Pukin' Rally

I got the dreaded "your kid is puking" text for the first time this year and unfortunately, it was this guy as the victim of a little bug. He threw up twice at daycare by the time I picked him up and we we spent the next few hours hanging over a sink or bucket. It was my first experience of dealing with a sick child while trying to meet the needs of the other 2 children, all while Adam was at Parent-Teacher Conferences all night. 

Fortunately, he stopped throwing up after 4 hours, fell asleep in my arms, and slept a bit fitfully on the couch during the night. Adam stayed home with him the next day while my mom took the other two to her house to keep them away from any lingering germs. Apparently, Cohen enjoyed a fun day home with Dad because he was totally fine all day.

Soon, he was back to himself and wearing his hat just like Papa.

Cohen: 2 Years, 3 months

Cohen is funny to listen to. Not only does he use new and bigger words, but he uses overly-dramatic voices and expressions too. If you ask if he wants more milk, he'll use a a big deep voice and make his mouth really tall and answer slowly "I want WOTS of milk". If you ask him what pajamas he wants to wear, he'll say in a tiny high squeaky voice "You fine my wacoon shirt in da washing machine?"

Here are a few more of his memorable phrases (and the way he pronounces words).

• After seeing us drink coffee: "Dat coffee? Oh, dat not foh kids. Dat jus for go-mups."
• Putting on Batman pjs: "Wook at me! I'm a supah-pow-wow!"
• Looking for monkey, the one stuffed animal that is actually his, not Ryan's: "He's wooooooooost!"
• What he says to anyone he meets: "Her name baby A-ben-wee"
• When climbing on anything: "I'm on top of the world!"
• Every morning when he wakes up: "I have bek-fest? I want geen yogurt" (he loves key lime Yoplait)
• When I ask him how daycare was: "My turn to pick the movie at Danielle's house. I pick Lilo and Stitch".  (not always true, apparently sometimes he picks Pirate Tinkerbell, but he only gets to watch a little of it before he has to go down for a nap anyway).
• Anytime we try to help him with something, "NO! I do it mySELF"
• Whenever he can't find something right away: "It's playing hide and seek!"

Cohen is a bit of a runner when it comes to outdoor play. He has little sense of boundaries. We are glad we have fences on 2 sides of our backyard, but he will not hesitate to take off around the front and head right up the street. His favorite things to do outside are to push himself around on the plasma car, draw with chalk, play tee-ball, and go for stroller rides. He REALLy doesn't like coming back inside after playing outside.

Inside, he likes to run around with Ryan, play in the bathtub, color, play in the sink and wash his hands, wrestle with Ryan and Adam,and talk to Avonlea.  He usually wants one of us to lay down with him to go to sleep and he always picks "Go Fish" (Splash) as the CD if it's his choice. He's getting strangely picky about what shirts and socks to wear, but never cares about his pants (or whether they match). He hates getting his hair combed in the morning and his face washed (both always necessary). He's used the potty a few times and told us when he needed to go, but nothing consistent yet. He can sing the ABC's (with a little jumble in the middle) and can count to 10 (and backwards).

I love Cohen's giggle and we can get it to come out when we tickle him or play hide and seek games. It's fun to see him grow and change and find his own likes and dislikes.

Avonlea: 4 Months

 Our little honey is growing so much! She is full of smiles and even giggles/grunts a little.  She likes to kick and slam her legs down on the ground or mattress, so we started tucking her in with a tight blanket over her legs so she wouldn't startle herself awake. She's doing pretty well sleeping, usually going down around 8 and sleeping until 6:45 with one wake-up during the night to be fed. Once in a whiles, she'll sleep all the way through the night for me or sleep in on the weekend.

Her hair is getting a little thin compare to her birth, but still seems fairly dark. I think her dark eyelashes and eyebrows are what make her seem so expressive! We've been able to dive into the 6 month clothes tubs that we're borrowing and have a lot of cute things to choose from. I have to admit it's a lot more fun dressing a girl, although my boys had a better sock situation (love those tennis-shoe looking socks that stay on their feet!)

 Here I am trying to keep her entertained at the Dr.'s office during a long wait. She giggled and smiled at the nurses the whole time and they just couldn't stop smiling at her. One thing we learned was that she is starting to get a "heart-shaped" head where flat spots are forming on the back 2 sides of her head, probably from spending time reclining in her car seat, swing, bouncer, and rock & play.

We tended to set her in something off the floor to keep her safe from dogs, kids, small objects, etc. and she'd been napping in the Rock & Play at home.  After this appointment, we put away the swings, bouncer, Rock & Play, and daycare did the same, so the only thing that could keep these spots flat would be the car seat, which she doesn't spend much time in. Now, it's tummy time, flat on her back, holding her, or sitting up in a Bumbo or Exersaucer only!

Her 4 month stats are 14 lbs. 9.5oz (56%) and 25" (69%).

We had a bit of a weird appointment situation in that my daycare provider had an appointment 45 minutes after Avonlea's, so she brought my boys to the Dr.'s office. Since Avonlea's appointment ran long, I ended up having to go get the boys and bring them into the exam room while Avonlea got her shots. I was afraid the crying would traumatize Cohen, but they really handled that part fine. It was the LEAVING the Dr.'s office that was a challenge. With a crying baby who needed to be put into her carrier, a run-away 2-year-old and curious 5-year-old, we were quite the four-some leaving the clinic. 

We are just glad we haven't had any need to bring her to the Doctor besides well-child exams and we are so thankful for her health and her easy-going personality!

Ryan's Books

Ryan is now 5 years, 5 months. I haven't done consistent monthly updates because he rarely wants his picture taken and the changes don't seem as dramatic month-to-month now that he's 5. Lately, he's been very into calendars--we have a calendar where he marks down letters/symbols for what is happening each day (preschool, daycare, Grandma day, Mommy/Daddy day, church, special events). He marks off the days and is starting to understand weeks/months/seasons, etc. He is getting very anxious for Spring and warmer weather.

I have noticed that he is into similar things that my niece (also a first born) were into at about the same age. He wants to write/draw elaborate stories, put on performances with scenery and puppets, and comes up with ideas to throw a "fun-time party", makes invitations, and starts inviting other kids to it. (Sound familiar, Megan?)

I thought it would be fun to publish some of his "books" so he/we can look back later and see his progression. These books are usually created independently by him--stapling or taping pages together, then drawing all the pictures, and finally dictating exactly what we need to write on each page. It is fun to see him start drawing imaginary scenes and storylines instead of the standard house/flowers/people.

Ryan's Super Adventure

(He's holding a flashlight)

(this is my favorite page)

My Favorite Book 

(drawn shortly after Avonlea was born--she is the purple stick person lying down)

(we have a purple case on our ipad)

(This is chocolate ice cream, chocolate syrup, sprinkles, and a cherry on top. He told me he doesn't actually like cherries on his ice cream, but he thought it needed one.)

(I like how all these colors are accurate)

Ant Farm

Navy Knights

Ryan created the scenery for a play, then helped pick out "color page" images from the computer that we could print. He colored them and put them on pencils, then performed an original play for us.

Watch the video of his play.

School Shower

The teachers at Adam's school put on a little shower for the teachers who had babies in the last few months. I went and picked up the kids and brought them to school for some cake. Thanks for the gift and the cake, teachers!

One of the 8th grade teachers and a friend of ours.

I went back to work after the shower, but later that night we tried little missy in the Bumbo for the first time. She looks so big sitting up!

Happy Birthday, Collyns!

We were all excited to celebrate my niece, Collyn's 1st birthday. It's especially fun because there were 8 kids there age 5 and under (my 2 weren't excited about the picture and Avonlea didn't make it in). The kids loved their party hats and curly straws.

Avonlea with the Birthday girl

Cohen's hat and straw

 The various ways Avonlea wore her party hat: (Hey, with that many chins, it's hard to decide).

Love Grandma's lap..looking like a gnome!

Happy Birthday, sweet Collyns!

Collyn's loving her cupcake

Momma Chop

Well, I did what many moms of 3-month-olds do (according to my hairdresser) and that is...chopping off your hair. I had much shorter hair when the boys were babies and tend to have a 2-3 year cycle of growing out my hair long and then chopping it off. It was definitely time. Although lately I'd enjoys experimenting with a few "up-dos", I was generally sick of my long, scraggly, static-filled hair and the amount of time it took to wash, dry and curl or pin up every morning.

Here's my before picture:

And here's after having 8" cut off:

I'll be donating to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. I am enjoying the new cut (lots of layers, not a true reverse-bob so it will need less maintenance and blended in some long bangs with the broken-off hair I had framing my face--due to pregnancy and/or teasing my hair).

This cut has truly given me at least 15 minutes of time back every morning and I usually just need to dry with a round brush, run a straightening iron through a few pieces and tease a little up top. I'd like to experiment with curling it and pinning pieces back, but I keep reminding myself that I did this to gain some time back, so I try not to fuss with it too much.

I am super-happy with the cut...now if only those gray hairs wouldn't show up so well!