concentration

I just love the subtle changes in his facial expression.

The exact moment my heart melted (again).

We had a fabulous morning at the Wasserman's (oh, you know there's a blog forth coming) and after we got home, I put Sister to nap and then started preparing my crock pot dinner. Avery is so good a playing by himself and while I was chopping up all those veggies he got out Scott's soccer Lego set. I look over at my boy and feel a complete and total wash of love come over me. I am completely smitten. I love how he plays. I love how hard he's concentrating. I love that he's such a good boy. I love that he's mine.

*FYI, I told him Kairine was in my camera to get him to look up and smile since nothing else was working.
**You may have noticed a softer side to my blogs lately and it's because I am feeling completely sentimental about this time in our lives. I want to savor every single second because when it has passed I want to know that appreciated every little moment. I am finally at the place I have always wanted to be and worked so hard to get to. 

zooming fast

And what did you do after work today?

light

The light was particularly lovely this evening. It lasted about 2 minutes before a cloud covered the sun and things took a turn towards nightfall.

dinner with vivi, again

Just to warn you, there might be several in the 'Dinner with Vivi' series because a) the girl likes to eat and b) I use this time to practice different shooting techniques. Also, the light is usually very nice around dinner time and I am really trying to push my photography skills. Shooting while she eats is kind of like a safety net because I typically do not want to chance messing up important photos so I generally stick to what I know. Since I have so many pictures of Vivi eating, I feel no pressure to get the best shots which allows me to experiment and delete. I'm still a fan of my stand-by settings but it's nice to reinforce my comfort level with my camera and practice adjusting the settings quickly.

Plus, who can resist that face?

this day

Sometimes I wonder if I take enough pictures...
Write enough blogs...
To capture the spirit of living in this day.

grandma carole

Grandma Carole is here visiting. Grandma Carole brought her Kindle.  It has a letter game on it.  Many hours of free time for Mommy.

Granddaughter love.

We didn't make her work that hard...

shanaya's first birthday

Adorable Shanaya and her parents

The girls getting their party on.

I'm not sure why Ved is pointing to Avery's junk, but it's a sweet picture.

Jovina provided the kids with so much to throw at each other...confetti!

....and flour. This is a traditional party game in India.

The first of the second babies is 1. Wowee. I absolutely love the parties that Rahul and Jo throw. They are filled with close family and friends and people seamlessly care for one another's children, making sure that everyone is having fun and getting loved. The food is good and there is just such a wonderful, welcoming feeling in their home. 

Shanaya is absolutely adorable and she just exudes happiness. She is the only other baby with as much hair as Vivi and both girls love their big brothers. Early in Jo's pregnancy, Rahul made it VERY clear that he really wanted a little girl and I will never forget how he beamed upon returning from her 20 week ultrasound. Needless to say, that little girl has him wrapped around his finger.

Happy, happy 1st birthday, Shanaya!!!

swim class 2.0

Even though she didn't care for swimming the first time, she loves class!

Vivienne and Mady enjoying swim class.

I bet you're wondering what this is all about...

Then it was the big kids' turn.

All by himself.

Here we go again...swim class. It's amazing how two 1/2 hour classes can eat up 2.5 hours of one's Saturday morning. It is so unbelievable to me that Cathryn and I are in the water with our second babies while the older ones are having class by themselves. It really only seems like last fall that we were taking Avery and Annabelle for the first time. Despite the fact that Vivienne did not particularly enjoy her first go round in a pool, she loves swim class. She doesn't even mind when I dunk her. However, I think she might just be humoring me because she knows that at the end of class teachers get the toys out, giving her something to chew on, and we all know how that girl feels about putting stuff in her mouth!

So, you may be wondering why I included that odd picture of the side of Scott's face with me in the background. Well, let me tell you, it captures a momentous occasion in the life of Avery. Right before his class was about to begin, I asked him if he needed to go potty and he said yes. I get up to take him to the locker room and that boy just marches himself into the men's room...BY HIMSELF! Wanting to encourage his independence, I let him go. I let him go.

Meanwhile, my mind is racing. Thinking about strangers and the other exit and the fact that he's probably touching the underside of the seat to lift it up unless there's a urinal but if there is does he know how to use one, is he washing his hands, what if he gets scared, now I have to have the stranger conversation with him but is he too young to understand and how do I teach him without scaring him or making him jaded against humanity and what other disgusting things is he touching in there...and just about the time I've called, "Avery, are you okay?" for the tenth time, he comes prancing out a proud boy. My little panic attack quieted. We survived.

I think both Cathryn and I were a little nervous about how the kids would do in a swim class all by themselves, but let me tell you, they have both exceeded our expectations and are doing so so marvelously. Avery really loves swim class and I love watching him. I can only imagine how proud I'll feel when he's swimming laps by himself.

Oh, and if you thought getting one child showered and dressed was intense, try two babies, two mommies, and two toddlers. We've entered a whole new level of crazy. It's a good thing I brought snacks. 

Overheard at swim class:
Annabelle: Avery you're my BEST friend.
Avery: Annabelle, I love you so much.
Annabelle: Oh, you're so sweet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

purim

Avery's pajamas served as his costume because as he informed me, "I only like to dress up on Halloween." He did however, really, really, really enjoy the carnival games.

In addition to the games, the big kids also loved the train.

Do not adjust your color settings. Eli's lips were actually blue.

Next year, these three will be on the train and I will be crying.

Stacy and her temple hosted their annual Purim carnival (this explains the previous posts and why we were torturing the babies by making them wear costumes with headpieces) and it was all sorts of crazy, chaotic fun. There were hundreds of families enjoying the festivities and we were pretty successful at keeping track of those in our tribe. Avery did, at one point, hold a one-man protest because I had the nerve to suggest we each lunch before playing. Eventually, he gave in and had half a cereal bar in order to fuel up. I may or may not have threatened to take him home should he continue to pout in the corner.

Anyway, the big kids and Mady (she's on the move...wait, I mean she's on the MOVE!) were old enough to enjoy the games and Vivi loved watching her brother play. I'm thankful that she was quite content to sit in the stroller for most of time. Erica did however, feel sorry for her and held her for awhile. Sorry, Viv, someone had to take pictures!

 

because it's cute...another costume post

handmedowns

This hardly seems possible.

dinner with vivi

Vivi was being so cute during dinner tonight that I just had to get my camera out and capture her delight. This also gave me a chance to practice a new shooting technique with a fixed focal point (thank you, Cathryn) which I quite enjoyed. However, after several pictures, I thought to myself, 'Hey, I have two cute kids!' and then turned to my son and said, 'Avery! Can I take your picture?'...

Yikes! Sorry I asked.

cds

Sure Daddy, I'll help you upload your CDs onto your new computer.

Scott is the only person I know who still buys CDs. The itunes gift certificate I gave him for Christmas is still unused.

12

I don't know if anyone else will find this funny, but while I was going through Avery's coloring books to see which ones were filled and could be recycled, I came across this page. The instructions read:

The butterfly says the crystal is under cocoon number 12. Will you put a sticker of the Green Crystal on cocoon number 12?

Please note how Avery answered the instructions; he not only colored number 12 but also 1 and 2 just to make sure he was covered. I have no idea when he did this but I had to laugh.

FYI: Under our Netflix on demand menu, Dora isn't even categorized under Educational, it's under Feel Good Cartoons and I even question that.

sleeper hold

"Mommy! Take a picture of us."

No problem, Avery, but if you wouldn't mind releasing your Sister from the death grip you seem to have on her throat, I would really appreciate it. Although, she doesn't seem to mind.

a cake

He might possibly be the only 3 year old who still willingly wears a bib. No seriously, he won't take a bite unless he has that thing on. Also, we made pancakes with our initials in them.

future band geek

I have already purchased some ear plugs

that's what she said

As Sarah as my witness, Vivi said Mama last night about 20 times! Yes! It was awesome.

I was shoveling feeding her dinner while Avery was coloring. I paused to look at what Avery was doing which meant I had to turn my back to Vivi. Apparently, she did not appreciate the pause in her eating action because the next thing I hear was a loud and pronounced, "Mom!" It certainly got my attention. Thinking it was just a fluke I fed her a few spoonfuls and then turned my back to her and again and again she said, "Mama!" We did this about 10 times.

At this point I knew I needed a witness and Scott is at less than 50% when it comes to picking up phone calls at work (he's busy) so I called Sarah and cryptically said something like be quiet, listen, you're on speaker phone, and it worked! Vivi said Mama again.

Avery now thinks that I need to turn my back on Viv to get her to say Mama. I think that I just need to withhold food for a few seconds. 

sarcasm

From Scott:

So I finish up my morning meeting and head into the breakfast area when I hear a loud "DADDY!!!" and see Mr. Bear eating with Papa and Grandma. I sit down to join them and Avery tells me how much fun he is having and is busy eating his second bagel with cream cheese (complete with cream cheese mustache)  While eating I notice he is "wiggling around a lot" and I ask him if he needs to go to the bathroom.  He says no.  We continue to talk and eat and a few minutes later, I ask him again if he has to use the potty and he turns to me and says, "Big surprise, huh?"

Oh my god, this totally counts as his first sarcastic comment! I could not be more proud.

before & after

Before

After

Just wanted to illustrate the power of photo editing. I try mightily to capture the best images with my camera but sometimes I need a little help.

ski day

I will do it in a car. I will do it near or far. Pump!

Hey look! A picture of mommy and daddy.

Yup, still wearing all of my ski gear from high school and my parents never believed I get my money's worth out of that coat (I had to put it on layaway and make payments).

Scott skiing over the bridge...pizza pie.

Scott and I took full advantage of Grandma and Papa being here...we threw the kids at them and headed up the mountain for a ski day. It was awesome to get a whole day just to be together without any childcare duties. Since I have only been skiing twice in the past 4 years (due to all that pesky baby making), my first time off the chairlift was a little nerve wracking. Not so much like riding a bicycle. Apparently coordination is a skill one loses with age. Luckily, Scott was patient and I got to the point where I could make it down the slope with some confidence. Scott was much better but that's because he has a supremely supportive (and beautiful) wife who allows him to fully utilize his ski pass whilst she tends to the children.

Thank you, Grandma and Papa for our great day!

my favorite part of the day | part 2

"Goodbye, Mama! Have a good day at work"

Not sure what happened with this photo, but there is something intriguing about it.

Maybe I did these favorite day posts out of order because this post is about how I start my day rather than how I end it. Now that Avery is a little older, he really enjoys coming out into the hallway, pushing the elevator button for me, and watching me leave for work. I love this. The joy on his face. The little voice telling me to have a good day and that he will, indeed be a good listener, always puts a smile on my face. I can usually hear him yelling niceties through the elevator shaft all of way down to the elevator.

vivienne | 8 months

All the pictures were taken in the bath.

Yes! Got the date correct. A week ago when I posted "A Little Vivi" I thought that I wouldn't have much to write about for her 8 month update, but so is the ever changing life of a baby. In the past few days, this little lady has exploded. She has started 'waving' which consists of raising both arms to her sides in response to someone waving to her. Although tonight, she raised her foot in response to a wave so it looks like she's got some appendage confusion going on. 

She says 'baba' in the correct context so I'm going say this is her first word. She is also working on bye-bye. Still no word on Mama, Dada or Avery. There is something resembling clapping happening as well. 

She continues to eat like a champion (45 minutes at a time). Purees, tidbits, rice, she'll eat it all! The only thing she doesn't seem to like is peaches and we only know this because she doesn't eat them as quickly. She has yet to spit anything out - peaches included.

Every. Single. Thing. Goes into her mouth. The second we set her down (she is a very confident sitter), she immediately looks for something to get into her mouth. I think that crawling is still a ways away, but she has started pivoting on her bottom and aiming how she falls in order to get her desired choice. She is typically quite content to play (and by play I mean put crap her in mouth) in a pile of toys. Her favorites are the oversized bead things with their nibbles, rings, stuffed frog and baby doll. She even tolerates my pulling and tugging to get her hair into pony tails.

We are really starting to get a sense of who this little girl is going be and I think the milestones are going to start racking up.

I just love her so much.