Rock Tumbler

Why is my dryer making so much noise?

Oh.  Because this was in it...

That's one clean rock.  It's about the size of a golf ball.  I wonder where that came from?

My Sweet Singing Man

I just put all the kids down for their nap.  I'm currently listening to Vivienne playing with her new fox toy (thanks, Melissa and Brad!) and her other toys.  There is always some sort of toy (usually Baby Jaguar) rescue mission under way, thanks to Diego and Dora.

When I put Miles down in his pack n play, he asked, "Sing a song, Mommy?"  I said, "Of course."  We went through our usual repertoire - Itsy Bitsy Spider followed by Jingle Bells followed by Jesus Loves Me.  When you sing Itsy Bitsy Spider, you have to do all the hand motions.  Then when you sing Jingle Bells,  you have to bend down really low (which he reminded me, because I started the song standing all the way up).  Then you jump up on the "hey!" of the "one-horse open sleigh - hey!".  And then, for some reason, you have to yell "Bible tells me SO!" at the end of Jesus Loves Me. 

As I was walking out of the room, I said, "I love you so much, Miles."  He replied, "I love you so much, Mommy."

These are the everyday (extra)ordinary moments that I will miss so much.

Great Big Sister

Vivienne is a great big sister.  She loves taking care of "the baby" in so many ways.  She will often fetch her Sophie giraffe (on her own) and come running over saying,"Here baby.  It's your Sophie giraffe!"  She loves to help change her diapers and bring her toys and hold her (though holding her usually ends quickly because Evelyn does not always love this).  Vivienne will even occasionally share her beloved Bea (her Piglet lovey) with her sister.  Now THAT is love.

Last night at dinner, Vivienne was feeding Evelyn her dinner.  She literally sat for about 10 minutes, putting spoonful after spoonful of chili, hummus and applesauce in Evelyn's mouth.  Vivienne loved playing mommy and Evelyn loved getting food, so this was definitely a win-win situation. 

I can't believe my "baby" is feeding my baby.  When did this happen?

Cousins

I have to say that I am incredibly impressed with myself for actually blogging something on the day it happened.  What can I say?  When you have really low standards, you easily impress yourself.

I'm very excited for Mary and Brian, who are in the process of moving to the San Jose area.  Brian recently took an awesome new job with Apple, so they are moving out west again.  While Brian is in California starting his new position, Mary brought Helen and Elizabeth to visit the Carolina contingent for a few days.  They are staying at Mom's house (and she is loving having all this time with her grandbabies).  It was so wonderful for us to meet sweet little Helen (who is only about 2 months old right now) for the first time, and we have had a great time getting Miles and Vivienne together with Elizabeth, who is only about a month and a half older than them.

This morning, after playing at Grandma's house for a while, we took all the kids to Bond Park.  Elizabeth rode in our car, and it was fun to see their little heads bopping along to the music in the back.

The kids really enjoyed letting out some energy on the playground.  After some climbing and sliding, we took a "hike" to see the lake. 

 This shot is a great example of Miles and Elizabeth's only gear:  high.

My little ray of sunshine was her usual, easy-going self.  She rode along in the Ergo while we explored the paths and threw pine cones in the water.

After Bond Park, we took the kids to Chick-fil-a for some refueling and more fun in the play space.  Unfortunately, Vivienne took a nose dive right into one of the steps there, so we may be taking her to the dentist tomorrow to check out a tooth trauma.

After naps, Mom, Mary and the girls came over to play.  We got out the water table and sprinkler and the kids had a blast together.  The sounds of giggles and squeals fill the air when these three are together.

We only have Mary and the girls here for another day or so, but we're so happy to see them before they start their next big adventure in California.

Sunday Fun

These are just some photos from last Sunday.  The kids were wearing their first spring outfits of the season.

Pretend Play

I keep meaning to blog about this, and then I forgot to actually sit down and put pen to paper (or fingers to keys?).  For a couple months now, Miles and Vivienne's play has taken on a new dimension:  a lot more pretend play.  For example, they will play with their little firemen driving their firetrucks, and then the little firemen will climb up the ladder onto the couch and save the day.  Or Vivienne will tie a little rope to one of the banisters and pretend to climb it, exclaiming,"I'm coming to save you, Baby Jaguar!" (from Diego).  When the kids are going down for their naps, I can hear Vivienne in her room, playing with her stuffed animals, singing them songs and telling them stories.  It's all really adorable, and it is fun to watch their play evolve.

Evelyn is 8 Months

Evelyn is now 8 months old.  This past month has brought a new first - a tooth!  Her bottom left tooth has just poked through, and I think the right one is not far behind it.  She had a few weeks there where she was waking a lot more frequently at night, and I think this was due partially to that tooth coming through.  Thankfully, she is back to waking just once a night now.

The weather has warmed up just enough for us to spend some time sitting outside on the grass on a blanket.  Evelyn really loves being outside and watching the breeze blow through the trees and the birds fly by.  She has a darker complexion than her siblings, which probably means that she will be less inclined to sunburn.  I will still have to be diligent about keeping the sunscreen on her, though.

She sits up very well now, and enjoyed her first bath with Miles and Vivienne.  It was incredibly sweet to see them all in the bath tub together.  Miles and Viv enjoyed stacking foam letters on her head and "helping" to wash the baby.  Evelyn got knocked down more than a couple times, though, so the threesome bath is a rare treat.  We will have to start trying it more often now, because she has become more and more stable at sitting up.

She has little interest in crawling so far.  I put her on her stomach, but she is usually pretty quick to just roll right back over onto her back.  She is showing some interest in learning how to reach toys that are further away, but she still seems to use her rolling to obtain them instead of pushing up on her legs. 

Evelyn loves to eat, which is no surprise.  I have enjoyed not making any baby food this time (no pureeing, no ice cube trays, no messy spoons).  The baby-led weaning has gone very well.  Instead of baby foods, we just give her finger foods and larger chunks that she can gnaw on.  She loves pita bread, applesauce, cheese, rice, beans, cheerios, sweet potatoes and other foods, but she seems to have found a special place in her heart for cantaloupe.   I'm sure that the cool melon also feels good to her teething gums.

She has just recently started clapping, and it's really sweet to see her giggle when we clap back.  Her clapping is still not incredibly coordinated, but it seems clear that she is trying to clap.  She makes lots of new consonant sounds and enjoys experimenting with her voice.

Evelyn is still an incredibly mellow baby.  She is very easy-going and rarely fusses much, unless she is hungry or tired.  She is a great sport about hopping in the Ergo and letting me wear her to the park or playground or hiking with her brother and sister.  She wakes up most mornings around 7:30 and usually doesn't go to sleep again until around 1 pm.  At that point, she is eager to take her nap, but she still usually doesn't fuss much beforehand.

We love watching our youngest daughter blossom into a little toddler.  Some days seems tiring and endless, but I know that I am going to miss these sweet baby days when I have three "big kids" running around the house.