Pacifiers for Everyone!

Lucy is obsessed with Elliot's pacifier.  She only gets hers in the car and at sleep time.  That's the rule.  Daniel's gone out of town this week, and I will admit -- I have had moments of weakness.

We are headed to Beaumont tomorrow to visit our dear friends Joe and Sarah.  Wish me luck with the munchkins - it's a 5 hour drive. 

Sleeping Peacefully. And Playing Puppy.

Where did the week go?  Did I miss it? 



I did lots of things this week.  I took photos for friends, at the park and at my house.  I kept both my kids alive and well and made lots of snacks and meals and changed lots of diapers.  It was a really good week. 



Today Lucy showed us that she has learned to play, "Puppy" -- a game I recall Jack playing when he visited us in Galveston and he was about her age.  It basically consists of licking people and watching them freak out as you do it.  It's hilarious. 



And tonight Elliot was sleeping peacefully (for, like, an hour).  The nights with him are still horrendous (feeding 3+ times/night), but I captured this sweet moment and wanted to remember it. 

Antibiotic Annoyance, Swings, and Pizza

The last week or two has felt really busy.  Partly because I worked last weekend and work again this weekend.  And because I volunteered at the women's clinic on Wednesday evening... so I just feel like I've been gone a lot.  And I think I've been trying to accomplish a lot during the week.  Not anything grand... just laundry, dishes, keeping the kids alive... that sort of stuff.  I returned to work last weekend with mixed feelings.  I was sad to be away from the kids all day, and sad to miss out on a weekend with Daniel.  But for as much as I invested in my education (and for what we're still paying on it), it was good to pick up a stethoscope again.   

Soap Box Alert: The Z-pak, which I assume was created with at least partially good intentions, is now the bane of my professional existence.  Everyone comes in demanding it - most of the time with viral infections.  As an antibiotic, it is not indicated for viral infections, so I do not prescribe it.  But oh. my. word... to hear the way some of these patients react... as if I were withholding oxygen from their lungs.  Unbelievable.  I could say more on this topic, but I'll leave it at that.

 

The swings in the back yard are the kids' best friend.  They love them.  We had swings in our backyard growing up.  Swings are awesome.



After seeing the picture of Lucy pouring sand over her head, Jack was determined to get a similar photo of himself.  Done and done.  The thought of pouring sand over my hair gives me goosebumps - and not in a good way.

 

Lucy got a vaccine yesterday and spent the whole afternoon crying about her "KNEEE!!"  I tried to correct her - that the booboo was in her leg, not her knee.  But she just kept crying about her knee, pointing to her thigh where the tiny needle had left its mark.  So sad.  At least the corn seemed to cheer her up for a bit.

 

Finally, to round out the randomness of this post: I love pizza night.  It is the best.  Quick, low maintenance, almost no dishes, and healthful nutrition to boot (Hah.  Right.  But the rest of it's true).

Addendum:
I really should add that the reason the antibiotic thing finally got to the point of annoyance where I wanted to blog about was this: a man came in to the clinic, and I quickly realized we shared the same birthday!  Dec 27th is not a common birthday, so I was excited to have someone I could talk about it with -- ya know, the likes and dislikes and so forth.  Well, turns out he was just coming for his Z-pak (which he didn't need), so I had to spend the whole visit arguing explaining about that, and I didn't even get to talk more about our birthday!  What a bummer.

Tea Time with Lucy

A couple weeks ago I made the mistake of introducing Lucy to tea.



English breakfast tea with a little cream and sugar.  She fell in love, hard and fast.



She has recently taken to rejecting her milk or water, in favor of, "DEEE!"



"Tea" is really any drink that is sort of warm and sort of sweet.  A lot of times it's just warm milk with a little of my decaf coffee in it.



I can't blame her.  I love tea, too.  In fact, it was my strongest craving during Lucy's pregnancy.  I drank it every day.

Hands!

 "Fun" is a new word Lucy's been saying from time to time.  "Hands" is another one.  Not a new word, but with new meaning.



"Hands!" is the code name for the. most. fun. thing.  Playing with the kitchen faucet!  I think she says "hands," short for "wash your hands."



I assume she thinks that between washing our hands and doing the dishes, we adults must just have the best time in the kitchen, because truly she could spend hours pouring water from one container to the next.



She takes it seriously.  Like a job.  I guess water out of a faucet is kind of fun, in a way.  



There is a small lake under her chair whenever she's done playing "wash your hands".  I've been learning, though.  One towel is not enough.  2-3 towels are a must. 

Three Months Old (Elliot's Monthly Photo)

One thing everybody says about Elliot is that his neck is so strong!  I know it's a good thing, but I also kind of want him to be a little helpless newborn still.  It seems like he never was one... he came out with such a strong neck!  My mom reminded me that the first week he really didn't have much head control.  I guess that's something.  One week.  Still, I'm glad he's growing and is nice and strong.



Speaking of strong, his lungs are very healthy.  He is a car screamer like his big sister.  Tonight I sang "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" about 50 times to keep him quiet on the way home from a friend's house.  At least it seemed to keep him happy, whereas I never found any song that pleased Lucy enough to keep her quiet in the car.



He is cooing now - so sweet.  He doesn't seem to be the adrenaline junkie Lucy was at this age, but he does seem pretty pleased with being tossed in the air (not high).  Another thing people comment about--his blue, blue eyes.  And his cute McKinney ears :)



He is still a huge fan of eye contact.  That alone will often calm him when he's fussy.  He's so different from his sister in that way. 



Elliot, we are thankful for you!  You are such a gift. 

Twenty Months (Lucy's Monthly Photo)

Good grief these collages are getting very time-consuming!

Lucy is saying all kinds of words now.  Our favorites are:
hello (he-whoa)
butter and brother (both sound like "buh-wer," so context clues are helpful)
potato (tay-to... as in the "sack of potatoes" game we play in the evenings)
Elliot (said "Ey-yi-yi-yet")
pacifier (said "powow")



Lucy's down to just having her pacifier at night time and nap time (and in the car.  Gotta keep my sanity somehow in the car).  Which means she's obsessed with Elliot's pacifier, which is always clipped to him.



On a couple of occasions, I've glanced over, thinking Lucy is bent over Elliot to give him a sweet hug or kiss.  But no.  She is sucking on his pacifier, tethered 6 inches from his clothes.  She stays like that until she's gotten her pacifier fix, and then she moves on.  Don't get me wrong though, she loves Elliot.  And she does give him a fair number of hugs.  and kisses.



Lucy has become like a little sister to Jack recently.  She tries to annoy him by shouting, "MINE!" whenever he is near.  It used to drive him bonkers, but he's become more chill about it - partly, I think, because we've begun really correcting her when she does it.

We're at one nap a day now, though she still goes down for a "rest time" in addition to the nap time.  I'm hoping to keep the 2 nap/rest schedule for as long as possible.  Some days it is a life saver.



One of Lucy's favorite evening games with Daniel is the game of "Whoa" - played by standing on Daniel's tummy, with him holding her hands.  She leans to one side and then the other, and both Daniel and she say, "whooooa" as if she were about to fall.  She's taken to playing it at other times, too - - in front of a mirror while leaning back and forth, for example.  It is so cute.

She is definitely keeping us busy!  Lucy, you are such a joy to Daniel and me.  We love you and are so grateful for you.