Going Private

I'm thinking I'm going to make my blog private so I know who is reading it.  So if you've like to keep reading make sure I have your e-mail address.  So my two aunts out there who read but don't comment make sure I know your e-mail addresses.  You can leave your address in the comments.

Miscellany Monday

Since I'm playing single parent for the next couple of days I've been spending wasting some time reading blogs and found this on one... so here we go:

 
• On Friday I lost a necklace, one I lusted over for over a year until I finally got it from Paul.  I even went recycle bin diving in the garage to try and find it.  It's still missing.
 
• I've found that coming home to two little babies does wonders for letting work stuff go.  I forget most all about the troubles of the day when I see their smiley gummy faces.
 
• We are going to try Real Simple's month of meals from the September magazine, but we aren't starting until conferences are over, which is next Friday.

• Speaking of conferences we have them every night (except Friday) for the next two weeks.  Luckily it is only from 4-6 pm and you can leave when you're done for the day.  But I have the largest class in the school.
 
• Conferences for so long makes my most stressful part of the year 3x as long.  And our district decided to do them so early so they are "data" conferences but I'm not so sure all parents are going to be okay with the lack of current grades.  (And even though its mid-term, its 1st quarter mid-term, which means I don't have a whole lot of grades yet.)

• Yesterday we Skyped with Aunt Amanda and she entertained S and E for about 15 minutes.  Next time we need a break we're just going to Skype her.  :-)

• Since when has Skyped become a verb?  Should I still capitalize it? 

There you go... a bunch of random thoughts. 



8 Months!

Sammer

You sure are becoming more and more a little boy and less a baby these days.  I'm not so sure that I like that.  You have become a great sitter and can sit and play for long periods of time.  I think you prefer to sit so you can watch what is going on all around you.  You roll too.  You can pretty much get to where you want to but not too fast yet, which is good.  We need to make sure Maddy's toys are not in rolling distance now.  You do a great job of getting up on your hands and you get your feet moving but you haven't quite figured out how to get them going together.  I've noticed lately that you are starting to lean more from side to side when you're sitting too.  Maybe crawling is in your near future?  You have been able to give high fives for awhile.. mostly because you like to pat your hand on things.  We think you might be waving.  I'm not sure if your movement is intentional though.  Yesterday when you were grumpy in the restaurant I took you for a walk outside and whenever we stopped and looked at your reflection in the window you would raise your hand as if to wave.

 

 

You've begun screaming this month too.  For about two weeks you would yell and yell and make a huge ruckus, just because you could.  You've changed to grunting/growling now.  I'm still trying to decide if it is because you're mad or if something is bothering you.  Just like in the pictures your tongue is poking out lately and often when you are smiling.  Your laugh is still more of a scream these days, followed by a chuckle.

You love your dog.  This morning when I left for work the two of you were playing tug-o-war together.  Or I guess I should call it tug-o-sit.  Maddy wasn't tugging, just letting you hold on to her toy.  You sometimes hold out your hand so she can lick it...even though we are trying to get her to leave you alone.  You love your bath too.  We still have you in the newborn tub, even though you're probably too big.  You start splashing once I put you in and only stop when all the water has been splashed out.  We joked that you'd be the swimmer since you were practicing holding your breath in the hospital, but maybe we were right.  You don't seem to have any real favorite toys, just anything you can chew on.  I take that back.  You love the rattle with the face on one side and the mirror on the other.  You still love to jump even though you aren't in your jumeroo too much anymore, for fear you are over the weight limit.  You do seem to like the exersaucer your Grandbip and Grandpap got you.  You also like to jump when someone is holding you and really love it if you jump and get to go into the air. 

This is the toy.. old picture though.  (8-01-11)

You eat great and seem like to like everything we've given you.  Lately we've been giving you tiny pieces of food that we're eating and you make funny faces about the texture.  You still LOVE to drink water and we try to get you your own straw to keep you busy if we eat out.  You've graduated into a high chair now when we go out and you seem to be pretty happy to be up near us.  You can pretty much hold your own bottle and feed yourself these days but you get a little tired of it after a while.  A sippy cup keeps you busy for awhile and you can get your own water that way.

Weight: about 23.5 lbs.
Onesie Size in picture: 18 months (new and not washed so still a little big)
Clothes size: 12-18 month

EmmyLou

You keep us laughing these days with all of your silly faces and noises.  You are building quite a repertoire of sounds lately.  Recently it has been a growling talk that sounds like a scary monster voice, that combined with your sinister sounding giggle is just too much.  You have a great chuckle that you break out when you really are laughing.  You say "mama" these days and I really think you said it when I got home from work two days ago... not in the middle of a babble either.

 

You finally have sitting down and we can leave you without worrying you're going to fall right away.  You like to sit near your brother and let him take all your toys out of your hands.  You too are rolling like crazy.  Just in the past week you've really been rolling fast.  You also have figured out how to move backward on your hands.  You kick like you're swimming with your feet and you slowly move backwards.  I'm worried you're going to be a fast mover.  You are interested in everything.  A couple of times you've rolled to the red chair to play with a tiny piece of thread.  We're going to have babyproof really carefully around here!

You love the jumperoo and necklaces.  I think that might be why you did so great at Uncle Kevin's wedding... everyone had on a necklace.  You still love books, especially the one that has different textures on animals that we inherited from your cousins.  You like your dog but not as much as your brother.  You don't use your pacifier unless it is time to go to bed or we had to wake you up.  You mostly just chew on the edges these days any way.  You really study your toys and the burp cloth when you are eating.  You're taking it all in.  You also like being tossed into the air.  Standing up on your own is great too!  Sometimes you can stand for a couple of seconds all by yourself!

 

You eat great too and have liked everything ever since the carrot incident.  You definitely aren't sure about the "real" food textures I've been giving you lately.  Little pieces of crusty bread cause you to make the greatest face!  It makes me laugh so hard.  You have been sitting in a high chair at restaurants too.  At home in your high chair you always scooch yourself down so you can put your feet up, not a great habit but it should get better once the tray is on.  You like your sippy cup too but not really to drink out of.  You put it in your mouth and you like to shake it around but I don't think you're getting much out of it.  You like water from a straw too but not as much as your brother.  The cold always gets you.

Weight: About 18 lbs.

Onesie size: 6 months

Clothing size: 6 - 12 months or 9 months

Milestones?

So we seem to be in the midst of a bunch of milestones at our house.  Sitting?  Teeth?  Crawling?  Food?  Car seats?

First, sitting... S has been sitting on his own for awhile now.  E on the other hand can sit on her own if she isn't interested in anything else.  She reaches for toys, the dog, and really whatever is close by.  She also throws herself backwards whenever she gets excited, and that is pretty often.  So she doesn't "sit" on her own for more than 30 - 45 seconds.  So when can we say that she is sitting on her own?  Should I just pick a day from the past month for her baby book?  We keep thinking it will happen any day but "any day" has been since the end of July.  She'll be 8 months next week (but only 6 months 1 week adjusted) and she so desperately want to stay upright.

Okay, lets talk teeth.  It seems as though we've been waiting for teeth since July.  We have the drool, the constant chewing, but still no teeth.  Will they ever show up?  (Of course I know they will but the drool is crazy around here!)

Crawling.  We have movement at our house.  S is rolling all over the place.  And eating shoes.  Yuck!  We can't contain him on the blanket anymore and he has full reign of the floor.  Our entryway is hardwood and this morning he rolled his way over to the side of the wood and parked himself there.  He happily sat and banged on the wood and watched Maddy run up and down the stairs.  I guess it is time to start baby proofing our house.  I think we'll start with picking up our shoes.  As for crawling... we just have seals at our house.  Both S and E are up on their hands and can get their legs moving but haven't gotten on their hands and knees yet.

What to eat??  We have a couple of great eaters on our hands, as evidence by their size.  We've eaten all of the 1st foods but it seems like there are a lot of great foods out there that don't come in baby food.  I'd love to make some but it seems to be on the end of the weekend list.  So do we move on to the 2nd foods?  Do they need to be introduced to corn and spinach before I give them the "Farmer's Market" veggie blend?  Also, we need to talk about baby food meat for a minute.  It is so gross looking.  I can't imagine having to eat it?  How important is it that they are introduced to it?  Can I just give them tiny pieces of our meat?  Speaking of tiny pieces...finger foods?  We've tried Cheerios and they didn't seem to see them or be able to pick them up.  Paul and I are constantly trying to figure out if they're getting too much, again Sam is kind of a giant, or not enough?  They get a fruit (2.5 oz.) in the morning, veggies (2.5 oz.) at night and oatmeal (4 T.) at "lunch" time.  They still get some formula during those times too.  They also are still eating every 3 hours.

Sam is 3 inches away from out growing his infant car seat?  According to our accurate floor measurements (ha) he is 29 inches long.  Our car seats are only good to 32 inches and/or 35 lbs.  It won't be long before we move on to the next one.  So what is next?  A convertible?  He's over 20 lbs. (he's 23 1/2) so he fits that part of the front facing requirement but isn't it required by law for kids to be rear facing until 2?  Or am I just making that up?  The convertibles I saw online are good rear facing until 40 lbs.  There is just so much to think about.

Some Randoms

 Sitting in laundry baskets... it seems as though we always need something to be washed.  And then put away. 

 Comparing our size to Dad's shoes... size 13.  It is almost as big and my head and body!

"Eating" at Qdoba.  Emster loves anything that makes noise and it was shiny, too.  It was just too much for Sammer.