Gearing up for the Holidays

Last month, in preparation for sending out Christmas cards, we went to have family pictures taken. It was also to be Josie's first professional picture session. We were just going to the department store in the mall, but it worked out well last time.

Yeah, I wasn't thinking about it being time for the holiday pictures for everyone else. We had to wait an extra half an hour for our appointment, which I scheduled right before lunch time. So we had to wait in an over crowded area with a hungry toddler and tired infant. Chris finally just started walking Xander around. And poor Josie was so under dressed compared to the other girls in their Christmas dresses.

When we finally did get in for our pictures, it was very rushed. Not rude, just jumping from shot to shot, little help with positioning or making sure clothes were in order.

Then we had to wait to see the pictures. Chris just took Xander to the food court for lunch and I was in charge of picking out which poses to use. Let me tell you, it wasn't a hard choice because there weren't many good ones to use. And I'm not going to carry on about how there were only 3 pictures of Josie, of which only one was usable. Because I was ticked and made an appointment at another place to remedy that problem.

Here's one of the poses I ordered for Christmas cards because it's just funny.


Xander: "Are we done yet? Can I put her down now?"
Josie: "Falling....falling...."

Other than pictures, gearing up for Christmas has been going well. Xander is still afraid of Santa Claus but will yell his name with wild abandon. He's tried to open one of his presents but they have been sitting there for over a week. He helped his dad decorate the tree and was especially excited by the soccer ball ornament ("za ball!").

I'm having a hard time with presents. I want to get Xander everything, he loves balls, Toy Story, Curious George and Elmo so it's hard to control myself around all of the pajamas and assorted themed toys. Josie doesn't really need anything except maybe a cute lamp in her room. So I keep finding myself in the stores putting down Xander gifts and growing frustrated with the lack of girl's room lamp choices. Really, I don't want to go on a princess tangent already.

Um, and in case you've noticed the lack of posts, it's Xander's fault. He won't take naps and won't let me be on the computer. And now I hear him doing something in his room. Time to check on how much he's destroyed.

Traumatizing Transition

As I was typing up the blog about Josie on Thursday I heard a noise I have been dreading for a couple of months. It was the first time I heard it and it sent chills down my spine. It was the sound of Xander's door opening when he was supposed to be in his crib napping. I went over to discover Xander standing in his doorway (partially naked, but that's becoming a common thing when he is left alone and gets a dirty diaper) and I let out a blood curdling "Nooooooooooo!" If I hadn't been holding Josie, I would have dropped to my knees crying "Why, God, why?"

Instead, I gathered my wits, set Josie in her swing and headed upstairs to recloth Xander. I eyeballed the crib for any malformations that he had escaped through. Seeing none, I can only assume that by sheer determination and upper body strength Xander managed to climb out. Which is obviously a fluke incident and won't happen again for 6 more months. So I deposited Xander back in his crib, told him to take his nap and headed downstairs to finish Josie's blog.

Ten minutes later I heard a bump, a cry and then "Ok." Because Xander now says "Ok" if he falls down but isn't badly hurt. I retrieved the boy and gave up on naptime for the day.

That evening, Chris converted the bed to a toddler bed. Basically, one side comes off of the crib. Xander was very excited, you could tell because he kept jumping off of the bed. I was tempted to put the new sheets I bought him for Christmas on the bed (Toy Story!) but they'll wait until Christmas.

The first night was really rough. First, Chris had to warn Xander to go back to bed about three times. When we went to bed, Chris found him sleeping on the floor so he was quietly tucked into his bed.

The sky fell at about 1 am. Xander woke up crying. I went in and he was just sitting on the edge of the bed, clutching his pillow and sobbing. He wouldn't even lie back down for about ten minutes. Even then, he'd get upset if I tried to leave. So I brought in a pillow and blanket and tried sleeping on the floor for a while. However, I'm too old for that and everytime I tried to leave to go to my bed, Xander would start crying or race out after me.

So we put the safety handle on his doorknob so he couldn't get out. Wow, that made him so much more upset! He wailed for another half hour. We finally turned his bed around to face the wall, essentially making it a crib again. Xander cried for about ten more minutes and then passed out. It was then about 3:30 am. Chris was not happy.

The next day I turned the bed back to facing out and tried to get Xander to take a nap. He had three tries and then I turned the bed to the wall again. He was ticked! He fought me on it as I turned it and threw quite the tantrum. I put him in and he settled down and took a nap. When he woke up, he immediately tried tugging on the bed to turn it back out which I obliged him.

That night was so much better, he easily fell asleep in the bed. I heard him cry out a couple of times but he seemed to go back to sleep right away. There were two times towards morning that I heard a thump followed by a sleepy "Ok", which totally made me chuckle.

Last night was even easier. We did leave the safety handle on (because we forgot about it), but we'll see how things go from here.

Our Rolling Girl

Josie finally has the hang of rolling over! She's been trying since 3 months and it's now 4.5 months. There was one day that she had rolling from her belly to her back, but she promptly forgot that. Yesterday I left her laying on her back to change Xander. When I returned she was definitely on her belly.

I cheered for her and then scolded her for doing it when neither of her parents were watching. So I rolled her onto her back to see if she would repeat it. She did, but only while I was correcting Xander about playing in the pen drawer. So I rolled her onto her back again. Finally, I saw her roll over! And she hasn't stopped. The only predicament is that she gets frustrated after a few minutes on her belly and then she cries until she gets rolled onto her back.

Josie has been such a great baby, she's spoiled me a little. She doesn't sleep through the night every night, but it's a good long stretch most nights. We've started putting her to bed at 8, and that works pretty well for her.

She just loves her toys. She is always holding, grabbing and chewing. I can barely get her strapped into her swing/ bouncy seat/ high chair and she is leaning over trying to get a toy. Xander is always helpful, bringing toys over to her.

Nursing her is still going well, with the exception that she won't take a bottle. Oh, and she gets pretty easily distracted especially by her big brother. Or maybe it's me yelling at her big brother to stop trying to put in Toy Story. Xander is even helping out by walking over to Josie, trying to push her head towards me and telling her to 'Eat. Eat.' It's hilarious. Chris thought I taught Xander to do this, but I'm telling you he started it on his own.

Serious Face

Happy Face

Perfect Zoo Day

In case you don't live in central Ohio, it was absolutely gorgeous this weekend. Beautiful fall days with 70 degrees and blue skies. We enjoyed it by going to early mass on Sunday and taking the kids to the zoo.

Xander seems to remember the zoo now and kept repeating 'Zoo!' on the way there. We brought the single stroller for Xander, in case he couldn't keep up, and Josie enjoyed a ride in the baby backpack with Chris. You can tell she was excited (and maybe a little hungry)(or possibly teething, I really couldn't tell).

We were lucky enough to experience opposite day at the zoo. The tiger (or 'Cat!' as Xander says) usually hangs out, sleeping in the shade. Instead he (she?) was pacing by the window, looking at all of the children and thinking how tasty they look.


The lions also usually sleep when we visit, but one lion we saw was pacing and roaring. We made Xander practice roaring like the lions, oh-ohing like the monkeys and howling like the coyotes.

The kangaroos (or 'roos!' as Xander calls them) usually bounce around. I love seeing the kangaroos because you get to go in the pen and there is a foot-tall stick fence separating them from you. On opposite day the mob (a group of kangaroos is a mob, did you know) basked in the sun.


The koalas like to just hang out in the trees, getting up to 22 hours of sleep according to the sign. We were witness to some of the two hours of actual ground action.


I'd never been in to see the lorikeets before. They are like parakeets in a little aviary area. As we walked in Chris suggested I buy a cup of nectar to bring in. I think he means that he'll take the nectar. Well, as I walk in a zoo member asks me to step further inside so the birds don't get out and to hold up the cup. That was when I was mobbed. Not by kangaroos, but by birds. I seriously had a moment of blind panic where I froze because of all of the birds swishing down to land on me. I don't know why there are only like 5 birds on me in this picture because I was sure that there had to be at least a dozen on me.


Once the nectar was gone and most of the birds left, I tried to get Xander to take a closer look. I think he was actually a little scared because I really had to coax him to get closer.

After lunch we stopped at the aquarium, usually Xander's favorite spot. But it was also naptime and he was just trying to take off so we called it a day and headed home.

4 month and 2 year Appointments

I was extra brave last week and brought both Xander and Josie in for their regular check ups at the same time. I've had to do this before with mixed results. Josie might sleep and Xander might quietly play with his LeapFrog or Josie might scream and Xander might repeatedly open the door and run or play in the biohazard trash. Fun times.

The appointment was well timed due to Xander and Josie both getting over colds (?). I was reassured that there was no fluid in their lungs and they seemed to be on the mend.

Xander measured in on the big boy scale at 28 lbs, which is just under the 50th percentile. Since he was 30 lbs the week before, I think the cold and refusing some dinners played into the weight. He measured 31 inches tall, again being a big boy and standing next to the growth chart. The doctor hemmed and hawwed at this and remeasured Xander to be 35 inches, just over the 50th percentile. Guess there was a typo. Xander had to be coaxed over to have his height remeasured and then the doctor asked about his general routines, eating and sleeping and such. Then he turned to Xander to check him over and realized he was still plastered to the door where he was measured and had a deer in head lights look. He then had to be coaxed away from the door.

Josie was next and was also cooperative. Her head is now 16 inches. Her height is 23 inches, which is between the 25th and 30th percentiles. Her weight was a whopping 14 lbs and 2.5 oz, up at the 75th percentile.

The doctor seemed pretty impressed that both kids sleep through the night and said we had a couple of happy, healthy kids. It made me feel like I must be doing something right!

Finally the doctor asked if Chris was in the lobby so Xander could go wait with him. No....why? The doctor thought it might be too stressful for Xander to be in the room while Josie received her shots (Xander didn't need any this visit). I just said Xander would have to wait in the room but I thought 'he doesn't care if Josie screams and cries but he might jump up to protect her.' So I set him on a chair and distracted him with the LeapFrog and then helped with Josie's shots. She didn't even yell as shrilly as last time (which I teased her about) and it was over quickly.

And we headed home for some naps.

Fall Fun

Xander and I went out to rake this weekend.


After the second pile, Xander realized he would do a better job jumping into the piles rather than raking the leaves into a pile. He would run up, jump and put his legs out and land sitting down every time.


Since then, when he sees a pile of leaves he will start laughing and take off towards it.

Last night we worked on the pumpkin carving. Chris picked up 4 pumpkins a couple of weeks ago and they have been sitting on the front porch. I picked up a cheap ($3) pumpkin carving kit last week. When we got down to business, Chris opened up the pumpkins and emptied them out with Xander's supervision.
Xander wasn't allowed to do much else because his drawing skills aren't quite up to making triangles and because he's not allowed to play with sharp objects. The sharp objects were extra cheap and broke anyway.


Xander had to go to bed, so the quality control department wasn't quite up to scratch. But we are happy to have our pumpkins done.


Josie slept through both events. Guess she's not quite in the holiday spirit yet.

A Sick Little Boy

Poor Xander caught a pretty nasty cold. On Saturday Chris noted that Xander seemed tired all day. Around dinner time I took Xander's temperature and it was 100.1. As we fed him dinner, Aunt T noticed that Xander was shivering.

At 2 am I heard Xander talking to himself in his room. This continued off and on for almost an hour before I went in to check on him. He was shivering again despite three blankets. I took his temperature and it was 103. I tried not to freak out and gave him some medicine. I felt so bad for him and he kept cuddling up to me, so I figured I'd sleep on the floor with him. But when I went to get my pillow Xander yelled "Dad!" immediately waking Chris up who wondered what was going on. I explained and Chris actually suggested Xander just sleep in our bed.

Xander was feeling so achy and miserable that it took him quite a while to fall asleep. He kept tossing and turning, wanting one parent and then the other, the shivers stopped but there were little spasms every few minutes. Finally a little after 4, I carried him back to his room fast asleep.

Since then the temperature has disappeared but he is still easily tired. He's developed a bad cough and a runny nose. I did take him to the doctor who said it was a cold. Man, that was the scariest part, wondering if this was the flu or THE flu or even pneumonia. Xander's been sick before, but this has definitely been the worst. Hopefully he'll just keep getting better and won't pass it off to Josie.

Another MiniMe

Everyone comments about how Xander looks just like his Dad. And when you look at pictures of Chris as a boy, it's eerily clone-like.

Some people have commented on the likeness between Josie and me. What do you think?

Me at 6 months



Josie at 3 months

Xander Short Stories

Here are a few of Xander's recent adventures.

Story 1 - The day before he turned 2, Xander discovered that peas do indeed fit up his nose. Fortunately, they all rolled right back out. Believe me, I was sitting there wondering how I would get it out. Blue ball nose sucker, maybe? I know if it's Kix, you just crush it in his nose and make him blow it out. He hasn't tried it again.

Story 2 - I was sitting on the couch holding Josie when Xander walked up in front of me holding his little stuffed penguin. He proceeded to pull up his shirt and press the penguin to his chest. It took me a minute to figure out that he was pretending to nurse the penguin! I laughed so hard that I scared Josie a little. He held out the penguin to me and I'm not sure if he wanted me to help get the penguin latched on or if he wanted me to feed the penguin. I didn't know how to break it to him that a) boys can't nurse and b) penguins can't be nursed. He hasn't tried this again either.

Story 3 - In case you didn't know, Xander has chubby feet. This past week the weather turned rather quickly and we had to break out the socks and shoes. The only shoes that are close to fitting do not have any actual laces or velcro, just some elastic across the tongue. To get his foot in, I have to shoehorn it. So the shoe is more than long enough, it's just not quite wide enough. Due to a lack of shoehorns in our home, I used a spoon. Today when we were getting ready to leave, I told Xander to get his shoes, which he did. He then proceeded to run over to the silverware drawer, open it, and fish around until he found a spoon. He brought it over to the shoes. When I got the darned shoes on, I started strapping Josie into her seat and saw Xander get the spoon and return it to the drawer.

Story 4 - Xander's vocabulary seems to grow every day. His pronunciation is a little off, but that is to be expected. We can not seem to get him to make a sentence beyond saying "Hi cat." If he wants something, he will grunt a few times and say "Bah." 'Please' is the only word we can't seem to get him to say. He can say all of the parts, but when we put it all together, he grins really big and with a big nod says "Bah!" For a couple of weeks, he yodeled everything. "Hi-eyi-eyi-eyi!" Everyone thought it was so cute. I kept waiting for it get annoying, but it never did. His favorite word now is 'whale' (pronounced 'vay-heel') for the fishing game he loves and 'poop' (see next story). Today he finally started saying his sister's name. It sounds like 'Joe Gee' but it's better than always calling her 'Bee' (for baby).

Story 5 - Potty training time! Chris and I debated if it were time or not. Xander has seemed interested in it for a little while. The repeated incidents of finding him sans diaper and a mess for me to clean up were pointing towards 'yes.' But I didn't really think I was ready to deal with it, not with a baby to take care of too. So it's a compromise situation where we take him to the bathroom a few times a day or when he says 'poop' or 'pee.' He hangs out on the kiddie potty and we have some books for him to read (like 'Everyone Poops'). There have been a few successes, but there have also been frustrating moments of trying to keep him sitting or trying to get a diaper back on. He gets a cookie as a reward, but he thinks he deserves a cookie every time. So that has lead to a few temper tantrums.

Story 6 - Xander started throwing temper tantrums over the summer. Depending on the situation, it can involve yelling, crying, throwing things, sitting or throwing himself down. For the most part, I find them amusing but it hasn't happened in the middle of the store yet. One day he was upset that I didn't give him juice but gave him water. He started wailing and plopped down on the kitchen floor. He stopped, looked down at the hard floor, got up and walked onto the carpet and then started over by crying and plopping down on the soft carpet.

I think that about covers it. I'll try to get Josie stories in soon.

snoring baby!

Xander and I went for a walk and he fell asleep in the backpack. Turn the volume up really loud for this one.

Happy birthday

Xander is 2 today!!

I tried to teach him how to eat his toast with peanut butter better....but it's a work in progress.



And we shared an apple!



We can get him to say 75% of the alphabet and he knows how old he is today. He also loves his Corduroy book. I'm waiting for him to move onto something else, I'm a little tired of the stories of Corduroy gets a home and A Pocket for Corduroy. And we are attempting to start potty training. It's not going well. Or, I should say, it's not going as well as we would like.

I make boring dinner converstation

Xander didn't take his nap yesterday. I mean that I put him down for his nap and he yelled and cried off and on for over an hour. I was worried that maybe he doesn't need naps anymore. But here was Xander at dinner last night.

2 Months - Josie Style!

On one hand, Josie cannot already be two months old. On the other hand, it seems like she has been part of our family forever. She had her doctor's appointment on Tuesday and she checks out great.

Weight: 11 lbs., 6 oz.
Length: 22 inches
Head: 14 inches

Josie had her first set of vaccinations while there and of course that was horrible. The screams and tears just broke my heart. She seems to be dealing well with it last night and today.

I forgot to mention, Josie had her first unplanned doctor's visit last week. On Wednesday I noticed white spots on her tongue. They were still there on Thursday, so off to the doctor who confirmed that it was thrush. So I had to give Josie medicine four times a day for almost a week. At yesterday's appointment, the doctor confirmed it was gone.

What else to tell you....hmm. We don't swaddle Josie at all. I enjoy this because a) it's a little too warm to swaddle her and b) I'm horrible at swaddling. Josie likes to flail! She will just lie on her back and kick her feet and swing her arms. Sometimes this is the best way to get her to stop crying. I'll put her down and play with her legs (in case she's gassy) and after a minute I'll let go and she'll just have a ball.

She's also a terrific sleeper at night. She'll usually drift off somewhere between 8 and 10 and then will sleep anywhere from five hours to ten hours, averaging out at around eight hours in a row. She'll wake up around 5 am, I'll feed her and she'll drift off again. There's no rhyme or reason to daytime naps though. Sometimes she'll take three hour naps, other times only half an hour. And of course she's usually awake and fussy when I'm trying to make dinner.

Josie has a smile that will light up a room. I'll lean over and smile at her and it'll take a minute but she'll grin back and get squirmy.It's adorable but I'm not good at getting in on film.

Cute clothes, ahoy!

I don't think of myself as much of a fashionista or a shopaholic but boy do I like shopping for Josie. I don't buy much (mostly thanks to the many generous gifts from others) and when I do buy things it is usually at a garage sale. Really, babies out grow clothes in about 3 months so used clothes are usually in great shape.

Occasionally I do find myself looking at something cute and on sale and I cave. This started before Josie even arrived. I was in a store that was having a sale and found this 'creeper'. I thought "Great, it's adorable, it's easy on and off with all of the snaps and...

"... it has butt ruffles!"


I never thought I'd be a sucker for butt ruffles. And in searching the internet I've found directions to add butt ruffles to clothes. I'll refrain from trying that myself (at least until I finish knitting Josie leggings for this fall).

This outfit must be mighty cute because I.... um I mean Josie.... also received it from Chris's mom. We went and exchanged it for an equally cute creeper of another color.

And then I...drat, I mean Josie...received it as a gift from a former student. But in a size larger! Ha! So if there are any warm days this fall, Josie can keep sporting this little ensemble. I can just add leggings to keep her warm.

Josie's Baptism

Josie was Baptized on Sunday! She was so happy that she passed out and slept like a log the entire ceremony. You know, the kind of baby sleep where the arms hang limply and skin color becomes a little pale. Yup, she slept through the singing, the anointing and the water on the head. She also lost a shoe somewhere during the ceremony, which I found very amusing.


There were nine babies baptized at the time. The ceremony went a little differently than Xander's in that we stayed in our seats for most of it and it went faster.

The party afterward was fun. Thanks to everyone who helped out with food, chairs, etc. It was really hot outside, but some people braved it while others enjoyed the overworked air conditioning. Josie handled it pretty well over all, just a little grumpiness here and there.

It's good to be a brother

When Josie arrived on the scene, Xander was not forgotten and he received his fair share of 'Big Brother' gifts. One was a gift card that I used to buy a clearance kiddie pool. (And might I add that when something says 'clearance' it should be at least 50%. Taking $5 off does not make something clearance.)

Xander jumped right in while the pool was still filling. Chris joined in soon after. And then Spider-man went swimming (seen in Chris's hand) but spiders don't know how to swim and Spider-man took many flying leaps only to sink to the bottom of the pool.

The pool also came with a handy canopy to keep the hot sun off!

One Month Already

Wow, it is much harder keeping up with the blog with two ankle biters around.

Josie is already one month old, can you believe it? She's doing great and even has something of a schedule going on. The best part is that nights are going pretty well (knock on wood). There have even been a couple nights of 6+ hours of sleep in a row. I wake up mildly freaked out that she isn't awake yet but I'm getting used to it. The best part is that she times a second wake up to coincide with Chris getting up, so he takes her down to the basement during his workout time while I get another hour of sleep.

What else can I tell you about the little darling.... She gets the hiccups a lot. And they are of the loud, painful-sounding variety. She won't take a pacifier. She doesn't like it when Xander tries to dance with her (he just takes her hand and moves it back and forth).

I forgot to update statistics from Josie's one week appointment, so here they are.
Weight: 8 lbs., 11 oz. (already passing her birth weight)
Height: 20 inches
Head: 13.5 inches

And the one month statistics:
Weight: 9 lbs., 13 oz.
Height: 21.5 inches (all of the wiggles she does sure must stretch her out)
Head: 14.5 inches

I tried taking Xander along to the appointment and I don't think I'll be doing that again. Josie cried the whole time and Xander kept getting into the cabinet and trying to get out the door. Ugh, it made for a long day.

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In other news, Xander and Josie send out a big welcome to their new cousin Adyson!

you know you are in for a good story when...

You know you are in for a good story when your wife texts you at work and says:

"Well. My xander poop story is better than your xander poop story. Tell you tonight"

So Amanda puts my kid down for a nap. A reasonable amount of nap time passes and she hears him laughing up in his bed, which is typical. She's busy with Josie so it takes her about 15 minutes before she gets him up from his nap (hey, he's not screaming so there's no rush).

As Amanda takes step 1 into the room she notices he isn't wearing his shorts or his diaper anymore. As she takes step 2 into the room she notices it smells. By the time her feet take the 3rd step into the room her brain has realized that there is lost poop that needs to be found, which she does. The missing diaper is on the mattress with little poopy footprints all over the sheet.

Darn, I was at work!

New Title

We decided to change the name of the blog. The web address remains the same.

Facts about Josie

Here are some fun facts about Josephine Alice.

She is a Cancer (the crab):
Emotional and loving
Intuitive and imaginative
Shrewd and cautious
Protective and sympathetic

Her birthstone is alexandrite or pearls.










She was born on a Thursday: Thursday's child has far to go.

Her birth flower is a rose.








According to the Chinese zodiac, Josie was born during the year of the Ox.
A born leader, you inspire confidence from all around you. You are conservative methodical, and good with your hands. Guard against being chauvinistic and always demanding your own way.

We liked the name Josie, but I wanted a saint's name for her. So Josie became Josephine, which there is a St. Josephine as well as St. Joseph.

Her middle name is Alice after my maternal grandmother, who sounded just tickled by our choice.

Josie has a birthmark on the back of her head in the same spot as her father and brother. We can't tell yet if it is in the shape of a heart.

In this picture, Chris is saying "She doesn't have any eyebrows!" They are growing in now and so far her eyebrows and eyelashes are blonde.

family photo

Just the 4 of us.

Boy Meets Sister

We are predominately asked three questions when we tell people we had our baby.
1) What is her name?
2) Does she look like Chris?
3) How is Xander dealing with Josie?

Well, Xander absolutely loves his sister.

Ok, the first day didn't go great, but it didn't go poorly either. Chris brought Xander to the hospital while my parents and brother were also visiting. Xander was more entertained by the switches, buttons and wires in the hospital room than the baby. In fact, here's the only reaction he showed to the baby.

That isn't drool or anything on his shirt, he spilled water on himself earlier.

The next day, when Chris and Xander arrived to take Josie and I home, Xander immediately ran up to Josie and pointed at her and yelled "Baby!" It was such a different reaction that we couldn't help laughing.

When we arrived home, Xander was fascinated with Josie and just stood staring at her. He then proceeded to point out her toes.

Later in the day, Xander tried playing with Josie. This included, but is not limited to, trying to:
hug her,
kiss her,
give her high fives (by putting his hand under hers and saying 'five')
point out other body parts,
share his food with her,
share his cup with her,
give her his hula hoop,
yell "Hi Baby!"


We're practicing him saying "Josie" but it's not going great so well.

The hardest part is that Xander has had a slight cold for a couple of weeks. Occasionally there is a runny nose or a cough. So we are trying not to let Xander touch Josie too much. But how are you supposed to stop all of the loving hugs and kisses?

The birth story

We're home now with the newest member of the family. Here's the fun (and somewhat gory) details.

Thursday was like any other day, everyone up and Chris headed off to work. I decided to try a walk before the day became too hot, so Xander and I trotted (and by trot I mean that I waddled and Xander enjoyed a ride in the stroller) down the street and back. It was already way too hot.

We hung out most of the day, but I became increasingly irritable with Xander's knack for getting into everything. I noticed some contractions late in the morning, but didn't think much of it since I've had that on and off for a while.

I talked to Dandysue for a while. I talked to my brother's fiance too (she later told me she thought I'd have the baby within 24 hours but didn't want to say anything and jinx it).

Sometime in the afternoon I noticed that the contractions were somewhat regular, like 15 minutes apart. But I know there is false labor and my directions said to wait until contractions were 5 minutes apart and lasted a minute. But at 4:30 I was incredibly cranky and actually having to breath through some of the contractions. I called Chris at work and politely asked that he come home at 5 (he's been working late to get ahead at work in anticipation of the birth).

Chris gets home and makes dinner for himself and Xander. It was burritos and it made me incredibly nauseous. So instead of eating, I just walked laps around the house. The contractions were definitely closer together so I began measuring them - 5 minutes apart but only lasting 30 seconds. And they definitely hurt more. I would stop and breath and Chris would get all excited and cheer. I told him that I knew he was excited about the baby, but it felt like he was happy about me being in pain.

At 6:20 or so I gave in and said lets just go. We handed off Xander to one neighbor and made arrangements for him to spend the night with another neighbor. I finished packing my bag and we were off speeding down the highway. And when I started timing it, my contractions were suddenly 3 minutes apart. And then I became all panicky that I had waited too long and wouldn't be able to get an epidural.

During the ride, Chris asked what we were going to name the baby. I simply said "Amanda" and he busted up laughing.

We arrived at the hospital by 7 and went to get admitted. Everything seemed to take forever to us, but I know that procedures had to be followed, blah, blah, blah. It didn't help that the contractions made me feel like I had to go to the bathroom. And so I ran off to the bathroom a couple of times and delayed the whole process. Finally, a nurse checked me and I was definitely having regular contractions and I was already dilated 6 cm and fully effaced. So I at least felt better that I wasn't going to be sent home.

We were sent to a labor and delivery room and it felt like more hurry up and wait. They took blood to make sure I was ok for the epidural. Meanwhile my contractions were getting pretty nasty. Chris called and texted a few people to let them know what was going on. One brother texted back with a friendly "remember to push." My reply was that I was going to "push him in the face."

Another highlight included when the nurse left the room and I just shouted "Owowowowowow!" through a contraction. Chris, meaning to be soothing, leans over and says "shhh, shhh." When it was over I told him (in a rather nasty tone) not to shush me. I think that might be when Chris called the nurse to check on the epidural.

Chris could not stop grinning this entire process. I told him that he needed to stop hovering over me and grinning like the Cheshire Cat.

Here's where it gets a little gross. I had to vomit after a contraction (bless Chris for being there for me) and then my water broke. I came extremely close to crying and just felt humiliated. You know, emotional roller coaster of birth. I know the nurses go through this all of the time and my nurse was really great, but it was still embarassing.

Then, finally, the anestesiologist arrives to give me the epidural. It's about 8 pm, so it's not like a lot of time has passed but it feels like forever. As it kicks in and I can relax a little, the nurse checks and I am at 8 cm. To pass the time, Chris proves he is awesome and reads Finger Lickin' Fifteen to me (I bought it when it came out earlier in the week and had packed it in my hospital bag).

At 9 pm the nurse declares me ready to go, but they have to call the doctor in. Well, a big storm was just flying through and caused problems so the doctor didn't arrive until 9:30. He dressed and was ready and within five minutes and less than two contractions we had a daughter.

Josephine Alice
June 25, 2009 9:43 pm
8 lbs, 10 oz
19 3/4 inches

When Josie arrived the doctor and nurse said she was a big girl, which was a surprise to me. I did tear a little, but that is not a surprise since it went so quickly. I mean, we were at the hospital for less than 3 hours! I expected to have been up all night, so it was a pleasant surprise. Also, the doctor and nurse kept complimenting me pushing skills. I found it amusing, but it was nice to get the compliment.

We were all cleaned up and moved to another room and were able to relax and hang out and get (a little) sleep.

It's a girl

Here is Josie! She arrived at 9:43pm on June 25.

Rocket Boy!

It's amazing how something goes from an okay toy to temper-tantrum-if-you-take-it-away. That's especially true now that Xander is learning to make gravity work for him instead of always against him. Behold the Retro Rocket!



Xander used to sit and push with his feet for a couple of steps, get up and push it for a couple of steps and then just take off without the rocket. Now that he's figured out that the driveway is sloped, he is having much more fun. I didn't get any great videos, but he sits down and pushes until he rolls. Then he gets his little feet kicked up in the air. Chris or I wait on the sidewalk to stop him before he flies into the street and Xander has a little giggle fit. Then he gets off and pushes the rocket up into the garage to start over. He used to stop on the driveway but the rocket would roll away before he could sit down and there would be crying involved. I'm glad he figured out how to fix that himself.

And don't worry, he doesn't usually run into the truck and he was fine.

38 Weeks

Well, the doctor says that I am 3 cm and Enchilada could come along at any time. Or Enchilada might wait two more weeks.

In the meantime I am the lucky recipient of pregnancy rash. It's all below my belly button, so I can't actually see it, but it itches horribly. I've tried a couple different rash creams, but a thick lotion I have seems to help the best. Nonetheless at least once a day I will brush past something that causes a flare up and itches again. I guess it goes away after birth.

I've given up on a lot of chores, especially any that involve bending over. Chris brings the laundry down for me, I've informed him that he is helping me with grocery shopping from now on, our shower is disgusting. Even getting Xander to clean up at night has become too difficult because it involves getting on the floor and chasing him around to keep him on task.

Chris is totally ready for the birth now. He has repeatedly threatened me with eating Chinese every night since I had Chinese food the night before Xander was born. We're going out this Friday for some fancy Chinese, but we have plans on Saturday and Sunday. I figure if Chinese doesn't work, we'll try Indian food next week.

We should have named him Harry

We were given this hat when I was thinking of decorating Xander's room with a fantasy theme. The pinwheel he was given this past Easter (it's actually for the movie Cars). For some reason if Xander finds one, he has to find the other and then spend 20 minutes making me blow on the pinwheel to make it turn.

He also is into capes. I'm not sure if it's a super hero cape or a cloak or what, but he'll grab his duck blanket and come up to me and whine until I get the hint. I'll wrap it around him and make sure he's holding the corners. He wraps it tightly around himself and walks around and occasionally holds his arms up for it to fly around. That's usually when he drops it and has to come back to me to get re-caped.

we are in real trouble

The instructions for the dresser we bought off of craigslist said it would take 1 person an hour to assemble; I've been working on it for about a week now. I've put about 4 hours into it. However, my actual work time needs a divisor based on the age in months of my help.

Actual work = (1/age in months) X total man hours
Actual work = (1/19) X 4
Actual work = 0.21 hours, or 12.63 minutes

That can't be right - 35 weeks?!

So the little ticker says I'm 35 weeks pregnant. E-gads! We fully intended to have more belly pictures up, but it's hard for me to take pictures by myself and Chris had gone away on so many business trips. So here's one for you! There are more from this 'photo shoot' but Xander insisted on being in all of them and I'm chasing him and it's not pretty having a big belly and chasing a toddler.


Chris and I are really feeling the crunch of getting ready for the baby. Chris is putting together the dresser/changing table, which is a beast. We had drama ordering cribs, but that is all my fault for changing the color of the crib. We moved Xander to the previous guest room so Enchilada will be in his old room.

There is just so much to get ready still. My mom helped me go through the baby clothes and pick out gender neutral clothing, but it all needs washed. All of the baby supplies such as swing and bouncy seat are still in the attic.

All of this plus all of the movement I keep complaining about has convinced Chris that the baby will be here in about 2 weeks. We'll see what the doctor says tomorrow. Anyone want to start placing bets?

Another haircut

When Chris arrived home from his last stint to California, he took one look at Xander and said that he needed a haircut. And I admit it was getting a little long over the ears again. So after dinner, Xander was toted outside in his booster seat and Chris went to town on him with his clippers.


And Chris kept going. And going.



And soon Xander looked like a new army recruit, with short hair and chubby cheeks.



It's already growing in pretty well and looks good at this point. I was talking to a neighbor's mom and she commented that she liked Xander's curls. I just laughed and said he didn't have them anymore. She looked a little sad. But the great thing about hair is it grows back.

Little Trouble

The other day Xander tried to climb onto a chair through the slats in the back. The fabulous mother that I am, I took a picture.


Last week I was trying to clean up the CDs (Xander had taken out about 1/3 of the CDs and inserts) I grew frustrated with Xander climbing on me and told him to find something to do for five minutes. Be careful what you wish for. I heard Xander trying to get into the desk. Next thing I know we have this.
Xander has also figured out how to get onto our bed. If I'm not constantly saying 'Sit down' you will find him jumping in the middle of the bed. Maybe I'll get video, but I don't want to encourage it.

And now Xander has dragged the bag of dirty diapers around to me, so I guess I have to go throw that away.

Whine, moan, complain

My acid reflux is much better, thank you for asking!

To make up for it I am raking up other 'traditional' pregnancy symptoms. None are horrible and it's not like I need bed rest or anything. But I didn't get a lot of these with Xander, so it's weird. Let's list the fun, shall we?

Swollen feet - like it hurts to put on my school shoes. Thank goodness it's almost sandal season.
Heat intolerance - everyone else was loving the 80+ degree weather.
Bleeding gums - when I brush my teeth.
Odd, vivid dreams - from giving birth (it was easy and I went to teach an hour later) to living with a high school friend to being an escort (just dates, nothing else).
Belly button is an outie - you can see my belly button through some of my shirts and I'm oddly upset about this.
Getting upset at little things - no one told me it was a dress down day at school and I was rather upset. I'm still wearing my work clothes two hours later, so I'm just a little crazy.
Crying at little things - like the new song on the radio, I think it's called Higher and Higher?
Not standing up or sitting down on the ground as easily - I think it's just more noticeable this time because I try to get Xander to clean up his toys.
Clothes not fitting - and I'm talking maternity clothes here.

At least my back doesn't hurt anywhere near like it did first time around *knocks on wood*

That's not my name!

(if you know that song, it will be stuck in your head the rest of the day!)

We are always asked the same basic questions about Enchilada.
When are you due?
Do you know if the baby is a boy or girl?
Do you have a name picked out?
And then the brave souls will ask what names we are thinking of. So here they are!

1) Buffy. Just kidding! Really!
2) Lorelai. Well, Chris vetoed that one.
3) If we were having twins, I would totally go with Sydney and Shelby (where I grew up).
4) Adrianna (but we'd just yell Adrian when we were angry with her).
5) Stella (also a good yelling name).
6) Nancy or Daphne (because she will be a detective).
7) Cordelia, Faith, Druscilla or Winifred (because I can't have Buffy).

Ok, and there have been some strong suggestions including:
Katinka
Penelope or 'Penny'
Trisha Junior

latest funnies

We had spaghetti for dinner tonight and Xander was laughing his head off when I was slurping up my spaghetti lady and the tramp style. He would laugh and then throw back his head and laugh some more and then I would laugh and then he would laugh. Then I would take another forkful of spaghetti, slurp it up and the laughs would repeat. Awesome.

I'm also totally amazed that he can match up one of his games. It's this little wooden board with animal cut outs on it and you are supposed to match the puzzle piece with the same picture on the board. I had him cleaning up before bed tonight and I got him to do that and he matched them all up with no prompting or help from me. Incredible.

New Shoes

Xander received these shoes as a birthday present. Hope you have your sound on.



And I can take out the squeakers when the sound gets annoying. Right now it's like having a bell on a cat - at least I know where he is!

Easter and Egg Hunts

Xander had a fine time this Easter. We visited some of Chris's family on Saturday and they had a small egg hunt for Xander in a couple of rooms. I hadn't really thought about Xander hunting for eggs because he gets so easily distracted, but he got the idea and found them pretty easily (when he wasn't running over to the television and poking buttons). Afterward, Chris sat down with Xander and opened the eggs, which Xander took to right away. Putting the eggs back together was more difficult.

We visited my parents for Easter Sunday. In the afternoon we drove over to my grandma's house where there was a small hunt set up in the side yard. Xander remembered what to do right away and took off to the first egg. He also remembered that the eggs opened so promptly tried to open it. "Oh, those are taped shut, he can't get them open," said Great-Grandma as Xander popped it open. So a basket was brought out for Xander to put the eggs in and Chris helped keep the little guy on task.

When all of the eggs were found, there were celebratory high fives all around.


And the eggs were toted back and opened. Only two or three gave him trouble with the tape.


We were allowed to keep some of the eggs to have some more hunts around the house and the fun can continue.

26 Weeks

This shirt fit fine for all of the first pregnancy, so I'm going to pretend that I shrank it in the wash and that's why it's almost too small. I kept having to tug it down when I had company.

Don't you like how Xander just had to jump in the picture?

Not much new with the pregnancy. I'm still getting acid reflux, but it's not bad if I remember to not overeat and avoid the tomato sauce. I think I'll get more 'nesting' this time around. Sunday I went around and cleaned all of the windows, which I have not done since moving in nearly two years ago. I also really want Xander's old clothes out of the attic so I can start sorting what can be reused.

I do get a little freaked out that Enchilada doesn't move much. For a while I would wake up in the middle of the night with the bumping and thumping. Now I will go days without much movement. I remember Xander being born with the cord wrapped around his neck and I'm hoping Enchilada isn't having that trouble. Scary to think about.

18 month checkup

Ah, the doctor again. It's been a while since we've had to go there since Xander hasn't been sick lately (knock on wood). I've been getting a lot of comments about how big Xander is, which confuses me since he fits into 18 month clothing. Maybe he just looks broad in the shoulders and the way he tackles other kids makes him seem bigger.

Height: 31.5 inches (40th percentile)
Weight: 25 lbs, 11.5 oz. (40th percentile)
Height vs. Weight puts him in the 75th percentile! At the last appointment he was in the 50th.
His head wasn't measured.

There were a lot of questions to make sure development was going ok. Aunt T helped me count and he has about two dozen words he says, he understands sentences, he moves and climbs a lot, eating and drinking are going great. I have noticed Xander is drooling a little and putting stuff in his mouth so I asked about more teeth, which I guess is a good possibility. I was asked to start brushing his teeth twice a day.

After the appointment we went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner and Xander received his own little platter with bread and bananas. He ate one piece of banana and promptly stuffed the other three pieces into his mouth. He also didn't want to use his special sippy cup that I brought and instead played with the cup, lid and straw of the kiddie cup brought out. He would pull out the straw and struggle to get it back in. After he dropped it, he would turn the cup over and try to drink out of the hole where the straw was. It was entertaining.

Outsmarted

Xander is just getting nosier and more curious about everything. He figured out how to get into the file cabinets and desk drawers. Not a huge deal, the most he could get into is the pens in the top drawer. But still inconvenient and quite a mess can be made.


So Chris and I think we're smart and Chris buys some dowel rods and slides them through the handles of the cabinets and desk drawers. Ta-da!

Well, earlier this week Xander figured out that by climbing onto the couch and then onto the file cabinets, he can pull those rods out. And he's sneaky about it, so I'll suddenly see him running by waving two sticks around. After he tripped himself a couple of times I just took those away and am hoping the files can fend for themselves.

Yesterday Xander discovered that the dowel rods are just bendy enough to give room for his hand to slide into the desk drawer and grab a bunch of pens.

I tell you, there is no end to baby-proofing a house.