Summer pics

Good times! Goodbye summer break!

 

 

 

Summer kiddos

Summer, summer, summer.

It’s going by too fast. I’m going to miss the long days at the pool and at the beach, swimming, playing, eating ice cream, sleeping through the night after a long, exhausting day. (I am not going to miss packing bags for the pool and the beach, wrangling kids in and out of wet bathing suits, wrestling one kid to put on her sunscreen while the other one makes a run for it, and bracing for meltdowns at the end of a long, exhausting day.) But, it’s all mostly fun, and we’re making memories, here, people! 🙂

 

Okay, now for the updates.

Nora:

She is so curious about everything.

She asks “Why?” a million times everyday.

She takes her time to say what’s on her mind, speaking slowly and carefully, her head tilted.

Her smile brightens her face and she is always up for a laugh.

She lets us know when she’s unhappy, and she knows how to put her foot down.

She is smart. One day, we saw a large bird at a lake, and I said, “Nora, look at that cool bird!”

“Oh!” she said. “That’s a great blue heron!” She was right.

She is learning to swim at camp and she’s gaining confidence. She doesn’t want to put her head under water, but she’s starting to kick and move in the water a little bit on her own.

Rosie

Rosie is getting all four molars at once. She is 16 months… right? One, two, three, four… no, 17 months. My brain is fried– that’s what having two of them does to you. 😉

Here’s my favorite thing that she does: she pats and rubs my back when I pick her up. It is the cutest thing ever.

She shakes her head no when you ask her any question. “Is your name Rosie?” No. “Do you like ice cream?” No.

She says so many words now: Mama, Dada, Rara, gogurt, nak (snack), fishy noise (goldfish), ors (horse), hi, ello, bah bah (bye bye), bebe (baby), bup (cup), names of friends and family…. She’ll repeat almost anything we say.

She knows how to turn the hose on and off, flush the toilet, climb up onto the stool to wash her hands, take off marker caps and color, open and close the refrigerator, and more.

She thinks Nora is just the bees knees. Nora can make her laugh more than anyone. She has also learned to guard her belongings, and to lash out when Nora takes something that’s hers.

When she eats or grabs something she’s not supposed to, she smiles and laughs and speed walks in the other direction as fast as possible.

She likes to do ugamuga before bed and rub noses with all of us.

Her thighs are impressive.

Summer’s not over yet! Enjoy!!!

Until next time!

🙂

 

 

Spring Love

 

Rosie likes to dance with a swinging torso, arms by her sides and a very serious expression.

She learned to say mama and then unlearned it and started calling me dada. She says bup (cup), blehbu blehbu (for food. She wants goldfish most of the time), goggle (this is a funny one. She says it perfectly. I was like- “That’s funny. It sounds like she’s saying goggle! But surely she means something else.” And then she picked up a pair of goggles in the tub and held them out to me. I don’t even know why we had goggles in the tub. “Gah gul,” she said. She doesn’t know mama yet, but goggle, she’s got down.) She kind of says knock knock. (Nora has been practicing her knock knock jokes).

She is pretty sure she’s a four-year-old. She climbs up and sits in chairs with the big kids, attempts to eat with a spoon (she won’t let me feed her), wears a smock and paints, colors with a pincher grip (seriously!). She just wants to be part of the team.

Nora is hilarious. I wish I was doing a better job of writing everything down because she says the funniest things.

I love her baby voice.
“Rosie do you want your bup? We’ll get it for you when we stop the car. You are sweetness. You are a youngster.”

She’ll crack herself up. “Rosie is a youngster! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!”

Our children are both very strong-willed. It’s good, right? Girls should be strong. Nora definitely knows how to hold her ground. This was a funny one: She kept trying to tell us from the backseat that it was an accident she had green marker all over her arms.

Kevin took a closer look and started laughing. “Nora– you wrote your name. That couldn’t have been an accident.”

Nora, frowning: “It was! It was an accident.”

“You accidentally wrote ‘Nora’ on your arm?”

“It was an accident!”

She was really holding her ground too.

Nora is so artistic. She gets very focused and in the zone.

She likes to pick things up and say “I need this for my collection” and takes it upstairs to her room, where she keeps a hand painted box full of items.

In her collection box: Rocks, flowers, pine cones, leaves change, buttons, hair– yes hair. I discovered a very large clump of hair in there, and that’s when I discovered she’d decided to give herself a trim. Help me. Oh boy.

They keep me entertained for sure. Love them so much.

Beach day

 

I’m so proud of you

Rosie walks at 13 months! We’re so proud of her and of her big sister, Nora for being so sweet and supportive of her. She has been cruising for a few weeks now, but she took her first few steps yesterday. Today, she walked across the floor all the way to Nora.

What else is Rosie up to? She has two new teeth on the top, so that makes eight teeth! She says Mama, bye (with a Southern accent– Bah!), hi (ha!), ball (bah!), Nora (Rara), and something that could mean this or that (datssss). She loves to point at everything and say datsssss or yayackkkk. She really wants to talk about everything she sees. She makes a bunch of animal noises– hooo hooo (owl), pppp (cow or elephant), gah gah gah (duck), raaaaaar (bear, lion or miscellaneous animal) and my favorite- blehbuh blehbuh (fish). She gives hugs, putting her head in your lap and kisses (mah!) She just learned how to drink from a sippy cup and a straw. She wants to join in the fun, whatever it is. She is always mimicking the noises that Nora makes, and she leans forward in her car seat so she can get a better look at whatever shenanigans Nora is up to. Her belly laugh is the best. She is so sweet.

Now, Nora. She really seems like a big kid now. She has a big kid double bed, she can get herself dressed, and she just looks so tall suddenly. She is very thoughtful when she speaks. Sometimes, she’ll look very pensive when I peer back in the rear-view mirror, and she brings up something we talked about earlier that day.

Here’s an example: “Mommy, can I drive the car?”

“When you’re sixteen, you can drive.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s how old you have to be. You take a class called driver’s ed, and you learn how to drive safely.”

(Insert Nora asking “Why?” several more times to whatever I say.)

“When am I going to be sixteen?”

“In twelve years.”

(Quiet for awhile)

“But, why am I three for so long and four for so long?”

“Well, you were three for a whole year, and now you’ll be four for a whole year.”

“But that’s a long time before I’ll be sixteen! What if I’m four forever?”

“You won’t be, I promise.”

I really enjoy these deep talks.

Nora loves art and gets very focused whenever she’s working on something. She made a beautiful painting called “Rainbow World.” She put her paint brush down and said she was finished. “When Daddy gets home,” she said, “I’m going to tell him that I’m not going to paint any more days.” I think she meant that she had created her masterpiece, and needed to paint no more. Luckily, she changed her mind about that later that afternoon and decided she’d like to paint again.

 

Happy first birthday, sweet Rosie!

How can that be? A year ago today, I was preparing to head to the hospital to get induced. I felt a whole mix of emotions. I was relieved to know when she’d make her appearance. She was over a week late, and the anticipation was getting to me, especially since there had been one snow storm after the other and I was worried my parents wouldn’t be able to get here to watch Nora when the time came. I was also anxious about getting induced. It felt strange to choose the date of her birth. She was nice and cozy in there. I didn’t want to force her to come out sooner than she was ready. I just wanted to know that she would be okay, a healthy baby. And, I was in tears as we drove away from the house that night (a year ago, tonight), watching 3-year-old Nora waving at me from the window. She didn’t know how life would change, that she would no longer be top dog all day long. I knew she’d be so happy throughout her lifetime to have a sister and a friend in the world, but I also knew how she was about to face the biggest adjustment she’d had to deal with to date, sharing Mommy and Daddy with another little being.

I couldn’t sleep that night in the hospital with all of these nerves and emotions. It didn’t help that I was hugely pregnant and having contractions, trying to sleep on a reclining chair, hooked up to a fetal monitor, Kevin curled up on a cot beside me.

The next morning, I woke up feeling anxious but also ready to go. They hooked me up to the pitocin at noon, and she was born at 2:56, less than three hours later. It was an extremely fast labor, and before I knew it, I was holding a beautiful, healthy baby in my arms.

What a blessing to have her in our lives. Rosie is the sweetest, happiest baby in the world. You only have to look in her direction and she lets out a belly laugh.

Her favorite thing to do is watch Nora and try to do what she’s doing. If Nora is coloring, Rosie is standing right beside her, trying to grab the crayons, knocking the whole box onto the floor. Nora makes Rosie laugh more than anyone. And Nora loves Rosie so incredibly much. Sometimes, Nora hugs and squeezes her a little too hard, and sometimes, she doesn’t want to share her prized possessions, but she also looks out for her baby sister, rubbing her head if she’s sad, playing peekaboo with her, saying “Aw, I love you, Rosie,” in a very sweet baby voice.

Rosie’s first word/noise was “woof” and “bbbhh” (an elephant noise). She points to pictures of animals and makes these noises, no matter what sort of animal it is. She also says “rrrrr” when she sees a bear or tiger. Her first (and only) word is Mama, but by that, she means baby. It’s funny because one of Nora’s first words was Dada, and by that, she meant baby too. Rosie loves to hug her baby doll, say “Mama” and give the baby a hug and a pat. She gives kisses too, but not on command.

This morning, I think she started calling me Mama for the first time. I had just put her down for a nap and I could see her in the monitor, standing at the edge of her crib. “Mama. Mama. Mama.” That’s it, it’s over, I thought. She’s got me wrapped around her little finger. I went back upstairs to rock her.

She does “all gone,” and “so big,” with hand motions. She can pull herself up to stand when holding on to things. She crawls very vigorously and with sound effects. Nora and Rosie like to “chase” each other. She has two teeth on top and four on the bottom. Around 8 months, that one rogue tooth came in on the bottom left side, and then around 10 months, they started to fill in every other tooth like a jack o’ lantern.

She warms my heart– the little noises she makes when she points at things, the smiles she gives me, the softness of her fuzzy little head.

I’m so grateful for my two girls. They give us so much joy. Happy first birthday, sweet little Rosie!!!

Love, Mama

 

Here are some pics from our little winter trip to the beach:

 

February pics

I call you Nokius

Kevin: Nora there’s a fox over there, look! Nora: Oh wow! Today? Kevin: Yes right now. On the side of the road. Nora: Oh! when we were driving home? Kevin: Yes, two seconds ago. Nora: Oh! You mean today?

Nora: Daddy? Kevin: Yes, Nora? Nora: Is it Valemtimes day today? Kevin: No that’s in February. Nora: Oh! Why?

Nora: Mommy, can I take my shoes off? Me: Sure. Nora: Oh. Okay. Why?

Leah: Why does Nora keep knocking down our castles? Nana: Because she’s three. Nora: Yeah, well… I’m a little bit young so I don’t know things.

Nora: Mommy, when is Rosie going to be older? Me: She’s getting older all the time. But in three years, she’ll be your age. Nora: Mommy? Me: Yes, Nora? Nora: I call you Nokius! Me: Nokius? I like that. What does that mean? Nora: It means you know things.

Nora: Wosie is my best friend! I love Wosie. Wosie’s so cutie. It’s okay, Wosie wosie petosie. Don’t cry. Mommy will feed you when we get home!

Me: Nora, did you like the fireworks? Nora: (Sighs) yeah. Yeah. But. I couldn’t get them out of my eyes! Because. They were a little bit too bright for me! So, so, so, I covered my eyes like this. (Puts hands over eyes.) Because. I couldn’t get them out of my eyes!

Nora: Well. Today, it was just a little too bright. Because. I couldn’t actually sleep today. But. I could actually sleep. But it was a little scary in my bed. Me: Oh, why was it scary? Nora:  Because. There were pictures in my eyes. And that’s why I wanted to sleep in your bed.

Rosie (4 months):
She stares intently at people and things and has started to grab and hold onto toys. She reaches out for my face and grabs at my chin. It’s the cutest. Her fingers are usually covered with slober because she sticks both hands in her mouth and sometimes tries to smile talk with them like that. She loves making noises and likes to chat, make eye contact and interact. She has started making a squealy noise that sounds a little like an angry cat. She is very smiley and happy. She is perfectly chubby, soft and so much fun to hug and squeeze. When she’s sitting on my lap she likes to look back up at me and hold onto my arm with love in her eyes. No sass. Unconditional love.

May pics

The bear is ready to go!

Can you believe Nora is two and a half?

I just love the imaginary life she has with her “guys.” She likes to pretend she’s mommy. Today, she carried Kermit the Frog around and had a little conversation with him: “Let’s have a picnic. You wanna hold my hand? Come. We have a special picnic. K? You wanna sit here? Put you on the high chair. K? Put your feet through. We have special food for you. Here’s your bib. You wanna get down?”

Sometimes, her mommy/teacher voice doesn’t sound so sweet. Another conversation with Kermit: “Sit right there. I want you to listen. Okay? No! No! I want you to listen to me.” (Ugh, I hope I don’t sound like that.) “Don’t do dat! Don’t put popcorn on the floor.” And, “Don’t hit.”

But more often than not she’s nice to them. “What’s wrong turtle? He had a boo boo in his hand” (Gives him a kiss.)

Nora in her crib in the morning holding her bear to me: “The bear is ready to go.”

Me: “Where is he going?”

Nora: “Uh… pizza.”

I love the face she makes when she holds one of her guys up close and says, “aww he’s so cuuute,” endearing little lovey face, little coy smile, chin tucked to chest.

She’s started using the potty more frequently before bed and in the morning. She even asked once to go in the middle of the day and she went pee pee!

She got her two bottom molars and one top one. She was not a happy camper when that top one was breaking through.

Nora in the car: “I want a bar.”

Daddy: “We don’t have a bar.”

Nora: “But we have a packet maybe?”

Sometimes she sounds Russian: “What I holding in my hand?” “What I wearing?” “What I have on my pants?”

When she wakes up in the morning, she’ll say, “What are we doing today?”

She started saying “Oh my goodness!” Daddy pointed at a building and said it looked like a castle. “Oh my goodness, it is!” she said.

I went in one night to check on her and she woke up for a second, her hair a mess. “It’s sunny outside today,” she said and then went back to sleep.

I just love her adorable pronunciation like “hoteeel” and “baycation” and the way her mouth moves in an exaggerated way when she talks. I love the way she pauses between each word and the way she seems to be thinking so hard about what she wants to say before she says it.

Every once in awhile I rock her the way I did when she was a little baby and it reminds me of that time. She looks up and off into the distance, big eyes, pretty lips, mouth slightly open. Her breathing slows down. I can tell she’s about to fall asleep, her eyelids drooping, but then she reaches out and touches my face. “That your eyebrow?” she yells. “That your hair?”