January 2006

 

January 1, 2006

 

Well, lookie here! A whole month has flown by with only one entry. Between the cooties, the holidays and visitors, this month has been hectic. Let’s see if I can recap.

 

I did a lot of online shopping so that was done early on. I still had to wrap and ship some things though. Katherine and I baked 7 hummingbird cakes for our local friends.  Katherine started becoming a bit more aggressive towards her sister. I suspect the lack of one on one time with dad and I may have something to do with that. We went to the zoo and Lauren really liked the monkeys. We took walks to the playground almost every day. Both girls love to swing and play. Katherine received a purple dragon costume from a friend of mine. After I scared her with it by putting it in her room while she was sleeping only to have her wake up screaming (bad mommy!) she put it on and wore it everywhere for three days. Target, the playground, walks, pizza place…where ever. She also roared at people. I realized on the day before Christmas eve that the kids had so many gifts that they’d be overwhelmed on Christmas morning. So, Woody and I made the decision to let them open all of the gifts that night from friends and family. Both girls received lots of clothes and some groovy toys. Myrna and Carl came down on Christmas Eve for a week long holiday visit. We all got dressed up and went to the candlelight Christmas eve service. Came home, had hot cocoa, opened our new pajamas, set out cookies, milk and carrots and went to bed.

 

The next morning, K woke up to find that Santa had left a puppy named Scamps under the tree. Scamps is a voice activated puppy and she loves him. Lauren received a busy box from Santa and that was a winner too. The stockings were filled with treats and once again, there were so many gifts that Katherine got bored with opening them. We really had to coax her to open the last 4.  I will seriously try to remember that next year.

 

Lauren weighed in on the 30^th at 18 lbs 7 oz. I had to take her in for another suspected ear infection but alas, it was actually just teething. Her top tooth is almost in and it’s causing her some pain.

Well, the pictures will show what we’ve been up to better than my trying to recap it all so enjoy!

 

 

 January 11, 2006

OK, Lauren’s letter is a bit late. Here goes.

 

Dear Lauren,

 

1 year (and 10 days) ago, the doctor placed you on my belly after an exciting labor. You were a perfect newborn. The rush of love that I felt at that moment was overwhelming and it has grown every day since. Even though I was not sure how you’d fit into this family before you arrived, I now see that we wouldn’t be “us” without “u”. Oh geez…that sounds like something your grandma Susan would write. I was really worried about how I’d be as a mom to two little girls. I think I’ve done a pretty good job so far.

You have been a mellow baby and such a good girl. I just love staring into those big brown eyes and running my fingers through your curls. Now that you’ve started walking, you are on the move most of the time, but you fall right asleep when you need too.

Good eater, good sleeper, cuddle-kins, all the milestones met? You are perfect on all counts.

I love you so much and I can’t wait to see what this new year brings. By your next birthday, you will be talking more, running, chasing and harassing your big sister and hopefully, if I get my wish, still my darling little cuddle-kin.

 

Love you bunches Cha-Cha,

Mom

 

We bought an annual pass to Busch Gardens as our Family Christmas gift. Been both weekends this month so far. The first weekend we did a walk through to see where everything was. The place is huge and I realized that night, while looking at the map, that we totally missed two entire areas! We saw the baby gorilla who was cuddled in his mom's arms. Both of them sleeping near the glass so you could really see them. Mom had her nose on the baby’s head and it was just too sweet. We took the train ride around the park which was pretty neat but Lauren was not so enthused…she fell asleep. They have kids rides scattered throughout the park and Katherine wanted to ride on the motorcycle ride. I thought she was going to freak out when the thing took off, around and around. She was concentrating very hard and it didn’t look like she was having much fun. When she got off though, she said she had fun and she held on “vewy tightwy”.  

 

The second time we went with the intention of only going to the “kids” area, Dragonland. From the time we walked into Dragonland, until we left 3 hours later, Katherine was way too excited. She literally bounced the entire time from sheer excitement. They had a stage show with Dumphry the dragon. Katherine went to hug the dragon when the show was over and she reported back that “there is a man in that dragon coat”. Gosh, I sure hope she isn’t one of those kids who ruins Santa Claus for all the others. Just a bit too big for her britches I’d say. Dragonland is Busch Gardens’ kid mecca. 52” is the height restriction and if you are over that height, “you must be accompanied by a child”.

 

Katherine rode every single ride, some alone, some with dad and one with a little boy. She was going to have to wait for the next run of the cars and she was looking a bit disappointed. The mom said she could ride with her son, who looked to be about 3 also. K got in the car and the boy promptly put his arm around the back of her seat. K took over and was “driving” the car the whole time. She’s such a character. I was so worried about her being shy and small and I was very concerned about her being bullied but now I see that this kid can take care of herself. I need to give her credit for being so willing to try new things & not let the big kids run over her. For a wee tot, she sure is brave.

 

Lauren is a runner. She loves to run away from me. Inside, outside, whatever, she doesn’t care. She just wants to be chased. K stuck with me pretty well at this age, but Lauren is a wanderer. We were out front blowing bubbles a few days ago and she just kept taking off and heading for the street. Earlier today she was putting some bit of garbage (a piece of wood this time I think) into her mouth. She stayed just out of reach of where I was sitting and was taunting me with the drool drenched wood. Putting it in and out of her mouth and watching me the entire time. When I got up to take it from her, she ran away squealing.  Good gracious, this child is going to give me a heart attack.

 

Lauren is also talking more. She says “Shoe” “yes” and “na” and she’s learning the animals & some sounds. She gets very excited when she shows you her book and she says things that sound like words…but they aren’t really. She’s also grasped up and down. Her favorite thing right now is chasing sister all over the place and being chased. She also really enjoys peek a boo and playing “where’s Lauren”. Tip: She’s probably in the tunnel or the tent. She’s eating better but that stupid top tooth still hasn’t broken though. Can they retract? I honestly think it did…no lie. Oh, she is also saying “no, no, no, no, no” and she sounds just like me. Oy!

 

Katherine’s most recent joy is stuffed animals. She is not, however, ok with playing alone with her stuffed animals. I hear “mommy, do you want to play with me” about 50 times per day. When you do play with her (I’m usually the moose…hrumph) the animals are doing something mind numbingly boring like; getting ready for naps, or swimming. After you’ve finally gotten comfy on the floor with your stuffed moose, she runs off and plays the other room but she gets so upset if you get up. Wierdo.

 

She had an eye appointment today. I was a bit worried about something I’d seen on some pictures so I made the appointment last month. I really botched this morning up though because I not only had the wrong directions, I wrote the wrong number down from the phone boo. So when I was lost, I called the number…it was an eye clinic and they gave me directions…but when I got there, we realized it was the wrong one. They finally helped me figure out where we were going and we were only about 10 minutes late. Anyway, they dilated K’s eyes which was a rough experience for her. She screamed and cried a lot but it was mostly because we were holding her down. Then they checked her eyes (which she was very brave for). No big problems but she does have a slight cross (which must be very slight since I’ve never noticed it) and he wants to see her again in 4 months. I feel better knowing that there are no big problems. Illness, even the possibility, in your kids is just one of those things I’d really rather avoid. It really affects me badly.

 

January 12, 2006

Lauren’s top front tooth finally broke through today.

 

January 13, 2006

Lauren had her first haircut today. Not much, just the bangs and a bit of clean up. She was great and didn’t fuss at all.

 

January 17, 2006

Boy that husband of mine is a special fella.  I'm in the office trying to knock some work out. I can hear him playing techno music and dancing with the girls in the living room. I just heard him tell Katherine "let me show you a dance move...it's called stir the pudding". Then he taught her "the lawn mower". Next he'll be teaching them the smurf. 

 

The man can't dance a lick but boy he sure is a good daddy.

 

Lauren does shake her booty but she mainly watches Katherine, twirls around, screams and trys to stay out of K’s way. She loves it when big sis dances.

 

January 22, 2006

Lauren had her one year checkup. Here are her stats.

 

Weight: 18 lbs 9 oz (10-25%)

Height: 29 ¾ inches (75%)

Head circ: 45 cm (50%)

So, she’s long and lean, like big sister. She’s meeting all of her milestones and everything is A-OK!

 

January 26, 2006

K burned her hand tonight on the stove burner. We took her to the ped and she has first & second-degree burns, only the thumb was spared any spots. Her index finger took the brunt of it. Poor baby cried and cried. L  Practically broke my heart. I’m sure it hurt a lot but the pediatrician put some salve on it, bandaged her up and gave her Tylenol with codeine so she’s now sleeping hard.

Besides that, we had a fun day.  I got some interior painting done & then we went to Busch gardens. Katherine rode her first big girl ride (the log flume, rather tame by their standards but one big drop) and she loved it. She went 4 times in a row. Once with me and the other three times with daddy.