The Moments That Make The Stressful Times All Worth It

Hanging out in the backyard

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

6 weeks old

Olivia eating sand
I have had a couple "Must Remember" moments this week so I thought I would jot them down while I actually have two kids sleeping in their beds. :)
First of all, Olivia has been eating EVERYTHING. And when I say everything I mean everything.. Mulch, chalk, sand, crayons, foam balls, wrappers to granola bars, rocks.. you name it. She doesn't just put it in her mouth. She eats it and goes for more. She has even licked the driveway (GROSS) and the last straw was when she bit a tree. I decided at that point to have her tested for Pica. (Pica is a disorder where you have an appetite for non food items). One of the main causes for Pica is low iron. I got a lot of grief for having her tested for this because it is somewhat developmentally appropriate for her to mouth things, but I thought it was quite extreme and the fact that she LIKES it! I didn't want to keep reprimanding her for eating these things if she was just trying to meet her nutritional needs. Soooooooo.. I had her tested aaannnnddd everything came back normal. I guess it is just a behavioral thing, but in great Olivia fashion she ate the entire sticker they gave her for doing such a good job. I find a lot of irony in that.
(Ok, a note before you read the next Olivia moment.. Olivia calls all drinks "juice".. aka milk, juice, water, gatorade)
Second Olivia moment, I was pumping while Olivia was awake for the first time this week. When I started she was playing by herself not paying any attention, but at one point she walked over to show me something and her eyes got really big and she said "Mama JUICE!" and she keep pointing to the milk and she was so excited. I know a lot of girls think their dads are superheros, but I'm pretty sure my stock just rose with her because daddy can't make his own "juice"! :)
Olivia is doing better with Owen. The hitting and the throwing has decreased, the timeouts have decreased and the good moments are starting to out number the bad and the scary. She also discovered she can crawl into his swing which is interesting. Hopefully her interest in that dissipates quickly. It is really neat to watch her pretend play with her dolls. She rocks them, gives them drinks of her milk from her sippy cup, tries to put diapers on them, rocks them. She is going to be a good mom someday! :) Her vocabulary is also increasing each day. It is amazing! Right in time for Father's Day she came up with her own name for my dad "Pa-poo." She will bring me the phone and say "papoo, papoo" meaning she wants to call him on the phone. My mom says she doesn't want to be ma-moo, but I think that is next. We went down to Sam's family reunion this weekend. Despite it being unbelievably hot it was so nice to see everyone. Olivia got to see Spencre (her cousin) too. She really loves Spencre and from an early age could pick her out of a picture before really anyone else besides me and Sam. It is neat to watch especially since right now Spencre is her and Owen's only first cousin. I can't wait to watch those relationships grow. My cousin were and are still a very important part of my life. I was always quite a bit older than them just like Spencre is, so it has been fun watching them grow up from babies where I baby sat them to being teenagers and adults now. They are all such neat people and I love that I have gone from having a caretaker, play friend, older cousin relationship to now having adult conversations with them. Even some of them taking care of my kids now. :)
Owen is getting bigger by the day. He weighed 10lbs 11oz at his six week appt. There are some morning when I look at him and think.. you look different than you did YESTERDAY! I am already needing to pack up some clothes that he has grown out of. This is crazy! He is such a sweet cuddly little boy. I love the quiet moments we have together. This evening we just sat on the front porch after the storm was over listening to the wind blow in the trees and the birds chirping. It was one of those moments where you feel like God is just sitting right next to you and you can just have a one on one conversation. Owen and I just sat out there and rocked until it was too dark to stay out there. I tried to freeze that moment in my head to think back to during the moments where both kids are screaming and I'm trying to get some dinner on the table. :) He also is starting to smile. Talk about forgetting everything and just loving the moment!!!! I love my sweet little boy. My nickname for him right now is "handsome man".

Princess and Chicken Noodle

Well, we survived month one! Owen will be one month tomorrow and Olivia is now 16 months old! It has been quite an adventure.
First about Owen: He is gaining weight and starting to look more like a baby than an infant. He is a sweet cuddly little boy that loves to be held (especially in the evenings when he is a bit colicky). He has some stomach issues around week two, but after eliminating dairy out of my diet he seems to be doing much better. He loves to eat and even took some pumped bottles this week when life required me to be away quite a bit. He is a belly sleeper like his sister and even when he is awake prefers to be on his belly if he isn't being held. This makes the swing and the bouncy seat kinda useless, but occasionally for a few minutes he will swing and listen to the bird sounds it makes. He is sleeping for four hour usually the first span during the night, then he is up about every two hours after that. I can't complain, at least he sleeps!!! He takes a pacifier occasionally, but so far isn't a huge fan of it. He also HATES the car seat, which makes going anywhere interesting. I use the moby wrap with him whenever I can. My favorite term of endearment for him right now is "chicken noodle."
Olivia: Olivia is getting so big so fast!! She is starting to have some verbal words along with still signing a lot. Some of her verbal words are "mama" "dada" "daddy" "hi daddy" "hi mama" "juice" "shoes" "all done" "cheese" and "Owa" (aka Owen). She also has complete conversations with herself in jibber jabber nonsense. It is so funny and cute. Speaking of Owen.. well Oilvia has been a challenge with Owen around. The honeymoon period has definitely worn off. I'm kinda at a loss as to what to do with her. She hits him, throws things at him and sometimes she wants kiss him and pick him up. I don't think it is out of hate or anything I just think A. he takes a lot of my attention especially at night when he won't be put down. B. he is loud C. he won't play with her. So far she gets A LOT of time outs. My biggest fear is someone getting hurt either because A. I'm not paying close enough attention to her or can't jump up fast enough when she is doing something dangerous or B. She hurts him. Anyways, we are learning as we go I guess. Otherwise Olivia is doing great. She amazes me everyday how smart she is. She figures things out and remembers things that just amaze me. She is also quite a climber. I have found her in Owen's bed (no clue how she got in there), on the second shelf of our entertainment center and in other various (and potentially danger situations). I think when she is 18 months I will sign her up for tumble tots or something active and structured like that. She really loves books, the water, playing outside, pancakes, and music. She does not like clowns, some bugs, a lot of meats or mixed foods, being all done when it isn't on her terms. She is starting to use silverware (with varying accuarcy), pretend play with her babydolls and follow commands such as cleaning up her toys. She also is really starting to interact and play with other kids her age. This is one of my favorite things to watch. It is when I really get to see some of her wonderful personality. She is a wonderful blessing to this house and is challenging me to find a ways to guide her into the wonderful young lady I know she will be. My term of endearment of choice for her right now is Princess. :)
As for having two kids in the house. It has been wonderful, hard, happy, sad.. the whole spectrum of emotions. The first time I saw Olivia after Owen was born it was like she was a totally different kid. She just looked so BIG to me! I missed my baby but rejoiced about my wonderful daughter and kid she was turning into. It has been hard and a blessing that she is much less dependent on me and has developed a stronger bond with her dad over the past month. I love that they are closer, but when she hurt herself one day and want her dad not me, I'm not going to lie... It broke my heart. I know this is a good thing though because so much of my time is taken by feeding and caring for Owen who needs me more right now.
In light of this week in which I lost a good friend who had a nine month old daughter I realize how important this blog may be someday. If something should ever happen to me someday one of my blog followers please print this blog out for my kids to have. (I don't think my husband would remembers I do this).