Movin' on up...

Where does the time go? When Annie made her entrance into the world at 5 pounds and 5 ounces, I couldn't imagine her in any way other than a snuggle bunny. (OK - I do remember ranting about the screaming and thinking thoughts that sure aren't anywhere near 'snuggle bunny.' But, just as time seems to erase labor pains, it also erases those blood curdling screams that make you want to ask the OB if there's some type of reversal procedure in which the baby can be reinstalled and wait to come out until it's potty trained and can clearly tell you what she wants)! Reality check!!! While I can still count on snuggles with Annie before bed time each night and at that 3:00 a.m. feed that she won't drop, she's getting much more independent! She has leaned to scoot by digging her toes in the floor (or your lap) and pushing off. Grant and Dasha are beginning to see that life as they have known it might just be over! Though Annie watches what brother and sister are doing very carefully, she also keeps a close eye on their toys. A few nights ago, she decided that she needed some of the brightly colored Legos that were littering the living room floor where someone's creation had exploded into zillions of pieces. It was at that point that I knew we would need to do nothing less than wrap our entire house in bubble wrap once she really gets moving! With Grant, we only put the silly little plastic covers over the outlet and put a latch on the cabinet under the sink which housed our limited supply of cleaning products (who needs too many products when you don't use them anyway - Lysol wipes can clean anything and everything)! With Annie, I do believe we may have to resort to baby gates, latches, covers, locks, and possibly barbed wire! I'm even beginning to eye Kovy's crate in a new light. Hmmm... I know there's going to come a point in the near future when a crib can't contain the mighty Annie but maybe a dog crate could. :) Just kidding - in case DFACS is reading this! Bottom line, Annie is much more active than Grant ever was and I can see that I'm going to have to be on my toes as she begins to cruise around! Even as I write this, I'm watching her via the video monitor and she has scooted herself into the corner of her bed and can't quite figure out what's going on. Hmmm... she just hasn't leaned the importance of plotting a course in which you don't run into walls or the side of the crib! She needs a good GPS! (Side note - our GPS has begun saying, "You are not on a road. You are not on a road." The kids love it)! Once again, in case DFACS happens to be reading this, the baby is not in her crib wailing or even crying. She's simply cruising around and exploring while she makes gurgling sounds which truely sound something like, "ANNNNNNEEEEEE." Miss Independent must make her nightly rounds checking her crib prior to deciding that it's time for sleep. As we're learing, as long as the mighty Annie thinks it was her idea, there will be peace in the valley! Now, if I could just convince her what a marvelous thing sleeping through the entire night would be! However, I'm still ok with her 3:00 a.m. choice since Cosby Show and Home Improvement are on Nick at Night and I can at least be entertained while she snacks! However, if she decides to wake at 2:00 a.m., it's just not convenient for me because there's nothing on except ShamWOW commercials and reruns of shows I never watched such as Married with Children and George Lopez. (As another side note, have any of you seen the smut that comes on the cartoon channels at night? It's really scary)!

Many of you have asked about our plans for the mighty Annie once school starts. Well, many of you know the little Latino lady who cleans our house, Mrs. Rita. She has five children of her own and has a heart of gold. She's always looking for extra work so we asked her to watch Annie during the day and she has agreed. There will definitely be some obstacles to overcome like her broken English and inability to drive. She also lives deep within her Hispanic culture and has some child rearing practices that make us scratch our heads! For example, just after Annie was born and cried constantly, Mrs. Rita insisted that we give Annabelle a bath with lettuce leaves in the water. She said that it would make her tummy feel better! We didn't do it but I have to admit that I was close to trying anything! I did succumb to giving her a bottle of diluted Chamomile and peppermint tea at one point, though, per Rita's instructions. I do believe it helped with her tummy. I know the leftovers sure helped settle my nerves! However, the benefit of having Annie stay at home with one on one care is priceless to us. Since Eric works out of the house, he will also be able to spend more time with Annie, too. I think the real deal sealer came when Mrs. Rita told Eric that she would contine to cook (she cooks authentic Mexican like she's making something as routine as mac n cheese) and clean. What a blessing she has been and will be to our family!

Now that the princess has finished her royal nightly tour of her crib and has settled down with her little blankey and is sleeping peacefully, I'm going to work on my own classwork! Three more weeks and I can scratch all of that paper writing and reading off of my "to do" list! Good night!

Waiting...

It seems that Eric and I have spent a large part of our married lives simply waiting. We've waited through some pretty tough situations. I've seen way too many studies that try to pinpoint the actual amount of time that we spend waiting. One study says that if you lived 65 years, you'd spend about half of those years waiting. Is waiting really such a bad thing? When you wait, you have time to reflect (unless you have all of the kids with you). When you wait, you have time to watch others around you. When you wait, you have time to simply be still. Isn't it funny that something annoying as waiting is the only thing that slows us down sometimes? And, I have to admit that with the advent of the iPhone, even those quiet moments of waiting have now been invaded with emails and phone calls. (As a side note: iPhones should come with a free coupon for family counseling! They sap the need for real communication and interrupt even the most intimate of moments)!!! Anyway, back to waiting...Eric and I spent weeks waiting for a diagnosis of Ansley's disease. We waited for her to slip from this Earth. We waited for confirmation of Daria's (Dasha) first visit from Russia. We waited for a date to go to Russia and pleed our adoption case. We waited for a date to return to Russia to accept Dasha into our family. We waited to see how the surgery on her feet would impact her life. We waited for eight months to meet Annabelle. We waited to find out if Pompe's Disease would effect her. And, though I haven't mentioned waiting on Grant...if you've ever taken him to a restroom, you know we wait on him, too! While unfocused waiting can bring frustration, when we're waiting on something specific, the quiet time can be precious. So now, as we wait, we will wait with patience and purpose (and I'll hope the iPhone has a disastrous meeting with a flushing toilet)!

Let summer begin...

As my maternity leave drew to a close, I was both anxious and excited about going back. Considering I only went back for the last two days of school and then three days of post planning, I don't know why I'm griping! However, the last two days of school are usually the most trying with parents and students so I really set myself up for a tough time! Leaving Annie wasn't as hard as leaving the first two! Mom watched her a few days and the sweet little Hispanic lady who cleans our house watched her the other days. I think the caregivers were the ones who ended up wishing they hadn't accepted the positions! Annie gave them both a run for their money! OK - so Grandma didn't get paid "money" but can I just say that she also did laundry and cleaned while watching the baby! Man! What a happy camper I was to come home to a clean house, clean laundry (Grant and Eric had been wearing their undies the right way and then wearing them inside out to cut down on the laundry - just kidding - or am I) and the baby's room looked like a Babies R Us store exploded. However, mom cleaned everything up while keeping Annie entertained. Anyway, today was officially my last day of the 2008-09 school year so I'm relieved and ready for some relaxation.

Annie has finally settled into somewhat of a routine - thank goodness! When Grant was a baby, we hyper scheduled everything! He ate at precisely the same hour at each meal. He napped at predetermined lengths throughout the day and slept for eleven hours each night without fail. This fit very nicely with my perfectionist tendencies. As I look back, I know that Ansley never fell into a good schedule but I'd always assumed it was due to her illness. Now Annie, on the other hand, has no excuse. In my mind, she should be sleeping through the night, cooing at her perfect parents, and sleeping at my convenience. HA! It has taken me twelve weeks to realize that Annie has her very own personality and it's nothing like Grant's! Whew! She much prefers cat naps spread throughout the day to a couple of big naps. (You can imagine how conducive cat napping babies are to getting chores done around the house)! She also prefers to snack and graze throughout the day instead of eating full meals. While I'm not ok with her snacking habits and am working diligently toward full feeds, she only looks at me and chuckles when I insist that she keep eating as her eyes fall shut and she smiles her little sleepy smile. How can you argue with that? Really, though, things are beginning to take the shape of a routine and that makes me happy. I can at least have a plan about when I'm going to get a shower or fix the big kids lunch - although Uncrustables have become a staple in our home for lunch on the go or lunch when mom is negotiating with the baby. Though my plans don't always mesh with Annie's plans, we're beginning to meet in the middle about issues such as sleeping and napping. I've been putting her to bed at 8:00 which gives me time to spend with Grant and Dasha - or get the top layer of crud wiped off the household fixtures. Then, I sneak into her room about 10:00 and feed her again while she sleeps and she normally will sleep through until about 3:00 after that. My body seems to have adjusted to the 3:00 feeds and I've learned that the Cosby Show and Home Improvement are on Nick at Night chanels during the 3:00 - 3:30 slot so I'm entertained by my favorite families while I wait for Annie to dine leisurely. When I put her back down to sleep, she normally sleeps until 6:30ish. Over the last couple of days, this has given me time to get a shower and get the big kids ready for school before she announces that she has finished sleeping for the night. Beyond this loose schedule, everything else must fall into place. Thank goodness that summer is here and we can all work toward a more cohesive schedule with benefits everyone - not just Annie!



As for Grant and Dasha... They are happy that school is out but bummed that they were born to an educator. Both kids have already received their summer reading and math schedules (thanks to mom) and have expressed their grumbles of having to do work through the summer. Oh well. They'll get over it - or they can bring it up in therapy when they're older! :) Both kids are very protective of Annie. Dahsa likes to watch from afar and offers to be the gopher and rarely crosses through Annie's direct path. We haven't forced the interactions. I think she's afraid of making the baby cry. She still doesn't really understand why the baby cries for absolutely no reason. She runs to tell us when Annie is crying and seems to ponder why we would put her in her crib and let her cry at times. Dasha's mind is always processing but she doesn't always verbalize it and still has a hard time putting English words with some of her feelings. Grant, on the other hand, drags Annie around as if she's a baby doll. He will give her a bottle and even change her diaper in cases of extreme need. Having a baby in the house has really reinforced his nurtuing spirit. I'm afraid that some of his thoughts might change once Annie becomes mobile, though, and begins to be a threat to his Legos and elaborate G.I. Joe set ups! I've told him that his Joes need to start training now for special ops missions dealing with slober and being gummed to death. He doesn't find my suggestions funny.

As for the keepers of the Oompaloompas... Eric is still working for the advertising company and gets to work out of the house. However, for the last few days, I've found him out on the deck in a lounge chair with his laptop propped next to him and his tunes going. I keep waiting to hear stains of some Jimmy Buffet song when I see him out there like that! The reality of the situation is, though, that he works an enormous number of hours each week and seems to be "on call" 24/7. I guess he deserves a Cheeseburger in Paradise moment! Though I'm finished teaching for the year, I have two more classes to finish my degree. It's been a long haul and I plan on partying in some sort of way at the end of July! It's a real bummer that teachers have to report back to school at the end of July - that puts quiet a damper on any real partying! (Ok, who am I kidding? Partying to me is a book on a quiet beach)!!!

As usual, the Randolph compound is still thriving and surviving on humor and laughter while living in chaos and baby spit up. Though the grass in the yard might be a little high and the dog hair in the carpet might be a little thick, we're all happy and enjoying this Season of our lives!