Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

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Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers

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Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

WHY?

I never thought one word would make me want to jump off a bridge, but it turns out, if you hear a word 3,000 times a day, it can have that effect on you. In the past few weeks, Will has entered the "why" phase, and it is about to drive everyone around him CRAZY! Things that you wouldn't think deserved a question now suddenly do. And unfortunately, "just because" is not a suitable answer to him. We've heard questions about everything:

"Why is that a car?"

"Why him drinking coffee?"

"Why I can't eat rice with my hands?"

Anything that you say to him is met with a 'WHY?'. Will, go wash your hands. "WHY?" Will, Julia doesn't like that. "WHY?" Will, let's go to the park. "WHY?" And, of course, any answer you give is met with another 'WHY?'. It's a wonder that I haven't run screaming from my house in the past few days.

I know this is the way that he learns, and I love that he is so curious, but really. It's got to stop. I can only come up with straightforward, yet creative, answers for so long. It seems that the way every chain of questions finally ends is "That's the way God made it." or "That's what we have to do right now." As of now, he's still accepting those as legitimate answers. If those stop working, I'll just leave him with Melanie and Bob, who will bore him with scientific explanations for everything. I'm not sure who would crack first.

**Speaking of Melanie...HAPPY BIRTHDAY today to my favorite sister!

Monday, February 16, 2009

Sick

As we like to say in my family, I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. Granted, no one has been majorly sick, for which I am thankful, but it seems that we all have had just enough to make us feel crappy. I think Julia's had a cold since Christmas (and I've taken her to the doctor twice and it's STILL JUST A VIRUS), and Will has a cough that he just can't kick. I've been in-the-bed sick the past two weekends: once with a sore throat/cough type thing, and then recently with the stomach bug. Luckily, no one else got the stomach bug...at least not yet.

So, we're just a barrel of laughs around the Mather household. Not sick enough to stay home from school/work or to go to the doctor, but just sick enough to be pitiful and not sleep so well. Hopefully this too shall pass with the coming of spring...hopefully sooner rather than later.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Five Months!

This is what sweet, adorable, five-monthness looks like:



I mean, look at those cheeks! I could just eat them up. My dad jokes that she looks like she is storing up for winter. And then there's the hair...I'm learning to accept that her hair just isn't her best feature, at least not now. You can't see this in the pictures (obviously), but she has a HUGE bald spot on the back of her head because she only likes to sleep and lay on her back. Will thinks it is hilarious and loves to say, "I want to kiss her little bald spot." Again, dad has some helpful suggestions on that...baby Rogaine or some spray-on hair before her baptism.

Lots of things have been happening for Julia in the last month...the spitting up and pooping have subsided (and actually gone the other way, but that's a whole other story), we have weaned her from the Miracle Blanket, which actually went pretty well, and she's growing and learning new things by the minute. She loves to chew on her hands, and she still loves her pacifier. She likes to hold (and chew on) little toys, and she loves batting at the toys on her bouncy and mobile. She can roll from her tummy to her back, when she wants to, but has made NO moves to roll from back to tummy. She's sleeping pretty well, but waking up very early to eat, and also sometimes waking up just to chat in the middle of the night. She's doing well at daycare and is a great napper (a fact that I've been worried to mention, for fear that just speaking of it will jinx us). She's still nursing well, but no solid foods yet--we'll probably start that in the next few weeks. She rarely cries and is just a sweet, content--but very BUSY--baby. She is always moving, particularly her little hands and arms, just like she did while in my belly. I love, love, love this stage of babyhood (although I wish we could get some improvement on the nighttime sleep, for both her and Will).

It's funny how little I remember about the stages and what they should be doing when. In some ways, I feel like I baby her too much ("It can't be time for her to do that yet! She's only five months!"), but in some ways, I expect too much. She's five months...shouldn't she be sitting up? (Um, no.) Do I need to worry that she's not rolling over both ways? (Again, no.) Do I need to move the mattress in her crib and take down her mobile already? (That one is probably a 'yes'.) I thought I'd have it more together with the second and know everything I needed to know, and in some ways, I do. But, she's a different baby than Will, a different person. So, I'm having to re-learn some things and come up with new ways for other things. As usual, we're just figuring it out as we go!

*Yes, I back-dated this post so that it would appear that I posted it on her actual five-month birthday and not four days later.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Bedtime Conversations

In continuing with the conversation theme, here are some conversations I've recently had with Will before he goes to bed:

"Night night little boy!"
"Night night big girl!"
********************

"I love you, Will."
"I love you first, Mama."
(We're not exactly sure what he means by this, but it's super cute.)
********************

"Mama, why are you so happy?"
"Well, I'm happy because of my family--you, Daddy, and baby Julia. Why are you so happy, Will?"
"Because I love you, Mama."

Monday, February 2, 2009

Conversations with Will

On the way to school:
"Mama, you like coffee?"
"No Will, Mama doesn't like to drink coffee."
"Mama, you like hot choooocolaaaate?"
"Yes, I like hot chocolate. Do you?"
"YES! Mama, you like hot chocolate from Starbucks?"

You can see where this was going. Such the negotiator. And no, we did not stop at Starbucks, despite his convincing attempt.
********************

About the circus:
"Will, did any of your friends go to the circus?"
"Yes, Abby go to circus. She saw elephants and the octopus."
"She saw an octopus at the circus?"
"Yes."
"Really? What did it look like?"
(At this point, he looks at me like like I am the dumbest person on the planet.)
"Um, an OCTOPUS."
********************

About anything at all: (Although, this is less of a conversation and more of a musing by Will.)
"If you step in dog poop, you will get dirty. I an engineer and I ride on the choo-choo train. I go on a meeting and a trip. Miles go on a trip on the airplane and he go to the meeting. And, remember the snow monster, Mama? Remember? The snow monster live by Knox. And, it not Halloween now, Mama? Mama? MAMA! Talk to me! Don't say 'um hmm' or 'yeah'. Mama, talk to me!"
The stream of consciousness pretty much continues ad infinitum.