Haven

This is the face of an angel. Yes, I'm one of those moms. Shamelessly proud of my babies. I finished the post about Maiya and could not stop thinking about all I would write in a post about Haven. So here I am again.

This child brings so much laughter to our family. I've mentioned before his love for music. Before I put him in his crib I sing him a couple of songs. If I sing a song he particularly likes, he says "More?" every time I stop to take the quickest breath. Jesus loves me this I know - inhale - "more?" for the Bible tells me so - inhale - "more?" and so on, throughout the song. It makes me laugh every time.

Today was his first alone play date. I told him a few times in the car where we were going and that I wasn't staying with him. "And Maiya?" (He always wants to know if Maiya will be present as well.) I explained he would be there with his friend and her mommy. He had a fun time and was in a great mood when I picked him up.

Somehow, he is almost 2 years old. He has little fits, but generally he's mild mannered. He loves to help and he has two chores: feeding our cat and putting dirty diapers in the trash can. He loves to watch football with Dave. He loves to play catch and says "good catch!" and "good throw!" He sleeps with the little stuffed characters from the Backyardigans and calls them his "guys."

He's dramatic - how could he not be with us as parents? If we tell him no his whole face scrunches into the saddest little expression for a moment (maybe he's hoping we'll change our mind?) and then he cries. He's distractable though. Usually "The Wheels on the Bus" song cheers him up in no time. Distractions, prevention and positive reinforcement have been the most effective discipline techniques with him so far.

I love this little guy. Can't stand how cute he is sometimes. I'm so proud of the little man that he is.

Maiya

I took Maiya for her six month check this morning. My little bean is already halfway to 1. She's a healthy 19 lbs 7 oz. Almost off the charts. I asked the doctor how I will know if she's nursing enough since she nurses less frequently since she started solids. He just looked at her and smiled and said, "She's nursing enough."

She loves to eat food. She attacks the spoon. She leans so far forward toward an incoming spoonful that she would fall out of the high chair if she weren't strapped into it. That's my girl.

She falls asleep by herself, which is great, but staying asleep is another issue. Almost every night she wakes an hour after I put her down and she screams. Usually she wants to eat and then hang out for a while. She then she goes right back to bed without a problem. I don't know what's up with that, but, I know won't last forever.

She doesn't roll yet, which seemed to alarm the doctor a bit. I told him candidly that Haven didn't roll until he was 6 months old. It's nice to worry less this second time around. I know now that once she starts moving, that's it. It's a whole new world of chasing and vacuming and babyproofing.

Last night I brought her to our bed when she woke up sometime after midnight. She was nursing and I was almost asleep. I glanced down at her and her huge greenish-brown eyes were wide open staring at me. Then she swung her head around and looked at Dave. We thought she was falling asleep, so it was funny to see those eyes popped open, looking at everything. Maybe you had to be there.


I just want to remember all of this cuteness.

Home Sweet Stayin' Home.

Merry Christmas Eve! This is our first year to stay home, just our family, at our house for Christmas. I'm so excited. It's not that we have mounds of gifts to exchange and we'll probably have a simple dinner, but I'm happy to spend the day with my little family in our little house. I can't help but be thankful for what we have. Love. Health. A white, though melty, Christmas.


Last weekend my Dad, stepmom, sisters and their plus- ones came to our house to celebrate Christmas. Here is the gang: Charlie, Phil & Dave, Jessica, Rebecca, me, Dad, Haven, Gail and Maiya.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

One day I will write it all here.

Okay this picture has nothing to do with this post, but I think it's hilarious. Every morning Haven asks me to put Maiya in his crib (not in so many words) before I get him out. So, one morning I snapped a picture. They were both still waking up, I guess.

It is not 7 o'clock in the morning yet. This is not a time when I am typically awake. Haven and Maiya have been sleeping until at least 8 o'clock for a while now, so when Maiya woke up for the day at 5:30 this morning, it took me a while to accept it. She is in the bouncer now, playing gently with the dangling toys and smiling at me whenever I look at her. I think she's sleepy. I know I'm sleepy. I also know I'm spoiled to think that I should get to sleep until 8 o'clock in a house with two kids under two years old.

Throughout the week so many things run through my mind. They are topics I would like to further explore here. I want to sit and type them out until they're clear. However, I barely have time to think a complete sentance, much less publish a paragraph to my blog.

Anyway, here are two topics I hope to write more about soon. They're on my mind.

First of all, my experience in yoga. I've only gone for about a month. I knew I would love the stretching and balancing exercises, but I was curious about the spiritual aspect of it. I feel like God is showing me a lot through yoga. Nobody has to agree with me, but that's what I feel. Not to mention, the room is quiet, my kids are taken care of, so, it's very easy to pray and listen for God. When I am at peace, relaxed, tranquil, it is because of my hope in God. It's because I know Him and trust Him. It is only natural to me that that is where my mind would rest when the teacher suggests that we consider how we are doing spiritually.

Secondly, I want to write about parenting. I want to list what I know so far (maybe just so that I can get a laugh in the future). The more parents I meet, the more parenting styles I find. I, like any parent, want mine to be right, at least for my children. I do feel that I know some things, though. I somehow manage to feel semi-competent most days. I know where my resources are and I use them. I have clear goals (give my children a good self image, set them on the path to know Jesus, teach them responsibility, teach them to enjoy life, etc). I also learned a few things getting that degree that's gathering dust on our desk. So anyway, I want to write down my parenting philosophy, mostly to see how it changes over the years.

Well, more on all of that soon. I hope.

Three cheers for Maiya Adisen!

I am excited to announce that Maiya fell asleep last night in her crib without one single cry. I sang her a song, put her down and she drifted off to snooze land. Way to go, little sweetie. I'm so proud of you!

I'm also thrilled for myself.

The next few days will be spent working on a daily schedule that I hope will yield a well-rested little girl.

This is my life. It's a good one.

Happy Thanksgiving

If we can drive to Florida and back with two children under age 2, we can do anything. Dave and I, we're invincible. Bring it on, world.

That is not to say we weren't beat on Sunday night. We pulled into our driveway, motion and fast food sick, after nineteen hours of driving. I should clarify that Dave drove while I fended off tantrums with snacks, elmo, songs, more elmo, books, and play-it-again elmo. "I guess road trips are when you throw all of your parenting skills to the wind." I said to Dave, when we, after a brief stop, had bribed Haven to get back in the carseat with a lollypop. He sat in the backseat, his perfect lips turning blue from his first lollypop experience.



Maiya's first Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving week with Dave's parents, in northern Florida. Granny spent lots of time holding Maiya and playing with Haven and the kids enjoyed tour after tour of Grandpa's farm. Dave and I got to out alone - we got haircuts. It was so great to be with family and I remembered how nice it must be for families who live closer to eachother.



Maiya's induction to a game-playing family.

















My little boy who could not walk the last time we were there, this time incessently begged to go see the ducks, to go outside and sprinted and jumped his way through the week.
















A highlight of the trip for Haven.






Maiya's first reading lesson with Grandpa.