17 days and counting...

This last weekend, Emberly went to the lake with my parents.  It's funny how you can miss someone like crazy and simultaneously feel entirely relieved at their absence.  :)  It was a peaceful weekend for the most part, in which Piper and I cleaned, went for walks after bedtime, wandered around Target, ate out, did laundry, and I worked on several sewing projects that have been on my list of things to-do for quite awhile.  I have this business venture floating around my head where I'd love to sew and sell baby items (like bibs, burp cloths, or whatever) and use the profit for an adoption fund.  (Maybe ours.  Maybe for a friend.  We still don't quite know how the Lord is leading.)  So I made a bunch of bibs and plan to set them out at our garage sale this summer... and if it goes well... maybe I'll try it on a larger level.  And if not... then I'll know!  Anyone need a drool bib??  ;)

 

 

 

 

In the midst of the relaxing, Piper and I made a 4am trip to the ER.  She has croup and was struggling to breathe.  Poor baby.  So we rushed over there and her breathing was really settled by the time we got there.  We were seen anyway, and they said that that happens all the time - the cool night air helps their breathing to even out.  Her vitals were normal, oxygen level at 98% and breathing was slightly elevated, so they let us go.  We came home around 6:30am, and I was super thankful to not have a toddler in the house that would wake up at 7am.  Piper slept until 8:30... but alas, my adrenaline was maybe kinda pumping, and I never did fall asleep.  Sigh.

 

But Sweet P is doing much better.  Emmy is back, and filled with her regular Emmy energy.  And we are continuing to count down the days until Jordan gets back.  It's 17 in case you were wondering.  And 14 until I get to fly down and go to graduation and bring him home!  :) 

Emmy the Reader

Emberly crawled into bed with her two books tonight and looked at me and said, "Mommy, tonight I will read the bedtime stories."

And she did.

She picked Blue Hat, Green Hat, which has obvious repetition and pictures that correspond exactly with the words. But she touched each word, read left to right, laughed appropriately, talked with me about what was going on mid-story, and was just spot. on.

Then she picked the Animal ABC book. People. She knew all but two letters of the alphabet!

It was just a few weeks ago that I blogged saying that she wasn't really interested in doing "school" with me. And she maybe still isn't. But she just reads and reads and pours over books and absorbs information by osmosis.

Makes my mama heart (and teacher heart) sing.

Piper

I'm frustrated with blogging because I've written two blog posts in the past week or so and both have disappeared at the last minute.  After I thought they were saved somewhere.  Grrr...

 

But I'll try again. 

 

Piper is 9-months old now.  I've tried to take a picture a million times, and this last time she pretty much ate the 9-month sticker.  So I guess we aren't going to have a 9-month sticker picture.  Such is life.  But she's pretty adorable anyway... even if she won't sit nicely for a picture anymore. 

 

She is trying so hard to be on the move.  She still sits nicely and plays in one spot much of the time, but is trying more and more to get onto her tummy and crawl.  She is successful getting to her tummy much of the time, and then does some awesome push-ups and gets up on her knees and rocks back and forth.  She even has enough coordination to move one leg forward, but then flops down to her tummy. And then does it again.  And again.  And again.  Since she sleeps on her tummy, she gets lots of good practice in her crib before naps and bedtime... but this has also greatly reduced the amount of sleep she is getting, because girlfriend just cannot stop practicing.  :)  Soon I will have two mobile children.  I'm already outnumbered... this could be interesting. 

 

You maybe remember Piper was deeply insulted at the thought of drinking out of a bottle or sippy cup since she was sick in November/December.  This wasn't a huge problem since I am home full-time, but it was kind of limiting, and also affected the people that Piper was willing to love.  :)  However, we needed to get her drinking out of something... because I am so hoping to attend Jordan's graduation without Piper.  Military events aren't so child friendly.  So we have been praying and trying and praying and trying.  And then last week I hit a point of desperation, realizing that I literally had 4 weeks to wean her and we were going nowhere.  So I researched and prayed and researched and prayed and found this awesome suggestion for an Avent soft-nipple sippy cup (that just so happens to be almost identical to her pacifier).  So the next morning (last Monday) I was waiting at the Bed Bath & Beyond doors when it opened, bought one, and by 10am she was drinking out of the sippy cup.  I was thrilled.  And kind of sad.  My baby was growing up and needed me less.  And this whole weaning thing was happening for real.

 

In a little over a week's time, we've dropped down to just getting mama's milk once a day.  So sad.  And yet, so exciting that it means I get to see Jordan in just 3 weeks!

 

In other Piper news, she had her first ear infection last week.  It was not too fun.  But she handled it like a champ. 

 

And Emberly?  She's just growing up so fast.  She was sick last week with some really high fevers (105 in the night one night! Yikes!) but just handled it like a champ.  She is soooo communicative.  She understands all of her feelings and can tell me when she's frustrated or upset or happy or whatever.  She also seems to understand tomorrow, yesterday, now, later, etc.  This is a big new change too.  She just is so full of life and opinions and two-year-old-ness.  It is really neat to watch her grow.  I know she misses her dad terribly, and I see it in her need to wrestle or play rough, etc.  I am just not good at it.  She asks about him daily, but doesn't dwell on it.  Overall, I think it is good timing for him to be gone.  I wonder how it will go when he leaves the second time.  And moving.  But she is just all kinds of flexible, so I think she'll do better than I will! 

 

That's all for now...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABC Book

Ok I've been looking at these ABC books floating around Pinterest (I know, I know) ... and I just had to make one for Emberly.  She is super interested in all things ABCs these days and it just needed to be done. 

SO I started working on this a few weeks ago and I finally finished.  My mom helped me with nearly all of the rhymes.  That is not my gift.  But how cute did these turn out?!?!  I cannot wait to get it in the mail.  I'm hitting the order form tonight.  I just need to take one last picture this afternoon! 

 

I cannot wait for it to come in the mail!!

Fever & Toys & Survival

Well... Piper has had a super low-grade temp the last few days, but I credited to teething and wasn't too worried about it. But then yesterday it went up to 101, and even after Tylenol in her system for close to two hours wasn't going down and she was just a miserable mess. So I decided to take her to the walk-in. Call me spazzy, but I didn't want to be wondering if I should have done that at 3am... wondering if I should wake up Em and haul them both in. You know? (And for the record, I totally would have wondered that with the night of sleep we had!)

And of course, all is well. Her throat looks sore and the doctor said she is no doubt fighting something off... but nothing treatable or major yet.

Any who - now my fears of having sick children or a vehicle problem while Jordan was gone have come true. And we handled them, all praise be to the One who leads the way and carries me through.

Piper now weighs 17 lbs, 4 oz, fully clothed. So she sure isn't growing at a rapid rate, but she is just my sweet, petite little peanut.




Em is catching up on some much needed rest this morning, and piper and I are marveling over some new found baby toys.

Last night I cleaned out all of the upstairs toys. And I am oh so happy about it! I put the toys in bins (in categories), then took pictures of the toys that were in the bin, printed them off with a label, and taped them on the side of the bin. Now my sweet E can put toys away in the proper place (I hope!). And of the 15 or so bins, I put away at least half of them in my closet to rotate out when these become boring again.






I'm loving it.

And that's all for us today! Almost through 2 weeks sans hubby/daddy. Dare I say, we might just survive this?!

Peace

Right now I am sitting in Panera, sans children, eating hot food, and typing away on my computer.  In peace.  And I have to say, I almost don't remember how to do this.  It's coming back though.  And I'm liking it.

But the funny thing is that there is a mom across from me, struggling alone with her 3 children to get them fed, dressed to go back outside, food cleaned up, and wrangled, and all I can think of is how much I miss my girlies.  I've only been away for two hours. 

It feels good though, to miss them.  Because I've mostly just felt kind of exasperated and tired of them.  Which is not a good way for a mama to feel.  And I think that Emmy, especially, is a little sick of me too. 

Jordan has been gone 12 days now, and we're making it.  People keep asking me how we are doing, and I keep telling people we are doing fine.  Good even.  And I think it is true.  We've been so busy we've hardly had time to think about it.  Emberly keeps telling me that Daddy is at the "Air National Guard flying airplanes."  :)  It makes me smile.  I know she misses him, because she keeps trying to wrestle with me like she wrestles with him.  And I am just not into it.  We desperately need to get outside to run off some of that energy... it just needs to happen. 

But really, we're doing well.  I don't know how single moms do this all the time though.  It gives me great appreciation for them.  I am exhausted and just plain weary in a whole new way. 

Piper is getting top teeth, so she hasn't been sleeping the greatest, and Emmy has been having bad dreams and growing pains.  Between the two of them, there aren't many hours during the night that someone doesn't need something.  We've watched more Curious George than ever before in our lives, but we've also been better at getting out of the house and doing fun things.  I've tried to relax my standards on "projects" in our house and allowed Em to paint almost every day, along with other ultra messy projects (baking soda + vinegar + medicine dropper is a current fav). 

If you've made it this far in reading this blog about mostly nothing and are a praying person, my big prayer request right now is that I would be able to wean Piper by the time Jordan graduates so that I can fly down for graduation without Piper.  Since she got sick back at Christmastime she stopped taking a bottle.  She still cannot figure out a sippy cup, either.  So if weaning her is not possible, then I just pray that Piper is a willing adventurer with me.  It's a long flight.

Hmmm... I think that is all for now.  It's almost time for me to pack up from my cozy spot at Panera, scurry around and get a few groceries, and get home to tuck my dumplings into bed.  And I have to say, I'm pretty excited to see them... :)