Tuesday, March 30, 2010

How did it get to be April 30


How did it get to be April 30, 2010? How did it happen that Will turned one on Sunday and Isabelle is four? I know the logical answer to these questions. I just don’t know the emotional ones.

It seems like the past year has flown by. We went from having this tiny baby who honked while he nursed and wouldn’t sleep, with an angry/jealous big sister, two having two vibrant wonderful children. Well, Isabelle still occasionally is a green eyed monster, but hey, it can’t all be perfect.

I don’t know exactly when Will started to love soft, cuddly things. I don’t remember the first time he snuggled up laying of a soft pillow when I patted it. I can’t exactly remeber when he went from just milk to jars of baby food, to wolfing down real food…and throwing on the floor everything he doesn’t want. When did that all happen?

And what about Isabelle? She now rides Dotty by herself, continuing her fearless reign of divaness. She refuses to play soccer or take swimming at the MAC and only wants to go to gymnastics or the doctor if it’s a woman in charge. She tells me getting her “llamies” would be a “good opportunity.” Oh, and the llamies, duct-taped and all, still must go everywhere with her.

Isabelle is bright and daring and stubborn. She makes me want to send her to the moon and yet, makes me laugh with silliness and still makes my heart warm when we snuggle. She laughs at TV shows and movies. She is starting to get good at letters. She…every single night…does not want to brush her teeth or pee. She wants me to read Curious George because it’s the longest book she has.

She still refuses to let me do anything cute with her hair. She loves frilly clothes and shoes and shopping. She changes her outfits three of four times a day; it drives Pail nuts (the clothes are not put away neatly). Hello Kitty is the bomb. Princesses and Minnie Mouse are cool too as are mermaids. Lately she has want to watch ET over and over again. This is fine by me, it beats Beethoven. We can go nights without watching “Rocket,” and thankfully have started watching Charlie & Lola again (Isabelle now uses the cute British tem “straight away” from this show). Gone is Hannah Montana, here in the Wizards of Wiggley [Waverly] Place.

Isabelle loves school. She’s a pill about who her friends are—although I think a fair amount of that is for my “benefit.” It was all Elizabeth and then Grace; Finley is a constant as is Sarah—whom Isabelle adores.

Isabelle still isn’t keen on wearing her “skivvies,” but its getting better. When we asked why she didn’t have them on the other day she said she had her “invisible underwear” on. How do you argue with that? She loves Mariah, the sitter with horses. She like to say “Mariah is better than you” with the look of the devil in her eyes. Pretend crying on my part always solicits a laugh.

She still talks about death a lot. Prays for Grandma Charlene and Meeko and Mickey to come back. She’s very sophisticated in her thoughts on the subject in many ways.

Isabelle has started to like Will more. She can still be a jealous nut when it comes to my time, but she also likes to make him laugh. He adores her.

He is a pretty happy guy. He sleeps well at night and is mostly cheery. Like Isabelle he has no “stranger-danger” at all. He refuses to learn signs (he has a universal one handed “all-done” he uses for everything). He is quieter and more contemplative than Isabelle. He’ll play on his own and loves to look at and digest new things. He loves the lights and ceiling fans. He pulled a reed off his dragonfly light by bending it so much.

Will is soft and cute and adorable. He melts my heart. He doesn’t want to leave my arms in the morning and clumsily rushes to me when I come home.

I don’t know when all of these things developed. I don’t know how I got so very lucky, but I did and I am.

Monday, August 03, 2009

Can you guess?


Its amazing how much some things change and some are the same. Below is a picture of Isabelle and Will (at birth, with Daddy) -- can you tell who is who? It's amazing how similar some of those pictures look. Sweet babes...







Tuesday, July 28, 2009

How to Parent and Three Year Old Without Being (or feeling like) an Asshole.


Is there a book with this title? Please tell me there is because I desperately need to read it. Isabelle sailed through the Twos with a handful of meltdowns and maybe one or two tantrums. Three. Well Three is where we are getting it all, saved up, festered, and exploding out of her like a long dormant volcano. Sigh.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Sweet baby.


Saturday, July 18, 2009

Smiles.






Growing.


Our little fishy Isabelle. She can actually swim now. here she is going off the diving board. She is fearless!



With one of her school friends Camlynn. They are very cute and adore each other. Camlynn has an enviable dress-up chest, which Isabelle covets.



Will is big enough to go in the exersaucer--he loves it. He also loves to be outside, and to watch Miss Isabelle doing anything.


Random.


Isabelle and Will -- most days she adores him, last night she told me "I don't want a baby anymore..."



Will likes his baths, sometimes he cries when you take him out.



Ah, the adorable "lip" -- it comes out when he is sad. So cute, poor little man, we can't help but laugh when he does it.



Happy girl!



And again with the lip!



Isabelle holding Will in the baby sling. It lasted all of 15 seconds before she wanted to give him back.



Summer weather = pools and splashing!



Isabelle drew this happy face about two months ago, I thought it was quite good.



She loves to crawl into the crib with her baby.



My little fairy princess.

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

Alright already.


Okay. Okay. I know I promised never to go so long without new entries. I lied. So here's a catch up on what's happened in the last, what SIX months:

1. Isabelle turned three;







2. Isabelle finally got a real baby sitter (i.e., not a family member or existing friend). I was very worried--well fretting really--about how she would do with Mariah. See I had chosen Mariah from a baby sitter website because she looked nice, had a clean background, sounded normal on the phone and had two horses (she's 28 so not a kid). Their first date was Isabelle going to Mariah's stable to meet and ride her horse. I hand rung and fretted. Then I worried and obsessed. Well, of course, I was a fool. So much so that Isabelle cried CRIED when Mariah dropped her off. She has since tried to lock Mariah IN our house and told me "Mariah is better than you Mom." Sigh...the life and times with a three year old.
3. Isabelle had three ear infections.
4. Paul turned 43.
5. Oh, and we had a baby. William Aren Lively, born March 28, 2009.








Isabelle was adorable when she first came in to see him. She said "oh, oh, oh...he's GORGEOUS!" It was hard for her to be away from us for three nights. And she had a tough few days adjusting but now seems to be back to her normal self. She still has a hard time when I am nursing him or rocking him to sleep, but has otherwise adapted quite well.

The cats were a bit more suspicious...




I came back to work on Monday (as in two days ago). I was ready, there were cobwebs on my brain. But I certainly miss Will during the day. I would miss Isabelle more, but she dropped us for Linda and Milly and Zach and hasn't wanted to come home for two nights. Mom and Dad just don't compare to a pool.

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Indigo and mud.


Here are some more recent pictures from Isabelle's riding lessons (this is from Saturday 1/3/09). She is riding Indigo. it was about 33 degrees in the barn, brrrrr!

PS: notice the purple riding helmet, Isabelle picked it out herself. Purple is her favorite color.





And even more fun than riding? Why, playing in the mud around the barn--in particular the deep, sloppy puddles and mountain of dirty gravel. Yippeee! it's good to be almost 3!






Note that I didn't get true "after" shots -- the ones showing that the water went into her boots and that she fell down 5 times and was coated, and quite happily so, in mud.

Chopstick prodigy.





 

The littlest Livelys Copyright © 2009 Flower Garden is Designed by Ipietoon for Tadpole's Notez Flower Image by Dapino