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No doesn’t mean yes anymore…

27 Jun

Just a few months ago, CJ was a little confused when it came to head shakes and nods.  We had to decipher the head shake that meant “no” from the head shake the meant “yes”.  Usually the head shake that meant yes, was combined with a smile, so we knew what she meant. But it was always quite silly to see her visually shake her head “no”, knowing she meant yes.

Now, she is smarter.  Her yes’s are a very deliberate, a slow head down, then head up or with a “sssssss”. She has grown extremely independent the past months.  Going from down the the stairs on her tummy (she always used to listen to me when I made the suggestion), to wanting to WALK down the stairs. Walking down the stairs would be ok, if I was right there to give a helping hand.  But, not only does she not want to hold my hand, she doesn’t want me near.  I end up being about 3 steps below her, ready to catch her, if she does fall. Sometimes she will decide to hold your pant leg at the last minute…. Oh, and if you are someone she really likes, that she doesn’t get to see everyday, she will probably hold out her arms and want you to carry her down the stairs.

Now, she is smarter.  Her yes’s are a very deliberate, a slow head down, then head up or with a “sssssss”.

One of my favorite things to do with my babies is go for walks. CJ still likes to get in her stroller, but is in a phase where  after just a little while, she gets antsy and squirms to get out.  Then she wants to push the stroller or walk herself.  Needless to say, this takes a lot longer. I hope I can squeeze out some more long strolls.  I will miss this phase with a passion.

Tonite, CJ set up the boys’ hot wheels ramp and drove the cars down about 10 times with sound effects.  She also like to copy her brothers playing base ball and pitching. Tonite she was pitching to me and I would hit it (more life a drop and a golf swing) then she would go get it and pitch again.  She wanted to be the pitcher and the outfielder, and got mad when M tried to get  the ball.  B was filling his dad’s hat with sand while this was going on.

But she is not all tomboy because she also loves clothes and shoes.  She could spend a half hour trying to put any piece of clothing on her legs.  She is particular about the shoes she wears, and likes the shiny sandals the best. And her babies, they get lots of kisses and feedings, and gentle suggestions to get their thumb to stick in their mouth.

So, my little girl… who now nods yes and means it! She also knows some new words like bubbos (bubbles) skooz ma (excuse me – Ok I heard this only once but it was awesome) and ma (older brothers name). And when she moves her chin down, then up, that means YES!

Summer at Last!

6 Jun

With a dreadfully long and rainy spring, we, like most everyone else, are happy that summer has arrived!  Tonite the kids did some “slip and sliding” and stayed cool with water balloons and garden hose sprayings.

Today was the first day of Summer Rec.  B went for the first time, since he is now 3.  Neil  brought the kids and it went suprisingly well! M has a very full schedule, with today including flag football and swimming lessons.  Although I could tell he was tired, he was so excited and talkative, and happy to have a new routine and meet new friends.  Tomorrow he is excited to be in a couple non-sport classes, like computer lab and kids in the kitchen.

We had so much fun at the lake this weekend. First of all, I am totally impressed by my boys fishing skills.  M got several bass off the dock, proudly stating that one was 8 inches and the other was 10 inches.  We cooked them up for breakfast the next morning.  B isn’t fishing for real yet, but he knows how to cast like a pro! And he is not one bit afraid of the bait.  He would carry it around all day if I let him. Check out the photo above of the homemade grill handle designed by Neil  and my cousin Mike. All you need is a small log and a couple bolts and the grill is back in action.  Speaking of cool engineering…

So, I never would have believed it if I did not see it with my own eyes, but Neil maneuvered to put a boat lift if with just him- one person.  He engineered these skids ( I call them skateboards) to go under each foot of the lift and wheeled it from the driveway to the rocks, then he lowered it down the steep rocks.  Finally, he bought 4 humongous beach balls, and strategically floated it over to where it needed to be parked.  I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical, but it worked! So the boys have gotten some time in “driving the boat” now that it has a parking spot on the lake.

The water was ICE COLD on Saturday.  I could feel my skin starting to freeze.  By Sunday it was noticeably warmer.  This makes me happy because I was beginning to feel like the long spring and high lake level was going to make it cold all summer.

I made this rhubarb slush recipe and am excited to have a new lake drink!

A popular place for relaxing is the hammock.  Although we made a rule after too many injuries last year of no wrestling on the hammock.  Yes, this is something we have to do in our house.  Here B gets snug as a bug in a rug.

We visited Gma and Gpa at Diamond this weekend.  Here we learned that Gpa is always right when it comes to where to park the boat and the sea legs (Sorry Gma) and  we saw a garter snake that was way to large to be a garter snake – like it ate 10 normal-sized snakes for breakfast.

I had the first breakdown of my Expedition, when my alternator went out and we had some extra time charging my battery before leaving the lake.  This was interesting and tested all of our patience a bit.  All better now.

Popsicles- lots of popsicles outside, dripping down faces and arms off elbows.  CJ was even two-fisting it at one point when B gave up an already opened orange popsicle for the highly popular root beer popsicle. My favorite use of the freez-e or popsicle is too lure tired dirty kids into the bath…  Kind of in a Hansel & Gretel kind of way, but not really.

So wow! Busy summer and it is not even summer yet! Can’t wait to see what the rest of this season bring us! I plan on going thru lots of sun block,  smores, and popsicles for the kids (probably lots of  fireworks viewing for the boys), a little rhubarb slush for mom.  How about you?

It’s all about the shoes

20 Apr

CJ loves her shoes.  This was one of the distinct differences I noticed between my  boys and her. To see this at age one, makes a person realize how differently wired boys and girls are, no matter what the age.  Her favorites are her pink shiny boots, which she is almost grown out of.

The look she has on her face in this photo – I can’t quite describe it, but she does it often and it is so funny.  It is kind of a proud- silly-shy look?

Making it thru the winter by staying busy…

12 Mar

Although this winter has been long and dreary, I cannot say I have been bored.  My kids give me plenty to do, clean up, and write about:

-CJ knows how to shake her head side-to-side (no) but she does this when she also means to say yes.  We can usually tell when it is a “yes” shake when she does it with a smile.  It started off as a bobblehead combination of the two.

-M has been on an early wake-up kick lately. His alarm goes off at 6:30 on weekdays, but he jokes that he wants to wake up earlier.

-The boys share a room now.  This adjustment has been going good lately, our biggest issues were getting B to take bedtime serious and the loss of M’s privacy in regard’s to his toys and his playtime, etc.  We get less one-on-one time with reading stories, which is probably what I miss the most.

Something around here feels creepy...-We are still helping B learn his morning routine.  Now that he rooms with M, M’s alarm also usually wakes up B.  Overall, this is a good thing, as B will soon have to have the same routine and be ready early for preschool, etc. next year.  But B wakes up like a Bear. Usually stands at the top of the steps and cries “mama, I want you”.  Neil insists there is a 10-minute rule where you cannot talk to B unless he talks to you. Breakfast is a sensitive subject, because he usually does not want it right away.  He tells us he wants it, but then the choice of WHAT he wants is another story. Slow waker.

-For my birthday in January, we took a trip to the cities  (I love doing fun things with the kids for my birthday, makes me feel like a kid).  We stayed at the Venetian Water Park in Maple Grove, played tons of video games at Dave and Busters, and then went to Edinborough Park in Edina the next day to wear off that last bit of energy.  These were all firsts for all of us so it was a blast.

-CJ loves shoes.  It is so cute to see what shoes she picks out when you tell her to go get some, and then she sits down and tries to put them on.  After 2 boys, it is fun to see the little differences between little girls and boys.  She loves to play cars and dinosaurs like the boys, but babies, shoes, and pretties (clothes, hair things, jewelery) are her favorites.

Learning the ice..

-A couple weeks ago, we went to the Redwood Community Center with the boys and did some ice skating.   This is also the first time in maybe 15+ years that I have been ice skating. Funny part for me, is that my parents bought me ice skates when I was a kid, and I think they purposely bought them too big so I would “grow into them” (parent logic).  So as a kid I would wear extra big socks and stuff Kleenex’s in the toes.  Well I got the blade sharpened and now they fit me perfectly.

-Neil and the boys are working building a virtual pinball machine… which involves gutting an old pinball machine and placing 2 TV’s and a computer in it to emulate a real pinball. More on this later…

-We are taking the kids to  swimming lessons.  The 2 younger ones are in “mom/dad n me” and love it.  B was so timid in the water last year and always acted like he was so COLD.  This was CJ’s first year and she is also loving the water. Little water bugs.  This is M’s “Preschool Swim” so he are actually working on swimming stuff.  He is so tired afterwards and really just wants to jump in the water and just wants to have fun.  I remember not being too fond of swimming lessons either when I was a kid.

G'ma Judy with CJ at Vern's party

-Great Grandpa Vern turned 89 and we helped him celebrate with a birthday party! The kids enjoyed playing pool, running in the hallways, and using the exercise room, and g’pa’s new pad.

-One topic that has come up many times the past couple months is the missing Mario Kart Wii Game. The house has been searched from top to bottom.  At one time B had said he “thru it in the garbage” and then that a “bad man took it”.  He has since changed his story and said he just doesn’t know where it is.  So the mystery continues. But it could also be that brother B was jealous of brother A and decided to remove what he knew was near and dear to him.

-CJ loves to color and scribble on paper and in the bath with water crayons.  It is so cute when she gets marker on her hands because she will keep pointing it out and “talking” about it until someone washes it off.

Is it spring yet? Yearning for green grass and warm breezes…

Off to go for a walk

3 Feb

CJ is now officially walking.  Puts 2 feet on the floor, a butt in the air, and lifts each leg so intentionally to stomps forward around the house.  After brothers, towards sounds, chasing whatever gets her attention.  The third of my 3 kids who were all late walkers, I think it is probably a blessing.  I kind of got to keep the “she’s my baby” feeling a little longer then the moms of the babies who walk when the textbooks say.  She will always be my baby, of course, but now she is also a toddler.

Who's the leader of this pack? Obviously the one standing tall!

She also has a new room!  Moved from what was supposed to be a temporary nursery, to the room that her brother Mav has slept in since we moved into this house.  A room with red carpet and red doors…. well as you can guess, no pink.  But it is pretty cute with yellow paint and a yellow and red border.  She was a great sleeper before, but now sleeps like an angel.  Probably because it is warmer and less noisy.

It has been a rough couple weeks, with  a couple sicknesses running through our house, ending with CJ having what seems like pink eye, but not quite.  She has been waking up with a big puffy red eyelid that makes her look like Rocky Balboa.  And the boys didn’t do it….hoping we get the normal look back soon.

Oh and a final note about CJ… dancing and music are her loves right now (second only to food, oh and her thumb…) She shakes that little booty with a sideways hip shake and hands waving in the air like she just don’t care.

Singing monkeys, Kung Fu Light Sabers and First Steps (Videos)

17 Jan

Here are some videos of my kids that I finally got uploaded.

The little girl- who showed her will to walk right around Christmas – 15 months

The middle child. who thinks he is a kung fu kid.

And my oldest, who is very enthusiastic about jumping monkeys and wearing a suit & tie.

My little Seedling- Charlotte’s (10-11 month milestones)

31 Aug

I can’t believe my baby will soon be 1. Really? Where did my little fit-in-one-arm, wrinkly, stationary, breast-milk-loving infant go?

Now she is BIG. She is standing up in her crib. On Saturday, at naptime, she heard Grandma kathy’s voice and was yelling from her room. When we realized the nap plan was already foiled, we went in there to discover a big girl standing up. All of a sudden she was just so grown up.

Then there is the crawling. She has moved beyond the army crawl to the real tummy off the floor moves. She even went as far last week as trying to crawl and suck her thumb at the same time. She took an elbow/head to the carpet and looked at all of us in confusion as we giggled at her silliness.

And then – the big word – Mama! At dinner time a couple weeks ago, I had given her some noodles. She loved them but struggled to pick them up with her fingers since they were slippery. After trying 3-4 times, she looked at me for help and yelled “MAMA!” Yes, I heard that word and assisted her quickly! Neil laughed at my urgency…. but the word did it! And it was so much nicer to hear then a scream!

She is practicing climbing steps, and we have the perfect place to start. One step, carpeted, to get out of her room. She gets on all 4′s then tries to get one up on the step, then falls back down on her butt and giggles. Repeat this about ten times, and then she gets it 3 times in a row. So fun to watch, and she especially likes to tackles this task after bath.

She is now such an active participant in the activities around her. Clapping at Dan and Mandy’s wedding reception, giving her dolly kisses, watching the boys play basketball and clapping at the baskets, and making the biggest, pudgy cheek smiles. She has a similar smile to Brody at that age, where she lifts her cheeks up, squints her eyes, and wrinkles her nose for the big smile.

This year was the first year that we had a garden, 2 little boxes filled with veggies and some herbs(mostly tomatoes, but also some onions, carrots, lettuce, etc) – thanks to Neil. Like our magical little garden, that has blessed us with new veggies every couple days Charlotte has surprised us too, by giving us a little bit “new” each day… My little seedling.

It must be the Power Oatmeal.

4 May

It seems to me that my kids have all grown up immensely over the past couple weeks. Maybe it is the Power Oatmeal they have been eating for breakfast every morning.

CJ is into her hands and feet, staring them down, analyzing them, grabbing those toes in the “happy baby” yoga pose. Yeah my baby invented that pose…. She loves her veggies. Spoonful, thumb, spoonful, thumb, spoonful, thumb. She likes to get that thumb action between each bite. She is now jumping in her bouncer like a crazy girl. Rocking that thing. And getting places in the walker, slow but sure (which BTW, Brody still likes to hop in the bouncer, walker, and other baby things just for shits and giggles). This little Lottie has discovered she can really talk! And scream! And use it to her advantage! She has a voice and it is great to see so much personality coming out of this bald little babe.

Brody, oh Brody. So cute, so devilish. Just learn to love sleep. Please. And listen a little better. That would make things so much easier. He is doing good on the potty- just on his terms though. “Brody have to go potty?” – “no” But when it is bedtime, and he is suppose to be sleeping, he suddenly knows he has to go, and yells for us…. and success, potty. Yeah he is in charge of the potty routine, what he says goes, because we will take whatever Poo in the Potty we can get. It is so fun to hear him form little sentences and say big words. He is talking up a storm, he know what he wants, and wants to be heard! And the dancing… ever since we got the Go Fish CD’s, these kids go nuts jamming out and dancing (my personal fave- is the 5 little monkeys, and of course the mom song).

Mav – the questions and comments he says lately are so entertaining. He is intrigued with the hair (and lack of hair) that his grandpas’ have (or don’t have). “Dad why is Grandpas mustache white? It looks silly, it should be brown!” And the fact that grandpa H does not have hair on the top of the head, well that is a regular discussion. “Mom, grandpa does have SOME hair, just not on the TOP of his head!” Tonite was a gma/gpa night and Mav actually fell asleep at their house at 7 from all the basketball he was playing all night. Wore himself out with all that shooting. A little power oatmeal will start him off right again in the morning… and I am sure he will request it.

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Sleep Issues. And Stuff.

24 Apr

I have not gotten the amount of sleep I would like, because CJ has also been waking up more. Now that she is rolling over, we made the switch from her bassinet into her big girl crib. I thought this would help he sleep better, because she can move around more freely. In the mean time, she also got a cold, so she is a sloppy snotty mess and has a hard time breathing, especially at night. Then it got even worse. The past 2 nights, she would wake up 3 or more times a night, I would feed her, lay her back down in the crib, and she would instantly cry again… ohhh I so remember those days with the boys and I don’t want to repeat it. The thought occurred to me that her cold could have also given her an ear infection, and sure enough we went to the doc and she did have it in one ear. So today she got prescribed her first antibiotic… and will hopefully get better sleep soon.

Speaking of sleep. B doesn’t care for it. I cannot get him to take naps for me anymore. Thank God he is cooperative in daycare and gets a nap there so he is not totally sleep deprived. We are starting to discover that B has his very own “get ready for bed” routine that we just have to “go” with (Neil’s got it figured out). Basically, take the bedtime routine that we started “bath, play, brush teeth, go potty, read books, pray, bed”. Then add on B’s stuff after that: “get drink, “fill the cup” and drink from special spot at edge of bed, lays down in bed, “dada two minutes” (lay by him for 2 minutes, really 10), talk, say goodnight. kiss on the back of the head (repeat until right spot), spread blanket on him “1-2-3″, “mama goodnight” (meaning tell mom to come up here) mom repeat.
B looks like this after a long day of playing and no nap.
I have started giving M and $1 a week allowance for helping me around the house. Singing “come on everybody, let’s clean up the house” usually helps, or making a race or game out of it. Tonite he was very helpful picking up the living room and porch, because he knew it was Friday and on Friday he can play Wii if he is good. He looks forward to playing the Wii all week-long. I have to remind him that Wii is more for winter when we can’t go outside ( and you have a new swing set!) He is really into ages and numbers lately. Today I got the question “mom are you older than grandma?” Ha! Yeah that was a good one. He knows his birthday is coming up, but he wants his birthday to come first before gpa Mark’s and Joes. I think he was also very intrigued by the idea that grandpas age is his age +50. “When you turned 1, gpa was 51. When you turn 5, gpa will be 55.” Last year we had a Monster Jam party for M, this year, probably basketball?! Or a Wii party! That what he would probably choose if we let him: Actually a Basketballl Wii Party!

Lottie is lala over Squash

25 Mar

So our little girl is 6 months old! She has not been eating cereal very well, and spits most of it out, so I figured that she just wasn’t ready for food yet. I was wrong! She just does not like cereal and last night we tried a vegetable for the first time, and she LOVED her squash! I could not believe it when I saw her take spoonful after spoonful and not spit any of it out… I guess she is a big girl now! Here is a video of her towards the end of her feeding, when Big Bro is feeding her. You can see that she is pretty happy!

Everything went well at her 6 month check up. Her Laryngomalacia is pretty much gone and she just has to take the acid reflux meds for a couple more months. She is growing and is at 15% percentile for weight (13 lbs. 15 oz.) and 25% percentile for height (25 in.), so she is a peanut but growing consistently. Especially now that she will be eating veggies! CJ rolled over tonite after her bath! She has only rolled over a couple times for us, but the doctor thought that “it would come”. He checked her muscle tone, and he did not see any problems. He thought she may be one of the 15% or so of babies that sits before they roll. In the mean time, we are working on more tummy time. Neil had remembered that to get B to roll over, we had to get him mad. I don’t know if that will work as well for a girl, but I guess we will see.

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