All In A Day's Work

 

Thomas and I had these three converstaions today.

I was trying to have an educational conversation with Thomas about his fishsticks.
Kim: Who do you think caught the fish?
Thomas: I don't know.
Kim (ok easier question): Where do you think the fish came from?
Thomas: Wal-Mart?
Oh well...
We then talked about fishermen catching the fish, selling them to a company who made the fishsticks, who then sold them to Wal Mart.

He helped me make brownies today and this is as we were getting ready to make them.
Thomas: Mommy wait!
Kim: What do you need?
Thomas: I need to go get my water.
Kim: Why?
Thomas: I need it to drip onto the brownies.
Yum!


Another mealtime conversation.
Kim: Thomas I really need you to eat your fruit cup.
Thomas: I don't like this one (holding up a pineapple)
Kim: That's part of your fruit cup. You need to eat it please.
Thomas: This one's not for me. It's for other kids.

Nice Day...Finally!

 

 

 

We've had unseasonably cold and wet weather in this part of the country. We haven't had many days when we've gotten to play outside recently. So, since yesterday was 70 and mostly sunny we actually got to go out. Thomas swept and played with sidewalk chalk. I think it just felt good to run around out there! Mae just sat on my lap and watched Thomas and listened to the birds!

Asleep

 

 

Two Month Checkup

 

 

Mae had her two month checkup yesterday. She weighs 11 pounds 2 ounces, which is the 47th percentile. She is 24.5 inches long, which puts her in the 97th percentile for height. The doctor said everything looks good and she is growing like she should!

Picture Happy

Dad, Sally and I have all gotten digital SLR cameras in the last year. When we're together, this is what we look like a lot of the time!

 

 

 

Gatlinburg

 

 

 

 

This past weekend we met my family in Gatlinburg. It was fun to celebrate Christmas together and we basically just hung out for a day and a half. It's always good to see those people!

100 Random Things

I was tagged by Jenn to make a list of 100 random things.

1. I really like these things.
2. I love the smell of cigarette smoke. It makes me feel like I’m in London.
3. I love spending time with my parents.
4. I have great in-laws.
5. I’ve been thinking about kids’ names since I was in elementary school. When I was in 6th grade my favorite names were Julianne and Campbell.
6. I love murder mysteries, but if I read or watch too many I start to think everyone is going to kill me.
7. I have lived in Illinois, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Arkansas, Alabama, London (a semester counts, right?), Georgia and Alabama
8. I used to hate shopping. Now I love it.
9. Money burns a hole in my pocket.
10. I don’t like ketchup except on hamburgers, hot dogs and grilled cheese.
11. I love dipping fries in honey mustard or ranch (or chick-fil-a sauce-my new favorite!).
12. Both of my kids are named after family members.
13. My parents got the idea for the name Kimberly on the side of a Kimberly Clark truck.
14. I love wood floors.
15. I love grammar.
16. If I could I would take a grammar class.
17. When something itches I say I’m going to “itch it.”
18. Brax thinks that is really weird.
19. London is my very favorite place.
20. If I had the opportunity I would move there.
21. When I was growing up I totally wanted to go to an English boarding school.
22. I think school uniforms are adorable.
23. I love music.
24. I grew up in a very musical family.
25. I’m in the Huntsville Community Chorus (although I’m not singing this year because of Mae).
26. I have little to no athletic ability.
27. Brax and I never actually had a first date. We just started hanging out non-stop.
28. We have now been together seven years.
29. He is my favorite person.
30. I made Jesus my Lord and Savior when I was four. I remember it well.
31. I’m still trying everyday to figure out what that means, and how to live like I mean it.
32. I’ve had one of my best friends since fifth grade.
33. I have dear friends spread out through the south.
34. I’m not skinny, and I’m really ok with that.
35. I would like to be healthier.
36. I am the oldest grandchild on both sides of my family.
37. I have 45 younger first cousins on my dad’s side.
38. I love patterns-plaid, paisley, stripes and polka dots.
39. I strive to be a good seamstress.
40. I love doing crafts.
41. I make note cards. It relaxes me.
42. I used to scrapbook before Thomas was born. Now it takes too long to get the stuff out and put it away. So, instead, I blog.
43. I love reading other people’s blogs.
44. I subscribe to 45 blogs in my Google reader.
45. Brax and I had two beagles named London and Hamley.
46. I love cold weather.
47. Fall is my favorite season.
48. Winter is a close second.
49. Then spring.
50. Summer is my least favorite. I feel like if it’s that hot I should get to be in or by a pool.
51. I love that my birthday is in December.
52. Now I have a daughter with a birthday exactly two weeks before mine.
53. Mint chocolate chip ice cream is my favorite.
54. I am in general a very relaxed person.
55. I hate to be late.
56. I’m a good speller. (It could be my Miss America talent)
57. I have a history degree.
58. I worked as an administrative assistant at an adoption agency. I loved working at an adoption agency. I loved being an administrative assistant.
59. I have been to England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Canada and Mexico.
60. I really want to go on a Mediterranean cruise.
61. My two current favorite TV shows are “The Office” and “Foyle’s War.”
62. British World War II history is my favorite.
63. I love to read.
64. My absolute favorite books are Coming Home, Winter Solstice, the Harry Potter books, and The Last Juror.
65. I’m a hotel snob. I love staying at nice hotels. I don’t like Bed and Breakfasts. It’s like staying in a stranger’s house.
66. I get ready in the same order every day.
67. I like making people laugh.
68. I like to laugh.
69. I don’t mind doing laundry.
70. I like staying at home with Thomas and Mae.
71. It’s the hardest job I’ve ever had.
72. I’ve never been as cold in my life as I have been since Mae was born.
73. I sucked my thumb till I was in 3rd grade.
74. I had orthodontics from 5th-12th grade.
75. I still have a permanent retainer.
76. I took 3 ½ years of French.
77. I have been to Paris twice and didn’t like it either time.
78. When I was 8 and Sally was 6 we flew home from London by ourselves. (actually went from Victoria station to the airport by ourselves…)
79. When I was 10 I flew to and from Germany by myself.
80. I get nervous every time I fly.
81. I have great siblings.
82. I love taking pictures.
83. I was supposed to spend a summer working at Lost Valley Ranch in Colorado, but a forest fire burned part of the ranch and it was closed.
84. Instead I had my least favorite job EVER. Working at Baymont Inn and Suites.
85. I missed Brax A LOT that summer.
86. I’m not a morning person.
87. I would rather eat lunch than breakfast.
88. I love eating out.
89. I love to get Diet Coke with lemon.
90. My favorite restaurants are: Mudtown, Marketplace Grill, Loafin’ Joe’s, Surin, Taziki’s, Penguin Ed’s, Rosie’s, and New World China.
91. I almost always order the same thing at each restaurant.
92. Singing, speaking or playing the piano alone in front of people makes me physically ill.
93. I love going to the lake and the beach.
94. I think candlelight and firelight are completely romantic.
95. I have to sleep with white noise.
96. I love live sporting events-especially Alabama Football and Arkansas Basketball!
97. I really don’t like sad or scary movies.
98. I really like spy movies.
99. Nursing Thomas possibly the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Nursing Mae has been SO much easier.
100.I’m an extrovert. People energize me.

I tag: Sally, Bobi Ann and Stefanie

More funnies!

After picking Thomas up from Mother's Day Out.

Kim: Who did you play with today at school?
Thomas: Carter. Carter got a time out.
Kim: Oh really? Why?
Thomas: I don't know.
Kim: Did you get a timeout?
Thomas: No. I stayed on my mat! I got off my mat and Miss Carrie and Miss Judy told me to get back on my mat.
Kim: Did you?
Thomas: Yes.
Kim: Did you say "yes ma'am?"
Thomas: (emphatically) Yes Ma'am!


Yesterday morning.

Thomas: I'm not going to finish my waffle.
Kim: I need you to finish it. I don't want you to be hungry later.
Thomas: I never thought about that.

The Transition

I really wanted to say something about the transition from one kid to two. I feel like two months is a good amount of time from which to gauge how things have gone. I use this blog as a well to show pictures of Thomas and Mae, but it has also really developed into a digital scrapbook for me. So, you're more than welcome to read this, but it's as much to help me remember as anything else.

Before I had Mae I emailed several of my friends that had recently made the same transition from one kid to two and asked them a series of questions to help me better prepare. They all had different things to say, but all of them said that it was hard. And, it was! To be honest I was actually dreading the first few months. I was afraid that it was going to be too hard to handle. I prayed a lot of times that the Lord would help me to be excited about Mae coming, and I was, but again dreading the beginning. Well, the Lord blessed us with several things that made this time much easier!

1. My physical recovery this time was a million times easier than with Thomas. And because the first time was all that I knew, I didn't realize recovering from having a baby could be so easy! YEA GOD!
2. Mae has eaten like a champ from about 45 minutes after she was born. This was also drastically different from last time, and therefore unexpected. YEA GOD!
3. She has also slept really well from the beginning. YEA GOD! (We think this is partly because she has eaten so well!)
4. Mae was born right before Thanksgiving and so for the first six weeks of her life Brax had a lot of free days off of work for holidays. That made it so much nicer for me, even after my mom left.
5. In the hospital our pediatrician told us that normally she doesn't recommend taking babies out for six weeks, but because Mae would be six weeks right in the middle of flu season she really didn't recommend taking Mae out much until April. We were definitely STUNNED when she said it, but Brax and I are rule followers and have therefore endeavored to follow this as much as we can. And, it has been a huge blessing in disguise. Because I've hardly gone anywhere for the last eight weeks we've had lots of time at home to just be. I haven't had very many days where I've had to rush around trying to get both kids ready and I've been able to feed Mae every two hours during the day which has really helped her sleep at night. Plus, we've gotten to spend some great days at Mimi's house since it's one of the few places we can all go...and that's always fun!
6. Thomas has not tried to hurt Mae in any way. He only wants to tickle her, kiss her, push her swing, make her laugh and bring us her things to "help!" And he actually has been VERY helpful. He brings me things all the time while I'm nursing and can't get up.

Of course there have been hard things too.
1. Obviously we're tired and haven't been able to take as many naps as last time. But, as always God has provided the strength to stay awake when we've needed to.
2.There were a few weeks in there in which Thomas (who is already testing his two-and-a-half year old independence) pretty much disobeyed or tested everything I said. Being tired does not help this! However again, I have been relying on the Lord (often many times daily) for patience, which I know is what he wants anyway.
3. There are days when I do feel cooped up in the house. Especially since the weather has been so uncharacteristically rainy and cold, and so we haven't really even been able to go outside that much. But, we've gotten to have lots of fires in our fireplace. And it does make a trip to TJ Maxx or Sam's oh so exciting!

But, the good things have far outweighed the bad things. And I know that it's only been two months and there will be hard things to come. But, I can honestly say that Mae has been a delight. I have enjoyed this little baby stage MUCH more this time, and have tried to not take too many moments for granted because I know, as cliche as it is...they grow so fast!

Two Months

Today Mae is two months old! I don't have all her weight, height stuff yet because her two month appointment isn't until the 27th. She's doing really well! She's still eating every two hours during the day, and we're supplimenting with about eight ounces of formula during the day. At night she usually eats between 8:45 and 9:30. She goes down around ten and then usually sleeps till between 4 and 5 in her crib. And then goes back to her crib till 7 or 8. USUALLY! She also usually goes down sometime while Thomas is taking his nap in the afternoon and sleeps for an hour or so in her crib. She's smiling lots, cooing and starting to fight sleep even more-hates to leave the party! We think she's more aware of her surroundings, including her big brother Thomas, which is one of her favorite things to watch. She sometimes takes the pacifier, but is trying SO hard to get her fingers!

Happy Weekend!

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Today when we got up it was 9 degrees with a windchill of -4 degrees. In case you've forgotten, we live in Alabama. (We didn't actually go out today. These pictures are from the other day when I took Thomas to school. He hardly ever gets to wear his coat, so I took pictures.)

Learning All the Time!

I wish I could say that I was a mom that saw education in everything. I'm not. But, I was completely inspired by a billboard that I saw. So, I've been trying to be more aware of good learning opportunities in everyday life. Here are a couple.

Thomas loves to help me sort laundry. Even though it takes FOREVER and the clothes get thrown all over it's a great way to talk about colors and grouping things.

We spend a lot of time in Mae's room while I change her diaper. Thomas loves to look at her clock on the floor, and he's getting good at numbers, so we've really started talking about the numbers on the clock. Sometimes he can recognize them and sometimes he can't. I'm hoping this will lead well into him telling time so he will stop asking his favorite question, "What time is it?" :)

Glitter Revisited

Thomas loved to "do glitter" and asks to several times daily. The problem that we had was that the containers that the glitter came in were not easy for him to use for pouring. But, obviously that's the most fun part, so he did not enjoy it when I did it. So, I tried to come up with a container that he could use by himself. Enter the used Gerber Ravioli container. It's plastic and the lid has four plastic holes in it for venting when you heat it in the microwave. Thomas isn't a huge fan of the ravioli (it's food, right!) however, turns out it's the perfect glitter pourer!

Tummy Time

Because of our experience with Thomas and the helmet I'm trying SO hard to make sure Mae has lots of tummy time. She's starting to like it more, and be interested in the toys on her fun little pad! She's holding her head up really well too!

Upgrade

Last year Thomas discovered that Mimi and Papa's tree was great place from which to hang! This year he discovered it's a great tree to climb. He needs a little help, but it's totally worth it!

Dr. Papa

Papa is a dentist. Today we went by his office because his hygienists are really sweet and say they want to see Thomas and Mae whenever possible. Plus it's really good for Thomas to ride up and down in the chair and get used to them looking in his mouth. He did such a good job and I was really proud of him!! (of course I only had my phone for pictures) He even let Cindra count all his teeth-with an audience of Mary Anne, Cathy, Penny and me.

The Faces of Mae