4 more sleeps!

we've checked everything off of our christmas lists (except wrapping all those darn presents) and all we have left to do is count down the last few days until christmas.  with three birthdays in the month before christmas i always feel like the month is packed with crazy.  i feel sort of bad for the kids having their birthday so close to the holidays so we try and decorate and make it as special as we can while still doing all the christmas things, too.  it makes for a really fun month but always leaves me very ready for the calm of january.  

i actually don't think we did too many activities this year at all.  mostly we celebrated at home, together by reading christmas books and watching christmas movies, baking cookies and making ornaments.  the kids have loved having the decorations up and really love when we're out after dark and they get to see everyone else's lights, too.  the one activity we did was to take the kids to see the zoo lights.  we hadn't been since ellie was a tiny baby (less than a month old!) and it was much more fun this time since she could actually appreciate it and i didn't find myself breastfeeding her on the floor of the lion house.  we've celebrated with some friends too which is always nice because i feel like this time of year can get so busy that we don't see people as often as we usually do.    

avery's birthday was a hit.  she got a few presents that she really liked (dolls and legos and a necklace were her favorites).  we went out to dinner at a japanese steakhouse the night before to celebrate charlie's birthday and her birthday.  this is sort of our yearly tradition and the kids love watching the 'show' and eating a huge amount of friend rice.  the day of her birthday we opened her presents, went to ellie's gymnastics class and then to the bookstore.  avery had been talking about going since i took ellie one day when she was at preschool and i hope it lived up to her expectations.  we made tacos for dinner (her favorite) and sang happy birthday to her after dinner.  she had requested a strawberry cake, which i found a little tricky since it's nether strawberry season nor could i find a good recipe for one.  instead i made her a vanilla cake with chocolate icing and added sliced strawberries to the top and she seemed happy enough with it.  

we'll have a really low key christmas this year.  it's just going to be our little family all day.  we have plans to have french toast for breakfast in between present opening.  i'm really looking forward to setting everything up with charlie on christmas eve and watching the kids open everything in the morning.  ellie is still at the slow and sweet stage of present opening.  she likes to open something and play with it for a bit before moving on to the next present.  avery's a bit faster but i'm hoping they take their time on christmas so we can savor it, too.  this is the first year that we're actually doing stockings.  i actually bought them and remembered to buy things for them.  the dollar spot at target had some great stuff that i know they'll actually use:  chalk, bath finger paints, coloring books, and necklaces.  we got them each a 'big' present.  ellie's is a teepee and avery's is a scooter.  and then a few other little things like books, art supplies, and some clothes.  i'm hoping they like everything and they also have quite a lot of presents that family members have sent, too.  we're planning on making a roast turkey for dinner and hoping for a bit of snow.  it's always such a fun day and the kids make it doubly fun since their excitement is contagious.    

hello?

it's been awhile and i won't even attempt to say that i'm back to blogging but i have missed keeping a record of our family's life.  so i'm going to attempt to do just that every once in awhile.  poor ellie has had rather sad documentation of her life compared to avery and while i know she's loved every bit as much i would like to actually have a place to look back on her growing up because i know i sure won't remember it all!  so, here's what's been going on in the past year: 

... ellie is 18 months.  crazy town.  i love this age so much.  she's a running, climbing, following her sister around all day, talking up a storm, crazy toddler.  charlie and i die over how cute she is daily.  she's imitating everything that her 'cool' big sis is doing these days including her newest phrase "knock knock, who's there? pee" that she definitely picked up from avery.  she's also stubborn, brave, and still very much attached to her mama these days.  she knows what she wants and how she wants it and she will let you know exactly what that is.  and (knock on wood) she is finally, finally sleeping in her crib all through the night.  it only took us a year and a half to figure that one out.  she wakes up at the crack of dawn but i can deal with a 5:30 wake up time as long as she's not in my bed thrashing around like a fool for hours each night.  

...  avery is three and a half and growing by the minute.  she is pretty opinionated about things these days too and like most three year olds has zero patience for things like waiting for things she wants, sharing toys with her sister, and picking up after her own giant messes.  she seems so old to me these days and she'll start preschool in the fall.  i'm both excited for her and so sad because how in the world is she old enough to go out into the world without me.  she's a pretty great sister most of the time and over the past 6 months they have started to play with each other a lot more.  i find it pretty adorable and usually waste all the time that they're happily playing sneakily watching them from the other room instead of getting anything done.  

...  we recently put dunkin to sleep, which was the hardest decision i've ever made and thing i've had to do.  charlie and i miss him like crazy.  he was the best and the house seems so empty without him following me around everywhere.  

... i'm so excited that it's finally summer, my very favorite season.  we're busy enjoying things like flip flops, dresses, open windows, fires, grilling, the water table, running around without clothes on (the kids, not me), and growing our first garden.  we don't have a lot of plans this summer and i'm trying to really enjoy the last bit of completely unscheduled time that we have before after starts school.  i know after that we'll "only" have summer's off and i'm really going to miss the freedom of these before-school days.  

...  we took our annual trip back to maryland in june to visit family.  it was really great to see everyone and we even squeezed in some beach time one day but ellie not the chillest traveler during our second leg of the journey and we were all happy to get back home just to get back to our normal routine.  i'm usually complaining about how short those trips are and this one was only a week, compared to the last two years when we've stayed for two weeks, but with ellie being so difficult i was basically counting the days until we got back home.  hopefully she'll be a little more laid back next year.         

some two year old updates.

the grumpy toddler.  i always dreaded two in my mind because everyone always talked about how awful that year was.  although i sort of feel like now people are onto how much worse three is than two so maybe we have a lot to look forward to. :)  anyway, know that a's more than two and a half (do not forget that half!) i feel like we're solidly in two year old territory and i actually haven't found it that bad!  i mean she knows what she wants and isn't afraid to tell you about it, she is starting to be a bit manuplitative, and she's just getting into the world of having a sibling who she can't always boss around, so there are definitely challenges but there are also some good changes too.  she knows what she wants which means that she can actually tell you why she's upset.  this is huge.  and she's also getting good at identifying feelings so she can tell us if she's frustrated or excited or mad and why.  this is one of my favorites.  lots of times we can't do much about the reasons behind why she feels something:  i get that your frustrated that you have to go to bed but uh, you have to go to bed.  BUT sometimes just talking about those feelings and acknowledging them makes a huge difference in her world.  

i'm so interested in seeing how her relationship develops with her sister over time.  ellie is now at the stage where she will yell if she doesn't get what she wants.  not putting her fast enough into the bathtub?  she screams.  took the mail that she was eating away from her?  she cries.  and what this means for avery is that if avery takes a toy away from her (something she does all the time) then ellie cries and avery's quick fix of giving her something else no longer works because ellie knows that she wants that toy, not just any toy.  the whole concept of sharing is sort of strange to me because i get that we want kids to play together nicely but i don't feel like it's fair to expect them to hand over their toys because it's the nice thing to do.  so we're trying to teach avery that if ellie is playing with something than it is ellie's to play with until she decides that she is done and likewise if avery is playing with a toy she doesn't have to hand it over just because someone else thinks it looks cool.  

a is also having a hard time lately with charlie traveling.  i noticed this happening back in may when he was gone a lot and then i forgot about it because he was home for a month and then we went on vacation but now we're back into our normal routine of him being gone maybe 50% of the time and avery is having a hard time sometimes.  this past week she actually got upset before he left for the first time, which was hard to see.  but what i've noticed is that when he gets back from a trip she's extra clingy to him (totally understandable) but to the point of not going to bed because she 'won't let him leave the room'.  when it's just me with both kids her bedtime and naptime routines are pretty short and sweet because i have two kids to take care of and therefore she knows:  she gets two books and one story and one kiss.  always.  sometimes she cries about this and tries to drag things on but this is always what she gets from me so she gets over it pretty quickly.  unfortunately when charlie travels a lot it seems like she is just getting back into 'normal mode' when he leaves again and she has a hard time again when he gets back.  i actually think she could use a later bedtime but i can't figure out yet how to put ellie to bed (this usually takes about 20 minutes) before avery goes to bed without letting avery either play on the iPad or watch tv, something i don't really want to do.  when charlie's around it's not a problem since he can just hang out with her but if it's just me i'm not sure what else to occupy her with during that time when i need her to be occupied, safe, and quiet.  

   and because i can't end this on a negative note i have to talk about how sweet she can be.  she says 'i love you' unprompted to charlie and i and ellie and the dogs.  she always tries to comfort ellie when she's crying.  when ellie was crying the other night because she was having a hard time going to sleep avery was visibly upset.  she kept saying "mommy go get ellie and bring her downstairs".  she wants to feed ellie.  the other day she fed her yogurt and a few days later a banana.  pretty sweet.  she's nice and polite to other kids at the playground and is really warming up to people she doesn't know.  she holds ellie's hand in the stroller and will ask me to put ellie's song on if she starts to cry.  she can feed the cats on her own and usually does this if i ask her.  she loves to bake and cook and craft.  we made cookies the other day and she kept saying 'i'm so excited to make cookies'.  she also loves to FaceTime and talk on the phone.  it's actually getting difficult to have an actual conversation with anyone when she's around because she wants to monopolize the phone.  the other day she corrected charlie when he said shit, "shoot daddy".  and she is so excited for the holidays this year.     

lately ...

... i love summer.  seriously i cannot say that enough.  i think i could happily move somewhere where it never got below 50 degrees.  it's actually been hot here (for my standards anyway) and we've actually had the ac running.  we usually keep it off if it's below 90 but we've been in the mid-upper 90s these days.  we've been playing in the water table a lot.  both avery and ellie are big fans.  ellie can't really hold her self up yet for long periods of time but she loves splashing away and avery usually does a pretty decent job of sharing with her sister.  she only dumped a bucket of water on her head once! 

...  blueberries were on sale the last time we went grocery shopping.  i feel like this never happens so i bought a bunch and we made blueberry pie.  and then we ate it for breakfast for the next few days.



... sleep.  oh infant sleep.  this is just about the only part of parenting in the first year that i don't like.  sleep is so amazing when it's good and so awful when it's bad.  i'm trying to transition ellie to her crib after 8 months of cosleeping and i'm not sure if it's harder on me than on her.  i physically miss her when she's not in our bed although i do love not sleeping in one position all night long and waking up with my arm asleep.  there's been a bit of crying involved in this transition and i hate listening to her cry.  i just feel awful.  and guilty.  but, i think she'll sleep better on her own and honestly she's waking up after every sleep cycle if i'm not physically next to her so i know she needs to learn to put herself back to sleep.  this is just a hard topic for me and i'm hoping she makes the transition okay.





...  i gave the kids their first dual bath the other night and it was amazing.  i don't know why i didn't do this months ago.  they both really enjoyed it.  well, avery didn't enjoy when i washed her hair but she never does.  i'm hoping this will make bath nights a little easier on all of us, especially when charlie's gone.  the non-slip mat made a huge difference for ellie in the tub since i didn't have to worry about her falling all over the place.





...  avery wanted to try on halloween costumes the other day.  ellie's going to be a bear this year since we have the costume from avery's first year and i'm not about to buy another one since i'll be lucky if she wears it for 10 minutes.  she hated it but we're hoping she'll warm up to it come october.  in her defense it was about 85 degrees and that costume is pretty hot!  avery loved her leopard costume from last year and has been asking to wear it again but she keeps telling me that she wants to be a purple butterfly this year.  i'll have to try and come up with something since she's been pretty consistent.  we've been reading halloween books since june so she's pretty psyched for the holiday already.  she also was insisting that i get out henry's costume, too, but i managed to talk her out of that one.  i can only torture him one day a year.  



...  we've been doing a few things around the house this summer, too!  after not doing anything for a solid four months after ellie was born we've had the outside painted (something it needed very badly), our deck restained, replaced our storm door, replaced a few lights (4 and and more to come!), rearranged some furniture, and hung some lights on our deck.  i need to do another house updated post just to keep track of the things we've done.







...  we took the kids to heritage square last weekend.  charlie was excited because avery actually wanted to ride the rides this year, unlike last year when she would only get on the merry-go-round.  but it was really hot and we got way too many tickets so we decided to play put-put since it required a bunch of tickets.  we did this last year, too, and avery basically just ran around the whole time while charlie and i played the course.  but this year ellie was over it by the time we went to play golf so i left avery and charlie to play on their own while i went to go feed ellie.  apparently avery was hot so she only wanted to play the holes that were in the shade, which was sort of a problem since there were other people who were actually trying to play.  she came back and told me that "daddy said we have to go home because i didn't listen".  funny, only because apparently he never told her that at all.  i think basically she just wanted to eat ice cream and then head back to the air conditioned car at this point.  after lunch we headed out and both kids slept for over an hour in the car while we drove home and packed their pool stuff, stopped at target for a few things, and then headed to the pool.  

vacation roundup part two: new york + maryland 2014

i have a bunch more pictures that i wanted to include even though we didn't do a lot more things.  i'm always amazed how jam-packed my days can feel when i'm taking care of kids even though i don't actually accomplish that much and the same was said for our days visiting family.  my dad and charlie were only in town until the sunday after the fourth and the kids and i stayed until the next friday.  we took them to cabin john park, which is right by my parents house.  it's such an amazing place for kids and always makes me wish we had a great park like that by us.  the playgrounds are amazing and the train is, of course, a huge attraction for avery each year.  i saw a few friends, and we visited my aunt's house were avery rode her first pony.  i was way more excited than she was about this but i was just excited that she actually got on this time.  we spent a lot of time at home, no complaints here, those are always some of my favorite moments and they seem especially nice since they're some of the most peaceful moments of the day.  

ellie's first time in a swing!

grandma made her a frog and toad and bought her the books to go along with them and avery insisted on sleeping with them.

i have an almost identical picture to this from 4 years ago.  i'll have to dig it up.

this little lady really liked her grandpa marcus.  he even taught her how to stick out her tongue.

getting ready for the train ride at cabin john.

charlie was psyched. 

my mom dug out a few dolls and avery pushed them up and down the driveway approximately a million times. 

hopscotch fail.

this little lady was happy enough to watch all of the sidewalk chalk, baby doll playing, and wagon trips up and down the driveway. 

my mom made some amazing food as usual.  i'm still at shock that i actually have to meal plan and grocery shop again.  i really enjoyed a two week break from all of that. 

all the babies!  we made a trip to southern maryland to see one of my best friends from college.  i cannot believe we have four kids between us.  it was so nice to spend the day together, especially because we parent pretty similarly and it is always somewhat a relief to be around someone who parents the same way as you do.  bonus points if they don't mind that your toddler runs around naked.  

a sleeping baby.  adorable.



this picture looks cute but really they were not into sharing with each other.  two year olds don't believe in sharing.



and more babies! this little dude is three months younger than ellie and managed to survive her smacking him repeatedly on the head.



as much as it was nice to see everyone we are really happy to me home.  the kids never sleep all that well when we're traveling.  they always seem to not adjust to the time change at night and yet adjust pretty quickly in the morning, which means they basically lose 2 hours of sleep a day from waking up so darn early.  i can't complain too much because avery slept in my mom's room while we were in town so she had to deal with her early morning shenanigans, while ellie and i got some extra sleep.  we all shared a room in ny and avery was pretty horrible about actually going to sleep.  odd because at home she puts herself to sleep just fine.  i was a little worried that when we got back home she would be asking for 'snuggles and hand holding' but as soon as we got back she went back to her usual ways, thank goodness.  although she is waking up really early, at least she's going to bed before 9 pm.