And Then She Was Four

Posted in Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

Oh how quickly this….

…can turn in to this.

Heck, every year the change is evident, both physically and otherwise.

1st bday*:

2nd bday*:

3rd bday*:

*photos courtesy of H&J Creative Studio

Isabella’s birthday fell on a Monday so we waited to have her party the following Saturday. That meant a whole week of birthday fun!

Monday she had pre-school so we sent her off with some treats for her classmates . Then she spent the afternoon at home with CJ, Cora and her Grandpa Fred, who came over to see his birthday “sweeter”.

Monday night we took her out to dinner and let her pick the restaurant. She chose Red Robin solely for the reason that they have balloons. They also brought out a birthday sundae and sang to her!

I don’t think she quite knew what to do with that and I for a minute it looked as though she might cry. But she was a trooper and even said “thank you” when they were done.

After dinner it was time for presents!

For the last month or so, whenever I’ve asked Isabella what she wanted for her birthday, she would say “a magnet ball”. I had no idea what she was talking about. Turns out it was something she had played with at a friend’s house. I had to text her friend’s mom and ask what it was and where I could buy it.

Turns out it’s a toy for kids 14 and over. When I bought it, along with a collection of picture books, and asked the clerk to wrap them all up for my daughter’s 4th birthday, she looked at me and said, “OK, I’m confused.” That sentence right there sums up Isabella. 4 going on 40 in every sense of the phrase. She runs around and plays and acts silly and inappropriate in all the ways a 4 year old can and then will turn to you and say something like, “Mommy I think the TV is malfunctioning.” What 4 year old says that?

Anywho…she loved the magnet ball and everything else!

Watching her open them was so fun. She took her time unwrapping each one, making sure to pull off every last scrap of paper before looking at what it was. She’s a little like me that way. Each gift was a joy to her too – even the clothes! She would get a big smile on her face and say “thank you for the shirt!” I love how grateful and excited she gets! She even took the time to open and read every card! Again…4 or 44?

Saturday was the party with her friends. We rented out a place that sells playground equipment. They open up the show room and for 2 hours the kids have it to themselves to run around and play on anything they want. The place also provided all the tableware, drinks, invitations and even ordered the cake! It was easy and a win-win for everyone!

Cora even got in on the action!

I surprised Munchkin by requesting a Despicable Me cake. She had originally asked for Thomas the Train but she hasn’t shown much interest in Thomas for a while so I took a risk and went for Minions. She was really happy with it!

All in all she had a great birthday. She was excited about all of her presents and more importantly, had a blast celebrating and playing with her friends. My niece told me it was one of the best parties she’s been to, which felt great.

Isabella and I butt heads a lot. We are similar personalities in many ways. Couple that with the fact that she’s at an age where she tests every boundary and constantly pushes my buttons and you can imagine the battles we have. I sometimes question my skills as a parent and heck, even my sanity. But boy do I love that little girl. I love her more than I can even describe and am aware that she and I are learning together. This whole mom thing is unchartered territory for me, as is growing up for her. So we have to go through it together, helping each other out. I truly hope that she will always feel that she can trust me, confide in me, and know that I have her back no matter what.

Yesterday she said to me, “I will always be your little Munchkin” as she crawled in to my lap. Yes, absolutely and without a doubt.

And I will always love her <———————————–THIS MUCH————————>

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Life A.D. – 5 Months | 12 and 13

12Sep2013

Life A.D.–5 Months

Posted in Body A.D., Cora, Health and Weightloss, Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

5 months isn’t sexy. It isn’t flashy. It doesn’t get a lot of attention like it’s friends 3, 6, 9 and 12 months. But it’s actually fairly important.

There is a lot that happens between months 4-6 of a babies development yet you really don’t hear much about that middle number 5.

We have seen a big difference in Cora in the last 30 days.

She’s showing her personality more every day (here she is getting angry when she couldn’t figure out how to roll over).

She’s a bit like her mama this way…

But she soon figured it out…

Wow that was easy

She can hold her head up very steadily all on her own and she’s sitting up, with some assistance.

She can do little baby “V-ups” (where she lifts her head, neck, shoulders and feet off the ground).

She’s having fun sticking her tongue out.

She’s even grown enough to start wearing size 6 month clothes.

She’s very attentive, watching everything we do. And she wants to be included. If we’re at the table eating dinner and she’s in her swing, she will squawk until we bring her over to join us. If we have her on the floor of the playroom for exercise time while we play, she will crane her neck to see what we are doing at all times.

I find that I can’t get enough of Cora. I stare at her and think how beautiful she is. I snuggle and kiss her all the time. Making her smile is endlessly fun. I remember this phase with Isabella when she was that age too. I want Cora to progress but I don’t want her to grow up. I wish she could stay this sweet and happy forever.

Isabella has made some strides of her own in the last month. She’s now a pre-schooler!

My biggest little one is in school now and it seems somewhat surreal. I didn’t cry when I dropped her off on the first day, and she didn’t either. She was excited and ready. But the moment was not lost on me. Watching her standing in front of the school, waiting with the other kids to go inside, I was struck by how small she is.

Not in terms of size but in terms of years. She seems so old to me most of the time because she’s the big kid in the house that I forget she’s a tiny little person. She’s only 3 (she turns 4 in a couple weeks) and has a her whole life in front of her.

I have been extremely lucky to have the peace of mind knowing that my babies are in the trusted hands of CJ every day.

Now one of those babies has been handed off to someone else. I completely trust our pre-school teachers and Isabella loves going there. Still, it can be a challenge to let go.

As for me, I’ve lost a total of 14 pounds so far and am pretty darn close to my pre-pregnancy size. I am able to get back in to many of my old clothes, and therefore give away some of the bigger sized ones. Let me tell you, that feels great.

I didn’t get a chance to take a selfie and this is the most recent pic I have. Yes, that’s an astronaut.

I have 11 more pounds before I reach my goal weight. I originally set my goal at my pre-pregnancy weight but have since decided to shoot for losing a few pounds beyond that. Hey, why not? Losing with Weight Watchers has been surprisingly easy so it seems feasible now for me to get there.

Life for the Team Trader is good these days. Really good. I am extremely grateful for what I have and don’t want to take a moment of it for granted. Ever.

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Life A.D. – 4 months | Little Things | Fat Talk

11Aug2013

Life A.D.–4 months

Posted in Body A.D., Cora by teamtradermom

Let’s start out with something guaranteed to make you smile.

THIS happens very regularly in our house these days and I LOVE it!

That laugh just cracks me up.

Cora has always been a very happy baby. She smiles easily and is just plain old content with her life, which makes me happy too.

There’s nothing better than coming home to her big gummy grin after a long day at work!

Developmentally she is on schedule with most everything. She blows bubbles, “talks”, grabs at things, follows objects with her eyes, sits pretty well when supported and pushes the bottle away when done eating.

What she doesn’t do yet is hold her head steady, rollover or sit on her own. These are things that occur in babies anywhere between 4- 6 months so I’m not worried about it. It’s partly our fault, to be honest. We haven’t been super diligent with tummy time. I just forget to do it! Consequently Cora is not a big fan and when we do put her on her stomach, she tolerates it for only a few minutes and then starts screaming. She’ll get there though.

She loves to play with her feet!

With rolling over, she’s trying to kick from back to front. She will get about 3/4 of the way there, get stuck and then flop back. It’s kind of funny to watch. One of these days she’s just going to flip on over and surprise us all!

Cora had her 4 month well check appointment yesterday and did very well! Poor thing had to get 4 immunizations (one orally and 3 shots). Fortunately she was hungry so she sucked the oral one right down. She cried while the nurse was giving her the 3 shots but stopped almost as soon as I picked her up and gave her a bottle. Mental note: bring her slightly hungry from now on!

She clocked in at 12 pounds, 6.5 ounces and 25.5″ long. which means she’s grown almost 2 lbs. and 2″ in 2 months. She’s long and skinny.

Here she is on that same mat, just 1 week old.

I’d say she’s grown a little bit!

By comparison, Isabella was 14 lbs 5 ounces and 26” tall at 4 months. So Bella was a bit chunkier.

Cora’s skin issues continue. We’ve been noticing a lot of redness and scaling in the areas where her skin rubs against itself (inside of the elbows, back of the knees, and ankles) and have tried everything to help it. Nothing really seems to work. The pediatrician said it’s eczema and recommended we take her to a dermatologist. She actually said it’s one of the worst cases of eczema she’s seen in a baby in a years.

Poor Punk!

I made an appointment and we’ll be taking her to the dermatologist next week. The cradle cap persists as well, which the doctor thinks is related to the eczema so hopefully the dermatologist can help us there too.

Another personality trait that we’ve noticed lately is that Cora knows us (CJ, Isabella and me) very well and wants nothing to do with anyone else at first . Stranger Danger! As soon as she realizes someone else is holding her, she freaks out. She does this even with her grandparents or people we see a lot. She will calm down after a while but man, those first few minutes are crazy!

Isabella is doing great and loves to make her sister smile. She plays with her and gives her hugs and kisses. We still don’t let her hold the baby that much because Munchkin can still be rough sometimes. I can see now why younger siblings are often sturdier/tougher than the older ones!

As for me, my weight loss progress continues along. I’ve lost a total of 9 pounds in 8 weeks.

It’s slow but steady progress. I am really liking the Weight Watchers plan and the meetings. Both help me stay accountable and give me tools for success.

I’ve also changed up my workouts and began training with a friend again. We worked out together last year until I found out I was pregnant and then we put it on hold. Well we’ve picked up again. It’s only been a week so far but I think it’s just what I need to shake up my routine. Though I was working out every day before, I was getting kind of complacent and not pushing myself as hard as I could be. The change must be working because I lost 3 lbs. just this week!

Time is flying by way too fast. Isabella starts pre-school next month, then she’ll be 4 and next thing you know, Cora will be 1 year! Yikes! I’m tryimg to hold on to every moment while I can and not take anything for granted!

29Jul2013

Little Things

Posted in Family by teamtradermom

For the most part, being a mother of two beautiful little girls is wonderful and rewarding.

But then there are the other times.

Like when they are both crying at the same time and it becomes a game as to who can scream the loudest.

Or when you’re out and about and remember that you need to “run in quick” to the store for milk. When you travel with children, nothing is quick.

There are the times when you look around the house and see nothing but a sea of toys and bibs and clothes and forgotten drinks and piles of dishes and wonder if your house will ever be uncluttered again.

It’s at precisely those moments that it’s important to stop and remember the good stuff. The things that make you smile. Here are some of those special “little things” from this week.

Walking out of the room, after tucking Isabella in to bed, and hearing her sweet little voice say, “I love you Mommy.”

Having a .6 lb weight loss on the scale after a week of not being sick and unable to workout. And then having a 1.6 lb. loss the next week even though I ate out almost every day!

Dark chocolate and almonds

Crossing an item off my to-do list that has been on it for almost a year.

Getting my Inbox at work cleaned out and down to only 18 emails!

An afternoon baseball game.

Wearing shorts to work.

Evenings out chatting with the neighbors while all the kids play together.

Coming home from a long day at work to be greeted by a wagging tail and cold wet Labrador nose.

Saying “hello” to Cora and having her instantly recognize me and break out in to a big gummy grin!

Playing sand volleyball on a beautiful summer evening.

The baby nuzzling in to my neck.

You know, once I started building this list, the thoughts just kept coming. I could go on and on. That tells me something. It tells me that there are way more good times than bad and life really is pretty darn great!

19Jul2013

Munch and Punk

Posted in Cora, Isabella/Munchkin by teamtradermom

Almost from the day Isabella was born I’ve been calling her Munchkin. I have no idea where it came from. I just said it one day and it stuck.

We used to laugh about her cry face because it would get all scrunched up and red when she was upset. So I jokingly changed “Munchkin” to “Scrunchkin” and that stuck too.

In fact, I called her Munchkin (or Munch) so much that we worried she would think that were her real name! Then we started to wonder if she would get a complex thinking I was making fun of her size.

(Oh the silly little things we worry about as first time parents…)

Well here we are almost 4 years later and she has no confusions about her name.

And I still call her Munch/Scrunch all the time.

When I was pregnant with Cora, Isabella asked me if I was going to call the new baby Munchkin too. I assured her that no, Cora would get her own nickname. I had no idea what it would be but I was adamant it would be unique and different. Munchkin is Isabella’s and with all the changes that were going to soon rock her world, I wanted to make sure she didn’t feel like she was losing her special name.

But I didn’t want to overthink it either and force a name that didn’t fit. So I kept the thought in my subconscious knowing that a name would come out on it’s own.

Then the big day arrived and the first time I was alone with our brand new baby girl, I instinctively started to say “Munchkin”.

We didn’t have a name yet (took us almost 10 hours to come up with one) so I didn’t have anything else to go with. But not wanting to use THAT name, I quickly changed it to Pumpkin. It was close and sorta rhymed. It just come out! Later I switched and started saying Punkin.

Can you see where this is going?

Because I’m lazy and feel that it takes too much effort to say Punkin, I shortened it to Punk.

And it stuck.

Cora = Punk and I call her that more than her real name. Because, you know, it takes less energy to say a one syllable word than a 2 syllable one….

For some reason I felt silly about calling my sweet precious baby girl “Punk” but yet I couldn’t think of anything else and it was already cemented in my mind. So I would say it quietly, afraid that others would overhear and think I was strange. But after a while I got over that and just said it. Isabella asked me what it meant and now she says it sometimes too (although at first she thought I was saying “Pumk”).

I’m sure there will come a day when both girls will ask me to stop calling them those names, because it’s like so uncool. But I will always think of them as my Munch and Punk (which sounds like a good name for a children’s book or TV show. Don’t you dare steal it…copyright TTM, all rights reserved!).