6 months and some change.

Remember that one time in my last blog post, I mentioned that maybe it will finally be spring the next time I blog? Good one Dana.

Vada Marie turned 6 months old April 4th. I am in awe of her, I love her so. In the past few weeks she has started so many things. Unfortunately teeth are not one of those things. I swear she has been teething for 3 months now with no end, or teeth, in sight. Which has made for a very drooly fussy little girl, who is usually so happy. I digress. Vada has been a strong sitter for a while now, and has even pulled herself up to standing a few times, if the time and place is right. She now can roll from back to belly, up on all 4's rocking, then up and over to the sitting position! Such a big girl. Speaking of which, at her 6 month check up she was 18lbs 1.5oz (75-90th%), height and head escape me right now but I know they were 90% and 95% respectively. She also started what we like to call "beat-boxing," this hilarious raspberry sucking in thing she does with her mouth, so cute. Her eyes are DEFINITELY not blue, much to Ben's dismay. I really think they are going to be a magnificent hazel, we shall see! And those dimples are here to stay. We are going through a "phase," if you will, whether it's teething or growth spurt or what, where she only wants me. Won't take a bottle from Ben, and I seem to be the only one that can console her when she gets worked up. And she is always looking for me if I am not the one holding her. It can be frustrating at times, but then my mom reminded me that they are not this little for long, and it is sweet that Vada is so attached to me. So true, so I savor every fussy clingy moment there is, and thank God for my healthy beautiful children, no matter how hard a certain day at home may be.


Thatcher is currently on a Monsters Inc. and E.T. kick. I am thankful for the break from Toy Story. And he is getting to be SO smart. Today, for example, he watched me silently as I changed Vada's diaper then asked me where her penis is. SO cute! We've now established that Thatcher and Daddy have penises, and Mommy and Vada do not.


As far as house hunting, we have found THE ONE! It was the very first house we looked at, and after looking at 6 more we couldn't stop thinking and talking about "the blue one on Brynn." So now we are in the process of my mom officially and legally purchasing our home, and we will then make an offer on the blue house. We have big dreams and ideas for it, the bones of the house are perfect for us, it just needs some cosmetic updating and a fenced in back yard.


And last but not least, SAM AND AMANDA are HERE! They have officially moved to Wheaton, IL from Orlando, FL to be closer to us and the kids, how fun and amazing is that?!

Slap on the wrist.

Darn it anyway Dana you are missing out on good blog posts!
Snowmageddon 2011 Chicago was AWESOME. I was so hyper the day before and the day of, it was SO much fun. We got Ben home early the day before, and home all day the day of. And we had fun playing outside together, all 4 of us, and I even cooked all 3 meals that day. That should be bigger news than the snowstorm. Then I felt like I got a blizzard hangover after it was all done.
Besides the blizzard, I am SO over my relationship with winter. It never bothered me, in fact I loved it, before I had kids. But now we're just constantly sick and stuck inside. Boo.
Vada's baptism was absolutely beautiful, and her party and Thatcher's 2nd birthday party were SO much fun, we are so blessed by our family and friends.
Now Thatcher is 2 years old, 33lbs, 36.5in, 90th percentile. He talks so so so much now. There was a time where I felt like he was slightly behind his peers as far as talking, but now he has most definitely caught up and then some. He's putting 3-4 words together to make sentences and knows a bajillion words. He's starting to randomly repeat things like when I saw "Oh my gosh" so I really have to watch myself. And when he calls Daddy "Ben" we all get a good giggle. He is head over heals in love with his baby sister, it is SO sweet. He is smart, funny, handsome, strong, big, and WILD as ever.
Vada Marie is 4 months old, 16lbs 13oz 26.25in, 90th percentile. I am smitten with her as well. She is so strong and beautiful. She coos, laughs, and much prefers to be sitting or standing up over laying down. Since the RSV her sleeping has been sketchy, but she's given me a few full nights lately, and besides that will get up once or twice. She is pure joy and a happy, go with the flow baby. She started cereal once a day and is doing well with it. I'm kind of jonesing to get her ears pierced, I'm shooting for about 6 months old if I don't chicken out.
I started Weight Watchers, I'm on the "first week back" high and doing pretty well so far. Ben is working hard as ever. I truly have the best husband and baby daddy in the world.
Fingers crossed that when I blog next Spring will officially be here...

RSV

I freaking love The Office.

Anyway, I figure I better start blogging again before I get so far behind I never catch up. So even though there is a LOT I want to talk about, I'm just going to start where we're at right now and hopefully the rest will follow in future posts.

So, I currently have a 2 year old and a 3 month old. What?! When and how did this happen?? Did I mention the 2 year old is a SON and the 3 month old is a DAUGHTER? I'm just, I dunno, in awe of the blessings that are Thatcher Benjamin and Vada Marie. Life is just wild, WILD I tell you!

Thatcher's birthday was a lot of fun, we went to the Children's Museum in Downers Grove where my dad and our friends the Papageorges (minus Dave) met us for some fun. Then that night we had a family party with Ben's parents and my mom. Thatcher continues to amaze us every day with all that he learns and says. He talks non-stop, and sometimes I have to act as translator to his "Thatcher-ese," but a lot of it other people are starting to understand too. He is wild funny and so active, and just adores his baby sister, who he affectionately calls "baby Vee-ah." He had his first ever ear infection, an then what will forever go down in history as "the time the kids had RSV." SUCK. RSV sucks, being sick sucks, winter now sucks. I'm not complaining though ;)

Vada Marie graced us with her presence 3 months ago and words cannot sufficiently describe the love and joy she has brought to us. I am currently working on her birth story, I'm about 90% done. I think she looks like my baby pictures, with some Thatcher and some of my Grandpa mixed in. She has dimples on both cheeks but the right one is a little stronger, and boy do we love to kiss those dimples. She talks and coos and makes rasberries, lifts up her head tall and strong during tummy time, has rolled over a few times and her absolute favorite thing to do right now is to be sitting straight up or standing so she can look around. She smiles at everyone and you can really tell she gets a kick out of her big brother, and loves him so. Vada had such a great eating and sleeping schedule going on, but being sick and these meds have thrown a wrench in that :( I think she is finally on the upswing, she is such a trooper. Oh, and she's following her big brother's growing patterns, currently weighing in at 15lbs at 3 months old...

So now we're just waiting on our doctor's appointment Wednesday to see if we are going to keep their baptism/birthday party for this Sunday. Can't wait to see how this all unfolds!

Ketchup

My oh my I am quite behind in my postings.

Vada Marie was born.
My sweet beautiful grandma passed away.
Vada's first holidays, including a wonderful visit from Sam & Amanda on Turkey Day and a great Christmas.
A new year.
And now my baby sister is turning 24, my baby boy is turning 2, and my baby girl is turning 3 months.

I have a lot to catch up on.

Pee pee in the pot-eh!

In one of the Look Who's Talking movies, Mikey finally uses the potty and John Travolta and Kirstie Alley sing "Pee pee in the pot-eh! Pee pee in the pot-eh!" Ok maybe you had to be there. BUT it is significant today because:

Thatcher went pee-pee in the potty!

Ben made me get a little potty for Thatcher a LONG time ago, I want to say around Thatcher's first birthday. It has been sitting in our bathroom next to our toilet, and Thatcher knows what it is but mostly plays with the bucket inside, using it as a hat. Ben has tried many many times in the past to get Thatcher to pee in it by sitting next to him for long stretches of time, reading him a book or something. But he has never actually peed in it.

Fast forward to today. (We have not mentioned his potty in a long time). I have been having a lot of pressure "down there" lately so I decided we would just hang out at home today so I could rest. I took off his pj's and put on a clean diaper (we have learned that he likes to take his diaper off if he does not have pants or a onesie on to stop him). I let him run around in his diaper, he took it off as usual but this time he pointed at the potty and said something in his jibber jabber language. So I put him on the potty and sat next to him for almost 20 minutes reading him a book while he drank some juice. Nothing. So we put the diaper back on and went about our day. Not too long after that he took off his diaper and asked for the potty again. This time I gave him some goldfish crackers to munch on while sitting there. Only a few minutes went by and he looked down at his penis so I looked too and I could see pee! I was so excited but I gave him a minute before getting him up. Sure enough, there was a lot of pee! I praised him over and over again.

This may have been a fluke, he may not do this again till next year for all I know. But I think it shows that he might be ready to really start trying this since he asked me to do it with no prompting. We shall see. If anything I have something to write in his baby book :) He is one smart cookie!

Not every day...

...can be a good day.

Today my heart is heavy. I feel attacked in the earthly and spiritual sense. This too shall pass, I know. I just wish it didn't have to be the way it is in the first place.

Cold Turkey

So a little over a week ago Thatcher hid both of his bottles on me. I decided that was as good a day as any to try and make the official switch over to sippy cups only. I am happy to report that Thatcher has done great and no longer uses bottles at all. At first I was worried that he wasn't drinking as much, but slowly as the week has gone on he has become a pro and sucks down all the liquids I give him. I personally miss the bottles. They were way more convenient, easier to clean, I knew he was getting hydrated, and they don't drip or leak AT ALL. But alas, they are put away until the baby needs them :)

Last night we decided to try our first family movie night. I bought Toy Story so we gave it a try. Thatcher sat inbetween Ben and I on the couch, and he watched EVERY SINGLE MINUTE of it! It was the cutest thing ever! He was so into it and kept pointing at the screen saying things. I think he might have been a little confused that his Woody doll was on the TV, but he loved it. The movie was over around 7pm, and normally he would have been heading to bed soon, but we (or I) decided it was the perfect fall night to run to Starbucks and get a Pumpkin Spice Latte. Thatcher was in his pjs and we went in instead of going through the drive through. Good thing we did because Ben knew the barista and we got all of our drinks for free.

To add to the sudden gorgeous fall weather, Amy Bagwell (darn cute preggo) is in town and it's Frankfort Fall Fest weekend, WOO-HOO! Ben dropped me off and picked me up at the Fest today so I could shop with Amy and her family, I lasted 4 hours :) But today was just a day to scope things out, the real shopping will commence tomorrow...