The park

I took some pictures at the park this evening. I wanted to capture Levi now loving the swing, and Lucy was being a ham. :)

Levi laughing in the swing:







Nate and Lucy having fun:

Love this

Jon's mom got this book for Lucy a few months back. I love the illustrations so much that I had to post them. Aren't these sweet? (I didn't post the whole book, but each page is really cute.)

Stressed out Mama

I keep telling everyone that the transition from one child to two was most difficult for me. While I do believe that was true logistically, I don't ever remember feeling this stressed out and crazy. The stress, though, has less to do with the fact that there are three kids and more to do with their ages and stages. It feels like all Nate and Lucy do is fight. I've been talking a lot with them about having a kind heart toward one another (instead of just saying, "Stop taking toys! Stop yelling!"). Nate has been having some trouble obeying at school. I have my own theories on the causes of his misbehavior, but ultimately there is no excuse and he should be obeying. This causes me a lot of angst, as I'm trying to find the right way to discipline for things I myself don't witness but still want to discourage (that is a whole different post). Lucy is in the middle of being very two. Everything feels like a fight with her, from putting on clothes to the carseat to juice. Levi is in a fussy stage (teething? reflux?) and is still not sleeping through the night. I started giving him his Zantac again last night; I had stopped giving it to him about a month ago because he didn't seem to need it anymore and I hate putting medicine in his body anyway. But perhaps his fussiness is the reflux returning. Anyway, yes I'm feeling stressed and a bit overwhelmed.

In the midst of all of it, though, I keep trying to remember what everyone tells me: I will probably miss this stage the most. Nate says the funniest things. Lucy is maybe the cutest 2 year old I've ever known. Levi is so pudgy and squishy. If they all would just be quiet! :)

Lucy's first trim, in pictures

Before




"Oh, this will be fun!"




"Wait. You didn't tell me about this cape thing."




"I have decided I am not a fan of haircuts."





"I can't believe you made me do that."




"I guess it wasn't that bad."




No worries--the curl is still there. Here's Lucy today, "washing dishes."

Colossal waste of time

... but lots of fun!





Here is the website where you can make your own.

I should clarify that Nate, Lucy, and Levi aren't themselves a waste of time. Fiddling around on the above website and making different color/pattern/font combinations was. :)

Tidbit

Lucy and I were rolling our cool glitter ball back and forth. She asked who gave it to us, and I said Mimi did. I wanted to see if she remembered that Mimi lives in Virginia, so I asked, "Where does Mimi live?"

"At home," she answered.

"Yes," I agreed. "And where is Mimi's home?"

"Far away," Lucy replied. :)

Toy storage

I made these fabric buckets (using the idea from here) to replace our overflowing toy basket in the living room area. My first attempt, the "baby" bucket, ended up looking a bit too "reusable grocery tote" to me, so I made some changes to the top and the handles for the "cars" bucket. I plan on making at least a couple more (one for balls, another for books).

Language list

It's lists like this that I never want to forget. :)

Lucy's pronunciations:

pancakes: "pampakes"
ponytail: "tonytail"
snack: "nack"
Levi: "eevi"
lunch: "yunch"
toothbrush: "beebrush"
nothing: "nuffin"
bother: "bodder" as in, "That bodders me!"
pat: "pap" as in, "I wanna pap Levi's back."

"Home again, home again, jiggyjiggy jog!"

We were talking about names the other day. I asked her what hers was. She replied, "Yucy." I asked her what my name was. She thought for a second and said, "Miss Katie."

Seven years

I haven't had time for many substantive posts lately, but I'm sure no one blames me for that. :) I wanted to spend a few minutes, though, posting about my wonderful husband, since our anniversary is today.

He works hard and commutes each day to provide for our family.

When I call him at work "just to say hi" and see if he's coming home soon, and he hears unhappy chaos in the background, he tells me, "I'll leave right now."

When he can tell I've had an especially tiring few days, he suggests I take a book and go to Starbucks for an hour or two on a Saturday while he stays home.

When I come up with a hair-brained idea (like "I want to get a toddler bed for Lucy this weekend and put her in it even though she isn't yet 2"), he lets me run with it (instead of telling me it's probably a bad idea, which it might be).

He doesn't complain--ever--when I spend an entire evening after dinner at the sewing machine.

He is calm, patient, and slow to anger.

When our kids have a "sick episode" or sudden injury, I freeze, but Jon has the "parenting reflex." He jumps into action with towels, buckets, wipes, whatever the situation calls for.

No matter the type of day he has had, he always plays "ticklefest" with the kids when he gets home.

He is our kids' favorite person in the world.

And he's my favorite person in the world.

Happy 7 years, Jonathan!

Here is the most recent picture of us. The only other one I could find was when I was still pregnant with Levi!

Levi video

Levi and his funny way of "talking"

Another quick update

We're livin' life over here at the Varela household. Levi started solid food this last week; he loves it of course (especially because I'm being more low-key about it this time and giving fruits in addition to the veggies right from the beginning. Even gave him some mashed avocado that he enjoyed).

Lucy is still going gluten-free with positive results; I spoke to the pediatrician yesterday, and he said to continue for another couple of weeks to confirm that it is helping. Then, in order to do the test for celiac, Lucy needs to be on gluten, so we'll add gluten back into her diet for a month before he orders the test (involves a blood draw).

Nate was sooooo excited that there was an Open House at school last night, so Jon and Nate went together. They got to go to each of Nate's three classes, including Preschool Connections (the "regular" preschool).

I'm off to enjoy nap time!

P.S. Aren't these pajamas cute? Costco!

Stats

I took Lucy and Levi to the doctor for their 2-year and 6-month checkups. Lucy weighs 24 pounds 14 ounces, which is 20th percentile. She is 35.5 inches tall, which is 80th percentile. She is continuing her "tall and thin" trend. Levi weighs 15 pounds 13 ounces and is 26 inches tall; those are both 25th percentile. This is great for Levi, who was 3rd percentile in his first few weeks!

When we last met with Nate's DAN! doctor in Virginia, we asked what things we can look out for with Levi, since Levi is at much higher risk of having autism (because he is a boy and because he has an affected sibling). We've implemented the things Dr. Mumper suggested (like probiotics) and have been watching Levi's head circumference. (Many children with autism, including Nate, have larger-than-average head size.) Levi's head circumference has been consistent, and this last appointment it was 9th percentile.

I spoke to the doctor about our suspicion that Lucy has a food intolerance. I tried getting rid of all dairy for her a few months back, but after two weeks, she showed no improvement. Dr. Chu suggested trying a gluten-free diet. (This would be pretty easy for us to do!) If it made a difference for Lucy, then they would run the test for celiac disease. (Dr. Chu said celiac is underdiagnosed; it affects 1 in 100 children!) Today is day four of Lucy being gluten-free, and by golly, she has had normal dirty diapers for two days! This doesn't mean anything conclusive yet, but I am excited about the possibility of finding the answer to this year-long problem. If gluten is indeed the culprit, I don't think it necessarily means she has celiac, but it of course would mean she had a gluten intolerance. Celiac has no cure, but the treatment that works for every single case is a life-long gluten-free diet. We'll see!

Gifts to give

I spent some time a week ago putting gifts together to give to each of our leaders at Cubbies. All five girls (well, six including me) have their own families and busy schedules, yet each week they make helping at Cubbies a priority. Casey, our resident puppet show actress, only missed a couple of weeks all year, and those were the weeks when Mallory was just born. I can barely think of any weeks Amy and Kim weren't there.

I found this tutorial and used it to make a mini wallet for each girl (and I must admit: one for me too). I love this project because it used lots of scraps!

Checking in

Just noticed that I haven't posted since last week. We're doing just fine around here, though Lucy now has a nasty cold after having just gotten over that stomach thing.

Jon and I went on our church's couples retreat this past weekend to Lake Havasu. It was really nice, relaxing, and fun. We brought Levi with us, so I didn't get much more sleep than I usually get (and let's face it, at this point in my life, sleep is number 1 on the list of answers to the question, "If you had x number of free hours, what would you do with it?"). Jon came down with Lucy's stomach bug, so he was taking it easy and not feeling that good for most of the trip. Hmm, now that I read what I just wrote, it sounds like we had a terrible trip!--but we didn't. It was nice to get away for a couple of days and hang out with friends.

Tonight is awards night for AWANA, and then we're done for the summer. MOPS and Bible study are also done. I'm looking forward to a more low-key several months!

Happy boy

Levi has been scooting around a bit the past week or two. I'll leave him on the rug and find him a few minutes later nearly under the dining table. He has rolled over several times but doesn't seem to get around that way; it's more of a scooch. :)

Here's what he did today.













The middle picture above reminded me of a few shots of Nate at the exact same age:

New dress

This may be my new favorite thing I've made, mostly because I love these fabrics. I planned on putting Lucy in this on Sunday for Mother's Day and Levi's baby dedication, but her sickness thwarted my plans! One day soon. (P.S. Levi didn't get dedicated either, since Jon stayed home with Lucy from church. We had to reschedule that too.)

Quick check-in

Lucy has been sick since Saturday night, though today seems much better. I'm praying no one else has caught it!

A special boy

Text from the Mother's Day card Nate made for me at school (dictated by Nate and written down faithfully, though questioningly, by Miss Meg):

Dear Mama,

I love you so much!
You make me food, and
you teach me about God (at the temple)
You are a special boy.
Happy Mother's Day!
Love,
Nate