Meeting Baby Avram

We finally got to meet our sweet new nephew Avram (or Baby Avi as Evie likes to call him).  He’s cute as a button and absolutely precious!  Evie got to hold the baby three times and she was absolutely thrilled.  She told Kiki and Pops later that he was “so sweet” and his head was “just so tiny”.  That made me laugh - Evie is used to her big boy Mitchell-Man!  We are so happy that Avi is doing so well and we can’t wait until we get to see him again!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY BIG GIRL!

It’s so hard for me to believe that my baby big girl is three!  From the second we knew she was coming, she had our hearts and that loves just continues to grow.  Evie is super sweet, but super stubborn.  I see so much of myself in her at times and more than once I’ve felt the need to call my parents up and say “How in the world did you deal with me?!”  Three is not an easy age, but it is a pretty amazing one.  She is learning and growing so quickly.  She asking questions about the world and learning how to work out situations for herself.  She fully potty-trained now and we are about to start letting her go to bed without a pull-up.  She wakes up completely dry and we told her that once she used up all of the Pull-ups, we wouldn’t buy anymore and she could be a full-fledged big girl at night.  I have to admit, I’m a little bit wary about what the morning could bring, but I think we can trust her.  If she has an accident, we’ll deal with it.

Evelyn is an extremely verbal, expressive child.  She talks almost non-stop and picks up words and phrases quickly.  She’s started using phrases like “you’re freaking me out” and “are you kidding me?”.  She also started rolling her eyes when she annoyed or exasperated with us.  I have turn away because it’s kind of funny, but it is definitely not a behavior we encourage or allow.  Evelyn loves to sing and dance and she can really get into a song with someone hands her a microphone.  She closes her eyes, sways to the beat and really belts out the tune with a lot of emotion.  Evie has always been sensitive.  She gets her feelings hurt easily and is prone to pouting.  But she has huge, caring heart and hates to see anyone hurt or crying.  She adores her little brother and is usually absolutely wonderful with him.

Evie is our smart, caring, funny, sensitive, temperamental, stubbornly amazing little girl and we love her!

Happy 3^rd Birthday Sweets!

9 months old and we have teeth!

Our big boy is 9 months old!

We still think he will walk early, but for now he is crawling like an absolute pro.  He is seriously fast and when he wants something he will fly across the floor to get it so fast that it’s hard to catch him sometimes.  Kind of makes me dread the day that he does learn to walk!  He is still the happiest, sweetest baby on the planet.  He loves to be held and isn’t usually very fussy about who can hold him most of the time.  We’ve been to several family parties lately and he’s been passed around from person to person with no issues.  On the contrary – he is more than happy to snuggle up to whoever’s got him!  He has found his voice and while he’s quieter that Evie was, he can still talk up a storm if he’s in the mood.  One of his favorite things to do is find something to bang (a table, his high chair, our faces) and yell “DADADADADA!”  His Aunt Sha-Sha couldn’t believe how much he talked the last time she was in town!  He says Dada, Mama and Ba, along with other intelligible sounds.  I still don’t think anything has any real meaning yet.  However, while he doesn’t grasp the meaning of the names yet, I have noticed that when he’s happy, he tends to babble ‘Dada’ and when he’s upset he’ll say ‘Mama” (while reaching for me).

Mitch is our little foodie.  He will eat pretty much anything.  He’s gets his baby food well and really loves Cheerios.  We can only put a few on the tray at a time because he’ll stuff them all in his face and store them in his cheeks like a squirrel.  I’ve been a little more lenient this time around when it comes to food and I’ve given him tastes of things other than just baby food.  I was a little crazy with Evie and wouldn’t let her try much until after she turned a year, but I feel more confident in trying things with Mitchell.  He love avocado.  He’s tried bites of green beans, mashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts.  He’s had a smidgeon of whipped cream, a few crumbs of a short bread cookie, a tiny taste of ice cream, a crumble of bread pudding, a bite of scrambled eggs and a couple of bacon bits too.  I try to limit it to things that have been prepared at home or that are store bought so that I know exactly what the ingredients are.  I don’t like giving him anything from a restaurant (unless it’s something his daddy made) because I’m not sure what’s in it and if he has does have an allergic reaction, I wouldn’t know what caused it.  

He finally got his first tooth a few weeks ago (at almost exactly 9 months).  We could tell it was bothering him and we were very happy when it decided to poke through his gums.  Since then, he’s also gotten a second tooth on the bottom.  He won’t have his 9 month checkup until a few weeks so I’m not sure what he weighs, but he’s outgrowing the 9 month clothes.  He’s getting so big!!

My nephew

Isn't he just the cutest?!  I cannot wait to get my hands on him!

Let's go the movies!

As a special treat to celebrate her 3^rd birthday (my baby girl is THREE!!), Pat and I took her to the movies for the first time.  We opted for an afternoon showing of Big Hero 6 in 3-D.  She had a blast!  She loved the movie, the 3-D glasses, the popcorn, the Twizzlers.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well she did.  She forgot to whisper a few times, but for the most part she was very well-behaved.  And while I’m sure the people in the movie theater could have done without her announcement that she had to go potty, I was thrilled at that she was such a big girl.  After the movie, we let her play (or pretend to play) a few games in the arcade and then took her to the bookstore.  She got a Cinderella storybook for herself and picked out a book for Mitchell as well.  We had a such a fun afternoon with our girl!

Babies and Broken Feet

As usual, life has been a whirlwind lately.  I suppose that's par for the course when you have children.  Neither of our children are great sleepers and there have been many days recently when Pat and I feel like we are running on empty.  We are very lucky to have the support of family and friends when we need it!
I was a co-host of my sister Holly's baby shower a few weeks ago.  Shannon and I were technically the hosts, but we couldn't have done it without a lot of help from a lot of different people.  It was truly a group effort and I think it turned out wonderful, despite having to be postponed due to snow.  Pat prepared 95% of the food and, as usual, everyone raved about it.  He also drove with my dad to pick up Holly in Blue Ash after she got stuck because of snow. Thankfully, they were able to get her to the shower and everyone had fun.  Especially the kids! Evie had a ball playing with Josie, Maria and Peyton, and Mitch got snuggled by just about everybody.

Just before we left to head down to No. KY on Friday, I was out in the garage getting an icepack for one of the coolers.  I side-stepped some snow that had fallen off of Pat's car only to step directly on some black ice.  I slipped and fell and managed to break my right foot.  At the time, I didn't know that I had broken it for sure, and I hobbled around on it until Sunday when I went to Urgent Care.  After a visit to the orthopedic doctor, I was told that I had a choice. Be in a boot or cast - non-weight bearing and not driving - for 3+ months.  Or have surgery to put in a plate and pins, being in cast for 4-6 weeks and then gradually start driving and walking on it again.  I chose the second option.  I cannot be off my feet for 3+ months!  I went to the doctor on Wednesday and scheduled the surgery for following Tuesday.  I was told to stay off my foot until then.  Thankfully, my in-laws and my wonderful husband have all pitched in to make things easier for me. 

On Saturday, the kids were with their grandparents for a bit to give us a break.  Pat and I were relaxing when I got a phone call from my sister Holly... my nephew was about to be born!  I immediately wanted to go to KY, but eventually consented to stay home because of weather and my foot.  I was nervous wreck, jumping every time my phone rang, while we waited for news.  Finally the phone call came.... my nephew Avram Thomas was here!  We are so excited and cannot wait to meet him.  He's tiny, precious and doing great, and Evie can't stop talking about her new baby cousin Avi.  It will be a while before we can go to town to see him, but Aunt Holly is sending us pictures and we've gotten to Facetime a few times too.

I had surgery on Tuesday and it went fine.  Since then I've been sitting in a recliner at home doing very little.  Everyone has been so helpful and kind.  Our families have been awesome - babysitting, taking me to the doctor, picking me up from work, helping us around the house, making us dinner and just keeping me company.   It's hard for me to sit still and accept help sometimes, but I am so incredibly grateful.  We have a long road ahead, but I'll be back on my feet soon (hopefully) and I hope to be able to show the same kindness to others that has been shown to us.

 Here are a few more pictures from the past few weeks!

 

8 months already!

It seems like I was just writing my 7 month post about Mitchell and now here we are at 8 months.  8 MONTHS!  I get a little choked up thinking about it.  It’s all going so fast.  He’s growing and changing so fast.  I’m caught between wanting to shout “Stop!  Slow down!” and knowing that I need to encourage and help him to learn more each day and not hold him back.  I suppose that’s a feeling that most parents can understand. 

Mitch is doing amazing!  He’s big and strong and so happy.  He can still be extremely reserved, especially in new environments, but he usually warms up fairly quickly.  Once he’s comfortable – look out!  He’s a man on the move and everything is fascinating to him.  He loves anything with a cord or string.  I was sitting on the ground playing with him and talking on the phone with someone and Mitch was playing.  He was surrounded by toys, but he kept himself entertained by playing with the drawstring on my pajamas.  And the old-school toy phone that we had for Evie that she never really liked – he loves it because it has a string he can chew.  He loves pureed baby food, especially the veggies to my delight.  We’ve given him some puffs and a few pieces of rice and he’s interested in them, but not much makes it into his stomach.  He’s still working on the fine motor skills needed to pick up the tiny pieces of food and put it into his mouth.  He’s pulling up on everything.  Our boy loves to stand and we’re fairly certain it won’t be long until he’s walking.  He’s so curious about everything and he often gets himself into trouble.  He had pulled stuff down on himself, bonked his head and fall down a few times.  But he gets right back up and does it again.  Mitchell has started babbling more and more.  He loves it when we ‘talk’ back to him and he can mimic a couple of sounds (da, ba, ma).  I think he’s starting to use language to get our attention when he wants us.  Most of the time, he will just whine and cry if he wants to be picked up, but the other day he was in the pack’n play in our room while I was helping Evie get dressed after her bath.  He was not happy to be in there and he kept screeching and crying and then I heard “Ma!” a few times.  I figured it was my imagination, but then Evie said “Mama!  Mitchell just said ‘mama’!”  Smart boy!

And speaking of Evie, no post about Mitchell would be complete without mentioning how much he is adored by his big sister.  She has continually amazed us with how good she is with and to him.  She speaks so sweetly to him, saying things like “How are you big boy?” or “Look at you Mitchell-Man”.  She will rush over to him when he’s crying to croon “You are my sunshine” and softly stroke his head.  She never forgets to include him, and although she can get frustrated as his obviously lack of understanding sometimes, she has displayed a great amount of patience for someone her age.  Little bro loves his big sister just as much.  He follows her around the house, is always in her business and constantly smiles at her.  I pray that they share this bond forever.

8 months is proving to be a wonderful age.  Our amazing little boy makes us smile everyday.  And while we wish he would learn to sleep a little more soundly at night, I tell myself to cherish even that time.  Children grow so fast and soon enough, he won’t need me to rock him to back to sleep.  So while being awake at 3am night after night isn’t ideal, it’s not forever either.  The last 8 months passed by in a blink and so will the next.  So I’m grateful to have the time to snuggle my baby boy, just me and him.

Happy 8 months Baby Boy!