Phia's First Christmas

I think, if Sophia could talk, she would report having a great first Christmas. She got to enjoy it with some of her favorite people. Christmas Eve was spent with her friend Quinn Budddington and his family. Christmas morning she wallowed in the attention from the Kaul grandparents, and that afternoon she was entertained by my sister Beckie's family. She managed to get lots of great presents: clothes, toys, a book, and ornaments. She even got to try her first finger foods, including Cheerios and a sliced banana. Without a doubt, Olivia definitely had fun celebrating Christmas this year. This is the first year she got really excited about presents, although she still doesn't like to open them without assistance. Yale and I got her a wooden kitchen with an oven, stove, a cupboard, sink and cooking utensils. She also got pots, pans, and dishes from both sets of grandparents. I think it's easy to say she is in toddler heaven. A keyboard from her Grandma and Grandpa Kaul has her singing and performing several times a day. I've already gotten a couple dozen shots and heart examinations with the doctor kit she got from Beckie's family. We're hoping these new toys will keep her occupied and satiesfied at least until Parents' Day Out starts up again, which won't be until the second week in January. We may be asking for too much. Sophia has been getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth. We're convinced she'll be crawling very soon. I think she's even waved a couple of times. Either that, or she is doing the sign for milk, which is open and closing a fist like your milking a cow (funny, huh). I've been showing her the sign for milk about a month now. I would be very excited if she's attempting to do it already.

Croup and Crap

My days and nights for the past week have by filled with caring for two sick kids. Olivia has croup, but finally seems to be on the mend. Poor Sophia has the stomach flu or something of the sort. I feel like I've been up to my armpits in diarrhea for days. I will spare you anymore of the disgusting details. Let me just say that it feels like our house is teeming with germs. I will be really surprised if we all don't end up puking and pooping before the week is over. Last week I took Olivia to the doctor to see if they could do anything for her cough, which, by the way, they did. They gave her a steroid to help reduce the inflammation in her airway. Anyway... since then she's been pretending she's a doctor. She wants us to put Sophia in her swing so that she can examine her little sister. Then she decided that it was high time that I get a check-up. She used Sophia's monitor to listen to my heart and vacuum my arm (I know, she kind of lost track of the medical part of the exam). After she had thoroughly checked me out, she looked at me with complete seriousness and said, "Mom, you need to get a job." Now, I don't know if this is because she thinks I need to get out more, or if she needs me to get out more, but I found this diagnosis quite funny. Out of the mouths of babes...

Gimme Those Boots!

Olivia's funny saying of the day: "Whacha fink, huh?" I think our dear friend Susan says this to her when she's asking Olivia what she wants to do. Of course, when Susan says it, it sounds more like, "What do you think, huh?" Sophia really has really figured out how to best use rolling as a way to get around. Yesterday, while Yale and I were in the kitchen and she was laying on the floor in the living room, she managed to roll across the floor, around a recliner, change directions to avoid a wall, and change directions again to get to her sister soaking wet snow boots. I found her laying on her belly on the cold tile floor sucking on a boot. I know... Gross! I'm not sure what's so intriguing to her about those boots, but she goes after them often. We went out to dinner the other night with some friends, and on the way home Olivia was singing and making noises to try to stay awake. For some reason this was really funny to Sophia. She started cracking up and it didn't stop until we got home. She even kept laughing after her sister stopped making noise and was quiet. I have to say, one of my greatest pleasures as a parent is hearing my kids laugh uncontrollably .

"RIGHT NOW!" says Baby Bear

A day in the life of a stay-at-home mom: After lunch today I found myself waving silk flowers in the air with a red scarf tied to my belt for my "tail" and wearing a pink-striped bib. I had to think to myself, "Is this why I got a master's degree?" Olivia seems to think that if she adds the words "right now" to her demands it means she's going to get her way. For example, the other day she told me she wanted eggs for breakfast. While I was cooking the scrambled eggs, in her two-year-old way of thinking, she said, "NO EGGS! NO EGGS, RIGHT NOW!" I calmly told her that it's not okay to yell at me, and that behavior will earn her a time out. I also told her that her eggs were done and they're on the table, if she decides she's hungry. About 30 seconds later, she was sitting at the table, gobbling up her eggs. I don't think I'll ever completely understand the thought process of a two-year-old. Olivia went through a long stage after Sophia was born of pretending she was a baby. She would tell us exactly what she wanted us to say to her to play along with the game. "Read books, baby. Baby's going to take a bath. Baby is very very hungry." This has recently changed to Olivia requiring us to end every sentence we say to her with "Baby Bear". For example, "It's time for dinner, Baby Bear." We recently checked out a book from the library about a baby bear getting a new baby brother and sister. I guess she could relate to this bear's experience. Or maybe she just thought the bear was cute. Sophia is really getting into taking baths. She absolutely loves to splash. If she's laying on her back, she's bucking and kicking, trying to make the biggest waves possible. If she's sitting, she's waving her arms trying to splash her sister and me. She loves the water so much, she cries when I take her out of the tub. Sophia's favoirite toy these days is a set of metal measuring spoons. She gets really excited, squealing and squirming, if you hold them up so she can see them. Usually Sophia is so enthralled with Olivia that she'll let her sister yank any old toy out of her hands. This does not apply to the measuring spoons. I can be at the opposite end of the house and know when Olivia has taken her sister's treasured spoons.

No Screamy Scream

Miss Sophia is busier than ever. She is ready to be moving around. She rolls several feet across the floor, and will change directions multiple times. She's got to be the squirmiest baby I've ever encountered, especially when it comes to giving her a bottle and changing her diaper. She's so wiggly during diaper changes that poop ends up everywhere; in between her toes, all over my clothes, on her legs. It's pretty gross. Yale and I have both given up trying to hold while feeding her a bottle. We have to lay her on a pillow or on the floor to give her room to roll and flail. Needless to say, milk ends up all over her face, but it's far easier than trying to hold her still on our laps. Sophia has started babbling. She says "bababa" and "mamama". I'm pretty surprised about the "ma" sounds because I thought that usually came later in the babbling stage. Maybe Sophia will say "mama" before she says "dada". I would kind of like that because it took Olivia forever to say "mama". Lately, Olivia especially enjoys pretending that we're riding in a car. She's driving and I'm sitting in the backseat in her car seat. She likes it when I scream and throw a fit about being strapped in the car seat. It's pretty funny to see how she reacts. Sometimes she tells me I have to be strapped in because, "It's kinda cold." If I really throw a fit, she'll wag her finger at me saying, "No screamy scream!" Every time Grandma Golter comes over, Olivia asks if they can go sit in her car. Sometimes they're out there for almost an hour pretending to drive around. I don't know who gets a bigger kick out it, Olivia or Grandma. Yale and I have been really surprised at how well Olivia knows and can identify letters. I would guess she knows about 80% of the alphabet. Now that's with her magnetic letter set. It's probably lower with letters in print, but she's knows quite a few of those. Yale and I were recently talking and wondering if this is a typical age to learn the letters. I know when I was a Reading Specialist, there were often Kindergartners who coudln't identify all of the alphabet, but I don't think this is the norm. Of course, as proud parents, we think she must be a genius. :)

6 Month Check Up

Sophia recently had her 6 month check up. She weighs 15 pounds and 5 ounces, which puts her in the 45th percentile. I'm kind of surprised that she is below the average weight because she seems pretty chunky to me, but I think that is partly because Olivia was pretty tiny at this stage. Sophia is in the 50th percentile for height, and is 25 and 3/8 inches long. She did pretty well this time with all of the shots, however it seemed to take a few days before she was completely back to normal. Sophia is now easily rolling over both ways, but definitely prefers to be on her stomach. Trying to get a diaper on her has become very challenging because of this. She's had an awful diaper rash the past several days. She gotten several huge blisters. It looks terribly painful. I mix Balmex and Mylanta to use as a diaper cream, which works quite well. It's pretty runny and messy, especially when you're trying to put it on a squirming, determined baby that refuses to stay on her back. I've been trying to leave her diaper off a couple of times a day to help the rash. I expect her to pee every once in awhile, which is okay because it's not hard to clean up. But the other day while I left the room for about 3 minutes, she managed to poop, roll through it, and poop again and roll through it. It was a disgusting mess. Poop was everywhere! It was between Sophia's toes, all over the floor of course, on toys, on her clothes, and all over her legs. Olivia came in while I was cleaning it up, and decided to leave the room and shut the door on the way out. I thought that was a pretty smart move. I've been surprised at how much Sophia eats. Introducing her to solid food has been a breeze. She gobbles up everything we've fed her so far. Her menu choices currently includes carrots, peas, sweet potatoes, peaches, pears and apples. I'm happy to report that since we've started feeding her solid food twice a day, she's been sleeping 7-9 hours. Whoopee! That makes a mama happy. We seem to have gotten our delightful daughter,Olivia, back. The worst of the Terrible Twos have subsided for now, which is a huge relief. We've been experimenting with some Love and Logic strategies, which seems to have made a big difference. This is a parenting approach that focuses on empathy and consequences rather than anger and discipline. For example, we went out to eat a couple of weeks ago and Olivia started screaming and throwing ravioli. Rather than getting mad at her, I scooped her up and quietly said, "Oh how sad for you. Instead of getting to eat dinner in this fun restaurant, you have to go sit in your car seat. What a bummer!" I stood out in the rain while she was strapped in her car seat, and we waited for Yale to pay the bill and get our food boxed up. I made sure Olivia could see me so she wouldn't think that I'd abandoned her, but I also didn't want to sit in the car and listen to her scream. Instead of letting her know that we were disappointed that we didn't get to stay and enjoy our dinner, we focused on how sad it was for her to have to leave. We've haven't attempted to eat out again to know how well this worked, but this approach has made a big difference in other daily events, such as eating, getting dressed, putting on her coat, etc. Sure, she still has the occasional tantrum, but it's happening once every 3 days instead of 3 before 9 a.m. Olivia's funny word of the week: Ovendare (this is what she says for underwear)

Terrifying Twos

Olivia seems to have decided that she's going to make the most of being two. She is fulfilling the expectation of a two-year-old being spirited, tenacious, and strong-willed, and that's my kind way of explaining it. The other day she caught me completely off guard and scared the living-day-lights out of me. We were driving on I-70 at about 70 miles an hour. She was having a full-on I'm-going-to-scream-until -one-of -us-passes-out tantrums when somehow she wiggled free from the top straps of her car seat. At this point she thought opening the back door would be a good idea. The doors were of course locked, but if you pull on the handle twice the door will open. And this is exactly what she did while we were speeding down the highway. I about died. Of course there was no shoulder to pull over onto, so I had to reach back and try to hold the door closed while still trying to drive. Then this determined little one started grabbing at my hand to pull it off while simultaneously trying to push the door open wider. I'm screaming like I've never screamed before, and Olivia is screaming right back at me. It was unbelievably terrifying. I finally found enough space to pull over, but I didn't really know what to do. I didn't want to get out of the car because it was getting dark and cars were flying by us. So I told her NEVER to open the door, and if she did she would get a time-out. A time-out seems like such a wimpy response, but I didn't know what else to say. In shock, I drove home. Once I got home and calmed down a bit, Yale and I realized that we can set the locks so that someone sitting in the back seat cannot open the doors when they're locked. I've also been pulling Olivia's car seat straps super tight. She hates it, but I see no other alternative. Boy, do I ever hope this is a stage!!!!

Scrubbidy Dubbidy Doooo!

I just got done giving Sophia a bath. We've graduated from using the plastic baby bathtub to just laying her down in the regular bathtub. I think she enjoys getting a bath, but she tends to get real stiff once she gets in the water. She straightens and extends her legs. This makes it very hard to get all of those leg rolls clean because the skin is all squished together. It takes some work to get her to relax enough so that I can get all of those folds of skin clean. Often people comment on what a happy baby she is. This is true. She smiles easily and is very laid back. The only thing that seems to bother her is if she's really hungry or when she's teething, which she seems to be doing a lot lately. Fortunately, we found these little homeopathic teething tablets that really seem to help. We put two under her tongue, and she conks out soon after. With all the teething she's been doing, it seems like we should be seeing a tooth soon. It looks like the breast feeding days are coming to an end. I've had to supplement Sophia's feedings with formula ever since she was born, but within the past couple of weeks I haven't been able to keep up with her. It got to the point where I would breast feed her, and then right after she would drink 3-5 ounces from a bottle. Now, I'm breast feeding her about twice a day, and I don't expect that to last too much longer. I've always struggled with producing enough milk. I have to really stay on top of it with pumping after I breast feed (even if nothing comes out) to keep up my supply, and with 2 kids I just don't have the time to do that, so I'm not surprised that my supply has dropped off. I'm sad to see the breast feeding days come to an end with Sophia because it's a time of such closeness and I know it's good for her. At the same time, I'm happy to not have to worry hurrying home to feed her, leaking in public, using a breast pump, and wearing goofy bras.

The Terrific Twos

Reasons why they call it the Terrible Twos: Scene One Olivia: (whining) Want cheese! Cheeese!! Mom: Okay. Hang on. (1 minute later after cutting a slice of cheese)Here you go, Sweetie. Here's some cheese. Olivia: (grabs cheese, throws it and yells) No cheese! No like cheese! Scene Two Olivia: (whining) Hug! Hug! Mom: Okay. Let me put Sophia down. (Mom picks up and hugs Olivia) Olivia: No hug! Want down! No hugs! Scene 3 Olivia: (whining) Poopy! Poopy diaper!!! Mom: Oh. Let's go change your diaper. (picking up Olivia) Olivia: (screaming and squirming to get free) No diaper! No diaper! Diaper dry! No poopy! Now, don't get me wrong. Olivia is a great kid. Both our children, overall, have been very easy. Some people don't even believe me when I tell them that, at times, Olivia can be very challenging because she's so well behaved with others, but it's true. Sometimes she really puts Yale and I through the ringer. I guess it's just part of being 2. To me, it seems like she's hormonal, but her doctor says she's not (Yes, I asked the doctor if 2-year-olds have hormonal surges that affect them emotionally). She has such extreme mood swings that she reminds me of me when I was pregnant. One minute she's running across the room to give me an unsolicited hug, and the next minute, for no apparent reason, she's hollering at me like I'm the devil. I guess this is where the psychological challenges of parenting begins. On a more positive note... Olivia has started to become more interested in letters. Her favorite letter at the moment is R. She can also identify Q, A, H, P and sometimes K. I get a kick out of it when we're out and about and she says, "That's R". Her interest in letters took off when Grandma and Grandpa Kaul gave her these magnetic letters that you put in this little box-shaped doohickey and the doohickey sings a little song to go with the letter. Like for R it sings, "R. R says rrr. Every letter makes a sound, and R says rrrr." As you can imagine, Yale and I sing that song in our sleep, but she loves it so it's worth it. She even has this little twirling dance that she does when she hears the song. Sophia continues to melt our hearts. She is really quite adorable. I'm sad to report that her hair is no longer dark, like mine. Instead it is quite blond and very cute. We got the girls' pictures taken at Sears recently. Sophia's turned out so cute. There's one with her in just a diaper, kicking up her legs. It really captures all of her adorable chub rolls, which as I say every time, I absolutely love! She's not the super sleeper she used to be. She is now sleeping in the crib (Yes, that means Olivia has formally graduated to a big bed. Yea!). She seems to be having a hard time getting used to it because when she rolls over she either hits her head on the bars or her leg or arm gets stuck between the bars. We don't have a crib bumper because the SIDS people say they can be dangerous, but I recently ordered a "breathable" bumper that is supposed to be safe. Hopefully that will help us all get more sleep!

Deflated

Today, for the very first time, Olivia said, "I love you," to a bus.

One to Remember

Today Olivia told me she loved me for the very first time.

Proud Peacock Mama

Olivia and Sophia have both been getting a lot of grandparent time lately. My mom has come a few times in the past couple of weeks to watch the girls while I wrote curriculum for a small contract job I was working on. Olivia talked my mom into letting her "drive" my mom's car. This is one of Olivia's favorite pastimes these days. My mom said she really got a kick out of pushing the buttons on the car key to open the trunk and unlock and lock the doors. That is until she set off the car alarm, which startled everyone and even made Sophia cry. We're all getting spoiled with Grandma Golter's regular visits, plus she often brings some yummy baked treats. Last week Yale's parents came to visit. Olivia got quite attached to Grandma Kaul when she came to help after Sophia was born, and this time Olivia seemed to really bond with her grandpa. We were all going out to eat, but had to take separate cars. During the ride to the restaurant Olivia asked where Grandpa was, we told her he was in his own car. She said, "Missed it," which is her way of saying that she missed him. Those few words said a lot. Grandma Kaul was kind enough to help with feeding Sophia cereal. We started feeding her cereal only a few days before the grandparents came to visit, so it was a pretty new experience for Sophia. Grandma was very patient with getting her to eat even though each spoonful takes about 3 tries and cereal ends up in Sophia's hair and eyelashes because she tries to grab the spoon. We celebrated Yale's 35th birthday while his parents were here. Not only were they kind enough to watch the girls while we enjoyed a rare dinner out, but they also gave him a new, fancy, sleek digital camera. I think you can expect to see a lot more photos on the website; Yale is very excited about experimenting with his new toy. Olivia started a new class last week at the Parents' Day Out program she attends twice a week. She moved up to the toddler room. Most of the kids are around 2 years old, and there are twice as many kids in this class. They get to go outside and play on the big playground, which is very exciting. She seems to like going there. She always goes straight for the kitchen area as soon as we get there. The teachers have given her some wonderful compliments. They say she's very good about cleaning up, follows the rules, plays well with others, and keeps herself entertained. They also said she is one of the few that doesn't start crying when everyone else is crying. As you can imagine, I puffed up like a proud peacock mama when I heard all of that. Sophia continues to charm us with her contagious smile. She has this cute little beginners laugh. It's kind of like when I first started playing the piano as a kid: you could tell I was playing "Mary Had a Little Lamb," but the notes were delayed and the song was kind of stretched out. I'm sad that the warm weather is coming to an end because now I have to cover up her adorable, roly-poly thighs. I've so enjoyed showcasing them in little skirts and baby shorts. Sophia got her first haircut last night. Her hair has been growing in stages, and one of the stages has gotten to be pretty long, while the rest of her hair is on the shorter side. So we just trimmed it around the ears and snipped some of the longer hairs in the back. This is all in preparation for an appointment at the Sears Photo Studio on Sunday. Yale has been teasing me because I've had such a difficult time deciding what the girls should wear. I had gotten them matching sundresses, but I don't think that's going to work. I'm very sad about it because I had these visions of having my girls dressed identically, at least for a photo, but despite my meager sewing efforts, Sophia's dress still doesn't fit her. I had to accept that when I put it on her after I had shortened the straps and the front of the dress went over her mouth and touched her nose. Bummer. It's also supposed to be quite chilly here on Sunday. At this point, I know they are both going to wear pink, but that's all I know. Okay, I know I've had a lot to say, but one more story...The other day after Yale had gotten home from work, he was laying on the floor and Olivia was pretending to put him to bed. First she got him his bunny and pacifier (both invisible), then she patted his head and told him to close his eyes. The next part is what got us both choked up. She sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" to him, twice! We've heard her sing parts of it, but we've never heard her sing it so completely. Now, don't get me wrong, there were still a few words missing and a few words blended together to create a new, unknown word. Still, it was such a sweet gesture and she sang it in all seriousness. I wish I would have video taped it. It was definitely something I would like to remember forever.

Oh, Is There a Doctor in the Room?

Last week I took both girls in for their scheduled check-ups; Olivia for her two-year, and Sophia for her 4 month. I'm not sure why I thought it would be a good idea to take both of them at the same time; it was pretty challenging trying to keep them both happy for a double appointment. The doctor asked Olivia a bunch of questions, and Olivia acted like she and I were the only two people in the room. I would think it's pretty common that two-year-olds don't answer doctors when they ask, "What color is the butterfly?" or, "Where are your eyes?" The most Olivia would do was point to my eyes with her foot. I still felt a little silly trying to convince the doctor that she knows most colors and can identify her body parts; I felt like I needed to say something. Olivia has never been much for answering or entertaining on command, so I'm guessing I have many years ahead of me where I'll feel like I'm trying to explain that my daughter knows more than she's indicating. Sophia had to get the dreaded 4 shots in the thigh, which, as I've said before, I despise. It seems so mean when they're completely relaxed and innocently grinning at the physicians assistant, then BLAMMO!, they get stabbed 4 times without warning. Sophia definitely put those lungs to work and let me know how she felt about the whole thing. Both girls got weighed and measured. Sophia is 13 lbs and 6.5 ounces, and 24 inches long. That puts her in the 50th percentile for both weight and height. Olivia continues to be on the smaller side. She is in the 30th percentile for height and 20th for weight.

Ahh, Her First Hickey!

This week us girls are on our own; Yale is in Switzerland for work. So far it's going okay. Last night I almost quit and walked out because both kids were screaming I couldn't figure out why. Luckily, I was able to regain composure and get the troops back in order. I have some help scheduled for later in the week, so that will make a big difference. Sophia has started rolling over from front to back. I haven't checked yet, but I think this is quite a bit earlier than Olivia accomplished this same task. The other day she rolled over and discovered she could suck on her arm. I guess she was really hungry because she sucked so hardh she gave herself a hickey that is still visible 3 days later. You have to watch her, when she gets hungry she doesn't mess around.

Pan Helmet

One of Olivia's favorite things to do is bounce on the bed with Yale's assistance. He bounces her really high in the air and flips her over. She loves it. Because Sophia just has to tag along with whatever we're doing, she was on the bed last night while Yale was "bouncing" Olivia. Yale decided that Sophia needed to join in on the fun. So he held her horizontally and "bounced" her on the bed. I wasn't there for this, but Yale says she was really cracking up. I've noticed that she was close to laughing, but this is the first time that she really let loose. I wish I could have been there. Today I keep doing things to try to get her to laugh, but it's just not happening. Olivia's funny quote for the day: She put a pan on her head and said, "Hat, motorcycle." I thought it was observant of her to notice what people riding motorcycles wear on their heads. True, it's not a pan, but you get the idea.

Happy Birthday, Little O!

Today is Olivia's 2nd birthday. I thought it might be nice for her when she's older to be able to read about what she was like when she turned two. Favorites: *Color: seems to be purple *Stuffed animal: bunny (half blanket, half stuffed rabbit) *Food: blueberries *TV shows: Boobahs, Teletubbies,and Sesame Street *Books: Piggies, anything with Elmo *Friends: Nate, Zaza *Song: "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" *Things to do: Go to the park, go swimming with your dad, and ride on a "purple bagel". What Makes You Unique: You have a funny sense of humor. The other day you came down stairs with the potty chair pot on your head saying "Splish, splash, I was take-un da bath". You are very caring and nurturing. Yesterday, when Nate's baby brother Quinn was crying you went to check on him and patted him on the head trying to help him feel better. You often do this with your sister, too. It seems to upset you if she's crying. You'll give her a toy or say in your most caring voice, "Oh, what's wong, Phia? You love to take naps and ask for them often. This seems pretty unusual for a kid your age. People are often impressed that you know that you need sleep. You have a great imagination. You started pretending several months ago, which seems young to me. You like act out scenes that have actually happened, like waking up from a bad dream or having to take a time out. You also pretend that everything is a phone. I've seen you use a postcard, the snap on your shirt, and the flag on a toy mailbox as a phone. It's very James Bond. You LOVE books. Books keep your interest for a very long time. We check out gobs of books from the library. I think we both have every board book in the Lakewood Library memorized. We recently checked out a book about different trucks used for construction. You know the name of almost every truck and tool in the book, like tamper, crane with clamshell bucket, and bulldozer. Yesterday you counted to 10 for the first time. You started counting the snaps of your shirt and then just kept going. Some of your newer, more impressive words: different, backwards Things you say that are funny: You often tell me to have a good weekend. If Sophia is sleeping you'll say in a quiet voice, "SSHH, Phia sleepeem," and then walk up to her crib and look at her saying a in very loud voice, "Yep, sleepeem!" The other day you came to say hi to me in the bathroom. You had been in there for about 5 minutes, when you all of a sudden said, "OOHH NOOO!! Diapers mess!!!!" When I went in your room I saw that you had scattered about 25 diapers all over your room. Words that crack you up: cranky (even if you're really cranky) and noody (a word that your friend Nate uses for nude).

Rolls of Chub

One thing that I absolutely love about Sophia is her chubby rolls. I've always loved chunky babies, and I would say that Sophia qualifies as one of them. She has those adorable fat rolls on her thighs, several chins, and she's even starting to develop rolls around her wrists. It's kind of funny to me how fat is so cute on babies, but not so attractive on other folks. One of the challenges of having a baby with all of these rolls is keeping them clean. It's pretty amazing the goo that gets stuck in there. Milk drips down her neck, and if its not thoroughly cleaned, can quickly start to stink. We've realized we need to bathe her often so that she doesn't start to smell like a lunchroom trash can. Anyway, I really don't mind the cleaning or the smell; I find those little rolls of chub unquestionably irresistible!

Baby Research Subject

Olivia's funny quote of the week: While taking off her shoes, she said, "Oooh, stinky diaper feet!" Another funny thing Olivia has been saying lately takes place when she wants us to turn on the radio. She says, "Yucas on." This means "Music on." I'm not quite sure why she substitutes a y for the m, or reverses the last two consonants. Sophia has been participating in a research study for bi-polar and schizophrenia. After she was born, I got a letter in the mail asking if I was interested in having her participate in this study. It sounded kind of interesting, and they pay me $30 each time I go. The pay averages out to about $20 an hour, which is pretty good for an unemployed lady like me. Anyway, most of the study is done while she's asleep. They put 7 electrodes on her face and head, and then I'm supposed to figure out how to get her to sleep. Not only do I have to get her to sleep, but I'm supposed to keep her asleep for more than 30 minutes. They need 15 minutes of REM time, and I understand it takes at least 15 minutes to get to the REM stage. The first time we tried we didn't quite make it. She only slept for about 20 minutes. Part of the problem is that I'm holding her. We got all sweaty. I have a hard time sitting still that long, and because she falls asleep so easily I rarely hold her while she sleeps. We've had 3 appointments so far, and tomorrow is our last one until she's 6 months old. The next sessions are at 12 months and 18 months. I'd try to explain what they're trying to determine with the study, but I'm afraid I wouldn't do a very good job. It has to do with trying to determine if an infant is likely to end up with schizophrenia or bi-polar as an adult. I'm glad we're doing it, but I'm also glad we only have a few more sessions left. At least this gives me something to talk about at parties since I don't have any work stories to tell. People don't usually want to hear about how many diapers I changed that day, or how hard I had to scrub to get the dried up applesauce off of the chair leg.

Roll On Over

New Alert: Sophia rolled over for the first time today, the same day that she turned 3 months old!!

Keeping It Cool

For those of you who don't know it, Yale hates the heat, and that's an understatement. Earlier in the summer when our thermostat read 70 degrees, he informed me that he wouldn't be able to do anything all day because he was suffering from heat stroke. Now I will say that he does seem to have a much higher body temperature than me, but heat stroke at 70 degrees??? Anyway, on days when it's really hot we are often trying to find activities that we can do that will put us in an air-conditioned or cooler environment. This past Sunday, we decided to take both kids swimming. Olivia is a big fan of our local rec center. She loves to ride in the inner tubes (which she calls purple bagels). This was Sophia's first time in a pool. I can't say that she seemed to love it, but she didn't seem to hate it either. After swimming we went to the mall to get something to eat, where you could find every other Denver-West suburbanite who doesn't have air-conditioning. Olivia was dying to have some ice cream, so I waited in line at Dairy Queen for 20 minutes only to be waited on by an extremely grumpy DQ worker and to find out that they were out of Reese's, while Yale try to manage ready-for-a-nap Olivia and way-past-hungry Sophia. I don't think we'll be rushing back to the mall anytime soon. Intently watching her hands and feet move has become Sophia's favorite pastime. It's funny how fascinating that is to babies. It's also pretty interesting that it takes them 3 months to discover that these limbs waving in front of them belong to them, and that they have control of them (at least somewhat). I'm beginning to notice an unfortunate pattern with our two children. When one doesn't sleep, neither does the other one. Last week when Olivia was sick and not sleeping, Sophia quit sleeping through the night. Then when Olivia felt better and slept better so did Sophia. Last night Olivia woke up at midnight and 2:00 wanting a snack and to read books. Sophia woke up at 12:30 and 4:00 also wanting to eat. I guess part of being a mom is just accepting that a good night's sleep is rare.

Healthy Toddler and Happy Baby

I'm happy to report that Olivia seems to be recovering from being sick for the past few days. She had what I thought was a pretty high fever. The doctor told me that 101.9 is considered low-grade, but the blue lips, chills, and hallucinations accompanying it didn't seem low-grade to me. Because she wasn't demonstrating any other symptoms and had had the fever for 2 days, the doctor checked for signs of strep, ear infection, and a bladder infection. Checking for the first two were easy, but testing for a bladder infection was not. Because the process needs to be sterile a catheter had to be used. This was one of those moments when being a mom sucked! I hated being the one to hold her down and to see her so scared and hurt. It's no wonder kids can get so angry at their mothers. We're the ones that are right there when all of these rotten procedures are performed. Anyway, it turned out that Olivia didn't have any of the infections that the doctor was looking for. Now that she seems to be feeling better I guess it was just a virus. It's good to have our bright-eyed, giggly girl back in action. Sophia will be 3 months old a week from today. She is at a stage that if I could make it last, maybe not forever, but for a very long time, I would. I'm amazed at how easy she is. She's very laid back and smiles all of the time. When I'm feeding her early in the morning in a groggy fog and she stops eating to give me an ear-to-ear smile that lights up my heart, I think everyone should have a chance to see it. Then I have to remind myself that rarely do other people find your kids as wonderful as you do. But, it really is a great smile. I'm also amazed at how easy Sophia is to get to sleep. At night I just swaddle her, put her in her basinet, and turn on the vibration setting that puts her right to sleep. I never have to rock or walk around with her. And, then of course, I'm completely thrilled by how well and how long she sleeps. We have been very lucky to have two very easy babies.

WHAT A SLEEPER!

Sophia has slept through the night 2 nights in a row! She slept 9 hours last night! Wowee!!!

Those Rotten Shots!

At Sophia's 2 month check-up appointment last week I found out that she weighs 11 pounds 4 ounces and is 21.75 inches long. This puts her in the 60th percentile for weight and the 25th for length. I have to say that I think her length measurement is off; I think she's longer than that. The nurses say that it's hard to get the correct measurement because it's difficult to get infants to stretch out to their full length. I was pleased with Sophia's weight gain. This means I can let her sleep as long as she wants at night and not have to feel like I should be waking her up to feed her. She continues to be a great sleeper, sleeping 6-7 hours at night. I was always jealous of those moms who had babies that slept that long, and now I am one! Yeah! As usual the bad part of the appointment was the shots. She had to get four, two in each thigh. Boy, did she scream! I hate those shots because the babies have no idea it's coming or why you're hurting them. Sophia even bled through the band aid and all over my shirt. I don't remember Olivia bleeding at all. Sophia was a trooper and only cried for a few minutes. Not until after her nap did she get fussy, and then she really let me know what she thought about the whole thing. I guess her legs got stiff while she was sleeping because she woke up screaming and did stop for about an hour. I tried massaging her legs and giving her a bath as the doctor suggested, but that only made it worse. I only had Motrin, which I don't think you're supposed to give to infants. I wasn't to thrilled about attempting to take a screaming baby and a toddler to the drug store, so I waited almost 2 hours for Yale to get home from work to give her some Tylenol. As you can imagine it was pretty hard to give Olivia much attention during this time. Overall, she was very patient. While I was getting a bath ready for Sophia, both girls were on the bed in Sophia's room. Sophia was really wailing, and Olivia was eating a snack. When I came into the room to get Sophia, Olivia was saying, "Nice." I wasn't sure why and was so distracted I didn't think much about it. That was until Olivia kept repeating it and I spotted a chunk of her cereal bar in Sophia's mouth. Olivia thought sharing her snack might help her sister feel better! It was a sweet gesture, I'm just glad Sophia didn't choke! Fortunately after the Tylenol kicked in, Sophia was able to take a nap and seemed like she felt much better. Yale took Olivia to the park and gave he lots of attention to reward her for being so patient during this whole ordeal.

Words to Remember

These are some of the things that Olivia says that crack us up. We want to be able to remember them to to tell her about them when she is older. *Sleepeem = sleeping *Phia = Sophia *O-ee = Oli (Yale’s nick name for Olivia) *O sakes. Wha’s wong? = Goodness Sakes. What’s wrong? (She says this when Sophia is crying) *Ma-ee = mommy *Butt = belly button *Cups = hiccups *Care-oo = carry you (this usually means she wants you to carry her) *I gashoo = I got you (she says this when she wants someone to chase her) *Blue blues = blueberries (her favorite food, which she asks for all the time) *Piscker = picture *Smell = smile (she uses a plastic child lock for the cupboard door as her camera and holds it right next to Sophia’s face and says, “Smell. Piscker.�) *Stinkies = a poopy diaper *Shoff = shoe off *Run around = she says this in place of turn around. For example, if she is flipping a book over, she calls it run around. *car steat = car seat *beeg = big *zipper do dah = zippity-do-dah *yucas or mucas = music

Super Sleeper and Atomic Drops

I can't tell you how happy I am to report what a great sleeper Sophia is. Last night she slept from 9:00 to 4:00. 7 hours!!! Can you believe it? I have to say I feel a little weird about it; like I should wake her up and feed her. At the same time, why ruin a good thing? She seems to be gaining weight just fine, so I think I will take the sleep when I can get it. This wasn't just a fluke either. In the past week she's slept 6 hours straight two different times. We've also been getting to see lots of smiles from Sophia. Nobody can tell me all of these smiles are a result of gas. Now, sure the kid has a lot of gas, but when I pick her up and start talking to her and a huge grin spreads across her face with no evidence of gas passing, I'm pretty sure that smile is meant for me. I especially get a kick out of it when she sticks her tongue out of the middle of her toothless grin. She keeps her tongue pretty busy, which we find pretty entertaining. Olivia seems to truly enjoy being a big sister. I have to be careful when I leave her alone in a room with Sophia because I often find her trying to hug Sophia or cover her with a blanket. You might be thinking, "Now what's wrong with that? That sounds sweet." There's nothing wrong, except when you consider how clumsy toddlers can be. Often a hug is more like a full tackle, and laying a blanket on a baby becomes something resembling an inverted atomic drop. Pushing Sophia (or Fia as Olivia calls her) in her stroller is another way Olivia expresses her sisterly love. Yale and I decided to take the family to a nearby mall last night to escape the sweltering heat. We thought Olivia would enjoy playing at the indoor playground there, but she was more interested in pushing Sophia rather than jumping off of the humongous insects. We have to help her with steering and make sure she doesn't fly recklessly down the ramps, but otherwise she does a very good job. It's also a way to burn off some of that endless energy she possesses.

Bye Bacuum

It's been really interesting and fun to see Olivia's speech develop. The more she talks, the more I feel like I get to see her personality. I don't know if most kids do this, but one thing that has made us laugh lately is that Olivia says hi and bye to everything, including inanimate objects. She tells her shoes bye, she says hello to her socks, she says goodbye to the car and the house. She's even started saying goodbye to her diapers by saying, "Bye stinkies." I've been wondering if this has been influenced by the book Goodnight Moon. She adores this book and both Yale and I have it memorized because we've read it so many times. If you're not familiar with the book, each page tells different things in the room goodnight. For example, "Goodnight comb, goodnight brush. Goodnight bowl full of mush." The part of this stage that seems particularly funny and intriguing is that Olivia even says hi to things she's scared of like the vacuum cleaner. Whenever we vacuum she often cries and is very eager for us to put it away. Yet, when she walks by the closet where it's stored, she waves and says, "Hi bacuum" even if the door is closed. It makes me wonder if this is her way to try to get over her fear.

Grunting and Squealing

We continued to be entertained by Sophia's funny old-man-facial expressions. I think it's so cute how newborns stretch and scrunch up their faces as they are waking up and after they've eaten. Sophia seems to be really chunking up. She gained almost a full pound between her two-week and her three-week check up. She is starting to sleep for longer stretches at night (the max has been 3 hours), but that is only if Yale gives her a couple of bottles before we go to bed. I'm completely amazed at how noisy such a little thing can be. I sleep in her room to make breast feeding easier, but I have to wear ear plugs so that she doesn't constantly wake me up with all of her grunting and squealing. Don't worry, I have no problem waking up as soon as she starts crying. Olivia seems to be adjusting to having a sister. There are times when all of the changes are hard for her, but that is to be expected. She often gives Sophia kisses and wants to hug her. She is also very curious about what the baby is doing. The other day Olivia sat on the floor and deliberately placed a pillow on her lap. She grabbed her doll, lifted her shirt, and started breast feeding her baby. She was so serious and determined. I couldn't help cracking up about that one. Olivia has been very interested in colors lately. She knows the basics (red, green, yellow, blue, orange, purple, black, pink). When we are out in public she loves to point and loudly announce the color of strangers' shirts. I'm glad she knows her colors, but it can create some kind of embarrassing situations.

Sophia

Finally I'm finding some time to write about our new little bundle. As you probably noticed, Yale has been working hard on redesigning the website, and I've been busy caring for Sophia and trying to get some sleep. I have to admit, we are both pretty enamored with our new daughter. We find her to be very sweet and pretty funny. She was born over a pound less than Olivia, and then she lost almost another whole pound before we left the hospital, so she seems very tiny to us. She swims in many of her little outfits. As you can see in the photos, she has lots of dark hair. We are both hoping it stays dark, but there are some blonde highlights in there that make me think it won't stay dark for very long. I'm quite sure we will find her adorable no matter what color her hair is. She has the smallest dimple on ther left cheek. Her Grandma Kaul was the first one to notice it. She seems to really like to cuddle. Yale loves to let her fall asleep on his chest. Sometimes she hangs out on his chest and they just stare at each other. It's pretty cute.

New Site

We did a bit of an overhaul on the site, you may have noticed. We also decided to put the photos on Flickr, because it's way easier that way. Hope you enjoy!

The Eagle Has Landed

Olivia now has herself a brand-new baby sister! Sophia G. Kaul is the name, and there are some photos in the gallery. More info when we have time...

One Week and Counting

One week from today our new baby should be born. We have a c-section scheduled for 8:00a.m. on Thursday, April 20th. According to the doctor the operation should take about 30 minutes. Yale and I are both excited, nervous, and well, kind of scared about meeting the new addition to our family. Scared, not to meet her, but scared about the responsibility of taking care of two children now instead of just one. I have a feeling we will rise to the occasion and all will be fine. Olivia seems to be showing some signs of understanding that she is going to have a new baby sister. This past weekend my sister, Beckie, and her family spent Saturday helping me finish the baby's room. It's bright purple and yellow with a sheep theme. Yale's mom was kind enough to sew an adorable quilt to hang on the wall and a curtain that both make the whole room. Now when Olivia and I go into the room she says "baby" which sounds more like "bayee". This morning she spotted some pacifiers that I bought for the baby, when she grabbed one I told her that she could use her own pacifier, but those are for the baby. A few minutes later she said, "bayee". I can't say the look on her face was one of excitement, but at least she is acknowledging what I said, which is more than she has been doing. Livi has been under the weather the past couple of days. It doesn't seem like anything major; a fever and a little bit of whininess. Luckily she's stayed in an exceptionally pleasant mood considering she doesn't seem to feel well. Her appetite is less than normal, and she wants to sleep more. In fact, yesterday at about 4:00 in the afternoon she asked for her bunny and pacifier, and then threw bunny in her crib and said "nap". I was surprised that once I put her in her crib she laid there quietly for close to 2.5 hours. I'm so happy to have a kid who knows and can say when she needs sleep. This makes bedtime and nap time a pretty delightful experience for all of us. If all goes as planned, the next time I write this will be a web site for both Olivia and her baby sister. Stay tuned...

Twins

Lately I've been feeling like I live with twins. For those of you who've had toddlers, you probably remember the stage where their language is really developing, and they like to say the same thing over and over again in a very enthusiastic tone. That's the stage the Olivia is in. If she sees her ball while she's eating, she'll say ball over and over again until you acknowledge her, and sometimes keeps going even after you've repeated the word ball. For some strange reason Yale has been in this same stage ever since I met him. He loves to repeat the same word or phrase very loudly, especially while working in the kitchen. I know, some of you are thinking, I should just be happy that he works in the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate it, but I also like a few minutes of peace and quiet now and then, and with Yale and Olivia around it is a rare event. The other night Yale was yelling "Dere's Faish in da oven" over and over again. He didn't stop until I started imitating him to demonstrate the ridiculousness of it all. One would think that pointing this out would make him stop or at least cut down. Instead, he thought it was hilarious and now begs me to shout, "Dere's faish in da oven."

Big Sister Boot Camp

It's finally official (well, as official as it can get at this point), it looks like Olivia is going to get a little sister in about 6 weeks. We had a third ultrasound, and the doctor was able to get a good look to determine the gender. It also looks like this baby is going to be on the bigger side, just like Olivia (8 or more pounds). We are planning on another c-section the week of April 17th. The doctor says that based on the complications with Olivia (basically, she got stuck), it would be best to just plan on a c-section. I would love to have the baby with a normal delivery, but I really don't want to have to try to recover from both pushing and surgery. I've been encouraging Olivia to play with her baby doll, Tallulah, that we got her for Christmas. I see this as the closest thing I can do to prepare her for when the baby comes. I bought some infant diapers the other day, so we had to put one on her doll. Then in true toddler spirit, she had to do this over and over and over again. Olivia has been carrying her doll around, rocking her, and giving her lots of hugs. It's kind of funny to watch her be so tender with her doll and then grab her by the head and purposefully fling her to the floor. What really cracks me up is when she first sees Tallulah, she makes this kind of cooing, whimpering sound. It kind of sounds like she saying, "Oh, you sweet little baby." I'm not sure where she got that from, but it sure is funny. Yale and I have decided that Olivia has an exceptionally high EQ (emotional quotient). Of course this doesn't come from informed insights, just from overly proud parents who think their kid is exceptional. I don't know if many toddlers are like this, but she seems particularly caring and considerate. The other day Yale laid on the floor with a pillow. Olivia decided that he needed some help to get comfortable so she handed him her bunny. Then she went all the way upstairs to her room and got him one of her books to read. It was really sweet. She also does things to take care of me. She washes my face, rubs lotion on me, and combs my hair. She is very generous, and always wants to share her food and toys with us, with the cats, and with her stuffed animals. Don't get me wrong, she definitely has her stubborn moments. In fact, we are certain she has entered that "Terrific Twos" stage (better known as the terrible twos, but we trying to stay positive). However, overall it does seem like she is unusually caring. We just hope that carries over to her soon-to-be little sister.

Oh, the Snap is a Phone? That Makes Sense!

Oli's speech has really taken off lately. It seems she is adding a couple of new words to her vocabulary each day. At the moment she seems to be working on words that end with the /k/ sound, such as walk, truck, bike, clock and yuck. Now, not all of the blends (like /tr/) are pronounced clearly, but she's close enough for us to understand her. New items that Olivia has used as a phone: one of the snaps on her onesie that goes between her legs (while she had it on, but it wasn't yet snapped), the buckle at the end of the strap on her highchair, a page of a fold-out book that she tore out, and one of those large plastic connectable beads that have been around for decades. Olivia and I got some serious mom and daughter bonding in last week while Yale was in Switzerland for work. Now, Olivia and I normally spend a lot of time together, but this was pretty nonstop. Thank goodness for Susan who gave me some breaks and watched Liv while I subbed a couple of days. We also spent a couple of days at my sister's house. Her family helps out with Olivia a great deal, so that was also a nice repreive. Liv seemed to really miss Yale. A couple of times we looked at pictures of him just to calm her down. I'm sure it's confusing for a kid her age when a parent is gone for an extended period of time.

Bunny Love

Miss O's recent developments have been of the verbal kind. Yale's favorite word that she says right now is down. It sounds sort of like "dow" with the "ow" extending for two syllables rather than one. The word I like to hear the most is "mama". Yes, she's finally saying mama. I don't get to hear it very often, but when I do I get pretty excited. Some other words that are included in her vocabulary are: up, sit, go, meow, shoes, snaps (which sounds like "aps"), and ouch. The phrase she says most often, which she has been saying for several months, is "what's that?", but it sounds more like "wha S'at". Some mornings it seems like she says it about nine hundred times. Yale thinks it's really cute when she's having a crying fit, but, in the middle of it, she will take the time to point and stretch out a long "what's that?" For those of you who have spent time with Olivia in the past six months, you know that she is quite attached to her furry pink bunny, which is a very soft blanket with a velvet lining topped off with a rabbit head. It sounds kind of weird, but she really digs it. I got it from Pottery Barn Kids; they call it a "thumbie". I guess because kids like to suck their thumbs while they hold on to it. Anyway, it seems that within the last couple of weeks Olivia has gotten even more attached to her bunny. She wants to have it nearby at all times. One way you can score a lot of points with Olivia is to give her bunny some attention. Either a hug or kiss will do. She also rubs her bunny on things that she likes. For example, she will rub her bunny on another stuffed animal or on the TV when it's playing her favorite video. My pregnant belly (and her baby sister) even gets a little bunny love now and then. As I've mentioned before, our cats aren't too fond of Olivia, but she loves them. It's pretty funny when she chases one of them around trying to spread some "bunny love".

There's a Baby in Mommy's Belly

Olivia has really been cracking us up lately (I think I might say that every time). We're always telling her that there is a baby in my belly and that she is going to be a big sister. We weren't really sure how much it was sinking in until a couple of weeks ago she stuck her play baby bottle in my belly button. At first I wasn't sure what she was doing and then my sister pointed out that maybe she was trying to feed the baby. She also likes to put a diaper across my belly. At first I thought that's where she thought a diaper belonged, and then it dawned on me that this might be her way of putting a diaper on her yet-to-be born baby sister. We are looking forward to telling her this story when she is older. Oli had an exciting Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with our friends Matt and Laura and their son Nathan. Olivia and Nathan are just starting to interact some, but Olivia spent most of the night sitting in Nathan's new musical chair watching him dive and tumble across the room. Christmas day was spent with my sister's family. Olivia loves to hang out with her cousins, plus she gets a lot of attention from her Aunt Beckie and Uncle Sam. She is working on becoming better friends with their dog, Satchmo. She doesn't understand why he doesn't respond to her signing. I kept trying to tell her that she needed to say No to him, rather than just shake her head. I think hanging out with Satchmo and kids her age will encourage her to talk more rather than just relying on signing.