Eve is 17 months old today. Happy 17 months,
baby girl! She’s so funny lately! She has a great personality
and loves to laugh and be tickled. She also likes to do tae-bo
with me (more on that some day), roll around on the floor,
build towers, and play outside in the sandbox. Her vocabulary
is amazing and she’s starting to put together two word phrases,
such as “more cheese” and “daddy work” and “doggie nap.” She’s
just a bundle of fun lately, so silly and adorable.

Parenting is a funny thing and if you’re
not careful you can make yourself crazy with self-doubt and
seconding guessing — trust me, I’m an expert!

We went grocery shopping this afternoon (Lex
choose to sit in the cart the entire time “so I don’t get
lost,” but that’s another story) and we got home around 6:30pm.
Lex said he wanted to listen to music for awhile and have no
bath and no stories. Alan and I agreed to this, so we turned on
a CD for him and he settled down in the living room. I brought
him a little food and Eve joined him for dinner in the living
room with the music on. This was good for about 1/2 hr until
Lex started getting a little rambunctious and kicked Eve off
her chair. She fell right over and cried, and cried, and cried.
I think she was startled and tired more than actually hurt. Lex
got a “so sad” in the office and Alan put Eve to bed. A short
while later Lex threw a ball at the TV! Luckily it was a soft,
plastic ball and did no damage, but OMG that is not good
behavior!!! I promptly turned off his music and he went to bed.
He screamed and protested and Alan ended up putting him to bed
in his clothes and all. No bath, no stories, no clean teeth, no
new diaper, no pajamas… no pieces of the usual bedtime
routine. We then proceeded to deal with him for almost two
hours. He would cry and scream, then settle down and we’d think
he was sleeping, but then he’d start crying a long, sad wail
again, or he’d get up and ask to come down stairs. It was
awful. But the worst part is that while dealing with a child
you have lots of time to wonder if you’re doing the right thing
and if he’s really that hungry and second-guess how you should
have handled the situation. It’s like adding insult to injury,
not only are you listening to a screaming child but you’re also
questioning every move you made and wondering if you could have
handled the whole thing better. Or maybe it’s just me? Anyway,
around 9:15 Alan tried to lay down with him which often settles
him down, but this time Lex ended up crying so uncontrollably
that Alan brought him into our room. I decided to bring him
some milk and we ended up sitting on the bed reading stories.
After a cup of milk, a few stories, and new pajamas (he was
apparently unhappy with the ones Alan put on him earlier) Lex
told me his body was tired and need to rest. He climbed in bed,
I stayed with him for a few minutes as he recapped the
situation (“I turned my shirt around so the picture was down,
then I pulled it over my head! I was crying and crying and I
didn’t like the pants daddy picked. The milk you brought me
makes me feel a little bit better.”) and then he went right to
sleep.

As I analyzed the situation I
think the problem is that there was no rountine at all before
we put him in bed. It was his choice, but that doesn’t mean he
knew how to handle it. Sometimes we miss one part of the
routine and he does ok, but tonight with NO pieces of the
routine at all I think his little routine-centric psychy
couldn’t handle it. Sigh. Parenting can be hard! But now we
have two babies sleeping peacefully and life is ok again. (Poor
Eve had to sleep through two hours of ordeal. Imagine the
dreams she was having!)

I am so sad. I have officially admitted
defeat in my cloth diapering efforts and started the process of
selling off my stash. I feel lame to admit this, but I’m really
bummed about the whole thing. We’ve tried so many different
options and variations, but we just can’t keep their little
bums rash free… that is, until we put on the Huggies.
Recently I’ve been trying part-time cloth diapering, which
usually results in a day or two of cloth (on Eve only, Lex is
not that accommodating) then back in Huggies with diaper cream.
Then I have a half load of laundry that sits there until I
remember to do it. The whole thing is so sad. I guess the
saddest part, really, is that I don’t know why it’s bothering
me so much! Hopefully I can recoup some of the money we spent
on the cloth diapers (I’m sure I can, really) and maybe Lex
will potty-train soon anyway. We’ll see.

Joyce and I took the kids to a gymnastics
open house today and I signed them up! Lex did the “Baby Bears”
class when he was younger, but we stopped when Eve was born. It
was too exhausting for me trying to chase him around with Eve
crying in the belly pack. Today Lex did a wonderful job of
listening, waiting his turn, and following instructions. Eve
had a great time just running around and jumping. They both
loved the giant trampoline. Lex even remembered the place from
last year and was excited to be back. I have them in different
classes (16-24mo for her and 3yr olds for him) but I got the
one time block where the two classes run simultaneously. This
was critical because I have to participate with her (he’s now
old enough to do it alone) and I didn’t want to be making
multiple trips or trying to figure out what to do with him
while I was helping her. So on Monday’s we’ll all be on the gym
floor, me helping Eve and Lex listening to the teachers and
following instructions. It should be fun!

Alan and Lex watching Michelle Obama’s
speech at the DNC convention. Good thing the little one can’t
vote yet!

The scariest thing in the world happened
today. Ok, maybe not IN THE WORLD, but boy was I scared. I lost
Lex in the grocery store. He was looking at a book display on
one side of an end cap and I went around to the other side to
grab something and when I turn back he was gone! Lex is usually
VERY good about staying nearby. I walked up and down the back
of the store a few times looking up the aisles, then turned to
the guy behind the meat counter and said “I lost my baby!” The
guy said “really?” and that’s when I started crying. He was out
of his gloves and apron in no time and seconds later they had a
“code” something announcing over the loud speaker. All the
employees were looking and lots of customers. I must have been
quite a spectacle. Eve just sat in the cart looking around. A
short time later (it felt like forever but it was probably just
a few minutes) the pharmacist came over with Lex right beside
him. Lex said “I didn’t see you and I was looking for you.” The
pharmacist said Lex was helping him clean up. Lex does like to
clean :) Everyone was super nice and the pharmacist said that
they keep a very close eye on kids that don’t seem to have a
parent nearby. In my rational mind I knew that its very
unlikely that someone took him, but emotionally it was just
plain scary! Our afternoon activity is to make a plan for what
to do in that situation again. Like stay put!

One of the few videos you actually see me
in :) Eve likes our little plastic dinosaur toy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VObk0-MKuB4]

It’s quiet in my house right now. It’s a
beautiful day and we spent much of it outside. I brought out a
picnic lunch and Lex helped our neighbor weed her garden while
her son Parrish helped Lex eat his lunch :) Then everyone
played in the sandbox and now Eve is sleeping happily and Alan
and Lex are over playing at Parrish’s house. I am enjoying the
quiet. I was going to read the newspaper, but I can’t resist
the computer’s devilish lure.

I’ve been meaning to post for a few
days about Lex’s newfound attention to emotions. It’s an
interesting development. He will frequently check in to find
out how I’m doing. “Hi mommy. Are you ok? Are you happy?” or
sad or angry or tired or whatever. He does his best to guess
the appropriate emotion. Then he asks if you need a hug.
Regardless of how you’re feeling (“Yes Lex, I’m very happy.”)
he’ll end by saying “Do you need a hug?” then a kiss :) He has
become very lovey lately. The other night I was not happy,
tired mostly, and hungry. He wanted me to lay down with him at
bedtime and it quickly became a snuggle fest. He would roll
over and ask if I was happy, I’d say I’m
tired/hungry/cranky/whatever and he’d say “do you want a hug?”
so he’d hug me. And the kiss, then cuddle, and laugh and by the
end he was not asleep but I was MUCH happier. He’s gotten so
empathetic lately. It’s a pretty cool development.

He’s also starting to recognize and verbalize
his own emotions. Most days he wears PJs all day (yup, I’m that
kind of mom), but on Friday I wanted him to get dressed. He
threw a fit and I put him upstairs with the gate closed. He
screamed. Then settled himself down and asked me to come talk
to him and I did and he started crying again about pajamas, so
I left. This went on for about 15 minutes before he finally
settled himself down enough and picked out some clothes. When
we came down he sat on my lap and said “I was angry mommy. I
needed to get the tears out of my eyes. I am all better now.” I
said “Do you need a hug?” and he said “yes!” I was impressed
that he was able to name his feelings and realize that
sometimes you just need to “get the tears out” so you can feel
better again. He’s a very mature boy (for someone still in
diapers!)

Eve has hit her own little mischievous
milestone. She’s a very playful girl and has started learning
ways to get little digs in at her big brother. Her current
favorite is to sit in his chair and eat his food. It always
makes him yell “Eve, that’s MY chair!” She giggles and jumps up
and runs back to her seat. So silly. He made them both a snack
on Friday, put them both on the little table in the living
room, but decided that he wanted to save his for the WW
meeting. Every time he turned around she was in his seat eating
his snack! She ate almost all of both of their snacks! I told
him if he didn’t want her to eat his snack then he needed to
put it out of her reach, but he didn’t so I stayed out of it.
It was their own little sibling game. I suspect we’ll see a lot
more of that in the years to come. :)

Happy
siblings

Kisses
for daddy

I don’t seem to be very good at blogging
these days. Maybe because there is always a lot going on, yet
nothing terribly exciting or noteworthy. Right now I should be
preparing for a Pampered Chef party tonight (one tonight and
one tomorrow! look at me go!!) but I’ll take a quick minute to
say hi :) Life is going on. Lex is upstairs having some quiet
time. For some reason he decided he wanted his quiet time to be
in my room instead of the living room. I should probably check
on him… Eve is napping. She didn’t get a morning nap and was
thrilled when I put her to bed. Actually, I think she’s awake
now… I hear little talking over the monitor. She’s been
choosing her pack-n-play for sleeping lately. I guess the
excitement of the toddler bed has warn off. I don’t usually
object because if I put her in the bed when she asks for the
pnp then I know I’ll just be up there again a few minutes later
when she starts walking around the room. Silly girl. Lex has
taken to napping every other day or so. He seems to do ok until
bedtime, and he’s pretty good at quiet time, so we’re ok with
the arrangement. I was actually realizing the other day that
it’s been awhile since we’ve had bedtime battles. I think maybe
it’s just because I relaxed about it. So much to know with this
parenting thing!!! I went to a WW meeting today and was
frustrated. I’m 3lbs from the default 10% goal they set and
I’ve been pretty much holding steady for the past few weeks.
Today I was exactly the same as last week, not even .1lb more
or less. :/ I’m going to try switching plans (from core to
flex) for a week or two to see if that helps. I’ve hit the
weight that my body seems to like (where I seem to naturally be
most of the time) and so I don’t know if my body just really
likes this weight or my subconscious thinks this is where we
belong or what. So much to know with this weight loss thing!!
;)

Anyway, his quiet time
is up and she seems to be awake and I did not get any prep done
for tonight’s party…. so I guess I’m out of here. Like I
said, just a quick hello :) More later (someday!)

Eve’s first trip to the ocean. She loves
the beach!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pnw-xjdYs0]

“Get it, get it” she says as she chases a
seagull across the beach. Not surprisingly, she didn’t get it!
:) Right at the end the bird spreads it’s wings and flew off,
leaving Eve a little confused. I think she was surprised at how
big the bird looked with it’s wings spread.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdrJxwH7ycQ]

Eve likes to “wipe” her face with a napkin.
She even requests napkins sometimes. The funny thing though is
that she rarely actually touches her face. :) She’s very
ineffective, but she does it with gusto!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy2KVW5fnNg]

Although she wasn’t too fond of the water, Eve
had a blast on the beach (what little of it there was during
high-tide). Here she’s saying “shovel” as she scoops sand into
the bucket. Towards the end you can see Lyndsey scooting over.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j4up2lhR5M]

Splashing in the pool. I’m happy that Eve
finally got in. It’s so much more fun for all of us when
they’re both playing together instead of him swimming and her
crying every time she got splashed.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvTK2Aerymg]

Our neighbor’s have a great little blueberry
patch that they very kindly share with us. Lex and Eve LOVE to
eat blueberries and I often find myself dragging them away
after eating many, many berries. Sometimes mommy even gets a
few blueberries too. :)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH8AYZdZ3L0]