A weekend of firsts!

To start.  This guy:

Has his first ear infection.  I'm lucky that my kids really are very healthy.  Elisa didn't even get her first real illness until after she was a year old, and Aidan has only had one cold last March.  So, truly, getting to almost 10 months before dealing with cranky, non-sleeping, non-eating child while having an older sibling in the house is pretty good.  Here's hoping to a quick recovery and the return of our normal schedule.

This one:

Is getting a crash course in potty training.  After trying to encourage her for months to sit on the potty and getting resistance, we put her in big girl underwear today and wrapped her in a cloth diaper to try to catch any accidents.  She hates the feel of the wet underwear and will sit forEVER on the potty but waits until she's up and her underwear is back on before she pees.  Literally like 2 minutes after she's back up!

But other than that...it's the first weekend of fall.  And it feels like it.  I had this idea for a picture to take with her when it got much colder and saw her in her knit hat and all but we were playing in the leaves and just decided to snap it.

We had a lot of fun playing out in the leaves while Aidan napped this morning.

Maybe this evening, if he's up to it, I will try to get some of Aidan.  I was just glad she cooperated for once.

Wordless Wednesday

Or not so wordless.

This has a very personal meaning for me lately.  Since becoming a mother I've spent a lot of time being accepted...as well as rejected and judged for not doing things the same way another mother would have done it.

If there is one thing I've learned...it's that every mother, every child and every family is different.  There are not too many "right" or "wrong" ways of parenting.  There are some, but the majority are not black and white definitely good and definitely bad ways.

You, as the parent, need to decide what works best for YOU and YOUR family.

Whether you breast feed or formula feed.  CIO or no CIO.  Co-sleep or no co-sleep.  Organic or non-organic.  Forward face or extend rear face.  Whatever it is...do your research and decide what works best for YOU.

And screw what the rest of the world thinks.

Balloons, balloons and more balloons

Recently, we've discovered a love of hot air balloons.  Ever since our trip up to Michigan for the annual balloon festival up there, it's all Elisa has been able to talk about.

So when Andrew remembered the festival he went to as a kid near his home, it was a go!  (It had the added side trip of being Grandpa King's birthday so that made it even more special!)

It was a great day, chasing balloons, even after a rather uncertain launch.  Thinking they weren't going to launch, we headed to the store and almost home when suddenly, the sky was filled with balloons and the chase was on.

A dinner of pizza and a trip to see a train and we were exhausted.

In other news....this not so little guy has just gained tooth # 8.

Yes.  8.  He has been a fussy, whiny, clingy, non-eating cranky baby since Sunday.  It has NOT done well for my "task" to work on letting go of intake with him.  The fact that he has basically DROPPED an ENTIRE feed thanks to this tooth has rocketed my stress and anxiety levels...He's halfway to those molars if I'm doing my math right.  UGH.  Let's just get this over with, please?  Teeth, you suck.

Oh.  And how could I forget.  Ice cream.

Can't wait for next year and the start of the balloon festival circuit again.  Will be looking for a lot of the local festivals to visit and hopefully take another trip to Michigan for that one.  Aidan should be able to get on the fun a bit more by then!

Wordless Wednesday

Growing up

My baby.

Can I even call her that anymore?

Saturday, she went on a trip with Grandma and Grandpa.  She was so excited she carried around her backpack of clothes, running between the doorway and us in the living room, just waiting for that knock on the door.

She barely had time to even say "see you later!" as she ran headlong out the door.

 I couldn't help but smile, but also want to cry at her burgeoning independence.

 No longer is she my baby.  Fought for both before her birth and after.

Even though she wasn't the one to break my heart into a million pieces, slowly, but surely, she is putting it back together.

"At any given moment, you have the power to say this is NOT how the story is going to end." - unknown

9 months old

Hiya! Let's start with the business.

My doctor says I'm the size of an average 1 year old.  And my momma needs to stop worrying about me.  I weigh 22 lbs and 9 oz and am 30 inches tall.

Yeah.  Me.  Momma broke out the 12 month clothes today.  She is starting to think she's going to need to go back to the drawing board on all these winter clothes we have.  Doesn't look like I'll be wearing them for long.

I love to stand!  It's my FAVORITE thing to do.  Although I am not pulling myself up, I just giggle and laugh once mommy or daddy helps me to stand along the furniture, or with their hands or whatever it is.

I just want to be a part of the action!  I love my big sister, even if she does beat me up sometimes.

Well, ok.  A lot.  But it won't be long and I can take her.

I'm still a bit fussy, but I just like attention.  And, well, since my sister owns the room, I gotta make my mark some how.  You gotta do what you gotta do!

I am sleeping ALL NIGHT LONG but I still wake up a bit earlier than mommy and daddy would like really.  They are hoping I grow out of that pretty quickly now.  Then maybe I won't wake my sister up too early and she won't be so crabby in the morning.

And I love to bite mommy.  She's not sure why.  But how can you not love me?  I am just too cute.

Happy 9 months to my baby, who isn't so much of a baby any more.  We all love you so very much.

Wordless Wednesday

It happens

This weekend, as I lay my baby down to sleep, I was rocking him to the words of the song "Blink."  This time of year is a particularly stressful and traumatic time of year.  It was even before all of the "anniversaries" related with Elisa just happened to occur during this season.  I have spent the last 5 or 6 years entering September and wishing I could wake up in November and forgetting all of the stress and trauma. 

And it creates a bit of a conundrum for me.   And makes me realize just how FAST time is moving it seems.

I mean, I just look at this kid in his high chair and can't help but think about how OLD he looks.

He definitely doesn't look like my baby anymore.

And hard to believe that just a year ago he was still in my belly causing me all sorts of wonderful havoc.

What about this child?

I mean, I swear just yesterday we were just getting used to the idea that we were really having a baby this time.  And now we are approaching three?  And she has grown so much in the last year.

Or was this really mother's day last year?

And Aidan was just becoming a reality.

If I slept through the next two months, I'd wake up with a 3 year old and an 11 month old, soon to be one year old.

Before I know it, I will wake up with a 13 year old and an 11 year old.  Or a 23 year old and a 21 year old.

"It happens in a blink, it happens in a flash, it happens in the time it takes to look back.  I try to hold on tight, but there's no stopping time, what is it I've done with my life."

Do I really want to wake up and miss all of these moments?