February 2014

Everything from snakes and chips to friends and family - we found a lot of things to be thankful for this month.  Overall, I think our banner was a success - there were only a couple of days that we forgot to add new hearts (until the next morning), and most days we could get some kind of response from Bruce, after enough prodding.  When I would tell Bruce something I was thankful for, and asked him what he was thankful for, his reply a lot of the time was, "You (Bruce) are not thankful for anything.  You (Bruce) are just happy."  Although I had grandeur thoughts of this daily ritual transforming Bruce into a beaming, grateful, never-whining two year old (which it didn't), I guess I can't complain that most days he was "just happy."

When he wasn't "just happy," it was most likely because he was sick.  That seems to be a February tradition for this family - catching colds.  Both Bruce and Abby struggled with a nasty cold for close to two weeks toward the beginning of this month.  No fun for anyone, but we're thankful it wasn't worse than it was.

sick babes rest when they can...

Abby had her four month well baby check up at the start of this month.  She's meeting all of the benchmarks they ask about, so I was expecting gold stars all around.  Unfortunately the doctor was "concerned" by her weight...  She measured in at 12.5 pounds, 25.25 inches - putting her in the 13th percentile for weight and the 78th percentile for height.  Although she looks perfectly healthy to me, she dropped close to 30 percentile points in two months, which I guess can be alarming.  Bruce did the same thing though at this age, so I'm not too worried.  I guess I just grow 'em big in utero and they slim up once on the outside.  We had to go in again at the end of the month for another weight check, and after paying $30 to toss a babe on the fancy doctor scale, we were assured everything is fine and she's growing well.  She's up to nearly 14 pounds now, bringing her into the 18th percentile for weight.  Huzzah!

We got the green light to start baby food, so that has been a fun addition to our daily routine this month.  So far, Abby has worked her way through all of the stage one foods and seems to enjoy them all fairly well, with no allergies, which is great!  Maybe next month we'll get a little more adventurous with the mixed foods!      

Abby has started laughing this month, which has been a lot of fun.  It's not the great gut-bellied chuckle Bruce has always had, but it still can melt your heart.  In addition to her laugh, she's also found her tongue!  My little lizard goober:

She hasn't figured out how to roll over yet, but she's getting so close that I expect it any day now.  She can get over on her side, just can't quite get that hip all the way over.  The interesting thing is that when she's on her stomach, she's already digging her toes in like she's ready to start crawling any day, too.  I guess it's just a waiting game for now.

Let's just go ahead and not talk about her sleeping habits this month...

In other news, Abby's hair is thinning out and lightening up - who knows if it will turn blonde, or just how blonde it will eventually get, but I'm still hoping for another platinum baby.  Her eyes are still a beautiful steely blue - I hope those stick around!

"Want to talk about that."  Is a phrase that more or less summarizes Bruce these days.  Anytime he sees something, or something comes up in conversation that piques his interest, he'll say, "Want to talk about _____________."  So we'll explain emergency vehicle lights, or what a hyena is, or how three women in our church group have babies in their bellies, or whatever it is at the moment that he's curious about.  And then sometimes he'll say, "Want to talk about it again."  It's a simple request that we happily oblige every time.  His curiosity astounds me, and I find myself smiling, sometimes laughing out loud, when he invites me into his world with that simple request.

I have felt a little sad for Bruce because we haven't been able to go to Story Time at Norman's library since Abby was born - something Bruce looked forward to every week.  Just recently though I discovered that the little library here in Noble has a Story Time, too.  We've been three times so far, and while it's not nearly the production that Norman puts on, it's still really nice.  The best part is that it's just a three minute drive from our house, and it's held at a more compatible time with Abby's nap schedule.  Not many other families attend, but I'm hoping Bruce and I can make some connections there eventually.

My mom and Rick came for a visit toward the beginning of the month.  They helped celebrate my birthday a little early, loved on the grandchildren, and without a doubt, took us out for breakfast at Ozzie's.   I'm thankful they didn't mind sleeping on the air mattress in the living room, and I'm pretty sure we didn't send them home with our colds.  We had a great time!  To get ready for their visit, I checked out some grandma books from the library, thought of some activities to go with them, and featured a few of those in my storybook blog this month.

playing instrument BINGO

riding the "pony"

Charlie spent some time in Tulsa, Canada, and Colorado this month, but has been home the past two weeks - and it's looking like March should be a light travel month!  We're looking forward to some great family time!

monster truck jumping course

There were some amazingly beautiful days this month, so it was nice for all of us to get outside and play. It's still a completely foreign world for Abby out there, so she takes it all in as a relatively silent observer - from the sun rays and wind gusts, to the cat fights and car engines.  Bruce spends most of his time digging in the dirt or sending his various vehicles to the "car wash" where he gets them with his squirt bottle and then dries them off with a rag - it never gets old for him.  Charlie's been trying to get some dirt work done out there, too - trying to relocate and manage all the dirt that was excavated when our storm shelter was put in last year.  Bruce has really loved that, and of course is always willing to help.

Here are a few other odds and ends from this months:

We've had a few new "pets" join our family this month on a temporary basis - just until all the winter storms blow over.  Two neighborhood tramps, Mark and Princess, belong to a family in the cul-de-sac but prefer to hang out at our house, and Bruce and Charlie found two garter snakes on a walk and decided they needed to live inside with us for a while, too.  What can I say, we're push overs when it comes to animals.

visiting with the snakes...

Bruce has decided he loves trampolines now, as long as there aren't other kids on it.  I hate trampolines and so we'll never own one, but it's nice that we have generous neighbors!

Bruce's "friends" from our church group:

Abby and I went to a baby shower last weekend, which allowed Bruce to have some greatly anticipated "Daddy" time.  They went to the tractor store, Lowes, the car wash, the airport diner for lunch, the bowling alley (just to see the machines work, not to actually play a game), and the pet store.  I wasn't there, but from the pictures and the stories, I know they both had a blast.

Mike Mulligan and his steam shovel

Oklahoman by circumstance, Texan by heritage.
Yes, he ate it all...

Punxsutawney Phil may have been right about his prediction this year, but hopefully after these next two weeks, we'll all be able to enjoy a beautiful Spring season!  I'm singing to myself, "Here comes the sun!  Here comes the sun!  And I say, it's all right."

January 2014

2014.  Here's to the start of another year for us as a family.

Charlie and I just celebrated ten years of marriage - it's crazy how fast this decade has gone by!  We feel very blessed in so many ways, and are really looking forward to what the next season will bring.  We're still deciding how we should celebrate this milestone - somehow the Pizza Hut deep dish and Netflix movie that we enjoyed on the day itself doesn't seem to do it justice!

The big item on the "to do" list for January was going to be sleep training with Abby and Bruce.  We feel good about where we're at, but not too successful!

Abby is doing fairly well with putting herself to sleep and back to sleep at night.  When we went through this with Bruce at this age, he would scream and scream and scream and it was so hard to believe that letting him cry himself to sleep was "good" for him.  Abby mostly just fusses for a few minutes, and then drifts back to sleep - it's been so nice!  However, she's still waking up several times at night and only taking 20-30 minute naps during the day.  And she's transitioning from 4 to 3 naps and that's been a little rough going.  She's tired at the end of the day, but won't settle down for another nap before bedtime.  So I would say that the sleep situation is still less than ideal with her, but for the most part she has a wonderful disposition during the day so I'm trying not to stress out too much about it.

Bruce.  That quirky little monkey.  We had every intention of having him start to sleep in his toddler bed beginning this month, and we gave it a good go - but failed.  When Bruce moved out of the nursery last Fall, we didn't want to deal with the challenge of keeping him in his bed right when the new baby was coming, so we opted for letting him sleep in the pack-n-play in his new room.  Four months later, he still showed no interest in sleeping in a real bed, and actually seemed to enjoy the pack-n-play.  I was getting tired of setting it up every day though, so we made the switch.  At first, he did really well at night and wouldn't get of bed, but then he started waking up and wandering at 2 or 4 o'clock in the morning when Abby was crying and it was impossible to get him to believe us that it wasn't time to get up yet!  Naps were always a challenge - bribes and rewards worked for a day or so, but quickly lost their appeal.  I'd put Abby down for her nap, and then attempt to get Bruce to take his nap.  Unfortunately, I would have to put him back in bed over 50 times (not an exaggeration - I counted!) and by then Abby would be awake again.  Since I couldn't keep putting him back in bed and nurse Abby, and since we didn't want to resort to punishments for getting out of bed (we really don't want him to think his naps are a punishment!) I would have to put him back in the pack-n-play.  And on top of that, now of all times, he has started having issues with imaginary fears - like wind-up chattering teeth and monsters coming to "get him" while he sleeps...  So, after a week of all of that, we decided now is not the time to make him switch to the toddler bed!  I don't know when we'll try again, but it will definitely be after Abby starts sleeping better!  Hopefully that'll happen before Bruce gets too big for the pack-n-play!

Other developments for Abby?  She is working so hard with her hands now!  Most of her reaching and grasping of toys still seems almost accidental, but she's getting there.

She will still sit in her bouncy seat fairly content, but now she has to have a toy in her hands.  Bruce is really great at choosing toys for her, and switching them out so she doesn't get bored.  "Probably she doesn't need that elephant" is a phrase we hear a lot when I give her the wrong toy...

She's not showing any signs of rolling over on her own yet, but thinks it's really fun when I swivel her hips and flip her over.  Maybe by next month.  

We have her 4 month check up on Monday and we'll discuss starting baby food then - exciting stuff, I know.  I asked Bruce the other day if Abby's first food should be a fruit or vegetable - he said vegetable.  "Nice" brother, right?  When I asked if she should have peas or green beans, he said jelly beans.  Really nice brother, I guess.

Since Abby isn't needing as much constant attention from me now, Bruce and I have been able to do a lot more playing together and less television watching.  Hurrah!

We're still mostly homebound with Abby, so to help keep things fresh and not so mundane, I've started using the storybooks we read to come up with activities to do together.  I've started a new blog to keep track of all we've been up to - check it out if you're interested!  www.playingwithstorybooks.blogspot.com.  For a taste of what I mean - after reading Michael Rosen's We're Going on a Bear Hunt, we went to a nature trail in Norman and took Bruce and Abby on a bear hunt.  Completely coincidentally, we actually came across many of the elements from the book including long, wavy grass, a deep, cold river (well, lake) and a big, dark forest.  Bruce had fun telling all the other park-goers that we were on a bear hunt, but he was okay with the fact that we never found a cave.  And I'm incredibly thankful we didn't have to walk through a snowstorm like the family in the book!  It was a great way to spend such a surprisingly warm winter afternoon, and Charlie was even able to leave work early to join us!

Charlie had a couple of business trips this month to San Antonio and Arizona, but we're starting to get the hang of how to manage while he's away.  With the exception of the hour immediately preceding Bruce and Abby's bedtime, things really aren't too bad.  Life is always better when Charlie's around though.  We sure like that guy.

meeting Johnny Lee  

Last weekend I had an all-day meeting for church planning on Saturday, so Charlie took Bruce up to Perkins for the weekend.  They had a great day fixing the pump at the water well, and that night they went to see Byron Berline and his band play at a small local venue.  I think Bruce might have stolen the show though - here's a quick video link.    

Like the rest of the country it seems, we've had some crazy weather this month.  For the most part it's been cold and colder, but we've encountered a few sunny days here and there and have enjoyed them like champions.

And when it's too cold to play outside, there's always music to keep us entertained inside!

Bruce likes when we pretend the guitar
is an upright bass

Bruce playing along with Clarence Clemons

As the past few months have pressed on, Charlie and I have found ourselves confessing to more than one person the revelation we've come to - we're not "baby people," but that's okay!  That doesn't mean we don't love our kids, or that we're not happy - not true!  We just aren't the type who go ga-ga over tiny tushes or get our kicks making googley eyes at babes for hours on end.  In an effort to enjoy and appreciate this season a little more though, I've started making a mental list of the things I'll miss once our babies aren't babies anymore.  So far the list is pretty short, but I'll add to it as I think of more - here's what I've got so far:

Expressive eyes.  Babies have the best expressive eyes!  It's impossible to know what they're thinking, but you can only imagine.  I get great giggles watching them take in the world through those amazing peepers of theirs.

Sleeping in your arms.  I don't have a picture of Abby sleeping in my arms because it's a rare occurrence and I wouldn't want to risk waking her up, but I love holding a sleeping baby.  I don't think there's anything more peaceful than holding a baby while they sleep.  It's a guilt-free time to just relax and enjoy the only time either of my babies would actually snuggle with me.  

Effortless smiles.  I love how easy it is to elicit a smile from a baby.  And I don't mean just a smirk, or a gratuitous grin.  I mean an "I can hardly contain myself" smile that makes their eyes squint shut and their whole body wiggle around.  I love how easy it is to get a smile like that from a baby.  When do we stop smiling like that?     

The thing I'm going to miss most of all though is being her favorite, and the only one who really matters.  For the rest of her life Abby will be giving pieces of her heart away to others she chooses to love.  But for now, for this short moment in time, I get to be her favorite.  And I unashamedly love that.  

I have so much to be thankful for!  As we enter February, I thought we'd do a little activity as a family focusing on how "A Thankful Heart Prepares the Way."  I made a banner with that phrase on it, and we'll take a letter each day and write down something we're thankful for.  It's cliche I know, but grateful hearts are something we're really trying to foster, so it's worth being a little cheesy!  Feel free to join us!