Wordless Wednesday

Picnic Time

His Running Hat

Carter came home from school with a hand-colored Noah's Ark visor. He immediately declared it his "running hat". My recent decision to wear a visor while running must have left quite an impression on him.

Six Months

Whew - Miss E is six months old! Here's where she stands.

• Height: 26" (same as last month?? and 48th percentile)
• Weight: 15 lb., 10 oz. (33rd percentile)
• Clothes/diapers: Just starting the 6-9M clothes - only because her torso is too long for the 6M bodysuits, and comfortably in a size 2 diaper.
• Foods: As noted, fruit and vegetable purees.
• Milk: Still nursing and getting occasional pumped milk. Pretty good three-hour schedule.
• Sleeping: Usually 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. (+/- 30 minutes). Usually wakes once for per pacifier, and again around 5 (+/- 60 minutes) to nurse. When she does, she takes a full feeding - so I haven't cut her off. Carter, on the other hand, would nurse for 20 seconds and fall asleep. He just wanted the comfort, so I cut out his feeding at four months.
• Naps: Finally a semi-schedule for naps. She's content to take a 1.5-2 hour nap in the morning, followed by a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. The morning nap usually ends up breaking into 2-3 short naps. But I try my hardest not to mess with her afternoon nap. From 2-5 p.m. you can pretty much count on us being home, so she can get a good nap.
• Mobility: She doesn't like tummy time. And if I'm around, she wants to be held. But she will play on the floor with me a little. However, I heard that when I'm not around, she is content to play on the floor, scoot around, and try to move herself to where her toys are. She does the little "tripod" sitting position, and can hold herself there for several seconds. We're working on "real" sitting. She sits well in her high chair, and loves her jumperoo. She likes her exersaucer, but not as much as the jumperoo (and not as much as Carter did).
• Notes: Still no teeth breaking through. As previously noted, she is a happy baby now. Still clingy to me, and still cries for other people. But she generally isn't inconsolable for baby sitters. And she is far less fussy for Jack and me, too.

Travel

Jack has never traveled much for work. His first job, he didn't travel at all. His second job, he was gone for training for a few nights, and then for a two-week stretch. His third job, he was occasionally gone for training and conferences, usually for a couple nights at a time. But his current job involves a good bit of travel. We knew when he took the job, that it would. But he also is compensated for it, so it's a trade we're willing to make.

But I've never dealt well with separation. I think it stems from my mother's revolving stays in the hospital while I was growing up. I just can't stand good-byes. Considering Jack and I spent five years long-distance while we were in college . . . made for a lot of tearful Sunday afternoons. But even after we got married, I hated saying good-bye when he had to go out of town.

Somehow, I honestly am fine with it now. Ever since he spent a month in the hospital, the separation doesn't make me so upset. That's not to say that I don't make him call me the moment he arrives at the airport now. And I certainly felt some anxiety about the actual driving part of him going out of town at first . . . but the actual being apart part, doesn't bother me nearly as much. I guess that has been one good thing to come of his accident. In comparison, these trips seem far more surmountable.

Little Moments

Little moments from this week that brought happy tears to my eyes . . .

While Ellyson was napping one afternoon, Carter asked me to sit with him at his little (toddler-sized) red table in the kitchen, and talk to him. We sat, ate our snack, and talked about school. Later, he told Daddy with pride about how I sat with him and we talked.

After Ellyson went to bed Saturday night (and Carter was sleeping over at Nana and Papa Jack's), Jack and I were watching a movie. I had my head on his chest and could hear his heart beating. And I actually stopped and thought how grateful I am to hear that sound.

Ellyson and I have lots of moments. Like after she nurses at bed time, and she looks up at me and sings at the top of her lungs. For about three minutes, and then she is ready to sleep.

Brother and Sister

Ignoring her brother . . .

Laughing at her brother . . .

 Inviting her brother to join in . . .

Who Loves Sleep Sheep?

We love Sleep Sheep!

Both of the kids do. Carter calls his "Shleep Shleep" and Ellyson just talks to hers.

Word of the Week: Food

Food, glorious food! No one cares what it looks like!

(Sorry, channeling my inner Oliver sing-along.)

Since taking her first bite of sweet potatoes a week ago, Miss Ellyson has been knocking them out. The pediatrician told me I didn't have to wait the standard three days in between new foods for her, since Carter did fine and she didn't show any predisposition to allergies (like eczema - apparently that condition can be linked to allergies). So, I've been introducing lots of new foods. Partly because I went a little overboard at the farmer's market, and needed to go ahead and make/freeze some of these, so I went ahead and gave them to her. So far, she's eaten:

• Sweet potatoes
• Avocado
• Peaches
• Apricots
• Plums
• Broccoli

And she unofficially gnawed on a banana that I was holding.

I'm really glad that she just happens to be at the "starting foods" stage during summer. There's such an awesome variety of flavorful foods right now. I remember when I tried introducing fruits to Carter. It was January. The plums were tart, almost sour. I tried cooking them with some sugar, but they still didn't taste good. Now, I just puree a raw plum and it's good to go!

She hasn't really rejected anything yet. She is getting a fruit at breakfast and a vegetable (always sweet potatoes, and as of last night, I added broccoli to the nightly sweet potatoes). She'll only eat a teaspoon or so of her fruit (part of that is the rushed morning schedule), but she'll finish off her sweet potatoes at dinner.

She also prefers to try feeding herself. Apparently, despite her clingy behavior, I've got another independent child on my hands. Where, oh where, did that behavior come from??

Fun in the Tub

Carter has converted to mostly showers these days. Two of our bathrooms (the master and the downstairs bath) have hand-held shower attachments. And Carter loves to shower with these, because he feels grown-up but doesn't have to get water in his face. However, on occasion, they both have to bathe at the same time. When I had to do it last weekend, I decided to try a new setup. They both thought it was just a little too funny. And she was trying so hard to reach him, that I nearly had an anxiety attack trying to make sure she didn't face-plant into the water!

Smiles

For almost two weeks now, Miss Fuss has earned the nickname "Smiles". It's like a switch flipped, and she's a happy baby now. Thank goodness. That's not to say she doesn't get restless half-way through church - but three weeks ago, she cried the whole way through it. And that doesn't mean she sits through a five-mile run in silence - though twice in four days, she has made little more sound than a giggle. A far cry from two weeks ago, when she screamed until she finally wore herself out and fell asleep.

Folks, it's a whole new world around here. And we just can't get enough of this sweet face.

Pool Time

The kids got some pool time at a birthday partyon Saturday. We have two little fishes on our hands. Ellyson had fun riding in a little infant inflatable.

Sweet Potatoes

Ellyson has been trying her hardest to get some solid food. So I made my first farmer's market trip since Ellyson's birth, to pick up some fresh organic foods. Friday afternoon I baked and pureed some sweet potatoes for our little sweet potato. I waited for Jack to get home from a meeting, and got everything ready . . . Ellyson in her chair with her bowl and spoon on the tray. Jack and I were searching the kitchen for the camera when Carter apparently grew impatient. We turned around to see Ellyson's mouth full of sweet potato, and Carter retracting the spoon. Yep, after all that prep, Carter beat us to the punch, while we weren't even looking.

In the end, she was pretty happy with the sweet potatoes. And tried to eat again and again the next day.

Money, Money, Money

As I've mentioned before, Carter is earning an allowance now. And this week, when I gave him his hard-earned dollar, and he crammed it into his wallet, I commented that he has a lot of money in there now. He proceeded to pull out a fistful of dollar bills and hold them out to me. He said "Here, Mommy, these are yours. I don't need a lot of dollars."

Go ahead and say it with me: "awww."

For the record, I told him to keep it and save it for something. So he did return the money to his wallet.

Word of the Week: Accessorize

At least he isn't carrying his purse! But let's face it, the sunglasses and gloves . . . he rocks 'em. At least two or three times a week, he refuses to drive anywhere without his gloves and glasses. Sometimes he also needs his Lightning McQueen phone and/or keys.

Back to School

Carter started back to preschool on Monday. This year he's in K-3. He's still going only four hours a day, but has stepped up to five days a week. Initially, I enrolled him for three days a week, but I started to get some feedback about teachers, and opted to switch him to five-day. And we really lucked out that we did, because one of his teachers from last year, moved up with the class. (Out of the 12 students in the K-3 class, 10 of them were in the K-2 class last year, either full-time or part-time.) So Carter already knows his teacher and most of his classmates.

Last year I was really worried about his adjustment because he's very quiet in new settings. I'd always been told he was the quiet one at daycare, and he wasn't exactly a social butterfly. He knew one girl in his class at the beginning of last school year, and he at least looked forward to seeing her each day. But now he has lots of friends in his class, and I feel a lot more confident in his social abilities. Hopefully when the class breaks apart next year (as I assume it will, as pre-K options abound for next year), he will be a little more confident in making new friends.

But in the meantime, he was so excited to start a new school year, that he smiled from ear to ear - and squinted his eyes closed. I tried again to get a better picture outside the school, but I got the same result. And at drop-off, he hesitated a little the first day, but shed no tears. And the second day, he didn't even look back after kissing me good-bye.

Wordless Wednesday

"Not Me" Tuesday

I most certainly did not take the kids for a late-afternoon/early-evening run today. And I definitely didn't notice the gray clouds, which didn't make me check the radar, which may or may not have shown precipitation south of our area - not where we live (and run). I didn't get 2.5 miles into said run, and feel some strangely cool breezes. And I would not have been running on an out-and-back trail, meaning that at that moment, I was at the furthest point away from my car. Nope, not me.

But if I had, it wouldn't have mattered. Because I would have had no choice but to complete the 1.5-mile run back to the car. And 1/2-mile later, I didn't feel the light sprinkles of rain. And I definitely didn't say a little prayer that the ominous clouds would give me 15 more minutes to finish running and load my then-sleeping children into the car. Nope, not me.

And moments later, the skies didn't completely open up in one of those you-know-the-ones-I-mean summer thunderstorms, complete with blinding rain and deafening thunder. Nope, because we would have seen it coming. Oh, you mean those clouds I'd been eyeing? And those sleeping children definitely weren't rudely awakened - the elder bothered by the noise and the younger bothered by the cool rain drops. Nope, not us.

Had it happened to us, I would have used it as motivation to finish faster. But it didn't. And when we arrived back at my car, I definitely didn't load both children into the back of my roomy Honda Pilot and strip them of their wet clothes, dry them, and re-dress them in the only spare clothes in the car: a pair of Carter's shorts (which I would have put on him, had it happened to us), and one of Carter's t-shirts (which would have been worn by Ellyson, if it were us). My children definitely didn't giggle the whole way home. Nope, not them.

At least the UPS guy didn't see my children half-dressed at dinner time and wonder what kind of mother I am . . . Nope, not me.

Multitasking

I don't know where he gets it!

Little Miss

We have had three pleasant days with a happy Miss Ellyson. She has been smiley, talkative, sleeping well and eating well . . . and almost no unexplained crying. I hope this means we have turned the corner on her semi-pseudo-delayed-colic mood.

Stone Mountain

This morning we climbed Stone Mountain with my dad and stepmom. It had been years (like 8-10 years) since the only time I've ever done it before - though I've been there many times. But Carter had a ball, and actually did pretty well with the 1.3-mile (each way), steep-incline hike. Jack held up pretty well, too. We'll see how his knees feel tomorrow. :)

After our hike, we rode the train around the bottom of the mountain. Carter really enjoyed that part, too. He even got a picture with the conductor.

Town Center Splash Park

The kids and I met some friends at a splash park (aka large water fountain) in a nearby town yesterday. Even Ellyson seemed to have fun!

Carter shared his corn dog and tater tots with Ashlyn. (And Chloe shared her Doritos with him.)

After all the splashing fun, we put on dry clothes and went across the street for frozen yogurt.

Where Ashlyn spoon-fed Carter.