Three-month-olds are SO moody

I'm a very proud Mama right now b/c my littlest is sleeping for the first time in her own room. She has been in there since 7 and it is now 10pm...and not a peep. Of course, she's still sleeping in her car seat - the seat is in her room, in her crib - since it's all she's known for three months, we figure we'll give her a few days to adjust to the new location before having her adjust also to a new bed. But the first step in Operation: Sophie Bedroom Shift is in full effect and going well. And the biggest reward is that I just spent a glorious hour laying in my own bed, in my own room, reading a book! One of my all-time favorite things to do, and something I've been unable to indulge in since Soph's been sharing our space b/c the light would wake her up. It's amazing how much you can come to appreciate the little things when suddenly they are taken away from you. I often think a really good book, a comfortable bed and complete peace and quiet is about as close as we get to Heaven on Earth.

So that's the good Sophie story...the not-so-good Sophie story is that she's developed this rather alarming habit just in the last week or so of bursting into tears whenever her father comes near her. And I mean Bursting. Into. Tears. She goes from total contentment to hysteria in about 30 seconds. Poor Chris doesn't even have to pick her up - if I'm holding her, and he comes over to talk and smile at her, she's gone. And if he DOES dare to hold her? She starts screaming so loud and hard that it takes me several minutes to calm her down once she's back with me, which is very out-of-character for her. It is beyond perplexing...it's heartbreaking. My sweet, loving husband, who is the greatest father in the world, now can't get within a foot of his youngest without causing her enormous distress. And she doesn't calm down either. As long as he is near, she is upset. 1 minute...crying the whole time. 20 minutes...STILL crying the whole time. The only thing that she seems to accept is if he holds her in the crook of his arm, facing out. Then she is calm...mostly b/c I think she doesn't realize who is holding her. But if he dares to talk to her, or look at her, she flips her lid. Why? I don't get it. I know it's hurting Chris's feelings...it sure as heck would hurt mine. This is unprecedented territory for us...Emma seemed to come out of the womb with "Daddy's Girl" tattooed on her bicep, and up until recently Sophie has loved Chris's company. But now she actually acts frightened of him, which is beyond my comprehension b/c he is one of the gentlest, kindest people I know, and I think even at 3 months you can sense that in a person, you know? Now if she were acting this way with me I'd get it a bit more...let's face it, even if you take my best day and put it up against my husband's worst, I'm just really less likable than him. But why she's decided Daddy is in the "Things I Don't Like" category right now - along with baths and having her clothes changed - is a complete mystery to me. I am planning to be gone a good portion of the day tomorrow, and I hope that the time together without me around will help them work this out. If she were a little older I'd just have a very stern talking-to with her and explain to her that this silly behavior will not be tolerated and she needs to stop being mean to Daddy. But considering that right now her language skills are limited to gurgles, smiles and screams, I'm not sure she'd understand. So I guess, in absence of any better ideas, Chris is just going to keep trying until she gets over this phase - and for however long that takes, Emma and I will be right there to give Chris lots of hugs, kisses and reassurance that it will get better soon and that we love him to pieces and Sophie does too, even if she really needs to work on how she chooses to express it. And it WILL get better, right? I mean, has anyone else heard of a baby Sophie's age doing this? If so, tips are welcome.

As We Are Now

I'm realizing more and more that my girls (still slightly weird to use the plural there, although I'm getting used to it) are rapidly growing in front of my eyes, and by the evening I often can't remember what happened that morning. So I'm gonna try so hard to start posting to this regularly, if nothing else so I can have a record of memories about our lives. And if you have interest in hearing about our lives too, all the better. So, I'm gonna start with a wrap up of where we are now, and then hopefully get into the swing of things on a more regular basis.

EMMA

Emma grows more and more precocious and clever every day. And she is growing literally too - she's so tall, taller than almost any other kid at school. She definitely looks older than 3, and often sounds like it too. The other day, out of nowhere, she came up to me and said, "Remember a long time ago when we saw the play about the pirate?" (We saw the play about 7 months ago, I believe.) "That was one of the best days of my life." One of her favorite words is Actually, as in "Actually Mommy, that's not the way you do it," or "Actually, Daddy told me I COULD have another glass of milk before bed." She is bossy as hell, which is something we are working on with her. Sometimes she just wants to help people - but also, she's a control freak like me. She loves to tell me, "Mommy, calm down, caaallllm doooowwwwwn" whenever I get upset or frustrated. Those are my exact words coming out of her mouth (b/c, in case you've never met her, our Emma can get worked up sometimes), and I find it alternately annoying and amusing. She has the most infectious laugh, and every time I come home after being gone, even if only for a few minutes, she will stop what she's doing and come running to me with a big smile and arms wide, screaming, "Mommy! I missed you when you were gone." Right now she is hard-core into pretend - she makes up songs, situations, dances, foods, scenarios. She is known to breastfeed her baby doll (imitating Mommy and Sophie, of course) and is very careful to always put her dolls to bed, sing them to sleep, make sure they are fed, etc. Her favorite TV shows are Dora, Diego, Backyardigans, Spongebob and Yo Gabba Gabba (this last one particularly perplexes Chris and me, but she things it's da bomb). Her new favorite movies are The Jungle Book and Tarzan II. The latter Chris rented for her while Sophie and I were in Indiana visiting Cadin, and I think in the week we had it she probably watched it - no exaggeration - about 20 times. Her favorite part is the Disney music video under Bonus Features, where she will imitate every dance move and vocal vibration the little girl with big pipes lets loose on the screen. Lately she's been having nightmares and waking up at night - sometimes only a kiss and more milk is needed to calm her down, and sometimes she needs to snuggle with Daddy and watch TV until she stops crying. She can't tell us what the dreams are about, only that they are scary and often involve a lizard. (Said lizard has been banished from our apartment many times, but yet he still keeps coming back. Darn thing.) She is - FINALLY! - completely potty-trained during the day, and Chris and I are so shell shocked from 9 loonnggggg months of potty-training struggle that we have no inclination to tackle the nighttime training for quite some time yet. She adores her baby sister and says at least 4 times a day about Sophie, "She is so cute!" If anyone asks about Sophie, she calls her "my baby," and she's very excited that her cousin Callie now has a baby sibling too, which of course Emma refers to as "Callie's baby." She loves to list all her family members and where they live (ie, Grandma and Grandpa in Indiana, Grandma & Grandpa Kitty and Grandpa Greg and Grandma Connie in St. Louis, Nonnie & Leo in Buffalo, etc.) She's an attention-hog and often demands you look at her ("watch me, watch me!" and "Look. At. Me!" are frequent laments) while she runs circles in the living room or shows us some brand-new dance she's just made up. She digs drawing, can write her own name, knows all her letters and can count to 30 with no help at all, and way beyond with a little prompting. Her favorite books (as of right now, it changes OFTEN) are Goodnight Sun, Hello Moon; Leonardo the Terrible Monster; Goodnight Moon; Kitty's First Full Moon; Knuffle Bunny & Knuffle Bunny Too; and Me Too! Me Too! She's also into games like Memory, Ants in the Pants and Don't Break The Ice. She is quick to give kisses and hugs, quick to laugh and quick to cry, has at least one screaming fit a day and an average of about 4 full-on tantrums a week, is a shrewd negotiator, a keen observer who misses nothing, a tireless question-asker, and has been known in the course of a day to go from helping keep her sister company while Mommy showers and cleaning up her lunch plate without being asked to taking apart the drain in the bathroom, getting into and eating an entire tupperware container of brownies and pulling a slice of cheese into about 40 tiny pieces and then squishing them into the sofa. (Sadly, all true stories.) In other words - she's 3. We often want to muzzle her and she pushes us to the absolute limits of our patience, but we also adore her and can't wait to see what she'll do or say next.

SOPHIE

So...Sophie. Not as many details yet, but the one thing we've learned about Sophie so far is that she's very different from her sister. She is usually relatively chill. She will sit in her swing or bouncy seat for up to a half hour on average without fussing, and she loves her Bumbo seat (although she has a habit of having exploding poops while sitting in it - not sure of the connection yet, but I know now what to do if she's ever constipated.) She does not hesitate to let you know when she's unhappy, but she works up to it, sort of letting out a cry here or there to give you time to respond before she takes it to the next step and completely loses it. She LOVES to be held, and 9 times out of 10 if she is upset, this will solve it. Chris thinks she's a Mama's girl, and I'd have to agree - although she certainly knows her Daddy. But she's a girl's girl - if she's a bit out of sorts, one look from Daddy can make her burst into tears, as if she's condemning him simply for having testosterone. But Mommy or Aunt Jayme or Grandma gets ahold of her and all is well. She is very quick to smile and loves to have conversations with you - although her responses are mostly limited to "ooooooooh" in many different inflections, both Chris and I swear we've heard her say "Emma." She has the most potent toots I've ever encountered in man or animal, and she'll let them rip with a smile. She's still in our room for sleeping right now, and she crashes in the car seat. She isn't the best napper - she'll fall asleep relatively easily but usually doesn't stay asleep more than an hour at the very most. She's still waking up on average two times a night, but she's never up for long and is super good about going right back to sleep. Her favorite things right now are the toy on her bouncy seat, the bears on her swing, and Mommy (or more specifically, Mommy's breasts). She is an utter joy, and all three of us are completely in love with her. And I think she's falling in love with us too.

So. That's the girls, as they are now - 3 months and 3 1/2 years. And now let's see if I can keep this up - I've never been good at journaling, but I'm gonna give it the old college try. Stay tuned...