6 Months

Well, I'm a bit behind, and my baby is really 6.5 months. Close enough, right? :) These pictures, however, were taken right at 6 months. My grandmother, grandfather, aunt, and 3-year old cousin came for a visit before my other cousin's wedding. It was so fun to see my mom's side of the family. We don't see enough of them...maybe one of these days we'll have to plan the family road trip extraordinaire and get all the way up to PA.

Eve got her 6 month checkup this week, and she has clocked in as a petite wee thing. Except for her head...apparently she's got mine :/ Length: 26 in" (42%) Weight: 15 lbs (22%) Head: 17.5" (94%) Since I'm pretty sure that she doesn't really belong in the 22nd percentile, we're beefing up her feedings a little. Seeing her weight drop in the curve always makes me nervous, but at this point I'm doing all I can to keep my supply up. I'm just not one of those powerhouse mamas with milk to spare, I guess. Unlike many of my friends :) At 6 months, Eve is adept at sitting, and she is so stinkin proud of herself for this accomplishment. She will often sit without toys, just grinning at anyone coming near her. She is starting to reach for EVERYTHING, and I predict she will be active like her predecessors. Crazily enough, she has skipped rolling from back to front. She has no interest in doing so whatsoever. My pediatrician doesn't seem concerned. She has also decided to make naptime a battle, which is disappointing, to say the least. Things are improving, but she is no longer taking that blissful 3-hour afternoon nap. I guess I shouldn't have expected it to last :). She is talking a lot these days, still gives her biggest smiles to her brother and sister, and loves to be held 24/7. I cannot believe you have been with us for half a year, sweet girl! We can't imagine life without you and your smiles.

Alive

It's been about a month since I've posted. And we are still alive. But it's been a rough patch.

Early on in February, Vance had some weird virus...if you were at the kids' birthday party, you might have noticed that Vance spent a good part of the party hiding in the bedroom. That's kind of how the last two months have been...Vance collapsing in bed every free second there is, and me trying to hold everything else together without succumbing into the pity parties I am unfortunately prone to.

That sounds really bad, and I don't mean to make it more dramatic than it is. Much of life looks somewhat normal. Vance still holds babies and functions on a basic level, so it's not like he's an invalid. He even had a week or two that felt pretty normal in the middle there, but I think he worked himself into the ground at that point, and the relapse (if that's what it is) has been worse than the initial virus. His doctor diagnosed him with a different strain of CMV than he had four years ago. It's a relative of mono.

Adding insult to injury, we both got the stomach flu two weeks ago, right after a slew of company. It was the first time we had ever been sick together. It was pretty pathetic--both of us shivering in bed with 104 temperatures. We were so desperate we had to call some friends to come to our contagion-filled house to take the kids for the morning. They came in looking like a HAZMAT team with their masks on :). Thank God for friends, especially when family is a day's drive away. We muddled through, but I think that second virus pretty much stripped Vance of his last reserves.

With all that, Vance was unable to fly to Spain/Italy for his work trip. I was able to get everything together so we could at least spend a week in NC for a little R&R. Vance got a lot more rest in than he does around here--as hard as I try, life with 3 kids ages 5 and under is just not the most peaceful environment! All that rest didn't get him where we had hoped, though, and he's still dragging.

So you can pray with us that this virus would end. Soon. And that we would both fight the discouragement and fears that creep up. Vance's doctor recommended that he see an immunologist to try to get to the bottom of this mysterious thing. So we're going to take that next step. But our real (only!) hope is Jesus, our advocate and healer.

Thanks for praying.

First Food

One of the things I've done differently with baby #3 is to jump into cloth diapers. Isn't it funny how cloth diapers were so passe after disposables came in, and now they're all the rage? How can something that holds baby poo be chic? I'm still not sure about that one :).

I had considered cloth diapering when I was pregnant with Isaac, but paying $1 wash/$1 dry quickly nixed that idea. I was reluctant to begin anything that would mean more work for me this time around. However, my kids have had significant diaper rash issues, and I wanted to see if cloth would help their bottoms. Let me tell you, I am sold. Evie has had NO diaper rash...it's been such a relief. I'm not sure if I would have taken the leap without that skin incentive, but I've been so pleased at how easy they are...and having virtually no blow-outs is a definite plus.

Vance talked me into letting Eve start solids this week. Being lazy (and using cloth diapers this time), I wasn't too eager to get going, but I admit that it is really fun to see her try new foods. She started out with sweet potatoes with a healthy swirl of good butter. And a little salt. People, it's better for her that way...and who would want to eat veggies without butter? Not me, for sure.

Still trying to decipher the flavor profile.

Not sold on the mouth feel.

I think she's a true Whitaker child. Despite her suspicious face, she took to food like a duck to water. The first 8 spoonfuls or so she was still getting the hang of swallowing, but she loved it. I gave her avocado the other day, and she likes that, too. Next thing I know, she's going to be fighting me for my steak.

Morning Magic

I am not a morning person. Many of you know this.

But I do enjoy the mornings when Evie gets up (a little) earlier than the rest of the crew. We get to cuddle in bed and she bats her hands around happily in the air. She also smiles at me, which is what makes it so fun.

Oh look! Little Miss Bedhead is up! She's pretty fun, too. Looks like it's time to move on to the crazy/busy part of our day :)

Beach at Sunset

Today after church we crashed at a friend's house, and then went to the beach after naptime. We've been here a year and a half, and this was our first time at the beach at sunset. It's my favorite time of day at the beach, and I can't believe we hadn't done this yet. It was so beautiful. Isaac saw the boats out in the sunset, and his first question was, "Are those pirates?" Vance looked at me and said, "I'm going to be so sad when I don't hear questions like that anymore."

Me too.

It was a little chilly and windy, which I wasn't expecting, so after our walk Isaac spent a lot of time under the blanket.

Mom always said when we went camping that she thought, "Why are we doing this?" as she went through all the work of packing. Once we were actually camping, though, she rediscovered why it was worth the work. Today was like that for me. I didn't want to be up after midnight getting our lives organized enough to be gone all day, but once we were at the beach, it didn't matter anymore.

I think when the weather gets a little warmer, we'll grill out at the beach for dinner some evening. Who's coming?

More Fun in the Kitchen

If you know Claire, then you won't be surprised that she was ready to jump in the cooking action today. We packed a lunch to take to the park, and Claire was in charge of shredding the cheese. It took maybe 15 minutes, but she loved every minute of it. And felt so proud of her little self.

I let Isaac help me chop the carrots, but it takes a bit of pressure, and he needed help. He could manage the strawberries with a paring knife, though, and he was very careful. You can see that he's working on his proper form, but doesn't have it down yet. He is trying to curl his fingers, though.

That was a carefully packed lunch, let me tell you. Made with pride in the U.S.A.

Achievements

Today I inducted Isaac into the culinary world. Appropriately for us, we started with PB&J.

I was inspired last night after reading one mom's food blog...she lets her 3 and 8 year olds do everything in the kitchen with her...chopping, peeling, you name it. She has pictures on her blog of her 3 year old with a 9" Henckel's. I'm not quite ready to give my knives to Claire, but I realized that Isaac was ready for a little more responsibility. And he was. I sliced the bread, but he assembled the sandwiches, washed the grapes, and I gave him his first knife lesson. I held his hand and we sliced red peppers together. It was fun, and the proud look on his face as he served up lunch was priceless.

I think tomorrow I'm going to teach him how to scramble eggs. My goal is to retire from the kitchen by 2012.

Here is Claire's new accomplishment:

I'm sure that's a pretty normal drawing for a 3 year old, but it's not normal around here. I'm no artist, and Isaac is too much of a perfectionist to get out there and try. So this is the first human sketch I have received from a child of mine. Not too shabby! She actually drew one on the Magna Doodle with recognizable appendages, but she erased it before I could get my hands on it.

It's so fascinating how different personalities make way for different abilities. Isaac is careful, and has an eye for perfection. Blessing and a curse, I say. Claire is eager, and ready to try ("All by myself!") and keep trying. Her threshold of frustration is much higher. Again, it's a blessing and a curse.

And Evie? She did roll over at nap time two days ago, and she is an expert at toe nibbling. Everyone has their level.

New Habit

I've caught Evie sucking her fingers like this several times in the last few days. How cutely uncomfortable does that look?! If these end up being her fingers of choice, she will have flipped Isaac's version (He sucked his 3rd and 4th fingers too, but the other way around). Claire was my classic thumbsucker. We'll see.

Oops.

I ordered some spillproof paint cups so the kids could use the paint Nana gave them. Papa Dan and Noni gave them the easel last year, so it was a group effort getting them painting. They are having a blast with it.

In the above photo you will notice that Claire's hair is *ahem* quite short. It all started when I found a lock of hair on the bathroom floor one morning. Claire had cut herself some bangs the day before, and I hadn't really noticed. They didn't look half bad--I found myself thinking her hair was waving a bit more than normal on one side. I was grateful, all things considering...cutting your own hair seems to be some sort of girl rite of passage, and at least she had the sense not to cut at the roots.

So really it's my fault, not hers. It looked a little jagged, so I thought I'd fix that. Then I thought I'd just trim it up a little. Since I'm more of a "get in there and have at it" kind of person than a "let's measure and be careful and do this right" kind of person, I just whipped out those scissors and fearlessly started shearing. I started in the back so it would be even, and forgot to check the length in front. Eeek! I was so mad at myself when I saw her bob was about an inch shorter than it should be! What do I do? Just let it grow out or take her to a (real) stylist and get it layered up? It would be even shorter then, but maybe she wouldn't look like she stepped out of the 40s with a too-short bob. I'm so irritated at myself...

Claire doesn't even know. But Claire, when you're a teenager, please be understanding. And merciful.

And hey, look, they really do love their paints! :)

Mama, Where Do Words Come From?

I took these pictures almost exactly 2 years ago at the Como Conservatory, when I was dying for a bit of color and life. Fast forward to today, where I'm hoping it doesn't get too warm too fast, and I'm wondering when I'm going to have to cave and turn on the AC!

Look how little they were :)

Although I have two children dedicated to the idea of being farmers when they grow up, Isaac and Claire are starting to dabble in etymology. Who knows...I may have some budding linguists (although their precision is not as notable as their enthusiasm at this point).

1) On the way home from church yesterday, Claire asks, "Mama, what does 'patter' mean?" I replied by making the sound on my lap. "That's what patter means, honey." I thought it was a strange question, but I've had stranger. Then Isaac pipes in. "Mama, what does 'sin' mean?" I said, "Isaac, you know what sin means! What is it?" He said, "It's disobeying God." There was a little silence, and then I heard him mumur, "'Patter-sin'.... 'Patterson'! " I laughed and tried to correct him, but I should have just left him thinking that our friends the Pattersons were extreme reprobates. Who knows? He still might be thinking that :)

2) The kids got little catapults in their Sonic kids' meals (by the way, why do people even like Sonic? I was not impressed). Isaac is now calling it his 'favorite toy'. When Vance mentioned that it was called a 'catapult', Isaac said, "Yeah, because it's so heavy that cattle have to pull it!"

Whatever it takes for it to make sense in his little world, I guess!

Morning at the Park

Have I mentioned how wonderful Florida is in February? I think Feb went from one of my least favorite months to one of the best. We went with Nana and Papa to the park up the street, and Isaac and Claire spent a good chunk of time flying as high as they could. They're starting to learn the concept of pumping, but this time they let the adults do all the work.

Nana got some giggles out of Eve.

After the park, we went to one of the kids' fave restaurants: "Chicken Fir Lay". The other favorite would be any restaurant serving pasta :).

We sent the family home with strawberries, citrus, and some mutant lettuce Vance was growing at the Center (seriously, that lettuce was so well fertilized that the heads were about 20" tall!). Now that they're gone, it's back to the to-do list for me...painting doors and the patio table, repainting the dining room, finding some (cheap?free?) art for Isaac's room, making an upholstered headboard, and doing some research on kindergarten for next year. I must have the spring fever urge to get stuff done, and I better roll with it for as long as it lasts...

Choose Your Favorite

Sunday was a sick day...Vance was down for the count, and wasn't going to church. I was supposed to be "serving the babies" as Claire says, in the nursery. But around 5am, I woke up with a horrid pinch in my back/side, and then really bad cramping. I could barely sit still long enough to nurse, and it got worse afterward. Vance prayed for me, but I just could not get comfortable. After a shower failed to help, and the only manageable position was squatting, I decided to go look up appendicitis. Vance asked what I was doing, and said, "I'll go look that up for you." As he was leaving the bedroom, he put his hands on my shoulders, and I rested my head on his. Immediately all my pain was gone. I didn't believe it at first, and after he left the room I started moving all around, checking to see if there was any pain. None. It was really amazing--God was so gracious. I've been struggling with various doubts and fears lately, and it felt like a great comfort from the Lord to be reminded of his direct intervention and care. And I got to go serve the babies after all :).

Before I left for church, I took these of Eve. I think one of them is going on the wall, but the jury is still out on which is the best. I think the middle one. You?

Craft Time

For their birthdays, Nana and Papa gave the kids a box of craft stuff. They have been busy ever since, and I've ben pretty impressed with their creations. Thank you, Nana and Papa!

In the Sink

If you happen to be an undeniably sweet four month old, and you hardly ever fuss except when you're left alone, you may find yourself in some strange places. Eve sometimes has a hard time letting me leave the room to get my makeup on, and when I tried the sink option today, I knew I had a winner. She loved it!