From this weekend…

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGLKd3ME5xA]

This is from a few days ago (the 8th), but
I just got things working with YouTube again. She has mastered
the raspberry by now and likes to practice frequently :)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWpI4VGIjBo]

Alan is playing poker tonight and
everything is askew at home. In a good way. Lex had no nap
today, but did ok all afternoon. Eve didn’t sleep much all day
because we were out and she doesn’t sleep well out and about
since we stopped using the infant carrier. Dinner is shown
below. And now it’s 6:45 and both babies are asleep. Lex picked
out his pyjamas by himself, so he’s sleeping in a too-small pj
top and blue jeans :) PJs to the grocery store and jeans to
bed. Toddlers are great!

The Beginning: Yogurt, granola and
wheat germ (snuck in) with two pieces of cheddar cheese that he
decide to put on top.

The Middle: He chose not to sit,
instead to jump up and down in the box. Needless to say he
started to get messy.

The End: Very messy, but notice that
the food is gone? He was even scraping yogurt and granola off
the sides and bottom of the box. A little cardboard never hurt
anyone, right? I think we are going to have to retire the box
now :)

Went grocery shopping this afternoon. It
was EXHAUSTING! First time with Eve not in her infant carrier.
I had her in the hip carrier and Lex walking along beside. He
doesn’t normally like to ride in the cart (unless he’s tired
and I’m able to bribe him with a snack). So at BJs I had her on
my hip, him holding my hand (sometimes) and a giant BJs cart
that pulled to the right. I was beat by the time we got done
there! Luckily he was too and happily sat in the cart eating a
biscuit at the grocery store. Eve just hung out, looking
around, head sort of hanging precariously (I tried to keep her
head tucked in the crook of my arm most of the time), then she
fell asleep at the grocery store. The kids (I have kids!!) are
so sweet :) Luckily my husband is also sweet! We picked him up
from work on the way home (it was 6:30 by then!) and he
unloaded and put away the groceries and took care of dinner
while I nursed Eve.

It’s been awhile so my last update. I think of
good blog stuff everyday, but just haven’t gotten around to
posting. Then I started wondering who was going to bug me about
it first. Thanks Joyce!! ;) Just kidding. Life has been busy
and I’ve been cranky and highly unmotivated to do anything
useful (I did make a fabulous blueberry pie though!!) At the
moment Eve is happy and Lex is sleeping, so let’s see if I can
get something posted!

Eve is doing great
these days. She’s at a really fun age where she’s alert and
social and doing lots of typical baby things, like playing with
her toes, blowing raspberries, and scooching around on her back
and belly. Can’t crawl, but definitely starting to get mobile.

Lex is equally fun, but a little more
challenging. This morning he came over, gave me a big hug, and
said “love you mommy.” Soo sweet! He still has trouble with
naps, and I’ve started getting him up after an hour or so if he
doesn’t fall asleep. Makes for interesting afternoons, but
early bedtimes. :) We got him a new car seat this weekend
because Eve outgrew her infant carrier. We got Lex a seat that
converts from a car seat to a booster seat and then put Eve in
his old seat. He was very happy to help me pick it out and “try
it on” at the store. Then he sat in it all weekend in our
living room. We put it in the car last night and took our first
trip today. He was happy and said, “Lex has a new car seat and
Eve has the old car seat.” The new arrangement presents some
challenges though, since her carrier was very convenient for
shopping, transporting her while asleep, and putting her down
to chase Lex when necessary. Without the carrier I have to wake
her up to get her in and out of the car and carry her in my
arms or in the hip carrier. A little more difficult, but she’ll
be walking and running before I know it, so I’ll treasure these
moments while I can. :)

On the parental
front, I have been cranky lately because I have to find some
form on income and I’m always tired and now I have a canker
sore on the tip of my tongue!! It hurts so bad. I’m going to
buy some Baby Orajel at the grocery store today. I’ve come up
with several income ideas (to be fair my mom came up with most
of them ;) ), but none seem to be “the” job. I was all set to
do daycare with three interested parties, then they all backed
out for one reason or another and I’m kind of back to square
one. I feel like I’m stuck in indecision mode and just waiting
for some sort of sign or something to tell me what is the best
way to proceed. I told Alan last night to just tell me what to
do so I can move on. :) He didn’t. Alan is actually over-busy
himself, working full-time for his salary job and full-time for
his own company. He reached a major push with datdec to switch
locations for his servers, and about that same time one of his
key guys took off for an undetermined period of time. So now
Alan is working serious hours trying to get this server move
done in a timely fashion. Someday life will settle down again.

Eve is no longer happy…. back in a
bit…

She’s so sweet and mellow. Give
her a plug and some snuggles and out she goes. Of course, now
Lex will be waking up in a few minutes. It’s like they have
some sort of connection, when one falls asleep the other wakes
up. So I’m going to add in some pictures and wrap this up. I’ve
been trying to upload a few cute videos, but YouTube doesn’t
seem to be cooperating. Or maybe it’s my new operating system.
Or maybe our new Internet connection. Or maybe just user
deficiency. We’ll see. I’ll get them up someday anyway. And
I’ll try to post a little more often for you folks out there
living vicariously through me ;)

And
there he is… my little ones have this asleep/awake thing down
to a science!

Yes,
it’s August and yes, those are his (mismatched) pyjamas and
rain boots. And yes, he chose his outfit for the day :) He’s
got my old cell phone in his hand because he’s “just gonna make
a call real quick.”

Lex gave us a real scare today. He was
standing on his box of blocks, as he is inclined to do, and it
tipped over and he tumbled backwards onto the edge of the
hearth. At first I saw just a little blood on his forehead and
figured he must have scrapped it a bit, but then I saw a trail
of blood flowing (yes, flowing!) out from the top of his head,
through his hair. I was sooo scared! I got him calmed down (he
kept saying, “mommy kiss it and feel make it better”) and got
his head somewhat cleaned up and the bleeding stopped, while at
the same time called Alan and left him a message that got him
home REAL quick. The little guy has a big goose egg on his head
and I think there will be a scab there too. Poor boy!! I have
been planning on getting some babyproofing on that hearth since
I’m going to have other peoples babies in my house, so I guess
he wanted to get his knocks in real quick before I safetied it
up :)

T and I are regularly taken aback at how
long Eve appears to be compared to what we remember of Lex. In
case any one is keeping track, here is the break down:
according to the blog from Lex’s 4mo checkup, Lex was 16lbs
5oz, which is the 78th percentile, and 24 1/2 long. As said in
the last post, Eve is 15lbs and 25 1/2. So, she’s a bit longer,
but weighs less. So, as Tessa puts it, “she’s not that big of a
baby.”

I think it is the proportions
that get us. She is 4% longer and 6% lighter which implies a
similar amount thinner, so the appearance is probably something
closer to 10% different (very rough math). I always thought Lex
was thicker and she just looked longer because he was thicker.
It is neat to see the numbers say both. She has less meat on
her than I remember Lex having and definitely smaller
bones.

I love our babies!

I have also been taken aback recently by Lex’s
muscle tone. It has always been good, but his recent calmness
that Tessa has mentioned allows for more chances to notice it
again: hard to notice anything when he runs by in a blur all
the time. =) Anyway, this kid is going to be one beastly super
stud.

Lex has this weird new “thing” he does with his
books. He’ll sit in front of his bookshelf for hours “reading”
every single book on the shelf and then stacking, piling, or
lining them up. The photos show a few configurations. I don’t
think he’s ever done the same one twice. One day they were in
front of the bookshelf, one day on the toybox, one day across
the floor, etc. It takes him awhile because he flips through
every page of every book and it’s very difficult to get him to
stop. It was funny the first time, now it’s just a little
weird. Toddlers are weird. I was talking to Julie this weekend about how
when you’re pregnant every weird feeling or behavior you have
can just be chalked up to the pregnancy. With toddlers it’s
pretty much the same thing — every weird thing they do can
just be chalked up to toddlerhood.