What this life asks of me

Well, it's definitely no big news around here that we deal with our fair share of tantrums on a daily basis. We are actually perfecting the art of tantrum throwing and will be starting a class on "How to Scream So Loud You Cannot Hear Anything at All" or for an alternate title, we are also considering, "How to Never Get Your Way But Still Reach Your Emotional Outburst Quota of the Day."

So, in this intense season of tantrum perfection God has been speaking to my heart.

Just little things here and there, but the impact has been BIG.

It's hard to love someone who pushes against your will. It just is.

Yes, I love always, I say. But sometimes I don't like. But, is it just that? Or am I choosing only to love the lovely, and cringe, roll my eyes, and throw my own gnarly big person fit when my world gets a little rocked?

The answer there scares me.

I don't want my love to be with conditions.

So, if love means playing that I am Aladdin and asking Jasmine "Do you trust me?" so that we can go on our 1,258th carpet ride of the day, then so be it.

If it means I cuddle longer, kiss little hands, look deep in to blue eyes and say, "I love you so much!" then let it be.

Tonight, as I cuddled the warm sweet bundle of my 3 year old daughter, lying in her toddler bed with my legs dangling over at the knees, and my face covered with soft blonde hair, I smelled her sweet breath and heard her snores as her body relaxed and drifted into sleep. The same little sweetness that just moments ago wanted to talk about "Puddleglum" from C.S. Lewis' "The Silver Chair" while rubbing my back.

 I almost missed it.

I wanted her to just go to sleep already so I could get busy with my "me" time.

Yet, this stirring, this call to love more, deeper, and unselfish has unsettled me. I can't say no as easily or push aside the neediness with excuses of laundry and dishes piled high.

Yes, there are things that need to get done. I can't just play all day and not take care of necessary tasks...but I can also take more time to listen, let my heart lead, and ask God to show me when I need to respond.

It's not simple, but it is.

He's asking me how great my love is. He's pushing me to reach out when I most want to retreat. This crazy, unpredictable life is the one I've got, I need to make the most of it-tantrums and all.

The sweet things in life

I have been really learning a lot how to enjoy the small everyday moments with my kids, the wake up early in the morning and jump in our bed moments, the crying in the night and needing to be rocked moments, the needing to be held right now moments, the I just want you to read me a book moments. These moments are precious, they are flying by.

I am so grateful for fresh perspective. And a lot of that starts with prayer. I am finding myself sleepily offering thanks to the Lord at 4am while I rock a restless baby back to sleep. I smile instead of groan when little feet come padding into my room before the sun comes up wanting to "cuddle" in bed, which really results in giggling, bouncing, and talking. I cherish those moments of little voices asking questions and innocent hearts that need to be treasured and directed.

I know I still have a lot of growing to do and I am thankful that I am ever changing, moving more toward the mother I desire to be. There are moments that I certainly feel overwhelmed, guilty, and out of control. I respond harshly or forget to add a measure of grace to my discipline. I just flat out fail at making the right choice under stress. I feel disgruntled rather than blessed, stressed out instead of at peace.

Praying through my day opens my eyes to more of the little blessings. It allows me to see the power of grace in moments of chaos. It gives me strength to change one more diaper, clean up another spilled drink, or fish toilet paper rolls out of the toilet. It allows me to feel at peace in the middle of the night when I hear my children crying, or when I don't get that break I so longed for in the day. It awakens my soul to the beauty that is developing before my eyes, to the amazing revelation of God's goodness that is constantly before me.

My prayer is that my focus may always be on what is eternal, that my heart would be tender towards my children, that there would always be time for one more story, one more hug, and one more kiss. That I wouldn't base my reactions on feelings, but strive to put God and my children first. I want to look back on these years and know that I didn't just rush through them trying to get everybody potty trained and off to school. I just want to be in these moments...really truly in them.

A glimmer of sunshine...

Life has been challenging, I'm not going to lie. But I keep catching these small glimmers of sunshine in my days.

I am grateful, blessed, hopeful, and living with expectation for great things. And that makes all the difference.

I got a full 6 hour stretch of sleep last night, and I woke feeling so refreshed this morning. I didn't even make any coffee.

I enjoyed my kids, colored with Aidan, had little conversations...

When it became apparent that Nora was on a morning nap strike we loaded up in the car and went downtown to Earth Fare (the nearest natural foods store). We slowly browsed, picked up some goodies, and listened to a young man playing the violin. Aidan danced to the music, Nora smiled at all the customers. We picked out a cookie to share and sat and enjoyed the music some more. I gave Aidan a dollar to put in the jar for the young violinist. He beamed and told me, "He said thank you!" We loaded up and drove to Target. Nora finally slept on the way. We browsed some more, playing in the toy aisles before picking up a few items on my list. The kids were sweet and happy. Aidan was super talkative (a norm for him), but it was delightful in every way to me. When we got home Aidan went down for his nap and Nora giggled and played and fussed and fought sleep until just a few minutes ago.

Today I am just really enjoying my kids.

I think sleep really helps. And knowing that the Lord is on my side. I have nothing to fear.

Flying Solo

I feel like I am flying solo a lot....at least for the bulk of the day, but nothing quite compares to the actual process of flying across the country with 2 little ones.

Friends, I was truly dreading this trip...and you wouldn't even want to believe who decided to pop in for her monthly visit the morning we left. So, there I was, 4 bags, one double stroller, an almost 3 year old and 6 month old baby. We were a walking circus. Literally.

The first flight went pretty well. I dumped a jar of baby food in the seat pocket, but we managed to keep quiet for the most part. The most difficult for me was juggling all the stuff we had. I had to carry Nora, hold Aidan's hand and get all our bags off and on the plane, set up the stroller, and get the kids inside. It was quite the feat.

Our layover, which dragged on and on  as we became increasingly more delayed, was a nice respite from the confinement, but soon we were all exhausted. During one of our frequent bathroom stops (Aidan's requests to pee were so urgent and sudden on this trip that I was in a panic that he would have an accident), a kind lady asked if I needed any assistance. I replied with, "I"m sure I do, but I don't even know where to begin." We both laughed and she said had been there once. That moment of commiseration was good for my soul.

Then, we boarded our plane for the final flight home, or at least to Charlotte, where we would then drive 2 hours home with our huge suitcase wedged between the kid's car seats. Oh, the joy! This is where we hit a major breakdown. I had managed yet again to carry all the bags and children and get seated, only to find out that we couldn't actually sit in the seats we were assigned and had to move to another row. After everyone had been seated, I got up to begin the move. The most wonderful part about this was not only did Aidan flat out refuse to move, we were in the front row of the plane, so we had an audience. Aidan protested and protested. He even said, "No, you go Momma. I am going to sit here and you can kick me in the back of the seat." (Can you tell what we had been discussing on the previous flight?) So, he threw a fit, a screaming, flailing, you cannot control me and hold Nora at the same time kind of fit. So fun. After that subsided I asked if the lady behind me could hold Nora so I could take Aidan to the restroom. When we got back to our seats, the flight attendant came up to me, and said, "Ma'am, we are waiting on you, could you please sit down?" Ummmm, rude. And then we sat on that ridiculous runway for at least another 30 minutes. (no kidding) During this time, Aidan lost it. He wanted to sit in my lap too. He wanted something to eat and none of my snacks were good enough. He wanted me to hold him and put Nora down somewhere. He was tired. He didn't want to wear his seatbelt. (I had a feeling this would happen because we were way past nap time at this point, and getting closer to dinner after all the delays). The attendant kept coming and asking me if she could do anything..."Not unless you change the rules and actually let me hold him!" I didn't really say that, only thought it.  So, he finally just fell asleep. Which is totally unlike him, but he got so ridiculously crazy that he just conked out. It was wonderful. And, then after a time, he woke up...and it again was a mix of laughing, crying, and altogether crazy behavior until we landed. I have never been so glad to be on the ground before.

So, we survived. It was doable. Oh, and Nora....can you guess that she was absolutely easy going the entire time?..cause she was. And then she screamed bloody murder for most of the car trip home. Mostly because it was past everyone's bedtime and she was hungry, tired, and probably sick of being overlooked.

And really, it only took me like 2 weeks to recover. :)

Kansas Trip

Oh the trip....

Nora was our little late night packing companion.

We left early Monday morning (14th) to drive to Charlotte. As luck would have it, Aidan woke up with a stuffy nose. We arrived in Charlotte by about 8am and left a little after 9. The flights went well. Nora slept the entire way and Aidan was able to watch some of his favorite shows on Daddy's laptop. We were pretty exhausted by the time we got there, but it was so nice to see our family...especially my sister who had just got back from 6 months at YWAM.

 Nora and Aunt Steph

We spent the first week with Seth's family. Unfortunately, Aidan's cold continued and Nora caught it the 2nd night there. She got an ear infection and we ended up visiting our old pediatrician for some good ol' antibiotics. It was a long week of little sleep...but so nice to have family to help out.

The sick babies in their pj's

The first weekend there I went down to Arkansas to surprise my bestie Kara at her baby shower. Steph and I drove down together with Nora and did it all in one day. We also got to visit with some of my old time friends from ECS/childhood days.

Windblown pic, (2 pregnant friends), tons of memories with these girls!

We also got some family pictures taken by jami nato which was a ton of fun and I seriously cannot wait to get them put up at our new place (when we have a new place). :)

The second week was spent with my family. Seth left just a few days into that week and I stayed a whole week longer. It snowed a couple times that week. (crazy!) We were able to have a little birthday celebration for Aidan, have a play-date with a couple friends, and I spent some time working on stuff with our house. I ordered some furniture to stage the house for the next couple of months. It was kinda a drag considering the financial drain this house has been, but we are praying that this will be enough to get it sold by the end of May. Please pray for us if you think about it!

I wish I would have had more time to see more friends, but I felt like my days were so busy and with Nora's sleeping issues, I was pretty exhausted most of the time. I ate up the family time because I knew it would be a long time til we saw each other again and I really do love being with them--even if my sister can now beat me at Dutch Blitz.

Nora with Mita and Papi (Seth's parents)

Snow at the end of March! Kansas weather is so crazy!

 Aidan's new obsession

 Birthday egg hunt

 Fresents! (as Aidan would say)

 Decorating his birthday cupcake

Happy 3 years to Aidan!

 Had to have one of the sweet baby girl!

Mimi (my mom) reading to the kids by the fire (PRECIOUS)

That is our trip in a nutshell. One more post to come on flying solo with the kids....stay tuned if you want some tips on how to have a smooth, tear-free trip across the country with 4 bags, one double stroller, a baby, a toddler, and a layover. (NOT) :)

I'm a mothering pro

Okay, so the title of this post is just to make me feel better.

My day has been hilariously crazy, but just one of those reminders that my life really should be a reality tv show so that more people can benefit from the ridiculous situations I find myself in.

I got a book from the library the other night titled, I Didn't Plan to Be a Witch: And Other Surprises of A Joyful Mother. It is perfect...I skipped to the chapter titled "Toddlers are Horrible and Adorable" for a delightful read before bed last night. And then I lived it out today. :)

So, Nora is on this horrible antibiotic called Augmentin for her ear infections. I hate this medicine. Aidan took it before, so I knew to expect some horribleness from it. And horribleness is indeed correct. Yesterday, as I was putting Nora in the stroller for a walk, I thought she had baby food on her bottom...so I picked her up to inspect. Then I noticed my shirt was covered in the same substance (any guesses what that could be?). She had 4 "episodes" in 45 minutes. Then she recovered for a couple hours before going all over her daddy at the grocery store. Fun fun fun.

Anyway, today was my mom's group and I didn't want to miss it. Mostly because it is the chance to get a little break from Aidan. So we went, diarrhea baby and all. To do so, we had to first take Seth to work which always proves to be a huge ordeal. When we arrived at the church, Nora was doing great. I was feeling on top of it all. Dropped Aidan off at class, kept the little one with me. She had a little bathroom issue in the middle of the group, but I caught it quickly and we were spared any major mess. After my group was over, I needed to finish up the grocery shopping that got stalled due to Nora's bathroom issues last night. We made it to Wal-mart and Aidan started fussing for food. I handed him a container of apple sauce to keep him busy while I got a cart and got Nora situated. I came back with the cart and realized that Nora had a huge explosion while on the short drive to the store. It was all over her clothes. I scooped her up and placed her on a plastic bag. During this time, I noticed that Aidan had started eating his apple sauce with his hands...both of them. He had apple sauce all over his clothes, face, and car seat. So the poopy one sat and waited while I cleaned Aidan up and got them inside. When we arrived in the restroom, Aidan announced his sudden need to use the facilities....and not just quickly either. I had a major crappy situation on my hand (if you get my usage of the word). I hurriedly took him to the bathroom, but the toilet automatically flushed as he was sitting there and scared him to death...and then Nora started crying too. Poor little thing was still sitting there in her poopy clothes, just waiting to be cleaned up. I went ahead and got her all cleaned up and changed and we went and shopped for our groceries. Neither of the kids were particularly easy going after that whole thing and we were all tired and hungry.

Here is the icing on the cake: When we got out to the car there was a wasp swarming around it. Seriously? I kept shooing it away and trying to get the kids in their seats. It was rather silly. Then, when we got home, I noticed that a certain someone had left 2 frozen pizzas in the trunk from last night's grocery run. Ruined pizzas...not cool, but I still love my husband.

Happy 3rd Birthday Aidan

 

To the boy who made me a mother 3 years ago...

There is so much I could say about you. You have been my greatest challenge and greatest joy all wrapped up in one big package. I look back at pictures of you as a newborn and can't even remember those first few days with you, much less, that first year. You required so much of me, and still do, but I know that every last bit of it is worth it. You are a strong-willed energetic little bullet. I don't know what to do with you half the time. Keeping you entertained is a tall order, but I have learned a lot about how you think and have started to welcome your foreign personality with open arms. You make me laugh...a lot. You are such an observer and so full of questions that I wish I could sit and listen to you jabber all day. You test me, you push me, but you love me and that makes it so lovely to be your mother. You are still a diligent thumb-sucker (at night) and a good sleeper. You love to eat (i.e. "snack"), but you are a picky one. You have embraced the newness of South Carolina and this somewhat transitional/stressful time period with such willingness and happiness that I have been impressed. You welcome new faces and situations without a single pause to consider if you should be hesitant or concerned. You are sometimes a little too welcoming and can't seem to give people space to breathe. You definitely don't know a stranger. Your passion for life is evident every day. You are full of fun and excitement, but can change on a dime to dramatic outbursts and elaborate tearful pleas. You like to be in charge and, unfortunately for you, that is not how this life is going to go for you right now. You seem to forget that most days, but I am always faithful to remind you. :)

I love you so much and I can't wait to see what God has in store for your life. I can tell that you are going to do big things with your life and I only hope that I can foster and encourage those things as you grow. Thank you for letting me "practice" on you.

I love you,

Mom

Beautiful Day

The weekend before our trip to Kansas we ventured over to a nearby park to enjoy the sunny weather and a nice picnic lunch. The kids had a blast. Aidan threw rocks in the pond and Nora rolled around in the grass. It was such a nice day!

 Touching the grass for the first time

 Rolling over in the grass

My super sweet baby girl!

What is really valuable...

You know you need to vacuum when you nearly cut your hand on a small piece of dried food embedded in the carpet. Even though the apartment is about 97% carpet, there is no excuse for the overwhelming amount of food particles that can be seen. And, when one of your children starts using said pieces as ammunition against you, you really have a problem.

I spent the day in my pajamas. I had a splitting headache. It was a hum drum day. I thought a lot. I thought about being 25. I wondered how in the world I have 2 children. Yet, I carried them for 9 months, labored, gave birth, and have been paying my dues in getting up at night, cleaning up after their messes etc...This stuff ages you! I mean, I am 25 and I wish I was driving a minivan (really, at this point, any car would do, but you get the idea). I haven't had my hair cut in at least a year, I don't shower every day, and I sometimes don't even brush my teeth. Anybody with me on this? Or am I the only young mom that feels so out of the loop that when asked the question "What is your personal style?" or "What designer do you most follow?" I about pooped my pants. Yes...you read that right. Seriously, I wanted to just start laughing hysterically. And, why, you may ask, was I being asked such questions? I had an interview for a job...at The Limited. And let me tell you, I felt so ridiculously out of place! The interview went well, but I have my doubts still. I mean, all the fashion questions were so uncomfortable for me...cause my "real" answers would be something like, "I wear the same sweats several days in a row," or "Spit-up is the latest trend in my household."

Sometimes I feel like I am the only mother lost in a world of spit-up stained clothes, nursing bras, and highly unfashionable attire. I don't remember the last time I actually bought an entire outfit for myself and it surely was not at The Limited, but probably on some 80% off rack at a department store. I wonder if it will always be this hard to feel "together." But, you know, I came home, to my messy, not vacuumed apartment, and I saw the smiling faces waiting for me, and I realized that even though I often look like a disaster, I am loved by these little ones that call me "Mama." They don't care if I wear the same shirt day after day, or if my hair is standing on end. They just like me to sit on the floor, read books, tickle them, sing, and cuddle them close. That it more valuable to me than shopping at an expensive store and looking like I jumped out of the latest fashion magazine.

Pretty in Pink

Love

This is how we makes our children eat dinner...just so we can laugh. Just kidding!

Growing Up

My kids are growing too fast. Aidan is potty trained. (Hallelujah!) He practically did it all by himself and now refuses to wear any clothes all day, just underwear. He loves his sister so much and she is starting to really giggle at him. Nora is getting big too. She loves to play and sits up really great with support. She will sit on your lap happily for long periods of time. Aidan looks more and more like a big boy now and Nora is really becoming an interactive baby. Time just keeps flyiing by. And speaking of time...we've been in South Carolina for 3 months now. Wow!

4 months

Nora Cadence,

You reached the 4 month mark way too fast. I can't believe how much you are turning into my little baby and not so much a newborn anymore. What a difference this last month has made with you.
We started off your month with traveling to PA. You weren't so keen on the carseat for such a long period of time, but you really were a good baby while there and I loved how easy you would sleep in my arms. That being said, we developed a lot of bad habits over Christmas and we decided it was time for you to figure out how to soothe yourself to sleep. It has been a rough couple of weeks listening to you cry, but you are doing so much better now about going down without fussing. You still have a rough time at night, but it's getting less and less traumatic as the days go by. You are also getting to bed earlier (between 8-9pm and a record tonight of 7:50) which makes me very happy. You do still wake up in the night somewhere between 3-5am most nights. You went through a growth spurt within the last week and were getting up several times in the night and eating about every 2 hours in the day, so I started you on some rice cereal once a day and you gobble it up like you are starving. I had all intention of waiting until you turned 6 months to start feeding you anything other than breastmilk, but you seem to need the extra calories. You are a great eater and you love to nurse which is exactly what I hoped and prayed for, but you decided this month that you would absolutely not take a bottle. We have tried tirelessly to get you to take one, but you have not given in yet. You will not take a pacifier anymore (since about 7 weeks old) and you don't suck on any fingers either. I know this will make things easy for me as you get older, but I wish you had something easy like that to bring you comfort at times. However, you really don't need a pacifier because you are so stinkin happy almost all the time. Seriously, I don't know where all the crazy joy comes from, but you are full of it. You love to play and stay very content at one thing for long periods of time. I love knowing that when you are awake, you will not be needy (unless you are hungry) and I can count on you to entertain yourself. I love to talk to you though because you smile and laugh so much that it brings me great joy as well. You are truly a delight. You really love to watch Aidan play and you tolerate all of his hugs and kisses very well. I can tell that you will get much entertainment from just watching him. You love to stand and play in your exersaucer and you can sit very well when supported. You have not made any progress on rolling over yet and I am happy about that because Aidan was on the fast track when it came to getting around and you seem not to be in any hurry.
Nora, you are a light in our days. You never seem to get tired and you can hardly nap all day and still laugh and giggle and play like crazy. You have the best squeal and you are constantly making excited little noises all the time...literally, all the time. You love to squeal at everything when we are carrying you, getting your diaper changed makes you laugh, you don't mind getting dressed or bathed, you love to cuddle and get kisses, you love when we say your name...I just can't get enough of you.
I can't believe that one year ago (yesterday) I found out that I was having another baby and then you were born just 8 months later. I never could have imagined a better end to those long 8 months with you in my belly. You are a precious jewel and I love the wonderful way you make our family feel so much more complete. I am so glad you are mine.

Love,

Mama

4 months stats: 15 lbs.1 oz. 24.5 in.

Love. {First Snow}

Believe Them!

While I was making dinner tonight, Aidan kept mumbling about painting. I was curious, but also intent on not letting the food burn. Then, his exclamations became louder and he said, "Mom, I painted." I suddenly directed my attention to him as he stood there proudly holding an open bottle of acrylic paint with a paintbrush inside. (Alas! He found my craft supplies.) Upon asking him where he painted, he proceeded to point at the living room wall. Behold, the beautiful artwork displayed above our couch...and ummm, on our couch. Luckily, I was able to wash the paint off the couch, while laughing to myself and thinking "We do not need to get new furniture until all children have safely passed the age of 5." This is the 2nd wall art this week. We have a lovely display of everyone's "names" written with crayon on the opposite wall.

Enjoying every moment...

I just took this picture of Aidan napping in the "tent" I made in his room. He asked to sleep in it for his nap, so I made a little bed for him and he went right to sleep.

Last night, Seth gave me a belated Christmas present: Loving the little years: Motherhood in the trenches by Rachel Jankovic. I read it all. (it is a quick read-only about 100 pages). I laughed, cried, empathized, felt inspired, discouraged, convicted, and encouraged. I would highly recommend this book to any mother of little people. It was one of the best books I have read about parenting.

Let's just say that motherhood has been a real struggle for me as of late. Like, I don't know whether to pull my own hair out, lock myself in the closet, scream, or pummel my child....Seriously, a struggle. In my desperation, I have felt most like a failure, handling things the wrong way, aggravated, frustrated, longing for some "me" time, seeing misbehavior as a cause to ruin my day. I have woken up with a bad attitude, feeling tired, focusing on all the "things" that need to get done and how taking care of the kids gets in the way of accomplishing much. I have hated this about myself too.

Then, I read this book. And I breathed in deeply. I cried a little. Then I buckled up and realized how much I needed a change of heart.

Here is just one such excerpt that spoke to me:

As you deal with your children, deal with yourself always and first. This is what it looks like and feels like to walk with God, as a mother.
God treats us with great kindness as we fail daily. He takes the long view of our sin--knowing that every time we fail and repent, we grow in our walk with Him. It is easy for us to accept this, because our sins are, well, ours.
But our children sin against us, annoy us, and mess up our stuff. We want to hold it against them, complain about them (if only to ourselves), and feel put upon by their sin. We have a much harder time accepting that every failure from them is a wonderful opportunity for repentance and growth and not an opportunity for us to exact penance.
It is no abstract thing--the state of your heart is the state of your home. You cannot harbor resentment secretly toward your children and expect their hearts to be submissive and tender. You cannot be greedy with your time and expect them to share their toys. And perhaps most importantly, you cannont resist your opportunities to be corrected by God and expect them to receive correction from you.
God has given us the job of teaching His law and demonstrating His grace. We are to be guides to our children as they learn to walk with God.
Sin is just a fact of life. Is is the way we deal with it that changes ours.


There is so much more in this book...and it is super funny too. Be encouraged today mothers. I know I was.

I started my morning pushing past the tiredness of being up in the night with little ones, made some fun Mickey Mouse pancakes, built a tent, and read books under it. I enjoyed each and every moment, and I intend to keep my heart in the right place so I can continue to do so.

Christmas 2010

We had a wonderfully blessed Christmas. Seth's parents came to visit and stayed for 5 nights. We really enjoyed having family with us because we had thought we would be spending it all alone this year. It was a wee bit cramped in our 2 bedroom apartment and Aidan came down with an ear infection, but it was altogether quite nice. Aidan was a little overly excited about the "fresents" and wanted more and more (we are working on our manners).

Nora was as sweet and happy as usual. She has a remarkable ability to smile even when she is not particularly happy. We decided to start sleep training during the holiday because she had started a bad pattern of being up until 11:30 at night again. It was hard for me to hear her cry, but the results have been great so far and she is currently going down for naps with minimal to no fussing and she has gone to bed at 8pm the last 2 nights. It has been great for me!

We were able to spend some time outdoors and enjoy some nice weather before it got too cold. We also attended a Christmas Eve service at a church that we have been visiting for some time. The weather turned quite frigid and we even got some snow Christmas night and all the next day.

I always enjoy baking during the holidays even if it means lots of mess to clean up afterward. I made our traditional Christmas breakfast of chocolate chip cinnamon rolls and we had a non-traditional Christmas dinner of butternut bisque and bierocks. I also made gingerbread men with Aidan which has been another tradition for our little family. He loves to "help" me roll them out...and then enjoys eating them too. (p.s. excuse my messy kitchen--it was quite cluttery in our apartment and I was busy nursing my baby and feeding everyone else to care much about keeping everything cleaned up)

Now it is time to get back into shape and stop eating all the leftover Christmas goodies! 30 Day Shred, here I come!

Road Tripping

So, right around Thanksgiving, we decided, on a whim, to go to Pennsylvania for my Grandma's Christmas dinner. She has had the extended family over for this dinner every year since we were little, but my family never went because we lived like 20+ hours away and would go every summer to visit instead. So, being that we are only 10 hours away here in South Carolina, I decided that in order to make Christmas a little less lonely, we should go up for a visit. Granted...we traveled to PA the day Aidan turned 3 months (we flew and then drove a few hours) and I swore never to take a 3 month old to PA. It is funny how this trip just happened to fall on the weekend that little miss Nora turned 3 months as well. Different 3 month old, different trip experience.

We decided to get up at 4:45am on the day of the drive in order to get an early start. Aidan ended up waking at 4:20 and needing "his covers on" and then Nora woke 15 minutes later to eat. So, we managed to get out of the house and on the road by 5:30am with one sleeping baby and one very talkative toddler. It was actually really nice driving in the dark and waiting for the sun to rise. We had our pumpkin flavored coffee to sip on and stopped for breakfast around 7:00. We ended up stopping a lot more than I had planned due to Nora screaming bloody murder when she woke up or when she wanted to go to sleep. She just had a few very rough intervals, but slept a lot of the trip thankfully. We made it there by 5:30pm and had a nice dinner with the family.

Oh, and did I mention that my brother, sister-in-law, two nephews (one I had not yet met) and my mother were there? After getting this grand idea to go up to PA, I convinced my brother's family to come down from PEI, Canada too. Then my mom just had to fly up and see us all since all 4 of her grandbabies would be there. It was lovely being with family again.

Needless to say, the time there was well spent. The kids were great, we got to visit with a lot of my extended family etc... Nora got a bad cold the day before we left and spent our last night crying a lot and waking every hour or so.

We decided to split the trip home into 2 days and we drove down to D.C. and visited the Museum of Natural History with my brother's family. After that, we parted and drove a couple hours and stopped for the night. We have never stayed in a hotel with our kids before and I was seriously afraid it was going to be a disaster, but Aidan went to sleep shortly after we got there and Nora did too....except she woke a lot again because of her cold.

We woke to snow falling the next day and drove for a while in snow and then freezing rain. Nora was not a happy camper for this drive at all and it was a lot of craziness in our car for most of the trip home. We did, however, make it home that evening (a 5 1/2 hour trip that took us 8 hours) to the nice 62 degree weather in South Carolina.

Even thought the drive home was rough, I am so glad we made the trip with the kids. Nora has had a hard few days getting over her cold and realizing that I am not going to hold her for all her naps from now on, but things should settle back down soon.

3 months

Nora,

How in the world are you already 3 months old? I am so amazed at how fast you are growing. We went to your 2 month appt. a week late and you weighed in at 12lbs. 3oz. (5 lbs. gained since birth) and 23.5 inches (4 in. since birth). I am sure you are even bigger now because you are growing out of some of your 3 month clothes and will be wearing 6 month stuff soon. You are so long and you have the best rolls on your arms and legs. Oh, and did I mention you like to eat?
You are still not sleeping super predictably at night yet. You went through a growth spurt this month and were up eating every 2-3 hours. Mommy was not a fan. But, now you are settled back into going about 8-9 hours at night. You don't have a set bedtime because you will sometimes be up partying till late and then go to bed early the next night....you are happy to just do whatever you need to do. I like this about you most of the time, but wish that we could get you to bed earlier still...I know you will get there sometime.
You still take a really long nap in the afternoon. I usually let you sleep abut 3.5 hours, but you almost always want to sleep longer. You take abouty 3-4 naps a day and your waketime varies. Sometimes you are happy to be awake for 2 hours at a time while other times you need to sleep sooner than that. You will not take a pacifier at all anymore and you really don't like the bottle either. You have a hard time settling down for naps when we are at home so you often get riled up and cry pretty hard and then I pat your little bottom and you fall right to sleep. I don't understand this little routine you have, but it makes me laugh and you are so cute when you go from mad to fast asleep in a matter of seconds.
You are truly the most content little baby ever. You love to sit in your bouncer and you kick like crazy when you are in it. You can sit somewhere for a long period of time and if you are fussy you are usually content to just sit in a lap or sit near us, so that you can see our faces. You are very comforted by the presence of Mommy and Daddy.
You have the cutest scrunchy nose smile and you started laughing this month (Dec.1). You love to interact with us and talk and I can tell you are going to be a social little thing.
You have surpassed all my hopes and expectations these first 3 months and I have been so blessed by you. You love to nurse and cuddle and you bring me so much comfort at times it is overwhelming. I am so excited to see the person you will become and I love watching you begin to notice your little world.
Nora, you are a joy.

I love you,

Mommy

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving was a little different for us this year. This was the very first year we spent our Thanksgiving in South Carolina and away from family. It turned out to be quite a good day for us all. We had gingerbread pancakes for breakfast and watched the Macy's Parade on our laptop. Aidan really enjoyed watching the parade and spent most of the morning lying on the table as I cooked dinner. We went for a nice walk in the gorgeous weather and picked pine cones and leaves and played at the park. After we got back, I finished preparing our food and we sat down to eat.

I was a little overwhelmed at the idea of cooking a turkey because I had never done so, but it turned out decent enough. I also made homemade stuffing with cranberries and apples, roasted apples and sweet potatoes with honey glaze, homemade rolls, creamy mashed potatoes, green beans, homemade gravy, and a pumpkin spice cake for dessert. It was all delicious and I made so much food we are going to be eating leftovers for a good while. Aidan pretty much went with tradition and devoured a roll...and did not want anything else.

We were supposed to go to some new friend's house for dessert, but their daughter was running a fever, so we had a change of plans and stayed home. (Aidan randomly woke with a fever in the night as well, but was fine by morning)We were able to Skype with all our family and then we just spent time with the kids. Aidan really wanted to hold Nora and spent a good while holding her and talking to her on the couch. (He also tried to nurse her, but that is a story for another day. Ha!)

So thankful for my sweet kids!