Catching Up with the Devereauxs!

It's been almost 3 months since my last post, mainly because I've been busy, as well as the rest of my family, but also because my blogging efforts were directed towards my marathon training and fundraising for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training program. I have since met our fundraising goal, trained for and run a half marathon - go me! My sister and I finished the race together as the Martini Moms and she won, like, the Most Kick-Ass Fundraiser award of all (that's the technical name for it:)

So we're done with that and I must say, it was a truly life-changing experience. I think I need a separate blog for marathoning and fundraising, truth be told.

On to the bebes. My, how time flies. I am sitting her during Stella's nap time trying to get in a million things before work, and I'm watching my littlest crawl around on the office floor after having just fed herself a bottle, thinking how just a short bit ago it was Stella in her place.

Stella, 10 months

 Truth be told, Stella didn't so much as crawl at 10 months as just sort of lay there looking cute and fat, like a little hot dog. Man, she was easy to be mesmerized by - just all those fat rolls oozing out and those crystal blue eyes STARING you down with a cheesy grin until you smiled. Mary Tucker is my stoic baby, though she's been giggly and goofy these last few weeks. She's as bald as they come and tiny, too.

 Ok, let me organize myself by child...

Stella is now almost 2 1/2 and is the smartest (no lie) kid I know. She speaks so clearly and with actual reason and cognition, it's scary. This morning Matt said how she answered a question superbly and in a full sentence and we joked about our surprise. "Well, she will be reading Tolstoy tomorrow, I don't know why we are still surprised."

 She's not into potty training (though we've tried) and not excited about giving up the paci at nap time or bedtime (oh lord, have we tried), and I think I'm ok with that for now. I want to encourage age appropriate behavior - not try to make her reach a milestone she's just not physically or mentally ready for. I learned that with her gross motor skills. So what if she didn't walk til 18 months? Shes perfectly fine now. Of course, hind sight is 20/20.

She's got a (large)head full of curly blonde hair, which we now attribute to Matt's grandmother Billie Sue. We walked into his mother's room one day and she saw a picture of Nannie on the wall and said "Look! It's Stella!" The resemblance is truly amazing. She's plump and ticklish and has perfectly porcelain skin that swells up after a mosquito bite, just like her Daddy. She loves Mother's Day Out at St. Timothy and talks about her teachers and her friends endlessly. She's incredibly in love with her sissy, but has shown her 2 year old colors recently with snatching and not letting Mary Tucker play with ANY toy in sight, but we're working on that every day.

Mary Tucker is a tiny, little thing coming in in the 5th percentile for weight and 10th percentile for height. Her little blonde locks are finally starting to sprout and she's got her mother's gray/turquoise/blue eyes.

Friends joke that Stella is Matt made over and Mary Tucker is undeniably mine. She's a wonderful sleeper and eater, which we are thankful for!! Not many people have 2 consecutive sleepers, but we do, well, for right now, anyway:) She breastfed for 10 months and is officially weaned and on 3 formula bottles a day. She's met her milestones a little sooner that Stella and is already sitting up on her own perfectly, crawling like a champ and kneeling without assistance. She's beginning to test pulling up on furniture that's just her size, which scares me to death. My house is still not very baby-proofed from Stella and it looks like I'll have a curious cat on my hands. She's a mover and a shaker, folks.

Both my girls are lovely and I try to stop, slow down and appreciate them for who they are each and every day. I'm not great at this yet, but I'm trying. We're learning-as-we-go parents and I'm really lucky Matt's on board with every organic, homemade, backwards, odd, health-conscious, expensive, new-aged, old school parenting choices I suggest. More to come later!

Poor poor sweet baby Mary Tucker

She is definitely suffering from "second child syndrome". Don't freak - nothing catastrophic has happened - but I haven't blogged about her in weeks (scratch that, months) and SHE'S 7 MONTHS OLD.

And its not that I don't have anything to blog about, because I DO. I have tons of thoughts, tons of emotions, tons of milestones....tons of everything. I just cannot find the time. Like now, Matt and I just cooked lunch and both babies are asleep and we are both in town for once so I've got like 2.7 seconds to write this...

Sweet Mary Tucker...she's 7 months old, rolling all over the place, being my serious, stoic little mini me.

She looks just like me...acts just like Matt. For those of you who know Matt, you know we've got opposite personalities. Stella was (and is) a smiley, flirty, goofy, laughing thing from when she came out and greeted this world. Here's Stella at 7 months:

Mary Tucker is serious and thoughtful, sharing smiles and grins only when she wants. I love this about her...she's very different from me. It's like looking in the mirror when I look in her eyes, yet I see so much of Matt in her personality.

She and I have a great thing going with nursing and I'm enjoying nursing a 7 month+ baby - I never got to do that with Stella because we weened her completely the day she turned 7 months. I don't know if I'll make it to a year, but I'm enjoying this new adventure with her right now.

She's enjoying eating baby food, which I haven't started to make yet because I purchased a gift pack from NurtureMe via www.plumdistrict.com and I haven't run out yet. To date, she's tried, brown rice cereal, apples, peas, sweet potatoes, carrots, and squash and she loves it all. She's a great eater, rarely making a mess - I'm still OCD about feeding times. I don't like a messy baby and that hasn't changed with #2.

She's sleeping through the night and takes around 3-4 naps a day. She's not the best at sleeping on the run, probably because her sister is loud, but when she does sleep it's usually for about half an hour. Hey, it's better than no nap at all. Speaking of, if you miss her nap time (2 hours after she woke up, precisely) you'll have hell to pay. Don't put her to bed late. You'll pay for it in the end:)

She's not crawling yet but she seems a little more mobile at this age than her sister. We try not to compare them but it ain't easy. Stella's the only reason we know what to do with a baby:)

So Mary Tucker, after I print out the blog and give it to you when you're grown up, don't hate me for skipping over a few months of your life. It's not because I love your sister more or because you're really adopted (like my siblings told me when I couldn't find my own baby photo album)...I spent that time loving on you and your sister.

And doing a bunch of other crap, but we'll leave that out.

You just remember, at least I took pictures:)

#2 Eating Solids and Summer Catch Up

We've been busy around here this summer! We had a great 4th of July hanging at the house and then leaving the girls with a sitter for the evening and taking Mike's boat out with Mike, my mom and brother.

 Mary Tucker has officially started eating solids. She started with rice cereal...

 ...then went to applesauce and is currently on sweet peas. It took 2 days of her refusing the peas before she gobbled up the entire bowl. She likes it now. That's what I though, girlfriend!

She's still an excellent little breastfeeding partner and can knock a feeding out in 5 minutes. I'm actually learning how to do this because at this point with Stella, we were weaning her and transitioning her to formula/bottle. Stella's last day to nurse was the evening before her 7 month birthday and MT will be 7 months in less than 2 weeks. I will say that nursing descretly has become a tad difficult because Mary Tucker is ALL over the place with her arms and legs. It's quite entertaining to watch, I'm sure.

Stella is a sasafrass (as always) and is wrapping up her first set of Water Babies swim lessons. She is no longer afraid of the water and washing her hair in the bathtub is a breeze. Thanks for the fun lessons, Mrs. Beth!

TNT Gulf Coast Half Marathon

I've decided I'm a masochist and signed up with Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's TNT program to run my first half marathon! Its the Gulf Coast Half Marathon in October and while I'll still be blogging about our lives, my babies and training, I'll be blogging about it here mostly - check out this blog in the interim! http://pages.teamintraining.org/msla/gcmand12/cdevereaux

As a mini-fairwell, I'll give some Mary Tucker stats as I've skipped over her poor sweet self in the recent posts:
At 5 months, Mary Tucker:

• is still breastfeeding. She eats 6-7 times a day and loves it. Stella could smash her with a toy (and has, one single time) and it wouldn't phase her as long as she's nursing
• is sleeping through the night (knock on wood). I work in the evening so when I get home I usually feed her between 7 and 8, put her down and then sneak in her room and feed her again before I go to sleep, just so she'll have a full tummy
• just tried rice cereal for the first time and LOVED it. Matt has pics because, of course, my phone was dead at the time
• is rolling all around on her matt and practicing her tummy time. If we really work to entertain her on her belly, she'll stay there for a while, but then promptly says "get me the heck off this floor now"
• is starting to say different sounds instead of "ahhahhhhaaaah" all day long...just the other morning she was saying "maamaaammammmmmmmaa", which I melted over, even though I know its probably not a derivative of Momma"
• weighs at least 15lbs and has fat rolls all over her little body. It's delicious and she smells so good, even when she spits up! Baby fat is heavenly right now
• loves bouncing - when I stand her up to practice putting weight on her legs, she just bounces and bounces - all work from her jumperoo. I just hope she'll practice putting weight on her legs without jumping soon
• has the sweetest open mouth grin when she sees me walk into a room. She is a serious little soul, but will smile when she turns on the charm for Mommy and Daddy. She loves getting hugged by Sissy and Sissy loves laying next to her on her activity mat while she's watching her show. I am so lucky that they are close in age and hopefully just as close as sisters and friends

Stella Nearing 24 Months

(Note: this blog was written 3-4 weeks ago) I updated my Facebook status about Stella's upcoming birthday. She will be 2 in less than a week. I clearly understand I'm not the first mother to mourn a child's upcoming birthday...but it doesn't make it any easier. I want so badly for her to be little for just a little bit longer. It goes by so fast I fear that so many moments were somehow "missed" or looked over or what have you. Is this rational? No? Could it be my raging hormones from nursing Mary Tucker? Quite possibly. Mary Tucker....that's another blog post. 4 months old??!!

But anyway, back to Stella...

 This is Stella at 20 weeks - the exact age Mary Tucker is right now. 

This is Stella at her 1st birthday party

I know it doesn't get any easier with each passing birthday but I wish I could just enjoy her turning 2 and growing up without the sad feelings of "where did my newborn Stella go...where did my baby Stella go?" 

She is such a delight, that Stella girl. She just finished her first Mother's Day Out program at a nearby Episcopal Church/School and we cannot say enough good things about her teacher, Mrs. Patricia AKA "Patrishua". Stella love love loved school and her friends. She'd come home after each MDO saying everyone's name and her teacher's name, even the teach who left after Easter. Among the many comments that Mrs. Patricia would write on her progress note that she sent home, my favorite is the one where she basically said Stella like's eating her friends' lunches. Oops. Everyone else had been in the class (with the exception of our friend Gray) since the fall, so they knew how to sit in their seat and eat lunch. Stella...not so much. She was thinking it was more like Picadilly where you walk around the table and pick and choose what you want. Hey, Stella...I don't blame you. Sometimes I'd like to double up on some Picadilly's fried okra and mac n cheese and I still like to share other people's food, much to your Daddy's dismay.

At 23 months, Stella:

• weighs 29lbs - her friends that are all relatively the same age (some bdays in July/August) weigh 25lbs, 26lbs, 27lbs...nuff said
• is quickly learning how to run...her PT says this is a 2 yr old skill and not to be worried if she still isn't running after her 2nd bday because she still needs a few more months of walking to work her way up to running
• counts to 10 and speaks in mostly complete sentences - the child is a genius, I tell you. We always joked when Stella was still only crawling that she was so smart she didn't need to walk. She is a talking machine and always has been. Her newest phrase is to say she loves or likes something that she wants - 
• "Mommy I like Dora! Watch a show, watch a show?" - turn on my damn show, Mom
• "Mommy I love pants! Try on the pants?" - change my clothes now, woman 
• "Nuggets? Nugggggets? Nuggggggets?" - this doesn't need a full and complete sentence...she wants chicken nuggets NOW. And don't think about talking about chicken nuggets in front of her unless you have at least 2 chicken nuggets in your hands ready to feed her. She will repeat these words at an increasing volume until she nears hysteria. This was especially prominent a few weeks ago...I recently got her McDonalds chicken nuggets (which I thought would be the Mecca of chicken nugget-dom) and she would have nothing to do with them.
• "More cakes and waffles?" - obvi gimme some pancakes (AKA cancakes) immediately
• "Sissy crying? Sissy sad? - this is especially funny because whenever I ask her anything about her sissy, she responds "Sissy crying? Sissy sad?" We went through a colicky stage from 6-12 weeks with Mary Tucker and she was "crying" and "sad" most of the time. Stella quickly picked up on this and we'd tell her that Sissy was ok, she was just crying or sad. So when MT would play with Stella we'd ask her questions about Sissy playing with her toys and Stella would respond "Sissy crying. Sissy sad". We'd laugh and say "Not yet, Stella...but probably soon!"
• is pretty picky about food at this age. She used to eat anything I'd give her, but she prefers waffles, milk, applesauce, oatmeal, hotdogs, green beans, oranges, grapes, goldfish, cheese, and chicken nuggets. Occasionally she'll eat corn and carrots.I admit we've fallen into a rut of "easy foods" to prepare and haven't been very colorful, but I'm hoping to change that soon, especially since Mary Tucker will start to eat homemade fresh baby food soon.

I continue to work on savoring the "moment" and living in the "now" because I constantly run into people who comment on my beautiful children and say "enjoy it now...they grow up so fast" with a look of sadness in their eyes. I now understand this pain that lingers in the back of their minds...it's physically painful to watch them grow up and need you less and less. They are fully dependent on you for such a small fraction of their life, though during the tough times of little sleep, crying spells, accidents and tantrums it seems as if you'll never be anything but covered in vomit and perpetually sleep deprived. I have to remind myself to slow down...stop worrying about getting "there" in time, working for extra play money, picking up after a seriously intense play session, etc...I admit, I lose track...I lose focus on my children...I get caught up in the mundane unfun activities of reality. Here's an open prayer that we all slow down a little and breath in the sweet scent that is our life.

I Promise...

...I intend to blog all the time. Really. I just don't.

I like blogging when I have important things to say. But I start a post, save it, then come back to it 5 days later only to discover I've lost my train of thought.

(You should know that the most recent post was started on New Year's Day. NYD was over 4 months ago, people...)

I lose my train of thought often and HATE when I get back on my previous train of thought because, let's face it, I'm just as pissed now as I was when I first realized that I forgot what I was doing or saying...and then I'm just pissed...and the urge to blog is gone.

It's Mother's Day tomorrow and I have 2 (two) children this year. When did that happen? How'd I get a husband and 2 daughters in the span of 4 1/2 years?

My 23-month-old has started saying "NO, MINE." It's really fun to hear it all. day. long. Anyone got a martini handy?

...but she does this, and I forget about it:)

Current House Renovations - Then and Now

I haven't updated on our home renovations in a while, so I thought I'd give a little shout out to the hard work my hubby's done on our beautiful house - he is, by the way, doing ALL the renovations with the help of his dad.

House before we purchased it

House 9 months after moving in (this past Christmas) - new front doors installed

Living room before

Living room after
(painted walls and updated drapes)

Kitchen before

Kitchen after
(Ok, ok, so nothing has changed in here, but I know exactly how it will look once we do change it!)

Dining room before

Dining room before

Dining room after
(painted walls and updated drapes)

Dining room after

Breakfast room before

Breakfast room after
(yeah, nothing has changed in here, either, except for the light fixture lamp shades)

Foyer before

Foyer after
(Painted walls and banister and cleaned grout)

Stella's room before

Stella's room after

Office/den before

Office/den after
(painted wood paneling and trim)

New baby's room before

New baby's room after
(painted walls and new chandelier)

master bedroom before

master bedroom after
(no changes here, either)

back porch before
 

back porch after
(totally new pitch roof with shingles instead of tar and new pet door - screen to be installed after we paint the house, I think:)

...we've also built a fence to enclose our backyard!!! It looks wonderful and Matt did it all by himself!!!

Kitchen reno is next on the list...lots of update to come!

Thankful for Momma Friends

I haven't blogged about my relatively new group of mommy friends who quite literally are my saving grace each day, especially Friday mornings when we get together for play dates. We all had babies within 4 months of each other - I was introduced to these 3 lovely ladies through my good friend Jennifer whom I met through Junior League over a year ago. She welcomed us into her life and our daughters became best friends as they spent hours together playing while we kept each others children - side note: she definitely kept Stella more than I kept Charlotte and never complained...I got to teach class without paying for childcare, knowing that she was safe and having a ball playing with her "Lawlette"...now that's what I call an awesome friend!

 Stella, 14 mo with Charlotte, 13 mo

Jenn welcomed me into her group of newly found friends, as she had moved here from Michigan as soon as her daughter was born. Jenn not only cared for my child, she introduced me to more child friendly programs and events than I would have ever found on my own, and all 5 mommies have become super close, which is hard to do when you're a mom. One thing I never realized is how easy it is to left friendships suffer after you get married and have children. For me, friends have and always will be something I need, and now I've learned how to nuture friendships and not take them for granted.

We've all signed up our children to be in the same 2 year old program in the fall and I look forward to the many more playdates, mommies night out and general hanging out we've got in the works. Good thing our husbands like each other!

 The gang...Charlotte, Hudson, Hudson and Stella...Gray missed out because he had RSV:(

Mary Tucker, 10 weeks old

10 weeks really sounds impossible as I watch Mary Tucker sleep and hear Stella waking up from her nap. Since I haven't blogged since Mary Tucker was 4 weeks old, you can imagine how busy we've been. Not to mention, we've been out of the interline for almost a month now. Today (yes, a few short hours ago) we finally got connected again and rejoined the human race. Don't get me started on the many reasons why we now despise AT&T.

So we've done lots of things over the past 6 weeks, including going to our first Mardi Gras parade, starting Stella in Mother's Day Out at St. Michael's (though I didn't get a picture of her on her first day...sad), taking our first beach trip with Stella (and of course, Mary Tucker), and more...here's most of our last 6 weeks in photos...

 Mary Tucker smiles, 1 month old

 Valentines Sisters

 Kisses, 6 weeks old

 Our Mardi Gras caravan...the Baby Brigade

 

Mardi Gras 2012 with the girls

 Beach babe, Perdido Key '12 - 20 months

 Stella and Daddy... her first time at the beach...loved the sand

 Pool time with Daddy

 ...annnnd she's off!

 beach strollin'

 How taking pictures with the girls works...not so well (but Jenn G., thanks for the Baby Ergo carrier!!)

 Mary Tucker was there...way down under there in the Baby Ergo carrier!

 Sand play

 beach walkers...[retty much love each other

She's judging me...so what if its a 6 month bathing suit...it was a spur of the moment trip!

 

the only shot of them in matching suits:) This photo op will get better once i don't have to super impose MT next to Stella with my magic go-go-gadget arms

 Ash Wednesday at the beach 

Our first beach trip as a family really was fun. It was just the 4 of us, and though the weather turned out to be mostly cold and windy, we had a few moments of sunny beach time. Stella was obsessed with walking in the sand. I believe I hated the sand as a baby, so I was happy to see her enjoying it. We enjoyed Ash Wednesday Mass at a Catholic church on the beach, and I proceeded to give up Facebook for Lent...I'm not even going to admit how hard this has been. That is sad.

Since I last blogged I've also rejoined the world now that Mary Tucker had her shots. Maternity leave is officially over and I'm back to teaching Pilates, which I adore. Gone are the days where we stay at home looking at Mary Tucker, feeding her round the clock (after working like h**l to get and keep her awake) and changing poop diapers. We are usually on the go every day, waking up to feed just once or twice a night, getting up in the morning, feeding Stella breakfast, either getting ready to take her to Mother's Day Out or getting ready to run errands before I have to teach class. We are lucky to have sitters who come to the house when I have to teach evening classes, but some days I have to get them ready to take to childcare at the gym where I also teach...this is always fun because Mary Tucker HATES the carseat...as in screams hysterically every time I put her in it. I've tried music, toy bars, mirrors, hanging toys, sunroof open and closed, radio music, etc...nothing works. There's no rhyme or reason to it, either. There are occasions (rare ones) where she's fine and doesn't cry even when shes awake in the seat. Like I said, that's really rare and I drive on pins and needles making sure I don't suddenly upset her. I've even borrowed my friends car seat to see if that'll make a difference. There is an extra headrest/shield thing on the Peg Perego that protects them in the event of a wreck, so perhaps that just pisses the poor baby off. We shall see!

Mary Tucker has been a joy for our family and we are so happy she was born healthy - Stella loves her sister and is now saying "May Tucker" instead of just "Sissy", which I love. I have a feeling she may shorten that to "Tucker" soon, which I don't mind. After her one month check up and shots she started to have some colic-like symptoms around 5-6 weeks old. She slept for the first month straight, which Stella did, so I call that the honeymoon stage. I would literally walk past the pack-n-play and glance down and startle myself at the site of Mary Tucker sleeping on the boppy..."Jeez, there's another baby in the house...I forgot!" Good think I had Mom and Mae Mae here:) She was a very sleepy baby and never ever cried. She really only whined to be fed at night. Now is real life. Right at about 5 weeks, the poor child spent most of every morning screaming in pain and had the.worst. gas. ever. I'm not even joking. Strangers have commented on how bad it smells and that with that gas she must have horrible stomach pain. I've addressed my diet and realized I really wasn't drinking half the water I should have been, which a Pediatrician at our doctors office explained was probably the reason she's been so fussy...she's been getting concentrated breastmilk that is too much for her little digestive system. It's not like I've been loading up on strawberries, cabbage and broccoli....I just didn't realize how much water I didn't drink. It's made a huge difference and she's much happier now that I carry a giant water bottle around all day;) It's funny how the simplest thing can fix the biggest problem.

Stella's started Mother's Day Out on Tuesdays and Thursdays and is adjusting well, though she won't answer to her name, won't stay in her seat when all the other kids do, and tries to eat every one else's lunch. Oopsies! At least she's not biting yet. The teachers said these types of things are totally normal, and she'll pick up the dos and don'ts of classroom behavior with time, because it's not like I can work on only eating her lunch when we're here at home. She's started just a little bit of separation anxiety whenever I leave her with the sitter or drop her off. I think it has more to do with knowing that Mary Tucker is now in the picture and when Mommy leaves, it means she might have Mary Tucker with her, too. Who knows...but everyone has reassured me its totally normal once #2 arrives.

We have a huge March and April planned, and I promise to blog more religiously now that we're online again. Happy late St.Patrick's Day!!!