Complex Imaginative Play

Jessica sent me this NPR article about the importance of old-fashioned play. I chuckled when I read about complex imaginative play...all day yesterday, Seth told Nathan to hold up a pillow, which was to be a door in a tree, because Nathan was Austin the grabbin' goblin, and I had to carry around a tiger noise stick that the Santa in the mall gave Seth because it was my wand (I was Tasha the flighty fairy), and Seth carried around a red plastic Easter egg that had a dragon inside of it, and he had deemed himself King Pablo. If Amelia was awake, she was either Tyrone or "lady in pink". (they're knights, that's right) If you can't figure out what the heck I'm talking about, Seth made us act out a Backyardigans episode...incidently the show is about five critters and their overactive imaginations!

the early bird catches the worm...

Amelia had her first bottle over the weekend. I'm hoping to start stockpiling milk for convenience, and let Nathan do a bottle every other evening for right now. She made slow work of the the first half of the bottle... ...but Seth wanted to help, and after that she gulped the rest right now! (You can tell by location that Nathan is an old pro.)

Seth walked in on me pumping, and was even more horrified of that than he initially was about breastfeeding...guess if I don't get it done before he gets up in the morning, that will be Thomas video time (somehow he has never watched a Thomas video before Sunday...he has been glued to his train table the past four days, we found the videos on PBS Sprout on demand and he loved them.)

Amelia's belly post bottle...I think we've had a growth spurt this past week!

Seth has decided he's too big for naps...in the past week he has only taken two. He will willingly go up to his room, but most days he just plays until I come get him. He doesn't beg to come out, so I'm not complaining. Simultaneously, there has been a huge change in the quality of his play; I have to think that they are related. He did this Friday morning while I was checking email...

I bought him a Dollar Store 25-piece Mickey Mouse Clubhouse puzzle and gave it to him Saturday night...it had been a rainy day and we'd been stuck inside. I had to help him a little bit with it, by last night he was doing it by himself! He's always loved puzzles, but I was amazed that he mastered it so quickly. (I will be buying the entire collection next time I run in there...hours of intellectual play for $1? You can't beat that!)

Amelia has started to show a cranky side (especially when tired and in the evenings), and we've been up with the chickens the past two days. She slept the day away yesterday, so I'm not going to complain about a 4:45am wake-up call, it could have been so much worse!

1/12

Amelia is one month old today! I put her on the scale with me this morning, and I think she's around 9 lbs. Some days she stays awake most of the day, others she sleeps most of the day. She has a good night time routine, getting up twice to eat, and sleeping in until about 7:30. Unfortunately, sometime between 3am and 5am she turns into a Snork. I'm not sure why that is the only time she needs to make such noises while sleeping, but at least she's not crying.

When she is awake, this is how Amelia spends most of her time...she really only fusses when she's tired, hungry, needs a diaper change, or wants to see the world from a different angle. And so you have a comparison... Seriously, Seth had colic and after he was about three weeks old, this is how most of our days were spent until he outgrew it at close to four months of age. Even our family can tell the difference when they visit. He wasn't a very easy baby, but he sure is a fun kid now!

I think Amelia is going to be our chatterbox, she already thinks she has something to say. Here is a little of her chatter...this is one of those instances that she got quieter as soon as I'd put the camera on her...oh well. Seth calls her the baby cat.

Timber!

One of the big trees in our front yard wasn't looking so hot the second half of last year; when it didn't bloom this spring, Nathan decided it had to go. On our end of the street, people are vigilant about their yards (see the second picture...they have in-ground sprinklers and Friday yard service year-round.) Nathan's mom took some pictures. The guys were outside for over three hours hauling branches. Nathan's chipper-shredder to make mulch is due to arrive this morning. I know what he'll be doing all weekend!

"Hey Daddy! This basketball goal is old. Should we pull it down, too?"

Easter 2008

What a nice holiday weekend. We have had a lot of family time, the boys spent hours outside Saturday doing all sorts of fun things like picking up sticks and digging in dirt. Seth and I boiled eggs and then put the shrink covers on them. (Not something I'd recommend having a nosey toddler around for.) We grilled out since it was so nice outside. Seth did NOT want the Easter bunny to come while he was sleeping, so we told the E.B. to come while we were at church. I am very proud of us that we made it to the early service. Amelia was darn cute in her dress that Nathan picked out for her. We came home to a trail of eggs leading straight to our fireplace...the Easter bunny did come, and Seth was so nice, he showed Amelia her stuff before he tore into his. Lisa and Michael stopped by on their way back to Columbia, and Mom and Dad came over too, so I hosted my first holiday meal in Clemmons (and we used our china for the third time ever). As always, Seth (and Amelia) enjoyed the extra attention. It was a quick visit as everyone wanted to get home to their respective TVs to watch the Carolina game. Our evening has consisted of multiple egg hunts, and Amelia being fascinated with her stuffed chick.

Busted Brackets '08

Um, yeah, I didn't do a stellar job picking my brackets this year (although I do partially blame Nathan since I listened to him when he said Drake was good...). In one bracket, I've already lost four of my Sweet Sixteen teams. In the other, the only person I'm doing better than is shunting to a placenta (yea, Tiff!).

I made it through a four-day week of being a mommy of two. Every day we ran errands...I think I have the sleeping baby/happy boy combo down, and I even did okay with sleeping baby/grumpy boy and active boy/awake baby combos. This picture is of Amelia's 3-week birthday, wearing the outfit Uncle Bryan bought her.Friday Nathan's parents came to spend the day. The guys took out a big tree in our front yard. Grandma Sarah took Seth out to supervise, hopefully I'll have a picture of that to post soon. This is the first picture of Amelia snuggling with her Mayse grandparents. While at the hospital, Nathan was in my room for awhile before I was let out of the recovery room, but they wouldn't release Amelia to him until I was there (weird, since he had the wristband and he was really sole caregiver the first twelve hours...I wish they would have asked me, I would have okay'd it...I'd have rather her been held than hang out in the nursery, I'd already had some good snuggle time with her before she went to the nursery.) Anyways, Nathan's parents had to leave before they got to hold her that day, but they made up for it with lots of snuggles yesterday.

Fun presents

The kids have received a bunch of fun gifts over the past few weeks...here are some of the favorites...Seth's turtle from his baby-sitters and Diego Rescue Pack from Granddad and Grandma Sarah

Amelia's quilt made by Great-Grandma Meek

Seth's cow blanket from Lisa and Michael

You can't pinch us!

We're all wearing our green today!

Friday the kids and I made a successful trip to the grocery store. We only bought $22 of groceries, but it took me three trips upstairs to get the groceries, the mail, and two kids in. Ha! Lisa, Michael, and Bryan got here right at the end of naptime. Once Seth shook the sleepies off, he was go-go-go the rest of their visit. Shockingly, Bryan volunteered to hold Amelia. Several times. (Probably because she is not as messy/fussy as Seth was at that age.) Saturday morning my parents came over for the day. Sunday we made a Home Depot run, I tried to rest as much as possible, and Nathan did some yardwork. We had two cranky kids last night, but after a good night's sleep, they are back to their happy selves. Today I went FIVE DIFFERENT PLACES by myself with the kids...I am so proud of myself! Seth had his first My Gym class this morning, and I think we may have hit the jackpot for something structured to do until preschool starts in the fall.

Silly Seth story...we bought him a flower kit yesterday, and after he planted the seeds and put the greenhouse in my bathroom window, he went and got his little guitar...he thought if he played music to them, he'd grow a beanstalk (thanks, Jack's Big Music Show!). We had to tell him they grow SLOW.

This morning Amelia was pitching a fit, and I soon figured out why...this little girl likes to cross her ankles, she had decided to do it inside her outfit, and consequently had the wrong leg in each leg hole! Silly!

"How lucky is that?"

The above is a direct quote from my Grandpa B, when he found out Nathan and I would both be paid for our respective leaves from work. Now granted, we both saved up vacation time to do this, but it's been so nice having the whole family at home. Nathan worked half days the past two days at my request, and I did fine (of course we never left the house). Tomorrow is my first whole day solo, and I do need to venture out because we expect my siblings after nap.

Yesterday afternoon was breezy, the boys flew our Dollar Store kite after we took a family walk.

Last night Amelia took her big girl bath, she was in and out before there was enough water for Seth to play in, but he thought it was pretty fun to have two kids in the tub!

Two weeks old...compare and contrast...

Amelia had her two-week check-up today, she was 7lbs 12.2 oz.

Our first attempt at prissy...

Smile with your eyes!

Amelia had a really sleepy day Saturday, so she made up for it by being awake a lot on Sunday. Nathan thinks she is smiling with her eyes...I didn't catch it yesterday, but check out her big hands... We had some girl time today while the boys napped...(I think I caught her smiling with her eyes in this one!)
Will meets Amelia for the first time, and he gave her a great big hug!

Seth got some new stuff Saturday...a cool Cookie Monster bag from Marie, and Playdoh Octopus from daddy....

Twinkle Twinkle

Seth woke up from nap with "Twinkle Twinkle" on the brain, amd he's been singing it ever since. This was from when we were sitting in the parking lot at Lowes this afternoon. He actually knows the whole song, he just kept stopping so he could watch himself on the camera.

So does anyone know where a singing toddler's off button is hidden?

Update 3/10/08: I heard "Twinkle Twinkle" on the monitor at 3am this morning...

Big brother being big

Seth is adding all sorts of new vocabulary this week, and has gotten really good at singing, current favs are "the wheels on the bus" and "twinkle twinkle little star". He has been excellent at bedtime and naptime. We don't know if he's trying to widen the gap between himself and Amelia, or if he is just thriving having both of us at home all the time. Amelia continues to be an easy baby, so we've already settled into a comfortable routine. Seth is very serious about helping me with diaper changes. The past few evenings he has been playing with her on the playmat, he's teaching her the ocean animals and singing "twinkle twinkle". Wednesday the boys went outside and planted some spring bulbs...(he's also pretty cute when he goes to fill the bird feeders).The other night he asked to snuggle Amelia in my bed. I was trying to postpone Amelia's bedtime snack, and she snuggled into Seth and that bought me an extra 20 minutes or so.
Amelia has been wide awake most of this morning...

Family of four update

Pace yourselves, this may be a long post...last Thursday was a whirlwind day. Nathan and I got to the hospital (early this time) and I was whisked away to pre-op. Last time Nathan was with me the whole time, but this time they didn't let him in until about 45 minutes later. Last time, Nathan wore hospital scrubs, this time he got the bunny suit.

There were two c-sections ahead of me that day, but they were running ahead of schedule. I was in the OR at 11:11, numb by 11:24, and Amelia was born at 11:35. I was not a blubbering mess this time, and Nathan, the doctors, and I talked through the whole thing. One of my coworkers is in nurse practitioner school, and he came into the delivery to take care of Amelia, which was really neat. Amelia came out hollering, got cleaned up, and then got some snuggle time with her daddy.

I spent a LONG time in the recovery room...I must say I didn't have a very good nurse. I kept telling her I was sweaty, and she said it was just the anesthesia (which it may have been). I then started shaking and she took my temperature and declared it too low to leave the recovery room (even though I'd been eating ice for an hour). The shakes continued all afternoon. Everyone said it was just the anesthesia, but Nathan's dad thought it might have something to do with my blood sugar too, and once I started drinking Coke and Gatorade I started to feel a lot better. I spent most of the evening with my eyes closed willing the shakes away. I was better by the time Seth came to meet his sister. He seemed to like her...the first thing he said was "baby sister", the second was "tickle baby".

Friday I was allowed to get out of bed and take a shower, and I felt like a new woman. We met with all those people that come to talk to you when you have a baby, and then we were free to enjoy our day. My parents brought Seth up again and then my boys went home for a nap, and mom and dad stayed with me. They did a Seth-swap later in the afternoon and then Marie, Evan, and Ryan came to meet Amelia. (Ryan was more fascinated with the toilet than his new cousin.) Saturday Elise and Chad came from Charleston to see us, and both my doctor and Amelia's said we could go home. We had planned to stay until Sunday, so Nathan went ahead and played in his soccer game as planned, and we got home around 6.

My parents left Sunday around lunchtime...but I suppose you want to see a picture of Amelia now, right?

Monday we were very adventurous...it was a nice day so we took Seth to Tanglewood (I did a whole lot of watching) and later in the day we went to the grocery store. Tuesday we went to Chikfila and then Amelia had her first check-up. Nathan and I were shocked to see she was back up to 7lbs,4.4 oz, we would have been happy if she had been just 7lbs...it took two weeks to get Seth back to birth weight, although I had a hunch she'd be a good eater!

Amelia is a really easy baby (s0 far), she really only cries when she's hungry or needs a diaper change. The last two nights she has had a vocarious appetite from about 7-10pm...exhausting for me, but better then than at 2am! Our days have been beginning between 6 and 7am, we've been able to get a nap every day while the kids sleep, and bedtime is between 10 and 11pm. Not a bad start, I hope it continues!

Seth has been a very good helper and big brother, and he's talking a lot more, I guess to prove he's big. He has his moments, but so far the only calamity is that the other day while I was getting dressed and Nathan was doing work, I caught him sucking out of the toddler toothpaste. I don't know how much he ate, but it didn't appear to affect him too bad. :)

I think I'll finish this post with my favorite picture so far...

"Ahhh...."

I'll post more later, I just wanted to get this video off my camera so I could get some space back... thanks to Dad for posting on Thursday for me. We're all adjusting fairly well to life as a family of four so far.

This video is from Sunday night. Seth decided he loved his baby sister......but we obviously weren't enthusiastic enough for him. It's not a great-quality video, but it was too cute not to share.