There are many differences between being a parent of one and a parent of two. There are the obvious differences, of course. It takes longer to do... everything. It takes longer to go anywhere. There is so.much.more laundry. WAY more toys. A lot more messes. SO much less sleep. And of course, more love and cuddles and hugs and little feet to kiss.
But one of the biggest differences of being a mom of two for me, is that I am now so acutely aware of how quickly the days, weeks, months, years fly by and just how warped time is when watching your baby grow up. When Elizabeth was a baby, I just kind of took it for granted that the baby stage lasts forever. Or at least a very, very long time.
Then I blinked and Elizabeth turned 4 1/2 the other day. How did that happen? How has it been 4 1/2 years since I held her in that hospital bed after pushing her out for two hours?
Every single day I look at Anna and know that this time is so, so limited. She will only be a baby for such a short time. She is growing so very fast. She is 7 1/2 months old today. The baby stage does NOT last forever or for a very, very long time. It flies by at warp speed. And then? They aren't babies anymore. Ever again.
So for now I cuddle and kiss and relish in the baby that she is today. Because she'll be big all too soon.
____________________
This next part is a piece of a blog post from Jill at BabyRabies.com. She wrote a letter to her 51 year old self and I can relate to every word. (Here is the link to the entire blog post.)
Even though you were tired and challenged, exasperated and overwhelmed, you knew then that you would miss these days…most of them, at least. It was a truth that was hard to live with, and most of the time you ignored it because there was nothing you could do about the passing of time. If you spent your days mourning the ones that had gone by, you’d miss out on the days you were living in.
You knew you were on a light rail, moving at speeds you couldn’t comprehend. You had no control over the ride that brought you to where you are today, but believe me when I say you searched so very hard to find the emergency brake.
Please know, please remember that you tried to savor that time. Be at peace, knowing you spent late afternoons curled up with them on the couch, that sometimes you just sat and watched them move and run, that occasionally you took inventory of all the things they’d learned in the last week, and that you appreciated your time with them the best you knew how. Know that despite your very best efforts, there was no way to freeze time. I promise you, you tried.
When I was pregnant with Anna, I was quite nervous about how Elizabeth would take having a new baby in the house. I was expecting jealousy, anxiety, regression, some sort of adjustment period... I kept expecting the jealousy to just show up one day, for Lizzie to be mad that Anna is getting more attention or pissed that she is playing with one of HER toys, or for Lizzie to ask the question that I feared the most... "Can't we put her back in??" So far....
Elizabeth meeting Anna for the first time.
I am totally blown away with how awesome Elizabeth is with Anna. She exceeded all my expectations of how life with an infant and older sibling would go. Seeing them together makes my heart go all melty.
At first, Elizabeth kept track of how many times she held Anna. Like, "This is my very first time holding Anna!" and "This is my 8th time holding Anna!" Then she would tell everyone who would listen that she had held Anna however many times. I think she lost track around 12 or 13.
The first time Elizabeth held Anna.
I believe this is Lizzie's second time holding Anna.
And now a bunch of random thoughts thrown together with bullet points:
She does her "job" of bringing dirty diapers from the living room to the diaper champ in the nursery (she will say, "Oh, I have a job to do!" whenever she sees a diaper sitting there. Hilarious.)
She insisted on buying Anna the really expensive teether giraffe named Sophie, and basically makes sure she has it at all times because she knows Anna loves it so much (she actually does seem to really enjoy the dang giraffe).
When Anna fusses, Elizabeth has said many times, "Anna, why are you crying? You have a big sister!"
She loves holding Anna's hand, or rather, she loves when Anna holds her finger. Every time she says something like, "Mom, look! Anna's holding my finger! Take a picture!"
After Anna was born, even when we were still in the hospital, Elizabeth would climb on the couch, put a pillow in her lap, and hold her arms out. That was her way of saying she wanted to hold her sister.
I told Elizabeth that it is so cool that she has a sister because some day they'll be best friends and can be each other's maids of honor, etc. and she said to me, "Mom, we are already best friends."
Elizabeth is such a little punk lately. A cute punk, but a punk nonetheless. When we tell her to do something or not do something, like, "Don't hit mommy," for example, she'll say, "I LOVE hitting mommy!
Me: "Lizzie, don't lay your face on the toilet." Liz: "I LOVE laying my face on the toilet!"
Nate: "Don't poke the caterpiller, Elizabeth." Liz: "I LOVE poking the caterpiller!"
My kid is emotional. She has always, even as a little baby, flipped emotions in a matter of a second. It has always been a source of amusement in our family, how she can go from laughing to crying or crying to laughing in 2 seconds flat.
It is hilarious how she can compose herself when she is a "sad baby."
Lately she has been throwing these little tantrums where she screams and cries and carries on. When this happens, I tell her, "Go to your room and find a happy face." She will usually run back to her room and look in the mirror by her crib.
The first time I said this to her, I showed her where to go to find her happy face. The second time I told her this, she took off down the hall. I snuck back to her room and saw her making faces at herself in the mirror. She spotted me pretty quick and started laughing. Now when I tell her this, she runs down the hall and runs back a moment later with a huge smile, saying, "Mommy, baby happy now!"
Also, she'll sometimes cross her arms and scrunch up her face and say, "Baby so mad." This is a far cuter way to express those feelings, girlfriend. It is even cuter when she pretends to be mad and can't hold back her smile!
What happened to my little baby girl who still needed her mom for stuff?!
(First, I still call Elizabeth my baby and so she still calls herself Baby. She doesn't know yet that she is a big girl, and not a baby anymore in the literal sense of the word. However, she will be my baby forever and I will not start calling her my big girl for as long as I can get away with it!)
Elizabeth has turned into Little Miss Independent lately. She thinks she doesn't need her mom for anything anymore! If I turn a light on, I hear, "Baby do it!" and she will go turn the light off and turn it back on. If I shut a door, I hear, "Baby do it!" and she will go open the door and shut it again. If I turn her sound machine on, open her monkey tent, stack her books, get a blanket or Henry the Monkey out of her crib, (etc, etc, etc) I hear, "Baby do it!" and she will undo and redo whatever it was that Mommy had actually managed to do quite well the first time, thankyouverymuch. You get the idea.
I can't even feed her anymore. She eats all by herself. (She does really awesome feeding herself with her forks and spoons, by the way.) At least she still needs me to actually prepare her food!
However, my super independent, wonderful, amazing daughter is still my baby at bedtime. After we read a few books, she turns around and lays her head on my shoulder and I hold her just like I did when she was a tiny newborn (only now her feet go to my knees instead of the bottom of my ribcage) and we sing a song about cuddle time and say our prayers and I wish that she would stay my baby forever. In those few minutes, she isn't fighting with me over who puts her socks on or who pushes the chair in. She is just my sweet little precious baby who still wants to cuddle with her mommy.
For the last week or two, Elizabeth has been sitting on the toilet and reading books and magazines... and doing nothing else. It was super cute and I took pictures and all, but it was more like play time than potty time. I found that she stays put better when she sits on the regular toilet with the toddler seat than for her to sit on her little toilet because she just gets up and wonders around.
Well... today, Elizabeth pooped in the big girl toilet twice. TWICE! Yeah, no big deal. Whatever. (AHHHH!!!!! TWICE!!)
We were playing in the living room and then she said "Baby toot!" So I took her in to the bathroom and set her on the toilet and asked if she could toot again. She did. (hehe) "Baby toot again!" giggled Lizzie. I asked her again if she could toot again. So she tried and all of a sudden... plop! She looked startled and reached out and said, "Carry you??" (Which is what she says when she wants us to pick her up. I believe it came from when we say, "Do you want to walk or do you want me to carry you?") I showed her the poop in the toilet and I started freaking out and clapping and praising and we jumped up and down. Yay baby!!! Then later in the day, she did all of this again! Yay baby!!!
I wanted to post a picture of this momentous occassion. However, I decided that when she is older, I still want her to like me. So instead I'll post this picture. Here she is sitting on the toilet shortly after her first job and saying "Ta Da!" What a big girl!!
When Elizabeth gets told no or she gets pulled out of something that she wants to be in, and pretty much whenever she doesn't get her way, sometimes she'll start crying and run over to me saying, "Baby sad!"
When she does this, we'll say, "Are you a happy baby?" and she'll make this funny face like she's pursing her lips and sucking air in while she composes herself. It is so funny! Then all of a sudden she's a smiling happy baby with wet cheeks. =)
Also, sometimes whens he is in a grumpy mood or upset about something, she will run back in to the room all of a sudden, with a huge smile on her face, saying "Baby HAPPY!" Yay! ♥
Whenever Daddy walks in the door after work, Lizzie starts saying, "Slappy slappy blue ball, Daddy!!" over and over again. Which pretty much means she wants to go downstairs to play. Slappy slappy blue ball is a game Lizzie and her daddy made up and play downstairs where they slap my big, blue yoga ball. Weirdos!
She will also start looking for her shoes and wanting to go outside as soon as her daddy walks in the door. She loves going outside. LOVES IT. Even when it is cold and I am out there shivering, she does not care. She just wants to be outside!
Today when Nate walked in, Lizzie started yelling, "Daddy! Slappy slappy blue ball! Walk outside! Shoes! Jacket! Daddy!" Whoa baby! He didn't know which way to turn! They are outside playing right now. =)
This is just a list of things I want to remember... hence the title of the post. :)
Elizabeth loves eating what she calls "foffles" and "namas" (waffles and bananas, duh) for breakfast.
Instead of saying something like, "Gimme!" like I hear from most toddlers, Lizzie says, "Reeeach!" if she wants something.
She is pretty much copying everything we say. It doesn't always sound the same, but she tries!
After a visit to Colorado, Elizabeth has learned to say everyone's names out there. Kourtny is "Kokey," Faith is "Fate," Olivia is "Livie," David is "Dabie," and Kristal sounds different every time she says it.
She calls Pooh and Piglet "Pooh and Piggy."
***She can kinda sorta count to ten!!! It goes like this... "One, two, three, two, FIVE!!! Six, eight, nine, TEN!!!!" It counts!
She knows what a bunch of animals say when we ask her. So far she knows cat, dog, horse, cow, sheep, monkey, owl, and pig (kinda).
She calls Molly "Money" and will say "no, no doggy!" if Molly is doing something naughty.
When I was teaching Lizzie how to count to 3, I would say, "1...2...3... Mommy!!" and she would say, "...2....3" real quietly, and then say, "MOMMY!!!!" I can't type it as cute as she says it. :) Then she started saying, "...2....3.... GABBA GABBA!!" Hmpf.
When trying to convince Elizabeth to come back to her room for a diaper change, I held out my hand to her and started marching down the hall while saying, "March, march, march..." It has actually worked a few times! And now she can be found kinda stomping around and saying "Mon, mon, mon..."
Elizabeth says "wower" for "flower." I tried to get her to say the "f" sound. I said, "Lizzie, say ffffffflower!" So she says, "Ffffffff... wower!"
We got back from another exciting, fun filled vacation to visit our family in Colorado! The pictures pretty much explain everything we did and how much fun we had. :)
Elizabeth being all cute on the drive out there. You know, the 9 hour drive that she only slept 20 minutes of.
Lizzie loving playing in the water at this pretty garden place.
Playing in the water again.
Elizabeth and "Campa" getting some quality snuggle time.
Elizabeth at the ranch, wearing the cutest little riding helmet, while wearing Kourt's John Deere shirt (which we accidnetly stole... sorry Kourt!) and playing on Kourt's phone.
Tradional family photo at the Budweiser Factory
Elizabeth playing a beautiful ballad. (Good thing this is just a picture and not a video.)
Helping Aunt Kristal in the yard
She loved collecting pine cones! She even brought some home with her.
Chilling in the comfy chair and watching some Yo Gabba Gabba. Life is good. :) Also, her legs are so dang cute.
Where'd the baby go?!
My little girl on the way home. Where she stayed awake for the whole 9 hour drive.
Elizabeth gives kisses now!! REAL kisses! It is the sweetest, cutest, most wonderful thing in the whole world. She kisses our cheeks and blows kisses. She kisses her favorite stuffed animals and toys and kisses us with her favorite stuffed animals and toys. When she kicked me and I said, "Elizabeth Renee, you do not kick your mommy!" all stern like, she kissed both of my lets to get out of trouble. It worked! Stinker.
When she falls down and bumps her head or bangs a knee, I ask her if she wants mommy to kiss it. Then she runs over and lowers her head or lifts her knee (or whatever body part got hurt) and puts her hands on both sides of my head to lead me to her owie. She is soo cute! And then we "shake it off." She wiggles her little self to shake all of the hurt off. Sometimes I can't stand how cute she is.
Whenever Lizzie spills some of her water or milk, she goes to find a towel to wipe it up. Well, a towel or something else that is even a little absorbent. A shirt, a sock, a diaper, etc.
She will also wipe her own nose and mouth with a kleenex. Today she dribbled a little when she was taking a drink of water from her sippy cup, so she ran over to the couch where she had left her kleenex from earlier and wiped her face off. The winter will hopefully be easier if she can wipe her own nose!
Also, sometimes when the little booger's nose is running (or maybe just itches?) she grabs my hand and wipes or rubs her nose of my finger. Ew... She's so cute. :)
My mom, Lizzie's Gammie (or "Gigi" as Lizzie calls her), wrote the following story down for us while she was watching the squid one night...
Today Lizzie did something that I thought was so cute and so smart. She had her shoes on and was trying to get her daddy's shoes on over her shoes. I had just washed my hands and they were still damp. I went to help steady her while she was trying to get the shoes on. I took hold of her arm and she stopped with the shoes and kind of fussed, looked at her arm, and clumped over, wearing one of daddy's shoes, to the towel drawer. Then she grabbed a towel and dried her arm off! It was hilarious.
Looks like I didn't keep up with the "Picture a Day" thing for very long! I believe I have a picture for every single day, I just didn't keep up with the posts! Maybe one of these days... :)
Life continues to be a little crazy around here with a toddler! While she was a little slow to start saying words (in English), she has more than made up for it. She talks a lot.
She is constantly talking about "mama an' daddy," she says GeGe for Gammie Dianne, says Bee for binky and book, says hi, bye bye, ball, dee (for drink), happy, hat, shoe, Gabba (like I need to explain this one to other moms :), says something that sounds like goo gir for good girl, eee for eat, says UP when she wants up, and a word that sounds a lot like UP when she wants help with something (like putting on her shoes, which she does by herself except for the buckles, or if she stepped on tape or something), she says hawk and eye but not together yet - we are working on it! (Go Hawkeyes!), she says bebe for baby and points to herself - I think I must have called her my baby a few times! When I ask "Who is my favorite baby in the whole world?!?" she says, "MEEEE!" hehehe She says Nana and Papa for Grandma Judy and Grandpa Rob, says ball and ball-ball for football, Etc etc etc. She is saying so many words lately I stopped trying to keep my list updated!
She will also point to some body parts when we ask her where they are. So far we have tummy, head, nose, baby feet, ears, teeth, knees, shoulders, bunnies, tongue, and eyes. She can also point to these things on a stuffed animal or doll. So cute!
Something that Lizzie has done for a while is a little thing that we like to call "Pound Dog." She fist bumps us with the sweetest, cutest little fist ever! Until recently, when we would try to give her a high five, she would push our fingers shut and hold her little fist out. So cute! Now she high fives with gusto.
She also does this super adorable thing where she likes to hold our hand (well, our finger) and lead us around. It is the sweetet thing ever. She has the cutest little hands! She also started doing this thing where she'll fall down or step up on something, and then will reach out for our hand and say "Up!" (help) so we can help her up or down. It is so cute because they are things that she so obviously doesn't need help with, but seeing her reaching out for her mommy's hand is one of the greatest feelings ever. <3
Also in the last few months, much to my excitement, Lizzie has been getting more and more affectionate. It - is - AWESOME. She gives eskimo kisses, which are amazing. And she will just run up and hug our legs. More recently she will just reach her little arms out to give us a hug. And she'll say "awwww" or "mmmm" while patting our backs during the hug. I love her so stinking much.
So to summarize, Lizzie is still really super duper amazing and sweet and wonderful, beautiful, ornery, a little weird, and still the best daughter in the whole world.
Being a toddler these days is hard work. (Oh my gosh, that is the first time I've called her a toddler. She's so stinkin big!) There is lots of play time and sleeping, more play time, eating, more sleeping, more eating, even more play time... It's exhausting! This is a glimpse into the life of my little toddler (tear!) around 15.5 months old.
Lately my little monster sweetie wakes up around 7:30. Her dad and I take turns with the morning shift, which in Nate's case is from whenever she wakes up to whenever he has to go to work (or around 9:00 usually). After Lizzie finishes her bottle, she plays in her "baby jail" for a while and watches Nick Jr. She giggles along with Jack's Big Music Show the most and dances along usually whenever there is music on (which is often).
After playing for about an hour, I make her breakfast, which is usually something like rice cereal mixed with apple sauce or a banana and a waffle, etc. If I'm feeding her the cereal, I usually won't put her in the high chair. She'll run around and play and come back for bites, or I guess depending on how hungry she is, she'll stand right in front of me as I'm shoveling bites in.
Then we have more play time! Play time consists of hiding binkys in whatever toy has a little hole in it, standing on whatever toy that she can stand on, climbing on anything and everything, dancing in front of the fridge along with her barnyard animals, reading, reading, reading, books, reading, etc, etc, etc. Right now she is loving pillows. She'll roll all around the pillows we put on the floor for her. She'll run and jump into them and today she was banging her head into the pillow and laughing so hard. Hi-lar-ious. And right now she is LOVING running around the moving boxes we have stacked up in the kitchen (oh yeah, we're moving! That is a whole different post..) We'll chase each other around the boxes as I peek around and say "peek a boo!" and she laughs and laughs and laughs. Her laugh is my super favoritest sound in the world, by the way.
This is a video of Lizzie running around the boxes AND dancing in front of the fridge.
These pictures are examples of Lizzie climbing on stuff.
As I said in the previous post, her naps have been a little weird lately. She is still taking two naps per day, but now the first one is at 11:00 ish instead of 9:30 and the second one is around 4:00 instead of 2:30. She usually does really good going down for naps, but sometimes she'll stand up and cry and I have to go in and break her heart (breaking her heart consists of going in, hugging her, telling her I love her and that it is time for nap, and then leaving) before she'll lay down and go to sleep. And one time, yesterday actually, breaking her heart didn't work. There's only so much I can stand. She got out of her second nap yesterday.
After nap #1, we eat lunch. I really need to find some new things to feed my girl for lunch. Right now she definitely gets her fill of Gerber toddler meals. She also gets turkey hot dogs every once in a while and loves spaghetti. She has whatever fruits and veggies we have at the moment. Today she had peas and blueberries with her lunch. Peaches are always a favorite with her. She loves most of her fruits and vegetables. She scarfs them. It is so funny watching her and also worries me a little because she clearly isn't chewing (or gumming) her food at all.
Elizabeth after lunch.
After lunch, we have more play time. During play time, I also put her to work. Yes, I know she is only one year old, but she has chores. She "helps" me with the laundry by taking all the clothes (dirty or clean) out of a hamper or basket and then putting them back in the hamper or basket. She likes to "help" with the dishes by climbing onto the dish washer. And actually, she's pretty good at putting stuff away. For example, right now her clean clothes are folded and perched on the arm of the love seat outside of her room, waiting to be put away. A little bit ago, she grabbed a couple balls of rolled up socks and ran around with them for a bit. Then she went back over to the love seat and put them back! Then one ornery ball of socks fell off a couple times, but my little persistant baby girl kept picking them up and putting them back until they stayed there. She'll also put her blocks back in the canvas bag if we do the first couple, and she has been very good about putting my keys away in her toy box.
After Lizzie saw me sorting some of her old clothes in different boxes, she found this box and pulled some clothes out of her hamper. Then she was pulling the box around the house.
Then we pretty much repeat the nap-meal-play part of the schedule with her second nap, supper, and play time. If it is a bath day, I will give her a bath usually in the afternoon. She loves her baths. Loves them. At long as I don't try to clean her. She gets irritated at that part. Actually, she doesn't mind the hair scrubbing and body washing, she just really doesn't like the hair rinsing. She won't tilt her head back yet so water gets in her eyes no matter how hard I try to prevent it. She would probably stay in the tub for hours if I let her. I usually have to heat the water up a couple times and end up taking her out before she's ready. She isn't happy about that part either.
Getting her clean on.
After supper, we have more play time until its time to get ready for bed. First thing on her bedtime routine check list is a bottle. Not sure when we'll break her of the bottle, but probably won't be in the immediate future. Then she gets her diaper changed and gets changed into her PJs. Then one of us will go brush her four teeth. This is so fun! She takes her binky out and opens her mouth real wide. Then we try to brush while she just tries to suck the tooth paste off of the little finger brush. So cute!
Then we make sure we have at least 2 binkies. One for her mouth and the other(s) for her to hold on to. Just recently I have been able to say, "Go find your binkies!" and she will! Then either Nate or I will go read to her, always ending with the "I Love You, Sleepyhead" book. "I Love You, Sleepyhead" is supposed to be the winding down, calming book, where all the animal mommies are telling their animal babies goodnight. It is really a cute book. Well Lizzie thinks it is hilarious to "boop" the animals. She leans forward and bonks her head on the pictures and of course we have to say "boop!" every single time, even if we are in the middle of a sentence. And if she leans town and holds her head on the picture, we say "booooooooop" until she lifts her head up. It is awesome and fun is definitely had by all. She laughs soooo hard (and as I mentioned earlier, her laugh is the best sound EVER). Unfortunately, this usually results in Lizzie getting the hiccups so the poor kid has to go to bed with hiccups!
After storytime, she turns around and lays her head on my shoulder while we have cuddle and prayer time. In addition to our prayer every night, I always say the "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, may angels watch me through the night, and wake me in the morning light" prayer. The last week or so, when I say the "pray the Lord my soul to keep" part, she giggles. I don't know why, but it is so freakin cute and she has me giggling for the rest of the prayer.
Then I lay her down as I tell her to sleep good and have sweet dreams and that I love her so, so much. I leave the room and she usually just rolls over and goes to sleep.
For a while now, every time Lizzie falls down or drops something, etc, I say, "Uh oh!" The other day she dropped her binky on the floor, so I said, "Uh oh!" to her and she says, "Oooh!" I thought it was coincidence. It was sooo cute! But since then she's said it several more times. Then last night one of the little funny looking things on Ni Hao, Kai-lan said, "uh oh!" at some point and Lizzie looked at the tv and said, "oooh!" hahaha So cute!!
Its no "mama" or anything, but its the closest thing to a first word that we've got!
When I say "good girl!" or "whoo hoo!" or anything like that, Elizabeth will start clapping! She'll stop whatever she's doing and drop whatever is in her little baby hands and smile real big and clap. I LOVE IT.
It is REALLY fun watching Iowa games with her. She'll be playing in her little Iowa cheerleading outfit, or whichever Iowa outfit she's wearing that week, and minding her own business. Then when there is a good play and we start cheering, she gets all excited and crawls over and starts clapping with us. Hilarious.
I just didn't want to ever forget this. Oh man I love this little girl.
In mid to late September she started standing on her own for 20-30 seconds at a time. We were ridiculously impressed. Now she can stand all day long like its nothing.
FIRST STEP! - October 7th, 2009 - She takes one step at a time and then falls down. So cute!
TWO STEPS! - October 9th, 2009 - Now she takes two steps before falling or sitting down.
Yesterday she took 5 steps in a row!
Elizabeth turned one year old yesterday!!!
Lizzie clicks her tongue! If we do it first, she'll smile really big and take her binky out (if she has it in) and click her tongue back at us. Sometimes she'll smack her lips. I love this.
Sometimes when she crawls around, she'll pick up everything in her path and throw it behind her. She'll just crawl around in her baby jail throwing things around. Quite a destructive little lady!
She likes carrying things around when she crawls. A spoon, butt paste, paper, my camera, a phone, sometimes a toy, but that's rare.
When we come up behind her when she's crawling and say, "I'm gonna get you!" she'll giggle and crawl faster. But instead of just glancing behind her while still on the move, she'll completely turn around and sit down to look behind her. Then squeal and take off again. Its really quite easy to catch her!
Where'd the baby go?!
