Archive for May, 2011

Serenity in May =)

Friday, May 27th, 2011

5/8
Happy Mother’s Day to me! Serenity ran to me this morning and said, “Mama, I wrote your name on this paper for you!” She did this all by herself, and it’s the first time. She’s written Mama before, but usually I peel the stickers, and ask her which letters she wants. She has no idea it’s Mother’s Day either, but I got my first handmade card. =) Life is so sweet =)

In other cute news, I think I figured out why she is so fascinated with climbing inside my shirt lately. Today she said, I want to get in your shirt! Gonzo is in there! So she stuck her head inside my shirt and cuddled up to me. She is such a snuggler, I love her so much!

Ok, the rest of the day was just as interesting =) Mom came over to have lunch with us, and Serenity decided she’d like to make some gingerbread people. So while Mom and I chatted, I cut out some sticky foam shapes for Serenity to decorate her gingerbread people with. She ended up requesting a white bed, pillow, and covers for her gingerbread baby, and she put him to bed. (we play this game a lot, with play-doh, her stuffed animals and scarves, and so on. =) But this time she was playing with his face, and she used a crescent for a smiley face. Then she turned it upside down and said he was sad, that he “misses his Mama.” Then she requested tears so she could make her gingerbread baby look really pitiful. Then she made him a Mama gingerbread, and flipped his sad face around again. Then she got a door to put on top of Mama, and made him sad again. It’s fun that she’s learning about emotions and how they are expressed!!!
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She found Daddy’s baseball stuff, and after putting on his batting glove, hat and mitt and pretending to throw and hit for a while, took off her clothes and said she needed her baseball shirt. I didn’t think she had one, but I followed her up the stairs to look. Turns out her pink shirt with the rhinestone number 3 on it is her baseball shirt, it has numbers just like the baseball players she saw at Daddy’s game =)
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She had an absolute blast at Carson’s birthday party Saturday. It was held at the Tulsa World of Gymnastics. She swung on the rings, used balance beams and trampolines, and spent a long time jumping into this big pool full of foam cubes. She was completely fearless, and one of the mom’s helping around the pit asked if she had older brothers, if that was where she learned all these acrobatics. They’re pretty much genetic I believe. =) Although her cousins do enjoy egging her on! I almost didn’t convince her to leave, thank goodness Kelly had balloons with the goodie bags, because she kept darting out of reach and I wasn’t about to waddle after her with my eight and a half month pregnant belly. =) She was exhausted, but so so happy. She kept asking to go to Carson’s party again! And she spent the last two hours before bed playing with the “Very Special Balloon” that Aunt Kelly gave her. =)
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5/24/11
Serenity’s reading is getting better and better… and she is becoming a bit intolerant of mistakes. When we’re reading, she always notices if one of us says something wrong (which is part memorization probably), and she’ll say, “I’m sorry” and won’t let us turn the page until we say it correctly. She’ll also say “I’m sorry” if she’s just not ready to turn the page, sometimes she likes to really look carefully at a particular picture or word. It’s very cute =)

She has a robot voice now, thanks to a Backyardigans episode. “All systems, A-OK.” It’s hilarious. The little cartoon people on that show actually have some serious dance moves, and Serenity and Daddy danced along with their best robot moves. Super cute!

Serenity is still addicted to her sticky tape. She uses it to fix everything from her Yookidoo to the hole in one of our upholstered chairs.

Yesterday we made the mistake of leaving some paper towels in the floor. She found one and tore off a looooong string of towels, and then said with a brilliant smile, “I’m making a beautiful, beautiful quilt!!!” She was so thrilled =)

5/27
Serenity slept till 8am this morning. Usually this would mean an equally lazy morning for Mama, but for whatever reason my brain woke up and wouldn’t let me stay in bed longer than 5:30. When Eric woke up it was so sweet though. Watching our baby girl sleep is so sweet. All we could do was grin in amazement and joy at each other. I love them so much.
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Serenity's Nose to Nose Game =)

Serenity's Nose to Nose Game =)


My sleepy family =)  Eric is just barely hanging onto the bed... mostly the fault of my pillow tower.

My sleepy family =) Eric is just barely hanging onto the bed... mostly the fault of my pillow tower.

Pregnancy Stories

Monday, May 9th, 2011

Abbey pointed out today that I hadn’t been posting anything about the baby boy! I have been writing in a pregnancy journal a bit, but I hadn’t shared anything since December! So here is a post just for him =) No pictures as the ultrasound ones I got were extremely blurry, but here are the things I want to remember most about this time with him =)

Pregnancy Journal 2011
January 3, 2011

The baby is a lot more active! I’ve noticed lots of movement all day today. It’s such a wonderful feeling. I’ve felt little things before today, since Christmas eve at least, but now there is no doubt that someone is in there and eager to move and grow. We still call the baby Gonzo, although he is no longer doing strange things to my appetite, it’s still fun to have something to call him or her. And let’s face it, being in this family probably means being a weirdo is appropriate. We have to wait until January 24th for the ultrasound, at 22 weeks. Two weeks later than it was with Serenity! My patience is being sorely tested.

January 25, 2011
Yesterday was finally the ultrasound day! We know for sure now that you are a boy!!! We are so happy and excited!!! I, once again, just REALLY wanted to know. I have so many plans and ideas I want to start on for you! Everyone was very excited for us, especially Marilyn and Jennie as they both have boys nearly your age! It will be so much fun to play with them!

The last two weeks you’ve started moving so much more. It’s the most amazing feeling and I absolutely adore it. I keep feeling this sense of amazement, that I can’t believe I get to do this again. I’m so, so lucky to get to be your Mama.

3/29/11
Well, my baby boy is definitely growing! You wiggle and jump around in there all the time. Serenity loves it. She says, “That’s Gonzo saying hi to me!!!” And she also sometimes yells at my tummy, “Gonzooooo, Gonzoooo… hi Gonzo!” We are trying to get her used to calling you by some of the names on our list so she won’t be surprised when we give you a real name. We shortened our list of names we like from 30 to around 6, and she seems to be picking Donovan lately. We will see what you look like! She includes you already when she’s playing. If we are having tea, she pokes me in the tummy with the teapot so you can have a drink too. And she includes you when we’re singing songs, and lots of other games. She often says, “That’s Gonzo in Mama’s tummy!”

Pregnancy-wise everything is going smoothly again. It’s a bit different, I think you like to be up higher than Serenity because you tickle my ribs a lot more. I am nesting like a crazy person. I always like organizing, but I have taken it to extremes. We are switching around every single room in the house, like Musical Bedrooms. And I went to Target and came home with six different storage tubs to organize everything… and one Kleenex box cover. Now, I’ve never thought those were necessary before, but for some reason I just HAD to have it. I got home with it and was a little baffled as to why I’d bought it, as I’d even thought they were silly before. And your Daddy just laughed at me. He is very excited to meet you, and tries out a new name every time he talks to you. I wonder a little bit how it’s different for you. With Serenity, we talked to her occasionally, but these days we are always talking, singing and reading. You hear us so much more than she did. I think its fun. =)

5/9
It’s May now! Less than a month until you will be here! It doesn’t seem possible, both because again I’m really not that uncomfortable, and second because my projects aren’t done! I have so many things in mind to make for you but we kept waiting for construction to try and accomplish any of them. Grandma and I are finally deep into quilting time, so hopefully you will soon have some homemade items to welcome you. =) I’m to the point that I have weekly doctor visits, and everything seems fine. I don’t think you’ll be early, you don’t seem to be in any rush, but in reality I suppose it could be any time now. You were a wiggle worm at the doctors today, jumping around so much your heartbeat was fast and then rolling to the other side so the doctor had to look for you again to make sure you calmed down. You did, but you sure had fun messing with her.

Serenity in April =)

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

She loves Grandma's Cabin!!!  She keeps asking to go back, today she even tried to rebuckle her carseat so she could go!

She loves Grandma's Cabin!!! She keeps asking to go back, today she even tried to rebuckle her carseat so she could go!


4/10/11
She is starting to learn drama =) And by that I mean, she’s learning how the different emotions sound… and taking advantage of it. She walks up to me and is the perfect picture of dejection. “I’m sad, Mama. I need a kiss.” She looks at the ground, lowers her voice to a quiet, pitiful little sound, and then as soon as she gets the kiss (or whatever she happened to ask for, it’s not always for sweet things =) then she pops up and says, “I’m HAPPY!” With her normal big grin. =)

She seems aware that another baby is coming, and she seems to have settled on his name. She’s also starting to actually play some games with her dolls, like changing the Super Reader’s diapers, (which involved emptying the entire wipe tub the first time) and feeding them. For some reason her babies all seem to want to eat peas and juice. She gives Rose a bottle and takes off clothes… no dressing them yet. She also does all this with the “people” in her dollhouse. (Her dollhouse is full of Dora characters and animals too, but they all use the highchair, stroller, beds and covers regardless. =)

5/4
The last month has been so very busy! And Serenity keeps growing and changing so quickly it’s hard to keep track of things! She is reading extremely well, she can easily read the first level I Can Read type books to herself. Once or twice when we were on a long shopping trip at Target I’ve grabbed one of those books and she’s happily entertained by reading it to herself. She got a Strawberry Shortcake book that way, and she loves it because it’s about dancing, and she loves the colorful girls =) She already had a Lemon Meringue and Strawberry Shortcake soft doll, but I got her a little Plum Pudding that was sized for her dollhouse because she loves being a “purple girl.” (Yes, she still loves for everything she’s wearing to match from head to toe, and calls herself a purple girl when that is the color of the day! =)

I’ve noticed that she’s started pronouncing the letter L correctly occasionally… I’m not sure if I wrote about this so I wanted to record it before I forget how she used to speak. She used to say all her L’s as Y’s. So La La La was Ya Ya Ya. And especially sweet… “I YUV you Mama.” It’s good that she’s figuring out on her own how to say an L, but I know I’ll miss the cute little way she used to say things. =) Incidentally, I noticed her saying an L because yellow, which used to be yeyow, is now sometimes, lellow. =) So it’s still cute. =)

One of her favorite games, usually played during wake up snuggles, is “nose to nose.” She takes turns squishing different parts to Mama or Daddy. She especially likes doing nose to nose, but she does cheek to cheek, head to head, hand to hand, all kinds of things. Tummy to tummy =) It’s pretty funny, but sometimes painful as she has started poking with her nose really hard! We wonder why it doesn’t hurt her but it doesn’t seem to!

She’s getting really good at jumping, and she’s pretty fearless about it. Eric cheers and I try to show moderate enthusiasm instead of fear =) She jumped from her bed to the top of her book club. Probably a good thing we don’t have a lot of tall furniture.

“What did I say Mama? What am I doing Mama?” Serenity has been asking these questions a LOT. I’m not sure if she’s checking to make sure I’m paying attention to her or what. It’s also possible she got it from me. When she’s doing something I’ve told her not to do, I ask her “What did Mama say?” So that she repeats whatever I’ve been telling her not to do. And hopefully actually stops. Yeah right.

She’s started wanting to have a book in the bed with her when she goes to sleep, and sometimes through the monitor we hear her reading it to herself. So so cute. =) Last night it was bear hunt and she kept going “Splash splosh!”

She discovered the rest of the game cabinets recently too. Up until now, she’s just gotten into the one I designated as hers and filled with her books and games. It was on a different side than the rest, but now she knows them all and so Daddy’s Games know no peace. She has asked to play nearly every game in there, and as you know Eric has a lot of games! I wrote a whole post about it for cleverfaeries, here’s more details on some of her favorite games.

Set: This card game was the clear winner. She nearly plays it right =) The point is that there are cards with four variables, 3 different colors, shapes, patterns, and number of objects. You make sets with either the same attribute, or all different, like one of each color, but all with two solid diamonds. She loves to find sets! She’s always been big on matching colors, and she’s in heaven when she can dig through the cards to find matches. She even knows what she needs to look for, like if she has one green squiggle and the three green squiggle, she goes hunting for the two green squiggle. It’s great for color matching, shape matching, patterns, and so much more!

Dominoes: We have the colored set of dominoes, and the games we have come up with for this are hilarious. I tried to show her a basic Mexican Train, where you start with one domino and match the ends to make a long train. She loved that, and had me count how many tiles were in her train over and over. In Spanish, for some reason. Then she decided that “Catorce” (the fourteenth tile in her train, ironically the 10/3) was special. She pulled it out and said, “Oh no, my train is broken! It won’t go!” So we started doing a lot of role-playing with the dominoes, with Catorce as the star. We made bridges, rivers, paths, houses, and boats. And then she found the double seven, which we now call Pinky Pinky. She needed her diaper changed, and food. So much random, open-ended, creative playtime! It was great!

She loves all the card games we have, and even a regular deck of cards is great for matching. We also have chess, and Chinese checkers. Although I have to sit with her the whole time when she’s playing with the marbles, it’s great practice for hand-eye coordination, and she loves matching the colors to the diamonds. So far she hasn’t tried to eat them, but I am not about to leave her alone with them anytime soon.

She also likes the games with little figures, like our Star Wars game and X-Men. And all the things with tiny colorful wooden counters, like Steam.

The day she pulled Apples to Apples I figured that she would look at the cards for two minutes and move on. But no, she decided it was great fun to read the cards! She sounded out words like Wicked and guessed Octopus for Outrageous. So, Apples works as toddler flashcards as well.

I think I have the most fun when she pulls out the games with maps, like Ten Days in Asia or Pandemic. She really tries to read the names of the countries, and does a great job! And she likes matching the card to the country. So it’s great matching practice, a little reading and geography too! Plus it’s just fun to hear her say things like Kinshasa and Ho Chi Minh.

Finally, a big sister update. She started singing Happy Birthday to the baby again and again. I hope he doesn’t take the message as he still has 26 days to go! But it is super cute. And then she blew out the candles on her pretend birthday cake and wished for a teddy bear for Donovan.

And now for pictures! Click on the thumbnails to enlarge. =)