First Day of School

Ever since Savannah started her first day of school (2 years, 5 months and 12 days ago), I have referred to it as "school". It's not "day-care". Call it guilt, call it just me being nutso, but I cannot and will not call the place where I send my baby girl each day, "day-care". It's "school". She has learned SO much since she started at 11 weeks old. So much more than I think I could have taught her on my own. One day I picked her up from school and she was eating...with a spoon! I was amazed. I had no idea I should even be trying to let her eat with a spoon. That was a long time ago, but now she's counting, knows her ABCs, recites the days of the week and they are now learning the four seasons. She blows me away every day by what she knows. Oh, and what she's hearing and listening to Stephen and I say even when we think she's wrapped up in her own activity and paying no attention to us. Oh, she's listening alright and taking it all in...to be used against us one day soon I'm sure.

So today was Gage's first day of school. I cannot tell you all how happy I am that Miss Felicia and Miss Leslie are still in the infant room at school. They were Savannah's first teachers and I tell you, every kid in that school LOVES Miss Felicia...including Gage. He had an excellent first day! He ate, he slept, he smiled and cooed. It will be very neat to watch his friendships blossom the way we've seen with Savannah and her friends from school.

Here's Gage ready for his first day of school.



And here's Savannah.


Check out those cheeks! And the belly roll coming through the seat belt. She was (and still is) always smiling and happy. I'm fairly certain, however, in this picture, she was just happy to get away from the crazy lady who was literally in her face talking, singing, clapping, rattling and stimulating her every waking second. But seriously...you can really see the difference in their sizes by looking at the distance between the chest harness and the lap belt.

I'd like to think that Gage has been perfectly content being at home with a less insane woman for the last 3 months. We've taken it easy and I've been much less intrusive this go around. I've truly enjoyed my time with Gage during my leave and I'm sad to go back to work. I'm going to count the minutes every day before I get to pick him up and kiss those cheeks and smell his sweet head. But I know he's in very good, loving hands at school and he's going to make friends very easily. In fact, he was bragging to daddy tonight how he got the digits from the bald hottie in the pink flowered onesie.

It's 2009...let the birthday parties begin!

On Sunday, Savannah and I went to Kiki's 4th birthday party. Savannah was thrilled to don her party dress!


Kiki had a clown at her party. She made balloon animals and flowers. Then she painted faces. At Kiki's 3rd birthday party last year, Princess Belle painted the girls' faces too, but Savannah would have none of that. This year, however, after watching a few girls before her, she decided she would brave the face painting.


She was extremely pleased with the results!


Thanks, Kiki, for a great time at your party! We hope you had a very happy 4th birthday!

Pink Pancakes

When Stephen makes pancakes, you know it's a holiday! Especially when he's dieting (I mean making lifestyle changes) and still makes pancakes for the rest of us, then you really know it must be a special day in our house. Unfortunately, we don't have a heart-shaped cookie cutter. When life hands you lemons...you make pink pancakes! Which reminds me I need to pick up a 4-leaf clover shape before St. Patty's Day otherwise, we may end up with green pancakes! Savannah likes pancakes (the ONLY kind of "cake" she'll even look at), but she LOVES PINK pancakes.



I found this little number last Fall on consignment. I'm so happy that something I bought on consignment actually fit in the right season. It says, "Heartbreaker In Training". With all the girls expected in the next few months in our subdivision (4 between now and May), it could be true. Of course, there will be lots of competition among all the older boys...and there are plenty of those to go around too!



Gage sneezes all the time...bless you!



This little Tweety Bird was a favorite of Savannah's and has found a place in Gage's heart too. Tweety gets a smile out of Gage every time!



A very special THANK YOU to Nana! She braved both kiddos Saturday night to give me and Stephen a Valentine's night out!!! We enjoyed a fantastic steak dinner at Wildfire and then hit Target and the mall. I bought shoes...for me no less.

Tools of the trade

The fact that you gotta have the right tool for the job goes beyond the workshop and the kitchen. Before you have a baby, you think, "Do I REALLY need all this stuff???" I'm talkin', the swing, the travel swing, the bouncy seat, the bumbo, the exersaucer, the play mat, the jumperoo, the pack -n- play, the Boppy, etc. The answer is an emphatic YES! You need it all and sometimes 2 of a few favorites...and in our house, that's the swing. We have the swing for downstairs and the travel swing for when mommy needs a shower.

Gage has grown fond of all these staples for new babies, although he hasn't grown into the exersaucer or jumperoo just yet, but those will be the faves in a few short months, just you wait and see!

I thought I would share Gage enjoying most of his toys (or mommy's tools if you will).

Oh, the swing...


Bouncy seat is great for watchin' "movies". It plays the same "movie" over and over and over again, but Gage is mesmerized.

I mean really mesmerized...

And most recently, he likes to sit up in his Bumbo.


And we can't start leaving out Savannah.
She loved to sleep on her Boppy...even though this was actually our attempt at desperately trying to keep her awake in the early months.


Oh, you wanted to see a recent picture of Savannah??? Well, okay :)

Savannah and Gage posing for me.


Daddy took Gage to Costco so Savannah let me take some pictures of her outside. It was close to 70 degrees here in Atlanta this weekend. Wish we could have this weather every day. Savannah really just loves to wear this shirt. She's 2 1/2 and it's a 4T. She's such a big girl! Savannah is doing great with the potty. We only use her pull-ups now for naps and nighttime...yay!

Gage is 2 months old!

Stats:
14 pounds, 4.5 ounces
23 inches

Big smiles, although I have a hard time getting him to smile with a big, fat lens in his face :-) I think he's trying to laugh. Great sleeper.

I think he's practicing his "Go Dawgs! Sic 'em!"

Baby Plus

I'm posting this knowing good and well people are going to think I'm nutz. When I got pregnant with Savannah, Stephen was terrific. He did all the product research to find the safest infant car seat, best crib for the $$$, best stroller, best swing, best bouncy seat, best, best, best. As my mother always says, "Nothing but the best for Stephen." So in all his research, Stephen came across a prenatal educational product that claimed to make your baby smart...claimed that the baby would come out calm, alert, latch on and nurse easily. Stephen really wanted me to use this product which would require me to wear a belt-like aparatus for 1-2 hours each day. I thought he was crazy. However, being the accomodating wife that I am, I thought, "What the hay!?! What could it hurt?". So starting at around 20 weeks gestation, I wore the Baby Plus for 1 hour in the morning while I got ready for work and as I drove into work and then another hour at night while I watched TV or read in bed or even as I slept. It wasn't that bad. Little did I know at the time that the claims made by the Baby Plus people were absolutely true.

The day Savannah was born (I'll spare you all the details), but Stephen will attest that she did not cry. She just looked at the doctors and nurses like, "what are you doing, people? Why all the poking and prodding? Could you just stop? Okay, geez, if you really want me to cry, fine." and she let out a little noise, but that would be about it. Because she was a c-section baby, I didn't get to hold her right away. It was about an hour before I could try to nurse. I stressed about this. I wanted to nurse and I had heard that if you don't try within the first hour after birth, well then you might as well kiss every hope of nursing good-bye because your baby would be damned to a life of formula and every evil that goes along with it. (Hey, it was my first baby and I wanted everything to be perfect...who doesn't?). Well, when they finally brought her to me, I was pleasantly surprised that she latched right on. Savannah went on to be a very happy baby and toddler...hardly ever cried, slept throught the night by 2 months. She was darn near perfect (if I do say so myself) :) She has grown into a very beautiful, happy, smart 2 1/2 year old. She really is happy 99% of the time. While I'd really like to take credit for how wonderful I think she is, I truly believe that Baby Plus contributed to who she is today.

So, when I got pregnant with Gage, there was no doubt in my mind that I would use Baby Plus again. I did and I'm so glad I did! I had always heard that if your first child is "good" then you are doomed with your second and vice versa. I have to say in our case, this is not true. I attribute this to Baby Plus...I'm serious. Gage was born so alert and so calm. He rarely cries. Even when he wakes up he doesn't ever really cry. He self-soothes and does not need a paci to get to sleep (we definitely use the paci during the day and on outings...don't get me wrong, I do depend on a paci for sure!). Gage has been a great sleeper. If "sleeping through the night" is 6 consecutive hours, then he's been doing this since he was about 4 weeks old. Lately, he's been doing even better than that...typically about 8 hours. However, and maybe the last 2 nights have been a total fluke, he has slept 12 consecutive hours for the last 2 nights. I kid you not!

Again, I think Baby Plus is the reason for this. It's not anything that Stephen or I have done. I mean, I have tons of mommy friends who do nothing differently than me, yet I hear their horror stories of their 2 year olds who are still not sleeping through the night and their 6 month olds who are up every other hour in the middle of the night. They may not be my friends anymore after this post, but I'm fairly certain they don't read this anyway :-)

A dear friend of mine who shall remain nameless is pregnant now. I told her about Baby Plus over lunch. I have never told anyone except my mother, my sister and the pediatric nurses in the hospital about Baby Plus. My friends would think I was crazy. I'm not sure if she has decided to use it...I gave her mine. I can imagine all the jokes she and her husband are telling behind my back. I really hope she does use it though and her baby is a "good", easy baby too!

Random pictures of Gage

Gage and I have been having fun getting to know one another. Not trying to brag because I know it's nothing I've done, but the boy LOVES his sleep!!! I thought Savannah liked to sleep...nope, nothing compares to this little man. He must take after his Aunt Melanie :-)



He may be a little mad at me for this one...I mean, I do have his pants pulled up like a shop teacher. Sorry to all the shop teachers of the world, but c'mon, you know it's funny because it's true.


I'll post his 2-month pictures tomorrow. Should probably take those pictures BEFORE the shots! Poor baby :(

Mani/Pedi, anyone?

On Saturday, my fabulous husband allowed me an hour and a half outing to get a pedicure (much needed since the last one was before Gage was born just one day shy of 2 months ago). My sister called while I was in the massage chair so I really killed like 5 birds with one stone (1) got out of the house sans kiddos, (2) pedicure, (3) massage, (4) caught up on all the good celebrity gossip and (5) caught up with Mel. What more could I ask for? Maybe a smoothie while my feet soaked.

Anyhow, I have wanted to paint Savannah's toenails for a few months now. I even bought the purple polish a long time ago...which is why I could not find it anywhere on Saturday. Thankfully, Stephen knew how much it would make both myself and Savannah happy so he picked up a great pink hue on his way home from Daddy's playground (a.k.a. Home Depot). It dries in just 60 seconds...smart Daddy!

So when Savannah, Gage and I arrived home from the playground, I immediately wanted to play with Savannah's toes :-) She was a great customer and giggled the entire time (all of 2 minutes to get the job done). She loved it and I think she wanted me to do her fingers too, however, I don't think I'm quite ready for polish on my baby girl's fingers just yet (don't think Daddy is ready for that either).

Here are the results.


Sippin' on gin and juice. Laid back...with my mind on my money and my money on my mind. Sorry, couldn't help myself. And it's really just juice.