Pictures from the game
I know, that’s a big-time tease. I cannot get the uploader to work properly, so until I do, to see some pictures from the game, go to:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2018025&id=1571109613&l=f4c6752a58.
This blog is not dead!
It’s getting better! (If you get the movie reference there, nice work.)
Seriously, I guess there is a lot to catch you up on. All of you are probably reading this blog to hear about the kiddos, so I’ll give you what you want and save the drabble that you don’t care about for the end. Carson is loving her Preschool class at day care. She is learning unbelievable things. She is just like that famous little monkey– always very curious. When she asks us “why” now, which is still extremely often, we MUST offer a satisfactory explanation, or she will say, “EXPLAIN TO ME WHY!!!” So, it’s no longer acceptable to say “just because.” This led Shane to a 5-minute explanation this morning of why everyone has a belly button (which was actually very sweet). Carson is also a wonderful big sister to baby Harper.
Harper is 10 months old. She is moving all over the place, though not yet standing or cruising (some books would say she’s “behind,” but many of you may recall that C didn’t walk until she was 15 months old, so we are not concerned in the slightest). She likes to point at everything and then identify it as “da!” or “da da!” Her favorite things on earth are the dogs. She loves to poke them, pet them, climb on them, and feed them Cheerios. They are great sports. We are working on adding “people foods.” Faves so far are pancakes, green beans, cornbread, blueberry bagels, and the aforementioned Cheerios.
Shane is keeping busy at home and work. This weekend he started prepping the yard for the wonderful new playset he’s going to assemble for the girls (see a picture at http://www.cedarworks.com/swingsets/playaround/frontierfort). We took both girls to the Georgia game this past weekend and they loved it! They did great. We made it through about an hour and a half of tailgating and the entire first half of the game. H was alseep in the stroller before we even left the shadow of Gate 7. I’ll try to get some pictures up before they leave for college.
I spend all my free time (which means about 5 minutes per week) planning and sometimes actually starting, but seldom completing, house projects. I got a lovely new cream rug for the study which in the first week was anointed by a cup of coffee, a container of balsamic vinaigrette, and a beer. Happily, the carpet cleaners they sell these days actually appear to work. It was a nice lesson in why we don’t have carpet or buy light-colored things.
I promise to try to post more often than once a quarter. Let me know what you are all up to these days!
Hi friends.
Hi! Hope everyone is doing well after my extended absense. This blog is not dead, just neglected. It’s not like I have anything else to do. : ) I’ll try to give you lots of news!
We are all doing well. Harper is now 7 months old, which is hard to believe. She is almost sitting up unassisted. She rolls all over the place and can scoot herself at 90 degree angles by working her belly and feet (for those who may not recall, C was crawling at 7 months– don’t think H is going to accomplish that feat, but she’s really working on it!). She is generally just the world’s happiest baby. She would hang out in her Exersaucer all day if we let her. She still likes to laugh at her big sister better than almost anything else. She also likes to bang things and then drop them on the floor repeatedly for us to pick them up. I have to put the dogs outside while she eats because she gets so caught up in looking at them that she forgets all about the deliciousness on the spoon. And boy is it delicious. She has devoured almost everything she’s tried, although the peas elicited the most pained look you’ve ever seen, and the bananas seemed to cause a fair amount of stomach upset. She seems to like things chunkier, rather than smoother, so we may just move on the stage 2 foods. I do wish she would manage to sleep past 5 or 5:30. I don’t like seeing 5s on the clock. We weighed her on our scale at home (by weighing me and then me plus Harper) and came up with 19.5 lbs. She’s thus almost big enough to face forward in the car but still has to wait 5 more months!
Carson’s favorite word is “why.” She asks “why” so much that we have to turn it back around on her and ask her why she thinks X. Not that we don’t like answering, but sometimes she asks “why” when she clearly already knows “why,” and it’s funny to hear what she says. Like, “why are you driving so slow, mama?” “Why do you think I’m driving slow, Carson?” “Because if you drive too fast the policeman will come and you will get in trouble.” (She doesn’t know that from first-hand experience– I swear. She must’ve heard it at school.) She loves to go for walks and runs around the block and to play outside on the porch. We are still working on a replacement for her squashed play set, although we did finally get the enormous tree out of the yard. Who knew that you could not have more than 2 inches of slope to have a playground? Gonna need a Bobcat and some dirt to handle that.
We hope to start some other house projects soon too– like investigating and fixing a leak in the upstairs bathroom, installing a double vanity, and having the tub reglazed. Shane has lots of pictures to hang before football season starts. He thinks I don’t know how soon it starts. But oh, I do.
One more Carson story– the other night at the dinner table, she kept saying something over and over again. Something swamp. Something swamp. I kept asking her what she was talking about, and she just kept saying it. Then she said, “Ms. Neleson, Ms. Neleson” (three syllables). It clicked– she was talking about “Ms. Nelson is Missing,” one of my all-time favorite books that we don’t happen to own. She said she read it at school! I am so happy to know that some things never go out of style.
Did I fall off the face of the earth, you may be asking yourself? No, I’m still firmly planted on the face of the earth, for now. So sorry that I haven’t been in touch for a while. I will try to catch you up. I went back to work a month ago (April 16), and Harper began her journey through The Children’s Campus. She is loving her classroom, which is the same one that Carson was in and has 2 of the 3 same teachers (the 3rd was actually a teacher in C’s toddler room who moved down). She is doing very well. She loves her teachers– she smiles at them and talks to them, and snuggles up to take very long naps for them. Some of you may recall that upon beginning in Infant A, Carson screamed for days and refused to nap for the entire year she spent in the room (I mean, 30 minutes at a time once or twice a day was all she would allow). I’m happy that Harper’s transition was easier.
Speaking of transitions, Carson has moved to the Preschool class. She had an easy transition this time, which was a happy surprise for all of us. She is like a little grown-up now. Her latest obsession is showing off her ballet moves while shouting, “watch me!” She is so sweet to her baby sister. She loves playing outside and will be happy when we get a new swingset to make up for the one that’s smushed under the tree in our yard (so sad).
What else is new? We have hired a new real estate agent, who is putting us through our paces in terms of getting Third Ave. where it needs to be. He created a five-page list of projects for us. Shane has been over there every night after work and all weekend, every weekend for the past three weeks. The house looks gorgeous, so much so that it makes me sad that our own new (old) house won’t look that way for years and will certainly never smell that fresh and new. We are hoping that all of the scrubbing and polishing, coupled with a price drop, will bring a sale soon. we are tired of spending all our energy and money on that place with everything that we need to do on Adams (like, we really, really need to re-do our bathroom, from the tub with its chipping finish to the sink that needs to be replaced with a double vanity to the shower that appears to be leaking, and don’t even get us started on the condition of our front yard). I am trying to hold down the fort mostly by myself, which ain’t easy given that Harper isn’t sleeping through the night (she seems to really enjoy our 2:30 am girls’ time) and Carson just plain won’t nap on the weekends.
This past weekend we went to the Delta Block Party, where we dodged the rain for the second year in a row, but C was happy to visit daddy’s office and eat funnel cake. The weekend before, we went to the zoo, where Harper took her first train ride (she was nonplussed) and Carson spent the majority of her time on the playground and in the jumpy-thing. Almost an afterthought, we took a quick peek at some animals on the way out. It’s great being zoo members and having the zoo so close by.
Hope everyone is doing well. Here is a picture that’s a bit old now, but it’s cute. At her 4 month checkup, Harper was 15.6 pounds and 25 inches long. For comparison’s sake, at four months, Carson was 16.6 pounds and 26 inches long, so a bit bigger, but both of them were/are round, healthy chunks of babies.
I know, I know…
My own husband is griping at me about not keeping this blog up to date. It’s just that every time I try to upload pictures, our wireless connection crashes for some reason. If you are on Facebook, feel free to add me as a friend so that you can get quick updates more frequently, if you want.
Anyway, Harper is growing like a weed and so cute. She and C had a little photo session with Elizabeth this week. C did great. H screamed, and I mean screamed, the entire time, plus the extra time we waited around to see if she would stop screaming. She definitely has her own little personality and is not a fan of being dragged all over town or messed with.
I’m putting on a few assorted photos from the past few weeks, hopefully. I know I still owe you birthday photos. If you want to be on my list for Shutterfly shares, let me know. One of these days I will find the time to consolidate all of my various technologies, because right now it’s all just too cumbersome!
Carson is three!
Carson celebrated her third birthday on Sunday (and Saturday, and Friday). She is 33.5 pounds, 37 inches tall, and 100% fun!
I’m attempting to post a link to Shutterfly so you can see pictures of Friday and Saturday’s festivities. Photos of Sunday to come (we took over 300, so it’s taking me a while!).
Harper is 9+ weeks old, and Carson watches the sunrise
I am belatedly providing an update on Harper… last week at her 2 month checkup, she weighed 11 pounds 12 ounces and was 22 inches long. She’s a bit smaller than C was at the same age, but not significantly so. She loves to smile, giggle, and talk, go for walks, sleep in her swing (the bouncy seat is now a fun place to hang out, but not to sleep), and lounge on the deck. Shane claims to have seen her roll over from tummy to back on two occasions, but I haven’t seen it for myself. She also seems to be moving toward having a somewhat manageable bedtime, which is nice. Several times both girls have been asleep by 8:30, which gives me about half an hour of my own time before I can no longer hold my eyes open. So luxurious!
Carson is eagerly awaiting her third birthday and her party at the jumpy place. This morning we were in the upstairs hall just as the sun was coming up. She ran to the window and pointed outside, shouting, “Mama, what’s that?” I discerned that she was referring to the beautiful orange and pink clouds heralding the sunrise. I said, “That’s the sunrise, Carson. Do you see the beautiful orange and pink in the sky?” She said, “I do!” and she stood and watched for a good five minutes. When we left the house a bit later, she asked, “Where did the orange and pink clouds go, mama?” We talked all about how we might be able to see them again at sunset.
Carson is also very excited about the prospect of riding in her new double stroller, which came yesterday, and of sitting “right next to [her] baby sister.” Shane has quite the assembly project on his hands. Happily when he is finished he can take advantage of the double cup holders and special Blackberry pocket that the Bob Revolution Dualie has to offer.
Pictures soon. I promise.
Pictures
Harper smiles in her car seat, which never happens.
Harper lounges on the Boppy.
Is the above picture Harper or Carson? Can you guess?
Carson enjoys her Curious George coloring book.
More coloring fun…
The Harper Chronicles
Harper is now 6.5 weeks old. What is she up to, you ask, and, more importantly, what does she look like? First things first…
Harper has really started smiling. She will smile for about 5 minutes before she inevitably breaks down into a fuss. But it’s a really cute smile. She also makes those cute little baby noises and kicks her arms and legs excitedly. And last night, she slept from 9:30 until 5:20. Yes, that’s right, she slept through the night. I actually had to wake her up a bit at 5:20 because I suspected we might be in for it today if she slept longer than that. And so far today, we do appear to be a bit fussy and trying to make up for lost time on the eating front. But sleeping through the night at 6.5 weeks ain’t so bad. I wish I could sleep through the night. In other news, she hates her car seat and hates being in the car. So, going places is a bit of an adventure.
I would be remiss not to send a report from Carson. Carson reports that her imagination is working overtime lately. As an example, on Monday she prepared a picnic outside her tent consisting of chicken, bagels, and pie. Said chicken, bagels, and pie were represented by diapers (clean ones, of course), a Boppy pillow, and shoes. She continues to enjoy giving everything and everyone check-ups with her doctor kit. She is excited that, as she says, after her birthday party at the jumpy place, she gets to go to the doctor (for her 3 year checkup) and start going to the preschool class (not sure if she totally gets the implications of the latter).
And soon for the pictures… I will keep you hanging for a second post on those, as duty (Harper) calls at the moment…
Harper is a month old!
Harper had her one month checkup today. She is 10 pounds, 1 ounce, and 21 inches long, making her 75th percentile for weight and 50th for height. Carson was consistently 95th percentile for both, but I need to pull out her stats and refresh myself on her size at this point. She is doing well and sometimes will sleep for up to 5 hours at a stretch at night, which is lovely. She likes her swing, but she loves her bouncy seat most of all. Carson liked her swing more than her bouncy, so go figure.
Hopefully we’ll get some new pictures up soon- as perhaps you can imagine, it’s a bit tough to find the time with two little ones and two dogs who seem determined to eat every kid toy in the house when unattended for even a second…
