Toddler - Adult Miscommunications

 

Poor two year olds.  I guess I finally get why they throw temper tantrums.  Ear infections really are no picnic at all.  Not to mention they worked so hard for two years to master the art of speaking, and we still can't understand them.  Or is it just Hallie and I that struggle?

Hanna was born four weeks ago, tomorrow, and ever since Hallie first met her she has been talking a lot about "Hanna's fire".  Or sometimes, even more baffling, Hanna wil be crying, and Hallie will very calmly and apparently in an effort to help, say "fire".  I, of course, had no idea what she meant.  Part of the trouble stems from a lack of a use of prepositions and verbs.  Is she trying to tell me that Hanna is "on" fire?  Or that she "sees" a fire?  Or is she contemplating whether or not Hanna would "like" a fire?

I finally figured it out today.  (Perhaps most of you are more savvy than I and already know what she was talking about.)  Today they were both on my lap, Hallie on bottom holding Hanna on top.  Quite the feat to arrange that without hurting anyone tiny.  Hanna started fussing, and Hallie began very urgently suggesting "Hanna's fire!"  I could tell she wanted to go get "Hanna's fire", so I said ok, thinking I would finally unravel this mystery.  She was pointing to one of Hanna's blankets, and I tried to figure out how that could be a fire in the mind of a two year old, whom I know knows the word for blanket.  She ran over to the blanket, and from on top of it she picked up: Hanna's paciFIER.  Huh.  Well, I've got to hand it to her.  For a girl who uses the words "chicken" and "kitchen" interchangeably (and if you think about it, they are very similar, just the consonant clusters are switched) she did an excellent job saying part of the word "pacifier". 

Or is this whole miscommunication thing just the beginning of a long road of mother-daughter miscommunications?  Oh dear me, I hope not.

  Tummy Time.

When Hallie was a baby, she hated tummy time. She would scream and scream the whole way through, and Devin would get out a stopwatch and tell her she had to go at least another minute, and to "work through the pain" and all sorts of silly stuff like that.  Then when we felt we had tortured her sufficiently, we'd let her get off her tummy.  She truly hated it.  Hanna doesn't seem to mind, and of course, now that Hanna is doing tummy time, Hallie loves it too.  So does her baby doll.

Alright, Already.

Pictures.

 

 

  

  

And a few Hallie anecdotes: When we help her do something she says, "Thank you honey."

She has recently gotten really excited about going to church, and so this morning she demanded to put on a "pretty dress."  As soon as we got home from church however, she said, "No want, pretty dress."

And an update: We are going BACK to the doctor tomorrow (this woman is going to think I am obsessed with her) because now Hanna has pink eye, and my ear is worse than ever.  I am pretty much completely deaf in my left ear now.  Awesome.

And other than all of that, we are doing really well.  There are so many people here in Peoria who take such great care of us, and show  us so much love.  I'm not looking forward to leaving all the friends I've made here.  That house had better do a heck of a job cheering me up.

Hoo Boy - Quarantine

Seriously, can you believe it? It's been three weeks since Hanna was born.  I thought the day she was born was a wild ride of a day, but when I look back over these past three weeks it's been non stop action.  And so, in case you're wondering why I have been neglecting all of you, friends and family, of late, let's review.

- Hallie got pink eye
- Devin's mom came to visit to help out (and her week long visit had so much craziness it deserves a list of its own.)
- My parents came to visit to help out (and their week long visit also had much craziness in it.)
- Our kitchen has been taken over by wild starch eating ants (we sweep after every meal, we mop the floor with bleach twice a week or so, and we have ant traps down.  WHAT MORE CAN WE DO?)
- I got a nasty cold.
- Then I got an ear infection
- Hallie got pink eye, again.
- Hanna lost too much weight her first few days home from the hospital, so we had to take her back to the hospital for more blood tests to be done. They took three vials (?) out of my tiny baby's body.
- Turns out she's just a heavy sleeper with little interest in eating.
- Cue setting an alarm to wake up throughout the night, and then spending ten minutes trying to wake up your sleeping baby.  In the cold dark house, while everyone else is snoring.
- Hallie isn't sure yet what she prefers: kissing and hugging Hanna, or using her as a personal punching bag.  (Just kidding on this one, although she does hit Hanna sometimes when Hallie wants me to hold her instead.)
- I put the names in that previous sentence because I originally had it with all pronouns and it was a lot of interchanging she's and her's.
- Hallie kept me up for the better half of the night last night with a fever of 102.  She finally fell asleep with me on the couch (we had previously tried her bed, my bed, and the rocking chair, all to no avail.  Even with a fever she thought it was party time. But the couch has magical powers to make people fall asleep, even if it did take half an hour still.)
- Well, perhaps that's all, but in my sleep deprived brain it has felt like a lot.
- Oh, and my eye is pink this morning: pink eye, anyone?

Thank you for all of the encouragement and support in the comments that you left on this post.  Today was my first full day by myself, and that's probably why I sound a little grouchy.  Things are good, my babies are healthy, and while I still can't hear out of my left ear, at least it doesn't feel like it is going to explode any minute and destroy all life on earth anymore.  (A scenario that I considered highly likely Monday night as I lay in bed feeling pity on all two year olds that ever had an ear infection.)

AND some pictures will be coming soon, I don't know if it is our computer, or our internet connection, or blogger but it takes too long to upload them and that's why I haven't put any of Hanna up in a while. She's cute though! For now, just take my word for it.

Work It.

Disclaimer: I promise, I am not making fun of you, mom, dad, and Grandpa.  I just can't help myself though.  These pictures are classic.

I just feel like those glasses look like censor strips.  You guys look great, though, really.  I just have to have these pictures for posterity's sake.

Love you guys!

Proof

I realize that I frequently anx (anx: v - to display an amount of anxiety over something) about Hallie's unwillingness to eat, and stay dressed.  However, I have recently captured these moments on camera as proof that, occasionally, she does find something that she likes, and then she definitely goes for it.

She was all dressed and ready for church that morning, when she decided that she needed to be "more" dressed, or something.  So, she helped herself to a few of mommy and daddy's things: Daddy's running socks on TOP of her tights, one of Mommy's tank tops (undershirts) and one of Mommy's bras.  You look great, Kid.  (note: we did take off the "extra" articles of clothing before actually going to church.)

And in the spirit of honesty I have to admit that if we have a dish with pasta or rice she will eat more than I do.  You look great, Hallie.

There, I've cleared the air.  I can think of myself as an honorable person again.

It's Time.

This was taken on Hallie's birthday, two weeks before Hanna's due date.
I am putting this photo on here for those who requested a picture of my belly... this is the best I can do.

So that was on Hallie's birthday, I thought I'd have two weeks to go, and I was really uncomfortable, but whatareya gonna do?  Then a week ago Wednesday, when I thought I still had a week to go, I woke up and thought it would be an average day.  Hallie slept in, so I got to sleep in (7:30 a.m. DELICIOUS.)  We were having the missionaries over for dinner, so I spent the morning chopping veggies and getting it all into the crock pot.  Then I spent the rest of the day hobbling around behind Hallie trying to keep the house in as little chaos as possible, since Devin's mom would be coming two days later.  I clearly wasn't thinking much about baby coming yet, although my hips were killing me and it had occurred to me that that could be caused  by the hormone that tells your body to get ready for baby to come... but I had a lot to do that day, and baby was not scheduled for another week, so we kept going.  I spent some time getting all the paperwork in order for closing on the house (insurance, loans, property agreements, blah blah blah), and then around 3 I started making the focaccia bread for dinner that night.  That's when the contractions hit.  Hard.  So, I just worked around those and Hallie, and everything was smooth sailing.  I called the missionaries to see when they would be coming over because I hadn't heard from them yet, and they asked if they could postpone because one of them was sick.  I said that was fine with me.  (Devin said I was crazy, because I was not calling to cancel, but to see when they were coming.  Well, honestly, it never occured to me to cancel.)

Devin came home from work at 4 so we could go to the bank to get a Power of Attorney notarized (more house stuff).  I mentioned to him that I had been having contractions, that they were about eight minutes apart lasting about forty five seconds.  We thought that sounded ok so off we went.  At the bank the notary yelled at me when I couldn't sign because I was having a contraction (yeah at this point it was hard to walk too, but I tried to hide that), and then the tellers all got involved, and so I received quite a bit of attention.  We decided we'd take their advice, sort of, (they said I had to go straight to the hospital, and not stop at GO.) and we called the doctor's office.  When the nurse heard I was having contractions about six minutes apart lasting about a minute she said I could go in to the hospital any time I wanted.  I asked her if I had to, and she said I could go home and rest for a while if I felt up to it.  I said to Devin, "I want some of my bread before we go in. It won't taste the same tomorrow."

So we went home, baked my bread, served up the spaghetti, and ate a nice almost peaceful little dinner.  Then I sat on the couch while Devin ran around packing a bag for Hallie to go to a friend's house and making sure we had everything we needed that I hadn't already packed.  We dropped Hallie off, and drove to the hospital.  My contractions were now about three minutes apart, still lasting only a minute.  By the time we got to the hospital I could no longer walk, and I was shaking so badly that I was afraid they would think I was a junkie going through withdrawal.  They checked to see if I could be admitted and I was dilated to an eight, so off I went.  The nurses were relieved when they found out I didn't want an epidural, because apparently it was too late for me to have one anyway.

It took ten or so nurses to get an i.v. in my arm and I have five of the largest bruises on my arms to prove it.  I tried to wear a t-shirt the other day and the gasps from Devin and his mom convinced me that they were still to grotesque for public viewing and I am going to be in long sleeves for a while still I think.  I couldn't bend my left arm at all for a couple days.  But no worries, they did finally get one in, and it stayed in for about ten minutes before falling out.  They didn't try to put another one in because I was already pushing, and since Hanna came after three pushes it was a moot point.

She was born forty five minutes after I arrived at the hospital.  She was born four hours after the contractions started.

My bread was soooo delicious.  (The nurses asked what I was doing the whole afternoon instead of coming in, and they laughed at me when I said, "Making focaccia bread."  Well, it was the highlight of my day... until Hanna was born.

For comparison's sake, this is a picture of me when I was two months pregnant.  Raise your hand if you think I can ever look like that again. (Sigh.)

Pictures of my Hanna

I have better pictures from today, but I don't have the camera cord so you'll have to wait for those.

I still can't really believe she's here, it all happened so fast!! But we're excited to have her, and we already love her so much.  Hallie could not stop kissing her, so I'm sure they will be bffe's. 

(Best Friends Foreva Eva! you have to say it in that voice.)