The Adventures of X and J

Another Name Game

2012-02-08T21:26:00.003-05:00

Once again, we are keeping the baby name under wraps until she joins us. It hasn't helped that Chris and I have had a hard time agreeing on a name this time around. He has his top three choices and I have mine and there is little room for compromise. We have found a couple we agree on, but I'm hoping that by birthing a baby Chris will cave and Chris hopes I'll be so hopped up on drugs he will have time to write what he wants on the birth certificate.

As we did with Xander and Josie, here is our list of names we seriously considered. Really, these aren't jokes! Believe me!

Pearl - I don't know how Chris didn't suggest this with Josie
Moraine or Aviendha - from the Wheel of Time books, I have agreed to either name if the baby comes out channeling the one power or throwing a spear. Chris is rooting for the spear.
Braxton - put it with our last name, it's funny because it's true!
Snow - Snow White pulled it off! If the baby is born in a snow storm, we have a winner.
Tulip or Daffodil - if the warm weather keeps up, ours will be blooming so let's remember this warm winter by naming the baby after the early bloomers.
If the baby had been born on Super Bowl Sunday, we would have named her something after the winning team.
If the baby is born on Valentine's Day, we could name her Cupid!

Xander and Josie have also given us their choices.
Sally - from The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That (the PBS show)
Alex - which is the neighbor girl's name.

What do you think, any suggestions?

37 Weeks

2012-01-31T21:14:00.004-05:00

Here we are at 37 weeks and wondering how long we will have to finish getting baby materials ready. We have the mini van with Xander in his new booster seat and Josie in her 5-point harness but still need to put in the base for the baby carrier. The new table that sits more people arrived in September so there will be room for us plus the high chair. Josie's bed has been moved to Xander's room and the crib set up in her room so that midnight feeding, changing and crying are less likely to bother the kids and Chris. The swing, bassinet, bouncy chair and baby mat are all cleaned and ready to go. The baby clothes have been picked through to find anything appropriate for a girl born in February and some clothes have been bought to help keep the baby warm (since Josie was born in June and wore little outfits).

So far the doctor says there is no progress. I'm definitely having daily contractions but they are very sporadic so I haven't worried about calling the doctor or heading to the hospital. In fact, everyday I think "I should pack my hospital bag" but nothing actually gets packed. I am a little stressed about maternity leave which starts next week. There is a sub lined up who is ready to go but that doesn't make it easier to turn over my class to someone else.

Xander and Josie are very excited for the baby to get here. They are the only ones I let talk to my belly because they are so cute. "Hello, baby, this is Xander." "Shhhh, baby, it's time to sleep." Hopefully they will keep up the good attitudes once the baby is here.

While this hasn't been a difficult pregnancy, there have been more hiccups than with Xander or Josie. There was the time I fell and had to go to the hospital for observation. Then Josie might have had Fifth Disease. Then Chris might have had shingles. Then I did get his rash, scratched it and developed impetigo. So currently I have a contagious rash on my left forearm and am taking antibiotics. Hopefully it clears up before the baby arrives because it will hard to nurse a baby without touching her.

Fever Time and Potty Training

2012-01-16T09:41:00.003-05:00

Josie, like me, has had a cold for about a month now. It is nothing serious, just snot galore. And she definitely does not have it as bad as I do. Chris is disgusted when I blow my nose because it goes on for about five minutes and a half dozen tissues. Josie doesn't do great with tissues yet and is refusing to let me use the Snot Sucker (as I call it) on her.

But she did have a weird period two weeks ago where she would randomly develop a fever. She'd wake up and be fine. She would eat her breakfast. Then within thirty minutes she would be shivering and huddling on the couch. This happened at home a couple times and a couple time at the sitter's house after she woke up from a nap. Tylenol helped and she slept fine at night. Her appetite diminished a little but not enough to worry. After the fourth round of this I caved and made an appointment with the doctor.

Surprisingly, Josie did have a fever at the appointment. Usually she is fine once I bring her in, making me feel like I'm an overprotective helicopter parent. Initially the doctor said Fifth Disease because along with the fever and cold symptoms, she also had a light rash on her tummy and a red area on her cheek (Fifth Disease is also called Slapped Cheek Syndrome). He started telling me to just wait it out and continue with Tylenol if needed.

Then the doctor looked at me, remembered I was 33 weeks pregnant and Fifth Disease is a problem for the baby. So he backtracked a little and left the room to get more information. When he returned he brought two other doctors to look at Josie to get their opinion. Josie was a little freaked by having three doctors huddling over her but at least she didn't break down crying. The one doctor said the rash looked more like a strep rash, so Josie was tested for strep throat but that came back negative. While all of the symptoms added up to Fifth Disease, they also didn't make sense in the order that they appeared. So we left with the original orders of keeping an eye on her and Tylenol when needed and the additional order for me to tell my Ob/Gyn about the possible exposure to Fifth Disease.

Now for the really weird part of Josie's sickness. She pretty much became potty trained. Usually when kids are sick they get worse and have accidents galore. Not Josie, she actually advanced to the point of yelling "Have to go pee!" as she streaked past me to the bathroom. She wanted to wear her big girl panties and started refusing to wear Pull-Ups. She insists on using the restrooms whenever we go out, especially at church. Sure, there have been a few accidents.

Granted we have been attempting to potty train Josie since she turned two. However, that was in California so at the time I figured that moving back to Ohio would just make her regress. So I encouraged sitting on the potty but didn't stress about it.

Once we were back in Ohio, I gave her some time to adjust. At random times in October, November and December I would put her in training pants and break out a sticker chart. The raisin rewards were (and still are) a big motivational hit. Then I'd have a rough day and not feel like cleaning up any messes and would revert to Pull-Ups.

More recently, the sitter had begun talking up wearing big girl panties. And then Josie received some princess panties for Christmas. I think those two things were all that she needed. I still put her in Pull-Ups at night, but half of the time she doesn't even need them then.

I do expect there will be some trouble once the baby arrives. I could be wrong though and she will just spend the time learning to write instead of having accidents. Any way about it, potty training Josie has been much easier and faster than it was with Xander.

Christmas

2012-01-11T20:56:00.004-05:00

Ah, Christmastime. It was just busy enough to make me exhausted this year. The kids loved, loved, loved it. Even now, three weeks later, Josie will ask where the Christmas tree went and Xander will ask what Santa is doing now.

Before sending out the Christmas cards, I attempted to take some fun holiday pictures of the kids by the tree to include. Unfortunately, I don't fully understand how to use my fancy camera and the kids were extra squirmy. So most of the pictures turned out blurry.

Some of the pictures featured someone stealing the spotlight.

And some of the pictures were a bit too goofy.

Once Christmas arrived it was visiting, visiting, visiting. We went to Chris's uncle's for Christmas Eve where Josie cried and ran away from Santa Claus while Xander ran up to give Santa big hugs.

Christmas day arrived with a guitar for Xander. That was what he really, really wanted from Santa.
Ok, funny story time. Chris and I woke up before the kids and were downstairs getting breakfast when we heard Xander get up. Chris walks to the back door and slides it open and yells out "It was good to see you, Santa, see you next year!" Then he walked over to the stairs and told Xander he just missed seeing Santa Claus and he might see him out the window. Xander raced back into his room and looked out the blinds and then burst into tears that he missed Santa Claus.

That's right, Chris started Christmas Day by making Xander cry.

It did get better once we coaxed him downstairs. He was excited that Josie was getting a bike and then realized that he also received a bike. Josie had fun ripping off all of the paper of her gifts. It was fun.

We did visit my family that day and the bikes were brought along and ridden in the basement. Xander immediately ripped the bows off of his handlebars but Josie refused to take her bows off.

Over the next few days we had several different visitors and I know at some point we Skyped with Chris's mom. The kids love doing that, especially Xander because he could stop talking.

Week 29 with a Spill

2011-12-07T20:43:00.002-05:00

I began Monday morning with the start of the every-two-weeks visit to the OB/GYN. It was a pretty pointless visit just to make sure everything was progressing. The doctor was impressed that I'd only gained four pounds since my last visit because everyone else had gained eight or nine pounds with Thanksgiving. Yeah?

So I went about the usual Monday routine. Chores, Xander to school, Josie to the sitter, me to school and then pick them up and head home. We arrived home and I went to check the mail. Then I took an unplanned trip.

The curb along the driveway is maybe, maybe, half of an inch high. I managed to trip over it just right so that I keeled over like a plank. No arms windmilling, no stumbling steps, just "Timber!" I landed on my hands and belly.

My first reaction was "Wow, hope no one saw that" but as I rolled over to push myself up I realized that I'd really just belly flopped on my little baby. I did not completely freak out but I was not calm and collected either. I ushered Josie inside (where I found Xander digging into the cookie stash) and set everything down. I changed my clothes, since they were nicely soaked from the puddles and realized that my belly was actually red where I'd landed on it. Hmm. There weren't any big red flags, so I stalled by looking up "Falling" in "What to Expect When You're Expecting." It pretty much said the baby was fine but call the doctor anyway.

So I called the OBGYN and left a message. The nurse called back and immediately said that I should head to Labor and Delivery at the hospital to get checked out, she even called ahead so I would be admitted.

That, of course, left me with the kids. I figured I'd be in, get the heart rate checked and be out. Still, I didn't want to haul Xander and Josie along and have to spend my time yelling at them not to touch anything. Fortunately, the first neighbor I called immediately said she and her husband could watch them. In fact, she insisted on driving me to the hospital which I accepted when I realized that I was shaking.

Off to the hospital where I was immediately checked in and strapped in to a baby heart rate monitor, contraction monitor and blood pressure monitor. Chris arrived about thirty minutes later. I had my blood drawn and ultrasounds done. It's still a girl and already weighs about 3.5 pounds. But no signs of problems. I did have to stay for about 4 hours. Poor Chris was starving by the time I was given the 'okay' to eat. But we did get to hang out and watch television while another friend took over with Xander and Josie and put them to bed.

At about 9 I was given the all clear to leave. Chris and I headed home and I headed to bed. I woke up feeling fine Tuesday morning but became increasingly sore as the day went on. Today I woke up sore but am starting to finally feel better. I am wimping out of carrying large loads or leaning over to help small children but I expect to be back to full Mom status in another couple of days.

Now I'm just paranoid about the snow.

Lessons from Dad

2011-11-29T21:19:00.003-05:00

Tonight, after dinner, Chris taught the kids some very important lessons.

First, Chris had a talk with Xander about farting etiquette. They discussed the rules as follows:
1) No farting at the table while people are eating.
2) No farting in front of girls, including Mom, Josie and Grandma.
3) No farting in school unless you are on the playground.
4) It's always okay to fart in the basement.
5) It's okay to fart in the bathroom.

Xander then practiced excusing himself from the table to go fart in the bathroom.

Next, Chris taught the kids how to do jumping jacks. Xander and Josie love to exercise with us but they haven't quite coordinated the arms and legs. So they all gathered in the kitchen to practice in slow motion. I really need to get these things on video.

Week 28

2011-11-28T21:12:00.006-05:00

This pregnancy is still progressing as expected. I'm 28 weeks now, still due on February 19. I have to say that this pregnancy has made me feel the most... pregnant. I had morning sickness longer than the others. I have been incredibly moody for most of this pregnancy; Chris is breathing a sigh of relief that it seems to have passed. There's the usual heartburn with the added fun of daily bleeding gums and random bloody noses. There was even a brief spat of nesting when I cleaned the vent at the bottom of the refrigerator.

At week 20 we did get an ultrasound with the results being that the baby is healthy and a girl! While we strongly suspected a girl, Chris still had to put his head between his knees and do some deep breathing.

Why does this picture keep loading upside down??

The baby is getting more and more active. I think Xander must have left a sign that says 'Kick Me Here' because this baby is getting the same spot on my right side right below the ribs.

Xander and Josie are excited about the baby. They will randomly talk to my belly to say hi or good night. If someone asks Xander about the baby he will list all of the things he plans to teach her, such as running and basketball. He has decided to name the baby Sally so I try to give him gentle reminders that his father and I might decide on a different name. Josie loves playing with her stuffed animals and will tuck them in for a nap.

I have had the best intentions to stay healthy this pregnancy so that I don't surpass a certain predetermined weight, because I'm stubborn like that. I have three prenatal workout videos but only get to do about half of a video twice a week. And, once again, I am a carboholic and can not stop myself from eating baked sweets. Ah well, at least I am getting some exercise and nutritious food in.

Here I am at 26 weeks. I feel like I am the size of a Buick but I've been repeatedly told that I look good. Maybe people can just tell I need the compliments.

Halloween

2011-11-09T21:27:00.007-05:00

Halloween has come and gone but I still need to document it, right? Just like I still need to document the well checks in August and the ultrasound in September. I'll get caught up eventually.

This Halloween has definitely been the most fun so far. Xander is old enough to have fun with it and Josie is old enough to know that if Xander is having fun, she should too. First up, we attended the Trunk or Treat event at school. Xander wore a Buzz Lightyear costume and Josie was a butterfly. Surprisingly, they both chose to wear the same costumes as last year. Well, Xander did have to get a bigger size, but a friend let us borrow one.

So the Trunk or Treat consisted of pizza, trick-or-treating in the parking lot and then a costume contest. My friend Mandy helped us out and the dinner went well. We were headed outside for the trick-or-treating when something strange happened. Josie stopped. I tried to coax her out the door and she just shook her head and backed up. I looked around to see if someone had a scary costume that freaked her out but didn't see anything. Again with the coaxing followed by head shaking and backing up. I finally asked her what was wrong and she replied "No outside. Trick-or-treat." To which I explained that the trick-or-treating was outside. "Oh? Trick-or-treat outside? Okay!" and she took off.

The kids had fun and it was definitely entertaining to see how all of the car (van, trucks) were decorated. Josie was most mesmerized by the disco van. Xander was too busy racing around with Chris for me to know what he thought.

Next up, Xander's class at school had a Halloween party. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to wear the Buzz costume because it was a one piece suit and not restroom friendly. So after I repeatedly asked him what he wanted to dress as for school he decided to be a super hero. He already had the cape. I pondered making a mask, cuffs, maybe a utility belt. Then the day before I realized that I wouldn't have time. So we picked up a shirt and some iron-ons to make a Super Xander shirt.

He was thrilled with it. And the shirt can worn as a regular shirt, so I feel like it was a win-win situation.

We picked up six pumpkins at the nearby nursery but didn't get to carve them until just before Halloween. We only carved one each, so there are two left over to continue the seasonal vibe until Thanksgiving. From left to right we have Chris's, Josie's (she mostly scribbled on hers and said she wanted circles), Amanda's and Xander's pumpkins. The kids were extra excited when they had candles inside them. And Xander was also excited to try toasted pumpkin seeds.

Side story: In Xander's class they counted out pumpkin seeds and glued them to a picture of a pumpkin. I'm fairly certain that Xander tried eating some of those seeds.

Finally it was time for trick-or-treating in our neighborhood which fell on Halloween this year. We nearly didn't go due to van test driving (there's another post I need to catch up on) but we got our act together at the last minute. Josie was decked out as a butterfly again, my favorite part is putting her hair into little pigtails for antennae. Xander decided to wear his super hero costume.

We needed an air traffic controller with the flying children in our house.

Some people seemed confused by Xander's costume (what, it's a homemade, original? we didn't spend oodles of money on a cheap costume that would immediately fall apart but was easily recognizable?) but that didn't deter him from flying down the sidewalks with his cape billowing behind him. Josie's little wings were a little slower, so we ended up splitting up.

I finished up the block with Josie. It took a little practice but she eventually got that she wasn't supposed to reach into the bucket and grab candy. She was hesitant to say "Trick or treat" but was always quick to say "Thank you" which earned lots of aaaaaaaaws. There were a few costumes and decorations that scared her. She would stare at something and cling to me. I tried to reassure her it was pretend but I found it was just easier to pass up the houses with scary decorations or costumes.

Meanwhile, Chris took Xander a little further out. Xander's bag became so heavy that Chris had to unload some of the candy.

When we had all returned home, the kids were allowed a treat and sent off to bed. Then Chris and I delved in and helped ourselves. Because, really, we did just as much work as they did.

Abstract Dad

2011-10-16T20:30:00.002-05:00

As Xander becomes more involved in school work, he is beginning to draw more. One focus is to be able to draw Mat Man, which is just a man formed by shapes (circle for the head and so on). Before this, Xander would draw a picture if I asked but he didn't ask for crayons and paper.

When school began he had to draw a self portrait. His first attempt was pretty decent despite the fact that he drew four legs. He explained that was because it was a picture of him dancing. I was very tempted to put a note with the picture to explain why his picture had extra legs but I refrained from doing doing so.

He now will ask to draw a picture and he continues to add little extras that he is all to happy to explain. Below is the picture he decided to draw of Chris. Interesting, I know. Allow me to explain.

You can clearly see the head. Xander did start out with Dad's eyes, nose, mouth and ears. You can just make them out if you try. The little bubble on top is a hat. The blue on the top is hair. The purple on top is the brain. Yeah. I know. The blue in the middle is Dad's beard. (Chris is currently in beard mode, in case you haven't seen him.)

The red on the ears? Ear gloves. I kid you not.

The red on his feet? Snow socks.

And, in case you haven't noticed, Dad is in a bubble.

Also, there are no arms. Xander said that Chris could add in arms but they had to be little arms. He strongly reiterated that, "Short arms, Dad!"

I can't wait to see what he thinks of me.

Highbanks Metro Park

2011-10-09T18:35:00.006-05:00

I really wanted to go to the park to get pictures of the kids in the fall foliage and, since it was nearly 80 this weekend, I managed to drag Chris away from the patio for a few hours. The kids were excited to go to the park because in their heads park = playground. So when we started walking on the trails, they were less than happy.

Xander flat out refused to have his picture taken.

After a little teasing from Dad, Josie cheered up and had a good time.

I taught Josie how to stomp on the leaves to hear them crunch. That lead to running through the leaves. Finally, Xander cheered up when he realized he was allowed to throw the leaves.

Now I just need to work on figuring out the best settings on this fancy camera. I mean, there isn't one that says "Pictures of kids on a sunny day in a shady park" so we made due with "Auto." I did try a couple "Aperture" settings, but the pictures came out blurry.

Going Viral

2011-10-06T08:19:00.004-05:00

About two weeks ago Josie woke up with crusties and some puss in her left eye. I cleaned it and wondered if something was in her eye or if it were the beginning of pink eye. The puss did get worse over the next few days but her eye never turned became pink and she only rubbed it occasionally. Within a week it was all gone.

A week after that Xander woke up and insisted he was cold. In fact, he was shaking so badly at breakfast that he could barely get his spoon to his mouth. After a quick confirmation of a fever I told him that he wouldn't be able to go to school. He insisted he could go, he would just tell the teacher he was cold. I had to explain that he could share his germs and then the other kids would all be cold too. So Xander missed his first day of school and spent the morning curled under a blanket and watching PBS cartoons.

That afternoon I returned home from teaching and knew just what Xander felt like. Chills, aches, sore throat, some coughing and very tired. So I curled up on the couch with him and relaxed.

The next day was Saturday and Xander was ready to go. I was not. I still felt lousy.

I finally felt better on Sunday morning. I still had a sore throat and cough but the fever finally broke and I wasn't achy any more. But wait, what's this? I woke up with crusties in my eye. I duly ignored them, put in my contacts and went about my day.

Monday I woke up coughing so hard I was short of breath. And my eye was a nice, blood shot shade of pink. Off to the doctor I went, toting along the culprits who made their mom so sick. The doctor checked it all out and said that it was a viral pink eye and I was still recovering from the flu. So no antibiotics and things should clear up within the next seven days. With the pregnancy, I just need to drink lots of liquids, watch out for fever and let them know if my symptoms are still stubbornly hanging on next week.

Isn't it great that the kids can share?

4th Birthday

2011-09-29T07:42:00.007-05:00

Xander's 4th birthday was a week and a half ago but it was a long time coming. He has been asking for a Nintendo DS since Christmas. We would be in a store and he'd see something he likes and I'd remind him to ask for it for his birthday. He saw Curious George making a pinata and thought we should make one. He wanted to invite his friends from California to his party. He wanted chocolate cake, chocolate ice cream and chocolate pizza at his party.

I don't mean to make it sound like he was demanding, he was just excited for his birthday. Of course some plans were changed around. We went with a fruit pizza instead (thanks, Grandma). He decided on a chocolate and vanilla cake while we were at the store, so I bought a marble cake mix and used the penguin cupcake mold. We totally forgot to serve the chocolate ice cream.

I also let Xander pick a theme for some of the accessories. After some debate he went with Toy Story (surprise, since he hasn't been quite as obsessed with Toy Story in the past months). Xander, Josie and I made up goody bags for the kids at the party and for Xander to bring to his classmates in school. There were special Toy Story plates and cups for the kids and I splurged on a (clearance) bubble maker for in the yard. We decided to keep the party small this year since I'm always exhausted.

On the day of his birthday, he was first up and came in to our room so we could sing happy birthday to him. He was very excited to open a few gifts first thing in the morning (I will spare him the future embarrassment of posting the video of him opening Lego Star Wars underwear). After mass and a few hours of prep, the party was on!

Behold! The birthday penguin!

Blowing out the candles was easy (once we moved the cake close enough).

It passed the taste test!

The weather cooperated so after the sugar fix we sent the kids out to exercise.

Xander was all excited to get a special Sheriff Woody birthday hat. He wore it for all of ten minutes.

He received a plethora of clothes (which he needed) and board games (which he loves and wants to play every night). Then there were a few other gifts that he loved, such as the slippers.

Of course, Josie was in charge of Quality Control.

Chris loved that Xander completely forgot the remaining gifts to be opened and sat looking at the maze book until he was reminded what he was doing.

Like a good son, he pretended to love the clothes I picked out for him.

Josie was very good about waiting until Xander had opened a present and set it aside before she swooped in to check it out.

Now, off to take care of thank you cards!

First Day of School

2011-09-07T20:08:00.004-05:00

Way back in the day Chris and I figured that we wouldn't send Xander to school until kindergarten. We weren't too hip with preschool especially since I can teach things at home. Then kindergarten became full day and I became a little nervous about going from no school to full day school with no stops in between. Then Xander became kind of smart. Granted, as my oldest I don't have other children to judge him against. However he is incredibly social with other kids and parents have occasionally commented about his speech, memory, etc. So we figure he's on the way to rocket-science-ville.

Therefore we decided to enroll Xander in prekindergarten this year. After hemming and hawing I settled on the afternoon class that meets for two and a half hours four times a week. I was, and still am, nervous because Xander is a 'young 4' meaning he turns four after the school year starts. I really think he will be ready for kindergarten as a 'young 5' so into pre-k he goes. While in California I met many a parent who was overly concerned about what age to put their child in school (as well as what school to put them in), I think it rubbed off on me a little.

We let Xander know that he'd start school this year and that announcement was met with excitement. So today when he woke up he told everyone "Today is school!" at which point I reminded him that school was after lunch. After lunch he proclaimed "Time to go to school!" and I had to rush off to change my clothes (I'm actually teaching while he's in school and Josie is with a sitter). I managed to get a few pictures in to commemorate the moment before we left.

Super excited!

Ok, I told him to look smart and maybe put his hand under his chin.

Josie is excited for Xander to go to school (and leave her alone).

Notice the nice little bruise on his forehead? He got that by running into the couch a few hours before school. Typical.

When we pulled up to the school I pointed out a mom and daughter and said that the girl was probably going to be in Xander's class. When I helped both kids out of the car, Xander raced after the girl shouting "Wait for me" and I then had to race after Xander while carrying Josie.

We went through the routine of putting his bag away, checking in and going to the restroom. At this point we were waiting in the hallway with all of the other parents and students and siblings when Xander actually became a little distraught that he wasn't in the classroom. "But Mom, I really want to go to school!"

As soon as that door opened he was off like a shot to play. I could barely get him to hug me good bye and I gave up and left. I wasn't one of the teary moms but when I got to the car I suddenly became nervous that I left him in the wrong classroom. There is only one classroom yet I somehow worried it was the wrong one.

When I picked him up at the end of the day, Xander very happy with school. When asked what he did today he replied "I drank chocolate milk!" Good to know.

Have You Heard the News?

2011-09-02T19:28:00.003-05:00

Chris Clone #3 is on the way!

We found out in June, while we were still in California. I've put up some of the posts we made along the way, you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

I want to say the kids are excited but that isn't necessarily the case. When I first tried to explain to Xander that we'd have a new baby he misunderstood and thought we were going to get rid of Josie so we could have a new baby. Even now if we ask him if he's excited about the baby he won't answer but will take an adamant stand to keep Josie. However, if you ask him what we should name the baby he will have a ready answer. Right now he will say some made up version of Alexander such as Alejeho. There was a week that he wanted to name the baby Krista Elmo.

If you talk about the baby with Josie, she will insist that she is a baby and will want to pretend sleep in your arms or be burped. I'm not quite sure how to handle it but will look into ideas a little later.

By the way, the due date is officially February 19. Place your bets now!

Here are the previous posts:
Trio
She Didn't Believe Him
All the Cereal I Can Eat
Which Trimester is This?

Which trimester is this?

2011-08-30T19:40:00.003-05:00

Well, here we are at 15 weeks pregnant. I want to put up all of the pregnancy posts but we wanted to make sure to tell family first so that it's not a surprise when we put up the posts (or I make some comment on Facebook). There is still one branch that doesn't know. That seems a little silly since I'm in my second trimester, so hopefully that news will be shared soon.

Speaking of trimesters, it doesn't seem much like I'm in the second right now. Last week I was still able to wear 'normal' clothes. I'm not saying I was comfortable, I'm just saying that it happened. And two weeks ago I saw a friend for the first time in a year who commented "Look at you, no baby bump this year!" She was quickly corrected, I can't have her thinking I'm fat. That's how most people are looking at me right now. It does depend on the outfit but I'm definitely at a point where most people want to ask if I'm pregnant but are still a little too afraid.

On the flip side, I already have several third trimester tendencies. I crave certain foods. I already need Tums, especially with all of the bending I do to talk to the kids or to pick up Josie. I already have insomnia. It's not every night, but it's not uncommon for me to wake up and toss and turn for a couple hours.

Tomorrow is my second doctor's visit so hopefully everything will go smoothly.

Contact

2011-08-24T08:44:00.002-05:00

We haven't fallen off the face of the earth! Between packing, moving, unpacking and lack of internet we have not been able to blog. But unpacking is nearly done and the lack of internet has been remedied. More to come soon!

Family Farm Groupon

2011-07-30T22:14:00.004-05:00

Mom is still busy, so Dad is taking care of the blog.....

We bought a Groupon for a Family Farm nearby. They had lots of fun stuff for us to play with and on.

First we fed some goats that haven't been fed in weeks. They were a bunch of starving mongrels.

The safest place to feed goats is from back here.

Then we practiced jumping in a bounce house.

And there was a rocking horse too. I didn't have the setting right for this pic, there is a little too much light. I was fiddling with the ISO and it's hard to tell if you have it right on the LCD.

Of course the best way to go down a slide is on your belly. I taught her that, of course her mom wasn't pleased.

Someone had fun in the hay bale maze....

....and someone else wasn't as entertained by such trivial activities....

And there was a rocking horse that kept giving me a frigging heart attack every forward swing.

Family photo!

Grandma Beck visited

2011-07-30T21:54:00.003-05:00

Grandma Beck visited in the beginning of July.

We had lots of fun visiting the city again.

We had another trip into the city and drove down Lombard street.

Then we had a trip to the beach and played (and ate sand).

Then we went and visited Portola State Park and saw some redwoods.

Then we had an interesting drive back into the valley. It was a nice view, but some little girl inherited her mom's stomach and dislike for twisty mountain roads. We had to stop a couple of times to clean up vomit.

But it was a nice view despite the vomit.

Aunt Trisha visited

2011-07-30T21:03:00.005-05:00

Mom is busy so Dad is catching up on blogs.

Aunt Trisha visited last month.

Amanda and the kids took her into the city to see the bridge.

Aunt Trisha was worried Josie was going to fall off the bridge.

Went to Ghiradelli Square and had (wore) ice cream sundaes.

We played in the sprinkler ball.

Josie showed off at the park.

And we told Aunt Trisha how awesome mornings are!!

All the Cereal I Can Eat

2011-07-21T12:28:00.004-05:00

I'm in week 9 (according to my expert internet searches) and am finally getting over the morning sickness phase of pregnancy. I think it was a little worse this time but very little vomiting.

Around week 6 I began hating meat. It was disgusting and only made my stomach roll. Then I just felt nauseous all day. It didn't help that I had to make meals for the kids but the worse was when Chris had to work late and I had to make burger patties out of ground turkey. Grilling any meat was bad but actually having to shape it made me have to walk away and do some deep breathing.

So of course I turned to my trusty cereal to get me through. I'm mostly ok now with the occasional stomach roll, usually if there is fish involved.

I'm also getting a definitive baby bump. Depending on my outfit, sometimes I just look fat. Yesterday, as I unloaded the kids from the car, I saw my reflection in the window and pregnancy can not be denied.

Which also means that my clothes aren't fitting as well. Some shirts just pull a little tight but the pants are definitely digging in. I can't ask anyone in Ohio to go to our house, pull the truck out of the garage, go up into the attic (which has to be beyond sweltering with the 90+ weather there), find the right bin to get down, pick out the appropriate clothes and ship them here. Besides, they'd barely get here before I head back to Ohio.

After a few days of groaning and unbuttoning my pants when I sat down, Chris demanded a shopping trip for a few maternity shorts or capris. It was surprisingly difficult but we finally found a few things that would work. Now I am much more comfortable.

The Mysterious Case of the Mystery Fever

2011-07-21T12:12:00.003-05:00

Wow, do I have a lot of catching up to do. Sorry for the lack in posts!

Last Monday began as normal with a breakfast, chores and a trip to my gym. When we arrived home and I picked her up out of the car I noticed she was a little warm. Within an hour I realized she was definitely feverish. But everything else seemed normal - she ate and played like any day. After nap time she continued with the low fever but playing and snacking on grapes.

That changed by late afternoon. Her fever was up to 103.8 and the medicine wasn't bringing it down. She still liked the grapes but would only cuddle up next to me. The fact that medicine wasn't bringing down a high fever worried me as well as not knowing what was causing the fever. I know fevers are there to take care of whatever the problem is but I didn't know what the problem was.

On top of that, we don't have any family doctors here and are between doctors in Ohio. I tried calling the practice we will be joining and asked for the on call doctor to call. He hadn't within 30 minutes so we decided to just take Josie to urgent care.

The hospital here has a special pediatric urgent care, so Josie was happy as a clam to watch the fish and read books while we waited. The receptionist, nurse and doctor were all great and soon Josie was diagnosed with a viral throat infection, kind of like hand-foot-and-mouth but without the hands and feet. It was predicted to take a few more days to play out.

And of course the on call doctor called in the middle of talking to the urgent care doctor.

The next day involved a small fever and she was fine by the evening.

Wednesday began the same way as Monday with breakfast, chores and gym. Then it was Xander's turn to spike a fever. And he did not take it as well as Josie. He spurned food and headed to bed at 5:30, insisting on Mom sitting next to him.

Thursday was a low fever and he was fine by evening.

The weekend went swimmingly.

Tuesday Josie had a fever again. It hasn't been high, so we haven't used much medicine. But this time she has a cough that is getting worse and her naps have been horrible. I just try to remember that this, too, shall pass. It will likely pass to Xander

The Sprinkler Ball

2011-06-28T22:42:00.004-05:00

We've had some heat this past week. Nothing compared to our home in Ohio or across the midwest in general, but enough to make it tough not to have air conditioning. Since the house we are in only had one little fan that worked, we decided to pick up one and ended up with a sprinkler ball as well.

Xander loved it and ran right in.

Josie was much more cautious.

Too close!

Use the bubble wand to see what happens.

Come on, Josie, it's cool for you!

Any minute now she will work up the nerve.

Xander enjoyed it.

Finally it's Aunt Trisha to the rescue!

Unfortunately, I think I hooked the hose up to the ball incorrectly and there is water in the air part of the ball that I can't get out. I should see if I can exchange it because the kids (at least Xander) loved it.

She Didn't Believe Him

2011-06-28T15:45:00.004-05:00

So when Aunt Trisha visited last week, we were sitting around helping the kids play with the new Play-Doh set. At one point I felt a little woozy and headed into the kitchen for a drink of water.

Chris: Hey, you okay in there?
Amanda: Yeah, I just felt a little...dizzy.
Trisha: Pregnant!
Chris: *laughing* Yeah.

And not another word was said about it. I guess Chris just doesn't look honest.

Josie Turns 2!

2011-06-28T15:25:00.007-05:00

Even after being in California for 10 months, it was hard to celebrate Josie's birthday without family and friends and a pretty birthday cake. We made the most of it with Aunt Trisha, Elmo and a barbecue at a friends house. I think Josie kind of liked getting presents spread out over a couple of days so that she could play with each.

The festivities began on Thursday with Aunt Trisha visiting. She was given a Play-Doh set which had to be played with at once (and Xander heartily approved). She also received a Princess backpack. She doesn't know much about the Princesses but seems to love the pink, frilly sparkly look. Xander seemed to like the backpack because it means he doesn't have to share his Diego backpack anymore. First thing Saturday morning he rolled both into the room and said "Here, Josie, here is your backpack."

Xander picked out a Princess bouncy ball for Josie. She loves it and carries it with her, although I think that is more to keep Xander from playing with it than anything.

Josie received new blankets for her newly converted toddler bed from us. She also received a tea set. She and Xander have had lots of fun with that, let me tell you. They serve tea, coffee and ice cream (oddly enough, the ice cream is dispensed from the DVD player). Today they figured out they could fill the cups with water in the bathroom, which resulted in a nice spill.

We celebrated her official birthday on Saturday with a trip to Elmo's Healthy Heroes, a Sesame Street Live show. Our seats were better than expected. We didn't have floor seats but there was almost no one in our section so we did move up a few rows. We were far enough back that the sounds and lights weren't a problem. When the show started, Josie had the most astonished look on her face. Of course, she became squirmy and I had to struggle to keep her from running off during half of the show. Xander watched the show with a surprising amount of intensity but didn't do much of the dancing or clapping along. Both kids were disappointed in not getting an Elmo balloon (unfortunately, the parking cost was a lot more than we anticipated). Overall, it was what we expected to go down.

That evening we were invited to a barbecue at a friends house. Nothing big, just four parents trying to have conversation while two 3-year-old boys, a newly 2-year old girl and a 22-month-old girl ran amok. They were nice enough to put up a banner and give Josie a paint set.

I brought over an orange sponge cake for us to eat. We all sang and gave Josie a chance to blow out the candles.

Josie received a couple more gifts on Monday. She put on a little fashion show just to make me happy and then spent the rest of the day listening to the musical card that came with the clothes.

I think that's all she's getting, but maybe I should check the mail.

Bowling for Father

2011-06-20T15:55:00.004-05:00

Bowling is in our blood. Three of my grandparents were in leagues when I was growing up, my grandpa even toured. My parents have also played in leagues. I love playing but was quite the gutter ball queen when I was little. I was also stubborn and refused to use bumpers so I would regularly get scores of 50. I'm a little bit better now.

I bring this up because Xander has suddenly become obsessed with bowling. I think it was because of an episode of Curious George where they went bowling. Next thing we know, Xander is getting out our bottled water to set up pins and trying out different balls to see which is better at knocking them down. He's very serious about it. If he could write I think he would be taking notes. "When bottles are close together and the Hershey ball is used, the bottles won't get knocked down." (The Hershey ball is a souvenir from Hershey, very small and padded so it doesn't do much but it remains his favorite ball to bowl with.)

Chris decided that for Father's Day yesterday he wanted to bring the kids bowling. Only one game and only the kids would play so that we could supervise.

First, I have to tell you, seeing kids in bowling shoes is pretty darn cute.

Josie found it fascinating at first. She would carry the six pound ball over, set it down and push it. Chris would try to get in an extra push.

Then Josie would check with Dad to see what she was supposed to do.

Then we'd watch some more.

Then Josie would start to get bored and would look around for things to do.

Then she'd realize that something was going to happen and would pay rapt attention.

By the end of the game she would push the ball and then run away and I'd end up chasing her out of the arcade.

Xander was incredibly excited to bowl. He took it very seriously would throw the six pound ball with all of his might. It went a little faster than Josie's ball.

He was pretty upset when the game was over and we only narrowly avoided a meltdown.

While we didn't stress scores, I did try to show Xander how he got points when he knocked down the pins. I didn't mention to him that he and Josie tied at 72. Those bumpers make all of the difference.

Trio

2011-06-20T15:41:00.004-05:00

So this was taken last Thursday night. Chris and I had our typical reaction of deep breathing followed by "Ok, this is happening, we can do this."

About an hour later I had a minor meltdown. It was a moment where every stressful, painful memory of the past pregnancies came bubbling to the surface. Horrible rashes, back pain, heart burn (the never ending heart burn), insomnia, nausea, constant trips to the bathroom, etc. And that was just thinking about the pregnancy. The hardest is that I'm finally working out and eating better but can't seem to lose any weight and now I will likely be putting on more weight. They were all very selfish thoughts but that didn't stop me from blubbering on Chris's shoulder.

Meanwhile he'd already used the phrase 'knocked up' at least twice, which did not help me at all.

We decided that we'll wait until we return to Ohio before we tell anyone. The big reason for waiting this time is that we don't have any regular doctors here and I do want to get a check up before we announce anything. The timing is about right to be towards the end of the first trimester, I think. The due date I estimated (with the help of savvy internet due date calculators) is February 17, which I would also like confirmed by a doctor before shouting from the rooftops. So I will be keeping these posts hidden for a few months.

Too Soon

2011-06-16T10:52:00.003-05:00

When you have two children it is hard not compare milestones. For instance, how much did Xander weight at one year old versus how much Josie weighed at one year. Or how old Xander was when his first tooth popped through compared to when Josie's first tooth made an appearance. But things can make a difference such as the differences in boy tendencies (harder to potty train) versus girl tendencies (loves pink and sparkles). And don't forget how birth order makes a difference, such as the first born being constantly watched over by a helicopter mom versus the second born who readily follows the older sibling up onto the big slide at the park.

Now that Josie is nearly two, there are two milestones that I knew were on the horizon but I kind of wanted to put off. The first milestone is potty training. I'm in no rush because I figure moving in two months will just throw her off and make us start over. Besides, looking at the milestones, Xander didn't start until he was two and took nearly an entire year to become completely potty trained. So why rush?

Unfortunately, Josie did not get the memos. Or maybe she just couldn't read them and instead drew on them and then balled them up to throw them around.

We've had a toddler potty in the bathroom here the entire time we have lived here and a few months ago she started showing interest. There were even a few deposits. Then she lost interest.

I did invest in some Pull-Ups for her and she loves them. "Princess Pull-Ups!" she will loudly insist. And she does like to put them on and change them herself.

I was going to wait until her birthday and get her some training pants and underwear but Chris said "Why wait?" and picked up a pack. She loves them. She is much more willing to sit on the potty when wearing them. Well, there is the raisin incentive that we've again instituted. There isn't a lot progress but it's a start. An early start.

The second milestone is converting Josie's crib into a toddler bed. We had such a good routine for nap time and bed time that I didn't want to mess with it. Also we will be moving back to Ohio in a couple months where she would have to sleep in a Pack'n'Play for about two weeks before her bed returned. So why get her used to a bed just to to put her in a crib?

I put her down for her nap on Monday and within minutes she was giggling and opening her door. What? I called fluke and put her back to bed. Again she got up. She never does it when I am watching but she is quiet as a mouse. There's a reason we call her a spider monkey. Anyway, I considered letting her stay up but she clearly needed a nap (and I clearly needed a break).

So began an hour long process of trying to get her to stay in her crib, sleep in Xander's bed or even sleep in my bed. All to no avail. I finally put the door lock on her door and stuck her in Xander's bed. She'd knock on the door and I'd tell her to go to sleep. Repeat for about 15 minutes. She finally listened and went to sleep.

Repeat this for bedtime, except she had to stay in her crib since Xander was in his bed. Repeat on Tuesday. Repeat for Wednesday nap time. Finally I grabbed the allen wrench and pulled off the front part of the crib. There is supposed to be a cross bar but it's in Ohio, so she'll have to make do.

We had to put her back to bed repeatedly last night. There were also a few fights between the kids involving Josie being in Xander's bed and Xander not returning Sparkles. Finally they both fell asleep and slept blissfully until 5:30 am. Ugh.

Castles on the Rug

2011-06-07T15:31:00.011-05:00

It all began with a gift for Christmas 2010.

Nothing fancy was built in the beginning. Sadly, those bright blocks were left in Ohio.

So an investment was made into plain wooden blocks. And soon Xander would begin running up to me to ask "Mom, do you like my castle?"

"Why, yes, I do like your castle."

"Why, yes, that is a nicely balanced castle."

"Why, yes, I like how a little man lives in that castle."

"Yes, nice castle. Did Buzz help you build it?"

"That's a pretty awesome castle, Xander. How on earth did you do that?"

"Wow, that is an amazingly precise castle!"

"Xander, do you want to take architectural designs next year in preschool?"

Then, just to mix it up, Xander started building more with his Mega Blocks. He's had them forever and plays with them all the time but only recently started building castles with them.

Now the best part of building a castle is knocking it down, in case you didn't already know that. Usually Xander will knock down his own creation. Sometimes Josie will get in there and destroy it, causing hysteria. Occasionally Xander will run up and ask "Mom, do you want to knock down my castle?!?" Somedays Superboy or a ball will knock down the castles. Here's an example of a truck doing the deed.

Xander loves to ask for me to help build his castles but I never seem to do it right. "No, Mom, that doesn't go there!" And I'm afraid I'll stifle his creative spirit because I would never think to build some of those castles.

Yosemite - Day 3

2011-06-01T14:50:00.004-05:00

We woke up Sunday morning of our Yosemite trip to the pitter-patter of rain. Have I told you about our hotel room? Well, we stayed at a local hotel and somehow ended up in a 'room' that was it's own little .... cabin, I guess. It was a separate building and was a basic two bed room and a surprisingly large bathroom. So we could clearly hear the rain on our roof in the morning.

We packed up and headed out for one more, though short, trip to Yosemite Valley. And as we drove along the curvy road we realized that all of the cliffs and mountains were high enough that it wasn't raining but snowing.

We arrived on Friday needing to turn on the air conditioning in our hotel and left on Sunday surrounded by snow. Seriously.

It was breathtaking to see the snow and frost, the wispy clouds and the blue sky. Our point-and-shoot camera had broke at that point, so we resorted to our iPhone cameras. The pictures turned out well but I can't imagine how much better they could have been.

And let me tell you, this turn in the weather brought out every camera in a ten mile radius. Professional photographers showed up with their tripods, zoom lens and decked out in winter jackets. Tourist jumped off the bus in their capris. Here's some of our shots.

After driving around for the view, we headed to the Visitor Center. They had a museum section where the kids ran around and touched buttons and looked at the displays. Then we headed to the gift shop and where I tried to keep the kids entertained while Chris looked at books (see him in the background?).

After that we gave up and headed home. The end.

Yosemite - Day 2

2011-05-31T15:37:00.007-05:00

On the Saturday of our Yosemite trip the kids woke us up bright and early, as usual. "Mom! Dad! The sun is awake!" The bright side is that we beat the crowds into the park. It was busy when we arrived, but parking was a nightmare by afternoon. One thing we would do differently if we went again would be to get a bus pass so we wouldn't have to worry about stalking people walking through the parking areas.

Our first stop was at Bridalveil Fall. It was only a little chilly to start out but as you approached the Fall, it became pretty cold. There was also a lot of mist floating through the air, which was really pretty but didn't translate well to picture and may have been the cause of our camera malfuction later in the day. We couldn't even follow the path all the way up because it was covered in flowing water. It wasn't deep, plenty of people were walking up, but we decided it was a bad idea to try with the kids.

Here we have El Capitan. I think. After a while everything blended together for me. It didn't help that we took over 4oo pictures and for some reason the dates are mixed up on them. Anyway, El Capitan is big. The end.

And here we have Ribbon Fall. Or Horsetail Fall. Either way, it's still big. I mean, I'm used to waterfalls in Ohio. Ohio waterfalls consist of a dribble pouring over an edge and falling about three stories. All of the waterfalls in Yosemite were pouring and high and just listening to them amazed me.

See? It's pretty.

On our ride to the hotel we followed a road next to a river. At one point we had to wait at a light and go over the river and follow a one lane road. When we glanced over we saw why - there had been a rock slide that had absolutely covered the road for big stretch. I tried to take pictures but they didn't come out great. So here is another example. Big cliffs. If you look toward bottom, center of the cliff you can see rubble. Then realize the rubble is higher than the trees.

Here's a close-up.

Now at this point we were on the trail at the Swinging Bridge. Josie was a bit cranky and did not want to be in the backpack anymore. Xander was doing okay with staying with us and only trying to pick up every other object that caught his eye. We decided to head to Yosemite Fall next. It was near lunch time and this is when parking became a mess. We took a quick break for lunch and then headed in.

Yosemite Fall is the one that has two levels, Upper Yosemite Fall and Lower Yosemite Fall. We took the path for the Lower Fall and boy was it crowded. With the kids running amok we had to constantly dodge around people and apologize. Despite that, Josie received so many compliments for how cute she is. I'm surprised her head didn't inflate (but I don't think we could tell with that hair). There was one group of young women on the trail that saw her a couple times and finally just asked to get a picture with her. By the end of the walk, she was asleep in the backpack.

I didn't get to see much of Lower Yosemite Fall due to Josie issues, but Chris's pictures sure made it look nice.

We decided the kids needed a break, so we loaded up into the car to head out of Yosemite Valley and south to Mariposa Grove. As we drove, we found a lookout called Tunnel View. It had a gorgeous view of the valley. But since the kids had just been buckled up, I wasn't about to get them back out of the car. So Chris jumped out for a few (dozen) photos.

Our plan for a peaceful drive with children who took naps backfired but we made it to the giant sequoias in Mariposa Grove.

There was a surprise for us - snow! It was still cool and shady enough that some of the snow had stuck around. And there we were dressed for sixty degree weather. Poor Josie was shivering by the time we left.

We walked on some trails, took more photos , chased some mule deer and ended the day at the souvenir shop. Xander walked away with a puzzle (he cannot get enough of them nowadays), Josie has a new prized raccoon named Mariposa and I have a lovely wood bookmark.

Then we headed home and slept.

Yosemite - Day 1

2011-05-25T15:51:00.006-05:00

Chris took off the day before his birthday, Friday, so we could have a three day adventure in Yosemite. After lots of searching and debating, we were going to stay at a hotel just outside of Yosemite called Cedar Lodge. Turns out you need to book like a year in advance to get a hotel in Yosemite. Since we left all of our camping gear in Ohio, camping was not an option (which it was too cold for anyway). We left late morning and planned on a stop for lunch and then the kids would sleep the rest of the ride (yeah, that didn't go as planned).

By the time we arrived at the hotel at around 3 I was getting a migraine. It was too hot (wait, didn't I say it was too cold to camp? wait for it) and the curvy roads and trees flashing by just did me in. So I tried to sleep it off for an hour.

In the meantime Chris took the kids around the property on a bear hunt. There were 30+ different bears on the property. The website had a handy map, so off they went for a while.

Roar!

They checked in on me around 4 and then took off to Yosemite, leaving me to fend for myself (which was probably best).

Chris, Xander and Josie didn't do any hiking or go on any trails. Instead, Chris just pulled over and let the kids run around while he enjoyed the views. I can not tell you how many pictures we took on this trip. I'm really trying to keep it toned down and focus on the kids here.

Josie, the rock was this big!

Run away, run away!

I forget which waterfall this is, Chris could tell you though.

Chris kept trying to get the kids to appreciate all of the mountains, cliffs and waterfalls.

When Josie walked to the end of this log she found a lizard at the end of it. I guess it darted away and she just started screaming! I wasn't there but I'm sure Chris comforted her and did not laugh.

They headed back for dinner in the hotel room with me (where I only sipped a 7-Up) and settled in for the night.

Xander was disappointed that he didn't get to go swimming. Because that is why you go to a hotel, to go swimming.

How to Tour a National Forest with Children

2011-05-24T14:53:00.010-05:00

We took a three day trip to Yosemite National Park over the weekend of Chris's birthday. I am very happy we went but it was still a very....arduous... trip. Chris and I wanted to see the sights but the kids were busy trying to play (read: pick up everything, climb everything, run). I'll give more details in another post but since we have so many pictures I figured I'd dedicate one post to what the kids did at Yosemite.

So here is how we kept the kids entertained!

1) Make them pose for pictures.

2) Chase the wildlife.

3) Meet interesting new people.

4) Discuss the size of the sequoia trees.

5) Play Ring-Around-the-Tree

6) Pretend to pinch each other.

7) Check how cold the waterfall really is.

8) Jump up and down.

9) See things from a new perspective.

10) Pick up things.

11) Get caught playing with random stick that was picked up.

12) Hop down the lane together.

13) Make Dad do the work.

14) Listen to sounds from the wilderness.

15) Pretend your belly is a drum.

15) Give up and turn on How to Train Your Dragon.

Nose Tapping

2011-05-19T15:13:00.003-05:00

When Xander was first learning manners he would say "Bah" instead of "Please." We didn't have a problem with this since we understood the intention. He did often need reminding though. He would come up and ask for something, "Cup!" I would look at him and wait. No response. So I would say "Xander, look at me," and tap my nose. When he'd look at me I'd ask "What do you say if you want something?" "Bah!"

This slowly evolved into a shorter form. I would just say "Xander, look at me," and tap my nose. "Bah!"

"Xander," followed by a nose tap. "Bah!"

Finally it just became a nose tap. Xander would walk up and say "Cup." Nose tap. "Please." (He did finally learn to say 'please' correctly.)

Now it's Josie's turn. Instead of saying 'please' she will say 'mease'. It's very adorable, especially because she taps her nose when she says it.

It turns out that it has become habit for me to tap my nose while waiting for the 'please'. So Josie thinks that she should just tap her nose if she wants something. The 'mease' is optional, she usually says it unless there is an entire sentence we are trying to have her repeat.

"Cup, mease." Nose tap.
"I want orange juice." Nose tap.

Like I said, it is freakin' adorable (but I'm willing to bet it's not correct sign language).

Planting Seeds

2011-05-09T15:34:00.004-05:00

You have to love the dollar area in Target. They have it by the front door and it's always loaded with seasonal items that you either don't need or are so cheap they fall apart. I try to walk by it, but sometimes I'm just sucked in. Like when there are tiny planters with seeds to start a variety of plants. So I picked up dwarf sunflowers and chalked it up as a lesson for the kids.

First we mixed the soil pellets with some water and waited to let it expand. Then we put the soil in the miniature planter. Then we scattered some seeds on top. We put the planter in the garden window and would excited check on it and water it every few days.

Within a few weeks, there were plants! They needed to be replanted outside. Since I have no gardening tools here (have we mentioned how Chris had to kick down the thorny tree branches growing at Josie's eye level?) so I grabbed a couple big spoons from the kitchen and we headed to the back yard.

There are lots of bushes and trees out back, but also some bare dirt stretches that weeds keep trying to grow in. We planted four sunflowers right along the house. Xander waters them religiously and Josie also wants in on that fun. She usually just causes a moat to form along the edge.

Since then, one of the plants disappeared overnight but the remaining three are growing steadily.

In light of that success I decided to pick up more mini planters of daisies, zinnias, tomatoes and grass. The grass is just for me to have inside. The tomatoes are for Chris. The daisies started to grow but then gave up. The zinnias grew fanatically but seemed sort of depresses about being split up when they were planted out back.

Whether they grow or not, it has definitely been fun for the kids. I suppose that is what is important, right?

Headlines at Henry Coe Park

2011-05-03T15:35:00.007-05:00

We went for a family hike at Henry Coe State Park on Easter Sunday. It's a pretty big park where people hike out and with the tents, fishing poles and guitars strapped to their backs. We only wandered in about a mile or so and then let the kids run loose to scare off the wildlife. Here is some of our adventure.

Boy Teaches Father to Read

Sister Teaches Big Brother to Read

World's Larges Pinecone Found

Little Wanderer Ponders "Which path is the one less traveled?"

3 Year Old Knocks Down Tree with Kung Fu

Rock Collection Grows at Exponential Rate

(Josie was making me carry rocks by the end of the hike)

Pleasant Weather Tempts Hikers

Children Practice Sulking in Preparation for Teenage Years

Josie fell as we were walking back to the visitor center. She started running downhill and fell right into a rut, banging her head on a rock. This led to sobbing for Mom and Mom having to hike uphill with Josie on my shoulders for a while. Her forhead was swollen and scabby but not horrible.

Upon returning to the visitor center, Xander and I tried to find our first geocache stash. Unfortunately the cache seemed to be missing. Granted, I've never tried geocaching before, but the hint was rather straight forward. Xander a little distraught that a stranger found the treasure first and left with it.

rock climbing

2011-04-26T22:39:00.002-05:00

I met up with a coworker and her family for indoor rock climbing. It was our first time and was pretty fun. Xander finally got the hang of it after seeing my coworkers daughter climb. Initially, he wasn't too hip about it.

But he did eventually get the hang of it.

I got the hang of it too.

I auto-belayed to the bottom and lost my balance; then was accosted by two toddlers!!

Easter Celebration

2011-04-25T15:25:00.009-05:00

Easter seemed to last a very long time for us this year. We had two different Easter egg hunts in the house. The first was when their uncle and aunt visited at the end of March. The second was when their grandma and grandpa were here the week before Easter. We were going to have another on Easter day but I decided against it. They didn't notice.

During Holy Week we had a couple different activities. We colored eggs. They were fascinated. And it wasn't until Chris opened one that they realized they could eat the eggs. That led to eggshell and squished yolk everywhere.

We made a couple cards to send to the grandparents. Xander wanted to make a rainbow so we spend lots of time mixing paint to get the colors right.

In an effort to find some traditions to start with the kids, I found this neat recipe for Resurrection Rolls. Xander loved making them and they turned out super sweet (but not as pretty as on the website).

One of the things I did not bring with us from Ohio was Easter baskets. So I collected all of the Easter type toys to display on the table along with a few presents.

And of course I had to get the kids dressed up for church.

"Give each other a hug!"

Look at Xander's disappointment at not getting a hug from Josie.

After Easter mass, we went to brunch where the kids devoured Mickey Mouse pancakes and I enjoyed a healthy parfait with a side of hot chocolate and chocolate chip muffin. After that we headed out for a hike, which I'll post separately.

San Diego Vacation - Hotel

2011-04-12T15:25:00.005-05:00

This is the last post about our vacation, I promise. We just had so much fun I that I have to get it all documented.

Our hotel experience went pretty well. We had a two bed room with a crib for Josie. The first night was lousy with the spring break boys playing WrestleMania at 11:30 at night. The next few nights were much better. You already know about the pool. While there was no free continental breakfast, there was a nice restaurant with delicious food. By the last morning Xander was running in yelling "Good morning!" to the cashier.

We went out for dinner a couple nights but stayed in the other nights because we were just so tired and knew the kids wouldn't deal well with sitting patiently.

We turn into zombies in front of the television.

"Hey!" Made them look!

Xander is in his zone.

My favorite picture ever. Once again I have to add that she did not learn this from me.

Bed head!

I accidentally had my camera phone on video mode when I originally took the above picture.
Perfect timing on Chris's part!

San Diego Vacation - Day 4 Safari Park

2011-04-08T14:40:00.005-05:00

Ah, our last day of vacation, Saturday. We planned on going to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, but took it easy and spent the morning on a different section of the beach.

We tried to go to the same beach as our first day but as we went down the first set of stairs we realized the beach was covered in water. Silly tourists, forgetting about high tide.

So we went back to the road and walked a little to the next stretch of beach. This one was dog friendly and had lots of dogs running around. Chris and Xander wandered around, waded in the water and looked for shells and rocks. Josie and I sat and watched the action.

Don't look directly at my dazzlingly white legs.

We switched kids and Xander and I waded for a while. He fell down in the water on my watch. After arriving home I realized that I never rinsed out his clothes and the zipper on his jeans is all corroded now. Meanwhile, Chris walked with Josie and managed to get her to wade a little.

After a quick lunch, we headed to the Safari Park.

Once again,we took lots of pictures of animals. I'll spare you from looking at them. I'll just make you look at pictures of the kids some more.

Xander explaining the size of an elephant skull.

Josie feeling a giraffe pelt.

Josie comparing her hand to a gorilla foot.

While we enjoyed this park, the weather was a little chilly and we were tired of walking around and looking at animals. We wanted to go on the Safari Tram but everyone and their mother was already in line for it. So we started to head out and passed the carousel. Since it was free, we figured we could do one ride.

Josie had so much fun that Chris took the kids a second time. I don't think she smiled so much on the rest of vacation combined.

San Diego Vacation - Day 3 Zoo

2011-04-07T23:12:00.005-05:00

On the third day of our adventures, we went to the zoo. Basically our entire vacation was going to a new city next to the ocean and looking at animals.

The kids were tired of getting their pictures taken.

The first thing we did was go on a bus tour of the zoo.
We saw lots of animals this way and had minimal problems getting the children to come along with us since they were stuck on the bus.
Josie was not amused.

I was completely awestruck by the peacocks. They were in the trees and walking around. This one was in the flamingo enclosure and was trying to scare off that duck.

Dad: Xander look, a one hump camel!
Xander: A one hump camel makes a one hump poop! Just kidding.
(you have to read "Everyone Poops" to get it)

Gibbons!

Xander at the petting zoo.

Josie at the petting zoo.
I was able to get her to pet a sheep. Barely.

We were able to see a cheetah with it's dog companion.

Look at the baby giraffe!

Josie finally finds an animal she likes....

About time to leave.

And here is one more thing that Josie was scared of on our trip.
I should just make a post about the phobias of my children.

San Diego Vacation - Pool

2011-04-05T15:52:00.007-05:00

I already mentioned that we went to the hotel pool on the day we arrived in San Diego. We also went swimming after a warm day at SeaWorld.

Xander wore his water wings and did a good job of getting around by himself.
He tends to 'swim' by running in the water. It was slow, but got him where he wanted.

Josie was put into her floatie. She was content to sit in it and lean over to splash the water with her hands at first.

Then she wanted out to practice trust falls with Dad.

Then she just wanted to play on the steps.

Of course you can't just leave her to play in the steps of the pool, so Dad had to carry her around.

Meanwhile, Xander really wanted me to get into the pool because it's cool for me (whatever that means). Notice that he is the type to use his hands and body while trying to talk Mom into the pool.

After swimming was over, we headed out to lunch. Thanks to the fancy apps on our phones, we were never at a loss for suggestions or directions. This night Chris decided on a Mexican restaurant.

Surprisingly, Xander has a fear of mariachi bands.
I expected him to get up and dance when the band came over to play "It's a Small World." Instead, after sobbing and clutching Mom, the band stopped and slunk to the next table where there were no temperamental three year olds.

Josie just wanted to know when the food would arrive.

San Diego Vacation - Day 2 Seaworld

2011-04-04T16:02:00.005-05:00

We arose bright and early on our second day to get to SeaWorld. We decided that a Thursday would be a good day to go there. It was busy but not overcrowded. The weather actually turned hot and I had the fun of a mild migraine but toughed it out for the kids. Here are some of the 100+ pictures we took.

We rented double strollers everywhere we went.
There was a lot of bickering, but it was better than carrying two kids all day.

We were all impressed with the walrus. It was huge!
When it started swimming, it came over and tried to spray the kids. The picture only showed a wet window, so here is the walrus before swimming.

Xander meets Zander the Otter. I was all impressed that the lady holding the otter's leash was using my son's name. She must have been confused why we were telling the otter to freeze like a statue.

Snack time!

You could buy fish to feed to the sea lions.
The sea lions begged in very loud barks that scared Josie.

In the space needle!
Except it's not called a space needle and I don't feel like looking up the correct name.

We went to see the Sesame Street 4-D show.
Xander was spellbound. Josie did not appreciate the water.

Of course we had to see Shamu!
Xander will still randomly start waving his arms and yelling "Shamu!"

Of course we bought the kids matching stuffed Shamus so the kids couldn't fight over them. Right?
Chris was intrigued by the Shamu car. Check out the tail.

San Diego Vacation - Day 1

2011-04-03T22:29:00.005-05:00

We took a small family vacation the past few days by traveling down the coast to San Diego with the kids. We took a flight (less than an hour and a half) instead of driving (over four hours) and arrived in the early afternoon. With temperatures in the low 70s, we tried the pool first. Despite the heated pool, it was chilly and poor Josie was shivering.

We called it quits and decided to venture out to the beach. Turns out that our hotel was only about two blocks (and several steep flights of stairs) from the beach. Yeah!

After watching the water for all of a minute, Xander was more than happy to wade in and find rocks for his collection.

Josie enjoyed the view.

However, she seems to have a fear of water racing towards her. She did not want to go in the ocean and, as you can see, ran away from the waves.

The kids found a pre-dug hole and had fun playing in it. Then a big wave came in and filled the hole, drenching the kids and freaking Josie out. We called it a day after that.

Entertainment Around Our House

2011-03-28T16:28:00.003-05:00

Josie has become obsessed with the buckles on her booster seat. I remember that Xander also went through this phase. "Look what I can do, I can buckle myself in! Wait, now it's buckled and I can't go anywhere! Momma, open! Open! Open, Momma!" Ok, she only says the last part.

Tired of being called over to unbuckle the little sweetheart, I took the seat off of the chair and set it on the floor. Added bonus, more buckles to put together! Now, when she sits down and buckles up, this is what we get.

Xander saw that I recorded Josie and had to get in on that fun.

Mystery House

2011-03-27T16:30:00.005-05:00

My brother and his wife visited this week. It was awesome to see some familiar faces and play many games of Euchre. Xander and Josie were beyond ecstatic to see them. There were hugs and kisses and cuddles galore. It was especially nice to see Josie not panic at the sight of Uncle Lee like she did at Christmas.

One of the few things that we attempted to do together was go to the Winchester Mystery House.

I will pause right there and insert a PSA.
Winchester Mystery House and other mansion walking tours are not appropriate for small children. There is no where to take them if they lose it. You can't give them toys that make noise. You can't give them food or drink. Just don't do it.

That being said, we tried it. Josie did not want to play 'Follow the Line of Strangers' and instead kept trying to duck under ropes. She became rather loudly upset when Chris stopped her. He followed behind the tour and tried to occupy her, but then we had to stop in a room and close the door. Chris and Josie had to join the group. Then Xander, who was walking along happy as a clam, started to lose it. The guide was more than happy to stop the tour and call for someone to walk Chris out with the kids. I stayed with my brother and wife to continue the tour.

I thought the house was pretty cool. I was a little disappointed by how some of the rooms were bare, even had the walls torn down, but they left the house alone since Sarah Winchester's death. While the architecture was crazy, it was still interesting and beautiful. Maybe I'll try to make it for a night time tour while we are out here.

Meanwhile, it was raining outside. Chris had to spend an hour in the car with the kids. He is my hero.

Time to Wake Up

2011-03-18T15:12:00.005-05:00

We have done nothing to blog about lately. We've gone for some walks, played in some parks and watched too much television. And I know some of you are suffering from cuteness withdraw due to the lack of photos.

So without further ado, here is Xander after he wakes up from a nap.

He always pulls up the blankets and gets hot enough to sweat. Apparently he sweats it out for an hour and a half. Look at the rosy cheeks and mussed hair! (Also, it's pretty funny seeing Josie climbing a chair in the background.

Both kids have a limit of bringing three friends (aka stuffed animals) to bed. It just got to a point that Xander had no more room in his bed, so we imposed a three friend limit. Even that seems a little extreme now that I think about it. They should only need one friend! No friends! And they should sleep flat on their backs with their hands at their sides! Maybe then they won't fight over who gets Curious George at bedtime.

Anyway. When Josie wakes up in the morning or at nap time, she refuses to leave any friend behind in that crib. She sits down and gathers them all up in a death hug. When I pick her up, all of the friends come up and get squished in between us. And if one of them happens to fall back into the crib Josie will lunge for all she's worth, calling the fallen friend by name. It's like a scene from a war movie with the helicopter leaving and a soldier on board screaming for a fallen comrade.

Here she is with Sparkles (who does not wear her tutu to bed), Curious George and Baby Doll.

church story from Dad

2011-03-16T22:37:00.002-05:00

Amanda and I have been going to church together since I started RCIA in the fall of 2002. We've kept that up with the kids since they've been born as well. At communion time we've just carried them up in our arms for a blessing. Now they are walking up and either receiving a blessing or are ignored, either are fine with me. This past weekend at church Xander and I get back to our pew after communion and he starts questioning me as I bend down to kneel on the kneeler "Dad, what are you eating? Dad, what did you drink? Dad, what did you eat? Dad, what are you eating?" All this in the time that it takes me to finish chewing.

Bay Trail: Two Strikes

2011-03-14T16:12:00.004-05:00

Way back on December 12, it was a fairly nice Sunday and we decided to get out. We didn't want to go on a big trip and I commented that I'd read about Baylands Preserve on the city's website. I looked it up and there were several paths. There was a long running one and some loops that circled back around.

Mom: Look, this loop is one mile, sound about right for the kids.
Dad: Sounds good, let's go.

The walk itself wasn't all that great. We're used to walking through metroparks with lots of towering trees. This was a walk through marshland that was dried out, being December and all. There were ducks and others walking around, but nothing too exciting to see.

After walking for an hour we realized that we'd definitely missed the turn to stay on the loop and were on the long path called Bay Trail that connected Baylands Preserve to Shoreline Park. It was oddly deceiving because the entire time we were walking we could see another trail running perpendicular to us up a hill. We thought we'd connect to that trail but never did.

The kids were falling apart at that point. Xander was tired of walking and we were tired of carrying him. Josie was tired of being in the back pack but refused to walk on the trail and in the direction we were walking. So we debated what to do. Chris said we were closer to Shoreline Park and we just headed that direction. We discussed how to handle getting the car and I started looking up a cab company on my handy phone when Chris boldly walked up to a woman walking two little dogs and asked her to give me a ride to the other park.

She kindly agreed and it within twenty minutes we were all loaded up and heading home, chuckling about the mistake.

Fast forward to this past Saturday, March 12. We decided to walk on a different part of the Bay Trail starting at Shoreline Park. We didn't bother with strollers or back packs this time, instead we just took our leisurely time and let the kids explore. The grass and reeds were all green and grown in, we had to stop several times just so the kids could wave their arms through them. Ducks, seagulls and other birds were everywhere, Josie repeatedly quacked at them. We stayed awhile by a small area that had sail boats and paddle boats where Xander insisted on reading every sign (and by 'read' I mean that he and Chris sounded out every word).

As we headed back, Chris suddenly took off running ahead of us. I didn't see it happen, but he saw an older woman come down a small incline on a scooter and wreck on the path ahead of us. Before I even realized what was happening Xander asked "Is she okay?" Chris helped her up to sitting but she was clearly groggy and as I approached with the kids I could see blood on her face and knuckles.

This was one of the few times I didn't have tissues or wipes with me so Chris asked some people walking by who also stopped to help. I had the kids sit down next to the path (and they listened really well!), pulled the woman's scooter aside and helped her remove her purse because blood was actually dripping down her face.

The woman kept refusing help but she still seemed shaky and was still bleeding. Chris finally just reached under his shirt and ripped his undershirt to hold on a gash by her eye. We think her sunglasses actually caused that one. She said she was going to walk to her son but Chris insisted on walking with her.

Xander, Josie and I headed back along the path to the car. Xander asked again if the woman was going to be okay. I told him yes and reminded him that accidents happen and he should always wear his helmet. He proceeded to point out everyone who passed us on a bike and if they were wearing a helmet or not. I suppose it's a good way to get the point across.

The kids took their time on the path and I wasn't in a hurry to beat Chris to the car, so the woman, her son and Chris actually caught up to us by the end. Her bleeding seemed better and she was definitely coherent but her son was still going to take her to urgent care.

At that point Xander made a comment about how she should wear a helmet. Yikes.

Life is a Board Game

2011-03-07T23:39:00.002-05:00

Let's see if you can name the game.

This afternoon a friend let me know that she and her kids would not be able to meet us for a play date. I informed Xander of this turn of events.

Mom: Xander, Dusty can't meet us at the park today.

Xander: Really? Why not?

M: His mom says he has a cold and needs to stay home.

X: A cold? Did he jump in a puddle?

M: Um, I don't know.

X: Because if you jump in puddles you will catch a cold.

M: Oooookay.

X: That's not good. Now Dusty needs to go down the slide. And I'm going to get the cat from the tree.

What is the Opposite of an Escape Artist?

2011-03-01T16:49:00.003-05:00

Whenever Chris takes the kids to a playground he tries to be a good father and teaches them things like sharing and playing games. He doesn't stop to think "How will knowing this impact our children and my wife?" His desire is to impart knowledge, social skills and safety. So teaching Josie to climb a ladder has led to this.

Despite my efforts to move that changing table, it easily slides on the hard wood floor. Xander is usually the culprit for putting next to the crib but I've seen Josie move it.

I'm just happy that she hasn't figured out how to climb back out. Yet.

Dad Teaches How To Jump Rope

2011-03-01T00:02:00.003-05:00

First, Dad demonstrates how to jump rope.

Then, Xander jumps and holds a rope, therefore he must be jumping rope.

And, finally, demand that Josie learn to jump despite not being able to jump.

Sadly, I was not taped jumping. I did awesome though.

Soccer Ahead

2011-02-22T16:20:00.005-05:00

We took the kids to a small park a couple weekends ago. Usually that park is fairly empty, it only has a small toddler playground and lots of empty space. However on that Sunday it was hopping with kids running around, an adult volleyball game and a kid soccer game.

After playing on the playground equipment for a little while, Chris and Xander wandered over to watch the soccer game. It was a game between two girl teams, maybe 10 years old. They sat and watched for quite a while. I'm pretty sure Chris spent the entire time ready to spring out and grab Xander if Xander attempted to run out on the field and play.

Right now it looks like Xander will grow up to be athletic. He gets up to exercise with Chris in the morning. Chris does a video and Xander will try to work out along with it or will sit on Chris to help with push ups. They watch sports on TV, ranging from football to baseball with basketball and soccer mixed in. Xander has even asked to watch golf and tennis. When he plays with his friend Dusty, he practices passing and keeping away and lots of running. He's even good at tackling, which we are really trying to put a stop to for the moment.

So when Xander asked to play soccer on that day at the park, I thought about it. And, for reasons ranging from moving to not paying to watch three year olds run around, I said no and he'll have to wait.

Have I mentioned that Xander has hit the question age? Everything is "Why?"

So he asked why he couldn't play. I said they already signed up for teams. Why? Because it's an all girls team. Why? You'd have to play on a boys team. Okay! But you have to be four years old. Really? Yes, really. Okay!

Now he randomly asks if he is four yet, so he can sign up for soccer.

Story Time: Reboot

2011-02-18T16:16:00.004-05:00

After all of the drama of trying Story Time at the local libraries, we just stopped going for a while. The weather this week has been cold (fifties is cold here) and wet. On Thursday I decided it was time to try again. Xander likes going to libraries to get books, computer games and movies. I also figured it was time for Josie to learn to Sit Still and Pay Attention. Not that I expect her to learn that in a half hour at the library but we have to start somewhere.

We arrived about ten minutes early and the kids had fun playing with Legos, looking at books and running around. There were plenty of little ones running around. This story time was for 18 months to 3 years so Xander would be a bit old for it however I figured it would be easier to go to that one than to bring Josie to the 3 to 5 year story time.

As soon as the librarian called for Story Time so we could go to the appropriate room, Xander started crying. It took a minute to figure out, but I think someone stepped on his hand. I got him calmed down and we headed in and took a pair of seats so that Xander was next to me and Josie was in my lap.

As soon as the opening song began Xander began to wail. Oh. My. Goodness. So I carried Josie and led Xander out of the room. He couldn't explain why he was crying but he strongly stressed that he wanted to go home.

I wasn't about to give up that easily and I talked him into returning and sitting with me. The librarian was reading a book with numbers and I could hear Xander counting along next to me. Then she did a flannel board story, where cut outs are put up on the board. He found that entertaining. Then there was a song that Josie danced to, Xander wouldn't budge.

At one point the librarian stopped what she was doing and asked a parent to take a book away from a girl reading so she could pay attention. The rules at this library astound me. A little girl, less than two years old, gets in trouble for quietly reading at the library.

Then it went down hill again. Xander started saying, louder and louder, that he wanted to go home. Josie started squirming and wanted down. Since this is the library where we were reprimanded for letting a child quietly walk around during Story Time, I knew it was time to leave and we headed out to read a couple books together.

We made it fifteen minutes. We'll try again next week.

My Little Valentines

2011-02-14T23:44:00.004-05:00

To prepare for Valentine's Day, the kids made cards for all of their aunts, grandparents and great-grandmas. Let me tell you, it was exhausting helping a three year old cut out 2o-some hearts and then gluing them to paper.

For the kids, I just wanted to make the cookies that my mom always made for me. They are heart shaped cookies with a cherry filling. After scouring the internet and making a couple calls to my mom, I had the recipe. Then I managed to nab the last heart shaped cookie cutter from Michael's.

During lunch today, I put the cookie cutter to good use.

For the cookies, I made the filling and the cookie dough ahead of time. This afternoon we invited Xander's friend Dusty, his mom and sister over to help make the cookies. They helped with the cut outs and taste testing.

Those cookies are just as delicious as I remember. The kids love them. I guess we have a new tradition.

Dealing With It

2011-02-08T16:25:00.004-05:00

Josie busted her eye this morning.

She and Xander were helping me to sort clothes when she slipped and her head bounced off of the corner of a stool in the room.

My immediate thoughts were: Rush to her side, push Xander out of the way if necessary, pick her up and cuddle her, get ice, wait there is no ice, what if it's bad, I don't have a car today, who can I call?! Where's my phone?!?

My immediate actions were actually: Set down laundry, ask Xander to please move back, cuddle Josie, notice there is a little blood, try to spot where blood is coming from but Josie is still in cuddle mode, carry her to the bathroom and get a wet washcloth to clean her and hold on her eye, contain panic that she'll need liquid stitches on her eyelid.

As you can see, my thoughts and actions don't actually match up so well.

Josie actually asked for Cookie Boo-Boo, which is a cold pack shaped like Cookie Monster. It wasn't cold (I hadn't thought to throw it in the mini-fridge) but I let her have it anyway. She happily put it on her eye and walked off to play.

Panic averted.

Losing the Name Game

2011-01-30T16:39:00.005-05:00

Because we traveled for Christmas, a couple people gave the kids gift cards instead of gifts that would have to be packed and shipped when we came back to California. Yesterday we decided to was time to cash in on the Build-a-Bear cards.

It was our first time to try Build-a-Bear and it went pretty smoothly. First the kids picked out which animals they wanted. Xander picked a black bear and Josie went with a puppy dog. Josie loves stuffed animals, I was afraid she'd get upset and want all of them. She dealt with the whole experience really well.

Next, the animals were actually stuffed. This was the only part that was a little disappointing. The lady who stuffed them had them put a little heart in each animal and they have a little routine to go with the heart. Something like "Rub it on your knees so it's a good runner, rub it on your nose so it's silly, ....". She did the whole routine while gazing off behind us and saying it as one long run on sentence. Xander couldn't really keep up. Josie had no idea what was going on.

Next was naming the animals. Chris's suggestions to Xander ran along the lines of Riley (the name of a coworker's son), Rowdy (my brother's dog) and Rusty (the family cat who has passed). Xander decided to name the bear Dusty. Dusty also happens to be the name of Xander's friend here.

I helped Josie. And all I could think of was Sparkles. The creative portion of my brain completely shut down. Sparkles. Growing up, I always named stuffed animals, plants, cars, etc. Now with the kids the stuffed animals are just called whatever they are. Teddy Bear. Koala. Hippo. So put on the spot, all I could come up with was Sparkles.

Then we picked out clothes. Chris grabbed a soccer outfit for Dusty the Bear. It even included shin guards, which you can't see because of the black fur. I figured to Sparkles the puppy should live up to her name and grabbed her a sparkly ballerina outfit.

The kids love their new friends. Both had to sleep with their friends last night. Xander tried to feed Dusty at breakfast time. Josie carries Sparkles everywhere by her neck.

Monterey Bay

2011-01-24T00:35:00.005-05:00

This weekend we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. A friend we met at church was kind enough to lend us two adult membership passes and Josie was free. We bought and printed a ticket online for Xander (and really appreciated those free adult passes, saved us $60!).

When we arrived, we had just missed the otters being fed. Josie and I still thought they were the cutest things ever.

They had a big jellyfish exhibit which was amazing to look at. No fancy environment, just a couple of jellyfish (or in one case about twenty) floating around.

They also had a big seahorse exhibit. It went through stages of life and had a wide variety of species. These in the picture were crazy, their camouflage to look like plants was amazing.

There were penguins and flamingos. The coral reef had fish with amazing neon colors. The kelp forest was huge and the size of the fish was astonishing. The octopus was big and was crawling across the window. The kids didn't seem to caret but Chris and I were amazed to watch it.

Xander's second favorite part was the touch pool. There was kelp and other plants, shells and starfish.

Xander's favorite part was the splash zone. A huge 'wave' was released onto a glass ceiling and wall.

Josie did not like it quite as much.

She did like the flamingos and was rather upset when we left them. The penguins made her feel a little better.

There were several play areas for the kids, but we only made it to one section on whales.

To commemorate the day, we told the kids they could pick out souvenirs. Josie immediately grabbed a stuffed baby penguin. Xander played with a few toys. Then they spotted the sparkly cups with the twisty straws. Let me tell you, they suddenly love water (I will only let them drink water from the cups).

After the aquarium, we went to a park in Monterey Bay called Dennis the Menace park. Let me tell you, it was an awesome park. Several play structures, a garden maze, bridges and even a train engine to climb on. Since it was 70 degrees out, everyone else wanted to go to the park too. And it was a little big for Josie, who split her lip on the first slide she went down.

Overall, it was a good trip. The aquarium wasn't too crowded and the 1.5 hour drive went surprisingly smoothly. We may go back (but only if we get free tickets again).

Tilden Park

2011-01-24T00:13:00.003-05:00

A couple Saturdays ago we decided to venture off to a new park for some adventures. We decided on Tilden Park because, despite it being over an hour drive, it had a steam train to ride. Upon hearing that, Xander dug out his train hat to wear for the day.

It was a fun ride. There were several places along the track where there were miniature buildings built to the same scale as the train. There were also several places where you'd get a great view of the valley. The kids also found out that the train's whistle can be loud and a little bit scary when you are standing next to it.

Xander was rather upset that we didn't immediately get back on the train for another ride, but it was pretty busy. We managed to get the first ride of the day but there was a large crowd waiting when we returned. The parking lot was also packed, so we decided to move on to the 'nature' section of the park.

The nature section has mandatory building with maps, collections of stuffed animals and other exhibits. Nearby were several trails we could hike. But first we headed to the Little Farm. Xander was excited to see the cows, Josie was fascinated but would not get close. Josie did love all of the birds that were there. She would get as close as she could to the geese, ducks and turkeys.

We headed out to walk on a trail that was under a mile. Josie was in the backpack, but was squirmy and cranky. Xander walked and was slow and cranky. I was worried that we'd take a wrong turn and end up three miles from our car (I need to tell you about that some time). At least they did take some time for leaf tossing fun.

When we finally packed up for the day I tossed a granola bar at each kid and we took off. A few miles down the road Xander gave a few deep coughs and vomited. In the car. Over an hour away from home. With no change of clothes. So he rode the rest of the way home in Spider-Man underwear and a couple fleece coats draped over him. He didn't get sick again, so we think it was just some coughing that caused up chucking.

Holiday Travels - Overview

2011-01-18T16:21:00.004-05:00

I figured since it was well past the middle of January, I should finish up the holiday posts. I know we still have our little tree up and all of our cards up (since we weren't here to enjoy them) but I think most of you have probably moved on by now.

We stayed at our home in Ohio during our visit, which was awesome. We really, really miss our house. The only hard part was that we lent out our television and DVD/VHS player and were left with an old TV that did not pick up the digital television signal (we sold our converter box) and a small DVD player. Oh, and all of our child appropriate movies were in California. So when my parents came to visit the first day back and asked if we needed anything (they probably meant food) we kindly asked to borrow a few movies. Xander greatly enjoyed Cars, Robots and the Incredibles a couple times each.

We made several day trips. On Christmas Eve day we visited one of Chris's uncle's families. That was one place we saw Santa Claus.

On Christmas Day we visited another of Chris's uncle's families. We found the greatest babysitter ever: someone else playing Nintendo DS. It's Killian who is Chris's cousin's son, which I think would make Xander and Killian second cousins. Am I off base there? Anyway, Killian was an awesome sport for letting Xander hover on his shoulder the Entire Day.

A neighbor also lent Xander a Leapster with one game. Xander carried that thing with him everywhere for the rest of the trip. And as much as Xander enjoys technology, I'm happy to have just have our blocks, board games and PBS online for now.

We spent a few days staying at my parents' house and celebrated a late Christmas with my family there. That is where the true chaos of gifts came in.

And of course the gift bags were as popular as the gifts. Also, Rowdy the dog was a big hit.

It worked out well that my parents, siblings, sibling-in-laws and niece were all able to make it and celebrate together. Xander and Josie were showered with attention and even now Xander will say he misses them. Just yesterday he says he misses Uncle Mark and Uncle TJ (at which point I kindly remind him that it is Aunt TJ). The day before it was Uncle Lee and Aunt Andrea and Rowdy (at which point he would sit down and scratch his ear with his foot, just like Rowdy).

Chris especially had a good time with our niece Adyson. He played 'Kerplunk' with her, which is always a hit with our kids. It's basically dropping her and catching her, but safer than it sounds. We also tried teaching her how to hold our hands and climb our legs and flip over. Hopefully she'll remember when we return in August.

We also managed to visit my sister down in Cincinnati. Most of our two weeks in Ohio were in below freezing temperatures with a little snow, but the temperature actually reached 60 degrees during the last couple of days. We'd planned on going to see the Fantasy of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo, so it was nice that the weather cooperated.

Holiday Travels - Santa

2011-01-12T00:21:00.005-05:00

Xander and Josie were lucky enough to meet Santa twice in Ohio. There was one time in California that they nearly met him, but he was out doors on a chilly evening and we decided to wait. By the time we returned to the car and were buckled in, it dawned on Xander that he didn't get to talk to Santa. This turned into a long, teary saga of "But I really want to talk to Santa!" all the way home. This from Xander who wouldn't go near the big guy last year.

We planned on taking the kids on a weekday morning while at the mall in Ohio. There was still a line, but it wasn't long. That didn't stop Josie from getting squirrely, so I distracted her with pretzel goldfish. When it was our turn, Xander ran right up and sat down. Josie threw a fit. They snapped a picture. Look closely if you'd like to see what partially chewed up pretzels look like.

After the picture, I picked up Josie and let Xander chat with Santa.
Santa: What would you like for Christmas?
Xander: Presents!
Santa: Oh? What kind of presents?
Xander: ...New presents!
Hugs: Would you like a ball?
Xander: Yeah!
Santa: What kind of ball would you like?
Xander: A new Ball!

We spent Christmas Eve with Chris's uncle and his family. Santa Claus made a surprise appearance there. Xander has been working on his vertical this year and showed it to Santa.

This time while talking to Santa, Xander said he wanted a Hide and Seek Jo Jo. Which is what his cousin, who went right before him, also asked for.

Once again, Josie would not go near Santa without the comforting presence of Mom.

Santa left presents for the kids at our house in Ohio which included blocks and books. Xander and Josie both had a blast building (and knocking over) the blocks. Xander's ability with symmetry surprised me, then he'd surprise me with a completely lopsided building, then he'd be completely creative. This was the island he built for me.

Upon returning to California, the kids found that Santa had left a baseball mitt for Xander and a baby stroller for Josie. The kids also received Chutes and Ladders, Candyland and Hi-Ho-Cherry-O. Josie's a little too young to play, but Xander cannot get enough of them. I'm really happy they've enjoyed the gifts this year.

Holiday Travels - The Airports

2011-01-07T23:33:00.004-05:00

We spent two weeks in Ohio over the holidays. That of course involves taking planes cross-country with a three year old and eighteen month old.

From California to Ohio we had to get to the airport early and had a layover in Las Vegas. For added fun, the airline asked for proof of Josie's age while we were checking in. Oops, we'd never been asked for that before so I didn't bother to bring it. We ended up having to buy another ticket since her obvious size and language skills were not enough to make her a lap passenger. That actually worked out well because we had some extra room. By the end of the day, Chris was sprawled across three seats while Xander played.

However there was panic before the return plane ride. It occurred to us the day before our flight that we needed to get proof of Josie's age. We didn't have an birth certificates in Ohio. The county offices to get birth certificates were closed. We called to check and there were no tickets available. We were able to get copies of some paperwork from the doctor and, thank goodness, the airline accepted them.

The ride to Ohio went fairly well and was uneventful. We'd been prepared with food, books, toys, kid phones and iPhone apps. Josie was also able to fall asleep while I was holding her without much fuss.

The return ride was a lot more difficult. We left the house at 9 for our noon flight. We had a short flight first and made it through that and even arrived at our layover early. Which sounds great on paper, but meant that we had time to kill with two squirrely kids.*

So we took our time, let Josie and Xander stop and look at things, and kept a lookout for things to do. I've heard that some airports have kid play areas. Las Vegas didn't seem to. Instead they have shiny, bright, loud, blinky slot machines. We had to repeatedly explain to Xander that they were adult games and he couldn't play. We found moving sidewalks and took a lot of time going back and forth on those. We looked out the windows at the airplanes and practiced out trust falls. We even splurged on ice cream.

Josie didn't get a nap in and within an hour of being in the air on the second flight she was losing it. Nothing made her happy. I had to walk the aisle with her. After a while of walking, I wondered if she'd fallen asleep. A couple people actually gave me a thumbs up that she was asleep. And no one gave me dirty looks, thank goodness.*

By the time we arrived back, Josie was ready to lose it again and I tried to walk her around. Fortunately she was distracted by some birds that had come in and were hanging around baggage claim. She and Xander and some other kids chased them around and had a blast, it was very cute. After we packed up, the kids zonked out. They didn't even realize that Santa had left presents in the house here when we arrived.

*Yeah, I was tired when I wrote this. The first leg was the long one with Josie losing it. The second leg was short and uneventful.

0.2 pounds

2011-01-03T00:25:00.003-05:00

I will soon give updates about our holiday travels. Meanwhile, here is a tale to tide you over.

While I was in the bathroom packing, Josie walked in and stepped on the scale. Then she stepped off, sat down, took off her socks, stood back up and stepped back onto the scale.

She didn't learn that kind of behavior from me, that's all I can say.

All the Ways It Can Go Wrong

2010-12-07T16:59:00.007-05:00

We took professional family photographs on Monday morning. I spent time trying to figure out the clothing situation. I actually did two loads of laundry on Sunday night so that the kids would have appropriate socks to wear. I picked out Chris's clothes and he had a freak out moment that his pants might not fit and I'd cause him bodily harm for Ruining Everything. I had a freak out moment that I don't own that doesn't clash with someone else's outfit. And I can't forget to mention that despite it being December and everyone else in the world is taking holiday photos, Josie is wearing a yellow dress with daises.

I scheduled our appointment at Sears was for 10 am in hopes of the children behaving. I even fed them a snack before we left. I gave them fruit snacks, thinking that they couldn't possibly ruin their clothes with fruit snacks. Josie proved me wrong by dropping a half chewed, red one on her dress. I didn't even realize there was a stain until we were at the studio and, luckily, it doesn't seem to appear in any of the photos.

Thinking we'd need plenty of time, we headed out early and arrived to find that Sears didn't even open until 10. So we drove around for twenty minutes. Oops. While driving, about a half mile from the store, I saw a woman in casual, professional clothes with magenta hair running down the sidewalk. Turns out, she was running to get to Sears and open up the studio to take our pictures.

The studio time went ok. The photographer and another worker tried to keep the kids entertained but it wasn't the greatest job ever. And of course you can't expect perfection with a 3 year old and 1 year old.

Some pictures weren't centered.

There were shadows, squinting and not looking at the camera.

There were awkward poses.

There were interrupted games of Peek-A-Boo.

There was a broken background curtain, more squinting and a confused child.

"If one more person tells me to smile, I'm going to rip off this flower and crack it over their head."

Mount Diablo

2010-12-06T17:07:00.006-05:00

We headed to Mount Diablo State Park on Saturday. We should have gotten some fabulous pictures and taken a nice hike. Instead, we forgot the camera and it was cold, windy and raining at the park. I'll spare you the pictures of us sitting in the car while it rained that we took with our phone.

It took us just over an hour to get there, giving the kids and I quality nap time. Then it was up for 3000+ feet. Did I ever mention that I got car sick as a kid? I thought I was over that, but mountains definitely push my tolerance.

When we arrived at the top we found that the observation deck was closed for repairs, so no great views of the mountains on one side or the bay on the other. However, the summit was actually indoors. They'd built the building up around the summit and had a platform built so people could stand on it.

After sitting in the car for an inordinate amount of time, the rain let up. We also traveled most of the may back down the mountain to get out of the wind and cold. Chris and Xander did take a short hike.

Then we let Josie loose in the parking lot to stomp in the puddles.

My favorite view was on the way down the mountain. I love the clouds (fog) in the valleys with the little towns.

I hope we can go back in the spring. There was a postcard on display showing a field of tulips and I would love to get pictures of the kids running around there.

Alphabet Hunt

2010-11-24T16:56:00.004-05:00

Both kids have colds again. This is the third time within a three month period and it's entirely frustrating because we can't go to Mom's gym, Xander's gym or try story time with snot running down their faces. We're hoping this round clears up so we can go to the Thanksgiving dinner we were invited to.

In the meantime, we're stuck around the house a lot more. In a moment of inspiration I decided we'd go on an Alphabet Hunt. We put on jackets and shoes and I had Xander tell me the alphabet and I wrote it down.

My original idea was that we'd find things out side, like a tree, and Xander would circle the letter at the beginning of the word. So tree would get a 't' circled on the list. Instead we just looked around for letters. We started with some license plates, Xander would read a letter and then circle it on his list (kind of hard to do with nothing under the paper, but we muddled through). There were street signs and road signs and even letters on the garbage bins.

Xander had a good time, he'd point and get excited when a new sign came up. I didn't let him circle every letter on signs like 'Not a through street' but we'd get a few from every one he pointed to.

Josie was not as excited and became increasingly frustrated that we were stopped. Towards the end of the walk I had to tell Xander that the hunt was over and we'd head home when done. Still, it was fun to do something different than just walk.

Josie Speak

2010-11-22T16:33:00.003-05:00

It occurred to me a few weeks ago that Josie doesn't use many words. Her favorite two words are 'no' and 'mine.' It's a little frustrating because Xander didn't use 'no' until he was almost two and 'mine' was a little bit after that. I guess that is what happens when you have an older sibling, you learn the survival words first.

Josie doesn't say 'yes' but she definitely gets her point across when she agrees to what you say or what you are offering her. She makes a noise that is a little like this....but without the 'doughnut'.

"Josie, would you like some yogurt?" "Mmmmmmmm!"
"Josie, would you like to hold Curious George?" "Mmmm-mmmm!"
"Josie, would you like to wear your slippers?" "Mmm-mm!"

There are a few other words that she 'says' but only we understand, because as her parents we have the secret codes to know what she is saying.
"Easssssss" is please
"Day" is thank you
"Maa" is more
"Ba" is bottle - thought she is getting better with "Bott"

I've been attempting to have her repeat new words.
Squirrel is now "S-wirl"
Elmo is "Momo"
Bob the Builder is "Bobbie"

You get the idea. She did put together her first sentence of "More Bottle," which sounded like "Maa bott." You get the idea.

The best is when she tries to sing along with songs that are making nonsense sounds. For instance, out of the blue Xander asked me to sing the Batman song (how does he know these things?) so I started 'ne-ne-ne'ing. Next thing I know, Josie is singing right along.

Headlines from Golden Gate Bridge

2010-11-15T16:04:00.005-05:00

Bridge in San Francisco is Huge

People Walk on Big Bridge

Bridge is High Above the Water

Mother Threatens to Throw Child Into Water

Little Sister Worries for Brother's Safety

Bridge Has Cables Thicker than Child's Arm

Bridge Looks Small from Far Away

aaah parenting

2010-11-12T00:37:00.002-05:00

This morning after showering I stepped out of the bathroom and noticed that the kids' bedroom door was open. That means Xander was up and about. Usually he goes into our room and bothers Amanda, however this morning I had gone into the kitchen and on the way turned on the dining room light --and left it on while I showered.

I go into our room and Amanda asks me if Xander is up. Ah ha! So that means the little scamp saw the light on and is in the kitchen trying to play with my phone while it's on the charger. I head that way and Xander leaves the kitchen and meets me halfway in the dining room with a huge smile on his face (which means he heard me, stopped what he was doing in the kitchen and left). This is typically what he does when he is nearly caught in the act. But, he's got something white on his chin???

Dad: Xander, what's on your chin?
X: Lotion!
Dad thinks: there's no lotion in the kitchen, what's he talking about?
Dad: What lotion? Show me.
Xander leads me into the kitchen and points to the Elmer's glue.
Xander: That lotion.
Dad: Xander, that's not lotion it's glue!
Xander: Oh!

That Darn Pigeon

2010-11-09T23:24:00.002-05:00

When I find a book that the kids (or I) like, I tend to go online to the library and request more books by that author. Right now we have the Pigeon books by Mo Willems. Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, and The Pigeon Wants a Puppy are what we have read so far and more are on the waiting list.

Xander has picked up enough about picture books that after reading a book only once he can go back through on his own and tell the story. It might not be word for word but it's the same story line and hits the important parts. Like on the page with the huge lettering he will yell "Let me drive the bus!"

Now Xander has extended what he reads to real world circumstances. For instance, while I'm driving somewhere he will ask if he can drive the car.

X: Can I drive?
Hugs: No.
X: Can I drive?
Hugs: No.
X: Can I drive?
Hugs: No.
X: Can I drive?
Hugs: No.
X: Can I drive?
Hugs: No.
X: Can I drive?
Hugs: No.
X: Can I drive?
Hugs: No.
X: Can I drive?
Hugs: ............No.

You would think it would get annoying but so far it has been a fun game. After all, that's what happens in the book. The pigeon keeps asking to drive the bus (although he tries other methods than just asking) and we tell the pigeon 'no.'

The best was after we read the Hot Dog book. In it a duckling keeps asking the pigeon what a hot dog tastes like, going so far as to ask if it tastes like chicken.

We sat down to dinner the other night and Xander asked what we were eating.

Hugs: This is chicken.
X: Does it taste like a hot dog?

The grin on his face was hilarious.

Halloween

2010-11-02T22:38:00.003-05:00

Xander was old enough to really participate in Halloween this year. I asked him what he wanted to dress up as for Halloween and his immediate response was "Buzz!" It didn't help that there were commercials for Disneyland with little kids dressed as Buzz giving the 'real' Buzz high fives. Xander kept repeating that he wanted to be Buzz and get a high five.

Since I have almost no craft supplies and I knew Xander would wear it enough to be worth it, I bought him a Buzz costume. It involved going to four different stores to find, surprisingly. There was also lots of waffling on Xander's part. "I want to be Buzz! Spider-man, I want to be Spider-man. Oh, Super Why!" The store we bought it at was a Halloween store with many scary props around, so Xander had his first real dose of 'scary.' We talked about how it was pretend and make believe but he still closed his eyes as we walked out of the store past a child-sized doll with rotating skull. When we arrived at the car, Xander asked if that was a witch. Not wanting to go into zombie/skeleton/possessed details, I said that it was a witch. Xander turned in his seat and yelled "Bye, witch, have a good day!"

I have to get a video of Xander wearing this and post it.

And by the way, this costume, it's tag says 'Toy Story 2'. And it is absolutely falling apart already. The wings were totally worth it though. Josie agrees.

I found a butterfly costume for Josie. She was ok with it, but none of the pictures turned out well because she was tired and cranky.

On Halloween day we went out to the stores by the local farmers market to trick-or-treat in the afternoon. Josie slept. Xander was fascinated that he could walk up to someone and get candy. I spent most of the time holding his wings back because the sidewalks were crowded.

In the evening we trick-or-treated around the neighborhood. Xander had a blast and was so excited that he'd yell "Trick or treat" or "Happy Halloween" before people even opened the door. There were a few houses that were a little too scary for him, but nothing bad enough to give him nightmares.

My favorite part of the evening was when we ran into a family with a little Sheriff Woody. I so wanted to take a picture, but figured it would be rude. Xander was all excited and jumped up and down and yelled "Hi Sheriff Woody!" Woody was a little more reserved.

Overall, it was a good time. Monday morning, after breakfast, Xander asked to go trick-or-treating again.

Performance Art

2010-10-27T16:16:00.003-05:00

We are trying to get out and do things on the weekends while we are here, but sometimes we have no idea what. While Chris was looking for something to do indoors last Sunday, he found that there is a Pixar exhibit at a museum. Not the best choice to bring a three year old to, but we decided to go for it.

We arrived and Chris stood in line with Josie while I wandered with Xander in the outdoor part. Our tickets were for 2:45 and it was just after 1, so we went in to look at the regular art museum. Xander kept asking "What's that?" and tried to touch everything. Then we found a special room for 'Art of the Immaterial' and Xander felt the need to express himself.

(I'm not sure how this will work, I recorded it on my iPhone but it doesn't seem to load correctly. It's basically Xander stomping to a techno beat as a voice names the colors on the screen.)

After this, we decided to take a rest room break and headed for an exit when the lights went out. I was immediately grabbing for my phone for light and calling for Xander, but emergency lights went on in less than 30 seconds. We headed to the rest room and when we reconvened we found out that the doors were locked and everyone was hanging around outside in the rain.

After about ten more minutes it was announced that this was a city-wide power failure and the museum was closing, but our tickets would be good for another time that we would like to visit.

So I will let you know how the Pixar exhibit is within the next two months.

Pumpkin Patch Kids

2010-10-27T15:59:00.003-05:00

There are all sorts of parking-lot-pumpkin-patches that have sprouted up around here. There's a fenced in area that contains pumpkins (obviously), corn, hay and a bounce house. Xander sees them as we drive by and gets all upset because he wants to jump.

After some debate, we decided to go to a pumpkin patch on a local farm. It had the bounce house, pumpkins, corn, etc. It also had a petting zoo and face painting! So after nap time, we headed off. And it started raining.

So there was no zoo, no face painting and we had to nearly drag Xander past the bounce house. We were even too late for the hay ride, though the kids were able to play on the tractor and trailer. But, by golly, we bought some pumpkins.

This one is titled "Turn around so your mother can take your picture."

"Yee-haw, Cowboy"

Junior Zoo

2010-10-22T15:34:00.004-05:00

The kids are hanging onto their colds but we needed out so we stopped by the 'junior zoo' here. It's actually a 'junior museum and zoo' but we skipped the museum part because it is entirely interactive and germs would be spread.

The 'zoo' (do you like you I keep using the quotation marks?) was very small and only contained small animals, most which you could find in your neighborhood. I'm talking turtles, rats, snakes, rabbits, raccoons, etc. Since we don't usually see them in the neighborhood, it was still fun.

Snotty Little Things

2010-10-20T15:23:00.004-05:00

Last week, on Thursday to be exact, Josie woke up with a runny nose. So like clockwork, Xander woke up with a runny nose on Saturday. There has been an abundance of tissues used, some coughing but, fortunately, no fevers.

Unfortunately, them having colds does severely limit our activities. No gym because they aren't allowed in the kids area, no play grounds or story time. I'm pretty sure that is where Josie picked up this little bug, an oh-so-thoughtful caretaker left a kid's bottle sitting on a bench and Josie repeatedly made a bee line for it while I was reminding Xander not to tackle kids. So I'm trying to be considerate and not expose others.

So that means being stuck at home in this small house with tempers already shortened by not feeling well.

I just hope that they are better by next Monday because there is a scheduled power outage and I might actually have to interact with Xander and Josie.

Sweet Dreams

2010-10-18T17:01:00.003-05:00

Somewhere around the beginning of summer, Xander woke up a couple of times in the middle of the night crying and very upset about something. He couldn't quite articulate it but I had the impression that he'd had some nightmares.

In order to prevent this, I would talk to him for a minute before bed about what dreams he might have. I did not go into long explanations about the definition of a dream or explain that bad things weren't real. I just told him to close his eyes and think about one thing or another. Like the sun and clouds. I'm still not sure if he understands, but every morning I ask him what he dreamed about.

Most of the summer his answer was snow.

All of August his answer was California.

Since his birthday, his answer is Chuck E. Cheese's.

He must get replaced during the night

2010-10-13T16:02:00.002-05:00

We have started looking into some sort of class for Xander. He has way too much energy and desperately wants friends. He mentions friends he hasn't seen since Ohio (CaiyaConnorDeacon, Tyler, Caroline, Alex, etc) and has become a little....needy...on the playground. Alright, he follows the other kids around trying to play with them.

The local Y has one class one afternoon a week, but that won't work. We don't feel ready to put him into an organized sport. I tried looking for classes at a community center with no luck. So this week I looked in at two kiddie gyms. The first was nice enough but we arrived during a faculty meeting so didn't get to see how things worked. And boy was Xander mad when we left and he couldn't play.

The second gym I like because it had a separate area for parents that included toys to occupy Josie. We arrived 15 minutes before a class that Xander would fit into and he was invited to try it out. We grabbed a quick snack and I let him loose wondering what would come. Crying and clinging?

Xander ran right in, past the instructors, to play. The instructors called him back and he went and sat in the circle of kids. He followed directions, he jumped and slid and ran and tried everything new with eagerness. At the end, most of the kids slowly walked over to sit down and he started running in circles. By golly, he liked it!

Of course, it's pricey. We'll try to look around for more options (any ideas??) before we commit.

So today I take the kids to a different story time, for ages 18 months to 3 years. I knew Xander would be one of the older kids, but that's ok. And maybe Josie wouldn't spend the entire time getting into things (haha).

No dice, once again Xander sat with me saying he wanted to go home. He started to have more fun towards the end when there were songs he knew but he still wouldn't leave my side. Someone mentioned story time in another area library, maybe we'll see if that clicks.

Train ride

2010-10-10T15:22:00.004-05:00

We went a couple of towns over and went on a carousel and a mini train ride. It located at a city park with the normal picnic tables, swings and slides as well as the carousel and train.

We all had fun.

There was a turntable for the train. I thought that was cool. The train is built to be 1/3 scale.

First haircut

2010-10-10T15:08:00.003-05:00

Mom was feeling sick last week so I took the kids for a haircut to Snip-Its. It was Josie's first haircut and I was sure to ask for a baggie to take home her curls in.

The kids were both good, of course, not only because they are always good, but there were TV's with cartoons on in front of each station which turns them into Zombies.

Snip-Its is a haircut chain that specializes in overpriced kids haircuts. $18 for a buzz cut for Xander and $23 for a cut for Josie. They also require all employees to have a facial piercing or a large visible tattoo. I got over the price pretty easily because of the speed, quality and friendliness of the service. I'm not over the body art.

Anyway, here is Josie in all of her cuteness in her church dress from last week. I made her promise me until she started crying that she'd never get a disgusting neck tattoo or facial piercing. If it was only that easy.

Josie's First Haircut

2010-10-08T15:30:00.004-05:00

As I suffered a migraine on Saturday evening, I convinced Chris to take the kids to the park. When he returned, the children both had shorter hair.

Hugs: Please tell me that you have some of her hair.

Chicks: *shock* Oh, no, I forgot!

Hugs: Liar.

Chris took them to a children's haircutting place in town, so they were entertained by television and each received a prize when they left. It was definitely pricier than using clippers at home, but it was done right. Although, they did parted Josie's hair, which really bothered me for some reason.

Josie Before

Josie After

Headlines from Big Basin

2010-10-04T15:31:00.003-05:00

Trees are really old!

Trees are really wide!

Trees just get wider!

Some trees are hollow and yet still survive!

Grass attacks one-year-old!

Three-year-old escapes the Rodents of Unusual Size!

First raccoon-fish hybrid created!

Splash park and Port Fest

2010-10-03T09:51:00.003-05:00

We went to a Splash park last weekend. Not too big of an adventure.

Xander had lots of fun. Josie was a bit more timid, but still had fun. I didn't get any good pictures of her without other kids I don't know, so no pictures of her in the sprinklers.

Here's one of Josie having fun on the playground. Her big afro is gone now. Amanda was sick yesterday and I took the kids for haircuts. By the way, it was totally overpriced, but it was done right and the kids didn't scream so it was worth it. Josie's new haircut looks fabulous by the way, more on that later.

Then yesterday we went to a Port Festival at a city up the road. It was boring, had only 2 kiddie air toys and frisbees to be colored on and overpriced burritos. We won't return.

But the Firemen there were cool. They told Xander to eat his vegetables and he kept repeating that on the way home so maybe he will now. We can only hope.

Cold Little Piggies

2010-10-01T14:54:00.003-05:00

Our current house has hard wood floors with a few rugs thrown in. My first thought was wondering how often the kids would slip and fall, possibly hitting their heads and passing out and/or needing stitches. Can you tell I'm one of those mothers that worry? In any given circumstance I will immediately detail in my head what could go wrong and what I would do to make it better. Chris is the opposite. "Look Xander, a tall and unstable ladder covered in broken glass! Let's practice climbing it and then tomorrow while I'm at work your mother can have a fit when you climb it and she's busy with your sister to stop you." I'm just saying.

Back to the point.

There have already been several mornings where the house is nearly frigid when we get up. I want to put the kids in socks that have traction but the traction has worn off of Xander's socks and Josie is still new enough to walking that traction won't help a lot.

So I bought the kids slippers.

I bought Xander's at Target. Have I ever discussed Xander's foot size with you? Well, he has wide (widewide) feet. A couple of times we bought shoes that were too big just so his feet would fit into them. Even the velcro adjustable sandals were too tight. But I saw these and figured I'd give them a try. He loves them and tries to wear them to bed and at naptime. After about three wears, one of the slippers ripped right underneath the elastic. I thought about bringing them back but figured it's easier to get on and, really, we're not going to find something that fits better. I considered ripping the other one.

I had to look around for slippers for Josie, there is something about size 4 that makes them either sold out or just not available. I found some at Babies'R'Us and just went with them. They aren't the hard soles that I wanted but she's pretty steady in them. And I was annoyed by getting something that is trendy but I can't help thinking how cute she is running around in these knitted pink slippers with a cute skirt. You wouldn't catch me in this get up but Josie totally pulls it off.

3 Year and 15 Month Progress Reports

2010-09-24T15:07:00.005-05:00

Before we left the good ole midwest, I took both kids in for a well check with the doctor. I had originally scheduled Xander's 3 year and Josie's 15 month at the end of September. However, since it would require an entire day of air travel to make the appointment, I rescheduled.

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Xander is suddenly huge. Everyone has always said he looks big but the measurements were always in the 50th percentile or so. I chalked it up to broad shoulders. It didn't help that for the past month I made him wear clothes that were just a bit too small for him. I had sent most of the 3T clothes to California and figured the 2T would be fine until we left, then I just left the 2T there. It was a good plan, Xander just looked a little uncomfortable. Anyway, his latest stats are:

Weight: 39 lbs - which is just off of the percentile chart
Height: 3 ft 3.5 in - 90th percentile
Weight vs Height - 90th percentile

He doesn't look too tall or too chubby, he's just a big kid. In fact, you know those 3T clothes that were waiting for him here? Yeah, they just fit him. Luckily, most of those were donated from friends so it's not like I spent a lot of money on his wardrobe that he'll outgrow in a few more hours.

Xander has come a long way in many ways the past year. He knows the alphabet, both saying letters and recognizing upper and lower case letters. He can count really well, how high depends on the day but he made it, with a few errors, to forty the other day. He is at the stage where he remembers and repeats the most obscure and embarrassing things. He especially gets commercials like "Meijer, lower prices" (which there are no Meijer here, so that one is falling to the wayside) or like today he said he wanted to drink V8 (we have V8 Fusion) then he proceeded to walk around saying "V8, what's your number?" And of course when he's getting grumpy he might grump "I'm tired of this" and then stalk off. Not that I do that. Well, I don't do the stalking, you can't stalk away from a toddler.

The potty training keeps getting almost done and then having a set back. The current set back is that the kid's room at the gym doesn't have a bathroom, so I'm not comfortable leaving him there in underwear. He also takes naps in our bed and I don't want any accidents there, so there is another time for pull-ups. Xander knows he can do his business in pull-ups and I think he forgets what he is wearing because there have been more accidents lately. One thing that has worked out is that he is very regular. If we tell him it's time to go to bed, he'll need to go to the bathroom. Hey, whatever works.

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Josie had her 15 month check up, which still strikes me as an oddball time for a check up. She is little. Not so little that she's off of the chart, but little enough that the winter clothing I've stocked up on might be too big. Of course, the appointment was half of a month early. Hmm.

Weight: 21 lbs 13 oz - 30th percentile
Height: 29 in - 25th percentile
Head: 17 in

She is now spending most of her time walking. That has caused a little problem with all of the cold, hardwood floors in the morning. The socks had some grippers on them so she didn't fall but I bought her slippers. Of course she slipped and fell in those right away. The poor thing keeps bonking her noggin lately, the bruises are all turning a nice purple-to-brown color right now.

Josie is talking lots but we still aren't getting what she is trying to tell us. I've figured out "mas-sh" is more. She makes the appropriate noises for "Thank you" and other little prhrases.

What is cute is that she is trying so hard to be like Xander. She wants to do his puzzles, instead of the nice, easy wood puzzles. She wants to wear a backpack, so she uses Xander's when he is not or she gets Chris's old college bookbag and drags it around. She wants to play in the potty. Not that Xander plays in the potty, but she knows he uses it and obviously the water is for splashing. She is starting to 'read' more books on her own.

What is not so cute is that Josie is becoming much more Mom-centric. She has to know where I am, see me and has to be held most of the time. Especially if I am trying to do a chore such as make dinner, pay bills or even look at the computer. I think part of it is the anxiety of all of the changes that have gone on. I also think it is partly that I am around almost all of the time since I am not teaching, so she expects me to be here.

The really good news is that the kids are doing a great job of sharing a room and we have a nice routine going on. At night time, they get ready and we read two books. Josie goes to bed and Xander takes care of any bathroom trips he needs. At naptime, Josie goes down after lunch and within 15 minutes Xander is in our bed so they don't wake each other up. I lust wish they could sleep im a little in the morning, but the house is too small and any little noise is enough to wake them up.

Taking Xander to Chuck E Cheese

2010-09-20T14:54:00.003-05:00

Since we are kicking it on the west coast and have no relatives or friends to visit Xander for his birthday, we decided to take him to Chuck E. Cheese's as a special birthday treat. Chris was surprised that Xander knew what CEC's was but I assured him that Xander had only heard it as a sponsor for PBS Kids and has no idea of what goes on there.

None the less, Xander was excited the entire ride to CEC's and was convinced, when he saw the building, that Chuck lives in a castle.

We tried to eat first but Chris had to keep yelling for Xander to eat his pizza. It was noisy, he had to yell. We were almost worried because Xander loves pizza but would barely turn for the flashing lights by the stage area to take a bite. One thing did get his attention though.

When we did finish eating and were all cleaned out, Chris leaned down and asked Xander if he wanted to play games. "Yeah!" was the enthusiastic response complete with jumping up and down in excitement. It's a good thing we put him in a pull-up.

Let me put in a side note here: no one told me that the dress code was mini-skirts and low cut shirts so I felt a little overdressed.

Anyway, Xander had a great time playing all sorts of games. Sometimes he got what to do:

Sometimes he had no clue what to do, but tried to win with great exuberance.

But with Dad's help, tickets were won.

Our prizes included a rubber duck, a silly straw and two Tootsie Pops.

I was a little disappointed that there was no ball pit for the kids. I know, they are disgusting and dirty. That wouldn't have stopped me from tossing the lights of my life in. There wasn't much for Josie to do, we mostly walked around. She did freak out a little when Chuck came by but didn't actually cry. Josie did ride plenty of the vehicles and Xander joined her for one last ride.

Look at their expressions, it cracks me up.

There was birthday cake when we arrived home, so everyone went to bed happy.

Happy Birthday Xander

2010-09-18T17:23:00.003-05:00

Today Xander is 3! We woke up at 7am and opened presents.

First was a Diego backpack, which fits just fine.

And a T-ball set...

...which is loads of fun!

We then went for a morning hike with our new backpack loaded with books.

Now off for our first Chuck E. Cheese trip.

Story Time goes bust

2010-09-16T15:15:00.002-05:00

Xander has loved going to the library and to Story Time so that is one of the first things I've looked into here. It would have other kids for Xander to interact with and maybe I could find some moms to pal around with (there seems to be predominately nannies and grandparents because both parents have to work to afford this area). I discovered that there is actually a Children's Library here so I was all excited.

We arrived Wednesday morning just before the library opened at 10. Well, Story Time also starts at 10. As we waited the entire yard of the library filled up with nannies, grandparents and even a few moms, all chasing the little ones around the strollers parked everywhere.

I did think that Xander looked a little older than most of the kids but since he is bigger than the average 3 year old (more about that later) I didn't concern myself with that. I was concerned that he said he had to pee and the library still hadn't opened. As soon as the doors were unlocked I was second through the door asking directions.

After the rest room we headed into Story Time, which is in the picture book room. It was packed! Parents and kids everywhere! I nudged Xander and told him to head up front and I looked around for carpet space for me and Josie. Normally Xander would race up front, hug the librarian and have a seat. Since Story Time had already started ("If you're happy and you know it...") I hoped he wouldn't hug the librarian.

In an unexpected turn of events, Xander burst into sobs and latched onto my legs.

Let me tell you, Xander has no 'stranger danger' (which is something we are working on). He says hi to everyone, he hugs the kids in line at the store, he will join in any game already in progress - including grown men playing soccer.

So I stood there for a couple of beats, completely shocked by this behavior. Then I remembered that there was a room full of people still singing ("...stomp your feet.") So I picked Xander up and hussled him out. Which is hard to do when holding Josie and a diaper bag and Xander is limp and sobbing.

He sat on a footstool and calmed down. And he adamantly refused to go back into Story Time. I can only guess that he was surprised by it being different and so full of people. So we wandered around and got the lay of the rest of the library. We headed out to the car, buckled up and, as I put the key in the ignition, I hear "Mom, go to Story Time."

We'll try again next week.

On a side note, the ages for the Story Time here are very different from home. I didn't even think to check. Toddler Time (which is what we went to) is 18 months to 2 year and PreSchool Time is 3 to 5. So Xander is on the border, which is why he seemed so big. This almost makes me nervous about going to PreSchool Time because it is for children a little older than him. We'll give it a try and I will let you know.

Flying

2010-09-13T15:16:00.003-05:00

If you are all caught up, you know we just arrived in California this weekend. We've been trying to prep Xander and Josie for the big move. Well, Josie doesn't really get it. She knows things are different and she knows she doesn't like it and she knows the best way to communicate this is to scream. However, I can have two-way communication with Xander and took steps to help him adjust.

One thing that I did was talk up the airplane ride. We had it marked on the calendar and for the last two weeks we would count how many days until we flew to California. Xander already loves airplanes (and trains and helicopters and fire trucks) thanks to Hard Hat Harry, so he was very excited by the idea of going to the airport and getting on the airplane. He would walk around with his arms out and beg to go to the airport.

On the big day we were fully prepared with a bag of new toys, most of which did not make noise. There were sippy cups and Goldfish crackers and little cups to hold the crackers. I did forget the bibs, but the world didn't end so we moved on.

We arrived at the airport in time to enjoy breakfast looking out the window at one particular airplane. Xander spend breakfast standing in his seat saying we need to go on THAT airplane. He did start to get upset when the airplane left, but we talked him down by explaining there was another airplane for us.

When we boarded the plane, Xander was allowed to step into the cockpit and say hi. He was so excited when he sat down, but Chris and I were too busy trying to figure out who would seat where. The first flight was a 2 seat-aisle-1 seat plane. Xander took a window seat, Chris sat next to him and I sat across the aisle with Josie (who still had no clue what was going on, but Mom was holding her so it was okay). We were then informed the baby could not sit on that side because there was only one oxygen mask. So Chris held her and I sat all by myself.

You can not imagine Xander's grin when we took off. We were going "really, really, really, really, really fast."

Josie's short attention span became even shorter after take off. We were actually letting her sit in the aisle and Chris would pick her up whenever someone walked by. It soon became apparent that she needed Mom again, so we did the great seat shuffle and trusted a nearly-three-year old to sit by himself. We proceeded to go through every book and gizmo in the arsenal to keep Josie happy. By the end of the flight she was just exhausted but would not fall asleep in our arms.

She fell asleep as soon as we were off of the plane and had her in the stroller. We went and ate and headed to our next flight hoping to get seats switched. Two seats were together, the third seat was several rows back on the 3 seats-aisle-2 seats plane. We arrived at the gate to find that they had already boarded nearly everyone. So we had to ask the nice lady in our row to move (and she had already moved, I had guilt).

The second leg was definitely harder. Josie's nap wasn't long enough and she would go from happily playing Peek-a-Boo with the people behind us to needing to be walked up and down the aisle in a blink of an eye. And I won't even go into all of the diaper changes. By the end of the flight even Xander was squirming and whining because he didn't get a nap in either.

When we arrived we were happy to see all of our luggage and quickly strapped in the kids' seats to the car and set out. They were asleep within minutes. So Chris gave me the tour of the town and we headed to our temporary home.

Update!

2010-09-13T15:04:00.001-05:00

See my blog!

Camping at Starved Rockzzzzzzzzzz

2010-07-28T13:04:00.009-05:00

We went tent camping last week at Starved Rock State Park in Illinois. We left extra early Wednesday morning (5:40 am) with the hope that Xander and Josie would sleep on the ride there. No can do's-ville, baby doll. The ride was supposed to be 6.5 to 7 hours, but we just took our time and took lots of breaks. That didn't help Josie much, once she gets upset in the car it only goes downhill. Her attitude, not the car. The car was mostly flat because we were traveling across Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.

When we finally arrived, we set up camp. No problem! Except that the poles holding the tent up are suddenly breaking. But they'll last three days, right? Yeah. We didn't have to cover the jutting edges with shoes so that holes weren't poked into the tent. Really! (Too bad there is no photographic proof.)

My parents and sister came along but opted to stay in a hotel. This worked out great because there was no pool for the campers but there was a pool in the hotel and every day was about 90. They did come and visit for dinner each night and I'm sure that had nothing at all to do with the s'mores.

The first night was a little rough. Josie had trouble falling asleep (sorry to the teenage campers next to us), I was a little ill due to lack of sleep and stress, and the raccoons were crazy and maybe a little rabid.

We pushed our cooler and bins of food under the bench of the picnic table so animals couldn't get into them. This is what we have done on other trips and occasionally there are little, muddy paw prints on the lid of the cooler. I guess this bench was a little higher because the raccoons were making a lot of noise. Chris pinned the cooler lid down with some candles, but that didn't stop the raccoons from trying to dig through the bench to get to the cooler.

I also found part of the tortilla chip bag on the ground. And a little later the lid to the baby formula. There was formula everywhere in the one bin and I had just opened it, so I was ticked! At around one am, I put every bin that had food into the truck. The next day we discovered there were hot dog buns and marshmallows missing. No wonder there was so much hissing and growling in the woods. It was scary.

The next morning we woke up bright and early (thanks to Josie) and were able to horse around for a while.

Then we went hiking. We went on an 'easy' hike, so Xander walked and Josie rode.

The first trail that we tried had so many bugs that Xander actually freaked out a little. Most of the bugs were right at the height to fly in his face. We tried a different trail and the view was spectacular.

That afternoon Chris took the napping kids back to the campsite while the rest of us checked out the chainsaw carvings near the lodge. While it's not the most moving or complex art, I'm always amazed how someone can make a sculpture, let alone one make with a whirling, hacking blade.

That night was more campfire food, but we added pies to our repertoire. I think they would have tasted better with white bread but Chris was in charge of groceries and bought wheat. He still enjoyed them.

On the second day we went on a more challenging hike, so both kids rode. This was especially good since we were mobbed by mosquitoes. Even with bug spray on I managed to collect six new bites when we stopped for a drink. On the way back through that area I was just "Move, move, keep going. He fell down, he's left behind, forget him now!"

We had lunch, the kids napped and then Chris and I left the kids at the hotel and went out together. I'd planned for us to see a movie, but that didn't work out. So we sat at Applebee's and watched some huge rain storm roll through and wondered about the tent. When we got camp there was mild damage and the tent was still standing despite some big trees that had come down at the campground.

However, Saturday morning was all a steady rain. Poor Chris had to pack up camp while I hung out in the tent with Xander and Josie. After everything was packed, we made the slow ride home. At one point we just pulled over at a park and let the kids burn off some energy.

The upside of this trip is that it finally has Josie into the routine of sleeping through the night again. I was worried that Xander would throw fits and want to sleep in the tent but he's ok with the excuse that the tent is still wet (we are still airing it out in the garage). Overall, it was a good trip. It really helped to have some family there to play with the kids, thanks Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt T!

Second thirst different from the first

2010-07-14T12:58:00.002-05:00

Ok, just to warn you, this is a post about breastfeeding. Not that I'll be graphic, but if you are squeamish then begone.

I don't think I really mentioned it, but Josie (like Xander) is a breastfed baby. And, as if I haven't emphasized it in other areas, she is very different from her brother. Xander would always latch on and have his fill. Now he is that way with food. Seriously, I'll set a plate in front of him and turn around and it will be gone. Unless it's vegetables.

Josie would always get distracted while nursing. She'd stop and look around and then realize she was still thirsty. It was a little frustrating for me because I would think she was done and get put back together and then she'd start rooting around. Even now with bottles she will drink half, put it down and a minute later start "Baa, baa"ing looking for her bottle.

One thing about me was that I was a lot less embarrassed about nursing in public. That's probably a good thing since Josie always wanted fed when we were out. Especially at church. Although I have to admit I was pretty embarrassed the time I had to nurse her at church with three of my students within a six foot radius. Other than that, I was ok with draping a blanket over my shoulder and taking care of her. Of course then she became good at dragging the blanket off so she could look around.

Now that she is a year old, I'm working on weening. She has some formula a few times a day and sits down to meals with us, where she'll down some food and play with other food. I mainly nurse her at naptime, maybe bedtime and when she wakes up at night. And any of those are more for me because I need her to sleep and not that she needs the breast milk. Oh, and we go camping next week so I figure nursing will be the easiest way to get her to sleep while we are in a tent. Is that selfish of me?

Josie Turns 1

2010-06-29T12:43:00.003-05:00

At times I'm amazed that Josie is already one. At other times I'm amazed that she is only one. This year has flown by and my little baby is a smart, adorable girl. Right now, while I'm typing this, she just put a toy away and applauded herself. Seriously?! It's all I can do not to pick her up and cuddle her. Ok, I did pick her up and cuddle her.

Her official birthday was Friday, half-Christmas. At random points during the day I would make Xander sing "Happy Birthday" to her. We went and picked up more supplies for her party and I made the cake and cupcakes for her party (but didn't frost them until Saturday). Poor Xander was tortured by the cakes sitting out and at one point I caught him about to lick the cake. Then Chris's mom arrived and heaped attention on the grandkids.

Saturday was the big party. After much deliberation, I decided how the cakes were to be decorated and finished those up (I'll put up a post and more pictures on my blog later). Aunt T showed up early and added onto the the heaping of attention. Then guests arrived and Josie's party went into full swing.

It was a gorgeous day, though a little hot. That didn't stop the kids from playing on the swing set, in the sand box, on the helicopter, with the frisbee golf, etc. So parents huddled in the shade with cool drinks. At one point, Chris went out and covered all of the kids with suntan lotion and he repeatedly brought out drinks.

I finally managed to get Josie in the high chair and everyone sang "Happy Birthday". Xander tried to help blow out the candle and finally was able to eat some 'happy birthday cake.' Josie grabbed a small bite of icing and tried it. Then tried another small bite. Then squished the rest of the cake in her fists and smeared it on her face. I think some made it into her mouth but I'm not positive.
We didn't get to open all of the gifts while people were there, so spent some time opening them in the evening. Josie only had a couple of wrapped presents (most were in bags) but she had a ball opening this one from her uncle and aunt.

And of course there is the visit to the doctor's office to top off the one year celebration. That happened on Monday.

21 lbs (50th percentile)
28 inches (30th percentile)

Besides the horrible sobbing during the shots, there wasn't much of consequence. She's eating well, drinking well and sleeping well. There has been some uncontrollable sobbing in the mornings but the doctor thinks it's just separation and her knowing that when I set her down I could leave.

At the tender age of one, I'm amazed at what Josie can do. It's not like she's ahead of the curve, I think it's more of a girl vs. boy difference. Josie can manipulate small objects, such as putting a triangle through the triangle shape. She points and gives high fives. And of, the language and talking! If you know what to listen for there is mama, dada, ball, bottle, cat, and now quack and cow.

My favorites are "There she is" and "Tickle, tickle." During Peek-a-Boo, Josie will say...something...with lots of glee. It took the babysitter to realize that she was saying "There she is" when she'd drop the blanket she's hiding behind. Other times she will crawl up to me, stand up and scratch at my leg saying "Tee, tee, tee!" in a high pitched squeal. I finally caught on to that being her trying to tickle me. Then Xander will join in and I'll have to be overcome with tickle fits to appease them.

What a hoot.

How does this look?

2010-05-20T13:04:00.004-05:00

Xander likes to wear his hats. In fact, we've had to repeatedly enforce the 'no hats in the house' rule. Because we are cruel like that. Well, to accommodate his growing noggin, I bought him this new hat.

And if he sees himself in a mirror (or any reflection), Xander will stop and adjust his hat to make sure he is looking his best.

If he's not wearing his hat and is in his room for nap time, he will just change his clothes. And create found art out of pull-ups.

At nap time, he likes to change into his pajamas - he has two pajama pants on plus two pajama shirts plus an extra shirt on top.

Last night when I checked on him at 10:30 pm, he was asleep but had changed out of his pajamas and into a long sleeve shirt, shorts and socks. I guess he wanted to save time in the morning.

Standing up for Fangs

2010-05-20T12:52:00.004-05:00

Josie started pulling herself up last week. Now you can not get her to sit still at all. She wants up, darnit!

She also finally broke through her top, front teeth. Her fang/tusk look will soon be so last year.

Hmm, looking at these pictures reminds me that I need to learn to do her hair.