Ketchup

I honestly don't know where to start. Seems like a lot has happened, but I can't really figure out what. Guess I'll work backwards and see what I have time for!

Arianna is sleeping right now, and Roman is supposed to be. But he's been banging and babbling happily in there for 45 minutes! I expect him to fall asleep any second, but who knows! I don't want to forget my favorite part about him right now: whenever it's naptime or bedtime, I nurse him first, then pick him up and cuddle with him. I tell him "It's night-night time" and he lays his head on my shoulder and settles right in. Then I sing Twinkle, Twinkle, and it's the most perfect part of every day. He's so snuggly, and doesn't fight it at all. When I finish, I lay him down, and he (usually) quietly lays there til he falls asleep. I will definitely miss that snuggle time.
Roman had his 1yr check up yesterday. He got a few shots (no MMR, pox, or flu), and did awesome. When he cried a little for the shots, Arianna said "It's ok, buddy" in her high-pitched voice. So cute. He weighed 17lbs and was 29.75in long. I think she said that was 50th% for height, but wasn't on the chart for weight. He's fine though - he's come a long way from 4lbs 14oz! It's so hard to believe he's 1 already, and acting so old lately. He's not walking yet, but he can take a couple steps, and he's so close! He waves and gives kisses, and is such a joyful boy.
We just got back from a chaotic visit to PA for Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family. The kids were mostly pretty good, but we created chaos everywhere we went! It was so good to see everyone though, and Roman wasn't even terrified of anyone!

I love eavesdropping on Marissa when she thinks she's alone..."Thank you, thank you, thank you God, thank you! Thank you for this piece of tape on here!" She's still enjoying school. On her day off before we left for PA, she said "I wanna learn!" and got out a princess dry erase K school book and spent hours at the table. Haha!

For the past few weeks before Thanksgiving, I got to babysit some kids I hadn't seen in ages! I used to watch triplets (A, E, & L) and their little brother (S) when they were 16mo and newborn, until about when Marissa was 1. Haven't even talked to them since, although we still exchanged Christmas cards. Out of the blue, they called with a temp childcare need, and I said I'd do it! It was a little complicated because I had to be here for Marissa to get on the bus in the morning, and be back in time for the bus to drop her off. But they made it work, and it was so fun! Obviously the triplets were in school, but I still got to see them on their teacher conference day, and S is only in half day K so I got to see him still. They also now have a 3yr old, W, and he and Arianna had a blast together. S really enjoyed playing with Roman too. It was very challenging because they're not a baby-proof house anymore, plus they have 3 dogs, and Arianna was terrified of them. But I'm glad I got to help them out, and the extra unexpected money was nice too!

We had a nice Halloween. Some friends from church came and walked around with us. Marissa's friend C and Arianna's friend H. Marissa was a mermaid princess, Arianna was a ballerina princess, and Roman was the cutest monkey ever.

Me: No jumping on the couch!
Arianna: Can I hop?

Arianna: Oh no! A puma! A puma!
Marissa: Ayudame! Ayudame!
Arianna: I'll save you!

Arianna gave us our first ear infection in all our years of kids so far. It wasn't too bad, but she complained enough that I took her in and got something for her to take. I'm pretty impressed that it took us this long!

Well I was going to try to get some pics in here, but Arianna just woke up and Roman still hasn't fallen asleep! Maybe next time!

Here is a picture of the finished beds for the girls! After many hours of sanding, priming, and painting, I finally finished working on them and we assembled them in their room last weekend. They are both so excited about them, and Arianna actually sleeps in hers (she was refusing to sleep on a mattress for the past few months, and always moved to the floor as soon as I moved her to the mattress). It's such a relief having them done, and I'm so happy with how they turned out. In a few years we'll bunk them to give the kids more room to play on the floor, but for now that's just too dangerous.
It's starting to cool down a little lately, and it's hard to believe Roman will be one in a month and a half. He's the happiest boy and I just love his huge grin. He has the same squinty eye problem on one side as I do, which is annoying but kinda cute.
How is it fall already? I went to a parent visit day at Marissa's school yesterday and it was fun to see her in a lesson, and then interacting with her friends at recess. She's such a big girl and so far I'm really happy with the school we chose for her.

We had family pictures taken a few weeks ago by a guy in our church. He followed us around a local park and then downtown a little, and just snapped away! I felt really awkward, but I'm so impressed with how they turned out, especially given the ages of the kids! There were so many awesome ones, and hopefully we can do the same thing again next year. We ordered a 16x20 canvas print of our favorite, and I can't wait to see how it turned out!

This morning, Arianna was playing with a play tea set and asked me "Would you like a spot of tea?" I just about died laughing. She is stinking hilarious these days, and so enjoyable. She absolutely adores Roman, and follows him around most of the morning. I kinda feel sad writing this because I don't know what Marissa does all day! I know she enjoys school, but she's also excited about days off, like this Friday. We're having a playdate with her friend Ingrid (and my friend Susan) since they don't get to see each other that often now that they're both in school. Arianna is just as excited about it though! They're the family that watches the kids if we ever need it and we just had a date night (to Maggiano's with J & A and T & R - YUM!) and the girls had a blast together. They usually order pizza when we (or just the kids) are there, and that's Arianna's favorite, so as soon as she hears that's where she's going, she immediately yells excitedly "PIZZA!"

I love my family, love my kids, and am enjoying the days with just Arianna and Roman immensely! Time to go get Marissa off the bus!

A new normal

Marissa has been in school for a few weeks now, and I think I've finally figured out a new normal for our days. It hasn't been as hard to adjust to (for me or Arianna) as I expected it to be. Roman takes nice long naps on a very regular schedule, so every morning from 10:30-12:30 I get to spend quality alone time with my middle child. It's actually quite wonderful, something I never would have predicted 11 months ago. Just before Roman was born, and for several months after, Arianna was a mess and very hard to appreciate and interact with. But she's such a lovely, sweet, thoughtful, imaginative, communicative person lately! She has ideas and opinions all her own and shares them all the time. She loves to ask "I cuddle you?" and "go upstairs, listen to songs, and jump?" and gets so excited when it's time to get Roman up from his nap.

Roman is standing up every chance he gets, and cruises all around the living room. He looks like sometimes he might forget to hold on to something, and I can't believe he'll be one in a little over two months! He has two bottom teeth, and his two top teeth are about halfway in. He's still so tiny, but looks like such a big boy when he's standing up grinning at me with all those teeth. After several weeks of waking VERY often at night, he's back to sleeping pretty good. He sometimes wakes once or twice, but goes right back to sleep after nursing. He still loves to nurse, and although I'm not going to wean him as soon as he turns one, I would really like to not nurse him as long as I nurse(d?) Arianna. We'll see how that goes...

Marissa is loving school still. She's made several friends, got invited to a birthday party (that she can't go to since we'll be busy), and discovered a friend that lives in our neighborhood. Somehow, miracle of miracles, she manages to finish all of her food for lunch every day. After months of taking over an hour to eat, we were very worried about that aspect of her day! Some days she comes home and wants to color or write at the table, and I can't imagine her wanting to after spending all day at school! She was sent home with a "baggy book" to read at home last night, and it was supposed to be independent reading - she did great! She's sounding out words she sees everywhere, and has a good grasp of reading already.

I'm almost finished sanding the beds for the girls. We got a set of (college dorm room) bunk beds that we'll bunk when the girls get (much) older, and I've been sanding them down to get rid of the grime and in preparation for painting them white. I'm excited to get them finished and set up their room. Arianna's been sleeping on the floor (or the Dora foam couch) for weeks now for some reason, she refuses to sleep on her mattress on the floor. Hopefully once they have cool new beds, she'll get over it!

Last week my hometown of Owego, NY was hit with massive flooding from the river that it's near. Entire first stories of houses were flooded, and it's going to take a long time for the area to be rebuilt, if they can even manage to do it in the first place. Such a hard time for everyone who lives there. I was so glad my Grandma and parents live high up on hills and weren't affected by flooding, just lost their power for a few days.

My sister has a boyfriend as of last night! I'm so excited for their relationship and how happy she seems to be.

Back in the day...

I just found a piece of paper where I had written all the words Marissa could say. There's no date on it, but I'm guessing it to be around 18-24 months or so. I thought I'd type it up because it's cute and I want to remember...

Rissa's Words

• gotcha
• jep = jump
• wait
• yo = yogurt or phone
• pee-pee
• poo
• spoo = spoon
• essie = sticker
• shirt
• da = socks
• ca = crackers
• sweatshirt
• choo-choo
• gentle
• eyes
• nose
• mouth
• toes
• poe-poe = pillow
• Mom! = Grandma (she imitated me saying "mom" to my mom)
• Pah-pah = Grandpa
• Jep! = Jeff
• cheerio
• da-da = hot dog
• bah = bath
• ch-ch = brush teeth
• ap = Nap in a Lap book
• Twinkle = asks to sing that song
• "ga ga guy" = lyrics "like a diamond"
• see = seat
• boo-boo
• nigh-nigh = night-night
• awww = expression for a baby
• ha = hat
• duh = stuck
• yusch = lunch
• da = dinner
• hee = asking to hold my hand to drag me somewhere
• gate
• cow
• keys
• clap

I'll never get back into this.

I can't believe it's September already! Marissa started Kindergarten last week and is loving it. I thought for sure there would be some tears or some rough days to start out (since she'd never been in a school setting before, and this is all day, every day!), but she loves it. Her teacher is wonderful, and she's already put Marissa in an "advanced" group for ABC knowledge (Marissa wasn't too happy about that, she says her own teacher is nicer than the "advanced" teacher. Lol.). It's so weird to be home with just the little ones. Arianna isn't a mess, but she asks to eat ALL. THE. TIME. I think it's because she's bored and I'm not interesting enough! I've really been trying to entertain her and do special things with her, but I also have to get stuff done sometimes, and Roman isn't nearly as exciting as Marissa was! The other day they played together in Roman's room for almost an hour while I did laundry and periodically checked in on them. It was so cute, and they'll have a great time as Roman grows older.

I think I've finally spent all my birthday money! I'm so indecisive that I've bought and returned things since my first big shopping trip (alone, with Roman) back in June. I got some awesome pieces and really feel like I used the money well. The clearance racks were my friends!

Since my last post, we spent two weeks in NY visiting my parents, sister, and grandma, and my other grandparents, my brother, and aunt and uncle also came to visit so they could see us. It was a crazy chaotic two weeks! Dan stayed with us for the first weekend, then he had to be back for work. They took some time off work to spend it with us, we spent a lot of time at the pool, and I think I can safely say that we completely wore my parents out over the course of the two weeks! The first weekend (thankfully when Dan was still there), we ended up taking Roman to the ER because he woke up at 2am coughing, croupy, and having a hard time breathing. I think if it had been either of the girls (as babies) we might have waited it out longer, but since Roman was a preemie and had breathing issues in the NICU, we were extra paranoid. He calmed down a lot on the drive there (of course), but they still gave him a few days of steroids and a few days of an antibiotic. It cleared up quickly and he hasn't had any more issues since then. We knew it was a possibility because he and Arianna had been exposed to croup at church just before we left. Arianna had a fever for a day, and lost her voice for a few days, but he got it much worse.

Roman is still an awesome napper! He goes down without a peep whenever I know he's ready. It's wonderful. He hasn't been as great at bedtime though. Sometimes he's just not tired enough yet, but other times I know he's exhausted and he just fights it. It's so frustrating when he's so good at nap time and so opposite at bedtime! He had been sleeping almost through the night for a while (only up once usually), but that's suddenly gone and he's been up many, many times each night for a week or so. It's exhausting! And I'm having to get up earlier than normal anyways to get the girls up and ready so Marissa can go to school. I'm very glad her bus doesn't get here until 8:49 though, because I don't even have to wake her up earlier than normal. But I have to be ready before they are up, and that's the hard part. I have to meet her bus down the street a little every single day this year. And in the afternoon I have to have my picture ID in order to pick her up from the bus. It's kinda a pain, but I'm very glad for all the precautions they take to keep her safe!

Arianna is turning into Marissa lately - she never stops talking! I can still remember how we thought she'd need speech therapy because she seemed to be taking forever to develop her language. But she's grown exponentially since we were in NY - Dan noticed a HUGE difference in just the two short weeks he was away from her! She's using full sentences and all the same inflections and phrases Marissa uses. It's so stinking cute! And yet so exhausting! But I'm trying not to wish away all the talking since I'm so grateful she's finally at this point.

Roman is 9 months old and cruising around furniture. He sits, crawls, pulls up, rolls around - all like a pro. It's hard to believe he was ever less than 5 pounds and so fragile! He was 15lbs 9oz at his checkup. When we were in NY, he just learned to pull himself up to stand so we would hold his hands and let him walk around and EVERYTIME he would shriek like a pterodactyl because he was so excited! He's such a happy boy, and in true male form, he's happiest when he's playing with toy balls. He has two bottom teeth, and his two top teeth poked through last week. It's so weird to see his smile changing! He's still an awesome eater, and I could never get enough food in him in NY! I'm still making his baby food, and it's hard to keep up with him! I'm using the breastmilk storage containers from pumping in the NICU and they're perfect for freezing and portioning all his food. He's recently started eating some table food. He loves cheerios (duh), and can eat tiny pieces of ham and grapes. I always struggle finding appropriate things for this age though.

I've been spending all my brainpower lately on planning a family photo shoot. We're hoping a friend of ours will be able to take the pictures this month, and I've been working on coordinating outfits for all of us! It's such a pain, and I don't want to be all matchy-matchy, but I don't want it to look like we just happened to take pictures that day. Hopefully they'll turn out wonderful so we can use them for Christmas cards!
Well, that's about it for now. Marissa's bus comes at 4, although it's supposed to come at 3:48, so technically I need to head outside around 3:40. Sometimes the little ones are still sleeping and sometimes they wake up while I'm waiting on the front porch. I'm not looking forward to spending this much time outside in the middle of December! I may end up driving her and picking her up instead, since they have a drop-off/pick-up so I wouldn't need to unload the little ones.

Life summary/ketchup

It's July 29th, 2011. Marissa is 5, Arianna is 29 months, and Roman is 8 months.
It has been a whole week since Arianna nursed last. If it were completely up to her, she wouldn't be done. We were down to just first thing in the morning. Then this week was VBS so I was up early and as soon as the girls got up, we got dressed, ate, and had to leave. So there just wasn't time. She still asked, but was ok that we didn't have time. I'm sad, but so so freaking proud at how long I nursed her.

Here is a typical day in our life lately:

• 7:15-7:30am Girls wake up. I'm trying to get them to spend some quiet time reading books in the morning. Some days they do, some days...not so much.
• 8:00 Get dressed and breakfast. The girls get to pick out their cereal for the week on grocery night, so they're usually excited about it. Arianna is pretty good at using a spoon and eating cereal by herself. They both tip their bowls to eat the milk with a spoon when they're done.
• 8:30 I wake up Roman. I'm really trying to keep him on a schedule. He usually wakes up between 6-7 for a snack, and doesn't always go right back to sleep. But he's happy to lay in his crib for a bit before sleeping a little longer. He gets a big bowl of baby cereal, and sometimes a fruit too. Depending on how recent he nursed last, I may or may not nurse him again.
• 9:00 Super Why. We have yet to get out of the rut that Marissa's shows put us in. Once she starts going to school everyday, and I just have Arianna and Roman home, this will change.
• 9:30 We head upstairs to brush teeth, I try to do some laundry when it's needed. On Mondays and Thursdays, we leave to drive to Centerville to pick up my editing work. We get back around 11:15.
• 10:00 Sesame Street. TV rut...
• 10:30 Depending on how recent Roman nursed last, I may or may not nurse him. I take him upstairs, put him in his crib with the fan on and light off. He falls asleep within 5 minutes of happy babbling. It's wonderful.
• 11:00 TV off! Usually a mini snack, playtime, and laundry if needed. Lately the girls are really into coloring and Marissa likes to make "comic books" where she draws the pictures then dictates to me what the story is about. Her stories are INCREDIBLE.
• 12:00 or later if the girls are busy with something particular...Lunch. PBJ's are a favorite, yogurt is a staple, and jelly beans/candy are a treat.
• 12:30pm I wake Roman up from his nap. He used to take 3-4 hour naps, but then was so unpredictable later, so I decided 2 hours is enough for the morning nap. I feed him his lunch as the girls are finishing. He has been eating a tube (I make his baby food and freeze it in breastmilk-storage tubes from the NICU) of fruit and a tube of veggies. He can pick up Cheerios, but doesn't usually get any to stay in his mouth. Today I got a carrot shower because he decided to spit with every bite.
• 12:45 Playtime
• 1:30 Diaper changes/potty break. And naptime. Marissa doesn't nap anymore (except for rare occasions) so she plays in Roman's room and listens to her Sparks CD. She has the most incredible imagination and has a blast in there (I can eavesdrop over the monitor). Arianna lays down in her big girl bed (mattress on the floor, til I sand and paint their new twin beds, to be turned into bunk beds in a few years). I usually have to go in there many times because she gets up to play, gets books, and generally has a hard time staying in one place long enough to fall asleep. She's usually asleep by 2 though.
• 2:00 Roman is usually tired around this time. He's not a huge nurser, and I can't convince him to nurse if he doesn't want to. He eats so much baby food though, so it's not a big deal. I try to nurse him, and lay him down for nap. Today I had to bounce/cuddle him for a little while before it worked. He takes his afternoon naps in our room in a pack-n-play because Marissa is in his room. I use this time to shower sometimes, or catch up on the computer.
• 3:30 I let Marissa stop playing by herself and come get me. She loves that she can tell time. Arianna usually wakes up around this time too. We head downstairs for a snack.
• 4:15 Dan gets home from work, although it's a little later if he rides his bike home. He goes upstairs to shower, and brings Roman down with him since that's about when he wakes up.
• 4:30 Word Girl.
• 5:00 Electric Company.
• 5:30 Dinner time. Roman gets a tube of fruit and a tube of veggies. The girls are pretty picky so we let Marissa give input in the meals for the week. Arianna doesn't eat much sometimes, but I'm not going to cook 90 things just to find the one that makes her happy. So she deals with it. After dinner, Dan likes to goof around with the girls and wrestle sometimes. Marissa gets hurt really easily, but Arianna gets back up every time, no matter how hard the fall. I clean up the kitchen and watch the craziness from the couch with Roman.
• 8:00 Bedtime for the kids. It's been so hot this summer that Marissa just wears her underwear and Arianna just wears a diaper. But Arianna has to have a "belt" of duct tape because she kept taking off her diaper. We read them their Bible story, pray, and they get to pick one book to read in their beds. Since Arianna naps and Marissa doesn't, Marissa is usually pretty tired and complains that Arianna keeps her awake. Hopefully this won't be a problem when school starts! Arianna is not the best person to share a room with, but putting them together fixed Arianna's MAJOR sleep issues, so hopefully they can learn to work things out. I nurse Roman one last time. Sometimes that works and he goes right to sleep, and other times it takes some effort. But I do my editing work from 8-10pm, so it's in his best interest to go to sleep fast so Dan doesn't have to hold him forever while I work. Dan and I like to watch shows online or on Netflix.
• 10:00ish Lights out. Dan gets up early, especially when he rides his bike to work. So we try to wrap things up by 10pm. He falls asleep quickly, so after he's asleep, I spend some time on the computer or play Freecell on my phone. It's relaxing and doesn't take much thought. I have a hard time falling asleep, so that helps.
• 7:15-7:30am Repeat.

I'm getting all sentimental about things lately, with Marissa starting school in less than a month. We're going to visit my parents in NY for a few weeks, and when we get back it will be time! I'm loving this age of all 3 kids. Marissa is so smart and creative. I wonder if she'll be a writer some day. Arianna is turning into the sweetest little girl. Her language is exploding exponentially, and her personality is showing all over the place. She loves her little brother, and it will be interesting to see how their relationship develops when they're the only kids at home. Roman is the happiest baby, and so calm and laid back. He takes everything the girls throw at him, literally and figuratively. His bottom two teeth are finally popping through, and I'm sad to see his toothless smile disappear, but excited to see the new smile taking its place.
I'm still not convinced I'd be ok with him as our last baby. Dan is 100% convinced. But I still struggle with that idea. I'm still hoarding the boxes of too-small clothes in the basement, and packing away baby gear instead of selling it. But there's something to be said about the idea of baby-less outings...