iPhone Archives

So you all know by now that I love taking pictures of my kids. However, unlike a lot of parents, I rarely photograph them with my phone. Not that there is anything wrong with phones, a lot of people seem to get really good pictures with them, I just always seem to reach for my camera when something cute is happening. I guess I feel more in control with my Nikon’s myriad of settings at my disposal.

Anyway, I don’t take many photos with my phone, but I’d finally taken enough of them that my iCloud storage was full and after many weeks (it may have been more than a year actually) of reminders that my photos weren’t being backed up, I finally plugged my phone into my computer and downloaded my library.

And what do you know, I take an occasional share-worthy phone photo too. Here are my four favorites….

Alethea at dairy queen – October 2011

IMG_0327Alethea on the “Water slide” – August 2013

IMG_1105Alethea and Lydia – September 2013

IMG_1106Lydia trying on her thrift store princess dress – September 2013

IMG_1121And yes, Alethea is 2 years old in that first one… maybe should try syncing my phone a teensy bit more often, huh?

A Little Nuts

Sorry for the long silence. Despite my best intentions, the blog has been neglected this month.

It’s just been a little crazy around here…

DSC_7884Gift ordering crazy, card writing crazy, not sleeping because baby is up all night crazy and now stomach flu crazy.

But finally the gifts are all purchased, the cards all mailed and (knock on wood) we’re done being sick. If some Silent Nights come along, we may yet have a Merry Little Christmas. In any case, I’ll try to get some more blogging done soon.

Hope your Christmas forecast is looking bright!

Happy Halloween 2014!

It’s late and I really should get to bed, but I had to post a few Halloween pictures for you all.

DSC_6464Here’s my crew. Lydia the dalmatian, Alethea a.k.a. Angelina Ballerina, and Caleb who rather reluctantly went trick or treating as a penguin.

DSC_6487If you’re a long time reader, you may recall that this was Alethea’s first Halloween costume as well. I thought Caleb made an absolutely adorable penguin, but the only part of the process he seemed happy about was taking it off.

DSC_6488Lydia seemed to enjoy being a dalmatian, although I’m afraid we made the black spots too big, since she got mistaken as a cow several times. Look at the hat people! And although her costume has been a source of angst in our house for some time, Alethea’s Angelina outfit came together in the end and I think she was pleased with it, although she did come home part way through trick or treating to exchange the ears for a warm hat.

And of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the pumpkins. Once again, we had a carving party a few days before Halloween and Gramma Denny, Grandma Debbie and I whipped up these beauties…

Angelina Ballerina Elsa Frozen Teddy Bear PumpkinFrom left to right: Alethea’s requested Angelina Ballerina pumpkin (yes, she coordinated her costume and pumpkin just like two years ago), Lydia’s Elsa pumpkin (or as the girls called it, the “Let it Go” pumpkin), and a sweet and simple teddy bear pumpkin for Caleb. (And no, unlike last year, there was no surprise pumpkin to carve.)

DSC_6513With costumes on and pumpkins carved, there was nothing left but to hit up the neighbors for candy. Caleb wasn’t out long, but the girls both came home with quite a haul considering they only did two short streets. Their favorite part of the evening wasn’t even the candy though. It was the large inflatable plastic skeletons one house was passing out. Go figure…

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So that was Halloween 2014. We hope you had a good one too!

Caleb John: Weeks 11-19

Our sweet baby Caleb is four and a half months old already! I know it’s been a while since my last update, so this one covers weeks eleven through nineteen.

Caleb 11 Weeks   Caleb 12 Weeks

Caleb is growing up so quickly. I need to get him in for his four month check up, but his stats from his two month check were quite impressive. His height was 24 inches, weight was 15lbs, 13oz, and his head circumference was 42.5 cm. That means he was in the 64th percentile for height and 92nd for weight. Unfortunately he slipped down to the 98th percentile for head circumference. I think I need to rename my blog.

Caleb 13 Weeks   Caleb 14 Weeks

Despite displaying all the classic signs of teething for 6 weeks now, (aka constant drooling, chewing on his fingers, and not sleeping through the night anymore), he has yet to cut a tooth. I know it’s still early, but I hope they start to come through soon, because this mama would really love to get back to a regular good night’s sleep. His current nighttime schedule is down at 7:30pm, up to eat between 1:00 and 2:00am, another feeding between 4:00 and 6:00am, then up for the day between 7:00 and 8:00am.

Caleb 15 Weeks   Caleb 16 Weeks

Alethea and Lydia continue to dote on their brother. All it takes is a little fussing and they zip right over to meet his every need.  The only thing they don’t seem too impressed with is the spitting up and drooling. As Alethea told me when Caleb got up the other day, “I like Caleb’s hands in the morning.” I gave her a puzzled look. “Because they haven’t been chewed on yet!” she exclaimed. Oh right. I see.

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Caleb continues to be a very social baby. He doesn’t mind being put down, but someone needs to be within talking range, or he’ll get to fussing pretty quickly. He’s generally not too picky about who is holding him, unless he’s tired, hungry, or sick, and then no one but Mommy will do. Sometimes when I put him to bed and leave the room, he’ll cry until I come back and sit in the chair next to his bed. Then he’ll stop fussing and talk and talk until he’s told me everything he needs to say. And then he very slowly drifts off, periodically opening his eyes and looking in my direction to make sure I haven’t left. Lord help me, I think somehow we’ve managed to produce an extrovert.

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Family meals are enjoyed by all. Caleb sits in his high chair and interacts with everyone at the table. However, he is getting pretty jealous of the rest of us eating when he’s not. He watches the food as it travels from a plate to someone’s mouth. Sometimes he even comments, “Mmmmmm,” which I know seems coincidental, but I swear he only does it at meal times. We did let him try some baby food pears. He did well with them, but seemed to know that he wasn’t getting what everyone else was having.

Caleb 17 Weeks   Caleb 18 Weeks

Other milestones from the last eight weeks include Caleb rolling from front to back, rolling from his back to his side (he tries to get all the way over, but can’t quite get past his shoulder), and starting to sit up on his own (though not well enough to be left unattended). We’ve also begun the transition from his Rock ‘N’ Play to his crib. So far we’ve been trying his morning naps in the crib, but his afternoon nap and nighttime still in the Rock ‘N’ Play, and that strategy seems to be going reasonably well.

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Between his two or three daily naps and his approximately 12 hour nights, Caleb still spends the majority of his time sleeping. However, when he’s awake, his favorite things to do are watching his globe mobile over his crib, playing in his exersaucer, and going outside. He also laughs and smiles every time he’s getting dressed or taking baths. Any excuse to be naked!

Caleb 19 WeeksSo that’s our Caleb John at 19 weeks: handsome, healthy, and happy! We just love our little boy!

Kindergarten

Hello everyone, I’m back! Sorry for the long silence. Labor day weekend Caleb decided he’d had enough of being a good night sleeper and we spent the entire month of September trying to figure out what the problem was. Good news is, he’s done better the past few nights and I’m hopeful that I’ll be getting more sleep again.

Bad news is, the sleep deprivation pushed me into survival mode and a lot of things got left by the wayside including cleaning my house and blogging. I have so much I should write about including Caleb’s growth, fall activities, a family reunion, and of course, Alethea starting Kindergarten!

So rewind back to the beginning of September. Alethea got her hair cut! But it wasn’t your typical because everyone gets a back-to-school haircut sort of thing. It was an emergency, “well I guess you have bangs now because you cut your own hair” sort of thing. Two days before school started Alethea took scissors to her hair. Fortunately she left us something to work with, and also fortunately my neighbor is a hair stylist and was able to make them look mostly on purpose, if a bit short.

DSC_4016The first day of school arrived and Alethea completed her fresh look with an outfit that she picked out herself at Target and her new pink backpack. I had hopes for a fun first morning of kindergarten photoshoot, but Alethea said she was too nervous to smile so we settled for a few quick photos on the front porch.

DSC_4026DSC_4037Fortunately, things got better from there. And now she’s really loving school. We carpool with some neighbors in the morning and then Alethea rides the bus back in the afternoon, which she thinks is about the coolest thing ever. Her school highlights include getting to use her My Little Pony lunchbox, her new best friend Emme, recess on the playground, and playtime in the classroom.

She doesn’t so much like having to wear tennis shoes every day, even after I ordered her some that were sparkly pink and light up when you walk (not pictured), but now after a month of school she is finally putting them on each morning without complaint. The worst tales that she has brought home are one girl pulling another girls hair, someone being told by the teacher not to use potty words, and the horrific tale that one boy in the class actually claimed he doesn’t like the movie Frozen, which she related to an astonished Lydia in tones of disbelief. She seemed convinced that he was either lying or something was seriously wrong with him.

DSC_4987Alethea and Lydia continue to be close friends, although I do feel a shift in their relationship that has resulted from Alethea’s being gone during the day. Lydia now follows me around the house asking “What fun thing can I do?” and if we do an activity, the second we’re done, she said, “Now what fun thing can I do?” The absence of the activities director is being keenly felt.

Truth be told, Lydia isn’t the only one who misses Alethea during the day. It’s almost enough to make me rethink our decision not to homeschool, except that I see how much Alethea is learning and growing and it’s hard to second-guess that. She’s definitely matured over the last month and is acting more and more like a big kid, in good ways. Somewhere along the line she even found out that it’s cool to pose for the camera….

DSC_4324So that’s the update on my suddenly grown-up kindergartener. Hard to believe that she’s five and a half and off taking on the world, but it’s so great to see her being self-confident and independent. She’s making her Mama proud!

Little Moments

The other day I had Caleb on the changing table when Alethea marched into the room. She watched me finish up the diaper change, then asked, “Mommy, did you want three babies?”

“Yes, I definitely did,” I told her.

She looked at me doubtfully as I disposed of the diaper. “Why did you want three babies?” she wondered, “That’s a lot of work.”

Yes, it is a lot of work. And if I’m honest there are times when I feel a little nostalgic for my pre-kid days. No diapers, less laundry, and more importantly no one having a melt-down because I gave them the wrong spoon, or because I refused to get bogged down in the specific details of their requested Angelina Ballerina Halloween costume, because IT’S ONLY JULY FOR GOODNESS SAKE! True story.

Yeah, I could do without that. But I suppose those drive-me-up-a-wall crazy moments are a small price when I also get to live moments like this one, the girls learning to play Rock, Scissors, Paper with Daddy…

DSC_2544And this one, Caleb’s first time playing dress-up with his sisters…

photo(7)And this one, Alethea and Lydia building a sand castle while discussing all the princesses that are going to live in it…

DSC_2524Yup, three babies is a lot of work. But I’m so thankful for each one of them. They are little blessings, even on the hard days.

Caleb John: Weeks 4, 5 and 6

My how time flies. Caleb turned six weeks old last Wednesday. Crazy!

Since his last update was at three weeks, this post covers weeks 4-6. They were busy ones, including his first time at the beach, his first real big smiles, and his first out of state trip to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa for the 4th of July.

DSC_1978He also had his one-month well-check and his current stats are: height 22.5 inches, weight 13 lbs 2 oz, and head circumference 41 cm. That puts him in the 84th percentile for height, 97th for weight, and (do I even need to say it) 99th for head circumference. He’s a solid little fellow!

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Caleb continues to be a pretty easy baby. He sleeps well at night, usually doing a 5 or 6 hour stretch at one point or another. He also takes multiple 2-3 hour naps during the day as long as we are at home. However, he doesn’t sleep much when we are out and about, and if he’s not sleeping he wants to be held or kept in constant motion, so he’s not the most portable baby ever. But really, as long as he sleeps at night, I’m okay with whatever we need to do to get through the daylight hours, though I wouldn’t be upset if at some point he decides that 6:30am isn’t time to get up and at ’em.

Caleb 5 WeeksWe’re finding more and more that Caleb is a pretty social baby. When he’s awake he wants to be where he can see people. He will also holler at me if I’m not in the room when he’s going to sleep. He doesn’t usually need to be rocked or have me sing him a song, but I must be present until he starts to drift off.

DSC_2227He’s smiling more often now and with bigger expression, and it never fails to make my day. We also enjoy conversations with each other. His side consists mainly of “Oh!” and “Mmmm”, but he seems genuinely pleased with himself for communicating so well.

Caleb 6 WeeksMommy is definitely his favorite person, but I’m confident at this point that he also recognizes Peter. He really likes attention from Alethea and Lydia as well, although I’m not as confident that he would be able to differentiate between them and any other children, but maybe.

DSC_2347He still doesn’t love it when they “hold” him though…

DSC_2360His favorite things are eating, sleeping, taking baths, being swaddled and going outside. He doesn’t mind diaper changes anymore. He still won’t take a pacifier, so I’ve pretty much given up on that. Being buckled into his carseat is on the top of his “Things I’d Rather Not Do” list.

DSC_2325But overall, he’s a good-natured baby and we’re having fun getting to know him better as his personality emerges bit by bit. As the girls would put it, “We love our Sweet Baby K!”