Friday Foto Finish Fiesta - It's all fun and games until someone pisses me off!

Friday, February 20, 2009

Last Wednesday, before we picked up Paige, we traveled down to Dupont Hospital in Wilmington, DE for a pediatric dermatologist visit. I had never been there before and had no idea what to expect. I packed Katie a backpack full of things to do, but I was completely unprepared...for how AWESOME it was. We were greeted with signs for free valet parking. Since we were running ridiculously late, that was fantastic. Inside there were computers to play with, kidsize tables and chairs all over with paper and crayons, and even a "book lady" who came over to ask Katie if she would like a story read to her.

The appointment was for Timmy, who was born with a raised birthmark on the side of his face. It's teeny, but the pediatrician who attended to him when he was born thought we should have it checked on to make sure it wasn't a type that she was concerned may need to be removed. It's not - he's fine. Anyway, back to the hospital, we stopped at the bathroom before Timmy was seen and lo and behold, we ran into a massive train set in a glass case that kids could push buttons to make it go. Katie was SO excited!! The entire visit, every doctor and nurse paid as much attention to Katie as they did to Timmy. I think she left with 3 or 4 princess stickers. I was also excited to get Timmy's measurements since he won't have another wellness visit until 4 months. At 3 months 1 day old, he was 15 lbs. and 25 inches. (Still in 3-6 months in his Carters clothes for a bit, but moving up to 6-12 months or 6-9 months in some of the other brands that transition at 25 inches).

But the BEST part, was the playground. Katie saw it as soon as we got there and was so excited when I told her we could play after the appointment. We needed to kill time anyway between our appointment and when my sister would be home from work. It was a beautiful almost 70 degree day and I was planning on taking her to a park anyway.


How cool is this playground?


Timmy, meanwhile, was enjoying the sunshine.


Unfortunately, after our appointment it had gotten windy and a bit chillier and I had left Timmy's hat and sweater in the car (which I couldn't get to as it was valet parked). He was still fine and happy to be out. However, this older lady came over to get a look at "the baby", touched his head and said to me.."Oh, the grandmother in me is so worried about his little head". Seriously?!?!? I politley smiled and explained that it was so warm when we came in and that I had left his hat in the car. Then she had him grab onto her finger and was talking to him. (He's hard to resist). I didn't really think much of it at the time, but on the way home I was so frustrated and was just thinking she was lucky he already had a cold or I may have countered back with "Oh, the mother in me wishes you wouldn't be touching my son's hand in cold season."

I think she may have been the woman who was supposed to be watching her grandson that was terrorizing Katie. See the slide below? He kept climbing up the middle, Katie would follow him and then while she was halfway up the slide he would turn around and slide down into her. Of course, she loved it because she's Katie, but it was making me insane. I don't even usually let her climb up slides, but it's hard to stop her when all the other kids are doing it. I finally had it and told her she had to play somewhere else. He left and she finally got a chance to slide down and the little brat appears again to sit at the bottom of the slide to try to keep her from going down. Look, even the kid next to him couldnt' believe what a brat he was being!!



As I was taking the pictures of Katie swinging, the little boy swinging next to her was like "Mommy, mommy take my picture too." I don't know if it was frustration with him or her reason for being there or just disgust with me, but she responded "I don't have a camera, why would I have a camera HERE?" (insert lots of disgust). I wanted so badly to turn and say..well I have a blog and I'm obsessed with taking pictures and seriously, don't you know Candid Carrie hosts Friday Foto Finish Fiesta and I may need these pictures for that?!?!?!

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Would you mind getting your knees a little dirty?

Monday, February 16, 2009

I feel terrible for not writing this post a long time ago, but it seems to be crucial now. Veiyah needs your prayers.

I am new to praying like my life depends on it. I have experienced the trials of cancer and loss with my father and my cousin Kelli and in retrospect still feel a numbness towards those experiences. I feel guilty that I didn't pray more and with more feeling. I think in both cases I was in denial that bad things really would happen to people I know and love. I believe in a loving God and I never thought that he would actually take them. When he took my dad, I realized that my father struggled throughout his life on earth. He felt a lot of pain. He missed his entire family who had gone before him. I knew he was in a much happier place with God. Kelli's death didn't really hit me until her funeral. I was at a busy time in my life. She was a lot younger than me and I didn't really have a personal relationship with her. I just always believed that her youth would pull her through. She passed away on my birthday. I was pregnant with Katie at the time and also happened to feel Katie move for the first time that night. I have always taken that as a sign from Kelli that she was ok.

Maybe it's the fact that my mommy hormones are still ramped up from having a baby and breastfeeding or maybe just a growth in maturity, but I was touched to really pray for the first time in December when Tuesday took a turn for the worse. Till that point I believed without a doubt that she would become healthy again. I prayed for a miracle. My only solace is that the miracle God gave us was to bring so many people closer to him.

I'm hoping that everyone who has been offering so much love and support for Tuesday and her family wouldn't mind taking some more time for Veiyah. I know there are many babies out there that need our prayers - but I would appreciate if you could stay down on your knees for just a little bit longer to pray for Veiyah. I originally "met" Veiyah's mom Ani on Babycenter.com during our pregnancies. She was thrilled to be having twin girls. She learned during her pregnancy that one of the twins had congenital heart disease and Situs Inversus (Heterotaxy). Sadly, her "healthy" twin Aderah suddenly got sick in utero and passed away 2 weeks before both baby girls were delivered. I followed her family through their mourning on Ani's Carepages blog. Like Tuesday's parents, Aderah and Veiyah's parents have remained strong through their faith in Jesus. Please pray for them and their beautiful little girl.

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Night Terrors

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Katie had her first sleepover Wednesday night. My niece Paige had no school on Thursday and I was helping my sister out by keeping Paige here for the day. I swear Katie could not stop smiling the entire time she was here. When we got home I put tv on for the girls while I fed and put Timmy to bed. When I came down to check on them, they were practically on top of each other cuddling.

Bedtime was very interesting. When they were getting tucked in they were both fighting over who got to sleep on the floor (they both wanted to) on the fold out cushion (those little chairs that unfold to a flat cushion). Since they both had coughs my sister and I had agreed that it was probably best to keep them sleeping separately. Finally I got Katie tucked in on her bed and Paige on the cushion on the floor. As Chris and I tried to watch Lost, we had visitors at least 3 times and heard doors slamming upstairs for drinks and potty at least a dozen times. That continued until about 11pm (mind you, Katie DID have school in the morning). At 11:30pm Chris and I headed to bed and I went in to check on them. Found them BOTH on Katie's bed. Katie sleeping on Paige's pillow and Paige sleeping on Katie's pillow. So much for not swapping colds.

At about 3:30am, I woke up to hear Katie crying and roaming the house. I went out to the upstairs landing and heard her downstairs hysterically crying and searching for Paige. I panicked, of course, but then found Paige sound asleep still in Katie's bed. Katie decided to go sleep with her daddy in the spare room (snorer's haven). At 6am, I was up to feed Timmy and went downstairs to get the bulb syringe for his nose. I noticed Katie's door wide open and NO kids in there. Walked into the spare room and found Chris, Katie and the 2 dogs sound asleep and Paige sitting at the foot of the bed looking so sad. Apparently soon after Katie joined her dad, Paige had also. Then Paige got up to use the bathroom and Lucky stole her spot on the bed and she didn't know what to do. Lucky, lucky Chris!!!

So....

The next night, I was tucking Katie into bed and doing my "OK, we're going to STAY in bed tonight speech." Turns out, she had woken up at 3:30 the night before due to a scary dream. There was a MONSTER in her dream. Here's the jist of the rest of the conversation:

Me: Was the monster chasing you?
Katie: No....it was a cookie.
Me: The monster was a cookie? What did it look like?
Katie: It was a round cookie. It was white.
Me: Did it have arms or legs or eyes or a mouth?
Katie: It had legs and eyes, and nose, and mouth. No arms.
Me: Was it wearing any clothes?
Katie: YEAH! It had a baseball hat and a shirt.
Me: That sounds really scary. You know, you don't have to be scared tonight, because now that you told mommy about him if you dream about him you can just remember mommy knows about him and I can come help you in your dream. So he won't be able to hurt you or scare you tonight.
Katie: No, he not hurt me, mommy. He played with me. He play very nicely.
Me: Oh, ok. Why were you scared then? Was it because you woke up and realized that a talking cookie was so silly.
Katie: Yeahhhh!

Incidentally, Chris called me yesterday while he was delivering some reports to his clients around Philly. He told me that he swore he JUST saw the cookie Katie was telling me about on the corner of the street. He wanted to get a picture but couldn't get his phone out fast enough.

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A quick note on my last post....

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

I hit "post" too quickly on my last entry. If you are following via e-mail, please check into the actual blog to see it in its final form...if you don't you'll miss seeing some darn cute pictures and a video of Timmy talking up a storm.

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Three Months Old - So alike, yet so different!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Mr. Handsome - 3 months old


As everyone with a newborn is, we were inundated after both Katie and Timmy's births with the she looks like X/he looks like Y conversations. Katie had a much skinnier face in her first 2 months, but from very early on Timmy looked very similar to Katie's 3 months pictures. I was curious to see how closely they would resemble each other once he was 3 months, too. Katie's eyes were/are darker and more almond shape and her ears stuck out a bit further, but there's no denying that Timmy and Katie look alike. They have the same nose, the same mouth; similar cheek bones and chin. They both have my fine hair and cowlick. At the end of the day, I think my husband and I both just have a lot of similar family characteristics and both kids are a good mix of us both. They are/were also both VERY good babies.

That's pretty much where the similarities end, though.

Katie was born with dark hair that got lighter. Timmy was born with light hair that seems to be getting darker.
Katie rarely cried unless she was hungry or needed to be changed. Timmy rarely cries unless he needs to burp or needs to go poo (he's SUPER happy once it's done - I guess it's a man thing - all that pride).

Katie never got the hang of self-soothing and was a frequent night waker. She could rarely get herself back to sleep without nursing and after she was weened took to a binky until the binky fairy visited just short of her 3rd birthday. Timmy sleeps really well, for a breastfead baby. He is the cutest little thumbsucker I ever saw. He can always get himself back to sleep unless he needs to eat or has to burp.

On the same note, Katie took a pretty long time to establish a sort of schedule but was very adaptable. Timmy has gotten into the swing of a loose schedule on his own and gets pretty pissed if he's tired and not at home to sleep on his wedge.

Katie loved her carseat, fell asleep within seconds of being in the car and would stay asleep well after arriving at our destination. That seemed to be the case with Timmy in the first few weeks, but now, especially if he's tired, he's a nightmare in the car. He sometimes cries everytime the car stops and sometimes just cries the entire trip.


Katie was happy to play on her back, but cried her eyes out during tummy time. Timmy will accept some playtime on his back but loves being on his stomach. Actually, he doesn't really enjoy playing on his stomach though. After a few moments he usually starts sucking his thumb and just goes to sleep.


(They're both Timmy falling asleep right after being put down for tummy time.)

Katie was a usually serious baby, taking everything in, and I don't remember a lot of babble from her early on. Timmy is pretty silly. I swear he smiles at me sometimes just to make me laugh, especially when I'm nursing him. He started cooing around 6 weeks old and the last week or so he has become a real chatterbox with lots of vowel sounds, ga sounds, and ma sounds.


(make sure you watch to the end for all of his super cuteness :)
Katie was early for almost every physical milestone, except pushing up. She was actually sticking her legs up in the air at a 90 degree angle at 2 months old to kick the birdie on her playmat. Timmy does great at pushing up, due to so much tummy time, but still can't roll over and has never lifted his legs up except to kick straight out.

Katie was sick her ENTIRE first winter. From the ER on Thanksgiving night through early spring. Timmy just got his first real cold. (I know this is prob due to Katie having started daycare in November).

I know a lot of their differences are due to Timmy's reflux and also from him sleeping on the reflux wedge, which he loves (thanks Debi!). I'm a little nervous (ok a LOT nervous) of when he outgrows it and needs to learn to sleep on his back in the crib. I was hoping that he would be able to roll over by the time he outgrew it so I wouldn't worry about him sleeping on his belly in the crib but that milestone still seems far off, while graduation from the wedge doesn't seem so far off - his feet are getting close to the floor.


They are both in love with each other, though. Katie is SO helpful (and I'm not even being sarcastic). She would do almost anything for him. She loves holding him and especially watching tv while laying next to him in my bed. She is so cute when she talks to him saying such appropriate things like I know, I know, little guy and inappropriate things like Oh Timmy, you're so baby...huh? The feeling is mutual, too. He lights up when he sees her and LOVES to watch her. Life is good right now. (Yes mom, life is GOOD..even if I have an occasional bad day).

Btw, this is my second post from today - so if you missed the first one, be sure to click back to read it.

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OK, I have a tv addiction...


I was just checking my e-mail and came across this article.

The highlights of the article, titled "Colonel's secret recipe in new, safer vault at KFC", include the fact that the original handwritten recipe is safely back at Company headquarters. It was delivered in a lockbox handcuffed to a security guard's wrist, and the following

"...The iconic recipe is now protected by an array of high-tech security gadgets, including motion detectors and cameras that allow guards to monitor the vault around the clock.

"It's like an onion of security — many layers," said security expert Bo Dietl, who brought the recipe back to the building.

Thick concrete blocks encapsulate the vault, situated near office cubicles, that is connected to a backup generator to keep the security system operating in times of power outages..."

I automatically thought to myself (and if you are a fan of Fox's Prison Break, I'm sure you did too)...aahhh, so "The Company" is Yum Brands, Inc.

It was announced recently that Prison Break would be canceled after the current season - basically because there's no story left to be told. They broke out of prison, they managed to escape capture from when they escaped from prison, they escaped from a South American prison, and they are currently infultrating and bringing down The Company...which ironically included breaking into the world's most intricate and heavily guarded safe.

Now I'm wondering, did this story actually become NEWS to preempt that Prison Break WILL be returning for one more season? To steal Colonel Sanders secret recipe? If anyone can do it, Michael Scofield can.


If I've learned anything in the past few years, I've learned that Michael Scofield and Jack Bauer are unstoppable and that I will definately miss my Mondy night eye candy. Michael Scofield and Lincoln Scofield are 2 of my 5 "passes." (wink, wink...and no, not the actors - just the tv characters themselves). Lol, that I just had to increase that from 3 passes to 5 as I remembered my Friday Night Lights eye candy, the third being Entourage's Vinnie Chase, of course.

Btw, Timmy is 3 months old today...can you believe it?!?!? Check in later tonight for an update on how gosh darn cute he is :)

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Baby Picture Sunday - Lights, Camera, Action

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Debi's done a switcheroo this week and asked us to post our favorite baby VIDEOS for Baby Picture Sunday.

My first one, is way back when...when Katie actually ATE carrots and potatos, back in March 2006. She was 8 months old.

But really, who wants carrots and potatos when there's CHOCOLATE!!!! Katie had her first taste in June 2006, at 11 months old. We were in NYC for a work trip and we were eating dinner very late, which of course made her pretty miserable....until....YUMMY!!!

And finally, while we're celebrating our babies this weekend - please say a prayer for JK and all of beautiful Tuesday's family and friends. They are experiencing the most pain a family can go through right now and I am devastated for them. I have been praying for Tuesday for some time, having learned about her cancer at the very beginning from my SIL Debi. As everyone who knows her story is, I was completely devastated this week at her sudden turn for the worse and brought to tears last night. Please God..look after her. Help her brothers and sister to remember her. My family experienced a similar string of ups and downs with my cousin Kelli, who lost her battle with Leukemia only a year 1/2 after being diagnosed. It seems to me to be a cruel situation when there is wonderful progress only to result in a quick turn for the worse. I highly encourage you to check out the video that JK has just posted of Tuesday dancing with her twin sister Piper. It's made me cry all over again and I am awed by JK's strength as she celebrates her daughter.

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