Naiya is 6 Months 12.04.09

This month proved to be a big one for milestones:

• first tooth (bottom, right) Do you see it?

• sitting up

• joining us in a highchair at the dining table (we have both the girls in highchairs at the head of the table, side-by-side)

• first solid food (infant oatmeal cereal)
• began oral treatment (propranolol is a high blood pressure medication) for the venous hemangioma on her right eyelid
• on the same bedtime routine as Alexia (bath w/ Daddy after dinner, story and "night-night" at 8ish) *we still wake her up at 10pm for her medication and last feeding

Naiya is still extraordinarily content. Strangers consistently comment on how laid back she is, especially at the pediatrician's office (which we are regulars there since starting her treatment). I have been able to establish a synchronized eating and sleep schedule for both the girls...can I get an AMEN?!! I credit Naiya for this outcome, because she is able to wait 30 minutes to eat after getting up. So that gives me time to feed Alexia, have a cup of coffee and eat something, and poor Naiya just chills in her highchair occupied by chewing on a toy or Alexia trying to feed her. The same routine goes for lunch.

Naiya has shown no side effects of her (high blood pressure) treatment. Unfortunately, we have not seen any change in the hemangioma's size or color. She swallows the medication like a trooper, and this Saturday she will be on the full dose. She will be on the medication for up to six months or until the hemangoima has disappeared, whichever comes first.

One of my favorite ways the girls interact right now is when Alexia comes with me to get Naiya up from a nap. They peer at each other through the crib bars and Alexia smashes her face up in the bars and says "Hi Nai Nai!" and Naiya stares up at her and laughs and coos. Makes my heart feel like it's gonna burst.

Naiya is nursing six times a day and eating solids for one or two meals. She just graduated to 3-6 month clothing. She is wearing size four diaper (yes, still the same as Alexia) and for her six month appointment, here are her stats:

• Weight: 15 lbs. 1.5 oz.
• Length: 25 3/4 inches
• Head Circumference: 42.3

I would like to point out that Naiya weighs only 7 pounds less than Alexia (18 months old).

Naiya is now aware when she is all alone in a room and cries. So I've had to adapt and make two trips to get both girls in the same place (I used to just leave Naiya "playing" while I tended to Alexia). Naiya is much better at being in the car seat and has learned to fall asleep in the car (I wondered how she would adjust since she sleeps on her belly normally).

I was a bit worried in the beginning of Naiya's life because I didn't have an immediate connection. But she has won my heart over and I'm hoping she will be a mama's girl!

Here's the 6 month comparison shot (Alexia left, Naiya right):

Californian Style Turkey

For Thanksgiving this year, my aunt and uncle made their third trip out here in the past two years. I love that kids are the perfect excuse to pay expensive travel costs and make dreadfully long trips to see one another. I loved every minute of their time here, as always.

Kisses for Grandpa Griff:

For those of you that don't know, I grew up living five minutes away from my aunt, uncle and cousin (one year older than me). And since my dad was a single dad, I spent a lot of time being taken care of by my aunt and uncle (and my cousin too, we have a few funny stories of him protecting me when we were little). So they have always treated me like a daughter. Because of this relationship, our girls will refer to them as Grandma & Grandpa Griff. I feel like I'm able to offer Ryan a second set of parents-in-law through them. Here's my beautiful aunt who just keeps getting younger every time I see her:

And her lucky man:

Most of our time was spent just hanging out and talking, enjoying the girls, eating, shopping and this year we went to Lights on the Bay for the first time. Some of the highlights of the week were morning cups of coffee and chatting (always food for my soul), cooking with my aunt, watching my aunt graciously work her way in my kitchen - you know a woman knows what she's doing when she can cook and clean in your kitchen and not ask a single question - I think I would ask so many questions like, "where does this go?", etc., that it would end up being more work for the other person! My all-time favorite memory is that we taught Alexia to tell my uncle "no, no, no" when he went out for a smoke. Here's our little informant hard at work:

We spent our Thanksgiving dinner with a small guest list. Small for the Grossmans, that is. Guest list: 9 people + 2 babies. Our regular Sunday lunch usually attracts more than that. Here's our fabulous feast:

We're thankful for Life and Health:

Laughter:

And Love:

Alexia is 18 Months 11.22.09

Alexia is becoming a tooth monster! Her mouth is full of baby teeth. Front four on top (right fang is just now coming in), four on bottom and four molars. She has started to repeat things we say (which is sort of scary) and has an assortment of words she now uses on a daily basis. She loves to go through facial features right before each nap and bedtime: eye, mouth, ear, hair, teeth (she refuses to say or point to the nose though). Also added to her routine: hand, fingers, foot, toe. She hates getting her diaper changed, especially right after she wakes up. It's like her social life is effected by the two minutes it takes out of playtime to change her diaper. For meals, she sprints to her highchair, and once she's done she lets us know by repeating over and over, "Duh" (done) and offering her stacked plate and water bottle. Her favorite act of disobedience is to stand in her highchair. I can't help but see the glimmer of self-satisfaction when she stands up. She is still ridiculously a Daddy's girl, crying and chasing him all around the house if he is not holding her. She is still notorious for the holding-her-breath cry, something she's done since the first day she was born (you'll see at the end of the video-it actually cuts off before she even takes a breath):

And she still does the real loud cry, holds her breath, silence....silence....silence, then WAIL! It's so interesting how her cry has remained the same (less squeeky now). I've started paying attention to Naiya's cry now, to see if it will remain the same as well. Alexia is a cuddler, and has often found her way into our bed the last couple months (something I swore I wouldn't do), while she was teething and having trouble sleeping. I have to admit, I just love it! But it does make for a bad night's rest. We wake up much earlier than we'd like to, "Hiiiiii!" She is obsessed with her blanket still, she does a happy dance and giggles uncontrollably at the sight of her blanket. She will be quietly content in the car if her blanket is in hand. One of her favorite things to do now is run straight to the pantry and grab whatever goodies she can. She is still taking two naps during the day, although the afternoon nap has been cut short more frequently than I'd like. She's wearing 12-18 month clothing, size 4 diaper (same as Naiya-who is 6 months), and just wore through her first pair of shoes. She often asks to hold Naiya, sits down and holds out her arms. When she's finished holding her, she tells us "no" and shakes her head, trying to squirm out from behind Naiya. Here's one of Alexia's baby-sister-holding techniques (the one-eyed hold):

Kisses for Naiya:

Showing us where Naiya's "eye" is:

(Okay, maybe she's an inch off.)

Ryan and I have waited for the day for Alexia to show us affection. She has now perfected giving us kisses! Complete with a "Mmmmmm."

Our baby is slipping way too fast into toddlerhood!

Happy Halloween

Still very unmotivated to get into the whole trick-or-treat thing with infants, our girls missed out on Halloween 2009. We were rescued from handing out candy from our un-Halloween house by having dinner with friends. But not without being totally humiliated by having to explain to an early round of trick-or-treaters that we don't have any candy to hand out because we had plans to eat dinner at a friend's house. (I'm sure those kids - our neighbors, in fact - totally understood our complicated dilemma.)

We did have ourselves a festive family bake-off though. We were in charge of bringing dessert for our Halloween get together, and it was the perfect excuse to make the pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting I've been dying to make. Shortly after, Ryan decided he wanted to make his mom's Cinnamon Roll Tea Ring. I lovingly explained to him I already took care of dessert in a "get-out-of-the-kitchen" tone of voice. And ladies and gentlemen, that's when we had ourselves a bake-off:

Let me tell you, having your husband bake and cook is so sweet. Until he starts to compete with you. He even stole my fair-weather helper. We told our friends about our bake-off once we arrived (we didn't have a choice, as an explanation was necessary as to why we brought enough dessert to feed an army). Here was the end result:

(His on the left vs. mine on the right). I lost. Everybody raved about his "cinnies". Some ate my cupcakes out of pity. I even brought mini treats for the little ones. And still lost:

Only two got eaten. How can you go wrong with cream cheese frosting?! Lesson learned: DON'T compete with cinnamon rolls. Ever. The leftover cupcakes were a hit as treats the next week though.

Here's the baby crew (guess who's girls were too cool for school?):

There was even an after dinner slow dance:

We were able to have some Halloween dress up fun with Alexia. As a source of entertainment, we stuffed her into a newborn costume. Here's our red hot chili pepper:

And then Ty, Jenna, Ryan and I ridiculed her some more:

Hope you had a Happy Halloween, too!

Little Helper

Girl After My Own Heart

Coffee.

Creamer.

Chug.

Fickle Finale

It's time to re-bookmark me. This battle to find the perfect blog accomodations continues. I cannot guarantee this is where I'll stay. But bookmark it for now. If you want to know, my reason for switching is mainly because I wanted to upload videos directly to our blog (no more you tube).

I have to confess, I've wanted to blog this month. But I found myself feeling guilty - like I was cheating - by writing posts BEFORE I put the girls' month birthday posts up. Can anyone else relate? Or am I just that psychotic?

Alas, the birthday posts will have to wait. (But I will manipulate the post dates, so no one will ever know.) I can no longer wait to tell you what has caught my latest obsessive-about-creative-projects attention (again, Mel is to blame for this - and do NOT read her blog if you value naps and bedtime for accomplishing housework, because she'll motivate you to get into countless projects!). So, I am making a scarf. Not just any scarf. A Joy's Hope scarf. That's right, I've committed myself to Joy's Hope Scarf Along. And tomorrow I will inform a couple of friends that I intend to force, I mean ask, to join me.

I picked out fabric tonight from Material Gal and hope to make a trip to JoAnn's tomorrow to pick up remaining essentials. For my fabric, I went the custom order route and compiled 9 different fabrics that are jewel-toned. (Sarah and Rach, you would be SO proud! Thank you for exposing me to "jewel toned" colors!)

More to come tomorrow, I need to go to bed. And my husband could use some of my attention too. I promise to get the girls' posts up. Tomorrow. Or the next day.

Naiya is 5 Months 11.04.09

Naiya is 5 Months 11.04.09

Gotta love the monthly photo shoot mishaps:

Sweet tootsies:

And to compare, here's Alexia at five months:

And here's what life was like last year at this time (2 months pregnant, miserable, and Ryan taking on the role of a single dad):

Ugh, it makes my stomach turn just thinking about all that nausea. And lying around on the couch. Despising the smell of formula being spit up. Vowing to never eat another popsicle or saltine cracker. Begging for time to be fast forwarded to Month 6, when the nausea would hopefully end. Savoring the peace and relief from a hospital stay to get rehydrated (which I was informed by a nurse that it was the first she'd heard of a patient begging to stay another night-by the way, my request was granted and the vein my IV was in was sore for months afterwards). Needless to say, I'm looking forward to entering into the holiday season this year.

Alexia is 17 Months 10.22.09

I can't believe how much can happen within a month, but having an almost year-and-a-half old magnifies the concept. I realize I need to journal the events that happen, in order to remember.

By reading other moms' blogs, I really enjoy the "update" posts being written TO their child. My hopes are for my girls to read about their childhood through my perspective, so I've decided to write their month birthday posts as if I'm talking to them.

*******

Alexia, you are growing up faster than I want you to! But I'm not going to get sentimental right now, I don't feel like crying today, so here's what you've been up to...

You point to the sky every time you hear an airplane (which is quite often since we are neighbors with the Naval Academy and BWI airport). Often times, I see you pointing to the sky BEFORE I've even heard the plane!

You love to share when you've gone "poo" or "pee-pee" by saying exactly that and tugging at your diaper. You don't even mind if strangers are listening. For the first time this last month, you have informed Daddy in advance and have actually gone "poo-poo" and "pee-pee" on the potty. I must admit, I feel quite cheesy sharing the news with friends and family, but the truth is, WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU! Even over your "business in the bathroom." Never would I have imagined being so excited about little logs in the toilet.

This last month, we have introduced cookies to your little world. It has made me realize how often I eat dessert for breakfast. You do a little dance when you know a cookie is coming your way, where you giggle and run in place. A friend recently made the great statement of, "Kids simply outwardly display what we adults are thinking inside." Cookies are to you, what coffee is to me.

You have really started to talk these days. I was blown away by your first attempts to start repeating me with: ball, balloon, water, up-up, shoe and cereal. But since then, you have just kept on talking! Here are more words: Mama (grandma), Pa (grandpa), Unc (uncle - this is real throaty too, you sound sort of tribal), Nigh-nigh (night-night), Nai-Nai (what you refer to Naiya as), Da-da (this is how you say thank you and please, along with signing thank you with your hand to your mouth), duck (which sounds the same as dog), and the latest and greatest, I love you! The way you say it reminds me of Astro from the Jetsons, "Wa Wuh Woo." It cracks me up to watch you run into something or trip and then look up at me and say "ow" and rub it. Although, it's definitely for dramatic effect sometimes.

I'm amazed that your hair continues to get lighter even though it's not summer. And your curls are so fun and unexpected. Our only conclusion is that you got a little of your Grandpa Grossman's genes. You now have two molars on top, and two more bottom teeth.

I made my first call to poison control when I found you licking the powder of a dishwasher tab off your hand. Nothing came of it and I was told not to worry, and we have since then tied a rubberband around the cabinets underneath the sink.

You love to be the first one to say hi to Naiya when she wakes up from a nap. You love kissing her, patting her lovingly on the back, and saying "boo!" to her between the crib bars. I love watching her smile back at you. I pray that you are the best of friends!

One of my favorite things right now is to hear the pitter-patter of your footsteps. It's never a casual stroll, always a sprint. Case in point below:

You are well aware of what things you are not allowed to get into. Once we have told you not to touch something, you confirm the instruction by pointing to whatever it is and repeating, "no-no". Which is funny, because we don't use those words when talking to you, but your interpretation is "no-no". Your quite compliant personality has allowed us to avoid babyproofing our home. Although your current favorite form of disobeying is standing up in your high chair. It's interesting to watch you slowly stand up with this look in your eye, you know that we know that you know you're not supposed to stand up. One day you took it to a whole new level. I left you to finish up eating a banana, while I went to tend to Naiya in her room. When I came back to the dining room, I found you sitting on the tray of your high chair, feet dangling, reaching for a cup on the dining table. Not a care in the world. I think that was the turning point where we decided on enforcing the no-standing-in-your-highchair rule.

You are well on your way to climbing onto/into everything. I've also seen a little bit of Daddy's engineering mind in you. Tinkering with things, putting objects into holes, taking pen caps on and off.

You are still taking two, two-hour naps a day, and your bedtime schedule is 8pm-8am.

Dusting Off The Ol' Sewing Machine

Since I’ve been following the blog of my friend, Melissa, I’ve had the itch to get back into the world of creativity. You have GOT to see her ideas for birthday parties for her girls (and year-old photo shoots). So to kick things off I dragged my sewing machine (compliments of my mother-in-law from a garage sale) out of the closet and made use of burp cloths and fabric that was bought two years ago in an attempt to give homemade gifts to celebrate the birth of friends’ new little ones. So now that those babies I had in mind two years ago have far outgrown the need for burp cloths, I will redirect to new babies. I can’t wait to show the outcome of the burp cloths! But I’m waiting for the recipients to receive their gifts in the mail, before I post pics.

However, in my (what has now become slightly obsessive) sewing madness, I decided last night at 9pm that I was going to start another project. I wanted to make a personalized onesie for Naiya (using a onesie she already had). I took off the cheesy applique that said “sweetie” from her onesie. (I love how Carters clothes fit my girls, but why – OH WHY – do they put on those not-so-cutesy sayings?) Then I sewed on my creative replacement. I finished at about 11pm, and was tempted to wake Naiya up just to try the onesie on her. I held myself back though. She is, however, wearing it today! I couldn’t help myself. It’s like putting on new baby clothes because you’re so excited, when you know you should wash it first, but you vow not to tell anyone and hope they don’t smell the “new clothes” smell on your baby. So here it is:

Next time I think I might make the letter a little smaller. And I’d like to try using a different stitch. I may be an amateur, but I’m loving it!

Hello Fall. It's Good To Be Back.

In order to make up for lost falls (two years worth, to be exact), I made it my mission these last couple days to Fall-ify our home. The girls and I spent yesterday going from store to store to find all the Fall home decor essentials (and I finally used my gift cards from Christmas).

Our first stop: Kohl’s, to purchase this lovely leaf candy dish:

I tried caramel candy corn off of a recommendation from a high school girlfriend (thanks Melissa!) and I’m sold. Plus, I like the color better than the Spring-ish looking originals. (When I started buying candy for decor reasons, I don’t know.) And later I grabbed some fabulous wine colored, whispy grass from our front yard and put it in a vase.

Our next stops were to Target and then TJ Max for dining room essentials:

The next morning I bundled Alexia up in warm clothes for the most perfect Fall day to go collect acorns in our backyard. Here’s Mama’s little helper at work:

And of course, everything has to go in this child’s mouth:

Which, by the way, I was told the appendix’s function is to break down bark. So although most people do not use this organ, I can assure you Alexia’s appendix is alive and kickin’.

The last couple days have made me so excited to create our own seasonal family traditions. So keep me updated with some of yours, I would love to have ideas. And I absolutely love creative projects, so here is the end result, compliments of the latest Pottery Barn catalog (I like doing the project, but not coming up with the ideas):

In the left candleholder are the acorns we collected and the right one has leaves we picked off a tree out front. I love the colors, the cost (free, of course!) and knowing Alexia had a hand in it all too.

Also in this week of Fall overload, I made a homemade soup for the first time. I’m realizing homemade food is not as intimidating as I thought (thank you Ina Garten). Time consuming, yes, but do-able. For my first whack at soup, I made Lentil Sausage Soup. (Tip: I used canned chicken broth, because who has time to make their own?) Here’s the outcome

It was a hit according to all of my guinea pigs forced to try my amateur cooking experiments. And I love that it made enough for me to serve dinner for three, give to friends that just became parents of two, and freeze for a later time. So to add to seasonal traditions, making homemade soup is on the list. I love the idea of our kids having nostalgia for seasonal foods when they get older.

Now all I need is a pumpkin candle (all natural!) from my mother-in-law, Karen, who has her own candle business, Mia Bella. Oh, and there is a maple brown sugar candle that is to die for. It’s the smell equivalent to having baking goodies in the oven, minus the work.

Our final sign of Fall in the Grossman household consisted of Ryan and his brothers splitting wood in the backyard. We even concluded last night’s dinner with friends, by taking turns chopping wood. (I sat this one out due to fear of busting a stitch). Who knew chopping wood could be a form of entertainment? But you would be surprised how many people have been suckered into “helping”. Seriously, over the years there have been many times I have looked outside and found friends, brothers, friends of brothers, all taking turns chopping wood. I guess it’s a manly thing to do. Ryan even assured me, “it’s fun, you should try.” Maybe next time.

Well friends (and family), expect numerous posts about Fall, as I eat up every minute of not being pregnant this year.

Naiya is 4 Months 10.04.09

Ryan and I thought we had it easy with Alexia, but Naiya is an even more laid back and smiley baby. I am always amazed at how long she will wait before I get a chance to feed her, since I’m often tied up with Alexia or something else around the house. This is how I find her every time I get her up from her nap (propped up on her elbows, smiling at me through the crib bars):

I have to admit she spends much of the day in her Bumbo. She loves our faces up close to hers, she just smiles away. Ryan got her to laugh for the first time this last month by bringing her in for kisses over and over. It was so fun to hear that big of a laugh come out of her little body. Naiya (and I) also caught the second cold of her life. I just hate watching her be so sick. But even after hacking up a lung and blowing snot bubbles, she would flash us a huge grin. For the first time Naiya rolled over (stomach to back). Unfortunately, she decided to practice this in the middle of the night, so I was up rescuing our little turtle on its back. She hasn’t done it since though.

Besides the week I had to get my appendix out and recover, Naiya has been sleeping through the night for eight hour stretches. I’ve been trying to be diligent to make a routine of the following feeding schedule, which I feel has been helpful in her sleeping through the night:

• whenever she first wakes up (I let her decide this so I can have more time to sleep or have quiet time to myself)
• 9am
• noon
• 3pm
• 5pm
• 7pm
• anywhere between 9-10pm

I’m realizing Naiya had a lot of “firsts” this last month, because to add to the list, she had formula for the first time (while I was in the hospital). It’s actually been kind of nice though, because when I leave her with Ryan or his mom I don’t have to worry about pumping. Formula is oh-so convenient, yet oh-so expensive. Even Alexia got in on the fun:

Her four month well visit stats are:

Weight: 14 lbs. (55th %)

Length: 25 in. (75th %)

Head Circumference: 41 cm. (50th %)

She is wearing 3-6 months clothing. She is wearing size 3 diaper, although she has recently been blowing out of them. But I refuse to put her in a bigger diaper than Alexia. Our current nickname for her is Nai-Nai.

Here’s her trademark position in the Bumbo (hands clasped, feet turned in):

It’s still so funny to me how little hair she has. No bows yet for Naiya, and Ryan just isn’t a fan of those cute headbands that I could go broke on at etsy. Her hair is sort of fuzzy, reminds me of baby duck feathers. And this girl’s got some rolls! Who knew you could have fat rolls even on your achilles tendon? Most of her rolls are on her upper thigh, making diaper cleaning real fun. Here’s a shot of those chubby legs:

Naiya has followed her older sister’s lead in the spit up department too. All day long I’m changing outfits, I should probably just put a bib on her.

I’m really looking forward to her personality coming out even more over the next couple of months. Our little Nai-Nai Papay-pay is growing up so fast!

I. Hate. Bugs.

Somebody puh-lease tell me why God created insects! I know that they’re part of the food chain and without them it would be disrupted (blah, blah, blah). Isn’t there another creature less annoying that could have played the part? If there is anything that puts my OCD into high gear, it’s bugs inside my house. Speaking of which (and what sparked this post), there is currently a fly on steroids buzzing around and I cannot for the life of me get it to stop flying in order to kill it. I believe having insects constantly buzzing around my head and landing on me every so often would be a form of torture for me. We also have fruit flies that came in via corn that I have not yet had a chance to tackle because of my appendix and all. I am just not up to the mission of running around clapping fruit flies into obliteration yet.

One of the things I am most excited about Fall, in regards to bugs, is saying goodbye to my #1 Summer enemy: The Mosquito. I am definitely one of those people that will have 50 bites before anyone else even gets one (and that’s evenwith bug spray). On top of that, each bite turns into a big, red welt. There are often summer evenings where it is a huge sacrifice for me (actually, I am the sacrifice) to eat outside to bless my tropical-blood-in-his-veins husband. (Humidity and mosquitos were no strangers to the island in the Philippines that he grew up on.)I think the reason I feel compelled to turn into a bug-slayer when they’re in my home, is because they make me feel like we’re living in filth. (I do not judge when I’m in other peoples’ homes). To this day, Ryan has saved a voicemail from a couple years ago (pre-babies) where I am begging for him to hurry home because “there are like, a million flies in our dining room.” We laugh hysterically about that day, and he plays that message every so often, but I still remember that day vividly. I have no idea where all those flies came from in that short amount of time, especially since I’m a nazi when it comes to closing the door when someone goes outside (even if they’re coming right back in). But that day I went on a rampage and killed more flies than ever before. Strangely, they were gone by the time Ryan came home. He thinks I made the whole thing up (I can certainly be dramatic, but I would like to think I don’t go out of my way to create the drama). But my sweet, loving husband recently purchased one of my favorite household items at the current time: a flyswatter. Why we haven’t had one up until now, I don’t know. A whole $0.99. I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to the inventor of the flyswatter. I heart you.

My bug-phobia (if I can even call it that, because I’m not afraid of them, I just HATE them) has started to rub off on Alexia. I noticed recently that she will swat at a fly if it gets in her line of vision and then look at me with a smile. (Alexia, this is not a game, we’re at war!). Ryan has on many occasions had to reprimand me for overreacting over a bee swarming around me or the girls. I’ve been known to knock dishes off the table in an attempt to escape a wasp’s path. And Alexia has been yanked out of her highchair and pulled inside until I see the killer bee fly away from our deck.

I have lost track of the ‘roid fly, I’m going to be so annoyed if I hear it flying around while in bed. Wish me luck with my next venture: to rid our home of fruit flies once and for all. (Or at least until next summer.)