I thought it was time to do a post about Phoebe. Most of the posts lately have been random rants or about things Sophia has done. Phoebe has been doing a lot too so I thought I would share. Plus, she just turned 18 months last Tuesday so what better time to give a life update!

Phoebe now has 5 teeth, the 5th was a molar.

She is defintely a Mama’s girl and prefers me over anyone else (most of the time), but that can be very exhausting for me too!

She can climb up and (sometimes) down the ladder of the bunk bed by herself. Very scary for her parents!

She fusses and screams at me when she wants her juice cup or food and is noisy until the moment I put it in her hand. She can be quite an impatient child!

She LOVES fruit snacks and would probably live off them if she could.

Phoebe likes to give kisses and hugs and will do ‘fish lips’ when you ask for a kiss.

She knows about 15 or so words/phrases including:
bath, blankie, thank you, juice, cup, here you go, hi, bye, mama, dada, baby, ball, poop, cat, cheese, uh oh, ow, mine, shoe, Pablo (from Backyardigans)

She talks a lot but we can’t understand anything she says unless it is one of the above mentioned words. She is very specific about it too. Phoebe will stand there and look at you and start talking, but it isn’t the typical baby gibberish either. Some sounds are distinct from others and she is very particular about what she is trying to tell you. I am sure once she knows more words she will be quite the chatterbox.

At this last check up she weighed 21.12 pounds and is finally ABOVE the average line in weight and height. She is becoming not so petite anymore and gaining more girth.

She still sucks her thumb and needs it to comfort herself or fall asleep at night.

She enjoys walking on her tip toes and will sometimes try to run while on her tip toes, but it turns into more of a bouncy trot instead.

Whenever she wants to be picked up she will manuoever or push you around until your front is facing her and she can grab the sides of your legs and bury her face in your crotch and rub her face back and forth very quickly. As I have named it “the crotch rub”.

She has been in nursery a month now and seems to really like it. There are so many toys and new kids to play with. However, she is in there during what would be nap time so some days are better than others. She can be cranky or spaced out depending on how tired she is.

She has really grown to love bath time and will splash and play around for quite some time. Part of this has been helped by the fact that Sophia doesn’t torture her as much at bath time so Phoebe is left alone to do as she pleases.

I love her hair, the way it feels and smells. I will put it in a side pony tail most days, but I do enjoy doing pig tails in the front and it makes her look like Boo from Monsters Inc.

Categories: Phoebe, Weekly Family Update
3 Comments »

I have done my good citizen deed for the day. I went to Stonebriar Mall for a new water filter for our fridge so I parked just outside Sears, not where I typically park when I go, but it is where the filter was. Upon walking to the front I see a car parked in the first handicapped space of the lot. It did, in fact, have a handicapped license plate so I at least knew they parked where they should, BUT the driver’s door was wide open. The engine was not running, no one was waiting in the car, there were no signs around the car that something was wrong, just an open door. I walked slowly to see if anyone would come to claim this car, when I walked in the store I stood at the door watching it for a moment to see if anyone would come, no one did. So I found an employee, told them what was going on and to get security. Well, she had me follow her all the way to security so I could tell them what I saw and then security had me walk him to the car (which we ended up walking half way around the outside of the store just to get there!) to show him. He was telling me on the walk there that he and his wife were at Walmart one time and they saw an infant carrier sitting outside someone’s car near the trunk. Concerned, they approached it to be sure there was no baby. Thankfully, there wasn’t, they just forgot to take the carrier and left it sitting in the parking lot!!!

So, all he could think of to do was close the door and leave it be. The person who came back would probably just scold themselves for forgetting to LOCK the car. One would think, after many, many years of driving, it becomes natural, second nature really, to get out of your car, close the door, lock it, and be on your way. How could you NOT NOTICE your driver’s door is completely open? That you missed a step? Could this person truly have left their car wide open like that? All I know is when I finally left the mall with purchase in hand the car was gone. They don’t even know how lucky they were today…..

But I will say this: They deserved to be parked in the handicapped space! Mentally speaking of course.

Categories: Heather, Weekly Family Update
1 Comment »

I find something very endearing and sweet about a child calling their mother “mommy” or “mama”. After all, when children begin speaking it will usually come out as mommy or mama and will stay that way for quite some time. About 2 weeks ago I became “mom” to Sophia. I feel like a chapter has closed in our lives and that she is growing up. “Mom” is what teenagers and adults call their mothers, but not an almost 3 year old! I still see her as my baby and whenever she calls me “mom” I am reminded in that moment that she is definitely NOT a baby anymore. Not only am I just “mom” now, but quite often I am “Hey Mom!” I don’t know where this came from, and this is how the whole “mom” thing began. I am guaranteed to hear “Hey Mom.” 10 or more times in a day before she proceeds with the next thing she was going to say. *Sigh* I guess all I can do is try and welcome my new role and stage in life as just “mom.” Well, with Sophia anyway. My saving grace is Phoebe who daily yells out “MAMA” to me……mmmmm, bliss!

Categories: Heather, Phoebe, Sophia, Weekly Family Update
3 Comments »

I try not to bemoan my own existence very much but this morning I woke up with a migraine. I haven’t had an actual migraine in years. When I was younger, pre-teen – early teens, I would get them frequently but over time the frequency subsided to the point that I hardly ever suffer from an actual migraine.

Right now I should be at church with the family, but due to the lingering pain I’m sitting at home typing out how much I appreciate my wife. I slept until 1:30 PM when I should have been up at 7:00 AM. Heather doesn’t work well with little sleep. With at least 8 hours of sleep I’m pretty sure she can handle anything the world throws at her but if you edge her closer to 7 hours she becomes volatile. Last night probably wasn’t her best night of sleep but she got the kids ready herself and packed them off to church because her wuss of a husband couldn’t handle his little headache.

Thank you.

I had forgotten how terrible migraines were. It’s like someone is yanking on your optical nerve as hard as they can. Any sort of light or noise makes the nasty little optic nerve yankers pull harder. I can pretty easily spot the difference between your average headache and a migraine due to the fact that real migraines hurt so much they make me throw up. Sadly it also seems to be the only way for me to get rid of one. Vomit -> Sleep = cured headache.

Tags: migraine
Categories: BJ, BJ's Life
5 Comments »

There are many things that make each family unique: Traditions, food, sayings, inside jokes, and a host of other things that come and go.

I’m going to start making small posts about little things our family does that make us a little bit different. If you can’t find it at Wal-Mart then I’ll post about it here. I’ll try to respect closely held tradition (like the family Hot Chocolate recipe) but I’ll eventually get around to posting our tangy rib sauce recipe and other little items that are our personal favorites.

This one is unique to me. The girls aren’t old enough for me to let them try it and Heather doesn’t like seaweed.

Instant Ochazuke. Google it if you want to know what it is. It’s essentially rice soup. You’ll have to hunt down packets at an Asian grocery store unless you live in an area with a high enough Asian population that they stock in in normal food stores. You can also buy it at places like maruwa.com.

Put about 1/3 – 1/2 cup of leftover cooked rice in a bowl. Pour the ochazuke packet on top of the rice. Pour 150-200ml of boiling water over the rice and ochazuke mix. Stir. Eat it.

If you visit, ask to try some. It’s simple for a quick snack.

Tags: japanese,ochazuke,rice
Categories: BJ, The Little Things
4 Comments »

Yes, it’s a toy. Yes, you can buy it for your children so they can learn about the security checkpoint. Yes, there are a ton of hilarious Amazon reviews for this toy.

Tags: obey,police state
Categories: BJ, Entertainment
2 Comments »

BJ and I watched an old Bill Cosby sketch a few weeks ago. It seemed like half of his skit was about being married, having kids, and how life is like being a husband and father. It was hilarious though! I mean, laughing so hard there were tears in my eyes hilarious! Part of why I found it so funny was because it was also so true. The longer I am a parent I am sure I will find even more of his ‘jokes’ to be fact. One of the things he mentioned was that his kids would say “I don’t know” about almost everything. “Son, why did you cut your hair?” “I don’t know…..” Bill said he figured it out too—children, all children, have brain damage. It sure can seem that way sometimes. How suiting that I saw that skit only less than a month ago, because this is how it has been at our house the last few weeks. Bill Cosby KNOWS what he is talking about!

“Sophia, why are you crying?”
“I don’t know……” sniffle sniffle sob

“Why did you take your clothes off?”
“I don’t know.” runs off naked

“Sophia! Why did you hit Phoebe?”
“I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you eat that? You like that food!”
“I don’t know.”

“Don’t throw that! Why would you throw that?”
“I don’t know.”

And on and on. Keep preachin’ Bill.

Categories: Heather, Sophia, Weekly Family Update
1 Comment »

Sophia likes pretending to be a cat. Normally this just involves prefacing everything she says with “meow” and terminating phrases with the same “meow”. Oh yeah, she licks things too. Random things. Everything. It really depends on her mood.

As I was putting her to bed tonight she was again pretending to be a cat. “Meow, Meow kiss?” I kissed my daughter. As I was walking out she says, “Meow, Meow lick?” I could imagine what she was going to do, but being curious, I walked up to her. At which point she stuck her tongue out and tried to lick my face. I avoided the cat lick with lightning reflexes and laughed, then gave her a hug and a big kiss.

Watch out.

Tags: Sophia
Categories: BJ
1 Comment »