Halloween recap

For the second year in a row, C was a bumblebee. He liked it, I liked it (it was a hand-me-down so I love the free part even more) so we had a winner. He wore it all day - we went to visit my Grandma in the morning so she could see the kids in their costumes - and took his nap in it and wanted to wear it to bed.

I wasn't planning to take C trick-or-treating - DH was out of town, and my sister R and her almost-fiance B were here to help with the kids and pass out treats. So, C was dressed in his costume and eating dinner and snacks, and at one point during the evening said with much excitement after one group of kids came by that he wanted to go trick-or-treating! He needed his shoes!" Find shoes! Put shoes on! Go trick-or-treating!" My sis said they would be fine if I wanted to take him to a few houses, so off we went!

We went across the street to the sweet older couple (one of the neighbors thinks they are in their 90s - I think maybe mid-late 80s) who had set up some folding chairs in their garage with a big box of treats between them. It was raining outside, and we still got a pretty good turnout. Maybe 30ish kids or more? I forgot to count. (We usually had in the single digits in VA, and some years none at all.) Anyway, back to trick-or-treating. We headed out, and C happily went across the street with his pumpkin in hand. He was so excited; it was very cute! I hadn't officially met the neighbors yet, but they were happy to see us and the woman said she and her husband had planned to stop over when there was a lull to introduce themselves. We chatted for a few minutes and C received 2 bags of chips. After we turned around to leave, C saw some other kids headed to our front door. He headed straight back home yelling "I trick-or-treated!!! I trick-or-treated!!!!" He didn't seem at all interested in going anywhere else, so we just stayed at the house where he ate his 2 bags of chips, and a short while later went to bed.

Happy as a clam with his chips!

Meanwhile, G hung out in her flower costume and smiled, and eventually just hung out in her bumbo. She is such a good baby!

And as I'm typing this, C wanted to come sit with me so he's on my lap, and after seeing the
photos, told me that when R and B came over, he ate hummus. Yup, that was one of the snacks. Oh, the things he remembers! :)

Hope you all had a nice Halloween! Can you believe it's November??

Conversations (3)

Apparently I am terrible at leaving drafts unpublished. I found this one from way back in the fall - hence the Jack-o-Lantern song!... it still makes me smile. :)

C during breakfast:
"I go for a walk.
I find a stick.
I play the cello."

Lately he's been pausing after he finds said stick to sit somewhere while I sing the Jack-o-Lantern song and he plays the air cello.

Yes, definitely the son of a musician! :)

Me to C while feeding G -
Me: C, will you go get G's blue chair for me downstairs?
(DH and I read in one of our books that kids need to take a moment to process things before they can respond, so I waited patiently until I saw his face light up that he understood.
C turned around to head downstairs then he turned back and said "Pleeeeease?" (as a reminder to me to say please!)
Me: Yes, sorry, please!!


C: Bong, bong, bong, bong
Me: Are you a clock?
C: Bong, bong, bong, bong.... good grief!! (And then I think he said something about "o'clock".)
I couldn't figure out for the life of me where he got that... until I was reading a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and it's in part of the book. Oh, the things they focus on!


C: (looking at one of those black and white picture book for babies) Baby Hedgehog!
Me: What did you say?
C: Baby hedgehog!!
Me: thinking for a minute... oh my goodness! The velcro fastener! He has a touch-and-feel baby animal book and the last page is a baby hedgehog... you guessed it, it feels like a piece of velcro!

October Fun - 2.5 and 6 months!

It's so hard to believe, but our sweet girl is 6 months as of Saturday! She is such an amazing baby - she's calm and rarely fussy except when she's hungry and we're not moving fast enough to get the bottle, and if she's tired or has a messy diaper. Other than that, she's very low-key.

6 months old!

He keeps poking at her cheeks to "help her smile"

C often asks to hold G. It's so sweet. And he never wants to let her go!

Sometimes she grabs his ear, which makes him laugh.

We had fun this past weekend at the pumpkin patch - C loves pumpkins lately and points them out anytime he sees one. :) Here are some shots of our afternoon:

picture of all of us looking at the camera? nope.

he cracks me up :)

He wanted nothing to do with riding in the wagon until we pulled it all the way back down to the car.
At the car he wanted to get in. DH let him ride in it back to the drop-off. Toddlers. :)

Thank goodness for continuous shooting mode so I have a chance of getting at least a few good shots! :) I also purchased a few mini pumpkins and gourds for decorations. C decided that one of the pumpkins needed to take a nap with him. Into the bed it went! Again, toddlers. :)

Stats for G at 6 months:
Still a little peanut but I'm loving her chubby cheeks and chubby thighs! :) Weight - around 14 pounds I think? We'll see in 2 weeks. Still loving her homemade formula but going to try sweet potatoes this week to see how she does! She eats between 6 and 7 oz, 4 times a day. Twice in the morning, once after her afternoon nap, and right before bed. Sleeps - FANTASTIC. I cannot imagine a better baby. She takes a quick 20-30 minute nap mid-morning, another nap in the afternoon for 2 1/2-3 hours and goes down for the night between 7-7:30. And she sleeps ALL night. 12-13 hours usually. She's been doing since almost 3 months old. I wish I was a little more disciplined to go to bed earlier to take advantage of it, haha. :) She's gotten much better at tolerating tummy time, and has been rolling over to her back for a while now, and is so close to rolling from back to tummy. I thought she might have once, but then I wasn't sure if C "helped"! She loves to lay on her back on her play mat. She's been sitting in the high chair next to us at dinner which she seems to like more than the bouncer. Maybe she wanted to be at our level? Like her brother, she's been super healthy, but also like her brother, she is going to need a helmet. She started developing a flat spot around 2 months, and despite repositioning, she has a pretty substantial flat spot. We had it evaluated last week and hopefully will get her star band later this week or early next. Of all the things to be upset about, this is definitely not one of them. I'm going to miss the close snuggles, but cannot complain after seeing what so many parents go through with their children. Also of note, we also had our home study meeting this morning - we had to update our home study since we moved, and we are praying that our attorney will be able to file for finalization in early November. In PA we have to appear in court for finalization (we didn't have to appear in VA), and we are then praying for a court date before the end of the year! This morning's meeting went really well! We have been so fortunate with our agency.

Stats for C at 2 1/2 years:
Height - 3 feet. Weight - pretty steady around 33/34 pounds. Potty training- we tried a few weeks ago, but he was definitely not ready for underwear. He was happy to sit on the potty, get up and wash his hands, then sit back down, but nothing in the potty yet. Since we were using a kids seat on the big potty, I bought kids potty to see if he likes it better. When we brought it home he wanted his underwear, but it was right before nap time so that was out. Our weekend schedule is pretty light in a few weeks so we may try again then when DH & I can both be home all day. Things he likes - hockey (playing with Daddy), soccer (he and Daddy often play after work while I'm getting dinner ready), and taking walks outside. He loves picking up rocks and sticks, and the sticks are still often his "cello bow". He still is content to sit and listen to music - or me play the piano - and "play cello." He found my claves and drumsticks last week and those have entered into the "cello bow" rotation. :) He eats and eats and eats - he has so much energy and loves to dance around. His vocabulary and comprehension is soaring - it's amazing the things he remembers- just the other day he asked me if I remembered something about the old house (in VA). More than anything he loves seeing his aunties and Grandma and Granddad, and Nana and playing with some of my youngest cousins (one is 5 years older than him!). He has his toddler moments - the lightning changes in mood can drive me crazy :) - but overall is just a very happy kid and it is so fun to see him grow and change. He also loves going to Mass - tells me he's taking my keys and car to "go to church". He can say the Our Father without prompting, and most of the Hail Mary and Glory Be. He can never go down for a nap or bed without saying his prayers, and he loves the Guardian Angel prayer too. He finds Crosses everywhere. He saw one as part of the stairwell in a church we visited recently and went over to kiss it. Oh, he melts my heart!!

Happy 6 months and 2 1/2 years to our sweet kiddos! Time is moving so quickly!!

Photos of C and G :)

Aren't you glad it's Friday? This year DH's company changed some of their vacation policies so this year he gets the national holidays off. It was nice to have a short week! :) This weekend we're going to try to get out (as long as it doesn't rain) to pick pumpkins. Other than that, we don't have plans. I'm looking forward to getting a few things hung around the house - a mirror in the dining room and some other art/photos.

And now for a few photos of C & G! I realized I haven't been as good at taking photos of G as I did of C (poor second child) so I've been making an effort to take more. Keeping my camera in an accessible place helped. :) They change so quickly and I don't want to miss anything!

a sweet little girl found her sweet little toes!

tummy time

G, let me help you smile

Stop it, C! (not happy about the help)

See, I can smile when I want to!

Happy Friday - hope you all have a great weekend! :)

Conversations (1)

Conversation #1:

C was holding a little pocket mirror of mine that lately is his "phone." He holds it up to his ear and talks away. Today I heard him saying as he looked at it "checking email." He was moving his little thumb over the surface as if he was typing. I asked him to tell me what he was doing and clear as day he said "checking email."

Conversation #2 (a few minutes later)

C while looking at the "phone" and holding it to his mouth "Call. Call mobile." Apparently I use the voice dial feature more often than I thought! After a while he said "Call. Call. Grandma." And then - and at this point I died laughing - "Call. Call. Parrot." Yup. He wanted to call the Pirate Parrot, who is apparently his BFF since we met him at the ALS walk a few weeks ago.

I will add that he also met Iceburg last Saturday at the Pens practice that was open to the public. He didn't call Iceburg, but he does remember that he blew him a kiss.

2 year olds! They are too funny!

22 months, a little late :)

Height: 33 1/2 inches, as measured this past weekend by Granddad. :)

Weight: 31 pounds.

Clothes: 2T mostly. He can still fit into a few 24 month shirts, but not many pants that size!

Eats: Everything. He loves apples these days and bananas and asks for them constantly. Dates too, if he catches a glimpse of them in the fridge. If it doesn't eat him first, he'll eat it. Oh, and he asks for milk all the time too. We had to up our cow share!

Health: Feeling great these days! His skin is a bit dry if I don't remember to put lotion on after his baths, but I'm sure that's mostly because of the weather. My skin is crazy dry too. Can't wait for spring!

Sleep: Great unless we are traveling. Still goes to bed between 6:30-7:30 and usually gets up between 7-8. We keep his bedroom at home really dark with blackout shades, which I think helps him sleep better. We also still use a white noise machine still at night which I think soothes him. We took it with us at Thanksgiving and Christmas and now it's a staple on my packing list! He still takes 1 afternoon nap - the closer to 2 hours, the better! If he wakes up before 1 1/2 hours, he usually wants to cuddle for a while in a blanket, which is very sweet. :)

Teeth: Finally his last molar has poked through. I can't say I noticed that he was fussy about it.

What I love about this age: He is still SO affectionate these days - giving lots of kisses and hugs. He will often grab my arm or hand to give me a kiss to apologize if I have to tell him no and he knows he's in trouble. :) He's also been very clingy the last month or two. He definitely doesn't want me out of his sight! I've had a few people watch him other than me and he hasn't been happy at all that I was leaving. Breaks my heart! He also likes to give fist bumps accompanied by the word "boom!" He'll say "Boom, Mommy, Boom!" Or "Boom, Daddy, Boom!" So funny.

Words and Milestones: His language is exploding. I think the milestone for age 2 is supposed to be 50 words, and I'm pretty sure he already has that many, or is very close. He loves asking for cars accompanied with "zoom" sounds. His newest thing is singing songs - the ABC/Twinkle Twinkle/Baa-Baa-black sheep melody - and he really gets all the notes and rhythms! He's been singing that for about a month now. He's also started singing the melody to Brahm's lullaby in the last 2 weeks - also getting those notes, and using some of the words that DH & I have made up to go along with it. DH always sings that song to him at night, so he asks for it by singing it for us if we stop singing it when we put him to bed!

Here he is "playing" the ABC's on the "piano"(it's a pencil and paper holder - DH caught him playing on it for a few minutes a few weeks ago!) - you can hear him singing, haha. :)

And some photos from the last few weeks:

Valentine's Day

Helping Daddy build his Rogue box in the garage.
He LOVED the glue and kept wanting to help!

Wearing his heartbreaker tee again as he went to lunch
at a teahouse with me and some of his aunts/grandmas!
He ate right before we arrived and was only interested in playing with the ice!

Helping Grandma decorate for St. Patrick's day - he found a funny bow tie!

C, you are LOVED so much!!! I am so blessed to be your mom!!!

Making cookies :)

C loves helping in the kitchen - he loves to lean over and sniff the pot when something is on the stove, and he especially loves making cookies! And eating the batter. :) And checking them out in the oven when I turn the light on. My sister R was here this weekend and she took a few photos of our fun!

Wearing Daddy's apron - I'm working on making him his own!

He kept sticking his tongue out and giggling!

Hurry up Mom! I'm hungry!

These cookies were made using sunbutter - a peanut butter substitute. Honey, not sugar was used as the sweetener and they are delicious! We've already made them 4 times, and C gets very excited when he sees the cookie jar on the counter! :) I used the recipe from the Against All Grain cookbook, but here is a similar recipe on the author's website). Mine were plain since I can't eat chocolate. And yes, as mentioned on the site - my cookies did have a bit of green in the middle due to the sunbutter and baking soda, haha. I think I'll omit the lemon juice entirely next month for St. Patrick's Day. :-D

Happy Monday!

Happy Halloween!

From the resident bumblebee!

Liked to hand out treats!

Loved seeing himself in the piano, haha :)

Happy Halloween!!!

17 months!

I'm a little late posting this, but I can't believe C is 17 months! He is such a delight. Here are his stats:

Height: 33 inches, I think. It's hard to get him to stretch out on the floor on the yard stick!

Weight: Around 27 pounds. Holding steady. I have no idea how given how much he eats, but then I look at him running around from the time he gets up to the time he goes to bed and figure he's burning it off and then some!

Clothes: Mostly 24 month clothes, although he still fits into some 18-mo shirts - depends on the brand. Just bought some new shoes - size 7 and a pair of Crocs, size 6/7.  And I scored big at a local consignment sale- jeans, pants, a winter coat, a winter vest, some shirts and PJs size 24 months and 2T. Since he wears cloth diapers the 2T pants fit better around his rear, but they are too long. I'll probably end up hemming them rather than just folding them up.

Eats: Everything. Literally. For a while he wasn't too crazy about salmon - but maybe it was because we still mixed it with avocado. He started asking for it when we grilled it a few weeks back and hasn't turned back. Yay! He loves butternut squash and points to it when I open the fridge, and raw green peppers. I am seriously amazed - I didn't like green peppers myself until a few years ago. If it doesn't eat him first, he'll eat it.

Health: We were playing with his diet for a bit this summer- he got eczema late last spring which we attributed to strawberries. It didn't seem to go completely away, but now it seems more like dry skin, rather than the eczema. As long as I lotion him after each bath, and sometimes in the morning as well, his skin looks good. Also, he got his first "illness" in August. The only symptom was really messy diapers - which gave him a bit of a yeast infection when he made a mess in the middle of the night and didn't fuss to wake us up. By the time I changed him in the morning, poor thing was not in good shape. An anti-fungal cream worked well. The messy diapers were caused by a very small and rare bug - cryptosporidium. Kind of crazy - the health department even called because it is so rare. We figured it would be almost impossible to track down the source - he had been in local pools, the lake and outside all summer around the time he probably caught it. In any case, we actually started making his formula again for a few days - adding all the oils and probiotic, and giving him bone broth in some of his food and it cleared up. So... boo.. his first illness, I guess, but no drugs/antibiotics other than the OTC cream.

Sleep: Great here! I wish he would take his afternoon nap without me lying down next to him, but he still sleeps in our bed during the day because it's darker there. But he usually naps from 2-2 1/2 hours. Sleep at night is awesome - anywhere from 12-13 hours! He goes down between 7 and 7:30 and isn't up until close to 8. It's a nice change from the 6 am wake-ups during the spring and early summer!

Teeth: The gums over his molars are so swollen, but none have popped through yet. I've been making him popsicle smoothies and he gets one of those each day - hopefully it helps. He is fussy every now and then, but it's not bad.

What I love about this age: He is SO affectionate these days - always coming over to give me kisses... on my knees if I'm sitting down... it's so, so sweet. And sometimes when I tell him no, haha. I tell him "no", he pauses, then comes over and hugs my leg and gives me a kiss. "Why do you tell me no, Mama? I love you, I love you, smooch, smooch." What a charmer. :) Also, I love that he is so full of energy. He wakes up cheerful most days and gives me a huge grin and jumps up and down when I go in to get him out of bed in the morning. He runs and runs and runs around the house. His latest is running around things - usually a chair or his learning tower in the kitchen. He's started climbing, and stepping on and off curbs without holding onto anything. He LOVES playing the piano. He'll sit on the bench and plunk away for up to 20 minutes sometimes. And he loves going into our garage - our "gym" and imitating me or DH.

Words: The usual,  - Dada, Mama, Ball, "E-sus", "icky", my sis R's nickname, and I forget what else. He sometimes sings when he plays the piano - random syllables, but I love it. And he'll sing back to me the five note solfege pattern - so, fa, mi, re, do. (Always descending, no ascending notes yet). Sometimes he absolutely nails the pitches too! Woo-hoo for a little singer! He's learned to sign "more" and "please" consistently, which makes for a less whiny mealtime when he wants more!

Some photos from the last few weeks/weekends:

Running with Daddy at the park

I know I cut off his head on this one, but I love that grin!

Happy little boy :)

A trip to visit family last weekend:

 Holding sweet cousin, M. :)

On the move

More on the move. It's blurry, but I still love this shot.

An attempt at an official "17 months" pose.

And... fail.

Loves Auntie R!

And finally... because ONE has been such fun...

On our way to the post office...

That's right! We're ready for #2!!! :)