Beth's Birthday Party!

I decided to make a separate post for this. Beth's birthday party was a ton of fun. My sister hosted at her house, so we had a big family pool party and bbq. Danielle did a wonderful job decorating for the party and we had food contributions from many people. I was very happy that everyone seemed to like the maple-teriyaki marinade I made for the chicken. Danielle also made the birthday cake, which came out amazing - she did regular and mini cupcakes and made the #1 with them. They were super tasty too! Beth loved her birthday cupcake, but I think she made a bigger, more fun mess eating the watermelon! As always, we are very grateful to celebrate a big milestone with our wonderful family and wish more people could have visited!

On the morning of Beth's birthday party, Nora and I made Beth a birthday crown. It came out really cute and seems to be a perfect craft for an almost 3 year old!

Here is a boatload of photos from Beth's special day.

Showing off her birthday crown!

Close up of the cake.

The cake/gift table


The food! Super yummy. chicken, burgers, fruit salad, edamame and corn sala, pasta salad, garden salad...


A close up of the wall above the food. A photo from each month of Beth's first year! Awesome!


The BBQ expert.



Beth enjoyed the watermelon.






Nora enjoyed the watermelon too!


Family enjoying food and conversation.


After lunch, the pool lots of fun!




Then it was time for cake! Singing happy birthday to Beth.

She was a bit vocal about her impatience to get that wonderful looking treat!

Finally! She gets her hands on her cupcake.

And she enjoyed it!

Licking frosting from her fingers.



Shortly after gorging on cake, she totally passed out in the stroller. She only slept for about an hour, but it was a very nice rest!


Opening gifts. She did a pretty good job of staying focused and ripping paper!

Beth Turns ONE!!!!

Wow! Beth is a year old. It feels like she's been apart of the family forever, and at the same time feels like she was only born yesterday! She's been a joy to have around, and she and Nora spend many hours each day playing, fighting and laughing with each other! Beth is still a mama's girl and is very attached, but seems to be growing out if it very slowly. She will let Andy hold her for awhile, even if I'm around and will crawl/cruise away into another room at times - but will crawl back for cuddles after only a short exploration. Beth still naps well twice a day, so long as she's in her own bed. If we are out and about, it's very tricky to get her to nap. She'll take a short nap in the stroller if she's tired enough, but otherwise will just rest and observe all the fun stuff going on around her. Nighttime has been wonderful too. Except when teething or ill, she sleeps from about 7:30pm until 5am, gets up to nurse and then goes back down until about 7am.

Beth is an amazing eater. She hasn't turned down too much in the way of food yet. She loves veggies and most fruits. Much like her daddy and sister, peaches are only good if they are fresh! I can't complain, the one thing she turns down on occasion is grains. She likes amaranth, millet, rice and oats, but if the rice isn't overcooked it comes out. She's not a huge fan of quinoa yet, but Nora didn't like at this age either ,and now she loves it cooked with apples and cinnamon with a little maple syrup. Beth loves yogurt and is started to eat some soft cheeses (she LOVED the dill havarti I got at the Groton farmer's market!).

Beth's not quite walking yet. She can climb the stairs really well (and she loves to climb almost anything else too). She has let go a number of times while standing up and is sturdy for a short time. She will take a few steps forward or backward before falling - but they look more like stumbling into a fall than actually walking. She hasn't quite mastered standing without help yet. Nora was a total prairie dog - she'd crawl, stand up, look around, sit back down and repeat for hours! I think Beth is going to walk before she learns to stand alone. Although, she's pretty close. She walks around on her knees all the time, and will put one foot down and then gets stuck. She's also gotten good at sticking her bum up in the air, which is very funny to watch!

Beth still doesn't have too many words. She still says mama, dada and nana. Sometimes she'll say nononana, which is kind of funny. She's very good at signing all done and up. She'll do nurse, more, eat and drink when asked. She loves to do "cheers" over and over with her cup.

Port-a-Potties and Potty Training

Most people I know, young and old, would rather pee behind a bush than use a port-a-potty. Not my child though. She wants to use the port-a-potty by herself, and today, locked the door. I was so worried she was going to climb into the tank (ewwww, but it is something she would do).

Nora has mostly been doing really well with using the potty. She loves wearing underwear and will usually use the potty when she has to go. However, if she's overtired she still has accidents and if we ask her or make her sit on the potty, she will hold it and pee somewhere that causes problems (car, couch, inside the kitchen cabinets). It's a bit frustrating, but it's her way of showing her independence and feeling in charge, or at least that's what I'm telling myself.

She still struggles with pooping on the potty. She just goes in her underwear. She seems to know she has to go, and sometimes will sit on the potty to try, but I think she's still working out the details. For now, we are dealing with the mess because if we put her in a pullup or diaper, she just uses the pullup/diaper instead of the potty, and the cloth diapers we have are now too small for her. I'd gladly accept any suggestions! We've tried incentives and she just doesn't seem to care. She helps us to clean up any accidents that land on the floor (car, cabinet...), she helps clean and rinse off her underwear. Hmmm....maybe this is the problem. I wonder if she likes using the diaper sprayer a little too much...

I guess I should count my blessings, other than the last few days (regression from vacation overload?) she's been dry for a few months and we only use one pull up at night.

Vacation!

Getting ready for vacation with two kids is quite the challenge. We made a number of lists - things to pack for the kids, things to pack for us, and things we needed to remember to do before leaving Saturday morning! Of course, the kids were excited, especially Nora, which made things even more challenging. There were also the challenges of fitting 4 of us and all the gear into the Camry! We were pretty tightly packed in for the road trip.

The drive up to Harrison Maine went pretty smoothly. We ended up leaving a tad later than we originally planned, so we opted to stop in Portsmouth for lunch at the Portsmouth Brewing Company. The girls were both very well behaved, and the Portsmouth Brewing company is a very family friendly restaurant.

We got to the lake house ("camp") on Saturday around 4:15pm. We got the kids out, unpacked and set everything up as quickly as possible. Another trick to renting a house you can't get into until 4pm with kids - we usually eat dinner around 5:30 and the kids are in bed around 7:30! For the most part, everything went smoothly. We got Nora set up in one room and put the pack and play in our room for Beth. Of course, we didn't unpack or even remember to grab out pajamas out of our room, so Andy and I ended up crashing in our clothing for the night. We did not have room darkening curtains so the kids woke up pretty early. We had a wonderful view in our living room of the morning sun rising on the lake.

The yard of the house we were staying in was not overly kid friendly. There was a nice set of stairs down to the water - which Nora could handle with only a little help. However, there wasn't really a safe place to put Beth down. We did find that the town beach - a two minute drive - was a wonderful place for kids! Sandy beach, swings, play structure and a little dock typically used for swim lessons, but opened for everyone on the weekends. Unfortunately, the town beach closed for a few days because of a bad water test reading. We went to Sebago Lake state park and enjoyed the water there. We also spend a day at Diana's Baths in North Conway. Nora loved wading in the (icy cold) water there! One afternoon, we went to a Bison farm and Nora got to see and touch a yearling Bison! That was pretty exciting.

Beth exploring the cabinets in the kitchen



Nora on the bar stool. Her favorite place to be - she could see, and "control" everything that happened in the house.

Storytime with Grandma. I think this was a favorite everyday!

Just a photo of Beth crawling around.

She got a little to close in this photo, but it's a great shot of her eyes (and teeth!).


Wading with Grandma in the lake at the house.


Having a bit of quiet time in the library. It was hot, and Nora was very tired!

An attempt at a family shot at diana's baths.

Beth didn't like the cold water at Diana's Baths. Nora loved wading though!



Nora wishing for a paddle. She really wanted her own paddle and her own blue kayak!


All alone in the sand at Sebago.

Lots of water to ourselves when we first arrived at Sebago. Once the daycare and summer camps arrived, the place was loaded with kids!



Beth sitting in the Ergo while I tried to get an in-focus shot of Nora and Andy in the kayak. The smirk was because she was just about to pull my hair.

Beth enjoyed the slide

Swinging side by side!

Kitchen Cabinet Peek-a-boo

When we were unpacking from our vacation, here is what the girls did to entertain themselves! Who needs toys!

Nora's first kayak ride!

I'll post more about vacation later, but here's a video of Nora's first kayak ride. She really liked the kayak, and riding with daddy.

Berry picking!

Once again, we went to pick berries. It makes for a nice, fairly short activity to do in the morning. Nora loves to pick berries and feed them to Beth, so both kids stay pretty entertained. We've picked a lot at two places this year, and here is my opinion of the two.

Parlee Farms
This place is a great adventure day. They have a barn, donuts, ice cream and pick your own. The berries taste wonderful and the location couldn't be better - it only takes me a few minutes to get there. However, they have become increasingly strict about how many berries people are eating while they pick. I have noticed that Parlee seems to start sending employees around to monitor pickers around 10:30am. This is, of course, also about when the picking gets crowded! The Blueberries are also pretty high, so the real little kids (2-3 year olds) can't really reach them to help.

Brookdale Farm
Brookdale has farm animals and ice cream, but they are across the street from many of the pick your own items, meaning an extra in and out of the car - which can sometimes be too much for young families. However, they believe that eating some of the berries while you pick is part of the fun and do not discourage children from eating as much as they please -which was good because Nora ate about a quart of raspberries while we picked! Brookdales pick your own is often much less crowded than parlee. Their berries aren't always as sweet, although this year, the blueberries are just as good as Parlee if not a bit better! The blueberry picking at Brookdale is much easier for the smaller children as the variety they have produces berries lower to the ground. It does mean a little more bending for adults, but there are also plenty of berries near the tops of the bushes! Brookdale is a bit further from us, but sometimes I think the drive is well worth it!

Both farms follow IPM (integrated pest management) farming practices to limit pesticide use. Overall, I feel very blessed to live in a place with such great pick your own places and will continue to support both farms! I'm also hoping to check out Kimball Fruit Farm when I get back from vacation next week.

Nora really helps in the kitchen!

For so long now, Nora has "helped" us do a lot of household chores. Pulling laundry out of the laundry basket (even if it's already folded), sweeping the floor by pushing the dirt in every which direction...Recently, she's started actually being helpful! She's gotten pretty good at folding hand towels and wash clothes. She's been matching socks for awhile. She's also gotten good at sweeping. She helps make a pile and will even scoop it up with the dustpan and broom AND dump it IN the trash!!!

She's always loved helping us out in the kitchen, so we decided to let her really help. We got her a safe chopper to help chop fruit and veggies. The first thing she helped us cut up was Watermelon, and she was so excited to get to do it! Here she is, taking her job very seriously.

11 months old!

Beth turned 11 months old today. I can't believe it. I didn't even realize it until afternoon. She's growing up so fast and soon will no longer be a little baby, but a toddler! She's already cruising all over and starting to climb. She's not as early a climber as her sister was, but I imagine she may be a more adventurous climber once she really figures it out!

So far, Beth has been eating very well. She'll eat almost anything we give her. The only thing she's really turned her nose up at so far is pumpkin, and I will try that again in the fall when I can make some up fresh! She's recently started to really prefer finger foods, but still spits about half of them out after chewing for a few minutes. If I don't puree her "baby food," she immediately pushes it all out with her tongue - especially lentils, grains, and veggies like green beans. She will eat asparagus, summer squash, green beans, sugar snap peas and other veggies all sliced up as finger foods as well. We've never tried pureeing the summer squash, we just gave her some sticks from the grill and she loved them! Less work for me, and it takes her longer to eat! Typical meals for her are scrambled egg and fruit (mango, pear and/or apple sauce) for breakfast, lentils with rice and veggies for lunch and either yogurt or pear-avocado-cinnamon for dinner. At each meal, she also gets some blueberries, watermelon, cherries, steamed carrot bits, roasted sweet potato or any other finger food we happen to have on hand! We've started also giving her a little of whatever we have with dinner. She loved roasted turnip, kale pesto (she licked the pesto off from the pasta!), beets, broccoli, bok choy stems (!) and many others. She spit out the chicken the one time we let her try it, pretty much as soon as it hit her tongue. It was funny, she was screeching and pointing at my chicken and signing more and then when I finally gave her some she spit it out and looked at me as if I were nuts!

Nora and Beth have really started getting along. They will sit together and giggle for half an hour or more at a time. I still have to keep a very close eye on them because Nora will suddenly get upset and shut Beth's fingers in a drawer or close the play kitchen oven on her or just push her over. Usually, I can tell beforehand that Nora has had enough! She still struggles sometimes with having to share things - especially her play kitchen!

Beth finally seems to be (very slowly) getting over her attachment to me. She actually let Andy hold her the other day while I was nearby. Sounds like nothing special, but this is really a huge thing! Beth has been super attached to me pretty much since birth and it has made for some stressful times! I know Andy would love the extra cuddles and I would love the break!

She still doesn't have much in the way of words. She'll wave and say "IIII" (hi) and sometimes it sounds like she's saying "touch" when she wants to touch something. She's got mama, dada and nana (Nora) down, but doesn't always use them. She's still a bit confused with which signs to use when - she'll sign "milk" for "more" and "more" for "eat," but she's gotten really good at letting us know what she wants!

Sleep continues to have it's ups and downs. For the most part, Beth is a wonderful sleeper. She goes to bed pretty easily, usually around 7pm. We started taking a walk after dinner to help the kids wind down, and it has really made a difference in both girls with the bedtime routine! Beth usually sleeps until about 4:30am, nurses, which takes all of 15 minutes, and then goes back to sleep until about 7am. Then, she naps around 9:30am and again around 2pm. Of course, her naps are wonderful if she's in her crib. They are hit or miss if we are out and about - which is most mornings right now! Of course, every week or two, Beth will have a rough night and wake 2-3 times. Still, I can't complain, it's a major improvement over Nora's sleeping habits!

I had a bit of difficulty this month getting the teddy bear photo. The first thing you'll notice - no teddy bear. Beth kept immediately throwing him on the floor an laughing! So, the top photo is Beth sitting on the couch smiling. The other photos are the "out-takes." Beth has decided that it's fun to sit up on her knees and throw herself down when she's on the couch or my bed! It's very funny, but has led to a few near tumbles off the bed.

An interesting day..

I've had a very interesting day today. It's been a great day too, but very interesting...

Started off with getting up around 6:20 with two happy kids. We made oatmeal and sat down for a family breakfast. After Andy left for work, we cleaned up breakfast and started some laundry. Nora wanted to go for a ride in the double stroller, so I took advantage of the situation and went for my Couch to 5k run/walk. It was fun, especially since Nora kept yelling "let's go faster and faster mommy" as I was jogging. Made the jogging time pretty easy! However, on one of my jogs, I had to go down a hill in my neighborhood and I was literally chasing the stroller! I was a bit concerned that it was going to get away from me. In the future, I'm going to stick with the rail trail - which is flat, even though it means loading everything into the car!

When we got back, I put Beth down for a nap. Nora had a bit of a meltdown because she didn't want to go in the house. Poor thing, I couldn't blame her, it's so nice out! Anyway, I calmed her down, got Beth to nap and then we took a shower together. What fun that is. Another meltdown when it was time to get out of the shower. This one was easily averted by telling her we would go see Alex and some chickens and Brookdale. We quickly got dressed, packed lunches and then played outside until Beth woke up. When Beth woke up, we headed to Brookdale and piked raspberries and blueberries. The raspberries were easy picking. the blueberries are still a bit early, and Nora was pretty much done, so we only picked about a quart. While I was picking raspberries, Beth was sitting on a blanket between rows. Nora and Beth were eating the berries like crazy (yum!), so it took me a bit of time to pick 3 pints (enough for eating and a small batch of freezer jam). When we were finished, Beth started fussing, so I opted to put her in the Ergo instead of the stroller. As I was getting her settled on my back, Nora took off! She was hungry so she was headed back to the car. I panicked a bit, but think I did pretty well. I finished getting Beth loaded on my back, grabbed the stroller, berries and Beth's sunhat (which had been thrown off yet again) and headed back towards the car. Luckily, my friend Melissa saw Nora and made sure she didn't run out in front of traffic. My aunt Patty was driving by at the same time and saw a small child alone (then realized who it was), so she was also watching for the two minutes it took me to chase her down! After a snack and a bit of a talking too, we picked a handful of blueberries before heading across the street for a picnic lunch!

After lunch, I ran into the grocery store for a few errands. Nora had to go potty, so we went at Hannafords. Nora was chatting the entire time and the other ladies in the bathroom couldn't help but laugh (" yay, good peeing mommy!" and "Look, I'm peeing, I did it!"). Grocery shopping was pretty uneventful, but Beth was clearly tired by the end. Loaded the kids in the car, got home and went to put Beth down for a nap. Told Nora to go potty and then she could work on her puzzle or come rock with us. Heard some water running, so I figured she went potty and was washing her hands. Boy, was I wrong! This is what I found when I walked into the kitchen. I couldn't help but laugh and, of course, grab the camera!