Photography skillz

Rachel loves the camera, both posing for and shooting pictures. Here are some of her recent snapshots:

And some self-portraits:

Last week we went out to enjoy the beautiful weather with a picnic at the park. After eating and playing on the slides for a little while, the girls wandered up to the baseball fields and found a puddle to play in that was way more fun than the playground equipment.

When it was all over, though, Annie didn't really like being wet up to her thighs.

Both girls rode home in the car pant-less thanks to the puddle. I guess that means it was a successful park outing?

In our preparations for the new addition to our family we recently borrowed a crib from someone in our ward, since we figured 16 months is much too young to expect Annie to move to a toddler bed, for the sake of all of our sanity. We also got a dresser off Craigslist for the girls to share, and moved around Rachel's room a little so things would fit a little more nicely. So last week we put the crib together, and bit the bullet, putting the girls in the same room. We figured it was probably a good idea for them to get used to sleeping together when I'm not completely sleep deprived in case there were a few sleepless nights in the adjustment period.

They woke each other up a little early the first morning at about 6:40. That is pretty typical for Annie, but about a half hour or more early for Rachel. Not too bad.

The next night they slept fine, but Annie woke them up around 5:30 or 5:45. Normally Annie will find a binky and go back to sleep when she wakes up at that time, but Rachel came in and informed me, "Annie was crying, so I gave her a binky, and sang a song for her, then stared at her in her crib in case she needed anything else." Needless to say, Annie thought that meant it was time to play. We got up, got dressed, ate breakfast, and were all laying down napping again by 7am.

The third night Rachel woke up with her foot hurting, and her crying woke Annie up. I ended up rocking them both at the same time, singing a couple songs before they were quiet enough to fall back asleep. As I rocked and sang to them I imagined how fun it'll be when the baby is here and they all want to be held/rocked at the same time. Won't that be fun? At least Jake will be around for those middle-of-the-night crying sessions.

The fourth night the girls slept great and woke up at their normal time: a little after 7am. I declared the experiment a success. One night may not mean complete success, but at least there is hope that it won't be them disturbing my slumber every night. They can leave that to their little brother. :)

Another lady in the ward gave us her crib mattress that she no longer needs, along with some blankets and crib sheets that are boy-colored, and some clothes, including a cute monkey Halloween costume that is size 3-6 months, which, is about how big Ryan will be when Halloween rolls around. Rachel thought the monkey suit was so cool, and decided that sizes are irrelevant.

If a 4-year-old can "fit" into a costume designed for a 6-month-old, I guess we can count on it fitting Ryan, even if he's an extra chunky baby. :)

Climbing

Annie is at that lovely stage of toddlerhood where the main goal of everything she does is to get as far off the ground as she can. Climb, climb, climb. She mastered Rachel's bed and the couches a while back, but now she's moved on to climbing higher on the couch backs and arms, climbing on the chairs, trying to climb over the back of her highchair, and most especially, climbing onto the kitchen table.

I feel like I am getting her down from the table at least a couple of times an hour all day long. I have tried taking most of the interesting things off the table, but that only helps marginally. Her number one goal in life is to stand on the table and dance. Though, like I said, anything is fair game. After I emptied the dishwasher the other day she grabbed her binky, blanket, and sippy cup and decided the dishwasher door was the place for her to rest. Of course I reinforced her idea by snapping a picture of her before I got her off, so she tried a couple more times that day to try to make me laugh.

Rachel is often the police if I'm in a different room, announcing that Annie's on the table again. But last week when Rachel was gone at preschool I realized I hadn't seen Annie for a minute or two, and went to find her punching the buttons on the computer on the kitchen table. I got her down, closed the laptop, and brought her into the bedroom where I was getting things organized. A few minutes later she wandered out again, and after another minute I followed to find this:

I sure am glad I closed that computer before she got to the salt, otherwise there would be salt stuck in the depths of the keyboard forever.

And yes, the salt shaker was completely empty when I found her.

Today I had Annie outside with me while Rachel was inside painting with her Aunt Cari who's visiting for a few days. Rachel and Cari came out to join us, but of course after a few minutes Annie headed inside. When I went to check on her I found her at her favorite place:

After getting paint on several of her fingers she noticed the cup of water they'd been using for the paint and tried to drink it. Yum. :P

Thankfully there have not been any major injuries yet, and I hope that continues. She does fall, however, occasionally, and tile is not the softest ground to catch her. Last week there was one day I was sure would end in a concussion, with her falling off the ottoman that she had been standing up dancing on, landing right on her head, according to Rachel, then that same day having a chair slip while she was trying to bridge the gap to the table and falling instead onto the tile floor. Sometimes I wish for those docile children I see sitting in their mothers' laps for all 3 hours of church, or even just 15 minutes. For now I suppose I'll enjoy the 2 minutes of cuddling I get before putting her down for a nap or bed. That's about as long as I ever see her hold still. And hopefully for now we will avoid the ER despite all her climbing adventures.

Backyard adventures

We've been enjoying our winter weather here lately. The nice thing about winter here is you can play outside a lot more than you can in the summer, unless a pool is involved. Last week we decided to build a tent using our swingset as the frame. It turned out pretty decent.

The girls had a good time and enjoyed a picnic out in the tent. (Though Rachel doesn't look like she's particularly enjoying herself in these pictures because she was mad at Annie for stealing her chair.)

I've been spending some time out back trying to get the garden prepped for planting (ie. pulling lots of weeds). I figure anything that is not in the ground by the time little baby Ryan gets here is not going to be this year. I finally got some compost and manure ("Why did you pay money for poop, Mom?" -Rachel) last week and got it all mixed in, so the hard part is done. I picked up a few plants from Home Depot while I was there, too, figuring I could have planted them at Christmas and have stuff ready for picking by now if I'd have known that it would be in the 70s for most of January and February. I planted those last week along with a few seeds. Then today it snowed (though I was at jury duty and the girls were at Grandma and Grandpa's house, so we all missed out on the fun). I haven't looked at the plants, but I'm guessing/hoping they'll be okay. And looking at the weather from here on out it looks like we're back to hovering in the 60s for the forseeable future, so as long as they survived today the plants are probably going to be happy. Now if I can just figure out how to keep Annie from digging in her favorite spot... It's been empty of plants for months, so she's gotten so used to walking across it and sitting in it and digging (throwing dirt all over her hair and shoveling it in her mouth) that it's hard for her to know she can't do it anymore. Maybe we'll just hang out in the rocky front yard for the next few months.

January happenings

My sporadic upkeep of the blog has gotten even more sporadic, and I see no cure in the near future. That just means that Jake might actually be contributing more often, and every time I do blog, there are plenty of pictures to catch up on (if we've remembered to have the camera handy).

Annie is coming up on 15 months in a couple of days. She's a funny little girl and loves making us laugh. She has learned from her big sister that burping and tooting are some of the funniest things you can do. She is quick to laugh, and quick to copy if she sees something funny. She LOVES books. When she wakes up in the morning or after her naps she often points at the books on her bookcase and signs book while saying "buh!" (It's a good thing she's picking up on more signs, since about 75% of the things she cares about seem to start with the letter B and it's hard to distinguish between boo, book, bath, balloon, ball, binky, blanket, etc. without a little sign language to help out.) Anyway, here are a couple of her favorite places to look at books, though she's not real particular--anywhere will do:

For my birthday I got a bike trailer that also converts to a jogging stroller. We recently discovered a paved path that runs along the train tracks just a mile or so away from our house and we look forward to some family bike rides in the near future. Annie and Rachel were so excited about the trailer, I had a hard time putting it together because I had to keep pulling the girls out of it.

We went out for a test drive, and Annie had to try out Dad's bike, like she often does on Rachel's bike. Surprisingly, she had a much harder time reaching the handlebars on this one. :)

And here they are, ready to head off on their adventure. Apparently it was a little bright.

Rachel took the camera along in the trailer and took a few shots of the fun they had:

Annie got a little tired of the ride, but Rachel had a blast and looks forward to many more bike rides in the near future.

The girls have been enjoying our lovely January weather that has been getting up to the 70s most days. They particularly love digging in the garden now that I'm halfway through digging up the weeds and turning the soil in preparation for planting in a month or so. Unfortunately this occasionally results in some messy kids (but that's what being a kid is all about, right?). Usually it's just some dirt in the hair when the shovel in Annie's hand gets a little out of control. But the other day I heard Rachel telling Annie as she escorted her to the kitchen, "It's okay, Annie. Mom will help you get this sorted out." This is what I found:

It was all over her hair and shirt and face. We rinsed out her mouth and dusted her off as best we could, and a little while later when it was bath time her onesie had a good handful of dirt stored inside, as did her diaper. Lovely.

We got strawberries at the store this week and Rachel ate almost an entire container on her own. She was walking around holding a strawberry on her head saying she was Strawberry Shortcake. When Annie started copying her, smearing her partially-eaten strawberry in her hair, I decided it was time to put an end to that. Rachel "needed" her Strawberry Shortcake hat, so I got down this widebrimmed hat down telling her it was just like Strawberry Shortcakes' hat. Rachel wasn't buying it, though. "No, Mom! Strawberry Shortcake's hat is pink!" So we got to work fixing it and came up with one that was satisfactory to Rachel Shortcake:

She wore it off and on all day.

Friday nights we have our family movie night. Annie gets so excited when we say the word movie and is happy to have the TV turned on. For about 2 minutes. Rachel, of course, is a typical 4-year-old, and once the TV is turned on you can't peel her away. I got a picture of the gals during the 2 minutes that they were both happily sitting next to each other watching together.

This lasted a couple minutes, then Annie started getting up, and "jumping" (falling) onto the beanbag chair, pushing buttons on the TV, and generally annoying Rachel. Oh well. At least the peace and harmony lasted a couple of minutes.

Other January happenings include lots of contractions for me, and some big progress in Rachel's reading desire and ability. 

When I was pregnant with Annie I had Braxton-Hicks contractions starting at about 5 1/2 months until about 7 1/2 or 8 months, which made me pretty nervous about pre-term labor, but then when it was actually okay to go into labor it seemed like I never had contractions anymore. This time around the contractions started at about the same time, but they're a lot stronger than they ever were last time around. I'm not worried about pre-term labor this time, since it's about the same as last time, but it is tiring to have 2 or 3 strong-ish contractions every hour all afternoon everyday. And bending over or picking up Annie, or standing up from sitting inevitably trigger contractions, so our floor is generally a mess, and once I'm sitting I stay sitting for a while when I can. I'm 32+ weeks now, so less than 8 weeks left. Hopefully they go by fast. (And hopefully we can pull things together to get things ready for this little guy, because at this point we've got quite a ways to go.)

Rachel has really been getting more and more into reading lately. She does a fabulous job at sounding out 3-letter simple words, and any words with a silent E at the end. She's also got more than 50 sight words down pat and loves going through our sight word flash cards to show off her knowledge. She has a few "Brand New Reader" books that she can read pretty much on her own, though I think most of that is memorization. It's pretty fun to see her really getting interested in reading. I'm sure if I were a little more consistent about working with her she'd be reading like a pro by now.

The princesses

Rachel got several new dress up outfits for Christmas. The other day she got them out and Annie joined in the fun. The two little princesses had a good time running around being pretty ("pee," as Annie would say). And, as usual, as soon as they heard the garage door opening signaling Daddy's return from work, they went running to welcome him home. And if he picks one of them up, the other demands to be picked up, too:

I was thinking recently about how much more I recorded on the blog when Rachel was Annie's age. This is really a fun age (Annie's, not Rachel's) and I love seeing how much Annie is learning. She's getting more and more words every day and is a pretty good communicator. Some of her words: bah (ball), bah (balloon), baa (bath), mah mah (more), mah! (mine), nah nah (no no), pee (pretty), Mama, Dada, vvvvvmmm (vroom-for cars), buh (book), buh! (boo), duh (duck), buh (bird-with accompanying sign), bah-bay (baby), aaahh (soft), numy numy numy numy (yummy-usually when feeding Rachel or her baby doll), dah duh (all done). She also has several animal sounds down and anytime she sees a picture of one of the animals she recognizes she makes it's sound (except for birds and ducks, which she just says her version of their name, and does the ASL sign for it): baa baa, woof woof, meow, moo.

Annie is a terrific immitator and learns a lot from her big sister. Rachel alternates between loving having her around and wanting Annie to leave her alone. I think the (slight) majority of the time tends towards sibling love, rather than fighting, thankfully. One of Annie's favorite games lately (besides trying to tap the iPad whenever anyone is using it) is peek-a-boo. She plays behind chairs, cups, bowls (with or without food in them), and most often, her blanket. The other day I put Annie in her high chair while I was trying to make dinner, and gave her her blanket in the hopes of pacifying her enough that I could get something done, and this is what I looked over to see:

Isn't she a cutie?! A week or two ago I walked into her room after she had been talking in her crib for 15+ minutes after her nap and found her sitting quietly just like that first picture, completely hidden under her blanket. Rachel came in behind me and laughed, alerting Annie to our presence. Annie sat there for another 15 seconds, at least, before she decided to take off her blanket with a "boo!" She definitely has a sense of humor and loves making people laugh. And Rachel is her favorite thing to laugh at. Rachel always knows just what to do to get Annie laughing hysterically.

So, that's the update with our two little princesses. Besides failing to keep the house clean with those two running around, and a big fat belly keeping me from bending over to pick up the destruction that lies in their wake, I've been attempting to get my some semblance of a plan to get our (mostly) dairy-free gluten-free food storage in order. That is my one new year's goal this year. I mostly have a plan, now, and hopefully over the course of this year we'll get a bit more prepared.

I've also realized that in two months or less we're going to have another little body around our house and unless we do something this little guy may end up in pink half the time. Lucky for him, most of our 0-3 month pajamas are yellow and green, but beyond that we've got some work to do. We have begun to accumulate some more manly clothing as of late, but we've still got some shopping to go at this point. And I've begun to realize, as well, I should really get some meals frozen, because I have a feeling that this will be a tougher transition to 3 kids than it was having one or two, especially since Annie already makes it hard for me to cook dinner, and there's not even a nursing baby around to compound the problem. And there's not much back up for us when I don't have time to cook dinner since Jake can't eat most take-out food, and even friends making meals for us gets complicated with his food restrictions. Ordering Thai, though very tasty, gets old pretty quick. So that's my plan for the next couple of months--build up a stash of frozen dinners so I don't have to cook until this little guy is 2 months old! Ha ha. In my dreams. Whatever I get done will be better than nothing, though. :) Let the cooking begin!

New Years Post

Time to ring in the new year with a blog, now that we are halfway through the month. What in the world is Colette doing behind the laptop?

Ah-Ha! She's eating ice cream on the sly. These sort of measures are necessary when eating in Annie's presence -- specifically when you are eating something that she is not eating.

Annie does a good job of watching people in the kitchen and then persuading those persons that they should be sharing their yummy food with her. Her first tactic is to point at what you are eating and then say maw, maw (more, more) while making the ASL sign for "please". It's very charming and endearing. If this method does not result in immediate gratification, her second method is to employ her healthy lungs to wail and screech at you until you acquiesce. She tends to get her way most of the time.

Rachel likes to take pictures. Here is a shot of Annie that Rachel took.

I wasn't present when this picture was taken, but it's clear Annie loves her oatmeal.

Annie and Rachel like to feed each other on occasion. Here they are sharing their Popsicles.

My mom made Rachel a baby blanket that Annie has "quiet titled". She loves this blanket, and has trouble sleeping without it. One day when I put Annie in her crib for a nap, the blanket was not there. She sat up and looked around expectantly. I went and retrieved the blanket from the front room. When I put it in her crib she laid right down on top of it. It is very much a security object for her: she insists on holding on to it for 5-15 minutes after the end of her naps.


This evening it was cold and rainy and so I put on the Snuggie for warmth and to become "Snuggie Man". Rachel followed suit with a blanket from the front room. It seemed only fitting that Annie have a cape also.