10 months...

Dear Clare,

Oh my girl. You really are such a fun little girl. Always happy and smiley. I love it! This month has been one of watching you go from a "passive" family member to a much more active participant. It's very clear you understand what's going on and what we're talking about. You love interacting with us and carrying on your own little conversations. It's been a great month...

As far as talking goes, you've started shaking your head no while saying "uh-uh." You usually do this when I ask "Are you ready for a nap?" or when you are about to do something you shouldn't... Like climb on the fireplace. You've also started meow-ing and woof-ing. And you love to say BOO to Damian during peek-a-boo. 

You've started taking more steps and can now stand yourself up without pulling up. We all know it's just a matter of time before you're running. 

We all got horribly sick this month. For almost a week, it sounded like you had been smoking a pack a day for the last 20 years. Thankfully we seem to all finally be better now. You got to come back in the bed with us while you were sick which kinda caused a regression on all the progress we had made on sleep. However...

Before that, we had kicked you out of the bed and were working on convincing you that you could sleep in a crib without nursing. I had changed up our bedtime routine so that nursing was not the last thing we did and instead would walk with you until you were asleep. And then one night you asked (pointed) to get in your crib. I thought I was going mad, but sure enough you happily played with your doll and animals. I sat on the floor for almost an hour but you finally just fell asleep. I thought it was a fluke but you kept doing it every night until you got sick...

You love to eat and so far like everything I've offered you other than eggs and blueberries. We still nurse about 5 times during the day, but you also love drinking from a straw. Especially if that straw is attached to Damian's cup...

Speaking of you and Damian, it's a constant game of "monkey see, monkey do" around here. Even when y'all are being bad, it's still kind of cute....

You love your daddy! Often you'll leap out of my arms for him and will give him a ton of kisses. You are very, very generous with the kisses. Unfortunately your favorite game is to smack us in the face and then when we tell you No to give us a big kiss as if to say "sorry." Over and over and over again.

You've graduated to the big kid tub with Damian. It was a little crazy at first, but now you both know the drill and no one is crying (usually) during bathtime anymore!

In typical girl fashion, you love having me do your hair. I hope this continues... But if you find a bow or hair tie on the floor, you will bring it to me and then point to your head. I'm always amazed by all the little connections you make. 

Alright my big girl, I love you and I'm looking forward to another month of adventures with you! 

Love,

Mama

9 months...

Dear Clare,

I don't know how much longer I'm going to be able to do these letters if you continue to crawl straight at me every time I go to take your picture. I have 100 pictures of your forehead and only about 2 that were sort of acceptable representations of you. You are a mess, and that is why we love you so much! All this to say--your personality is really starting to come out! I know in a few short months you'll be officially a toddler, and as sad as I am to see my baby growing up, I'm so excited to get to hear you talk and watch you do new things. Every day is an adventure. You're always on the move, into everything, and keeping us very, very, very busy. However, you are still so sweet and love to cuddle. I'm not sure which of the three of us you have more wrapped around your little finger. 

This month...

You've discovered your ability to climb stairs and you LOVE them! I cannot carry you up the stairs without you trying to jump ship and crawl up them yourself. You will also walk up them if we hold your hands. I respect your attempt, but it's hilarious seeing your little legs climb stairs. 

Speaking of climbing, I think we have our "climber." You will climb anything and everything you can. And even if it's still too tall for you, you will at least give it a shot. I bought bumper pad things for the fireplace, and your favorite activity is to peal them off and then climb up and thrown them down. Clearly they don't work very well. Time to invest in so many more gates.

You say MaMa now!!!!! Music to my ears. You also say Day-Day for Damian too, which is also pretty cute. Most mornings I will get you up from your nap, ask if you want to go downstairs to see Damian, and you happily cheer Day-Day the whole walk down the stairs. 

The two of you have really started having fun together. Damian loves to fuss at you when you're "being bad," and you love to destroy anything he's working on. Neither of you understand sharing, and Damian hoards all the toys you want. BUT when none of that is going on, you two seem to really love each other. I will occasionally catch Damian giving you kisses and you will attempt to hug Damian despite his new hatred of "kid hugs."

You still love giving kisses and hugs. When Daddy comes home, you hop in his arms and give him lots and lots of love. 

Your hair is still the topic du jour. It's crazy, in the best way possible. It's also really long and getting pretty curly. But unless I put it up, it just goes in any and every direction. You're a baby, so it's precious. When you're older, I will buy you hair products.

We had started solids awhile back, but you're really getting into trying new foods. I usually give you a little bit of what we are having each night unless it's spicy. However, your favorites are carrots and corn. You've started saying the Ka sound for corn and typically bounce excitedly until I give you some. And you've been known to get carrots out of the fridge if I leave it open too long. Also, this probably goes without saying, but Cheerios are our new treat for Mass, going out to eat, keeping you awake in the car so you don't nap, etc etc. And along the lines of eating, I guess you are going to be a baby who never took a bottle because it seems we've jumped straight over that and on to straw sippy cups. Oh well...

You still nurse a few times during the day and a few times at night. Night time sleep still stinks, but you've started giving me two solid naps during the day and that's lovely. 

I'm not convinced it wasn't a fluke since it's only happened once, but you took your first step. We have yet to be able to get you to replicate it. You will stand without holding on to anything for as long as you don't need to go anywhere. The second you realize you need something you sit down and crawl. Hopefully since you seem to have good balance now and can walk holding just one of our hands, you will be toddling around here soon. 

Well that is all for now sweet girl. I love you so very much!

Mama

Damian Update

If you saw the Instagram post from yesterday, you know Little Man has been having some issues. I hope to keep you updated so you can continue to pray for him. 

A little background... 

Damian has Biliary Atresia--a rare liver disease in which the bile ducts going from the liver to the intestines disintegrate. He was diagnosed at 2 weeks of age and at 3 weeks had a surgery known as a Kasai Procedure in which they take part of his intestines and make a new duct for bile to drain through. Praise God Damian's liver seems to have responded well to this surgery. Every 6 months his liver levels are monitored and they have always been relatively stable. We hope this means a liver transplant can wait a nice long long long time from now. However, I've been given a short list of things to keep an eye on as they could be signs of complications that can arise when one has a compromised liver. These things include a sudden, unexplained fever (from a potential bout of cholangitis,) blood in stool, spitting up or coughing up blood (from potentially bleeding varices caused by portal hypertension,) etc.

So what's been happening... 

Yesterday Damian began experiencing "some bathroom issues" with what appeared to be a decent amount of blood in it. I knew this was a sign of bleeding varices so I immediately called our pediatrician, and he got us to come in right away.

Crazy kid is just happy to have a lollipop

He confirmed it was definitely blood, and we spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon trying to figure out what the GI Team at the local children's hospital would like for us to do. I kept saying if I don't have a "plan" by 3pm I'm taking him to the ER because I know that early intervention is key as far as limiting the damage done to his liver, and I was starting to get a little mama bear crazy.

Thanks wifey for finding something that accurately depicted my mood

Normally I do a decent job keeping my whits about me when stuff happens with Damian, but we had still not been able to get into see the new GI/Liver Team here since moving back in February (that's another frustrating story for another day) and I didn't feel like I could "trust" these doctors yet. 

Anyway, a little before 3 o'clock I hear from the GI team and they would like to see him at 8 am the next day (today.) I questioned whether or not he should be seen sooner and they made it seem like it was up to me as to whether or not to take him to the ER. (Mama Bear be annoyed at this point.) So I promptly called our old GI who recommended we take him in, if he had another "episode with blood in it." Thankfully Damian didn't and we went to the GI today. The doctor explained that while it could be varices, Damian would likely also be spitting up blood as well since varices tend to bleed a lot. Also his liver and spleen felt fine, so he's hoping that's not what's causing it. We did blood work today, and the results should tell us (based on his cell counts) how profuse the bleeding is. If it is profuse (or the episodes continue,) then we will be scheduled for an emergency scope to determine the source of the bleeding. If his numbers come back fine, we will schedule him some time in the first week July to have the scope done. 

The doctor is speculating that it may be hemorrhoids that formed at the site of the new bile duct created during the Kasai Procedure or something else going on in the large intestines. Neither are life threatening, but both would require a minimally invasive surgery to correct. Or (although I find this unlikely judging by the fact Damian is acting like he feels fine) he's having a bacterial infection of some sort. 

So if you could, please keep him in your prayers that it's only something minor, and that it's an easy fix! As of tonight, we haven't heard back about blood work so I will keep you posted once we hear something hopefully tomorrow. 

Thanks again for all the kind texts, comments, etc. We really appreciate them!

This Week

Monday

St. Patrick's Day!! Woot Woot! I have some Irish blood in me so celebrating is both mandatory and legitimate. However, when one gives up alcohol for Lent... and has two kids... celebrating is pretty laid back compared to some. Nate also went to a big ol' Irish dinner with my brother and Dad, so that left me folding clothes and hanging out with my mom. I know... you are all about to invite me to your next party.

Tuesday

Just your usual day getting donuts... Damian got to watch them being made (he has new career aspirations now) and got a free hat. Clare was just confused as to why she didn't get one.

We also took Tibs to get groomed so he could see again. You would have thought he had been gone for a year with how excited Damian was to see him again.

Oh and I bought Clare (ok and me) her first Disney princess movie. And Nate and I watched it without her... And I've had this song stuck in my head since.

Wednesday

Wednesday was "nanny day" or the day that Damian spends with my mom. I got to enjoy the leisures of having only one child who can neither talk nor walk. It's amazing how much faster I can get errands done. #thingsIneverthoughtI'dsay 

Thursday

We spent a ton of time outside enjoying the wonderful weather. I took them on a jog in efforts to get ready for the Cooper River Bridge Run in 2 weeks... I'm less worried about the bridge and more worried about leaving Clare who still refuses to take a bottle, but she will survive. Anyway... We also ran to a coffee shop because I was needing a little extra motivation to get my butt out the door. Damian sang "going to the coffee shop" for a majority of the ride. After the run, I had a boost of energy and got almost all of our second vegetable garden planted. We topped off the night with some friends over for dinner, saving me from another night of solo parenting thanks to Nate being at a conference for work. 

Friday

Weeellll Friday started at 12:06 am with Damian waking up for some reason, me putting him back to bed, not being able to fall asleep until 1 when he woke up again (this kid sleeps like a rock so who knows what was up with that,) and then, of course, at 2 am Clare was ready to go. Sooo much for getting a bunch of sleep alone in my bed. In other words, I was chugging coffee this morning like the true addict that I am. And since Nate wasn't around this morning I was feeling especially deprived of adult interaction making the visit from the plumber more exciting than it should've been. I can only imagine that he was a little concerned by my sudden interest in how our house's water shutoff works. 

Today proceeded to be the slowest day ever, and at 3 pm I couldn't take it anymore. We piled in the car to go find a park. Clare got her first go at the swings, and Damian chased birds around an open field. Success. Which caused a car nap, which led to a car nap transfer to his bed, which means pigs are flying and there's a blizzard in hell. I had to go upstairs to wake him up for dinner and he asked for a bit longer. Is he a teenager already and I just missed it? Nate's currently working on getting him to sleep for the night, sooooooo here's to hoping that actually happens.

Happy Weekend!!!

Weekend Moments--Or Where I Recap All We Didn't Do

How was everyone's weekend? Was it good? Busy? Relaxing? Maybe a bit of all of the above and then some.

Since moving into the house, our weekends have become a mad dash to accomplish all the things we want to do to the house. And as Nate says, every project we start reveals 3 more we didn't know existed. It's definitely teaching us all about home maintenance--or our tolerance level for frustration and patience and all that jazz.

This weekend we accomplished......

Not a ton. That's the joy of kids isn't it. A bajillion half-finished projects.

We managed to build a raised bed for the future vegetable garden... but it has no dirt (or plants for that matter.)

The door got a fresh coat of paint, but only one because we ran out of time.

Changed some of the light switches out, but then one broke so now we need an electrician... so obviously that's on hold.

I hung 2 out of 87675643 pictures we have.

I decided on fabric for Clare's room, but didn't have time to order it.

And I'm sure there are some other *not finished* tasks I'm forgetting.

All that being said, I really like how the house is coming along. I'm hoping to do some "Before and After Progress" post soon because nothing is actually in the "After" stage yet.

Soooo... tell me about your weekend? Get anything accomplished? Or was it a little more like ours??

7 Quick Takes

1.

 Is anyone else a little depressed the Olympics are about to be over? I have no clue what I'm going to watch now. I guess I might have to actually get something done now in the evening. Orrrr just watch more Doctor Who again.

Source

2.

 The past few days have been so sunny and warm and I'm finally melting. Yesterday the kiddos and I had a picnic in our backyard, and dare I say it, but there was a moment I was actually hot.

In February.

 Remember last week when there was ice..... 

Also, the rain/humidity did a number on the kids' hair today. Damian's 5 inch fro shrank instantly after our jog (no. I don't want to talk about it.)

And Clare's "undecided" hair had distinctive curls. 

3. 

Have I ever mentioned my love of succulents?? If not, then let me start here... I love them. Mostly because they are filed under the "Plants of STEEEEEEL" (as D would say) section of Home Depot (nope still can't go back to Lowe's yet. The shame lives on.) and that makes them very hard to kill. And yet I want to plant a vegetable garden. Thank God for grocery stores....

4. 

This is the price I pay for 30 minutes of silence. 

He seems to be in his Blue Period right now. Picasso would be proud. 

(Anyone want to tell me how he figured out how to add filters to his pictures...)

5. 

The house is starting to feel a bit more like a house and a little less like a storage unit. I had to clean our bathroom today, meaning the counter was actually visible so I found that to be promising. There are still a ton of boxes in the dining room, FROG, and garage. However, we Nate did find this gem in the attic. 

#IDontEvenKnow

6. 

Got my driver's license yesterday. So I'm officially a citizen of the great S.C. again. 

7. 

I dunno... I don't really have a seventh thing to talk about. I'm getting my hair cut on Tuesday for the first time in a year? See... that's the best I could come up with. When I start talking about my hair I know it's time to just sign off. Say good bye. Cut my loses. "And all those good bye things." 10 points to the person who knows the Disney movie reference. (Thanks Damian...)  Also. I'll leave you with this. 

I found it hilarious. No? Just me? 

Le sigh.

Have a fab weekend everyone!