Chitter chatter, among other things...

Little Miss Julia is 6 weeks old today! Yay, we've made it 6 weeks having two kids and everyone is still intact. Woo woo! Here are a few things we've learned about her:

She's chatty
Or noisy, depending on what time of day you catch her. Anyway it goes, Julia is quite the Chatty Cathy. She's been a serious grunter since we brought her home from the hospital, but we are pleased to report that she's started to find her sweet voice! Though, I haven't been able to get it recorded because she will stop talking (and smiling for that matter) just as soon as I pick up my camera or camcorder. Must be the rights of a 6 week old, right?

She's a wiggler
If you put her down, she'll somehow manage to squirm her way very close to the edge of the couch or bed. I have to keep my eye on her, already.

She's strong
Julia has been in charge of her neck and head for about 3 weeks now. However, she is gaining strength in her spine and can flail her body about like a fish when you are holing her upright. You pretty much have to use two hands to hold her because she moves so much. She can actually squirm her way down to the boob

She's patient
I have to juggle both girls ALL the time, it seems like they both wake up at the same time or they both get "needy" the same time of day. Julia seems to be more content with vocal reassurance than, er, her sister was. If I tell her "it's okay, I'm going to feed you" I could probably wait 5 more minutes before she would start to freak out. Nice.

This Time Last Year

Well, this time last year we were enjoying our first Kentucky Fall, and it was fabulous. Much like the weather is right now, actually (currently 55 degrees). MUCH has happened in the past year and most all of it is logged on this blog. Hope you have enjoyed reading about our lives this past year!

Quite proud of herself after the Keeneland (race track) breakfast - we were going for a stroll. Be sure to click on this picture so it enlarges and you can get the full effect of the big cheese on Ellie's face.

Oh man, every time we used to pass this ceramic dog she had to stop and pet him.

She had discovered the underside of our table and played there constantly, that is, until she started hitting her head on it.

She could still wear this little outfit I made for her birthday (May) in October. No longer do I get to pick out her clothing and she won't wear it unless it's comfortable (in other words: knit). We were hanging at one of the 8 orchards here surrounding Lexington waiting on some friends to arrive.

Weekly Activities

I let her paint her hand and stamp it! It's for a future project.

Surprisingly, Ellie could string these little animals up quite nicely. She and I did the pig together and she did the hen and rooster by herself (and then got bored).

Tudi was supposed to do this with Ellie, but just ran out of time.

These lasted about 10 minutes.

We played with the lima beans for an entire afternoon. First, Ellie had fun moving them about from container to container. Then, they became "fruit" or "drinks" and noise for a shaker.

Ever played with these cornstarch pieces? You can wet them and stick them together to make little sculptures or stick them to paper, plastic, or most surfaces (but I wouldn't recommend it because they stain).

I tried to make a lesson out of these pom poms: they are soft, the beans are hard - comparing their shape, texture, and the sound they made in her jar with a lid. I'm not sure what was retained, but she was having fun.

Julia's activities for the week:

I'm not really into baby-wearing, but this is what I do with Julia when Ellie & I go play outside - walks around the block or just swinging in the back yard

She isn't sure she likes being on her belly that much, but she has NO problem holding up her head for a few minutes (and then offering some spit-up)

Hanging out on the floor of the playroom in her jammies

So, I realize that I haven't posted about or taken pictures of anything that Ellie has been doing lately (as in, oh.... the past 3 months, but I'm back on track I swear!). Probably because I've been busy with guests and attending to a newborn! But the past few days when we've been playing/working, I've been busy taking pictures.

I've made an interesting discovery. Ellie does not like doing quiet, sit-still activities - puzzles, matching, sorting, coloring, or just sitting still in general. Bummer! She received a lot of fantastic learning-ish stuff for her birthday (thanks to sensitive grandparents!), and a good bit of it were puzzle-type things. While she is fully capable of doing them, I haven't been able to spark her interest in any of the puzzles for quite some time and have pretty much given up on them all together. While my guests were here, it was nice to get to sit back and watch them all play with Ellie. In observation, it is more than obvious that Ellie prefers to learn from a wide range of active experiences. So, I have stopped trying to get her to do so darn many intensely-focused things and just let her lead the way in imaginative play. It's been a lot of fun, and a lot of pretending, throwing stuff downstairs (beanbags or sox or whatever we can find that isn't breakable), learning how to operate the cd player, sorting and folding laundry, playing with playsilks, and other things I can't think of right now. It's been fun!


E 28 mo
J 5 wks

First Day of "School"

I can't believe I forgot to post this (well, yes I can...)!

On September 9th, Ellie had her first day of Nursery School! She and I actually attended an open house on the 2nd and Ellie absolutely loved the classrooms, she didn't want to go home. It's an older program with a very nice set up. Let's see, there are only 6 kids in her class with mostly girls, there are 2 teachers that have been working the program for more than 8 years, and they have a lot more of the busy-body activities that Ellie prefers to do (large outdoor playground, a gymnasium where they ride trikes, and several kitchens, strollers, and even a few corners with gym mats). When I drop her off, she takes off towards the pretend microwave in one of their play kitchens, barely waving goodbye. Ellie has now been three times and comes home exhausted but chatty about her day. So far so good!

Hugs!

Pop & Tudi were in town in town for a little while and we visited Mellow Mushroom a few nights ago. No visit to Lexington is complete without eating good pizza. Besides, it was a rainy day so pizza was the best solution to chase away our soggy blues. Ellie was actually in a foul mood that day (the weather is to blame, of course) and dinner had been no exception. After ordering, Julia woke up and since it was time for her to eat I began breastfeeding her - with my trusty nursing cover (see the green & pink thing in the pic?). Then our food arrived. So I got to sit and watch everyone else eat until Julia was done. Meanwhile, Ellie found it great fun to peek in on Julia while saying "I see you!" Eventually, Ellie started giving me huge hugs and saying "I lobe you" and at some point she moved on to giving me kisses. Sweet one minute and fit-pitchy the next... the rites of a 2 year old!

Giraffe Wearing

You've all heard of baby wearing... well let me introduce you to Giraffe-Wearing!!! It's the hottest trend in stuffed animal ownership. It's the best way to bond with your stuffed animal while having your hands free to do all of your normal average 2-year-old activities. You can even watch movies with your giraffe in place! Have your mom dye you some scarves (previous post) and ask your dad to tie your stuffed animal on. It's as simple as that!

Julia is 1!

Month, that is! Actually, on the 19th she was one month old. But hey, who's counting, right? Julia is sleeping so well, she's smiling, cooing, and she actually chucked at me a few weeks ago. I'd say she's happy!

For now, her schedule is pretty simple:
6:30/ 7:00am Wakes up for her morning feed. Stays awake until around 8:00 and goes down for a nap.
10:00am, 1:00pm, 4:00pm Wakes up (in the morning I have to wake her up) to eat, stays awake for a bit and goes back to sleep around about an hour or so after waking to eat.
6:00/7:00pm she'll wake again wanting to eat and will usually stay awake for a long stretch. This is her unpredictable time of day, there are days when she gets so stimulated and tired she can't go back to sleep until the next feed.
8:00/8:30pm Beginning of "cluster feeding" as the Baby Whisperer calls it. Just grouping feeds together at night so she sleeps better through the night. I try to put her straight down after this feed for her bedtime, sometimes it works, sometimes it does not!
10:00/10:30pm Second and last cluster feed and I go to bed afterwords. I definitely put her down right after this feed, since I usually have to wake her beforehand so she's groggy anyway.
3:30/4:30am She's up for her middle of the night feed
6:30/7:00am Start all over!

Well that was more for my record-keeping than anyone else's... I must say, I'm very excited she's on this schedule at such a young age. I think some of it has to do with her birthweight (9lb+). Ellie was not on this schedule until she was between 2 & 3 months of age. They key for Julia has been making sure she gets full feeds and consistency.

Happy 1 Month Bday Julia! You are a charming and joyful little baby girl, we look forward to maaaaaany more months!

Made it!

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Have any of you ever seen playsilks for sale online or in a catalog? They are simply silks in various colors and go for a ridiculous $20 each. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but they're expensive for what you get. I thought since she is such a texture-lover, Ellie would really enjoy playing with these. And if you know me, I'm not about to go spend $20 on a piece of silk for Ellie to play with, especially if I think I can make it. SO. I googled them. Turns out that I'm not the only mom had the same thoughts. There are blogs and blogs out there with recipes on how to do it yourself. It was super-easy with Kool-Aid, vinegar and water. Who knew?

Ellie and Oma had tons of fun with them once they were totally dry!

Here's what I did:
- Bought 8 (30x30) scarves from Dharma
- Bought 8 packs of different color Kool Aid
- Dyed them! 1) Boil a large pot of water with 3 c vinegar, turn off, and submerge all 8 scarves. 2) Boil another large pot of water, with more than 8 cups. 3) Prepare the dye baths. When your water boils, mix 1 package of Kool Aid with 1c water & 1 c vinegar. Now take one of the scarves from the vinegar/water bath and place it in the Kool Aid mixture. 4) Allow your scarves to sit until the dye is absorbed and the water is clear. Probably about 10 minutes. Rinse in cold water until they are clear and hang to dry! Hand wash only.

Enjoy!

Little Miss Sunshine

I will have you all know that Julia is the most smiley newborn that I've ever seen. Given my extensive experience with newborns, (two, thus far) I know what I'm talking about. She smiles after she eats, while she's going to sleep, if you talk nicely to her, when her dad holds her, when Oma talks to her, when Ellie kisses her head, and just any darn time she wants. Ellie, on the other hand, didn't crack a smile until she was 6 weeks old. It's a bit hard to catch on camera, but I've taken a few pictures of her cute little smile.

Julia's First Bath

Once her stump fell off, Julia was able to have her first bath (on Sept 1st)! Ellie was more than willing to assist with the bathing of her little sister. Dan got Julia settled in the sink, handed the duties off to me, and he video taped the event (hence, no pictures of me actually giving her the first bath). Julia didn't seem to care one single bit that she was getting bathed, she took it all in stride. It was nice to have Julia smelling like a squeaky-clean sweet little baby!

A few firsts

Slept through the entire gameroom experience at Gattitown.

She also slept through her Mellow Mushroom dining experience. It's a good thing, too, because she would have wanted to eat.

Mellow Mushroom makes you do weird stuff. How do you like Ellie's second Big Sister shirt? One of my friends in town brought over dinner and (another) Big Sister shirt.

Well, since we have a two year old now, we can't just sit around on our bum all the time relaxing when Julia sleeps (oh how I wish that were the case). We pretty much have to get out of the house. So... because of this, by the time she was two weeks old, Julia has already had her first visits to a few local establishments: Mellow Mushroom, Gattitown, Schlotzsky's, and the mall. Yep, she's a traveler! We didn't get pictures of the mall or Schlotzsky's because I forgot. Woops.

Big sisters...

Are the coolest! At least that's what Ellie's shirt would have you believe.

Ellie has taken to her role of big sister quite well. We weren't sure how things were going to go around our house for a bit, but it almost hasn't phased Ellie one single bit to have Julia around. Probably because she has gotten lots of attention for being a big sister now. Take, for instance, the shirt she's wearing. Her Auntie Maryann sent a gift for both of the girls and the shirt and tights were in the package for Ellie. When she opened her new clothes, Ellie immediately stripped and donned her new shirt & tights. She wore them for the rest of the day around the house. Then, the next morning wore the big sister shirt again. All day. Good thing it was actually cool outside!

Nail Painting Rocks

One morning while playing with her two aunts, Ellie spotted someone's colored toenails (sorry, can't remember which one!) and got pretty excited about them. Pretty excited is actually an understatement. Sadly, there was no polish in the house because all of my polish was gross when we moved from Shreveport (I never use it), so I trashed it. Ellie was told that she could pick out some polish from the store. So, later that day, she and Aunt Carol selected pink and blue polish while grocery shopping at Meijer. Ellie was super excited about having her nails done for the first time and sat as still as she could while Carol took on the challenge of painting small toe and fingernails. The end result made for one happy little girl!

The Aunts

About a week after Julia was born, Dan's sisters Aunt Joan & Aunt Carol came into town to meet Julia and hang out with their brothers. Although you would have thought they came in town strictly for Ellie's sake... she formed immediate attachments to her aunts and would inquire as to where they were any time they weren't in her sight. Joan, Carol, Dan, & Erik all hung out around the house, went to a brewery, and did some other stuff I can't remember. Since Julia was a week old when the visited, most of what they did is a complete blur to me, so I really can't write a good post about their visit. Sorry girls! But Ellie had a blast and learned some new tricks (like "pound it") from her aunts. She already can't wait to see them again!