It's Been a While...

It has been a while since I posted a blog or update, so I thought I'd write a bit to catch up. We've been super busy the past few weeks with Carter's birthday and travelling. We had a total of three birthday parties – one in Ft Wayne for family, one here for friends and family that could make it, and one at my parents' in Ohio to celebrate all the recent birthdays (five in all). We also took Carter to a minor league baseball game in Indianapolis on his birthday and he loved it. Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful gifts (that Carter likes to scatter around the house while playing with all of them!) – I promise thank-you cards are on the way! Thanks also to everyone who helped coordinate the festivities with me!! Matt had a birthday two days after Carter, so some of the celebrations were for him.

Carter went to the doctor today for his three-year physical and checkup. He's super healthy, and hadn't been to the doctor since his two-year appointment. He is 3'5" tall (>95%) and weighs 38.5 lbs (95%). Everything checked out great and the doctor was very pleased. Carter had his blood pressure taken for the first time, but saw me get it done every pregnancy visit and has a toy sphygmometer so he knew what was going on. He made the nurse do it three times because he liked it so much, and he listened through the stethoscope the last time. He did get a Hepatitis A vaccine, as they are just now adding it to the schedule, but did very well. I wasn't sure how he'd react, as he's always cried a bit in the past, but all he did was say "Ow" and liked getting a bandaid on his thigh! We did a developmental questionnaire too, and actually ran out of questions before we were done (I forgot to ask when the nurse came back if there was more I should answer). So we got as far as 3 yrs, 10 months developmentally, so Carter's at least there.

We're still working on potty training, as Carter is always so preoccupied with playing that he doesn't want to stop to use the potty. We've started using a timer, to give him the power when it's time to go (rather than us telling him to go), and that's working pretty well. He does stay dry fairly long now, except overnight. He also doesn't want to go #2 in the potty… No idea why! So if anyone has any suggestions to help us along, please give them to me!!

We thought about sending Carter to preschool two or three days a week starting in the fall, but we decided to wait. One reason is the expense, another is we feel he's already ahead of the game. He's known his alphabet, numbers, shapes, and colors, and now knows his presidents and states. Since Lauren's been born, however, it's been harder to teach him new things, but we hope to get back to it soon. Perhaps he'll do one year of preschool before kindergarten to get him accustomed to school. He likes routines so it shouldn't be too hard, and he is very social with kids at the playground or bookstore so we're not worried about that.

Lauren is also doing well. It's hard to believe that she'll be three months old tomorrow!! She had been regularly sleeping six hours at night, and the past couple of weeks she has been sleeping nine-ten hours! She's also started taking more regular naps, usually one-hour in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. I'm hoping to get things more routine still, but was just waiting for her cue. She's now sleeping in her crib all the time, but I'm still keeping the bassinet up in my bedroom just in case we need it in the next couple weeks. I'm doing much better since I usually don't get woken up in the middle of the night anymore, and get my evenings back most days to read, watch a movie, or get stuff done around the house. She'll go back to the doctor on Sept. 6th for her four-month checkup and vaccines.

Lauren is doing more and more each day. She's such a happy baby, unless she's hungry or has a tummy-ache, and loves to socialize. She'll just sit (or stand) on my lap or sit in her Boppy and talk away! She's recognizing more and more things, reaching for them, and following them with her eyes really well. If she hears Carter, she strains herself to try and find him! We've also introduced her to the Jumperoo, which was Carter's absolute favorite thing, and she loves it just as much. She loves to stand and be up, and will hop from leg to leg in it watching the lights and talking to the kangaroo. She's also started to play with rattles – it's funny to watch her get her "serious face" when she's checking something out! It's just amazing to watch her grow and develop, and to watch the two kids interact.

August is another busy month… Matt and I are going to a Dave Matthews Band concert with Mandy and Jack next weekend. It will be fun to have a little break and time to ourselves! Carter is going to spend a weekend in Ft. Wayne with his grandparents the last weekend in August, so that will be a new experience. I'm sure he'll love it, and I'll enjoy a little quiet around the house and some non-guilty time with Lauren! I know Carter understands that Lauren needs more attention, but I always feel guilty that I can't spend a lot of one-on-one time with him like that. When Carter was a baby, it was different – he'd take a nap and I'd have time to myself or could get things done around the house. When Lauren takes a nap, I don't get a chance to get much done because I want to do things with him (and her naps aren't too long yet!). So if I do something around the house, I feel bad for not doing something with him. But if I do something with Carter, I hate that my house is a mess! That's the one bad thing about trying to sell the house before Lauren was born – I got so used to it being spotless that it drives me nuts having any bit of mess now! But… sometimes it has to be like that because I can't do it all right now. And that's hard enough for me to admit!

Although things are very busy, I'm getting very accustomed to being a mother of two. It is quite an adjustment, especially when you're used to doing things when you want or running a quick errand whenever. I totally had to change my day-to-day, but things are slowly returning to a new normal. And with Lauren getting on somewhat of a schedule, it helps things out a bit too.

I've posted lots of pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/hoosier.nik so check them out! I'll be continually adding more as well. Until the next update…