Pictures 7/26/12

He figured out the aquarium

Last day in the 6 month clothes.  The hat is hilarious.

I made him a diaper.  He's all set if he ever needs to go to Vegas.

Mmm, feet.

Eww, cereal!

Hello Bear!

This is beyond adorable

And so is this.

I guess he wants to taste test all the feet.

So sweet.

Perfect

6 Month Portraits

She was watching one of her shows, in a box.

Swiping the keys

They really mean 3 and up on those board games.

Testing out the new chairs!

Letter to Colin - 6 Months

Colin,

Yesterday you turned 6 months old.  I want to congratulate you on not being squashed, drowned, or smothered by your 23 month old sister.  I think it really helps that you're only about 6 pounds lighter than her and too big for her to pick up.

When we brought you home from the hospital you were a tiny little thing swimming in your newborn clothes.  Now you're a big chunky baby who can roll over, sit up, and grab Kaida's hair!  You've changed so much so fast that I can hardly remember how tiny you were.

You like physical comedy, so if we can get Kaida to dance around for you you'll giggle and squirm around. 
You sleep really well and almost always have (thanks!). 
You love to jump in the jumper. 
You just started to sleep on your tummy but usually you end up half on your side half on your stomach, sucking your thumb.  You love that thumb!

All of that is fantastic but I've got bad news about your ears.  It looks like you got Poppy's ears.  Not Poppy's ears now, Poppy's ears when he was little.  Don't worry, if that's the case, you'll grow into them when you're a teenager.  In the meantime they'll stick out a lot but I still love them.

You just started eating cereal and so far you're not really impressed.  Most of it just mushes out the same way it went in.  We'll start some fruits and veggies soon and I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually.

You like the bath, the cats (Tonic especially since he'll let you play with his ears and tail), your sister, sitting up, and being naked.

You don't like being alone, having your nose cleaned, and being stuck (in a too small shirt, leaned over in the high chair, between two pillows, or on your stomach).

I'm amazed with how quickly you've grown and I can't wait to see how you'll change and grow over the next 6 months and all the years after that.

I love you.
Mommy

Tiny Updates

7/19/12
So I started saying "You have to be quiet, the baby's sleeping" as sort of a joke.  Because I remember Mom and Dad saying that to us all the time.  And I specifically remember them saying it once when all three of us were right there.  So it carried over after there were no babies around.  Now every time I say "Shhh" or "Be quiet please" she says "Baby seepin'" 'cause she knows that's what comes next.  The best part is she does it even when he's not asleep!

7/20/12
I'm thinking of making some fitted diapers for Colin.  Kaida is still in diapers so she usually wears the medium fuzzibunz (pockets) since they fit her best.  So Colin wears the bumgenius (onesize pockets) and when we're out of those the grovia pods or a trifolded prefold with a cover.  But pretty much everytime he poops in a two piece diaper I need to toss the cover in the laundry.  His poop is very runny and just gets everywhere.  He has one fitted diaper (they're used with a cover) that works really well.  So I though I'd try my hand at making one.  Need some velcro and elastic but it doesn't seem too hard.  Of course I decide this right before he's getting ready to start solid food and his poop is going to change and we're planning to potty train Kaida so that will free up a whole bunch of diapers too.  I'm a little late to the game.

7/22/12
We ordered a pink balance bike for Kaida's birthday. Today at Target she saw the bicycles and kept saying "Pease Mama!?" for all the pink ones. Hopefully she'll feel the same way in another month.

It's a surprise so shhh!

7/22/12
Colin started wearing his 9 month clothes today.  He wore onesies and shorts but the second pair of shorts squashed his chubby little thigh really hard when he was sitting up.  I'm not sure if it would do the same thing in a disposable diaper or not.  But I'm still ok with him wearing just onesies when we go out so I don't really care if he wears them. 
I think my shorts rule is an age thing.  I wasn't sure if it's because he's a boy or because he's younger during the summer that I'm ok with him going out pantless.  Last summer she always wore shorts with her onesies but she was 9+ months.  I think once he's old enough to sit up in a shopping cart when we go out, or be carried on my hip rather than in the car seat I'll feel like he should have pants on.

Little bits

7/12/12
I went in to get Kaida up from her nap but she wasn't quite ready.  She laid back down so I grabbed a little blanket and pillow and laid down on the floor too.  She thought that was funny.  Then she got up and took Horton off the toy chest and gave him to me to sleep with.  After that she laid down again.  The next time I opened my eyes she was almost out of the crib.  her feet were up off the mattress and she was leaning way over.  I scared her when I yelled so we'll see if she tries it again or not.

7/15/12
Apparently Kaida is Sheriff of the Manners Police.  She's very polite herself.  She says Thank you, You're welcome, No thank you, Please, and sometimes Excuse me.  Oh and Gesundheit and Bless You.  The other night at dinner JR burped.  So Miss Manners said "Daddy.  Burp."  JR said "Oh, sorry.  Excuse me."


7/16/12
Kaida woke up last night.  I went in and picked her up.  Then she started saying "Daddy's bed, Daddy's bed."  I have taken her into our room a couple times when she was really upset but she just rolls around and annoys the crap out of me until I take her back to her bed.  So last night, since she wasn't all that worked up, I just said.  No.  It's the middle of the night.  I'm going to sing to you and then you're going to go to sleep.  And she did.


7/19/12
The activity table moved up to her room a while ago to make more space in the living room.  She plays with it a little before her naps but the battery has been running down for a while and now it's completely out of juice.  Today she pointed to the mouse that slides up and down and said mouse and wanted me to make it work.  When I told her we needed to have Daddy change the batteries she went to the nursery and got the aquarium remote.  She brought it to the table and put it opposite the mouse and started sliding it up and down "Mouse!"
It was very cute

And she's 23 months old today!  One more month 'til the big 2!

4th of July Weekend - ish

The last week in June Mom and Aunt B came down to watch Kaida and Colin while we went to the Jimmy Buffett concert.  Long story short on that one, Colin refused to take a bottle for 10 hours but was much less horrible than he could have been for a super hungry baby.

The next day we went up to Buffalo.  JR helped Dad with some projects around the house.  There were big plans, HUGE plans.  But they did get a couple projects done.

So we mostly hung out while they worked. 

We went to Kim's to play in the pool.  Kaida wore her life jacket without throwing a fit.  She went in the water but she only wanted to be held rather than floating on her own.
Colin really likes the "boat".  He kept trying to drink the water.  Apparently we just need to put him in a tub of milk and we won't need to worry about him refusing a bottle.

We also went to see Owen.  We got a couple pictures but then the battery ran out on the camera.  So the pictures in the previous post are from JR's camera.

And Matt took us to the Bison's game.  We had a pretty scary moment.  The seats are right behind home plate but up really high.  So if a ball gets tipped and comes up over the nets in goes right into this section.  I had just finished nursing Colin, so he was down on my lap, when a ball came over the net.  Matt yelled and I saw the ball, I looked down quick to try to figure out what to do and when I looked back up it was way closer and headed right for us.  So I just ducked and covered.  It hit the seat right between Dad and me.  Luckily Kaida wasn't sitting in it at that moment, she didn't sit much at all actually.  So, pretty exciting for Colin's first baseball game.
We left before the fireworks.  Kaida has a good behavior time limit and the timer buzzed around the fifth inning.  But it was fun!

So it was a pretty relaxing weekend for me.  I had a helper every day at least so that was nice.

Pictures - 4th of July etc.

Colin in the cradle

In Grammy's tub

Working the life jacket at Kim's

In the "Boat" with Aunt B

Pool Party!

All decked out for the 4th

Kaida with Baby Owen

Colin and JR with Owen

Colin's first time in the high chair.  Just practicing, food comes soon!

I can watch sleeping babies on my phone!

She really liked that cookie!

Cute things my kids do

I should just leave an empty blog editor open all day so I can write down all the cute things they do before I forget them.

Like these!

Tonight while she was brushing her teeth JR told her to do the front and back and the top and bottom.  She promptly removed the tooth brush from her mouth and started to brush her butt.

When she wants me to play with her but I'm holding Colin she'll say "Nap baby brother.", like, "that baby is pretty tired mom, maybe you should take him upstairs", even if he just woke up.  Or "Colin sit."  Meaning he should sit on the couch, not on my lap.

She found the candy drawer.  And after a chocolate disaster I put a lock on it.  Now she asks for Candy a couple times a day.  It's really cute.  I say no more often than she likes so she's tried a new strategy.  She takes my hand to get me to come with her and we walk to the kitchen.  We go to the candy drawer and she says "Tandy pease".  So any excuse of "in a minute." or "I'm busy right now" won't work.  Smart little kid.

Colin is rolling over both directions now.  Although from his stomach to his back seems like it's the hardest even though he did that one first (and ages ago).

He's started sitting in the high chair while we have dinner, he looks like a very big boy!  He's sitting up a lot better on his own, but he still falls over a lot.

Pictures coming tomorrow maybe, or soonish.  No promises.

Habit

So Colin won't take a bottle.  He used to.  He's done it several times when I was out.  The grocery store, lady time at the mall, helping out at church.  But we haven't had reason to give him one lately.  my Dad tried the first week of June when I was at brunch but he wasn't interested.  This past week my Mom and Aunt B had him while we were at Jimmy Buffett and he didn't eat all day.  Then when we went golfing to celebrate Father's day he didn't eat again.  He's pretty stubborn.
I was worried that maybe some of the frozen milk had gone bad because we didn't get the new fridge until after he was born.  But for the golfing excursion he had milk that was pumped the night before so that wasn't it.
We tried two new bottles both of which were supposed to be most like the breast but he didn't go for it.  They also tried sippy cups, and I tried a medicine syringe which he took but that's not a very good option.  Now I'm thinking of trying this bottle from Happy Baby Company http://www.happybabycompany.com/mimijumi-bottle_p_732.html

He needs to take a bottle.  For my sanity and because we might be taking a trip in November.  I'm sure he would eventually eat but I would feel pretty bad leaving him for several days not knowing for sure ahead of time.

It's all quite frustrating.

In Kaida news: Habit.

When she wants something she says Habit.  Direct translation: Have it.  What she means: Can I have that?  Give it to me now.  Or I want that.  It's pretty funny because she repeats it over and over.  Habit, habit, habit.  And she makes the sign for milk which was always the sign for "I want" and kind of jumps around from foot to foot.

She also seems to remember the major plot points of some of the shows we watch over and over.  Today I asked her who was at the top of the mountain in the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse choo-choo express and she told me "Ho-Ho".  I didn't realize until a little later that Santa is the surprise guest at the top of the mountain and they hadn't seen him yet so she must have remembered that from the last time she saw it.

And she sings a little.  She sings Goofy's building a birdie house.  And today she sang Ho-Daddy ho-daddy from the backyardigans surfing episode.  Very cute.