RVland

Well, we made it to destination one, I really thought we weren't going to make it, but we did and hey, they have Wifi! So, here's a picture, sorry Mom we didn't get a chance to call!
As you can see, Nate, eating, everyone else, posing, I would write more, but Nate just fell asleep, we have to get up early and there is a Gwen leaning over me (awakes still!), and it is already 9:30!

Traveling

Well, we've done it, we've rented the RV and I have started contacting people along our route...I guess we are committed now! AHHH!!! I mean I guess if you've got to go, an RV is a good way to go with 2 small kids, I mean they can still run around in the back while one of us drives, so they won't be confined, but it isn't going to be easy. I mean how are we going to work the kids sleeping? Oh well, I mean Nate has had a couple rough nights sleeping in our room, which translates to not much sleeping on my part.
Lately we are having a new phase with Gwen, she has started dancing in a new way, no longer just a butt shake, but she has started grovin'. She has also started pretending and today I saw her take her pretend baby out of the stroller, so cute. She actually wanted to bring the "empty" jogging stroller to the grocery store, if Eric would have been here, I would have let her. She also talks about baby needing stuff and when you ask her about something she has or hasn't done she will say baby did it. I don't know if this the start of the "white lies" that I have heard about, or just testing the water. I read about this somewhere, so I am going to have to look it up and see what it says.

An update

It has been a pretty busy week, ok couple of weeks around here. I say that and it is not anything that I can say gosh we did this and this and this, but we've just been crazy. Eric has gotten the whole in our ceiling patched up, it doesn't look great, yet, but I told him he had to pack it up because I have lived in the dust bed of drywall for a week or 2 and his Mom arrives today. She was supposed to be here at about 4:30 and we were all going down to pick her up, but then I guess there were problems with the plane so she is arriving at 7:45. She has the worst luck, Eric spoke to her and she apparently was ready to fly back home and cancel the whole thing, but I guess they boarded before she could get on the plane back. Gwen is definitely 2.5!!! She is about to be put into a home for cranky, whiny kids. This no nap thing, is not working out. She is also not doing well with the sharing with Nate, I see this as a road that is going to be long and will likely yield many time outs. As we expected, as Nate got more active this would be a problem. So, if you know, you want to borrow a 2.5year old, give us a call, we might be able to work something out.

I mean she is cute, and sweet most of the time, but she just is getting on our last nerve, which hopefully as we shake out where we are going to be in the next couple of months we will have more patience and she won't get on our nerves. Nate is still cute and sweet and cuddly, but he recently is going through something, I can't describe what it is, he seems to be going through the Mommy phase, but it is not like a typical like he freaks out when others hold him. I don't know if something is bothering him, because he is not sleeping well. This bothers me because his sleep interrupted means my sleep interrupted, which makes Mommy unhappy. :(

So, we have some decisions to make, like we have 2 schools to decide between, we have 1 favorite, but we have decided to take a road trip to the 2 schools, and that will likely involve an RV, anyone want to join us? Ok, so maybe no one wants to, I am not sure I do, but I guess it is better than driving my car or flying/hotels and rental cars.

In others news, I am irritated to report that in cleaning I found 3 more t-shirts for my high school quilt that I already completed!!! Man, that's irritating. Eric says I should add it to my college shirt quilt, but I don't think that would work out.

I guess I should also report that Nate is standing for long periods of time, relatively speaking, maybe a minute max. Gwen also has also figured out stacking toys, it takes her a while, but she can get the cups back in order after trial and error, and she has the patience to try to get the cups back in order even if it takes her several minutes.

Oh, so I must say, it might be a while before I update again. I guess I will eventually, after we figure out where we will be next.

Dr. appt

Here are the vital stats:
Weight: 20lb 8oz (50%)
Height: 28.5in (75%-90%)
How does this compare to his 6 months stats...that is a 2lb, 10oz. and 1in.
The CRNP says it is normal for children's weight to level off after they start crawling, I guess she thought I was concerned...I was not. Apparently everything else is normal and no concerns. She actually mentioned that Nate is the only kid that she hasn't seen since his 6 month well baby visit for a sick visit. I guess that means he is staying healthy...hopefully she didn't just jinx us! In exciting news, no shots today!!!! YEAH!

The "new" bed...

So I messed up, I had originally published Nate's 9 month thing yesterday, when it is Gwen who had a monthly birthday. So, I changed the publishing date so that for posterity's sake it is on the correct day. (this means if you want to read and see pictures of Gwen you missed, you will have to scroll down).
Eric decided it was time to change Gwen to the toddler bed function of her crib. I have been against it, mostly because I knew we were going to lose naps...Eric said we lost naps anyway, so what the heck. For some reason he was super excited to change her crib to a bed, so the first of March he took down the 4th rail of her crib and that was that!
The next day we took Gwen to the store to pick out her new bed set...there are definite limitations to the toddler bed sets, mostly characters and I still wonder why they don't just sell the damn flat sheet separately, I mean, seriously, that is all most people need, you buy this crib set that has a comforter and crib sheet, and wouldn't it be nice to actually use them later, I mean most cribs are now convertible to the toddler bed, it just doesn't make sense to me! I guess I should start my own business.

I am slightly surprised this is the set she picked out, when we were looking online she wanted the Thomas set, which really wouldn't have been bad, because maybe we could have used that for Nate later. She kept telling me that both sets were "CUTE". Which is so hilarious to hear her describe comforter sets as cute and so pretty!

We have really not had any problems with the transition, I think Gwen has been so exhausted from the lack of nap that she just conks out! The nice thing is though, in the morning, she wakes up and just plays in her room in the morning,instead of screaming. She can't actually get out of her room, we put safety handles things on her door because I had some random fear that she would lock herself into a room and then I couldn't get her out for a long time.

The funny thing is she REFUSES to be in the same room as her pillow at bedtime or naptime, we have to take it out of the room, she hates it and she doesn't actually sleep under the covers, as far as we can tell. The first couple of nights we would check on her and she would be sleeping on top of the comforter. One morning I went to get her she was actually under the covers.

I think that is what Eric was most excited about, Gwen sleeping under the covers, I don't know why, but he has always been a proponent of the blanket/covers for her room, but I don't think Gwen really cares. They requested I take the following picture, I don't really know why, but they did!

I guess now though, we can put Gwen in a regular bed to sleep when we go places and don't have to fool with 2 pack and plays...can I say AWESOME! I think that will be the best perk, you know if we ever went anywhere...

9 Months

So, the little man is 9 months! Can you believe it? By now I should have been able to lose all my baby weight, because this is how long it was for me to put on. Oh, yeah, this is not about me, this post is about NATE! How is Nate doing? He is getting to be such a big guy. He is trying to learn how to walk, he is at the point where he is into everything and he is trying to get to everything and he can move, super fast, crawling wise. He can stand there for a couple seconds at a time, but he is not really aware he is doing it.

We are still struggling with food, he seems to want to eat what he can put in his mouth himself, which with his dexterity being what it is, is rather limited. I am struggling to find "finger foods" for him to try. I have completely given up on baby food, "solids" as they were, it is just too much of a fight and as I already have fights with his sister, I just can't handle any more. He enjoys dinner time, as long as he has plenty of food to eat.

Nate is an independent little man, he entertains himself playing with toys for short periods of time. He definitely knows what he wants to play with and he will go after it again and again. For example, he LOVES cords, seriously loves them, doesn't understand no, or maybe he is like Gwen and pretends he doesn't understand. Every morning we have to take up his monitor off the floor or he will eat it, the cord the antenna, he loves it all. But, he does love the door stopper, it makes noise!

Nate is rather talkative, he isn't really saying anything but "na-na", "da-da" and "ma-ma". He says 'mamamama' a lot when he starts to get hungry. But, dadadad he has been saying alot, and trying to say Daddy or Dad. So cute.

Nate also is working on getting the top 2 teeth in, it has been a rough road, but I am hoping that we won't have to rehash this experience every time he gets top teeth in, the top teeth caused havoc. He was getting up 2 times a night and just generally unhappy. Which is unusual for our happy go lucky little man.

In the sleep arena, Nate is not taking 2 naps. I think he should, he doesn't agree, so I have started putting him down at 6 instead of 7. Every once in awhile Nate sleeps through the night, but it is not all that common. He has been waking up at 7, which is lovely now that there is a time change since now he wakes up at 8! Wohoo! He is now only waking up one time, which is a random time, so I suspect it is because of hunger, so I am not willing to let him cry it out, if it was everyday at the same time, then I would start to consider it.

He is still a happy, sweet little man. He is smiley and trouble at the same time. He is one to watch that is for sure.

We go to the Dr on Thursday to get his vital stats. Oh, he still has the blue eyes and we are just noticing a ton of blond hair. I don't know when it came in, but it just seems like all of sudden his hair came in!

31 months

Today Gwen turned 31 months, this number really has no significant milestones as far as I am aware, but it has been quite the busy month for us. I would imagine I should have actually titled this, "I do it", we are definitely in the phase where Gwen thinks she can do everything for herself. I spend most of my time trying to figure out how to give Gwen the impression that she is doing it herself.

Gwen is also doing so well on the potty, she hasn't had any accidents, I am hoping that will continue. She seems to have an iron bladder though and she still isn't always clear on when her belly hurts she needs to go to the potty, but she has made great strides and I am so proud of her, and thankful we don't have the huge expense of diapers.

Gwen is really starting to talk to people. She just chats and chats. It is sometimes hard to understand what she is talking about unless you have spent the day with us, because she often repeats parts of conversations that Eric and I have had. I do wonder if I am the only one that understands a word she says, or more importantly what she is talking about. If it wasn't before, now is definitely the time to watch what we say, becuase she definitely mimics us...you should see her feeding her babies!

Very recently she has started pretending that she is someone else. She will only let us call her "baby Bear" and won't respond if we say "Gwen". She'll say, "no I'm baby bear!" It is rather funny to hear Eric talking to baby bear about what is going on today. The other day she was a train!

Gwen has finally started to eat more foods, now she eats grilled cheese sandwhiches and pasta! WOHOO!! We are not completely out of the woods yet, because most days she will not eat dinner at all, but I have hope that slowly we will continue to add more foods to her diet and I will not have to plan so much more diners based on what I think she will try!
The unfortunate side effect of Eric being home is that Gwen has quit taking naps. This is TERRIBLE, mostly because she still desperately needs the nap, and there is nothing worse than an overtired 2 year old, ok maybe there is, but it makes for more time outs and general unpleasantness! The only nice perk is she goes to bed a lot earlier, as a matter of fact, I would have her in bed by 7p, if I was in charge, but sadly, I am not. Since the weather has gotten warmer we have been able to go outside, here is Gwen playing with her doll, the same way the big kids are playing, of course they had just fallen on the floor when I took the picture, but it is cute picture of Gwen spinning her doll. She spends a lot of time singing and dancing and exercising. Hopefully those habits will continue, becuase it is too cute to watch her and listen to her do all of those things.

Backlogged singles

I feel like this is what life has been like lately, but I don't think it has. I don't even know what was going on in this picture, Gwen appears to be upset by something and Nate clearly is irritated...why do I feel like I am correcting Gwen for something she did to him?
In a perfect world, this is how Nate would be all the time, something to chew on hanging out of his mouth. The boy LOVES to put stuff in his mouth and it is funny to watch him, he will look at something on the carpet and if he can't pick it up with his fingers he will just put his face down on the ground to try to get it up.

Not to be outdone by Nate...

Have I mentioned we love to play in forts? No, well we do!

Nate LOVES this toy he loves to stand at it, and I am hoping soon he will start boxing Gwen out, she seems to push him out of the way.

Eric thought this was hilarious, she was walking around in his slippers with her "diaper bag" getting ready to go to the store, or wherever she thought she and her "baby" should go.Nate tackling Gwen.

I went to get Nate out of his crib after his nap and he had no pants on! How did he do that, I don't know, I would say this is an isolated incident, but it has happened again! Seriously, how did he do that?

So, I think that is almost all of the pictures I have backlogged that are in the folder to upload, but I still haven't downloaded the pictures off the camera and but I probably have more that I can upload, one day, hopefully soon I will post more pictures, and I guess one day I should look at the videos we have to upload. Man am I behind these days!

DC

I mentioned that a while ago we went to DC on Sat. It was a fun day for all, exhausting, but fun. Eric apparently felt the need for me to get my step count up. It turned out to be a rather warm day, you know, for Feb. Here is my camera shy daughter...HA! I am going to say moody, not always wanting to get her picture taken.We decided after much trepidation to bring an umbrella stroller and the backpack, Gwen is going through a stroller phase, so it worked out nicely, Nate didn't fuss at all about being in the backpack, plus I wore a backpack with "supplies". Gwen at this point (right after we got off the metro) decided to push the stroller.
As you can see the stroller wasn't empty.
We spotted this carousel and Gwen wanted to go on, the last one she rode on she wasn't so happy about, but this one had a blue rope that I could put around her and hold onto so she felt a little more secure?
We went to the Natural History Museum.
Nate, doesn't he already look done for the day?
Gwen took this picture for you.
My girl and I posing on the steps to the Lincoln Memorial.
Look! She walked! More than we expected, Eric kept asking her if she wanted to ride, and I said, look we are in no hurry, let her walk, she'll tell you when she's tired...and she did!
Look! It's Air Force 1! (ok we don't know that for sure, but the side said United States of America, of course it was flying solo, so we don't think it was the president, but we took a picture anyway).
Look! Eric in line for food at FDR's memorial.
Eric and Nate in Jefferson's Memorial. So, the thing about taking the stroller is we saw more of the monuments then I have ever seen before, who knew they had elevators and gift shops? I didn't! The other nice thing about the umbrella stroller was when Gwen decided to walk it could easily be carried.
We saw these 2 helicopters followed by a 3rd helicopter and we are more convinced that 1 of these helicopters was carrying the president, there certainly was a lot of helicopter traffic that day...I have no idea what was going on, maybe one day I will start watching or reading the news!
Nate, finally conked out on the way to the metro.
And he continued to sleep for a while. He did eventually wake up, sadly, 'cause he was the cutest little sleeper in there.
So, it was a very productive Monument/Memorial day for us, we saw the Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, FDR, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and hit the Natural History Museum! All in one day...man where we tired!