Hooray for Baby!

Lincoln's First Day of Kindergarten!

2011-08-25T08:28:00.002-05:00

Today was the big day! Lincoln got on a bus for the first time, and headed in to school. I can't believe he is this OLD... it is incredible. Anyway, he had no nerves, and was excited to head out. Here are a couple videos!

Pre-bus interview with Dad

http://s863.photobucket.com/albums/ab193/ktnmunchkin/July%20Aug%20Sept%2011/?action=view¤t=LFirstDayK14.mp4

Getting on the bus!

http://s863.photobucket.com/albums/ab193/ktnmunchkin/July%20Aug%20Sept%2011/?action=view¤t=LFirstDayK15.mp4

Babies Don’t Keep

2011-08-23T10:08:00.001-05:00

Babies Don’t Keep
by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Mother, O Mother, come shake out your cloth,
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing, make up the bed,
Sew on a button and butter the bread.

Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue,
Lullabye, rockabye, lullabye loo.
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
Pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo

The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo
Look! Aren’t his eyes the most wonderful hue?
Lullabye, rockaby lullabye loo.

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait till tomorrow
But children grow up as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs; Dust go to sleep!
I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

Annual Mother's Day Photos

2011-06-01T08:07:00.005-05:00

Sooooooo... this year didn't go as spectacularly as usual. This tradition started two years ago:

Mother's Day Photos 2009
Mother's Day Photos 2010

As the kids grow older, their personalities play more and more a role in how these photos turn out. Today we realized we are about a month late in taking these pictures, because nearly one month ago I was gearing up to leave on a trip to CHINA! (more on that later). It was actually on the car ride to the airport that we realized that we had completely forgotten, and I was about to be gone for 2 weeks. Now I've been home for a week and a half and I decided this morning that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! and tried to fit in a quick picture or two before I had to leave for work. It is probably the first time the 4 of us have had some down time together in the same room since I got back. Scary.

Anyway, JUST as we were walking out the door, Taylor stepped on Lincoln's foot, so of course, Lincoln tripped her. Now Taylor was crying, then Mike yelled at Lincoln. This happened in the 15 SECONDS I turned my back to walk out the freaking door!! So here they are, in all their glory:

Grumpy face:

REALLY grumpy face:

Trying to salvage the session:

OK, not improving:

REALLY not getting better:

So there it is!! HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

April 2011

2011-04-28T09:16:00.003-05:00

Bullet Points:

Taylor:

Turned Two.
Is getting two molars.
Is sleeping about as well as she used to (on again/off again). No clear pattern with that girl.
Says a lot of interesting things now, including words like "dinosaur," and "bakugan," (wonder who influenced THOSE) but also cute ones like "delicious," and "oh no!" (which we are really sick of, because everything is a disaster). She wants to know "What's that sound?" by cupping her hand to her ear all the time, and I rarely have noticed that anything was actually making a noise. She wants to know the name of everything, like "harmonica," which she massacres, but it is really cute. She can identify all sorts of body parts, like "eyebrow" and "forehead."
She has become really snuggly. I never thought she would be.
She never lets me mess with her hair. Some day!! It is getting really long and I want to pull it back, but the most she will let me do is put a clip in to keep it out of her eyes.

Lincoln:

Is soon to turn 5. He loudly proclaims that he is 4 and 2/3.
He is still "very into Bakugans" but also "really likes eagles and dinosaurs." The eagles is a new thing. Actually, both kids are really interested in birds, which is strange because I haaaaaaaaaate birds. Speaking of birds, he likes to play "Angry Birds"... a LOT, and is really proficient on the computer.
He is really smart.
He only recently became interested in coloring, and does so very, very carefully.
He is hysterical. But then again, he always has been.
He's been going to preschool three half-days a week, and has a best friend. He has LOTS of friends there, and has been invited to lots of parties, so that is a relatively new phenomenon for us... trying to get him to his own social events. *sigh*
He got in, via lottery, to a local public charter school for when he starts kindergarten in the fall. He has to wear uniforms. We're really trying to brush up on a lot of his academic skills, but I think he'll do great.

Other than that, we're plugging along. Super busy. Kids growing like weeds.

Thinking of Having Kids? Do this 11 step program first!

2011-01-07T07:01:00.002-05:00

Saw this one on Facebook ( My Smart Hands South Calgary), and had to share:

Lesson 1
1. Go to the grocery store.
2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.
3. Go home.
4. Pick up the newspaper.
5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2
Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their.
1. Methods of discipline.
2. Lack of patience.
3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.
4. Allowing their children to run wild.
5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child's breast feeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behaviour. Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3
A really good way to discover how the nights might feel.
1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)
2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.
3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.
4. Set the alarm for 3AM.
5. As you can't get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.
6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.
7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.
8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.
9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4
Can you stand the mess children make? To find out.
1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.
2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.
3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.
4. Then rub them on the clean walls.
5. Take your favourite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.
6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5
Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.
1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.
2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this - all morning.

Lesson 6
Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don't think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don't look like that.
1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment. Leave it there.
2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.
3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.
4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7
Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week's groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys.

Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8
1. Hollow out a melon.
2. Make a small hole in the side.
3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.
4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.
5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.
6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9
Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you're thinking What's 'Noggin'?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10
Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying 'mommy' repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each 'mommy'; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11
Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the 'mommy' tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

Taylor. Can't turn my back on her for a second!!

2010-11-01T12:12:00.003-05:00

http://s863.photobucket.com/albums/ab193/ktnmunchkin/Oct%20Nov%20Dec%2010/?action=view&current=1112010002.mp4

And with the blink of an eye...

2010-10-28T05:48:00.003-05:00

...three months go by. Life seems to be speeding up around here, both in good ways and bad ways. We're all SO BUSY!

I think I realized that catching up completely is a pipe dream, but at the very least I can give a couple day to day short ones here and there... fair enough?

Most recent update: Taylor has been falling out of her crib in an effort to escape, so it was time to move her to a "big girl bed": currently a twin mattress on the floor with bed rails on either side. Since she can also scale baby gates, and we NEED to have her bedroom door open to let the heat in, we have to use *two* baby gates. We also had to re-baby-proof her room. So all that is a work in progress.

She went to her 18 month doctor's appointment yesterday, and it turns out at least part of her foul mood of late is because of an ear infection. Poor thing! I never would have guessed.

Her stats:
34" long
23 lb 4 oz
47 cm HC

No idea where that puts her on the curve, but our doc didn't complain, so I guess we're good.

Lincoln started pre-school 3 half-days in September. He's loving it, and it is really enriching all the things he already knows. I'm so glad he is in this program, because now that we are already looking ahead to a kindergarten program (seriously, I already went to an info session for NEXT September), I can see what a disadvantage he would have had without it.

All for now, more soon :)

June 2010 (part 3): Holden Pool & Walking with Dinosaurs

2010-07-29T14:00:00.008-05:00

One of the busiest days we've had all summer happened on Father's Day. Poor Mike had to work, but the kids and I were running all day.

The lovely Robillards talked me into accompanying them to the town pool. The thing the scares me the most about the kids is the idea of drowning. And worst of all, neither of them have any idea how to swim. On top of that, neither of them has any fear of the water whatsoever (a recent trip to the West Boylston Reservoir proved that, as Taylor just ran STRAIGHT into the water). The idea of bringing one kid to the pool; fine, they have my undivided attention. Both?! Scary!! But this time, even without Mike there, we had a 1 adult to 1 child ratio with our friends there, so it made it OK. In a flash two hours was just gone, and the kids had an absolute blast. Wish we could take advantage of the pool more often, but there is just no way I can safely watch both of them by myself.

Then that evening was the night we had been waiting for for months... the Walking with Dinosaurs show!! Lincoln has been a FREAK for dinos lately, and so has Cameron, so the moms took the boys to the show. Taylor got to stay with Nana and Papa, which was wise, since the show was pretty intense; loud and really realistic. Definitely worth the expense!

June 2010 (part 2): Southwick's Zoo

2010-07-29T13:51:00.005-05:00

We really enjoyed the Southwick's Zoo! We had never been, but knew enough through friends to know to (1) bring our own lunch and (2) the stroller, and we didn't need too much beyond that. There were rides (like, carnival rides), as well as elephant and camel rides, but those all cost extra so we skipped both. AND the playground. Even with just sticking to an animal show, lunch, and random browsing, we had MORE than enough to see, and were completely exhausted by the time we left. The only sad thing was that Lincoln was too short to go on the sky ride (basically, ski lifts that go throughout the park), but maybe next year.

May-June 2010 (part 1)

2010-07-29T13:25:00.007-05:00

Ack!! No blog posts since May?! I severely need to catch up. Let me work on May and June before I even try July!!

We made a visit to the Providence Children's Museum, visited an old friend (we miss you Alyssa!!), and went to the Providence Place Mall. It has been ages since we were there. Had burgers and hot dogs from Johnny Rocket's, and played some arcade games at Dave & Buster's. FUN!! It was over 100 that day, so we were grateful for so many indoor activities.

Speaking of hot weather, we've been trying to spend a lot of time lately keeping cool... that includes heavy sprinkler time. Taylor is still mostly horrified by it, but Link has no issues.

I had a GREAT mommy meet-up with some yes-they-really-exist online friends who I've known for nearly 5 years now, but to protect the innocent, here are just a few shots taken at our playground visit of just my own children :)

Mother's Day came and went again! Technically, May pictures, but yeah, I guess I am that behind. Here are the two best shots from our yearly Mother's Day Photo Session in the back yard. Here's a link to last year's pictures. It is hard to believe that Taylor is the same child.

Woops. May again. Memorial Day parade again!! Love Taylor in those too-cute pigtails.

I mentioned our visit to Chuck E Cheese in the last post. Here's Taylor's reaction to the creepy animated animals that play music.

Taylor got a bouncy house for her birthday! We haven't broken it out too many times, and therefore, it still holds its "specialness". Here's Link and his BFF Cameron running to it after an adventure by the pond.

Some recent kiddo funnies

2010-05-25T09:46:00.004-05:00

I realized that I always end up posting funny things the kids do on Facebook or on my message board, but not here! So, I am going to try to compile a few recent ones. Sorry if these are repeats for anyone!!

4/26/2010: We went to Chuck E Cheese today, this was the first time ANY member of our family has ever been (including Mike and I). It was fun! We would totally go back. Link is just about the right age. And Taylor played easily and happily in the toddler play area. Anyway, Link was playing whack-a-mole and Mike was teaching him how to do it. Link was like 2 seconds late on every one and Mike was reaching around him whacking them with his hand. Link yells "DAD-DAAAAAAAAAAAAY! Stop DOING that!!!" Mike was like "OK, OK! I'm just showing you how to do it." 10 seconds later, Link drops the mallet, walks away and says "OK daddy, you win."

5/4/2010: Taylor has suddenly found some words. Her all time favorite of the moment is "WOW!" because she knows how to use it, and apparently lots of things impress her. So we're rolling around on the floor doing something, and she catches sight of my skin under my shirt, so she points at me and goes "WOW!" and then runs over to me, lifts up my shirt, and starts smacking my stomach flab, going "Wow! Wow! WOW!!!"

5/20/2010: This morning, as he was driving off to daycare with Daddy, Lincoln shouts out the window to me: "Mommy, I'm gonna make you PROUD today!!" Good idea baby!

5/23/2010: Link and I were watching this cute show on animals on Animal Planet, and "Beasts of the Bible" came on. The intro was super dark and pretty terrifying. He INSISTED he wanted to watch it because "I LOVE scary movies!!"

We somehow got into a conversation the other night about what "God" is, and I said some people believe there is a God, some people don't, etc., etc., and I realized I don't have a great vocabulary on trying to translate such big ideas to a 3 year old. I came to that conclusion when I asked him what he thought, and he told me he believes in Dragons. Ummmmmm....

5/25/2010: Last night Link was torturing Taylor in some horrible way and I shout "That's IT! Go to time out!" and Taylor hopped up and ran to the time out chair. Well, at least she gets the idea!!

All for now!

May 2010

2010-05-18T09:54:00.003-05:00

Another update from the Stacy front! All is going well here. The kids are their usual crazy, and so it work for both Mike and I. Let's update person by person.

Taylor: More and more we see Taylor's strong personality. She is going to be one tough cookie. I don't know where she got it from, but when she decides that she wants something she FREEEEEEEAKS if she doesn't get it. Even if it is just the set of keys I am holding in my hand. Link was never a tantrum-thrower, and we knocked on wood daily to thank fate for that one. But ohhhhhhhh is Taylor going to be a different story. You don't think a 13 month old can throw a tantrum? I assure you, she can. Complete with ear-piercing screams, smacking and shoving whoever is trying to contain her, and going all limp noodle on the floor. YIKES. I'll try to get a video sometime!!

Her teeth continue to come in with brute force. She's clearly been in pain the past couple weeks, so we are trying to give in when we can to her need to chew on things. She has 11 right now, with a couple more on the way.

Lincoln: He's still having sporadic "eye pain" but it comes and it goes with such frequency that I don't know quite what to make of it. It could be that he is just tired or the air is dry... certainly the eye drops were a $13 FAIL. There is no situation under the sun where I could wrestle those things into his eyes. Not gonna happen.

We've been a little bit at odds lately, everyone is still trying to find a balance with the parental love and attention. Each kid clearly believes they are at the losing end. Link crawled in my lap yesterday, which sent Taylor into hysterics. She jumped in my lap too and started smacking Lincoln!! He just laughed, thank goodness, because his usual M.O. is to try to kill or maim her in some horrible way. He's having a hard time dealing with the fact that Taylor plays with the toys, too, and if he leaves them in the middle of the floor then they are up for grabs.

Mike: Is settling in at his new golf course. It is still hard trying to come to grips with the fact that he ONLY has Wednesdays off each week, and that is a day that I work, so family time is at a premium this summer. It is the result of our own design, though. When he started work there, we tried to figure out a way to maximize on his new pay, and that meant sending the kids to daycare only 2 days a week instead of 3. It is working, but I miss him.

ME!: Well, I foolishly agreed to teach again. Adding that on top of my usual schedule just seems like one thing too much right now. We pull out all the stops during the week as it is just trying to find child care for different work events, etc., so adding one more thing is making me nuts. Our family and friends are very generous with their time, but THEY didn't agree to take on more work, I did. So I am not sure I'll continue with it, even though the pay is good. I just wish daycare had weekend hours!!

Starting Friday, however, I am taking some time off work, just to get some projects done around the house (in particular, gardening). Two days the kids will be in daycare, so I can just work, work, work all day. I need to feel like I am getting things accomplished at home. Right now it just seems like I am either working or picking up after the tornado that is the kids, and fall asleep exhausted each night. It will be a relief to do some deep cleaning. Hopefully I can get some baby stuff and toys up on Craigslist... less is more in a small house!!

All for now! Pictures soon!

Lincoln's Eyes

2010-05-04T11:55:00.003-05:00

Link had to go to the optometrist today, because he has been complaining of pain in his eye. Long story short, he is 20/40 in his right eye, and 20/15 in his left. The doc thought the pain was more histamine related, and prescribed him some eye drops. He told us to come back in 2 months. So, we'll see if that helps.

Mike and I were confused about the histamine thing, because the pain started over the winter. One of my keen online mommy buddies mentioned that maybe it was because of the pellets in our pellet stove. Huh! Never thought of that. If anyone has insights on that part, let me know, but we'll try the drops and take it from there.

Catch-Up

2010-04-23T12:29:00.011-05:00

More from Taylor's Birthday:

What in the heck is that?

Nom Nom Nom

Aunt Becky and Lincoln (and Henry!)

Link swiped this cupcake when we weren't looking, sneaky little guy

Daddy and Daughter. It was a party for Mike's 30th birthday, too.

Easter! We did an egg hunt outside because it was so nice out. Taylor participated too; mostly by sitting on the ground with 2 eggs we found for her and put in her bucket. :)

Look at that big world out there!! Can't wait for some more green grass to come in, we're getting there.

Found one!!

Love that wacky smile.

Two lovely gourmet cookies that family got for Lincoln:

The eggs we dyed.

The kids and I FINALLY made it out to visit Becky and Travers at their new home in Jamaica Plain. Can you believe this is the only picture I have from the inside?!

We also went on a nice long walk at the Arnold Arboretum, which was great. It tuckered both kids out, but we had time to get some falafel for lunch (yummmmmmm). This is what they looked like about 20 minutes into the ride home:

Just a couple of random shots. Check out Taylor's 'do. Too cute!! I wish I could wear my hair like that.

Lincoln loves cutting paper, so here he is wearing the "glasses" he made for himself. Practicality FAIL; creativity WIN.

Mike hooked up this hammock that we bought while in Mexico for Christmas one year before the kids were born. It has been sitting in our basement all this time, since we really have no place reasonable to put it. Front porch it shall be!

What the heck is Lincoln doing now.

We won a raffle at my work to get a new (old) computer that had been decomissioned. It is now Lincoln's new learning center! A coworker handed me down her son's old learning CD-Roms, so we are working on computer skills, colors, math, and letters every day now.

LOOK AT THIS CUTE OUTFIT!!

All for now!

Quick 1-Year Stats

2010-04-13T18:57:00.002-05:00

Taylor is officially 31", and 21 lbs even. That means she has grown 10", and 13 lb 1 oz in her first year (at birth: 21", 7 lb 15 oz). She is growing up!! She had to have 3 shots and one blood draw though, but she took it like a champ.

(*and kudos yet again to Travers who took some great shots at her b-day party, more to come and update on that later!)

Taylor Turns One Year Old Today!

2010-04-01T02:34:00.001-05:00

The day you were born, you came into this world fast and furious. After only 8 hours of labor from start to finish, you were born. A healthy baby girl! The second I met you, I knew how happy it would make me to have a little girl in my life.

Your first year hasn't been without it's struggles, of course. Right after you were born, I didn't get to hold you for a good long while since the doctors needed to get my bleeding under control. My first moments with you were a bit hazy due to so much blood loss, but knowing what a miracle it was to hold your baby brother, I tried to block out all else and savor it with you.

Nursing never quite worked for us. You were always up for trying, but something was wrong. I can count on one hand the number of times you were able to latch properly, and we really did try. I spent the allotted 2 full days in the hospital just thrilled to have some one on one time with you to get to know you. In fact, leaving the hospital had me terrified in a completely different way than when we brought Lincoln home. Being inside those 4 walls, just you and I, was a gift, and I am glad we had it.

Those first two months home together as a family were hard, with me trying to pump and then feed you all day and night, while at the same time trying to reel in your rambunctious but loving brother. We tried through daily clogged ducts and two bouts of mastitis, but only after finally weaning could the family settle down and enjoy each other. I was sad we didn't have that nursing relationship for as long as I had planned, but was glad that we could find our own rhythm and relax about it. Our family of four really settled into place after that.

From the moment he met you, Lincoln saw you as an instant equal and therefore, rival. He talked to you like you could understand right from the beginning, and wanted you included in all that he did. But of course there was jealousy there, and he took a while to get back to his usual self after you joined our family. He talked baby talk to you, held your hand, told you it was OK when you cried... but also learned to grab toys back, shove you over, and carry you around like a piece of warm luggage. Ah, siblings!!

Our hearts were in turmoil for months when the doctors used words like "birth defect" and "plagiocephaly" to talk about how your skull was forming. We debated long and hard and spent many sleepless nights trying to decide what would be best for you, and finally decided to do as the neurologist prescribed, and that was to get a molding helmet. Like usual, you went with the flow and quickly learned to adjust to wearing the helmet 23 hours a day. Snuggle time was difficult; I couldn't even kiss your head whenever I wanted any more. Those three months flew by in a breeze, and in the end we were so glad to have corrected the issue early when you'll never remember the experience.

It seemed that Lincoln has learned to do all the talking. Although verbalizing isn't quite your thing yet, you know when to voice up and make a point! In fact, it seemed like you have spent most of your first year trying to be as physical as possible to keep up with your brother. You sat up early, you crawled quickly thereafter, stood and cruised by 9 and 10 months, and by 11 months were taking consistent steps. At one year, you can easily climb onto furniture, crawl up stairs, and can RUN!

Though many sleepless nights continue up to your first birthday, we're finally in the flow of things. Your father is the most devoted, loving dad anyone could ask for, and it is no surprise that you could be held by him 24 hours a day, if only his arms would hold out. I think it is no coincidence that your first word was DADA. Lincoln continues to equally harass you and treasure you, and you love every minute of it. And I continue to be fascinated and thrilled to have a baby girl in my life.

I love you Taylor Joyce, and happy 1st birthday!
Love, Mum

Taylor's One Year Pictures

2010-03-28T15:08:00.003-05:00

We had them taken today! Thank GOD my mother came with me, because Mike was working, and I had a lot to juggle... don't know how I would have done it without her! Taylor wasn't in the best of moods, but as usual they got some decent shots. Not my best experience at Picture People, but I somehow managed to buy plenty of prints :) Here they are:

March 2010

2010-03-26T14:43:00.005-05:00

Well, here it is already March, and I have been bad about updating the blog. Sorry!! Once you got SO far behind, it is hard to post anything, because I feel like I need to write 5 paragraphs of back-story. So now that I am sitting at home with a sick Lincoln, while my folks take care of Taylor for the day, and it actually seems l might have the time to catch up. Let's see...

The weather finally got warm here!! We were so thrilled with this because it has been a long winter with two kids cooped up the in the house. So as soon as the skies cleared and it hit 50, we were outside 24/7. Mike burned some brush, and we started the process of yard cleanup from the fall. It was never fully done before the snow fell, so there is a lot of cleanup still to do. It is tricky trying the juggle the two kids outside though, so usually it just means that Mike does all the yard work and I take care of the kids. Here's one of our first trips to the playground this spring.

The big news there is that Taylor is off and running! At age 11 months, she started walking consistently, and now can actually move quite quick. I'll post some videos at the end of this entry.

I took Lincoln to the opening of Who Shot Rock & Roll at the museum; definitely one of the only kids there. We stayed about an hour then hit the road. He passed out in the car. He rarely does that anymore.
Mike also attempted to take Taylor out for a ride on the bike, but we realized she still is a little too small for the seat and the helmet yet. He quickly zipped her up and down the street and over our grass. She liked it!

Tried to get a couple good shots of him in natural light (natural light?! What's that?!), this one was kind of cute. We're trying to grow his hair back out a bit.

The EcoTarium is still high on our list of activities every week. Mike went with Lincoln and his mom, and they had a great time as usual. Again, it was so nice for them to be able to be outside!
That's Kenda's butt :)
And just one more. We got Lincoln this cute outfit for golfing season. I think he's ready!!

Taylor Walking:

(Here's a direct link if the player isn't showing up for you)

Lincoln making Taylor laugh:

(and here's the direct link)

Health wise, the kids seem to be a mess as always, but sadly so have Mike and I lately. I've had nearly constant migraines again, so I am trying to cut out all the usual triggers, plus we've been passing around an awful stomach bug. We just can't seem to get healthy. I look forward to a break from all this.

Lincoln has been really interested lately in learning letters. He's finally asking every day to draw or paint, so that has been nice for the artist in me! With that, he wants to copy letters, so we're working on writing his name.

Taylor is focusing on the physical right now. Still not verbal really, but she's insanely physical, so that makes sense. She's walking and running and climbing. She's been eating like a hoover. Sleeping has been a nightmare, but we finally feel like we might be on the upswing of that yearlong nightmare.

And speaking of yearlong, she turns one on April 1! Mike also turns 30 on April 6, so I decided Easter weekend would be the best time to have a combo party for the two of them. Well, wouldn't you know it, the party has become Easter dinner for both sides of our family!! Yikes! Wish us luck on that one, luckily a lot of people have offered to bring food, so it has turned into a potluck. Still, I am nervous about feeding 40-45!!

I'll check in again soon.

Two Randoms: Thanksgiving & A Questionaire

2010-02-23T15:53:00.005-05:00

Some photos from Thanksgiving (thanks for passing these along Travers!!)

Also, my friend Colleen passed along this questionnaire to ask of your kids about their mother. I LOVE Lincoln's answers, this is such a view into his chaotic little mind:

1. What is something mom always says to you?

I don’t know

2. What makes mom happy?

a big hug

3. What makes mom sad?

I don’t know…maybe when I pee everywhere?

4. How does your mom make you laugh?

Tickle me!

5. What did your mom like to do when she was a child?

go to the beach?

6. How old is your mom?

I don’t know… I just don’t know

7. How tall is your mom?

(on his fingers) let me see here… THIS! (holds up 1 finger)

8. What is her favorite thing to watch on TV?

Mommy, it’s snowing!! (asks again) Hmmm…. Ughh…. Movies?!

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?

Look for me!

10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for?

Doing a t-rex, and a pie trainer, and watching TV, and ANOTHER dinosaur!! Is that true?

11. What is your mom really good at?

Hide & seek

12. What is your mom not very good at?

skating. But, at skating lessons got skates for you! They got big skates for you. We could go there next year.

13. What does your mom do for her job?

I don’t come with you.

14. What is your mom's favorite food?

Pizza!? But I don’t like pizza. No way.

15. What makes you proud of your mom?

Watch TV with me! (I have Blues Clues paused, he’s getting antsy)

16. What do you and your mom do together?

Ugh…. We …ugh, we draw?

17. How are you and your mom the same?

(he’s shaking his belly and we can hear the milk sloshing around and I am shaking my head disapprovingly and he says) I want to keep doing THIS!

18. How are you and your mom different?
(this one really perplexed him). I just don’t know. And I am all tangled up!! You stupid snake in there. I’m just going to pull this snake. (He’s now yanking on the cords of my sweatshirt).

19. How do you know your mom loves you?

I tickle you!!

20. What does your mom like most about your dad?

He throws a snowball at us! (true, whenever we go outside)

21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?

I love to go to work with you. And I love to see those tigers and those little babies. And the man gots that little baby in his arms.

22. What does she cook the best?

Dinosaurs and meat in it. (dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets). Everybody loves meat!

23. Are you more like your mom or your dad?

I’m like mommy. Or, Lincoln, a boy.

24. What is one thing your mom does for you that you appreciate?

You could cook dinosaurs for me! You could lay that down.

25. If you could change one thing about your mom, what would it be?

Go to bed with you, and what else… go to library and get me a dinosaur book.

Lincoln's World View

2010-02-10T09:54:00.004-05:00

Mike: What does daddy do at work?

Link: I don't know.

Mike: What does Mommy do at work?

Link: Mommy does everything there... she sees tigers, ummmm.... they gots a castle there. Dem gots a thing that takes us up, buttons and stuff, doors.... (trails off)

Say whaaa? OK, let me translate:

she sees tigers

they gots a castle there

Dem gots a thing that takes us up, buttons and stuff, doors....

Yes, he remembers the elevator :)

A busy time (pt 2 with pictures)

2010-02-04T12:33:00.006-05:00

First, Mike has made a weekly trip to the West Boylston library a part of the repertoire. We love it there. Their children's section is HUGE, and has a fantastic play area. It is airy and full of light. That is definitely at a premium in our house in the winter time.

Grumpy face:
Laundry basket rides!! So what if they were for the puppets :)
Taylor was a wee bit afraid of them.
Yikes.
Look at this cute little nook to read books!!

Next, we also visited the Discovery Museum in Acton. It reminded me of Noodle, Noggin & Bean, which I had been to over a year ago. Lots of the same ideas, but all sorts of fun themed rooms tucked into the small spaces of an old house.

That's Lincoln at the top of this giant Marble Maze, only it was pool balls. I could build something like that in our house, right??
Taylor watching Lincoln in horror, like always.

Then of course, the Ecotarium has become an at least once weekly venture. I'm glad I got to go! Here was feeding time for this crazy lizard (that is me and Lincoln in front):
Fun with pendulums & magnets:
Taylor, distracted
Air!!
Mike and I actually got to a Bruins game. Wahoo!! An actual DATE!

Also had a playdate with one of our favorite little boys...

AND Lincoln started up with ice skating lessons! This first picture is a GREAT indication of how the first class went:
Yes, that is him airborne.
Class one was learning how to get up from ice to standing. What an important skill to learn (apparently!). 3 lessons later, he is actually starting to glide on the ice. He's come a long way, it is so great!

And finally, we found him like this about an hour after bedtime. Often when Lincoln sneaks down the stairs at night, he comes and finds us immediately, because the goal is just to be with us (awwww). This time he was incredibly sneaky (we were just around the corner watching TV, then heard snoring). Just too cute and funny!! Of course, as always, he has his blankie with him. He loves that thing.

All for now!! We've been busy!

A busy time

2010-01-31T16:39:00.002-05:00

It has been a super busy time in the Stacy household! You'd think that with Mike being out of work for the winter and with me not teaching right now that we'd have a lot of free time, but somehow my work duties have increased 3-fold and I feel like I barely see my kids. I took the first week of January off so that I could spend some time with everyone, which was the best thing I could have done. For the past several years, at the end of my fiscal year, I realize I have weeks worth of vacation I have to burn because I didn't ever use it, and then I have to use it or lose it. And since that happens at the end of August, Mike is in full swing at the golf course and I take time, and can't even see my husband.

So, with no plans to go away, I took enough vacation days combined with holidays to have almost two full weeks off. It was great! I got to celebrate Christmas and New Years without even thinking about work.

I'm now back to work, but that week healed me a bit. Pictures from our escapades to follow.

Yes she can!!

2010-01-12T11:22:00.001-05:00

Taylor is great at copying her brother. Case in point: jumping on the trampoline! Caught it on video so you wouldn't all tell me I was crazy.

If the video isn't loading for you, here is the direct link:
http://s863.photobucket.com/albums/ab193/ktnmunchkin/?action=view¤t=1710011.flv

Enjoy!

Went to Picture People today

2010-01-07T03:35:00.005-05:00

Gosh, I have said it before and will say it again. I LOVE Picture People!! Even when both kids are acting like a disaster, as they most certainly were today, they manage to snap some amazingly good pictures that are full of personality, and are beautiful because of your CHILDREN, not backgrounds or special filters or even props. I like that.

So, sorry Facebook friends, you've likely seen these already, so forgive the duplication, my blog just feeds up to Facebook Notes, so you'll just have to look again. ;)

MERRY SHMISH-SHMISH!!

2009-12-29T09:46:00.007-05:00

I can't get Lincoln to say "Merry Christmas" any other way. No way I am correcting it either, it is too darn cute.

Well, the Christmas season has been a busy one as always in our household. Since Thanksgiving, Mike has been at the tree stand every single day selling trees, but for the most part has been able to be home each night for dinner or at least bed time for the kids. About 2 weeks ago, my camera flat out died. Even with fresh batteries it just would NOT turn on. It made me angry more than anything, that camera has been nothing but a problem since we got it. Who makes a digital camera without rechargeable batteries anyway?? AND it would eat through 2 regular AA's after maybe 20 pictures. DUMB. Anyway, long story short, it turns out my parents had gotten us a new digital camera for Christmas, and they gave it to us a week early so that we could capture all the Christmas prep, Christmas morning, and all that. They rule!!

So, here's a few recent ones. I'll be back with Christmas Day pics in a bit.

Lincoln's "Gingerbread House" made at Donna's house (grahm crackers, frosting, and candy)

Our Shmish-shmish tree

Still my favorite ornament: one my aunt Marie made for us a few years ago. Those are milkweed seeds:
The pellet stove all fired up, and Christmas lights glowing outside. Ahhhh.

The boys, all geared up for hockey on the pond. One of the family gifts this year was a full-size regulation NHL hockey goal. So far, it has just been Mike and Lincoln going out on the pond, because I want to keep the baby inside. I'll get out there at some point.

Our front door.
We got hit with a snowstorm last week that was going to bring between 2 and 20" (we got 6"). At the height of it all, it really LOOKED like a blizzard, dark skies and sideways falling snow. The works! So of course, GREAT time to go play outside.

Taylor is getting so big. We just transitioned her over to her 12 month size clothes (she'll be 9 months old on January 1st). This is also the last hurrah for her infant bucket carseat. We couldn't even fit her with her coat on in it anymore. Awwww.

And finally, my little teether. She is CONSTANTLY chewing on things. She has 4 teeth fully in, and at a naptime inspection yeasterday, 2 more are poking through. Poor thing!!

This, however, is the result. Her beautiful, brand-new crib. She, ummmm, chewed it. A little bit.

Sleeping Soundly

2009-12-02T04:39:00.001-05:00

ONE night of Cry-it-Out, ONE... and now she sleeps through the night. I never would have thought this was possible after almost 8 months of hell at nighttime. Now if I can get myself to stop waking up at 3 am now that she is NOT crying for me...

Illness

2009-11-17T14:09:00.003-05:00

The level of illness in our house of late is out of control. First it was Lincoln, then me, now Taylor. With Lincoln, it presented as a gurgly cough and copious vomiting. With me, it felt like the flu and a really bad ear ache, and I spent 2 1/2 days in bed. Link and I both have this cough that will not go away. Sunday night, Taylor started vomiting, and to this point has had nothing but a super runny nose. Well, that turned south, and as of our doctor visit last night she had 2 ear infections and two EYE infections (just oozing yellow goop all the time). On top of that, we think she is teething like mad. The poor thing is in constant pain. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Sitting and Standing!

2009-11-12T11:29:00.006-05:00

She sits!

Awwwww, love!

OK, TOO MUCH LOVE!!

Taylor can now consistently crawl, belly off of the floor, and can go from all 4's to sitting up no problem. She is also frustrated as hell that she can't walk yet. If I try to hold her like a baby, she gets pissed off. If I try to just put her on the floor, and she crawls over to my legs and tries to climb up them, whining the whole way.

She just wants to stand up, that's all! So, we practice. (excuse my less than glam ensemble and appearance, I've been home sick the last couple days). Can you tell from the tiny feet who the photographer was here?

Halloween!

2009-11-12T09:37:00.003-05:00

The morning of Halloween, Mike had to work, but I was able to go visit with my parents, and my sister Becky and her fiance Travers. I dressed the kids up in their costumes for later that night, and they got to just hang out in them and play for a while. They also treated us to pizza, and gave Lincoln a nice big bucket of goodies! Taylor, of course, isn't allowed candy QUITE yet, so they got her a special new teething toy. So sweet.

Halloween night, we took the kiddos out trick or treating. The town hours were from 4-8, which is not only a long time, but quite early compared to other years. It was still quite light out when we were going door to door, and even though it was after 5 at that point, people were still scrambling to open bags of candy for us and made comments under their breath about how early we were. Whatevs, get with the program people!! Afterwards, we had a good little group of people come over just to hang out at our house. We ordered out some take-out, and I baked an apple pie!

The kids were being butts and wouldn't sleep, so our little gathering concluded around 9:30. It was a fun day.

Catch-up time: Taylor

2009-11-02T19:16:00.004-05:00

It's been a while! So much happens in the life of a second child that goes practically un-noticed, I feel bad. First of all, she is DONE with the helmet. HOORAY!! That couldn't come soon enough. She's been sleeping terribly since it came off, but that could be unrelated. We moved her up to her own room finally, at 6 months old. We're still trying to figure out what makes her comfortable up there.

She also now has her two front lower teeth. They are sharp as heck, and are coming in slooooowwwwwwwwwwwly. I think that is why she struggled with them so much. A full month after they cut through, they are maybe halfway up. She's now become a grump again with all the same teething symptoms, so we think there are more on the way. Of course, we thought she was teething from birth, so who knows.

She can also now "crawl." It is more army-crawling than anything, but she is incredibly fast when she wants to get at something. Case in point:

She's also sitting more solidly on her own, and I saw her go from crawling to sitting up all by herself, twice! That is a big development. Anyway, we've moved from the bouncy seat to the high chair for feedings (3 meals a day, thank you very much), and she now takes baths in the bath seat. She isn't 100% steady in either, but we just sit her on a towel in both cases and she is fine. Here's a recent meal. She LOVES those poof things, and grabs at them with enthusiasm.

The Circus

2009-10-16T17:42:00.006-05:00

First off, thank you everyone for your support with both the kids being sick. We may not ever know what Taylor's rash was about, but it is finally gone and her fever is too. Link's cough is hanging on like it always tends to. Maybe he has asthma. We'll have to keep an eye on that.

Kind of on a whim, Lincoln and I decided to go to the Circus on Monday afternoon. It was the very last show in the Barnum & Bailey stint here in Worcester, and the very first opportunity for any of us to break away; the rampant illness in our house as well as our insane work schedules made it simply impossible. Mike got out of work early afternoon, and came home to watch Taylor so Link and I could go, just the two of us. It has been a while since we've been able to do that. Mike missed out on Link's first Circus experience, but maybe he can take Taylor to hers!

It was a ton of fun. At 2pm they had a "pre-show" where everyone was allowed to come down to the arena floor and interact with performers for an hour preceding the main show. There were clowns, jugglers, a guy on stilts, clothes you could try on, the works. It was a lot of fun! Then we watched the 1st segment from our seats, which began at 3. The place was maybe 40% full? Not a huge crowd at all. All along I had been talking up the tigers because that has been an obsession with him lately, and he wanted to bring his t-rex toy to protect him, because he was afraid they would bite him! Awwww. Well, intermission came at 4, and he kept laying his head down on my lap and writhing around, so I said he could sit in my lap and rest his head for a bit. It took maybe 30 seconds and the boy was out COLD. Nothing I did could wake him. In fact, directly after the intermission was the tiger show, and I sat him up in my lap, head rolling everywhere, me rubbing his chest, tickling his sides, and shouting into his ear "LINCOLN! LINCOLN!!! THE TIGERS ARE OUT!! LOOK!" The music was BLARING, yet nothing I did could wake him. Finally I said "Open your eyes, do you see the tigers?!" and he opened his eyes for a second, nodded, and closed his eyes and passed out again. Sheesh. So, he missed the best parts of the show, but we still had a lot of fun. It was nice to just spend some time with just him and I.

Here are some pictures:

This is how close we got to the jugglers on the floor. They just had these inflatable ring surrounds that they could pop up or roll up super fast, it was cool.

Impending tiredness!

Stilts dude, he kept stepping around people, walking with them between his legs, it was funny.

Our seats! A great view. But you can see how empty it was.... and where one ticket level ended and the way more expensive ones began

The people in the VIP section actually got to go down there durring this segment and ride around in these giant motorcycles

Intermission

Elephant tricks

Oh, and here was the crazy motorcycle act... 7 freaking motorcycles in there!

House of SICK

2009-10-13T21:47:00.005-05:00

What a crazy few days it has been. Thursday night, the kids were acting horribly sick. Lincoln could only sleep upright, but woke every 20-30 minutes wailing crying, and started throwing up. Taylor was moody and had a high fever.

We took them in to the doc Friday. Link had a double ear infection, Taylor had a single ear infection. Both were prescribed ammoxicillin. They finally slept a lot, and it seemed to be working.

Lincoln slowly improved as far as sleeping, but continued to throw up through Sunday. Taylor improved a bit, but was still incredibly moody, and developed a rash all over her body Saturday night. Sunday, we took her in to urgent care, and they declared it was an allergic reaction to the ammox. She was put on azithromiacin, and she improved over Monday. By Monday PM, her rash was starting to return. Tuesday morning her fever was gone, but she still had the rash in her cheeks. When I picked her up at daycare, the rash was much, much worse.

BAAAAAAAAAAACK we went to urgent care, tonight. The doc was a bit perplexed by the fact that the rash seemed like something viral, but she had an accompanying fever, which indicated infection. Her ears looked 100% better, so the 102.5 fever she had in the office was a surprise. She was sent for a urine test (had to be cathed), and a blood test (wailed as you might imagine), but the blood test came back normal.

We're in a wait and see kind of mode right now. A fever that goes on for 7 days without explanation is worrysome, and might indicate something more serious, = more tests.

Any ideas??

General updates all around

2009-10-06T07:43:00.005-05:00

Lincoln had his 3 year doctor checkup. He is 35 lbs and 38" tall. Finally gaining some weight!! God knows how, he eats less than ever. He got the flu shot and had a blood draw, and was incredibly brave. He whined a little bit, but didn't even cry. What a big boy.

Taylor had her 6 month doctor checkup. She is 16 lb 2 oz, and 28" long. Growth chart wise, that is over 95th percentile for length, and 25th-50th% for weight. Just like Lincoln, long and lean!! There are worse things to be I guess. She has also cut 2 teeth over the past 5 days, and I think there may be more on the way. Egads.

Mike and I had our 6 year wedding anniversary this weekend. He got me a lovely card and I made us an "Anniversary Apple Pie," which I have decided should be tradition, since we had apple pie at our wedding.

Last night, the in-laws watched the kids so we could actually go out on a date. We went to a movie (Extract; good, not great), then out for a few Tapas and drinks at Bocado. Yum. We came home to find that the IL's had decorated the front of our house with some extras from the farm stand, and told us that their gift was that they would help us to gut our chicken coop. Since Mike and I are actually AFRAID to go in that thing, this is such a lovely gesture. The house this morning:

Yesterday, we also took Taylor in for what we hoped would be a final checkup at the orthopedist for he helmet. It is the first time he has seen her in 4 weeks, and we think her head looks SOOOO much better, so we were hoping for some good news.

Mike cracks me up. He said "Look, Taylor can write now!"

Well, it was a mixed bag. He said the measurements are still saying she is off (5 mm off, so she has improved 50% in the flat spot in the back, and her forehead bulge is almost gone), but her head LOOKS markedly better than what the measurements say. And he said that. He said he was actually surprised that she was still so "off" because she had a marked growth spurt in head circumference over the last month. We made an appointment for 2 weeks from now for a final scan and check of her head. Though he did say we could go either way. She is VERY close to outgrowing her helmet, so he thinks a BIT of extra time could be really beneficial. Mike and I decided, seperate from this appointment, that we are going to begin some structured sleep training with her, and part of that will be getting her to learn how to sleep again WITHOUT the helmet. So, she'll be wearing it during the day where we can closely monitor her head, and out of it at night. It was a long adjustment getting her used to sleeping WITH it, now we have to re-train her to do the opposite. So far so good, she seems happier without it, and is sleeping better. The first night she was out of it she slept through the night for the first time since she got the darn thing.

After the appointment, we went to the playground, and got hot dogs for lunch from the regular roach coach that hangs out there. Link ran everywhere. I swore that kid was going to fall in the pond, but never did.

Mike's golf season is winding down, and with that he'll be home more and more. This comes at a good time, as my fall is about to get insane. It seems like I have events all the time right now, plus I am starting back up at teaching my Bay Path class this weekend, so I will be out of the house a lot. Sadly, I've got to take those opportunities for more work when I can, winter is when finances get tight. We all do what we have to I guess.

I really love Picture People!!

2009-09-28T13:56:00.003-05:00

I don't know why I haven't gone there before, but I really like their work; all I really want is a plain white background, and if the photographer can really work with the kids, then the results are great. Lincoln is finally at an age where he can cooperate, and Taylor is just all smiles anyway. I was overdue for Lincoln's 3rd birthday pictures, and haven't had ANY taken of Taylor (who turns 6 months this week) so the timing was good. Here are the results! I got suckered into a package and a membership, but it will most definitely be worth it, since I plan on returning several times in the coming year. Yay!

Speaking of Taylor and the mirror...

2009-09-22T05:36:00.001-05:00

Taylor LOVES the mirror

2009-09-19T13:32:00.002-05:00

She LOOOOOOOOVES it when I whistle. I love the look on her face here:

Spencer Fair

2009-09-19T13:12:00.005-05:00

Two weekends ago, we made it out to the Spencer Fair. This was the first time we've attempted to bring Lincoln to a fair that had rides, so we knew it was an experiment. He really has never been on a ride of any kind, outside of the carousel at the mall.

The long and short of it is that he LOVED it. We went on the final day, at the end of the day, so we knew that a lot of the exhibits would be packing up, but there was still an overwhelming amount of things to see.

He went on a car ride, then a motorcycle ride (both with the same Spiderman kid, ha!).

We saw a man who did some amazing bubble tricks (he made smoke filled bubbles then somehow popped the tops off of them so they spewed smoke like a volcano), saw some acrobats, some animals, and a demolition derby.

We also splurged and Lincoln and I went on an elephant ride (!!!!) while Mike and Taylor watched and took pictures.

On the way out, the two boys went on a giant slide:

... and Link rode the carousel. Ironically, the carousel was the scariest for him, because they wouldn't let parents ride along without tickets (we had just enough left for him to go), and he was slipping off and was holding on for dear life.

We also saw some Peruvian musicians, and Lincoln LOVED the music. He was such a freak, but he got a bunch of other kids dancing too:

Family Finances

2009-09-15T10:04:00.002-05:00

Well, one big thing happened: today we officially paid off the pellet stove that we bought last winter. Woo hoo!! This was a really big decision and purchase for us, and if we paid it off under 12 months, the entire loan was 0% interest. I broke the cost of it up into 10 payments (giving us some wiggle room in case we had a bad month), but I was able to budget around it enough that it is paid off in full in exactly 10 months. I'm so thrilled to not have to pay for that sucker anymore. It is such a magical feeling to feel a multi-thousand dollar loan go completely bye bye.

Also, I was shocked, amazed, and thrilled to get a bonus check of 1 week's pay from my job. It was completely unexpected and MUCH needed. It is going straight towards pellets for the winter, so we're finally really in the black on that investment. Hooray!!

Yesterday, both Lincoln and I went to the dentist. We don't have dental insurance, but both of us HAD to go. First, my appointment was to replace a filling that had expired. With Novocaine, 2 people working on me, and a good chunk of time spent in the chair, I was actually pleasantly surprised when the bill was only $145.

I was feeling not so hot afterward, so Mike took Lincoln to his appointment. This was his first visit to a dentist, and he really did have to go because he was already getting build-up on his lower front teeth, no matter how much we tried to get in there to clean. It was at a pediatric dentistry place the next town over, with Dr. Tony Saito. I had heard rave reviews and was really curious about it, but I knew he was in good hands with his dad.

Lincoln still cries when we brush his teeth, so I was half expecting a horror show, but Mike was THRILLED with the treatment there. They had a lot of flashy & fun stuff for the kids (tons of toys, books, a kid-sized doorway, themed rooms; Lincoln got in the fish room, M said it was like being inside an aquarium). However, the important point was that the STAFF truly matched the flashiness of the kid-stuff. For comparison's sake, we hate Snip-Its because it is overpriced and the staff has been just horrible in the 3 times we've gone; tons of flash, but terrible service. Here, the entire staff was really geared towards children. They talked him through everything they were going to do, and he actually sat there happily while they scraped his teeth!!! :O Unbelievable. If you ever saw the epic fits he pitches with just a toothbrush, you'd be amazed too. All was great until the bill.... $150 for just a cleaning. Gulp.

A long story to say that we were floored by the fact that his cleaning cost more than my filling, BUT we would GLADLY go there again, even if it has to be out of pocket, because the care was so wonderful, and he is STILL talking about how he LOVED THE DENTIST!!! This just means that with 3 of us now needing dental care, it really will be worth it to pony up and get the insurance. We were hoping to put it off until Taylor needed it too, but financially I think we'll have to do it sooner. We'll make it work somehow... just as we did with the pellet stove!

Two Thursday Randoms

2009-09-10T05:59:00.003-05:00

Taylor got a new Jumperoo... my first Craigslist purchase!

Mid sneeze, hahaha

Lincolnisms, part 2

2009-09-02T13:08:00.002-05:00

Oh, I remembered what cracked me up yesterday.

On the ride home from daycare I am always asking about his day, what he did, who he played with, etc. Yesterday on the ride home he goes "So." (pause) "What was YOURS day like?" ;D And I tell him in detail and he asks all these great follow up questions.
K: I had to clean my office all day.
L: Where?
K: At the museum.
L: Why did you do that?
K: (long description)
L: OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I see. (pause) Was it fun?

HA!!

In the morning, several times now, I am staring around bleary eyed, half awake, and he goes "Mummy, how was YOURS nap?" I'm always asking him how he slept, now he is following suit.

Recent Lincolnisms

2009-09-02T11:55:00.003-05:00

Lincoln has been trying to understand what punishments follow what lately. It is kind of funny (but a good thing, he is really testing what happens consistently here for certain behaviors). He is ALWAYS suggesting punishments for himself! :D

K: Lincoln, no getting out of bed.
L: Or else you'll close the door?
K: Yes baby.
L: Noooo! I don't WANT you to close the doooooor!
K: Then no getting out of bed.
L: (all dejected) OK mommy.

We've been reading a book called "No, David!" where the kid, David, is just getting yelled at by his mom allllll throughout the book and at the end his mommy tells him that she loves him. He wants to read it EVERY. NIGHT. But, again, he completes the mom's threats and tries to understand what David is doing wrong, it captivates him:

K: "David, NO!"
L: Or else you'll get a TIME OUT!
K: That's right! "David, be quiet!"
L: Or else you'll wake the baby! (gee you think he hears that a lot??)
K: "Davey, come here. That's right David, I love you!"
L: [super cheezy grin, and he snuggles up all close to me]

I'm also loving how he is trying to master the English language. He says things such as:

"Mummy, look at what I got to you!" (he never says "for" only "to")
"I'm gonna bring my ball, in case I could play with it."
"Mummy, I want to carry her!" (In regards to Taylor, meaning, he wants to hold her. This is a recent thing, it never occurred to him before this week that he might be allowed to do that).

I gotta think of some more, he's had me in stitches lately.

I'm a new blog contributor!!

2009-09-01T07:52:00.001-05:00

Did anyone see the first year of "Envisage"? This is a blog where a bunch of women contributed one photo a day for a whole year. Well, I saw a call for contributors, and I signed up to be a part of year 2 of the project!! There is a wide range of women, from professional photogs to a couple pre-teen girls. It is really a neat idea. Thought it would be a fun challenge, and I would love to have a record of 365 pictures from a year.

I haven't really thought of a theme or anything, but photo taking/submission starts TODAY! ACK!! I am thinking a photo of both kids on day one and a photo on day 365 could be cool. I thought about taking a pic of myself at the same time every day for a year, but that got me antsy. (Any ideas welcome). So if you want to follow me and the pictures I take or see what other women are doing, here is the link:

http://www.envisage2009.blogspot.com/

(My little bio thing is way the hell down the bottom, but each photo I submit would be labeled with "Katrina" so you can click on that at the bottom, too, and just see mine).
Interestingly Link was playing with my camera last night and suddenly I couldn't get it working. GREAT TIMING!! Luckily it is back working today. Sometimes she's fickle and needs a rest.

More Taylor... and a jealous Brother

2009-08-26T11:59:00.005-05:00

Baby photoshoot!!

OK, Lincoln got jealous, had to take pictures with him too, oh kaaaaaaaaaay:

Then he shoves her over, the little bugger!!

This was followed by "Tay-WUUUUUUUUUUUUR!! Mama, she knocked over my building!!" and I said "umm yeah, because you SHOVED her INTO IT!!" and he just sort of smiled and goes "oh yeah." Grrrrrrrrr

Oh, and he has started calling me Mama again, which melts my heart!! My goal: have Taylor say MY name first this time. Lots of secret coaching sessions going on, don't tell Mike.

Sadness, and a fresh start

2009-08-21T15:16:00.004-05:00

With great sadness, yesterday we had to say goodbye to our doggie Putter. Putter has been our family's pet for the last 5 1/2 years; we've had her since she was a wee puppy. It was the first creature that Mike and I had mutual responsibility for... our first "tester child" I guess. Coming from a dog-loving family, I always knew we'd get a dog as soon as we were able to, and she's been my baby ever since.

She's been here through the birth and growth of our two children, and has been best buds with Lincoln since the day she realized she could snuggle with him.

Sadly, over the past few months, Putter has been acting out like mad. Destroying things in the house, peeing in the baby's room at every opportunity, stealing food or tissues or dirty clothes or dirty diapers and eating them or ripping them up everywhere, barking uncontrollably... the list goes on. What's worse is that she needs immediate attention the second I walk in the door at the end of the day, and to have one dog who needs to be leash walked (or she runs away) on top of a toddler who begs for food from the second we pull in the driveway, to a baby who needs a bottle and a nap at that exact same moment... she was a lot of maintenance when I can barely maintain the needs of my children.

A few weeks ago, we dogsat my parent's dog, Fred, and we decided with our chaotic schedules that we should keep both dogs together at their house so that all animal care could be taken care of at the same time. I know at first the idea of having to care for two dogs at two houses is NOT that big a deal, but with having to travel to one, juggle work schedules, a toddler taking a class at the museum, and an infant, it was an insanely busy week. I even decided to use my vacation time that week so that we could handle it all, and even then we were so busy. All that to say that when I came home at the end of these mad days with both kids, and Putter wasn't there, I found myself breathing a little easier. At the end of those few days without her at home, the stress in our household went down by a measurable amount.

I had that thought in the back of my mind when the first day back home from staying at my parent's house, Putter bit Lincoln on the face. He was vigorously giving her a hug, as he has many, many times, and she yelped and latched on to him directly over the bridge of his nose. It left welts on either side, and broke the skin just next to his eye. I was horrified, and Mike and I had the first conversation about the fact that perhaps Putter needed to go live somewhere else.

A couple days later, she bit him again. As she has been relentlessly lately, she went after his food, while he was sitting at the dinner table eating it!! He shoved her away and said "NO PUTTER!" and she bit him hard, right on the hand.

It was the final straw. We realized that for the sake of our family's safety, and for Putter's happiness, she needed to go to a new home.

To our luck, a friend of a friend's mother was on the lookout for a dog for her and her 13 year old daughter. She had just lost her husband to cancer in December, and before he died, they talked about finally getting her that dog they always wanted, but their world was in such turmoil that they put it off. Now, several months later, they decided that they were ready, just as we were realizing that Putter needed much more attention than we have the ability to give.

They came to visit, and of course, loved her. Last night they came to pick up my puppy. I started to cry really hard as they were backing out of the driveway, and the car suddenly stopped. The girl hopped out and ran over to me and said "I just wanted to give you a hug." She did, and thanked me. It made me realize that as much as it pained me to give her away, she truly was going to a good home.

We'll miss you pup!

Here's a classic video:

Why not... more Taylor :)

2009-08-19T09:54:00.003-05:00

BAM!! The cuteness.

2009-08-18T09:46:00.000-05:00

Taylor's first week in the helmet

2009-08-18T09:37:00.003-05:00

So far, she is taking to it OK. The first day was horrible, but now I am not really even sure she notices it.

One issue she is having is the SWEAT. It gets hot in that thing, particularly if she isn't in A/C. The guy told us that would happen, for probably about the first 2 weeks (she'd sweat heavily inside the helmet) then it would taper off. Because of that he said we might have an issue with the helmet smelling (gross!! It is true, she starts smelling like a dirty gym shoe) but we just need to keep up with the washing maintenance of it, and it should be OK.

The first week was building up the hours she is in it:
Day 1: 1 hr, 3x, with at least a 1 hour break in between each
Day 2: 2 hrs, 3x, with at least a 1 hour break in between each
Day 3: 4 hrs, 3x, with at least a 1 hour break in between each
Day 4: 6 hrs, 2x, with at least a 1 hour break in between each
Day 5: 6-8 hrs, 2x, with at least a 1 hour break in between each
Day 6: 8 hrs, 1x, and overnight
Day 7: Begin 23 hr schedule

From then on, she gets an hour off a day for cleaning her, and cleaning the helmet. It is HARD (picture 1" thick Styrofoam), so I think the hardest part is getting her comfortable enough in it to sleep with it on. They estimated she'd be in it for 3 months, but that all depends on when she hits a growth spurt, could be less, could be more.

We hit day 7 on Sunday, and suddenly she was starting to get these really raw looking red spots on her chubby lil cheeks and her forehead.

I really didn't like the looks of it, so we had the helmet off for the bulk of the day, then put it on her overnight. The next morning was her appointment with the orthopedist, and he was able to see these spots and make adjustments to the helmet as needed. Unfortunately, keeping the cheeks in there fairly snug is what helps to hold the helmet in place as she grows. When she starts filling it out more and more, the cheek tabs become less necessary. Nevertheless, he shaved them down and bent them out a bit because she certainly shouldn't be getting hurt from it. Same went with the forehead. It was getting rubbed exactly where her skull protrudes in the front, so it made sense, but it still shouldn't be injuring her.

We had to start a rapid-increase schedule of re-wearing the helmet this week to try to get her back up to the 23 hours, but the more important thing is to make sure the raw spots heal.

God, I became settled with the idea of putting her in this thing, but if it is actually hurting her, then, well, I am not OK with that. Please keep us in your thoughts that she heals up fast!

Lincoln's class at the Worcester Art Museum

2009-08-11T10:59:00.002-05:00

Last week, Lincoln and I took our first ever "Parent/Child" class at the Worcester Art Museum! It seemed like such a long wait until he was old enough; I can't believe it is already here. Here's some of the results:

Taylor got her Helmet

2009-08-11T10:55:00.003-05:00

It will be a slow break-in period over the next week, but so far so good. She isn't THRILLED to be in it, but I feel like she could be reacting much worse. So far she hasn't had to sleep in it yet, but that comes on day 7. Wish us luck.

Lincoln Turns 3!

2009-08-11T10:48:00.004-05:00

My baby boy is 3! The night before, we'd had a lovely dinner with my in-laws, SIL, and cousin Stephanie. We had some delicious burgers and dogs and all the fixins.

On the day of his actual birthday, we had a low key morning at home, opening gifts, and eating cupcakes. That afternoon was also the annual employee party at Mike's golf course, so we spent a couple hours in the sun at the pool, and M took Link around the course on a golf cart ride (forgot the camera, DUH). Topped off the evening with McDonalds! He had a great day.

A couple cute Taylor pictures

2009-08-04T02:15:00.003-05:00

Quick Update

2009-08-04T02:02:00.002-05:00

(Written with clickable thumbnail images, let me know if you'd prefer the bigger versions instead).

We've had an INSANE weekend, and we're about to have an insane week. In addition to Mike's crazy work schedule for the next week, Link and I are in class and Taylor can't come, so I've had to figure out what to do with her all 5 days (mornings), plus we are dog/house sitting for my parents again this coming week (weds to weds) so I will have to be at there house at least 2x a day for that too, including as many overnights as we can manage. It may be that one of us takes 1 kid, and the other stays at home.

Saturday night, Link had a sleepover at Nana & Papa's house, and Mike & I took Taylor & my parents to a pro soccer game (The New England Revolution. Mike is friends with their, like, star player, and he got us some decent club seats on the spur of the moment).

Then the next day I went with my folks to a local state park for some beachy play time, and a picnic lunch:

Yesterday Link and I started our art class at the museum where I work, since he turns 3 next week and that finally makes him old enough to take the parent/child class. I've gotta say though, 2 hours is a long time to keep a 3 year old boy focused!! I'll try to remember my camera tomorrow.

He got burned as heck at daycare last week >:( (Back only, the rest of him was COATED in sunscreen, then I guess during splash time outside he took his shirt off and she forgot he didn't have any on his back. Yeah, this is what happens to whitey after an hour in the sun:

The best toy we've found for Taylor is Lincoln, it doesn't matter what toy we dangle in front of her, she's always staring him down:

She went in for her official head scan yesterday, was NOT a happy camper about it (SWEET!! Turns out she FREAKS if there is something tightly fitting on her head >:( ). Helmet will be here next Monday.

Gave Link the digi camera again. ;D I've gotta get that kid one for his own!

...and, as I mentioned quickly in my last post, I think we can officially say that Link is potty trained now :) I've been a little chicken to bring him out without pullups, but finally ditched them for good this weekend, and no problem (incl. at night). He's now into "peeing like daddy" (standing up). Next goal: actually making the pee go into the toilet ;D It is definitely a new thing to have to drop everything while out and find a toilet, so we're adjusting to that, but it is a good thing to have to adjust to.

Lincoln is officially potty trained!

2009-08-02T16:10:00.002-05:00

I can't remember the last time he had an accident. I'm so proud!

His new joy: peeing outside. I've now got to break him of pulling down his pants whenever he feels like it outside. But, hey, at least it isn't the living room rug!

Taylor's Skull, part 3

2009-07-29T13:23:00.002-05:00

We had our consultation with the Pediatric Neurosurgeon last Friday. He thinks her head is "on the severe side of moderate," as far as the flatness goes and wrote us a script for a helmet. :( Still not sure what we're going to do, whether insurance will cover it, etc, etc. He also said if we've already been doing positional therapy (we have, for close to 2 months), then that alone won't correct it. I asked him the ever important question "if this were your child, would you do the helmet," and after a lot of hemming and hawing, he said he'd probably do the helmet. He wrote us a prescription and gave us a list of places we could go to get one fitted.

It turned out there is a branch of a company called Hanger Prosthetics & Orthodics right down the street from where I work, so that was excellent. We called to make an appointment, and they were able to take us on Tuesday. On my lunch break, I went and got Taylor from daycare, then brought her back to Hanger to meet the CPO. He took some basic measurements, and also agreed that she's on the borderline of either needing it or not. However, he DID say we could absolutely wait a few months. The drawbacks to that are that if the condition gets worse then she would definitely need one, and depending when she has a growth spurt, might have to wear it for longer.

It also looks like insurance may cover it all. In theory, if they aren't complete jerks. There would be a deductible we'd have to max out first ($1500) then they'd pay for what is needed thereafter, up to $1500, and the estimate for the helmet was +/- $2500... so fingers crossed on that one! We go back Monday for an official scan of her head. The helmet would then be here within a week (no later, he said he is a stickler for that because their heads grow so fast and he wants it to get to work based on the official measurements right away). The official "scan" is literally done with lasers, I’ll explain it later, but it looks really cool! I've attached a photo of what the helmet will look like. They come in all sorts of funky designs. The one example he showed me had butterflies :)

After a lot of discussion, we’re thinking we should do it.

... and some video footage!

2009-07-23T09:08:00.001-05:00

A hungry yet happy Taylor :)

And Lincoln playing "kick." And wearing a duck hat.

Taylor is so cute & other updates

2009-07-23T08:58:00.004-05:00

Look at that lil baby... she can hold her head up pretty well now.

Being on her stomach is still a work in progress, since she tends to hate it, but certain things are... hmmm, how do I say this. MOTIVATION. The kid is SOOOOO mouthy; kinda like Lincoln was, always wanted something in his mouth. When she isn't actively gnawing on something, then she is THINKING about gnawing on something. Case in point:

Also, I haven't posted about this much, but Lincoln is in the midst of potty training, and is doing great. It has taken a couple weeks for it to fully sink in for him, but with a lot of encouragement, he is doing great. The last few nights he has woken up completely dry, and has come downstairs to use the potty in the morning. Yesterday, he actually came down while we were all completely asleep, grabbed his little training potty, brought it to just outside our bedroom door, actually got his pjs and pullups down (he's never done that by himself in my experience), and peed in the potty (*gasp!*). Then, at daycare, he did the same, only for a poop, all by himself. I am so proud, not having 2 in diapers is going to be awesome.

Davis Farmland

2009-07-21T08:39:00.005-05:00

I love this place. Not only do they have really wonderful, well-cared for animals, but they have a splash park too... AWESOME! We went with a couple friends a few weeks ago, after several weeks of continuous rain. It was nice to see some sun and to feel warm outside.

Taylor's Skull, part deux

2009-07-08T13:04:00.003-05:00

OK, so Taylor was referred to the pediatric neurosurgeon, as you know. We were told don't call us, we'll call you r.e. the appointment. This was on June 2.

One week later, on June 9, I call my doc's office, because we hadn't heard from anyone. They said the approval still hadn't gone through with the insurance, keep waiting. OK.

June 12th I got a letter at the end of the day from my insurance, saying that services had been approved. They listed the doc and said we were approved for 6 visits over the next 12 months, if necessary. OK, great. Approved. Just needed to hear from the doctor's office to be scheduled.

We leave on vacation. Mike is home back and forth the whole 2 weeks, no phone call.

Finally yesterday I thought, to heck with this, it has been almost a month since the referral request went in, let's call the doctor's office directly to see if we can just schedule an appointment. Before I did, Mike comes in with the mail.

There was a letter. From the doctor's office. Saying we'd missed our appointment. It was scheduled for the morning of June 12th apparently; the same day that I got the letter at the END of the day from our insurance saying we'd been approved. We'd just been approved the DAY BEFORE the appointment was scheduled, and most importantly NO ONE CALLED US!

So Mike called the doc's office directly; scheduling this type of referral appointment is just handled by our pedi's office, oddly, and we were told to call them to complain. In the meantime, we tried to reschedule. OF COURSE now this dude is on vacation, and the earliest they could fit us in is July 24th. Yup, almost 2 full months after the referral. Isn't that, hmmm, a long time when it comes to baby skull development??

So Mike called the pedi's office and demanded to talk to the scheduling person. He got some woman who said "yeah, that was me" and she admitted she has no record of ever calling us. So this nincompoop in my pediatrician's office royally messed up and never even said sorry. I'm just so pissed at them right now. Nothing we can do about it, either.

I've also posted a picture of how Taylor's skull looks at the moment (click to enlarge). Having a flat skull doesn't bother me, it is the fact that it is starting to mess with her facial features a bit... the cheek on the right hand side (the one that is flatter) is bigger, the forehead protrudes, and her smile is crooked to that side. She's always had a problem with eating, and that continues, so I wonder if it really is affecting her jaw. My main concern is that we remedy this before anything becomes worse, or permanent. The PT we are doing at home doesn't seem to be doing anything to help.

Regardless, she is an INCREDIBLY happy and personable baby. I just love her to death. She's holding up her head now, and much prefers this view of the world.

Catching Up

2009-07-05T07:12:00.002-05:00

Sorry it has been so long since my last real post... trying to remedy that while I have a sleeping baby and a semi-delirious toddler at bay in my living room. Let's work from the present on back:

4th of July
Our 4th of July holiday didn't exactly go as planned. Since I had the 3rd off from work, this meant I was going to have 4 days off in a row. I decided that it was about time to really kick potty training into high gear with Lincoln. It was almost exactly a year ago that he did his first poop in the potty. We've sporadically worked with him on it ever since, but there has always been something standing in the way; a busy weekend where we had to go out of the house, an illness, or too many big changes (i.e. adding a baby to the family) that might disrupt the flow. But he is ready. He really is. It is time.

So with the 4 days off and the semi-nice weather finally in the forecast, I thought this might be the perfect opportunity. We are finally in a flow with Taylor where I can handle the two of them (for the most part!!). We started out on Friday with the Naked Butt technique, which is exactly what it sounds like. The theory being they will (1) feel immediately when they have gone to the bathroom NOT on the potty, and (2) not feel the constraint of the diaper which basically makes him forget himself. Same with wearing little-boy underwear; he'd feel the tightness of it around him, and would immediately just GO. Yuck.

We have a sticker chart and a rewards system; once he gets 7 stickers, he gets a prize (small toy, like a hot wheels car). Accidents mean a sticker comes off. I'll just sum up the first day by saying it was excellent, then terrible, then excellent. The terrible part was that he pooped on my nursing pillow (thank goodness for slipcovers), then pooped on... THE DOG. Oh. My. GOD. I don't even know how it happened, because I HAD to give Taylor a bath... and he was waaaaaaay too quiet in his playroom. I kept calling out "you alright buddy??" and he'd yell back "yeah." But somehow he got himself AND the dog covered in poop. So gross. He also after that peed a lot while we were outside, then picked up on the potty again after nap, so we were +2 stickers on the day.

Saturday (the 4th of July) we'd been invited to my cousin's house for a cookout and fireworks. While I didn't want to disrupt PTing, I thought it might be fun. That plan was disrupted when Lincoln suddenly started sobbing, then violently puked, and passed out on the couch. I took his temp, and it was 102. He rebounded after a slept a while and got some Motrin in him, then his fever spiked back up above 103, and he threw up again. He then slept from about 6-6... he was a mess. We totally missed all things 4th related, and all 4 of us went to bed before the TV coverage of the fireworks in Boston.

All of that to say PTing has been so-so. We're now on day 3, and we're starting from the beginning again. Will keep you all posted how it goes. He seems totally back to himself again, except he isn't really eating. I'm not gonna push him too hard today.

Kids are up and at em again... more later.

Cape Cod Family Reunion 2009

2009-06-30T09:36:00.003-05:00

A few quick views from our vacation... more info to come, I promise!!

Lincoln's Instructions on How to Make a Play-Doh Snake

2009-06-05T14:20:00.000-05:00

Taylor's 2 Month Doctor Visit

2009-06-02T09:54:00.001-05:00

Mike took Taylor to her 2 month doctor visit today; I had to be in work, and he was going in late, so I thought, score, I don’t have to be a sobbing mess through her first round of shots like I was with Lincoln! I just stressed over it from my desk till he called me.

Well, first of all, she is growing just fine! She’s in the 95th for height, 50th for weight (11 lb 2 oz) and HC. Took the shots like a champ, like 30 sec of crying, then took a nap.

The bad news: the doc is concerned about her flat headedness, which I KNEW was getting worse, despite our best efforts. We are always turning her head left, but lately she cried when we do, so it seems like she was getting a stiff neck from always looking right. Every time we turned it left, she’s whip it right again, so when we were holding her we’d hold her head in place. Ug. Anyway, she referred us to a pediatric neurosurgeon, whose title alone strikes fear into my very heart. I have no idea what the visit will entail, but I guess they will call us to set it up. I’m scared for my little girl. I am sure this isn’t a surgery-needed type of thing, but all I can picture is sedation and CT scans and my little girl suffering.

Has anyone else been in my shoes?? I’d love to know what to expect from this kind of appointment, I am clueless here.

New Photos

2009-05-29T11:09:00.002-05:00

Memorial Day Parade, Mom Back to Work, and More

2009-05-28T08:51:00.008-05:00

This past Sunday was of course Memorial Day. Like last year, our town had a parade, and like last year, I took Lincoln to the home of some of Mike's family who live right on the parade route. Taylor, of course, was a new addition, and hauling two meant I couldn't walk the distance with our stroller. Mini-minivan trip #1 it was! Lincoln helped me bake some chocolate chip brownies that morning, and they were still nice and warm when we arrived.

Taylor in her special occasion dress. This was the only time she was conscious for the whole trek: in the bouncy seat while I was packing up to leave. More evidence of that later.

He was so excited. Check out the dandelion in one hand, and the mini American flag in the other.

Oblivious. The bagpipes were ear-splittingly loud, too:

It was a fun time, I was sad Mike couldn't be there. The downside to being married to a golf pro is that he absolutely HAS to work on summer holidays, since that is when people are out on the course.

Yesterday, I returned to my job. The 8 weeks I took both flew by, and dragged. It is hard to explain that. Being a stay-at-home mom to two was way harder than I thought, and to be honest, I didn't particularly like it. As much as I love my children, being away from home to focus on adult things allows me to re-charge my mommy muscles, and I feel like being at work allows me to be a better parent when I AM at home with them. I spent a lot of that time depressed and wishing things were different.

A large part of that was the horrible nursing experience I had with Taylor. Lincoln nursed like a champ; Taylor did not. No matter what I did, her latch was horrible (she actually still struggles even with a bottle), and I resented every minute of her on the breast. She got a good latch once. ONCE. I took a picture of it! Nursing always ended in me either bruised, or bleeding, or with blisters. Whenever she came off, she was always starving and more upset then when I put her on. I went through 2 rounds of mastitis, which I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, and perpetually clogged ducts. I almost exclusively pumped for my whole leave, and that was just ridiculous. I spent so much of my at-home time yelling at Lincoln to knock off whatever he was into, trying to soothe Taylor without holding her, because I was strapped to this terrible machine for 20 minutes every 2-3 hours. How can you bond with or enjoy your children like that? I couldn't! God knows they weren't enjoying me. There is so much more to parenting than just feeding. I realized if the rest of the day is miserable because of how I chose to feed her, then I was making a poor choice as a mother to continue. Therefore, Taylor is now weaned.

With Lincoln I made it to 6 months and regretted quitting when I did. With Taylor I made it to exactly 8 weeks, and regret not quitting sooner. Amazing how different both experiences were. I hope that now we'll all be able to get out of the house more and enjoy our summer together.

After that, let's end with a positive. Another random shot: sleepy time in her swing. Awwww.

Baby Acne

2009-05-28T08:41:00.003-05:00

Poor Taylor had the WORST bout of baby acne. Lincoln had this when he was an infant too, but it manifested itself in a very different way. It was lighter, and lasted for longer. With Taylor, it came on like wildfire (to the point where I thought she was strongly allergic to something), then completely was cleared up about 2 weeks later. She is still a little scaly, but it is leaps and bounds better than it was.

Here are the before and after shots (click to enlarge):

Baby Smiles!

2009-05-22T09:46:00.002-05:00

New Minivan!

2009-05-20T13:35:00.002-05:00

My lil' girl needed a safe way to travel! Mike's car was getting scary... to the point where we didn't even want to drive the kids in it anymore. So we took the plunge; not only are we parents to two children now, but we are also the proud owners of a new minivan! (a 2008 Town & Country). This thing is PIMPED OUT. We both love it!!

Mother's Day Family Photos

2009-05-09T17:54:00.001-05:00

One of my dear online friends, Mel, has an awesome yearly tradition that inspired me: take a pic with the kids every Mother's Day. I jumped to this a day early just because I had all 4 of us outside, with the camera, and it was lovely out. I look like HELL but I figured if I didn't get it done while I had us all in a good mood, and Mike to photograph us, it wouldn't get done. Here we are! I love this tradition, I wish we had started it when Link was born! Click on any picture to enlarge.

Babies Grow Fast

2009-05-06T02:19:00.003-05:00

ACK! Taylor is already getting too big for some of her 0-3 month clothes (while others are swimming on her, I don't get it). So it is my mission to photograph her in some of the super cute ones before they are rendered useless. Prepare for an onslaught of photos over the next couple weeks.

Love!

2009-05-03T10:52:00.002-05:00

Taylor is 1 month old!

2009-05-02T07:10:00.005-05:00

Can you believe it?! Where did the time go!?

We have been BLESSED (there is no other word) with a wonderful baby. She is so chill. The only times she ever cries is when she is backed up, or hungry... other than that, she sleeps or gazes around at the world in wonder, or smiles at her family. We've had several nights now where she has fallen asleep around 9:30, wakes up around 2 for a feeding, then sleeps until about 6. GLORIOUS. Keep it up, child. She sleeps through almost everything when she puts her mind to it, too.

I took her to her 4-week-doctor-visit yesterday. She's growing great.
Length: 22"
Weight: 9 lb 7 oz
HC: 14.76"

She has a couple quirks, of course. She has curved feet (google "metatarsus adductus"), a funny little bump in the middle of her forehead (my theory; third eye), and a flattening on one side of her head. I noticed that she almost always looks right, even when sleeping. And yep, her head is starting to flatten on that side. So we've got to squeeze her feet into the right position at every diaper change, and turn her head to the left whenever we can.

On a seperate note this morning Lincoln told me "Mummy, Taylor doesn't like you." This was after Link had startled her awake and she started fussing. Ha!

Last weekend, we were thrilled that my sister Becky could fly out to visit her new niece. We love Aunt Becky!! She brounght Lincoln a toy Percy which he hasn't let out of his sight since, and for Taylor, a BEAUTIFUL blanket that she knit all by herself. I'm sooooooo impressed. But most importantly, of course, was the quality time she was able to spend with both Lincoln and Taylor. More pics to come soon from her visit!

Some Recent Photos

2009-04-25T02:20:00.005-05:00

Taylor, 3 weeks old.

Taylor and Mom, 3 weeks old.

Sometimes it just seems like a good idea.

2009-04-20T15:24:00.003-05:00

Is the idea of caging wild children so wrong??

I get it now folks!! Being a mom to two is flipping HARD. Finding a way to balance the needs of both children is by far the hardest thing I have ever had to do. In my life. Ever.

I jumped a major hurdle yesterday, however... I have been out of bread for roughly 5 days, and had some photos to pick up, and some banking to do, so...... I did it MYSELF! With BOTH kids!! To be honest, we've been living out of almost a single room since Taylor was born, mostly because SOME sort of fear was holding me back from doing much of anything else. Weather too yucky outside for a newborn. Too afraid Link will bolt for the street and I won't know what to do. Need to pump in an hour, so can't go too far. Can only pump 1 side at a time, because I NEED 1 hand to deal with one or both of the criers. Lincoln needs to nap. Taylor needs to eat. Oh, my. I don't even know how to fit in doing the dishes most of the time. Keeping on top of laundry, dishes, general house cleanliness: that stuff has fallen by the wayside, though I am trying desperately to keep up.

Anyway, I took the kids ("the kids"!!!!) with me to the bank (hallelujah drive-through), then to Walgreens. This was the big test-of-mommy event, where I had to navigate a parking lot then a store, with a newborn in a bucket seat and a toddler who needs to RUN everywhere. I might have been in a cold sweat half the time, but we did it. I even got bird seed so Link and I could fill the feeder later together. On the way home, I was feeling so confident, that I decided to take Lincoln to the playground. We got out of the car and for maybe 3 minutes he staunchly protested, because there were other kids there (the horror), and he wanted the place to himself. He asked to go home, and we did. Too bad so sad! So we played at home outside, and I just kept Taylor in her car seat. Mind you, the child was passed out cold the entire time, I don't know why I stressed at all. It was like just dealing with Lincoln like usual, only I had to carry a very heavy handbag with me everywhere.

So now I know... it CAN be done. Baby steps for this mama!!

Sleepin.

2009-04-14T08:56:00.003-05:00

Taylor is 4 days old

2009-04-05T16:13:00.002-05:00

I certainly won't be giving updates on an every-4-days schedule, but of course we have been taking pictures like CRAZY. Here's a quick video-based update.

SHE'S HERE! Taylor Joyce Stacy has joined our family!

2009-04-01T10:55:00.004-05:00

I had better type this up while it is all still fresh in my memory!

Beginning at about 8:45 pm on March 31, I started having contractions. Measurable ones anyway; they were spotty throughout the day anyway, and that is when we started keeping track… and they were already 10 minutes apart. By 9:30 or so, they were 7 minutes apart, and we made the call to my parents for them to be on call. The plan was to have them take over for Lincoln at whatever hour that turned out to be, and at that late at night we decided to have them come stay over since he was already in bed.

After I went to lay down for a while, the contractions started to pick up in frequency, and I was having them for 2 minutes, with a 2 minute break, then on for 2 minutes again. We packed up and headed for the hospital.

We checked in and after about an hour and a half of walking and trying to get things going, I was only dilated to 3 ½ to 4 (I started out at 3), and my contractions started slowing (boooooo). We mutually agreed to break my water, and things took off from there. They started pitocin as well, and before I knew it, the contractions were on me like fire. It was super intense. She checked me again not too much later and I was to 5. I was screaming for the epidural at that point and the guy came and gave it to me. I don’t know WHAT was going on with that, but he had to do it over twice because he said he nicked a vein, and my nurse looked a little panicked, and kept calling out my BP. The numbers were all over the place. I was shaking like CRAZY. The nurse later said that the violent shaking was a good clue that I was progressing quickly.

Once the Epi was in and running, my legs got all hot, then numb, and I couldn’t lift them. Before long, I felt INTENSE pressure; I never felt that with Lincoln. She checked me and I was 8 cm… then maybe 3 contractions later, she checked me again and I was 10. Time to PUSH!! I thought I pushed maybe 10 times (over the course of 3-4 contractions), though later the doc said it was way less than that. Also unlike Lincoln’s birth where I never felt anything really while pushing, this time I felt EVERYTHING. But that meant that I also felt that my pushing was incredibly productive, and that was really empowering. I actually DID IT MYSELF!! Let me remind you that with Lincoln, I was pushing for 2 ¼ hours and they eventually had to pull him with the vacuum extractor. This time it was maybe 15 minutes MAX of pushing, perhaps a bit less.

We’re in recovery now, and this little girl just wants to nurse, nurse, nurse, and sleep, sleep, sleep. Momma is doing OK, but after she was born they had a hard time getting my bleeding under control. They put 2 more full bags of pitocin in me which did nothing, and eventually the nurse had to pretty violently manhandle my stomach. It still hurts a good deal, and just standing up I can TELL that I lost a lot, so we are still working to manage that.

WE’RE IN LOVE!

Taylor Joyce Stacy, born 4:33AM April 1st. 21" long, 7lbs 15 oz.

Trip to the Museum of Science, Boston

2009-03-30T12:02:00.004-05:00

On March 22, Mike, Lincoln and I went to the Museum of Science, Boston. It was thoroughly exhausing for Mama, so Mike truly had to haul TWO of us around all morning, but Lincoln really had fun.

Trains!!

He had this look plastered on his face all morning:

We also went in to check out one of the museum's add-ons; their butterfly exhibit, which allows you to go into a super hot and humid room filled with butterflies flying everywhere.

He was wiped out!!

The Latest from the Mouth of Mr. Lincoln

2009-03-26T14:26:00.002-05:00

Link has become quite the little manipulator. He likes to give you an idea, make you say it, then congratulate you on such a good idea. For example:

L: Mummy, go to the zoo, see animals!
K: You want to go to see animals Lincoln? (trying to clarify if I heard him right)
L: GREAT idea! Sure, Mummy, let's do THAT!

Also, one thing we are trying to break him of is this bad habit of responding to a request with a big raspberry (like, if we ask him to come and nosh dinner and he doesn't want to, we'll get a big PBPBPBPBPBLLLBLLLT and he'll run away. It is like the kiddie equivalent of giving us the finger, we decided. So he'll get a warning, then a time out if he does it). Anyway, he did it and Mike has been a super pushover lately and just letting him get away with it, so I came in the room and I said "Lincoln, do NOT disrespect Daddy again or you'll get a time out." and he looks up at me like he'd just had an electric shock, tears in his eyes, and goes "But I LIKE Daddy!"

So Mike is standing behind me trying to stifle hysterical laughter and I had to keep my poker face on, and said "I like Daddy too, that's why you have to be nice to him when he asks you to do something." So he just says in the most forlorn sad voice you can imagine: "Oh-KAY. Sorry Daddy."

It was so pathetically adorable we both had a hard time being strict with him after that.

Tortured by a 2-Year-Old

2009-03-24T20:29:00.002-05:00

Every night before I leave Lincoln to his own devices in his bed, we lay down and chat about his day, and what he is doing the next day, and whatever. Here's a transcript of tonight:

K: Tomorrow you'll get to go play at Donna's house again! (today was his first day at his new daycare).
L: But I don't want to!
K: It'll be OK, you can go play with Donna, and all of your new friends!
L: Because you go to work?
K: Yes baby, because Mummy and Daddy have to go to work.
L: But WHY?
K: Well, Mummy and Daddy both have to go to work because we have to. Your job is to play!
L: Don't go to work, stay with me! I love you!

Wait, what?! Did he just pull an "I love you" guilt trip?!

K: Ohhhh, baby, I love you too, but I still have to go to work.
L: But I love you!

Oh my goodness child, don't make it any harder than it already is!

It went round-about like that for a while. The conclusion: yes, we love each other, but he still has to go to daycare.

Surprise Baby Shower!

2009-03-23T07:57:00.006-05:00

I have the BEST friends and family! I was most definitely NOT expecting a baby shower for this little one; for the most part, we had many of the things that we already needed for her, just by the nature of the fact that Lincoln was only born 2 1/2 years ago. But nevertheless, my friends and closest family members decided to throw me a surprise shower! It was such a shock, I had absolutely NO idea it was coming.

My mom took me out to a movie then shopping at Target, and the "plan" was to pick up takeout at a local Thai restaurant and go back to their house. We went inside, and my mom walked right past the hostess desk. I said "Umm, Mum? I think we're supposed to pick it up here." Then I said to the girl behind the desk "We're here for takeout for Latka?" and she looks at me and smiles and says "OHHHH, you're pregnant, you're lying." I didn't even know what that meant, but was immediately offended and my mom was like, "It's over here" and I walked around the corner, and, ta da! Big reveal.

We got all sorts of funky apps, ordered dinner, and opened gifts. Lots of BRU Gift Card's and cute pink clothes. Clearly everyone put a lot of thought into pulling together outfits that match; so cute, so cute. The one big gift surprise was that two of my girlfriends went in on a video monitor together, which was really unexpected, because the economy has been rough on everyone, and they are expensive. My sister got a ton of shots of my sobbing my brains out. My mom brought cute pink flower place settings, and my girlfriend brought a beautiful cake from a local bakery. It was simple, generous, and unbelievably thoughtful. I truly have the best friends and family a girl could hope for.

A first glimpse into the baby's room...

2009-03-13T15:40:00.001-05:00

It is starting to come together! My super generous Home Girls gave us an incredible gift; that beautiful changing table. WOW! You guys are so wonderful to us. It goes perfectly!!

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

2009-03-09T20:18:00.002-05:00

Edited to Add: I can't figure out for the life of me why 2 copies of the video are showing up since I got an error message saying the HTML for the Photobucket version was invalid, and I am sitting here staring at the HTML and the Photobucket one isn't there, yet somehow... it is. So... your pick, they are both the same video :)

Bed head.

2009-03-09T19:49:00.000-05:00

LMAO

2009-03-05T10:57:00.001-05:00

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

2009-03-05T10:54:00.001-05:00

Link just wants to snuggle with my belly lately. He pulls my shirt up so he can rest his head on it, says "tickle tickle baby sister!!" and tickles my belly, and kisses it. This was when we were watching a movie in my bed. He needed to have one arm around the bump at all times. Awwwwwwwwwwwww!

4 weeks, 4 days until my due date... gulp...

Follow me!

2009-03-03T16:54:00.001-05:00

See that little box on the right hand side of the screen that says "Followers"? Well, I'd love it if you took a moment to become one! THANKS!

Playdate with Kate & Sage

2009-02-27T03:04:00.005-05:00

Like everything I update on, it wouldn't be "me" if I didn't update on something that took place WEEKS ago. Oopsie! At least this one is technically under a month late, so I am improving.

Lincoln and I drove up north to visit my grad-school friend Kate, and her beautiful daughter Sage for a playdate. We aren't *that* far away from each other, but being the busy people we are, somehow we just haven't been able to connect. To the point where we had never even met each other's children; unbelievable!

Sage made for an easy and adorable play-friend, and just wanted to do everything that Lincoln wanted to do, and Lincoln of course wanted to do everything SAGE wanted to do, but in his case, he wanted to shove her out of the way so he could do it alone. Sheesh. What a bully. He's a considerate kid, and loves to play with other children, but I often forget that he is 2 1/2 and that he is still working on the idea that "sharing" doesn't just mean you get to use everyone else's stuff. Anywho!! Kate, you have THE best playroom. Having a wide-open finished space where your toddler can go hog-wild in the dead of winter is nothing to sniff at; that was GREAT!

Not only that, but she fed us lunch, and sent us home with an OBSCENE amount of little girl clothes & baby stuff their family didn't need anymore. This little girl is going to be the best dressed chica on the block! Kate, you are incredibly generous, and a great friend. THANK YOU!

Spent Yesterday Afternoon at Labor & Delivery

2009-02-24T11:32:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I had my usual doc's appt at 1, and I let her know that I have been having decreased fetal movement over the past couple days. Like I've said before, I have just been too busy to notice much of anything lately, and it dawned on me yesterday afternoon that it had been a while since I have felt any really big kicks. So I did the whole lay-down drink OJ, count movements over 2-hours thing. It was 45 min of NOTHING and then finally hiccups. Later that night after dinner I got some good whollops, then really nothing overnight which is totally weird for her.

So, she sent me right to L&D. It is scary having to go get checked in and get the bracelet and be in a delivery room and all that, but once I was hooked up I could relax. They monitored the HB for an hour 30 actually (instead of just 1 hour; I think because the doc on duty was just busy). The HB looked great; they were looking for acceleration and deceleration, and all that good stuff, and that was all great. In fact, I didn't even have a contraction over the whole time I was there, which is ALSO out of character, but I think I was finally able to relax knowing they were looking out for me.

Doc finally got there, checked my cervix (first time since I have been preggers!!), and I am totally closed. THAT also surprised me, because I figured with all of the contrax I have there would be at least some activity, but not even that. So basically, all is well, it seems like I freaked for nothing. Even still, everyone kept saying I should have called sooner, and if that happens again, I know I will. I just can't take any chances like that; the results could be tragic.

Anyway, reasons for the decreased movement:
1. She's moving less. Well, duh... but as she grows, she is running out of room in there, and the big wind-up-punch type movements just aren't happening anymore. Her movements just may be more subtle. Just like at the beginning of the pregnancy where I wasn't feeling anything because of the anterior placenta, the same is holding true again now. Those sublte movements ARE still happening (and spending an hour and a half looking at my stomach confirmed that), I just can't feel them. As strange as that sounds.
2. I am contracting so much throughout the day that it is muffling the sensation of movement.
3. Even though night time used to be her more active time (or, whenever I lay down at the end of the day), it could be that her internal clock is changing, and now those are the times that she is sleeping, too.

This is just a totally different pregnancy from my last, it is incredible how different they can be.

On a separate note: I told my doc I needed a letter r.e. my work's short term disability requirements (stating how long I'd be out), and she said 6 wks. Ummmm.... last time she gave me EIGHT weeks. She was flipping through my file like "huh?" and said "well SOMEBODY messed up, I only say 6 is medically necessary, 8 if you have a c-section." Well, in that case, SHE "messed up" because I asked and she just wrote me a note last time. A month and a half home with a newborn seems downright criminal.

So that is something Mike and I need to figure out. I had been planning to save some vacation time "in case of emergencies" but now, it seems like this is the time to use it. I just can't imagine going back to work after only a month and a half; at 8 weeks I was in hysterics with leaving Lincoln, I can just imagine the feeling of trying to leave two... **sigh.**

Speaking of which, I will update on our daycare search later!

Why I Love My Husband

2009-02-20T09:50:00.003-05:00

Well, there are LOTS of reasons, but last night was just wonderful.

Mike knows I've been super stressed of late; I've been having lots of frequent and painful contractions, and by the end of the day, the bones in my back crack and grind against one another. This is quite different than when I was pregnant with Lincoln. Even though my back hurt then, it wasn't anything like this. So basically, when I come home from work, I spend a lot of the time lying on my side to take the pressure off, and I just lay there with this grimace on my face. I've felt useless and irritated and stressed.

Last night, I got home a little early and nearly ruined a surprise he had waiting for me. I was "ordered" into 2 hours bedrest, and he brought me two appetizer plates (cheese, crackers, grapes, and veggies with dip), as well as a frosty mug of coffee milk (if you have never had this it is PURE AWESOME). He then grabbed Link-a-doo and left! They went out to the town book sale, then to play at another library, then he picked up a pizza (my favorite kind: buffalo chicken), and came home at about 7:45. I had taken the time to rest, but also take a looooooooooong shower. Heavenly. Link had already eaten at the pizza place, so no worries there (dinner time has been a struggle with him lately). All 3 of us then watched half of Toy Story in bed, and Link lay with his arm around me and head on my big belly. So sweet. Then Mike took Lincoln to bed, and we finally had some low-key adult time together!

Thanks Mike, that meant the world to me. I know you are stressed, too, so it meant all the more to me that you worked so hard to make me comfortable. I love you!

Updates: Link's Nose and 33 weeks Gestation

2009-02-16T18:44:00.003-05:00

Lincoln Update:

OY! He's been tripping over his own feet all week because he just wants to RUN and JUMP everywhere. That should have been my first clue to reign him in...

We were at the mall today, and we let Lincoln run up ahead of us when we were in Macy's. He was no more than 15' ahead at any given time, and we had to get from one end to the other, so we said, WTH, let him get some energy out. Of COURSE he kept turning around to keep checking in where we were, and he did that once, and we said Lincoln STOP!!! but it was too late. He turned BACK around forward and ran full-force face-first into the corner of a plexiglass display. The edge hit him across the bridge of his nose, and knocked him over backwards onto the floor. Of course it happened RIGHT in front of one of the store managers.

I seriously thought his nose was broken, because it poofed right up, then started bleeding out of BOTH nostrils :o This from the kid for whom I can count the number of times he has bled on one hand. After about 10 min of crying, he calmed down. The manager called their head of security to take an accident report, and Mike ran to the food court to get a bag of ice, and I was just holding him on one of the display beds, OMG, what a scene we were making. An older couple actually stopped to ask him why he was crying (c'mon people, keep moving).

Long story short, the bleeding stopped, and he stopped crying after we let him chew on a piece of ice. A red line appeared right across his nose for the rest of the morning, so there was really no doubt where he hit, but after his nap there is no swelling or even red line anymore!! Damn, that kid can bounce back.

Just wanted to share my latest grey-hair-making moment.

As far as a me-and-the-baby update:

49 days to go. ACK!!!!!

I'm definitely getting bigger, which is a good thing, because the babe basically still needs to double her weight. Roughly. And I need to STOP gaining weight on ME... so it is a paradox. Just trying to eat healthy and keep hydrated now, and try not to go overboard. It is a tricky thing.

And I had a 1-hour pregnancy massage today, so the timing was great after Link's little snafu earlier in the day. I left feeling drugged it was so good!

Speaking of Train Love...

2009-02-13T15:30:00.003-05:00

Look at that FOCUS! Train work is serious business in our house. Don't mess with it.

Train Accident!

2009-02-13T15:23:00.002-05:00

Lincoln and Mike were in a train accident. No, no joke, like a sort-of real one!

You know how we bring Link to our local science center a lot? Well, they have this train that runs around the grounds of the place, and Link LOVES to ride it (for obvious reasons). It is big; looks like this:

Well, yesterday after their visit, I got this email from Mike:

Everything was going fine until we took the train ride. We were riding in the way back facing away from the driver, and when we came to the ticket gate, a girl pulled out and the train rammed her! Came to a dead jolting stop. Lincoln was sobbing the whole rest of the ride. When we stopped at the end (Same time he stopped crying), I asked him if his neck hurt and he said yes. We got in the car (lower lot) and drove to the upper lot and went in a filled out a accident report. He seemed to be feeling better, but I wanted the paperwork done right away.

I'm so pissed, the poor kid!! :( I guess everyone else was OK, the other parents were trying to laugh it off, but with Link being so upset, of course, Mike couldn't quite do that. The train tracks cross the entry driveway, and there is an entrance booth RIGHT there where cars have to stop to check in. Usually, the booth person comes out and stands in the driveway so that no cars can come through when the train is coming, and they wave to the kids. For some reason, the newbie teenage girl working the booth did not do that, and a car entering just pulled right out in front of the train.

As it turned out, his neck really is OK, as I am sure if he had asked "Lincoln, does your toe hurt?" he would have said yes, too. At the very least we have an accident report filed with the museum, in case anything is wrong later.

I was afraid this would derail him from his passionate love of trains (pun definitely intended), but NOPE! He was back and playing with his set that evening. Scary at the time, but everyone is OK.