Question of the Day

Why am I so tired?

Is it the 3 a.m. feedings?

Is it the boundary pushing and limit testing?

Is it the incessant talking and distractibility that results in taking forever to get anything accomplished?

Or is it the never-ending list of things to get done?

The answer:  All of the above.

And it's so totally worth it.

Adelie Time

I knew that I would enjoy being off work for maternity leave.  I knew that I would need that time to learn about life as a mom of 3.  To figure out Briggs' schedule.  To have time to bond with my little man.  I knew that I would cherish that extra time at home with my girls.  But I didn't anticipate the extra one-on-one time I would have with Adelie while Staley went to pre-school, and just how much I would enjoy that time.

Adelie is the middle child.  She has always had Staley around.  And in many regards, that has been so wonderful for her.  She LOVES her big sister.  They entertain each other and play well together.  And now she LOVES being a big sister to Briggs.  She is always wanting to play with him and hold him and cuddle him and she really, really, really wants to give him a pacifier.  Being in the middle means there is always someone around.

The downside of Adelie's middle-childness is that I have had very limited one-on-one time with her.  Usually when we're home together, Staley is home too.  And before Briggs was born, when Staley was in pre-school, Adelie was at the baby-sitter while I worked.  But during my maternity leave, Adelie is usually home with me while Staley goes to pre-school.  Since Briggs spends a good portion of the day napping, I have had lots of quality one-on-one time with Adelie.  And it's been so fun!!

Adelie likes to pick out her own clothes, but is always agreeable if I just pick out something for her to wear.  When I ask her to do something, she usually does is happily and quickly.  Getting out of the house is generally quick and easy.  And she's so fun to play with.  When we play figurines or Barbies, she doesn't dictate what I say or do.  If my figurine says, "Do you want to go to the beach?", hers always answers, "Yup."  If my Barbie says, "Let's get ready for the ball", her Barbie always says, "Okay."  Although she often loses interest quickly in reading when we are reading Staley's books, she will sit on my lap for much longer periods of time to read books when we are just reading one Adelie book after another.  And when I need to feed Briggs or take a shower or get lunch ready, Adelie can happily entertain herself without difficulty.  She's just fun and easy.

I love having all my kids home together.  It's always fun to hear Adelie and Staley playing together and laughing together.  But I have really enjoyed my special time alone with Adelie.  I had thought that she might be more difficult without Staley to entertain her and keep her company, but our time has just been delightful.  I'm really going to miss these days when I have to head back to work (in just 5 more weeks), so I need to take the time to appreciate them now.

Because I'm just loving my Adelie time!

Maybe They're the Smart Ones

I don't know about you, but I can be a little judgmental when I see kids playing outside in nothing but a diaper or some underwear.  But now, as I have a never-ending (seriously, it's constant) cycle of washing clothes and folding clothes and putting away clothes, I am starting to think that maybe those parents have the right idea.

If you're not wearing it, you can't spit up on it.

Or spill on it.

Or get it muddy.

Or grass stained.

Or sweaty.

Or stinky.

Or dirty.

I guess maybe they're the smart ones.

And I'm the one stuck doing all the laundry.

In the Groove

Briggs is now 6 weeks old, and I feel like we're finally getting into a groove.  Briggs has a pretty predictable schedule.  I generally know when he's going to be hungry and when he's ready for a nap.  (He usually eats every 2.5-3 hours during the day, with a nap about 1 -1.5 hours after he eats.) We know what he likes and what he doesn't.  We know how to calm him down when he's upset.  And (not to jinx anything), but Briggs has slept for a 5-6 hour stretch at night for the past 3 nights.

The girls are in a good groove with Briggs too.  They play together really well when I have to feed Briggs or tend to him.  They love to help with him, whether it's entertaining him or bringing me things he needs or singing to him or just letting me know when he's awake.

Staley loves her little brother, and is such a good helper.

Briggs does a nice job of joining us on outings.  If we coordinate with his eating/sleeping schedule, he'll be awake and happy or sleep nicely for outings or errands.  He stayed happily awake during story time this week. He loves the Baby K'tan (baby carrier), and will generally fall asleep when I put him in there.  He's slept through all of Staley's soccer games this way.

I had just loosened his straps to let him finish his nap once we were home.  (In case anyone was worried.  :))

I love that we are getting into our new groove as a family.  I love that Briggs is such a happy and mellow little guy (when his needs are met).  I love that my girls have taken this big life change in stride.  I love that our days are a little more predictable.  

And I sure do love this little guy!!

SURPRISE!

Staley is very big into surprise parties.  Although she has never actually been to one, she talks consistently about the surprise parties that she is planning--for us, for Adelie, for grandparents, for cousins, for friends, for neighbors.  For the past several months, she has been telling Zach how she was going to throw him a Chicago Bears surprise party for his birthday.  (So maybe she didn't quite understand the surprise element.)  She talked about the decorations, the games, the gifts, the food.  And so, instead of just idle talk, we decided to make it happen.

What a big heart my little girl has.  She was SO excited to make this a special day for Zach.  She made decorations.  She picked out everyone's outfits.  She chose Zach's favorite dessert--and made sure she served him first.  She made very thoughtful gift selections.  She couldn't wait to hide in the closet and jump out to surprise him when he got home from work.  It made me so happy to see the way she was putting someone else first, and putting so much effort into making someone else so happy.  And Zach was truly surprised.

Staley and Adelie colored a bunch of Bear's pictures and put them up around the house.

Streamers were a necessary part of Staley's party plan, and she was very excited about the "streamer tunnel" that we made.  She also picked out blue and orange balloons, while Adelie decided we also needed some white ones.

We got Zach's favorite dessert--Busy Corner cherry pie.

When I asked Staley what she wanted to get Zach for his birthday, she said, "A Bear's jersey and Bear's chapstick."  However, when we went to the sports store to pick out his gifts, she took her time walking through the whole store, looking at each and every Bear's item.  Then she narrowed down her selection to the Bear's football and the Bear's flag.  We decided to get them both.  (I also got Zach some Bear's glasses...mostly because we are running low on glasses.)

Staley wanted to make sure that everyone wore Chicago Bear's outfits for Zach's birthday, so she picked out what everyone was going to wear.  Luckily, it wasn't too tough finding blue and orange in all our closets.

Zach told the girls that he has had 37 birthdays, and this was his most special one.

I would have to agree.

Not Ready

There are so many things I love about parenting, but I do not love potty training.  The vigilance.  The messes.  The constant bathroom breaks.  I am not looking forward to doing all that again...twice.  Since Adelie always wants to be just like Staley, I'm kind of hoping she just does it on her own.  (Wishful thinking, I know.)  Adelie has shown signs of readiness.  She lets us know when her diaper is wet or dirty.  She will often tell us as she is going to the bathroom.  She has asked to sit on the potty and gone successfully on several occasions.  And although we have not started the potty training, we talk about big girl underpants and using the potty like sissy.  We offer her opportunities to sit on the potty before bath or if we think she might need to go.  And during diaper changes, we let her know that when she goes on the potty like a big girl, she won't have to have her diaper changed anymore.  With all this groundwork, I figured Adelie would be itching to wear big girl underpants and use the potty like sissy.

So yesterday, as I was changing Adelie's dirty diaper, we had this conversation:

Me:  "You know, if you tell me before you go poo poo, you can go on the potty and then you wouldn't have to get your diaper changed.  You could go poo poo on the potty like Sissy does."
Adelie:  "I'm fine.  You can change my diaper."

Ready to take on the world?  You bet.  But potty training?  Apparently not yet.

THIS is my Adelie!

Newborn Pictures

We had Briggs' newborn pictures taken the week after he was born.  He stayed wide awake for his entire photo shoot, thus not cooperating for any of those sweet, sleepy newborn poses.  And although Staley preferred to use her own little camera to take pictures as opposed to being in them and Adelie was 2 days into hand, foot, and mouth disease (we thought it was teething), our photographer did a great job of capturing our sweet little baby and our new family of 5.

Adelie's mouth was hurting and she didn't feel well, so her expression looked like this in most of the pictures.  And, of course, no family photo these days is complete without Shell, Adelie's mermaid Barbie.

My sweet baby with his big sisters

My beautiful baby boy