Changing

Here he is looking handsome in his Easter suit at six months old! (Just pretend this was posted a month ago) It is hard to believe that he is six months old. It almost seems like he grows overnight, we wake up and he is bigger. He is eating his vegetables now, we are slowly making our way through them. He has had squash, carrots, sweet potatoes and green beans. Next he will eat peas and then onto the good stuff: fruit! He is still very grabby and everything goes directly to his mouth. Everybody we meet wants to know if he is always so happy, which he is...unless he is hungry or tired, even then he is not too bad. He just smiles so easily, all it takes is for somebody to look at him and he gives them the biggest smile. Such a cutie! As you can see he is very tall, here are his six month stats:
Height: 28 1/2 inches 95%

Weight: 17 pounds 7 ounces 50%

I haven't forgotten you

Ummmm, hi. What can I say....uh, the dog ate the internet and that is why I have not posted in so long. What? You don't believe me? Then you obviously don't know my dog! Anyway, we are in Ohio and Hannah is enjoying all the extra attention she is getting. She loves playing with her cousins and every morning she goes through the list of names asking if she is going to see them today. I see Yah-yah? I see Abbie? I see Anna? I see Grandma Pries? On it goes until we have covered everybody. A few times she has asked to go to Hannah's house, but for the most part is happy to be here.
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On the Daddy front, Hannah misses him so much. Occasionally she asks if we are going to see Daddy, or if Daddy has to work tomorrow. It is hard to explain how long it will be before we will see him again. She has her own little collage of Daddy pictures and shows them to everybody that walks into the front door. It is pretty cute. She finally talked to him on the phone, she is not a big phone talker so she was just listening to him talk. The other day she said about four sentences to him so he was excited! He says that he is bored over there, which is a good thing to hear! He is working the night shift so there is not much going on, but it does give him time to work on school work....or watch tv or play video games! When I talked to him on Sunday he said it was like living the movie Groundhog Day. Everything is the same over and over again. What more could we ask for?
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So, from now on I will try to keep this thing updated on a regular basis, especially since Alex is seven months tomorrow and I just posted his six month stuff! Ooops!

Just Because

Today was sort of an off day; we did not do much. I had to write two article reviews for my class, one in a memo format and the other in a paper format. Of course they were both due by tonight and I waited until today to do them! We did go to the post office and mail a package out to Tony. When we got back home I told Hannah how messy the living room was and she looked at me and said "Oh.My.Gosh.Mommy, it's messy." It was so funny I just laughed! I think she picked that phrase up from her daddy because I do not say that. Then, she was running around without a shirt on because she spilled water down the front of her and just because she has a perfect nose like belly button I drew a face on her belly! She was running around in her typical fashion and since I was busy most of the evening working on my papers, the hurricane Hannah roared through the living room again.
Alexander is just getting so big so fast...and I'm not just talking size wise either. He no longer stays in one spot on the floor because he scoots. However, he hates to be on his stomach so he scoots on his back. If I recall correctly this is how his sister started out. He is just so grabby, he will stare intently at something I have (like a glass) and as soon as it gets in his reach he is grabbing it! I have to be extra careful with what I'm holding now. He is also getting very vocal and is very loud. He just squeals away. Since Daddy has left he is getting pretty spoiled; when he wakes up at night I end up just leaving him in my bed. Oh well, we have seven months to break that habit.
I am so excited because Tony is settled in and has started working, which means e-mails. In the past two days I have gotten almost 50!!! Mind you that is back and forth chatting so most of them are only a couple of sentences, but I am so blessed to be able to stay connected with him. I talked to him on the phone last night as well. He is working the night shift right now, which is great for me because his hours are like 3pm-12am my time. Meaning I don't have to wait up to talk to him like I did last time.
Anyway, that is just a bunch of ramblings from today. My creative juices have not been flowing lately, so I apologize for the randomness of this post. I do have a picture to post of Hannah's belly face, but I will do that in the morning.

Top of the mornin' to ya!

One of the local beaches was having a festival to honor all the local Irishmen and women. So we went along with our friend Becky to have some fun. Hannah had the best time! Of course Becky spoiled her (and me) rotten. She bought her tickets to ride rides and me some coffee and food. The first thing she wanted to do was to ride the helicopter ride. I wasn't sure if parents were allowed so I just put her on the ride and left. She got upset and would not wave at us or even look at us the entire time. Instead she just sat there with her mad face on. We then attempted to go on a couple of the blow up things...of course she couldn't go in by herself. In both of them she freaked out and wanted to leave, but as soon as we got out she wanted back in, go figure. We finally went back and she rode the helicopter again. This time when I put her on the ride she said "Mommy watch." She waved and wore her proud face this time around. I think she realized that she could do it by herself. Alex was a trooper the entire time, just hanging out in the stroller. There was Celtic music (bagpipes) that Hannah really enjoyed, as well as lots of different craft booths. Of course what is a festival without food? Unfortunately, by this time it was getting crowded, Alex was getting fussy and we were all getting a little cold; so we just grabbed some food and left. No funnel cakes though:( I wish I would have thought to take the camera with me because I would have loved to get some pictures of Hannah riding those helicopters.

Update...

Just a quick update, so far we are doing pretty good in the Tater-tots household. We have an awesome ya*hoo group for the families that has been great! Haven't heard from hubby yet, but I got a message from the KV and she said the hot line had been updated today. So I called it and it said they were waiting for transport to their location. So, hopefully I will hear from him in the next couple of days. Tater seems to be adjusting well, she has been her usually joyful self. Yesterday when we were picking up her prescription she was prancing around in circles singing one of her praise songs. Very cute...until she started yelling them! Anyway, just wanted to put a quick update.

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Update on my update...I just talked to him!!! The connection was great and we got to talk for about 20 minutes! They are still waiting on transport so please pray for safe travels

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P.S. Are my comments working? I haven't gotten one in a long time, so give me a shout if you are out there....

Broken

Well, today was the day that we have been dreading...Daddy left for Iraq earlier today. It was a lot harder then I expected. I thought I had prepared myself mentally for it, but I was not prepared for the emotions that flooded me when I saw my husband say goodbye to our children. It was especially hard when Hannah was crying:(

We thought that she was prepared because she was so excited about going to Ohio, unfortunately I think that she was just focusing on that to "help" adjust. When Tony got dressed today and said he was getting ready for work, it was an instant meltdown. She did not want Daddy to leave. I think this made it even harder for Daddy.

Here are my two men, looking so identical:) Of course Alexander did not understand what was going on, so he was Mr. Personality. Smiling away at Daddy, which made me so sad. He loves playing with Daddy and all the sudden this person is going to go "missing" from his life. In seven months when Daddy returns, Alex won't even remember him.
I wish her hair wasn't blowing in her face for this picture, it is such a sweet shot.
Daddy with his two kids, notice the tears in the girls eyes! They are going to be so big when he returns...well Alex will be so much bigger, Hannah will just be older.

The highlight of the day was when Daddy took her over to the "big truck." It was the first smile of the day and it got better from there! Here she is driving!
She has already talked about him a couple times today; wanting to call him or show him a picture she drew. As you can tell it has been an emotional day. I do not remember it being this hard the last time!!! Thankfully, we will be going to Ohio soon and that will keep us busy for the deployment. If you haven't noticed there is a countdown at the bottom of the page. It is tentative because I don't know the exact date or time that he will be returning so I just have it set for October 15th at 5pm. Please keep us in your prayers as Daddy travels and we adjust!

Tub Time!

Changing

The boy is now five months, geesh he is getting so big. He has been discovering so much lately. About a week ago, he found his feet and now he loves grabbing them. He has also figured out how to really get his jumper to bounce. I think that is one of his favorite places to be, sitting in his jumper just a bouncing along. He has now rolled over I think three times without any assistance, but that is few and far between. Last night we gave him cereal for the first time. I was planning on waiting until he was six months, but I wanted Hubby to see it before left. Hubs laughed when I told him we were going to do it and said he didn't think he was ready. Well, boy was he wrong. Alexander opened his mouth right up and would practically eat the spoon he liked it so much. I guess he was ready!

I go to hio Mommy?!

I haven't posted about Badoo lately so here are a couple of little stories about what the girl has been up to:
Two Fridays ago I took her to get her hair cut. She was such a good girl, she sat there with no problem and admired her puppy dog cape. The problem came when she was all done. She. did. not. want. to. take. off. that. cape. She was so mad at the hairdresser. She would not even look at her.... Later that day we were talking and she said "Hannah, get a hair cut," and used her fingers as scissors across her bangs. It was so cute. Then she said "I wear puppies..." with a sad expression!
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We have been talking to her lately about Daddy leaving for Iraq soon. Trying to explain that he won't see her for a long time but he won't forget her etc. We also add that she will be moving to Ohio and will get to see her grandparents, aunts and uncles and play with all her cousins. I think she zones in on that point and forgets about Daddy leaving. The first thing she said to me this morning when I woke her up was "I go to hio Mommy?"
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We gave brother some cereal the other night, Hannah of course thought this was such a fun thing to do. She sat next to me as I fed him and watched. I asked her if she wanted to taste it and she exclaimed "NO! I TOO BIG!"

It's not polite to play with your food!

Alexander has learned a new trick....drum roll please. When he is nursing and is almost full he pulls off and makes a raspberry with his mouth....with the milk that is still in there. He thinks that it is so funny and does this over and over again all the while I am getting sprayed in the face with milk. I guess it is never too early to start teaching them manners. I can just see it now, he is sitting in the high school lunch room spraying all the cute girls with milk. The teacher on duty will walk up and say "Didn't your mother ever teach you not to play with your food boy?" Yeah, we better get on that one! Also, I think that we might have picked the wrong name out for him. He has been growing like a weed lately and already fits into 12 month clothes. So I'm thinking something along the lines of Jolly Green would fit or maybe Andre.

I was reading some old posts the other day and came across one where I was saying what a difficult baby he was. I guess I should update that because he is now the world's happiest baby. I mainly think that it was reflux because at his two month check-up he was put on Zan*tac and that made a world of difference. He is so happy the kid hardly ever cries, seriously it would be easy to forget he was around if it weren't for the squeals and laughter he shares with us. Of course as I'm typing this the voice inside my head is telling me that now I jinxed myself. Oh well, if that happens it will make for some interesting posts.

Apples and Oranges

Lately I have been noticing a couple differences in the personalities of how Hannah was as a baby and how Alexander is. For instance, Hannah loved the paci and used it all the time. In fact we just got her off it a few weeks ago. Alexander on the other hand, rarely uses one because he would rather suck on his fingers. Unfortunately, he hasn't quite figured out how far he can stick them in before gagging himself. Alex laughs so easily, a complete stranger can get a smile from him. Hannah was always a little harder to get laughing, and she would only "belly" laugh for her Daddy. Another difference, loud noises never seemed to bother Hannah, but Alex gets startled easily and then wails. He also shows a little stranger anxiety, but Hannah was always very social. When it came to bedtime, Hannah used to go to sleep easily and would wake up early (as a baby) and Mr. Alex prefers for me to put him to sleep and will sleep most of the morning. Nursing the two has been pretty similar in the fact that they ate supper fuss. The difference, Hannah would fuss a little to cue me in that she was getting hungry. Alex, the barracuda, can get really upset and when I pick him up he starts attacking me to try to get to the food! I'm sure that as they continue to grow there are going to be so many more differences. It is amazing how they are the same, yet different.

Dead Dog Walking

Last night as I was preparing for bed, I glanced over and saw a wet spot on the sheets. What? A wet spot on the sheets....the girl can't get on our bed without assistance so I was at a loss to what the spot was. I called to the hubby and asked him to do the sniff test. Urine he said. Well if it wasn't the girl, me or the hubs, that leaves the dog. Mind you our dog is not aloud on any of the furniture, let alone our bed but what else could it be. The dog peed on our bed. He jumped up there and peed on the bed....thankfully on hubby's side and towards the foot, but still. I was so mad, of course it was like 1:30 when I found it. So we had to clean the spot as best as we could, then we put a towel over it then sheets. At that moment, I no longer wanted a dog. He is just lucky that the hubs was in his corner or he would not be here today. However, if he ever does it again I'm putting my foot down and he is either an outside dog or an adopted dog!

Happy Valentines Day

Two very cute kids wishing all our friends and family a Happy Valentines Day!!

Time flies

Just a little note: I was sitting here thinking about the date and realized that one year ago today the faint pink line popped up on the EPT! I can't believe that it has been a year since then and the little Bubby has been here for four months already!

It's like finding a needle in a haystack

If you walked into my house right now you would see chaos, sheer chaos. I do not know what it is, but since I had the second child I cannot stay on top of the house work. I would be so embarrassed if somebody stopped by right now because that is how messy it is. I must clarify; messy, not dirty because I do manage to keep it clean, you know dusting, sweeping, mopping etc. It's just that I can't keep the "stuff" picked up. I just can't seem to find that balance of playing with the kids and cleaning during the day. Not to mention that I will pick up a room and five minutes later it will be messy again. Mostly from Tater, but also from hubs. OK and a little from me. Regardless, it never fails that when we need something it is nowhere to be found, until we don't need it anymore. Right now hubs is missing his beloved video game and apparently I am the keeper of all things in this house. I should know where this game is because the last time he saw it was in the computer room. Obviously if he would put it back where it belonged it wouldn't be missing, but that is neither here nor there. We tore the entire office/spare bedroom apart last night looking for this stupid game. Do you think we found the game? Nope, and I am tired of hearing him whine about it. So if it is not found by Valentine's Day guess what hubs is getting....the newer version of said game. That takes care of that problem, now if somebody could just send the maid over I would appreciate it.

Four month stats

Today was the dreaded four month check-up. He actually did pretty good with the shots. It was a little cute, in a sad way. He got four shots right in a row, I'm not kidding the nurse who always does our shots is awesome. It's boom, boom, boom, boom done before he really has a chance to realize what is going on. Anyway, back to his cuteness; he gets the first shot and kind of puckers up a little as I am talking to him. He acts as if he is going to smile when the second one goes in. It is then that he takes a huge breath in and just wails. As if to say, I'm ok with one...fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. After the fourth I picked him up and he was fine right away. Of course all day he has been a mamas boy and a little fussy, but not bad. The only problem was that I had a paper due tonight, so it was like pulling teeth to get it done. That is an entire different post, so here are his stats:

Weight: 15 lbs 13 1/4 oz
Height : 26 1/2 inches

He was about 55% for weight and 90% for height. I was a bit surprised because I thought he would be a little bit heavier, I knew he was pretty long because we had to break out some of the 6-9 month clothes. I can't believe that it has been four months already my sweet precious boy!

Changing

Here is Mr. Man at four months, getting bigger every day! He is so alert and loves to interact with Hannah. He is cooing all the time and laughs quite a bit. All it takes is a smile and he smiles right back. He is so ticklish that when I change his clothes he cracks up laughing, especially when I take his shirt off! He is also very grabby, when he plays on his floor mat he loves to reach up and grab the toys. We go for his four month check-up on Monday....uugghh shots, but I can't wait to see how big he has gotten. I'll be sure to post his stats when we get home Monday!

Lil' Miss Priss

Lately Tater has turned into quite the independent girly-girl. Not only does she have to pick out her own clothes, but usually she picks out a dress and her favorite color has become pink. If there is no pink available then purple will do. Along with this new girlness is fingernail polish. Her nails have to have polish on them at all times and can you guess what color? That's right pink. She also loves to have her hair in "pretties" as she calls them. Which if funny because a couple of weeks ago she would not even let me brush her hair! It is pretty cute when she dresses herself, especially her pajamas. She got a bunch of really cute pajamas for Christmas from her Dramma and Drampa Allison. The thing is Hannah does not think that whoever made them knew how to match, so she matches them herself. Pink stripe pants with a purple flowered top or snow signs on the top with pink flowers on the bottom. Like I said it is pretty cute.
On the potty front she is doing really good....except she has not had another successful poopy since the last post. For the most part she has stopped having wet accidents, unless she's busy and either doesn't want to stop what she's doing or just forgets. We have not ventured out with big girl pants on yet. Mainly because there are times right now when she has to potty every five minutes. (I guess she takes after her cousin Anna.) Maybe soon I will build up enough courage to do it. For those of you who have recently went through this (like Aunt Julie) we would appreciate advice on how you managed to leave the house for the first couple of times.


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The four month changing picture will be posted after the boy wakes up from his nap; along with an update about him.

My little barracuda

I was recently flipping through the American Academy of Pediatrics, The Complete and Authoritative Guide Caring For Your Baby and Young Child Birth to Age 5. I know, I know, I'm a dork, but it has some really good information in it. Plus, I feel guilty reading a real book, when I should be reading my class materials, so this makes for a good bathroom read. Moving on, there was a piece in there about getting to know your baby's feeding patterns and it was comical. Anyone who has ever breastfed should enjoy this and should be able to "label" their child. Apparently it is from Yale University researchers who "playfully" attached names to the eating styles. The book also gave advice on how to deal with each style, but I'm only including the actual style.

"Barracudas get right down to business. As soon as they're put to the breast, they grasp the areola and suck energetically for ten to twenty minutes. They usually become less eager as time goes on.
Excited Ineffectives become frantic at the sight of the breast. In a frenzied cycle they grasp it, lose it and start screaming in frustration. They must be calmed down several times during each feeding.
Procrastinators can't be bothered with nursing until the milk comes in. These babies shouldn't be given bottles of water or formula. Continue to put them to the breast regularly.....
Gourmets or Mouthers insist on playing with the nipple, tasting the milk first and smacking their lips before digging in. If hurried or prodded, they become furious and scream in protest. The best solution is tolerance. After a few minutes of playing, they do settle down and nurse well. Just be sure the lips and gums are on the areaola and not on the nipple.
Resters prefer to nurse for a few minutes, rest a few minutes, and resume nursing. Some fall asleep on the breast, nap for half an hour or so, and then awake ready for dessert. This pattern can be confusing, but these babies cannot be hurried."

So, which type is/was your baby?

The one where all I talk about is poopy

The most amazing thing happened last night. While I was doing my homework, the hubs was in charge of the kids. Amazing right? Just kidding, the amazing thing happened while he was watching them. I heard Hannah exclaiming that she had to go poopy. Unfortunately everything is poopy to her. Anyway, they went running into the bathroom and he put her on the pot gave her some books and walked away. About that time I had finished my homework and went to check on her. As I walked in the bathroom, I noticed she had her game face on so I quietly left. A minute or two passed and I walked back in, she looked up and told me to leave. Apparently she needs her privacy. Anyway, she sat there for probably 10-15 minutes before I was allowed to enter. I looked in the pot and broke into a poopy dance, because there really was poopy in there. She was really excited to flush that one because she got to say bye to the poopy. We then placed two stickers on the potty chart. Two because pooping is definitely worth more then potty. We danced and sang, we called grandma; it was a big old party. Then right before bed she wanted to go again, this time it was just potty but at least she is initiating the bathroom trips now. I say that, except today she did not want to wear big girl underwear, nor did she want to go on the big girl potty. At least we're getting somewhere though.

The Epic Tales of Potty Training

We have been working on potty training with the girl lately, and by we I mean me. She is doing pretty good with the potty. Most of the time when I sit her on it she goes and we have no accidents. However, sometimes she doesn't want to sit on the potty. Usually a little bit later she comes running, "Uh-oh, I potty, I potty!" Meaning that she started to go, felt the wet and stopped herself. Which, is a good step because then she will finish on the potty. It's the stinky that we have problems with. She has yet to go poopy on the potty. Since she usually goes in the evening I thought I would watch her and when she runs off to do her business I would throw her on the potty. So, last night I caught her in the act and we went running to the potty. We made faces to "push out the poopy" and nothing happened. So, I decided we would try reading books. Seriously she sat for like 20 minutes reading and nothing happened. By then it was bedtime and I told her we would try again later. She made a serious face and pushed and I really thought she was going to go. She did go potty, just no poopy:( It was so cute though, when she got up she had the red rings on her booty from sitting there so long!
Uncle Matt would be proud, these are the books she read while trying to go!

So Sweet

Thanks Uncey Matt

Hannah absolutely loves her new Dora couch and big Dora doll. Although Uncle Matt wasn't with us for Christmas, he still got the nieces and nephew typical Uncle Matt gifts. We call them Uncle Matt gifts because they are usually not a typical birthday or Christmas gift. For instance for Hannah's first birthday he got her a wooden picnic table. For her second birthday it was a Dora Big Wheels. Very nice gifts, just Uncle Mattish. Anyway, Hannah likes to lay on her couch and watch her movies in her new Dora T.V. that Mommy and Daddy got her for xmas. Her latest thing is that she has to be covered up with a blanket while watching. It is so cute that we had to capture it on film!

Holidays

We are happily home from our extended trip to Ohio and things are finally settling down around here. We had a wonderful trip and enjoyed spedning time with all of our friends and family...however my children are quite spoiled now! The trip home was, hmmm how should I put it, AWFUL!!! The normal 12.5 hour trip took 16.5 hours!! Which would not have been so bad if it weren't that we were driving two seperate vehicles and I had the children with me for the first 12 hours. See, we decided to buy me a Mom car when we were in Ohio. That's right I now drive a minivan, WOO-HOO! Anyway, the deal was we would keep both children in the minivan and the dog in the car then switch drivers each time we stopped. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and we stopped plenty of times. Alexander still eats every two hours, so by the time I would feed, burp and change him we would have approximately an hour and a half of driving time. Not to mention the times when we would stop for an extended ammount of time then have an even shorter driving window. Then there was the fact that Alex HATES his carseat. So, I got to listen to my fair share of him screaming because he was unhappy. For the most part Hannah did really good, but often when Alex was screaming she would get upset and then start whinning because he was crying. I would call Hubby on the cell just so he could hear what I was going through. The worst part was, when Alex was hungry I would call him to let him know we needed to stop and he would say, as soon as he found someplace....or in the next 20 minutes. Funny thing was when I finally forced him to take over the van, the second Alex started crying he would pull off. Then he was saying how miserable he was because he had to drive them. Oh, poor baby had to ride four hours with crying kids....welcome to my world for the past TWELVE!!!! Oh, I don't want to forget the fact that we drove through some pretty heavy fog in the mountains. So heavy that you could barely see the car in front of you. I already get a little anxious when driving through the mountains, add a little fog and I was a basket case! Did I mention that we were driving on New Years Eve? How's that for smart travel planning? Add all of those ingredients together and that is why it took us an extraordinarily long time to get home. So, even though we left at eight that morning, we were still driving when the ball dropped. In fact we were on a strip of road in the middle of nowhere surrounded by the National Forrest. Happy New Year! I hope that you had a much more peaceful one then I did!

Changing

I can't believe that it has already been three months! He is cooing and laughing so much these days and he loves to play on the floor with his big sister. This little guy is getting sooo big already; just look how much his face is filling out. I just transitioned him into his 3-6 mos clothes the last few weeks of December and I think I should have done it a little earlier. This was the first time he wore the above outfit and he is so long that I don't think he'll be wearing it much longer.

GO BUCKS!!!

Things were a little tense Saturday as we watched the big game! Alex was visibly upset as the Wolverines started making a come back.
In the end, the better team won and all was well with the Little Man.

Firsts...

Last week was an exciting week for us as we got to experience one of Alex's firsts. It happened last Tuesday morning. Alex and I were lounging in bed "talking" after finishing up one of his many morning meals. (That boy can really eat) As I talked to him he smiled at me. Immediately I started questioning if it was a "real" smile or one of those fluke gas moments. It was the most adorable thing though. His mouth was wide open and his eyes were little slits, it had to be real. Right? When the hubs came home from work that night I was so excited to tell him the big news.
Me: Guess what happened today.

Him: What did Hannah get into today?

Me: This isn't about her, although I'm sure I'll find something she got into when I pick up the
mess she made today.

Him: Well, what happened?

Me: Alex smiled!!!!

Him: Are you sure that he really smiled?

Me: Yes, of course.

Him: Sure.

So, I made it my mission to either catch it on camera or get him to see it. Thankfully the next night he got to see the smile. All I had to say was "See, I'm not crazy." We have caught a couple good ones on camera. Here is one of the best:

Don't you think that is one of the cutest smiles you have ever seen?

The difference between people with kids and without

On Monday the Golden Corral chain was honoring the veterans and active duty members by offering a free meal to them. Side note: Thank you to those of you who have served and are serving our country!!! The hubby and I decided to venture out into the madness because hey, it was a free meal. We understood that we live in a military town and that it would likely be packed but we decided to give it a try anyway. Well, we pulled into the parking lot to notice that the line was all the way out into the parking lot. Um, yeah two kids....not going to happen. If we didn't have kids we would have been right there waiting with the rest of the crowd, who incidentally for the most part did not have children. So, we turned around and drove back to our town and picked up chinese. As we walked into the house we heard a strange sound. After looking around for about five seconds we realized the fish tank was leaking all over the carpet. At that point I was thankful that we didn't stay at the feeding frenzy because we had lost about 1/3 of the water while we were gone and it would have really been a mess if we didn't arrive home when we did. However, the food was hot and Hannah was cranky so we ate are chinese before messing with the darn fish (I did however throw some towels under the tank to absorb up some of the water). Since we had just driven from our neighboring town that has actually has stores where you can buy fish tanks, we decided to wait and just put the fish in a Rubbermaid tub for the night. Which Hannah thought was the funniest thing!
Coincidentally, I also had my 6 week check-up on Monday. Unfortunately, even though Tony told me to schedule it for that day because he would be able to watch the kiddos, he couldn't get off. So, I dropped Hannah off at a friends and to Mr. Man with me. He did fine until I got into the exam room. So the nurse rocked his seat while I got examined...which I hate at this office. Instead of changing into a gown they give you this paper sheet to cover up with and you leave your shirt on. The problem with the paper sheet is that it is not very big. I don't consider myself to be a big person and I can barely fit it around my butt. So as you're sitting on the table waiting for the doctor you feel like your crack is hanging out for all to see. Regardless, after the doctor leaves I throw on my clothes and meet him in his office. When I walk in he kind of chuckles and says "This is how you can tell the difference between women who have kids and those that don't. The ones with kids get dressed in under 30 seconds because they know that is about all the time they have." That right there is the story of my life!

Loveable

Although he is quite the cutie, he is also quite a handful. Just today I was telling the hubs that Alex is the type of baby that makes you wonder if you're really cut out to be a parent. But really he's not that bad I've just been spoiled. You see I had the easiest/happiest baby in the world when I had Hannah. Either that or I had some mad parenting skills....go ahead laugh. I'm sure that's what God was doing when he heard me think that! Sure she was jaundice and I had to feed her with a medicine dropper because she wouldn't latch on, but she was easy. At least I remember her as being easy. She was sleeping in her crib (after she got out from under that "light") and would go right back to sleep after eating. At least I remember her going right back to sleep, but honestly I'm picturing us in our house on Loblolly, so she was already two months old. She didn't cry whenever you put her down and she did not spit up that much! Maybe it's just the added stress of having a two year old, but this one is the exact opposite. I am having the hardest time with breastfeeding this one. It seems like he eats non-stop and he's not that good at it. He has a hard time latching on correctly. He roots and roots rubbing the oobie, which in turn gets the milk flowing and he's still not latched on! Then we have milk spraying out, a mad baby and a toddler jumping on my lap wanting to watch monkey movie right now. Only hello, mommy has her hands full right now could you please be patient? "Yeah, Hannah patient" is her response, only five seconds later she is demanding to watch the movie again. Not to mention once he's finally latched on he has to burp like five seconds later and starts arching his back and we all know how wonderful that feels! Then there's the whole wailing whenever put down thing. Seriously, if he's not sound asleep do not even think about putting him down for longer then two minutes. Tack that on top of not getting any sleep and not getting out much and it's enough to make me wonder how much it would cost to ship him to grandma's house...at least until he's sleeping through the night. Of course when calculating the price I also have to add in the cost of overnighting milk so he can be fed. Hmmm, I wonder what I would have to pack it in? Of course then I look his adorable little face and kiss his little feet and realize that this won't last much longer. In fact all too soon he will be the two year old demanding my attention and not wanting to be held or snuggled. I have to beg Hannah for a kiss or hug. Occasionally she'll give me one on her own and she doesn't sit still long enough to snuggle. So all together it is worth the lack of sleep and zombie like state because I realize how precious these first few months are....even if my oobies are really sore from the poor latch on techniques!

When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling bad....

Here are a few of our favorite things:

Alex absolutely loves his sling! He is as content as can be when I put him in there. Usually it's because he's cranky and I need to get something done around the house. Since I'm able to hold him and be hands free it makes me love it.
Another favorite is his swing. We finally broke out the batteries so he could use it and he seems to enjoy it quite a bit as you can tell from the content look on his face:)

As you can tell from the outfit she picked out Dora is a favorite for Tater. She has on a Dora shirt, pajama bottoms and to complete the look her Dora bathing suit. She found it when I was sorting through her drawers the other day and since has wanted to wear it every time she sees it!!!

I don't have a picture of my favorite thing, which is sleep. If only I could get more of it. With Alex spitting up so much he does not sleep good at night. We have him sleeping in his Baby Papasan, (inside of the Pack'n Play) but after he eats he just doesn't fall back to sleep right away. He's usually agitated and a little gassy until he finally gets out a good burp which may or may not soak me in spit up. Anyway, it's not as easy to get the extra sleep when you have to stay conscious to look after the two year old who is wreaking havoc on the house.

Changing

I can't believe that Alexander is already one month old!! He has done quite a bit of growing in the past month. Here are his one month stats:

Weight: 10 lbs 11 3/4 oz

Height: 22 inches

Rubber Ducky....You're the one

You make bathtime so much fun!! Alex took his first real bath on Saturday. Surprisingly he did really well, no fussing or crying at all. He just looked around with those big blue eyes of his like he was trying to figure out what was going on. Such a cutie!!!

Big sister on the other hand took two baths. The first being her normal bath and the second to remove the Vaseline from her body. That is right, Hannah found the Vaseline this weekend. She has been doing really good about playing in her room lately. We put her CD player on the floor and she listens to music and dances. Normally I make sure that all of the baby supplies are out of her grasp, however I didn't think about it on Saturday evening. I was nursing Alex and hubs was watching a movie when Hannah walked out looking like this:

While he attempted to clean her off I went to survey the damage. When I first walked into her room I didn't see anything but a small glob on the carpet and a little on the bottom of the changing table. Not bad, but when I turned to leave this is what I saw:

We would like to thank her grandparents for sending her Curious George. You see, in the movie George gets into some paints and puts hand prints on the walls. No doubt that was what the tots was doing don't you think? Now if somebody could please tell me how to get Vaseline off my wall I would greatly appreciate it!

It's a.......BOY!!!

In my previous post about Alexander's birth into the world, I forgot to mention a bit about the doctor. It seems that he forgot that we did not know the sex of our baby. So after finally yanking the baby out we hear a small cry and everybody continues to go about their business. The nurse up by my head says something along the lines of "Sex?" but doesn't get a response. Finally the doctor says "A big guy just like daddy." Hubby and I both respond "GUY?!" To which we receive an "Oh, you didn't know the sex? It's a boy!"

Such a sweet picture! 

Big Sister

So far the transition from only child to Big Sister Hannah has not been too bad. She seems to like Alex well enough and only requests that we put him in his seat (the Baby Papasan) a couple of times a day. Yes, she shows signs of jealousy and yes she throws more tantrums, but it is not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. In fact during the day she is really good. It is not until Daddy gets home that things start to get ugly. I'm hoping that this just means that she's clinging to Daddy since Mommy has to take care of the baby.

(This picture was taken during Alexander's first trip to the beach last week. Hannah had such a good time running around playing in the water and digging in the sand all the while Alex just slept.) Anyway, while the grandparents were here she got spoiled to the core. She received so many presents, treats and extra attention that we were afraid how she would respond after they left. The truth is, she actually got better. Not as many fits were thrown and she was back to her semi-normal self. I guess she knows who is wrapped around her little finger!

Chillin' 

Painting with Daddy 

Changing

Here is Alexander, 16 days old next to Teddy. I'm going to copy Stephanie and take a picture of him by it every month to see how much he has grown and changed! Unfortunately, the bear is in better focus than Alex is, I'll have to work on that for next time.

Patience must not be a virtue

At least not in my family. As most of you already know, Alexander Jay made his appearance on October 2 at 12:43 am. He was 7lbs 14oz and 21.5 inches long. He wasn't scheduled to arrive until Wednesday of this week, but he had his own schedule. On Saturday of last week I started having contractions. Throughout the day they got progressively worse so we drove to the hospital. After three hours of being monitored they sent us home because nothing was happening. Well, the contractions never stopped. Sunday we went about our normal activities all the while the pain was getting worse. Finally at 9 that night I begged hubby to take me to the hospital. He really didn't think anything was going to happen, but agreed to take me.

Well we got there and I was about 4 cm dilated and 100 percent effaced. So, they said they would call surgery and get us there as soon as possible. They finally wheeled me down to surgery around midnight so who knows how dilated I was by then! Mr. Alex had worked his way down the canal by then and they had a really hard time getting him out. His little head was stuck so they pushed and pushed on me to try to get him out before finally using the vacuum on him. Unfortunately that bruised up his little face, but he was fine.
I think that you'll agree with me when I say that I see a lot of my husband in him. Hubby was a little more filled out, but their faces look alike! Anyway, since my c-section was scheduled for Wednesday, I took one more class that just finished tonight. I have been so stressed out worrying about finishing that class, praise God it is over!!
Here are a few pictures of Alex and Daddy for comparison. My next post will feature Big Sister Hannah and how she is adjusting to the life with a new baby! All I have to say is thank God for grandparents! They have truly been a lifesaver.

Prayers

Just wanted to ask everybody to keep my brother in your prayers. He left Sunday night for Iraq and will be there for the next seven months. Thanks!

One word....teething

I remember a few months ago at the Taters 24 month check-up the PA talking about her getting her two year molars. He said something along the lines of us knowing she was teething because she will suddenly transform into the spawn of satan. Well internet it has happened. It started last week and I was really quite annoyed with her sudden change in disposition. VERY cranky and not eating anything. At first I just thought it was the "terrible twos" taking over and was rather disappointed that my little angel would act like that....especially in public! Then after a couple days of cranky toddler vs cranky mommy (do to not sleeping at night) it hit me, she's teething. Sure enough, upon examination of the mouth there were two giant teeth trying to poke through. Now that I know the problem, I am much more sympathetic and much more eager to drug her up and she is doing much better. Of course we still have our meltdowns, but they are quickly solved with "Do your teeth hurt? Do you need some medicine?" After that it is pure bliss.
On the baby front, I am getting increasingly anxious (and large). I can't wait to have this little guy/gal and find out who we have. Not to mention the fact that I am getting more and more uncomfortable and having a hard time sleeping at night. I swear I toss and turn all night, and when I'm not tossing or turning I am peeing or having heart burn. Finally I fall asleep only to wake up to sore hips!!! I am at weekly visits now and only have TWO left!!! I just want to know one thing, who in their right mind makes a gigantic prego pee in a cup? Hello, I can't see what is down there, how am I supposed to hit the cup? Thankfully I must have pretty good aim because I haven't missed yet, but I am just waiting for the day that I pee on my hand. Really, that will be a great time.

Don't look too close....you'll see the stretch marks!! 

Belly shot 

STOP, THIEF!!!

As I was cleaning out our disgusting fish tank today, the girl was happily playing in her toyroom (which is off the kitchen). I couldn't see her because I was in the bathroom scraping build-up off of the tank, but I could hear her playing so all was well. Pretty soon I heard her walking through the kitchen, she came to me said a few things then went back to play. Or so I thought. I went to the kitchen to get more paper towels and found rifling in my purse. Leave Mommies purse alone!, I told her and she did. Moved the purse, went back to scraping. A few minutes passed and I went to put tank back together. Walked into the kitchen to get something and saw her in the playroom with the tin of icebreakers sour mints. She held them up and said "Mommy, nummy?" (Yummy) Anyway, she loves these mints so I told her to bring it to mommy and I would get her some. So, she brought me the empty container. She managed to eat an entire container of mints in less than five minutes!!!! Thank goodness they are sugar-free!

Shooey!!

One of my favorite things about Hannah right now is her ability to learn just about anything in such a short period of time. Like people say, she is literally a sponge absorbing everything she can. Over the past few days whenever I change a stinky diaper I say "Shooey!" in a really high pitched voice. My daughter now sings shooey, over and over again (in a high pitched voice) while I change her stinky diapers. It is quite amusing. It makes me think that if I would put some effort into it, she would be potty trained in a matter of days. I just can't motivate myself and frankly I wonder if she is actually ready. She has also picked up the word "ewww". I don't think she knows what it means because she will say it in random sentences that don't make any sense. Like earlier today she said: "Mommy, daddy ewww!" Of course maybe she's onto something with that one....
We have also visited her doctors in the past week. Last Tuesday we saw her orthopedic doctor, because of her "condition" the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that she be seen every six months. Well, we saw them and they said she looks good. Basically a waste of time, but something that we have to do. I was relieved because there are some people that comment on her legs and if she'll need braces. They seemed to think that she does not need braces and will not because braces alone will not do anything. This Tuesday we saw her endocrinologist, another three hour drive, for a five minute appointment. I am happy to report that she has continued to grow at a steady pace, however she did not catch up to the normal growth range at all this time. They did move her dosage up a little bit this time, so maybe that will give her the boost that she needs.
On the belly front, other than the fact that it is getting extremely large, one of my good friends keeps pestering me to put up a picture since I am so far away. So to make her happy I will:) Just as soon as hubby gets home....so stay tuned.

Water Baby

Our girl is definitely a water baby! Every time we visit the beach, she loves to go out into the water and swim. I'm talking out in the deep water with Daddy. Now this tends to make me a little nervous because hello, it's the ocean! If she goes under what if we can't find her? Anyway, on this day it was really calm, so it didn't make me quite as nervous. In fact I joined in on the fun.
However, usually she wants her daddy. Daddy swim, mommy!!! Daddy swim! So, I don't feel too guilty about not playing with her out there. This past weekend while we were swimming there were a ton of fish. More fish than either of us have ever seen in the water. There was an entire school of them just out a few feet past where we were swimming. We don't know if it was because it was raining off and on or what. You could only see them as the waves would start to roll up or when they were jumping out of the water! Hannah loved watching them. She did not want to get out of the water because she could see the fish.
We always have a hard time getting her out, but it was extra hard this weekend. Daddy finally told her that the fish went to sleep in order to get the pruny-purple little girl out of the water and into her towel! We realize that we only have a couple more trips to the beach left in this season, so we try to enjoy it as much as possible.

Mark your calendars!

Save the date, mark your calendars....Thing 2 will be making his/her grand appearance on Wednesday October 11 at 11! Our surgery was scheduled for us yesterday and I'm a little bummed because it would work out better for our parents if it was a Friday. Now we're not sure who will be here and when, so we don't know if we'll have somebody to watch Hannah or if we need to try and find someone. Anyway, just wanted to let everybody know what we would be doing on the 11th of October!!!! So keep us in your prayers on that day.

Oh, to be free!

Recently we have started introducing Tater to potty training. Nothing to serious because I know that she is not quite ready yet, however I wanted to get the ball rolling per say. So far she loves to wear the big girl undies. In fact her favorite thing is to run around diaper free. Oh to be free, to her is such a joyous thing. Thankfully, she can't quite get her diaper off on her own without a twenty minute struggle, so usually it stays on. There are times though when we are sitting on the toilet that she will get up and run around. As soon as I tell her it's time to put our pants back on, she looks at me and says "Mommy, I potty." Then has to sit on the potty for another ten minutes. Unfortunately, she hasn't quite figured out that the potty actually is for her to go in. Case in point, two nights ago right before her bath I put her on the potty...nothing. So while I was getting her bath ready I let her run around sans diaper. After her bath we usually let her run around and air dry for a bit before forcing the diaper back on her. She decided it would be a good time to color on the floor with Daddy. I asked her to sit on the potty, she said no, so I dropped it. Not even five seconds later she had an accident on the floor. As I was cleaning it up, I took the paper towels out to the trash and smelled a really awful smell. Where is that coming from? Does our garbage smell that bad? So I flipped on the light and followed my nose over to her kitchen set where I found a nice Hannah sized terd next to her stove. OH. MY. GOSH! Is what I proclaimed and what do you think was Hubby's answer? He responded with a "What did she poop on the floor?" How did he know that? He says he did not know it but smelled the smell himself and gauged my reaction as to what it was. He also went on to clean it up in order to prove that he did not know that it was there. What a guy!
Point of the story, even though Hannah loves to be "free", I told Hubby that there will be no more running of the house without proper attire. At least until she gets a little bit better at this potty training thing.