Just A Mama

Driving to school this morning...

Caleb: What's a prince?
Me: It's a king's son.
Caleb: Is Daddy a king?
Me: Sure. So what does that make me?
Caleb: Nothing. You're just a Mama.

I was thinking more along the lines of queen, princess, diva or beautiful. Nope - "just a mama." I can't think of anything better to be. (However..."an awesome mama" would've been a little more palatable.)

On another note (for my memory) - Caleb came in the bedroom this morning when he woke up and climbed up on my bed. I had just finished feeding Nola and put her down on the bed beside me. As soon as she saw Caleb, she lit up like a Christmas tree! She smiled at him for the longest time and he giggled like it was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. The more he giggled, the more she smiled. It was such a fun moment to share with them.

Totally Random

The Weekend Update
This weekend was a fun one. Friday night, we went to dinner at LasFajitas and then took a birthday dessert to Aunt Kathy. On Saturday, my friends Leslie and Cindy came over. Cindy wanted to meet Nola, so we made a day of it. We had 5 kids in my house and it was wonderful chaos. They played and nobody fought and very few tears were shed. We went to Chili's for dinner (5 adults, 4 kids and an infant!) and then came back to my house, put on our PJ's and talked until after midnight. Cindy and Haven spent the night and went back to Tulsa on Sunday. Shortly after they left, Chad & Ronni and their kids came by to meet Nola and say hi. They were in town from Little Rock, so they stopped in for just a few minutes before heading for home. When they left, we started our furniture shopping expedition. That took all afternoon and then we went to dinner at Olive Garden (or, as Caleb calls it...The Spaghetti Store).


Weight Watchers
Rudy and I started back on Weight Watchers on Monday morning. (Hence the complete pigout over the weekend.) We're now 2 days into it and I'm hungry. Going from eating whatever I wanted to eating sensibly has been tough. It'll get easier. I haven't started working out yet, but that's the next thing on my agenda. I'm trying to figure out how to make it work with my current situation. It seems like every time I get motivated, Nola wakes up hungry or it's time to go somewhere. It will happen. Soon.

Stylish Nola
I haven't posted a recent picture of Nola in a while, so I'm sharing this one. "Sister Britches" is all decked out in one of my favorite outfits in her closet. It's too cute - all the way from the green cardigan to the fake jeans to the pink hightops.

Monkey See, Monkey Do
I have tried so hard to get a picture of her smiling, but she's so intrigued by the camera and the phone that she always stops smiling when I get either of them close enough to take a picture. She has the sweetest smile. Her whole face lights up when she smiles. Last night, she was laying on our bed and I put my head down next to hers. She imitated me sticking my tongue out and then surprised me by imitating my vocalizations. I would say "ah" and she would wiggle her whole body around and then say it back to me. Rudy and I were laughing and cheering her on and she smiled so big it nearly made me cry. For a girl who is so serious all the time, she sure does light up the room when she does decide to smile.


Calebism
Caleb got out of bed to go to the bathroom. When he got in there, he stood at the toilet for a few seconds, then looked down at his "boy parts" and said, "Were you just kidding?" Apparently, he didn't have to go anymore.


Postpartum Visit
Last week, I went to see Dr. Ford for my 6 week postpartum visit. She said that I'm doing great. I took bagels to her and her staff for being so kind (and patient) during my pregnancy. I also took Nola (of course) and birth announcement for one of the many office bulletin boards. I have to go back in a couple of weeks, because I opted for implantation of an intrauterine device (IUD) called Mirena. It is a 5 year birth control option and so far I haven't had any problems with it. My visit in 2 weeks is to make sure that it's where it's supposed to be and that I'm doing okay with it. So far, so good.

Puppet Show
This picture is terrible, but I have to share it because it makes me happy. You can barely see it, but I assure you, it's Caleb and Rudy putting on a puppet show for me over the back of the couch. The stuffed animals were telling me that they loved me and they loved each other...until they started wrestling. That was the end of the puppet show...

Mermaids

And one final note of randomness... This morning on the way to school, Caleb asked me, "What's a mermaid?" I said, "It's a pretend creature that lives in the ocean." He got quiet for a little while, then I heard him say, "God, can you make a real mermaid?" I love the faith of a child.

Caleb's X-Ray Results

I got a call last week that Caleb's x-ray results were perfectly clear. I got tears in my eyes as I thanked the nurse for the good news.


Now we just have to get him in to see the orthopedist for some shoe inserts. Hopefully, this will help his pain.


Thank you, Lord, for answering these prayers!

My Sleeping Babies

Is there anything better than a sleeping baby?
I went into my room a couple of mornings ago and found Caleb like this. Maybe it's not better than a sleeping baby, but it's just as cute for sure...

He had slept with Rudy the night before and I slept in his bed to be closer to Nola when she woke up. According to Rudy, he slept like this most of the night, except that Rudy was in the bed where Caleb's feet are. Needless to say, Rudy was a little tired the next day.

On the subject of sleep...

Nola has now slept through the night for the past 2 nights in a row. Both nights, I put her in her bed when I was ready to go to bed and she didn't wake up until 6:30. Hallelujah!!! I'm not counting on this pattern continuing, but I'll take what I can get. I sure wouldn't complain if it did.

Furniture Shopping

We learned a lesson last week. When Caleb wakes up, he needs to be sent immediately to the bathroom to remove his pull-up. He only wears them at night, but for some reason, it doesn't bother him one bit for it to be soaking wet. He will continue to wear them (and use them) until we tell him to take them off. He was sitting in the recliner with Rudy last week when Rudy suddenly noticed that the chair was wet. Caleb had soaked his pull-up to the point that it leaked all over the recliner. We used every trick in the book to clean it. No dice. It now smells like a public bathroom in an old building that has been cleaned repeatedly with very strong cleaner. It stinks. We finally decided to throw in the towel and buy a new chair. While we were at it, we decided to give in and replace our couch too. We spent all day Sunday shopping for furniture. After several stores, we ended up deciding on these pieces at Ashley:

We got the couch, the chair and the ottoman. They should be here in about 3 weeks.

Of course, no family adventure would be complete without a Caleb story. Bless his heart, he was a trooper. We shopped for furniture for hours. He trucked along with us and didn't get fussy until we had pushed him to his absolute max. When he got really whiny, I realized that I still had an ace up my sleeve. I pulled up some Phineas & Ferb on YouTube on my phone and he was entertained for another good 30-45 minutes. That's not the good part, though. Sometime during the day, Caleb had to go "big boy bathroom" and in his ultimate quest for independence, he didn't get completely clean. As a result, he started complaining about his bottom hurting. I told him that the next store we went in, I would take him in the bathroom and clean him up. When we walked into the store, I asked the salesperson where the restroom was. He pointed me in the right direction and Caleb told him (pretty loudly), "I didn't wipe my bottom very good." I thought Rudy was going to either implode or melt into the floor from embarrassment.

ENT Appointment

Today started out a little rough. Caleb woke up with a leaky pull-up that had soaked his PJ pants and my bed since he slept with Rudy last night. After I changed that, fixed my hair and make-up and got dressed, I fed Nola. She rewarded me with a dirty diaper and then rewarded me for changing the dirty diaper by spitting up all over my arm as I was putting clean clothes on her. I was just shy of crawling back under the covers when the humor of it all hit me. I stepped back and looked at the situation and just laughed with gratitude for the experience.

When I took Caleb to school, I got a little choked up. We pulled up just as his class was headed down to the playground. I got Caleb out of the car - his new booster seat is WONDERFUL because he can work the seatbelt on his own - and walked him over to join his class. He gave me a kiss and a hug and grabbed Ms. Elizabeth's hand. Off he went without a second glance. I love it when he's in big kid mode, but in a little way it breaks my heart. (I don't love it when he's in whiny "I can't do it!" mode.)

I took Nola to see Dr. Black today for a 6 week follow-up on her laryngomalacia. She managed to throw a holy fit right when we got there. Somehow our arrival at places always coincides with the time when she needs to be fed. I got her fed, filled out a health history on a 6 week old (um...she doesn't have a health history), and was sent to an exam room. When Dr. Black came in, he took a look at her and said she was doing great. He said that as long as she keeps gaining weight, she's fine. That's because she's not using all of her calories to struggle to breathe. He also said that as long as she has a strong cry, she's fine. That's because her vocal folds are able to touch - meaning no mass between them. Trust me - her cry is quite strong. We're supposed to go back in 6 weeks if needed. I made the appointment, but I'll cancel it if she's doing fine. She doesn't seem too worried about it...

The Best Part of Your Day

Caleb: "Daddy, what the best part of your day was?"
Rudy: "Going to the band concert with you."
Caleb: "My favorite part was coming home."

And that's when I smiled.

Cheering, Sleeping & Smiling

Mom and Mr. L. came up this past Thursday afternoon. They kept Nola for me on Friday so that I could go to a conference for work. They reportedly had a great day and I survived being in the grown-up world for a whole day.

On Saturday, we went to the Razorback basketball game. The Hogs lost to Ole Miss in the final minutes of the game, but we had a good time anyway.

Though Nola slept through pretty much the whole game, Caleb has always been sensitive to loud sounds. He spent a lot of the game with his hands over his ears:
The fake foam finger is from his Fredbird build-a-bear that we got at the Cardinals game when he was 6 weeks old. He thought he just had to take it to be able to cheer for the Hogs. After he and Rudy had "prayer meeting" about his whininess and crying over the noise, he was in a much better mood. He finally perked up after halftime and had a good time. He even called the Hogs and cheered on his own.

The highlight of the game for me was getting this picture:

I know...probably not the best idea to hand my 5 1/2 week old child off to a mascot, but I could not miss this photo op and it didn't even cross my mind that it wasn't a good idea until well after the fact. I tried to get Caleb to stand closer and smile, but he was too distracted by the crowd and all the hoopla going on around us. A lady beside me asked how old Nola was and when I told her, I said something about giving my infant child to a Hog. Big Red rubbed his stomach like she would be a good snack for him. I thought that was pretty funny. :) Mom said that everyone around us oohed and aahed over Nola when Big Red was holding her. Only in Razorback Nation...

After the game, we went to dinner at Abuelo's. When the food runner brought our meals out, he apologized for something and Caleb looked at him and said very matter-of-fact, "You're fine." Apparently whatever the guy apologized for was just no big deal to Caleb and didn't bother his dining experience at all.

When Mom and Mr. L. left for Hot Springs on Sunday, Rudy took Caleb to Lake Ft. Smith to spend some time outside. They fished, had a picnic, went on a hike and pretty much did "boy stuff" all afternoon.

Caleb loves being outside with his daddy and I think the feeling is mutual. I would've liked to have been with them and I'm looking forward to the time when Nola is old enough that we can join them. It just would've been too much hassle to get her out there and worry about feeding her and changing her and keeping her covered up from the wind. We'll do that soon enough. Instead, we stayed home and took a nap.

Before I forget - I have two milestones to report... Nola slept all night long last night! I put her in her bed at 11:00. She slept most of the day and was awake and alert most of the evening. She napped in my arms for a while before her last bottle at 10:30. I went to bed at 12:00 and didn't wake up until I got a text at 5:45. I looked at the clock and realized that she had been asleep for a really long time, so I went to check on her. She was sleeping soundly, so I climbed back into bed and slept until 7:00. Caleb was still sleeping too, but woke up just after I did. Nola started to stir at about 7:30. Amazing!

Almost as good as sleeping all night is that she has also started to smile. She has done it a few times here and there and Mom said that she smiled at her on Friday, but yesterday was the first time she really looked right at me and grinned ear-to-ear. She did it several times yesterday and again this morning. She's also imitating more and more. She'll stare at my face intently and imitate me by sticking out her tongue and opening her mouth. Last night, she seemed to be trying to get me to play with her by sticking out her tongue and then smiling. This is when things start to get fun!

Answered Prayers for Caleb

I took Caleb to the doctor this morning. He has been having pain in his legs for over a year. We took him last February (2009) and the doctor ordered bloodwork, which came back perfectly normal. We've been watching him since then and recently noticed that he's been getting upset about it more often, even waking up in the middle of the night crying and sometimes stopping his play because he hurts. I got him an appointment for this morning and went in with a pit in my stomach. Best case scenario: growing pains. Worst case scenario: leukemia or something along that line. (We have some college acquaintances who recently lost their 5 year old daughter to leukemia which was diagnosed after she complained of leg pain and had recurrent fevers. Caleb hasn't had any fever.) Also notable is that Rudy had a lot of problems with joint pain as a young child.

So - I took Caleb in this morning and tried to shove all of the horrible thoughts from my mind, but couldn't just let it slide without checking into it again. Dr. Schaefer looked Caleb over and asked me a lot of questions. Caleb was a SUPER TROOPER about the whole thing. He even told the doctor, "We came to find out why my legs hurt sometimes. I'm not really sick." Dr. S did a great job with Caleb and even used a matchbox car to check for pain. (Caleb was impressed.)

When he was finished, he told me that he really thinks the problem is that Caleb is so flat-footed that it makes his feet turn in. That, in turn, causes strain on the muscles and bones in his legs. I told him that we buy really good shoes at Stride Rite b/c Caleb's feet are so wide. He said that's good, but he also needs an arch support and recommended that we ask at Stride Rite if they have anything like that. If not, we'll go see a podiatrist and get him fitted for them. I hope and pray that this solves the problem.

Dr. S did order a set of x-rays on Caleb's left leg, primarily to rule out the slim chance of bone cancer or a structural anomaly. When we went to check in for the x-rays, the receptionist asked me his name and I said, "Caleb with a C." Caleb quickly responded, "No, Mama, I'm Caleb with a W." He was excited about getting "special pictures" taken and the x-ray tech was awesome. She gave him stickers when we were finished and I gave him bubble gum. (He didn't like the kind of gum I had and promptly spit it in the trash.) I took him to get a Happy Meal to celebrate and reward his amazing behavior and bravery.

Now we wait to hear from the doctor about the x-ray results. Honestly, I have a peace about it. I feel so much better than I did when I walked in the office. I'm going to call and check on shoe inserts and schedule an appointment if I have to. Let's pray that it works and helps the sweet little guy not hurt anymore!

Nola @ One Month

Nola turned one month old on Saturday! It's incredibly hard to believe that she's been with us for a whole month. So, what is Nola like at 1 month? Well...

• As of 2/22, her weight is 9 lbs, 6.5 ozs.
• She takes a 4 oz bottle every 2 1/2 - 3 hours.
• She is still wearing newborn diapers, but only until we run out of them. We have about half of a package and then we'll switch to size ones.
• She's still wearing newborn clothes too, but some of them are getting a little snug. Her 0-3 mos clothes are really still too big - especially the pants. The shirts are big, but at least they don't fall off when I pick her up. I put long-sleeved onesies under some of her short sleeved tops to make them more seasonally appropriate.
• She sleeps a lot. She's only awake for a total of about an hour or two a day.
• She is sleeping a little better at night. We've had a couple of nights when I put her in her bed at 10:30 PM and she only woke up to eat once before 6:00 AM. Other nights, I usually do 2 feedings between 10:00 and 6:00. I am tired - very very tired, but I know this too shall pass.
• The pesky laryngomalacia continues to stick around. Nola is just plain old loud most of the time. She breathes loud and she cries loud. She audibly sucks in a lot of air, which leads to lots of gas and more spitting up than I'd like. I can always bet on the fact that she's going to spit up if I can't get her to burp after she eats. I've started leaving bibs on her most of the time, just to make clean up a little easier. We are going to the ENT for a follow-up next week.
• I've taken to calling Nola my "grumpopotamus." She is a pretty fussy kiddo. I hate to even say that because I have so many friends who have battled colic with their kids and they would trade Nola's fussiness for that any day. But...my sweet girl goes from calm one minute to royally mad the very next and she lets me know all about it. She cried so hard yesterday in the car that she actually bursted a blood vessel in her eye. I'm not even kidding!
• In addition to being "grumpopotamus," one of Nola's other nicknames is "Sis." I've never liked to hear families call their kids "sissy" or "bubba" because they sound so country, but "Sis" just seems to fit for Nola. I also call her "Chicky Babe" and "Little Miss" a lot. Occasionally, she gets to be "Noisy Nelly" or "Weezy." I don't even know why I use these nicknames, I just do.

So, that's Nola Mae at one month of age. I sure am enjoying being home with her. I cherish my snuggle time and the ability to calm her when she cries. I'll never regret a single minute of it.

Learning Letters

Caleb has really shown an interest in letters and spelling lately. He wants to know what letters/sounds different words start with and what words start with whatever sound pops into his head. He likes to point out the letter C and tell us, "There's a C! That starts with me!" In his new class at daycare, there is more of an emphasis on pre-academics and they study a letter of the week. Today, they introduced the letter F. We spent a long time at dinner tonight coming up with words that start with F. Rudy and I said, "f-f-fish" and "f-f-funny." Caleb responded, "f-f-ketchup!" (Maybe he doesn't quite get it yet...)

Tonight in the bathtub, Caleb was playing with his foam letters. He picked up a letter and said, "I found an F!" I was excited that he was right and told him, "Wow, great job!" His response was, "I'm so smart." After we learn all of those letters, I guess we need to start working on learning to be humble. :)