Mothering two

If you are a follower of my blog, you must thank my mother, who is my greatest cheerleader when it comes to writing in this forum.  She is increasingly impressed by my writing and is convinced I need to write a book about staying at home, raising children, and bilingual education (this is from the same person who would read my emails while in college with a pen and paper and correct my grammar, then email me back with all her "suggestions").  All this to say, her words are a huge compliment.  Thanks momma! 

On that note, in response to her encouragement, thought I would spend some time again writing about what life is like these days in our household.  

I'll start off with this -- life is much, much better than last time I wrote on this topic.  Still hard, but much better.

My day normally starts off with LB waking up around 6:30 am.  I nurse him, and depending on how ambitious I am feeling, I either keep him up until his morning nap, or put him back to sleep.  Emma gets out of bed at 7:15 am, thanks to this light-clock-- the greatest invention EVER!

Breakfast, along with it's huge mess-- including peanut putter all over the table and chair, and crumbs all over the floor-- is finished.  We say bye-bye to daddy and soon after is LB's morning nap.  Put him to sleep and Emma begins her "beep beep time"-- which is 30 minutes of quiet time in her room while mommy takes a shower and gets ready.  It's called "beep beep time" because she knows it ends when the iPad timer goes off, making a "beep beep" sound.  As a reward to this time, she gets to watch 30 minutes of a cartoon.  All in all, this gives me one hour of down time to get ready, clean the kitchen, put a load in the laundry, and have my quiet time if I haven't had it earlier that morning.  

One of the things I have slowly had to learn since becoming a mother of two is that I need to have priorities.  What is more important -- the get out of the house and go places, or for my children to nap together and thus have some down time?  I quickly learned that I cannot do both, so I have opted to stay home all day unless something "social" comes our way (lunch with friends on Fridays, or playdates).  Otherwise, the only time I now allow myself to get out of the house is in the afternoons after nap time, which is almost every afternoon, unless it's raining or one of the children is having the meltdown of a lifetime (which happens more often than not).

Being a mother of two, all while staying sane all at the same time, is an art!  Getting your children to nap together should be an olympic sport.  Bed time routine a one-hour ordeal.

I do get discouraged, and more often than not, much to my husband's disappointment, I feel like walking out on it all-- to take a vacation of all my duties for just a week, one week!-- the laundry, the folding, the cooking, the shopping, the cleaning, the breastfeeding, the potty-going, the diaper-changing, the spit-up cleaning, the doctor-calling, the household-running...

...This is why I've been reading so much since Byron's birth (and thus neglecting this blog) -- I think I've read a dozen books since his birth.  Reading allows me to escape and enter a different world.  Whatever free time I have is oftentimes spent with my nose in a book.  Don't get me wrong, I love it, and it certainly helps me cope with the mundane!  But I do certainly hope the rest of my life is not spent "running away" from my life.

I told my sister the other day that one of my greatest fears in life is to not make my children my priority.  The fear of choosing my success, my interests and my comfort over their simplest of needs. Learning to live in spite of that fear, yet being motivated by it without it becoming an idol, is what I am trying to learn to do...

Byron's 4 month

Baby Byron is 4 months old!

We had a little difficulty getting a good picture of him this month.  A almost-crying snapshot will have to do.

Bunny needed a picture as well.

And let's not leave Emma out!

His numbers:

Head size:  16.5 inches 50%

Length:  25 inches 50%

Weight:  15 lbs 11 oz 50%

My question is:   

How do two above-average parents make such average children?

Emma at 4 months.

Emma with JB.

Growing up at home

"It is true that many "perfect jobs" may come and go during the child-rearing years, but only one will absolutely never come along again-- the job of rearing your own children and allowing them the increasingly rare opportunity to grow up at home."  

-- Dorothy Patterson

Emma discovers the spot under a table and sets up her bed there.

Now it is time to put Bunny to bed in the new-found bed area.  Notice the pillow and blanket, as well as the two fish.

We like to clean Bunny's bottom.  Such a mama!

Mommy helped strap Bunny to the top of the car.

Places to go, people to see.

Christmas party

MOPS leadership 2013 Christmas party

I have been incredibly blessed to be part of the ministry of Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) for as long as I've been a mom.  Emma was 2 weeks old when I attended my first meeting in September 2011.

What started as:  "yes, yes... I'll go, I'll go.  But do you then promise you'll stop harassing me with this?" has now become: "I am a better mother, friend, wife, leader and Daughter because of my participation in this incredible ministry."

Last night was our leadership Christmas party.  It is fun to meet (and hang out with) my fellow-serving mama friend's husbands, and enjoy great food and fellowship.  

Oma's

Emma likes to accompany me while wrapping Christmas gifts.  Today after nap time, she took a leftover piece of wrapping paper and began folding it and putting tape on it, as in wrapping her own gift.  After putting her label sticker and "writing" on it, she excitedly stretched it high and said:  "Oma's!"

Playing together

We got one of these baby floor gyms for LB to play with.  Of course, Emma did not want to miss out on the fun, and will often join him on the floor for some sibling fun.

Putting up the tree

Sunday, December 1, 2013

Reflection

It was fun watching LB discover his own reflection in the mirror the other day.  Of course, the picture does not capture the moment as it was, but it sure was worth recording somehow.

Out of town friends

We had a fun time visiting with out of town friends this past Thanksgiving weekend.  Tim and Noah, who were also missionaries in Merida with Byron, were in Augusta for the holiday.  We had a great time catching up with each other.

Time, Noah & Byron.

 

2013 Christmas tree shopping

Fingers

I keep wondering if LB will become a finger-sucker.  He likes to suck his index fingers.  I've tried all sorts of things to keep him from doing this -- socks on his hands, the pacifier, etc, but he seems to always find a way to get to his finger.  Sometimes I'll be nursing him and hear him sucking.  I look down and he has unlatched himself and is now sucking his finger.  We will see what happens...

(And never mind the two toothpastes on each side of his head.  These were "telephones" Emma was using to talk to him... she had two others she was holding on to).

Three months

This is almost half a month late, but here it is... Little Byron's three month picture.  I didn't get a good one of his whole body, so this one will have to do.

Emma thought this looked like fun and wanted to take a picture with JB as well. 

 

Emma's three month picture.

My boys

Oh, how I love my boys!  

(If you want to make LB smile, all you have to say is "yessir, yessir!!" Thus this sweet picture)

Band-aid

Emma has discovered band-aids.  Any little bump or hurt needs to be covered with a curita.  Today Emma managed to run straight into the corner of the bathroom sink.  It was very painful and am thankful it just barely missed her eye.  Of course, after some holding and consoling, she finally calmed down when I offered to put a band-aid on it.  

She has a box of Sesame Street band-aids she likes.  I put it right over her owie, but she did not like it over her nose.  So instead, she walked around the house with the band-aid right bellow her injury, just so it could be away from her nose.

 

Dinner time -- her attempt to smile while simultaneously stuffing her face with hamburger meat.

2.5 months

(pictured by Byron's cousin... 

I take no credit for it, only that he has my dad's good-looking genes :) )

A few recent videos

We had to dust off our video camera and begin recording our little ones again.  Here are two videos of each.  The first is of Little Byron being his normal self -- a happy boy!  And now he is beginning to want to giggle.  Here he is taking his medicine with daddy.  The second one is of Emma being a mommy and giving her baby some milk and putting him to sleep.  The video does not show how she put the diaper on before that.  Enjoy!

Day of the Dead

I finally got around to doing what has been on my to-do list for years:  recognize Day of the Dead in our home.  It seems redundant to clarify this, but just to set matters straight -- no, we don't believe in Day of the Dead!  BUT, Day of the Dead is a huge part of my heritage.  I tell people that this holiday is the equivalent to Thanksgiving to Americans.  It's that big!  So I want to make an effort to raise our children with a this in mind.

So, all that to say, I finally got around to making some pib and xec last night and invited some friends to join us.  Though we want our children to experience this in the future, children were not included last night at our dinner table -- it was only adults, and it was so much fun!

I have no pictures other than my pib straight out of the oven.  Having been my first time making it, it turned out pretty good, but it does need some tweaking before next year.

Until then...

Floor

Emma has gone (how can I put this politely?)... insane!  

She is now a 2-year old, and what do 2-year olds do?  They develop a sense of independence and realize they have choices!  All good and well, and must I dare say... even encouraged?!  But it does get draining, and well... 

even a bit silly...

Yes, this is how Emma sleeps now.

 She wants to sleep on the floor, not because it's more comfortable (maybe it is... it's just hard to believe), but because she gets to choose and "get her own way."  You can't tell by the picture, but many nights now she also wants to sleep with clothes on (opposed to PJs)... not necessarily the clothes she wore for the day, but just clothes.  Again, choices!  After doing potty, we wash hands, but for some odd reason (again, choices) she wants to wash them in the kitchen, and not in the bathroom *sigh* :)

As long as she does what we want her to do, it doesn't matter how we get around to doing it.  We don't need to win every battle, but we must always win the war :)

No more pom!

I should have posted something about this a few weeks ago, but haven't had the chance to.  We reached a major milestone three weeks ago -- Emma said bye-bye to her pom!

About 2 months ago, soon after LB was born, she proudly bit a hole into her pom.  In panic, I had Byron run to the store to get her a pacifier.  He got a packet of two, and then told her that this would be her ultimo pom (last pacifier).  Of course, at the time she had not idea what ultimo pom meant, so we proceeded to use the next couple of days/weeks to teach her this -- ultimo grape, ultimo plate, ultimo cartoon, etc.  She got the point eventually.

Of course, the new pom lasted about 3 days, and then she really had the very last one from the packet.  By that point she had gotten the idea of what ultimo meant, so she took very good care of it.  But one day, in defiance and not wanting to give it back to me to put back into her crib, she bit a hole in it.  It couldn't have come at a worse time, because that night was a night that Byron was gone, so I was going to have to endure her first night pom-less all by myself.  

But Emma understood what had happened and accepted it well.  She did cry on and off for about 30 minutes, and then went back to sleep.  That was the last we heard of it.  She has done great without it!  It has cost me some extra down time, since now she wants to get out of her crib as soon as she wakes, where before she could stay in her crib happily for a while.  I would have been fine having her use her pom for another year or so, but because she was biting so many holes in them, we just couldn't keep up with it.  

Pom was a great companion, and a wonderful comfort to our little girl.  We are thankful for the two years he gave us :)

RIP Pom!

Costume Carnival 2013

As tradition would have it, our church hosted a costume carnival earlier today.  We had a baby giraffe costume that Emma wore when she was a baby, and a friend of ours had a 2T giraffe costume we borrowed for Emma.  LB slept for most of our time there, but he woke up just in time for lunch and pictures.

Down the slide with daddy.

As you can probably tell by the stern face in all of these pictures, Emma was in shock the entire time.  Her friend Cara was an owl, and they both just stared at each other for a while.  They wouldn't come close to each other.  

Some face painting.

Mommy with her two giraffes.

Enjoying her paleta.

Life in the Trenches

I thought I would record a little bit of the not-so-fun happenings in our home these days.  As I struggle to make it through each day, I am often reminded of the brave and difficult statements other mothers like me publish on facebook or on their blogs -- life is hard, and I never want this blog (or my facebook profile) to come across as if we had it all together.

Let me walk you through today --

1:00 am -- Little Byron is sick, so instead of waking up once during the night, he is now waking up twice.  First feeding.

4:00 am -- He wakes again to feed.

7:30 am - 2 pm -- Emma wakes up asking for mommy:  "moooommy, moooommy... pee-pee, pee-pee" (even though she has a diaper on).  Byron gets up to get her since LB is still asleep.  Emma is not satisfied with daddy, and gets a little upset that mommy did not come get her.  He finally convinces her that he can do the job of getting her to the bathroom.

LB wakes up shortly -- ooops! I have slept in a bad position and my neck is killing me (it is 3:30 pm now and still killing me).  But Emma is starting up a storm in the kitchen while B is trying to have his breakfast and have his quiet time.  So I take him to the kitchen and plop him on the swing.  I then proceed to prepare her breakfast.  I get her plate ready with fruit and bread -- the bread does not have jelly ("sorry honey, I'll put some jelly.  Oh, peanut butter also?  My bad!"), so put on the jelly and peanut butter.

Anyway, I then proceed to sit and nurse LB.  I then change him and put him in this cute halloween outfit.  Of course, he throws up on it as soon as he is ready... ugh!  Compared to the four times he threw up last Monday, this little bit was nothing.  Emma climbs into his crib, then needs help to get out.

Hustle, hustle, hustle... I finally get them dressed and ready to get out the door to get some honey and grains I ordered from Atlanta.  On my way, I get stopped by a policeman -- I was speeding :(  I may have looked like death, because he let me go with a warning.  Sigh!  I wanted to cry.

We then go to Costco to do some groceries.  We come home and Byron is asleep, so we put him in his room.  Emma discovered greek yogurt and honey at Costco, so she wants me to give her some.  Then some more again!  She soon realizes that the yogurt is much more fun to play with than eat, and thus proceeds to put all over her face, arms and shirt.  Then throws some more on the floor (which I had just mopped that morning, btw).  Then says, "oh oh... pee-pee".  I pick her up and she did potty all over her pants.  Take her to the toilet, finishes her pee-pee and then some more po-po.  I take her clothes off, but now she does not want to put clothes on again... she wants to be naked!  I finally convince her to at least put on her underwear, which she agrees to do.

We then spend some time in the kitchen.  She pulls a chair and stands facing the counter.  She wants chicken, then more chicken.  Then she wants to play with the salad spinner -- she put some grapes in it and begins to spin it. 

Finally!  It is 1:30 pm, and time for her nap.  But wait a minute, nap time is no longer the breeze it used to be -- it's a fight!  I carry her against her will to her room.  She refuses a diaper or any clothes, and is screaming all at the same time.  I shut the door and wait for her to calm down (LB is still sleeping through all of this).  Thirty minutes later, after a few unsuccessful tries, she finally agrees to put on her diaper and clothes.  It is after 2 pm and she drops dead asleep in her crib (the other day she was so angry, she climbed out and proceeded to nap on the floor for 3 hours).

2:00 pm -- where is my medal?  So I make myself some decaf coffee with lots of cream and sugar.  Twenty minutes of down time and LB wakes up (story of my life!)

So that's my first half of the day.  Thankfully LB is very chill and is now asleep in his swing after watching me type this entry.  I know that a hectic life is relative, and that one's craziness is another's walk in the park.

If you are not my mom and have read through this entire entry, congratulations! 

Pretty in Pink

Emma was never much of a swaddler, but our little man loves being wrapped in a taco (as my mother and grandmother like to refer to it).  We tuck his arms and wrap him as tight as we can.  He then proceeds to fall asleep... like a baby!

Much for his misfortune, one of his two swaddles is pink (used to be Emma's), so half the time when sleeping he looks like this:

Poor little man.  I am afraid this won't be the first time he is caught wearing something from his sister.

On a different note, Byron and Emma like to play legos together.  Byron assembled this little "creature" the other day, and thought it was worth recording/remembering.  Emma would refer to it as muneca (doll).

The creepy Muneca

Trip to Indiana

Our dear friends Jim and Julianna, who just recently visited us in Augusta a few months ago, lost their 3-year old daughter Gemma while peacefully sleeping.  We were extremely broken by the news, and longed to be with our friends during this time.  Though they now live in Colorado, the memorial service for sweet Gemma was going to take place in Indiana.  Memma offered to keep Emma for us, which allowed Little Byron and myself to accompany Byron on this 10+ hour drive (plus feeding stops).

The driving over there and back went smoothly.  We had the chance to spend some time with J&J before the service, then began heading home that evening after supper.  

We have no pictures with the Giesers.  However, the Kelleys drove over from Illinois to also come to the service and meet us for a few hours.  Saturday was also Byron's 35th birthday, so after the service ended, they took us out to dinner at Cracker Barrel.  

Here are a few pictures with them:

We each got to meet our new family additions.

Two months

Little Byron is two months old... and he is a little giant!

He has gone from wearing newborn/0-3 months clothes to 6 months old clothes overnight!  It's like he completely skipped size 3 months.  One day all his clothes fit him, then the next nothing. 

He will have his two month checkup this week, and we'll really see where he falls on the charts regarding size.  In the meantime, all we can do is speculate. 

Two-month picture with Johnny Bear.

Oh, how they love each other!

Compare to Emma's two month picture.

He is a sweet, sweet baby.  His hair is starting to grow back, and thus his cowlick at the top of his forehead is returning.  For almost 2 weeks now, he is only waking up once during the night, which is a huge improvement from Emma at this age.  

Emma never spit up (okay, I lie -- she maybe spit up a total of 20 times), but Little Byron spits up constantly.  I cannot keep up with burp clothes fast enough.  Today he threw up straight at me.  He got my hair, shirt and all over the floor (thankfully he missed the furniture). 

Birth Announcement

We joyfully announce the birth of our second child

Byron Millard Morris III

born Monday, August 12, 2013

 weighing 7 lbs 1 oz

and measuring 19.75 inches long