Milestones

We gave Ellis his first taste of cereal this weekend and he did great. He likes sticking his hands in his mouth so of course we had cereal everywhere, but just sucked it right down. I haven't really given him any since then. I still nurse him at night and in the mornings and he gets all Breastmilk during the day that I pump at work. It's just too much work right now, so he'll have to stick to cereal on the weekends. In a couple of weeks I'll probably try some veggies and then fruit after that. I can't beleive I'm going to back to making baby food again. I loved making it for Tessa, though. I thought it was very therapeutic and I felt like I was doing something good for my baby.

The other "milestone" is that Ellis has started blowing bubbles and sticking his tongue out. He didn't do it all weekend and then yesterday when I picked him up from school, he was doing it. It's like he learned it at school and LOVES to do it. That's all he was doing last night and in the car this morning. I'll try to get a video of it, since it is so cute.

Handsome

Took this picture after an afternoon at the pool. He loves the water and watching all of the older kids play and splash around. Ellis especially loves watching his big sister jump in. She has truly turned into a water bug and I am sad that this weekend is the last weekend the pool will be open.

Pun Intended

Conversation between Mike and I....

Mike - "So, you're getting a new computer, a new iPod, and new car. Next thing I know you're going to want a new man"

Me - " No thank you, I like my old man"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Omi Liselotte

My great-grandmother, Omi Liselotte, passed away yesterday. She was in great health for most of her life, always touting the healing powers of Cider Vinegar (which she took every day). She was 91 when she passed and to imagine everything that she has lived through and experienced is phenomenal. She survived World War II in Germany after being uprooted from her home several times. She had to walk across northern Germany with her 6 month old daughter in her arms. Just imagine all of the changes she has witnessed her country and the World go through in her lifetime.

She was a GREAT Omi who always had kisses and treats for us grandkids. She was an amazing seamstress, making lots of clothing for us, like our Christening gowns, Holy Communion gowns, etc. She also LOVED to bake. Anytime we would visit, she always had three or four different cakes and never missed Kaffee Klatch. She had this wonderful squeaky voice and was not afraid to put us in our place. Kirsten and I would spend our vacations with her and our cousin, Henning. We would ride the train from Stuttgart to Bielefeld by ourselves (5 hours) and then would stay with Omi for a week.

She was so happy that she got to meet Mike at the wedding and thankful that she could be part of it. Although she never got to meet Tessa or Ellis, she loved getting pictures of them and enjoyed hearing all the updates about them. She was so good about getting them birthday cards and Christmas presents. She would have LOVED to meet them and watch them run all over the place.

Ich werde dich sehr vermissen und ich liebe dich, Omi.
I'm going to miss you and I love you, Omi.

Nilpferd

Nilpferd (pronounced kneel-phaird) is German for Hippo. My dad has started calling Ellis Nilpferd and even got him a Hippo Steiff stuffed animal in Germany. True to his nickname, he is still in the 75% for height and weight. He had his 4mo check-up this morning and was 16lbs 1oz, and 25.5" long. He was very brave when getting his shots, he barely whimpered after the 1st one, but definitely screamed out after the 2nd one. But he calmed down as soon as I picked him back up again. By the time we got to school he was in a great mood, smiling and cooing and hamming it up for every one. I love him so much.

Four Months

I can't beleive that my little hippo is 4 months old. We have his appointment tomorrow so I'm really curious to see how big he has gotten. He is such a great baby, I am so lucky to have been blessed with an easy-goping, low-key dude. It truly feels like it was just last week that I was having contractions and ready to bring him into this world and now he's been here for FOUR months. Time really does fly.

Southern Belle

Tessa somehwere has picked up the word "Momma". Instead of calling me mommy, she now says "Momma" in a very southern sounding twang. I'm not sure who says it like that or where she picked it up from, but it's pretty cute.

Work

I have been back at work now for three weeks and it has been interesting. I am very tired. It takes forever to get myself and two kids and all of my stuff and thier stuff into the car in the mornings. I usually get up at 5:30am and can't seem to make it out the door before 7:30am. By the time I get to work it's usually 8:30am already and I am exhausted.

I pump twice while I'm at work, which is not fun. Currently, I have to pump in the women's bathroom. There's a chair in the HC stall and my pump has a battery pack. Over the next two weeks we are moving offices and the rumor is is that there is a "mother's room" specifically designed for nursing moms. I hope it's true and I hope they consulted some nursing moms to make sure there are outlets in there and maybe even a mini-fridge. Currently, I keep my milk in a lunch cooler in the main fridge, hoping no one gets hungry enough to start scrounging through other people's stuff. I'm not pumping enough to keep up with Ellis, so I pump at night once more before I go to bed. I'm still coming up a little short some days,but I have a little stored in the freezer and I also pump at night on the weekends to get some extra. The night time pumping is what's draining right now. I can't go to bed until 11:30pm most nights, so I am juggling between rest for mommy or breastmilk for baby. So far breastmilk has won. I may go to one bottle of formula a day to help out. I have Ellis' 4mo check-up next Friday and want to talk to his doctor about this.

I nursed Tessa for 5 months, but for some reason I just quit cold-turkey. As soon as I wasn't able to pump enough for her I went to formula and now I'm wondering why I didn't just supplement her with formual occasionally? I could have continued to pump for a while. Oh well, I think she turned out all right.

Sleepy Head

In the mornings I have to wake Tessa up (most of the times). She is usually pretty tired and I carry her to the bathroom to go potty. This morning in her half-sleep stupor as she was sitting on the potty she asked "Where's Daddy?" I said "Daddy's at work" so then she said "Well, let's go see him! Come on, let's go. Let's go, Mommy." Like it was no big deal to drive to Mobile to go see Daddy.

Roly Poly and Water Bug

Ellis is rolling his little butt all over the place. Several mornings I have gone into his room and he is asleep on his tummy (SCARY). Whenever I put him on the floor, he just starts rolling. He also talks/coos so much now also. He was talking up a storm at the pool and just had a blast. It was so cute.

Tessa, meanwhile, has developed a total obsession with swimming. She loves going to the pool and swimming or "Playing in the water" as she calls it. I'll try to get some video next time. I got her this swimmie device called a Puddle Jumper and it has done wonders. She just floats around and swims and kicks and wants to explore the entire pool. It's great because swimming really wears her out. I think next weekend we may attempt jumping off the diving board. She just stares at the big kids when they jump off. I think she is going to be one of those water bugs.................just never wants to leave the water.

Wow

OK, I knew going back to work would be hard, but I am fried! Two kids+full-time job+no husband during the week+still nursing/pumping= ONE WORE OUT MOMMA! I know it's only my first week and hopefully it will get better as I get into a routine, but I'm exhausted. I feel like if I blink longer than 2 seconds I may fall asleep.

I warned my female coworkers if they go to the bathroom and hear me pumping to check and make sure I'm still awake. I could totally see myself falling asleep and pumping for hours. Luckily Katie is preggers and has to pee all the time, so she can check on me frequently.

Bed Time

Tessa, as most kids, will use several different delay tacticts at bed time. One of her favorites right now is "Mommy, I go peepee". This is particularly effective as we are in the throws of potty training and it is unwise to ignore ANY reference to potty. So I usually scoop her up, plop her on the potty, 50% of the time she actually pees, and then immediately put her back in bed. I do have a gate at her door that she can climb, but one day she tried to climb it and got her little toe stuck or something (it was during Mike's watch so I did not witness the incident). But since then, she has not tried to climb the gate. She will open the door and dangle or throw stuff over the gate. When she decides to use the peepee tactic, she will also remove her diaper herself. It's good that she can do that, it's bad because.....she can do that. I have to be extra diligent on getting there quickly and going potty.

The other night as I was walking down the hall she was saying "Mommy? Mommy! Mommy I go peepee". What was hilarious, is that she had taken her diaper off and all I could see coming down the hall was her little arm sticking over the gate waving her diaper, as if signaling her distress. I couldn't help but laugh. One night when I went to check on her she was in her bed fast asleep, with her diaper and pants down around her knees and her little naked booty sticking out. Not so sure about this lastest obsession with disrobing.

Milestones

Today is my first day back at work. I was a little late this morning, but overall it went fairly smooth. It's a little wierd getting back into the work routine and pumping at work SUCKS (but the liquid gold is worth it). Ellis is doing great at day-care and drinking from a bottle three times a day. One of his big milestones is that he has started rolling over. He did it for the first time up in the mountains, but seems to be getting better at it now. He still gets his little arm pinned under him sometimes and although I think he physically can, he hasn't rolled back onto his back yet. Finally, Tessa went to school in big girl underwear today (with Minnie Mouse on them). She has been doing great peeing on the potty, but we'll see how it goes. She seems to pee very frequently, so I'm a little nervous that maybe her bladder isn't quite developed yet, but her teacher felt she was ready and I'm all for it. I would be less nervous if I could get her to poop on the potty, but that is something she seems VERY determined not to do just yet. Wish us luck.