One Proud Mommy

I just have to say that I love being a Mommy! It's hard work, especially with two children, but my heart is just exploding with love for these two little people that we brought into the world. It is so worth it!

And there is just something special about holding your newborn baby. No matter how fussy she is or how stinky her diaper, she is always just so cute and sweet in my eyes. I'm one proud Mommy!



Of course, all of this pride gets a little muddled at times when I'm half asleep all day long from being woken up several times during the night by said sweet baby. Sometimes I have to find a quiet spot to hide and catch a few zzzz's. This picture caught me in Nicholas' room, passed out on his bed, snuggling with Rachel.

Silly Monster Puppet

When I packed my bag for the hospital, I put in two two wrapped gifts for Nicholas. Once Rachel was born, we let him open one gift a day and we told him they were a gift from his little sister. He loved getting to unwrap presents but he questioned whether they were really from Rachel. He said that we must have bought them for her since she is too little. Well, that may not have worked out like I had planned but he was still happy to have gifts to unwrap and it helped him feel special even though Rachel and I were getting a lot of attention.

Once we were back home, Rachel and I were still getting a lot of attention so I had one last gift from Rachel planned. It was such a hit! It is called a Silly Monster Puppet by Melissa and Doug. It is a purple hand puppet with just a mouth. It comes with all sorts of silly eyes, noses, hair, ears, etc that you can velcro on to your puppet anyway that you want. Daddy makes a great "monster puppet" voice and he and Nicholas have had lots of fun playing with the new puppet!

Parent Teacher Conference at Preschool

At Nicholas' preschool, the teachers meet with parents each semester just to give an update on how their child is doing and give the parents some dedicated time to ask questions or discuss concerns. I always go expecting his teacher to express concerns about Nicholas following directions or being too active to sit still in class. However, she always sweetly reassures me that he is doing great and is no different than most of the other four year olds in her class. Although I'm not worried about how he compares with other children, it is a little reassuring to hear from someone who has worked with many, many four year olds that she doesn't have any concerns about how he's doing.

Here are some notes from her progress report this semester:

Areas of Accomplishment:
Charming Nicholas continues to bring a new level of enthusiasm and curiosity to our class! His intelligent mind operates in higher thinking levels leading him to comparisons, contrasting and conclusions. Nicholas is on target in the four areas of early childhood development: cognitive, social, emotional, and physical.

Areas for Growth:
Nicholas is learning to tackle works which seem tedious to him but increase focus, patience and fine muscle control. We'll continue to help him in this area.

Teacher Comments:
Nicholas is blessed with a sunny disposition, pure joy, and a vivid imagination. He is a delightful child who brings out the best in his peers and teachers.

I'm sure that Nicholas's energy, or as Mrs. Carrico describes it "enthusiasm", can be a challenge in the class room at times. I'm sure he would prefer to have more recess time and less time for Montessori works but overall he is happy, enjoys being with his friends at school, and he is learning new things each and every week.

Rachel's First Bath at Home

When Nicholas was a newborn, Stuart gave him his first bath at the kitchen sink. It is easier for him to do this than for me since he is taller and is better able to grasp the squirming, slippery wet baby. So I didn't argue a few days ago when Stuart volunteered to give Rachel her first bath at home.

Stuart is so in love with his little girl. You can just see it when he's holding her or talking to her. During the bath, he spoke so sweetly to her the whole time he was bathing her. She loved all the attention, soft words, and warm water. After bath time, the two of them snuggled together on the couch.

Happy Halloween!

It hardly seems like Halloween. We have a few decorations up. Nicholas has carved a pumpkin and been to the pumpkin patch. Nicholas and Rachel both have great costumes. We have a big cauldron full of candy to hand out. Yet it still doesn't feel like it's Halloween. I guess we've just been so distracted by all of the other things going on in our house that we kind of missed the build up of the approaching holiday somewhere along the way.

We started the morning with some usual playtime. Nicholas wanted to play with his puppet theater but Daddy was cooking breakfast and I was trying to take care of Rachel who was a little fussy. I'm determined not to let Nicholas feel pushed aside by his baby sister so I plopped down on the kitchen floor with fussy baby in hand and produced a one-handed puppet show about a mischievous little boy who hid in bushes on Halloween night to scare his friends. When they dropped their bags of candy, the naughty little boy would take it all for himself. Greedy little guy! Stuart was amused by my attempt at multi-tasking and had to get a picture.



Time to get ready for trick-or-treating. I bought several costumes for Nicholas this year so he would have something for Halloween but also have others to play dress up with throughout the year. He has Darth Vader, a skeleton, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Wizard, Doctor, and a Pirate. Yet he still couldn't decide what he wanted to wear for trick-or-treating. He even borrowed a costume from a friend because he thought he would be a Power Ranger. At the last moment, he decided that he would wear the wizard costume. He made a cute little wizard! Of course, Rachel was pretty cute as a sleeping bumblebee too.



Nicholas and Daddy had a great time trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. Nicholas got tons of candy as always. Mommy and Rachel sat on the front door step and handed out candy. Although she slept through her first Halloween, Rachel was a big hit in her bumblebee costume. Many people thought I was holding a baby doll at first and they were all "oooh and aaah" when they realized she was a real little baby.