Practical Life

Carys and I find few opportunities to have alone time but I try to have something a little more challenging for her when we do. I had to perform surgery on Diamond, her grey stuffed horse, so she was able to learn to sew a button. She threaded the needle by herself and with a few issues, she complete this all by herself. She needs to practice, but it'll be a slow pace since I can't get the sewing box out with Helen yet.

Vs.

Cullen always felt he was outnumbered. We are not planning on evening the score but at least he has a "little" back-up now.

Storytime

This is pretty much how it is during story time. Walker is usually involved unless I can get him go to sleep. The girls are very tolerant of having my lap space taken by him but they do take turns squeezing in. I think I will need a bigger recliner in the near future.

Ahh Gymnastics

There are kids classes that are of a certain quality that you know you are getting your money's worth because of quality instructors, quality equipment, and a great group of eager kids.

We found that class in Oak Park's gymnastics program. I heard about this program but due to my work schedule, their enrollment process and my pregnancy, I was unable to enroll Carys and Helen earlier.

I have thought Helen would love gymnastics for some time. She's strong, fearless, motivated. Even before she was three, I realized I needed to give her an appropriate outlet for her energy. Since I've been at home and it's wintertime, it's even more apparent.

Her first class was great. Helen was on the waitlist and missed two classes so her group was two classes ahead of her. They have 15 kids and split them into separate groups, 5 kids each. They have unique ways of teaching the basics. Helen was able to do her favorite jumps and run but she did follow instructions very well. Her coach commented on how well she did and asked me if this was her first time at gymnastics.

This program does have a competitive track if gymnasts prove they have talent and interest. I'm not pushing Helen but if she wants to go further, there will be an opportunity here in Oak Park.

Since Helen enjoyed the class so much, I signed Carys up for the following class. So now every Tuesday I will pick the girls up at 12:30 and spend the next few hours at the gym. The upside for me, they are also family friendly. There is a small play area and study area for kids and benches for parents. I met another few ladies, one has children much the same ages as ours. The downside, Carys and Helen are learning tumbles and jumps they want to execute downstairs and off the love sac. I hope I can keep them injury free, at least at home:)

What Do Kids Do All Day?

Since it's FREEZING COLD outside, we have been unable to stretch our legs for some time now. I have kept the kids home to minimize Walker's exposure but it's resulted in some challenging and fun days.

Here are some things we've been doing to occupy our time:
Simon says
Follow the leader
Playing music and dancing
Hearts
Memory
Singing for each other
Carys has been using the computer for Math, Japanese and English
Helen has been practicing her alphabet
Painting
Coloring
Stickers
Imaginative play (dress up)
Learning to make the bed
Entertaining Walker
TV (Word World is their current fav)
Movies
Reading (they have a new book called the Love for Three Oranges, we've read that everyday for a week)
Bible study

More Pink Please

Walker looks very pink, he blends in with his surroundings.

Self Imposed Snow Days

So we've been staying home these last few cold, snowy days. I've had to shovel and got the great idea to take the girls out so they could play in the backyard while I shovel. They went straight for the snow (once I clarified with Helen that we could not water the plants right now). I have no idea why they went straight on their hands and knees, they literally dove in. Of course, once you get your gloves snowy, they get cold and it goes downhill from there. So Carys was pulling off gloves to reposition her snowsuit cufs over them, all this while I'm trying to shovel before Walker wakes up inside. Luckily I was done when I discovered the girls thought it was great fun to push the snow back ONTO the sidewalk I cleared moments earlier. So, once I reshoveled, we went inside and had a hot chocolate. Tonight, I waited until they all were asleep before shoveling.

In the Jungle

Walker hates to be set down so I try to vary his environment to see if there's a place he likes better than another. This is not it, yet. I can't recall when babies start to like these playmats. The girls loved theirs and they love this one. Maybe it's something you are born with? If only I could wear the play mat, he would probably be happy with it. Interestingly, the only place I've found that he consistently tolerates is his bouncy seat in the bathroom while I take a shower. I think this is wonderful, at least I can take a "relaxing" shower while he kicks back and takes a quick catnap. I can't decide if it's the running water or the sea foam green color in the bathroom. Maybe he'll be a jungle baby after all when he gets a bit older.

Hefty Boy

Walker is now 12 lbs, 12 oz. He gained a little more than 4 lbs in 5 weeks. So our Pedi has said he was overfed. I was a bit surprised b/c he seemed genuinely hungry when I fed him and did not spit up a lot but the weight gain is significant. Not that he's on a diet, but the Pedi said he could go 6-7 hours straight overnight without feeding. This sounds great to me but Walker does not agree with this assessment. We've moved him to his room and so far, I've been able to stretch him to 4.5 hrs b/n his last evening feeding and first night feeding. Since we have a tiny house, we had a few miserable nights while working on this. Walker has also rejected the binky and we are continuing to try to convince him of it's usefulness for comfort sake (his and ours).

Basically he's a sweet little baby who is satisfied as long as he's being held and rocked. He loves motion and closeness. Pretty normal.

Smiling Baby

Walker is smiling and it's not gas. He's been smiling for a while and usually breaks out a big one for his pal, Carys. She loves to get close to him and talk sweetly. Carys will sing and soothe him when he's fussy and she loves to entertain him when he's alert. The downside is sometimes when he's sleeping she will sing and talk sweetly to him and this sometimes wakes him up. I do get a bit frustrated when this happens but I try to remind myself I have to take the good with the bad and I also remind her to leave him alone when he's sleeping. Helen loves to sit next to him and pick the lint from his fingers (since he keeps his hands in a fist and wears gowns with mittens). Walker does not like this grooming but Helen is persistent. She's like the a little monkey grooming her brother. She also loves to check his toes for lint. And since she's really adventurous, I have to watch out for her because she loves to give him a few BIG BOUNCES just to add a bit of excitement when he's relaxing in his bouncy seat. Luckily, this proves to be more upsetting to me than to him. We are working on it but Helen loves to put a little extra OOMPH in everything she does.

Doing fine

Just to let you know we are doing fine. We are super busy, sorry I've not posted for a while. I'll update the pics when Poppy returns.

Happy New Year 2009

We had a very relaxing New Year's Eve just the 5 of us. We were snuggled at home watching movies and enjoying the last evening of 2008.

We hope this year brings blessing to you and your family. God bless.

Santa at Our House

Santa visited our house for Christmas. Luckily he was a little lighter this year. We are running out of space in the house with three kids now. The girls have plenty and next year hopefully I can find some volunteer opportunity so the kids can start learning how to give back.

Santa

Santa made his second consecutive appearance at the holiday party. The girls managed to keep it together to sit in his lap. Shortly after he left, we had to leave too. (See post below).

Merry Christmas 2008

Tiffany invited the gang to her house for a Christmas celebration. She had a craft table set up downstairs and we were going to make our traditional graham cracker houses at her house since we were unable to do it earlier.

We had a great time but I underestimated the craziness of organizing the kids at her house. Usually we have it here and that's all we do. The kids were super energized to be at Tiffany's house and were bouncing around like crazy. Plus I thought we'd be able to manage making the houses like we did last year but I think with more kids added, we will need to premake houses. It was still fun and I'm not sure the kids were disapppointed, I did not hear anyone complain.

We did have to make an early exit though. After ALL the excitement, Carys threw up twice and the final straw was Helen pooping in her pants. It could have been worse I guess but that was pretty much the end of the party for us.

Handsome

Just thought he was handsome in this photo

Proud Sisters

See their smiles, they tell the story. Of course, he can't walk or talk yet.

First Big Snow 2008

Poppy took the girls sledding this year by himself (pretty brave of him considering how scared they became last year). It turns out they LOVED it. They even went down the monster hill together without Poppy. Poppy admitted it was probably best that I did not go, I probably would have freaked out. I will try to work on that in the future, they obviously proved they were up to the challenge. Carys is now ready to go down by herself. I'm sure she'll make it this year.

I will say, Helen's snow angel is a little too close to the road for my taste though.

Post Bath Chill Out

Walker loves his bath, especially the few moments when he's warm and dry after the bath. We've started rubbing his legs with some baby oil and he just relaxes and soak it up. Baby spa anyone?

Faking Holiday Baking

I'm trying to push past the extreme exhaustion of taking care of a newborn 24/7 and give the girls some holiday fun. I'm taking shortcuts this time and not trying to bake from scratch (which is a huge challenge for me even when I'm fully alert). We've done sugar cookies from the package, icing from the container and we do have sprinkles to make it fun.

The best part is the girls don't know the difference right now, the cookies are actually edible and we enjoy eating them as much as making them.

We did also make these delicious buttermilk cinnamon muffins from scratch. The girls love the muffin tops (they were basically bathed in butter and cinnamon sugar- who wouldn't love it) but the rest of the muffin went uneaten. Poppy and I love these muffins and as soon as I start getting more rest, I will be trying more baking recipes from scratch.

Carseat Babies

Lately Poppy and I have been reminiscing about our babies, who Walker resembles, and what traits he might have as he grows.

I've enjoyed looking back at photos and have found that we even took similar ones with each baby. I guess it's similar to the naked baby on the lawn photo that is basically a requirement in the South (but obviously season dependent here).

So we've subconciously opted for the "traditional" carseat photo. I'm going to keep my eyes out for more of this phenomenon to share with you.

I think Walker resembles Helen more from this photo group, especially skin coloring and hair.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This year we give praise to God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for providing our needs and some of our wants, and thanks to all of our people who love and help support us.

The picture above is Walker's "sleeping bassinet". We have not completed the final move into Walker's room, that's what sleep deprivation will do when you don't prepare ahead of time.

I guess we "thought" we had more time. But this arrangement has actually worked out for the best for the moment. I don't have to move far from the bed to reach him and he's not super worked up waiting on me to feed him at night. The drawback is Poppy's sleep but since he's not going to work this week-end, we can make this work for a few more days. I am ready to have his room set up, with the crib and clothes in their proper place. Maybe we'll get to it this week.

Poppy Love

One thing you should not do when you bring a new baby home is ignore the current "babies". The girls got plenty of love from us and here's a few pics of them with Poppy.

Big Sisters

Here they are, the big sisters!

They were very happy to be able to hold baby Walker in the hospital and almost each night they get two minutes to hold the baby. They really love this time with him even though it's short.

Now they have at least one thing in common, they are both big sisters, and they do seem bigger to me.

The girls are holding up well but they are bouncing off the walls a bit. I think partially due to the interrupted schedule baby brother has introduced as well as the wintertime lack of outside activities. I'd still be taking them to the zoo at this time of year or the park so I do feel a bit sorry for them but they are the luckiest big sisters in the world.

It's a Boy!

Welcome to our lives Walker. The girls are so happy to finally meet you!

Roommates

Poppy worked extremely hard today rearranging and organizing the girls' room. We had to make a trip to the container store for more shelving so each of the girls could have their own drawer space in the closet. I had a meltdown about where the PJ's would go but we eventually figured it out. After tossing out some dozens of kids hangers and random kids bits and pieces, the girls are on their way to sharing a room.

We've decided to put bunk beds on hold for a while b/c of safety questions since they are so young. This makes the room even tighter. We are going to try the set up as is and see how they are able to sleep and use the room. We've left the bookcase and I intend to have some space or cubby or box for each of them for "their" stuff. "Their stuff" was an issue prior to moving in together so I'd like for them to be able to keep personal items to themselves without having to share since they are already sharing a room. Of course, I will always encourage sharing but I don't want everything to have to be shared via parental mandate or situation mandate.

Now the dining room and baby's room are a mess and tomorrow I hope to sort out the remaing stuff without a home at current posting.

UPDATE: Helen fell asleep before Carys tonight, wonder of wonders. They were both tired since we got up super early. I know this is the honeymoon stage and things can (and likely will) go downhill before they are permanently settled into sharing a room. But it's interesting how happy and content Helen seemed tonight to be sleeping in big sister's room. And Carys does have a generosity that is beyond her age allowing her sister to invade her room with a happy heart.

We'll see...

Tiny Dancers

Helen has a CD player in her room for her nighttime soothing music. Now her room has morphed into the princesses ball. She and Carys have been dressing up and playing the one princess CD they have over and over. It's great fun for them, now that they are taking dance class, they are very interpretive of the music. Carys is looking forward to teaching a dance class to Helen and the new baby once he arrives.

Very Little House on the Prairie

Poppy and I are not complete city dwellers so we do have a yearning at times to be in the open country. We tried our local forest preserve but found some unauthorized fire pits, luckily minus the people who created them. This led us to the Arboretum, which is not near our house at all, but totally worth it. Since we rarely have a chance to wander, the girls enjoyed running freely. Being outside, with trees and grass on all sides was great until the mosquitos started biting, which reminded me that I do like the city for a lot of reasons too.

There is no perfect place, but luckily we have outlets for our city genes and our country genes.

Flu Shots

Just another reminder to get your flu shot. We've all had ours now. The girls and I got ours today. Carys was VERY upset to have a shot today. Reminds me of myself, I used to be TERRIFIED of shots. A sticker and a sucker go a long way in the healing process.

Construction Paper, Glue Sticks and Scissors

The girls spend a LOT of time with construction paper, glues sticks and scissors. Helen LOVES cutting paper. She's had a few close calls but is pretty good with the scissors. Then she glues the bits on more paper or bags them for next time. We've added other elements like jewels and cutouts from magazines. I need to take more time to have cut outs from magazines and show them how to make collages.

Carys was in a building mood and was making a house until she became frustrated that she did not know how to put a roof on. I think that ended this session for her but it kept her busy for a good while.