Parallels

The kids were both in bed before 9 and it is a Friday night after a long week so I have been sitting here on the computer just enjoying some quiet alone time.  I probably should go to bed.  Officially I'm waiting up for Joe (who should be home in the next half hour) but really I just am treasuring some quiet time doing nothing.  Anyway, that was a long lead up to explain why I have been looking through pictures of Nicholas as a baby.

And I have to admit that even though I really don't see the resemblance between the kids today that everyone points out, looking at pictures of Nicholas as a baby is like looking at Elizabeth today.  I find this is most true in the pictures where Nicholas was smiling or talking.  Their facial expressions are just so similar!  And I swear they have the exact same smile.  The biggest difference in appearance that I see is that Nicholas was much chunkier than Elizabeth is. 

And apparently that half hour of me time was all I get.  Elizabeth is now up and refusing to take a pacifier.  That child is ridiculously stubborn.

Those Eyes

I actually don't really think Elizabeth and Nicholas look all that similar anymore, but when I saw this picture

From 2014 January

all I could think of was this picture of Nicholas: https://picasaweb.google.com/peanutchronicle/NicholasMonth5#5388438224774373634

Although now that I'm looking back at pictures of Nicholas, this one is a better parallel: https://picasaweb.google.com/peanutchronicle/NicholasMonth6#5404500744581171090

Oh, or this one: https://picasaweb.google.com/peanutchronicle/NicholasMonth7#5413398475077386114

One of those Nights

Joe is out of town and the kids and I had one of those nights.  I stayed up a little later than I should have given the unpredictability of Elizabeth's sleep, enjoying the chance to get some stuff done after both kids were asleep before 9, but went to bed around 10:30.  And of course Elizabeth woke up at about 10:45 and ate and fought going back to sleep and ate some more and finally caved around 12:30, with me sneaking in a power nap during one of the stretches when she had taken the pacifier.  She then slept for like a whole hour and then woke up and needed help getting back to sleep.  We did that until about 3:30, with me sleeping for half an hour here, 15 minutes there, and so on.  Finally at 3:30 (after eating again) she caved and went really to sleep.  And we slept soundly for an hour and a half. 

And then Nicholas came in and asked if it was morning.  At 5am.  He then started to throw a fit (because he was overtired) when I said it was still night and since I was afraid of him waking up Elizabeth I whispered that if he went to the bathroom he could sleep on Joe's side.  And he did and Elizabeth only sort of woke up with the shuffling.  But she was going back to sleep.  And then Nicholas started coughing.  Which is totally not his fault, but of course woke Elizabeth up.  And so we spent about half an hour with me trying to get Elizabeth to go back to sleep while snapping at Nicholas for kicking me in bed.  And then I gave up and we all got up.

So new goal: get Nicholas ready for school ASAP and have him standing there when it opens at 7.  Because at least they chose a night to do this when I don't have a full workday.  Thursday is my Elizabeth day.  I have work that needs to get done from home, but I don't have to be on and sharp.  And maybe just maybe she'll fall asleep in the car taking Nicholas to school and I can squeeze in a nap when we get home.  And just hope that they don't do this tonight because my day tomorrow is jam-packed all day.

And I have now vented, which is really what I needed to not be upset with them for things that really aren't their fault.  And really Elizabeth has been so much better at sleeping in the last week.  She just had a bad night last night and it happened to coincide with Nicholas getting up super-early.  We'll be okay.

New Pics

I want to write a real post. I have so much floating around in my head that I want to record. And yet it is currently so fuzzy that I can't pull out a coherent thought. The combination of sleep deprivation, a crazy day, and a cold coming on seems to have turned my brain to cotton. But, here are some pictures from last weekend. Sundays seem to be my day to take pictures, when Elizabeth is all dressed up for church.

From 2014 January

From 2014 January

From 2014 January

From 2014 January

Sneak Peek

From 2014 January

Growing

We took Nicholas to work with us today, as we have on most Monday holidays in the last 2 years and in so many ways it was just like every other time and he referenced other times and they really seem like they just happened.  But I noticed when he was helping with photocopying that he can now reach the buttons standing on his tip toes rather than needing the table pulled over to stand on. 

And just as suddenly Elizabeth's 3 month clothes are looking snug and her diapers are getting tight.

Time really needs to slow down.

Rolling Over

As I said in an earlier post, Elizabeth is now rolling over, at least one way.  I posted the video in the January album.  I will embed it here, using a different embedding feature to see if it works better.  If not, look in the January album.

Location

Pictures

I uploaded pictures today and realized that it has been 10 days since I uploaded any pictures here.  To make up for it, here is some adorableness:

All bundled up for the cold:

From 2014 January

Me, me, I know the answer (I know this outfit is the wrong season, but I just love it and it is a hand-me-down and so won't fit by the right season):

From 2014 January

A little girl completely in love with her daddy:

From 2014 January

Sibling love:

From 2014 January

From 2014 January

From 2014 January

Smiley:

From 2014 January

From 2014 January

There are a bunch more in the January album

Quick Updates

A few quick updates so I don't forget these things:

• One of our big goals for last week was to get Elizabeth onto a more normal bedtime.  The goal was to push it back a little at a time.  The first couple days attempting a 10:00 bedtime were a mixed bag, with a little success and a lot of crying (for E) and frustration (for us).  And then she suddenly started acting like she was ready for bed at 9, so we ran with it.  And she did 3 of 4 nights going to bed around 9:30 (with one in the middle of fighting until 11).  And then the last 2 nights she has been acting ready for bed by 7:30 and was in bed asleep by 8:15-8:30.  I will not declare success because I know that is tempting fate, but encouraging.  She is still eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours overnight, but I don't mind that on nights that she easily goes back down.  It is the nights when after she eats she gets upset at being put down and I spend an hour rocking the bassinet and giving her back the pacifier every few minutes that are really frustrating.
• Daycare went well overall.  I trust Maria to keep Elizabeth safe and meet her needs, but it hard not being able to control (or even really know about) what her day looks like.
• Elizabeth is now rolling over from front to back going right.  She had done it a couple times over the last week but we thought it might just be chance.  Last night she did it 4 or 5 times in a row.  I have a video, but haven't uploaded it yet.
• I think Nicholas has had a growth spurt.  His pants all suddenly seem a little on the short side and he has been constantly complaining about being hungry.  Let's hope that explains some of the behavioral issues of late and that he goes back to his sweet self.  He has had a pretty good weekend so far.
• We have offered Nicholas the option of earning the privilege of a later bedtime on a day-by-day basis.  Some days he still is really tired by 7 but that is really early for his age and there have been many nights in the last few months where he lies in bed for sometimes hours before he falls asleep.  So he can now have an 8 o'clock bedtime if he is being well-behaved that evening and demonstrating that he isn't too tired.  The language of earning/losing the privilege has been working really well with him with putting on parmesan cheese and doing his own toothpaste, so we'll see if it works in this case as well.

Daycare

Elizabeth started daycare yesterday and everyone did well.  We ended up getting three days a week at the home daycare around the corner where our friend's daughter goes.  My eyes were full of tears as I pulled away and I picked her up at 3:30, but I was fine most of the day.  Maria said Elizabeth was talking and smiling a lot of the day and she ate well and even slept an okay amount.  And she was in a great mood when we got home. And them had her best night ever.  9-7 getting up about every 3 hours (3 times total)!

2 month stats

All of Elizabeth's stats are going to be off by a week or so, but here are her stats as of today (2months, 6 days):
11 lbs 13 1/2 oz. (gained 2 pounds in a month!)
23 inches

Everything checked out well and the doctor is happy, so we're happy.  In fact, the doctor today declared that Elizabeth had gotten her Ph.D. in something.  I think it was trunk control, maybe.  But, anyway, she declared Elizabeth above average in strength, head control, and curiosity, all things she has said at basically every appointment, but still good to hear.

The bad part of this appointment is that Elizabeth had to get 5 vaccines.  The poor thing's legs look like pin cushions.  And she has had a rough, cranky day.  Luckily for Joe (who had her most of the day), the cranky only hit after a 3-hour nap, so he only had to deal with it for a few hours.  And this evening she had a little good playtime and smiley time before getting cranky again.  I have the feeling it will be a rough night, but hopefully she'll feel better in the morning.

Burn Out

All I can say today is God knew what he was doing when he made babies cute. I am so tired and so frustrated. If this child doesn't start sleeping in a crib soon I am going to lose my mind. And running errands in the rain all morning lugging the heavy baby carrier all over kingdom come with Nicholas talking nonstop did not help. And so while I have 3 minutes to myself, I'm on the blog looking at pictures of the kids smiling to re-center. And eating thin mints. And now my 3 minutes are up. Elizabeth is crying and Nicholas has gotten bored of playing by himself.

Just Because

From 2014 January

2 months

I can't believe Elizabeth is 2 months old already!  Time really is going so much more quickly this time.  I really am sometimes still surprised to notice that I'm not pregnant anymore.

Some of the things Elizabeth is doing at 2 months old are:

• Smiling.  She has smiley phases, where she smiles a ton for 5 or 10 minutes, especially right after eating or when seeing a new person.  And after that spell is over, she is done smiling for awhile, even if you do the same things that made her smile a few minutes earlier.
• Making lots of different sounds with many different intonations.  She is doing some adorable and complex ones right now while on the playmat.  I wish I knew what she was saying, but she clearly is happy.
• Batting at toys.  Her aim is pretty good and she hits them with some force, but usually with either her forearm or a closed fist, so not thinking about grabbing.  She clearly gets satisfaction from being able to make them move, however.
• Kicking to make the bouncy seat move and get her toys to make noise.
• Recognizing her own arms and feet.  She discovered her feet yesterday and it was hilarious watching her expression as she figured out the correlation between her motions and the movement of her socks.
• Controlling her head.  She still occasionally headbutts my collar bone when she loses control for a minute and her head falls forward, but for the most part she looks all around with ease.
• Staying up until 11pm.  That is what she has designated as bedtime and she is very consistent with it.  We really need to get her to bed earlier but she has resisted our efforts so far.
• Crying.  She definitely cries a lot more than Nicholas did.  Not enough to be colic, but enough to be grating.  And sometimes I fear she is going to hurt herself with how wound up she gets.

She is still not a good sleeper at night.  She has now figured out nighttime and so goes back to sleep after eating at night, with no alert spells, but she virtually never sleeps for more than 3 hours in a row at night and quite frequently she is up every 2 hours or so and on bad nights spends one of those 2 hour spells fussing and needing a pacifier or to be rocked to stay asleep.  It is frustrating because she will do 3-4 hour stretches during the day, but there seems to be no correlation between how much she sleeps in a day and the kind of night she has, so I let her sleep when she wants to.  We'll see how daycare affects this.

And here is our sweatheart:

From 2014 January

From 2014 January

Thank Yous and Theology

I was writing some thank you notes tonight while Nicholas was taking a bath (I know, it is 2 months late, but better late than never, right?) and Nicholas asked, "Are you going to write a thank you note to God for making Elizabeth?"

New Years

We have developed a tradition of going to Smithsonian museums on New Years Day.  This originally began 3 years ago when we learned that parking was free in D.C. on New Years.  At that point we had been wanting to take Nicholas in but thought that adding Metro trips on both ends of the museum would be too much given how little he still was.  And it was a fabulous trip, partly because of close free parking, but mostly because of the low traffic in the museum. See the entry here: http://peanutchronicle.blogspot.com/2011/01/air-and-space.html

And then we happened to be in D.C. on New Years again last year and so went back (no blog entry, but pictures here: https://picasaweb.google.com/103033220833760597415/2013January?authuser=0&feat=directlink.  (Apparently we didn't go the year in between, given that I can't find any pictures in the blog archive.)  This year when we were talking about New Years (and happened to be in MD again) we discussed doing the same thing, but honestly I am getting bored of Air and Space and Natural History and even Nicholas remembers them well year-to-year, but Nicholas isn't quite old enough to be interested in the history museums or monuments in D.C.

So instead this year we drove out to the Dulles annex of Air and Space.  So cool!  There aren't many exhibit-like things, so in an apples-to-apples comparison the one on the mall is still a much better museum, but this was really cool to go to once.  And perfect for the manic-mood that Nicholas was in because you could just walk around being awed by all the big planes without having to stop and really read or stand still.  Also perfect for taking a little baby to because it was basically walking laps around a huge aircraft hanger.

The most exciting part for everyone was seeing the Discovery space shuttle.  Joe was like a little kid over it!  And Nicholas had just done a space unit in school, so was really excited to see something that had actually been to space.

From 2014 January

Elizabeth even seemed awed by the place, looking around with huge eyes trying to take it all in.

From 2014 January

From 2014 January

She then fell asleep and chilled in the Baby Bjorn the rest of the time.

From 2014 January

Successful trip!

Uncles

If my brothers weren't already lukewarm (which may be putting it mildly) on the idea of having kids, my kids would be responsible for their lack of cousins on this side of the family for the forseeable future. The best word to describe the kids in the days before Christmas is loud. Nicholas was wound up between being on vacation and out of his routine, excited about seeing his uncles and grandparents, and the anticipation of Christmas, and so was being even wilder and less obedient than his new post-Elizabeth normal. And Elizabeth was being 6 weeks old. And a 6 week old without her usual spaces and gear. And the combination meant that it was loud! Andrew was working a lot, but Peter was a good sport about playing with a wild Nicholas and both of them had a little time with Elizabeth when she wasn't screaming.

From 2013 December

From 2013 December

From 2013 December

Manipulation

At not quite 8 weeks old Elizabeth has figured out how to get us to do her bidding.  She does not want to sleep in the pack n' play at my parents' house.  She does NOT!  Last night she did one 3ish hour shift in there and then wouldn't stay for more than 20 minutes at a time.  She would fuss and cry and refuse the pacifier.  Finally I would pick her up and she would laugh and smile.  This was cute, but also felt a little bit like taunting.  It was as though she was saying, "Ha, I won!"So I got back into bed holding her, letting her sleep in my arms.  She snuggled in contentedly for a minute and started to drift off before realizing that she could do better.  She started whimpering and wiggling until she got herself into the position my dad holds her in (pictured below).

From 2013 December

Once she had her face wedged into the opening in the corner of my arm, she stopped whimpering immediately.  Victory!  But I wouldn't let her stay there.  I know her face is in an air hole, but I didn't feel safe falling asleep with her like that.  What if I moved in my sleep and closed up the air hole?  So I rolled her back over.  And she did it again.  I did eventually win.  Or, I guess won a partial victory.  She got to sleep in my arms snuggled up but I kept her face up so I felt confident she could breathe.

We then repeated the process after her next feeding, although this time she had Daddy for her test subject.

I am not particularly eager to go home and re-enter the real world, but we need to get home before she cements this belief that she is allowed to sleep in our arms all night.

Cutie Pie

From 2013 December