10 Reasons

Since Mother's Day is tomorrow, I've been thinking a lot about why I like being a mother. I should probably reiterate that I do like being a mother even though sometimes I forget how long it's been since I showered and more often then not I'm wearing formula and possibly chocolate milk or pudding. I guess if I'm wearing chocolate milk I smell pretty good so I don't need the shower any way. In honor of tomorrow, here are the reasons that I like being a mother:

1. When I go out to run errands (a.k.a. Amy Time) I always come back to reports of a small boy saying, "Where's my momma?" or
"Hi Mommy?".
2. I get to see 2 little people absolutely adore each other.
3. Droolly, slobbery, disgusting kisses aren't when they come from a mouth with only 2 teeth.
4. Grayson likes to climb into my lap and cuddle at least once every day.
5. Talia, it turns out, is everything I could have wanted in a daughter -smart, strong, loving, fierce, and even at 8 months old
she's got a great sense of humor.
6. I can distinguish when "buddin'" is button as opposed to pudding.
7. Tony and I have a reason to eat dinner at the dinner table.
8. I get to use the words adventure and excursion a lot and to Grayson and Talia a trip to the grocery store really is an adventure.
9. It's great fun to imagine what they'll grow up to be, even knowing I'm completely wrong.
10. Just look at the pictures.

A weekend worth forgetting

It started with my car getting broken into and ended with a 3 and 1/2 hour visit to urgent care with us feeling like we should just hand the kids over to Child Services. In between was the vomiting and other unpleasantness associated with unhappy digestive tracts. Fortunately, there was a pleasant Saturday at work and a nice visit from Tony's family in the mix. Both kids are now doing fine. My passenger window is repaired. The urgent care doc says that there is nothing to worry about. Bleh.

Notes for Tony

Pinecones are the new potatoes.

Grayson has discovered toilet paper. That's why it's in the bathtub.

It's shaping up to be a long morning.

Just Life

Toddlers do some crazy things. Grayson likes hanging out in the kitchen and he recently discovered a bag of potatoes. A fine game of potato toss developed. Once I figure out how to connect the video I'll share. In other family news ...

Talia now has 2 teeth. Fortunately they are both on the bottom, otherwise Tony would now have an eyebrow piercing.

Tony has earned the title "Mouseslayer". This is what happens in a catless house.

I have more baby weight left that previously thought. I was trying on a dress today and could not get it off. The kind store employee who helped turned out to be one of my clients. In my defense the next size up was way too big. Really. Stupid breasts.

Swimming lessons started on Monday. Talia loved the pool. Grayson loved getting out of the pool.

Power to the Paczki

Grayson has always had a bit of a militant streak. Apparently fat Tuesday brings this out. Or it could just be that he had the prune paczki.

Not ours but so cute.

Amy got meet Caleb this weekend. He's one lucky little guy to have Lynn and Brian as parents. He's one cute fellow too!

New Highchair

We got a new chair for Grayson. Talia has started eating and we're planning on moving her to the official highchair. Both kids seem to enjoy the spiffy new Phil and Ted's model, though.

Talia sitting pretty:


Mmmm, sausage:


Big boy smile:

So Over Snow

This One's for Guy

So we're watching an episode of Batman:the Brave and the Bold on Cartoon Network and who should be a guest hero but Aquaman. Only, this isn't Aquaman, this is Sony the Yellow thinly disguised. To the point of naming a friendly lymphocyte Platelet. It's the Journey to the Center of the Bat episode.

That's all, more baby cuteness next time.

Indoor Winter Babies

We've had a busy winter so far:
Grayson and Talia dressed in their holiday finery for Grandma Spoor.

Talia met cousins Morgynn and McKenna (and was held a lot by Morgynn). Thanks to Megan for Talia's beautiful sweater!

Talia has been relocated to her own crib. Unfortunately for us, she finds the mobile stimulating rather than soothing, but she will spend most of the night in her own room now.

Grayson also enjoys Talia's crib. He has learned to appreciate his own bed as well. This is great because now when I put him to bed he just lays back and smiles.


Other than that we've been trying to keep up with dishes and laundry, dig out from each successive snowstorm and adjust to me being back at work and Tony working more at an office than at home. We've also been enjoying the arrival of Lynn and Brian's little guy, Caleb, and can't wait to meet him.

Little Boy, Big Snow

This isn't the 8 inches we've had so far this weekend, but he's still so cute!

Happy Holidays!

Two of our family Christmas celebrations have come and gone and we look forward to the third next week with Tony's family. At this point Tony, Talia and Grayson are recovering from illness and injury and I am waiting for one of the two to take me down. Still, we have had good holidays so far. This is the year of the train for Grayson and I'm expecting him to add that to his word list soon. I think that we are now at about 25 words and phrases that he uses. Christmas Eve he briefly added "Santa" to the list, but then decided that it was better to call him "Ho Ho Ho." Talia turned three months old on the 17th and we suspect that she is celebrating by teething. I see no tooth buds, but she's drooling and chewing and has actually become a bit cranky at times. She weighs in at 13 pounds 10 ounces and Grayson is battling to make it to 22 pounds (on Monday he was 21 pounds 15.5 ounces).

Below you can see Talia and Grasyon each enjoying their Christmas morning and with Amy's family the weekend before Christmas! Have a wonderful New Year!

Our Contribution to History

I love it when election day falls on my birthday! I always feel great when I vote and so election day sets me up for a great birthday from the start. I do mean from the start as we've set up a tradition of voting first thing in the morning and then going out to breakfast. We tried to keep up this time, but living on baby time slowed us enough that breakfast was out. Still, the four of us made it to our polling place by about 7:15. Talia helped me fill in the little ovals on my ballot by not wiggling too much. Grayson enjoyed spinning in circles and thudding his heels on the table while Tony filled out his ballot. Amazingly, no-one seemed bothered by the toddler antics. I credit this to the magical good feeling that comes with voting.

And ... for the first time ever my candidate won! I'm so excited to see how President -Elect Obama tackles the challenges ahead. I'm almost as excited to watch our country respond to his leadership. It's going to be wonderful to tell the kids about their first presidential election and what it meant for the country. I can't get enough of hearing African-American parents saying, "Now I really can tell my kids they can grow up to be anything they want," on NPR.

We're still working on teaching Grayson to say Obama, but he's almost there.

Halloween Early

Halloween is important at our house. We were planning on dressing up the kids and going to Zoo Boo, but due to cold weather outside and everyone recovering from colds, we opted for the College Football Hall of Fame instead. Talia actually slept through most of the trip, but we got these pictures in a bright-eyed moment. Grayson had a blast. There were so many things to point at and say "Whazzat?" about.

It's been 2 weeks!

It's hard to believe that Talia is already 2 weeks old. She's amazing! She eats and she sleeps and messes her diaper and then eats again. Except for an ongoing disagreement about sleeping arrangements at night (the cradle won't do, the co-sleeper won't do, on top of Mommy is the only appropriate place after midnight) she's easy. Who knew a baby could be this way?



Grayson is great, too. He loves his little sister, just needs to learn that he is twice her size plus and so cannot cuddle on top of her. He also needs to work on his gentle patting of her head. Sibling love is great!

Welcome Talia Elizabeth Pawli!

Today, at 12:20 pm, Talia entered our world, adding 8 pounds, 7 ounces and 21.75 inches of joy to life as we know it.

She looks a lot like her big brother on day one - with a little more hair, a little less pudge and a little more length. Her temperment so far has been completely opposite from Grayson's - she is very calm, doesn't startle, has slept a lot and screamed very little.

But I digress. I know what you really want to see is photos so here you go:


Amy getting the scar tissue from her previous c-section cut through.


Talia's big debut.


No baby is happy being evicted from the womb.



Post bath adorableness.


And just for good measure, let's make sure Grayson gets some attention, too (he got plenty today, playing hard with Grandpa and the Grandmas). This picture is not from today, but it's still awfully cute.

The Next Big Day ...

Is tomorrow! Mom and Dad will be here between 5:00 and 5:15 and Tony and I will be at the hospital by 5:30. This is in the am. Have I mentioned how nice it is to have the hospital only a few blocks away? Surgery is scheduled for 7:45. Hopefully by 9:00 the next Bauer-Pawli baby will be out in the world! I'm looking forward to meeting her and hoping that Grayson does well while I'm in the hospital. We'll let you know as soon as we can. Until then, enjoy some belly love!

News News News

There has been a lot going on since I last posted. Grayson has been talking a little at daycare and at home. He doesn't use a lot of nouns, though. He's opted for the command words. When more formula was offered him at daycare he pushed the bottle away with an, "All done!" When the friend that he was playing with was picked up he cried, "Stop!" The best that I have heard was on Thursday. He was walking along behind his push car chanting, "I go". He will also say "Daddy" (this sounds like da-DEEE) and Tony has heard him say "Ducky" as well. He may have said "kiss" on Thursday, too. He's just learning about kissing and his kisses tend to be mostly licks, but I'm not worried that he's trying to bite my cheek or nose anymore.

Squeaker's doing great. We've got 2 and 1/2 weeks to go and she's starting to get into the head down position. She's not nearly as kicky as Grayson was, but she likes to stretch. Every once in a while I'll feel a punch in the left side of my pelvis followed by a kick under my right cage, then the left side of my rib cage and finally another punch in the right side of my pelvis. Just not a lot of space left, I guess.

I traded in Clover the Beetle for a 2007 Camry yesterday. I'm still getting adjusted. It was so nice not to have to crawl across the back seat to get Grayson into his car seat, though. It won't be too much longer and we can even consider turning the car seat to forward facing - he was 19 pounds and 7 ounces this Wednesday! I'm sure that he'll reach 20 by the time Squeaker gets here.

Therapy Fun

Before Grayson started his occupational therapy in November, I wondered what exactly a baby does at therapy. The answer: play, play, play! He loves both occupational and physical therapy and his face lights up when his therapists and nutritionist come to the house. While we hope that little sister won't need the extra help it's definitely a joy to see Grayson have so much fun!

Of Dark Knights and Due Dates

We went to see The Dark Knight yesterday as part of Tony's birthday weekend. There's a lot that I could say, but I don't want to spoil anything so I'll just give my overall impression. It was a good movie, a very very good movie, but not a fun movie. None of the small children there had to be taken out screaming, but I bet that there were nightmares in the under ten crowd. Go see it, it's well worth the money but I think that the kids are better off playing with their fast food marketing toys and watching DVDs of the animated series.

On a lighter note, we had a follow-up ultrasound for our Squeaker-girl on Wednesday. Sure enough she's big just like her brother. As of Wednesday her weight was estimated at 3 pounds (weight-wise where she would be predicted to be about a week to 2 weeks from now) and with 10 weeks until my due date and the predicted growth of 1/2 to 1 pound per week she's probably going to be bigger than Grayson was. So, I've got a c-section scheduled for September 17 in hopes of minimizing complications by avoiding labor.