Catching Up with Jack and Ellie

(Due to technical difficulties, we've been unable to post anything for quite awhile. We still are unable to post pictures, but the computer is actually ON now so I can at least type an update on our family happenings as of late...)

Ellie turned two months old this week. I have to admit, I'm feeling very blessed because she is a really, really good baby. She is sleeping well, eating well, pooping well (it's important!), and she only cries when she is hungry or sleepy, which means if we can anticipate her needs she rarely cries. So much to be thankful for. She started smiling fairly early, around 2-3 weeks, but we weren't sure if it was just a reflex; now she gives all-out grins for Mommy, Daddy, and Grammy and Papa. It's just precious...I have caught them on camera at last, and will share them as soon as I can. She has beautiful blue eyes; not as light blue as Jack's eyes, though--they are more of a deep blue or even a slate blue. She also has two little dimples when she smiles.

She is finally sleeping through the night (9 hours); this momentous event occured right around 8 weeks, which is when Jack first slept through the night as well. We've already dropped her middle-of-the-night feeding; I cannot believe we're already at that point--time flies so fast. So right now she sleeps from her late-night feeding, between 10 and 11, until about 6 or 7 in the morning. She is on a 3 1/2 hour feed/wake/sleep cycle right now, and seems to be doing great. I was fearful of the whole letting-her-cry-it-out phase, because her cry is so much more pathetic than Jack's was...his cry was always an angry, "Why are you leaving me in here? I'm SO MAD right now!" and her cry is more of a dramatic, "But Mommy, don't leave me! Don't you love me?" which just breaks my heart. Thankfully, though, it only took 2 days to train her to fall asleep by herself, as opposed to the week and a half that it took Jack.

While we're on the subject of differences between her and Jack...it's so funny to look back and realize that Jack's personality as a baby hasn't changed much from his current personality. He was stubborn then, and did not nurse very well. At twenty-one months, he continues to be stubborn, still cries that "I'm so mad" cry, and he STILL does not eat well... It's fun to compare them; I'm hoping that Ellie's personality now reflects her future personality...she's going to be an easy kid if this is true.

Many of you have asked how Jack is doing with his new baby sister, and I have to say that things could be worse. I don't feel like his behavior is all that much worse than it was before she was born: he still throws tantrums for no reason, falls apart when you don't offer him the right slice of bread (how am I supposed to know?), and melts down when the TV is turned off after his video. But he is actually really good around Ellie. He always exclaims, "Ohh!" when he sees her, and he will come over without being asked and give her kisses on her head. The other day she was crying on the couch while I ran to get a diaper and when I got back he was kneeling next to her patting her tummy. That made my heart melt, to see him comforting her on his own. Yesterday he took his Puppy and kissed her with it, putting Puppy's wet nose to her face and making a smacking sound. I "awwed," and then he came over and awarded me with a wet Puppy kiss, too...

He's fascinated by nursing; doesn't seem too curious but does stop and notice. Today while I was nursing Ellie, he found one of my breast pads (sorry gentlemen!) sitting on the couch. He picked it up, looked at it, looked at me, and then lifted up his shirt and held the pad to his chest. I laughed and laughed and laughed.

Jack is so, so smart. Sometimes it's a little scary. I think he seems smart because he is very observant, and notices way more than we realize. For example, when we are walking up to the front door of our house, I hand him my keys and say, "Which one is the house key?" and every single time he picks the right key. He also knows where the power button is on the remote control, as well as the button for "DVD" and "play," which means that yes, he can turn on his movies by himself. Drives me crazy.

The other day Eric and I were standing in the kitchen talking. Suddenly, Jack came running in and ran right up to the drawer with dishtowels in it. He yanked it open, grabbed a towel, slammed it shut, and went running out again. We jokingly said, "What did you spill, Jack?" but when we peeked in the living room, we discovered him on the floor in front of a big puddle of water, soaking it up with the dishtowel! How did he know where the dishtowels are kept?

Earlier this week I gave him a small bowl with animal crackers in it for a snack. A few minutes later he came running back to the kitchen with an empty bowl, so I gave him some more. A minute later he came back for more. Hm. I gave him two, and then followed him into the living room. There, behind the couch on the window sill, I found a mountanous pile of graham crackers and a very happy, very sneaky, little boy.

Jack also has a few funny personality quirks that make us wonder what he will be like as an adult, or a teenager for that matter... He is very methodical in how he does things. Every time he eats his cut-up grilled cheese sandwiches, he picks up each piece one by one and sticks it into the pocket of his bib. Then he eats them out of his bib. He also likes to separate all his food. He will pick it piece by piece into separate sections on his tray. He loves to put the straw into the lid of his sippy cups; he will usually have a fit if I do it for him. And I just have to say that it takes a lot of fine motor control, not to mention patience, for someone his age to fit that little straw into the small opening in the lid! He concentrates so hard...

If, when walking through the kitchen, he notices that the dishtowels are actually hanging in place on the oven door, he will take a detour, pull them off one by one, and then carry on to whatever task he detoured from. (I have given up trying to keep them hanging; you will usually find dishtowels on the floor in front of the oven at our house) He currently will only eat the heel of the loaf of bread, and he doesn't like crackers that already have bites out of them (which means that once he takes a bite, he wants a new cracker). He will only eat a banana if you open a new one, expose the top half, and let him tear it off. Forget eating the rest of it next time; nope, new banana. And don't you dare cut it up...

He eats crayons, draws on himself with highlighter markers, and loves to rip things up (my to-do lists, mail, book pages). He is tall enough now that he can not only see onto the kitchen counter but he can reach up there, so we have to push everything back from near the edge or he will grab at it. He can also climb up on the table chairs, so the table is a dangerous place to keep anything that we don't want him to get into. And we're done leaving Kleenex at his level; he takes it in the other room and rips it up into little pieces which he either sticks in his mouth or spreads all over the living room floor. And Kleenex doesn't vacuum well.

I should mention, though, that before he rips the Kleenex up, he will hold it to his nose and make a snorting noise, (although it sounds more like a little piggy) pretending to blow his nose. And the other day I noticed him holding a tissue up to his bear's noise and oinking away. So cute. I thought most toddlers hated having their nose wiped?

All of these things--these tasks he's accomplishing and surprising me with--are daily reminders that he is growing up so fast. I know that he's not even two yet, but he already seems like such a "big boy." He's just around the corner from talking; he will babble and babble in this conversational way, and it just kills us that we can't understand him. He still only has a few words, like bye-bye, uh-oh, and all-done. I swear he's going to go straight to full sentences...

One reason that I am so looking forward to the day Jack starts talking is so that I can begin having conversations with him about Jesus. I sing "Jesus Loves Me" to him at bedtime, and I tell him over and over, "Jesus loves you, sweetie," and I think that he tries to say "Jesus," too, but I can't be sure yet. I can't wait to read him Bible stories and answer questions that stump me, too. I can't wait to introduce him to Someone who is such a big part of my life, Someone who will be there for him when he is scared, and who will always love him no matter what. I can't wait for that.

My friend Katie's little boy just accepted Jesus into his heart recently, and I found myself welling up with tears as I read about it, realizing just how wonderful that moment must have been for her--to be there and witness your child understanding (as much as they can) what that means, and wanting Jesus to live in them. I still remember the night I accepted Jesus into my heart, when I was five. I remember my mom kneeling by my bed, asking me if I wanted Jesus to live in me, and then praying with me. I'm so glad that I was old enough to remember that moment always.

Life is so interesting; I can't believe I'm already in my late twenties; I can't believe I have two children; I can't believe that moment when I accepted Christ was over twenty years ago...and yet it still seems like yesterday. When I think of college kids, I think of people my age; when we go to Wheaton College for lunch they all look so young to me. When someone asks how old I am I always hesitate, because I honestly have to stop and think...I still think I'm 24!! Why that age, I don't know, but I always think my sister is 22 and I'm 24, until I realize that no, she's actually 24 and I'm going to be 27 in May! Time passes by no matter how hard you want it to stand still...the other day Eric and I were talking about when Jack goes to kindergarten, and we realized that that is only in three years! Wow.

Which brings me back to Ellie...each day passes by so quickly, and I just want to savor her. I was talking to Katie tonight about how Ellie's hands have gotten so much chubbier than when she was firstborn, and how she's starting to get rolls on her legs, and she's cooing and sucking her thumb...she's learned so many things and she's only 9 weeks old! We're still planning on having another baby someday, but already I find myself wanting to spoil Ellie as you would your last baby, out of my own selfishness; I want to let her sleep with me because I want to feel her warmth next to me and I want to snuggle her and I want her like sleeping with me (because I didn't get to with Jack)...but I know she needs to learn to sleep on her own. I want to hold her all day long, because she gets a little fussy when she's not being held, and I prefer when she's happy and cooing...but I know she needs to learn to it's safe to be by herself, and she needs time to look around and explore on her own. I want to make sure I don't miss this newborn stage, but I'm afraid that I've already forgotten things...how is that possible? I honestly don't know. I just know that most days I feel like time passes too quickly (Ha--how many of you think I would have agreed with that last statement when I was 10 months pregnant??).

Maybe that is one of the big paradoxes of motherhood; wanting time to stand still and yet loving watching your children grow and learn. I'm just thankful that it is out of my hands, that I don't have to decide whether or not to bring the universe to a halt or let it all keep spinning. After all, if I can't even get my son to eat his vegetables, how could I possibly be put in charge of the planets?