welcome, little one!

it's almost 11 weeks after nola's graced this family, and we finally celebrated her arrival this weekend ;) we had a relaxed and wonderful gathering of close friends and family. AND, there were lots of babies!

allison with addison (5 weeks) and jane (2 years), carrie with adeline (6 months), meg with nola (11 weeks), kristin with hannah (11 months), me with avery (21 months)

it was tough getting a picture of the girls sitting and not looking mad or a blur of motion ;)

nola had a great day, enjoyed all the cuddles and attention that came along with her party and... she loved her dress ;) avery also did an amazing job having all these people in her house after she got up from her nap! she warmed up slowly and was running around playing with the balloons before too long :) we couldn't have asked for a more perfect day.

SO much thanks goes to grandma kathy for all she did to put this together! nola can't say much thanks yet, but i can speak for all of us to say this wouldn't have been possible without you and we love you bunches!!!

and even more good!

so i went out today and bought brown curtains for nola's room. got home, put them up as we put her down for a nap, and we're nearing the 2 hour mark for this nap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this hasn't happened in DAYS and DAYS! so so so so so so so happy that we're getting a little break and she's getting the rest her little body needs :)

and the good stuff...

though this week has been challenging in a way that i haven't experienced before, we've also had a really wonderful time...at times...

we went to a water park yesterday, got there before the rush of people. it was free, it was hot out, it wasn't too crowded! avery had a fun time playing on the playground and cautiously approaching the fountains. nola sat with me while zane took avery around the park. it will be so nice next summer for us all be able to play around and only sit out if we want to :)

today we had plans to go to a local, small zoo. the weather was cool and perfect for walking around and taking our time to look at the "amimals". she was pretty tentative with the first few exhibits (especially the big black yak who barked), but LOVED seeing the flamingos, bears and monkey. i wore nola and she slept the whole time (probably her longest nap in days!)

it was a really good morning for all of us, and we celebrated by going out for a mexican lunch. avery chowed down on refried beans, rice and salsa and would say "adios amigo" whenever our waiter left our table :) good times all around.

and then we came home and it all went downhill. but i've already posted about that. i've moved on to the positive :)

"run run run run run run run awaaaay??"

...this is what avery asks to do after every meal. i'm not sure where it started, but it's now how she tells us she's all done.

today, i think zane and i both want to run away :)

the girls are both sleeping now. but for the past 3 days, it's been a blur of 30 minute naps (nola), bloody murder screaming at bedtime (avery) and sheer exhaustion, frustration and defeat (zane and i).

you'd think that getting out of the house and doing stuff-pond, water park, zoo-would make everyone happier. maybe it does in the moment, but then we get home. routines are thrown off and then no one wants to be alone. well, i should say none of the kids want to be alone. i think i can say for myself (and also speak safely for zane) that we would be more than happy to be flown to a deserted island where there's not one other human in sight (or earshot) for a few hours (days? weeks? hmmm...)

who knows. maybe it's not that we've been out and about. maybe avery is still getting her darn i-teeth. maybe nola's thrush is sending her over the edge. maybe her reflux is acting up. maybe avery thinks we're downstairs watching 'elmo potty time' without her. if she only knew we're flopped on the couch, barely making eye contact, let alone conversation.

ah, the joys of parenting 2 under 2. i wouldn't trade it for the world-a nap, maybe- but man is it exhausting this week.

day out with our little animal :)

we're taking advantage of zane's last week at home. today we headed to walden pond with avery, leaving nola with grammy and gramps. when we pulled up to the house, avery started chanting "rammy's house! rammy's house!" she was a little let down when she didn't get out of the car, but we kept promising her we were going to the beach. as we were driving, she kept saying "nolyah? nolyah?"-she either just realized nola wasn't with us or maybe she missed her a little bit?!

it was such a beautiful day to be out and near the water. there wasn't much beach left at the pond-from all the rain earlier this summer??-but we spent the whole time in the water anyway, so it didn't matter much.

avery spent her time looking for fish in the water or pulling rocks out of the sand and putting them in her bucket. she's definitely still a bit wary of all the water, but she hasn't been around much water other than during her baths :) next summer we plan on being out a lot more and she'll get used to ponds, lakes, pools and beaches real fast.

it was so nice for us to both be able to spend some time focusing 100% on avery. i think she appreciated it as well...we were walking back to the car and had both of us by the hands and was giggling her little head off ;)

she can almost say anniversary :)

yesterday was my parent's 45th wedding anniversary! we helped them celebrate with a dinner out. the girls did amazing (nola hadn't napped all afternoon) and it was a really lovely night out. (nola could not get enough of gramps! even when he wasn't paying attention to her, she was staring at him just waiting to give him a big smile.) while we were trying to figure out the plan earlier in the day, i called my parents and had avery say "happy anniversary" when they answered the phone. it was pretty jumbled, but she did a pretty good job trying.

avery was helping grandma kathy finish writing her card. on the envelope she was doodling and telling us what she was drawing. the usuals: elephant, kitty, turtle...then she told grandma she was making a "w" (bubbo-boo!) and sure enough, she was making a zig-zag W. thinking it was a fluke, zane asked her to draw another one. she did the same thing. and then AGAIN at dinner! my mom has the envelope, but i want to get a picture of it :) maybe she'll be a writer someday and we have the important piece documenting her early start.

(just yesterday she also stopped calling dogs "oof-off''s" and instead said "goggy's"!)


avery and grandma after dinner, watching a little sesame street on the computer.

tonight we were sitting at dinner and zane had run upstairs to get nola. avery was saying something over and over and i wasn't paying attention. finally i looked at her and listened. she was eating the yolk of a hard boiled egg saying "i tried it! i liked it!" she must be paying attention to the yo gabba gabba episode where they sign "i tried it, and now i like it!" she was so darn proud of herself when i acknowleged what she was saying--and then got the video camera out and caught it on film. i'll upload it tomorrow :)

sunny days...

it has been so disgustingly hot and humid here the past few days. we've been taking walks in the morning before it gets really uncomfortable and then spend the rest of the day in the a/c :) yesterday we braved the afternoon heat and played with a new water toy. i got caught up with a high school friend this week and she brought a turtle sprinkler for avery. she loved it! maybe this will help her be less afraid of the shower head?? :)


nola and i didn't get in the water much. she was more interested in eating and watching everyone else have fun. we took the pictures instead.

this is nola's usual face once she sees the camera.

this is the face i get when i move the camera out of sight ;)

another serious look. love the furrowed brows :)


later nola was on the couch hanging out and avery jumped right up and started giving her kisses all over her knees and toes and arms. i caught her and asked her what she was doing and this is the face she gave me. i love how they both have their hands :) sisters.

tonight i was taking nola up to sleep and as i got to the stairs i heard zane say "should we let avery kiss her goodnight?" i just wanted to get upstairs, but we figured it's a good part of the routine. i started to turn back to find avery as she was running towards me saying "kiss!" i bent down and she kissed nola on her head, turned around and ran back to the playroom. melted my heart. she loves her little "nolyah".

wrapped

so avery and i are sitting on the couch watching sesame street. nola is sleeping and we're biding our time until she wakes up and we can go for a walk.

avery just looked at me and said "milk?"

"yeah, you can have milk. your cup is over on the table" i told her.

she looked at the table, then back at me.

"mama get it?"

when did she realize she's got me wrapped around her little finger??

with a face like this, how could i not get her the world?

little angel

aww, i guess my little buddy missed me and didn't want to wait for me to miss her. after she woke up at 12, 2 and 4, zane grumbled, "just bring her back into our room". so i did, she slept until 5:30, and i've spent my morning chugging coffee and fighting a bad mood. the skinny girl at the park this morning with a 7 week old baby didn't make things any better. i was hoping she'd say the baby wasn't hers, she was just the nanny but no...ah, another post for another day :)

9 weeks going on 18 years...

waaaaaaah. my two babies are in their own rooms. like the big girls they are. and i'm in my own room, being an equally big baby about it.

cousin henry has his own big boy bed now (yay henry!!!) and has been proudly telling people that his crib is going to baby nola. now we've got said crib, and the baby is using it just like henry assumed she would. but i miss her. chances are i won't miss all the sounds she makes in her sleep and wake me up and keep me awake awaiting her hunger cry. but still...

at least she looks somewhat happy to be in her bed ;)

i'm sure after she wakes up for her first meal tonight, i'll convince her that are room is much nicer and wouldn't she like to be closer to me?? we'll see...

better late than never...

i should be sleeping. but it's hard when a) it's still in the 8 o'clock hour and b)when i could stare at this little thing next to my side of the bed for hours.

i especially love the little piggies....

and...our stroller came today! and though i only took a short walk down the street to have a play date with a neighbor and her boys, i already love it :) it's the double version of the single jogger we have and love, so we decided to stick with what we knew.

avery's not sure what she thinks of having a friend to ride with yet. hopefully as nola gets older, more vocal and more interseting to a toddler, the walks will be entertaining in their own way ;) (ps, it was also about 98 degrees out and the sun was blinding. i think any longer of a walk and we all would have melted.)

in other news:

-nola's first nap of the day lasted from 8-10:15, with one or two "squaks" around 9, that i normally would have responded to but didn't today and she went back to sleep! we did the same for her second nap and that last from 11:45-2:15. YAY.
-avery woke up this morning saying "good morning king! good morning book, etc" i went in to get her up and she proceeded to say good morning to just about everything she had words for :)

-this picture just cracks me up.

tired.

so tired. just a quick recap of our weekend.


we worked on cutting some more of our teeth. ugh.



shared some fresh picked blueberries with g-ma kathy


tried out our big girl chair so we can all sit at the dinner table together

and learned how to eat pizza like mom and dad...

not included in picture form, but done nonetheless...

saw harry potter in the theatre (3 hours without responsibility!!! thanks g-ma kathy :)), painted nola's room, spent way too long on the phone with amazon.com about our stupid stroller that STILL hasn't arrived, went grocery shopping without any kids (thanks grammy!!), went to a little cookout with neighbors (good grief, it was h.o.t.), had one night of great sleep and one night of terrible sleep, and gathered lots of clothes and household "stuff" to get rid of/give away.

it was a great weekend, but i'm thankful it's bedtime.

8 weeks?!...and...Roo's home!!

you wouldn't think with thighs like these...

you could get a smile like this...

but nola proves you can and will ;)

(can i just add that i've never seen a more round head and i love every inch of it?!)

she had her 8 week checkup today and did great, despite the shots! she was a trooper and cried on and off for just a little while before napping a bit. her stats:

weight: 14 lbs 13oz.

length: 23 1/2 in.

she's still following her curve for length, but has gone off the chart for weight. the dr. wanted to look at if we were overfeeding her. so we explained our schedule with her, and after hearing how much she eats (4oz. every 2-3 hours), looking at her hands (they're large ;)) and hearing that most of zane's family is tall and my sister's and dad certainly aren't short, he concluded that most likely she's destined to be a tall girl with appropriate weight to match. much like avery :)

(we did get some medicine for her for reflux...it's a small amount and if it helps, great. if not, hopefully she'll outgrow the discomfort soon. :))

this morning we realized roo never came home last night and was still mia this morning. all day i'd go to the door and check to see if she came back for food, but nothing. i started expecting the worst and zane kept telling me that she had found a new family that fed her more and that was keeping her there and happy. i was somewhat glad to not have any definite answer, that way i could just assume she was hanging out in a new kitchen.

then after dinner, i went out on the back deck and called her a few times. nothing. i came inside and went to the front door. opened it and roo BOLTED inside and into the kitchen. she gobbled up one can of food (kicking cleo out of the way) and then roamed around mewing for more.

i think avery was happy to have her home :)

one more post...

k, this is my last post for the night.

just an album from the past month or so... :)

avery tries to say "hippopotamus" :)