Some fun facts about Miss C:

1.  She always sneezes in twos

2.  She makes a sound like a motor boat or a cat when she sleeps in certain positions.  (It's sometimes loud enough to be heard by someone on the other end of the phone).

3.  Her favorite place to hang out is on the changing table.

4.  She starts her smiles on the same side as I do.  And she has a dimple.

5.  She tougher than I am - When she gets out of the tub, her lip will be shaking because she's chilly and yet she won't cry.  Sometimes I cry when I get out of the shower and it's cold.

6.  She gets the hiccups allllll the time.  All the time. 

7.  Given the opportunity, she'd sleep with her head thrown completely back and her mouth open. 

8.  She'd also always choose to sleep on me or next to me. 

9.  She kicks her legs and moves her arms REALLY fast when she hears music.

10.  She's cute as a button.   But I think you already gathered that I think that :)

Things are a little crazy here at the loony bin.  C's starting to maybe-probably-not-but-hey-I-can-hope sleep longer than 4 hours at night.  Bean's been potty training.  (That's an adventure for another post).  I've been redecorating my kitchen.  (Pictures soon!).  And Shaun's recuperating from ankle surgery.  (He's fine... but send him an email or something... if he gets too bored, he's likely to drive me bananas). 

Anyway, until I get more than 15 minutes of free time, here are some pictures to hold you over until a real entry :)











Those two make photography so much fun. 

Oh.

Two.

Two is insanity.

But then there are days like this:

Dear C-Rex,

I'm a bit shocked that two months have passed already.  Though, if reminded in the middle of the night I would likely wonder why time is going so slowly.

Perspective is funny like that.



You're starting to emerge from the newborn fog and engage with people.  We've gotten some smiles and coos and both of those have kept me on the right edge of sanity when the days get rough.

And they do get rough.  Having two kids is hard.  The perfectionist in me is perpetually frustrated that I can't seem to give either of you everything you deserve.  But perhaps that's better.  The world won't give you everything you deserve either, so perhaps it's good that you learn to cope with that now. 



Besides, I wouldn't trade our situation for anything, (well, I'd ask for a little more sleep).  Your big sister loves you more than anything.  She's always asking me if I'm going to remember to bring you when we go places or putting your pacifier in when my hands are full.  She makes sure you always have your special blanket, just like she does.  You're going to be blessed by her presence in your life more than you'll ever know.



But I imagine that that will go both ways.  Already, the two of you are very different.  You're my snuggler, my little koala bear, always attached to me somehow.  I don't mind, really.  It makes for a good workout, holding you for most of my daily chores.  And it's something that I didn't really have with Miss Bean. She's still an independent wiggler, always on the move.  (We have to chase her around for our hugs and kisses).



You're teaching me lots of things... patience, perseverance, grace, hope, and the awesomeness of unconditional love.  Most of the early traits are tested during sleep times.  You're not a very good sleeper.  I am blessed with one consistent stretch at bedtime.  Most days you'll sleep about 5 hours when we go to bed at night.  Sometimes more, sometimes less.  After that feeding, it's kind of a toss up as to whether you'll settle back down easily or not.  During the day?  Well, let's just say that we're working on it.



Sleep used to come to you easily.  In fact, you used to sleep almost constantly.  But as you've grown more aware of the world, you're having a much harder time falling asleep and staying asleep.  As of yesterday, we're trying a new swaddling technique that might in fact be absolute magic.  You have a tendency to try to claw at your face with your flailing hands when you're tired, which in turn wakes you up...  it was a vicious cycle.  But the swaddle seems to work well.  You've actually been able to settle yourself, which is amazing to me since you almost always prefer to be held any other time. 

I'm still trying to wrap my head around parenting two kids, but one thing I know and try to remember is that it gets better every day.  For that I'm thankful. 

Love you, little koala kid,

Mama

Last week we went to the farm for a good dose of strawberry picking.  Initially, the girls and I weren't going to go as I wasn't sure how C was going to do in the ridiculous heat.  But miracles happen and the days of 98+ degree weather (and their 108 degree feel with the humidity) made way for a few gorgeous days in the 70s. 

So we headed off to the strawberry fields.  I wondered how to manage a toddler who would undoubtedly desire to run off through the fields, swiping strawberries along the way, and a newborn who could quite possibly melt down at any moment for any reason.

Yeah, it kind of goes without saying that I was absolutely nervous.  Two kids?  Open spaces?  In public?  Yeah, could have been a recipe for disaster.

However, it all went well.  Mostly thanks to good friends and delicious strawberries right in our vicinity.  Bean was incredibly well behaved and C chilled out in her stroller, dozing off periodically. 



The kids had a ball picking the strawberries and actually managed to get the hang of only picking the good ones fairly quickly. 

 

Most of the time, the kids were eating strawberries.  In the beginning, Bean was intent on filling her tray, but once she spotted some of the other kids eating strawberries, it was game over. 



I let Bean go nuts in the field while I stood over by C-Rex.  She had a little admirer who wanted C to share in the fun.



Amy's kids were on two ends of the spectrum.  H's tray was actually filled with strawberry stems instead of strawberries.  C was harvesting strawberries at a breakneck speed.    I was impressed  with his pace :)

 

At one point, some of the kids took a quick break for snacking.



Later we had lunch and the kids played a nice game of "Ring Around the Rock"  The rock turned out to be the "Little Baby" of Miss E who adopted it rather readily.  (Toddlers are so funny with their attachment to things... I spent 30 minutes hunting up a rock that Bean had proclaimed her "very beee-ewtiful rock!" because she wouldn't go to sleep without it). 

Then the kids had sunflower smelling session.  Bean thought it was stinky.  Or it tickled her nose.  I didn't know.



L's face seems to indicate that he found the sunflower far more favorable than Bean did.



It was a nice day... and it tuckered out Miss Bean enough that she dropped right off to sleep on the way to my parents' house.  Exactly as planned. 



Oh, and the hilarious thing:  Bean brought her tray up to the register to pay for her strawberries and the total was 68 cents.  Yeah, I think she ate about 5 bucks worth of strawberries.  I gladly forked over the 68 cents.  Small price to pay for a nice day.

Things have been a tad strange at our household in the last few days.

Two nights ago, C gave me a fabulous birthday present and slept for 7.5 hours straight.  Totally a new record.  I slept for about 6.5 house and I'm telling you, I felt like a completely different person. It was wonderful.

I thought to myself, man, this is easy!

Ahem.  This is where I remind myself never to say things like that.  Never ever ever. NEVER.

Yesterday was an incredibly fun but busy day and last night, the kids seemed to be displaying the results.  Bean was incredibly cranky and contrary and C was just incredibly cranky.  (She can't quite be contrary yet).  By 9pm, they were both completely passed out.  Nice, I thought, I can relax and they'll both sleep for a good long time.

(I just can't stop with the "famous last words," can I?)

I watched Design Star and headed to bed.  It was a little bit before I came down from my birthday sugar high and relaxed enough to doze off.  At about 11:30p.m, I heard a huge thump and bang coming from Bean's room.  Shaun went in first and discovered something quite interesting. 

At some point, most likely in her sleep, Bean got out of bed and climbed into the bottom shelf of her night stand.  She was curled up with her knees underneath of her.  My best guess is that she moved and wacked her head on the top shelf, thus the noise.  She didn't really seem awake and went back into her bed and to sleep with no problem. 

So, I have a sleep walker. 

After calming down a bit, I dozed off again. 

12am.  C-Rex woke up howling.  I fed her and put her down again.  She went right back to sleep and I thought to myself, maybe she'll sleep til morning since I just fed her. 

Right.  When will I learn?

Every 2-3 hours from then onwards, she woke and needed feeding or changing or nothing.  It was not pleasant. 

Today she's completely cranky.  Bean is completely cranky.  I'm not really all that friendly. 

We all need good naps. 

This is a tad belated, but this is Shaun's Father's Day picture that we gave him. 

I'm so blessed to have him as a husband, and I know that the girls are beyond lucky to have him as a Daddy.

(Thanks to Pay It Forward Photography for the template and again to Maya for her wonderful editing skills :)

The other day, Bean was carrying her play phone around the house, chatting away as usual.  (She gets this form of imitation from her Daddy, of course).

I happened to join into her "conversation"

Bean:  "Hello?  What you doing?"

A pause.  She stops and looks at me.  "Mommy, it's Joey"

Mommy:  "Joey?  Who is Joey?"  (The only two Joes we know are adults).

Bean:  "It's Joey!"

Mommy:  "Ok, it's Joey.  What's Joey doing?"

Bean:  (into the phone again)  "Joey?  What you doing?"

Another pause.  "He's in the bathtub"

Um, what?

Shaun gets wind of this, asks to talk to Joey and holds the phone to his ear.

Shaun:  "Joey?  Do I know you?  Do I know your parents?  Why are you talking to Bean while you're in the tub?"

Joey better watch it.  Daddy's onto him already. 

C-Rex started grinning three days ago. 

It couldn't have come at a more perfect time.  6 weeks and 2 days have passed since she was born and she's run the gamut between incredibly easy to incredibly needy.  Lately, it's been the needy phase. 

But, I'm still learning her as much as she's learning the world, so we're managing. 

It's just that I'm so dang exhausted half the time.

But all that seems to fade when she grins and coos at me. 

Somehow, God knew all us moms would need that boost right around this time.  Smart guy.



(Many thanks to Maya for the gorgeous edit of this picture!)

So in the midst of all of our transitions, I've been procrastinating on two things that probably need to be done in short order.

1.  Potty Training
and
2. The Big Girl Bed

I've got nothing on the first one, so start looking somewhere else if you're searching for advice on that.

But, as for the second?  Turns out, that one wasn't remotely up to me.

About two weeks ago, Bean was getting ready for bed and as we were heading into C-Rex's room, (which has the crib), Bean peeked into her new room and said, "I want to sleep in there!" 

I looked at Shaun who shrugged and then I swallowed my need for control and said, "Ok!"

So we got her all settled into the big bed and let her pick some stuffed animals and a book to take with her.  (A carry-over from the old routine...  it had gotten to a point that I had to take stuff out of the crib to make room for Bean... much more room in a big bed).

That night, it took her a really long time to fall asleep.  Like, almost an hour and a half.  She didn't cry, but she stayed in there singing and talking.  It probably didn't help that I kept opening the door to see if she was asleep yet. 

Finally, she dropped off, to my amazement.  I definitely slept lighter than usual that night, waiting to hear her cry out or get up or what have you.

Nothing.

She slept straight through to 7am the next morning. 

And we haven't looked back. 

Every day she asks if she's allowed to sleep in her "big-girl bed!"  And every day I say, "SURE!" as if it's the biggest treat in the world.

And it gets easier every day.  She climbs up into bed, snuggles with her animals and goes to sleep.  No problems at all!  (Except when I walked in yesterday to get something and found her jumping on the bed, but whatever, she went to sleep eventually :)

I still am sort of shocked that it was that easy...  I'm hoping she decides that potty training is something she's going to conquer next. 

(Hey, I can dream, right?)

Anyway, if you see her, ask her about her big girl bed.  She's pretty proud of herself.  That makes two of us.  :)