4 Months

Today is Little Miss's four month birthday, and I'm posting about it on time, for once.  She is spending Her big day doing what She loves best, sitting in my lap.  Sleeping off a fever, unfortunately, since for Her 4 month birthday what we got Her was a bunch of shots in her chub-a-lub-legs.  Poor baby.  But it's just as well She gets some extra rest.  It's been a busy month. 

For one thing, there has been a major accomplishment.  She rolled!  It may not seem so huge, but if you were stuck on your tummy like a legless tortoise staring all the time at the floor, and suddenly had the power to increase your view of the world by like 340 degrees, well.  You would be as proud of yourself as Miss is, grinning wildly as She leeeeaaaaans- whoa wait kinda scary go back! Steady.  Ok. Leaaaaaaannnns....teeters....kick! Ahh!  And She's over.  Arms out wide to take in the new scope of Her view.  That was fun.  Time for a wiggly, bouncy glory dance!

For another thing, She's been growing and growing.  As of yesterday She weighed in at about 13.5 lb.  She's in the 50-60% percentile for everything, and that round little belly fits just right into several of Her big sister's skirts.  Aw.  Sharing clothes already! 

Little Miss is over the newborn sit-back-and-check-things-out stage.  Way over.  She is ALL about getting involved now.  She can reach out and grab things, or bop them.  Especially noses.  She can kick a rattle or the tub water with a focused vigor that makes me wonder if She knows She's not going anywhere.  She responds to Her name by turning and smiling, and to anyone laughing by joining in, as if She gets the joke.

The thing She adores most is to be talked to.  Speak directly to Little Miss and She will light up like an incandescent bulb on a power surge.  She gasps and wiggles.  Coos and giggles.  As if to say, "Why! Are you talking to meeee? To ME? Yes! Thank you! Thank you for noticing me!" 

A favorite game around here is one we call "laugh the baby".  In this game, Little One comes up close to Little Miss's face, and says: "Ah-goo!  Ah-goo!"  And Miss cracks. Up.  It virtually never fails.  Ah-goo is the most hilarious joke ever, and Little One tells it like no one else can.  It sends Miss into fits of belly laughs and gets us all rolling. 

She has all the signs of being an even bigger talker than Little One and I, which is saying something.   She talks and talks in Her little grunting, cooing baby language, watching your face for a reaction. Then waits for your response.  "Oh really, Little Miss? Tell me more!" And She does.  We can chat back and forth like this for ages, and She never runs out of stories to tell.  She's very expressive about it, using bouncy, cheerful tones when She's having fun.

Telling me off when She isn't.  Seriously, She does.  If I let Her go too long when She's been doing Her little polite "excuse me, I need something" cough, long enough it turns to a cry, She tells me how unacceptable my behavior was as She calms down.  Even with a pacifier in Her mouth, She keeps on- "Mmmp fffth mm ggmmuuh hhu!"  With a serious frown.  It's all baby talk, but the inflection makes it sound for all the world like what She means is, "And another thing! An outrage!"
She forgives quickly, though.  She is still one of the easiest babies ever to soothe and placate.

With one exception.  The dark, dooming, dastardly, devastating...CAR SEAT dungeon.  To Little Miss, nothing is as tortuous as being strapped into this wicked device.  She's never been fond.  But after our trip to Florida (where we spent several days doing not much else but driving around, getting popped in and out of that thing and being stuck in it for hours) She has developed a truly angry grudge.  She only has to see the car seat to start crying.  It certainly makes outings an adventure.

It is moderated a bit by the application of Her most essential accessory.  The pacifier.
I tell you, that thing really does live up to its name.  I remember that despite my hesitancy in letting Little One even have one, it wasn't hard at all to take it away.  With Miss, I anticipate a bit more drama when that day comes.  She has a true addiction.   She has even learned to take it out, turn it this way and that admiringly, and pop it back in.  Unless She drops it, and then look out.

Other loves and likes?  She's not a fan of water and bathtimes, but She's warming up to them.  She's not huge on being held by a Not Mommy, but She tolerates most people well if She's not hungry or tired, and She's getting a good admiration for Her Daddy.
She doesn't take kindly to a bottle, though J can usually charm Her into taking one if needed.
She has - completely on Her own- developed a nice sleeping schedule (nap at 9:30am and 1:30pm, bedtime at 8pm sharp), and She doesn't much appreciate it being tampered with.  Unfortunately, with all that is going on these days it often is.  She rubs Her eyes and complains a bit about not being in Her own bed, but generally falls asleep wherever we are.
Other than that, the whole rest of the world is nothing but loves.  She loves people talking to Her, Her sister shaking rattles and singing for Her, the dogs walking by, the wind on Her face, anything to see or touch or hear.  The world, it seems, is Miss's oyster.

She has earned the nickname "smiley", because 89% of the time, that's just what She is.  The girl LOVES to grin and laugh.  She finds most anything amusing.  Her fussing is so mild, it's often easy to overlook entirely, and Her good moods outnumber Her sour ones exponentially.  Maybe it's a necessary survival mechanism as the second child in a crazy household, maybe it's just Her innate personality.  Maybe it's that between me, J, Little One, and friends, She is so surrounded by loving adoration.  Whatever the cause, Little Miss is a generally and genuinely happy, happy baby. 

And much like slobber, Her happiness can't help but rub off on us all.
Happy Birthday to Little Miss!
You're a ray of chubby, drooly sunshine, and we love you.

Gift of a Daddy

My mom sewed a nightgown for Little One.  It's light and cool and soft, blue and white, lacey at the top.  I'm cuddling Miss while J gives Little One Her bath and gets Her all ready for bed.  I hear them talking when they make their way down the hall to kiss Miss and I goodnight.

LO: "Oooh, look Dada! I have on my so pretty dress!"
J: "It is  pretty!  Actually.  You make it pretty, because you're in it, and you are pretty." 

They come through the door and Little One reaches out for me, Her fingers are wiggly with anticipation- She has something to tell me.

"Mommy! I'm pretty!"

She says it with the wide, grinning joy of having just discovered something amazing.  Like the first time She said "look, a real rainbow!" Like being told the package in the mail is for Her, like the first time She tried a somersault and it came out perfect.
She giggles and kisses me.  She hugs Her sister and nuzzles into Her.

"You pretty too, Miss." 

Little Miss wiggles.  Little One skips off for story time, swishing the nightgown.  She doesn't just look pretty. She IS pretty.  She goes to bed with that treasure shining in Her mind.

I work hard for my children.  I do everything I can to give everything I can to them.  But I am utterly convinced that the best thing I have ever, ever done for my babies, is give them J for a Daddy. 

Wild Duck Chase

I know I know. 
I don't write, I never call. 
I'm not trying to break up with blogging just yet, it's just.....it's not you, blog, it's me.
It's my unfortunate inability to be doing more than 5 things at once.  You're not the only thing I've abandoned, blog.  Tons of stuff has fallen by the wayside, just ask my sewing project languishing downstairs in a perpetual limbo.  Doomed. 
Our little family is going through one of those spots you come by in life that I sort of love (exciting, busy, full of new things) and sort of hate (stressful, busy, full of new things).  We have a lot up in the air.  But for those who keep mentioning this blog and then going "ahem...." (which hey it's nice to know someone likes to stop by) here's a rundown of what's keeping me from what I'd rather be doing; typing random thoughts out while drinking coffee and neglecting the laundry. 

- Little Miss and I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Florida, where we ran around like rats trying to find a hole to hide in before a storm, looking for a place to live.  On short-term lease.  With two large dogs. And a budget.  Ha.  I think we found something, but it's still tenuous whether we will get it or not. 

- We still have no one to rent our house when we go, which is a little disconcerting.  Paying for TWO places to live in will severely cut into my chocolate budget.

- We are considering finding a new home for one of our dogs.  That is a long and complicated story, which I swear has nothing to do with the fact that I was cleaning vomit-kibble out of the rug yesterday.

- My grandparents are in bad shape.  A recent incident has had them both in a hospital setting in the last week. The future is unresolved, but looks like a rough road either way.  I am agonizing over not being there.  Why doesn't everyone I love follow me around and live next-door?  WHY? Do I smell funny.  Could be.

- Little One, at the tail end of another fever, is starting preschool soon.  HOLY COW.  Getting all the papers and stuff in order is nothing compared to the mess my head is in, trying to wrap itself around the idea that my baby is big enough for school.

- Little One's doctors also have a new concern about Her health (She doesn't like us to get bored). We have more tests (if only they were shoes instead.  We never have enough shoes, always too many tests) coming up this month and I am trying so. hard. not to freak out until we know for sure what's going on. Unfortunately, me trying not to worry is like that dog trick where you put a treat on their nose and tell them to "leave it". 

- We have either been out of town or had someone staying with us for the last month and a half. A good thing, seriously, but the pile of laundry to be folded has become large enough for its own time zone.

- The Navy has been messing with us a little.  J was supposed to be spending this next month in a tropical medicine course, ending with a charity trip to Honduras. Pretty awesome! Except the day before he was supposed to start, Navy discovered that the hospital didn't have enough trauma surgery residents to cover all the patients.  So they thought, hmm.  Who is smart enough to pretend to be a surgeon when they're not?  J! And just like that- no class, no trip.  He's now on trauma surgery, and we have no idea what his schedule will be like, or even exactly when they will let him out to make our move.

- We had originally planned for Miss and I to meet him in Honduras after his mission was up, and travel around a bit.   That's off now, of course, so we are considering whether we can do a trip of some other sort or not. 

- Because of the Navy being a little wishywashy, along with unknowns about when we can rent out our place, when we can get into a new place, and considering preschool start dates and such, we're still figuring out when to schedule the move and how/when to get all of us and our stuff down there. 

- Life is just busy, Peanuts, isn't it? Even when other stuff is going on, all the life stuff keeps at you.  It's all, "what do you think I'm going to sit around and wait for you to sort yourself out? I'm Life! I go on.  It's my trademark.  If fact while we've had this conversation, I've seen to it that the dishwasher is full, your daughter is eating a rubber band, your oil needs to be changed, the phone is ringing, and you are late for Spanish Class.  Ha!"

- And a partridge in a pear tree.

So.  Plenty of these are good things, or will be.  The rest will sort themselves out in the next few weeks I think.  But we are pretty busy and a bit crazed getting all our ducks in a row.  I mean Peanuts. Seriously, have you ever tried to get ducks into a row???  They do not cooperate.  Ours have sort of run amok, it seems.  But we'll round them up eventually, more or less. And in the meantime I'm just happy that in the scheme of things, these are what I have to worry about. 
We've got a lot of ducks.  But they're mostly docile, so far. 

What's Up

So here's the thing.  We are moving. SOON. We are moving in barely over a month- that's just a few short summer weeks- and have you ever noticed how hourglass sand runs faster at the end? When it's reached the skinny, squeezy part and your heart goes faster too because you're like, "AH!" No time left!
We're at that part.
For the last month or so, I've been eying that sand level, noticing it getting terribly low.  At some point it hit me and I suddenly realized that we are leaving this place we have called home for our entire married life, our entire parenting life.  A place that, let's just be honest here, happens to be one of the best ones in at least the whole country. 
Don't get me wrong.  I'm excited about moving.  We've been here 5 years which is really too long for me to be in one spot.  Maybe this is why I enjoy toddlers so much.  I identify with the restless, instinctive rebellion against staying put and holding still. 
But I'll put it this way; if I had to stay somewhere, I might very well choose here.  I love this area.  Short train ride to the best city ever, short drive to the pastoral hills.  Eclectic diversity, a million things to do.  Clean streets but unlimited resources.  Free museums.  Cultural significance. Natural beauty. 
I might not have been so lovey about it in February.  (Another reason I'm thrilled with heading to Florida before the leaves turn.) 
So J and I started thinking we have to do all the things we never got around to! While we were just whiling away our time here, doing lazy things like working 60 hour weeks and raising small children. 
So I haven't been on the computer much because I haven't been home much.  I've been dragging my poor babies all over the city and tri-state area. Determined to see the sights and take in the events we can't skip because we're tired and can always go next year.  Determined to spend as much time as possible with the dear friends we are going to miss waaaaaaaay too much.
We'll never do it all.  In between the doing of DC Stuff there is also copious doing of laundry.  There are all those regular things to be bothered with- washing floors and chopping vegetables and weeding the garden.  There have been birthdays and mothers and fathers days and visiting guests and trips out of town.  There are gymnastics classes and Spanish classes and dog training classes.  There is the continuing parade of doctors appointments for Little One the medical mystery girl.  Don't even get me started on that.
It's all just been a crazy ride down to that skinny part in the hourglass; racing from one thing to the next trying not to miss anything.  And now we are there and definitely feeling the squeeze.  I'll share some stories of our little adventures as soon as I can.  For you, and for me to remember this precious time; this lovely place.  I'll do it next the time, like today, the kids sleep late and I can type between the gym and breakfast.  I can't say when that will be, exactly, but I can do this:

So at least you know we're having fun.

Or it was just a minor alien abduction

Just so you know, I am not dead. Or anything. It's just that there has been an earthquake, which split my house in three pieces, and my laptop got stuck on the other side of the gaping chasm. So I couldn't type. Or also, it could just be that I have been very busy. Or that I have been caught beneath an avalanche of laundry and had to survive for two weeks on sock lint, and have only just-miraculously- toiled out from under 7 metric tons of onesies. Some of these options are more likely than others. But take your pick. I wiil be back soon with either pictures of my fractured dining room, tales of my harrowing (but 100 per cent cotton) adventure, or stuff more boring than all that. In the meantime, don't worry. Not dead. Ok worry a tiny bit. I like to pretend all 4 of you Peanuts miss me.

3 Month Birthday

While we've been busy planning a move and all that, Little Miss has been busy too.  It's a lot of work growing up, changing from a larval little newborn into a real and actual baby.  Especially when there is so much cuteness to exude every. goshdarn. second. But somehow, She's pulling it off, and Miss's third month was full of new discoveries.

Like, for instance, Her feet.  Well it started with Her hands, really, and then whatever was in them.  That was pretty exciting.  But then the feet! Whoa.  It was love at first sight, Peanuts.  Miss and Her feet have a Thing going on, now.  It's casual.  They don't exactly set up dates or anything. But they meet each other in passing sometimes, run into each other here and there, and it's always like, "Why! Hellooo there.  Tee.  Tee hee.  How ya been?" They hang out.

They're not exclusive, though.  Miss also has interludes with hands, my shoulder, the hem of Her dress.  In addition to any toys or objects bestowed upon Her by Her sister.  She's quite the flirt.

And Peanuts, She is QUITE the flirt.  The teasing kind.   Little Miss has a very good understanding of what is Mommy and what is not.  She is rather partial about who holds Her, most of the time.  But She is more than willing to gurgle, coo, grin and giggle at the whole rest of the world so long as She's doing it from Mommy's lap.

In fact, smiling and giggling is what She does best.  Miss gets a bit fussy in the evenings, but otherwise She continues to be a happy, smiley baby, easy to please and to tote around.  She still sleeps like a champ and is growing like crazy. Her legs look almost as if they have begun to melt, dripping with rolls of chub.  I love it. Love.

The other two major additions this month were the Coo- which She especially loves to regale Little Miss with- and a self-manufactured lubricating and disinfecting compound, with which to coat the entire planet. To facilitate the all-important task of chewing that world.  DROOL.  Beware holdling Miss when She's in a chewing mood.  You WILL get slimed.

But you also will get rewarded with warm, squishy baby snuggles and full body smiles.  Little Miss may occasionally fuss, in the evening a bit or if She reaaaally needs something, but when you average those moments out with all the others, it is just a mathematical fact that She is an absolute joy. 

Happy Belated 3 Month Birthday to you Little Miss!  I may have been late in writing it all down, but it's only because my hands are too busy holding you every chance I get.  We love you!

Happy Father's Day