DIRTY

I could probably create a post each night about the funny things JP tells me throughout the day. To finally hear what his little mind has been thinking can be both shocking, and well, humbling. Like today ... out of nowhere, as we were getting into my car he tells me "Wash Mamma car, Wash Mamma car!" And then later, as the sun was shining brightly on the wood floor in our work out room, JP was fascinated by all of the dust floating in the air. He ran around trying to catch the disgusting particles ranting "Bye-bye dust, bye-bye dust" ... I have no idea where he learned that word!

I used to take pride in having a somewhat clean house, but I guess I need to reconsider if a 20 monther calls me out on things!

BOTTLE

Little Stinker.

In the past two days this little stinker has decided that she'd rather starve than drink from a bottle. We're trying not to freak out here on the home front. After all, we have EIGHT DAYS to get this new found behavior corrected before I return to work!

We introduced the bottle to AA when she was three weeks old. She wasn't a superstar, but she seemed to take it just fine. A and I haven't been the best about enforcing a daily routine of giving her a bottle ... perhaps something I'm regretting now! I was away from the house for two of her feedings yesterday ... and I came home to two full bottles, a screaming babe, and a frustrated husband. "She's way more complex than JP" is what I was told ... and so the life of raising a daughter begins! She nursed just fine from me the rest of the day. But today we are having a repeat of yesterday. Hmmm. I'm going to blame this new behavior on her runny nose she just picked up from big brother ... although I'm not exactly comforted in knowing that I was the exact same way as a baby! My mom tells me I never ate from a bottle.

Like mother, like daughter.

THE WHEELS ON THE BUS

It all started last September. First at 6:52 a.m. And then again at 7:06 a.m. And then again the next day at 6:52 a.m. And again at 7:06 a.m.

As JP sat at the kitchen table eating his whole milk-sogged cheerios and Dora yogurt, he froze as he could hear a loud sound a few blocks away. As the sound grew closer, I ran to the front window to open the blinds ... and the big yellow school bus rounded the corner. "Koolbus!" JP shouted. And so his love affair with "wheels" began. Waiting for the koolbus became part of our morning routine. We made a game of looking for the koolbuses on the way to and from Miss Emmy's.

And as the weeks and months passed by, so did JP's curiosity of other vehicles. At first his vocabulary was basic ... things that passed us on the road were a koolbus, truck or jeep. However, with the help of numerous books and toys scattered all over my living room floor each day, JP's fascination of machines has grown. And so has his vocabulary. Although he calls nearly everything green, he can correctly identify and name a police car, airplane, ambwance (ambulance), helica (helicopter), Porsche, Ferrari, van, truck, car, sailboat, jet ski, tractor, ment (cement mixer), combn (combine), motasick (motorcycle), woo-woo (firetruck), choo-choo (train), mamma car (any large white vehicle ... he's working on 'Saturn Outlook'), crane, noplow and noblower (snowplow and snow blower), garg truck (garbage truck), dump truck. Far ahead of my own truck expertise, JP can tell the difference between an excavator, grader, baler, backhoe and a giant front end loader. This kid cracks me up!

But just when I had JP labeled as "all boy" I found him sorting through my pile of mail yesterday. He was literally oohing and aahing. I assumed he had found one of A's airplane magazines. I was busy with AA for a few minutes, so I let him be, chuckling to myself at his sounds. When I finally caught up with him to see what was so intriguing, I was so surprised to find JP holding the new Crate and Barrel catalog! I guess it's time for some new vocab!

BAPTISM

With the help of many family members, we celebrated AA's baptism this weekend.

Grandma S and AA before the ceremony:AA was thrilled to receive a beautiful cross necklace from her Godmother before church.

In keeping with four generations of family tradition, AA wore the baptismal dress handmade by her great-great grandma (and it only took three of us to get it on her!)

Just prior to the baptism (and before the priest told us to take her headband off so she could be christened in oil!):

JP joined us for half of the ceremony!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit ...

Godparents Uncle L and Miss K:

Grandpa J and Grandma S:

Grandpa A and Grandma K:

Grandpa T:

Cousins Andrew and Evan:

and those adorable shoes!

AA also wore my baptismal ring (and also the ring that A wore around his neck while in Iraq).

We praise God for Adeline!

YES!

A few weeks ago, Uncle M asked Miss J to marry him. Thankfully, she said yes!This weekend, Uncle M and Miss J asked JP and AA to be the ring bearer and flower girl in their October wedding.
And, happily, we said yes!

SOUND

If you ask JP what AA says, his response is either "Addie cry" or "goo-goo ga-ga". He's pretty much right. When this babe isn't crying, she's babbling. (And she doesn't cry very often!). I'm not sure if her talkative nature is rooted in being female or the second born ... or maybe it's because she's my mom's granddaughter (just kidding). Whatever the reason, her voice is adorable. JP can always get her to make noises (happy noises most of the time!).

And today we heard a new sound ... her giggle! I knew she was close to this milestone for the past week so I've been trying extra hard to make her laugh (I really hope there aren't any hidden cameras in our house!) With JP by my side, we continued to say "boo" to one another ... and somehow AA found this to be hilarious. She giggled several times in a row and then repeated herself again tonight. I just love these baby firsts!

SMELL

I wish I could find words to describe
the sweet, sweet smell

of baby skin.

BE MINE

Happy
Valentine's

Day

from

JP

and

Addie!

OH, THE WEATHER OUTSIDE

is
(FINALLY)

just

so

delightful!

TWO MONTHS OLD

AA is two months already!

We celebrated her big day by taking the monthly picture ... and visiting the doctor. She weighed in at 12.5 pounds (84th percentile) and was 24 inches (94th percentile). She handled her first round of immunizations fairly well ... I think those shots are always harder for the parents to watch! Although AA has lost some of her hair since birth, she still sports the rockin' do. It only stays down after several days without a bath! It's lightened up quite a bit, but I still think she'll be a brunette. Her eye color is yet to be determined. Some days they look bright blue, other days grey, green, and brown.

She nurses every three hours during the day. She hasn't achieved consistency at night though ... a few weeks ago she was sleeping through, but lately she's been awaking once or twice. AA takes about 4 naps during the day ranging from thirty minutes to three hours. Her wakeful times are definitely increasing.

AA is a babbler. She dishes out the smiles and coos forever if someone stares back at her. She absolutely loves getting her diaper changed and staring at her tedddy (and JP!). Over the last two weeks, her personality has started to make its debut ... I think this one will be a Drama Queen! She can make her bottom lip quiver if she wants to be held and she can immediately shut off the tears and smile when she's picked up.

I just cannot believe how fast she's growing! She's such a sweetheart!

PACKING UP

I'd like to think that I'm the Rachel Ray of mothering.

As I was packing up the car for our weekend away last Friday, I realized something: leaving the house with two kids and lots of luggage is just like cooking. And I don't mean cooking a macaroni and cheese and frozen green beans meal (my favorite!) ... I mean a meal with several courses. The key to success is in the timely delivery. A cook must carefully plan out each item of the meal to ensure that everything is ready at once. In much the same way, loading up the kids for a weekend adventure requires significant forethought and detailed planning. One must allow enough time for the last minute diaper changes, blowouts, changes of outfits, and sippy cup fill-ups. These things must all be done in the final minutes before showtime. If attempted too early, one could easily find the need to repeat steps!

Of course, as a new mom of two, I take pride in the small victories. I'm definitely a work in progress. Despite remembering the odd items for our suitcase (baby monitors, nasal aspirator, snow pants, quiet car toys), I often forget the simple things ... like a bib for JP when we attended my parents church festival. Thankfully, JP was okay with taking off the sweater to eat (he's sometimes really finicky about what he's wearing!), ruining the once white onesie, removing the onesie after his love affair with the sloppy joe, and returning the clean sweater. Presto.

Maybe I better sign up for some cooking lessons after all.

UP NORTH

We drove up north this weekend to visit grandparents ... and to help Grandma K celebrate her birthday ("Happy Gamma" as JP calls it). We made it the whole way without stopping ... thank goodness for animal crackers and the Dora CD!

JP was in heaven with all of my brothers old cars... but of course he needed to search for some good buys on other trucks in the newspaper with Boppa A!

For a brief moment, JP abandoned the wheels and played with other toys (but soon the Fisher Price zoo became a great ramp for the cars ... seriously, this kid is bound to work at Jiffy Lube when he grows up!)

And then ... the Main Event. All week we had been talking about taking JP sledding ... he's really only played in the snow a few times since it's been so cold. We just knew he'd love the thrill of sliding down a big hill ... or so we thought! After Grandma and Grandpa searched the town for a sled, we spent nearly thirty minutes getting everyone ready to go on our adventure. You can tell how excited AA was about all of this!

Little did we know that sitting on Grandpa's truck before we even left would be JP's highlight of the afternoon!

After watching Grandpa slide down the big hill solo, it was time for JP's first run. He wasn't so sure about it ...

He made it down without any tears, but upon reaching the top of the hill again, he was done. "Mamma, car!" he demanded ... but, of course, daddy wanted a turn with JP. Hoping to deflect some of the speed, A dragged his feet along side of the sled during the way down.

Although the sled went a tiny bit slower, snow sprayed all over JP's face. And so it began. Tears. Lots of them. And a cold, wet face. And a daddy and a grandpa who wanted to keep sledding. And a mommy and a grandma who did not.

Since this scenario occurred over the span of about three minutes (and the prep work involved was all morning), we let the big boys keep sledding. Grandma took JP to the park while I tried to shove AA and her snowsuit into the baby carrier. Once I finally succeeded (and AA stopped crying!), everyone was ready to go home. Exhausting. Hopefully the next sledding experience will go better ... perhaps we should try a much smaller hill!

We enjoyed birthday songs and cake after dinner ... and the memories of our afternoon adventures were already forgotten.

We made an appearance at Great Aunt N's house for Super Bowl Sunday. JP loved dancing to the half time show and occasionally watched "football!" on the television. However, most of his time was spent obsessing over Great Uncle B's car collection. This little boy demostrated such great restraint as he was told he could only look and not touch the cars. After a few hours of reminding JP of this lesson, Grandpa A saved the day by delivering a car to JP. Too bad I didn't have this exchange on video ... I've never seen him more excited!