Cally Boo and a tooth too

I cannot believe it and a bit saddened that Cally is growing up so quickly, but tonight, after a very fussy day, I discovered what I think might be the beginnings of a tooth. I did not think anything of it when she was constantly chewing on her hand or when she began drooling so much I was confusing her with a St. Bernard because I thought 3 and 1/2 months was too soon to be teething. I am hoping I am wrong and it is just a sharp little piece of her gums. Oh my stars...nursing ought to be super fun now. I feel a bit like I am taking my life into my own hands with her teething and nursing. I think I might deserve a super hero cape if we make it through this. However, she will be the cutest and smallest little person with a toothie. hehe Maybe I could continue my tradition of dressing the kids up and dress her up like the tooth fairy. OK maybe I am getting a bit ahead of myself.

Rudy

Dear World...if you happen to run into my son and he doesn't respond to you calling him Alexander, Xander, Xinder Xander Finder Fander, Xandy Man or Boo Bear, just call him Rudy. This is his new alter ego he came up with after his shower tonight. He put on his hooded green dinosaur towel and said "Mommy, I am Green Dinosaur Rudy!!!"
I have no idea where he heard the name Rudy or how he came up with it, but he responds to it now and is especially proud of his name while wearing his towel.

Roll this way and then that!

My little Cally is growing up so quickly. Yesterday, she rolled over from her tummy to her back 4 times. she can go both to her left side and to her right. Oh my stars what a big doodle bug!! I love watching her discover her world and what she is capable of doing!!

I walk into Xander's room to get him into his jammies and ready for bed and this is what is happening:
Xander on his bed naked curled over in a very awkward position.
Mommy: "Xander Finder Fander, what are you doing?:
Xander: "I am hugging my weenie!! I love weenie!!"
...The next night...
Xander is in the tubby and we are talking about beginning sounds of letters.
Xander: "Mommy what does weenie start with?"
Mommy: "Weenie starts with a W."
Xander: "W is for weenie!! W is for weenie!!"

Nanny made it snow!!

Snow, snow, go away!! Come again...in NOVEMBER!! This was the tune that I seemed to be hearing in my head, but Alexander had a different tune stuck in his today...Jingle Bells. He woke up this morning and said "Mommy, look at all the snow!! It is Christmas time!!" He was so excited and I hated being the one to tell him that we were not going to be bringing the Christmas tree out any time soon. However, Nanny made it much easier to accept that it was not Christmas time with her brilliant idea of making snow castles in the tub!!! After dinner, Nana went out to the driveway and scooped up a bowl full of snow to bring into the bathtub for Xander to play with. It was yet another time when my son looked at me in disbelief that he was going to be able to actually build snow castles INSIDE!!! Well, needless to say, he had a ball in the bathtub with his snow. He threw snowballs up against the walls and scooped snow from one end of the tub to another. He also gave his sissie her first experience with snow as she watched with bated breath at what her brother was going to do next. She was perched on Nana's lap at the edge of the tub to see the winter wonderland firsthand. Thanks Nana for the great idea and fun night!!!

This is Sissie...She is delicate

There are some days when a mother truly wonders if what she says either sinks in or goes in one ear and out the other. It seems as if on a daily basis I tell Alexander to be gentle with his sister, not to be rough, and to remember that Sissie is a delicate little girl and we have to protect her.
Xander always responds to me and tells me that it is ok and Sissie likes it, whatever he may be doing to her. This made me question whether he really understood the meaning of being gentle and that Cally was delicate. Well no longer do I wonder if Alexander comprehends the meaning of words and no longer am I curious if he knows how to be delicate.
Sunday night we were at Barnes and Noble picking out new books to read for bed time. Xander picked out a very nice book for his sister called Priscilla and the Pink Planet and for himself he got a new Richard Scarry and also a book all about tractors. (Aunt Abby, you should be proud because when he reads his tractor book he points to all the tractors that he went on when he was at the "show" with you. I think he is talking about MAGGIE.) When we went up to the cash register to wait in line to pay, there were two little girls in line ahead of us. The one girl was maybe 18 months and her sister was probably 8 years old. The littlest one run raced up to Cally's car seat and wanted to touch the baby. Xander quickly zoomed in and assumed his position as Sissie's guard and very sternly said to the little girl "This is my sister Cally. Don't touch her she is delicate." To which he promptly followed up with " You may not touch her, but do you want me to read to you?" He knelt in front of his sister's car seat to make sure that no one could get to her and promptly began reading his book about tractors to the girls. So right then and there Xander became the teacher and anyone of the girls that would listen became his pupils.

Good Night Car

There are some days that have come and gone that I am quite sure the devil has reincarnated himself into a three year old little boy and then there are days like yesterday that remind me that three year olds are just little angels trying to figure out their way. I have always known that where it truly matters, Xander is a tender, loving and compassionate little boy. However I did not know the extent of that compassion until recently. He loves his sister with his whole heart. Xander loves mommy "more than a rhinocerous." He loves Daddy "as big as this" (his arms stretched out tall). But not only does Xander love the big important things in his life, but he has enough love and concern for even the most inate things in his life. For instance, he loves his train table, he loves his tubby, he loves his satin blankie, and most recently, he loves our car. Now the Pontiac Vibe is a good family car. Pretty reliable, not super roomy but enough for the four of us, gets good gas mileage, and always gets us where we need to go. Apparently Xander has found a special spot in his heart for the Vibe and feels the car needs a bit extra TLC lately, not really sure why he thinks so, he just does. Now, every time we get out of the car and after Xander presses the button to close the garage door, he very gently bends over to gives the Vibe a kiss on the driver's side headlight and then hugs the Vibe and tells it good night. On some occassions, he even tells it to have a good rest. It is the sweetest, most innocent little act of kindness and I love that he even cares about the well being of our mode of transportation. hehe Every day my kids find a way to make my heart smile a bit wider than I thought it ever could. I will try to catch this on camara, so a picture to follow as soon as I can get one.

three months old

Today is Cally's 3 month birthday and I thought I might catch everyone up on what she is doing...

She still is our resident snuggle bug and will fall asleep on your chest over her cribby any day. She is so smiley and is our ray of sunshine to wake up to every morning as she has a little grin waiting for us as soon as we look at her.

Cally is becoming more and more social every day. She loves to babble with her mama and is consistently coming up with new little noises. My favorite is when she scares herself when a noise is too loud. Her little eyes get so huge!!

She has discovered her hands and is very interested in what they are capable of doing. Textures are VERY interesting to her. Her favorite toys are her texture dolly from Auntie Abby and her new snuggle bunny ( also from Auntie Abby).

She has great control of her head and is starting to really enjoy sitting up. Just yesterday we put her in the BEBE Pod for dinner with the rest of the family and I think she thought she was princess of dinner residing over us.

She loves music, but her favorite is when we sing to her. Her favorite musical artist...her brother. He sings beautiful renditions of twinkle twinkle little star, I'm A Little Tea Pot, and Jesus loves me. Xander is quite captivating with his musical abilities.

She is still nursing quite well. I think if she could be permanently attached to me that would be best. Cally is sometimes a bit of a snacker which can make for an exhausting day for mama, but in the end is well worth the effort.

Not only is Xander Cally's favorite musician, but also her favorite entertainer. She continues to be awed by everything he does. To his credit, Xander is a great teacher. He always tells her how many there is of something, what color something is, and also tries to teach her her letters and numbers.

Little Miss is not as big of a water bug as her brother, but she still enjoys it. She much prefers taking showers with mommy over tubbies, but if her tubby is with her brother, it is much more tolerable.

Cally has also just started to really enjoy being read to. We enjoy reading Pinkalicious, Purplicious, Fancy Nancy, and Princess Baby together.

All in all, Calista's first three months have flown by, but every day is such a treasure and we feel much more complete now that she is in our family. I never realized what a softie Dan is until Cally came around and Xander has risen to the challenge of being a VERY protective big brother. He is always there for her when she cries and he still tells her she is 'dorable all the time. She is my little love and my beautiful little birdie!! Happy three months Bird!!!

Playing catch up part two 3/28/10

Today was a very special celebration in the Brody household. Calista Danielle got dedicated at church today. Abby and Sten came down to Great Falls to be with us and Nana and Poppi also came to church to help us commemorate her dedication. She was dressed in her beautiful lavender silk dress with a little white sweater that had matching little lavender flowers on it. Of course she was accessorized with little tights that had lavender flowers at the ankles, a little headband with a lavender flower and beautiful, delicate, white silk booties that Nana sewed Swarovski crystal butterflies onto. She looked like a little angel and had the demeanor of one too that day. Xander and Dan and I also got into our "Sunday best" for the occasion, with Xander even wearing a tie "just like Poppi!"
Before Cally was dedicated, they put up a little slide show of Cally's first few months with pictures of her with her big brother, daddy and mama. It was very sweet and a special was to start her little ceremony. After the slide show, Pastor Bill talked about what a gift babies are and talked with Dan and I about how Cally was given especially to us. He then charged the church with helping us to raise her in a Godly environment and also to pray for her as she grows up. Last, Pastor Bill prayed not only for Cally, that she stay on a Godly path, but also for Dan and I and for Xander. It was a beautiful prayer and most needed and appropriate for us. Before sending us back down to our seats we received a precious little Bible for Cally's first bible from the church.
Even though the ceremony was short, it was very significant to me and to our family. It reminded me how delicate life is and how truly special it is to have Cally in our lives. I know that I was given a little girl for a purpose and a reason. My prayer for Calista is that she grows up to be strong, loving, caring, encouraging, sympathetic, trustworthy, honest, polite, and above all that she has an indescribable relationship with God and allows him to help her walk through life. She is a gift and a treasure and I pray for myself that I never take advantage of having her be a part of my life.

Playing a little catch up Saturday 3/27/10

Hello blog world..it has been a while and I have a lot to catch up on........

Two weeks ago Dan and I became parents of the universe for about an hour. To celebrate Poppi's birthday, we all went golfing. Braving the fierce winds, brown, barely there greens, and the cooler than anticipated weather, Nana, Poppi, Abby, Sten, Dan, me, Cally and Xander set out to conquer nine holes on the course. Cally snugged into her Moby wrap while Xander, Nana, and I assumed our positions on the "fun cart" to follow the hard core golfers through the rugged terrain. By the fourth hole and through chattering teeth, we realized that Xander was no longer moving to keep warm but was well into choreographing a new potty dance. Seeing as how Dan and I are so determined to help get this kid potty trained, we knew we had to something...AND QUICK!! Since there were no porta-potties around and we were a fair distance from the club house, we had no options other than to let Xander become one with nature and mark his territory. We let him pee on a tree for the first of many times.
My son, the king of facial expressions, once again looks at us with a glance of utter disbelief that we would let him pee on the tree. Quickly he realizes that he better take us up on this before we change our minds and he raced off towards the tree. One of Xander's quirks is that he has to take his pants and shoes off to go potty and today was no exception. So Dan quickly took Xander's pants and shoes off and after assuming the position, Xander peed for ten glorious seconds into the wind without a care in the world. After getting his attire back on he raced back up to the golf cart and made sure with everyone around that they knew that he not only just went pee pee, but that he went pee pee outside...ON A TREE!!!

The wonders of memory foam

Xander was being an amazing helper this afternoon and assisted his daddy in taking the sheets off of his bed. In doing so, he had to take the pillow case off of his memory foam pillow. Being the curious little boy that he is, he started making imprints of different things in his pillow and watched them fade away. "Oh look how creative my son is" I thought to myself as he made handprints and footprints in the pillow. Not two seconds after that thought crossed through my head I see his pull ups come flying over the breakfast bar. I thought once again "oh my son is so smart he is going potty without us even reminding him!" But instead of hearing "Mommy I made some pee pee!!" I hear "I can make butt prints and weenie prints!! I can make a weenie print!!" Oh the joys of being a mother to a boy!
PS Sorry I cannot post a picture with this one, no pictures were appropriate for internet posting. :)