Babies

Babies, babies, everywhere!

By the end of January there will be FOUR new babies in my extended family. My cousin, Kathryn, and I are both due in September with baby girls. My brother and his wife are expecting a baby (whose gender we just found out today but I'm not sure if the internet is allowed to know :)), on Christmas day. Then, about two weeks later, my other cousin, Jonas, who happens to be my brothers BFF is expecting a baby with his wife (gender undetermined, although Danny keeps insisting they are having a girl).

It is a very exciting time! My Grandparents have 27 grandchildren, and  in January will have 14 great-grandchildren. My parents will have five grandchildren. It is so fun how quickly families, and generations grow.

The real race will between Kathryn and I, who are due within five days of each other, BUT knowing the boys, who are due two weeks apart, they will do whatever it takes to beat each other to the punch.

The family reunion next Summer will look something like this:

Pedicure

These are the feet of a woman who is a few weeks away from her due date, and tried to give herself a pedicure:

8/12/2012

 

 

 I think my fingers and hands are slightly swollen, it could be the heat, but I am hoping it means the end of this pregnancy is near. Other than the first two months it has been a great pregnancy, but I am ready to meet my baby girl!

I am not in the best shape (to say the least!) to give myself a pedicure, but I had to try. I got the job done, but I have some paint to peel off my skin.

Notice my wonky big right toe, still jacked up from when Danny broke it last year. . . he will never live that down!

Language explosion

My Danny boy, the super smart, super funny, super adorable (yada yada yada) two-year-old is experiencing a HUGE language explosion!

He was a slow talker from the beginning. He barely said Dada by his first birthday, didn't say Mama until he was almost 1 1/2, and is just now uttering one sentence "Dada, where are you?" He has picked up many words since his first, but at each well visit he has been under what the standard list looks for. I have never been too concerned about this, he has had wonderful receptive language since he was a little guy, and I know that is the biggest piece of the pie.

Since we are expecting everyone (my dad especially) has been insistant on the fact that Danny WILL start talking immediately after his sister is born. Apparently he will want a lot of attention that he wont be getting, but that is a whole other story. . .

He is saying new words left and right, if I say it, he repeats it. It is so sweet/cute/funny/adorable etc.

There is just one problem, his favorite word right now is the word dead. It all started with the fish. He got Nemo(1) for his birthday, two weeks later he got Nemo(2). Last week he got Nemo(3&4). Nemo(3) was dead within 12 hours. He now goes to the fish tank and says "Dead. Nemo. Dead." He says that at least five times a day. And now when a toy is broken he brings it to me and says "dead." If something is turned off he says "dead." He is obsessed with that word. I am so worried he is going to start pointing to old people who are taking naps and saying that they are "dead."

Potty Training

My son is pushing 2 1/2 and he is not potty trained.

This is only a big deal because, before I was a mom, I was one of those people who believed that all children should be potty trained by age two.

I was an asshole.

Potty training Danny by age two was not physically possible because I was in school full-time until after his second birthday. The plan was to start potty bootcamp as soon as I graduated. So after a week or two of adjusting to being home I realized that he simply was not ready for it. He showed no interest in even sitting on the potty, and certainly did not care when he was sitting in a dirty diaper. My hopes and dreams of having a few months of no diapers before baby number two arrives was shot. I accepted it and moved on. I decided that if he still isn't showing a great deal of interest by Christmas then I will begin to force it on him. All the moms I know were very supportive and convinced me that there is no point in training him this close the the arrival of a new baby, because he will most certainly digress as soon as he sees his sister getting diapers.

Fast forward to this week, Danny is obsessed with peeing on the potty. He has done it at least twice a day. He loves the excitement that we show after each successful potty trip, and the lolly pop he gets as a reward. And now that his grandmother brought over Phillies underwear today he is even more obsessed. Tonight at bath time he ran to the potty, with a pair of the underwear in his hands, he then tries to sit on the potty and and put the underwear on at the same time. He is totally into this now. Perfect timing, right? Just a few weeks before my due date, my two-year-old wants to be potty trained.

I am trying to be positive about this, but also realistic and not push it too much.

Is it normal for a kid to be ready to potty train before the mom??

Danny's favorite

Danny is so talkative right now. Usually it is good, other than the other night at dinner when he told Stephen and I who was mean and who was nice in my family. That was hilarious, but a little scary to know he could easily tell the "mean" people what he thinks of them!

He is saying more and more words and making small sentences. I once thought he would never put two words together, but now he says "Home Depot" and "Old Bay" about fifty times a day. If you know my husband, than you know that those two statements means he is a small chip off of Stephen's block for sure!

Today is my husbands birthday, we celebrated by going to the zoo. Danny was so excited to go to the zoo (and get popcorn). We had a great day, a hot day, but it was still a wonderful time. Tonight at the dinner table my husband starts to ask Danny who his favorite animal at the zoo was. He didn't get past "Who is your favorite. . ." when Danny shouted out "JOE." Joe, of course, is my oldest brother, and one of my best friends. He is Danny's Godfather, and definitely one of Danny's favorite people on earth. Danny adores Joe, and I love seeing how much fun they have together. I thought it was so cute that Danny didn't even wait for my husband to finish the question, he just shouted out that Joe was his favorite.

There is a lot of pressure here, though. Now I have to find a way to one day make Joe's child love me as much as Danny loves Joe. I am not sure how I will accomplish that, but I am sure up to the challenge!

Uncle Joe/Godfather/Uncle Stompy

Nursing

If you know me, you know that I am a big breastfeeding advocate. I nursed my son, Danny, for ten months before he quit on his own. I wasn't devastated that he self weaned before a year, pumping was hard and I was going to school at odd hours, so my supply was always confused. I would have liked to get him to the magical year mark, but I knew that since he stopped on his own it was his time to stop.

I can't write about my nursing experience without giving credit to my wonderful cousin, Kathryn. She is a labor and delivery nurse, and she gave me so much support before my son was born, and after. I had a very, VERY hard time nursing in the beginning, and I can say with complete honesty (and no shame), that I would have quit after the first week had Kathryn not shamed me into continuing no matter how hard it was. She, after all, nursed her first child even though she had a much, much rougher delivery and recovery than I had. I knew I couldn't face seeing her at the annual family reunion if I was giving Danny a bottle of formula. I am so thankful for her encouragement and support, because I know how good BFing was for Danny. Nursing Danny helped keep him well even though he was seeing three different babysitters a week, and I was bringing home germs from my college campus. It really was our liquid gold.

If you really know me, then you know that I had to listen to a lot of static about my decision to nurse my son. I had people pushing formula on me, telling me how gross it was that I nursed, how weird my boobs looked, how my baby (at 8 weeks old) was "too big for that." I even had people in my own family show how appalled they were when I would nurse at family gatherings.

All of these naysayers really put a damper on my experience as a new mom. I didn't know how to stand up for myself, and I was so shocked by some of the things that were said to me that I couldn't even muster up words of response.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. My due date is at the end of next month, I know I'll be nursing around a lot of the same people who gave me hell when I nursed Danny. All I can say is those people might want to watch what they say. I am a seasoned mom now, I am not too shocked by any of the rude things people say to me to come up with a response now, and I am very much ready to stick up for myself and my choice to breastfeed my daughter. I am certainly not looking for a fight, but I am not going to take any of the abuse that I took last time.

I know that the female body wasn't designed the way it was to be looked at and admired, although it is a beautiful thing. We were designed to grow babies and nurse them through infancy. It angers me when people, especially other women, act as if breasts were meant to be decorations, and nursing your child from them is gross, obscene or inappropriate. If you see me nursing my daughter, know that I am only doing what my body was designed for, and giving my daughter the absolute best nutrition that she needs.

Happy World Breastfeeding week!

Oh Danny Boy

My son, Daniel Thomas, was not named for the traditional Irish ballad, but he was given his nickname for the song. He is just now realizing that he has a song of his very own. He found it quite entertaining when I made the Irish dressed snoopy doll dance and sing "Danny Boy" yesterday.

This morning while playing his soon-to-be baby sisters song, he came running to me saying "me, me," I had no clue what he was talking about. Then he brought me the snoopy and said "mine, sing, me," I figured it out after that :).

It is so cute how he wants to listen to "Danny Boy" over and over again now. He knows that it is a sad(ish) song, so he pretends to get all weepy and puts his head down every now and then during the song.

He really brings so much joy to me every day. We have yet to have a perfect day in the life of Danny and Mommy, but everyday we have special moments where he shows how sweet and loving he is.

Oh Danny Boy, Oh Danny Boy, I love you so.