T-Balla!

         

Playing left center... Without a hat because she loses it every game! 

 

Getting ready...



Look at that BIG baseball swing she's about to take!

You'll hear me chuckle at the end because of how she always "pounces" on the bag

Did You Make Poo Poo?

When I was younger, I would make fun of adults who would make themselves sound like total idiots just to make a baby smile. Children really are very similar to a drug--they're addicting. That must be why the Duggars have 3,000 of them.

I never thought I'd be that person. You know, the one making funny noises and saying incoherent sentences to a baby. Yet, here I am. And you think I'm bad? You should hear my husband. It's fall-over funny. He doesn't make all the ridiculous sounds I make, but the things he says...

The other day, he made up an acceptance speech for Jordan, who he expects to beat the Oklahoma scoring record in basketball someday. The speech went something like, "I'm so excited about breaking this record. I'd like to thank God, above all. I'd also like to thank my parents, love you Mom. But if I could just get my dad to come up here, he's been the biggest influence on my life. I want him to accept this award with me..." I almost died from laughing so hard, and Kris knew he was being funny. Really, honey? Dad has to accept the award too?

It's even funnier when Ali does it. She's only five anyway, so it's like seeing a baby talk to a baby. And when Jordan "talks" back, i.e. making a high pitched scream or just blowing raspberries, Ali gets all excited and says, "He said his first word! Did you hear him?" I'm pretty sure she misses being the baby sometimes. She's taken to calling Kris "DaDa" and (do NOT tell her I told you this!) she asked me to put a diaper on her the other day. Where's the picture to prove it? She made me delete it. She's five, but she still has pride too!

What made me think of how silly I sound when I talk to my baby? The other day, I was walking though Wal-Mart. Jordan was in his car seat, wide awake, laughing and smiling. I was making "ga-ga, goo-goo" noises at him, not paying attention to anything else. I looked up and saw two teenage girls looking at me like I had a horn on my forehead. I'm only 23 and a lot of people think I'm still 18 (I'll be thankful for that trait later on in life, I'm sure!), so to have these girls look at me like I'm crazy was a shock; it's not like I'm an old lady or anything! I wanted to hold Jordan up and say, "Seriously? You're not going to make stupid noises at my kid to see him smile? You're the crazy ones!"

Since then, I've been a little more careful about how stupid I sound when I talk to Jordan. Well, I tried, anyway. This morning, I walked into his room to get him ready for daycare. I flipped on the light and he greeted me with a big ole smile. I could smell something funky, so I leaned over his crib and said, "Did you make poo poo? Huh? Did baby make poo poo in his diapee?"

I've now decided that I don't care. The baby [drug] is too powerful to resist; I simply can't help but sound like an idiot when I talk to my child.

From Freedom to Parenthood: 10 Things That Change

1. You will now always drive with both hands on the wheel, wear your seatbelt, and stop at every stop sign. That is... if the kids are in the car.
2. You'll starve yourself do death trying to make sure every little thing your kids need is taken care of.
3. You miss going out, so you let Grandma take care of the kids one night. The entire time you're out, you just want to go home and see your kids.
4. Instead of looking at the screaming child in Wal-Mart like they're spoiled, you'll wipe the sweat off your forehead and say, "Thank you Jesus that it isn't mine this time!"
5. You'll wake up to every little tiny noise in the house.
6. You'll now know every Barney song ever made.
7. Finding time to use the restroom is no longer a necessity, but a luxury.
8. Never again will you be on time. For anything.
9. You will now have 1,000 times more respect for you own parents. You're finally old enough to truly appreciate all they've done for you!
10. Nothing in your home will ever be clean at the same time. When the laundry is finished, you'll need to clean the sticky fingerprints off the windows. When the windows are clean, you'll need to vacuum the carpet and mop the floors. Once that’s finished, you’ll need to scrub the baby food off the table. When it’s well scrubbed, you’ll have to re-mop the kitchen floor because someone just spilled Fruit Punch. Afterwards, you’ll realize you have spit up on your left shoulder. Putting your shirt in the dirty clothes basket, you’ll realize there’s a fresh new pile of laundry waiting patiently for you, and the cycle continues.

I Love Summer (Kind of)

Summertime in Oklahoma is insane. It gets SO hot. And because of the humidity, it's so hard to breathe! We have spurts of no rain and the grass turns yellow; the wind seems to die down on those particularly hot days to where you feel like your skin is melting right off your bones. However, as many complaints as I have about how stinking hot it gets here, there is one perk: We get Ali for SIX weeks! It's awesome. During the rest of the year, it seems like we barely get to see her. I may get to pick her up from daycare a couple days a week, but she has to go back to her mother's that night anyway, so it isn't like we can make plans to do anything with her. My husband's work schedule is never the same; he may work three Saturdays, have one off, work twp, have three off... There are some weeks during the year that he only sees her on a Sunday. It kills him. But during the summer, it's so nice. He doesn't have to worry so much about his work schedule because he knows she'll be there every day when he gets home.

My favorite part about having her for so long is spending those lazy days together. We may go to the park, stay at home, watch TV, play in the back yard, or just sit on the front porch reading children's books. This year she started T-ball--hilarious! She used to cry when the coach made her play Catcher, so he finally quit putting her there. Most of the time, she doesn't want to play. An hour before her game, she'll say, "I wish my game was tomorrow. I just want to stay home today." While I understand completely how nice that would be, I have to explain to her what making a commitment means. She doesn't have to play next year if she doesn't want to, but as of this year, she made a commitment to her coach, her team, and to herself to play. She's five, so we'll see next year if she remembers any of that conversation!

Right now, we are at the end of our first three week summer visitation. She'll go stay with her mother for a while and then she'll come back. Sometimes I wish we didn't have to bother with splitting the six weeks up like that, but it's good for her. As sad as it seems, Ali isn't used to being in one place for very long. And she needs to spend time with her mother anyway. I wish she didn't have to go through the whole back-and-forth thing.

I think today we may go to the park. We told her she isn't allowed to play on her swing set in the back yard anymore because it's broken and looks a little bit dangerous. She's not happy about that! I love her so much. I hope someday she understands our relationship a little better. I hope someday I understand it a little better too! I want to be her mom, but she already has one, so I try to be kind of like an aunt. An aunt who loves her like a daughter. It's a very confusing relationship! Maybe someday she can just look at me like a best friend. A really old best friend!

Sick Baby

Last week, Jordan woke up with a stuffy nose, and then he started coughing. I called his doctor and was told it was probably just the weather, but to call again if it didn't go away within a week. Yesterday morning, after getting no sleep due to a very pungent fingernail polish smell in our house (another Ali story!), I decided to stay home, and since Jordan didn't sleep much either, I kept him home too. His cough had gotten worse so I took him in to the pediatrician. "His lungs are very healthy," he told me. Well anyone who has ever heard Jordan cry knows they're a very strong set of lungs; healthy is good too. Then he checked his ears, removing some deep gunk, which, big surprise, Jordan was NOT okay with. Again, we know how strong his lungs are.

Short story shorter, Jordan has an ear infection in his right ear. The cough and stuffy nose were caused by the weather, and the ear infection was caused by the drainage from the cough and stuffy nose. In short, my baby has an ear infection because of Oklahoma weather! When I was little, I had ear infections all the time. Ali used to get them all the time too. I am so worried now that poor Jordan will go through the same thing we did. =( He is taking medicine though so he should be better in just a few days. I hope he doesn't have to have tubes put in like I did as a child... And I thought breastfed babies were less likely to get ear infections? Myth!

I did have a good time staying home with him though! He was a fairly happy baby and took a very long nap; I even had time to do laundry! I love having clean socks to wear!  =)

Another Milestone...

When I picked Jordan up from daycare yesterday, they informed me that he had been coughing off and on all day. He already had a runny nose, so I figured my poor baby had his first cold. NOT the milestone I was talking about...

So instead of taking him to daycare today, I decided to take him to work with me (as if that would make a diference!). He had been so much fun all morning, destracting me from my work, giggling and talking up a storm. I looked at the clock around 9:30 and thought it was just about his naptime. So I layed him down on his blanket on the the floor, and the kid just keeps laughing and smiling--WIDE eyed! It was so funny. I wanted to send a picture of him to Kris, so I snapped a picture just as he gave one big ole smile. I was looking at the picture and was just about to hit the send button when I noticed something in his mouth. Something white. I jabbed my finger into the poor baby's mouth and started feeling of his gums and sure enough, my little 4 month old baby has his first tooth!

I couldn't believe it! I called Kris right away, sent the picture to our families, and have been double checking all day to make sure it's still there. Yep, it's still there. Ali lost her first tooth a few weeks ago, and now her baby brother has cut his first one. My babies are blowing me away with these milestones!



Lil Giggler

He is laughing up a storm! Not sure what was making him laugh, but it was bedtime and he was NOT sleepy =)

My Little Girl

As I watch this video above, I remember another video of Ali when she had just turned four. I was teaching her how to pitch a softball like I used to when I was younger, and she was a natural. But she seemed SO much younger then! She wasn't as coordinated; she sometimes fell trying to pick up the ball, and her speech wasn't as clear as it is now. She hadn't lost all her baby fat, and her little cheeks were perfect for pinching, not that I ever did! =) And now she seems so grown up... makes me wonder what happened to our little girl!

Growing up so fast!

Here he is eating his first ever solid! Mushed sweet peas. It didn't look too solid to me...

Smiling at Mama =)

He has become such a smiley baby! The ladies at his daycare think he's the prettiest baby ever. Agreed!

See? Just look at that smile!

Pneumonia

Poor Ali has had pneumonia--her mom said she had a seizure early Friday morning and she rushed her to the emergency room. I can NOT imagine what that was like. How scary. From what I know, the doctor said it was probably caused by a spike in fever, and we should give her medicines to keep the fever down to prevent another seizure. She came home with us the next day, and just by looking at her, you wouldn't have known she was sick. She was coughing up a storm, yes, but she wanted to run around, dance, play, sing... I can't remember how many times I had to say, "Ali, honey, you're sick. You need to quit running (or dancing or jumping or whatever she was doing at the time) and rest."

Tired of watching TV, she decided to play school. We set up chairs for her "students," which consisted of a giant stuffed rabbit, Jordan, and a little plastic doll. Oh, and me, of course. I was part student, part assistant, part teacher. We learned our alphabet, had show and tell, and wrote all our numbers. Jordan got in trouble several times for interrupting class with his usual coos, raspberries, and baby giggles, and once because he wouldn't stop touching Ms. Hoppity Hop's foot. Oh my goodness, it was hilarious. Then she kicked Jordan out of the class because he needed a nap, and almost kicked me out too because I said it was time for dinner.

She cried twice that day because she was so sick of being stuck inside. The first time, I caught her in the hallway wearing a dress and a pair of church shoes. I said, "Ali, what are you doing?" She simply said, "Oh, nothing. I was just getting dressed so I could go outside and play." I told her she couldn't go outside and play because it was too hot and she had pneumonia. She was not happy.

The second time broke my heart. I had been watching both of the kids all day while Kris went golfing with some of his buddies. By the time he got home, I was exhausted and needed a break. So I decided to go for a jog. While putting on my tennis shoes, Ali walks in the bedroom and says, "Where ya goin'?" I should have lied. I should have said I was going to the doctor for a shot, and then she wouldn't have wanted to come too. But Honest Abe never tells a lie. "I want to go running with you. I love running!" Then she dropped her head and started pouting. "Since when did you start loving to run so much?" I asked her. "Since yesterday!" she yelled, and then stormed off to her room. It was so funny and sad at the same time. It was like house arrest for her. But I had to get away for a while. When I got back, I thought I was going to die. I'm pretty out of shape. I wanted to sit on the porch for a while and have just a little more time away from the kids, but Ali must have a tracking device on me or something! She came outside, hands filled with books, saying, "Destiny, can we read these?" Out of breath, tired, and feeling like my "me time" had been interrupted, I caved and said yes.

Anytime Ali says she wants us to read, she really mean she wants to read everything all by her little independent self! Sweaty, I let her read to me. And, like always, I forgot all about needing time for myself and just let myself drift off to I-Love-My-Kids Land. Kris came outside too, and since Jordan was asleep, we all just sat there peacefully without a care in the world. We ate Popsicles and even let her play a little game on the sidewalk. It was so nice to spend that time together.

At the end of the day, after several doses of cough medicine, Tylenol, and Ibuprofen, she was tuckered out. Before she went to bed, I told her that if she felt sick or had a bad dream or just woke up missing us, she could come get us right away. She said, "But what if it's too dark and I can't see?" I laughed. "Then you just call out for me and I'll be in here faster than you can say Ms. Hoppity Hop." Ten minutes later, she was fast asleep.