I guess with the newest member...
One word to describe our 5 month old: Happy. Smiling comes so easy to this little boy. He's handing them out to anyone who makes eye contact with him but he saves the biggest ones for mommy and sister. He laughs with the greatest of ease which makes everyone around him smile. It's this long squealy inhale usually followed by giggles. I have to get it on video before he switches to a different laugh. When we got home from our trip up North we started sleep training with Beck. The "training" ended about a week and a half sooner than I thought it would. It took 1 week of letting Ellery cry-it-out until she figured how to self soothe and it was brutal. The pediatrician said to follow our night time routine, then put her to bed when tired but not asleep and let her go for 30 minutes. The first night was the longest 28 minutes of my life. I just sat and stared at that damn clock until she cried herself to sleep. The following nights I had to keep busy away from her nursery but the minutes dwindled down and before we hit the 2 week mark, she was my content little sleeper... and still is. I had to keep my eye on the prize with this boy but it was only hard for the first couple nights. I think it was a combination of me, knowing the end result is worth it, and him, just figuring it out sooner, but phew! We're there. His favorite place to be is in the Baby Bjorn especially when we're at the grocery store and Elle is sitting in the cart right in front of him. All smiles. I'm so in love with this boy and looking forward to all that is ahead of us.
On to my 2 1/2 year old. Best word to describe her: Funny or maybe Shy. Funny, when she's just with us and shy, when we're around others. We were gathering up our things yesterday to go to the store when I said "Okay, let's boogie!" and as Elle was walking to the car she picked a booger out of her nose, looked at it on her finger and said "Come on boogie!" I recently saw a book called "My Quotable Kid" where you keep a journal of all the funny things your kid says and I immediately thought of Rian so I ended up buying 2 of them, one for Marla to keep. I think it will be fun to look back on when they're older.
Ellery is a backseat driver and while it used to be cute, now it's just annoying. Every time we stop at a red light she says "go mommy!" When I make a turn she says, "no this way!" When I get on the freeway, "faster mommy! Like Queen!" (Lightening McQueen) "Ka-Chow!" Ok, that's still pretty cute. Another new thing "why??" I thought this question didn't come until like 3 or 4 but it's here. The other day I told her if she wanted to go into the garage then she needed to get shoes on. "Why? Because there's sharp tools in there. Why? Because that's where daddy keeps his tools. Why? Because daddies like tools. Why? Because he's male. Why? Because that's how he came out of his moms belly. Why? Because his parents wanted a child. Why? For the same reason I wanted you. Why?..."
A few others, "where this come from?", "what this name?", and my favorites, "What RiRi name? What tree name? What car name?" On and on. That started to get old until I mixed it up a bit and now give more elaborate answers like, Rian Anne Salewsky. California Pepper Tree. Black Volvo XC60. On a different note, Ellery hates having her teeth brushed and each time she gets two choices, the easy way or the hard way. She chooses the hard way every time so we literally pin her down to get in there. A task both Zach and I dread which leaves us saying "You're up, I did it last night!" Her new interests: glue, peeling the paper off crayons (keeps her occupied longer than anything!), stamps, princesses and she's starting to get into make believe. Still loves snacks and movies and would watch Cars or Beauty and the Beast all day if I let her. (sound familiar Andi?)
Gettin' artsy with RiRi...
We are getting serious about potty training and it's going pretty well. She had done both 1 and 2 on the potty before we went up North but I didn't want to push anything with long car rides and flights ahead of us. We're getting back on track and it helps that she loves wearing the big girl undies that Claire gave her...
Beck's first time eating rice cereal and he seemed to really like it...
Ellery got a fish! She picked him out at the pet store and named him Bees Movie. I know, weird...
Funbelievable with mommy and daddy!...
Baking banana chocolate chip muffins with her cuz...
Making messes! So fun for them! So not fun for me!...
What to do while they bake?...
Yum...
Science Center...
They have this new exhibit about genetics and here's what the computer predicts I'll look like in 40 years if I A) never wear sunscreen B) start smoking and C) eat junk food and never exercise. Ahhhhhhhh! I'm lathering on the spf and heading to the gym pronto!...
Oh god, that is SCARY!!
Ellery was getting frustrated that her baby kept falling off so we used packing tape to keep her buckled in...
Gotta clean that car. Get your face while you're at it!...
When Beck gets fussy, Ellery will often stop what she's doing to find him a toy. (or 5) Such a helpful big sister!...
Swimming with daddy at The Pearl...
1st trip to the dentist!...
Later that day there was a major power outage and it was lights out for us and about 5 million others. I was telling Ellery all day that if she was a good girl we could go to Play Town when she woke up from her nap. She was, so when she woke up, off we went. When we walked in I noticed the lights were out but thought they were just conserving energy. She excitedly kicked off her shoes and then the announcement was made that they were closing due to a power outage. Try explaining that to a 2 year old. She buried her head in my neck and started bawling. I know she needs to feel disappointment every now and then but in my moment of weakness I told her we could go next door to Marshall's and pick out a toy to take home. As we were walking up to the door they locked it and posted a note saying the same thing. Ugh. Cookies? I have cookies at home!!! And a toy that was meant for Annabelle's upcoming birthday! (sorry Annabelle, I'll think of something else!) But a crappy start to the afternoon turned out to be a great night. We played outside until the sun set, lit every candle around the house, had a candlelight dinner, made shadow puppets with flashlights and listened to the crickets chirp. It was so peaceful that Zach and I want to start a once a month power outage around here. The little ones waiting for daddy to come home...
And I found a couple pics from our time in Walnut Creek...
Life is Good!
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