Baby Feisty!!

Busy

2012-01-23T08:30:00.000-05:00

Aye yai yai. Hello, poor, neglected record of what's going on in my kids' lives. Here, have a video:

In review

2012-01-01T21:47:00.000-05:00

We had a roller coaster of a year in 2011. The highs included time off with Mr. E, E's first birthday, A's fourth birthday, and our trip to Disney, and the most notable low was losing Mom Mom.

Amazingly, when 2011 began, our E looked like this:

and at its close,

As for Mr. A, January 2011:

and December 2011:

So, my year in review via favorite pictures would include:

January, 9 month old chair picture

February--E's Valentine Picture

March--Boys having fun results in great pictures!

April

May

June


June


July


July

August

August--boys' first day of school


September


October


November


December

I resolve to post on this thing more this year! I resolve to prioritize preserving our memories, even if it's not in some baby book. I resolve to take more pictures!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-26T06:26:00.000-05:00

December 23, 2011

Words

2011-12-17T06:21:00.000-05:00

Hello, poor neglected record of my kids' life.

E is becoming a word powerhouse. At bedtime, we go over the words he can/will say and he points to his body parts too.

He can point to his and/or my:

nose
head
ear
eye
foot
hand
belly

He can say:

hi
bye bye
bottle
Mama, sometimes Mommy
Dada
Daddy
Kitty
Eye
Cheese
Uhoh
Grammi
Grampy
A
Brother
Ball
Bell
Doggie
Shoe
Sock
Hat
Whoa
Big Bird
Baby
Me! Me! Me!
Mine
Foot
Hand
Nose
Mouth
Milk
Nana (Banana)
Boo!

For awhile last week, M wasn't home for bedtime. A would help me put E to bed, and listen to story. One night, I asked him to help me read the story, and so chose Go Dog, Go. He was able to read almost all of it, whether from memory or not, I don't know, but he impressed me nevertheless.

At school this month, they have been doing "The Season of Kindness." The kids get a chain on a paper chain for each act seen at home or at school, so A has been especially kind and also has been pointing out his own kind acts as well as those of his brother. It's so sweet.

Last night, E and I were alone for the night. He's in a big Daddy stage, so it was rough at first. We went for a drive, and something made this kid CRACK UP. After that, we had a great night--we actually laughed and laughed pretty much until he went to bed. We played a game in the kitchen where I'd get down to his level, say "Boo!" and run away in an exaggerated way. Kiddo laughed his butt off. He's also going through a fall down stage; I've been calling him Chevy Chase. As far as I can tell, it's completely intentional.

A is really excited for Santa and keeps asking us if it's Christmas. They had a Polar Express Day at school, and got to see Santa, so he came home telling us it was Christmas.

Before Thanksgiving, we were at the mall and Santa was there with no line. A wouldn't leave the stroller, but E went right up to him. We haven't yet gone for our "official" Santa pictures, so hopefully the school experience will help them both have a successful Santa picture this year.

Ironically, A hasn't asked about multiple Santas in multiple places, but it came up when he asked why Mickey wouldn't talk to him way back on our Disney trip at the beginning of August.

This year is flying!

More words

2011-11-19T20:15:00.000-05:00

Grammi (Mami)
Wawa (water)
Shoe

He also has a distinct noise for when he's playing with cars/trucks and a different noise when he's playing with trains (his newly discovered favorite toy in the house).

On Friday, E was sick and had to stay home. Because neither M nor I could miss a day, we asked Grammi to come to our rescue. After spending the whole day with him, she reported that E is the only kid she's ever met who waits for permission to play with his toys. She also seemed amazed that he cleans up so well when you ask him to.

I have to say, he's such a good direction follower--I sure hope THAT sticks. He's a super helper, too. If he thinks he's going out, he'll get his coat and his shoes... or maybe he'll bring me my shoes.

Additionally, they spent some time looking at the family pictures hanging in our family room. He'll point to the picture and identify Mama and Dada by name, and points to A, Grammi, and Grampy when you ask him where they are.

Thank you muchly to Grammi for the sick day rescue!!

Words

2011-11-17T21:45:00.000-05:00

Argh, I've fallen so far behind. Sorry, posterity.
Anyway, E is starting to have a language explosion. In many cases, his words are understandable only to M, A, and me, but he can now tell us what he wants/needs. These include:

BeeBee (can mean his new Big Bird or his G.G.)
Ball
Mama
Dada
Ditty
Uh oh
Baba (bottle)
Nana (banana)

I love that when we guess what he's trying to tell us, he gets so happy--his "yes, that's right!" is a big smile and a little giggle.

Vintage Monday

2011-11-07T07:34:00.000-05:00

November 3, 2010

Vintage Monday

2011-10-31T10:32:00.001-05:00

Happy Halloween!

Vintage Monday

2011-10-24T10:29:00.000-05:00

It's good to see that we went pumpkin picking very late the first time, since we still haven't made it and Halloween is but a week away. What a cutie.

Sesame Place

2011-10-23T19:16:00.000-05:00

Today, we went to Sesame Place. I really love going in the late fall, because the weather is still gorgeous to be outside (it was about 70 when we left this afternoon), the place is all decked out for Halloween, there are new shows, the kids (and some adults) walk around in their costumes and can trick or treat too. It's not nearly as crowded either, though it can seem like it is because there are less places for people to be.

Alex is a pirate this year, and had a great time walking around the park in his costume.

I think we did the headband more "Karate Kid" than "pirate," but the kid was happy.

He was excited to go on "Ernie's Big Bed," and was asking about it on the ride there--would he be able to go in the big kid's line this time? Alas, the lines are 4 and under and 5 and up, but there were so few people today, it was a great free for all.

Trick or Treating:

The Peek a Bug ride:

We got to see a show with lots of the characters; A sat on my lap the whole time:

I also want to mention that today, A put E's shoes on for him. My little helper!

My cutie booty is getting so big!!

18 months

2011-10-23T18:29:00.001-05:00

E turned 18 months three days ago. And I just got around to taking a picture in the chair. At least it didn't get totally skipped like last month.

Today, we made the trip to Sesame Place. M learned that E can say "Nana," (banana) or at least he heard it for the first time. I learned he can say "Elmo," or something that means "Elmo," and at home, he can say "Ball."

I wanted to get him his own stuffed thing from there, since A has an Elmo from SP as well as a Cookie Monster that's similar. He chose Big Bird... random, but it's what he wanted. He's currently sleeping with BB in his arms.

I saw a new tooth today--upper left canine.

He loved wearing his costume around the park... we even got a picture of him in the headpiece, though it lasted less than 2 minutes, and the gloves, which he loved to wear, also didn't last very long.

He was so cute with his tail dragging behind:

And today, he went on almost all the same rides A did, for the very first time. Both went on "Ernie's Big Bed," seen here (he kept saying "Whoa"), the teacups, the bug ride, climbed on some stuff. He didn't go on "Elmo's Flying Fish," but only because M went to do something and I wasn't able to accompany both boys.

He's also starting to run. He looked so darn cute, running in his toddler way, in that costume. Worth every penny of $4.

Reader in Training

2011-10-22T13:36:00.000-05:00

When he wakes up in the morning, E has taken a liking to reading his book. It has to be one of the touch and feel series books he has, and he calls for it with a point. No other book will do, of course!

Crazy Hair Day

2011-10-22T13:33:00.001-05:00

At school this week, there was a Crazy Hair Day. Despite his avowed hatred of "spikey hair," A was so excited to do his hair crazy. He wanted spikes. Daddy took him to the store, where they bought hair stuff and colored hair spray for the boys.

I did A's hair, spiking it with the hair spray instead of the gel, and ohmyGod it smelled so bad. I quickly changed my mind about E's participating in Crazy Hair Day, and gave A a blue mohawk.

The color had worn off by the time they finished their naps, but the remnants in his scalp were there when he got home. He had a ton of fun!

A Day with Grandpa

2011-10-22T13:29:00.000-05:00

Last weekend, M and I went to a conference, so the boys had their first alone with Grandpa time since E was born.

When we returned, the report was this:

Around 11, E fell asleep. On the floor. In the room with the pack and play. There he stayed asleep for about 2 hours.
E is fearless. And smart.

He also said that E may cry a lot but he doesn't complain like A did (Bepah always complained about A's "kvetching," because A wasn't used to him and so would whine/whimper for Mommy and Daddy to come home, at least until he started talking.)

Overall, it went well. They didn't go to see the horses as planned, but they did make a trip to the playground for awhile.

Lover boy

2011-10-13T11:03:00.000-05:00

E is such a lover boy. He's a cuddle monkey. To be honest, he's the king of what my mother in law called the "drive by loving."

He'll ask to be held, cuddle for a minute, then take off for a little while, and lather, rinse, repeat.

The other day, they were all home already when I came home from work. I put down my things and started talking to M, without first greeting the boys. E came over, whined a little, and then stuck his face in my legs for the 18th month old's version of a hug. I quickly corrected my error and gave him my full attention.

As far as words, he doesn't say much, but boy does he communicate. E says MaMa, which can mean different things---sometimes it means MaMa, sometimes it means DaDa, and sometimes it means Brother. He definitely says "nana," for banana.

When we recently went to a consignment sale, the boys found this slide. E communicated, through a series of grunts and whines, his desire to climb it.

He loved it; had it not been so expensive, I'd have bought it even though we really don't have a place or space for it.

The other day, A, M, and Bepah went for a bike ride. E, of course, also wanted to go outside. I took him outside to play in the yard, and remembered that we had a Cozy Coupe in the basement. I somehow managed to get it upstairs and outside, while holding the squirmy 25 pound child, and made said squirmy 25 pound child's day.

Speaking of consignment, I bought a package of maracas there for E. The boys pretty much fight a LOT over them, because A only wants the blue one while E wants whatever is in his hands at the moment. E typically walks around with a maraca in one hand and a fork in the other.

He's thriving at daycare and is so excited to get there every day. A kid from his class gets there at the same time as we do, so E always says hi and waves to his friend. He's doing well with the timing of school--he goes to sleep pretty soon after dinner, around 6:30, and sleeps until I wake up A (usually), around 6:15. And he keeps on growing---we have to take the time this weekend to adjust the straps on his carseat again!

Whoa.

2011-09-29T20:00:00.000-05:00

Here we are, almost to the last day of September. The list of what hasn't gotten done is enormous, including keeping up around these parts.

So, in September:

Back to School. Both boys have done wonderfully at school. No tears, no worries. E got bit yesterday and his teacher was super surprised he didn't even cry. My reply? "He has a big brother."
The triathlon! I did it! My times weren't great--I really couldn't run the whole thing... I really couldn't run more than a quarter of it. Some (incredibly awesome, I didn't know they were taking pictures at all) pictures:

E turned 17 months, and I didn't even get a picture of him in the chair. At 17 months, E:

walks
bounces, sort of jumps
trots, sort of runs
says Mama, Dada, psspss (the international sound to call a kitty), whoa, uh oh OFTEN
Occasionally says something that sounds like more, something that sounds like milk, something that sounds like brother
Occasionally signs more, milk
LOVES to give kisses. He lets us know by making that smacking noise that everyone knows means "I want a kiss."
Loves to cuddle, but it's likely only going to be for a minute before he's off and running to the next thing
Loves to read books, but only at bedtime. Most night, he won't go to sleep if I've skipped that step
Sometimes needs to be put to bed by Mommy then Daddy--if I just put him down, he'll cry until Daddy does his bedtime routine too.
Typically starts bedtime at 6:30
Typically sleeps until 6:15
Will occasionally look at the tv for a minute if it's on, but generally isn't interested
Loves pressing buttons, so calculators, timers, and other things with buttons that beep are among his favorite toys
Is called "Sweetie" by Daddy
Is a LAUGH-ER. It seems he's always giggling and generally a very happy kid
Is a SCREAM-ER. More often than not, he's imitating his brother or it's a testing out what this voice-thing can do
Is very difficult to take out to restaurants. He wants to sit in Daddy's lap most of the time, demands a walk around the restaurant, and will end up doing something that gets him yelled at.
From Daddy: Is stubborn, and has a really wicked temper, but when he wants to be, can be the sweetest child on the planet. His smile lights up a room.

Tomorrow, A turns 4 years and 2 months, so since I'm writing, at 4 years and 2 months, A is:

Incredibly sweet and charming. Yesterday, we had a fight over which door we'd use to leave in the morning. Fed up with the tantrum, I threatened to take away his tv time, at which point he thrashed in my arms (I was carrying him to the car), wacked my chin with his head, and chipped my tooth. He stopped his tantrum to ask if I was ok and if I wanted him to kiss it.
But yet he still throws some wicked tantrums.
Nevertheless, in general, he's incredible kind and patient with his brother, and shares with him often. They do fight because, like most brothers I'm sure, one boy will put a toy down "for a minute," and the other will come along and claim it while the first wasn't really finished.
a TV Addict. If there's a tv on, he's watching it, even if he can't hear it or understand what's going on. He'll yell at you if you dare walk in front of the tv while he's watching.
funny. He just cracks me up sometimes, like this morning when he called me (jokingly), "You little punk."
Changing--I've noticed that his face is different somehow this month, more defined perhaps.
From Daddy: Always excited to do stuff; he always wants to try something new, and he loves to eat out and try new restaurants. He's NOT into food [still a big mac and cheese and cheeseburger fan] and trying new foods. Super energetic--would be running all the time if he could. Loves to be active, loves to be outdoors. He loves his books, but isn't big into actually reading [he'll yell at us when we try to get him to read words, that he just wants to listen]. He's a good big brother.

My birthday! It was pretty low key this year, with the whole overwhelmed with back to work and being in the midst of a CRAZY work week (after school meeting Tuesday, Back to School Night Thursday, plus school pictures for the boys, plus bunches of other stuff going on), but we all went out to dinner on Friday. The boys gave me a picture of the three of them from Picture People; absolutely adorable, though I haven't yet gotten it digital.

I'm a lucky girl

Training....

2011-09-11T19:23:00.000-05:00

Here it is, 1 week to triathlon! I haven't been training as consistently as I'd have hoped so close to the big day, but life has gotten in the way of training.
Yesterday, I hit the pool. I did about 10 laps (50 yds each). I did not do 10 laps without stopping, which sort of freaks me out (the triathlon is 1/4 mile, or about 8 laps), but I also have been training doing the freestyle while my plan is to freestyle until I start to get winded, then switch to breast stroke for awhile.)
I also ran for a bit yesterday. I really dread the running piece, so have really been slacking on the training. Of course, everyone says it's ok to walk it, but I'd really love to jog it as well as walk it. So, I jogged about 1.25 miles at a pretty slow pace. I definitely think I can walk faster than I was jogging at times.
Today, I got on the bike. For the at-home training, I've been keeping to our little block here, mostly because it's relatively flat--our neighborhood is really hilly, which I think is likely to frustrate me and so if I keep it more flat, I figure I'm way more likely to keep at it. I figure I did about 4 miles and felt really good, despite pretty sore thighs.

I can't believe I'm actually doing this! I hope I finish; that's how I define my success in this!

School!

2011-09-11T19:13:00.001-05:00

The boys had a great first day of school!

Whether because it was really time, or because he'd been going into the same room and playing when we dropped off his brother, E took right to it. There were no tears (for anyone) at drop off in the first (or second week!) Here are the boys at drop off on the very first day!


Drop Off, Day 2

Here they are on MY first day with kids.

Unfortunately for me, they won't open the doors until 7am now. When we started, they were closer to my route and also let us in a little bit early. No more. I've got it down so I leave all their stuff for the day in the drop off room, and am back in the car by 7:04. This gets me to work about half an hour before the start of classes... it's pretty hectic.

Our daycare is willing to use our cloth diapers. It's been an experience, for sure. The system I've gotten down so far is to start with 10 diapers, then I replace them every other day. We haven't yet had the discussion about bringing them home for the weekend, and we've had a hard time making it through the weekend with the diapers we have. "They" say that using diaper cream on cloth diapers is bad for them (decreases absorbency especially), so I gave them these toilet paper like things to use... they really haven't use them PLUS, we don't have any here. So many things to think about! I also left a package of disposable diapers just in case there weren't enough or anything else happened. It's funny, I typically only use one of our wipes to change a diaper, but they use four or five. I also think it's funny that every single diaper goes into a plastic bag, which goes into my bag. I guess their system is their system, but I just find it strange!

As for me, things are going ok on the back to school thing. I feel completely overwhelmed--the house is beyond disaster (clutter due to being messy and also due to the contents of the office being in the hallway due to a leak induced hole in the ceiling there), cleaning is seriously falling behind, but I'm managing. This year, I'm teaching US2, which I have taught before, but it was so long ago, it doesn't count, Economics, which I taught for two years before A was born, and this online course that doesn't have physical class meetings. So, I'm juggling basically new courses with the juggle of two kids for the first time.

M says he's having a hard time with being sole parent for awhile after work. He said for the past year, he'd have some downtime before having to hang out with the boys. Now, I'm either not home when they come home, or rushing to cook dinner.

So, the great news is the only one having a tough time with it all are Mom and Dad!

Upromise Challenges Us to Dream!

2011-09-10T09:01:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of UPromise for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Upromise, the well known place that helps families save for college, is running a contest where parents or grandparents are submitting their dreams for their children and grandchildren and others are voting on the best dreams. There are currently 176 pages of dreams, but one of my favorites was from the mother of a 9 year old boy whose dream is to be a baseball player; Mom wants him to go to college and have a fallback career--his fallback? To be President.

Are you interested in winning $20,000 for your child or grandchild's education? Check out www.upromisetodream.com to enter your dream and to vote on the dreams of others. You should also let others know about the opportunity so they too can try to win and share their dreams!

Don't forget to check out the dream wall official rules!

Please comment on this post with your dreams for your children. For my boys, my dreams include them being good people who help others whenever they can. I want them to define their own success and try as hard as they possibly can to achieve that success, and I want them to have lots and lots of fun. I also dream of their making gobs and gobs of money and taking good care of their Mommy and Daddy

Vintage Monday

2011-08-22T15:44:00.000-05:00

Training....

2011-08-21T13:50:00.001-05:00

Last week, we took the boys on a bike ride of about 4 miles at the (fairly flat) park. This might have been the longest bike ride I've done in a really long time, and so I think it's partly to blame for the serious back spasms I had on Friday and Saturday.

So, I didn't do any training on Friday, because I also had a pending migraine.

Saturday, I went to the pool anyway, hoping it would be ok with the back pain, and it was. In fact, despite a pretty long swim, the back pain was mostly gone when I was leaving the gym. I ended up doing 9 laps (50yds each) of freestyle, one lap of butterfly, and one lap of breast stroke. I did stop for a minute after 4 laps of freestyle, but still feel strong enough to do the 1/4 mile swim for the triathlon.

Today, I hit the treadmill. Running, of course, is something I pretty much hate. I'm slow, I have no endurance, and I feel RIDICULOUS doing it. Plus, it's pretty boring. But I kept at it for a whole mile (the tri is a 5k, aka: a lot more miles than 1), and ended up with a pretty slow but accomplished 15 minute mile.

I keep thinking of the feeling of accomplishment I'll have when I finish the triathlon, however I get across it.

I'm also worrying about doing the bike and the run in a swimsuit, particularly a wet one. I can pretty much only run when "the girls" are pretty well strapped down, and my Speedo doesn't give anything close to that......

Not Boys Related

2011-08-17T20:11:00.000-05:00

Today, I signed up for my first triathlon. I'm not really sure what I'm thinking here, since I am NOT a runner. In fact, I kind of hate to run. Oh yeah, and it's in a month and I'm just starting to train.

So far this week, I jogged .5 mile around the neighborhood, did my swimming class today (so probably about 10 laps of 50 yards), and did a 4ish mile bike ride in the park. My quadriceps are not happy with me at all.

What I'm thinking is that I need motivation. I'll lift weights and take classes till the cows come home, but I don't really do much cardio. I know that, with this goal in mind, I will do it and take it seriously.

Wish me luck!

Vintage Monday

2011-08-15T07:02:00.001-05:00

August 7, 2009

E walking!

2011-08-13T08:12:00.001-05:00

I was finally able to get a video of E walking!!

Four years old

2011-08-10T05:39:00.000-05:00

A at four (!!!):

Can be the most affectionate kid I've ever met. He can be incredibly clingy, stops everything to blow us kisses, and loves to cuddle.
Continues to favor Daddy, though he also tends to get angrier with Daddy. I'm more likely to get the cold shoulder for seemingly no reason.
The other day, he woke up after M had left. He came into my room, asked where Daddy is, and told me that no, he couldn't be at the barn because Daddy's car was in the driveway!
Loves to read. He now asks for his light to be left on at bedtime, and "sneaks" out of bed to read a book for a little while. He's so proud of himself now that this little thing is now parent sanctioned.
Continues to love, play with, and protect his brother. He's the first to let us know where there's a poopy diaper, when E has "taken a couple steps," and even picks E up to get him on the couch.
Loves Batman, Mickey Mouse, and Buzz Lightyear.
Grew two inches since January.
Lies.
Plays the "Mommy, can I....," asking Daddy the same question when Mommy says no.
LOVES Roller coasters
Follows our conversations and asks questions (usually about small details), though he doesn't quite get what's going on.
Can have an actual, grown-up, conversation.
Loves his sports teams, but doesn't know why.
Everything is a competition--first to be down the stairs, "I won the milk race," etc.
Is incredibly independent; we can give him real responsibilities. His favorites include feeding the cats and getting the mail.
Continues to be sort of timid. Things scare him more than they do (some) other kids his age. Water in the face is a big one, and at Disney, bugs and spiders freaked him out.
Recently, eating has been a problem. On our trip to Disney, the food selections made it so that he ate pretty much nothing but mac and cheese, cheeseburgers, and... that's about it. At dinner, he'll "try" the dinner we're all having and say he doesn't like it. Huge power struggle.
Can be really easy or really difficult to get into the pool for swimming class.
Adores Mitten, but runs hot and cold toward Catcher.
Loves to ask about when he was a baby. I hear often, "When I was a baby *I* did/had that..." even if he didn't.

I just can't get enough of this kiddo. He frustrates the hell out of me, makes me laugh, warms my heart, worries me, and is such a joy to know.

What a week!

2011-08-08T21:07:00.000-05:00

Of course, the big thing this week was A's fourth birthday! He had a great day, celebrating with his friends and family, since his birthday fell on party day this year. Of course, all those photos are on my laptop, which is currently inaccessible, so hopefully I'll remember to add them.

We did not, however, take A to a baseball game on or near his birthday, as has happened the past three years (Phillies game the day after his 1st birthday party, Mets game on his second birthday, and a Somerset Patriots [minor league] game on his birthday with Grammi and Grampy last year). Instead, we took our first family vacation, with Grammi and Grampy, to Disney World!

We didn't tell him until we got there where we were going, though he was very excited to "Go on vacation," an actual destination to his mind.

So he was a little slow to react, but he got it eventually...

Waiting for our first bus, from the hotel to the Magic Kingdom!

A refused to take a picture here. E didn't complain at all.

A refused to take a picture with Snow White. E didn't complain one bit.

Momma wasn't feeling hot, so E and I played in the gift shop. These were the only ears he smiled for, and happened to be the ears his brother picked out too.

Ya have to do the teacups! Except when one parent has vertigo and the other is feeling nauseated. So, how excellent that Grampy was there to go with!

Ya can't miss the Dumbo ride either!

Or Winnie the Pooh, formerly known as Mr Toad's Wild Ride.

Everyone loves It's a Small World, even two sleepy looking boys....

...and Grandparents!

A absolutely loved the parades. We saw this parade at least twice, just by luck of walking by at the right time.

I wish I'd be able to get video of A's calling "Mickey!" every time he saw him close like this. I hope I remember it forever.

E was being a little darling, while A refused to smile for MOMMY'S camera.

We returned to the Magic Kingdom after naptime, and A REQUESTED a picture here. Silly kid. At least this time, they had their mouse ears, making a far cuter picture!

We rode the People Movers while Grampy and Daddy rode Space Mountain (they'd gotten the Fast Pass while I was feeling nauseous, which is the only reason this roller coaster fan didn't go too).

Waiting for the Electric Light Parade. We waited, and waited. There was lightning and rain (thank goodness for our trip to Walmart to pick up cheap ponchos!), and once it got to be half hour after the time it was supposed to start, we decided to come back another day.

Day 2, we went to Animal Kingdom. I took this one soon after my beesting, which allowed me to be the absolute first non employee into the park. Granted, I was walking to and from First Aid, but it was still cool to walk through a completely empty park!

Three-D glasses at A Bug's Life, a show for which A lasted approximately three minutes before screaming and asking to leave. I have a very similar picture of his daddy from our honeymoon.

Now that's one close giraffe!

Brushing a goat at Rafiki's Earth Watch.

I forced my child to take a picture with Jiminy. I'm so glad I did, though, because I think this is what caused him to fully embrace pictures with characters. After this picture, he was willing to take pictures with everyone we encountered.

Our hotel, despite not being owned by Disney, did a character dinner. A completely freaked out, and loved that Pluto and Goofy came right to him.

Grammi LOVED seeing Goofy!

After dinner, we went to Epcot to see the fireworks. Our hotel was ideally located so we could walk to Epcot or even take a boat ride there. This worked out great because we didn't have to worry as much about the boys falling asleep, waking up for the bus ride, and having the ride disrupt things. They loved the fireworks show so much, though, that they both stayed awake until we got back to the hotel.

A looked at the maps on our first day in Orlando, and was really excited to see the big blue hat at Hollywood Studios.

A's favorite tv show, after Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, of course, Jake and the Neverland Pirates!

E slept through this entire ride. Nevertheless, M got the best score of A/me, Grammi, Grampy, and M!

A LOVED this show, Disney Junior Live! I did too; it was all his favorite Disney Channel shows come to life--Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Handy Manny, and Little Einsteins. (He hasn't watched Little Einsteins in MONTHS, maybe years, and yet asked for it this morning--what an impact seeing them live has had on him!)

At :32, you can sort of hear A call out "Mickey!"

Back to the parade! I love this picture. The joy on his face, the tenderness Grammi has for him. I wish it'd been snapped with my much clearer camera than my cell phone, but at least I have it!

We learned that A is now tall enough to go on some "adult" rides, so we took him on his first grownup roller coaster, Big Thunder Mountain!

Hands up, kiddo, here we go!

He came, he saw, he conquered... he wouldn't pose for a picture.

But was totally up for it here!

After the problem with all the 3-d shows, we were hesitant to take him on some rides we'd planned to do. Yet, Pirates of the Caribbean had such a short wait, and A had been begging to go on rides, so we decided to go for it. We talked it up a bunch, and taught him the song, which I think was a major factor in his enjoyment. E was not happy with the short drop at the beginning as well as the darkness, but A was all about it.

Grammi and Grampy treated us to ice cream before the Electric Light Parade, and E stole my cone, which he used as a megaphone.

A got a treat for the parade.

Both boys were enthralled by the parade. E was so sleepy but just couldn't take his eyes off everything. A enjoyed it as well, and I was concerned that it had been too built up since we couldn't see it two nights before, but he just loved it.

The last day we were in Florida, we headed to Sea World. I was shocked to see so many thrill rides there, though we didn't go for any rides at all. Again, both boys totally loved it; despite his anxieties over sharks, A went through the exhibit, and by all accounts, enjoyed it. E LOVED the shark exhibit, pointing, clapping, and laughing!

We had such a fun time, and A is already asking when we can go back to Disney. Thank you bunches to wonderful G&G for treating us and all the help with the kidlets!

Vintage Monday

2011-08-08T06:59:00.000-05:00

Aug 8, 2010

Vintage Monday

2011-08-01T06:54:00.001-05:00

August 7, 2010

Beach Bums

2011-07-27T06:54:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we made our first trip to the beach. That is, our first trip to the beach with only one adult, that adult being me, and I'm not so sure I qualify.

We arrived early, put on our sunblock, and got to the toys.

Some of us rolled around in the sand, a LOT.

We had some excellent brotherly sharing

And one of us decided to be the beach greeter

We kicked the aforementioned adult to the beach towel

and we invented a new stroller

But in all seriousness, we had a great day. A had a great time running in and out of the waves, E had a great time sitting/standing in the water and getting hit by the waves (despite the cold temperatures!). Both boys were so good, I now have the confidence to take them alone more often. Today, I bought another set of beach toys ("for" E, though A was very interested in opening them up and checking them out, "because E wants to see them") and plan to get another kid's beach chair for E (who obviously liked A's so much).

Argh, forgot to hit publish! This was from July 19.

Vintage Monday

2011-07-25T09:31:00.000-05:00

A, July 26, 2008

Vintage Monday

2011-07-18T08:04:00.000-05:00

July 20, 2010

Feisty

2011-07-16T20:49:00.002-05:00

If you think I'm feisty, there's a place it came from. If you think I'm independent (to a fault), it had to come from someone. If you think I use the F word too much, someone taught it to me.

No story I can think of better illustrates all this than a trip to Florida--my parents, me, and my grandmother drove down when I was probably 10 (I remember the trip being in my parents' Volkswagen Rabbit, I'm told it was in my grandmother's Buick) and it MAY be the same trip from which there's this awesome picture of my paternal grandparents, Mom Mom, my mom, and me and I have this HUGE sourpuss on because I wasn't allowed to take the picture.... Anyway, Mom Mom stopped speaking to my parents. I believe it was because my father packed the trunk wrong. We stopped to eat lunch in Epcot during a big rainstorm, and Mom Mom sat outside, refusing to eat. In the rain.

As a newish mom of two, I struggled with juggling the two boys while M had fencing practices, meets, etc. On the other hand, Mom Mom had her first child while my grandfather was away in the Pacific, and so raised him without his father for the first few years of his life. Speaking of defying the norm, my grandmother has lived alone, a widow, for the past 24 years.

At a time when many women stayed home with their children, my grandmother worked in a GM factory making cars. She continued to work there until she retired. Taking a few years off, my grandmother went back to work at the Lenox outlet, and retired from there a few years ago when she became too frail to continue working.

The daughter of immigrant farmers, she stopped school in eighth grade, but went on to get her GED, all while working. Education always seemed important to her, and I always felt that she was so proud to have two college educated children and three college educated grandchildren. It always seemed to me that she took much pride that both her children and two of her grandchildren went on to study teaching.

Mom Mom delighted in my reading, and bought me all the Strawberry Shortcake books she could get her hands on when I was a kid. We spent a lot of time together in the car, and she'd let me pick the radio station, blasting it since, after all, she couldn't really hear it anyway.

One of those times driving around, we passed a drive in movie theater, at which someone had changed the marquee around to include the "f" word. I believe this was the first time I'd encountered the word, and she told me it was a bad one. I don't remember much more about the event than that, but she gets credit for introducing me to the F Bomb.

When I was a little bit older, she took me to the movies often. We saw Big, Roger Rabbit, Batteries Not Included, and I very much remember her taking me to the 11pm showing of Batman--she fell asleep in the theater. How cool I, as a 13 year old, felt at the 11pm show!

Before you think it was all roses, Mom Mom and I fought. A LOT. We're both of the always right variety, so we'd argue and bicker over the right way to do things. Most recently, over whether or not it was too cold for E to be barefoot.

She loves my boys like I just can't believe. M and I knew something was wrong when she stopped calling every other day to speak to A, because it really felt like she was calling that often then suddenly, she wasn't calling at all.

I'm so happy I was able to help out while I was on maternity leave, taking her to the doctor's office, or even paying an occasional visit I wouldn't have been able to do had I been working. While she loves seeing E, she seems to really adore A, who is able to talk to her, but unlike his Momma, doesn't talk BACK.

Well, I wrote all that a few days ago, when things weren't looking so good for Mom Mom. She passed away on July 12th. Today was her funeral. It was so wonderful to see family and hear the stories about her, as well as the wonderful things she said about us. I heard from her friends about how much she loved my boys, how smart they are, and what a good mom I am. A cousin told me the story about how much she loved kids--that someone or another's kid wasn't walking, so Mom Mom stood the kid up and the kid took his first steps. Another cousin told me that Mom Mom and Pop Pop drove up to her wedding in New York state and she brought a big pot of sauce with sausage and peppers "just in case you want a snack."

It makes me think that it's so sad we can't be at our own funerals.... Mom Mom would have loved the celebration of her life that happened today. She would have loved seeing all the people who love her in one place at one time and she would have LOVED to be the center of attention.

So rest in peace, stubborn, feisty, always right Catherine. Thank you for your love, generosity, and the love of driving.

Vintage Monday

2011-07-11T07:53:00.000-05:00

One of my all time favorite pictures of A.

The Days are Long, but the Years are Short.

2011-07-08T20:21:00.000-05:00

I don't know to whom to attribute this saying, but it first got really drilled into me by Gretchen Rubin in her book, The Happiness Project (and corresponding website).

Today is an example of a day that was just LONG. E is at a point where his inability to communicate (despite trying and trying to teach him to use sign language, he got as far as signing "more" at about 6 months, and hasn't done any other signs and won't even do "more") is becoming increasingly frustrating for him. As a result, there's a lot of screaming around here. Further, the boys communicate with each other in giggles, taps, pats, hits, and... the volley of screetches.

Meanwhile, A is at a point where he's a major dawdler. It has become so frustrating to M, A now has five minutes in which to get dressed into his pj's or he starts to lose his bedtime privileges. Tasks that he's been doing for months become things that "I caaaan't" do, such as putting on his (Velcro) shoes. Tantrums are seemingly constant (though I KNOW they aren't at ALL, you know how it is when you're frustrated). A and M had a talk the other day after a particularly bad day, telling him that we really only get upset with him when he doesn't listen and doesn't tell us what he wants.

It's amazing that this is all we want from our kid, to be heard and to hear him, but there it is... at least for now.

On the other hand, here we are, mere weeks from A's fourth birthday and E is on the verge of walking (yet to get video, but he's now doing the crab walk on all fours). I blinked and we're well past the midpoint of 2011.

So, some of the days are really long, but the years truly are short.

Vintage Monday

2011-07-04T10:24:00.001-05:00

Happy Fourth of July!

From July 2009

14 months

2011-06-29T19:48:00.000-05:00

Incredibly belated, here's E at 14 months.

He's a master crawler. Super fast, he'll really get going when he looks down at the floor. And then bang into something.
He can stand, if he's not paying attention. If he is, he'll grab onto the nearest table or drop to the floor. He can walk along if holding one hand.
He continues to be super easy to laugh, and boy does this kid have a great laugh.
Still has 6 teeth.
Like his brother and parents, he's already gotten a few moles.
He seems to be going to one nap a day, and it's been a struggle. For example, today, he woke at 6, napped in the car while we ran some errands, refused his morning nap, napped again in the car, and then took a 3 hour nap at 1 and went to bed at 6:45. Yesterday, he napped about 2 hours in the morning, and then wouldn't take his afternoon nap until almost 4.
E still loves his food. If he sees a banana, he screams for it. In addition, he loves apples and peaches, and eats them straight, meaning he eats them right out of the fridge without being cut.
He has words for A and Daddy, and usually uses the word for Daddy for Mommy.
But Mommy is still his favorite. I was away from him for several hours and wasn't putting him to bed for three days. When I did see him, he would whine whine whine until I picked him up, and this continued for about a day after we came home.
He loves to stand. In the tub, in his stroller, in a shopping cart, he'll stand up, usually facing wherever I am. If I say, "E! SIT!" he will, for a minute or two.
The struggle to get him to tolerate the nursery at the gym has been worth it; he not only doesn't cry but he plays and has a great time. Today, I walked in and he was playing fine and then gave me a huge smile when he saw me.

I love this kid!

Vintage Monday

2011-06-27T10:20:00.000-05:00

From June 2010, my little Lollipop Guild Baby!

Vintage Monday

2011-06-20T10:21:00.001-05:00

Hope you had a great Father's Day!!

June 2010

Words

2011-06-19T20:42:00.000-05:00

If you asked me what E's first word was or what words he says, I'd have to say he hasn't said a first word. He doesn't say Dada or Mama, or even his brother's name in a way that anyone other than M and I could recognize.

But yet, he definitely has E-speak words for all of us... or at least for his Brother and Daddy. They're usually said at top volume. Additionally, his grunt for drink is distinguishable to his Mama, and he even grunts something I consider to be thank you.

Today, I left the three of them home while I ran an errand. A went to the screen door to wave bye and E must have followed. M said E was yelling out the door a combination of "Ma. Ma. Ma. Dadooo!" for a good 20 minutes after I left. Dadooo seems to be interchangeable Mama and Dada.

But he understands. Like if we're in the grocery store and he stands up in the cart (despite being strapped in,) he will sit down when I say SIT! Of course, he then gives that devilish laugh and stands back up, but at least he knows what he's SUPPOSED to be doing.

Genes are weird

2011-06-18T20:06:00.001-05:00

At least once a week, I hear that E looks JUST like me. Or that A looks JUST like Daddy. Sometimes, I'll hear that A looks JUST like me (if Daddy's not around).

Facts are, though, that they look like the OPPOSITE parent. I submit for your consideration:

There are other ways in which genes are weird too. E has my exact blood type while A has M's. A has the S men's cleft chin while E does not. A has the S men's tongue tie while E does not. E and Daddy prune up like crazy after seconds in the water, while A and I get slightly pruney after a much longer time.

Vintage Monday

2011-06-18T07:59:00.000-05:00

July 27, 2009

Ouch.

2011-06-15T21:11:00.000-05:00

This morning started much like any other day. I was awoken by the sound of crying, rolled over holding my breath that it might stop. Got up and dressed and went in to get Mr. E, after making a stop at Mr. A's room to give him some water (kiddo has a cough that just won't quit. It's only bad at night, though, when he's waking up, so I'm not worried).

It went downhill, however, when we were brushing A's teeth. A stands on a stepstool to brush his teeth, and E was hanging around, looking into the drawer next to the sink.

He fell, and then started to cry. Now, with an older brother, such things usually end quickly. I comforted him, rubbing to spot on the back of his head that I thought he'd hit, and tried getting him to calm down.

Then A said, "look, it's red!"

Yeah. Big puddle of blood. Well, it's been 14 months since I scrubbed that floor really well.

With blood all over his mouth, I had a really hard time figuring out how to make it better/make it stop. The blood seemed to be coming from his top two teeth, so that's where I focused. I gave the kid a bottle of water, which seemed to calm him down a bunch.

After the dust had settled, I looked in his mouth again. It looks like he cut himself, probably on the drawer, where the gum meets the lip on top.

So, despite any and all measures one may take to babyproof, her kids will still get banged up, fall down, get burned, and fall out of bed.

Vintage Monday

2011-06-13T10:06:00.000-05:00

From June 2010

Splish

2011-06-12T22:02:00.000-05:00

With last week's unbelieveable heat, we've been getting some use out of our water table. I decked E all out in his monkey bathing suit and matching rash guard (such an exciting purchase; my mom had given the shorts to E for Christmas, and I happened to find the matching rash guard months later this spring at the Gymbo outlet. Woo!), lathered on the sunblock, and put him in his hat. He was happy about all of it. Except for the hat.

Nonetheless, he kept his hat on the entire half hour we were out there.

This isn't a great picture of Lovebug, as I called him once and A has picked up on (also telling me that HE is Lovebug too), but I love the way the shutter captured that one drop of water.

This boy loves water so much, I really can't wait to get him to the splash area at Sesame Place, or even to take him to the Spraygrounds to play.

Hooray for summer!

Walgreens

2011-06-11T23:02:00.001-05:00

This post brought to you by Walgreens. All opinions are 100% mine.

I haven't used Walgreens much over the years, largely because they're usually not local for me, however, there have been lots of "Oh no!" moments where we're out and need diapers or I have a killer headache and need relief, and Walgreens has been there. As a side note, M has an interest in their business model after reading some book that discussed them; Walgreens ALWAYS tries to be on a corner so you can easily get in and get out; definitely important around here with EVERYWHERE!

So, in one of those situations, I took a look at Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products , I tried a Walgreens brand pain reliever, because I almost always buy generic with that kind of stuff anyway. It worked great, and the value over brand names is obvious. Did you know that Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products are a great value, allowing families and individuals to save money without sacrificing quality or trust. With the rising cost of health care, saving money on over-the-counter medications can really benefit a family’s budget. In addition to being an exceptional value, Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products have a 100% satisfaction guarantee.

In addition, purchases of every Walgreens Brand Health & Wellness Products supports bringing preventive wellness services to local communities through the Walgreens Way to Well Fund™. Walgreens will contribute up to $3 million annually to the Walgreens Way to Well Fund™. The Walgreens Way to Well Fund™ will provide free preventive health tests as well as other health and wellness services and education to local communities. Some of those services will include preventive health tests through the National Urban League Health & Wellness Tour and vouchers redeemable in select stores. For details, visit walgreens.com/waytowell.

Since we're all looking to save a few bucks, let me also tell you about a contest involving Walgreens products. A bunch of bloggers are running some giveaways and you can find out more info by following the giveaways link.

Words

2011-06-11T13:40:00.000-05:00

Words are a big focus for us these days. We say words over and over, and sounds too. We point out letters to A, working on their sounds, and try to get E to make the sounds via repeating us or even better, naming things.

A has been working on reading. He loves to ask us what signs say--today, he wanted to know what the Exit sign read. Every morning, he asks what the chalkboard says, and now can sound at the name of his daycare. But he shocked me the other day when he was looking at a coupon that said "1.00 off," and he said, "look, Mommy, One Hundred Off!"

Further, we were doing a floor puzzle last night,

and he recognized the word "fox," and sounded out "socks." He can identify the following words:
1. Yes
2. Off
3. His Name (and he can write this one by himself)
4. Fox
5. His brother's name

E hasn't yet really talked, where we know he's using a word for a particular thing. Like he says Da da da da all day long, but it doesn't necessarily mean Daddy. But he's developing sounds for certain things.
We THINK he has a Mama and a Dada. He definitely has a sound for his brother, though it's more like an AH-AH, which doesn't duplicate at all in text. We were working in a bathroom at our local Target on the first sound in his name, because the echo makes all things more fun. I also think he has a sound for water/drink. Food, however, is still a cry/scream, which is a shame since he wants food ALL THE TIME.

Umbilical cord banking

2011-06-05T10:02:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of CryoCell International. All opinions are 100% mine.

When our boys were born, we chose not to bank their cord blood. It was partly because the technology was still too new and unknown, it was partly the cost, but it was mostly that it wasn't a priority in my mind and so got pushed to the wayside.

It's amazing, though, what can be done with cord blood. The possibilities are endless; if one of my boys is seriously ill, perhaps saving the cord blood of just one of them would have made that trial just a tiny bit easier.

But Cryo-Cell is really interested in having folks learn more about their services, and so are giving away Baby Jogger City Mini strollers to those who enroll in their signature U-Cord service.

Since 1992, Cryo Cell has helped more than 230,000 clients worldwide preserve their newborn's umbilical cord blood for potential use against many diseases. Along with cord banking, Cryo-Cell Cord Bank is pioneering the way in research, to find more solutions to preserve stem cells in a noncontroversial way. Cord blood is just the first step in new medical advancements.

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What better way to celebrate the birth of your newborn and get back in shape all at once? If you enroll today in Cryo-Cell's signature U-Cord service and for a limited-time receive a free Baby Jogger City Mini.

If my 25 year old self could see me now.

2011-06-04T21:31:00.000-05:00

At 25, I didn't live a particularly WILD life. I was living with M, working, going out for some fun times on occasion. I started my master's the fall I turned 25.

Today, however, was a wild day indeed. We took the boys to Wild West City up in North Jersey. While it was a good time, it was one of those kids' places that isn't exactly my idea of a good time... you know, it's fun because your kids are having a blast, but you wouldn't be having such a good time if your kid didn't have a grin?

But then it got REALLY exciting when we came home... after putting the boys to sleep, I took advantage of the lingering late spring light and.... weeded the flowerbeds.

The Mother's Curse.

2011-05-31T20:59:00.000-05:00

Surely you've heard of the Mother's Curse... that the mothers of crazy children curse those children, saying, "I hope you have a child just like you."

I don't remember my mother ever saying that to me. So, it seems that I didn't get cursed with a child just like me. A seems to be his father's child; in fact, today I asked him if he was Daddy's child or Mommy's child and his reply was that he is Daddy's child, and not BOTH of ours. Sometimes, though, I really have no idea where parts of his personality come from.

E does not seem to have Daddy's personality. I think he's going to be just like my father.
Of course I have no examples to support this; if this was a paper I was grading it, it would get a low grade for not supporting the thesis. There's just something there that reminds me of my dad.

Maybe it's how much and how fast he eats....

Food

2011-05-26T13:59:00.000-05:00

I struggle with, as I'm sure many families do, the idea of eating organic food versus conventional ones. Our bank account says conventional all the way--in many cases, it's much cheaper, though I've found that if I buy 3lb bags of organic apples, it's cheaper than the loose conventional... though you then don't get to select your individual pieces.

But a quick search will show you the benefits of organic foods. In terms of produce, you're looking at foods grown without pesticides. In terms of eggs, the chickens are free range, given no hormones, and eat vegetarian feed.

I've also found that, in my experience, organic produce and milk tends to last longer, so you get more value for your money.

I thought I was doing a good thing by replacing chicken nuggets for A with chick'n nuggets, a meatless alternative, but studies on soy range from the bad to the awful (GM soy destroying children).

I've also read some things about the harm caused by organic foods. This is the most reputable and more recent source I could find, and it's not that recent at all.

Of course there's no right answer, and every family has to decide for itself. I do my best to buy organic food from the "Dirty Dozen," as identified by EWG, though I don't think organic bell peppers have ever been in our budget. We tried joining an organic produce co-op, but found that we were throwing so much away because the amounts were huge and there was always something we weren't eating--it's particularly tough with those who "know what they like". Additionally, we couldn't say, "Hey, we love bananas, could we have more?" so had to go to the store for those anyway. A great concept, and I really loved having farm fresh produce practically delivered to my door.

All the research I've done shows that locally produced, conventionally grown stuff is even better than organic stuff from far away. So, I plan to take lots and lots of trips to the strawberry and raspberry fields this summer, and a few trips to get apples... I wonder if we can find pears too?

Handsome devil

2011-05-26T11:02:00.000-05:00

This kid, I tell you. He's so full of charm. There's also some mischief lurking in there too, though he's mostly sweet.

Amazing how much his face has changed since the spring 2010 portraits...

Definitely not a baby anymore!

Daycare

2011-05-26T10:13:00.000-05:00

Most days, dropping A off at daycare is a breeze. We go into the room, do hugs and kisses, maybe E will play a little while. Then we leave, we have to stop at the window to wave goodbye (one day M didn't do this, and as soon as he got home, he got a call that A was still waiting at the window for him to wave), and he runs off to play.

Today, however, A reacted in a way that he hasn't since... gosh I can't remember. I don't think he was walking.

I left the room and he was playing. Drove around to the window, and he was there in absolute tears. He was so upset, I pulled over and got out to talk to him through the window. "I want to go hooooome," he screamed. His teacher and I were telling him about all the fun things they're going to do today, but he was inconsolable. I decided to go with the Band-Aid tear off and just walk away. By this point, his teacher had picked him up, but he was practically out of her arms reaching through the window, screaming "Mommy, Mommy."

We ran to the grocery store to pick up a few things, came home and put E to his nap, and then I called. Luckily, his teacher answered, and said he's totally fine, that he was coloring and playing, about an hour later.

I know I need to start getting my not heartbreak armor on, since I'll be getting a ton of it in September from Little Brother. I just was totally not prepared for it from the Big One.

Who knows what you'll forget

2011-05-24T19:31:00.000-05:00

Bedtime routine around here goes like this:

When he starts getting tired/cranky (usually set off by something or another, but usually by 7pm), I take E up to bed. I change his diaper and put on his jammies, nurse him, brush his teeth while singing a song, read him a story, and put him to bed. The funny thing is that he will only sit still to listen to a story while we are in THAT chair. I can read him a full length Dr. Seuss book there, but he won't even sit for a board book anywhere else.

Now that A's bedtime is moved back to 7:30, I then come downstairs and cuddle with him or read while he watches tv (tonight we held hands doing just that; so sweet!). At 7:30, he "jumps up to [us]," which consists of him bouncing on the couch into our arms, and if it's Daddy who's catching him, he then gets thrown into the air as close as possible to the ceiling. We go upstairs, he uses the bathroom, brushes his teeth, picks out his clothes and gets changed. We then read him a story, he picks a song, and then usually allows whomever didn't sing that song to pick and sing the next song.

For the longest time, he only wanted to hear "Baa Baa Black Sheep." Except that, for whatever reason, it HAD to be "Baa Baa BLUE Sheep." I know this was after E had been born, so it was probably last summer/fall.

His current favorite choices are: Itsy Bitsy Spider (I think that has to do more with the tickling than the song itself), Batman, ABCs, and "Delaware," aka The Fight Song.

13 months

2011-05-20T14:16:00.000-05:00

I now know why I stopped taking monthly pictures of A after his 1st birthday.

We tried holding him down.

He wouldn't put his tongue away.

He played peekaboo over the chair with his brother,

who encouraged him...

I really wanted a picture of the damned stickers I'd bought for him

and a smile would be nice too

He's called Wiggle Worm for a reason.

Following up on A

2011-05-20T13:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, A woke with what looked like big bites across his face. Last night, he had a 102 degree temperature in the armpit, which I think translates to 0.9 degrees lower than "actual" temperature. We figured we'd play the wait and see game.

This morning, he had a 98.8 degree temperature, and when I asked him how he felt and if he hurt, he said yes, his head hurt, his heel hurt, and pointed to the three "bites." So I kept him home from school and called the doctor.

At the appointment today, she first looked at his foot. I'd seen some redness where he pointed, but nothing like what was on his face. She said she thought she saw a splinter, took it out, and he said he was better. (As an aside, before she took it out, she asked if it hurt here, here, here, and over here on his other foot, to which he said yes to all. Hmpf.)

She then said that it's likely he has Fifth's Disease, aka "hand slap." When I asked about the "bite marks," she said it's not likely because they're so symmetrically placed, but that she couldn't rule it out completely. I showed her the picture I took of A yesterday morning, and she said it looked totally different than it did today.

The good news is that he doesn't seem bothered by it, other than a little bit more cranky than normal. Kiddo's still eating like a horse, playing, and the doctor remarked that he seemed to be in good spirits.

Nonetheless, I washed every stitch of bedding on A's bed, including the mattress cover and pillow tick. I'm not entirely convinced it wasn't the doing of a spider or some other icky buggy, but I guess the spiders have a respite from my fumigating the whole house.

Kisses

2011-05-20T09:11:00.000-05:00

E has taken to giving kisses. They're open mouthed, Os, and they're usually given to A. It's so cute.

Affection around here is just too much. This morning, E was fighting on the changing table. Then A came in, and he was all smiles. A said, "We love each other so much!"

Too darn cute, these boys!

Sleepy

2011-05-19T20:42:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine has recently posted a few pictures of her older son sleeping, usually around 9pm. I'm not sure how she does it, but getting sleeping pictures has been on my mind lately. Reading the heart warming Love You Forever made me want to try even more.

E has been changing his sleep schedule up a little bit; I'm not quite sure what's going on or how to predict, so we're in a roll-with-the-punches holding pattern. Today, I went to the gym, which got us home later than our usual daycare run time. And we had lunch plans. So, he went to sleep around 945 and I had to wake him around noon so we could meet our friends. I went in and turned on his light, and was able to get some pictures of him sleeping.

Sicky Boy.

2011-05-19T19:15:00.000-05:00

Today when A woke up, I noticed two spots on his face--one on each cheek. I then saw he had something in/on his nostril.

He said they weren't itchy, but at first said it hurt, then said it didn't. He wasn't scratching or even touching them. I asked his teacher to keep an eye on them, and she said they didn't seem to be bothering him at all.

Then, after dinner, M noticed that he felt very warm, despite wearing shorts. We took his temperature, and he was at 102. When he went up to bed, he said his neck hurt.

No idea if they're at all related, and we'll see how things are in the morning, but now I'm sort of worried that something might be wrong. If the spots are still there or if he still has a temp, I'll keep him home but also ease my worrying with a call to the ped...

Xander

2011-05-17T20:17:00.001-05:00

This? Is Xander.

Xander is a bear wearing a Superman costume. It was given to M by a student several years ago for being awesome. He's lived on a shelf in our room since we moved in in 2007, and on the same shelf in our room for a few years in our previous apartment.

Last night, M did some work on said shelf, and A finally noticed this Superman bear. He asked M if he could have it. The answer was no.

Today, we were doing stuff while M was tutoring, and A asked if he could play with "that Superman bear" while Daddy wasn't home. I said no, because we don't play with other people's things unless they say we can. Well, M came home and said A could play with it any time he wants.

Sooo, Xander came to dinner. He ate all his dinner, and drank all his water too. He is currently sleeping with A.

Think M will ever get Xander back?

Birthday Party Madness!

2011-05-17T19:56:00.000-05:00

We held off on E's birthday party in order to wait for G & G's return from Florida. I found a party website that used the idea of "One Year in a Flash," since baby's first year (and frankly, baby's whole life it seems!) go by in such a seemingly quick time. I ran with the idea, and had a good amount of fun doing it.

The first site on which I saw the idea was here. I also took the color palette from this site, for a different party altogether. One of my favorite ideas came from here, how to build your own photobooth.

I started with the invitation,

The favors didn't quite tie into the theme, but I made sugar cookies in the shape of a cupcake....

I had plans to buy a personalized birthday shirt for E, but it just wasn't in the budget. Instead, I found this onesie at Target.

We set up the photobooth using items I picked up on freecycle as props, using the free program in the link above.

We didn't get EVERYONE in front of the camera, but those who did seemed to have had a good time!

As far as food, we chose to fire up the grill. We made hamburgers and hotdogs, as well as grilled vegetable skewers. My mom made a green salad and a broccoli salad, M's aunt brought cole slaw, and Mom Mom brought a crockpot of meatballs and sausage. I really wanted to keep it simple, especially since it wasn't a huge gathering (we expected about 20, including us), so didn't serve appetizers. For dessert, we served ice cream cake for Grampy's birthday, and Strawberry Lemonade cupcakes, which were an even bigger hit than the Cherry Coke cupcakes I made for A's third birthday party!

Since the day was so lovely, the kids really weren't interested in the craft I had for them to do. I picked up these foam picture frames for them to decorate with foam stickers and letters, with the intent of using it for their photobooth printout. So I sent them home with the kids in zip bags.

E and Grammi played a fun game of peekaboo...

Playing with the bean bag toss with Grammi, and E stood completely unsupported for the first time (and, yeah, I haven't been able to get him to do it since...)

The last "little touch" I did for the party was to make a photo banner of pictures of E. I chose one from each month, matted it on colored cardstock, and hung them using clothespins on pretty ribbon. Picture of that coming soon. I also made photo confetti of E's monthly pictures, but couldn't think of a use since the entire party was outdoors.

Hopefully everyone had a great time. We had such a gorgeous day and it was so nice to have all our family together to celebrate our special E Boy!!

1 year stats

2011-05-17T08:11:00.000-05:00

Slacker Mommy. That's me. E had his 1 year appointment on April 27. At that time, we discovered E had an ear infection!

As far as his stats, he weighed 19.58lbs and was 28.35" long. In both areas, he is in the 5th percentile, so he's just a really small kid. Except for his head. His noggin is 46cm, or 35th percentile!!

At A's first year appointment, he was 18.92lbs and 18.5". Though he weighed less, he was ALSO 5th percentile for weight, and also shorter, but was 25th percentile. Weird.

So! Many! Posts!

2011-05-09T22:07:00.000-05:00

posts in my head, at least.

So, here's what's been happening since Easter... I can't believe I haven't written a word since then!

On the ERS front:

Turning ONE! Holy cannoli.
To mark the occasion, E started crawling with his chest up, and while he still goes into the army crawl, he much prefers regular crawling.
A first birthday party!
To celebrate the occasion, he decided to stand without support for a few seconds.
Tooth number three is out for certain, and tooth number four is not far behind.
Babble. It's OUT of CONTROL. Lots of mamamamamaam, dadadadada, but you can hear him echoing what we sound like--uh oh is almost there, and in correct usage. You can hear him imitating the sounds for his brother's name. Hi is almost there.
Definitely loves Daddy, who for a long time said E thought him a poor substitute. His face lights up when he sees Daddy for the first time of the day, and today, he was reaching for him while I was holding him.
Food. The way this kid screams for food, you'd think I never fed him.

Mr A:

We've been struggling to get him into the pool this session. The Easter Bunny brought him goggles, and it's made a big difference. On Mother's Day, we were running late (why is it this kid needs to go in the bathroom as we're walking out the door?), and he went over to go swimming then threw an absolute tantrum that he wanted to go. I got so upset at this poor kid and he wouldn't stop screaming. It finally came out that he didn't want to go in because someone had pooped in the pool. I told him if he'd told me that then, I'd have said that's gross, let's get out of here!!
Batman. Everything is Batman. Nonetheless, he's stuck to his choice from August 2010 to have a Cars birthday party.
Imagination. Listening to him play is one of the best parts of my day. One of E's birthday presents was a Little People fire truck, and A has been playing with it way more than E has. He took it to the breakfast table, and was using the cord of my cell phone charger to fill it up with gas.
Mommy, I'm a Rock Star!
He continues to be a hesitant kid. Not that he's shy, but he's not the kid who's barreling around anywhere. I wouldn't say he's timid, but hesitant. I really can't explain it. This surprises me; I thought as he got older he'd come out of it, but it looks like, for now at least, this is his personality.
Sharing. Sometimes, he's such a great sharer with his brother. Other times, not so much. He's starting to realize it's to his benefit to give E something else to play with when E has something he wants. Of course, I don't know for how much longer that trick will work as far as Mr. E is concerned!
Jumping. Despite my earlier characterization of him as hesitant, he's starting to take careful risks. Jumping stairs has been one of them, particularly the stairs from the family room to the mudroom, taking two or three at a time. As long as he doesn't follow in his Mommy's footsteps, and try to jump a whole flight of stairs! (my stairs were carpeted but had a landing, while his stairs are straight but hardwood.)
Bugs. DOES NOT LIKE THEM. There was a fly in G & G's house. He screamed and wouldn't stop until the fly was dead or out of the house. Hijinks ensued when three or four more flies appeared.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T21:04:00.001-05:00

Our Easter was pretty low key today, despite being E's very first Easter (funny how, despite being a year apart, it was E's first Easter as well as the first Easter of my friend's son, born earlier this month... silly lunar holidays!).

The boys came down while I was getting a shower, and immediately started the egg hunt. (Must remember to speak to the Easter Bunny about coming while we're at Church....)

I debated between taking the boys to Church and taking A to swimming; we've been struggling with him and his gym classes, so I didn't want to lose an opportunity. I decided to go the Church route today. I brought lots of toys, but really should have brought some snacks. I wasn't thinking we'd need them because they'd eaten before we went, but A kept sneaking E's puffs.

They were really good, though I was feeling really antsy by the time it was over; we'd gotten up to go to the bathroom and get some fresh air (it was so hot and stuffy, with the unexpectedly gorgeous 70 degree day!), but Mass was still an hour and fifteen minutes by Communion time.

We then came home and changed. E took his morning nap while the rest of us did some yardwork. Wait a second, he didn't take his nap; I carried him around in the Ergo. He started crashing around the same time I got tired of yardwork, so I took him up for his nap. M went to get sandwiches for lunch, and we had a nice picnic out in the backyard in the beautiful sunshine. E woke up right around the time we started eating, so we brought him out and gave him some lunch too.

Soon after, A took his nap, after which we left to go to Mom Mom's house. We picked her up and went out to dinner in Bordentown. I really wanted to take a picture of her and the boys, but because of the restaurant setting, that didn't work out, and we didn't take the boys out of the car to go into her house. A must do for E's birthday party.

E shoveled food in his face from the moment we sat down. This place has great bread, and he ate so much of it, he barely touched his actual dinner. Note, I said barely... he ate a lot of bread, his fruit cup, and then some of his chicken and veggies. You'd think he's starved.

So, we had a wonderful Easter day here. Hope you did too!

Teeth

2011-04-24T19:28:00.000-05:00

"They" say a baby will get his/her teeth following a similar pattern to his/her parents. I think A didn't follow that at all, but we sort of thought E would follow a pattern similar to his brother.
Well, A got his first tooth on May 12 (about 10 months old), his second on May 29, though it came the whole way through later. Tooth #3, well I have no idea about that one. I thought I'd recorded the date here, but I can't find it, and I didn't record the date in his book.

E, on the other hand, got his first tooth earlier, though I'm not sure when (I did record that date in his book), and the second was soon after. The third, however, has taken forever to come in! His third tooth (top left) poked through on his birthday, April 20. The fourth (top right) is right behind.

I have no idea how it feels to get your first teeth. But it seems to me that having your teeth come out the FRONT of your gums instead of the bottom seems like it would be particularly painful, and that's how E's top teeth are coming in. No wonder he's been so unhappy lately!

Go ahead and fret that I can't crawl...

2011-04-24T19:10:00.000-05:00

A week ago, I was concerned that E wasn't crawling. Sure, he was doing the army crawl and could get wherever he wanted to go, but he wasn't CRAWLING. He is definitely crawling now, and is starting to realize that it's faster and easier than army crawl.

So, last night, he followed me into the bathroom at bedtime and went ahead and lifted to hands and feet. So, think hands and knees, but hands and feet. And moving forward.

Go figure.

I'm really worried that E hasn't won the lottery yet....

One year....

2011-04-20T21:05:00.000-05:00

I cannot believe my little baby is one today.

The day was pretty uneventful; unfortunately, the weather was crummy for much of the day. The weather did warm up, though, so we went to the park with A and hung out for a little while in the backyard. We also took these great pictures here at home.

And had an impromptu bath.

Let me tell you about this little boy at 1.

He prefers to army crawl rather than real crawl. Today, however, he demonstrated that he has realized regular crawling is faster and easier.

He loves pulling up to standing. Favorite places to do it area at the tv cabinet and at Mommy's legs.

He loves music and dancing.

He hates going into the car, but babbles when the car is moving.

He mimics "Daddy," "A," and "Hello."

Everything is a telephone and gets held up to his ear.

His two favorite people are Mommy and A. He squeals with delight when A comes home from school and the happiest part of his day is when A comes into his room in the morning. Mommy, however, is his constant, his protector. Mommy doesn't get the same reaction as A does, but I get the "I need you" kind of favorite.

He doesn't not really sign anymore, except for "more," which he claps his hands to sign. He, however, understands the sign for Daddy, milk, water, cookie.

He can climb up the two steps from the family room to the kitchen.

He loves the cats, and cats of any kind.

He LOVES food. The few exceptions that come to mind are broccoli and something else that's a green veggie but is currently escaping me.

He's still waking once a night. Naps are typically from 9-11 and 2-3:30, though these have been varying as he wakes at different times for the day (a 6:30 wake up has him napping at 8:30, but a 7:30 waking has him napping at 10:30).

We have finally figured out a system for him to stay at the gym nursery. He has to stay in his stroller, facing away from the door, and have breakfast. This allows me a full hour at the gym.

Movin and a groovin

2011-04-16T19:11:00.000-05:00

I've been worried about E's mobility for awhile. By his first birthday, A had been crawling well for a long time. E, however, is quite content to pull along in the army crawl. He is hesitant to cruise, though he does it, and I'd never seen him go from his belly to sitting on his own.

I seriously started looking into some developmental checkpoints, when the very next HOUR practically, he started crawling with his belly lifted. Later the same day, he decided to go to sitting on his own.

So, this week, the week before his first birthday, E has started to cruise, go from belly to sitting (though is still inconsistent), and crawl with his chest and belly lifted (though he mostly prefers the army crawl). He is a maniac about pulling up to standing on the furniture (favorites include our tv stand, the dishwasher, and his dresser), though he's not crazy about dropping back down and usually gets stuck.

I also suspect he's going to be getting his third and maybe his fourth tooth any day. Thus, nights have been really tough around here. Last night, we were up at least 5 times. He's also been waking up at 6:30, again, and seems to be looking to give up that afternoon nap (please, no!!) though he's still incredibly tired and NEEDS something around 4.

Consistency

2011-04-14T20:21:00.000-05:00

Lately, I've been getting a visitor around 6:30 in the morning. This visitor has elephant feet and comes carrying a blanket named Kiki (who happens to be a boy). He's happy to snuggle, and will sometimes let me sleep a little longer. He usually asks to drink some of my water.

With Daddy home this week for spring break, this little visitor has been appearing earlier and earlier. Now that Daddy's here, he has to go in the MIDDLE (thus, climbing over me) rather than on the edge. He's also much more fidgety.

I love this cuddle time.

On a related note, every day, he asks to stay in his pajamas a little while. Every day the same, "Can I stay in my pajamas for a little while?" We got a calendar for a whole bunch of fun activities this month at daycare, so when he asked that, I said, "You should ask Miss D for a pajama day." He did, and they got one! So proud of my little advocate, for sure Future Student Council President!

The tortise and the hare

2011-04-06T21:15:00.000-05:00

My mother is a slow eater. Growing up, there were many meals when the dishes would be cleared, but Mom was still eating by herself (sorry about that, Mom).
By contrast, my father is an incredibly fast eater. I sometimes wonder what would happen if Mom's food came out with appetizers and Dad's came with entrees.

It appears their grandsons are taking after them in this regard. See, E will devour pretty much anything. The only food he doesn't really like (and so gets thrown on the floor) has been broccoli, edamame, and SOMETIMES green beans. And he's fast. He will be done with his plate when I (another fast eater) am only halfway through mine. This, in turn, brings on the pterodactyl noise, and Mommy's frantically going through the fridge for MORE FOOD! MORE FOOD!

A, on the other hand, will take his time. If I'm being honest, he dawdles. I'm not sure if he's eating too much throughout the day and so isn't really hungry at dinnertime (though he will ALWAYS ask for a snack when he comes home from school, despite having just had one half an hour earlier AT school), or what his deal is, but tonight, he started telling stories, playing with this and that, looking out the window, etc etc etc. I think about setting a timer for him, and if he's not done by the time the timer goes off, he loses what isn't eaten, but then think of Grammi, who really just takes her time and enjoys her food. I also have no desire to rush him so that he doesn't realize he's had enough and so keep shoveling food into his gullet.

That's a first

2011-04-06T20:52:00.000-05:00

E has gotten very proud of himself and his abilities to get where he wants to go and also pull up to standing.

Today, I went to get him from his nap only to discover he finally figured out how to stand up in the crib! Woo!

He's also been proud of his abilities to climb up the little two step we have from family room to kitchen, and today, decided to go down them. I was cooking, but M said he did a pretty good job!

Daredevil?

Horse

2011-04-04T19:34:00.000-05:00

I was out of the house on Saturday, so M decided to take the boys up to Bepah's and suggested going to visit the horses while they were up there.

He said both boys were totally fascinated and enthralled.

Baby won't you take me on a sea CRUISE!

2011-04-04T19:19:00.000-05:00

E decided this weekend he wanted to start cruising. He's got to have motivation, so if there's something good he wants, he'll go, but he won't otherwise. He also likes to push around his table or a stool while standing, but he WON'T push around his walker. Go figure.

I took these today, just for the sake of learning how to take pictures better.

Pier One's Outdoor Furniture

2011-04-02T09:02:00.001-05:00

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Pier 1 for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Despite the forecast of snow this week, we're thinking spring around here. I just found out that Pier 1 has already put out their Outdoor Furniture to start the outdoor season. I took a look at their outdoor furniture line, and I really like the pieces they have, and hope to incorporate some in our patio area.

This piece is called "Outdoor Crazy Chair," and I think it looks really fresh, and I can picture myself sitting on the deck curled up with a warm drink, a book, and a fire pit. A lot of Pier 1's furniture is for indoor as well as outdoor, so this wouldn't need to be stored! Like I said, this piece makes me think of fire and cozy spaces, so it would work on our deck or in our family room near the fireplace.

I love the bright colors of this cushion, Whimsical Garden Square. I love how bright it is, and it makes me think of tiki torches and a cocktail. I love me some tiki torches and cocktails.

In addition to the furniture for outdoor, they also have lots of spring and summer accessories, which are easy ways to update a space, whether indoor or out.

I love the look of these dots and stripes lanterns, and at $24 for the larger lantern, it's an inexpensive way to brighten up your outdoor space, or maybe even use some citronella candles in there.

Speaking of citronella, how cute are these Citronella lamps? Typically, I don't like the look of citronella candles, but these are decorative as well as bug repellent!

The iconic Pier 1 Papasan has evolved! Check out all the different outdoor Papasans that are available this spring! (outdoor Papasan, outdoor double Papasan, Swingasan).

Looking at the beautiful furniture, textiles, and accessories Pier One has available this season makes it clear that your outdoor area can truly been another room in your home.

Also, Pier One is having two Tweetups soon. Pier 1 Tweetups will be in the following cities on the dates listed.

Atlanta: April 5th
NYC: April 20th

For more info about dates and times, visit: izea.com/a-pier-1-tweetup-coming-to-your-area/.

Sleep.

2011-03-29T20:01:00.000-05:00

Oh sleep, how I miss you. We've really been struggling around here. We got E down to one waking a night; it was quick, I'd feed him and he'd be back to sleep within ten or so minutes.

Three nights ago, E woke up twice, but went back to sleep quickly, and A also woke twice--the first time was around 9 and he was cold, and the second time he woke up screaming that something was in his room.
Two nights ago, E woke up 5 or 6 times.
Last night, he woke once, but was awake from 3-5:30. It impacted his naps, which were 11-1 and then 4-4:45. It's been a rough day. Last night, I got frustrated at not being able to figure out how to get him to sleep/stop crying that I took him downstairs to play. As soon as he adjusted to the light, he was happy. **sigh**

I'm pretty sure teeth are to blame, though I don't see anything popping through in there. I gave him a teether, but he's been playing with it more than chewing on it. It just looks like his lower gums have the ridges of teeth roots. He doesn't have any of the other symptoms, but it's just what my gut's telling me.

It's days like this that I'm so thankful for this time to not have to work, to not have to have my brain on, or worse, have my brain on and PERFORM for 14 year olds.

See Kai Run

2011-03-29T19:13:00.000-05:00

I've had my eye on the See Kai Run line of shoes since A was a toddler. Natural Mommie is giving away a pair here!

A's new game and a wiggle worm

2011-03-26T17:30:00.001-05:00

As I said last night, E can only crawl with his belly on the floor. Despite this, he was able to get himself up the two steps from the family room to the kitchen today, successfully as is evidenced in the video below.

In addition, as he was hanging out at the bottom of the stairs, with his little head poking up to the kitchen, A created a new game of "baseball." With a kitchen spatula and a bouncey ball, he would hit the ball toward E, who ended up throwing the ball back to him.

The Magic Word

2011-03-26T16:58:00.002-05:00

Playing rough with A today, he wanted out. I asked, "What's the magic word?" meaning please, of course. His response? "Abracadabra."

Baby Photo Shoot

2011-03-25T21:32:00.000-05:00

After a morning snow storm, we had some beautiful sun streaming into the family room yesterday afternoon. I took the opportunity to take some pictures of E in his diaper for a contest for that diaper company.

Family Game Night

2011-03-25T20:46:00.000-05:00

We have a little tv junkie on our hands (in addition to the Mommy and Daddy sized tv junkies). One Thursday night, A was pestering about tv for one reason or another, and M told him he would not be watching tv on Friday nights, effective the next day. I jumped on the opportunity for Family game Night!

It has been a huge success. We've played games one night, and a few other things, but tonight we took advantage of A and my gym membership and went to open swim. We went for about half an hour and had a great time. E loves just kicking his feet; he really looks like a little wiggle worm! A is becoming more and more confident in the pool, though he still relies on the bubble and noodle. He was very excited to show some of the things he does in class, like "Choo Choo." In Choo choo, they hang on the wall of the pool and move along it in a train. He was so thrilled to show this to me.

It was really fun to have a good time and get out of the house without costing us any additional money. It was also great to get A in the pool during the lull between sessions. Definitely not an every week activity, but something we can do while we still have the membership!

Movin and shakin

2011-03-25T20:29:00.000-05:00

For what feels like months now, I've been fielding the questions of "is he crawling?" "is he standing?" "is he cruising?" and have had to respond with "no," or the qualified, "he's doing the army crawl, but he's not crawling with his belly off the floor."

Lately, he's been much more interested in standing. He's been much more excited to drag over to me, climb over me, and have me pull him up to kneeling then standing. Today he did this and kneeled on his own for the first time.

After the boys came home from school, I was talking with M, looked over, and saw that E was standing at his block table. He'd pulled himself up! He did it later at one of A's chairs. So, he's standing!

We have a sunken family room off our kitchen with two steps. When A was small, I went NUTS looking for safety gates that would work in this area, with absolutely no success (it's a very wide area, and gates for very wide areas need to be screwed in while we have brick on one side of the opening).

Today, E decided to try to climb these stairs. He was able to get his knees on the first step, but didn't have enough room to push himself up to the second step.

I am starting to seriously wonder if he's going to just skip over formal crawling and go right to walking.

Peek a Boo

2011-03-24T09:14:00.002-05:00

Last night, M was playing peek a boo with E, hiding his face inside his sweatshirt. I went upstairs to change E's diaper, and he started doing it with the shirt he was wearing. So cute, my poor little eyes got weepy.

This morning, he was again doing the pterodactyl, and I started doing peek a boo with a napkin. He stopped. Sweet music. I then covered A's face, and E started to laugh. I gave him the napkin, and he dropped it on the floor. Stinker.

Updated Slideshow

2011-03-21T22:09:00.001-05:00

11 months!!??

2011-03-21T21:52:00.002-05:00

E turned 11 months old yesterday. Unreal! This year has flown unbelievably fast.

At 11 months, he:

Crawls wherever he wants to go. That said, this is the belly drag, but it gets him successfully where he wants to go. I think he looks like someone rowing a canoe, because he "paddles" to the right to the left, rather that just going straight.

Waves when you wave at him, or if you say hi.

Claps when you clap, or if you say YAAAAY!!!

Favorite toys include: the dustpan and broom, the flyswatter, and his bedroom door.

LOVES climbing up on Mommy and Daddy. He's so proud of himself and just laughs and laughs.

Once he starts climbing on us, he is able to pull himself up to standing if we hold his hands.

Loves to take steps with help, but will only take one or two before plopping down.

Typically sleeps from 7am-anywhere between 6:30 and 7:30, with one waking (usually around 5am).

Typically naps from 9am-11am and 1pm-3pm. This is almost always in the crib, where he's covered by his Grammi blanket, and cuddled with his giraffe. He listens to the sound of waves.

Today, however, he would NOT take a nap, and I finally quieted him down only to discover:

Loves his big brother to no end.

Is usually comforted best by Mommy...

...though Daddy is usually more successful at getting him back to sleep when he wakes at night.

His favorite game involves Mommy "accidentally" dropping and then catching him. Today, I was playing this game with A while E was in M's arms. E started bouncing that he wanted Daddy to do it too!

The only sign he does is "more," but he only does it if we ask, and it looks more like clapping than more. He understands (but doesn't sign) A, milk, cookie, play.

Loves food. Loves. If he wants food, he will scream until he gets more food. If he doesn't like the food you've given him, or if he's had enough, he will throw it on the floor. Or the table. At dinner, he often eats more than A, and sometimes eats as much as Mommy.

Has taken to doing this new sound in the past three or so days, which we call "The Pterodactyl." He screeches. It doesn't stop. It goes on all day. He does it when he wants more food. He does it when he's bored. I'm not sure what else it means, but it is tough.

Loves storytime, but it has to be in his room in his rocking chair. If I try to read a story to the boys downstairs, he will sit for one page and start crying and rolling, but upstairs, we have read 5-6 pages of a REGULAR Dr. Seuss book.

Back, Back, Waaay Back

2011-03-17T19:52:00.000-05:00

I haven't done one of these in a zillion years, but stumbled across this cute picture from March 18, 2009. A still wears those jeans and sweatshirt, but they are nearing the end of their days with him.
How much has changed since this picture! You can see the reflection of my old car, which has been replaced. We're outside his OLD daycare, which has moved twice since then and is now in its permanent location. Oh yeah, and A is now a big brother! Who could forget!

Crawling in my skin...

2011-03-17T19:47:00.000-05:00

I've been getting a little nervous that E isn't yet full on crawling, isn't yet pulling up to standing, etc.

He's going at his own pace, of course, but it's a LOT later than A crawled, and I remember thinking that was late.

Lately, he's been pushing onto all fours and rocking, scooting himself forward, then dropping to the floor. Kiddo moves pretty quickly doing the army crawl, so I guess he doesn't have a real need. Today, I caught him using one of the couch cushions to push up to kneeling.

It is also his preference to climb. He only climbs on and over us, but it's clear that that's what he likes to do. He has climbed UP my chest, over M's legs, and he just cracks himself up.

Me first and the gimmie gimmies

2011-03-10T13:58:00.000-05:00

A is at a tough age. It's not because he misbehaves or even throws tantrums unmanageably. It's that he gets frustrated easily.

He loves to be the "line leader." Every morning, rushing to get out of the house and into the car, I have to stop because, "I'M the line leader!" and I have to let him pass around me in the garage. More often that not, he has to go down the stairs first (again, frustrating when I'm trying to rush downstairs to ~~make my coffee~~ make the boys' breakfasts.

Yesterday morning, however, was really tough when we did our usual tear down the hallway from his classroom to the pre-care room. Despite my being out of shape, my legs are about double the length of his so I am naturally faster. I was being silly for A and E, and didn't think anything of it when I passed him. He, however, gave up, threw himself on the floor, and started to cry.

He is home sick today, and we have had a lot of fights. Not because of anything other than he's not feeling well and his fuse is shorter than normal. Most times today I've given in, but then wonder if I'm doing the wrong thing (this is motherhood) and if I'm teaching him misbehavior instead. Sometimes, though, in the heat of the moment, the fight just isn't worth it. Other than that, though, he's in pretty good spirits.

I've been getting a taste of TRUE SAHM-dom, since we spent E's first nap doing a pretty big art project. It's not complete, and will go away for the time being to be picked up another rainy day. I got the idea from the wonderful No Time for Flash Cards... we're making a rainbow!

On a related note, while I was at a baby shower on Sunday, M had the idea to make homemade snow globes. He got the idea from Special Agent Oso. It was very much as do and learn project, and he has lots of ideas on how to make it better next time, but they're great because A is pretty obsessed... this one is M's, but A loves it because when you whack the jar, the duckie inside lights up.

This is Motherhood.

2011-03-08T22:14:00.001-05:00

A blog I follow is running an..event? Activity? I don't know what to call it, but she put out the call for photos in the theme, "This is Motherhood." I started thinking, well, what IS motherhood? And once I figure it out, how can I put it into photos?

So, I got on the floor and started playing with E. We played peek a boo, and I thought it would make a great picture. I set up the camera with self timer, and went back to peek a boo-ing. He crawled over to and started playing with...the camera.

I could take a picture of myself doing laundry, or making dinner, or even with Hoover pockets and a sad face, but who wants to see that? I know that's not what comes to mind for me when I think about motherhood, anyway, thought maybe all that comes with the territory.

But what does? For starters, a whole bunch of stuff that I can't take pictures of. The way the boys come into our big bed on Saturday mornings and we all just cuddle. The way E's big doe eyes look at me while he's nursing. Worry. Pride. The way my heart, not unlike the Grinch's, grows two sizes when I think of A giving his brother a hug or the look E gets when he's just watching his brother.

It's working really hard to (try to) balance self and family. It's being a good role model, and making sure we're all eating our veggies. It's taking care of them while finding ways to teach them how to take care of themselves. It's having a partner (or partners) in crime for making mommy sanctioned mischief.

Motherhood. It's a roller coaster ride. And boy do I love roller coasters.

Wormy

2011-03-03T22:05:00.000-05:00

I love watching E move around on the floor. He's getting better about locomotion, though he still drags his body rather than crawls. What's funny, though, is that watching him move is like watching someone row a canoe--he pushes his arms to the right, to the left, and gets exactly where he wants to go.

I am still having troubles getting the video; hopefully before he's walking...

Take a look, it's in a book!

2011-02-25T22:35:00.001-05:00

I remember, when I was a kid, my grandmother would bring me Strawberry Shortcake books, then ask me to read them to her. I'm sure she brought me other books, but for some reason, that's the memory that is striking to me. I love to read; I'm currently in the middle of two books and a magazine, plus all the blogs and news media I read. One of my favorite ways to wake up is to spend an extra half hour lounging in bed, reading my book. In fact, M just told A that, he "didn't like to read when he got to high school, but Mommy reminded [him] how much [he] enjoys it."

As such, it's very important to both of us that the boys enjoy reading, because not only is it something we love, but it also is so important. It seems to me that it's one constant, even as our world changes and becomes more and more tech, more and more digitized, it also becomes more and more reading based. So, when I found the blog Book Loving Boys, and saw that it was doing a virtual exchange of the Flat Stanley Project, I really was excited to participate. I've heard of Flat Stanley, but we've never before read it. I changed that by requesting it from the library, and was so happy to see it in my pile today. It couldn't have come at a better time because tomorrow, M has an all day fencing event, so we're looking for activities, and this sounds like a perfect one for us.

It turns out that my exchange partner also has two boys, and her blog is about their reading adventures. Check out LitLad, and stay tuned for the adventures of our Flat Stanley!

It also happens that, on a day I've already planned for a reading activity, Target is having a Seuss celebration. Tomorrow has been renamed "Reading Day!"

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2011-02-22T10:59:00.000-05:00

It's really amazing what a difference three years makes. In E, it's obvious when he's changing, and we notice it immediately. I can tell how much heavier he has gotten in the past month, I can see his eyes are becoming less blue and more gray, I see he has more hair and that it's gotten darker. In A, however, it's a shock to realize he's grown because the changes are smaller as a percentage. I looked at him the other day and realized he's really gotten tall in the past few months. His face is looking more and more grown up; the other day I looked at him and felt I had a glimpse of how he would look as a teenager--freaky.

In behavior, changes are happening too. E is getting frustrated that we can't understand what he wants/needs. He has taken to screaming. It's a lot of fun. He screams when the food on his tray is finished. He screams when he wakes up (I seem to remember A babbling and entertaining himself in the crib; E does not do this). He screams when he is tired of standing (still not pulling himself up or cruising yet, though he is getting much better at "the inchworm").

By contrast, A is pretty even keeled. Yep, he throws tantrums and gets mad ("Mommy, I'm mad at you."), but the kind of cool thing is that after being in time out, he is so friendly, happy, and loving. Sometimes we all just need a break from each other.

I am constantly amazed by the feeling when "my heart swells." I've heard this phrase a hundred times, but never really had that feeling before my boys came along (no offense to my other loved ones!). I love that my boys are cuddlers, that they're laughers, that they try. I love that they both have an interest in books (A now tells E stories, and E is happy to flip through a book on his own). I love the way A will say, "I love my Daddy and my Mommy. I love my whoooole family." I love the way E looks for me when he's in one room and I am in another. And I love the way they make my heart swell.

Awesome giveaway!

2011-02-17T15:11:00.002-05:00

Details and more entries here!

Enter here!

Milestones

2011-02-14T20:16:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday night, I was doing the "put the boys to bed by myself" routine. I took E into A's room, and E decided to start moving. The next day, he really started moving all over the place. Now, there's no stopping him; I had him on the floor while I went to the bathroom, and he started wiggle worming all the way down the hall.
I took video, but am having problems transferring videos from that camera to my computer, so it will come soon.
The point is, we have a army crawler!!

On the topic of milestones, A came home the other day and started drawing "the family," his first set of actual stick figures. He very quickly went from drawing circular scribbles to drawing stick figures. He has been very interested in coloring on this mask they made at school for Chinese New Year... the other day, I saw him drawing circles--real circles, not just scribbles in a circular pattern.

Cupids, A & E

2011-02-10T12:40:00.001-05:00

In January 2008, A and I made our first journey to Picture People. We went with friends, so ended up at the one in Quakerbridge Mall. I love love loved the pictures they took, and one of my all time favorite pictures of A was one of them.

So when I took E, on a whim, for 9 month pictures, and saw that they again had the angel wings, I knew we HAD to try to get some good pictures of him in them.

He actually tolerated them pretty well and was his adorable little self.

The Boys' Monthly Pictures

2011-01-31T22:38:00.003-05:00

By request, here's a new slideshow. I can't find E's 6 month shot, and have been really searching for his 7 month. Hopefully they are on the other computer; I KNOW I took them!

It's so striking because, as it is now, it goes from A at 12 months to A at 1 month--quite a difference!

Kawaii Diapers, a review

2011-01-27T22:22:00.000-05:00

E has been waking up with such full diapers at his 3am changing, I've come to the conclusion that he's been waking so frequently because of the diapers. I discovered that many moms use Kawaii, which can be purchased lots of places but I bought through jackbenatural.com, for overnight. I checked it out and discovered their prices are way cheaper than the other diapers I've been using (like under $10 cheap). There are several different styles, and even a Heavy Wetter style, but I went with the Heavy Duty. They also have all kinds of fun prints, though I went with blues (the Heavy Duty only comes in solids).

My first impression was that the aplix seemed really strong, and more importantly to me, that they might actually stay attached to the laundry tabs. That held true on the first washing at least! The next thing we together noticed was that it seemed really big on our little peanut. I had the rise set just as I do on our other one size diapers, on the second setting.

Maybe I shouldn't say this and jinx myself, but his first night in the Kawaii diaper had E sleeping 8 hours without waking. I fed him and didn't change him. He went on to sleep another 3 hours, went back to sleep ON HIS OWN, and woke for the day half an hour later. What's that, you say? He didn't get changed all night and slept really well? Yes, yes he did. We'll see how it goes on night two, but I may be writing a love letter to the folks at Kawaii diapers!

The thing about 9 months.

2011-01-27T16:06:00.000-05:00

Yet another thing I forgot about in the roughly 3 year interim between my kids--at around 9 months, my boys started rolling around on the changing table. E really loves doing this, hanging out on his belly, and reaching for what's over his head. Lovely kiddo today stuck his foot in poop. Ew, poop, especially eating table food poop. Gross.

Some other nuggets that I want to remember, should my sons have kids and their wives are interested in advice from their crazy mother-in-law.

Swaddling is awesome. Both boys started to break free at about 5 months, at which point I started using the sleep sack. It took a little bit of adjustment for them to sleep well again, but it really helped keep him warm without a blanket. At least, we used this until he was old enough to sleep with a blanket, around 6 or 7 months.
Blankies quickly became a security/cuddly issue for both boys. E sleeps with a giraffe, and every time I put him in his crib, no matter how sleepy he is, he will reach for the giraffe. A slept with a bear, though he is not very particular about who he sleeps with these days.
On potty training. I think I've documented many of the steps we took with A here, but I really want to remember one trick. We all know that potty training for number 2 is harder than for number one. It's about losing a part of himself, it's about control. Our doctor said that the kid will hold it in, making it even harder to go. So, we gave him laxative to make it as easy to go as possible. When I knew he had to go (and believe me, it was easy to know!), everything would stop--no toys, games, tv, nothing. Sometimes, we even took off his pants. Once we started that routine, he started using the potty pretty quickly.

That's all I can think of for right now!

40 weeks?!?

2011-01-25T12:28:00.000-05:00

I just got an email that E is 40 weeks old. Wow; he's been outside longer than he was in.
Sooo, what can our E do at 40 weeks?

Clap--he loves clapping; clapping's his favorite.
Wave--sporadic, but it's definitely there.
Babble--duh duh dah dah is his favorite, rah rah rah is his second favorite
Stand--not so great at this, but we're working on it a lot right now. He stands at a taller toy or at the couch, holding on and standing!

He giggles like crazy when A runs around, when he sees A for the first time in a day, etc etc. Yesterday, he about had a conniption when A and Daddy came home at the same time.

He's sick right now, but yet seems to be sleeping better at night. He's been waking only twice the past few days, and only for a quick nursing.... waay better than last week's three or four wakings, plus being awake and crying from 2-4am.

I love this picture of E, because, well, it's adorable, but also because he's the spitting image of:

9 month stats

2011-01-19T22:29:00.000-05:00

At 9 months, E weighs 14.8lbs, and is 25.8" long. PEANUT!! (By contrast, A was 14.9lbs and 26").

The doctor told me to start feeding him table food. He said E can eat anything we eat, as long as it isn't a choking hazard or honey (honey has botulism in it. It's fine for us, but deadly to the under 1 year set. Weird!) We have to return in one month for a weight check, and if there is a problem, he wants to do bloodwork.

The boy loves to eat. He LOVES to feed himself too, so this really shouldn't be a problem. If I remember correctly, it wasn't a problem when we had weight problems with A at HIS 9 month appointment, so we should be totally fine!

Eyes

2011-01-19T11:22:00.000-05:00

We are a family of four. This family has four different eye colors. Throw in the cats, and we have six different eye colors.

You're my baby blue

2011-01-06T21:41:00.001-05:00