Highlights

Christmas vacation got off to an early start after Ezra ended up in the ER for a stomach bug. He's fine, in fact he was perfectly smiley the whole time in the ER too (from midnight to 5am, sigh). So, I'm doing my best to work from home yesterday and today. Yesterday it was just Ez and me, like old times. Today, it's all 3 of us and I'm getting decidedly less accomplished. :)

So far my favorite part has been Eliza asking me how to spell "Princesses only allowed" so she could write in on her castle and keep her brother out. Ezra has learned how to clap and is currently jumping up and down in his Exersaucer, clapping while his sister sings Christmas songs. Now they tell me they're going to be putting on a show for me and they're hiding behind the curtain. :) I better go; wouldn't want to miss the show!

Update

After 3+ months of excessive drooling (seriously, he goes through like 4 bibs a day, just due to drool), Ezra's two bottom teeth popped out on Friday. This makes me a little sad because I adore his gummy grin. The teeth still have a ways to go, but you can definitely see them and feel them, when he gnaws on your finger. He's started solid food, but he's not so into it. He mainly just likes sitting in his new high chair with us while the rest of us eat. He'll also gnaw on things like cucumbers, spinach leaves, you name it.

He's not crawling yet (hallelujah! I am in no rush for him to be mobile. Something tells me life is going to get a LOT harder once they are both mobile...) but he does inch around on his tummy and manage to grab toys that he's after. He'll either roll over to get to something or just sort of army crawl in a circle until he accomplishes his goal.

I took both kids for their well checks recently. Ezra is 27 inches tall and weighs 20 lbs. Eliza is 39.5 inches tall and weighs 36 lbs. Ezra is in the 80th percentile for weight, which actually makes him my skinny baby! Eliza was in the 95th at that age. Taking them both at the same time was meant to be good multi tasking but was actually pretty draining. Poor babies both got several shots and Eliza had a blood draw. Dragging two crying babies out of the office was no fun but they both perked up shortly thereafter. (Yogurt pretzels may have helped the oldest.)

Speaking of our oldest, she is becoming quite the artist! She always wants to do "artivities" lately. She's also way into writing. She constantly asks us how to spell things. The other day she wrote my name without my help and she's got her own memorized. She can also write "Papa" quite easily and quickly. This morning she gave Ezra a drawing and she'd spelled his name on it. Instead of asking me how to spell Ezra, she'd looked on a cube our sweet friend Dilshad knitted for Ezra and Eliza used that as a model.

We are having lots of fun together and I'm excited about getting to spend 2 weeks straight with them over the holidays! On the way to school in the mornings we've been listening to Kat Edmonson's "Lucky Me" and Eliza has been singing along. This morning we were listening to "Pumped Up Kicks" and jamming out. Eliza said, "Look, Mom, Ezra is a rock star!" We are so lucky. I hope I have enough energy for our 2 rock stars these next couple of weeks! Merry Christmas to the 4 of you reading this blog! ;)

Ezra's birth story

*Okay, seriously, this post is TMI. Don't read any further if you don't want to hear gross details.*

Since Eliza's labor was such an anomaly, I was warned from my first OB appointment with Ezra that his labor would probably be even faster. Several times our midwives told us that the usual rules about when to call didn't apply to us and that, when I thought I was in labor, I should go to the hospital immediately, even if that meant throwing Eliza in the car and bringing her with us. This made for a sort of tense last month of pregnancy for me. I kept thinking of all the different scenarios and wishing that I could control things. What if S got stuck in traffic and I had to drive myself? Should we really bring Eliza? I obsessed. Plus, I started getting regular contractions much earlier the second time around. I actually had 2 full blown false alarms with Ezra.

The first time I drove Eliza and I to the hospital as soon as the contractions started to get painful. I knew they would only get worse and I wanted to drive while I was able. When the contractions got closer together, I called Scott and he left to meet me there (Did I mention he has 5 days off for the whole YEAR? So I really didn't want him wasting his time off for false alarms.) I called Eli and he agreed to hang out with Eliza in the OB waiting room while they monitored me. False alarm, but at least it was cheap.

The 2nd false alarm was around 11pm. I called Eli again so he could come to our house and watch Eliza. I was sure this was it; the contractions were 5 minutes apart and quite painful. The doctor on call said to go straight to the hospital. Once we got there, the contractions stopped. That was a more expensive false alarm.

By the time I was 38 1/2 weeks pregnant, I was so over the false labor. I was getting contractions constantly. The midwife gave S instructions for delivering the baby on the side of the road, just in case. On May 29th at 4am I woke up with a contraction again. I rolled my eyes and went back to sleep. Seven minutes later I woke up again, frustrated. When it happened again, it was more painful. I woke S up and told him this might be it. He rolled over and went back to sleep, unconvinced. The fourth time I was certain. I called my parents so that they could stay at our house while Eliza slept. They started getting ready. Eli was out of town for a wedding, so our closest family was an hour away. I wasn't sure this baby was waiting that long, and I really didn't want to wake up a cranky Eliza and have her be all upset while I was in pain. The contractions got worse. I remembered that Zac and Julia were in Austin for her 10 year reunion. I called Zac up and he answered by saying, "Is this it? We're on our way." S got up and said, "Did you really already call your parents and Zac and Jules? What if this isn't really it?"

I told him this was definitely it and went to find some clothes to wear. Turns out I had one clean outfit that covered my belly- a blue dress my friend Michelle had handed down to me the month prior. Note that Michelle had purchased the dress to wear to a wedding. So, I looked a little goofy wearing this dress and my flip flops at 4am. True to his word, Zac and Jules were at our house within 10 minutes and we quickly left for the hospital while Eliza slept. On the way there, we heard the song Clementine. I think of Ezra every time I hear it now. I quickly remembered how uncomfortable contractions are when you're strapped into a car. We got to the front desk of the hospital and the nurse was saying I wasn't in the computer. I felt like such a number, and told her we had been there less than a week ago and I was definitely in the system. Right then Liane the midwife walked up with a big smile on her face and said, "you're having a baby today! I know it will go quickly so we've got everything set up and ready to go." She gave me a big hug. I immediately felt better about the situation.

Luckily when she checked me, I was already at an 8, so I knew I really didn't have to suffer that much longer (and I also knew that, once again, there would be no time for an epidural). The good news was that since I had a crunchy midwife this time around, I wasn't strapped flat on my back like with Eliza. I moved around, changed positions, sat on the birthing ball a bit, etc. Liane kept a heating pad on my back and was so very supportive and calm. I was still in a lot of pain, of course, and Liane recommended I try sitting backward on the toilet, as that's helpful for a lot of women. She had even put a pillow on the flusher, so I could rest on it. Then she left for maybe 2 minutes, the only 2 minutes she wasn't by my side. As soon as I sat down on the toilet, I felt a lot of pressure and said so. S was like, "Get up! You're going to have the baby on the toilet! He told the nurse, Kat, to page Liane. I tried to waddle back to the bed. Halfway there, I felt a huge gush and realized the pressure was my water breaking all over the floor. Liane ran back in and, without the bag of water, I immediately felt like pushing.

I tried a few different pushing positions and Liane just kept saying to listen to my body and do what my body was telling me. She also kept saying it would be much easier this time and "like butter." I think I pushed for a total of 15 minutes. I remember yelling a lot. Ezra was born at 6:32 a.m. He weighed 8 pounds and 4 ounces, even though he wasn't due for another 10 days. When they wrapped him up and handed him to me, I just remember saying over and over, "Hi, Ezra, hi. You're so gooey and wonderful!" I remember Liane saying to S, "Are you a cord-cuttin' kind of guy?!" and he was. That was 6 months ago today. Ez is such a sweet, smiley baby. This weekend we picked out his Christmas stocking, and somehow that felt like an official welcome to the family. We are very blessed.

Eliza's birth story

It occurs to me that Eliza and Ezra's birth stories are starting to blend together in my mind... so I thought I should finallly put them in writing before I forget the details completely! Needless to say, this post will probably be TMI. Here's Eliza's!

Eliza was born 2 weeks prior to her due date, on a Saturday night at 11:45 p.m. The night before S and I had dinner with our good friend Susan at Eastside Cafe. I had fairly regular contractions during dinner, but I didn't mention them because I didn't want to freak anyone out. Besides, what first time mom gives birth 2 weeks early? All my books said I could expect to deliver 1 week after her due date. The contractions stopped and we went to bed. The next day we went to Highland Mall and bought Eliza a Christmas stocking. (No one knew her name was Eliza at that point; we didn't tell a single person! I used to sing that song "Hey There Delilah" to her, only changing her name to Eliza, when no one else was around to hear her super secret name.) I also watched Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion while S mowed the lawn. We had lunch at Amaya's Taco Village with the Butchers. I joked to Baby Ethan that he should tell his friend to come on out, as I was tired of being pregnant. Later in the day we were bored and contemplated going to the movies, but we didn't see anything playing that we were interested in. S and I started talking about how we were in a bit of a rut and it was a good thing we were about to have a baby to liven things up a little. What an understatement. This is very funny in hindsight. Yup, we had too much time on our hands. We ended up having dinner at Le Madeleine. By 8pm we were back at home watching TV on the couch. I spent the majority of the end of my pregnancy on the couch in as little clothing as possible. (You're welcome for that image.) For once, instead of being sprawled out, I was sitting up and S was next to me. I leaned forward to get comfortable and I felt a pop. I was mortified that I had just peed my pants. I stood up and quickly realized my water was probably breaking, but being a first timer, I still wasn't completely sure and I didn't want to be one of those pregnant ladies sent home because I peed on myself. I started having mild contractions again too. S called the doctor and she said to come on in. At this point I decided it was very important that we put the clean sheets on our bed before leaving the house. S humored me, but I could tell he thought I was crazy. Before we even had the last pillow case on, I said, "Uh oh, these hurt a lot all of a sudden. We better go now!" and got in the car. S started timing contractions. I kept saying "Here comes another one" and he said, "Babe, this are only 3 minutes apart! This is crazy!" We both got a little freaked out. He turned on some classic music to try to calm me down (breathing through contractions while stuck upright in a seatbelt is really hard). I snapped at him, "Just because I'm in labor doesn't mean I suddenly like classical music! You know I hate this stuff!" He meakly turned it off and got a look on his face that remained for the rest of labor. He clearly thought I had gone insane. We got to the hospital and the nurse said, "It seems like you're already in quite a bit of pain." Um, YES! She checked me and it appeared that I still had a long way to go. I said I wanted an epidural. S said he thought I could do it naturally. I told him if I was already in this much pain and still had 6 cm left to go, I wanted an epidural right freakin' now. Did I get an epidural that day? No, I did not. Because by the time the epidural doctor showed up 2 hours later, I was ready to push. It would have taken 15 minutes for the epidural to start working and I'd have to stay pefectly still while having back to back contractions as the needle was in my back. I sent the epidural doctor away, thinking this was just like a movie and I was really going to have to do this with no meds. Eliza's heart rate had been getting crazy and they had been giving me oxygen. The OB (Wendy Cutler, whom I had never met before) said I needed to get the baby out NOW. My panic and frantic pushing, combined with Dr. Cutler's vacuum, and Eliza was out within 15 minutes. I'm not posting any pictures because in every single one of them I look completely shocked (and also sweaty and fat). You can see the epidural cart in the background, which sort of pisses me off since I didn't get to have one. The whole labor lasted less than 3 hours. It's called a precipitious (sp?) labor and it happens in only 2% of first time moms. It went nothing like I thought it would, which was a pretty good precursor for how parenting really goes. She's been the light of my life ever since.

October

Leg warmers are a good investment

I ordered these trendy leg warmers when Eliza was still in utero. I knew they were a tad ridiculous, but I loved them anyway. Turns out they're the only article of clothing that has consistently fit Eliza for the past 4 years. How did she grow so quickly?

One Year Later

A year ago tomorrow, we told Eliza she was going to be a big sister. Then we took a picture of her reaction. We also went to the Elgin Pumpkin Patch again this year and once again, Scott did 99% of the work while we carved pumpkins. This year our little pumpkin family has grown! Maybe next year Ezra will carve his own pumpkin. Eliza helped carve hers this time, but she wasn't nearly as excited about getting the gooey seeds out.

p.s. Why was that text underlined? I have no idea. And why was Eliza wearing a crown that day? I'm pretty sure she demanded that I make her a crown out of construction paper that morning for no apparent reason. And yes, we told her about the baby in the car. And 5 minutes later she told everyone she knew. And then we remembered why we had been waiting to tell her. ;)

Jupiter

The other night as I was tucking Eliza in she said, "I love you, Mom." And I said, "I love you all the way to the moon!" She promptly replied, "I love you all the way to Jupiter!" Both of our kiddos love to snuggle with us, and now they like to snuggle with each other. Most mornings as soon as Eliza wakes up, she wants me to bring Ezra to her room so they snuggle before getting out of bed. Adorable. We are very lucky.

Highlights

The best parts of the week thus far:

• Eliza singing along to songs on the radio. Lately she's loving Adele, Bob Schneider and Johnny Cash.


• Ezra trying out the exersaucer for the first time. He looks like such a big boy in it! And he's so excited to be able to "stand up" on his own.


• One of the boys in Eliza's class has been getting into trouble for saying "potty words." The boy's dad said he asks Eliza if his son was a good boy or not and Eliza keeps count of how many potty words he says a day and reports back!


• Ezra getting to wear some of his winter clothes, including an adorable pair of jeans today.


• I'm accustomed to Eliza doing tons of cool art projects at school, but now Ezra is doing art too! His teachers helped him make this adorable little bat using his hand prints and foot prints!


• Eliza told me she wants to work at UT like me when she grows up. I'm hoping she'll branch out a little, but it was still cute nonetheless. :)


• Ezra was in a super giggly mood last night. He's learned how to squeal and every time he would squeal we would mimic him. He thought that was hilarious. So we all sat around in bed making Ezra laugh.

Stats

Yesterday I took both kiddos to the pedi. At 4 months, Ezra weighs 17 lbs 2 ounces and is now 25 1/2 inches tall. That puts him in the 90-95th percentile for weight and the 75th percentile for height. His head circumference is 43 7/8 cm, which is also the 90th percentile. What can I say? We make big babies over here. Eliza was just there for a flu vaccine but they measured and weighed her too. She weighs 36 pounds and is 39 inches tall. I'm not sure on the percentile stuff for that. I do know that she too was 95th percentile for weight at Ezra's age, and you wouldn't know it by looking at her now. Eating nothing but apples, ham, carrots and granola bars may have something to do with that. Speaking of weight, it seems trying to "have it all" is a pretty good diet plan. I've lost 5 pounds this month without even noticing. Next month should be calmer...

Giggles and Glinda

Ezra laughed for the 1st time on Saturday. It was the sweetest sound ever. Eliza was standing on a chair dancing (not trying to get Ezra to laugh, just being her usual diva self) when it happened. All 4 of us were in the living room at the time so we all got to hear it! He did it a few more times, each time because of something Eliza was doing. Later I tried to get him to laugh again using all sorts of antics but he just stared at me. I admit I am in no way as entertaining as she is. He's also discovered his toes. He hasn't gotten them in his mouth yet, but he's quite proud when he grabs on to them. He is such a smiley sweet baby boy.

Eliza is completely obsessed with The Wizard of Oz. She is constantly singing songs from the movie and asking us all sorts of questions about the details of the plot. The other day she suggested that perhaps Dorothy should just give the ruby slippers back to the Wicked Witch of the West, since they were her sister's, after all. Yesterday we got her a Dorothy costume to wear for Halloween. She spends a lot of time imitating the scene where Dorothy meets Glinda. "I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas!" "Who, Toto? Toto's my dog!" She gets the inflection just right. We finally let her watch the movie, and S was surprised to learn I practically have the entire thing memorized. Guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...

New routine

Our babies are growing so fast. Eliza has been wearing sundresses all summer, and some of my favorites are getting too short! She's 38 pounds now and 38 inches tall.

Ezra is 15 pounds and is such a good baby! He loves to snuggle. His hair is growing, but he's got this one hair in the middle that's an inch longer than all the others. I guess it's the first hair he ever grew in utero. So cute!

Last week school was closed and the 3 of us spent the whole week together. We had playdates, baked an apple pie together, went to bouncy castles, Chuck E Cheese, etc. Then on Wednesday we spent the night with Grammy & Papa. Eliza helped Grammy make a chocolate pie and all the grandparents got to watch Eliza swim. The next morning we headed out to the lake and Eliza and Papa went in a paddle boat and she swam in the lake a bit. She had a really good time, but she isn't really a "lake water" kind of girl. Nope, we like our chlorine over here.

To celebrate the end of summer all 4 of us had a 3 day weekend at a resort near Bandera. It had a water park, horseback riding, smores by the campfire, a cowboy who did rope tricks, hundreds of deer, golf, all sorts of things. It was a great little getaway and Eliza learned the phrase "You know what?" Chicken Butt." from a 5 year old. Apparently this is hilarious to children and needs to be repeated ad nauseum. Her giggles are pretty contagious though.

This week I went back to work and both kids went to school. I love that they go to the same school and they're so close by. Eliza is taking ballet again, along with fitness, music and Spanish. Ezra is taking Drooling 101. Actually he loves watching the other babies and he gets a ton of individual attention. When I pick him up, he's like, "Hey, it's the Milk Lady!"

Other than being very tired, S and I are feeling super lucky. Can't wait to spend the whole weekend snuggling my babies.

10 weeks

Ezzy Bez (where do I get these nicknames?!) is 10 weeks old today. He is really turning into quite the little charmer. He smiles all the time now, even on command. I can't wait for his first giggle. He rolled over from back to tummy last night, so he can go both ways now, but he really isn't doing either regularly. (Which is fine with me. I was impressed with his skills but I'm in no hurry for him to grow up so fast! I say that like he's driving a car or something.) Speaking of growing up, he's 14 pounds now! And he's grown 3 inches since he was born. So that puts him at the 60th percentile for height and head circumference and 90th percentile for weight. I must be making buttermilk up in here. It ain't skim, that's for sure. He's also cooing now and that is freaking adorable. It sounds like he says Ellie (our nickname for Eliza) a lot, so of course she's thrilled about that. Despite the fact that she's still up in his business constantly, when she's not, he just stares at her. Can't decide if he's in awe of her or just trying to keep tabs on when she'll make her next attack...

Worth the Wait

Remember that recital back in May that I was so worried about going into labor and missing it and then Eliza refused to perform? Well, turns out they had another recital for the end of summer session. Not only did Eliza get really excited about it (despite having to wear black again) but she was amazing! I was frankly pretty surprised at how long she could remain focused and how detail-oriented she was! And of course she flashed plenty of proud smiles and took a bow at the end. Watching with pride as your kid does something much better than you ever expected has got to be one of the best parts of parenting.

Kickin' it with the birthday boy

Today is Scott's birthday! Eliza made him a card and wrote out "Scott" "Dad" and "I love you" easy peasy! (I told her how to spell some of it, but she knows how to write pretty much all the letters!) Last night she asked me how to make a present. She wanted to make him a wrench because he "loves wrenches." Cute. Ezra didn't get Scott anything. What a slacker. His cute little smile just might get him off with a warning though. Plus he's sleeping for 4 hour stretches, so I guess that counts. ;)

Happy One Month!

Ezra turned one month old yesterday. He's also started smiling socially over the past few days. The first time I asked him if he remembered being upside down in my tummy for 2 months and he smiled at me. The second time S and Eliza were dancing around the living room to Adele and he was giving me this look like, "what kind of crazy family did I end up in?" then he smiled. He's smiled for S a few times too, usually when he sings to him. Hopefully we'll get a video or picture soon!

The Ezra side eye

Ezra's 2 week check up was yesterday. He already weighs 9 lbs 1 oz! When the doctor was examining him, Ezra peed all over both of us. Then when the nurse did the PKU, he peed on me again. This is why I carry an extra shirt in the diaper bag. :) On Sunday Ezra had his first bottle of pumped milk. Eliza and S were happy to feed him, and I was happy to have a glass of wine. He took the bottle with no problems. Tonight Ezra rolled over from tummy to back! I think Eliza was 3 or 4 months old when she rolled over, so I was surprised. He definitely can't sit still. We didn't get it on video, but all 3 of us were there to see it! It's hard to tell much about his personality at this point, but when he's awake, he often has a skeptical face, with a wrinkled forehead. And quite often when his sister is in his face, he gives her a "what the heck?" face. I call it the Ezra side eye. It's pretty funny. When he makes this face I think he looks like my brother, Zac. Actually, mom says I was up in Zac's face a lot when he was a newborn, so maybe it's not a coincidence.

the purple mary's

While driving home from school...

Mom: "This is a song I liked in high school, it's by a band called the Cranberries"

Eliza: "Cranberries!? That's not a name for a band!"

Mom: "What's your band gonna be named?"

Eliza: "The Purple Mary's"

Well done kiddo.

the second kick

Ezra has arrived! ...and his big sister couldn't be more excited.

We are now a family of four and the adventure continues. God bless all our friends and family who have been there with us as we've grown. Thank you and we hope you continue to enjoy our little blog.

Lately

First, a funny convo with Eliza...

Eliza shows me 4 or 5 signs she's learned at school lately that I don't know.

Me: "That's so cool that you know so much sign language now. You know, your Grandma Pam's grandparents couldn't hear, so they only used sign language to talk. I bet they'd think it was pretty cool that you know sign language too!"

Eliza: "They couldn't hear? Did they have ears?"

Completely logical question from a 3 year old, but it cracked me up nonetheless.


-----------------------------

In other news, Beanie and Eliza both threw us for a bit of a loop last week. Last Tuesday at 1am and 35 weeks, I woke up to some contractions. I couldn't get back to sleep so I started timing them, thinking they wouldn't be regular. They got closer and closer together over a couple of hours. By 4 am, I'd had fairly strong contractions at 8 minutes apart for over an hour. Because of my history with Eliza (less than 3 hours in labor), my midwife wanted me to call once my contractions got to 7 minutes apart, so I wouldn't "have this baby in the car," as she said. S and Eliza slept through this whole thing; I was in the living room. At this point I'm thinking this is probably it. And I panicked because A) He's only 35 weeks and B) Eliza's 1st ballet recital is in 36 hours. Plus, I've been up most the night and I'm not at my most rational. So I'm sobbing hysterically, feeling so bad about missing her recital. I decide I might as well shower since who knows when my next chance to shower will be. I get out of the shower and the contractions have stopped. Oh, and during this time I'm *praying* that I would be able to go to the recital and Beanie would be fine. I wake S up to tell him that I thought I was in labor but now I'm not so sure. He rubs my back. I fall back asleep.

I rest as much as possible during the next 36 hours and the contractions come and go. Finally it's Wednesday at 3:00 and time to get ready for her recital. I get out her outfit to get her dressed. I haven't shown it to her yet because I knew she'd want to try it on and I didn't want her to ruin her tights. The required uniform is pink ballet slippers, pink tights and a black leotard. She sees the leotard is black and refuses to put any of the outfit on. She wants to wear her pink leotard. I explain this is what all her friends are wearing and show her the note from her teacher saying it was required. She says if she has to wear black she won't dance. She throws a huge tantrum and I leave the room to get dressed and not reward the tantrum. 5 minutes later she's quiet so I peak into her room. She's passed out asleep. Did I mention she refused to nap that day? I let her sleep for 20 minutes and then we really have to leave for school. I put the outfit in my purse. She apparently put on her pink leotard and purple tutu after I left the room.

So I carry sleeping Eliza to the car and of course the contractions start again. We get to school and in the nick of time I'm able to get the required outfit on her. I breathe a sigh of relief. Then she says again she will not dance while wearing black. The fact that another girl in her class showed up in pink instead is not helping my cause. Her teachers tried to persuade her; her father tried to persuade her; nothing worked. The rest of her class performed and Eliza refused. I guess when I prayed that I be able to make it to the recital, I should have been more specific that I wanted my kid to perform in said recital. It wasn't at all funny at the time, but it's a little bit funny now. :)

The contractions are still coming and going, by the way. If I make it to Wednesday, Beanie will be full term!

Bluebonnets, Swim lessons & Easter egg hunt

Bunny

Last weekend at the Bluebonnet Festival parade: "Look, Eliza, the Easter bunny!" Eliza: "That's not the Easter bunny. She has a pony tail sticking out of the back of her bunny head!" This weekend she took a picture with the Easter bunny. "Wasn't it fun to take a picture with the Easter bunny?" "That was just someone dressed up, Mom." "What makes you say that?" "He was wearing tennis shoes. Why didn't you know that?" "Well, I did know that honey, but just wanted you to be excited." "You shouldn't try to fool me, Mom."

Deep questions

A few months ago Eliza asked why we had to go to school/work that day. I told her it was the first day of school for my students, and I needed to help them find jobs. That was the first time I was specific about what I do at work. She responded, "Why don't you just tell them 'you get what you get and you don't throw a sh*t!'"? This is a little adage they use at her school a lot (obviously they say "fit" instead of "sh#t"; it is a church school after all and she didn't seem to realize she'd said a bad word.) I told her that was an interesting philosophy for career counseling, although it does make sense in our current economy. :) Fast-forward a few months. Yesterday we are at an intersection and there's a panhandler. Eliza wants to know what his sign says. I told him it said he needed a job and he didn't have any money. She said, "can you help him, Mom?" I assumed she meant monetarily and said I didn't have any cash with me. Then she said, "but you help people find jobs, right?" I sat there kind of dumbfounded. It had never occurred to me to help panhandlers find jobs, but she has a point.

Nice moments

Last night Eliza started swim lessons. She was terribly excited and stopping on the way to buy her some goggles made her even more so. The instructor seemed sort of lame to us, but E didn't notice at all. Every time it was her turn to try a new skill she looked up at us and gave us a big smile or a thumbs up. It was so cute. She was all giggles. After the lesson I got in the pool with her so she could practice a bit with me. I forgot how great it feels to be in the water when you're super pregnant! This morning I went in to wake Eliza up and snuggle. She happened to have her hand on my belly when her brother started moving around a lot. She wasn't expecting it and the look on her face was priceless. He really does get more active when he hears her voice. He's usually pretty mellow when I'm at work (unless I'm eating), but as soon as I pick her up he gets very wiggly. I really think he's going to recognize her voice when he's born. I've got about 8 weeks left, and he's already in the correct position for labor. My midwife says he'll probably stay in that position, as he doesn't have much space to fully rotate at this point. My favorite part is feeling his little hands at the bottom of my belly. The other day I could even feel his hand waving around at the same time E had her hand on the other side of my belly. It was an eery feeling, but very cool. It's very easy to see him move around now, even with my shirt on, but he moves his hands so lightly that only I can feel them and there's something pretty cool about that. Soon enough I'll have to share him with everyone else. :)

40 months?!

I haven't thought about Eliza's age in months in a while, and it just occurred to me she's 40 months old now. Crazy! Her preferences change frequently, but here's what she's into now...

• Pork. The girl is obsessed with salami, hot dogs, sausage and bacon. We try to at least do healthy versions of these foods...
• Waffles. She can and has eaten waffles for breakfast almost every day for the past month.
• Shoes. I finally hid her "wedding shoes" from Marna's wedding a year ago. They are definitely too small now, but she keeps trying to stuff her feet into them. She's already told me she wants these (in my opinion) hideous shiny magenta sandles that somehow also look like boots for her 4th birthday. I told her they weren't my style but that it's her choice. :) (Oh, she also wants a Barbie (ugh) and a pinata (awesome) for her birthday... you know, the one 8 months from now.)
• Pretend play. She continues to spend most of her free time playing babies, school or dressing up like a princess.
• Family. She thinks about everything in terms of relationships. If she has 3 ducks, one is the mom, one is the dad and one is the baby. Even is she has 2 blocks, one is the mom and one is the baby.
• Her brother. She hugs him everyday when I take her to school and when I pick her up. Then she gives a separate hug for me. She wants to see her brother as soon as wakes up, and often, "Good morning, Beanie" is the first thing out of her mouth.
• Routines. Our bedtime routine is getting a bit ridiculous, but before I can leave her room (after counting down from 2 minutes), we need to "talk about our days" and she always has questions. Her questions are usually hilarious. Then we both have to give each other kisses on the cheek and she has to say, "Leobi (a word she made up) means birthday cake, cookies, icecream..." and a long list of other deserts, then "good night, sweet dreams and I love you." And that's just for ME to leave the room. She and S have a similar routine when he leaves her room a few minutes later.

Spring

We've been having all sorts of adventures- trying to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and the last couple of months as our family of 3. We've been on picnics, to the farmer's market, the zoo, plenty of playgrounds, Sesame Street Live, the botanical garden, kite festival, on a canoe, the nature center and more! And here is E with her friend C on Fat Tuesday. They were singing karaoke. Wildest mardi gras ever! :)

Plans for the future

Eliza told us recently that when she grows up, she plans to have a yellow art car (she's already saving in her piggy bank). She also wants to live in a pink house. She plans to have 2 kids named Fern and Maggie. And she plans to have a dark purple cat. She had hoped to have a dog as well, but it turns out one of her future kids is allergic to dogs. :)

Maney

Eliza has an imaginary friend. An imaginary husband, actually. His name is Maney. Maney has long, "yellow" hair (which I find amusing since she doesn't know mane means hair) and likes to wear dresses. Eliza and Maney got engaged around the same time that Ms. Jessica at school got engaged. She wore a ring for a couple of weeks and everything. At some point in the past couple of weeks there must have been an imaginary wedding because now she is calling him her husband instead of her fiance. And they already have a baby (JackieBaby). The other night she was sitting at her little white table feeding Jackie in her high chair and telling Maney about her day.

The Beginning of Beanie

It's been a while since this happened, but I'll forget it if I don't write it down...

Keep in mind that we found out I was pregnant with Eliza while staying in a very romantic hotel in Istanbul.... Our second kid is already getting the short end of the stick. It's not the most romantic story, but it's ours!

September 23, 2010

S was working late and I was tired and didn't feel like cooking, so E and I stopped at Mandola's for dinner on the way home. Halfway through our meal, someone opened the door to the bathroom, across the restaurant. All of a sudden I could smell cleaner from across the room... and I knew. I had the same bionic nose when I was pregnant with Eliza.

We went home and soon S came home too. I kept debating within myself whether or not I should take a pregnancy test. I knew I could only be 3 weeks pregnant, and surely a pregnancy test couldn't be reliable this early. I decided not to get S excited over probably nothing and slipped off to the bathroom to take a test. About 5 seconds after I peed on the stick, Eliza busted into the bathroom. "I need to poop, Mom!" "Sweetie, use the other bathroom. I'm, um, busy in here." "No Mom, I need to go NOW and I need help with my pants!" So, I hopped up, got distracted by getting her situated on the toilet and then remembered the test a minute later and glanced at it. Two lines! "Uh, honey?! Come in here, please!" S came into the bathroom, having no idea what was waiting for him (probably expecting a potty training emergency of some sort). I pointed to the test and grinned. Eliza couldn't figure out why we were so happy all of a sudden. And that was the beginning of Beanie. Later that night we went to watch Kat Edmonson at Shady Grove and the four of us sat on a blanket and looked at the stars.

Drumroll please...

Eliza is getting a baby brother! Or, as she describes it (she came with us for the ultrasound), "a nurse came in and turned off the lights and said 'the baby has a penis!'". Of course we are thrilled and Eliza is coming around. She has asked me several times why it's a boy and not a girl. I tried telling her God decided we needed a boy. Then of course she wants to know why God felt that way. S got to feel the baby kick about a week before our ultrasound. Eliza hasn't felt a kick yet, but she thinks she has. I'm already hearing lots of "Mom, Beanie is kicking me!" I can't wait to see her face when she really feels a kick. And odds are she'll feel it soon, as she probably kisses my belly 50 times a day. We've had to talk about not pulling up my shirt in public. She always says, "Hey Beanie!" and then makes me do a little "Hey Eliza!" voice back. I hope she understands he doesn't really talk and won't for a while. We've tried explaining this.

The questions keep coming. She has a lot of gender questions lately. On the way to school this morning she asked why she has "yellow" hairs on her legs and I don't. Then she wanted to know why most women shave their legs. I just sort of fumbled and said, "yeah, it's pretty dumb. Gender norms are pretty dumb sometimes." She also wants to know why I'm giving away her pink dresses from infancy and not saving them for Beanie. I told her *most* boys don't like to wear pink and of course she wanted to know why and really, there's no good reason. She makes a lot of valid points. :)

On an unrelated note, she was talking in her sleep the other night, yelling, "I don't want to eat salad!" over and over. As if I've ever gotten her to eat anything other than croutons. Perhaps I will choose a different battle...

14

Me: Eliza, do you want to know a secret? Today is a very special day. 14 years ago today I met your dad! (I smile at her nostalgically...)

Eliza: Mom?!

Me: Yes, sweetie?

Eliza: I have a booger.

Ah, romance just emanates from our household....

A few Christmas pics

Opening one of her many gifts.
Checking her stocking.
With her much anticipated Gingerbread House.
Spinning under the Zilker Tree with her BFF.

Milestone

Earlier this week Eliza and I were working on some thank you notes. I asked her if she wanted to draw a picture on the cards; she said yes. As she got out her crayons, I said, "or you could sign your name if you want." She said okay, then easily wrote out the letter "E" on a card. I was shocked. She proceeded to do the same on all the other cards. She was so proud!

New Year

Celebrating New Year's Day in jammies in the backyard.


First day of new semester at school.

So today our little family is back to the grind. S has been at work for most of the past 2 weeks, but Eliza and I have been on a staycation. We had a great break, and best of all, my morning sickness stopped just in time for Christmas so we really got to enjoy ourselves! I couldn't have asked for a better gift. Speaking of gifts, Eliza is so spoiled! She got such amazing, thoughtful gifts this year and our family put so much time into making her holiday special. We are very lucky. With our down time, E and I played with friends, including a few bouncy castle trips, a movie (with a lot of popcorn and a "scary horse" as she describes it), a trip to Gattiland and more. Today Eliza very proudly went back to school wearing her new light up boots (thanks Aunt Jules!). She said she missed her friends and was excited to see them. In fact, all the girls ran up to her this morning to hug her; it was pretty adorable. Out of the past two weeks, we really only had one major tantrum and that was thanks to skipping nap. What was she so angry about? She was mad that Beanie wouldn't tell her if s/he was a boy or a girl. She really was furious, but I had a hard time not laughing. Those fetuses are so stubborn sometimes. :) As Eliza will tell you, we'll find out for real on January 19th. I think until then, Eliza will keep asking my belly for the answer.