Big Girl underwear

Nora has been using to potty a lot recently. She was very good at it before her sister arrived, then stopped for awhile. Now, she's pretty interested again. So, we decided to put her in big girl underwear while we are home. Yesterday, she didn't have a single accident! Today, she has had one accident, but has also used the potty. She's only 25 months old, so we aren't really pushing the potty learning, but if I have fewer diapers to wash - all the better! Nora does love wearing her big girl underwear though! That's all she's been talking about this morning. Looks like it might be time to start thinking about bringing travel potty supplies with us!

Nora's 2 year well child visit

We had Nora's 2 year well-child visit. Of course, poor Nora was feeling quite under the weather today. She has a low fever and has been really snotty for the last few days. Beth has also had the cold, but seems to be breezing through it. Anyway, at the dr's office, Nora was 33.75 inches tall, 27.8 pounds (with her woolies, a sweater and her pants on) and had a head circumference of 18.75 inches. All right around the 50th percentile. This was the first visit she got to use the "big" scale and they measure height instead of length, so that was new and exciting for Nora. Other than the cold, Nora is still doing very well for her age.

Mommy guilt...should I go back to work?

It's amazing how you just can't get away from feeling guilty about everything as a mom. I felt really bad about Beth's collarbone, even though things like that happen (but...I could have watched more closely, I should have known right when it happened... you get the idea). Anyway, right now, I'm racked with guilt trying to decide what I want to do. I'm starting to feel the pull to go back to work - both for financial reasons and mental ones. I'm feeling like I'd like to start working again. Of course, this brings a whole lot more mommy guilt - do I go back or not, find part time or full time work, work from home or in an office. Each choice has it's pros and cons...if I work from home, I'm concerned that I will never feel done, but I'd be able to put Nora in a school for a few days and spend some time with just Beth. If I go into an office, I'll have to put both kids in school, and I'm not sure I'm ready to put Beth in school yet. If I'm working full time, will I have enough time to enjoy my family? Then there is also the question of if I'm feeling the need to go back to work simply because I've been overwhelmed at home with two kids in diapers and a husband with a bum knee. I guess I'll keep looking for a job and if the right one finds me, I'll know it's a sign to take it!

Imaginative Play

Over the last few days, Nora has really started the imaginative play. She's been playing in her kitchen for months and loves it, but now she actually cooks something and serves it up to Elizabeth and me. It's really cute to watch. Yesterday, she took out her tea set and made tea for us. She even put a pinch of sugar in our tea for us, and we all sat on the floor and had a great little tea party. The only problem was that she was trying to help Elizabeth drink her tea and was pushing the cup and spoon into Beth's mouth! Beth was not too thrilled with that, but smiled and laughed every time Nora took a sip and made a slurping sound. I can't wait until both girls are big enough to play together! It will be so much fun.

Playing in the leaves

Nora and I had a great time playing in the leaves over the last few days. Beth will often take a 2 hour nap mid-morning, so we bring the monitor outside and play, just Nora and I. It has been nice to have the special time with just Nora.

Jumping in the leaves is lots of fun!

Helping rake leaves...making the pile "bigger"

Admiring her work

3 months old!

Elizabeth is 3 months old! She's still a great baby and it already feels like she's been part of the family forever. At the same time, it's hard to believe she's already 3 months old! She sleeps very well at night. She takes a few cat naps in the evening, and then settles in for the night between 8 and 9pm. Typically, she nurses at 10:30pm and then sleeps until 3-4am. The last few nights haven't been quite as nice (she's waking at 2am instead), but I still can't complain. She nurses and then goes right back to sleep. During the day, she takes between 3 and 4 naps - usually either in the safety of the swing (which is in her room, and we can shut the door) or in one of my slings/wraps. Overall, she's still a very happy baby and when she's awake, will coo and gurgle and laugh and smile. Even though Nora isn't always the nicest to her, she loves her big sister. Nora can almost always bring a smile to Beth's face. Beth's ear infection has mostly cleared up and she has started using her right arm a lot more. She'll even tolerate tummy time again, at least for a short time.

Nora has been very nice to Beth since the broken clavicle. She has been trying to be really helpful - bringing us socks and bibs for the baby, letting us now when Beth is awake or crying, wishing to hold, hug and kiss Beth. She will still occasionally lash out against Beth when she's looking for attention, but those episodes have really gone down. Now the biggest concern is Nora picking up or trying to hug her sister to tightly. We also have to be careful of typical 2 year old things -pointing out the eyes by poking someone in the eye. Beth can't move out of the way, so we have been watching closely. This does mean that Beth still doesn't get too much playtime on the floor while Nora is awake, but once or twice a day I've been putting Beth down while Nora is home and just sitting next to her and helping Nora learn to be careful.

I haven't taken the 3 month photo with the teddy bear yet (will try to get to that today - that is not a photo I can take with a "helper" because I don't want Beth getting dropped onto the floor). However, here are some cute photos of Beth taken in the last week.

Halloween Fun!

This year was the first year we really did anything Halloween related with Nora. Danielle and Jeff came over on Halloween afternoon and we carved pumpkins. It was loads of fun. Nora wasn't too sure about scooping all the guts out, but she did enjoy eating the roasted pumpkin seeds and looking at the pumpkins all lit up! One of the pumpkins we got was really difficult to cut - we almost had to use a hole saw to get through and make the eyes!

We went trick or treating to just 2 houses. Our street is pretty pathetic and about half the homes are dark on Halloween, so we only had 7 kids! Nora had fun though, and that's what really matters. Next year, we are probably going to trick-or-treat with some of our friends. I also think the sugar sprite might make an appearance next year. I hear that her babies need sugar to survive, so she will happily take the sugary foods a child gets from Halloween and leave a treat (such as a book) for the child!

Here's our little chef on Halloween. She wasn't wishing to wear the chef's hat that night. She was (as you can see) already in her pajamas. Daddy looked pretty good in the chef's hat though!