Overview

Eeesh. Am writing slacker.

Bridgett will be one in..... eight days. She started walking about a week ago and has 8 teeth. She is such a happy, content baby just like her brother. Just like we told ourselves we would never get off so easy as to have a second time. She is a bit feistier. She actually throws temper tantrums even. Don-e calls her Serenity's daughter when it happens.

Elijah in no way resembles a baby at all. Or a toddler. He is all boy. A little man. Today after Don-e and I had finished jogging he tells Don-e he wants to run too and ends up running 1/2 mile. Then goes inside and runs around for twenty minutes while he tells me the story of running 1/2 a mile. He loves to tell stories. I have no idea where he comes up with half of them, but they are amazing. They make no sense whatsoever, but I am amazed every time he tells one.

Don-e passed the first test for the Austin Fire Department. If he gets no further I am more proud of him than I could ever say. 3,300 of the 5,500 guys that took the test didn't pass. But he did. He has made our business a successful one. He was let go from Hill Country the first of November and since that time has made Donkey Design flourish. He still makes my heart pound.

Hero is perfect. He lets my daughter poke her finger into his eye and my son sit on his head, and he is still perfect. And he still spoons with me when I want him too. Even sometimes when I don't.

I am good too.

Unexpected Blessings

When Elijah was two he was an incredible sleeper. A little snack, a bedtime story, his prayer and he was down for 12 hours straight. He would stay in his bed in the morning until we came and got him. Perfect, easy baby. One night though, he started fussing. I could hear him fidgeting around and definitely not sleeping. This wasn't unusual, but I usually would just roll over and both of us would be asleep within a matter of minutes. This night though, this night was different. Call it mother's instinct or God's prompting but I got up. Let me just say, for the record that I was pregnant at this time so being upright was not always the most pleasant. It turned out that his diaper had leaked, which turned out to be miraculous itself. If he hadn't been wet I would have given him a kiss and told him to go back to sleep. But he was wet so I had to turn a light on to change him. I had to move him to his changing table so I could clean him up. And because I hadn't just rolled over, because he was wet and I had to get him out of bed I saw that his lammy had gotten wrapped around his thumb. So many times and so tight that the end of his thumb was moving well past purple on it's way to black. I have no doubt that had I not gotten up, had his diaper not leaked he would have lost the tip of his thumb. It was 2:00 in the morning. At least 6 hours before I would have gone into his room to get him.

Two nights ago, after a completely normal night, I had just gotten Elijah to go to bed and plopped down on our bed to look at Bridgett on the monitor. Don-e was at training so I was planning on doing some last minute chores and relaxing. But Bridgett was making some funny noises. She's been in bed for about an hour and a half, and it wasn't unusual for her to wake up but she would usually put herself back to sleep. But she was making funny noises so I laid down on my bed to check on her. She started vomiting. Horribly, and as she was on her back she was choking on it. I've never run so fast. What would have happened if I had been doing the dishes and hadn't heard her? If I had just ignored the urge to check the monitor. She was swallowing so much that she couldn't even cry. Afterwards she was fine. We took a shower and cuddled for awhile and then she went back to sleep without any further problems. Except that it happened again last night. Only we had already gone to bed. Again, with the perfect timing, at about 11:15 I woke up and turned the display part of Bridgett's monitor on. She had just started throwing up again. She was on her back and choking. Don-e hadn't fallen asleep yet, he was messing around on his phone, and as I had just come out of a dead sleep I yelled at him "she's choking, GO!" and then followed as fast as I could without walking into a wall. She again, was fine afterward. She has a cold and is teething so I think the amount of mucus and drool she swallows when she is laying down is what is making her sick. But I don't usually wake up in the middle of the night. What would have happened if I hadn't? What if we hadn't held her upright so she could clear out her airway? But this night I did. I rolled over at the perfect moment to see her start to be sick. And we were there to pick her up and make it all better. And one night, a year ago I was there to unwrap a beloved lammy and kiss a booboo.

All I can say is God is good.

Pretty Girl

Bridgett is so close to crawling. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth, back and forth. She wants so bad to be able to move around the house with the rest of us. But more than that though she wants to be able to stand. To pull herself up to be closer to us, more like her brother.

She will only eat a good meal of baby food for her daddy. She has no patients for the stuff if I try to feed her. But she loves bites of whatever I am eating, straight from my plate. She doesn't have any teeth yet, but she gums anything we put in her mouth like she's been chewing for years.

It already looks like she is going to have a bit of a temper. But if you look at where she came from that shouldn't be a surprise. But it is only on rare occasions we see a glimps of it. And it is usually frustration at herself, and not being able to do everything she wants to.

She is willing to go anywhere, do anything. Elijah was such, a laid back, easy baby that I keep waiting for her to turn into a monster child. I mean, nobody is lucky enough to get two perfect kids, right?

Stuck Together

Elijah stayed the night at his grandma's house last night. His 'old grandma' as he started calling my mom this past winter. She really did bring it on herself. She made a joke about being old to a very literal two year old. He will be three and a half next week.

Bridgett is very very close to crawling. She rolls and rolls and rolls to get where she wants to go, but is also pushing up onto all fours and rocking back and forth. She is also showing signs of wanting to pull up on things. She's seven months old today.

They get along so well. People with their stories and our pediatrician with his warnings had me very scared of what Elijah would become after the baby was born. He is nothing but a help with her. Bridgett will laugh for him better than she will for anyone else. Earlier this week I was rushing to put together a picnic lunch so we could go meet Don-e at a park on his break. B woke up while I was at it, but because she was talking and happy I left her in her bed. After a couple of minutes Elijah goes into her room, and a couple of minutes later I hear him call out, "Mom I'm stuck!" He's gotten his stool out of the bathroom and climbed into her bed with her.

Chocolate Bunny

This morning, shortly after he'd finished his breakfast Elijah comes up to me and tells me he's still hungry.

"Oh yeah? What would you like to eat?"

"Umm.. a chocolate bunny."

"What? A chocolate bunny?"

"Yeah. You know, like at Easter, when I found all the eggs and put them in my basket. And I ate a chocolate bunny."

"Well honey, chocolate bunnies only happen at Easter time, and it's not Easter time right now."

"Oh. Well then you're the chocolate bunny." he says as he gnaws on my arm.

Cute, right?