Last Day of September

We upgraded our computer and I am only now downloading a month's worth of pictures. Since I didn't post pictures of Seren's first day of school, and since we technically are still in September, I am going to take the liberty of posting some pictures of our VERY excited preschooler.

Seren, my hope for you is that you always look at school with this much happy anticipation. We love you!

First Steps!

Wyeth is a few days short of his 10 month birthday but managed to take three steps last night!! Yahoo!

I got all teary! He has been standing for a few seconds then five seconds and now maybe 15 seconds before he flops down. But last night, all of us were cheering him on and he did it! He was SO happy with himself and Sam and I were cheering like crazy! It was tentative, of course, and I don't expect him to feel stable for many more weeks/months but the fact that he took those first one step and then later two steps!? Amazing...

LOVE watching my children grow. And it was cool that both Sam and I were there for it! Right infront of our play tent in his little blue sweatpants. And before I had a moment to just breathe in that milestone, Seren or Wyeth needed something and the magic was over.

But still...that one is going in the babybook!

Here is a picture from last week that I like:

I wanna play! Phone Photo Friday

My blogging friends are playing photo Friday where they post pics from their camera phones. Getting my pictures off my phone onto another phone and on the web has taken a tremendous effort. My office mate can attest to this! Every week I would come by and say, "HELP!"

Anyway...without further ado I present some of the pictures that have been stuck in my phone for over three years. All featuring my Seren.

The first picture is a picture I took of Seren when my mother in law and I were moving from Madison to our new life in PA. We stayed at a hotel and Seren looked so small admist the pile of pillows!



Here is Seren with her shades on in L-town.



She loved this tub for the longest time. It had a large beak that 'quacked'.

Half Baked Lessons

Seren started preschool last week and has been FILLED with stories about Rachel, Snydney and Ritchie. And new songs! And stories of apples and experiments with apples. It is so fun to hear about her life outside of our home. She has come up with some of the class rules. When asked which rule she thinks the class should have, she replied, "No lying on the floor- someone might step on you." Good stuff.

Anyway, she is already learning a lot. I love it!

But apparently she wasn't listening too carefully to the lessons about the Jewish new year celebration of Rosh Hashanah.

Tonight, sitting in front of her world map placemat she turned to us and asked Sam, "Dad, where is Rosh Hashanah!?"

The Baby Whisperer...When she isn't hitting him

Seren LOVED Wyeth until he could crawl. On August 16th, he became well...annoying to her. He messes with her toys. He knocks down her towers. He chews on her babies! Her babies!!

They now have a love-hate relationship. Whereas before she wanted to hold him, rock him, sing to him, she now can be found shoving him away, pulling on his arms, and generally being entirely too rough. She once knocked him off a toy that sent him flying to the tile floor and Seren was sent off to time out.

Good times. Really.

BUT...she is still incredibly sweet. One night several weeks ago when Wyeth woke up crying, I heard a little voice come through the monitor. She was singing to him.
"You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are grey..."

When I went in to rescue Wyeth, she said "I was singing to him to make him feel better!"

And she does. When Wyeth gets fussy, Seren immediately starts to sing the ABC song. That is the only sure fire thing that calms Wyeth down! It is amazing! And this past weekend while Sam and I were sleeping in, my mom and dad reported that when Wyeth woke up around 1 am, Seren started to sing and he went back to sleep! They didn't have to go up and into his room.

So my grumpy Seren has her moments of just sheer drama but she also is sometimes the only one that can make her brother calm. The Baby Whisperer.

Awesome Weekend

My parents provided us with a much needed break from waking up at 5:15am. They took both kids from Saturday at 12 until Sunday around 5pm! YAHOO!!

And what did we do? Did we spend the weekend in a romantic getaway in the Poconos? Did we get massages? Did we go bike riding?

Nope.

We cleaned the garage! And planted plants! And scrubbed! It was pathetic on the romance scale but super productive on the 'get out house in order' scale!

YAHOO!

When we have spent nights away before it was weddings or a hotel escape. It is truly odd to be home without the kids there. We found ourselves tiptoeing around at night even though no one was there! And we found ourselves feeling rushed even though there was no nap schedule to keep. It was a strange feeling to just have...well...weekend time.

And my god it was good! I woke up at 5:35 but then giggled and fell back to sleep until 8:30! And then we made breakfast slowly and gasp (!) read the paper! We also went out to dinner on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day so we took a hike and just enjoyed being together without the constant stress and noise of two children. I actually sat down and had a meal with my husband and heard the birds. Heard birds chirping!

Meanwhile, while we planted and cleaned, the kids were having a blast! My parents took them out to dinner, took them to a fun playground and then went to an orchard!

My parents are the perfect combination of silly grandparents, playmates and discipliners. Both sets of grandparents treat us so well and love all of us despite our imperfections. We are truly lucky! Here is a picture of my parents and the kids. (Notice the hulk) Next up? A post about our weekend with the Angus family!

This pretty much sums it up

Life with a three year old is all about negotiation.

Below is a picture of Seren. We all were leaving the playground. She did NOT want to leave the playground.

In the foreground stands grumpy Seren with her hands on her hips. In the background is her Daddy who wants her to leave the playground with his hands on HIS hips.

Thanks to my father in law for this one!

So how is all that change treating you?

Ugh! Change! Cringe!

We are still one stressed out bunch. We are all re-learning the routines, re-defining the roles, re-defining the expectations. On days when we actually sleep, we are all fine. But when does that ever really happen?

A quick recap:
Last Thursday was Sam's last day of work! Yahoo! Que the balloons! Nice job, Sam!
Friday my in-laws arrived: Yahoo! Grandma and Grandad! Que the fun, the silliness, the giggles. Saturday, we had a fun day just hanging out. Sunday, Sam turned 36! Wow! We went to a garden to celebrate. It was beautiful. Sam doesn't look any older. The ice cream cake rocked! And seeing my in-laws was really fun and special. They are so good to us and we all just enjoyed being FAMILY.

And Monday was the first day of preschool! Whew! What a milestone! I couldn't believe how nervous *I* was. As my friend Ruth put it, it is that first glimpse of educators into your life that can be nerve wrecking. And you just hope you did well. That she will enjoy, grow, THRIVE in school.

Seren was SUPER excited the morning of. She squealed in delight as we drove off to the school. Sam, Seren and I were all excited. And then, when we pulled up, the "wrong" teacher greeted her at the car door. Where was Ms. Ann??? She BURST into tears, the snot started to flow, she flung herself at the car as they pried her out. It was miserable! The car ahead of us had a little girl arriving. Her pigtails were bouncing in the wind. A smile on her face. SHE was with Ms. Ann but not Seren. Seren was snot-smeared and stressed out when not 30 seconds before she was giggling with excitement.

She was FINE. Of course she was fine. But I cried seeing her go. (After I was out of sight!) What happens? One second you are trying on maternity clothes, giving birth, the next thing you know, they are going to preschool. And college will not be far behind.

But she had a blast. She called me at work to tell me ALL about it. What she ate for snack. Who she sat next to. What toys she played with. Which swings she sat on. She really had a good time.

WHEW.

But yeah, the other stuff, the changes, that is hard. I find myself awake at night- completely exhausted- just thinking. About work. About the laundry. About verizon wireless customer service. And all the time, the minutes tick by. I continue to be very irritable. Very cranky. Esp with Seren which makes me feel horrible. I had NO IDEA that age three would be THIS challenging. And I can't seem to cope with it well. She just drives me NUTS somedays. The constant needs. The questions. The need to have it done. RIGHT NOW. Not THAT way, THIS way. The not listening to anything we say. How can I encourage more flexibility in her? How can I be more patient myself? The last few days, I have been QUITE ugly to live with.

I'm hoping that some SLEEP plus a night away from childcare duties (thanks to my mom and dad) will recharge my batteries. And Sam's.

So, in answer to my own question about how well we are doing, I'd say that we are "hanging in there and still adjusting."

Cute pictures will be part of the next post.

Wyeth is 9 months! Inside-Outside Day!

My friend Laura wrote this post back in 2007 about how she celebrated the fact that her twin boys were on the outside as opposed to the inside. I began reading her blog around that time, my first experience with a 'blog'. And got inspired.

In honor of the fact that Wyeth was inside me for 264 days and has now been outside for 274 days, I'm celebrating my own inside-outside day! My sweet pea is nine months!

Since I am no longer pregnant, today, I will NOT:
* I will not waddle
* I will not look like this (which by the way is a picture of me in labor right
before we left for the hospital)



* I will not sleep on a Hefty Garbage bag incase my water breaks
* I will not wonder aloud to Sam, "Will this be the day!?"
* I will not drive to work with my packed suitcase in my trunk of my car
* I will not wonder if I would have a c-section
* I will not time contractions all day
* I will not take nifedipine to stop the contractions. I also will not get dizzy from taking them every 4 hours.
* I will not get a shot in my ass of projesterone on Tuesday to prevent pre-term labor.

Since I have a baby OUTSIDE, I will:
* I will change a poopy diaper at 5 or 6 am
* I will look like something like this


* I will not sleep through the night
* I will nurse my baby to sleep
* I will look at my squishy belly and think about pregnancy
* I will get snuggled
* I will get spit up on
* I will eat brie
* I will seek out a glass of wine
* I will make my Wyeth laugh

Wyeth, you are such a love! You are Mr. Active! You have learned to crawl and then to pull yourself up. I have found you standing in your crib the last few days.

You continue to eat most of what we put before you. (The exception being peas).

And (knock on wood), you have somewhat of a schedule! You wake up at 5:30 or 6 and are back down by 9 am. You sleep until 11 and then play until around 2pm. You usually sleep for another 90 minutes and are back into bed by 8 pm.

You and Seren are sharing a room which on good nights, is a great idea. But most nights, it hasn't worked out too well. You usually end up in your pack and play in the downstairs front room. But we are working on that.

You have no interest in books- preferring still to eat them.

Currently, you have four teeth- your canine teeth are still working themselves in (two uppper) and your two lower teeth are all the way in.

You haven't said anything yet but love to 'coo' when you see the cats walking by.

Wy guy, how are you 9 months already? Sigh. You are growing so fast. We are so proud that you are YOU. Both sets of grandparents and many extended Aunts and Uncles love you to pieces. May you always know how deeply loved you are. Happy 9 months, buddy!



Edited to add: Wyeth's stats at 9 months: 20.5 lbs (50%) and 30 inches (75%)

First Trip to the Dentist

Well, after much hype, a re-reading of Mercer Mayer's Dentist book and much chatting about how 'fun' the dentist would be...

She hated it.

She screamed. She was scared.

Great. Good 'first' to imprint on her brain, right?

The hardest part was the fact that they require the child to come back to the chair by themselves. Well, they strongly encourage it. Lets take it from her perspective. "Hello Mr and Mrs Stranger that I've never seen before that wear weird masks, smell funny and have gloves on. I'd just LOVE to accompany you to a place I've never seen do to something a little odd."

In the end, Wyeth and I went back with Seren. I held her hand and did some singing to her. The dentist did very little, in my opinion, to assuage her fears. Instead he said, "We already gave out the academy award this morning."

HUH! She has no idea what that means. She doesn't understand sarcasm! I thought it was rude. Me? If I was the dentist, I would have had Seren look at the 'tapper' and the mirror and ask any questions. I would have her enjoy the seat a bit- ride up and down, etc. And THEN get started. The whole 'welcome to this wacky room, sit in this wacky chair and open your mouth real wide' thing didn't work at all.

So, 15 minutes later, he declared that her teeth were fine, her mouth was small and that we should start saving for braces. He wouldn't be cleaning them due to her 'response'. Oh, and can I have 40.00 please for my time.

Tears wiped, smiles regained, we celebrated this 'first' with a picnic in the park. Seren declared for the rest of the day that she did not like the dentist. When I asked her about it last night before she went to bed, she snuggled me and said, "I guess it wasn't that bad."

Sigh.

What have been others' experiences with pediatric dentists? I don't think I'll be going back there. It is just scary when you are three years old and PEDIATRIC dentists, in my opinion, should know that. He did say that her response was 'normal'. (Of course it was!) At least the day was gorgeous and the picnic was good fun!