Enjoying every moment

When Hallie was born, I told myself that I was going to enjoy every stage of her life. With Natalie it was easy to just think "okay, she'll grow out of this". She won't always be unable to sit up on her own. She won't always be unable to roll over. She won't always have to be fed by you. She won't always be unable to crawl. She won't always be unable to walk, to stand on her own. I didn't really relish those times like I should have. Heck the first bath I gave Natalie was when she was almost a year old and until Hallie was born, mama did it pretty much every night. I did feed her, but not bottles, and I did change her diapers. So along came Hallie and my attitude was ready to go. I thought about all of the phases we had with Natalie and how I managed to survive them all so this time I should enjoy them. I was excited for the nights when it was my turn to be up with her, I was excited to feed her every chance I got, and we alternate bath nights for the girls. One night I do Hallie the other night I do Natalie. I love it.

There is one area however that I haven't enjoyed. I knew it was coming. I have thought about it since the hospital really. It was torture for Natalie when she went through it and thus it was hard on us as parents. It seemed like it took forever. In reality it was about two months. I told myself that it wouldn't be THAT bad, it couldn't be THAT bad. I was wrong. I could change my attitude about alot of things but one thing still is no fun to go through. Teething. That's right teething. The runny nose inducing, fever causing, extra gross diaper resulting process that seems to take forever with our girls. We could feel them on Hallie a long time ago. The doctor showed us how you could see them dropping in her gums. Well they never broke through, and never broke through, until this week. Hallie Bear officially has one tooth. You can't see it but you can sure feel it. Now if only those other ones would hurry up and get here....

Natalie

I was informed that I might have exaggerated Natalie's behavior a little too much so I just want to pass along a story from this morning on the way to school that made me smile. We pulled up to the school and I got out of the car to go open her door. Here is the conversation that ensued:

N: "Daddy, I was just praying."
D: "Oh, really? That's good."
N: "I was praying to God."
(pause)
N: "I prayed that he would bless me."
D: "You did? How sweet. What did you pray for?"
N: "Um, Snow White and Ariel"

Only from the mind and mouth of a three-year-old. :)

The drought is over

And we're back. I could give you all the lines about "oh, I promise to do better", "I've failed as a blogger", "no excuses, sorry I haven't posted more", etc...but I will spare you from reading those. Let's just leave it at "I'll try and do better" and call it good.

Natalie loves school. She gets up excited every morning, right up until breakfast. See, Natalie has been going through the "I'm 3, you can't tell me what to do" phase. She will eat when she wants, what she wants, and however much she wants. She will play where she wants, when she wants. She will get dressed when she wants. It's not pretty. Unfortunately she has taken that to school with her. She cries when she doesn't get more snacks. She doesn't get in line when told to. We have talked with her about it and the teacher says she is doing better, but still it's embarrassing as a parent that the one who is supposed to be the "peer model" is the crier. Never been on this side of the parent/teacher relationship. It's stressful when you want your kid to do well and be well behaved only to come home and hear that the teacher talked with your wife while she was picking up the kid and the kid's not following directions. To Nat's credit she is doing MUCH better and even is at home, except when it's time to eat. So strange. Wilson's don't cry over the beginning of dinner time, we cry when it's over! I didn't mean to make her sound like a problem child, because she's not...at all. She still plays well with other kids, shares toys, and says please and thank you.

Hallie Bear is gross. Okay so she's cute, cuddly, adorable, chubby, beautiful beyond description....but still gross. She spits. Alot. And often. We took her to the doctor and she looked at our 20 lb 6 oz chunker of a 7 month old and verbally said "oh, I think she's fine, a tablespoon of spittup isn't worth worrying about", but what I heard as the daddy was "why are you bringing this perfectly healthy baby around this office with all of the flu going around, just so you can spare the laundry???" Or something like that. Besides the spitting, she is wonderful. She is crawling, pulling herself to standing, and gabbering like a monkey. She cries too, mostly when she's been up for more than two hours in a row. That seems to be about the limit. Some nights between Hallie crying from being tired and Natalie crying over not enough snacks, I just want to scream. But I don't, because it's all part of being a dad and I wouldn't change a thing about either of them, except for the spittup. Its just so gross. :)

Every morning on the way to school Natalie and I solve the worlds problems. There are three corn fields we drive by every day, and Nat has commented on them every single day. Well yesterday they were all harvested and so Natalie says "Hey, someone cut all the corn and took it home...AND ATE IT FOR DINNER!" in a slowly rising voice. Sometimes I don't know how I don't crash the car. She is a riot. Like I said, I wouldn't change a thing!