Guilt

The days are long.  The naps and nighttime are short.  I have so much guilt about how I should be enjoying every minute with Abby and Jimmy since all I hear is that it all goes by so fast.  And that's true, it has been going by fast, but as fast as the time has gone, the days sometimes just seem to drag on. 

I quit my career to be a stay at home mom, to raise my kids and watch them grow and learn new things. I really thought I would enjoy being home, but some days it just seems so monotonous and boring; I feel isolated and lonely.   I feel guilty that some days (read: most days) I watch the clock as the minutes and hours pass so slowly until naptime/bedtime.  I mean, who is excited as bedtime draws near?  I should be enjoying every minute, right? 

So I have been experiencing a lot of guilt about looking forward to bedtime as much as I do.  Then I read this... and I realized that this is normal.  The days are long and hard.  The nights are a little, short break for me.  The days are filled with playing and fighting, laughing and whining, smiling and tears.  Also mixed in there in short bouts are those heartwarming moments that make me/us stop and think, yeah, this is so worth it.  I love this girl/I love this boy. They are so smart/pretty/talented/funny.  But then BAM! the moment has passed as quickly as it appeared, as one babe has hit the other in the head with the toy and the crying begins.  But those moments are the ones I need to focus on and remember as the days go in and out and the years pass by.  Those little moments that really, truly fill my heart with so much love and joy.

And this is one of those fleeting moments I love to be able to witness at random times throughout the day!

What's New at 16 Months?

What's the latest and greatest over here?  Well....
Abby will say Hi, and Yes (ess), HeHaw (donkey), Baaa (Sheep).  She follows instructions really well, will share with Jimmy when asked and is very nurturing and motherly.  She is able to put the puzzle pieces in the right spot and can point to the animal when asked.  She points to body parts, takes off her pants (!), says "yes" when asked if she pooped.  Abby is attached to her stuffed Lion animal (from the zoo) and loves going to the park! She still doesn't like hair bows/clips and won't leave them in.  She is overly sensitive and cries easily when told No or to Stop.

What's up with Jimmy?  Well Jimmy will say Go, tries to say Book, Ball, Car, and Cold.  He shakes his head yes and no, will roar when asked, "what does a lion say," points to body parts and points to animals in books.   Jimmy loves books (his favorites are flap books) and will bring a book over and climb in our laps to read books.  He loves to spin in a circle and loves the park!  Jimmy loves his stuffed Monkey (from the zoo) and is still really attached to the pacifier (though only used at nap time, in the car and at bedtime).

Both Abby and Jimmy are sleeping through the night - Jimmy always (knock on wood) and Abby wakes a couple times a week still but usually can put herself back to sleep now!

They love watching the Yo Gabba Gabba Dance episode, and Signing Time - Leah's farm.  They are really starting to enjoy Kid Songs - a Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa.  Their favorite right now is Silly Songs and when Jim or I try to put on a different show, they almost always whine (Jimmy mostly) until we put on Silly Songs.

Their favorite snacks are peanut butter crackers, bananas, cheese and yogurt.  They are eating a ton right now at all meals.  For breakfast they eat oatmeal, Eggo blueberry waffles, peanut butter or jelly toast and many fruits.  For lunch and dinner, they love spaghetti, tacos, chicken, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, rice, corn, peas, carrots, and hotdog or hamburger buns.  Right now it seems they love everything.

We are working on teaching them how to go down the stairs, use a fork (doing well) and spoon (yogurt and oatmeal right now) and clean up their toys before nap time and bedtime.  They still don't say too many words that we can understand, but certainly get to babbling often.  They really understand what we say and are pretty good at following instructions. 

They are both starting to run now and seem to enjoy when we "chase" them or even chasing after each other.  Jimmy is still running on the couch and climbing on everything.  They both love to push the stroller and Abby loves to clip the belt together on the stroller.

I guess that is it for now.  Everyday is something new with them and it is a joy to watch them grow up!

A Scary Morning - but all is fine!

*Sensitive Post*

On Monday morning, I got up with the babies like every other morning. I let Jim sleep in because he doesn't get to sleep in much anymore and I know he loves those mornings that he can sleep longer.  So the morning went like it always does - babies got up and I got their cheerios for them while they alternated between playing and watching some cartoons. 

Well, Jimmy has a bad habit of standing up on the couch and running from side to side.  No matter how much we tell him 'no' or 'sit on the couch,' he still does it.  You can see where this is going.  So after maybe a half an hour or so, Jimmy got up on the couch and started running from side to side.  So I told him No.  Yet he proceeded to do it again before I could get him down, he slipped on the pillows and fell onto the floor.  We have a rug covering the wood floors, but the rug wasn't all the way up to the couch - so he fell in between the rug and the couch - right on the wood floor. 

When I went to pick him up, he was crying - doing his silent scream/cry that he will do on occasion.  A few seconds after I picked him up, he passed out.  He went completely limp in my arms and his eyes glazed over.  I thought for sure he was dead.  I started screaming for Jim and when Jim came out of the room, I rushed to tell him what happened and he grabbed Jimmy and told me to call 911.  So I call 911 while Jim is sitting with Jimmy, trying to get him to wake up.  Neither Jim nor I was sure if Jimmy was breathing at that point - if he was, it was very shallow and not noticeable.  At some point while I am on the phone with 911 - Jimmy woke up.  Thank God.  He was crying off and on, and seemed sedate. 

Eventually the paramedics showed up (it took nearly 10 minutes-  OMG - what if he didn't wake back up!?)  and took his vital signs and checked him out.  Because Jimmy was acting normally and his vitals came back normal, we declined to have him transported to the ER and decided to do it ourselves.  Michelle came over to say with Abby and Jim and I went up to the Kingwood ER with Jimmy. 

We were brought back immediately (a benefit of Jim working there) and a CT scan was ordered.  The CT result was completely normal and since Jimmy was back to his normal self, no other tests were ordered and we were given a list of things to look out for.  We were in and out of there in under two hours - it was nice. 

So I am still in shock that this happened and so very thankful everything turned out ok.  I am so scared about anything and everything that could happen to my precious babies, but I am really trying to not worry about it (easier said than done).  Jimmy still stands on the couch all the time and I just don't know what to do to get him to stop.  I hope this is just a phase that passes quickly - please please please!
Anyway - that is the story.  Sorry if it was hard to read, but I wanted to write it out so I remembered what happened.

Christmas 2011

 

Well, Jim's work schedule was horrible around the holidays  He worked Christmas eve 4-2am, then rushed home to sleep so that he would get up and head back to work on Christmas day from 10am-9pm.  No fun!  So we had a little family celebration with my parents and brother, sister-in-law and kids on Christmas eve in the morning.   We had a fun morning filled with delicious cinnamon rolls, french toast and sausage for breakfast and lots of present opening!  Then we all lounged around/napped until the Lions game and eventually Jim had to leave for work. On Christmas day we hung out with Jim in the morning and then headed over to my parents house for Christmas day dinner.  We ended up doing our family "Christmas morning" celebration on December 27.   We thought the babies would love opening present after present - uh, nope.  It took most of the day to open all presents.  The loved the stroller and the broom set.  There were many fights over both.  Jimmy loved his mini tool bench and Abby her baby doll.  Overall, I do think the babies were quite spoiled, but hey, I can't control what Santa decides to bring! ;-)

*More pictures to come once my computer stops acting up!