Friday, November 19, 2010

Ella is 4! (alternately titled: where did the time go?!)

Ella is 4! At this time 4 years ago, I think I was just going from the delivery room to my room (she was born at 9:50 am). I was exhausted from being in labor all night. I know I was swollen from the 12 hours of IV fluids. I was sore for obvious reasons. And I think I was a bit in shock and feeling overwhelmed. And *hungry.* That meal of french toast will remain in my memory as the best meal EVER.

Ella was tiny. I mean, she was normal, full-term. But she was a small 6 lbs 14 oz. And when the doctor put this squalling, slimy, tiny person on my stomach, I didn't have a clue what to do with her. I was so relieved that the labor and delivery was over but kinda felt like, "well, now what do we do?" She was born on a Sunday morning and we didn't go home until Tuesday evening. There wasn't a single issue, but we were a bit scared to take her home and take care of her ourselves. I was a total newbie in this situation. I think the newest baby I'd held was at least a week old. I was 5 when Leslie was born and didn't have any nieces or nephews. None of our close friends had kids yet. Steve had more experience, what with having had two siblings born when he was in high school. I leaned on him a lot that first week.

The day that Steve went back to work, I was terrified. In a lot of ways, that was the day I feel like I really had to step up and be a parent. I couldn't hand her off to someone else. I was solely responsible for her. As a result, I don't think I ate or used the bathroom more than once that day. I don't think I put her down other than to change her diaper. I remember her sleeping on my lap and all of a sudden my lap was hot and wet. I'm not sure why, but I was absolutely convinced I'd lift her up to find my lap full of blood. It wasn't. Her diaper had just leaked all over me. But my mom called me back shortly after that and I just sobbed. New mom fears and post-partum hormones paired together are a horrible thing.

Things got easier. I realized I could put her down. When she got fussy, I'd pack her into the car seat and we'd go drive. Overall she was a happy, easy baby. She slept well, which helped immensely (lack of sleep is my kryptonite). Each new stage was a bit easier, while also bringing new challenges. Life got busier, we moved, new babies came, and all of a sudden Ella is 4. She long ago gave her her bottle, her pacifier, and her crib. She's even given up her toddler bed and diapers. She knows all kinds of things. She can count to 20 (although a few of those teens trip her up). She knows all her shapes and colors and most of her letters and numbers. She can even spell a few words. She can build impressive towers and run and jump and kick a ball. She tells jokes and sings songs and tries to cheer up her sisters when they cry. She's usually moving and always talking. At some point, my tiny baby grew up into this little person. I'm so proud of this little person Ella has become, but it's a little bittersweet. When someone tells me she'll be driving, in college, married with kids of her own before I know it, I believe it. Look how much she's grown already.
A few hours old.

A few days old.

One year old.

Two.

Three.

My big four year old.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

All in the last week...

- Monday we had my parents, brother, and sister over for dinner. I love my family. Although with the timing of their arrival, I ended up with an audience for my workout. For the HIIT workout, it was Mom and the girls. She was impressed. Dad and Reid came in for the upper body strength training. I prefer not having an audience but you gotta fit in the workout when you can.

- Mom and Dad came over Tuesday morning for a bit too. The girls love having them here, they help out a bit, and I get adult conversation. Wins all around! The rest of Tuesday was uneventful, I think. It kinda gets lost in the rest of the week (you'll see).

- Ella is now potty trained! Steve had the brilliant idea of putting a sticker on a fishbowl and Ella earned scoops of water each time she stayed dry and/or did her business on the potty. Once she reached the star, she got a goldfish. She reached it on Wednesday and we made a huge deal out of it. We made a family trip to Meijer for her to pick out a fish and underwear, taking lots of pictures along the way. It worked beautifully. She's only had a handful of accidents since then and has worn underwear except for bedtime. She's stayed dry during nap and even kept her pull-up dry last night. Awesome! We haven't left the house much yet, but I think she'll do okay as long as we plan for it and use the potty right before we leave. I'm so proud of her! She turns four on Friday.

- Ella learned about death. Sadly, we are no good with fish. Goldy lived with us for about 36 hours. Poor Ella was devastated. She loved that fish. We tried again. Judd made it 24 hours. Poor kid. We're thinking we'll get an actual tank with a filter and buy purified water and some of that water conditioner next time. We'll also ask which fish don't die easily.

- Nora started purring. She keeps learning new noises. They're great. She also does this awesome bobbing dance. When she gets excited, she wrings her hands and moves her feet in circles, although that's not new. She's awesome. As I type this, she's "talking" to Steve. She giggles at her sisters all the time. OH, and she smacks her lips. She does it most often when I have my evening snack. Hilarious.

- I tried a pomegranate. Silly me, I didn't look up how to get the seeds out of one before I sliced it open and tried to pry them out with a spoon. Half the kitchen was speckled with the purplish-red juice. It was a sticky mess. Apparently it works best to score the sides, split it open, and pop the seeds out underwater. The rind part floats while the seeds sink. I still haven't decided if I like it even to buy one again. It was a pain to de-seed. Later that night, I prepared a bowl of veggies with teriyaki sauce. Yes, I'm a little weird and love my veggies. Unfortunately, I tried to set the bowl down on the shelf next to the recliner. There wasn't enough room and it tipped. Teriyaki sauce everywhere. The arm and side of the recliner. Down the wall. On the carpet. On the heating vent. Some of the veggies fell down the vent. Steve came home a few minutes later and asked what I'd been cooking. Nothing really, he smelled the teriyaki veggies that fell in the vent right before the heat kicked on. That was Wednesday.

- Wednesday night (yeah, that was a big day here) Mia complained her stomach hurt. I figured she was hungry because she didn't eat much of her dinner. Nope. She threw up all over her bed. That was about 9:30. She felt better after that and slept pretty well the rest of the night, except for around 1:30 when her crying woke up Nora. I ended up feeding Nora before going back to bed. Around 2:30, I heard Ella coughing and got up to check on her. Again, vomit all over the bed. Steve got up and we changed her bedding and clothes and started our second load of vomit-covered sheets that night. Luckily both just threw up once and were done. Steve felt pretty horrible all day at work but never got sick. I didn't feel great but not too bad either. Friday was worse for me, although I never threw up either. Thankfully Steve was able to work from home. That's how he got the unlucky job of explaining death to our almost-four year old.

- Saturday morning we got bunk beds from my brother's house and a dresser from my grandma's house. The girls are now sleeping in the bunk beds that Reid and I had when we were little. Full circle, huh? And I'm excited about the dresser. I'm pretty sure it came from my great-grandma, who we unwittingly named Nora after (her name was Nora Alice and she went by Alice). My cousin Brian and his fiance Rebecca brought them to us, so we had them, Reid, and Leslie stay for lunch. After they left, Steve picked up Isaac so he could help rake leaves. Our yard isn't that big and we didn't think there were that many trees, but we get a ridiculous amount of leaves and pine needles in our yard. Poor Isaac had been at a lock-in the night before and had barely slept. By the end of the day, Steve and Isaac were beat. We had a quiet evening at home.

- Today we didn't do much. After the crazy week we had, that was fine with us. I did have a freaky dream early this morning. In it, we were at Steve's high school reunion and he kissed an old friend's head in front of me. The girl and her other friends were mean and snooty. They were prettier than me, thinner than me, and obviously had more primping time than me. And they ignored me. When I pulled him aside and asked about it, he rolled his eyes. We got into a big fight. I woke up then and couldn't get back to sleep. That picture of him nuzzling another girl's head was SO vivid. But the man I married is nothing like the man in my dream. He held me and reassured me he was not a jerk, would never do that, and he loves me and only me. I know that but I really needed to hear it with that picture in my head. Life is good when the man in reality is better than the one in your dreams.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Recently heard in the Scott house

Ella: Raking leaves is my favorite thing!
Mommy: Good, you can help Daddy this weekend.
Ella: (pause) Well, raking is Daddy's favorite thing. Mine is jumping in the leaves!

(after discussing scarecrows)
Mia: Why aren't they in the garden?
Mommy: We don't have a garden.
Mia: We have flowers.
Mommy: Where?
Mia: On my bed. (She has a flowered comforter.)

Mia: I like piece-a-ghetti.

Mommy: Mia, keep your hands off the tv. (Later) Mia, keep your hands off the window. (Later) Mia, keep your hands off the laptop.
Mia: But Mommy, I want my hands on the books!
Mommy: Oh. That's fine. Go get books.

(after doing her business on the potty (!!!))
Mommy: Ella, you're awesome!
Ella: Mommy, I'm not a rock star. I'm a girl!

Ella: When I was born, I was a little boy. And that means I was BORING.

Mia: (playing with my flower necklace) But where is its garden?

Mia: There's a scary ghost! (on the Cheez-it box)
Mommy: Say "go away, ghost!"
Mia: Go away ghost! (pause) Mommy, it didn't work.
Mommy: (turns box around)
Mia: Now there's an angry tree!
Mommy: Tell it to go away.
Mia: Go away angry tree!
Mommy: (hides the box behind the box of Oatmeal Squares)

There's plenty more that I can't currently think of. My kids are hilarious.

Friday, November 5, 2010

More random thoughts

- This morning, a man I don't know (at least I don't think I know) was in a car accident in Spring Arbor with his two grandkids. He died later at the hospital. The kids are okay but they lost their mom a few years ago. The whole is so sad and a sharp reminder to be careful and be thankful.

- Ella is making progress with the potty training. We still have her in pull ups but she stays dry most of the time and usually goes on the potty. I'm thinking we'll try her in real underwear again this weekend. It's easier when Steve is home too and we're usually doing laundry then anyhow. Mia will sit on the potty but hasn't peed on there once yet. Right now we're working on getting her more comfortable there so she can pee there once she has more bladder control. If we get even one out of pull ups/diapers, it'll save us a good $60 a month. Two of them out would practically save us a car payment.

- Nora is back to sleeping through the night pretty much every night. Mia is still not. I'm SO thankful that 2/3 are good sleepers. I've also come to the conclusion that I require a ridiculous amount of sleep to be a good, patient parent. Coffee and cardio help immensely too.

- Halloween (I will post pictures) was interesting. We went to Trunk or Treat and we cut in line. I don't feel bad. I have 3 kids under 4, it was cold, and we only did 1/3 of the cars. Plus we found out later that there were over 5000 people there. Still don't feel bad. Ella was a cheerleader, Mia was an Arabian princess (Ella's costume from last year), and Nora was a pink teddy bear. We also passed out candy the next night and I was reminded of how much I dislike other people's kids. Teaching manners and discipline isn't THAT hard. But it does take consistency, which is apparently more than the general public wants to do. (Friends, I like your kids. Thank you for being good parents and teaching your kids manners. I appreciate more than you know. Seriously. One of my biggest fears since my friends started having kids is that I wouldn't like said kids.)

- Becky is having a girl! I have no idea what name ideas they have yet. It appears that the grandparents are stuck in the pink world of princesses for a while longer. This means we'll have four nieces and no nephews. That's a lot of little girls when you add our three.

- There's more info on my other blog, but I'm down 42 lbs now. Only 18 left to my pre-pregnancy weight! I have a few sizes left to go too, but I'm happy with my progress and reasonably happy with my appearance now.

- October was a rough month and I was happy to see it go. November has been somewhat kinder already.

- Today was Liz and James' due date with Annika. She's now five weeks old and doing pretty well. I am so happy for them. James goes back to work on Monday and the grandmas had to go back home. Please keep praying for Liz as she continues to adjust to life with three kids and learns how to handle all three alone.

- I had a horrible hair cut last weekend. A bob, shorter than I wanted, all one length. No layers whatsoever. My head looked like a triangle and my hair looked flat. I gave it a day or two to try to adjust. It made me cry when I saw myself in the mirror. I called and said I wasn't happy. They were very gracious and had me come back in. This sweet girl fixed it. It's still far too short for a ponytail but I like it now. Moral of the story: speak up if you're not happy. Too often I let things go and I am so glad I didn't just let this go.

- I'm in a somber mood today. Maybe it's the weather and the news? I'm happy for what we have and our little life, but it's definitely a somber thankfulness and not remotely giddy.