Santa Pictures - 2011

Joey is totally into Santa and all things Christmas this year.

He is asking Santa, here, for a tiny kitchen for Grace.

He asked for a dump truck with nails and jammies for himself.

 I love this picture! It totally captures the moment.

Joey is totally enthralled. Grace, on the other hand, is totally skeptical and losing patience.

 Annnd ... here we have it.

Joey - thrilled.  Grace - done.

It was so stereotypical, it couldn't have been more perfect.

Tis The Season

Who's Who?

J and G, each at four months.

The pink dress and bow kind of tip you off ;o).

People increasingly tell me that Grace looks like Joey. As newborns they looked nothing alike, but as she gets older I definitely think the resemblance is increasing. 

What do you think?

Watch Grace Grow - 4 Month Edition

Four months! Say hello to Miss Personality!

 We were out late for the kids on the 6th and, because we had turned back the clocks, when we got home right after 9 it was really like right after 10 as far as the kids were concerned.  We quickly got them ready for bed and and then I remembered I hadn't taken Grace's pictures yet! Joe was like, "You're seriously getting her out of her pajamas now?" Ha! You better believe it :o).  And now I'm so glad I did.  Look, she was super happy anyway even though she was sleepy.

This month, as she flailed around, kept trying to grab the bear, kick the blankets, and sit forward, I realized that this is probably just going to get harder now every month from here on out.  I was really regretting that I started doing this at night in her bedroom with terrible low light conditions.  It's so much harder to get an in-focus picture of a flailing baby using no flash when you don't have light.  But I made my bed and now I'm laying in it. Ha! I am determined. :o)

We love our smiley four month old -- kicky, squirmy, grabby and all! :o)

Dear Grace {4 Months}

Well hello there beautiful...

This was a big month for you Gracie Pie, as we watched you leave behind the newborn world.  You are a real baby now, a cooing, laughing, toy-holding baby.  You are quickly shedding the marks of your new born self.  You rarely now, if ever, pull your arm to the top of your head as you try to fall asleep ... a signature Grace move most have come to know well.  You started this in utero --we have pictures of it in ultrasounds, assumed this position the first time you fell asleep within the first hour of your life, and now you are leaving it behind, instead finding comfort and security in other things.  I'd be lying if I said it doesn't make me sad to see it go.

You experienced many firsts this month.  You shared your first real holiday, Halloween, with us and even got to go real trick-or-treating.  You made your first trip to the circus, Claws and Paws, and Great Wolf Lodge.  You made your second trip to Knoebels and got to experience their nighttime Halloween celebrations and you even got to go to the pumpkin patch .  You a busy little lady and you just eat it all up.  You are so happy and pleasant everywhere we take you; it's great because we haven't had to slow down one bit.

You are getting so much stronger. You are in a size 2 diaper and 3-6 month clothes. You have started rolling this month.  You can make it to your back if we place you on your tummy and from your tummy you can get onto your side.  You have gotten even better with holding yourself up in a sitting position and can do it with very little assistance.  If we help you balance you can hold a sitting position for a couple seconds on your own.  You are definitely not sitting though, you still need help. When on your back, you often strain to get up into a sitting position.  Of course it doesn't work at all, but we can see your little head and shoulders straining forward and you are able to lift your head up a little bit. You are also bearing weight on your legs very well and can push yourself up into a standing position if we hold your hands to help you.

 You continue to be absolutely full of life and joy.  We see more and more expressions and noises coming from you all the time.  You laughed for the first time this month.  Much to my delight, it was Joey who was able to secure your first laugh.  Ironically, he was "showing" you his hammer and after I cautioned him that you are "afraid of hammers .. and it will make Sissy cry", you started cracking up.  He put the orange handle of his hammer near your face again and more little laughs escaped. I guess you two share the same sense of humor.  You are still stingy with your laughter; only Daddy and Joey have been able to get you to laugh so far.  I am definitely your favorite person still but I'm just not funny like Daddy and Joey. 

You gave us about three heart attacks this month when you started making this crazy, highly disconcerting, wheezing sound.  You sounded exactly like a baby who couldn't breathe and was gasping for air.  We soon came to realize that you just, for some reason, liked making this noise. About a week went by and you started to lay off on the wheezing.  We are now on to growling.  You are an expressive little thing.

You and Brother Bear were just awesome to watch this past month as you finally began to reciprocate the tremendous love and adoration he has for you.  You are such a lucky girl. I hope you look back when you are older at the thousands of pictures we have of  you as tiny babies and are able to see the quiet, unprompted love your brother has for you.  However your relationship evolves, and we will do our best to help sculpt it into the closest, most loyal, most protective sibling relationship possible, I want you to know it was rooted in a natural allegiance and love that simply cannot be taught

.  I don't want you to think for a second that your worth is in your beauty, but you are just simply stunning.  Everywhere we go you generate just soooo many comments.  We were going for a walk today around the lake and your father just looked at you peeking over my shoulder and simply stated, "She is so beautiful .... it's just ridiculous," and kept walking.  Every aspect of your being from your easy, overflowing, smiles to your shining, coy, dark blue eyes echoes the fact that we could not have chosen a more perfect name for you.  You are effortlessly living up to our choice, sweet little one

The past two months have been marked with loss for many people in your life.  This past month you spent many nights at the hospital being passed from arms to arms as we visited your great grandfather who became very ill.  You were, I know, a source of light and comfort for your father in a very difficult situation.  It's hard for us, and particularly your father, to know that you won't really get a chance to know a man who meant so incredibly much to him.  Even in his final days, when he had a hard time responding, his eyes lit up and locked onto you when we brought you to see him. He clearly recognized you, the tiniest one of all.  Just three days before he entered the hospital he was able to hold you.  He wasn't talking much that day, but he managed to ask to hold you and when you were placed in his arms he said you were beautiful.  You were, as you are, a source of joy .. a gift of grace.

We hope for nothing more for you Grace than that you continue to be a source of light and happiness in all times.  We pray that everyone who encounters you will be better for having met you and that you know with every ounce of your being that the people most blessed by having met you, without a doubt, are your Mommy and Daddy.  We continue to feel so lucky to watch you grow. I'm eager to see what the next month has in store.

We love you, our sweet baby girl.

L.O.V.E.

The Potty Chronicles: The Day Mommy Gave Joey A Complex

Ugh! I knew it couldn't all be this easy! Of course .. maybe it could of had I not totally traumatized our child and brought him to the point of uttering, "I/Mommy be better" and "Noooo Mommy. Nooooo" in a sad, dejected and (tiny-bit) defiant voice when I ask if he needs to go to the potty. Cause that's where we are now folks. Insert Mommy's sad face here.

Unrelated picture of Joey demonstrating a "happy face" because I know people just want to see my kids.. and what's a post without pictures? ;o)

Basically, it went down like this. A little less than a week ago, we were in a mad dash to the potty motivated by the urgency in Joey's voice when he said he needed to go potty NOW. Okay, run to potty, rip off J's pants, pull off diaper, insert Sponge Bob ("Dubba Dubba") seat, set Joey in his place, breathe because we made it, and wait. I was waiting patiently as we sang and held hands (all kumbaya, I know, it's a sight) because I knew he needed to go number two (sorry, TMI, but I have a two year old and three month old so it's what my life is made of) and I knew if I was patient enough we'd have a big celebration, and Joey could have "TWO tandies!!!", and we'd all be overjoyed.

Demonstrating a "sad face."

Yeah, well ... it turns out I had not been fast enough in our dash to the potty and the evidence was found hiding under J's diaper.  FOUND BY MY FOOT, PEOPLE! You could probably pretty accurately imagine the scene that ensued.  Lots of "Oh my GOD!"s and frantic washing and throwing things on the back porch and such...

Joey's "angry face." ... Which actually looks a lot like his "smile" face now that I look at it. Ha!.

So basically, my little potty champion observed the whole scene from his perch on the potty.  Asking at one point, in the most innocent voice possible, as I washed off my foot, "Yhat's yong Mommy?" And, really, now that I'm fully recounting this I feel really bad about the whole thing.  Why couldn't I have just smiled and handled this all with grace and giggles?  Apparently, human poop on your bare foot catches you off guard.

Joey's "scary face."

Post Poop-On-Foot Day, Joey has been reluctant to go on the potty.  I was puzzled until I had to change his diaper one day and asked if he wanted to try the potty and he launched into a litany of sad, crazy, phrases that included things such as "Joey's poop on the bact a' Mommy's foot" and "I better now" and "Mommy all better now?" and ugh ... my heart sank. And it was clear what had happened.  I'm pretty sure Joey took my frantic ohmygodIhaveyourpooponmyfoot to be yelling at him and not about the situation.  Which was not the case, but how was he supposed to know that? 

 Don't yell at my brother!

So now potty time involves a lot (a real lot) of protest and tears (Ugh! why didn't I just laugh?!?) and holding it in when I know he really needs to go.  It's got Joe and I shooting each other glances that say, "Ohmygawd ... what do we do now?".  And seriously, we're torn between letting him abandon the whole thing because everyone says it's supposed to be positive and making him work through it now because we don't want this to develop into something even larger.

In an act of solidarity, I will resist all things potty! Don't think you are getting me to poop more than once every three days now!

Add in the fact that Grace has joined forces with her brother in her own sort of protest and basically the little ones have managed to gain all control around here (kidding!).  That and the fact that I have Joey in the most unpractical of potty training pajamas, little footie-one-piece gems, because, A: I have a crazy love of having my kids to match (notice their coordinating jammies??) and B: this is the last year J will fit into them (Tears! My baby is growing up), have created the perfect storm. 

 Who? Me?

So where do we go now? Basically, I cannot buy any more coordinating footie pajamas. They are not helping matters and I must exercise restraint.  (Why did Joey have to start potty training now?! He's putting the kabosh on cute bedtimes!) Anndddd .. I'm thinking we're going to move in the direction of LOTS of sitting on the potty, with tons of making it happy added in, to desensitize him. As of this morning I have Joe adding in a potty dance to the list of rewards which basically has Joey in stitches and me sitting there alternating between thinking Please God don't let Joey EVER mimic this in public and My kids have SUCH a good Dad.

Hopefully this will all be short lived and the terrific twosome will be back to their selves in a matter of days

*Fingers crossed*

You've got to admit they are super cute in their matchy matchy snowmen jamies :o)

Also, Joey fought a sinus infection and won this week.You can kind of tell in his face in this last pic that he was feeling sick.That now makes Joey's lifetime score in the never-ending battle of Joey vs Sinuses, Joey: 2 and Sinus Infections: 8 million. Yay for tubes in the ears! They give my kid a fighting chance.

Family Pictures! :o)

Our

 family pictures

 now

 have

FOUR people!!

Thanks for the help, Mom!

Stumble Upon

Daily, Joe and I get to stumble upon scenes like this.

It is our greatest reward.

 Notice the hand holding going on.

Overheard:

Grace: Crying

Joey: (before anyone else gets to her) Yhat's yong honey? I yock you? Ooo--tay.

I make it to the living room and take a seat on the couch to watch the show I know will unfold.

Joey: (singing gently) Yock da baaaaby On da twee top .. Yock da baby..

I warn that the rocking, which is becoming ..."enthusiastic," needs to be gentle.  He slows down and looks back for approval which I give. This is rare, this searching for approval.  He is two now and sometimes delights in the mischievous.  But not with Grace.  He loves his Grace.

I call to Joe in that hushed, serious, hurry-up-before-you-miss-this tone that gets used around here a lot these days.  Joey, concerned, looks back once again for approval, worried that I was addressing him and not his father.  I assure him he's doing a great job.  Joe comes in and I recount Joey's attempts to take care of his sister.  This is not a rare occurrence but we praise him like it's the first time every time and tell him he's the best brother in the world.  Our praise falls, unneeded, on deaf ears.  He is in a world of his own with his sister.  She is his reward.

Clapping and "dancing" with Grace to the bouncy chair music.

Pumpkin Pie is Yummy

but we'd pick Gracie Pie any day :o)

Rolly Polly :o)

This little one has something very important to share.

With much concentration and lots of muscles, Gracie Pie managed to roll herself over today and then did it over and over again.

Oooh, brother bear did not get this down until his four month birthday, see below.  That's one for the girls.

Also, wow ... I wish I was motivated to learn how to take better pictures before I had Joey.

I'm super grateful for a supportive husband who pushed and pushed me to buy our camera and indulges my interest. I know it's not important to everyone, but to us pictures of our kids are just priceless.

All these moments are so fleeting..... and we have two year old and three month old ...... when they are eighteen and twenty I'll be having a heart attack wondering how this all happened so fast.  I just know it.