Early Summer Catch-Up

Wow, it has been a long time since my last update. A lot has happened in the last six weeks, both good and bad, and I am finally feeling like I can get the chance to sit down and write.

So looking back over the last six weeks: I had a great mother's day weekend, we have spent some great time with friends and family, and had a wonderful memorial weekend at the cabin. The children love to be outside. Louis had a great time in the sand and is super excited to be going back soon. Nearly all the Budde aunts and uncles and cousins were there, so there was lots of food, drink and fun. Here is Louis wearing uncle Jordan's sweatshirt.

Unfortunately that was followed by a couple of funerals. It gave us all of us time to be together and take care of each other. It really reminded all of us about the importance of family, friends and loving what you have. There was a great weekend trip to Chicago for Brad and me. We missed the children, but it was nice to catch up with friends and get some time for just the two of us. The next thing I really remember was Father’s Day weekend. We had a great time hanging out as a family, going on picnics, having fun with our neighbors and also celebrating the day with extended family.

Last weekend we made the trip to Melrose for some a family celebration and took in the parade. Louis had a ton of fun collecting candy and seeing the police cars. He has a hard time differentiating between the words parade and prayed. So every time we prepped him for the parade he would fold his hands like he was praying or try to make the sign of the cross. I guess Mommy and Papa need to learn to enunciate better!

About the children:
Louis is as charming and as challenging as ever. He is an independent player and is very good at making up his own games to play. He has been going into “time out” a little bit more lately and it is very amusing to seem his discipline his toys (LegoMan and his friends) and put them into time out as well. He seems to really enjoy playing with Barbies right now, dressing them and coming their hair. Somewhere along the way he has learned the word "boobies". We are doing are best to ignore it and hope it ends before he says it in front of the wrong person.

Mabel continues to grow and learn every day. She is rolling around and can move so quickly across the floor. We are waiting for her her to officially start crawling and to start pulling herself up. She has started clapping, waving and talking, "Papa", "Mama", "Hi", "Uh oh" and "cracker" (I know it is hard to believe, but even her pediatrician heard it!). Mabel is also preparing us for adolesence with her mood swings. She goes from being a mommy's girl one second to wanting to be on the floor by herself, doing her own thing. But she has the sweetest smile and loves to give kisses, so it is hard to resist her.

The children take their baths together now. It is a lot of fun to see them take turns splashing. Getting water in your eyes is okay if it is from splashing vs. getting your hair washed. It has gone very well and they both seem to be enjoying it. Every now and then Louis likes to cause trouble and pour water on Mabel or squirt her with a water toy. It is only a matter of time before Mabel fights back!Again, sorry for the lengthy absence. I hope to get back on track with a new post every two to three weeks.

You're hurting my elbow

I am prepared to child services to come to my house. Two weeks ago, Mabel suffered a dislocated elbow. Sound familiar? Well the same thing happened to Louis back in February. Seems my children inherited their mother’s weak elbows (who knew there was such a thing?). Anyway, while putting on Mabel’s pajamas, her elbow dislocated. Given our experience with Louis, I was pretty sure it was Nurse Maid’s elbow. We ended up at urgent care and needed an x-ray before the doc would try to put it back. Mabel was in great spirits as long as you didn’t move her arm. Well, when it came time for x-rays, it was brutal. Mabel cried, and even worse stared at me while she cried, like she was waiting for me to help her. When the x-rays were finished immediately picked her up and held her to soothe her. After she calmed down we went back into the room waiting for the doc, and I noticed that she was moving her arm…a lot! The doc walked in right then and said she must have popped it back in herself while fighting the x-ray. I was so relieved and it was done. And there was my little Mabel, waving her arms around like a maniac and smiling.

Special People

We found out about a week ago that one of Louis’ teachers was promoted and will be moving to a new location. We are very excited for Miss Nicole, but of course, sad that she won’t be there every day for Louis.
Louis adapted very well to his new sister back in September, and I do believe that is because Louis had Miss Nicole at school. He has talked about her daily since her second week there. There were many nights that Louis was angry about going to bed and instead of calling out for Papa or Mommy he would call out for Miss Nicole. Louis loves both his teachers, but he formed a great bond with Miss Nicole on the “babyside” during those months when his house with crazy with his new sister.
There are many days that I have felt guilty that I choose to continue with my career rather staying home with the children, but when I see how much Louis loves his teachers and his friends at school and how much he (and Mabel) learn each day, it makes me feel at peace with the decision. I know that Louis and mommy will both miss having Miss Nicole at school each day but I know Louis will adapt. In fact it is great that he will miss her; it means that we are very lucky to have such great teachers who are taking care of our children each day, teachers who love my children, and that whom my children love in return. If I am not the one with them every day, this is how I want it to be.

But we like it busy...right?

It has been awhile since my last post. Things have been very busy in the Budde household and I haven’t had much time to stop and collect my thoughts. This post will be more about getting caught up! The last four weekends have been filled with family activities from professional basketball games (3 of them), trips to the zoo, trips to library, get togethers with friends, Easter, confirmations, etc. These activities usually leave both kids like this…

Louis seems to be adding 10 words to his vocabulary a day. He is still learning sentence structure, so it can cause confusion when he says, “No want milk” or “no it’s yellow” actually means “I don’t want milk” and “It’s not yellow”. He also likes to make choices, but then isn’t always happy with the choice he made, needless to say both Louis, mommy and papa are learning each day. Brad does a great job keeping Louis engaged in various activities and making them fun, such as the library and the grocery store, and now with it finally getting nice out, I am sure they will be outdoors all the time. Lately, it seems like Play-do is the favorite activity for both of them.

Mabel is just a wonderfully sweet baby right now. She is babbling all the time and starting to use her consonants. The “ba, ba, ba” comes out a lot and she still loves to sing. She started sitting around the middle of March (of course, a week after her 6 month pictures) and is spending more and more time on her tummy, but mostly because she forgot how to roll over. It amazes how they get so excited about learning something new, that they can forget the old things. She has been eating baby food for awhile and made the official move from the bouncy seat to the high chair. She is very fond of arrowroot cookies and fruit! I love every stage of baby-hood, but it like something really comes alive around the 6-7 month mark. She has really started interacting with Louis a lot and vice versa. Hopefully this is only a sign of good things to come!

Little Moments

So a couple of nights ago Mabel wasn’t right. She was in a great mood when she went to bed, and fell asleep easily in her crib. But after 2 hours of sleeping, she woke up…and wasn’t happy. She proceeded to scream for the next hour and a half. I tried all the standard cures: nursing, walking, ssshhhhh-ing, gas drops, etc. Nothing seemed to work. After an hour, I decided to give up and turned on the tv. We sat on the couch in the dark with just the tv on; mama with her eyes closed, baby with her eyes open. I was frustrated, exhausted from a tough day at work, and feeling helpless. Then I feel these little fingers brushing my jaw line…trying to grab something. I open my eyes and look down. In the dark I could see Mabel’s big eyes looking up at me. We stared at each other for what felt like a long time and slowly the corners of her mouth curled up into a slight smile. She then gave a big sigh as if she was relieved as I was that the crying spell was over. She slowly closed her eyes and went to sleep. Such a little moment that would not have occurred had she slept through the night.

Happy Birthday Louis! I can’t believe you are two already!
What a birthday week it has been! It started out tough with a dislocated elbow and later
an ear infection. But you had fun with Papa, Mommy and Mabel on your birthday and then had a great birthday party with your aunts, uncles, cousins and friends.

Here is what matters to you at age two:
1. Routine and schedule: eg breakfast with papa every morning, and Horton the Elephant book before bed.
2. Swimming lessons on Saturdays
3. Finding Obama on tv
4. Looking at our globe and learning about USA, Mexico, Canada and where in the world is Papa.
5. Kissing your sister and making her smile
6. Singing happy birthday to everyone, but mostly to Owen, Katlyn and uncle Pat
7. Playing your guitar while papa plays his.
8. Reciting the names of your Grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends and teachers – nearly every night
9. Playing basketball. “Louis dunk it”
10. Singing the ABC’s, counting everything, reading and coloring
11. Knowing the difference between, “What sound does a happy dinosaur make?” “What sound does a scary dinosaur make”
12. Learning your full name, "Louis Dean Budde"

13. Being silly.

As papa would say, “It’s the little things”. These little things make you who you are. You are becoming your own little person more and more. I know that you will become easier and challenging as each day goes on. It has been a very fun two years. We love you Louis.

(and for good measure we will throw in a picture of Mabel since she is changing daily!)

A Big Boy and A Baby

My favorite question to ask right now is “Louis, what are you?”. The response I get, “Big Boy”. I am not really sure where it started but the first time he answered that way, both Brad and I took a step back. He does in fact seem like a big boy. Last night I put him to bed and I could hear him singing, “Happy Birthday” in his room. When I went up to tell him to go to sleep, he had his socks on his hands, “gwoves on hands”. We spent the first half of winter trying to keep anything on his hands and now he constantly wants to put his socks on them. He is becoming more and more independent daily. Part of me loves it – it makes my life easier, but a huge part of me is fighting it (especially when he decides to runaway right before we leave for daycare). It was amusing to watch him climb into bed last night, to stretch his legs to climb in. I laughed as he buried his head into the bed for leverage. I never knew of a kid who liked the process of getting ready for bed so much…except for Mabel. He also does this Elvis thing right now. He raises his lip on one side and nods his head when he is telling me something affirmative, “Happy’s Bed”, “Sister’s Pacifier”. It cracks me up because he is so serious!

Little Baby Maybe. It is safe to say that she is simply adored by everyone in the family. I remember feeling this way with Louis, but I was always so excited for him to achieve the next thing. But now, because I can see how quickly Louis moved out of that phase, I just want to watch her every minute and have it go slowly. She loves to laugh and watch her brother. She is very curious right now and is always looking around for something new. I could just watch her all day long!

Last week I was sick, which makes it so difficult to be a mom. There were many days I left work that I didn’t even know how to get the energy to drive home, much less entertain, feed, bathe and put to bed to babies under 2! I would tell myself, “it is only two hours – you can get through it”. But then every night I would get them home and sit down, look at them and think, “it is only two hours , it is not enough”. My children have this amazing ability to energize me and exhaust me all at the same time…and it is just beginning!