sunriver '12

z & j having fun with the fountain at the new SHARC

s LOVES the water!!!

big j & the fountains...

sunriver '12

 cousins playing out in the back yard. we saw deer walk by several times that week.

the grand dinner!

violining!

and more violining!

s & abuelo. love her chunky legs!

all the cousins.

sunriver '12

 z and peanut butter cookies!

staying in sunriver always means lots of playtime with the cousins.
these are the little cousins! adorable!

cousins riding bikes...

cousins (and brothers) in the hot tub...

s all prepared for the sun... although it proved to be elusive that week.

z, s, & daddy.

sunriver '12

s! so cute. too bad she has to wear bibs all the time due to drooling...

s with abuelo, ready for the hot tub!

z, s, & mommy in the hot tub. it took z a long time to adjust to the heat, but s liked it right away!

z, excited about bath time in the huge tub!

sunriver '12

we left for sunriver the day after the ear tubes procedure. it wasn't the best scheduling decision in the world, as friday morning we had to get z to the hospital by 7am, and then pack for sunriver AND leave the house in cleaning condition with everything picked up, as the cleaners were to come while we were out of town. so much work! we got everything accomplished, and made it. last year, we started a tradition of stopping for ice cream in sisters. here is z with his mint chocolate chip ice cream cone! (he didn't eat it all....)

new toy

z unknowingly picked out this toy (at the time, i told him it was for a friend) as a reward for going through the myringotomy. the day of the procedure was rainy, but we let him try it out anyway. it's a little anticlimactic. he still had fun!

waving

found a video of my little girl waving... so cute!

sibling love.

our little cuties! sometimes they play nicely together.

waving

i can wave now!!!

pasitos school

z finished his very first year at pasitos!!

sibling love.

z loves his little sister! playing nice, at least for the moment...

we brought home j's old keyboard from canby after one visit to see abuelo/a. z loved it, but unfortunately it eventually stopped working after a couple weeks. here is a video of dancing to the beat & some experimental playing.

rainy day...

something z created on a rainy day, while i was busy washing dishes.

look what i can do!!!

new bike

z got a new bike! this was the first day he tried riding it.

myringotomy

z gets tubes in his ears tomorrow. he hasn't seemed worried or concerned about the procedure at all. i'm really interested to see if it makes any immediate difference in his hearing and speech.
he sounded a tiny bit croupy today, so i hope it doesn't develop into something big, with our trip to sunriver on saturday.
i've stopped nursing on the right side because it hurts too much, and the tissue needs time to heal. pumping takes SO much time! it's very inconvenient, but there is no other option.
we've noticed s seems to sleep much longer at night if she drinks formula at some point in the evening. makes me feel like a failure, like i'm not feeding her enough or something. on the other hand, as much as it's been enjoyable nursing her (aside from all the pain) when things have been going smoothly, it is a pleasant thought to imagine being free from the task.
i took the kids to fred meyer to stock up on z's underwear & some other things (including a toy for him for after his procedure tomorrow), and they both sat in one of the car carts. s looked so cute sitting next to her big brother, playing with the steering wheel just like z. when he started banging his feet against the back of the car, she started doing the same thing, too. so cute!

eeek - teeth!

aaaaaaaaaauuuuuuughhhhhhhh!
s's teeth are wreaking havoc on me. she officially broke the skin on my nipple tonight. it is SO painful. this isn't fair...

firsts...

s can wave goodbye now!!! and she has been saying ma ma ma ma all day today. so exciting!

z's behavior has been absolutely awful the past few days. he slapped me yesterday, almost hit a little girl at the grocery store (i managed to intervene at the last minute) for no reason, almost bit me this morning (completely out of the blue), and has been hitting vinny daily. awful. almost drives me to drink. he didn't used to behave this way. and getting him to do the simplest things often requires my yelling in his face - it sucks the years out of my life.
he was very well behaved at his dental appointment today. no cavities, either. i guess i'd rather have him acting out at home, instead of in public at important things like doctors' appointments. in a perfect world, though, he just wouldn't hit at all. i already had to deal with major biting for 4 months when he was younger. don't i deserve to skip at least one bad phase?

rain & camping

stuck in the tent...

smith rock '12

 here are some pictures from daddy & z's trip to smith rock on memorial day weekend.

 NO SHOES IN THE TENT!!! daddy made this very clear to z, because when we were at the childrens' museum in portland, there was a tent there, and z kept telling some poor little girl, "no shoes in the tent!"

 roasting marshmallows.

 z's cousins came to visit!

 hangin' out...

 sweet boys.

eating breaky.

mississippi hot dog

daddy's first attempt at mississippi hot dog twinkle. he looks great! the violin, however, needs some tuning...

happy birthday, daddy!

singing happy birthday to daddy...

pasitos

a clip from a video of z & his classmates at the spring pasitos school performance

mother's day 2012

mother's day 2012..

dancing

z dancing with daddy...

no nap

z tried going without a nap this day... he was having so much fun playing outside with the neighbors. however, while we were fixing dinner, we looked over & saw this at 5:30pm... he didn't quite make it!

future occupation?

 our little bike messenger - he has the hair & everything!

neighbor k gave this bag to z - it matches his boots perfectly! it's his new library book bag.

lincoln city '12

 playing in the sand! mommy can never watch this... just can't bear the mess. this is always daddy's job to oversee.

 let's go fly a kite....

 s already likes flying kites.

yay! not the sunniest day, but we still had fun.

 when z was 7 months...

 when z was 2...

 now z is 3!
and s is 6 months...

lincoln city '12

fun in lincoln city. z was asking about eating more salt water taffy, and s kept falling over for fun.

lightning

z, speaking about lightning, which he learned about from his tracing book.

reading

z had fun "reading" to s from his tracing book...

lincoln city '12

 s & mommy.

 z sees something interesting. at the time of walking through the tunnels, there were two men in the water tanks who were cleaning the glass. it was most interesting to z, and he kept waving at them (and they waved back).

 s loves the aquarium!

 peekaboo!

that was fun!

lincoln city '12

we went to lincoln city at the beginning of may for three nights. we rented a house right on the beach, which worked well. s was mid-teething, however, and woke up frequently. aside from that, both kids did pretty well. the house had a hot tub outside, and z really enjoyed "swimming" in it! the weather was cold and rainy, but we still had a good visit.

urban farming

z has been really excited about planting things this spring. he got some seeds as part of kids' meals from burgerville, so we had to plant those. we also found random packets of seeds around the house (one was from j & m's wedding!), so i bought some more large planters so all seeds could be planted & nurtured with love. what have we planted? nasturtiums, tomato (cherry & sungold), carrots, sugar snap peas (doing very well!), and some other random flowers.
z often is reluctant to get outside & play after naps, because it takes him a long time to wake up. the plants are a good motivator for him. he'll say he doesn't want to go outside, but once he's there, he doesn't want to come in!

pizza night

empty bottles after friday pizza & movie night with the neighbors, way back in april.

sketchy...

this is grandma's idea of okay, but not mommy's. grandma had taken z & s to the park, but when it was time to leave, s started screaming because she was so hungry. grandma just left the bottle propped up with blankets while she drove home, and s fell asleep mid slurp. safety wise, this is a huge no no, but it worked.

may/june update

i have lots of pictures & videos to post, but haven't had the time. i got as far as making a list of the pics to include, but that was awhile ago & who knows where the list is now. sloane has been waking up every 2-3 hours since we got back from minneapolis. she got another tooth on may 27th while we were away, bringing the total up to 5 now, but she appears to be working on more. i'm so exhausted. i was losing my mind, so my mom took the kids yesterday so that i could sleep as long as possible in the morning. s actually slept from 7:30-3:45am two nights ago, but of course i didn't sleep because i was expecting her to wake up. j had to get up at 3:30 that night to fly to arizona for the day (to catch a 5:30am flight), and i didn't want to wake him up by getting in & out of bed repeatedly, so i tried just sleeping in her room - assuming she'd wake up any minute- but of course she didn't. night of bad sleep, and a plugged milk duct which is still killing me today. since j was gone last night until returning after his 11pm flight, i had a friend & her two kids over for dinner. it was fun to catch up, but tiring. this morning s started pooping & i was too tired to hold her up while she finished pooping, so i just changed her. serves me right for not making the effort. this happened 3 times until she was finally finished. a 3 diaper poop. it wasn't a lot of poop... she just had it coming & coming. i am so tired, and there is no end in sight. j has had a much heavier work load, working later hours, traveling more, and it's difficult.
time for soccer. s is still napping (of course she naps a long time when we have to get someplace), and we're already running late. ugh.

rolling!

s can now do tricks! she is able to turn from her belly to her back. it's so cute, and she gets so excited about it. this week she & i & grandma fly to minneapolis for a teaching convention. i couldn't leave her behind because i'm still breast feeding, so grandma will be watching her while i attend sessions. i hope to run into old friends - should be a busy weekend! j is taking off work to hang out with z. they're planning on camping at smith rock with friends.

eek! teeth!

on wed may 9, s got her first tooth. she had been waking up pretty much hourly the few days before. her next three teeth continued to make appearances over the next four days, and her nightly waking schedule did not change. i used ibuprofen & tylenol, and orajel. i also tried clove oil mixed with olive oil, as my barista had recommended trying, but that didn't help much. she was really fussy & miserable. now that they've all cut through the gums, she's back to sleeping longer chunks. however, along with the teething, she had a bad cold, so i had her sleeping in her car seat for a few nights, which helped her sleep better. now i have her sleeping on a pillow - still elevated somewhat, but at least this way she's able to stretch her legs out.
j was gone last sunday to friday for a business trip to japan. he cooked me pancakes for mother's day & we had mimosas, and then he left. my parents stopped by on their way home from church and picked up the kids, so i could have the afternoon free. i saw dark shadows with a friend, and then met them at their house - they cooked dinner for me. the week was rough. it's difficult doing two bath times, doing all the dishes, cooking, on top of teaching & waking up a million times at night.
on tuesday night, a friend came over for dinner. z had been crying after peeing that afternoon, and i decided at the last minute that i needed to take him to urgent care. i put s to bed, then left my friend at the house to keep watch while i took z to the doctor's. he had a urinary tract infection. i called to have my mom come over to let my friend go home (he doesn't have kids... doesn't really do baby stuff), but then had to send her back out to get z's antibiotics from one of the few pharmacies open late. on top of the u.t.i., z had a yucky cough developing. i had to wake him up to give him the first dose of the antibiotic - by then it was 10:30pm. i had put s down around 7:15, so i knew she'd be waking up soon. z coughed from 11-12 (while still being asleep somehow). the coughing drives me crazy - it's impossible for me to sleep through! i couldn't decide whether to lie in bed, listening, or to read a book or watch a movie. i tried putting vick's baby rub on his hands & feet. either that helped, or he stopped coughing on his own... either way, i managed to finally fall asleep, only to have s wake 20 min later. what a crappy night!!!
the week is finished, & j is back home safe. i get to go through all of that again (although perhaps i'll get lucky with no teething or sick kids....riiiight) in late july, when j has to go to the east coast for work. i would not have survived without help from the grandparents. thank goodness they all live in town!

teething. :(

last night, s woke up every two hours. she couldn't sleep because her nose was so stuffed. i know exactly how she felt - i've been suffering from the same exact thing for about a week now. i began the day exhausted, but thankfully j let me sleep in a little in the morning. once i got up, i spent the rest of the morning baking cookies for my students' recital.
z had swimming at 11:30, and they gave him a sort of progress report. he's doing well, but is still very hesitant to do anything (he always has a death grip on the instructor), so he is advised to do the same class again.
s & i ran a bunch of errands after baking all the cookies... had to pick up the recital programs from kinkos, buy a bunch of baby stuff at target, & pick something up at rei.
we all drove to the recital together - the first true family recital! z did an excellent job of watching the recital (or so i was told - i was busy running it). s did well until the last 15 min, when it was time for her to sleep again. anyway, we all survived, and got burgerville on the way home. we actually wanted to go to hopworks, but it was way too busy. we came home & watched a little of the princess bride after dinner before starting the bedtime routine. i am soooo tired. i hope tonight brings more sleep for both s & i.