Baby Waider + Little Brother Too: October 2013

Thursday, October 24, 2013

Happy Birthday, Baby Waider!

Dear Baby Waider,

Birthdays are a funny thing when you are a mom. When I was a kid birthdays were cool. You got a year older, got presents, mom usually made your favorite food. All in all good stuff. When you are a mom it is different. It's a little happy-sad. Happy because your child is getting older, which is what you are supposed to do! But you are getting older, which means that time is passing. Ultimately meaning that you are getting older and will eventually leave and potentially not be a mom adoring, adorable, sweet little girl. Birthdays are a reminder that you will not be this challenging age forever. See, it's complicated. It's happy-sad. I found myself a little teary eyed that you are TWO. The night before your birthday I couldn't sleep a wink. That may not seem like a big deal, but since I haven't slept forever because of your baby brother it is a big deal that while he was asleep I was awake. Anyway the reason for my sleeplessness was that I wanted to remember everything from the past two years. Your first smile, when you rolled over the first time, (at grandma'a while I was working!) the nightmare that was teething, your blatant refusal to sleep, your laugh, smile, giggle, when you learned to walk teetering between dad and I in your purple and pink soft soled shoes, the first time you said mama, or when you said, "no,Mia!" The first time and made me laugh out loud! I laid in bed just reflecting on how fast it has gone, yet it really seemed as though I've known you my whole life. You make every day better and even at your worst (you are two...you have some dark moments) you are still simply amazing.

Your Birthday Party

We planned your birthday in May. We reserved Storybook Island for ten days before your real birthday. Figuring this is the LAST year I can choose the theme I went with Wonder Woman. You love your costume! Your cousins also wore superhero costumes. You had a blast. Your cousins and Payton, Hailey, and Brandon came along with the grandparents and aunts and uncles. You played, ate pizza, cake, and played some more! You had a blast. You give me moments sometimes that I freeze in my mind. While at the party I was busy with Little Brother, serving food, and taking pictures. I saw you briefly here and there, but never spent a good amount of time with you. At the very end of the party I took a load of stuff out to the car. I came back into the fence and you were standing there in your cute little Wonder Woman costume.

I said something like, "Hi, Bear! Whatcha doing?"

BW: "Hi, mama. This?" Pointing at some daisies.

Mom: "Those are daisies! Aren't they pretty?"

BW: "Ya!" Bends down and smells the flowers, jumps, and smiles. "Ya,mom."

I think back to that moment often because it was then I realized that you aren't a baby anymore. You are a little toddler out learning all about the world around you. You are smart, inquisitive, and I am ever proud of you. Its little moments like that that make me realize how fortunate I am to be your mama.

Your Actual Birthday

I always thought we would just have one birthday party for our kids. That is yet to be true. This year we had a party party and then on your actual birthday we had grandpa and grandma Halter over for ribeyes. You love steak so it was perfect. Even though I made you a giant birthday cake for your party with auntie April I still made you ice cream cone cupcakes with chocolate frosting for your real birthday. I rule. Mom and dad bought you a baby nursery. Interestingly, you refused to open the present forever. We finally coaxed you into it and you loved it.

Sometimes you like to get inside your nursery...

Being Two

Basically I feel like you turned two and instantly your level of drama increased exponentially. Tantrums, screaming, and saying, "no" are regular occurrences. Mom and dad have become dicipline experts (we try anyway). This age had challenges. You like to take things and run, hide, and laugh. You are relentless to poor Boo and Mia. You will SCREAM at the top of your lungs if you don't get what you want anywhere we may be. Yes, even at Walmart. I am that parent with the screaming child, but your dad is too so that helps. Bottom line we will fight you because you will be a good kid. You will fight us because you are strong willed and my descendent. You also acquired the bossy gene and can be quite the little scrapper.

Along with all of the typical two year old behaviors you are also incredibly endearing. You love to play dolls, which is adorable. You love to go on walks and play in your playhouse. You love grandma and aunt Becky. You always talk on the phone, sometimes fake, sometimes real, and you like to pretend to call Brooker or Becky and Doe (Joe). You always have dad and I laughing and often shaking our heads.

I say it often that you have changed our lives for the better but it is so true. We love you big time and can't wait to see all that you become in the next year.

Love,

Mama

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Blizzard 2013

Dear Baby Waider + Little Brother Too

We are coming off of one of the worst storms in South Dakota history. Interestingly you both were relatively unscathed by this storm and aside from a little crankiness your routine was not too disrupted.

A little blizzard history. Mom and dad used to rule at blizzards. Our preparations included getting some adult beverages, junk food, cribbage board, and playing cards. We have weathered some blizzards out here in Weston Heights. We even built world famous snow sculptures. Never. Not one. Have we lost power. So naturally it did not even occur to us that this storm would cAuse such widespread outages that it would also impact us. Had it been mom and dad alone we would have rocked no power. We would have welcomed the adventure. Possibly built some snow forts, and definitely not cared that we had no power. Okay. We would have missed the tv for sure. But after 8 years of no outages having the first one with a three week old and nearly two year old seemed cruel. I wanted to curl up on the couch and cry because I was pretty sure we wouldn't make it. Obviously we did because I'm writing about it.

Friday was when the storm started raging. It oddly began with downpours of rain. Then the next morning it started to snow. Coated with ice our beautiful tree, that I love, started to sag. Slowly it and our ugly tree started losing branches and then some more branches.

All you could hear basically all day long was branches snapping and wind. Lots and lots of wind. The day was much like any other snowy day. We cleaned, baked, cooked, and napped. Then around 6:00 we lost power.

Totally caught off guard we scurried around trying to gather up flashlights, candles, and blankets. At 6:30 the lights came back on. We cranked the head up to around 80 and got it really hot in the house. That probably saved us that night because at 7:00 we lost power for good. I was super scared. You two and dad were not. We went to bed and it got COLD. Well, it got down to 50. It was hard to keep you warm Baby Waider because no matter what we put on you you took it off. And you were like an ice cube. It was hard to know if I was keeping little brother warm or over heating him. I pretty much held him nonstop.

By the next morning reports were that we would be without power until late Sunday night. Dad made the decision to move us to the camper. Problem was that we couldn't get to the camper. So dad being the hero of the day and an Eagle Scout literally built us a path to the camper. We had to go almost on top of the roof of the house and back down again to get to the camper. He even built steps down to the door. He had the generator almost on the roof of the house!!! It was unreal. I was super impressed and warm. Which made me very happy.

Once we were in the camper Baby Waider started a game called shower. You played in the shower and opened and closed the door for over an hour. Little brother slept. As any nearly two year old you were a little out of sorts not being in your routine. You didn't nap and were sort of a disaster. But at least we were warm. Dad took you out to play and you had a blast with all the snow. Saturday evening we ate dinner (oatmeal) we let you pick. Then we played shower some more. You were sticking soap, body wash, and shampoo into your sleeper and zipping it up and walking around with it in your sleeper. Not sure why but you thought it was hilarious. Also, you jumped on the bed, and watched the Michael Jackson documentary, which you loved. You danced and danced. Takeaways from this blizzard:

1. Be prepared. Always.

2. Don't ever question the purchase of an obscenely large generator. The one time you need to use it it will be worth it's weight in gold.

3. Electricity is the best thing around and should be honored every single day.

4. Hot water should not be taken for granted.

5. Cell phones and electronics really do rule and are dearly missed when they run out of power.

6. Being with the right people can make any situation better.

7. Always run your dishwasher and shower. Once you've lost power it's just too late.

I'm sure there are way more lessons learned that we will discover even down the road. Until then here are some storm pics!!

All bundled up!

Stealing shower supplies.

Jumping on the bed. Dad protecting little brother.

Warm camper!

Generator almost on the roof.

This is a creation of Baby Waider that dad calls, "mom freaking out and dad working his but off and no one supervising the toddler." You took corn chips and put them in this ice cube tray. It was 9:00 am and you were eating corn chips out of an ice cube tray. Don't judge.

So glad we are all safe. Thanks for keeping us warm, dad!!

Love,

Mama

New Arrival!

Dear Baby Waider + Little Brother Too,

I'm sure you are wondering why I'm yet to post a blog about the birth of Little Brother. I haven't been blogging because I learned from when Baby Waider was a newborn. When Little Brother sleeps I try to sleep! Between that and keeping up with Baby Waider blogging hasn't really been happening. When I was in labor with Baby Waider I was blogging for much of the time. I started a blog with little brother, but I think I got Dear out before I started getting intense Pitocin induced contractions. Plus, there wasn't much of a story for Little Brother. Pretty much I woke up, called the hospital, and they told me to come into labor and delivery. For whatever reason as we tried to get to the hospital we could not get out of the house. Dad took the world's longest shower. I tried to get Baby Waider some food, get dressed, and get ready to go to grandma's house. I tried to make myself look slightly human. We got in the car and took the long ride to the hospital. It actually wasn't that long. Because we were so late dad dropped me off at the door of the ER and I had to go in and get registered and he could meet me after he dropped Baby Waider off at grandma's. Saying goodbye to Baby Waider was one of the saddest thing I've had to do. I'm not sure why, but I started sobbing and could not stop. Eventually dad just had to leave with you. I had to go into the hospital, alone and it was clear that I had been crying. The poor lady at the entry was pretty sure that something bad had happened. Not that I was sending my daughter to her grandparent's house so that I could have a new baby. The nice lady at the entry way got me set up and gently asked if I had a support person. I said yes he was on his way. She seemed relived. She got me checked in and they took me to my delivery room. It is strange to go to the hospital not in labor. I walked into the room that was all set up for me. The stand and bed for little brother. It seemed pretty scary, but I was ready to roll.

Fortunately, I knew the nurse that was assigned to me. She was Nurse Lori and she helped deliver cousin Vern. Grandma Halter babysat her kids, Hayden and Hailey just like she babysits Baby Waider and soon Little Brother. She was amazing. Unfortunately not much happened until my water was broken. Then things got going more quickly. As we waited for Little Brother dad and I kept debating names. For the past 4 months we've been thinking about names. We started with Michael. That was my grandpa's name, my dad's name, and my uncle's name! Seemed like a good fit. My main hang up was that my grandma Eleanor was married to my grandpa Michael. I couldn't get past it. I also liked James, Grandpa Halter's middle name, and I love the James Taylor song, "Sweet Baby James." but couldn't get into that name either. We liked Lucas, but more as a middle name, not a first name. Then, during labor I revealed the name Charlie. Your dad wanted a family name. Charlie was indeed our cat's name from childhood. He was a really great cat! Dad didn't love naming little brother after a cat... But he also was sort of in favor of using that name. The name we kept going back to was Benjamin. The suggestion of the pedicurist. Nothing was actually official until the next evening. But we decided Benjamin was a great name. I had a great uncle Benny. As a bonus Grandpa Halter remembered that his grandpa was Ben. His full name was Bernard, but he went by Ben. So it all worked out. Anyway, debating names and watching some Breaking Bad made for a pretty quick moving day. Before we knew it Dr. Bernhard was ready for me to start pushing.

Sadly, it was right at the time that Nurse Lori had to leave. But, luckily, Nurse Wanda was on the case. Nurse Wanda rules and was who delivered, rather helped deliver Baby Waider almost exactly 23 months earlier. We were 2 hours and 10 minutes off of having you two exactly at the same time of day! So, Little Brother was born on September 9th at 8:25. He was perfect in every single 8 pounds, nearly 5 ounces, and all 19.5 inches. I still find it hard to believe that he even fit in my abdomen. They put him right on my chest, which TOTALLY creeped me out. I know that I should have been grateful to have a healthy baby on my chest, but he had lots of stuff all over him and I can't say I was thrilled with all of that all over me. :(

The stay in the hospital really wasn't much different than when Baby Waider was born. We had lots of family come to visit. I got one sort of good night's sleep, which is really helpful right before going home. Lots of people have been wondering how Baby Waider is adjusting to the new arrival. The short answer is pretty good. Overall you are interested in helping. (Thanks to Baby Addy and Grandma) You loves to give him a paci, even if it isn't his. You also loves to give him quick kisses and say "Hi Baby Ben." You will also give him hugs. Now and again you will try to pick Baby Ben up, which freaks mom out. But, overall I've been pretty impressed with how well you are adjusting Baby Waider. This morning we were hanging out and you tried to push Ben away and said, "No, Ben, GO!" I had to explain that Ben couldn't go. He had to stay with mom. You did okay with that. It has been difficult with feeling like I'm not giving enough attention to Baby Waider and feeling like I dedicate all of my attention to Little Brother. Overall, Baby Waider likes Little Brother and Little Brother could watch Baby Waider for hours...Well for awhile until he drifts back to sleep.