Happy Valentine's Day 2013

Just  a little love from our sweeties in time for Valentine's day. xoxo

happy birthday big girl

this little lady is SO full of awesome and sassy and smarty pants. :) in fact, i have trouble believing she is only turning two...she seems so much closer to 3 in so many ways. she certainly has a way with words and rattles off detailed sentences with correct tense and person; i'm expecting her to start reading any day now. ok, not really...but she dances happily with the gift of language. despite the challenges that the second year inevitably brings: the struggle to express one's self and understand your own emotions, the struggle to find one's place in the world...or at least the family, the struggle to find the boundaries that work for everyone involved...despite all that, she's quite a dazzling two year old gal if you ask me.  she loves to be around friends but gallops off to invent her own little game whenever possible, likely because she isn't afforded much alone time in our cozy house with a big brother always on her tail.  she's already fairly experimental in the world of make believe and loves soothing her baby kate or creating a conversation between the crocodile and the tugboat in the bathtub.  she's fully into the "i can do it myself" phase and her eyes do sparkle even brighter when she beams with pride for whatever trick it is she's mastered.  and even perhaps sometimes the monkey-see-monkey-do helps, as she mimicks and repeats everything pete says and does, for better or worse. he's figured it out and often asks betsy if she can do something naughty, and when she performs whatever the request was, peter calls my attention to the problem with a "momma, look what she's doing. momma, can you say 'no, no betsy!' please?" oh dear.....these two are going to join forces in about 4 minutes and i'm really going to have to be on my toes! i'm grateful she's stayed a happy little cuddle bug, even though most of the time she's on the go...so happy she still snuggles into me and wants to be held by her momma. those little snuggles are oh so special to me.
favorite food: panera shells and cheese
favorite song: twinkle, twinkle and happy birthday
favorite movie: winne the pooh or curious george
favorite toys: baby kate, cars, swings
favorite candy: jelly beans
favorite activity: anything new - she loves the park, she loves crafts, she loves to just explore
she is a gentle creature who loves her babies and any animal we ever encounter so sweetly
she is a little fishy at swim lessons
she soothes herself by sucking her thumb and rubbing her belly button
she can count pretty well
she can identify colors, at least the color red correctly
she is mostly/sort-of potty trained, depending which day of the week it is and her mood
she sleeps at least 12 hours through the night and requests her nap mid-day which is 2.5-3.5 hours
she loves her big brother and her tiny brother so sweetly but can hold her own if her territory needs defending.
she spends a lot of time covering up her "babies" and putting them to sleep.
she's a climber and loves nothing more than to get up on the kitchen table or the top of the fence when my back is turned.
oh this little child is so full of life and overflowing with awesome. she's already got such a big, beautiful personality shining through, am just filled up with joy to be given the gift to watch her grow into the bigger version of wonderful betsy.
happy 2nd birthday, lady bug!

a snuggle with brother and curious george while mom gets the presents organized

loving the new dollhouse from grandma and grandpa

yes, a candle in her cereal...her request, i wasn't going to force her to have birthday pancakes!

the sitter went and picked up balloons last night, she's my hire-a-hubby. :) betsy's eyes lit up this morning when she saw the giant floating Dora. can't believe she is TWO.

skyping with Grandma and Grandpa Nannen so they could sing to the birthday girl

seaport village

finally the lady bug gets a spotlight post - seems like her brothers have been stealing the show lately. today during pete's school, great grandma jan and i took the littles down to sea port village (after swinging by the base to get some of our overseas screening paperwork turned in) to enjoy a beautiful morning before scampering back to pick up our big boy.  we thoroughly enjoyed watching some super sweet brown baby ducks swimming in the ponds, tossing pennies in the fountains, wandering the walkways and climbing up on the benches - the highlight for me was riding the beautiful, hand-carved wooden carousel (the horses even had real horse-hair tails-woa) with betsy and seeing the perma-grin on her face for the entire beautiful ride. she waved wildly to great grandma jan every time we circled past her and curtis waiting by the exit. the highlight for betsy may have been the visit we paid to the darling and delicious cupcake boutique. we each picked a pretty treat and then sat along the sea wall watching all sorts of boats go by as we ate our amazing snacks.  i must admit, i was feeling both grateful and guilty, sitting there with some of my favorite people in the whole world, perfect temperature, sun smiling down, flickering off the water, coronado bridge in the background, happy as a clam licking the whippy frosting from my fingertips.....and thinking about what life was probably like for my amazing, brave hubby in that same exact moment. if only i could click my heels and magic him home to us in blissful moments like those (of course i'd take him back home in the most chaotic of moments too, but he'd sure enjoy harbor-side cupcakes right about now). well, soon enough he'll be joining in all the magic (and the messy too!) but for now, i'm doing my best to keep some pictures coming your way. we love you, babe! xoxo
this afternoon even baxter got a dose of blissful play - we made it to the dog park!!!!
and for our evening fun, i taught grandma how to use my iPad. :) i love that one of the first things she wanted to know was how she could play solitaire. pete will have to show her how to play angry birds tomorrow. :)

cute cow bench outside the cupcake shop - after taking a seat, she shimmied up his back and rode him, hanging on to his horns with a grin. she's such a monkey!

happily licking the blue frosting from atop her chocolatey cupcake - then she got to the cupcake part. she knows her priorities.

cupcakes with great grandma jan - thanks for such a yummy treat!

watching the water traffic, she kept telling me there were fish down there. i had a feeling she was plotting a way to climb down the wall and rocks and take a swim. i love how adventurous she is and she doesn't let any challenge stop her from trying.

when we stopped to pick up pete his teacher asked if we'd come in - today was the first day he accomplished rolling up his work mat all by himself and after he had done so he told his teacher he wished his mom was there to see it because she would think it was really cool. so we all went in to see him perform his latest learned task - and great grandma got a tour of the school too. daddy - you are invited to spend a morning at the school when you get back, they said. :)

great grandma and sweet curtis - whoop whoop for starting a little double chin of chubby! love love love.  also, hip hip for him starting to have a long sleep in the evenings - is making that right-after-bedtime period of time sooooo much more productive for me. thanks little  buddy. xoxo

story time with grandma after big brother hit the hay. we have all been tired out at the end of our fun days with great grandma - but keep the fun coming! i love having her here with us.

curtis is one month grown!

our little june bug is growing and growing and time is zipping by. as i was taking out the trash this morning, scurrying to beat the arrival of the trucks, i was marveling how it was already another trash day...another friday...almost halfway through march. we are zooming right on through this early part of the year and racing toward summer - and i am rejoicing that this busy pace keep shrinking our countdown to daddy chain each night after dinner.
curtis is such a sweet cuddle baby. he loves to be held and snuggle in for a snooze, sometimes its hard to keep him awake to get in a full feeding and we end up nursing on and off for a few hours. and while i am tending to two big kids and a house and an international move and a birth educator certification in the "other" minutes of my days, i am doing my best to luxuriate in those moments of sitting and snuggling as i watch my bigger kids race around the house, literally climbing the walls, only stopping occasionally for a drink or a bathroom break or to take a breather hiding out under the kitchen table.  i remember when each of them were tiny snuggle bugs too. now that they are bigger they still love to be held and have hugs and give kisses on my forehead, but as quickly as they come for a high five or a tickle, they are off again to find their pirate ship or their chef's hat or the mouse and its house or to build a support beam under the parking garage for their cars. their imaginations are blooming and its FUN to watch and participate in the new exploration of what is possible in their play.
but back to curtis...his sleep chunks are getting bigger and a bit more predictable which has given me a tiny bit of uninterrupted sleep. who knew four straight hours of sleep could make you feel like a rockstar in the morning?!!?  i love to sit and watch him - i think i can actually watch him growing and changing. i love to watch his eyes dart around the room, taking in his little world - this house that we share. i love to imagine him in another month. i love to imagine him this summer at home playing in the grass with a sprinkler nearby, watching the big kids run and play. i love to imagine him as an 8 year old - what will he be like? what will they each be like? these three are already so in love with each other and are proving to be great friends (despite the moments of insanity-induced rudeness), they will be such individuals with their own personalities and interests and skills and ideas, yet i hope and pray they will be great playmates and someday grown-up friends to support each other through all of life's journeys....celebrations and transitions and challenges and explorations and...babies....here's hoping.
anyway, in those crazy moments when all three babes have different needs moving in different directions being communicated with crying and tugging me toward whatever it is that the need, in those chaotic bits of our days when i doubt myself and wonder if i am really enough, i just think to the future when i know with all of my being that i will look back at these early days with three tiny babes under my wing and miss every tiny speck of those beautiful days. and so, in the midst of chaos and not-enough-time and too-much-to-do, i am doing my best to really digest the awesomeness that it is.

thoughtful big kid gifts keep coming with the welcome baby goodies. thank you!

the coloring books and stickers are a BIG hit...they both sat and colored quietly for quite awhile and i got a lot accomplished. then i realized little sister was happily, quietly enjoying sticking her stickers on the kitchen table. woops. you'd think i would have learned not to mistake "quiet" for "not requiring supervision"

new sleeper from deedee...and he will wear it exactly once. he is GROWING FAST!

dressed herself in big brother's shirt as pants (legs in armholes), big brother's shoes, the backpack and the shapes satchel on her arm and then headed outside.

brothers enjoying a new blanket in the sun coming through the patio door. its 80 degrees today!

big yawn from a one month old june bug!

this is how he sleeps

enjoying his plan toys pirate ship. he got it for christmas and quickly discarded it as uninteresting. earlier this week i brought it out from the closet and its seen non-stop play. there have also been several requests to watch peter pan as he's fascinated with it - and even more fun to recreate the pirate play with his ship. its cute to hear how many songs he picks up from just hearing once or twice in a movie and sings all day long.

thanks annie and alison, the blankets are beautiful...we ALL love them!

snack time for lady bug - her pigtails are getting so long!

both big kids have been choosing rain boots as their footwear of choice lately.

growing a family of littles

with the arrival of curtis, our already very full days have become even more full...which has, and will likely continue to, kept us at home more often than not. big brother and sister have gotten used to letting momma and curtis sleep a little later than the rest of the house (something that will end when deedee leaves on friday, but my goodness i have appreciated it while it lasted!) and as soon as they hear him fuss in the morning peter is at my door knocking and asking to please come in. they love to come in and check on his, say hi, give a hug and a kiss, and then after watching curtis and i do our best trick (nursing) for about half a minute, they are bored and move on to something else a little more exciting. betsy, however, tends to stay a bit closer, telling baby "its ok, baby curtis" (even when he's not crying) and patting his head, and asking to sit on my lap or just stand next to me. she loves to be close to her momma which makes my heart happy, and keeps me plugged into where she's at - she's big but she still needs her momma. with these three littles, each with their own set of needs and desires i will have to learn to dance a balanced jig around here to meet them exactly where they are right now.  pete is mr. independent but needs a lot of encouragement, support and praise for his endeavors. he's also full of things to share and i love hearing his endless chatter - need to make sure i stay tuned into what he's telling me, because there are so many interesting stories to hear. i love watching his imagination explode onto a whole new horizon of awesome ideas and inventions.  he also needs a big space to move and jump and run every day, its part of his dna.  he loves to cut paper with scissors (zizzors) with a super-serious concentrating face involving a lot of tongue-sticking-out and he is quite into drawing now. i love that he verbalizes what it is that he is drawing as he goes, its fun to get a glimpse into the amazing amount of brain activity taking place in his happy little head. there are lots of drawings of family members, trains, daddy's jet, but then he also adds a lot of other random things. its just so cool to see it all unfold - all those thoughts and ideas, along with a lot of letter "P's".  betsy is full of go-power too and more than ever also needs a space where she can be her spider-monkey physically strong and busy self. she too has a lot of chatter, her favorite phrases are "don't do that again, peter!" said in a very stern voice and "look at me!" as she very purposely does something she is definitely not supposed to be doing (like dancing the cha-cha on the coffee table, climbing on top of the television...the list is long, actually!).  she is busy and fast and full of questions - she is a sponge and wants to know what everything is and discuss the details of what she sees and hears everywhere we go.  she's also become very good at concentrating - its amazing to watch her do puzzles, she actually examines the puzzle and the pieces and puts it exactly where it should go (her style is a bit different from pete's early puzzle attempts where he'd try to power the piece into every available hole in the puzzle and then end with a dramatic squeal of frustration...luckily he's gotten better now!).  she does an amazing job of keeping up with her big brother. and then there is this growing babe of ours, at 13 days old he's now a big 9 lbs 4.5 oz (up from 8 lbs 2 oz at birth), we're just watching him grow by the hour - legs and cheeks filling in, his color is beautiful now that all the jaundice has worked its way through his system. he's starting to sleep in 2-3 hour chunks which feels soooooo luxurious for this momma (last night i was asleep for 45 minutes before he woke up for his first night feeding and it was odd how refreshed i felt after such a short sleep - am grateful that i am sleeping hard as soon as i'm able to lay down again). he's having longer and longer awake periods each day with his eyes wide open, exploring the shadows and movement of the room. his little mouth is starting to busily explore his hands and fingers to see just what he can do with them, i'm sure he'll find his favorite finger to suck very soon.  he has all kinds of facial expressions that he showcases mostly when he is asleep. his awake face is mostly full of wonder as he takes in his surroundings.

checking on their baby

getting his finger prints and foot prints

filling the tub for his first bath - unfortunately the room was too steamy for good pictures, but we have video footage to share. like our other babes, he seemed to accept the warm bath without any fuss. he didn't love the drying off/chilly part of getting dressed but once he was bundled up and had a full tummy, he was happy to fall asleep for a nice nap.

post-bath naptime :)

loving this little one's nice long toes

helping deedee plant some new flowers in our sad empty flower pots

little musicians

these two little busy bugs have been digging on our musical instruments this week! in addition to loving the "horn" they got for christmas, pete has busted out the drums. he tells me its like the boys in the street in the parade - he was fascinated with them and marches around for an hour, making the loop through our hallway, banging as hard as he possibly can. he loves it. betsy loves it too but doesn't get much drum time so she opts for bells or other percussion-like instruments. even gave the harmonica a good run for its money yesterday. its fun to see them starting to co-play more now. however, this co-play has also turned into "ganging up" on mommy a little.  one kid does something borderline naughty (spitting milk), they both crack up. encouraged by the others response, they both continue the naughty behavior, whatever it might be, and continue to crack each other up. its like they are in their own little planet together. and as much as i wish i could stop the naughty behavior, i have to admit i do get a little giggle myself out of hearing them squeal at each other and laughing their heads off.

this little man in my belly is demanding a lot of my energy and is leaving me completely exhausted by the day and at 34 weeks, we still have a long few weeks ahead while he grows strong and ready to meet us....so the co-play is even more welcome!