Oh How Quickly They Grow

As I got the girls loaded into the stroller this afternoon, I stood in awe. It's not that this is an unusual event, we take an evening walk around the neighborhood several times a week. It was just that I had the opportunity to look at my kids from a different perspective. It was like a third party looking in. I simply cannot believe how much they've grown. It shocks me still that I have two kids. Not two babies...Julia isn't really a baby anymore. She's definitely graduated to kid. Keira is still a baby but at this rate, not for long. Where is this time going?

"So tell me how to stop the years from racing. Is there a secret someone knows? I'll never catch all the memories I'm chasing. I'll never be ready to let go." -Lyrics from Angel's Lullaby

Gone Mad

Ok so I think I'm losing it...I've gone mad. Here is a glimpse into my yesterday. The kids are cranky. Julia is cutting 4 teeth at once and has turned into my shadow. I swear she would crawl back inside my body if there was a way. And she's whining...a lot! I think Keira has a bug or has begun early teething much like Julia did. So I have Keira in her swing and Julia playing in the family room. Run to kitchen to make bottle...come down to find that Jules has climbed onto the coffee table and is sitting dead center watching tv. Time out. Lots of cranky coming my way. Now trying to feed Keira who is hungry but wont eat. Julia goes to kitchen. Call three times, then go on the hunt. I find her in the back yard...thank God for the fence. Must find a way to get the screen door fixed so we can lock that exit. Time out. Lots of cranky coming my way. Nap time...yippee! Whoops, not for long. Here comes the trash truck. Wakes kids. Dammit! Lots of cranky coming my way. Downstairs for lunch. Change Keira and turn around to find that Jules has gone into the kitchen, climbed onto the table, collected all the placemats into a pile, sat on pile and started eating her snack.

Time out. Lots of cranky coming my way. Time to attempt feeding Keir again. Jules escapes to kitchen and 30 seconds later...choking/coughing sounds. Whirl around worried and find Julia holding bottle of dish soap. Dammit! Read label for poison control info and mentally kick self for forgetting to put soap away. Luckily only need to drink water to dilute soap. Skip ahead a couple hours...after Daddy got home, I took 45 minutes to get control of my mind again. Come downstairs and start unloading dishwasher. Man, it stinks down here. Jason takes Keir up for a diaper change...thank God. Need to call mom, looking for phone in family room where Julia is sitting on the couch watching Dora. She tells me "Ba, poop." Ahh so that's why it still stinks. Ok, Julia, let's go change your pants. Help her to get up, and that's when I see the puddle of poop on my couch. Oh man, what a day! Warn Jason about couch...ask for help getting that cleaned up...and rush Julia to bathtub. Pray for no more explosions. Stupid Mommy, stupid soap! Feed dinner to Julia and get her off to bed. Keira, too. Nope, she's up again. Try another feeding with very little success. Order take out. Veg in front of tv. Put Keira to bed. This time it works. Sleep.

Personali-tude

I had a thought the other day about how special the little things are in life. Not to say that the big milestones are any less great, but sometimes it's the small moments that make me look at my children in amazement and with such maternal love. For instance, the other day Julia was eating Mac & Cheese for lunch. More than half of it was landing on her bib and not in her mouth. The look in her eyes when she noticed the noodles there and the way she smiled when she picked them up and ate them just made my day.It was like she'd found a lost treasure. Sappy Mommy.

Anyway, I was talking with some friends of mine about kids and their personalities. I can't speak first hand in regard to little boys, but some of my friends have at least one of each and we are in agreement that little girls have WAY more 'tude! What is with that? I swear there are times when Julia gives me looks that should be coming from a pre-menstrual teenager. Ok, that being said...look at the imagination and acting ability on this kid. Woah.

"A hat"

Maybe a house for her and the baby?

Go Buckeyes!

My flower child

In order to get ready for Keira's baptism, we had to try on the gown. It's the same one I wore, my brother wore, Julia wore....it's too small for Keira. I can't snap the top closed and we are still several weeks away from the baptism. However, she is quite a bit older than we all were at the age when we were baptized...even Julia.

...and since we were checking out sizes to make sure things fit...here is a sneak peek of Keira's Halloween costume. I'm not too sure if it's a chick or a duck...so I'm calling it "chuck"

Julia looks at me and says "Ba, that baby is a duck"

I just can't take any more!

Can we talk?

Stupid Government!

WARNING - VENTING AHEAD!!

Ok, so let me start at the beginning. Back on May 31st, as I was in labor and filling out forms between contractions, I checked a little box marked yes right next to this question: Would you like to apply for a social security number for your child. Easy, right? WRONG! Ok, so the paperwork they send you home with says it could take 13-14 weeks to receive your card in the mail, but everyone knows that's BS and it usually takes about a month. So about 6 weeks later I had to go back to the hospital for several reasons and decided to stop by birth records to see why we hadn't gotten Keira's card. The woman gives me the whole 13-14 weeks thing but then sees Keira, who is clearly over 1 month old. After confirming her age, she decides to call her contact at the state to see what is going on. The woman there tells her that "hmm, that's weird. Normally we make a notation when we send out the information to SSA but there isn't any note here. I guess we didn't do it." Nice! So the birth records lady tells me that I have to get Keira's birth certificate and go apply on my own. Yippee! So I go home and order her birth certificate and $50 and 1 week later, it comes in the mail. So I go online and print out the forms and gather up all my ID and her birth certificate and off we go to the SS office. So we get there, get a number and wait. And of course, they call the number after us first and then say that our number didn't show in the system. Hunh! So they take us in and look at the application and check my ID and then ask for Keira's ID. I gave them her birth certificate and the woman says "no, this is her birth certificate. where's her identification?" What?! I explained the whole deal to her and she says ok, but she still needs ID. I was like...she's 8 weeks old for heaven's sake. She didn't think it was very funny when I asked her if she'd like to see her driver's license. I mean, isn't her SSN going to be her ID. Now I need ID to get her ID? So I ended up having to get a letter from her doctor with her name and birth date and the fact that she is a current patient, blah, blah, blah. So then, I go back again. I have everything I need, but this time they say that because Keira is under 1 year old, they have to verify her birth with the state. Ok, so then why did I need to pay $50 for a rush certified copy of her birth certificate with the raised seal and all??? Anyway, they give me a letter stating that I've filed the application and a reference number. It should take about 2 weeks, but could take up to 4. So 4 weeks comes and goes. Now I start calling but can't get through. And when I finally do, I spend 25 minutes on hold before giving up. I try again today....same deal, except now I've been on hold for 82 minutes! I tried the regular 1-800 number...the federal one...and they can't help me because she doesn't have a SSN!!!!! Oh my god! I'm gonna flip. I asked the guy if I could file a complaint that the field office isn't answering their phones and he says yes...all you have to do is either drive or write to the field office and file the complaint there. It's a good thing they put a big sign on the door saying that you aren't allowed to bring firearms into the building or else I just might. Darn rules. So look out Mr. Arthur Weathersby, Field Office Manager. I'm a comin'...and it ain't gonna be pretty!

Breakthroughs

Ok, so the girls have made a few breakthroughs in the past few days. The other night was the night from hell. Julia normally goes to bed around 8pm, give or take 30 mins, and sleeps just fine til morning...sometime around 6ish. Well, not Wednesday night. She was up 4 different times just crying her little eyes out and making absolutely no sense at all. Now I knew that she was cutting some teeth (looks like 3 of 4 eye teeth are trying to push through) and tooting to beat the band so I figured that maybe she had really bad gas pains or that the ibuprofen we gave her at bedtime wasn't cutting it for her. She said that her tummy hurt and her teeth hurt. So, mylicon and some orajel should do the trick, right? She did seem to sleep a little better after that. But boy did I feel stupid when changing her diaper last night I noticed that one of her 2-year molars had cut through about half way. Duh, Mommy! You put the orajel in the wrong spot! So that is breakthrough #1, literally.

Now for an even better one. For the past few months we've been working on potty training with Julia off and on. She has some intestinal issues so we aren't forcing it. Anyway, up until yesterday she would sit on the potty with no problem, and 90% of the time, she would go pee without any fuss at all. Great. But she wouldn't tell that she had to go or even that she had already gone. She was more than happy to run around with pee or poop in her pants for hours (of course, the smell is horrendous so I end up changing her after about 2 minutes). She isn't bothered in the least by the mess in her pants. Well thank heavens, she went poop yesterday and then looked at me and said "Potty!" So we took her into the potty and changed her! Yay! She knows she went! Now it only happened once so far, but such progress! Go Jules!

And finally, a breakthrough for Keira. She found her thumb. I know I never sucked my thumb. Jason doesn't think he did either. Julia didn't. But Keira has found it and she ain't lettin' go. Great news for me. I didn't have to go into her room once last night to put her Binky back in her mouth. Suck away kiddo!

Julia chomping a cookie...blankie in tow. Good luck finding her without it.

Keira playing in her bouncy seat.

My thumb!!

Personality

So the summer is winding down, at least according to the calendar. We are about to hit yet another heat wave though, so I'm not putting the shorts away yet! Jason is really enjoying his job, and is doing well at it. We're even getting to spend some more time together as a family with his new work hours. Julia has become very aware of Daddy's schedule and every time she hears a car door after 5 pm, she runs to the window shouting "Dada!" It's usually after about the 4th time that she gives up, and somehow Daddy sneaks in and she is completely surprised to see him standing in the doorway when he does come home. Julia is also amazing us with her speech development. She is now using 3-4 word phrases and sentences regularly, and has begun to understand possessives. One of her new favorite words is...mine! Ugh! Keira is doing so much better now that the colic has completely passed, and she is a joy to spend time with. She loves to get one-on-one attention and will laugh and try to talk often during that time. She is currently working on blowing raspberries, and delights when you do it back at her. She is even starting to spend some time in the exersaucer and has figured out how to spin the chair around.

Julia asked to play outside with the dogs. This is how I found her a few minutes later...diaper hanging from her shorts, and not a bother to her.

Let's eat!
Keira getting her exercise.
Julia literally had tears spilling from her cheeks when I forced her to try a food she didn't want.
It was pancakes, which she loves, and this is the response after she tried it....mmmmmm.

Hanging out in the backyard on a warm summer night.

Keira smiles!

Me and the girls. I think it's pretty clear how happy they make me.

I think she looks a lot like me.