E-I-E-I-O

Every month since September, I have introduced a theme, or a concept to Hattie through activities. We have learned about shapes, seasons, and "all about me," just to name a few. She learns new concepts through art, gross and fine motor skills, pretend play and basic math. We have even invited our friend Liam over to join us. This month we are learning about farm animals. We are all up, fed, and dressed by 9. Around 9 we sit by the calendar and count the days of the week, read a book or flannel board story based on the month's theme and sing a song. Afterwards, we do a "caft" (craft) or activity. Hattie loves learning new things and making stuff, and I am enjoying teaching again.


September's Theme-Shapes


January's Theme-Winter Photo of Liam holding a bear face
from the book, "The Mitten." Snack: mitten-shaped toast
with bear and bunny cookies.


Hattie and Liam :)



March's Theme-Farm Animals. Hattie painted a small box
red and made it into a barn for her animals.

I KNEW she was too quiet

I needed to make beef and black-bean chili to put in my crock pot for dinner tonight, so I sat Hattie in the office and turned on Sesame Street for her. The whole process should have taken 10 minutes. I would go check in on her every 2 minutes or so, and she would be sitting on the chair watching the tv. Great. No problem. At some point, she comes into the kitchen, but I tell her to go back into the office and finish her show. After about 2 minutes, I thought, "hmmm, she sounds too quiet. I had better go in and check on her." What I hadn't known, was when she came into the kitchen, she had taken the cayenne pepper out of the spice drawer, and now she had practically emptied the entire container all over the office. There are piles of the red spice on our carpet, WHITE chair and ottoman, on her doll and in a book of ours. After taking the appropriate amount of photos, I put her into time out. I think she got some in her nose because she has been sneezing and the area around her lips are red.


One of the many piles of cayenne


Do you see her scratching her nose?


Time out

Thumb Sucker

Our little Celie is a thumb sucker. I often find her with her thumb in her mouth while she is napping. We thought Hattie was going to suck her thumb because she seemed to always have her fingers in her mouth, but at some point, she just stopped. Hattie and Celie's daddy was a thumb sucker, so this does not surprise us. We have never given the girls a pacifier, so a thumb was used. I may regret it someday, but for now, it is So.Darn.Cute!

5 Months and Positive Thoughts Needed

Celie is 5 months old today. Can't believe that when Hattie was 5 months old, Randy had just arrived home from Iraq. Seems like such a long time ago.
At 5 months,
She:
-has just started sleeping through the night-8:30pm to 7:30am
-falls asleep easily on her own for naps
-takes 1.5 hour naps
-grabs her toes
-holds toys with two hands
-wants to sit up instead of being on her back
-smiles and laughs at Hattie
-still fits into her 3 month clothing
-was 13lbs. 5 oz. at her last doctor's appointment
-sucks her thumb (pictures of that soon)
-is still an easy-going baby

And positive thoughts for my dad. He had a heart attack on Wednesday and has had surgery. The surgery went better than everyone expected, and he is doing well.

Tweet!

104 temp on Monday. Poor thing.

I am now "tweeting." Huh? I have an account on Twitter and I post "tweets" or updates on what we are doing throughout the day. It's for the grandparents, but I am sure many of you are interested in my housekeeper, beef stew and sick kids. I lead a glamorous life. If you are totally bored, with nothing else to do, you can follow me by clicking on the "follow me" link to the left of this page or just read the updates right here on the blog.
And the kiddo feels better, but she is still not herself. Yucky nose and would rather sit on the couch and watch TV then play which is fine with me. I just want her to rest.

Happy Valentine's Day

from our two little Sweethearts.

Happy Birthday Huckle!

That's what Hattie calls her "Uncle" Nathan!
Take it easy today.

Miss Potato Head

Her current favorite toy.

Miss Independent

All day long, all I hear is...
I can do it.
I do it myself.
Hattie can do it.
Hattie help you.
Hattie turn.
Hattie get it.

Is this what two is like?

4 Months and Very Ticklish

Celie just fits in with our family perfectly. She is a very go-with-the-flow type of baby. Thank goodness!
At 4 months
She:
-has rolled over from her tummy to her back four times
-is starting to follow her sister with her eyes when she walks by
-is very interested in the t.v.
-likes to smile at me the entire time she is nursing
-likes to wake up every 2 hours at night
-has just started taking naps in her Pack n' Play
-has a doctor's appointment on Thursday so we'll know her weight/length
-grabs items with her hands and puts them in her mouth
-loves to giggle
-loves to talk
-is soothed by music
-has bluish-green eyes
-blows raspberries constantly
-loves to be tickled by her sister

Happy 37th Randy!

Today was a great day. Randy celebrated his 37th birthday. He has been home for a week; he came home on Hattie's birthday. He is feeling much better and is going back to work on Monday. Tonight we went to a restaurant called Roux Louisiana Kitchen in Santana Row. Dinner was delicious and Hattie was able to spend lots of time with Pa.

She's 2

Wow! Two years went by like that! We feel so lucky to have Hattie in our lives. We couldn't imagine life without her.

She:
-can count to 10, although she leaves out an occasional numeral here and there
-loves to take baths
-loves to blow bubbles
-repeats everything
-always likes to have shoes on (especially her rain boots) and is often found wearing someone's shoes
-helps with Celie and her favorite job is cleaning up her spit up
-hates time outs
-likes to color and play with playdoh
-enjoys playing with her favorite toys: trains and her kitchen
-likes to watch Eebee, Caillou, Curious George and Thomas the Train
-is about 25 lbs. (appt. on the 21st)
-could live off of apple sauce and graham crackers if we let her
-says "please" and "thank you" and "excuse me" (me me) when she burps and "bless you" when someone sneezes
-use 3-4 word sentences consistently
-talks on her pretend phone and says, "I love you Hilda" (our housekeeper)
-enjoys singing and dancing
-sleeps from 7pm to 7am every night and takes 1 2-hour nap during the day
-likes to watch me put on my make-up and often asks to wear "make uts"
-could stay outside from sunrise to sunset if we let her
-still loves Cameron very much
-is a ray of sunshine and we love her deeply

Happy Birthday Hattie! We love you!

Jinx!

Yep, I jinxed us. Shortly after I posted how we had had a healthy 2009, we were rushing Randy to the ER thinking that he experiencing symptoms of a heart attack. After tests, no heart attack, but he was diagnosed with having a stroke. Long story short and after several tests, he did not have a stroke, but a perimesencephalic bleed. He is still in the hospital and should be out soon. Thankfully, Randy's parents flew out from Idaho, and my parents have been around to help. I have also had many friends around to count on.
Oh, and speaking of my parents, on the way to the hospital to pick up John, my dad got into a fender bender. All on New Year's Eve. On the positive side, we were able to watch a beautiful fireworks show from my front lawn while the tow truck guy dropped off their car.
Keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of 2010 goes smoothly.

Goodbye 2009

We have had a fantastic year. We have all been healthy, stayed very busy, accomplished some of our goals and of course, added to our family. We have many more goals for 2010 and can't wait to start tackling them (but first we need to take a long nap).
Here are a few pictures of the girls that have been amongst our favorites from the year, but haven't made it to the blog.
Have a happy and healthy 2010!

O' Christmas Tree, O' Christmas Tree

I haven't had a REAL Christmas tree since, I was like, 5. My parents bought an artificial one, and we decorated that every year. Now I know why. Randy and I decided that this year we would buy a REAL one because in his family they always bought a REAL one. I didn't mind. I was actually kind of excited. We went to the lot, in the rain, got muddy, spent more than our budget, had to stop off at OSH to buy a tree stand because Target was all sold out, brought the sucker home, stuffed it into the stand, took over an hour to water it because Randy forgot to trim off the bottom branches and it was hard to reach the stand, tried to keep Cameron away because he kept eating the needles and would then throw them up, oh and speaking of the needles-they are EVERYWHERE!
ARTIFICIAL tree next year.

3 Months and a Sad Lil' Reindeer

3 months! It's hard to believe. Soon she will be celebrating her second birthday like her big sister.
At 3 months,
She:
-takes long naps in her swing
-takes short naps in her bouncey seat
-sleeps from 10pm to 2am, then can wake up once or twice more before 7am
-smiles easily
-"talks" to me
-loves to cuddle with a new doll her Great-Aunt Edie bought her
-is showered with hugs and kisses by her older sister
-is able to hold her head up very well
-laughs when tickled
-has dark blue eyes

And the reindeer...I know it looks like she is always sad, but she isn't. I promise.

Hattie Wuz Here

There is no doubt that we have a toddler running around here. We often find balsamic vinegar bottles next to our bed, our toilet bowl brush sitting in our toilet and Cameron walking around the house with a blanet covering his head. We never know what we'll find when we walk into a room.
And yes, I used the "old school" spelling of "was."

2 Months and a Happy Birthday

Two months already!It is so fun having two girls. It's cute to see Celie in her big sister's clothing. It brings back memories whenever I dress her in something of Hattie's.
She:
-is always smiling (present photo excluded)
-is starting to laugh
-is still an easy-going baby (did I just jinx myself?)
-is sleeping 3-4 hour stretches at a time at night
-takes short catnaps during the day
-hates the car seat for the first 30 seconds she is in it, then she falls asleep
-has dark blue eyes
-loves her bouncy seat
-doesn't like to be on her back (unless sleeping at night)
-is starting to grow out of her newborn clothing, but size 3 months is still too big for her
-has her 2-month appt. tomorrow
-loves being carried in the Bjorn
-imitates people sticking their tongue out

and a Happy Birthday to my mom! Happy Birthday!