The Envelope Please...

 

Getting family set up on skype

 Celebrating the news in the kitchen and on skype!

WOW!  SHOCKED! 

Our Littlest tooth-brusher

While Cody and I were getting ready for the day yesterday morning Jamesie was a little too quiet for our liking, which usually means something is about to become or is already very messy in the boys' bathroom.  I peeked in there, and to my surprise, this is what I found:

 

Get up on the stool all by myself...

 

Pick the right toothbrush....mine is the one with silver, and Seannie's has red on it...

 

And brush!

 

 DaDa will be so proud of me!

The finished product!

If you are keeping track-- we are going to find out the sex of our baby in just about 2 days!  For the record, Sean says its a boy, and I asked Jamesie today "do you think our new baby is a boy or a girl?" and he patted my belly, tried to look down my shirt, and did the sign for girl.  We'll see in a few days!

The Plan...

"I cannot, of course, promise a daughter.  I have a feeling that I am intended to be the mother of sons." 

In preparing whether to find out the gender of the baby, I came across this quote from Death Comes to Pemberley by P.D. James, which is a new novel about the characters from Pride and Prejudice, set at Pemberley six years later (excellent).  Elizabeth and Darcy have two boys :), and at the end of the novel (sorry, spoiler alert) she tells Darcy she's expecting again and muses the above thoughts.  As soon as I read it I thought-- that's how I feel!  

Well, we had our big ultrasound today for Baby #3, and it appears all is well and healthy.  The baby measured about 9-10 days bigger than my due date, but both boys did as well, so for now we are sticking with July 17 for the due date.

AND... we had the ultrasound Tech write down the baby's sex in an envelope and we plan on opening it this weekend with Cody's family in Anderson and my family on Skype.  I will try to post on the blog shortly after opening the envelope on Saturday morning :).   Lets just hope I don't lose the envelope between now and this weekend.  I'll post some pics of the baby in utero soon...s/he is really cute. 

Oh, speaking of cute, this was by far the best quote of the morning:
Sean has been dying to see pictures of the baby, so we brought the boys with us this morning.  Sean paid very close attention to the whole ultrasound--it was so cute.  When we were looking at the heart he said:
Sean: But I don't see Jesus in there. 
Erin:  What?  I don't have Jesus in my belly, I have our own baby in there.
Sean: But in the Baby's heart, I don't see Jesus in there!

Upon clarification he explained Jesus lives in our hearts, and he was concerned he couldn't see Him in the new Baby's heart.  Maybe I'll double check with the doctor next time to make sure everything is OK with the baby's heart.  Sweet boy. 

A Cousin!

With great joy we welcome Ruby Joy Putnam to our family today!  Praise God!

Feb 16 2012, 7lb 7 oz.

My sister in law Meg is a warrior-princess.  She checked into the hospital on Monday, February 13 and the baby was born on Thursday, February 16.  I have friends who were in the hospital for an hour before the baby came.  She spent two full days on pitocin (for perspective, I spent a TOTAL of 8 hours on pitocin before I was holding my baby...four of which were completely easy), and a number of other interventions to get her baby moving.  At the end of the day (or three days) they are happily holding their sweet little daughter, who incidentally looks exactly like you would imagine a mash-up of Meg and Tim from one of those internet sites. 

Congratulations Meg and Tim!  We love you guys and love Baby Ruby already! (When I showed Jamesie the picture of Ruby on our phone this morning he kissed it.  Sean followed suit.  When we woke them up with the news of their new cousin this morning they both jumped up and down doing the sign for "baby" in Jamesie's crib.  It was quite a celebration!) 

In other *news* Ruby's birthday newspaper here in Charleston today looks a little like this:

Read the whole story here: 
://www.postandcourier.com/news/2012/feb/16/prison-for-driver-in-dui-fatality/

Update

I've had a lot of friends and family call to ask about Meg and Ruby... after 2 days on pitocin she is finally starting to make some progress this afternoon.  Its been a long two days and two nights in the hospital for them (with no baby yet!).  Prayers still needed, please!

Prayers for Meg and Ruby!

My sister in law Meg is in the hospital getting ready to meet baby Ruby Joy Putnam any time now!  Ever since I got to the age when friends started having babies, if I know a friend is in labor I am a Nervous Nelly all day long.  My thoughts are one ceaseless prayer for the safety of Mom and Baby. Cody might get sick of me "wondering how things are going..." all day and not being able to talk about anything else.  Today is no different, so as I keep myself busy waiting for news I ask you to say a quick prayer for Meg and Ruby as well!

Oh, and Happy Valentine's Day! 

New Glasses for the 3-year old Genius

We had an eye doctor appointment for Sean today that went very well, despite being in an ophthalmology office for 1.5 hours with two toddlers.  Sean is getting new glasses within the next few weeks (we're going to stick with bright blue), as he's been wearing his current goggles since he was 1.5 years old!  2 years and the same pair of glasses-- adult glasses don't last that long!

After our appointment the boys were so good we went to Trader Joes to pick up some treats.  We got some Joe-Joes which are very simply vanilla sandwich cookies--the boys are each allowed to have one if they finish their whole dinner-- Jamesie hasn't been having any Joe-Joes lately.  On the way back to the car Sean says:


Sean: Some cookies are triangles.
Erin: When did you have a triangle cookie?
Sean: Well I didn't ever have one.
Erin: Then how do you know about triangle cookies?
Sean: Because I know a lot about stuff, Mom. 

It must be the glasses that help him know a lot about stuff. 

Montessori Work at Home

In light of this recent Wall Street Journal article about French Parenting Style I thought I'd post some pictures of my kiddos playing independently.  The article is about an American woman's experience observing French children (in France), who always seemed to be better behaved, better eaters, better sleepers, and better at entertaining themselves without constant parental intervention.  Cody and I strive to live like this and raise well-behaved independent players and thinkers, basically to raise gentlemen.  

At least two books have helped us in this goal tremendously, and should really be thought of as parenting philosophies rather than books.  The first is the Babywise series, the point of which is to get your baby to sleep through the night, and to put himself to sleep independently, as early as possible.  The benefits for the child are huge-- in a culture that is perpetually sleep-deprived, our kids are (almost) always well-rested, happy and ready to learn. That's not to say our motivations weren't selfish.  Cody and I are two of the worst people to be around when we haven't had sleep.  I am a monster-shell of myself in the early post-partum weeks working on only a few hours of broken sleep night after night.  Cody and I are not nice to each other, our friends or our families during this time.  Thank you for sticking with us (if you have).  We need our kids to sleep in order to keep our marriage functional.  The Babywise series has helped us accomplish that from the beginning, as well as teach our kids to play independently as they grow.  At this stage, each boy has 30-60 minutes of "room time" by himself each morning (on a non-school day for Sean), and we have noticed while we are making dinner or otherwise having adult conversation they are very good at having "brother time" alone-together in the family room.  We emphasize that they are not the center of our home's world, but a very special and important part of it.  We show them that Mommy and Daddy have a need to talk to each other and pay attention to each other just like we pay attention to them.  And, this isn't just for show-- we really do have to connect with each other and give each other the respect, attention and affection we give to our kids, if not more. 

The other book/philosophy which we have discovered more recently is the Montessori approach (specifically, Montessori from the Start which is directed at the little ones at home).  Not surprisingly, since Dr. Maria Montessori was French, her philosophy of parenting/teaching also emphasizes independence.  Not for the parents' convenience or sanity or even for the sake of their marriage (which is where the Babywise approach starts), but for the child's own self-esteem and learning.  Sean is in a Montessori program 2 mornings a week, and we have tried to live the principles more fully at home with both of them.  We let (make?) them set the table, choose their activities (within the boundaries of the day's schedule which is made by the parent), and give them a bit more freedom of movement (I have had to work on letting Jamesie walk places on his own rather than always picking him up-- giving him the message he is capable of moving on his own, and he is capable of choosing to follow directions), including stools in the kitchen and all the bathrooms for them to participate in preparing meals and washing their own hands, etc.   

We are not perfect-- we aren't even French.  The idyllic scenes of toddlers pleasantly and quietly eating their dinners at a French restaurant is something we're not really familiar with.  But, we have enjoyed the results of our decided efforts with these boys at home.  I often wonder if we'll be able to keep up with the nap schedules, play times, and just the general effort as more babies are thrown into the daily routine.  Maybe I'll just start a Montessori school for Groebers here at our home. 

Anyway after that long introduction, here are some pics of our boys enjoying their chosen activities and having some brother time at their new table they got from my mom at Christmas.  (Its a Montessori principle to have a table and chairs just their size that they can go to and do their "work" when they want to.  Jamesie is very good at wandering into the office and sitting himself down at the table to do his "work" of coloring directly onto the table). 

 The Montessori method also advocates giving the child freedom to pick his own clothes so he will be more interested in learning how to put them on himself.  Clearly, I'm not ready to relinquish control of the wardrobe yet. 

And the Questions Keep Coming...

I'll just come out and say it-- Sean has been really interested in death lately.  Probably partially thanks to a mother who has been plagued by macabre thoughts her whole life, he has been asking a lot about death and dying recently.  Some of it is pretty heavy, some of it doesn't make any sense at all, and some of it is so sweet and innocent it actually lightens the mood!  Example:

Sean:   Mommy, when God pulls you up into heaven, does he pull you by your hand or by your hair? 

Perhaps one of my favorite things he's ever said.