E9: So big!

I know it's been a very long while since Mae or I updated the blog and I'm sorry, but we have been learning so many new things, and Mommy and Daddy have been so very busy there just hasn't been time.I'm walking now. Well, not all the time, but seven or eight steps at a time. It's kinda scary, because it's not easy. It's really hard to move my feet and I have to remember to do it one at a time. I usually start with my right foot, mostly just by trying to swing it around; once I get started though it's fairly easy.Unless Mae's in the way, when I fall over. And she's in the way a lot. But, each day I can go further and further. And Mommy and Daddy cheer so much when I do it. I love them. Mommy is so good at telling when I'm getting upset and Daddy knows just how to make me giggle.I'm very ticklish and Daddy knows the best way to tickle me. It makes me feel so silly when he kisses my belly and I have to laugh at him. He likes it when I laugh and smile. I also have four teeth on the top of my mouth now. It means that everyone is trying to get me to smile a lot, but I don't always do it. My new teeth are good for chewing. There is a lot of good food to eat now, too. Yogurt is still my favorite, but Mommy has started sharing her dinner with us, so last night we got to have ravioli and broccoli and crab rangoons. It was all very yummy. Tortillas and toast are probably my favorite, though. We have toast almost every day. Mommy also trys to give us new foods every couple days, which sometimes are good, but sometimes are not. I'm also drinking from big girl sippy cups now everyday. I do still drink a bottle, but Mommy and Wendy make me hold it myself now, which isn't as much fun and is hard to get back to my mouth if it falls out. Sometimes Mae tries to help me, since she's been holding her bottle since she was four months old, but I usually just yell at her until Mommy or Daddy moves her away. I can do it myself.Mommy and Daddy keep talking about Christmas all the time. They say we were in the hospital last year so we probably don't remember it too much, but there are lots of pretty lights which I do remember and things called presents. And Mommy keeps playing Christmas music that she gets really excited about when we're in the car. Well, it's time for a nap, so I have to go. Bye bye! I'll try to write more soon.

M8: Big news!

Eve learned how to crawl. Finally! I've been crawling for a long time (Mom says over two months), but Eve's just been able to sit and scooch a little bit, but last night, after we were all back together Eve figured it out.

I think it's because we finally spent the day apart, so she had some time to really think about what needed to be done, instead of just always watching me. She crawls differently, too. I use my forearms to move, which Mom says is an army crawl, whatever that means. But Eve moves her hands and plops them down. She also kinda tucks her left leg up a little, so she's not very fast yet, but I know she'll get better.

But, Mom is back to work again, so out schedule has been all changed around again. Monday we were home with Dad, and Tuesday and Wednesday we were were with Wendy. Tuesday was a difficult day because I had forgotten how much fun Wendy is, plus there's her new baby, Langdon, who cries all day long because of his acid reflux, so it's kinda noisy, but he's just a little baby, so it's probably good that we're there so Eve and I can show him how to do things next.

On Friday Wendy forgot she had a wedding to go to, so instead Mom and Dad split us up. I went with Mom to work and Eve went with Dad. It was mostly boring. We were in the gym at school, which is a really big room, but Mom hardly paid attention to me at all; she was busy stuffing envelopes. She had helpers, which was good, because they played with me, but by the end of the day I needed a bottle and a nap, and Mom just kept working on envelopes. I even fell over a couple times and was crying and all she did was say 'five more minutes, Mae'.

FINALLY she picked me and I was able to fall asleep for awhile, until we walked over to the rectory. Then Fr. Pat and Msgr. Gunn played with me and I showed them how I can walk when Mom helps me, and how I can crawl; they seemed very impressed.

I ate a good dinner, too, lots of sweet potatoes and peaches. Yesterday I also really liked the yogurt, I hope Mom remembers that and gives it to me again today. We're getting ready for Suzy the Duck Day up in Lodi. Dad is already gone, even though there;s a thunderstorm, because he's selling food at it. Mom's going to dress us up in onesies that have ducks on them and we're going to go to our second parade and see everyone from church.

The thunderstorm is ok, I guess. It scares the dogs, though. Bailey's whining right now, which gets kinda annoying after 30 minutes. I better go, though, because Mom's getting the food out of the fridge.

Sorry it took so long since I last posted, but when Mom was home with us I didn't want to miss out on a minute of playing with her!

E8: Update

I know Mae and I haven't been writing much lately, but that's because Mommy was super busy for the whole month of June and she's the only one who knows the username and password for this blog. She wanted to tell us at first, so we could log in on our own, but decided against it because she doesn't want us posting when she's not around.

But now Mommy is home a lot. It's great. She's going to be around for a whole month. Yesterday was the first day of it. The morning was so much fun. She played with both of us a lot and we took a stroller ride to the grocery store.

One thing I don't like right now is everyone thinking we are boys, just because our hair is short. It's not our fault; we haven't had a lot of time to grow it out yet. We still wear pink and purple and yellows that are very pretty, but everyday people ask if we're boys. Mommy says it'll stop when we're older.

Mae started eating cereal, too this week, which is good, because it means she sleeps through the night better. Now she wakes up at midnight for only a few minutes, rather than 3 a.m. for a long time. I'm getting better sleep because of it. She still doesn't sleep enough, though. Like yesterday she was really tired and angry for two hours before she finally took at nap with Mommy on the couch while I laid down on the floor. If she'd taken a nap earlier in the afternoon with me like she was supposed to we would have gotten to go on an adventure with Mommy to clean out Grandma and Grandpa's van. Instead we just hung around the house, listening to her be angry.

I tried talking to her about it this morning in the crib before Mommy woke up, but she didn't want to listen. I tried again when we were out in the living room, but she said not to talk about it in front of Mommy. I don't know what to do about her.

This weekend is two important birthdays, our country and Great-Grandma's 80th. Mommy keeps telling us we're going to find out what sparklers are. They sound exciting, but she's already said we can't touch them, which makes me rather cross, but I still can't wait to find out what they are.

Today Mommy is going to show us how to blow bubbles. I'm very excited about this, because both Mommy and Daddy smiled when she mentioned them. But right now we're all still mellow. Daddy is sleeping before he begins his day of working from home and the dogs are still sleeping and Mommy is sitting on the couch next to me. I think Mae is starting to get hungry, but otherwise, this looks like it's going to be another very good day.

M7: Mom's home again

I know it's been awhile since I last wrote, but it was a stressful week. We've had visitors helping Mom and Dad all month, but this past week Mom went away. She had a trip to do, she told us, and though she'd be close by she couldn't come be with us at night.

When she said goodbye I didn't really understand what she meant, so I just gave her lots of kisses and started playing with Grammy Joanne. But at bedtime I missed her. Mom's only missed bedtime like three times out entire life. And then she missed it two more times in a row and I started to realize what she meant.

Because Mom wasn't here to sing to me I didn't sleep very well. She sings the same song every night to us as we're getting tired and I love it. It's a very sweet song and always makes me tired. But she wasn't here to sing it, so I only slept for a few hours before waking up. I cried, thinking maybe she'd come in and sing to me, but only Dad showed up. He took me into their big bed, where we haven't slept since we were brand new, and cuddled me to him. That was nice. I tried crying in the middle of the night the next two nights, too, but again, only Dad showed up.

So, Mom really was gone. The days were fun with Grammy Joanne, since she plays with us a lot, but I missed Mom. Then one morning we got in the car with Dad and Grammy and when we stopped Mom was there. She pulled me right out of the stroller and held me close.

She smelled right, though a little smelly, and felt right and she had all kinds of kids walk by and say hello to us. It was her mission trip kids, she said. There was one guy, Jeff, who stopped and talked with us for awhile, too and he had good strong fingers to grip. Then Mom took us down to some room where we could play on the floor. She switched me with Eve, but I just wanted to crawl, so eventually I was put down.

Soon, though, I noticed the adults starting to get ready. You can tell when adults are getting ready to go somewhere because they say "Well," a lot and push out their chairs. Then Mom was kissing me again, just like she had a few days earlier. I now knew what that meant, and I didn't like it, but she handed me off to Dad and started kissing Eve before I could say anything. Eve started crying a little bit; she does that; and then Mom kissed Dad and walked down the hall.

I could tell she was sad because her voice had sounded all scrunchy as she walked out the room, so I didn't cry even though I really wanted to. Moms shouldn't leave their babies behind. Not when we try to be good babies.

But she's back now and finally yesterday I was able to relax that she wasn't going to leave again right away. So I napped. Two hours, Mom said. It meant I went to bed late last night, which I thought was fun, but Mom and Dad didn't. They kept talking about starting tonight they're going to be serious about bedtime again. We'll see.

E7: I'm a big girl!

So, I know I just wrote a few days ago, but I have some very big news - I'm a big girl now! I'm eating two meals a day of big girl food. Mommy's been trying to feed us for awhile, but I wasn't ready.

But all last week I practiced sitting up. I'm only fall over after a bit now, like when I get excited about a toy but it's too far away for me to reach, or when someone walks in the room. It hurts when I fall, because I usually hit my forehead, but mostly it's just frightening because there I am, sitting just fine and the next thing I know I'm staring at the carpet. That can scare a baby, believe me.

In any case, though, I've been practicing and now I'm quite good at it, so I decided since I have that mostly figured out I should try to eat some big girl food, since Mommy's been trying for so long. And it's actually good! Grandma knows how to mix it just right and she's very good at feeding me, so she can help show Mommy, who's still learning how to do all this stuff, and it can get kinda overwhelming since there's two of us and she's busy at work. But Grandma can help out and help us get it right so that when Mommy watches, like this morning, I can show her how good it is.

And I like it - in fact, if Grandma doesn't bring the next spoonful fast enough I leaned forward and open my mouth to remind her that I'm still waiting. Now that I'm a big girl I don't like eating from the bottle as much; that's for babies, like Mae. But sometimes, like when I first wake up or I'm getting ready for bed it's much nicer to still lay back and let someone else feed me. Eating big girl food is hard stuff.

I watch Mommy and Daddy eat and they hold the spoon themselves, but I'm still not good at controlling my arms all the time, so I think that would just make a big mess at this point. But I'll keep practicing and Mommy keeps promising an exciting food called 'sweet potatoes' so I'm looking forward to that, too.

I'm getting hungry again, so I gotta go!

E6: The Zoo and more

Saturday we went to the zoo with Aunt Julie and cousin Sydney. I really like Sydney, she smiles at me a lot and plays with us even more than Mommy or Daddy do. Though she hasn't quite learned how to understand what we say the way Mommy has, because she kept thinking that when I moved my left arms really fast and my right arm kinda fast that it meant I wanted to change what I was doing. Mommy knew that means I'm having a good time, so I should be left where I am.

And we went to the zoo! There are all kinds of animals there, not just dogs like we have at our house. I couldn't really see most of them since the bigger kids would stand by the glass and block my view, but I did like the flamingos, because they were wearing pink just like me. Mae really liked a big long snake called an anaconda, but I thought it was creepy. Mae watched it for a very long time and then kept telling me about it even after I told her I didn't want to listen anymore. She does that a lot.

Sydney really liked feeding the goats, which looked ok, but kinda scary like they might bite your fingers off, but they obviously didn't, since both Mommy and Sydney still have all their fingers. There was also a big tiger that kept pacing in front of the glass and looked right at Mommy. She said even though there was glass in-between them it was kinda scary.

Sydney and Aunt Julie had to leave on Sunday, but that didn't mean we got to be lazy. Mommy dressed us up early and took us to work with her, but we didn't stay in her office. It was the parish festival, so we went outside and she helped set up the games. It was hot and sticky outside and I didn't like it at all.

Mommy tried to make me happy; she changed my diaper, she gave me a bottle, she tried holding me, she tried putting me down. But it was just hot out and I didn't like that. But then Msgr. Gunn showed up and I like him so I stopped fussing and gave him a big smile. Mommy just shook her head and said it wasn't fair that I'd be good for a priest but not my mommy. I just rolled my eyes and smiled again at him. He's funny, too and smiles a lot and tells people how beautiful we are, so Mae and I decided to always smile for him.

But he had to go away, so I started fussing again. Finally Mommy put me down in the stroller and let Gretchen play with me. Gretchen's mommy is a teacher at the school, so she was spending the whole day at the festival and she is SO funny. She kept shaking my arm back and forth, and tickling my chin and making silly faces. I laughed out loud at her a lot. But then she left, too, which was actually a good thing because I was tired.

When I woke up Daddy was there to take us home. Thank goodness. Festivals are loud and hot and sunny. Mae loved it, but she's silly.

Today we're waiting for Grandma Elaine and Grandpa Ray to show back up. I'm very excited to see them again.

M6: Whatever.

So, the new baby was boring. He's tiny and can't move and all or do anything except cry a whole bunch. Whatever. I know Mom explained that to us the night before we met him, but I remember bring that young I know I could do stuff sometimes; I'm sure of it, so I had brought my blanket to share with him.

But all he did was lay in Mom or Dad's arms and sleep. And cry. And fuss. And sleep some more. And then he cried really loud so Wendy took him and fed him under a blanket. I remember Mom doing that with me, too, but it always got really warm under there, so I didn't like it for very long.

It was good to see Wendy and Brooklyn. Especially Brooklyn. She gave me lots of hugs and I tried to hug her back, but I don't quite have that figured out yet. I'm getting better at giving kisses, but everyone else always keeps their mouth closed when they kiss, which I don't understand, because I always keep mine wide open.

Then I showed Wendy how I'm already pulling myself up onto my knees and she was very impressed. Then Eve showed her how she can sit up by herself for awhile and she got super excited about that, so I kept going on my knees to show her how grown up I am.

Mom meantime kept saying 'He's so tiny!" Whatever. We were that tiny once. Has she forgotten already? I can cry more again if that's what she wants. I am kick my legs and arms around with absolutely no control if she thinks that would be fun. And maybe wake up three times a night again. It's like she doesn't remember how tired she was.

Moms can be awfully silly sometimes. I much preferred playing with Brooklyn and Wendy and Eve. Mom says we won't be going back regularly until August, which apparently is a ways away, but then we'll be there for there days instead of two, so that will be good.

Mom says time for a diaper change, so I gotta go. But, brand new babies are not all that exciting, I don't see why everyone squeals over them. We're much cuter, because we smile and laugh and sleep through the night.