Merry (belated) Christmas!

I hope that everybody had a joyous and festive Christmas this year. We had a terrific time. Liz, Greg and Isabel came from Texas, Meg, Tom, Emma and Harrison from North Carolina, and Uncle Bill, Den, and Katya from Malaysia. We spent a lot of quality time with the family. Now that we have so many children in the family, Christmas is more hectic and wonderful than ever and I love carrying on the traditions that I grew up with. Nate this year truly understood and enjoyed everything about Christmas, and even learned the words to most of our favorite songs (Rudolph, Frosty the Snow Man, etc). It is so cute to see him sing it! On a somewhat sad note, the past few days have not been as great. Poor little Anna got sick with RSV and spent the past couple of nights in the hospital in an oxygen tent. Although she and I are really tired, she's doing better and is home now, but it was a sad way to end the Christmas holiday.

Happy New Year, everyone!

Yummy squash!

Anna for the first time ate dinner with us. While we dined on soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, the baby got her first taste of squash and loved it! She kept crying everytime I took the spoon away. Although, to be honest, I am not sure if she was crying for more food or to chew on the soft plastic spoon. It is so hard to tell when they can't tell you what they want. She is such a good baby. Her teachers were telling me that Anna was the most easygoing, happy baby in her class. I told them that I deserve it after the first one! Not that Nate was a terrible baby, but he definitely had his moments. And yes, that's a banana puff on her forehead. Marc always did that to Nate. Now it is Anna's turn, I suppose.

Look what we made!

The most pathetic gingerbread house ever made. But Nate didn't seem to mind! He didn't much like the spearment gummies, however. We also ran out of frosting before we could put the little gingerbread people together. I want to know how Lizzie's always look so good and professional! Oops, got to run. The baby is screaming her little head off upstairs. I am starting to teach her how to fall asleep on her own rather than letting her nurse herself to sleep. Wish me good luck!

Christmas photos...blegh.

This afternoon Marc and I *attempted* to take photos of Nate and Anna for our Christmas card. It is so difficult to get a good photo of both of them! I swear we took 250 photos and maybe 3 turned out decently. If Nate was smiling, then Anna was crying. If Anna was smiling, then she has a big blob of drool on her chin. And Nate kept giving us a cheezy smile. I walked away from the whole situation feeling very frustruated. We will try again in the morning. Marc says.... oh goody, can we? In other news, despite getting our hopes up for snow, the storm has turned out to be a big fat nothing. We may get ice pellets, but that's it. I was really hoping to be able to take Nate sledding this weekend!! In the meantime, hope you get a laugh from these pictures. In the first, Nate looks like we are interrogating him. In the other, check out the drool and the jowls on that baby! I need to stop nursing her to sleep all the time. She's around the 55th percentile for height and the 97th for weight! But I must admit that I find her rolls awfully adorable.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Oh the weather outside is frightful.... and so of course we are outside playing in it! The first picture is Nate trying to hit me & Anna (safely inside) with a snowball. Luckily we have that glass door in the back of the house. Anna laughed and laughed and laughed. The second picture shows our house all decorated for the holidays. I remember going through Charlotte's parents' neighborhood 10+ years ago and just laughing at the outrageous decorations. And now here I am, fast becoming one of the tackiest houses in the neighborhood! And we would love to add on. Marc is looking for a miniature Santa in a sled, led by a couple of reindeer, for our roof. (Our inside decor is much more tasteful!)

The four stages of baby food eating....

As demonstrated by our own little miss Anna, who is home today with the stomach flu. Perhaps it wasn't the smartest of me to try to give her cereal under these circumstances, but she only threw up once yesterday and is nursing just fine today, so I question how sick she really is. I think she just wanted to play hookie from school.

Anyway, here are the four stages:

Okay, this is new.


Hmm, this doesn't taste quite right.


In fact, it tastes somewhat yucky.


Get it out of my mouth!


Oh well, maybe we'll try again when Anna isn't sick.

Happy 5-months old, baby!

Anna over Thanksgiving turned 5 months old and to celebrate, I made her model for me while I took pictures. I can't believe that my baby is getting so big. She is more than twice the weight she was when she born, laughs and giggles, reaches for toys, and can even sit up for a minute or so. Pretty impressive for such a little one. I think that we have another early walker on our hands! (Her big brother started to walk when he was 9 months old.) Its amazing how quickly they change in such a short span of time. It makes me a bit sad.

Gobble gobble

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We went over to my parent's house this holiday and except for Liz, Isabel and Greg, the whole family was there. Nate even got to sleep over on Saturday night so he wouldn't have to miss a moment playing with his cousins Emma and Harrison. G'pa Baish raked up a train track so the Emma/Nate Express could zoom through the backyard. I hope that your Thanksgiving was equally fun! Here are some pics from this weekend. PS. Meg and Tom - I am sending a CD of all the pics down to you.

In other news, my cell phone is back up and running. I let it dry out for a few days and it seems no worse for wear. It actually seems a bit cleaner! Not that I am planning to wash it again. :)

If anyone is trying to reach me on my cell...

don't bother! I accidentally washed it this weekend with my fall coat. A big oops! I am hoping that it will dry out and start working again, but that's probably a long shot. In the meantime, you can reach me at work (703-737-8814) or at home (703-349-5674). You might get an e-mail from me asking for your contact info later this week if I can't get it to work.

Nate and Anna to the rescue!

Sorry for not blogging for quite a while. I've been extremely busy these past few weeks and today is the first day that I've been able to relax. We are loving the fall weather tho that means that cold weather is around the corner. Until something exciting happens, here is an image of Nate and Anna riding on a horse together. That is pretty exciting, esp. when you consider the only person holding Anna up is her big brother. I can't wait for Thanksgiving!

A giant leap for the baby's intellectual development...

This morning, after my shower, I had my hair up in a towel. I went to pick up Anna from the bed where she was lying, she took one look at my face, then looked up at the towel, and then looked again at my face, and started to WAIL. She was really freaking out. I grabbed her and started to cuddle her to comfort her, and she just cried harder. Then I figured it out. She thought that I was a stranger! I took the towel off and showed her that it was just mommy, but it still took her a couple of minutes to calm down. She's developed to the point where she recognizes me. Its just sad the way that we had to find that out. In other news, Anna and I got to spend the whole day together. Her first day home sick from school since she started a month ago. Lots more to follow, I am sure.

A little OCD....

Look what I found when I went upstairs to get Nate from the bath. Sure, he may *look* like Marc. But he definitely gets some of his personality from my side of the family!! Be sure to note that all the animals are facing left as they encircle the tub. Also the strategically placed cup underneath the water.

Happy Halloween!

I hope that everyone had a scarily wonderful and ghoulish Halloween! Our festivities started with a parade at school, followed by trick or treating around the neighborhood with Nate's friends Lydia and Margaret. Anna fell asleep at 6 and so missed most of the fun, but its not like she can eat candy or anything. Poor Big Grandpa had to stay back at the house to watch the baby and give out candy while we took Nate trick or treating, but he said he had fun. This year Nate filled up his Halloween bucket FULL of candy, not like last year when he would take a candy and then give one back. Hope that everyone had a good time!

Night meetings = lack of sleep

I love my job, don't get me wrong, but these late night meetings are rough on a new mom! Last night, I was at a Planning Commission meeting and didn't get home until almost 1 am. As I was on my way home, Marc rang to let me know that he and the baby were both waiting up for me. Apparently she woke up at 10:30 and was so excited to see her daddy that she didn't want to go back to bed. She was happy and cuddly... just not very sleepy. Within 5 minutes of my being home, she fell asleep in my arms. I could almost hear her say "ah, that's the way it should be." Marc last night said that that did it for him... no more babies for us. But me? Waking up to a smiling baby next to me in bed makes the exhaustion all worth it. I love our kids so much sometimes it hurts.

Happy birthday to Charlotte!

She is 33 years old today. About half way there to retirement, my old friend! I don't know whether that statement will make you feel very young (gheesh, another 30 years of working) or very old (yikes! you are halfway to retirement!) But regardless, I hope you have a wonderful, happy bday. Love you!

It is official.... Anna is chubby!

At her 4 month appointment, Anna hit the 65th percentile for height and the 95th percentile for weight! It is confirmed... she is a chubster! But the doctor said that she was still too young to let her cry it out and she probably gets genuinely hungry at night, so we should keep on doing what we are doing. I don't know if its because Nate trained me so well to have a lousy night sleep or that Anna may be my last baby (unless I can persuade Marc otherwise!) or that she usually sleeps next to me in bed, but I don't mind waking up. A part of me even enjoys those nighttime cuddles. BTW, thanks to everyone who responded to that post! I got some good advice.

Kids learn the darndest things at daycare.

Last night, Nate taught us a song to sing before we ate dinner that went something like this...

Please and thank you, please and thank you
(while rubbing your belly)
Magic words, magic words!
(hold your arms out and twiddle your fingers)
Everybody should say them, everybody should say them
(not sure what the movement is for this one)
Every day, every day
(a big thumbs up)

It is so cute! He also taught me a song that we sing when we take walks at night to look at the Halloween decorations that goes like this...

Witches and bats and
Big black cats
OOOOOOoooooo
OOOOOOoooooooo
Tiptoe tiptoe
BOO!

Is it time to be a mean mommy?

Anna is about to turn 4 months old and, as everyone can tell from the most recent pictures, is a hefty, chubby baby. The issue is that she is still getting up 3 times during the night to nurse. When should I cut her off and let her cry it out? I'm not ready for that yet, but now that I am back at work, her schedule is pretty exhausting. Marc experienced it last night and woke up this morning telling me that he now understands why on some mornings I am irritible! She usually goes to be between 6:30 and 7:00 pm. Then, she up for her first feeding around 11 or midnight. Then she's up again around 3 or 4 am. And again around 5 or 6 am, but this time she's usually woken up by a big stinkin' poopy. Then she'll fall back asleep until 7:30 or so. So, in other words, she usually gets about 13 hours of sleep during the night and wants to feed every 4 1/2 hours. On the plus side, she actually falls to sleep on her own!!! This is very exciting to me, as I rocked and sang Nate to sleep for over 2 years. Not going to make that same mistake again. For all those experienced parents out there, what would you do???? I would love to cut out the middle feeding, but perhaps she is genuinely hungry?

Nate the Frog Prince...

This is very cute, although I did screw up in one place. :)


Create Your Own GushyGram
Visit MushyGushy.com

The Maryland Renaissance Festival...

the place where women can dress slutty, you can eat an entire turkey leg, and get cheesecake on a stick. The kids were great and had a fantastic time. It brought back memories of when, pre-marriage and famliy, I used to go with my college buddies. Nate especially enjoyed watching the knights jousting. Unfortunately we didn't get lots of good pics because Nate was scared of the people in costumes!

HIking on the Appalachian Trail

Charlotte was in town this week (yippee!) so I took Thursday off from work and we went hiking on the Appalachian Trail together. We hiked to an overlook and watched the clouds rolling by. And talked and talked and talked. It was so great to see her. I wish she wasn't so far away in Colorado. Sigh.

A budding photographer

Look at the picture Nate took while we were visiting Great G'ma this weekend. Not bad for a 3 year old! It is even in (sort of) focus. I don't mind at all that my head is cut off.

Anna's first stint in the exersaucer

Anna had fun this morning playing in her big brother's exersaucer. She seemed so little for it (after all, she's only three months old) but really enjoyed zooming around and around. It is amazing how quickly babies develop. Each month is so different from the last.

Two little pumpkinheads...

Sitting in a pumpkin patch! Today was our annual visit to Cox Farms. Funny to think that just last year, I was barely pregnant with Anna and now she is sitting on pumpkins. We all had such a great time on the slides, petting the baby animals, going on a hay ride. We've gone to the same place the past three year so this has definitely become a Milin family tradition. It was so much fun that both children have been napping for the past two and a half hours. When they wake up, we are going to decorate the house for Halloween! And carve pumpkins if we aren't too tired.

The conquering hero of daycare...

This morning when I dropped Nate off in his classroom, the girls were so excited to see him that they started to chant "Nate-y, Nate-y, Nate-y" in unison. It was the cutest thing ever!

What my kids are doing right now...

The nanny cam has to be the greatest invention. Right now, Anna is sitting in a bouncy chair wiggling her arms and legs. Nate is sitting at a table with 5 other children eating lunch. I can't quite tell what they are eating, but he is almost done. And I am slurping soup (got to love the colder weather!) at my desk spying on my kids. Its funny, the mix of emotions I feel while watching them go about their daily lives. When I am watching Anna, I get all sad that I'm at work while someone else is taking care of her. But then, when I switch to Nate, I feel wonderful that he is in such a fun, great place and has so many friends. But even that is a little bittersweet because he's getting so old. I can't believe my baby #1 is going to be 4 in just a couple of months!

I have the best kids in the world.

Marc has been gone all week on a business trip. At first, I was really concerned with how I was going to handle two kids (one being a itty bitty baby) on my own while working, but it has been surprisingly easy. I've been putting Anna down for a nap as soon as we get home from daycare, then she's happy the rest of night and goes to sleep around 7:30. While I am putting Anna to bed, then Nate plays on his downstairs or watches tv. Then she's asleep by the time I have to put Nate to bed. And the best part is that we actually have had about an hour each evening to spend together - and both kids have been happy! We've been painting, going out for walks, playing with toys. As PT says, good times. Of course, we'll be very happy to see Marc tomorrow when he comes home!

Men vs. Women

As I sit here at work (just finished eating lunch), on my second day back in the office since I was off all summer on maternity leave, I came across an interesting study in the NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/business/26leonhardt.html?_r=1&em&ex=1191297600&en=031f43e2931176fb&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin) which discussed several studies that found that men are happier than women. According to the article, the happiness gap has been creeping up on us since the 1960s, when women began working outside the home in large numbers. In the early 70s, women were happier; now men are. Researchers believe the gap comes from the fact that men now spend more time than ever parenting, cooking, exercising, fishing, watching sports and all-around relaxing, and less time working, while women work more than ever. Damn, you can't win. I've always wanted a great career, a job I truly enjoyed, and I've gotten my wish. But is having my wish come true making me unhappy?

I know this is my first week back at work, but this is how the last 24 hours of my life have gone.

YESTERDAY
5:00 pm - Left work
5:30 pm - Picked the kids up from daycare
5:45 to 6:00 - Played and snuggled with the kids
6:30 - Put Anna to bed
7:00 - Made & ate dinner
7:30 - Gave Nate a bath
8:00 - Watched 64 Zoo Lane with Nate
8:30 - Started Nate's bedtime routine; got him in bed by 8:45
9:00 - Watched House
9:45 - Went to bed

TODAY
2:00 - Up with Anna
4:00 - Changed Anna's diaper
7:00 - Woke up and got ready for work
7:45 - Woke Anna up and snuggled for about 5 minutes before Marc took the kids to daycare
8:15 - Got to work
and I have been working ever since except for when I am pumping.

So I have had no quality time with my babies, no time to spend with Marc, and had little down time for me. And these are supposed to be the happiest years of my life! Hmm. I used to think I was crazy for feeling this pervasive sense of unease and pressure and discontent. Now I just think I'm a woman. I would make a plan to change this, but who has the time? (Not just to make the plan, but also to implement it).

Another interesting thing in the article. Men apparently enjoy being with their parents, while women find time with their mom and dad to be slightly less pleasant than doing laundry. What do you think about that, Mom and Dad? (BTW, I totally disagree with that finding!)

Daycare update

Anna did really well in school today. The only problem is that she refused her second bottle of milk so didn't eat from 9:30 till 2:30, which is a REALLY long stretch for a little baby. They were about to call me when I showed up to pick her up and she *somewhat* took the bottle from me, tho she clearly would have preferred to breastfeed directly and wasn't happy at all with her situation. But she took 2 good naps which led me to a sort of epiphany. I've been putting Anna down to bed by lying beside her and feeding her until she fell asleep. (This was a natural extension of what we do at night, since I bring her into bed with me right after she wakes up for the first time.) But at school today, she fell asleep both times in her crib, on her own, while sucking her thumb. I hope to instill some good sleeping habits in her so perhaps she'll start sleeping more at night. Right now, she gets up predictably at 12:30, 3:30, and then 6:00. That's habit, not need, because that baby has lots of jelly rolls on her legs. So we moved the rocking chair up to her room and she's napping for the first time in her life in her own room, in her own crib. I still nursed her to sleep, but this is definite progress! She really loves watching the monkey light thingy that Uncle PT gave her.

Anna's first day at school

Anna started school this morning. When we left her, she was propped up on a boppy being the center of attention from all of her new teachers. I am sure that she will like school, but I cried and cried when I dropped her this morning. I go back to work on Thursday and a part of me is looking forward to it, but a bigger part of me is missing my baby. She is 14 1/2 weeks old so I've had a relatively long maternity leave (for which I am very grateful... I really do work at the best place!), but she is still sooooo little. Sigh.

Two babies in the crib

Okay, maybe Nate is a big boy, but he's a big boy who occasionally likes to lie in the crib and watch a mobile! He joined Anna in her crib today and they were so cute and cuddly together, I had to take a pic. They stayed like that for about 10 minutes before Nate got bored. Anna got bored as soon as her big brother left. Watching their relationship grow and develop day by day is one of the best things about having two kids! Anna is definitely #1 in her big brother's eyes. When we pick him up from school, he ignores me and almost crawls into her carseat to give her hugs and kisses. Hopefully their relationship will stay like that as they get older.

Overheard at Nate's Bedtime

Nate has been having a bit of trouble going to bed. Here are some exact quotes:

Nate: "I can't fall asleep. It hurts my feelings."
Marc: "Just try, honey."
Nate: "But Daddy, there are monsters in my room."
Marc: "There are no monsters in your room."
Nate: "I want to sleep in your bed."
Marc: "No, you cannot. Good night now."
Nate: "Wait, I need to tell you something."
Marc. Sigh. "What, Nate?"
Nate: "Ummm... My animals don't talk."
Marc: "This isn't Toy Story. Go to sleep!"

Marc was gone for 2 nights on a business trip and blames me for Nate's current bedtime woes. I am such a softy. Nate takes SUCH advantage of me.

Nate-o and the Snow Baby

One morning a few weeks ago a cold front passed through and a chill was in the air. The inside of the house was a crisp 63, so I had to bundle up the kids. The only thing I could find for Anna was this white thing (I have no clue what it is called) that had sleeves. She looked like a little snow baby in it! I had to take a picture of the two of them together.

In other news, Anna is now 14 weeks old and ready to start school. Her first day is Monday. I actually go back to work on Thursday, so at least she can slowly settle into life at school. I am most worried about how well she's going to nap. I've been having all these anxiety dreams lately. I know that everything will be fine, but it breaks my heart to be away from her for so many hours in the day! I just have to remind myself that Nate really loves his school and has done so well in it. Its just hard when they are so little. I wish the US were more like Europe and had paid maternity leave for the first year of the children's lives. We are the richest country in the world, but have our priorities all screwed up.

Ready or not, here I come!

Last weekend I played hide and go seek with Nate. He doesn't *quite* get the purpose of the game. We took turns who would do the hiding and who would the seeking. Whenever it was my turn to hide, I had to do it in another room (or preferably another floor) because Nate wouldn't keep his eyes closed for a count of 10. He would keep them closed until 4 or 5, then open them to see where I was going. He must have thought that I was a pretty good hider. When it was his turn to hide, he more often than not used my same exact hiding space! Sometimes I would count to 10, look down, and there he would be at my feet hiding under a counter or behind curtains. Hmmmm... I wonder where the little guy could have gone!

A shout out to Harrison...

Poor little Harrison is in the hospital with pneumonia. Poor little guy. We hope you feel better soon! We love you, Harrison!

Family vacation in Wilmington

We just got back into town from a fun-filled visit in Wilmington over Labor Day weekend. We went swimming in the ocean, hung out with Meg, Tom, Emma and Harrison, and really enjoyed being together. Here are some of my favorite photos from this trip. I hope everyone has a fast internet connection. I swear these are a minute number compared with how many phtoos I took. Let me tell you, travelling with a 3-year old and a newborn can be exhausting! No matter how much help you get once you arrive. :)