balance beam- no problem!

My friend Amanda e-mailed this photo that she took of Bear at gymnastics this morning. I also took a couple, which I will upload later. Her expression cracks me up- she looks bored.

standing!

Buddy has been trying to pull himself up on furniture for at least the past week. I set him down to play in the living room yesterday morning, and a couple of minutes later, I returned to find this:
It wasn't a fluke, either. I found him standing in his crib after naptime. Daddy lowered the mattress to the bottom setting before bedtime. Yes, our boy has mastered standing on his own two feet... with support from objects.

Big sis made sure Buddy had plenty of bath toys

2 teeth!

watch out, world, here comes our little man!

He's mastered the army crawl... He slides on his belly, gets wherever he needs to go... I can't wait til he figures out that he'll go faster with he tummy off the ground. Ok, yes I can....

God bless the older gentleman at Costco...

he's the first person in a LONG time who has asked me if Bear's curls are natural. This was as she handed him my receipt for verification and then returned it to me. He was charmed like a soldier watching Shirley Temple in one of her movies.

I'm beginning to think of Costco as a necessary evil. There are certain things that ARE worth buying there, especially with coupons. But the cost per package is usually high enough that it's $100+ a visit (way + today)..... and that always give Daddy receipt shock. On the bright side, we won't run ot of wipes or diapers anytime soon (I don't normally buy them there, but they had a $9 off coupon that made it worth it.)

almost...

he's almost crawling! he kicks his little legs and waves his little arms, pushes himself up on those cute little arms and kicks those cute legs some more, shaking his little tush and grunting his quiet little baby boy grunt... then he decides to roll over and reach for the trash can instead of the toy he had been aiming for.... oh, wait... now he's doing the running man crawl (in place) and squeaking trying to get to the power cords. time to intervene...

stylin'

Our little girl has her own unique sense of style. Sometimes, she is girly; other times, not so much. She's a good mix. Well, her hair has been increasingly difficult to brush, so today I decided to take her to the local less expensive salon for a cut. It turned out to be another trim, and she seemed a little nervous having a man cut her hair while the lady who cut it last time helped another customer. Plus, it was busy, unlike her first haircut, when we had the place all to ourself.

while we were gone, a neighbor dropped off this cute gift for her


and earlier in the day:

My friend Kirsten and I slinging our baby boys!
She and her family just adopted her sweet boy from Ethiopia. He has the sweetest smile and cutest curls! And a very proud big brother, too!
Someday Buddy will hate that I put pink bunny ears on him. But sis didn't want them at the moment, and Daddy certainly would not wear them!

sis decided to wear her ears after all. and the rainboots came in handy in the wet backyard where the egg hunt took place.

spring comes in like a lion..

has a whole new meaning in this house.

This post contains a bit TMI, so if you are easily grossed out or offended, stop here and come back later....

Whether it's the formula feeding or some genetic cause, my babies are not typically "loose."
Well, after a bottle and some jarred apricots/apples/pear mix, that changed quite quickly. Buddy was playing on a blanket, and as I approached him, I could smell something... very quickly, I was glad I had not taken up that blanket off the floor....

"oh, no, mommy... it's a disaster!!!!" big sis exclaimed,
along with, "Eeww, Buddy stinks. That is SOOO gross!" She is such a girl!

actually, in spite of the fact that we were getting ready to go to an easter egg hunt, we actually had plenty of time built in. so "disaster" was a bit melodramatic. Nasty mess, yes, disaster, no.

"what's the big deal, dad?"

Hubby took care of the bathing duties while I tackled the laundry.... I was soo tempted to just trash the outfit, but it's only the 2nd or 3rd time it was worn, and I couldn't throw out his cute overalls. So into the prewash cycle they went, shortly followed by all the other items that needed some TLC...

The house didn't even stink when we returned from the egg hunt and Costco.

check-up/sick visit

Buddy's 6 month check-up and shots were at 7 months. He's 16 1/2 lbs, 27 inches long, and Doc said he's developmentally about 6-8 weeks ahead of the minimum goals for kids his age. He's rolling over, lifting his neck up high, and scooting around and rolling really well. He grabs onto and chews anything and everything within reach, but doesn't quite have the pincer grasp mastered yet. He thinks he can eat our food, to the point that he begged for beans and rice at the Mexican restaurant until I fed him some the other night. He inhaled them. He "talks" in his own little language, and I swear he knows how to cry my name. He LOVES his big sister, and doesn't seem to mind her invasions of personal space.

Bear has been fighting the crud on and off all month, and earlier this week she complained of an earache. We had her checked, and sure enough, she has a mild ear infection. Her first in a long time... like 2 years +. She hated seeing her brother hurt as he was given her shots, and was such a brave girl when they drew her blood that we split a flurry at McDonalds after the appointment. She weighs 33 pounds, I forgot to ask them to check her height, and since it was a sick check, that's not standard protocol at our office. But she's growing... somewhere between 3t and 4th pants and shirts, but 4t and 5t shorts. She loves all things princess, and her current favorite movie is Barbie and the Diamond Castle... we have it from netflix, and she won't let me send it back.

mommy's boys

I took this tonight. Buddy fell asleep on Daddy. When the camera flashed, he smiled.

Catey's spring break

"Cousin" Catey came over for a couple of days this week. We had lots of fun with her!

Hannah's 1st egg-coloring experience

Hannah was having a rough time; this is the only one where she was almost smiling.

The beads kept sliding under the metal frame for Catey's suncatcher...
it took us 4 tries to get it right...

Silly Hannah with her butterfly on her foot, and Catey's hard-earned suncatcher.
Sweet snuggles

Buddy's first word?

The past couple of days, I swear our little guy has been screaming for me when he wants something. "Mamamamama" is a recurring sound coming out of his mouth. It's usually only used when he's angry. But our friend Catey was here, and she exclaimed, "he's calling you!" I figure that if someone who is not normally around him recognizes it, than it MUST be his first word.

handedness?

I wonder when kids' handedness really starts being noticeable? While taking his bath, Buddy splashed almost entirely with his left hand.

Today, Bear tried to "bowl" on the Wii with her left hand. She had fruit snacks in her right. (Shows where her priorities are.)

pics... week of 3/16/09

she still looks so small from this angle...

practicing on her "balance beam" at home;
it would hurt a lot more if she fell here than at the gym!

evening chat outside- happy st patty's day

"look, mom, the frisbee is kinda like a necklace!"

pretty hyacinths & my pretty girl

the bib says, "grandma never says no!"

Our thinker...

So, Bear wet her bed again last night. Once again, she figured out how to remove the not-so-deterrant door knob cover from her door. She also changed out of her wet pj's all by herself, put on a matching pair of top and bottom, then crawled into bed with us without giving us any indication of the former. It was almost 6:30 a.m., and for some kids, apparently that's a normal time to wake up.

But as she sat on the toilet before breakfast, I noticed something peculiar. She was missing underpants.
(That's when I realized what she was wearing was not the same as what I had last seen her in at bedtime.) Yep, she had changed her outfit, but missed one little detail....

Good and bad

The good news...
Buddy doesn't need antibiotics.
He's growing: at 6 months-ish, he weighs 15 lb 14 oz and is around 26 1/2 inches long.
He doesn't have to have his immunization this week.


The bad news....
His temp hit 103 this afternoon. I noticed his torso felt hot while changing his diaper.
He still got poked at the Doctor's office, and his big sister was almost as hard to console over seeing her brother in pain as he was during the process of being pinned down for the blood draw. I guess that's good news, too, at least she's compassionate.
He has a virus.

1st teeth

You can't see them in photos yet, and I am not willing to work hard enough to get them visible in a photo... but Brandon's bottom two front teeth have broken through.

Here's a pic of him all cozy in his car seat when we returned home from our small group meeting on Sunday:

Here he sports one of his new bibs tonight:

so much for "babyproofing"....

I don't think we'd even had this thing for 2 weeks... and now we will have to put a real lock on the attic door. And we'll probably be playing the "go back to bed" game again at night.

fun day at gymnastics

Bear seems to have fun at gymnastics every week, but this week they brought out the fun inflatables and really disguised learning as fun. There was a big bounce house, tire swing, rope-climbing mountain and tunnel, zip-swing, swinging rope, and of course, the ever favorite foam pit. (Or as Bear calls it, the "stone" pit.) It was interesting to see that my little girl climbed up the ropes this time AND slid down the other side into the foam pit. She was too intimidated to complete the activity last time. However, she still needs to work on following directions... instead of letting go of the rope swing and jumping into the other foam pit, she swung across the pit and back and dropped onto the mat.

rise and shine, mommy!

Bear and Buddy woke up before I did, as usual. When Buddy and I finally made it up to the bonus room, we found Bear in full-fledged organizing mode. At least, as much of one as a 3 year old could possibly be in. You see, we boughtsome plastic storage containers at the Dollar Tree last night. And apparently she remembered that I told her we were going to use them to organize some of her toys with small accessories and parts... Barbies and Princesses, Diego playset, etc...

So here is what I found at the top of the stairs:


As you can see, she couldn't quite fit all of her ponies into a box and tried to balance them next to the castle. After I helped her tweak the sorting arrangement, everything fit. Doesn't she look proud?