Let's talk a walk, shall we?

Gwen has some habits that make me laugh, not all of them we are able to get on camera, but this one, we did. As I have mentioned before Gwen LOVES to be outside. Eric and I decided to go for a walk Sunday after diner and Gwen demanded we take her purse and baby. The funny part is how she holds her purse, so that it doesn't slide off her shoulder. I giggled the whole walk, just watching her! (I know they are all pictures of the same thing, but I think it is funny, and so must Eric 'cause he took all the pictures!)

Seriously the whole walk while carrying her purse like this, how do you not just laugh? I have a problem with things sliding off my shoulder, I guess I should adopt this principle!

Singles

So I am organizing pictures of my babes and I thought maybe I would post some of them. These are pictures of Nate and Gwen, by themselves. I still have a bunch of pictures from a several weeks ago that I have not posted, but I hope to get around to it soon. I daresay, I wonder how I took so many pictures of Gwen when she was Nathan's age, they all seem to be the same picture. But, I am still take pictures, ok so not as many as when Gwen was a baby. These were taken on the 23rd, can you see how long Nate is? He is wearing a 3-6mon onesie, he is so long he has grown out of his 0-3mon sleepers, and newborn clothes, those he was out of 2 or more weeks ago. I feel like I am putting away clothes faster than I am doing laundry.

This is Eric's most proud purchase (not Gwen, the shirt!) from when he was in WI several weeks ago. He makes Gwen wear it as a nightgown and you can see she doesn't mind it either.

Of course by posting these pictures, I might have alienated my entire family, but I think most of them have a sense of humor and might one day forgive us!

My babes

We do a lot of tummy time around here, at least once a day, sometimes Gwen is around for it, sometimes she is sleeping. Nate is not yet on a day schedule, don't ask how long it took for me to put Gwen on a day schedule, but seeing as he is only almost 7 weeks, I am sure we will work that out soon enough! But, I digress, sometimes when I finish with Nate, or rather he gets irritated enough and demands to be moved.

I took a video but it is sideways and I don't have the energy to figure out how to fix it. I think you can see from this video how much Gwen LOVES music, she is now demanding me to sing for her.

Gwen & Nate 7/18/08 from Melanie Ubil on Vimeo.

$22.11!

Blueberries are almost out of season here, but that didn't stop us from meeting the godfather at the blueberry field to pick some blueberries for $1.75/lb. Now I have to tell you that until Sat I was the only person in our house that ate fresh blueberries. Gwen has started eating "boobarries". Here are the pictures from our yummy blueberry picking!

As you can see Gwen was very helpful, she would pick a couple, ok maybe 1 and walk it all the way over to whoever she deemed was worthy of her blueberry (or greenberry, we are going to have to work on that next year.)

Our haul! This would be about 12.5lbs of blueberries, took us an hour or so. We are about 3/4 way through the right bucket. Can I tell you how yummy the blueberry pie is?

Patience and attention

Sometimes it amazing how smart toddlers are, specifically Gwen! She knows exactly what to do to get attention. Since Nate has been born Gwen has been finding ways to get attention, if she is not getting enough. She started with having a desire to "pee-pee potty"; now don't get excited, she doesn't actually pee-pee, she just sits there, maybe, sometimes she doesn't even sit there. I had been debating with this enthusiasm if it would be a good idea if I should start potty training her. I have decided against it for now, because I don't have the required patience at this time. But, she received some Hello Kitty panties for her birthday and she found them. I told her that when she started using the potty she could wear that underwear. She ran into the bathroom demanding that we should take off her night outfit, sat on the potty for maybe 5 minutes and then this is what she did next!

She tried to put on all 3 pairs before she figured out which was worth the effort...I had to give her a little help, because she still puts both legs through one side.


I think she misunderstood me! But, I obliged and put a diaper on under her panties (they hadn't been washed yet) and promptly hid them after they had been laundered, until I develop the patience that is required to potty train. I certainly don't have any patience with Gwen now...have I mentioned she is getting in her 2 yr molars and I hope that is what is making her whiny and cranky! If that is not it, I don't know what I am going to do! Looking over those photos again makes me think of 2 things, first...that I need to remember to make sure when I am potty training her that she needs to not leave the bathroom without her underpants fully covering her butt! and second that these pictures will probably resurface at a very bad time for her. If they do, I would just like to go on the record as saying, if you weren't so whiny, Mommy would probably feel guilty about posting these pictures!

Dr. appt

Gwen and I both had Dr's appointments yesterday.
Gwen is doing everything she should be doing and she is just fine.
Weight: 25lb 11.5oz (30-40%)
Height: 33.75 in (45%)
I think I remember if you double height at 2 yrs you will know the height when they become an adult...that would make 5'6.25" She would be a little shorter than I am.
My Dr's appointment went well also. I am apparently approved for exercise and so we went to class this morning. I decided not to go tomorrow, so as not to kill myself, but I will go again on Friday. I think I did pretty well considering I haven't really done class in like 4 months. Must go to bed!

more pictures

It is a weird and wonderful evening around here.
Two kids in cribs (by 8:30): check!
Parents finish movie they have been watching for 3 nights: check!
I had to take this picture of Gwen, she is finally getting the point of hiding. She used to "hide" and you'd say "Where's Gwen?" she would look up and start talking. This time when you start the bath she immediately runs and hides and she doesn't say anything either.

We had a couple things for Nate that we had with Gwen. I put this on Nate as you can see he has the same reaction to it as Gwen (except Nate takes it a step further and poops on the outfit every time). So have I mentioned that Nate is so large, this is the last time he will wear this outfit! 0-3 and he is already too large at 6 weeks! (And if you must know Nate shares his birthday with Vince Lombardi...and Joe Montana and other famous people, but they weren't football legends.)
Look at my sleeping guy...he seems to be doing that a lot lately, I am certainly not complaining.

will I ever finish anything again?

I put these pictures in on Monday and I haven't had time to write the accompanying post. I wrote it in my head on Monday and of course, I can't remember now all the fun and humorous things I was going to say! These pictures of Nathan are from 2 Fridays ago. Nathan has been "smiling" at us for a while. He actually gave me what I would consider a real smile yesterday. Wohoo! Look at my cutey pie!
We were trying our best to cheer up Daddy after a long week at work.
Here is Gwen enjoying one of her toys from her birthday. It is now filled with rocks and entirely too many objects in that little green part to actually get your hand in there or anything.
Here is Gwen enjoying another birthday present. Her bubble machine, she calls it bubble gum. I don't know why, but she does!
Hopefully there will be another post today, I still have to download pictures that I know I am going to want to post. But at least I finally found 10 minutes to finish this post!

Sleep

DUDE! My son just fell asleep on his own, without any walking, rocking or nursing...do you know how excited this makes me? Apparently so excited that I can't fall asleep myself, but I need to sleep, tomorrow Gwen and I both have Dr's appointments so I need to sleep. (although I know this might not happen again, so easily, I now have hope it can happen again.)

The zoo

and I don't mean my house...I mean the DC zoo. With everything that has been going on around here recently, that I haven't posted about Eric decided it was time to get out of town. I decided that required a little more planning than could be had then deciding at 9am on Sat, so we compromised and went to the zoo. We had a pretty good time, everyone was well behaved and we saw some animals and we even remembered the camera! It was hot though and about half way through we realized that we were tired and the zoo is free so why not try again sometime later when we bring a stroller. Maybe that time we will buy a map. Here are Eric and Gwen at the entrance
Looking at the animals.


This was at the bird house.
I have determined that Eric cannot take a good picture of me...he told me it is because I am not photogenic (he was kidding, BTW, because he has taken at least 1 good photo). I say I must of smiled at least at one point.

This is the reason I get stopped by strange women:
Apparently there is some fear that Nathan's head will fall out or that I am not aware that it is like that. I assure you that I am aware and both Gwen and Nate preferred this position. I should also remind the strange women that he has been sleeping head down for 9 months, doesn't really seem strange to me that he would still want to sleep this way!
The best part of the trip for Gwen was riding the choo-choo train...AKA the metro. To get to the zoo you have to ride out from the center of the earth!

We made it

Thanks for all your thoughts! Only a few minor bumps and bruises and 1 major crying incident that involved throwing up and one incindent that made me question my sanity! But Gwen eventually stopped throwing up and Nathan eventually stopped crying and went to sleep so we are all enjoying a hot day in MD (Daddy's back at work) outside at our "Waterpark". Who knew that Gwen could make herself puke? Ok, so I knew that when she gets upset she will throw up, but I had no idea that she could continue to make herself puke when she was upset. Surprisingly, Nate was calm through all that, it was Wed. night when he was worked up into a tizzy. Everytime he tried to sleep Wed evening he was disturbed, so he was NOT a happy camper. But, we survived, and we will probably not tell about it, but we could.

Warning

Who's bright idea was it to send my husband out of town with a newly 2 yr old and a newly 4 week old! Do you think I will be insane before Friday? Eric will be back late Thurs. We made it through the first day, I only had about a 20 minute breakdown...no one was injured. I would imagine though, if I survive the next 2 days this will be the end of my "maternity leave" from house work and such. Maybe this was the plan!? Time for me to go to bed though, the next 2 days are going to be long, so I am going to need my sleep.

Oh, so if you see random rambling posts or crazed posts, you know why, you have been forewarned!

Dr. appt

Nathan had his 1 month Dr's appointment today! Here are the vital stats:
Weight: 11lb 1oz (75%)
Height: 23.25in (90-95%)
Head 75%
So, if you remember his birth stats that is growing 1in and 2lb 7oz.
At Gwen's 1 month appt she was 10lb 5oz and 23 in. Looks like he will be bigger! No wonder he is out of newborn sleepers!
Must attend to the older klutzy daughter, I won't discuss our morning, but if you call and she is crying, don't be too alarmed!

Favorites

These are my favorite pictures from Gwen's birthday. Eric took about 40 pictures of her opening presents. One day I might get around to posting some of those. This might be my favorite picture of Gwen ever taken! (Eric looks nice also) See how excited she about her ugly, but yummy cake...good thing she is 2 and doesn't care what her food looks like!

I turned my back for a second to get the cake cutter and the Erics just let her dig right in, what does she think it is only her cake! I don't think so!
Sugar high withdraw/too much excitement/I'm ready to be put to bed!
All in all Gwen seemed to have a great birthday, at least she told us she did. We had some friends from our exercise group over to play, she enjoyed that, and she really got into opening her presents. She seems to love them all.

Sling

Eric and I were just talking about how I was going to wash my sling when I found out about this website. Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap) If I have more than one I can certainly get them washed!
Of course, now that I mention it many of you will probably enter the contest also and I won't win! :(

1 month

Today our little man is one month old! He is certainly a little man with personality! (I am not one of those who believes that their is nothing going in the newborn's mind, that thought and personality doesn't develop until much later). Nathan spends most of his time in the sling, for my sanity! He is much quieter and less fussy and I am much less crazy than I would be. This is why we don't have many pictures...this picture shows one of his favorite sleep positions. I am holding the camera above my head otherwise the picture would be very blurry. Nathan will sleep in cribs/pack-n-plays what have you if Eric puts him down, but if I put him down he wakes up. This is a curious development that often involves discussion and much frustration (for me!) Eric says that my technique is wrong, I dawdle and he often gives me a demonstration that keeps me laughing, which helps! That is something we will have to work on, I try to put him down at least once a day, in a crib, but it takes a while to get him back to sleep, so I have to be in the correct frame of mind to do that for sure! But, despite that Nate does sleep enough for me to get relatively enough sleep. During Nate's few awake hours we do tummy time. Nate seems to be not mind tummy time, he only takes it for so long! But, seeing this picture, reminds me, Eric and I have a running joke that Nathan is not his because he doesn't know of any blue eyes in his family, but we don't know if his eyes will change, as you can see they are dark blue and still have time to change, Gwen's eyes though had changed by this time. I do wonder if I am going to have a blue eyed blond and a brown eyed brown haired child, it certainly is fun to speculate!

Nathan reminds me of a pterodactyl, he has this cry/squeal that sounds like he is a pterodactyl! He makes a lot of squeaks, burps, and grunts! I am happy to say he is a lot easier to burp now, he often burps himself, thank goodness, he is a lot happier.
Nate's appearance has improved, he is not so wrinkly, but he does have the baby acne. His "stork bites" on his eyes are improving/disappearing, the one on his neck is not lightening yet.

Overall I have to say Nathan is a much better newborn than Gwen, I don't know if it is because we are more experienced or he has a better temperament or if he is going to be a worse toddler and is lulling us into a false sense of security! ;p