Two Buckaroos

Not much going on around these parts.  We've been keeping to our normal winter routine and have enjoyed the past few days at home.  However, today was a little special in that the temperature reached 50 degrees F!  That's a big deal since it's been around -20 for what feels like the past two months.  Oliver and I took Sparky on a walk around the park.  Oliver played in big puddles and poked the floating ice with a stick.  We came home muddy and refreshed from our afternoon walk.  Cecily had some Daddy time, which doesn't happen very often as John is so busy with school.  She was content the rest of the evening.  Which makes me excited for the day that John will have a 9-5 job and we can all benefit from his presence. 

Here we have a picture of Cecily on Valentine's Day morning and Oliver with his morning graham cracker before church.  Cecily is now eating solid foods.  She loves her baby oatmeal but cries at the taste of brown rice cereal.  Oliver used to love the rice cereal and now loves whole grain rice. Cecily now sits very well on her own but rarely rolls over.  She does well on her tummy and arches and rolls to her side to reach for things and has even gotten up on all fours into the crawling position.  But she just doesn't hardly ever roll.  I'm interested to see how things evolve for her.

Oliver loves to sing.  It's how he says most of his new words.  He's putting together two and three word sentences, like "no bath" "no bed" and "there's the juice".  Today toothpaste was his new word that he decided to say without provocation.  And then he said a few other words which weren't as clear and which I can't remember now.

I have lots to learn about being a Mom and I just hope that the good memories outweigh any bad ones.  Parenting is definitely an exercise in self-control.  And self-examination is unavoidable when your bad habits are on display and little eyes are always watching and modeling their behavior after you.  But I'll take Daniel Tiger's advice and remember:

Good night, good night.
Close your tired eyes. Tomorrow will be new.
Dream a dream of all of us. And remember we love you. 

Muddy Mommy Thoughts

Well, we've definitely entered a new phase.  There's more obstinate behavior from our little boy, but there's also a lot more fun.  As his personality becomes more clear, his sweetness is reaffirmed in my eyes. He treats Cecily with real tender care and will tell me "uh-oh baby" when she cries. Just last evening John was able to help me with our bedtime routine. As we all ended up in the nursery sitting in the most relaxed of positions I held Cecily and Oliver laid his head on my lap. After John had finished reading from the scriptures he notified Oliver that it was time to get his milk from the kitchen in preparation for bedtime. Oliver jumped up in anticipation of hot milk and did a most professional jig and swooped suavely out of the room and onto the kitchen.  John and I looked at one another in surprise, eyes wide open. Now if only I could get him to repeat it.

It was such a simple evening but I couldn't have been happier. I have recently attempted paying conscious attention to my feelings so that I may more fully be conscientious of my actions. I've been able to recognize where I allow unnecessary stress to overcome me and I've also been able to recognize when something is good and to allow myself to enjoy it. And oddly enough, I found how much I truly enjoy being domesticated and being a Mother. I was so happy to find this out as I never thought much of Motherhood as a child or young adult. I knew I would attempt it at one point in life if allowed the opportunity. But I also felt trepidation at the prospect once it became a possibility, only because I didn't and couldn't really know if I would care for it until it actually happened. I've always been of the opinion that many things and circumstances can be made good dependent upon one's attitude, all within reason of course. And I held the belief that motherhood was of eternal importance, and so I took the task upon myself. And I'm so glad that I have done so. As all the mommy blogs and devoted posts on fb to moms will tell you, it isn't easy. There were moments this week when I realized that I was slowly loosing my mind. I told John that I had lost a few marbles and cried and wanted to desperately for someone to just give me an hour alone to myself. But I realized that the more I thought I would loose my mind the less I was capable of handling the situation and the less I accomplished. Mind over matter has been difficult these days, but boy does it make all the difference.

Oliver has started the most adorable thing. He has mimicked John in the past by exclaiming excitement over new things with a down-up-down inflection of his voice while loudly saying "whhooooaaaa". However it has evolved, as of today to where he will stop still, widen his eyes and lock his focus on you and whisper ever so slightly and slowly, "wow".  It really does get me every time. And he doesn't over use it, meaning I know he's actually excited about whatever it is that he's saying "wow" over. I love that the most simple things make him happy.

Oliver's language has truly taken off. Saying several new words each day and now speaking new words without enticement. He of course has much to learn, but we were once again so happy to hear improvement from him.

Cecily is now sitting comfortably and reaching for items while sitting. She's very aware of the people around her and is always looking to be where all the action is. I find it fascinating to watch her and Oliver communicate in the most simple and basic of ways. The interact, play, and show affection for one another and like I said before, I'm truly amazed at how easy it is and how little is required to show love for one another.

Cecily loves to laugh and is so full of smiles. She's recently taken a liking to John (finally!) and will follow him around the room and smile until she can attract his attention. It's fascinating to see how important his attention is to her. I feel that I have so much to learn from both Oliver and Cecily and hope that I can take the time to calm my mind and feelings enough to see what it is that is there.

Well, if this post ended up somewhat convoluted I'll readily attribute it to the muddy feeling in my brain and hope that what I've written will be enough of a reminder of how I've felt and what we've experienced at home the past week. John and I will be going out for dinner tomorrow evening - a first in . . . well, a loooooooooooooong time.  Maybe 9 months ago? Anyway, my point is that I'm pretty excited and nervous! Maybe I'll get a photo of our few hours out on the town in downtown Champaign!

Cecily and Oliver Update

When I think about what I'd like to write on this blog I readily realize that most of it would bore me out of my mind if it weren't about Oliver and Cecily.  However, with that in mind I have to remind myself that I'm writing these updates mostly for myself.  I really do have a horrible memory, and I think it's in part because I don't take time to reflect each day.  I would like to make time to write for the sake of practicing prose, but I'd also like to do a million other things that I unfortunately don't have time for. 

While on my lap the other day Cecily rolled over!  She wanted to see my face and repeatedly rolled over so that she could see me.  That girl really only has eyes for her Mommy right now.  I'm totally flattered, don't get me wrong.  But when you start contemplating putting your baby in the Bjorn just so you can go to the bathroom . . . there may be some other considerations to take. 

Later that day we went out to eat, something we've had to cut down on since John has been in school.  I figure it's for the best in many respects, but I could fill an entire other post on that.  We went to the Golden Dragon, a restaurant that has a little something for everyone.  John get's his orange chicken (which is actually pretty good at this location and not as starchy as most of the other Americanized versions), Oliver get Chinese food which he happens to love, and I got some more authentic dishes that remind me of home. 

Oliver started his meal off pretty respectfully by using his fork and occasionally attempting the use of chopsticks.  And as most good meals go for him, by the end of fifteen minutes of meticulously forking once item at a time into his mouth hunger overcomes his sense of propriety and the novelty of eating again and he begins to literally shovel handfuls of food and rice into his mouth.  That kid really loves rice.

Oliver has also been making leaps and bounds in his language.  We were concerned about his level of language acquisition and had decided that if progress hadn't been made in the next three months that we would have him evaluated for speech therapy.  But as about a month later, and less t.v., he has begun to say a few new words each day.  He now fully counts to three.  He'll sing twinkle twinkle little star with a mixture of sign language and words.  He said owl and another word yesterday that I've already forgotten.  This morning he said call when he asked about his grandparents.  We're so happy to see his progress and he's seems to be pretty excited about it too.  

Cecily Update

Here are the deets on little Cecily.  Boring for others I'm sure, but something I'd like to have recorded.

09/03/13  7.81 lbs    62%tile
10/10/13  11.06 lbs  76%tile
10/30/13  13.4 lbs    92%tile
12/19/13  15.12 lbs  78%tile

09/03/13  20 in         68%tile (they must have measured wrong because she was 21.5 inches at birth)
10/10/13  22.25 in    82%tile
12/19/14 25.75 in     97%tile

1. Little Sis, Little C (according to Grandpa Allen), Cessy, and Little Miss-Miss loves her Mama!
2. Little Miss-Miss loves her Mama so much she won't go to anyone else, can't be put down and is attached to my hip, and even cries at the sight of new people (even familiar recently). 
3. Still loves piano music, especially Mozart.
4. Is a bit of a drama queen. 
5. Thinks her brother is pretty funny, especially when he jumps.
6. Makes plenty of smiles and gurgles and has recently taken up talking in her sleep.

Happy 2nd Birthday Oliver

Oliver had his 2nd birthday December 7th, 2013.  He had a few friends over to celebrate and watch Monsters University.  They made monster hats, MU ID cards, and played in the little ball pit he got for his birthday.  Here are few things about Oliver at age 2:

1. Likes the color blue.
2. Enjoys playing with bubbles.
3. Still obsessed with Itsy Bitsy Spider.
4. Also obsessed with Winnie the Pooh movie and Sword in the Stone.
5. Still loves This is The Way By Charles Fuge, and loves his Curious George book.
6. Loves to dance and jump up in the air.
7. Likes to dance to the Moreska.
8. Weighs 31 lbs. (90% %tile) and is 35.75 inches tall (83.65 %tile).
9. Loves to give kisses and wave hi to strangers.
10. Can be bribed to say new words with chips and mini M&Ms.
11. Will say the sounds for letters and recognizes the letters of the alphabet.
12. Loves to play ball.
13. Loves Cecily and is very protective of her. 

Oliver really is a sweet little boy and seems to care deeply about others.  He rarely exhibits poor behavior.  When misunderstood he will continually repeat until understood, shout "no", or move onto something else.  Hitting has been an issue as of late, however we've figured out that he has learned this from other kids that like to invite play by slapping or pushing him.  He's beginning to understand the difference between rough housing and slapping when it is unwanted.  If we say "ouch" or "no" he'll stop himself or give a kiss to say sorry.  He has also recently been asking to have Cecily share his crib with him at night.  Each night I have to tell him she's too little to sleep with him.  I really can't wait to see how their relationship and brother and sister develop.  Happy Birthday to this sweet little guy!

The Kiddos

Cecily Grace Gough 

2.5 Months

• This little girl is such a blessing to our family.
• What a chatterbox!  These aren't just gurgles, I almost half expect her to speak in fully formed words.  She is especially chatty in the morning and right before falling asleep.
• Such a smiley baby.  Always happy to see her Mommy - what a confidence booster.
• Was born at 8.3 lbs. and fell down to 7.6 lbs. before leaving the hospital.  A month later she jumped up to an awesome 12 lbs.!
• For the past two evenings she has been sleeping for 8 hours! Whoa, right?  I can't expect perfection from her all the time, can I?
• She's a mover for sure.  No wonder I felt those kicks so early on.
• She loves the sound of the piano.  We realized this as she was crying in the RS room and I began to play and she stopped immediately to listen.

Oliver Joseph Gough

23 Months

 

• He is one happy little man and I love him for his naturally kind and sweet heart. 
• Any boo-boo requires a kiss until it no longer hurts.
• This awesome dude loves his itsy bitsy spider and twinkle twinkle little star. 
• He's into this youtube song by Super Simple Learning.  The format goes as such: "Do you like broccoli? Yes I do, Yes I do. Do you like ice cream? Yes I do, Yes I do.  Do you like broccoli ice cream?  No I don't. Yucky!" It's hilarious to see him crack up.
• This kid loves Trotro in French.  I'm not quite sure of how much he actually understands.
• He's using all sorts of words now and of course only repeating words only when he feels like it.
• He enjoys hopping, jumping, and has even done a skip once while playing with Dad.  Mom was impressed to say the least.
• He loves his sister and says "hello" to her multiple times a day, brings her toys, gives her suffocating kisses, and is her protector and body guard.  When friends and strangers alike have come over to her car seat he'll stand his ground in front of her and clearly announce a "No!".

NYCB Tribute to 9/11

I thought this was a beautiful tribute and had to share . . . even if  a month late.

(Found on the blog ablogaboutlove)