truck girl

Perhaps it is because we have LOTS of trucks around the house, but this girl LOVES them! She is much less interested in baby dolls, but she needs to develop an interest soon because I have a couple of Cabbage Patch kids circa 1987 (Mandy & Erin) that need to be adopted and a furnished doll house just waiting to be played with. However, I already anticipate Avery being very interested in the doll house.

Avery is playing with Scott's iphone in the background, fyi.

***nerd alert***

Concentrating so hard on his first standardized test (there wasn't an actual test, he's just coloring in the circles). Which leeds us to this...

An actual 'test' and answer sheet. He got them all right.

Yeah, I laughed for hours over this one. It all started because of the Westword cover shows a picture of a standardized test answer sheet because it's featuring an article about education. Avery was SO intrigued by the combination of letters and numbers that I found him a blank answer sheet online and printed it. Enter the Riddler, and I figured the best way to answer his endless questions about tests and answer sheets was to give him a test. Did you know there are countless worksheets for kids online? Well, now we all do. I showed him how to look at the test and fill in the answer on the sheet. Not only was I crazy proud but laughed at length at what kind of kid finds standardized tests an entertaining way to spend the morning. Mine.

We later went to Jumpin Jordy's but there are no pictures because even though Avery loved the bounce houses, Vivienne was less sure and spent her time putting things in my purse after an unfortunate incident of tumbling head over heels down a small incline (I may or may not have been trying to take a picture at the time)...and the light was terrible.

carnival aka best day ever

Now imagine me begging him to get on the damn motorcycle. It took some convincing.

Um, let's just call this 'interpretive dance.'

The bounce house was his favorite part.

Avery covering his eyes in preparation for the helicopter landing. At this point, the helicopter was a speck in the sky.

After the landing, the boys finally got their turn on the train. Avery steered the entire time.

As Tavi put it, it was "boy heaven."

When Erica and I decided to take the boys to the JCC Family Carnival we had no idea how AMAZING the day would end up being. It was just Avery and I and we had tons of fun. There was everything one could hope for, games, snacks, police cars, police motorcycle, fire trucks (and firemen!), a helicopter landing (I literally had to cover him with my body to protect him from flying debris and dust) and not one, but TWO bounce houses. In addition, I won a $25 AMEX gift card for visiting 20 of the booths. Score!

This was just a fantastic day with a good friend and my son. 

twilight zone

Trips to the zoo! Puppies in the house! What in the hell is going on around here? Before you know it, I'll be letting people wear shoes in the house, drinking red wine, taking pictures with a point-and-shoot camera (gasp) and voting republican!

When Nikki showed Avery a picture of her new puppy on Monday morning, my first reaction was, "You can bring her tomorrow." What!?!? Where did that come from? I knew the kids would love having a tiny puppy in the house for a few days.

People do crazy things when they're in love. 

phases

Vivienne wore two piece jammies for the first time on Sunday. I don't know why but this just really struck me as being a big deal. She's a baby and should be wearing feetie jammies, but alas, those days are numbered and toddlerhood is just around the corner. Toddlers wear two piece jammies, you know. 

Avery was so inspired by Sister's jammie choice (a delightful print passed down from Hannah) that he chose a similar style for his evening wear. He does this often.

In addition to wanting to match jammie styles with his Sister, Avery is most definitely head first into some sort of testing phase. He's really been giving us a run for our money and our follow through on discipline. He and the word 'no' have become best buddies. I however, do not care for 'no' and have been encouraging him to find other friends. I have also told him repeatedly that it is fruitless to engage in a battle of wills with either one of his parents.

I'm really hoping that he gets the message that we're not backing down and that he indeed needs to be a good listener and not have a fit anytime someone mentions "potty" should he want to continue having toys to play with, tv to watch and cupcakes after a haircut. 

impropmtu photo shoot

We bought Vivienne that little romper yesterday at Costco and I've been so excited to put her in it and did so after her nap today. Well, the light was great so I decided to hold a little photo shoot. As you can see, Avery was clearly bribed with a sucker which he kindly shared with Sister.

Notes on these pictures:
* I love those little gladiator sandals.
* The first picture captures the blue of her eyes quite well. 
* My heart is breaking. She looks so much like a toddler in these pictures. 
* Avery isn't wearing any pants.
* These are the pictures of Avery where he looks the least ridiculous.
* I love his short, short hair cut and it is quite satisfying to run your palm over it.
* I could not get her fingers out of her mouth.
* Vivi's ponytail consistently throws off my cropping proportions.
* I love them.

reuben's 1st birthday

The darling birthday boy.

In addition to a photography side business, I might start a cake decorating service.

Scott showing the grandparents the cake via skype (have you ever seen a lovelier frosting 1?). They watched the whole cake destroying.

I just love this picture of the Wassermans and Hannah, I photoshopped your under ware out of the picture. You can thank me later.

Reuben is 1! Man, when the big kids turned one they seemed SO much older. The littles definitely still seem like babies, but I guess it's all how you look at it.

We celebrated Reuben in fine style and I was so grateful to be able to help in a meaningful way by decorating his cakes. Plus, it was just the relaxation I needed after a rotten experience trying to test drive a car. 

Reuben is quite possibly the most chill person on this earth. He is such a content and happy little guy and brings so much joy to our lives. He is a great counter point to his female peers of roughly the same age. 

All of the kids had a fantastic time and we didn't see much of the older group until it was cake time. Can I tell you how liberating it is to just let Avery go play. Amazing. 

So happy birthday, Reuben. Your village loves you so.

best mom ever

Guess where we went yesterday? C'mon take guess? You'll never guess. In the rain, no less!

That's right, folks. I took my children to the zoo!

I want to thank the extremely patient zoo employee who took this picture. My lens adjustments were off and that made the camera not work and it took me more time than I care to admit to fix it and she just kindly waited.

As some of you may know, I don't care for the zoo. This is a life-long aversion. I even remember giving Kathryn trouble for wanting to have have her 12th or 13th birthday at Binder Park Zoo and told her I wouldn't come should she have the nerve to host her birthday there. Kathryn, I'd like to take this time to publicly apologize for being so obnoxious.

Yesterday was a rough day. Avery was not feeling well and his attitude reflected it. Besides the new hair cut (no cupcakes this time!) there were so many time-outs, so many toys taken away, a little bit of hitting which is not typical and he even found the time to wrap something around his Sister's neck despite the fact that I was right there! Plus, I had to keep plugging in to work because there were poster's to be made and conference calls to attend. 

Despite my valiant attempts, he did not nap and Viv only slept about 45 minutes which means, by the time it was 3pm, I needed to get out of the house despite the looming storm clouds in the sky. Since we had just purchased a zoo membership (I think Nikki was quite sick of the Children's Museum) and it is only a few minutes away, I thought, let's go walk around the zoo. I know.

It was actually my best zoo experience because it wasn't hot or crowded, all of the animals were very active and the giraffes were just spectacular. The rain held off until we were almost done and then it poured. I certainly got my cardio in by running with the double stroller from the back of the zoo to the parking lot. It was actually pretty fun. No one cried. Everyone cooperated as I reloaded the car and we all got a much needed adventure.

Unfortunately, the rotten attitude returned as soon as we got home, but today is going much better. I have threatened not to take him to the family carnival with Eli tomorrow should he choose to be a bad listener or have fits.

A little parental adage that I really try to keep in mind is that just when you feel like hugging your kids the least is probably when they need it the most. This is very true for Avery and even when I am so frustrated with his behavior I try to remember this.   

forgot to mention

I'm sorry, have I forgotten to mention that Vivienne has a somewhat unnatural obsession with baby wipes. Learning to open the wipes container was one of the first skills she mastered. In the pictures above she and Scott are playing with a wipe and this went on for quite some time. By the time she's done, the original wipe is usually stretched at least 5 times its original size. Nikki has even tried giving her a moist baby wash cloth as a substitute, but she sees right through it. She likes original Pampers baby wipes only. Huggies will not do and don't even mention store brand or the thick ones!

Also, the pictures give you an accurate idea of what her hair looks like at the end of the day after we've removed whatever holding device was in place. Them are some crazy locks. 

the last

(I wish I had a charming picture of Vivienne nursing to insert here, but girlfriend would never keep nursing if I tried taking her picture)

About a year ago, I read a blog on the NYT Motherload where the author noted that parents always mark the firsts in their children's lives, but not usually the lasts. Well, yesterday I nursed Vivienne for the last time in the morning. Each morning for the past month I had the thought in my mind that 'this could be the last time I nurse her' because she has been sending some pretty clear signals that she's ready to stop the morning nurse. By the time Scott gets her, she's usually been up for at least 45 minutes and the last thing she wants to do is to come into the bed with me and eat. She's ready to start her day and when Avery gets up and going, it's all over. 

So yesterday, I had it in the back of my head that this might be the last morning nurse but hadn't made any final decisions - call it some emotional reluctance to make something final. It only lasted about 5 minutes and then that little head was twisting and turning to see her boys. Later in the day, I just knew she was ready to be done and that the weaning I've been mentally preparing for (she is not interested unless she's really tired and we're in the dark nursery and there is no noise whatsoever) was to start. 

I wondered if it was better to look back and know that was the last time and move on, or if it was better to nurse Tuesday knowing going in that that was indeed our final morning nurse. I decided that it was better to look back and let Monday get absorbed into the rhythm of our daily life and move on. Otherwise I would have expended a lot of needless energy anticipating the last moments.

I am feeling very emotional about weaning knowing this is the last time I will get to experience breast feeding. Nourishing two children with my body has been extremely powerful coupled with insanely tedious (you remember Ode to a Breast Pump?), but I know it's time to wind down. And even though I am feeling sad and a little reluctant, it's not a reason to keep doing something that I know my daughter is mostly done with.

Oh, and let's look at the very bright side of things...no more pumping is on the horizon! I going to go down to 3 times per day for awhile and at a yet-to-be-determined point in time, I will reduce further from there.

So there we have it. The last morning nurse.    

rome robert

My friend and co-worker Cheney welcomed Rome Robert two weeks ago and he is such a beautiful babe. Everyone had been on baby watch for the entire month of April and into May. Each day I would drive past the L&D drop off for St. Joe's on my way to work and wonder if her husband Travis's truck was there. Well, wouldn't you know that two weeks ago it was and I saw them walking in to the hospital. Like any self-respecting crazy person, I cut across 2 lanes of traffic and pulled in. I think I surprised them, and Cheney was definitely in the "labor zone." Obviously I didn't want to keep them so I just kept saying, "You can do it! You can do it!" because I knew she was hoping for an unmedicated birth and a few hours later, she got one. 

The new family of three has been doing exceptionally well and he's already been on his first hike. A true Colorado native!

I absolutely LOVE these pictures. They have a skylight in the nursery and it made for the most beautiful light. I think I might invite myself over and use the space for photos all of the time.

new skills

She might not be crawling, but she can feed herself with a spoon.

mother's day swim

Well, I hope this picture is worth it because my camera was ill-placed and it ended up falling on the ground, breaking my screen cover. Luckily, it still works.

Despite the mishap with my camera, we had a fantastic time swimming with the Wassermans and Woodrows! Unfortunately having two kids in the pool requires a team offense so I didn't have the opportunity to take any pictures. At one point, Avery was in the baby floaty and ended up flipping himself upside down underwater, but luckily both Scott and I had cat-like reflexes and helped him up. The swim lessons are not yet paying off. 

This was a terribly fantastic Mother's Day and I am thankful every single day for Avery Aaron and Vivienne Sam.

mother's day

Success! All I really want out of Mother's Day is a decent picture with my family (not bad for putting the camera on timer and RUNNING with Avery).

A little less successful but still pretty cute.

Scott did a great job playing photographer

After our photo shoot we went to the park for a picnic.

Time for some swinging.

And then some jumping.

 

 

What an amazing Mother's Day and it's only 3pm! Avery is watching a movie, Vivienne is sleeping, Scott is at the gym and I'm blogging. Oh wait, Stace just called me and invited us swimming at Steven and Jo's. I'll bring my camera so I can hopefully get some pics, but I need to run to get packed up.

See, I told you this was an awesome day!

ice cream with the itens

Just waiting for the Itens to arrive. We had gone on a long walk and that snake/stick was one of the 4 treasures found. Avery capped our treasure collection at 4. Others included: a house flyer and two rocks.

Vivienne enjoyed her first empty cone while Madelyn decided her shoe was her tasty treat of choice.

Avery and Annabelle choosing their flavors, enjoying them and then running them off.

Sometimes you just need to eat ice cream for dinner and luckily I know that Cathryn is usually game for dinner out a Liks. I was telling her that by reading the blog one might think that all I do is bribe Avery with chocolate or a tv show, let him eat ice cream for dinner and never get him out of his feetie jammies, and perhaps I should mention more frequently the days where he watches no tv, eats lots of fruits and vegetables and wears regular clothes. That, however just wouldn't be as interesting, and except for the jammie thing, the bribes and ice cream dinners are much more of the exception rather than the rule. 

This outing did remind me of just how frequently Avery and I did this when I was pregnant, but unlike those times, we did not follow up with Popeye's chicken. I should mention that Cathryn is the one who turned me on to such greasy deliciousness and with that, we have come full circle, and I will say good night. 

Good night.

vivienne | 10 months

The following pictures will star Vivienne and her tongue. We've taken to calling her Lizard Girl.

And look what I can do as of this moment right here!

Ten Months! Vivienne, your development has skyrocketed this past month and I keep thinking that this is the month you started to understand English. Not that you didn't before, but you can follow simple commands and seem to have a better understanding of what's going on around you. For example, you and I were playing the paci-game (where we pass your paci back and forth between our mouths) and I told you to let Brother have a turn and you just swiveled towards Avery and gave him a turn. It was so simple, but it was the moment where I realized you're starting to get it.

No crawling yet, but you've started to put your hands down from sitting and pivot up on your feet. When I put you in the official crawl position, you just flop down on your belly. You are, however, scootching around and we generally find you somewhere different from where we put you down. You do however, love to stand up and if you're holding on to someone's hands can easily get yourself up. You have yet to pull yourself up using a chair or table.


The teething has started, but unfortunately your teeth will pop out a little and then go back in. One day I will see a little tooth bud and the next, nothing. This has made you pretty miserable on certain days. Currently, there are no teeth buds showing, but you are sporting a lovely amber teething necklace. I don't think it helps that much, but it's cute.

I think that you're pretty silly. You love to laugh and smile and I can already see the budding of some excellent comedic timing.

You've also become such a snuggle bug and I mean that relatively - neither you or Avery was a very snuggly baby, but you've started. I love when you bury your head into me.

You continue to be the World's Lightest Sleeper. A neighbor down the street got a text message when his phone was on vibrate and it woke you up. Seriously, by just slowly opening your door, Daddy and I wake you up. It's pretty ridiculous. You are however, in your bed from roughly 7pm-7am and I'm not sure how much of that time you spend sleeping, but at least you're quiet so the rest of us can.

Here are a few other things about our 10 month old Lou:

* Favorite foods: cheese, veggie straws
* Favorite toys: cars, balls, plastic photo album
* Words: mama, bye-bye, up, dada, baba
* You love the being in the water - swimming, bathing
* Theme song: Skip to My Lou
* Nicknames: Lou, Lulu, Boo, Boo-boo, Booberry, Sweet Baby Lou, Louella Deville (aka, the She-Beast), Lou Bear, Sister
* You can drink out of a sippy cup, sports bottle and straw and have started feeding yourself with a spoon

I can't say it enough, I LOVE you, Vivienne Sam Turbow!

the running of the avery

So what would you do if your 3 year old ate a bowl of frov-yov right before bed and had a little, okay A LOT, of extra energy (I can only assume it was crack cocaine flavored). The only solution I could see was to take him outside and let him run down to Colfax and back.

And the boy kept running, running (think of the Black Eyed Peas song)

And running, running...

Then he spotted some dandelions so we had to take a break. He got a little too close and got some seeds in his mouth.

I had to show him how to hold them away from his mouth.

Pretty cool pic, huh?

I am happy to report that upon returning home, he feel asleep a few minutes after I kissed him goodnight. It was a great adventure.