Sarah: 15 Weeks

More smiles, more giggles, more fun then ever! Sarah is still such an easy baby that I can't believe it - I keep waiting, expecting something to mess up this perfect phase that we're in.

Sarah did experience some hair loss this week. She has some mild cradle cap and after Daddy scrubbed her head in the shower Sunday morning (per Mommy's instructions), we both could tell that her hair was much thinner on top. That's a bummer! ("That Mommy say.")

By the way, she's not sitting up on her own in these pictures... I sure do love our Bumbo!

PS. Snow pictures on Monday, and by Friday its 70 before noon?! Crazy weather this week!

Snow Day 2012, The Story

As soon as I woke up on Monday morning I could tell that there was snow on the ground because it was so bright in my room. I was super excited that Nathan would have the chance to play in it this year! Nathan was excited too when he looked out his window and saw the snow. We were bundled up and ready to go out as soon as Sarah was down for her first morning nap, around 9:00.

As I crunched my way into the back yard, and I could immediately that Nathan was hesitant about walking in the snow.  He got out and walked around in it for a while, touching the snow and figuring it all out, then he decided to retreat to the sidewalk, where he would brush off all particles of snow that clung to his boots.  Silly goose! ("That Aunt Karen say!")

Here's the other great self-portrait I was able to get with Nathan!

I showed Nathan how to make a snowball, handing some to him to play with and throwing a few at him as well.  He kept asking for "more" that he would toss away or break apart in his hands, but he was not interested in making any for himself.

After a while, we headed out front and across the street to tromp through Becky's yard. Then we headed over to say hi to our neighbor "Nee-a" (Juanita). The we returned to the back yard for some snow eating. (Warning - not the most action-packed video)

Snow Day 2012!

Just when I had almost given up hope that Nathan would experience snow this winter, we got a nice little snowfall this past Sunday afternoon/evening! Nathan and I ventured forth Monday morning after Sarah went down for her first nap around 9:00, and by the time we went back inside around 10:00, things were getting pretty melty. I have more details, pictures and a video, but this is all for tonight. Hooray for a great self-portrait with the little guy (he actually cooperated through two rounds of shots)!

A Day Around the House

I see on other blogs the idea about photo-documenting your days once a month, taking the same number of photos as that day's date.  So if you did it on the 5th of each month, you'd take 5 pictures that day, etc.  I've been meaning to do this for a while, but never remember until about halfway through the month and by then its usually way too many pictures for me to want to tackle.  But I finally realized, all I really need to do is think of grabbing my camera earlyish in the morning and snap some pictures documenting the day.  So that's what I did last week.  Here's a peek into some of what we do during the day.

Flossing!  I'm sure Pawpaw is so proud.

As a "reward" for brushing his teeth in the morning, Nathan gets a piece of floss.  He really likes this kind we get from our dentist that tastes really "minty fresh", which is great because it always gets stuck between my teeth and I hate it. 

Nathan's new-found love of flossing has also gotten me flossing much more regularly, which is always a good thing!

When we sweep around the table, Nathan loves the job of moving all the chairs so that Mommy can sweep under the table.  One day a few weeks ago I circled the chairs and threw a blanket over it to make a fort.  Since then, whenever he moves the chairs for sweeping, he always pushes them all together and plays in the middle.

 

I love this one!  Nathan has always loved this toy and now Sarah enjoys it too.  But whenever Nathan informs me that Sarah wants to play with it, "Na-Na lay down next Sarah".  So after he lies down, I scoot the two of them close together and position the toy above them.  But then he would get irritated when Sarah's arms would flail and hit him.  So I suggested that he hold her hand.  And so that's what he always does now!

 

Holding hands.  Awwwww!

Helping Mommy hang a picture frame in Sarah's room (yes, he's using a toy hammer to put a screw in the wall.)

Nathan proudly wearing his backpack full of toy cars, on his way downstairs.  He's actually admiring his reflection in the oven in this photo.

And once we're downstairs, all the cars get meticulously lined up on the slide's landing.

A Family Evening

As dinner winds up most evenings, Nathan is ready to be done and out of his high chair before Brian and I are quite finished eating. So we wash him up and get him down, after which he immediately begins asking "Daddy build house Na-Na. Mommy build house Na-Na." Our standard answer is after Daddy and Mommy finish eating and clean up the table.

After we get the table cleared, I usually shoo Brian off with both kiddos to Nathan's room while I finish cleaning up the kitchen. Then, depending on how tired Sarah is, I either put her straight to bed or I'll hang out with the three of them in Nathan's room.

This past week, I walked into his room and saw this pretty incredible tower that Nathan was designing and building (Brian only helped getting the big block properly positioned on the bottom supports). I hurried back to the kitchen to grab the camera, and ended up photographing the whole evening.

The tower fell right after I took this photo.  But Nathan wasn't too upset as he had this fun to get in on:

By the time it was my turn to get a picture with Sarah, she decided that she would try to eat my face so I would understand how hungry she was! So it was off to bed with her and the end of an enjoyable evening with the family.

Sarah: 13 Weeks

Sarah is three months old!!

Now I know I didn't post week pictures last week. I actually didn't take any last Friday... too overwhelmed from a rough week and all I could think about was Nana coming to the rescue that afternoon! I did a half-hearted photo shoot on Saturday which produced about zero photos that I wanted to share, so I just figured I would skip a week. But now we are back!

Sarah has continued to sleep AMAZINGLY through the night, and for the first time in over a year, I'm not exhausted at Nathan's naptime.  So instead of my usual naps, I actually get a little bit of "me" time during the day, thanks to somewhat synchronous naptimes with the two kiddos.  Sarah is working on consolidating her naps as well.  Today she took a 2ish hour nap in the morning and after lunch, then a short one before dinner.  But other days she still does the 1 hour awake, 1 hour asleep business all day long. 

Brian decided to bring out the jumper last week and let Sarah give it a try. We then checked the blog archives and realized that Nathan was exactly the same age when we got it for him! She is still so small that she rattles around in the seat, so (like with Nathan) we are padding with blankets so she can sit up straight. But she seems to really like it so far!

Sarah continues to amaze me with her wonderfully easy-going disposition. I'll set her down somewhere (swing, jumper, rumble chair, propped up in the corner of the couch...) and get busy with something and 10-20 minutes later I realize that she's still where I left her (of course) AND still perfectly content. I know I am so blessed to have such an easy baby this time around!!!

Sarah has also started giggling within the past week.  Brian heard it first when he was tickling her on the changing table, and I've since heard it twice.  So exciting!

Nathan has really become attached to "Bear" lately. Bear likes to be in the jumper, though he is usually a good sharer with Sarah. But sometimes Bear starts fussin', so Nathan has to take him out and move him to the swing. It's so cute to see him mimicking with Bear what I do with Sarah. Nathan also feeds Ra-Ra a bottle a couple of times a day, always making it a point to tell me that he's "busy". Oops, guess I know where he gets that from! Nathan is definitely in the midst of the terrible twos - alternately driving me crazy and breaking my heart with his sweetness!

Nathan-isms

Nathanism: Na-Na kit packback why ur-sewf.
Translation: Nathan carry (get?) backpack by yourself (himself).
Background: Nathan uses his backpack to carry his car collection down to the basement and then back up.  He used to carry it in his hand, so I would have to hold it going up and down the stairs, but I finally convinced him to carry it on his back.  Now he loves it and is so proud he can carry it up and down "why ur-sewf"!

Nathanism: Sarah no talk.
Background: We discuss how Sarah doesn't talk, Ra-Ra doesn't talk, Baby Ben doesn't talk, Princess doesn't talk.  But also that Sarah will talk when she gets bigger.  In the conversation, we also usually affirm that "Mommy talk.  Na-Na talk."

Nathanism: Oh my.  That Gran say.
Background: When we were trying to get Nathan to stop saying "oh my gosh", Gran came for a visit and would always say "oh my" instead.  So now Nathan will say "oh my", and then keep repeating it until I agree "oh my", to which he then responds "that Gran say."

Nathanism: Whoa well-we.  That Nana say.
Translation: Whoa Nelly.
Background: When Nana was here last weekend, she said "Whoa Nelly" to Nathan and this just cracked him up.  Now Nathan will say "whoa well-we" to which I'm required to respond "Whoa Nelly" after which he reminds me "that Nana say".

Nathanism: Sarah drippin'.
Background: Whenever Sarah spits up or drools, this is how he alerts me.  Sometimes he will also run to get a burpcloth to help take care of the "drips".

Nathanism: Sarah (no) dwink Mommy milk-a.
Translation: Sarah (no) drink Mommy's milk.
Background: Nathan either likes to state what is happening (Sarah's nursing) or let me know he'd rather me not feed her, usually because he wants me to "build house" with him and the blocks.

Nathanism: I sorry-o.
Translation: I'm sorry.
Background: Nothing much to report, except its very cute.  And something that Brian and I say now too!

Nathanism: Dat toe wong.  Dat fee-ger wong.
Translation: That toe(nail) long.  That finger(nail) long.
Background: This is how he announces to me that he needs his nails trimmed because they're too long.  The same phrases are also used when he has a torn nail or hang nail that I need to take care of.  Thankfully he's pretty cooperative with nail trimming these days.

Nathanism: Na-Na on Daddy show.
Translation: Nathan get on Daddy's shoulders.
Background: Nathan loves to ride on Daddy's shoulders.  This is usually one of the first things Nathan requests after Brian comes home from work, along with "watch video Dada phone" and "Dada build house Na-Na" (play with blocks).

The ABCs on Video

Nathan, Brian, and I have been working together a little on his ABCs.  We have a great ABC book Nana gave us that we like to read and practice with, and we've been playing with the letter magnets we got him for Christmas.  He's also been "learning" them on his own with his laptop (also from Christmas) and the "computer" he has in the car (from over a year ago).  So I'm very proud to present, Nathan knows his ABCs:

This one is a game Nana made up matching Nathan's ABC blocks to his ABC book.


And here he is reading the whole alphabet!