While it Lasts

For as rough and tumble as he can be, Harrison always seems to want to be quite close quite often. When I curl up on the couch to watch PBS with him, he wants to be sitting on top of me and my blankets. When I give him time to play CampFire, he wants me to play with him, or better yet, he just wants to play while sitting in my lap. Yesterday, I was sitting on the floor with Raegan while he played Angry Birds and before I knew it, he was climbing up, over, and through my arms that were resting on my bent knees, pile driving his way into my space.

Something I read the other day talked about boys and their tackling hugs and overenthusiastic physical contact and I thought, "Oh, my! Oh, yes!" That's my boy! As a little, little one, he was always giving big hugs to other kids. Now he is the kid who comes running at 100 mph to wrap his arms around my legs for a squeeze (and does the same thing to his dad and his grandparents). This is all well and good except it usually means his big ol' noggin is usually crashing into my hip or stomach at the same time. But he means well and I know these moments aren't going to last forever, as the book Let Me Hold You Longer reminds me. 

I can't remember now if my mom gave me this book before or after Raegan was born, but I do remember the first time I read it. I sobbed and sobbed and could hardly read the type by the time I got to the last page. The whole concept is the story of a mother watching her little boy who grows up oh so quickly, and her wishes to hold him longer each step of the way. Sheesh. I can't even write about it without getting misty-eyed because it is so stinking true. How did my little 7 lb. 5 oz. baby boy suddenly become a preschooler who loves solving mysteries and playing Angry Birds?!

So lately I've been embracing all of those too hard, too fast embraces from Harrison. Like I told Ben last night, it's likely that in ten years or less, HD isn't going to want to be anywhere near me, so I might as well take advantage of every time he does right now. Truth is, I love that I am someone he wants to be near. I don't mind the often sticky and often hot little hands that sit on mine when I read to him or play CampFire with him, or the not-so-little feet that wiggle in next to me when we sit on the couch. It doesn't matter how big he gets; he will always be my sweet baby boy and I will always be asking for one more (tackling) hug.

Little Peanut

People ask or make comments about Raegan, quite often, that always go a little something like this: "She's little. Is she little? She seems little." And the reason I hear that stuff all the time is because it's true. Raegan is such a little peanut.

At 9 months, she weighed a little over 18 lbs. A week and a half ago, when I took her in for her 12 month Well Baby visit, she weighed 18 lbs., 7 oz. As you can probably imagine, that's not great weight gain for three months time. And whereas everything else at the exam was great, our doctor was visibly concerned about this. There are no nutritional or developmental concerns at this point, but still, she went from the 50th percentile of weight down to the 12th. In three months. Now I don't think our doc thinks I'm not feeding her, but he did ask, straight away, how she's been eating because that is clearly a big drop.

Well, let me tell you....

Feeding Raegan is not easy. This does not mean I don't try. We do three meals, two snacks, and three nursing sessions a day, but each one is an exercise or workout (of both the body and spirit, some days). But, for whatever reason, she just gets in these moods, quite often, where she doesn't want to eat.

A few months ago we were still nursing probably 5-6 times a day. About a month or two ago, that trimmed down to a solid four feedings from me. Some moms I know talk about how they miss nursing or hate it when the baby starts to wean; they miss that sweet connection time with their littles. Now, I will stand by my previous claims that Raegge is the happiest, smiliest, sweetest baby I know, but nursing her is rarely happy, smiley, or sweet. She is just too darn wiggly. And squirmy. And grabby. Seriously. When I sit down in the rocker and place her on the boppy, I have to prepare myself for moving hands and feet and, before long, her entire body. These days, she barely nurses for 5-8 minutes and then she's twisting off my lap, ready to go again. We haven't started any whole milk yet, but I'm thisclose to trying it. Part of me hates to give up nursing her because I think she still needs nutrients from my milk, but the rest of me will not miss the thrice-daily wrestling match.

Although we were a little late to start (maybe 6 1/2 or 7 months old?), we began introducing solids a while ago and followed much the same path that we did with Harrison. And Harrison is a wonderful eater; always has been. But I do have to admit, I have sucked big time at making baby food this time around. With HD, I barely bought any baby food from the store. With Raegan, it's been pretty much the opposite; most of her stuff has been jarred. I don't know if that has made the difference or if it is their personalities or preferences or what, but different they are. By this age, Harrison was eating all kind of food and certainly not all pureed. Raegan, as much as we keep trying and offering, doesn't seem to want anything to do with "real" food. She like yogurt and sometimes does cheese. And, of course, crunchy things like crackers and Cherrios, etc. But even bananas and ripe pears have been slow going, and steamed or chunked veggies or meats or pasta? Nope. Not having it.  You would not believe how much food ends up on our floor at each meal thanks to this little girl!

As an added bonus, Raegan is a noisy little squawker at the table. I mean, this girl is LOUD. We've taught her the signs for "more" and "please" but there is far more lunging at the table and squawking going on than polite little baby signs. Or she makes the signs and then yells anyway. I mean, whatever...it's just that I apparently gave birth to a child who is part pterodactyl. The real problem is that even when we give her whatever she's hollering for, she often just chucks it on the floor. So why is she yelling in the first place? I have no clue. And, because she's the baby, she gets away with it, which is terribly confusing, as you might imagine, for her 3-yr-old big brother who is not supposed to be dumping food on the floor.

As I often find myself saying (now that I have children and no longer try to swear so much): Goodness Graciousness.

We go back in three months for RL's next Well Baby. Hopefully we'll have made some progress with the eating and the weight gain by then, but I don't know. Right now Raegan is on the verge of walking and, as you know, she climbs all the time, so she is going to have start eating a LOT to actually get some calories to stick on her little bod. I think that's the other thing our doctor doesn't fully understand. When I say my children are active, I mean they move all the time, never sit still for a second. So how on earth are they ever going to get big? Even Harrison, my good eater, has never been a brute; it took him until age 15 months to cross the 20 lb. mark, and it looks like Little Sis might be taking more like 18+ to get there!

Noise and mess and frustration aside, we will keep trying. I'm really hoping she isn't going to have a big aversion to textures or anything like that. I guess at this point, we can't really know. We just have to keep offering (and plugging our ears and sweeping our floors!).

Letter of the Week

When we attended Harrison's Open House for preschool in August, one of the very first things they explained to the group of parents was Sharing Time. Each week, or most weeks, I guess, would be assigned a letter. On Tuesday of that week, each child would be able to bring in a sharing item that began with the week's assigned letter. Simple, cute, and easy peasy, or so I thought then.

Actually, the first week really was easy. It probably won't take you long guess to what Harrison chose (hint: it rhymes with Schmangry Nerd). And the next few weeks weren't too terrible, either, although I realized by Week D that we don't really have very many "big kid" toys in our house. We have dinosaurs, of course, which is what HD took for that day, but they aren't real or scary looking by any means. Not that I think those are appropriate for a 3-yr-old to be taking to school...but it seems that a lot of our toys lean toward the younger, babyish, book, or educational sets (a.k.a. not always cool for school). Perhaps this is my subconscious helicopter trying to shield my son from dark and scary? I don't know. But now, with each new week and letter, I find myself scratching my head and wondering if I should go to the store and buy some flipping new toy that would meet the letter and age requirements for preschool.

Of course I have not done that. We always find something that works, even if it takes two or three of us scouring the house to find an appropriate Sharing Time item. But somehow, Sharing Time has become quite the growing process for us...

The dinosaur was a great pick, but ended up in semi-disaster because we forgot to get it out of his back pack that day. I always walk in with Harrison to help him get his coat and bag off before RL & I make a mad dash back to the house for her morning nap. D Day happened to be the day picture orders were due, so I was far more concerned about handing off that paperwork and didn't think to help Harrison get his dinosaur out of his bag before we left. When I came to pick him up later that morning, he was in tears by the time we got to the van because he didn't get to share his item during Sharing Time. Apparently the kids all put their items in a box in the classroom and then the teacher pulls them out and asks the owner to share. Because HD tells me nothing about school, I had no idea this was the protocol. No idea it was his job (or, in his head, my job to help him) to get his item from his bag to the box. So we did an impromptu sharing there in the van where I held up the toy, asked who it belonged to and then listened as he told me about it. Whew for thinking on my feet. Crisis averted!

We spent the next week talking about how we would help each other remember to get his next sharing item from his bag. Seriously - all week we discussed it and obviously we did just that the following Tuesday, even though I cannot for the life of me remember now what he took for "E" that week. It was the week after that that caused us more heartache. On Letter "F"'s day, when I came back to collect him, his teacher was carrying his firetruck. I thought nothing of it until she handed it to me, explaining that he did not get to share it that day because he wouldn't sit down during sharing time. Alright then. Totally understand and appreciate the rule and her adherence to it. But you can probably imagine what we spent that next week talking about!

Letter G and Letter H, no problems...a gorilla and a hat and we were good. But now tomorrow is Letter I and I have hit another wall. Honestly. The only things I could think of (because let's face it - because I am part helicpoter, this is more my assignment than it is his) were ice cream, instant coffee, and Isotoners. I don't even own Isotoners any more and didn't really think the other two were great options for putting in his school bag, you know? Then I thought of igloo and instrument but yeah right on either of those. We love music but have no toy instruments beyond some baby toys that I knew he would instantly reject (because, I promise, he does have final say in the picking, even if I do a lot of the finding).

My next option? Google. I kid you not. This morning I typed "preschool sharing item I" into the almighty Google. And even if it failed! Well, not really, but it did not give me the magical list of Letter I items appropriate for a 3-yr-old to take to preschool for Sharing Time for which I was hoping. Really Google? Thanks a lot. But it did lead me to a list of preschool crafts for the Letter I which is where I discovered Insect. Even as I type this, I am laughing at myself because of just how Idiotic and Insane this makes me sound (which the laughing at myself probably doesn't help). But there you have it - a tired, frazzle-brained mama's desperate attempt to keep from leaving her young son once again traumatized by the Sharing Time box. 

INSECT! I thought. Perfect! But then I realized, once again, as Harrison and I searched the playroom, that we have no little toy bugs or anything that isn't babyish besides a little board book about insects and an insect catching Melissa and Doug puzzle. *Sigh*

So what is the final verdict for tomorrow's item? Well, it is entirely possible that he will be taking the foam letter "I" from our playmat in the living room which he discovered after we gave up on the playroom search. At this point, I'm just glad we made it until November before we had to resort to such measures!

================================================

Thanks to the pure genius and creativity of friends and family reading and responding to this post, we were able to come up with an entire list of I items (eat that, Google!). Harrison's ultimate choice was an ice cube tray, which took some time to locate, but locate we did and it is safely at school with him now and even out of his backpack. Score, Welschies! Never before had it occurred to me that household items were OK; this opens a whole new world of possibilities for the weeks to come! 

And also thanks to the beauty of the Internets, a friend reading this post suggested keeping a list of these items so we don't lose our minds when we go through this again next year. Brilliant, my dear! I have thought more than once, "How are we am I going to do this every week for a whole second time?!?!" But I had never thought to keep track of what we already brought. Since I can't think of a place where I can write a list and keep it for a whole year without losing it, I will just continue to update this page. And, to my relief, I remembered our "E" item last night. Again, whew!

A = Angry Bird
B = B Block
C = Clock (Fisher Price old school cool)
D = Dinosaur
E = Engine (Percy flashlight)
F = Fire truck
G = Gorilla
H = Hat (of the chef variety)
I = Ice cube tray
J = Jenni (picture of Mama)
K = Keys on a Keychain 
L = Lego Light Man (lego dude that doubles as a headlamp)
M = Monkey
N = Napkin
O = Owl hat (this felt like cheating, but so be it)
P = Piggie (from Angry Birds, of course)
Q = Quarters
R = Remote
S = Stripey Guy (stuffed animal thing with stripes)
T = Thomas the Train
U = Uncle John (or a picture of him, anyway; but saving this one for next year b/c HD was sick and missed this day)
V = Vegetable (of the plastic variety)
W = Watermelon (also plastic)
X = Xray
Y = missed this week due to illness - Yellow Bird would be my guess for what he would have picked had he gone to school this day
Z = Zebra (duh?!)

The Extras:
Something Thankful For: Book (I'll Teach My Dog 100 Words, I believe)
Ornament: Two homemade ones from Grandma Deb's little Christmas tree
Something Loved: Moo Cow (of course)

Get Out the Vote

Today, like the rest of this election cycle, I focused on my children. Harrison had preschool this morning and, thanks to the time change over the weekend, we were up bright and early and breakfasted and ready to go well before school began. Since we had the time, I asked him if he wanted to come with me to vote before school. Originally I had planned to go before picking him up when all I had to do was carry Raegan on my hip and not worry about lines or waiting or any of that jazz.

Of course, because he's an enthusiastic kid in general, HD was pumped. "Vote? We get to vote?! Yay!!!!!!!" was his response. So after brushing teeth and shimmying into shoes and coats and hats, we were out the door. [Full disclosure, though? Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood is Harrison's all-time newest and most favoritest show on PBS and last week or so, they ran an episode about voting; otherwise, I don't think he'd have a clue as to what it is or means....]

My polling location changed this year, so I didn't quite know what to expect for parking and crowds. Compared to any city or metropolitan area, I know I still had it quite easy in both regards, but the fact that I had to turn around twice before finding a parking spot and then walked in to a line of 15ish people caught me off guard. We only had thismuch time before school started and I didn't know if we'd make it in time with the wait.

I thought about bailing, but Harrison was so darn excited about the whole experience, that I decided to just stick it out. We got in line and began our wait.

In total, the whole experience from arrival to departure only took about 20 minutes. Again, nothing compared to those who wait hours or half a day or don't get to vote because of some silly error or ID issue. I am a proud citizen, always happy to exercise my right to vote, and this morning I was proud to be there with my children.

Harrison was fantastic. He stayed right by my side the entire time. Granted, a couple times he was crawling through my legs as if they were a tunnel, but he was quiet and calm and very, very, very patient for a 3-yr-old who is supposed to be on his way to preschool. Raegan also did very well, snuggling up on my shoulder and making eyes at a few of the others also waiting in line. We all chit-chatted about the new polling spot, not knowing why our line had so many and the other had none, and, of course, the weather. One man even commented on how patient Harrison was being; he was, of course, my new favoritest person of the day.

Then, magically, it was my turn to vote. I signed in, got my ballot, and then tried to figure out how I was going to quickly read and fill out my choices, all while holding a baby and keeping an eye on said 3-yr-old. I realized pretty quickly, after she tried to grab my pencil three times, that Raegan had to go to the floor. That also gave Harrison something to do, as he followed her over to the table she crawled to, and together, they played and made peekaboo faces at the older ladies working our precinct. I went as fast as I could and then it was time for stickers and a mad dash to the van so we could get to school (which we managed and only a few minutes late).

Harrison and I wore our stickers all day.

Then it was time for Daddy and Harrison to go vote this evening after haircuts. Again, HD got very excited, asking, "Can I vote?!" We had to explain that he still wasn't old enough, but I promised him that I would have voting waiting for him when he got home.

Here is what I came up with while the boys were gone:

Good thing, too, because it was the first thing he asked about as soon as they walked back in the door.

I read the ballot to him, handed him a pen, and let him vote for which stickers he wanted to make art with tomorrow morning.

His choice? (even though he later changed it to Ocean) Sports!

Four years ago, before children, I was far more vocal about my political stance. While I certainly don't care any less now (in fact, I probably care more), I made a conscious choice to stay out of the political fray this year, especially on facebook. I've been insulted and called names and poo-poo'ed, all indirectly, by friends and family members sharing their opinions online and I decided I just didn't want to go there this time. Like I said, I am a proud citizen and always happy to vote. Today, I was also a proud mama, happy to be sharing this great privilege and great responsibility with my two greatest accomplishments in this world. I want them to know that everyone has a voice and deserves to be able to make that voice heard; voting is how we do that.

While part of me wishes that our choices could be as simple as Harrison's ballot, the rest of me understands that just isn't our world or our political climate. Today feels like a big day. Come what may and no matter if we agree or disagree, I hope you also made your voice heard.

Raegan Leigh

This last year has been, in some ways, a beautiful blur.

How did we go so quickly from this:

 

 To this:

Then this:

And, one week ago, this:

How is it even possible that my sweet surprise baby girl is already one year old?!

For the last week or so, I've been thinking a lot about what life was like a year ago...when I was pregnant up to my eyeballs and wondering with each new day if Baby Welsch No. 2 was ever going to make his/her appearance.

Well, appear she did, and amazing she is.

From the very first moment, Raegan has impressed me with her strength and her happiness and her pure joy and enthusiasm for life. She is such a love. As a family unit we've gone through some major successes and some major bumps (hello - sleep?!) in the last year, but through it all, this little girl with her infectious grin kept me smiling and kept me going. I will never be able to repay her for all the wonder and cheer she has brought me, but you can sure bet I will spend the rest of my days trying to make my gratitude known in hugs and kisses and snuggles and encouraging words, for she deserves and inspires all of those things.

Lately Raegan has been my girl. As in, we've entered a little bit of a clingy stage, but more specifically, clingy-to-mama stage. Although it is sometimes frustrating to have her whine or cry out when I try to step away for a minute, it is also so sweet to be needed and loved so deeply. I know it won't be long before she's able to do so much more all by herself, so I'm choosing to enjoy the fact that, for the moment, she still very much needs me. With each day, though, she gets better at taking steps, communicating, and connecting with people. I cannot wait to see where in the world this great big heart in this teeny little girl will go. Or what it will do. Pretty sure she'll be spreading smiles and love no matter where the path leads.

Happy First Birthday, Raegan Leigh! You are such a loved Love.