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| The 3 granddaughters |
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| Ellie at 7 weeks old |
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| Holding my head up! |
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| Sweet Claire |
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| Mommy and baby |
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| Big sis! |
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| Sweet sisters |
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| Proud Grammi! |
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| The crew |
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| Are we about done? It's cold out here! |
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| Grammi and her precious girls |
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| My two babies |
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| Kisses! |
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Photo shoot
Back in September, we had a photoshoot at my parent's house, courtesy of a family friend. All the girls in my family, including my sister-in-law and her mom, were there. Here are some of the great shots we got, thanks to Beth and Dan Lasseter of Lasseter Pics.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
2 years, part 2
June to September 2013
Here's what Claire was up to for the middle portion of her second year:
Again, the language development continues to astound and fascinate me. It is amazing to think of the difference 6 months make. At her 2 year appointment I was saying she had two and maybe 3 word sentences. Now we're up to...well, probably paragraphs! I've heard at least 8 word sentences.
In mostly chronological order, here are some of her phrases and sentences, starting in June
Pretty cool
Amazing
Ahhhh, no
Some other language things that have been going on:
Claire started really being able to sing along with songs. Twinkle, twinkle and itsy bitsy were favorites. Then she started singing phrases from songs on the radio. A few Taylor Swift songs were favorites. "Nevvuh, evvuh, back togedder!" or "Trubble, trubble I knew you trubble"
Because Claire can repeat longer phrases of words, Jeff amused himself by giving her long or funny things to repeat. Medical terms or super cali fragilistic expialidocious. One day early on in this period, he asked to say "Uh uh, girlfriend!" And she did with just the right tone of voice. And we cracked up!
She has started doing some significant vowel + r distortion. So work is pronounced as woik or burp is boip.
She's also been trying out phrases she has heard but using them incorrectly. Mostly she tries to use them to protest or express displeasure. For example, "Too late!" I'm thinking she heard us use this when she couldn't decide if she wanted something, took too long to decide, and missed the opportunity so we said "sorry, too late." So now if we ask her to do something she doesn't want to, sometimes she gets mad and says "Too late!" in this mad, teary voice.
A lot of things also became dangerous around here. I tell her it's almost time for bed. She tells me "That's dangerous!" Ellie puts her foot in poop as I'm changing her diaper. Claire says "That's dangerous!"
She entered a phase of making up a lot of words and playing with sounds and language in general. In June it started with songs. As I mentioned above, Twinkle little star became Twinkle, twinkle, hangle, hangle. Or "twinkle, twinkle little star, hangle hangle, hangle" I have no idea what hangle is or where it came from. Then she started adding her own lyrics to songs. Instead of climbing a waterspout, the itsy bitsy spider walked in the road, and did something I couldn't decipher to the wall
In August/September she really went crazy with making up words. One afternoon she told me "It's lombat time!"
And one day on the way home from school she wanted a snack. I asked her if she wanted a cheese stick when we got home. She says "That would be simmi!" Given her tone of voice, I assume "simmi" is a positive word.
Other areas of development:
Sleep - A few months before Ellie came, Claire decided to try to give up her nap. We were still putting her down for her nap, she was just not sleeping. One day she got into lotion and creams. Multiple times she has pooped and either taken her diaper off or it leaked out. Cleaning poop off a nightstand (because she sat on it) is not something I expected to do. The drawers are out of said nightstand because she was opening them and using them to climb into bed. Or put her feet in while sitting on the nightstand. She routinely takes all the books off her shelves. And if she did nap, it took her forever to fall asleep! So when Amazon had a one day sale on a video monitor we grabbed one. Not for the new baby, but the mischievous toddler! Just after Ellie arrived, Claire seemed to settle into a pattern of sleeping a few times a week. And now when she doesn't sleep, she quietly looks at books, sings, and talks to herself.
Attitude - We are working through a "no" phase. As in, she says no to everything we ask, offer, or suggest. "It's not" is also heard often. On 9/13, she hit Grammi while we were having dinner out (a VERY unusual occurrence thankfully). I told her say sorry. She says "No! I NOT sorry!" with her pursed little lips and crossed arms. We all had to try not to laugh.
Lying? - She's beginning to tell little fibs of sorts. For example, she has a poopy diaper and my mom asks her who smells. Claire claims it's the dog. On another occasion, it was Ellie, who was out of state at the time. My parents took the girls up to a relative's cabin a few hours before I headed up.
When they were going to put her Claire down for a nap, she tells them "there's no napping at the cabinet." And they all just went along with it!
Speaking of the cabin.....First she called it the cabinet, which was hilarious. Then she began to call our family friend Walt, Uncle Wallet.
She got shapes, the alphabet song, and colors down pat. She's developing some letter recognition. We've worked on C since that is in her name. She already had W down for some reason. She does pretty well with K (for her 2 cousins Kiersten and Kerrington) and a few others like M, S, X, and Y. We are working on E for Ellie.
Pictures:
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| Sweet girl |
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| June 16th - First ponytail!! |
Again, the language development continues to astound and fascinate me. It is amazing to think of the difference 6 months make. At her 2 year appointment I was saying she had two and maybe 3 word sentences. Now we're up to...well, probably paragraphs! I've heard at least 8 word sentences.
In mostly chronological order, here are some of her phrases and sentences, starting in June
Pretty cool
Amazing
Sku me (excuse me) (turned into a clear excuse me before September)
Captains chair, alligator chair - chomp, chomp (Jeff tried to teach her that driver=captain, passenger=navigator. Navigator became alligator)
Stop it, please
Hair balloon (when we were in Myrtle beach she wanted a balloon hat, but she called it a hair balloon)
Mama wanna come? Mama wanna chair? (High voice, said quickly)
Supercereo (yelled as she is running through the kitchen pretending to be a superhero)
Mmm, tasty!
Deee-licious!
Deee-licious!
Twinkle twinkle...hangle, hangle, hangle (Twinkle little star developed some new words! This phase lasted for months!)
French coke (My mom and I wanted to get a frozen coke. Claire called in a French coke~)
Wazzat? Whatcha doing mama? (Oh my, I heard these phrases 100's of times a day!)
Horse=ho worse
Look at my got (Look at what I've got)
Ahhhh, no
Restamont = restaurant
Scoast = ghost
I can use my toes to walk (I want to walk barefoot)
I good. (I'm good)
Where's my angel? (angel = halo, the halo being made of a string pulled from a pom pom and draped over her head)
Lello poops (she always wants to see Ellie's yellow poop)
I not!
Where me to go? (I clarify: Where are we going?) No, where Claire to go?
Where me to go? (I clarify: Where are we going?) No, where Claire to go?
What we doing here?
Mines / It's mines!
A friend makes Claire pancakes
spelling her name. She eats them and wants more. She we give her half of a regular pancake. She asks what
it is. I tell her it's a semi circle. Jeff says a "D". She corrects us both and says "No, it's a
watermelon!"
Some other language things that have been going on:
Claire started really being able to sing along with songs. Twinkle, twinkle and itsy bitsy were favorites. Then she started singing phrases from songs on the radio. A few Taylor Swift songs were favorites. "Nevvuh, evvuh, back togedder!" or "Trubble, trubble I knew you trubble"
Because Claire can repeat longer phrases of words, Jeff amused himself by giving her long or funny things to repeat. Medical terms or super cali fragilistic expialidocious. One day early on in this period, he asked to say "Uh uh, girlfriend!" And she did with just the right tone of voice. And we cracked up!
She has started doing some significant vowel + r distortion. So work is pronounced as woik or burp is boip.
She's also been trying out phrases she has heard but using them incorrectly. Mostly she tries to use them to protest or express displeasure. For example, "Too late!" I'm thinking she heard us use this when she couldn't decide if she wanted something, took too long to decide, and missed the opportunity so we said "sorry, too late." So now if we ask her to do something she doesn't want to, sometimes she gets mad and says "Too late!" in this mad, teary voice.
A lot of things also became dangerous around here. I tell her it's almost time for bed. She tells me "That's dangerous!" Ellie puts her foot in poop as I'm changing her diaper. Claire says "That's dangerous!"
She entered a phase of making up a lot of words and playing with sounds and language in general. In June it started with songs. As I mentioned above, Twinkle little star became Twinkle, twinkle, hangle, hangle. Or "twinkle, twinkle little star, hangle hangle, hangle" I have no idea what hangle is or where it came from. Then she started adding her own lyrics to songs. Instead of climbing a waterspout, the itsy bitsy spider walked in the road, and did something I couldn't decipher to the wall
One morning we had this conversation:
C: Hi momma, how you?
Me: Good, how are you?
Me: Good, how are you?
C: Whatcha doing?
Me: I'm feeding Ellie
C: Are you ca-gock-ulling?
Me: Sure. Are you ca-gock-ulling?
C: No. I simsanning!
And one day on the way home from school she wanted a snack. I asked her if she wanted a cheese stick when we got home. She says "That would be simmi!" Given her tone of voice, I assume "simmi" is a positive word.
Other areas of development:
Sleep - A few months before Ellie came, Claire decided to try to give up her nap. We were still putting her down for her nap, she was just not sleeping. One day she got into lotion and creams. Multiple times she has pooped and either taken her diaper off or it leaked out. Cleaning poop off a nightstand (because she sat on it) is not something I expected to do. The drawers are out of said nightstand because she was opening them and using them to climb into bed. Or put her feet in while sitting on the nightstand. She routinely takes all the books off her shelves. And if she did nap, it took her forever to fall asleep! So when Amazon had a one day sale on a video monitor we grabbed one. Not for the new baby, but the mischievous toddler! Just after Ellie arrived, Claire seemed to settle into a pattern of sleeping a few times a week. And now when she doesn't sleep, she quietly looks at books, sings, and talks to herself.
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| Lotion and hydrocortisone all over! |
Eating - She has begun to display the typical toddler reluctance to try new stuff. She also isn't liking things that are mixed together like casseroles and soups. Even if it things she likes, she prefers each item separate. We've used a little tune from one of her favorite shows that says "you have to try new things because they might taste good." And sometimes it works!!
TV - Claire's favorite shows are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. But she has seen many others since my parents have more channels than we do and let her watch more than we do. :) So she likes most Nick Jr and Disney Jr shows. She also enjoys a good Curious George or Clifford from PBS as well. Her interest in TV and her ability to sustain attention continue to grow. She loves TV these days and asks for it whenever we are sitting at home with nothing going on. I usually let her watch some in the mornings and sometimes in the afternoon depending on poorly things are going.
Play - Her pretend play has grown rapidly. She will pretend to cook things for us or for her dolls and animals. My favorite was when she set her animals up at the table and started making things to feed them. She also acts our caretaker activities like wrapping and kissing booboos and changing dirty diapers. On our road trip to Myrtle Beach she was using napkins as blankets and band-aids.
She is also coloring more and more. She likes coloring for very short periods. She loves play-doh but wants adult participation. She loves these color with water books I found. The pen is filled with water and the water magically makes the colors on the cardboard pages appear. She loves being outside and likes to "do chalk" and play with bubbles.
TV - Claire's favorite shows are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood. But she has seen many others since my parents have more channels than we do and let her watch more than we do. :) So she likes most Nick Jr and Disney Jr shows. She also enjoys a good Curious George or Clifford from PBS as well. Her interest in TV and her ability to sustain attention continue to grow. She loves TV these days and asks for it whenever we are sitting at home with nothing going on. I usually let her watch some in the mornings and sometimes in the afternoon depending on poorly things are going.
Play - Her pretend play has grown rapidly. She will pretend to cook things for us or for her dolls and animals. My favorite was when she set her animals up at the table and started making things to feed them. She also acts our caretaker activities like wrapping and kissing booboos and changing dirty diapers. On our road trip to Myrtle Beach she was using napkins as blankets and band-aids.
She is also coloring more and more. She likes coloring for very short periods. She loves play-doh but wants adult participation. She loves these color with water books I found. The pen is filled with water and the water magically makes the colors on the cardboard pages appear. She loves being outside and likes to "do chalk" and play with bubbles.
Attitude - We are working through a "no" phase. As in, she says no to everything we ask, offer, or suggest. "It's not" is also heard often. On 9/13, she hit Grammi while we were having dinner out (a VERY unusual occurrence thankfully). I told her say sorry. She says "No! I NOT sorry!" with her pursed little lips and crossed arms. We all had to try not to laugh.
Speaking of the cabin.....First she called it the cabinet, which was hilarious. Then she began to call our family friend Walt, Uncle Wallet.
Academic type stuff -
Counting
Counting
9/10/13 - 4 finally gets added in! We no longer skip from 3 to 6 or 7!
She can count objects to 3 or 4
She got shapes, the alphabet song, and colors down pat. She's developing some letter recognition. We've worked on C since that is in her name. She already had W down for some reason. She does pretty well with K (for her 2 cousins Kiersten and Kerrington) and a few others like M, S, X, and Y. We are working on E for Ellie.
Pictures:
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| Bunny ears and swaddled babies |
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| Mommy - daughter bagel time |
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| First day of school 2013 |
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| Good big sis! |
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| Craft time |
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| Loving her Disney souvenirs from Grandma |
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| Mmm, Mickey pasta! |
Saturday, October 12, 2013
2 months
Ellie turned two months old on September 26th! And of course, the time is just flying by.
Ellie had her 2 month check-up on Tues October 8th, which was really 2 months and 2 weeks. Here are her stats:
Weight: 11lbs, 2 oz. 50th percentile
Length: 23 3/4 90th percentile
Head: 38.8 cm 50th percentile
Claire at 2 months was 22 in. and 9 lbs. Ellie is closer to a 4 month old Claire. At 4 month Claire was 12 pounds, 23.5 inches, and head circumference of 35.7 cm.
Sleeping: Elizabeth has started sleeping through the night! Seriously! My 2 month old sleeps through the night. How crazy is that! She has been working up to it by moving her night time feeding back from 4 to 5 to 6 over the course of a couple weeks. Then on October 2, she slept from 10 to 7 am. In the week since then she has kept it up, going to sleep between 9:30 and 10 pm and sleeping until 7 or 8 a.m. She wakes up to eat and will sometimes go back to sleep for another hour or 2 (or she sleeps in the car as we drive Claire to preschool).
Developments:
The baby acne has finally cleared up! It was a good 3-4 weeks before it went away.
Ellie is holding her head up like a pro these days.
She smiles more and more often. She also has a great pouty lip. Sometimes she goes from smiling to pouting in an instant. Poor girl just doesn't know what she wants! She is also a wiggly worm. She has long been wiggling enough in her crib to move from the middle where I put her to one end or the other.
Now she can wiggle her way off the changing mat (set on the floor) if we let her hang out for a while. In the swing, she wiggled down a little bit and started leaning to the side a little dangerously one day so we've reached that point where she needs to be buckled in.
She continues to love watching the ceiling fan, as do most babies. Sometimes I find her smiling and cooing at her reflection in the mirror above her swing, which is quite amusing! She's gone back to being a pain in the car lately. She was cranky in the car at the beginning but then got much better about it. She's now reverted to her old ways. I'm not sure if she has more trouble falling asleep, wants to be able to see people and can't, or if she just doesn't really like being in the car or her carseat. But a crying baby and chatty (or cranky) 2 year old make for some long rides!
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| 2 months old! |
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| Little smile |
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| Big grin! |
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| Big sis thought we needed a prop |
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| Claire wanted to take pictures too |
Ellie had her 2 month check-up on Tues October 8th, which was really 2 months and 2 weeks. Here are her stats:
Weight: 11lbs, 2 oz. 50th percentile
Length: 23 3/4 90th percentile
Head: 38.8 cm 50th percentile
Claire at 2 months was 22 in. and 9 lbs. Ellie is closer to a 4 month old Claire. At 4 month Claire was 12 pounds, 23.5 inches, and head circumference of 35.7 cm.
Sleeping: Elizabeth has started sleeping through the night! Seriously! My 2 month old sleeps through the night. How crazy is that! She has been working up to it by moving her night time feeding back from 4 to 5 to 6 over the course of a couple weeks. Then on October 2, she slept from 10 to 7 am. In the week since then she has kept it up, going to sleep between 9:30 and 10 pm and sleeping until 7 or 8 a.m. She wakes up to eat and will sometimes go back to sleep for another hour or 2 (or she sleeps in the car as we drive Claire to preschool).
Developments:
The baby acne has finally cleared up! It was a good 3-4 weeks before it went away.
Ellie is holding her head up like a pro these days.
Now she can wiggle her way off the changing mat (set on the floor) if we let her hang out for a while. In the swing, she wiggled down a little bit and started leaning to the side a little dangerously one day so we've reached that point where she needs to be buckled in.
She continues to love watching the ceiling fan, as do most babies. Sometimes I find her smiling and cooing at her reflection in the mirror above her swing, which is quite amusing! She's gone back to being a pain in the car lately. She was cranky in the car at the beginning but then got much better about it. She's now reverted to her old ways. I'm not sure if she has more trouble falling asleep, wants to be able to see people and can't, or if she just doesn't really like being in the car or her carseat. But a crying baby and chatty (or cranky) 2 year old make for some long rides!
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| Claire says "I giving the best hugs!" |
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| Comparing foot sizes |
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| The many faces of Ellie |
Friday, October 11, 2013
Miscellaneous September photos
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| Just hanging out |
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| Snuggling with afghans made by GG-Ma |
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| We crafted a rocket |
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| Posing in her auntie onesie |
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| Morning smiles |
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| She didn't believe that the bike pump wasn't a pogo stick |
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| Playing outside |
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| What are those things at the end of my feet?? |
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| Caution: student driver |
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| Beep beep! Outta my way |
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| Sleeping beauty |
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| This play mat is not big enough for the 3 of us! |
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| Sleeping with the souvenir Grandma brought from Disney |
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| Ready for school, with a few Disney souvenirs along for the ride |
Thursday, October 10, 2013
New England trip - September '13
Maine/Massachusetts/New Hampshire - September 19th-24th, 2013
Our friends Sally and Nate invited our group of college friends for a weekend at a lake house owned by Nate's parents. We took them up on their offer and turned it into a tour of New England!
We flew into Maine on Thursday evening and stayed at my aunt Dori's house. (Thanks to my dad she is also known as Irod, which is Dori backwards). My dad and his cousin Jimmy also happened to be in town. Saturday we headed down to Sally and Nate's house so we could spend some time with our friend Dave, who drove up from Conneticut. That evening we headed up to the lake house in New Hampshire. We stayed there until Monday afternoon, when we headed back to Maine.
Air travel: Ellie and Claire both did great on the flight up and back. Claire is well entertained by games and videos on the ipod. And she's old enough that missing a nap doesn't wreck her for the day. Ellie was happy with all the white noise and hours of being held! She slept most of the time.
Maine:
Thursday evening my dad picked up us from the airport and we had dinner out with my aunt and grandfather. Friday we went to downtown Ogunquit for a little window shopping and to enjoy the nice weather. Claire got to go to her first toy store and her first candy store! Then we visited my grandfather and went to lunch with everyone. Friday evening we had a lobster feast with friends and family at my aunt's house, courtesy of chef Paaps. We neglected to pull out the camera most of the time so we have few pictures. Kicking myself about that!
Boston-area
Saturday morning we headed down to the Boston area to Sally and Nate's house where we met up with them and Tim and Dave. We had lunch and walked to the park. The boys played video games for a while and us girls entertained Claire in the backyard. And we took no pictures.
New Hampshire
Saturday afternoon we headed up to lake house at Newfound lake in NH. We added Kate, Kyle, and Chris to the group.
Saturday evening we had a fun evening of dinner in and chatting by the fire (once we got the girls to bed.)
Sunday we headed out for a hike. I had forgotten my wrap for wearing Ellie, so I improvised with her blanket.
After the hike we had lunch in a small town nearby. Kate, Kyle, Chris, and Tim left that afternoon. That left us and Sally and Nate. We had dinner out at an Italian restaurant that Nate likes. Sally and Nate, who are expecting a little girl in February, got a little preview of what eating out with kids is like.
Monday morning we went for a walk by the lake. It was unexpectedly cold and very windy! But we even found a playground.
Monday afternoon we headed back to Maine. Ellie fell asleep in the car and Claire was even quiet enough for to fall asleep as well. I woke up a little later when Ellie started crying. Jeff was trying to get her pacifier in and asked for help because he didn't want Claire to wake up. I did a double take! Claire, asleep in the car?? That hadn't happened for months! And Jeff got experience what I think of as truly dad plight - everyone asleep in the car except him and he has to pee!
So we had an awesome whirlwind tour of New England and a great time visiting our friends and family. It's always so fun to spend time with them all but also so sad to have to leave them. I'm sad that we didn't get any group pictures of our friends or more pictures of my Maine family. I guess it was just a little too chaotic managing the needs of two kids to remember to bust out the camera.
Our friends Sally and Nate invited our group of college friends for a weekend at a lake house owned by Nate's parents. We took them up on their offer and turned it into a tour of New England!
We flew into Maine on Thursday evening and stayed at my aunt Dori's house. (Thanks to my dad she is also known as Irod, which is Dori backwards). My dad and his cousin Jimmy also happened to be in town. Saturday we headed down to Sally and Nate's house so we could spend some time with our friend Dave, who drove up from Conneticut. That evening we headed up to the lake house in New Hampshire. We stayed there until Monday afternoon, when we headed back to Maine.
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| Ellie's first plane ride! |
Air travel: Ellie and Claire both did great on the flight up and back. Claire is well entertained by games and videos on the ipod. And she's old enough that missing a nap doesn't wreck her for the day. Ellie was happy with all the white noise and hours of being held! She slept most of the time.
Maine:
Thursday evening my dad picked up us from the airport and we had dinner out with my aunt and grandfather. Friday we went to downtown Ogunquit for a little window shopping and to enjoy the nice weather. Claire got to go to her first toy store and her first candy store! Then we visited my grandfather and went to lunch with everyone. Friday evening we had a lobster feast with friends and family at my aunt's house, courtesy of chef Paaps. We neglected to pull out the camera most of the time so we have few pictures. Kicking myself about that!
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| Modeling her gift from Auntie Irod |
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| Blowing bubbles with Irod |
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| Stylin'! |
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| Paaps snuggles an Ellie burrito |
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| Shopping in downtown Ogunquit |
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| Claire gets candy from her first visit to a candy shop! |
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| Ellie with Great Grampa |
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| Taking a walk to buy corn |
Saturday morning we headed down to the Boston area to Sally and Nate's house where we met up with them and Tim and Dave. We had lunch and walked to the park. The boys played video games for a while and us girls entertained Claire in the backyard. And we took no pictures.
New Hampshire
Saturday afternoon we headed up to lake house at Newfound lake in NH. We added Kate, Kyle, and Chris to the group.
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| Awesome view from the house! |
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| Moonlight on the lake |
Sunday we headed out for a hike. I had forgotten my wrap for wearing Ellie, so I improvised with her blanket.
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| Ready to head out |
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| Heading up the trail |
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| We made it! |
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| Claire gets a piggy-back ride |
After the hike we had lunch in a small town nearby. Kate, Kyle, Chris, and Tim left that afternoon. That left us and Sally and Nate. We had dinner out at an Italian restaurant that Nate likes. Sally and Nate, who are expecting a little girl in February, got a little preview of what eating out with kids is like.
Monday morning we went for a walk by the lake. It was unexpectedly cold and very windy! But we even found a playground.
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| It's just a little windy |
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| Big girl swing |
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| Swinging with Daddy..... |
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| ....and with Nate |
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| Gorgeous view of the lake |
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| Sleeping beauty |
So we had an awesome whirlwind tour of New England and a great time visiting our friends and family. It's always so fun to spend time with them all but also so sad to have to leave them. I'm sad that we didn't get any group pictures of our friends or more pictures of my Maine family. I guess it was just a little too chaotic managing the needs of two kids to remember to bust out the camera.
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