bee-isms – a two point five month update

here we are. well past the two point five month mark for bee, and just getting around to posting an update for the first time in months. because, baby brothers. man, they take some work. lucky for my blog, mine is just about to reach non-baby status as steps are inevitable any day now. and in other news, his older sibling has reached gut-retching, so grown up, self-reported-big-kid status. my heart bursts. last night putting her to bed she told me she loved me for the very first time non-solicited. ‘i love you mommy’ is not something you think you have to toil so long and hard for, but i’ll tell you it was a long, long 2.5 years to get us here.

bee’s favorite things lately:

• ballet – i mistakenly signed her up for tumbling and before every class she reminds me she would rather be going to ballet. i suspect the lack of tutus in gym class have a lot to do with this.
• snacks. mealtime, breakfast, lunch, and dinner are trigger words for her – ‘nooo I just want a snack’. apparently kale salad has lost its allure whilst cheddar bunnies are always welcome. i have taken to calling all meals, including veggie pasta pesto salads ‘snacks’ now, and the trick seems to be working so far.

i cannot bear to correct her grammar or mispronunciations. i think it keeps her in little kid realm as long as i can keep these going. here are a few of my favorites:

• i fream – ice cream
• carra – car
• fuool- school…second favorite pretend is bringing lunch to school and eating it. she does not stand for my ‘lessons’ that i try to add to the equation. straight for the lunchbox it is.
• footer-scooter
• omol- oatmeal
• i did it. by meself!
• daddy, push you in.
• bamum – bottom
• baby wool – baby will
• trackee – tractor
• ice saking – ice skating…favorite pretend came out of nowhere. she ice sakes on anything you could possibly conceive.
• bakset- basket
• dabid – grandpa david

TWO!

when you ask her how old she is, she says ‘one, two’. often followed by ‘three, six, eight, nine, ten!’

(originally posted September 24, 2014)

city tractoring…

sporting her birthday dress that came two days late.

she’s TWO! and i don’t capitalize for just any old milestone. this is a big one. the transition from toddlerhood to…a little more of toddlerhood. right? she can’t be considered a kid just yet. it’s just too soon for a mom to handle that one. but the distinction from one to TWO feels like a lifetime of difference. i’m over two weeks late in posting this partly because i am crazy busy with juggling bee’s ever increasing demands with those of a newborn, but also because i find it impossible to capture the essence of bee at this age in five hundred words or less. so i’ll just start with what we did on the big day and go from there.

we celebrated with a full day devoted to bee. roller coasters, story time, cookies, no nap time, play kitchens, grandparents, balloons, swings, slides, and cake. toddler heaven.

she started the day by reading library books to her brother in his bassinet. totally on her own. i just realized she opened to the page with babies in their cribs and is pointing it out to him here. this is too much for my little mama heart to handle.

she chose the front seat of the roller coaster and put both hands up in the air after watching the much bigger kids  before us. no fear.

she craves the new…it has always been this way with her. not satisfied with routine. we always have to have a fresh stack of new books from the library each week. art supplies are only interesting the first few times (although she’s getting better about that) and when we circle the block to go to the closest playground she protests, no, new! if all slides have been conquered, the magic is gone. to wit we have explored all the parks and school playgrounds within running distance (which amount to over twenty; another reason to love ne portland) and have biked or driven to dozens more.

so a trip to the cooney island of the northwest, oaks amusement park, for chipper’s preschool rides, was in order on this special day to top our daily routine.

she unknowingly ceded the front seat of the car, thinking that her place is naturally in the back.

would this rocket fly today with machine gun artillery for toddlers? this speaks to how classic these rides are.

daddy and grandma were on hand to hold the baby and help bee onto the rides. not an occasion to attempt by myself with the two minis. she scales the highest slides when she catches me nursing will and knows i won’t be able to lend a hand to help. i’ll call out to wait for me and she’ll give me a sideways glance with a clear message that she takes that as a dare.  **word of caution to new parents: this is what you get when you run to parks daily at seven months. will is going to stay strapped to me in the ergo until he is five.

party planning in her future: of all the 30+ colors available, she picked out white and black balloons. and coordinated what i thought to be pretty well-matched party napkins and pirate plates.

maybe she’s just showing off her new kicks here. more likely, taking advantage of the situation and putting her feet up on the table because she knows how to push mom’s buttons.

bee is a very adventurous eater. she’ll slurp the juice out of an oyster and doesn’t grimmace when i add broccoli, kale or beets to smoothies. sushi, coconut water, and seasnax are favorite treats. but then she will only eat a tomato if plucked freshly from the vine. and she will find any hidden potato (mashed, cubed in soup, drizzled with butter) and immediately discard the contents from her mouth. but for today, we went with pizza and chocolate milk, because DAIRY! her favorite. whipped cream, hot cocoa, cold milk, ice cream. all her favorite things.

naming body parts never gets old. ‘eyes!’

tea for me!?

when putting bee to bed these days, she repeats what she has heard nightly: mommy will pat you, okay? as a command to me pointing at her back mommypachyouk? i’m starting to think she believes it’s one word meaning something closer to love than just back pats. since birth she has been somewhat indifferent to (read: hates) my singing. but lately she’s eased up as i make up new words to her favorite elmo radio tunes. she’s even started to request “song” at bedtime – likely fishing to delay bedtime. i’ll bite. i sing a good night roll call to her family and all of her lovies in her bed and when I run out of objects she says “more more” and starts singing goodnight to anything around her that I left out – her pajamas, windows, and diapers. the latter makes her giggle with such glee. how does a not even two-year-old know that’s funny?

and now just a whole lot of pictures of bee in her happy place.

hi little piggy. over and out.

super mellow will’s super speedy birth

i’m a boy!

(originally posted August 14, 2014)

the weeks preceding my due date were fraught with illness. daddy passed a cold virus to bee who passed it to me. then bee caught a second virus that totally knocked her out. in retrospect it may have been a blessing that i was able to give her one last week of undivided attention. we stayed close to home, i strapped her on my back to get some fresh air and fall asleep peacefully, and i attended to her every…single…night waking. i was exhausted in a way i never thought possible. and it must have been a lovely foreshadowing of what was soon to come…a new baby.

i was feeling prelabor pains on and off for at least two weeks before the official birthday, but am convinced that my body was holding off until little bee’s fever passed. i was only one centimerter dialated just before my due date. baby, on the other hand, was fully locked and loaded in position. his head was so low that waddling was so uncomfortable. and everyone kept telling me walking was the way to get things going, so i just kept walking. probably too much.

four days past my due date i texted my lovely doula, michelle, in the evening with a warning that i couldn’t put my finger on it, but something felt just a little different and i thought tonight could be the night. she told me to take it easy and sleep and stay in bed as long as i was comfortable. i took a bath, went to sleep and woke around one a.m. with what i was certain were contractions. i took the doula’s advice just a little too literally and timed my contractions that were coming four to six minutes apart and lasting around fourty-five seconds for over two hours before even standing up. my midwife had cautioned me not to call until five minutes and lasting a full minute. for some reason i was waiting for it to be exactly that. and it wasn’t nearly as traumatic and painful as the first time around so i figured i probably had a good twelve hours to go. i also didn’t want to wake anyone up at an inconvenient time. somehow it escaped me that it would be a whole lot more inconvenient for everyone if i missed the boat and didn’t make it to the hospital in time. as soon as i rose to my feet i realized this baby was coming much sooner than later. i finally woke husband and called to see who the midwife on-call was. elizabeth!! my absolute favorite who led my group care during blair’s pregnancy. i was thrilled to know she would lead me through whatever adventure was in store that morning. she told me without hesitation that it was probably time to come in. i wish she had not said probably.

i hopped in the shower hoping to slow things down while husband called for blair’s caretaker, my sister-in-law, to skiddadle on over. i felt so great in the shower i just stayed in there for almost an hour. another poor choice. as soon as i got out i felt feverish and the contractions were almost non-stop.

i managed to get this lovely practical piece on, which turned out to be essential, and made it downstairs just as sister-in-law, alex, was arriving and gave her a massive hug. something about having females around during birth is just so essential. not a minute later i had a massive puddle between my legs. like i said, that gown was essential. water breaking! such a crazy sensation that i didn’t get the first time around. i knew it was go-time.

we hurried to the hospital – even though i kept telling husband to slow down because every turn made me feel so woozy. daddy had our doula meet us at the door around six a.m. he parked the car while michelle helped me through some tough contractions while making our way to the labor and delivery floor. i was making quite a scene in the lobby – although michelle later assured me i wasn’t screaming out in pain like my memory tells me i did – apparently that was all in my head and i was silent – and every passerby was offering to help. a nurse ran to fetch a wheelchair and i shooed away the crowd gathering around. i was feeling pretty awkward in that practical piece at this point.

once we got to the room i was told by elizabeth to hop on up and start pushing. thank goodness i was already dressed for the occasion! dad made it up just in time as not ten minutes after we arrived at the hospital, will wiggled out and was whisked away. his cord was pressed up against his body and he hadn’t had oxygen while making his quick grand exit. minutes later he was all cleaned up and placed in my arms. the most hurried, yet peaceful and EASY birth. i never thought such a thing was possible. even during the contractions i was thinking this was too good to be true. polar opposite from bee’s. i’ll save that story for another day…when i can handle reliving it. moral of the story: have that second baby, you won’t regret it.

mama baby love.

two months young

my little angel child. double chin and all.

(originally posted August 2, 2014)

don’t get me wrong, i’m utterly sleep deprived and having daily space outs like no one’s business, but I can hardly fault this little guy. there have been no two hour crying sessions at four in the morning. i have yet to resort to the portland freeway loop to get him to sleep. there are no four hour hour cluster feeds before bed. and he has yet to have an inopportune diaper blow out. he doesn’t appear to loathe his car seat, his mom’s bony arms, nor the lack of attention he receives in favor of big sister’s. nor is he inclined to complain about anything else in his little life.

wait, was this post about willy or about how difficult the first was as a newborn?

he was a newborn for all of two days before some sort of steroids overtook his shape. his neck is so strong. face so boyishly masculine. his crying so easily consoled. he wiggles and giggles and gnaws on my finger like the best of them. what else is to be said of an angel baby?

chubby baby hands.

for comparison’s sake. little two month bee in my arms… 😦

and 2 month will in mama’s arms. 🙂 check out those identical eyes though.

i have done what i set out to do and could never manage to accomplish with bee: arm rolls. small, but by gosh they exist.

he’s up to cooing for about two and half minutes upon waking, then it’s back to ‘i’m tired, hug me and put me to sleep, please’

his favorite things are: milk, belly time, and long walks anywhere mom’s going.

weekending on the plateau

(originally posted March 20, 2014)

some might think disneyland is the happiest place on earth, but at this age, grandma’s house gives mickey a run for his money. i am certain bee gained a pound for each day we visited, because i can hardly lift her now. she got the requisite ice cream, cookies, butter-loaded pancakes and showering of attention. and she ate it up. all of it.

the three hour trip north with a car-seat-hater couldn’t have gone more smoothly. we headed out early to stop at the vancouver library (only fifteen minutes closer to our destination, but at least it was heading in the right direction). this place! so under the radar to us portlandians. i liken it to a free mini-kids-museum with an entire floor dedicated to wee ones with way more than books to entertain.

after almost two full hours of serious play, we hit the road full of dreamy expectations that nap time would eat up at least half of the remaining time, but no-such-luck. she dozed for around twenty minutes and then perked up to say ‘uh oh’. i think she had dropped her mango slice that she remembered clutching while nodding off. maybe i should’ve stuck with a more sleepy pandora station, but i had to keep my pregnant body awake, so avett brothers it was. that could’ve done it, too. luckily that same impossible-to-devour overly-hardened dried mango slice entertained her for a full hour, but a second stop was necessary around tacoma to get some wiggles out. so after another pit stop at wapato park for the slides, swings, and off-leash doggie area, our travel north continued with nothing particularly consequential, which is just as i hoped.

and now for some action shots at the vancouver, washington, kiddie-playground library, because i forgot to take pictures of the next three days….

hey! lookie what i did there. and i didn’t even see what was behind her when framing this shot. awesome.

b is also for ‘boat’ to climb into.

the one place where this outfit does not stand out. so much color she almost blends right in.

so many things for busy toddler mitts

wheels for spinning.

i asked her to tell me a joke, she knock knocked on the window. no joke. so that’s something.

puddling lately

February 21, 2014

bee’s recipe for an ideal day, leading to a peaceful evening and a restful night for mama:

• no less than two doses of outside time which can include a walk, a search for those helicopter things (bee calls them ‘seeds’) that you can throw and spin around in the backyard, puddle stomping, or playground play
• physical activity in the form of the above or dancing in a big open space like our basement or the grocery store
• protein-filled snacks like hummus and cheeses
• friends – be it a play date, kiddie event, or a chance encounter with neighborhood kids (bee calls them ‘babies’ despite the fact that they are all quite older than her)

if we miss any of these things, there’s a chorus to our evenings of ‘mama, mimi, mommy’ with arms outreached and legs collapsing underneath. and if we fill our day with too many stimulating experiences, the chorus is amplified. the simpler the day, the better. so basically, i cannot wait for the sun to come back.

life lately has been all muck and no sunshine. and yet, bee still insists on at least twice-daily adventures in fresh air. one of her first words to master was ‘go’ and it is the mantra for our days, rainy or not. if she merely sees the great outdoors, she wants to go to there. but a recent discovery of puddles means we don’t have to leave the backyard. an hour or more can be spent examining the lack of proper drainage on our pavers.

i’ve also gotten in the habit of walking bee to sleep in the afternoon, which is not necessarily enjoyable for me now that my belly is protruding in the front nearly as much as bee on my back. then add a downpour and the fact that i can only find a child-size umbrella, and it makes for a particularly wet situation. still hasn’t held us back though. the fear of her skipping a nap or crying is much greater than the fear of lower back pain these days.

because crying. eye puddles, man. they have been coming to me more often than my life calls for. particularly moving ice dance in sochi? puddle. athlete falls down during ski cross race? puddle. realizing i accidentally deleted a year’s worth of iphone videos and cannot complete my family movie montage? big puddle. is it the time of year? pregnancy hormones? the insomnia i’ve had for days? probably option d. all of the above.

but oh yes, we are leaving for kona on sunday. so i expect these puddles will all dry up.

oh ya, that fancy gold-sequined collar? we were playing dress up with bee’s tutus and headbands right before the little ones spotted the pool in the backyard.

someone loves to put her hair in a ponytail – even though there is hardly enough hair to call it that.

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January 7, 2014

…BOY! we had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday and are over the moon with the news. little bee is all ready to play dress up with her new baby brother – lucky little man. tutus for all!

truth be told, i was already certain of it. when i was pregnant with bee i went to an acupuncturist who ‘confirmed’ it was a girl by comparing my pulse on both wrists. i was tempted to do that again, but with this pregnancy i’ve had no excuse to go to an acupuncturist. no migraines, no terrible body aches, no queasiness. which is exactly what made me confident that i’m having a little boy. everything’s just the complete opposite from before.

all i am is tired. all the time. so now that i’ve totally worn out bee from all our morning dress up games, time for mama’s naptime, too. or some baby boy online shopping. equally restorative, no?