No time to write tonight, but here’s a picture I’ve been meaning to post of my darling girls:
So Sweet…
3
Mmmmm… Pearsauce!
This weekend was Lydia’s introduction to the world of solid foods. Here’s how it went…
Day #1 – Saturday:
First Bite!
She wasn't a big fan...
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
Yes, that's Lydia trying to shove the spoon into her mouth
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.
More please!
An Emergency Room Adventure
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
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!
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
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
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!
The Bean: A Brief Pictoral History
Okay, I know it only got to around fifty degrees today, but a few days ago it was hot and humid enough that we had our air conditioning on for the first time, so summer has got to be just around the corner. To prepare for its arrival, I’ve gotten all my new plants in the ground, and just for fun I took a picture to compare The Bean now to The Bean at this time last year:
‘The Bean’ – March 2010
(How it looked when we bought the house, minus the two trees we had removed)
‘The Bean’ – April 2010
(After a thorough weeding and a whole bunch of mulch)
‘The Bean’ – May 2011
(Some plants were added in 2010 and more this spring)
I’m still not crazy about how The Bean (or the lawn) looks, but it is nice to see that there has been improvement over the last 13 months. And I’m sure everything will look better once the flowers are actually in bloom.
Come on Summer!
Happy Birthday, Peter!
Wednesday was Peter’s birthday. Like everything else in my life at the moment, I’m a little behind the times, so…
Happy happy birthday to you, Peter! Do you realize that since we’re almost 30 that means we’ve been together for about a decade now? Kinda crazy how time flies.
Anyway, I want to write you a happy birthday blog post and I totally know how much you hate anything sappy, so I’ll do my best not to gush…
But I have to tell you that I think you are my perfect match and I’m so glad you wanted to marry me. You keep me sane when I overbook myself, you calm my fears when I’m being a worry-wart, and you tell me it’s good enough when I try too hard to make things exactly right. And how is it possible I found someone who loves both baseball and music even more than I do?
I know life is has gotten a bit predictable now that we have two kids, two cars and a mortgage, but there isn’t a person on this planet that I would trade places with.
I love you so much! And here’s to another decade together! Cheers!
A Post from Philly
Hello from the city of brotherly love! I got here on Friday afternoon and since then it’s been a whirlwind of activity. I’ve visited friends, re-learned how to parallel park and eaten the best grilled cheese sandwich on the planet courtesy of the South Philly Tap Room on 15th and Mifflin.
Of course, I also went to my friend Katie Jo’s wedding, which was beautiful. And her block-party reception which was lots of fun despite a little rain. I got to dress up in my wedding outfit, complete with flowered headband (which was a couple of fabric flowers that I got at Michael’s and attached to a headband purchased from Ulta). Here’s a picture of me, Katie Jo, and Ann (we were all roommates together during my second year living in Philly):
Well, I’m off to have brunch with friends, so I can’t write more about my Philly adventures now. Stay tuned this week though, when I get home I’ll be writing Alethea’s 2 year update and Lydia’s 4 month update. That is, I’ll be writing those posts after I give the girls lots and LOTS of hugs and kisses. I miss them even more than I thought I would!