Motherhood Math

food poisoning (me) + nursing infant + whimpering 6 year-old with a painful ear infection = the night from hell

Thank goodness for Brian. If it hadn't been for him, we might may not have survived the night...or the day today.

Becca from Matthew's Perspective

Becca's head bops around sometimes when she's propped upright--she is only two months old, after all. But Matthew doesn't believe that it's just weak muscles...

Matthew: "Becca likes to hit people with her head, huh Mom."

and then,

Matthew: "I was teaching Becca "yes" and "no", Mom. And I asked her if she wanted to lay down and she went like this [drops his head forward] and so she said yes!"

That's one smart two-month old, if you ask me.

Happy 2 Months, Banana!

11.9 lbs. (75th%), 23.5" (90th%) !!!

Becca Banana (also known as "Becca with a Ree in front of it" as Matthew once explained) is the sweetest, happiest baby to ever join our family. She sleeps 6-8 hours straight every night and when she does wake up to eat, she goes right back to sleep. She loves to sit in her swing or bouncy chair as long as she can see other people around her. Mostly, she loves to snuggle. The kids all fight over who gets to hold her and plug in her binky--especially Matthew and Maggie: it's almost become a war between them, who is the best big sibling.

Zoo Fun

Matthew filled his jar up with kindness rocks this week so we took a little trip to the Hogle Zoo yesterday in celebration, his choice (for the record, Nathan took us miniature golfing last week as a result of filling up his own kindness jar).

Becca chilled in her stroller...

...Maggie played tag with the meerkat...

And Nathan and Matthew commandeered the camera for the day.

That's a penguin...or his feet, anyway.

Maybe Nathan took this picture, or maybe Matthew took a photo of himself.

Finally, I took the camera back because I was sick of listening to the arguing (it's MY turn!), also I didn't think we really needed a picture of every single animal--or their habitat--in the zoo. (This is a reticulated python--it was HUGE! or as Maggie said of the elephants, "Hooge!")

The Boys' Bedroom

After minimal tears and arguing over which books would go on whose bookcase--and after I had only explained five times that it didn't matter which shelf the books were on because everyone could still read them regardless--Nathan and Matthew finally got their books, treasures, and trophies arranged today. They each have a tall bookcase, a desk, and a little shelf over their bed. I'm hoping that'll provide enough storage and display space for all their stuff for at least a year or two. (I forgot to take a "before" picture of their room--they had stuff carefully arranged all over the floor and their beds...the problem was it never stayed carefully arranged for very long and they ended up walking on legos and sleeping on trophies.)

Nathan's shelf is the one filled with Star Wars Legos and Matthew has all his soccer trophies on display. I'm thinking we need a big capital N and M above each boy's bookcase to label them.

In which I reveal my true character...

After three days of working on it (on and off because I'm lazy), I present to you......my newly organized pantry.

Yes, we eat a lot of cereal. Brian keeps us well stocked by shopping cereal sales regularly. And yes, the entire bottom shelf is filled with art supplies. I figure if I stock a wide variety and make them easily accessible, my kids might actually use them instead of spending their life playing video games (the boys just earned the new Lego Indiana Jones game by helping Grandma Swings move several loads of rocks and we haven't seen them for two days).

My favorite part of the pantry? The labels. Oh, I'm such a geek. My house could be a total nightmare disaster area but as long as my closets are organized, I'm a happy creature.

I'll let you in on a secret: that red bowl on the top shelf is full of candy left over from various birthday parties and such. It's NOT labeled because it would be empty in a couple of days. But Maggie--the candy and gum bloodhound--has already discovered it.

Big Sisters can be SO Helpful

Last week I switched Becca from her bassinet in our room to the crib in Maggie's room. For the most part, it was a pretty easy transition but we're still experiencing a few problems. It's not that Maggie resents sharing her room with her sister, in fact it's the opposite. Maggie wants to be right there actively sharing her room...resulting in the beloved baby sister not getting as much sleep as she wants.

Last night Maggie was upset that I didn't let her stay in the crib and "snuggle with Becca" after she kissed her baby sister goodnight at bedtime. And this morning, when Becca was peacefully napping in her crib I heard over the baby monitor, "Mom, I found the wipes!" And because I didn't respond immediately--being downstairs in the laundry room--Maggie just kept charging around their bedroom, busily unloading the packages of wipes out of the bulk box, yelling at the top of her (considerable) lungs, "Mom, I found the wipes! Mom, I found the wipes! Mom...!"

And then as I'm charging up the stairs in a desperate attempt to quiet her before it's too late, I hear, "Mom, Becca's crying!" Too late.

You know, if there were a two-year old running around my room yelling while I was trying to take a nap, I would feel like crying, too.