Updates and Cute Alert!

We've had quite a bit going on lately, and it seems that I'm always too busy to update the blog! I have a few minutes now, so I wanted to post a quick update...

Today Lexi met her new Physical Therapist. I am SO thrilled with her for so many reasons - the biggest reason being that Lexi seems to love her! She is fantastic with Lexi - she talks right to her, asks her questions, really plays with her rather than forcing Lexi to do stuff she's not interested in, listens to my concerns, etc., etc. All in all she was just fantastic. As we left the facility Lexi was already talking excitedly about what she's going to get to do next week. I'm thrilled, and really have high hopes for the progress we will make with Debbie. She did find Lexi to be a little tight, but it she feels as though Lexi really has more stability issues, which, in her attempt to compensate for that, has caused some muscle imbalances, etc.
I just can't emphasize enough how happy I am with Debbie. Even though Lexi's "issues" are small in comparison to what some children deal with, they weigh heavily on me every day. I wish every day that I could wave a magic wand and make her better. I feel like we have been to one doctor, therapist, etc. after another who might fix one thing, but they just don't seem to be getting to the bottom of the problem. Debbie really seems to see Lexi's legs as part of the whole picture and I really feel like she is going to fix all of Lexi so that she will be able to keep up with all the other kids on the playground.

Zachary is continuing to be wonderful. He is still growing like a weed, and he seems like a different boy almost every day. He suffered his first cold last week while Ahren was away on a business trip in Las Vegas. That was a tough week for all of us - Ahren was unhappy to be away, Lexi was sick with her umpteenth cold of the month (after a previously very healthy winter!), Zach was dealing with his first cold, and I was hit with another bout of mastitis. But, we survived, and everyone was VERY happy when Daddy came home!

This week Zachary started shaking a rattle. It's very cute, although he still doesn't quite seem to understand what he's doing. He sure does love it, though. His favorite rattle is one that was Ahren's when he was a baby, so it's pretty cute to see Zachy using it. Zach has also become a bit of a thumb sucker. It was something we were trying to avoid, but he secretly learned his skill at night in his crib. For now we're pretty much letting it go, although encouraging the paci during the day when we can. For the most part, he only sucks his thumb at night, so hopefully it will be a relatively short lived habit that he only does to sleep.

This week is officially the end of my maternity leave. On Tuesday I'll be dropping both Lexi and Zachary off at Fadia's. I thought sending #2 to daycare would be easier than it was with #1, but I'm not so sure as the time approaches. I know Zachary will be in very good hands, and that his big sister will be there for him as well, but it's going to be tough to give up our alone time together.

And now, I have to return to our family game of Zingo...but I will leave you with some adorable pictures and probably the cutest video that was ever made...enjoy!

"Rock it! Yea!"

What a beauty!

Handsome boy!

Brother and Sister...

Lexi Sings To Zachary...And He Sings Along...

They Grow So Fast...

Zachary had his two month doctor's visit this week. It was a tough one for me, because he was receiving his first vaccines, and I have paid a lot more attention to vaccine issues since Lexi's horrible reaction when she was 15 months old. Luckily, our new doctor is slightly lenient about what she will allow us to do with the schedule, and the practice uses the combination shots that are the safest in my opinion. So, although I was a complete wreck about the whole thing, we both survived just fine, and Zach escaped with only two shots, and will still be up to date on his shots when he goes to daycare in a few short weeks! I really love our new doctor - she is young, sweet, and very good to the kids. She asks me about Lexi when she's not there, and never makes me feel rushed during our visits, even if I ask her a Lexi question during a Zach visit.
She was pretty impressed with Zachary this week. On Monday he laughed for the first time, which wasn't too surprising since he's been smiling (social smiles) since he was less than a week old. During the visit he was trying his best to learn a new trick - rolling off the exam table. He didn't succeed, but he just may have had I not been holding him. Dr. M and I laughed through the whole visit. Most impressive was how much he's grown!
Height - 25 1/2 inches tall - 98th percentile!! (Must be some Duda genes in this boy!)
Weight - 14 lbs. 3 ozs. - 90th percentile.
He's already wearing his 3-6 month clothes, and due to his ingrown toenails, we've had to cut holes in all of his p.j.s.
Zachary is really beginning to play now too. He's laughed a few times, enjoys batting at his toys, brings toys to his mouth, but most especially enjoys hanging out with his sister.

As for Lexi, she continues to be an excellent big sister! She's suffered with a few colds in the last few weeks, but she handles them like a champ. She's been coming up with some pretty funny stuff lately too...here's a sampling:

Lexi: "Mama, I need some juice. My lips are all chopped."

Lexi (after successfully pooping on the potty): "See Mama? I told you I ate enough vegetables to poop!"

Me (responding to Zachary crying while quickly trying to finish up an e-mail): "I know Zachy, Mommy hears you! I'm coming right now."
Lexi (without even looking up from her clay): "Zachy says, 'Really Mommy, because it looks like you're typing an e-mail to me..'"

Lexi: "Daddy, do you want to run some Ahren's with us?"
Ahren: "Some Ahrens? You're going to run me??"
Lexi: "No Daddy, sometimes people call going to stores 'running Ahrens'. Mommy and I are going to run some Ahrens. Do you want to come?"

And now, my poor, little sick girl needs me, so I have to run...

More Lexi-isms

Lexi, upon receiving a bowl of grapes and cantaloupe:
"Look, Daddy! I have grapes and candlesticks!"

The morning after the inauguration Lexi and I were watching children on t.v. who were sending messages to President Obama. One of the children said, "I hope you make it a law that there is no more littering." Lexi turned to me and in complete shock said, "No more LETTERING???"

After a particularly bad morning I said to Lexi, "Lexi, I think Mama's going to cry..." She stopped what she was doing, looked right into my eyes and said, "No Mama, don't cry. If you cry I am going to cry."

When I picked up Lexi at Fadia's on Wednesday I peeked around the corner and saw her standing with one elbow on the toy box next to Luke who also had one elbow up on the toy box. She said to him, "Hey Lukey, do you want to run around and around until my Mommy gets here?" He replied, "Okay." Lexi said, "Okay, let's do it!" and off they ran until Lexi caught me out of the corner of her eye and exclaimed, "Oh, hi Mama!! I didn't see you there!"

She just keeps making us laugh...

Lexi-isms

Even when she's sick, Lexi makes me laugh...

The other evening she climbed up onto the couch and asked if I would let her watch cartoons. I had been watching the news, but was happy to put cartoons on for her, because she was really feeling lousy. As I got the cartoon that she wanted she said to me, "Mama, maybe when I'm older I'll watch the news with you and Daddy."

A day or two later:
Lexi: "Mama, I can't breeve."
Me: "I know, sweetie. It's because you have a cold. If you want, I can get the sucker (aka "nasal aspirator") and suction your nose. I will help you to be able to breathe better."
Lexi: "I can breeve now."

What a cutie. Here she is with her "Brover brov brov" aka "Zacharia" aka "Buddy" wearing her "Big Sister" shirt and Zach wearing his "Little Brother" shirt that she picked out for him.

And it's hard to believe, but this happy little boy is starting some of his own tricks as well! A few days ago I was nursing him and telling Ahren a story. Apparently I was being too loud because He started waving his hands around and moaning at me as I spoke. I stopped talking and he went back to happily nursing. As I started talking again, he again started waving his hands and moaning. Apparently the little prince needs to eat in peace...SO much like his big sister. :) Last night after we ate dinner, Zach was in his swing and Lexi and I were chatting at the table, but we had our backs to Zachary. He started fussing, and we turned and saw the biggest pouty face we'd ever seen! As soon as we starting talking to him we got this face:

Then Ahren came over and we said, "Zachary, show Daddy your new trick - show him your new face!" and we got this:

The original face was much poutier, but as soon as we all laughed, the bright smiley face came back. He did it two more times after that too...the boy is two months old and already smart as a whip! We better start saving more money for college - because we have two genius children on our hands. :)

2 Seconds Flat

That's how quickly it can all go to hell when you have kids. Everything is going along swimmingly and then BAM! downhill faster than you can say, "What happened??". The good news is that this time around I have a good sense of humor about the hell I often fall into, and I've also learned to let go of the little things when the big things take over.

Yesterday, life was good. It was Wednesday, so that meant that Ali was coming for her weekly visit, and I was also scheduled to go see my friend Christi and her new (4 day old) baby, Henry. Things threatened to get nutty in the morning, but we pulled out of it quickly, and I had two happy kids and a happy Mama. While I was changing Zachary, Lexi had assumed her position, right by his head, entertaining the heck out of him while I swerved to avoid the poop rockets he was shooting at me. As she stood there holding his hand and saying, "Hi Zachary. Hi...hi..." he looked right into her eyes and said, "HI". No word of a lie. Lexi and I both stopped short and looked at each other. Lexi said to me, "Mummy, I didn't know that babies could talk!" I didn't know it either, but honestly if you did not know that Zachary was only 7 weeks old, you would have been sure he was a one year old responding to his big sister. It was hysterical! The rest of the day went great. It was fun visiting with Christi and the baby, and Ali and I hung out and chatted up a storm all afternoon. She is like my weekly therapy, and I look forward to her Wednesday visits all week long.

At 4:30, Ali, Zachary and I left the house to pick up Lexi and drop off Ali. On my way from Ali's to Fadia's my neighbor Maureen called to see if we had power. Uh oh...we had when I left the house, but sure enough, when I returned home we were out...along with the rest of Harold Street. Great. Luckily, although Gigi and Poppy were not home, Gigi had made a huge dish of rice pilaf before she left, and instructed me to take the kids there and eat dinner. So, I did. As the night progressed, so did the "estimated time power will be restored time" on National Grid's website. It went from 7:30pm, to 10:30 pm (when we decided that Lexi would sleep over at Gigi and Poppy's) to 1am (when we decided the rest of the family would sleep there too). Having a sleepover mid-week is inconvenient, but we were lucky to have the option, so Ahren and I went back to the house in the dark to pick up some clothes and supplies. Everything seemed like it was going to be "fine"...until 3am when Lexi woke up screaming because she had a bloody nose. This is not a terribly unusual event. Lexi never had a chance of not getting bloody noses, as Ahren and I both got them terribly when we were children. The bloody nose was fine...it was the fever that I worried about. Gigi and I got the nose under control and we all went back to bed...I, however was wide awake...worried about this fever, and wondering if she would be staying home from Fadia's in the morning...thinking about the plans I would have to cancel...worrying about what was causing the fever...and worst of all, worrying that Zachary might catch the illness from Lexi. 4am screams got me out of bed again with another bloody nose, and while she felt mildly cooler, she still had a fever. When we woke up this morning, it was clear that she would not be going to Fadia's today. This is where I need to take a big, deep breath and let go. I can't panic about what's not going to get done, what I'm going to miss, etc. I just have to rewire my brain into, "today we're all staying home."

So, here it is, almost noon, and I still have dishes from yesterday's breakfast in my sink, I haven't showered, Zachary is in his p.j.s, but we're good....I'm good. I guess the key to being a healthy mom free from the almost crippling anxiety I suffered from when Lexi was a baby is learning to be okay with the hell...it can come in 2 seconds flat, and if that's okay then we'll be okay. Because just as quickly as things can go to hell they can go just as fast back to good.

Busy Week

Last week was an extremely busy one, and it really took a toll on this mama. By Friday I had certainly reached the end of my rope and I was very thankful for the weekend once it arrived.

On Monday Lexi, Zachary and I made the trek to Wellesley to see Mr. Aaron, her orthotist. We enjoy visits with Mr. Aaron, although Gigi usually joins us for the trip so it means that I get a couple of relatively uninterrupted hours to talk to my mom (rare these days). Gigi wasn't available on this day, so we made the journey alone, and MAN is that a long drive. Mr. Aaron was pleased with the SMOs, but did give us a new stretch to start working on. I am glad for the stretch because I felt like the other one was too easy for Lexi to squirm out of...this one just seems more effective.

On Tuesday is was back down Rt. 95 to the Sports Spa with my dad. There we ran on this cool treadmill call the Alter G. You basically get zipped into this enormous space bag from the waist down which allows the machine to reduce your weight to up to 20% of your body weight. It's like running on the moon - very cool.

On Wednesday I had my 6 week follow up with Ruth. I was glad to see her, and she told me that things are healing nicely, but we're not there yet. That was no surprise to me, but I was glad to know that everything was normal. She was so excited to see how big Zachary has gotten, and was surprised to hear that he's already giving us 6-8 hour stretches just about every night. She said I must have good milk, which made me feel proud for some reason... :) It feels strange that I won't be back to see them for a whole year...I really love that practice so much, and I feel like they've all become close friends of mine. In the afternoon Ali came to visit, and I have to say that there is nothing better than having a girlfriend to come hang out with me. We went out for lunch and then ran some errands together, and it was just awesome.

On Thursday Zachary and I checked out a new Stroller Strides class down the street...well...I checked it out, Zach slept through the entire thing. It was an interesting class, though different from the Baby Boot Camp class I took after having Lexi. Mostly it's just nice having a group of moms all working out together. There's never a lack of conversation, and we all feel much better after working up a sweat and working out our frustrations. It's not easy to get exercise with a newborn in the middle of the winter, but it's so important...especially for me.

Friday was the busiest day of all... We had our "six month" (actually almost one full year) follow up with Dr. Raffalli, Lexi's neurologist. These appointment are always frustrating for me because Dr. R. is constantly pushing us to take Lexi for a repeat urodynamics test. If you don't remember the story about the original test that she had before her surgery, I'll just say that it was pure torture. Ahren usually allows me to make most of the medical decisions about the kids. We discuss them fully with each other, but he usually agrees with whatever I come up with, which is nice. This was the one medical issue that Ahren literally forbade me to go forward with. It was fine because I agreed with him, but he would not have allowed me to take her to repeat this unnecessary test - that's how horrific it was. Dr. R. seems upset that we flat out refused to take her for the test. It's designed to test whether or not the bladder is functioning, and since Lexi is fully potty trained we think that's pretty definitive. This appointment was no different from the rest, and I was pressured again to take her back for the test. In the end, my "punishment" was a threat to re-MRI her (which is fine with me) and send us back to Dr. Smith for a follow up to see what he thinks (also fine with me). So, now I'm just waiting to hear back from Dr. Raffalli once he has a chance to confer with Dr. Smith. I'm glad we have thorough doctors, but I truly feel that Dr. Raffalli is more focused on making the parents obey, than taking care of Lexi. He didn't even ask about her gross motor milestones until I just started telling him all the things she can do. I'm actually truly hoping that they will let us take her in for a repeat MRI and a visit with Dr. Smith. I feel like those two things will give me a better idea of where she is. He also recommended that we get her back into Physical Therapy, so that is my next agenda item...

It was a busy week, and it was hard for me to deal with the emotional aspect of Lexi's "issues" on top of the physical pain of some of my remaining issues. But, in the end I think it was good for me because it was hard, but I managed and made it through. What doesn't "kill" me, only makes me stronger.

Okay, off to see if I can console Zachary so that I can get a quick shower in before noon!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Everywhere I go I hear people saying good bye and good riddance to 2008. It's true that overall 2008 was not a great year for our country, but as a family we simply cannot ignore all the good things about this past year. We had wonderful vacations with our families, weddings, engagements, Ahren's Uncle Doug suffered with but ultimately survived a terrible cancer, Ahren earned his CFA, we added a beautiful addition to our home, and we welcomed Sophie Rose and Zachary Thomas into this world. Economic times are tough, but we are blessed for sure, and we cannot forget that.

Christmas was wonderful as always! It was crazy with 5 children running (or crawling or squirming) around, but it was absolutely fantastic. We had Christmas Eve at my parent's house as always, and Santa made his yearly visit. As the kids get older things just get more and more fun. Lexi, Cassie and Ben played so beautifully with each other this year, and it was hysterical watching them.

Of course, Santa came to visit the party, but Lexi was still not interested in going anywhere near him. She just does not trust a big man in a red suit - which I suppose, in the grand scheme is a good thing. But she was more than happy to be handed a gift from him...via one of the other children.

Christmas morning was crazy as always. I think Lexi had more fun handing gifts out than opening them. Lexi and Cassie had a blast comparing gifts, and all three kids shared with each other nicely all day long. Dinner was wonderful, as always, and then there were more presents in the afternoon. Lexi was all gifted out by the end of the day...but it wasn't over yet!

On Monday, Uncle Devan, Aunt Jen, Auntie Kae, Grammy and Grampy all came to our house to celebrate the Lippman Christmas. Santa had made a visit at Grammy and Grampy's house, so Grammy brought the stockings up here for Lexi and Zachary to open. We had a very relaxed dinner, and then opened a gazillion presents. It was great to see Devan and Jen, and a fun evening all around.

On New Year's Eve, Ahren, Lexi, Zach and I drove up to Gigi and Poppy's condo in Vermont to ring in the New Year with my parents and some of our friends. The drive was horrible, and took 5 1/2 miserable hours, but once we got there we enjoyed a very relaxing few days lounging around the condo. Lexi and Poppy tried to go sledding, but it was 5 degrees and just a little too cold to enjoy the ride.

So the rest of the weekend we really just lounged around and did almost nothing. It was fantastic!

So, now we're back to "normal" life and I have to say I'm pretty happy we are. The holidays were a blast, but they were very busy, and I'm glad to have a few more weeks of maternity leave to enjoy my newborn. Zachary is growing up so fast, and I feel like I've missed a lot of it from being so busy with the festivities.

We are looking forward to a better 2009 for everyone, and continued blessings (hopefully not in the form of more children, just yet) for our family.