two years!

Our Tyrannos Regina had a birthday this week and now she's two!! 😱

Vivi really is something.  She is a beast of her own kind and though it's often an exasperating existence with her, I can't imagine her being any different.  I recently read a line from a book that gave me serious Vivi Vibes:

My point is she's bullheaded, which I think is great, but I don't want to be bailing her out of jail when she's nine.

Yep, sounds like my kid to me.

At two, Vivi is nothing like any two year-old we've ever raised.  (Granted there's only been one other, but still.)  At any point in time, you'll find that she has just climbed up onto the counters to get snacks to eat or she has just drawn tattoos all over her hands and arms with whatever writing instrument you were dumb enough to leave out in the opening.  By "you" I mean "I."  I am always the dumb one, forgetting that putting forbidden objects higher up is not a barrier to this child.  It's a challenge, and one she is ALWAYS game to meet.

When she's not screaming her demands she has a cute little voice, and Jon, Theo, and I love getting her to say all of her words.  Her favorite ones: mine, no, and RAWR.  She's true to her brand.

She is very spoiled and admired, especially at church where she plays in laps, gets fed treats, and is pampered with fancy hairstyles before she goes on to nursery.

One of my favorite things about her is how much she loves our home videos.  She could watch them for hours, so I was really excited to make her first birthday video and show it to her.  She seemed skeptical and less than enthused the first time, but I think she's coming around to it.

Happy birthday to our baby!  She has aged only two years, but I think I've aged 6 or 7.

twelve months!

My baby is now a year old!

Vivi is a spitfire who keeps us all on our toes!  She's a walking, screeching, staticky-haired tornado, and we have to keep constant vigilance whenever she is awake because she is loves getting into all of the places she shouldn't be in.  Specifically, the garbage bin.  She loves getting into the trash, which has earned her the nickname Garbage Baby.  It's not as popular as her other nickname, though: Cutest Baby Ever.

Her biggest fan and cheerleader is Theo.  He always says "Good job, Baby!" whenever she does something he thinks is good, like walking, eating, and basically just being alive.  She loves being chased, and luckily enough, Theo enjoys chasing!  Her giggly shrieks and maniacal laughter are the funniest and best things to hear during the day, and I could listen to them all day.

She is sassy and funny, but can also turn on a dime and become the grumpiest, most scary baby to ever scream at you for more snacks.  Lin-Manuel Miranda didn't know it, but he described Vivi best: Young, Scrappy, and Hungry.

Happy Birthday little Vivienne!  You make our family so much better.

nine months of vivi.

Vivienne is nine months!

Our Little Bunny is rapidly becoming not so little anymore.  Bits of her personality are starting to come through and... I think we are in for quite a ride with this one.

Recently, with complete and utter glee, I realized that our family has a representative of each of the Hogwarts houses.  Vivienne is a Slytherin through and through.  She's tricky, she's resourceful, and she's formidable in her persistence for troublemaking.

Those cunning folk use any means / To achieve their ends.

She's still the queen but also a slippery one in the bath.  She's always grabbing for things around the kitchen sink, and delights in spilling water everywhere.  I probably should be bathing her in a regular tub by now but can't give up the infant tub - one of the only vestiges of her tiny-babyhood that I have left.

Though it took half her life, she has finally come around to baby food.  What didn't take long, however, was for her to learn to become mobile and extremely fast.  She essentially learned how to sit up on her own and crawl at the same time.  And none of that army-crawling, worming around business that her brother messed around with for some time.  Just straight to crawling on hands and knees, much to my horror.  Pulling herself up to standing position followed not long after, and I am terrified that we have a walking-before-age-one child on our hands.  Theo didn't walk until 14 months, and he could have walked even later than that as far as I'm concerned.  With each day I become less and less doubtful that Vivi will do the same.  Fingers-crossed I'm wrong.

She and her brother love each other very much.  I try to record every moment I can of them playing happily together, as I'm sure one day I'll need to show them proof that they used to get along.  For now their camaraderie is the norm, and I'm glad for it every day.

Happy nine months to this sassy, sneaky, hairy baby of mine.

six months of vivi.

Our sweet Vivienne is now six months old!

Vivi loves all things cloth, and as soon as she gets her hands on them they go straight into her mouth. No dress she wears is ever completely dry, as evidenced by this photo, taken during an impromptu Mother's Room photoshoot at church:

Her hair is still fabulous, and still growing.  It's so shocking to go back and see pictures of when she was brand new.  It's then that we realize how short her hair was then and how much it has grown.

She is an excellent eater, though she hasn't quite taken to baby food as eagerly as Theo did.  Perhaps when we move and can finally get into a regular groove we'll have some more success.

She prefers to be held and still hates tummy time.  She loves her brother very much and never laughs harder than when Theo gets her into a giggle spiral.  Her gummy smiles fuel my life and I wish they'd stay around forever. (take your time, teeth!). She is the queen of bath time, and I die of cuteness every time I wrap her up in the bath towel.  She looks best in her belly rolls, which is a good thing because summer is here and it is HOT.

It has been a happy six months indeed.  We love you, Bunny!

mother's day 2018.

I don't have much to say this Mother's Day, except that the way Theo says "love you!" is "mom-mom!"  It's kind of perfect.

But not quite as perfect as they are!

three months of vivi.

Little Bunny has been with us for three months now!

Vivienne is a sweet baby who gives the best gummy smiles.  She is has been completely void of drama, aside from earlier this week when she decided to go on a hunger strike (but not before learning how to do what i call "the clamp 'n' pull"  😵😵😵).  We seem to be back on track now and into our regular groove.

Dressing Vivi is pretty fun, as is buying her clothes (so!much!cute!stuff!).  She already has a statement piece, but it's not a piece of clothing: it's her hair.  I'm currently in the throes of postpartum hair loss, and by the time I'm done I'm pretty sure she'll have more hair than me.  I hope she has great hair her whole life.

Happy three months, Bunny!  You're one of the best.

my kids were really good to me this week.

The other day I made Vivienne laugh for the first time.  Her tiny giggle was so cute, and I can't wait to hear it again. She is a funny little bunny and I'm so glad she's in my life and with our family.

But Theo really took the cake this week.  I was busy doing some chore in the house and I could hear Theo jibber-jabbering like normal, but I wasn't exactly listening to him.  But then I heard it.

"Mom."



I don't know how long he had been saying it, it could have been for a long time.  But the reason I didn't hear it is because I've never heard it before.  This week marks the first where Theo has called me "mom" without any prompting from me first, and I can barely get enough.  Last night I purposefully kept walking out of the room he was in so that as soon I was out of his sight he'd yell "MOM!!"

To be honest, it never really bothered me that much that I never heard Theo call me "mom" for all that time.  His speech delay hasn't been as significant a source of worry as it might be for other parents who experience the same thing.  Theo is happy and healthy and I'm thankful every day for that.  Communication troubles aside, I think he's a stellar kid and is doing just fine.

I've been shocked this week in how amazing it feels to hear my kid call me by name and verbalize my relationship to him.  I'm glad that I didn't know what I was missing all that time because it would have been pretty depressing.  But damn!  I really didn't know what I was missing.

I sure love being these a mom to these kids.

celebrating vivi.

This weekend our families visited us to celebrate our little bunny.  We're so happy she's with us and love everything she has brought to our family so far.

some things.

1. Man, this "winter" has been freakishly warm.  Or at least, it seems that way?  At this point, 70s and 80s might be the norm for Phoenix winters.  After walking home from Theo's school last week we were all sweating and turned on the air conditioning for a bit.  And there hasn't been a single day this season where I've been like, "it's finally cold enough to drink hot chocolate!"  NOT A SINGLE ONE.  Damn you, climate change.

2. The other season I've been annoyed with is Flu/Cold.  Theo and Jon were sick most of January, and last week Vivi and I caught colds.  It was definitely the hardest it has been as a family of four, and we were in survival mode the entire time.  Thankfully it's over for now, and Jon and I are seriously contemplating keeping our children housebound until April.  No more colds, please!

3.  Other than the colds though, the kids are great.  Theo is so gentle and loving toward his little sister, and Vivi is very patient with her slightly overbearing big brother.  I hope as Vivi grows up that they form a good sibling-ship!

showing her the ropes

4. Theo is loving school.  He's adding words to his repertoire all the time and almost always tries to mimic what we say when we ask him to copy us.  Next week we have parent-teacher conferences, and I honestly can't wait!  We're so proud of our funny little guy.

ham

He's also really embracing his artistic side.  Every morning he does a quick painting with the paints he got for Christmas.  Lately he's been adding some crayon scribbles to his paintings for some mixed media creations.  We've been taping them to the walls of our dining room, but we are running out of space!

5.  Vivienne is a very sleepy baby.  I think she has a few more minutes of awake time every day, but up until last week she was still sleeping allllll day.  She sleeps well at night... but her night sleep doesn't start until past midnight.  We're hoping for a bedtime that's a bit more friendly to us soon.

She's also giving us daily smiles and every day uses her cute little voice a bit more.  I think one of the hardest things about that first month of having a baby is that there isn't a lot of love that comes from the little babe to cut through the hard stuff.  It's amazing how much smiles and coos brighten the mood, and I'm glad we've finally gotten to that stage.

immediately post-bath: the only time her hair is manageable and tame!

6. The Eagles are Super Bowl Champs, babyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!  I was definitely doubtful (slash, not wanting to get my hopes up) about our ability to step up and play, but we did it!  Before the game I was thinking about how the B-B era Patriots are probably the toughest (and most obnoxious) SB opponents to have, but victory over them would be SO SO SWEET.  And it is!!  I made Vivi cry with my screaming, and I think Theo was confused/a little freaked out.  But it was such a good, fun game to watch and the best feeling to have them win.  Also, I hate to be that guy, but I liked Nick Foles before he went and won us a Super Bowl.  He stepped up to the plate and helped us to wins with Chip Kelly a few years ago, and somehow that was all forgotten in the obsession with Carson Wentz.  Count me a lifelong Foles Fan, even though he's a Wildcat.  Anyway.  E-A-G-L-E-S  EAGLES!!

vivienne alexandra.

Introducing Vivienne Alexandra Burgoyne; born on Saturday, 09 December 2017 at 7:35 am at 7 lbs 7 oz and 20 inches.  These last three weeks with our new baby have been so special, and we all love little Vivi very much.