One Month To Go

Exactly one month from today is Baby #2's official due date, February 28, 2012. Things are feeling very real all of the sudden. We have sort of settled on two boy names but are worlds apart when it comes to girl names. We're moving Charly to a different room, a bigger room, so the baby can have Charly's old, smaller room, yet we haven't begun to move a single piece of furniture or paint a single swatch on any wall. We have some newborn diapers and a few neutral newborn outfits but suffice it to say, one could argue whether or not we're as ready as we could be.

We often wonder about Charly, and the inability to keep her in the loop regarding how much her life is going to change. She is kind of the Queen of the Castle right now, strutting from room to room, bossing Elliot ("Eta") around, bossing us around, jabbering up a storm, getting out whatever books, or coloring books, or puzzles, or building blocks she feels like and leaving them strewn about the house. There are days, when we're being bossed around by her, that we think this baby couldn't come soon enough! Somedays Charly needs a wake up call! But then we feel sorry for her, thinking about how much of her world is going to change and she doesn't have the slightest clue.

We talk about the baby all the time with her and we both know that she knows that there is a baby inside her mom. She likes it when it kicks and moves. She acts excited and talks about "Baby" things all the time. She practices feeding her baby Mel gave her at Christmas and she's interested in the bottles that Kelli recently dusted off and replaced in our kitchen cupboards. She shakes her head at the mention of a "Girl" but repeatedly tells people she wants a "Boy". We're asking for her help in deciding upon names, but she's not much help.

A few weekends ago, I took some pictures of Kelli's bump. We had fun, but Charly wanted nothing to do with any pictures. She didn't make it into even one. Well, sort of one, but not really. It was more by accident. And once she realized I had a camera she was done. She doesn't like being photographed anymore, which I suppose is silver lining for our hard drive.

Speaking 'Charly'

Charly talks all the time. We don't always understand her, but she talks all the time. At home. She's pretty reserved in public. Some words she says loud and clear. Like:

boy, baby, snow, moon, sun, cold, burr, Papa, Grandma, remote, George (for Curious George), purple, blue, pink, cup, cake, please, thanks, excuse me, 'What doin'?, off, on, book, read, touch, watch, sheep, cow, toot, poop, pee pee, shower, hi, dump (in reference to her building blocks, not something else), truck, Beau, bow, cat, ear, eyes, nose, honk, hair, ouch, mine, sad, crying, couch, chair, sleep, come, monster (usually in reference to The Monster at the End of This Book iPad app), game, Hawkeye, hot, heart, marker, Mama, Dada, stop, away, home, eat, don't, bite

Then there are others. Words that she says quite frequently, that took Kelli and I awhile to decipher. Words like:

• "Eta" - Elliot (our cat)
• "Popeye" - her pacifier
• "Binka" - her blanket
• "Ca-cai" - color (in her coloring books)
• "Heta" - heavy
• "Mutta" - muffin
• "Cackle" - tickle
• "Hooj" - huge (usually in reference to a full moon, which she's obsessed with, or her mom's belly)
• "Mimi's" - M&M's
• "Waawaa" - water
• "Coi" - car
• "Pod" - iPod (or if she's lucky, iPad, which she gets really excited about)
• "Tay-tay" - her Uncle Taylor
• "Bane" - her Uncle Blaine
• "Shrooz" - her cousin Cruz

There are more. Plenty more. But that's all we could think of off the top of our head. Today is a snow day, school was cancelled, and tonight we're supposed to go to Rock of Ages with Beau and Ashley. We just hope the snow stops long enough to get a babysitter to our house.

Santa Came!

Charly may have wanted nothing to do with the jolly guy in red this year, but she sure accepted all the gifts he brought her with a big ole' smile!

 

She loved her building blocks.

 

And her Elephant and Piggie book.

 

But Mom had to read it because it was too early and "bite".

 

Her Curious George DVDs were a hit, even if she couldn't take her eyes off A Very Monkey Christmas, which she insisted play while she opened presents. We tried deleting it off our DVR but I think it's burned in permanently from the thousands of times it was played this December.

 

Little People are very cool. As is her Little People dollhouse. It has sound effects for the doorbell and the washing machine (both harmless), and the toilet and the shower (both kind of odd choices)! Thankfully the makers of Little People keep their minds out of the gutter, unlike me apparently. Charly thinks it's cool and has to get it out at least once a day, even though at the time she would have rather played with the screwdriver I used to take the box apart, to "fix" everything in the house.

 

And the biggest gift Santa and Mrs. Claus (plus 1) carried up the stairs from Santa's Basement Workshop . . . (drum roll please)

 

A kitchen!

 

She's a master chef and always remembers to wash her hands.

 

Her stocking was filled with "mimi's" (M&M's) and colors. The girl could color for hours on end. And read. Toys are not necessarily her thing. But give her a pack of Crayolas and an Elephant and Piggie book, and the girl is occupied and content. 

We had a lot of fun on Christmas morning and can't wait to see how Charly shares the spotlight next year!

Christmas Was Good

Christmas was good this year. (When isn't Christmas good?) With Charly, we swear it just keeps getting better and better. Part of the reason is that magic you felt around Christmastime as a kid, returns to you as an adult when you see your child begin to experience it first hand. It's an interesting perspective. With her 2-year celebration just around the corner, Charly was old enough this year to begin understanding some of the traditions we're trying to establish for her sake:

Like celebrating on Main Street the day after Thanksgiving with family and friends, and speculating as to how Santa will be 'coming to town' this year (helicopter!). Even though she fell asleep on my shoulder and missed the whole darn thing . . .

And decorating the Christmas tree! Kelli had a new scheme this year including ribbon and even more ornaments. She was so excited because Charly loves to help Kelli around the house. Come to find out, Charly would have rather wrapped Elliot up in lights than use them to decorate the tree . . .

And gathering in Des Moines at Blaine and Jodi's to make Christmas cookies with the entire Henning clan! Even though she would have rather just played with her cousin Brooks' hockey jerseys and watch football than decorate any Christmas cookies . . .

Okay, so she was kind of unpredictable. But simple moments like these, (and more that we'll share later):

. . . reassured us that we were creating something special to her. And hopefully by documenting it all, we can share it with her someday!

Bad Santa

Yesterday, Kelli and I headed to Allison to help out Mom at the library's annual Christmas open house. I take pictures of all the kids that come to sit on Santa's lap and the library gives them away with Christmas magnet frames. Last year, we had our doubts if Charly would like Santa but she surprised us and loved him! We even took her to another Santa on Main Street in Cedar Falls and she loved him too!

Charly has always been a bit shy, especially around new people. Recently, it's gotten worse. It takes her forever to warm up to people and situations. Everyone tells us its a phase, and we're perfectly okay with it, but it made us wonder how she'd take to Santa this year. Yeah, um, not so well. I think what is the most heartbreaking about the following photos is how clear it is that she is trying not to cry. She has her hand in front of her face trying to hide it. Clifford the Big Red Dog couldn't help. Kelli swooped in fast, but I snapped a few pics.

Next up was Cruz, and he made no attempt to hide his feelings! He just wanted out!

 

They ran off some steam together and recovered quickly. Well, at least Cruz did. Charly kind of remained in a daze for most of the afternoon!

Second Time Around

I am in my 27th week in pregnancy, and it is unbelievable how quickly the time has gone by. It seems like just yesterday we were telling our family we were pregnant and now each day I am feeling more pregnant (aka larger) and more anxious to meet this new little one.

This pregnancy has been different from Charly. Since my eighth week of pregnancy I have gone two weeks in a row without throwing up...every other week I am usually sick, and it is almost always on a Tuesday! I have less cravings. The only things I have craved are iced tea, apples, apple juice, tomato soup, and chips on cheese sandwiches. I have been more tired but that might be due to appeasing and soaking up every single morsel of our 21 month old. I am carrying the baby lower, but this baby is in a different position than Charly was. This baby also moves and kicks twice as much as Charly did. She was a little swimmer and this one is a little fighter!

However there are some similarities. I have terrible heartburn just like the first time around. I just started getting leg cramps, and they bring me back to the sleepless nights I shared while I was pregnant with Charly. All of these similarities and differences can only mean one thing...we are having another baby!!!!! Another little bundle to love and cherish and create a lifetime of memories with.

As I was sitting on the couch with Charly nestled up to my side, rubbing my hand, watching Curious George, A Very Monkey Christmas, I couldn't help but get sentimental. I have always dreamed about cuddling up with my children and watching Christmas movies together. Now knowing what that feels like, it is absolutely amazing. And the best thing about it is that I get to this all over again with our second baby. All of the "firsts" I get to relive, each new month I get to experience all over again, and uncover this baby's personality each day.

 

Maybe I am also getting anxious about meeting this baby because I see Charly growing older each day. She now can point out certain letters of the alphabet, she can count ("1, 1, 1, 1"), she knows all of her colors, she does the "Itsy Bitsy Spider", she repeats parts of books, she knows how to run the iPad, when I light a candle she wants to sing "Happy Birthday", she likes to clean and pick up her toys, she wants to drink from a cup and not a sippy cup, she picks up pizza to eat it instead of getting cut into bite size pieces, she gets snacks out of the cupboard when she is hungry, when she sees a heart she pats her chest and says "beep, beep", she says a lot of three word phrases...our favorite "There he (she) (it) is" and "Where'd it go", and she sleeps in a big girl bed. But the reason she seems so grown up is because I keep picturing her as a big sister. Each day Charly shows me how loving and caring she is going to be to her baby brother or sister. She rocks and pats her stuffed animals. She puts them to sleep in her bedroom and gives them her pacifier as she quietly and sweetly tells them good night. She covers her animals with her blanket, so they are tucked in just right. She kisses my belly and wants to watch the DVD of our baby every night. I can't wait to see Charly take on the role of a big sister. I am going to have one helpful hand with this new baby.

Life will be busy with a second baby, but we will have twice as much love in this family, and we all can't wait!