Monthly Archives: May 2011

Eleven Years and Three Days

Posted on by
2

A few days ago we realized that we didn’t really have any specific plans for this long weekend and after looking at a weather forecast full of rain, we decided that Saturday morning would be a perfect time to visit Sea Life at the Mall of America.  Sort of like going to the zoo, but faster and we knew we wouldn’t get rained on.

Turns out today was gorgeous!  Totally perfect in every way kind of weather.  But stuck to our plan and went to the aquarium anyway.

Alethea liked the eye-level displays:

Alethea liked the eye-level displays

The color-changing LED jellyfish tanks were really cool:

The LED lit jellyfish tanks were really cool

Alethea did put her hand in the “petting zoo” water, but didn’t want to touch the starfish:

Alethea liked putting her hand in the water, but didn't want to touch the starfish

Lydia liked walking through the aquarium tunnels.  She was making lots of noises.  I’m pretty sure she was trying to talk to the fish:

Not sure this guy looks like he’s in the mood for a conversation anyway:

The sea turtle was more friendly looking, but still declined to comment:

After completing our tour of Sea Life, we went to the food court for lunch.  It was then that I realized we were about to go by the very spot where Peter and I first met.  It was the spring of 2000 on that fateful day when we saw each other outside of Golf Mountain, where we were gathering with a group of friends to go mini-golfing.

I told Peter, “I think it must be about eleven years and one month since we met.  Didn’t we go mini-golfing sometime in April?”

“No,” replied Peter, “It was about eleven years and a week ago.”  And then after another second’s thought, “Actually, it was eleven years and three days ago, because it was the Wednesday before Memorial Day that we first met.”

How is it that he can remember that, but I have to put a post-it note on the garage door to get him to take his lunch to work?  Funny boy!

A Lesson in Sharing

Posted on by
3

Sweet little Lydia, lying in the grass with an umbrella to protect her from the sun.

What’s this?  Alethea wants to be under the umbrella too!

Woosh!  The wind blows the umbrella away. Uh oh!

Naturally, Alethea feels the umbrella will be more secure if she is the one to hold it.
Lydia says, “Hey! I had it first!”

But wait, can it be possible?  Yes, two girls can hold onto the umbrella at the same time!

Now everyone is happy!

Two Quick Funnies

Posted on by
1

It’s late, I need to go to bed.  I’ve really been dragging lately.

But quickly before I do I thought I’d post a couple of funny things that Alethea said today.

Scene #1: Alethea comes walking out of the laundry room carrying a food stained bib, which she proceeds to put on Baby Doll
I Say: “Alethea, is that a dirty bib?”
She Says: “No, it’s a fresh one!”

Scene #2: Alethea is “helping” put away the spring decorations, which means she’s playing with the Easter basket grass and a bird figurine
I Say: “Alethea, please be careful with Mommy’s bird.  Mommy won’t be happy if you break it.”
She Says: (very seriously) “Keep Mommy happy.”

I guess I’ve got her trained well.

Mmmmm… Pearsauce!

Posted on by
2

This weekend was Lydia’s introduction to the world of solid foods.  Here’s how it went…

Day #1 – Saturday:

First Bite!

First Bite!

She wasn't a big fan...

Several bites later, the situation hadn't improved much

Several bites later, her opinion of pearsauce hadn't improved much

After a couple of teaspoons, we gave up torturing her, and figured we’d try again another day.

Day #2 – Sunday:

Same kid, same food... a whole new attitude

Same kid, same food... a whole new attitude

Yes, that's Lydia trying to shove the spoon in her mouth

Yes, that's Lydia trying to shove the spoon into her mouth

Mmmm... Pearsauce is good!

Mmmm... Pearsauce is good!

After a couple of tablespoons, we finally had cut her off.  The way she was going, she would have quickly finished off the whole container without a problem.

Now I like solid foods!

More please!

An Emergency Room Adventure

Posted on by
1

Let me start by saying that we are all okay, but yeah, we did go to the E.R. last night.

Yesterday, Alethea was kind of cranky, but not so bad that I suspected anything was wrong.

Then last night at about 1:30am I woke to horrible screaming.  I jumped out of bed and ran to Alethea’s room to find her holding on to the crib rail, shaking badly and shrieking at the top of her lungs.  I picked her up and she calmed down for a few seconds and then suddenly she let out another ear-splitting cry and began trembling all over once again.

Needless to say, I was frightened.  I don’t think I’ve ever experienced something as awful as holding my feverish, shrieking child who is convulsing in my arms.

I carried Alethea into our room, woke up Peter and told him I was taking Alethea to the E.R.  So he got up and calmly started getting dressed.  I was panicking, trying to figure out how to leave the house when I was holding Alethea, needed to get dressed and had a sleeping 4 month-old in the next room.

I once heard that during a crisis 10% of people act calmly and keep their heads, 10% freak out and make things worse and 80% just freeze and don’t do anything.  I froze.  “Help! I don’t know what to do!” I told Peter, “Should I call my mom?”  (Yes, I’m 29 years old and I still want my mom when I’m scared.)  Peter said, “We’ll just take Lydia with us.” Then he took Alethea from me so I could get dressed too.

We got out the door, into the car and started driving down the street.  Alethea was in the back.  She began calmly talking about how it was dark, how Daddy was driving Mommy’s car and various other topics.  Suddenly I felt kind of silly for taking her to the E.R.  I looked at Peter and asked, “I’m over-reacting, aren’t I?”

“Maybe, just a bit,” he said wryly.

But we were half-way there and I still was frightened by the shaking and screaming of 15 minutes earlier, so on we went.

We got to the hospital, checked in, saw the triage nurse, and were shown to our bed.  Alethea did have a fever and elevated heart rate, but other than that, she was doing well.  The doctor came in and diagnosed her with an ear infection and told us that the trembling was almost certainly chills from the fever, not a seizure since Alethea was making noise at the time.  Apparently screaming is actually a good sign.

Alethea was given some Tylenol, a freezie pop and a prescription for antibiotics.  After filling the prescription, we went home and back to bed.

So now all that remains is to wait for the bill.

My guess is that was one expensive freezie pop!

Just to Prove Me Wrong

Posted on by
1

I know I wrote in Lydia’s 4 month update that she didn’t seem to be trying to roll over yet.  Then Sunday, while I was taking her 4 month pictures to put in the post, she rolled from her tummy to her back for the first time.  And the thing about it was that it was so slow and controlled, she made it look like she’d been rolling over for a long time.

And then to top it off, on Tuesday she rolled from her back to her tummy… and then she did it again and again and again!

So, I guess she was just waiting until she was sure she could do it.  Or maybe analyzing the situation, studying the data, making a pro/con list…

Who knows.

In any case, it’s official now, Lydia is on the move!

What a Character!

Posted on by
2

Alethea has been talking more than ever lately.  And by that I mean, that she babbles as much as she ever did, but now most of it is intelligible.  Naturally, the more I understand, the more often I’m amused by what comes out of her mouth.

Just tonight when we went as a family to visit the landscaping yard, Alethea got up close and personal with a ‘bubbling boulder’ fountain.  “What do you think?” I asked her.  “Pretty cool!” was her enthusiastic response.

Sometimes the funny things she says make frustrating moments easier.  This morning I took the girls to the park.  When it was time to go, Alethea threw a fit and the screaming lasted the duration of the half-mile walk home (let me tell you, that girl has staying power).  When we got inside and calmed down, I tried talking back through what had happened to help her understand her emotions better.  After we reviewed a bit, I asked her, “Did it make you sad to leave the park?”  Her response was, “Alethea cried.  Alethea heartbroken! “

Did I mention that she can be a bit of a drama queen?

Speaking of drama queen moments, you should have heard her yesterday when she came up to me and said, “I feel sick!  Ugggg!”  (I kid you not, she said ‘uggg’.)  I responded, “Oh, no, what’s wrong?”   In her best sick voice, Alethea said, “Need medicine.  Open changing table drawer!”  I rolled my eyes.  “Nice try, kid!  No, you still aren’t allowed to open the changing table drawer.”

I’m not sure whether to be glad that she tries to trick me into things rather than just breaking the rules outright or not.  Fortunately, at this point, she’s not very good at lying.  For example, last week we had some bad weather right after the girls had gone to bed.  The sirens went off and so Peter and I went into Alethea’s room and excitedly told her, “Do you hear the sirens?  They mean that we get to go to the basement and watch TV!”

Well, Alethea thought it was quite a fun adventure and ever since then she keeps telling me, “Hear sirens!  Go watch TV?”  Then I just shake my head and say, “Hmmm, I didn’t hear anything.  I don’t think we need to turn the TV on right now.”

Do you think that since her name means ‘truth’ she’ll always be a horrible liar?  I’m hoping so…

Bye-bye Party Decorations

Posted on by
Reply

Today Alethea and I took down the polka-dot birthday party decorations.  I know her birthday was weeks ago, but the decorations were so cute I decided to leave them up through Peter’s birthday.  But alas, his birthday has come and gone, so it was time to say goodbye.  We had some fun with it the streamers though:

Where’s Alethea?!?!?

There she is!!!!

There’s my beautiful, funny, two-year-old girl!

Lydia’s Four Month Update

Posted on by
1

Lydia turned four months old on the 5th of this month.  Even though it’s a little late… Happy Birthday, Darling!

Wow, I can’t believe how quickly this last month has gone by and how much Lydia has changed and grown.  We went in for Lydia’s four month check-up last week and her current stats are: Height – 23.75 inches, Weight – 17 lbs 9 oz, Head Circumference – 42.25 cm.  That means Lydia only in the 29th percentile for height, but is in the 98th for weight and 80th for head circumference.  No wonder everyone always tells me she looks ‘healthy’, those chubby cheeks make it very clear she’s not underfed!

She continues to be her adorably happy and easy-going self.  It always take me aback just a bit when she cries, since it is such a rare occurrence.  Lately, she’s even quit crying when she wakes up in the morning and from naps.  Instead I just hear her cooing away and know she’s awake and ready to get up.  About the only thing that really makes her upset is when someone else steals the spotlight during one of her photo shoots…

As far as physical milestones go, she doesn’t seem to be in a huge hurry to get moving.  She does roll up onto her side fairly frequently, but as long as there is a toy in reach or something interesting to look at, she’s content to just stay in one place and amuse herself.  She does like to sit up, whether in someone’s lap or on the floor and if she uses her hands to help she can sit up by herself for about 15 seconds or so, at which point she’ll see something she wants to grab and then promptly tip over.

Although rolling over doesn’t seem to be something she’s striving for, Lydia is working on perfecting her fine motor skills.  She’s getting quite good at grabbing for and holding on to her toys (and other objects!)  Naturally, whenever she gets a hold of something, it always goes straight into her mouth.

Lydia’s current “favorites” are: smiling, eating, sleeping, having her diaper changed, being naked, taking baths, Mommy, Daddy and Alethea.  There aren’t many things that seem to bother her, but the top two would probably be, being fed out of a bottle and having Mommy walk out of the room after having been put in bed for the night.  (Sometimes though if I walk back over to her bassinet, she’ll start telling me this long story with lots of ah’s and oh’s in it.  When she’s done I’ll say, “That’s very nice, honey.  Thanks for telling me that.  Now you need to go to sleep.”  And she’ll say one more, “Ooooh!” and then close her little eyes and head off for dreamland.  It’s like she has something super important she just has to tell me before she can relax and go to sleep.  So cute!)

We just love our sweet little Lydia and are so excited to see her continue to grow and develop.  On this month’s schedule: learn to roll over and try solid foods!  Should be an thrilling month of May!