Seven Month Old Esther

• No official height and weight this month, but Wii Fit puts her around 16 pounds.
• Esther is growing out of 3-6 month clothes. I put a cute little green and pink outfit on her yesterday only to discover that both the arms and legs were too short. Fortunately, thanks to grandparents and friends' hand-me-downs, I have a huge pile of adorable 9 month clothes ready to go.
• Since bottle drinking has never been a strength of Esther's, we made a serious and successful attempt to get her to take milk from a sippy cup when I'm away. Awesome!
• We dropped Esther's late night feeding right after the new year. She hardly skipped a beat and slept all night within a day or two.
• Esther has continued to do well eating solids. Her tendency to get constipated has limited the variety I've offered somewhat, but she likes pretty much everything she's eaten. Peas, green beans, sweet potatoes, carrots, pears, peaches...oh, and prunes. I feed her lots and lots of prunes.
• She has gotten much better at sleeping in the crib in the room with Austin. It's been over a week since she woke in the middle of the night. Waking up early because her brother is singing...don't know if we can do much about that.
• Esther loves to put all toys in her mouth, but she especially likes chewing on soft books these days.
• She also loves to pull her socks off and chew on them for awhile. What's really cute is when she is sitting in her highchair at breakfast and pulls on the feet of her sleeper. She is really persistent despite the fact that they never do seem to make it to her mouth. :)
• Esther got left at our friends' house for the first time this week while Mommy and Daddy had their date night. (We switch off with childcare.) She was a sad girl. She may not be so easy to leave at Sunday School, MOPS, etc. like Austin always has been.
• She can sit up unassisted for a short time. As with other motor skills, I think her cloth diaper gets in the way somewhat.
• A bunch of people I know have had babies recently. Esther now looks ENORMOUS compared to them. Our little preemie has come a long way.

Life, Lately

I feel like my life has gotten exponentially busier in the last month. It's not away-from-home busyness, it's life-with-two-kids busyness. Between potty training Austin and starting Esther on solids, I estimate I am spending an hour and a half a day either in the bathroom with a toddler or next to Esther's highchair with a tiny spoon in my hand. What did I do with that hour and a half a month ago? Who knows. But I am feeling the changes it has brought to my life. I have never felt like a fantastic housekeeper but now it seems it's all I can do to get the dishes done and keep up with the laundry. I am feeling challenged to really make the most of my time and to not spend "free" (naptime) moments selfishly. To distinguish which activities are wants and which are needs and to accomplish the needs first. To have a heart to serve my husband and children instead of my own desires. To value the time I have with the kids instead of thinking of what else I could do if I had more free time. (Deep breath) Parenting is quite the sanctification process.


So I haven't taken as many pictures as I'd like lately, but here are a few just to prove that we're still around. :)

We bought this to help Austin burn off energy during the long, cold winter. It has been christened the "bouncy bin."

This was officially a Christmas gift for Esther, but Austin takes it upon himself to show her how it works.

He also takes it upon himself to bring her toys. He takes this job seriously, as you can see.

Happy girl playing with rags while I swiffered my bedroom.

Nothing Like a Good Book

Today, or at least this morning, was a little rough. I won't go into details; suffice it to say that I dealt with three pairs of poopy underwear before lunchtime. So naturally it was a relief when Zach came home and we could mutually shepherd our son through dinner. :) (Don't stir your rice so hard that it falls off your plate, no, you don't need salad dressing on your rice, don't lay down on your plate, etc.) We excused him from the table a bit early so we could enjoy the rest of our meal in relative peace. And then we heard his little voice coming from the living room as he "read" The Very Hungry Caterpillar to himself. Page by page, so accurate. ("one slice cheese, one cupcake...") It brought such a smile to our faces. Kind of redeemed the day's challenges.

A Little Too Much Talk...

...about bodily functions around here this week. Poor Esther; her digestive system does not seem to be handling solid food so well. She has not pooped in days and it is starting to make her uncomfortable. I think I brought on too much food too soon, even though it seems like she eats such tiny amounts. So I am cutting back a bit on the solids and I bought some prunes today. Hopefully she will get some relief soon.

But the bigger news is that we started potty training Austin. It's been a snowy week around here so we wouldn't be getting out much anyway; since Zach's semester doesn't start until next week we figured this was as good a time as any to give it a try. We started Wednesday morning. Two hours in, when we were on the eighth pair of underwear, I started questioning our decision, not to mention our sanity. I knew this process would be challenging but sheesh! The rest of that day and the next improved slightly; I'd say the success rate was 30-40%. Last night I was still questioning if Austin was really ready. But today something clicked. After one tiny accident early this morning, we experienced 100% success for the rest of the day. About half the time Austin told us he needed to go, the rest of the time he went at our suggestion (we've been setting a timer) but seeing him spend all day in the same pair of underwear was pretty awesome. Austin is not staying dry at naps and night yet so we're still putting him in a diaper for those times, but I'll take it. Tomorrow if we're feeling really adventurous we may even leave the house.

In closing, one incredibly cute potty-training-related anecdote: yesterday I said something about Austin needing to pull up his "undies." He said "not Wendies, underwear." Then he went on to say something about "Bobs" and "Wendies." Yep, we've got Bob the Builder on the brain.

All's Quiet...

It is 6:30 in the morning and both my children are asleep in their room. They have been asleep all night in their room. They have been quiet all night in their room. This is a big deal! Right after the New Year we dropped Esther's late night feeding, and she slept through the night pretty much right away. So after a few days we decided to move her across the hall to Austin's Austin and Esther's room. The transition was harder than we thought it would be. We went through four nights with varying amounts of crying. Austin, poor guy, was a good sport and just lay in bed with a resigned look on his face when she woke him up. Last night, though, night 5 of room sharing, was a quiet night!

And now I hear singing from upstairs. But that's okay; it was a wonderful night!

Translating Esther...or Not

Austin frequently answers for Esther when Zach or I ask her a question. ("Esser say yes" is the usual response.) So today at lunch, when Esther made some happy sounds from her bouncy seat, Zach asked Austin what she had said. He responded "aaaaaah, aaaaeeee, aaaah," varying the pitch and pretty much mimicking the sounds Esther had just made. It does not sound nearly so funny when I put it in writing like this, but trust me, it was adorably hysterical.

Mistaken Identity

You probably think you know the cheerful little guy Austin's holding onto here. Sure, you say, it's Handy Manny. No, no, no. As Austin will tell you with assurance, this is Candy Manny. Must be a twins-separated-at-birth kind of thing.

So Adorable

My mom took this picture a few days ago. It is one of my favorite pictures of Esther, ever. So much personality! This child just blesses my heart.

Six Month Old Esther

• At her six month checkup Esther weighed 14 pounds 11 ounces and was 25 1/2 inches long. She seems so small to us compared to Austin at this age (he was over 19 pounds) but she is sticking to her growth curve so it's all good.
• Esther's hair is nearly as light as Austin's. Funny, his started really light and darkened up, hers started really dark and lightened up but they seem to have just about met in the middle.
• Esther managed to roll over in a cloth diaper this month. It was in front of Daddy, so he finally got to witness her new skill in person. STILL no video of this, though, and not for lack of trying.
• Laying on her back and nibbling on her toes is one of Esther's favorite activities. She can only do it when she's not wearing a diaper, though, so most days I let her hang out half naked for awhile during at least one diaper change. This has allowed me to put away much laundry that would otherwise remain in a basket.
• Esther is now a decent bottle drinker. I put her through bottle boot camp a few weeks back and made her take some milk out of a bottle first thing every morning before letting her nurse. It seemed to work. Hooray!
• Up to this point, Esther has had nothing but breast milk with the exception of a tiny bit of formula in the NICU. Time to start solids!
• Oops, that is not quite true. I gave her a tiny bit of banana off my finger the other day. I think she liked it.
• Esther's naps are short more often than they're long these days. I don't like that one bit but am not sure what to do about it.
• Esther still likes to be swaddled while she sleeps. I worry a bit about her becoming too dependent on it but I think we'll let her have it a bit longer.
• She still sleeps in our room but I think we'll kick her out soon.
• Much like Austin did at this age, Esther loves to chew on things. Favorite things to chew on include "The Duckling Book" and her toy cell phone.
• Esther likes to play peekaboo with a burpcloth. Sometimes if I let her hold on to the cloth, I swear she's covering up her own face and then pulling the cloth away. I think she's brilliant, naturally. :)
• Austin is Esther's favorite person, hands down. Everything he does amuses her. We walked up the stairs behind him the other day and she laughed the whole way. Watching the two of them have a "conversation" is one of my favorite things these days.
• Esther is halfway to her first birthday. I know, can you believe it?

Yummy?

Austin ate his dinner enthusiastically tonight. (Apparently the secret to getting your toddler to eat his pasta and meatballs is to let him put pecans and cranberries on them. Our salad toppings, if you're wondering. But I digress.) So Daddy told him he could have some dessert. "Eat some dirt!" Austin responded enthusiastically. So we gave him some "dirt" and he was a happy camper. :-)

Like a Pro

Esther is six months old today, so we figured bring on the food! Good old rice cereal was the entree du jour. Her first meal went extremely well. There were the requisite confused looks, but on the whole Esther seemed to figure out what to do with the strange stuff on the spoon pretty quickly. At least 90% of the food ended up in her tummy. Here's hoping she takes to peas and green beans just as readily!

Conversations With Esther

At the risk of my blog turning into a list of "cute things Austin says," I'm going to post more cute things Austin said today. (Aimee, the more verbal he gets, the more I understand why you started a whole blog just for this sort of thing!)

1. (in the bathroom this morning, where Esther usually hangs out in a bouncy seat while I shower) "Esser, you paying with toys in bouncy seat?" (then turning to me and Zach) "Esser say yes."

2. (this evening while sitting with Esther in Daddy's lap; Esther was trying to grab his sippy cup) "No Esser, it my cup, you can't have it, it too big for you to drink."

"Dorge Pay Tumpet?"

At dinner tonight Zach was telling me how he is going to meet with a former student, Jon, tomorrow afternoon. Austin broke in and said "Maybe Mike?" Zach and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows--Mike is a current student in his studio. Zach explained that Mike has already driven home for the break. Austin continued "Maybe Kelsey?" (Another current student.) No, Kelsey has driven home, too. "Mike pay tuba?" No, Mike plays euphonium, Daddy explained, but funny, he's going to take tuba lessons this semester. "Maybe Dorge (George) pay tumpet?" (Yet another current student.) No, George plays the tuba.

Okay, we have the students over to our house a few times a year, and these particular students are great kids who are active in the studio, but who knew they and Austin were so tight? I think Austin's been sneaking off to the music building after bedtime. :)

Art

Austin is not so much into art. He would rather load crayons into a dump truck than color with them. But that doesn't stop us from trying occasionally.

We gave finger painting a go on Friday. I thought Austin might like that because of the mess factor. He certainly seems eager to smush food around with his hands (and we frown on that sort of thing, generally) so I thought this would be a special treat. Well...

Do you see the delicate amount of paint on his hands? What you see in the picture is all he did before telling me he was "done now." I spent more time setting up the table than he spent painting. Oh well.

But today we hit on a winner. Apparently Austin is more into paper crafts. He loves loves loves the scissors I just bought him. He cut paper for half an hour. To each his own medium, I guess.

Giving

I have realized in the past how easy it is to let oneself forget the real meaning of Christmas in the midst of all the holiday tasks, but never more so than now, with a two year old in the house. Earlier this month I asked him what Christmas was about and he promptly replied "Timas tee" and "Timas yites." (Christmas tree, Christmas lights.) Right, time for some instruction. So I've been trying to have lots of little conversations about Jesus' birth being the reason we celebrate and it seems to be sinking in.

But even a two year old can't help but notice that presents play a large-ish role in this holiday. So we're teaching him that we give gifts to each other because God gave a gift (Jesus) to us. I thought it'd be nice to let Austin choose a gift for Esther. I asked him what kind of present he thought she'd like. "A pink pe-sent." Um, let's not think about the color, what do you think she'd like to play with? "The duck book." Yep, no doubt she would like that because we already own it. Better make this choice more visual.

We had to go to Walmart this morning to pick up Christmas cards (nothing like putting things off to the last minute) so we wandered over to the toy section. I'm sure you will not be surprised to hear that Austin's first pick was a large dump truck. I finally located a shelf of appropriate baby toys, reminded him that we were thinking about what Esther would like, and I think he made a nice choice. Doesn't even use batteries. :) Now shh, don't tell Esther what she's getting.