December 2014 – Peanut Smiles

Lexi-isms

December 31, 2014January 4, 2015 peanutsmiles

Sweet Girl,

I swear I haven’t forgotten about posts for you. I have drafts of your monthly posts all the way from August that I need to publish. They are just more involved and I need to find time to finish them.

In the mean time, a few funny things about life with you as of late.

As I was setting the Christmas tree up and put the first section into the bottom stand and the branches bounced down, you exclaimed–“Wook Mama, tree has wings!”

Also in relation to Christmas, we have some metal reindeer that sit near the fireplace and they have some bells around their neck. When you first noticed them, you excitedly told me, “I jingle their balls.”

You’re very confident that the baby is going to be your sister and when we ask you what we should name her, you just say ‘Girl’. Along those lines, over the past few days, with no prompting on my behalf at all, you like to tell me the things you’re going to share with your sister. Randomly, you started talking about how you were going to share books with sister and your pals. I asked if you were going to share Giraffee with your sister and you responded sternly, ‘No, Giraffee mine’.

You love anything and all things trains these days, and every train is named Thomas.

You learned how to open doors this week, which has made things a little more interesting as it is harder to keep you out of certain areas. While celebrating Christmas with Daddy’s family, you opened the door to the basement and went down their to get a toy. I saw that the door was open and the light was on, but didn’t hear any activity going on down there so I shut off the light and closed the door. I quickly learned that you had been down there. Thankfully, you went to the stairs, turned the light back on and came up and started banging on the door. Because the height of the stair is lower, you can’t reach the door handle. I felt pretty terrible about that, but was glad you didn’t freak out at all.

This is your second night sleeping in your big girl bed and so far so good! You haven’t gotten out yet–just gone straight to bed.

You can say your ‘L’s but most of the time they come out as ‘W’s’. ‘Wook, Wexi, Wight, Woud, Wips’

Grandma B gave you a Santa nesting doll and you love to play with it. For some reason, you refer to the smallest one as ‘Baby Boy’.

We had some Christmas show on one morning and Santa came on the screen and you stood up on the couch started clapping your hands and saying ‘whaa-whoo’ ‘Whaa-hoo’!

Thats all for now my love bug. I have so many more thoughts for you around becoming a big sister and how our relationship is going to change. I’ll find some time in the next couple weeks to share.

Love,

Mama

Baby 2, Pregnancy Updates

Baby #2 31 Weeks

December 30, 2014January 5, 2015 peanutsmiles

Dear Baby,

What a difference a week can make! Last week I was all cool, calm and collected–this week, I’m a ball of nerves. I feel like there is so much to do before you arrive and I’m not ready at all! The biggest thing on the to-do list is getting the basement bedroom done so we can get our bedroom and the rest of the house ready for you to arrive. Lexi has some fairly large toys and I want them to go into the basement to help make things less cluttered, but that can’t happen until the building materials are out of the way. I also want to get Lexi’s room complete and move her from her crib into a big-girl bed. Some serious nesting going on here!

This week, I’ve also had a sudden shift in your gender. Up until this last week, I’ve been 99% confident that you are a boy. Then this week, I had a couple slight thoughts that you might be a girl and those inclinations have only continued to grow. I’m about 80% sure you’re a boy and 20% you could be a girl. Cousin Addie predicted you are a girl and has a pretty good track record on gender predictions. Lexi also talks about her sister on a regular basis without any prompting from us. For example today, we were looking at books and she gathers them all up and walks away and tells me she shares books with sister. Daddy also thinks you’re a girl. I looked at some belly pictures of me with Lexi and I would say that I’m carrying you the same way I carried her. Low and very egg shaped.

My hormones got the best of me this week. Overall, I’m a lot less patient while I’m pregnant and unfortunately I think Lexi gets the raw end of the deal–at least more so than anyone else. I just don’t have the energy to be firm with her and end up giving in to her requests more often than I should–especially when she puts up a stink. Which has only taught her to do it more often to get what she wants. The worst two situations are getting her to go to the bathroom and put her boots and jacket on. After an epic 45 minute battle of getting boots and jacket on–I was completely beat. Plus, I had just hosted Christmas for Daddy’s family the day before and was exhausted. I get home and Daddy asks me how I was, and I just burst into tears. I felt stretched to the brim in everything going on in life. I was thinking about two strangers that died in a car accident the day before (I know, odd considering I didn’t see it or know these people, but just kept feeling bad for their families and thinking what if that would have been myself and Lexi in that car or Daddy). I degress…. overall, physically I’m feeling pretty good. Emotionally, I’m feeling a bit stretched.

Hoping this next week levels out.

Love,

Mama

Chirstmas, Lexi

Christmas 2014

December 29, 2014October 15, 2016 peanutsmiles

Sweet Babes,

Merry Christmas.

This is officially you’re third Christmas, but the first one where you sort of got what was going on. We had all sorts of celebrations with families and were very busy. The first was with all of mommy’s aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids on papa’s side of the family. I think there were over 80 people there! Santa came to visit you and all of the other great grandchildren. You were pretty scared of him and refused to sit on his lap. It didn’t help that he arrived just as we got there so you were a little overwhelmed in general but after the fact, you talked about him and continued to tell me how much fun you had. The following day, we celebrated with papa, grandma B, and your auntie She-She, Dustin, Uncle Joe-Joe and Auntie Angie. You had a ball playing with papa and brought every gift that anyone opened to show him.

Then on Christmas Eve, we went to church. You did pretty good with the exception of needing to go to the bathroom twice during the service. Then we went to celebrate with mommy’s aunts, uncles and cousins on mommy’s side of the family. You loved playing with your girl cousins and had fun singing and dancing with them.

On Christmas morning, you slept until 9 am (even though I was up at 7:30 and excited for you to wake up). As we went down the stairs and you peeked through the spindles on the stairs and saw all the presents under the tree, you said ‘Oh my! Oh my goodness!’ So sweet. The opening was a little different than what I expected. We had to keep putting presents in front of you and try and get you to open them. You weren’t too interested. You mainly wanted to play with the toy kitchen from papa and grandma that we had set up.

After a nummy breakfast, we spent the entire day in jammies and playing with your new toys. You loved all the extra attention from mom and dad as we sat down and played with you and weren’t distracted with other house chores as we normally are on a regular day.

Finally, on the day after Christmas, we had Daddy’s mom and dad, sisters, cousins and grandparents over. The boys played hockey and you and Ashley and Courtney had so much fun playing legos. Through all of these celebrations, you were spoiled with gifts–but a few of your favorites have been your train set, new Thomas books and your toy kitchen (and food). In addition to the actual celebrations of Christmas–you have really gotten into singing some Christmas songs, specifically: Jingle Bells, Rudolph and You Better Watch Out. You know about 80% of the words and do a pretty good job singing them. You’ll even play your xylophone while you sing. You also loved all of the Christmas lights on people’s houses. As we would drive, you would get very excited and kick you legs and point and say ‘wook mommy, wook’. You also LOVED the train that went around the Christmas Tree and would ask to ‘wake it up’ about 10 times a day. You sat on the ottoman (Lexi’s seat, as you would call it) and watch it go around and around and around. It never got old. We also made and decorated some sugar cookies with Grandma’s help. You were sorta into it but were more interested in just playing with Grandma.

Merry Christmas love bug. I hope your excitement for Christmas continues to grow and you able to enjoy the magic of the season.

Love,

Mama

Baby 2, Pregnancy Updates

Baby #2 30 Weeks

December 23, 2014December 31, 2014 peanutsmiles

Dear little babes,

We’ve officially reached the 10 week countdown, which honestly means nothing to me because it still seems like a long time from now. This morning, I had a checkup and things continue to go great. Your heartbeat was between 155 and 165. The doctor said you had the hiccups–even though to me it felt like you were just moving around. I’ve never been able to tell the difference between general movement and hiccups with you or your sister. No other major news to report, my appetite has been pretty minimal lately. Nothing sounds really good to eat and I’m not feeling too hungry either. My lack of energy is becoming more noticeable. I have a hard time getting up in the morning and just generally feel tired or worn out. With that said, I do feel fairly comfortable. I’m sleeping pretty well. I usually get up to go to the bathroom in the wee hours of the morning, but am able to go right back to sleep. I’m loving the fact that I can sort of sleep on my stomach which is seriously A-Mazing! Also my hips haven’t hurt too bad. I’m not sure when they got sore with Lexi, but so far so good.

Christmas is in two days, so Merry Christmas to you little bug–stay cozy!

Love,

Mama

Baby 2, Pregnancy Updates

Baby #2 29 Weeks

December 16, 2014December 31, 2014 peanutsmiles

Dear Babes,

29 weeks and so many things on my mind.

1. Christmas is less than 10 days away, which seems crazy, but feeling pretty good about the shopping front.

2. Work is insanely busy right now.

3. My first stretch marks are making an appearance.

4. The size of you is starting to impact simple everyday tasks. Like when I’m trying to cook–my belly gets in the way of getting close to the counter. Lexi has a hard time sitting in my lap to read stories (or in the rocking chair). I need to sit down to put socks on. Shaving. I get out of breath going up stairs. I can’t just sit up. Sitting up from laying down can’t be done.

5. There is a very small range of an angle I need to be at to be comfortable. Sitting straight up or too forward makes it difficult to breath, but laying flat is also difficult to breath or any kind of slouching just doesn’t work.

6. A colleague of mine was expecting two weeks ahead of you and they had their baby last week, 10 weeks early. It reminded me how unpredictable you little babes are and how little control we (I) have. Please stay hunkered little one, I’m not ready for you yet and you need more time to grow.

7. Your big sister is absolutely hilarious.

8. I have no appetite.

9. Sleep is good, but I have no energy. Feeling the drain of the 3rd Trimester.

10. Keep growing and stay healthy. We’re excited to meet you, but not for several weeks!

Love,

Mama

Alexis Monthly Posts, Lexi

Lexi is 2!!

December 4, 2014December 2, 2016 peanutsmiles

Happy Birthday my sweet Lexi!!! It is hard to believe you are already two, and at the same time that you are only two. You feel like you have been a part of our family forever and it feels like you are a lot older than two. I remember being in labor, the excitement, anticipation and series of events like it was yesterday.

You bring your Daddy and I so much happiness everyday. Daddy is constantly saying ‘I love the bunks.’ or ‘Lexi is the best/sweetest.’ or ‘I know it’s good for her to sleep, but I can’t wait until she wakes up.’ I couldn’t agree more. I always feel like I am racing to get home from work to see you and can’t get here fast enough. When I am home, I want to be with you whether it is putting you down for bed or being there when you wake up or even having you run errands with me. You have an infectious smile and giggle and the expressions you make and the way you talk with your eyes makes my heart dance with delight. You are a true sparkle of happiness in our lives and your grandparents and aunts and uncles. They love you and can’t get enough time to spend with you.

Your personality starts to come through more and more everyday. You look identical to me when I was your age (when you see pictures of me, you say ‘That’s Lexi’) but I think you have more of your Dad’s personality. You’re pretty shy with new people and new places but eventually warm up (and love to talk!). You’re are just happy and content with your simple little life. You definitely have a little bit of mine and daddy’s stubbornness in you and don’t seem to be a fan of change. You don’t like to change your clothes (and prefer to keep your jammies on all day) and don’t like getting ready to leave the house.

You are quite the chatter box. You talk in full sentences and it is a rare occurrence for us not be able to understand what you are saying. You love to chat to yourself, talk to your pals, announce what you see whether we are driving or what you see on TV or in books. You also are pretty good at picking up on phrases Mommy and Daddy commonly say such as: ‘how about’ ‘hey’ ‘be careful’ ‘get down from there’ ‘i love you’ ‘sweet dreams’ ‘see you later’ and ‘sure’ ‘don’t touch, only look’, ‘no jumping, only sit on couch’–you’ve even nailed the inflection. Some of my favorite things are when you say large words like ‘dangerous. quesadilla and patient.’

Favorite Books: Curious George, books where you need to find things and little princess books
Favorite Shows: Thomas, Frozen, Despicable Me, The Little Mermaid and Dinosaur Train
Favorite Foods: Anything sweet, Chocolate Milk, Juice, Mac’N Cheese, Raspberries, Blueberries, Yogurt, Popcorn, Ice Cream and Fruit Snacks
Favorite Songs: Let it Go, Thrift Shop, Shut up and Dance, Scalliwag, Everything is Awesome
Favorite Activities: Dancing, Running Fast, Playing with Pals, Bulldozer and Diggers, Reading books, Talking, Playing with Papa and Grandma, Taking Baths and Singing songs

You’ve been pooping on the potty for months now, but in the last week you’ve been wearing underwear every day and been doing a great job ‘tinkling’ on the potty. You’re even waking up dry from naps and bedtime. Keep it up big girl!

You can repeat the numbers correctly from 1-15, but I wouldn’t say you really grasp the idea of counting. When we ask you to count, you just repeat the numbers, but don’t necessarily look at the grouping of items and put a number with each object. We’re working on you ABC’s but about 8 letters in you forget the order.

You continue to be a rockstar sleeper. You go down for bed between 9 and 10 and wake up between 8 and 9. You also will take a nap from 2-5 everyday. Daddy and I love to watch you on the monitor when you’re waking up or as you’re falling asleep as you chat, sing songs, move about your crib and just generally be happy for 20-30 minutes before we get you in the morning or before you fall asleep at night.

You know about half of your colors. You’re very good at identifying pink and blue and get green about 80% of the time and red about 50%. You haven’t figured out purple, orange, yellow, black, brown and white yet.

We’re beginning to see what the ‘terrible twos’ are all about. You usually have some kind of tantrum every day. Some days there are many and they are dramatic, other days they are in-frequent and minimal. All of the time, they are about really trivial things like putting your boots on or not allowing you to play with chapstick. You definitely throw more of a stink for me than anyone else. Going to the bathroom and leaving the house are the most common reasons for you to have a tantrum and it usually consists of having your body become limp like a spaghetti noodle, kicking screaming and throwing your body in all directions to make it very difficult for me to get you to do anything. Sometimes, I just walk away and let you have your moment and within about a minute or so, you come find me for some comfort. It is amazing that I can make you that angry, but you almost instantly forgive me and want some love from to console you.

Lexi, Daddy and I love you so much and feel so blessed to have you in our lives. We can’t wait to see what this next year brings you and how you are going to react to being a big sister.

Love,

Mama

Alexis Monthly Posts, Lexi

Lexi 1 year 11 months (24 months)

December 4, 2014March 30, 2015 peanutsmiles

Dear Lexi,

Your monthly letter completely escaped me. I took notes throughout the month, but procrastinated in writing it because, by gosh, you are TWO my sweet girl and don’t know how to articulate this happy, sweet, funny and smart little munchkin you’ve become. Three months later…here we are. The details and stories aren’t as vivid but I’m sure if you ever dare to read this 15 years from now, you’ll suffice.

Favorite memories:

Not necessarily a ‘favorite’ memory, but a huge milestone: you are officially potty trained. We put you in underwear over Thanksgiving break since I was home from work and had the time to work with you and bring you to the potty often. The first day was pretty rough. I think you had 6 accidents. I was ready to give up, but knew I needed to stick it out for a couple more days. Day 2 was a little better, maybe 4 accidents and by day 3 you maybe just had one. We didn’t necessarily use one of the ‘potty training methods’ out there as you didn’t react well to them when we tried back in August. This time, I just would very casually bring you to the potty every hour or two, and you always went. We didn’t make a big fuss about it or talk about it a lot–we just did it, and you seemed to respond pretty well to it. We also were only attempting to train you in the day, not for naps or night time, but after two solid weeks of waking up dry, we quit putting diapers on you. March update: you’ve had less then 5 night time accidents. Way to rock it my big girl! (minor note: You have a really hard time wearing any kind of character underwear as you get rashes on your bum–so we’ve stuck to the Gerber cloth type training pants and Gap)

We started a Mommy and Me swimming class this month. The first couple classes were a little rough as you had NO interest in doing what the class was doing and just wanted to play. The teacher was also requesting you to do pretty advanced tasks that you just weren’t capable of yet, but nonetheless, by the third week you were listening to the teacher and doing a much better job. One of the evenings, we stayed after class to swim and you blossomed. We were able to work on things like kicking and floating on your back and you rocked them. You also got comfortable going down the tot slide and probably went down it 30 times that night. To say you LOVED it was a complete understatement. I wish I would have had a waterproof camera to capture your big smile every time you went down.

I also took you to get your first haircut this month. The mullet had just gotten out of control and we needed some direction. We went to a specialty kids place, they put you in a little seat, gave you a sucker and let you watch Frozen. I wanted them to keep your hair as long as possible but get it out of your eyes and eliminate the mullet. They suggested bangs as kids your age have a hard time brushing the hair to the side. Even though I’m not a fan of bangs, the logic made sense and we went with it. You were terrified the entire time and kept wanting to give me hugs. And the amount of hair they cut was pathetic and totally not worth the $20. However, they did give you a nice little certificate with a little bag of your hair for your baby book.

One night I had made Mac N’ Cheese for dinner and you and I were sitting at the table and for whatever reason I told you to take a ‘Big Bite’ but said it in a slightly lower octave and kind of loud and you thought it was the funniest thing you ever heard. You giggled uncontrollably, which of course prompted me to repeat this because that sweet little giggle of yours is seriously the happiest noise I’ve ever heard in my life. Thankfully, we got it on video, but this little saying has become a regular part of our vocabulary and has even stuck around 3 months later.

Notes:

You LOVE to read Curious George. It is usually read every night before bedtime. You also love Frozen, Minions, Ariel and your little Princess Books. You refer to Despicable Me as Minions and New Minions.

You are amazed by Christmas lights on people’s homes. Whenever you notice them you yell ‘Wook at that mama. Wook Wook Wook!’

You absolutely adore Papa! You talk about him at home frequently and pretend to talk to him on your phone, specifically about how you’re going to eat Gum Drops and play diggers together. Whenever you see him your face lights up in excitement, it is so sweet!

You love to help Daddy shovel the snow. You chatter away while you’re out there, usually saying ‘I heping’

We went to the Children’s museum for the first time this month and you are such a shy and timid little girl sometimes. You’re very polite and wait your turn for things, but then get frustrated and angry when the other kids budge in line or take things from your hands. You say ‘That’s Wexi’s’ and furrow your brows, but don’t ever take things from other kids or push. Part of me is happy that you’re so well behaved, but the other part of me wants you to stick up for yourself and not let other kids push you around. I hope that you’ll be able to learn do stick up for yourself yet still be the sweet polite little girl that you are.

Of course after the Children’t museum, you got a cold. You were pretty run down and fell asleep while watching one of your shows, (which never happens).

This month you’ve also learned to easily climb up and down the stools at the counter and sit and eat there occasionally.

Thats it my sweet girl. Officially, your last monthly post. I’ve loved capturing the past two years for you (and for me) and hope you’ll enjoy looking over these as you get older. We love you more than you will ever know.

Love,

Mama

Baby 2, Pregnancy Updates

Baby #2 27 Weeks

December 2, 2014December 16, 2014 peanutsmiles

Dear Baby,

It feels odd writing ‘just baby.’ You’ve been with me for 27 weeks now and it feels like I should have a nickname for your or should refer to you by name or something more personal than ‘just baby’. But in reality, that’s how I talk about you and what I think of you–you’re just a baby to me. There is so much to discover about you, anything more than ‘baby’ seems too much. Are you going to be stubborn, have colic, have your nights and your days mixed up, be laid back like your sister, a good sleeper and eater, will you have trouble nursing, will you be healthy and that only tips the surface of what your little personality will unfold as your grow.

Today was a more eventful day than normal. My work team volunteered at the Ronald McDonald Home by decorating it for Christmas. It was fun to get out of the office and think about how grateful the families would be to experience a little bit of the Holiday’s during such a difficult time for them. It also stirred up some anxiety about how little control we have over health and I pray that you, your sister or anyone close never have to experience the challenges that come with cancer. It is such a scary and unpredictable thing.

Following the event, I had a doctor appointment and took my glucose test and passed, which is the important thing, but the test itself was pretty brutal. I started drinking the liquid and thought, huh, this isn’t as bad as I remember. By the end, it was nearly gagging as I drank it. Then, continued to get light-headed throughout the hour I had to wait before getting my blood drawn. Note to future self: make sure you eat and drink a lot of water before taking that test again, if I ever need to.

Overall the doctor appointment went well. Your heartbeat was at 157 and I’m measuring 1 week early and have gained 14 lbs, so great news on all fronts. This week also started a middle of the night bathroom break. You continue to move around a lot, especially late in the evening. Sometimes it feels like you are typing on my tummy. Lexi continues to call you her sister and when we ask her what your name is, she says ‘Baby’. So I guess she is just like me.

The past week was Thanksgiving and it was nice to have a break from work and see family. We also started potty training Lexi so we only have you in diapers (hopefully)! Day 1 was rough, but each day has gotten better and easier. Heartburn has been relatively tame over the past week. I have moments but don’t need to take Tums consistently.

Until next week…

Love,

Mama