Big day for Scott!

Scott walked all the way across the room at Gym Rompers today! It was so exciting. His physical therapist goes to Gym Rompers with us to work with Scott during class, and she was absolutely thrilled. He was consistently taking about 25-30 steps in a row before falling down, and at one point, he even navigated a pile of animal puppets in the middle of the floor. All of the moms in our Gym Rompers class were cheering for him. I am so proud!

Then - we met a group of friends and their kids for dinner tonight at Chick-Fil-A, and Scott climbed all the way to the top of the play equipment without any help at all! He was so proud of himself. There were tons of kids running all over the place (it was kids eat free night), and the bigger kids knocked him down a few times, but he thought it was hilarious. My big boy.

Unfortunately, I did not have my camera with me to capture either event, but I did snap a few pictures of Scott this morning. Little monkey was trying to climb into his crib.

In his super-cool orange Fuzzi Bunz. Al Gore would be so proud of our cloth diapers.


Put some clothes on that kid!


Climbing in. If you think he's trying to get in there because he wants to sleep, think again.

Can you believe how skinny my little guy has gotten?

It's hard to believe he used to be this little porker - too fat for his Bumbo seat. He was about 5 months old here.


He looks just like his daddy.


All dressed for Gym Rompers and loving on his Chew Blanket. Grrrrrrrrrr. Get it? Chew Blanket? That thing is Gross.


My sweet man. I just love him.


And because I haven't posted a single picture of him yet, here is Tad Smith. Beware. He will eat your face. Just ask Travis.

Beware the cuteness!

Juliet was in a smiley, adorable mood today, so I decided to snap her picture. I know I'm a little biased, but I think she is precious! I could just eat her up.

Check out my happy girl....






Hmmmm....maybe this photo shoot wasn't such a good idea.


Never mind - it's time to show off the dimples!


Don't you just want to squeeze that baby chub?


In the adorable outfit Ms. Judy made for her.


In exciting news, Juliet rolled from front to back a couple of times while I was taking her picture. She's been trying to roll from back to front for a week or so now, but she always gets stuck on her side. She'll be 3 months old Thursday.

Chatterbox

I snapped this video of Scott (and my mom) today, climbing on his treadmill and talking to himself. The kid talks up a blue streak - too bad we have no clue as to what he's saying.



You'll notice the large contraption over the treadmill - we use it for Scott's physical therapy. He walks on the treadmill while supported by a harness, and it's amazing how much he has benefited from it. The physical activity of taking steps is supposed to help certain patterns develop in his brain and encourage walking, crawling, etc. At this point, Scott is doing so well that he no longer needs the harness. He is able to walk on the treadmill while holding the hand rails and with us giving him support around his hips and waist. It's pretty exciting.

Oh, and that used to be my dining room - and a fairly nice one, at that. With a table and chairs and china and crystal and everything. But now it's the treadmill room. And the toy kitchen room. Oh, well. I've given up on decorating. The children have taken over my house.

Scott has another ear infection, which warranted a quick trip to the pediatrician's office this morning. Boo. He's on his second round of antibiotics in the past three weeks. I am so ready for all of us to be well. Juliet is a little bit congested, and Travis and I have been battling congestion for weeks. It's like the cold that will not die.

FREEDOM!!!!!

Imagine that screamed in my best Mel Gibson voice.

Juliet took a bottle last night!!!!!

That is all.

Dragon Tales theme song

I think it's pretty catchy.

Lord, beer me strength.

What a day. It started out quietly enough. I woke up this morning to dark skies and rain, and the house was all nice and toasty warm with the heater running. Juliet was fussing, so I got her and nursed her in my bed, where she fell asleep. We snuggled and dozed for a bit until it was time to wake Scott for his morning physical therapy session. Session went well, after which I had to get both kids ready for playgroup at 10:30.

This is how it went:

• Get Scott dressed and diaper changed while he cries and kicks and attempts to crawl away from me.
• Juliet starts wailing in her bouncy seat.
• Nurse Juliet while wandering around the house and gathering stuff for diaper bag.
• Juliet barfs all over me and herself.
  
• Change out of barfed-on clothes and into the same yoga pants I've been wearing for past two days, along with tank top and hoodie. Swipe Lansinoh on lips and consider makeup done.
• Put Juliet in carseat, complete with barfed-on outfit, since I know she's just going to throw up even more while in the car.
• Carry Juliet and diaper bag out to the car in the rain while Scott screams for me at the front door.
• Leave screaming Juliet in the car and collect Scott.
• Drive to playgroup with Juliet shrieking the entire way.
• Arrive at playgroup, unload kids. Juliet barfs all over me and herself.
• Change Juliet's clothes/diaper (ignoring barf on myself), put her in Moby wrap, get myself some coffee.
  
• Scott sits on the floor and cries until I agree to walk him around the house.
• Walk Scott until friends distract him with other children.
• Take two sips of coffee.
• Scott poops his diaper. Take Juliet out of wrap and change him while he arches his back and kicks and attempts to crawl away from me.
• Time to go. Put Juliet back in her carseat and gather belongings.
• Juliet screams the whole drive back to the house.
• Walk in front door with screaming baby in bucket seat and Scott on my hip. Set Scott down; he immediately starts crying.
• Turn on television to distract Scott (stupid Dragon Tales I HATE THAT SHOW) while I nurse Juliet.
• Juliet barfs all over herself and my pants. Thankfully, she does not seem to mind.
• Change Juliet's clothes. Ignore barf on myself.
• Scott watches TV and Juliet plays in bouncy seat while I prepare nutritious (note sarcasm) lunch of fish sticks, cheese, green beans, corn and Goldfish crackers.
• Attempt to put Scott in high chair. He screams and arches his back and whacks his head on the chair.
• Comfort Scott.
• Attempt high chair again. Same thing happens.
• Give up on high chair and attempt to feed Scott in my lap. He refuses everything.
• Eat Scott's cold fish sticks myself. Scott drinks milk while sniffling in my lap.
• Juliet is crying. Distract Scott with television (no idea what he's watching) while I put her down for nap.
• Put Scott down for nap.
• Consume three margaritas.

Okay, I didn't really do that last part. But I wanted to. In actuality, I ate a PB&J. In my barfed-on pants. I know, fancy.

Juliet is 12 weeks old!

Juliet is 12 weeks old today. I can't believe it! The time is really flying. She's a baby now, no longer an itty-bitty newborn.

At 12 weeks, Juliet...

• smiles a ton and has the cutest, little dimples.
• loves the light-up star on her baby playmat. Her little eyes get wide, and she's all smiles whenever her star is singing to her.
• pushes up when on her tummy, with her chest completely off the ground. She's very strong!
• is trying to roll from back to tummy. She can make it to her side, but then she gets stuck.
  
• is a full-time tummy-sleeper. It makes me more than a little nervous because of the SIDS recommendation against tummy sleeping, but it's a battle I'm not willing to fight anymore. We purchased an AngelCare monitor, which detects her slightest movements while she is sleeping. If the baby goes 20 seconds without moving, the monitor alarms. It's given me such peace of mind, and we all sleep better because of it.
  
• is turning out to be a decent, little sleeper! I don't want to jinx it by talking about it too much, but Juliet has been going to bed about 8 p.m. and sleeping until 8 the following morning, with only one wake-up to nurse at 4 or 5 a.m. It is FABULOUS. Scott wasn't sleeping this well until he was 11 months old! I guess the sleep gods are taking it easy on me this go-round, since they were pretty brutal with me when Scott was itty-bitty. He was not the best sleeper, to put it mildly.
• naps sporadically during the day.
  
• does not care for her swing or car seat.
  
• tolerates the bouncy seat for brief periods of time.
• loves her blue pacifiers - but only the blue ones!
• spits up a TON. We go through a bazillion bibs and burp cloths a day.
• will bear a little bit of weight on her legs when held in a standing position.
  
• wears 3-6 month clothing.
• loves to be carried in the Moby wrap.
• gets pretty fussy about once a day, but bouncing on the exercise ball soothes her pretty easily.
• will sometimes scoot across her crib while sleeping.
• loves her Symphony In Motion crib mobile.
• has yet to take a bottle. Gah!
  

I'm just crazy about my little girl.

Holiday pictures

Backtracking a bit, but I figured I'd post a few pictures from the recent holidays. This is one of our first family pictures ever taken - it was snapped at Thanksgiving at my parents' house. Juliet was barely a month old.


Scott had a ton of fun acting silly with my brother on Thanksgiving Day.


We've had quite a few visitors since Juliet arrived. Here's my best friend Angel, getting in some baby snuggling time.


My niece Christan (on the right) with her little sister Ashleigh and Juliet. Christan and Ashleigh came to visit for a weekend, and they were a huge hit with the kids. Christan is such a natural with babies.


My other best friend Caryn drove out from Florida soon after Juliet was born. Scott decided she was the best thing ever - he could not get enough of her, and he totally dissed me for her the whole time she was here.


Scott is all dressed and ready to brave the cold weather.


The kids on Christmas morning in the matching jammies their Nana bought for them.


Scott had so much fun opening gifts Christmas morning.


A very tired (and a little bit grumpy) Scott, all snuggled up with Grandpa on Christmas Day.


My smiley little Juliet at 8 weeks old.

So much for going out.

So we attempted our first dinner out last night - all four of us. And we brought along my parents as backup. It was an abysmal failure. Everyone seemed happy enough when we left the house, but by the time we arrived at the restaurant, Juliet was starting to melt down. We got her inside, where she morphed into Crazy Fussing Baby Extraordinaire. We were at a loud hamburger joint, the kind of place where people don't care if your kids are yelling, but this was ridiculous. She was absolutely screeching, despite my best efforts at bouncing her all over the place.

So we gave up.

My mom and I left with Juliet, and Travis, Scott and my dad stayed behind and enjoyed a nice dinner of cheeseburgers. Once home, my mom and I took turns bouncing the baby on the exercise ball (hoo fun!) and eating Burger King. It was a rockin' night.

Thankfully, Juliet isn't always such a nightmare, so we'll keep her around for the time being. In fact, she was being downright adorable today. See?


On tomorrow's agenda - getting Juliet to take a bottle. I'm going to a fondue party with my MOMS Club tomorrow night and leaving Travis with the two children. He's so excited. Ha.

Here's another picture of our punk-baby daughter, flashing her dimples. It's a good thing she's cute.



And because we can't leave out her brother, here is Scott waking up from a nap the other day. That green blanket is his "chew blanket," and heaven forbid you attempt to put him to bed without it. He loves that thing, and his favorite thing to do is chew on it - hence the "chew blanket." It's pretty disgusting and perpetually smells like mildew, despite my best attempts to wash it.

Juliet's nursery!

It took awhile, but Juliet's nursery is finally finished! Here's a shot looking into her bedroom, from the doorway:

The white glider used to be in Scott's bedroom, and it was covered in blue denim. Ms. Judy, my best friend Angel's mom, recovered it for me in the most cushy, velvety pink fabric. She also sewed the window treatments.

Those gerbera daisies are a "get well" bouquet for Juliet from a friend. The dresser was a hand-me-down from Travis's parents. We painted it and added the pink glass knobs.


The stupid Symphony In Motion doesn't add much to the decor, but whatever, the kid likes it.


Here's a close-up of the letters on the wall. Angel painted them to match the crib bedding, and I love how they turned out. I'm so lucky to have such talented friends!


Ms. Judy sewed the liners for the baskets in the changing table.


This print used to hang in my great-great aunt's house. She handed it down to my mom, who gave it to me for Juliet's room. I love it! It's Snow White - see the apple in her hand?


I had so much fun, decorating a little girl's room.

Welcome!

What better way to keep up with friends and family, near and far, than through a blog?

Travis and I were married July 27, 2002. After a couple years of marriage, we decided we'd had enough of sleeping in on weekends and quiet, leisurely dinners out. So we had Scott Alexander on December 20, 2005. Juliet Evelyn followed on October 31, 2007. A leisurely dinner is now defined as one where nobody cries or throws food. And forget sleeping in - we've been perpetually sleep-deprived for the past two years. But we are loving life as a family of four, even if our entire wardrobes are peppered with spit-up stains and our living room looks like a Fisher Price showroom.

Both kids are doing well, although Juliet is recovering from a mild bout of RSV that resulted in a trip to the ER last Saturday with a high fever. It made me pretty nervous, but other than a mild cough, she's been doing well ever since. Her pediatrician gave her a clean bill of health Thursday morning, much to my relief. Being stuck in the house all week with a 2-year-old and a 10-week-old was making me more than a little insane.

Here's the little patient during her ER visit with my mom and me. She was such a trooper.

Not to be outdone, Scott busted his chin open on our concrete floor Tuesday afternoon and enjoyed his own trip to the emergency room. Fun times! Thankfully, no stitches were involved. The doctor was able to close the wound with glue. Scott charmed all of the nurses in the ER and giggled the entire time the doctor was gluing his chin. He was the hit of the hospital, crazy kid.

Scott amazes us every day with all of the new things he is doing. He has a diagnosed chromosome disorder - partial trisomy 1 - and while he is in perfect health, he is developmentally delayed in most every area. He has wonderful therapists - occupational, physical and speech - with whom he works every week, and he absolutely loves them. Scott took a few unassisted steps several weeks ago on his second birthday and is walking more and more steadily while holding onto my or Travis's hand. He is such a big boy, and we're so proud of him.

Here he is yesterday afternoon, refusing to take a nap. Stinker.


I hope you enjoy reading along about our family. Please feel free to leave a comment - we would love to hear from you!