Strawberry Fields Forever

This morning, my mom, Russell, Meredith and I drove to a farm about 30 minutes away to do some strawberry picking. We went to this particular one because Russell's play therapist recommended it. I'm so glad we chose it; it was huge and had lots of things to do!

I had to nurse Meredith in the car as soon as we arrived, so my mom took Russell exploring. They saw the goats, and I'm told that before my mom realized what was happening, Russell kissed one on the nose! Gross, yes, but hilarious too!

When we were all ready, we rode on the tractor up to the strawberry fields. You know Russell loved that!



Russell didn't really pick any strawberries. However, when we first started picking, as soon as I put one in the basket, Russell would grab it and eat it. I didn't think any would actually stay in the bucket, but thankfully he slowed down!



(Look at his hat all askew - so funny :))



Meredith has an outfit for everything :) Here she is in her strawberry outfit:



This is as close as I could get to a photo with both of them in it:



Russell watching Mimi pick strawberries:



When Russell wasn't eating strawberries, he was walking up and down the rows. I had to really stay on him to keep out of the path of the tractor (the road was at the end of the rows).



It was SUPER hot outside, and Russell got pretty whiny after a little bit of picking strawberries. So while my mom paid for our 2 pounds (only $1.15 per pound!), Russell and I sat in the shade and ate some homemade strawberry ice cream.



It was really a wonderful, fun thing to do. Next year we'll pick a cooler day so that Russell can enjoy it a little more.

Memorial Weekend Family Time

This has been an awesome weekend full of family time...

...and nap time...
On Friday, Jason and Russell decided they were sleepy. Did you know a grown man could fit in a crib? Russell found it quite hilarious!



And on Saturday, Jason got some nap time in with Meredith!



(If you're wondering, I did not get a nap - a mother's work is never done, so I was cleaning, and then I actually found time to exercise.)

Also this weekend, we pulled out the activity mat for Meredith's first time. Russell loved it, and Meredith didn't really care about it but couldn't take her eyes off of Russell - I love that they love each other so much already!





My parents were here, and they got some great quality time with their grandchildren:



Like I said, a great weekend! Even though it's been long, it's flown by (sadly!)

Russell's New Table

I love how handy Jason is around the house. He can do just about anything, from tiling a floor to patching drywall to installing a ceiling fan. It is so wonderful, especially on a budget!

We have been wanting a little table for Russell. Even though he has a playroom, he had overtaken the guest bed in Meredith's room, and this is what we spent many hours of many days doing:



Since we're going to move Meredith into her crib soon, we knew it wouldn't work to have Russell coming in (or pounding on the door) to play with his cars. So yesterday, Jason built a beautiful table to hold them! Thank you, honey! :)

Since my parents and my brother were here this weekend, everyone got to play on Russell's new table:





It's obviously unfinished, so my plan is to paint and/or somehow finish it - maybe make it look a little artistic or creative? And eventually it will also be an art table, maybe a tea party table for Meredith, and anything else the kids need to use it for.

Wordless Wednesday

First Trip to the Zoo!

Yesterday, Russell and Meredith had their first trip to the zoo!



(Although I think Jason and I were more excited about it than either of the kids were.)

Someone in our Sunday school class is able to get free passes to the zoo and invited our whole class to go. Because of Russell's love of animals, we thought it was a great idea! Now that we have 2 kids, it is much harder to get anywhere on time, and we barely made it by 10 am (the Evite said to come between 9:30 and 10).



I thought I had planned well, but we realized later that we didn't. When we got there, we decided to look at the animals closest to us: the North America section. (The zoo is divided into continents.) We didn't have time to see any other section because everyone knows that missing naptime is a recipe for disaster ;) If we had thought about it, we would have gone to Africa instead, because Russell's favorite animals are all there - elephants, giraffes, lions, etc. Oh well.

Anyway, we ended up seeing fish, seals, a polar bear, a bobcat, Puffins, and bison. Russell couldn't see all of the animals, but he saw some of them and enjoyed them. His favorite was the seal - it was the first thing we saw, and he was SO excited. He didn't want to leave it; we had to convince him that there was more to see! Here are Russell and Jason looking at the seal:



Little Miss Meredith was so good. We had her dressed in her finest animal print ;) to go along with the zoo theme:





Russell did have a good time, but I think he'll enjoy it even more in a few months - we are planning/hoping to go back at the end of the summer. We will know a little bit more about what to do now that we've been!

Russell Funnies

Russell's little personality is so cute and has us cracking up every day :) Here are some recent examples:



1) I got out stickers one morning for Russell and I to play with while Meredith napped. I had paper out also, but Russell decided he had a better idea. He stuck the stickers on his shirt one at a time, and after each one, he clapped and said "yay." Hilarious! You can tell he was proud of himself.



2) Russell now knows to say "cheese" for the camera - he will say it if you ask, and sometimes will say it even if you don't ask. He's actually saying cheese in the photo with the stickers.



3) Russell loves animals: real, stuffed, or cartoon. If you tell him, "look, there's a bunny in the yard!" (which happens often) or, "that's a duck on TV" he will look at the animal and say "hi!" If you give him a toy animal, chances are he will start saying "hop" and making the animal hop on the ground. He thinks all animals hop: bunnies (of course, they actually do), birds, cats, etc - we have tried to tell him otherwise, but he looks at us like we're crazy :)



4) More sweet than funny - Russell has started giving kisses. His favorite things to kiss are Fuzzy (his lovey), Lamby (Meredith's lovey), and his little sister :) He has always given great hugs, and now he can say "hug" as well.

I'm going to have to start writing down funny things by the day - he does them so often! I am loving this age (well, besides the ever-present tantrums, but that just comes with the territory).

One Month Old!

Meredith is one month old!

She is really a good baby.  This is the “Purple Crying” time (if you’ve had a baby recently, you probably know what I’m talking about) so all babies get pretty fussy around 4 weeks old, but Meredith is pretty easy to settle and is really not fussy too often.

At one month old, Meredith:

• is wearing newborn size diapers
• is wearing newborn or 0-3 month clothing (she must be a skinny minnie, because 0-3 month are all pretty wide on her)
• is nursing exclusively, and her feeding schedule is all over the board – sometimes every 5 hours, sometimes every 2 1/2
• does seem to have some tummy problems, but we’re giving her infant probiotics, and I really think they’re working
• enjoys her paci

Meredith’s one month check up is on Thursday.  She had a little trouble gaining weight when she was first born – lost some more weight after we left the hospital – but at our last check up and at the nurse’s home visit, she was gaining at a rate of 2-3 ounces per day (the norm is 1 ounce per day).  But because her 0-3 mo clothes seem so wide, I’m interested to see what she weighs now.  I’ll keep you posted!

Meredith, you are such a joy to our family!  We love watching you grow!

One Month Old!

Meredith is one month old!

She is really a good baby.  This is the “Purple Crying” time (if you’ve had a baby recently, you probably know what I’m talking about) so all babies get pretty fussy around 4 weeks old, but Meredith is pretty easy to settle and is really not fussy too often.

At one month old, Meredith:

• is wearing newborn size diapers
• is wearing newborn or 0-3 month clothing (she must be a skinny minnie, because 0-3 month are all pretty wide on her)
• is nursing exclusively, and her feeding schedule is all over the board – sometimes every 5 hours, sometimes every 2 1/2
• does seem to have some tummy problems, but we’re giving her infant probiotics, and I really think they’re working
• enjoys her paci

Meredith’s one month check up is on Thursday.  She had a little trouble gaining weight when she was first born – lost some more weight after we left the hospital – but at our last check up and at the nurse’s home visit, she was gaining at a rate of 2-3 ounces per day (the norm is 1 ounce per day).  But because her 0-3 mo clothes seem so wide, I’m interested to see what she weighs now.  I’ll keep you posted!

*update: Meredith is in the 75th percentile in both height (21.75 in) and weight (10 lbs), and the 45th percentile in head circumference (14.5 in).  She was so good at the doctor’s office – both the nurse and doctor commented on how sweet she was

Meredith, you are such a joy to our family!  We love watching you grow!

Playtime

Russell had preschool this morning, but then we had a quiet afternoon at home.  Sometimes, on quiet days at home, the walls kind of close in on you.  But today was not one of those days.  This afternoon, I truly enjoyed the time with my sweet little ones.

Meredith played by working on tummy time.  Well, I don’t know if she thought of it as playing.  She seems to be a typical baby in the not-liking-tummy-time aspect.  But I did get a cute photo before the fussing!

Russell and I had lots of good playtime doing all kinds of things – coloring, peek-a-boo (at what age does that get old? just curious), bubbles, and playing with cars and trucks.  Or “uck,” as Russell calls them – he says that for a truck or a car – we’re working on it

Staying at home with a baby and a toddler is hard.  But, like our small group reminded each other last night, the days are long, but the years are short.  And fun afternoons like today make it more than worth it.

Perspective

(from the poem titled “Song for a Fifth Child”)

Cleaning and scrubbing will wait til tomorrow

for babies grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow

So quiet down cobwebs; dust, go to sleep

I’m rocking my babies, and babies don’t keep.

(Early) Happy Mother’s Day–to my mom!

My wonderful mama has been here all week – cleaning, cooking, taking care of me and helping me take care of my children.  It has been such a blessing (just as it was to have my mother-in-law here the week before that, and my mom (again) the week before that).

It’s hard to think of a sweeter Mother’s day gift than seeing my kids’ Mimi hanging out with them.

She even gave Meredith her first bottle (of breast milk) yesterday while Jason and I went on a date (we happened to come back about halfway through the bottle, which is how I got this picture):

Love my mama

Hopefully I can be half the mama to this little girl and this little boy that she is to me!  (Meredith and me on the left; Russell and me on the right)

Spring Festival

The small town (30 minutes from our house now) where we used to live has a free spring festival every year.  As crazy as this is, we lived there for 5 years and had never been, but decided to go this year even though we no longer live there.

Anyway, it was so much fun!

One of the first things we saw there were the police cars, fire trucks, and semi trucks.  Of course Russell loved it!

See the badge on his shirt (above)?  It says junior firefighter, and Russell wanted to wear it all day

Here are Jason and Russell in the semi.  Again, Russell loved it!  He didn’t want to get out…

…until we told him we were going to see the animals…

Yes, they had a petting zoo set up right next to the trucks.  As animals and trucks/cars are Russell’s absolute favorite things, I know he was in heaven.

We also perused the car show:

I think Jason enjoyed the cars more than Russell did – oh well, at least someone liked them!

Little Miss Meredith was so good at the festival.  She was awake and content most of the time, just checking out her surroundings.  (And yes, her bib says “where is my tiara?" – she is a true princess, after all!)

It was so nice to get out in the sunshine and enjoy some fun family time!  Hopefully we’ll get to do it again next year.