Sunday, June 26, 2011

Mikaela - 5 months

Mikaela is now closer to 6 months than she is 5 months, but I'm just getting around to updating. Work has been busy, we had a birthday party to plan, a dance recital, father's day, yada yada. Basically, life is getting in the way of my blogging.
But enough excuses, on to Mikaela.
She turned 5 months on the 14th of June. If I had blogged on the 14th, I probably would have said she was sleeping like a champ, going down at 7:30 and waking up at 8am in the morning. And that would have been true.
But over the past week, she's been having a hard time sleeping. She usually falls asleep pretty easily, but then wakes up and has a hard time getting back to sleep. And she's been waking up at least once after midnight, and again, having a ridiculously hard time getting back to sleep. As long as someone is holding her, she won't cry. But she definitely won't be sleeping either. So Austin and I have been a bit sleep deprived. She had us spoilt the last couple of months that's for sure. I guess she figured we had it too easy and decided to take us back to some of the newborn weeks.
Anyhow, I really shouldn't complain. Other than the sleep issues, she really has no issues. She's amazing. She has an incredibly girly laugh, which sometimes gets up to a screetch. For the most part she's quiet. But every once in awhile she'll get into a chatty mood and just coo, squeal and laugh. It's so fun to watch her when she's like this.
When she does need something, this soft, cute little voice can quickly escalate though. Don't let her little body fool you. She has some lungs. She'll let you know when she's hungry, has a dirty diaper, or over tired...She's loud. She's like her sister in that regard. Sometimes when she cries, I have to pause and listen to see if it's Naomi or MIkaela who's crying.
She's still fascinated by Naomi. If Naomi is in the room, she'll immediately turn her head to watch what her big sister is doing. Naomi still has the amazing capability of getting Mikaela to stop crying too, even if it's just momentarily.
She also loves her grandpa, my dad. When he walks in the room, she turns to watch him as well, and will start coo'ing or smiling at him. She has definitely won him over. It's pretty cute to see how she's managed to make my dad into a mushy grandpa. He'll finish up his meal quickly so he can help hold MIkaela if she's getting fussy while we're finishing dinner. He'll wake up early to help Austin feed her her bottle in the morning. He likes playing with her during the day while I'm at work.
MIkaela can also roll over from her stomach to her back and back to her stomach with no problem.
At Naomi's birthday party, she made her first boy cry. In true parent fashion, my girlfriend and I put Mikaela and her son (6mths old) face each other to see how they would react. Mikaela, ever the curious baby, reached out, and started trying to hold the poor boy's face. The baby boy clearly wanted nothing to do with Mikaela and tried swatting her hands away and started crying. Oh well, we'll have to teach her a little bit about playing hard to get.
At 5.5 months, she's definitely taken an interest to food and what everyone around her is eating. She'll motion towards our food, and even try grabbing it if it's within reach. We're holding out to give her rice cereal til she's 6 months, but I'm excited to start making solid food for her soon.
She's only 5 months, but I truly feel like MIkaela has been part of our family forever. I can't imagine how we were complete without her. All she has to do is smile at me and she'll make all of my tired-ness or frustration from work,melt away. I do get sad that she goes to bed so early and I only get an hour or so with her before she goes to sleep (not including the late night sessions). She's growing so fast, and there are days when I feel like I'm missing everything. I'm thankful that my parents are here to help us though. As for her 5 mth picture - take a look at this and tell me she's not the cutest baby ever?

Sunday, June 19, 2011

Happy Day


Happy Father's Day, and Happy Birthday to my sweet sweet husband and sweet sweet 3 year old.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Dresses

Have I mentioned Naomi loves dresses? In fact, a sure fire way to get Naomi to throw a tantrum is to try and dress her in something other than a dress.

Yesterday, I got an email from our town announcing that signups for pee wee soccer were now open. I was excited because it'll be the first event she's old enough to do, and classes are at 6:30pm on Mondays, meaning I could actually get home early enough to do this.

When Austin got home he asked me what Naomi would wear while playing soccer....and thus ended my excitement.

I decided to broach the subject with Naomi. Here's how the conversation went.
"Hey Naomi, do you want to take summer soccer?"
"YEAH!!!!!!!! I LOVE SOCCER"
"Ok, great. We'll sign you up. It'll be so cool, you'll get to wear cool shorts and sneakers..."
"No, I want to wear a pretty dress."
"Ok but hon, you have to wear shorts or pants while you're playing soccer..."
"I don't want to play soccer."

I'm not giving up though!

From Naomi 34 months, Mikaela 3 months

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Never Easy

Just when I thought I was slowly starting to get adjusted to getting back to work, nights like last night, or should I stay tonight, since it's still technically night time for most people, happen.
MIkaeala was hard to get down for the night, not her usual self. By 9:30 she was finally asleep, only to wake up again at midnight. Not really a big deal, I went back to bed easily after that.
The hard part was when Naomi woke me up at 4am (20 mins before my alarm goes off). I heard her calling out for me, and when I went in to check on her, she was begging me to let me go to the office with me because she wants to stay with me. Talk about a knife in the heart. There have been a bunch of days when she won't even get out of bed until Austin has called me in the office so she can say good morning. It definitely takes a lot of strength not to just start bawling in the middle of the trading floor at work! Hopefully she'll get used to me being back at work soon, and it'll be easier on both of us.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Looks like...


Mikaela looks a lot like my mom when she was a baby. This isn't the best comparison, but I'm too tired to find a better pic.

Naomi

I've been taking a break from blogging about the girls. Partly because we've been so busy. I'm up to a 4 day a week work schedule, celebrated my ##th birthday, went to Massachusetts, and went to a friend's wedding.
The break was also partly because I've been thinking a lot about the girls, mainly Naomi, and how she's gone through so many changes in the past 4.5 months....which basically coincides with Mikaela's age.
Naomi is almost 3. She's a toddler going through a lot of changes. She's a toddler who's still learning that she is allowed to have opinions, and how to express these opinions. She's a toddler who throws a lot of temper tantrums. A lot.
Recently, someone suggested to us that she might be a problem child. A child with issues. Anger management maybe? Or worse, maybe even a learning disability. As a parent, this is your worst fear. To have a child who isn't "normal". To find out that your otherwise perfect child, isn't so perfect.
When I first heard this, my initial reaction was obviously shock, anger, more anger..oh yea and anger again. Then I started doubting my own kid. Was this person right? Were Naomi's temper tantrums more than just the terrible twos? Was she possibly going through something more?
For the past week I let this affect me. Every time Naomi threw a tantrum, I felt myself tense up. I allowed myself to question whether others were viewing Naomi in a similarly negative light. Did they think she was a child with a learning disability, or developmental issues? Did they think she was a problem child? Or did they think she was a kid who had been allowed to grow so wild and tempermental due to lack of discipline and strong parenting?
I feel guilty now for evening allowing myself to feel these thoughts.
I spoke to my "on call" doctor, aka, my brother. I spoke to the director of our daycare center. I spoke to friends at church, and even co-workers with kids. They all agreed. Naomi was completely normal. The daycare director even went as far as to say, if Naomi weren't throwing tantrums, she would be concerned. She made me remember. In the past 4.5 months, Naomi's world has been turned upside down. She has gone from being an only child, to a big sister. She's had to learn to share her mommy and daddy, her house, her toys, and center stage. She's had her mommy stay at home with her for almost 5 months, only to have her go back to work. She's also gone from being a baby herself, to a toddler. She's moved up from the toddler class to pre-school. She's stopped wearing diapers and has to remember to run to the bathroom all the time. She's expected to help with the baby, she's being told to grow up and be a big sister constantly. She's learning to have opinions, and she's learning how to vocalize these opinions. Her life is completely different than it was 4.5 months ago, and all in, she's only 2.
Because Naomi is so articulate, I think we sometimes forget that she's not yet 3. I often find myself marvelling at how well she can talk, or how well she can use the computer, or an ipad, or even just color or build blocks. When I remember that my little girl is still a toddler, I shake my head in amazement at how much she CAN do, and how amazing she really is. Yes she has tantrums. Sometimes, she has tantrums that are so incredibly embarrassing, or so incredibly infuriating that it takes every last ounce of patience in my body to remember that I'm a parent who needs to teach her, mold her, and most of all just love her. There are days when all I want to do is throw myself on the ground and stomp my feet too. I understand. So no. Naomi doesn't have a learning disability. She's not a problem child. I wouldn't even say she's a difficult child. She's two. She's amazing. And she's incredibly loved.