Hatch Time

It's Hatch, NM, green chile time in Austin. We only have a week or two of this wonderful occasion. Dolphin made the best omelets for us with green chile, bacon, and goat cheese. I think Aria wished she could have some. It was just cool enough if the morning before 9am to eat outside on our new patio.

Funny things from Xander

While eating dinner:
Me: Can you please take 1 bite and try the lobster ravioli?
Xander: No, it will pinch me if I do!

While snuggling one evening:
Xander: I kissed you. Now, we're married.
Me: I can't marry you. I'm already married to Daddy. You can only marry one person at a time.
Xander(getting upset): No, no, no...I want to marry someone.
Me: Maybe you can marry Aria because she is not married yet.
Xander: Ok, I will marry Aria, and then I can drive a car, and then I can do everything because I will be big.

Summertime continues!

School may have started across the US, but my kids are still enjoying the summer heat. Aria enjoyed her nice cushy play pen on the patio. It's so nice to have a little shade there for the kids with our new pergola.


Then, after she was super heated from playing, she cooled off in her kiddie pool.

Yum, yum! Give peas a chance!

Duet

20 days of poor sleep

So, it's been a good 20 days of pretty poor sleep for Aria. Poor sleep means getting up every 30min to 1 hour between midnight and 7am. We're FINALLY now returning to some normal sleep this week, nice 3-4 hour stretches.

What is really challenging is to understand all the driving factors into why we were having such a hard time. We did have two ear infections and two courses of antibiotics, but I don't think that is the whole story. She's clearly been in some kind of pain because the only way that I could get her to sleep between 1-4 am was to dose here with some acetaminophen. Each night, I would try NOT to give it to her because I don't want to over-medicate, but it was the only thing that would help. She would be tugging on her ears, tossing turning, crying. Sore throat? Ear Pain? Teething? Stomach pain from the antibiotics? The antibiotics really didn't seem to help all that much so maybe these were viral ear infections that just had to run the course?

This week, after finishing the last antibiotics, she's started coughing and sneezing again, but this time there is actually stuff coming out of her nose, which was not the case with the past two ear infections. I'm really hoping that she stays well for at least 2 weeks for all of our sakes...that would be awesome!

Brother and Sister Baths

I cannot begin to explain how much Aria LOVES taking a bath with her big brother. She's a happy girl, but she just goes crazy at bath time. Today, I got them both to lay down, side-by-side, and make splashes with their legs. We were all cracking up. Unfortunately, it wasn't very relaxing at all for Aria so it was a little tougher than normally getting her bed because she was so wound up.

Xander likes Aria taking a bath with him, too. Although, I have to constantly remind him not to give soap to Aria or throw things at Aria or splash Aria in the face. He just wants someone to play with, but she's just not quite ready for it yet.

I Can Get Used to This

This morning, Xander was hanging out with me in the bathroom while I was getting ready. All of a sudden, he decided to clean up. He put away the clean towels. He picked up all my PJs on the floor and put them in the laundry. He put away Aria's bathtub. It was AWESOME! Thank you, preschool, for making Xander appreciate cleaning up other people's messes!

Sitting with my sparkly shoes

Ewwww

Copper is such a help! Here is she helping to clean out the crumbs from Xander's car seat. Let's just say I won't be letting Copper lick me any time soon.

New foods

Some new foods are a win and some not so much. For Aria, we've tried rice cereal, carrots, and bananas. She makes a funny face with each new thing, but I think she kind of likes the carrots. It's certainly messy business though.

After this meal of carrots in the picture, Aria had her first bath with big brother. She had a blast! She laughed the whole time, and Xander was thrilled to have her in the tub with him.

Xander is trying new foods, too! Recently, we went to an Italian restaurant. We ordered some simple cheese stuffed past for Xander and I ordered grilled Mahi Mahi. Well, for whatever reason, Xander decided he wanted my "chicken" and wouldn't even touch what we ordered for him. We told him that it was not chicken and that it was Mahi Mahi (which he pronounced as "Mahi Hahi"). It's such a fun name, how could a kid not like it. Well, he ended up eating more than half of my fillet! Since then, I made some broiled Mahi Mahi fillets at home and he gobbled that up, too. I so impressed that my son like fish that is not in the shape of stick or deep fried. Now, if only I could win Daddy over on fish...

5 months sitting and rolling

I was thinking about how great Aria is doing with her sitting these days. Not only can she sit, but she can do stuff while she is sitting like grab for toys in all directions. This past week, she also started rolling back to front. I keep finding her in her crib rolled over or half rolled over. She doesn't mind tummy time much, but really prefers to be sitting up or held standing up.

I found Xander's old "my first sitting picture". Here's a picture of Aria doing some of her sitting action:

Xander's 3 year birthday party

This year, we had Xander's first birthday party with guests. When he turned 1, we did a virtual birthday party with grandma and grandpa over a web cam. When he turned 2, we opted for a trip to Seaworld. This year, since he's finally grown into having real friends, we tackled a real party. The good news is that we survived and had a great time.

The theme for his party was a green colored birthday brunch. Brunch was PERFECT timing. Guests arrived at 10am. We had 3 kiddie pools, a sprinkler, and a little crawling tunnel set up. All the kids jumped right into the water and had a blast splashing. For food, we served kolaches, bacon, bagels, strawberries, grapes, snow cones with sugar free syrup, and cupcakes. Our kid guests consisted of two 3 year olds, 2 toddlers, and a 6 year old. We had all of their parents as well.

The weather cooperated with us as it was nicely overcast and cooler than it has been (less than triple digits). The timing was great because by the time the party was over, it was time for nap. One of Xander's birthday gifts was a book, which he got to read for nap time. He fell asleep easily.

Doing this party wore me out though. I only had 4 hours the previous day to accomplish cleaning the house (took 2 hours), buying the food and supplies, making all the gift bags (already had those supplies from the previous weekend), and get a bunch of laundry done. Next time, I need to give myself more time to accomplish this stuff. I was literally running around and doing a minimum of 2 things at a time. We also had to get up early to get the decorations up, the pools and toys and charis set up, and the food prepared. In addition to all the set up, clean up was no easy task, but at least the mess was contained in the back yard. It also didn't help that Aria has been way from 1am-3am pretty much all week long due to an ear infection she's battling. So, today, I had to have a latte with dinner just to make it through the rest of the day.

Bro and Sis

I have to write this down so I can share with Aria and Xander some day in the future when they are battling it out. I was about to put Aria down for a nap. Xander got all upset because he wanted to hold and hug her and I wouldn't let him. That's right Xander, you really, really love your sister!

Happy Birthday, Uncle Chris

Xander pulled out this old bear that used to belong to Uncle Chris. Aria immediately fell in love with it. She giggled and laughed as Xander and I gave her bear hugs and kisses with it.

Preschool Afternoon

Xander had a great day at preschool today. It was kind of surprising because he's coming down with a cold, and as Dolphin mentioned, he didn't sleep well last night.

So, what he do today?

He played with a phone, but it was "broken and didn't have any batteries." He used it to make pretend calls. I asked him who he called and he said "you mommy!" He did a whole bunch of art projects. He learned about the letter "K". While he didn't make any new friends yet, he told me about a lot of the friends he already knew. He was so exited that Celeste was on the playground, and they played a monster game.

Hopefully, the rest of the week goes as well. He has play ball class, music class, and splash day planned this week, which are normal activities. That should give him some continuity as well.

Preschool Morning

Xander's first day dropoff in his new class went pretty well. After a night of not much rest (and some sleeping in various places around the house) Xander was in a good enough mood as we left the house. We dropped off Aria first and headed down to his new room. Xander was a bit upset that there was no cubby with his name on it to put his blanket in or a hook for his backpack with his picture over it. Miss Devon will be letting him pick out a cubby to use today, but Xander chose to put his backpack on the floor rather than put it on the wrong hook.
Xander tried out the new potty as the kids in the next room came in. He had big smiles for Miss Christina who was with the B3 kids. Miss Devon finally brought in the rest of Xander's class. Celeste was in the group even though I had heard she was going to be next door in B3, hopefully she will be staying in B2 with Xander.
As expected, Xander turned on the shy as all the kids streamed in for breakfast. He decided he wasn't hungry and just wanted to read a book. I sat with him to read a new book while things got settled. While we were reading the book, Xander's friend Allison came in, with tears in her eyes. She has been away from the school for 3 weeks so coming back and going to a new classroom must have been tough. I made the suggestion to Xander that he go say hi to her and tell her not to be afraid and he ran over to her. He had a bit of an unsure look on his face on the way back, but Allison looked like she felt a little better to see a friendly face.
After the book, Xander still said he wasn't hungry but gave me a big brave hug and went to the window to wait for me to walk around to say goodbye. I walked around to look in the window and he gave me a big grin and wave.

Preschool

Tomorrow is Xander's first full day in the preschool class. At his school, preschool is for 3 year olds. They also have a pre-K class for 4 year olds. He's been spending part of each day this week in the preschool class. So, far he loves it, BUT he always gets to go back to his familiar class. Starting tomorrow, it will be the first day that he spends all day there. Let's hope he doesn't miss Ms. Jill too much.

Before transitioning him to preschool, he had an in-take/out-take meeting with his old and new teachers. His 2 year old class teacher, Ms. Jill, had book recording all sorts of accomplishments. She showed us all these cute pictures she had taken of Xander. Her favorite memory was when Xander looked up in the sky at an airplane's chem trails as told her he saw the letter "X". I remember that day, too.

The meeting with his new teacher was relatively uneventful. I don't think there any new rules with the new classroom. However, every time I visit a new classroom, my heart sinks a little. I think I just remember how the first day of school was scary for me, and I hope that is not the case for Xander. Sometimes it is nice to comfort and familiarity. At the same time, I know he's ready to move on and be challenged to learn new things.

Good luck, Xander!

Happy Birthday, Xander!

My little boy is 3 years old today. His cake may not be as pretty as last year's, but it tasted much better.

Xander got some wonderful gifts from his generous family. Aria gave me a set of training chopsticks. Dolphin and I got him a clock that teaches kids how to tell time. It turns green when its ok to get out of bed. Dolphin picked out a bunch of Rokenbok and Xander's Auntie and Uncle also got him some more Rokenbok. I'm really not too sure who likes it more, Daddy or Xander. Grandma Jo sent some stickers and the biggest card we've ever seen. Grandma Carla and Grandpa Tom sent some valuable lesson Bernstein Bears books.

My little Xander is so grown up. He wants to do so much for himself and others these days. He can buckle himself into his car seat, which is a huge help when lugging around two kids. He wants to do so much by himself and gets very made if you try to do certain things for him. He is super helpful with his sister as he picks up her toys, finds pacifiers, keeps her company, talks to her. He helps out his teachers, who call him the policeman, because he feels compelled to enforce "the rules" with the other kids. He helps mommy and daddy too...such a great contributor to society already!

Pre-birthday

How lucky is Xander to have a friend with almost the same birthday as he! His friend's mom hosted an amazing party. After reading a Curious George book, I had considered a cooking party for Xander but then quickly ruled it out as way too much work. I learned today that there are places that host cooking parties for kids and take care of all the logistics. It was pretty neat.

The kids all got their own apron. Then, they had to go into the cooking room where parents are not allowed. Xander really fair to well there. He wouldn't go anywhere without mommy or daddy. The host said 4 years old was a better age to get them to go without parents. While the kids were cooking, the parents all hang out in the store filled with kids cooking stuff or outside (yeah right, it was 106 today).

Xander finally decided to join in the fun when the kids made fruit wands. These are basically skewers with fruit and marshmallows. The strawberries were the bribe that finally pushed Xander out of his shell. Each of the kids made a little tiny pizza and decorated their own cupcake. The birthday girl got to make the lemonade punch for the whole party. I didn't see what she put into, but the purple lemonade was AWESOME.

After the party, each kid got a take home pizza making kit and a little box to bring home their leftovers. It was a blast.

Bean Counter

I've noticed lately that Xander just LOVES counting. What's great is that it is entertainment that we can do anywhere! If there is a group of identical items (crackers, shapes, etc.), he'll ask "how many are there?" I'll reply with "why don't you count them to find out." Then, he counts them by pointing at each one and gets excited because he knows the answer to the question "how many". Then, he grab different amounts of the object and do the same thing over and over again. He's pretty decent at counting to about 8...after that, he sort of gets lazy or has difficulty keeping his place counting.

It's just a little humorous that my Xander-Bean (Bean is his nickname from when he was an infant) likes to count. Just a little more practice, and I'll have him do my taxes for me.

First spoon food

Aria's been on antibiotics for the past week. I was trying to figure out a way to give her some probiotics (to counter act the side-effects) that didn't involve extra pumping. The solution? I figured I use this opportunity to introduce her to solid food. I mixed probiotics, rice cereal, and about an ounce of leftover breastmilk from the freezer. Quiet a gourmet recipe, I assure you!

Aria did a really great job with her first spoon food. She immediately figured out to open her mouth with the spoon was near her mouth. She didn't do so great with keeping her mouth closed to keep the food inside so a lot dribbled out. Eventually, she used her hand to kind of suck it down. I think this means she is ready for solids after all. Right now, it's just for spoon practice though because she gets more than enough nutrition from me.

Britney and Mickey

What do Britney and Mickey have in common? Well, it's more than Britney Spears catching her break on the Mickey Mouse club. My kids love 'em. Xander can't get enough of "Hit Me Baby One More Time", which he found in an old stereo that I gave to me. And Mickey? Well, Aria just loves Xander's Dancing Mickey Mouse. She did her own kind of seated dancing when he introduced her to it.