Party Melanie's in the house!!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday Daddy....
A couple of weeks ago, when we went up north to the lake house, Melanie announced to us several times that "Party Melanie" would be joining us.  We asked Party Melanie to join us this weekend for Jeff's birthday, and she more than complied. 

Mel got up at 6:20am on Jeff's birthday, and changed straight into her "party dress."  She sang "Happy Birthday to Daddy" at the drop of a hat, and definitely looked forward to the birthday cake.  She reminded us several times that "Melanie's birthday coming up. In March."  We had a major accident while the birthday boy was at the gym - so we had to wash the party dress.  However, later in the day, Mel got to put her party dress back on, and when we asked her where "Party Melanie" was, she said "Party Melanie in the house."

Happy birthday to Jeff and to Samantha Paige!

Pony boy, pony boy, won't you be my pony boy...

Ever since Melanie was a baby, she's enjoyed riding "pony boy" on her Gigi & Poppy's leg.  They have a special song that goes along with it - which, to my knowledge, does not have a known source.  But they sing "Pony boy, (a) pony boy, won't you be my pony boy....giddey-up, giddey-up, giddey-up....whooooaaaa!"  Needless to say, it's a fan-favorite with Mel.  So now any time she "rides" a  ride, that is what she says.  There is a see-saw type object at our neighborhood park, and she says "pony boy" every time she sees or rides it.

So, we thought all this might be a way to get her on an ACTUAL pony.  Despite the fact that Mel freaks out about cats, dogs, etc... we thought it would be a great idea to have her ride a horse :)  She did a great job - when we walked up, she greeted the pony, petted him, etc.  Then she kind of freaked.  But they decided to start the circle-walking, so she did great.  I sang "Pony boy" to her the whole time.  After about five trips around, she decided "I done," and jumped into my arms. 

Long live the Hot Dog Festival!!

They were both honestly asleep here; this is not staged.  Check out the thumbs.

Baby on the Move!

Joey rolled from his belly to his back two times at daycare on 7/27!  He's getting really close to rolling from his back to his belly, too, but it hasn't happened yet.  I spent my first night away from him on 7/28.  Mel & I went to Frankfort so I could have a girls' night out at "Wine and Canvas."  To quote a wise woman, I had "too much wine and not enough canvas" - and my painting (I will not call it "artwork") is horrible.  I have it up in my office as a conversation piece.  Ick.  Mel enjoyed a fun night of playing with Molly & Aunt Julie, and then snuggled with Poppy and waited out the storm and my return to the house.  She likes staying with Gigi & Poppy, since she gets to sleep in the "big bed" with Mommy.  She's done it twice this week.

Joe's 3-month birthday was this week, and he's doing fantastic.  He's sleeping great - typically having one bottle overnight still.  We're working on transitioning him to Level 2 nipples on the bottles.  He's still wearing 0-3 month clothes, although I'm going to get out the 3-6 month clothes this weekend, as I think he's inching toward them.  Size two diapers.  He's smiling all the time, and really tolerating Melanie's constant attention well.  He is cooing a lot, and still takes his pacifier, although he's been finding his thumb on occasion too.

We truly are blessed, and can't believe we've been entrusted to yet another little miracle baby!  Happy 3-month birthday Joey!!

Milestones

Joey slept through the night last night - 7/22/10!  I know that doesn't mean he always will, but man, that's progress!  He's typically been getting up once a night for a bottle.  He literally drinks the bottle and is back to sleep in about 20 minutes.  But sometimes he fluctuates and needs two bottles.  We've been trying to feed him a "big bottle" before we go to bed - even if we have to wake him up to do so.  Last night he didn't drink the whole bottle, but went down just after 10pm and didn't eat again until 6am!!  That doesn't mean I slept the whole time.  I kept anticipating his awakening, so I was on call.  I even went into his room at 5am with a full bottle ready for him, but saw he was not actually awake, so I hung out in his room until he woke up at 6am.

Joey is getting very close to rolling over, coos a lot, smiles a LOT, definitely recognizes the three of us (the other day when picking him up from daycare, he laid his eyes on Melanie and his whole face LIT up!), loves loves loves to have his diaper changed, and is still a very easy-going baby.  I still say it's not because he's a boy, but because he's the youngest!

Melanie is kind-of potty training!  She typically goes "pee pee on the potty" every night.  That doesn't mean she actually GOES, but she says she does.  However, there are some nights she actually goes twice a night.  And she "poopied on the potty" last night.  She is very proud of this, and wants to tell everyone after she makes one of these accomplishments.

The things that Mel is picking up on are amazing to me. She knows not only the word "already," but also knows the actual concept. She uses it correctly in a sentence. She seems to also know "tomorrow," and future-tense plans. Tonight, Randy told us that Sammie had to go to the doctor (everything's fine). We had the conversation and moved on. 20 minutes later, Mel announced "Sammie went to the doctor." I had no idea she was even in the room or paying attention during that conversation! One night I put her to bed and told her I might take her to school tomorrow. One of the first things she said the next morning was "Mommy take me to school?" Foiled again. Earlier this week I got up early to work out. I had on workout clothes when Mel got up. She assessed me, and then asked "Mommy go to the gym this morning?" This is probably all normal stuff, but it's truly amazing to me to see her brain process these things.

Look at me, Joey! Joey, look at me!

Melanie has had some crazy eating habits lately.  She seems to be eating the same at daycare, but a few nights this week, she has not wanted dinner.  Fruit snacks as soon as she walks in the door - check.  Some real fruit - check.  But nothing much past that.  Wednesday night Jeff even "offered" her to go to bed if she didn't eat her dinner, and I ended up carrying her upstairs and putting her pajamas on her.  But then she got to come back downstairs.  Finally, Thursday, after she turned down chicken nuggets and a hotdog, Jeff made her the ultimate offer she couldn't refuse.  He told her that she couldn't have fruit snacks ever again unless she ate her dinner.  We asked her to show Joey how to eat like a big kid.  Next thing we knew, she had eaten four nuggets and a hotdog.  All while saying "Look at me, Joey!  Joey, look at me!"  :)

Ever since my college girlfriends were in town and Janie Boschert was "reading" Mel's Bible, Melanie has been obsessed with reading her Bible.  One morning before school, she was reading to Joey.  I told her to show Joey what Baby Jesus looked like.  She pointed to a picture of Him and said "Look, Joey, Baby Jeethuth."  Then she proceeded to point out Baby Jeethuth's mommy and daddy.  Smart girl; learned it all at daycare!
Mel talks a LOT about her "baby broda" and tells the other kids at school to "Get away!" when they try to see him in his carseat at the end of the day. She continues to fawn all over him, telling him she loves him, kissing him, asking him how his day was, etc.  This will one day change, so I'm trying to drink it up while I can :)


We've had a pretty uneventful week since it's been so darn HOT outside.  Tonight Jeff is out with the guys, and so I'm home with the kiddos.  By 8:30, I had them both fed, bathed, pajama'd and asleep.  I counted that as a major success; particularly because Melanie also helped me with chores around the house, like getting the beds ready for her Uncle Randy & Pawpaw.  She was so proud of herself.

Lake House

We spent a fun 24 hours in Fremont, Indiana this weekend at a lake house that Randy, Cory, Ron & Diane rented for the week.  Unfortunately we were unable to join them for the whole week, since I'm just returning from my maternity leave.  But it was the perfect location, a three-hour drive from Chicago, Lake Orion, and Indy.  The house was big enough to sleep us all very comfortably, and the pier was directly off the back deck.  Mel got to "swim," go down the water wee, "fish," and spend time with her cousins, aunt and uncle, and Grandma and Paw-Paw.  She did a great job of keeping up and on good behavior!  As for Joey, he enjoyed sleeping and eating, just like usual :)  I explained to Charlie that he is going to have to teach Joey all kinds of things, being his only boy cousin.  Charlie told me that the only things he could teach him were diving and swimming underwater.  Well, that's a start!

Jeff was in charge of dinner Saturday night. He wasn't very pleased with the outcome, but the preparation made for a nice picture.

As you can see, Joey had a blast.  He did a great job sleeping; he's now taking just one bottle overnight, and last night's was at 4:15am, which is promising.  Jeff slept with him in one room and I slept with Mel in another, which worked out well.

Melanie comes up with the funniest things.  When I took her down the slide (which she calls a "wee"), I was slightly terrified of how rickety the ladder was.  I had to set her on the top of the slide, then climb up by her.  I was convinced she was going to fall off in the meantime, and Randy was shouting directions to me.  We managed to go down twice.  Later, Mel said "The wee was a little scary, Mommy."