
Perhaps it is time for bigger pjs

What a life




Hayley and I took Todd to the pediatrician today for his four month checkup. My big boy weighed in at 14 pounds, 8 ounces and 26 inches long which puts him at about 50% for weight and 75% for length. He seems SO big to me that I was surprised that he didn't weigh more. Of course after having Hayley who has been such a skinny little peanut, any baby with a roll or two seems huge to me. Todd got a clean bill of health and we were on our way. 


I haven't posted in awhile because I've been busy pulling my hair out. Literally. Suprisingly (and somewhat debatable), Hayley is not the cause of my hair loss as I get to chalk this lovely symptom up once again to pregnancy hormones. I'm not sure if it is because this was my second pregnancy, or because I had a boy, but every pregnancy symptom was magnified in comparison to my pregnancy with Hayley. So of course, this lovely post-partum shedding is twice as bad as after I had Hayley. It looks like two blond gorillas had a cage fight in my shower every morning and at this rate I figure I'll look like Mr. Clean's long lost twin (minus the shiny floors) by the end of the month. Don't get me wrong... I love, love, LOVE Todd and Hayley. However, I'm really just not at all a fan of the whole process of getting them here.
I think the earth must have fallen off it's axis. BOTH of my children are currently napping and my non-napping almost fourth month old took a TWO hour nap this morning. Now I won't go so far as to say that my sanity is returning, because even if my little angels took perfect naps everyday I would not consider myself sane, but I sure am a much happier mommy with two napping children. And to what do I owe these sudden naps? With Todd, it's just plain good fortune and perhaps getting out of whatever crazy baby stage he was going through. But Hayley? That's taken more than a little snake charming on my part. After constantly catching Hayley out of bed with two or three shirts around her neck and swimming in a pile of books, I've accepted that it is necessary to hide every possible thing Hayley could find interesting during naptime. Don't get me wrong. I'm thrilled over her love of books, but the 3pm grouch is going to be the death of me if I don't get this child back in a napping habit.
I'm a BIG fan of Dr. Weissbluth's "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" book. Until this point, all of Hayley's sleep habits have been spot on with Dr. Weissbluth's guidelines. But I'm feeling incredibly misled. Dr. Weissbluth led me to believe that I would be Hurricane free for 2 hours every afternoon until Hurricane reached the ripe old age of at least three. This is not so. And I am so sad that I could cry. When exactly am I supposed to feed my Internet addiction now?
Todd's napping habits are a whole other issue entirely. He absolutely refuses to nap for any period in excess of 20 minutes. I've tried EVERYTHING and have resigned myself to grasping at the hope that he'll grow out of this and into the nap pattern that I expect him to have. I will say that Todd's strong resistance to the idea of napping has definitely opened my eyes to the fact that he may not be quite as laid back as I think. It appears that this little fella may have a temper on him. Hayley just may have met her match.
I'm still trying to decipher the authenticity of this picture. Brian likes to tell me that really, he's part of "The Unit." You know, he just masquerades as an Army bean counter to cover his true identity of top secretive operative for Delta Force. I'm pretty sure he's making it up. If his hair starts getting long and he doesn't shave for days, then I'll start to worry.





On Saturday evening, Brian and I had our first evening out since Todd was born. We went to the Toby Keith concert in Tampa with some friends. It was nice to be out of the house and not have children attached to my every limb. Heck, I think this is the first time I've actually been anywhere since Todd was born that I didn't wear spitup at some point in the evening! Nevertheless, I can't remember the last time I felt so old and uncool. Brian didn't help make me feel any cooler since every time a young girl walked by he'd go into cardiac arrest with the "Hayley better never wear an outfit like that" or "Hayley won't ever be able to come to a concert like this without her Daddy" and so on. Funny how children can so drastically change your perspective on EVERYTHING!
Now that Hayley seems to know the alphabet, can count to ten, and has a decent grasp of colors and shapes, we figured the next logical step would be geography of course! So far Hayley has determined that she is allergic to Kansas and that Daddy is a bullrider in Texas. We have a wooden USA puzzle that we've been playing with and it has wildflowers on the state of Kansas. Hayley always picks up the state of Kansas, puts it to her nose and says "ACHOOOOOO!" She also points at the man riding the bull over the state of Texas and says "Daddy." Yes, Daddy can do anything in Hayley's eyes, including ride bulls. Hopefully Hayley will learn all of the states in time for me to bring out the red and blue map for election season. After all, political indoctrination can never begin to early!
Almost 8 weeks postpartum and I'm still suffering from what I consider to be the absolute most dreadful aspect of pregnancy. No, it's not postpartum depression (although if this continues it could turn into that). Last night I attempted my first post pregnancy run. I strapped on my tennies and headed out the door with my Ipod in hand. I was feeling good and eagerly anticipating 30 minutes of painful bliss in the warm evening air. I stretched my legs out, set my stopwatch, and turned on my Ipod. As the music started to thump in my ear, a sick feeling washed over me (and no, I wasn't listening to country music). I tried to ignore it, but that nauseous feeling persisted until midway through my run when I was so out of breath and my legs were so heavy that the pain in my quads distracted from the overwhelming urge to "toss my cookies." The past few days, the daily temperature has crept up along with the humidity. It feels about like it did last fall when I was "newly" pregnant and sick as a dog... brutal. The heat combined with the activities that I took part in while feeling so nauseous last fall seem to be causing some deja vu. The past few days of swim lesson have also illicited that sick feeling. I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever feel normal again? The mere sight of Maalox and Tums make me sick right now and I don't think I'll ever be able to eat a darn thing that has even a pinch of ginger in it. (Side note: ginger root capsules don't go well with severe indigestion.) Good thing little Todd is worth it all!
Speaking of persistent and swimming... Hayley is definitely persistent, persistent at being strong willed. We have been in swim lesson since March 3rd. Yes, the daily swim lesson where I drive all the way to the instructor's home, put Hayley in the pool for a 10 minute lesson, get her dressed, and drive all the way back home. This was only supposed to be a 2 week refresher course, but Hurricane? Apparently Hurricane felt she needed more time in the pool. The crux of this extended lesson? Hayley's adamant refusal (not inability, but REFUSAL) to float. Hayley is smart as a whip (if I do say so myself). She can count to 10, knows her entire alphabet as well as the sound each letter makes, and can determine a sucker from a mile away. However, it has taken 14 weeks to convince Hayley that floating really isn't all that bad. See Hayley just wanted to swim, which is fine and dandy until she gets tired and seeing how we are trying to teach her SURVIVAL swimming, floating becomes a necessary part of her survival in the water. Apparently what neither I, not the instructor (who has the patience of a saint) were aware of is that Hayley wanted to teach us something about herself. That is that you don't convince Hayley of anything... she makes up her own mind when she's darn good and ready. And apparently she is FINALLY ready. Just last Friday she finally began floating around the pool. And guess what? It must not be that bad. Because now? Now Hayley refuses to swim... she just wants to FLOAT!!! The good news is that Hayley is a record holder. Miss Amy has been teaching ISR lessons for over 10 years and has never encountered a student with the iron will of Miss Hurricane. Miss Amy says that Hayley is going to be famous someday and we'll read about her in the news. Call me crazy, but somehow I don't think that Hayley will be famous for taking a gold medal for swimming at the 2020 olympic games. I think it is quite possible that both Hayley and poor innocent little Todd will be blacklisted from any toddler activities in the southwest Florida region. 







In other news, Todd is now an official "citizen" with the number that makes him vulnerable to identity theft to prove it! He looks excited. I don't think he understands how taxes work just yet.

She's also becoming more bold with Todd which means I have to watch her like a hawk. Poor little brother has had the pacifier rammed in his mouth more times then I'm sure he'd like. Each morning before swim lesson I pack up all the towels and items we need and take them out to the car before I load the kids up. Hayley always follows me out to the car, except last week she would run out and babble something that ended with brother. I'm pretty sure she was telling me not to forget him. Or she could have been saying "hurry up let's go before brother knows we're gone!" Either way, it is sweet for her to think of him!
So Friday we spent the morning filling and playing with her water table. After getting scolded for trying to climb into the water table, apparently Hayley decided she could get the same effect by just dunking her head in the water. She did this repeatedly. Once again, if only I could figure out what was going through her head.
Saturday morning we went and signed Hayley up for an indoor soccer program. She'll attend classes every Saturday morning and participate with Daddy. I'm sure this will be VERY entertaining.