The Greatest Show on Earth!

Saturday night we went to the circus, which was a first for me and Z (and maybe Nick although he has a memory of going when he was little). Which brings me to my next thought.

Why has noone ever told me how cool the circus is?!

We had a blast! Nick heard that glow sticks were a hot commodity around there, so we bought one in advance and smuggled it in (don’t tell the ringmaster, or whoever enforces circus law). Z loved having that thing and held on to it the whole time. At one point, he was more into it than the show. But he liked the show too, he sat in his seat the whole time, and only got up during intermission (which was timed perfectly for a little kid’s limited attention span, by the way).

The only hard part was leaving Lu! She was taking a late nap and woke up right before we left. She stuck to me like glue and totally knew what I was trying to pull. It was kinda sad, but it was for the best, and she got over it after a few minutes, ate her dinner and went to bed only after talking in her bed for a while, or so I heard. We had the best time, and it was the first time, we were able to sit and enjoy a show together with Z. I can’t believe how big he is and that we can do that!

Ten

Another slump, another 10… Random things

1. Last night Z told Nick that I was the princess, he was a power ranger, Lu was the pig and he (Nick) was the “bad guy.” Nick tried to be spiderman or batman, but Z would not relent! Baba was the “bad guy.”

2. Lu really loves school. Nick says she gets so excited when they walk in the classroom, she turns her head really fast and takes it all in. He says (and I agree) that it makes it so much easier to take her knowing she’s happy there.

3. We have booked a week trip to the beach for late summer and we are super excited. It’s the first time we’ve (been able to) done that. We’re also trying to come up with some more long weekend type trips throughout the year that would be fun for us and the kids.

4. My latest good reads (and they’re old, but I liked them) were Something Borrowed and Something Blue, now I’m reading Where’d you Go Bernadette, which is a little strange, but pretty good so far. I absolutely love having them on my iPad and iPhone. It makes it so easy to read them, and my favorite thing is to read in the rocking chair after Lu finishes nursing and (some days) falls asleep on me. I just cuddle with her and read, while Z sits at the kitchen table with his dinner and iPad (lately watching Diego). It really is a great way to unwind after a long day! (Sometimes, she refuses to cuddle, then I have to put her in her bed and get outta there, and unwinding goes out the window.

5. While my parents are having work done on their new house, my dad has been spending some week nights with us (I love having one on one time with him, but I digress). Before that, my brother and nephew were with us a lot, and now Z expects someone to be at our house every day. He walks in and says “Who’s here?” or announces “hello hello!” (the same way my dad says it when he walks in). He also thinks the family is going to storm in any time he hears the doorbell ring!

6. I am proud of Nick and myself, we have been trying some recipes and they have turned out pretty well for the most part. We are always trying to cook more, for us and for Z.

7. Speaking of food, Lu did this weird thing the other night, where she ate a few bites of her food, then started screaming like crazy and wouldn’t eat anymore of anything. She did it the next day at school too, but hasn’t done it since. I’m thinking she was really tired. I guess sleep can be more important than food sometimes!

8. Z is so into power rangers ever since he found a book we bought for Jude that he left at our house (he found it one day when I sent him to his room for not listening, which is our new thing that seems to work pretty well, it is usually followed by an apology which he insists we accept). We went to B&N this weekend, and he found another book in the series, so we bought if for him.

Nicks says he’ll always buy him books if he wants them.

9. Lu’s not much into table foods, with the exception of small pieces of soft bread, but my mom (in true mom form) had her try cantaloupe for the first time at Pita Stop the other night. I think she really liked it!

10. Lu loves her baba! This is how she greeted him when he came home the other night.

Baba gets the smiles and the waves, mama gets this:

I’m kidding, but she really did have a firm grip on my hair for a good 10 minutes, while I walked around the house with her this morning! Believe me, only Lu can get away with this!

Lu 8 Months

Lu's 8 months! I had so much fun taking pictures of her this month because (among other things) she can really sit up now!

When I was looking back at Z's 8 month post, I realized that their schedules are remarkably similar. She  is only taking 2 bottles at school now, which is kindof a big change, but it is working well, because before they were having to throw away a lot of milk, and that ain't no joke when you're pumping!

Clearly, my sign didn't last very long. She is SO grabby. She reaches for and grabs everything, and giving her something to hold is usually a sure fire way to calm her down!

She is all about Z, I mean loves him, and he really loves her too. He usually tells her bless you when she sneezes and he always wants to give her a hug when he sees her in the morning. 

So far, she's reaching milestones at about the same pace as Z did. She rolls both ways and is starting to try and reach for things when she's on her belly, but hasn't figured out how to move toward them. Although some nights, she starts on one end of the bed and ends up on the complete other side facing the other direction, so there's some kindof movement going on. 

 She still has no teeth, which doesn't stop her from eating! She eats twice a day and has started snacking on soft bread, which she gums like a champ. She makes several consonant sounds, like ba, da, ma, and ga. She does something I don't remember Z doing that they even asked me about at school, which is periodically spitting when she's eating. I'm sure she thinks it's a game, but it's not that funny, especially when Z starts doing it with her!

She stil likes to suck her 2 fingers on her left hand, but I think she's doing that a little less often now. She really likes facing out in my new sling and still does well in the car/carrier.

Lately, I can hardly watch the webcams, because I just want to go over there and grab her and squeeze her! Especially when she's sitting there with her little friends in a circle, it is so cute, and I can always pick her out by her ponytail sticking straight up!

There's SNOW way

How do you like my title? I was really trying to jazz it up, and it's true, everyone was talking like there was no way it was actually going to snow or stick or cause us to miss school/work, so it did! It did all of those things, and we were all stuck at school and work like a bunch of fools. Eventually, we got notification that school was closing early, right before it completely stopped snowing and the sun came out! That really made sense, but it worked out because then we had a little time to get out and play in it. I LOVED it! The only thing I loved more than the actual snow was watching all the kids (and I mean like every few houses I passed in our neighborhood) out throwing snowballs, building snowmen, and wait for it... sledding! Mind you, to anybody who's ever lived in a place with a real winter, this was nothing more than a dusting. But that's how we like it, enough to play with and maybe miss some school and talk about, but not enough to keep us inside or cause any major problems on the roads or otherwise.

I was stuck at work and could NOT wait to get home and play in it!

Parks, Parties, and Mario

We had a great weekend. Friday, I took the kids to the park for a little bit before the rain came. Z’s favorite thing to do there now is throw sticks and rocks into the water. Lu was very entertained watching him.

Getting outside with them even for 30 or 45 minutes was so great for all of us, especially in this gloomy weather!

Nick had to work on Saturday, and we had a full agenda of birthday party and day at the condo. I was relieved to go to the condo to have a break from everyone coming over to my house (not that I don’t love it, I just didn’t want the responsibility for once) and the change of scenery was great for the kids. I was so proud of myself for getting Z bathed and dressed (complete with negotiation out of Diego shirt and into his polo, that wasn’t easy), myself showered and dressed, a long nap for Lu and got her b’day party ready, and to the party only half an hour late (the hold up was Lu’s nap). Incidentally, if you are reading this, and we have been invited or will be invited to your child’s birthday party, I am sorry we were/are going to be late, it seems inevitable, although we are trying.   

We had a lot of fun, especially Z. He and the cousins took over the bounce house and Z was stuck to cousin J like glue!

Meanwhile, Lu was stuck to my mom (and a little bit, my dad) like glue…

We had fun at the condo, and actually got the kids to get out of the bouncy by announcing cheerfully, “Let’s go to the condooo!” The twins had never been, but must have known it was going to be cool, because they were excited! They were right!

Nick joined us there, and we had a delicious dinner made by my mom, then we all got home for early bedtimes.

We had a most relaxing Sunday that consisted only of our weekly trip to Publix, which we always document (like idiots). We were just enjoying our view too much not to!

I reinstated the Diego shirt for the Publix trip.

We bought the Wii U when it first came out and the Mario game to go with it and have had so much fun playing. We finally decided to show Z the light, and man does he love it! He uses the white controller, Baba the blue, and Mama the pink. Most of the time, he has zero control, but he thinks he’s Mario. We have let him play a little and for a three year old, he does pretty well. It has almost become part of the nightly routine. My favorite part is snuggling in the bed with him, because we play it in our room. Oh, and he always wants to include Winnie.

Meanwhile, this sweet girl sleeps away, missing all the action.