Baby Brother

I am absolutely loving being able to share this pregnancy with both Henry and Lucy.  It’s hard to know exactly how much they understand, but they definitely are aware of *something* going on. 

Henry: Talks about “his” baby often and knows that he will be coming sometime before Christmas.  He’s very excited to have a baby brother and wants to help get things ready for his arrival.  Every night at bedtime, he gives the baby a blessing along with a hug and a kiss.  If you ask him where his baby brother is, he’ll tell you just where to find him.  In anticipation of baby’s arrival, Henry has learned how to buckle himself into his car seat (with my blessing and encouragement).  He was determined to figure it out before his brother comes.  He asked me the other day about the hospital, so we drove by the hospital where I will have the baby.  Henry has picked out a name for the baby, but the grown-ups in the house have yet to be convinced.  He has also picked up on the fact that the baby makes me have to go to the bathroom more often and was able to explain to me (a few days after I talked to him about it) that the baby was “squishing” me. 

Lucy: Talks about her “baby brother” and sometimes puts her head on my tummy and says “Hi, brother!”  If you ask her where the baby is, she’ll probably point to her own tummy.  She also thinks that my belly button must have something to do with the baby (Henry at this age thought my belly button was the baby).  Both kids recognize the baby’s face in the latest ultrasound pictures (the 3-d ones) and call him Baby Brother.  Lately Lucy has been showing interest in climbing out of her crib, so I don’t feel bad about planning to move her out of it in the next few months.   She also likes to bounce on my tummy (not my favorite part).  She loves watching all the babies that are siblings of Henry’s classmates (we all wait together at pick-up time for the class to be over) and is likely to spot an infant carrier (carseat) even before I do. 

Favorite Book:  The Baby Sister by Tomie dePaola.  This was recommended to me by a librarian before Lucy was born and we picked it up again this week.  Both kids love it, especially Henry.  We talk about how he already has a baby sister, just like Tommy, and now he will have a baby brother, too.  Lucy pointed at the baby in the story tonight and said “brother.”  It is a very sweet book that deals with Tommy’s mom’s pregnancy and her going away to the hospital for a few days when the baby is born.  And then they come home and Tommy gets to meet his sister.  And he is “the happiest boy in the world.”  Henry smiles and gives me a hug every time we read that last line. 

The Little Princess, 18 months

We are loving watching little Lucy as she grows into a little girl.  She is sweet and silly and very verbal.   If you make silly faces at her, she will make them right back at you.  She loves to watch herself in the mirror and is enjoying learning to dance and jump.  Her brother has taught her well in the ways of mischief, so it’s not uncommon to find her jumping on the couch or standing on the dining room table if you leave her alone for a few minutes.  Thankfully she is a bit more cautious than he is, so she will at least ask for help getting down (from the table, at least). 

Lucy as a younger sister, and often one of the “babies” in a playgroup, has learned at once to be possessive of her own things (“mine” was one of her first words many months ago), but also to share and give things to others.  Today we have some friends over and Lucy has been bringing them their water cups and blankets all morning, saying, “Here, Elsie!” and, “Here, Lola!”  Henry thinks this is all great fun, especially when she decides to share her food with him (leaving Mommy to wonder how his stack of crackers got so tall).  She also likes to hand us things when we are cleaning or folding laundry or doing puzzles, which is actually helpful. 

When we went for Lucy’s 18 month checkup, I laughed when the pediatrician asked me about Lucy’s vocabulary.   How many words can she say?  Give me a category and I’ll try to count, but she says way more than I can keep up with.  Not to mention the fact that she’ll repeat everything she hears, so she’ll probably learn several new words just during the course of an afternoon.  I love this stage!  While not every one of her thoughts is expressed in complete sentences, several of them are.  Some things you might hear her say today:

“I want more water!  Cup!” (or whatever else is being offered)
“I closed the door, Mommy” 
“I do it.  Self!”  (car seat buckle, getting dressed, etc.)
“I brush the teeth!  Self!”  (yes, there is a bit of a theme here)
“Look!  A hat!  Up there!” 

One of my favorite things is how much Lucy loves her Daddy.  She gets SO excited when he comes home from work, or appears around a corner at home.  Good luck getting her to stop saying “Hi, Daddy!” for several minutes.  At the same time, she enjoys being “bashful” around him.  When he leaves for work in the morning, she’ll sometimes run to him and ask for a hug and kiss (repeatedly).  Other times she’ll turn away at the last second and start giggling, refusing a kiss. 

I can’t wait to see Lucy as a big sister!  She loves to kiss her baby brother (who apparently lives in my belly button) and to look at his picture.  She doesn’t have much in the way of dolls to play with, but when we go to friends’ houses, she finds all the baby dolls and loves to hold them and give them bottles and take them for stroller rides. 

Want more about little Lucy?  Guess you’ll have to come visit and play with her yourself!  Our house is always open.   

1.  The kids are playing happily in the basement!  This is a big deal because the basement has been off-limits for the duration of the kitchen project.  We finally took care of the last details that needed to happen down there to make it safe and I was able to shampoo the carpet this morning.  Now they’re enjoying all the toys that they haven’t seen in the last month and I’m upstairs enjoying some peace and quiet.  Beautiful. 

2.  Henry started preschool last week and is loving it.  Yesterday he came home covered in fingerpaint (I’m hoping it’s washable) and he loves telling us all about what he does during the day. 

3.  While Henry is at school, I’m enjoying some nice time alone with Lucy.  We’re doing a toddler gym class on Tuesdays and just hanging out the rest of the time.  Running errands, cleaning, cooking… things are so much more peaceful with just her!  It’s also nice to have this time with her before baby brother comes.  She does miss her brother, though.  She’ll look around the house for him and call his name while we’re in the car. 

4.  I’m not sure which family member gave this to Henry for Christmas, but it has been a constant favorite around here.  Even Lucy loves it.  We read from it just about every day (still).  Anyone with a train-loving child should have this book. 

Full Steam Ahead! Little Red Train by Benedict Blathwayt

5.  See this cutie?  I’m so excited to meet him a few months.  I think he looks like Henry…

 

Kitchen! or “Look What My Husband Did”

Remember this?  That’s what it looked like when we moved in, and more or less what it looked like a month ago.  Plus some clutter. 

 

Now?  Here it is:

Just for fun, here’s the image from the IKEA kitchen planner that we used to help us envision what we were doing.  The only thing we actually bought from IKEA was the wood for the countertop (if it were closer, maybe we would have done more shopping there).   We ended up doing less reorganization of cabinets than we had considered, but this was a useful tool to help us sort through our options. 

What we got rid of:
-Cabinet Hardware
-Shelves in the pass-through window
-Vinyl floor (and several layers worth of linoleum)
-Ugly countertop
-Sink, faucet, garbage disposal, and all associated plumbing

What we did/added:
-Painted cabinets and added shiny new hardware
-Tile backsplash
-Butcherblock countertops, including a new “bar” area in the window to the dining room
-Tile floor
-New threshold (made by Matt) and trim
-Installed new sink, faucet, and garbage disposal
-Moved one cabinet across the kitchen to make room for a dishwasher
-Installed the dishwasher (twice… the first one didn’t work)
-New under-cabinet lighting
-Utensil storage area next to oven
-LOTS of plumbing and electrical work
-A hundred other little things involving paint, tools, etc.

Other things we’ve done (previously):
-Pot/lid storage
-Stemware rack
-Hooks for measuring cups/spoons

Things I really love:
-Pass through window/bar makes it so easy to get things ready for meals and to clean up… no more having to walk around the wall to get everything between rooms!  Should be great for entertaining when we’re ready to allow people back into our house again. 
-Sink… roughly the same dimensions as the old one, but a little bit deeper and has only a half wall dividing the basins, making it so much easier to manage large items (and bathe babies???).  And so pretty, too!
-Faucet… Love the height, pull-down sprayer, and soap dispenser
-Garbage disposal… so quiet (yet efficient), and now the switch is on the wall where it belongs (rather than under the sink)
-Dishwasher… obviously.  I also love that my husband was kind of enough to wire it so that there is a shut-off switch under the sink so the kids can’t mess with it during the day. 

I am thrilled with the way everything turned out and despite the hard work involved, I’ve been happy to have a project to keep me (us) busy over the last few weeks.  I continue to remain in awe of my husband.  His work ethic (you should have seen the flow chart he whipped up as we were getting started), attention to detail, style (I have to give him credit for pretty much every one of the choices we made for the room), and his willingness to jump in and do the tough stuff.  He really did use just about all the tools that he owns (including some new ones) and with a couple of exceptions, did it all by himself.  Unless it involved tile or paint, in which case I was able to help.