A Sweet Moment

As most of you know, our little Blythe is not really into cuddling and would rather be on her own two feet than in arms. This is normally a great thing, but there are times when you see other moms holding a baby who is loving on them or out cold on their shoulder. Our typical bed time routine is nurse, then say prayer, night night, and cover her up. I went through our typical routine on Monday, but when I left the room Blythe was NOT happy. I thought, “hum, she sounds pretty upset, but I will give her a few minutes.” A few minutes came and went and she was still very upset. I went back into the room to lay her down, but she was still laying down and under the covers, but screaming. I rubbed her back for about a minute and then left the room, she was quiet while I was rubbing her back, but was NOT happy when I left again. I waited a few more minutes and just though “man, she is really upset I don’t think I have heard her scream like that in a long time, if ever.” So I went back into the room (Jason was at the neighbors eating pizza) picked her up and sat in the rocking chair. I said “Blythe lay you head down on mommas shoulder,” and I was shocked when she actually did. I rocked her, patted her back, and sang her the our father, a few advent songs, some Christmas carols (it would have been embarrassing if someone had heard not only my awful singing voice, but also my lack of memory on the words). Blythe was instantly comforted and within minutes had fallen asleep. It was such a sweet moment to sit in the rocking chair singing to my precious baby. That morning we had Bible study and one of the questions was “How are you celebrating Advent this year and sharing it with your family?” Honestly, I didn’t have an answer much less a good answer, so in a way God gave me this moment to share advent with Blythe and to sing to her about Jesus in the manger, and silent night, etc. I know she probably didn’t get as much from it as I did, but I wanted to share my sweet moment with my sweet baby girl.

15 Month Appt.

Where has our little fatty hatty gone?? Do you guys remember this porker?

She was in the 75th percentile for weight and length

Now our little slim jim is in the 25th percentile for weight, weighing in at 20 pounds 13 ounces (full clothed) and the 50th percentile for height, stretching just 30 inches.

Poor Blythe had to endure 6 shots yesterday. 4 routine 15 months shots and an extra 2 (regular flu and H1N1) since we are going to Ecuador. While the shots were being administered she wasn't too happy, but she quickly got over it and doesn't seem to have any side effects today.

Today we had our 10 week appointment for Baby W II and everything is looking good. I actually lost 1/2 a pound (I know water weight), but at least I am not gaining yet :)

Funny story: a few weeks ago I heard Blythe kinda wining, but in good tough mom mode I thought she'll figure it out, well she continued for a little while so I decided I better go see what was up, when I went into the living room I saw that she was holding the lamp upside down (bulb towards the floor) and trying to put it back. Thank goodness she decided to catch it, but why the heck was she messing with the lamp in the first place? Yes, I did feel a little guilty that I didn't go in there right away since my poor toddlers was trying to 'save the lamp' and didn't quite have the muscle capacity to do it.

Already the 'second' child

This poor baby is only 8 weeks old and is already suffering from 'second' child syndrome.

• We announced we were expecting Blythe on Christmas eve surrounded by family and friends and a bottle of champagne
• Baby #2 get the oh so exciting announcement via test in the TRASH can courteous of Becky. Luckily I got to tell my mom and sister, but I was NOT expecting Becky to be going through the trash at my moms house! (o.k. so really the test was just sitting in the trash can in plain open site, but that version isn't nearly as good).
• During our first ultrasound with Blythe Jason was so excited that he 'felt like he was going to pass out'
• During our first ultrasound with Baby #2 Jason was not present because when we arrived at the doctors office he noticed that there was a huge nail in the tire and air was leaking so he said "I either need to take care of this right now or we will be replacing a flat after the appointment."

Being the second child myself I always swore I would treat all my kids the same, regardless of where they are in the order. But hey these are all life occurrences that are out of my control..right??

I WILL write on Baby W #2's calendar every day for the first year like I did for Blythe! Now y'all make sure and hold me to that!

My hands were on FIRE

Many of you might already know that, but in case there is someone who doesn’t I wanted to pass along my experience. I made a spicy chicken soup yesterday AM around 9:30 and cut up several Habanera and Serrano peppers (fresh from the garden so maybe they were hotter than store bought?). I was busy getting all the ingredients into the pot so I didn’t wash my hands right away. I had NO idea at the time what a huge mistake this was. I could feel a little heat on my hands throughout the day, but it wasn’t until 9pm at night when I laid down that I felt like my hands were on fire. I didn’t know that the oils from the peppers could actually get into your skin and cause your hands to burn even though they look completely normal. At first I was thinking I must have burned myself from the steam, but that didn’t seem very logical. DH told me that it was probably the peppers. We googled remedies (milk, bleach, baking soda, sugar water, aloe, lotion, etc) and NONE of them worked. I ended up holding an icepack between my hands until 4:45am.

NOTE: wear gloves when working with hot peppers because you do NOT want to experience what I did.

BOO and Boo Hoo

The day before Halloween my office had its annual Halloween potluck with all our international students. Jason and I decided to be "lazy" about our costumes and decided to go as a soccer player and a soccer coach. Blythe still went as an adorable leopard.

On Saturday, Halloween Day, we went as our originally intended characters. Blythe was a leopard, I was a Black Panther, and Jason was a Hunter.

The neighbors had a Halloween/Dance Party. They hook up a projector outside and we youtube random music videos and attempt to dance along, I will see if I can get a video uploaded. Jason perhaps had one too many cocktails and got a little ahead of himself. He was busting out to a Brittany spears video and decided to do a back flip after one of the dancers did one.....Jason 'forgot' he was wearing very heavy boots, hadn't done a flip in a year or two, and was under the influence. Needless to say he had a very hard and abrupt meeting with the concrete. Should I post pictures of the aftermath???

NAFSA Conference

I had a NAFSA (association of international student advisors) conference in Addison this past week. Blythe and I lucked out and were able to fly (aka..50 minutes in an airplane instead of 3 hours in a car). Our flight interfered with Blythe's afternoon nap so I though she 'might' sleep on the plane, and I was a little concerned what the flight would hold if she didn't....you can do anything for 50 minutes, right?? Blythe did not sleep on the plane, but she was great. She ended up having her own seat and figured out how to unbuckle the seat belt within minutes of me buckling her in. She spend most of the 34 minutes (in air), putting her baby doll in and out of the hole:While I was at the conference Blythe got to stay and play with Mamo and Aunt Jalyn. They went to the mall and met with Jalyn's friend for a play date.
The last day of the conference was only a half day and we needed to wear Blythe out before our flight home so we went to Kid Country!

Potty Time

On Friday Jason happened upon a garage sale on his way to work and purchase a $4 "singing rewards" potty. We had been talking about easing into the potty training process, knowing in the early stages it was more about getting them excited about the potty than actually potting. After heavily sanitizing the potty we sat her on it after she woke up in the AM and after nap (this started on Sunday). She seemed really excited to sit on the potty, but we thought it was more because she got to be diaper free and she loves sitting in/on things.

This afternoon Blythe and I were reading books and I heard a little gas so I decided I would put her on the potty, I said "come on Blythe lets go poo poo in the potty." Blythe immediately headed for the bathroom and we sat on the potty. I continued to read her books and surprise she went poo poo! Then a little tee tee, that's when the potty did its "reward singing" and I think Blythe was a little surprised, but she started clapping so I guess she wasn't too scared. Then we put the poo poo in the big potty and Blythe got to flush it (one of her favorite things to do these days)!

No I am not delusional into thinking that we have really started the potty training process, but hey that is one less diaper, a poopie one at that, I have to change today! Baby steps people, baby steps!