Alive and well, thank you very much

That sounded sarcastic, but I didn't mean it to. We are successfully in FL, no major problems, concerns or craziness...well no more craziness than usual! I mean by know you must know that all though we don't have much drama in our family, I think there is always a certain base of craziness that everyday starts off with, that might be because we have 2 kids under 3 or because I live for crazy.
Gwen & Nate were both great on the airplane. Gwen was not happy about the seatbelt, it is as if the seatbelt had some acid on it that was burning her skin (it didn't) But, through food bribery we were able to get her to sit and stop crying! Gwen stayed in our row the entire time and didn't require us to walk her up and down the aisle like the last flights we were on. Nate slept! I nursed him during departure, he slept on my lap and woke briefly just before landing, we took some pictures and I nursed him again.

We made it through staying in a hotel with 2 kids. Pictures of us at the pool might make it to the blog sometime in the near future. We made it to the wedding, reception (Hi Alicia & Andrew!) and my great Ant (it is a long story, but that typo is intentional!) & Uncle's 60th Anniversary party (pictures and all of those things forth coming, sometime) and despite the late hours of both of those functions my children have survived remarkably well (I have too, if you were curious!) Gwen has been a little strung out but she did sleep in, a miracle! She has also done remarkably well meeting many new people and has spoken to some of them. Of course this could be because she is strung out and is just trying to keep herself awake, but whatever! Mom has been watching the kids at night so we could go down to the bar by ourselves and hang out...AWESOME! We also made it through the outer bands of Gustav, for us it has been windy and rainy and we were under a tornado warning, but not anything as terrible as what is most likely coming for people in the path. Good luck! You are in our thoughts, take cover!

Exercising is good for the heart

You may or may not remember that we do the exercise group in the mornings and you may or may not remember that at 2 Gwen is a huge mimic! I give you the exercise videos! Please don't follow this techinique and yes that is my Mom in the background watching and commenting over the webcam.


I am going to try to get a better video, cause it is the cutest thing you have ever seen. Hopefully watching Mommy exercise will encourage her to be more healthy, she is finally eating cheese after all! Now we are going to work on vegetables and bread.

What's so funny, baby Nate?

I don't know if I have mentioned that Nate has started to laugh, good laughs and don't get Gwen and Nate started, they will laugh and laugh. So cute. Here is a video to prove it.

I also had some pictures made of the kids professionally, if you would like to see them and "vote" on your favorite, so I can decide what pictures to get printed send me an email so I can send you the link. (my email is the beginning of the blogspot address at yahoo)
We had another uneventful weekend around here, a good thing, since we will be leaving for a very eventful vacation. I still have to figure out how to entertain Gwen for 2 hours on a plane, we are looking forward to that. HA!
Here are some pictures from this weekend. Eric took the following pictures while I was making dinner on Friday.


Here are pictures of us during bath time. As you can see my "little helper" must be involved. Every night Gwen is obsessed that we must wash Nate's "hairs" she runs into the bathroom and gets the shampoo and anything else we might "need". She is very helpful, if she would like to be. She doesn't try to climb in anymore, but she does want to lay down for her bath also. Gwen is starting to show some sadness that we don't change her diaper where we change baby Nate's diaper.

Videos

Nate is getting to be such a big boy. I can't believe how far he has come and how strong he is. He chats to us all the time. I have 3 videos to post. One of which was taken while Gwen was sleeping, I will let you guess which one that is! The first video I maybe shouldn't post, but I will because when Nate becomes a bruiser we will all think back to this video and remember why he started defending himself!

Video 2 is a short one just to show how much Nate has improved in less than 10 days!

Video 3 is a long one and I promise if you can make it through the first minute of boring video you will see how much fun Nate is now, relatively speaking! If he pulls on the butterfly it starts the music.

You can see how much of an attention hog Gwen is and how she MUST be responded to and why if you do hear her talking and I automatically respond it has become a habit because as you heard she said basket over and over again until I said yes basket! I am hoping some of this will ease up when she gets a little older, I hope that she talks and acts the way she does because she is just learning to talk and act. I am also hoping that Nate will be able to get in a word edgewise when he starts talking. It isn't looking good now, but maybe in a year he might be able to get his point across. I hope that baby signs work well for him also! Chatty might not let him talk for himself, but at that point he will probably defend himself and I will have to listen to her dramatic biased reenactments through her tears!

Busy week

We have been a little crazed around here this week. Not for anything that is out of the ordinary. Nate is having issues sleeping, which is cutting into my schedule. I just don't understand why he will sleep perfectly happily in the crib at night, but during the day he refuses. I think I figured out why he wasn't sleeping in the swing like he had been. We will see. We are down to less than a week to our big flight to FL. I guess I should start preparing. I am completely unprepared, I will probably be running around here like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to prepare around Wed night.

Last week I tried to get pictures of the kids made together, well it was an abysmal failure. So, we tried again today. This time we went to a women's house (instead of the conglomerate Sears) I haven't seen the pictures yet, but I think the calmer atmosphere might just be a lot easier, and the fact that we apparently had a newbie, that had no clue at Sears! Gwen is definitely a hard sell, the photographer assured me that Gwen's behavior is typical for a 2 year. The exact same thing the hygienist told me. I wonder if I exude the attitude of some one who thinks her child is adding inappropriately for her age.

In other news I tried to take my own pictures of the kids together. I am not sure it went well. How am I supposed to get them both happy and looking at the camera and snap the picture AND not have Nate crushed by Gwen's over zealousness.

(By the way she is explaining to me that "Baby Nate in there")

Blah, blah, blah

Hello all! How are things by you? Today is a good day (so far) here in the household. Mostly because a new trend has started around here, Nate is sleeping in his crib, during the day...can you believe it!? I certainly can't. I know that we weren't remotely at this stage with Gwen when she was this age. I have noticed the last couple weekends he has not been as fond of the swing sleeping and during the week he loses interest about mid-week, where some times he will sleep sometimes he won't. Nate is not even remotely on a schedule during the day but I think he sleeps a lot and I wonder if it is because he spends so much time swing sleeping or sleeping during exercise class, my Mom says that sleeping on the move isn't as restful as stationary sleeping, and I agree.
Nate is getting very strong and enjoys his Tummy time as you can see from the following pictures.

After he was done with his Tummy time I tried to sit him up using the nursing pillow but he would not have that at all! I don't know why, so it seems the only pictures you will get of Nate will be like this, hope you don't get bored!

Yesterday, Gwen pee-peed in the potty. Unfortunately my husband did not notice, but I did and we made a fuss over it! Hopefully one day this will be repeated. She seems to have taken an interest in sitting on the adult toilet after I pee (gosh aren't you glad we are talking about the potty now, I am sure you enjoy all of these posts! But at least with this post-pregnancy posts I don't have to talk about my breasts! Which BTW did I mention Eric has taught Gwen to say "Nate eat Mommy's boobies"? GREAT that isn't going to embarrass me in public one day! He thinks its funny and I haven't figured out how I am going to get him back for that, any suggestions?) Maybe I will start to get serious about this potty training, maybe. Also this weekend, Nate started laughing so hard, it was hilarious. Gwen got him laughing which caused us to laugh which made Gwen and then Nate laugh harder, it was a vicious, yet hilarious experience we want to get on video. I have heard baby #2 can be enthralled by baby #1, but we had yet to experience it.

Proud

Today we went to the dentist and it went surprisingly well. Gwen refused to sit down or lay down, but I sat right next to her in the chair, while she stood and she couldn't have been better. She let them put their fingers in her mouth and look at her teeth, brush, floss and even got fluoride. I think it was the chocolate flavored toothpaste that they told her she could have, well, I guess it wasn't toothpaste, but that stuff they shine up your teeth with. So, no cavities, good spacing and an all around good patient! She was really cute, the women was talking and Gwen didn't seem to want to get her teeth cleaned and she said toothbrush and the women thought she meant the tooth brush she could take home, but I said no I think she wants you to use the "toothbrush tickler" as the hygienist called it and I was right, she did, the hygienist asked her and they cleaned her up real nice! You know, my kid didn't want to miss out on the chocolate!

Gwen has been better at eating food lately, have I mentioned that, today for lunch she ate the noodles and skipped the chicken. I think she has a preference for wheat noodles they have a little more texture, I am ok with eating whole wheat noodles, more fiber is good! She has also started eating white cheeses, she started out eating Parmesan cheese off the block the other day, now she has had Asiago and Provolone.

On to the pictures! I took these this weekend. For some reason when Gwen decides to pee on the potty she must be butt naked! Not a stitch of clothes on her. She has once accidentally pee-peed in the potty but not since then. We will be trying the cloth training pants to see if that will help. I think we will wait until after vacation! For some reason Gwen decided she needs the door closed, she won't let me pee with the door closed, but it must be closed for her, go figure, a double standard.

I think the nakedness preference means I might want to potty train in the summer because I would imagine I don't want her running around naked in the winter. I still don't know if I am committed and patient enough for this, but I guess it doesn't hurt to see if she is ready, and if she is not we will try again later. Who knows she might surprise me again and want to be diaper free! (but I am not getting my hopes up!)

Damn the Olympics!

I tell you I love the Olympics; I have some fond memories of watching the Olympics over the years and I think that is the problem...I get sucked in and I can't go to bed. I have been more tired this week than I have been since Nate was difficult and not sleeping well. Seriously, I used to be timely getting to class in the morning and now I am late because I can't get up because I stayed up until midnight!
In other news, Nate is adorable and "Miss Gwen" as she calls herself is cute as can be. Ok, that is not so much news, but in general things are going much better around here than they were say 6 weeks ago. I am finally getting my head above water around here. I am able to get the house clean and I like it. It seems like it has been a long time coming. Being pregnant with Nate I got used to doing 1 "chore" and showering after exercise group while she was napping and then spending the rest of her nap time watching tv. It took me sometime to realize that I don't need that TV time during the day, but I miss it! I used to post and catch up on reading during that time, but now I clean the house, except for toys, I don't see any point in doing that twice a day. Sometimes I even prep for dinner, since goodness knows what it will be like around here. The only problem with this new schedule is I don't really get any me time to watch my taped "crap" that Eric won't watch. I would watch that while Eric studies, but the damn Olympics are on and I think we have already discussed that, didn't we?
Tomorrow I am taking Gwen to the dentist for the first time. Any bets on how terrible that will be, should I just bring myself something to ease the pain and screaming? Well, I guess I best get going, I wouldn't want to miss any of the Olympics!

2 months

As mentioned previously and seen on the ticker, Nathan is 2 months old! Nathan is doing very well physically. He can hold his head very well but he can still get you with the "Stevie Wonder" head if you are not careful!
The Dr said that next month Nate should start reaching out and grabbing objects like mobiles. Nate has already started interacting his mobiles he talks to them as you can see in the previous picture. Nate is pretty regularly sleeping a 6 hour block. That is pretty nice and if the darn Olympics weren't on, I would be going to bed much sooner!
Nate has found his hand and seems to enjoy trying to eat it.
As I have said previously he smiles and laughs at us. I have stuffed him into his coming home from the hospital outfit. I don't actually think it is too tight, but I am pretty sure he will not be wearing it again, that is the last of his newborn stuff. He is also out of his 0-3 sleepers.
Our little man is growing and most times he looks like a little man, but sometimes he has the old man look about him!

Dr. appt

Today we had Nathan's 2 month Dr. appt. AKA the beginning of the vaccination hell for the next year. Today Nathan got 4 shots and 1 oral vaccine. He is currently recovering peacefully in his swing. Let us hope that he continues to sleep it off and not have any reactions, unlike his sister who always gets sick after her shots.
Nathan by the Dr's estimation is doing well, right on schedule and he told me that if I can only get him to nap in the swing, let him nap in the swing at this point he is still adjusting to life on the outside and around 3-4 months he will start to get into a "rhythm". This visit with the Dr was way better than my last visit with the Dr. and I am glad I finally figured out which Dr it was, as soon as he came in I recognized him, but I wonder did I really take all of his advice to heart this time since I have such a distrust of him from our last encounter. Of course, this time he had nothing bad to say, but I know that I took everything he said with a grain of salt!
Here are the vital stats:
Weight: 13lb 5oz (80%)
Height: 23.75in (75%)
Head 25%
that is a gain of 2lb 4oz 0.5 in. Not as much growth as last month, but really very close to the same I mean what is 4oz and 0.5in difference when you are a baby! He is still bigger than Gwen at this point. Stay tuned for his 2 month picture fest where I will tell you all about this month!

25 months

Yesterday my big girl turned 25 months old! Oh my. Ok, so it is not that big of a deal, but since she has started really talking it seems like she is learning and advancing so quickly!
Coincidentally, yesterday she was driving me batty, so I couldn't write this then. Eric was installing a ceiling fan in her room and so I had double kid duty and I was quite beside myself by dinner time! But that is another issue for another post. Gwen is quite humorous as I have mentioned before, I wonder how she could learn so much so quickly. She can count to 10, don't know if she knows what it means, but she can do it in order. She can also do it out of order, but at least we know she can do it. When I started counting past 10 she kind of looked shocked that there were more numbers, but I am sure before long she will be repeating them also!
Gwen loves books and reading. We could read to her all day and she would be happy, she also loves to sing songs. Grandmom sent her a book for her birthday that is Elmo piano and she loves it, she often says "Mommy song" which translates to please sing us a song. We are not at the phase though where she can sing parts of songs and she is often wandering around singing "ding ding dong" from the Elmo book, translation "Are you sleeping?"
Gwen is becoming a little less weary of people some people still scare her, and she might not talk to them, but she has started talking to Eric and I when other people are around. She used to just clam up, but now she will talk and I am glad about that! She is forever telling about different people in my exercise group she definitely still has her favorite people and it is funny to hear her say different names. The way she pronounces things really makes me think about how I accent syllables because she usually adds extra emphasis. I try to clearly enunciate but sometimes that backfires into some pretty hilarious pronunciations.
We still have not seen much jealousy with Gwen and Nate. She hasn't really acted out against him but she is often a lot rougher than she should be. I don't think she knows her own strength and I certainly don't think she understands what fragile means! But she is super helpful (when she wants to be) and she is starting to get Nate's routine down. She knows when his bath is and will take the pink bathtub out from under the sink for me when it is bath time and I don't even have to ask! She still likes to help with the dishes and with the laundry.
And for the first time this month she tried to feed her baby doll like "Mommy feeds baby Nate". Gwen has started to really take an interest in feeding and doing different things for her baby dolls and mimicking what we do for Nate. Too cute. It is hard to believe that Gwen is getting so old, but it is even harder to believe that Eric and I were able to have uninterrupted conversations and I am beginning to wonder if Nate will be able to talk because I am not sure Gwen will let him get a word in edgewise.

Siren truck

Last week we went with the exercise group to see the "siren" trucks. Gwen would not go into the trucks, but she sure was excited to be there. She told me about the firemen and the firetrucks all the way home. I didn't get many pictures and really there were all 4 of us Moms trying to get a good picture of all the girls, but I know it wasn't me that got it! These are the "2's", Gwen is the youngest but these girls birthdays are in April, May and June. It is hard to believe I have known these girls since they were babies!

Also last week, or maybe the week before it was recommended that I take these pictures. I would call these end of the day pictures, honestly about 10 minutes before bed for Gwen, which explains Gwen's appearance, I hope. These pictures all though not the best were to show fort making at its best (to date!)

Promised pictures

Here is Nathan at bath time! (I think he's mad because he knows everyone can see his private area! He is now pretty mellow for the bath)

Nate has been grabbing the butterfly on his bouncy. I know he can't pull it yet and there is question as to whether or not this is a purposeful movement. But I got a picture of it anyway!


I haven't been able to capture a "good" picture of Nate in my estimation. I think he is way cuter than what I can get on "film". Of course this picture doesn't even capture his double chins! Oh, and on the eye report...still BLUE! Of course I know they could change up to a year and we don't know if there is any blue on Eric's side of the family. I keep hoping that they will stay blue though!

A good day!

We had a pretty nice weekend around here, not much thrilling to tell other people about, but we spent time together and had a good time. Nate wasn't particularly easy, he doesn't seem to nap well, have I mentioned that before? Maybe I have. He did reward me with sleeping from 8p-5am! I had to wake him to go to exercise and he slept through that also. He slept the rest of the day in 3 hour blocks waking to nurse and then going down to sleep, he woke at 2:30 and then I played with him a little-some tummy time and some talking...he smiled and giggled laughed at me! Then he slept peacefully in the swing until 5ish and he was pretty much up the rest of the evening. I am sure tonight is not going to be as pleasant, but dude he giggled laughed. So it seems we are destined to have no nap days followed by nap all-days until I can get him on a schedule. I have read that by about 3 months they naturally get on a schedule, we will see! This nap day meant that I could clean the bathrooms and vacuum and do laundry! A banner day indeed, all uninterrupted by sleeping Nate and for most of it sleeping Gwen. AND I got a shower and made dinner AND had a couple minutes to myself! Did anyone note this day on a calendar, because when I have a really terrible day, I need you to reference today...can you do that for me?
Since I really can't seem to get my act together with the posting of the pictures, I give you a bunch of pictures of Nate. Some bath pictures. Ok, never mind I'll post those later, seems there was a server error and I think the Hubby is going to need to computer to study. I'll try to post all those pictures tomorrow.

My peeps

These are my favorite pictures. Eric tends to stay up late and then come home from work and want to nap. Sometimes it works out for him that I already have a quilt laying out and he can just sleep. Isn't Gwen so sweet! You've got to watch her though, she tried to lay down while holding Nate, that doesn't work out so well obviously!


I still can't figure out Nate. Yesterday he slept all day (in the swing), the day before not so much. Last night he only got up twice. Why won't he sleep in his crib during the day? These are all things that might drive me nuts before we are able to get him on a schedule. He just has such a difficult time getting himself to stay asleep. I can get him to sleep in about 5 minutes, Eric says it takes 20 to get him to deep sleep where you could put him down...I don't have that kind of time during the day, you know I have a 2 yr old that needs attention. Of course, by the time I figure this out we will have the next issue to work out. Have I mentioned that Gwen is getting in at least 2 more molars...we haven't had enough light and desire to stick our fingers in her mouth to find out if the top teeth are in.