Girls Nights

I've enjoyed some wonderful girl time with my three far-away friends this past month: Rachael, Chanda, & Ryann.

Rachael was there in spirit when we enjoyed the yummy Japanese treats she sent us:

Fondue night with Ryann when she was in town for her sister's graduation:


Alaina met Ryann & Chanda:

Train ride at Burke with the kiddies and Chanda:

Lizzie had girl time too. She loves her annual playdate with Maeve:

Yesterday we went swimming . . .

"Playing" with Meg Pomeroy.

The Last Straw . . .

Last night, on my way to pick up Drew in Arlington, I missed my exit. When I tried to right myself I became hopelessly lost. I found myself at National airport twice, Shirlington, Crystal City, and the wrong way on a one-way street before I finally found a way back onto the north-bound freeway and to the appropriate exit. The whole thing wouldn't have been so bad if my cell phone wasn't dead. As it was I was over an hour late to pick up Andrew and missed a visiting teaching appointment.

Andrew was not amused (in part because I missed the exit in the first place because I was talking on my almost-dead cell phone thereby distracting myself and using up the remainder of my precious battery). He said it was "the last straw" and on the way home he insisted that we purchase a GPS for me. I have been resisting this for years, but I'm not sure why. So far I like GPS.

Last Day of Kindergarten

Ah. So sad. She's getting so big and old and I'm not ready for it. Anyway, after a quick photo . . .

and some teacher gifts, we had lunch with friends at Lizzie's favorite restaurant (Panera).

Our summer has officially started and Lizzie's suddenly interested in hauling a baby doll everywhere with her:

She's also picked out her wedding dress:

When she saw it, she pressed her face to the glass and said "Oh Mommy I love it! It's so beautiful! Can we buy it?! Please, please, can we?"

.

Sidenote: Lizzie had 37 tardies this year. I have to admit it surprised me. The first quarter she had 6 tardies and I thought we were doing better, but the last quarter she had 13!

Oops

This afternoon I took Liz and her friend, Adrienne, to Lake Accotink park for a playdate. Things started out good with the girls running in the sand and building "snowmen" out of mud, then they asked if they could put their feet in the water. Sure. I was busy feeding Alaina and watching her play in the sand and before I knew it the girls were flinging mud and Liz was up to her waist in the murky water (wearing white shorts, naturally). As we left, a park worker said we should not be in the water because it's dirty because blah, blah, blah. I can't remember exactly what she said but I got the impression that the water was toxic or otherwise unhealthy and I felt pretty guilty for letting the girls play in it so much (or at all).

Alaina loved playing in the sand. I was happy to see that she does not have the same issues Lizzie did. . . . Today, after some coaxing from Drew, Lainey picked up a Cheerio and popped it into her mouth. We were absurdly excited about it. It's so funny what you get excited about as a parent.

Last night we enjoyed a night at the Potomac Nationals game:

Rude

So yesterday morning I weighted myself and I'm within a pound or two of my pre-Alaina weight (still a ways to go for pre-Jacob, to say nothing of pre-Lizzie). I was feeling pretty good about myself until an awful old woman asked if I was pregnant. What is it with people?! Think first. Speak second.

We survived and enjoyed our ward camp out last Friday night thanks to our spanking new 8-man tent! Up until Thursday night all we had was a 4-man, which had served us very well when it was just the two of us (graduation gift from Julie--thanks again!), but was crowded with just Liz. Not only is the new one twice the floor space, I think it's twice the height too.

I felt slightly embarrassed at the camp out when we set it up because almost everyone else had reasonably-sized tents. Ours looked like a McMansion in comparison, but it was great at lights out when there was room for Liz to sleep on her own bag. There would have been room for the pack 'n play too if I could have found it. . . . Now we want to go on a more extended camping trip (two nights?).

We were home from camping by 11 a.m. Saturday and spent much of the day napping and washing ourselves and our gear. So much work for such a short time.

Daddy Daughter trip

Last weekend Andrew and Liz had a super fun daddy-daughter trip. They went to Sesame Place and The Crayola Factory:

Oh yeah, and they went to some boat museum:

This weekend we're going to attempt camping with the kiddos (wish us luck) . . .

9 month checkup

Sometimes I feel like an idiot at these checkups. I feel like I know my child, but I still find myself saying "I don't know" to too many questions. Does she bang stuff together? No sure, but she does bang on things. Does she respond to her name? Not sure, it could just be the sound of our voices. Does she imitate you? Not sure exactly, but she seems to babble in response.

This time I also had to say no to too many things. Does she crawl? No. Does she pull herself to standing. No. (It's just been this last week that she has even been willing to stand when we hold her up.) Does she scoot or roll to get to things? No (Drew disagrees with my assessment here).

Does she hold a bottle? To play with, but not to drink. She's happy to drink from a bottle or sippy cup if we hold it for her though. She also doesn't try to put food in her mouth. She just plays with the Cheerios and other baby treats and waits for us to pop them in her mouth for her. When I explained all this to the doctor she said, "Oh, she's a princess." Hmmmmm.

Stats: 25 3/4 inches long (7%), 16 lb 11.6 oz (15%). Here I thought she was getting so big, but she's still petite. It's funny because the other day someone asked her age and when I said 9 months, the lady said "oh, BIG baby." I think it was because Alaina was in shorts and the fat rolls on her things were quite evident.

(I should have taken the above picture before she got her hep b shot.)

Take home from our appointment: We need to work on movement.
We have been working on crawling and rolling, Alaina's just not into it yet. On Tuesday I put a pile of individually wrapped licorice in front of her to try to encourage movement (sidenote: she does not eat the licorice, she likes the crinkly sound from the wrappers).

Late

This morning as I was trying to hurry Liz out the door so she wouldn't be late for school she said, "I don't care if I'm late. I like to be late because then I can stop and look at all the pictures."

If she gets to school on time Lizzie waits in the cafeteria with all the other kids, and then her whole class is escorted to their classroom. If she is late she has to walk to class alone. Here I'd been thinking that she went straight there, but now I know she dawdles and looks at artwork hanging in the hallway and is even later than she would otherwise be . . . . Typical.

Below are pictures from Lizzie year-end picnic at school (moved inside thanks to last night's rain).

And the next picture is from the park yesterday. Thanks for the super cute dress Rachael!

More pix & a milestone

Milestones: Alaina ate Cheerios this weekend. I have always been nervous about babies choking on food. I was super nervous with Liz and put off giving her stuff for awhile. She was actually given her first Cheerios from Wendi Maney, and first popcorn from Sharon Pomeroy while they were babysitting her. Anyway . . . Alaina ate Cheerios, loved them, and didn't choke.

Food milestone/progress for Liz: she tried and liked both meatloaf and bananas (again). Hurray!

Below are a bunch more pictures taken by Penny Lutz (these are for you Nana and Papa):