No pictures please

Xander is a mixed bag when it comes to getting his picture taken. Most of the time, like in this video, he doesn't want to be caught on film. If you haven't seen a lot of pictures of Xander on the blog lately, it's not due to my lack of trying to capture his cute face.

Fall

Finally, fall is upon us. The weather is no longer blistering and has cooled down to near perfect. While my work continues to threaten to make everyone work through Thanksgiving and Christmas, we managed to get some time this weekend to enjoy the weather. We spent some time at a nearby park shaded by very, very old live oaks. It was fabulous for both kids. Aria had her first experience with a swing, and Xander has his first successful (yet assisted) flip on the monkey bars.

Busy, busy, busy

Well, I haven't been too great about posting this month. I've been so incredibly busy with work. There have been a few moments for sure where I thought about throwing in the towel as a working mom and a few moments of total stressed out sobbing.

The kids have been both mixed contributors to my stress and relievers at different moments. Aria is almost always full of smiles when I walk in the room, which always melts my heart. At the same time though, she's had two illnesses this month and separation anxiety set in. She doesn't sleep well when ill and keeps me up in the process. So, add in tired+stress.

Xander has become a little jokester. His goofy attempts at humor make me laugh. He's also entering his trying threes though. I often feel like terrible twos were a vacation in comparison.

So, if I haven't talked to you in a while, or emailed, or posted on this blog, I'm sorry. I'm still here in survival mode.

Our son

One day last week, a little boy in Xander's class accidentally pinched Xander with a pair of toy pliers. Ouch! What did the teacher do to console Xander? They let him play on the class computer to cheer him up. Yeah, he's our son, finding comfort at the computer.

Hair

Aria's starting to get some hair. What color do you think this looks like?

Half year wellness check up

Aria had her 6month well checkup this past week. She measured 26.5inches long (75th percentile), 18lbs 13 oz (90th percentile) with a head circumference of 43cm (75th percentile). She almost exactly the same as Xander (his 6th month numbers are in this blog post).

This visit was with a different pediatrician but one from the safe office we normally go to. She was actually kind of an awesome pediatrician so I'd consider switching if we didn't have so much history with both kids on the other one. She was perfectly happy with Aria development wise. Aria is sitting quite will unsupported, eating well. Unlike our normal pediatrician, she was fine with Aria's sleeping and left night weaning up to personal choice.

Unfortunately, while Aria was there, the doctor found an ear infection in both ears. I suspected she would since Aria was coughing so hard she was choking. We got some antibiotics and with just one dosage, it was an amazing change. It's really wonderful when antibiotics really do work.

Since we've been on the antibiotics a few days, we have several nights where Aria technically slept through the night (one stretch over 5 hours). Unfortunately, like with Xander, her stretch of sleep through the night is over lapped with 3 hours of me being awake, working in the late evening. So, I don't really feel much more refreshed. She slept from 8:30pm to 2:30am, woke up (very hungry), and then slept until 5:30am (again hungry), and snuggled with me until Xander woke everyone up at 6:45am. If we can keep her well, maybe she'll continue to sleep this well.

Separately anxiety has started to set in for Aria; although, not stranger anxiety yet. She does get upset when she's left alone or can't see us. She's also started to babble a bit, with a ma-ma-ma cry thing when she is upset. I think I remember Xander doing that same ma-ma-ma thing. He was also very fond of va-va-va.

No crawling yet, but she loves to be held in a standing position. I've also seen her kind of scoot, but more often, she just gets pissed off because she can't reach something. Oh boy does she want to reach everything and insert it directly into her mouth. I'm so glad we have a plan pen for her so I can keep her safe from all of Xander's toys with little choking hazards.

Finally, I'd have to say that Aria is just getting cuter every day. She's just starting to get some hair. It's fairly light colored, so it's really hard to tell what it will look like. I think that it is different that Xander's which was invis-hair blond. She smiles at everyone. It's pretty hilarious how adults get so excited when she smiles at them as if they have accomplished a hard task. Nope, with Aria, she's just a friendly baby. With Xander, the smiles were much more of an accomplishment as he was a bit more reserved with them. All-in-all, she's happy, healthy, and growing. Yay!

Stress relief

Conversations with Xander are such great stress relief sometimes. After a long day of work, a bit of screaming Aria due to ear infections and tiredness, it was nice to snuggle with him a bit before bed. We talked about his day and reviewed some of the lessons he learned.

Me: Xander, what do you do if [A] kicks you again? ([A] is a girl at school)
Xander: I tell the teacher!
Me: Very good. You tell the teacher and [A] will get in trouble. That is much better than kicking [A] back and getting into trouble.

Then, he turns the tables on me:
Xander: What do you say to me if I'm playing with Daddy?
Me: Uh...I think that is a good choice to play nicely with Daddy.
Xander: What do your people at work say to you?
Me: Uh...well...they tell me to OWN things and DRIVE them to resolution (as I remembered a stressful situation from my day). If I don't own them, they get mad at me. Sometimes, when I do, they get mad at me, too.

I laugh at the absurdity of my work, and Xander joins in.
Xander: Hehehe...I made a joke!

Raggedy

Some time ago, Grandma Jo got Xander these wonderful Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls. For whatever reason though, Xander is kind of scared of them. No matter though because Aria loves them. I kind of wonder if she thinks they are real people because she laughs at their faces just like she does with other babies. I got a cute picture of her with Raggedy Andy today with one of her new dresses on.

Speaking of new dresses, Aria has gone through a growth spurt again. Each time she hits one, I find myself frantically shopping for clothes that fit her. Fortunately, one of my coworkers just had a baby girl this past month so I can pass on all of Aria's barely used, outgrown clothes.

No-go on the new extracirricular

So, recently, there have been a lot of new offerings at Xander's school for optional learning activities: piano lessons, soccer shots, and dance class. Having taught and played piano, I know Xander is absolutely, positively not ready for piano lessons so that was ruled out right away. So, I limited my serious consideration to the other two.

I thought soccer would be perfect because he's very active. Unfortunately, Xander heard a parent talk about her son getting hid in the head by an older boy kicking a ball. So, he is terrified of soccer. When I asked him if he wanted soccer or dance, he told me he wanted to take dance.

I was a little nervous about dance. I figured it would be all girls, but I was willing to give it shot. I was just about to sign up when I realized the cost for the class was $664 plus special costumes and shoes. Seriously?

So, Xander will be sticking to his current two extra classes: Play Ball (physical fitness) and Opus One (music). I'll keep my eye out for other opportunities. I know he loves to learn new things, but I am not insane. I'm not going to sign him up for a really expensive class that he might decide he hates after the first class.

Glasses

OK, it's near impossible to get a clear picture here with a cell phone camera (worst shutter speed ever). Still, this is cute!