Life's Big Moments

It's been awhile since my last post. With so much going on I really just didn't have time to sit down and type. For starters, we put an offer on a house . . .

It was a low offer. A full 25,000 below their original asking price. We expected a counter offer. What we didn't expect was 3 other offers coming in within a day of ours. What a coincidence huh? In the market today with over 3500 homes on the market in our city alone, the one house we really want gets multiple offers the day that we put ours in. We we're probably the lowest offer and the sellers agent gave us a chance to come in a little higher. We did, we came up to almost the most we would pay for the house. And . . . They choose us. They countered our offer asking for a mere $1500 more than we offered, which was still within our range of reasonable prices.

We signed the papers last night and are now undercontract to buy our first home! How exciting is that?

It's a cute 3 bed, 2.5 bath house. 1500 finished square feet, and a 500 square foot unfinished basement. They have just had all the carpets replaced, the entire interior of the house was painted, and they just put in a new fridge, dishwasher and microwave. It has wood floors in the kitchen and a nice deck out back with views of the mountains.

Can I tell you again how excited I am??!!!

We are set to close May 15th, and while I know there is a lot to get done, it can't come soon enough!

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We Went to the Zoo Today

It was 75* today, in march! I couldn't believe it.

We called up a couple of friends and headed down for a day in the sun with the monkeys.

Of course whether monkeys refers to the gorillas, orangutans, and five other species of primate currently housed at the zoo or the 7 children we had with us is kind of in the eye of the beholder.

We must of looked like a herd of some type traipsing through the park with 1 double stroller, two single, a wagon, 4 mommies, and seven children who rarely rode in said strollers or wagon. I think the reason that moms become so attached to their strollers is not because of the convenience of pushing children. Really it is all the children's stuff that ends up riding.

And man do children need a lot of stuff. In my bag (on my stroller) I always carry diapers, pull-ups, wipes, purell, desitin, lotion, chap stick, band aids, the "leash" **, snacks for Dot, snacks for Googie, a binky for each, a sippy cup for each, toys for Dot, a small blanket for Dot, and sometimes one for Googie if we're going to be gone during nap time. Then, because of the outing today, we added sack lunches, extra water bottles, sunscreen, summer hats, my camera, loveys for each, and a large blanket to nurse with.

A small note on the leash . . . I am not one of those horrible parents who chain their children to the stroller so that they don't have to pay attention to where said children wander too. When Googie was 12 months old she started running. Running away from me. At speeds so great that I would have to sprint to catch her, and if I took my eyes off her for a second (ie. blinked) she would be gone. I have had more than one experience of sheer terror because she was just gone. So I bought the leash, and it set the boundaries that at 12 months old she couldn't understand when I tried to explain them to her. We haven't actually used the thing for at least 6 months. But I always have it with me, and it works as a great threat. If she starts running away, not listening, or being otherwise two, all I have to do is pull it out and threaten to strap it to her wrist and she immediately repents of all her wrongs and stays right by my side.

Returning now back to the Zoo . . .

Googie loves the Zoo. When I asked her this morning if she wanted to go she said, " a yions, a bears, a z-bra, a hort-sie, a yion, a monkey, a yion, a hort-sie, a z-bra, a . . . Sissy, 'ou 'anna see da moon-ky, yeah???!!! ALRIGHT!!!!" When she was repeating all the animals she wanted to see she was stuttering a little bit. She was so excited she couldn't think straight. It was so cute. Watching her little mind be so excited she couldn't formulate a complete thought, you could see the wheels turning in her head as she absently repeated the animals over and over until she figured out what she was really trying to say. And she always asks her sister for her permission about everything. And sissy always says yeah, especially if Googie wants her too.

We went. We saw. I screamed "STOP!", "SLOW", "GOOGIE MARIE!!! I SAID STOP!!!!" She ran. Dot slept. All in all it was a good day.

The best part of the whole day was when we got back to the car. It was hot in there. I rolled down the windows, no children were burned. Then Googie said "Momma I da Yuck." Thinking the worst I immediately assumed she'd had an accident. I started into the "Googie, you know better, you go potty on the toilet" speech when she said "No momma, a back, I da yuck, I wet" I don't know if I cracked up laughing from the sheer relief that she didn't have an accident or because of how darn cute she is.

The whole ride home she kept telling me over and over again "Momma, I da yuck. Whaaaa HA HA HA!!!" She thinks she's so funny . . .

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Just Thought You'd Like to Know . . .

Dot is back to a fairly normal BM schedule. At least she's not crying. But that still doesn't slove my problem of what started the whole issue. We are on breastmilk and pear juice. That's it. Maybe in the next week or so I'll be brave enough to try something else, but until then . . .

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Googie is the most adorable human in the world. I had to cut her nails today and she hates hates it when I cut her nails (This may have something to do with my tendency to cut them too short, or possibly knick the skin next to her nail . . . the jury is still out. I try to be careful, it just happens sometimes. And there is such a fine line between just right and too short on her little finger nails . . . Not only that, but she hates sitting still for anything, so that just makes the whole process harder). I have to cut her nails. What choice do I have?

I strap her down with one arm and hold her hand out with the other, and with my third functioning arm . . . oh wait, I don't have a third . . . with the hand attached to the arm holding the struggling two year old, I cut her nails. I actually did a really good job today, I think I missed one corner, but we didn't have any cut to short, or knicked skin. I release Googie. She grabbed the clippers out of my hand and said "A momma's turn, A momma's turn." Then she jabbed the sharp end of the baby clippers right into my finger.

"Oww baby that hurts."
"Oh, sorry momma"

Then she grabs my next finger and the process is repeated until I've had enough and take the clippers away.

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Another Posr About Poop, What an Exciting Life I Lead

I think I'm oversensitive to Dot's bowel movements. But it's not my fault. We went through 18 very emotionally (and physically for Googie) exhausting months of severe chronic constipation before I finally diagnosed a milk allergy. Now with Dot . . . well it's just hard to know.

Today for the first time, Dot had semi-hard stools. They weren't nearly as big as I remember Googie's being, or hard, but I'm not sure I remember what Googie's were like right at the beginning. Dot's were definitely thicker than peanut butter, and they were "concentrated." That over-powering disgusting smell completely took me back two years, and I felt like I was watching Googie suffer all over again. My stomach was in knots immediately.

So now what? I don't want to call the doctor because I know exactly what the nurse will say. "Put her on a high fiber diet, no rice cereal, bananas, or apples. Give her lots of prunes, pear juice, and maybe add a little bran to her cereal. If your really anxious about it you can dissolve a little white sugar in some water and give her that." Then when I call back a week later and say it's not working they'll tell me I haven't been sticking to it strictly enough.

The thing that I don't understand is I thought breastfed babies weren't supposed to get constipated. Yes I started her on real food, but she is only eating one meal a day. She's been doing that for the last 2 months. Why the change all the sudden, why now? We haven't added any new foods lately. It's been the same three as always. This is the exact same age that Googie started having her problems. I assumed it was because we started her on formula. Dot hasn't had any formula. None. And I don't think she could be getting enough dairy through my breast milk to all the sudden start having problems. It just doesn't make sense. Why now? My diet hasn't changed, and neither has hers.

Maybe Googie doesn't really have a problem with milk. Maybe it's something else. Maybe at 27 weeks old my babies magically become hypersensitive to dairy. Or maybe they have some other problem that eliminating milk helps, but it doesn't solve the issue.

I just do not want to go through this again. I've done it once, so hopefully I'm smarter now. But who knows? Maybe we haven't solved Googie's problem yet. Maybe it's two completely different things they just happen to develop the problem at the exact same age.

The only good thing about the whole situation is I'm still breast-feeding Dot. So we're going back to an exclusive breast milk diet. That was an option I didn't have with Googie. But still. I'm dreading the next couple of weeks. She has an appointment in 10 days. If the pear juice and breast milk hasn't fixed the problem by then, I'll have to convince the doctor that this is serious.

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Love

They were both exhausted after a long day. Her baby sister was crying and she reached out a hand to comfort her. Her big sisters touch quieted her immediately. Together they drifted off to sleep.

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I Sorry

I love the stage of life Googie is at right now. She's learning new things everyday. It is just so fun to watch, and try to figure out where she picks these things up! Today it was "I sorry"

She's just started to say she's sorry. For everything! I'll say "Googie, that's not nice, we don't throw toys at sister." To which she replies "Oh I sorry sissy, sorry."

She'll drop her Dora doll on the floor, then pick her up and say "I sorry dory, sorry."

I think that she's figured out that if she just says sorry right away she doesn't get in as much trouble. Googie will be sitting down playing with her sister when Dot will start to cry. Immediately Googie will say "I sorry sissy, Sorry!" and give her a kiss. While in my book that doesn't make it okay for Googie to hit her sister with a toy, the fact that she is apologizing about it without me reminding her too is just so cute, it's hard for me to punish her.

I was talking to my mom last night and she asked me if I thought she truly meant it when she said she was sorry. And while I'm not really sure about that, I know she doesn't do the same thing again. So whether she understands sorry, or is just saying it because she knows she won't get in as much trouble, it accomplishes the same goal. She's apologized, and she doesn't do it again . . . at least not for another hour or two.

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