What we did on Labor Day

A bit outdated, but here's some pics of our mini family outing on Labor Day. We went to one of Matt's favorite Utah spots: Mona. There's a pond with a rope swing there. We went there when we were dating. He was so excited to share it with me, but I let him down by being too scared to go on the rope swing. It's not that high but I was terrified stepping out on that little branch! I always regretted not doing it though so when I got the chance to go on a rope swing in Belize on our cruise I made sure to do it. And now 6 years later we were back at Mona. Matt and Jane played in the pond and Matt went on the rope swing of course. We didn't get any pictures of that so instead we got some pictures of us doing nothing.



I couldn't decide which of the following pictures to use because while neither has our kids looking at the camera they both show off Matt's fantastic farmer's tan.

Postpartum Mood Swings and Jack turns 3 months

Well, I just asked Matt to proof my blog post. He said, "The beginning is kind of heavy. It sounds suicidal." So I've toned it down a bit, but I can assure you that I'm not suicidal. Here's what survived the cut:

I was in the elevator at my pediatrician's office building. A middle aged woman was in the elevator with me and asked how old Jack was. After hearing he was two months old she replied, "Oh so things are finally starting to get back to normal then." I just smiled. Inside I was thinking, "If by normal you mean not sleeping, trying to nurse a bawling baby, and never getting anything accopmlished, then yes, things are back to normal."

According to my babycenter.com email, 90% of 3-month-olds are sleeping through the night. But wait, if you read the fine print sleeping from 7pm to 1am is considered sleeping through the night because it's a 6 hour stretch. Thanks, but no thanks. But I do have a new strategy to deal with the sleep issue. If I don't pay attention to how many total hours of sleep I'm getting (or not getting), I actually feel okay. And that's what matters, isn't it?

But yes, this post-title mentions mood swings. So although I have my moments of feeling like I want to run from the house screaming and not come back for days, I also have my moments where I want to just inhale my little Jack because he is so darn cute. And even though I have days where I feel like all I can manage to accomplish is keeping my kids fed (showering, getting dressed and dressing my kids are all lofty goals) by night time I usually have tender feelings of motherhood and gratitude for two wonderful children being in our family.

Well, now that I've got that off my chest I must admit that on paper things aren't THAT bad. He sleeps WAY better than Jane did and cries FAR less. And the bawling while nursing thing was largely improved with some reflux medicine. So, although you'll probably never hear me say this first year, "He's growing up way too fast," or "I wish he could stay a baby forever," I am managing to enjoy my baby's first few months of life.

But let's move on to the up-side of the mood swings: My darling, sweet, precious baby Jack. I really do love him so much. I can't stop kissing him ever. He is finally getting old enough that he "likes" things. He loves it when I sing the wheels on the bus while doing the actions with his feet and legs. And he likes it when Dad shakes his leg and says, "Nice to meet you." Those guarantee big grins. He also likes soft things like play-silks and his lion from Aunt Gaylene. And he's most content in his vibrating cow chair. And he seems to really enjoy his baths, but I would be ashamed to admit how sporadically he gets them.

This month he has started grabbing some objects and rolling over from his tummy to his back. Why are babies so much better at that when they're naked? And on labor day he even giggled several times for Daddy! I was so excited, but a little jealous that I haven't achieved that same result yet. He weighs right around 12 pounds now and is just starting to fit into some 3-6 month onesies, although the 0-3 month pants still require some pinning around the waist to make them wearable. Like these cute little shorts:




Happy 3 Months, Jack! You are definitely worth every little sacrifice!

Not Very Two

After taking a nap on a regular bed (yes, she's still in a crib) I came in and said, "You slept on a big girl bed!" She said, "Yeah, I'm big. I'm three." I corrected her, "You're almost three." She replied, "I'm not VERY two." Nope, Jane is no longer VERY two. She only has one more month until she turns 3.

So, yeah, Jane has decided she's ready for a big girl bed so we've put the twin mattress we happened to have in her room, and she said that Jack could use her crib. When we were talking about her bed she explained, "Max has a boy big girl bed."

I asked Jane, "What do you want to eat?" She said, "Something juicy." "A pear?" "Yeah, a pear's juicy."

Jane has been obsessed with "hoctagons" this month. (You know, stop signs). She likes to say, "S.T.O.P. Stop." each time we get to one. But sometimes when she gets in the car she'll say, "I don't wanna see any hoctagons. I'm too tired (or too busy)."

One of my favorite non-words that Jane uses is downer. I love it. It of course means that something is down, or lower than something else.

Jane was busy drawing at her little art table while I was doing dishes. She said, "Mom, I'm so tired. I need to go lay down on the couch." But she continued and said, "I'm almost done drawing." A few minutes later she went into the living room and said to Dad, "I was drawing so hard. I was working so hard." Then she showed us her little picture where she had filled in all of the tiny little white spaces on a design she found on a paper.

Jane likes it when my hair is down. In fact, she cries when I put it into a ponytail and begs me to put it down.

Like I mentioned last month Jane finds the words bum-bum and poo-poo funny. What I didn't realize was how often she tries to use that as a joke. While visiting my friends in St. George, Kate kind of laughed at something Jane had said. Jane noticed she got her to laugh and tried to continue the laughter by saying, "poo-poo. bum-bum." Only it wasn't funny at all, just an odd non sequitur.

One night, in the middle of the night, our power went out and it was pitch black. The first thing I heard seconds after it happened was Jane yelling, "My eyes!"

Jane has started to use the word "because." And she uses it excessively. In fact, she will now talk for about 5 minutes straight stringing each non-related sentence together with the word because. And this is how she has started to ask us for things. "I want to go outside. Because don't say no."

Jane is so good at manipulating us. We are stuck in this cycle where Jane tells us she needs to eat right after we tell her it's time to get ready for bed. We try to tell her no and that it's time for bed but when she says, "My tummy is so hungry. I NEED to eat. My tummy will be SO hungry in my bed," we usually give in.

And another time she really wanted to go outside and she was begging me and finally said, "Because kids LOVE to go outside." That solved the discussion because I remembered that kids DO love to go outside.

I always know when Jane has done something wrong when I hear things from the other room like, "Don't look at the table." or "Mom, I love you. Don't be mad." And she won't tell me what she's done until I assure her that I won't be mad.