Ok, so maybe not the dream you're thinking of. I feel confident that every man and woman occasionally wishes their significant other would just be quiet for a little while. Or maybe a co-worker that just likes to hear words come out of their own mouth. You know you've thought it before or maybe you're the person everyone else wishes would be quiet. Either way, silence can be a good thing.
I'm the first to admit that I talk alot. I've been guilty of catching myself saying something that was so insignificant and it was really just because I felt the need to speak. I've had a cold this week and this happens to me 3-4 times a year. I get a simple little cold and before I have a chance to get better, I loose my voice. Probably an answer to Matt's prayers but a little frustrating for me. Especially difficult with two children that still require interaction even if Mommy can't say anything.
The point of all of this is to say that when this happens I usually start by being frustrated. But having had over a day now of not really hearing myself talk, I've determined this can be a blessing in disguise. Do you ever really just sit and listen? I mean truly listen to what's going on around you? It's amazing how the world continues to spin even without every little remark we think is so important. Meetings continue to function, children are fed and safely in bed, husbands are still watching baseball and pretending to listen even though you're not really talking.
I've decided that having 1-2 days/3 times a year of just listening can be really beneficial. You notice the important things because you aren't so busy worrying about the next thing you want to spew out of your mouth. So, while my husband's dream will soon come to end when my voice returns, I recommend you try this sometime. Hopefully you can complete the experiment without having the head cold. Take a day or two to just listen. It's amazing what you can hear when it's quiet.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Papa Clint
Missing Papa Clint today. It has been 11 years since we said goodbye but I still think of him every day. He was an amazing man and he taught me to laugh, love and learn. I often think about what he would do in certain situations. Business, politics, community, finances, family matters....every aspect of how he conducted himself in life was inspiring to me. The bond we had was unbreakable and I only hope I can live my life half as well as he did. I wish he was here to see my family. My amazing husband (Papa would've LOVED Matt) and my little girls. I know he is so proud of all of his family. Love you and miss you Papa.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Hannah Dean is 4 months old!
We can’t believe you’re already 4 months old! These last few months have been quite the adventure. Your big sister spoiled us when she was a baby and you clearly decided we needed to work for it this time. Your tummy problems seem to be getting much better. You are allergic to milk and need special formula but you no longer get so sick and you stopped your reflux medicine about a month ago. Within the last 2 weeks you have rolled from your tummy to your back and had your first bottom tooth break through. Mommy and Daddy were not ready for either! You’ve slept through the night a few times over the past month but with all these exciting things happening it’s no wonder you want to be awake all the time. You still like to snuggle and you are now a pro at finding your thumb to help soothe you when you’re upset or tired. It’s only the thumb on your left hand though – not sure why that is. You just recently started sucking your thumb while cuddling with a blanket. You are a much happier baby than you were a couple of months ago. You are alert, talkative, playful and happy! It seems as though you now have a double name. We named you with the idea that Hannah was your first name and Dean was your middle name. It appears that Hannah Dean just comes naturally to a lot of people. There are some that just call you Hannah but 90% of friends and family refer to you with both names. I guess we will see how that plays out as you get older. Maddy has been gone to Texas for the past 3 weeks and we have enjoyed having this special time to bond with you. I know your sister has missed you though so we can’t wait to have both girls together again! We are so grateful that you are a happy and healthy little girl and we can’t wait to watch you grow!
6/27/2011 – Update from 4 month check up
Weight – 13 lbs, 15 oz (50-75%)
Height – 24 ¾ inches (75%)
Head circ. – 16 inches (50%)
The pediatrician said Hannah is right on track both developmentally and physically. She actually said that Hannah is displaying some advanced verbal skills – so funny how your reaction to statements like these change with the second child. With Maddy that was so exciting! With Hannah we secretly hoped she would be the quite one. Her tummy is not quite ready for rice cereal yet so we will hold off for another month or so and then give it a try. As you can see, her weight has leveled off a little bit. Now that we have her stomach problems under control, we no longer feel the need to feed her every time she cries. The result is a weight in the 50th percentile vs. a weight in the 90th percentile like when she was 2 months old! She received shots but seemed to handle them well. A little sleepy but not fussy. Next appt will be in August for her 6 month check up.
6/27/2011 – Update from 4 month check up
Weight – 13 lbs, 15 oz (50-75%)
Height – 24 ¾ inches (75%)
Head circ. – 16 inches (50%)
The pediatrician said Hannah is right on track both developmentally and physically. She actually said that Hannah is displaying some advanced verbal skills – so funny how your reaction to statements like these change with the second child. With Maddy that was so exciting! With Hannah we secretly hoped she would be the quite one. Her tummy is not quite ready for rice cereal yet so we will hold off for another month or so and then give it a try. As you can see, her weight has leveled off a little bit. Now that we have her stomach problems under control, we no longer feel the need to feed her every time she cries. The result is a weight in the 50th percentile vs. a weight in the 90th percentile like when she was 2 months old! She received shots but seemed to handle them well. A little sleepy but not fussy. Next appt will be in August for her 6 month check up.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
The latest happenings...
Yes, it's true. I've been neglecting the blog. A lot has been happening since my last entry so let me try to update you using the short version with a promise to do better :)
Maddy:
- Successfully completed her spring semester of dance and music class at school. She is registered for a great summer camp at her school and his having a really tough time deciding on her summer activity...dance, music, soccer or tae kwon do. Decisions, Decisions. I tried to explain to her that we just can't spend the money to do all of them so we will let this be her first big lesson in making a tough decision :)
- Tomorrow morning bright and early Maddy is getting on the plane with Mommy and Hannah to head to Texas for her 2nd annual summer vacation! 3 weeks in the Texas sun. She will return to Charlotte the first weekend in July. Maddy's excited, Mommy's excited and Daddy is a mess!
- Maddy continues to be a bright and witty ray of sunshine in my life. Her personality is really starting to show itself with her singing, dancing and WILD imagination. And luckily, she continues to be an amazing big sister with nothing but love and sweetness for little Hannah.
Hannah:
- Beginning to turn a corner. We had 2 really good weeks toward the end of May. She began sleeping through the night and seemed to be easing up on the fussiness. She's definitely a different baby than she was a month ago. We are back to waking up once in the middle of the night but she literally eats and goes back to sleep so I'm not going to complain.
- Personality is starting to shine! She's happy in the morning, prefers little cat naps throughout the day and like most of the Hennig's/Woodson's/Hecht's I know....she gets rather cranky if a meal is late. :)
- Definitely a thumb sucker! It seems to comfort her through the majority of the day and it appears as though we may be starting the teething process because her whole hand is being used frequently as a chew toy.
- 2 prescriptions and a pediatrician visit later we may finally have an EXTREME diaper rash that is on the mend. Her special formula for her allergy causes some unfortunate tummy side affects so we have been dealing with that now for about 10 days. Looks to be on the mend so we are grateful. 13 lbs. 8 ounces was the weight at the dr visit on Monday.
Matt and Holly:
- Both busy with work (I went back on May 9th)
- Starting to get into the groove of our new "two kid" routine. It's taken us a couple of months but we seem to hitting our stride.
- We will miss Maddy over the next few weeks but looking forward to some of conveniences of only having to drag one child all over the place :) Matt doesn't know it yet but I have lots of projects in mind for the month of June!
All in all, everything is going really well. Busy, hectic, exhausting and wouldn't change it for the world!
Maddy:
- Successfully completed her spring semester of dance and music class at school. She is registered for a great summer camp at her school and his having a really tough time deciding on her summer activity...dance, music, soccer or tae kwon do. Decisions, Decisions. I tried to explain to her that we just can't spend the money to do all of them so we will let this be her first big lesson in making a tough decision :)
- Tomorrow morning bright and early Maddy is getting on the plane with Mommy and Hannah to head to Texas for her 2nd annual summer vacation! 3 weeks in the Texas sun. She will return to Charlotte the first weekend in July. Maddy's excited, Mommy's excited and Daddy is a mess!
- Maddy continues to be a bright and witty ray of sunshine in my life. Her personality is really starting to show itself with her singing, dancing and WILD imagination. And luckily, she continues to be an amazing big sister with nothing but love and sweetness for little Hannah.
Hannah:
- Beginning to turn a corner. We had 2 really good weeks toward the end of May. She began sleeping through the night and seemed to be easing up on the fussiness. She's definitely a different baby than she was a month ago. We are back to waking up once in the middle of the night but she literally eats and goes back to sleep so I'm not going to complain.
- Personality is starting to shine! She's happy in the morning, prefers little cat naps throughout the day and like most of the Hennig's/Woodson's/Hecht's I know....she gets rather cranky if a meal is late. :)
- Definitely a thumb sucker! It seems to comfort her through the majority of the day and it appears as though we may be starting the teething process because her whole hand is being used frequently as a chew toy.
- 2 prescriptions and a pediatrician visit later we may finally have an EXTREME diaper rash that is on the mend. Her special formula for her allergy causes some unfortunate tummy side affects so we have been dealing with that now for about 10 days. Looks to be on the mend so we are grateful. 13 lbs. 8 ounces was the weight at the dr visit on Monday.
Matt and Holly:
- Both busy with work (I went back on May 9th)
- Starting to get into the groove of our new "two kid" routine. It's taken us a couple of months but we seem to hitting our stride.
- We will miss Maddy over the next few weeks but looking forward to some of conveniences of only having to drag one child all over the place :) Matt doesn't know it yet but I have lots of projects in mind for the month of June!
All in all, everything is going really well. Busy, hectic, exhausting and wouldn't change it for the world!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Bad Dreams
Friday night was a long one. Hannah made it through night #4 without waking up so that was great but somehow we still managed to be up all night...with Maddy. As I've said before, each week at school, Maddy's class has a theme. They talk about it all week, read books and do art work related to the theme. Friday was a special day and they were able to watch a movie related to the theme. Last week's theme was FARM and Friday's movie was Milo and Otis. Now I've never seen the movie but I'm making the assumption it's pretty tame if a room full of 3-year olds can watch it. However, Maddy went to bed Friday night and proceeded to have nightmares about all things animal and farm related. She would wake up screaming about her "yucky" dreams. We made it through the night but it was rough.
So, Saturday afternoon the tears started again when it was time for nap because she didn't want to have "yucky" dreams. I explained to Maddy that she needs to think of things that make her happy when she goes to sleep so she can dream about that instead. We rattled off a few things that make her happy like butterflies, baby dolls, glitter, etc. She made it through nap without incident. The same thing happened Saturday night before bed so I started the "what makes you happy" conversation again. The evening answers were much different. My favorite response being...the laundry hamper! If there were any doubt before it is official now that this child is mine! Putting laundry in the hamper, washing it and folding makes my little peanut happy! Happy enough that she wants to dream about it :) Some find this troubling and my response is whatever your opinion about my type A personality and that of my child...it worked because we slept all night!!!!
**Unfortunate side note - Maddy's nightmares Friday night were the final straw to convince her some things are worth getting out of the bed. All this time we've had the kid that refuses to get out of bed without someone coming to tell her it's ok. This has been amazing as we hear others complain about finding their kid in the playroom at 5am. Well scary farm dreams convinced Maddy to come find Mommy and Daddy so now she knows the world won't end if she gets out of bed. This morning after a laundry filled restful sleep I found Maddy sitting in the dark, on the couch, waiting patiently for someone to wake up at 6:40am!
So, Saturday afternoon the tears started again when it was time for nap because she didn't want to have "yucky" dreams. I explained to Maddy that she needs to think of things that make her happy when she goes to sleep so she can dream about that instead. We rattled off a few things that make her happy like butterflies, baby dolls, glitter, etc. She made it through nap without incident. The same thing happened Saturday night before bed so I started the "what makes you happy" conversation again. The evening answers were much different. My favorite response being...the laundry hamper! If there were any doubt before it is official now that this child is mine! Putting laundry in the hamper, washing it and folding makes my little peanut happy! Happy enough that she wants to dream about it :) Some find this troubling and my response is whatever your opinion about my type A personality and that of my child...it worked because we slept all night!!!!
**Unfortunate side note - Maddy's nightmares Friday night were the final straw to convince her some things are worth getting out of the bed. All this time we've had the kid that refuses to get out of bed without someone coming to tell her it's ok. This has been amazing as we hear others complain about finding their kid in the playroom at 5am. Well scary farm dreams convinced Maddy to come find Mommy and Daddy so now she knows the world won't end if she gets out of bed. This morning after a laundry filled restful sleep I found Maddy sitting in the dark, on the couch, waiting patiently for someone to wake up at 6:40am!
Friday, May 13, 2011
St. Jude Trike-A-Thon was a SUCCESS!
Well, the Trike-A-Thon is over and it was a success with only a few traffic accidents which I consider a success with 15 three year olds riding bikes around cones.
Maddy’s stats:
Ride Time – 20 minutes
Total Laps – 11 (I’m not counting the laps where she was going the wrong direction)
Number of times she stopped to talk to friends – 6
Number of times she actually used the pedals to push – 0
A special thanks to Chesterbrook Academy - Mallard Creek for providing an organized, safe and fun time for the kids!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
A good week...
Both Maddy and Hannah are having a great week so far. Monday night Hannah started acting like she was getting a cold so it was a long night of her coughing from drainage and us getting up to make sure she was ok. She didn’t have any issues yesterday though so if it’s a cold, it appears to be minor. With all the stuff blowing around in the air here it may just be allergies. Regardless, we decided to raise her crib mattress at one end to elevate her a little. That actually appears to have accomplished two goals. Hannah is a mover so we put her down in the middle of her crib and by the time she wakes up the next time she is all the way at the end of the crib with her nose pushed up against the railing. We’ve already had to remove her bumper because we were afraid she would suffocate herself with her nose up against all the time. So, raising the crib mattress actually kept her from being able to “scoot” to the corner which may have in turn allowed her to sleep all night last night without waking up! In addition, she didn’t cough all night. She went to bed at 8:30pm and I had to wake her up at 7:20am to leave for school.
Maddy is still on cloud nine from her dance recital last week. She keeps showing us her dance moves whenever she gets the chance. It’s a pretty quiet week for her at school except for Friday. Maddy is participating in the St.Jude Trike-A-Thon in the school parking lot. Should be entertaining to see with all those little kids “riding” around in circles. We haven’t even told her about it yet because we knew it would be non-stop questions until Friday. We will save that news for Thursday night in an effort to give her a reason to go to bed.
We had a pretty bad storm here last night around 12:15am that woke everyone in the house except the girls. Lots of the rain, thunder, lightning and about 15 minutes of hail between a quarter and golf ball size. I thought the windows would break any minute but Maddy and Hannah both snored their way through the storm. I will never understand how a baby wakes up when the car stops moving but can sleep through thunder that shakes the house!
Hope everyone is having a great week!
Maddy is still on cloud nine from her dance recital last week. She keeps showing us her dance moves whenever she gets the chance. It’s a pretty quiet week for her at school except for Friday. Maddy is participating in the St.Jude Trike-A-Thon in the school parking lot. Should be entertaining to see with all those little kids “riding” around in circles. We haven’t even told her about it yet because we knew it would be non-stop questions until Friday. We will save that news for Thursday night in an effort to give her a reason to go to bed.
We had a pretty bad storm here last night around 12:15am that woke everyone in the house except the girls. Lots of the rain, thunder, lightning and about 15 minutes of hail between a quarter and golf ball size. I thought the windows would break any minute but Maddy and Hannah both snored their way through the storm. I will never understand how a baby wakes up when the car stops moving but can sleep through thunder that shakes the house!
Hope everyone is having a great week!
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