six months in and we're doing fine

Well, hi.

I have been itching to get an update on the blog about the two little ones that keep me from having time to blog. Ha. (I don't really blame them...entirely!)

It's been a couple of months, and I have to agree it's mostly true about what they say how the second child is not quite as "well-documented." I do give myself some credit because I believe I have taken nearly the same amount of photos as Maisy so far. But her baby book is looking quite scarce, and we can all see the amount of time since I last blogged about her. I don't feel too bad about this because I am instead pouring all of my time and energy and brain power into spending time with her and her brother all day, every day, and then using my last bit of energy and coherence at the end of those days to hang out with their father. 

So, when you look at my blog one day, Maisy Kate, I am sorry you may not read as much about yourself when you were a baby. When you were a baby, Mommy gave up blogging most of the time because she was trying to rest and sleep instead. That way, when you were awake and it was impossible to blog entirely, I could play with you and Graeme and we could have lots of fun. I do love you so. And you were a super cute and fun baby.

My best girl

To try to make up for it a little bit, here's some updates about our Maisy girl...

She's almost seven months old now! I remember when I was very early on in my pregnancy with Maisy, a lady at PDQ (a restaurant kind of like Chick-fil-a for those who don't know) with kids similar in age difference to what we would have told us, "Just get to six months. It's all going to get much easier after six months." I don't even remember why we talked to her or how it came up that I was pregnant.

We've received much advice as we have embarked on this "two young children thing," but for some reason I've remembered random PDQ lady's words. Maybe it's not true for everyone, but for me, YES. I can't even really say the first six months were bad or anything, but in the past month since Maisy has turned six-months-old, everything just seems better. I'm sure it's due to many reasons.

• I'm getting more sleep now. This is probably the main cause of my fog being lifted. Ha. Both kids are in their beds asleep for 11 hours every night. Praise to God.
• She's on a four-hour schedule now. She eats breakfast and lunch at the same time as us. Her dinner time is earlier but then she's happy to eat puffs or Cheerios while we eat. And she still takes three naps. One of her naps coincides with Graeme's nap. Hooray. The four-hour schedule is like a billion times better than a three-hour schedule as long as they're ready for it! The hard part is being patient enough to wait to switch to it!
• She's eating several foods now and the pediatrician's all like, "She can try almost anything. The allergy people are wrong again." (Still no honey, or milk, or choking hazards, obviously.) So I'm not panicking about her accidentally eating something she shouldn't as much as I was with Graeme. She's had peanut butter several times already and it's one of her favorite things! She loves food and is way more interested in what we are eating than Graeme ever seemed to be at her age. 
• She can sit up on her own and play which makes her so much happier. She wants to get moving, so we will see how much longer before she does. I have a feeling it won't be long!
• Graeme finally acknowledges her existence! He even tries to play with her sometimes! And I think he is really starting to like having her around. It makes my heart so happy! He tries to get her to say "Da-Da" and "Bye-Bye." She says those sounds often, but we don't think she associates them as what they are yet. And he also loves to get her to clap.
• She "talks" and laughs and her personality is really adorable. And dramatic. She might be a bit more like her Daddy... She has always been a joy, but there's something about six months going by and now she is at a stage that's so. much. fun. 

Since Maisy is able to follow along more with Graeme's schedule now, we are getting back to a routine that doesn't require us to split in half all of the time. For the first six months, they never ate at the same time, never took a bath at the same time, never went to bed at the same time, etc. The bedtime routine was especially not very fun because we had to split them up to get everything done. Now, we can all sit down for dinner together and it's not as rushed as it was before. They play and take a bath together (we are even conserving more water!) before pajamas. And then Maisy can have her bedtime bottle while we all sit for some books together. Aaron and Graeme read a few more books while I put Maisy in her bed. Then Graeme gets one more potty break before he goes to bed. It's still a lot of work, and it's definitely still more of a two-person job, but I can verify that it's a lot more fun than it was before!

And the firstborn...

Graeme is getting close to being 2.5 years now! Crazy! He is still our little talker and he is hilarious. I can't even keep track of all of the funny stuff he says everyday and I know it's probably only funny to us because he's our kid. His imagination is growing too. The other day he was playing with his Disney castle and using a giraffe and a dinosaur who were "best friends." Graeme, playing with the giraffe, kept saying, "Where's my best friend dinosaur?" So, obviously, he cracks us up.

He loves reading books and we have made a point to use the brand new library by our house quite often. We have found lots of books he likes and we check them out when they are on the shelf. He memorizes books after hearing them a few times and helps us "read" them.

He still loves trucks, but has in the past couple of months taken an extreme interest in trains. Namely Thomas and Friends, much to Aaron's initial horror. Aaron very much disliked the idea of Thomas "because he's creepy-looking", but he was out-ruled seeing as Graeme loved watching it and his Mimi kept buying him different Thomas engines. Aaron has come around to Thomas, and you can often find him playing at the train table with Graeme. Graeme's train vocabulary is also hysterical as it consists of phrases like "Oh, the indignity!," "Sir Topham Hatt was very cross!," and "The troublesome trucks pushed Thomas into the buffer!"

We are also still big Disney/Pixar Cars fans too. But not so much sports. Seeing as Graeme yesterday saw his soccer ball outside and said, "Here's my basketball!" Haha.

Graeme is a pretty picky eater. I am hoping he outgrows it. Some days he surprises me like when he devoured broccoli last week. But of course when I made broccoli on Monday he refused to even put it on his fork. Good grief. He finally has all four two-year molars in and he loves brushing his teeth with his "brush teeth."

I am loving this stage we are in right now. Yes, I'm definitely tired, and no, there's not much time for sitting and blogging. But I would highly recommend this "two children" thing. It's double the work to get out the door, double the tears and crying, double the dishes, double the laundry, double the worrying about something and checking the internet to scare myself further, double the tired-feeling. But overshadowing all of those things is double the laughs, double the hugs and kisses, double the snuggles and books, double the cuteness, double the smiles, double our hearts loving them each so much, double the fun, double the thankfulness that we have these two little humans entrusted to us.

adventures in potty training

When I was pregnant with Maisy I thought to myself how nice it would be if Graeme was potty-trained before she arrived. Well, I'm sure it would have been nice. But it didn't quite work out that way.

He is, as I've said, very smart and verbal for his age and I thought he would catch on pretty quickly. When he was around 19 months old I tried the 3-day potty training "boot camp" of sorts where you can train them in just one weekend. He understood the concept and for awhile that first morning he was excited to pee in the potty. But things took a turn and we didn't even make it all the way through day one because he started to sob and scream and cling to me for dear life when I would try to put him on the potty. He was overwhelmed and we both ended up in tears. We clearly needed to wait.

I thought we would put the potties away for a few weeks and try again and still have time to train before Maisy was born. But when a few weeks went by and I was then just a few weeks away from having a baby, I was miserable and the thought of wrangling a toddler to the potty a bajillion times a day and cleaning up accidents off the floor sounded like unneeded torture for everyone.

I knew it was definitely not the end of the world to have two kids in diapers for awhile and when he was ready and I was ready, it would happen.


Fast forward...

Maisy was born January 4th and all was wonderful and happy. Potty-training moved way down on the list of things that needed to happen. Graeme was already dealing with enough transitions and a newborn requires quite a bit of attention.

After a few weeks of her being here and as his second birthday approached, the potty started to come up in conversation again. Like all little boys, it was pretty much a guarantee that he would start peeing as soon as he got in the bath every night. Aaron thought it would be a good start to try letting him go on the potty right before his bath. Graeme liked this idea and he would sit there and talk about "His pee pee coming," and "Push it out!" and clearly he understood what should happen. But night after night he refused to actually ever pee on the potty and when we finally gave up he would go in the tub while saying "Pee pee in the tub!" We would *face palm* and say, "No, Buddy, pee pee goes in the potty! Where does pee pee go?" "In the potty!" he would exclaim. Oh the mysterious minds of toddlers.

He began to take notice of the underwear in his dresser (that I had purchased for our previous potty adventure) and pulled it out almost daily. I would tell him that it was for when he didn't wear diapers anymore. So he would say "Wear underwear when I don't need diapers anymore!" "Yeah Buddy! Do you want to try going to the potty?" "No." *face palm*

He also started to complain about having his diaper changed all of the time and I would tell him "You don't have to have your diaper changed anymore if you go in the potty. Do you want to go to the potty?" "NO!" Another *face palm*

So, it was clear that he would need a little push to get this thing started.

At the beginning of April I worked up my nerve that this was the month that we would try again. I had to wait until this past weekend because we had already scheduled plans for the first two weekends of April. I set up a sleepover for Maisy with my parents so we would be able to focus even more on the task at hand.

I didn't want to do the intense "boot camp" again, although I figured I would use parts of it. Graeme doesn't do well with a lot of pressure. Or a lot of change. I definitely didn't want to scare him away from the potty again so I figured we would try to keep our day as normal as possible. I bought him a few cheap little "prizes," as well as some "Cars" stickers to put on a "Potty Chart" that I made on computer paper (Because he clearly can't read nor does he care about my lack of fancy chart abilities). I knew we also had some Easter candy in the pantry for extra reinforcement.

Spoiler alert: the chart is full so we did have success!

I bought Pull-Ups too. The book I had read before said there was nothing wrong with Pull-Ups per se, but that they could confuse kids because they basically feel like a diaper. I bought them with the intention of using them on outings for awhile and plan to mostly use them over a pair of regular underwear so he will still feel the uncomfortable wet when he has an accident. And I knew it was also completely normal and expected that he would still wear a diaper for naps and at night. The book also said to just use your pure excitement as motivation for them to go on the potty. For Graeme, I knew the tangible motivation would work way better.

We started on Friday morning. I knew as soon as we could get him to go on the potty for the first time we would be getting somewhere. But until then, it would be a bit tricky. He sat on the potty after I got him out of bed that morning, but wouldn't pee. That's okay...I literally have no expectations for how this day will pan out.

I put a pair of underwear on him and we headed downstairs. My sister-in-law gave us a few waterproof mattress covers that we covered the couch with so he could sit on it like he does every morning. (He is a routine kid through and through.) I turned the TV on for him and got him his milk and sat him on the little potty that we put in the living room. Nothing. We moved on to breakfast.

The morning went on and he peed in his underwear a few times. We kept reminding him that pee pee goes in the potty and that he could have lots of fun things if he would do it. Finally, we got him to sit on the potty long enough that he peed! We made a huge deal. "Here's a new little Hot Wheels truck! Here's two Skittles to eat at 8am! Let's put a sticker on your chart!"

He was so happy and from then on he had a much better idea of what he needed to do. We kept up the stickers and candy that first day and would give him a little toy every few stickers he added to his chart.

Unfortunately for Aaron, I had a doctor's appointment that morning that I really needed to go to. I had to leave him with Maisy and Graeme on potty patrol alone for almost two hours. Aaron somehow survived, and Graeme had a few accidents but also went on the potty a couple more times while I was gone.

When I got home, it was nap time, and we could all regroup for a bit. I put a diaper on him before nap (which he immediately pooped in of course). After a little bit of lamenting the fact that I was changing yet another diaper on this kid, I put a clean diaper on him and he was sound asleep right away from all of his hard work that morning.

After nap time, Aaron took Maisy to my parents and Graeme and I stayed home to keep on potty-ing on. I started to implement a new strategy of reminding him literally twice a minute to "Keep your underwear dry." And lo and behold, it worked. He didn't have another accident the rest of the day. I just made sure to also make him at least try to pee every 20 minutes or so.

Friday night, when he was snug in bed with a diaper on (at that point, a diaper I was relieved to put on), Aaron and I crashed on the couch with Chili's Take-Out and celebrated a good, hard day's work. And it was just the beginning!

There were still five dry pairs after that first day...out of like 15!

Graeme continued to do really well all weekend. Saturday he only had two little pee pee accidents in the morning. We decided that an outing was in order for the three of us. We haven't had a day to only spend with Graeme in months so we wanted him to have fun and not just be sitting on the potty all day. We drove to the grand-opening of the new library. Graeme had a Pull-Up on over his underwear. We brought the little potty in the van and we tried to get him to use it before we went inside the library. He was not interested. Oh well, at least I knew it was pointless for me to lug that with me everywhere.

Once inside, we let him run around for a few minutes while we constantly reminded him to stay dry. I wasn't sure how he would react to going potty somewhere else besides home, let alone on a big potty. But, there's a first time for everything. I took him to the bathroom and he went with hardly any trouble. I was SO proud of him! He went one more time at the library before we left and then we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch. He used their bathroom twice! I was really quite surprised by how easy his first outing potty-training was.

We went home for nap time after lunch and celebrated that he kept his underwear dry the entire time we were out.

He did really well the rest of Saturday with no more potty accidents.

On Sunday, I figured church would be an interesting experience for him. I took him potty before I dropped him off at his class and he peed. I wasn't going to make his teachers mess with wet or dirty underwear so I put a Pull-Up on him. We laugh with his teachers because every Sunday he goes in the little tent in his class to do his "duty." His classroom is so busy I knew that it really wasn't possible for them to take him potty because he still won't tell anyone when he needs to go. I definitely didn't expect or want them to have the job of trying to take him to the potty every 20 minutes either. Sure enough, when I picked him up, his Pull-Up was full. Oh well. It wasn't wet, so that was something! He peed on the potty again and we made it home with dry underwear.

Sunday was another good day and he even accomplished pooping on the potty after dinner for the first time. Oh, the things we celebrate as parents! I had no idea how proud I could be of someone's bodily waste in a toilet. I decided it was time to make this officially official and take the changing pad out of his room. Hallelujah. Although it made Aaron cry almost!

It's just a dresser now!

And here we are today, Monday. He went to Marbles with Aaron this morning for a little bit and then went to my parents for the day. He had a little accident this morning but it was the "number 2" again that tripped him up. I think it will just take a little more time for him to figure that one out.

He's doing so well and I am really, really proud of him. I think the reminders to keep his underwear dry will be important for him for at least a few weeks until he can remember himself. His only other set-back is that he sometimes has a hard time stopping the fun thing he is doing to try to go potty and he will just sit there on the potty and cry instead of just going and being done with it quickly! If only toddlers could understand that logic! Ha! We'll just keep on singing that good ol' Daniel Tiger toon and see what else this potty training adventure has in store for us...

"If you have to go potty, STOP and go right away! Flush and wash and be on your way!"

two kids

So, we have two kids now. 

I am trying hard to document Maisy as well as I documented Graeme. Haha. It's definitely busy around here these days! Priorities are a must, and sadly, blogging is not a very high one right now. I am enjoying experiencing Maisy as much as I can which lends to less time to write about it. It's the better choice though, for sure! 

Maisy is already almost two months old and the days keep flying by. We've fallen into a nice routine for the most part and our days move along quickly as it seems it's always time for someone to eat, sleep, or get their diaper changed. I am definitely a schedule person, and thankfully, Maisy seems to be too. Graeme is already routine oriented (almost too much so sometimes!), so we all will get along just fine.

Tonight was the first night I had to do the bedtime routine all by myself. I was half dreading it/half excited for a new challenge. Well, everyone made it to bed on time and without too much trouble. It required quite a bit of prep work and a rock-n-play in the bathroom, but we made it work.

I really am loving having these two young little ones. For every hard moment, there are so many more incredibly fun and sweet moments. Yes, we are tired, but it's a very good tired. 

I feel like I should definitely tell you more about our Maisy Kate though! There's a lot to catch up since you've really only heard up to her being born. So...we will maybe try a list-type fashion?

• The day Maisy was born (a Monday) was of course wonderful and amazing. But it did turn a bit scary for awhile. About 12 hours after her arrival our nurse noticed her looking a little yellow. I knew not a whole lot about jaundice because Graeme never had it at all. A quick scan of her forehead gave her a bilirubin reading of 14. We were told that was extremely high for a baby her age, and they needed to do blood work right away. The electronic scanner always reads it higher than it actually is, and the blood work came back a little lower with a score of 11.4. This was still way too high for such a young infant and they immediately wheeled in a light bed and an overhead light. In an overwhelming whirlwind she was taken from our arms with instructions to not get her out of the lights under any circumstances. She even had to eat and have her diaper changed on the bed! It was pretty scary until we were finally able to talk to a neonatal doctor and she explained more clearly the situation. We learned that my blood type (O+) and Maisy's blood type (A+) did not agree well with each other (apparently this is common in moms with O+ blood...who knew?!). The antibodies Maisy received from me were attacking her red blood cells and causing her to be unable to flush out the bilirubin fast enough. The doctor told us that if the numbers didn't steady soon she would need to be taken to the NICU and worst case scenario would be a blood transfusion. Well, thank God that never had to happen. (But thanks for the scare, guys.) Maisy was under the lights for about 36 hours total, although we were able to take her off for 30 minutes here and there on Tuesday. Finally, on Wednesday evening, her blood work came back at a low enough number that we could be discharged. They continued to check it at the pediatrician's office for the next couple of days, and by that Friday, it was stable enough that she didn't have to endure any more heel pricks! Yay!
• Maybe something a little happier now, yes? Maisy was born with a head full of dark hair. This was a bit unexpected as her brother has always had blonde hair as well as both of her cousins on the Bauer side. Aaron and his older brother were both blondies until they were older kids. We figured Maisy would follow suit, but so far she has beautiful brunette hair that takes more after my always-has-been-dark hair. There is a chance it could turn blonde still so we'll see! My mom had bought her a custom-made baby doll with blonde hair before she was born. It has since been replaced with a brown-haired doll. Ha.
• We have learned quickly that Maisy is LOUD. Now, she is almost always completely happy and content. But when she wants or needs something, she literally goes from being quiet to screaming bloody murder in an instant. There's no warm up. We tell her she's quite dramatic. It's pretty comical actually. I guess she's a typical girl. Already bringing the sass.
• Much to my delight and sanity, Maisy instantly fell into a 3 hour routine with barely any straying from it since. After the first couple of weeks where we had to wake her up to feed her during the night every 3 hours, we got the ok to let her go 4 hour stretches at night. Then at around 5 weeks we were able to let her sleep as long as she would. She's been a pretty fabulous sleeper at night, thankfully. The longest she's gone is 8 hours, but typically she goes 5-6. Some nights we can time it with a late feeding before we go to bed (well, let's face it, I crash while Aaron does this feeding), and then she will sleep till about 5:30am which is basically our wake-up time anyway.
• This past weekend she started giving us some real smiles. Melt my heart to the floor. She's kind of stingy with them still, but oh my goodness they are the sweetest. Every new stage I am reminded of just how fun each new stage is. Babies grow and learn so much the first year. And we are only in the first two months still!

Well, there's a few more things about sweet Maisy. We do love her so!

And Graeme Grayson?

I am due for a post on him too. Can you believe he's almost two?! Because I cannot. For now, I'll say that his sister grows on him a little more each day and if you ask us he's a total genius and HI-LAR-I-OUS.

To close this post, a recent conversation with Graeme:

(Maisy is napping. Aaron and I are getting ready in our bathroom. Graeme is playing in the play room.)

Graeme enters bathroom.

"Somefing in my mouf, Mama!" as he sticks his tongue out with a disturbed look.

I look and see nothing. "I'm sorry, buddy, what's in your mouth?"

"Somefing in my nose!"

"In your nose too?"

"Boogie in my nose!"

Laughing, "Oh, no! Do you need a tissue?"

"Uh huh! "What's in my mouf?" he asks with a curious expression.

And we will never know.

Graeme is 17 months!

Graeme Grayson turned 17 months old this past Sunday. He still feels a little more like a baby to me since he is closer to one than two. But next month, when he turns 18 months, he will be from then on closer to two. And that is crazy. We could all have thousands of dollars for the many times we've heard "It goes by so fast!"

But it does.

Graeme is definitely one of a kind. Besides being adorable in his looks (clearly), his personality is equally adorable.

He loves routine (not sure where he got that from...ha!). For the most part, he likes the same books every day, the same episodes of Curious George over and over, the same toys (right now it's between stacking cloth blocks and six colorful balls that he plays with), and the kid really doesn't tire of watching dump trucks drive back and forth in the neighborhood. His bedtime routine is the most important for him, and it of course includes a fun bath!

For good or bad, he needs to go to bed between 6:30-7:00pm. If he falls asleep after 7, there's a good chance he will wake up even earlier than normal the next day. For the most part though, it's a dream to have a kid that's in bed by 6:45pm. The 6:00am wake up call has become part of life and it really doesn't bother me anymore. And on the rarer day when he sleeps until 6:30am...well, that's just an extra great start to the day!

He is a pretty good eater. He still has a love/hate relationship with fruit and sweets (thought he would love chocolate chip pancakes...they were denied). He consistently will eat applesauce so I just buy it with other fruit mixed in. And then every so often he will actually decide to eat blueberries or grapes. It's really hard to predict from day to day! His favorite vegetable is peas, but he also likes carrots, broccoli, and corn. He loves spaghetti. He doesn't like mashed potatoes. And he has become obsessed with any sort of dip, especially ketchup. I think he would eat a whole bottle of ketchup.

He loves Penny, or "Peppy," as he lovingly calls her. They have an adorable relationship, and Penny gets much credit for being an absolutely wonderful dog. Graeme is, of course, nice to her, but in his toddler ways he doesn't always understand "gentle." She takes whatever he dishes out like a pro and loves to play with him. And when she is being too intense with her affection, he is quick to give her a shove and say "No, no Peppy." He makes it up to her by sharing Cheerios and all the other food that ends up on the floor all day.

I've said before that he's a talker. He picks up a word or two every day and I can't even keep track anymore. He is definitely a boy who knows what he wants and can let us know. Usually with words.

I am constantly curious now about how Maisy will be different from Graeme. There will be many obvious ways since she will be a girl. But I wonder if she will walk earlier or talk later. Will she be more like me or Aaron? Graeme seems to have aspects of both of us. Only a few more months until we start getting to know her because...

I'm 20 weeks now!

Even though this pregnancy has gone by pretty fast, I still feel like I've been pregnant for a really long time. We got the positive pregnancy test at the end of April and it's almost September. Goodness. But I know the fall will fly by and there will be so much to do that January will be here in the blink of an eye.

We did get one major thing crossed off our "To-do Before Maisy List..." 

We bought our mini van!

We've only had it since Saturday, but I already LOVE it. I am sorry for all of the mini van bashing I have done in my days. I'm a convert. Small kids and mini vans seemingly go hand in hand. Mini vans for the win. Even Aaron has come around and loves it too. It's a 2014 Chrysler Town and Country. Buttons open the doors and back gate. Button-opening doors is the greatest invention ever. All of the seats can fold down into the floor if needed. There are like a million storage compartments and at least ten cup holders. It may not be as "cool" as a sporty convertible, but, for now, it's a really great car for us.

Besides, the mini van portion of our life will come and go as quickly as our kids do. So we will embrace it.

Next week the new (to us) van gets an inaugural road trip to Tennessee for a couple of days as we visit my grandparents. This should be our last trip until we meet Maisy!

and baby girl makes four

IT'S A GIRL!

Aaron and I went for our anatomy ultrasound on Monday morning. I knew a little bit more of what to expect this time around, but I was very anxious waiting in the lobby. We had a different ultrasound technician this time, and she was very nice.

She explained everything she was looking at very well. And thank goodness for that because a lot of it still looks like black and white blobs to us!

Praise the Lord that everything looked healthy and the baby was wiggling around like crazy!

When she went to look for the gender at first she commented that she was pretty sure she knew the gender but wanted baby to spread its legs further before she said it out loud.

"Sure," said Aaron, "just drag it out!"

She checked on a couple of other things and then went back down to the baby's bottom. After some jostling with the ultrasound stick thing, Baby finally spread its legs wide enough for her to capture the screen and point out there were "no boy parts!"

"Looks like a girl to me!"

It's all a little fuzzy after that. I honestly couldn't say what I thought we were going to have, but I think kind of deep down I was figuring it would be another boy. So I was pretty shocked. Aaron, who already thought it was a girl, let out a happy shout.

We finished up, and she told me I could finally relieve myself of my very full bladder by this point. I know that I always have to leave a sample and the bathroom was literally across the hall. But in the two seconds it took me to walk in there, I totally blanked and forgot to pee in the cup. Oops! 

We had our regular appointment with the doctor after that and got to hear our daughter's strong heartbeat again. That never gets old. We have another ultrasound next month to clear up some confusion about our due date. She may be making her appearance a little bit earlier. We shall see!

A girl.

How exciting.

Being the insane planners that we (ahem, I mostly) are, we have had names picked for a boy and a girl for several weeks. We decided to not go with the girl name we had picked out to go along with Graeme originally. Instead, our new baby girl will be...

Maisy Katherine Bauer

Maisy (MAY-zee) is a name I started to see here and there on the internet that I really started to love and think was super cute. Katherine is the middle name of Aaron's grandmother that passed away just one month before we got married. She was very special to both of us and we have always wanted to use Katherine as a middle name for our daughter. Plus, "Maisy Kate" as a nickname is basically too cute.

When we first looked up "Maisy" we learned it was a Scottish name (it's a nickname for "Margaret"). This basically sealed the deal because "Graeme" is also Scottish. Who knew we are apparently very drawn to Scottish baby names?! Maisy means "pearl" or another definition we found was "light's creation." Katherine means "pure."

We pray our sweet "Pure Light's Creation" will grow to be a loving daughter of the King! She will definitely be our little princess. (Her father is already wanting to plan her first trip to Disney World!)

I am honestly still letting it sink in that I will have a little girl. I have always wanted a daughter. I grew up with a little brother, and in all of my many years of babysitting/nannying, I have mostly cared for little boys. I feel very comfortable with boys. A baby girl will definitely be a new adventure.

Just as I do with Graeme, I feel a great weight of responsibility in raising Maisy. Raising a child is no small calling. With God's help, Aaron and I pray we can raise both of our kids, and any future children (that's still way up in the air!) to know God made them, loves them, and wants to be their friend forever. And that they will grow up loving Him, making wise choices, and sharing His good news with the world.

We can't wait to meet our little Maisy Kate.

In other brief news:

1. I am 19 weeks pregnant now and feeling pretty great! I have felt baby Maisy moving for a few weeks, but Aaron is able to feel her now! 
2. We had a GREAT time at the beach! It was the first time we had ever gone on vacation with just my family. Graeme LOVED it this time and is still asking about the beach every day. I will have to do another post with more details of our last beach trip of the summer.
3. Graeme will be 17 months old on Sunday!?! I can't believe we are almost halfway to him turning two. If I had to pick one word to describe him right now it would be "FUN!" He is so inquisitive, curious, and smart. We are able to carry on pretty coherent conversations with him and he is very able to express what he wants. Or doesn't want. He is still mostly obsessed with the dump trucks outside our house.

He's going to be a great big brother in a few months!

a year gone by

THIS WAS YESTERDAY. (so it seems)

Time, like money, is very relative. It comes and goes. You want more or you have less.

Some people have kids that are grown way more than mine and could truly say that they have been a parent for a long time.

I have only been a parent for one year. But, to me right now, that is a pretty long time.

Aaron and I actually made it through the first year of our first child. We even really, really enjoyed it and are looking forward to the second year! And one day in the future, even a second kid! (Have courage, new parents!)

Anyway.

Here are some of my thoughts on lessons learned, baby products I loved, and maybe a word of encouragement if you're still at the very beginning of this thing called parenting.




First, here's 3 things I've learned, and let's face it, I am still learning!

1.  There is seriously not one right way to do anything with a baby. You must keep your baby rested, fed, clean, dressed, and healthy. And there are about a hundred ways to accomplish each of those things. Just try getting on Google and typing in something like "what to do if my baby has diarrhea." The first post will tell you not to worry too much. The next one will say to rush them straight to the doctor. Good. Grief. With your first baby, every little thing is new. All you want to do is make the right decision. You just need somebody to tell you what that decision is. AND THERE'S NO ONE THAT CAN. This is frustrating. If I may speak to myself too, because I still freak out sometimes, I want to tell you that you can make the decision, whatever it may be, and you will figure out the right one. Once you do, stick with it. It's right for you and your family.

2.  FLEXIBILITY. Oh man, I am not one that loves being flexible. Things have an order. There is a schedule. Please don't be late. Please don't make changes last minute. This is where this sits in the house and it can't be moved. Haha do I sound crazy? Maybe I'm being a tad extreme in my description of myself. If you are not like this, that is probably a good thing! If you are, you will learn (or have learned) that a baby pretty much requires constant flexibility. Even with a schedule (because believe me, Graeme has been on one since we came home with him), it is inevitable that something will need to be changed almost daily. And as much as I love a clean house, some days it's just not in the cards. On the days when I wake up with a "let's get things done when possible, but it's okay if they don't happen" attitude, it's a much better day for everyone.

3.  Comparison will steal your joy.  Like I said above, you figure out what works for your baby and then stick with it. THEN, do not compare what you're doing with other moms and either second guess yourself or look down on them for what they are doing. We've all heard that every baby is different. Well, it's true. One baby walks at ten months. The other doesn't walk until 15 months. One started eating table food at six months. The other didn't start until 12 months. One baby takes three naps. The other at the same age takes two. You give Tylenol. They use home remedies. You co-sleep. They put their baby in the crib the day they brought him home. It goes on and on and on. I think we can all agree that we hate to be judged, especially on how we parent. But we are often quick to judge others. Instead, treat others as you want to be treated. Be an encourager. And don't miss out on the joys of watching your little one grow by always worrying what someone else is doing or thinking.





Alright, let's move on to something lighter and more fun! I'm going to try to list my top 3 products that we have used for an entire year and still love. Now, there are tons of other things that we love and use all of the time. But these 3 we have used since Graeme has been born and still love to use them. These are not in order at all.

1. Fisher Price light-up seahorse. I don't know what it is about this strange blue seahorse, but we have used it almost every day since Graeme has been born. I turn it on when I lay him in his crib, and most of the time, he is asleep before it stops glowing and playing music. At the start of this year, I would not have known how much we would love this thing. I cannot believe it's on my list, but it is.

2. JJ Cole diaper bag. My parents were gracious in buying me this bag, because I honestly thought it was a little pricey for a diaper bag. I am sure any old bag would due the trick to carry a baby's things. But, I will say that I still love my diaper bag and I am not at all sick of it. It has tons of pockets and tons of room. I have the matching diaper clutch which is awesome. I am usually sick of a purse after a few months, but after a whole year with this bag, I am not tired of the color or of carrying it around. 

3. Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing.  I know this is not a baby product, per se. We have, with very few exceptions, read a page out of this book every night of Graeme's life. We are on our third time through it currently. It is the last thing we read to him before we pray and lay him down at night. And it is constantly encouraging me or speaking into a situation we are in the midst of. I love, love this book. I don't know that I could ever tire of reading these little thoughts.











Wow. I still can't believe a whole year has gone by since we brought our baby boy home. He is so different now. It is amazing watching a baby grow first hand from literally just laying around and doing not much of anything, to a year later being able to talk and express himself and do so many things on his own. I know Aaron and I are a long, long way from being any sort of parenting experts. I don't think there really is such a thing. But getting to that very first birthday feels like quite the accomplishment. It is hard work. It is rewarding and frustrating and draining and fulfilling. All at the same time. What a conundrum being a parent is!

If you're just starting out, it seems quite daunting. And when your day with your newborn baby seems entirely too long, you might hate hearing "That first year will fly by!" But it will. It does. So, as cliche as this is:  Enjoy it. Not in the "enjoy every second" way. (Because who really enjoys losing sleep and getting spit up on all the time?!) But, enjoy it. In the "find joy in every day" way. Stop worrying about measuring up and messing up and enjoy your baby.

You can do it. You've got this. You are the parents meant for your child.

Babies do not keep. Fact.

about Graeme (nine months old?!)

Hi.

Graeme and I are both a little sick today, so I am taking advantage of our church's live stream, doing about five loads of laundry from our overflowing hampers, and catching up on the blog!

There's a lot to write and get up here, but first I have to catch up and do Graeme's nine month post. He turned nine months on the 23rd, but then we had quite a few busy days!

His little "Lambert" keeps getting smaller and smaller next to him...

Graeme did so much during his ninth month of life and seemed to transform into much more of a little boy than a baby.









...He started crawling two nights before he turned nine months. It was the perfect moment. Aaron and I were both sitting and watching him play upstairs in our loft. Out of nowhere, he just started crawling to get to something he wanted. We stared at each other with our jaws dropped and then went crazy with praising our little mover. It's only been a week, and he gets better at it each day. He's also pulling up a lot more and cruising a little bit. We did some major baby-proofing this past week. Bumpers on our coffee table and a gate at the top of the steps were the two major additions.

Those legs go on and on and on.

...He continues to sprout up. At his nine-month appointment, he was 31.5 inches long. This is 11 inches taller than when he was born. So he's grown more than an inch each month. His chart for height is quite interesting - seeing the line for the 99% and then Graeme's line going up past it at a pretty steep angle. She told us he's the average height of a 16-month-old! He is thankfully, very healthy and growing perfectly so far. His weight was in the 81% at 21 pounds, 10 ounces. We have the go ahead to introduce a lot of different foods and start transitioning him to relying more on solids and using cups. I can't believe we just have three-four more months of bottles and formula! Although our bank account won't miss buying formula. Ha!

He is a big fan of puffs. DEVOURS them.

You can sorta make out the top teeth this in this picture...

...This past month his top teeth finally popped through! They were a much worse experience for him, the poor kid. He's now the proud owner of four cute teeth. They really threw his night time sleep for a loop. We got in the bad habit of going in and comforting him, so then when his teeth were through and shouldn't have bothered him anymore, he was still waking up for middle of the night snuggles. As much as I love to snuggle him, we knew it wasn't good for him or us to keep this particular routine going. We went through one really bad night of him screaming for almost an hour from midnight to 1am. Aaron and I took turns going in to pat his back and tell him we loved him every 10 minutes. Finally, he fell asleep. The next night was better with only 30 minutes of not nearly as loud crying and us only going in there twice. And by the third night, he didn't wake up at all! Yay! He's had a couple more nights of waking up around midnight, but then it only takes him less than 10 minutes to get himself back to sleep. Crisis averted.























...I know I say this like every month, but it honestly keeps getting more fun. Graeme is starting to really show that he understands what we are saying and remembers how things work or where things are. He says "Da-da" all day long every day, and will also throw in the occasional "Pa-pa" for Penny. He also says "Ba-ba" which seems to either mean "bye-bye" or "bottle" on different occasions. He still loves to clap and will wave when he's in the mood. He loves peek-a-boo, hide-and-seek, and sneaking up behind someone to "get them." He knows all about lights and fans and knows that the remote works the fan in the living room. He tries to reach up and touch the lights whenever he goes under one at my parents' apartment building. He LOVES baths and thinks it's so funny to splash and get everyone soaking wet. His favorite book, or at least the one he knows the best right now is Goodnight Moon, and he knows right where it sits in his room. I could go on and on, but I won't. This kid makes any day better, seriously.