Suiting Up!

When I got this sample pack of diapers from The Honest Company I thought the patterns were so cute, and edgy! Justus, not only a trend setter is also setting his athletic goals quite high because in this family, the skull and cross bones is clearly a sign for the Blackshirts....Go Big Red!  Some how, I don't think J will ever be a part of the Nebraska Defensive Line, but one never knows!?!?  

Suiting up for the game

Blackshirts baby style

Go Huskers!

Happy Homecoming Huskers!

not quite a birth story

In the car this morning, I popped in my favorite CD, it is a burned CD of some of my favorite music.  It is actually the music that I had playing in the L&D room as my body worked to bring Justus into this world.  And there are a few songs that I actually remember humming to in between contractions. 

on the move

Last I reported, Justus was making his way toward crawling....well it has happened!  Last Thursday (9/6/12) all that practice paid off and he crawled.  This is a fun milestone.  He is still a little wobbly, but I imagine in no time he will be scooting away from P as fast as he can, or toward her?  As you can see at the end of the video she has such a hard time keeping her hands of him.  (SOOO MUCH LOVE!)

1st Day of Pre-K

Phoebe, You were so excited for your first day of Preschool. You love telling everyone that you go to Capitol Hill Learning Group, and that your teacher is Miss Kellie. (Miss Kellie happens to be best friends with Miss Mary Beth, your teacher from Little Learners!) On the first day, you ran into the classroom and found your best buddy, Josiah. Then you turned around and scanned the room to find Miss Kellie and even though you had only met her one time, you tapped her on the shoulder and jumped into her lap to give her one of your signature big bear hugs. I think you are going to like having Miss Kellie as your teacher!

On the second day of school you got a little certificate from your teacher for being a kind friend to a classmate who was very sad, you continue to be concerned about your little friend as she gets used to school. We are so proud of you for being so caring!

When you go to class on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday you are so happy to be there and very energized when you come home.  I have enjoyed watching you and your excitement for school.  I hope that this year satisfies and encourages your sense of wonder as you learn more about God and the world He created. Good luck this year, little one. 

Justus at 7 months

Justus continues to be a delight! He has been around now for 7 months and everyday he seems to wake up more to the world around him.  We were at the beach last week and, just like his big sister, he LOVED it!  Most of the time he stayed on the blanket and played with toys, but when we took him to the ocean or set him in the sand he would giggle and wriggle with excitement.  

He loves to look at his hands and see what they can do, he is enjoying new toys passed along from a friend, and he still is so excited to see Phoebe any time she comes around him.  We struggle a little keeping her mothering hands off of her baby brother, but it is sweet to see how much she enjoys him and wants to be near him.  

Justus is on the move, not exactly crawling but he gets where he wants to; army crawling, rocking, lunging from the sitting position.  He is very close to crawling, pouncing his arms and rocking his body and if he can get some time of the floor without sister dictating his moves, he will be off in no time!  

Our little guy was sleeping through the night but now he is up 1-3 times a night, I am hoping this is just a growth spurt or something brought on by our vacation.  (please, sleep through the night again!!)  I keep adding more foods to his diet, and more eating times, hoping this will keep his tummy full through the night!  The most recent concoction of food is pumpkin-apple, and this week he will try more greens- beans, peas, and zucchini.  I got this great baby food making kit that has made the process easier, and it comes with really nice containers to freeze and store the food.  I love that I can make his food, that it is fresh and literally only has one ingredient. 

Ok, enough ramblings of J at 7 months....here are some pics from the beach of our little beach bum.

peak-a-boo

evening beach time is the best!

yummy, sand!

6 Months

6 Month Stats: 

17lbs. 11oz.

26.5"

So fun to compare....though, I need to get him in the onesie!  It still fits, he just wasn't up for a wardrobe change today. 

Things he does/is doing:

• eating solids; cereal, sweet potato, banana, peach, avocado
• babbling, cooing, singing
• rolling
• sitting (recently Matt went to get him in the morning and he was just sitting up in his crib)
• rocking on hands and knees
• laughing when tickled
• everything goes in the mouth, no signs of teeth though
• smiling at the camera (he already knows!)
• best friends- all girls so far, Olive and Hannah
• favorite toy, sister, books, anything appropriate for chewing

Creative Movement

Phoebe just finished her summer dance class; creative movement at Dance Place.  It was a nice little class and a great 'extra' thing for the summer.  (and it was the first dance class I haven't had to attend with her...BONUS!)

Whenever I tell people she is taking dance they always ask, Ballet?  I say, no, it is creative movement.  It actually isn't recommended for children to start ballet until 8 (formal training), and most teachers believe that children under 4 don't have the attention span for a structured class.  This is why we end up in classes called Creative Movement, or Dance Basics, or whatever other name they come up with that described kids running around like animals; elephant, mouse, butterfly, flamingo etc.  

So, with this confusion of dance class names Phoebe insists on correcting me every time I mention dance.

me: Ready for Dance?

Phoebe: It's Creative Movement, Mom.

me: Well, yes but it is also dance.

Phoebe: No, it is Creative Movement.

me: right.

Of course this only comes after I have corrected her multiple times:

Phoebe: Mom, when do I have ballet?

me: Well, it's actually creative movement, and it is on Wednesday.

It is sort of like a square is a rectangle but a rectangle isn't a square....dance is ballet but ballet isn't creative movement, maybe?

a peak into our day: Vacation

We just got back from a trip to Amish Country in Pennsylvania.  We stayed at a Bed and Breakfast on a farm.  Phoebe LOVED it, for so many reasons; cousins, animals, late bedtime, and lots of treats!  This picture is a great snapshot of our time, Phoebe letting her hair blow in the wind flanked by Silas and Ira.

Dreaming...

I never thought I would be dreaming of less space...but sometimes I do think wouldn't it be nice to live some place with just a kitchen, a toilet, and a bed, just those few things.  I am not sure I would actually LOVE it, but these tiny little places do capture my heart.  If there was a lot of outdoor space, running water and a comfy resting place seems like it would be enough.

Maybe some day when the kids are off at college, grad school, raising children, or raising hell, whatever it is they do when they leave our place, maybe then the mister and I will drive off to our tiny house in the woods...or maybe just with a tiny camper in the woods.  

Isn't this tiny little Teardrop Camper a great set up..featured on Sunset. 

It is certainly not your momma's camper... or your papa's! 

And many more tiny houses can be found here.  

a Peak into our Day: waiting

P loves having friends over to play, when she knows someone is coming over she gets worked up with lots of excitment.  One morning (after she dressed as a princess...a few days after the pirate outfit) she was expecting friends.  Their plan was to 'drop by in the morning', but there wasn't a time commitment or any more of a plan than those loose words.  Phoebe spent about 45 minutes waiting for them on the front porch.  

I watched her from the conditioned house as she watched for her friends.

close your eyes and cross the sea...

Today we went to the National Gallery of Art for their summer series, Stories in Art.

We met up with Ms. Marjorie who greeted us with a happy 'Bonjour' and after closing our eyes and counting to 3 we were on the streets of Paris, but only for a moment before we left for the french countryside.  We entered a garden and ran into the gardener hard at work, Claude Monet.   Phoebe sat quietly and listened to a story about a little girl visiting Claude Monet in his garden. 

Ms. Marjorie took the kids to sit in front of Monet's The Artist's Garden at Vetheuil.  She described to them how to look at a painting; left to right, top to bottom, then crazy eyes, and asked them what they saw.  I watched this interaction with envy, wishing that I was a wee one looking at this painting for the first time.  

Then Phoebe got to do a 'painting' of her own with oil pastels.  After the art project we meandered through the galleries to find the actual Monet painting that P had just colored, The Japanese Footbridge.  She only seemed a little interested in seeing it and was mostly just appeasing me, so we headed for the car.  Though we exited through the underground concourse between the east and west buildings; this might have been Phoebe's favorite part of the whole outing.  She stood on the moving walkway stunned by the lights exclaiming that it looked like 'space out', which I think means outer space.  :)  

Seriously...

I saw this sign at the Hirshhorn today and smiled, nodded my head, and thought, that is a great question. When was the last time I laughed? I take myself so seriously sometimes that I forget to enjoy...life. I remember two times in life when my seriousness was questioned...both times I was basically asked why I didn't smile more, internally I thought, because there is nothing to smile about.

Now that I am a mom, and I still take myself too seriously, this sign somehow helped crack me a bit...I started to think that maybe if I laugh, smile, giggle, be silly just a little bit more there might be less fights in my house. If I joke and enjoy the silliness of my little ones a bit more we all might enjoy each other. Then I read this article this morning and was encouraged to let go. 

So, when was the last time I laughed? Well, last night...we chose to watch the funny movie over the serious movie, Cedar Rapids made me giggle, it was so nice to laugh with the Mister after a long week and a rough day with the kids. If you haven't seen it, you should! Especially, if you are looking for a little break from your serious self.

peak into our day

When the mister is gone it takes a little more effort to keep things running around here; early morning runs into morning, late afternoon runs into evening into bedtime, without the mister coming and going our rhythm is less defined.  We are happy to share the mister with little Lydia, but we do miss him!

5 Months

Justus has made it a whole 5 months! We have all made it 5 months. I say that as if it has been hard or something, not really hard, just an adjustment, just like any other adjustment where you add a whole new person to a family unit. 

He is the sweetest little baby, very calm and quite predictable.  He likes to eat, sleep, and cuddle.  J LOVES to watch his big sister, she is his favorite 'toy'; as soon as he lays eyes on her there is a smile and often a little giggle.  J really just loves people, he likes to make eye contact with anyone who looks his way, I can see him just soaking in their presence, he is very serious about it.  In the last month or so J has gotten to the point that he is too aware to sleep just anywhere, he wants his bed and nobody else around so we try to get home for at least one solid nap a day, and be home for bedtime which is around 6:30 now.  Along with his sweet little coos he has found his shriek, when be breaks out the high pitched squeal it normally makes me laugh except at church during the silent prayer, then it is a little embarrassing. :)  He is eating rice cereal once a day, and we will continue to ramp that up over the next month.  We decided start some cereal because he was just acting so hungry.  He basically sleeps through the night most nights, 6:30pm - 7am with a twilight feeding at 10 or so.  We are enjoying this little addition to our family!  

still ado(red)

 getting so long

And for comparison sake, here is our little girl at 5 months!

Friday Family Fun!

By the end of the week the mister and I are exhausted! And lately it has been incredibly HOT. So, the last two Friday nights, we have stayed in and created a fun family night. I have found a number of great animated short movies (on Hulu), we pick one and eat picnic style. P and I spend the last hour of our day together (waiting for Dad to come home) putting together a yummy spread of finger food that replaces our dinner that evening. 

pumpkin seed crackers, peppered feta, tomatoes

berries, nuts, hummus and veggies

freshly popped corn with freshly grated parmesan cheese

check out this post for a great popping technique

This special little treat has been a fun way for our family to spend time together and P still gets to bed by 7:30 or 8.  And once the kiddos are asleep we get a little more down time.  This makes for a great end to the work week. 

Argh, I'm a pirate

Argh, I'm a pirate, originally uploaded by 207 Living.

Lately, I have been working on the parental art of *Distraction*; distracting P from the thing that she wants (thinks she needs) so that we can move on with our day. So, the other day after a fiery round of, "Let's go get dressed. No, I don't want to get dressed." I stopped and my brain clicked into gear and I asked P, "Do you want to dress like a pirate or a princess today?" She said pirate in a very delighted tone and this is the outfit we came up with. Quite a trendy pirate, eh? She also decided she needed her tool box in case she needed to be a mean pirate, her plan was to hit people with her tools. Gotta love imagination....and distractions!

Brighten up the Corners

 I love this fresh and bright corner in our house today.  We brought home some flowers from Trader Joe's that Phoebe picked out.  She desperately wanted flowers and had a very hard time deciding which bunch she wanted to bring home with us.  The way the flower display is set up you walk past it a few times while shopping and then one last time before you pay; each time we passed them she picked a different bunch and I told her we would make our final decision when we got in line to pay.  She picked these lovely pink roses that I put in a jar as soon as we got home.  I also thought it would be appropriate for a few to rest in her room since she was the one who wanted them so much.  They are a lovely shade of pink to brighten a couple little corners of our home.

Hope for Phoebe....

Source: twitter.com via Joanna on Pinterest

Grafted In

In our church we have this beautiful liturgy for the children that the congregation prays together each week:

Almighty God, heavenly Father, you have blessed 

our congregation with the joy and care of children. 

Give us courage, patience, and wisdom 

as we bring them up in the faith 

that they might never know a day apart from you, 

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

I love this prayer on so many levels, first being that everyone participates in joy and care for the children; they are God's children not a particular family's children.  And the reality that we need patience and wisdom to raise them.  Mostly I love the line about them never knowing a day apart from the Lord, there is something so 'whole' about that hope.  

It is with that hope that we brought our little Justus to be baptized a few weeks ago, to be grafted in as a descendant of Abraham.  We do hope that as his parents, god parents, church community and family we can pass on our love for Jesus, that we can be stewards of our faith and share it with both of our children as they grow.

Justus and his godparents, Pat and Ashley

Pesce....what?

The Mister enjoys a food experiment every now and again.  It is his way of dieting without a lot of rules.  Last year we were vegan for about 3 weeks, and we have been keeping up our Meat-less Mondays.  So the other day the mister came home from work and declared, "I am going to be pescetarian!"  Which is basically his way of cutting out beef, chicken, and pork, so to cut out a large amount of 'bad' fats in his diet (mind you chicken isn't bad for you but it is so easy to slather cheese on it....so says the mr.).  This is a decent way to eat, especially in the summer; salmon on the grill, fish tacos, halibut with mango salsa, all great summer fare.  It becomes a fun experiment for me, the chef, and I get to eat whatever I want during the day; big fat burger at the pool, yes please!

This week we enjoyed this tasty meal: Nicoise Salad.  I found the recipe here, and basically followed it, though added some vinegar to the vinaigrette.