Oh, how life has changed for us! We are so happy to welcome beautiful Stella Alice Roltgen to our family. Her birth was absolutely amazing, and we are blessed with another healthy baby girl. Parenting is certainly about perspective, as I now realize four things:
1) The ratio of one baby to two adults is much easier than two little ones to two adults—IF we have another, we’ll need to work on our zone defense skills;
2) I have learned a lot about parenting in the short time Addy has been part of our family—hopefully she’ll forgive us for all our rookie mistakes;
3) What I’m doing as a mother day in and day out is enough—there’s no need to be stressed or worried about being a “perfect” parent;
4) My body is capable of much more than I give it credit for—I don’t want to say natural childbirth was enjoyable, but I am awed and honored by what I was able to accomplish with Daddy’s support, good thoughts from family and friends, and lots of prayer!
Addy has lots of words to share with us. Her new favorites are HO (home), WRI (write), SOC (soccer), IDDY (Aunt Lyddia), MAR (Grandpa Mark), BOB (Grandpa Bob), MIL (Camille, our neighbor’s little girl), SHA (shape sorter), YI-YAY (Lily), RI (rice), EGG, EX (excavator), DISH (dishes as in “let’s put away the dishes”), HIIII STEL (Hi Stella), BEBE (baby), MIKE (Daddy), and WOOF (dog).
Addy has yet to try to get out of her toddler bed at naptime and bedtime, but she has discovered the light switch next to her bed and enjoys flipping it off and on before and after naptime. Luckily it sometimes gets “stuck” in the halfway position, so the light becomes non-functional!
Addy loves the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” song. She requests it at naptime and bedtime with the actions, which include wild waving arms and fingers to simulate “fast rain” and arms connected over her head for the “sun.” She also likes all the verses of “Kookaburra” and the “ABC Song,” which she tries so hard to fill in with the correct letters at the pause points but usually goes with “I” for most guesses! ABCDEF [pause] I? H [pause] I. JKLMN [pause] I? P. QR [pause] ESSSS. TU [pause] I? WXY and [pause] CCZZ!
Addy sings along to “Baa Baa Black Sheep.”
Addy has been using her hands to eat food that is too delicious to take the time to use a spoon such as oatmeal and tofu with cinnamon and brewer’s yeast. Then she asks over and over again for “Sara.” Translation: “Please bring me a washcloth knitted by Aunt Sara.”
Addy enjoyed the Kids Expo at the Alliant Energy Center. Her favorites included the model swingset, trampoline (until Daddy threw her on her back and she bit her lip on the way down), exotic animals, and balloons.
In the very short amount of time it took Daddy to put away his laundry (for the record, the laundry was washed, dried, and folded by Mommy) and use the bathroom, Addy created her own “tattoo” all over her arm with a blue glitter pen! She also enjoys accessorizing her shirts in the same way while Daddy is not paying attention.
Addy had a great time when Grandpa Mark, Grandma Vicky, and Aunt Lyddia came to visit the weekend of the WIAA Girls State Basketball Tournament. She was a good sport, despite being under the weather due to teeth or illness. As always, she immediately gravitated to Grandpa Mark, or MAR as she calls him. She also had lots of fun playing with Grandma Vicky and Aunt Lyddia, aka IDDY. Addy enjoyed convincing them to let her take out all her toys at one time, telling stories about the smoke alarm in the kitchen and her fall by the window with snake, and directing her breakfast oatmeal preparation, which included adding tofu. As the weekend went on, she got more and more tired and was soon laying her head to the side in her highchair and agreeing to take naps. Grandma Vicky kept marveling at how much Addy had grown up since Christmas and noting that she was “a little person” now.
Addy is starting to fill in the words to her bedtime prayers and songs.
We are seeing some very comical temper tantrums from Addy. They usually involve throwing herself flat onto the floor to express her dismay at not being able to have a chocolate Cliff bar or play with toys before bedtime. Transitions also cause this reaction, so we are trying to remember to give plenty of warnings when we are going to be leaving a fun place. Daddy noted that Addy had to stop to move several toys out of the way in order to lay flat on the floor during one of her outbursts!
Daddy and Addy had a few days of Daddy-daughter time when Mommy attended the family and consumer sciences conference. They went on many adventures including visiting Aunt Sara, Aunt Betsey, and Uncle Kevin; hanging out with Cousins Tessa and Jack; hiking at the dome; playing at various playgrounds; attending a musical performance by KG and The Ranger; and stopping at the trainyard. Details of some of their other antics—late bedtimes, macaroni and cheese lunches, and chocolate chip cookie snacks—are slowly being shared with Mommy!
Addy has started parroting Mommy’s calling for Daddy when he tries to conveniently disappear in the middle of unpleasant tasks like dishes and housework. Even Daddy cannot hide from his little girl calling, “MIKE,” as loud as she can.
Mommy was downstairs one evening after Addy had gone to bed and heard a very loud THUNK followed by ear-piercing screaming. Addy had fallen out of bed onto the hardwood floor and was trying to climb back in by the time Mommy got there. Despite blood dripping everywhere and a cut lip, Addy just wanted to go back to bed. What a trooper! We now have large pillows on the floor next to her bed.
Addy loves asking for MO (more) of everyone from snack to squirrels to ambulances driving by with sirens blaring and lights flashing. We are trying to help her understand that it’s not very nice to ask for more ambulances since it means someone might be hurt. Addy appears to listen intently to Daddy and Mommy’s explanation and then ask, “MO?”
Addy likes to say “awwwww” to babies and stuffed animals. Hopefully this will also be extended to her new sibling.
Daddy and Addy were at McFarland High School meeting with Daddy’s long-term sub when Mommy called Daddy telling him to come home right away. Daddy called Kyle and Jamie Meise, our neighbors, to take care of Addy until Uncle Jay could get to our house. Mommy and Daddy left for the hospital at 6:30 p.m., and Baby Stella Alice Roltgen was born at 9:05 p.m. that night.
Addy went to her first Easter egg hunt with Kyle, Jamie, and Andrew Meise. In lieu of a basket, she collected two eggs in her sunhat. After the initial hunt was over, Addy liked finding the additional eggs that were tossed back out for those who wanted to keep searching.
Addy visited her little sister Stella for the first time at St. Mary’s Hospital. She gave her several gentle pets accompanied by “awwwww”s.
After arriving home on Easter Sunday from the hospital, Mommy and Daddy were both amazed at how big Addy seemed compared to Stella. She literally “grew up” while we were away for a few days!
Addy has definitely been letting us know she is still here after bringing Stella home. We’ve seen quite a few flat-on-the-floor tantrums, and her new favorite response to everything is “no.” However, she has been very gentle with Stella and reluctantly brings Stella her cow stuffed animal, usually after giving it snuggles, a ride on the princess mobile, and kisses.
Addy is now into smiling for pictures, which involves scrunching her face into the most ridiculous pose while looking up at the picture taker.
Mommy is reading the book “Bringing Up Bebe” about differences in French and American parenting and has started implementing some of the French strategies. One of the suggestions is to serve meals in courses that include a wide variety of interesting cheeses. We already eat in courses, but Mommy decided that our cheeses were not adventurous enough. She sent Daddy to the store to find something out of the mainstream. She suggested goat or bleu cheese. At bedtime snack, Addy tried a piece of goat cheese, made an awful face, and then batted the cheese out of her mouth piece by piece as it slowly melted down her face, creating a huge mess. Later, when Mommy and Daddy tried a piece, they had a similar reaction! Apparently, it’s an acquired taste.
