Pierce Best Babies

My Little Sweet Potatoes

2011-07-18T07:16:00.004-05:00

Alden turned 2 July 1st and and Kara and Anna turned 4 July 13th - time flies when you're having fun and ignoring your blog! Proud to call these little potato heads my own.

Father's Day before we dedicated Alden at church.

Snuggling on the couch because they are best friends (most of the time).

Incidentally, if you call Alden a sweet potato, he will respond with "I'm not a potato head." (we have watched a lot of Toy Story).

Merry Christmas

2010-12-29T01:12:00.002-06:00

Love, Anna, Kara, and Alden

(and Kristan and Andrew too)

PS - I am aware this is not a great picture. And I am unsure if I am going to keep blogging at all. Certainly not as in days of yore, but leaving the top post as Alden's dancing is not fair to his vastly improved skills, now including arabesques.

Watch Out Ladies...

2010-08-17T18:07:00.002-05:00

This guy has some serious moves.

Dad

2010-08-01T02:02:00.005-05:00

How does one blog after taking 3 months off? Randomly.

Emerald Isle, NC - early July

Dad and Ald at the bar...also Emerald Isle, very late June. :)

Borrowed hat, Mandy and Stuart's wedding reception in Raleigh, late June

Strawberry picking in IL near Mother's Day (thinking of wearing pants or long sleeves ever again at this point in the summer is laughable)

Raleigh hotel late June, matching Daddy and Alden, down to the navy cargo shorts. Cuties.

"On your Father's Day on your Father's Day, I hope you have a very nice time, on your Father's Day on your Father's Day, I hope you have a nice time."

Lately

2010-05-12T01:32:00.004-05:00

Our computer has been broken, a lot. (One excuse for my non-blogging). We got it partly fixed. It broke again. This is Andrew's for work and has none of our pictures on it.
Alden walks and almost runs ALL day every day. At just after 10 months he willed himself to walk almost exclusively, so now he does. He loves to walk the circle we have downstairs (living, family, kitchen, dining rooms) as his sisters run it. He also loves when they crash him over in this process.
Alden climbs the stairs, all of them (15+), in under 2 minutes. This happens many times a day without me knowing he has done it until I notice he is no longer downstairs with us.
Anna and Kara (still) sing and dance all day. They memorize song lyrics after hearing them once. They come up to me often and say "look at this new dance" - they are all wonderful.
They (still) have amazing memories - we went to a baseball game tonight and Kara asked me if when we went the misters would be on a movie ( she meant a TV) or outside, because she remembered watching them on a TV when we were in a suite last time we went to a game, in September.

I will (still) choose to remember happy things and not my daily trials (many as of late, as Alden has decided he does not want to sleep, eat, or nurse). And because I just remember happy things and everyone is suddenly so grown up, I am starting to badly want another baby again (like when Alden was little and I felt cheated since I only had 1 baby this time). Tiny babies are so nice.

But don't worry Mom, Andrew doesn't! :)

Best Friends

2010-04-29T20:22:00.004-05:00

Alden has been fully accepted into Anna and Kara's little circle. The first thing they ask for when they wake up, a lot of times, is to play with Alden. If Alden is awake, no matter how tired they are, they'll stay up instead of going back to sleep. He refuses to sleep when they're awake, and doesn't want to nurse, no matter how hungry he is, if they're playing in the same room. They are ridiculously rough with him, not always nice, boss him around, etc. And he mostly just laughs and loves it. He idolizes his sisses.

Here was my first evidence of their pair becoming a trio - Anna opened up the blind to let Alden come in too - at Andrew's parents' in early March.

Watching a train together, also in March.

Adoring brother, adoring sisters.

My favorites. I'm so happy they're best friends and will always have each other.

Baby Steps

2010-04-16T08:24:00.003-05:00

Alden started standing on his own when he was just over 8 months, and is really good at this point. He's also really fast at cruising on and between furniture. Andrew decided to finally introduce him to push toys this past weekend, and he loved them. He tries to run instead of walk. He also tries to run instead of walk when you hold his hand (I just hold one) and tell him "let's go walking."

I had some good pictures of the girls standing on their own when they were around Alden's age, so I was attempting to get a good one of Alden as well. Not so good, but sisses make picture taking hard, because he just wanted to crawl over and play (he's looking in their direction).

I did, however, capture a video of some of his first steps. Wednesday he took 3 steps in a row, twice - his very first steps. This wasn't quite as good, but I was happy to get it on video anyway.

Note the sister attack that I chose not to capture on video - typical Alden-Kara-Anna interaction. :)

Thank You!

2010-03-14T21:24:00.006-05:00

Our parents have helped a lot (in person and from afar) in outfitting our home, and especially the kids' rooms. Here are our most recent additions, wall letters.

And here are the girls' big girl beds. We're working on actually SLEEPING in them, but they look nice for now, anyway. (and yes, Alden crashed the shelves and is eating a disabled smoke alarm - we've since put it back up).

And little Jamie's room. It's kind of hard to see since the picture's a little dark, but we painted it a light light blue. We are still loving our house and enjoying decorating it - a work in progress, of course, but we're getting closer.

Too Much

2010-03-01T16:45:00.003-06:00

Too many cute things happened today, and I couldn't handle not remembering them. I think I already forgot most of them, though. I remember the most memorable (apart from Alden getting both of his 2 front teeth on his 8 month birthday!): Anna telling me the AT&T person I talked to on the phone was named "Turnip," then walking around saying "that's a pretty cute name." I've never said a thing about turnips, so I think she overheard it from afar at story time last week (we sat in a corner and read books ourselves since there were too many kids). There was also the game in which Anna and Kara went in different rooms only so they could call "Anna!" and "Kara!" to each other, then look for each other so they could reunite with big hugs.

We also have too much hair these days, finally enough for pig tails (we achieved tiny pony tails in November or so). Heaven forbid you put something in their hair, though - it's taken out immediately and you are chastized thoroughly, by Kara especially. She prefers her hair "crazy."

Clearly we no longer have models. These pictures took a lot of tries to achieve, and you can see how lovely they are.

A couple more notes about A and K. Kara is getting a little less bossy, which is a good thing. She is very nice to Anna and takes care of her when she's hurt or upset. She is not, however, nice to Alden most of the time. Anna is the sweetest to Alden, but not very nice to Kara, and cries about everything (including when Kara takes toys from Alden). They both finally call him AlDen too...not AlGen. We sing "Friends for Dinner" from one of the Land Before Time movies, "I Know You" from Sleeping Beauty, and "Portobello Road" from Bedknobs and Broomsticks almost constantly.

Kara: Is really good at asking complex questions and fully speaks like an adult, well, for the most part. She's started waking up at night or during her nap when she has to pee, which is a good thing.

Anna: Tells everyone "my name is Anna" when she sees them; guess she's been asked enough. Really wants to wear only underwear, but doesn't wake up when she has to go, so has taken to wearing underwear on top of her diapers when she sleeps.

Finally

2010-02-14T23:01:00.005-06:00

After over a month of trying, little James can finally crawl! Thursday I felt it time to officially declare that he could pull up to stand (on his feet now), and while I saw his first real crawling steps that day as well, it wasn't until Friday that he made repeated efforts. He still only goes as far as the toy he wants, but that's just fine with me.

Please note, his crawling style is on all 4s. The girls had a 2 hands, 1 knee, 1 foot approach.

Maybe at Our New House

2010-01-20T22:46:00.004-06:00

We've had a lot of activity in the past month and a half since I've posted. We found out that we were going to close on our house pretty quickly and had to rush to get that done by December 23rd, then left the next day for Arkansas for Christmas, then moved Dec 28th, the day after we came home. We've painted and had house guests two weekends of the 3 we've been here, Andrew went out of town for a couple days, and we finally cleared out our old place. Oh yeah, and we were without internet until this afternoon - almost 4 weeks - yikes. I guess there was one bad thing about buying a house that's only 5 years old.

I have tons of pictures and stories, but to briefly update (sans pictures, since the camera cord is misplaced/not unpacked), Anna and Kara are bundles of dinosaur/princess loving energy and talk the entire day in ridiculously adult sentences and questions, and Alden LOVES to eat food (no surprise there, the guy is jumbo), which he started a couple weeks ago at 6 months. Kara and Anna and Alden and I had a birthday celebration for them (2 1/2) at "the restaurant with Wendy on it" and they got their "own burgers," Kara's with lettuce because she "LOOOOOVES lettuce so much." Alden's been pulling up to stand since a little before 6 months, but can only get up to his knees, and same with crawling - he's been really close for 3 weeks now, but his upper body is disproportionately small for his body so he can't actually move. He has one tooth that he got last week. He spends his entire days trying to stand up and trying to eat paper - his 2 favorite things.

We're mostly settled, so maybe I'll be able to get back into blogging - before we moved our common reply to many things was "well, maybe at our new house," and the girls got on board too, especially about lost toys, which we would maybe find "when we moved to our new house." So, we're sticking with that - maybe at our new house. :)

Naked Babes at 4 1/2 Months

2009-12-02T16:28:00.002-06:00

While a comparison may not be fair, since there's only one of him, I wanted to see anyway. 4 nakey Aldens and 1 set of nakey girls.

There's no perspective, but he weighs what they did when they were about 12 months, and I feel like he's as long as they were then too, though maybe a bit shorter (he's definitely rollier). I also don't really think he looks like them, but then again, I think that Anna and Kara don't look all too much alike either.

Happy Birthday Jamie James

2009-12-02T02:42:00.004-06:00

I have a penchant for giving my children strange nicknames and then calling them exclusively by those names. Alden is currently referred to as "Jamie," "Jamie James," or "Mr. James." I have to remind myself to call him Alden so that he'll actually learn his name.

He's now 5 months and has acquired a lot of new skills in the last month. Just after I told a lot of people he couldn't roll front to back, he started doing it, preferring that to tummy time. He started sitting all the time mid-month - I'm so excited - it's definitely my favorite baby stage. And the last couple weeks he's been talking a lot more, adding bla bla, other consonant sounds, and most importantly, dada and mama - he only says mama when he's crying, so we'll pretend he knows what it means. :)

Pictures from the last 2 weeks or so.

Toes are a big favorite of his, since sisters can't take them away...

Smiling at sissies always comes first. (This is how I trained him to sit for longer periods of time - hanging a toy off the edge of a crib).

And the new talent of the day...

He finds it very impressive.

By the way, every time I see him I can't help but say either "he's the nicest" or "he's the cutest." He just is.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-12-02T02:08:00.004-06:00

I loved all of these silly pictures...perhaps just because the girls actually wore bows for the majority of the afternoon? We celebrated with the Brooks family, as we did last year - thanks guys! Oh, and poor Alden was asleep during photos, so we missed capturing his first Thanksgiving. Sorry, bud. You were the best and sweetest, as always. Thankful for silly girls, a sweetie boy, and the best husband.

A little bigger than the last foot-to-foot pic we have of them, just after we brought them home...they've nearly doubled their birth lengths.

Here are the incoherently yelled greetings...separately, then together, to add to their unintelligibleness. :)

Lots

2009-12-02T01:11:00.004-06:00

I've been taking a vacation from my "job" of blogging - I just haven't felt like it, and really nothing extraordinary is going on. We're having fun, mostly hanging out. But I do feel it's my duty to share our lives with family and friends, so here's my attempt to catch up a bit. This fall nearly every Saturday has been warm, sunny, and gorgeous. So lots of...

(These are from Oct. 24th; note we still had our wagon).

And just a little less of this...given the choice of anywhere to go, the girls always choose the playground. And we always sing the 90s ABC "Playground" song because it gets stuck in my head. Ha.

These 2 are actually from apple picking in early Oct. in Cleveland.

And Alden's first time swinging, Oct. 17th. None too impressed. We do always take him out when he'd rather be sleeping, in his defense.

Fun With Mom

2009-11-20T16:18:00.003-06:00

Lately

2009-11-15T14:54:00.009-06:00

Sorry for the lack of posting for so long; it was not by design - I have a list of things I've been meaning to post about.

Meanwhile...lots of naked babies in a crib...that's a favorite game. At least the girls didn't strip everyone TOTALLY naked this time. I do have some pictures of that from a couple months ago, but they're censored. :)

These are from when we had the flu about a month ago, but last week everyone was hit with colds (and Alden with reactions to his 4 month vaccines) on top of still lingering coughs. So, sick again.

Before we were felled by illness ("a little bit sick" according to K and A), we spent the weekend in Branson, MO (kind of a Bible-belt Vegas and outlet mall destination) and Harrison, AR and visited with Andrew's family. After some hotel snuggling and swimming the next morning, Alden and I shopped with the girls and Andrew took our girls to play at his grandparents' with the guys.

Pretending to sleep...Anna was laughing too much to be good at it...and a blurry everyone "sleeping" while we waited to meet up with family before bed.

Not as many purposeful near-drowning incidents as the last time in the pool, and fun playing.

The next morning we hung out a little bit then headed home, but not before visiting (a very sad) outdoor safari place in the middle of nowhere MO. We didn't go in, or take the complimentary bus tour, but we did talk to some goats and find a baby turtle.

And Kara took a liking to these turkeys from Nana, which were perfect for car nap-time snuggling. I guess the fun weekend was worth the resulting illness. Though I really wish I were done hearing "Anna has snot" and "Kara has snot."

New Skills

2009-11-03T23:29:00.004-06:00

I haven't posted about potty training since May. This is because we quit trying to potty train and were content with partially potty trained girls with no underwear at home and going out in diapers. I wasn't going to push it with Alden and those changes. We've progressed and they can now wear underwear and do when we go out (unless it's long car trips or the playground - they'll never choose the potty over swinging). Still diapers at nap and night. Kara has refused to poop in the potty for, oh, almost 7 months - since the first time she did it. She told me she would when she turned 2 - false. It was a big effort to even get her to "try" on the potty first. She did once; it was amazing. I told her if she pooped on the potty 5 times she could get a fish. We decided on a name for her fish. Anna got a fish in 5 days. Kara was content to look at Anna's fish. Lollipops were also offered - Anna got lollipops. Anyway, she had some tummy issues last week and I pushed for the potty. There were a lot of tears, but after she got over her initial fear and received a lollipop for a job well done (I literally cried I was so happy), she warmed up to the idea a little bit (that was a week ago). She is now the proud owner of Dory-Emo (she wanted to name him "Dory and Emo" (Nemo)). Unfortunately he's dead on the counter right now, along with Anna's aged Buzzah - not sure what went wrong with the transfer to the bowl.

Oh yeah, and she gets to call dad and tell him when she poops on the potty, and there is the "hooray dance." Never underestimate the power of a hooray dance...

Alden, long overdue for his own post, which is coming soon I hope - there are SO many pictures of his last 2 months of life I haven't posted, has developed his own new skills over the last week (in addition to the ones he's been working on I haven't posted about).

The first is spitting. All over. On everything. All the time (except when I try to film it, of course).

The second is a bigger deal - sitting. Alden tries to sit up all the time when we lay him partially reclining, and has started to be able to sit a few minutes by himself, as long as he doesn't go for his toes. This isn't the best representation, but his favorite things to look at - his sisters - were asleep, so he wasn't as motivated. :) The girls started sitting without falling over around 4 1/2 months, and he seems to be on that same track.

I'm proud of my big girls and big boy.

Happy Halloween

2009-11-01T01:43:00.005-05:00

After a Halloween party at a friend's yesterday and emergency Pooh washing (Kara fell into a huge mud puddle), we were ready to get back into costumes for trick-or-treating. They actually told me they'd rather stay home (just like mama!), until Andrew told them they got to wear their costumes if we went. They switched from this post, in case you're confused as to who's who.

Awe-struck was the look of the evening. When asked to tell people "trick or treat" or "happy Halloween," the response was usually "not right now" or "maybe later when we get back to our house."

Alden-monkey napped, then graduated to the umbrella stroller, where he fought to keep his hat from covering his eyes.

Snack and loot, post trick-or-treating. Pretty happy about their lollipops, but chips and gummy spiders were their favorites, and that glow stick we found.

After several attempts to get a decent video of them saying "happy Halloween" Kara told me she was going to take a movie of nothing and Anna's mouth...my ever-cooperative sweeties. :)

A Sad Farewell

2009-10-31T13:02:00.004-05:00

Birthday present from Grandma and Grandpa, 2008.

Birthday present from Nana and Pop, 2009.

I don't know who goes around stealing Radio Flyer children's vehicles, but apparently someone. We always left them out (the wagon for almost a year, the tricycles since July), but when we went out today they were gone. They were definitely there Thursday night - it was raining yesterday so we weren't out and I didn't think to check.

We'll miss you, vehicles. We had a great time last weekend pulling the wagon and riding in it all together, with Alden in the middle - at least that's a good final memory. And we hadn't even mastered pedaling on the trikes yet! Makes me even more ready to move to a new neighborhood...

Meetings

2009-10-26T12:56:00.000-05:00

Alden has now gotten to meet all of his immediate family members (aunts, uncles, grandparents), except for Stuart's fiancee Mandy. Most of these pictures are from our Cleveland trip, but some are from when the Pierces visited in August (and there are more of those I never posted too...one day...I never posted the girls' belated birthday celebration either).

I learned during the Pierce visit that Alden will pretty much be happy if anyone holds him - totally different from the girls, and very appreciated by mom and holder alike. I really like the picture with Derek and Beth - he rode the train with them at the zoo (I only freaked out a lot, not a TON, that I couldn't see him) - almost looks like he could be theirs. :) We didn't manage to get a picture of him with Uncle Stu, unfortunately.

Meeting Uncle Michael in Ann Arbor, then with Uncle Matt in Cleveland. No picture with Uncle Peter, but I did finally manage to get him to hold Alden, under duress, for about 20 seconds, which was an accomplishment. Michael (in addition to babysitting several times) got Alden to laugh for the first time, which Matt also achieved.

Alden was great friends with Opa and Grandpa. He and Opa had a great conversation - Alden is definitely a talker. He and Grandpa were buddies, and both enjoy their naps immensely. That night of babysitting Alden would only sleep on Grandpa.

Aunt Sarah carried Alden for a little bit when we went apple picking, in addition to her babysitting help. Alden loves you all very much!

Blackmail Fodder

2009-10-26T02:29:00.003-05:00

Hmm...on second thought, I'm going to NOT post the picture of me in these glasses. :)

This is what else we did on the drive home from Cleveland - stop a LOT and man-handle daddy and Alden.

Bossing and Compromises: A and K at 27 Months

2009-10-22T10:19:00.006-05:00

Anna's smile is pretty literally just baring her teeth these days.

While the girls are not really developing much in the way of skills lately (especially since they're STILL all snotty and coughing - we've decided they had some kind of flu all last week), they talk all the time. I used to think they were funny, but compared to the things I hear out of their mouths lately, their pre-2 year old talking was nothing. Anna says the funniest things, all the time, but Kara is pretty funny too. What amuses me the most lately is their bossing each other around, generally followed by, "Kara/Anna, don't tell Anna/Kara what to do!"

Kara is still our solution girl, and last weekend demonstrated her compromising abilities as well...they were fighting over something and Kara said it could be Anna's turn in 5 minutes, to which Anna replied that 5 minutes was too many and it should be her turn in 2 minutes. Kara's response was "how about 3 minutes?" I think my laughter halted their fighting and the toy was forgotten...

If only I had a constant video feed - their individual babbling is hilarious, but times 2 and then when they talk to each other as well, it really makes my days a lot brighter. Their other big thing is showing each other things - lately it's been that whatever toy they got hit with was really hard. "See Kara, this deinonychus is really hard." It always starts with "See Kara/Anna..."

Of course if we're in public or anyone comes over, all talking ceases, so you'll just have to trust me on this one.

Tasked with a photo shoot of the girls at the Natural History Museum in Cleveland, Andrew did what any smart man would - stopped them from picking up and throwing wood chips by sequestering them on the spiky stego tail. :)

More typical K-A interaction.

Oh My Gosh

2009-10-16T02:17:00.006-05:00

Kara said that today at some point when something went wrong. Well, my words for today were a little stronger...EVERYTHING seems to have gone wrong. Baby Algo is sick, Kara threw up all of the food she ate today due to her still horrific cough, and too many other things to mention...but I will mention that our heat (or maybe just thermostat) decided to cease operation. I love sitting in a 60 degree house.

Anna has been the highlight of my day, since she is finally feeling better and acting like her usual self. In retrospect, the fire she almost started in the microwave when she wanted to "bake cake" is even a highlight (metal-lined cup, pencil, and piece of paper do not a cake make). My favorite, though...when I told her I was so happy she was back to "regular Anna," she told me: "no, still Indiana." When we drove through Indiana on Sunday she said "turning Indiana" for the majority of the time. I thought she meant that we were driving into Indiana. Turns out she meant that she was turning into "Indiana" instead of "Anna." She's been Indiana ever since, apparently.

Just another one of her many quirks - she is the silliest girl. She is very protective of the "baby toy." She lets Alden in, but never Kara. She cries if she even thinks Kara might get in.

Alive (Not Well)

2009-10-13T01:16:00.004-05:00

We left Saturday the 3rd and drove to Ann Arbor, to Cleveland on Monday the 4th, and then back to St. Louis Sunday the 11th. We definitely had some adventures, and everyone had a lot of fun (I enjoyed more alone time with Andrew than I've had in I don't even want to think about how long). Unfortunately the girls came home with colds and coughs, so the return drive was not fun. I literally almost cried when I (finally) saw the Arch...SO happy to be home after those many many hours in the car. All things considered, though, things went really smoothly. The drive there was a lot of fun - the girls and I talked the whole time and Alden enjoyed his first time using a pacifier. Even in the last couple days I've enjoyed some small snippets - trying on my first glasses in the car (which were in a bag of stuffed animals I brought back for everyone, and are hilariously hideous) and wondering why they still fit (I was 7) was one - and today watching the girls run around sharing lollipop licks with each other was another (why it will never be just 1 who's sick...thankfully I got the pacifiers away from them before they gave them back to Alden). It's mostly "Kara/Anna a little bit sick today" or "Kara/Anna not feeling really good today" or "Kara/Anna have some snots." Anna did find out that her scratchy voice makes good dinosaur roars, which is something. They named their "tiny nakey babies" Anna and Kara and enjoyed putting them in proper position under my shirt ("Kara smash Anna way up top"). And they can't be feeling all too badly if they're hammering the TV screen (with toy hammers) while they're supposed to be watching a movie, right?

Happy Birthday Alden

2009-10-03T07:38:00.000-05:00

Happy 3 months (Oct 1st) to the sweetest, nicest, snuggliest, cutest little boy in the world! (and biggest, of course).

Smiley baby (I can never get his smile on camera, but Andrew certainly could!), and smiley Dad.

He loves standing when we hold him (and when we put him so he can stand in his bouncy chair).

Happy birthday from your sisses too - we love you!

Anna Elizabeth and Kara Jane

2009-10-03T04:51:00.003-05:00

I haven't done a Kara-Anna update lately, so here goes...

For a month now, they've been able to count to 20 (skipping a few here and there), and prefer to do it as loudly as possible, at random times. They are still very into descriptors when they speak. One time when Anna was running I asked her what she was doing, and instead of saying: running, she told me "Nanny just running circles right now." They are correctly using later, right now, first and then for sequencing (which Kara loves, and pronounces "len"), yesterday, today, etc.

Starting in the last few weeks, they've been keenly in tune with comparisons - "looks like," "sounds like," and "like" in general are very common. (I started realizing this was a trend when Anna told me my legs looked like a triangle a while back (they were crossed in a way that did make them look like a triangle). They especially like comparing to the movies and books that they like. We have some Madeline fans on our hands, so Anna was very excited when I showed her a scar on her finger last weekend in the car ("like Madeline"). They also love these Walt Disney "Silly Symphonies" that we watch on YouTube - Kara's favorite is the 3 Little Pigs (she has to cover her eyes, or sometimes just one when the wolf falls in hot water), and Anna's is called Water Babies.

I've also started noticing their problem solving skills of late, which is what most impresses me. Whenever I tell them (Kara especially) that they or I can't do something, she'll tell me a way that she/I can, often very creatively. Yesterday I was bouncing Kara on my legs and she wanted to go to the kitchen, staying on my legs. I told her we couldn't, and she told me I could walk on my hands. Of course, why didn't I think of that? :) I say "that's a good idea, but..." a LOT.

Tantruming is calmed down a little bit since I started a timing system for that, like with taking turns. I tell them they can cry for 2 more minutes, then need to stop, or have a repercussion (usually just being put in their bed to keep crying)...it surprisingly works really well. I think it lets them feel like they can cry (they do tell me they "just want to cry" sometimes), but get to make a decision about it and be in control. Can't wait till we have 2 teenage girls - yikes.

Our "Other Daughter"

2009-10-02T23:52:00.000-05:00

As an aside to the usual Pierce Best Babies banter...ever since we spent a few weeks in Hoima, Uganda, in 2006, we've been sponsoring a girl we met at a school where we led several Bible studies - Clara. She was in my small group and impressed me with her faith and insightfulness into God's Word. We didn't talk too much, but when I spoke to the headmaster about potentially sponsoring her, he let me know that she was indeed behind in school fees (she's the daughter of a single mother who also had 3 other children in school). I got to sit down and talk with Clara and her mother for a while one afternoon (I'll never forget her mother telling me that Clara has always loved white people - ha!) and we've kept in touch since (I need to do better). Here is me with the girls, then Clara with her mom.

Anyway, when we sent money for her school fees this year, we sent additional money to help with a water project at the school to improve sanitation, provide showers, etc. (not sure of the actual details). Here are a couple of the pictures the headmaster sent:

I wanted to share because they really reminded me to step back and look at the bigger picture. It's easy for me to get bogged down in the day-to-day, struggles or triumphs, and forget how blessed I am. The wonder these girls have at this running water, and the prayerfulness...it shouldn't amaze me, as it did. I should be daily giving thanks to God for even the smallest things, and remembering Him in everything. As much as it seems to me like I struggle, He has provided so much more than I need.

Kansas City Here We Come!

2009-10-01T00:01:00.003-05:00

Last weekend we drove to Kansas City on Saturday for my high school friend JD's wedding. The drive is about 4 hours, which isn't bad, unless you're traveling with 3 children. It wasn't the drive that was bad, it was the lack of naps for Anna and Kara - they were absolutely crazy and running around in circles, not listening, tantruming, etc. So, here are some pictures from after the wedding when we got back to the hotel room. :)

My favorite picture of Kara maybe ever. This is Anna's 3rd attempt...she purposely smiled at the wall in the other 2.

Alden looking enormous, since he is (and really tired).

On our way out of town, we stopped by some memorial gardens that Andrew and I had visited when we went to KC for our anniversary trip in 2005. We saw this enormous grasshopper (we saw a TON more when we stopped to play on the way home) and the girls splashed their new deinonychus figurines (one of my best dollar store purchases yet, keeping them entertained for much of the total drive time) in the fountain for a long time, until a safety officer told us there were chemicals unsafe for children in the water. Oops.

This weekend we head out for Cleveland via Ann Arbor to visit friends and family before another high school friend's wedding Oct.10th. The girls are getting better at traveling, since we can have conversations for a long time now, but Ann Arbor to STL took 12 hours on the way here in June 2008, so wish us luck!

Halloween Preview

2009-09-30T23:28:00.005-05:00

To ruin the surprise...Nana wanted to get them costumes and we spent a while online looking to see who they wanted to be. Anna was going to be Snow White and Kara was going to be a pink doggie, until we got to the boy costume section and they found their dream costumes. They were SO happy when we got them last week and didn't want to take them off, even though they were sweating to death and desperately needed to pee. :)

Kara was roaring, who knows what sweaty Anna was doing. I did eventually convince them to take them off, and told them they could put them back on when Andrew got home. Sure enough, as soon as Anna heard the garage door open (over an hour later), she ran for her Pooh costume. The look on his face when she surprised him as "Anna Pooh" was priceless.

The girls actually picked a monkey for Alden's costume, but we found this today and they really wanted him to be "Alden Tigger," plus he just looks SO cute. (Here's one of Anna in the same suit when she was a little older). They literally called him "Algo Tigger" the rest of the day.

September is my Favorite Month in St. Louis: Two Weekends Ago - Updated

2009-09-24T16:17:00.002-05:00

Alternatively titled: will travel for Fredbird. We packed everyone up and drove to North County for an early childhood fair, featuring none other than the girls' favorite person. Whenever we ask what city we live in, the girls say St. Louis, then remind us that Fredbird lives in St. Louis too.

I love that it looks like (sad, feverish) Alden is snuggling Fredbird, and I love the little hand reaching up to touch him. Kara and Alden did shake his hand, and he "ate" all of our heads, too. The girls tried to follow him around (to hug him, according to sweetie Kara). There were also a bunch of other costumed characters, and they're still talking about all of them and how they "almost" hugged them - a bear, a bunny, and a dinosaur.

The girls each got a lollipop, which they loved, touched some animal skins (random, yes), everyone got a book, and I made them do a craft - they are generally not interested, and weren't really (they ripped them up when we got home), but I try.

They also got fireman helmets and rode on "our" fire truck (note the Pierce on the seat in the first picture).

Alden did get to try on his baseball caps for the first time when we got home...what a sad and cute little sickie (Kara trying really hard to jam them on, with no success, probably didn't help). He also got a dinosaurs book, which the girls took.

I forgot...later that night we went to the Clayton Art Fair and walked around - we didn't really get to look at the art, since I had Alden strapped on me and the girls decided they'd rather walk than stroll, but it was a fun time. The highlight was the live band, which had the girls literally dancing in the street, running around, etc. They put on quite the show (I briefly considered putting out a little bucket for their college fund, since so many people were watching as they walked past - ha). I would LOVE them to dance, but when I asked if they wanted to take dance or swimming in the winter, they said swimming; no surprise there, I guess.

Going for a Train Ride with You Is Especially Fun

2009-09-24T15:48:00.003-05:00

Please be warned, those who buy Alden toys: you are providing hours of entertainment for his sisters, and he'll be very lucky the day they share. :) The most recent gift we got acknowledged this fact and the card said it was for the girls now, and Alden later. They LOVE this Pooh train, and are (still, or again, maybe) obsessed with Pooh. I am really tired of hearing all the songs and phrases (like the one in the title of this post), but it does keep them entertained for a very long time, which is great. Also causes fights, but what good toy doesn't?

September is my Favorite Month in St. Louis: Last Weekend

2009-09-22T16:03:00.006-05:00

This past weekend was not all that eventful, as we spent Saturday looking at houses, and putting in an offer on one (which we just found out was accepted by the seller! Now on to the bank...it's a short sale = slow, but it's the right house for us, and I'm in no hurry to pack up and move). Sunday was church, playing outside in the rain, and cleaning. Friday night though, we went to the Balloon Glow part of the Great Forest Park Balloon Race. We didn't actually make it to the balloons, since it was ridiculously crowded and too far to lug 3 children from where we had to park. But we strolled around Art Hill and climbed it again to see the statue of St. Louis, and to watch the fireworks from up there. Last year we saw the balloon race on Saturday

Ready to go in their big girl jeans.

Anna ready to climb (she did a little bit), and then sitting on the wall at the top (Kara clinging to me for dear life, since she's afraid of heights).

The girls liked the fireworks (their second show in 2 weeks) and apparently so did Alden. He "watched" (as if he could see that far) and started crying when they were over. The girls are so funny in telling me why he cries, because the way their minds work is so short-term. He was clearly crying because he wanted more fireworks.

Since he sleeps during most every outing, Alden pictures are harder to come by. The highlight (?) of his weekend was wearing navy with mom on Sunday. I was trying to take a picture to show how he had grabbed inside my sweater, demonstrating his new grabbing skills, but of course he grabbed for the camera as soon as I pulled it out.

Shenk baby jowls in full effect. :) Also showing that he has a little ear tag like Anna and Kara - his is on the right ear, as is Kara's.

Favorites

2009-09-21T01:19:00.005-05:00

The original Best Babies are still my best girls - and won't let me call them babies anymore - they always correct me and tell me they're "big girls." If only they would act like it more often... On another note, one time when they were fighting over who got to nurse on which side (for some reason they both preferred whichever side of mine was closer to the wall at the moment), they said my left side was "stinky" - I asked what it smelled like and they said "peanut butter." Apparently they remember that months and months later and now the entire left side of my body is known to them as "stinky peanut butter" and the entire right side of my body is "other side." Awesome. So, Kara on stinky peanut butter here, Anna on the other side. Anna has a way longer tongue, in case you ever need to tell them apart that way.

His first time in a hood...on my birthday (so he was 9 1/2 weeks). I thought the girls looked really cute when they were about to cry, too.

2 Months+

2009-09-20T23:51:00.006-05:00

Alden's been 2 months for, oh, 3 weeks now, but I never got around to posting about his 2 month birthday. So...here you go, a couple pics of "Algo" (as the girls call him, and I do sometimes, since I think it's funny) the day after the big day (taken on Sept 2nd).

We had his 2 month doctor appointment when he was 2 months, 1 week, and 2 days old. He has gotten (or remained) enormous. He was 16 lbs 11 oz, and 25 5/8 inches long, both >97th percentile. I forget how big his head was, but it was 90th percentile. It looks small compared to the rest of him, though. I love our big boy, even if he is the size of an average 5-5 1/2 month old at 2 months (his head is the size of a 4 month old's). I checked where he was on the girl growth charts too, for comparison, and he's the size of an average 7 month old girl. Since Anna and Kara were always average-sized, that means at Alden's current size they had been crawling and pulling up to stand for a little over a month, which just amazes me. Here are a couple from the day before his visit (taken Sept 9th).

I think he's starting to look a little thinner than he did.

Other milestones he's hit, or just things he's been up to, since he turned 2 months old include:

Rolling over (back to front) - he did it a couple times on the couch (which is a little angled) right around the 2 month mark, then onto my lap from Andrew's the next weekend, and then Sept. 15th he did it on the floor for the first time. He doesn't do all too well with tummy time (he is content to just rub his face around on the floor/bed), so who knows why he wants to roll - my theory is that it's just because his thighs are so huge that when he heaves one over, the rest of his body follows whether he wants it to or not. Here's the momentous first roll; he's gotten better, and does get all the way over now (then the girls tell me "Algo trying to do tummies").

He has also started grabbing for things and interacting with toys, found his feet - for grabbing of course, loves to eat his hand, gotten sick (from shots? he's still all snotty, though, so maybe not just the shots), has decided he likes to be held a lot of the time, and that a lot of times he will only nurse when I stand up (the last 2 are good for arm strength). Finally, he's been sleeping through the night ever since he hit the 2 month mark, going about 8 hours usually, though he did wake up some when he was sick. Of course Anna and Kara still don't go that long without waking up screaming, so it's not as joyous as it might be were I actually getting to sleep all those hours. It's still great, and we just love our baby boy - he's the easiest, happiest, most social baby (he talks ALL the time) and makes me want another!

Girly Girls

2009-09-20T19:28:00.004-05:00

Old stuff - from mid-August. Anna hates to get her nails cut and cries every time, so as a reward, I painted their toe nails for the first time. Kara now officially calls her toes "Kara blue toes" and Anna's are officially "Anna pink toes."

Also mid-August - Kara, then Anna struggling to be independent - it's rough being a pretty girl. :) I think I reinforce the pretty part maybe a little too much...they each refer to their faces as "pretty faces" and when I was telling Kara to close her eyes at nap time, she told me that she had "pretty blue eyes." Indeed.

Potty Update

2009-09-16T10:42:00.006-05:00

Kara still refuses to poop on the potty, regardless of potential rewards or how happy it would make everyone (other people's happiness is a big motivator for her).

Today after I changed her diaper...
Mom: "Kara, when are you going to poop on the potty?"
Kara: "Not Wednesday."
Mom: "Did you just say 'Not Wednesday'?"
Kara: "Yeah, poop in diaper Wednesday."

Yes, Kara, clearly Wednesday is not the day for you to begin pooping on the potty. :)

Proud big sissies - Kara on August 1, Anna on August 19 (I am SO behind in posting...life with 3 children is busy!)

More proud sissies - Kara on August 27, Anna on August 25 (sorry for the food in her mouth).

An Update

2009-09-14T15:16:00.006-05:00

It's been over a week since I've updated...very atypical, I know. We've been up to not much, but a lot at the same time. We decided to buy a house a couple weeks ago, so have spent all our free time perusing listings, going to open houses, visiting with our realtor, etc. And the girls were sick for a little over a week - Anna started with throwing up, then progressed to diarrhea, where Kara met her with throwing up, and rounded out with diarrhea the end of last week. Just in time for Alden to get his first shots (6 vaccines - yikes! though only 3 shots) and them to make him sick and miserable with a fever, runny nose, and cough. We still have runny noses and some coughs, but are otherwise recovered.

I've been alternately enjoying and loathing parenting the girls. They are generally the nicest and sweetest, and are very smart and expressive, but I can do without 100 shrieking fits a day between the 2 of them (some days that is not much of an exaggeration). Anna is good at confessing what she's done (Nanny pull Kara's hair, Nanny bite Kara, Nanny pinch Kara, etc.) and has lately been telling me "Nanny a little bit angry," between shrieks, which seems to be a "little bit" of an understatement. Alden is my sweetie boy and continues to be (I'll do another post with his stats, etc. to commemorate hitting the 2 month mark, oh, almost 2 weeks ago now).

Some pictures to tide you over until I get my act together to really update things...

Girls trying on fall stuff...sweetie Alden doing what he does best (at 7 1/2 weeks...he's almost 11 weeks now).

Happy Birthday to Mom

2009-09-05T00:23:00.004-05:00

Here's to a fun day with my family and best sweeties.

Kara and Anna were SO happy I let them wear this present from Nana (these are the first real smiles I've captured on camera for a long time). Thanks Nana and Pop!

Alden at 9 weeks - caught a tiny smile before he fell asleep. Seriously, seems like this boy is NEVER awake. And it's so rare that he is awake and happy that I play with him, not photograph. But that's another post. :)

Paying Homage...

2009-09-03T05:45:00.003-05:00

To their slight Jewish heritage - Andrew is 1/8 Jewish (his great grandma), making our childre 1/16th Jewish. Maybe that's why the girls innately knew to place the nursing pads they were playing with (and went to bed with, they're very attached to them despite my efforts to take them away) on Alden as a yarmulke (you have to look closely at the left side of his head).

Apparently it wasn't their innate knowledge of Jewish custom - just a love for things on the head. :)

Fat and Happy

2009-09-02T22:16:00.003-05:00

3 stoics now - love! And non-posed kisses - cutests!

August 16th family photo shoot - the first time we made it to church in a while. Alden looks like Anna, I think (Anna's on the left), and I think Kara and Anna look really different from one another...maybe just when Kara makes her scrunchy face like in this last picture.

Sweetie girls and sweetie boy. I had him laying down on this blanket to play (a rarity...he's either not awake, fussing in my arms, or only awake during the girls' meal times, so play time on the floor doesn't happen that much - there's the danger factor too, with 2 big sisses running around) - Anna and Kara spontaneously plopped themselves down next to him. What a lucky little brother to have such doting big sisters! :)

Regarding the title of this post...well, clearly Alden is fat and happy - he weighed in at 15 1/2 pounds last week when I had the girls at the doctor, a little over a week before he turned 2 months. Kara and Anna have been chunks for a couple months now too. I'm slightly embarrassed to report that they were 34 and 35 pounds (Kara, Anna) - >97th percentile. At least they were tall too - Kara was 36 1/2 inches, Anna was 36 1/4, putting them at 94th and 90th percentile, respectively. I spent a long time calculating and plotting everyone, BMI included - what else does an obsessed dietitian stay-at-home mom do? Kara just missed, but cute little Nan is at-risk-for overweight (>85th percentile BMI for age, for those of you not savvy with the politically correct classifications). I'm not worried about a one-time placement in that category, but we have started instituting (more) dietary changes and I've spent a lot of time on MyPyramid for Preschoolers, making sure what they eat lines up with recommendations (fewer grains! more vegetables!). We've also been talking a lot about what foods and activities are healthy for their bodies and why so that they can make healthy choices. So far so good...I need to start my own dietary modifications so that I'm not the one eating cookies and chips and then telling them they can't have any! I still have 15-20# to lose, like I have since Alden was born.

Oh well...we're happy and healthy, which is the more important part. I'd rather have well-nourished chunks asking to eat bell peppers and cantaloupe than skinnies eating chicken nuggets and fries or whatever other "kid food" people feed their children. That stuff's for me, right? :)

Oldies but Goodies Part 4: Our Last Hurrah

2009-08-29T00:23:00.007-05:00

Most of these are from Nana, who came up on my due date and waited with us.

Alden's little outfit, which Anna placed on my belly, since that's where he was.

Anna and Kara dresses from Mimi.

Just hanging out and being best friends.

By the impressionist stuff and Degas statue at the art museum, then on Art Hill. We walked all the way down and back up in 100 degree weather (before the heat index). Maybe not the best idea...

Oldies but Goodies Part 3: Pool Time

2009-08-29T00:11:00.004-05:00

Unfortunately we haven't made it into the "purple pool" as much this summer as we would have liked, since the side of our house is mosquito city and they love me and the girls...I end up with at least 6 bites if we're there for any length of time, and the girls have been covered in painful bites all summer. "Buggy bite hurts" is a common refrain.

Note Kara's precision in pouring on Anna. They also loved pouring on me, and on the ground, to make mud so that Bunny Foo Foo could come (in the book version we have he throws "yucky mucky" mud pies instead of bopping).

Oldies but Goodies Part 2: Easter

2009-08-28T23:45:00.005-05:00

Has it really only been 4 months? I knew they were growing ridiculously fast!

Easter baskets/presents. Funny how I called these their "fat babies" and now they look skinny to me compared to Alden. :) Then the egg hunt...

Guess Anna was in her pretend to eat everything phase back then, too.

So proud of the "people" in their eggs.

Oldies but Goodies Part 1: Fighting

2009-08-28T23:08:00.003-05:00

We have new pictures and stories, of course, but thought I'd clean out my picture folders before I do that. Found some cute stuff! :)

Dated April 19th. Anna on the left, Kara on the right. Their fights are just as ridiculous now, if not more so. Anna's verbal sparring with Kara is the funniest to me, since she will say "No! Blah Blah Blah Blah, KAY-RA!" in very emphatic tones and with the same cadence every time.

2 Weekends Ago: Saturday Night and Sunday

2009-08-22T01:46:00.006-05:00

We stayed downtown, still a favorite destination/thing to say, mainly because of the Arch. Luckily we could see it from our window! We stayed at the Drury Plaza, which was also nice for the huge lobby with fountain, complete with statues of Lewis and Clark and their dog, popcorn reception, and breakfast in the morning.

While we opted to swim instead of going to the Arch Park, we did take a picture of the girls in front of the Arch (after an aborted out to eat attempt at our favorite Thai restaurant in town and lots of lecturing about why it is not okay to run away all the way down the street)...too bad you can't see the Arch!

Checking out the beds after swimming (during which Andrew prevented them each from drowning too many times, as they kept diving under water - more death talk ensued). We have a picture of the girls on a huge hotel bed, and you know how I like to be fair. See how well the girls "hold" Alden? :) They do like to fight about wanting the "head part" and "no feety part." They slept in a queen bed and did really well...Kara fell out, but luckily onto the extra pillow we'd put on the floor.

Sunday morning at the hotel - "Nanny hiding corger" and Kara trying to get her out. They are SO funny when they tell each other what to do, mainly because of the tone of voice. And jokester Anna checking to see if anyone cares she's still hiding.

Our one picture from Meramec Caverns, a place that has more billboards advertising it than anything I've ever seen. We took an expensive cave tour and hiked around to see the sights - I had Alden and so Andrew had to carry both girls for a lot of it. I did manage Alden and 1 girl some, too. Alden woke up and needed to eat (it was a LONG tour) and cried for about 1/2 of it, so the girls tell me "Algo no like cave" over and over still, several times a day. Then they laugh and tell me "just hungry," since that's always my response. We also took a little boat tour of the Meramec.

Girls dancing in the "theater room" of the cave during the light show (to the Missouri Waltz)...which shows up better on our computer than on blogger. Thank you God that the room also had seating, so I could fill Alden's starving belly before the tour was over!

Last weekend we went to the Science Center, at the girls' request...the "mean dinosaur roar" was turned off, which was a huge disappointment. They did like our discovery of a turtle whose mouth you can sit in at the Turtle Park, though.

Almost 2 Weekends Ago Now: Saturday Morning

2009-08-21T00:09:00.005-05:00

We went to Suson Farm and had a great time. Unfortunately it was almost 100 and sunny, so we stayed until we were all dying and the girls were crying from the heat, which was not all that long. They both remember petting the brown and "orange" horses, but their favorite thing to tell me about the trip is that a turkey scared Kara and a bunny scared Anna - they were each startled by their respective animals and still think it's so funny. Any time we hear the word horse Kara tells me "Kara see horse farm." They talk about themselves in the 3rd person, having no concept of "I" yet. They also refer to their room as "your room," since that's what we call it. So we have "mommy daddy room," "your room," "kitchen," "bathroom," and "other room" (our combined living/dining area). Anyway, pictures...

Goats...not the kind that bite your shirts, like at Grant's Farm, where we're headed again this weekend with Andrew's family, who are all in town (or you can refer to it, as the girls do, as the farm where goats bite you). Kara remembers petting this one goat's ear - good times!

Piggies. We saw one take a shower and lots of others sleeping...Kara climbed up here herself so I didn't have to pick her up, and I thought it was so cute.

Geese and ducks, and the "teeny horsies."

Silly Nan trying to climb in with the horses to pet the ones that were far away, and cows close up.

Last Weekend: Friday Night

2009-08-17T22:26:00.007-05:00

The Friday night of our vacation weekend we went to the mall...very exciting. I needed new nursing bras, and so to make it fun for the girls, we decided to let them make Build-a-Bears first. They loved it more than I thought they would. I had Anna and we went through every animal over and over again until she decided on the one she really wanted without changing her mind. Andrew had Kara and I'm not sure he was as diligent in that regard. Anna cried when the person took her panda to stuff it. We then picked out outfits and shoes in the same painstaking manner, before they found the shower...it was nearly impossible to get them to leave it and we had already been in the store forever.

Andrew got some good shots of how happy they were with their selections while I shopped.

They're looking more similar to me lately - I almost mix them up a lot. Andrew does mix them up a lot. :)

They were so happy with their choices and their animals, and the novelty didn't wear off until a day or so ago...we had to take "Doggie" and "Panda" with us everywhere (very original names, just like mom who had a favorite bear named Bear, oh, up until I got married!). I find it absolutely hilarious that Anna picked Hello Kitty slippers to go with the football outfit, and equally hilarious that she has no concept of the disconnect between those items - she knows nothing about football. Kara may have been steered to the golf outfit by her father... They have since traded animals because Kara really wants the panda and Anna lets her have it.

Glad you had fun, sweeties!

Last Week/Weekend: Wednesday and Friday Morning

2009-08-16T23:18:00.012-05:00

Last weekend we took a family "vacation" - we were in town almost the whole time, but Andrew took Friday off, and we made an effort to do as many fun things as possible (well, a bunch anyway). Since our current family/life/work situation makes it hard for us to take a big vacation, we decided we'll keep doing these mini ones every 3 months or so. We all really enjoy them, and it's so nice to get away from our routine!

Here's the rundown...Friday morning: Butterfly House, feeding ducks and playing in Faust Park; Friday evening: mall; Saturday morning: Suson Park farm; Saturday evening: hotel downtown, dinner, stroll, pool; Sunday morning/early afternoon: Meramec Caverns and boat ride

We started the fun Wednesday night. The Botanical Gardens has a free music festival that runs all summer, and it was the last concert of the year - we hadn't made it to any yet. It's Andrew's favorite thing to do in St. Louis, and we both love the Gardens, since we went a lot when we lived so close a few years ago. The girls were great and had SO much fun dancing to the music (after a trip to the back to see the "big fishies"). There were tears when we left, but prior to that they won the hearts of those around them to the point that a law student asked me if she could babysit them! Alden was fine once I traversed the whole Gardens with him screaming so I could feed him in the bathroom - he was entirely uninterested in eating in the dark/heat.

Kara, Anna, and me in the "biggie car" before departure...Anna avoiding her paparazzo father.

Friday morning at the Butterfly House...

The Butterfly House has big display cases of bugs (loved, Anna even pet a cockroach several times; Kara declined), but is mainly an indoor greenhouse-type place with SO many butterflies flying everywhere. Cool, but kinda strange to have a bunch of butterflies flying in your face all the time. After Kara got over her initial fear, they both had a lot of fun running around screaming and jumping and swatting butterflies.

There's also an outdoor garden area. The girls are cuter than ever, but the worst at posing.

Anna and I found this back in a corner when she was trying to run away after crying about not being able to eat rocks or something equally important. She made me go get Kara so they could sit together, and Kara "drove" them around...this is what they'll look like 14 years from now, only a mom can hope they'll have more hair by then.

After the Butterfly House they climbed around the big caterpillar outside, fed some VERY crazy ducks cheerios (their favorite of the entire weekend, they've told me), and played on the swings/playground - Anna learned how to swing on her belly, and Kara figured out how to climb a ladder by herself.

A note on the shoes: they usually wear one of each...Andrew's idea to keep them from fighting over the dark pink ones. Other than "are they twins?" comments about their shoe arrangement are what we hear most (except at church, where they're known for being barefoot...I think that people at church think I don't put shoes on my children - I do, but they take them off as soon as they get a chance!)

Time Flies

2009-08-12T15:42:00.006-05:00

Alden is 6 weeks old today. All of a sudden it's hitting me how big he's getting and how much more he can do (maybe because he's starting to be awake more). He loves sitting and looking at things, especially the toy bar on the rocker, and is holding his head up most all the time. He's been smiling for a while now, but those are more frequent too. I've never been one to really enjoy the tiny baby stages, and have always just looked forward to the next developmental milestone...I also didn't think that time really went that quickly with the girls, even though everyone tells you it does. This time around I'm appreciating my baby as a baby a lot more; time is going ridiculously fast as my children all sprout up like weeds and do seemingly 100 new things a day. Hopefully I can stay in the moment and enjoy it a little bit instead of being bogged down by the many feedings, changings/potty washings, temper tantrums, etc.

Caught a little smile...

I call Alden my sweetie boy...doesn't he look it all wrapped up in the swing? He was so sleepy and wouldn't go to sleep...so hung out with us forever last night instead, just being my sweetie.

6 weeks old. The second picture is my new favorite - I think he looks so handsome. I set him in the bath tub when we were in the bathroom and all of a sudden realized he no longer fits, and wondered when that happened. Didn't I just post pictures of his first bath? 6 week growth spurt indeed.

A Little Bit, Not a Big Bit

2009-08-10T16:21:00.005-05:00

I've posted recently about how well they're talking and expressing themselves (I don't usually count, but I did the other day when I heard Kara say an 11 word sentence!), and about how I love their use of adjectives/adverbs and opposites. Combining all of these, their new favorite is to modify everything with "a little bit" or "a big bit," "too much"/"too many" and "really." It's so cute. Kara manipulated me with it the other day during nap time when I left the room (as I do when they are not cooperating) and Kara said over and over "Kara really sad Mommy leaving." When I came back she was up to her old antics of not resting at all, of course. Just to make sure that I'm clear on things, a lot of times when I ask them a question the response is: "yeah, a little bit, not a big bit." Got it!

Needless to say, I hear "Algo a little bit crying" a hundred times a day. Usually followed by my asking "Did you poke/smash/touch, etc. Alden?" The response: "A little bit." They generally use the phrase correctly, but in regards to Alden they seem to no longer understand its meaning. The picture at the top is how they decorated his swing one morning - he had been sleeping, but then was "a little bit crying" due to their decorations and swinging (they yell "higher" over and over again, swinging him as high as they can and jostling him a ton) - until I removed him.

Andrew risked Alden's life to take this video. :) That's Kara crying "hug Alden Pierce" when Andrew tells her to get off...as previously mentioned, she always gets upset when we make her stop smothering him with love. Pardon me in the background...and the death talk - ever since their first Buzzah died (Anna now has a new blue betta named Buzzah as a potty reward) we've talked on and off about it and the other day out of nowhere they said something about me going to heaven and there being "no more mommy, only daddy." I know it's not really appropriate to talk about death with 2 year olds, but nothing else seems to work with some of their dangerous behaviors (also on display this past weekend - nearly drowning themselves over and over), and if they're going to bring up people going to heaven, I figure I might as well try to teach them the truth about it, and the gospel - they can still tell me the Easter story, and know that Jesus died because people were bad and didn't listen to God.

Two Girls and a Boy: Month 1

2009-08-08T03:11:00.007-05:00

Carrying Alden (with a lot of help).

They love laying in every Alden-centered receptable, since they don't want to be displaced as my babies, of course. Here they are in the baby bath tub with Alden...by the time it was finally Anna's turn, Alden was done with photos.

Hanging out on mom, a popular spot for everyone. And tummy time with Alden - any time we mention something related to his development, such as how he can't hold up his head, roll over, etc., they need to show me that they can, in fact, do those things.

Holding Alden on their rocking chairs. They were both very concerned that he kept falling over (check out Anna peeking to see whether he's fallen yet).

They're (mostly) good big sisters. They just need to actually listen when we tell them not to touch Alden or do whatever smashing of him they're trying to do...listening to anything we ask them to do lately would be a nice change. :)

Randoms: Alden's First Month

2009-08-06T17:09:00.005-05:00

My sweet sleeper at 1 week 2 days. One of my favorite pictures ever of Anna was in this shirt when she was tiny, so I had to put him in it, even though I knew it would be too small.

First bath in the tub at 1 week 3 days...once he got used to it, he liked it. He was much less fussy than the girls - Anna here, Kara here.

Cutie pie at 2 weeks or so...a recycled boy shirt Andrew had us get for the girls - see Kara here (at 2+ months).

Another 2 week shot, on Daddy's knees.

3 weeks 3 days. Classics: the grump face and sleeping, as usual. I feel like we spent a lot of time playing and interacting with the girls (though I don't know how well I remember their first month and a half or so), and that Alden is neglected. That may be true in part, since he's so easy-going and will just hang out if he's awake, but it's also true that he just SLEEPS a lot, and the girls never did.

Randoms: Girls

2009-08-05T00:28:00.008-05:00

They each needed to carry around 1/2 the enormous baguette we received as part of a meal...then Anna needed to get in the bag the meal came in, and Kara needed to smash a bug with her finger and show it to me. Any time a bug is smashed the girls immediately say "see" over and over until we show them (and Anna pretends to eat it). Yuck.

Kara and her swaddling magic. They love swaddling their babies. Kara's awesome hair (it IS starting to grow relatively fast) after a nap one day.

Anna really wanted to wear one of Andrew's shirts the other night, then of course Kara wanted to. Then while I tried to take pictures of them, they had me tackled on the floor and jumped on me over and over (hence the angle/Kara's head in the picture of Anna).

Not the best representation, but this is one of their (and my) favorite things - whenever they have a phone, or something that resembles a phone, they say "Hi Uncle Michael," and then whatever they're doing at the time. My favorite is "Hi Uncle Michael poopy diaper," followed a few minutes later by "Hi Uncle Michael clean diaper." :) And yes, Anna is talking on an ice cream scoop while she sits strapped into Alden's bouncy seat and tries to get Kara to talk on pliers, while Kara stands up and declares her need to "pee pee potty." I love watching them play.

My Ginormous 1 Month Old

2009-08-03T16:54:00.014-05:00

An impromptu photo shoot the day before he turned 1 month - when he's awake, his face is always pretty grumpy - I think it's cute. He is starting to smile more, though, and is getting good at holding his head up; plus for a couple weeks now he's been actually looking around and interacting with things, which is nice.

This sneer with his upper lip in this bottom L picture is a Pierce family trick (Andrew and his mom can do it)...otherwise I think he looks more like a Shenk, especially his eyes.

And on the official date:

He looks a little smaller in person, maybe, or maybe not. Our next door neighbor, who only speaks Chinese, visits us outside just to point out all of his fat rolls. At this age the girls were struggling to fill out newborn clothes and diapers (and both fit in the swing at the same time for at least 4 more weeks), whereas Alden's 3 month stuff is getting tight. They will all have experienced their first hotel stay at 5 weeks, though. The girls traveled with us to Chicago for Caitlin's wedding, and we're going on a little in-town vacation this weekend like we did a couple months ago (where exactly is yet to be determined).

PS (a note that only makes me laugh) - the girls both, individually, told me that the cow on this shirt is "Mrs. Mooley" from this book we read one time last week.

This Looks about Right

2009-08-03T16:23:00.002-05:00

A family picture, Pierce Best Babies style...

As you can see, crying ensued on Mr. Alden's part, not surprisingly (they were just trying to get him to look at the camera/not fall over, right?)...and soon on Miss Kara's part as well - she always gets really upset when we make her stop manhandling her brother.

PS -they've worn underwear successfully for (parts) of 2 days in a row now. We'll see how that goes.

My Girls

2009-07-31T16:41:00.003-05:00

Nap-time struggles, deliberate disobedience, and temper tantrums aside, I have been really enjoying our 2 year olds lately. They are so sweet and cute and funny, and never cease to amaze me, the little smarties.

Anna is our crazy silly girl and makes us laugh with all her jokes (her new thing is pretending to eat anything you give/show her, including animals, bugs, and Alden). Kara is a little more reserved and thoughtful - she has a great memory (Anna does too) and is a bit more concerned with others' feelings, wanting to do whatever it takes to make everyone happy.

They're both speaking really well in complete sentences lately (still working on verb tense, word order, and making sure all connecting words are there), but Kara especially - you can see her little brain working as she puts the words together- she thinks it's so funny when I tell her "great sentence." The best part is hearing them say things they're thinking that I wouldn't expect. A couple recent episodes stand out. Last weekend we went out to eat for their birthday (kids eat free at CPK during their birth month) and we got chocolate milk - I asked Anna if her milk was too chocolatey, and she told me "a little bit." One day this week we were looking for a missing toy, and when I found it Kara told me "great job Mommy." She then added to her sentence and repeated over and over "great job find baby seahorse mommy under chair."

Their interaction with each other mainly consists of sharing when someone is upset, telling each other what to do ("be careful!" is heard often), and fighting over toys. This fighting now includes verbal reasoning, telling each other that they had the toy first, therefore should get it ("no Kara first ___" vs. "no Anna first ___"). They also say "Anna turn 3 minutes" or "Kara turn 3 minutes" - my mom introduced us all to the great idea of taking timed turns with toys they both want...it generally works very well, but they are adamant about whose turn is first.

When my mom was here...my pretty ballerinas. I hope they'll like ballet when they get older - at this point I can see Kara being a little more willing to concentrate and enjoy it and Anna wanting to do something more active.

Just a little snippet. Most of these are from before we went to the Garden a couple weeks ago.

Birthday Princesses

2009-07-26T19:09:00.002-05:00

Kara and Anna turned 2 on the 13th - I feel like they've been acting like 2 year olds for some time now, so I've kind of considered them 2 for a while. Unfortunately, they acted out all of the negative 2 year old traits on their birthday, so we didn't have a great day, and waited until last weekend to celebrate fully. Here are some pictures from the actual day, before things turned ugly (parenting 2 tantruming and deliberately disobedient girls is certainly the challenge before me this next year!)

My mom was still in town and got them these fun princess crowns - they were so happy to wear them as soon as they got up. My birthday princesses.

Their birth minute pictures (see last year's posts here and here) - Kara at 8:48 and Anna at 8:57. This year they were enjoying some time dusting. :)

Headed to the playground/park (it was all downhill as soon as we left). Happy birthday sweet girls!

This Guy

2009-07-23T15:52:00.005-05:00

Given that he looks like this lately (from this past Sunday), when I took him in for his 2 week check up (at 3 weeks and 1 day - oops), I expected him to have gained significantly from the 8 lbs 14 oz he weighed when we went in 2 1/2 weeks ago (the Monday after he was born). A little shocked to find out that he weighs exactly TWELVE pounds. Yikes. I know you can never overfeed a breastfed baby, but suffice to say we will no longer be waking him up to eat during the night. He also grew an inch in that time (he's now 22 3/4), so is about 97th percentile in weight and length. While I can't imagine he'll stay on this track with a dad who's 5' 8 1/2" at best, it is such a blessing to not have to worry about his growth and gain (or my milk supply) like we did with the girls! We love our big boy.

Here's a more flattering picture from last Friday (he is still SO hot; he sweats a ton if he's even wearing just a onesie, hence the usual nudity). In my very biased opinion, he's such a cutie pie!

A Memory, A Series, and a Favorite

2009-07-21T15:54:00.008-05:00

Yesterday when I was trying to get them wrangled to go eat lunch I asked what they wanted to eat. Anna told me "cake." Instead of saying no, I asked where there was cake, and her response: "heaven." (Not atypical - they do like to tell me they have 5 daddies/3 mommies and the other ones are in heaven with Jesus and God). She (Kara soon followed) then proceeded to reach up to the ceiling and say "too far away" and "no reach" and "too high up sky" over and over, getting frustrated she couldn't reach it. Apparently there is cake in heaven for this 2 year old, along with the angels ("ozikis" somehow), Jesus and God.

Sitting in the pantry and purposely not posing for me...

Kara smiles, finally.

Anna decides she'd rather initiate tongues all around - why would she listen to one of my requests? ;)

And lastly, my new favorite thing about the girls (NOT the incessant quest to find and smash bugs when we're outside, or to pick up dead ones) is their use of adjectives/adverbs. "too" is common, such as "Anna come too/Kara come too," in addition to its use as a descriptor e.g. "too heavy" "too many," etc. "very" is used in the same way. "almost" is newly popular ("almost, almost, almost, did it!" is fun for them). Today at lunch everyone was crying at the same time for some reason or another and Anna was crying for Daddy. I told them, yes, it was hard without daddy home. I asked if we liked it when it was hard and Kara told me, "no, soft." Haha. Adjectives and opposites - these are the joys of my days these days. :)

My Children Are Amazing

2009-07-20T02:00:00.008-05:00

Before our first family outing last Saturday - to the Science Center and Turtle Park. 1.5 week old Alden did not cramp our Saturday morning outing style!

Also amazingly strong-willed and frustrating at times, as was true this week. After a good first week, the girls had some sleeping issues this past week with Alden home (I think related to realizing that Alden's staying and they can no longer get as much attention during normal waking hours) and we have not been getting much sleep at all. Alden sleeps wonderfully, at least! I'm kinda in a sleep-deprived daze and can barely keep up with feeding my children and picking up a little, let alone doing any of the other million things I have to do around the house or blogging - so more on the girls' 2nd birthday and Alden's 2nd week will have to come later.

For now, I just wanted to record a few moments today that enabled me to look past the rough week and to feel truly blessed by my children - before I forget them!

Alden continues to be a sweetie, as long as his never-satisfied belly is full (he does not hesitate to nurse voraciously every hour if necessary). Today my sweet boy gave me 3 of the most precious smiles while he was awake on my lap with the girls napping. I love my one-on-one time with him. He's starting to interact more and has been holding onto my shirt, grabbing at my face, etc. - the last smile was after he had reached up near my face and I kissed his hand. I could not ask for a better baby.

Kara and Anna continue to amaze me with how smart they are. They learn so quickly and are talking so well - they are starting to be able to express themselves a lot better, too - though Kara earlier this week telling me that I shouldn't hold Alden, I should hold her made me cry... They've been counting up to 5 for a few weeks and I have been slowly trying to add 6 and 7. I've caught them counting to themselves up to 7, sometimes 8. Tonight at dinner Anna surprised us by randomly counting to 10, with no prompting. I had no idea she could do that! Even more amazing was that after she counted to 10, she counted to 11. (Of course when we shouted "eleven!" in amazement, she and Kara cracked each other up for the next 5 minutes yelling 1, 2, 3, 4, 11! back and forth). And Kara is no slouch either - I sang the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 song (from Sesame Street maybe?) and as soon as I finished, Kara said 13. I've never specifically taught them beyond 10 - hence the title of this post. Alternatively titled: Best Babies, Indeed.

My husband's not so bad, either. :)

Get Your Alden Fix

2009-07-12T13:50:00.006-05:00

Kara always used to pose like this too.

What a chub face.

I think his face shape kinda looks like Anna's in this picture...but I'm not sure he really looks like either of the girls. Time will tell.

My nice sleeping men. And Alden's 1 week portrait - he was too curled up to really cooperate, but it was on a pillow, in the spirit of the pillow pictures of old. Then I realized he was on a different size pillow than the girls had been; oh well.

So, yes, take in cutie Alden in his first week of life - one full of sleeping, eating, contentedness, and loving sisters - he is the easiest baby I've ever seen, as long as his belly's full.

Tomorrow is all about these rambunctious girls...

Stoically wearing Brother's towel on their heads, of course.

Happy July 4th

2009-07-12T13:32:00.004-05:00

Nana brought everyone patriotic outfits and some pinwheels and flags for the girls. It brought some fun to an otherwise rainy and gross day.

Kara loves hanging out in Alden's car seat. And her scrape came from a driveway mishap while I was in the hospital - the scab is gone and I'm hoping the big scar under her nose will fade soon.

After a wagon ride with Nana, what better than to sit on your sister? :)

Rain Coats

2009-07-12T13:27:00.004-05:00

Grandma got us these rain coats and the girls have gone out a couple times now to splash in puddles and play in the rain - they love it! Dad took them and even let them pee in a puddle (a boy thing, I guess). In these pictures they preferred shrugging to posing, though. :)

Catching Up: First Afternoon at Home

2009-07-11T15:21:00.004-05:00

After he woke up: "kiss Brother," "hug Brother," "hold Brother," "pat Brother," etc. That has continued, even though his newness has worn off. Letting them do any number of those things has worked well to incentivize them, though, and I can always use new tricks to help with that!

Anna's standing to better jump on top of him.

Kara also perched in prime jumping position...

Kara dropped Alden on her lap seconds after he started crying - it was hilarious. Anna took a different approach.

Catching Up: Alden's Homecoming

2009-07-11T15:02:00.005-05:00

Not so happy...but looking cute in his little "going home" onesie - Andrew and I are not so big on "going home outfits." The girls like these animal onesies a lot, too.

Hanging out with Dad prior to departure.

I don't think that either of the girls were this composed in the car (let alone on their first trip) for months! Alden's personality so far is completely opposite of theirs. Post-arrival, my curly hairs spent a long time bothering Alden in his car seat, wanting to poke him, hug him, kiss him, and ultimately, just wanting him to be awake. He's such a good sleeper, though, that they just had to wait. I was happy that his sleeping allowed me some time with my girls, since we had definitely missed each other!

Catching Up: Best Big Sisters

2009-07-11T14:08:00.000-05:00

Anna and Kara came and visited while I was in the beginning of labor for a bit, then came to see Alden several hours after he was born. They had skipped their nap, so by the time they got there they were fast asleep and took a good nap on my hospital bed. :) As they woke up they each explored "Brother" - they loved him as much as they had for months in my tummy (and wore their Big Sister shirts 2 days in a row to prove it).

Anna checking out Alden by herself while Kara slept...though she kept saying that Kara should wake up to meet Alden too.

Kara and Anna with Alden after Kara woke up. Lots and lots of kisses. Kara was especially enthralled by his "teeny toes," "teeny ears," "teeny eyes," "teeny nose," etc. etc.

More kisses. The first few days the girls were so enamored with Alden and so excited to see me that they just climbed all over and poked both of us - I was overwhelmed to the point of asking them to leave and not come back. It's calmed down some since then, thankfully, and I am not nearly as tired and in pain as I was at the hospital, so am able to deal with it better.

Catching Up: Baby Alden Hospital Shots

2009-07-05T14:13:00.005-05:00

This one directly above on the left is probably our favorite of him from the hospital. His skin is so sensitive that he gets all red and blotchy after any incident of crying, touching, nursing, nothing at all, etc. He's also a hot baby - he's stayed pretty much red looking and his temp was always around 99.4 or so every time they checked it. Thankfully he doesn't need to be swaddled too much, since that makes him burn up.

With dad (my favorite of the 2 of them) and mom...unlike the girls he doesn't ALWAYS make me feed him when I'm holding him, just mostly. Also like the girls (after they pudged up a bit), he has amazing jowls. :)

My Men

2009-07-01T22:40:00.004-05:00

Tons more pictures to come, but here's one for now, taken about an hour after he was born. Aren't they handsome?

Alden James Pierce was born Wednesday 7/1/09 at 3:40 PM. He was 9 lbs 3 oz and 21 inches long.

Despite the fact that he's a pretty enormous baby and was not remotely interested in coming out on his own (still WAY high in my pelvis, kicking and moving around till the end), once they started my induction it was only about 4 1/2 hours and not much pushing at all; much easier than the girls. He's also sleeping right now, which is amazing, since the girls never did. Our jumbo still seems really tiny to us, especially next to Kara and Anna, who LOVE him and are great big sisters already, though we need to work a bit on being gentle!

Be Patient...

2009-07-01T12:13:00.002-05:00

This is something I have to talk about with the girls all the time - how God tells us to be patient with everyone. Well, tonight I got a call at 10 saying not to come to the hospital because my "scheduled" induction was on hold, and that there was someone scheduled for 8P that was ahead of me for a bed. "Just go to bed and we'll call you." Um, thanks. The whole point of scheduling it for midnight was so that I didn't have to be away from the girls for as much time, and could see them tomorrow, instead of laboring tomorrow. Since Brother has no intentions of coming on his own...well, I'm at the mercy of the not-so-sympathetic nurse and my doctor, who wouldn't let me just wait until tomorrow night so that my "scheduled" induction could actually be scheduled. I have a feeling that has more to do with his holiday plans than anything else.

I guess the Lord really needed to teach me more about patience and His timing. Hard to feel like I'm really open to those lessons at this point, though, unfortunately...

At least I have a few hours to snuggle my precious girls if I can sleep - I love these pictures of them. I have been extraordinarily weepy today, even before the bad news, and love and will miss them so much!

Just Can't Wait

2009-06-30T11:40:00.002-05:00

Well, seems like Brother can...we are on schedule to go in tonight at midnight for my induction, and will post pictures from the hospital tomorrow or Thursday if we can.

I can't wait to just get him home and start settling into a new routine as a family of 5. The girls know what's going on and are reacting accordingly with more temper tantrums today, etc. Andrew took the morning off to get some last minute things done around here and to enjoy the gorgeous weather and family time - our last as a family of 4!

So thankful that the girls have each other to get through this together...as they get older and more willful, there is more fighting, but also more loving.

Love you so much my best sisses! :)

Our Presents

2009-06-28T23:03:00.001-05:00

We've been opening some presents lately, for the girls and for Brother. Kara (and then Anna) decided that they wanted to be presents too. I personally think Kara rocks her gold lame skirt, and that the mullet really completes the look. :)

Today is our 7 year anniversary. With Brother eagerly anticipated, Nana staying with us to help out (thank you!), and Kara and Anna being their usual sweet/newly very bossy selves, the day was not all about us, and we had to stop our yearly anniversary trips a few years ago. Nonetheless, we were able to carve out some time to reflect on the last seven years and think about how to be a better wife and husband to each other as our family and relationship changes. Love you, Andrew; I couldn't ask for a better husband, and I look forward to, oh, 70 more years together. :)

Hopefully coming is a video of the girls saying "Happy Anniversary;" our camera batteries died. It comes out as "Happy Nannyversy," since they say "Nanny" for "Anna," and it's super cute!

Just the Four of Us

2009-06-26T23:37:00.002-05:00

Officially late. Still waiting...getting a little uncomfortable since he's sitting up so high on my ribs...loving on my girls. Still not enough hair in the right places for bows, so bow headbands it is. They like their "pretty bows," I love my pretty girls and am getting sad about my last few days with them.

Oh Girls...

2009-06-24T23:37:00.004-05:00

Hope you continue to be this funny after Little comes. They're telling a lot of funny stories and jokes lately. Tonight I asked them to show me their bathing suits, and this was their posing...pretty much they just told me "show booty" over and over, if you can't tell. :)

My big girls are growing up. We are doing better dealing with temper tantrums...they still have them, but recognize after the fact that they were being silly and tell me that they shouldn't have had a temper and that next time they won't (when prompted, of course). They're doing better with reasoning ahead of time too, so I can stop a lot of potential screaming that way. I'm also proud of them for learning to ask for what they need and being polite instead of just whining/crying. Sentences are great! Unfortunately the girls' improved behavior is not in place when they're with Andrew (maybe because he only understands about 50% of what they say)...

One More Week

2009-06-23T17:07:00.003-05:00

Of these bests being my only ones.

If he doesn't come before then (and Andrew and I suspect that he won't, but he may surprise us...hopefully not before Andrew's mom comes on Thursday), I'm scheduled to be induced next Tuesday night, June 30th, so he'll be born July 1st. It would be nice for scheduling...we'd go in at midnight, so could put the girls to bed before we go, then I'd be laboring while they slept, and could see them not all too long after they get up in the morning, depending how long it takes. Plus I'm comfortable with being induced, since I was last time and had a very pleasant labor and delivery experience, as labor and delivery go.

We'll see. Still lots to get ready before then, it seems like. Every day I hope that it doesn't happen today! Only one more week of wishing that. :)

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-21T16:02:00.007-05:00

Happy Father's Day to Andrew, the best dad and husband. I'm proud to be his wife and the mother of his children - I teared up at church this morning just thinking about it (only partially due to my very late pregnancy hormones!). Love you baby, and so do your other 3 babies.

Andrew started the day in bed with his best girls - who did not want to stay asleep in their crib last night at all...I couldn't resist capturing this moment, with Kara's hand in Andrew's face and Andrew's head on the rubber duck she took to bed with her. :)

Andrew played with the worship team at church this morning, so was gone when the girls got up. Kara got down off the bed to go find him and ended up a crying mess on the floor upon learning that she couldn't say "Happy Father's Day" to him, since he wasn't there. They both ran and gave him huge hugs when we joined him at church, and told him then.

My climbers (and not good posers), sitting on top of their kitchen. Daddy's beauties. He's spent plenty of time snuggling and playing with them today so far, loving on them and being adored by his daughters. The icing on the cake is probably the compliment the nursery worker gave him on the girls' throwing skills. :) They are definitely mommy's girls to the core, but are nonetheless daddy's little girls, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

They have been nothing but silly lately...Anna especially. She did eventually say "Happy Father's Day, Daddy," in addition to "Happy Tigger Day, Blueberries," etc. Kara wished a happy Father's Day to her baby seahorse, too, of course.

Happy Father's Day to Grandpa and Pop, too! We all love you very much.

Not Interested...

2009-06-20T16:04:00.007-05:00

Me - in cleaning and "nesting" and getting ready. Prompted in part by...

Little Mister's disinterest in coming. He seems quite happy and moves around, is way high up on my ribs, doesn't really contract me very painfully more than once a day if that, even with continued nursing, etc. Right now he has the hiccups.

Kara and Anna - in posing for the camera - they were having too much fun running, dancing, and jumping, as usual. :)

Today marks the longest I've been pregnant - 39 weeks and 2 days - that's the day I delivered the girls after being induced (which has been making me very nostalgic for my pregnancy and their newborn days). I guess we're just going to see how long I can keep a baby in there this time. At least I know he'll be here in a couple weeks at the latest - I think I'll be able to schedule my induction date at my doctor's appointment on Tuesday. Maybe when I have that date I'll be a little more interested in preparations. Until then, we're laying low, but having fun with our first-borns (and I'm giving them lots of extra snuggles!).

I've Got Nothing...

2009-06-16T23:57:00.009-05:00

Except some cute pictures of the girls from a couple weeks ago. We took one of these bags to go swimming at Ellen's, so they like to drag them around (or be dragged around) and tell me they're going to "Miss Ellen's house."

Had another doctor's appointment today and I've progressed 1/2 cm in 2 weeks and am not very far along. So, really nothing going on. No real contractions, just debilitating leg pain a few times a day from Brother punching something in my hips. I finally measured on track instead of small (hoping that doesn't mean he's huge)! I was offered an induction at the end of next week (right around my due date), but I declined - Andrew's mom is coming on my due date at the latest anyway, so an induction for planning purposes doesn't make as much sense, I'm generally not too uncomfortable, and I am not really interested in delivering earlier than he wants to come. The doctor doesn't like anyone going past 41 weeks, so I'd be induced at that point...we'll just wait it out.

I need more time anyway. I've been more than discouraged by the messiness of our house and slowness with which I'm able to get things ready, since the girls are being SO demanding with temper tantrums all the time about anything and everything - it just takes a long time and undivided attention to respond to them appropriately. I've gotten a lot done, but it just doesn't really look like it when I step back and look at things objectively.

Emotions are high all around. We're all like this...

Happy one minute - screaming and going crazy the next (this is Kara), with little situational change...ugh.

On a happy note - the girls can say whatever they want, and have been talking SO much more: being inventive, funny, and narrating what's going on - even talking to each other (usually telling each other what to do or arguing - "no ____" vs. "no ____" in very serious tones). They've started saying some pretty long sentences too, minus articles. They can both (finally!) count up to 5 reliably, and love telling me how many of things are there, or how many they want. Doesn't quite balance out the tempers, but it helps!

Our Last Hurrah

2009-06-11T15:27:00.001-05:00

This past weekend we took a last family of 4 "vacation" to St. Charles, which is only 25 minutes from our house. We left Saturday around noon and came home a little more than 24 hours later. It seemed like a lot longer though, since we had so much fun - the girls did especially, which made it extra fun for me and Andrew. The main highlight was staying in a hotel - ours had numerous fountains that they splashed in, as well as a pool, of course, for a swimming adventure Sunday morning.

Happy girls pulling around our suitcase...Kara did it first and then called Anna over so they could be "bests" and do it together. As you can see, Anna wasn't quite as into the sisterly love...

Anna being a joker - they are starting to display their senses of humor, Anna especially. Kara is more likely to be the one in the background saying "no," and telling me the truth instead of making up silly stories...though she's a joker in her own right. They've been running around the house the past couple weeks making turkey noises and when I asked Kara what her turkey name was, she told me "grandpa." :) Today they ran around saying "Anna Porgy running away" and "Kara Porgy running away" from the nursery rhyme Georgy Porgy..."when the boys came out to play, Georgy Porgy ran away." They are so much more fun now that they can express themselves!

Pretty much all we did on our trip was walk around downtown St. Charles and eat various meals (mostly outside, a novelty) - rain/a huge thunderstorm kept our time brief Sunday, so we didn't spend as much time at the big park by the river as we would have liked. Highlights included: the first restaurant that had a waterfall and tons of birds looking around for food, a dog in a stroller - the girls circled the stroller forever until they finally got to pet him, bouncing in the booths at another restaurant, seeing horse-drawn carriage rides - one with an especially loud horse that was much imitated, and a huge dog they got to play with at lunch Sunday - it licked their faces and tried to take their people, which=fun in their book! They also apparently liked the "mean boy" who pushed Kara and then tried to take her milk cup. They have since decided that they didn't like the dog in a stroller, because babies should be in a stroller, and that they didn't like the horses. Whenever we go somewhere the past few days, Anna makes sure to tell me there are "no horses" before we get out of the car. One of my highlights was when we saw the covered wagon near downtown and Anna (and Kara) told me to "uncover wagon." :)

It seems like we're still going to be waiting for a while before we become a family of 5 (I've been having fewer contractions than even the very few I had weeks ago, and he seems like he's more comfortable in there than ever...I am too). Today the girls started telling me they want brother to come out of my tummy, which is definitely new. In case he does come soon, I am so thankful that we got to have one last little time of focusing only on the girls and having fun with them!

Winding Down

2009-06-09T01:03:00.007-05:00

This past week was a busy one for us, and the girls handled it as well as could be expected, but still didn't do well with us messing with their schedule EVERY day. Monday we went to the Cardinals game (as our Fredbird meeting post indicated), Tuesday we had my doctor's appointment during their nap time and then toured the hospital where Little will be born, Wednesday first thing in the morning (before they usually get up) we had the ultrasound, Thursday we went and hung out and swam at my friend Ellen's with Caitlin, who was in town with her baby girl Carolyn, who's pretty much exactly a year younger than Kara and Anna and whom I'd never met. Friday we had dinner with friends, and then Saturday and Sunday we went on a last little vacation as a family of 4 (more on that later).

Hoping to just have a low key week to be able to get everything and everyone ready for Little's arrival...getting the girls back into a normal routine will help! The past couple days Kara has seemed a little feverish and out of it...and today she really was being difficult...since she's been such a temper queen lately, it was hard to distinguish what was because she's not feeling well and what was just her stubborn little will, and thus how to respond to it.

Here are a lot of pictures from my attempts to get everyone to pose at "Miss Ellen's house." The girls had a ridiculous amount of fun swimming, even though it was pretty cold (Anna tried to drown herself a hundred times by trying to swim away from whoever was holding her, and repeatedly told me she wanted to "sink"), and were sweet to Carolyn...it was the first instance, though, when one of them didn't want to share something with a baby, so we've been talking about how they don't have to share everything with brother. As much as they love babies and are excited for brother to come, I guess we can't be sure what it will look like when he's here!

The shoes were a distraction, as you can see. They did all share some snuggles, though, which was cute. :)

"Little" Mister Update

2009-06-03T20:20:00.003-05:00

I had my long-awaited ultrasound today, and as I expected, he is not too small (I knew those 30+ pounds had gone somewhere!). In fact he clocked in at the 72nd percentile. At 36 weeks and 6 days he's already 6 lbs 11 oz, which is how big Kara is when she was born (Anna was a bit smaller). I'm not showing any signs of going into labor, and my fluid levels were good, so Little is shaping up to be a big baby, it seems. If my experience last time is any indication, my body likes to hold on to babies. We'll see. I'm just hoping he's not so big I have to have a c-section.

It was a nice surprise that we were in a room that had a 3-D ultrasound this time...seeing pictures of him made me really look forward to his arrival. I love that his cheeks are so chubby already. Andrew and I both immediately thought, "wow, he really looks like the girls." These pictures of the pictures are not the best representation of how he looked onscreen, but isn't he a cutie? :)

Happy Birthday Nana and Grandma

2009-06-03T14:38:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday Nana (Monday) and Grandma (Tuesday) from your little cheeseball granddaughters (and from your daughter/son)! The girls have gotten good at saying "Happy birthday Nana" and "Happy birthday Grandma." I just need to record it!

They really love hanging out in this suitcase. It's where their "hi" and hugs game originated, which can be seen below from when we were playing in the car the other afternoon.

It used to be they would just hug each other...now they're involving other people/things they carry around. And last night during our hospital tour we got them saying "Hi Andrew Pierce," "Hi Kara Pierce," etc. before they gave hugs.

One more little snippet that makes me laugh. Another fun game they play is calling for each other when they want the other to come play/sit with them. It's almost exclusively a loud cry of "Sissy!" though they can finally say "Kara" instead of just Rara (it's still Nanny and Rara though). Too cute.

The Highlight of Their Lives

2009-06-02T00:35:00.002-05:00

It only took walking the wrong way (and therefore almost ALL the way around the stadium in 90 degree heat). It was worth it. Kara said "Fredbird touch hat" for the next 20 minutes (Andrew was holding Anna, so I didn't get to catch her reaction in the same way). We looked at this picture for 20 minutes straight after we got home (they cried when I accidentally clicked away from it (that was probably mostly exhaustion, but still)), and made up a Fredbird song. Etc.

We also all shared their first ice cream cone at the game - it was hot! - no pictures since they were messy and on our laps, but the guy sitting next to us took one so he could show his wife how cute they were, so I guess they were. It kept them from wanting to get up and go potty for the thousandth time - though they did great with it, annoying as it was - Anna stayed dry the whole time with a couple of successes, Kara had one accident and one success. We're proud of them for knowing and telling us when they need to go. Still working on underwear...

And yes, I am full-term (37 weeks) in just a couple days. Andrew said I don't look it, not sure I agree (I think the worst part of my pregnancies is loss of muscle tone...babies eat my muscles); I don't really feel it, especially compared to last pregnancy. We have our ultrasound (finally!) Wednesday morning, so we should know more then - I measured small again last week, though not as small as I had previously. Still not worried, but something to keep in prayer.

New Car

2009-06-01T15:01:00.004-05:00

The girls are in love with our new car. We spent a lot of time in it over the weekend...just playing and checking it out. They have yet to ride in it - that will come tonight. I haven't really processed having a 2nd car or the fact that I'll be driving a van (though this is the exact van I wanted and we had decided a van was the best choice for our getting to be large family), but that the girls love it so much makes me happy. They cried when we had to leave every van we looked inside of, and cry when we have to get out of our new car.

Though we've worked on saying van, it's currently a "big car."

Not So "Messy Night"

2009-05-31T19:32:00.006-05:00

A couple weeks ago now we went to "Messy Night," hosted by our Parents as Teachers. There were a ton of messy activities, and I dressed the girls appropriately. However, I am not a messy person. The kids playing in mud and splashing in really dirty puddles made my skin crawl. So, I was a bad mother and didn't encourage such things, instead capitalizing on the girls' love of water and heading them towards the window washing station. A decidely UN-messy night. Phew!

They loved it. We also made bird feeders out of paper towel holders, seeds, crisco and honey. I kept them nice and clean during that too, wiping their hands profusely with baby wipes to get all the crisco off.

We ended the night on the playground. The girls loved this slide because it was big and fast - I loved that they couldn't flip over the sides. And what do they remember about Messy Night? A boy who was crying when he had to leave...of course.

What a Day

2009-05-30T23:40:00.004-05:00

No pictures or videos of the too many cute moments today - but I want to remember them all!

0.5 (last night) Anna falling into a storage bin in the middle of one of the vans we checked out.

1. Kara chasing Anna around with a toy snake, hissing at her to "scare her." Scaring is a new favorite pastime.

2. Our lunchtime discussion of what pet they'd like to get. Their back and forth was hilarious, and I was proud that I didn't have to prompt them much. Kara said "teeny rat," Anna countered with a snake, Kara said cat, Anna said "doggy," Kara said "fluffy doggy," Anna said "doggy with a beard." (their memories are ridiculous...we looked at pictures of lap dogs on the computer at least 3 weeks ago and the ones that were bearded or fluffy were the ones they didn't like). They settled on a beagle.

3. Picking up worms. Our basement flooded and so Andrew was cleaning out the drain and found a treasure trove of "squirmy worms," which I encouraged the girls to pick up (not sure why, probably because otherwise they were poking them with sticks and I felt bad for the worms). They had a ton of fun carrying worms around and talking about being "slimy."

4. A new game they invented that involves waving and saying "hi" to each other, then giving big hugs. Would have gotten a video if the camera batteries hadn't been dead. One of the cutest things ever.

5. Summer fashion show (thanks Grandma!)...we were showing Andrew clothes my mom sent and they needed to try everything on, especially bathing suits. They're really looking forward to our planned swimming play date next week.

6. Saying "Aunt Sarah" for the first time. They're getting better with their S words. I need a video of that too; I was amazed, since they've never even gotten close before.

Oh, and we bought a new car, a "big car" (van) so that we can all fit when Little arrives who knows when. That would have been a highlight if we didn't have such cute girls stealing the show!

Baseball Lovers

2009-05-29T23:44:00.004-05:00

And I mean LOVERS...

When not pointing out the arch or looking for Fredbird (a current obsession...I can't count the number of times a day someone comes up to me and asks to see "Fredbird pictures" or "Fredbird movies" out of the blue, Kara especially, or just tells me a random fact about Fredbird, like he's not out on our deck, for instance, or doesn't want to drink their milk)...kisses and hugs were on the agenda.

Some more shots from the friends we went with. Thanks "Katie Justin!" :)

We're getting ready to go to another game Monday night...hopefully they'll be this loving again, though I suspect the arch and Fredbird will be the main attractions.

Happy

2009-05-25T15:34:00.008-05:00

Every new picture of them together is becoming my favorite. :)

Kara uninterested in posing...dress uninterested in staying on.

Apart from the episodes of acting like terrors, I am really enjoying the girls becoming girls instead of babies. I think they get cuter every day and it's impossible for me to even record everything cute that they say and do. They've learned to ride their whale teeter totter together, which is fun (the first time they did it they both kept telling me they were "happy" the whole time). They are generally really good listeners and helpers. They love to laugh, and to make each other and us laugh. They're really smart and have amazing memories, and are learning so fast. Andrew's mom (Nana) visited this weekend and they were so sweet with her. Etc. etc. I could not ask for better girls.

We were talking about what we'd like things to look like when Little arrives (1 month from today is my due date!) and how to plan to achieve that. I realized I don't really have any specific goals or a vision of how I'd like things to be...I just want everyone to be happy and I want to do whatever it takes to achieve that. I feel like parenting has taught me that letting my children do things in their own time and own ways, with appropriate boundaries and guidance, has made everyone happy and so much better off (especially me, since I'm such a perfectionist and tend to stress about everything). Andrew and I decided that there's no way to be prepared for a newborn, so instead of trying to have "everything ready," including how we'd like the girls to be/what we'd like them to be doing, I'm just going to be happy with the way things are and enjoy this last month with my amazing husband/father of our children and the 2 best babies around.

One of my (many) favorite things is that they really are best friends. They do this all the time, without prompting. Not only am I so thankful for them, but I'm so thankful that they have each other. (And if you click on the picture to see it larger, you can check out their curls - love!)

For the Pierce Aunt and Uncles

2009-05-23T17:06:00.008-05:00

A little bit better modeling here...shirts for Christmas from Aunt Beth and Uncle Derek. Not only did Derek go to Tulane, but so did Pop, Andrew's granddad, and Andrew's uncle (and maybe others I don't know about).

And attempts at Derek and Beth individually...

Well, Kara didn't try in this second one, seeing as she fell over. :)

And a video from a month and a half ago in their Duke shirts from Uncle Stu. Their talking has definitely improved.

My Sweet Girls

2009-05-22T15:25:00.003-05:00

Peeking out the slats of the deck (sorry about the lack of shirts - it was Messy Night, another post)...which do you prefer?

Crazy smiles...

Stoic double chin faces...

Or Anna spitting at me while Kara looks away...

Oh sweeties, you are SO photogenic. So much for your potential as baby models. :)

Second Real Baseball Game

2009-05-21T21:13:00.003-05:00

We went to the game again Monday night with some people from Andrew's work - the girls sat on our laps, so we only got this one picture when the people in front of us left. They had fun and did really well...we clapped, danced, voted for All Stars and colored the ballots, pointed out the Arch a million times, and even saw their first fireworks during a rally. We almost got pictures with Fredbird as we were leaving, but he ran back to the field right as we got to him. Anna said "bird back" pretty much the entire (really long...I had to hope not labor-inducing) walk back to the car. And they both said "Katie Justin" (the people we went with) all Tuesday.

Saturday Fun

2009-05-19T16:16:00.007-05:00

Saturday night Andrew and I were going out (they did really well again when we went out, and even ate a bunch this time...we had to talk about that a lot in prep, since last time they hardly ate and then were starved when we got home), so we knew we needed to get the girls down earlier than we usually do for a nap...of all of the short outing options I gave the girls, they chose the museum. We got the book Olivia out of the library, after almost buying it at the bookstore, and Olivia goes to the museum. The girls really liked it, even though they seemed zoned out the entire time. It helped that Andrew and I talked them through everything, pointing out things they would like, and asked them lots of questions about what they saw.

Our typical car-ride prep videos. :)

They loved the huge fountain in the lobby.

Inside...and outside after (my belly looks huger than it is due to the angle/where the picture cuts off...I hope). We didn't have time to get out into the park area or down to see the huge fountains; it was a little chilly and really windy anyway, so the girls were happy to just look at all the people and dogs.

Museum favorites, per Kara and Anna: the statue of the girl with the tutu (a Degas, girls after mama's heart!), armor (also referred to as "no ows" until I remind them it's called armor), baby shoes and the baby bed (Native American beaded things), and some specific paintings, including one where you could see a boy's pee pee (as Andrew helpfully pointed out). I think the armor is the hands-down favorite, though.

Thinking Happy Thoughts...

2009-05-19T15:27:00.006-05:00

The girls have been terrors the past 3 days, I think because of tiredness - we've been trying to pack in a lot and they end up going to bed late. Regardless of what the reason is, since Friday Anna's been enjoying her new-found talent of being able to make herself puke when she gets upset, Kara screams a lot, doesn't listen to a single thing that Andrew and I tell her (and doesn't care about discipline), refuses to poop on the potty, has peed on the floor a few times, and I don't know how many times I've had to tell her not to hit Anna on the head (and for both - pinch and/or push sister). It's been the worst since Sunday, when Kara woke up and bit Anna on the back, breaking the skin.

We have had some fun times, though...the girls have been very well-behaved when we've been out. Friday night we went to the Magic House, basically a children's museum, for their monthly free family night (we've been meaning to go since this winter). It was packed and crazy, and much of the stuff the girls are too young for, but there was a ton they did like.

There was a dining room set-up...Anna headed straight for the doggy bed and claimed it as her own. :)

Playing the piano, in Cinderella's carriage, making music on a huge spinning wheel, throwing balls, and attracting the lightning to their hands.

My not-so-girly girls...fixing the car (with all boys), driving a truck (and demonstrating excellent teamwork), helmets (which Anna called a "bowl hat" when she saw the picture), and fishing (also sharing very well).

The water area was one of the things they told me they wanted to go see (I show them pictures and talk up our outings before we go)...it was a hit...they were very wet. Kara was obsessed with these little turtles, Anna with pouring water on everything. Andrew enjoyed how Kara's cover up turned into a cape.

Another thing they said they wanted to do - make their hair stand straight up...they liked looking at these pictures after, but at the time Anna wished that I had been holding her.

They also loved the couple of huge slides, the sand table, and another ball thing. Of course when I asked them what their favorite thing was they told me the "girl who cried," since as we were leaving there was a girl crying...they were also eager to tell me that Anna cried when we had to leave the balls and the slides. At least I know they had fun!

Watch What You Say

2009-05-17T19:18:00.004-05:00

Little Nanny and Rara (what they call themselves, so now their official nicknames) are at such a fun age - for a few weeks now they have been repeating literally everything they hear, and talking a ton more to communicate their wants, needs, what they're going to do, and just in general. They get so happy and proud when I catch them saying something new and exciting and say "did you just say ___?"

They can't say anything that starts with S, and Kara (Anna some too) will say words backwards...like "Maga" for Grandma, and until recently "puck" for cup. My favorite is Spot - we've read those books some lately. Anna calls him "Pots" and Kara calls him "Tops." It cracks us up every time they say it. Today is the first time I really noticed them saying new words without repeating what we'd said. Anna and Kara both said "magazine;" well, Kara said "mazagine."

Other notable developments for our now 22-month olds....

Almost completely potty trained, if they're naked on bottom. Kara still struggles a little to poop on the potty (rescinded - she now is refusing to poop on the potty and will just tell me her stomach hurts and she needs to poop until I give in and give her a diaper), and they both still need diapers at naps and bed, mainly because they don't like to get up fast enough to go (they generally stay dry while they sleep). We're working on underwear - they either take it off or pee in it - and sitting on a big potty (essential to being able to take them out without diapers).

Right now they are both mama's girls...Anna needs me at all times and is likely to cry if I'm not there. Kara is fine without me but is very concerned with pleasing me and if I'm "happy" or not. They are both super sweet to "brother" and give him snuggles and kisses and share things with him and tell me what songs he likes and what things he likes, Anna especially. Today they read him books. They seemingly understand and will tell me what's going to happen when brother comes (I have to pack a suitcase, I have to sleep at the hospital with daddy, Nana will come, etc.) and what brother will be like when he comes, including what he can and can't do. They practice on each other.

Current obsessions: books about babies (Froggy's Baby Sister (Polly) and Arthur's Baby (Kate) are read about a million times a day), and dinosaurs - I read the dinosaur book (plus the 2 we got at the library) a million times a day too - pretty much they only like the "mean dinosaurs," "Rex" being their favorite...they like pictures that show his teeth especially and will give the book huge hugs and kisses over and over. They prefer the violent scenes of the dinosaur movies, too. They've started identifying and naming dinosaurs - A likes barosaurus, K likes edmontonia. And they know that mommy likes gallimimus and tell me every time they see him.

They have become great jumpers. They'll hop from room to room, both feet off the floor every time. "Hop bunny," of course. Pretend play and their dollhouse (and a new one a neighbor gave us) are also gaining popularity...they'll narrate to me what the people are doing (though a lot of the time it's peeing on the potty).

The End of a Busy Week

2009-05-15T20:03:00.002-05:00

A couple weeks ago/last week we had something just about every day from Thursday - Saturday...PAT visit Thursday, my internship reunion Fri, the Cardinal's stadium and babysitter Sat, bookstore Sun, Card's game Mon, doctor's appointment Tues, playdate at the Botanical Garden Wed, library Fri, then we went to Grant's Farm Saturday.

This week we've done nothing, which is much more normal for us! We do have plans for Friday night and I'm sure we'll do something Saturday and maybe Sunday. We've gotten outside a lot, at least (with such exciting sights as squirrels, a bunny, and a "brokey car," and a trip to the "doggy park").

Here are some pics from Grant's Farm last weekend - an Anheuser-Busch place that has random wildlife roaming free (zebras to turkeys to North African sheep) and some farm stuff, some zoo stuff, and of course free beer. The girls wanted to go for the goats (after which the camera battery died), but we also saw the elephant show and pet some baby Clydesdales - "horseys" were their favorite.

Kara being brave.

They (and I) had mixed feelings about the goats. They basically got mauled on the way in (and Andrew thought it would be a good idea if I took them in by myself) - they each had like 5 goats chewing on their shirts at a time (and Kara's hair too). Anna broke down and cried first, and wanted to be held the rest of the time. They're still talking about "mama bite" and "boggle no mama bite." Translation: goats were biting them - and they didn't like it. When they gave the goat a bottle it didn't bite them. They brushed them too, during which biting was a little more minimal.

My Mother's Day Presents

2009-05-14T15:10:00.006-05:00

So, I taught them myself the day before...but I enjoyed hearing their sweet voices saying it all day Sunday (and now still, it's a popular phrase). Thankful that they're such fast learners and so eager to say new things. :)

Kara generally speaks a little more clearly than Anna, but this is not one of her clearest phrases.

Anna LOVES saying this...over and over...at all volumes. This is also typical Anna at the beginning - her look of "I know you want me to do ___, but I'm not sure if I'm going to listen to you."

And for fun...an outtake. Kara sometimes had a hard time saying "Happy Mother's Day" and had to get herself going by saying "happy happy happy" and then being otherwise urged to continue. Anna found the pause hilarious.

PS - No pictures of me and the girls this year, like we did last year and I hope to do in years to come...we forgot before they went down for a nap and by then they were done with their pretty dresses. In addition, I have a bit of a black eye (still - hoping it goes away before our formal event Sat. night) that Anna gave me from a solid headbutt Saturday morning, and not sure I really want that documented.

Mom's Day

2009-05-10T15:24:00.002-05:00

I hope that one day the girls appreciate their mother. Certainly right now they love her very much (Anna in particular is a mommy's girl), but we're a long way away from their understanding the commitment and selflessness that Kristan offers. I worry that by the time they can begin to grasp her devotion, they will be entering into the tween and teen years reputed to be difficult for the mom-daughter relationship. I like to think our girls won't go through that rebellion quite so deeply. We'll see. At any rate, they have been very sweet in recent weeks and I hope that continues.

Kristan is an amazing wife, wonderful mother and my best friend. I hope the girls appreciate her as much as I do. I hope I convey my appreciation fully. In honor of one in particular, Happy Mother's Day!

First Real Baseball Game

2009-05-09T09:14:00.003-05:00

Trying to smile...this is a good picture of them these days. Our first game was a minor league one, documented here and here. Not really remotely the same. We went Monday night to our first Cardinals' game and had a great time. We were in the BJC box, so the girls mostly ran around the suite and we only watched the game outside for a little bit. It was a bad game for the Cardinals, so that was fine. We were proud of how well behaved the girls were around so many people. They got to eat a lot of treats too - popcorn being Kara's favorite and blueberries Anna's. Kara's favorite part of the experience was the "bird that danced with 2 girls." Anna initially said the arch, which we had a good view of from the box, until Kara reminded her of the bird that danced, which apparently was her favorite as well. :)

Is Little Mister Too Little?

2009-05-07T13:37:00.003-05:00

Apparently I AM small for how far along I am. At my doctor's appointment Tuesday I measured too small...my belly should be 33 cm +/- 2 cm, and it was only 28-29. Last appointment it was too small by the same amount. I didn't get measured last pregnancy with the girls and it wouldn't be a good reference anyway, of course. So, I have no idea whether this should be cause for concern. However, it has gotten us at least thinking about how Little is doing.

In his favor: he kicks and moves all the time, I have gained in 33 weeks just 7 pounds less than I gained with 2 babies during the whole pregnancy (and I don't think all of that weight has gone to my legs and arms) and the girls were both normal sized babies, he was entirely healthy at both ultrasounds (and not too small), and my body holds onto babies fairly tightly so I wouldn't be surprised if he were late, giving him extra time to grow.

Really the only thing against him is my measurement and the doctor's resulting slight concern. So, we get to have another ultrasound in the next couple weeks just to make sure everything is okay.

It's a good reminder to pray for him more than we have been. And maybe he won't be the 10 pound baby I fear will cause me to have a c-section and be in the hospital away from the girls for 4 days instead of 2? They do not sleep well if I'm not there...and tiredness is one thing, but endless screaming is another.