Let's play a little game!

Can you guess which picture is Atalie and which is Charis? Some are easy, but I think it's amazing how similar some are. I had to do black and white---otherwise it would be too easy!

1. Sunbathing:

2.Playtime!

3. Something mesmerizing about the faucet!

4. What is that thing on my chair?

5. First baths aren't so much fun.

6. First naps in the crib!

7. Snuggled up!

8. Enjoying the great outdoors (easy ones!)

Getting big!

She's getting big! 4 1/2 months old now, super close to rolling over, loves tummy time, rolls on top of rolls, and wearing 6-9 month clothing but still wears Newborn size shoes. And even those fall off with little effort on her part. Sheesh. Where is the time going????

THAT'S MY NAME!

I used to teach Kindergarten and I remember coming home with one of those seemingly cute educational songs stuck in my head. You know---Days of the Week sung to the Adam's Family theme song. Or something like "Today is Monday and it's a sunny day!" I've got loads of them.

So what do you do when a song is stuck in your head?

You sing it in its entirety.

This is not a quality Brian enjoys. I remember singing through a song and hearing him warn, "If I wake up in the middle of the night with that stuck in my head..." Teasingly, I'd sing a little louder and a lot longer.

So when I stopped teaching to stay at home, I thought I could breathe a sigh of relief. Brian, too. No singing those songs all day (at least for a while), so that means no songs stuck in my head. I mean, what 2 year old wants to know the 50 States Song in alphabetical order, sung to the tune of Turkey in the Straw?

That was before we realized that Charis would have a love for music. And a deep love for Bear in the Big Blue House. Which means lots of "Bear Cha-cha-cha," "Goodbye song," and "Happy Happy Birthday." She sings it when she gets up in the morning, she sings it during her playtime, and she wants us to sing it before bed.

You already know what I'm going to say.

Though I thought I'd gotten away from rolling over in the middle of the night and hearing cutesy songs in my head, alas....it wasn't to be.

Instead of rolling over and thinking, "Why am I awake? What's on the to-do list today?," I roll over and sing "What sounds like a couple of purple otters? Pip and Pop! Pip and Pop, that's their name!"

The best part? Brian hears songs in the middle of the night, too. And this time it's not my fault. Charis, unknowingly, has taken over the roll of "song-giver." And she sings it plenty loud and with more stamina and endurance that I could even hope to have.

That's okay. She'll only love Bear for a little while and she'll never be this small again. And I know that one day I'll look back and long for the days that she woke at 4 am singing her heart out.

Von Willebrand Factor

We noticed that last month Major, our very large 4-year-old doberman, had a small button-like growth on his belly.


So we made an appointment for surgery and my dad removed it. (He's a veterinarian, in case you were worried.)


He had trouble clotting after the surgery, so in addition to finding out what the growth was, he also had him tested for something called the Von Willebrand Factor. Apparently it causes trouble when it comes to clotting...bad when you have surgery, like he did.


Major tested positive for Melenoma and for the Von Willebrand disease (or syndrome, or factor...whichever it is). He has a more severe case of the blood disorder. Apparently you should have somewhere between 80-160 factor, and his is 4. Fortunately, it is something that fluctuates, so isn't always so low. It just happened to be very low when he had the surgery.


The growth was taken off with clean margins, which is another good thing.


Charis was thrilled to see him, of course. Major was thrilled to be home, too. Doped up, but thrilled.

Not so thrilled to be kept in the kitchen.
This is him, trying to look regal with that lovely E-collar on.



Now I just have to keep him still...

Nights (and Days) in Rodanthe

For Memorial weekend, we joined my parents and Jason and Kristan down in Rodanthe, NC. As soon as Brian got off work Saturday morning, we loaded up the munchkins and got on our way!


Once we reached Jockey's Ridge and Charis could see the sand, we heard "Going beach mommy! Going beach!" about once every 5 minutes. And it's still a good drive from Jockey's Ridge.




Needless to say, as soon as we got in the house and took care of Atalie's diaper explosion (Oh, how I love long car rides), we headed off to the sound.

The water is warmer and more shallow. You can also see the bottom better and don't have to worry about a current sweeping your 2 year old away.

She searched for shells to find and show off to Bean (grandma), dad, and her new BFF--- Uncle Jason.

And Uncle Jason pretended like every shell was the coolest thing he'd ever seen.

Here's another reason why Jason is the newest BFF.

The weather and then water was perfect. Charis rolled and splashed and had the best time.

In case you were doubting, more proof of fun.

When we finished at the sound, we came to the house to play in the pool. Atalie joined us for the festivities.

Yes, that is a 6'1" man in a tiny kiddy pool.

Everyone had a great time!

Too much fun, maybe.

Scary, isn't it?

When the girls went down for their nap, so did the boys.

That was Saturday. Before bed, Charis asked again to go to the beach. We made the mistake of saying, "Sure. In the morning."

I worried that since Charis was so tall she would have trouble sleeping in the tiny Pack-n-Play. I worried that she'd be uncomfortable. I worried that I'd hear cries from a newly claustrophobic toddler, frustrated that we'd stuffed her, her blanket, pillow, and 3 stuffed animals into this ridiculously small "cage" and expected her to sleep well and be happy about it.

My worries were misplaced.

Around 4:15 AM I am awakened by Atalie stirring. Ok, grunting. I go to peek at her, sighing in relief when I find that she's still sleeping. As I walk by Charis's room, I hear quiet talking, "Hi pink bear. *giggle* No, no. Hi." More giggling.

For an hour this went on. Since it was quiet, I let her play. She will do this at the house on occasion and always goes back to sleep without incident.

But I forgot one important detail. There are no blackout shades on her windows and it starts to get light outside around 5 AM.

No! Nononononono! Please let it stay dark in there. Please let her go back
to sleep. Please do not let the sun rise on time today. Pleasepleaseplease!

So I lay there an contemplate. And she plays with her bear. Around 6 AM, she starts getting louder. And singing.

"A moooooon, a bear, a biiiigg blue hooouuse!" Then happy squeals. So I decide it may be a better idea to get her up before her lovely serenade wakes the entire house. We sneak upstairs, she sits on the couch, and I make coffee.

Dark, strong, full-strength coffee.

So the rest of the house wasn't disturbed by the pitter-patter of little footsteps (ok, let's be real...the pounding of excited footsteps from a toddler that desperately wanted to go to the beach), Charis stayed on the couch and played with her stuffed animals. She stayed on that couch for over an hour and a
half until the family started trickling up the stairs.

Since she'd been up since 4:15, I knew she'd never make it until naptime. Sure enough, come ten o'clock, she crashed. She got cross-eyed, wobbly-legged, and cried out in a frantic voice, "See daddy!" When she found his large embrace, she slid into la-la land. (I will point out that she did not say "See mommy!" Um, hello?)

Brian enjoyed every second of this.

Once our little song-bird woke up, we headed down to the beach.

The water was freezing! Mom got as far as one toe in the water, I believe.

But like her uncle Jason, she enjoys any temperature water. So Charis, Brian, Paw Paw, and Tip Top (the pink giraffe) enjoyed the *refreshing* water.


What fun is the ocean if you aren't turning blue, right?

I headed back a little early with Atalie.

Note to self:

Heat + black sunshade + fat baby= high levels of discomfort.

At lunchtime, Uncle Jason sealed his fate as BFF with Charis by making strange noises that only he could do.

Notice we all tried to make the noise, but only Uncle Jason got the laugh.

After 2 beautiful days and relaxing nights in Rodanthe, we headed home on Sunday evening. Minus a few minutes singing Bear in the Big Blue House, we heard one thing from Charis the entire ride home. "Uncle Jasee coming birthday party, mommy?" Followed by, "Yes, Uncle Jason is coming to your birthday party."

And....

"Uncle Jasee coming birthday party, mommy?" (Repeat 20 or 30 times). Eventually my answer became, "Yes, (please please please) he's coming to your party."

So, Memorial weekend was May 23-25th, right? On JUNE 3rd we came inside to eat lunch. And wouldn't you know it...



Later that day I did say to her, hoping for some excitement (even feigned excitement would have been acceptable) "Mommy is coming to your birthday party!" To which she looked deep in thought, as if contemplating if this was good enough.

She replied, "MayMay (Major, the dog) coming birthday party, mommy?"

"No," I said, "Major has a boo boo and can't come." (Besides the fact that he is an overly hyper 104 pound doberman.)

To which she replied...




You've got to be kidding me!!!

All in all, I guess you could say that it was a very memorable weekend.

A day in the life...

Anyone that knows me knows I love routine. I try not to get too rigid, but I've found that Charis definitely focuses better, has a happier disposition, has less behavior issues, and sleeps better when we stick to our basic routine. During the day we have certain activities that happen around the same time. It's made life a lot more simple when balancing nursing and a new baby, being a good wife and friend, chores, and a busy almost-2 year old. You know, life. :)

Charis gets up each morning around 7:30. That gives me time to feed Atalie and get her situated before I get started with Charis. If she wakes before 7:30, she plays in her crib until I come and get her. We then start the day with milk and pack-n-play time. She plays with a few toys and reads some books for about an hour. If pack-n-play time is skipped in the morning, she usually asks for it later in the day. This gives me time to get myself together, drink some coffee, and get a few things done around the house. She's getting a bit big for the pack-n-play, but she seems to like it!

Later in the day we have "table time." Sometimes we do a craft, sometimes she paints or colors. Before breakfast she has a few minutes of table time. Here she was listening to Down By the Cool of the Pool, a listening center book and tape I had from my teaching days. She got a kick out of the frog's voice.





Naptime is at 1:00. She gathers her friends Bunny, and Pink, and it's off to la-la land!

Then there is always free play. Today she chose to play with her Cozy Coupe ball pit. She had so much fun.

I can't remember the last time I just sprawled out on the floor, laughing my head off like she did here.

She also has blanket play. No pics of that yet, but that's when I put a blanket on the floor and some special toys and she plays on the blanket while I'm getting something done, but still need her in sight (like cooking dinner). Sometimes I'll give her some water, beans, and other goodies to "cook" while I'm cooking. It's so nice to have an energetic toddler in your line of sight when you are in the middle of dinner, the phone is ringing, there's a new baby needing to be fed, and a family that is getting hungry. It's hilarious to see her do her "happy dance" when I pull the blanket out. It's like she knows the fun is coming! She gets to play and mommy gets to stay sane.

Momentarily.

Attie-bean

Yes...that is my underwear (AKA the "hat" Charis put on Atalie).

Atalie is one happy little chick-a-dee. She has recently found her voice. She loves to sit in her bouncy seat; it's not uncommon to see her chatting away with the dangling sheep on the toy bar. She happy-squeaks when you swaddle her---she knows nap time (her favorite time) is coming! I've walked into her room on a number of occasions to find her awake from her nap, just smiling at the wall, crib, and anything she can find to look at.

She loves to multi-task, too. It's very normal for her to poop and eat at the same time. Which means that I get to enjoy the fruit of her labor. All over my clothes. If only I could go one day without getting pooped on! You think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. She somehow manages to get very little in her diaper and most of it, well...everywhere else. I've even had to scrub walls.

She makes all kinds of crazy faces. She sleeps double the amount that Charis did at her age, though she slept through the night later than Charis (12 weeks for Atalie, 7 for Charis). I notice, too, that she really smiles with her eyes a lot. It's almost like she's amused with what is going on around her. Though with the chaos of having me for a mom, Charis in her face saying "A-dee-dee!!!" and Major, our 100 lb. doberman pacing back and forth, who can blame her?

She turned 4 months old Sunday. Now weighing in at 16 pounds 2 oz (90%ile) and 25 inches long (75th%).