Lott Family News

Hayden turns four!

2011-05-27T15:36:00.001-07:00

I've decided to cut myself some slack and stop stressing about blogging, but in case anyone is still following us, I thought I'd post a quick review of Hayden's 4th birthday!

To quote my very wise former PEPS Group leader, Mimi Miller: "The days are long, but the years are short."

It doesn't seem like it has already been FOUR YEARS since this day:

I got all nostalgic and stayed up until 2am reading old posts from Hayden's baby blog. http://babylott.blogspott.com Wow, did I really manage to do a new posting every week?! I wish I had the time and energy to keep that up, and I'm glad I have that record of his first year.

So his actual birthday was Friday, but the festivities began on Thursday at preschool where he got to wear his special birthday crown, bring in a special treat for the class, and his teacher, Mrs. Pat, prayed a wonderful prayer blessing over him that brought tears to my eyes.

My mom was visiting this week from Michigan and we wanted to do something fun on Friday, and the weather was spectacular - best day of the year so far! I thought about going to Enchanted Village or Remlinger Farms, but they are only open on the weekends until June. So then the plan was to go to the Family Fun Center in Tukwila. I thought Hayden would really enjoy the bumper cars and other games they have there. It didn't open until noon, so we decided to spend the morning scouting out the community-wide Garage Sale our neighborhood had going on this weekend. About one in every 20th house had a Yard Sale and there was a lot of great stuff. Hayden rode his bike all around and Brooklyn rode in the jogger stroller. We had a lot of fun just walking around the neighborhood, looking for the 'red balloons' and finding super cheap treasures! We got a real, working weed whacker for $5, and Hayden hit a gold mine when we came upon a Hot Wheels collector's 3 giant tubs full of Hot wheels and a ton of other toy trucks and cars for $0.25 each. The man was also a Go-Kart racer so he and Phil exchanged info and Phil is excited at the possibility of getting more into Go-Karting. We were having so much fun and enjoying the low-budget excursion, that we decided to forgo the Family Fun Center altogether and keep garage saling. Who knew that would be the highlight of Hayden's 4th birthday?!

That evening, we capped it off with a night out at good ol' Chuck E Cheese, where Hayden (who doesn't like Pizza!) ate from the Salad Bar and liked putting tokens in any game he could! He and Brooklyn both enjoyed the evening and we all returned home with our complimentary germs that became colds the next day. Of course. The price you pay for fun.

The next day was his big birthday party (despite the onset of sneezes and sniffles). We did a Monster Truck theme with lots of fun decorations, a Monster Truck coloring craft project, a pinata (pull-string kind!) and a big chocolate cake with a monster truck on top.

Hayden received several fantastic and thoughtful gifts highlighted by a new Razor scooter AND a new bike.

Plus a VERY special gift from my sister - she painted a portrait of his beloved 'Doggie', which is extra special coming from her because Hayden always loves to paint with her when she comes to babysit and he even nicknamed her 'murky' because he asks her to change the water every time he cleans off his paint brush! Too precious!

And his 4 year doctor checkup went great. He's 42.5" tall and almost 40 lbs. (He actually was over 40 lbs a few weeks ago before having the stomach flu for over a week!) He's still tall for his age (75th percentile) but 50th percentile for weight. Over 40 inches, 40 lbs, 4 years old. How 'bout that?!

Some of his favorite things include:
TRUCKS (monster trucks, garbage trucks, construction trucks, you name it!)
Cars (and the movie Cars)
Toy Story
Curious George
Books
Singing and Dancing
Painting
Playing with Brooklyn (chasing, tickling, cuddling!)
Digging in the Dirt
Playing 'Yard Maintenance Man' - pretend weed whackering, lawn mowing
Riding his glide bike (soon to be real bike!)
Riding his scooter
M&Ms, Jelly Beans, chocolate
Jokes (see previous post!)

Dislikes:
Ice cream or anything cold or anything mushy
Juice except for Orange Juice
Loud noises
Naps (I think we're pretty much done with naptime for him)

Developmentally, the doctor confirmed he is right on track and we are so excited to see how he continues to blossom and grow as a FOUR YEAR OLD!!!

Toddler Humor

2011-03-01T00:02:00.000-08:00

Hayden has been really interested in jokes lately and it is cracking me up! I Googled some toddler-appropriate jokes to teach him and here are his favorites, and his 'renditions':

Hayden: Knock Knock
Me: Who's There
Hayden: Interrupting Cow
Me: Interru -
Hayden: Moooo!

The really funny thing is that when Hayden first learned this joke, he'd let me finish saying "Interrupting Cow Who?" before saying "Moo" - We've been working on the whole 'comedic timing' thing.

Why did the chicken cross the road?
To get to the other side.
(Why do toddlers think this joke is SO FUNNY?! I don't get it. Over and over and over.)

Why did the horse cross the road?
To get to his "neigh-borhood"
(Hayden does a GREAT horse "Neigh"!)

Why did the cow cross the road?
To get to his "neigh-borhood"
(Yes, he says that as the answer again because he likes that one better. The 'real' answer is, "to go to the Moooo-vies". He still says it his way.)

Hayden: Knock Knock
Me: Who's There?
Hayden: Lettuce
Me: Lettuce Who?
Hayden: Let me in, it's cold outside

My friend's 3-year-old daughter has a hilarious rendition of this classic Knock Knock joke. WAY funnier than the original:

Her: Knock Knock
Me: Who's There?
Her: Orange
Me: Orange Who?
Her: Knock Knock
Me: Who's There?
Her: Orange
Me: Orange Who?
Her: Knock Knock
Me: Who's There?
Her: Banana
Me: Banana Who?
Her: Aren't you glad I didn't say "orange" again?!

----

Some other funny (to a 3-year old) jokes, in case you know any preschoolers:

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Boo
Boo-hoo?
Don't cry, it's only a joke!

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Who
Who-Who?
When did you turn into an owl?/Is there an owl in here?

Knock Knock
Who's there?
Dwayne
Dwayne who?
Dwane the bathtub I'm dwowning!

Knock knock!
Who's there
Little old lady.
Little old lady who?
I didn't know you could yodel!

Why did the sheep cross the road?
To get to the Baa Baa Shop for a haircut.

Why did the rooster cross the road?
To prove he wasn't a chicken.

Why did the dog cross the road?
To get to the barking lot.

Q: What kind of snack do little monkeys have with their milk?
A: Chocolate chimp cookies.

Why did the cookie go to the doctor?
He felt crummy.

----

Try them out! You'll be their hero.

Merry Christmas and Happy 2011

2010-12-20T15:30:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I get so caught up in the day, always running late, always running the list of things to do in my head, and forget to thank God for how richly I have been blessed.

The holiday season this year has been even crazier than any year we have ever had. Mostly because we closed on our new (to us) house in Snoqualmie Ridge on December 15th, moved on the 18th and closed on our Issaquah Highlands townhouse today.

Our new home is more amazing that I could have ever dreamed of, thanks largely to the generous investment of my parents, Mark and Judi, who concluded that helping us buy a bigger home is a better alternative than the blow-up mattress on the floor of my office entryway, or buying a whole condo that they would only stay in when they came to visit. Since my step-dad Mark is a pilot for Delta, they are able to visit from Michigan frequently, but our small townhouse never felt very welcoming without any kind of guest accommodations. The new house has a HUGE guest room and 3rd bathroom with shower. It also has a great big bonus room and separate rooms for Hayden and Brooklyn. I'll post more photos when we get it furnished and set up better, but here are some from the listing:

It was a bank-owned home so we were able to get a crazy good deal on it in exchange for quite a process in purchasing, and an 'as-is' condition, meaning minor touch-ups the house will need over time to make it 'perfect'. But it's practically perfect already, so I really can't complain.

So what else is new with us?

I have been working a lot at this awesome design agency called The Medium. The projects offer a lot of variety, from websites to brochures to logo design, and they keep coming! They have a lot of work and so far it's been a win-win with helping alleviate some of their overflow work needs and my desire to pick up a few more hours to help with our new mortgage! On top of The Medium, I also have some other great clients who I continue to work for, so I am busier than I have ever been and just trying to find that right balance so I'm not up until 2am working too many nights in a row. Sort of brings me back to my UW days of all-nighters!

Hayden is doing really well at Joyful Heart Christian Preschool. His teachers are very experienced, nurturing, and attentive. He comes home with several craft projects everyday and talks about his teachers and classmates with excitement. Though, half the things he tells me I don't really believe, and the teachers say they only believe about half of what the kids tell them about us! Ha! Hayden sure has an imagination so that is good! The other moms at the preschool are very nice and we have monthly Mom's Nights to get to know each other better. Even 2 of the families I know from our PEPS group go to that preschool too so it's nice to have good friends continue through life with us.

Hayden is still really obsessed with cars and trucks, but also loves crafts like painting, drawing, gluing, cutting, and play-dough. His favorite movies are Cars and Toy Story. He knows all the characters and repeats lines from the movies. His memory is astonishing and any fears I ever had about his vocabulary have completely vanished. He doesn't stop talking now!! We've lately had to crack down on a 'No back-talking' rule, since he likes to say the opposite of whatever we say. Overall, I'd say he's still a really well-behaved toddler, though we've had our share of tantrums and tears with him.

Brooklyn is ridiculously fun, and a lot of work! She loves to dance! She also likes 'talking' on the phone (or remote, or anything that resembles a phone). At the end of her conversation, she pulls the phone away from her ear and says "BYYYYYYE". It's been fun watching her try to do things Hayden does. She is also a pretty picky eater so mealtime can be frustrating, but she certainly isn't hurting for calories (still off the charts for height and weight, I'm sure) so we're just trying to offer her the veggies every mealtime and usually end up picking them up off the floor. If she had her way, she'd eat cheese for every meal.

She gets into EVERYTHING! She climbs like a little monkey, opens drawers and cupboards Hayden never even thought to touch, and ransacks purses, diaperbags, and closets at every opportunity. Babyproofing has gone to a new level. She is so curious and really skilled at opening things - ziplock bags, makeup cases, pen caps... oh boy! Keeps me on my toes. She also likes to be held and has major separation anxiety with me, so it's hard for me to get anything done around the house, like dishes, laundry or cooking with her tugging and fussing at my legs and trying to climb up on the oven and dishwasher, and unfolds any laundry faster than I can fold it. Sometimes I swear it is her mission to make the biggest mess possible.

Phil has been very busy at work in his new department for computer peripherals. I'm amazed he still has energy at the end of the day to help put the kids to bed, then do all the clean-up and dishes from the day while I head into my office to my work. We could use more time together, so it will be nice when my mom comes to visit more to have some scheduled 'date nights'.

We are really looking forward to getting settled in our new house, meeting our neighbors, and enjoying the peaceful space we now have.

Exploding Vocabulary

2010-10-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

Before I forget, I wanted to take a moment to write down all the words that Brooklyn is saying now. It's so fun to hear her talking. She is much more of a babbler than Hayden was, and she tries to mimic things Hayden, Phil, or I say. I really need to get the video camera out soon! Here are some of her "first words":

- Truck
- Cookie
- Cheese
- Daddy
- Hi
- Ball
- Bubble
- Go
- Off
- Ick
- No
- Mom (not "Mommy"!)
- Teeth
- Shoe
- Up
- A-goo-goo (what she calls babies)

She also likes to make animal sounds: Horse, duck, dog, and cat.

And her other new favorite trick is pointing to all the different parts of her face - she knows: eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, cheeks, chin, ears, hair. She likes to play this game during meal-time. With food all over her hands. :)

Video coming soon. Of course, as soon as I get the camera out, little princess Brooklyn will decide she is NOT a performer!

Family Photoshoot

2010-10-20T01:04:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's vain, but I never tire of looking at pictures of my family. Hayden pulls out our family photo albums several times a week to look through and I happily flip through with him. Since he was born, I have diligently printed the 'best' photos each month and archived them in our multi-album photo tower. All 20 albums (holding 100 photos each) were full before Brooklyn was born, so I had to re-evaluate 'the best' and archive several hundred in a photo shoebox. I'm currently caught up through the summer, so I have a little work to go through September's photos, and I plan to do that soon. I have a good system in iPhoto of flagging them when I import off the digital camera, and then once a month or so, I go in and crop, retouch and upload about 25-40 of the 'best' to Costco photo center. It stresses me out when I'm behind more than a couple months. The hardest part is deciding which ones are 'print-worthy'!

I am a big sucker for good photography. I wish I was a good photographer, and I'm working at it. I am so envious of Kelle Hampton's blog with such stunning photos, not to mention her way with words.

And I have major Mom Guilt because we haven't really done many professional photos of Brooklyn, except when she was first born and a 3x3 grid of body details when she was about 7 months old, and here she is already one! The thing about photography is, you miss a moment and it's gone forever. As each month keeps slipping away (HOW is it already mid-October?!) and the kids are doing new, amazing things every day, I have a deep sense of urgency to capture each precious moment as much as I can.

So my awesome photographer friend, Christy Cowan, took our pictures a couple weeks ago at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. Given the nearly 2 hour photoshoot with a 3 year old and one year old, I am incredibly impressed that the photos turned out so well!

Here are some of my favorites:

Thank you so much Christy for blessing our family with your talent. Now the hard part is really going to be deciding which are 'print-worthy'.

Turning 30 and loving life

2010-09-19T22:26:00.000-07:00

Subtitle: Another long post in an attempt to catch up.

So, where do I begin? We've had a pretty spectacular end to our summer. After Brooklyn's many birthday celebrations fizzled down, the rest of August and early September has continued to be non-stop celebrating! Phil and I celebrated 11 years of marriage by kayaking on Lake Union on a beautiful Seattle day.

ELEVEN YEARS?! Am I old enough to be married that long? I guess when you get married at 18...
It has gone by fast, but when I look back, it really seems like FOREVER ago. You often hear people who are going through a divorce say, "He's just not the man I married" - well... Phil and I are not the same people we were when we got married, and that's a GOOD THING! We started out as college students, navigated our way through establishing careers, developing friendships, growing in our faith and in who we are, trying to zero in on the important things and working on letting go of the things that aren't. Discovering what makes us happy and what we really want in life. On our anniversary date, I realized somewhere along the way, we have forgotten about having fun together. We've been so busy doing the 'grown up' things like paying a mortgage, juggling careers and kids, operating non-stop to the point of exhaustion - we just don't take the time to have fun as a couple anymore. Sure, as a family we do fun things like Fox Hollow Farm Days, Children's Museums, picnics at the park, but since we've had kids, we've honestly let our marriage take a major back-seat in the 'having fun together' department. So, a new vow on our 11th anniversary: LET'S HAVE MORE FUN!! Cheers to that!

And to get it all started, I had THE FUNNEST, Totally Awesome 80s karaoke party for my 30th birthday! Everyone dressed up in their best 80s attire and we invaded a little dive bar in Ballard called The Waterwheel Lounge - voted "Best Seattle Karaoke" and I don't think a smile ever left my face, even when I was singing!! :)

Talk about having fun! Best costume prize went to Katie, who got extra bonus points for MAKING her costume by acid washing their jeans and smacking them on the sidewalk for that authentic 'stonewashed look' and sewing her legwarmers!

Though I have to give a runner-up shout-out to Christy in her super hot pink '80s Punk' outfit (and made her gloves from lace knee-high stockings!) Best Hair went to Shaun with his giant afro wig, and Best Karaoke went to my friend Rachel, who brought down the house with her renditions of Madonna's "Like a Prayer", her harmony vocals on the group performance of Tiffany's "I Think We're Alone Now", and then holding it together when a crazy dancing drunk guy fell down on the dance floor during her Britney Spears song. Yes, it was a night to remember!

And the cherry on top? The kids spent the night at Grandma & Grandpa Lott's so we got to sleep in until 9:30 and eat a peaceful breakfast with no distractions! It's amazing how refreshed I felt! Thank you to my in-laws for that gift! And thank you to all my friends who helped celebrate my 30th birthday with me in such style! Man, I almost wish I was actually living in the 80s now, but I don't think my hair would like me very much if I teased it like that every day.

Before the glow of my 30th birthday had a chance to wear off (and get my voice back!) we were off to Chicago with the kids over Labor Day weekend to go to my step-dad's cousin's son's wedding (confused?). It was really nice to see my step-dad's family again. I saw them all 2 years ago at a family reunion (they use to do them annually) in Michigan, and since then there have been several new additions. It was fun introducing everyone to Brooklyn and meeting the other 2 babies that were born within 2 weeks of Brooklyn.

The kids were troopers through the festivities. Lots of late nights, late eating times, and new places. The wedding was gorgeous! I don't know if I've ever seen a more stunning bride!

We took a zillion pictures and danced until our feet hurt and our poor, exhausted kiddos started to turn to zombies.

After the wedding, we spent an additional 3 days in downtown Chicago (the wedding was in a suburb called Naperville), with my mom and step-dad in adjoining hotel rooms. Traveling with small children can definitely be a different experience, and we tried not to be too obsessed about getting them naps so that we weren't hostages in the hotel room, but sometimes, it was just better for everyone if they got a good nap. So, we didn't do everything on our list, but we sure had fun in the parts of the city that we did see. The Shedd aquarium was fabulous and the kids also really enjoyed Navy Pier.

For those who know my pretty strict adherence to a schedule for naps, eating, and bedtime, you would be impressed with my flexibility in trying to go with the flow a bit more. We even ate dinner one night, with the kids, at 9:30pm at Bubba Gump Shrimp! OK, I was sort of a wreck of bad-Mama guilt over that one, but the world didn't end.

The flight home from Chicago left at 7:30pm and was, well, tor-ture for 3 hours while we tried to get Brooklyn to sleep, or just be quiet, or just stop screaming, or just stop flailing her body back and twisting and kicking in an epic 2 hour tantrum. Boy, I profusely apologize to all the passengers around us on that flight. It was bad. Really, really horrible. I wanted to cry.

You know when you get home from a busy, whirlwind vacation and you think, "Boy, I need a vacation!"?
Well, the amazing thing is, I actually got to go on a "real" vacation just 2 days after returning from Chicago. One of the Moms in my PEPS group has a family beach house about an hour north of here and our group of 8 Mamas headed up for a 3-day weekend retreat. Just the perfect mix of relaxing, drinking wine, talking, girl time, shopping at the nearby outlet mall, and sleeping in til I felt like it. I couldn't help but think several times during the weekend that I don't think I've ever had such a great group of friends. So supportive, loving, hilarious, encouraging, inspiring.

We had so much fun, and it could not have been more perfect timing. Phil stayed home with the kids and said the 3 of them had a great time, the house didn't fall apart, they ate, slept, and played and it was so wonderful to come home refreshed and give them all great big hugs.

The next day Hayden had his first day of preschool.

I love his school and his teachers. I'm so excited for what is to come this year. I hope my expectations are not too high, but I just have a feeling that preschool is going to be a great experience for him and I can't wait to see how he grows. For a kid who hasn't really grasped the concept of peer socialization, I know it might take a bit of nudging out of his comfort zone. But I think these teachers, with 22 years of experience, know the right ways to love and respect his personality while encouraging his growth.

And finally, this weekend we went to the Puyallup Fair. An annual tradition I think I've only missed a few years in my entire life. My grandparents joined us and Brooklyn and Hayden both just adore them! Hayden loved the rides - a smile never left his face! While Brooklyn loved the animals - she got to pet goats, baby chicks, a bunny, a huge sheep! She kicked her legs excitedly and tried to leap out of my arms when we were looking at the cows! She wanted to pet them too! And she makes an adorable puppy-like noise when she sees animals. This girl is an animal lover like no other!

So there you have it. Our exciting and eventful end of summer/start of fall. All caught up now.

Brooklyn Turns One!

2010-08-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that one year ago, on August 6th, 2009 at 12:03pm, my little (ok, BIG) Brooklyn came out of my body and into our lives. What an incredible year it has been: Adjusting to a family of four (and the extra time that means to get anything done or get out of the house); Watching her big brother learn about what it means to have a baby sister; Enjoying her adorable outfits and sighing in disbelief when I have to pack away yet another outgrown outfit she wore once; Wishing I had a built-in camera covering my eyeball so that I could capture that moment I am witnessing to cherish it forever; Cuddling every last inch of her irresistibly soft, warm, pudgy body and being secretly thrilled when she lets me rock her to sleep.

Oh, sweet Brooklyn, how you have entered my heart and made this family complete. Where did my baby go? She is walking all over, feeding herself (for the most part), full of personality and opinions, studying the world around her and surprising me with something new every day.

The hardest moment so far was when it was clear that breastfeeding was a losing battle, about 2 months ago. After much anxiety and tears (on my part!), I threw in the towel and resorted to formula. But the world didn't end. She is still happy and thriving and I'm certain our bond has not been affected. Now, she's drinking cow's milk and loving it. But there's just something about seeing my girl toss back her bottle of milk one-handed that makes me miss my little nursing baby.

She had an eventful birthday weekend. My mom, step-dad and little sister came out from Michigan and we started off her birthday on Friday with lunch at Red Robin. She liked them singing Happy Birthday to her and loved the ice cream sundae even more. Then we all became kids again at Chuck E Cheese for dinner that night! I knew Hayden would love it, but I wasn't prepared for Brooklyn's reaction!

I was only able to catch a little bit of her horseback riding performance on video, but she had us all busting with laughter as she flung her head back several times and squealed with delight as if riding a bucking bronco!

She had a BLAST! Everyone did.

Then her birthday party was a couple days later on Sunday afternoon at my sister's apartment complex's pool and cabana. The weather decided not to cooperate and it was a chilly mid-60s day, but at least not raining so several people still enjoyed the swimming pool and most of all, Brooklyn, my little froggy!

It was a really fun party, complete with 4 wardrobe changes for Brooklyn! I made a 'scrapbook' poster board for a decoration and that was fun to put together and see her whole life in pictures.

After all the festivities were over, I put together the pictures and video into this little montage, which is why this posting is so late. Enjoy!

(Note, you can close the annoying pop-up ads by clicking on the X in the upper right corner of the ad space)

And of course, the "ONE YEAR" posting wouldn't be complete without the official stats:

As of August 9, 2010
Weight: 26 lbs - 97th percentile
Height: 30" - 75th percentile
Head Circ: 19.3" - 97th
Teeth: 12! (all 8 front teeth and all 4 one-year molars)

I should mention that we started seeing a new pediatrician, who is actually an ARNP, who takes a more holistic approach to health care. I love her already and we have really similar philosophies on parenting and health care. She said Brooklyn is the 'model for a healthy one year old' so I'm sure that's why I like her, too.

Some more fun facts about our little Brooklyn:

LIKES:
Dogs and Cats - A LOT!
Actually, most furry, soft animals, too - stuffed or real.
Mommy's keys
Mommy's phone
Mommy's camera
Mommy's lipstick
Mommy's wallet
Toilet Paper
Shoes
Balls
Trucks - wonder why?! ;)
Yogurt
Cheese
Ice Cream
Spinach
Swimming
Bathtime
Being chased and then tickled

DISLIKES:
Getting her face washed
Getting her diaper changed
Getting out of the bath
Brushing her teeth (just started getting better)
Broccoli
Long car rides / doesn't sleep well in the car

ABILITIES:
Walking everywhere (doesn't crawl at all anymore)
Climbing up and down stairs
Climbing on chairs or low stools
Babbling
A few words: "Uh-Oh", "Mumumum" (for Mommy, or More), "Kuck" (for Truck)
Waving Bye-Bye
Dropping balls and shapes into holes
Kicking a ball
Turning pages of books, one at a time
Playing Peekaboo with a blanket or shirt
Kissing (lips pop!)
Feeding herself
Drinking from a straw and from an open glass
Dancing - belly dance style!!
Clapping
High-Fives
Jumping - feet off the ground, even, if she holds onto something!
Shaking her head no
Blinking on command
Cuddling on command
Sniffing on command
Sleeping through the night (usually about 7:30pm - 6:30am)
Unraveling a complete roll of toilet paper in about 10 seconds.

I love my kids, but...

2010-07-20T23:00:00.000-07:00

...I hate my life.

So was the lead story in my weekly e-Newsletter from Raising Happiness, a division of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkley. According to the research, American parents are, on average, less happy than adults without children. Click Here to read the quick article (it will open in a new window and I promise is not a virus!)

I went on to read the New York magazine cover story that was referenced. An interesting (long) read. Click Here to read it, if you're interested and have time. I can certainly see why so many parents are unhappy, and while I myself have been frustrated by a constant theme of over-scheduling, running late, lack of sleep, and too many chores, I examine my heart and conclude that I DON'T HATE MY LIFE and actually, wouldn't trade it for anything.

I recently became addicted to Kelle Hampton's blog: Enjoying the Small Things, and her intentionally positive attitude that is so contagious I find myself enjoying the small things a lot more in my own life. Her incredible writing and gorgeous photography make it impossible to feel anything but inspired.

In case I ever find myself starting to feel like some of those parents in the New York magazine article, here are several Small Things about being a mom that I truly enjoy.
1) The smell of my children's hair after a bath
2) Reading books to my children that I can remember reading as a child, even for the hundredth time
3) The cold, squishy feeling of Play-dough and the smell it leaves on your hands
4) Looking in my rear-view mirror and seeing Hayden pass Cheerios to his baby sister - their tiny, not fully-coordinated fingers managing the exchange.
5) Pizza and wine dinner at Zeek's (helps that it's across the street!).
6) Laying my head in Phil's lap after a busy day and having him play with my hair and massage my head.
7) Getting to re-experience the firsts of life from a fresh perspective - the feeling of grass, the challenge of a straw, beginning to recognize letters and reading, petting a soft bunny, cracking an egg, new tastes, textures, sounds, I could go on... it's all new and interesting again.
8) Having an excuse to watch all the awesome Pixar movies
9) Looking through photos and taking new ones, getting them printed and putting them in albums. I never get tired of looking at pictures of my kids. It always makes me smile.
10) Picking out what cute outfit Brooklyn gets to wear today.
11) Giving Hayden a sweet treat, and not feeling guilty about it because he eats so nutritionally 95% of the time.
12) Blueberry Pancakes on Saturday mornings (and a chocolate chip one for dessert!)
13) Brooklyn falling asleep in the Ergo/Moby - her body limp and warm and peaceful against mine.
14) The Minivan.
15) Going to the library, nurturing Hayden's love of books.
16) The monthly Mom's Night Out with my PEPS group moms who mean more to me than they could ever know.
17) Our household agreement that whoever cooks doesn't clean up.
18) Planning date nights.
19) Family getaways to the Oregon Coast and Suncadia.
20) My mom and my mother-in-law, and knowing that when my kids are with them, I can relax.

Wow, I could go on.

But while there is a lot to be happy about, I know there are areas that need some improvement. I recently purchased Christine Carters new book "Raising Happiness: 10 Simple Steps for More Joyful Kids and Happier Parents" and am following the online book club (see Greater Good link at top of post). Such good stuff. Highly recommend it. I catch myself practicing happiness habits more and more and it's working!!

BUT nothing kills the positivity vibe better than a speeding ticket. Dang. My first one ever - last Sunday on my way from enjoying a fun shopping solo time at the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale to meet Phil and the kids at the Bellevue Way Park & Ride to go to the Bite of Seattle together. Should have been a great day. Well, it still was. Take THAT, Bellevue PD!!

Day Out with Thomas

2010-07-10T22:50:00.001-07:00

One of the really awesome things about having a toddler is the excitement of new experiences and a new definition of 'celebrities' - like Thomas the Tank Engine. Today we met up with several of our PEPS friends for the Day Out with Thomas at the Snoqualmie Railroad Museum.

Before I had kids, I had a vague sense of who Thomas the Train was. Little did I know that this 'cheeky' little blue train from books (originally) now movies and the TV show "Thomas & Friends" has a mega merchandising presence and more 'friends' than you could possibly imagine. In just about a year of even knowing about Thomas, Hayden already has acquired about 10 different Thomas & Friends trains/vehicles, a bowl & plate, a flashlight, pajamas, T-shirt and loves the "Thomas Breaks a Promise" book and the "On Site with Thomas" DVD. His collection is tiny in comparison to all that is out there.

During the summer, a full-size "Thomas" Engine tours various cities across the US for the "Day Out with Thomas" sold-out event. The weather was beautiful today and we enjoyed the 25 minute train ride, pulled by Thomas, and passing the majestic Snoqualmie Falls (which we were too busy admiring to take a picture of). There is currently construction on the dam leading into the Falls, so Hayden got an EXTRA BONUS train ride in getting to see all the exciting construction equipment.

Brooklyn also really enjoyed the train ride. Lots to see, and Thomas music piping over the speakers (of course, there is a Thomas Soundtrack, and yes, it is annoying.) And it's just the right length of time for the little ones.

Back at the Railway Museum, the grounds were bursting with Thomas excitement for us and several hundred other Thomas Fans to enjoy. A bouncy house, live music, puppet shows, crafts, temporary tattoos, train tables galore, and a huge merchandise gift shop tent with more Thomas stuff than I even knew existed.

We waited in line for a photo opp with Thomas, but when we were 3rd next in line after about 15 minutes, the train had to depart again for its next trip. Super disapointing, but Hayden handled it surprisingly well. This is the only shot we caught as Thomas pulled away from the station and a line of sad toddlers left to wait another 25 minutes for his return (which we decided against).

Like how Hayden doesn't quite get that he needs to look AT the camera, so the shot is the back of his head and the staff persons rear? Nice.

Luckily, a little while later, Phil was able to take some photos as Thomas returned to the station, but we didn't want to wait in the line again, so imagine Hayden smiling cheerily next to Thomas here:

We grabbed some hot dogs for lunch and Hayden set about concentrating on his newest addition to his Thomas & Friends collection, "Madge" a flatbed truck he has never heard of before, but that's the one he wanted, and we knew we weren't leaving that tent empty-handed! (We also got him another T-shirt and some more temporary tattoos).

All in all, a very fun day was had by all. Worth every penny to see your kids light up like that.

Brooklyn is Walking!

2010-06-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

I'd say her official first steps were on June 21st. Four steps, to be exact. My little over-achiever! Every day she is getting better and doing more. It's all about confidence! She cruises the furniture and lets go and stands all on her own really well. If I entice her with something she really wants (like my poor, drool-drenched phone!) then she will take a few steps on her own.

Hayden walked at 13 1/2 months, so Brooklyn not even 11 months old caught us a little by surprise. Coincidentally, Hayden walked right around Fourth of July weekend also, in 2008. I find that interesting that now Brooklyn is about the same place, the same week, 2 years later.

We tried to capture it on video last week without success. But finally today, I caught her in action (which is really hard to do on my own today while Phil is at work!). Check it out!

Hayden Turned 3

2010-06-03T14:14:00.001-07:00

I could go on and on about what an amazing three-year-old little boy I have. About how he makes me smile with his incredible sense of humor, adorable dimples, and ridiculous intelligence and insight. About how he knows every kind of truck and construction vehicle out there, and can read/recite almost ALL his books (close to 50?) by memory, and sing several songs, and use good manners, and loves to be a helper, and LOVES LOVES LOVES his baby sister and making her laugh (even when they're suppose to be asleep) and clears his dishes from the table after every meal, and asks to cuddle on the couch at least a couple times a day (MAKES MY HEART MELT and whatever I'm doing seem unimportant!), and is learning to get himself dressed and undressed, and learning to read, and ride a glide bike, and goes SUPER FAST on his tricycle without any fear, and chats on the phone like a teenager already, even when there's no one on the other end of the line (or the "phone" is a remote control!), and sleeps all curled up at the head of his bed, even though that looks rather uncomfortable, and STILL talks about the 'big dirty poopy at Lake Tapps', and LOVES water - water fountains, waterfalls, playing with colored water, pouring water, playing with the sink, taking baths - and also loves Jelly Bellies, Brownies, Edamame, Hard-Boiled Eggs, Cheese & Crackers, Broccoli, Zeek's Treehugger Pizza, Mini-Wheats, and Granola but hates Mac n' Cheese, Bananas, yogurt, and ice cream. About how he loves his Grandparents, squeals with excitement when he sees Grandma Doris or Grandma Judi, and loves to look at photo albums and point out everyone and talk about what is in the photos, and how he loves his routines but can usually be flexible when we need him to be, and how he outgrows his clothes, especially the pant legs, before the clothes even look worn. (Have I mentioned he is 40 inches tall now?! And weighs 35 lbs!) I could go on. But here are some photos and I will stop rambling:

Phil and I are the luckiest parents alive. Hayden, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BUDDY!

Fascination with Poop

2010-05-13T17:23:00.001-07:00

Hayden is almost 3 years old and like MANY toddler boys his age, a fascination with POOP is 2nd only to things with wheels.

For example, about a month ago, while we were enjoying a nice afternoon at a park, Phil took Hayden into the public bathroom facility to wash his hands before leaving since they had been playing in the dirt and sand. Apparently, there was a BIG GIANT POOPY in the toilet that Phil said looked like the toilet had been clogged for a while and people just kept pooping on top of more poop. How do you like that visual?! Hayden mentions, "the big dirty poopy in the bathroom at Lake Tapps" at least once, if not more times every day since then. He asks to go back to look at it again. He explains how Mommy and Brooklyn went to the minivan and didn't get to see the big poop. He thinks blobby brown things, like Chicken Nuggets, are "Just like the poop". Mmm. Hmmm. I'm SO GLAD my son is talking so well now...

Another example of the poop obsession is the zoo. He doesn't care all that much about the animals, what he really wants to see is the animals go poop. The first time he saw the elephants at the zoo, one of them did a basketball size dropping of poop right in front of us and he is always asking to go see the elephants poop when we go to the zoo now. We hung out at the elephant exhibit for almost an hour last time we were at the zoo, but sadly, no pooping action.

He chases the cat around the house, trying to look at her bottom, and races into the laundry room where we keep her litter box to see if she's done a "big poopy" in there. Boy, that kid keeps me accountable for litter box clean-up for sure!

He loves to read "Everyone Poops" and also "Once Upon a Potty". Bonus for reading - he can identify the word POOP on a page. Bonus for sure.

Last spring, a bird pooped on our dining room window in a place that is impossible to reach easily so we STILL haven't cleaned it off - and of course he points to it at least once a day and says, "Bird went poopy on the window". I really need to just pop the screen out and take care of it. If there is bird poop on my car, he'll spot it, and insists we go through the car wash.

Oh, and I almost forgot this example - when I change Brooklyn's diaper he races over to see it if it's poopy so he can see how messy it is and see what color it is (we talked a lot about color of her black and then mustard-colored poop when she was first born). One time when her poop was particularly orange after eating sweet potatoes earlier, I explained to Hayden how her poop is like the color of the food she ate. Well, this has stuck with him, because now when her poop is more green, he says "like green beans!" and the other day when she was eating yogurt, he said, "Brooklyn's poop is going to be white!" A little later when I changed her poopy diaper he REMEMBERED that it was supposed to be white this time, and was confused why it was brown. A good question, Hayden.

You'd think all this talk about poop would make potty training a breeze. Well, when he was 20 months old, we got him a potty seat and he actually pooped once back then, and will usually pee in it (standing up!) before bed each night.

BUT TODAY... drumroll please... Hayden wore underwear almost all day (except for nap time and out to the park)... and... HE HAD DIARRHEA IN HIS UNDERWEAR. BIG, MESSY, DIARRHEA.

I was putting Brooklyn down for a nap, and heard a worried, "Mo-om!" from downstairs. I quickly put Brooklyn in her crib and rush downstairs to find Hayden standing in the living room, legs split wide like an A. I thought he was peeing, so a swooped him up and rushed him into the bathroom, only to discover his underwear completely full of runny diarrhea. And then realized it had dripped all down his legs and in 8 places on the carpet from where he was standing and the beeline we made to the bathroom. Oops. Thank God for Nature's Miracle. I did my best to keep my cool and reassure Hayden that accidents happen, but he was a bit traumatized.

A little trauma must have done some good because later this afternoon, HE POOPED ON THE POTTY!!!! YAY!!!

(And now, I have talked more about poop than I ever thought I would. I am officially a mom of a potty-training toddler.)

Fox Hollow Farm Day

2010-05-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

Today we took the kids to the Fox Hollow Farm Day at an incredibly awesome farm a few miles away from our house. There were lots of animals - horses, a 1 week old pony, goats, chickens, ducks, bunnies, kittens, and a peacock. Also there was a huge inflatable obstacle course and giant balls on their beautifully manicured landscape. What Hayden loved most, though, was the kid-sized ride-on motorized John Deere Gator and pedal tractor. He was in HEAVEN!!

So I gave the iMovie Project Template feature a try and made this movie in about 2 hours. Check it out! Yay iMovie, I love my Mac.

Some fun(ny) Videos

2010-04-28T21:16:00.000-07:00

Here's some video of Brooklyn from March and April (so she's 7-8 months old) -

And here's some video of Hayden:

I need to take a weekend and make a nicer video montage of the past year. I'm using iMovie and it's really pretty simple, just takes time. Which I don't have much of. But I hate that all these random clips are just sitting on my hard-drive.

Three Months Flies By

2010-04-05T22:48:00.000-07:00

I knew I wouldn't being blogging as much with 2 kids, but this has been ridiculous! How is it already April?

So much to share, so little time. To recap the past 3 months is daunting, so here is a quick High and Low summary:

Highs: We went to Whistler with my mom, step-dad and sisters in early March (2 days after the closing ceremonies for the Olympics, intentionally to miss the crowds and get better rates). Hayden loved inner tube sledding for the first time. Phil REALLY enjoyed snowboarding since he hasn't been doing much since we've had kids. I went for half a day, and that was satisfying enough for me. The scenery is breathtaking, our condo was perfect, and it was wonderful to be with my family.

Other high's - Hayden and Brooklyn are doing well sharing a room. Brooklyn wakes up about twice a night and Hayden usually sleeps through it or just briefly wakes up and goes right back to sleep.

Brooklyn is crawling now and pulling up to standing on everything. She babbles a lot and enjoys 'conversations'. Hayden is talking really well now and it's so fun how he's blossomed in that area and can carry on a full conversation with complete sentences now.

Phil is enjoying his job and is usually home by 5:30pm to eat dinner as a family and help with bedtime. We have busy weekends doing things as a family and take hundreds of pictures -- I happen to think I have the most adorable kids on the planet!

Work for me has been SUPER busy. What recession?! I'm turning work away now to maintain my sanity, and getting to be selective on taking on projects that sound interesting and not too stressful. I have some really wonderful clients and am excited about work, though sometimes it's hard to keep my creative juices flowing.

Lows: The ultimate low was that our household was basically an infirmary for practically all of March. I first got incredibly sick with some kind of stomach bug. The doctors never could diagnose exactly what caused it, and I'll spare the gross details of my symptoms. Countless prescription medications, IV fluids, and doctor visits later, I'm finally better. Wow, misery. Thankfully, my mom came back out (after just returning home from Whistler the week before!) to help be my nurse, housekeeper, babysitter, and comforter. Nothing beats the care of Mom and it makes me realize how much I miss her and wish they lived closer. (Which may be on the horizon!) The kids also got really sick with nasty coughs/colds and then Phil and I both got that horrible bug too.

With all the illness, continuing to nurse Brooklyn has been an incredible challenge. Even before I got so sick to the point of dehydration (which is never good for milk production) my milk supply was drying up. Brooklyn was at that age where she gets easily distracted when she's trying to nurse, and easily impatient with slow milk delivery. While I was taking some prescriptions to try to clear up the stomach bug, we had to give Brooklyn formula, and my supply has never been the same since.

Additionally, she had blood in her poopy diapers (like Hayden did around the same age) so I had to go on a crazy elimination diet to try to figure out what was upsetting her digestive system. I eliminated wheat, nuts, dairy, soy, and eggs completely for 3 weeks. Let me tell you, eating vegetables, fruit, rice, and lean meat for 3 weeks got REALLY old. I learned some great new recipes, but glad that is over. And the annoying thing is, that once I reintroduced everything (one at a time, over the past 3 months) it doesn't appear that she has a problem with anything. Well, I just reintroduced dairy finally a few days ago, so that could still flair things up in a week or so once it's had time to pass through my milk and aggravate her system again. We'll see. But as you can see, things haven't been easy at the Milk Factory over here. It seems I may not make it to her first birthday, which really upsets me because I know that breastfeeding is best (and formula ain't cheap!). :(

Another LOW is that Hayden has really started testing out his independence. And by testing, I mean deliberately doing obnoxious, rude, unruly, loud, aggressive behavior that I'd never seen in him before. I know this is a necessary part of development, but some days have been TOUGH. He is really learning how to push our buttons. He has changed a lot over the past few months. I'm trying to implement the Love & Logic principles and hoping that persistence and consistency will eventually overcome.

At the end of the day, I am EXHAUSTED. But I still have a ton of work to do. Some nights I don't go to bed until 1 or 2 am, which is usually when Brooklyn wakes up anyway. I have been struggling with that balance and feel like I have barely any time to myself, or 1-on-1 with Phil. Naps, watching TV, and even daily showers for myself have been a thing of the past, and only a few days ago did I even find time to get myself a haircut after 8 months! Phil and I recognize this isn't a recipe for a healthy marriage or mommy, but I don't really know what to do about it. A Mother's work is never done, and then add to that being a part-time freelance designer, and there's just nothing left.

Speaking of which, time to get back to working now. Hopefully I will update the blog again sooner than 3 months from now. But don't hold your breath. If you really want to stay updated and see pictures, one word: Facebook.

Sharing a room

2010-02-26T23:29:00.000-08:00

It's been almost a week that Brooklyn has been sleeping in the crib in the same room as Hayden at night. If you're curious how we made the transition, here's how we did it:

Brooklyn's been taking her morning nap in the crib in their room for several months, to get used to the crib as a place to sleep. Hayden still takes an afternoon nap so she naps in the Pack n' Play crib in our room for her naps 2 and 3, which sometimes overlap/alternate times with Hayden's nap)

I've been talking to Hayden through Brooklyn's 'voice' and he really likes that, in like a high-pitch tone I say, "Hi Hayden, I love you Big Brother!", "I can't wait til I'm big enough to play with you!", "Good night, Big Brother! See you in the morning!", etc. About 2 weeks ago I started saying "I can't wait til I'm big enough to sleep in the crib all night long in your room with you!" and he responded really well to that idea.

Once Brooklyn started sleeping well enough (only waking up once, or twice at night to feed) we decided she was ready to be in the same room so not to disturb Hayden too often. It was also good timing because neither kid was sick (so no late-night coughing noises or needing god sleep) and we didn't have too much going on during the week if the kids were a little less well-rested than normal and were crabby/needing good naps.

During the day last Tuesday, we prepped Hayden by telling him it was finally the day Brooklyn got to sleep in the room with him. We tried to make it sound positive and exciting and really playing up "You're so nice to share your room with Brooklyn. She is so excited!" He seemed excited too, especially when we told him he got to get ready for bed in Mommy & Daddy's room and read books on OUR bed!!

We get her ready for bed first. While she is falling asleep in the crib (on her own usually, another victory she started doing well about a month ago!), we do Hayden's bedtime routine in our room (takes a bit of forethought to get everything for him out of his room and adjoining bathroom). He loves cuddling on our bed and reading books and singing lullabies in our bed. Then we tell him, "OK, it's time to go to bed. Now remember, Brooklyn is asleep in the crib, so NO TALKING! I'm going to give you a good-night kiss and leave the room and I want you to fall asleep without making any noise." Shockingly, he did just that.

Unfortunately, at 3am, when Brooklyn woke up for her feeding, Hayden got REALLY upset. I think he forgot she was in there and it really scared him to hear her in the middle of the night. It took a lot of comforting to get him back to sleep. Then he woke up again several times, calling out loudly to us to come get Brooklyn, which of course woke her up and made her cry. So Brooklyn slept in our room from about 4am on.

We've continued to do this every night and she keeps ending up back in our room sometime around 3:30am. I keep just gently telling Hayden that I know it's hard to hear her make noises when he's sleeping but that he has to try to pretend he doesn't hear them and just keep sleeping. I think he's learning to sleep through them much better because she has made little noises at night and he hasn't woken up for the past couple nights. I know there is an adjustment period where he has to learn how to sleep through those sounds. We're going to just be consistent and hope it's sooner than later!

Christmas in Review

2010-01-03T23:01:00.000-08:00

Christmas this year was almost literally, "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

On the first day of Christmas the Lott Family did we:
Toured the beautiful Garden d'Lights at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens and froze our buns off.

On the second day of Christmas the Lott Family did we:
Rode the Santa Train with our PEPS friends!

On the third day of Christmas the Lott Family did we:
Got into the Spirit of Christmas at the Three Wise Men SPC Holiday concert - Amazing!

On the fourth day of Christmas the Lott Family did we:
Enjoyed a 4-day Christmas visit with Grandma Judi, Grandpa Mark, and Auntie Ali

On the fifth Day of Christmas the Lott Family did we:
Celebrated our nephew Greyson's 2nd birthday with a big party! (Ok, not a "Christmas" celebration, but a gathering of friends and family)

On the sixth Day of Christmas the Lott Family did we:
Decorated Christmas Cookies with our PEPS Group (ie. Made a huge mess at Annelise's new house! Thanks for hosting!)

On the seventh Day of Christmas the Lott Family did we:
Spent the night at Papa Doug and Grandma Augusta's house for a stress-free Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning

On the eighth day of Christmas the Lott Family did we:
Opened the rest of the presents under our tree at our house, relaxed, and played! Hayden got a new Glide Bike.

On the ninth day of Christmas the Lott Family did we:
Said good-bye to the Subaru Outback and Hello to our Toyota Sienna minivan (The BEST Christmas present ever -- 5 years ago I would have never said that!!)

On the tenth day of Christmas the Lott Family did we:
Spend a couple days in Portland with Phil's Grandpa Greg (recovering from bypass surgery), and mom Doris. Hayden LOVED his Monster Trucks and RC Cars from Grandma Doris. And Brooklyn enjoyed her first experience with solid food!

On the eleventh day of Christmas the Lott Family did we:
Took Hayden to the Portland Children's Museum and had a great time! Brooklyn stayed home with Grandma Doris and it was great to have special time with Hayden.

On the twelfth day of Christmas the Lott Family did we:
Came back home to reality.
What could be better: Mommy and Baby, cooking in the kitchen, with a glass of wine?! (look at how Brooklyn is eying that glass!)

And thanks to all our friends and family who sent Christmas cards. We enjoyed receiving and displaying them next to our dining table. Hayden especially liked pointing out different people and smiling as he recognized their pictures.

Happy 2010! Now that the holidays are over, I'm trying to catch up on work and blogging. Stay tuned for January's recap.

Brooklyn 4 Months & Other Happenings

2009-12-11T21:02:00.000-08:00

Well it appears I just blog when my kids reach certain age milestones. Wish I could do more, but I guess this is better than nothing.

Brooklyn had her 4 month check up today and she is doing great, and SUPER BIG. Here are her official stats:

Weight: 18 lbs, 2.5 oz
Height: 27 3/4 inches
Head Circ: 17 1/4 inches

She is completely above the percentile charts in all 3 categories. If you map out those measurement with age, she is about the size of an average 8-month old! Santa's bringing this growing girl some new clothes for Christmas! She's outgrown the 6 month sizes already and on to 9-12.

We're going to start some solid foods in about a month. She needs to be able to sit up better because the way she hunches over is not good for swallowing and keeping food going down. She isn't showing an interest in food, yet, and a breast-milk diet certainly seems to be working for her!

I thought for sure she'd roll over several weeks ago, but she still has not met that milestone. Any day... But I'm actually nervous about her getting mobile. We're going to need to pack away some of Hayden's smaller toys and trucks with removable tires/parts. We had a friend's crawling 7 month old baby over recently and I was noticing all the baby-proofing things we've let slip since Hayden is old enough to know better. Wake up call!!

The doctor also prescribed some low-dose baby Zantac for possible reflux. Because of the way she cries in pain and arches her back when laid flat, and makes a sour face after burping, makes us think she might have an issue even though she doesn't spit up very much. I may also try going off dairy again more strictly to see if that helps. We don't want our baby to have tummy problems, or a burning esophagus! No fun!

We have a sort of routine down with sleep, but I would certainly like to see her take longer naps and longer stretches of night sleep. Lately, this is approximately our day:
7am - Wake up
8:30am - 1st Nap
9:15am - Wake up (Grr... wish this was longer)
11am - 2nd nap
11:45 - Wake up, get her back to sleep if possible
12:30 - Wake up again if fell back to sleep
2:30 - 3rd Nap with Mommy while Hayden naps
5pm - Wake up
7pm - Bedtime
11pm - Wake up - feed, right back to sleep
3 am - Wake up - feed, right back to sleep
7am - repeat above.

So she's taking 3 naps a day, but the first two are usually only 45 minutes, which is frustrating because by 2pm she becomes a total Fussmunchkin (stealing the nickname our neighbor's call their little baby!) And of course, she takes a great 3rd nap because I lay down with her. If I sneak away after she falls asleep, she often wakes up within 5 minutes. She has Mommy radar and is a very light sleeper. A loud truck going by our house, dogs barking, or kids outside yelling usually wake her up, even with the white noise machine on it's loudest. Really wish we lived on a quieter street. I find myself consumed by getting her to take good naps.

The doctor suggested that we could try getting Brooklyn to sleep more than a 4 hour stretch at night without feeding, if we wanted to. That basically means not responding to her when she wakes up, or trying to get her back to sleep without feeding her so she learns that it's sleep time and not eat time. If you know me, you might know I'm a supporter of the Attachment Parenting philosophy and I personally do not believe letting my baby Cry It Out is OK. (If you click that link, you can read more about why Cry It Out is believed to not be best for babies.) So I'm not really going to push the effort to "train" Brooklyn to sleep longer. If I stay up until that 11pm feeding then I only have to wake up for the 3am feeding and that's not so bad. We'll get to the longer stretches someday...

It's not the nights that are hard. It's the NAPS! My day often feels 'good' or 'bad' depending on whether she napped for more than 20 minutes unassisted or if I had to get her back to sleep 15 times throughout the day. It's hard too because Hayden has to occupy himself quietly while I deal with Brooklyn, and I feel guilty for how many Thomas the Tank Engine, Elmo's World, SuperWhy, and Mighty Machines shows he watches.

Hayden is doing amazing as a big brother. I haven't really noticed any jealousy signs and he is getting used to her noises and cries. He is gentle with her and helps me whenever I ask him to hand me something. (We'll see how he does when she starts getting mobile and can grab his toys.)

We spend most of our days at home. The weather has been below freezing lately and I'm nervous about going to the mall or other kid-friendly indoor spots because of all the germs flying around this time of year. Brooklyn isn't old enough for the flu shot yet, so I need to protect her as much as possible. And with her nap schedule and light sleeping, she does better when I don't over-schedule our day. I've even been going to the 6am Stroller Strides ("Just Strides" because no babies) class so she can have a better morning nap. Hayden and I have been doing lots of craft projects, Play-Dough, Legos, baking, watching out the window at all the cars and trucks, reading books, setting up trains, and watching TV/Movies (*gasp!*) at home. We went to the park this afternoon and Hayden's hands got so cold he wouldn't touch the cold metal playground equipment and was asking to go home after 20 minutes. :(

We did, however, brave the 20 degree temperatures for our neighborhood Christmas festival last weekend. Luckily, there was an indoor cookie-decorating craft Hayden enjoyed, and Story Time with Mrs. Claus. After standing in line for the horse-drawn wagon ride and freezing our buns off, we decided to call it a night!

Bundled Up!

Yummy Cookies!

Story Time

Wagon Ride

There was also a live nativity display, complete with real barn animals AND a REAL CAMEL! We spent about 30 seconds looking at them because it was too cold. And there was live outdoor music, but I don't know how the musicians managed to play their instruments with frozen fingers. We also passed on visiting the "Santa" because he looked kind of lame and I didn't want to risk a traumatic Santa experience before we got Santa pictures done. Which we did this week! Yes, I braved the Mall and the germs for a Santa Photo:

I can't believe neither kid is crying! This is the face Hayden makes when you ask him to smile. I told him if he cooperates and sits on Santa's lap and smiles while they take his picture he would get a candy cane. So I was very pleased that he was so cooperative. Hayden likes Candy Canes. :)

Hayden's 2 & 1/2 Birthday

2009-11-20T21:03:00.000-08:00

When I was growing up, my family celebrated 'half birthdays'. It was nowhere near the hoopla of a real birthday, but it was an anticipated special day nonetheless. My half-birthday is technically February 30th, which doesn't ever exist, so we'd have to celebrate on Feb 28th. Usually all it entails is a special dinner and dessert with just our immediate family, a card (with a little "half" squeezed in between the words "Happy Birthday" on the card), some small gift or flowers, and a couple Lotto scratch cards (don't ask me how that tradition started!) Even to this day, I mentally anticipate my half-birthday (even though my last celebrated half birthday was 15 & 1/2 (when I got my driver's permit!). Bummer. ;)

I thought it was a good idea, though, since for a child, a whole year between your Special Day is quite a long time. Phil never celebrated half birthdays growing up, but once I explained it to him, he was on board to start the tradition for our kids. It's always so cute when you ask a kid how old they are and they answer "TWO AND A HALF!" because that "HALF" is a big deal!

So today, November 20th, was Hayden's 2 & 1/2 birthday. We went to the Toy Store and he picked out a metal 50s Chevy Pick-Up Truck. I was surprisingly able to convince him not to get the garbage truck, which seemed poorly made and surely would break easily. He added it to his collection. Not like he needs more, yesterday we lined up all his vehicles on our table:

He sure LOVES cars, trucks, and trains! He knows the difference between a "hummer" and an "SUV" and a "Jeep", has an Army Truck, a Monster Truck, and a Garbage Truck, among his favorites. And if a truck has a "Spare Wheel" or a hitch on the back, that is very exciting! If it pulls a trailer, that is a bonus, too! He loves to lay with his head at eye level to watch the wheels and roll the vehicles back and forth. He tells you that Daddy drives an "SVT" (which he has a small model replica of!) and Mommy drives an "Outback" and Uncle Adam drives a "Jetta Wagon". He can point out these types of cars when we are out driving on the road. It's amazing.

Before dinner, he (and Brooklyn!) watched an episode of SuperWhy! If you look closely, you can see his new red pickup in his hands.

For dinner, Phil brought home Red Robin takeout (seems to be the easiest way for our family to enjoy a restaurant meal these days) and Hayden got a half a cheeseburger, in keeping with the theme!

We also determined a few months ago that his half birthday was going to mark the day Hayden stops getting a pacifier. To ease this potentially painful process, we borrowed a strategy from the Supernanny. She has toddlers send them to the "Paci-Fairy" who leaves a special prize for the pacifiers. So we rounded up all the pacifiers - 5 - and set up a magic pacifier box that transformed his 5 pacifiers into 5 Matchbox cars and trucks (I left out the part about "Paci-Fairies" - I'm still debating whether I want to make up certain fictitious characters... Kind of seems like lying to your kids... Guess I better decide where I stand before Santa season!! ...).

He seemed to think that was a pretty awesome trade. Although, here it is 9:30pm and he is still chatting away in bed... Hmmm...

Earlier in the day, I made a half cake (and cupcakes with the leftover batter). After dinner, we sang "Happy Half Birthday" and he blew out his 2 and a half candles.

He "blows" by saying "FFFFFffffffff" with all his might. It's adorable. He really enjoyed his cake (with M&Ms!!) so maybe that's also partly why he's still awake!

And since I've been so Camera-Happy the past couple days, here are some extra bonus pictures of adorable Brooklyn:

Brooklyn 3 Months

2009-11-08T15:27:00.000-08:00

So I'm obviously not doing the week-by-week updates that I did for Hayden, but I already feel like Brooklyn's infancy is whizzing by like a bullet train, and I better stop once in a while to record these times.

With your 2nd baby, it's so hard not to compare them to your first. So here are some statements about Brooklyn, and if you knew Hayden as a baby too, you can guess what is similar and different.

She is close to being able to roll over.
She grabs at things and pulls them to her mouth. I think she's teething already.
She cries when she is tired and is hard to console.
She is having a really tough time sleeping longer than 45 minutes, and is a really light sleeper.
She VERY RARELY sleeps in the car.
She often cries in the car.
She likes to eat every 2-3 hours, and fusses if we offer her a bottle.
She spits up sometimes, but just a little bit.
She prefers to sleep on her tummy, in the bouncy seat in our bathroom with the fan on and lights out, or in bed snuggled up next to me.
She doesn't like to be swaddled, at least not with her arms in.
She doesn't really like her pacifier. She'd much prefer her fingers or fist, if she could just get the coordination down.
When she's not tired or hungry, she is pretty mellow.
She 'talks' adorable coos and high-pitched squeals.
She has cradle cap, but it's getting much better with the help of olive oil before bathtime.
She may have a dairy allergy/sensitivity. I'm off the elimination diet and we're watching her BM's closely.
She outgrew all her 3 month size clothes and weighs around 17 lbs now. Sizes 6-9 Months fit perfectly!
As much as I was excited about "pink", I think she looks really good in purple
She likes to stare at the ceiling fan.

Hayden is doing so much better lately with Brooklyn. He asks to hold her and is very gentle when he does. Then he promptly asks me to hold her!

He likes to gently touch the top of her head and then does his "that tickles" giggle. He is surprisingly good at using his whisper voice when she is sleeping. In the car when she is crying hysterically, he seems to be tuning it out better and doesn't start crying, too. He'll mimmick her cry sometimes, but not be truly upset. Here is a cute photo of Brooklyn "tackling" her big brother:

Halloween!

2009-10-31T22:44:00.000-07:00

Halloween has lasted all week in the Lott Family this year. Starting last weekend, we attended the Issaquah Highlands Green Halloween Festival. Hayden enjoyed the pony rides, carnival games and good food. He was excited about his costume, Super Why, which is a character in a PBS kid's program of the same name. It came with a green eye mask, but he would not wear it so I painted his face. Surprisingly, he sat relatively still for that.

Later in the week, we decorated the pumpkins that we picked out at Remlinger Farms. Hayden was slightly fascinated by the pumpkin goop but wouldn't dare touch it. I guess my fond childhood memories of getting elbow deep in pumpkin guts will have to wait to be passed on in the future.

I carved both pumpkins - one is a Happy Hayden face, and the other is a Crying Baby Brooklyn face. When Hayden saw the baby face he mimicked Brooklyn's cry. Just the reaction I expected! Unfortunately, she's been crying a lot lately, and I thought this might be a way to make light of a stressful situation we've been experiencing in our family.

Then we had our Stroller Strides Halloween party. All the kids dressed up and there was a fun craft (decorating a fabric orange Trick or Treat bag with foamy Halloween stickers) and TONS of treats. Guess we totally un-did the workout we did that morning with the cupcakes and cookies! At least I did ;) Hayden still has a tough time interacting with kids his own age and the loud, chaotic party room made Hayden anxious to leave.

Brooklyn sure looked adorable in her Pink Butterfly costume, though (and as it turns out, this was the only time she wore it!). She wore it for about 5 minutes because the wings made it hard to hold her or put her in the Moby and the zipper/hood part was ill-fitting. Should have thought her costume through better. She couldn't even go in the stroller or car seat with it on. What was I thinking?! Oh yeah: Cute. Pink. Butterfly.

On Halloween Night, my Mom and Step-Dad who are visiting this weekend stayed home with Brooklyn and to hand out candy to our Trick-or-Treaters while we took Hayden around the block. He seemed to enjoy it a lot and did a good job of saying "thank you" to each person. It rained heavily for a few minutes and then luckily let up and then was just cold.

He definitely enjoyed coming home and getting to eat a sucker! And of course Mommy & Daddy get to eat some of his candy too! Plus, we didn't have enough Trick-or-Treaters so we have TONS of candy!

You can see more photos from our Halloween week HERE:

Halloween

The Kids' Bedroom

2009-10-29T16:38:00.000-07:00

We finally got Hayden and Brooklyn's newly designed shared room finished. Not that it really matters, since Brooklyn is going to be in our room (and bed!) for the foreseeable future, but eventually, the plan is that they'll share this little 10x10 room. (Note: You should be able to click on the photos for an enlarged view.)

It's quite a challenge to coordinate boy and girl decor, but I am actually very pleased with how it all worked out. Hayden's construction trucks bedding from Pottery Barn Kids almost perfectly matches the greens and browns in Brooklyn's flowers bedding from Target. His also has light and dark blue and hers has light and dark pink.

To tie them both together, we painted the accent wall and the IKEA shelves the common green (which used to be blue) and got some Pottery Barn panel curtains (off Craigslist) and discontinued PBK fabric for the window valance, which my sister graciously hemmed and sewed for us!

I searched for a while for art to go on the wall above the crib, but it was SO HARD to find anything with the right colors that was gender-neutral, so I got this idea from an Etsy site to do their birth stats in big type using the colors of their room.

Now, who knows when Brooklyn will actually sleep in here, but at least it looks cute! And I also have proof that at one point, their room was clean and organized! :)

Remlinger Farms

2009-10-14T20:40:00.000-07:00

I've been posting more pictures and updates on Facebook, so if you want to see more photos, please send me a friend request on Facebook.

Here are a few from our trip to Remlinger Farms:

Hayden had a GREAT time even though he had to skip his afternoon nap, and Brooklyn slept the whole time in the Moby. What an easy baby!

Already 2 months

2009-10-06T16:08:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe Brooklyn was born already 2 months ago. Here are her official 2-month stats:

Weight: 14 lbs, 4 oz - Above 97th percentile
Length: 25" - Above 97th percentile
Head Circumference: 16 1/4" - 95th percentile

That's right. Still my Big Girl! :) I don't think she'll appreciate me calling her Big Girl as she gets older, so I've been also calling her Sweetie, Baby Girl, and Beauty. Then it hit me. This is the perfect nickname: Squirt! You know, like the adorable little turtle in Finding Nemo (one of my VERY FAVORITE movies)! Check out the resemblance:
Plus, with the amount of poops she does every day, "Squirt" is appropriate on that level too! ;) (Our term of endearment for Hayden is "Bud" or

We are still definitely adjusting to life with 2 kids. She is sleeping in our room and I'm not sure how we'll transition her into the crib in Hayden's room. He is such a light sleeper and still gets upset when she cries. She is a pretty light sleeper, too. And just like her big brother, rarely sleeps in the car! At night, we try to put her to sleep in the bassinet in our room, but inevitably, between about 1am and 3am I have her in bed with me. I'm trying to put her down 'drowsy but awake' so she learns to get herself to sleep unassisted, but it's not going so well and rather than let her get sleep-deprived, I usually put her in the Moby wrap or lay down with her and she falls asleep instantly!

When she is awake, she's full of smiles and adorable coos! She has the most beautiful deep blue eyes I've ever seen! Her hair is almost all fallen out on the top, replaced by a pretty bad case of Cradle Cap :( but her baby acne has cleared up now. We've been trying to treat it with Olive Oil. Seems to be working.

Last week she went all day without a poopy diaper (very unlike my 6 poops a day little girl!) and at the end of the day, did a GIANT, green poop that wreaked like vinegar. When I Googled "Baby poo vinegar smell" I was amazed to see it was a fairly common issue. The results indicated that it may be caused by a dairy allergy, or dehydration, or not enough hindmilk, or a Gluten intolerance, or completely normal. Gee, thanks, Google. Well, I'm going to start with the dairy allergy idea, since that's also what Hayden had. Although with Hayden, he never had vinegar-smelling poo, he had streaks of blood, which is another symptom of a food allergy. Since Hayden was exclusively breast-fed, I cut dairy out of my diet completely for almost a year (and no more bloody diapers). It was pretty rough, but I knew it was best. And the non-dairy based formula is SUPER expensive, so that was a no-brainer. Luckily, we were able to reintroduce dairy to Hayden when he was about 14 months old and didn't have any issues. He now eats anything and everything without a problem. So for Brooklyn I'm going to cut out dairy completely for a month, see how she does, and then go back to eating dairy and if the problem comes back, I'll probably have to stay away from dairy again until she's at least a year old. Fun. At least I'll lose weight even faster if I can't eat cheese and ice cream!

I started back at Stroller Strides a couple weeks ago and it is kicking my butt! For those of you who think Stroller Strides is a bunch of ladies pushing their buggies around, chatting while sipping latte's, think again! Stroller Strides is 1 hour of fast-pace, intense, full body workout. I go Monday-Wednesday-Friday and I am always sore the next day. The times they have had couples workout days, Phil has joined me and says the workouts are even tough for him! My goal is to be back to my pre-pregnancy weight by Christmas. Unfortunately, with nursing and exercise, my appetite is voracious and I find myself snacking ALL DAY (and sometimes not the healthiest choices, since those seem to be the easiest and fastest).

I'm getting lazier about Hayden's healthy eating, too. Sometimes it's just easier to give him some Cheerios. And he LOVES M&Ms, Jelly Beans, and cookies. As we've been working a little bit on potty training, his reward is 1 jelly bean for pee-pee, and 2 jelly beans for poopy. Last week he went pee-pee in the potty TWICE!! He likes to do it standing up - like Daddy! :) He doesn't want to poopy on the potty, yet, though. He almost always goes in my closet or the pantry closet to poop. I've put the potty seat in the closet to see if he'd go if it was in there, but then he won't go in the closet, or takes the potty seat out and then goes back in the closet to poop.

Hayden's speech has improved dramatically over the last few months. He speaks in sentences and attempts to repeat any word we say. We are definitely needing to be careful what we and others around him say. Hard to believe I was ever worried. What a relief! Now the next thing I'm concerned about (there always has to be something, right!?) is that Hayden is still very anxious around other kids and gets upset when they are close to him. He does not want to have anything to do with kids his age. If a kid at the park even looks at him or gets within a foot of his 'personal bubble' he starts to cry and wants Mommy. I hope he outgrows this phase soon, too.

We're thinking of enrolling Hayden into some kind of sports program. I know 2 seems awfully young to get him involved in sports, but we're looking at things like Little Kickers, Playball, Little Gym, or Gymboree. I just feel like he has so much energy and we have such a small house, that with the weather about to be 6 months straight of rain, we are both going to go crazy if he doesn't have an outlet for this energy. They are all kind of expensive programs, so we're just trying to figure out which one is best and works for our budget. They all offer 1 free trial class, so we're going to start checking them all out. Stay tuned for our evaluation!

Also stay tuned for a post from our visit to Remlinger Farms & Pumpkin Patch yesterday. I am so behind on all my pictures, videos, birth announcement, art project for their room, and the blog. Sorry!!

Doin' the Puyallup

2009-09-14T22:34:00.000-07:00

We had a great time last weekend at the Puyallup Fair (pronounced "Pyoo-al-Up" for those out-of-towners). The Fair is an annual tradition not to be missed! Last year, the weather was rainy and Hayden was too young to enjoy it, but this year we had beautiful weather and he was captivated by the people, food, animals, and rides. It was fun to experience this with him.

Brooklyn slept in the Moby the entire time. My mom said I experienced the Puyallup Fair in 1980 when I was 2 weeks old. So here we are, carrying a family tradition!

Given Hayden's tendency to be afraid of motorized ride-on toys, I wasn't sure if he'd go on a ride, but he gave and enthusiastic "Yes! Yes!" when we asked him if he wanted to ride on the cars that go around a grassy track. I thought for sure once it became his turn to get in the car, he'd have a change of heart, especially once he realized Mommy can't go on it with him, and he has to go with some other strange kid, but I was very proud when he got in, sat down, followed the operators instructions, and held onto the steering wheel. For the duration of each ride, he had the most serious expression and didn't smile or say anything, and Phil and I were cracking up at his intensity. When he got off the ride, he wouldn't stop talking about it and saying "Vvvvroom" and "Go Ba-pow" (Ba-Pow is his word for "fast"). He especially liked the ATV ride. Check out the video:

Hayden was also in heaven at the John Deere Tractor booth. I've never seen so many John Deer products! They even had salt & pepper shakers!

It's purely coincidence that Hayden's outfit perfectly matches the John Deere brand colors! :)

Lott Family Retreat at the Oregon Coast

2009-09-14T14:50:00.000-07:00

Over Labor Day weekend, we went down to a beautiful rental house on the Oregon Coast with Phil's side of the family. It was South of Cannon Beach in Netarts, just West of Tillamook, so about a 6 hour drive. I wasn't sure how Hayden would do in the car with Brooklyn if she got fussy or if we needed to stop several times for feeding and diaper changing so he went with Phil's parents in their car. Turns out Brooklyn slept almost the entire way, but I think it was still a good way to do it. Hayden enjoyed the time with his grandparents. His cousin Jude, who turns 7 next month, went with them, too.

The rental house was amazing! Each family had their own room and there was a big living room, dining room, kitchen and game room. I'll let the pictures do the talking:

(See more at http://www.oregon-beachhouse-rental.com)

We arrived on Thursday evening, so after stocking up on the groceries at the local Safeway and having dinner, we mostly just relaxed. On Friday, the weather was decent and the forecast said Friday was going to be the nicest of all the days, so we headed out to the beach to get some portraits done. It was quite the challenge getting all the little ones (AND ADAM!!) to cooperate with all the photos, so I had to do some Photoshop magic on some to get one shot that is good of everyone. Betcha can't even tell!

The kids all had a great time playing in a little stream that fed into the ocean. It was much too cold to really swim in the water, but throwing rocks and sand, building a sand castle and climbing on the rocks and driftwood was sure fun. The big boys (and Jude) also had fun throwing the football around.

The rest of the weekend was supposed to be crummy weather. It was stormy on Saturday morning, but actually cleared up for a little bit for us to get back on the beach for about an hour before lunchtime. Sunday was really windy and raining. Phil wanted to go to some Sand Dunes nearby that had rental ATVs, but he couldn't convince his brothers and dad to brave the weather. Jude and Ethan brought their box of toy trucks, which they nicely shared with Hayden, so he was in heaven with all the Monster Trucks! He probably didn't even care that the weather was too bad to go outside!

On Saturday night, we all went out for dessert at the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Their ice cream is the best! I had a 2-scoop dish of chocolate-peanut butter and caramel toffee crunch. YUM! And even Hayden (who normally turns away ice cream) ate quite a few bites.

Phil's mom, Doris, seemed to really enjoy getting to relax and be Grandma. We wouldn't let her do any work in the kitchen (something she's stuck doing every 'vacation' since the boys were born) so she could really enjoy herself. I think Doris got to hold Brooklyn and Madison more than their parents!

Katie, Rachel, and I enjoyed putting together some puzzles during the downtime we weren't in the kitchen or taking care of our kids, while the guys enjoyed watching whatever sports program they could find on the big screen TV and playing pool in the Game Room (yes, they helped with some of the cooking and cleaning too). In the evenings after the kids went to bed, we played games, watched movies, drank some 'adult beverages', and pigged out on junk food (OK, I admit I did most of the pigging out!).

On Sunday, we drove a little further South down the coast to Pacific Beach to meet up with our sister-in-law Katie's family (mom, brother, cousins). We all had lunch at The Pelican Brew Pub, which was right on the beach. It was very windy and the waves were huge, so we were glad to enjoy the view from inside. To make things even more memorable, Brooklyn had a HUGE blowout up her back so we spent a little time in the bathroom getting her all cleaned up, using every last one of our diaper wipes!

The weekend went by way too quickly and I was disappointed the weather didn't allow us more beach time. On the way home, Hayden came with us, and we stopped in Cannon Beach. The weather was gorgeous (of course!) so we had lunch there, went in some shops, and let Hayden play in the sand a lot more.

The drive home was a little more challenging than getting there. I forgot to charge the portable DVD player before we left and the batteries died just a half hour into Hayden's favorite Elmo show. Dang! Of all things to forget! We stopped at Denny's for dinner where BOTH kids required TWO diaper changes! Bathrooms at Denny's in Chehalis are not the greatest. Hayden was pretty cranky, since he only slept for maybe 45 minutes in the car, and Brooklyn was fussy several times but I was able to reach back and pop in her pacifier to keep her quiet. I think my arm is a couple inches longer from reaching to the back seat so many times! ;)

But it was all worth it.

We're already talking about 'next time' so I hope these Lott Family Retreats become a family tradition... at least every couple years or so. I think it will be so good for the kids, too. Lots of memories, and even though we all live so close together, it is not the same as spending all weekend together. Next time, the kids will be older too and maybe we can do more activities with them.

You can view all 227 (edited down from the 500 that were taken!) images here:

LottOregonRetreat

P.S. The blog entries are unfortunately going to be fewer and farther between now that I'm a mom of 2. Brooklyn likes to be held and I don't have much patience for one-handed typing! Friend me on Facebook if you want a better way to keep in the loop. :)

Brooklyn's 2-Week Stats

2009-08-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

We had Brooklyn's 2-week Well Baby doctor visit yesterday and the doctor couldn't have been more pleased with her health. Here are the official 2-week stats:

Weight: 10 lbs, 3 oz. (97th percentile)
Length: 22 3/4" (97th percentile)
Head Circumference: 14 3/4" (90th percentile)

So she's all proportional! :)
The doctor said it's unusual for a big baby not to loose a lot of weight in the beginning so he was really surprised that she was already back above her birth weight. We also think her birth length must have been a little inaccurate. Growing 2 1/4" in 2 weeks seems impossible!

She is spitting up a lot, so I was very happy to learn she is gaining weight. Unfortunately, it looks like the burp cloth is my new best friend.

Sleeping is going ok. She is co-sleeping with us right now. When I put her in the bassinet in our room, her little noises, gurgles, and gags make me too nervous and I keep getting up to check on her, eventually giving in and bringing her into bed with me. She seems to sleep so much better all snuggled up next to Mommy. But I know we need to transition her out of our bed before she becomes dependent on it. I love the cuddles now, but we're going to want our bed to ourselves at some point. And since Phil is such a sound sleeper, it's hard for me not to worry about him rolling over or pulling blankets up too high. I guess I worry no matter what. That's a Mom's job, right?

We had a great visit with Grandma Judi and Grandpa Mark. I hope they come back again soon. My little sister Ali visits on Friday for a few days, before she heads off to start college (!).

Brooklyn's First Week & 10 Year Anniversary

2009-08-14T13:27:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe Brooklyn is already one week old yesterday. I already feel guilty over not taking more pictures of her. Everyone warned me this would happen with #2.

Things are going pretty well so far. Her weight when we left the hospital was 9 lbs. 10oz. and at the 4-day postpartum follow-up she was already back on the upswing at 9 lbs. 12oz. (Losing up to 10% of their birthweight in the 1st week is considered normal.) So needless to say, she's a good eater! Nursing has not been as easy as I thought, though. If I am lazy about getting her latch good, it is so painful! And the engorgement is worse than I remember, too. She wants to nurse about every 2 1/2 hours, so it's a round-the-clock milk factory here! She spits up just like Hayden so the burp cloth is going to be a permanent wardrobe necessity for months to come. But I love all the cuddling and bonding we have been getting. She is so warm and snuggly. I could stare at her all day. The little squeaks and coos she makes melt my heart. It's hard for me to share her with anyone else who wants to hold her, or put her down.

My mom and step-dad arrived on Thursday to meet their new granddaughter. My mom and sister have been cleaning my whole house and it has been an incredible blessing. Not just the vacuuming and wiping down the counters clean, but the deep-down, scrubbing on hands-and-knees kind of cleaning my home has never seen before! My mom is cleaning the grime off our blinds and windowsills even! While they've been cleaning, Phil and my step-dad have been organizing and cleaning up the garage. A project we've had on our list for over a year!

Hayden has had a bit of a rough time adjusting. But not in the way I expected. I thought he'd be jealous and get upset when I hold Brooklyn. In fact, it is the exact opposite. If Brooklyn even starts to whimper or make any noise at all, Hayden says in a concerned tone, "Hold her" and he won't stop saying it until he is practically in tears, despite our reassurance that she is ok. If she starts to cry, Hayden starts to cry, too. It doesn't help that ever since Wednesday, he has been running a fever (101!) and today has a scratchy voice. He was sobbing last night around 3am and crying so hard he couldn't catch his breath. He finally calmed down enough to go back to sleep around 4am, after much cuddles, consoling, and signing from exhausted Mommy and Daddy. This is so unlike Hayden and we are trying to be very sensitive to him during this transition. He can't really express in words what he is feeling, and it's hard to know if it's the new baby or him feeling sick that is causing the anxiety, whining, and tears. I hope this phase doesn't last.

Today is also our 10-year wedding anniversary. On August 14, 1999, when I was just a few weeks shy of 19 years old, Phil and I said "I do".

Ten years later, we have an amazing 2-year old son, a brand new baby girl, live comfortably in our own suburban home in the beautiful NW, have fulfilling steady careers, good friends, and close family. What more could we have hoped for? But I have to admit, it's not exactly how we imagined celebrating the Big 10 Years. We had always talked about going to the Bahamas, especially since our honeymoon was at the not-so-tropical Cannon Beach. Now I think a romantic trip to the Bahamas is still a few years away, if ever. Instead, we're going to enjoy a nice, but quick dinner at Sip, a wine bar/restaurant about a half mile from our house, while my parents babysit. In a few months, we are going to have a nicer, longer celebration dinner at Canlis (I got gift certificates as payment for some design work I did for them), but I'm not ready to leave Brooklyn long enough to enjoy that multi-course dining experience yet.

And sorry, Phil, it's not going to be anything like our honeymoon night tonight! I'll make it up to you in a couple months. ;)

Although, as my friend MaryBeth pointed out, popping out a daughter is a pretty good anniversary present!

Brooklyn's Arrival

2009-08-08T21:48:00.001-07:00

Disclaimer: The following birth story may be too graphic for some. Read at your own will.

On Wednesday August 5th I went to the doctor for my 41-week check-up. I had survived triple-digit temperatures the week before and was now combating a nasty sore throat/cough, that eventually morphed into a head cold. The doctor's office had me wear a mask so as not to hack my germs on all the other expectant moms. Fun times.

Since I was "overdue" they also had me do a Non-Stress Test for about a half hour. The NST is where they strap a fetal heart monitor to your belly and give you a clicker like the Jeopardy buzzer, and every time you feel the baby move, you click the button. Then they can see how the heart rate is responding to periods of activity and rest to see if the baby is healthy or in distress. Brooklyn was doing great. Lots of movement and responsive heart rate.

So the doctor talked to me about my options. I was induced with Hayden and I guess I'd say that labor went pretty well (2 hours of labor, no other medical interventions than the pitocin drip to induce labor). But because of the uncertainty of my due date, it was possible that my very original due date of August 6th was accurate and I wasn't overdue at all and the induction this time was unwarranted. I was worried that if I wasn't really 'ready' that the induction would not work as well and possibly lead to a longer labor and all kinds of other medical interventions. I didn't want to be induced if it wasn't medically necessary. On the other hand, if my due date really should be July 28th, as indicated by a few UltraSounds at various stages of my pregnancy (one even dating to July 25th), then I could be significantly overdue.

There are several concerns with an overdue pregnancy. First, the placenta starts to age rapidly and no longer provides adequate nutrients to the baby. Also, the amniotic fluid level becomes lower (which was the case with Hayden). But also, the last few weeks of pregnancy, the baby is basically fully-developed and just putting on weight, so the more overdue you are, the bigger the baby, and the harder the delivery, which if the baby is too big, can result in a C-section delivery.

I didn't want to make the decision lightly, but my gut was telling me it was time to get this baby out (my gut, LITERALLY!!). I was already almost 3cm dilated, and the doctor said he was really shocked I hadn't had the baby yet. He said the cervical conditions were ideal for an induction. So he called into the hospital to get me on the induction list and then gave me instructions to call the labor & delivery unit at 6am the next morning. When I was induced with Hayden, it took 3 days for the hospital to have "room" to get us in, so I knew that it was likely that we wouldn't actually get in that morning. But just in case, I decided it was best if Hayden spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa Lott's house that night. Phil met me over there after work, and we said our goodbyes and Hayden was happy as a clam staying with them.

On Wednesday night I could hardly sleep. Sure, I was excited at the possibility of having Brooklyn the next day (and also worried), but mostly due to the awful coughing fits every 45 minutes or so. With my abdominal muscles already stretched to full capacity, each cough was excruciating, and the thought of coughing after delivery didn't sound much more appealing.

Thursday at 6am sharp I called the hospital. The L&D receptionist said they were super full and to call back at noon to see if any rooms had opened up, but realistically it was probably going to be more like evening/night before I could get in. My friend Lisa (who was our doula with Hayden and we wanted present again with Brooklyn) called around 6:10 as discussed on Wed to get the scoop. She was on vacation at the Oregon Coast but was willing to drive up to be here for the delivery. It's about a 5-hour drive away, and she'd probably hit morning rush-hour somewhere along the way, so she decided she'd wait a few more hours since it was going to be at least after noon that I even get admitted.

Just as Phil was pouring a big bowl of Cheerios at 8:30am, the hospital called and she said they were able to get me in after all. Right now. She wanted us there within a half hour. It took us 45 minutes to get ready, and another 45 minutes to get tot he hospital. Good thing I wasn't actually in labor!

We arrived at Overlake Hospital at 10am. After the standard admittance procedures and paperwork, my nurse ("Candy" - we loved her) took my vitals and strapped a couple monitors to my belly. I'd been having a few mild contractions on my own, but nothing strong or regular.

My doctor arrived around 10:30 am and checked my cervix. Still almost 3 cm. Knowing that I was hoping for as natural childbirth experience as possible, he suggested instead of inducing labor with pitocin, a drug that requires an IV and constant monitoring hooked up to machines, he suggested we try things the old-fashion way: breaking my water.

He broke my water at 10:37am, using a rubber glove with a little spike on the fingertip. I was surprised that it wasn't a whoosh of water, just a warm trickle, like I'd peed the bed (the nurse promptly changed the bed pads). He also noticed when he broke my water that the water was slightly brownish-green, meaning there was meconium in the water. Meconium is the baby's first poop. It's common in overdue babies especially, and means that immediately after the baby comes out, they have to do a really good job suctioning out the baby's nose and mouth because meconium aspiration can lead to difficulty breathing. The doctor left and said he'd be back in a little while to see if that got things going.

Fifteen minutes later, around 10:55am, my contractions were strong enough to need my full concentration and breathing techniques. Boy, breaking my water really did the trick! If I had been home or anywhere else and my water broke naturally, we would have really needed to rush to the hospital! Interestingly my labor with Hayden started around 11am also (after a pitocin drip started around 9:30am).

The pain of the contractions progressed very rapidly. I was having a hard time finding a 'comfortable' position, but thankful that I wasn't strapped to anything and could move around the room and in the attached bathroom freely. Phil was doing his best to soothe and encourage me, rubbing my back, telling me I was doing a good job, offering his hands to squeeze and leaning on him when I was standing. Knowing my history of a quick delivery, the nurse got everything ready and it was exciting to see it all set up, ready for her arrival.

While I labored in the bathroom for several contractions, Lisa called on Phil's cell phone to say she was stuck in traffic still in Oregon. Phil told her how I was doing (I'm sure she could hear my moans and breathing in the background!) and she suggested Phil find out if the anesthesiologist would be available or unavailable during certain times, just in case I changed my mind about wanting to get an epidural. The nurse informed Phil that he was about to head into a c-section and wouldn't be available for an hour so I'd need to get it now or wait at least an hour. As much pain as I was in, I was determined to go at least as long as I had with Hayden. Since my labor with Hayden was only 2 hours, my new plan was to get my cervix checked after 2 hours, and if I was still less than 7cm dilated I would probably go ahead with an epidural. If I was more than 7, I would go all the way without one. I had the nurse check me to see where I was, and at first she said I was "complete" (10!) but then said, "oh wait, no, I went right over it, you're at about a 5". So I was a little disappointed, but happy to be halfway there and it had only been about 30 minutes of labor.

By 11:30am, my contractions were coming one right after the next, with barely even a break to change positions or catch my breath. The nurse even said with a sympathetic tone, "Wow, they're really coming on top of each other." About 10 minutes later, I told the nurse I was really feeling the pressure to push. She quickly checked me again and said I was only at 7 cm. I needed to "pant through" the urge to push until my cervix was fully dilated. I remember with each contraction moaning "no, no, no, not again" and trying to stay in control of my breathing. We had planned on videotaping some of the labor, but with Lisa still driving up from Oregon, and Phil my only coach, I needed him by my side. But I'm curious what I looked like and sounded like in labor. I think I did better this time than with Hayden's delivery. Still, I probably could be heard out in the hallways!

A little before noon, I grunted at Phil and the nurse that I HAD to push and then screamed "OH MY GOD, I AM PUSHING AND I CAN FEEL HER COMING!!!! OWWWWW!! OWWWW!!!" Suddenly Phil is dashing to get the video camera, the nurse is dashing to get the doctor! Luckily, a crew of nurses and my doctor all swooped in just in time. My doctor was very calm and that helped it not feel as frenzied as Hayden's delivery (the nurse didn't have anything ready, and they couldn't find a doctor!). He wanted to help me minimize any tearing and calmly talked me through pushing a little slower. Within about 3 agonizing pushes I felt her head completely out. A couple more pushes and I felt the rushing whoosh and instant pressure release of her full delivery. Phil was able to capture it all on video. All 1 minute and 40 seconds of it. Don't worry, I'm not posting the video! :)

The doctor briefly showed her to me and I could see she was alive and starting to turn pink! Yay! The nurses had to take her to the heat lamp table and get her nose and mouth fully cleaned from the meconium, but she was crying and everyone was saying how big and healthy she looked.

I joked with the doctor, "I told you I go fast!", how the water breaking really did the trick, and that I'm sure glad we decided to induce labor when we did! I told Brooklyn, "Well, Brooklyn, you beat your brother's time!" The nurses said I made it look easy and I told Phil I was definitely done having kids! I joked that we should get a partial refund on our hospital bill for such a short delivery, and for making the nurses job too easy. We also thanked them for their quick scramble!

After a few minutes, they brought her to me and I was so happy to finally meet her!

Her face was so squishy and swollen from the beating she just took down the birth canal, but I knew that was to be expected. Because the pushing was so quick, she didn't even have a chance to get a cone-head! Also, her fingernails were super long. We joked that she got a manicure in the womb before making her big debut. And I just had a feeling that she would have dark hair. Hayden's hair was a reddish light brown, and Brooklyn's is very dark brown, like my dad's.

What was most shocking to me was how big she looked and felt. I asked the nurses to weigh her. When they put her on the scale, the numbers went up and up, past the 8 lbs, 7 oz,. mark of her big brother, all the way up above 10 lbs plus before settling down to 9 lbs, 15.7 oz! Well, since 15.7 rounds up to 16 oz, and 16 oz is 1 lb, the final, official birth weight is 10 POUNDS, 0 oz! Wow. I have to admit, it felt pretty awesome that I delivered a 10 lb baby in just over an hour, without any pain medications at all. I should win some kind of medal, don't you think?! ;)

OFFICIAL STATS:
Brooklyn Nicole Lott
Date of Birth: August 6, 2009 @ 12:03pm
Weight: 10lbs, 0 oz.
Height: 20.5 inches
Overlake Hospital - Bellevue, WA

I called Lisa with the news and she was sorry to have missed it, but stilled planned on continuing to come and give us big hugs and meet Brooklyn. She arrived around 1pm and we laughed about my crazy delivery story.

Little did I know, there are a few extra concerns when babies are born this big. When inside the womb, the umbilical cord is providing all the glucose the baby needs, but when the cord is cut, a 10 lb baby requires extra glucose or their insulin spikes. So in a healthy baby, glucose levels should be around 70, and 50 would be the minimum acceptable level, but Brooklyn's was 28. Despite my desire to exclusively breastfeed, the nurses informed me that they needed to give her a little formula to get her glucose level up. Of course, I wanted them to do whatever they needed. They let me nurse her first, and she latched on great and began sucking really well, so that helped ease my concerns about giving her formula from a bottle.

After she chugged 2 oz of formula, her glucose levels rose up to 72. Yay! Over the next 24 hours, they continued to monitor her levels closely and while I nursed her as much as I could with whatever collostrum she was getting from me, we also supplemented with a little bit of formula (about an ounce, twice.) When we discharged from the hospital, her glucose number was 55, but above the crucial "50" level, so we were able to take her home.

Also because she is so big and immediately requiring the calorie intake she was getting in the womb, the nurses were also concerned that jaundice might become an issue. And also it could be an issue because my blood type is B-negative and Brooklyn's is O-positive, and there can be red blood cell contamination issues. Before we left he hospital, her billirubin level was on the high side, so we had to take her back into the hospital the next day to get that checked again. Thankfully, everything is all normal with that now, too.

In the evening after Brooklyn's birth, we had all our family come visit and had a "Birth Day" party for Brooklyn in the hospital room. I had made a batch of pink cupcakes and a Big Brother present for Hayden. Hayden was too excited about his SUV toy from Grandma's house to really care much about meeting Baby Sister, but he definitely liked the cupcakes, singing Happy Birthday, and getting the Douglas Train from the Thomas the Tank Engine set (his middle name.) And when I asked him "Where is Baby Sister?" he pointed to the bassinet where she was, and not to my belly like he used to. So hopefully he gets it, on some level.

Recovery has been different this time than with Hayden, too. The afterpains of labor are stronger, and the doctors and nurses confirm this is common with the 2nd babies. The contractions help to shrink the uterus back down to normal size continue a few every hour, and are super intense during breastfeeding, which releases oxytocin hormone and causes contractions.

My milk came in last night and Brooklyn is eating like a champ! She is latching and sucking beautifully! And she's already had 6 poopy diapers since birth! I have a feeling her double chin and rolls on her arms and thighs will be here for quite some time! :) I love healthy, chunky babies!!! In fact, she was too big to fit in her going-home outfit and is already in Size 1 diapers instead of the Newborn size!

Hayden is doing pretty well, too. When we eat, I put Brooklyn in a little infant seat next to the table, and when she even whimpers, he tells me "hold her" in a very concerned tone of voice. The first night home, he cried as Phil sang him his favorite bedtime song and wanted him to keep repeating the last line, "mommy and daddy, we love you, yes we do, we love you". In the morning, instead of his normal soft talking he broke out in a full, hard cry and I rushed in to console him. He's been a little whinier but so far is keeping a safe distance from baby sister and respects our need to hold her, nurse her, and give her attention right now. I'm hopeful things are going pretty smoothly.

Welcome to our family, Brooklyn!

Passing the time

2009-08-02T23:13:00.000-07:00

To avoid going absolutely crazy awaiting Brooklyn's arrival, we have tried to continue keeping busy and enjoying some one-on-one time with Hayden.

On Friday, Phil's mom and I took Hayden to the zoo and had a wonderful time. The weather was finally at a more reasonable mid-80s and since we were there in the morning it was even cooler.

Friday night we enjoyed a pizza dinner at Zeek's, which is literally across the street from our house. Surprisingly, this is only our 2nd time going since they opened mid-June. Good pizza, and I even had a slice with spicy Italian Sausage to try to get labor started (people swear that spicy food does the trick) but no luck. Just bad heartburn later. :( But I am so proud of Hayden and how well-behaved he is at restaurants. He is so easy and I hope we're not in for a big shock with #2.

On Saturday, Phil and I packed a picnic lunch and headed to a park on Mercer Island to watch the Blue Angels Air Show with Hayden. Before the show began, Phil and Hayden had fun kicking a little soccer ball around. Hayden is getting really good at kicking and was laughing so hard and having so much fun with Daddy. Once the Blue Angels show started, Hayden got really upset by how loud they were. He was really scared, crying and shaking and covering his ears. We were doing our best to calm him, but the planes really were incredibly loud where we were. On the bright side, Hayden said the most complete sentences he's ever uttered thus far: "Blue Angels way too loud." and "Let's go home." So we packed up our stuff and headed for the car about halfway through the show. He calmed down as soon as we got back to the car.

On Sunday we took Hayden to get his 2nd haircut. We went to Kids Cuts in Issaquah, and it went even better this time. He sat in the airplane barber seat and watched an Elmo movie. He sat relatively still and even tolerated the clippers around his ears and the back of his neck. He looks like such a big boy with such a clean, short haircut.

In the afternoon, I went to a friend's bridal shower, which I was thankful to attend, considering I originally thought I have to miss it if Brooklyn was already born. It was pretty fun to see everyone's eyes pop out when I say I'm 5 days overdue! And then of course everyone wants to share their labor story (or someone they know) and how HUGE their babies are when they were overdue. Thanks. That's making me feel much better. :)

So despite all the failed attempts at inducing labor naturally (and I've tried almost all the tricks in the book!), I just have to keep reminding myself that God is in control. Phil has a big manager's conference the first part of this week, so I guess it's also a good thing that Brooklyn is holding off on making her big entrance. Also, I've come down with a scratchy throat/cough/hurts-to-swallow kind of bug and I'm hoping that all clears up before she comes, too. Although, I am super sad that it looks like my good friend Lisa, who was my doula when Hayden was born, is not going to be able to assist in Brooklyn's delivery since she is now on vacation with her family on the Oregon Coast for the next 2 weeks. She said if I was scheduled to be induced, she could probably make the drive back up in time, so we'll see. Might just be me and Phil this time, though.

As I type this post, I've had several contractions. Maybe tonight will be the night afterall! Or not.

Pregnancy Update Part 2

2009-07-29T14:51:00.001-07:00

Well, it seems as though my original due date of August 6th might be more accurate. Brooklyn still hasn't even dropped and I'm only 2cm dilated (I was 2 cm dilated for 3 weeks before Hayden was born). Since everything looked good on the Ultrasound last week - amniotic fluid level and placenta were normal - there's no rush to induce. I'm having about 2-3 Braxton Hicks contractions an hour, but nothing strong enough to even get me excited.

Brooklyn can't come soon enough. Today is supposed to hit record-breaking temperatures in Bellevue and Seattle. My car read 106 degrees at 2pm today when I was on my way home from the doctor's office. Phil, Hayden, and I are staying cool at my in-law's house. They have a heat-pump so their house is much cooler than ours. Around 74 right now and even cooler in their basement living room. I had a pretty good night's sleep last night and my toes even got chilly under the fan. :)

It's actually a good thing that I didn't have her on my due date because the hospital apparently lost power until about 1pm yesterday and was running on emergency back-up systems, which didn't include the AC! Phew! Good thing we weren't there then!

The other nice thing about staying with my in-laws is that Hayden is getting more comfortable staying here. We even have him sleeping in the twin-bed ("Big Boy Bed") with guard rails, which he seems to enjoy. So when the time does come for him to need to stay here for a night when we're in the hospital, I'm not going to worry about him (as much!). And their community also has a swimming pool so we've gone up there in the evening to cool off and Hayden LOVES the pool now. I am so thankful for my in-laws!!

So the game plan is... wait. I have ANOTHER doctor check-up scheduled for next week, August 5th, and at that point, if she still hasn't arrived, the doctor said we can put me on a waiting list with the hospital to be induced as soon as they have an opening. But since it still would be considered "elective", I'd be at the bottom of the waiting list and it could still be a few days after that before the hospital can get me in. Ugh! I almost wish they never even changed the due date from August 6th, because then maybe I wouldn't be so DONE already!

Brooklyn, everyone is so excited to meet you. Please come soon!

Update: The official temperature in Bellevue on July 29th was 108 degrees, breaking an all-time heat record.

Encompass Evaluation

2009-07-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday last week was Hayden's evaluation by an organization called Encompass, referred to us by our pediatrician after I mentioned some concerns I had with Hayden's speech development at his 2 year check-up. When the pediatrician asked if Hayden had at least a 50 word vocabulary, I couldn't definitively say yes. If you count the words Phil and I understand, then yes. But a stranger would recognize? I wasn't so sure. So Encompass has a special program for 0-3 year-olds that helps with any developmental concerns parents have (paid for 100% by insurance, state grants, and other grants). So I thought better to get it all evaluated now.

Between the time I scheduled the evaluation and the actual date the 2 evaluators (a speech therapist and an occupational therapist) came over for the 1.5 hour in-home evaluation, is when Hayden's vocabulary suddenly exploded! Of course. Prior to the appointment, I filled out a huge packet of questions and could already tell that there were only a few small areas that Hayden might be a little behind.

I actually called a few days before and said I really wasn't having concerns anymore, but they insisted on following through with the evaluation. To qualify for therapy services, the child has to be scored in the bottom 25th percentile in one or more categories: Cognitive, Fine Motor, Gross Motor, Social-Emotional, Adaptive Behavior, Receptive Language and Expressive Language. The only category I had any concerns with was the "Expressive Language" area. Within about 5 minutes, they both said they could tell Hayden would not qualify. But they still were very helpful in giving me some suggestions on helping Hayden with some of the words he pronounces unusually, and also eased my worries that some of the sound substitutions he was making were very common. For example, he says, "Ba" for "Fan" and the speech therapist said the "B" for an "F" sound is a very common substitution. And also that picking up on the last sounds, almost speaking "Backwards" like he does sometimes is also very common as children learn to connect their hearing with verbal communication.

While the occupational therapist brought out an assortment of toys, puzzles, and books to administer "The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development", the speech therapist observed his language and asked me questions about what he says and how he communicates. The first puzzle the OT presented was a simple wood board with 3 pieces: circle, square, and triangle. She dumped the 3 pieces out in front of Hayden and put the board in front of him. She turned to grab her stop-watch and a pencil and as she turned back to Hayden, he was just putting the last piece in the puzzle. She and the Speech Therapist both laughed and were like, "OK, clearly no problems here." The next puzzle had 9 shapes in a 3x3 grid and as Hayden put them all in their proper place, he also counted 1-9 ("one, two, free, fah, figh, sixess, neneven, eight, nine". Again, the therapists were pretty stunned. And I apologized for wasting their time! But they said it was helpful and encouraging for them to see children at the other end of the spectrum since they are so used to seeing children with developmental delays.

It was actually really fun to see Hayden do some of the tasks so well, even impressing me with things I didn't think he'd understand or know how to do, like sort colored pegs into different clear cups, and mimic unusual hand gestures. At one point the OT asked him to match her hand, which was the "OK" sign, and Hayden not only did it, but said "F" because that is also the sign for the letter "F". I explained to the her that he knows almost the whole sign language alphabet and when I showed them, as I did the hand signs, Hayden said almost all the letters correctly. Noting that he makes a connection with visual and verbal communication, the speech therapist suggested I use more signs with words and try to do them closer to my face as I say the word out loud, so he is watching both my hands and mouth. She was able to get him to say "Trailer" much more clearly than I've ever heard before just by motioning her fingers by her face a few times as she said the word (and it doesn't matter if it's true American Sign Language, as long as there is a hand gesture with the word that helps him see it together with the word.)

Another trick the Speech Therapist suggested to work with Hayden on the words he says unusually, is to print out some pictures from the Internet and hold the pictures up near my face, saying the word with very intentional mouth movements. "FFFloWer"

By the end of the evaluation the Speech Therapist scored Hayden in the 70th percentile for receptive language (Age equivalent = 32 months), and 30th percentile for expressive language (Age equivalent = 22 months). So he didn't qualify for any therapy. The therapist said that if the issues he is having with expressive language (consonant substitution and deleting the beginning or ending or words) are not resolved by age 3, to get him evaluated again. Just as I have been working with him over the past week with the suggestions she recommended, I am already noticing a lot of improvements.

The final summary of the evaluation was:

"Hayden is a charming 25-month old boy. Based on today's testing, Hayden demonstrated age-appropriate skills in all areas of development. Encompass's Birth-to-Three services are not recommended at this time."

Pregnancy Update

2009-07-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

Anyone who followed my blog with Hayden might remember that I was getting pretty annoyed by the end of my pregnancy with the lineup of questions by EVERY SINGLE PERSON I come in contact with. Whether it's at the grocery store, restaurant, the Mall, gas station, or anywhere, pretty much the first thing out of anyone's mouth when they see me is, "When are you due?", and then the rest of the conversation is just as predictable:

ME: July 28th
THEM: "Oh, wow, that's coming up soon! Do you know what you're having?"
ME: "Yup, it's a girl."
THEM: "Oh, how perfect, one of each." (if Hayden is with me. If he's not, then there's also the "Is it your first?" question right after "When are you due?")
ME: "Yup. We're very blessed."
THEM: "How are you feeling?"
ME: "Great! I'm excited to meet her."
THEM: "How old is your little boy?"
ME: "He turned 2 in May."
THEM: "Oh, that's a great age difference. He's going to be a great Big Brother."
ME: "Yes, I think so."
THEM: "Well good luck with everything."
ME: "Thanks."

(Now can I walk 10 more feet without the same conversation happening again?!)

So the script goes. Multiply that about 5-10 times a day, depending on how many people I see, and that is my day. Some days I don't mind so much. But other days, I just don't feel like going through the whole script again, and I try to signal with my tone of voice, quick answers and no eye contact that I'm not in the mood to be chatty. They must think I'm such a hormonal bitch. Yes, some days, I am.

Oh, and I also get the occasional, "You're so tiny!" or "You're so big!" (yes, on the same day) and "Where are you delivering?" One woman even told me she knew I was having a girl because I was carrying so high. And down the next aisle at the grocery store a different woman asked if I carried my 1st child so low, too. HMMM... Yes, everyone is an expert. Sigh...

SO, here are my REAL answers, for those of you who want more than the script:

Due Date:
My original due date was August 6th, but after a couple Ultrasounds had her measuring on the bigger side, it was changed to July 28th. Due dates are tricky when you have early pregnancy bleeding. But really, due dates are meaningless. According to the doctor today, I could deliver tomorrow, I could deliver in 3 weeks. The only thing certain is that if she hasn't arrived by August 6th, they will induce me. I am already 1 cm dilated, her head is down, but she hasn't dropped. The doc said with 2nd babies, my body knows what to do and things can happen quicker, so to be prepared for her to come any day now. No long distances away from a hospital, husband instructed to keep cell phone on at all times, install the infant car seat, and get the hospital bag ready. If I had my say, I'd want to have her after July 31st, so that Phil's 5-week paternity leave will carry through Labor Day weekend, when we have a big Lott Family retreat at the Oregon Coast. Otherwise, he has to go back to work for a few days, then use holiday pay to take the extra days off that week.

How am I feeling?
Well, in case you can't tell from my opening rant... I feel irritable. For starts. Poor Phil is having to hear me constantly complaining, whining, or asking him to get something for me. Phil is my sounding board and therapist.

Also, my back is really hurting now. Shoulders, middle, lower, tailbone, you name it. Phil is my masseuse, bender, and lifter.

I have an insatiable sweet tooth, so I'm stuffing my face with ice cream, brownies, cookies, ice cream, donuts, ice cream, candy, and did I mention ice cream? I ate so much better when I was pregnant with Hayden. I feel guilty.

I've gained 35 lbs so far this pregnancy. I think with Hayden, I gained 25-30, but my starting weight was higher, so I think I weigh about the same now as then. My ankles are swollen. My face is rounder and jaw line less noticeable. My upper arms are chubbier. Even maternity clothes are starting to be too small.

And one of these days after the "How are you feeling?" question, I am going to tell a perfect stranger, "Hemorrhoids suck."

The house is as ready as we need to be. Since Brooklyn will be in our room for the first 2-3 months, we haven't totally gotten everything ready in the room. I think it might be a better transition for Hayden anyway not to have his room change too drastically overnight. But all that's left to do, really, is to repaint the accent wall green from blue, and replace the curtains. I think it will be best to paint sometime when Hayden can have a sleepover at Grandma's so the room can air out anyway.

More than anything, I'm nervous about how Hayden will react to his baby sister. More specifically, how he will react to Mommy not always being able to pick him up or give him attention immediately when he wants it. I know this will be a good lesson for him to learn, but I can only imagine what that feels like from his perspective. It breaks my heart that he might feel rejected, displaced, unwanted, or unloved.

But he did the sweetest thing the other night. He kissed me goodnight and started up the stairs with Daddy as usual, and after about 2 stairs up, he stopped, turned around, ran back to me, and kissed my belly good night. (We have been asking him to give baby sister a kiss occasionally, but this was totally on his own!) Phil and I just stared at each other in awe of what a thoughtful thing that was. On another side note of something sweet Hayden did... he noticed a little scab on the back of my ankle I got the other day at the pool, and he pointed to it and said "Boo Boo Knee" (which is the phrase he says anytime any body part gets hurt) and then he leaned over and kissed my boo boo like I kiss his!! How adorable is that?!

For fear of going off on another rant, I'm going to leave this blog post on that high note.

Mariner's Game

2009-07-13T15:21:00.000-07:00

We took Hayden to his first baseball game yesterday. I was a little nervous since I got the tickets from a guy on Craigslist, and because the game started at 1:10pm and that meant Hayden wouldn't be taking a nap that day. Fortunately, everything turned out great.

The seats were excellent for the price - 300 level, row 1 (right on the railing!), on the first base side. I was pretty paranoid at first about the railing, but by the 3rd inning or so, allowed Phil to loosen his death grip on him a little, as long as he was always in reach and being watched (I don't think I watched much of the game, actually!).

And even though Hayden didn't get a nap, he was so good and had so much fun. He loved all the different music and clapping parts. I don't think he understood at all what was happening on the field, but he sure enjoyed people watching, eating (mmmm... kettle corn!!), and cheering. And the airplanes that would fly overhead, the trains blowing their loud horns, and the roof opening were pretty exciting too.

We made it through the Seventh Inning stretch ("Take Me Out to the Ball Game!") and decided it was time to head home before Hayden got cranky. Oh, and if anyone cares, Mariner's won 5-3 over the Texas Rangers. :)

Father's Day

2009-06-24T21:25:00.000-07:00

Father's Day

Phil deserves more than just one day honoring what an incredible father he is. Hayden's face lights up every time Phil comes home from work, and their bond is extremely special.

To celebrate the day, we went to the Fenders on Front street car show in downtown Issaquah. It featured cars from the early 1900s up to about 1970s. Hayden enjoyed the view from the backpack and kept saying "Old Car", which I am amazed he is able to distinguish the old cars even when we're just out driving on the road and in books. I guess he truly is his Daddy's son!

We got Phil one of those recordable greeting cards and it was funny trying to get Hayden to say something for the recording. When you press the button, the voice says, "Please record your message after the beep" and then there's a beep. At first, Hayden would just say "Meep, Meep" thinking that's what he was supposed to do. And of course since that made me laugh, he kept doing that. After about 50 tries over 2 days, I finally got him to say "Hi Daddy, Vuv You". SO sweet. After the message it plays the song, "I Wanna Be Like You" from the Jungle Book and has Mowgli and Baloo on the card. Phil took the card to work and said he listens to it when he needs a little smile.

Then I loaded a 2GB SDcard with a photo slideshow with over 130 photos of Phil and Hayden together from when Hayden was first born, up to present day. Funny how almost all the photos from when Hayden was a few days old are of Phil and Hayden napping together. We have an 8x10 digital photo frame, so the SD card can just stay in the frame and play the slideshow anytime. Hayden really enjoys looking at it too. And I think seeing all the photos of himself as a baby help prepare him for Baby Sister's arrival, too.

For dinner that evening, we went over to Phil's parent's house with all the other family. We got to meet our niece Madison for the first time and enjoyed a nice meal with everyone. Hayden always loves going to Grandma's house! I'm glad they live close by so we can see them so often.

To cap off the day, on the drive home, there was a brilliant, full rainbow in the sky right over our neighborhood. At one point, it even looked like the end was at our house, but unfortunately, there was no pot of gold waiting for us on our doorstep. Of course, we already have an incredibly fortunate life in our family. :)

Happy Father's Day, Phil. And to our Dad's and Grandpa's too.

New Niece - Madison

2009-06-22T20:39:00.000-07:00

There is a new addition to the ever-growing Lott family. Phil's older brother Jimmy and his wife Rachel just welcomed their firstborn baby girl into the world:

Madison DeElvia Lott
Born June 19, 2009 @ 4:11am
6 lbs, 11 oz
18 1/2 inches
Valley Medical Center - Renton, WA

Congratulations Jimmy and Rachel! She is gorgeous! And I'm so excited for Brooklyn and her cousin to be so close in age. How fun!

Brooklyn's Baby Shower

2009-06-21T14:03:00.000-07:00

My sisters and mom threw me and Brooklyn a little "Baby Sprinkle" brunch on Saturday. Since we already have a lot of baby stuff from Hayden, there wasn't much we needed besides some girl clothes, but it also a fun excuse to get together with friends and family to celebrate the coming arrival of a new life.

It was a wonderful shower, that had a rough start. My sister Nicole had just completed finals for her Interior Design program, moved into a new apartment the day before, and threw a party for her Interior Design department the night before, and then on top of all that was getting stuff ready for the shower, which was being held at her former apartment's cabana. Needless to say, she was already stressed out! The management was supposed to drop off the key to the cabana that morning, and the shower was scheduled to start at 10:30am. But no key. It took until about 10am for her to get a hold of someone, who was out on a boat, and the other person with a key lived about a half hour away. So my sisters and mom had to get what they could ready in Nicole's empty and thoroughly cleaned old apartment (thankfully she still had her keys to that!). Finally the woman with the key showed up around 10:30 and we were able to get into the cabana and quickly get decorations and food set up.

For the main brunch meal, my sister-in-law Katie made a delicious-looking egg strata. Unfortunately, when she took it out of the oven, she put the glass dish on the cold granite counters and within a minute we heard a popping sound and a crash. The glass dish had shattered. The whole egg strata was ruined because there were bits of tiny glass everywhere. Pieces of glass even fell inches behind Hayden but luckily his face was turned the other way. Who knew? I felt so bad for my sister-in-law for all the time and effort she put into making the dish. At least we still had crescents, sausage patties, and fruit to eat... and Mimosas!

Instead of the traditional baby shower games, the guests decorated plain white bibs with fabric paints and felt. It was a fun activity. I couldn't resist participating too.

And thanks to some wonderful gifts from everyone, Brooklyn is going to be one stylish girl! But I have to say my favorite gift was the photo album my sister-in-law made for us. It's made of fabric and has family photos on each page, printed on the fabric. Katie included pictures of everyone on each side of our family, all the great-grandparents, grandparents, aunts & uncles, and cousins (except for cousin Madison, who was born the day before!). Hayden loved it and I know Brooklyn will too. It brought tears to my eyes, and to the Grandmas there too. Katie is such a crafty person and this gift was very special.

So even though not everything went perfectly, I felt truly blessed by the event and appreciate all the hard work and generosity of everyone. Thank you!!

I just learned how to link to a whole photo album on my blog, so now I don't have to upload pictures one-by-one. Check out this link to view the whole Baby Shower photo album:

Brooklyn's Baby Shower

Please let me know if you have any problems viewing the album.

Snoqualmie Railway Museum

2009-06-15T13:56:00.000-07:00

After church on Sunday, we visited the Railway Museum in Snoqualmie Valley. Other than the boo-boo Hayden got on his head when he tripped on a railroad tie and went head-first into the next beam, we had a great time! Hayden kept saying "Wow!"

Hayden 2 Year Update

2009-06-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

Hayden's 2-year well-baby check-up was on June 9th. The last time he had to go to the doctor a couple months ago for his first ear infection, it did not go very well. He cried horribly from the time he stood on the scale (didn't want to let go of Mommy) until the very end of the appointment. So this time, I had an idea. I rented "Elmo Visits the Doctor" on Netflix and we watched it together the morning of his appointment. I got out our thermometer and ear scope gadget and we talked about the doctor, what she is going to do, and why. He typically hates having his temperature taken even at home, even just under the armpit, so I was surprised that he was letting me show him. Maybe because Elmo was doing it too. I think it also helps that Hayden has come with me to some of my OB appointments and sees Mommy get the same treatment. My nurse even lets Hayden squeeze the blood pressure bulb, which he thinks is super fun.

The good news is, the little prep session totally worked! He stood on the scale with just a little whimper, and was very cooperative except for a little minute when he didn't really enjoy having to lay flat on the examining table to get his height measurement. And of course he cried when he got a shot at the very end (luckily just 1 this time) and he calmed down quickly when I offered him some M&Ms as a treat for being so brave. Here are his stats:

Weight - 31.2 lbs (80th percentile)
Height - 38 1/4 inches (off the charts - Would be 95th percentile for a 28-month old.)
Head Circumference - 20 inches (95th percentile)

So, just as everyone keeps saying, he is TALL! Don't know how reliable this is, but according to the pediatrician, you can sometimes predict a child's full-grown height by doubling their height when they are 2 years old. That means, Hayden would be 6'4.5"!! Taller than Daddy (6'1").

The doctor also asked us all kinds of questions about Hayden's development. How many words he is saying, if he's running, climbing, jumping. How his eating and sleeping habits are. She quizzed him on a bunch of body parts and he easily identified his hair, eyes, ears, nose, tummy, knee, toes. It was really cute to see Hayden listen so well to the doctor and do what she asked.

I did have some concerns about his speech development that I discussed with the doctor. She said a 2 year old should have a vocabulary of about 50 words, and be able to say a handful of 2-word combinations. I wasn't sure if he could say 50 words accurately enough that a stranger would recognize the word. Phil and I know his "language" but I was hesitant to say other people would be able to understand him. He still says some words backwards or just the last sound. Like "Dump Truck" is just "Puh-Tuh", "Down" is "Nown", "Loud" is "Dlou", my favorite: "Doggy" is "GoDagoDago", and so on. But other words he says just fine. The pediatrician referred us to a program call Encompass that can evaluate his speech and other developmental abilities and provide therapy if needed.

Later that evening, I made a list of all the words Hayden says, and I was surprised once I got them all written down that there is definitely at least 50 understandable words. And even in the following days, he has been saying so many more words, and really trying to repeat words back to us - even hard ones like "watermelon". And he's been putting more 2 word combos together - "Mommy Daddy Moom" (Mommy & Daddy's Room), "Dooty Bvee" (Cookie Please), "Boo Boo Knee". So I'm a lot less worried, but we still have an appointment scheduled with Encompass for June 30th. Even if he doesn't qualify for therapy services (he'd have to score in the bottom 25th percentile), the therapist may be able to give me some suggestions on how to help correct some of his speech issues. Or even if we should? Like or words he says incorrectly, should I work with him and slowly articulate the word back to him? Do I say, "No, not "Ba", say FFFFFan"? Or do I just continue speaking normally and eventually he will start saying things more clearly and correctly?

The pediatrician also said I should NOT be worried that Hayden isn't very social with his peers, yet. He was clearly social with her, making eye contact and engaging in what she was doing. He probably just doesn't quite associate his peers with playmates yet, and views them more as threats (They take away his toys! They scream in his face!). He is very social with adults and if I just keep providing him opportunities to be around other kids (PEPS, Stroller Strides, Toddler Time, Playdates, etc.) he will be fine.

As for all his other developmental progress, he is excellent. He sleeps from about 8pm until 7:30am, and naps from about 1:30pm to 4 or 4:30pm and is doing great in his toddler bed. He never protests when we say "nap time" or "bed time". Goes right upstairs and into his room. He is a very good eater, loves veggies and eats almost anything we feed him, except for ice cream. He freaks out if I offer him ice cream. Whose kid is this?! But I am definitely not going to force him to like ice cream! He climbs up and down our stairs without having to hold on to anything, climbs in and out of the car and car seat and booster seat at the dinner table, can buckle the seatbelt on his high chair and stroller (thankfully not unbuckle, yet), gets a little bit of air under his feet when he jumps, kicks and throws a ball, follows a set of simple directions, brushes his teeth, washes his hands, verbally counts to 10 (sometimes misses #7), understands counting 2 and 3 items, correctly shows 1-5 on his fingers, can identify almost all the letters of the alphabet (except J, K, and Q), can identify almost all the sign language alphabet and about 15 other signs, and understands the concepts up, down, behind, front, and together.

We haven't really made any progress in potty training since that time a while ago when he pushed out a tiny little poopy. He sits on the potty chair every night as part of the bedtime routine, but has yet to really produce anything. Sometimes after his nap I put him in big-boy underwear until dinnertime, but he almost always has an accident. We don't make a big deal about it, and I think it's just good for him to start to recognize the sensation of peeing. He usually says, "Uh-Oh, Pee-Pee" but then it's too late.

He loves wheels, trucks, trains, things that move and spin, books, coloring, Play-Dough, cooking, playing with water in the sink or at his water table, finding sprinkler heads on the ground outside (calls those "Dow" for some reason - "round"?), and looking at our family photo albums. Surprisingly, he doesn't care for swimming or riding on toys - he prefers to push his ride-on cars and tricycle than sit on them and ride. And he has about a 15 minute attention span for TV. I let him watch a few shows: Super Why, Clifford, and Elmo's World. We watch them together and talk about what is going on, so hopefully that counteracts some of the negative effects of TV. Still, I feel guilty if I ever turn on the TV for him while I do something else, like cooking dinner.

Last week was the week of Boo-Boos. First he fell at Grandma's house in their driveway while wearing shorts and got pretty bloody knees. The next day, he fell on the sidewalk outside our house while pushing around his Cozy Coupe Firetruck and got a big boo-boo on his head and forearm. And a couple days later, we went to the Snoqualmie Railroad museum and he tripped on a railroad tie and went head-first into the next one. Poor guy. Band-Aids and Neosporan are in full stock! It's so sad to see him get hurt, but his reaction is a little funny. He screams a mad scream and usually that's it. Sometimes he cries a little but is usually ok in a minute or so. He actually cries more when we do the Neosporan and BandAids.

We've also started having Hayden do some simple "chores". He brings his plate and cup to the sink after every meal, he puts his dirty clothes in the hamper at night, he helps put the silverware away in the drawer after they are washed, he cleans up spills (not perfectly, of course), puts trash in the garbage can, and picks up his toys (when reminded!). I can tell he is going to be very helpful when his baby sister is born.

I wouldn't even come close to saying we are experiencing "terrible two's" with Hayden. He has a few moments of testing, but he is mostly very cooperative, listens and obeys well, has a fun temperament, and everyone who watches him confirms he is "easy". Knock on wood everything stays that way!! We are really enjoying being his parents.

There you have it. Hayden at two.

First Haircut

2009-06-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

After a particularly hot & sweaty afternoon nap last week, Hayden's hair was resembling the Nick Nolte mug shot, and we decided it was finally time for Hayden's First Haircut.

We took him to a kid-friendly salon in Crossroads Mall called Common Folk Kids Salon. Their barber seats are modified ride-on race cars and fire trucks and they have little bins of fun toys to help distract squirmy toddlers. Hayden liked the red fire truck, but started freaking out when we put him in it, so we decided a better option this time would be for him to sit in my lap.

Before:

During:

He was so thrilled with the little bin of Matchbox cars and Thomas trains that he barely noticed the stylist wetting down and cutting his hair.

I was pleasantly surprised that we didn't have a meltdown like he does at the doctor's and dentist's office. Normally, he doesn't really like strangers poking around on him with strange instruments. When the stylist wanted to clean up around the ears and back with the clippers, she spent a lot of time showing the clippers to Hayden, letting him touch them and help her turn them on so he wouldn't be afraid. But the minute she started going around his ear, I think the noise was too scary and Hayden started crying and squirming all over. We decided the scissors did a good enough job and we could try the clippers again at his next haircut. Don't want to traumatize him.

No clippers!

The haircut was pricey, but I think worth it to have a good first experience. The stylist was great and his hair looks fantastic! We also got a keepsake photo card with some locks of his hair in a secure plastic envelope.

After:

This last shot makes me think of those model poses you see in the salon magazines! Isn't he a handsome young man now? :)

Fun at the Zoo(s)!

2009-06-01T20:50:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, when my mom was visiting for the week of Hayden's birthday, we went to the local Cougar Mountain Zoo. It's a small little zoo in Issaquah with a lot of birds, some random animals like llamas and wallabies, and the most impressive 2 tigers, 1 of which is a White Tiger. They are in a small little enclosure, which is a little sad, but makes them easier to see. For a quarter, you can get 2 little pieces of food to feed the llamas. Hayden was a little too scared, but it was fun to see them up close. I think Hayden liked the fountain and walking in the gravel the most. Good thing we had a discounted admission!

Then last weekend was another beautiful day so Phil, Hayden and I went for another trip to the zoo, this time to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. The last time we went to the zoo, an elephant did a great big "poopy" in front of us and ever since, every time Hayden sees any kind of elephant, he says "poopy"! So we were on a mission to go see the elephants again, we even bought him a little elephant figurine at the ZooStore to build the excitement. He held onto the little baby elephant the whole time at the zoo, and although we didn't see the elephant go poopy again this time, he still says "poopy" and "ephaphant" back-to-back.

Hayden also really enjoyed the "Old Tractor" in the petting zoo area.

Hayden is TWO!

2009-05-21T14:40:00.001-07:00

At 1:11pm on May 20, 2009, Hayden Douglas Lott officially turned 2 years old! You've heard it said a million times, "HOW does time fly so fast?!" but it just couldn't be more true! I never would have imagined how much joy, love, purpose, and adventure it would be to be Hayden's Mommy. Happy Birthday, Sweetie.

His birthday party last Saturday was a lot of fun. We rented out a super kid-friendly coffee shop in Seattle called My Coffeehouse. It is full of toys, a big Thomas train table, Lego table, play kitchen, and enough space for our 30 guests, including 8 kids.

All the kids really enjoyed it, and it was nice to have espresso service for those who wanted. We also brought in our own snacks, drinks, and birthday cake. I ordered a plain chocolate sheet cake from Costco and my mom and I decorated the top with little construction trucks and crushed cookies as dirt. I was really happy with the way it turned out and Hayden seemed to REALLY love it! Especially the M&Ms I loaded into the back of the dump truck! The cake, plates, napkins, cups, balloons, and decorations were all construction truck theme. Hayden's favorite!

When it came time to open presents, Hayden was pretty distracted by the awesome train table, so I helped him a bit. His cousin Ethan and friend Lucy enjoyed helping, too. He loves all his new toys - Thank you everyone! Even Mommy enjoys playing with all this fun, new stuff!

We brought the video camera with us, but totally forgot to use it. I'm so sad. :( Next time, I need to designate someone else to be photographer and videographer so I can do all the other hosting duties as well as enjoy the special event.

For Hayden's actual birthday on Wednesday the 20th, Hayden experienced Chuck E Cheese for the first time! Unfortunately Phil had a business trip to Chicago this week, so he couldn't join us, but Grandma Judi (my mom), Grandma Doris and Grandpa Jim (Phil's parents) were all there. It was hilarious to see Hayden take in all the sights and sounds, running around trying to figure out what to do and look at next. He loved it! There was one giant Monster Truck ride in the middle of the arcade area that really captivated him. He didn't really have the attention span to ride on the rides, and some were a little too scary once they started to move, but he really enjoyed putting coins in the slots! There was also a "Toddler Town" area that had rides and a climbing structure better suited for his age. I wasn't sure if he'd be scared of the stage with the moving character show and the life-size Chuck E Cheese who was walking around the place greeting the kids and getting photo ops, but he did ok. He got a little scared when Chuck E came up close to him, but then warmed up to him when Chuck E gave him high 5 and played Peek-A-Boo with him.

Earlier last week, we also had a group birthday party at PEPS for all the toddlers, some turned two already in April and a few will be turning two very soon. We did a book exchange and had cupcakes. It was so cute!

Along with the three birthday celebrations, the other big event this week was Hayden getting a new Big Boy Bed. We decided his 2nd birthday was better than waiting until after Brooklyn is born, where he might feel Baby Sister was stealing his crib. We set it up last Sunday afternoon in the living room so when he woke up from his nap, it was a fun surprise. He loved it right away, climbed on it, laid down and said, "nigh nigh"! Phil and I were really amazed at how well he has made the transition. We rearranged his room so the new bed could be in the same place his crib used to be (thanks for the tip, Rachel!) and the crib is moved by the window, for now. We had to move the glider into our room to make the extra space, but I think it will be nice to have it in there for nursing Brooklyn and not disturb Hayden in the night.

The first night, it took Hayden almost an hour to finally fall asleep in his new bed, but surprisingly, he never got out of bed and slept until 7am! It has been great to have the new video monitor so we can spy on him. The past couple days, he has been falling asleep within his normal 10-15 minutes, and sleeping great for naps and bedtime. He loves the Construction Trucks bedding (Pottery Barn Kids), too. It's so cute to see him in a Big Boy Bed!

Hayden is definitely a two-year-old, with his share of testing, curiosity, and individuality, but I am hopeful that it won't be The Terrible Two's. He has moments of disobedience, but for the most part, we are enjoying the journey. I have been looking into some parenting/discipline philosophies and just finished a book called, "Love and Logic for Early Childhood" by Jim & Charles Fay. It has been helping me be proactive in helping Hayden learn who is in charge without being a drill sergeant. The Love & Logic philosophy is basically to love your children with empathy and support, while allowing them to grow and live with the consequences of their choices. To paraphrase a few nuggets from the book: "By setting limits in a loving way, and turning every mistake or misbehavior into a learning opportunity, the child learns to make good choices and be a respectful, responsible person." And the whole point is to have more fun parenting and less stress. So far, it seems like a good approach. I don't agree with everything they say, but I feel better going into the Two's with a Game Plan.

Philippians 4:19

2009-05-06T13:24:00.000-07:00

It's not breaking news that the economy is rough and everyone is having to find ways to save money and make better financial choices. We just has to make a really tough choice ourselves. Phil decided we should sell his beloved Subaru WRX. He's downsizing to a less expensive car so we'll eliminate that car payment and even have a little extra money in the bank to help us out during the 3 months I plan on not working after Brooklyn is born.

If you know Phil, you know he loves cars. This WRX has been his passion for the past few years, using birthdays and Christmases as an opportunity to add various after-market parts to make it even higher performing and personalized: wheels, struts, iPod sound system, MOMO steering wheel and shift knob, etc. It sold in just a few days and he just put a deposit down on a 2003 Ford Focus SVT. It will be ours by the end of the week after the dealership replaces some worn tires and gives it a full auto detail.

Bye-Bye WRX:

Hello Ford Focus:

It couldn't be better timing. Work for me has been slower than normal. I had even hoped to work a little more over the next couple months to save up for maternity leave. Various clients and projects have been stalled in moving forward with some jobs, leaving me twiddling my thumbs and starting to get nervous about finding more work for the first time in my freelance career. Of course, I worry that as soon as I line up some new work, these other jobs that have been delayed will all come through and then I'll be overloaded, but I think that would be better than nothing at all.

We also refinanced our home mortgage and are taking a serious look at cutting all the non-essentials from our budget.

Just as we were feeling pretty depressed about our financial circumstances, God came through for us in a big way. Out of the generosity of one of Phil's coworkers, we were recently given a bunch of brand new baby gear: Schwinn double jogger stroller, crib mattress, extra car seat, video monitor, and some other baby health devices. It was an incredible blessing and we are just in shock at how amazing it is to receive all this stuff for free. Wow.

"And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus" - Philippians 4:19

Funny Kid

2009-05-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

Just a couple funny stories about Hayden so I don't forget and can look back on them when I need a good laugh:

So... Hayden likes to look at our photo albums. Mostly the pictures of the red toy Jeep at Grandma's and the elephant that went "poopy" at the zoo. So it took me a minute to understand what was so special about this picture:

He was pointing to his face and making the sound he makes for a cat's "meow". Every time he'd go to this picture, point and "Meow". When then I realized, he was pointing to the shadow on his face and our cat's name is "Shadow"!! I was really impressed that he connected the 2 words. I guess that is pretty confusing, though, if I point out "there's a shadow on your face" and he isn't seeing our black cat!

So another funny story: The other evening I was really sick and camped out on the couch. I was flipping through the channels and Top Gun was on TV. It was just at the part where the "Take my Breath Away" music was coming on and Phil said, "This was always the part my parents made us fast-forward." (Because it is the steamy make-out scene with Tom Cruise in Kelly McGillis's bedroom.) We thought Hayden was completely immersed in playing with his car, but just as "Maverick" and Kelly go in for a big smooch, Hayden pops up from behind his car and goes, "Mmwaa" -- which is his sound for kiss. It was so hysterical that he totally understood that they were kissing, and that Phil had JUST commented about how it wasn't an appropriate scene for kids! Wow, now you all know why I am usually neurotic about having the tv on around Hayden! Phil and I were laughing so hard our sides hurt.

Tulip Festival

2009-04-23T21:26:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday Hayden and I went to the Skagit Valley Tulip festival with some of the other moms and kids from our PEPS Group (yes, we are still meeting regularly after almost 2 years!).

It's about an hour and a half drive away, so we left early and packed a picnic lunch. It was a beautifully sunny day, and perfect temperatures—around 67°-72°F. Because of the long, cold winter, the tulips are making a later appearance than normal, but we still had plenty of colorful fields to admire at Tulip Town.

Hayden loved the Windmill (anything that spins!)

He wasn't so thrilled about Mommy trying to take so many pictures of him! It was actually quite challenging to get any photos more than an arm's length away, because he wanted to hold my hand or run in the opposite direction. He isn't quite old enough to understand the whole "look at the camera and smile" concept. But the nice thing about going with other moms is that we all had our cameras and could get photos of each other with our kids.

The tulip fields were planted in rows that were like big speed bumps. It was a bit of a challenge for the kids to walk around, but they actually thought it was pretty fun. Hayden kept saying "bumpy".

After we "tortured" our kids with a lengthy photo shoot in the tulip fields, we went on a quick little Tractor Ride to the end of the field and back. Hayden LOVED it!

It was a fun, but exhausting excursion. Hayden even slept in the car for about a half hour on the way home. (That makes at total of 3 times sleeping in the car since he was about 6 months old!) We got home around 3pm and Hayden luckily took a 2 hour nap, and I napped for some of that time too! It's days like this that make me wonder how the heck I'm going to handle TWO kids!?! Yikes! :)

UW Cherry Blossoms

2009-04-20T21:05:00.000-07:00

It has become an annual tradition for our family to visit the University of Washington campus when the cherry blossoms are in bloom. We had the most perfect weather on Sunday for a wonderful morning in "The Quad" followed by a picnic lunch. Hayden did not like climbing in the trees, but he sure loved running all over and climbing on the brick steps. It was really fun to play with our digital SLR camera. We took hundreds of photos, but it would take too long to post them (and view them!), so here are a few select photos from the day:

Flashback:
2008

2007

Easter 2009

2009-04-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we celebrated Easter with a neighborhood Easter Festival held at the park near our house. The weather didn't cooperate very well, so it was a soggy egg hunt, but I can hardly recall a sunny Seattle Easter so I guess it's to be expected. The egg hunt was divided by age group and Hayden was in the birth to Pre-Kindergarden age. The grass was covered in colorful eggs, and the minute the countdown hit 1, the frenzy began! Must have been a couple hundred people!

I was surprised that Hayden caught on to the concept of picking up the eggs and putting them into the basket pretty quickly. Enough to get 6 eggs! Which is remarkable, considering the whole hunt lasted about 2 minutes.

Some were filled with stickers, others with candy. Yes, I did let Hayden eat candy! Just not the bubble gum.

My nephew Jude got the Golden Egg -- redeemable for a special prize, a stuffed Easter Bunny!

There was also an Easter Bunny photo area, which Hayden wasn't super thrilled about.

He loved bouncing on the OUTSIDE of the bouncy house, but when he went inside he froze and whined for "MOMMY!!"

The carnival games were better for the older kids, although Hayden did like throwing the bowling ball at the bunny pins. And even more, he enjoyed the super bouncy ball reward he got for knocking down 2 pins!

He also enjoyed petting the animals. There were ducks, bunnies, goats, chickens, and a miniature donkey. The donkey was noisy so Hayden got to hear a real donkey noise and now makes good "HEE-HAW" sounds when you ask him what the donkey says.

On Sunday, Hayden and I stayed home from church because Hayden's cough and cold seemed to be getting worse. After he took a good nap, we went over to Grandma Doris and Grandpa Jim's house for a delicious Easter Dinner with the whole Lott family. We were all commenting at how their house is starting to feel kind of crowded with all these grandkids (4 grandsons), and 2 grand-daughters on the way!

The rest of this week has been pretty tough. Hayden's cold progressed into an ear infection and I can't help but worry that all the time in the soggy weather wasn't the best for him. On Wednesday night, he was awake crying on and off from 12:30am - 4:30am. I brought him in our room, but with him tossing and moaning, I don't think either of us got much sleep at all (Phil even slept on the couch). I took him to the doctor on Thursday and she confirmed he has his first ear infection. He started antibiotics and already seems to be doing better. Still not much of an appetite, but he's sleeping better and not quite as crabby as earlier this week. Praying for a quick recovery, and that the tickle Phil and I are starting to feel in our throats doesn't progress into colds for us, too.

Happy Easter

2009-04-11T17:45:00.000-07:00

Spring Weekend

2009-04-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that just Friday morning there was an inch of new snow on the ground, and two days later, the temperature is in the high 60s. Maybe even reached 70 today.

To enjoy this first glimpse of Spring weather, Phil and I took Hayden to the Woodland Park Zoo! My aunt gave us a membership for Christmas, and today was the first day we used it. Can't wait to come back more. Hayden had a lot of fun! Phil carried him in the Kelty backpack so he could see everything better, and that turned out to be a great way to do it. The weather was perfect and most of the animals were out and enjoying the nice day.

The highlights were the elephants, brown bears, and tiger. One of the elephants took a giant dump as we were watching them, so Hayden kept saying "poopy" after that! The 2 brown bears got into a wrestling brawl and that was very exciting to watch. The tiger was pacing all over and growling and roaring a few times. It was quite a show! I had a lot of fun using our new camera. Here are some photos:

Riding the carousel

Walking with Mommy

Watching the elephants

Wearing Mommy's sunglasses

Looking at the birds in the tropical rainforest house

On Saturday evening, we also went to the park near our house we call the "WOW" park. There are 3 bulldozers, a road roller, and a digger in the construction area that haven't been used all winter. We let Hayden get up close and he just kept saying "WOW!". He LOVES construction vehicles.

The park also has a beautiful new path around a water retention pond, with a waterfall and bridge. Hayden liked the waterfall.

He also really enjoys pushing his stroller.

Yay for nice weather! Thank you, sun, for making a much-needed appearance this weekend.

First Look at Brooklyn Nicole

2009-04-01T14:05:00.000-07:00

We have confirmation that Baby Lott #2 is indeed a girl! We also decided to go ahead and announce that her name is going to be...

Brooklyn Nicole Lott

Nicole is my older sister's name, and Brooklyn is a name we just like that also nicely fits the family trend of Jacquelyn (my full name), Judith Lynn (Mom), and Evelyn (maternal grandma). With Hayden, we honestly didn't decide on his name until a few minutes after he was born. We liked both Hayden and Isaac and wanted to 'meet' him to see what we felt like his name should be. But this time, Phil and I both love the name Brooklyn and don't have any other names we both love as much. So there it is. Our niece, who is due mid-June, is going to be named Madison, so I guess there's a bit of a New York theme (or just geographical, if you're thinking of Madison, WI) in the Lott family!

At our UltraSound appointment, there was extra time so the technician asked if she could practice a new 4D system on us. It was a little creepy because they looks so alien-ish at this stage, but also cool to see such a more realistic view of the baby. See this short little video:

Here are some standard UltraSound pictures of her profile:

And of her forearms and fists over her face:

Brooklyn and Hayden are going to have to share a bedroom until we can upgrade our house to a 3+ Bedroom (technically, ours is 3 bedrooms, but the 1st floor bedroom would be a terrible baby room because it is so far from the 3rd floor bedrooms, it's cold and has an outside entrance. It is also needed for my office). So, ideally, we would eventually get a 3 bedroom + den or something that could accommodate a work area for me. But that is just a fantasy right now. We have to make do with what we have.

Hayden's room is very small as it is, so we need to get creative with the layout. I think the best plan is to try to move him to a toddler bed for his 2nd birthday. A toddler bed uses the same size mattress as a crib, so it won't last too long with his growing rate, but I don't think a twin bed + crib would work in his room. And I hope that by transitioning him to the toddler bed for his 2nd birthday, he'll have time to adjust to it before Brooklyn moves in and "takes his crib". She'll be in a bassinet in our room for the first couple months anyway, so that will give him more time, too. I just don't want Hayden to feel like Brooklyn is booting him out of his crib and taking over his room.

We're also going to re-paint the blue accent wall to a more gender-neutral light green. I got some cute green, pink, and brown bedding at Target for Brooklyn:

I need to find Hayden some cute trucks bedding for his new bed, hopefully with some green in there to tie it together. I really liked this line from Pottery Barn Kids:

But of course it is discontinued, and it never came in Toddler size anyway (just twin and +). But I'm basically looking for something similar. Well, also cheaper ;)

Update: That PBK line IS still available in the Baby line, so I went ahead and ordered the fitted sheets, quilt, and pillow sham. Yay!!

Seattle Children's Museum with Grandma Judi

2009-03-28T10:30:00.000-07:00

Grandma Judi is visiting this week so we went to the Seattle Children's Museum and had a lot of fun!

After such an exciting day, this little boy was ready for some cuddles -- and Grandma too!!

Snow in March and other happenings

2009-03-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was March 7th. I left home around 7:30pm to go to the grocery store and got caught in the most torrential hail storm/lightening storm/snow storm I have ever experienced! Needless to say, it was a terrifying driving experience. Cars were sliding all over the road and I had to change my route several times due to blocked roads or stopped traffic. Lightening flashed and thunder roared almost simultaneously before my eyes, meaning the storm was very near! Hail was coming down so hard I couldn't see the car 10 feet in front of me. I made it to the store safely and quickly got what I needed. When I left, it had stopped hailing and was just lightly snowing, but the roads were a mess. A layer of about an inch or 2 of hail/snow/ice covered the roads and I had to maneuver my way around sideways cars and buses all over the road just to get up the hills and home. A bus was completely sideways on the wrong side of the street going up the main road to our neighborhood. At one point, I thought I was going to need to pull over and walk about a 1/2 mile home because a few cars were sliding backwards down the hill in front of me and it looked like they were going to block the only access home. Fortunately, they were able to back down safely and pull to the side and I was able to make it up just fine. I LOVE MY SUBARU!!

The next morning, the snow had pretty much turned to slush and by mid-afternoon had almost completely melted. What weird weather! Guess I should watch the news more often, but I don't even know if they predicted this! I certainly wouldn't have risked my safety to go to the grocery store if I had known!

Here are some pictures of Hayden enjoying the giant snowball in our front yard that some other kids made:

Earlier this month, Hayden enjoyed playing at Grandma & Grandpa's house. They have a kid-sized Jeep for the grandkids that Hayden enjoyed pushing, but not really riding in, yet. The motor noise kind of scared him.

And here are just some other random photos from earlier this month:

Hayden likes to help Mommy cook.

Hayden has a very busy social life.

Hayden with our very good friends, Perry and Lisa Travis. Perry was our youth pastor and marriage officiant. He and Lisa also did our pre-marriage counseling and Lisa was our doula at Hayden's birth. Very special people!

Baby #2 News

2009-02-26T20:43:00.000-08:00

Well, just like when I was pregnant with Hayden, I have been experiencing some bleeding during this pregnancy. Yesterday afternoon, I noticed I was bleeding again. If it hadn't been for an incident earlier in the day when Hayden and I were playing on the floor at home and he tripped and his knee slammed right into my belly, I probably would have brushed it off. But I decided to call the doctor to report it. Since it was 4:30, they said it was too late to come in and recommended I go to the ER. Grrr. But they wanted me to get it checked out, because the impact could have caused damage to the placenta or some other area. I waited until Phil got home so he could stay with Hayden, ate dinner, got to the ER around 7pm, had an UltraSound at 10:30pm, waited until 11:30pm to talk to the doctor for the results and got home after midnight.

The UltraSound revealed a small hemorrhage at the bottom of the uterus near the placenta that is causing the bleeding. It is unknown whether the impact caused the tear or if that was just coincidence. The doctor thought that since I’ve had other episodes of bleeding that the tear might have been there already. I guess sometimes where the placenta attaches to the uterine wall, it can aggravate the tissue and occasionally bleed. The placenta itself is not bleeding. There is a small risk that the tear could become worse, and affect where the placenta is attached, and if the placenta becomes detached from the uterine wall, a fetus cannot survive. The doctor assured me that this risk is very small, and most likely the tear with either heal or just be there for the remainder of the pregnancy. He did recommend pelvic rest and no lifting, straining or exercise for at least a few days of no bleeding. So I’m trying to take it easy.

SO... there’s one really positive outcome of this whole scary experience. Because I had to get an UltraSound done, I got to find out the sex of the baby!! As the UltraSound tech was scanning around and measuring various parts of the placenta and baby, I told her I wouldn’t mind finding out if it was a boy or girl. She was nice and after she got the information needed, she took a peek at the tell-tale parts. Since I’m only 17 weeks along, she said it might be hard to tell. Usually it’s better to see at 20+ weeks. She was watching the screen and said, “Well, you have a boy already”. I have to admit, I was a little sad. I really felt in my heart we were having a girl. I quietly lay there and tried to focus on how blessed I am that he has a heartbeat, and is ok, and that a little brother for Hayden is going to be wonderful. Then the tech pointed to the screen and said, “So this is where a penis would be, and instead, there are 3 lines. That indicates a girl.” HUH??! I thought you just said I was having a boy? She laughed and was like, “Oh, sorry, I was just saying you ALREADY have a boy”, meaning Hayden - who I mentioned earlier when I described the accident. I thought she had meant she could already tell it was a boy. She said she’s about 90% sure it’s a girl, but she never says 100% because especially with girls it is a little harder to tell. But I’ll take 90%! :) She had to do a couple other measurements and scans to do, and later during the procedure said, “Yup! Still saying girl!”. It was so awesome to see her moving all around on the screen. At this stage, you can really make out the spine, hands, feet, head, heartbeat. It was wonderful! Despite the long, exhausting ordeal at the ER, it was so fun to get home and wake up Phil and tell him the news. He thought he was dreaming!

We have a follow-up UltraSound on March 31st. This should also help confirm it, but for now, Phil and I are giddy with excitement that we’re 90% sure it’s a girl! YAY!

Oh, and she is also measuring big for my estimated due date (was August 6th), so by their measurements, a more accurate due date is around July 28th.

Hayden amazes me.

2009-02-24T14:41:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry if this sounds like I'm bragging, but I am one proud Mom. Hayden is such a joy to be around and I am so in awe at some of the ways he is developing and experiencing life. It is so much fun to have a 21-month old son! And since this blog is basically Hayden's Baby Book, this is where I get to document all the wonderful things about him. Also, a lot of our friends and relatives haven't seen him for a while, so here are some of the latest developments:

Language - Hayden is talking a lot more than even just a month or so ago. He is starting to put words together like "Bye Bye Daddy" and "Blue Car". He still has his own way of speaking (that Phil and I have learned to decode for the most-part), so not all his words are completely perfect. He often picks up on the last sound of the word and puts it first. Like "orange" is "Jorn", and "green" is "neen", "juice" and "ice" are both "SSS", "on" is "non", and "again" is "Naah". He also has cute ways of saying "Dog"="GoDGoDGo", "Truck"="TruTru", "Car"="Dar", and "Gears"="JiaJeer".

Letters - he recognizes and says over half the letters of the alphabet, whether on a book, piece of mail, sign, menu, poster, refrigerator magnets, or anything written. He especially loves the letter B. Other letters he says and points to are: A, D, E, F, G, H, I, N, O, P, S, T, U, and Y. So far just the capital letterform (unless of course the lowercase is the same, like O, S, and U.) He is even showing signs that he understand that these letters combine to form words. We were at Red Robin and there was a movie poster for TOMBSTONE next to our table. He pointed and said almost every letter, from left to right. Or if Phil or I wear a shirt with a word, he loves to point and spell out the letters. I think his love of letters is because he loves books! He will sit still and listen to several books before nap and bedtime, and throughout the day also. He mostly loves books about trucks and tractors, but also likes a lot of the Dr. Suess books, Sandra Boynton books, and books with animals and numbers.

Numbers - He also likes to point to numbers and either say them or attempt to form his fingers into the number (he usually gets 5 and 4). For some reason, he LOVES 8 and 9 when he sees those numbers. He even points to the numbers on his digital clock in his room and usually says them correctly.

Shapes - He has a shape sorter cube with a variety of shapes - square, circle, triangle, star, moon, etc. He rotates the cube to the correct side and puts the block in the right hole. He only has difficulty distinguishing the half-circle shape from the crescent moon shape.

He also enjoys putting together wood puzzles. He has one that has a bunch of different cars and trucks and he can put the shapes in their proper place almost as fast as I can.

Colors - He can point to and name blue, green, red, yellow, orange, and purple.

Stacking - He understands size relationships and stacks smaller things on top of bigger things. He is good at balancing objects on top of each other and we think he has a future in the circus. ;)

Eating - He has pretty much mastered a spoon, eating a whole bowl of oatmeal with just a little bit of dribbles down his chin. He is also great at using a fork and doesn't eat with his hands very often. He can drink out of a regular cup without spilling, but we usually still give him a straw in his cup to make it easier.

Singing - He loves to sing "Ee-I-Ee-I-O" for Old Macdonald, and actually sings sort of in pitch. Also there are some Beatles songs he sings to. "LaLaLa" for "Oh-bla-di...", the "Leeees" in "...won't you pleease, pleeease help me..." I've got to try to get this on video sometime.

Memory - The other day we were at Fred Meyer and as I was putting Hayden in the shopping cart, he noticed a fire truck parked in the back of the parking lot and made the fire truck siren noise. Just then, 3 firefighters walked in and heard him make that noise, and thought it was really cute. One nice fireman gave Hayden a little postcard photo of the firetruck and a sticker of a Jr. Firefighter badge. Hours later, when I asked Hayden to tell Daddy what we saw at Fred Meyer earlier that day, he made the fire truck siren noise. That's just one example, but I think it's pretty remarkable that he can remember things that happen earlier in the day and make associations like that.

Another example of that is he loves to go get the mail with me, but our neighbor has a big dog that barks when we walk past his house, so every time I say to Hayden, "Let's go get the mail" he says "Mailman!" and then immediately, "DoDgoDgoDgo" in a whimpery voice. I have to reassure him that the dog is inside that house. He has a love/hate relationship with dogs. He doesn't mind seeing them, and LOVES his little stuffed doggie, but he is terrified of the "Bark" even if I do it, even in a friendly, "ruff-ruff" way.

Some other cute and amazing things he is doing now - mimicking my "stroller strides" exercises when he pushes around his baby stroller doing squats! Brushing his teeth, throwing garbage away, getting into his booster seat at the dinner table by himself and buckling himself in (still hasn't figured out the unbuckling part, thankfully), going up and downstairs just lightly holding the wall, and going down a slide.

I can't wait for the weather to get better and we can play outside more. But we stay pretty busy during the week with Stroller Strides on Mon-Wed-Fri mornings, PEPS on Thursdays. He goes to Annie's house on Tuesday mornings while I get some work done and Grandma Doris comes over on Wed after Stroller Strides to watch him also while I work. On Mondays after Stroller Strides we usually stay at the Community Center and play at their Toddler Time area, and on Fridays we often go to KidsQuest Museum. He naps from about 1:30 - 4:30 so it's basically just the mornings that we can get out and do stuff. And as you can see, we pack it pretty full.

So that's my life with Hayden right now. I am enjoying every minute of it and it seems like Hayden is a pretty happy little kid, too.

Breaking News

2009-02-02T15:32:00.000-08:00

If I were famous, I would have been on the "Bump Watch" pages of the tabloids weeks ago... and they would be right! Yup! For those of you who don't know, Phil and I are expecting Baby #2 at the beginning of August. Shockingly, this means I have something in common with Elisabeth Hasselbeck from The View. (My good friend Annie loves her, so I won't make any comment here.) Although, unlike Elisabeth, our pregnancy was most certainly planned. Hayden and his little sibling will be roughly 2 years and 2 1/2 months apart. I think that's perfect. Hayden will be old enough to kind of 'help' with some things, and they'll be far enough apart that maybe they won't be quite as competitive with each other as my sister and I were (22 months apart and only 1 school grade apart). But they'll still be close enough to play together once they're a little older.

It's always an interesting game of when to tell people. We told our family at Christmas, when I was only about 8 weeks along. Many people like to wait until they are through their first trimester because that is when the risk of miscarriage drops significantly. But for me, I figured, if the unthinkable were to happen, I would want my family and close friends to know what I was going through. I would need their support. And it's just so much fun to announce the news, and I couldn't think of a better time than at Christmas. Plus, then I don't have to think of an excuse for not drinking wine, which would probably blow my cover immediately. Of course all our parents were thrilled to be getting another grandchild. It's also exciting that Phil's older brother, Jim and his wife Rachel, are expecting their first child in mid-June. I was worried about stealing their thunder a bit, but they were thrilled for us, too. I just feel bad that now I can't loan her my maternity clothes!

So now that I'm through the 1st trimester and feel like it's ok to announce it publicly on the blog. We'll find out if we're having a boy or girl mid-March. I can't lie, I am REALLY praying it's a girl. I love Hayden to pieces, and am thrilled to have a son, but since Phil and I are only planning on having 2 kids total, it would be hard to accept never having a daughter if we have another boy. Of course if it is a boy, I will love him with all my heart. My mother-in-law had four sons and then four grandsons before finally getting the news that Jim and Rachel are having a girl. She has been waiting a LONG time to buy pink! So I too can always enjoy spoiling my niece even if I am blessed with another son.

This pregnancy has been very different than when I was pregnant with Hayden. First, I started feeling nauseous immediately. Every day since the beginning of December, until now. I have been miserable. I have been exhausted. My belly started popping out a few weeks ago, and my belly button is already flattening. And the headaches. Ugh! All this and still needing to keep my energy up with a very active toddler has been much harder than pregnancy #1. I'm finally getting some energy back and not feeling nauseous all day long (it comes and goes).

Luckily, Phil is a little more experienced with being a husband to a pregnant woman and has been INCREDIBLE at picking up my slack, doing all sorts of household chores, taking Hayden on weekend mornings so I can sleep a bit longer, and just overall being compassionate and asking how I'm feeling and what he can do for me. What a man! He even went to Dairy Queen and got me a Blizzard one night I was having a craving attack. Maybe I should milk this pregnancy stuff as much as possible! :)

Potty Training Class

2009-01-29T13:23:00.001-08:00

Last Sunday, Phil and I attended a free Potty Training class at Seattle Children's hospital. I have heard about a lot of different methods and wanted to hear what they had to say. The 1.5-hour class was taught by Ginger Thomas, a Urology Program Nurse for 25 years who also worked in a preschool for 9 years. I can't remember the exact number of years, but she has been teaching potty training classes for many many years, too. I would say she's an expert. She provided excellent notes, which I will share for all my other parent friends out there who want to know what we learned.

NOTES:

She started off with the disclaimer that everyone has their own recipe, every kid is different, and there's no real "right" or "wrong" way. But everything she said made a lot of sense to me and I think it's worth a shot.

A brief history of potty training: back in our grandparents' generation, potty training started much earlier, around 12 months old. This is probably due to the use of cloth diapers - where moms would be washing diapers all day every day, and babies could feel when they were wet more than today's disposable diapers. Also, mom's tended to stay home more so it wasn't as inconvenient to make numerous attempts at using a potty.

These days, we have working moms, playgroups, outings, and sometimes when you're on the go, it's all just easier to use diapers. So our motivation has lessened. But also, more childhood development research has occurred and found that children are easier to potty train when they are physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially READY. About 15 years ago seemed to be the peak in the age of potty training - around 4 years old. Now, the trend is about 3 years old.

So, what are some "Readiness Signs"?

Stays dry for 2 hour intervals - their bladder has grown enough to hold it without getting bladder infections.
Predictable, regular bowel movements
Can sit still and focus for several minutes
Understands simple instructions
Announces when they are going or immediately after
Shows an interest in others using toilet
Show interest and cooperates with sitting on potty chair
It also helps if the child is capable of pulling up and down their own pants

The book, "Mommy! I Have to Go Potty" by Jan Faull is also a great resource (and quick read) with more readiness signs and tips for parents.

Step One: Around 18 months Old
The first step in potty training, using this method, is to start to familiarize your child with toileting.

Buy a Potty Chair - no particular brand recommended, but best not to have the front straddle shield because that can be tricky to get over without damaging sensitive parts. The seat should be easy to use and clean. A small seat is less intimidating than the big toilet, but if you use the ring over the toilet seat, be sure to have a footstool. Feet need to be flat and supported to relax pelvic muscles.

Use the language - when you're changing diapers, use common words like "Pee-Pee" and "Poo-Poo", be matter-of-fact and not negative. Instead of "Yucky, Stinky, Poopy!" just say, "Oh, you pooped." Don't create too unusual code-words so that any caregiver will understand the child if they have to use the potty.

Allow your child to interact with the potty seat in any way they want - let them touch it, put toys in it, sit on it, drag it around, whatever. They should get so comfortable with it that it's not scary or threatening when you're ready to move on.

Get 1-2 books for your child about the potty - There are a lot to choose from, and there aren't really any that are better than others. Just pick one or two that your child might be interested in. Every child is different. It just helps the vocabulary develop.

Let your child watch you use the toilet - children learn by example and observation.

Step Two: Around 24 Months Old
The second step is to work toileting into your daily routine.

Announce your plan - Instead of asking, "Do you want to sit on the potty?" Simply state "Time to sit on the potty." (It is wise to establish a doctrine that for all issues of health & safety, it is not a choice.)
Tell the child what you're doing and why
Place the child on the potty chair at the same time every day - before bedtime or upon waking in the morning seem to work best as they are already use to some routines here.
Do not worry about or expect them to go in the potty.
Sitting on the potty for 30 seconds is ideal. No more than 5 minutes (if child likes to sit on potty and take advantage of the attention)
Be consistent

Step Three: Around 30-36 Months Old
Once you feel your child exhibits the "readiness signs" (listed above), go for it!

Potty Training clothing:

Consider cloth diapers - if they can't see or feel it with disposable diapers, it's harder to know it exists.

Big Kid Underwear - Take child to store and make a big deal about the special underwear they are getting. Let them pick it out. Get lots of pairs. Don't use disposable training pants because you'll want immediate feedback. Cloth training pants are ok.

Elastic waistbands - Ideally, so your child can pull up and down their own pants. Zippers and buttons are too hard. Even for parents who are trying to get them off quickly.

Consider leaving naked - During the summer, naked children get immediate feedback when they start to pee. It is theorized this is why children in Scandinavian countries potty train earlier. Run naked in summer!

Start with blocks of time:

At the same time every day, put child in underwear for 2 hours. Avoid jumping from diaper to underwear all day. When they are in underwear, it feels different on their skin and it will help them remember. Children respond well to routines. Pick a 2 hour block where you will be home, the child is not napping, and you can be attentive to your child needing to use the potty (and cleaning up accidents). For about 4-6 weeks, plan to stay home more than normal to make potty training easier.

Here's how the 2-hour block of time looks:

Sit on potty
Put on underwear - tell your child what you expect
Underwear for 1 hour
Sit on potty
Underwear back on for 1 hour
Sit on potty at the end
Diaper back on for rest of day

Remember, remind your child frequently about using the potty. If their bladder gets too full, they can enter "crisis mode" where they tense up and then it's harder for them to relax enough to actually release and fully empty their bladder.

Increase the time in underwear by 1 hour each week, announcing the interval increase each time so it is anticipated and not stressful to the child.

After 4-hour intervals are achieved with success for a week or so, children can start going entire day - EXCEPT for naps and nighttime.
Remind them to use the potty all day long.
Be consistent.

If you meet resistance:
For 3-4 weeks, back off completely

Tell your child we are going to take a break from using the potty for a little while and they are going to go back to wearing diapers all the time.
Do not initiate talk of using the potty.
Keep diaper changes matter-of-fact - not fun time, not scolding time
Use cloth diapers for increased awareness, but DO NOT leave child in wet or soiled diaper (punishment)
Consider doing diaper changes in the bathroom so still associating the room with the action

Also hold off on potty training during times of stress in your child's life. Allow around 3-5 weeks to adjust. Examples:

Transition from Crib to Big Bed
New Baby
New House
Vacation - can try to continue routine if already started, or tell child "While we're on vacation, you're going to use diapers, but when we get home, we're going to go back to your underwear."
When younger sibling becomes mobile and gets into their toys and stuff can also be a stressful time for a toddler.

For some children, they master going pee-pee in the potty but resist pooping in the potty. Try a gradual transition, each step taking a week or so:

Diaper on, in the bathroom
Diaper on, sitting on the potty
Diaper laid in potty chair, child sits on diaper
Eventually get rid of diaper

Responding to Accidents:

Do not use any form of negative associations or punishments
Be matter-of-fact - "Oh, you went pee-pee. Let's get you cleaned up."
See if child needs to finish emptying bladder on potty - sometimes they stop after they realize they are starting and then bladder doesn't fully empty, leading to infections.
State expectations - "Next time, tell me you need to go pee-pee so we can get you on the potty chair."
Seek help from a specialist if older than 4 1/2 and still meeting resistance - It is extremely rare that a child who is otherwise developing normally does not potty train by the age of 5.

Other Tips:

Make it fun! - Books, Songs, Puppets, Bubbles (act of blowing sometimes helps a child's muscles relax if they are too tense to go), Cheerio targets (boys like to stand and aim!), Food color (a drop in the potty chair to see different color of pee), Bubble Bath (makes pee bubbly).

It can take a child 2 minutes to relax. Use a book or music to help distract the child from anxiety about the potty.

REWARDS!
- Make sure potty training is an attainable goal (readiness signs) before offering rewards.
- Reward the behavior, not the child. - "Good job using the potty." NOT "Good boy!"
- Reward needs to be immediate - At this age, a child won't make the connection if you reward them at the end of the day. Give the reward after using the potty.
- Gradually taper off rewards with time
- Give older siblings rewards too so they will help encourage and remind the younger one
- Ideas include: calendar with smiley faces, stickers or stamps, 1 M&M or piece of small candy or fruit snack etc., beads for a necklace, crayons
- Don't go overboard - Remember toilet training is a natural part of a child's development. Simple positive praise is best.
Incorporate hand washing after using the potty.

If your child is in daycare or preschool, be sure to coordinate your efforts and strategies with them. (They often have specific policies and procedures in place anyway.)

Constipation:
May occur during potty training. Encourage plenty of fluids (non-diary) and healthy meals and snacks. Contact pediatrician if +3 days without a bowel movement.

Nap and Nighttime wetting:

Cannot "train" asleep wetting because it's a physiological connection made between the brain and bladder.
Will often stop within 6-9 months of daytime training.
20% of all 5-year-olds still wet at night.
Decrease water consumption before bedtime.
Be sure sitting on potty right before bed and first thing upon waking up.
Do not use bed-wetting corrective devices without consultation from a doctor or specialist (over 5 years of age).

RELAX, it will (eventually) happen! :)

Little Maestro Concert

2009-01-09T20:57:00.000-08:00

Today we attended "Goldyhands & The Three Bows" Little Maestro concert at Bellevue's Meydenbauer Theater with our PEPS group. It was Hayden's first concert or experience with any theater (Ok, he went to the movies with me when he was 2 months old and slept the whole time).

We were supposed to attend a different Little Maestro Nutcracker move-along/sing-along concert at the Issaquah Village Theater in December, but the snowstorm unfortunately canceled that event.

All the little ones got dressed up SO CUTE and we tried to get a group shot of all 6 kiddos, but could never assemble them all in the same area long enough. Here's a few of the cuties with their Mamas:

The show was led by Lisa & Linda - twin sisters in their 30s or 40s who sang and played piano and wore glittery gold costumes and lots of makeup. It kind of mirrored the Goldilocks & The Three Bears story and featured a String Trio made up of a Bass Cello (Papa Bow), Cello (Mama Bow), and Viola (Baby Bow) dressed in black with Bear Ears (woohoo!), playing Vivaldi’s Four Seasons music and other sing-along songs. There was a lot of hand-motion (sign language) with the singing, so that got most of the audience participating.

But Hayden was not interested. He wouldn't sit on my lap for longer than 2 minutes. He just wanted to dig through his diaper bag on the floor in front of the seat and play with his green cement truck and eat snacks. Occasionally, he'd stand up and peek between the seats in front of us to catch a glimpse of the show.

The concert was only 45 minutes, an appropriate length I think for this age group. It was supposed to be geared for ages 1-5, but it probably needed to be a bit more lively to hold their attention. There were some pretty slow spots. And the stage was very simple. No set design, really. That might have helped give things more visual interest for the kids.

Some of the other kids Hayden's age were doing great, though. Sitting on their mom's lap, clapping along, watching the action on the stage. But throughout the theater, a lot of toddlers were fidgety and roaming around the aisles. I guess Hayden's pretty normal.

I thought Hayden would have liked it more because he normally loves music and doing sign-language motions to songs (like Itsy Bitsy Spider and 5 Little Monkeys). Maybe he was paying attention in his own way. :) Why should I assume that just because he didn't sit perfectly in a seat with eyes glued to the stage that he wasn't enjoying the music? Maybe he loved it! There certainly wasn't much to look at anyway, so maybe he was just concentrating on listening.

After the concert we all enjoyed lunch at Chipotle. It was a fun date with all our friends, despite how this post sounds like I'm complaining a lot! I think next time, though, we might have better luck with The Wiggles!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2009-01-03T20:19:00.000-08:00

Wow, I feel really behind on my blogging. There are too many pictures to post, so I put together a Shutterfly slideshow you can view here. Tip: hover your mouse in the upper right corner of the slideshow screen, click on the "Options" menu and select "Show Titles" and Show Captions".

We spent Christmas Eve at home and only had to walk a block to our Mosaic church service that evening at Blakely Hall. Hayden was a restless handful during the service so I don't think I caught much of Pastor Barry's message, but it was still nice to remember Christ's birth with singing and candle lighting.

On Christmas morning we awoke to a beautiful fresh snowfall -- our first White Christmas in the Seattle area in a very long time (although the News insisted that there was measurable snowfall at Sea-Tac just last year, it doesn't count in my book!). It was so much fun to watch Hayden come downstairs first thing and light up at the sight of his new Radio Flyer Wagon. He probably would have been content for the rest of the day just riding around the living room in it, climbing in and out of it, pulling and pushing it all over. It was a BIG hit!

But eventually, we were able to convince him to open some other presents from Santa. He was great at ripping off the paper and getting excited about whatever was inside. He loved Elmo Live and the old-fashioned top toy.

Then it was off to my Aunt Teri's house in Black Diamond, WA for more Christmas festivities. The snow was coming down hard and on top of the already 6+ inches from previous days' snowfalls, some of the side roads on the way were pretty nasty. Luckily, they were no match for our Subaru Outback and we made it there safely. Actually, it was quite a breathtaking scene.

My sister brought Cinnabons and my Aunt made all kinds of delicious brunch food, and I brought my home-made Chex Mix. My Aunt's favorite holiday is Christmas and she loves to spoil everyone with thoughtful and generous gifts. Hayden loved his Fisher Price cash register, clock, and toy vacuum. She also got our family a membership to the Woodland Park Zoo, which I know we will really enjoy once the weather permits. We had to miss out on their 15-lb Prime Rib dinner feast for 16 people (with more friends and family) so we could meet up with Phil's family in Kirkland for the rest of the day and evening.

The snow plows hadn't made it down the neighborhood streets at Phil's parent's house, so that part of the drive was the most exciting all day. His brother's cars both were stuck at the base of the driveway and our car even got a little stuck briefly. (Phil thoroughly enjoyed the challenge!)

The Lott House was full with all Phil's brothers and their families so the present-opening portion of the afternoon was pretty crazy, pausing just to pose for photos and yelling a "thank you" across the room! But this chaos is all part of Christmas fun. Hayden got some adorable outfits from Grandma and Grandpa and a bunch of other great books and toys from Aunts and Uncles.

Hayden managed to take a brief late afternoon nap while we enjoyed a nice steak dinner prepared by Phil's parents. Unfortunately, Hayden awoke as we were all finishing dinner and was really upset. Maybe because the nap was short or he was disoriented when he woke up in an unfamiliar place, but he cried through his dinner and took a lot of cuddling and consoling to calm down. It was a busy, overwhelming day, so I can't say I blame him, but it was unusual behavior. We decided to call it a night and head home around 8pm.

The next evening we spent with my Dad and his family. My step-mom Augusta prepared a delicious Brazilian feast and I think my stomach reached full capacity before my 2nd helping! They gave Hayden a new Tricycle so Phil and my sister's new boyfriend, Matt, spent some time putting it together and then Hayden raced all around their house on it. They have a great house for tricycle racing!

Because of the snow, the UPS and FedEx trucks had a difficult time making their rounds throughout our area, and Christmas gifts from grandparents across the States keep trickling in. It's fun for Hayden and he enjoys the continual Christmas! In fact, Christmas for us has been a lot like Hanukkah since it's been giong on for 8+ days!

Phil was off work all week between Christmas and New Years so we enjoyed spending lots of time together as a family and I enjoyed the extra help with Hayden. The temperatures warmed and it rained on Sunday so most of the snow melted away. Pretty while it lasted, but nice to have safer driving conditions again. Also good because my Mom and Step-Dad flew into town from Michigan on Monday the 29th.

They gave Hayden a wonderful little table and chairs set that Phil and I put together once we got our tree out of the living room. Hayden loves sitting at his table to read books, work on puzzles, or just look out the big windows at the trucks and cars that go by. We spent a lot of time with my parents shopping, eating, and relaxing at home. Phil and I even got to go on a date to a movie while Hayden stayed with Grandma and Grandpa! We had a low-key New Year's Eve, playing games and watching Indiana Jones with my parents. I think we were all in bed and asleep by 12:10! Which was just fine by me, since most of my friends are parents too and doing the same thing at their homes.

My parent's visit seemed too short, as usual, and they caught a flight home on January 2nd. Hopefully we'll see them again soon.

I only have one New Year's Resolution this year: Keep a cleaner house! The only time I clean is when my parent's come to visit. So I guess they just need to visit more often!

Wishing everyone a healthy, happy, and prosperous 2009!