baby bigger

I've begun to accept the fact that Madeline is definitely getting bigger.

I was in denial for awhile. I'd ask people who hadn't seen her in a week or two, or even a month, if she seemed to have grown. Inevitably, they would say she had ... sob!
It's not like I want her to have some sort of developmental problem. I just want to keep this baby, well, a baby! I'm having a lot of fun with her. It's new baby territory for me.
Her little noggin especially seems to be growing and firming up. Those soft spots have all disappeared, except for one.

As I've told a couple of people: I want her to stay the same squishy little newborn she was at first until the very moment I hand her over to strangers at the day care a week from Monday morning.
From that time on, I want to think of her as grown up and practically self-sustaining. So my guilt won't be quite so profound.

in two weeks

... I return to the workday routine. Alas!
It's been a great maternity leave. I was honestly not quite sure if I'd live through another maternity leave. The last one was unbelievably challenging. The sleep deprivation! The colic! The sub-freezing weather and tiny apartment! Not to mention the dramatic adjustments that a baby naturally necessitates. But this time ... it's been a lot different.

A lot of things are the same, but my life is already structured around being focused on kids. It's not like I'm sacrificing that much to 'start over.' And hoo boy, have a lot of things -- all the right things -- been different!


Matt and I joke that Madeline is a made-to-order baby, right down to her greater resemblance to -- and preference for -- her father. Well, perhaps preference is too strong, but she really seems to get a charge out of him. Her face lights up into the most delighted of smiles when he holds her. They really have a connection. He was the first one to figure out that we could 'talk' to her -- she's always been a cooer, and if we coo to her, she smiles big and often coos back. If her tummy is full and she's in a good mood, that is.
But I digress. She's a sleeper -- just like we wanted! She's a great latcher-on and eater, and doesn't spit up much -- just as I hoped for! She's quite healthy, which is of course wonderful. And we thought it would be fun to have a dark-haired flavor this time. Matt's mom keeps declaring that she looks like 'Matt in a dress.' I'm falling short of inflicting that description on her, but there certainly is a strong resemblance! And people are starting to say she looks a lot like Lizzy, too. It's those Maisel eyes.
Anyway ... it's been such a treat, getting to know her. It's going to be so hard to hand her over to someone else for 11 hours a day. ELEVEN HOURS. I don't think we ever left Lizzy for more than nine. Just the way the commute works out -- Maddie's day care will be close to our house, whereas Lizzy's was closer to our jobs -- but it just seems wrong. It's just tough to leave them, period. Don't get me wrong -- I have the highest respect for stay-at-home moms, but I'd quickly go insane if I was one -- but it's just tough nonetheless. You have to do what you have to do, I keep telling myself.
Two more weeks. Just two more weeks ...

Bonus photo -- we allowed Lizzy to decide when we went to the local, but very well-known and well-attended, farm's fall festival. Her school bus passes it twice a day, so she had its 'grand opening' date reinforced often, and thus she wanted to go this weekend. So we did, despite having only two hours on Sunday afternoon to do so. It's been an annual tradition of Matt's and mine since Lizzy was 11 months old -- long before we lived so close to it.

I ran around getting as many photos of the fam as I could with the dying camera battery I'd brought, and only realized at the end of the day that the lens had a huge smudge on it. Whoops.

If you pretend I'm the goat, it's a family photo!

gratitude

Things I'm particularly grateful for today:

* Running water in our home. Running through the pipes, that is. Particularly our now-functional toilets, and the ability to easily wash my hands in the sink. (imagine doing all those diaper changes, and you can see why hand-washing is a desirable thing for me just now.)

* A husband who is willing -- nay, eager! -- to take a day off work and attempt to install a water heater himself, thus possibly saving us about seven hundred dollars.

* An appliance repair guy who will do house calls that start as late as 8:45 p.m. and run until 11:45 p.m. Even if he was a jerk.

(Matt and his brother did a great job installing the water heater, but the soldering part was just a bit beyond them. No shame in that, methinks. Also, we needed an expert eye on the a/c unit, so it was just as well that the repair guy hit two things at once. It still saved us a few hundred bucks over a repairperson doing the job from the beginning.)

* A husband who really loves me, and who is worthy of loving in return. Even when we might not like each other for a few days now and then.

* Last, but foremost, two precious, darling little girls -- and their bedtimes.

weekend of water

Yep, we just can't get enough water 'round here.
But first -- what the kidlets were up to. Somewhat water-themed, as well. Sort of.
Lizzy had her first soccer encounter/practice/game on Saturday at 1 p.m. The under-6 crowd has a half hour of drills, then they do a very light scrimmage for a half hour against another team. They'd never met before, and in fact, the coach had an unavoidable conflict and was unable to make it to the event himself. It's low key, is what I'm saying.

Lizzy's team is purple, and was asked to vote on a team name. Front-runners were "purple grapes," "purple dragons," "purple girls" and "purple princesses." Matt and I liked purple dragons, but we weren't allowed to vote. The winner: The purple princesses! Or, princesses for short. You can only imagine how weird it is to cheer on the princesses on a soccer field. As apropos as it might, in fact, be. Just more to tease her about when she's a teen.
She sure looks darn cute in her uniform, though! She and her soccer-loving dad posed for me, as you see.
So, after we'd trudged about 10 minutes up a gravelly path from the parking lot (we had the far field, naturally) in the late-summer heat, Matt and I turn to each other and say, "Hm. Did you bring anything for Lizzy to drink?" Cue the water break ... and we had to tell her that we had nothing for her. We are the world's worst parents! So I tore out to the nearest gas station for drinks. I cannot believe we forgot drinks. My line is, hey -- I can keep track of the needs of one person at a time. That person used to be me. Then it was Lizzy. Now it's Maddie ... yikes.
With about five minutes to go, Lizzy decided she had to use the bathroom. Which was an outhouse near the parking lot. So, we just left. No point in walking there, then walking back. Apparently, she told her dad at that point that she wanted to quit soccer. She didn't like it. She'd changed her mind within about 10 minutes, though. We figured she'd find the actual physical exertion portion of the sport (is there any other?) fairly challenging. She doesn't exactly like to move much. Quite like her mother (at that age), in fact. She told us that she overheard someone saying, "Hey, Lizzy's good!" She was pretty stoked about that.
Matt had her out in the backyard doing games and drill-related activities for at least an hour on Sunday afternoon. She'll be our little star princess yet!

Today, our church had a baptism/dedication service for Maddie and C.J., our almost equally young neighbor. Man -- did we ever get a photo of the two of them together? I don't think we did. Bummer. But the lovely and talented Ms. Stacy got lots of photos of them separately -- I hope to post one or two of Maddie here soon. We borrowed a lovely dress from the Stavs for the occasion. Maddie managed to cry and scream her way through at least half of it (the occasion, not the gown). That was unfortunate. Other than that, though, it was a blessed time. Thanks, church community, for all your support. Easy to say, but it comes from the heart. We love all of you, and we're so, so grateful for you all.
Lizzy also dressed up today, and sang a little song during the service about family as her contribution. Here they are, in their regalia:


What appears to be a huge smile on Maddie's face was exactly that. She's been quite smiley lately! Not for insignificant events such as, say, her baptism, but, you know, when only one or two people are looking. Argh. (and no, it's NOT just gas pains! It's not it's not it's not.)

They say troubles come in threes. We had our second and third basement flooding events this evening. The a/c unit has been leaking for the past, oh, week or two or so. Matt's shoved a bucket under a pipe that's dripping, and emptying the bucket every few days. Except that we emptied it Friday or Saturday, and it was full -- and leaking -- again today. Whoops. So, we called for professional help.
While Matt was down looking at it, the water heater burst and sprayed its contents all over the closet. So we bailed water for an hour or so until the thing ran out. Then we called yet more professionals.
Then Matt decided he and his brother could replace the water heater himself -- and, why not? Fix the a/c unit too. That fun will commence tomorrow. I'm a bit skeptical, but what do I know? I guess if you have to call a plumber, might as well have a go yourself first. Should be entertaining, anyway. Maybe I'll do a pictorial of the proceedings.
I just don't know what's with all the pipes and things going wonky down there recently. And they all waited for the father in law to leave. Lucky him!
In other house-related news, we're having the chimney sweeps over tomorrow to clean and inspect. And we're getting roofer guys to fix the roof where the fool squirrels are getting in. Quite a sizable hole up there, we're told. Four hundred dollars' worth of repairs should do the trick!
Cue my usual rant about home ownership.

shots (heard 'round the world?)

I'm about to take my sweet little smiling baby in for her eight-week checkup. That means four shots in her chubby thighs. One of the most miserable moments for a parent? At least at the newborn stage, quite possibly. Yet I am a staunch supporter of vaccinations. So it's a necessary evil. Kind of like vegetables and (I believe) spankings. No fun for either party, but a must-do.
What amuses me about it this time around is that Lizzy is quite disappointed that she won't be there to watch. Not 'to support my sister' or something -- to WATCH. She expects me to take her out of school early, or let her stay home the whole day, so she can go!
When I explained that this was quite impossible and would not be happening, she said, "Well, that's okay. You can just take a picture, I guess."
Strange child.
I found out yesterday that Maddie did NOT get put into my insurer's system, as I had carefully ensured would be the case by my many calls to my HR dept. I think we have it all figured out by now, but let's hope I don't get there and get told that I need to pay hundreds out of pocket for these shots. That would certainly make it doubly painful.
The baby's fussing now -- no doubt anticipating great pain to come -- so I must away! I've been offline for about a week. I'm feeling chatty. Maybe I'll jump back on later to discuss my thoughts on such matters as Ruby Tuesday's new ad campaign, and the belts in my closet. You can't wait, I'll bet!

Sissy stuff

My little helper!

the first day (of the rest of her life)

Maddie and I packed Lizzy off to first grade this morning. Whoa!

I've been feeling a lot better about this stage of life since we went to her school's open house last Wednesday afternoon. It's simply a tremendous school, and the kids and teachers alike seem really sweet and nice. I'm sure there's devilment in every school, or every area where people come together, but as far as mommies can expect, it's a great place to be.

As you can see, she chose her trademark 'two unmatching patterns' look for her first day. Hey -- why change things up now!

So I'm sitting here hoping that, despite her refusal to eat more than three bites of cereal this morning (at her day care, they provided a breakfasty snack at 10 a.m.), she made it until lunchtime (11:15) before expiring of starvation -- or worse, whining about being hungry! Also, that she managed NOT to scratch her head so much that alarm bells rung in the minds of teachers and school nurses. Yes, parents, feel free to hate me -- we did treat her hair (and bed, etc.) for lice on Saturday night, but she's still scratching. Forget cockroaches -- lice are the REAL survivors of the apocalypse! We plan to treat her again this weekend, as the directions suggest (second treatment a week to 10 days later).

Also, the kids have this seven-digit student code that they're supposed to remember to access their line of credit for lunch. I'm serious. We plugged in some lunch money on the computer last week, and she should be set for a couple of months. So stealing lunch money now, I suppose, consists of swiping someone's number. Which I sincerely hope doesn't happen. It's all so ... so ... so the year 2000 now! Not the days of dinosaurs, as when I was a kid. Man, I drank so much chocolate milk in elementary school, I've been soured on it ever since. Those were the days.

Here she is, getting on the bus. *sniff* My girl's growing up so fast ...