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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Up Our Alley

  For Labor Day, we met up with Gigi and Pop to take 'The Boy' bowling for the very first time.  There's just something about seeing your kid experience something he has never seen before.  His eyes, wide with excitement, just melted my heart.  He had a great time but, as usual, I think he enjoyed his hot dog and french fries most of all.  Memory keeping overload coming your way.  The bowling alley makes me trigger happy.


...Fabulous rental footwear...


...Eyes (red) wide with anticipation...

..."I just roll"...


...he lingered for a bit, not quite sure what to make of it...

...bowling at my worst.  I haven't had that many gutter balls since the first day they took the bumpers away...

...in action...


...this is the best we could do...


...getting a helping hand...


...'Munchkin' had the best seat in the house.  always does...


...greasy, fried, awesome...


...beelined for the junk food...


...eventually got a bit more help from the ramp...


...in a daze...

...strategically posing on the ramp.  she had to get in on the action...

Later, we went back to my mom's house for a little swim and bbq.  The boys hung out in the backyard while my mom and I indulged ourselves in a friendly game of Scrabble.  She beat me by just a smidgen.  It was a nice relaxing day which, I believe, is the whole point of Labor Day.

...hello, handsome...


...loves watermelon...


...she finally grabbed and pulled the little handles on her bouncer.  so proud...



...playing Scrabble 'The Boy's' way. just lining up letters...

Sunday, September 19, 2010

A Little Scare

I'm a bit of a paranoid mommy today.  I deserve to be.  I got the wind knocked out of me last night.

Allow me back up a few months...

While I was pregnant with 'Munchkin', I registered for things I needed, which wasn't much.  I kept everything from when 'The Boy' was a baby and didn't need anything but clothes, crib linens, burp cloths (and did we need them) and a monitor.  Everything else would just be passed down.  I remember having a conversation with 'The Hubs' about us not needing a new monitor.  We could just use the same one because, I felt, 'The Boy' was old enough not to have one anymore.  I lost and we registered for a monitor that we received as a shower gift.

A few weeks before 'Munchkin' arrived, I felt we had everything we needed until I saw a review on this...

...the Angelcare monitor. 

That sensor pad goes under the crib mattress and detects movement from baby's breathing.  If it does not detect movement for 15 seconds, and alarm sounds.  I read so many reviews about this monitor and stories about how it saved many baby's lives.  I was sold!  Too bad it cost $140.  It was going to take some serious convincing to get 'The Hubs' to allow me to spend that much on a baby monitor when the monitor we already had (and was the exact model as 'The Boy's') only cost $25.  I was wrong.  As soon as he heard the stories I had read, he told me to get it.  So off to Babies 'R' Us I went.

Almost three months later, and countless thoughts of "I hope I never hear that alarm", my biggest fear (sort of) came true.  Last night, around 2 a.m., I heard a beep that I thought was the smoke alarm telling me to change its battery.  Less than 2 seconds later, the beeps came louder and more rapid.  I jumped out of bed, hit 'The Hubs' and yelled, "Get up!  Chelsea's not breathing!"  We were both so out of it because we were fast asleep but, we ran like the wind.

It took us less than 10 seconds to get to her room.  It felt like five minutes.  So many thoughts were going through my head.  I was trying to breath and calm myself down so that I could give her CPR correctly if we needed too.  I didn't want anything worse to happen because I was hysterical.  'The Hubs' said he was still asleep when we were running to her room.  He kept asking "what" over and over.  I kept praying, "God, let her be okay".

Now, we are second time parents and not much phases us with this one.  We are much slower to respond to baby cries or wipe spit up off of her mouth.  In our defense, we never had a monitor like this when 'The Boy' was a baby so we were pretty quick to assume the worst.

When we got in the room, 'The Hubs' picked her up right away.  I turned on the lights and turned the alarm off.  We screamed her name.  I asked "is she breathing?"  She slowly blinked her eyes open, pouted and started wailing.  She was fine.  False alarm.

I am so glad that we have this monitor.  We could have gone into her room and found our worst nightmare.  But, had that been the case, we would have been able to start attempting to revive her right away.  Thankfully, she had just rolled out of range of the sensor.  We unplugged everything, checked it twice and got her back to sleep.  I pray that I never hear that alarm again.

Mommy friends, if you don't have this monitor, I highly recommend getting it.  It is worth every penny!  I would forgo outfits and hair bows and play mats if it meant I could afford to buy this.  I can't imagine any worse feeling than finding our baby unresponsive and being too late to do anything about it. 

I have been checking on 'Munchkin's' breathing throughout every nap today.  I have no idea how I will be able to sleep tonight but, knowing that my Angelcare monitor works will probably make it much easier.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Bummer

I was so sick a few weekends ago.  I think the flu already hit me which is way early and it lasted for almost a week.  It was a bummer because I missed out on a bunch of fun get togethers and the kids missed out on a trip to Disneyland for their cousin's birthday.  'The Hubs' did a great job with both littles on his own and even braved a birthday party with them.  Good job, babe!

When I was able to get out of bed three days into it, I was able to help out a little.  We learned some serious multi-tasking!  The littles took their first bath together...

She is just staring at him and he is way too into his toys to even notice her.


At least I was able to get him to briefly take his eyes off of his bath toys for a quick picture.

'Munchkin', enjoying the warm water.  This is much better than being bathed on the bathroom counter.

Pretty as a flower.  Note my jams.  I may have worn them for a few days in a row.  Fine, the whole week.

Look who's sitting up all by herself!

I took 'Munchkin' to her 2 month check up (sick and all).  She is getting sooooo big!  She had her first round of immunizations: DTaP, Polio, HIB, and Hep B.  So glad she is now covered for whopping cough!  She did as well as could be expected ... screamed the whole time.  She did have low grade fevers off and on for the rest of the day but nothing a little Tylenol couldn't take care of.  She even got some fancy band aids.

Glitter band aids for the little diva.

I love that she is smiling even though her eyes have fever written all over them.

'The Hubs' took Monday off so I could recuperate a bit more but had to go back the next day.  I was still feeling horrible.  My mom came over, braved the germs, and watched the littles while I went to the doctor's office.  I had a sinus infection and caved and got an antibiotic.  It took me two more days before I finally felt like myself again.

Wednesday morning, I was on my own and the littles kept themselves busy while I rested on the couch.

'Munchkin' loves her playmat.

Well, I am back to normal and that means back to crazy, busy for us.  I have to admit that, even though I felt terrible, it was nice to have a little rest.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Beatin' the Heat

(Note: I am so behind on posts!)

A couple of weeks ago, it was h.o.t!  I think we hit 111 degrees at some point.  Yikes!  I could not figure out what we were going to do during our (short lived) heat wave besides stay in the house all day and if you have kids, you know that more than one day of that is like being in that other place that averages way higher temperatures.

So, the only thing that I could come up with was getting the heck out of town.  I spent two days (in a row and drove home in between) in beautiful, yet still hot, San Diego.  I thought it was a brilliant idea but we still ended up sweating it out.  I can't even imagine what it was like at home.

The first day, my friend, Julie, and I took the kiddos to Sea World.  I just bought a 2 year season pass.  You'll be seeing a lot of Shamu here in the future.  'The Boy' took a nap on the way down there and was so well behaved for the whole afternoon.  Not one single meltdown!  I didn't get a whole lot of pictures because I was trying to take care of Chelsea at the same time.  She was great, too.  She's the easiest baby.

Riding in quite possibly the largest contraption I have ever had to handle.

Checking on his "little sweetie".

We took him to see the bat rays and "Miss Julie" gave him a boost so he could see the action.  Guess what?

Not a fan!


I love the bat rays!  They just swim right up to you, hoping for food, and don't even mind when you pet them without giving them a snack.  I touched them, and tried to coax 'The Boy', saying, "see, Mommy does it and it's not scary". He was not having it.  He started to warm up a bit and would at least look at them from the side but would not touch them.    Guess what else he was scared of...seagulls.    
     
Checking it out from the sidelines.

Watching the sea lions bark.

Watching the penguins on TV.  He was more interested in the tv show than the actual penguins.  Go figure!

The very next day, my mom and I took the littles to La Jolla with hopes of letting 'The Boy' splash around in the tide pools.  It was a Wednesday and there was no place to park.  Nowhere!  Don't people work anymore?  We ditched that idea real fast because we were hungry and drove around a bit before finding the mall.  We ate some food and shopped for new shoes for 'The Boy'.  Then we watched him run around the outdoor play area before he spotted the train.  Then he was full speed ahead, running for a train ride.


It was nice to be able to get away from the heat of the Inland Empire.  I know that most people can't just get away like that and I'm so thankful that we live where we do.  We are one hour from San Diego, Orange County and the mountains.  All of the fun just a short drive away.  I guess it is worth the scorching summers.

Friday, September 3, 2010

At Two Months

Munchkin,
              Time continues to fly by around here and you are already two months old.  Those days of imagining what your face would look like while I savored your belly rolls seem like a lifetime ago.  Your face, which looks a whole lot like mine, is so sweet and what I look forward to seeing when I open your door each morning.

           
              At two months, you are awake throughout the day with your eyes wide as you drink in all this world has to offer.  You smile at anyone who indulges you with a smile first and you still give me that quizzical look often.  You hold your head up well when you are being held upright and when you are on your tummy.  And you love being on your tummy.
             Your sleeping through the night, which we are ecstatic about.  You eat your nighttime bottle around 8 and we put you down, swaddled, in your crib at 9.  You sleep until about 5 or 6.  We cannot thank you enough for that.  You catnap throughout the day wherever you are (swing, bouncy chair, floor, couch, car seat) and every once in a while, you catch a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.  You still love a good snooze in some body's arms.
             At your 2 month check up with Dr. H., you weighed 11 lbs. 2 oz., and you are 22 1/2 inches long.  All in the 75% percentile.  Your dark hair that had us baffled in the begining has changed to a strawberry blond and what little you lost has already started to grow back in.  You quickly grew out of newborn diapers and clothes.  You are currently in size 1 diapers and size 3 months for clothing.
             You eat soy formula, you gassy thing.  We had to switch you yet again because you spit up and had painful gas.  You are now eating 4-5 oz. of formula out of Dr. Brown's bottles every 3 hours.  You still spit up a bit but we are now always armed.
             You love your play mat and staring at the toys dangling over you.  You LOVE you swing and insist on watching the birds and bugs moving around.  You can pull the frog on your bouncy chair and smile when you hear the music.  Your brother bring you odd little toys to play with and you humor him.  We read stories together and sing lullabies.  When you are fussy, you will take a pacifier and cozy up to a soft blankie.
           You get out and about often.  I remember staying at home a lot more when your brother was your age.  You go with the flow, thank goodness.  We have been all over town, to birthday parties, the Farmer's Market, and you've even visited Sea World.
           Your brother still adores you, kisses you and calls you Chels, princess, peanut, and little sweetheart.  When you cry he comes rushing to your side and says, "it's okay, baby".  I imagine he'll be protective of you as you grow together.

           Chels Bells, the days are flying and as you grow there is a corner in my heart with your name on it that grows, too.  I love you, my sweet girl, my daughter, my love.