Kids Will Be Kids

There must be some things that are ingrained in children that would happen no matter the environment, the parents, and the influence of other kids. This week, I witnessed Abby partaking in two of those activities and I'm a little embarrassed to say that instead of having some clever way of dealing with them so neither will ever happen again, I laughed. So I may be in for a long journey to break two specific kid activities.

A week ago, Abby was sitting next to me on the couch reading a book when I noticed that she was picking her nose. Immediately, I reminded her that the things in her nose are yuckies and that she should use a tissue and not her finger. This is not a new idea in our house. It's the end of February and it's been a bitterly cold winter. Abby responded to my very logical suggestion, "It's okay, Mom. I'll just eat it." and proceeded to do just that. I was too shocked and taken aback to be able to stop her in time, but you better believe she didn't trick me the second time her finger traveled back to her nostril and we raced to the bathroom, nursing baby in tow, with the offending finger clutched in my hands.

Yesterday, Abby and I were on the same couch watching a show on the computer when she stood up, bent over so her rear was in my face, and farted. She laughed once before sitting down and then said, "'Scuse me, Mama." I promise she has never, ever seen this done at our house and, I would hope, anywhere I have taken here.

In the nature vs. nurture argument, nature just scored twice.

Two Weeks of Catch-Up

Our last two weeks have had moments filled with busy-ness and moments of blessed calm. Luckily, Sam is incredibly patient with his ultra-loving, loud, busy big sister and she loves him. We really have been so blessed to have Abby accepting of our new pace of life. She is excited to tell people that she is the big sister. Here are a few of our highlights and funny moments from our recent days:

• Happy birthday to Roy! It was very fun to celebrate with his parents the weekend before his birthday and to be our boring, tired little family on the actual day of his birthday. We did a family nap in the afternoon and had leftover cake and ice cream before going to bed again. Luckily, Roy never complains when the invitation comes to sleep. He's a huge fan.

• While changing Sam's diaper one night, he was screaming bloody murder. Abby came up to me and said in her big sister voice, "Mom, Sam cries all day long."
• I gave Abby her first haircut. I really just trimmed 1/2" off and it was just in an effort to make her hair extra curly. Mission accomplished!

• Abby has had two #2 successes on the potty in the last couple days. We are so proud of her! Along the big kid vein, Abby has also had two sleeps in her big girl bed. This has been a several month struggle so we are thrilled. Even if we did have to use the incentive of a Tinkerbell movie for 10 sleeps. (Did you notice I used the word incentive and not bribe? Sometimes I wonder if there is a difference...)
• Over the last four or five nights, Sam has had at least one bout of 4 hours of sleep each night. I LOVE it!
• I took the kids to church on Sunday. On my own, by the way. They both did fantastic and it was good to be back among our friends there.

Can you tell how much she loves him?

Oh, Boy!

For those who know my family, you know that Sam is the first grandson. My two sisters who are married are both pregnant and due in the summer. And both are having boys! We are so excited that Sam will have male cousins and can't wait to see the plotting that will occur as the 4 girls and 3 boys gang up on each other at family reunions!

Abby-ism

Sam hates having his diaper changed and is always sure to let us know of his feelings on the subject. While I was changing him tonight, Abby walked up to "help" out. She had me laughing pretty hard when she observed, "Baby Sam cries all day long!"

Slamming Doors

In an act of toddler defiance this morning, Abby started slamming the bathroom cabinet doors. My first response was to ask her to close it softly. I quickly learned that wasn't going to be good enough when she opened the door bigger and slammed it harder, quickly followed by a giggle. So I bribed her with chocolate chips to close it softly two times. Watching her try to get away with almost closing the door softly gave me major flashbacks of my brother when he was a little older than Abby (more like in elementary school). Neil (does that embarrass you, brother?) would get mad, run the long way around the house to his room, and slam the bedroom door. I'm sure his anger had nothing to do with the fact that he was sandwiched between four sisters who may or may not have occasionally teased him. As the females laughed that he once again took the long path to his room, Dad would go to Neil and make him practice closing his door softly ten times. Inevitably, Neil would close the door softly nine times and slam it on the tenth. Dad would then make him start over. My memory may be off, but it seemed like Neil had to practice his door-closing skills for several rounds before finally giving in to complete ten soft closes in a row. Oh, how fun it is to be the big sister!

For the Picture Deprived

The nurses at the hospital fell in love with Abby and Abby was more than happy to show off for them. She was really lucky and got to go in to the nursery and help give Sam his first bath. I wish I could have been there to see her help washing his hair, but I got her play-by-play, which may have been more fun to listen to over and over again. She was thrilled to be Sam's big sister helper.

We are very glad to have my mom here to help. It's nice not to worry about dinner, have midnight help (or 3 am poopy explosion help, as the case may be), and not have to worry about Abby one bit while I was in the hospital. My mom got here about 36 hours before Sam was born so we couldn't have timed things better if we had tried. I'm not sure if my mom is getting enough baby-holding time, but she was the first to witness Sam's dimples and thumb sucking.

My grandma (Mor Mor to me and Bedstemor to my kids) has the tradition to give each grandbaby and great-grandbaby a teddy bear. When Abby was born, she got Winnie the Pooh and Sam was given a tan teddy bear. Here's a cute picture of both kids with their Bedstemor bears:

We are loving the addition of Sam to our family and the combination of Abby and Sam. He is an angel and she is a very attentive, loving big sister. This morning while I was changing his diaper and he was fussing (he is a fighter during diaper time, more so than Abby was--we're getting really fast even applying vaseline on the boy part), Abby laid down on the floor, held his hand, and talked to him. Even though he was less than pleased with my messing with him, he just stared in Abby's direction while she talked to him. It was incredibly sweet!

He's Here

8 lbs 13 ounces, 21 inches long

Samuel David Zwahlen

Franconia Friends

Hi Franconia Ward friends! Roy's sister and her family just moved into the ward on Saturday. They are there only temporarily, but please take care of them. And get any good stories on Roy that you possibly can for future teasing. So if you meet Nate, Alexandra (Alex), or MaKayla Tenny or just see a very pregnant stranger in the hallway, it's probably our family. Enjoy having them in the ward! We're jealous that you get them for three months and we just get a quick weekend or two!

Any Day...

It's 12 days until Sam is actually due, but the doctor told us today that she expects us to have him any day. My to-do list is done, my mom flies in tomorrow, and we are excited to meet him. Now we just have to wait for "any day" to come...