More summer fun

zoo time with Cobbs and Snyders--We have an almost identical picture of the boys holding hands at the zoo the year before.  Such sweet memories.

Our free ride on the carousel during free hour at the zoo

trying on his Barcelona jersey

Another pic of the tank cake--it kind of looks like a Koopa trooper from Super Mario Bros.

His door the night before the big day.  We had army men everywhere for him to find as well

Little Miss E

The girl can get those toes

Slacking

Wow...I just realized I hadn't read blogs--unless I caught it on FB in over 2 months.  That is sad.  I think i got 90% caught up--at least with the Cliff's Notes.  I have been terrible about posting pics b/c it isn't convenient on here like the ol FB or instagram.

So here's a few random photos and a quick recap of last 2 months.  The end of May was a blur--C got to spend time with his cousins and my parents in Memphis. Then June was full of camps for Mr. C to keep him occupied during those hard moments of the first 3 months of little Miss E.  We got to see the Lauers.  Huge excitement.  Then onto July we got to see the Cobbs--again tons of excitement.  Both visits were just too short.  July has been crazy. We did a combined 4th of July celebration/C's 5th bday since we were headed to Spain 2 days later, missing C's actual bday.  I will do a separate post on both birthday and Spain.  Now July has been a super fuzzy blur after returning from Spain.  I feel like I have accomplished nothing, and now summer is over.

At some point this little boy became a big boy!  Sniff

this little one rolled past 3 months

an early bday present the morning of the 4th

getting ready for fireworks--doesn't she look like a sailor?

the grossest/funniest firework: Dookie Dog

Me with E and G (sweet cousin of E's)

Showing off his firework collection

So tired from the party

Ready for the fireworks and enjoying a snack while we wait for the festivities in Chesterfield

E at 2 months

E's stats at 2 months:

11 lbs 9 oz

22.74 in

She is pretty much in the 75th percentile for both.  She is still sleeping through the nights most nights.  Her fussiness has improved a lot since we met with the doctor.  He gave us some new strategies for preparing her formula and administering her medicine--what a difference!  We have such a happy baby now for the most part.

Here is a pic of how C looked at 2 months, how I looked, and how E looks

little man

C with Daddy

me a bit younger

me around 2 months

Now onto Miss E

The Fabulous Miss E

We are pretty smitten with our newest addition.  She turns 1 month on Sunday, so I will save her current stats/accomplishments for a later post.

She arrived on her scheduled C-Section date, but in surprise fashion my water broke that same morning an hour before I was supposed to wake up to get ready to be at the hospital.  She already has a mind of her own and regularly bosses us around.  The birth went smoothly and recovery has been good. She was a big average size baby at 8 lbs 5 oz and a staggering 21.5 inches--no wonder I was so uncomfortable by the end!  She was a pound and a half heavier than C and 3 inches longer.  I have 2 more weeks of restrictions, and then it is on with losing the baby weight.

Sorry this post is scattered, but I am seriously tired (and for no good reason--E has slept 8 hours at night for the last week).  I guess it is the months of sleep deprivation catching up with me.  That and E LOVES to be held.  I hold her almost constantly from 1:30-11:00 pm.  She might catnap a bit during that time, but she loves her snuggles and comfort--and getting her cry on--during those hours.  If you get morning E, she is the easiest, sweetest baby.  Evening E is another story.  She has bad baby gas that makes her very unhappy.

This first month she has loved kisses, her brother's voice, listening to brother sing, being read to with brother, and being held.  E loves to eat, too.

nervous at their second meeting--really he didn't warm up to her until we got home

first time C held E.  He has been hooked ever since

Easter at the hospital

back home the second night

Ready to go home

 checking in to the hospital right before the big event

Red Envelope Activities 10-25

I am woefully behind on blogging, but it is hard to type quickly without an h, g, or ' key, so I have to fiddle with the onscreen keyboard. So I'll keep it short. 

We succeeded in completing all but 2 of our red envelopes.  Weather, time, and crowds beat us on attempting to go to St. Charles, see the zoo lights, or view the lights at Tilles Park. 

Here is what we did though to get to te 25 activities.  Sometimes we had to do 2 in one day to make up for times that just didn't work out or C just didn't want to do.  It was lots of fun. 

10.  make a Gingerbread house and listen to Xmas music

 

11.  watch A Year Without a Santa Claus

 

12. Secret gift of Nativity to another Family

 

13.  Select our family gift to World Vision

 

14. watch xmas movie at Nana and Papa’s

 

15. exchange gifts w/ Nana and Papa and listen to Xmas music

 

16. watch Elf on a Shelf

 

17. school xmas program; read a Christmas Oranges and share a chocolate orange

 

18.  Tues, Dec 18— Make treats for  and watch How the Grinch Stole Xmas

 

19.  See firemen bring Santa to the neighborhood

 

20. Watch Prep and Landing

 

21. Trip to Petsmart to buy dogs’ Xmas gifts

  

22. Read Snowflake Bentley and paint a snowflake 


23.  hot cocoa night and xmas movie of choice

 

24. read the story of the birth and Twas the Night Before Xmas; open a special gift (jammies)

 

25. open gifts

 

Red Envelopes 5-9

We have been having some fun keeping up with our activities.


Dec 5-- C got to hang out with grandma and grandpa while I went out with some friends for one The Polar Express, but he got scared.

Dec 6-- We went shopping as a family to Toys R Us to pick out a gift for a 4 year old girl we'd chosen from our church's angel tree.  She is a little girl who has one or more parents in prison.  We weren't given any suggestions, just a price range, so it was interesting trying to decide on something. 

Dec 7--Scott's parents came over for dinner, and then we went to a live production of the City of Bethlehem the day after Jesus's birth. You walked through and various "shopkeepers" and "guards" and "pharisees" and "shepherds" spoke about the rumors or interactions with the family/birth.  It was pretty cool.  At the very end you saw the live nativity.  It was about a 10-15 walk through and C seemed to really like it.  Then we piled in the car with our popcorn and coffee (water for C) and drove around looking at lights. 

Dec 8--we were going to go to St. Charles for their Xmas festivities, but it wasn't very nice weather, and I'd forgotten I had a cookie exchange, when I'd settled on that activity---oops. I wasn't feeling very well, so Scott and C ended up having a pretty fun boys day.  They shopped for me (I think) and went to dinner together for pizza.  C scored his first ever soccer goal in his scrimmage at the end of practice.  He actually chased the ball down, dribbled it to the net, and kicked it in.  It was great.

Dec 9--we are going to take C to see the Santa at Plaza Frontenac (rumor has it he's the best in town), and then we are going to our church's family Xmas gathering.  Scott is really busy prepping for 2 surveys Tues/Wed, so he's pretty busy.

Sorry I haven't taken any photos.  I will try to do better this week. 

Thanksgiving recap

Wow!  November came and went in a blur.  I don't know if it was because Thanksgiving was so early this year or what, but the month flew by.  We enjoyed doing our thankful activities.  We completed 29/30 of them--I think that's pretty good.  C got overly excited and got ahead of himself while my parents were here.  He kept having another person pull one out...the little stinker, so we got a bit befuddled around Thanksgiving.  The thankful board disappeared a day early (b/c of the mix up), and we start today on our Christmas activities--but that's a whole other post. 

Probably the coolest activity we did was take a pie to a neighbor.  The first 2 we tried to take it to weren't home, but C really wanted to get it delivered.  We ended up going a bit further down the street to a man's house I had met a couple of times, and he had brought my dogs back when they escaped our fence in early November. Anyway, it was so serendipitous that we ended up with them.  The family had been going through a challenging time moving an aging parent accross the state, selling off her possessions, but still trying to figure out what to do with what was left.  It really felt like the pie was a cool gift that allowed us to bridge those weird neighborly "fences" we put up.  You know just hellos and such.  It was really a wonderful experience. 

Here's just a couple photos I have of stuff.  I helped at C's feast at school.  His class were Indians and the 3 year olds were Pilgrims.  They were so well-behaved.  Preschool is an amazing thing! 

 

Our little Fast Wolf (that was his chosen Indian name)

 

a craft we made together

 

Posing himself for some photos that he sent to nana and papa to tell him he was thankful for them and his surprise Snoopy.

 

Baking crinkle cookies.  This was probably the most he's ever stuck with cookie baking.  Usually he is done after the mixing, but he helped me roll out the balls and dip them in powdered sugar.

 

C and I also made gifts for his teachers--caramel and chocolate apples w/fall leaf sprinkles on a Thanksgiving plate with hot cocoa and a turkey chocolate.  I forgot to photo. 

 

Our giving put Scott in the mood to give the office staff he directly works with Thanksgiving giftsm and he asked me to make the wine look nice.  I photographed those. 

 

 

I thought we could do better than just handing these women who work in alcohol just a bottle of wine. I wrapped the bottless in a fallish kitchen towel, with some yummy chocolates, and a cute little owl. 

 

We went to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving.  It was wonderful to see some of my extented family b/c we just don't get to see them often. It had been almost 2 years since I had seen my grandparents.  C had a great time visiting as well.  My parents came back with us for the weekend, and we had a very nice long weekend.  We did a little bit of shopping, and my mom and mother-in-law and I went downtown for afternoon tea at this cute London Tea room.  It was delicious. 

 

Halloween

At school ready to party.  He left his mask on for 5 minutes or less

 

Ready for trick or treating with lots of clothes on underneath.  It was chilly.  He only went to maybe 10 houses b/c he was cold and tired. 

Picture catch up

Here's how pathetic I am.  In the time since C's bday, which is 7 weeks or so I have taken less than 10 pictures. 

Here are those "lost" photos.

 

C mastering riding his bike.  He's not bad, but he's just not that interested.  We can hardly ever get him to ride it.  He really needs a bigger bike, but it just doesn't seem worth it.

 

Picnic at the park.  I took him here so we could ride his bike on a nice smooth path around Shroeder Park.  He never wanted to get his bike out of the car.  He played on the playground instead.  Stinker.

 

Our attempt at first day of preschool shots.  He wasn't very cooperative, and I can't say I had any clever ideas. 

 

Checking out his new room on the first day.

 

Warming up before soccer practice

 

Daddy showing him some juggling moves.  

 

I really can't say enough good things about this soccer program he is in through a sports center.  It is a noncompetitive program for 2-5 year olds.  The kids are broken up in those ages based on age/ability.  C's age can go to 3 different classes, but we put him in the "easiest" one b/c he has no experience and no real competitive drive.  I'm hoping he can move to the next level next session, but we'll see what his coach says.  2 more levels up they start experimenting with scrimmaging.  The program is mostly based on developing their listening skills and gross motor skills.  C's age does not use their hands, but the levels younger than him still do incorportate drills using their upper body.  He LOVES it.  He can't wait to go on Saturday mornings, and he loves his coach.  He loves to practice in the yard.  They learn all of their skills through various games, so he loves teaching us those games.  When we watch we can see his class along with 2 other younger classes, and I'm always amazed how great the coaches do keeping 2,3, and 4 year olds engaged for 45 minutes.  The kids all look like they are having a blast. 

 

Daddy brought this home for him along with the new Avengers movie.  He was more interested in his giant hand.  He wants to go to a football game now.  Last month Scott took him to a game.  He only lasted 20 minutes.  I'm hoping we can try again Saturday with some friends.