Recently

Russell has started taking drum lessons on Saturdays through a contact we made at church. He had been twice (or maybe 3 times?) and loves it! He and Jason also practice during the week:

More neighborhood friends, Keaton and Eden, having ice cream with us last week:

Day date for me and Jason! My cousin’s team was in town, so we went to the Yankees vs White Sox game. We had a great time!

Our village has a small Memorial Day parade – perfect for the attention span of little ones. We met our neighbors there to watch it. These cuties were dressed in patriotic gear! (Pic was taken after the parade, in a different part of downtown.)

Just because she’s adorable:

Russell’s quiet time in the basement turned into naptime on the beanbag – rare these days!

Going to get the big camera back out next week!

Twins, 4 years apart

Paigey is changing!

I am telling you, when Paige was born, she looked just like her big sis.

Now, tell me if she isn’t the spitting image of Russell!

(Left – Russell, right – Paige)

Reminder

10 months old!

Paige is 10 months old! I could just scoop her up and snuggle her all day, every day – and I do for a good portion of every day

Paige is getting at least one more tooth at the moment – the top-middle-right tooth. It has just barely broken through. There are two more (the two on either side of that one) that look very close to coming in also. This can account for some fussy days!

Paige is pulling up everywhere now, and cruising just a little. She is not climbing stairs yet, but she’s close. I’m having an internal argument about how many baby gates we should put up; since we have 2 staircases, we could feasibly put up 4 gates (top and bottom of each), but is it necessary? Currently, we have one up.

She is still putting most things in her mouth, and I end up sweeping a choking hazard out of her mouth about once a day: often mulch or small sticks (brought in on someone’s shoe), or a sticker, or a piece of food dropped by a big kid – one time a peanut – yikes! Hello, third child!

Speaking of eating, Paige is eating a lot of table food. She prefers it to baby food now. She has tried all sorts of things, and loves most of them! She is also nursing 4x/day, but 1-2 feedings are supplemented with a bottle. (I went through a lot of headache trying to keep my breast milk supply up with Meredith, and it only worked for about a month, so I’m consciously not worrying about it this time!)

Lastly, after 5 months of helmet-wearing, we now have a free baby head! We decided it was time for it to come off. Her head looks so much better than it did at 4-5 months old and we’re glad for all the helmet did!

Happy 10 months, Paigey girl!

Mother’s Day 2014

I love going out to breakfast on Mother’s Day before church! (Mostly because it means I don’t have to cook or do dishes!) I’m trying for it to be an annual tradition, although I think we’ve only managed it 2 out of 4 years so far. Oh well – it’s definitely going to be annual from now on!

We went to a great little restaurant called the Jam n Jelly Café at 7:30 am. (Yes, I would actually rather go out to eat early than sleep in – don’t want to be rushed getting ready or wait for a table.)

As we were leaving, the lady sitting behind me complimented me on the kids’ behavior, saying how rare it was to see. That was such a blessing to hear on Mother’s Day! I love being mom to these sweet kids.

New Everyday

It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here for 3 1/2 months! In some ways, I feel like we just got here. But we are also finding our new normal.

We are so happy to have a few consistent friends that the kids love to play with – like Olivia and Everett, who live down the street:

We have also gone to the same Bible study every week since the end of February. They have a wonderful program for homeschooled kids, birth to 18. 0-3 year olds stay in the nursery and have a great teacher with a structured program, while teenagers help teach the next-youngest age group. (Tweens, if you wondered, are in charge of cleaning the church every Wednesday.) Last week was our last week of the study before a summer break. Russell’s group performed the Daniel in the lions’ den story. Russell was a very ferocious lion!

We have also had a few playdates with some of the moms and kids from the Bible study. Meredith and Abby are only a few weeks apart in age.

We also can’t say enough about our new house and our new neighborhood.

We love lunches on the screened porch:

 

Our basement playroom is big enough for the toys and all the kids at the same time! It also fits our school table – we are so grateful for all the space!

The big kids both have bikes now, and Russell love riding around the block! (Meredith has only gotten down our street so far, but she’s still practicing!)

Everything is still new, but it’s beginning to feel more routine, if not like home. One step at a time.

Meredith’s Birthday Celebration

(only a few weeks late )

Meredith had been waiting a long time to go back to the aquarium! For about 3 weeks after we first went, every night when she prayed, she thanked God for the aquarium and the great time she had there. We knew she wanted to go for her birthday, so we went while Paw Paw and Kacki were here. (THANK YOU for the membership, P and K!)

(Did not get a good picture in the canoe this time!)

They have a kids’ activity area that we didn’t get to last time – it was good for stretching their legs!

The next day, we had cake, ice cream, and presents!

I made her a 2-layer cake from scratch (only because I realized the night before this celebration that I had bought cake flour instead of cake mix!), and found a new way to frost it via Pinterest (love that site!) so that the icing would be smooth. Then, we applied a sugar image of Sofia that I bought from Etsy. I was pretty happy with how it turned out!

“This is the cake I wanted!”

Our first 3-year-old girl!

Excited about presents!

A Sofia theme – this was a happy girl!

What a wonderful celebration!

Paw Paw and Kacki Visit!

Jason’s parents came to visit us for a week – last Tuesday to this Tuesday. What a great time we had! We really didn’t do a lot – a trip to the aquarium, and a trip to Cantigny, but otherwise a lot of hanging out. It was wonderful to visit! Russell and Meredith stuck like glue to them all week. Paige enjoyed them, too.

Russell and Paw Paw are best buddies. Prior to their visit, Russell had told me a few times, “I miss playing around with Paw Paw.” They had a great time together as always.

We had great weather on Friday night, and enjoyed grilling out on our new grill and eating on the screened porch!

In the playroom the night before they left:

We are back to our normal routine around here and missing the company of family!