this baby is growing

Dani is cutting teeth. Two little white bumps for this lovely little girl. And if I said she has been all sunshine and buttercups for the last few days, I would be lying.

Have I shared Halloween pictures yet? I don't believe I have. So for your view pleasure today, Dani the penguin and Jay dressed as Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers!

Santa baby

I have 28 minutes left to post today! Don't think I forgot about you, lovely readers, because I didn't! It has been a hectic day.

Dani had her first visit with Santa today. I know it seems a little early, but my mom is in a group that always hosts a holiday bazaar this weekend and they always have Santa. And he's a good Santa, too. You know, the kind with a real beard.

I always insist on a real beard for our Santa pictures. In fact, two different years I have been at a different aunt's house for Christmas and seen the grandkids Santa pictures with a good Santa and we have gone to their local mall to get that Santa. Crazy, I am. But I hate the fake beard Santa. One year, we actually waited in line for an hour for the awesome Santa. Did I mention I'm crazy?

Thankfully, neither of my kids have had that aversion to the man in red that I've seen and heard about in other children. That could be because my dad has a white beard. Although his is pretty short and he's not chubby like Santa, I think it's enough of a similarity in looks that they don't flip out. Jay has actually looked at Santa with a puzzled look on his face before and said "Ga-Ga." (BTW Jay's pet name for his Grampa is Ga-Ga)

I promise to share the picture of Miss Dani with Santa soon, but I actually had to have mom pick them up when they were ready so that I could make a dash to Menard's for more much needed remodeling supplies. I'm pretty sure that one more trip to Lowe's will finish off everything we need to finish this house! I can't wait to share the finished project with you all!

The Pumpkin Patch and more Packing

No time for a long post today, as I have been packing all day and I need to get back to it now that these children are in bed. So, just some photos of the kids from the Pumpkin Patch. We had a great day!

Packing and six months

I probably should not have agreed to NaBloPoMo in the middle of packing and moving. Oh, this month is going to be crazy. I am so not ready to move, even though it seems like I've already been packing for months. I swear I pack and the stuff just multiplies while I'm at work.

In the midst of all this, Dani turned 6 months old last week! She had her 6 month well-baby yesterday. She is now 25 inches long, such a shortie!! But she went from not even registering on the height chart at 3 months to being in the 20th percentile for height at 6 months. Her doctor was pretty impressed with that! She is also up to a little over 16 pounds. I would have never guessed!

This has been a crazy 6 months. I can't believe how different it is to have a second child. I was in no way prepared for the craziness that would ensue once Dani got here! But she makes our lives better and more interesting every day.

To end this little post, I thought I would share a preview of Dani's 6 month pictures with you! I can't wait to see the rest of them.

Messy girl

I swear that Dani is the messiest eater I have ever met. Since the day she was born this child has been flinging formula around the room like a crazy person. And now that she has discovered the tasty, tasty treat of carrots the messes have never been bigger.

food for babies

So, Dr. C told me at Dani's 2 month check-up that she couldn't have food until we came back for her 4 month check. Easier said than done, Dr. C, easier said than done.

Dani decided a few weeks ago that maybe if she stared at Jay eating his yogurt cup long enough, she would get some. And she was right. I put a little on her lips and that baby went crazy licking it up! Well, I didn't want to keep giving her yogurt so the next day I got some baby bananas (organic, of course) and let her try those out. She didn't seem too interested, so I dropped it.

But last night, this baby was fussy and formula just didn't seem to be doing the trick. Half a stage 1 package of applesauce and a bottle later, she slept for 10 hours!! Tonight she finished off the other half of the container!

Now I am totally generally all about doing what the doctor tells me. When you have a 28 week preemie you learn to strictly follow medical advice. But in this case, I don't think I'm hurting anything. Right?

So tell me, mamas, when did you start letting your little ones eat real food. I'm curious to know since Jay was almost 3 before he could eat solids.

big girl bath

After my mass of complaining the last few days, I figured I owed it to you guys to do a happy post!

The day Dani came home from the hospital, Micah and I put her in a baby tub on our dining room table and gave her a bath. She looked like a little tub toy in that thing, because she was so very tiny when we brought her home. So from then on, since Micah is still at work at bathtime, I decided to use a big rubbermaid bowl for her bath. It was the perfect size until recently, when her legs started hanging out of the side of the bowl and she looked very cramped.

So last weekend, I went to the store and brought home a fancy bath seat and Dani got to take her very first bath in our big tub!

She loved it and I was comfortable bathing her in it! And Micah did a pretty good job of taking some pictures for me.

She was a little shocked but we didn't have any screaming!

And Miss Dani Bean finally got to wear her new bathrobe from our friends David and Liz, who now live in California.

I'm so glad that Micah was home to experience this with us! He misses out on so much when he's working and this was definitely something I wanted him to be able to share. And if you're wondering, yes my hair is generally always in my face.

3 months

My beautiful little Dani Bean had her 3 month pictures taken this morning. I decided to use one of her little rock star outfits and a bass that matched from Micah's vast collection. I just received a sneak peek and wanted to share!

Life and the way it changes

This has been a horrible week. The baby has now screamed every day for extended periods every day since Monday. And I'm stuck here 13 hours a day while Micah is at work. It's gotten so bad that Jay has gone in his room the last 2 days and shut the door to get away from the noise. As bad as I feel for myself in dealing with all this screaming, my heart breaks for Jay.

For 6 years, it was just the two of us. And then Micah came along and Jay adores him and he's been daddy since very early on. But I don't think Jay really understood what was going to happen when I was pregnant. He knew I was getting fat and that we were putting new things in his room that weren't for him, but he doesn't really comprehend life changing events like this one.

I know it's been hard on him. My normally independent little guy is now stuck to my side. I actually heard him crying himself to sleep one night when Dani had been home about a week. I went in and sat with him until he fell asleep and it hasn't happened since, but I still feel horrible for him.

He's not used to sharing his mommy. And there isn't a way for me to explain all of this to him. I wonder what he thinks, inside that pretty little head of his. Does he really understand that Dani is his sister? Does he love her or realize that she will likely be the one taking care of him when I'm gone?

It hurts my heart to think about these things. I just wish I could hook him up to a little machine and read his thoughts. I don't want him to feel like we've deserted him for this new kid that came along, for him, out of seemingly nowhere.

And Dani, she is not the easy, happy-go-lucky kid that my amazing Jay is. Dani wants what she wants as soon as she wants it. I feel horrible when I have to make Jay wait for something like a drink or his favorite DVD because I'm doing something for the baby. I don't want him to resent her and I don't want to feel like I'm neglecting him to tend to her.

It's not easy, regardless of what I thought when I was pregnant. I feel spread too thin. I feel like I need a vacation. I wonder how people with multiple kids and one special needs child do this.

A Little Too Close

Lemmy, our dear cat, has been getting a little too close for comfort with little Miss Dani Bean lately.

After finding him in this position two nights in a row, Lemmy has been put on notice. If I find him in the bassinet again, he's going to live with Kitty Nana.

On Sass

So Sassy, her little shirt says. And let me tell you, this little lady has sass in spades.

Or something like that.

The only thing that made this child happy all day was laying on the floor with Jay.

And when he scooted away, she started screaming. So I bribed him with a drink of soda to come back. Because my sanity is important and worth a little possible Jay slobber in my drink.

On being a bad blogger

I'm sorry that my posts have been few and far between lately. I'm just here, enjoying every minute with my new family of four. I never realized that being a work-at-home mom would be so consuming. I swear I work harder keeping this house in order than I ever have in a day at the newspaper.

But this face makes my hard work and lack of time for myself very worthwhile.

Jay gets out of school on Tuesday, so my life will be a little less hectic since I won't have to drive 20 minutes to his school twice a day. Of course, I'll also be home alone with 2 kids for 14 hours a day, so maybe it won't be any less hectic. We shall see.

On my babies!

Today I was finally brave enough to attempt a picture of Jay with Dani. It turned out better than I expected when Jay laid down on the boppy pillow that I sat Dani in!

Now that I know what works, I think we will be attempting the matching outfit picture tomorrow, with the help of daddy!

On Mother's Day

As my best friend Amy said, this year I had my first "double" Mother's Day. It was a great but bittersweet day. While I was showered with love by my children, husband and parents, I couldn't help but remembering that this is my first Mother's Day without a grandmother. It's a strange feeling to realize that you are no one's grandchild anymore.

Bobbie (Micah's grandmother - you may remember my earlier post about her) is very sick. Back in January, I believe, the doctors gave her 5 weeks to live. She has definitely surpassed that but I know that her quality of life isn't what it once was. It amazes me to see how much she has aged in the last year. She is a shell of her former self and it breaks my heart, both for her and my husband. I know what it's like to lose a grandparent, but in Micah's case he's really losing his mother. Bobbie raised him and every day I can see her influence on him. He told me on Sunday that to him, Bobbie is his mother. It just doesn't seem fair and while I know that everyone has to go sometime, I wish Bobbie didn't have to go like this.

Dani was introduced to Micah's other grandmother for the first time on Mother's Day. His dad is just so in love with this little girl and he was so excited for us to come by Micah's grandmother's house so he could show her off to his whole family. It was the first time I had ever met Micah's dad's family, so it was a little strange for me but all in all a good day.

Speaking of Dani, I'll share a picture of my adorable daughter with you from our first Mother's Day together.

On Daddy alone for the first time

Last Thursday I was released from the hospital. I had a few prescriptions to fill and we needed groceries, so I decided to brave Meijer 4 hours after I was released from the hospital. Maybe a little crazy, but after being cooped up in a hospital for 4 days I was excited for an opportunity to get out by myself, have a diet Mountain Dew and stroll through the grocery aisles.

Micah stayed home with Jay and Dani. I didn't think anything too crazy could happen. And then I called on my way home. Mind you, I was gone less than an hour. And in that hour, all kid heck broke loose.

Jay had decided that he wasn't going to poop while he was at Nana and Ga-Ga's house. Why, I'm not really sure. But being home for an hour was ample opportunity for him to remove his clothes and diaper and poop on the bedroom floor. Micah found him quickly and cleaned up the mess and put him in the tub.

After Jay's bath, Dani was waking up and Micah was getting Jay a diaper when Jay decided that it was a good time to pee the bed. Micah said he turned around from the diaper stacker and Jay was peeing all over his blankets and pillow. Dani was ready to be fed and had started to fuss.

I laughed, because at the point he was telling me about it, things were calm again. Jay was watching Veggie Tales, Dani was full and asleep and I had somehow luckily missed the whole adventure. I told him it was their way of breaking him into the parenthood of two children. The next morning held an interesting experience for the both of us that I will share in another post. I will tell you that things have been fairly calm since then, but we will see what happens when Micah gets off work tonight and Jay comes home from Nana's. It may be another interesting weekend!

On Dani

Sorry it has taken me so long to post this, faithful blog readers. The last week has been a whirlwind of activity at our house.

Dani Marie Agnes was born last Monday, April 26th at 1:21 p.m. She weighed 5 pounds and 2 ounces and was 18 inches long. She is incredible and beautiful and Micah, Jay and I are so in love with her!!

Delivery was seamless and I realized during the operation that I had gotten myself worked up for nothing. I promise to post her birth story soon, I want to write it down before I forget a single moment of the experience. But for now, I'm off to feed a stirring little one!