Adventures with Evie

So not much time to write, life is BUSY right now.  Here's some stuff I want to remember...

-Our trip to the doctors office when Evie was fast asleep, and they made me wake her up and undress her to get weighed-I was so mad!-and she sprayed POO all over the scale, counter, equipment, and floor.  Take that, evil doctors!

-Our other trip to the doctors office where I only brought in two diapers, which she pooped in, and she also pooped all over her clothes, and I had to drive her home in just a diaper that I got from the dr. office.  At about a week old!  Mom of the year, i'm telling you!

-Our field trip with Marea's class to Tanaka farms, when it was 90 degrees out, and dusty, and windy...well, Evie did great, sleeping most of the time, through the obnoxious tractor ride, and the super stinky petting zoo, but she then woke up after we got lost in the corn maze (another adventure in itself with a bunch of crying toddlers), and I had to change her diaper and nurse her on a hay bale.  Is there anything we mothers won't do?????

One other thing I want to note-Evie's obsession with staring at the blinds.  I don't know what it is, I guess it's the way the light comes through them, but they always catch her attention when we're laying in bed.  It's funny.

Marea the Baby Whisperer, and Letting go of Expectations

After spending a long time pacing the house with Evie this morning, who was tired and fussy, I decided that I had to put her down and do a quick shower before our dr. appt.  So I put her in the car seat, took her in the bathroom, and called Marea in and showed her how to gently rock the car seat.  I scrambled into the shower, and watching through the glass, noticed that within a few seconds, Evie was sound asleep.  I peeked my head out and thanked Marea for doing such a great job putting Evie to sleep, and she was so proud of herself.  

Marea and I have started a "Parenting Preschool" class at Coastline Community college.  I was really hesitant about signing up for the class because baby Evie was coming and I was worried juggling the two kids and maintaining a commitment to a class once a week.  However, Kate assured me that it was very laid back and worthwhile and I am so happy that I decided to do it!

The first night before the class I was worried....would Marea do okay?  Would she be able to separate from me for the parent education part?  I really didn't think she would be able to.  Would she be hungry when it wasn't snack time?  Would she have an accident?  What the heck am I going to do when she goes to Kindergarten???  But mostly, I was worried that Marea would not be able separate from me, and although I was assured that this was okay, and that the kids were able to come and sit with their parents, I was still worried.  She's always seems to stay really close to me and is slow to warm up to new things.

I knew right when I walked in the door that I was going to love the class.  The classroom set up was perfect-lots of great things for the children to explore, including a dress up area, many shelves with different activities, art activities, and things for them to climb on.  The outside area has a great sandbox, ride on toys, water play, paints...all kinds of wonderful activities that are changed all the time.  Marea dove right in.  She wasn't hesitant at all, which she usually is in new situations.  She took to the environment right away and really seems to enjoy it!  She especially seems to like the things she can climb on.  She is definitely interested in testing her physical limits these days, spending a lot of time climbing on things.  It's fun for me to watch her explore the room and all the different activities.  She's not too interested in interacting with the other kids yet, but I guess that's pretty common at this age.  I see little bits of that coming more and more these days.  How fun it will be when she's having conversations with other kids!

The most enlightening moment for me was on the first day of class when I went inside for the parent education part and Marea stayed outside the whole time!  She had absolutely no problem separating.  I was expecting her to wander in and want to sit with me, but she didn't.   I was so pleasantly surprised.  It really made me feel good to know that she was perfectly happy, playing and having fun without me.  I guess one of the first things  I can learn from this preschool class is, that Marea will always be a great teacher.   I am learning so much from her every day, and i'm loving every minute of it.  

Miss Evie Mae is here!

Baby sister is finally here!  Mama's belly went 'crunch crunch crunch' and the baby came out.  It was as easy as that.

Life has been crazy since Evie arrived.  It's a mixture of pure joy and exhaustion.  I don't feel too exhausted in terms of the sleep deprivation, it's more of a mental exhaustion that I feel because i'm trying to juggle two kids now!  I'm sure the sleep deprivation makes the mental exhaustion worse.  Luckily Gary has been taking over with Marea so I can spend lots of time bonding with Evie and getting to know her and her personality.  It's been great.  Except that I feel a bit disconnected from Marea right now and that is SUPER hard.  Marea doesn't seem to be taking it too hard, although she's not the type of kid that would act out agressivly or throw tantrums.   She seems to be taking it all in mentally and processing it in a very thoughtful way.  It's so hard for me to describe, especially because i'm exhausted right now.  But what i'm trying to say is, that Marea is very aware of what has occurred and is handling it very well, and not trying to control the situation or change things, but rather just accepting life as it is now with an understanding that things are very different now.  Pretty deep perspective on a toddler, huh?  That's one of my favorite things about Marea.  She can be so thoughtful.  

Baby Evie is doing great.  She sure sleeps a lot.  I don't remember Marea sleeping this much.  Maybe i'll get a good sleeper this time!   She's definitely starting to wake up a bit more now and be a bit more alert, which is fun. She's got the cutest little temper.  When she gets mad, she gets real mad!  When she wakes up in the night and is ready to eat, she wants a boobie ASAP or she's screaming!  I barely have time to go to the bathroom.  I am enjoying lots of cuddle time with her and we're sleeping together.  The little bugger knows when I put her in her bassinet so we're doing the old 'nurse and roll' in my bed.  It works, so i'm sticking with it.  

Is it a toddler thing or a girl thing????

We're going through some issues which some may label as part of the 'terrible twos'.  I prefer not to call it that, since I am finding that two is so much fun and I understand exactly what is going on with Marea and her new found independence.  But that doesn't mean that some things arn't driving me crazy....like, her inability to make up her mind!  She has become the queen of making a decision, changing her mind, then changing it again, and again, and again.  And all the while, fussing and whining about it.  The funny thing is, she can usually have whatever it is that she wants, it's just that she changes her mind in the middle of getting it and then fusses and whines because it's not what she wants anymore.  I guess she's just exploring her ability to affect change and make decisions.  Or maybe she's testing the limits of my patience.  I don't mind that she changes her mind back and forth between two things a bunch of times, but I just can't stand the whining and fussing!  I think Gary gets the worst of it in the  morning, when she's just gotten up and she wants her milk and something to eat. (In fact, it often revolves around what she wants to eat.)  I often hear a lot of whining coming from the kitchen in the mornings.  And i'm so grateful that it's Gary who is dealing with it because, lord knows, mornings are my absolute worst time!  

But overall,  I still know that we are the luckiest parents.  Today while wandering around Ikea I I heard and saw several toddlers crying.  Marea doesn't ever do that.  She may test and push limits and be very secure to express herself at home, but when we're out and about, whether it be our playgroup, or shopping, or with friends or family, she is always the most delightful and well behaved kid.  And I know that other people think that too, because I am always told how easy and what a great kid she is.  I agree!  

slumber party!

Marea and Jackie had their first slumber party over the weekend.  It was also Marea's first time spending the night with Grandma and Grandpa Frost.  From what I hear, they had a fabulous time, complete with watching a movie in bed and falling asleep within 20 minutes.  Grandma said that at one point she went in to check on them, and Marea was trying to put a paci in Jackie's mouth.  The next morning I picked her up at HB pier where we watched Sara play volleyball for a bit.  Marea looked very happy, she was running around with Jackie and Emily having a good time.  She fell asleep within 2 minutes of being in the car.  I like it when she's nice a tired!  I hope there are lots more slumber parties to come.

Our summer is managing to still be super busy, despite the fact that I am 4 weeks away from having this baby.  We have been really busy with our moms group, hanging out at the beach, lots of trips to the pool, toddler birthday parties, etc.  Marea's vocabulary is getting even better...it's truly amazing.  She can communicate just about anything.  Maybe that's why she's going thru her little autonomy stage right now....because she knows she can affect her choices!  She's definitely been very opinionated about how she wants things to be these days, and at times it can be frustrating, I know how important it is to support them in this, so I try to be patient and make it fun and easy for everyone.  I hope I can continue to give her the same amount of care and attention when baby #2 arrives!  I know she's excited for her baby sister, and I think that will help.  She talks about her sister a lot, about all the things she wants to do...change her diaper, feed her, kiss her, hold her.  It's super cute.  But i'm still not sure that she knows what's coming!  

On the topic of potty training...I think we're almost done!  Marea was doing great, and then there was a bit of a regression, but it seems that we're back on track.  Now I just need to get up the nerve to put in her big girl pants all the time.  But it's hard because I don't want to have to clean up any messes!  

my favorite words

I thought I better jot a few of these down before Marea starts saying them correctly.  Cuz we've been working on pronunciation a bit, although some words she's just starting to say correctly on her own.  Like, 'gwa-wa' is 'grandma' now.  And 'melmo' is 'elmo'.  Without my help!

Anyways, here's a few faves:

'goggy' -doggy

'shower'-flower

'yegos'-legos

'yight'-light

'pu-cakes'-cupcakes

'skuck'-stuck

'mountain'-fountain

there's lots more, i'll add them as i hear them!

Hair

What is it about my hair?  Or, actually, anyone's hair?  When it's time to go to sleep, Marea absolutely must have some hair to rub.  I try not to be annoyed as my hair gets twisted, pulled and tangled into an obnoxious mess, but sometimes I just can't help it.  And now i'm noticing that I have a lot of broken hair and i'm sure that it's because of Marea's dirty habit.  Baby girl, I love you more than anything in the world, but WHY the hair fetish?  After she goes to sleep, she often tugs and rubs her own hair.  I hope that as her hair gets longer, she relies more on her own hair for soothing.  Otherwise we may be getting her a wig real soon.