Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Two Babies
The cats never really wanted much to do with Phoebe, I am guessing the 4 months of non-stop screaming had a lot to do with that. Danger seems to have warmed up to Eleanor though - perhaps literally - I think the fact that she is a tiny baby furnace has a lot to do with Danger's new found love. The last few weeks he has started cuddling up with us when I rock her, and he often joins us for Eleanor's middle-of-the-night meals. Here are my two babies getting some pre-bedtime cuddles last night.
Christmas Cookies
"Christmas Cookies" might seem like an odd title for a blog post in the middle of March, even more so when I admit these photos are of cookie decorating in 2012. I am going through the pictures on our camera little by little in an attempt to organize them and to make it easier to share them with family and friends. I am still trying to figure out the best method for sharing, but for now I have a shared Flickr site. If anyone has any other suggestions, let me know. I was swayed by the free terabyte of storage :) As I slog through the photos, I'll post some of them here too.
Back to cookies ... Christmas cookie decorating was always a fun family event for the Lockwoods and that's a tradition I'd like to continue with our girls. We didn't get around to doing cookies in 2013 (I'm using the new baby excuse for that one), but we went all out in 2012. We had the neighbors over and let the three kids go to town with sprinkles and frosting. The results were pretty much what you could expect - lots of licking of fingers, knives, etc and we had to wash the kitchen floor about 20 times to get the last of the sprinkles up. It was definitely worth it though and the kids had a great time.
I am looking forward to 2014 cookie decorating, and am hoping we can have Gramma Joyce come help us out! Uncle John would be welcome too, as long as he promises not to repeat the "anatomically-correct gingerbread man incident of 1998". I really do love cookie decorating, and hope that we'll be able to make some fun family traditions around the holidays as our girls get older. I have some of my Grandma's old cookie cutters, and this will be the first year I use them to make our cookies so this year's decorating will be especially sentimental.
Back to cookies ... Christmas cookie decorating was always a fun family event for the Lockwoods and that's a tradition I'd like to continue with our girls. We didn't get around to doing cookies in 2013 (I'm using the new baby excuse for that one), but we went all out in 2012. We had the neighbors over and let the three kids go to town with sprinkles and frosting. The results were pretty much what you could expect - lots of licking of fingers, knives, etc and we had to wash the kitchen floor about 20 times to get the last of the sprinkles up. It was definitely worth it though and the kids had a great time.
 |
| At first, Phoebe wasn't too into the whole thing |
 |
| Ian was pretty serious and was very careful with his decorating |
 |
| Emilio's technique was more free-form |
 |
| Phoebe finally got in on the action |
 |
| The artist at work |
 |
| Cleaning fingers between cookies |
 |
| Getting serious about maximum frosting in minimum time |
 |
| The sweet results |
I am looking forward to 2014 cookie decorating, and am hoping we can have Gramma Joyce come help us out! Uncle John would be welcome too, as long as he promises not to repeat the "anatomically-correct gingerbread man incident of 1998". I really do love cookie decorating, and hope that we'll be able to make some fun family traditions around the holidays as our girls get older. I have some of my Grandma's old cookie cutters, and this will be the first year I use them to make our cookies so this year's decorating will be especially sentimental.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Saturday, March 8
We have lots of news and pictures to share, but I am having a hard time finding the time to keep the blog updated. We'll do our best, but I think part of having kids is having less time for stuff like blogging ... or showering. Right now I'm making alphabet pancakes and playing Moose with Eleanor while we wait for everyone else to wake up. So, all I have time for is to post a quick video of a mostly-naked baby eating her toes. Enjoy! Happy weekend everyone!
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Cash Register!
I am pretty sure that Phoebe thinks that the UPS man works for my mom since he is always bringing presents from Gramma. In fact, whenever Jeremy or I gets a package, Phoebe is pretty confused by the situation. Last week I got a book for work and the box was waiting for us when we got home at the end of the day. Phoebe didn't believe it wasn't for her and made me open the box in front of her. I think she is still wondering why Gramma thought she wanted an Operating Systems text book :)
A few weeks ago, my mom noticed that Phoebe really liked playing "grocery shopping" so (after clearing it with me) she let Phoebe pick out a cash register on Amazon. Phoebe was super excited "it's just like Target!" were, I believe, her exact words (note to self - take fewer trips to Target).
The cash register has been a HUGE hit and Phoebe often makes Jeremy or I "shop" for items we already own. The register also has some learning games built in and Phoebe has really taken to one called Money Match where the register gives a number and the kid has to enter it by pushing the correct buttons on the keypad. [As an aside, every time the cash register says "welcome to Money Match" Phoebe yells "it said MOMMY match" and giggles like crazy. I guess that passes for a joke in three-year-old circles] Phoebe has been playing a lot of Money Match and has actually gotten pretty good at two digit numbers. I tried to get a video but instead of highlighting the educational features of the cash register, I think this tends to highlight the craziness of my toddler :)
You can also see her offering to type 0 for Eleanor (since Eleanor is zero years old). At least she's "playing with" her sister. Thank you for the fun toy Gramma!!
A few weeks ago, my mom noticed that Phoebe really liked playing "grocery shopping" so (after clearing it with me) she let Phoebe pick out a cash register on Amazon. Phoebe was super excited "it's just like Target!" were, I believe, her exact words (note to self - take fewer trips to Target).
The cash register has been a HUGE hit and Phoebe often makes Jeremy or I "shop" for items we already own. The register also has some learning games built in and Phoebe has really taken to one called Money Match where the register gives a number and the kid has to enter it by pushing the correct buttons on the keypad. [As an aside, every time the cash register says "welcome to Money Match" Phoebe yells "it said MOMMY match" and giggles like crazy. I guess that passes for a joke in three-year-old circles] Phoebe has been playing a lot of Money Match and has actually gotten pretty good at two digit numbers. I tried to get a video but instead of highlighting the educational features of the cash register, I think this tends to highlight the craziness of my toddler :)
You can also see her offering to type 0 for Eleanor (since Eleanor is zero years old). At least she's "playing with" her sister. Thank you for the fun toy Gramma!!
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Story time
Jeremy and I both love to read and it is a habit that we really hope we pass on to both our kids. When we were pregnant with Phoebe we talked about the books we wanted to read as a family and imagined snuggling in bed every night reading the stories we had enjoyed as children. With Eleanor on the way we imagined family story time to be a loving, quiet end to every day. In reality it hasn't really worked out ... yet (we're still hopeful about the "chapter book" phase).
It turned out that Eleanor's super-fussy time aligns with Phoebe's story time, so there's at least one family member out. And really, she's a little too young to be left unsupervised, so we have to divide and conquer with one parent handling baby fussies and the other doing stories (at least we think - knockonwoodknockonwood - that we are ending the period where the parent with Eleanor has to do laps around the block bouncing the baby until 9pm). Phoebe can sometimes be a little hard to settle down, so her story time itself is sometimes not quite as relaxing as the images you might conjure of "bedtime stories". So all in all, family story time has been a pretty big bust up to this point. We know it will likely get better, so we'll just wait and see what happens.
In the meantime, we are happy that Phoebe really does seem to like books and is excited to "read" to her sister. It might be at ridiculous o'clock in the morning and in the middle of our trashed living room, but I think it is just as sweet as the family bedtime stories we had imagined. We will take what we can get.
It turned out that Eleanor's super-fussy time aligns with Phoebe's story time, so there's at least one family member out. And really, she's a little too young to be left unsupervised, so we have to divide and conquer with one parent handling baby fussies and the other doing stories (at least we think - knockonwoodknockonwood - that we are ending the period where the parent with Eleanor has to do laps around the block bouncing the baby until 9pm). Phoebe can sometimes be a little hard to settle down, so her story time itself is sometimes not quite as relaxing as the images you might conjure of "bedtime stories". So all in all, family story time has been a pretty big bust up to this point. We know it will likely get better, so we'll just wait and see what happens.
In the meantime, we are happy that Phoebe really does seem to like books and is excited to "read" to her sister. It might be at ridiculous o'clock in the morning and in the middle of our trashed living room, but I think it is just as sweet as the family bedtime stories we had imagined. We will take what we can get.
10 Weeks!
I can't believe that Eleanor is already 10 weeks old! I meant to post pictures for her 2 month "birthday" but ... well ... we're pretty busy ... and she's a second kid ... so really she should just be happy we're getting around to this at all!
My dad used to say that babies get cute just in time. That just when you are thinking that you'd like to put your infant on an iceberg and set them out to sea (my dad's example) or wrap them in bacon and leave them for coyotes (Jeremy's suggestion) they get just cute enough that you're willing to put in a few more weeks of parenting.
Frankly, newborns just aren't that great. They are tiny with squishy heads so you are always worried about breaking them. Also, they need to eat - All. The. Time. It is one thing to read about newborns needing to eat every 2 hours and to understand that fact intellectually. It is a whole other ball of wax to live that reality. Especially when it can take 45 minutes to slog through one feeding.
Add to that the fact that newborns aren't very grateful for all the sacrifices you make - they mostly scream at you (disclaimer: this behavior is kind of particular to our children, we hear of people who have sleepy, happy, loving newborns. We are not those people). There aren't even any smiles until about 5 or 6 weeks.
After all that you're probably wondering why we decided to have a second kid. We often find ourselves asking that same question :) I kid ,,, mostly ... anyway, the point of this is that Eleanor is starting to outgrow that newborn funk. She babbles, smiles and giggles. She LOVES both Jeremy and Phoebe and will turn and smile when she hears their voices enter a room. It is absolutely adorable to watch. This week Eleanor has started to kind of sort of flail her little hands in a somewhat meaningful fashion. Meaning she can sometimes aim one at her mouth (more or less).
Ellie definitely still has her quirks - she is not an awesome sleeper and she screams bloody murder in the car, but we are finally getting to the point where there are some rewarding moments in the day. We are still figuring her out and figuring out how to be a family of four but we're starting to at least occasionally feel like we can do this :)
My dad used to say that babies get cute just in time. That just when you are thinking that you'd like to put your infant on an iceberg and set them out to sea (my dad's example) or wrap them in bacon and leave them for coyotes (Jeremy's suggestion) they get just cute enough that you're willing to put in a few more weeks of parenting.
Frankly, newborns just aren't that great. They are tiny with squishy heads so you are always worried about breaking them. Also, they need to eat - All. The. Time. It is one thing to read about newborns needing to eat every 2 hours and to understand that fact intellectually. It is a whole other ball of wax to live that reality. Especially when it can take 45 minutes to slog through one feeding.
.JPG) |
| This is Phoebe pretending to be me. She is using her travel neck pillow as a boppy while she "feeds" her baby. Note the exhausted look on her face and the defeated slump. That about sums up my past few months. Tiring. You'll notice that Eleanor finds this all hilarious. |
After all that you're probably wondering why we decided to have a second kid. We often find ourselves asking that same question :) I kid ,,, mostly ... anyway, the point of this is that Eleanor is starting to outgrow that newborn funk. She babbles, smiles and giggles. She LOVES both Jeremy and Phoebe and will turn and smile when she hears their voices enter a room. It is absolutely adorable to watch. This week Eleanor has started to kind of sort of flail her little hands in a somewhat meaningful fashion. Meaning she can sometimes aim one at her mouth (more or less).
Ellie definitely still has her quirks - she is not an awesome sleeper and she screams bloody murder in the car, but we are finally getting to the point where there are some rewarding moments in the day. We are still figuring her out and figuring out how to be a family of four but we're starting to at least occasionally feel like we can do this :)
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Happy New Year!
We hope all our friends and family enjoyed ringing in 2014! It seems like 2013 went by really quickly. In true new-parent style we rang in the new year by dragging ourselves to bed at 10:30pm. Actually that is pretty late for us, but we tried to squeeze in a little work before bed. A decision we almost immediately regretted when both kids were up by 4 AM. Eleanor needed to be fed around 3:15 and just as Jeremy was getting her settled back to sleep, Phoebe woke up needing to use the bathroom... or so she said. Phoebe has caught on that saying she has to poop is pretty much a get-out-of-bed-free card. I'm not brave enough to call that bluff.
After she didn't poop, she crawled into bed with me promising to go right to sleep. You'd think I was born yesterday. Needless to say, there was no more sleeping. Well, I did drift off once, but woke up with Phoebe's hand in my mouth (she said she was "feeling my teeth").
Not the best ever start to a new year, but things perked up later when Phoebe's friends the twins came over. Aunt Laura and Uncle Adam sent Phoebe a stomp rocket for Christmas and we thought it was such a great present, we bought the exact same thing for the twins. All three kids had an awesome time playing with the rockets and I think they will be toys that get used a lot in the coming months (although we may have to buy some replacement rockets - Phoebe is a tad rough on toys). We also had pizza and cake to celebrate Phoebe's birthday AGAIN! The kiddo has gotten lots of birthday celebrations.
The afternoon and evening were a little rough - perhaps due to our 4AM wake up call but we all survived our first day of 2014. This year will be pretty busy for us and it is both exciting and terrifying to think about how much will be changing!
After she didn't poop, she crawled into bed with me promising to go right to sleep. You'd think I was born yesterday. Needless to say, there was no more sleeping. Well, I did drift off once, but woke up with Phoebe's hand in my mouth (she said she was "feeling my teeth").
Not the best ever start to a new year, but things perked up later when Phoebe's friends the twins came over. Aunt Laura and Uncle Adam sent Phoebe a stomp rocket for Christmas and we thought it was such a great present, we bought the exact same thing for the twins. All three kids had an awesome time playing with the rockets and I think they will be toys that get used a lot in the coming months (although we may have to buy some replacement rockets - Phoebe is a tad rough on toys). We also had pizza and cake to celebrate Phoebe's birthday AGAIN! The kiddo has gotten lots of birthday celebrations.
The afternoon and evening were a little rough - perhaps due to our 4AM wake up call but we all survived our first day of 2014. This year will be pretty busy for us and it is both exciting and terrifying to think about how much will be changing!
.JPG) |
| Eleanor in a happier moment, sporting her "Happy New Year" onesie. This was actually a present from Jeremy's friend Chelsy when Phoebe was born. It has made it through two New Years with Gottlieb babies - now it is looking for a new home :) |
 |
| Phoebe was very suspicious of her sparkling grape juice. When we said "cheers" she said "no thank you" |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)