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.         

ellie: 10 months

oh my, so late.  sorry elle.  we still love you loads. this is basically 10.5 months but i'm sure you'll forgive me, right?  i could make this really short and say YOU ARE SO MUCH FUN and I LOVE THIS AGE.  in fact the only thing i don't love about this age is that your sleep is still not so good. but here are a few details anyway.

...  you are talking!  you say mommy, daddy, doggie (this sounds a lot like daddy), baa baa (for sheep although you say this randomly all the time anyway), and cat.  i really do love this milestone.  so fun. 

...  you're still a crawling machine.  you're fast and you get where you want to go no questions asked. 

...  you're climbing stairs.  uh-oh.  

...  you're pulling up on anything and everything and starting to walk with your walker a bit.  you will also walk when you hold our hands and you get the proudest smile on your face when you do this.  

...  you 'read' books.  you like me to read to you and you turn the pages and you will also flip through on your own.  board books are pretty much the only ones that are safe around you.

...  you love to wrestle with your daddy.  avery too if she's gentle enough.  

...  you are a really tough kid.  you don't cry for much (except when you don't get your way).  in fact at one time this month avery hit you in the face because you took her toy and your lip started bleeding.  you didn't even think about crying but you did give her a look like, 'oh hell no'.  i think she's in trouble when you get bigger.

...  speaking of toys you love to play with anything and everything your sister is into.  we're constantly hearing from avery that "i'm frustrated!" and i get it.  but thankfully when she's in the mood you guys are starting to play together nicely.  this usually involves her dictating the game and giving and taking toys away from you at random but you're usually amused enough by her made up games that you play along for a bit.

...  you eat everything.  you're eating three meals a day and i usually just give you whatever we're eating unless it's really hard or tough to chew.  dinner is your favorite meal and i'm always impressed with how much food you can actually eat. 

...  you have three teeth.  two on the bottom and one on the top.  

...  you do not like sleeping without me.  you've regressed to waking up after a short period of time after i put you to bed and you will scream your face off as long as you deem necessary (until i come and rescue you).  we probably need to night wean at some point but i'm not mentally ready for that battle yet.  

...  you hate the car and only tolerate the stroller when you're tired enough to be sleeping.  i really hate driving anywhere longer than 20 minutes with you because there's a change you'll scream the whole way.  i moved you into a convertible carseat this month in hopes that it would help but no such luck.  

...   you love ollie and like to lay your head down on his fluffy, fat belly.  he's pretty good with you, too.  the rest of the animals are a distant second to him.  

you love your sister, your dad, and i'm guessing me, too.  and we have loved watching you grow.  lately we've been thinking that there's a good chance you'll be our last baby, which is sort of bittersweet.  it's made me cherish those snuggles that i get from you even more and worry a little less about when you'll start sleeping through the night.  you are the sweetest baby and as hard as those first few months were with you these past few have been so sweet and happy.  love you big e.   

ellie: 9 months

happy 9 months, elle.  i feel like this was a huge month for you, filled with lots of changes.  i cannot believe how fast you are growing and changing.  

... the biggest change this month is that you are full on crawling.  you started right after your 8 month 'birthday' so by now you're not only on the move, but really fast, and really good at it.  you crawl 'normally' and have officially mastered the cross-crawl.  you are literally moving all over the house, from room to room, eating all the dirt you can find and messing with your big sister any chance you get.  i thought that crawling would make you a happier baby and i was right, but man it is exhausting chasing you around all day.

...  you're also pulling up on anything and you even try and stand on your own, which hasn't been successful for you yet but i can't believe you're even trying.  you like to try and stand from a sitting position and you also love to pull up on all furniture and people.  

...  your sleeping sucks.  i started having you sleep in your crib for at least the first portion of the night right before you turned 8 months and i really didn't think that you would be screaming your face off a month later.  i will nurse you and rock you and then put you down in your crib and about 50% of the time you'll wake up, pull up on your crib and scream for a while.  i've tried going back in to rock you or pat your back but that never worked because you never really fell back asleep and would always start screaming the second i left your room.  ugh.  i hate this part of parenting but i know that you need your sleep and letting you cry a bit before you fall asleep on your own seems like the only thing that's going to work for you.  one thing that's slightly hilarious/annoying is that you almost always fall asleep sitting up and holding onto the crib.  it drives me nuts that you won't lay down to sleep after all of this but i've learned that going back into your room to try and lay you down only makes things worse.  you're napping twice a day.  the morning nap is often on the go but your afternoon nap is usually your longer one at home.  you prefer that i lay with you for this nap and i really need to work on getting you to nap alone so you don't develop the same bad habit that your sister had of needed to be held through her entire nap.

...  you have a tooth!  finally.  and i actually thinking you're working on more with the crappy sleep and the constant chewing on everything.  

...  you're eating just about anything these days although i've been much less structured about feeding you than i was with feeding avery.  you don't really like purees from the spoon so all of that baby food that i made is still in the freezer.  luckily avery likes it so i know it won't go to waste.  you love eating solid foods and i can usually feed you some chunks of whatever we're eating.  you also have started to like pouches, so i've been buying those too since it's easier to get more fruits and veggies into you that way.  you're still nursing approximately a million times a day/night so i know you're getting a lot of nutrients through that, too. 

...  you took your first road trip this month and did pretty good.  you slept terribly, but did pretty well in the car although we did have some rough moments.  feeding you puffs seemed to keep you entertained for a bit and you eventually fell asleep, too. 

...  you are one determined child.  you know what you want and you're going to get it.  you will throw a fit if we take something away from you and you have no problem attempting to push avery around if she's in your way or not 'sharing' with you.  i actually have to watch you two pretty closely because you're officially into everything and she officially hates it.  

...  but despite that you really love your sister.  your face lights up when you see her and you love to touch her, play with her, wrestle around with her, and basically do all the things that she's doing.  she's actually not all that into you at the moment with is a little heartbreaking as a parent but i'm hoping she'll warm up to you more once you can actively play with her. 

...  you are a physical kid.  your favorite game is to flop around on our bed and wrestle with your dad.  you'll throw yourself backwards and you think it's the funniest thing ever.  you're constantly banging your head on things and scratching yourself.  luckily you seem to be pretty tough and get over things quickly.

...  you're getting to be weary of strangers.  you like to people watch but if they make eye contact with you you'll start crying.  i think you prefer me to other people but you really love your daddy, too.  i'm so thankful that you're so into him at this point.

...  you love baths.  you will seriously throw a fit if i don't get you in the tub fast enough and you always scream when i take you out.  you splash around like crazy and love all of the toys that we have.  this is actually one of the few times that you and your sister play nicely together. 

...  you also started climbing stairs this month.  woah kid, too fast.  our house in telluride had two stairs from the den to the kitchen and you quickly mastered going up those but would then face plant down them.  uh oh.  you haven't attempted to do this since we got home but it's only been a day.  :)  i think we might have to invest in some baby gates for you.

happy 9 months baby girl.  we love you!

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.  

ellie: 8 months

8 months feels like she's almost in toddlerhood.  a little too soon for that but wow has she changed in the last month.  i feel like from 6-7 months there wasn't a lot happening for her but from 7-8 she's just grown bigger and gotten older.  i can really see the one year old she'll soon become.  and as always, these ages remind me so much of how i love the second half of the first year.  some of my sweetest moments with avery were in those six months and this is proving true for ellie, too. 

... she isn't crawling but is about as mobile as she can get without being able to crawl.  she rolls all over the place and goes from sitting to laying down and back to sitting easily.  she can get pretty far between this and inching and scooting her way around and it's no longer safe to put her on the couch or bed and walk away.  she wants to crawl badly and is so very close.  

...  she is really into standing and pulling herself up.  she's not quite able to pull herself up on anything yet.  she'll do it all day while holding your hands and has even let go a couple of times! woah kid, too soon! but i caught her successfully pulling herself up in her crib on the monitor the other night and had to drop her crib down the next day.

...  between the two things above this has been a very frustrating month for her.  she wants to badly to be fully mobile but just can't quite figure it out yet and there is a lot of crying in frustration because of it. 

...  she had her first plane ride (three actually!) this month and did great.  

...  she also spent the night away from home for the first time and did pretty well.  thank you cosleeping. 

...  she definitely prefers to be in my company but doesn't seem to be dealing with the same separation anxiety that avery was at this age.  she is happy enough to go to other people or be held by other people and she absolutely loves charlie.  he picked us up at the airport the other night after we were away for a week and she gave him the biggest grin and squeals as soon as she saw him.  it was pretty cute.  

...  she really isn't eating that much as far as solid foods go.  with avery we did a mix of baby led weaning and purees and i think because of that she was eating a lot more at this age.  ellie's usually eating once a day 1-2 ounces of food.  i would feed her more but she's had some trouble adjusting to digesting it and honestly she refuses it a lot.  i know she'll get there eventually and i'm just glad she's breastfeeding well enough that i don't worry about her getting enough to eat.

...  she plays really well on her own especially if someone is in the room with her.  lately avery has been playing with her, so long as ellie plays along with whatever game avery's dreamed up, and it's both cute to watch and nice because it entertains them both!

...  she had her first successful pool trip this month.  we've tried a few times before but we finally were able to get her in the water without her screaming so that was nice.  she loved just sitting in the shallow water and splashing around. 

...  she also had her first beach trip but she didn't do much other than lounge on the blanket and then fall asleep in the ergo.  i even forgot to put her in the sand and i'm so mad about that!

...  she's usually napping twice a day.  her morning nap is pretty short.  longer if she's in the stroller or the car but i can't usually get her to sleep past 20 minutes at home.  the afternoon nap is usually 2 to 2.5 hours and the longer the better or else she's pretty cranky by bedtime. 

...  nighttime sleep has been interesting.  we've still been cosleeping mostly but a few days ago i decided that for both of our sakes she needed to start sleeping in her crib for at least the first stretch of night time sleep.  i know she'll wake up to eat in the middle of the night and i'm fine with that.  the crib adjustment has not been easy (or successful) for either of us but i'm trying to keep at it because i know the longer i wait the harder it will be for her.  also, i could use a few hours to myself in bed and i know charlie is over the tiptoeing into our room when we're ready for bed. so, we're trying but it's not easy. 

...  i'm not sure how much she weighs.  charlie and his mom both mentioned that she looked like she went through a growth spurt but she's still pretty tiny.  she's wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes but some 3-6s still fit and she has a few 12 months that she wears, too.  no doubt she'll be a small one just like her sister. 

happy 8 months, elle.  i cannot begin to explain how much i love you and how happy i am that you're a part of our family.  life is just so much better with you in it and i love all the time that i spend with you, even those 3 am snuggles.  especially those 3 am snuggles.    

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.