Laines Update

Things I don't want to forget about one-year-old Alaina in the upcoming years: her cry often sounds like a laugh, she likes to point at us, she wants to eat whatever we eat (whole pieces and with forks), she signs "all done," trys to write with pens, she still scoots on her butt, and likes to play games (peek-a-boo or offers us things to examine then takes them back). We all love the pocket on the bib. Yes, she's eating lunch from the chair instead of her highchair. Long story.

And, she is learning to walk. So cute.

Soldiers & Singing

This last weekend our Stake collected thank you notes and supplies to send to the soldiers overseas. Here's Lizzie's note: It's her as a soldier (don't all girls wear fancy skirts in combat?). The little dots are gunfire and the big circles are bombs.
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Also this weekend Drew sang a duet at a ward fireside. He was filling in for someone so he didn't get the music till Friday night and only had two rehearsals. I thought he did a marvelous job and am so proud of him. When I married him I didn't know he had such a nice singing voice. It's kind of fun to learn new things about him through the years.

Lizzie's Sixth Birthday!

We began our celebrations by decorating Lizzie's room: pink streamers in the doorway and tissue pom poms above her bed. We had a special pancake breakfast complete with a balloon chair and tiara. Liz was really excited about all this, she's only frowning because I'm taking her picture.

At school I let her buy pizza for lunch and brought cupcakes for her classmates.

When she returned from school with her friend, Jordan, for a last minute playdate, we found a surprise gift from Uncle Dan on our doorstep. She loved it.

Later that evening we took her to the Silver Dinner (Laina went to a sitter) for a special birthday dinner. She loved picking music at the at-table juke box and having people sing "Happy Birthday" to her.

The next day we had a birthday party with friends at a local rec center. We ate pizza and cupcakes.Lizzie opened presents and handed out thank you gifts (shower gel with a shaker box thank you card that coordinated with her shaker box invitations). We also made another mixed CD for the kids which is becoming a bit of a tradition.

Then, she and her friends swam in the indoor pool. And Drew, good-naturedly got in the pool to play with the kids. At one point I saw half them hanging off him in some sort of train. Eventually his eyes became so red and sore from the chlorine that his vision was blurred.

Things went well. The only snag was that as we were approaching the party site Andrew and I realized that neither of us had packed a swimsuit so Drew had to race back home to get his and missed the food and presents part.

Thank You!

Thank you Aunt Julie!

With Love,

Alaina

Dan Visit

We enjoyed a brief visit from Drew's brother, Dan, last weekend. Among other things, we went out for Thai food and Dan introduced us to yummy tom kha gai soup (actually he ordered it for himself and we kept begging tastes). The soup was so delicious we couldn't wait to eat it again. So, Drew and I dutifully looked up recipes, decided it was too much work, and got take-out tom kha gai the next night instead. So tasty. After Dan left, we visited the Lincoln Memorial.

I had to take pictures of the girls.

The flash was too much for poor Laina.

Locked out, yet again

This evening, on my way to pick up Liz from a playdate and Drew from work, I locked my keys in the apartment (yet again). Argh! While I waited for Drew to metro home to save me, Alaina and I played outside, cleaned out my wallet, and climbed stairs. I didn't know Lainey could do stairs but she climbed four flights. Hurray!

Burke Lake

I have decided that since Monday is an early out day for Liz, it will be our field trip day. Today we went to Burke Lake because we had a weekday-only coupon for free mini golf. Unfortunately even though our coupon doesn't expire till October, the mini golf is only open on the weekends after Labor Day. Lame.

So, instead I decided to spend some time on the playgrounds (turns out Alaina's afraid of the slides and I got stung/bitten by something). Then, I made the girls walk around the lake with me. Actually, Lainey napped in the Ergo and Liz chilled in the stroller, and Burke Lake is a whole lot bigger (and more scenic) than I remembered it. I have only walked around Burke Lake once before and at the time I was deep in conversation with my friend Rachael so I did not really notice the distance. When I was lugging around two kids I really noticed the distance, but after awhile is hard to know which is faster: turning back or plodding on, so we plodded on.

It took a shamefully long to time to go around and towards the end I tried to take a shortcut that wasn't short at all. Naturally I hadn't thought to bring water or snacks or anything, but we made it.

Soccer started!

Liz started soccer Saturday (in a skirt of course). At first she seemed to enjoy herself, but towards the end of practice she stomped off the field crying and said that the game was "boring" and "hideous." It will be an interesting season.

Lizzie's Birthday Invitations

Alaina turns 1!

Alaina's birthday was at the begining of the month (two weeks ago) and I'm finally recording it. Lizzie made cupcakes and decorated them with my parents (whilst Andrew and I slept in, ah lovely). We began our celebrations with chocolate chip cupcakes . . .

. . . And ended with cupcakes. Lainey liked it when we serenaded her. She also liked her cake, but didn't immdediately shove it in her mouth like I thought she would. Drew had to put frosting her mouth before she ate it on her own.

Yes, she still regularly rests her leg on her high chair tray. She also still sucks on her toes, crawls funny (drags one leg), shakes her head a lot (but nods too), babbles, uses a binki, pinches our neck skin, "talks" on the phone, cuddles, scoots around on her but, rotates on her butt, and yells very loudly. Too loudly.

Stats: 15% for weight and height (up from 7% height three months ago). She weights 18 lbs 10 oz. So tiny. And I thought Liz was small at 19 lb 5 oz at a year.

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Likes: plastic bottles (in the tub she is more excited about holding shampoo bottles than bath toys), cheese, bread, people (espially the fam), "cruising," baths . . .

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Dislikes: babysitting at the gym, sleeping through the night (we have started "crying it out"), cow milk. We are very frustrated with this last one as we are trying to wean her. This child will eat just about anything (last Tuesday I couldn't cut olives fast enough for her) but apparently she's crazy picky about liquid. This is just the opposite of Liz who would take any binki, bottle, or formula and immediately took to (and happily alternated between) cow and soy milk regardless of the temperature. Argh! We booked an anniversary trip for October so Alaina has to switch to cows milk.

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I love to see her trying to put on shoes and brush her hair. So cute. I wish I could have her as a baby longer. She is growing so fast (well, not too fast since she is just now growing out of 9 mo clothing).

Babysitting and Dentist

Today I babysat a friend's daughter, Emma. She's two months younger than Alaina, but clearly taller. They seemed to have fun together, even with the mutual pushing, pulling, and toy stealing.

At one point I put them in the pack 'n play and left the room. When I came back Emma was sucking on Alaina's paci and Lainey was pointing to it and "talking." Perhaps she was trying to explain that she had given it to Emma or that Emma had taken it. Either way, it's fun that she is trying to communicate about specific things. Sometimes I swear I can hear her say words.

Also today, Liz and Laines had a dentist appointment. I had forgotten about it until a friend told me about her kids' appointments. Going with two babies was a bit of a challenge but we managed.

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Liz got x-rays for the first time ever and we were able to see the teeth coming in beneath her four front ones. She has been telling me for weeks that they were loose, but I had just assumed it was wishful thinking.

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The prospect of Lizzie's teeth falling out in the near future makes me feel excited and a little sad. I can't believe my baby is old enough to lose her teeth! Now we get to decide what our tooth fairy tradition will be. Any suggestions?

Open House at the Kennedy Center

Today was a full day. In the morning I took Lainey to her very first birthday party. I pretty much spent the whole time feeding her yummy food (guacamole, blueberries, pad thai, bread) so she loved it. Meanwhile Drew took Liz to the Stake Primary Day activity.In the afternoon Alaina and Drew hung out at home while Liz and I went to the Stage and Street Spectacular Open House Arts Festival at the Kennedy Center. The festival was free, very family friendly, and there were TONS of things to see and do. It was awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone in the DC area next fall.

Liz at the "musical instrument petting zoo."

I don't know what this is officially called, but it's made out of colored sand. It makes me sad to think it has been swept up by now.

Liz didn't want to take a break from playing to snap a picture so I had to put her in a semi-headlock.

Local artists' chalk drawings:

Lizzie's chalk drawing: a mermaid with rainbow hair.

We were smitten with the chalk drawings.

We also enjoyed seeing opera, African dancing, a violinist, an aerolist, a puppet show, and a Canadian acrobatic dance troupe that I thought would be a cute, peppy rendition of Noah's ark, but was actually a very modern piece on environmentalism with haunting music.

We didn't get to the box city in time to help build it, but were able to be part of the "earthquake" that flattened boxes. According to Liz this was the best part of the festival.

Labor Day Weekend

I haven't blogged on a regular basis for a bit. I kept feeling too busy, too distracted, too sad, too overwhelmed. Too whatever. Now I'm finally taking the time. We've had some fun things these last couple weeks: a week at the beach, a visit from my parents, Lizzie's first day of school, and Alaina's birthday (more on that later).
My parents came for Labor Day weekend and it's only the second time they have visited us together. The other time was when Jacob died so this was much happier from the get-go. While they were in town my Dad helped Drew fix some things around the condo: the front door that stuck, the outlet that sizzled, the closet door that wouldn't shut, the toilet seat that broke just that weekend. Thanks so much Drew and Dad!

First day of first grade

Liz started school last Tuesday and I was surprised by how sad I felt. I thought after the excitement and anxiety (and overwhelming feeling to slow-down-time) that accompanied the start of kindergarten, the start of other grade-school years would feel somehow anti-climatic or “old hat.”

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Well, I was wrong. I didn’t even feel relief that summer vacation was over. It went by too fast and I wish I still had my little girl home with me.

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Still she seemed to have fun at school and I am adjusting to the days without her. As it was I almost didn't know what to do with myself with just one kid underfoot this week.

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I told Liz she could pick our dinner menu last Tuesday in honor of starting first grade. She requested a picnic dinner of crepes and we had fun preparing it. We also had fun eating it with Andrew at the FDR monument.

A whole lotta OBX pictures

We enjoyed a week of relaxation at the beach the end of August. It was wonderful and I kept thinking, "this time last year I was on bed rest and worried out of my mind." August 2009 was so much nicer. My favorite thing about the big fat house we stayed in was the overabundance of porches.

The beach was a short walk from our accommodations.

Our first idyllic evening on the beach.

Later that evening I wrote Jake's name in the sand and watched it wash away. There is a lady in Australia that does this for bereaved parents and sends them a picture. I figured I'd just do it myself.

At the OBX we enjoyed lots of beach time.

Lizzie's first beach moment hit a snag when she tripped while running from the waves and fell in the water. She initially said that she didn't want to ever go to the beach again, but . . .

she got over that real quick.

Alaina loved the beach too. She even loved the sand whereas at the same age Liz freaked out about touching sand, straw, and grass.

The first day we set up a tent for Lainey with a pile of toys, but she immediately scooted out and dug in the sand.

One day Laines took her nap on the beach. The gunk on her face is baby powder which helps get the sand off. I just didn't rub it off enough before she fell asleep.

Aside from playing in the sand, while in North Carolina we also:

Visited the Wright Brothers Memorial.

Liz got her face painted. She looks upset, but really she is just trying really hard to not smile so her unicorn doesn't crack.

Played in the pool. Oh, and the hot tub was nice too.

Flew kites. I hadn't done this since I was a kid. So fun.

Made music.

The trip was fantastic. The other six families in the house were fun (there were about six little girls for Liz to play with which helped). The food was delicious. The weather was ideal. It was lovely. I CAN'T WAIT TO GO BACK.

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Note: the really beautiful pictures on this post were taken by Emily or Katie.