6 Months of Bea

It's is truly almost impossible to believe that Bea is already at 6 months. It is as if time as been on TiVo triple fast-forward since she arrived, and bam...here we are 6 months later.

I have never been shy about stating my disdain for the newborn stage. And truthfully, I didn't really love babydom until Tillie turned 6 months old. But if anyone could get me to say...'okay okay, maybe I kind of sort of love the baby stage".....it is this one.

This smiley, sweet, giggly, snuggly little one.

In the last few months, Bea has been working it. And by working it, I mean, working on rolling, crawling and sitting.

Crawling was her skill of choice...

That is, until she conquered sitting up. And now she is pretty content just chilling out, reaching for toys, watching her new vantage point of her sister and occasionally tipping over.

She also got her first taste of food just after she turned 5 months and has already enjoyed avocado, peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, squash, pears, apples, bananas and peaches. So far she hasn't refused any of them. I am still waiting for the food we give her that she just spits everywhere, because she is NOT shy to tell us when she is done.

She also started daycare. Which according to her teachers is going great...she is happy and they love having her. But according to me it is NOT great, mostly because I don't ever get to see her, but also because she is getting about half the amount of sleep so I don't get a happy baby. I pick up a cranky baby.

But luckily for us, it is still nice out, and if there is one thing Beatrice loves--it is being outside.

Well, that and her sister.

Man, she does love her sister. 

And Tillie seems to have graduated from eye-poking and kicking, and now like to test how hard it is to push her over or pull her forward.

And in the last few weeks, Beatrice has seem intrigued by Peek-A-boo.

And will smile if you do it to her.

This week as I was setting up to take her weekly photo, I left the room to grab the camera and when I came back in she had rolled herself up in the blanket she was laying on.

Literally swaddled herself.

Lucky for me I had the good camera and she was pretty darn proud of herself so she wasn't moving, because it made for some pretty great pictures.

And Bea continues to be our little string bean. Now, I'm not trying to name names....but someone is a month younger in this picture....and Bea just doesn't quite measure up in the adorable folds category (which I presume is only a category measured in cuteness for the first few years since no one has ever call my chunky folds cute as an adult).

Look at this little tiny booty.

Oh, Bea. You light up our lives so much. And we are so blessed that you are here.

We are also blessed (especially Mama) that you dropped the last feed in the middle of the night a few weeks ago and are now doing a solid 11-12 hours.

Daddy wishes you would just sleep until you were ready to get up because you still need some help in the form of warm arms to snuggle you after 5:30, but really....who wouldn't mind snuggling you for a little bit every morning? (assuming you do in fact grow out of this at some point)

Older, bigger, squirrelier, squishier.

Months 6-10 were my favorite the first time, so by the laws of logic since I actually enjoyed the first 6 this time around, the next four months that I have been looking forward to will probably be terrible.

But given the rate that time is passing it will only feel like one.

Either way, we will all come out on the other side, and I will still be one lucky Mama!

Tillie Talks

Oh. This Two Year Old.

This. TWO. year. old.

She is full of it. Every day. All day.

Full of sweetness.

Full of sass.

Full of giggles.

Full of whine.

Full of all things good in this world.

And she is talking up a storm. Like crazy amounts of talking.

The last few days she has taken to 'checking everyone's pants for poopies'.

She will grab your pants, look down there, and say: "no poopy"

She is starting to put all of her baby dolls to bed. Mina, Charlotte and Punky.

They all have to have diapers, and sleep sacks. 

Then she shuts the door and tells everyone to be quiet.

(yes, queue everyone in my family saying...hmmm, wonder where she gets that from?!).

She adores her Toddler yoga. 

WARRIOR POSE!

And everywhere she goes, she runs.

And announces: "I'M RUNNING!" while she is doing it (as if you couldn't tell--she isn't exactly light on her feet at this point...)

And every morning, I go in to get her (since Nate is down with Bea), and she stands in her crib.

I walk up to her. Tell her it is too early.

She says: "Snuggle, Mama?"

And then wraps her arms around my tummy while I wrap her in a blankie and lift her out of her crib.

Then we snuggle, (which is amazing because it is snuggling AND keeps her quiet so Bea can still sleep).

Until she just can't snuggle any longer.

And she looks up at me, grabs my face with both of her little hands and says:

Good Mornin'. Mama.

And I say: "How was your big sleep?"

And she says: "GOOD"

**And then she usually asks for a snack, OR I ask her if she had any dreams, and she ALWAYS says yes, OWLS!!!!!!

Festivities of the Fall Nature

This is one of those blogs that I don't even really know how to start because I am so obsessed with all of the photos we took that they really  should just speak for themselves.

(and have a moment of honesty here...I am back to work and CRUNCHED for time).

But the moral of this story is last weekend was one of my favorite weekends to head home. We are talking small town county fair. We are talking apple orchards. And we are talking gorgeous weather and a huge backyard.

Plus the Keaty's were home AND we got to hang with the Schulz crew. It was a weekend for the photo book, which is good since I took 350 pictures in three days.

Riding the horsie swings. Every. single. one.

I promised Bea she can come next year. She was busy taking a 3 hour nap...

Grandma love!!!

Getting bigger and bigger!

After answering a lot of questions about why she couldn't ride on the horse, Tillie settled for the sleigh on the carousel with Grandma.

I think Matilda would have been content to be on this ride all day long.

Her cheering section.

A rare shot of all of the adults together.

Getting her bicep workout for the day.

Horses in the backyard = endless entertainment.

Bea spent most of the weekend in her crib catching up on sleep that she missed out on at daycare.

Remember that blog you used to read?

Yeah, This one. The one that I have been writing for almost 6 years (WHAT?!). Well right now, this blog feels like a 3rd child. One that I ignore, but think a lot about. The one that I have a lot of good ideas for, but not enough time to get it done. But I promise, dear friends, that I will be back. I will tell you about how work is going, how Bea is (or isn't) doing at daycare, and how fabulous our small town weekend of fun was. Hang with me...

And So It Begins

Today was the day. The day I turned my sweet baby over to someone else.

Someone else to snuggle, and cuddle, and give her big smile to.

Someone else to feed her, sleep her, change her and comfort her.

And I have to say, it was tougher this time around than the last time.

Perhaps it was because Matilda came with me to General Mills daycare so I never 'left' her.

Or perhaps it is because I enjoyed *almost* every second of this maternity leave.

How could you not snuggling this one?

I wasn't ready to go back to the real world this time.

As I pulled onto Highway 100, I was longing to be walking the streets with my stroller.

As I was getting logged into my computer and settled into my desk, all I wanted to do was read Bea a book, put her down for a nap and fold some laundry. (seriously, what is happening to me?)

As I was sitting in a terribly dull room pumping, I wished to be home to nurse her, play with her and get some cooking done for dinner.

And then I pick her up, and while the teachers say she did amazing she didn't get hardly any sleep. And is 100% totally trashed. Crying like I've never heard her. In bed before she ever has been. What happened to my smiley, giggly, loves to hang out baby?

But I suppose that is the benefit to the second time around. I know this will get better. She will either figure out how to sleep better, or she will figure out how to be happier with less sleep. For all of our sakes, I hope it is the former. I feel a little more rational, on a topic that it is almost impossible to be rational about--my kids.

These little creatures that I adore with every fiber of my being. For every moment I spend at work, I spend 3 moments thinking of them. I will forever cherish the time I had at home. To be fully dedicated as a Mom. And I hope I can find a way to be patient, calm, and caring  every day in the midst of being a working Mom.

Because all of the every days add up to a lifetime.

Translation Tuesday: Educise

This past weekend Matilda went to Eila's, her best buddy, house to celebrate Eila's birthday. As we left Tillie got a little party favor, which was a pack of animal 'flash cards'. She was immediately obsessed.

When we got home, I was feeding Bea and watching Tillie and Nate out on the front walk-way. Tillie runnign back and forth, back and forth. Over and over and over again.

I came out and was informed that "those were daddy's cards" and I was 'no touch". But that I had to "sit there mama....(as she pointed to the stairs)." The game she had created went a little somethign like this:

Nate sitting at the end of our walkway,with all of the cards.
Tillie would pick two out of four cards Nate was holding up.
She would yell out the animals name.
And then run those cards to the stairs.
And then repeat.

And she did this 36 times. Which means she ran the length of our walk-way 72 times.

And you know what happened after that? A three and a half hour nap. WHAT?!?! Unheard of.

So not only do we get a game that Matilda created herself, and will play for 30 minutes, but it's a game that she is learning somethign and burning off the crazy amount of energy she has? Excellent. And thus, the beginning of educise is explained.

Garden Cooking

I am sad for oh so many reasons to be heading back to work this week, but one of the things I am going to miss most is cooking every day.

I just can't fathom how we can cook the way we have with me home all day.

The planning.

The shopping.

The chopping.

The prepping.

All gets done before 5PM.

So literally, all we have to do is the actual cooking.

One of my recent favorites we made featured some yummy goodness from our garden, which has been plentiful this year.

Tomato and Arugula Linguine.

Mmmm. Mmm.

Here's hoping next week doesn't relinquish us to chicken nuggets and tacos on a rotating basis.

The Things on My Mind....

Will Bea sleep at daycare? Do I really have to pump twice a day in the office again? Will she be sitting in a corner all day and crying? How will we all ever get out the door with me showered and prepared for work? When will Bea stop waking up at night and will I be able to function on a professional level with the amount of sleep I have? I hope the new school remembers that I want veggies and fruit FIRST before rice cereal. Will Matilda realize that I haven't been at work this whole time once I start dressing up, and retaliate with temper tantrums and whatever toddler magic she has up her sleeve? How will Nate and I fare with TWO kids going down with daycare sickness? When will I ever get filled up with enough Bea snuggles to get me to the next day? Is it still too late to try to lose 10 pounds before next Wednesday? Shoot. Will we be able to eat anything other than spaghetti, hamburgers, and whatever other meal can be thrown together in the 30 minutes we have before we need to eat? How often is too often to call Bea's room and see how she is doing? Do you think it is too soon after maternity leave to request a sabaatical?

The Dictator

If a picture was ever worth a thousand words, this one would be it.

Let me set the scene.

It is the AMMA 2nd Birthday Get together.

Tillie arrived and promptly had a potty accident.

We didn't bring a back-up outfit, let alone a diaper bag.

So, Mandy was kind enough to loan us some boys clothes and undies.

Tillie was pretty exited about it.

She was also excited about this little truck.

She drove it for a while, until she got bored with that.

At which point she decided that BEA should be driving her around.

And had a melt down until we made it happen.

Which we did.

Happy Birthday to this wonderful crew of 2 year olds, and Mamas who I am blessed to have in my life!

Matilda also shoved her face full of 3 cupcakes.....