P.T.

P.T. does not mean Physical Therapy or Part Time...it means Potty Training

DCP got a potty for the 3 kids over 3. She has them lined up in the kitchen area. Two days ago Meadow was the only one of the three to go potty. She got chocolate. Today Wendy put underwear on all three. Meadow had a little poop in her underwear this afternoon, and Wendy got her on the potty and she finished. The only time today she had a diaper on was during naptime. She got lots of chocolate today. I am so proud!

She went potty when we got home. Then she had an accident outside with CHris and wanted to put a diaper on. I tried to encourage her to put underwear back on.

2-3-5!

Last night the girls were taking a bath. When they were done, Meadowput all the toys away. As she puts them into the mesh bag, we countthem. She would put one in and I would say, "one". Then she wouldput the next three in saying, "two, three, five!" I told Chris whatshe did and so he was trying to get her to do one and four, but sheinsists on skipping over four. When we say four she looks at us likewe have three heads.

I guess the number of the day is two. I just tried counting with herand after every number I say she says two.

L&M Milestones

On August 16th, at her birthday party, Lily took her first step unassisted. We were opening presents when it happened. She was trying to go from me to a new toy! She took one step and realized she wasn't holding onto anything, then quick sat down.

She keeps doing this...or she will stand unassisted for several minutes and not walk. I am starting to get frustrated.

Meadow has started dressing and undressing herself. She has no problem putting bottoms on herself. Yesterday when she woke up from her nap, she had pulled a 3T shirt up around her waist. I have such a goofy girl!

Quik Update

Hey Family and Friends,

Days have gotten by me. I keep saying that I am going to post tomorrow...

Sunday I noticed Lily's third tooth.

While grocery shopping on Sunday Meadow grabbed her own bunch of bananas. They were better than the ones her daddy picked out. She sure loves bananas.

I will leave you with two pictures from the zoo on Saturday. Special thanks to Kati for getting me out of the house.

For those of you who know Meadow - you know who is in the last picture. This is definately going in the scrapbook

OMG, I can't believe I forgot to post this!

This week end we went to my IL's. We were consistently putting Meadow on the potty, but she wouldn't go. On Sunday (3/31) I sat her there, and had to run to Lily. I gave her a book to read in the meantime. She was letting me know that she was done. I took her off the potty, and noticed a turd in the toilet! I was so proud of her.

I told her good job, but she seemed unphased. Whether or not she knows what she did it is still a pretty big step in my book!

She did it again

Tonight, Meadow came up to me squatting and grabbing her crotch. I asked her if she had to go potty and she ran to the gate. I took her into the bathroom and took her diaper off. She sat on the potty. After a bit she peed again. I will have to talk to the sitter about potty training more aggressively.

Milestones for Meadow

Earlier today, Meadow took off her diaper. I explained to her that if she is going to keep taking her diaper off she is going to have to wear panties and go on potty on the potty. I took her into the bathroom. Took apart the potty seat, and snapped the seat onto the toilet. I set her on it for a few minutes, and nothing.

Last night she had a bath, and tonight was Lily's turn for a bath. Meadow followed me it, put the potty seat on toilet, and started taking off her clothes. I snapped the potty in place and helped her take her pants and diaper off. I put her on the toilet. She sat for a minute. I asked her if she wanted a book, so I went to get her one. As I was coming back into the bathroom I heard her going. I called Chris in and he gave her a high five. She was really proud of herself.

She insisted on joining her sister in the bathtub. I thought why not, and put her in the tub. She and Lily had a good time splashing eachother and seeing who could make the biggest splash. Chris helped me get the girls dried off. I came into the living room, got Meadow a diaper, handed it to her, and went to get Lily a diaper. When I walked passed her I noticed she was squatting and pooping on the living room floor!

Ouie

Meadow has had diarhea all week end. With it, she also got a bad diaper rash. I stayed home with the girls today, because Meadow wasn't better. Today I would catch her holding her belly. I got her butt to start clearing up. I was alternating between Lotrimin cream and desitin.

Anyway, later in the day she came up to me, and said, "Ouie."

I looked at her and said, "What is ouie?"

She bonked me on the forehead with her hand, and said, "ouie."

Growing up before my eyes

Candace, thanks for the comment about Meadow's fingers. Her fingers have healed fine. As a matter of fact, the little monkey keeps going back to the source of her pain. Chris think she is trying to seek revenge.

When I was initially trying to clean her up, I told her that she had to hold her hand up (above her shoulder). I explained that it would help it stop bleeding and heal. The next morning it started bleeding again, so we went through the same process. I held her hand above her shoulder, and explained again why I was having her hold her hand up. Then, I noticed whenever it was bothering her she would hold her hand up.

Lily is eating solids now. You probably figured that out from the slideshow I posted the other day. She is such a little piggy. Last week at daycare she ate a whole jar of baby food on Monday, 1/2 a jar on Tuesday, 1 1/2 jars on Wednesday, 1 jar on Thursday, and 1 jar on Friday.

I am definately going to have problems keeping up with this girl. She is getting more mobile everyday. She is so determined to get to wherever she wants to go by wriggling, rolling, or inchworming around. She has managed to crawl across the living room towards the kitchen to get to me.

She has been sleeping in her own room for a week. Her bed must be real cozy, because I am having problems waking her up in the morning. If she wakes up in the middle of the night we get to cuddle on the couch. I won't give that up for anything. I love my cuddle bug. She loves to cuddle, and I love every minute of it.

Meadow's vocabulary has really exploded lately. Last night she said two new words in 5 minutes. First, we were watching Eight Below. One of the dogs on the movie looks just like Miischka. I said to her, "Meadow doesn't that puppy look just like Miischka?"

She looked at the TV, and said, "Meese-ka" I am sure the sch sound is difficult for her to say.

Then, she eyed up the Goldfish crackers we keep readily available for a snack. She pointed to them and says, "Gofish".

Cute Pic of Meadow and Sad Story

See my cute little girl? Don't you love the outfit she is in? Check out Puppy and her two fingers in her mouth. That is her natural pose.

Now for the sad story. Wednesday night she crawled under the computer desk (she knows it is off limits). I told her to get out, and I was nursing Lily. I heard her scream. I looked down and she had her fingers stuck in the CPU. There is a door that opens and somehow you can another drive or something. Anyway, I told her to stay still. I put Lily down on the floor, and in that time she yanked her hand out. her index and ring finger are bruised and she took a big chunk out of her middle finger. It bled a lot. I think it still hurts her a bit. She has gotten over it. I haven't. I feel so bad. I wish the computer wasn't in the living room, so she wouldn't be tempted to play with it.

B 4 I 4Get

In the month of December Lily started rolling over. She is such a Roly Poly now. She can go both ways with out a lot of effort. She is also "talking" a lot. Especially if you are looking at her. She will smile at you if you smile at her. It is true that smiling is contagious with her.

Last week the girls where at the back up center. There was a back-to-work baby there who is very spoiled. She would scream if no one is paying attention to her. Needless to say Lily has started screaming just like the other baby.

I thought it would be bad if Meadow learned the word, "mine." But she only uses it when she wants something she doesn't know the word for. It isn't like she is constantly saying, "mine, mine, mine." Actually it sounds more like "my". I can handle the "my"s much better than Lily's screaming.

Yesterday Chris was sleeping on the couch. Meadow kept trying to stick a pacifier in his mouth. It was so funny. Chris didn't even react.

Is this a milestone?

So, Meadow has learned how to keep her room clean. It has looked great for days! Would you like to know how a 17 month old keeps her room clean? You must think this is a real good secret...well, it is not...she just moved the mess to the living room!

Chris cleaned her room and put all her stuffed animals on her shelf. All the toys from Christmas are in the living room. We really need to come up with a better storage solution!

Snuggly Poohs

Last night Lily would fall asleep when I nursed her. As soon as I put her down she woke up again. IT was going on midnight. I desperately wanted sleep. I brought her in bed next with me. I snuggled her close. I kept a breast easily accessable for her to nurse when she needed too. Everytime Chris moved I woke to make sure he didn't roll onto Lily.

Sometime between 5 and 6 he got up. I was able to get a couple hours of good sleep then. When I finally felt like I had enough rest I noticed Lily was cuddled real close to me. I felt really at peace with that. It was nice to know that she just really wanted to be by momma after she had a bad day of getting shots.

Through out today I cuddled with her. She still wasn't feeling well. This morning she vommitted. Actually this afternoon too. I took her temp, and it was slightly elevated. I was told that her temp would be higher than normal due to the shots she had. I wasn't concerned. I just kept cuddling with her until I put her down for the night.

Meadow was in a cuddley mood too. After the first time Lily puked on me, I had an opportunity to shower. While I was in the shower I stopped hearing Meadow playing around. I got dressed, and came into the living room to check things out. To my amazement, Meadow had fallen asleep in Chris's arms. She looked so peaceful and cute. I would have taken a picture, but my camera wasn't immediately available. For the remainder of the day Meadow took every opportunity she could to cuddle with Chris or me. It was such a nice day, and before I knew it--it was 6 PM.

Much needed updates

Last Wednesday I went back to work. The transistion has been tough--very emotional. It was worse the second time around, and I had a short week. There are a lot of new faces and changes that occurred while I was gone. It is VERY hard getting back into the swing of things.

I took Meadow in for a check up (she needed a shot). She is up to 23 pounds. They said she was 31", but she was standing funny (I think she may be closer to 32). And the doctor did not force the chicken pox vaccine on her. He actually doesn't push it. She has been really crabby lately and we found the reason why at the appt. She is cutting molars. I got her a real tooth brush. She doesn't seem to mind me brushing her teeth. I tried to give her the brush, but she didn't want it. I think it is odd, because she likes to brush her hair and everyone else's (lily included). Tonight I did get her to "brush" her teeth after I did them. She really liked it, and I had to take the tooth brush away from her.

Lily is doing well in childcare. Friday we go in for a well baby check up. I will try to update after that. She has started "talking". It is so cure. She likes to hold conversations with the mobile when she wakes up. It is so cute. She isn't as smiley as Meadow was.

We are having issues with Lily bonding with Chris. She will only tolerate him for so long and then will break out in a cry. I had to work a little late tonight, so Chris picked up the kids. The whole time he had Lily she cried. She didn't even stop crying to drink her 2 ounces of EBM. Any suggestions would be great. We are all frustrated.

Smile

Today, I got to witness Lily purposefully smiling. After Meadow got to enjoy the indoor water park, I was holding Lily in my arms while we decided what to do next. I was staring down at her smiling, and she smiled back. I know it was not gas or an involuntery movement, because it lasted more than a few seconds.

When she smiled I saw that she has more features of DH than Meadow does. I wish I could have gotten a picture of that too.

Road Trip

This morning DH woke up and thought we should take a day trip. We went to the Dells, and let Meadow enjoy the afternoon at an indoor waterpark. She was having so much fun she kept giving DH hugs. I didn't get to participate in the fun, as my c-section wound isn't fully healed. He took her down the kiddie slides and under the sprinkler thingies. The pool was shallow enough for her to walk around on her own.

I don't have any pictures to share, because I forgot my camera at home and cell phone in the car. I actually enjoyed watching DH and Meadow enjoying themselves in the kiddie water park. The place we went had two kiddie water park areas. We went to both. I did wade around in the pools while holding Lily. Afterall, DH had to pay for me to enter too, even if I wasn't going to participate.

On the way to the Dells Meadow got sick twice. I was really tempted to say we should turn around, but I think Meadow was car sick. I asked her if her belly was feeling better, she pointed to her belly, and threw up. Of course this seems to happen when there isn't a good place to stop for miles. In both occurances DH managed to pull over to gas stations with no place to change Meadow. Which is why I still believe he should pull over right away and just let me deal with it. I think I am going to stick a roll of paper towel in each vehicle. The way home was without incident, except for the 5 cars pulled over between the city I work in and the city we live in. It is extremely rare to even see a squad car there. Meadow fell asleep a couple miles from our exit, and that is the only picture I managed to take.

Missing details

Last night I was holding Lily. I looked down at her saw her unvoluntary moments making her make all sorts of weird facial expressions. I realized how I missed documenting that with Meadow. With both girl it is so poetic to hold them in my arms and stare at them all night. I feel at peace with myself after nursing Lily in the middle of the night or right before bed, and look down at her as she dozes into a slumber. I remember the same feeling from doing the same with Meadow.

To Meadow

Dear Meadow,

Today you are 14 months old. Everyday you amaze me. I love watching you grow and learn. Exploring your surroundings and learning what you can do. You try to see exactly what you are capable of. It is so intriquing. I think it is funny that you practice your new skills in your crib before and after you sleep.

You have been so helpful lately and a good big sister. You help pick up everything but your toys. Even now you are trying to help me type this. I have to keep hitting delete to get hid of the random numbers, letters, and symbols you keep adding. When Lily cries you show concern. You want to touch her, and sometimes are rough. You don't realize how rough you are. That is OK, we will help you. One day you will learn.

I think I am very fortunate to have two beautiful daughters. You both fill my heart up with so much love. I know I will enjoy seeing you both grow up. I want to savor every moment of it. I hope that Meadow and you will be best friends. I know you two will have tough times together--that is part of having a sibling.

I love you. I will always love you.

Love,
Momma

Advise from her daddy

Last night Chris and Meadow were in the bathroom. Meadow sat on her potty. I thought she grabbed a magazine, so I peaked in to comment. Chris said to her, "Sometimes it helps to read."

Lily's Birthing Story and More!

Lily's Birthing story and first week and a half of life...
On Wednesday, August 15th, 2007 at 5:30 am I checked into Uplands Hills Hospital for the C-section to deliver Lily. I went to the Birthing first, where they hooked me up to monitors to check her heartbeat and for any contractions. They were looking for two accelerations and deccelerations in Lily's heartbeat. She acheived those pretty quick. Then, I went to Pre-Op where they hooked me up to an IV and asked questions to determine how much anestesia I would need. Soon after I went the operating room where I as prepped and received a spinal. The spinal did cause me have some naseau. At first it wasn't working properly so they had to get a different needle. At 8:03 the C-section started, and by 8:14 Lily Christine was born. The nurses had Chris come to watch her get cleaned off. He even cut her umbilicol cord.

They brought Lily over for me to see. She is so beautiful to me. I teared up immediately. It is so amazing how much love for her I had at that moment. They took Lily and Chris back to the Birthing Center, and wheeled me off to recovery. After I progressed satisfactorly, they brought me up to my room in the birthing center.

While I was in recovery they took the necessary vitals from my baby girl in our room in the birthing center. Chris and his mom where able to watch the whole time. Her APGAR scores were 8 and 9. She weighed 6 pounds 12 ounces and was 18 1/4" long. She developed jaundice and lost quite a bit of weight while in the hospital.
We were discharged on Sunday. I had to bring her into the hospital on Monday for a weight and jaundice check. Her weight was up two ounces to 6 pounds 11 ounces from discharge. Her jaundice improved. The nurse called our doctor, and he requested I bring her into the clinic on Thursday (8/23) for a weight check. I brought her in Thursday and her weight was 6 pounds 10 ounces. She is nursing like a champ.
At the hospital Meadow seemed mad at me. She didn't want to come by me, but she did a good job entertaining us. She got a kick out of the hair net thing Chris wore during the c-section. She eventually warmed up to me. While in the hospital she was curious by Lily, but we were cautious getting them too close together.

At home Meadow is still curiuos by Lily. She will give her a kiss on the head, but does try for the lips. I think it is so cute that she is being affectionate towards her little sister. She also wants to touch Lily, but ends up hitting her. I think she sees us patting the dogs, and is trying to do that to Lily. We try to catch her hand and get to nicely touch Lily. If she hears Lily cry, she will go stand by the Pack 'N Play until we get to her.

My mother in law came on 8/14 and stayed until 8/18. She kept Meadow during the night, so Chris could stay with me. He stayed until about bedtime, going home occasionally to let the dogs out. My father in law came on Saturday to meet Lily. My mom, brother, and brother's girlfriend came Sunday (8/19) and stayed until today. It was nice to have people come to help out. It was also stressful, because I didn't get any real good alone time with Chris. My sleep schedule isn't the same as his right now, because I am on schedule with Lily with breastfeeding.

Already Lily is scooting herself around the Pack 'N Play, lifting her head, and rolling from back to side and side to back.

8/25

When I was discharged from the hospital the doctor warned that Meadow may try to lift my shirt to try to nurse. Well, Lily was sleeping, so I was trying to get some playtime in with Meadow. I had her playing on Kneebouncers.com, she started getting rough with keyboard, so I put her down on the floor. She was upset. I tried to explain to her she had to be nice on the computer. She leaned into me. I seriously I thought she was going to give me a kiss, but she bit my boob. It really hurt. I screamed in pain. She looked shocked. I told her that she used to drink Momma's milk, and now it is Lily's turn. Let me back track. I am wearing an assymetrical dress that is easy to nurse in. So, Meadow's next move is to try to pull a boob out of my dress.