Snapshot: Pizza Pie!

Mama Bear

As a mother, one of my roles is to guard and guide my children as they grow. I wish I could protect my children from all of their hurts. I realize that we learn from our interactions-- both negative and positive-- with others. Evelyn was sort of blindsided twice this afternoon by a little boy her age. The look on her face as she cried just tore my heart into shreds. She looked utterly sad. I'm sure the smack to the head hurt, but I think she was also surprised and confused. I hugged her and told her how sorry I was that she'd been hurt. I told her that what had happened was not OK.

As much as I wanted to snatch her up and leave, I listened to Evelyn when she said that she wanted to continue her activity. I had to keep calm and squelch that inner "Mama Bear" that rises up when my cub is hurt. I also did my best to not project my own feelings onto my daughter. This was not easy! When I saw Evelyn's big tears rolling down her pink cheeks, I instantly thought "she wants to leave" because that is what I would feel in that instance.

We enjoyed the rest of our evening; we even stopped for ice cream on the way home. Evelyn decided on chocolate, can you tell?

Snapshot: This time last year

Around this time last year, we were closing on our first home (and enjoying Thai take-out on the back deck). So many wonderful milestones have passed in this first year: Evelyn began talking (and she hasn't stopped!). We joined several community associations. Evelyn began to draw and paint and play pretend. Friends joined us for play, celebrations, and potlucks. We painted the walls and landscaped the yard, making our house our own. We learned that we were having a second child, and we welcomed that child into the world from the safety and comfort of this house. It has been an eventful year for sure and I can't wait to see this next year in our house will bring.

My floor mat almost caused a major accident

Today, as I drove to the chiropractor's office (with Henry, sleeping in the back seat), I noticed that my gas pedal was stuck. It was pressed all the way down. I was terrified and quickly tried to dislodge it from the bottom with my foot. No response. I stepped on the breaks with all of my strength and the engine revved loudly. I was at the entrance of a freeway on-ramp, a guard rail to my right and many speedy cars and trucks slightly to my left. I steered toward the guard rail and shifted into park, put on my hazards and cut the engine. All of this happened in a matter of seconds. It was not pleasant, to say the least. I called the police because I was slightly blocking traffic and I didn't want to be rear-ended (can we say precious cargo?). It took about twelve minutes (but who's counting?) for them to respond.

In the meantime, an unmarked police car did stop and noticed that I was sitting in the backseat with a crying baby. He asked if I had pulled over to "feed". . . who pulls over on the freeway to feed a baby? I would never risk a car accident, I would just wait for the next exit! I filled him in on the details and the state trooper arrived. Fortunately, she was very kind and waited with us until Chris arrived. I put Henry into the van, where Evelyn was sound asleep, and Chris checked our car. A tow truck was on the way. I'll cut to the chase, we canceled the tow truck because Chris noticed that the floor mat was forcing the pedal down. He tossed it into the trunk. Apparently, in a German car, the driver would need to pull from the top of the pedal to dislodge it, not the bottom. Lesson learned, the hard way.

It is possible!

I did it! I had my first outing with both kids (by myself) today and it went very well. Chris and I were driving separate cars home from the chiropractor's office-- a story for another time!-- and I decided to be brave. There was a Trader Joe's along our route. I thought it would be a great petri dish if you will for experimenting with grocery shopping as a Mom of two small kids. The store is relatively small, so I didn't think I would lose Evelyn in rows and rows of aisles. I prepared Evelyn ahead of time, letting her know that she would need to walk right next to me since I'm not yet able to lift her up into the shopping cart. I wore Henry in the Ergo (with the new infant insert, which is fabulous by the way).

It's amazing how much more independent Evelyn has become since Henry's birth. I think she's been capable of much of what she is doing all along, but I just never gave her the chance. For instance, she is completely able to get in and out of her car seat when it is in the third row of our van. She helped load the cart with veggies and flowers. In the store, I commented frequently on how helpful it was that Evie listened so well and stayed close. I'm not sure if the stars were aligned or if Evelyn was just in the right mood, but our quick trip was a success. I didn't even have to beg her to get back into carseat when were finished!

Strong Henry

Henry is practically five weeks old and he is a strong baby. He loves to "stand" when I'm holding him. He plants his little feet into my lap and wobbles a bit while holding his head up for about half of a minute. I can tell that he enjoys this. Henry also does little push-ups when he is on his tummy. This was a surprise last week at his one-month check-up. We set him down on his tummy on the exam table for a moment and he pushed himself up, holding up his chest, neck, and head. Most of the time, though, he just snuggles up on my shoulder.

We've been enjoying more awake time with Henry lately, though he still sleeps more often than I remember Evelyn sleeping as a newborn. Henry is also looking more like "himself." His face is no longer the puffy days-old newborn face that looked so much like Evelyn when she was first born (though he certainly still has a newborn face!). He looks a little worried in the first photo below because the flash had already gone off once and he wasn't too sure about it.

Snapshot: Evelyn's bedroom-- update!

The curtains (with built in blackout panels) and hardware finally arrived and they're working out really well!