trick or treat, take 1.

for the second year in a row, we walked up to the square near our house and went trick or treating at participating businesses. avery definitely "got it" this year and had a blast. nola's expression was pretty much the same as avery last year. maybe next year they'll both have fun ;)

stop me if you've heard this one. a ladybug and pig walk into a bar...


avery wanted to walk the whole way by herself. she did AND she walked most of the way home.


her first piece of trick or treat candy. she was so surprised that she just got to take it! (we did work on saying "trick or treat" and "thank you" each time we stopped. even if she whispered it :))


going to a basket all by herself.


proudly showing off her pumpkin bucket with dada.


big grin


waiting for our turn to cross the street. still SO excited.


finding dada and running up to him to show off her bucket


we walked part way home with our next door neighbors. one of their little girls was a lady bug. and she loves avery.


she found this lollipop in the bottom of the bucket and said "avee lollipop!" i had no idea she even knew what a lollipop was.

but she sure looks happy about it all :) it was such a wonderful outing!

our first little conversation

today i had gotten avery up from her nap (aka her in her crib for 2 hours talking and shrieking) and we were cleaning up the front room. i was chewing gum and must have blown a bubble without realizing.

avery: mama egg?
me: *stares blankly* egg?
avery: okay! (her way of saying "yes")
me: uh, there are no eggs, sweetpea.
avery: *points to my mouth* mama egg?
me: *now i get it* no, sweets. mama doesn't have an egg.
avery: mama, open mouth?
me: *pushing gum to the roof of my mouth and opening wide*
avery: egg all gone.

:)

we don't read them books here.

i know i've heard doctors say on baby shows on tv "well, some babies don't read the books". deliveries can be textbook, or they can be...way off. it's taken 23 months of parenting (after a non-textbook delivery) to realize that my girls haven't read the books. any of them. and i love them for it.


the first didn't know she was supposed to come out on her own. like, before she reached almost 9 lbs. it's not like she wasn't ready and needed some more time in there. we had to force her out. and she was still stubborn.

she didn't know she could let her little teeth out to play before she was 9 months. think of all the fun she could have had biting things and leaving teeth marks when we thought it was cute, not destructive.

she also didn't know she wasn't supposed to like broccoli or green beans. but they were among her favorites for a while. (now she's smartened up a bit and goes for cookies and soup-though it's still broccoli cheddar)

she definitely doesn't know that it's okay to act her age and not like a preschooler. i swear, somedays i expect her to grab a backpack and wave goodbye as she heads down the stairs. off on her own, absorbing every little detail of life we teach her about.


the second one also didn't realize she could make her exit before she reached almost 10lbs. she never even attempted to let me know she was ready to come out. she too, was certainly ready.

she didn't know that ALL babies fall asleep in their car seats in the car. it's almost a law. nope, she wasn't into law books either. (oh, and sweet pea, babies also love to sleep on shoulders. just an fyi for ya ;))

she doesn't know that at 4 months the morning nap (the long, wonderful one for mama and big sister to connect) is supposed to come first. followed later by the long afternoon snooze. nope, she's deciding to go with the long afternoon nap first. (which is actually a blessing. two sleeping girls for hours! i get to blog!!)

and she definitely hasn't read that she should start sleeping through the night maybe by 6 months. and i'm hiding all books that mention that. i'll let her think that sleeping without a peep from 6:30pm-7:00am is the norm. don't want to rock her world too much. :)

another wonderful weekend!

a photo album from october :)

we started the weekend with pizza and a movie (the dinner guest)
got an early start on saturday to a huge kid's consignment sale in a nearby town. it was a BIG success. we managed to get avery's christmas presents, birthday presents, nola's winter wardrobe, a few extras for avery, a bath seat, and an extra abc floor mat...all for about $130. they have another sale in may and i already can't wait to go back.


saturday night i had my sister's bachelorette night in boston. SO much fun to get out of the house and be out on the town. if i can get any pictures from my sister that are blog appropriate, i'll add them ;)

this morning it was beautiful outside...we took a walk to get some donuts, cleaned out the van, went grocery shopping and attempted many times to get nola down for a nap :) once both kids were down, i went out and got a paint sample for our living room. we've debated for months and months about what to do. avery helped us put some paint up. i think we all like it!

one of our steals at the sale was a bath seat for nola for $2. she isn't quite able to sit in the laundry basket yet, so this seat will come in very handy. avery loved having her friend in the bath again! she wanted to pour water on her, hand her toys, and play with her piggies. this is going to be such a timesaver!


...and just a picture of nola since she didn't get much airtime in this post ;)

oh friday...how i missed you.

there was something about having only avery to fill our days. it was work. there were days when i wanted a break. there were probably weeks that dragged by. but i remember i'd often forget what day it was and aside from the weekends being something different and more fun with zane around, there wasn't a huge push for friday to come around.

the stakes weren't as high back then i guess :)

now as the week gets closer and closer to the end, i'm overjoyed that it's almost friday! that means walking to get pizza friday afternoon. a movie and some twizzlers for just the adults. the ability to be a bit more lazy in the mornings instead of rushing to get 2 up, changed, dressed and fed before someone starts to howl. the ability to do one thing at a time and focus on that one thing...2 whole days with an extra set of hands (and eyes)! we're definitely surviving our days at home during the week when it's just us girls.

but man are we happy when daddy comes home and stays home. it makes us all better people, parents, children...a nice new perspective and energy.

we hope he feels the same.

welcome to the century...

my cell phone doesn't have internet capabilities.
but it finally has the ability to take pictures.
a friend joked the other day that she knows she was years late in getting an ipod and still doesn't exactly know how it works.
and i revealed that i don't have an ipod. never have.
but it seems a lot nicer than a big bulky walkman or discplayer.
are people cringing yet?

aaaanyway. go to this site. http://marriageconfessions.com/confessions/

it's hysterical. it's real. it's organized. it's littlest member is a few weeks older than nola and is adorable. it's full of good stuff.

including a giveaway for an IPOD! all you have to do is read, enjoy, comment and see what happens :)

the bedtime we dream of...

best bedtime with 2 kids so far...friday october 16.

avery takes her bath like she does every night. we decide to put the bumbo in the tub and let nola get some splash time. we warn avery ahead of time that nola might join her in the bath for a little bit, but she'll still be able to play like she usually does. once we get nola settled (and realize that she definitely does not fit in the bumbo now), avery gets excited that her sister's in the bath with her. she says "friend!" melts our hearts.

after bath time, we all head to avery's room for her routine. i sit with nola while zane reads some stories. avery keeps looking over at us and saying "nolya!" we get avery in the crib and read the last story, while she jumps around like she usually does. nola sits on the edge of the crib rail with zane behind her and laughs and squeals at avery. avery says "nolya happy!"

then they go to sleep without so much a peep. heaven. :)

teething?

she concentrates...


she chews...


she sucks...

"do i have anything on my face?"

lettuce, anyone?

we've got roll-age!

0ct. 18, 2009

so many pumpkins, so many loud drums.

on saturday, we headed up to nh to pumpkinfest. we prepared adequately for the 2 hour drive and came home feeling like we had finally completed a successful family trip (aside from avery not napping at all in the car like we expected) :)

we may have prepared for the car ride, but didn't manage to bring extra batteries for the camera once we got there. i was planning on shooting a ton of pictures and hoping that i got a few good ones. we got these before the camera shut off...


avery wasn't sure what to think of the thousands of pumpkins, but she was sure she didn't like the loud band that marched right in front of us when we were watching the costume parade :) it was fun to reminisce with zane about the years we'd watch the parade and think "wouldn't it be fun to take our kids here someday??" it met our expectations and then some.

week in review.

last week was not the most pleasant. but it wasn't all bad. i thought of doing many small posts about many small things, but i'd rather list.

*nola's 4 month appointment. weight-too big. height-tall. doctor-not my favorite person. he had a pretty poor demeanor and bedside manner the entire appointment, which made me feel like a failure as a mom. anyway, we've changed her feeding schedule drastically. 6oz every 4 hours. she's doing great with it, and hopefully by her 6 month appointment, she'll be back on the growth chart in a more appropriate location. she is a healthy, happy little girl though, which he didn't have the decency to acknowledge. blegh.

*i went to the dentist for the first time in a LONG time, when it wasn't an emergency situation with me in pain. i may have cried through the entire appointment, but i did it. and the dentist was exceptional and made everything ok. not looking forward to the 5-6 hour appointment next month, but at least i'll be sedated ;)

*it snowed on friday morning. and again today. what???

random pics...

10-10

yesterday was our 5th anniversary :) with the help of the grandparents, we were able to go out to a bookstore and dinner and have a really nice break from our regular routine. before we left, we watched part of our wedding dvd and let avery see some of it. she really couldn't get over us being on tv, it was hysterical. i could be really mushy and write a whole bunch of stuff about our wedding and the last 5 years together, but i'll leave that for zane's card ;) just a couple pictures...

one of my favorites from the day...(i had given zane a pocketwatch as a present)

being pronounced mr and mrs... i acted like a fool through the whole ceremony, but i was just so excited :)

happy anniversary, love! can't wait to see what the next 5 years bring....

*sigh*

i may or may not have been on the verge of a breakdown between the hours of approximately 9am-12:30pm today, and the late afternoon walk with the family made it all better, if anything needed to be all better...avery walked holding hands, pulling along her toy doggy, stopping every few feet to "help!" when he fell over. nola fell asleep in the bjorn, and stayed sleeping after we got home and i flopped on the couch to give my shoulders a break (she's no lightweight!)

tomorrow is friday, tomorrow is friday, tomorrow is friday...

you can't please everyone...

like i said before, i've given up trying to get the perfect shot with them both either looking at the camera or both smiling. today i forgot that i had given up and was trying desperately to get them both to smile. i was making crazy clicking noises and "yi yi yiiiii" sounds, which avery loved. nola, not so much.

later, nola was nearing her limit with tummy time and avery was running circles around her. she paused for a moment to give nola a little kiss. i made her do it again since i missed the first one ;)

this morning, i was feeding nola and avery was eating her cereal at the table. she was singing something over and over. we've been changing the words to "lullabye, and goodnight" to "nola bear, we love you". avery took it upon herself to sing the lullabye during breakfast. :) sweet moment.

where chipmunks come to die

so there are about a dozen post titles that i could have used, all of which have a lot more to cover (and are a bit nicer) but this one just stuck in my head. we have 2 cats. and one of those cats (maybe 2, i never catch cleo), likes to capture chipmunks and drag them home as a treasure. it's gross to say the least. and as we were coming home from apple picking day #2 yesterday and almost ran over yet another deceased "monkey", zane coined the phrase "where chipmunks come to die".

onto more appealing subjects.

instead of buying a pumpkin at the orchard, we bought one from the grocery store and surprised avery when we got home. later that day we cut it open and let her scoop out the insides, something she adored doing last year. this year, not so much. very cautious with all the "stuff" and really only wanted to play with the seeds ;)

apple picking. again. we wanted to go on saturday, but torrential rains kept us at home. on sunday, we made our way out early with meema in tow. despite the bugginess and the mudiness, we all had a great time :) some pictures to prove it.



(i dont bother to wait for the pictures where they're both looking and/or smiling. it'll never happen ;))

and onto today. it's the one year anniversary of finding out we were going to be surprised with baby #2! it seems impossible that it was a whole year ago. it also seems impossible that we were anything but over the moon about our little nola bear. she completes this family and brings an extra dose of joy to our everyday lives. she's my favorite mistake ;)
last year on oct. 5th, sunday, just hours after i took a test (don't let the smiles fool you...we were scared out of our minds! :))

this year, oct. 4th, sunday, same apple orchard. so happy everything and everyone is happy and healthy!

beautiful moments #3,592 snd 3,593

it's always right when i'm at my wit's end and want to drive off into the sunset by myself for a week or two, when a moment happens that's just precious, perfect and makes all the frustration drive itself away. today i got 2 of those moments.

1. avery didn't nap today. nola woke up from her nap 10 minutes after i *thought* avery was down. just enough time to fold a few burp cloths. i decide to throw the girls in the car and get a coffee. i vow to myself not to get avery a doughnut. cause in my head i didn't want to encourage her non-napping. of course i cave and get her one, even before she said "peeease?" take the long way home and suddenly realize it's pretty quiet in the car. look in the mirror and both girls are sound asleep. their heads turned towards each other.

2. bedtime tonight was challenging. thought i had nola asleep, so i join avery and zane for avery's routine. nola starts crying. no, wailing. i want/need to go in and "fix" her, but things work 190% better when zane and i complete bedtime together and leave together. emotions are escalating and all over the place. words exchanged, doors slammed, etc. in the end, i got nola and brought her into avery's room while zane read some stories and we stood for the last story at avery's crib. as zane was reading, avery was bouncing and nola was watching her and smiling/laughing. it was the perfect way to end a far from perfect evening.