Dancing Cheek to Cheek

Dear Emily,
You are now 1 year old as of a few weeks ago!  This first year of life with you- even with many sleepless nights- has been an absolute pleasure because of your disposition.  You are a absolute joy! Your smile and laugh are contagious and your cheeks are irresistible!  One of my very favorite things to do is hold you up so we're face to face and rub cheeks with you.  It's a big ol' slice of heaven.

A few weeks before your 1st birthday, many big developmental things happened at once.  You started to crawl, popped your first 2 teeth, began to pull yourself up on things and even started to stand for a few seconds without holding on to anything!  This week you started drinking actual milk (goodbye formula!) from a sippy cup on your own. You seem to LOVE your newfound independence to crawl where you want to go and drink when you want to drink.  (Readers: Think frat boy pounding beer but much more innocent.)  Here are some things I want to remember from your first year of life:

• I was a little anxious before giving birth to you and this angel of a nurse said that when she was about to give birth to her second she was worried she wouldn't have enough love to give since she had SO much love for her first and she had plenty.  I do too!  The love for you is overflowing, actually. 
• The first thing they said when you came out was "Woah!  She is so big!"  You are the most huggable, snuggle-able (not a word, I know) baby.  You like love to eat like we do!  You fit right in.
• You were named after my two grandpas- Ern and Harlan (Buddala).  For the first year of your life- including the day we left the hospital- we've been seeing groups of white butterflies so often.  I had never seen a purely white butterfly until you were born.  I'm pretty sure it's Ern coming to say hello to us and especially you.  He had a very calm, peaceful presence like they do.
• You have a lot of nicknames: Em, Emmy, pumpkin, EmDogg
• You seem to enjoy yourself wherever you are and whoever you're with.  You love daycare.  You love home days.  You even have a few buddies- Maya and Ella- at the ripe age of 1. 

Thanks for being born and thanks for being you.  I'm so excited to keep watching your personality blossom!

Love,

Mama

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Leading up to Sydney and Emily's birthdays (August and September) I found myself feeling extra sentimental and even a little bit sad.  They LOVE us and depend on us when they're babies and they keep getting older (weird- they're the only ones! haha!).  Then a good friend pointed out to me exactly what I needed to hear.  He said, "Well, what's the alternative?".  That was exactly the shoulder shaking that I needed.  These girls are thriving, growing, and happy AND they're ours!  Since then I've mostly just been basking in the gratitude that we have these ridiculously funny, loving and healthy girls.  HAPPY late birthday to you, Syd and Em!

An Interview with Syd the Kid

Hello!!!!  Wow- it's harder to fit in time to write the blog these days.  Being a mama of two, building a business and having fun are pretty time consuming (and wonderful)!

For this blog... drum roll please... I did an interview with the dynamic, hilarious, sweet 3 and 3/4 year old Sydney Reese. Here goes.

Me: What's your favorite color? 
Syd: Ummm, red?

Me: Favorite animal? 
Syd: Little baby animals (little tigers, little bears, and little wolves)

Me: Favorite food? 
Syd: Meatballs on your nose

Me: Favorite song? 
Syd: I love you mommy

Me: What are you doing now that you're a big girl?
Syd: Playing nicely.  Playing with my sister nicely.  Loving my sister.  Letting my sister take naps.  That's it!

Me: How's preschool?
Syd: Great  

Me: What do you like about preschool?
Syd: I want to touch your glasses.  

Me: What do you love about your baby sister, Emily?
Syd: I want to play with her.  That's it.

Me: Do you want me to ask you more questions?
Syd: No, I'm too tired.  Your turn!
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Me: Okay, what questions do you have for me?

Syd: What do you like about your parents?
Me: I like that they're funny and that they listen to me.  I know that they love me. They're also very good grandparents.  Do you want to ask me a few more questions?

Syd: No, I'm too tired.

The end.  As Syd sums up, life is really really good.  Cannot complain.  A few final updates for now: Emily is sitting, eating baby food, learning to clap, and smiling/giggling like it's her job (especially at her older sis)!  Sydney has a LOT of preschool pride and is officially over her fear of dogs.  She's like our little neighborhood mayor.  She says she learned her friendliness from Gma Jean, as she does not pass anyone without saying "hello!".  Todd is cute as ever.

Ch Ch Changes!

There are so many changes happening in the Jasonogg household these days!  Our biggest news is that Syd got a spot at a preschool.  On her last day of daycare I was incredibly emotional. This is the first sign that our little girl is starting to grow up!  That said we are both so excited for her to be around children her age and have more structure!  Syd seems to be thriving there despite her asking us several times on the first day to please take her home.  Here are some of Syd's current "tricks":

• Every night as part of her nighttime routine, we ask her what 3 things she wants to dream about.  Her response is to say "Oh! I found an animal box!".  The animal box is her scrunched up hand and she pulls at least 3 pretend surprise animals out to be in her dreams
• Her creativity continues to amaze us.  A few nights ago Syd literally played with a teeny piece of white lint for over an hour.  She transformed the lint into a pet firefly named Poosie.  I hope she holds onto that trait of finding amazement in the simple stuff. 

Em is 4.5 months now and starts part time daycare in a few weeks!  She's belly laughing now and has a very smiley disposition. She loves to cuddle and try to grab things. She also finds her hands to be delicious. When she hungrily shoves them in her mouth you would think she's at a break the fast or something!

To say parenthood is all happiness and laughs would be misleading.  Recently I was so tired and in need of adult conversation with my husband that I was crying and having a hard time catching my breath.  It can be exhausting and overwhelming.  Still this time in my life with small kids is beyond worth it. 

In other big news I left my job after being there for almost 8 years. Girls are inspiring this leap to be a self employed life coach.  I want flexibility to be able to work from home and hang with them more while doing something that feels like both a stretch and a calling. Thank you Todd for being so supportive of this big step and for making it doable! 

I'd love to hear what's up with you. Please shoot me an email back!

Love,

Me

The FOUR of Us!

Oh man oh man-- this post is overdue.  Considering the learning curve, though, of parenting two (!!) children- I'm giving myself a pass.  It's been a whirlwind of a few months.  Since I last wrote, we've welcomed beautiful, cuddly, snorty Emily Harper into our lives.  She was born three months ago yesterday and we were beyond thrilled to meet her!  It's been really nice to have more confidence with a baby this time around.  TJ and I are old pros (ish!).  Just when we were starting to get overconfident that we had it down the second time around, Em kept us on our toes with a few small health hiccups.  She's totally fine now thankfully.  It's not a good feeling to watch your teeny baby be uncomfortable!

Big sister Sydney is remarkable.  She welcomed "her baby" with open arms and always leans down very close to her to say "she's SO cute", "she LOVES me!", or "sweetishka" (we think this is her way of saying sweet in Russian, the first language of some of her teachers at school).  No one makes Emily smile and "talk" as much as Syd does.

As I write I am gazing across the room at a sleeping Miss Emily.  She seriously looks like an angel- so peaceful and sweet.  I've been savoring my one on one time with her during the days and I have about another month of doing that almost full time before I return to working.

THANK YOU so much to our parents, siblings, and friends for your support over these last few transitional months.  Your visits, meal deliveries, calls, cards, etc. mean more than you know!  I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such loving, caring people and am so glad that my children were born into this local and extended community.  A special shout out to Bubbe, Poppe, Grammy and Pop Pop for being here for almost 5 weeks total to support us with the transition!  We know how lucky we are to have that support and help.  Thanks to you Sydney had so much love and attention as she shifted from being an only child to having a little sister! 

SO much love to you and happy holidays!!
Annie

p.s. You may wonder how I'm finding time to write this- Sydney is in Omaha with her cousins and grandparents!  Bubbe came to get her because she said she was missing her cousins.  Lucky girl!  We just hope she wants to come back after a fun-filled, action packed week!

p.p.s. Emily already did her first flight! We went to Memphis over Thanksgiving and were there for 10 days.  Grammy and Pop Pop even threw a "sip n' see" for her!

 

 

 

Guest Bloggers: Grammy & PopPop!

Grammy & PopPop got to spend some quality time with Sydney and as usual she amazed us with things she says and does.  Syd has a vivid imagination. She assigns everyone a character, sometimes a princess other times an animal; but it seems like she always hides from the "monster", that would be PopPop!!  Mommy and Grammy would hide with her and protect her, "go away monster leave our (Syds's character) alone".

We were visiting her neighbor and when it was time to go home she comes up with " I'll be broken hearted if I have to go home" once home she decides " Home sweet home, no place like it."

Sydney nicely asked mom if she could hold a stem of fresh flowers. She proceeded to tear off all the petals. After mom cleaned them all up she claps her hands and says "good job!!"  She also reverses the praise for sleeping through the night and gave mom two stickers!

She and PopPop work on addition using fingers and thumb, 4+1 is 5!!

Mommy and her friend Amy are giving Syd a bath and catching up, Syd said, "excuse me, could somebody talk to me!"

As always, we had an incredible visit, can't get enough of her!!

The 3 1/2 of Us

In very early January we found out I was pregnant with a second!! Even though this is something we were trying for, I'm not gonna lie- my first reaction was fear. I now know this parenting business is no small job and soon enough we'll have two!! To add to that, the idea of maintaining a pregnancy and having a healthy baby seems like more and more of a miracle as I know it does not come easily for so many. But, the first time I saw the baby's heartbeat and the outline of the face in an ultrasound the fear morphed to pure excitement! Another human being to look forward to with its own personality traits, mannerisms, and piccadillos.

We told Sydney the big news when my stomach was noticeably bigger (this time around that happened way earlier!). At first she looked very confused then she proceeded to bend down touch my stomach and say to it "I will protect you from all around".  Todd and I melted. It was a Tarzan quote used at the perfect moment.  Our neighbor was pregnant at the time and she told me Sydney would point to her stomach each time she picked her son up at school and say "my mommy has a baby in her belly too!"

To demystify this process wherever we can we decided to learn the baby's sex again. Todd had asked Syd if she wanted a little brother or sister and she said matter of factly "I want a sister- it's a girl" as if she knew it to be true. Sure enough Sydney was right about this 50/50 guess!

We get to see this tiny baby pretty often on the big screen.  About a month ago I had the most delightful ultrasound technician I've ever had. She kept telling me how "cute" this blob on the screen was and said the baby was so cooperative it was almost as if she was saying "Hey- look at this!"  Usually it's so cut and dry.  This was a blast!


Now I'm 6 months along and I'm far enough in the process where I feel like I can blog about it.  We're having fun making room for the baby in our home and I'm enjoying feeling her kicks!  She may be a very active one!  Due date is September 23.


Lots of love,
Annie aka The Bloggster (thanks JB for the nickname)

p.s. Speaking of nicknames, you may remember that Syd was called "Shorts" when in utero.  We've thought and thought for nicknames for this one while she's living in my tummy.  Top runners are "Pocket", "Short shorts", and my personal fave "Unds" short for undies.  None have stuck quite like Shorts did.  We still have a bit of time.

The Many Roles of Sydney Reese

It's been a while- time for a blog post!  Lately, Sydney has shown us even more layers of her adorable 2.5 year old personality (I'm not biased or anything). Now we know Sydney...

1) The Advocate: When my doctor walked in the room the other day, without even saying hi she said "My mom don't want any shots".  I had mentioned nothing about it but it was of course true!  Thanks, Syd!

2) The Politician: Sydney is kissing babies and shaking hands.  Literally.  When we walk down the street in our neighborhood she'll introduce us and her grandparents both to people she knows and people she doesn't know.

3) The Investigator: A full fledge investigation happened last week.  Sydney was looking for several pennies that were strategically laid out- each on their own brick- on our block.  When they were no longer there, she got the whole block involved trying to solve the mystery of the missing pennies. 

4) The Tree Hugger: When in doubt of who to be, Sydney is always Tarzan.  The obsession continues and- I must say- it's a breath of fresh air from the pretty pretty princess stuff.

5) The Linguist: Syd learned some yiddish from Grammy and Pop Pop last month.  Now she likes to "plotz" and talk about her Grammy "Faygalah"

6) The Salesperson: We parents need our sleep and apparently we are not above bribery.  Now that Sydney knows she can get some tv and treats if she sleeps through the night, we're all sleeping much more. YAY!  Syd asks not just for a treat but to go pick out her own special treat.  She then likes to try to negotiate for more than one.  A chip off the old block of her daddy.

That's all for now!  Hope everyone is doing well!

Love,
Me