He Does Dishes Too

Blake is pulling up on everything now. He can pull himself up, but he has no idea how to get back down. He just plays until he is tired and then starts to scream until someone comes to get him.

The other night I was loading the dishwasher and Blake scooted into the kitchen. He really wanted me to pick him up and was mad that the dishwasher door was in his way. He started to pull up and I turned around for a second to get somehting on the cabinet behind me...


He was determined that I was going to pick him up!

Meet Rocky

This is Brandt's new fish, Rocky. We got him yesterday and he seems to be doing well. It took about an hour to pick him from all the fish choices and then he had to live in his plastic dish until this morning so that the water in his bowl could adjust to room temperature.

Brandt turned off the kitchen lights last night so he could sleep and made me promise to take care of him today while he was at school.

Make Up Solves Everything

Tonight we were working on Brandt's homework at the table while I started dinner. He was supposed to make a list of words that rhymed with sing and play. He was working a play and needed one or two more words to add to his list. I give him hints and try to have him think of the word by himself. He had thought of lay, oh bay (obey), say, may and stay. My hint was "If you are lost, you need to stop and find your ?" I was going for way. Campbell, who is always eager to participate, yells "lipstick!" How can you argue with that?

No Technology Genius

Several months ago Brandt's Ipod screen froze and we had to send it back to Apple for repair. They sent a new one and when they did, I hooked it to my computer to sync. I never downloaded any music to it and we put a few apps on it now and then. We don't let him on our WiFi at home, so he can only download when we are somewhere with free WiFi access. He also does not have an itunes account, so I have to approve and download everything using my account, which I thought was a great plan.

Brandt also loves passwords and hiding things and locks. He got a safe with a combination lock for Christmas and I can only imagine what important things he has locked away in there. It has an alarm, so I hear it every time he opens it. The combination is printed on the bottom and I have had to help him open it several times already, so we are leaving it on the bottom. He hasn't realized the security risk yet. He used to have a password on his itouch, until a couple of weeks ago when he called me in hysterical tears because he could not get the password to work. You get three chances and then it is disabled for 1 minute, three chances and it is disabled for 5 minutes and then three more chances and it is locked until you hook it to the computer it syncs with. The problem was, I had not synced is itouch since we got it. The only way to unlock it was to reset it, which meant we lost everything-all the apps, etc. I reset it and promised him I would set everything back up.

Today I sat down determined to fix everything. I transferred appropriate music, found our network password and turned the WiFi on, found the apps he wanted and downloaded them, I was set. I set it to sync and fed Blake lunch. 20 minutes later it was still going. What? It doesn't take my iphone this long and I have way more stuff to back up. I took a closer look and saw that it was syncing all my apps to Brandt's itouch. All because I didn't give him a separate account. I should have let him download his own apps, it would have been easier.
No, I am no technology genius.

Do the Hokey Fokey

Yesterday in music class at school, Campbell learned a new song - the Hokey Pokey. In her words - the Hokey Fokey. She needed to teach it to me in carpool line and we had to do it over and over and over. We put out hands in, then our feet (a little hard in the car) and then we had to put our left head in and shake it all about. We never did our right head and I am still not sure now my left head is different from my right head, but that is the way she sings it.
Later at home she taught it to Daddy, Brandt and Blake. Every time she was interrupted, she started over because the song must be sung in its entirety, in a very loud voice. I can only imagine what music class must be like with a room full of three and four year olds!

Campbell Turns Four

Campbell turned four on Tuesday. Most days I feel like she is twenty four, instead of four and she spent most of her birthday telling people she was turning six. (Already lying about her age!)
Because her birthday is so close to Christmas, the celebration gets stretched out a bit. She gets to have several parties to include all the family and her friends and she wouldn't have it any other way!
This year she got an extra surprise. Her BFF, Brooklyn, surprised her with a birthday cake sign in our yard. She loved it!


Ready to go to school in her birthday dress



The surprise birthday sign




With her brothers


Celebrating after dinner

Blake at 9 Months

Blake is nine months old today. Some days I feel like the past nine months have flown by and others I can't believe we have only had him for nine months. I can't remember what our family was like before he was here.
He had his check up on Tuesday and got a good report. There were no shots this time and for that, Mommy was very thankful. His ear infections from Christmas are all clear and his cough is almost gone - the miracles of amoxicillin.
He weighed in at 20 pounds, 10 ounces and is 29 inches long. He is 55th percentile for weight and 75th percentile for length. He is still the smallest of the three, but an above average size baby. His head is 18", which is 65th percentile. He also has the smallest head.
29 inches means that it is time to move from the baby car seat to the big boy car seat. I've been both dreading and looking forward to the move. I'm going to miss the ease of having him the baby carrier and being able to keep him in it all time. It's so easy if he is asleep to grab him out of the car and go. He is trapped when we are on the go and has to stay in one place. I don't have to worry about him scooting away. I am not, however, going to miss carrying 30 pounds of carrier and baby!
Yesterday he got his fourth tooth. It is the second one on top and it is on his left side. Now he has two on top and two on bottom and he bites hard!
He is still a picky eater. No green vegetables at all. He will eat all of the orange ones - carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, but no peas or green beans. He loves most fruits, except bananas. He is doing better and better at eating table food and is starting to get the hang of feeding himself. He still gets more puffs on the floor and in his chair than in his mouth, but he tries really hard! He also likes pieces of toast, crackers and loves french fries - especially Chick A Lay! He is working on sippy cups, but mostly bites on them for now.

Here are Brandt and Campbell's stats at nine months:
Brandt-
Weight: 21 pounds, 13 ounces - 85th percentile
Length: 29 3/4 inches - 90th percentile
Head: 18 7/8" - 95th+ percentile

Campbell-
Weight: 21 pounds, 4 ounces - 88th percentile
Length: 29 1/4" - 95th percentile
Head: 18 1/4" 95th percentile


Loving my new big boy car seat!

Holiday Recap

It's hard to believe the holidays are over. I spent so long preparing and shopping and getting ready and now it's a new year. I still have to take the tree and decorations down and find homes for all the new toys, but I feel like it all flew by.
We had school parties and plays and holiday things and I have not posted any of it. Rather than tons of posts to catch up, I am doing one recap.
We all had a wonderful Christmas. Our kids are very lucky (spoiled) and our families are very generous. I can't imagine that there is anything that they could have wanted that they did not get. They had great parties at school, spent a lot of time with family and friends and I hope will remember a little about the true meaning of Christmas.
Best Wishes for a Happy New Year! Enjoy our pictures...

Out with the Old, In with the New

No not the toys, not yet anyway.
On Christmas Eve Brandt lost his third tooth. It is the first one that he has lost on the top. He was so excited, as most of his friends have already lost both of their top teeth. Once again he lost it at Oma's house. This is the third tooth he has lost and all three have been at Oma's. He was a little concerned about Santa and the Tooth Witch coming on the same night, but we forgot the tooth at Oma's house, so it was not a problem. The Tooth Witch will be coming tomorrow night since it will be the first night we are all back at our house since Christmas and the Tooth Witch can only come to our house.
On Christmas Day Blake got his third tooth, also on the top. His tooth came in the same spot that Brandt lost his. His other top tooth is almost through, but not quite.