Oops! I forgot to wean my 22 month old...

Yup, it's true. We're down to once a day, at night, except the occasional extra one for a boo-boo or as an aide if she is not feeling well. It's far from a primary food source - which is good, because I feel like I have the perfect balance of extended nursing and baby-lead weaning; I am working, and I can leave for the day (or even overnight!) and know her needs are being met. I don't feel "tied down." After all, I am a firm believer that nursing only works for as long as it's WORKING for BOTH mom and baby. There are certain insurmountable challenges, certain circumstances that present themselves. There's no denying that it does not and cannot work for everyone. And for me, it is "working" because at this junction, where she is almost two, it allows me some space.

And of course, as tolerant as some people are about seeing you nurse, the tolerance decreases exponentially after the age of six months. I was a "nurse anytime anywhere" mom, knowing my baby's need for food outweighed anything else. I've never had a bad nursing experience anywhere, even with Maya, who hated to be covered. And although I enjoyed nursing exclusively, along with everything that came along with it, I am admittedly glad to be past that stage and into a new stage, where although we still have the relationship, she can be comforted and her needs can be met with a snack or a drink when we are out and about. It just isn't comfortable - for me - to nurse a 33 pound child in public (although if you've done it, kudos) - besides, shes far too busy for that these days. She's growing - her independence speaking louder and louder everyday, longing to dress herself and lead the way and march ahead. Spoon feeding, using a fork, and eating at the table like a big girl. Asking for Mickey on TV, counting, speaking three word sentences ("more milk, please"), playing with her brother. Dressing up, opening the fridge herself to get her cup out of the door, putting food in the play microwave (or occasionally her baby doll), saying "beep beep" as she pushes the button. Singing songs, expressing her opinion, and demanding attention when she wants it.

She shrieks, screams, and drives her brother crazy. She refuses to listen, runs away with a knowing smirk on her face - she cleans up when she feels like, and destroy and dumps things when she doesn't (which is more often). She knocks down towers, plays hide and seek with Alex, and bursts out of her hiding place before he's had a chance to finish counting.

She is everything a 22 month old should be - strong willed, opinionated, and only cuddly on her own terms.

And at night, after we have read "Good night moon", "mr. Brown can moo" and "Elmo's valentine", she's still mine for about fifteen minutes when she actually is still - the one nursing session we have left.

Soon she will be done - on her term, God willing - I am sensing that that time is coming soon. She is starting to be restless, and pull off, several times before I put her in bed and she holds up her arm and one finger for "one" hug. She is like me - sensing she is almost ready to be done but yet hanging on.

Tonight, she stopped and said "iss. iss. iss!" I wasn't sure what she was asking - I mainly know her language, but this was a new one to me. "what?" I asked. "iss!" there was a sense of urgency. Then she pulled up into a sitting position and gave me a huge kiss. Then, "mo milk pease."

I just held her and kissed her and took her in as much as I could.

Even as little as she gets of the liquid gold anymore holds nutritional value - a single DROP contains around one million white blood cells!!! Modern science, as much as they claim to be close, has not and will never be able to reproduce what is TRULY meant for babies. The World Health Organization now recommends nursing until two.. Which sounded outlandish to me at one point in my life, but now, here we are!

And regardless of the science behind it, the bond is what I wouldn't trade for the world. Her little fingers curled around mine, and her body, finally calm after a busy day of learning and playing.

Everything you go through the first few weeks - the soreness, the exhaustion, the frustration, the feeling that you don't even get three minutes to go to the bathroom (let alone take a shower) ... The piles of dishes, the laundry (or in my case, the LACK of clean laundry), the take-out food, the diapers... None of it matters. Your child won't remember any of it - but the bond you create will shape who they are. At the very heart and center of themselves.

And that, my friends, is worth-it. It was worth-it to me. It was priceless for her. My house will be clean again someday, down the road. Maybe one day I'll be "that mom who has it all together." but for now, I have no plan and no timeline. I am just enjoying as it comes. And if I could share one thing with new parents - it would be to try to do just that. I just wanted to try to grab this fleeting moment as it passed and document my emotions tonight. I am proud that we are still going. And I want to remember that feeling.

Full swing and more growth!

Fall is in full swing! We went to the circus this weekend. It was so much fun. Above is Alex in his hat that he got at the circus. He said that his favorite part was the elephants. There were a lot of cool acrobats, people hanging from the ceiling, dancing, motorcycles, and a lot of other stuff! Maya said "DOG!" when the big elephant came out. We had a great time!

Here is what Miss Maya has been up to at 16 months old. Saying a lot of words - mommy, daddy, hi, bye, night-night... sometimes combining, "Hi, daddy!".... please, more, baby, no.. today she said "emmy" when aunt emmy came to visit. She is really starting to talk a lot, it seems like more and more each day!

She loves to sit on the potty, although she hasn't actually DONE anything in there yet!

 

She also loves books and reading. And, most of all, she LOVES to climb up onto adult-sized chairs. 

 

Maya is also really into coloring right now. And she only eats the crayons SOMETIMES! :)

Halloween was a lot of fun this year having two kiddos to dress up! Alex was a werewolf, and a really cute one at that, and Maya was a ladybug. She even went trick or treating for the first time, and got the hang of it pretty quickly!

 

 We are getting ready for a big storm here. Hurricane Sandy! We will most likely have power outages, down wires and trees, etc. Alex was a little nervous, as he got pretty upset when we lost power for 3 days last year. But we are READY this year! We have flashlights, a lot of candles, and Alex helped with the "getting ready" process by putting all the batteries in himself. He's armed and ready!

And, here are a few videos:

This is Alex, he made a video for Grandpa, telling him about the circus:

 

Here is Maya saying "night-night":

Here is Maya singing Itsy Bitsy Spider:

And... this is a LONG video - but it pretty much captures Maya's entire personality.

Fall!

Well, fall has been zipping by. Maya is doing great at her daycare - she waves bye to me as walks right in. Alex is doing well in school, and I am loving working at seven gen. Overall, the fall school year has been off to a great start!

Today, for the second year in a row, we visited Grimm's Greenhouse for their Fall Festival. Last year we attempted the corn maze, but didn't realize they sold a map of the maze and couldn't find our way out! Luckily, they have "helpers" up on scaffolds with birds eye views whom you can ask for help. Last year we needed him to guide us out! This year we got these of the Ariel view and it helped a lot! ER also had fun going on a hay ride and picking pumpkins.

Next weekend we are going to the circus!!! We are all very excited.

Yup - I can do this - I can go back to work!

I got a job at the charter school Alex attends.

So this week will be one of many firsts -

Alex's first day of first grade.

Maya's first day in childcare.

And my first day back to work in almost 2 years.

It's been a wild ride for the past 2 years, but I wouldn't change any of it. I really feel like God laid the path out for everything to fall into place, and I mean that seriously. I mean, look at what's happened in the past 2 years...

-I was able to collect unemployment, which enabled me to attend grad school full time and finish in 2 years (I'll be done this December).

-Our family grew by one and I was able to STAY HOME WITH HER!! -and get paid to do it via unemployment

-I was able to be a strong presence in Little A's kindergarten experience - as a volunteer, as an active parent, and by being home for him before and after school. I believe whole-heartedly, 100%, that he would have struggled seriously had this not been the case.

There are no words to describe how I feel about these past 2 years. They went by like lightning - I feel like my pregnancy, Maya's arrival, and her first 15 months went by in the blink of an eye.

Yet, I can't imagine anything before she completed our family.

Tomorrow, I'll embark on a new journey as a working parent.

As I posted about before, we made a bucket list for this summer - and I really, REALLY made it my goal to get every single thing done. However, with my 6-week intensive summer class, a few rocks did get left un-turned - but I am very VERY happy to report that they were "small" things and that all of our "big" goals TRULY got accomplished!!! Here are some of my favorite moments..

 Aquarium:

Maya's first ice cream cone, at Daddy's work's Company Picnic:

Lehigh Valley Zoo:

Museum in Pittsfield, MA:

Making a sun catcher:

Completed summer reading program:

Faith's baptism - RIP Papi, Anibal Guzman, who went to Heaven on 8/28/12!

Bowling! Yes - that's me, in dead last...

One more from Lehigh Valley Zoo - Maya is one of the "big kids" now!

And lastly, I'll leave off with this poem, which I'm hesitant to even read again because I know I'll burst into tears!!! This has been a VERY eventful year and I am looking forward to what God has in store for us in 2012-2013.

Grab the tissues...

Maya's vocabulary...

Here are the words maya knows as of today:
1. Mama
2. Dada / daddy
3. Bubba (her name for Alex)
4. Hi
5. Yay
6. Baby
7. Book
8. More
9. Milk
10. Dog
11. Here (hands you something)
12. EIEI (old McDonald had a farm)
13. Roarrrrrrrr

Clouds

Before I forget, it's important to note that Alex and I found a seahorse in this group of clouds,... In the middle cloud of the three in a row... Loved that moment :)

Videos..

Some videos are clearly needed! A lot has changed. Here are a few good ones to capture that!

Here is Maya "chatting" on her play phone! My cutie!

Here is Alex, on the last night of Bethany Church Vacation Bible School - singing and dancing :)

And, Alex's group singing their group song - at the last night of Bethany VBS

Here were some of Maya's earlier steps once she was starting to get more steady - 6/26

I just realized I never did a "Maya's First Birthday" entry that included pictures and the happy birthday song - I will add that to the "To-Do" List!

Summer!!

We have been having a very eventful and very busy summer. I had a class for my masters program for six weeks, monday through Thursday from 8-12. This brought about yet another routine change - the kids had a great babysitter named michele, and Alex got to do lots of fun camps! He did a week of swim camp (he went from level one to level two in a week!), a week of soccer camp through an organization called push the rock, and a week of peace camp through a company called The Center For Humanistic Change. He said peace camp was his favorite, but I have a funny feeling that was only because it had been the most recent... Haha! We were also blessed enough to spend two days in long beach island. Next on the agenda: visiting Massachusetts to see meemom and peepop in their blue house. Little has has a paper chain to count down to that important event!! There are a few loose ends on our summer bucket list - for example, camping out in the backyard - but we borrowed a tent from someone so hopefully we will have that one fulfilled this weekend! (by "we", I obviously mean daddy and little Alex. I mean - someone has to make the sacrifice and stay in the house with maya.... Ha!).

I have also been working on school stuff with Alex which has been rewarding. I stupidly assumed that since I preferred language arts over math that I might pass that on, but ex is a whiz at basic math problems (addition and subtraction) and enjoys it!

Maya is walking all over and loving it! She is a handful, and understands language! Today I said "where is your milk cup?" and she walked to the fridge and started tugging on the door!

Loving this summer with the kiddos!

There are an array of pictures here. Alexs art show, a few from Maya's party, and other summer things. Sorry, I'm updating from my phone so I can label each one.

Woah.

Summer has brought change and growth for everyone!

Alex is in swim camp this week, and he loves it. They have an hour lesson, 45 minutes of free play in the pool, and then they do a craft or activity. I was expecting coloring pages, or connect the dots - I mean, it's a swim place (and quite a good one at that) - art is probably not their strong suit, I thought. I couldn't be more wrong. The first day he painted a good picture c the second day he made a clay pot, and today they made homemade ice cream!

I am taking an intensive summer clinical as one of the last legs of the graduate program. I will take my last and final class next semester. This has meant entrusting the care of my kiddos to a babysitter from 8-12:30 every day for six weeks. What a change for me after being home (minus the occasional night class of course). Luckily, an old co-worker of mine stepped up and is doing it, So it's someone I know ns trust.

Maya is taking steps, but not using walking as her primary mode of transportation just yet. She went I'm the baby pool today - what fun! She got a great water table from great mama and great daddy - but it had a crack in it, so we have to take that up with amazon. I can't wait - she is going to have a blast with it!!

Alex lost his fourth tooth today. He has a big old gap there now.

We had fun on fathers day going to rascals (a restaurant/arcade). Alex is able to play some of the bigger video games now!

And, a picture is worth a thousand words, maya has learned to give kisses!