Beh-beh!

Forty two

2012-02-10T19:51:00.000-06:00

Bilingual babies?

2012-02-10T08:11:00.003-06:00

The latest news from daycare this morning? Our provider has asked permission to speak Arabic only to the daycare kids. One of the kids has Arabic-speaking parents, two speak both Spanish and English at home. The rest of us are totally holding back the group with our English-only lifestyles. So we said YES! We're very excited about this opportunity for our little ones. They love to learn! It's amazing how much Eli is picking up right now. The kid is speaking way ahead of "normal" for his age.

I asked the kids to look for a certain something as we drove past a local sculpture garden recently. The found it! And then Eli said, "I've seen that before, in a picture at Gramma Sue's house." Yes, there is a painting of it at Grandma Sue and Grandpa Rod's house. But no one has ever pointed it out to Eli! Amazing.

.ivy

This morning

2012-02-09T16:52:00.001-06:00

Not five minutes after learning what a pinwheel is and how they work, Eli left the room, then came back . . .

The boy: "Mama! Do you want to see this blower??"
Mama: "What's that called?"
The boy: "A blower thing!"

Blower thing = pinwheel

Untitled, and long

2012-02-08T21:03:00.000-06:00

And all to get to the very end, where he pronounces Lightning McQueen "Lightning the Queen."

Watching Daddy install the light

2012-02-06T08:32:00.002-06:00

Forty one

2012-02-03T14:38:00.000-06:00

Beh-beh stats! 9 months

2012-02-02T20:10:00.006-06:00

Annabel had a checkup this week!
weight: 17 lb, 12 oz (30%)
height: 27.5 inches (50%)
head circumference: 17.75 inches (80%)

And to compare, here's Piper at the same age -
weight: 17 lb, 8 oz
length: 27.5 inches
head circ.: 17.80 inches

Some time in the past couple of weeks, Annabel discovered her tongue. She is OBSESSED with it. Seems like she's sticking it out, wiggling it around, and playing with it constantly. Sometimes she tries to talk (babble) with her tongue sticking out, and she sounds all silly and lispy. It's pretty cute.

Annabel is right on track with the pediatrician's "at this age, your child may" list (sitting! crawling! pulling to standing!), but instead of sampling finger foods, she's focusing her energy on charging cameras as they try to photograph her.

Seriously, though. No finger foods yet for this girl. We've tried buttery, melt-in-your-mouth crackers, dissolving rice crackers MADE FOR BABIES, and even soft, cooked peas. She chokes on everything. A PEA. So, we'll put that on hold for another month. Maybe let her get a tooth or two first.

Dancing beh-beh

2012-02-02T18:40:00.001-06:00

Family portrait

2012-01-31T22:11:00.001-06:00

Piper drew this a week or so ago. Our kid DREW THIS! (You may have heard us squealing with delight when she showed it to us.)

Here's the key . . .

The boys (Daddy, Eli) have blue hair.
The girls (Piper, Mama, Annabel) have eyelashes.
Daddy and Mama are together at the bottom, the kids are at the top, Piper is in the center.
Annabel is holding "a fork stick." (No, we don't know what that is either. Piper knows what a fork is; this is something different.)

After she let us ooh and aah over it, Piper asked for tape and hung her masterpiece on the wall in Annabel's room, over the rocking chair.

She did another one of these at school last week with more colors (minus the fork stick) and gave is permission to frame it. So we will!

Forty

2012-01-27T22:10:00.000-06:00

Tax prep

2012-01-27T13:25:00.002-06:00

Daycare expenses for 2011?
$15,710

That's a full year for Eli, eight months for Piper, and six months for Annabel.

Jeez.

Overdue

2012-01-26T23:16:00.001-06:00

Prelude

2012-01-24T21:41:00.001-06:00

The big kids were playing really nicely and being generally sweet to each other the other day, so out came the camera! We even switched to video mode for a bit to catch them being all lovey and adorable. And that's when Eli wound up and smacked his sister in the face. (Have we mentioned? Our boy is TWO.)

Nine months

2012-01-22T20:42:00.008-06:00

Today's the day! We have a nine month old! Having a newborn is HARD. Having a small (young) infant is HARD. Then you get to the months and weeks approaching a year, and suddenly, you start to panic. She's growing so fast! She's almost a toddler! What happened to our baby???

Annabel is so fun right now. She loves toys. On days when we stick close to home and there's not much going on, she's so happy to hang out on the floor and play, play, play. (She's a whole lot clingier when we're busy or after a day at daycare. Some days she insists on being held constantly when we get home.) The big kids are great about bringing her toys and entertaining her. It's hard to resist a baby whose whole self smiles when you bring her something to play with! If Annabel is extra happy with us, she'll dive headfirst into Mama or Daddy to hug us with her face. We looooove face hugs!

She's very talkative these days. "Da da da da" and "a-duh! a-duh!" are her favorite sounds to make, but if we're very patient we can get her to mimic "ma ma ma." Sometimes.

Annabel had a rough couple of weeks recently with a bad cold and then what we think was/is teething pain. (No teeth yet but her lower gums are swollen.) She had a hard time eating and it totally screwed with her sleep routine. She's back on board with her liquid feedings but has noticeably backed off on solids. On a good day she'll eat two meals. And instead of the great seven-eight-nine hour stretches of sleep each night, she's up about every three hours. It's ridiculous and exhausting. The last handful of nights she's woken up around 10:00 (her bedtime is 7:00) and the girl just will not go back to sleep. We've tried feeding her (she's not hungry), rocking her (she doesn't want that either), letting her cry, letting her play, etc. etc. Nothing works.

Last night we tried soothing her without getting her out of the crib. It was terrible. She was so upset and so ANGRY. Mama went in periodically to check on her, rub her back, and talk to her, "You're okay, Annabel. It's time to go night-night."

Annabel does this thing when she's sad where she lays on her tummy and buries her head in her hands and cries. It just about kills us to see that, and she was pulling that move out all over the place last night. She was okay though, so in the crib she stayed. After about an hour of fussing and crying and protesting, she fell asleep. (She was up and hungry at 3:00am and 7:00am, then up for the day around 8:30.) This morning she was as happy as ever. We're praying she'll start sleeping better SOON.

UPDATE, 1/23: She slept 10 hours straight last night!!!

Check out our babe in action . . .

Thirty nine

2012-01-20T20:21:00.000-06:00

Some news

2012-01-19T07:22:00.003-06:00

That baby who can pull up to standing on the steps? Now she's pulling up to standing on EVERYTHING. Last night she was doing that and took one step (while holding on to something).

And??? She can get up from the floor to SIT.

BY HERSELF.

Annabel is wearing a cute (not cute) fat lip today. She pulled herself up next to a shelf at daycare yesterday afternoon and somehow tumbled face first (mouth first) onto a toy.

And last night Eli slipped on the kitchen floor and landed on his face. He has the world's most sensitive nose, so there was blood. Explaining to a two year old why you have to pinch his nose with a towel is so much easier than when we had to stop nosebleeds on him a year ago. He let Daddy hold his nose, but insisted on frequent breaks so he could see the blood on the towel. And then we let him watch a potty training video and he was fine.

So. That was Wednesday.

Some of Eli's favorites

2012-01-17T19:19:00.003-06:00

"It means no worries, for da' rest uh your daaaays,
It's our proba'ly philosophies,
Hakuna matata . . ."

And he "just can't WAIT tubby king!"

Snack lunch

2012-01-14T12:47:00.002-06:00

Delurking Day

2012-01-14T06:26:00.002-06:00

It's National Delurking Day! (Yes, it's a thing. Ask Google.)

Are you a regular visitor/reader here? One of the sneaky ones who admires our cute little children and our adventures with sleep deprivation and tantrums and poo and so on and never leaves a comment? Today is your day, my friend! Say hello!

Click "comments" below. You can comment as yourself (select the Name/URL option in the dropdown if none of the other choices make sense to you), or you may comment as Anonymous. If we don't know you in person? It would be very cool to hear where you're from!

.xoxo

Thirty eight

2012-01-13T20:19:00.000-06:00

Just another night

2012-01-12T21:06:00.005-06:00

Slipping into something a little more her style after a day at school . . .

Playing with one of her new toys from Christmas . . .

Telling Mama that mice really like cheese, especially that kind with the circles her friend Natalie had in her lunch one day . . .

She seems so grown up when we look at her next to her little brother or her baby sister. We have to remind ourselves that our Piper girl is still pretty small herself. She's only four. FOUR! We desperately want to hang onto all the sweet things she does and says before she outgrows the magic of being a little girl.

The pink getup she's wearing is actually a bathing suit. She hates it for swimming (the tutu gets heavy when it's wet), but she'll wear it for hours around the house to play ballerina. She slept in it twice this week.

We love you so much, Piper.

Here comes trouble!

2012-01-09T07:14:00.001-06:00

Thirty seven

2012-01-06T17:59:00.000-06:00

The sick day

2012-01-06T10:03:00.004-06:00

This is how Annabel looked Wednesday night, all day yesterday, and most of the evening hours as well. A gross stuffy nose made for a sad, sleepy baby. But last night? She slept! So today will be better.

Annabel bounces

2012-01-02T22:08:00.001-06:00

Scenes from the great Thanksgiving Day adventure

2011-12-31T21:46:00.001-06:00

It wasn't a day, it was close to a week. And it wasn't just any adventure, it was our very first trip to Ohio, to visit Daddy's hometown and the house he grew up in. And Grandma Carol! And Grandpa Carl! And Uncle Pete! It's practically impossible to sum all of that up in a blog post.

But we did it; we went there. We took three SMALL children onto a plane and LEFT TOWN. (We may not do that again for a while; Eli had an earth shattering tantrum at the airport after our return flight to Minneapolis.) We were two grownups, three kids, three car seats, and (stupidly) zero strollers when we headed to the airport.

Here's a peek . . .

Teething

2011-12-31T20:41:00.001-06:00

Alternate title: Right before the dog swallowed the chicken bone

A game with our girl

2011-12-31T20:09:00.007-06:00

Halfway through the second game, Piper announced to Mama, "I want to play by myself now." And she did.

Having won the first game, she didn't want to risk tarnishing her perfect record with a loss, apparently.

Thirty six

2011-12-30T17:28:00.000-06:00

And later . . .

2011-12-29T21:46:00.000-06:00

At Grandma Sue and Grandpa Rod's house . . .

Christmas morning

2011-12-29T19:12:00.001-06:00

Our big kids were up before 7:00 on Christmas morning. "SANTA CAME!!" And then they were "too scared" to walk down six stairs alone to check out the presents. Maybe they thought Santa was still there? Christmas was extra exciting for them because we didn't have any presents under the tree until that morning. (Unattended presents are way too tempting for a baby and a toddler!)

What comes in a box as big as your kid? A new CAR SEAT, of course! (Piper and Eli both got car seat upgrades for Christmas and they LOVE the new seats. Pink and green, their favorite colors!)

Santa also came through with the asked-for gifts: a "house for my princesses" for Piper and mac and cheese for Eli! We were not fast enough switching the camera to video mode when Piper opened the castle. She gasped and was SO SO SO excited to see it!

Annabel slept in for the first wave of Christmas morning. She didn't get up until close to 9:00! She came downstairs to a disaster zone of presents and paper and bows. The big kids were totally engrossed in checking out their new stuff, so we were able to spend some time opening Annabel's presents and watching her explore the mess that was our living room floor. Watching her, watching all of them, take in Christmas morning was pretty great.

Oh! And look who's learning to sit on her own!

There are three kids in this picture, can you spot them?

It was also fun for them (and us!) to have an entire day where they could eat whatever they wanted, play with whatever the wanted, and make as much noise with their toys as they wanted. The answer, all day? "YES! You can! It's Christmas!"

All three kids crashed by 7:00 that night. In their clothes.

Mobile beh-beh

2011-12-28T21:29:00.003-06:00

The real world

2011-12-27T12:36:00.001-06:00

After a wildly successful four to five days home for our Christmas break, we are taking baby steps back into our regular routine today. (Eli, Annabel and Mama got a holiday head start last Thursday because daycare was closed.)

So this morning, we all got up and dressed, ate breakfast, made lunches for those who need to take lunches, prepped bottles for the baby, tracked down hats and mittens, etc. etc. and loaded ourselves into the car. Sounds great, right? Well, one thing led to another, and our biggest kid spent her first five minutes in the car screaming (SCA-REEEEEMING!) "I WANT QUIET!!! I WANT IT TO BE QUIET!!! I WANT QUIET!!!"

She wanted the radio off. We knew this. But? We're doing our best to enforce an "ask nicely" rule with her. Screaming at us like a pretty pink little crazy person means she is out of luck.

Our first stop was daycare. Eli was a bit shaken by the screaming. (He likes to talk himself into feeling better, "She's okay. She's just being a loud girl...") By the time we made it to the preschool, Piper was bouncy and happy and wonderful.

Someone please tell us these mood swings aren't a preview of Piper at 14.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

2011-12-25T23:10:00.000-06:00

Ho, ho, ho! and Merry Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T14:27:00.001-06:00

We took our little dears downtown to Macy's for a visit with the big guy a couple weeks ago. It was the first time any of them had seen Santa in person! The big kids are very much hoping he makes a stop at our house while they're sleeping tonight.

Annabel doesn't care either way, as long as Santa leaves her the heck alone.

Lounging

2011-12-24T11:42:00.000-06:00

We recently cut back our Netflix subscription to streaming only (no more discs, we were never watching them!), so there's a lot of this going on at our computer these days. This is Piper and Daddy learning about Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius on a lazy Saturday morning. Piper's observations included, "We have bones in our teeth! And our noses!"

Thirty five

2011-12-23T13:31:00.001-06:00

Squeaky clean

2011-12-22T13:38:00.001-06:00

And also? Annabel is eight months old today! (Eight months looks a lot like seven months on our babe, with slightly more giggles and silly faces.)

Thirty four

2011-12-16T21:10:00.000-06:00

We love her! {in the car this morning}

2011-12-13T08:26:00.002-06:00

Piper, to Eli: "I'm going to put my hands behind my back. This hand has a surprise, this hand has nothing. Which hand do you choose?"

[pause]

Eli chose one of his own hands!

Piper: "No. Which hand over HERE? This one with the surprise for you, or this one with nothing?"

[pause]

Piper: "Good job! You get the duck!" (The surprise was a duck-shaped teething toy she found in the car.)

One minute later, Piper was very upset. She wanted a turn with the duck.

Thirty three

2011-12-09T21:20:00.000-06:00

Haircut with Daddy

2011-12-04T22:54:00.000-06:00

Thirty two

2011-12-02T18:54:00.003-06:00

Stats! 2.5

2011-12-01T22:00:00.009-06:00

Here we are on our second toddler, and according to our pediatrician there's now such thing as a 30-month check-up. So . . . in we went with our boy!

Weight: 31 lb (55th percentile)*
Height: 36 inches (50th percentile)
Head circ.: 20 inches (85th percentile)**

* See that? He's about five pounds lighter than his big sister. His four-year-old big sister!

** This is a lie. There are new hand knit hats in the works for our three and Mama measured their heads earlier this week. Eli's was 19.5".

Eli was due for three vaccines, and thanks to Piper he KNEW they were coming and was pretty agitated through the entire appointment. Agitated is a massive understatement. Our boy was bouncing off the walls, running up and down the hallway, climbing everything he could see, throwing things, etc. The pediatrician did a great job of working with Eli (and us) to confirm that he's growing and eating and normal, but wow. The burst of energy that came out of that boy was unreal. It took Mama, Daddy and a nurse to hold him still enough for the shots. (He was fine a minute later and wanted to look at his "new shots.")

At 2.5, Eli talks and talks and talks. We're not sure if it's because of all the stories we read, because he has a slightly older sister, or because he's a genius (!), but he is well ahead of the "at this age your child may use short 3- to 4-word phrases" milestone. He speaks in long, complete sentences most of the time.

Eli goes to bed at 8:00 every night (when Piper does); we do 20-30 minutes of story time ahead of that. Because he and Piper share a bedroom, Eli has learned to spring from his bed by 6:30 every morning. He naps about two hours a day at daycare but absolutely will not nap for us at home. Ever. After trying to enforce a nap and failing repeatedly (two hours of fighting for 20 minutes of nap? No, thanks!), we dropped it. Sometimes he'll fall asleep on a couch or in the car, a couple of times he's passed out at dinner, but he's never grouchy, so we follow his cues.

Eli loves to sing and dance and play and color and is especially interested in cars, trains, planes and (sometimes) dinosaurs. He likes Buzz Lightyear too. And Thomas the train. He headed into age two a little on the clumsy side but is suddenly very light on his feet - bouncy, even! He walks up and down stairs, gets in and out of his car seat and kitchen booster seat by himself, and loves to race and climb at the park.

Now if only we could get him interested in the potty chair . . .

Hey, now

2011-11-28T06:34:00.000-06:00

"What are you doing down there with that camera?"

Baby feet are so hard to resist!

Thirty one

2011-11-25T20:21:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T12:52:00.001-06:00

We are out having a little adventure this Thanksgiving. (Because we love Thanksgiving adventures! Remember this one? And before there was Piper, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at McDonald's . . . in Barcelona!)

This year (and always) we are thankful for healthy children and wonderful friends and family who look out for us and our little ones. The kind of friends and family who will drive for hours and give up a chunk of their weekend to celebrate with our littlest one on her baptism day.

(We are also thankful for our tiny baby who was able to squeeze into an heirloom gown that was probably meant to hold a baby two to three months younger in age.)

The big day for Annabel was last month, October 15, 2011. Take a peek . . .

Annabel's godparents - Darin and Mandy:

Do these jeans make my butt look big?

2011-11-22T20:46:00.000-06:00

Some side notes - Yes, we know they make her butt look big. It's about 1/2 the fault of wearing a diaper and 1/2 the fault of a baby who insisted on skinny jeans. (She does not have the thighs to pull those off!)

In the second photo, Annabel is demonstrating her progress on the downward dog yoga pose. Please don't tell her that her form sucks, she's pretty sensitive about it.

Behind the scenes

2011-11-20T11:50:00.006-06:00

As has become the usual, Mama had a helper for taking Annabel's photo this week. Piper first asked if she could have her picture taken too.

And then decided she need to have a turn with the camera. (See the pink toes?) This is what she chose for her subject, the sheet.

Last week she shot this one:

We are not sure what the future holds for these weekly photos of Annabel. We love having the photos, and she loves having her picture taken, but the girl is MOBILE now! Expect to see the back of her head and a lot of wrinkled fabric as she crawls right out of the frame in the coming weeks.

Thirty

2011-11-18T11:48:00.000-06:00

Beh-beh! stats

2011-11-17T09:48:00.006-06:00

I have just been introduced to the magical world of blogger stats. It's FASCINATING!! We can track views to the blog, sites people click from to get to our blog, which posts have the most traffic, etc. etc.

(Side note to whomever found us by searching for "nudist boy": Sorry to disappoint! You will find no naked parts on this here blog page.)

I am very excited to see how many hits we get from overseas! Hello!

This will get a bit more accurate now that I've asked blogger to stop tracking my own views to the blog, but take a look at where the last month of readers came from. (Click the photo to see it at a size you can actually read.) So cool . . .

And if we look at the life of the blog (May 2009 to present)?

I think there may be such thing as Delurking Day. If I can figure out when it is, I may ask you all to say hello . . .

.ivy

The end of the nap

2011-11-15T22:16:00.000-06:00

The girls

2011-11-13T21:45:00.004-06:00

Piper had the sweetest little strawberry shirt when she was a baby. Soooo cute! It was a lucky secondhand find at Once Upon a Child and a sad, sad day when she outgrew it. A couple years later? The SAME strawberry shirt showed up at Once Upon a Child, in a much larger size! (We don't do all our shopping secondhand, but the shirts were from a few seasons ago so we never would have found them new.)

Annabel's just about outgrown all her 6-month sized clothes; the baby strawberry shirt was in her next-size-up wardrobe that came down from the attic last week. And when Piper heard that Annabel had a strawberry shirt? She hopefully asked if today was the day when all the girls with strawberry shirts would wear them. And? They did!

The best thing about these photos is not the matching outfits. It's the smile on Piper's face in that very first photo. She loooooves being a big sister and is constantly (it seems) asking to hold Annabel. Unfortunately for her, Miss Annabel is on the edge of learning to sit and doesn't get very excited about lying in someone's arms newborn-style.

But we know Annabel's baby days are numbered and that Piper won't always be so in love with having younger siblings, so we set her up for success (pillows, big chairs, a grown-up nearby for help) and let her hold her baby.

Twenty nine

2011-11-11T21:34:00.000-06:00

Back and forth

2011-11-10T14:38:00.008-06:00

You spend weeks (months!) wishing your sweet little baby would just SLEEP at night. And when she finally does?

You miss her.

Miss Annabel is on a streak of remarkable sleeps right now. In bed at 7:00 or 7:30, up to eat at 5:00am, then right back to sleep until we get her up and dressed for daycare. She's amazing.

Yesterday morning

2011-11-08T07:16:00.003-06:00

It was Eli's first trip to the dentist. He did NOT want to sit back in the chair (or sit at all), but he did let the hygienist clean some of his teeth and paint half of them with flouride. He even opened his mouth for a few seconds so the dentist could count his teeth! Excellent for a first trip, we think.

He would have had a better time, probably, but his hygienist was TERRIBLE. These were rescheduled appointments (they were supposed to go in about a week ago), and Eli got stuck with the lady who has never spoken to a small child before. (That's what it seemed like.)

Piper got to chat about princesses and Halloween during her appointment, then choose a toothbrush and some stickers. Eli was told to brush twice a day and sent away with a cursory toothbrush. We had to ask if he could have a sticker, then we had to hunt down the sticker box ourselves. She also didn't offer him a bag to carry his goodies home in, but Piper agreed to share hers. (These things matter when you're two!)

The pictures sum it up pretty well: happy preschool girl, wiggly toddler boy.

The beh-beh and the pumpkin

2011-11-06T21:32:00.006-06:00

* Pumpkin provided by Piper, who got to choose her very own pumpkin to bring home from the pumpkin patch at preschool on Halloween. The girl ahead of her at the patch had to look at each pumpkin before choosing. Piper grabbed the closest one, announced, "This one!" then turned and headed for the car.

Twenty eight

2011-11-04T21:29:00.000-05:00

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-02T22:27:00.003-05:00

Piper (Snow White) is always up for a photo op. Her brother (the pumpkin)?

Not so much.

He came around though.

Trick or treat!

Boo!

2011-10-31T06:57:00.000-05:00

Early morning. Three little people, well rested and FULL of energy.

Is there anything scarier?

The stats - 6mos

2011-10-29T20:54:00.005-05:00

Annabel went in for a checkup yesterday! As usual, she's growing and happy and ALIVE.

Here's where she's at on the charts -
weight: 14 lb, 14 oz (30%)
height: 25.5 inches (50%)
head circumference: 17 inches (60%)

Check out how she compares to Piper at 6 months, it's crazy! -
weight: 14 lbs, 13 oz
length: 25.5 inches
head circ.: 43 1/2 cm [17.1 in]

And for six-monthers, Eli's our biggest babe -
weight: 15 lb, 8 oz
height: 26.5 inches
head circ.: 17.75 inches
(For the record, Annabel may be sized like her sister right now, but she definitely takes after her big brother's personality. Happy, happy, happy...)

Other BIG NEWS for Annabel this week is that she's SO CLOSE to CRAWLING!! She gets up on her hands and knees and bounces, all the time. The other night she dropped to her elbows and pulled herself forward (army crawl!) toward a toy.

Tonight, she wanted to play with a [clean] diaper that was near her on the floor, so she got up on her hands and knees and pulled her knees/legs forward while she kept her front end pushed up on her hands/arms. It was so cool!!! She did it a couple more times when we moved the diaper away, so we'll try to repeat it tomorrow and catch it on video. Fingers crossed!

Twenty seven

2011-10-28T20:52:00.000-05:00

The student

2011-10-26T20:58:00.000-05:00

On the way out of school the other afternoon, Piper announced, "I'M LEARNING TO READ!! But first, I'm learning to write." She's PROUD and so excited about becoming a reader, and she's working very, very had on learning her letters. Like she sees learning to write standing in the way of learning to read, so she's going to do whatever it takes to knock it out. Oh, how great it would be if our girl could hang onto this excitement and determination forever! Hopefully she will.

The photo above is Piper making her grocery list over the weekend.

The boy and the baby

2011-10-24T20:54:00.000-05:00

Six months old!

2011-10-22T23:01:00.001-05:00

It happened again. When we weren't looking, our sweet little newborn grew into a charming six-monther! Annabel is a dream. She eats well, sleeps well, likes to grab and play and chew on toys, and she'll give out all the free snuggles and smiles we could ever ask for.

She is not a fan of pacifiers - hates them, usually - and will happily suck on her fingers any time she needs some extra soothing. Or when she's bored. Or tired. Or happy! So, all the time, really. The kid loves her fingers! (This is very strange for us. Piper still asks for a suckie [pacifier] sometimes.)

On weekdays, Annabel's up around 7:00am for her morning feeding before we head out the door. (Weekends she'll then fall asleep for another 2-3 hours.) She eats again (bottles) at 9:00, noon, and 3:00 at daycare. At home, she has some baby food while the rest of us are eating dinner. So far she's tried baby oatmeal, peas, carrots, apples and bananas. The oatmeal and veggies are a hit! The fruit? Not so much.

After dinner we all hang out, relax and play. If it's a bath night, that's when they happen. When Annabel starts acting fussy or rubbing her eyes, it's bedtime; this is usually right around 7:00pm. We get her into jammies and she has one last liquid feeding, then immediately passes out. Sometimes she goes straight to bed, sometimes the big kids are having so much fun playing downstairs with Daddy that Mama hides out in Annabel's room for some bonus snuggle time with our sleeping babe. If Annabel wakes at all at night, it's usually just once, because she's hungry. Feed her and she's right back to sleep.

In the last handful of weeks Annabel has noticeably GROWN. Not in size, but . . . somehow. She holds herself up better and feels really sturdy. Like she's more of a little person than a baby. She's strong enough to sit up, with help for balance. Last weekend she started pushing up onto her hands and knees(!!!).

We are definitely keeping this one! We adore her.

(Her big sister and brother do too.)

Twenty six

2011-10-21T16:59:00.000-05:00

A plant that likes new babies

2011-10-20T06:00:00.001-05:00

We picked up this African violet when Piper was around a year old. In three years, it only blossomed once, when Eli was born.

Until now.

We set it up in Annabel's room last spring (it used to live on Mama's desk at work), and the thing has been covered with flowers! Pretty flowers for our pretty baby.

"Supa-hero!"

2011-10-19T17:50:00.000-05:00

This Batman getup (pajamas) may end up being Eli's Halloween costume. Stay tuned.

The big girl

2011-10-18T06:52:00.003-05:00

This was over the weekend. It was gorgeous outside, so we visited the outdoor reading garden while we were at the library. A minute later, Piper slipped and scraped her knee. She was sad for five seconds, then felt very important because she got wear a bandage from the library's first aid kit.

I don't want to say she looks old, because she's only four, but our girl definitely isn't a baby in this photo. **sniff**

Yesterday after school she announced, "I'm learning to read! But first, I'm learning to write."

.ivy

Breakfast, with pumpkin

2011-10-16T07:55:00.000-05:00

The hayride!

2011-10-15T15:27:00.005-05:00

The farm

2011-10-15T14:55:00.009-05:00

Let's all sit back and pretend it's still September. Because that's where these photos came from. (Oops!)

We have a family "in" at a local farm, and we have an army of small children who love dirt and animals and OUTSIDE. So when the folks at the farm had a family potluck picnic, we said YES, WE WILL BE THERE. (If you're in the market for an autumn outing, they have a corn maze.)

Way too many photos later, here we are. The weather was great, the animals were entertaining, and the kids looooved the farm. Eli still asks to go there almost every weekend. "Should we go to the park today?" "No. I want to go to the faaaaaaaarm." Before we left the farm, Piper and Eli each had a chance to help "drive" the tractor WHILE IT WAS RUNNING. It was magical (for them). (They also spent lots of time on a dead tractor; they sat with an adult while driving the tractor that was running.)

Aunt Elaine was there! And Great Grandma Donna too!

Grandpa Rod selflessly volunteered for snuggle time with Annabel while the rest of us went on a hayride.

Because snuggling sweet babies is such hard work.

Eli was not too sure about feeding the animals himself, but he had a great time watching Grandma Sue demonstrate the technique.

We'll leave you with some scary farm animals. Good luck fighting off the nightmares!

Twenty five

2011-10-14T12:03:00.000-05:00

Solid

2011-10-08T21:26:00.004-05:00

Well. Annabel was not in a great mood the other night, the night we decided to start her on real food(!). But we did it.

"Wait. What is this? I get to have this??" Mashed banana, mmmm!! She tasted a bit and didn't break out in any strange rashes the next day. Success!

Things went much better tonight. We let her have some baby applesauce, YUMMM! Our camera has an image stabilizer. If it didn't, you wouldn't be able to see a bit of her legs or foot in this photo, just a purple blur. She was so excited!!

.xoxo, Annabel.
We love you.

Twenty four

2011-10-07T21:24:00.000-05:00

Twenty three

2011-09-30T22:02:00.002-05:00

* Last cabin trip of the year!

The glow bath

2011-09-24T22:25:00.000-05:00

Piper calls them glow sticks, Eli just says glow. "I want a glow! Where's my glow?" They both agree that glow bath is one of the best ideas ever, right up there with mac & cheese! It was the easiest time we've had shampooing them in ages. (No bath surprises until your hair is washed!)

Twenty two

2011-09-23T22:11:00.004-05:00

Five months

2011-09-22T22:43:00.000-05:00

* The bizarre sounds in the background? That's the big kids playing "kitty." They take turns crawling around on the floor making cat sounds. (Did we mention? Daycare got a kitten.) Much to their disappointment, we do not allow them to tie blankets, scarves, necklaces or WHATEVER around each other's necks to "take the kitty for a walk."

"I'm two!"

2011-09-19T21:01:00.001-05:00

We're so proud of our boy; it's taken him months to be able to do this!

Roar!

2011-09-17T16:03:00.001-05:00

Piperbear (5 mos),
Elibear (4 mos),
Annabear (almost 5 mos)

Saturday morning

2011-09-17T10:43:00.014-05:00

Eli was my pancake helper this morning. "I a good helper, Mama! I'm a good mixer." (He was a GREAT help, once we were clear on the "no picking chocolate chips out of the batter" rule.)

"Look, Mama! I do a good job drinking!" (We're easing him into using REAL cups/glasses at the table instead of sippy cups.)

Happy weekend!

.ivy

Twenty one

2011-09-16T20:55:00.001-05:00

A breakthrough

2011-09-15T09:21:00.004-05:00

This morning, Piper got dressed and ready for school by herself (!), announcing, "I'm going to say goodbye and find a toy." And when we got to school, that's exactly what she did!

Thank God.

(She even agreed to take a jacket!)

Early in the morning

2011-09-13T09:16:00.003-05:00

We were very, very lucky when we chose a daycare to find one that includes BREAKFAST as part of the daily schedule. All we have to do is get everyone dressed and go. Easy.

Piper's school does not serve breakfast. This means if Piper's going to have breakfast, she needs to be in the kitchen eating before 7am. That's 60-90 minutes earlier than she's used to. Last week she asked for toast "with butter and Nutella" every morning. Yesterday she munched on cold cereal and brought it with her to eat on the way to school. (We won't be doing that again. There are Cheerios sprinkled all over the floor of the car!) This morning I opened the fridge and suggested yogurt with crunchies (granola). Piper said, "Hmm . . . I want bologna. And corn [on the cob]." Oooookay.

As she ate her breakfast, I put her lunch together. PB & banana sandwich, cantaloupe, chicken salad left over from dinner and Swedish fish.

Piper cried (sobbed!) for the fourth school day in a row when we dropped her off this morning. And today she actually tried to run back down the stairs to the door of the school. She's excited to go to school and has a great time being at school. But the mornings? They've been rough on our girl. Here's hoping she'll make a friend SOON so she won't feel so alone when Mama and Daddy leave.

.ivy

Daddy's guitar

2011-09-11T21:18:00.001-05:00

The park

2011-09-10T19:55:00.003-05:00

Twenty

2011-09-09T21:22:00.001-05:00

Best jammies ever

2011-09-07T18:15:00.000-05:00

The first day

2011-09-06T17:25:00.004-05:00

This morning we drove to daycare, as usual.

Eli (to Piper): "You're going to school?"

Piper: "Uh-huh!"

Eli: "You're taking 'dat and 'dat?" Pointing to Piper's new princess backpack and lunchbox set.

Piper: "Yep! When you go to school, you need to take your backpack and your lunch."

She explained a little bit more to him after that about what's inside of the backpack and lunchbox and why you need them at school.

Daddy took Eli and Annabel into daycare, Mama and Piper waited in the car. Next stop, preschool! We managed to leave without any tears, but she did insist Daddy carry her in and then she held onto our legs and stared at the ground for a few minutes.

This afternoon she was happy and bouncing and Piper as usual. She liked it! She didn't have much to say to us right away, but when Grandma Carol (a Montessori teacher) stopped by our house this afternoon Piper announced, "I went to Montessori school today! I did it!!"

Only 2599 school days to go until our baby's in college.

The workshop

2011-09-05T21:25:00.000-05:00

More Fair

2011-09-04T20:53:00.007-05:00

Well. We didn't eat much or see much at the Fair this year. Between keeping everyone fed and hydrated, changing diapers, and making trips to the potty, it became a very long day. We did spend a chunk of time at the Kidway for Piper and Eli to check out rides, and we were lucky enough to run into Grandpa Rod and Grandma Sue. They took the big kids back for a second round of rides so Mama and Daddy (and Annabel) could visit the Fine Arts building.

BUT, no tantrums or injuries! Our only unhappy camper was Annabel, and she was only unhappy when we tried having her ride in the stroller. (She would have done better if we had brought her car seat and clipped it into the stroller, as we usually do, but that would have basically cut our double stroller down to one seat and we wanted to be able to alternate kids in the stroller.) Next year, everyone will know how to sit! And walk!

Eli, just now

2011-09-03T09:39:00.003-05:00

"Daaay-O, daaay-O, Daddy wants to go home.

Daaay-O, daaay-O, Daddy wants to go home, in my car!"

Nineteen

2011-09-02T18:56:00.005-05:00

Because I do not want to forget

2011-09-01T22:32:00.002-05:00

Mama: "What's Daddy's name?"
Piper: "Kristofer!"
Eli: "Kristofer!"

Mama: "What's Mama's name?"
Piper: "Ivy!"
Eli: "Spicy!"

The F • A • I • R

2011-09-01T07:33:00.001-05:00

As always, our first stop and only real priority at the Fair was a trip to the arcade photo booths.

We will go on record any time to tell you that we are okay with our three little babies being our ONLY little babies. We are kind of counting on that being the case, in fact. But look . . . the upper-right corner of these photos? Next to / above Kristofer? There's room for someone else!

And Annabel? That is how she looked all day, frantically sucking on her fingers as though her life depended on it. The Fair was a bit overwhelming for this latest little babe of ours.

Eli says,

2011-08-30T18:25:00.003-05:00

"I don't like to be in the lake."

Mama and Daddy didn't like those few seconds when all we could see of our boy was the bottom of his shoes, underwater, after he fell headfirst off the end of the dock.

More cabin adventures

2011-08-30T18:10:00.005-05:00

In addition to a nice long visit with Grandpa Carl and Grandma Carol, last weekend was also the cabin trip where:

Eli climbed a ladder and got onto the roof of the cabin. !

Piper wandered off in the woods, alone, and gave all the grownups a scare. (We found her next door, helping neighbor Patty bake a pie.) !!

Eli fell off the dock and was rescued by Daddy, who pulled him out by the ankle. !!!

Eighteen

2011-08-26T09:02:00.005-05:00

* Quilt and mosquito bites courtesy of the cabin

Helpers

2011-08-25T23:59:00.000-05:00

We've started hiring out our children as weekend labor! If you're in the market, they're very good at emptying boxes of screws, moving tools all over the place, and standing directly underfoot.

The photos are from a visit to Uncle John's house last weekend to check out the work he and Daddy did on new deck.