Age of Baby T: 16 weeks, 2 days (the size of an avocado)
Family,
And a good Monday evening to you from the Queen City, where the Bull is solo tonight in a house
6/2 - K successfully opened the drain for the first time ever! So I think we've alluded to the fact that K's sense of independence is a bit excessive at times (more on that throughout this post), and the trouble is that, while I love her willingness to try new things, she is adamant that no one can help her when she's trying to do things - even if they are beyond her current abilities. The drain in her bathtub had been one of these items until this moment, but BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE. It's funny, as I'd basically just told her "Sweetheart, you can't do it yet. It's ok, and I appreciate you trying, but you're just not strong enough." Two seconds later, that drain was flowing like a Maelstrom. Quality!
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| #tillthewholeworldhears |
6/4 - This was a big night, as this was the night that we went to Saturday evening service. Normally
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| Sammy the Bull doing his part to protect JT - spraying Premetherin all OVER her clothes...and the screen porch. |
6/5 - K had her first private lesson over at Emmi's pool on this day, and she did great! The instructor, Mr. Brandon, was great, and K really took to him quickly. He had lots of great ideas on how to get her to do certain things in the water, and it was $20 very well spent. We then stuck around and played in the pool (a lot in their hot tub), and K had a blast with Emmi. It was so funny - K just wanted to do everything that Emmi did. We've actually seen this a lot lately, and in many instances she'll just completely copy the object of her attention at the moment (you should see her with little Charlotte at NOMAD - she is almost like her shadow). Emma was really cute because she kept calling K "little Kaitlyn" (apparently her babysitter is named Kaitlyn as well). K was really whiny on this day. We thought it was just a one off. Little did we know...
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| Stage 1 - the "Getting to Know You" period |
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| Stage 2 - let's see those kicks and find out what you can do |
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| Stage 3 - face in, let's float! |
JT had an appointment for Baby T on this day, and the heartbeat was 168. Everything looked and sounded GREAT!
Side note on this day - Jenny received a letter from Cousin Mark. Inside was a note about the upcoming trip, a check to sponsor her on the upcoming trip, and another small gift. It was his dog tags from Iraq, and inscribed on them was the Bible verse that Jenny had repeated over and over in the run-up to the trip - Joshua 1:9. Truly, it was a "God Encounter" moment. Believe me on this people - God absolutely WILL and DOES speak to you when you need to hear His voice.
6/7 - I started this day a little on edge about Zika, but then I switched my research from news and forums to actual research and empirical information. Again, I felt led by God to change my search tactics, and the end result gave me a much greater peace. Also, we had lunch with the Parkhouses that evening at Hawthorne's and dropped the bomb!
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| Look at that hand! |
6
/10 - JT left for Peru early this day, and we didn't even have time for a "Bumpie." However, she did get one in Peru to commemorate Baby T rolling 12 weeks - now the size of a lime! I worked most of the day but took the afternoon off to swim with K at NOMAD, where K peed on me while I was giving her a piggy back ride in the pool. AWESOME.
Some side notes at this point in the month:
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| 12 weeks and counting! |
1. "Start the timer" - so we usually use a timer before bed time, setting it for 8 or 10 minutes depending on how late we're getting her into bed. A few weeks back I started saying it in a terrible Boston accent - "Staht the tama" - and K would always correct me and ask me to "not use the funny voice." Well, this week she started to copying whatever I did, and the results have been hilarious. She's got a high pitched voice, a deep voice, a British voice - you name it. Too cute.
2. "Why" - I mean, this kid is asking it NON-STOP. HOLY MOLY I DIDN'T THINK KIDS REALLY DID THIS.
3. Her favorite question to ask (and she will ask it 600 times): "Where we goin' go in da mornin'?"
6/11 - So I will just be honest - this was the toughest day I've ever had (and I hope will have) with K. I'm not sure if she didn't sleep good, she missed her mommy, a combination of the two, or something else, but she was an absolute TYRANT all day on this day. Everything was a struggle. I spanked her 5 times, we did multiple timeouts, I took 7 animals from her - still nothing worked. It all started with her wanting to dress herself. There are 2 problems here. The first is that some outfits just simply aren't designed for a 3 year old to put on by themselves. K, however, refuses help - even when she gets so twisted that she's basically in a straight jacket. But no matter what, she won't let you help her. And then,when she can't figure it out, she immediately gets so frustrated that it's an instant meltdown. I mean, it was this way from 7 AM onward ALL DAY, and she didn't nap (which was a killer). And don't get me wrong - we still had some great moments. It was summer life group launch, and there were bounce houses, shaved ice, face painting for the kids, and they even got to spray colored water all over their teachers for the amount they raised as part of Liberty. K ate that Shaved Ice like it was her job. They gave her just the ice and let her mix the flavors - she was ALL ABOUT IT.
I will thank my mom for her coaching and encouragement on this evening. I 'd hit my breaking point, and quite frankly I was neither speaking nor behaving very politely. Mom gently corrected me, and I'm thankful for that.
6/12 - K woke up at 4:40 AM screaming. I went in there to check on her, but she was deep inside of a nightmare. She actually opened her eyes and looked at me, but then she went back to rubbing them and re-settled. That further frayed my nerves heading into Sunday, but luckily she was GREAT! Honestly, she was a complete angel all day. She started by asking me "Daddy, will you please help me put on my clothes?" I was thrilled beyond words, because to me it suggested that I'd held the line one time longer than she was willing to push. Truth be told, she really did miss the animals in the bed and wanted them back. Perhaps I have finally "found her currency." For her good behavior, she eventually got 3 animals back. She also did a great job helping me clean up, so I gave her coins for her piggy bank.  |
| JT with the kids in Peru. |
She had a GREAT swim lesson - she was even pulling rings off the bottom of the pool (3 feet)! She did unfortunately burn her feet on the pavement. She was walking, it got too hot, and then instead of running she froze and started screaming. I ran over and picked her up, as she was pretty rattled. What I will say, she's VERY cautious over there now - she wants me to carry her EVERYWHERE unless a) I can prove it's shaded or b) Emmi is already walking along that same path. And to confirm - her little tootsers are fine.
Dinner that night was with the Tacy's, as they'd graciously offered to look after K for the week so that I could continue working. K showed me her room, had fun playing, and ate like a champ. All went well until she noticed that I wasn't unpacking a bag. When she realized that I was leaving, she suddenly started hanging onto me really tightly. They all walked out with me, and K just looked pitiful - her little lip was quivering. I bent down to give her a hug, and she just completely broke down. It was some of the hardest crying I'd ever seen from her, and she hugged me so tightly. I think the poor girl felt like both parents had walked out in 36 hours, and all the change was just too much. For my part, I drove away a basket case. I had so many emotions running through me. I felt like I'd not been a great father to K that weekend. I felt like K was truly sad, lonely, scared, and upset. I felt like my mom was not best pleased with my discipline, dad was worried I was going to lose my job, and the whole family was worried about Zika and Peru. I knew that I just had to reset, and the time alone did help that. I have been shown twice in the past month that I think I'm going a little too hard and trying to do too much. This night (and the Monday afterwards when I went to be early) were clear indicators that I was exhausted.
In retrospect, an experienced like this is a strong reminder of how hard Jenny's job is day in and day out, and also have absolutely fantastic she is at it. She faces these challenges every day and has to dismantle the atomic bomb sometimes hourly before it explodes. For me, it was a great lesson that I shouldn't just try to jump in when I hear K screaming outside my door, as I could very well be undoing some good work or teaching that Jenny's in process of conducting. Also, I found that I was SCATTERBRAINED that weekend - I was losing stuff and finding it later in the most random of places.
One other item to note - I started doing research on needed caloric intake and portions for 3 year olds, and I realized that I might be giving K too much food. Sure enough, when I started using a measuring cup for the cereal, I realized that I'd been given her double the recommended amount. Kids her age need 1200-1600 calories, and I fear I've been putting too many fruits, too much cereal, and likely too much of the main meat/pasta/protein at every meal. I'm making a much more concerted effort to be smarter now, as I obviously want to set her up for success with portion control and with her eating habits.
Oh, and one more thing that was super cute on this day. I told her that she had to clean up her "old
Also, her imagination really seems to be taking off. She's crafting stories during quiet time and when playing by herself, and the tales are becoming more complex. It's really neat to listen to!
6/13 - Great news from the geneticist who looked at JT's blood work: the results were great, and the risk for Downs dropped to 1 in 1800 and the risk for Trisomeme 18 dropped to 1 in 2200. There is one final blood test and hurdle to clear, but everything sounds like it's going great! the lady said that she wasn't concerned - AMAZING! Thank You, Father! t can't remember if I mentioned this last month, but during Jenny's last ultrasound they said that everything looked fantastic. All the parts were proportional, and she was tracking within 2 days of her due date (how they can possibly know that is beyond me). Honestly, it's just been amazing to watch this miracle unfold according to God's perfect plan. So incredibly exciting!
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| Little Hornet in spirit! |
6/16 - K came back from Nole Nana's this day, and she rocked up with some SUPER CUTE arts and crafts. And not only had she done a daily craft herself, she's also made a gift for mommy, a Father's Day gift for me, and a craft for our anniversary! All of them were wrapped, and K was desperate to get into them. We had to pull her away!
I took her to NOMAD during the afternoon, and when we got into the locker room and I told her to take off her bottoms she looked at me matter of factly and said, "I'm still peeing, dada." I had to fight to keep from cackling, as there were loads of dudes in there. Simply priceless.
6/17 - We hit NOMAD again on this day (I mean, we're there at least once a day at this point - we are basically family), and K started singing "Call Me Maybe." It was too cute, and when I asked her where she heard that, she replied - "Mommy!" JT - are you a closet Carly Rae Jepsen fan? :-)
Baby T hit 13 weeks on this day - the size of a pea pod!
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| Chillin' at Emmi's pool. |
On the couch before we went to pick up JT, K was laying on me. Obviously it had been quite the ordeal (and not without its tantrums and tough moments!), and that moment of us just sitting there, her head in my lap, was just too perfect. I said to her, "I'm really proud of you, kid. You've been resilient through all of this." She actually sat up, looked me straight in the eye, and said: "It was my pleasure." I was pretty much, well, blown away. And then she gave me that sweet little smile.
Side note is that it's SO INCREDIBLY GOOD to have my girls back safely and at home. JT slept like an absolute champion, and I slept good as well knowing that she was back safe and that Zika was far, far away. God, thank you SO MUCH for protecting my family on their travels.
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| The pre-game: practicing that smile! |
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| Homecoming!!!!! |
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| And then what matters - the gifts. :-) |
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| Tell me that isn't Cruella seville... |
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| Thug life (alpaca edition) |
The cutest item from this day - we were doing magnets in the bonus room, and K picked up the letter "D." She said, "Here's what your name begins with - Daddy!" It totally caught me off guard - and I LOVED it.
6/19 - This marked the 10th day straight that K had swam (and we're pretty much daily at this point - an off-day is a rarity), and the highlight came during K's swim lesson. Mr. Brandon said, "She's the fastest learner I've ever seen. You just tell her to do something, and she does it." Side note - he actually said this again last Sunday, as he told her how to dive down to the bottom, and she did it instantly. He was absolutely blown away. Makes a parent feel good! The lesson went great - that girl is really learning quickly!Also, this was Father's Day, and we had a really nice church service. They offered bacon topped donuts for the Father's, and K was ALL ABOUT eating mine! At one point I set it down trying to take a picture or something, and she just DEVOURED a section of it. Classic! Also, they had whole milk and chocolate milk on offer for the dads, and K didn't miss a beat getting TWO CUPS of chocolate milk.
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| Best wife and daughter giving the 4th edition of the best Father's Day gift a daddy could ever receive. Love my girls! |
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| 13 weeks, baby! Look at that cute little bump! |
On the independence front, however, K has taken it to a new level. She's now trying to actually unbuckle her own car seat when we arrive at our destination. And even though I've politely told her "Sweetheart, you can't unbuckle it - that's the point of the design," she goes BALLISTIC when you step in to help her. It's the same with clothes and everything at this point. I've heard other say it, and my buddy Johnny actually said this past weekend, "Y'all have the patience of Job." However, something tells me that will soon change. :-)
6/21 - First braid! She got it at bed time, and it was just adorable. Her 2 great quotes from the day:
1. "You are a smart little daddy." (I can't actually remember what I did).
2. "I have tiny little nipples." Getting out of the bathtub - I mean...I don't know. What can I say?
6/22 - 1st French braid! Man, JT is like a surgeon with this stuff - I have no idea how she does it! And the cute thing - the last 2 nights we've all been "scary ghosts with the hoodie up," which basically means we've all worn one of my hoodies or rain breakers at the same time and run around the house. K has been ADORABLE, as the hoodie is obviously enormous and swallows her whole.
The other classic moment was when I flapped my wings and made a "dinosaur sound," at which point K said, "Pterodactyl!" I'm telling you - HARVARD. BUSINESS. SCHOOL. AT. 16.
6/25 - Disney tunes on You Tube - so on this evening I let her watch "Under the Sea" on my phone. You Tube always queues up the next one, and she saw "Part of That World." She asked if she could watch it, and I said, "Ask me in the morning, and I'll let you see it." Sure enough, I went into her bedroom when she woke up, and it was THE FIRST THING SHE ASKED ME. I mean, we are talking .0000009 seconds after entering the room? AMAZING! Side note - she's now singing Part of That World all the time and actually a) knows a lot of it and b) even does some of the inflection!  |
| Look out, Katie Ledecky... |
K helped us weed this day, and she really was a big help! We pulled a lot of weeds, cleaned up
around the fence, and removed dead sticks that were scattered all over the place. This really was a great weekend, as we had Jenny back and were able to just saturate in some family time. Oh, and I finally learned the secret to Harry the Happy Dragon at Harris Teeter. You see, I've never had a penny on me, so I've never been able to get it going. K had always said, "Mommy can make it go!", but I just assumed that meant JT had change (which she normally does). However, on this day at the Teet, she showed me the secret, which basically consists of you slamming the machine with your flat palm, at which point it comes to life! For the record - I successfully made this happen on my own last week. BOOM GOES THE DYNAMITE.
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| Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice! |
JT had FH kids, so K and I were playing in the morning before church. Well, K stacked 3 coasters together and told me that she'd just made me a sandwich. When I asked what it was, she said, "Meat, chicken balls, and lollipops." I about fell out laughing.
That afternoon we went to NOMAD, where K was a WARRIOR in the cold pool! She actually swam 5 lengths (125 yards) on her own! Granted, she would stop on occasion, but I think that's amazing! At one point she was chasing JT, and I got teary-eyed watching my girls do freestyle in the lane. I thought about all the fun I hope we'll have as a family exercising and swimming together, and I also thought about how neat it would be if they both enjoyed grinding out laps together.
In a bit of Urban Dictionary, I taught K "#awesomesauce!" She is really cute when she says it - even does the hash tag motion. This father is proud.
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| 14 weeks, baby!!! |
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| K and Eli creating the next masterpiece. |
Oh, and K has been all about imitating daddy lately. The other day she asked Jenny, "What is daddy eating for breakfast?" When JT told her oatmeal, she said, "I want oatmeal, too. I want to eat whatever daddy eats."
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| I mean...cutest. Photo. EVER. |
6/29 - Not sure if I gave the background on this, but during K's tantrums while JT was away, I'd confiscated several animals and put them in prison (aka my closet). Well, this day was a landmark moment, as the final one was rescued from Prison (Jennifer Puppy). You see, I'd let her reclaim 1 a day, and then only on days where she'd actually behaved and hadn't gone mental during putting her clothes on. Either way - all good things.
6/30 - Strong backstroke in the pool today. Our little girl is soon to be a Starfish we think!
Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print. Chat with you all in a month!
Love,
Sam and Jenny
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