "Eating?" she asked. I assumed she wanted to know what I would eat, so to tease her I said, "I eat BABIES for lunch!" She looked at me and said, "Elise eating mommies..." dramatic pause "... ALL GONE!" She one-upped me. You're good Elise.

Baby Giggles

Clark laughed tonight while I was bouncing him on the bed. I love it. Nothing is cuter than baby giggles.

Oh! And he is officially too big to fit into some of his 3-6 months clothes now. He's only 2 months old and I have to start dressing him in 6-9 month clothes.

The Not So Near Future

Spoke with the kids' case manager recently. The earliest that Case Manager will be able to request a termination of parental rights with respect to Henry is sometime in February. So, two months from now. There will need to be two more court hearings after that and then the judge will need time to make a decision-- we're at least half a year away from any kind of permanent plan for Henry's future. At least. Probably more like 8 or 9 months. And then the whole rigamarole with regard to adoption will begin. Hopefully Henry will be in his forever home by this time next year.

Husband and I have a lot of talking to do in order to decide if Henry's forever home might be with us. A lot of talking. A big decision. At least we know we've got some time to figure it out.

Mr Personality

Clark smiles and coos now. It's so so so cute. It never gets old. And, of course, it's not one of those things like "I already went through this with the first kid. No big deal this time." No. It melts my heart. Mommy heart puddles.

Secret confession: I love the smell of little baby breath. Breastfed baby breath. It smells so sweet, like they've been eating candy. Just this fresh, milky sweetness. If you don't know that smell, you are missing out, my friend.

Say What?

Some things Elise has said lately:

1) Singing Baa Baa Black Sheep-- "Baa baa black sheep, have you any wood?"

2) Elise is really mean now. She pinched me today so I said, "Ow, Elise. Cut it out!" She looked me in my eyes and said, "Cry Momma. Run away." Evil.

3) Now when she wants to know what something is she says, "Who dat?" She says "who dat" for inanimate objects, but also (more appropriately) for people. At the doctor's office while Clark was getting examined she asked in a stage whisper, "Who dat boy?" about the doctor. The doctor thought that was pretty funny.

My Little Monkey

Elise's rendition of "Five Little Monkeys" yesterday in the waiting room at the doctor's office turned into a rant on monkey safety.

"... Momma call a docta and a docta say, 'No no monkeys jumping bed!' NO NO MONKEYS! Bumpa head! Boo boo head! Falling down. Ground. Boo boos. BE CAREFUL! I'm be careful. Climbing? NO! Boo boo head! Call a docta! Night night monkeys. No boo boos. No ground bumpa head. No falling down..."

We're getting Elise a toddler bed for Christmas because she loves Henry's toddler bed so much that she sleeps in it for nap time during the weekdays when he's at school. Let's see if she still believes in no-no-monkeys-jumping-bed when she has her own bed to bounce on.

Clark's 2 Month Check Up

Clark turned two months old yesterday! Yay, Baby Man! And today he got poked full of holes. He had his two month check up today. Three shots and some weird liquid in his mouth. Clark is pro at this, though. A few little shots are nothing compared to a scalp IV. He was awesome.

Clark is currently 24 3/4 inches long (98th percentile!!!) and he weighs 14 lbs 1 oz (90th percentile). Big is beautiful, Clark!

Prenatal Vitamins

Because I'm breastfeeding, I'm still taking prenatal vitamins. I've been on these things forever. Since I found out I was pregnant with Elise-- so, for over 2 years. I swear, they boost my immune system or something. For all of the colds and weird baby diseases that the kids bring home, I barely get sick. Husband gets sick more often than I do, and that was never the case before he knocked me up. Is there any reason not to take prenatal vitamins once you're done breastfeeding? Because I think I'll just keep taking these things until I croak.

Clark's Belly Button

Clark has an adorable belly button. It's an innie, and when you look inside there appears to be a fold running vertically from the top to the bottom of the hole. It makes his belly button look like it has a little butt crack in it. So I call it his belly butt.

Poop Explosions & What Elise Says

Over the past few days Clark has had some major shits-up-the-back.

There's never a good time for these things, right? But his timing is truly impeccable. Just as Henry and Georgia's guardian ad litem knocks on our front door for a home visit. As I'm rushing to leave the house to make it on time to an appointment. Clark seems to sense my stress and have some sort of poopy sympathetic reaction.

In other news...

Elise says lots of cute, silly things now. She has this way of talking sometimes-- it's sort of stream of consciousness. I love it. One day when the sun was in her eyes: "Sun. Eyes. Boo boo eyes. Eyes broken. Sun broken eyes. Eyes. Eye brows? Sun broken eye brows? Nope. Boo boo eyes sun..."

Today she looked out the car window and saw the moon in the sky. You know how sometimes you can see the moon in the middle of the day. She always looks for it. But anyway, she saw the moon and said, "Momma, I bite the moon?" Maybe some day, sweet Elise. You can do anything you set your mind to do.

Rumors

it's still not official, but i heard another rumor that case manager will be requesting a termination of parental rights for henry and georgia's mom. the request will only be made with regard to susannah and henry, though. case manager will wait to request a termination of parental rights with regard to georgia and eve until it's more clear whether their father is going to do well with his case plan.