The latest...

Pics of Lyla, at Christine's request! You're right Christine, I haven't posted any new pics of Little Miss L lately, so here she is! Looking pensive:

Rolling happily on her playmat: (Do these shots all look familiar? We're on child #3 with these toys and this one in particular seems to have made it into SO many photos, LOL!)

The Stats

Well, we're back from Lyla's 4 month appointment and both kids survived their shots. In fact, they did really well! Lyla fell asleep in my arms while we were waiting for the nurse to come back and do her 3 shots, and while she did cry when they gave her the shots, it was almost like she was crying in her sleep...as soon as the bandaids were on, she was right back to sleep like it had never happened. Sienna was a total champ and didn't even flinch when they gave her the shot -- no tears or protests whatsoever! I was a proud mommy.

Lyla seems to be our little peanut...she's dropped down to the 40th percentile for weight (13 lbs 5 oz.) from the 72nd percentile at 2 months, but she's in the 68th percentile for height at 24 3/4 inches. I'm totally not used to having a child that's not filled with rolls by now...I joked with the pediatrician that it's such a new experience to have a baby whose neck I can actually find while bathing her! Ha ha. Given that she's meeting or exceeding all of her gross motor skills development milestones and moving all over the place, the pediatrician isn't concerned about her drop on the weight curve. She figures she'll probably start evening off by the time she hits her 6 month appointment, so I guess we're ok until then.

Ohhhhh...it's Monday night already. Where did my weekend go?

Brad and I are exhausted from working on landscaping projects for the second weekend in a row. This weekend was HOT HOT HOT, so yardwork was particularly grueling. I would have said before last week that I knew nothing about landscaping whatsoever, but now I'm actually feeling kind of proud of myself (and of Brad!) for having gotten so much done in the yard. I'll post pics when it's all done.

The kids had a whole lot fun playing in the yard with us virtually all weekend. Maddie got a kick out of helping to pile sod in the wheelbarrow after we had dug it up while reshaping our front flower beds, and then scoring a fun ride back from Daddy, through the woods and around the yard. She also got a decent amount of squirting as she ran around the yard in her bathing suit while I watered her at the same time as the flowers, LOL. She was actually pretty good helping me shovel dirt, etc., and the guy who helped us at the nursery gave her a flat of yellow marigolds that I let her plant right at the end of the bed, in the front of the house. She was thrilled. They don't exactly go with the rest of the bushes/flowers, but they make me smile every time I see them and think of her doing all the planting herself.

Sunday night I was so tired from all the work, heat, etc., and was totally craving an icecream sundae. Note on the diet, but necessary! So Maddie and I went out to Friendly's and had ourselves a treat, and brought some home for Brad to enjoy. We parked by the canal and watched the boats for a few minutes, then headed home. Yummmy!

Today we've had a totally weird day of heavy thunderstorms. We've lost power twice, and we discovered we have a small leak in the roof of our one-year-old house. Good thing the house is still under warranty! The street out in front of our house flooded severely with about 18 inches of water in a very short amount of time -- the rain was just torrential! Here's a pic of the flooded 'hood:

172 Points

172. That's how many Pampers "Gifts to Grow" points I have at the moment...and I have at least 4 code stickers that I haven't yet entered. (For those who don't know what the "Gifts to Grow" program is, it's Pampers' loyalty program. You peel the stickers off the inside of diaper packages or get the code printed on the side of wipes packages, and enter them into their website. Then you can redeem the points for toys, books, etc. that they have in a catalog on their website.) Now I am 100% loyal to Pampers -- which the marketer in me knows is very rare and your absolutely most valuable consumer to hold on to -- and have been collecting points for a long time. And we are going through diapers and wipes at an alarming, expensive rate. At this rate, I'm going to be getting that 320+ point Kettler tricyle before you know it.

But I'm starting to see it: the light at the end of the two-kids-in-diapers tunnel.

Sienna is showing more and more signs of being ready to potty train. She's telling me whenver she has to pee or poop, though she often waits until the last possible minute before going. Yesterday she told me she needed to go potty, made a beeline for the bathroom, took out her Dora seat and put it on the toilet. I asked her if she wanted to go on the potty, and she said "Yes. Peepee. Go potty." So I took off her diaper, put her on, and she immediately peed a diaper's worth. HOORAY!!! She's getting so much more predictable about it. SO...it's time to buck up and commit to the idea of potty training. I think she can do it. And even though it seems kind of early (she's 20 months), Maddie pretty much self-trained at 21 months so I guess we'll just hope that we've got easy trainers all around.

As I'm typing this Sienna told me she had to poop, then pooped in her diaper. I told her I would be right there to change her, so she walked in to the other room and then came back one minue later with poop in her hand. AAAHHH!! It is SO time to get rid of the diapers! Add that to Lyla's early morning wakeup with a poop blowout all over her crib, and you can see why I might be anxious to get away from two kids in diapers...

Anyhow. Screw the Kettler tricycle I'm saving up for. I'll ditch the points anyday for a few less diapers.

The Babbler & The Roller

I think certain toddler phases are just so adorably cute that it's hard to want to move past them. Right now Sienna is in the phase where she is talking up a storm, in many full sentences, but she still spends a decent amount of time having an entire conversation of jargon that seems like she has something very important to tell you, but only has a word or two here or there that actually make sense. If she stops to think about what she wants to say, she can generally say it. But when she wants to go for speed and full chit chat, we start to get the toddler babble. I LOVE it. She's likely to come up to me, gesturing hands and all, and say:

"Goodble duecelks blakeuullley GOLDFISH. Gooodswerttbl umberloofy UPSTAIRS."

And she'll tilt her head to the side, wide-eyed, and look at me like I am absolutely crazy for not understanding her. If I could bottle up those cute little non-sensical conversations and store them forever to bring out when I was feeling down, I'd totally do it. You can't help but smile.

Now Lyla, on the other hand, is going through a somewhat less enjoyable phase: the rolling phase. She rolls both ways, and rarely stays on her back anymore if you put her there. This is fine during the day, but at night it's like she forgets how to get herself OFF her belly, even though she can, and wakes herself up by practicing rolling all over her crib. I end up having to go in at random hours and pick her up off her belly, help her get back to sleep, and usually end up feeding her. It's like we've gone back towards the newborn days again all of the sudden, which I really don't mind except for this nagging tiredness. Hope she masters this skill soon so her little mind will let her sleep again at night (maybe even -- dare I say -- through the night?) and therefore let mommy sleep again at night!

One year ago...

I just realized that it was a year ago this past week that we moved to Massachusetts. Honestly, I can't possibly get my head around the idea that it has been a whole year since we totally uprooted after 10 years in Chicago. Where does time go?

It's crazy to think that in the span of a year, we have...Moved 1,000 miles across the country. Endured 6 painful months of owning two houses...but managed to survive it ok, LOL. Found out we were pregnant. Had another baby (I'm STILL surprised by that one!) Painted 10 rooms. Only two left to go! Finished Maddie's first year of preschool. Watched Sienna turn into a walking, talking, thinking little toddler.

ACK! How does a whole year go by that quickly?

Funnyisms

I just get endless hours of amusment out of my kids these days. It's so interesting watching them turn into their own little unique personalities, all totally different from eachother. Nothing really exciting happened today, but they all managed to entertain me at various points during my Monday, so here are a couple of cute little anecdotes:

Sienna is such a ham -- and she KNOWS it. She loves to make us laugh and she's the first to let you know she's funny. Today they all got up fairly early (nothing unusual there!), so all 5 of us were downstairs by 6:30. Brad was really reluctant to get up, so he was trying to doze on the couch for a few minutes while Maddie and Sienna watched TV for a bit before breakfast. Sienna -- not easily amused by television for more than a few minutes these days -- starts jumping up and down and dancing in front of the couch, yelling "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP DADDY!" It sounded suspiciously like the Wiggles' "wake up Jeff!" chant... hmm...wonder where she picked that up?

At lunch, Rachael and I were getting her some food and Rachael tried to feed her, since I had heated up turkey meatballs and they were hot. She starts yelling "No, no, NO! Self!! Self! Feed self!!" Now she's always independent about feeding herself, but I found it pretty amusing that she was demanding to feed herself.

After helping to get lunch out, I figured I better head back up to work.

Me: "Well, I guess I better get back to work..."

Madelyn: "You know Mommy, if you don't get to work, Miss Rachael is going to GO HOME!"

Me: "She is?? Why?"

Madelyn: "You remember Mommy...when you and Daddy don't work, Rachael stays at her house. So if you don't go to work right now, Miss Rachael is going to go HOME!"

Me: "True enough, Maddie. Back to work I go!"


At bath time, I was having yet another little battle with Sienna over her paci, which she is totally addicted to. I keep talking about needing to take it away at some point and wean her off of it, but I just haven't been ready to face the process as of yet. So once again, I was trying to convince Sienna that she didn't need her paci (which she named "popeye" early on, for some reason) at bath time, that she would have it in a few minutes at bedtime. Maddie was still in the tub, and I was drying Sienna off.

Me: "Sienna, it might be time to use your popeyes to get a toy. How about that? Would you like to get all your popeyes together and bring them to the store so you can buy a new toy?"

Sienna: "No. Want popeye."

Me: "You don't want to get a new toy with them? That's what Maddie did when she was younger. She turned in all of her pacis for a new baby doll."

Sienna: "No. Want popeye. Where's popeye??" (starting to whine and get impatient now...)

Madelyn: "Mommy, I want to turn in my lovies (her two satin security blankie squares) for a new toy!!!"

Me: "But then you wouldn't have your lovies anymore, Maddie. You'd just have the toy."

Madelyn: "But Mommy, I want the toy -- I don't need my lovies!!"

HA! We'll see about that.... Sienna, in the meantime, snuck behind me and found her paci on the counter, and made off with the darn thing. Little devil!

A rainy Monday

Starting the week off with rain...which is a good thing, since we spent the entire weekend landscaping and all of our new plants should really love the wet weather! The kids probably won't be thrilled though, since it means they'll spend the day inside.

I've been so busy this weekend I haven't had a chance to get online for more than a couple of minutes. We quit work right at 5 on Friday and took the kids to the playground at what will one day be their elementary school, which was a nice way to start the weekend off. They were the only kids there since school is out for the summer, so they had their run of the place!

I owe a huge thanks to my parents for their help the rest of the weekend -- they helped us transform our yard into a fairly sad looking thing with some dead shrubs to a much prettier version (thanks again, Mom and Dad!). We had bought a vinyl lantern post at a fence company last week, but it was a LOT of work to lay electrical wire all the way from our garage to the end of the driveway. Brad and my dad rented a trencher from Home Depot and had to dig 12 inches down or so, and even had to trench under our concrete walkway to reach the power source in the garage. We cut out a nice flower bed around it and put in some daylillies (and will soon add hosta), then replanted the beds in front of the house with tall grasses, hydrangeas, spyrea, etc. I'm going for that beachy/cottage feel since we live near the ocean. We're not done yet, but it's a huge improvement! Now we all need another weekend to recover, though!

We spent some time with my brother on Saturday after finishing up for the day. It was good to see him out and about and I think he is just so happy to be back home.

The weary traveler returns...

I seriously think I need to write a book or an article or something about pumping on the go. Another city, another public restroom that I've visited with my pump. Let's see...this week I've pumped in the backseat of my Jeep; in the back seat of a sporty little red two-door compact rental car; in the public restrooms at Boston Logan Airport, St. Louis Lambert Airport, and Northwest Regional Arkansas Airport; in the public restroom at my office; in the parking lot of a Chick-Fil-A restaurant, and in two different hotel rooms in different states. (Last week I also pumped in an the bathroom on an American Airlines jet -- yuck.) I've gone through security at three different aiports, having to explain to each of them why I was carrying a little cooler with icepacks and hearing three totally different protocols for dealing with 35+ oz. of breastmilk in a carry-on bag when you're not actually allowed to bring liquids through security anymore (if it's more than 3 oz.). I got a little bit flip with the TSA agent who said to me, "Well, it's because you don't have the baby with you, and if you did... " To which I responded, "Yeah, well if I had the baby with me I wouldn't need all of this gear -- I'd just be feeding her!" Oh well, at least I'm home. I got stuck overnight in St. Louis due to weather, but at least my bags made it home with me this time.

Complaining aside, I'm debating about whether I should take on the task of writing some letters on this topic to government agencies. I really think there needs to be a way to be a little bit more supportive of working, traveling moms trying to manage breastfeeding. It seems that with all the fancy security equipment that exists, they should be able to find a way to screen you (without damaging the milk) so that you can bring it on board -- even without the baby -- without having to go through the trauma of being told you're going to have to get rid of it. (Note: this is when I nearly start to hyperventilate at security...I told the TSA agency yesterday that I was seriously going to have a breakdown if he didn't let me through; did he know how much energy, time and love I had put into this effort for my baby??? I could not possibly throw out liquid gold...). In any event, I'd be happy to go through a hand search or whatever they need to do, I'd just like some sort of a written policy that can be implemented across the various airports so I don't have to worry about totally different practices in every different one. And the policy really needs to allow moms to bring their milk on board, regardless of whether the baby is with them.

On a happier note... I'm SO glad to see my kids. Maddie gave me a huge warm welcome with big bear hugs, and Lyla was all smiles. Sienna was napping, but she'll be up soon. I really missed them. Off to play for a while.

3 More Days

I'll admit to having a strange fascination with the whole jail "thing." But fascination aside -- it's very hard to see your brother in prison.

** Disclaimer: I will probably take this post down in the near future, because it doesn't seem like something we need to share with the world. But as of now, only a very few people know about this blog, and I know all of you are aware of my brother's situation and are interested in an update. **

I ended up going to visit Rich with my mom, which I was glad about -- because it was really awkward at times. You get thirty minutes to visit with him...but just what exactly is the right thing to say to your brother when he's talking to you on a dirty telephone receiver behind soundproof glass, dressed in prison garb? Small talk somehow falls a little short, and most of the daily goings-on seem somehow irrelevant.

All that aside, I was glad to see him. He has lost more than 20 pounds and, to be honest, he looks fantastic. He's always been a very built guy, who places a lot of energy into keeping himself extremely muscular - almost too built, really. But after 27 days in prison he has really trimmed down and has been forced into quitting smoking, so he looks really good. This despite the Lyme's Disease, which he seems to be recovering nicely from. He was in a very upbeat mood, because he only has three (long) days left -- and he is going to be so relieved to get out of there. I asked him what the first thing he's planning on doing when he gets out is, and he said he's planning to run like hell out of the parking lot and never look back. Very good idea, in my opinion.

I was surprised that he's not in a low security area of the prison, given what he's in for. But he says he's mixed in with all sorts of bad criminals, including a new guy who just arrived to serve his sentence for breaking into a home and killing an entire family, including an eight year old girl. According to Rich, people who harm children are placed instantly into protective custody, since they "won't last a day" without another inmate trying to kill them. No country club here...he's in with some really BAD people.

He seems very committed to the idea of getting his GED when he gets out, after finding himself a better paying job. I really hope some good comes out of the situation, and that all this time he has had to think about his life brings about some positive changes. He could really use a break in life, just a little something to make things easier for him so he can start turning things around. I'm willing to help him in whatever way I can, but sometimes it's hard to know what to offer.

I saw his cell block as we were leaving. They have a pretty large common area that they get to come out of their cells to hang out in for a number of hours each day, and it was cleaner than I expected. I still somehow felt dirty leaving there, and I borrowed my mom's Purell to wash my hands and arms. It's just a weird thought to think of all the people that are going there visiting murders, robbers, etc. There were plenty of people there who obviously knew the ropes, and had been visiting for quite some time. I told the guard I was hoping not to have to come back.

I'll be really, really happy when he's out. Saturday can't come soon enough.

Is it nap time yet?

I would give anything to be able to join the kids at naptime today and get a little snooze in... I'm dragging! For some reason I could not sleep last night, and just kept thinking of all that I had to get done today, both at work and at home. Insomnia drives me crazy. I did a little surfing around, edited my blog a big, etc., hoping that would make me sleepy. But instead it just made think about different things. In any event, once I did get to sleep, morning came all too quickly. I dragged myself down to the treadmill to get in 30 minutes before work though, and I think that's probably saving me from falling asleep at my desk. It's going to be a long afternoon. Who says naps aren't a good idea for everyone? I think Italy and Mexico have it right...afternoon siestas everyday would definitely increase my productivity.

Monday...already!

The rest of the weekend was uneventful. I really enjoyed my time with the kids yesterday, even though it was a lot of work. Madelyn and I spent a long time outside doing one of her current favorite activities -- writing the alphabet all over the driveway with sidewalk chalk -- while Sienna napped and Lyla kicked around in the stroller with her toys. Maddie's getting pretty good at writing many of her letters (though the loopy ones are always a bit more challenging!) and it's pretty funny to drive into the driveway and find string after string of letters written in brightly colored chalk. As much as I'm happy she has an interest in letters, words, books, etc., it always makes me a little bit sad to realize that one day before I know it, she'll be in school!

This morning Sienna was eating breakfast at the counter and Madelyn was jumping around dancing in the family room. For some reason, they were all a little bit energetic and giddy this morning. Sienna just broke down laughing, and looked at me and yelled. "That's SO funny!" and then "That Maddie!" (which she pronounces like "Ma-yee"). She cracks me up -- I forget how much "parroting" they do at this age. She sounded just like me! At the moment, she's napping. After a heads up from Rachael, I went in to check on her (did I mention lately how much I love working from home?) and found her sound asleep, butt in the air -- NAKED! She's wearing a little knit dress today and apparently decided the diaper was NOT something she needed while napping. Figures I just changed her crib sheet yesterday... She has been telling me whenever she has to go to the bathroom lately, and has even gone on the potty a few times. But we are a long time away from dry naps, LOL! Guess I'll be changing the sheets again today... but the laugh of seeing those cute chubby bum cheeks while she snoozed away is definitely worth it.

Flying Solo

It's a girls' weekend...Brad left on a business trip Friday afternoon, so we were on our own. As much as I love spending time with the girls, I really hate weekend business trips -- for anyone -- and I totally miss having another set of hands.

I decided to take the girls to visit some friends yesterday, so I packed everyone up as soon as they were fed and dressed and we headed north. It should have been about a 1 hr. 45 min. drive, but we hit major traffic at the tolls and it turned into about 2 hr. 10 min. Seriously, we would have been fine if it hadn't been for the darn tolls. That was about the time that everyone started melting down, except for Sienna, who FINALLY fell asleep. Anyhow, we got there and my friend had invited several other moms with kids over, so there were about 10 kids altogether and 4 moms. Her neighbor was gracious enough to let us all pile into her above ground pool, so the kids had a ball swimming and splashing around. I was worried about having all three of them to manage, but after some craziness trying to get everyone suited up, floatied, sunblocked, etc., while Lyla cried to be fed, we were ok. Lyla fell asleep for a nice little lap on the pool deck as soon as I nursed her, and I was able to jump in the pool with Maddie and Sienna. Sienna is such a little water baby and wanted to be tossed up and down into the water almost the whole time. She's such a funny kid! (Pic above is of her and my friend Allison.)

After the pool, the other families left and we got the kids all on bikes and went for a little ride down to the cul-de-sac at the end of their street. From there we headed to another neighbor's house to pet and feed the chickens (this neighborhood in the country is MUCH more interesting than our new construction subdivision with no trees, LOL!). Maddie and Sienna thought the place was great. There were even grape vines and crabapple trees, so they were finding all sorts of yummy stuff they thought the chicken would love to eat, poor bird!

The ride home was crazy. All of them needed naps, but Sienna would not give in and kept waking the other two up. Maddie was totally ticked off about it, since Sienna kept yelling at the top of her lungs. She also kept scaring the baby awake, which meant that Lyla cried most of the way home. We made a mid-trip stop at McDonald's out of desperation, where I nursed Lyla and finally calmed her down while the other two ate. We're all strapped in and ready to get back on the road, and Maddie makes the dreaded announcement that she has to go potty. YIKES. Now I'm totally kicking myself for having remembered my friend Christine's idea to put the potty seat in the minivan, but having forgotten to actually DO it! I think Maddie must have actually sensed my desperation (could it be because I was begging her to PLEASE hold it for Mommy, just this one time, because Mommy really didn't want to have to take unload everyone and take all three kids into the stall at McDonald's...) because she agreed to hold it for the 40 minutes remaining in our ride. I felt so bad for her, but she didn't really seem like it was all that urgent. And it definitely saved my sanity a bit.

Anyhoo... we got home in time for a reasonable bedtime, which was good since we were all exhausted. I'm planning a much more low key day today, though I'm really glad I got to see Allison and the kids got to play with their friends.

Milestones

It was a big day in our house today.

Lyla decided it was time to start rolling from back to front, and went quickly from never having given it a try to actually succeeding! She rolled from front to back at 5 weeks, and then did it for a few weeks and got tired of it. She rolled front to back again for the first time in a long time yesterday, and today went the other way. Where is time going???

She also went to sleep, right at 8 PM, by HERSELF! I fed her, changed a dirty diaper, then put her to bed in her crib with her paci (which is just starting to like). She was fine for a few minutes then started crying, so I went back in and put my hand on her chest for a couple of minutes, reinserted the paci, and voila -- I haven't heard from her since! And this was the second time today she did this...she also put herself to sleep at naptime. Do I dare get my hopes up??

Maddie had her own milestone of sorts -- she got her first bike! She was thrilled when we brought home her new Arial/Little Mermaid bike, pretty purple and turquoise with lovely beads and streamers hanging from the handlebars. She put her helmet right on, climbed up, and off she went. Gosh did she look like a big girl!

And as for Sienna...well, she put on her first pair of high heels today. Does that count? They may have been play heels, but it was the first time I've ever seen her putting them on and trying to walk around in them. Visions of teenage girls danced through my head... yikes, I'm SO scared even thinking about those years, LOL!

Earplugs, anyone?

I'm quite certain that I have selective memory. I really and truly don't remember Madelyn screaming her way through toddlerhood - but it's gotta be selective memory.

We always joke that Sienna has been in the "terrible twos" since about 12 months, when she started getting pretty verbal. But that was NOTHING compared to now...she can talk up a storm, but why talk when you can scream at the top of your lungs? Funny thing is that it's just as often a shriek -- which can easily be a happy sound -- as it is a scream of madness or frustration. She and Madelyn have taken to having screaming matches, where they get louder and louder trying to out-shriek eachother. They think it's absolutely hysterical...but man is it loud around here!

Surfacing

Surfacing. That's what I'm calling this phase I'm in. The one where you're emerging from the sleepy haze of life with a newborn, getting back to "normal" -- which is of course an entirely new and different kind of normal now that you've added another little person to the family. You're finally able to stop, take a breath, look around, and say HEY -- this is what my life looks like now!

In our house, this is what I'm seeing:

A whole lot of hustle and bustle...Brad's working from home, I'm working from home, we're both travelling some but dreading every minute of it. I'm definitely not thrilled about working, but at the same time I'm remembering what it's like to have adult social interaction and remembering, too, that I really do like it. The kids are with a new nanny and totally loving all the time and attention she gives them. The baby is adorable (in my totally unbiased mommy opinion) -- and finally starting to get a little bit happier about being here after a rough few months of what was probably a bit of colic, which makes us ALL happier. I'm starting to feel human again, now that she's sleeping a 7 or 8 hour stretch at night. Which means I've been able to start thinking about exercising again, and trying to shed the last 10 pounds or so of baby weight. And to think about starting a blog. I'm definitely new at this, so we'll have to see how it goes. I may just bore all my readers for a little bit, but hang in there!