Joy to the World

Heard over the monitor...

"Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let Earth receive Can-dy!"

Sooo, what's up?

Well, we just got back from Houston about a week ago. Carson got to meet Sue Sue and Papa Dick. Well, playing with Papa Dick was delayed a bit since he had unplanned emergency surgery the day after we arrived. Thankfully everything is fine now, just a few minor tweaks and he's all better.
Went trick or treating w/my high school buddy and her little boy--what fun it is to pop back into my hometown here and there and get to re-live those relationships as though we never left. I am so blessed. Our kiddos were funny. Kaitlin was all business marching house to house and carrying out her little trick or treat mission. Grier, on the other hand, was afraid the fun would end and after every house would say "One more house?" That went on for about 30 houses! Too cute. I hope she marries Grier one day (he's the little guy in the pic w/her).
Kaitlin was The Little Mermaid this year. Actually she wanted to be a sunshine initially--like the one on the Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage commercials where it's morning and the planets haven't eaten breakfast so they quit revolving around the sun. Yeah. So I searched high and low for a sunshine costume and couldn't find one. Fortunately as time closed in on us, we were at Costco and she fell for the Disney costumes and decided on Ariel instead.
The funny thing is, about a week ago, I was reading through one of the five million Parenting magazines that I've received. Seriously my living room rivals a doctor's waiting room. And what did they have on page 34, low and behold, but an "easy to make" costume of a sunshine! Trouble is this magazine said easy and sew in the same set of directions. Phhhts.
Carson did great on the airplane both ways. I will swear by traveling with kiddos under 6 months because my goodness, they are light and they sleep a lot. Not so sure as you get to be closer to one. By the time they are almost 2 and still free, it's almost worth it to buy their ticket because hey, the way we're headed, Carson's plane ticket will cost less than checking my luggage. Next time I'm in Houston I might just have to go naked.
I digress. Probably due to lack of sanity. Since we left for Houston, Carson's endured 3 time changes, a complete change of schedule and daytime routine, thrush (again), a growth spurt, weaning, a new nipple for his bottles. He has let me know he's not very excited about this change. I let him know that he's supposed to getting easier at three months, not harder. Hmph.
So at three months, he is still not talking, walking, crawling, or even sitting up. But he smiles and he laughs and thinks it's pretty funny whenever I kiss his feet on the changing table. And boy does he have abnormally sweaty feet; let me just apologize now to my future daughter in law. It's not my fault. What he does do that is too sweet...I will rock him to sleep at night briefly after he takes his last bottle and is ready. He'll be all burritoed-up (Swaddled) with his pacifier in. Almost invariably (or, until I write this) I will curl him up to my face, kiss him sweetly on the forehead, and that's when his eyes close and he lets go to sleep. It is the most heartwarming thing. And then a couple seconds later his pacifier will pop out of his mouth to indicate it's bed time. I love it.
Last thing--maybe you don't care but this might be as close to writing stuff in a baby book as I get so I wanted to note it here. Took him to the doc yesterday for said thrush, and he now weighs 13 lbs 11 oz with clothes on. Not bad!

really? you liked Seattle?

Yes. Really. Really really really really!

Birthday Party!!

Katilin had her 4th Birthday Party on Friday. It was a Minnie Mouse party and lots of fun, in spite of the poopy weather that forced us inside. With about 25 people floating around. Many of them under three. And I did not have a break down. Whew!
My own 4th Birthday party was, I believe, at Peppermint Park back in Houston. We rode little toddler sized rides and probably all drove over there together (maybe 6 kids?) in my parents' station wagon. That probably had seats for 5--and my older brother probably went, too, which means all in all we would have crammed about 10 people into that vehicle. My, my how times have changed. Unless you are Jon & Kate plus 8 or happen to own a school bus equipped for car seats, there is no carpooling the whole birthday party gang to the party location, huh?
Speaking of driving, Kaitlin got her first bicycle for her birthday! She is Little-Miss-Tentative as always and watching her go down the "hill" on the sidewalk and nearly kill herself plowing into the nearby tree as she panicked and let go of both the pedals and the handlebars made me realize just how scary it is to be the parents of the 15 year old driving student. And poor Kaitlin has zero survival instinct whatsoever, so Jesse and I have already begun to fight about which of us will risk life and limb to get her driving. You know, it's only 11 years away now. EEK!

LONG 2 Month Update

Didn't I just write this post? No, wait, that was the TWO WEEK update. Thankfully, time is flying. One day when I'm old and gray I'll wish it weren't, but for this moment and season, it's a great thing.

Carson went for his 2 month check up today. Height 23.something--75th percentile. That's amusing to me, that Jesse and I would have a child well into the 75th percentile for height at any point in his life! Weight 12.2 lbs. 50th percentile. Head circumference--who cares.

Kaitlin went for her 4 yr old appointment (a bit early) and now weighs a whopping 29.5 pounds and is I think 39 and a half inches tall. She's back down in the 3rd percentile for weight (almost the 10th, though) and 50th for height. So I guess she thought that means she and Carson could share pants (see pic). Not yet, his are a bit short on her, but the sad thing is, he will outweigh her probably around his 2nd birthday. At least the situation isn't reversed, though, huh?

Sleeping--Carson--yes, many nights 6-8 hours between feedings. Sometimes just 3-4, but at least he knows what night time is and is ready to go to bed every night by 8ish. That is, until this week when got some blasted medicine that makes him extremely gassy. So we've reverted to the 4 week old sleep habits but I know it's only temporary. Different medicine on order as I type, thank GOD.

And maybe I should erase that last paragraph because (can I get an "AMEN" here?) every time. Every single time. EVERY SINGLE TIME I brag on him for doing something good ("Oh, he's hardly crying now!" "He's warming up to his car seat" "He slept through the night last night!") he stops doing it. So I find myself superstitious and I am so NOT superstitious, but you would be, too, if it meant another hour of sleep and the trade off is you have to keep your mouth shut about how well he did last night. And if I do talk, now I feel like I have to preface it with "Well, this might all change tonight, but he just...XYZ..." Otherwise we'll have an awful morning or something to make up for the fact that I forgot to throw in the little superstitious disclaimer. Ridiculous, I know.

Smiling and cooing. Yes! All the time. Especially at 4 AM, as though to say "I'm sorry for waking you up, but I'll be irresistable to make it worth your while." The only reason we moms keep our newborns around and some degree of sanity for ourselves. Although, sane becomes a very relative term during this season of life.

Couple questions about the pediatrician's office. First of all, when did they all get to be younger than me? What the heck can these young men think they know about babies? Ha ha. Second, why is the pediatrician the ONLY doctor where you consistently wait an hour for your appointment to start, even when you show up on time? You'd think in the 30+ years since I've been visiting a pediatrician, somebody would have solved this problem. Because I definitely remember some marathon waits back in Dr. Regan's office growing up. But it's even worse now... now they make you keep the door shut ("privacy laws") when you get back to the room where the actual exam takes place--so you can't even shoot the docs and nurses dirty looks as they pass your room and wash their hands 300 times. Rivals the DMV, except thankfully I don't need a new driver's licence every 2 months. Although if they catch me driving with half my body contorted into the back seat to keep the pacifier in my baby's mouth they just may sentence me to repeated visits. Come to think of it, let's do that for drunk drivers.

In other news, I shouldn't complain about my job as the mom of the household because I might get outsourced soon by Kaitlin. She is already Carson's pacificer-replacer, diaper-fetcher, burp-cloth monitor, cry-radar, smile-getter, and outfit-chooser. I have to pull up a chair every time I bathe him so she can watch. (oddly, no questions about the male/female difference yet. Look for that post soon!). She totally digs being Mommy Jr. Only now she's really making a run for my head-of-the-house-female position, as she decided to fold laundry yesterday. See pic above...I think she did a pretty good job! I feel like the doctors on Grey's Anatomy, competing for a surgery so they don't lose their jobs in the hospital merger--I'm competing with my 3 yr old for housework!

Her little memory is incredible. It's taken her all of about 15 tries to memorize the entire Pledge of Allegiance. She still says ...and to the "weplublic" with an extra "L" which is super adorable, but she's got it other than that. Indivisible = no problem for her!

Thanks for reading my loooooong update. This is what you get when you combine a stay at home Mommy with a computer that has no minute-limit and an audience of ANY size, animate or inanimate. Cheers!

Kiddos Update

I'm sensing the beginnings of some sibling rivalry. I keep trying to snap pics of Carson when he's smiling and so today, Kaitlin cuts in and demands I take pics of her smiling, too. You know, since that's new and all...
She's been in preschool about 4 days now and already her handwriting is better! Okay, so it's not the school, but still, it's getting pretty darned good and what's cute is that she loves to go out to the back porch and write "our family" as she calls it--and she writes out "kaitlin" first (of course) then "mommy," "daddy," and "carson". It's so sweet! Right up until she gets defiant about me trying to take her picture. I'll let you figure out which photo that is, ha ha!

Fun With Friends

At the risk of serious trouble, I'll post this pic because to me, it's priceless. Kaitlin had a visit from her two bestest friends, who are twins. They came all the way up from Florida (8 and a half hours in the car) to visit and the kiddos had a great time. So did the Mommies! Thanks B&R for a wonderful time!