Lil's Working Model

If you were reading this in the past, then you may remember that I wrote about an interview that I do with all of my clients called The Working Model of the Child Interview. This is a chance for them to talk about the child and their shared relationship. I wrote up my thoughts about Emmy, and now I want to document my "working model" of my relationship with Lil, age 4 mos. Forgive me, this is quite self-indulgent but I wanted to document this for my family:) It's the kind of stuff that I'll read to 13 year old, Lily and it will make her want to throw up and pretend she doesn't know me around her friends!

Personality:
--sweet: Lil smiles and coos constantly, when you pick her up she latches on like a little koala bear
--laid back: It amazes me to say this, but it is so striking given that Lil resides in a house filled with 3 Type A personalities! She is very calm, pleasant, rarely cries (unless her Zantac has worn off), is patient.
--happy: She seems happy and content no matter the situation. Home, daycare, etc.
--curious: Lil is a watcher. She is taking it all in. She loves people and noise and she studies your mouth when you are talking like she is trying to figure out how to say those same words.
--loud: This is no surprise. Lil babbles constantly and is so loud sometimes I think she is going to wake up her sister down the hall! She's a talker, as all the Whitt-Woosleys are.

Relationship:
--surprising: I am so pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to fall in love with baby #2. Everyone who knows me knows that Emmy has been my world for the past few years, but somehow there is equal room in my heart for my Lily.
--sweet: Our time together is just sweet, sweet, sweet. Lots of mirroring and babbling together, and little books and patty cake.
--shared: My newly forming relationship with this child is different in that we have less 1-1 time together, which I thought would be hard. However, we have these great special moments with Emmy and I reading books to her and Emmy and I playing patty cake with her, and I realize that what Lil loses in 1-1 time with Mommy, she gains so much more from having this whole extra person to adore her.
--cherished: I adore this kid and realize how special our relationship is, and it sure seems like the feeling is mutual. Since I am the keeper of the milk, Mama is still #1! (I'm just enjoying it while I can, I'm sure she will go through her Daddy's girl phase soon enough.)
--easy: We just have an easy relationship. Infants are blessedly less complex than their bigger counterparts and I'm kind of relishing in that right now. I think it is an easy relationship for her, too at this stage. Right now it's just all about the love, meeting her basic needs and providing a stimulating environment.

Baby New Year

Happy 2012! Here is our little baby new year, wasn't she cute? So far, our year is off to a great albeit busy start. G is working long hours for the man in Frankfort, but seems to be enjoying himself and still making room for quality time for his girls. Em is back at school working hard on things like learning to spell the word "mop" (not sure why they start with that word but I'm all for promoting the joy of chores), washing baby dolls and she is still painting every day, all day like it is her job. I'm not sure what do with all of these paintings, so we recycle them into other things as much as possible. I am back to work, which has been an easy transition thanks to having the same job for 12 years and working with a team of people I truly enjoy. But most notably, Ms. Lil has begun daycare, and she is doing great! Charming the pants off of everyone she sees and sleeping, eating and pooping better than any baby on the block (other than smiling and cooing, that really is all they do at this age!). She also exceeded my expectations by achieving her first daycare related illness in record time (in just 4 short days, good people!). Lily Q, my little overachiever. So that is what we are up to, at least in part. I've started running again, which has been great even though my right knee is protesting and clearly had gotten used to the last year of sluggishness. We've spent a bit of time outdoors as a family thanks to some glorious weather, had some lovely visits with family and friends lately and even a little bit of down time at the hacienda just hanging in our sweats. I am really, really please with this year so far. The only exception being that I cannot find the time to take down our Christmas tree! I am slightly embarrassed by this, though I also don't give a crap. I mean obviously, or I would have taken it down already! I just have better things to do. Seriously. We have been busy and even when we don't have plans or work or something I have these 2 amazing little people that I just can't get enough of. Their dad is pretty alright, too! The Woo Crew definitely keeps me entertained, and life is moving so fast that I'm trying very hard to only invest energy in the things that matter most. Yesterday morning, Emmy was explaining to Lil how she was a big girl now and she was almost 3 years old. She is so excited to be turning 3, but man that really breaks my heart! Where has my baby gone? Em went on to explain that Lil could tell that she was her big sister because she is "this tall," has very "long knees" and a "long head." It was hillarious! She is a riot, but she tells the truth. Her head and knees are getting long, and they are growing so fast.

One Year

So it has been a year since my last post, I am ashamed to say, but man what a year! This time in 2011, it was just the 3 of us and now POOF! Here we are a family of four. Last January, I was at dinner with Em at our favorite sushi spot. My fortune cookie that night said that the best things were yet to come. I found out the next day that I was expecting Lillian, and that many good things were indeed about to happen. Lil, or Big Lil as we like to call her, is the unexpected angel that came into our lives and made our family complete. Today, she is my 10 week old darling, who can't help but smile all over herself most of each day. She is our best baby girl, Emmy's little sister and my parents' 6th grandchild just to mention a few of her other starring roles. She coos and talks non-stop, which helps her fit right into this chatty family. Lil has already squelched all of those mother doubts about being able to love your second child as much as your first- hard to believe, but you really can fall in love all over again.

So that is a bit of catch-up on the story of Lil. And then there is Emmy. Emmy, Emmy, Emmy. Our little firecracker, our sweetheart. She has grown up so much this year. She is an excellent talker, is bright and curious and has an imagination that does not stop. We are deep in the throws of the Princess Phase. She refers to herself mainly as Snow White or any other princess, speaks about herself in the third person, wears her Snow White halloween costume on a daily basis, refers to her dad as Prince or Beast (as in Beauty and the...), and I am usually Queen or Malefecent (you can see whom she tends to favor since the queens are usually evil). She makes up stories and songs that go on for hours sometimes about her royal kingdom. It is both precious and a bit too much at times! She will also only wear dresses that "twirl," which is inspired by the princesses, ballerinas and her dear friend, Ella, with whom she could twirl all day. This results in lots of skirts and dresses layered over sweat pants and jeans now that it is winter, which makes her look a little homeless at times but keeps her happy. Other favorite activities for Em right now include cutting (just got some safety scissors, trying to keep them away from her hair), reading books and learning phonics both at home and at school, playing doctor and "helping" take care of her baby sister. Em is extremely loving to Lil, but I joke that she is like the abominable snow man cartoon. She is a little rough and may just love her to death if not closely supervised!

So having 2 little girls just 2 years apart is amazing, crazy, fun, hectic and without a doubt the biggest blessing of our lives. G and I live for these girls and enjoy them so much, but we have far from figured out how to run this whole operation. I'm just starting to get into a groove but I return to work in 5 weeks, which will change everything. Should be a wild ride! Always is around here. The pics above are just a few from the past year, some good memories I wouldn't want to forget.

Baby Mama Photo Dramas!

Okay, so I realize that it has been 4 months since I've blogged. I am a delinquent blogger! The summer just kept getting busier. We traveled to Florida twice, New Orleans, St. Louis, and Maine this summer. We also renovated our kitchen, painted the outside of house and did some other home improvements. It was kind of crazy to say the least! Then the fall has been even busier, but fortunately with lots of fun fall events. This summer was hot and sunny every day, and the fall was warm and bright as well. We have had the best weather, and lots of fun times to enjoy it. Winter is arriving fast, however, so I should have more time to blog. While I have been terrible at finding time to write, I have kept up with taking pictures. For the next little while, I am going to try to do more photoblogging and see how that goes. Here is our weekend in pictures! Emmy went to her first UK footbal game (Go Hats!), we did some bike riding, painted and played with lots of play-do. This was our first weekend spent mostly around the house in a while and we really enjoyed it!

That's Right! The Women Are Smarter!

The women are smarter, that's right, that's right! If you don't already know, this is a great Grateful Dead song (Man Smart, Woman Smarter), and this is me singing through the keyboard! It's a peppy little catchy little number, and seems appropriate (at least tangentially) to my brief topic of the day. This morning, my little gal figured something out that neither her dad or I could. On one of our recent road trips, we stopped at Cracker Barrel (of course, about the only place you can get away with taking a wild 1 year old on the road) and we ended up buying BG this groovy little fire truck. We thought it was cool because it is the kind that you pull backwards, then it propels quite a distance on its own. This morning she was playing with it in her car seat and I suddenly hear sirens and see lights flashing. We had no idea the toy could do that! She figured out what we could not, I'm embarrassed to say. Might have to change the song to Man Smart, Baby Smarter!

Little Ms. Firecracker

The 4th of July is a family favorite, and we had a great holiday. We spent the 3rd downtown with some of our dearest friends and their baby who is also super-awesome. Baby J and Em seemed to enjoy the parade and the downtown spectacle, and they didn't even complain about the heat! To top it off, we decided to have a late lunch at Dudley's and the toddlers acted like they ate in nice restaurants every day of the week. They are both superstars, I tell ya. Then, on the actual 4th (don't know why Lexington decided to celebrate on the 3rd instead, rather odd really), we enjoyed a street party with our neighbors. Em ran around like a crazy girl, and loved every minute of it! She was so happy that she just ran around squealing in delight. She liked the fireworks too, which thankfully weren't very loud. She didn't even wake up for the big fireworks that went off in the night. G and I were grateful for that!

One last thing, I can put Em's hair up in pigtails now! It is silly, I know, but her little piggies make me so happy! She looks very cute in them. I put her hair up in two messy little buns, which my friend Rach said looked like fireworks on her head! This pleased me to no end, as that was actually the intended effect! So cute...

Excuses of a Delinquent Blogger

Hello, my name is Adrienne and I am a delinquent blogger and poor documentarian of my baby's life. I can't believe it has been 6 weeks since my last post, but this spring/summer has been off with a bang! Also, BG keeps me hopping and requires quite a bit of my physical and mental energy these days, leaving me with little stamina for hobbies such as writing or anything beyond survival for that matter. Here is a typical day in my/our life:

Toddlerville: A Day in the Life...

• Wake at 7
• Shower very quietly so as to not wake up Sleeping Beauty
• Dress self, dress BG
• Feed her breakfast while trying to finish getting ready and fending off dog from eating baby's breakfast (this is hard because she is always attempting to feed the dog, which makes her giggle uncontrollably)
• Try to get out the door by 8 without burning self or baby with necessary travel-vat of coffee, or dropping self or baby to the ground
• Drive delightful BG to school while singing Old MacDonald and pointing out favorite points of interest along the way (i.e. trees, men on the street who remind BG of Daddy, the horse or "neigh neigh" statue in front of the Chase building, firetrucks, trucks that aren't firetrucks but we pretend they are, etc.)
• Bring BG into her classroom, give her teachers copious notes on what I perceive to be her special needs and/or issues of the day
• Try to simultaneously reassure her that I will return for her later while also disappearing without her noticing because separation brings much anxiety at this time
• Drive to work like a maniac without harming pedestrians or other drivers
• Work hard at saving the children for 8 hrs while running errands to help save my own children on my lunch break
• Leave at 4ish to go pick up BG
• Go home, take care of Bobby and then have outside play time, which she demands by crying at the door, screaming "outshide! outshide!")
• Cook dinner while fending off dog and keeping an eye on the BG
• Then, around 6:15 or so, Daddy mercifully arrives home and we all sit down for dinner
• I then alternate between feeding myself and BG, which usually goes pretty well though sometimes takes some wrangling, coaxing and bribing with animal crackers
• Then, we have a little more playtime, a walk or family bike ride (we love this! just got Em a seat for the back of G's bike and it totally rocks!)
• Then it's time for playing with "bubbles" otherwise known as bathtime
• Then a book and some milk, real quick, then time for "night nights"
• By now, it is 8:30-9:00 and I always have big ideas about exercising, cleaning, reading, writing, etc. I manage to fit some of these things in here and there, but never as much as I hope to.

As you can see, blogging and nearly everything else gets a bit neglected in my rush to keep up with Ms. Em! It's hectic and may sound awful to others, but I love it all! My only regret is that being this busy makes time go by so fast...

Developmental Update:

• Em sings along with or sings parts of songs (Old MacDonald- obsessively!, Wheels on the Bus, Down in the Jungle)
• Is saying probably 50 words or more (hard to keep up because there are new ones everyday! My current favorite is her frequent, and correct, use of the word "happy." Por ejemplo, yesterday when we arrived at the pool, Em stopped and got a little grin on her face and whispered to me, "happy!")
• Can practically sprint, tries like crazy to swim (wants to go underwater, which is definitely off limits since we've already had 2 sets of ear tubes!)
• Knows and names most body parts (favorite is "bellybutton"), animals, animal sounds, articles of clothing, modes of transportation (bike, truck, car, choo choo, boat, etc.)
• Walks up stairs while holding the rail, rather than climbing up
• Can feed herself with utensils somewhat- it is pretty messy and we have some more progress to make, but she really wants to and tries very hard
• Recognizes all of her family members in pictures and seems to have a longer ability to remember people that she doesn't see every day (this makes Granny and Papa very happy!)