Ballet and Rock n Roll

Mom, look!

Mom, look at my cool bowls. Stainless steel - with lids! love them. A rare find at Walmart.

nothing much

Haven't had much to say lately. Seems like the colds are filtering through our house just like everyone else's. Jim and I are currently healthy, Laura is on the mend, and Adam was healthy, but woke up with a full nose about 30 minutes into bedtime tonight, so we'll see what develops. 

We had a very lazy weekend, which isn't always great for us. Seems that kids need structure and activities or they get grumpy, who would have guessed? Back in the swing this week. Tomorrow is dance class for Laura (kindermusik-ish. lots of "heads, shoulders, knees and toes", etc.) and Mom's Day Out on Thursday. Next week is March! holy cow.

So this post won't be a total waste of time, here's a ridiculous, but cute picture. 

mirror mirror propped on the wall

Adam at 3 months
Laura at 2 months

2 cute cowpokes

Laura at 3 1/2 months
Adam at 3 months

couple of clowns

cuddled up

oh darn

My mom passed down a darning ball made by my Great great Grandpa and I have thin spots in my favorite socks, so I thought I'd give it a try. I obviously pulled it too tight, but they're definitely wearable now and it only took about an hour while watching TV. Wouldn't do it for cotton Hanes socks, but I'll keep it handy for my wool (or wool-ish) socks. Pretty cool to use something handed down so many generations, too.

Shark game

this afternoon, Laura and I were playing 'shark'. Somehow, we ended up 'eating' green corn, strawberries and squid. And I kept saying duh-nuh, duh-nuh (as in Jaws), so she kept saying "doughnut, doughnut". 

hee hee

This one's for you Linda...

No, I'm not making a statement about my loyalties, its just a cute picture. We're still using your clothes Linda, even some of the girly ones. But in this case, I picked the Green Bay romper, instead of the cheerleader outfit. Thanks again!

bedtime

i've been hesitant to write about this because I didn't want to just have to write a retraction, but here goes...

Adam's been sleeping in his crib! For 2 nights in a row, he has slept from 8pm-8:30am, waking up only 2 times to eat. I really thought it would be a problem since he has spent 90% of his sleeping time since birth snuggled next to me, either in a carrier or in bed. But he had been pretty willing to lay down for a nap alone here and there, so I thought I'd better try before he lost that ability. And it worked! We didn't move Laura out of our room until 7 months and it was really tough on all 3 of us. I really do miss the snugly little bundle next to me at night, but this is better for everyone. Plus, now I can sleep with my big, down blanket, roll over whenever I want, talk to Jim, and not sleep contorted around the infant who seemed to take up 4 feet of bed. So, yea for us, I hope it continues. so far so good tonight!

My family

I ventured out alone a little this weekend. Jim and Adam are getting in a groove, so I get more breaks. yea! I went out for breakfast one morning and a quick trip to the grocery store one afternoon. Here's what I saw when I walked in the door that afternoon:

Aren't they cute? Love them all!

Valentines, airport visit, Adam's big

Making Valentine's Day cookies.
Gramma Ann was re-routed thru St Paul on her way home from Jeff's, so we visited her in the airport. Sooo good to see her!
What happened to my newborn? This is a 6-9 month outfit! 

love my daughter

i put my swimsuit on yesterday and Laura looked at  me and said "Mama, that looks beautifuuuul." 

Advice

you know what is NOT helpful? It is NOT helpful to have a mother of older children tell you "just wait till they get older, it gets worse." Especially when she tells you this while you are sitting in a Y locker room, freezing, in dripping swimsuit, nursing your equally freezing and dripping baby, while your naked and freezing 3 year old eats animal crackers until you are done nursing so you can find her clothes. Its also NOT helpful to have that woman tell you that your 3 year old is old enough to find her own clothes and that you shouldn't do it for her, even though her clothes are at the top of the locker where, unless the 3 year old is 6 feet tall or a monkey, she will never be able to reach. I sincerely hope that from now on, I never give unsolicited advice to other moms. you never know how it will come across or how that mom will take it. I'm sure this woman meant well, but she picked a very sensitive moment for me.

Hi!

At the pause between the homily and the creed at church today, Adam blurted out a sound exactly like "hi!". Laura responded with a very polite "hi!" back and everyone, including Jim and I, stared in surprise. Pretty cute.

Ella's gymnastics party

We went to Ella's gymnastics birthday party tonight at a gym. They teach competitive gymnastics, as well as fun stuff for little ones. The man in charge was so energetic and really into the little kids, which was great. I was really impressed with him. Laura had a great time and totally wore herself out. Lots of jumping, running, hanging, climbing, crawling, pizza and cake eating and general merriment. She did take a 3 foot dive off one area when she missed the steps, but no major damage done and she recovered quickly. Thanks to Michelle for taking these pictures while I held sleeping Adam.

First bottle

Last weekend we tried to give Adam his first bottle. Pretty unsuccessful, but we got one picture.

lost and found

a few things we've lost lately:

Laura's best mittens. not that surprising, but irritating.

one full size cookie sheet. how does one lose a cookie sheet? 

one small red Robeez shoe, last seen on Laura's hand ala a mitten. Maybe because of #1?

and most upsetting...our iTouch. it must be in the house somewhere, but where?

humble pie

I just had an interesting lesson in humility, courtesy of my 3 year old daughter. We had planned to go to a nearby nature park's visitors center to play in their awesome kids corner, but realized it was closed on Mondays as we tried to open the locked door (2nd time I've made that mistake. duh!). After discussing 'disappointment' and that we would try again another time, we decided to try and find a coffee shop with kids toys that my friend had told me about. I only had a vague idea of its location though, so I tried to make sure she knew it wasn't a sure thing. After driving around without much luck, I told her I couldn't find it and that we were going home to get directions and would try again another day. I braced for the inevitable tantrum after another disappointment, but to my surprise she said "I know where it is." I tried to talk her out of it since we hadn't actually been there and hadn't even been in that neighborhood more than once or twice. She said "you should ask me, not go back home and get directions. I'm the one who knows where it is." OK, I decided to play along since we didn't have anything else to do and it was too early for nap. First she said "you should turn around first." So I made a u-turn. Then I asked her for directions at each stop light and stop sign (straight, left or right). After the 2nd directive from Laura, lo and behold, there it was.