May

Another month ended. Time for another post.

I'm really failing at blogging so far this year. I completely missed my annual thankfulness month. I did have an excuse (new baby and all that) but I was kind of bummed that I missed it. Maybe I'll do a month this summer. I have two or three other posts going that I hope to eventually publish!

I'm also failing at recording the baby stuff. Not that Mr. A has been doing THAT much, but really, I've gotta get it together.

He turned 3 months 3 weeks ago. I don't know how heavy he was then. I weighed myself last week holding him and not holding him and the difference was 16 pounds. Even if not exactly right I think it's pretty close. I do know that he fits nicely into 3 and 3-6 month clothes. He even wears a few 6 month things that were handed down so probably have shrunk a bit. He's becoming more and more responsive, smiling and cooing and "talking" to us when we talk to him. Sometimes I'll glance at him and he is smiling at me for no reason. He is ticklish but just can't quite get a real laugh or chuckle out -- he just squirms and grunts. Ha!


He still usually sleeps one nice long stretch at night, from between 9 and 10 p.m. to sometime between 4 and 5 a.m. He wakes to eat, sleeps another couple of hours, then wakes to eat again. I usually changed his diaper at that first early morning feeding but I stopped doing it a couple of weeks ago. He's been more and more restless in the early morning and finally that cartoon lightbulb went on over my head -- he was uncomfortable! Well, duh. So I've gone back to changing him and he sleeps better afterward.

He has consolidated his daytime sleep into 3-4 naps. He isn't on a consistent schedule -- I'm going to work on that over the next few weeks.

I've been trying to help him learn to go to sleep on his own. He used to fall asleep anywhere, anytime, but I unknowingly sort of messed that up, so I'm trying to fix that before it gets any worse. One day last week I was letting him fuss a bit in his crib and he started getting really mad -- it turned out that he had rolled from his back to his belly! He's done it several more times since. He hates being on his tummy so it makes for an angry baby. In the last couple of weeks he has also started bearing weight on his legs and trying really hard to sit upright when he's in his swing, bouncy seat, or on our laps, so today I put him in the walker. His toes barely touched the floor so we put a pillow under his feet and wedged him upright in the seat with a blanket, just like we did with the girls when they were about that age. He is the eighth cousin to use that walker -- it certainly has made the rounds.

Pops came to visit us this month! It was AWESOME and I will do a separate post about it soon.

The Boogie is just about finished with school. Yesterday was supposed to be our last day but we didn't do any work so we still have a lesson to complete in each subject. God really blessed and first grade went so so well. I'm very impressed with all that the Boogie learned and retained. We'll do lots of reading and some hands-on math this summer and be all rested and ready to go into second grade in the fall. I already have most of her curriculum for next year, thanks to online sales and eBay! I'm a little apprehensive already about second grade. It seems like she will have a lot to do each day. However, I haven't really looked that closely at the curriculum so maybe it won't be as much as it seems.

One day after she got dressed I had to tell her that her shirt didn't match her skirt. "I think it matches perfectly!" she insisted. Well. Okay, then. In today's fashion world I guess it does.

She is so good with Mr. A. I can always count on her to distract him for a few minutes at a time. This morning she read him some stories. He loved it!

Peabody has learned to write her name this past month. She loves to do "school". One day she brought me some flashcards to do with her -- she could read the problem and then I would tell her the answer. She seems really ready for more constructed work so I've assembled workbooks and promised her that when the Boogie starts second grade, Peabody will be in preschool. She is so goofy. She still makes us laugh every day. She is very affectionate, too, and randomly will say, "Mama? Well, I love you." She still calls me Honey but it's about 50/50 with Mama now.

She likes to do her own hair nowadays. She and the Boogie should start their own hair and apparel business -- they'd really go places!

And that (with the exception of Pops' visit) just about sums up the month. To finish things off, a few random pics of the little fella.

Nice chins

Some (very, very) late night shots

Someone gave him crab jammies. I LOVE THEM.

Sleeping in church. And the pastor's grandson, at that.

Little old man baby!

He's actually a lot more smiley than he seems to be in these shots. But smiling or not, he sure is cute!

Spring and Other Stuff

Time for a catch-up post of randomness.

I can't remember if I wrote that there is a new cousin across the pond -- Eric's sister had her baby on March 15. Poor thing, she went something like 17 days past her due date which beats my record of 14 days overdue with Peabody. MIL flew to Scotland a week before SIL's due date, and ended up having to extend her ticket since she was supposed to return before the baby was even born. Baby girl is very cute and we get to meet her soon when they come over to visit.

With our tax return we finally ... finally ... FINALLY replaced our nasty old couch. For the past few years every time I took off the slipcover to wash it I would look at the upholstery underneath and say to myself, "That's it! This thing has to go!" And then I would sit down at the computer and start couch shopping and gasp at prices and then I would get up and wash the slipcover and put it back on. So that happened every 3-4 months or so and meanwhile I did my research and we decided on an inexpensive sofa from IKEA that consistently got good reviews for holding up pretty well to family abuse. And, bonus, it also has a machine-washable cover. It used to be that the only washable cover option was white which I really did not want -- one reviewer said she liked having a white couch because then dirt showed up which encouraged her to wash it frequently. I, however, like not knowing that my couch is dirty and would prefer to wash the cover when it is convenient for me. IKEA recently added several more machine-washable options, so we went with a sort of beige with a lighter contrast piping. It pretty much matches our carpet but hides dog fur so I feel like that is a fair exchange (while Mama Dog is not permitted on the furniture she does sneak up there from time to time plus fur gets on socks then transfers to couches.) We got a matching ottoman too with storage underneath and we are overall really happy with everything.

I posted the old couch for free on a yard sale group on Facebook -- honestly I was afraid no one would want it and we'd be stuck with trying to get rid of it but someone took it by the end of the week. The Boogie was really sad to see it go. She said she loved it and she cried and cried about giving it away. Thankfully she wasn't home when it actually went and there haven't been any more tears.

Good-bye, old couch. I sure hope your new owners gave you a good cleaning.

The Boogie got to sing in the spring program at her cousins' school in April. She was elated to be part of it -- she told everyone that it was a dream come true! I was really impressed with how well she memorized all the songs. She had about 2.5 weeks to do it (because I didn't think to ask if she could be in the choir until then.) She sat in the front row and did very well although she was the most fidgety of all the kids. She said, "I couldn't help it! I was so itchy!"

We got the girls bunk beds for their birthdays, and I made duvet covers out of flat sheets. The original plan was to buy the covers at IKEA, but ours didn't carry the ones we wanted, and I'm actually really glad because I like the ones I made even better.

Peabody has been saying funny things. I wish I would write all of them down like I used to do with the Boogie's words. Here are a few recent ones that I do remember:

-While I was making up her bunk (on the bottom): "Be careful for the wood, Honey, it's very bonkable." I guess it's appropriate that she calls them bump beds.

-She often wakes with some pretty admirable bedhead. One morning it particularly wild. "Wow, your hair is super crazy today," I said.
"Yeah," she agreed, "my hair had a party last night."

-While riding in the car the Boogie said, "When I grow up I want a house with a balcony!"
Peabody had to chime in: "When I grow up I want a house with a bench. An' a hamster."

-She told her sister, "Girls are very very polite ... but boys are cruel."

-The little man had to have a couple of shots. Peabody wanted to know why, and I explained that they were to keep him from catching certain diseases. For the rest of the day she told anyone and everyone, "I have a terrible disease. Dere's somefing blocking the way for the water can't go down my froat [throat]."

-"Honey, a aar'vark is not somefing gross dat you clean up. A aar'vark is jus' a animal."

-I asked both girls if they like their names. The Boogie likes hers, but Peabody said no.
"Do you wish you had a different name?" I asked.
"Yes," she said.
"What do you wish your name was?"
"Rainbow," she immediately replied. Huh. Never would've guessed that.

She asks on a regular basis if she can drive, or if we would please teach her to drive. "No," we would say, "you don't know how." "Then will you teach me?" she would plead.

Finally one day Eric let her sit on his lap and "drive" around the church parking lot. She was so excited and then bitterly disappointed when she wasn't permitted to drive home.

She talked about her upcoming birthday for months. MONTHS. We counted down months, then weeks, then days (or sleeps.) What she really wanted was a doll with the same name as hers ... and she got her! Plus matching outfits. Too cute.