Today is July 25, 2010. I'm stating the date because my grandma Kindler died 13 years ago today. I really can't believe it has been that long. I took some flowers out to her grave today and on the way home it got me thinking about what a wonderful person she was. I wish Sam could have met her. I was also thinking about how much she would have loved my children. Family was so important to her. I have so many wonderful memories of her and I realize that's what it is all about because that is really all we leave people with when we go. Here are some of the memories we have created over the past few weeks.
Olivia Jayne 171/2 months old
Wow.. Olivia has changed a lot in the past few weeks. She is talking talking talking and saying new words everyday. She has learned "NO" and it is so cute I can't even be annoyed with it yet. I have quickly learned only to put things in the form of a question if I am ok with her saying "NO" to it. Some other words she has are "knee", "church", "Get outta here", "help", "play", "giraffe", "trash", "ouch", and "pool". She also has learned that things belong to people. I think this is because of the emphasis we have put on things such as "that is Owen's paci and that is Owen's swing." So pretty much all day she points to things or brings you things and says "mamas" or "daddys" or "Owas". The best is that she knows the remote is "daddys". HA. When something is hers she just pats her chest. She refuses to say her name. Also in the morning she generally does a round of asking about everyone she knows and we tell her what they are doing. O: Mama Sam: mamas sleeping O: Owa Sam: Owen is in his swing O: GG Sam: GGs at home O: Mamu Sam: Mamu is on vacation.. and so on...
One of my favorite things to do is to watch her play when she doesn't know I'm watching. Obviously child development has always been an interest of mine given my occupation of choice, but watching it so intently and from such a front row seat is completely different. Today she was "reading" some books by herself while I was rocking Owen and I was watching her in the mirror. She picked out "I love you through and through" and was pointing to the book and patting her self saying in her mix of words "I love you". She knew exactly what that book was all about. It amazed me! (I'm not sure why.. we have read that book a hundred plus times, but not in a really long time). I also watched her play peekaboo with herself in the mirror and then laugh hysterically. This is hilarious! Olivia also loves it when you sing to her. She asks me to sing different songs all day long. Her favorites are Laurie Berkner "I'm a mess" and "Family" and EIEIO (aka Old McDonald), Itsy Bitsy Spider, Zachiaus. I also taught her one of my favorites "Apples and Bananas". She is very particular about which one she wants to sing at that particular time. If you sing the wrong one she says "noooo" in the cutest voice ever. I need a video camera! I love this girl so much.
Olivia has such a spirit to her. I call her my fireball! She climbs on everything, falls off everything (and then gets right back up on the thing she fell off of), runs away at the first chance of freedom and if I tell her not to do something it generally means do it. I have a feeling she will always be a challenge for me, but I don't think there will be too many dull moments. I pray every night for guidance in making good parenting decisions for her to help her grow up into the best she can be.
Favorite moments with Olivia:
watching her play especially pretend playing with her dolls
rocking her last night, singing and holding her and she snuggled with me
when she says "Owa" or "Laurie" (Laurie Berkner)
crazy hair in the mornings (I refuse to cut her hair and yes I know it is in her eyes)
running around and "chasing" her on the golf course grass
when she lays down next to Owen and talks to him
Owen Lucas 2 1/2 months
Oh my! After Olivia I didn't know how it was going to be possible to love someone as much as I love her, but Owen sure has stolen my heart! His smiles and squeals make my heart burst with happiness. Today I'm just sitting there rocking him trying to calm him down after he took a baby doll arm to the head when Olivia was trying to "play" with him. You think this would be a stressful moment but it wasn't. I was just overcome with happiness rocking him and watching him look out over my shoulder with his little baby tears and the last little sniffles from his cry. He was just so stinking cute! I just wanted kiss his little tears away. Olivia was in the corner "reading" her books and he was snuggling with me and I was thinking.. my gosh.. there is no where I'd rather be. (This is not always the case when he is crying his little colicky head off.. but for some reason today I just embraced it and enjoyed the moment)
I think Owen is morning person. When he gets up in the morning he is a pretty happy, easy going baby. He smiles, giggles, will swing in his swing for long periods of time either cat napping or watching the birds circle overhead. Over the course of the day that diminishes and after he gets up from his late afternoon nap I hope you don't have any intentions of putting him down because all heck breaks loose. He also has evening of some spells of colic, but this is getting less frequent. This has been challenging especially since Sam works evenings. As for sleeping, he is doing pretty good. Sleeps 4-5 hours at first at night and then is generally up every 2-3 hours after that. So a typical night bed at 10, up at 3, up at 5:30, up for good at 7:30. Not too bad. I can handle it, but not sure what will happen when I head back to work in two weeks. Right now Owen still sleeps in our room in his pack n play and then maybe in bed with us from the 5:30 to the 7:30 sleep session. I had planned to move him into his room when I went back to work, but I'm just not sure I'm ready for that. It is so nice just to pick him up, feed him and then lay him back down and generally not even have to get out of bed. Plus he sleeps so well in there next to us and since he is a belly sleeper I can frequently check on him. Some other things about Owen... He can't decide if he loves his pacifier or hates it. Sometimes he does great with it and other times he chomps it or pushes it out of his mouth. Also we still can't figure out what color his eyes are going to be. Sometimes they look perfectly brown and other times they look blue gray and you can't see a drop of brown in them. It is so strange.
Favorite Owen Moments:
Mommy/Owen alone time in the mornings before anyone else gets up. Especially our early morning trip to Flap Jacks the night I could sleep.
Bath time
When Owen and Olivia lay on the floor "talking" to each other
Our naps together
Watching him suck on his fist... one of these days he will discover that thumb. :)
