Big Brother Update

A lot of people have been asking how Nathan is doing at home and with Anneliese, and the answer is... pretty great, actually. Things aren't perfect, but honestly as far as the sibling relationship goes, it's a lot better than we thought it would/could be.

I am dying to know what Anneliese is thinking about Nathan in this picture. :)

Nathan loves Anneliese, and has completely adjusted to the idea that she is here to stay. He has never once told us he is all done with her, or wants her to go away, or anything like that. He actually asks for her when she's not in the room, just like he does with Mark or me or other people he likes (he's like some kind of herding dog; he likes to know where everyone is at all times). He's good about sharing with her (even though she doesn't care), reading to her, and talking to her.

When she cries, he kisses her to make it feel better. He's constantly asking, hug her? or kiss her? or hold her? And if for some reason he thinks we might not have noticed that she's upset (like that's even possible -- she clearly got her lungs from her Aunt Ashley), he'll say, Anneliese is crying. Anneliese is crying. Anneliese is crying, until we answer him. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

That's not to say there have been no hiccups:

--- He had a couple of night wakeups in the first few weeks. I sort of chalked that up to more activity in the house in the middle of the night, not actual regression or attention-seeking (he settled himself back down each time without parental involvement).

--- He also had a higher-than-average number of tantrums in those first weeks. I'm not sure if it was a plea for attention, or just a result of having Daddy at home more (he's more likely to have tantrums with Mark than with me; I think he's still learning it doesn't work on Daddy either). We treated it as a plea for attention, and became hyper-vigilant about ignoring the whining and crying, and praising the big-boy moments, so he'd learn to rely on those for attention instead. And he rose to the occasion in a matter of days. Again, a relatively small problem that sorted itself out very quickly.

--- He was frustrated this week when I told him he couldn't wear his PJs to the airport, and I couldn't figure out why he was making such a big deal about it. Then he said Anneliese is wearing PJs! And I realized that my double standard for who gets to wear what, was confusing him. So I agreed with him, put a shirt and pants on the baby, and he seemed much less troubled. We're learning as we go how to deal with the whole fair vs equal thing between siblings. Since fair doesn't always mean equal, it can get tricky, but I decided in this case equal standards for clothes on an outing was a reasonable request. :)

Sharing his favorite racecar with Anneliese!

--- Nathan asked to hug Anneliese yesterday when she was sleeping and I said no, but he tried anyway. When I gave him a warning (do you need to go to time-out?) he responded no. But then he hugged her and woke her up, so I walked him over to the time-out corner. And he cried and said no thank you, no thank you. As if the reason he was in time out was that he didn't answer politely enough to his warning. Which is a helpful reminder to Mark and me that everything in his mind isn't about (or in response to) Anneliese. Sometimes it's still just a toddler, figuring things out, without regard to a sibling.It's fun seeing Nathan as our oldest instead of only. It's neat to see him growing up and growing into his new role in the family. I hope he continues to be this protective of Anneliese as she grows up.

A Glimpse of a Smile

I'd like to tally up the people Anneliese has smiled at so far: Mark, our family physician, Eric, Nathan's preschool teacher, and (this morning at my post-partum checkup) my obstetrician and a stranger in the waiting room. Note one very important person who is not on this list: yours truly.

Really, Anneliese? Really? I think I deserve a smile more than everyone else on that list -- though Mark and the OB (the same one who delivered her) are close contenders, to be fair. I mean, I feed you everything you need to eat at all hours of the day and night (and bled out of my breasts for you), I carried you for 41 weeks, and you pooped in me. (Oh yeah, I said it. It's not too early to play that card.) Come on, sweetie, smile at me!!!

The closest I have gotten to a smile is this video I got last night. Note: she is smiling at the animals over her head, not the mommy with the camera. But still, I'll take it.

(Like Nathan before her, we have to resort to video because she is too quick to get the still shot. It's actually a fluke that I got a smile in this video, and only right as I was stopping the recording.)

[Edit, several hours after posting... I just went back and watched Nathan's smile video (the link above), and wow do they look alike after all! Who knew?]

Anneliese, that little smile is absolutely gorgeous and I can't wait until it's a huge grin. And directed at me. :)

Breakfast Casserole (No Meat)

Ok, as promised, here is the recipe for the awesome brunch dish that Katie made for us this weekend. She told me to be sure to say that this isn't her recipe, so don't give her too much credit. But it was done with her excellent execution, so I am giving her credit for that at least.

This is a casserole/quiche thing -- I'm not sure what to call it; the recipe calls it cheese & chili casserole, but doesn't that make you think of a meaty dinner of some sort? It's not like that at all. This is like a light quiche with a cheesy spicy kick. Think of it like one of those traditional breakfast casseroles, but with no sausage.

Or just think of it as yummy. :)

Casserole
9 eggs
3/4 tsp salt
24 oz monterrey jack cheese, shredded
16 oz cream cheese, cubed
12 oz small curd cottage cheese
1 T butter, small pieces
3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
4.5 oz can chopped green chilis, drained
2 oz diced pimientos


Whisk egg and salt; add cheeses and butter. Whisk flour and baking powder into cheese mix. Add chili pepper and pimiento. Bake at 350 in a greased 9x13-in pan for 45 minutes. Serve to your friends from college and impress the pants off of them.

Katie served us the casserole with pineapple chunks and coffee cake on the side, and orange juice to drink. Yum!

More Furman Friends

As if an evening with Betsy and Emily early last week wasn't enough, we got to see even more Furman friends this weekend.

First, Sarah and her love Eric came in late on Friday night and spent all day yesterday with us, and (as usual) it was awesome to see Sarah with the kids. I absolutely cannot wait for her to be a mom. I like having her around as a sounding board for parenting stuff since she knows so much more about it than most people (definitely more than I do anyway). Not just what "the books" say, but what actually works. (She has so much experience with preschoolers that it kind of boggles the mind.)

Plus, Sarah is pretty much my favorite person this weekend because yesterday morning, after that awful night with our darling daughter, she got up early to hang out with Nathan so I could sleep for an hour. And let the record show that she had an upset tummy and hadn't slept much the night before either. And that she hopped out of bed so fast and so ready to help that she didn't manage to get her glasses upstairs and out of the guest room. So not only was she taking care of Nathan in the early morning hours on a Saturday, with an upset tummy, on her vacation from childcare, she was doing it half-blind. Rock star? Um, yes.

Then this morning we all had brunch with Katie and Noah at their house in Durham. Of course Katie made an awesome (vegetarian!) breakfast casserole for which I will share the recipe as soon as I can put my hands on it.

I think Nathan was expecting different people (Jenny's daughter Katie and biblical Noah), but to his credit he still seemed excited to see them. And he only mentioned the ark once. :)

He actually played for a long time with them (with a cat toy, even though - gasp - there were matchbox cars in the vicinity) and completely wore himself out.

Katie held Anneliese with much more confidence than her first meeting with Nathan! Anneliese even fell asleep cuddled into Katie's chest before we left, and I hated to separate them because it looked so darned sweet.

For even more sweet pictures of our weekend, click on Sarah with both kids, below.

by mgoetts

Going to be a Mommy!

It's getting late, and Anneliese is having an awful time settling down. She did this last night too: it was Mark's first night shift back at work (and therefore my first night knowing I can't go get him if I need him), and she actually barely slept at all; I think she is trying to make a liar out of me for telling the internet she's an angel sleeper. I am actually fairly certain that I have given her this cold thing that I have (certainly not the flu; our family has been vaccinated against any kind for which there is a vaccine available!) so while I am trying not to fault her for keeping me awake, especially considering I don't think she feels well either, the reality is that I am tired and would like to go to bed. But... still she cries, in my lap.

So here we are. As I was thinking that this is just part of parenting (and that I can handle a few hard nights when most nights are okay), I remembered that it was actually three years ago today that I found out I was going to be a parent. And that's a good thing to think about -- a happy memory -- as I work through these rough hours with Anneliese.

I don't remember now why I was optimistic enough to take a pregnancy test before I was really late. I actually don't remember now why I took the pregnancy test at all, since although we were definitely trying to get pregnant, we thought we had missed the window that month due to my swim in St. Croix. But I did take the pregnancy test. And it was positive. And I smiled. In fact, I'm pretty sure I grinned for the whole day.

I remember googling pregnancy stuff and due date calculators on my computer at work and trying not to act different in front of my colleagues, but of course I was incredibly distracted and I'm sure they wondered if something was up.

I remember I had to get through the whole day before I could say it out loud -- I wanted to tell Mark first, and I wasn't going to see him until that night. After work I went to the bookstore and bought a big (and useless, it turns out) book of baby names. After Disciple class I wrapped the book up and bought Mark a caramel apple cider (his favorite Starbucks holiday beverage; I can never taste one now without remembering that night) and told him I had something for him. I gave him the present and the drink, and I asked him if he had plans for late July.

When he saw it was a book, he looked at me warily and rolled his eyes and said something to the effect of, "why, what kind of trip do you want to go on?" Yep, that's right. I was trying to tell him we were having a baby and he thought I was trying to get him to go on vacation. Which either says something about how many trips we take, or my love for travel books, or both. But when he saw that the book actually wasn't a travel guide of any kind but a baby-name book, he figured it out. And then he was oh so happy and he hugged me and then he couldn't stop grinning.

April 26, 2007 - about six months pregnant

And then that turned into Nathan, who is pretty much the best thing ever. Not that I am playing favorites with my kids, but when one child is sleeping silently and filling my mind with fun memories, and the other is screaming at me for the second night in a row... well, you do the math. :)

Tonight I'm thinking happy thoughts on Nathan.

One Month Old: Angelic

I can't believe that it's already been a month since Anneliese has been with us, but it has. And we think she gets more beautiful every day.
I've taken to calling her my angel pretty often, and it's an accurate nickname. I still think she's a little more high-maintenance than Nathan was (needs more soothing, fusses more, etc) but at this age the main thing that new parents want is... (all together now) ...SLEEP. And sleep she does! A baby who sleeps 7-9 hours in one stretch pretty much every night and manages to take a nap most days at the same time as her brother.... well, if I thought she was anything less than angelic, I would just be selfish. :)

Other updates:

- Anneliese gave us a real smile for the first time yesterday! And by us, I mean Mark. It's a gorgeous little grin and I can't wait to catch it on camera.

- She had a checkup this morning and she's growing just fine. She's 10 lbs 1 oz (78th percentile) and 22.5 inches (over 95th percentile). Still a big healthy girl who loves her milk. Also, she smiled for the doctor too. Still not mommy though.


We thought we wouldn't get this lucky twice... but apparently we did. I'm scared to put it in writing, but she just might be an easy baby too!! We're grateful for our little angel.

Nathan and Lucas

Well, the silly one and the serious one are at it again. Our friends Justin and LeAnn and their son Lucas were in town this week -- the boys hadn't seen each other since we were all at the beach in August, so they were both very excited to have someone new(ish) to play with.

They giggled a lot, they hugged a lot (and enjoyed it more than this picture shows, I promise), they ran around the house together, they spent a lot of time negotiating over who got to play with which racecars. Mark took them to the kids museum yesterday morning, and they did great even though it was pouring outside and neither one of them loves the wet and cold.

They're both kind of daddy's boys, and last night Mark had told them they could ride along to go pick up Justin from his work thing -- he went outside to move the cars, and both Lucas and Nathan looked so forlorn, watching him get in the car and start driving it without them, that I just had to take a picture. Is it wrong that their sad faces make me laugh? Poor babies.

And of course Mark came back in and got them; he keeps his promises... so they got to have the outing with their beloved daddies after all.

Yay for sweet friends, even when you're just two years old!

NOW who looks silly and who looks serious??

For more pictures of Nathan and Lucas this week, click here.