Living Life

It’s been a busy busy couple of weeks, not just with activities but with kid-maintaining too.

I took Addie to the pediatric dentist a couple of weeks ago. They were really good - they even have TVs in the ceiling so kids can watch movies while they get their teeth cleaned! They let Addison wander all over the office area, climb up in the chairs, and go into the office where a bigger kid was getting his teeth cleaned so she could watch. They kept telling me to not worry about her getting into stuff, that it was mostly important that she be happy and comfortable. To examine her teeth, she sat on my lap facing me and leaned back into the dentist’s lap. I couldn’t believe how good she was! Addie is not a very cooperative child when it comes to being held down or made to do something. But she let him put his fingers all in her mouth, and even scrape her molars and fiddle with her tongue and pull her lips back to show me the few thousand dollars worth of orthodontics I am going to have in a couple of years.

Addie has always had an underbite, and the dentist confirmed that it will definitely need to be corrected with lots of heavy machinery. Including a permanently installed something-or-other in her mouth with springs and such, that attaches to what he called a "catcher’s mitt" that she will have to wear around her head and face 24 hours a day for anywhere from 3 weeks to 6 months. This is to help pull her upper jaw forward some. Luckily, it is not something we will need to do for at least 2 more years, since she needs to grow and develop more, and needs to be more "cooperative". Her upper lip is also attached to her gums at the wrong place, and the dentist is very sure that sometime in the next couple of years she will fall and tear her frenulum, which connects her lip to her gums right between her front teeth (it's attached too low and makes a gap between her teeth). Supposedly it's a good thing for it to tear on its own, because otherwise we will have to have it clipped. Bleh!

We have had a long stretch of nice weather here and have taken full advantage of it. Last weekend we went to the park and Addison had her first experience flying a kite! We got one for $3 at KB Toys (they are going out of business) and it was a Nemo kite, so she was very excited. Actually flying the kite was not as much fun as the anticipation.



Matt took a half-day off work yesterday and we went to the zoo. Addie is coming down with a cold and has been sleeping late, but we woke her up at 8:40 yesterday so we could get going. Well, that was a mistake! She was miserable almost the whole time, and has developed a big aversion to going into any of the tunnels, caves, and even the indoor aquariums. The only time she wasn’t grouchy and whiney was while playing on the playground at the Children’s Zoo. It’s funny, because she loves to play with her toy animals and look at them in books, but she could care less about seeing them in real life. We took her to Sea World this summer, and she didn’t give a flip about the dolphins, seals, Shamu, horses, etc. Same thing at the zoo. We were literally 3 feet away from a huge lion, who was growling and being fed meat through the bars, and she just sat and played with her apple juice. Matt and I enjoyed the time though – he has been super busy with a stressful situation at work, and was glad to get away in the 75 degree weather.

Ryan has started rolling over now, which is neat, but this has created a new problem…. the second I lay him down, he will flip onto his belly and start yelling! Most of the time I leave him for several minutes so that he can learn how to work his legs, arms, and neck, but he gets SO mad. So I come in and roll him back, and 2 seconds later, he’s on his tummy again. We think he’s cutting some teeth, and he’s also sort of in a clingy stage too, so we literally have our hands full with him right now, which can get old very quickly, especially since Jabba (my brother’s nickname for him) weighs in at a whopping 15.5 pounds! He is starting to laugh more, though, and smiles all the time (when he isn’t screaming), and I am really interested in seeing what type of kid he will turn out to be.

Things have been the same-old, same-old for us. The days are running into each other and the weeks are over before we even know they’ve started. Another part of growing older, I guess! We’re having a Super Bowl party with friends from church next weekend, and we’ll probably be starting Ryan on rice cereal in a couple of weeks. I know that I should not wish for my kids to grow up quickly, because they will be grown before I know it, but I am not now, nor have I ever been, a "baby" person. I loved my time with Addison, and I do love Ryan in each stage, but to me, the best time comes after they start walking. The year from age 1 to age 2 is amazing, and after that the changes are come so quickly that you can’t keep up with them. Addison is completely, totally, absolutely 2 years old in every sense of the word. She is funny and silly, she is starting to play pretend and come up with silly games and songs, she finds everything fascinating and wants to copy every single thing that Matt or I do, from repeating "Oh my gosh" when I change a yucky diaper to walking down the stairs backwards like I do (when I’m watching her to make sure she doesn’t slip). She also gets EXTREMELY fussy when her routine is changed…. she knows exactly what to expect each morning, each afternoon, and each evening, and changes to her daily schedule are not welcome and result in much crying and unhappiness.

Examples:

-Must have milk and watch Dora every morning.
-If she has apple juice, she must always have Goldfish with it
-Her blankets must always be rolled up and secured with a rubber band (????)
-Baby Ryan must always be a) in his carseat, b) in the exersaucer, c) on his mat, d) wherever he once was and must now always be, according to Addison (on the couch, in his bed, whatever her whim is).
-Any toy that was once used in a certain way must now and forever always be used that way.
-Bedtime stories are the same 3 books over and over. If you miss a word, she knows and will call you out on it.

Simple distractions and refocusing are tried with very limited success. Sometimes, though, as with her blankets and the bedtime books, the routine can be changed to something new, as long as we stick with the new routine for a long period of time.

All of this is part of the normal developmental stages, and most of the time Matt and I find it very very funny. However, sometimes it is rather obnoxious, like when I take Ryan out of the carseat to change him and Addison bursts into a tantrum and tears demanding that he be put back. No amount of explaining will convince her that Ryan should be anywhere except where she wants him.

Soooooo…. as you can probably imagine, Matt and I are ready for a vacation! By this fall, Ryan should be weaned and ready to be left overnight for a few days while we take a break. We will hang on until then!

Here are a few other pictures.

Chef Ryan and Addie brushing her hair with a whisk broom

See why he is called Jabba? To be fair, this is a doll stroller, but he sure bursts out of it.

Making cookies with Mama

Two funny things Addie said, while I can still remember them:

1. She was chewing a little rubber ball and it had spitty bubbles on it. She took it out of her mouth and looked at it, and said "Ball is taking a bubble bath!". She also said that about Ryan's mouth when he was blowing spit bubbles.

2. She dropped an olive in the dirt, and I told her not to eat it because it was yucky. I told her to step on it, and she took a big step over the olive. I said "No, try again, you missed it,", and she said "I missed it SO much!" which is what she says to us when we leave the room for more than 1 or 2 seconds.

The Aftermath

This is the kitchen that Santa brought Addison at our house before we left to go to Dallas. She wasn't nearly as thrilled as I thought she would be when she saw it, but I figure it will be a toy that both kids will use a lot over the next few years.

We are just now getting settled after the holidays. The Christmas stuff is all put away, and everything is unpacked and washed. We were up in Dallas for 3 days, seeing my mom, brother, and sister and their families. My brother has a little girl who is 3 weeks younger than Ryan, and she is tiny! Addie calls Ryan "Ryant", so everyone called him "Giant Ryant" while we were there. He’s in about the 75th percentile for weight, and my niece Sarah is only in the 3rd or 4th, so it was quite a difference in size. They did have a good time staring at each other though. We got some cute pictures of them together, and hopefully we can take more over the years as they grow up.

My dog Casey slept while the babies scaled Rhodesian Ridgeback Mountain

Addie was completely captivated by my niece Camryn, who is almost 5. I barely saw her the whole time because she was just following Cammie around and playing with her. They had matching Christmas pajamas and matching dresses, and played and danced and sang and read books.

Saturday the 27th was my grandpa’s 90th birthday celebration. He turned 90 in October, but the holidays were a time when out-of-town relatives could all come. There was a big party at his retirement home, and there were so many people there! It was really nice, and I know he was as proud as he could be. He’s still in really good health, and we look forward to more Christmases with him.

My grandpa, William H. Longacre, Jr.

My sister Caitlin and Addie at the party.

My beautiful niece Camryn

Addie did not take a nap the whole time we were up there, and she was about to crash and burn big-time, so we left on Sunday to come back home. There were several large tantrums and marathon naps over the next two days until she finally caught up on her sleep. She usually takes an almost 3 hour nap every single day, so that was 9 hours of sleep she was missing! Poor girl. It had been a busy couple of weeks and she needed to get back to her normal routine. I was sorry to have to leave my brother and sister and their families though….I haven’t seen my sis in 18 months, and only saw my brother and his wife for 2 days over a year ago. When I was pregnant with Addison, we knew that we needed to move back from Alabama to be here in Texas, closer to all our families and Matt’s sisters. It was so hard to not get to spend any time with them for the five years we were away. And with my siblings out of state, and high ticket prices, and now that we all have kids, it just seems almost impossible to do much more than a whirlwind meet-and-greet and then everyone is on their way again. It’s hard to build memories and enjoy each other’s company when you have to do so much planning and traveling. Oh well.

For New Year’s Eve, we went to a party at a friend’s house. We just stayed till 10, and then headed home – everyone there had kids and wanted to get to bed early! We played Wii and ate great food and I got to spend time chatting with the girls. We tried to get Addison to lay down in her friend Caroline’s room (they are the same age), but the two girls played and read books and generally made a big mess for the hour they were in there together! We could hear them on the monitor talking to each other (babbling, mostly) and it was really cute….Addison’s first sleepover! Needless to say, she got into bed very late again that night. We tried to go out for lunch the next day, and got as far as the front lobby of the restaurant before deciding the screaming, crying, and clawing fits were too much. So we gave up and headed back home and put a very fussy little girl straight down for her nap. I’ve decided that she’s like me – even in high school, I went to bed by 10 at the latest every night. I need at least 9 hours of sleep a night, more if possible, to function properly. I have not been getting my 9 hours a night for the past 3 months, so I am a lot more on edge than normal too!

New Year's Eve 2008


Oh, we went to Chuck E Cheese’s last year on New Year’s Eve. It was Addie’s first time, and we thought she would love it. Instead, she was terrified. She didn’t cry or anything, but she clung to the token cup for dear life and kept a very somber intense look on her face as we put her in the various rides. We got this drawing done in the machine, and you can see her holding the cup:

2007

I decided that maybe we could make it a New Year’s Eve tradition to go there, so we went again, and this time she had a blast. She wanted to ride everything and play all the games. She didn’t even want to eat her pizza! I got another drawing of her and me, and convinced Matt to get one with Ryan this year, so hopefully we can keep it up and get our drawings done every year. We also got a short video of yet another tantrum, when it was time to leave.

Playing Whac A Mole with Mommy

2008

Matt and Ryan 2008

Poor baby!

Matt and I are starting to really feel the stress of having two kids. At first, it wasn’t too bad, but now that Ryan is getting more alert and wakeful, he wants to be carried around more and have more interaction. And Addison seems to need/want more of our attention every day! It seems like all we do is entertain/take care of the kids. We barely even have time to cook or shower or anything, much less clean or do projects around the house. I know that once Ryan is just a little bit older and can start crawling around, he and Addison will play more, so we just need to tough it out a few more months. Although then we might be having to constantly police Addison with her baby brother….she is not the most generous, gentle soul on the planet.

We spent last Saturday doing Christmas with Matt's family. Addison had a really good time, and got some great new toys.


Ryan was really good too, sleeping quite a bit and generally being cute. The weather was warm, and Addie got to ride on the Rhino with her cousin Hunter (3) and grandma.



Addie has been constantly holding her Dora doll that Aunt Heather got her, and proceeded to immediately drop Dora's shoes into the little hole on the leg of Matt's huge weightset when we got home, then screeching about wanting the shoes back. The whole weightset would have to be unbolted to retrieve them, so I'm not sure when we will be seeing Dora's shoes again. She also got an Aquadoodle mat and she really likes that as well.

Baby Ryan got a hat knitted by Aunt Heather, and Matt's parents got him an awesome Thomas the Train fold-out couch. It makes all sorts of train noises. Of course, he is too little to play with it now, but big sis Addison will make sure it gets plenty of use until then.

We got a new digital camera last night, and so far we love it. The video quality is really, really good, and the pictures are much more instantaneous than our old one - there is barely any delay at all. (Canon Powershot SD1100)

Addie had her first eggnog today and loved it. I have been having some all week and loving it. Most of my family and friends know the story about me drinking a huge glass of eggnog, and then my brother (I think) came in to get some. He opened the carton, smelled it, made a face, and looked at the date. He said " Gross, this eggnog expired two weeks ago." I said "It did not, I just drank a big glass and it tasted fine." He made an even worse face and then poured out the mildly chunky eggnog from the carton. Then I made a face, and wondered what was the matter with me. Needless to say, the next couple of days were not pleasant for my digestive system. So since I am taste-blind when it comes to rotted eggnog, I make sure to check the date carefully from now on.

Every single day, Addison progresses in her speech. She speaks in complete sentences almost all the time now, instead of just phrases. I am trying to remember funny things she said, but now I can't think of any. She has started drawing "things": She will scribble a line and said "Mama, I'm drawing an elephant, Santa, Baby Ryan, etc..." . I wonder what she sees when she sees the scribble....if it really looks like the object to her, or if she just imagines it does, or what. I would find it very frustrating to try to draw something and have it come out a scribbled mess, but it doesn't seem to bother her.

We're headed to Dallas tomorrow to do Christmas with my family. I'll post pictures sometime next week! Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

One week left!

Addison is finally over being sick, although Matt has a lingering hacking cough. It’s probably just viral, so there’s nothing he can do about it, but it sure is driving him nuts. Also, baby Ryan has had a stuffy nose for a couple of weeks now. He can barely breathe sometimes, which leads to excess fussiness. But he is still a pretty good baby. My dad came to visit for three days this week, and Ryan changed so much just in those few days - he is talking and cooing a lot more now, and tracking us across the room better too. He is only waking up once to eat in the night at about 5 a.m., and then he wakes up for good at 7. I think after Christmas, if he is still waking up, I’m going to start letting him put himself back to sleep for those last two hours instead of eating, so that we can finally get on a sleeping-all-night schedule. He’s getting so big and heavy!

I’ve been doing well. I am having to admit to myself that I just can’t do as much as I used to, in terms of planning shopping trips, activities, etc. I do pretty good most of the time, but then things start to pile up around the house, which drives Matt and I crazy. I never really understood it when people talked about all the laundry they have to do, because it didn’t seem like I had to do a whole lot more with Addie, but now it seems like there are two huge loads to do every day! And by the time I get them folded and put away (usually a couple of days later), I have mounds and mounds more to do. I don’t wear that many clothes, and neither do Matt and Addie (Ryan is a different story), so I need to see where all the clothes are coming from. Also, I want to make banana bread for our neighbors, candy for friends, cookies for moms’ groups, etc. And it is really hard to fit it all in, plus Christmas shopping for lots of people too. I know this is just a busy time of year, so I expect things to calm down some. I’m not really stressed out, but I do need to learn to have a little more patience and realize that I am going to have to NOT do some things this year. The kids are little and don’t know or expect anything, so I should cut myself a break while I still can!

We went up to the Woodlands Waterway this week with my dad to check out the lights and decorations. We were actually pretty disappointed with the display – there was just a small section that had the Christmas scenes all lit up. It was cold and blustery and we had Ryan all bundled up in a thick padded winter Winnie the Pooh snowsuit/footed sleeper that he got from his grandma. He was so cute! And warm!

My mom came down for one night last weekend and watched Addie while we went to an awesome Christmas party with our Sunday school class. The couple who hosted has a beautiful house and had tables set up with china and decorations everywhere. It was catered by Macaroni Grill, and the food was fantastic. I made a tiramisu that turned out pretty good - I left out the Kahlua and rum, but maybe next time…..

Tomorrow we go to Matt’s parent’s farm to do Christmas with his family. I’m going to a wrapping party tonight with my MOPS group to get all the presents ready to go. Then we’re driving to Dallas on Christmas day to spend time with my family. My grandpa turned 90 in October, and we’re having a big celebration with all the out-of-town people on the 27th. Also, my brother and his wife will fly in from New Mexico and I will get to meet my precious new niece for the first time!

Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas – our digital camera stopped working two days ago, so maybe Santa will buy us an early Christmas present this year (Matt, are you reading this?).

Tis the Season...

Matt and Addison have both been sick since last Friday. Yucky runny noses, congestion, coughing, etc. I think Ryan is starting to come down with it too, but so far I feel ok. I’m sure I’ll get it after everyone else is better.

Last year at this time, Matt and I took a week-long visit to Rome. My mom stayed with Addie part of the time, and she took her to a little Christmas carnival thingy that our local shopping center did. They had train rides, face painting, a little petting zoo, and Santa. Here is a picture of her at the petting zoo last year.

Addison was not thrilled with Santa at the mall last year, although both my mother and I took her different times, trying to get pictures. Here is the result:

I had to sit with her

The blankie had to sit with her, and there are tiny tears.

Now, whenever I ask her about going to see Santa at the mall, she immediately gets very serious and says “No, no no. No ma’am, no ma’am. No no no.” She likes to look at Santa, and she points him out in books and in the neighbor’s yard, but she does NOT want to go see him at the mall.

This year, she wasn’t feeling too hot, so I thought the Christmas carnival might be a welcome distraction. All day I’d been telling her that we were going to see Santa and she could sit on his lap. She didn’t tell me no this time, so I made it sound very fun, and kept telling her over and over, so that when the time came, she would just go sit on his lap. We got to the shopping center, and got on the little train around the parking lot. We went to the petting zoo again, and got a snowman painted on her hand, and then we went to stand in line for Santa. I kept repeating “There’s Santa, we’re going to sit on his lap, up in the sleigh”. She didn’t seem too interested. We were next in line and she watched the kids in front of her talk to Santa for awhile.

As soon as they climbed down and I took one step forward, she threw a fit. She clung to me and cried and said “NO NO NO!” , and buried her head on my shoulder. Matt was laughing and went up to hold Santa’s hands, to show Addison that he wasn’t so scary. She was not fooled. Matt snapped one picture of me holding her behind Santa – we got one tiny glimpse of her face.

They also gave us a Polaroid of me standing in front of the sleigh with Santa in the background.

She was still very upset about it. Part of me felt like a mean mom who just wanted the photo to put in the scrapbook (what scrapbook?) but mostly I just thought it was hilarious. Poor Addison.

Oh, here are some of pictures of her and Ryan “helping” Matt put up our Christmas lights a couple of weeks ago:

It was cold out, but Ryan was snuggly and as happy as he could be.

She was a LOT of help, let me tell you.

This Sunday, our ABF class at church gave us a surprise baby shower! Matt and I joined the class at the end of August, so I was close to the end of my pregnancy. They usually do some sort of baby shower for their class members, but since we were brand new and didn’t know anyone and were still just checking things out, we certainly didn’t expect a shower or anything. Well, they took us into their fold right off the bat – we had meals brought to us every other day for at least a month after Ryan was born, plus several members brought us baby gifts, and usually a gift for Addison as well. But this Sunday, they decided to do the official baby shower – they had everyone bring a pack of diapers instead of clothes or toys, and there was a big cake too. Unfortunately, Matt was home sick with Addie, but I was very surprised and happy. I feel like they have welcomed us with open arms and we are SO thankful that we found this wonderful group of people within the wonderful church.

Making my list and checking it twice.

Just a quick note - I have not updated my Christmas card address list in a long time, so if you have moved in the last 12 months, please send me your address!
mmnevill@yahoo.com