ME

It is fast becoming my favorite word.

"Me."

It is a different kind of "me" mind you, because it actually doesn't have anything to do with... well.... me.

There is something special about the way Clara and Luke pick up on the things we teach them. Obviously at 1 1/2, that is more apparent in Clara right now. She picks up her toys and books when we ask or will give Luke a kiss when we tell her to. She even has learned to catch a ball and very quickly picked up going down the slide in our new kiddie pool.

Videographic evidence can be found below:

But while there is immense gratification in her learning from us, there is something even more special about her learning on her own.

That gets us back to "me".

I have never taught her what "me" means or an appropriate time to use the term. Karey does not recall a time, where she did either. But the perceptive little munchkin has figured out that "me" means.. well "me!".

So now, whenever she wants you to pick her up or let you sit in your lap she waddles over and grabs your leg and whispers, in the sweetest voice, "me". As you might imagine, it is the most compelling argument ever uttered in the history of human existence. It is impossible to resist.

Especially when coupled by this look:

Now I get that this is probably not all a good thing. It is, perhaps, encouraging a degree of selfish behavior, but in addition to her frequent "me" requests, Clara also happens to be about the most generous child on earth. She is constantly giving Luke everything, including things he doesn't really want. She hands him toys, her sippy cup, stuffed animals and from time to time the lint or fuzz she picks up from the floor.

Overall I believe it shows the depth of her curious mind, the way that she is a sponge for the world around her and in particular, the way she is processing that information and turning it into a result.

As I look back on this post, I am realizing that in the grand scheme of the world this is a rather insignificant development. It is just one word, right? But I guess on this Father's Day I am reminded about the incredible gift of parenthood.

The simple is once again really significant.

And every significant step is leading to the incredible person Clara is and who she will eventually be.

Neat freak in training

A few weeks ago, I noticed Clara pick up a paper towel I had dropped and use it to wipe up some milk that had leaked from her sippy cup onto the floor.

I squealed with delight! I might have a natural-born neat freak, I thought.

Isn't it the hope of every mother who hates cleaning that she'll have a kid who loves it? Well, it's mine. I pray that one day one of my children will rather vacuum and dust than play dolls. I can dream, at least.

Shortly after the spilled-milk incident, this lovely lady posted something on Facebook about her daughter cleaning, and I decided I had waited too long to have Clara pick up after herself. Her only real experience with cleaning thus far was when we sing "Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere..." as we wipe her hands and face after eating. And let's just say it's not exactly her favorite time of day. There's a good chance she'd rather be water-boarded.

So I started having her pick up her books and toys and put them in their respective baskets. She took to it beautifully and now we do it every day. And for every item she places in a basket you'll hear a little baby voice say "good girl". Melts my heart.

Then today, as I was on my hands and knees wiping filth off of the kitchen floor as she sat in her high chair, it occurred to me that she could help and she might even think it's fun.

And she did.

I swear I even noticed her wiping extra hard at a little bit of dirt on the dish washer. We might have a little cleaner, after all!

She moved on to the cupboards all on her own...

I didn't tell her that soap and water doesn't work too well on windows. She was just so excited.

Even if she's not a natural-born neat freak, I can always turn her into one, right?

Okay, one more...

I couldn't resist the sewing machine that was still sitting on my kitchen table. I had to keep sewing while it was out, because who knows when I'll ever get it out again? That hall closet is a long walk.

So I took an old J. Crew tank top (our dryer ate the straps years ago) that was in my old-clothes-I-might-want-to-make-into-pillows-someday fabric stash and went to work.

Being a hoarder finally pays off!

A perfect project for a lazy/busy mother of two - half the seams were already stitched for me.

It turned out a little big, but that's actually a good thing. It's long, and stretchy (and soft and comfy!), so I think she'll be able to wear it next summer too.

NO sewing today. Maybe Sunday. But not today.

Today we are just modeling dresses for Mama's photo shoot, and playing (and cleaning up after Urine Armageddon. The babies hatched a plan to pee all over everything the last 12 hours... the crib, our bed, the floor...notice the missing couch cushion...)

Poor Luke. One second Clara's reading him a book...

And the next, she doesn't want him to touch it.

Girls are moody, little guy. It's better you learn this lesson now.

Creative burst

I was searching the internet for a cute dress for Clara to wear to my sister's bridal shower in a couple weeks and became discouraged at the selection. So what did I do? In a move very unlike my unmotivated-self, I got my sewing machine out of the coat closet, fabric from under the guest bed, and thread from the shed (not the most well-thought-out storing of my sewing supplies, I know). 

Not wanting to sew anything with buttons (I've never done it) or a zipper (I didn't want to go to the store to buy one), I came up with the idea to sew a skirt onto a onesie. Little did I know that's a popular sewing project! Oh well. It was very easy. And when I made a mistake and sewed the front of the onesie when I didn't mean to, which left a big hole, I added a ribbon to cover it up. 

She was NOT getting up, so I went with it

This was pre-mistake embellishment:

Not bad for my cell phone. Looks like a shot for the Etsy shop that I don't have.

My second attempt went a little better. I used the last of some of my favorite fabric.

Got any guesses where the only good light is in my house?

Don't you just love rick-rack? Although it needs some ironing here

So those were pretty easy and weren't very difficult to juggle with taking care of the babies. I just gave Clara some chalk (we don't have crayons, believe it or not) and put her to work in her high chair. Today was a different story.

I, again, was looking online for dresses and came across this site. Actually, I came across one of their dresses selling on ebay for $300. I can make that, I thought (right after I thought, $300??? For a baby dress??? On ebay???)

Well, I didn't exactly make that dress by any means, but I dug through my fabric, pulled out a few selections, and went to work. This time, though, it greatly disrupted the babies. It was just one of those days. I don't think I'll be doing it again for a while.

The result was worth it, though...

She was much easier to photograph in this - I think she knew she looked pretty

I had no pattern (and no cutting mat - I couldn't find it so I had to use scissors!), so I was pretty surprised to see how it turned out. I think I got lucky.

The strawberry fabric on the straps is another of my favorites. I used some of my last scraps for this

It fits her great, just a little tight going on since this too has no zipper or buttons. I'm going to alter it once it doesn't fit over her head anymore, maybe add a zipper. I have big plans.

I didn't set out to make it a halter, but that's what we ended up with

I'm spent. Even though those dresses took, maybe, a total of five hours over two days, I'm putting the sewing machine away for a while. I like being with the babies without thinking about getting back to my project. But I am super-excited Clara has a few new dresses. That last one will be making an appearance at her aunt's rehearsal dinner.

And so he doesn't feel left out (because all I make is dresses.. sorry Luke!), here's a picture of Luke in his big boy (12 month!) pj's...

No, he's not super-advanced! I just propped him up to see his pajamas better.

Has anyone seen my little, tiny baby?

Getting big

Throughout the past year, I've referred countless times to this blog to recall how much Clara weighed at a certain age or what she was doing developmentally. It was great having it all documented, because I was totally unable to remember any of it myself! Well, I'm not going to be able to do the same for Luke in the future if I don't get my act in gear.

So here's an update on our little guy...

Luke will be five months tomorrow.

Luke's first Easter

He's just about 16 lbs. and at every doctor's appointment, he's at the 50th percentile for weight. But boy, does he seem huge compared to our little munchkin Clara! She was just starting to wear size 3-6 months at this point, while Luke has been in 6-9 month clothes for a few weeks. I'm still squeezing him into 3-6 too, though, since we have far fewer clothes in bigger sizes.

Believe it or not, my little baby boy is sitting up.

I started to notice about two or three weeks ago that Luke wasn't happy laying down in his boppy. The slight incline was apparently not enough for him and he kept trying to sit up. So I started sitting him up with the boppy around him in case he fell. Then I moved to him sitting with pillows nearby. Now he sits for a minute or two at a time, with me always right there to catch him when he's decided he's had enough.

He's got a little way to go before he can sit up entirely by himself, or, better yet, move into a sitting up position by himself. And that's perfectly fine, because he's growing up way too fast! It seems like just yesterday that I laid eyes on him for the first time. And now he's a sitter-upper!

With his cousin and big sis, on vacation

He can also roll over both ways, although he's still not all that crazy about tummy time. He loves his exersaucer (which I love!) and he also loves his toys, including a little football and baseball. He's grabbing at everything these days, and I am just starting to realize I can't put anything near him that I don't want him knocking over!

He also apparently likes to watch sports. Ryan swears he calms down whenever it's on. Problem is we don't have cable, so sports are rarely on the few channels we get with our antenna. Do I sense a play for Ryan to get cable here??? Honestly, I just might go for it if he can prove it actually puts him to sleep. Now that would be awesome.

With his grandpa. He's smiling and laughing all the time lately

Speaking of sleep, he has yet to make the big move to his crib (technically, he spent a wonderful week in his crib a couple months ago but that was short-lived). He's sleeping in our bed with us and the only way he'll fall asleep is while nursing. He wakes up a couple times throughout the night, nurses, and falls back asleep. Other than giving me a back ache, it's working great, unless something (or someone...Clara) wakes him up prematurely. If he's not hungry, he doesn't want to nurse, which means he can't fall back asleep.

His pediatrician thinks his sleeping issues are not behavioral (i.e. anything we're doing wrong), but rather are related to his very gurgly gut. She thinks when his digestive system matures around six months, whatever is going on will hopefully right itself. We'll try sleep training again around that time, and if it doesn't work, we might have to take him to see a G.I. specialist.

If you get a chance, can you say a prayer that his tummy issues do get better on their own?

He was sort of indifferent about the pool

Because of his fussiness and inability to put himself to sleep, I decided to take his doctor's advice and start him on baby food. I figured that maybe, just maybe, it would help him to sleep better at night. Today was his first jar of baby food (pears) and he ate the entire jar in about seven minutes. This kid loves food! I had a feeling he would.

Luke's also talking up a storm lately. He's been cooing for a while now, but in the past week it seems he found his voice. He yells (I remember when Clara did this!) and just goes on and on! He also started making raspberries a couple weeks ago as well. It's funny because when Clara first did that, it was this big production that I worked with her on and got on video. But poor Lukie, the second child, mastered it himself and tried to get my attention to show me what he was doing!

We absolutely love Luke so, so much. He is such a cutie and is getting bigger, smarter and more interactive by the minute. He loves his big sister so much, and his daddy. But, let's be honest, the kid is a mama's boy. He can't get enough of me.

And I love every second of it!

Little messenger

Luke helped me get a message across today:

He owes me after last night's scream-fest. I think he switched places with a newborn.

Luke and I feel pretty much the same way today - exhausted!

My dream date-night right now would consist of a nice long nap. I'm a very cheap date.

Luke at three months

Luke is three months old! 

He's getting big. He weighed in at 13 lbs. today at his three-month check up. Go Luke!

On a side note, why is it that I'm always rooting for my kids' weights to be high, like it's a test I've crammed for? I like to feed them a lot before we go and I get disappointed if I feel their diaper is heavy as I undress them for the scale. Keep that pee in! What's wrong with me?

So serious

In my defense, I'd like to think it's because Clara was born weighing three pounds and was only five pounds when we got her, and Luke's weight dropped pretty quickly after birth. I'm a mother of underweight newborns, what can I say?

His length was 23 inches, but the pediatrician thought the nurse just didn't stretch him out enough.

As for his development, he's starting to use his hands, batting at things in front of him. Lots of cooing, smiling (just not on camera!) and interaction. He LOVES his sister!

Just ahead for Lukie - introducing some solids next month, rolling over and let's hope sleeping through the night (more on that in a second)!

And the most interesting thing to come from this appointment? Perhaps that he's definitely got an outie! At least according to our doctor. I've heard they can change over time though.

We discussed Luke's sleeping - or rather lack of sleeping - habits with his doctor. He was doing great for a while, even taking naps and sleeping through the night in his crib in his nursery. But after about a week-and-a-half of that, he went back to screaming like crazy when we'd put him down and not letting up. I can tell the difference between a fussy, over-tired baby and a frantic, possibly-in-pain (probably-from-gas) baby. He's been the latter as of late.

See - he does smile!

So after pulling our hair out for a few days and me yelling about not wanting to ruin all the hard work I'd done getting him in his crib, I relented and decided we needed to go back to survival mode.

That's where we are now and it's fine. He sleeps in his bassinet for half the night (until waking up for his night-time feeding) and naps wherever he'll sleep (swing, carseat, bassinet).

Overall, though, he's such a happy, calm baby, which couldn't be more different from just a couple months ago! Treating his reflux has helped SO much.

Getting some fuzzy hair

Clara went along to the appointment so she could get caught up on her shots. Both of them did great in that department. Poor things!

Oh and we got some other big news today - Clara's adoption finalization court date has been set for April 15. We have a lot of paperwork, background checks, physicals and social worker visits to do before then, so we're really hoping everything gets done and submitted on time. Please pray for this process if you get a chance!

And no, we don't have to travel to Louisiana. At least as far as we've been told.

I'd LOVE to know what she's thinking about me here

Happy three months, Luke! We love you!