9 months of chunk

Little Charli, 

I can’t believe you are 9 months old. I can’t believe that time has gone as quickly as it has, and I am still pretty angry that I can’t seem to slow it down. I am terrified that I am going to wake up tomorrow and you are going to be 18 with a boyfriend I hate and an attitude matched to yours right now – an attitude that I have now named divatude. You are just sooo opinionated. Most of the time you are screaming because you want to go play in your brother’s room, you love playing with him and all of his cool big kid toys. The two of you have really developed a relationship over the last week. Yesterday you sat in his room and watched Sesame Street and played his drum while he draped you in blankets; I could hear the two of you giggling and it brought tears to my eyes. I know I have said it before, but that little boy loves you, and I know he always will.

You love your Eggo Waffles for breakfast, a fruit or veggie puree for lunch, and a cereal for dinner. You, my beautiful little girl, are a creature of habit. Long nap in the morning, short nap mid afternoon, and bath and bed at 8; you will not let your dad put you down for a nap and you hate when I try and put you down at night. See? Opinionated. You almost always have a smile when you are being talked to, even if it is a stranger that is shoving their face in yours, which happens a lot. You and your brother get so much attention that it drives me crazy sometimes, especially when we are in a hurry. Little old ladies just flock to touch your fat little feet and tell me what a precious little girl you are – and they are right.

This week you started clapping, and what I love most about that is that you started clapping for two reasons. The first reason is, “yaaaaaay!” as in, “mom! I touched this button and my kitchen light went on and it is singing me songs now – yaaaaaay!” The second reason is, “now!” as in, “mom! I am on the ground and I don’t know words but pick me up now or I will throw a tantrum!” Both of these reasons are wonderful and delightful and you always have a smile on your face while you are clapping. Poor little girl, you are still stuck in reverse, but you can stand by yourself while holding things and you can get to sitting from crawl. You want to be mobile so badly, but you just can’t figure it out. Honestly, I am so sick of getting screamed at, and my arms are so tired from carrying your giant babyness around, that I too hope you figure it out soon. I thought I was going to be nervous about you walking, but really I think I want you to as much as you do.

I hear the words, “that’s a healthy baby” a lot. And you are. You are a giant, happy, and healthy baby. You are wearing clothes that your brother fit into last year. We visited your doctor today and he said my favorite thing to hear from a doctor, “She’s perfect. Keep doing what you’re doing.” The nurse measured your head while you were lying on the table and went to measure it again thinking that she must have got the measurement wrong, I laughed and said, “nope, she just has a giant head like her Dad.” It’s true, you also have his love for cheese, his allergy to the sun (you sneeze every time you see the sun), and his amazing smile. Your 9 months stats are – weight : 21.8 pounds (90%) height : 28.5 inches (93%) head : 19.25 inches (97%!).

You may have a giant head, you may scream at me in demanding ways, you may take poops that literally overflow your diaper and lead me to cleaning the carpets, and you may make crazy growling noises at me, but you are beautiful and you are life changing and you and your brother have been the most amazing blessings I have had in my entire life. You keep us all laughing and when you are in that moment, claiming the center of attention that you and your brother fight for, you clap your hands and look up at us with those big blue eyes and we would do anything in the world for you. You constantly amaze me and fill me with pride and love and unicorns and rainbows. Our tagline for you is, “I’m Charli and I’m just happy to be here” because when you are happy, you are just sooo happy. We are all just happy you are here, too. Thank you for an amazing nine months, I can’t wait to see where you go next.

Love,

Mama

all the noise, noise, noise, noise

something about it being hotter outside makes me not able to blog. that and the screaming 9 month old that won't let me put or her down. the same one that thinks i am an idiot for not understanding what she needs when she throws up her divatude every 120 seconds. she is so the opposite of ge, who was a nice baby.

we had a wonderful father's day weekend. we celebrated the weekend by doing a lot of nothing. saturday the husband took the kids off of my hands so i could spend 7 hours cleaning the house. hoorah! yesterday the husband got his presents and ge unwrapped them all, telling him what he was getting as the process went down. ge doesn't necessarily understand the word "surprise". books, a tie, comfy shorts, an i <3 my baby daddy cross stitch, and a "world's coolest dad" shirt courtesy of walmart - quite possibly the coolest shirt you could ever get for $5.64. the husband loved all of it, and he loved his day. we left the house to buy beer and steaks and then spent the remainder running around like crazy people playing basketball in ge's room and laughing until our sides hurt. we could have been a hallmark television special yesterday.

and now it is monday. and chunk woke up screaming at 4:30 and has a belly ache and my hallmark special has just turned into some sad indie flick or something like a horror film, but without that creepy doctor that you think you could trust but it turns out he is murdering everyone in the town and that crazy guy down the street knows, but you didn't believe him and now, well now it may be too late. something like that. i am praying to mark wahlberg that we are going to have a better week than last week, which sucked. hard.

it's funny, i had this post all written up about how everything had been so stressy and i finally felt like i was getting on top of this whole 2 demanding kids and 1 dirty house day in and day out thing and they saw me relaxing a bit and pulled the rug out from underneath my feet. being a stay at home mom can be so difficult sometimes. my bosses are unreasonable and they scream at me for no reason. and one of them doesn't even know words and she is the one that screams at me the most. i am hoping that we pass this little block in the road soon because it might turn into a movie a lot more like girl interrupted.

today was the day

every once in a while one of those days comes along that redefines perfection - today was that day for my little family. the last 3 + weeks we have been in a funk. my cooking has suffered, husband's work has suffered, the kids have been miserable in the heat; it just hasn't be noteworthy in so long that i think we started to give up. and today, today we didn't even try to turn it around, but it naturally fell into place and today i am so grateful, because i needed that ... we needed that.

the kids loved the phillies game. when we first got there it started to rain, heavy rain, but the clouds parted and our seats stayed dry. ge was worried at first, but he quickly warmed when the players and the sun came out. we got a game, a good game. we left during the top of the 7th after the score reached 4 - 1, phillies. a perfect time to leave because when we came home the kids were bathed and happily put to bed and the husband and i ordered ufc 131.  (phillies over cubs, 7 - 1 in the end.)

my husband and i, we work together for so many reasons. the most important, and cliche reason, is that we are best friends. we are, best friends. we share passions, and when we don't we remain involved no matter what. we share a love for ufc and it energizes us and brings us to a great place. tonight we were not going to order the fights, but we did, and we made the right decision. tonight has been nothing but conversation and smiles and my jaw bones are sore from the happiness that today has brought. this has been one of those days where i feel lucky, and these days are the moments i carry because i know we will always be back here no matter what.

this is the day i have needed for weeks. today makes all of the previous day's tears worth it. this life, this life is beautiful. i thank my husband and my kids. i thank my family. i thank the east coast. i thank my sister, my friends, my mother, and every good person i have had the opportunity to meet. i thank the bad times, because without them, i would have never known good. i am just thankful.

cheesy? yes. but i would write it again, and again.

so all over the board

* I have been trying to write this blog for 2 days and am pretty much failing miserably. I have been so busy with the kids during the day and the Husband and I have been enjoying each other's company and a bit of relaxation teevee during the night. And I make no promises for finishing this because the heat is rising back here on el east coast and I am so not built for heat. Maybe speed, but most definitely not heat.

Last night my 3 year old chastised me for not getting around to scrubbing the toilets. This after a long day of unpacking, grocery shopping, and jumping in to what will be a week long cleanse of our home. My Husband looked at me and said, "did he just tell you to clean his toilet?" And I wanted to say I am surprised, but that sums up Ge; he isn't doing it to be an ass, but he honestly cares about the clean and he knows that I am the one who gets it done. And, like I say, if the Bossy Cows were a gang, Ge would be their fearless leader.

Conversation with Ge go a lot like this lately,

Ge - Do such and such thing or give me such or such thing

Me - I can't hear you

Ge - Do such and such or give such and such, please

Me - Good, now say it all together

Ge - Mom, pllleeeeaaaase can you blah blah blah?

And there is always a thank you. He loves to get underneath my feet, almost tripping me, and then say excuse me so he can be a polite little annoyance. He still eats like crap, but he is getting better with choices. He refuses to drink water, which worries me because it's getting ridiculous amounts of hot back here. He is still so little. To put his size in perspective he is 3 and a half and is 28 pounds - his sister is 26 pounds at 9 months. At 9 months ge only weighed 18 lbs.

Chunk and Ge are such different little kids so far. Ge was independent even as a baby. He crawled early and talked late. He loved his alone time in his room and with his toys from the word go. He was thoughtful and payed attention to everything going on around him. Ge was a shy baby and didn't like anyone to talk to him that he didn't know even then. Chunk is needy, she is so dramatic and emotional, she will smile for strangers, and she is just barely starting to try to crawl. Chunk wants to be carried all day long, which is nice because I am looking for ways to work out and lunges with a 26 pound baby seem helpful.

We are headed into a 3 day heat up back east and I can already feel myself getting all cranky and complainy. The heat and I don't get along. I think that 70 is hot, so heat indexes of 105 + are just unbearable. I know that I am supposed to be grateful because our weather could be worse, but I am too hot to be compassionate and I reserve the right to be a whiny bitch whenever I please. Plus, we are suppose to go to the Phillies game Saturday and now they are calling for rain. Nature is screwing with all of us. I blame Anthony Weiner.

please send ice

you know what is hard? finding the motivation to blog when it is hot and humid. also difficult, not turning on the air conditioning. i have made myself a promise that i will delay turning on the air conditioning for as long as possible this summer because i absolutely do not enjoy the rape like bills that peco sends me for our old ass air conditioner and its constant state of on. seriously, i almost threw up last year when i got our first bill, but we maintained the condition of the air being cold because i was pregnant, and i get grumpy when i am pregnant. very. easily. i purchased a 17 dollar fan from target that seems to be helping, but still ... being on a grown up budget is hard. and it sucks.

the kids were absolutely horrible demons today. poor chunk is growing in her two top teeth and ge is 3. ge is 3 a lot, and chunk's teeth never seem to stop growing in. i am glad that peco can't charge me for this because i am sure that budget billing would not cover it at all. this business of being alive is incredibly expensive.

chunk-a-tron is a rolling fool around our house. she can scoot backwards, readjust her turn to move in a new direction, and she is trying really hard to manipulate those fat little knees of hers to stay up. she is an absolutely hilarious and sweet little baby. her papa loved my, "hold my closer sloppy kisser" song, because she loves to just latch on to any piece of my skin she can find to show affection. my tag line for the chunk is, "i am just happy to be here." because she continues to just love being alive, and being around everyone that pays attention to her. i honestly cannot believe that she is 8 months old, and that she will soon be 1. time flies when you live in such a beautiful world.

ge is a talking, singing fool. tonight he was following me around the house screaming nonsense while i was on the phone with his aunt brook. i jokingly told him that he was a burden and he burst out into a laughter that lasted 10 minutes. he loves to be challenging. he will tell me, "mom, i am going to be frustrating now" and he does, and he will. i love that he challenges me, i love it most when he is asleep and i am relaxing - like now. he loves to paint, sing songs while he drums, tell me what to do, play mickey mouse friends with his dad, and go anywhere outside. he is such a help at the grocery store and takes such loving care of his little sister. ge has always been and remains and incredible blessing on my life.

the husband is stressed with work, but he is wonderful as always. i am so incredibly proud of the person he is and the husband he is. he keeps me laughing at my worst moments and is always there for us unconditionally. plus, he knows my favorite wines and my drink order from starbucks! how can you say anything bad about that?!

the feeling in my hands is starting to return, but that has been met with a lot of pain from the various injuries i seem to have sustained in the 4 weeks of numbness. i am starting to believe that the last month + of hardships were completely due to zoloft withdrawal. horrible, awful, zoloft withdrawals. i will never miss that drug.

it's hot. i am sure that there are other words i planned on typing, but a 17 dollar fan only blows so much ... just ask lloyd how much more 8 dollars could have gotten us.