Mama Spud: April 2011

Friday, April 15, 2011

Tater Tot- 2, Small Fry- 7.5 months

After some much needed approval from Vanessa (http://nobloggingnamesleft.blogspot.com) -and reassurance that someone IS actually reading out there- I'm writing again. Twice in one week. Aren't you stunned.

Updates:
TT is noticeably filling out again, thanks to a concentrated effort to plump her back up again. Slipping butter on her veggies, whole milk in her smoothies, snacks available at all times, and a never ending supply of Mac n Cheese. Hey... At least she's eating something!

SF is such a solid sitter (say that 3 times fast) that I let her take a big girl bath with Tot, instead of the blue plastic baby tub (which is ...soo annoying). It's large, doesn't store well for easy access, falls over a lot, and requires two separate (exhausting) bath preparations. Finally, the day I've been waiting for has come! Not walking or saying Mama, just being able to bathe them at once. Yippee!

We also started SF on Enfamil Restful Night formula tonight. I do nurse during the day, and the evening, and all through the night, but I'm usually so tapped by bedtime that I give her a bottle of formula just to give my boobs a two hour break until the next round! We'll see how this goes. Not having one single night of complete sleep in 7.5 months is starting to affect me .

TT and I were watching the "mousie movie" (Ratatouille by Disney/Pixar) for the ...billionth time. And there's a line spoken by a chef on a new person's first day of work. It's a little odd for a G rated movie, and my tiny myna bird thought it best to repeat to me.
"Mommy? Welcome to HELL!"

Little does she know, I'm already there. Thanks baby.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Tater Tot-2, Small Fry- 7 months

(I will be better about writing in my blog... I WILL be better about writing in my blog...)

Sigh...

Well, I spend a lot of time holding my sleeping baby and playing on my iPhone. I'm not proud of it, but what else am I going to do? It's why I sold my eNvy and iPod to buy an iPhone and use it *all day long*!! I'm actually thinking of getting it surgically attached to my hand but it might get in the way of changing diapers.

Where was I? Oh yes, my inability to sit at a computer desk. Thinking of surgically attaching said sleeping baby to me as well. Saves on slings. Anyways, the iPhone- love ya to pieces- is a little hard to blog on. But I'm doing it now (sans pictures because I can't upload from here - but boy do I have some doozies!) for you fine people, because I know you're just dying for an update.

3 weeks ago, we took down the side rail of Tater Tot's crib and made it a big girl bed. We also pulled her 2 bottles a day and some days she skips naps. Sigh. One little puddle jump (potty-training) away from being a big girl!

When we cut the bottles of milk out, her weight drastically fell. Noticeably. Her ribs and spine stuck out, she stopped eating anything, screamed and tantrumed all. the. damn. time. I was going to pull my hair out.

Then she woke up with a fever one morning last week. I was already planning on taking her for a weight check that week anyways, so I called for an appointment. Yup, it's just a virus, but the weight thing bothered Dr. Wonderful as well. Tot dropped from the 50% in weight, to the 25th in just 2.5 months. Yikes. She has to gain over a pound in the next 3 months or he'll start some tests on her thyroid, etc.

Small Fry, on the other hand, went to see Dr. Wonderful ( he really is wonderful. My knight in shining armor who rescued us from the evil Dr. Dumbass) for her 6 month appointment (at 6.5 months... I'm bad about that). She is in the 75% for weight at a whopping 18 lbs, and in the 97+% for height at 28 inches! In six months she's gained 11 pounds and grown 8.5 inches!

However, she wasn't rolling over on her own, either way, or sitting up. Dr. W. said to give her 3 weeks and if she had some delays, he'd have her evaluated by a program here called First Steps. Well! Small Fry would have none of that!! No sir.

By the end of the day, she was sitting. By the end of the week, rolling over both ways. This is the baby I've wished she could be. Playing, happy, eating food - sometimes sad and that's ok, but better than she used to be.

I think she was just depressed that she couldn't be a big kid.

Later kids, my thumb hurts from typing.

A Potato Story

Spud and Mama Spud met when she was a freshman in high school, and he was a sophomore. They met during a Thespian Troupe spring production of "School House Rock! Live!" Mama was in the chorus and Spud worked behind the scenes. Although neither of them could remember the exact moment they met, they soon became fast friends and stayed that way for the rest of high school.

During Mama's sophomore year, they even went on a date to Italian Oven. As Spud remembers, they had a Pizza Rustica for dinner, drove to visit some friends, and he scared her by taking a turn a little too fast.

After the date, though, they remained friends and hung out often at parties, during plays, and with other theatre friends. They even dated each others close friends.

During Mama's senior year of high school, Spud went an hour away to college. They chatted via Instant Messanger and spent weekends and summers working on plays. Then, the summer before Mama went to college, they both found themselves unattached. After a brief courtship with a "rebound guy," she realized that the person she really should have been with was Spud.

Mama came to visit Spud at college and during their first visit, they had their first kiss. During the second visit, they discussed seeing each other on a regular basis, what it would do to their friendship, and how they really felt about each other. They decided to "give it a shot" on September 29th, 2001, the date written on a bottle of Parrot Bay Rum to remind them.

Two summers later, they moved into an apartment together and got engaged on September 29th, 2003 - their 2nd anniversary. They were married two years later on a North Carolina beach on August 6th, 2005 with the sand in their toes and surrounded by close friends and family.

The Spudly's moved from the apartment to a small apartment in a residence hall so Spud could start his Graduate Assistant-ship in Residence Life. They stayed two years in an apartment the size of three dorm rooms and finally moved to Ohio for a Director position that included a house with three bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, and a back yard.

They also acquired an ill fated black lab puppy with anger management issues named Riley, and a orange and white striped cat, named Lily.

Just after the school year ended, Mama Spud found out she was 4.5 weeks pregnant with Tater Tot. She actually thought she had a bladder infection! Within 4 weeks, Spud put out resumes, found a higher paying job, packed the house, fostered out the dog, loaded the truck and moved the growing family to Kentucky, where they reside now.

They also confiscated a kitten from the residence halls and when she was abandoned by the owners, they adopted her and named her Luci - short for Lucifer because she was (and is!) a hellion!

Tater Tot was born on January 21st, 2009 at 12:56pm after 17 hours of labor. She weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and was 18 inches long. Story of Tot's Birth Spud and Mama will celebrate their 5th wedding anniversary in August and will have been together for 9 years at the end of September.

On Tater Tot's first birthday (and Mama's 27th!) we found out that we're expecting another baby! Baby girl "Small Fry"came into the world three weeks early Story of Fry's Birth while Big Sister Tot was only 19.5 months old! Small Fry weighed 7 pounds, 5 ounces, and was 19.5 inches long. She was born on September 2nd at 2:58am after 12 hours (and 3 days) of labor.

And when Small Fry was just a month shy of her first birthday, we found out we were expecting again! Baby Boy Sprout was born March 8, 2012 at 7:30am, was 8 lbs, 7 oz and 22 inches long. The harrowing story of his birth by crash c-section can be found in the Story of Baby Sprout's Birth