What kind of mom are you?

I read a blog a while ago about different kinds of moms. It has made me think about this question and realize that I am most definitely a park mom. I like to get out and go go go. I'm not so great at sitting and playing with toys, but boy do I love the park. There is hardly any whining, the toddler gets tons of exercise, and the house stays clean since we aren't home. The best park days are when we can go with friends. Often we go with my friend Kim. When her husband is off shore and Ryan is working late we will stay for hours, and then often go to one of our houses to eat dinner together.

Sometimes I wish I was more of a stay at home mom, but I get stir crazy. If I am honest, I usually fit in an outing both before and after nap time every day. The park, the store, a friend's house, a walk, the library, the zoo, a splashpad. Today we met a friend at the park in the morning, then more friends at a bouncy castle place for the afternoon (where the kids bounced for 2 1/2 hours straight!). I love coming home and going straight to dinner and bath time. I don't think any particular kind of mom is better than another, I just know that I function best as a park mom. So, what kind of mom are you?

Here are a couple of park videos from when my parents were here.

Unrelated photo of newborn June in the outfit I wore home from the hospital. It has the look of a vintage track suit and the feel of a terrycloth bathrobe.

Couldn't resist adding these two photos. I love how Willa is trying hard not to smile in the first one. June was way little, so Willa must have been going through some growing pains.

The second one is from this past Sunday. June is just so cute, I can't stand it!

June-bug at 2 months

June was two months old on Sunday. She is still the sweetest thing, I could just cuddle her and kiss her all day long! I love when Willa is napping or in bed for the night so that I can have some uninterrupted June time. Full disclosure, I also love when both girls are napping simultaneously so I can have some uninterrupted me time, which usually results in a nap.

At her doctor's appointment, June was 23 inches (72%) and 10 lb, 15 oz (50%).  She still is in a lot of discomfort after she eats. About three weeks ago it changed from just being lots of burps to being lots and lots of spit-ups. Spit-ups that would not even touch my shoulder, but would fly over top and leave a big puddle on the floor. She also wasn't usually relieved after a burp or spit-up, usually they made her fuss harder. So, I decided to ask the doctor about reflux. He thinks it's probably a possibility and prescribed some zantac for her. We just started it yesterday and yesterday was really good, but today seems not as good. He said it would take about a week to know if it is helping. She'll grow out of it soon enough, I just feel so badly for her.
 
She really has the sweetest personality when she isn't in pain. She will lay on the floor and just smile and smile. She's so calm that I've already been able to put her down for naps or just resettle her in the middle of a nap by putting the pacifier in her mouth while she lays in her bed. I love rocking babies to sleep, but I also want her to be able to put herself to sleep as soon as possible if it's something she can calmly do. It's definitely not a 100% success rate yet, but I think I'm further than I was with Willa at this point. When I can catch the wave of drowsiness right, I can lay her down with her eyes open, put the pacifier in, and keep my hand on her tummy for a few minutes and she will drift off to sleep. I usually wait in there to replace the pacifier if it falls out, but overall she will do it without a protest. It has also really helped her naps, when she wakes up in the middle of a nap, instead of picking her up and jostling her, she goes back to sleep much more quickly if I just put the pacifier back in her mouth. Three cheers for the pacifier! She is still mainly waking up just once a night and can do 5 and 6 hour stints, which are sooo nice. I feel like night-sleep should be coming very soon.

June especially loves her bath time right now. Even if she is fussy, she will calm down as soon as we go into the bathroom and she will lay on her towel smiling while she listens to the tub fill with water. She LOVES the warm bath and it was a charm in calming her down when her shots were hurting her after the doctor. Poor thing, I forgot to give her more Tylenol and she woke up screaming and couldn't even calm down to nurse. It had been over three hours so I knew she was hungry. It was very sad and we actually resorted to a bottle of formula. Ryan was able to get about half an ounce in, then I got about half an ounce in her using a little dropper. That took the edge off the hunger enough so that she was able to nurse. Willa's lily white skin never touched formula, but poor June has now had it twice :). I just don't think it's worth pumping when I'm only feeding her a bottle about once a month.

Finally, it looks like June may indeed have blue eyes. Very shocking! Willa's eyes were not this blue this late in the game. In the light they look crystal blue and have absolutely no other color there. Both grandmas are leaning towards calling the eyes blue, but we are still waiting. If her eyes are blue, then she will be Ryan's baby and Willa will be my baby. They were each born in our respective birthday months and each resembled one of us more than the other at birth (discounting the hair, June really did have more of a "Daniels" look right in the beginning). If June's eyes stay blue, it will just seal the deal.

This is a actually a photo of Willa at 2 months. They look pretty different to me, but are definitely sisters.

Miss June, I love her chubby cheeks! I think her hair is a little longer than Willa's, but I've a faulty memory.

I can't resist these bed head shots. Actually, I went to wake her up from her nap. I undid the swaddle and her arms went up, but she still stayed asleep. Then, I cut her fingernails and she still slept, finally I decided just to let her sleep on, and she woke up about 20 minutes later. She is the sweetest thing. Shannon sent this little sleeper, the fabric is so stretchy and thin that you can feel all the baby rolls when you hold her (Shannon's description, not mine). It is the most delicious feeling!

"No, Mommy, No!" Doctor says Willa is right on track at her 2 1/2 year check-up

Willa isn't difficult, but she is two years old. There are so many little personality quirks at this stage. I have to constantly remind myself that she is developmentally right on target and that defiance/disobedience/tantrums/opinions are all part of this whole tamale. Of course, there are also hugs and kisses and laughter and lots and lots of fun right now too.

I had to put the "No, Mommy, no!" in the title of this blog post because it is our inside joke these days. Willa was sleeping one afternoon and I could hear her talking in her sleep saying, "No, no, no!" Then few days ago, Ryan heard her talking in her sleep in the middle of the night, but this time she was saying, "No, Mommy, no!" It makes me laugh because it so illustrates a toddler's world right now. Willa is up for anything and she is going to argue until she gets it. She must view me as the total wet blanket always trying to disrupt her fun. Sometimes while I'm driving she will start arguing and I will ignore her and so she just argues with herself. "Juice, uh-uh, juice, uh-uh, juice, uh-uh, juice!" It is pretty hilarious when I am in the right mindset, which I constantly have to remind myself to be in. When I'm not in the right mindset, it's best if I just turn on the tv for her and go simmer down somewhere before I explode.

She is saying and doing so many funny things these days. She likes to sit at the lever harp and play the strings. She wants me to sit in the chair next to her like I do with my students and she asks, "Like this, mommy?" while she plucks the strings. Today, I was counting and clapping out loud with a student and afterwards, Willa sat at the harp and clapped her hands while counting to ten. I poured some Lucky Charms for her the other day (aren't I a great mom!) and she told me, "Careful with that!" when I carried the bowl to the table. She still loves helping. She was underfoot one evening while I was trying to clean up dinner, so I pulled a chair up so she could play in the sink while I loaded the dishwasher. She LOVED to "wash dishes" and kept saying it over and over. She even had to get Ryan's attention (he was with June) and said, "Look daddy, I washing dishes!"

She knows her colors, shapes, the alphabet, and can recognize and say her numbers up to ten. I am super proud of her. She stepped on an ant hill two weeks ago, we gave her Benadryl immediately and slathered her foot in Hydro cortisone cream, but within an hour her face started breaking out on hives even though the ant bites were on her foot. They were spreading fast so I gave her another dose of Benadryl and that finally stopped it. I talked to the doctor about it and he thinks we should go see an allergist. The ants are everywhere here and it's going to be hard to avoid them. This climate!!

Here she is swimming at Dan and Melinda's hotel pool. The water, air, and wind were FREEZING but she loved it. She cried when we took her out and was able to make out the words, "MORE!!!" with her chattering teeth and blue lips. Sadly, she asks every day if we can go to the swimming pool, but we don't have our apartment pool to go to anymore and the community pool doesn't open until Memorial Day.

Helping Ryan wash the car. She was extremely excited and proud of herself.  I also just want to remark that I know her hair looks like a crazy mess in most pictures. It usually gets done each day, but it is usually a fight. Then, it always looks crazy after her nap, so sometimes if we are staying home in the morning, I won't do it at all until after her nap. So, yes it looks crazy but it occasionally gets done. I think the trick with curly hair is that you can't really mess with it or the curls will frizz out. There are so many ways for a toddler to mess with her hair so I think it's going to look bad for the next several years.

Best Friends

The house is asleep and I am holding sweet June so I thought I would write a quick blog post. Willa and Bridgett's grandmas both unknowingly sent them the same dresses. Needless to say, we made them dress alike for church and everyone there loved it. They really are the best of friends and I get very sad at the thought of either family moving away. Just this morning Willa called up Britt on her toy phone and invited her to go to the park. That pretty much sums up Willa's two favorite things.

Social Smiler!

We got this picture last night. The quality isn't great, but the baby is adorable. Social smiles are so fun! My parents have been here the past week to visit and it's been sooo nice and it's going to be a rude awakening when they leave. There was someone to hold June, play with Willa, and clean the house at all times!

We are blessing June in church today so Ryan's parents flew in on Friday night. It's been so fun to have everyone here! Two sets of grandparents is quite a big deal when we hardly ever get to see any of them.

She's Back!

 Willa FINALLY asked to hold June last week. It was the first time she has shown any interest. June wasn't too excited, but that's siblings for you!

It's taken about a month, but my sweet Willa is mostly back to her sweet self! I read in a BYU magazine about a study concerning the amount of time mothers spent with each of their children. Even accounting for all other factors, mothers still spent more time overall with the oldest child. On the one hand, this is sad that the other kids never get quite as much attention, on the other hand it is completely understandable.

Willa is my little buddy. She was my first baby and we were just learning together. We have been each others' company every day, all day - sometimes with no one else! Even with more kids, she is still going to be my buddy. Because she's the oldest, she is going to help me (she already is great at bouncing June in the bouncy chair and helping give her baths), and I'm pretty sure that she will continue to be my little companion to talk to during the day when I need conversation. So, instead of feeling bad about spending a little more time with Willa, I'm going to embrace it as a part of her privilege and responsibility of being the oldest.

She really loves when June lays on the floor. She almost always come over to sit by June, hold her hand, kiss her, and pet her hair. I think maybe she feels too intimidated or shy to come over and show a lot of affection when others are holding June.

I also had to show this little photo. I love both of my girls' crazy hair! Willa had just woken up from a nap was very out of sorts. I let her have a pacifier for a bit and I also got this little doll carseat that I had found at a consignment store. I have kept it in the attic until a moment when she would need something to cheer her up. She was in love and wanted to take her baby to the store in the grocery cart, just like I do with June. It's so funny what they notice and want to imitate!