Today we decided to cross a couple of more things off our summer "to do" list. We spent a fun morning downtown. We drove down and parked near the Gallivan Center. We hopped on the train and headed over to the Farmer's Market. The downtown Market is a lot of fun on a Saturday. There is so much going on, but it is really busy. There are tons of people, strollers, and even dogs. There are booths of veggies, fruit, handmade items, music, and lots of choices of food for lunch. We mostly just walked around. We bought a fruit cup that we all shared since it was too early to actually have lunch.
Paul walking through the market
Feeding Colin our fruit cup
After that we got back on the train and headed over to the city library. Colin loves to read but this was actually our first time taking him to the library. He really loved it. I am sure we'll be spending a lot of time at the library in the near future.
The City Library is fairly new. It is such a beautiful building.
We went in and headed down to the Children's floor. They had cute rooms that had little "hiding spots" to sit and read.
Colin loved picking out books to read
There was a water fountain outside
Colin going "night night" on the love sac
We went up to the roof to enjoy the views and take some pictures
Everybody had fun except maybe Audrey. She slept the entire time we were gone. She fell asleep in the car when we left. She woke briefly when we got there, but just for a few minutes. And she didn't wake up again until we were pulling in the driveway. She had a great nap and it made it easier for us. Colin fell asleep on the car ride home and ended up with a 3 hour nap. He definitely had fun, he was worn out.
Audrey has discovered how to put things in her mouth. She loves to chew/suck on stuff, mainly cloth. If she is wearing a dress then she is pulling it up and putting it in her mouth. The same goes for burp cloths. But....she already has a favorite toy. She loves this little blankie and sucking on it.
She loves to hold it while she is falling asleep. I don't give it to her in the crib but she likes having it for her cat naps in the swing.
Here is the answer to my last post. Colin is asking for Chocolate milk. He has always called milk "boo". When he first started talking he saw the cow on the milk carton and started calling milk "moo" but he doesn't say it right and says "boo" instead. We didn't even know that he knew the word chocolate, or what chocolate milk was. He has only had it once or twice. He was getting really frustrated that we couldn't figure out what he wanted so I felt bad and had to give it to him once we(Paul) finally figured it out.
It is funny how toddlers have a language all their own. I remember hearing our nephew Tyler talk early on and having no clue what he was saying. But Jen and Jason always knew exactly what he was saying. It's funny how parents are often able to speak this language and decode what they are saying. No one else will have any clue what the toddler is saying but their parents will know. Most of the time anyways. Today, that was not the case. Colin was getting upset because he kept asking for this and we COULD NOT figure out what he wanted.
"IWAH" means "I want".
As you can tell from the video, we were able to figure out what he wanted but do you have any ideas what he is asking for?
I had uploaded this video to youtube back in December of 08 when Colin rolled over for the first time. I wanted to be able to send it to the grandparents to see. It was one of the first videos I ever uploaded. I figured, since it was already there that I would put his "roll over" video in the blog also so that I have both of them here.
Today Audrey rolled over for the first time. So, she rolled over for the first time at 3 1/2 months old. See....this is why I love having this blog. It is helping me keep better track of all these things. I tried to get the camera out to get a video of her doing it. I definitely didn't get the best video, but I kind of got a video of her rolling.
Oh, my.....I have the MOST annoying video voice! Sorry!
On Saturday we headed down for a day at Thanksgiving Point. Colin likes "dinos" so we thought we'd take him to the dinosaur museum. He had a good time. He had fun looking at the "dino bones". He loves rocks so he even found the fossils pretty interesting. They had some interactive exhibits that were really fun for him.
There was a space exhibit that had a lot of interactive displays about light. Colin obviously didn't understand the science of them but he still had fun. We used this one to practice colors.
One of the interactive exhibits was this big "sandbox" where kids can pretend to be searching for dinosaur bones. They have these paintbrushes that you dust off the bones with. Colin had a lot of fun with it.
The other interactive one that he really liked was this water/sand exhibit. You were supposed to be digging in the sand searching for these little plastic dinosaurs. Colin mostly just enjoyed throwing the dinos in the water.
After the museum we had lunch and then headed over to walk through some gardens. It was really pretty and we took a few family pictures.
After pictures we ended the day getting some ice cream. It was a really fun morning. I think we all enjoyed it.
These are pictures of Audrey at 7 o'clock this morning waking up.....after she had been sleeping since 8pm last night. That's right....she slept through the night, 11 hours!
So, on Monday night she got up 3 times. Each night since then it has gotten better until last night where she slept all night.
When I went on maternity leave we cut down Colin's days at daycare to just 2 days a week. They couldn't guarantee us our days back when I returned to work so we made other arrangements. I am not working Mondays right now, and on Thursdays Colin stays with Papa for the day. They have been having fun the last couple of Thursdays. Last week they went to the aquarium. This week they went to the copper mine.
Colin doesn't have much of a hairstyle. He has the awful cowlick from my dad's family to make it worse. And....he's due for a haircut. So, I don't know what to think when he comes home from daycare and everyday they have styled his hair. Sometimes it is just spiked up, others it's a mohawk. In a way it bugs me, in a way it gives me ideas of what I might be able to do with his hair. It definitely hides the cowlick when you spike it up.
Here's the hairdo he came home from daycare with today.
I signed Colin up for swimming lessons yesterday, and the first class was last night. The class is Mon-Thurs at 5:30 for 2 weeks. Each class is 30 minutes long. He had a lot of fun. I didn't realize how much of an arm workout for me it was going to be. We worked on him laying on his belly, kicking his legs and paddling with his arms, blowing bubbles, laying on his back, and going under water. He did really well. On the way home he kept talking about it...."water, bubbles, kick, more." I guess we'll be going back tomorrow!!
We had a pretty lazy weekend. We just hung out at home for the most part. It was really hot so Colin spent a lot of time playing in the water trying to keep cool. Audrey and I opted to stay inside where it wasn't quite as hot.
Colin playing with his makeshift water table
He kept dumping cups of water over his head. After we went through 3 outfits we finally realized it would be easier to just keep him in a diaper.
Tummy time. I love her cute little ruffly butt
Sitting up a little but still needs head support
Big blue eyes(will they stay that color?) Playing in the play mat. She now grabs the toys and puts them in her mouth.
Busy, that is the word that describes this week, and as I assume, many weeks to come. I was busy when I was home on maternity leave trying to keep up with the house, dinner, and laundry in between time with the kids. Now, I'm back to work and we still have all that stuff to do. It's hard to fit everything in. My evenings are full of washing bottles/pumping supplies, preparing bottles for the next day, and packing bags all while trying to keep the house together and get some time spent with the kids. Oh, did I mention....I would like to fit in some exercise time also!?
Needless to say it has been crazy at our house. Hopefully as we all get in a routine and get used to me being at work it will all get easier.
Audrey is doing alright at daycare. Every time I walk in the building I get tons of comments on how cute she is and how much hair she has. The first day I picked her up her teacher said "she is the easiest baby ever". Today's comment was "she has the CUTEST clothes". However, she's having sleep issues. She's not taking very consistent or long naps at daycare yet. Plus she is now getting up at 630, when she was getting up at 8-9. I guess I should have prepared her better for the early wake time. Yesterday she took 6 naps that were between 20-40 minutes each. Before this week she was doing 3, with a catnap before bed. So now we are going to work on getting her bedtime a little bit earlier so she's getting enough sleep at night and see if that helps her start to figure out this new schedule.
Colin and Audrey get dropped off in the same room in the morning because they get there so early. Within the hour Colin switches to his room.
Here is Colin showing his sister the ropes at daycare.
(or....she was 3 months on Monday, takes me awhile to get the post up sometimes)
I don't want her to be 3 months. First, because she is growing WAY too fast. Second, because it means I am going back to work. I go back to work tomorrow. I'm not ready for it.
Audrey is continuing to grow and grow and I think she's turning into a little chunker. Her weight is about 11lbs but that is just by me weighing her on our scale at home. She won't have another dr's appointment until next month.
She is wearing 0-3 month and 3 months clothes. I haven't taken out any of the 3-6 months yet, I am not ready for those to start fitting. She is growing out of a few of the 0-3 things but I think she's still got a decent amount of time in most of it. She is in 1-2 size diapers. However, I don't think they fit the greatest. I think she needs to move up to size 2. We have quite a few explosions but I can't bring myself to waste all the size 1-2 that we have. We'll be switching soon though.
She is eating every 3 hrs during the day. It's almost always 3. She doesn't ever need to eat sooner than that anymore but she will sleep through a feeding and go longer sometimes. She has taken 5 oz the last few times she has had a bottle. I think we'll be sending about 5 in the bottles to daycare.
She goes down for her naps really well. You can tell when she gets tired, it's one of the only times she gets fussy. And she'll rub her eyes. It is still usually about 1 1/2 to 2 hrs after she gets up. I put her in her crib, still swaddling her, and she falls right to sleep on her own. She sometimes has a tough time falling asleep if she is still out and in her bouncer or being held though. She'll fall asleep in her swing or carseat really well though. She doesn't take the longest naps, and they're still really inconsistent. Sometimes she'll sleep 20 minutes, sometimes 2 1/2 hrs. She usually takes 3 naps a day but still needs a cat nap between her 5pm and 8pm feeding. She doesn't quite make it the whole time.
Her nighttime sleeping has continued to get better. She eats the last time between 8-9pm and then goes to bed at 9 almost every night. Nighttime is 11-12 hrs so she gets up for the day between 8-9. Her longest stretch at night now has been 8 1/2 hrs. She often does 8ish hrs and only gets up once. However, it is still really inconsistent. She will do that for a few nights and then go back to 5-6hrs and getting up twice. The really nice thing is that when she gets up she only eats for about 6ish minutes and is right back to bed. I am only up 15 minutes between a diaper change, feeding, and burping. So it definitely is getting better and I am thankful for that. I hope she sticks to that 8ish hours when I start work!
She is getting so much more alert. She loves looking around at everything. She smiles and coos at us nonstop. Although I think the one that gets the most smiles/coos is her fan in her room. She is completely in love with that fan and just smiles away at it the whole time we're doing diaper changes. She is getting better at tummy time. We've really been working on it a lot lately. She lifts up her head and looks around some but doesn't yet push up with her arms. I am cheating though and most(but not all) of our tummy time is on the boppy. She is starting to really bat at things with her arms. She'll hit the bird on the bouncer or the toys in the play mat. She can entertain herself for quite awhile with those. She is really good now about not always needing to be held. She is pretty happy in the swing or bouncer or play mat. It takes quite awhile before she gets bored and wants attention. She also loves being outside. She is so happy when we're out in the fresh air.
I thought I would do a post of our daily activities/routines while I was home on maternity leave. SO, since it's my last day home, I better do it today.
Today started at 6:45 when Paul opened the garage door to go to work. This woke Colin up and he was ready for the day. He always has to bring both his dogs and both his Elmos out of the crib with him.
His morning routine includes sitting on the couch and watching "Elmo T" which translates to Elmo on the tv. He did this for about 15 minutes while drinking some "moo" or as we call it, milk.
He told me "potty" as he was getting ready to poop and then wanted to go sit on the potty. However, we have yet to get him onto the potty before he actually goes. I then chased him around the house for 10 minutes to get his diaper back on and get him dressed. He had waffles for breakfast.
Audrey got up just before 8 o'clock.
I got her up, changed her, and then fed her while Colin played with his cars on the coffee table in front of me.
After feeding, she hung out on the couch with me for a bit while I pumped.
Then we all played together on the floor. Audrey did tummy time and Colin played basketball.
Afterwards, I got around and finished getting the kids around and we headed out to Walmart. Now, I can't say this is a typical day on maternity leave because it is actually the first time I have taken both the kids somewhere by myself. I keep on being paranoid that I'm going to get out, Audrey will need to eat, and I won't be able to contain Colin while I feed her. She is pretty predictable now and we were able to time this trip during a nap. However, because we were out, she only took a short and interrupted nap.
When we got back from Walmart Colin and I played outside for a bit while Audrey was in her swing.
Then, she was ready to eat again. Colin went out to swing with Papa while I fed Audrey.
After Audrey was done eating, she fell asleep in the swing and it was time for Colin to eat lunch. The only problem was, after saying he wanted to eat he then decided he didn't want to. It was an ordeal that included a meltdown. He ended up eating some and then headed in to read books and go down for a nap. He went down at noon.
Audrey asleep in the swing
Since they were both sleeping I decided to go workout for a bit. I have been able to get workouts in most days of my maternity leave. Either I could time it while both of them were sleeping or I'd be able to do it while my dad took Colin for a walk and Audrey slept. Working out has been a little tough since the accident though, I can't do too much without getting pretty sore. So I just did 45 mins on the elliptical.
After my workout I got an shower and got around. I was able to sit down for a few minutes before Audrey woke up. I fed her again at 1:45 and then Colin woke up at 2. We had to head out after he got up to pick up Papa from a dr's appointment.
When we got home we all played for a bit. Audrey got more tummy time and then Colin and Audrey played together while she was in the bouncer. I got a load of laundry in and took out some chicken for dinner.
Audrey went down for a nap at 3:40, finally getting one in her crib instead of the carseat or swing. That nap didn't last long. She was up again in 30 minutes.
I continued cooking dinner and fed Audrey again while dad took Colin for a walk.
When they got back we picked up and vacuumed the floor. This is what the floor looked like before we picked up
The floor after being cleaned
Dinner was at 5:30 and Colin ate much better than he did at lunch. Daddy got home a little after 6, after going to Costco to pick up some groceries and get gas in my car.
Audrey was up until 6:45 when she fell asleep on my lap. She can't quite make it to that last feeding yet without needing a little cat nap. Colin proceeded to strew toys all over our recently cleaned living room until bedtime. Daddy got Colin chagned into his pjs. At 7:15 Audrey got back up and at 7:35 I headed in to read books to Colin and put him to bed. Afterwards I fed Audrey and then pumped. Paul and I worked on getting everything ready for my first day back to work and the kids going to daycare and then were able to sit for a few minutes and watch tv. Audrey had a hard time going to sleep and didn't go down until 9:30. We were in bed shortly after that. It was a busy day. I'm going to miss days like these when I'm back at work.
A post about our day wouldn't be complete without a picture of this
