Touch up/touch down

Nora used to put her arms up for a touch down and think it was a great thing. However, she's 2 and things must be done right, and she knows the difference between up and down. So, if you say touch down, she now puts her hands down and touches the floor. Then, she says "touch up" and puts her arms up. It's quite humorous.

"Touch Down!"


"Touch Up!"


And two extra photos, just because I think my kids are adorable!

A Toddler's day

Here is an example of a day spent at home with Nora.

Nora lets us know she's up around 7am by yelling "I am awake, daddy. Come get me" over and over until someone enters the room.
We are greeted with a bunch of babies - each one gets carried to the living room for the day to begin. Nora carries Millie (the millet baby I made!) out by herself.
We read a story or two, then make breakfast, pick up breakfast and then play on the floor for a little while with Beth. Nora is usually silly during this time and we change her babies diapers about ten times each!
Beth takes a nap, and Nora goes outside for about 90 minutes. Sometimes Beth is in the Ergo, sometimes in the stroller. Either way, we walk up and down the street until Beth falls asleep. Then, Nora gets to play in the snow/slush for a while.
Go in and warm up with a snack.
Read a little more
Play with play-doh, crayons or other craft
Eat lunch
Begin nap routine and take a rest
Wake up and sing Twinkle twinkle little star to her other babies
More stories and a snack.
If it's warm enough and Nora took a shortish nap, we go back outside for a little while. If it's cold, or Nora took a long nap, we read another book or two and then play on the floor. Ring around the rosie is a current favorite. As is just plain jumping up and down and doing somersaults.
Give daddy a big hug when he gets home, eat dinner, yet another story and then begin the bedtime routine before 7pm!

Now, that seems simple - but I sure am worn out by the end of the day!

Conversations with a 2 year old

Me: Nora, would you like scrambled eggs or grilled cheese for lunch.
Nora: I would like green eggs and ham, please.

Me: Breakfast is ready. Please come to the table and eat your oatmeal.
Nora: Mommy have oatmeal too?
Me: Yes, mommy is having oatmeal too.
Nora: And Beth have oatmeal too?
Me: No, Beth doesn't eat oatmeal. She's still too little - she just has milk.
Nora: Beth have oatmeal from mommy's nurser. Yes she does!

Fun, inside and out!

For those who heard about Nora's millet dumping, here are a few photos. In the first, you can see the spread of the mess. And yes, Nora's pants are on the floor, and she is swinging in the Learning Tower. The second is a close up of the floor - so you can see how much millet there was - it was everywhere!




Nora got a drum for Christmas and loves to play it. She now has a drum, piano and guitar, and enjoys playing songs for Beth!


My little chef - she loves helping to make anything and everything we cook - cookies, bread, soup...



It was 50 degrees out a few days ago (and now we have a foot of new snow on the ground!). We had a great time outside - sledding, shoveling and riding bikes!



We spend a lot of time outside. Nora loves building snowmen, helping to shovel the snow and sledding! She even puts her sled away when it's time to go inside!

We have a great hill for toddlers to sled on. We just have to watch out for all the little maple trees at the bottom of the hill. This is one of the things preventing me from putting up a fence!




Helping build the snowman!



Helping shovel snow!



And, you may wonder, what does Beth do during all our fun? Why, sleep of course!



This is one of my favs. She sleeps in the Ergo, usually sucking her thumb. Both kids have a witching hour starting around 4pm, so this is where Beth usually spends the time. It's also a safe place to hold her while picking up if she's not wishing to lay on the floor! Usually, once she's fallen asleep, I pull up the sleep hood and continue on. However, I have been able to take her out of the Ergo and put her into bed as well! I'm looking forward to Beth riding on my back soon. We've done it a few times, but she's still not a fan.

A crazy few weeks!

The last few weeks have been pretty hectic for us! We celebrated New Years at 7pm with Nora, where she got her very first taste of something bubbly - sparkling apple cider. She really enjoyed having a (plastic, Mickey Mouse) wine glass to drink from, and was very excited to do "cheers again" over and over until her drink was gone. We stayed up later and played games with my sister and her husband, and decided that we need to have more game nights! When Andy and I finally went to bed, we heard Nora say "more cheers again" in her sleep!

Nora is still an amazing child! We have been potty training lately, which is a challenge with an infant around - and I was hoping to wait until summer, but Nora had her own agenda. She does really well at home -and usually stays dry all day! However, if we go out or she gets excited, she won't use the potty (or forgets to ask). We do sit her on the potty every 45 minutes when we are out, but that doesn't always work. Unfortunately, she still hasn't mastered the poop yet, so we decided to get pull-ups until she's ready for that.

Nora still loves her books. Her current favorites include Olivia and The Deep Blue Sea at bedtime and The USBorne Book of Farmyard Tales during the day. We read a lot of stories - it's something easy for me to do while Beth is nursing. She's also become quite fond of singing. She suddenly started singing a few songs- I didn't even realize she knew the words. She'll sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Row Row Row Your Boat, Rock a Bye Baby, The Alphabet Song, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Ring around the Rosie and Oats and Beans and Barley Grow! She can count to 11, but sometimes skips six or seven, which is pretty funny. Some of Nora's other favorites are her new drum, play-doh, and helping us in the kitchen (or mimicking us in her own kitchen). She loves sledding and shoveling snow too! We are taking two parent/child classes right now -Winter Walks at Beaver Brook and Children's Garden at Pine Hill. Both classes are tons of fun! Winter Walks, which is over in about two weeks, has a story about winter, a related craft, and a hike out in the snow. We are in a class with mostly 4-5 year olds (it's for 2-5), so Nora has a hard time keeping up with the big kids in the snow, but we just take our time and enjoy being outside! Beth usually nurses during the story, and then watches the craft, and falls asleep within minutes of going outside. Children's Garden is great for both kids - it's for children from birth until preschool, and we have an open playtime, circle time and a snack. Children's Garden will continue on until May, so it'll be fun to watch Beth transform from floppy baby to mobile baby during the class (she was only 5 weeks old when we first started in September!).

Andy had his ACL reconstruction surgery last week. Everything went really well! He's already walking without crutches and has gone back to work. His mom came up to help, and I think we really tired her out (or, more accurately, Nora really tired her out). It was great to have Grandma here to take some attention away from Daddy for a few days so he could recover.

Beth is 5 months!

Beth turned 5 months old over a week ago. The last few weeks have been busy and fun! We finally had Beth's 4 month well baby visit on January 4th. She's still growing well and filling in well - but she's quite a bit smaller than Nora was at this age! At 4 months, 3 weeks old, Beth was 14lbs and 24.5 inches long. At 4 months, Nora was 6oz and 1.5inches longer! When I first tried to take Beth's 5 month photos, Nora was "helping" and I had a difficult time getting a good photo of Beth.

Over the last month, Beth has figured out how to roll from belly to back - but still doesn't do it often. Nora was the same way, never really cared about rolling. However, Beth is very interested in spinning herself around and trying to scoot! She will lay on her back and push with her feet to slide along the floor. She has also started sitting up unsupported and if she's propped up in the boppy, will even sit herself up! She has pulled herself to standing once, and I hope she does not repeat that wonder again for quite some time!

Beth naps very well - usually twice a day, but if we need to get up early, she will take a third nap. Nighttime was really going well, she would sleep until about 4-5am, then nurse and go back to sleep for a few hours. Then, a growth spurt came and she's been up to eat every 90 minutes. I think that's just about over since she slept until 4am again last night (thank goodness!). Beth is a very happy baby too. She coos all the time, sucks her thumb pretty often and loves to laugh. I'm not used to having a baby laugh so much! She especially enjoys watching her big sister. Beth has been showing a huge interest in eating. She mimics us at the dinner table - putting her (empty) spoon in her mouth and then "chewing." If she sits in my lap during a meal, she's always reaching for the food. We still have a few more weeks though, before we'll introduce anything. Then the question becomes...avocado or sweet potato :-).

Here was the first attempt at getting photos. Beth kept trying to leap across the couch to her sister, who, as usual, was being goofy!