October 22, 2009
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Ok so maybe I never did get back to subtitling the last pictures…sorry. I plead super busy-ness. Quick up-date on the kids.
Charlotte…the dream baby. Her only fault is she refuses to take a bottle even if it’s expressed milk. I was hoping to get a little freedom from the 3 hour feeding demand but she throws major fits when we have tried. In fact…since I have tried coaxing her over the past few weeks she has decided she won’t even take a pacifier. None of the fake stuff for her. Luckily she is so good I guess we’ll just wait this one out. Like I said she is on a 3 hour feeding schedule. During the day that is pretty much like clockwork…at night she will stretch 7-8 hours. I have been able to put her down at about 8:30-9:00 which is better than any of the other kids at this age. She is extremely smiley and talkative. She goos and squeaks and will have a regular conversation with us. Cuteness in abundance. She is sooo pretty with dark hair and dark but still undetermined eye color. She has really fattened up and is in 6-9 month clothes already…she skipped the 3-6 month. She has developed rolls on top of rolls. I just want to eat her up. She loves to be held sitting up so she can converse and giggle but she loves her swing as well and is content to sit there. Sometimes her sister Rosie likes to love her a bit too much and a howl ensues but mostly she is just content and sweet.
Wwwweston…it seems this last week his vocabulary has grown ten fold. I think he has figured out that he gets further if he uses words. I thought it was so cute that he actually used the word “cookie” that I gave him a cupcake he was pointing to. WHAT was I thinking…minutes later cupcake crumbs were spread all over the house. A momentary lapse. Won’t happen again. He says “tub” when he wants to get in the bath. ” Done, cookie, more cookie, daddEEE, momEEE, babEEE or bubba for Charlotte, nack for snack, stuck, I stuck (it happens a lot), dypee for diaper, owwie (which he presents for a kiss) are a few of the ones he uses most. Of course, he understands everything pretty much. He continues to try my patience with menacing behavior like pulling the ovens open and using them to stand on to get to the stove and microwave…and yes he has turned the microwave on until it overheated. The stove he just dismantles. He uses chairs from anywhere he can find to climb on counters. He is usually after the sink which he likes to turn on and play in. Unfortunately we have the kind that the faucet comes off to spray…all the more fun. We go through a lot of towels. He likes to push buttons on the washer and dryer as well so sometimes laundry day turns into days because he either starts loads over or turns them off. So most of our chairs are on tables and counters. It slows him down only slightly as he still manages to find a way most of the time. It takes me forever to get anything accomplished because I am following him around undoing the tornado in his wake. He can open the dishwasher and has recently learned to open the cupboards with handles that are beyond his reach. This means the canned food and jars are in danger. I have been using socks to tie the cupboards shut. I’m running out of mismatched socks. He is a problem solver and has figured it all out which creates loads of new problems for me. Brian thinks it’s child abuse when I put him in his high chair for the hour (or so) before dinner but I say it keeps me from child abuse to confine him for a period of time so I can finish something like feeding the rest of the family. He still takes a nap in his high chair as well…its the only place I can get him to take one outside of the car. He has to be bored and when there is so much to get into he doesn’t take a nap unless he is confined. So at noon he goes into his chair…falls asleep within 10 minutes, sleeps for 45 minutes, wakes up and eats lunch. By then I have usually gotten my bearings back. He still has trouble sleeping through the night and usually ends up cuddled up to me. Lucky for us Charlotte is a good sleeper.
Rosie….hit a growth spurt recently and looks 6 instead of the nearly 4 she is. Her hair is finally growing back after the incident earlier this summer. She loves to tell us stories about anything and has quite the imagination. She really can be delightful and has a smile with giggles that warm my heart. There is the inner monster though that she struggles with…it screams really loudly and throws fits when it doesn’t get it’s way. She is learning to get it under control though. Her older and mostly sweet older sister and little brother like to push the monsters buttons to see it come out on occasion though. She has become much more helpful to me the last few months. She like to take on new responsibilities that she sees Serra doing. She likes to set the table, change the laundry out, make the baby or Weston happy, or help me with anything in the kitchen that will allow her to sit on the counter. She is the consummate question asker and even after you give her an answer she will ask it again…I think she just like to have conversation. She loves her daddy and sometimes cries when he goes to work. She has started getting up at the crack of dawn to make sure she doesn’t miss him. For some reason she doesn’t require sleep like most children. Even when she gets up at 6:30 or 7 she has trouble going to sleep by 9pm…and comes out of her room for every reason in the book. Brian usually spends 30 minutes or so in a bedtime routine with back scratches, back draws, stories, questions, etc…and that helps to settle her down. There have been a few times that Brian falls asleep on the couch watching TV late at night. At about 2am the DVR switches channels to Disney to record Little Einsteins for Rosie. She hears it and wakes up and comes in and climbs on Brians lap to watch. He wakes up and asks what she is doing and tells her to go back to bed…”Not yet Daddy…It’s not over yet.” She loves a handful of shows and I can get her to do all her little tasks with the reward of getting to watch them. Mommy’s mood is very important to Rosie and she chastises her when she loses patience. She has started writing some letters and “wumbers” and loves to draw pictures. She tells and talks out stories as she draws. Most of the stories involve her cousin “Ebawin” or Evelyn. We sure love our little Rosie.
Serra…our second grader…is doing fantastic in school. She really loves it and is taking responsibility to a new level. She has taken the challenge of becoming responsible to a very mature level, so she can get her ears pierced. She does her homework on her own and has a slew of morning chores she takes care of. She also is so much help with the baby. Sometimes I forget she is only 7…she seems so much older to me. She is even receiving the responsible citizen award at school next week…quite an honor. She lost another tooth 2 days ago making the gap in her face substantial. She is missing the top four front teeth and only one is starting to peek through. Poor kid can’t eat apples, corn on the cob, hamburgers or anything that requires a good set of teeth to bite with. She is delightful and oh so beautiful. I wonder if she will ever go through an awkward stage? She loves to tell jokes (still learning there) and loves to play games. The other night after she lost her tooth she was asking about the tooth fairy and said, “sometimes I wonder if the toothfairy is parents.” Brian balked and declared he looked nothing like a fairy and that he was far too noisy to ever pull off that kind of stealth. That night the toothfairy fell asleep on the couch and forgot to replace the lost tooth with monetary compensation. When she disappointedly came to us the next morning to let us know the toothfairy hadn’t shown up we told her that maybe the fairy had felt bad she had questioned her existence and so didn’t come. Her eyes got wide and she declared she was a believer. The toothfairy came last night.
I stole my sister Serra’s idea on selling recycled flowers on Etsy and business is booming. I have about 6 Goodwills, 2 DI’s and a few Salvation Army’s to keep me supplied and I hit the motherload last week. So I spend a few hours a week keeping that endeavor going on top of all the rest.
Charlie at 3 months
Serra and the gap
Serra and her second grade teacher Mr. Avellino
Charlie a few weeks ago and Rosie and Wes just messing around.
Rosie found a hat and accessorized with a flower. And the rest are some of Rosie’s awesome art work.
The last one is a haunted house in case you couldn’t tell.
