Big Sprinks - 10 Month Update

Um, yah, I'm a great mom that this is the first status update at 10 months. Better late than never! I'm mad at myself because while everything is still fresh in my mind now, they won't be a year from now. So this is what Sprinks is up to:

• Is off baby food and generally eats what we eat unless it's a "no no" food like eggs or shellfish
• Drinking from a sippy at meals (and loves the Take-n-Toss that I used for Reese. Yay!)
• Likes to throw her sippy on the floor and say "Uh-oh!" (not so Yay!)
• Crawling on all fours
• Pulls up into standing position and likes to balance with just one hand as if she's performing some circus act
• Loves to play coot-ha (the Vietnamese version of Peek-a-boo.) I need to remember to video this - she'll put her two hands up to cover her eyes, but half the time she misses, so it's two hand on her forehead. So cute!
• Claps her hands and smiles when you say "vo tay" (clap). She used to do this if you clapped your hands along, but now she'll do it if you just say the words.
• Is still LOUD. She's an extremely happy baby, but her volume has only one setting -- max. It's pretty comical because she likes to say "hi" to people when we walk into daycare. Except her "hi" is more like "ACCKKARRGH!"
• Is an Attention Hog. She can be eating or playing quietly, but if she realizes no one's looking at her, she'll let out a long Tarzan yell until everyone makes eye contact with her (see bullet point above), and then all is good.
• Waves "bye-bye" by opening and closing her hand
• Loves to mimic (today she mimicked her teacher pointing and snapping)
• Makes the mamama and daddadaa sounds, but she doesn't get the association yet.
• According to her caregivers, she signs and says "red". I have yet to see this. They're worse than grandparents, I swear.
• Enjoys playing with books
• Likes to "sing" and bounce along with music. In daycare, they play music all day, and whenever she hears the first few notes of "Pat a Cake" or "If You're Happy and You Know It," she'll clap her hands.
• Has 6 teeth (2 lower, 4 upper)

I know everyone tells you all children are different, and I don't disagree with that. However, Madeleine and Reese's personalities are just so different, and I find it fascinating. So I'm going to document that as well so that I'll remember who did what when I'm telling my grandbabies what their mothers did.  Differences:

• As I've mentioned, Madeleine is LOUD. Reese on the other hand, was very quiet. Not shy, because she'd let everyone hold her, just a really quiet, observant baby. Madeleine is pretty balls-out in everything she does. Loud talking. Loud screaming. Loud laughing and giggling. The third one makes up for the first two. Usually. On the flip side, she definitely doesn't let just anyone hold her like Reese did. I would say she does let most people hold her, but there have been people who've reached out to hold her only to be met with huge croccodile tears and shrieking.
• Madeleine loves to be held and around me, but she's not a snuggler. Reese loved to cuddle and snuggle, and we'd nap for hours with her on my chest or on Jim's.
• Madeleine is what I call a "messer." We baby-proofed with Reese, but she never tried to put things in her mouth, had no interest in toilets or sockets, anything. With Madeleine... let's just say we've had to do baby Heimlich twice now. Seriously, the slung over forearm/leg, slapping on the back, Heimlich. I'm glad I paid attention in class and that Jim paid attention when I did it.
• Reese hovered around 50-75 percentile in height/weight her first year, and Madeleine has been between 75-95% so far. I know it's too soon to tell definitively, but I have a feeling that she will end up favoring Jim's side of the family as far as size.
• Reese took to the first bottle we introduced at 1 month like a champ and could finish a 6 oz. bottle in literally a couple of minutes. She'd go back and forth between formula and EBM without a problem and would take a bottle straight out of the fridge. Madeleine on the other hand, hated bottles at first. We struggled getting her to take a bottle and tried several different bottles and nipples. I shed a lot of tears over this because I was going back to work and I seriously thought I'd have to quit working so she wouldn't starve. She was about 3.5 months before she finally settled on a bottle. She's not a super sucker like Reese, but she finishes a 6 oz bottle in less than five minutes.   She, unfortunately, won't take a bottle unless it's practically scalding.
• It seemed like every time I turned around, Reese had an ear infection. Knock on wood, while Mads has gone through hand-foot-mouth, colds, and roseola (thank you, daycare), she hasn't gotten an ear infection yet.
• Physically, they're very dissimilar. Reese is more petite, and while I think she does look like she is of mixed ethnicity, she doesn't look very Asian. Madeleine, on the other hand, is not-so-petite, and she definitely looks Asian. As my dad says, "she looks about 80% Vietnamese."

Similarities:

• I got very lucky with both girls on sleep. They both started sleeping through the night at 4 months, and prior to that, never woke more than 2-3 times a night. Thank God. I'm not someone who functions very well with lack of sleep. They both co-slept with me until 4 moths. With Reese, we did a slow transition of 4 months in bed, 2 months in bassinet in our room, another month in the bassinet in her room, the bassinet inside her crib (removable basket) for another few days... With Madeleine, we went straight from our bed to the crib.
• Both girls are pretty strong - holding neck up, pulling up, etc. Madeleine seems to be on the stronger side, but I think that just may be her size. She did skip army crawling and went straight to regular crawling, but that's about it as far as being more physically advanced.
• Both very physical and love rough play like being thrown around.
• Both girls got their teeth early. It's actually better to not get teeth early, but I guess you can't fight genetics. Reese got her first tooth at 6 months and Mads got hers at 5.5 months. Reese had her first dental x-ray at 4 years, and it revealed an extra front tooth (she has 3 front permanent teeth instead of 2). They're going to keep an eye on it and when the time comes, it'll need to be surgically removed so as to not interfere with the growth of the other two permanent front teeth. I actually had the same extra tooth, and the dentist said it's likely Mads will, too. Jim calls it the "bottle opener gene."

It'll be interesting to watch them grow up and see how similar (and different) they'll be.

Be a donor

A close family friend's baby (now 5 months old) was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disorder. Her first bone marrow transplant was unsuccessful, and now she's undergoing experimental treatment at UCLA. From her online journal:

Most people think bone marrow transplants are just cures for cancer, but they are the only cures for so many more rare diseases like M's. M was very lucky that there was a clinical trial that she qualified for to try to cure her ADA SCIDS that used her own bone marrow. Other children and adults are not so fortunate and bone marrow transplants are their only hope. Please consider joining the database to be a match to help save a life. M or another person in a similar position may need a bone marrow transplant in the future and you could be the match.

To register, go to www.marrow.org and answer a very basic health questionnaire. They will send you a tissue type kit, and all you need to do is swab the inside of your mouth and send back the sample. The whole process should take less than 10 minutes. Usually there is a requested donation of $100, but if you enter the promo code PIF070109, you will be able to register for free.

Just Call Me Kermit

It's Not Easy Being Green

Well, it probably is for others, but difficult for me. We do pretty well on recycling, and I've also made a concerted effort to focus more on reducing and reusing as well. Driving is my Achilles Heel. Or vehicles are, I should say. I drive about 45 miles a day between work and daycare, and more if I'm going to client sites. Luckily, it's mostly highway driving, but still quite a bit of mileage. My problem is threefold - I want a large family car; I feel safer in a SUV in the land of Big Trucks, and I can't get over my hangup about minivans. I am extremely envious of parents with minivans - they seem so practical, especially with multiple children. These days, if you want them, you can get every bell and whistle imaginable, too. Why my hangup? I don't know. I think it is in part due to the fact that there is so very little cool left in my life as a 37-year-old-mother-of-two, I'm hanging on to the last shred of "non-Mommy" by not getting the requisite minivan. I know, I should realize that a) who am I kidding? Just give it up, already, and b) the fact that when I open my car doors, Cheerios, goldfish, and toys fall out pretty much seals the deal on any car I have being a Mommy Car. Alas, I can't be practical on this point.

Anyhoo, now I'm digressing. My point is that large SUV's eat up a lot of gas, especially the ones I prefer with their larger performance engines. Last year, we were able to get an exceptional deal on a 2 year lease. Now leasing is generally a pretty dumb route to go, but it was a great deal and a good choice for us since we didn't know if we wanted to be tied down to a vehicle that gets such poor mileage (16 mpg hwy) when gas was $4/gallon. If I liked it, we'd buy it out at the end of the lease. The key reason we went with this car is that it has a 3rd row seat. Weezie and Sprinkle's carseats are enormous, and I had anticipated needing more seats to take the girls' friends around, especially when they start school (and sports activities, etc.)

The lease is not up until next year, but we've been deliberating for a while as to what to replace it with (we decided against keeping it for various reasons.) We looked into hybrids, but it didn't make economical sense because most of my driving is hwy, and I'd have to give up the third row. We finally hit upon a solution - we went diesel. We just bought a diesel version of the car I used to drive (which I loved). The newer version has a 3rd row seat, too. While its 3rd row kind of sucks, it's fine for kids. It also gets 26 mpg. While that's nothing to write home about, it's great mileage for someone who wants an SUV that seats 7. Jim is selling his car (it's nearing 9 years, so it's time) and driving the lease.

The manufacturer gave us a $4500 eco-credit for going diesel. This rebate isn't government funded but the idea is obviously borrowed from Cash for Clunkers. We also get an $1800 tax credit for going green. I find it highly ironic (and a bit wrong) that I'm getting "eco" credit for buying an SUV, but hey, I'll take it.

Lost Symbol

I received my copy of Dan Brown's latest. I've had it two days and haven't cracked it open. I know once I start reading it I'll be useless for 5-6 hours until it's done. Hurry up weekend! I'm hoping I'm not disappointed, but it really doesn't matter because I am a Sucker for serial novels.

I Give Up

Stupid formatting is not working right on my first topic. Apologies to my friends that get RSS feeds on my failed update attempts.

While we're on that topic

Subjects

So the trouble with using boxes with their own title is that I have to figure out what to use for the main post title.   So, I'm just going to make the main title relevant to whatever topic I broach first.   I'm not sure why I feel the need to explain this, but there you have it.

Sprinkle!

Somehow Sprinkle turned 9 months old.  I can't believe it!   She's crawling and pulling up now, so we've had to start baby-proofing like mad.  As predicted, she gets into EVERYTHING.    One of her first successful attemps at crawling involved crawling across the living room floor, grabbing a Crayola marker, pulling the cap off (!), and drawing all over her leg. Yes, I did just sit on the couch and watch her while she did this.  For the record, I did take the marker from her as she was about to start sucking on it.  Reese started crawling about the same age, but it was army crawling for the first month.  Madeleine skipped the army crawling and just got on her hands and knees one day.

She is a healthy 21 lb 6 oz and 28 inches long, and let's just say she's got the appetite to support her weight.   Really, we haven't found anything she DOESN'T like to eat.   What's really surpising to me, though, is her love of meat.   We had a difficult time with Reese with meats, and even today she's still picky.  For the most part, she'll only eat chicken or food we tell her is chicken (like fish).    Madeleine, on the other hand, loves all meat from brisket to tuna.  Her favorite school lunches are Salisbury Steak and Soft Beef Tacos.   Her caregivers have labeled those her favorites as she eats them faster than other meals, but she actually polishes off everything put in front of her.

Weezie!

 Reese started the kindergartern program at her preschool.   It's a kinder program for children that did not make the age 5 cut-off for matriculation this year.   I'm a bit concerned about her being bored when she goes to "real" kindergarten next Fall, but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there.  She brought home a packet of homework this week, and I think she might actually be bored now.   The worksheets consisted of such tasks as circling pictures that start with the letter C.  Reese was doing this two years ago and can actually read simple books at this point.    On one hand I'm glad she's not being stressed out and pushed too hard (really, homework at age 4?), but on the flip side, I do want to keep her engaged.  Gah, the balance between being *that* mom and *THAT* mom.

Sprinkle + Weezie!

I cannot do justice in describing the way I feel about my two girls and their relationship.   It just brings me JOY to watch them.     Madeleine absolutely adores Reese and just giggles and laughes whenever Reese is around.   Reese is fantastic with Madeleine, too.   Part of it is that Reese loves an audience, and Madeleine is her biggest fan, LOL.   She's a great help with Sprinkie - she helps me get diapers, clothes, etc., and keeps her entertained while I get dressed for work or make dinner.   They're going to be thick as thieves, and Jim and I are going to be in trouble, I think.

Cough, cough, sneeze

Sick


I've been feeling off for about a week, but I had to acknowledge the fact that I'm actually sick when the sore throat, sneezing, and coughing started.   I stayed home from work Thursday and Friday because I felt too ill(and contagious) to go into the office.  I was actually able to get some work done Friday morning and answered a few calls from one of my clients.  I made sure to throw in some extra coughing for some sympathy points.  I don't know where Madeleine gets that from...  (If I had been good about posting updates, then you would know Mads is Queen Fake-O Bake-O.   She fakes coughs, sighs dramatically, and get this, fakes CHOKING.   I'll hand her a wagon wheel baby snack, and before she puts it in her mouth she starts pretending to choke.  Her face actually gets red and her eyes watery!   Once someone (me) coos over her with concern ("are you okay, Baby?"), all is good.)

Working out


I've missed two workouts because of this cold thing I have going on, and I feel like a total sloth.   A month ago I WAS a total sloth because, barring a handful of pitiful jogs, I hadn't really worked out consistently since I was about 5 months pregnant.   Um, let's see, Sprinks is 9 months now...   I have a hard time motivating myself to work out unless I have a specific goal in mind (i.e., finish a race), so I called up a trainer I worked with several years ago after Reese was born.   We've been working out for five weeks, and I feel like a new person.  I've dropped some weight which I have to admit is foremost in my mind, but it's also been great for me mentally.   For an hour, it's just about me and the physicality of the workout, and Malik's as good as a hairdresser for gossip and venting.   He's also the perfect personality for me.   I can't work with trainers that are too nice, but I don't respond to the militant boot camp types, either.    He pushes me really hard but doesn't cross the line to being an asshole.  He's also one of very few trainers that does a *good* boxing workout.   I'll probably work out with him for another month or so to cement my routine and I'm back in the groove to continue on my own.

Labor Day Weekend


Nothing planned this weekend, which is nice.  I'm still feeling crappy, so not so nice considering it's a three day weekend that I can't take full advantage of.   <---I'm annoyed that I'm ending a sentence in a preposition but to be grammatically correct I'd have to sound like a pretentious jerk.  Jim just left to drop Reese off at the farm.   We'll all be up there Monday, but Reese is heading up early to hang out with her cousins.   I love that the girls have the farm and all the experiences associated with it.  Reese was there a few weekends ago, and in between the swimming, feeding cows, playing, she and Liz found a family of raccoons in the barn.  She just lit up telling me about how they, with Uncle Bryan's help, trapped the raccoons and then took them to the woods to release them.  You just don't get that experience in the city (unless you count the rat and possum experience which are not quite the same).

Ghost Chairs

I have been coveting Louis Ghost Chairs and want one.  I don't know why I'm so drawn to "a plastic lawn chair" (two guesses on where that description came from).  But I am.  Me want chair.  So if you see any coupon codes for sites like unicahome.com or allmodern.com, please send them my way.  I'm looking for a sign that I should get one ;-)

Jumping back in

 Boxes

Wow, it's been a while. Isn't this how one always starts a blog post after a long hiatus? Well, it HAS been a while. I'd like to say that between having two children and working full-time, I just don't have the time to post, but really, I find the time to fart around on Face book, don't I? I think it's more of a psychological impediment. In my mind, I'm waiting for when I have something "good" to say or when I have time to sit down and write a well thought-out post. So, I'm stealing an idea from a friend who started posting "boxes" around various random thoughts, ideas, and updates. Somehow, it alleviates the self-induced need I feel to post something funny (or at least not stupid). So, let the rambling commence!

Lameness

Well, that's all I got for today.

Thank Heaven for Little Girls...

Five years ago, Jim, nor anyone else for that matter, could not have imagined himself as a father of a little girl, much less two. When Weezie was a baby, he asked me how he should play with a little girl. I told him to play with her exactly as he would if she were a boy.

That philosophy has worked pretty well, and Weezie has enjoyed many games of wrestling, cops and robbers, and pirates. As she gotten older, however, she's taken the inevitable turn to all things pink and princess. Luckily, she still loves playing with cars, dragons, and other "non-traditional" girl toys; I definitely like the balance. Given my druthers I'd rather her be a tomboy than a girly-girl, but I try not to push her one way or the other too much.

Having girls makes for great entertainment (for me) when they talk to Daddy. Sprinks, of course, does not talk yet, but Weeze is a good indicator for the many fun conversations Jim has in store. Take this recent "very traumatizing" (his words) discussion with Reese in his car:

Reese: Do boys get big boobies?

Jim: No, Baby, boys don't get big boobies.

Reese: Will I get big boobies like Mommy?

Jim: Turns up radio louder.

Reese: DADDY!

Jim: Starts singing along with music.

Reese: DAAADDY! WILL I GET BIG BOOBIES LIKE MOMMY???"

Jim: When you get older. Barfs a little in his mouth.

Reese: Tomorrow??

Jim: Turns radio back up.

Reese: DAADDY! TURN OFF THE RADIO!!!!!

Jim: Ask your mom.

Wrestling at the farm

I sent Jim to drugstore, and this is what he brought back.

Note the intense concentration

Nothing but the best for my girls...

We don't have carpet in our house, so I had been looking at floor pillows for the family room for Reese. Most of the ones I found weren't quite big enough or a little too spendy for just a bit of fluff.

Jim and I were at Costco, and we came across a display of dog beds. Perfect! They were the right size, came with a removable cover for easy cleaning, and arguably sturdy since they're meant for, well, dogs. Even better was the fact that they were only $18.99.

I bought a brown one to coordinate with our living room furniture (hah! who am I kidding?!). The girls love it. I knew Reese would, but surprising Sprinkle loves it, too. She will have nothing to do with her fancy Boppy Bouncer or her Arm's Reach Co-sleeper, but the $19 dog bed? Heaven. I can lay her down on it, and she'll lie contentedly for a good 15 minutes. This is killer, people! In 15 minutes I can take a shower, unload the dishwasher, start a load of laundry...or get in some facebook time :)

Baby Hiccups & Smiles

Sprinkle started smiling consistently around 4 weeks. I love it! It makes up for the fact that she's a little more needy than Reese was, but even on that front she's getting a lot better as well. Woohoo!

Big Sister

Reese is SUCH a good big sister. She's always asking to hold Madeleine, and Mads really likes being held by her, too.

Last night I was at my parents' house doing laundry (our washing machine is still in storage). Mads was sleeping on the couch, and Reese was watching TV next to her. I was in the living room with them folding clothes.

Mads starting crying and before I even made a step towards her, Reese had picked her up, cradled her in her arms, and soothed her back to sleep - never once taking her eyes off the cartoon she was watching! Madeleine slept in Reese's arms for almost 30 minutes while Reese finished her cartoons (and I finished folding laundry, yay!).

Also sweet but bordering on creepy was our conversation this morning. Mads was crying, and Reese walked up and and said, "Sprinkle needs some milk." She lifted her shirt and declared, "I can feed her." I tried to explain to her that only mommies can feed babies that way, and she complained, "But why? I have boobies, too." I was tempted to tell her to "ask Daddy" because I'm mean like that, LOL.

Red Riding Hood Jacket GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!

How cute is this Red Riding Hood Jacket GIVEAWAY !!!!!!!???

Happy Mother's Day

For various reasons, I'm reminded today how blessed I am. I love my family, and I love my little stink-pot-pie :)

Here's a shout out to all the moms out there

Silent Night

This commercial has been running for a couple of years, but it still makes me tear up every time...

I'll destroy the evidence later...

but in the meantime this game never gets old with me, lol.

One of these squares is not like the other.

Reese was a spider this year for Halloween. Unlike last year, she was totally excited to try on her costume, and she was quite excited to be a spider to go twick-o-tweating.

Over the course of the weekend up until Halloween, she went to four different carnivals, a party, and her school Halloween parade. It was a bit humorous seeing her amongst the other little girls. Of course I knew that a spider wasn't a "traditional" girl costume, but it was still a bit surprising to see that almost EVERY other girl her age and older was some variation of a princess or cheerleader. Luckily, it didn't phase her, and she loved showing everyone her extra appendages and crying out, EEE! I'm sure by next Halloween she'll be asking for a a tiara and all things pink, but for now, I love that she doesn't care that she's just a little bit different :)

As good as the originals

Mommy & Daddy Went on a Cruise and All I Got Was this Parrot Poo...

J and I just got back from a wonderful cruise. Not only did it mark the first week-long vacation J has had it in four years (workaholic!), but it was also the longest we'd been away from Weezie.

A few highlights from our trip:

• Winning 500 nickels after I put a quarter in the nickel slots
• Hitting the dealer in the head with a die the first time I tried playing craps (oopsie!)
• Renting scooters and getting lost in Honduras trying to find the beach
• J's phone not working and him actually being able to relax, YIPEE!!
• J surprising me with my birthday present a week early. He got me THE watch I have been lusting after for years.
• Getting to see our baby after being away for 7 days

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=aoarz81.8alkjg4h&x=0&y=j1qfg0

While we had a fabulous time, we found ourselves talking about her all the time. She stayed with J's sister and her family for the week. According to all accounts (including Weezie's), she had a blast. I knew she would - she ADORES her cousins and her "Aunt Monny" and "Uncle Bowing", but it was still great to hear all the Weezie stories. Thanks again, Monny!

Talk to me baby...

I was practicing colors with Reese and she correctly identified pink, yellow, red, purple, blue, green, and orange...

in VIETNAMESE!

This is a big milestone for her because she knows her colors in both languages now. If I ask her to name the color in English, she'll name the English words, but if I ask her in Vietnamese, she responds in Vietnamese! This really warms my heart because I often feel like I'm fighting a losing battle as far as her feeling part of "my" culture/background.

So she officially knows more than J does now, lol.

Lord, let this not be me one day

This woman is my idol:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D130144061675%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1

I'm a sucker

Reese loves to play in the toy kitchen at daycare, so I decided to buy one for home. Since we might have a second child, I decided to spend a little more and get one that was sturdy and could accommodate two. I think Aunt Chele would approve, no?