Thursday, April 19, 2012

All the pictures I didn't put in the other two posts!

Alright, since I fell so far behind in my posting, this particular post is going to be essentially a photo-dump.  We have been taking tons of pictures, then promptly doing absolutely nothing with them.  My mom is constantly asking me to send her new ones since it takes weeks to upload photos from our camera and phones.  Anyway, here are some of my favorites!  The above photo was taken on Dr. Seuss's birthday - what better way to celebrate than reading  a favorite book while curled up on the living room floor!  I love the expression on Dashiell's face - a bit mischievous, but sweet nonetheless. 

On a sunny March day we headed out to the back yard to play!  Aurelia is way too small for this stroller, but it was easier to put her in that than to wear her in the Bjorn (or Ergo, or Moby - we've got a few carriers to choose from!).   


Dashiell refused to put on sunblock that day (it was really sunny and quite hot out), so instead he decided to cover himself up nearly completely.  Silly boy.


Speaking of our silly boy...


He always keeps us laughing!  Or pulling our hair out in frustration, but even on the frustrating days he manages to get a few giggles out of us.  Nothing like a four-year-old, that's for sure!  Some day I'll get a video of him doing his silly walks - which was something he came up with on his own, without ever having seen Monty Python (that has since been rectified, by the way).

Our little girl is pretty silly, too!  I was trying to get a good picture of her on her 3-month birthday, and instead was only able to get this picture of a small "Stooge".  I'm thinking Curly, but Aunt Lisa says Moe...


Dashiell really does love his little sister!  Especially now that she's becoming a little more interesting and interactive.  She was still pretty small in this first photo, but he really wanted his picture taken with her!

And here he is "helping" her play with her new toy a couple of weeks ago (can I mention how much I love yard sales?  We got this for $1!).  Aurelia did actually enjoy it, despite this "help me!" look she's giving me:

This was the morning of Dashiell's birthday party.  Sweet, right?


Dashiell's been doing some really cool stuff with patterns and colors lately.  This is how he decided to rearrange his Nana's fridge photos:
How cool is that??

Here Mr. D is on an old fire truck during the open house at Chelmsford Fire.  He looks pretty good up there!

And here he is diligently coloring Easter eggs:
This year was pretty successful!  He still doesn't have the patience to let the eggs sit in the dye as long as they probably should, but at least he wasn't dropping the eggs in and splashing everywhere like he's done in years past.  Next year I suspect we'll have plenty of splashing from Ms. Aurelia, though!

Okay, I think we're pretty well caught up!  Whew!  Hope you enjoyed the onslaught of posts today!

Someone else I know is 3 months old!

Yeah, I really need to get on top of these Aurelia posts.  I've been looking back on the posts I did when Dashiell was a baby and I swear there are about a million of them!  And believe me, they were helpful back when I attempted to fill in his baby book (which hasn't seen the light of day in over 2 years, but at one time I did write down all that important stuff!).  So yes, I need to catch up with my little girl!  Or at least start her baby book. :)

Me and my girl, a couple of weeks back

Anyway, Aurelia is now 3 months old!  Actually a little older than that, but closer to 3 months than 4 months.  She's just amazing.  And she loves her mommy!  Daddy too, but mommy is the BEST.  If I hand her over to anyone else (besides daddy), within about 30 seconds she starts crying.  As soon as I take her back, silence.  Now some people might find this annoying, but I have to admit I find it awfully gratifying!  I know she won't always like me more than anyone else in the world, but for now I'll take it!

Ah, mom...so comfortable...

 Dad's not too shabby, either!

And it is just the best when her face lights up when she sees me first thing in the morning.  I wish I could bottle that joy and save it for later!  She's just so expressive all the time now - it's awesome.  Newborns are cute and all, but I'm so happy she's in a more interactive stage!
Well hello there!

"I'm so happy I can't keep my arm still!"

Hmm...really??

 
I don't know why I like this picture but it cracks me up every time I look at it!    


 More smiles

So let's see, what fun stuff has she been up to, other than smiling a lot?  Right now it's her attempt to roll over.  She hasn't gotten the hang of it yet, but she's definitely trying.  She can almost get to her belly, but doesn't know how to get her arm out of the way yet.  Dashiell hit that milestone extra early and was rolling 360 by this time, but I swear she's not far behind!  I think she just needs to work on her arm strength - she's always had pretty good head control, and she has wicked strong legs, but we need to work on that tummy time to get her arms nice and toned. ;) 

Give me a break, mom!  I'm working on it!

She's sleeping pretty well and is starting to get into a little sleep-eat-play-sleep routine, which is nice.  She still goes to bed way too late (9 if we're lucky, 9:30 or later if we're not), but when we try to put her down earlier she usually wakes up 30 minutes later wanting to play.  But we keep trying!  She usually wakes up once at around 3 or 4 am to eat, then goes back to sleep until 8-ish.  She's still in a small pack-n-play/bassinet in our bedroom, but I'm hoping to move her to her own room soon.  The problem is that it is way too convenient to be able to pick her up when she's right next to me, feed her in bed, and put her right back into her PnP.  Also, on the nights Rick is home he changes her during those late-night feeding sessions, and if I was nursing her in her own room I wouldn't be able to reach over to smack him awake when she was done eating!  I like to share the joy of waking up at 4 am. ;)

And who am I kidding?  Her room is still unfinished!  I'd like to think that now that we're out of the newborn phase and I'm coming back to the land of the living I'll have more time to finish hanging her curtains and putting art on the walls (it would also be nice to buy a real dresser for her, and not just keep all of her clothes in cloth bins on a bookshelf), but only time will tell!  It's almost done.  Really.

And can I just mention how much fun I'm having dressing her in cute little girl-clothes now?  The first couple of months it was all about convenience and she wore one-piece sleepers constantly.  Now I'm discovering all the little dresses and skirts and frilly stuff that we mostly received as gifts - it's so much fun!  I mean, just look at this:


It's a little ballerina outfit!  Ha! 

Alright, it's time to wrap this post up!  Next post: pics of both of the kids together!  Maybe.  If I can get to it. :)

Someone I know just turned FOUR!!

Dashiell is four.  FOUR!!  Holy Hannah!  And believe me, we celebrated.  And celebrated.  Then celebrated some more!  First up was his "friends" party.  We invited a group of his closest friends to the National Streetcar Museum in Lowell, and it was awesome.  We had been to the museum a couple of times before (cheap admission with lots for kids to do!) and noticed that there was a room with a big table, fridge, and popcorn maker in it, and according to the curator it was available for parties!  And it wasn't terribly expensive at all - sooo much cheaper than going to a Chuck E. Cheese or someplace like that!  And oh was I ever interested in having the party someplace other than my house - no clean up before or after?  Sign me up!

Anyway, as mentioned the party was lots of fun!  All the kids seemed to enjoy it, and the museum did a great job setting up the room.

The Party Room

That's Mr. Debonaire to you!

Riding the trolley with friends!*

Dashiell's friend C playing building roads and railways

Rick with Station Master Dashiell

The amazing cake, made by family friend Lauren

 The cake with the cute trolley center pieces the museum provided

It was a fun day!  We were slightly disappointed that the trolley schedule didn't fit with the party schedule (the party was at 1 pm, the trolley rides were at 2:20 - too early - or 4 pm - too late).  Ah well, we'll have to ride the trolley some other time!

*Funny story about the little girl sitting next to D in this picture:  Dashiell met her all of 2 times prior to his party, once at a friend's house and another time randomly in the park.  Both times were about 6 months ago.  When I asked him who he wanted at his party this year, he specifically mentioned her out of the blue.  "Can we invite K*?"  :)  It was pretty cute - how could I say no??

So that was the first celebration!  Next we have Dashiell's actual birthday.  This celebration was just for the 4 of us - Dash, Aurelia, Rick and me.  We ate D's favorite foods for dinner (Annie's mac n cheese, apple chicken sausage, corn, and strawberries), and had more cake!


 
 Do you see Aurelia eying that cake?  Already I can tell she's going to have a sweet tooth! :)

 One of the big presents he got, courtesy of his Aunts Terri and Lisa and his Grandma and Grandpa Weber.  Note that he's more interested in finding out how his bike works than he is in riding it. :)

Then the third celebration was piggy-backed on Easter (the joy of having an early-April birthday...).  The grandparents had a big Easter dinner at their house, followed by cake and presents for Dashiell.  It was a bit overwhelming, but it was fun!

We don't have many great pics of that particular celebration since it was just way too crowded in the house, but here D is eating more cake:

  
Or should I say eating more frosting?  The cake was secondary.

So Dashiell's birthday week was filled with fun and 3 different cakes.  I had to put my Weight Watchers plan on the back burner, but it was worth it!  Happy birthday to my favorite 4 year old!