accomplish

See what you can accomplish after work with great light and a Twizzlers Pull and Peel? Never underestimate the effectiveness of well placed bribe.

In photo news, I've been doing lots of research on how to take better photos and two bits of advice that have recently resonated were "make a plan" (take pictures of Avery's eye lashes) and "have an opinion" (they look longest when view from above). Based on the results, I would say those are some pretty good tips but I have some work to do with getting the light even across my subject's face, and what a face it is.

who's got the spirit

Vivienne is getting into the Halloween spirit and yes, folks those are LEG WARMERS! Some things from the 80s were meant to come back. Next up, mall bangs!

avery aaron

I got Avery a set of letter writing cards in Chicago...and...two weeks later he can write his own name. My jaw is on the floor. I think the thing that amazes me most is that he figured out how to do it by himself. Yes, in the example above I helped him out (green letters) but he has been playing with those cards and dry erase markers for hours. I might hand him some cookbooks and see if dinner magically appears on the table (coffee table that is, Scott and I don't even have dining room chairs anymore).

that's what he said

On our way to Ved's birthday party, Avery asks, "Might there be cake?"

Yes, son there indeed might be.

****
Avery and I were reading a Sesame Street book and on the inside cover is a collage of the different characters reading. Avery likes to name all of them.

Avery: Who's this?
Mama: That's Burt.
Avery: He can't wear sunscreen?
Mama: Huh?
Avery: He's burnt.

****
Nikki had taken Avery to get a hair cut and when I got home I told him that it looked nice.

He thinks for a minute and says, "Mama, it's stylish."
Oh, our little metrosexual.
****

more fun things

The last time Vivi was on this carousel, she was inside of me.

Avery enjoying the ride.

What you can't see is me turning green contemplating jumping off until the ride is over.

We went to Colorado Mills today. Rode almost every ride we passed and boy are there a lot of them at $1 a pop. Got some lotion soap, jammies, baby girl outfits and black boots for mom. It was a good day.

these boots were made for marching

On Vivienne's feet are a pair of baby shoes that I got as a prize for being chosen Best Female Marcher (Princess Supreme Dork) in high school. The shoes are especially meaningful because Kathryn was Drum Major (Queen Supreme Dork) and had a part in choosing me as the best marcher and picked out the shoes as my prize. There was no such thing as Starbucks gift cards back in the day. I have kept them all of these years with plans to put them on my own baby's feet and there you have it (Tiny Princess Supreme Dork).

And, since I really know why you're reading this blog, here are some pictures of the top half:

One of Scott's friends asked why we always have Vivi wearing a wig :)

"strings and bologna" aka the father of the year story

Scott has been very intrigued by the recent Mel Gibson rants that his ex girlfriend made public mostly because Howard Stern has played the tapes on his show and Howard is something of a god to Scott (he is the reason Scott no longer uses deodorant with aluminum in it). Anywho...

Scott's favorite Mel quote and bear with me here is, "Why don't you just shut up and BLOOOOW me!" He says this in jest quite frequently but not when little ears are around. So, last night, Scott pulls out his favorite vulgar statement at about 10pm and not two seconds later do we hear, "Shut up and blow me" coming from the nursery.

Both Scott and I hit the floor laughing and went in there where Avery said it a few more times and we knew we needed to run damage control before he repeated it anywhere outside of our house. We tried to convince him it was "Strings and bologna" and he only half bought it. Luckily, he has not repeated it, but that kid's mind is like an elephant's and I will not be surprised if we haven't heard the last of "strings and bologna."

it didn't work

10 points for me for creativity.

He was excited before he realized he had to eat it.

In a valiant attempt to get Avery to eat fresh fruits and especially veggies (yes, I am still hiding veggie cubes in food - one day he'll realize that eggs and mac 'n cheese are not green), I created this Rainbow Meal for him thinking that maybe food presentation would change things up. Ha. Ha. Ha. He ate the yogurt covered raisins and one bite of carrot dipped in ranch dressing. I really wanted him to try a kidney bean and after much negotiation I bribed him with an Avery show. So he takes a bean and puts it in his mouth and says, "Yummy." Now imagine, if you will, sitting at your friend's grandmother's house and she has just served you something disgusting. But you, being the kind, magnanimous person you are, want to be polite so you muster the reserve, tighten your stomach and say, "Yummy" all while choking down the vile bite. That is the kind of "yummy" Avery gave me. He then proceeded to gag for 5 minutes.

Needless to say, my Rainbow Meal did not work.

a little avery

He finally understands what treats are!

Layering bokeh (look it up)

Yes, in case you were wondering, Avery's primary interest is still LETTERS.

He is very serious about his "lettering."

My beautiful boy.

I like how the colors in his jammies coordinate with the changing leaves.

it rots your brain

Okay, she's only 3 months old and already making me laugh out loud. Vivi and I were playing on the floor and I had The Daily Show on in the background. Vivi was facing away from the TV towards me on the boppy pillow. After awhile, I went into the bathroom to get ready to go to the Wasserman's and while I was in there, I heard lots of grunting coming from the living room. Since she wasn't fussing or crying, I finished changing my clothes and when I came out, I found my little girl almost upside down watching TV. She had pushed herself up and over the boppy pillow in order to get a view of the tv. It was hilarious. I guess this girl knows what she wants and how to get it, even if it mean self locomoting at a very early age.

vivienne | 3 months

Oh, Vivienne my three month old baby girl, we took a wrong turn somewhere. You went from being an okay sleeper to a terrible, no good, very bad one. Perhaps it was our vacation to Chicago because things really started to go down hill once we got home. You were sleeping for a 5 hour stretch at night, which was good but not great. However, once we got back, we were lucky to get 3 hours out of you. Most nights it was between 1.5 and 2 hours. FYI, your mama cannot survive on such little bursts of sleep. In addition, you used to wake up, eat and go right back to sleep, but after the wrong turn, you were UP!

Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. Three phone calls and one visit to the Dr.'s office later, we have a game plan and I am cautiously optimistic. First, we are working on consolidating your day sleep. No more snoozes and if you go down for a nap, you're in for at least an hour. This, I am happy to report is going very well.

In addition, we have decided to go the "cry it out" road because of its supposed effectiveness and efficiency (results within 3 nights). So last night, was the first night we tried to wean you off your 1am feeding and you woke up at 12am not having any of it. During the past week, your day sleep consolidation naturally led to you going not fewer than 3 hours at night...a small victory. Anyway, back to last night. You cried/SCREAMED for you two hours straight. Yes, I could hear your grandmother's heart breaking all of the way from Michigan, but we made a plan and we were going to stick to it. The whole time I just kept telling myself, "It has to work. It has to work."
I am encouraged that we have turned the terrible sleeper bus around and are heading down the mommy can start dreaming again highway. You are currently taking a well-timed nap and went down with minimal fussing.

In other 3 month old news, your head is getting much less wobbly and we've even put you in the bumbo seat a few times. You and I took the most delicious nap together earlier today because it's finally cooling down calling for much snuggling, warm jammies and blankets. You love your play gym and are quite the expert at the vibrating froggie and a master at the musical panda.

I think that you are quite a social gal and are generally in good spirits if there are other people around you. I'm hoping your irritability is a result of your poor sleeping and anticipate your mood improving as we get this sleeping thing gets worked out. It's shocking how much one family's life can be held hostage by a 12 pound 8 ounce girl's sleep issues.

It is also shocking, even now, how much we love you. My heart swells each time I look at you even after 2 hours of relentless crying. I cherish you.

wtf

As I was uploading the pictures from my camera, I had to do a double take. My first reaction to the picture above was, "What the hell is that!?!"

playing in bed

Playing the hotel bed is fun, fun, fun...except if it has bed bugs, right, Scott?

chicago

Train. The driving and that "1" and about the bell and about the jackets. I had fun.

Going in the tunnel. Going in tunnel, mommy.

You're watching me. Just when the train is there. You're taking pictures of me and Sister.

Mirror. I look at mirror. Okay. All of the mirrors. I look like a "pie-corn." A pie-corn looks like a face.

Mommy in the rocking chair feeding Sister.

Sister holding Auntie Sarah. Two "ss" in there?

Taking pictures. Why somebody take a picture of us? And that's all.

Going to the present store (American Girl - start saving now, Scott) . Gift. Present store that's how you spell it.

Did you guess? We went to Chicago and I let Avery write the captions for the pictures. Honestly, I thought they would be a little bit funnier, but I guess he's in a very literal phase right now. Now he's begging me to "play letters" so this post will probably not get much attention. Okay, I'm going to give in and let him play letters because I don't feel like dealing with the whining.

"Press A V E R Y."

more photos from other kathryn

Thank you again, Other Kathryn for these beautiful photos.