Handy Remy

At 3, Charlie adored "Handy Manny".  He couldn't get enough of him.

Ephram could care less about him.

Until very recently, when he has suddenly started to take an interest to

Being able to fix everything

And having singing tools.

Who wouldn't want singing tools?

The thing about Handy Manny is that he always gets a call in his workshop.

It's like the whole town goes to him with all their problems, and somehow he's always there to fix anything.

Just like his friend Kelly has every possible item they will need in her shop.

(Even when she's supposed to have already left for a Christmas party.)

Handy Manny is a hero.

And, did I mention he can fix EVERYTHING?

And, he does have singing tools.  That hop and jump.

And say very smart things, like, "I'm a hammer."

All of these things suddenly appeal to Ephram,

Who has decided that he is now Handy Remy.

Like Manny, Handy Remy will take a call anytime you need something to be fixed.

Even if its in the middle of the night.

And he already has his pajamas on.

Unlike Manny, Handy Remy is not fortunate to own singing tools.
Fortunately, they still work just fine.
(And Remy might sing a little bit here and there for them.)

Handy Remy had to work really hard on this one.

But finally the job was done.

The tools all were put safely away in their workshop.

Three is so much fun to watch!

Charlie AKA "Magico the Great"

He's really into this magician thing.
He's actually stuck with it, and worked very hard on his tricks.
And he's pretty darn good at the performance piece.
(For a seven year old.)

Just one thing - He keeps spilling the secrets as soon as he's finished the trick.

Dzana Gets Older

Thirty-six was a year to remember.
And it is in the books.
Over.
Done.
Gone yet still a part of me.

And now I get to start thirty-seven.

This was a photography birthday for me.
Every time I have a child, I feel like I learn volumes about photography for the next year.
First Charlie, then Ephram, now Macie.

Whether it's true for others or not, it is true for me.
And the truth is, I love photography.
I really, really do.

And my husband supports my love of it... which is why, for this birthday I:

• Attended my first ever workshop the weekend before. (And learned a ton!)
• Got Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 (way more fun than Aperture)
• Got yet another helpful piece of equipment (a reflector)
• AND - got an amazing new camera, that I spent quite awhile wondering if I was really worthy of it.  (Jury's still out on that one, but I LOVE it.)

So it was a great birthday in support of my ever-growing photography habit  addiction obsession hobby.  I did have to wait another few days for the camera... but when it came I started playing with it right away.  (Yep folks, higher volume of pictures... from the Mom who already took too many.)

The day was a good, yet tiring one.

The day of that photography workshop, little Miss Macie started a nursing strike.  That will be a post unto itself.  But for now suffice it to say, I was getting nil sleep for the four days preceding my birthday.  We're talking none.

In part because of said strike, and in part because I had already waited too long, I made an appointment for her 9 month check-up on her pediatrician's next opening, which happened to be.... my birthday.  So I also made an appointment for Ephram to get his flu shot on the same day.  (Still need to do his 3 year well child check-up.)  So two of my children had shots that morning.  Fun times.

Then, as we headed out the door to said appointment, we got a call from the school nurse for Charlie.  He had a 100.5 fever and wasn't feeling well.  I explained the situation, that I was already 10 minutes behind for the doctor's appointment, and we agreed I'd check on him as soon as the appointment was over.  When the appointment was over his fever had climbed more... so we went off to the school to pick up Charlie.  He had... The Flu.

So I had three children that really, really needed Mama that day.  And only two arms to give.  So it was an exhausting day.  But, I think that's kind of perfect for a mom.  All of our days are a little out of our control.  You never know what will be thrown your way.

So my birthday was the way it should be.  Me, all my family and some presents and a cake.  And here are the pictures:

Whooo Loves Mommy

I bought this outfit the day before Thanksgiving.

I love it.

The colors are great.

Everything is just so cute.

And I am hopelessly enamored with owls for Macie right now.

This was the first week in January.

I got her alone for 10 minutes.

She'd just woken from her afternoon nap.

(Ephram took a spontaneous nap that same day.)

This is the best time of day to photograph her.

She's always happy after her nap.

Full of giggles.

Especially her new intentional laughs.

One, a series of little coughs that she was so delighted to discover.

Every time any of us was sick in January and coughed at all,

Macie would start her little cough-laugh.

(Mommy was recovering from one in a long line of winter colds, and may have coughed here.)

That picture above was of her second intentional laugh.

A series of snorts and snuffles through her nose.

(Mommy sometimes silent-laughs through her nose.)

(Mommy may just have silent laughed at Macie's cough laugh.)

Macie loves to imitate.

I love these pictures because of her bed-head.

Her hair was finally long enough to stand up a bit.

It is much more established in front, and was spiky in the middle at this stage.

Her very fine hair stands up with ease.

"Done now, Mommy."

Whooo loves Mommy?

I don't care.

But I sure can answer this:

Whooo Loves Macie?

Because she's fallen head over heels.

It's completely obvious.

It's Me.

Ringing in 2013

 After Ephram's birthday festivities were over, we donned our pajamas and got ready to celebrate the other holiday that takes place on December 31st.

Charlie fell asleep almost immediately - and Macie was soon behind.

So it was Ephram, the birthday boy, with Mom and Dad for a couple of hours.
This boy was not tired.  Not tired at all.
But he was really, really stoked about his new LeapPad.

We had such a great time playing with him and talking about our roller coaster of a year.  Then, ten minutes to midnight, my little princess woke up screaming.

Since she was making so much noise, I figured she could come downstairs and join in with us.  So I equipped her with her best rattle.

Meanwhile, Ephram chose which "New Year 2013" necklace and which noisemaker each of us should have and passed them out.  Because I was entertaining Macie, I decided to forego the big camera and relied on the iPhone to take a few pictures.

Ephram was hyper, marching around, making noise, doing dances.... right up until the moment we started to watch the ball drop.  Once he hit the couch and paid attention to the TV, he quickly changed to a tired three-year-old boy.

By the time the ball dropped, he was laying down in our laps.

His little eyes closed on the best birthday he's had yet by 12:04am.  And then the three of us remained to speculate on what 2013 will bring.

I really am not one for resolutions.  I don't believe that I can solve all of my problems by writing down a list of things to accomplish.  Instead I like to choose one personal goal to work on for the year.

2012 was an intense, revealing, dramatic, fulfilling, challenging, rewarding learning experience for me. I learned so much about myself, about what matters, about what doesn't matter ...  My perspective on so many things changed.  I learned about miracles, the grace of God, the power of prayer, how to find strength in community.  I learned how to face down depression, how to breathe through anxiety, how to let myself feel and experience without being lost in an abyss.  I was far from perfect, yet I feel that 2012 was my year of greatest self improvement.  In 2013 my goal is just to have fun.  I want to incorporate fun into our family life.  Movie nights, more board games, more outside time, more family outings.  Also, more me time... more squeezing in the hobbies (photography, piano, writing, crocheting,) more caring for my body... I must find a way to squeeze back in the walking/running.  If I am able to do these things and feel that I am at least a little better in a year, I will feel successful.

We woke up on January 1st and enjoyed the Rose Parade.  The kids were all tired, but happy!

January 1st was our last day of vacation.  On January 2nd, Charlie would go back to school.  We spent the last day relaxing, playing and enjoying each other's company.  We had a great New Year's this year... a fantastic holiday break.  And, a great start to 2013.

Ephram Turns Three

My New Year's Eve baby had a nice, fun-filled birthday.  He was so very excited to be three.  In his mind, he was convinced that he would instantly grow taller to be three.  I didn't realize this until he came running into my room on the morning of December 31st.  So proud of himself, holding up the number three and stretching his arms up to the sky to show me just how tall he was.  It was one of the happiest moments I have seen him have.

We came downstairs to have Ephram's favorite breakfast - Entenmann's donuts - and he ate three of them, since he's three.  Then he snuck a peek at his presents in the dining room.

But it wasn't present time yet, so the boys played.

And played.

And played.

As was our pastime from Christmas through New Year's Day.

Then we went for an early dinner at Ephram's restaurant of choice - Red Robin.

Ephram ordered his favorite food - Macaroni and Cheese.

He ate all of it.

And about half of the french fries.

But he didn't touch his sundae.  For some reason, he was scared of it.

I tried to show him that it was perfectly good, but he was still scared of it.

So I had five bites.

And then he scored the best part of all, the balloon.

And we went home to .... presents!

Ephram did quite well this year.

His favorites included art supplies from Grandma and Grandpa Boyce.

He was so excited when he opened that package.

He recognized it right away, before even opening it to look at the contents, from Charlie's birthday.

Grandma and Grandpa Boyce also sent him a very cool stunt car set.

He was so excited for this toddler Karaoke machine.

He has really enjoyed singing lately, and I think it helps his enunciation/articulation.

I have no idea what this package was, but I just think his smile is so cute here.

We believe that kids deserve the fun of opening lots of presents, but many of our presents are either inexpensive or every day things that we needed to buy anyway.

Like a carton of goldfish.

Which happened to be the very first present that he wanted to open after the unwrapping.

Ephram saw a commercial for a Matchbox Big Boots product in November and lusted after them.

He was beyond excited to get this Dinosaur Hunter set.

(And it has lived up to the expectation as well.)

And then there was the LeapPad.

His very own tablet?

So excited.

(Mom and Dad also were excited at the potential of seeing more of their own tablets.)

While he unwrapped, he passed all of the bows to his brother.  

Charlie turned himself into another present for his brother.

Then it was cake time.

We'd already had a big birthday cake at his party.

So on his birthday we had birthday cupcakes.

(He did not hide when we sang to him this time.)

Ephram really enjoyed his day, and then it was time to start in on the New Year's Eve festivities!

Macie at Nine Months

Macie hit her nine month milestone on the day of Ephram's birthday party.  December was such a busy month for our family, and we saw quite a bit of development in Macie too.  She showed more familiarity with us as she started to reach for the person she wanted to pick her up, gave us giant waves that turned to controlled movements by the end of the month, and could identify each of us by name.  Her reflux symptoms finally started to back-off, but teething was a constant pain for her.  She showed us her musicality as I found that she would happily listen to me play the piano anytime for 15-30 minutes, and then she started dancing and drumming to music everywhere.  She became more clear in her preferences and had so much fun with everything that Christmas entailed.

Stats:
Chronological Age - 9 Months
Adjusted Age - 7 Months

Weight: 17 pounds 3 ounces (30th percentile)
Height: 25.75 inches
Head Circumference: 46 centimeters (91st percentile)

At her nine month appointment the doctor was happy with her progress, as was I.  We were not provided with the percentile information for height this time.

Milestones:

• Reach up to be picked-up (36 Weeks)
• Recognizes family names (36 Weeks)
• Dances to music (37 Weeks)
• Starts to wave (38 Weeks)
• First complete roll without stopping (38 Weeks)
• Drums to music (39 Weeks)

At nine months, Macie still wore 6-9 month clothing and size 3 diapers.

Feeding:

Macie continued to nurse on demand for her milk.  Foods introduced during this month included: 

• Carrots
• Applesauce

We did not add more foods because Macie was having digestive issues through the month that we were working through.

Macie got much better with the sippy cup during the month.  We tried three brands until we found one that worked best for her.  (Nuk)

We continued to give Macie Zantac to treat her reflux, but reduced the dose to .3 ml twice per day.

Sleeping:

Macie's sleep patterns during the month continued to fluctuate greatly.  She took two naps during the day, one 1-2 hours in length and one 2-3 hours in length.  Her naps were primarily taken in the swing.  I had the swing moving and a noise machine playing water noise in the background, which helped lengthen her naps.  

At night she continued to struggle because of teething pain.  She woke to nurse 2-3 times a night.  Every now and then, she would wake and cry for 30 minutes - 2 hours, with or without requesting milk.  Unlike Ephram, Macie would not breastfeed as a soothing mechanism.  We did a lot of rocking, bouncing, and I did a lot of singing.  I introduced her to my rotation of songs that Ephram gave me good practice on: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Tell Me Why, Little Drop of Dew, Skidamarink, God Gave Me You, Baa Baa Black Sheep and I am a Child of God.  For Macie I added Would You Like to Swing on a Star, and Snuggle Puppy.  If she wasn't asleep by the end of that rotation we worked our way into Beatles tunes.  Her favorite seemed to be In My Life.  Macie did stop sleeping in the swing at night and moved into our bed.  Her reflux had improved enough that she could sleep flat and that allowed me to take care of her without losing too much sleep.

I was much more tired in December then any previous month with Macie.  But still, it was nothing compared to the first 12 months of Ephram's life.  I was positive the teeth would break through and we would sleep again.

Teething:

Macie cut two more teeth in December, making a grand total of six teeth by the end of the month - four on top and two on bottom.

Favorite Things:

• Eating (pears were still her favorite)
• Playing (the baby computer and My Pal Violet were her favorite toys)
• Grabbing any piece of technology anyone near her was using (tablets and phones preferred)
• Flipping through books on her own (The Night Before Christmas was her favorite)
• Dancing
• Drumming
• Waving to everyone.  Over and over.
• Riding in the car (as long as it doesn't stop)
• Wrapping paper
• Taking baths
• Singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider and If You're Happy and You Know It
• The blanket her mommy crocheted for her

Least Favorite Things:

• Getting teeth.
• Getting teeth.
• Getting teeth.

Here are some pictures from her ninth month!