Grace is four months...and two days today!

I had Grace ready to go for pictures on her birthday and she puked all over before I got a chance to take any...so today was our day. Brad took Sam to "Namas" for a while...usually I take advantage of time when he is gone and clean my house, but today Grace and I had a photo shoot....didn't last long...the diaper was off for about three minutes and we had a major accident. (Gotta love breast fed babies!) I think I got some great shots though...

Gotta love this physique! Went to the doctors today...she is 16 lbs 1 oz and 25 inches...yes...huge. When we walked into the office, the doctor asked me if she is "getting around at all". I looked at him, puzzled...(I've taken a lot of child development classes, but I had a brief moment of panic thinking, "should she be?"). As soon as he saw the look on my face he glanced at her chart and started laughing. He said he looked at her and totally forgot it was a four month check up...he thought he was looking at a 10 month old.

Other news ....she cut her top right tooth...she has handled it like a champ...further proof in my mind that women have a higher thresh hold for pain....Sam was miserable when he cut teeth.

I'm exhausted

I think the pictures say it all, but I do wish that you could hear her snore!!! I was sorting out a bag of hand-me-downs and she was jumping away...30 seconds later she was snoring like a grown man. She's still sleeping (not in the jumper) so I'm gonna go hop on the treadmill....I started my run about 2 hours ago, but Grace didn't cooperate...let's see if I can finish!

Grace...3 month shots

Don't you just want to eat her cheeks?

Advice from Big Brother....

Sam is really great with Grace...he loves to talk to her and kiss her...he's really gentle and protective...but he doesn't quite understand that she can't do much yet...Today Brad was holding her and she was watching Sam spin in circles around the kitchen...She had a huge grin on her face so I said, "Look Sam, you're making Grace laugh!" Sam stopped, went up to her and said "Grace, you should laugh with your mouth open, okay?" Too cute.

"I'm having a baby!"

Bet that made a couple people stop for a second...I'm not pregnant....yesterday Sam came into the living room and said. "Look, my belly is big, I'm having a baby!" When we asked him how the baby gets out he said, "Well you go to doctor they check your heiney then the baby come out your belly button..." It's so cute because he is so sure that this is how it works. If you haven't heard...Sam was with me when my water broke...because I tend to have babies fast, he came to the birth center with me and saw his first internal exam....he refused to come up by my head and stood right next to the midwife and the big lamp...he hasn't really mentioned it till now...

Happy Snowy Valentines Day!!!

We're having our first Nor' Easter of winter today...not like the ones we had when I was a kid...but there is some white stuff on the ground. Sam was up at 6:30 wanting to go out and play in it...Usually I stay in bed for a while after he gets up in the morning, but today I didn't dare. I really thought he might let himself out "to build a snowman like Caillou". I made him wait until I got some beef stew going in the crock pot....then we played outside for a little while...the snow is really dry so no snowmen...I tried to show Sam how to make snow angels, but he just rolled around on the ground...

We came in, had hot chocolate and colored for a while...I don't know what got into me, but I had the urge to draw on Sam's face...and he was game (shocker, huh?)....then I cut Sam's hair....no pictures included because it's that bad...watch, Regis and Kelly will call today and tell us Sam is a finalist in the beautiful baby contest...can we be in NYC on Monday?...(my grandmother called me three times urging me to enter...so I did send a picture of Sam in....)

After the haircut, Sam needed a bath (he informed me that "the hair lady doesn't make it itchy"...while in the tub, for the first time ever....drum roll please....Sam pooped. I walked in and saw him making the face...asked if he had to go, he said "No, I'm just tooting...", next thing you know....yup, totally disgusting. I think Sam was more surprised and grossed out than I was...so, the tub needed to be scrubbed along with all of the bath toys....

So yes, so far a very romantic Valentines Day...I'm still in my jammies...haven't showered since Monday night...but my tub is clean, the beef stew is almost ready and through it all, Grace has pretty much been asleep.

My Soccer Tot

Sam had his first soccer class today. It was hilarious. He took off like he was shot from a gun. He outran, outkicked and outplayed everyone. The other parents couldn't believe how fast he is...It's fun to see all that energy being used constructively...I think he's a natural (but I'm a little biased!)...When it was over we dragged him out yelling "Not yet! Not yet!"

Two in the Tub

A few nights ago I had the brilliant idea of giving the kids a bath together (to save time). Ended up with a very wet bathroom, two moderately clean kids and some really cute pictures!

"I have a Sunflower"

When I was in college, my roommate Bethany used to say "You have a sunflower" whenever someone was glowing or giddy in love (or back in those days...more likely a big crush).

When I saw this sunflower outfit (yes, it's a sunflower, not a chicken...this morning Brad said, "She looks so cute in that chicken outfit."...Why would I put her in a chicken outfit?) I was pregnant with Sam and I was so sure he was a girl

So anyways, when I saw the outfit, I thought of Bethany and had to buy it....I was so in love with that baby (who never wore the outfit, although I was tempted to try it on him...) that I hadn't met yet and also in love with the idea of being a mother. Now I've got my little girl, and I am once again so overwhelmingly in love.

Winter is here

I really shouldn't be complaining....most of the winter has been pretty mild...the first weekend in January we had temperatures in the 70s....I had sprouts of green coming up in my garden....however, that feels like a hundred million years ago. It has been so cold here for the past few weeks...today with wind chill it was like negative 10...not as cold as Duluth which I saw was negative 41....although I'm not sure that it really matters once you get to zero, b/c it's too cold to go outside.

Despite the cold, I ventured to the grocery store with both my kids. Even when it's nice out, I don't love taking both of them... The grocery store that I go too has great prices but doesn't have carts that hold two children..so Sam sits in the shopping car seat and I carry Grace in the sling...normally not a big deal, but it was really hard in sub zero temperatures and 25 mph winds! We were all bundled, but even so Sam screamed "It's too cold mommy, it's too cold..." as I pushed him in the cart while holding on to Grace with my other arm and trying to run across the parking lot...once we were in the store, it was fine...although it is pretty hard to get out of a too tight (not back to my usual size yet) coat while holding a baby...It was actually pretty funny. I repeatedly asked Sam to hold onto my sleeve so I could try to wiggle out of it and he didn't understand, at all...he kept undoing the Velcro on the cuff and saying, "I help like this, mommy?"...

Anyways, we got out groceries and Sam finally believes that it is cold and has stopped asking to go out and play (every 5 minutes). Gotta go....see if I actually bought anything that I can make dinner with!