Roseola ain't so rosy

We just returned from a whirlwind trip to Montana to spend the weekend at the Lee family's ranch. We had a great time and I have lots of adventures to share but need to collect all of the photos first so you will have to wait for the next blog post. In the meantime, I have to capture a few of life's little oddities that have happened recently.

In our quest to experience every single childhood illness possible (ha ha), Will has roseola. I took him to the doctor this morning because he was super SUPER cranky for most of our trip and has had a random high fever for about a week. This was one of those trips to the doctor that I was really hoping that he WAS sick, because if he wasn't, we were looking at a personality change that was taking the terrible two's to a whole new level. So here's more info on roseola if you are interested. We're hopeful that it will run it's course in the next few days. Until then, I'm bracing for more tantrums and flying-off-the-handleness, which I guess is something that Glenn prepares for every day by being married to me.

Both kiddos are changing so fast! Will is talking up a storm and his grasp of the English language is so much better than it was even a month ago. Today we heard a loud airplane (but he didn't know it was) and he said to me, "Momma, I hear something. I think it's a motorcycle." Granted, all of that was with his special Will accent which is sort of German with a Southern twang and maybe some Jamaican flavor thrown in. And he drops a lot of S's.

Reina is really becoming more human - Glenn hates it when I call it that - but she really is. She has a newfound interest in everything and if I don't give this girl some real food soon, I think she's going to inch her way to the refrigerator and fix her own snack.

Here's my attempt at a concise list of what they are both doing:

Will's Likes:
1. Anything on PBS Sprout: Dora the Explorer, Bob the Builder, and the especially creepy Dragon Tales. We try to limit his tv watching to one or two shows a day but when he has roseola well. . . . all those rules go out the window.

2. His chupee (aka pacifier): I hesitate to include this because I'm embarrassed that he still has his pacifier but file this under one of those parenting moves that I never thought I'd make. As soon as he feels better we are entering into Operation Chupee Eradication.

3. His baby sister: Suprisingly! He's very sweet to her (most of the time) and can now make her giggle.
4. Firetrucks: Firetrucks on tv, firetrucks on the road, firetrucks in books, firetrucks on shirts, you get the idea.

5. Aunt Wicki. He loves all of his relatives but she might just be his favorite person right now. Plus she has a cat.

Will's Dislikes:

1. Being told "no"

2. Being told to do anything.

3. Taking medicine, unless there is a significant bribe involved.

4. Thunder, loud airplanes or other sounds eminating from the sky. His new phrase is "I'm scared!" but it's said rather cheerfully and slightly out of context.

Reina's Likes:

1. Nursing on demand

2. Her feet. She grabs them, puts them in her mouth, takes her socks off and (my favorite) uses them to help hold things like a little monkey girl.

3. Anything she can hold in her hands and put in her mouth; her bottle, an empty Capri Sun package, Will's toys and mom's book - but only when mom is trying to read and nurse at the same time.

4. Her daddy! She lights up and gives a full-body shake when she sees him. She thinks he fascinating.

Reina's dislikes:

1. Not being allowed to nurse on demand.

2. Milk in the bottle that isn't warmed up enough. My mom started calling it "pickle juice" and the look on Reina's face echos that sentiment. "Why on earth would I drink this?!"

3. Bonks on the head from her brother - but really who can blame her?

4. Anyone else holding her after 9:00 p.m. That's strictly mommy time.

Here are a few photos. . .

This one is totally going to be in the slideshow at his high school graduation party. He loves hats and sunglasses. And not wearing pants.

This is a little photo series that I like to call "Baby Torture" or "Pictures that will only interest Lucy and probably drive her Dad crazy." Reina is my little baby lamprey eel when it comes to eating time. She starts off politely and will latch on to my arm, cheek, neck or shoulder, whichever she can access.

Then she'll start whipping her head around with her mouth open in the hopes that something will fall in there. She'll politely give me one last chance to produce the milk dispenser. Then the fussing starts . . . just a couple whimpers and then....Bam! Come on lady feed me. Put the stupid camera down. I'm starving here!

I did feed her, by the way.

Reina - 5 months old!

Our little girl is five months old today! Man - how time flies. I know that I say that every month but she is getting big! She is thisclose to sitting up by herself. She tries like crazy, especially when she's belted into her carseat. She's also getting really interested in our food. She tried to eat a tortilla chip today. Forget cereal and mashed bananas - this girl wants some nachos! I'm discovering that almost everything about parenting has its tradeoffs. I'm proud that Reina has yet to need any formula - I've been able to make enough milk for her (something I couldn't do for Will). BUT on the flip side, she prefers my method of food delivery over anything else so as long as I'm in the room, I'm her main girl....which is very flattering except for when I need just 10 minutes TO MYSELF TO TYPE ON THE COMPUTER!!!

Here's my smiley girl:

Wait, you talkin' to me?
Hey mom - is it snacktime yet?
Add this to things that I need to remember to thank Glenn for - showing Will how to make a drum out of a pot and two kitchen untensils. When Will was younger he liked playing with the pots but hadn't really figured out drumming yet. Add in a full set of lungs, a desire to sing and a wickedly strong backhand and you've got yourself some music!!
Ringo - eat your heart out. This kid's got some serious beat going on.
Hold on ... it's not a drum - it's a hat!

Finally, I'm including this picture for all of my non-Wyoming friends and relatives. This is the fourth of July. And we are wearing fleece jackets. That bit of blue sky in the background was fleeting. It's not raining at the moment but the skies opened up shortly after this picture was taken. Nothing like watching fireworks in the rain and 50 degrees on July 4. At least we didn't get pooped on.

No pictures, please.

Last weekend we went to a friend's wedding. We were "that couple" - the ones who thought it would be a good idea to take a 2-yr old and a 4-month old to a wedding. Will didn't even make it long enough to see the bride walk down the aisle. He was a little too chatty for my liking and I didn't want him to distract from the beautiful service. Will and Glenn spent the time playing in other rooms at the church while Reina and I watched the wedding. At the reception, both kids were doing pretty well. Will was busting some moves on the dance floor and Reina was busy being passed around and smiling at everyone. About halfway through the reception, she got pretty fussy so it was time for a nursing break. As I attempted to nurse her underneath a blanket, she got really fussy and then just as suddenly, became very relaxed. I felt something sticky on my hand and as I pulled it out from underneath the blanket I realized that my hand was covered in baby poo. As was my entire lap. My black and white dress had suddenly become black, white and green. Or yellow. Simultaneously, as I was being bathed in poo, Will poured a tall glass of lemonade down his the front of his shirt. That was when the fun really started. I packed extra outfits for both of them, but didn't think to pack an extra dress for myself. Lesson learned. As the title of this point indicates, I didn't take any pictures and you should be thankful for that.

All sorts of sibling togetherness . . . and a compost bin

This week I made another attempt at getting a picture of both kiddos smiling at the same time. Here's how it turned out. Will sorta smiling . . . I think he's saying "dinosaur" - that's what we use instead of "cheese." Okay - now it's Reina's turn!! Will has begun the pouting portion of the evening at this point. I just had to throw this picture of my little elfin princess in here. Isn't she cute? Look at the skin?! Women pay thousands of dollars for a complexion like that. Look! Reina's sleeping in her crib. Sorry for the upside down picture - not sure why it turned out that way. She's been sleeping in her crib for more than a week now and it's great! On a good night she sleeps from about 10:00 p.m. until 4:00 a.m. That works for me! Look at her juicy deliciousness too - she's getting big! Okay, so Reina usually gets in our bed for the 4:00 a.m. feeding because then I just fall back asleep for a few minutes and so does she. Will tends to make his appearance around 6:00 a.m. or when Glenn's alarm goes off. This is another one of those photos that I'll save and use in a few years when I'm trying to convince them that "yes, you did like each other at one point." Notice Will's pink pull-ups? We're still working through the box. We bought a compost bin last weekend after talking about it for like 3 years. Will and I assembled it together. Normally, bringing Will in on a project adds about an hour and maybe a screaming temper tantrum or two (usually me) to your timetable. However, I discovered that the compost bin also serves as a very handy toddler jail when you are trying to put it together so it worked out great. Don't worry, I'm not using it as a toddler jail now that we've actually started composting. Tempting though. . .

Wheeeeeeee! This was my attempt at photograping Reina's mohawk. She's such a happy girl until she's not. And judging by the screams that I'm hearing right now, it appears that my computer time is over with. Hope you all have a happy weekend and make this face a lot.

When Children Attack

It was brought to my attention today that there are hardly any pictures of me on the blog so tonight we pulled out the camera and attempted to capture our life with the two kiddos. As you can tell, it was slightly less than successful. Will is so against getting his picture taken that everytime we bring it out he wails and tries to get away. Thanks buddy! In the first picture above, he's not trying to kick his dad in the face, that was just a serendipitous side effect - he was actually flipping from Glenn's shoulders onto his lap. Sounds safe, huh? The next picture provides more evidence to my theory that Reina is starting the teething process - she tries to gnaw on anything within reach, including my face.
Look at their little faces though, aren't they cutie pies? I swear, the combination of Glenn's DNA with mine makes for some pretty handsome babies. Look at those big blue eyes! And those scrumptious little faces. The elfin ears are a nice touch but check out the hair! Will's got more hair right now than my Dad (sorry Dad!) and we have to get it cut every 6 weeks or he starts to look like a slacker hippie beach bum. Reina is going to get a big dent on her head from being kissed so much. Will would have one too but he doesn't stand still long enough to get kissed. Even though most days are crazy and I hardly ever get a moment to myself, I wouldn't have it any other way. Love you kiddos.

Reina - Four Months Old

This week Reina hit the four-month mark. Time has flown by! It's been a pretty busy week so I'm narrowing this blog post down to the Top 10 highlights (in some cases, lowlights).

1. Reina turned four months old. At her check-up, we found out that she's 13.1 pounds which is still 50% and her height is now in the 70% so my dreams of her being a 6-foot tall runway model are probably starting to fade. The doctor thought she was very strong which we already know. You should feel her grip when she grabs a handful of hair.

2. Reina got her first ear infection. Not a milestone that we wanted to reach quite yet but she was coughing and gagging last Friday and it made me nervous so we made a quick trip to the doctor and found out that she had a double ear infection. Luckily the medicine worked pretty quickly and she's been feeling fine this week - until she got shots at the doctor's office.

3. I got tested for swine flu. After a wild night of hallucinations (I wanted an Orange Julius REALLY badly - do they even exist still?) and flu-like symptoms, the doctor's office suggested that I get tested for the swine flu since I was exhibiting all the right signs. Luckily, I didn't have it.

4. Will wore his shirt like this for 30 minutes.

5. We set up a poor man's t-ball game in the backyard. Will's aim isn't always accurate but it is powerful.

6. I bought a giant (and I mean gigantic!) box of Pull-ups for Will last weekend. Turns out they are the girl version. They are a lovely pink color with a picture of Dora on the front. They are going to love that at Montessori. I wonder what sort of psychological damage I'm inflicting on him to have him wear girl's underwear for the next 2-3 weeks . . .

7. It's been raining. A LOT. Cheyenne has had 3 inches more rain right now than this time last year. For Wyoming standards - that's pretty nice. As an official representative of the Dept of Agriculture, I'm not complaining about the moisture. I just miss that glowing orb thing that's usually the sky - I can't even remember what it's called.

8. Will's a little boy (not a baby!). Who likes to eat his own feet.

9. Reina slept from midnight until 6:30 a.m. last night by herself. She still doesn't sleep in her crib - instead she snuggles up in her car seat. But it works and that's all that matters.

10. Okay, so I can't think of #10. We had a good week and are looking forward to a fun but rainy weekend. Hope there's lots of fun and green grass where you are, too.

Diapers and a list of things we never thought we'd say as parents

Glenn did it again. No, he remembered a diaper this time but he found a creative way for Will to wear it. Sideways. As in, the waistband between Will's legs and a big puffy Pull-up sticking up through the top of Will's pants. If it hadn't been so obscene, I would have taken a picture. As it turned out, the waistbands of pull-ups aren't super absorbent so the little fashion experiment didn't last long.

Speaking of diapers, Will's probably about 75% potty trained (Glenn says 60). He's wearing pull-ups during the day and usually tells us when he has to go. Okay, no more paragraphs about underwear or peeing today. I promise.

Reina's still cute. She coos and talks way more than Will did. I swear she said "hi" the other day. I've heard that sometimes the second child won't talk as quickly because the older sibling talks for them. I think Reina's going to start talking next month just to get a word in edgewise.

We tried to have a little photo shoot on Sunday after church, with mixed results. Will won't sit still long enough for me to get a good photo of him, but he actually cooperated this time.

Reina's level of cooperation was a little less than desirable. That will definitely show up on her performance appraisal this month. We need more teamwork from you kiddo!

Without jinxing myself, I should point out that Reina's a great little sleeper. She's officially sleeping through the night since the experts consider "the night" to be 5 hours. Reina hasn't been waking up until 3 or 4 every morning so I get a nice stretch of sleep in there.

Finally, here's a shot of sibling togetherness. Will is very interested in all things Reina or Wey-na as he calls her. He loves to be right where she is. Which brings me to my last thought.

Glenn and I have been composing a list of things we never thought we'd say as parents. So far they have all been directed at Will.

1. Stop hitting me with the toilet brush. (yeah, why am I letting him even play with the toilet brush much less use it as a weapon?!!)

2. Stop sticking the corn cob in Daddy's ear.

3. Quit standing on your sister!

I'm sure this list will grow and grow . . .