And the Fun Continues…

We had a great weekend with my brother and nephew. Friday, I picked up J from school and took him and Z to McDonald’s. It was a short trip, but they had a lot of fun, mostly because they were together!

Saturday they played outside with Nick in the morning, then we spent the evening at Treetop Family Adventure. Talk about fun! Even Lu enjoyed it.

Lu tried a few new things this weekend too, like the big tub (sort of).

and had more tummy time

This was taken at school when I picked her up on Monday.

Sunday night, they all went out to eat, but I stayed home with Lu. It was a sketchy weekend, sleepwise, so I wanted to let her sleep instead of taking her out again. It worked pretty well, but the night was still a little rough. Oh, and I guess the me time wasn’t so bad either.

Seriously one of the sweetest pictures ever!

Side note: I have been worried that I wouldn’t give number 2 the same attention (i.e. pictures, descriptions on the blog, etc.) as number 1 for as long as I can remember, but now I am seeing that it is almost going the other way around, and not because Z is not doing new things all the time, but he has gotten very difficult to photograph. I forgot how easy it was to photograph a still infant. So, if it seems my pictures are not evenly distributed that is the reason, and I will be working on it.

Photo Book

Another First Day

Today was the “official” first day of school for Alabama.

Even though It’s not Lu’s first day, it is good for her because it means that everyone in her class will have March, April, or May birthdays and she’s getting a new bed in a quieter corner of the room. Previously, she had been in the middle of the action, which is not for her.

It’s also exciting for Z. He is starting K3 this year. I think because of his birthday, he is going to be going from K3 to K4 then K5. Surely, when he’s almost six and after 5 years of training, he’ll be ready for kindergarten! But, oh well, that is the nature of his birthday, so what can you do?

It was also cousin J’s first day of 2nd grade at Mt. Laurel! They are living with us until my brother finalizes plans to move into his new house (which is in our neighborhood). Z has LOVED having J, and I don’t know what he’s going to do with himself when he realizes that J is living with us!

We can’t forget AG who started first grade in P’cola. Is she stylin’ or what?

Tummy Time

We had a very productive tummy time workout this morning. Go Lu!

3 Months!

Lu is 3 months! She has had a big month. She's been sleeping great (last night from 6:30 to 7!) and really settling into her own personality. She loves looking at Z and this owl. They both calm her down instantly, don't know what that is about.

She's doing better at school, but still fussing a good bit, most likely because she's not napping as well as she needs to be, but we're thinking that will get better Monday when all the babies in there will be around her age. They also think she might need more milk in her bottles (easier said than done, I say).

Anyway, here are some pics of our girl, I love her so much it hurts, and I am so thankful for her and her sweet brother!!

Most Likely to Become...

Warning: The following post contains biased mom bragging.

Yesterday was Z's end of the year party at school, and even with all the finagling we could manage, I got there right as it was ending. I'm thinking that will NEVER happen again if I can control it! But, thankfully my mom was there and I was able to get the summary from the teachers. The highlight: Z's award...

I tried so hard to get a pose of him holding the certificate correctly, but it was not easy after uninhibited consumption of m&m's and ice cream (due to aforementioned grandmother supervision at party).

 

I was a proud mama! His other accomplishments:

1. Graduating to underwear (to go along with that he woke up completely DRY this morning, hallelujah!)

2. Recognizing all the letters (he's been doing that for a while now)

3. Knowing the months of the year (we didn't even know he could do that, but he demonstrated for us last night)

4. Spelling his name (he can spell Mama and Baba too)

5. Recognizing all the shapes (including polygons)

6. Recognizing all the colors

7. Counting to 16 (I've heard him go higher)

8. Counting to 10 in Spanish

*I sincerely apologize for the parenthetical biased bragging mom remarks. It really is intended for my own record keeping purposes

Next stop for Z, K-3 and his first soccer program, Soccer Shots!

Next stop for me, soccer mom! 

Just kidding

Potty Trained?

I heard the best four words I thought I'd never hear: "I have to goooo!"

Yes, my big boy is (finally) getting this potty thing (don't ask about number 2...)! And he loves his Diego soccer underwear!

Weekend

We spent a lot of the weekend at the condo. I haven't been busting out the big camera, but the iphone never lets me down. We did lots of walkin'

  swimmin'

 chillin'

 

kissin'

eatin'

and even came home to do some sittin'

More Coos Less Cries

Now that Lu is 12 weeks and she’s a regular at school, she is really becoming more independent. She still loves to be held but as of this week, she seems more content to sit in her car seat, under a playmat, or under the mobile and just smile and coo. The other day she was “talking” up a storm in the car and Z tried to imitate her, then he started fake laughing and said “That’s so funny!”

Speaking of Z, I have noticed that he is intentionally making more complete sentences, like “I colored with Graham today” or “I don’t want any more pasta.” He also likes to tell stories, which is a good bit of babbling with a few words mixed in, and lots of head bobbing and facial expressions to go along with it. He especially does this at night as a stall tactic. Right before we close the door he starts talking full speed to get our attention. And, speaking of bedtime, he has so many things that he sleeps with these days, we can not even see him in the video monitor anymore. Let’s see if I can remember them all:

Winnies (2), Elmo, Blue (a LARGE stuffed animal version of the beloved dog that I bought for his second birthday party), Christopher (a stuffed bear that Nana got him from Hallmark that talks when you read his accompanying books), 2 to 3 Dora books, a toy airplane, his tool, a tiny racecar from my treasure box at work, and a stress ball in the shape of a heart that my dad gave him from the Sylacauga hospital.

Now not all of these items have to be in the bed at all times, but more often than not they are, and I just realized they are mostly gifts from other people or free as in the heart and the tool. What he sees in these things, I just don’t know.

The first week of school has been going as well as can be expected considering this is also the week Z’s teachers have decided to go hard core on the potty training. He has been wearing underwear all week, and they take them to the bathroom every hour. The first two days he only had 1 accident, and yesterday he had 2, but they said both times he yelled “I have to go!” right before he went, so I guess that is progress.

We have also had 2 accidents at home, the first one because I was working with the baby and totally forgot to remind him about going and the second one was a number 2 accident (incidentally about 20 minutes after I had cleaned up a major blowout from baby sister). I’m hoping that potty training has to get bad before it gets better, because right now, I’m thinking it’s pretty bad. We’ve decided to try and stick with the underwear so we can move forward and not regress. It’s probably gonna be a messy weekend….

Birth Announcement

Since I have finally managed to get these out, I thought I'd share. I was really happy with them. Love Tiny Prints :)

If you can't tell by the picture, it was a two-sided tri-fold announcement.

First Day of School Part 2!

2 days shy of 12 weeks and 10 days from 3 months Lu started school this morning! I am equal parts stressed and relieved. I really can’t believe this day has come. It’s a big deal for me because I had no idea how or for how long I would be able to keep her home once I went back to work at 4 weeks. I am so thankful to my mom for making it all possible. She never missed an afternoon (we had a nanny most mornings, but mom had to do quite a few full days too). She got miss Lu through the first couple of months and now I feel like she is really ready for the big transition!

We really love this school, but never had the “infant 1” experience with Z. He started much later. Through all the craziness, Nick managed to get a couple of pics of our big girl!

I am excited to report she is sleeping soundly as we speak!