Every Day with Eli: March 2012

March 31

If this week was the longest week ever, today was the longest day ever.

First, last night was the first time Daisy spent all night in her crib. Until last night, we put her to bed in her crib around 7:30 and she would wake up to eat right as we were going to bed around 10:30. Since I prefer sleep above all other things, I would just bring her into bed with us. She slept right next to me and could nurse whenever she wanted while I remained mostly asleep. I would like to point out that this is *not* what we did with Caleb. Caleb slept in his own crib, in his own room, from day four. By the time he was six months old, he was sleeping through the night.

But Daisy is a different baby with different circumstances. First, we didn't have a bedroom for her when she was born, so she had to stay in our room. Then she started shrinking. She went from 50th percentile at birth to 25th to 15th to... gulp... 11th percentile. Her doctor and I agreed that if Daisy wanted to nurse all night, it was probably because she needed every.single.calorie. I definitely didn't want to supplement with formula when I was making more than enough milk, so I kept her right next to me to encourage her to nurse as much as she wanted. She stayed skinny, but she found her groove. Chris and I grudgingly accepted that we were a bed-sharing family. He gave up precious mattress space, we added a bed rail to our bed, and I resigned myself to the fact that I could only sleep on my back or left side, ever.

But Daisy is nearly eleven months old now. And she squirms. Oh, how she squirms. She kicks me in the head, scratches at the mesh of the bed rail, and is quickly becoming a quite unpleasant bed partner. So last night, I did it. At 11:00 when she wanted to eat, I fed her. Then I put her right back in her crib. She was not happy. She yelled for the next 45 minutes, and I went in every ten to fifteen minutes to remind her that she was ok and that she was sleeping in her crib now. At midnight, I nursed her again, put her in warmer jammies, and laid her back in her crib. She fussed for a while, then fell asleep. At 3 am, she woke up. I spent the next 45 minutes nursing and holding her until she finally fell asleep. And then she woke at 6am.

So. Her first full night in her crib, in her own room. Not exactly a raging success, but a success nonetheless. Let's hope it gets better from here? My goal is to have her sleeping in her room full time by her eleven month birthday (April 4) and sleeping through the night (i.e. night weaned) by her first birthday. I think that's a fair, do-able compromise between her needs and mine.

After that looooong night, we all went to a garage sale to check out a bike trailer. It didn't work out. Then to breakfast, then yard work. Lots of yard work. (Daisy took a two and a half hour nap to compensate for the sleep she missed last night.) After lunch, the neighbor's nephew-in-law cleaned our gutters for us (what a blessing) and his son Caleb played with our son Caleb. The boys were born two days apart, and their baby sisters were born a month apart. Even funnier is that the other Caleb's sister is named Hannah, which was our second-choice name for Daisy.

The boys had so much fun playing with the bubble machine! Then they started saying, "It's raining! It's raining bubbles!" And of course, our Caleb had to get out his umbrella.

Funny boy!

The other Caleb was totally impressed by this move.

Meanwhile, Daisy had fun trying to catch the bubbles the boys missed.

Later, Chris washed the bubbles off his car, then let Caleb play with the hose. He also gave him a snack of goldfish crackers. Caleb realized that fish swim in rivers, and he was making a river with the hose, so... He sent the goldfish swimming down the river.

Then some friends stopped by to visit.

Then Maggie stopped by to visit. She heads back to Chicago-land tomorrow; it was so nice having her in town for a week! We sat on the deck, talking, when Caleb said, "I want to show you the pond!" So we all hiked up to the pond. I even remembered to bring some bread to feed the geese!

But the geese wanted nothing to do with us. Maybe it had something to do with the outfit Caleb chose: a muscle shirt, two pairs of pajama shorts, and rain boots. Oh, brother.

Maggie and Daisy snuggled while Caleb tried to coerce the geese into eating his bread.

But the geese wouldn't bite, so he fed the bread to Daisy instead.

Then he charged at me. I think he was trying to force me to eat bread, too. That boy. What a goof!

March 30

It feels like I've been waiting a month for this Friday. Not that there was anything special about this Friday; it just feels like the past week has been the longest. week. ever.

But two things happened on this Friday, one important and one quite minor in comparison. The important thing was that we got the news about Chris' Grandad: he has stage four cancer. It started in his lungs, and now it's in his bones and everywhere. Friends, will you pray for Tom? He's 81, but he's not your average 81-year-old. He's the kind of 81-year-old who has many more years left in him, if he can just beat this cancer. Join us in praying that God gives him joyful, full days - no matter how many?

And less important is that we got new (to us) furniture today. It came to us in a roundabout way: My dad works for the Botanical Garden. The garden accepts donations from people, and some choose to leave their estate to the garden. When this happens, the garden sells the items of value in its own little antique shop. Occasionally their warehouse fills up, so they have a 50% off sale for employees and volunteers. And, you remember, my dad is an employee. So voila! We now have seven new pieces of furniture (two dressers, bed for Caleb, chair for our room, little desk, buffet and china cabinet) that are in good condition and - our new priority - solid wood instead of particle board. The best part? We paid the equivalent of two or three particle board pieces at Target for seven pieces of quality furniture. Hooray! What a blessing!

Also a blessing? The U-Haul truck we used to move all of that furniture. Or, at least, Caleb thought it was.

Once the furniture was out, he spent quite a bit of time running up and down the "bridge".

I can't explain the rain boots, except that I said, "Caleb, put some shoes on!" and those are the ones he picked.

Climbing in. Those dirty pants? From pollen on our front porch. It's going to be a rough spring for me, friends.

He really wanted me to get in and play with him.

While the menfolk handled furniture, my mom handled weeds in the back yard. Turns out we have quite the poison ivy infestation in our backyard. Luckily (knocking hard on wood here) neither my mom nor I are sensitive to poison ivy, so we can deal with it without fear. However, my husband is a delicate flower. The ivy hates him, so he's really paranoid about it.

Before I put her to work, though, I let mom snuggle the kids for a while.

Daisy alternated between gazing at Grandma lovingly and suspiciously.

See? Suspicious.

Meanwhile, Caleb drank his "good morning coffee". Really, that's what he calls it. Really, it was warm water in a mug. At 5 pm.

March 29

I know that toddler tantrums one day come to an end.

It will end, right?

Nothing ruins a perfectly good day faster than a chain of tantrums. Before this evening, though, it was a really fun day! We celebrated passover with friends, had naps, Maggie visited, and then Caleb found a cupcake recipe book that my grandma gave us. Of course, he doesn't understand that we don't read cookbooks the way we read regular books. It does have pictures, after all. So he asked me to "read" it to him several times. He liked the lamb cupcakes so much that I decided to get the unfrosted cupcakes I had tucked away in the freezer a few months ago (a smart move on my part, if I do say. We had no need for two dozen cupcakes, so I put half of them in the freezer for later.) and whipped up some frosting.

This was actually quite a milestone for us - the first time Caleb could actively help in the baking. Always before I've had to keep my hands on his the whole time. With these, I just let him go to town!

What? That doesn't look like a lamb to you? Can't you see the marshmallow ears, the two chocolate chip eyes, and the little chocolate chip mouth at the bottom?

Showing off his inspiration page.

Our lambs in front of the cookbook's lambs. They may look sad, but they sure are tasty!

While we played with (and sampled) the sugary goodness, Daisy munched on veggies in her high chair.

Thankfully, she was perfectly content. She had no idea that she was missing out on the good stuff!

March 28

I'm not going to lie; these are terrible pictures. Sorry. I didn't take any pictures of Caleb's new haircut, or Caleb decked out in his faux-suspender t-shirt and straw fedora, pushing a mini cart at Trader Joes. And I definitely forgot to take pictures of Chris and Amber's darling new baby, Andrew.

Oops.

But Daisy is getting really good at standing!

I know. Her face looks funny. And her hair is a little bit Trump-y. But look at those sweet little feet, planted firmly on the ground!

Way to go, Daisy!

Oh! And standing one-handed! Hooray!

Oops! Took a tumble!

But the tumbles don't even phase her anymore. She keeps right on playing!

March 27

Daisy loves Caleb.

Looooooooves him.

Where he is, she wants to be.

What he does, she wants to do.

"Brother? Can I come in?"

This one really got me. She kept reaching up to touch his hand.

And there, too.

Caleb doesn't really seem to care what Daisy is doing, but she is completely focused on him.

She's also focused on this new book that arrived in the mail.

It's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. I saw it for the first time last week and knew my kids needed it. I was right; they are obsessed.

March 26

Aside from a playdate at the park where I took one photo, we didn't do anything exciting today. Yet somehow I ended the day with 197 photos on my memory card. How does that happen? But then I started scrolling through the pictures, and I realized something: when the kids are being cute, I can't stop snapping pictures.

Prepare for photo overload.

Daisy at the park in her new sun hat and new summer clothes (in March). Fun!

All of a sudden, the girl is pulling up on everything! She hasn't pulled up to standing on her own yet, but she pulls up to her knees all the time. Here, it was to get some of Caleb's cars. Clearly, Caleb was napping or this wouldn't have happened.

How sweet is she? Love her!

After the park, Caleb took a three and a half hour nap. Of course he had an accident while he was sleeping, so we took a "silly bath". (I have to call them "silly baths" or he won't get in the tub. See, they're silly because it's not the normal bath time. I also let him take one silly, non-tub toy in with him.)

Daisy was very curious about what her brother was doing and kept pulling up to watch him swim. Caleb blew bubbles in the water, and Daisy tried to mimic his bubble-blowing noise. They are so funny together!

I got Caleb a snack, then went to put Daisy down from her nap. When I finished, I found Caleb sitting in one of his new chairs from GREAT Aunt Maggie. I hadn't thought about them being just the right size to turn our coffee table into a dining table for him. Clever boy! (And he was quite pleased with himself, too.)

Later, Chris took the kids out in the yard to play with the aero-copter our former neighbor gave Caleb. (Don't mind Chris' paint-smeared shorts. That's just how we roll these days.)