27 month / 24 week update

Loves his daddy

Fall is here...and is already flying by so quickly!  Even though the brisk weather and foliage colors are a nice change, I've always been one to cling onto summer as long as possible.  My refusal to change out of my flip flops is my way of protest.  Part of it is because things have been just insanely busy that I've lost track of time and season. This is now my 3rd month of being back at work and things are in full swing.  Every day feels like a sprint.  The daily childcare and work demands are just so relentless that I feel like I'm always multi-tasking and focused on several trains of thought at once. I always fear that one day I'll walk into a wall one day with all the on-the-go emailing that I do.  Like many moms have coached me to do, I'm trying my best to just "go with it", embrace the craziness ("life's a party!"), and let some balls drop if I have to.  That's a hard thing for me to do, but after a health scare this month (that turned out fine, thankfully), I'm forcing myself to try harder.

So if life's a party...Josiah keeps it going all day long!  He's constant entertainment for us.  He starts out the day asking "Hey, what doing?" or "What doing next?" or "What about Josiah?".  If we ask him to do something that he doesn't want, he quickly blurts out "I fine" or taps his chin saying "let me think about it".  He surprises us with so many new phrases and words.  Just today he shouted "stupendous!" And his favorite word to use lately is "either".  Random, I know.  Someone recently complimented us in having such a verbal and imaginative child...but we confessed that everything that he says comes verbatim from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!  So at least his memory is sharp!  While it's great to have such an advanced talker, the one downside is that other kids sometimes assume he is older than he is and will be unfairly harsh to him. We saw this today at the playground when Josiah inserted himself onto a group of kids playing with a toy ("excuse me, Josiah here!") and had to remind the other kids that he was only two when they started pushing him away.  Mama Bear is on alert!

Devouring his ice cream

Josiah continues to mirror a lot of my personality traits and taste.  He loves singing and listening to music, and is already trying out some harmonies!  He continues to be obsessed with Veggie Tales Sunday School songs and croons to "Let it shinnnne" and "Jericho" all the time, unashamed in public. Good thing he can sing because he can't dance for his life.  But he has fun running in circles anyway. He's still very afraid of trying new things.  Even at the playground, he chooses to call out numbers and shapes that he sees than actually go down the slide.  And he's pretty OCD too, stacking and organizing his toys into piles.  While it's cute to have a mini-me (in Shaggy's body), I worry of course.  While I have a decent amount of self-confidence, I acknowledge how anxious, self-conscious, and uptight I can be.  I hope Shaggy's adventurousness and laidback-ness find their way into him as he gets older.

Josiah's been incredibly sweet to Samantha these days.  He'll wrap his arm around her and say "I love you" or "coochie coo". Even though she bats him away with annoyance, it's cute to see them getting along.  What melts me even more is when Josiah pretends to tuck me into bed and says "Mommy, I love you.  You're so sweet".  Once again, he's just being a parrot...but still, I eat up every word.  Even though he gives me all this affection, he's definitely on "Team Daddy" lately.  He particularly asks for Daddy when he cries in the middle of the night, which unfortunately has been happening a lot lately, along with bloody noses.  I don't envy Daddy's job.

Now onto Lil' Miss Samantha.  I just can't get enough of her.  Unlike Josiah was a baby, she totally lets me cuddle with her.  And she giggles so easily, which is the best sound in the world.  The easiest way to get her to laugh is to beatbox or nibble at her neck, which I do all the time!  She continues to be a good sleeper - we pretty much just put her down, close the door, and she just lays there and soothes herself to sleep.  She will sometimes use the paci, but usually prefers her own fingers...and now toes!  Although we really can't complain about how chill she is, she has been getting a bit feistier lately.  If we leave her in the bouncer or car seat for too long, she'll start shrieking or moaning like a cross between a cow and bull-horn.

We've noticed that she's also very cat-like in her behavior.  Whenever I burp her while sitting down, she starts vigorously scratching the back of the chair.  And shes always swiping at things, especially my lips and hair.  And when Josiah come close, she will kick him with strength and precision. Hmm...Josiah = dog?  Samantha = cat?

Sammy is still not a great drinker - we are still pushing 4oz of milk during each feed, which is a battle!  She's pretty willful and strong and will push the bottle away.  Since she seems to be interested in our food, we started her on some rice cereal this past month.  But she doesn't seem to be much of a fan of that either.  We will give some other purees a try soon and hope that will start to pique her interest and fatten her up again.  She's still got chubby cheeks and thighs, but she's definitely thinning out.  She also rarely poops (~once every 3 days), which is apparently "normal", just not what we're used to.  Josiah used to poop with every feed...and continues to have an active digestive system even now!  But as clear in every other way, our two kids are very different from one another...even down to their diapers!

On that appetizing note, I'm going to turn in and prepare for another busy week at work.  But despite the crazy juggle, I enjoy my job and having time for myself.  And I love my kids.  So I'm happy...just tired and unkempt.  I keep telling myself that I'll make it to the gym...next month.  But as we approach Samantha's 6-months, I feel like it's time.  I had hoped to lose more of my baby weight by this point, but I'm realizing that it's true that pudge from the 2nd baby just does not fall off the way it did with the 1st.  Or maybe it's all the carbs I inhale everyday.  Sigh, whatever the reason, I need to start focusing on my fitness before winter hibernation totally sets in...

Having a nightcap with my bebe