Breaking News

I had this miserable day yesterday. Jonah the Tiger (seen here after our last day of bowling, at which he got his face painted--and I won the league) has been sick with the flu since I got home from Nashvegas Monday night. I'll give you one guess who stayed home with him (and Ava) three days in a row. It was a long three days. Yesterday's fun and games included all of us making a mad dash from the eating area at Costco to the bathroom, Ava trying to eat some paper, and me getting pushed by Jonah.

And then...Ava started walking.

She'd been working on it for a couple of days, taking one little step every now and then, and she'd been standing all on her own for a couple of weeks. But yesterday afternoon, she stood up, pivoted around on one foot, and then took two real steps forward before falling down.

She's been practicing ever since, and I could see how much better she'd gotten between this morning and this evening, when I got home from work. (Note: both these videos are from this evening.)

It's really amazing. At this age, Jonah still had another week before he would even start to crawl, and walking was more than 4 months away.

Videos (post 3 of 3)

#1: Jonah sings (and plays!) the days of the week--in Spanish.

#2: Ava plays peek-a-boo.

#3: Jonah pops bubbles while wearing his "scary teeth".

Boo! (post 2 of 3)

Halloween = party in neighborhood on 10/29 + party at school on 10/30 + party at cousins' on 10/31 + trick-or-treating for Jonah on 10/31

Let Elmo = Jonah and let Monkey = Ava

Elmo + Monkey = Cuteness!

Vitals (post 1 of 3)

Here's the lowdown: October was a busy month. One trip and a wedding, one birthday, another wedding (local, whew!), and then Halloween. I'm not quite sure where the month has gone. But I do have some lovely documentation of the month.

Stats: Jonah weighed in at 31 pounds and was 39 inches tall at his 3 year old visit. Ava, at her nine month visit, was 18 lbs 12 oz and 28 inches tall. They're both tall and average weight, which is just perfect, in my opinion!

Scenes of the season:

My streak would have continued if today was September 25

I realized that if I'm going to use the blog to track the kids' milestones, I'd better get to it. I know that pretty much everyone who reads this thing already knows about most of these, but this is for posterity, kids.

Ava is officially pulling herself up on anything and everything. She's also cruising. I hear that early walkers start around 8 months old, so she clearly won't hit that. But I wouldn't be surprised if she's walking before Jonah turns 3. She is also finally cutting her first tooth.

Jonah is potty trained!

After our disastrous attempt at potty training back in July, Matt started telling Jonah that he could have five (!) M&Ms if he peed in the potty. (Matt didn't consult with me before determining the quantity of M&Ms that a peepee was worth.) Jonah was still not interested—until we gave him an M&M to try! Once he knew what he was missing, he was pretty much potty trained in two days. It's been over a month now, and he's not even wearing a diaper for naps. He's also often dry overnight. I was terrified of potty training; I'm shocked and amazed at how easy it was.

Jonah has also started preschool, and he loves it. He's going to Pine Village Preschool, which is a Spanish-immersion preschool that just opened up a site in the South End. How we got to this particular school is a whole other story, but we're happy with it so far. And Jonah can already count to at least 20 in Spanish!

Ava and I attended Katie and Blythe's non-bachelorette party/non-bridal shower last weekend. We spent two nights on Block Island with them, Mom, Aunt Sally, and Blythe's mom, Adrienne. Ava had been a little sick, but she was a real trooper, and she was great the whole weekend. The adults had a lot of fun playing games and drinking wine after she went to bed.

Labor Day weekend, I flew down to Memphis for Tiffany's bachelorette party (and I held my own, even though I haven't done much partying lately!), and Matt drove ALL BY HIMSELF with both kids down to New Jersey for the weekend. I'm truly impressed that he did that. Personally, I find the idea of driving alone with two kids to New Jersey on a holiday weekend way more terrifying than the idea of taking care of them by myself for a few days.

We had a busy summer, and it's carrying on into fall. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up!

Jonah being Jonah

I feel like all I ever write is about how lame I am for not writing more. So instead wading through another of my own personal guilt trips, enjoy this Jonah video montage. Note the part where he counts to 11...the kid is already channeling Spinal Tap!

Quick Kid Update

Even though I have a few other thoughts percolating in my mind (gender identity and baby clothes, trip to Colorado, why I'm becoming an accountant), I decided to write a quick kid update. I realized that I've been trying to use the blog to track Ava's milestones, since I don't have a baby book for her, and I could miss a few if I don't get them in here pronto!

Miss A mastered the art of sitting up in early July, and the day before we left for Colorado (July 9), Emma and I observed her go from her belly to a sitting up position for the first time. She kept working on it while we were away, and now she's a master sitter-upper. In fact, when I go to get her after a nap (or check on her while she's falling asleep - it's kind of a problem!), she's usually sitting up.

Over the weekend, she pulled herself more or less up to standing in her crib. I know, yikes, right? It's too early! No photographic evidence of this yet, but for your reference, Jonah did not do this til he was almost four months older than she is. We're in trouble.

She saw the doctor for her six month check up yesterday, and she is growing growing growing! She is now 28 inches tall, taller than Jonah was at six months, and weighs 16 lb 11 oz.

About a month ago, we did one disastrous day of attempted cold-turkey potty training with Jonah. We took off his diaper and told him he was going to use the potty and wear big boy underpants from then on. Not only did he not use the potty, he refused to even wear the underpants. So he went commando under his shorts, wet himself once (and freaked out), and then peed like crazy during his nap, during which he wore a diaper. (We're not masochists.) Then he held it until bedtime. Clearly he can do it, but convincing him to even sit on the potty fully clothed is a battle. Good times.

Tonight, after both he and Ava went to bed, Jonah climbed into her crib and wound up the mobile, much to the delight of both of them. (This from a kid who, while he was sleeping in the crib, never climbed in nor out of it!) Mean Mommy went in, admonished him, and put him back in his bed.

Finally, in case you didn't know, I WON the Sling and Swaddle Journey! I'm so thrilled. My prizes arrived over the weekend, and I think the best one is the new breast pump. I'm actually looking forward to giving it a try. I can't believe I'm actually saying that!

Got milestones?

We're tired. And it's not because of a lack of food.

(Ava's first cereal: Friday, June 19, 2009.)

It's because we're 5.5 months old, and we really, really want to crawl.

On a side note, I do see some similarities between Ava and Jonah at this age. But I think his eyes were already brown. Hers still have a lot of blue, but some brown in the middle. I wonder how they will turn out?

Jonah's first cereal, mid-March, 2007

Oreos and other diet foods

I was a skinny kid. I can't find any photos, so you'll have to trust me on that.

That lasted through college. Perhaps it was all the walking I did in school (no car), or maybe it was the crappy food. But I never really gained the freshman fifteen, even though I probably could have used it. Once I graduated, though, I started to gain a little. Not a lot all at once, just five pounds or so a year. By the time I hit 30, I was more than 50 pounds heavier than I'd been when I graduated from high school. (Hmm...no photos of this era, either. Go figure.) But in the summer of 2004, after needing to buy size 16 shorts, and after seeing my sister eat Oreos while on Weight Watchers (more on her later), I decided it was time to lose some weight. I figured if I could eat Oreos while on a diet, that was the diet for me.

Six months later, I had lost 40 pounds and bought a size 6 wedding dress off the rack. I looked great, and I felt great.

So naturally, I turned back to Weight Watchers after both my pregnancies. I gained nearly 60 pounds when I was pregnant with Jonah, and lost all of it before he was a year old. I kept it off for a few months, but my weight started to creep back up when we decided to start trying for #2. (I treated both my pregnancies as my last opportunity to eat whatever I want, and once the decision was made, I guess I started a little early.) I only gained about 40 pounds with Ava, but I started fifteen pounds heavier. Weight Watchers has once again been my savior, though. She's five months old, and I've been below my pre-pregnancy weight for nearly a month. And that's with hardly any exercise. Now I just need to lose 10-15 more pounds and I'll be at my goal.

(Warning: here's the part where I go all WW cheerleader on y'all.)

The great thing about Weight Watchers is learning tips for a new lifestyle. This is not just a diet, it's a new way of life. I've made a lot of small changes in my eating habits that have really added up when it comes to weight loss. Best of all, I'm setting an example for my kids. I'm sure they'll inherit good genes—neither Matt nor I have ever been grossly overweight—but they'll also inherit good eating habits. (I hope. Jonah's a picky eater, but at least we're keeping him away from junk food.)

But don't take my word for it. Here's a photo of my sister from two years ago.

We were all pretty worried about her. She did not inherit the best genes, and her risk for things like diabetes and heart disease were only exacerbated by her weight.

When I had Jonah, I was truly concerned that she might not be able to run around with him on the playground, or worse, that she might not be around to see him grow up.

Here she is today, having lost more than 40% of her body weight.

It's taken a few tries, but she's lost it all with Weight Watchers and exercise. This former couch potato is now a gym rat who actually runs. I'm inspired by her story, and thrilled that she's doing something to be sure she'll be around for her niece and nephew, and hopefully, someday, her own as-yet-hypothetical kid.

Katie and Ava, spring 2009

Katie and Jonah, summer 2008
(I couldn't find a more recent picture of them!)

You're going back to school for what now?

Masters of Science in Accounting.

Lots of people have been asking about it, so I thought I'd write a bit about it. Yes, I'm going back to school to get a degree in accounting. Yes, I already have a graduate degree in social work, perhaps the 180 degree opposite of accounting. Sometimes I think I'm a bit nuts. Sometimes, when I say it, I feel like I have to hang my head in shame, like I'm some sort of traitor or defector. My favorite grad school professor wrote me a recommendation, and when I first asked him to do it, he told me he'd be happy to write a rec for a job in social work, but that he didn't think he was the right person to write this. (I talked him into writing it, since they ask for my aptitude for graduate study in general and not accounting or business specifically.)

It started in April, when I was working on our taxes. Now granted, I was just entering numbers into TurboTax, not really doing any real accounting. But two things occurred to me while I was doing it. First, I really liked working with those numbers. My jobs since getting my MSW have been all about working with people. (Well, duh.) I think I'm a little burned out on people. I realize that there will be people involved in an accounting career, but I like the idea of focusing on those numbers. In addition, I've done some accounting and financial management for the EMA Fund, so I have a little bit of an idea of what I might be in for. And I'm not a clinical social worker. I concentrated in management and community practice. So I've never been interested in being a therapist.

The second thing that occurred to me while I was working on our taxes was that I really need to earn more money. Don't get me wrong - I'm eight years past my masters degree, and I earn plenty of money. For someone who lives, well, pretty much anywhere other than Boston. But childcare for two kids is eating up my entire salary (and it would even if I were working full-time – remember, full-time work requires full-time childcare). Once Jonah starts preschool in the fall, it will eat up more than my entire salary. We can swing it, but it would be nice to minimize that financial hit by creating opportunities for higher earnings in the future.

I don't want to be a CPA, so don't start signing up to have me do your taxes. Instead, I'd like to be a private accountant, keeping track of some company's money. Down the road, if the day comes that we can manage with me making a lower salary, I'd love to work for a nonprofit again. In the meantime, though, perhaps I can do some pro bono accounting work to fill my need to repair the world. (EMA is first on my list, of course!)

To write this blog post, I did a google search on "What is accounting?" The first definition I found read:

Quite simply, accounting is a language: a language that provides information about the financial position of an organization. When you study accounting you are essentially learning this specialized language. By learning this language you can communicate and understand the financial operations of any and all types of organizations.

(Source: http://www.moneyinstructor.com/lesson/accountingintro.asp)

I've always been good at languages. And also math. I almost majored in math. So you can see why this field might be appealing to me. I like how accounting is so...concrete.

So, assuming I get in, I'll be enrolling at UMass Boston in January 2010. (Here's a bonus - since I used to teach GMAT courses for The Princeton Review, I've already taken--and aced--the GMAT.) UMB has a fabulous program. They're really geared toward working students, so I'll be able to continue to work part-time while taking classes at night. I think I can swing two courses per semester (and two in the summer), so I'll be done in about 2 1/2 years. Just in time to stop paying for childcare for two kids.

Back to Basics

I've gotten some super-cute shots of the kids lately. This contest (follow me! twitter.com/Mom_04) has really been good for my photo-taking. Jonah has started to pay more attention to Ava, and Ava has discovered her feet. So without further ado, here are some of the best: