A few updates

Our trip to my parents' lake house was semi successful. Even though Macey had never been in the car for more than a 30 minute trip prior to last weekend, she did wonderfully the entire time. She took a 30 minute nap on the way there and on the way back, and spent the rest of the trip just looking out the window, playing with a few toys, and laughing at her brother in the seat next to her. Hopefully our road trip to the beach this summer will be equally as successful.

We had a great time at the lake-- we played outside, went for a walk, and ate a nice dinner. Unfortunately, both of my kids weren't feeling very well. Camden has had a cold/virus funk for a week now and of course Macey came down with it the night before we left for the lake. She developed a low grade fever while we were there and was very snotty and sneezing like crazy. Being the trooper that she is, she smiled through it all and even took a nice, long afternoon nap-- her first nap in an unfamiliar environment, so I was pleasantly surprised. However, her night was a complete disaster. She would fall asleep for 45 minute increments and wake up either coughing or sneezing all.night.long. It was pretty brutal and I was a barely functioning zombie the next day. Minus the sickness, we had a great time and I look forward to doing it again when both kids are well.

 

Snuggling with Pop

 

Taking a walk

A sick Macey getting some love from Nan.

**

It's funny how babies develop (or at least mine, anyway): for several weeks, they seem to plateau and don't do much of anything new developmentally. And then, in a matter of days, they hit a developmental spurt and everything seems to happen all at once. I mentioned in my last post that Macey had begun babbling but was nowhere near crawling. Literally, the day after I wrote that post, she started pushing up on all fours and rocking. She even scoots forward with one knee before toppling over. So, she went from being nowhere near crawling to being thisclose to mobility. I love watching her excitement as she pushes herself up and looks all around the room proudly. It really is just as exciting going through all of these milestones the second time around.

In addition to the near-crawling, in the past couple of days Macey has also taken an interest in food other than her typical staples: Stage 1 purees and boobies. When we were at my parents' lake house, we stopped by a Dollar General and I picked up one of those mesh feeders on a whim. I stuck some avocado in it and handed it to Macey and my goodness-- she was in heaven. She loves that thing. Over the past few days, she has also tried tiny bites of pancake, graham cracker, bread, and she's also had some plain Cheerios. And she started to get the hang of her sippy cup, too-- she learned to tilt it backwards while drinking it-- but still looks a little started when some water actually fills her mouth.

**

And then there's Camden. I wanted to update on the potty training regression confusion that I wrote about a few posts back. I am happy to say, that "regression" lasted about a week. We're back to normal potty using 'round these parts, and I hope it stays that way because that was not a fun week of regression. I'm not 100% sure, but I think the culprit behind his regression issue was actually the implementation of fiber bars into his diet. Matt recently started on a high fiber diet (doctor's orders) and I thought that the rest of the family might as well join him. Fiber's healthy, right? It is, of course, but I think Camden was getting a bit too much. I stopped giving him the fiber bars and the poop "accidents" stopped the next day. I'm not totally sure about the pee accidents-- maybe they truly were accidents that happened when he held his pee too long or maybe they were sometimes an attention-seeking tool-- but they've ended, so that's that. We'll see what loop he throws me for next.

Also? We got Camden's preschool paperwork in the mail a couple of days ago. He's really starting school in just a few short months! I'm excited for him right now, but I know I'll be all kinds of emotional as the date starts to get closer. My first born is growing up.

 

Hangin' with cousin Will.

 Daddy's big helper.

Grocery shopping with the BFF.

Dear Macey (8 month edition)

Macey Jean,

My sweet little girl, you are (almost) 8 months old! This letter is coming slightly early, but we have a busy few days ahead, including your very first trip to your Nan & Pop's lake house tomorrow!

How to sum you up right now? Well, I tell people fairly often that if you were a good night sleeper, you would be the perfect baby. You're a great day time sleeper, you have a very easygoing disposition, you smile non stop, you're up for anything, and the only time you cry is when you're fighting sleep at night. I tell you every day how lucky I feel that you're mine.

At 8 months old you:

• Weigh roughly 15 lbs. You're a tiny girl!
• Normally eat solids 2 times a day (breakfast & dinner, but occasionally I'll throw in lunch too). You're still not interested in more than Stage 1 foods, and strongly prefer breastmilk right now. The solids you tolerate are: pears, sweet potatoes, squash, apples, avocados, and bananas. I made some homemade baby food a few weeks ago, but (with the exception of avocados), you weren't a big fan & prefer the store stuff. So, we'll stick with Gerber.
• You eat some Puffs and tiny pieces of plain graham crackers, but that's about as brave as I've gotten so far with the finger foods.
• We're working on the sippy cup-- I think your brother had it mastered by about 9 months-- but you don't seem to have a big interest in it right now. You just like to chew on the spout and then toss the cup on the floor.
• You nap 2 times a day-- morning and afternoon-- for roughly 2 hours per nap (in your crib).
• You're still toothless! I'm not surprised. I think Camden got his first tooth around 10 months old and I bet you'll follow in his footsteps.
• You're babbling! Yay! A few weeks ago, you said "mama" and then you followed that up with some "ma" and "mum". Just yesterday, though, you started the true consonant babbling: mamamamama. I love it and I can't wait to hear what's next. Your brother didn't babble until he was 10 months old, so I was curious if you'd also have a verbal delay. I'm thinking not.
• You sit like a champ now, and you want to crawl SO BAD but you're just not quite there yet. That's not to say that you can't get where you want to go-- because you scoot, roll, and shimmy over to your brother's toys quite often. But I know how excited you'll be when you can crawl because you're such a busy, active girl. Your Nan and I were just commenting today that you're not much for being held anymore. You'd prefer to be on the floor surrounded by toys.
• Are still your brother's biggest fan, and he's starting to return your affection a lot more! I absolutely love watching you two together. Camden often asks to hold you now, he puts on little shows to make you laugh, and he'll bring you toys and sit and play next to you. This afternoon when we went to get you out of your crib at nap time, you were wearing your long, pink sleep sack and Camden said, "Macey, you look like a princess." So.stinkin.sweet.
• Are an atrocious night sleeper. (I'm watching you roll around in your crib right now, fighting sleep as per usual at night.) You never sleep more than 2-3 hours in a row, you often have a 1-2 hour wakeful period in the middle of the night-- simply put? It's brutal. A large part of me wants to sleep train, but another part of me is very reluctant to sleep train before you're weaned. We sleep trained your brother when he was around 14 months old and weaned and I felt comfortable doing this because I knew he wasn't hungry when he woke at night. I can't say the same with you right now and that makes me uneasy.
• Don't seem to have a great deal of stranger anxiety, which is just an entirely different experience for me. When Camden was this age, I had to warn cashiers at stores not to speak to him because he would start crying the second a stranger even looked his way. You, on the other hand, offer your gummy grin to everyone when we're out and about. I know this might still change-- a lot of infants' stranger anxiety peaks later on-- but I'm enjoying it for now!
• Are excellent in the car and easy to take out anywhere. Having said that, I haven't taken you on a long distance trip yet (your Nan & Pop's boat house tomorrow will be your first longer car ride) so we'll see how that pans out!
• Love the "Hot Dog Song" on Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and your head will snap in the direction of the TV when that music starts to play no matter where you are or what you're doing.
• Prefer your brother's toys to your baby toys. Naturally, right? This will be interesting when you start crawling and taking things from him. Also, I am going to have to do some hardcore baby proofing because Camden has a lot of small toys and you stick anything and everything in your mouth.

Macey, you're such a sweet and loving little girl. I was talking to my neighbor the other day and I had you and Camden with me. She motioned to the two of you and said, "You got really lucky. These are great kids." What she didn't know is that I often ask myself how on earth I got so lucky.Whatever it was that I did to deserve you two, I'll never know, but I am so incredibly grateful.

You're very loved, little girl.

Love,
Mommy

Hand-me-downs

While I'm far from a pack rat, I do tend to hang on to sentimental items from my past. Two of those items-- a homemade Cabbage Patch doll and an orange stuffed bear-- have followed me everywhere. They were two of my most prized possessions in childhood, they stayed in my room during high school, and they even made the "bring to college" cut.

Meet Melinda Sue:

Melinda holds a super special place in my heart because she was handmade by my great grandmother, whom we called BigMama. It was Christmas 1983, otherwise known as the Christmas of the Great Cabbage Patch Frenzy. Cabbage Patch dolls were the newest hot commodity on the market and customers were literally trampling each other in stores to get to the coveted dolls in the weeks leading up to Christmas. My mom managed to track down a doll for my older sister, but my little three-year-old self was out of luck. BigMama didn't want me to be disappointed on Christmas morning, so she sat down at her sewing machine and got to work. The result? Melinda Sue. Nearly 30 years later, it still brings tears to my eyes to look at the doll that was so clearly a labor of love. Every stitch, every strand of yellow yarn on her head, two meticulously painted blue eyes-- all so I wouldn't feel sad that I didn't have a Cabbage Patch doll on Christmas morning. I've hung on to Melinda Sue through the years, never quite knowing what I would do with her. Now, I know: she'll be Macey's doll one day.

And then there's George:

I was 9 years old, and proclaimed that the only thing I wanted for Christmas that year was "one of those silky stuffed animals!" Santa must've heard my request because an orange, silky bear donning pajamas was waiting for me on Christmas morning. I held him up excitedly for everyone to see and my grandfather, who was known affectionately as Papa, took him from my arms. "His name is George," he decided, and that was that. I slept with George every night from that day forward-- including all throughout high school, college, and (embarrassingly) even the first year or two of my marriage. While I did eventually retire George to the bedroom closet for several years, he has now found a new sleeping buddy.

When my mom found out that I was having a girl, she passed along a couple of outfits that used to belong to my sister and me. I have to say, seeing my daughter in an outfit that I once wore as an infant was a pretty surreal and special thing. I know my mom felt the same way. Here's Macey, modeling a vintage late '70s/early '80s outfit, which I actually happen to find pretty darn cute (both the outfit and the kid, if we're getting technical).

There are other hand-me-downs in our home: Camden often plays with his daddy's old Cub Scout Pinewood Derby cars, which were carefully crafted by an eight-year-old Matt . And there will be more, eventually: Macey will soon inherit a ridiculous number of Barbies that have been packed away in my parents' house for years, just waiting for a new owner who will love them as much as my sister and I did.

Getting to relive special memories from childhood through your own children is pretty priceless.

The Sibling Bond

One of my favorite things about being a mom of two is watching Camden and Macey's relationship with each other. When our attempts at IUI failed back before Macey was conceived and we were considering throwing in the towel on reproductive medicine, the thing that made me the saddest was thinking about Camden never getting to experience having a sibling.

I grew up as the middle child, smack in between my older sister and younger brother. I don't feel like I really got the stereotypical middle child experience, though: I was the "baby" of the family until I was 8 years old and my brother was born. Then, when I was 14, my sister left for college, so I got to experience what it was like to be the oldest sibling in the house too. To this day, my siblings are some of my closest friends. I have a very different relationship with each of them; my sister is more like a close friend to me, though I do turn to her for guidance and been-there-done-that parenting advice from time to time. My little brother is also a friend to me, but I have some motherly, protective feelings towards him too. This is probably in large part due to our 8 year age gap and the fact that he was my little tag-along buddy whenever I went out with friends (or even boyfriends!) in middle and high school (my parents were pretty clever-- a kid brother makes for an effective chaperone).

So, as I watch Camden and Macey's blossoming relationship, I wonder: will they be best friends? Will Camden feel protective of his little sister the way I feel about my brother? Will they turn to each other for advice? Will they call each other to catch up when they're adults? Will they celebrate holidays together and will their kids play together? I hope so; I want these things so much for them.

This isn't to say that I don't expect fights, competition, and some sibling rivalry. Heck, we're already getting some of that and Macey can't even talk yet. The other day, we were out at breakfast and Camden was playing with that little game where you jump pegs in holes until (ideally) you only have one peg left standing. Macey, who was sitting on my mom's lap, accidentally swatted some of the pegs and sent them clattering onto the floor. Camden, in typical "threenager" dramatic fashion, looked at her accusingly and said, "Macey knocked my game over! That was NOT NICE, Macey!" Of course, like every other time her brother addresses her, Macey just grinned and I had a flash of future "Macey took my toy!" or "Camden came in my room!" arguments that are inevitable.

There are the other moments too, though. There are the many mornings that Camden wakes up and comes into Macey's room and rubs her head and says, "Good morning, Macey." Or the times when we're riding in the car and he looks over to Macey sitting in the carseat next to him and he smiles and says, "Macey likes ridin' in the back with me." One of my favorite moments was when I had the kids in the double stroller, getting ready to take them on a walk. I ran into the garage to get something and when I walked back towards them, I overheard Camden reassuring his sister, "Don't worry, Mace. Mommy just went to get her drink and she will be right back and we will go on our walk." And there's no question about how Macey feels about her big brother. Adoration is a word that comes immediately to mind. She watches him like a hawk, laughing at his antics, and beaming every time he looks in her direction and speaks to her.

But that's the thing about siblings: they fight hard and they love hard. And even your oldest friends can't quite understand you the way a sibling does. After all, you're the product of the same parents, the same upbringing, the same home. It's a unique relationship, and one I'm so happy that both Camden and Macey will get to experience.

The look of love.

I adore them.

 

Buddies.

 

Sharing a snack. (Camden has decided he likes Puffs again. Personally, I think they taste like air.)

 

Bath time laughter. (Yes, Macey is in a laundry basket. Thank you, Pinterest.)