Nine months

My precious darling angel baby went in for her nine month doctor's visit today. She was in very good spirits and seemed perfect (just like in this picture), only to find out she has a double ear infection. The only bonus to the ear infection is it delays her getting her shots for another two weeks. She did have to get her toe stuck to draw blood to test for anemia. The nurse had me hold her in my lap when she drew the blood. I winced, but Meg just kept chewing the top on the baby Tylenol and didn't flinch. She clearly has a much higher pain threshold than I do.

Here are the stats:

• Weight - 23 pounds, 10 ounces -- 95+ percentile (I think it's really 100+, but her doctor is clearly sympathetic to her being a girl and doesn't want her to get a complex so early.)
• Height -- 29 inches -- 75-90 percentile
• Head size -- 18 1/2 inches -- 95+ percentile.

The long and short of it (heh) is that she is a big, healthy girl right now. Someone asked me if I was worried about her weight. I am not and generally I find that to be such an odd question. She's a baby. She's not even crawling yet so it's not like I could get her to exercise even if I wanted to. Do they want me to put her on Atkins or something?

The truth (according to my one experience) is that babies bulk up in the first months of life when they eat a lot and aren't that active. Then at about a year, they go off high-calorie formula/breast milk and start eating peas and chicken. At the same time, they get so busy with cruising, crawling, walking and generally cramming toys into their mouths that they get taller and leaner without really getting much heavily.

That said, her size is practically killing my left wrist. I plan to do some shopping this weekend for some type of baby backpack to shift the weight. With Andy going all sorts of places, including many that are not stroller friendly, I really need some way to carry her. She's basically gotten too big for the Baby Bjorn so I am leaning towards some type of Kelty Baby Backpack. Any other recommendations?

A little bit OCD and Pre-Halloween

Andy is going through a slight OCD phase. He recently went through and paired up all the shoes in the house. He also went through all the toy bins in the house (there are several in various locations on three floors) and collected all the stacking cups to put them in order (see picture below).
From when he was a baby/toddler, I think I have three or four sets. They are all made from different manufacturers obviously since some start at with the biggest at 8 and work to one and others start with the biggest at 1 and go to 8. They are also a colorful assortment. After we located all we could find, he spent time organizing them by number. I'll admit I'm totally proud of how his mind is really working these days. Well, when his mind isn't totally focused on how to solicit another cookie out of me or Bjorn. Aw, hell, I find that pretty impressive, too.

We went to the Halloween festival in the neighborhood and I snapped this picture. The lighting is a little too bright (which is sort of good since you can't see the candy remnants on his face unless you really look for them), but I just love how it turned out.

Here he is posing at the festival with his Thomas costume on. After he got a few pictures taken and proudly pointed out the other three Thomases we saw there, he took it off so he could properly jump on the moon bounce and climb the slides.

We went to a Spooky Lunch on Saturday and Andy proudly decorated a pumpkin, which is now adorning our front porch. At this party, he also started with his costume on and promptly took it off after a few group pictures. He has now worn his costume twice. He now has to wear it to school on Friday and then out trick or treating Friday night. I would say we have definitely gotten our $22 worth. After I bought it, he spent two weeks refusing to even try it on so

I am thrilled that he has worn it at all.

Teeth!

Meg got her bottom front teeth a few weeks (months?) ago. Since then, she's been working on her front two teeth. The one on the right is fully broken through and the one on the left is slowly working its way down. Somehow is the slow unfolding drama that is her two front teeth, I failed to notice that she's getting FOUR others. That's right four. She's now also getting the two on either side of her front two teeth and the two on either side of her bottom two teeth. I know, great parenting at work.

After two rough nights of Andy waking up saying he was "scared", i.e. he woke up and wanted attention, he slept okay the last two nights. In more good parenting, on Wednesday evening, I offered him the rest of a package of cookies (five in all) if he slept through the night without waking Mommy or Daddy. I wasn't even ashamed when I served him five Keebler cookies for breakfast Thursday morning. He earned every one in my opinion.

Yesterday, I stocked up on some Nutter Butters to reward him with this morning. At least I got cookies with peanut butter, right? It does have twice the amount of protein as an Oreo (I actually checked.) I think part of what's waking him up is he's starting to wake up when he has to pee. He's not exactly sure what to do about it yet, because I think the urge is waking him up, by but then he's peed in his diaper. I'm keeping an eye on it though in case this is a good opportunity to work on staying dry at night. Frankly, I'm not too worried about it, but if he's ready, I'll give it a shot, so long as it doesn't mess with my sleep too much.

Nearly three years ago

While cleaning out my e-mail, I came across this picture Bjorn took on his phone from Andy's first haircut. (I made Bjorn take him without me because I didn't think I could watch.) What is amazing to me looking at it is how similar he and Meg look as babies (he's about three months older than her now in this photo). They have the same gianormous heads that thankfully they were not born with. It's also cool looking at the picture below to see how he's grown into that face. I am excited to see where this goes.

Course, I would be more excited if Andy hadn't gotten up in the middle of the night two nights in a row, exclaiming, "I'm scared." What he was, was looking for attention because he sure wasn't actually scared of anything. I am amazed that in many ways (knock wood), Meg as a baby sleeps better than Andy as a pre-schooler. What's up with that?

Pictures

I have finally gotten around to updating the pictures on Flickr. Sorry for the delay. Enjoy.

It was weird for me taking off some of the older pictures. Andy looks the same more or less, but Meg? Wow has she changed in just a few weeks and months. It turns out time really does fly. Bastards. Some days when the kids are sick, or fussy or just being generally uncooperative (or generally being three), I think to myself that the day will never end. But other days when they are sweet, darling angel babies, I can't believe it's all happening so fast.

Get out the vote

Bjorn has gotten active in the Obama campaign. It's great because it means he's not in the house arguing politics with me. The strange thing is we have people coming to our house as a meeting point every Saturday and Sunday to go canvassing, meaning they go door to door asking people who they plan to vote for and trying to help the undecided make up their minds. The whole process has been rather fascinating, talking to the campaign people and hearing what really goes on. I've never lived in a state that was in play so to speak during a presidential election so it's very exciting seeing all the local activity for a national election for a change.

Andy and Meg are LOVING this process. It gives them a steady stream of people coming by the house all weekend telling them how adorable and cute they are. Andy in particular loves having young college aged women around to play soccer with him and flirt with. When the campaign is over, I think we're all going to miss all the activity.

There have been some bizarre gems being this close to the campaign trail, too. Like today, three boys from Woodson High School were canvassing and a lady answered the door and told them they were all going to hell. I get saying that to Bjorn, but three kids getting credit for government class?

Oh, and P.S. Bjorn's pneumonia is improving, thanks for asking. He still hacks a good bit, but not like before and the flop sweat a la Broadcast News is improving, too. Thanks for asking.

P.P.S. I guess this photo doesn't speak for itself. It's one of the organizers camped in our carport with signs, folders, etc. that she gives to volunteers to go canvassing.

Pictures

Andy has become enchanted with the digital camera and insisted that he take a picture of my mom when she was visiting. Clearly, he has a little work to do before turning pro.
Mom's picture of Andy, however, was pretty darn good.

Meg was loving my mom being here almost as much as my mother liked cuddling on a little grandbaby. I'm not sure which game they were playing, but they both seem pretty darn happy about it.

This is Meg wearing one of the two, that's right, two lobster Halloween costumes my mother brought. Apparently one was my niece Megan's, the second came from my parents' trip to Boston. Fortunately, you can't see in this picture that Meg was recovering from an ear infection that made her eyes all mucusey. Poor baby was all red and crusty in the eyes making her look like she'd just recovered from a meth bender.

I love this picture. Bjorn is giving Meg an evening bottle (you can't really tell but she's also wearing Halloween pajamas that say "Boo.") Andy is refusing to let Bjorn alone and wants to play Ninja Warrior -- climbing the "Daddy Slid-A". Bjorn also looks remarkably good here, especially considering that about a week later his bad cough was diagnosed at pneumonia.

Developments

Two developments are taking shape this week that are causing me to pause:
1) Andy has figured out that dragging out "pleeeeaaaasseee" is a way to make me rethink my initial "no." This is surely going to be annoying, oh, tomorrow probably, but right now it works. I am clearly setting a bad precedent.
2) Meg has figured out how to curl her lip and begin to cry to get my attention. She does this when she's on the floor playing and wants a change of scenery or when she's at her high-chair and has become bored/tired/ready for a change.

Damnit if these kids don't find new ways to wrap me around their little fingers practically every day.

Adorableness

As you can see, we had a lot of fun with mother this weekend.

To be saved for his American Idol audition

Mama

I swear Meg said "Mama" last night and meant me. My mother is here visiting and was holding Meg. It was close to bedtime and Meg wasn't so sure about Grandmother just yet so when Mom was holding her, I hear Meg say, "Mama" and reach out for me. That's right, 8 1/2 months and she said her first word. Clearly that kid is gifted.

I normally wouldn't believe it, but last weekend, our neighbors were holding Meg while I went to talk to the roofing guys. I had just walked away when Meg started to protest and Doris ran up to tell me she cried, "Mama" as I walked away. I didn't believe her then, but after last night, I do. What a precious darling angel baby. I think Andy's first word was "light" so "Mama" thrills me.

Meg is also this close to crawling. For a few weeks, she's been able to push herself backwards, roll and turn around to get places. I don't think she ever really was trying to get anywhere, it's more that she was so surprised and happy with her new skill. Then this morning I watched her go from her stomach to sitting to back on her stomach again. She's already getting up on her knees and rocking back and forth. I think she is probably minutes away from putting the whole thing together. That means I need to get serious about digging out the baby gates and worrying about where I put her down.

Andy, however, is going through a particularly ornery/whiney phase. I think he's generally overtired, but I'm really struggling with getting him to go to bed at a decent hour. Last night my mom had just arrived so he spent two hours going through his arsenal of yelling, whining, crying, and begging. It was ugly. Of course, he all but refuses to nap anymore so we're in this cycle of overtiredness.

So big

So when did these kids get so grown up? It seems like only yesterday we were all pregnant. How beautiful are they?

Your moments of adorableness

Clapping

Meg is clapping. Well, clapping is sort of a stretch, but when you clap at her, she smiles and brings her hands together. I think Bjorn and I spent half an hour going back and forth with her this evening practicing her new trick. It is beyond adorable.

Andy, on the other hand, had a monster of a meltdown earlier today. We started off the day with good intentions. The four of us took off for Great Country Farms in Bluemont, Virginia. It was about an hour from our house and had come highly recommended from a friend. The visit out there was good. We rode the hayride (although it was more like a wooden-seated ride) to the pumpkin patch where Bjorn picked a nice big pumpkin for carving and Andy picked a small green one, you know, since green is his favorite color. We watched the pig races. We fed the goats and the peacock-esque animals. We ate kettle corn.

On the way back, we stopped to get a late lunch and Andy exploded. It started over soda. He first said he wanted juice, then soda, then soda in a specific cup. After his outburst, I dragged him outside (gently, of course) and explained that if he kept crybabying, we would leave. He caught control of himself and we went back in only for it to take about 30 seconds for him to do it again. Clearly, the guy was exhausted. We got him out of the car where he proceeded to shriek, cry and attempt to kick and hit me at the very thought of having to leave the restaurant. Once we got home, I had a talk with him. He said he was sorry and then laid down for a three hour nap and woke up a changed boy. We have since talked about how it's not nice to act like a jerk (I'm not sure if that's the right word for it, but I used it anyway) and because of earlier, no TV tonight. That didn't make him happy initially, but he's now quite content working on his puzzles.

I swear, just when I start to feel like I've got a handle on these guys, they do something to throw me off and keep me on my toes.

In-cation

Bjorn starts a new job on Monday so he is taking this week off before he starts. After working long days in Boston for a week, I am taking a couple of days off as well. We initially planned to get away for a few days, but the stars just didn't align quite right to get it done. I'm not quite sure exactly what we're doing, but I know we won't be working and we will be together. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm still tired and I've been back a week now. It's not a vacation necessarily (or an in-cation as Andy calls it), but it will do.

I leave you with some darling pictures. Andy is adorable, usually, although he's going through a terrible phase of screaming when he's really tired/unhappy. Last Sunday, he was so tired, but didn't want to take a nap. He was quite ornery so I finally put him in his room where he proceeded to scream, "I'M NOT TIRED" for a solid 15 minutes before falling asleep for three hours. I don't believe in spanking except in times of danger (i.e. spanking for running in the street), but in times like that, I do briefly rethink things.

Meg is figuring out how to pull up and is very excited about it. Now when I sit in front of her on the floor, all she wants to do is reach for my hands to pull her up. She's not sure what to do once she's standing except look around, all proud of herself.