there goes my eardrum...

i can now add a nearly broken eardrum to my list of parenting perils. tonight, millie was having a terrible time for some reason. i'm fairly certain it had to do with reflux b/c she was doing the thing where she scrunches in a ball then flattens herself like a board (or maybe like a lower case 't' with arms straight out, maybe that's a better description) & the scream-cry (the kind where the child will intake breath for 4 or 5 seconds, then belt out a piercing scream-cry for 4 or 5 seconds...the anti-yoga breathing). so she was doing that & the only thing to initially calm her down was me bouncing, swaying, & shh-ing & feeding her (standing up). anyway, she was finally calm & took about 4 ounces. time for a burp. i put her in a sitting position on my leg, as we usually do & this caused another round of scream-cry & 't-ing'...so i put her on my shoulder to burp & was rocking the chair rapidly (so i could sit down) & she was crying a bit more, but a more mild cry. then she let out a small burp. great! yea, she burped. THEN came the burp of all burps. this would put junior high boys to shame. it was deep & loud & long (hhmm, maybe 6 seconds? if you think about it, that's a long time to burp). and that is how my eardrum was nearly broken tonight. wes walked in the nursery just as she started burping & smiled ear to ear...he was never so proud.

today i went to a women's (or baby mama) playgroup. i had a good time...what really impresses me is that judy (the host) was like 'oh, i'm not going to make anything fancy' for a snack & then i get there & she has crepes with cream cheese, sour scream, powdered sugar, & some jellies (with labels). hhhmm, nothing fancy to me means doughnuts in a box! (or at least something in a box). i'm telling you, this woman rocks being a host. plus, it was really exceptionally wonderful to get out of the house, even if it was to go to another house with even more children in it. 6 mamas, 6 babies (plus a few older kids). it for sure beat my only other trip out of the house since monday which was to go to the pediatrician.

i was really hoping all the excitement of the morning would tire adeline out enough to get her to fall asleep during her naptime. nope. she was banging on her door (we lock the door from the outside b/c she will open it as soon as we shut it) & doing the 'let me out' screech after just 1 hour of non-quiet quiet time. NOOOOO! she can't be done with naps already! wes' coworker was talking about how their wife (they have a newborn) was upset that their older daughter is starting to drop her afternoon nap as well...this girl is 4! four. no fair. (but as i used to tell the students in my tlc [therapeutic learning center] class "well, life isn't fair, is it? it was our response that we had to give per the tlc director. i never liked that response. it's similar to the 'do it b/c i said so' thing. at least give someone an unscripted answer). but, if life was fair, i should get at least 2 more years of afternoon naps out of adeline.

& i highly recommend the movie "things we lost in the fire". that was the 3rd movie i rented last week & i finally was able to watch it tuesday afternoon. cried/sobbed my eyes out & then when wes got home from work, i gave him many hugs (the hubby dies, but no worries, i didn't just spoil anything, that's sort of the main issue in the plot). i just can't even bare to think about losing wes, let alone the girls losing their daddy. so i won't think about it! well, i did read a book a year or so ago by julia alvarez & the husband in that book dies & the wife is stunned b/c she has no idea how to do so much in the house, like put in a furnace filter or program the thermostat. since reading that i have to say i was paying a bit more attention to things that wes normally does. but then i got bored of learning such things...b/c he's so good at doing them & it's not good to think 'i have to in case he dies'. b/c if he dies i have so much more to worry about than the stupid furnace, eh? see, i just shouldn't think about all this stuff!

good times

this was taken yesterday. addy loves to crawl in millie's crib after she wakes up from a nap. it's very cute how adeline loves on her little sis. if you look closely, you can see the 'christmas rubber ducky' that addy brought for amelia. i don't know, maybe in case millie felt like taking a bath. but these ducks are special b/c if they touch water (or hit the bottom of it very hard, like addy does), they go into this blinking fluorescent light thing. they both love taking baths with these ducks (there are 8 of them?). i'm hoping to get some video of it tomorrow. we'll see.

this is to prove to my dad that amelia's spike is still alive & kicking. sort of reminds me of a bird, the pomp adore on top of the head? anyone else see it??! anyway, this was from this morning. the best comment was from the pediatrician...the first thing she said when she came into the exam room (for millie's 4 month well baby appt) was "wow! what GREAT hair today!" she really does have some crazy hair. both of our girlies did as babies...it's not as glamorous as it may appear, for all those parents with baldies. babies with hair = tiny hair knots to brush out = screaming baby. not too pretty after all.

addy was taking a picture of the floor at this moment.

while on the topic of addy: newest potty training concern: poopy in the underwear. yuck to pull off without knowing there is poopy in underwear until it's all over her legs. after the undies are off, well, the person with her is SCREWED b/c it's not like you can pick her up to carry her somewhere to wash the pooh off. & she doesn't want to walk. tricky situations. but addy ALMOST made it to the potty tonight. i have been giving her an m&m for even sitting on the potty & she doesn't get to wear her 'dora the explorer' undies until she goes in the potty (for some reason, she is in LOVE with dora, although she's actually only watched one episode of that show), so she's a bit more interested at this point. but the fault for one 'sitting' tonight was that she had to go get a book to read while sitting on the potty! she is her daddy's girl (wes is an avid toilet reader). so i hear some tinkling & gleefully think she's going to pee in the potty b/c i caught out of the corner of my eye her squatting. no such luck: squatting on the floor in front of the potty with her undies down. big mess. but we gave her an m&m for her valiant effort.

oh yes, this is amelia eating solids. rice cereal, nasty stuff! at her appt today, the ped was sure millie would do great after a week of trying 1 tablespoon a day of rice cereal. not our chunker...i somehow dumped probably 3-5 tablespoons into the dish, so i just mixed it up with 1 ounce of formula, thinking she'll eat about 1/10 of the cereal...but instead she ate all but about a teaspoon. more like inhaled it. she was even making 'yum' & 'mmhhmmm' noises while eating. we were able to videotape a part of it, but it was a very unfortunate time in the eating...she had put nearly her entire fist in her mouth & apparently scratched her gums with her nails & thus started screaming in pain. she recovered within a minute & was back to inhaling her new found love.

as for the ped appt: millie is nearly 15 pounds! she gained 3 pounds in 2 months...i tell ya, we grow big babies, there's no question about it.

read further for more details (mostly, for all grandparents): she's 90% for length (25 1/4 inches), 75% for weight (14.11 pounds), &50% for head. one interesting tidbit is that her head is only 2 cm larger at 4 months than addy's was at birth. AT BIRTH! no wonder i pushed for 2 hours with adeline & 4 minutes with amelia. anyway. we have increased the zantac dose a whole tenth of a ml (to .8 ml)...how in the heck are we supposed to measure that? who knows. she has wonderful muscle tone & the ped said she is very strong for her age. of course. (remember this was the appt that addy got a failing grade & was sent to physical therapy for 'low muscle tone'?? how they are different).

i am off to paint the 'new' playroom! we slacked on it last night, so it's not any closer to being finished. if you call addy & ask her what color it is, she will tell you. but you have to be wes or i to understand what she's saying! ha HA!

christmas tis down

so i have finally taken all the christmas decorations down. ARGH! who put those lights on the tree? (wes) they were literally tied in knots, so that if i pulled the least bit, it would knot around the branch ; i was very upset with this tree situation at one point, so much so...that i pulled very hard & swore at the same time (i really expected the tree to fall on me, but it didn't!) but i did pull the tree about 2 feet. classy, i am. so then, i would have to stick my hand into the tree & pull it out...sticking myself with needles & getting sap all over myself. my slippers make a "schlaup schlaup schlaup" noise when i walk now b/c i have so much sap all over myself. at least i smell good? our floor is covered in pine needles. we're a forest; 'forest westerville'.

& addy watched me do this whole ordeal & was crying a bit every few minutes. & not b/c her mama was swearing every once in a while (i think she's rather used to that...i do think her first coherent word will be "shit", at which time i will probably say the same thing!). she would turn the switch on that was connected to the tree lights & would give a little "oohh" in a sad, sad tone. christmas comes only once a year. i tried to explain that's why it's a special time. but she pretty much ignored me talking & went to wash her hands a dozen times. (i have stupidly purchased a stool for her to wash her hands after going potty...hoping that it encouraged potty-esque things. it has only encouraged lots of hand washing for no apparent reason. which is okay, given all the germs we have going around right now).

& millie has taken a 2 hour nap so far this morning. maybe b/c she was up 4 times last night, giggling & smiling at ungodly hours. then she woke up at 6 am. why why WHY can't we get a baby who sleeps good at night?! what have we done to deserve this? at 1:15 a.m. i was contemplating starting 'cry it out' at that very minute...we shall see. but the annoying thing is that she isn't even crying half the time. she's happy. ggrrr. so i think i am going to do the terrible thing & wake a sleeping baby up from her nap. hhmm, maybe not. or maybe i'll just see what is wrong with adeline, as she is just walking around the house crying right now.

ah, life. & i thought working at children services was stressful...piece of cake compared to this stay at home mama stuff.

millie is now awake, so i really must go at this point.

not much going on

i should start this by proclaiming: we are not sick! yippee-yea!

i'm just trying to remember what we've been up to the past few days... hhmm, we some some fondue with the crawfords on friday & it was very yummy. cheese; i love it...the fondue was a champagne, emmantaler (sp?) swiss, & baby brie. oh yum. with steak (grilled). it was so good, i am even blogging about it 3 days later!

adeline is basically potty training herself. but not really 'potty' training, more 'non potty' training or 'how to make puddles around the house all day'. geez oh man. it's frustrating & cute at the same time. she doesn't like wearing a diaper most of the time now, which is super. so we put the training undies on & she will take them off often to sit on the potty...then she'll get off the potty & squat in another room several minutes later (it's never the same amount of time, hard to predict) & leave a puddle. THANKFULLY, she has not taken a crap that way (yet). i just don't get it. we're even bribing her with m&m's...nothing. i'm almost to the point where a puddle of pee on the floor doesn't even bother me; i just think, 'hhhm, better clean that up sometime soon.' gross! what have i become?

amelia has started rolling over, only for wes, of course...from back to front, i believe. odd duckie. i just hear this loud "DEAR COME QUICK" & then she's totally uninterested in showing off for me. oh well, i saw addy's first roll over, i guess wes gets millie's. she is smiling & laughing so much now & is sitting in the exersaucer & we even had her in this jumper thing (i just found it at a garage sale last spring, sorry addy). just growing up so fast *sniff, sniff*...alas, she's also taken to not sleeping well at night again. but she's not sick. we're wondering if she's getting some teeth moving through the gums? hhmm. but she's just adorable & her hair is starting to lay down a bit more b/c it's getting longer, but not darker. so we may have a brown-red head on our hands. on tuesday,she has her 4 month shots & check up...egads, here we go on the screaming. i hope not, we will be giving her tylenol prior to the appointment this time. (if you don't remember, she cried relentlessly for nearly a day after her 2 month shots).

as for wes & i...we are both really tired lately. we're both getting up with millie 2, sometimes 3 times a night. i can't even comprehend what i'd be like if i was breastfeeding her still. well, i can: a zombie! she sleeps at night about as well as addy did, but then i didn't have a 2 year old running around during the day, so i could deal with it more. i think god was just blessing me early by making breastfeeding nearly impossible this time around!

& we have decided not to finish the basement yet. we are cheap, what can we say? we have a spare bedroom that's actually quite large, so we are turning that into the playroom. a few gallons of paint are much cheaper than a $2200 basement redo! (plus we want to save up for a kitchen redo...hopefully before our cabinets fall apart). anyway, we will be putting up walls around the basement stairs & that's it for now...the mini flood also helped us make this decision :o). so, off come the mattress from the bed frame; we are making it a fun room, one where addy & others can bounce from toy to toy (& our living room won't look like toys r us!). which means we need to find a home for the guest room bedroom set...hhmm. (note: no worries, future guests, we still have mattresses & box springs for you to sleep on! just at a lower level; but you'll be a much cuter room now).

& i will end here. i have cookies baking for my painter upstairs (wes is great. he is determined to get a total first coat on today, so i am thanking him with chocolate chip cookies, his favorite). as for the color of the room, we will leave that a surprise for now. when done, we'll post pictures. when we saw the paint on the wall for the first time, even we were a bit shocked...but it's all good! you'll love it.

Basement Update

As Heidi mentioned yesterday our basement flooded. Owning a home sucks. Anyway, the problem appears to be tree roots in the main sewer from the house. This is a very common problem when you have big trees in your yard which love water. The previous owner warned us that the drain needed snaked every couple of years so I guess our time has come. I'm just glad we know someone in the business. I'd post pictures and movies but it's probably rude to show people our poo.

our budding photographer

we finally downloaded the pictures from addy's new camera. here's what you get when you give a 2 year old a camera! there were over 250 pictures... most of the floor or all black or all white (who knows what they are), some with red. really, they could be some sort of modern artwork, if you played around with the tuning. she will be impressed with herself someday. so here are some of the best, or at least the most clear.

other news: one side of our basement flooded. lovely. so we are calling our friend-the-plumber in the morning. thankfully, the water is on the other side of the basement, not the side we are planning on refinishing. ugh, home ownership sucks. so glad wes knows how to handle things like this b/c i would be so freaking out right now if i didn't have him here to say 'it's okay, just don't flush the toilet' (but i gotta go!).

more news: adeline has a new rash. this one is all over different parts of her body (eye, chin, chest, elbows, upper leg, knee & she kept even itching her tongue). we have no clue where they come from! so we quickly gave her some benedryl & are crossing our fingers that it will be gone in the morning. she hasn't eaten or been in contact with anything odd that we know of. this has got to stop! i really don't want to put her through the skin prick allergy test, but it appears we have no other option at this point.

amelia is doing much better now that she's had 3 doses of zantac back in her system. good stuff.

what we did to send off the year

already 2009! how does that happen? we didn't do much for excitement yesterday (or today for that matter)...it was a day that nearly made mama & daddy's lose our cool a few times (w/ the childrens, at least most of the time). wes & i had the girls in bed by 8:07 p.m. & then we were in bed by about 10:20...we watched "baby mama" which wasn't as funny as i thought it would be. ah well. i rented 2 more movies to watch this weekend, so hopefully one of them is good! (also to watch: "the women" & "things we lost in the fire"). i joked earlier in the day that i would probably be ringing in the new year rocking a baby to sleep. well, i was wrong. i rang in the new year changing a poopy diaper blow out (diarrhea style). i hope that's not an omen for things to come in 2009.

we are trying to find something to occupy our time this weekend...maybe the zoo or cosi tomorrow. but i just NEED to get out of the house. doing something that doesn't revolve around children activities. i don't feel like shopping, but that appears to be my only option right now. gotta love a trip to target to make me feel whole again. boo-hoo.

as for our children:

adeline has taken to crying for 10 minutes at a time. for no apparent reason. it's not necessarily a tantrum (she has her fair share of those, as well)...maybe she's getting very frustrated b/c she's trying to talk more & is not able to express herself? hhm, that's my guess. so she'll just sit on my lap, facing me, put her head on my chest & sob away (or on wes). who knows. is 2 the new teenage years?!

millie didn't do well AT ALL without the zantac & we have her back on it already. it was a rough night...ugh. (& not b/c mom & dad partied!). thank goodness for medicine! my family has such a bad history with stomach problems; i'm very glad that amelia doesn't have to suffer through what some of us (myself) have gone through.

so i made a little video of our joys & sorrows from yesterday. & my dad is home & very happy to be there. he mentioned something about sleeping much better (he took a 3 hour nap & that was the longest stretch of time he'd slept since his surgery. yikes.) & is able to eat soft foods. pretty good stuff. i think we will wait another week maybe until we visit him at home. he is not able to pick up or hold the girls & i would like to give his system a bit more time to recover before "craziness" comes to his house & wants to jump all over him.