WE’VE MOVED

New content will no longer be posted to this blog; we’ve finally moved.

Visit us at http://myriadandsundry.com/

Yes, I really did buy it.

No, it’s not completely prettified yet, but it’s functional, and all the old posts are there. A feat in and of itself!

Q&A:

1. If I have subscribed to this blog via email or a feed reader, do I need to resubscribe?     Yes!! Please resubscribe there.
   
2. Have you moved or changed any of your YouTube content or Flickr Photos?      No, and I’m not planning to.
3. Is this blog going away?      No, I will not be deleting this blog, it will stay here for probably another year as the new blog picks up search results.

Fuss Face

My affectionate term for Jameson when he was being cranky was “fuss face” and I found myself using that for Coraline this week as well. I am pretty sure we went three or four days without a proper nap, with eyes closed at 15 or 30 minute intervals followed by crying and more crying. And the times she did sleep, I held my breath and felt my face muscles tense, listening for the monitor.

It was pretty much awful, and I am not sure whether Jameson did quite that much crying since we could stop him up with a pacifier. Which Coraline continues to refuse. Seriously, I was desperate and the evenings those days were nearly in tears by the time she went to sleep.

On the other hand, she is sleeping 8-9 hours at night before needing to eat, and doesn’t require any popping back in of pacifiers to fall back asleep. The swaddle never worked that well on Jameson and it had nearly been removed at this point. For Coraline, I think we will swaddle her until she can roll over, so I expect to get another couple months out of it. Is this the price I pay for good night’s rest, a sleepless baby during the day? Thankfully, since Monday she finally has had some good nap time in and is cheerful most of the day again. Here’s hoping we have gotten past the peak of fussiness or whatever was causing such angst in her!

There were a few times that she was friendly during our fussy period, and I worked on capturing them. I will do my best to forget the rest!

Friday night, my brother flew in to experience all the fun, and she got to meet him, the last of my immediate family. He came bearing gifts from Disney, so I now have a cute Minnie Mouse dress to put her in later this summer. I just need some ears…

I didn’t make him change any diapers or hold her for too long, but he was happy to help keep her happy swaddled in her swing after lunch on Sunday.

On Monday, Jameson woke up with crusted eyes and one swollen and red. I knew immediately that he had pink eye, so I spent the day with both of them, dreading her and lack of naps, and Jameson in a whiny mood. I was so very lucky in that she turned around her behavior and was great for me all day, napping first for an hour in the morning and then in her stroller for about three hours in the afternoon while I occupied Jameson outside. We went on a walk with his tricycle in the lead, and the rode around in the wagon on our street while she napped.

Brian had a birthday surprise for me waiting when I got in my car to go to the doctors (which she also slept through!): a new bluetooth stereo installed in my car! Already paired to my phone for easy Pandora streaming. I was so excited, it didn’t even matter when Coraline screamed the whole way home and Jameson couldn’t reach his orange juice sippy.

Monday night was Coraline’s first night sleeping in the crib. On a few occasions she has napped there, and it is very similar to the flat pack and play mattress, so I didn’t expect to have any difficulties except to get used to listening for the monitor again rather than her next to me.

Tuesday was my birthday,  and he stayed home again with us. Though he wasn’t nearly as good as he had been for me on Monday, it wasn’t so awful. I don’t think I am cut out to be a stay at home mom of young children, which I will try to remember when I go back to work in 5 more weeks because I know that I will feel differently when it comes down to it.

We had both children in bed and asleep by 7:30 on my birthday, and I indulged in two glasses of Brian’s homemade apple wine. I wandered around the beautiful outside with Brian while he finished laying our mulch, and then we went in, had a cupcake (or two, in my case), and watched a couple shows. Coraline slept until 4, as has been consistent the past few nights, but I have found when she finally wakes on her own it does take a while for her to go back to sleep. I was back in bed by 5:15 and up again at 6:45 with her, so the last half wasn’t nearly as pleasant (though it wasn’t my birthday anymore, so I suppose she knew that!).

Coraline seems to be in the process of finding her hands, and doing a lot more smiling now that we are past the fussy period. I love her chubby little cheeks and big wide mouthed smiles!

Visit from Uncle Tyler

Jameson asked if Uncle Tyler was coming back several times after he left, he enjoyed his time with his uncle so much!

They watched movies and tv shows together, and Uncle Tyler got introduced to Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, a replacement for the childhood series Mr. Rogers Neighborhood that Jameson just adores.

Brian and Uncle Tyler also found the time to put together Jameson’s new swing set on Saturday, though we didn’t get to spend as much time on it over the weekend as we would’ve like since it was rainy on Sunday!

They watched a lot of Disney movies too while Brian worked on getting materials for our garden and beginning the building. I figured it was the perfect time to work on building the garden so that we’d have a spare set of hands to either watch Jameson or help Brian out when needed! It worked out even better than expected, since Coraline was so needy over the weekend.

Sunday it was time to load dirt up into the garden, and Jameson insisted on helping out, even though it was lightly raining almost the whole time and a little chilly.

This photo of them and the wheelbarrows just cracks me up. Jameson had trouble loading up his shovel with dirt, so Uncle Tyler was happy to help, but Jameson insisted on pushing his own wheelbarrow back and forth to the garden.

We didn’t actually complete the dirt-loading process, but with Tyler’s assistance we got it much closer to completion than we would’ve on our own! (That is, on Brian’s own!) Don’t worry, we fed Uncle Tyler well for all his trouble, with breakfast casserole, ribs and spaghetti dinner. Although I think he’d agree that the hardest part was keeping up with Jameson!

Uncle Tyler even wiped a few noses for Jameson by the time he left. When Jameson saw me take another photo of Coraline and Uncle Tyler, he insisted on one for himself too.

6 Weeks Old

Though Coraline is wearing short sleeves in her 6 week picture, it really wasn’t warm enough for that on that Wednesday. However, on Friday the week prior, the weather was warm enough for being outside in short sleeves, well into the 70’s! While we still have cooler days, we have enough warm ones that I have enjoyed being outside with her on occasion.

It was also cloudy enough that I dared bring her out into the grass to get a photo of her on her handmade quilt from a good family friend. She also made a beautiful quilt for Jameson when he was a baby.

Coraline is wearing a bonnet that I wore when I was a baby. It fit her perfectly, though I imagine as the summer goes on we will also need to use a wide brimmed hat that covers her neck and provides more shade to her face since babies aren’t supposed to have sunscreen on until they are at least 6 months.

She currently has distinctly blue eyes, which I adore. Whereas with Jameson, I was never really sure what color they were depending on the light (blue, gray, greenish hazel?), hers are very blue. I expect they will fade to the same gray that Jameson has, since I don’t believe blue eyes run in the family (certainly not on my side anyway!)

Since then, she has slowly moved out of newborn stage into baby, sleeping less, becoming much more fussy, and getting more social. She doesn’t seem to smile as much as Jameson at this age, but is quickly catching up. I spent much of my time holding her this week and last, and she tolerated a lot less playtime on her own. I have read that fussiness peaks at 6-8 weeks, so I am just hoping that is true, since it has gotten worse since her 6 week photo.

Over the weekend, we went to Aunt Melissa’s brand new house! Brian helped move her in on Saturday before last, and we visited with Jameson and Coraline on Sunday. We also went to church on Sunday, or rather, just me and the kids. Brian stayed home and managed to finally get some of our outdoor projects and clean up underway. Coraline was okay, but needed fed midway through.

I managed to get her sleeping enough that I got photos of her feet and rings! Just like I did with Jameson.

She seems to enjoy the swing and Jameson little kid chair, but not the bouncer. We also tried the Bumbo seat, but she’s not really ready for it yet. (Jameson, however, as we’ve talked about is enjoying it!)

I love her in the kid chair and managed to get a few self portraits with her.

I love this one of us and the sunlight behind. She is getting so big and chubby, I do love her little rolls, though it is a new experience for us, keeping those clean!

And that is all I’ll say about 6 weeks. My mind is stuck on this seventh week, which we are finally approaching the end of in just a couple days. It hasn’t been a good one, I’ll say that. The photo above, taken at exactly 6 weeks, gives a hint of what’s to come. She finally passed out sitting up while I was out at lunch. Not taking a pacifier or bottle does tend to make things extra difficult during outings.

But looking back on these photos prior to that reminds me that everything is a phase which she will hopefully grow out of. Soon.

Toddler Jameson

My two favorite boys!

Jameson continues to amaze us daily. He is repeating everything we say, and we find ourselves explaining things more (this isn’t just a nut, it’s a cashew, and things aren’t just broke, they’re loose or missing batteries etc.). While I’m sure he doesn’t understand the reasons, the fact that I’m giving him new and different reasons for the way something must be actually makes him more accepting.

Jameson is currently responding well to “last one” or “one more”, and while he will try for extras (like one more slide! and one more run! and one more water! goodnight Sasha, go potty, etc), most of the time he doesn’t have a meltdown when the requests are denied after the announcement of “last one” has been spoken. Bedtime is currently going well, much better than pre-baby Coraline’s arrival.

However, we have been introduced to Scary Things. He will announce something is scary, and usually it doesn’t seem to have a particular reason. He saw Cars 2 (or rather, 15 minutes of it) and announced it was scary and that it was over.

Tonight, he heard a noise, which I told him was a loud car outside, and he told me that was scary and wanted to sit in my lap and asked three or four times later about the loud car, to which I reassured him it was gone. He has occasionally requested his small lamp on, but I insist on keeping it off since he has his stars, nightlight, and he has recently enjoyed his glow worm again.

He occasionally wants up, to be held, or “wrapped up” with his blankets, though he is most independent. When he injures himself, he most frequently requests his small lovey blanket and bear rather than a kiss from mom.

The blankets are slowly being called balankeys rather than leekys, which I am a little sad to see go. He also has a few more “guys” as they’re called. It currently consists of 2 bigger blankets, 1 small lovey size blanket which is sometimes 2 on the weekends when the one from school comes home, 1 bigger teddy bear called Bobby which was Brian’s as a child, and his lovey size bear, plus a little Elmo.

Jameson is saying “sorry” a lot, for things he doesn’t need to say sorry for. He doesn’t seem to quite understand the concept yet, though I appreciate the effort! He is also saying “achoo” literally, expecting us to say “bless you” back as if he’s sneezed, which is pretty funny. He seems to like that joke and loves to be silly.

We are currently working on clean up and being more consistent about having him clean up his own toys.

Can you believe he still fits in the bumbo? Around the waist, he is still comfortable in 18 month clothes, though length and tops are definitely 24 months to 2T. He is wearing size 7 shoes and has been particular about picking out new ones (they are the same as the last ones, by his choice). He can put on and take off his own pants, underwear, socks and shoes. He can’t do shirts himself just yet, nor buttons or zippers unless they’re already started.

Slowly we are approaching potty training at night; he is frequently dry overnight though we still put him in pull ups then. He tells us in the morning if he’s had an accident and thinks he is wet (though he isn’t). We haven’t had an accident in weeks, though we haven’t had the opportunity to test him in public restrooms for some time.

Life is great for him right now, and we finally brought his bike outside which he can ride as long as he has a helmet on. He loves to go from his driveway, down the sidewalk to Lily’s house and back, over and over and over. We can’t wait to put up his very first swing set in the backyard this week and are enjoying the warmer weather.