surprise surprise......

casey's first official word = bird (well pronounced "ber")
casey's first official two syllable word = birdie

why am i not surprised?.......thanks merlin for providing all of casey's language inspiration......=)

waterbabies......

so we took our first waterbabies class today at the ymca.......casey loved it.......there were way more people in the class than i thought there would be - about 30 sets of parent/baby i'd guess.......casey was completely in awe of everything happening around her - all the kids, all the noise, the pool itself.......we got to the class about 15 min early and she just sat on my lap the whole time taking it all in.......a couple other moms and i were commenting how bizarre it was that the kids were so anti-squirmy.......speaking of other moms - met another mom whose son is 14 months and she's due in october with her #2.......they live in hanover though so not exactly right next door to have playdates or anything, but still nice to meet and talk to someone in a similar sitaution as us.......aside from a couple things the class instructor showed us that i thought were a little advanced (having the baby sit on the wall of the pool, roll onto their belly, and slide into the pool; and similarly, climbing out of the pool using elbows, knees, and feet method) casey seemed to be right there with them on everything else.......she splashed, kicked, floated on her back and on her belly.......didn't seem to mind any of it.........and it was great to finally feel comfortable holding her in the water........until now every time casey's been in the water (pool or ocean) steve holds her.......which is what i've wanted because i haven't been comfortable enough doing it........definitely by the end of the class i was much more confident about holding her than when we started.........it was a little tricky figuring out how to get her and me out of our wet clothes and into dry ones in the locker room with 50 or so other people in there and water all over the floor........guess we'll get used to that.......oh it did lead me to do my first vertical/standing diaper change today!......anyway, it was a good class all around, can't wait for the coming weeks!........

father's day......

sending happy fathers day #2 wishes to my hubby!.......he's really a great dad.......he is so in love with casey.......i know he counts the minutes until he gets to see her again when he's at work or at a meeting.......i'm really lucky to have a hubby who wants to be involved in raising our kids and is so excited and in awe of casey.......there are a lot of dads out there that seem to buy into the stereotype that the moms deal with all things kid-related and dads are just relagated to be parent #2......he has always challenged that notion and i'm glad.......he's never resented the fact that i'm staying home with casey even though i'm sure that if roles were reversed, i'd secretly (or maybe not so secretly) hate him if he got to spend all day with her and i had to work.......in addition to being grateful for having such a great kid and being able to stay home and raise her, i am very grateful for having such a great partner, friend, and baby-daddy.......=)

steve seemed to really enjoy his day with casey......we didn't do anything particularly exciting - it rained a lot so couldn't really get outside for a hike at faxon park or anything like that.......but we had a fun day in.......casey finally started saying dada again (after a bizarre hiatus where she'd just call him mama too).......and he really liked the "super dad" plaque that casey painted for him herself (see picture below).......he's also looking forward to next year when he'll have two little ones wishing him a happy day......

stairway to disaster.....

so casey has learned the art of climbing.......she tries to climb up on anything and everything......most recently she's figured out that if she stands onto the warming drawer handle on our oven and holds onto the oven door handle she can reach the stove knobs and the grates over the burners on the stovetop.......lovely......we bought a stove guard to prevent any major disasters but because nothing is ever that easy, the strip on the oven that it's supposed to adhere to should ideally be flat but thanks to the "innovative" design of our stove, ours is slanted, thus attaching it the way the directions suggest make the angle of the thing too close to the burner and it's going to melt in a matter of days.......so still working on trying to make that work......and she's also climbing on our dining room table chairs......until today i've managed to keep that under control, but this morning when i literally turned my back for 1 minute, the huge crash i heard was her falling down and the chair falling on top of her.......really sounds worse than it was - but still frightening.......didn't stop her from trying it again this afternoon......short term memory man.......anyway.......i know she needs to learn how to climb.......it's part of growing up, but i just wish all these new stages weren't so dangerous at first!!.......

calm before the storm......

don't know quite why this hit me today.......but i realized that casey won't always take 2 two hour naps a day.......and i won't always have one kid.......my days of having 4 hours a day of "me time" - even if "me time" is filled with laundry, washing sippy cups, unloading and reloading the dishwasher, cleaning the house, etc, etc - are numbered.......after number two's born i don't know if i'll ever have even 1 hour to myself......yikes!.......i'm not sure i can deal with that!!!......i know logically by then casey will be able to play by herself a little more so even if she's awake i might not need to be as "on" as i need to be now when she's up, but logic hasn't hit me yet......the craziness of never being able to pee or have a bowl of cereal without holding or entertaining a baby is the only thing that's with me right now!.......yikes!......

let me explain......

dear number two -
you're not really number two in our lives......you're just the second to come into our lives......i'm feeling the need to explain/apologize now, months before you're even born so that you can look back at this and know we love you just as much as casey......calling you number two is just kind of our nickname for you......and i'm finding myself a lot of times saying "well last time around..." - especially in your "belly book".......i don't want you to think that we're always comparing you to casey.......you're your own person and we love you just as you are - as similar or as different as you're going to be from casey......it's just that we don't have any other experience to compare it to......so for now, knowing that last time around i felt casey move around 20 weeks helps me to know that this time around at 18 weeks it's not strange that i haven't felt you move around yet......and it'll help us as parents know that last time around being so crazy about feeding casey every 4 hours on the nose probably wasn't necessary to be so precise - it'll help us know that if you're hungry at 3 hours or 5 hours from your last feeding, it's ok.......we'll know it's safe for you to swing on the baby swings when you're 6 months old, and that you might not roll over until you're 9 months old.......things won't be brand new for us when you do them, but we'll be better at being parents by the time you do them......and we'll love your first giggle, first smile, first hug, and first kiss as much as we've loved casey's.......so just know we love you very much and you're not in competition with casey.......just because we say "last time around" doesn't mean this time around isn't any less special.......

kisses......

casey has learned how to give kisses.......it's super cute.......i remember when she first learned to smile......first giggled.......first gave a hug........but the kisses are by far the best.......she kinda looks at you, leans in and is gone before you even know what happened.......the drool on your cheek is the only evidence she did it.......she's almost got the pucker down too......it's really neat......so far i'm the only one that gets kisses.......to daddy's dismay.......but i'm sure he'll get some in the near future too.......

big girl bath......

so we've graduated from baths in the sink to baths in the tub this week........casey had definitely outgrown her baby tub that fit in the sink and seemed ready to try the "big girl tub" as we dubbed it.......after a brief first few minutes of panic and uncertainty, she seems to love it now.......all kinds of stuff fits in there for her to play with (reminder: buy more official bath toys so she doesn't have to play with other random crap that floats) and it doesn't really matter if she splashes - no real mess with the shower doors shut.......only drawback is that we haven't quite figured out how to do it without getting in the tub with her........definitely a bizarre thing to put a bathing suit on to get in the tub.......the shower doors make reaching in a little awkward and it kills your knees anyway.......so for now we're getting in too.......

fun times......

over the last two weeks or so casey has definitely figured out how to play.......she loves goofing around these days.......loves peek a boo......squeals her head off when she's chased, caught and tickled.......if we sit on the floor she'll run around us and "surprise" us when she gets to the other side.......and the latest is she'll carry around a sofa pillow with her, drop it on the ground and tackle it......face first......it's hysterical........she also loves putting toys from one bucket into another now too, and has FINALLY figured out how to put shapes through the corresponding holes.......pretty close to mastering the nesting blocks too - although she doesn't quite get the order thing yet.......at least she knows the blocks can go back inside each other........
anyway, she's a big ball of fun lately.......giggling her head off and figuring out new games to play......