How we're doing, Part II

I didn't mean to leave all two of you with a negative post for so long! Some people have asked, so here's how we're doing now:

Better. LOTS better.

Within a few days of oral and topical antibiotics and some new wound care ideas, Diana's skin was healing up beautifully. The adult dose of Zyrtec seems to be keeping her from being too itchy, and we've moved from using a topical steroid cream every day into using it as a maintenance tool: maybe once or twice a week if her skin is starting to get really red and angry in areas. Mostly it just looks normal, like kids' skin should look. Even the raised, red itchy areas aren't as prevalent anymore. It doesn't help when she's really itchy, but Diana has a new appreciation for what happens if she scratches her skin instead of rubbing or scratching through her clothes and mostly tries to avoid it or ask for help. The spring pollen seems to be affecting her Reactive Airway Disorder (RAD)/asthma a little bit, but we have tools for managing that too, so overall Diana is doing great!

Liam leaped or fell off a sofa when no one was watching and managed to land on his elbow and fracture it, so we had about a week of a Liam in pain and practice wrapping and putting a tiny splint on a tiny arm. His visit to the orthopedic surgeon this week revealed that his fracture is healing up nicely, which we could have told anyone pretty easily since he's been running around and using his hand and arm and making it impossible to keep a splint or sling on him. He doesn't have to have a cast at this point. He does need to keep from injuring the elbow further or else he'll need a pin in it. It's pretty useless trying to explain that to a two year old boy, though. He's already tweaked his injured arm twice today wrestling with his sister, so if he doesn't end up with a pin in his elbow before his third birthday, it will be by virtue of the power of prayer and the grace of God.

Comedy Hour: Well-Child Checkup

Welcome to comedy hour here at No Ordinary Family! In this segment I will relate to you a hilarious story about the time I took three young children to the doctor's office solo. If you're a parent of three or more kids, this will sound mighty familiar to you. If you're not a mom, make sure you're sitting down. If you're pregnant (especially with your second or third child), definitely be sitting down (take is easy, girlfriend!) and don't worry, you'll learn to appreciate this kind of humor.

Last week was my son's two year well-child checkup. I hate the doctor, but I love my kids, so I take them to be tortured to make sure they're healthy. Unfortunately, I ended up having to take all three kids by myself. What I know of doing anything (especially if it's "an outing") with three kids so far is to lower your expectations about as far as they can go. So in my mind, the visit would have gone well if we,
a) Made it to the doctor's office, and,
b) Saw the doctor, and,
c) All made it home alive.
I used to have ideas about "cleanliness" and "good behavior" and "being on time," but experience and a lack of sleep have taken those from me, along with my dignity and short-term memory. (Although one thing I can remember is my son sitting on my lap last week poking my still-soggy post-baby tummy and saying "beep!" over and over again. I laughed with him and cried on the inside. No dignity. Anyway...)

In the car, I mentally prepped my kids for the general order of events and what the doctor would do, trying to glaze over the fact that my son would be stabbed with a needle multiple times. This has worked well in the past, but this time it caused my daughter to start crying. Was her tender heart sorry for her little brother? No. She was "sad because I'm not getting a shot so I don't get to pick a treat. Waaauuuuhhh!" We hadn't even made it out of the car.

But- would you believe it? We made it to the doctor's office on time! Early, even! I used the old Jedi mind-trick of setting my phone alarm too early. The waiting room was filled with silent adults. My kids headed to the corner with the toys, where there happened to be no other children, and proceeded to be adorable. Strangers smiled in our direction. Score.

I took Matthew out of his car seat and he smiled at me from my lap and all the strangers smiled at our adorable family. But then I smelled a smell. A smelly smell. A smelly smell that smelled... smelly. It was the diaper of my own smiling baby. Taking him to the bathroom would be a gamble, because I had no idea if our name was going to be called in two minutes or twenty. As it happened, at that moment, Diana announced she needed to go potty anyway. So I pried an unwilling Liam away from the germ-infested toys to go to the germ-infested bathroom. (I forgot to mention that our family doctor's office shares a waiting room with the Urgent Care center.) Our MO in public restrooms is for the kids to stand in a corner NOT TOUCHING ANYTHING until we exit the stall. But since I was alone, with two hands occupied with Diana and then changing Matthew, they sensed my weakness and would not stay put, so we were exposed to an unknown number of germs and diseases.

We left the bathroom and the kids bolted over to the germ-infested toys where a little girl was playing with some foam letters and proceeded to jointly rip them from her. I didn't see it, but I heard her protest. They know we don't grab. I don't know why they had taken leave of their senses and had chosen to forget that fact in a waiting room full of silent adults who had nothing better to do than watch the noisy children. So I called them over to me and used my best "You'd better shape up or you're in big trouble" death-whisper. It seemed to work, because they played relatively peacefully for the rest of the HOUR that we spent waiting for the doctor. However, in that time, Matthew began to cry more insistently. I began to get set up to feed him when, of course, the nurse came out and called Liam's name.

Liam is a very outgoing boy, and very happy, and loves people. But as if he could sense our malicious purpose, he suddenly shrank from the nurse. He followed me into the back, but his cooperative good nature was overcome by fear and a murky memory of the horrors he had experienced at the doctor's office before, and he fell to pieces. I had to hold him with me on the scale, which meant the nurses had to get my weight first. (Newsflash: it's not my pre-baby weight.) Matthew was fussing, but I couldn't feed him because for the rest of the exam, I had to hold Liam on my lap or wrestle him bodily on the exam table. At least I wasn't pregnant for that part. He might not have been able to hear Liam's heart well, but the doctor confidently said he had "very healthy lungs." He had to shout his list of standard questions ("Can he stack blocks by himself?" "Does he have a vocabulary of more than 20 words?" Etc.) over the sound of Matthew yelling and Liam sobbing, but I think all the answers were satisfactory. Meanwhile Diana was taking off her shoes and dropping them on the floor under chairs, asking to read the magazines and trying to explore the drawers under the exam table. Still, I kept my cool. What else could I do, really? We were basically a loud three-ring circus. At some point it all just becomes hilarious.

What's that, you say? There's room for more chaos? You're right! As the doctor was finishing the exam and going to fetch the nurse to administer Liam's vaccinations, Diana announced she had to go potty. Again. And of course there was no way Liam was going to wait with Matthew in the exam room while I took her. So off we took our whole flipping circus of four to another germ-infested bathroom. Liam kept dropping his blanket on the floor and then picking it up and putting it in his mouth, but I couldn't do anything about that because I was holding Diana on the potty. Matthew provided the soundtrack for the whole event. As luck would have it, it was a FALSE ALARM, which I love. However, I took the opportunity to put up Diana's hair since it had been falling into her face. This caused her to loudly yell, "Ouch, Mommy! Stop! Stop it! You're hurting me! Stop!" Which is, of course, an awesome thing to have coming from a child with you in a closed bathroom- if you want to be investigated by Child Protective Services. She also remembered my promise that Liam could pick out a treat after he got shots and began wailing because she wasn't going to get shots. Of course. Out we went, back to the exam room, poor ignored Matthew still yelling. Liam was very happy to see the cool Band-Aids the nurses showed him, but when he saw the needles the jig was up. (Happily, when Diana saw the needles, her eyes got big and she stopped whining and declared that she didn't want a shot or subsequent treat.) More twisting, screaming, and wrestling, despite gentle assurances from me trying to remind him of all the good things to come after the shots.

I dislike doctors in general, but I love, love, love nurses. They prove to me every time we go to the doctor's office (which is fairly often now that we have three kids) that there are good people who care about others out there, even in a medical setting. When the deed was done, the very sweet nurses offered Liam his choice of stickers, and he stopped crying right away. Meanwhile, Matthew is still crying, Diana is asking me goodness-knows-what, and I'm just sitting there like,

We packed our circus up and walked out past the waiting room full of silent adults who had certainly heard what sounded like two children being murdered in the back room. Out at the car, I let the kids climb around in their seats while I finally fed my longsuffering Matthew. He sat up and smiled at me, and out of sheer joy and gratitude, spit up probably almost everything I'd fed him all over himself, my shoulder, arm, jeans, and the passenger seat. I cleaned him up, ordered the kids into their car seats, and as I was putting him into his car seat, I noticed that the strange feeling from my shoe meant, yep, I'd stepped in gum. And tracked it into the car.

We got there, we saw the doctor, we all got out alive. It went well.

Fin.

(P.S. I've learned my lesson and am actively looking for people to watch my older two during Matthew's four month checkup this week.)

One month: We made it!

Matthew and his one month accomplishments!

With each baby I remember my mother-in-law's advice to circle the date on the calendar a month after the baby is born. That way in the dark times during the first month when nothing is right, you can look at the calendar and know that at that point, almost all the problems you're facing will be resolved. It has been great advice.

February 2014 will be known in our memories as the month we all made it through (barely). 

Matthew was born an incredibly healthy baby, praise God! He also naturally put himself on a schedule of being asleep for about four hours and awake for an hour or two. We can work with that kind of schedule. I had to get stitches, which I wasn't happy about, but which I was also pretty much expecting. Our difficulties the first couple of weeks mostly involved my recovery. (Spoiler: getting stitches down there is not fun at all and kind of affects everything you want to do, including sitting up, moving around, and walking.) I seemed to be getting better, and then something happened at about two weeks and suddenly my stitches started pulling and stinging. It was so discouraging, since stitches are easily my least favorite part of recovery. I talked with my midwife about it and she said that because of the way she'd had to tie the stitches, they might not have dissolved and may need to be removed. That elicited one of my two breakdowns during our first month. I just broke down and cried at the thought of anyone having to mess with my stitches at all. It probably had nothing at all to do with post-pregnancy hormones. ;) Thankfully, a friend read that I was having problems and stopped by with a bag to help me feel better. It had cold packs, homeopathic arnica montana tablets, a donut pillow, and an herbal sitz bath mix. I could have cried. It was so amazing! I used those for a couple weeks straight and miraculously one day the pain and stitches disappeared. It was such a blessing! That was something I really really wanted to heal up on its own. I'm so glad no one had to look at it or mess with it. 

Breastfeeding was also, pretty much as I expected, excruciatingly painful. I'd describe it as being stabbed repeatedly in one place over and over again. In addition, I managed to develop cracked nipples on both sides, which just made it, if possible, even more painful. I only screamed once. I only broke down sobbing once because I wanted to feed a crying baby but just couldn't face the pain. Mostly I just bit down on a rag and tried to bear it. When I developed cracks, I decided to give myself a break for about ten hours, so I just pumped and fed Matthew from a bottle during that time. After that, things got better very quickly. By about two weeks, breastfeeding was definitely bearable, and mostly painless.

Then The Cold hit.

Not the weather- no, that comes later. Liam was the first to come down with it: a productive cough even

Sick and tired Liam.

though he didn't seem to have a runny nose, and what he indicated was a headache. He was whiny and clingy and generally miserable. A couple days later, the runny nose appeared along with a high fever of 103. The fever (between 101 and 103 degrees), runny nose, and stomach upset continued for FIVE DAYS. Poor little guy just sat miserably on the couch not moving and barely keeping his eyes open the whole time. He tested negative for influenza, so as far as we could tell, he just got the worst cold ever. Three or four days after Liam got sick, Diana and I came down with the cold. Thankfully for adults it just seemed to involve a sore throat, headache, runny nose and cough. I was happy to get sick because I hoped as an EBF (Exclusively BreastFed) baby, Matthew would avoid it entirely that way. Unfortunately, it was so contagious that at the tender age of two weeks old, Matthew ended up catching it too. He didn't get the fever (thank goodness!), but he did get a runny nose and most unfortunately, a cough. It was so sad to watch a little newborn having painful coughing fits. It caused him to spit up more often than he usually did. Thankfully, he still kept gaining weight. But they definitely seemed to bother him. He snuffled and coughed and choked during the night so much that we got another humidifier for our room and put him to sleep in his swing for a couple of weeks until the drainage was mostly gone.

At the same time, there was an unusually heavy snowstorm and we ended up with over a foot of snow at our house and no way to really get out. Imagine, if you will, two sick, sleep-deprived parents, one still healing from having a baby and struggling with painful breastfeeding, the other beginning to feel the effects of cabin fever; two children with coughs and runny noses alternating being listless and being whiny because they're sick and confined to the house; and an infant with his first icky cold. There were some nice moments of family bonding, but there were also some rough times indeed.

So here we are, all healthy again, all healed again. Matthew is growing like crazy (11 lbs 11 oz at his six week appointment!), really tuning into people, and starting to give out more and more smiles. We're getting into a rhythm of being a family of five. I still take sleep where I can get it and only manage to get one thing from my long to-do list accomplished each day, but we're working on adjusting to this new normal. I've been so blessed to have the most amazing help from Joseph, our families, and our friends. They brought food, gave us space when we needed it, watched kids when we needed, and were around to just talk and help around the house. Joseph and I always talk about how we're open to moving because we love travel and new experiences, but I am incredibly grateful that we've been able to spend our family-growing years with such a wonderful community of people. I think it's that and a lot of praying that got us through the first month. I'm excited to see how life changes and keeps getting better in the months to come!

Matthew giving out baby smiles!

Christmas Card 2013

Merry Christmas! And welcome to our Christmas newsletter!

Last year there was *ahem* some disagreement about what kind of Christmas cards we should send out and what pictures we should use. (Cute Christmas cards? Do you include a picture with them? How about a newsletter? Can you just put pictures in that? What about an all-inclusive photo card...?) That culminated in not sending out any cards, so if you didn't get a card from us, it's not because we didn't think of you.

This year, though, is different! Hopefully you've gotten one of our Christmas cards. And to save the trouble (and also paper!) of writing and printing off dozens of newsletters that people may or may not care about, I just included a link to our blog where I'd post a newsletter for people who care.

And I see that *you* are one of the caring few! Aww... A special gift for you at the end of this post. If I could figure out how to make chocolate peppermint cookies appear out of your screen, I would.

So here's what we've been up to this year!

Family Adventures

One of the most exciting developments this year was when we found out we were expecting a new baby Sullivan! Baby is due January 24, 2014. We've been very happy with our choices to have home birth with a midwife for our other kids, so we're planning to do that again for this baby. Since our insurance doesn't cover this route, and since ultrasounds are crazy expensive when they're not covered by insurance, we're going to leave the gender of this baby a surprise. We're already prepared with baby girl and baby boy necessities anyway! You can check back on the main blog page to find out baby's name and gender when we do! (For the record, we were both certain this baby was a boy early on, but now we're both leaning toward girl, so anything could happen.)

Joseph in the new car in Lynchburg, VA.

With a third baby on the way and only a small, faithful sedan to our name, we knew we'd have to upgrade to a larger vehicle. Our main requirement was that the car we found would not be even a little bit like a minivan. After a lot of research, we settled on a 2012 Mazda CX-9, a sporty seven-passenger vehicle with a pretty good fuel economy.  After even more research, we found that the particular car we wanted basically didn't exist on the West Coast. The same model and year could be found in larger quantities for $5,000-$10,000 less in places like Texas, Florida, and Virginia. It made the most economic sense to buy a car from one of those places and then drive it home ourselves. Because we have good friends in Virginia, we bought our car in the Washington, D.C. area. With our two adventurous kids, we traveled from Virginia straight through the middle of the country to West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and finally back to Oregon. The entire trip took about two and a half weeks. Along the way we visited friends, stopped in at some fire departments that used Active911 (more on that in the "Joseph" section), took a tour of the nation's playgrounds for leg-stretching and kids' sanity breaks, saw Monticello, visited adorable little towns and local farmer's markets, and learned to be road trip experts. There were lots of charming and picturesque places along the way, but we didn't see anything that compared to our home in the Willamette Valley in Oregon. 

The view from our future driveway.

In fact, we love living in Philomath so much that this year we bought a new piece of property in the same town, only about a mile and a half east of where we live now (in the Neaback Hill area, for those who know Philomath). It's about half an acre in a nicer part of Philomath and on a hillside, so it should have an incredible view of the town, the countryside, and the coast range with Mary's Peak (when it's not covered by clouds) when we finally build a new house. We hope that will be within the next year or two. 

In the meantime, we've still been fixing up our current house. Since buying it in 2010, we (mostly Joseph and his family) have: rewired the house, re-plumbed the entire house out to the water line at the street, removed an old porch and sidewalk, designed and planted a new front yard, poured new front and back patios, insulated and put up new sheet rock in the two bedrooms and hallway, completely torn out and remodeled the bathroom and kitchen, and installed a laundry room and a laundry sink in the garage. Our house is SO much nicer to live in now than it was even when we first bought it! This year, we: installed a new fence, designed and planted a new back yard, put carpet in the bedrooms and hallway, and had someone come to put on a new front porch (that Joseph designed and built) and redo our roof, install new skylights and doors, and replace our icky aluminum siding. The house looks great with the face lift!

Before (top) and After (bottom). Still needs a few cosmetic touches like new paint, but it's already so much better than it was!

Joseph

Joseph during a rare and relaxing weekend at the coast.

Joseph is constantly busy, which is secretly pretty much the way he likes it. There have been some particularly stressful times, but mostly he comes home every day telling us that he is the happiest man he knows and he loves his life. I'd say the year is pretty successful by those standards! 

He is still running two growing businesses. Alyrica Networks is a local wireless internet provider that he helped start about 11 years ago. They've been hiring new employees and have just reached 1,000 customers! However, he stepped away from the day-to-day operations of Alyrica about a year ago to focus on growing his newest company, Active911. Joseph created Active911 when he was part of the Philomath Fire Department and realized it would be much more useful to get information about emergency calls sent to his smart phone rather than listening to a clunky old pager all the time. He designed a messaging system that sent out much more information about each emergency to smart phones and tablets registered to a fire or police department. Emergency responders (firefighters, EMTs, police officers, etc.) using Active911 will get a text alert sent to their phone. Instead of having to hunt through giant map books in their responding vehicles to find the correct address, they also get a digital map in the same text alert that has the emergency location pinpointed, shows information about nearby fire hydrants, etc., and also shows the location and statuses of other emergency responders in the same department so they can see if there are other people on the way. It has been very useful for hundreds of fire and police departments around the country, and has saved some of them thousands of dollars. Instead of complicated and clunky computer systems for their stations and vehicles, they just need some smart phones or tablets and to pay a small fee for the Active911 service each year. Active911 is even used internationally! It's rewarding to Joseph and all his employees to know that they're building a business that is helping people and saving lives.

When he wasn't busy with work, Joseph and his coworkers and some family members joined a local city slow-pitch softball league. Even though he's athletic, Joseph has never played organized sorts before and really enjoyed the experience! He's also gotten pretty good at lap swimming while working out. To relax (as much as someone who loves working can relax), he visited New York City and San Jose del Cabo, Mexico with friends this year.

Nichole

Me and eight months of New Baby

This year I've been keeping busy being the pregnant mom of two very active little ones. It turns out you don't need much more than that to take up all your time. However, I've also been part of an International Moms Group that meets near the Oregon State University campus every week. Most of the international moms are here because their husbands are studying for advanced degrees at OSU and they are new to the country or at least Oregon. Every week we hang out and hear a speaker talk about a child health-related topic while the kids play. Occasionally we have events like cooking demonstrations and holiday parties that are lots of fun. Diana and Liam have been enjoying playing with the other kids (usually between 1.5-2 years old). I also got to take a solo trip this year back to see my friend in the D.C. area and her brand new baby!! It was so much fun seeing them (and holding a warm, snuggly baby!), but a very strange experience to be away from Joseph and the kids for four days.

Diana

Our Diana Bean turned three years old this year! She is a smart girl who loves learning, talking, reading, singing, and alternately spending quiet time by herself and spending quality time with people. We have our struggles- in particular, her eczema, which we are still trying to cope with after seeing multiple doctors- but in general, she is a happy and healthy three-year-old. She knows her alphabet well and can identify all the letters in a word and even sound out small, simple words like "dad," "cat," "mom," etc. I think she will be excited to start reading. She has already memorized most of the stories in her books anyway. She likes the library, playing at parks, and roughhousing or going on walks and stargazing

Diana the flower girl

with her dad. She is beginning to be interested in Disney Princesses (Yessss! Soon I'll be able to justify a trip to Disneyland!), but still loves trucks, trains, and robots. Some of her favorite books right now are, Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site and Steam Train, Dream Train. This year, Diana got to be the flower girl in a friend's wedding, and what an adorable flower girl she was! She loved her "princess dress," and still talks about weddings. According to Diana, a wedding is when you get married, but most importantly, there is a party with cake and FIRE! (Her fire obsession may lead to a career in the fire department like her daddy.) 

Liam

There never was a louder, goofier, happier, more energetic or people-loving boy than Liam. He is incredibly good-natured. He's a year and a half old now, and running and roaring around everywhere, creating happy chaos. He doesn't speak in sentences, but he knows a lot of words and communicates well by using the words he knows and his incredibly expressive face. Mostly he loves to laugh and be with people. Currently he has a small obsession with Elmo and Cookie Monster. He also likes for people to read books to him, but mostly if there are lots of sound effects and hand gestures to accompany the story. He loves his sister, and he loves babies. I hope this will still be the case when the new baby comes along. Right now he has three baby cousins under six months old, and two of them live nearby. He loves those babies. I think he'll make a good big brother.

Our 2013 was full of growing families, growing businesses, travel, home improvements, and happy, busy times with friends and family. I don't think you can ask for much more than that. We have been incredibly blessed. We look forward to 2014, especially meeting the newest member of our family.

And now, for you caring few, a selection of hilarious pictures that we didn't include in the Christmas cards because there was always someone or other who didn't look quite right. Enjoy, Merry Christmas, and have a happy New Year!

This picture would be adorable... if Liam didn't look like he didn't trust the photographer...

Great picture of mom and dad. Diana looks very relaxed and Liam again looks like he is suspicious of everyone.

And, for what it's worth, a picture showing that Liam was actually happy during the photo shoot.

Liam is one!

Liam on the day of his birthday. Enjoying dirt, sunshine, fresh air, and hose water.

Liam's first birthday setup. It got so much messier once we added the birthday boy. :)

(Actually, Liam's birthday was on May 26, but I get around to posting when I can. Sometimes that's three weeks late.)
It's hard to believe that we've already gotten to spend a year with Liam! I went back and read my old blog posts because in the haze of sleeplessness and chaos, sometimes it's easy to forget the newborn days. He certainly has changed a lot!

Liam may have started out quietly, content to just look around and learn about the world, but that is certainly not Liam now. He is loud. No, he is LOUD like you wouldn't believe. I've never heard babies with this kind of volume. When he wants to be heard, or sometimes when he's just happy or excited, he BELLOWS. He can be heard outside across parking lots or in busy grocery stores. There is no mistaking Liam. He gets it from the Cespedes side, which he still very strongly resembles in looks. My guess is it comes from the Filipino side of the family, but all I know is the boy has lung power, and if he doesn't do something with it when he grows up (Singer? Actor? Coach? Drill sergeant?) it will be a waste of natural talent. Can you imagine if he had Filipino lung power and his dad's Welsh singing voice? That would be amazing!

Liam with his "mouth blanket," so named because
it's almost always in his mouth (and it smells like it!)
He wads it up in his mouth and
sucks on the silky edges like a pacifier.

Liam has a drop-dead gorgeous smile, the kind that makes older ladies stop to complement him all the time. He is very free with it too. He is shy with people at first, so he'll do a bashful smile and hide his face in my shoulder. He seems to have topped out at eight teeth for the time being. His eyes are giant and just incredibly, beautifully deep blue. He drools like a faucet. It never stops. He really hasn't grown much in weight since his six-month checkup, though he may be starting to stretch out a bit. Almost all Liam's development in the past few months has been cognitive, and it really shows!

Liam doesn't talk much, certainly not nearly as much as Diana did at his age. He can say "Mama," "Dada," "Dana," "dog," "cracker," and "TOAT!!!" pretty well. ("Toat" = toast, but it's always said with utmost excitement because it is one of his favorite things.) He gets along very well with hand gestures and monosyllables. I can almost always understand if he's gesturing for rice, Goldfish crackers, graham crackers, his water cup, his blanket, a book, etc. He very obviously understands what we say, though. If I ask him what he has in his mouth (there is almost always something), he'll smile at me and fish it out, then put it right back in. I can even tell him to give a toy to the dog and he'll comply without hesitation. He's a wiggly boy who doesn't like to hold still, so he's always standing up in his high chair. I just have to tell him to "sit down" and he does... at least for a moment, and then he stands up and starts jigging again in a happy, rascally way. I've taught him some unofficial sign language, waving his hands back and forth for "all done" (eating) and opening and closing his hands if he wants more of something. He picked it up pretty quickly.

And oh, does this boy have personality! He is always on the go now that he can crawl, pull himself up, walk along things, and walks while holding on to people's hands. He loves getting into everything, sometimes with the help of his sister, who he simultaneously idolizes and loves to antagonize. He loves to laugh. He loves playing with everyone and wrestling and roughhousing with daddy. He will happily go off and play with other kids (he adores big kids!), but if he's been apart from me too long, he'll crawl back for a quick reassuring snuggle and then go back to play. He rarely has patience for an entire book, especially when Big Sister is so much more interesting, but sometimes he'll just pull out book after book from his shelf and hand them to me with lots of energy and a "DA! DA!" that clearly means he wants to read a book. Mostly books keep his attention if there are lots of sound effects and hand gestures that go with them, and even then he only has the patience for a few pages. He may not speak much, but he does love making sounds for everything. If you hand him a toy car, he gets a fond, knowing twinkle in his eye and a little half-smile and he starts driving it around making car sounds. He indicates dogs by making a high-pitched bark, which is usually followed by a "shhhh!" and putting a little finger up his nose (to imitate us laying a finger in front of our lips) since barking dogs are almost always shushed. He likes making buzzing sounds for bees or flies. He's even invented a raspberry-like sound whenever I pick up a Kleenex since with allergy season I'm always blowing my nose.

Liam's eczema is virtually gone now that we've pinpointed most of the causes. When I was nursing him, too much dairy set it off. Now it mostly just appears to be acidic foods. If he eats anything with tomatoes, parmesan cheese, grapes, oranges, strawberries, peaches, craisins, lemon, etc. he'll break out. It's so much more manageable than Diana's eczema since we know what to avoid. If he eats contaminated food, he'll get some red bumps on his cheeks or look like he's been punched in the eyes and start scratching at his face, but it usually fades after a day. People mostly don't even notice he has eczema. I think his is a little more common for kids and I'm confident he'll outgrow it. He's also pretty allergic (though thankfully not anaphylactic) when it comes to peanuts, so it looks like we'll just never have peanut butter or peanut oil in our house again. Lol!

We certainly have a fun little boy. I've loved enjoying him as my "baby" this past year, and I can't wait to see how much he will grow and change in the next year.

Struggling

We are struggling with Diana's eczema in so many ways right now.

On the one hand, since making this eczema fight a priority, I feel like I know more about it, have a better idea of some root causes, and have some concrete ideas of how to overcome them. The Solve Eczema website and blog and related forum and the blog Sammy's Skin have been wonderful resources and great sources of encouragement. We know from our allergen diet that Diana has a sensitivity to wheat that affects her skin. I am interested in trying to make our house detergent-free and treat any yeast/bacterial infections Diana may have on her skin to see if that affects her eczema. That is my big experiment this year.

But there are just so many setbacks! I feel like every time we try to take a step in what might be the right direction, we just slide back a little further.

We ordered a trial pack of products from Cal-Ben Soap Company. I knew that there would be some risks in trying new products. Every time we try a new soap or lotion that doesn't work for us (and we have tried a LOT), Diana's skin breaks out for a week and takes another week to clear up.  Most recently, I tried Purex Free and Clear laundry detergent, assuming that all Free and Clears were the same, and both kids' skin broke out. From the trial pack, we mostly tried using Cal-Ben's laundry powder, bar soap and shampoo, since I figured those contacted her skin directly and I wanted to see if there was any big change from using them. The laundry powder may have been good for her skin, but it was hard to tell because at the same time, the bar soap made her break out in a rash that STILL hasn't completely gone away. In fact, it caused her to start scratching at her stomach, face, and arms which may have led to her eczema spreading to those areas. Oddly enough, it's also spread to her eyelids, so with her swollen, crusty eyelids she looks sometimes like she's been beaten. So, though it's hard to believe, her eczema now is actually worse than it was during her allergy diet when we were so desperate. It covers more of her body and her skin looks angrier and redder. She can't sleep well at night without oral antihistamines. Carrie pointed out that Cal-Ben isn't the best bar soap to use, so I'll take a look at the Solve Eczema blog's list of recommended bar soaps and pick another product. If we can find one that works, I'd still really love to see whether soaps instead of detergents will help us with this eczema. Additionally, I suspect the Arm & Hammer Free and Clear laundry detergent we were using before our Cal-Ben experiment (and that we're currently using, since I ran out of the Cal-Ben laundry powder) may have changed their formula somehow, because her skin is not "improving" to its former state.

I'm really starting to struggle with this emotionally. It sounds silly since I'm not the one suffering with constantly uncomfortable skin. But I want to protect Diana and I don't know how to protect her from herself! It is so difficult to watch her claw, rip, tear at her skin- this is not hyperbole!- until she bleeds, while crying because it hurts and she can't stop. I thought we were safe with full-length footie PJs, but she figured out how to pull an arm in to scratch her legs, back and stomach from the inside. If her fingernails grow out at all, they are bent backward from the force of her scratching. There's literally nothing that can distract her from her scratching trance. Diaper changes and bath times are ordeals. Potty training is basically nonexistent. And while it may seem trivial, it is a little annoying to see younger children master potty training when that's not something we can focus on yet. (Plus, I hate changing diapers.) I could call it anger or sadness or frustration because they're all true, but the word that might best describe what I feel is grief for my daughter. I grieve that she is in such pain- my poor, sweet girl who never did anything to deserve this!- and I can't fix it. It's hard to believe that it could have gotten worse, but somehow it has! And she has to live with it. I so much just want to make her better. I've told my husband that it's frustrating because I just feel so lost. It brings me to tears sometimes. I just want her to be healthy and I don't know how to get there.

I hope that when she grows up she won't remember much of this. Sometimes it looks and sounds like a war zone: blood on her sheets and clothes, Diana screaming at the top of her lungs while I try to restrain her long enough to moisturize her legs and put her clothes back on. I smile at her and try to talk to her about anything at all that might take her mind off her itching, but when it gets this bad I just want to cry with her. I will probably always think about these days, but I'd like it if she could forget. If she went through her life with mild, manageable eczema, needing to use a moisturizer for sensitive skin now and then, I'd consider that a success. Just as long as it's not like this all the time.

After all that ranting and gloom, there are some positive things happening.

Happy, handsome Liam!

-Liam's eczema was mostly on his cheeks and all over his back, with little patches on the insides of his elbows and on his lower legs. Not like Diana's, never that severe, but raised itchy red patches. After using the Cal-Ben bar soap on him during bath time for about a week, his eczema cleared up COMPLETELY. There is one spot about the size of a fingerprint on his back that hasn't gone away, but the rest of his eczema is just gone! Occasionally during the day something will make his face break out a little, but it's just so wonderful to have it mostly gone!
-We learned that wheat affects Diana's behavior as well as her skin. After our successes with Diana on a gluten-free diet, I wanted to establish the maximum amount of wheat she could have without it really affecting her skin or making her stuffy. It was a little tricky because the effects of the wheat appear to be cumulative with a 24 hour delay, but I started with some Goldfish crackers during the day or pasta at night. After a couple of days her stuffy nose started coming back (but she was also getting over a cold around then), but mostly I noticed the most appalling behavior issues! HATEFUL, ANGRY screaming at the top of her lungs at me multiple times a day over the littlest things, blatant defiance (or waiting until the last possible second) when I told her to do something, angry glares, screaming tantrums in public... Even at her worst, that's not my Diana at ALL. She's always been a sweet girl who would wither with one look or stern word from mommy. I cut out wheat again completely and you know what? We haven't had any of those problems since then. I think the safest thing is keeping her on a gluten free diet and just letting her have wheat in the most dire of circumstances- like if we're at someone's house or traveling and there's nothing else to be had.
-I realized I wasn't using the resource that is most useful in confusing situations like this: PRAYER. (Duh! How do I always forget that one?) I know that God can do anything, and it certainly doesn't hurt to ask if He could heal Diana. Also, James 1:5 says "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." So I have been trying to pray regularly for healing for Diana and also for the wisdom to know how to help her. Even if it's hard to get a clear idea of what I need to do, praying and being closer to God always makes me feel more peaceful. And while we're in the middle of trying to figure out how to fight this beast, that could only help!

Diana playing at the park.

To see the rockets!

The Association of Experimental Rocketry of the Pacific (AeroPac) holds several high-powered rocketry launches every year from a launch site in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. As long as I've known him, Joseph has been seriously interested in space and rockets, and a couple of years ago he was introduced to Bill Earls, a high-powered rocketry expert who made the trek to Black Rock every year to set off some BIG rockets. He invited us along in 2011 and we had a great time, so we wanted to go again in 2012... even though we had a toddler and a baby. It was, predictably, an adventure. Luckily, I kept a journal, so even when my mind blocked out the terrible parts I forgot all the good stuff, I have a record of what happened. It went something like this:

Sunday

Diana "driving" the RV.

Joseph and I managed to only get 3 hours of sleep thanks to work (he was desperately working to release an iPhone app) and packing, but we still got on the road by 8:30 AM. We were riding along in a palatial 35-foot RV that Bill had rented. Absolutely the first thing I did when I stepped on this beautiful giant was BREAK IT. I tried opening the fridge and ripped off the water dispenser instead. Great start.

The drive is something like 10-15 hours, depending on who's driving, but Diana was a great traveler. 

Last year, because I was traveling with a bunch of men, no one bothered to get exact directions to the launch site, so we ended up driving around the completely flat, dusty desert in the dark for hours while a tired, hungry, 9-month-old Diana cried and then finally we just gave up and camped out for the night. This year, because I was traveling with a bunch of men, no one bothered to get exact directions again, but miraculously we managed to find the launch site while it was still light.

After dinner, Joey took Diana out to expend some energy. They took glow bracelets (yeah, I'm going to let a wayward toddler wander off for literally miles in any direction without being festooned with bright lights), which Diana LOVED. "Pretty!" "Magic!" she said. She loved them so much we decided she could take one to bed with her. While we were getting everything arranged for the night, I heard "Mommy, Diana make magic water!" Sure enough, the bracelet had snapped and sprayed all over. When we turned the lights out, Diana looked like a creature from the movie Avatar. Her hands, hair, blanket, etc. were all covered in a spray of glowing liquid. 

Monday

Diana and daddy ready to watch rocket launches!

We had one of the worst nights of sleep in recent memory. Most people slept in the RV, but we were in our own little lightweight travel trailer so we could have our own space and not disturb everyone else. Probably weirded out by the change in surroundings, Diana woke up around 1 AM and didn't fall asleep until Joseph climbed into her bunk around 3:30. By that time, it had started to get down into the 30s outside and Liam woke up a little baby popsicle. I snuggled and nursed him back to sleep. 

The desert wrecked the kids' skin. Diana was very rashy from the heat (mid-80s with a light breeze during the day) and Liam's skin was so dry his little lips cracked and his cheeks were cracked and oozing. Poor kids. Our highest priority became keeping both of them very well hydrated.

Joseph helped Bill with rocket assembly. During the day, a rocket came down not far away from us and Diana casually wandered out past the flight line to inspect it. Too cute. At night, Joseph and I talked outside under the stars and saw some shooting stars. I have never seen all the stars in the heavens more clearly than out in that desert. It's breathtaking. 

Tuesday

Diana flying her kite in the morning.

Everyone got at least seven hours of sleep! Unfortunately, the sun is incredibly bright and the glare off the flat, white playa is incredibly strong, so when I opened the door in the morning, Diana may have gotten some sun directly in her eyes. She whimpered and rubbed them for a while and appeared unable to open her eyelids fully for several minutes. From what little she could open them, I could only see the whites, like her eyes had rolled back and she couldn't fix them. She recovered after a few minutes, but seemed sensitive to light after that, so we made sure she wore her sunglasses all day every day.

Joseph helping Bill put the GPS unit in the nose cone.

Diana was an incredibly sweet and helpful girl. She appeared to have accepted her bunk in the trailer as her "safe place," which she called "Diana's little house," and that helped her calm down. Joseph and I both got to read and relax during the day and Joseph and Diana got to fly her kite a little bit when the wind picked up.

I took a spartan shower using the equivalent of probably half a gallon of water. It was awesome.

Wednesday

Happy Liam in his silly safari hat.

Because the nights were freezing and the trailer was cold, Joseph slept in the top bunk, Diana slept in the bottom bunk, and I snuggled with Liam in the convertible bed/dining area. It turns out babies are TERRIBLE bunk mates. Liam snuffled and wiggled all night long. I don't know how co-sleeping moms don't lose their minds. Thanks to juggling two active kids, not sleeping, not exercising, and being trapped in a small, messy trailer nursing all day, I was a wreck. Joseph watched the kids while I took a 20 minute bike ride out into the desert. It was exactly what I needed. It was completely and absolutely still and quiet. It's amazing and calming to be pressed upon by utter silence all around you. I could only hear myself breathe. Absolutely incredible.

Thursday

The only positive thing about Thursday may have been that Joseph's dad and two youngest brothers arrived. This was their first time out to Black Rock and his entire family has such great attitudes, it's fun to share things with them. 

Our part of the camp. Bill's RV, our trailer, Diana's bike.

Thursday was mostly notable for being one of the worst nights for sleep in my life. Earlier that evening, the water pump had stopped working, but we figured we'd just look into it in the morning. Diana woke up crying around midnight. We spent about an hour sweetly telling her to go back to sleep, giving her hugs, ordering her to be quiet and stop screaming, etc. Nothing worked. Meanwhile, Joseph was dehydrated and had a splitting headache and felt sick. Once Diana had finally gone back to sleep, a loud beeping alarm started going off. It was the propane gas detector. We couldn't smell gas, so we deliberated sleepily for a while. We were both tired and felt sick, which made us worry that there really was gas. I noticed the alarm light was blinking red and green, a code that meant it needed the battery changed. So I pulled the detector off the wall and found- batteries? No. Two wires going into the wall. How are we supposed to change the batteries IF THERE AREN'T ANY? I called Joseph down from his bunk, and by that point he was fed up with life and anything that got in the way of sleep. He became angrier at that stupid blinking machine than I've probably ever seen him. He's got a pretty even keel. He tried prying the detector apart with two butter knives and when that failed, smashing it into oblivion with a flashlight. Diana very happily watched the whole thing and thought it was great fun. Ultimately, Joseph ended up cutting one of the wires. He went straight back to bed and after I settled Diana in, I noticed the fridge had an alert light blinking. I HATE dealing with people who are already feeling grumpy, but I decided it was better to wake him than have all our food go bad halfway through our trip. When he turned on the light to investigate the fridge, it was very weak. Somehow we'd been unplugged from the RV and our batteries were dying. We turned everything off and went to bed. I couldn't sleep for worrying about everything. It got so cold in my half of the trailer that I moved myself and Liam into Diana's half bunk where I got no sleep thanks to worry, having a child on either side of me, and having my feet hang off the bed in the freezing cold. In addition, Diana didn't take her afternoon nap. Oy.

Friday

Joseph helping Bill assemble his Patriot rocket.

Some small dust storms brought lost of dust into the trailer and camp, but everyone slept pretty well. (Thank goodness!) Thanks to lots of encouragement, help, and sometimes hassling by Joseph, Matt and Thomas, Bill launched his Patriot rocket which was dedicated to his parents who had passed away earlier this year. Unfortunately, it arced shortly after takeoff, the fins and fin section blew off, and it exploded and tumbled to the ground. At least it got up! 

Diana didn't take an afternoon nap and was a handful all day, but we were both a little crazy from mostly being in the trailer. 

Joseph, Matt, and Sean carrying Patriot out to the high-powered pad.

There were high clouds in the evening, so it was hard to see if the 'chutes opened on the rockets or if they were coming in ballistic. In addition, there happened to be a handful whose chutes didn't open, but no one could tell where they were coming down. Did the threat of being pinned to the desert floor by a wayward ballistic rocket stop anyone from launching? Of course not! That made dinner exciting.

I had a shower. It rocked.

Saturday

Diana hanging out while Daddy worked on rockets.

Another truly terrible night. Shortly after Joseph and I went to bed, Diana started coughing and screaming. We let it subside, but when it started again, we found she'd thrown up most of her dinner all over her bed, PJs and blankets. Meanwhile, Liam was bellowing because it was time to eat. One screaming, still-coughing and drooling toddler, one bellowing infant, a small, dark trailer, the smell of vomit, and mom trying to clean and calm both while dad changes the bed was surely the depths of the parenting experience. After Diana calmed down, we found she was breathing very fast and with a lot of effort because her lungs were full of rattly junk. (She'd had bronchitis earlier in the year.) We didn't know if it was an allergic reaction or an illness of some kind, so we gave her a half dose of Benadryl. She seemed in good spirits, so we weren't too worried, but we knew from her bronchitis episode that she could change very quickly. She coughed some more junk up so hard that she threw up again. Her breathing was still so fast and labored that we were afraid we'd have to drive her to a hospital in Reno or Life Flight her out of the dessert. Joseph boiled some water to turn the whole trailer into a humidifier (it was 2:30 AM by then) and I took her up to the steamy top bunk to sleep with me. After some initial fussing, coughing and hard breathing, she fell asleep and by the time she woke up in the morning, she was back to normal. PRAISE GOD!

Despite getting FAA clearance to make the launch site a no-fly zone (for obvious reasons), in mid-morning shortly after a rocket launched, an F-15 flew in low overhead over the launching range, with another two circling around the playa from either side. We think they were just playing around, but it was still really cool! 

Some sporadic and some giant, towering, sun-obscuring dust storms and incredible wind blew through starting mid-morning. Good for Thomas's wind racer, bad for us since it was dust in her lungs that led to Diana's episode the previous night. The wind was probably around 20-25 mph.

Diana and Liam waiting in our trailer to see the rockets.

After a lot of work on everyone's part to get the last rocket ready, the range closed JUST after they got it out there. So frustrating!

Diana began to cry whenever she wet her diaper. I suspected the beginnings of a bladder infection. Just what we needed. We spent the rest of the day playing drinking games with her- rewarding her with mini marshmallows for drinking all the water in her cup, drinking out of a straw, drinking out of a big-girl cup, etc. to keep her hydrated, but we could only do so much.

Sunday

Diana and Uncle Abe watching rockets from the RV.

The hope was to get Bill's rocket launched first thing in the morning and head home by mid-morning. The launching range opened around 8 AM, but Bill didn't end up launching until around 10 AM. It went straight up. It was a beautiful flight. But no one could see a chute open up. His rocket was pretty enormous, so even though no one else seemed worried, I was slightly concerned about losing sight of it. A few seconds after we lost sight, there was a sound like a jet flying overhead, which was apparently a rocket segment breaking the sound barrier as it plummeted to earth after the chute failed to open properly. The men-folk managed to locate it, but the fin section had buried itself about four feet into the rock-hard playa floor. So that took a while to extract. We probably ended up leaving around noon. The long trip was a little tougher for the kids on the way back and we got home around 11 PM or midnight. We were all so exhausted, dirty and happy to be home!

Black Rock Desert playa 2012

Two months

After Liam was born, I spent a week recovering from giving birth, another week recovering from mastitis, another week fighting thrush and horrendous nursing problems, one week being the sole caretaker for the kids because Joseph came down with a nasty cold, another week taking care of a sick Diana and recovering from the cold myself. So if you didn't hear from us for about five or six weeks after Liam was born, that was why! Things have only been really "normal" for a week or two. Here's what's been going on with the kiddos:

Liam looking around and waving his arms.

Liam loves his daddy.

Two month old Liam!

Liam

Liam and "Wondrous Sister" Diana

Liam continues to be an incredibly sweet and reasonable baby who just loves people. He's even started to replace the all-purpose crying with different vocalizations. Instead of crying, he'll do a little yell or two to indicate that he's awake and wants to be fed. He really loves looking at people and smiling and practicing his cooing and talking. He is already laughing. He likes just interacting with me so much that he'll stop nursing just so he can gaze up at me, practice his giant charming smiles and coo and babble at me. He resists when I try to put him back on- he'd rather be talking and smiling at each other instead! Liam is completely in awe of Diana. We call her "Wondrous Sister," because he is just so completely amazed by everything she is and does. He has some of his biggest and most immediate smiles for her when she comes close or notices him. I think she is a big part of the reason he is starting to vocalize earlier than she did.

Diana goes to bed at 8 and his bedtime is at 10, so I basically spend the last two hours before his bedtime nursing him, snuggling with him, giving him a bath, nursing him again, smiling and talking with him, nursing him again... no wonder he doesn't want to go to bed.

Despite Liam's Very Reasonable nature, we've begun sleep training. Liam still likes to spend a lot of time sleeping, but he'll only go to sleep if he swings to sleep or is nursed to sleep. We think it's important for babies to be able to soothe and comfort themselves. So at 10:00, all the lights go out, his fan goes on for white noise, and after making sure all his needs are met (he's completely fed, clean, and burped), we put him down in his bed. If he's yelling (which he usually does, since he doesn't like to be alone), we check on him every 15 minutes to burp and change him if he needs it. Usually this is daddy's job. Mommy means food and snuggles, daddy means business. When daddy gets Liam at night, he knows he'll be taken care of, but that it's not time for more nursing and snuggling. He has to wait for at least two hours (since night time is time for sleeping!) for his midnight feeding. He's welcome to yell for those two hours if he wants. After only a couple of nights, our very smart boy has already reduced his yelling when he's put down for bed. Mostly he complains for about 30 minutes and then falls asleep. Tonight, less than a week after we started sleep training, he started dozing off while nursing around 9:30, rubbed his adorable chubby face a few times after I put him down and fell very soundly asleep. YES.

Adorable Liam taking a break from eating.

Despite all the problems of only nine weeks ago, breastfeeding Liam has become a joy and is completely easy. Joseph has observed that I've moved to the next level: "ninja breastfeeding." I can stealthily nurse Liam in restaurants, in bed. I can walk around while feeding him or get Diana another bowl of applesauce. My mom often asks me, "Aren't you glad you stuck with it?" Yes! I have been through the valley of the shadow of quitting. I often wondered if the breastfeeding wasn't actually more painful than the childbirth itself. I personally believe that breastfeeding is best, but I absolutely wouldn't judge anyone who decided to formula feed their babies, because I was so, so close to deciding to do that too. But I was stubborn enough to stick with it and now it's wonderful (and convenient!). When Liam is very hungry, he snuffles around, gives a little roar, and uses his baby abs to hurl himself face-first at the right spot. When he first latches on, his mouth works wildly and his eyes roll around in his head like a little tyrannosaur, as if he's daring anyone to take away what he's rightfully gotten in his mouth. When the let-down comes, his eyelids flutter and his eyes roll back in his head dreamily. It's so funny and heartwarming to watch. He's such a little character. Very Cespedes-like. ;)

Diana

Diana is growing and learning so much. Excuse my stream of consciousness style, it's the only way I can remember it all: 

Charges various objects to be "careful." (Maybe I say it too much?) "Careful, cup. Careful, shoes. Careful, outside. Careful, man."

Has learned "booger" and "toots." Now enjoys saying "mommy toots" repeatedly, regardless of veracity. I'm so glad I taught her these things.

Very fond of saying "good job!" I was awarded full-tuition scholarships as well as some private scholarships, I completed undergraduate research in bioengineering and oceanography, I wrote and defended a thesis, I worked three jobs in college, I presented research at a major conference, I graduated college, I traveled the world, and the most significant achievement in my life currently is using the potty like a big girl, a feat which amazes my daughter and elicits a "good job, mama!"

Does well with identifying colors and is surprisingly good with recognizing numbers. For example, she can identify when there are two zebras in the book we're reading and can recognize the number 3. If I say "two," she will follow with "three," and if I say "six," she'll say "seven."

Silly girl just had to sleep with her sunglasses.

We've read all her board books dozens of times, so we're starting to move on. She enjoys  P.D. Eastman's books, like "Go, Dog, Go!" We've also started to visit the library regularly. It's like a wonderland to her. She runs around plucking out books at random. I feel like I should be leaving tips for the librarians to repay them for all the reshelving that needs to be done after Diana has made her rounds.

Beginning to add imagination to her play. She will put rocks on a chair and call them "food" and pretend to eat them. She also has a giant stuffed lion that she carries around. When she lays it down, it is taking a "nap" and she will even give it a blanket.

She wants to know names for everything! I can't even begin to estimate the number of times I hear "wha dat?" each day. After I tell her, she very carefully repeats the word, sometimes several times, until she has it almost exactly right. It's pretty adorable. She also wants to learn the names of people, and has a surprisingly good memory for faces and names. This will be useful to her as she has four grandparents, ten aunts, ten uncles, and ten cousins. That's assuming I didn't forget any. She also uses pronouns and possessives "my tummy," "my bag," "I'm here!" "I'm stuck," sometimes with a little bit of a British accent from watching too much Kipper.

Imitates things that we say, especially those that we don't realize we say very often. "Do you mind?" "I got it! (I can do it)" "Excuse me." "No no, Diana! Ohhhh, Diana..." She'll also imitate other people, which is why we have to officially stop watching grown-up shows around her. We like a variety of TV shows: The West Wing, The Office, Community, 30 Rock, and Parks and Recreation. Of all those, Parks and Rec seems to be the "friendliest," in that the characters are generally happy and don't spend most of the time yelling at each other in what might be a very unsettling way for a toddler to watch. So if mommy and daddy want to watch something around Diana that isn't Kipper (her favorite cartoon), we watch Parks and Rec ("Leslie show!"). However, this morning Diana stumbled over a toy and very softly but very definitely said "dammit." What a shock for a parent to hear from her precious little toddler! Especially since she's not exposed to swearing in our house or anywhere else that I can think of. The only thing I can imagine is that it came from TV, so we'll have to stop that while she's around.

She very much enjoys imitating our actions, especially mine. She knows that I put on makeup most days and wants to hold my "mas-cara" and dab it on her eyes. She'll use cylindrical blocks as lip balm, "like mama."

She loves to help. She carefully observes (and usually gets in the way of) everything we do, but the best way I've found to get Diana to stop being a nuisance is to get her involved. She helps me unload the dishwasher by handing me the silverware and some of the smaller plates. I'll fill up Nova's food bowl in the garage and let Diana carry it back inside the house. She helps me prune flowers, make pancakes, sweep, mop, change Liam's diaper, and anything else I'll allow her to do. I can expect a certain amount of mess whenever she helps, but she is just so thrilled whenever she's allowed to help me that it's definitely worth the time it takes to clean up.

Joseph's mom rightly observed that Diana was quite the naturalist. She loves being outside. It makes me feel bad that we don't go outside more often since we don't have a fenced-in yard. Our back yard is currently a giant exhibit of all the native weeds of western Oregon, so she mostly runs around in the front. She likes sunshine and running (and rolling) around in the grass, smelling and picking flowers, watching bees, and picking anything berry-like off plants. Parks are her favorite thing in the world, especially if they have playgrounds. She has, terrifyingly, learned to scale ladders to giant slides, so we need to keep a close eye on her. I can't believe that this is the same girl who was just learning to sit up a year ago!

We've begun potty training. We've begun potty training. I read a blog post by a woman who potty-trained her 18 month old in a week and used that as my inspiration. Admittedly, the toddler had an older brother who set an example for her, but I figured it still might work for us. Basically, she gathered as much potty-training material for her daughter as she could find at her local library, made her daughter familiar with the potty and what it was for, and stayed home for a week allowing her daughter to run around without a diaper. We've had mild success. When coupled with mommy enforcing potty time every 15 minutes or so, Diana can "hold it" long enough to do her business in the potty. (Hooray!) However, if I leave it completely up to her discretion, sometimes disaster results. Keep in mind that this method is already difficult because Diana's eczema is so bad that whenever she has bare legs, she will attack them and savagely scratch them until they bleed. I had to cut the toes off a pair of Joseph's soft dress socks and put them on her legs. Yesterday she came out with me to get the mail, a fashion plate in Joseph's dark dress socks and her too-big orange dress, and she made a slight detour to run around on the grass. She bent here to look at the grass, she squatted there to look at a bee...or so I thought. I told her it was time to come inside, she obediently ran to me and then completely nonchalantly dropped a pookie on our sidewalk, right there in front of me, the good Lord, and the whole world. I was speechless. So was she. I hesistatingly explained to her that she'd made a mess outside instead of in her potty and that pookies belonged in the potty. It didn't appear to really sink in. When I went outside to clean it up, it turned out the dog had helpfully slurped some up, making my day doubly gross. Things I never expected to deal with as a mother...

Overall, we have two fantastic and healthy kids and it is easier every day to be a family of four. I really need to get to bed, but next time I post, I'll include more about recovery, adjusting to motherhood, and our travel plans for the fall!