Trace-isms

Life with a 4-year-old is never dull.

Life with my 4-year-old is an experience all in itself. He is SO full of energy, enthusiasm, and little boy wonder that it amazes me and keeps me on my toes.


We have been celebrating his birthday for a month now... it's honestly like the birthday that won't die. His official party was on the 15th of January, but since then Sisty has brought back out-of-town birthday presents from family in Alabama, both sets of great grandmothers gave him birthday money that prompted 2 trips to Toys "R" Us, my friends Lynda and Penny (that were unable to come to his party) brought their gift over the other night, and then of course on February 7th, we celebrated again with a mini Buzz Lightyear cake for our little family of four.

Sigh... it was the longest birthday in history. So now of course my child thinks every time he turns around there should be another gift, card, or cake with his name on it celebrating his blessed birth. ha!
As I sit downloading these pictures, he is running around the house with his crocodile Halloween costume on over his pajamas, which has been recycled into a dinosaur named Buddy from the PBS show Dinosaur Train.

At least he's resourceful.

To complete the look, he has on my dad's huge gun shooting range headphones that he borrowed for the monster truck show my brother and Kadi are taking him to tomorrow night.

For the better part of an hour last week, I thought he was going to accompany me to the bi-lo wearing this ensemble, and believe it or not, I was OK with that.

Between my hormonal, acne riddled face, the dark circles under my eyes, the fact that I haven't donned "real" clothes in months, and my hair that's in desperate need of maintenance, I was looking pretty prehistoric myself. At least "Buddy" would have diverted attention from me.

But suddenly as we were walking out the door, he says, "Oh I guess I need to take my costume off."

Sadly, my "costume" won't come off so easily.

Just a few Trace-isms I want to remember...

"Tell me an 'all of a sudden' story." This comes from Thomas books, so he now thinks every story told must contain an "all of a sudden" moment and he waits patiently for it and then he pauses and replies, "what happened?" It's like the equivalent of what us adults call the cliffhanger.

"Well... kinda had a lil' bit of trouble." He says, with a slumped, defeated face whenever he has been in trouble or something has happened at school that he needs to confess.

"I've got a perfectly good idea... let's go to Chick-a-lay!"

"In just a minute... I'm a little busy." I hear this whenever he's asked to get dressed or put on his shoes before we leave to go somewhere. This phrase typically causes my blood pressure to spike.

"I'm Goldilocks." I turned around for 2 seconds the other day and he ate my entire bowl of cereal.

"Where is Girby's du danky?" and "Does Girby have baby boobies like me?" Can you tell there have been a lot of anatomy discussions about male and female parts around here in the last 3 weeks? We probably need to use the "proper" terms but du danky and boobies seem to have stuck for the time being.

"Let's name her Carter... oh yeah, the doctor already took her out of your belly and said her name was Keatyn." He announced her new name was Carter the other day after he walked out of school with his friend Emma Kate and her new baby brother, Carter.

"This is a keep out sign... no girls can come in, only Nanas, Papaws, and Traces."

Nanny meeting Keatyn...

It's a wonder she still has any hair, he kisses her head a 100 times a day. It's so sweet... just hope it lasts!
I hesitate to say this out loud, but for the last 4 nights this little lady has gone 5 and 6 hours between feedings!!! Oh, I'm actually feeling human again. I'm a sleeper, so to actually get several hours in a row has been miraculous. We had to put her on Axid for reflux so maybe that is helping and I pray it will continue to. You could tell how uncomfortable she was and the cute kitty cat sounds she was making turned out to be more like acid reflux growls...poor baby.

I'm hoping the good nights are here to stay, but I keep reminding myself this is a season of life, and if it's a season of sleepless nights, it won't last forever. Sweet dreams everyone!!

Baby Love

In honor of Valentines Day, I must admit something...

I'm in love.

Again.

This is my newest crush...
decked out in her finest Valentine attire.


And this is my newest crush's tushy, which I could just sink my teeth into... but I won't.
It still amazes me that just 11 days ago, this was the same hiney that would rise up just to the left of my bellybutton no less than 100 times a day. This was, of course, the preamble to the karate kid kick into my right rib that would inevitably follow, robbing me of my breath.

It's funny how a part of me misses that.
I love her Fat Albert cheeks and lips when they pout out.

I love the "kitty cat" sounds she makes... even at 3 a.m.

I love how she holds up her little hand when I'm nursing her, and then wraps her long, slender fingers around mine.

I love that by the mere raise of her eyebrows she can go from newborn to Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men.

I just love her!

Since she's been home, she's only been out 3 times. The first was last Wednesday to Highland Pediatric to meet Dr. Coffman. She checked out great and had only lost from 7 lbs. 13 oz. down to 7 lbs. 12oz!! That is music to a nursing mom's ears. There is no way of knowing how much they are eating, is the milk "good" enough, is she eating often enough. I have always heard it is common for them to loose 10% of their birth weight, so I was thrilled with her losing just 1 oz.

She's an eater, just like her Mama!

We decided to keep Trace out of school last week because there had been a few cases of RSV and a viral infection going around the church and preschool. So it was a LONG week for him, but luckily the grands were happy to step in and help entertain him.

Friday night, he spent the night at Nana and Papaw's house. When I went to get him, I left Keatyn with them and he and I went to Books-A-Million to get her a baby book. I put Keatyn in my dad's arms sitting in his recliner, and when I returned an hour and a half later, they were in the exact same position. I don't think he shared with Nana at all. I would imagine, he laid there with her on his chest, tickling her ear and smelling her head the entire time I was gone. And if I'm being honest, there were probably some tears shed... from him not her. My dad usually runs like his hair's on fire, always going 100 m.p.h. But you put his new grand baby in his arms, and the rest of the world disappears.

I love that about him.

Then Sunday night, she made her first trip to Sisty and Granddaddy's for steaks. I actually remembered my camera for once.

We were there for nearly 3 hours and I think she opened her eyes once. Trace insisted she sit next to him at dinner so we had to pull her car seat right up next to his chair. She was the perfect dinner guest... never ate a bite or uttered a word.
She is so blessed to be loved by so many!

We've walked a fine line this week between wanting Trace to bond with her, hold, and love on her, and trying to keep her well. Of all the precautions we have taken, he ended up with a snotty nose and hacky cough and has been on medicine. So every time he gets near her, he hears, "Go blow your nose and wash your hands before you touch her." "Ohhh, don't get right in her face buddy." "Just kiss her on the top of the head." Poor little guy :(




We celebrated Valentines Day with a meal of California Burritos and chips and salsa, picked up from El Metate. I think Jimmy ate his while I was bathing Trace and I reheated and ate mine an hour later while he was holding Keatyn and returning Trace to bed (for the 3rd time.)

Romantic, huh? But I couldn't be happier... or more exhausted!

Keatyn's birth at OneTrueMedia.com

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