Interlude

You know that old saying, 'Never a dull moment'? Yeah, well, that about sums things up. I'm hoping by next week I will have a little more time to come back and give a more detailed update on how things are going.

For now, life continues. We've been in Michigan for almost two weeks and I am loving being back 'home'. I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed living here when I was younger. Fall is beginning and I expect to see lots of color in the coming weeks. Trips to the cider mills will definitely be happening.

Our house, well...it needed a lot of work. We have cleaned until we feel like we can't clean anymore, new carpets were installed two days ago and now we need to paint the entire house. Huge undertaking, but will be well worth the time and money when we're finished. Especially since we are hoping to stay put for several years. I love the house, the layout and space are perfect for our family. We have a great yard and the neighborhood has lots of little kids for mine to become friends with. Church is great, too.

The kids seem to be adjusting fairly well. Dylan has made a couple new friends and has only had a handful of meltdowns. He's sleeping pretty good and has been a joy to be around lately.

He started preschool the day after Labor Day. He is going Tues/Thurs for 3 hours in the morning. So far, so good.

Lena is now 5 months old (WTC?!). She is one of the happiest babies I have ever met. She is pretty much content to just hang out most of the day. Her night time sleep is slowly improving (meaning I don't have to pop her paci into her mouth 10 times a night. Now, it's more like 2 or 3 times). We seem to have finally gotten her reflux under control so she rarely cries during the day. I just cannot get enough of her. I took her to the pediatrician last week and everything seems to be in order. She is in the 20% for weight and height...guess she's just going to be a petite little thing like her Mommy.

Mike's job is going well. He's still trying to figure things out, but he likes the company and the people. We're still waiting to hear how frequently he will be traveling.

That's the short version.

A Moment

I really don't have time to be posting right now, but I need to take just a moment to write down some thoughts I had today and tell a little story that happened last week before I forget about it.

Today something happened. It's kind of a joyous thing and kind of a sad thing (for me anyway). Lena rolled over for the first time. Those of you without children or those of you that are not done having children are probably thinking 'no big deal, Audra.' But, for me...well, let's just say I may or may not have shed a tear or two. Why? Because rolling over is the beginning of the end of babyhood. I'm happy that Lena is conquering milestones, that means she is growing and learning what she is supposed to at this stage of her life. I want a thriving baby. But, I cried because I just can't seem to wrap my brain around the fact that she will not be this little forever. I feel like my life has been one big whirlwind of stress and change for the past 7 months. I mean, honestly, back in the beginning of December I never could have imagined all that has happened in our family in the past few months. In December we were in Raleigh, happy as can be and planning to spend the rest of our lives there. Here we are 8 months later, we've moved to Virginia Beach, Dylan started preschool, we had a baby, I had surgery, Mike accepted a different job offer, I'm packing AGAIN and our family is splitting up while we're trying to find a place to live. Poor Dylan, this will be his 5th house and he's not even 4 years old. With all this going on, I feel like I haven't had time to catch my breath, let alone sit back and take some time to enjoy every little moment with my children. I kind of feel cheated because I've been so preoccupied with other things. I'm missing out on what should be a really happy time with my kids. I REALLY hope that Michigan will provide us an opportunity to settle in somewhere and actually LIVE our lives. I don't want to waste their childhood stressing about life events. So, yeah, I cried because my baby girl rolled over.

That being said, God has, on occasion slapped me across the face to remind me how great my life is. I typically spend the 2nd half of every night sleeping on the twin bed in Lena's room. She tends to fuss a lot after 1am and it's just easier to sleep in there so I can pop a paci back in her mouth. One night last week, I heard her start fussing over the monitor so I went through my routine of turning it off and head up the stairs to her room (side note: I'm not a fan of my bedroom being on a different floor from the kids). Most nights I keep her door shut because Dylan sleeps with his open and I don't want her fussing to wake him up. So, I get to the top of the stairs and walk into her room. As I walk in, I realize that her door was wide open...not how I left it. I'm terribly paranoid about someone entering my home while we're sleeping, so this kind of freaked me out for a moment. I turned around and walked through the upstairs to make sure everything else was in order. Nothing alarmed me, so I went back in her room, walked over to the crib and popped the binky in her mouth. Then I walked over to the bed, set my phone down on the side table and proceeded to get into the bed. As I reached for the covers, I realized that there was a lump on the bed. It was Dylan. I thought, awww, cute...not knowing if he was in there because I usually sleep there or if he wanted to be with Lena. I just went and climbed in his bed because he was sleeping so peacefully (and by that I mean sawing logs, lol). Around 5:30am I heard Lena start fussing again, so I went into her room to do the binky thing again. This time, however, I saw Dylan standing at the crib shushing her and trying to reach the binky to put it in her mouth. When he saw me he said "Mommy, are you mad at me?" (Usually I'm kind of angry when he's out of bed before the sun rises). I told him I wasn't mad, but that he needed to go back to sleep. Instead of putting him back in the bed in Lena's room, I grabbed his hand and took him to his room and I climbed in bed with him. Dylan then said, "Mommy, let's hold hands like we used to. I'm sorry for being out of bed...I just didn't want sissy to be lonely all by herself."
Oh.My.Gosh. Talk about melting my heart. I may have shed a tear then, too.

Crazy Life - Part....

Well, I've lost count of what part of my crazy life this is. Let's just say that I haven't been bored in a very long time. I'll have lots of pictures to share in the coming weeks, but for now this one will have to do.

Mike blessed Lena at church on Sunday June 27th. It was beautiful and she truly looked like an angel in her white dress. A dress, might I add, that was handmade especially for her. The handiwork was done by my mom's dear friend Sandy Mullen. It is a gorgeous dress and I am so greatful for Sandy's talent and that she was more than willing to share it with us. My family and The Elkington's came to town for the weekend of the blessing and we had a wonderful time visiting with everyone.

The day after the blessing, I took the kids and drove to my parents house in Charleston. We stayed for two weeks and had a great time. I love being with my family and it's nice for the kids to spend time with the grandparents. Dylan especially loved spending time playing with his cousin Noah. I think everyone enjoyed getting to see Lena and she even started being a little less colicky while we were there, so we got to see some smiles.

We stopped in Raleigh on our way home to attend a birthday party for one of Dylan's buddies. It was so nice to visit with our friends for a couple days. We were supposed to stay longer, but after two weeks of living out of a suitcase and being away from Mike, we were just ready to be together as a family again.

Plus, I needed to get home to help Mike make a huge decision. I can't believe that I'm saying this yet again, but we are moving! Hopefully this will be the last time for quite awhile. Unlike last time, we are excited about this move. Mike has accepted an offer from a company in Detroit. He will get to further his career and begin using his Portuguese again. The job will involve travel to Brazil and he couldn't be more excited about that. For me, well, I get to return to a place I love dearly. Even though I only lived in Michigan for a short time, it is where I consider myself to have 'grown up'. High school was a very formative period of my life and I am excited at the prospect of being able to set down some roots and let my kids grow up somewhere.

Stay tuned...

Tiny Two Months

I cannot believe that Lena is already two months old. The time is flying by...so quickly, in fact, that I didn't realize it had been two months until the pediatrician's office called to confirm her appointment last night. Then I looked at a calendar and realized that the 15th was actually two days ago. I have no concept of dates anymore. Well, except for June 28th because that's when my vacation begins. But, I digress...

Lena is still my little teeny tiny girl. Her stats today were as follows: Weight 8lbs 15 oz (10%), Height 21 3/4 in (15%), and Head (well, I can't remember the measurements - she's in the 75th %). So, while she's not as big as most 2 month olds, she's not below the charts and she is consistently growing. All is good. Dr said she looks great healthwise. She does have colic and we just have to deal with that until it goes away. Hopefully in the next few weeks it will start to subside and Mike will learn that she doesn't really hate him. He just only sees her during the screamfest each evening and therefore that translates to her only wanting Mommy to take care of her. Guess I'm comforting.

Pretty little girl is smiling a lot, exploring her voice, loves to look at people's faces, and has started trying to grab things she finds interesting (mostly my hair, but occasionally some toys). We think she's going through a growth spurt right now because she started waking at night again, but that should pass soon. Her hair is starting to grow in and appears to be a dark blonde or really light brown. She has the tiniest fingers, legs and feet. I love her to pieces...even when she's screaming and won't let anyone else hold her.

Just kidding

In my previous post I said that Dylan sleeps through the night, but that he wakes up early. Scratch that...I was lying! We have been struggling with his sleep habits since he was born, but they have gotten really bad since we moved to Virginia Beach. When I last posted, he was on a several day streak of actually sleeping through the night. It ended as abruptly as it began.

I think, on average, Dylan gets about 7, maybe 8 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. Ummm, 3 year olds are supposed to get at least 10. He will typically go to bed just fine, but it's all downhill from there. He is usually up 2-3 times a night and then up for the day no later than 5:30am. Mike and I got so tired of getting up with him at 5:30, that we finally taught him how to use the remote to turn on the tv. Before we go to bed at night, we just set the cable box to Nick Jr so all Dylan has to do is hit the Power button. I also put a cup of his juice in the refrigerator. He now knows to just chill on the couch when he first gets up. It allows us about 45 minutes of extra sleep time in the morning. Although, I can't really sleep because it makes me all anxious to know that my 3 1/2 year old is up roaming freely around the house. It makes me especially anxious now that he is potty trained and immediately takes off his pull-ups when he wakes up.

As a result of us allowing him the freedom to turn on the tv and get his juice in the mornings, he no longer stays in his room or comes to us when he wakes up in the middle of the night. Every night when he gets up at 12, 2, 3:30 or whatever times it is he decides it's time to be up for the day and goes about his morning routine...removing pull-up and all. I know he's up because I can hear his door fly open and then he starts flipping on all the lights downstairs. Now, I get the occasional bout of insomnia, but something tells me this is not typical 3 year old behavior. Last night, for instance, I heard Dylan go out of his room, saw the lights flip on. I waited about 5 minutes before going downstairs to walk him back to his room. Before I could make it to the living room, he had removed his pull-up, drank his cup of juice and was singing along to Wow Wow Wubzy. I turned off the tube and marched his little hiney back to his room (this has been going on for so long that I am usually furious during our interaction...I don't do well with no sleep). I went to search for a new Pull-Up (he is not night potty trained yet and is no where close to being ready for that), but to my dismay there were none in the house. So, at 12am, I throw a hospital pad (one of those water resistant ones) on his bed, put some undies on him and tell him to come get me if he needs to pee. Fast forward to 2am and I'm rudely awakened by Dylan sobbing and shouting that he peed in his bed and on the floor. I bolt out of bed and find that, sure enough, he started peeing in his bed (probably while sleeping), realized what he was doing and hopped out of bed only to continue peeing on his carpet. AWESOME! Just what I want to deal with at 2am. *Reminder* I have an 8 week old baby! I pull Dylan to the bathroom, wipe down his legs and bottom with a wet rag (no way am I giving him a bath while half asleep), throw on a new pair of undies, fold the hospital in half and throw him back in his bed. All the while, praying in my head that he doesn't pee again. By the time I finally got back in bed, oh, around 3am, Lena started her nightly fussing routine and I got to listen to her fuss and grunt and wiggle until 5:30am when Dylan woke up for the day.

That's just a sampling of what my nights have been like...for the past FOUR months! FOUR MONTHS people! Needless to say, I am exhausted and hanging on by a thread. Gonna get the pediatrician to refer us for a sleep study. Someone needs to fix this for me or I just might die of sleep deprivation. Gram and Pa...I hope you're ready for us at the end of June...I'll probably be passed out in your guest room for two weeks.

What Day Is It?

Wow...time is a flyin' and I'm doing horrible with taking pictures these days. Photography is one of things that certainly interests me, but I'm too lazy to actually set aside some time to learn and practice. Hopefully I will get my act together one of these days.

Like I said in my last post, May turned into quite a busy month. Last weekend Grandpa and Grandma Elkington drove down to visit from Delaware. They still hadn't met Lena, so it was a fun weekend showing off our princess. Dylan, of course, loved having them here. He absolutely loves his Grandparents. Grandma K will play with him for hours on end and this kid never tires of the attention. Not sure where she gets the energy to run around with him all day...oh wait, she doesn't have to do it every day! Both Grandparents enjoyed time snuggling Lena and giving Dylan the attention he seems to be so starved for. Mike and I enjoyed the extra hands to give us a little break.

Lena continues to be a little angel. This girl has captured my heart and I find myself just wanting to sit in the rocker, snuggle up and stare at her cute face. She is slowly gaining back some weight, but she is still kind of miniature. Dylan was never this small so I'm kind of enjoying having a little baby. I think I'm also taking advantage of her because unless I get blindsided, she will be my last baby and I want to make sure I cherish every moment.

Dylan was a crappy crappy sleeper. Oh, did I mention what a bad sleeper he was? So, imagine my surprise, when at merely 5 weeks old, Lena slept through the night. I thought for sure it was just a fluke, but then she did it again. And again. And again. She has consistently slept through the night for 9 days. Some people consider a baby sleeping through the night if they sleep 5-6 hours straight. Well, when I say sleeping through the night*, I'm talking 8-9 hours straight. And, well, this girl is sleeping from 10pm until 6:30am. By my calculations that is 8 1/2 hours. Ahhh, I am a happy Mom. Well, except for the fact that my 3 1/2 year old still sleeps like crap. *For anyone wondering how this happened, I follow the Babywise method. I don't follow every single aspect of it, but I do like the schedule they encourage and it has worked for both my kids. (Yes, Dylan sleeps through the night. He just likes to wake up before the roosters.)

Seriously...don't you just want to snuggle her?! I've had a few people ask, so I'm just going to answer for any inquiring minds. NO...Lena does not have birthmarks all over her face! On her forehead, it's called a stork bite. She also has some on the back of her neck. Dylan had stork bites when he was born and they faded away by the time he was 6 months old. Although, when he gets really upset/angry they resurface...it's kind of cute and that's how I can tell if he's truly upset. The marks on Lena's eyelids are called 'angel kisses'. I have been told by a few pediatricians and parents of other children with them that they too will fade in a few months time. For now, I like to kiss her on her eyelids to remind her that she's extra watched over.

I am the first to admit that these two try my patience like nothing I've ever experienced before. BUT, I would not trade being their mother for anything in the world. They light up my life and I feel more complete than I ever have in the past. I struggle daily with the fact that I cannot be a perfect Mother to them. I feel bad that they are exposed to so many of my weaknesses. They deserve someone to treat them perfectly. I do, however, know that no person on this Earth could love them more than I do. I am so lucky.

Road Tripping

May is turning out to be a busy month for us. I thought I'd just be relaxing at home the first month or two after having Lena. And, we have done some of that but we've had lots going on, too. Mother's Day weekend my sister Kathleen came to town with my nephew Noah. Noah is going to visit his Dad in NJ for a couple months and Virginia Beach just happened to be the half way point between SC and NJ. Lucky for us because we got to spend a couple days with Kathleen and Noah!
Dylan and Noah don't get to see each other very often, but they sure do love playing together! Mike and I caught a glimpse of what having three kids would be like. Ummm, I think we're good with our two. Sure was nice for Dylan to have a playmate for a little while though.

Dylan loves his Aunt Kathleen (as I'm sure Lena will, too...I mean, she did get her middle name from my sister). Gotta say, I love my sister too.

Kathleen returned to Charleston on Mother's Day. Then we had a couple days to relax and get ready for our next exciting visit. Dylan's best friend David turned 3 last week and we decided it would be fun to return to Raleigh for the fun festivities. My first road trip by myself with two kids went pretty well. There were a couple bouts of screaming from Lena and lots of backseat driving from Dylan, but all in, I shouldn't complain. Could've been much much worse! Luckily it's only a 3 hour drive.

We stayed with the Fox family again. Renee decided to invite everyone over for a playdate one morning. Dylan sure does have a fun little group of friends...not to mention the cuteness.

I mentioned to Renee that I don't have too many pictures of me with Lena yet. So, she took a couple opportunities to snap some shots of me with my little princess. I love a few of them.

Our friend Noelle and her daughter Riley also stayed at Hotel Fox. So, it was a big slumber party. 'Uncle' David is such a good sport to let all the estrogen and toddlers invade his home. He even seems to have a good time when we're all there. We even caught him snuggling Lena and singing to her...guess he's just preparing for his #2 to arrive in August.

Since Renee is due in August, we have already decided that Daniel and Lena need to get married one day. So, we took the opportunity to get the first 'Mother in Law' shot.

Me and my little bug at the birthday party. We both had a great time and are so sad that we had to return to Virginia Beach. We miss our friends so much!

On a side note...Dylan has decided he is finally ready to be potty trained!!!! Yay!