Elsa's Third Birthday Party!

Yesterday we all had a great time at Elsa's Birthday Party, which was "The Hungry Little Caterpillar" themed. Karina had a minor crying breakdown when she didn't get to unwrap, open and play with all of Elsa's cool gifts, but was able to be dissuaded by helping Elsa unwrap a couple of presents. The only other mishap was when Karina got "attacked" by the beautiful metal antique stroller from family friend Sharon as she was pushing it around the patio at break neck pace and somehow ended up with a bunch of nasty gashes on her hands. She cried for a bit but was overall no worse for the wear. Tommy was so perfectly behaved, spending most of the time in the arms of loving grandmothers and aunts Katie and Beth.

The Birthday Girl

Opening presents

Eating bright green caterpillar frosting! Fun!

Karina having fun with Elsa

Bathtime

I love bathtime!

Splashing is sooo much fun!

Moving Around

Heeere's Tommy!

Tommy's personality has really come front and center to everyday activities. Aside from being a big smiler all the time, he laughs and laughs when I help him "chase" Karina around the house or "tickle" her. He enjoys peek-a-boo and even does it himself by holding a burp cloth in front of his own face. He also shows his determination by trying to walk a little when we hold his hands and by trying to stand when he's in the jumper by suddenly locking his knees mid-jump. If he wasn't a baby I swear he'd do damage to his knees from the impact to his straight locked-kneed legs!

Lately what has become most noticeable is that Tommy can manipulate his body around more easily. He still doesn't seem to like to be sat down because he always fights it by keeping his body as rigid as possible. And although he's almost always dependable to stay upright I still sometimes put the boppy pillow behind him just in case.

Tommy enjoying the flashing musical keyboard and his hanging animal friends...with a protective Boppy behind him

He doesn't seem to know how to get down to his back or tummy without help, but Karina has been known to "help" him down ...I finally decided that I'd better just teach her how to do it safely because she was going to keep laying him down when I wasn't looking (see "Karina Next" for details.) Once he's on his back he quite easily flips from his back to his tummy and then he really has good extension pushing his torso up with his arms.

Happy Tommy sitting up...

...laying down...

...and up on his arms on his tummy.

At the end of the day, one of the hardest times is bedtime when everyone is tired and wants special individualized attention. For now Karina still goes to bed before Tommy, and although she always says she wants Tommy in the bed while we're reading books, she doesn't get settled down at all. Luckily, usually Tom is home, except for Brewers Game nights, and he takes Tommy downstairs for some male bonding while the I get Karina to sleep.

Tommy having a big smile during playtime with Daddy

Everyone loves to kiss Tommy

"Her's My Best Friend"

Karina with her hair up like Mommy after she sat in the shower while I washed my hair

Karina has become such a big girl and she has really adjusted to being a big sister. She still tends to be rougher with Tommy than we would like, but she hardly ever intends to hurt him (usually when she's really tired) and mostly "loves" him to death. She goes shopping with Daddy almost every weekend...something they started just before Tommy was born and I couldn't get around the store very well any more. She loves it because she gets a cookie at the grocery store and Daddy loves it because, "we really have conversations in the car...or else we just sing and dance to my music!" She continues to be the same child who's first word really was "Hi" and Daddy always says that people comment about how friendly Karina is. When she and Daddy went to see the Air Show, Tom described that as they were walking to the show she befriended the family walking near by, introducing her family (Daddy), inviting them to join her and telling them all about "my Tommy" who is at home with Mommy. Tom said she just talked and talked and talked. This is usually when Tom reminds me that Grandma Heinrich always says that Karina's so much of a Mattern.

Karina loving "my Tommy"

She has gotten to an age that we decided that she really shouldn't be using a Nuk anymore, but felt that it might be too much to ask right before school starts and after she's just finally been doing so much better with sharing her world with Tommy, so we compromised and have now banned use of the Nuk from everything except car rides, bedtime and sick/rest time. She's still allowed to have Uh-Uh most anywhere, but even this has become prohibited in stores...Uh-Uh can come along for the ride but has to stay in the car. Karina has adjusted quite well to both limitations.

She has also become more and more of a "girl" showing a predilection for shoes (she'd actually already been doing this when she'd wear my shoes around the house for fun), jewelry/accessories and clothes. She's been getting better at taking off and putting on her shoes and coat/jacket and taking off her clothes (putting clothes on is still pretty hard unless the shirt is already over her head and if I help pull the pants over her bottom.) She loves to wear any costume jewelry she can find...she loved the party favor necklaces from Lisa's Bridal Shower! She's enjoyed having her nails painted by me and wants to do it herself, as well as wanting to put on my make up. Being the creative girl that she is, she has taken to "making up" herself by using a marker to color her entire hand and forearm and has used an entire box of band-aids to decorate herself on a couple of occasions!

Notice the band-aids on her legs and the missing sock

In regards to speech development, Karina still has some trouble enunciating, but is improving every day. She can most often express what she wants to, even if she has to "describe it to Mommy, because I can't understand what word you're saying," in one instance trying to say "stroller." She says her 'l's most of the time, but still has a hard time with blends like "str" "sh" for example. She sometimes gets words a bit mixed up, like "noga bar" for "granola bar" and "alligator" for "elevator." Grammatically she speaks quite accurately (or at least as accurately as her Mommy and Daddy) except for continuing to use "her" inappropriately, "Her's eating an apple,""Her looks happy," and the classic problems with irregularly conjugated verbs like "blowed" for "blown" and "taked" for "took." To her credit she has already learned that one says "did" rather than "doed." She has taken to calling Daddy "Dad" most of the time, which Daddy finds cute and makes her seem like a teenager already.

Karina and Beth made a Zoo for her animals

Gross motor skills continue to improve in literal leaps and bounds. Karina still goes to Gymboree and she is quite a runner, jumper, tumbler and hanger. She really loves her School Skills class and will come home telling me about a classmate, "I like Eva. Her's my best friend!" She's still very good at kicking a ball and is trying to learn how to dribble her little basketball. She a good thrower and catcher and now likes to throw something in the air so she can catch it again. She can summersalt and is trying to hop on one leg.

Karina and Tommy: a photo of a sister and brother

A Day in the Life of Tommy

A day in the life of Tommy these days, starts around 5-5:30am when he wakes up usually talking to him for a few minutes and eventually crying until Daddy knocks on his door to get him. I nurse him in our bedroom for half an hour and usually he stays awake...this is different from when he used to fall back asleep sometimes...and we go to the bathroom where Tommy plays on the floor with some bath toys while I get ready for the day. Then we head downstairs and wait for Karina to get up. I turn on the TV to keep Tommy entertained while I change his diaper and put on some clothes. His favorite show seems to be "Super Why." After Karina gets up, they play while I clean, or do laundry, or whatever.

Around 10am, Tommy starts to cry when not being held...this is his behavior when he's tired. He falls asleep nursing in my bedroom and I carry him to his crib. Alternatively, Tommy naps in the car if we're out around this time...sometimes even earlier in the car, or naps even later for reasons unknown. He usually sleeps a total of about 4 hours a day, sometimes split up, sometimes not.

He's usually nursed a handful of times when Daddy gets home in the evening, but since I don't make tons of milk, Tom gives him a bottle while I'm getting Karina ready for and into bed. After Karina's asleep, Daddy or I play with Tommy until he starts acting tired by crying unless being held. This is usually around 9pm. We change his diaper and get him into pajamas. Then I take him upstairs, put him in his sleeping sack and nurse him until he falls asleep.

Look At Me...

...I'm 5 months old! Yipee!

Trip to the Beach

One afternoon, I decided to try out one of the south side beaches so Karina, Tommy and I packed into the truck and drove to South Milwaukee. The weather was warm and it was very windy. Tommy seemed to enjoy his first trip to the beach and Karina definitely had a good time using her pail and shovel in the sand. The hardest part was trying to manage the stroller in the sand...especially when I had to push Tommy and all of our stuff up a hill of sand to reach the paved walkway again!

Karina showing her shoveling expertise

Tommy's first time at the beach. Looking a little sleepy!

Tommy: Sweet, Wet and Chubby

Tommy still loves his Johnny Jump-Up!

Isn't this the face of an angel?

Look at that beautiful content smile!

In the world of Tommy, sitting is becoming easier for him and he seems to enjoy it. I still like to have me or something soft behind him in case he gets excited and straightens out his legs or tries to grab something out of his reach to the side and begins to topple over. I'll bet he's sitting alone safely in a couple of weeks!

Meanwhile, his hair continues to grow in nicely and most of the dark hair has fallen out except for a shock of hair right in the front of his head and a little bit at the crown of his head and the nape of his neck. But even that hair is now mixed with blond hair so it doesn't look very dark anymore.

Tommy's longer shock of slightly darker hair

The view of Tommy that best shows off his blond hair

A little bit of darker hair at the crown of his head and at the nape of his neck

Here's a good shot of his beautiful hazel eyes
...and the drool continuously emitted from his mouth

And could his cheeks be any fatter?

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Tommy has been allowed to go sans head rest in his crib because his head was always out of it at the end of the nap anyway and now he's breaking all of the rules by not sleeping on his back. Like many babies he has definitely shown a preference towards sleeping on his side or tummy and his daddy is so proud exclaiming," He sleeps like me!" One of the most comical parts is that he drools so much that as he slides around the crib he leaves a trail like a slug!

Tommy the slug!

Experiencing the Outdoors

Karina taking a break from swimming
while watching her friends playing in the pool

Well, after a rather rocky end to the first two week session of swimming lessons (Karina was claiming to be scared and/or cold and refused to stay in the swimming pool a couple of days the last week of classes), we got back to the pool and had fun again and "graduated" from her class. She still had her moments where she would look for me and felt the need to come over towards me (and she still wouldn't let me leave the area to take a walk with Tommy), but she stopped getting out of the pool. Strangely enough, she never would agree to go to the lesson with Aunt Beth, but a big thanks to Grandma Heinrich for coming over to watch Tommy on Tuesday morning anyway!

I think Karina was able to enjoy the pool more this session because she got more of a chance to just hang out and meet some kids as well as having her cousin Elsa come to the pool one day.

Elsa at the swimming pool

Karina and one of the "community" mermaids left by
another kid at the swimming pool

Karina has always liked 'big" kids and there are plenty of those at the pool. Luckily for us, Karina met a girl named Anna who encouraged Karina to learn a helpful new skill...taking a shower. At the Village Club many of the older girls take a shower (with their suits on) after swimming during which they wash and condition their hair. Karina was so into this activity that one day last week she went to the showers on three separate occasions. Best of all Karina was brave enough to try coming in the shower with me. Granted she just sat on the floor while I took a shower, but she was in there having fun...until she accidentally got some of my soap in her eyes, but even then she weathered it well. We'll have to try it another day and actually wash something in the shower!

Another notable event was when Karina was outside with Grandma Heinrich, she got stung/bitten by something (Grandma said she never saw a bug...only the welts on her forehead) and had an impressive allergic reaction to it. She was bitten on Friday and then by Saturday, her forehead was swollen (I didn't get a photo, but she had lots of them taken because it was Aunt (to-be) Lisa's bridal shower in Appleton). Karina looked very pretty at the shower but I felt so badly that she had to meet so many people who didn't know that she didn't look like herself!

Karina on Sunday (two days after the bite)
with swollen forehead, eyebrow area and eyelids

See how puffed out her forehead is? Poor sweetheart!

On Monday her forehead was a little less swollen,
but look at the bridge of her nose...it actually extends to cover her eyes a little bit!

By Sunday her eyebrow area and eyelids had begun to swell also. And then by Monday, even her nose and the area under eyes began to swell. We finally broke down and bought some Clairitin for her and by Tuesday it was looking better. Luckily, it didn't really bother Karina at all... it was never itchy or painful. I still wonder what in the world bit her!

Mommy, Tommy and Karina at the Zoo...Tommy's first time!

The grandkids, Eric, Karina and Beka taking a little break at the Zoo

A few days later we went for our annual trip to the Zoo with Nana Bonnie and her friend, Jo and Jo's family, including her grandchildren. Unfortunately Karina had yet another run in with the natural world. The very first animals we visited were in the Aviary. Karina was excitedly running through the "rain forest" when a big bird hidden in a tree above her (the birds fly around free in this exhibit) pooped right on Karina's head and shoulder! This she did not like! It was very stinky and the odor did not dissipate even after I rinsed her off. Luckily it didn't bother her too much out in the fresh air and she was still able to have a great time with the rest of us.

Our beautiful Karina eating lunch

Karina's most recent experience was actually much more of an accident than the other things that have recently happened to her...and was also potentially much more dangerous! Gammy and Grampa (Mattern) closed on their new house, so Karina, Tommy and I went to visit. We had a nice time...Karina loves the ridiculously bright yellow bedroom upstairs and she had a lot of fun running around the empty house and back yard. Just as we were getting ready to go, Karina was apparently trying to "...roll the tube (toilet paper tube) down the stairs..." and ended up rolling herself down as well. I was outside with Grampa and Tommy and came in to find Karina at the bottom of the stairs (luckily padded and carpeted all the way down and at the base) with Gammy. Gammy was mortified and felt terrible, but it wasn't her fault. Although Karina was crying, she stopped quickly and in true Karina fashion ("I'm okay!") she actually thought she hadn't been very tough because she did cry. Amazingly, she complained that her ankle hurt a little when she first got out of the car at home (but never mentioned it again), and otherwise did not have a single scratch or bruise on her...thank God! For her first fall down the stairs, we were incredibly fortunate, and hopefully now there will not be a second fall!