A few of my favorite word-pronunciations from Lydia that I've been meaning to write down.
Oatmeal = Oat-Me-Meal
Cinderella = Cinderbrella
Zero (Eli's age) = Cereoh (like "cereal" with an o sound instead of l)
Remote = Nah-mote
Apostrophe = A-pasta-fa-me
Labels: 0 comments | edit post
I'm usually pretty good about going with the flow when it comes to the growing up of my kids. I embrace the phrase "This too shall pass" which my mom consistently reminds me of. All of the good moments and bad moments alike will pass and I am okay with that. I love my life as it is right now and a part of me is sad that my kids won't stay this way forever, but another part of me is excited to watch them grow and knows that I will love a lot about the next phases of life as well.

Knowing that keeps me grounded in reality and I don't often get too emotional about "losing" my babies. But it did hit me a little bit last night. I was holding Eli as he was falling asleep nursing. He is a light sleeper and doesn't often sleep in my arms unless he is eating. I hugged him a little tighter and remembered back to his newborn days (nights) when he would snuggle up on my chest and we'd both drift off to sleep. It made me realize just how quickly this is all going. It won't be much longer before I won't get to hold him in his sleep at all anymore.

We are already less than 5 months away from Eli's first birthday!
Labels: 0 comments | edit post
Life is crazy busy and with summer here we are busier than ever! But here are a few updates.

We've been potty training Lydia since mid-April and things are going okay. Most days we don't have any accidents, but she isn't good at telling me when she needs to go. I take her to the potty every couple of hours and we avoid accidents that way. She still only goes #2 in a pull-up though and I haven't been able to get her on the potty for this yet.

Eli keeps growing and growing. He was 20lbs at his 6 month checkup and is wearing size 12 month clothing now. He is a VERY happy boy - always full of smiles and giggles. Within the last week he has finally started sitting up well on his own. I still have to put pillows behind him because he eventually topples over, but he can sit fine for fairly long periods of time now. He wants to move SO badly. He can roll across the room, but he will get on his belly and just go crazy kicking his legs like he wants to move forward. I have a feeling that once he figures this out, I will not be sitting down all day! Eli is also starting to babble more. Most noticibly "Da da da da da". I'm kinda surprised he isn't saying "ma" at all considering he hears his sister say "mommy mommy mommy mommy mommy..." non stop all day lol.

My coupon craze continues and I've been able to teach a couple of classes to help others learn. I don't enjoy the classes much, though, so I think my next one may be my last. I just don't have the enthusiasm for grocery couponing like I did when I first started. I mostly do Rite Aid these days and that's much more complicated to attempt to teach it at a class. But I really enjoy my Rite Aid shenanigans and can find ways to get pretty much anything they sell there for free if I play my cards (coupons) correctly. Yay for not paying for diapers or household products anymore!

We have several household projects that are moving along as well. Just this past weekend Brent did some work on our deck to hopefully keep the wasps away. We've had a horrible time with wasps building nests on our deck... knocked down 13 of them last weekend! But hopefully that is done now. I'm looking forward to enjoying the outdoors this summer. Being pregnant last year made it miserable to be out in the heat.

We are also hoping to finish our basement in the near future. We've been saving up and doing side-projects for extra money in hopes of getting the basement finished and moving the playroom down there. I think the plan will be to start getting estimates in the Fall.

Attempting to blog while Lydia is awake (and playing in the office next to me). Crazy? Probably. This will likely be short!

Two. I have a two-year-old. It's crazy! And she is defintely beginning to ACT two. It is common for Brent and I to look at eachother, shrug, and state, "She's two" after any number of Lydia's antics. She is very much developing a mind of her own. Today I asked her if she would share an orange slice with me. As I reached for one, she quickly guarded them with her hands and said, "Um... no thank you, Mommy. No thank you." She tells us "no" and has random spaz sessions where she refuses to tell us what she wants. Ah to be two! :) But she is an absolute joy in our lives and considering how she COULD behave, she is a very well behaved little girl.

Eli is getting more and more fun each passing day. He can roll over now and enjoys sitting in the exersaucer for short periods of time. He's so tall and heavy that he doesn't have the muscle strength yet to be in there for long. He weighed in at exactly 18 lbs at his 4 month check-up. Still top of the charts for height and weight! He loves to smile and laugh and he continues to be a very social boy. Always wanting attention! It's so much fun to see him watching Lydia as she runs all over the place. He gets a kick out of watching her play and she likes to bring him toys and show him how to make things play music.

My life has been busy lately as I have continued in my coupon crazy madness. Most free time (which is limited) is spent looking up deals and planning shopping trips. I'm going to do my first "official" couponing class soon, so this is occupying my thoughts as well.

We're also hoping to potty train very soon. I am sooo not looking forward to it, but had told myself we would take on the challenge once Eli was sleeping better at night. He is finally going to bed around 7 and staying there until 6 or 7 in the morning. Of course some nights are still better than others, but with a more restful household I decided it was time to get back to business around here.

Spring has arrived (supposedly) and I'm looking forward to warm weather and walks outside again. Lydia will love going to the park this year now that she is big enough for more playground equipment. I'm hoping Eli won't take too much longer to be able to sit up on his own. It will be really nice to be able to sit him on a blanket with some toys while Lydia plays with other things outside.

There's a brief update on our lives. And hey, Lydia didn't completely destroy the office in the process - though the pile of clothes I had set aside to take to MOPS is now scattered around the room. Could be worse. :)

Labels: , , 0 comments | edit post
My dear sweet Eli - you are 3 months old already!

You are a very social boy these days. You get upset if you realize you are in a room by yourself and get the biggest smiles on your face the instant someone comes over to talk to you. You are also very vocal. You love to coo on and on as long as there is a person there to coo at.

Eating and sleeping still aren't super structured. During the day you eat roughly every 2.5-3 hours. Most times after eating for a little bit, though, you get much more interested in smiling and talking to mom to eat any more. You are still up at least once at night to eat. This is making Mommy VERY sleepy! We would all really love for you to sleep through the night, but you still haven't figured out your own way to comfort yourself when you wake up. Mommy is trying really hard to be patient and give you time to learn this skill. Praying it will be soon!

Sometimes you have big mood swings too. You will be super happy one minute and then be crying the next. Usually I think it is because we stop paying attention to you and you get mad until we talk to you again. But in general you are a happy guy. I have noticed that you seem to have a sensitive side. You can only take so much of Lydia "playing" with you before you seem to get a little scared. I know... she's loud... one day you will get used to it! But you make the most adorable face when you pout and stick out your lower lip. I know you are sad, but it always makes me smile because it's so darn cute!

You are still a big boy and everyone makes sure to tell us that when they hold you. Grandma and Papa Tom held you today and said you feel like a bowling ball! I love how "sturdy" God made you and know you are going to be a nice strong man someday like your daddy. You are currently wearing size 3-6/6 month clothing and wearing size 2 diapers, but we're moving you into size 3's as soon as the current open pack of 2's is gone and are washing your 6-9 month clothing in anticipation of you needing them soon!

The only place you really like to hang out is still your bouncy chair. You are okay with the swing these days, but if you are fussy that's not where you want to be. We've also tried letting you sit in the bumbo seat and you aren't a big fan of that either. Maybe you'll like it more when you get a tad bit more neck strength. I keep wanting to let you try out other things besides the bouncy chair, but that's really the only place you love! You nap there a lot, but do pretty well napping and sleeping at night in your crib (except at 7 or 8 at night which is the one time you completely refuse to go to sleep in your crib). You don't typically go to bed for the night until 10 or 11, and if we're lucky you'll sleep for at least 4 hours after that. You've gone 8 hours once or twice, but there are also nights that you still want to wake up every 3 hours. We haven't done as much cry-it-out with you as we did with Lydia, mostly because we don't want you to wake her up but partially because we're waiting to see if you find a way to soothe yourself without us having to intervene.

Your sister loves you a ton. It isn't uncommon for her to get up in the morning or after a nap and immediately start saying, "Eli? Eli?" until we let her know where you are. She brings you toys and makes sure you have your blanket on (or off if she sees you just woke up). She even loves to rock you when you get upset over being put in the carseat.

You've only been here for 3 months and already I don't know what life would be like without you. We all love you SO much, Eli! You are getting more and more aware of the world around you, and I can't hardly wait to see all of the changes the next month will bring. Love you, little man!
Labels: 1 comments | edit post
At the Pirolli household, 2011 entered with a lot of coughing and sniffling. We should have seen it coming. Brent and I both had sore throats around Christmas, but it never turned into any more than that for us. We had a wonderful time in Cincinnati with my family and made it back home on the 29th to relax a bit before the new year.

Or so we thought.

By evening of the 30th it was obvious that both kids were getting a bug. It is oh so much fun to have a sick not-yet-two-year-old and a sick 8 week old. Ha! Lydia was a trooper on New Years Day when we took her to Great Grandma's and then to Grandma's house to open gifts from Brent's side of the family. But the poor girl could only take so much. She opened so many presents that by the last few she was actually pushing them away and saying no. It didn't help that she was completely exhausted from being sick.

With the holiday endeavors behind us, we've been at home trying to get everyone well. I took Eli to the pediatrician on Monday and found he has an ear infection. Beyond that, though, he has been handling this cold quite well. Lydia on the other hand has been a wreck. She's barely eating anything and it takes constant coaxing to keep fluids in her. She wants to be held all the time (very difficult to do as a nursing mom to Eli), she's had a fever, and she has been so tired. Yesterday I thought she was doing better... she seemed to have taken a nap well (short, but no crying before or after) and was playing as normal. But by mid-afternoon she was a mess again.

So there I was trying to cook dinner so Lydia could try to eat before going to bed early, Eli was fussing unless I was bouncing him in his bouncer, and Lydia was super tired and crying on the couch in the living room. Ugh! I just kept plowing through dinner while trying to encourage Lydia to lay down and watch her video... then suddenly I turned around and she had completely crashed. She was on the pillow, mouth hanging open, snoozing away. Scared me at first, but I felt better once I was sure she was still breathing! Poor girl!

After that experience, I decided today that if the whining picked up in the afternoon I was putting her down for a second nap. And thus it has happened that it is 4:30 and Lydia has been in her room for nap #2 since around 3. Here's hoping she'll be a much happier little girl this evening! It's so hard for me to watch her be so exhaused but be struggling to sleep. I know how tough it is to sleep when you can't breathe normally... I can't imagine trying to make sense of it when you are two!

Praying for health to return to both of my little ones ASAP. I have goals for both of them once they are back to feeling better: Potty-training (or at least more prep) for Lydia and a solid bedtime routine/schedule for Eli (with ultimate goal of getting him sleeping in his crib, preferably through the night!). A mom's job is never ending.
Labels: , , 0 comments | edit post
Dear Eli,

You are two months old today! Though it always seems a little funny to me to celebrate on the 4th. You were born so early in the morning that by mid-day on the 4th it no longer feels like the anniversary of your birth. Instead I often find myself thinking through the events of that day in the evening on the 3rd. How I called your dad at work to tell him what was going on. How we ate dinner, called Aunt Sarah to stay with Lydia, then headed to the hospital. How I was lying in a hospital bed listening to your heartbeat while watching Survivor on the tiny hospital room TV.

Regardless, you officially arrived on the 4th making you two months old today. I have loved having your in my life for every single moment of those months. You don't smile a ton or "talk" a ton, but I think it's just because you are a bit more reserved and quiet. It melts my heart when I do get to see those precious smiles and hear those adorable coos, though. :-) You are a fiercely growing boy, always at the top of the growth charts. And you are strong too! You like to stand and you do great pulling your head up. I'm so excited to watch you grow and develop even more in the next month (and the next one and the next one and for years to come!). I never once doubted that I would love you just as much as I loved Lydia when she was our only child, and it has proven to be true. You are SO loved, little man! I am blessed to have you in my life and look forward to every minute to come.

I love you, Eli!

- Mommy
Labels: 0 comments | edit post