A Me For You

We came home Saturday, and it was great to leave the hospital. They’re very nice people, but it’s not an ideal place to sleep or try to establish routine.

Of course many people have heard us talk about Brenna and her reaction to seeing Megan hold other babies. For those of you who don’t know,the phrase “collapses to the ground like a puppet and cries” is occasionally tossed around. Occasionally there’s a “Mommy, NO!” in there. It’s equal parts amusing and heart-breaking. But most importantly it was going to be a problem once Parker was born. We did what we could: we talked to Brenna about the baby in mommy’s belly; we said how Brenna was going to be a big sister; we asked if she was happy about these things and her answer was always, “mmm hmm!” or “yes!” Nonetheless, at 21/22 months, how much of what we were saying was really getting through? Kids also agree that being a firetruck would be awesome. Anyway, the worry was there, but the joke was always, “She says she’s ok with it. This’ll be easy!”

So when we came home, for better or worse, I wanted to record the moment. Bear in mind that Brenna was asleep when we got home, and Megan brought her out of her room from her nap. So Brenna took a nap an only child and woke up a sister!

She was a little confused, and still is a little bit fragile emotionally, but I believe she’s handled it extremely well. She shows great care for Parker, and wants to share her toys and diapers with her. We have to make sure Brenna doesn’t pile up a bunch of stuff in the bassinet! When Parker cries Brenna is often right there to peek at her and say “Uh oh!” It’s sweet. I’m very proud of her.

So now we’re home. Parker is a little jaundiced but nothing major. In the afternoon the sun shines into the front of the house and we lay her in it. The Doctor has said this should be all the treatment she needs.

Thank you to everyone for the well wishes, to mom for 4 days worth of dinners, and here’s wishing everyone a very happy Halloween!!

We’re about to be off to the hospital. Thumper is on her way! YAY! Updates to follow!

This morning in the car I put on “Fibber Island” from They Might Be Giants first children’s album. Brenna began rhythmically chanting “no. no. no. no. no.”

“Brenna, what are you saying no about?”
“no. no. no. no. no.”
“Is it the music?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to listen to something else?”
“Yes.”
“Do you want night-night music?”
“OKAY!”

So we listened to Vivaldi instead.

I don’t know if I should be upset or proud. It’s a very confusing feeling. On one hand, she dissed my favorite band. On the other hand, she requested classical music.

We like to let Brenna sit with us to watch Sesame Street clips on Youtube. She of course loves Elmo, like all kids do these days. I’m happy to report she’s a big fan of Bert & Ernie and Grover as well. Her current favorite is probably Abby Cadabby. She’s the newest addition to Sesame Street, and comes from “Fairyland” I believe. Anyway, she has a wand and tries to solve things with magic a lot and generally just ends up with pumpkins, and has to get help to accomplish her goals like everyone else. I honestly think she’s a very clever way to talk to kids about diversity and friendship and hard work while avoiding the traps of being heavy handed or condescending. Sesame Street is rather brilliant like that.

Anyway, she also loves words! One of Brenna’s favorite Abby bits is the Word Song. Here is a quick video of her watching the last minute of the song. I’m biased, but WOW is she adorable at the end.

Enjoy!

Tuesday night Brenna woke Meg up from about 1 am to 3 am, and I was up from roughly 2:45 am until 4 am. She kept asking for ice cream, and walked around the house. Occasionally she’d ask, “What is that?” “Ohhhh what is that?” but the basic mantra was “I want ice cream.” Finally around 4 she fell back asleep and so did I. Meg and I thought it was very weird behavior and decided we should probably not mention ice cream for a while.

So… keep that in mind.

When you have a child that is as well behaved as Brenna, a few things occur to you:

1) “Man, we’re awesome parents.”
2) “Wait… we’re just fumbling through this like everyone else. We just got lucky, didn’t we?”
3) “Yeah… we’re going to pay for this later, aren’t we?”

The other thing that happens is when Daycare calls and says your child is crying and sick, you take that pretty seriously. Brenna gets ear infections and doesn’t bother to show any symptoms or let us know, so if she’s upset enough to cry, and cries enough that she throws up, there’s definitely something wrong.

We got that call Wednesday afternoon. Brenna was so upset she wouldn’t stop crying and had thrown up twice from it. Oh no! Now, we were already dead tired from the “ice cream” demanding night, and we had also taken Serenity into the shop for her 100k mile check up. Neither of us managed to sneak in a lunch break. We were hungry, tired, and without normal transportation. Kids – how do they time illness so well? So I rushed from work to pick up Meg, rushed to get Brenna and rushed back downtown to the doctor to find out she has Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. The doctor showed me her throat, and it was very red and blistered… and sore… then the realization – “Hey, that’s why she wanted ice cream all night!”

Anyway, the great news is Brenna recovers from illness quickly. After a bad Wednesday and a rough Thursday, today she’s about 90%. We played a bit, and danced a bit. We read a few books and I made her a paper hat she put on all her Sesame Street characters. She demanded to go outside for a few minutes, but she tired quickly. She took a nap and just had lunch, and I’m about to be off to entertain her some more.

Other than that, Meg continues to do well with Thumper. The due date rapidly approaches! Halloween, here we come!

Just a very quick note. We started a little potty training last weekend and bought some pull-ups because Brenna’s daycare wanted to start training this week. As of about 5 minutes ago, she just pooped in her potty, and saved her pull-ups! Woohoo!

Who would have thought I’d ever be posting online about anyone’s bowel movements other than my own? It’s a weird world, y’all.

No photo updates for this one…. obviously.

xoxo
-Travis.

Travis won’t get me a Wendy’s apple pecan salad until I update the blog. EVEN THOUGH I AM BUYING. I just wanted to put that out there so everyone knows what I am dealing with sometimes.

So how are things with everyone out there? Good? Good. Things are good here as well. We are just as busy as ever and now we are busy and it is, like, a billion degrees outside. Side note, the AC went out on my car. So did….my car? We just had to have a bunch of work done on it. It was not in great shape. And now we wait for the nice people to tell us how much it will be to get the AC fixed. I am not looking forward to that bill but totally looking forward to AC.

I am doing well, as is Magic Sunshine Pufflelump Baby #2. I have no real exciting news to report on that end. Apparently if you are not pregnant for the first time and having no issues doctors just like you to come say hi to them once a month. Or once every two weeks now. Eeep!. I think that means we are having a kid soon. I should empty out that crib…

Travis is happy and is busy at work. At 34 he is plunging into the exciting world of contacts. Partially because he does not want to wear glasses during the Mud Run this Fall. He is not really sure how he feels about them yet. I like him with glasses so I am not sure how I feel about them yet either. It will have to be an update for another day.

Brenna is….boy, is she Brenna. She is as sweet and happy as ever. Oh yeah, and she never really stops talking. She has been making lots of noise for awhile but now you can actually understand her. (and if anyone in my family says her word for bananas is a little off, don’t listen. They are just jealous of her sunny disposition). She is stringing together words now. One of her favorites is “I need help” which could mean ‘Hey lady, get my ball’ or ‘Yo, can’t you see a baby is out of milk over here’ or even ‘I have been in these damn shoes all day- come take them off immediately before I start shrieking and screaming uncontrollably-Or not, it is your call’. Her current favorite pastime is putting things night night. Elmo goes night night. Grover goes night night. Brobee goes night night. Her cup goes night night. The ball goes night night. Her books go night night. The cats…well, she tries to put the cats night night. Aggie and Jack so far have not gone along with her plan. But she does cover everything with a blanket, pat it gently, give it a pacifier, tell it night night, give it a kiss, and say love you. It is awfully adorable. No matter what Jack and Aggie tell you.

That is all I have for now. Travis should be back any second with my food so I am outta here.

Smooches,
Meg

Ok , for those of you not on Facebook and not on Buzz Travis and I are jazzed because we are having another baby. We probably ranted and raved at one point that one kid was enough but Brenna sure is cute and she kind of suckered us into wanting another one.

The discussion about having another baby was long and complicated and really there is a whole story involved -there is a band in it and everything! But that is really a story for another time and I promise to tell it one day. The really short story is that in December we agreed to give this second baby thing a shot, in January I went to the Doctor to get the ‘all clear’, and in February we were pregnant.

Baby #2 should make an arrival somewhere around November 1st. We went in for the big 20 week scan this week. Baby got stamp of approval with all fingers and toes accounted for. AND we are having another girl so we are very excited Brenna will have a little sister to play with. I know how much fun I had (have) tormenting my sister. Plus, it was going to be real awkward to explain to a boy why he had butterfly sheets and a pink bouncer as a baby.

So that is our super big news. Everyone is happy and healthy at our house. Brenna continues to be hilarious. She talks a lot now so this good and bad. She has an awful lot to say for a tiny person. Mostly she is just tells me that she does not like her outfit and would like to wear sparkle pink batman T shirt and also to hand over the watermelon. If not that is fine too but she is putting my shoes in the toilet. She also has learned to put her finger to her lips and say ‘shhh’. She often does this when I am telling her to do something she does not want to do. Yay.

And all the pics are on the other computer so I can’t pull any recent ones. Here is one from the sprinkler ball weekend. See how happy she is?! It is because she got her watermelon.