Thursday, March 27, 2014

{them} ...this week



Lorelei.
8 months, 13 days.
I don't know where all this hair is coming from, but it's starting to grow down over her perfect little ears now. We often say to each other, "I can't wait until..."
but I can. I can wait. This is all going so, so, so much faster than Finn's babyhood.
Maybe it's knowing she's our last.

She's laughing all the time, smiling all the time, so delighted to see "her" people. She shows it by flapping, like she's going to take off, or by slapping my chest repeatedly. It's hilarious. She's going to have quite the sense of humor. Or I guess she already does.


Finn.
2 years, 8 months, 24 days
Favorite game: Running naked.
At the end of the day, between taking off clothes and putting on jammies (or between bath and jammies, if it's a bath night), Finn runs naked. This is exactly what you're thinking, except that in addition to running around our house naked, he also yells, "I'M RUNNING NAKED!!!!" over. and over. and over. It's pretty much the most hysterical thing ever.


Siblings. 
Their connection grows every day. It's amazing to watch. It changes our whole family dynamic. He runs up the stairs to see her when she wakes up from her nap, yelling, "I'm coming, Lorelei!". When she cries, he sings "Twinkle Twinkle" (tinkle tinkle). He shares with her (so far). He makes her laugh. He tickles her. 
And she sucks it all up. She knows exactly who she is and where she belongs. She knows he's got her back.

Thursday, March 20, 2014

zzzzzzzzzz....


It's so funny. I uploaded this picture onto this post a few days ago intending to write a little blurb about it, and I just came on to do that and WOAH! That kid looks like me! It's so funny when it hits me - kind of a moment of "how can that be possible" with "oh yeah, i MADE her (with help)".

So incredible. Miracles, these little critters.

Unfortunately, this little miracle is giving us a bit of a hard time. Luckily, more often than not, this is her general MO:


But a sleeper this girl is NOT. Her brother is a dream sleeper, and has been for a while (not that was always the case). I'm sort of hoping that Lorelei follows in her brother's footsteps, but I'm a bit concerned that she's getting waaaaay too used to sleeping in the bed with us. She's still nursing, so it's easy to just roll over and pop a boob in her mouth if she fusses. We've gotten through lots of nights that way, but now she's just sort of used to nursing to sleep, waking, nursing, waking, nursing...and it gets old. It's hard to move around in bed. I've taken to propping myself up from behind with a pillow so I'm kind of on my side and kind of on my back, but this little bugger just keeps scooting over so I'm practically falling off the bed. I've been trying to make a concerted effort to put her back in her room each time I get her back to sleep, but that requires a lot more waking up than just rolling over, and is more disruptive to the ever-elusive sleep. I'm also really trying to get her down in her bed when she's at least partially asleep, rather than soundly so. I'm hoping that once she learns to fall asleep on her own in her own bed, when she wakes, she'll be better at re-settling.

Hopefully, these two strategies at least begin to start solving our nighttime issues, because if not, we're pulling out the big guns - sleep training - again. I talked with my parents about me and Finn spending the night at their house so his sleep isn't disrupted and he gets used to sleeping in some new digs, something we've been meaning to give him more experience with for a while. We went to Boston a few weeks ago and stayed with some friends just outside of the city, and he woke up in the night each night we were there, so getting him used to new spaces/noises is on our "to-do" list so he's better equipped as he grows up to sleep in new places.

So yeah. I can barely contain myself that my selfless, amazing husband is willing to go through two nights of torture with our daughter so we can all sleep better. The man is a saint.

But I mean, really - this kiddo is a freaking angel and we thank our lucky stars EVERY DAY that she's ours.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

he's got his own language



Finn is a toddler. He has a toddler language. It's hilarious. Here are some examples.

down-downstairs - because you can't just say it once.

baby DIE - by far the most hilarious thing finn says - "CR" isn't a sound he can make, so "D" begins any word starting with that sound, and you should see the funny looks we get at the grocery store and lorelei starts crying and finn is yelling "baby die! baby die!" at the top of his lungs.

dampa & nammie - his island grandparents, who he sees regularly. it's so funny - i'm just realizing that he recognizes vehicles now. we'll drive through town and he'll be able to point out "dampa"'s truck, even if it's not in a likely location. or if we're driving by their house, he'll say, "where's nammie" because her car isn't in the driveway. smart cookie, this kid.

nammie boo-boo - my mom, who lives in CT...I had always hoped that finn would come up with some awesome names for his grandparents. some friends are called gummy and gumpy by their grandkids, which just melts my heart. i mean, really - does it get any cuter than that? so i'm THRILLED that he came up with this freaking adorable nickname for my mom. it's just the cutest darn thing. and even though he doesn't get to see her all that often, he still talks about her every day in his fun, imaginative playtime now. she's either reading him a book or taking a nap. it's really very sweet.

i doit - "do" and "it" are combined into one word here...it basically means, I'll do it myself, and believe me, he says it a LOT. usually accompanied by lots of "no!"s.

oo-why - Lorelei

binn, or sometimes winn - Finn

nee-na - granola. he and i have a granola-making date each week, and if i'm not up and at em early enough with breakfast on the table pretty much as soon as he wakes up, he can be very demanding about having some.

eep, beah, manha (as in mahna mahna!) - the triumvirate - sheep, bear, and llama...

ur-up - syrup (this is pretty obvious, but pretty hilarious)

croc-a-di-dill - crocodile...pretty obvious, but this one kills me every time

woddy: coffee. our son is well versed in the beverages that make his parents happy - wine, beer, woddy.

Oh man, there's more, so much more...and more than that besides since there's still some stuff I don't understand all the way. He responds to some things with a perky little "oh!", and sometimes when he gets really excited trying to explain something, he winds himself up into a loop ..."and, and, and, and, and, and, and..."

I want to get these all down now because as fast as this kid is growing and as quickly as he's learning, I know it will all be a blip on the radar of development.

I went in to say goodnight to Finn after putting Lorelei down last night and he just wanted to talk - to talk, and talk, and talk...processing all of those thoughts in that little brain. And all he wanted me to do was listen, and I did, and it was awesome. Man, so much happens in so little time and sometimes all they want is for you to listen, and I have to say...it was probably the most satisfying moment of my day. Because I really LIKE him. I LIKE him SO MUCH. He just chattered on about types of animals and how bears were animals and how they live in the woods and maybe we could go in the woods and see the bears and do they eat poop (insert hysterical laughter. poop is hilarious). He's such a little guy, but so big at the same time. It's really starting to fly, this time thing.

I was telling Chad that it's going to be SO COOL when Lorelei is Finn's age and she's talking and her real personality is starting to shine through. So Lorelei will be 2 & 1/2 and Finn will be 4 & 1/2 and then they can stop growing up.

Right?







Thursday, March 6, 2014

moving...


i started a bit of an adventure this week.
for the next month, i'm participating in a challenge to track mileage. we self-report at the end of each week, and whoever logs the most miles by the end of the month wins a jackpot!
i'm not a gambler, but figured this was something i could put my money behind, especially since i have ulterior motives.
i've been a bit bummed this winter that i haven't been more active with my kids - it's hard to go sledding or ice skating with finn when i've got lorelei usually strapped to me in some way, and it's hard to get out with her and have any consistent movement when finn is lollygagging behind me, shuffling his feet and whining to be picked up five minutes after we leave the house, even though he was insistent when we left that he wanted to walk by himself.
i've been training for a half marathon for a few months now and have gotten up to 8 miles, which isn't too shabby, but i've done all my running either with a friend, our dog (nugget), or by myself. so my goal for this challenge is to get outside with both of my kids...to emulate an active lifestyle for them. it might be more inconvenient and take a bit of extra planning, but it's been a long winter and we've been cooped up for a lot of it and it's time to suck it up and do something that might be a little tricky now, but that will be a small step toward their understanding of a healthy life.
finn just got a super cute pair of snowshoes in the mail the other day, so we're going to try our hand at a tromp around the yard in preparation for a real hike in the woods...at least if we get another significant snowfall!
(i have to say, i know a lot of people are SO over winter, but i'm sort of loving it. i'm sorry if you hate me for that, but it's been a long time since i've been able to get out and play in the snow. the past few winters haven't been conducive to sledding and ice skating and snowman making and it's FUN to play in the snow!)
that picture up there was one that i snapped on my early am walk with the pooch this morning. it made being out before 7am worth it :)

huzzah!

My swap gift arrived! 

Yay!!




I think something like this was exactly what I was after - "meeting" new people who are so far away and - in many ways - so different from me, but who now feel a bit closer.



The woman who created this gorgeous trivet is Renee of Heirloom Seasons. I've only just discovered her via this lovely gift and have enjoyed delving into her life via her blog. So far, I've found it so inspiring, such a good reminder to slow down and to pay attention to what's important.


Renee mentioned in her note that she sews from her vintage feedsack pieces. I'm just in love with some of these patterns and can't quite decide which I like best. Finn keeps changing his mind, too. 

I just adore these little bookmarks.


Thank you, Renee (and Amanda and Anna)! 
What a lovely time it's been swapping - looking forward to another one this summer!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

swappy swapperton

confession time:
i didn't just randomly decide to start blogging more regularly. i had a motive.

so i was recently a part of a blogger swap where we were invited to put together little crafty packages for someone we don't know, but who also blogs. i SCORED with anna, my swap-ee (is that the correct terminology? i don't even know. anyway, she blogs here and has been suuuuch a bloggy inspiration to me - she is a super consistent blogger.

then i realized...oh no! what is the person who drew my name to swap with going to think about my terrible bloggy housekeeping???

so yes, judgment played a role in my return to the blogosphere...and i'm glad it did! i now spend a few minutes each night putting down thoughts, adding to blog posts i've already got going, and thinking about my kids, reflecting on the day, and thinking about what i want to put "out there".

so thank you, bloggy friends i don't know - thank you for getting me back in the "groove" (and to allow me to write a post when i get to say "bloggy" all the time!)

as for the swap itself, i'm quite remiss in that i completely spaced on bringing my phone with me to the post office, so as i was packing it up, i had NO way to take photos of it. in it was a "cold weather survival kit". i made some body butter, some chest rub (half strength so she can use it on her babe if need be), and some peppermint lip balm. (THEN i read this post wherein i totally look like i copied the woman running the swap! but really, i already had it packed up by then!) (here's the post where anna received my gift!). i also whipped up a pair of pants for her daughter and a matching pair for lorelei...which i can at least take a picture of since i have such a cute model!









i also tossed in a card from kirk, who blogs here and takes amazing photographs.

I am waiting with baited breath for my swap package - wonder who "got" me and what's making its way to me right now! Will update when it arrives :)

Either way, I'm so grateful to Amanda for organizing this swap, and by extension, breathing new life back into my blog!