We Bought A House! 2015

We became dissatisfied living in our place at the beginning of this year, not least of all because the kids woke each other up sharing a room. I also really wanted to own a home. I had never even lived in a home that wasn't a rental. Ever. In my whole life.

Closing day! Got the keys and some champagne.

So we got a real estate agent and started looking in spring. The house we ended up buying was the first house the real estate agent took us to, even though we went ahead and looked at another 8 houses or so after that. There weren't that many houses in the area we wanted to live in the price range and condition we were looking for so it wasn't that hard to decide on this one. The weirdest part of buying the house was all uncertainty we felt regarding when closing would take place (or if it would take place) relative to giving notice that we would be moving out of our rental. I was definitely nervous for 2-3 weeks that we would end up homeless-ish.

All the uncertainty about dates also made it really difficult to schedule childcare so we weren't dragging the kids to everything. Grandma watched the kids when did the walk through. And Jon very kindly watched the kids while we did closing on Wednesday.

Thursday night we all slept at the new house with no furniture in it. I kept the kids entertained in an empty house the following day which would have seemed tough except Kevin's job was much tougher.

Hello, little house!


Running around the empty house ("the beach")


Sitting at the "pretend" kitchen table. Good times!


Playing on the new deck with the main entertainment I brought.

Kevin went to the old place on Friday with a rental truck at 7 am and met up with some movers to get our stuff out of the rental. Everything went wrong, really long story, and around 8 pm in an act of desperation we called my brother for help. My brother is officially a super-hero and he went to Floral Park to help and then came to our new house (a distance away) and helped us unload the truck. Even though we tried to send him home a few times (around midnight) he wouldn't leave until the whole thing was done. He's amazing. This also made him the first guest to our new home, though we don't plan on making future guests carry heavy stuff. Probably not.

Brother/Super hero

We were finished around 1 am. Kevin brought the truck back at 2 am... and the battery died on the way. Seriously. The universe sure likes to joke with us. He got a jump and brought the truck back.

Every inch of floor was covered with boxes and furniture Saturday morning. I unpacked like crazy and Kevin started building things with James as his assistant.

Building the dining table together.

By Monday, we had almost all the furniture set up and most of the stuff unpacked. Though we still have four categories of things sitting around in boxes without a home:

1) Food- We need a pantry
2) Decorations- We haven't decided what to keep in the new place and what to set free.
3) My office things- I don't have an office space at home yet.
4) My dad's books- We're considering buying more bookshelves, but I'm not totally sure.

We're very happy with our little house. The kids like their rooms and the backyard, and spend the whole day running around. I love being able to sit comfortably around a dining table! Having a washer and dryer! It's the little things! I even love that our house is little- less cost and maintenance- theoretically. We've already identified a lot of minor projects to work on.

Miranda is a Year Old! 2015

The perfect little Miss Miranda

I'm kind of sad my baby is already a year old. She is the most beautiful, smart, sweet little baby we could ever have hoped for. We love her little raspy laugh, seeing her dance, hearing her say tickle-tickle-tickle, and have her give us "kisses" by smacking her tongue against her lips. Miranda, your dada and I are so in love with you that it's a little ridiculous!

She's in charge of the sticker this month.

Growth- Miranda had her 1-year doctor's appointment yesterday! Her measurements were 31.5 inches tall, and 22 pounds and 8 ounces. She's wearing 12 months pants (or he would if we had any) and 12-18 month and 18 month shirts.  She has 4 adorable teeth that she chews and smiles with.

Cute smile!

Eating- She just came off formula (hurray!) and she can, and does, to eat everything. She loves meat and sweet things, especially.  She feeds herself finger foods and has co-opted her brothers sippy cups for extra water and milk.

Her passion for food mirrors mine.

Sleep- If James doesn't disturb her, Miranda sleeps through the night from 8:00 p.m to 8:00 a.m. (2 more hours than her brother used to sleep at night at this age). She takes two naps a day in her crib, by herself, one 45 minute nap, and one 45-120 minute nap, depending on how much she slept the night before. 

Can you handle the cuteness? I cannot. 

Moving- She's been walking since 10 months, and within a few days she was running and carrying heavy toys with her. She had a little trouble at the park at first because she was still too little to do anything besides eat the wood chips, but she's gotten a little more comfortable with the concept and will run around for a little while before sitting down with Dada to enjoy the sights.

Running at the park

 

Enjoying the swing (sort of)

Language/ Social- She says, "dada," "mama" (though I rarely hear this one lately), "tickle-tickle-tickle," and "go!" She makes kissy noises to communicate love or playfulness, claps and dances when she likes a song, and points to people she knows because she thinks it's funny. She shakes her head no and yes, and when she does the latter she looks like Barbara Eden in a "I Dream of Jeannie." She scribbles on a little etch-a-sketch, and sometimes she steals the milk bottle to "paint" the coffee table.

Chilling with her etch-a-sketch masterpiece

She understands some things. She gets a book at night time when we ask her to. She understands, "no," but chooses to ignore us. Except for this stubborn streak and her HATRED of driving places, she's a pretty easy baby on the whole.

Sweet and innocent...

I would describe her personality as "purposefully mischievous." She thinks it's funny to do little mean things. This aligns pretty well with her father's sense of humor, though his is more witty, and hers is, so far, more slapstick.

Example: Pulling her sleeping brother's ear.

Fairy on the move! Watch out!

• Miranda at 11 Months, March 2014
• James at a Year Old, April 2012

Miranda is 11 Months and Walking 2015

While we were staying in Charlottesville, Miranda turned 11 months old. But have no fear! I packed her month sticker!

My sticker says 11 months!

Her most noticeable change is that she started walking! She took her first steps on February 24, a few days after turning 10 months old, and just a few days later she was practically running around the house, turning corners with ease and even carrying heavy toys around with her!

Running with the bottle, March 4.

Now that she can walk she has a better vantage point from which to attack-tackle James. This might look cute in pictures, but she is BRUTAL to James. The problem is James encourages it and even laughs most of the time, but every now and then she really clocks him!

The anatomy of a tackle

The other amazing thing is that I was finally able to put her down for naps alone! She resisted this just like James did as a baby, but once I night sleep-trained her she got used to the idea that I wasn't going to pick her up after I put her in her crib until she slept. Besides, James used to throw up from anxiousness if I put him down for a nap. I found the fact that Miranda didn't do that to be very encouraging. My life is so much better now that she has a little alone time, and she actually naps better. Plus James hated being quiet while I held her, now he can be a little more active while she's in her room with the door closed.

In her sleepsack on a morning we woke her to get her on Daylight Saving schedule

Skills and personality: This baby has mad skills. She says dada (first word), mama (for me and for milk), and for a little while she said baba for ball. That's gone away now though.

"Baba"

She crawled, danced, and walked in that order. Her dancing is officially awesome. She drops her butt and bounces to the beat. She prefers funk music. She also claps when she really likes music. 

She points for things she wants. A lot. She's kind of running the place with her little index finger, actually. She also gives high fives though that's been going on for a long time.

She plays and copies us and James. She scribbles. She loves getting her picture taken and sometimes tries to see the result of the picture on my phone or camera.

Doing a little baking...

Stole James's Leapfrog but appears to be using it correctly

She has her own little sense of humor. She thinks she's funny. She kind of is. She's a little mean which is part of her humor, and she's very stubborn. She understands "no" and also that it doesn't apply to her.

Pretending to feed James a bottle.


Love this expression!

She's been giving hugs for a long time, but while we were in DC she started making kissy noises which I take to mean she is giving us kisses. So far I've only noticed her blow kisses to me and Kevin.

Best friends.


Maybe.

Love her like crazy!

James's First Day of Nursery School 2014

I was more excited about James's first day of school than James, or anyone. James hasn't been to school or daycare before. Up until now he's been home with me every day, and really he was overdue for something more challenging. He'd been going to Tiny Tots activity thing at a nature preserve with Kevin and we learned that they also have Nursery School. He's just there a few days a week for a few hours but it's a big deal!

Look at the little man!

First in a yearly series with his sister

He's attending the Center for Science and Learning's Nature's Kids Nursery Program at the Tanglewood reserve.* It's a nature and science nursery school on a nature preserve. They have a lot of rescued animals there including parrots, owls, and a huge blue-tongued lizard of some kind. Among other things, they slosh around in mud and go looking for bugs. I'm equal parts excited and terrified for him. He thinks it's all awesome.

We're here!

Checking out his classroom and meeting one of the teachers, Ms. Sue.
His other teacher is Miss Andrea.

Parrot in the classroom

Showing Miranda the preserve dinosaur

Oh hi.

He liked it so much that he asked NOT to go home when Kevin went to pick him up. Then he had a huge fit when Kevin made him leave. He did this the second day too.

 

Pick up photo: Does not want to go!

One of my favorite things is that the teachers put up a board each day showing what they learned. As you know, asking a toddler questions can provide you with mixed results.

Learning Log

So it begins! Our little baby is growing up. He's awesome and I'm so excited for him.

Baby Miranda Born 2014

When I got to the hospital I thought I'd get a sonogram, a doctor to help me decide whether the baby was too big to VBAC or not, and AN EPIDURAL. But I got a nurse and a resident, who told me that I wasn't dilating, so I couldn't get an epidural unless I was in active labor (which means dilating). That didn't make a lot of sense to me, since actually it was a lie.  The resident also said I couldn't get a c-section unless I was in active labor which is definitely not true because I had a scheduled c-section for Thursday which is done when you're not in labor at all.

 

In Labor Triage, between 4-minute contractions with no epidural!

Kevin is excited to spend the night in a broken rocking chair

Another resident gave me a sonogram and told me the baby was 7 pounds plus. I laughed because that was almost definitely not true. I told her my firstborn was 9 pounds and 12 ounces so the estimate was surprising to say the least. She called in the doctor on call to check and she estimated 9 pounds. I nodded and said that sounded more accurate. When it finally dawned on them that my contractions were getting closer together and they weren't going to be able to send me home even if I weren't in "active labor" I was finally put in a Labor & Delivery room.

In Labor & Delivery, when my contractions were 2 minutes apart, I finally got an epidural! I was pleased that Kevin could be in the room for that part because with a scheduled c-section my hospital doesn't let your partner in for the epidural, and with James, my epidural took a horrible 75-minutes. This time it was fast and not terribly unpleasant. After that I lost track of my contractions for a while. They told me that since I still wasn't dilating my doctor would come in for my c-section between 6-8 a.m.

But suddenly 4 nurses ran into my room in a panic, put me on oxygen and explained that I'd had 3 contractions in a row and the baby was in distress. The baby was fine now, but they'd call my doctor and have the c-section as soon as possible.

In Labor & Delivery where contractions went from 2 mins to 0 minutes apart--

After they prepared me for the c-section

Suited up for the emergency c-section!

At this point I was not sad not to have a successful VBAC. I was mentally singing the praises of scheduled c-sections at 39 weeks for huge babies. It was that moment when everything you thought you knew turned out to be mostly wrong. I have those a lot. (I'm starting to think that if you don't, you're probably just stubbornly sticking to a lot of wrong stuff.)

Relieved to have the baby come out!

Second c-sections take longer than the first (now they tell me!) and I was definitely concerned about whether or not things were going well on the other side of the curtain so (TMI alert- you can skip the rest of this paragraph if you get queasy) I looked. I saw my reflection in the overhead lights and I watched my own c-section. The mirrors in the lights were sectioned so I couldn't see things as one picture but I could see my baby's head or the doctors or what not depending on where I looked. I'm glad I saw my child born.

They got her out and I asked to touch her first- since Kevin got to hold James first. So they wrapped her up and let me kiss her. This is my favorite picture from the day.

LOVE!

We did it! She's here!

• Compare to James's birth story, exactly 3 years ago in 2011

Things My Wife Complains About #26: Second Pregnancy

If you thought being pregnant the first time was hard, you should try being pregnant again. My wife is finding the whole second pregnancy thing pretty exhausting. As in, she's tired all of the time. As in, she fell asleep while I was writing this. She woke up to fall back asleep.

There are a few things that make the second pregnancy harder, such as James, James, James, and James. Last time my wife was pregnant, nobody in the house woke up at five o'clock every morning. Nobody screamed "I NEED THIS" for everything from a Curious George book to an abandoned pretzel. Nobody dropped a fork four to seven hundred times each dinner, and nobody insisted she admire lego constructions that are supposed to be "planes" or "bats" but actually look like wheelchair ramps designed by someone coming down from a bad trip.

Beyond fatigue that borders on hibernation, her symptoms include cravings so exotic I suspect she's participating in a reality show, and I'm being clandestinely filmed. After expressing deep concern at the absence of Panda Puffs this morning and simply writing "Graham Crackers" in an email, she appeared legitimately heartbroken that I failed to bring home a pumpkin pie donut, not to be confused with the pumpkin donut or pumpkin munchkin I fetched earlier (she didn't like either). A recent trip to Trader Joe's yielded no fewer than a half-dozen pumpkin items, despite my wife's claiming that pumpkin isn't a pregnancy craving.

As noted last pregnancy, there are no possible solutions. I can now say from experience that pregnant women become increasingly rational, fair, and kind throughout their pregnancy. So I have that going for me, which is nice.

12-weeks, 10/11/13

James is a Year Old! 2012

I can't believe it's been a year since James was born! The first thing I said when I first saw James was "He's awesome!" and even though he only stared at us and cried for a few months, over the last year he has really lived up to my original declaration.  There is nothing better than hearing him laugh, seeing him shake his shoulders and break into a run when he's up to no good, or getting a big juicy hug from him. James, if you read this one day, your dad and I love you like crazy!

James, today, at 1 year old!

Growth- James had his 1 year doctor's appointment yesterday! His measurements were 32.5 inches tall (though I think he's actually 31), and 24.4 pounds. He's wearing 12 months pants (or he would if we had any) and 18 month shirts.  He has 7 teeth but the 8th one is starting to show finally.

Wearing his Huntsville shirt in the chair that Sarah painted for him

Eating- He's off formula now and according to his doctor he's allowed to eat anything now.  Nonetheless, we avoid cheese because it seems to disagree with him. He's loves everything else so he's just been getting part of whatever we eat at mealtime plus snacks. He feeds himself finger food but he also demands to hold his own spoon with more disastrous results.

Sadly, he still eats books.

Studying, March 29

Sleep- James is still sleeping through the night from 8:30 p.m to 6:30 a.m. I don't necessarily have to hold him during naps if I let him sleep in our bed and sit there watching him, he's pretty happy for at least half the nap.

Language/ Social- He's not really into saying real words regularly, but he's been babbling up a storm lately He points at stuff to find out the word.  His favorite game is to point at (poke at) my eye until I say, "ojo."

He understands certain things and acts accordingly. If I ask him, "Quieres leche?" he removes his pacifier to drink milk even if there is no milk in sight. He understands, "no," and a bunch of other things though it's hard to tell sometimes if he doesn't understand or chooses to ignore us.

Even though he just turned 1, he's on month 2 of his "terrible twos."  Maybe by the time he's 2 he'll be perfectly well-behaved?

Using his toy screwdriver, April 12

Moving- If he thinks that he's been caught doing something he shouldn't be doing, he jumps up a little, and then he runs away. He does this even though I have caught him every time. Maybe he knows the day he's faster than me is just around the corner.

Up to no good, April 15

Happy birthday, James! We're looking forward to your birthday party next week!

Today at the park for a birthday treat

We set this up on a timer, but the train went by and distracted James