Dear Brielle,
At 19 months, you are QUITE the handful. You are a very, very determined little lady and there's no stopping you when there's something you want. Your favorite things at the moment are: playing with the controllers for the TV and changing the channels, climbing the bookshelf to get the DVD cases so you can open them and run around with them, open the oven and try to climb in, take things off of the counters, open drawers in search of markers so you can run around and color on things/eat the tops off, hit/kick Liam to make him cry, carry your sheep stuffed animals ("SHEP! SHEP!") or blankie around and run as far away from me as possible when it's time to get dressed.
You love eating chicken and steak and fish sticks and pizza and pretty much throw everything else I give you.
You love your baba and ask for it every morning and night. You can hold it yourself now and it makes you happy to do that.
You still LOVE LOVE LOVE shoes. You squeal with glee when you see new shoes. You also love mommy's wallet, purses, etc. You are a girly girl, but a tough one who prefers to play with superheroes and tackle things/people.
You can say "MOMMY!" now, and I love when I come home from work on Saturdays and you come running to the door screaming it. You still can't say Liam, but you call eli "y-eye y-eye."
Monday, September 15, 2014
Monday, September 8, 2014
Liam in August
There are lots of little things about my little guy that I don't want to forget.... here goes:
-He says "Mommy?" and waits for a response and then "know what, mommy?" about 47,000 times a day.
-He insists on getting dressed himself but still gets his shirts confused a lot and always, always puts his underwear (and sometimes pants) on backwards
-He loves wearing his firemen boots and chooses them 99% of the time. He wears them on the wrong feet. I love when he picks them because he puts them on super quick and I don't have to help him.
-He prefers red because "raph-be-el" is red
-He says the following about 25 times a day "My birthday is June 15th. I want the big emperor Zurg for my birthday.
-His favorite thing to watch is The Nightmare before Christmas... he calls it the Jack movie. He loves singing "This is Halloween, this is Halloween." He's told me numerous times that he wants to be Jack the skeleton for Halloween this year.
-He is obsessed with Star Wars. He loves Darth Vader. It would be his ultimate dream come true if we got him a light saber. (not going to happen...they would seriously injure one another.)
-He has learned how to take the top straps off on his car seat and likes to do it whenever we stop (even if it's just at red lights, etc)
-Cliff Kids chocolate chip bars are his favorite thing in the world to eat.
-He always bargains for more time the wrong way. Tonight, I told him I was going to stay with him in his room at bedtime for five minutes. "NO! MOMMY! I want FOUR MINUTES! FOUR!" ok dude, you've got yourself a deal.
-He likes to tell everyone that he's "wee-um" and he's three years old. Today, he was asking everyone "What's your name??"
-He will not sit still in the stroller in a store for more than 10 seconds.
-He is actually finally able to sit down next to me and listen to full books! He loves Berenstain Bear books like his brother.
-He likes when I sing him "you are my sunshine" and knows most of the words
-At the end of the ABC song, he always says "know my know my ABCs...next time won't you sing with me?"
-He says "Mommy?" and waits for a response and then "know what, mommy?" about 47,000 times a day.
-He insists on getting dressed himself but still gets his shirts confused a lot and always, always puts his underwear (and sometimes pants) on backwards
-He loves wearing his firemen boots and chooses them 99% of the time. He wears them on the wrong feet. I love when he picks them because he puts them on super quick and I don't have to help him.
-He prefers red because "raph-be-el" is red
-He says the following about 25 times a day "My birthday is June 15th. I want the big emperor Zurg for my birthday.
-His favorite thing to watch is The Nightmare before Christmas... he calls it the Jack movie. He loves singing "This is Halloween, this is Halloween." He's told me numerous times that he wants to be Jack the skeleton for Halloween this year.
-He is obsessed with Star Wars. He loves Darth Vader. It would be his ultimate dream come true if we got him a light saber. (not going to happen...they would seriously injure one another.)
-He has learned how to take the top straps off on his car seat and likes to do it whenever we stop (even if it's just at red lights, etc)
-Cliff Kids chocolate chip bars are his favorite thing in the world to eat.
-He always bargains for more time the wrong way. Tonight, I told him I was going to stay with him in his room at bedtime for five minutes. "NO! MOMMY! I want FOUR MINUTES! FOUR!" ok dude, you've got yourself a deal.
-He likes to tell everyone that he's "wee-um" and he's three years old. Today, he was asking everyone "What's your name??"
-He will not sit still in the stroller in a store for more than 10 seconds.
-He is actually finally able to sit down next to me and listen to full books! He loves Berenstain Bear books like his brother.
-He likes when I sing him "you are my sunshine" and knows most of the words
-At the end of the ABC song, he always says "know my know my ABCs...next time won't you sing with me?"
Monday, August 25, 2014
Eli's First Day of Kindergarten
Today was the day! Eli's first day of Kindergarten! He's in Ms. Freeman's class...she has 20+ years of teaching experience, so as one of the other parents pointed out, there's nothing that these kids can do that she hasn't seen before :)
We walked over to school and lined up on the Blacktop outside the school at 8:30. His teacher knew him right away (she said she studied the pictures over the weekend) and greeted him and put a name tag on him. All of the kids were standing so nicely in line... all with HUGE backpacks. They were excited and nervous and did a great job of staying still. (wonder how long that lasted). Then it was time to go inside. One teacher went first and then when Liam realized that they were leaving, he became frantic, yelling "KUYA ELI! KUYA ELI! BYE! BYE!" He ran over to give him a hug and it was the cutest thing ever. Liam REALLY wanted to go to school, too, and was not happy about having to go home.
We picked Eli up at 3 and I got verrrrry little info from him about how his day was. He told me he played with a boy named Blake. He said for choice time, he picked Playdough (which explained why his nails were blue). That was pretty much all I got out of him.
Throughout the day, I learned the following... his teacher is really nice. The most important thing he learned all day was not to put his mouth on the drinking fountain. He used the bathroom. He liked the cafeteria because it was really, really big. Someone read him the note I wrote (Dear Eli, I hope you are having fun on your first day of school. I love you! Love, Mommy)... he said it was one of his friends who read it. He had fun at recess and played a game (Tetherball) that was REALLY FUN where there was a large steel pole and a ball tied to it that you would hit and whoever caught it got to throw it again. They went to the library and met the librarian who read them a story (Kindergarten Rocks!). They weren't allowed to touch anything there. His teacher also read him a story, but he can't remember what it was. He had spanish class, where he learned how to say "Muchas Gracias" from his spanish teacher. He chose Blue playdough for choice time and made some letter Ds out of it.
All in all, a pretty successful day! He said he wants to go back and is excited about it, so that's a win-win!
Quick trip to Ocean City
The summer is coming to an end (what? When did summer even start, let alone end?) and one of my biggest regrets about time passing so quickly is that we didn't make time for Ocean City this year. I've ALWAYS gone to OC every summer and I want to continue that tradition with the kids, so when I woke up on Sunday I realized it was going to be our last chance to go.... needless to say, we made it happen! We left late, 10:30, and got to the beach around 1:20. The weather was perfect, we got a spot, and the beach was not crowded at all.
Eli LOVED the water. He was running all around, jumping, splashing, kicking and loving every minute of it. Seeing him SO filled with joy and having so much fun was worth every second of that drive for me. Liam also loved the water, but was more timid and wanted me to hold his hand. Brielle was scared of the water at first, but when I jumped her a few times, she was loving it, too. During part of the time, I was holding both Liam and Brielle's hands for the wave jumping, which made it very tricky when big waves snuck up!
The kids loved playing in the sand and the boys loved chasing each other and pushing each other down. We spent about 2.5 hours on the beach, got the kids showered and then headed over to Dumsers for dinner and ice cream. We then drove down the OC strip and headed out of town.
Short trip, but SO great.
Eli LOVED the water. He was running all around, jumping, splashing, kicking and loving every minute of it. Seeing him SO filled with joy and having so much fun was worth every second of that drive for me. Liam also loved the water, but was more timid and wanted me to hold his hand. Brielle was scared of the water at first, but when I jumped her a few times, she was loving it, too. During part of the time, I was holding both Liam and Brielle's hands for the wave jumping, which made it very tricky when big waves snuck up!
The kids loved playing in the sand and the boys loved chasing each other and pushing each other down. We spent about 2.5 hours on the beach, got the kids showered and then headed over to Dumsers for dinner and ice cream. We then drove down the OC strip and headed out of town.
Short trip, but SO great.
Friday, August 22, 2014
Liam at 3 years, 2 months
Liam is, without a doubt, the whiniest child I have ever come across in my entire life. This makes for quite the challenging day. He prefers to communicate in a high-pitched squealing voice all day. Mike raised the excellent point that we are probably going to give him a complex about speaking if we continue telling him to "stop talking in that whiny voice" and so we are now attempting to switch over to the "please talk in your big boy voice." Sigh. If he doesn't get his way, he cries cries crieeees. He can dish it out to Kuya Eli but can't take it back. Since they fight/play fight 90% of the day, this makes for a challenging time for mommy.
He also continues to be the sweetest little guy ever. Tonight, I gave him a Toy Story bandaid for his foot and he said "Thank you, Mommy! Thanks for getting that for me!" a million times and followed it up with "Thanks again, Mommy, for getting that!" He loves cuddling and giving hugs and being tickled. He loves playing the "rockabye baby game" where I rock him like a baby and tickle him.
He continues to LOVE his stickers.
He is now really getting into reading, which is fun to see. As long as the books are simple and not too over his head, he will actually sit still and read them with me. Tonight, we read the new pigeon book three times in a row at his request! He also loves the Miss Nelson books and books about the avengers.
His newest favorite thing to do in the car (other than to ask if we need to get gas) is to say "you know what another really dangerous one is?" and name an animal... all because he recently learned what deer crossing signs mean. It's very cute and he gets really excited about his choices.
Sometimes he can be a pretty big eater, but most of the time he's not. He doesn't tend to eat much food when we go out to restaurants, which is very frustrating. His most favorite things to eat are applesauce pouches and cliff kid bars.
He loves playing Wii, especially the sword game.
He is obsessed with Darth Vader again and because we were at the playground with boys who had/shared light sabers, that's all he talks about now. He's also obsessed with Ninja Turtles, especially "Raph-be-el" and likes all things to be red because that means it's the "raph-be-el" one.
Every single day, I hear this about 20 times: "My birthday is June 15th. That's coming up fast. I want a big emperor Zurg for my birthday." Most days, that's the very first thing he tells me when he wakes up.
He puts his shoes on the wrong feet 50% of the time.
He has become terrified of bees and won't go in the pool if he sees any bugs floating in there, especially ants. Although, he has no problem picking up ants from the ground or pointing out ants that are on the ground.
He still lets me dress him in whatever I want, though most of the time he would prefer to be wearing his ninja turtle or batman shirt/jammies.
I signed him up for a karate class for 2-3 year olds called "Tiny Dragons." He starts in September and I am super excited for him to finally be able to take a class!
He also continues to be the sweetest little guy ever. Tonight, I gave him a Toy Story bandaid for his foot and he said "Thank you, Mommy! Thanks for getting that for me!" a million times and followed it up with "Thanks again, Mommy, for getting that!" He loves cuddling and giving hugs and being tickled. He loves playing the "rockabye baby game" where I rock him like a baby and tickle him.
He continues to LOVE his stickers.
He is now really getting into reading, which is fun to see. As long as the books are simple and not too over his head, he will actually sit still and read them with me. Tonight, we read the new pigeon book three times in a row at his request! He also loves the Miss Nelson books and books about the avengers.
His newest favorite thing to do in the car (other than to ask if we need to get gas) is to say "you know what another really dangerous one is?" and name an animal... all because he recently learned what deer crossing signs mean. It's very cute and he gets really excited about his choices.
Sometimes he can be a pretty big eater, but most of the time he's not. He doesn't tend to eat much food when we go out to restaurants, which is very frustrating. His most favorite things to eat are applesauce pouches and cliff kid bars.
He loves playing Wii, especially the sword game.
He is obsessed with Darth Vader again and because we were at the playground with boys who had/shared light sabers, that's all he talks about now. He's also obsessed with Ninja Turtles, especially "Raph-be-el" and likes all things to be red because that means it's the "raph-be-el" one.
Every single day, I hear this about 20 times: "My birthday is June 15th. That's coming up fast. I want a big emperor Zurg for my birthday." Most days, that's the very first thing he tells me when he wakes up.
He puts his shoes on the wrong feet 50% of the time.
He has become terrified of bees and won't go in the pool if he sees any bugs floating in there, especially ants. Although, he has no problem picking up ants from the ground or pointing out ants that are on the ground.
He still lets me dress him in whatever I want, though most of the time he would prefer to be wearing his ninja turtle or batman shirt/jammies.
I signed him up for a karate class for 2-3 year olds called "Tiny Dragons." He starts in September and I am super excited for him to finally be able to take a class!
Brielle at 18 months
So Brielle had her 18 month check-up last week and is doing great! She's 22 lbs, which puts her squarely in the 17th percentile (I think, anyway) for weight. She continues to be in the 74th percentile (or something like that) for height, which I think is wrong and strange... she's not very tall.
Her vocabulary is HUGE and she seriously says at least 50 words... probably closer to 100 if I were to sit down and write them all down. She LOVES singing Happy Birthday (Happa Birfday to you. Happy Birfday to DADA) and does it all. day. long. It's super cute and she cracks herself up with it. Yesterday, she was trying to put the lid on a box and couldn't do it... what did she say? "Oh shoot!" She calls Eli yay-yay (rhyming with eye-eye) but can't say Liam yet. She can say Mama but prefers to call me Dada.
She is FEISTY and determined. When she wants something, she WANTS it and will fight and scream for it. When the boys take something from her or hurt her, she SCREAMS. She can totally hold her own.
She still loves to climb and is a climbing maniac at the playground.
She loves the pool and tries to just run and jump in the water. She loves jumping and splashing and tries to put her face in the water all the time. She gets cold pretty quick and doesn't last very long, but it doesn't stop her from running around and trying to jump in. (Which obviously makes it hard for mommy, since i have to stay glued to her the entire time we are at the pool).
She loves reading "boops" though her short attention span only allows for a few pages at a time. She loves looking at animal pictures and can name cat, sheep, cow, chicken and duck.
My favorite thing she says is "wanna sit there" which she uses 50% of the time to mean that she physically wants to sit somewhere and 50% of the time to mean that she wants something that you have. I love that she doesn't understand the distinction. She also says "want chicken" and "want a cracker" to mean that she wants whatever it is that you are eating. If she hears a package opening, she has a FIT if you don't feed her immediately.
Speaking of eating, the girl can EAT. She can down 6 chicken nuggets or 2 chicken tenders, plus other stuff. She loves meat... meatballs, chicken, steak..she'll eat it all up. She's a blueberry maniac most days (and others, like today, she's an excellent blueberry thrower). She's hit or miss with yogurt... sometimes she will try a few bites and sometimes she won't let you anywhere near her with that spoon.
She loves dancing to music. She's not that into TV and definitely doesn't like to sit still for more than 5 seconds at a time. She is a lady on the MOVE.
Her favorite things to do in the new house: wake up from her nap, climb out of her crib and trash her room (she loves emptying out her hamper and filling it with all of her books), turn on and off the lamp in her brothers' room, get into her bathroom to find her toothbrush and "brush" her teeth, bust into mommy and daddy's room to climb on the bed and turn on daddy's alarm clock radio (this has been a favorite thing to do of hers for months and months), climbing the shelves to get/open the DVD boxes.
She LOVES stuffed animals and is carrying one around for most of the day. She especially loves her pink elephant, a fuzzy brown bear she has and a variety of baby dolls. She also loves the taggies blanket I bought her. She loves to cuddle with the tags/ribbons on any stuffed animal she has and it usually makes her pop her thumb in her mouth when she feels one.
She continues to love shoes and my wallet...her two most favorite things in the world. We realize we are in serious trouble here.
She HATES sitting in carts and no matter how tight I make the strap, this little Houdini can get out. She is a tough little person to be shopping with. Very, very tough.
Her vocabulary is HUGE and she seriously says at least 50 words... probably closer to 100 if I were to sit down and write them all down. She LOVES singing Happy Birthday (Happa Birfday to you. Happy Birfday to DADA) and does it all. day. long. It's super cute and she cracks herself up with it. Yesterday, she was trying to put the lid on a box and couldn't do it... what did she say? "Oh shoot!" She calls Eli yay-yay (rhyming with eye-eye) but can't say Liam yet. She can say Mama but prefers to call me Dada.
She is FEISTY and determined. When she wants something, she WANTS it and will fight and scream for it. When the boys take something from her or hurt her, she SCREAMS. She can totally hold her own.
She still loves to climb and is a climbing maniac at the playground.
She loves the pool and tries to just run and jump in the water. She loves jumping and splashing and tries to put her face in the water all the time. She gets cold pretty quick and doesn't last very long, but it doesn't stop her from running around and trying to jump in. (Which obviously makes it hard for mommy, since i have to stay glued to her the entire time we are at the pool).
She loves reading "boops" though her short attention span only allows for a few pages at a time. She loves looking at animal pictures and can name cat, sheep, cow, chicken and duck.
My favorite thing she says is "wanna sit there" which she uses 50% of the time to mean that she physically wants to sit somewhere and 50% of the time to mean that she wants something that you have. I love that she doesn't understand the distinction. She also says "want chicken" and "want a cracker" to mean that she wants whatever it is that you are eating. If she hears a package opening, she has a FIT if you don't feed her immediately.
Speaking of eating, the girl can EAT. She can down 6 chicken nuggets or 2 chicken tenders, plus other stuff. She loves meat... meatballs, chicken, steak..she'll eat it all up. She's a blueberry maniac most days (and others, like today, she's an excellent blueberry thrower). She's hit or miss with yogurt... sometimes she will try a few bites and sometimes she won't let you anywhere near her with that spoon.
She loves dancing to music. She's not that into TV and definitely doesn't like to sit still for more than 5 seconds at a time. She is a lady on the MOVE.
Her favorite things to do in the new house: wake up from her nap, climb out of her crib and trash her room (she loves emptying out her hamper and filling it with all of her books), turn on and off the lamp in her brothers' room, get into her bathroom to find her toothbrush and "brush" her teeth, bust into mommy and daddy's room to climb on the bed and turn on daddy's alarm clock radio (this has been a favorite thing to do of hers for months and months), climbing the shelves to get/open the DVD boxes.
She LOVES stuffed animals and is carrying one around for most of the day. She especially loves her pink elephant, a fuzzy brown bear she has and a variety of baby dolls. She also loves the taggies blanket I bought her. She loves to cuddle with the tags/ribbons on any stuffed animal she has and it usually makes her pop her thumb in her mouth when she feels one.
She continues to love shoes and my wallet...her two most favorite things in the world. We realize we are in serious trouble here.
She HATES sitting in carts and no matter how tight I make the strap, this little Houdini can get out. She is a tough little person to be shopping with. Very, very tough.
Our new life in MD
I am waaaaay behind on this blog... but for a good reason... we've MOVED from NYC to Columbia, MD!!!! We went from the 5 of us living in an 800 square foot apartment in NYC to a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom townhouse in Columbia. I couldn't be more thrilled. We have a small backyard (complete with a little picnic table for the kiddos and a grill so we can BBQ!), an unfinished basement (that will soon, hopefully, be transformed to a huge playspace/art area for the kiddos) and amaaaaazing community access nearby.... behind our house is a new park complete with three large enclosed soccer/football fields and huge playground. We are a 5 minute walk from the high school track. We are a minutes's drive away from basketball/tennis courts, an ice skating rink, baseball fields, etc. We have access to 23 outdoor pools, 3 amazing gyms, a mini golf course... it just goes on and on and on. Every day, we're discovering new and fun things to do.
My/Our life has improved a MILLION percent. We live close to my mom and can call her up to meet up for lunch, drive over and hang out or have her over here. It's SO GREAT to be so close to her and LIFE CHANGING to have HEEELLLLLP. I've gone out to dinner with Mike more times in the past month than I have in the past year.
Mike started his job on Monday and I will hopefully start mine next weekend (waiting for orientation). Eli starts school on Monday the 25th. We went to orientation today and he got to meet his teacher and a few of his classmates. His room is HUGE compared to his room last year. I am so excited about his schedule. They go to the school library every monday, have music on tuesday, gym class on wed and thurs and art on friday. They have 30 minutes of complete spanish immersion every day. It'll be his first time being FULL day at school and his first time eating lunch at school. It will be very interesting carving out our new normal come Monday! I'm hoping that me, Liam and Brielle will be able to take advantage of some of the amazing programs at the library and do some other fun classes and things while Eli is in school. Because one thing is for sure... at these ages right now, I absolutely cannot take the three of them indoors inside stores or places alone. They are TOO crazy. My mom and I had the hardest time wrangling the three of them in the library today. Brielle is like a little firecracker..running here and there like a crazy person. I don't even want to attempt shopping solo with them again for a long, long time.
We still have a lot to unpack and I don't know when we're ever going to be able to do that, but so far, SO GOOD!
My/Our life has improved a MILLION percent. We live close to my mom and can call her up to meet up for lunch, drive over and hang out or have her over here. It's SO GREAT to be so close to her and LIFE CHANGING to have HEEELLLLLP. I've gone out to dinner with Mike more times in the past month than I have in the past year.
Mike started his job on Monday and I will hopefully start mine next weekend (waiting for orientation). Eli starts school on Monday the 25th. We went to orientation today and he got to meet his teacher and a few of his classmates. His room is HUGE compared to his room last year. I am so excited about his schedule. They go to the school library every monday, have music on tuesday, gym class on wed and thurs and art on friday. They have 30 minutes of complete spanish immersion every day. It'll be his first time being FULL day at school and his first time eating lunch at school. It will be very interesting carving out our new normal come Monday! I'm hoping that me, Liam and Brielle will be able to take advantage of some of the amazing programs at the library and do some other fun classes and things while Eli is in school. Because one thing is for sure... at these ages right now, I absolutely cannot take the three of them indoors inside stores or places alone. They are TOO crazy. My mom and I had the hardest time wrangling the three of them in the library today. Brielle is like a little firecracker..running here and there like a crazy person. I don't even want to attempt shopping solo with them again for a long, long time.
We still have a lot to unpack and I don't know when we're ever going to be able to do that, but so far, SO GOOD!
Sunday, July 13, 2014
No more naps?
Yesterday, July 12th, Brielle learned how to climb out of her crib. She has been climbing out of her pack n play for about a month now, but this was the first time she figured out how to get out of the crib. Mike said he put her down for her morning nap (in her crib) only to find her later, on OUR bed.
Does this mean nap time is over? Mike said he wasn't able to get her to take a first nap, but she was tired enough for a second nap. Sigh. My little escapee.
Does this mean nap time is over? Mike said he wasn't able to get her to take a first nap, but she was tired enough for a second nap. Sigh. My little escapee.
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Brielle at 16 months
16 months!
Brielle's vocabulary right now is taking off! I feel like every day, she has a new word or two. The doc said that at this age, 1-3 words is pretty typical. She, at the time of her 15 month appointment, had 10 consistent words. Now, she is pretty consistent with: hi, bye, up, ow, no, two (if you say one, she will say two), dada, baby, shoe, shirt, sit, poo-poo, nap, boom, baba, backpack, apple. (She also uses apple for banana and calls Elmo "apple."). She can tell you that a cow says "mmmm" and a sheep says "baaa" and sometimes says "kak" when you ask her what a duck says. Sometimes I feel like I hear her say words but then convince myself that she didn't really say them... like today, she picked up her toy elephant and I could have SWORN she said it.
She continues to be a very adventurous little girly and there's nothing that really scares her. Climbing remains her favorite thing to do. Yesterday, she figured out how to scale the barrier we have been using to keep her out of the kitchen...and also learned how to climb the stove and open the fridge. If you ever yell at her, she puts both of her hands over her mouth, like "Oh no!" It's very cute.
She loves dancing to the theme songs of the shows her brothers like to watch, especially Dora and Wild Kratts. She loves it when I sing anything to her and always laughs and laughs and laughs.
She's SO easy to put down for naps now. I tell her to say bye to her brothers....and since saying Bye to anyone is her most favorite thing in the world, she gets really excited and starts off with "BYE! BYE! BYE!" They give her a kiss and then I take her to her room, with us both saying "n-n-n-n-n nap!" I start singing Twinkle Twinkle and then lay her in her crib. when I hand her the pink elephant, she finds the tag, puts her thumb in her mouth and lays right down. I sing a few more words and then she waves and says "BYE!" Done. It's great.
She continues to love eating, but she loves throwing her food on the floor even more. She loves drinking out of her new big girl water bottle but also loves spitting it out all over herself so that she soaks her shirt.
She loves walking around with her backpack and freaks out with joy when the backpack song from Dora comes on.
She continues to be a very adventurous little girly and there's nothing that really scares her. Climbing remains her favorite thing to do. Yesterday, she figured out how to scale the barrier we have been using to keep her out of the kitchen...and also learned how to climb the stove and open the fridge. If you ever yell at her, she puts both of her hands over her mouth, like "Oh no!" It's very cute.
She loves dancing to the theme songs of the shows her brothers like to watch, especially Dora and Wild Kratts. She loves it when I sing anything to her and always laughs and laughs and laughs.
She's SO easy to put down for naps now. I tell her to say bye to her brothers....and since saying Bye to anyone is her most favorite thing in the world, she gets really excited and starts off with "BYE! BYE! BYE!" They give her a kiss and then I take her to her room, with us both saying "n-n-n-n-n nap!" I start singing Twinkle Twinkle and then lay her in her crib. when I hand her the pink elephant, she finds the tag, puts her thumb in her mouth and lays right down. I sing a few more words and then she waves and says "BYE!" Done. It's great.
She continues to love eating, but she loves throwing her food on the floor even more. She loves drinking out of her new big girl water bottle but also loves spitting it out all over herself so that she soaks her shirt.
She loves walking around with her backpack and freaks out with joy when the backpack song from Dora comes on.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Liam at age 3
It took me a little while to get all of the answers for this one... he doesn't like to sit still and would only ever answer about 5 at a time. Here are Liam's answers at age 3:
Liam, Age 3
How old are you? I’m three!
What makes you happy? Getting toys/guys
What is your favorite animal? Allosaurus
What is your favorite thing to eat? Chicken nuggets and french fries and apples
What is your least favorite thing to eat? Worms
What is your favorite thing to do? Do homework
What is your favorite TV show? Dinosaurs
What are you really good at? Playing with Buzz and Woody
What is your favorite movie? Toy Story
What is your favorite color? Blue
What is your favorite song? Frosty the Snowman
Who is your best friend? Kuya Eli
What do you and your mom do together? Blocks
What do you and your dad do together? Draw
What is your favorite sport? Basketball
Where is your favorite place to go? Ice Cream
What is your favorite book? Toy Story
What do you want to be when you grow up? Playing basketball
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Chicken Nuggets
What is your favorite place you visited this year? Grandma’s house
If you had a lot of money, what would you do with it? Get bad guys to defeat ninja turtles
If you had a whole day to do anything you wanted, what would you do? I going to playground
What is your favorite dessert? Ice cream
What are you scared of? Monsters
What is your favorite thing to do outside? Scare pigeons
What is your favorite holiday? Halloween
What is your favorite snack? birthday cake
What is your favorite cereal? strawberry (shredded wheat, strawberry flavor)
What is your favorite drink? strawberry lemonade
What is the most important thing you've learned in life so far? Cake.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Liam is potty trained!
So three weeks ago, Liam got out of the bathtub and told me he wanted to go pee pee in the potty. He didn't have any luck, but I knew that meant it was time to start potty training. That following monday, we went for it. It was a little tricky at first, but he totally got it the first day. The second day he only had two accidents and by the 3rd day he was totally potty trained! A lot of kiddos get nervous about pooping on the potty, but not this guy. He likes to poop 4-5 times a day on the potty. He pees a LOOOT. Eli goes like 4 times a day... Liam pees every 15 minutes. And surprisingly, since we started this two weeks ago, he has woken up dry every single time. Success!!!
Brielle at 15 months
My little baby is 15 months old! I keep looking at her, knowing that soon...very soon...she'll be a little girl and not a baby anymore.
It's very cute how much of a little helper Brielle can be at times. When we do the laundry, she understands that the clothes need to come out of the washer and go in the dryer... and usually tries to help me... one piece of clothing at a time. Whenever she sees a washcloth, she will pick it up and rub it all over her face. If she sees shoes, she tries to put them on. If something (legos, mainly) is spilled out and she sees that we are trying to clean up, she will come over to help put them away.... and then promptly dump them out again. If I ask her where her baby is, she will go over to the toy bin, open it, get out her two babies, and carry them over to me. It's neat to see her understanding so much. Sometimes, when she is in destruction mode and starts emptying containers, drawers, etc, I can tell her to put it back and she will... but only sometimes.
She's starting to figure out how to color, but she's still more interested in eating the crayon/marker.
She's consistent with these words and uses them appropriately: up, poo-poo (she always tells me when she went!), nap, sock, shoe, sit, boom, baba, apple. She tries to say diaper and likes to try saying fish ("shhhh").
This week especially, she is getting even more into EVERYTHING. She can scale the back of the couch and climb just about everything. Two days ago, I had to put her down for a nap early just so that I could sit and eat my lunch. She still loves going into the kitchen cabinets and emptying them all out.
It's very cute how much of a little helper Brielle can be at times. When we do the laundry, she understands that the clothes need to come out of the washer and go in the dryer... and usually tries to help me... one piece of clothing at a time. Whenever she sees a washcloth, she will pick it up and rub it all over her face. If she sees shoes, she tries to put them on. If something (legos, mainly) is spilled out and she sees that we are trying to clean up, she will come over to help put them away.... and then promptly dump them out again. If I ask her where her baby is, she will go over to the toy bin, open it, get out her two babies, and carry them over to me. It's neat to see her understanding so much. Sometimes, when she is in destruction mode and starts emptying containers, drawers, etc, I can tell her to put it back and she will... but only sometimes.
She's starting to figure out how to color, but she's still more interested in eating the crayon/marker.
She's consistent with these words and uses them appropriately: up, poo-poo (she always tells me when she went!), nap, sock, shoe, sit, boom, baba, apple. She tries to say diaper and likes to try saying fish ("shhhh").
This week especially, she is getting even more into EVERYTHING. She can scale the back of the couch and climb just about everything. Two days ago, I had to put her down for a nap early just so that I could sit and eat my lunch. She still loves going into the kitchen cabinets and emptying them all out.
Monday, May 12, 2014
Eli at 5
How old are you? 5
What makes you happy? Presents
What is your favorite animal? Sabertooth Tiger and Cougar
What is your favorite thing to eat? oranges
What is your least favorite thing to eat? salsa with chips
What is your favorite thing to do? Play Mario games with Mommy
What is your favorite TV show? Mario and Wild Kratts
What are you really good at? Listening (hahahahah...what???)
What is your favorite movie? Peter Pan
What is your favorite color? Orange
What is your favorite song? "Good Girl" by Carrie Underwood
Who is your best friend? Kuya Jaymin
What do you and your mom do together? play
What do you and your dad do together? play
What is your favorite sport? Baseball
Where is your favorite place to go? The Ice Cream Factory (he's never been to an ice cream factory)
What is your favorite book? Predator Showdown
What do you want to be when you grow up? Paleontologist
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Peach Yogurt
What is your favorite place you visited this year? Legoland
If you had a lot of money, what would you do with it? Buy a saber tooth tiger with a straight body
If you had a whole day to do anything you wanted, what would you do? "Do something called playing"
What is your favorite dessert? Ice cream with caramel, chocolate chips, sprinkles and whipped cream
What are you scared of? Heights and ghosts
What is your favorite thing to do outside? play ball
What is your favorite holiday? Halloween
What is your favorite snack? a donut
What is your favorite cereal? Captain Crunch
What is your favorite drink? chocolate milk
What is the most important thing you've learned in life so far? wild turkeys
What makes you happy? Presents
What is your favorite animal? Sabertooth Tiger and Cougar
What is your favorite thing to eat? oranges
What is your least favorite thing to eat? salsa with chips
What is your favorite thing to do? Play Mario games with Mommy
What is your favorite TV show? Mario and Wild Kratts
What are you really good at? Listening (hahahahah...what???)
What is your favorite movie? Peter Pan
What is your favorite color? Orange
What is your favorite song? "Good Girl" by Carrie Underwood
Who is your best friend? Kuya Jaymin
What do you and your mom do together? play
What do you and your dad do together? play
What is your favorite sport? Baseball
Where is your favorite place to go? The Ice Cream Factory (he's never been to an ice cream factory)
What is your favorite book? Predator Showdown
What do you want to be when you grow up? Paleontologist
What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Peach Yogurt
What is your favorite place you visited this year? Legoland
If you had a lot of money, what would you do with it? Buy a saber tooth tiger with a straight body
If you had a whole day to do anything you wanted, what would you do? "Do something called playing"
What is your favorite dessert? Ice cream with caramel, chocolate chips, sprinkles and whipped cream
What are you scared of? Heights and ghosts
What is your favorite thing to do outside? play ball
What is your favorite holiday? Halloween
What is your favorite snack? a donut
What is your favorite cereal? Captain Crunch
What is your favorite drink? chocolate milk
What is the most important thing you've learned in life so far? wild turkeys
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Eli in April
Eli continues to be OBSESSED with animals. He loooooves watching the Wild Kratts and would watch it all day long if I would let him. He memorizes animal facts and talks about animals ALL DAY LONG. If we're driving in the car, he can literally spew out animal facts for 2-3 hours straight.
His other favorite shows in April: Octonauts, Dora (especially animal episodes).
Favorite books: Who's got the apple (one of my favorites as a kid), Berenstain Bear books, animal/dinosaur books.
He is big into legos again and likes building ships/planes/vehicles with Liam.
He loves riding his scooter around and especially enjoys trying to crash into Liam.
His most favorite thing to do is attack Liam as brutally as possible, staging "Fights" on the couch. He likes to claw at Liam's head and face as much as he possibly can.
He loves kissing Brielle on the cheek. He still calls her "Be-elle."
He has given Cougar to Liam and decided that Friedrich, my old bear, is his favorite. He carries him from room to room and he has to be in his bed before he goes to sleep.
Our bedtime routine is ever changing, but for April, this is what he likes. He wants to lay next to me for about 2 minutes and then have me carry him into his bed. I have to scratch his back 50 times, with 10 bonus times, and then rub his tummy 10 times. I then have to pat his side or his back and cover him. He's going through this weird stage where he doesn't like to be left alone in a room. He says the monsters are going to get him. I don't think he's actually afraid of monsters.. I think it's cause we read about a kid being afraid of monsters. We have discussed the fact that monsters are extinct, just like dinosaurs, so it's impossible for them to come bother him.
He is the slowest eater EVER and it can sometimes take him a good 20 minutes to eat one chicken nugget. Last night, I asked him what he wanted for dinner and he told me he wanted three celery sticks, one broccoli, one carrot and some "China rice." I explained that we didn't have any chinese food and he said to just call the guy (the delivery guy) and have him bring some. Love that guy. Happy he chose veggies!
Today is May 1st and he's SUPER excited cause he wants his birthday to come. :)
His other favorite shows in April: Octonauts, Dora (especially animal episodes).
Favorite books: Who's got the apple (one of my favorites as a kid), Berenstain Bear books, animal/dinosaur books.
He is big into legos again and likes building ships/planes/vehicles with Liam.
He loves riding his scooter around and especially enjoys trying to crash into Liam.
His most favorite thing to do is attack Liam as brutally as possible, staging "Fights" on the couch. He likes to claw at Liam's head and face as much as he possibly can.
He loves kissing Brielle on the cheek. He still calls her "Be-elle."
He has given Cougar to Liam and decided that Friedrich, my old bear, is his favorite. He carries him from room to room and he has to be in his bed before he goes to sleep.
Our bedtime routine is ever changing, but for April, this is what he likes. He wants to lay next to me for about 2 minutes and then have me carry him into his bed. I have to scratch his back 50 times, with 10 bonus times, and then rub his tummy 10 times. I then have to pat his side or his back and cover him. He's going through this weird stage where he doesn't like to be left alone in a room. He says the monsters are going to get him. I don't think he's actually afraid of monsters.. I think it's cause we read about a kid being afraid of monsters. We have discussed the fact that monsters are extinct, just like dinosaurs, so it's impossible for them to come bother him.
He is the slowest eater EVER and it can sometimes take him a good 20 minutes to eat one chicken nugget. Last night, I asked him what he wanted for dinner and he told me he wanted three celery sticks, one broccoli, one carrot and some "China rice." I explained that we didn't have any chinese food and he said to just call the guy (the delivery guy) and have him bring some. Love that guy. Happy he chose veggies!
Today is May 1st and he's SUPER excited cause he wants his birthday to come. :)
Brielle at 14 months
I feel like Brielle is growing by leaps and bounds these days. April was the month of climbing, climbing, climbing. This girl has no fear. She likes to try to climb anything and everything she can find. We now have to keep all of our chairs turned over on their sides and away from the table, because she very much enjoys climbing up onto the kitchen table, the shelves by the doors, etc. If the chairs are not turned over, she simply pushes them over to the table and climbs up. She also likes pushing the toy baskets over to the counter with the TV so that she can climb up there. Falling does not deter her. She cries for about 2 seconds and then goes over and tries again.
She understands a lot now and it's really fun to see. She understands "come here" and "let's go" and usually does it right away. If she picks up something I don't want her to have, I act excited and say "Thank you!" and she comes and hands it to me. She will go get things if I ask her to.
She's trying to talk a lot more, though she doesn't really have many new words. Her favorite continues to be "UP" and she says it appropriately all the time... if she wants to be picked up, if she wants to get out of her high chair, and if we get in the elevator. If she sees a shoe or a sock, she tries to say it.. "sssssss." If she sees anyone's shoes on the floor, she will pick them up and bring them to you.
She's imitating a lot these days, which is very cute to see. This morning, when I was doing laundry, she walked over, took clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer. It was adorable. The other day when she and Liam were taking a bath (they always take their baths together...they are buddies), she picked up a washcloth and started washing Liam's back. A few days ago, she tried to also help me wipe Liam's bottom when I was changing his diaper. She's getting the way things work and it's very fun to see. She's a good little observer.
Brielle can eat more than her brothers. A typical dinner for her includes 3-4 chicken nuggets (or 2 fish sticks), a yogurt, fruit and something else. She likes peanut butter crackers. She does a pretty good job feeding herself squeezy fruit/veggie pouches. She LOVES drinking water and is constantly looking for hers or stealing her brothers'. She lets me know she wants water by walking over near it and saying "EH! EH!" She LOVES blueberries and peas.
She's in size 12-18 mo clothes and size 4 diapers. She does not like to keep socks on her feet and usually pulls them off. She loves wearing shoes. She understands that she has to put a jacket on before we leave and usually tries to "help."
She LOVES dancing and likes dancing to the theme songs of her brothers' shows, especially The Wild Kratts. She'll just laugh and laugh and dance. Very cute. She likes spinning, just like Liam.
She also loves hearing songs, especially Three Blind Mice. If she's upset or crying and I sing that to her, she instantly starts laughing and laughing. She and Liam both like to hear that one and want me to sing it over and over. She also loves being tickled and getting raspberries on her belly.
When I take her for a nap, I do a little nap dance and the whole way to the room, we say... "na na na na na na NAP!" and do a little jump. She loves that and has been trying to say Nap when I do. I then put her in her sleep sack and she puts her thumb in her mouth. i sing her one line of twinkle twinkle and then lay her on her pillow and she doesn't protest at all. I've noticed lately that she likes to try to cuddle with the corner of her pillowcase. I cover her with her owl blanket and that's it! Out. She is still the easiest child to put to bed, ever.
Brielle LOVES bath time and there is no way I would ever be able to give Liam or Eli a bath and not include her... she pulls at her clothes (to try to take them off) and RUNS to the bathroom and tries to climb in. She looooves being in there. Two days ago, she discovered that it is unpleasant to put your head under the water. She loves splashing. I can't wait to take her in the pool this year.
She LOVES going to the playground because it means she gets to climb to her heart's content. She HATES the swings and is SOOOO scared of them. TOTAL fear when I push her.
She is a HAPPY baby and when I take her out, she's always smiling at people, laughing and making them laugh. She occasionally will hide in my chest or cling to my legs if we are in a new place, but she gets over that pretty quickly.
She gets MAD when her brothers take a toy from her now and will scream at the top of her lungs and then start banging her head on the floor. She likes to get into Liam's stuff a lot and he's too little to be nice about it... she usually gets pushed or hit. Eli is better about understanding and usually gives her a kiss.
Her nickname is Brielly, which I call her a lot... Liam calls her that most of the time, as does Eli. It's pretty cute.
More adventures to come!
She understands a lot now and it's really fun to see. She understands "come here" and "let's go" and usually does it right away. If she picks up something I don't want her to have, I act excited and say "Thank you!" and she comes and hands it to me. She will go get things if I ask her to.
She's trying to talk a lot more, though she doesn't really have many new words. Her favorite continues to be "UP" and she says it appropriately all the time... if she wants to be picked up, if she wants to get out of her high chair, and if we get in the elevator. If she sees a shoe or a sock, she tries to say it.. "sssssss." If she sees anyone's shoes on the floor, she will pick them up and bring them to you.
She's imitating a lot these days, which is very cute to see. This morning, when I was doing laundry, she walked over, took clothes out of the washer and put them in the dryer. It was adorable. The other day when she and Liam were taking a bath (they always take their baths together...they are buddies), she picked up a washcloth and started washing Liam's back. A few days ago, she tried to also help me wipe Liam's bottom when I was changing his diaper. She's getting the way things work and it's very fun to see. She's a good little observer.
Brielle can eat more than her brothers. A typical dinner for her includes 3-4 chicken nuggets (or 2 fish sticks), a yogurt, fruit and something else. She likes peanut butter crackers. She does a pretty good job feeding herself squeezy fruit/veggie pouches. She LOVES drinking water and is constantly looking for hers or stealing her brothers'. She lets me know she wants water by walking over near it and saying "EH! EH!" She LOVES blueberries and peas.
She's in size 12-18 mo clothes and size 4 diapers. She does not like to keep socks on her feet and usually pulls them off. She loves wearing shoes. She understands that she has to put a jacket on before we leave and usually tries to "help."
She LOVES dancing and likes dancing to the theme songs of her brothers' shows, especially The Wild Kratts. She'll just laugh and laugh and dance. Very cute. She likes spinning, just like Liam.
She also loves hearing songs, especially Three Blind Mice. If she's upset or crying and I sing that to her, she instantly starts laughing and laughing. She and Liam both like to hear that one and want me to sing it over and over. She also loves being tickled and getting raspberries on her belly.
When I take her for a nap, I do a little nap dance and the whole way to the room, we say... "na na na na na na NAP!" and do a little jump. She loves that and has been trying to say Nap when I do. I then put her in her sleep sack and she puts her thumb in her mouth. i sing her one line of twinkle twinkle and then lay her on her pillow and she doesn't protest at all. I've noticed lately that she likes to try to cuddle with the corner of her pillowcase. I cover her with her owl blanket and that's it! Out. She is still the easiest child to put to bed, ever.
Brielle LOVES bath time and there is no way I would ever be able to give Liam or Eli a bath and not include her... she pulls at her clothes (to try to take them off) and RUNS to the bathroom and tries to climb in. She looooves being in there. Two days ago, she discovered that it is unpleasant to put your head under the water. She loves splashing. I can't wait to take her in the pool this year.
She LOVES going to the playground because it means she gets to climb to her heart's content. She HATES the swings and is SOOOO scared of them. TOTAL fear when I push her.
She is a HAPPY baby and when I take her out, she's always smiling at people, laughing and making them laugh. She occasionally will hide in my chest or cling to my legs if we are in a new place, but she gets over that pretty quickly.
She gets MAD when her brothers take a toy from her now and will scream at the top of her lungs and then start banging her head on the floor. She likes to get into Liam's stuff a lot and he's too little to be nice about it... she usually gets pushed or hit. Eli is better about understanding and usually gives her a kiss.
Her nickname is Brielly, which I call her a lot... Liam calls her that most of the time, as does Eli. It's pretty cute.
More adventures to come!
Spring Break 2014
This is our first year having a child in school and the first time we had to plan a vacation around a break from school. Mike was able to get Eli's spring break off from work and I wanted us to be able to have a really fun family vacation.
I decided that it would be fun to take the kids to Amish country in Lancaster, PA, and even more fun to stay on a farm while we were there. We booked a room in a cottage at the Verdant View Farm and off we went! We left Monday after lunch and arrived around 4pm. When we got there, we got to go into the barn and see the cows, the bunnies and some of the cats walking around. The kids then ran around to see the goats and we had perfect timing and were invited in to collect eggs from the chickens. That was a lot of fun. Eli was afraid to touch any of the chickens. We then explored the property and let the kids run around for a while. They were excited to wave to the passing train and were very afraid when we said they could later stand on the tracks to take a picture. We stayed in the top floor of a house on the property and had two double beds and a pull away bed (for Eli!). Brielle slept in a pack in play and Liam slept in a bed with me. Mike had his own bed...lucky! The room was perfect and even had a little nook with a window and a basket of fun toys and books for the kids. There was a playground in the backyard that the kids loved. We went to a buffet style restaurant for dinner called the Bird-in-Hand restaurant and the kids had fun. Brielle ate her weight in peas. The desserts were amazing and the boys had fun sampling the pies and trying the ice cream. We then let them run off their energy at a fun nearby playground with lots of fun slides! They crashed shortly after we got home, which is good because we wanted to wake up early to see the cows being milked. We headed over (in the rain..ugh) at 7:30 and were excited to see 5 cows being milked. We were the only ones there at the time and got to talk to the dairy farmer guy who answered all of our questions. After that, we headed over to the farm house for a farm breakfast and I drank raw cow milk for the first time. After breakfast, we went back and packed up our stuff and headed over to the Choo-Choo barn, a huge room with a huge mini train display... villages, etc. The kids enjoyed it. We had a fun lunch at a restaurant nearby (thank you for serving dinosaur chicken nuggets!). Brielle choked on a goldfish, which was no fun, but she was ok and it ended up being a great time. After lunch, we hit the Strasburg Railroad Museum and the kids loved looking at the big trains and climbing aboard. There was one setup where they got to use shovels and pretend that they were shoveling coal... that was their favorite part. They also had a HUGE playroom with tons and tons and tons of Thomas tracks set up. THAT was fun. On to our next stop: Baltimore!
My mom was recovering from pneumonia so our original plan of dropping them off at her house and having a night out didn't pan out. So along came the kids and we turned it into a family night! We stayed in an amazing hotel, The Admiral Fells Inn, in Fells point. For dinner, we went to a seafood restaurant where Brielle out-ate both of her brothers, putting away 2 large chicken tenders. After dinner, we got ice cream (which is where we learned that if you feed a 2 year old bright blue ice cream, he will poop bright green). In the morning, we enjoyed breakfast in and then took off for the national Aquarium. The kids had fun and Eli got to see his favorite, the Red Bellied Piranha. Liam loved seeing the sharks and Brielle was excited to see everything. Then we headed to mom's house!
Thursday, we took the kids to DC on the Metro. First stop: Natural History Museum to see the Dinosaurs before they close the exhibit for 5 years. That was fun. They especially loved the mammal room where they got to see a tiger, bears, lions, etc. After the museum, we walked across the mall and the boys enjoyed a caramel popcorn break before we headed into the Air and Space museum. They weren't really too impressed and were getting tired and cranky, so we headed home.
Friday, Emily came over and we had a big Easter Egg Hung int the backyard! That was a ton of fun. Liam was so excited, running around yelling "ANOTHER EGG!!!" In each egg were either 2 jellybeans, 2 fruit snacks, or 2 m&ms and there were two golden eggs that each had $1 (which, come to think of it, I have no idea what they did with). We let them each open a few eggs. We headed home after that.
Sunday was Easter... I had to work, but the Easter Bunny still brought their baskets! Brielle got a new baseball glove (to keep up with her brothers), a few stuffed animals, and some eggs filled with baby snacks. Eli and Liam each had a new puzzle, a new movie and a bunch of eggs filled with m&Ms and jellybeans. They got a whole pack of fruit snacks, which is a treat for them since we usually don't have those. Daddy said they were pretty excited. Daddy also got them all dressed up in their suits (and dress for Brielle) and took them to church. They made it all the way through the offering, which is pretty good!
It was a super fun vacation week!!
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
What it's like taking kids to the post office.
Kid-free me going to the post office:
I open the door, walk in, go get in the line, wait, go online on my phone til it's my turn, get called, go tell the worker that i want this mailed, wait in silence, answer questions appropriately, pay and leave.
Today, while Eli was in school, I decided to take Liam and Brielle to the post office. Here's how it went.
First of all, the doors are about 1 cm wider than my double stroller, so holding the door open and trying to squeeze them in is always a task. Thank goodness.... 90% of the time, someone holds the door for me. As soon as I get in, I have to do a sharp 90 degree turn and try to get another door open. Then there are the stairs. I have to bump the stroller up 4 stairs backwards. Not too bad if I don't have a lot of boxes but when I do, that's an added challenge. Next comes the line part. In my post office, there are two lines and the one I have to get in is always too small (ropes) for us to fit. So I have to figure out how to get the little rope things moved out of the way. Not too big of a problem, but when I do that, I have now made it impossible for me to fit when I loop back around and get to the window. When I'm in line, I spend most of my time convincing Liam not to touch the ropes, not to bother the people, to sit down, and that we will be leaving soon. When it's finally our turn, this is what me standing at the window sounds like.
"Yes, I'd like to mail these priority." "liam sit DOWN." "no, liam, sit DOWN." "I said sit DOWN." "if you don't get back in that stroller, you're going to be in big trouble." "I'm sorry..could you repeat that? No, nothing fragile." "Liam. Sit. Down." "No, you can't stick your hand through the slot." "No, the lady is busy." "Ok..say hi to the lady." "No, we can't go. We have to pay to mail the package." "No, you can't have a snack right now." "SIT DOWN." "I said sit down." etc etc etc.
Sigh.
I open the door, walk in, go get in the line, wait, go online on my phone til it's my turn, get called, go tell the worker that i want this mailed, wait in silence, answer questions appropriately, pay and leave.
Today, while Eli was in school, I decided to take Liam and Brielle to the post office. Here's how it went.
First of all, the doors are about 1 cm wider than my double stroller, so holding the door open and trying to squeeze them in is always a task. Thank goodness.... 90% of the time, someone holds the door for me. As soon as I get in, I have to do a sharp 90 degree turn and try to get another door open. Then there are the stairs. I have to bump the stroller up 4 stairs backwards. Not too bad if I don't have a lot of boxes but when I do, that's an added challenge. Next comes the line part. In my post office, there are two lines and the one I have to get in is always too small (ropes) for us to fit. So I have to figure out how to get the little rope things moved out of the way. Not too big of a problem, but when I do that, I have now made it impossible for me to fit when I loop back around and get to the window. When I'm in line, I spend most of my time convincing Liam not to touch the ropes, not to bother the people, to sit down, and that we will be leaving soon. When it's finally our turn, this is what me standing at the window sounds like.
"Yes, I'd like to mail these priority." "liam sit DOWN." "no, liam, sit DOWN." "I said sit DOWN." "if you don't get back in that stroller, you're going to be in big trouble." "I'm sorry..could you repeat that? No, nothing fragile." "Liam. Sit. Down." "No, you can't stick your hand through the slot." "No, the lady is busy." "Ok..say hi to the lady." "No, we can't go. We have to pay to mail the package." "No, you can't have a snack right now." "SIT DOWN." "I said sit down." etc etc etc.
Sigh.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Quotes of the day
Quotes of the day: Eli: (when I asked him if he wanted to play lego chima with Liam) "Nah. I'm a busy, busy man." Liam: (when I told him I was looking at a recipe for Falafals): "Yes. Me want that. Dirty Waffles!" I then asked Liam what he wanted for dinner... "Chocolate!!!" Me: Just chocolate? Liam: And 'nilla! (vanilla). Kuya likes chocolate. Me like nilla. Well ok then. I guess we're having dirty waffles with chocolate and vanilla tonight.
Later, when I asked Eli to get me a diaper, his response was:
OH maaaan. Why am I the man who has all the hard work?
Later, when I asked Eli to get me a diaper, his response was:
OH maaaan. Why am I the man who has all the hard work?
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Eli
Eli called me over to help him with his Z homework. He asked if I could help him spell out the Zebra's name. I started with Z...E.. and he said no, mommy. I started again.. Z... NO MOMMY, his name is ODONIS. Lol. So he labeled his homework Zebra, "Odonis."
correction... OTONIS.
correction... OTONIS.
Eli quotes
Some Eli quotes, as of late:
He likes to tell me "If you don't let me do _____, I'm going to scream/be crazy/bother you/wake up Brielle." Testing his limits, that one.
ALLLLL day long in February and March, he sets up animal battles, like... lion vs. tiger. He wants you to pick which one you think will win, but if you pick the wrong one, he makes you re-select which one he wants you to pick. He then describes an entire battle in detail, using words from all of the animal shows and books that he sees.
Yesterday during nap time, I wanted him to lay down. He kept sitting up. Finally, he said "Mommy, I want to sit here and think about my behavior."
On March 5th:
Eli was taking waaay longer than he should have in the bathroom so I went in to see what was going on. What did I find? He was laying on the floor, sucking toothpaste. You can't make this stuff up.
He likes to tell me "If you don't let me do _____, I'm going to scream/be crazy/bother you/wake up Brielle." Testing his limits, that one.
ALLLLL day long in February and March, he sets up animal battles, like... lion vs. tiger. He wants you to pick which one you think will win, but if you pick the wrong one, he makes you re-select which one he wants you to pick. He then describes an entire battle in detail, using words from all of the animal shows and books that he sees.
Yesterday during nap time, I wanted him to lay down. He kept sitting up. Finally, he said "Mommy, I want to sit here and think about my behavior."
On March 5th:
Eli was taking waaay longer than he should have in the bathroom so I went in to see what was going on. What did I find? He was laying on the floor, sucking toothpaste. You can't make this stuff up.
Brielle turns one!
Brielle is one! Mike took off of work for her birthday so that we could all be together. We started the morning out with pancakes... brielle loved hers! Then she opened her presents... she got a new copy of her favorite book, Peek-a-Who, a little kid sized broom that she loves, a copy of TIME's 2013 reflection (I thought that would be cool for her to see when she's older), a book to fill in all about her over the years, a new car seat, and a beautiful hand-made owl blanket (that arrived a few weeks later). After we picked Eli up from school, we ate lunch and then cake for the big girl! She LOVED diving into it with both hands and smashed it to pieces. Then, we headed to Legoland... Brielle had a great time running around, playing with the jumbo legos, looking at the giant lego people and chasing her brothers. Daddy had to go to work after that, so we dropped him off and came home. It was a great 1st birthday!
We had her party a few weeks later. Oliver, the baby who was born on the same day as her, came over with his mommy and his big brother Owen, and we had a lot of fun taking pictures of the babies. We put them in baskets with balloons attached, wearing matching "I'm one" shirts, took the FINAL "Thing 1" and "thing 2" picture, and then gave them matching cakes to smash. Oliver was NOT happy about having to touch the cake, but Brielle dove right in! They had fun and it was a super cute little party.
Now she's 1!!! Here's what she was into at 12 months:
-Climbing everything. She especially loves climbing up on the couch so she can be with her brothers
-Emptying all of the recycling. Definitely her most favorite thing to do.
-Following anyone into the bathroom so she can...try to climb into the tub (she can get her leg over), try to empty the trash can and try to shoom off all of the toilet paper.
-Walking around with her sippy cup. She loves drinking water, shaking water all over the floor and spitting it out all over so her clothes get soaking wet. When she wants her water, she comes over and puts her arm up and starts screaming.
-Eating, eating, eating. Aside from about 1/2 carton of yogurt, she will not let us feed her any baby food anymore. She starts shaking her hands in front of her (her version of NO) and will not let the spoon get anywhere close to her face. Her favorite things to eat are chicken nuggets (she can eat 3!), french fries, veggie straws and bread.
-She likes to say "uh oh" and "baba." She rarely says mama or dada anymore. When I take her to put her down for a nap, I always say "NAP!" over and over while jumping with her and she laughs and laughs and say "ap!"
-She understands what I means when I say "baba?" (She runs over to the couch), "Where's your baby?" (she looks for one), "Hungry?" (she goes over and points to her high chair). "Daddy's coming!" (she looks at the door)
-She is super clingy in the mornings and wants to be held for the first 15 minutes or so.
-Has been having a very hard time sleeping at night. Partly because her pack n play has grown uncomfortable for her (she's getting a new crib very soon!) but partly cause she's had a cold for a while. She's had a taste of sleeping in our much more comfortable bed and she wants THAT. It's been hard to get her to stay in her crib at night.
-Her favorite toys remain Optimus Prime and Captain America and she likes walking around with them.
-She is still in size 4 diapers and wears size 12-18 month clothing
-She loves getting into EVERYTHING, especially all of the drawers in the bedroom, the containers of kids' socks, the shelves with paper, anything inside boxes, the diaper containers... she can make a quick mess in a very short amount of time.
-She still (most days) takes a 30-45 min nap in the AM and a 1-2 hour nap in the PM.
-She LOVES bath time and always takes a bath with Liam. They get out at the same time and she's taken to copying Liam's "brrrrrrr" when he gets out of the water. They like to lay next to each other, snuggled up in their towels, and laugh and laugh at each other. Liam makes her laugh a lot these days.
-She likes dancing and understands what you mean if you tell her to dance.
-She HATES when I try to put her hair up and runs away from me every single time.
I can't believe we've had her for a year!
We had her party a few weeks later. Oliver, the baby who was born on the same day as her, came over with his mommy and his big brother Owen, and we had a lot of fun taking pictures of the babies. We put them in baskets with balloons attached, wearing matching "I'm one" shirts, took the FINAL "Thing 1" and "thing 2" picture, and then gave them matching cakes to smash. Oliver was NOT happy about having to touch the cake, but Brielle dove right in! They had fun and it was a super cute little party.
Now she's 1!!! Here's what she was into at 12 months:
-Climbing everything. She especially loves climbing up on the couch so she can be with her brothers
-Emptying all of the recycling. Definitely her most favorite thing to do.
-Following anyone into the bathroom so she can...try to climb into the tub (she can get her leg over), try to empty the trash can and try to shoom off all of the toilet paper.
-Walking around with her sippy cup. She loves drinking water, shaking water all over the floor and spitting it out all over so her clothes get soaking wet. When she wants her water, she comes over and puts her arm up and starts screaming.
-Eating, eating, eating. Aside from about 1/2 carton of yogurt, she will not let us feed her any baby food anymore. She starts shaking her hands in front of her (her version of NO) and will not let the spoon get anywhere close to her face. Her favorite things to eat are chicken nuggets (she can eat 3!), french fries, veggie straws and bread.
-She likes to say "uh oh" and "baba." She rarely says mama or dada anymore. When I take her to put her down for a nap, I always say "NAP!" over and over while jumping with her and she laughs and laughs and say "ap!"
-She understands what I means when I say "baba?" (She runs over to the couch), "Where's your baby?" (she looks for one), "Hungry?" (she goes over and points to her high chair). "Daddy's coming!" (she looks at the door)
-She is super clingy in the mornings and wants to be held for the first 15 minutes or so.
-Has been having a very hard time sleeping at night. Partly because her pack n play has grown uncomfortable for her (she's getting a new crib very soon!) but partly cause she's had a cold for a while. She's had a taste of sleeping in our much more comfortable bed and she wants THAT. It's been hard to get her to stay in her crib at night.
-Her favorite toys remain Optimus Prime and Captain America and she likes walking around with them.
-She is still in size 4 diapers and wears size 12-18 month clothing
-She loves getting into EVERYTHING, especially all of the drawers in the bedroom, the containers of kids' socks, the shelves with paper, anything inside boxes, the diaper containers... she can make a quick mess in a very short amount of time.
-She still (most days) takes a 30-45 min nap in the AM and a 1-2 hour nap in the PM.
-She LOVES bath time and always takes a bath with Liam. They get out at the same time and she's taken to copying Liam's "brrrrrrr" when he gets out of the water. They like to lay next to each other, snuggled up in their towels, and laugh and laugh at each other. Liam makes her laugh a lot these days.
-She likes dancing and understands what you mean if you tell her to dance.
-She HATES when I try to put her hair up and runs away from me every single time.
I can't believe we've had her for a year!
Eli's Second Report Card
I had Eli's parent teacher conference on Tuesday and all went well (despite me having to bring all three kids with me!). Eli's doing great academically and is a pretty good kid all around. He's still having trouble containing his energy (big surprise) but is always willing to correct his behavior and is getting a little better. He's started name-calling in school, which they are working on, but thank goodness he isn't pulling the "I'm not listening to you" stuff he is doing here.
I tried to make a copy of the report card, but my printer isn't working, so I'm going to write all of the comments here. I want these for his little scrapbook.
Eli has a passion for both fictional stories and information books. He loves to draw, write, listen to and act out.
Eli continues to demonstrate many exciting early reading skills.
Eli is writing words independently! He is off to a great start.
Eli has a mind bent around problem-solving.
Eli is doing careful noticing of details in the changing natural world, as well as our class lima beans.
Eli has made a lot of progress with social problem-solving.
Eli continues to love to hop, jump, and play any action-games.
Eli has been working hard to control his body at the right times, but it remains a challenge. Trying again seems to help, as does taking a deep breath and thinking "how would I feel if..."
He got 3s for everything (meets grade-level expectations) except for listening, speaking and language, science and physical activity, all of which he got 4s (exceeds grade-level standards).
Pretty good report card, buddy!
I tried to make a copy of the report card, but my printer isn't working, so I'm going to write all of the comments here. I want these for his little scrapbook.
Eli has a passion for both fictional stories and information books. He loves to draw, write, listen to and act out.
Eli continues to demonstrate many exciting early reading skills.
Eli is writing words independently! He is off to a great start.
Eli has a mind bent around problem-solving.
Eli is doing careful noticing of details in the changing natural world, as well as our class lima beans.
Eli has made a lot of progress with social problem-solving.
Eli continues to love to hop, jump, and play any action-games.
Eli has been working hard to control his body at the right times, but it remains a challenge. Trying again seems to help, as does taking a deep breath and thinking "how would I feel if..."
He got 3s for everything (meets grade-level expectations) except for listening, speaking and language, science and physical activity, all of which he got 4s (exceeds grade-level standards).
Pretty good report card, buddy!
Friday, March 7, 2014
Liam in February
Liam is obsessed with Toy Story again. Every morning, after we get back from dropping Eli off at school, we watch one of the three toy stories. He usually picks #1 ("The claw one!") or #2 ("The Jessie one!"). He looooves this beat up old Buzz Lightyear toy he has. It's missing wings, very faded and most of the time the sound effects don't work, but he LOVES it. He carries it around all the time, bangs it on the floor a lot, throws it a lot, makes me push the button to see the "wings" pop out, and doesn't really like Eli or Brielle touching it.
He does NOT stop talking now. He likes to say "Hey Mommy" over and over and over and over 50 million times a day. He also likes to say "Guess what."
He loves building his "house" out of cushions on the couch. He gets very upset if anyone tries to touch it or enter the house with him.
He likes to play the Toy Story game on the iPad.
He wakes up at 6:15am every. single. morning. Like clockwork. Except for the weekends with mike, when he always sleeps in.
He likes to eat ALL DAY LONG. it's endless. He eats about 3 breakfasts, always asking me for "somepin' else!" His ability to wait for that somepin else is about .03 seconds.
He still LOVES his applesauce and also really loves Cliff kid bars.
He also loves watching Jake and the Neverland pirates and often refers to the da-dile (crocodile) and hook when on his own adventures throughout the house.
Has his hands down his pants ALL DAY LONG. All day long. Sigh.
LOVES taking baths.
Adventures in February.... we went to Legoland for Brielle's birthday, went bowling with lolo and lola and linamarie and went sledding for the very first time! Grandma came up to stay with the kiddos while mommy and daddy escaped to the poconos for a night. It was a fun and VERY SNOWY month. (He loves walking in the snow when we go drop eli off and pick him up).
He does NOT stop talking now. He likes to say "Hey Mommy" over and over and over and over 50 million times a day. He also likes to say "Guess what."
He loves building his "house" out of cushions on the couch. He gets very upset if anyone tries to touch it or enter the house with him.
He likes to play the Toy Story game on the iPad.
He wakes up at 6:15am every. single. morning. Like clockwork. Except for the weekends with mike, when he always sleeps in.
He likes to eat ALL DAY LONG. it's endless. He eats about 3 breakfasts, always asking me for "somepin' else!" His ability to wait for that somepin else is about .03 seconds.
He still LOVES his applesauce and also really loves Cliff kid bars.
He also loves watching Jake and the Neverland pirates and often refers to the da-dile (crocodile) and hook when on his own adventures throughout the house.
Has his hands down his pants ALL DAY LONG. All day long. Sigh.
LOVES taking baths.
Adventures in February.... we went to Legoland for Brielle's birthday, went bowling with lolo and lola and linamarie and went sledding for the very first time! Grandma came up to stay with the kiddos while mommy and daddy escaped to the poconos for a night. It was a fun and VERY SNOWY month. (He loves walking in the snow when we go drop eli off and pick him up).
Brielle at 11 months
So this post is way overdue...
Brielle at 11 months:
-moved up to size 4 diapers. Now she and Liam share diapers!
-is in size 12 clothing, mostly.
-loves shoes but does not like wearing them
-is into EVERYTHING. She loves climbing up on the couch, knocking everything she can reach off of tables
-is still taking two naps a day... the first one around 10am, lasting 30-45 minutes and the second one around 2:30, lasting about an hour.
-wakes up between 7 and 7:30am...goes down between 7:30 and 8pm.
-is drinking 3 8 oz bottles a day, but usually only drinks half of one or two of them
-LOVES to eat. She really isn't letting us feed her baby food anymore. She prefers to eat real food, especially bread.
-laughs and laughs and laughs when playing with her brothers.
-has been sitting down reading books a lot more! She doesn't last more than a few seconds per page and doesn't like to be read to... she likes to flip through herself.
Almost one!!!!
Brielle at 11 months:
-moved up to size 4 diapers. Now she and Liam share diapers!
-is in size 12 clothing, mostly.
-loves shoes but does not like wearing them
-is into EVERYTHING. She loves climbing up on the couch, knocking everything she can reach off of tables
-is still taking two naps a day... the first one around 10am, lasting 30-45 minutes and the second one around 2:30, lasting about an hour.
-wakes up between 7 and 7:30am...goes down between 7:30 and 8pm.
-is drinking 3 8 oz bottles a day, but usually only drinks half of one or two of them
-LOVES to eat. She really isn't letting us feed her baby food anymore. She prefers to eat real food, especially bread.
-laughs and laughs and laughs when playing with her brothers.
-has been sitting down reading books a lot more! She doesn't last more than a few seconds per page and doesn't like to be read to... she likes to flip through herself.
Almost one!!!!
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Brielle, the eater
At Brielle's 1 year doc appointment, the doc was concerned with her weight, because between 10months and 12 months, her weight didn't change much at all. She's still 18 lbs. She dropped to a low percentile. She wanted me to come back for a weight check in a month, but I told her that I wasn't in the slightest bit concerned. I'm sure of two things... one, that the scale was probably a tad off and two, that my child never, ever stops moving and burns off every single calorie she eats. The doc said she was sure she was a bird eater and that was ok... and I stopped her right away and said that this girl can EAT. She didn't believe me.
Just as an example... for dinner, Brielle, my 12 month old, just ate three chicken nuggets, an entire kiwi, a handful of french fries, a handful of veggie straws and water. That's more than Eli or Liam.
Grow baby, grow!
Just as an example... for dinner, Brielle, my 12 month old, just ate three chicken nuggets, an entire kiwi, a handful of french fries, a handful of veggie straws and water. That's more than Eli or Liam.
Grow baby, grow!
Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Eli in February
Eli just said to me: "Maybe we can give coats and gloves and shoes to the people who don't have homes!" Love that little guy's thoughts sometimes!
Eli's favorite things at 4 years, 9 months:
-the color red. if he ever has a choice, the thing he wants must be red. sometimes, if i give him something that isn't red, he has a mini-tantrum.
-Lions. He's been big into lions for a while now. He has a lion hat and talks about lions all the time.
-He always says his favorite letter is A and number is 1. (Yes, I showed him a bottle of A1 sauce).
-He's on a HUGE orange/grapfruit kick right now
-He LOVES playing Super Mario Brothers. He must be Mario (red) and I must be Luigi. He's gotten pretty good at the game! We've made it to the final castle. I usually play with him when Brielle goes down for her second nap.
-He picked his own pair of shoes out at The Children's Place the other day and was SO proud to show them to everyone.
-Likes reading about animals, animal showdowns, etc. We've been reading a Predators book that he loves. That's his favorite book right now. He still likes watching the Wild Kratts.
-Is still big into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Raphael, the red one) and Transformers.
We've been getting tons of snowstorms this winter, and usually the kids don't get much of a chance to play in the snow except for the block walk to school and back, when they like to pick up hunks of snow and call it CHI (from lego chima). One day last week, I took them over to the empty basketball courts so they could play, but their hands got wet quickly and Eli started whining. We lasted about 10 minutes. Monday was Mike's birthday and he was home, so I jumped on the opportunity and ran out to buy sleds. We trekked (and I do mean trekked...it was not easy) over to Inwood Hill Park, pulling the boys in sleds, and got to go down a big hill! The boys probably took about 5 runs each...some solo and some with me and Mike. They had a lot of fun but got cold and tired quickly. It was hard work trudging back up that hill in the snow! It was a short trip, but we had a lot of fun!
Yesterday, the 4th, we took them bowling for the first time. They got to use the dragon...the thing that lines up the ball for the kids... and the bumper guards...so the kids were able to get a few spares and strikes. We went to Goodfella's pizza afterwards (great pizza place in Staten Island) and had fun eating with Lolo, Lola, Ann, Jaymin and Linamarie.
I asked Eli yesterday if he wanted to do karate or soccer and he said neither...that he wanted to play baseball. So today, I signed him up for Inwood Little League...the 4-5 year old T-ball team. The season starts in April and it looks like there will be one practice a week and one game every Sunday morning. I told him about it and he is really excited. It will be super cute to see him in his little uniform!
Eli's favorite things at 4 years, 9 months:
-the color red. if he ever has a choice, the thing he wants must be red. sometimes, if i give him something that isn't red, he has a mini-tantrum.
-Lions. He's been big into lions for a while now. He has a lion hat and talks about lions all the time.
-He always says his favorite letter is A and number is 1. (Yes, I showed him a bottle of A1 sauce).
-He's on a HUGE orange/grapfruit kick right now
-He LOVES playing Super Mario Brothers. He must be Mario (red) and I must be Luigi. He's gotten pretty good at the game! We've made it to the final castle. I usually play with him when Brielle goes down for her second nap.
-He picked his own pair of shoes out at The Children's Place the other day and was SO proud to show them to everyone.
-Likes reading about animals, animal showdowns, etc. We've been reading a Predators book that he loves. That's his favorite book right now. He still likes watching the Wild Kratts.
-Is still big into Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Raphael, the red one) and Transformers.
We've been getting tons of snowstorms this winter, and usually the kids don't get much of a chance to play in the snow except for the block walk to school and back, when they like to pick up hunks of snow and call it CHI (from lego chima). One day last week, I took them over to the empty basketball courts so they could play, but their hands got wet quickly and Eli started whining. We lasted about 10 minutes. Monday was Mike's birthday and he was home, so I jumped on the opportunity and ran out to buy sleds. We trekked (and I do mean trekked...it was not easy) over to Inwood Hill Park, pulling the boys in sleds, and got to go down a big hill! The boys probably took about 5 runs each...some solo and some with me and Mike. They had a lot of fun but got cold and tired quickly. It was hard work trudging back up that hill in the snow! It was a short trip, but we had a lot of fun!
Yesterday, the 4th, we took them bowling for the first time. They got to use the dragon...the thing that lines up the ball for the kids... and the bumper guards...so the kids were able to get a few spares and strikes. We went to Goodfella's pizza afterwards (great pizza place in Staten Island) and had fun eating with Lolo, Lola, Ann, Jaymin and Linamarie.
I asked Eli yesterday if he wanted to do karate or soccer and he said neither...that he wanted to play baseball. So today, I signed him up for Inwood Little League...the 4-5 year old T-ball team. The season starts in April and it looks like there will be one practice a week and one game every Sunday morning. I told him about it and he is really excited. It will be super cute to see him in his little uniform!
Tuesday, January 28, 2014
Big Eaters
For dinner, Brielle just ate a bowl of pasta (ditalini), half of a kiwi and a chicken nugget. Eli ate a yogurt, a chicken nugget, a carrot stick, celery stick, big bowl of pasta and two oranges...and a slice of pumpkin pie. Liam has been eating all day so he's not usually a big dinner eater. If they are eating this much now at these ages, what's going to happen when they are teenagers???? Scary.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Random thoughts for today
Just thought I'd post a few random thoughts...it's hard at the moment to do so, cause Brielle is =.......k;li.k.l/- Here WITh ME...she is ty
pinG
makaLLening
ing it c
to get an]ything written.
guess i will try again another time!
what m=''' i ma'
inl'
y want'[ed]- to say 0-0was
QUin==0-=rielle ]=ad\ =]pp]p]p
pbirl====
brielle is not allowed to have rice and quinoa wi[
'
'cause she can throw it just as far as liA
M
tHAT IS all
pinG
makaLLening
ing it c
to get an]ything written.
guess i will try again another time!
what m=''' i ma'
inl'
y want'[ed]- to say 0-0was
QUin==0-=rielle ]=ad\ =]pp]p]p
pbirl====
brielle is not allowed to have rice and quinoa wi[
'
'cause she can throw it just as far as liA
M
tHAT IS all
Friday, January 10, 2014
Brielle at 10 months!
Things have been busy around here with Christmas and all... so I've been a bit behind. Am squeaking this one in just under the gun, as Brielle is turning 11 months old tomorrow!
Brielle at 10 months:
-At her well visit on 12/6/13 (so she was technically still 9 months old), she weighed 18.7 lbs and was 28 3/4 inches tall.
-She's still in size 3 diapers, and I know I've been saying this for a while, but when she finishes out this bag of size 3s, I'm moving her up to size 4.
-She can squeeze into 9 months shirts and wears 9-12 month jammies, but for the most part, everything she's wearing is 12 months.
-She still rides in the ergo most places we go, especially since it's been so cold. She much prefers riding in the stroller, especially for long walks, but with three kiddos she doesn't really have a choice.
-She's not just walking everywhere...she's RUNNING. She especially loves running when she hears the bathroom or front door open. She likes being chased and also tries to run back and forth with her brothers when they are running. She is really funny, too, cause if I catch her doing something bad (dumping out a container of socks, for example), she'll look at me, give me a big smile and then take off running. She usually crashes into the furniture and falls down.
-She's just like her brothers... for the most part, if she puts something in her mouth that she's not supposed to, she will come find me and start grinning. Of course when I try to finger sweep it out, she clenches her jaw and throws a fit.
-Her favorite things in the world to do are as follows:
-take the cookie trays out of the drawer they are in
-take as many wipes out of the wipe container as possible before i notice
-eat stray cheerios off of the floor
-open the drawers where we keep the shoes
-play with Optimus Prime
-carry around her doll and give it kisses
-shoom the toilet paper off the roll
-walk around holding and swinging around the wii remote
-climb up on the couch when the boys take the cushions off
-trying to climb up into her high chair (which we have on the ground...there aren't enough chairs to put it on).
-get herself stuck in the bottom part of the little stroller
-take as many diapers out of the diaper bin as possible. this is her MOST favorite of all of the above things.
-She also LOVES to be tickled. She laughs and laughs and laughs.
-She loves chatting. She likes to say gogogo and gakgakgak and mamama (not in reference to me) and bababa. Her only REAL word at this time is "UP." She says it a lot.
-She waved once. I thought it was a new skill, but I think it was just a coincidence.
-I've been much better at getting her mealtimes regulated. Typically, her daily schedule looks like this:
-Wakes up between 7 am (when I get up and wake Eli up) and 7:45am (if they boys are quiet enough when leaving the room). If she doesn't see me, she'll stay in her crib talking to herself happily for a while. If she sees me, though, she wants out, cause she knows I have a bottle.
-I then give her a bottle and leave her in her jammies.
-We leave the house at 8:15 to drop Eli off at school... we're usually running late. She gets put in the ergo with her light green coat or thick purple coat (that renders her motionless) and cute pink hat (the only one I can get to stay on her head). We walk a block and a half to drop Eli off and then walk home.
-I take her out of the Ergo and usually within 15 min, sit her down to eat breakfast. She usually eats 1-2 tubs/jars and some cheerios. I officially gave up trying to make her food... I'm just not able to fit that into my schedule these days. Occasionally she will eat something handmade, but it's rare.
-I let her play for a bit and then lay her down for her first nap between 9:30 and 10:00. She usually wakes up RIGHT before we have to leave at 10:45, but occasionally I have to wake her up. Even when I wake her up, she's still all smiley and happy...not much can get this kid down!
-We walk to pick up Eli and she smiles at everyone in line. We walk home and she fends for herself while I make the boys lunch. I then sit her down for lunch and have been giving her little pieces of food to feed herself... bread, beans, blueberries, cheerios, etc. Sometimes this is it and sometimes I will also feed her a tub of something.
-If I'm going to get her dressed for the day, it's now. It's been so cold lately and we haven't really been going out much, so she usually spends the day in her cozy jammies.
-She then walks around destroying the apartment and playing with her and her brothers' toys for a few hours. She sometimes will sit in my lap and "read" a book, which consists of her paying attention for one page and then opening and closing it and throwing it a million times.
-I give her a bottle and then lay her down for a nap around 2pm. She will sometimes sleep for only 30 min if the boys are being noisy and sometimes for 90 min if she's really tired.
-She then walks around destroying things and getting pushed/kicked/kissed to death by her brothers until dinnertime.
-For dinner, I usually start her off with some finger food and then feed her 1-2 tubs of food. She used to really like veggies, but now she's starting to turn away from them. She LOVES yogurt. She doesn't seem to like strawberries cut up yet.. I can't tell if that's cause they are hard to pick up or cause she doesn't like them. Time will tell. She usually eats all of her blueberries. She will sit in her chair content for a really, really long time, especially if I keep loading her up with cheerios. Some nights when I'm all alone and trying to get stuff in the kitchen, she'll sit quietly in that chair for 2 hours! Amazing child. (Thank you, Brielle).
-After dinner, she plays a bit more until it's time for her bottle. In an ideal world, she'd have her bottle at 6:45 and go down at 7, but it's usually closer to 7:45 that she goes down. She rarely fusses, unless I'm reading books to the boys in there and she wants to be up on the bed, too.
-She LOOOOOOVES getting baths and loves bath time, when we can squeeze it in. She likes taking baths with Liam and likes splashing around and playing with him. She is very upset if someone is getting a bath and she's not. She will throw a FIT if that happens. She does not like getting out of the bath, either. Yesterday, when I started running the water, she ran over to the tub and tried super hard to get her leg up and over. It was hysterical.
-She still HATES getting dressed, but she's been a little better about it lately.
-This past week, she has been getting into EVERYTHING. Opening every drawer, dumping things out, etc. I'll talk more about that in her 11 month post!
Brielle at 10 months:
-At her well visit on 12/6/13 (so she was technically still 9 months old), she weighed 18.7 lbs and was 28 3/4 inches tall.
-She's still in size 3 diapers, and I know I've been saying this for a while, but when she finishes out this bag of size 3s, I'm moving her up to size 4.
-She can squeeze into 9 months shirts and wears 9-12 month jammies, but for the most part, everything she's wearing is 12 months.
-She still rides in the ergo most places we go, especially since it's been so cold. She much prefers riding in the stroller, especially for long walks, but with three kiddos she doesn't really have a choice.
-She's not just walking everywhere...she's RUNNING. She especially loves running when she hears the bathroom or front door open. She likes being chased and also tries to run back and forth with her brothers when they are running. She is really funny, too, cause if I catch her doing something bad (dumping out a container of socks, for example), she'll look at me, give me a big smile and then take off running. She usually crashes into the furniture and falls down.
-She's just like her brothers... for the most part, if she puts something in her mouth that she's not supposed to, she will come find me and start grinning. Of course when I try to finger sweep it out, she clenches her jaw and throws a fit.
-Her favorite things in the world to do are as follows:
-take the cookie trays out of the drawer they are in
-take as many wipes out of the wipe container as possible before i notice
-eat stray cheerios off of the floor
-open the drawers where we keep the shoes
-play with Optimus Prime
-carry around her doll and give it kisses
-shoom the toilet paper off the roll
-walk around holding and swinging around the wii remote
-climb up on the couch when the boys take the cushions off
-trying to climb up into her high chair (which we have on the ground...there aren't enough chairs to put it on).
-get herself stuck in the bottom part of the little stroller
-take as many diapers out of the diaper bin as possible. this is her MOST favorite of all of the above things.
-She also LOVES to be tickled. She laughs and laughs and laughs.
-She loves chatting. She likes to say gogogo and gakgakgak and mamama (not in reference to me) and bababa. Her only REAL word at this time is "UP." She says it a lot.
-She waved once. I thought it was a new skill, but I think it was just a coincidence.
-I've been much better at getting her mealtimes regulated. Typically, her daily schedule looks like this:
-Wakes up between 7 am (when I get up and wake Eli up) and 7:45am (if they boys are quiet enough when leaving the room). If she doesn't see me, she'll stay in her crib talking to herself happily for a while. If she sees me, though, she wants out, cause she knows I have a bottle.
-I then give her a bottle and leave her in her jammies.
-We leave the house at 8:15 to drop Eli off at school... we're usually running late. She gets put in the ergo with her light green coat or thick purple coat (that renders her motionless) and cute pink hat (the only one I can get to stay on her head). We walk a block and a half to drop Eli off and then walk home.
-I take her out of the Ergo and usually within 15 min, sit her down to eat breakfast. She usually eats 1-2 tubs/jars and some cheerios. I officially gave up trying to make her food... I'm just not able to fit that into my schedule these days. Occasionally she will eat something handmade, but it's rare.
-I let her play for a bit and then lay her down for her first nap between 9:30 and 10:00. She usually wakes up RIGHT before we have to leave at 10:45, but occasionally I have to wake her up. Even when I wake her up, she's still all smiley and happy...not much can get this kid down!
-We walk to pick up Eli and she smiles at everyone in line. We walk home and she fends for herself while I make the boys lunch. I then sit her down for lunch and have been giving her little pieces of food to feed herself... bread, beans, blueberries, cheerios, etc. Sometimes this is it and sometimes I will also feed her a tub of something.
-If I'm going to get her dressed for the day, it's now. It's been so cold lately and we haven't really been going out much, so she usually spends the day in her cozy jammies.
-She then walks around destroying the apartment and playing with her and her brothers' toys for a few hours. She sometimes will sit in my lap and "read" a book, which consists of her paying attention for one page and then opening and closing it and throwing it a million times.
-I give her a bottle and then lay her down for a nap around 2pm. She will sometimes sleep for only 30 min if the boys are being noisy and sometimes for 90 min if she's really tired.
-She then walks around destroying things and getting pushed/kicked/kissed to death by her brothers until dinnertime.
-For dinner, I usually start her off with some finger food and then feed her 1-2 tubs of food. She used to really like veggies, but now she's starting to turn away from them. She LOVES yogurt. She doesn't seem to like strawberries cut up yet.. I can't tell if that's cause they are hard to pick up or cause she doesn't like them. Time will tell. She usually eats all of her blueberries. She will sit in her chair content for a really, really long time, especially if I keep loading her up with cheerios. Some nights when I'm all alone and trying to get stuff in the kitchen, she'll sit quietly in that chair for 2 hours! Amazing child. (Thank you, Brielle).
-After dinner, she plays a bit more until it's time for her bottle. In an ideal world, she'd have her bottle at 6:45 and go down at 7, but it's usually closer to 7:45 that she goes down. She rarely fusses, unless I'm reading books to the boys in there and she wants to be up on the bed, too.
-She LOOOOOOVES getting baths and loves bath time, when we can squeeze it in. She likes taking baths with Liam and likes splashing around and playing with him. She is very upset if someone is getting a bath and she's not. She will throw a FIT if that happens. She does not like getting out of the bath, either. Yesterday, when I started running the water, she ran over to the tub and tried super hard to get her leg up and over. It was hysterical.
-She still HATES getting dressed, but she's been a little better about it lately.
-This past week, she has been getting into EVERYTHING. Opening every drawer, dumping things out, etc. I'll talk more about that in her 11 month post!
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