Michael's First Swing

The kids and I walked to the park today and Michael got his first ride in the swings. He was very impressed, in a super-chill-baby kind of way.

 

 

 

You might be thinking, "He doesn't look too impressed," but I know he was because he sat in the swing for about 20 minutes instead of insisting that I hold him. That's a big deal.

The girls did what they normally do: lots of swinging, climbing, and trying to think of new ways to slide down the slide. Today Mary's favorites were sideways and lying down.

Running Out of Summer

The last Church at the Beach service of the year is tomorrow morning (sad face). I can feel myself panicking inside a little bit when I notice it getting dark earlier each evening. I'm not ready for summer to be over! Here are a few pictures from last week's beach service that I somehow failed to post all week:

 

 

 

 

A Quick Video Update

Baby Michael's energy level is a bit incomprehensible. He never stops moving. I'm considering outsourcing his diaper changes because he manages to bruise me with his feet almost every time.

Although the doorway bouncer is still very high on his list, Michael is also starting to enjoy wriggling around freely on the floor, especially if he can watch his sisters playing. Whenever I put him down on his back, he usually rolls over onto his stomach pretty quickly, and then his arms and legs start thrashing. Today his thrashing managed to spin him all the way around - a full 180. He is also trying occasionally to get his knees under him a bit... it's too early for crawling!



And here is an update from Mary. She is going to tell you about one of her favorite things, through song. Don't think the video is broken: there is no video, only audio, because she happened to be illustrating this favorite thing along with the song and even for a very young child, I think it wouldn't be the best for an online video.

How We Roll

This is what our morning walks look like now (yes, Michael is hidden back there behind Mary's backpack, which, if you're interested, is holding a single striped bouncy ball):

 

People usually have one of three automatic reactions upon seeing us coming down the street:
1. Double raised eyebrows
2. Shaking of the head
3. Spontaneous laughter

Verbal responses, once they have collected themselves and we are close enough to speak, are almost always a variation of one of these:
1. "Please tell me those aren't all yours."
2. "My, you've got your hands full!"

 

Rarely do people ask how much the whole contraption weighs, which is funny, because that's pretty much all I think about when we're out. Fun for all!

Foam Soap

Tonight while the girls were taking a bath I decided to step into the laundry room (right next to the bathroom) to fold eight baskets of laundry. I could hear well enough to discern any catastrophes and was close enough to intervene if necessary. Plus Catherine recently learned to push the button on the can of Elmo foam soap so I wouldn't have to step into the bathroom every three and a half seconds to build a foam soap ice cream cone, flower, earring, or ponytail.

You all know where this is going.

So I folded laundry and chatted with baby Michael, listening to the splashing and giggles and dispensing of foam soap in the background. Near the end of my second basket of laundry Catherine came walking in, towel wrapped around her, and told me she was ready to put on her pjs but she couldn't get all the soap off with her towel. I thought out loud, "Why didn't you rinse the soap off in the bath?" to which she replied, "The bath is so soapy when I rinse off I get more soapier."

She had by this time managed to rub most of the soap off with her towel, so I peeked around the corner at Mary. If I didn't know I had left them in the bath with a can of pink foam soap, I would have sworn she was sitting in a bathtub full of red Koolaid with a layer of pink whipped cream on top. Mary was looking so pleased she might have been thinking the same thing.


Yes, I believe the foam soap is coming out of her nose. And yes, I'm pretty sure the only way she could have gotten it around her mouth like that is if she was eating it, or at least pretending to eat it. And yes, it is non-toxic.


They dispensed of an entire can of foam soap in this bath. I have no idea what they're going to play with tomorrow.

Michael the Explorer

Michael is in that stage of babyhood where he has discovered that he has hands, that he can control them (to a point), that everything feels super cool, and that he can use them to grab things. His favorite thing to grab is Daddy's face, but if he's in a good enough mood he is content with the slew of baby toys always within his reach (his sisters are very good at keeping up the supply).

One of his current favorites is this alphabet wheel because he can make it spin and sing to him.


He'll also spend some time here and there in his exer-saucer, although he's almost getting too tall for it - sometimes I think he's going to do a somersault right over the top.

And if Michael is in a really good mood, I can just set him down next to his little box of baby toys and let him dig in.

Of course, if he's not in a really good mood, he wants you to just hold him and walk him around the house letting him touch things. This is why all adults in the house are suffering from back pain.

Bouncy Pants Revisited

We have a little ball of energy in our house that we call Michael Jr, and he bounces all day long. I know, I just told you this a couple days ago, and there was a video, so you probably don't want to hear about it again or see another video. But this is a historical blog about what is going on in our house, and bouncing is what is going on in our house, so bouncing is what you get.

But, in the interest of keeping your interest, instead of a video you get a pictorial view of the bouncing.

A slightly animated pictorial view (please to roll your mouse over the picture below. Repeatedly.)



Wasn't that fun? Want to see some more? (yep, mouse-over):



Oh dear. I'm addicted to the picture mouse-over. I don't think I'll ever get tired of this. Luckily, neither does he.

More Beach Church

And a frozen yogurt face, just because.




hat

Baby Giggles

Disclaimer: This video is terrible. I was holding a squirming giggling baby in one hand, sitting on the couch (which Catherine was bouncing around on) and using my other hand to shoot blindly (and vaguely, as it turns out) in the direction of the action, which happened to be occurring directly in front of a very bright window. So ignore the video and just listen to the baby giggles. He only giggles like this for his sisters.

Beach Country

The kids and I took a quick "yeah! it's the weekend!" Friday evening trip to the beach today. (Side note: every night when I put the girls in bed Catherine asks, "Mom, is tomorrow a working day for you?" This should not make me sad at all because they play and have no end of fun whether I'm working or not, but it still makes Friday and Saturday nights extra sweet because they get so excited when I tell them tomorrow is not a working day and we can play all day. And by play I mean clean.)

Yikes. I digress.

The girls chose to wear their matching cowgirl hats to the beach today, and they took their matching shovels and their matching lawn chairs and I really can't put that amount of cuteness into words. Luckily for all of us, I have pictures.

Matching Cowgirl Hats


Matching Shovels


Matching Lawn Chairs

The Primate House

Most of the day in our house resembled the monkey exhibit at any animal menagerie, complete with high-pitched squealing, squabbling over food, slapping fights, challenges to the established pecking order, climbing of everything in the habitat, the monkey-stomp temper tantrum (you know you've seen it), and plenty of poo in places poo really ought not to be.

There were exactly six minutes of peace, during which the girls were drinking smoothies and Michael fell asleep in his bouncer.


Then it was right back to your basic primate behavior.
And now I'm off to put the monkeys in bed.

Bouncy Pants

First of all, I have to apologize because I did not notice before taking this video that one of my very talented daughters had changed the video setting on the camera from high quality to rather poor quality. But it's an action video so you get the idea.

Michael legs move like this the whole time he is in his bouncer. They also move like this the whole time he is in his swing or chair (which do not bounce), the whole time you are holding him, the whole time he is eating, and the whole time he is sleeping with his little feet in the small of your back.

The Official Band of Our Family

Some time last week we spent the evening at a summer outdoor concert in Chatham. Both the girls still proclaim Tripping Lily as their favorite band, and you've struck something quite lucky when you and your toddlers like the same music, so we try to make it to a few of their concerts each summer. Since the summer series is at various parks, the kids aren't too much of a disturbance when they get antsy and need to run around.

Or do pushups.


Or some sort of ballerina leap.


But we really do listen to the music most of the time.


You should too - it's delightful.

Aunt Jena's Princesses

The girls were delighted to find these princess masks in the mail. They immediately colored them and tried them out.

Mary was determined that hers had to have pink lips.


And Catherine colored the top of her crown with little dots because "it is sparkly."



These are a great addition to their dress-up box. Thanks Aunt Jena and Uncle Tommy!

Images, by Catherine Macrina

Catherine's current favorite hobby is making pictures. She's always liked coloring and painting, but for the last couple weeks she has really started developing and exploring specific themes and "designs" as she calls them. She also figured out how to work the tape dispenser on her own, and she is slowly working on turning the entire house into her own personal gallery.


She started with intersecting lines, triangles, and squares.


Apparently she learned a lot from Uncle Brian while he was here. She then started incorporating more white space into her designs, and focused on straight lines and letters for a bit.


Gallery #2.


She spent a brief period exploring the circle.


Then began incorporating shading and some finite lines.


And was suddenly inspired to jump to portraits. These are both titled "Sisters."


Gallery #3.


Catherine's treatment of bouquets.


This series is titled "Paths."


And finally her homestead.


We're not out of tape yet, so there is more to come, I'm sure.

The Babysitter

This is why we send Catherine to go talk to Michael when he is upset. He adores everything she does.

Checkup Time

We had dual doctor appointments yesterday: Mary's 2-year checkup and Michael's 4-month checkup. They are both healthy and perfect and the best children ever seen by the doctor and nurses (I know, they tell all the parents that).

Mary has made it to three feet tall and a little over 26 pounds - still near the top of the growth chart for height and a skinny-minny in the weight category. She impressed the pediatrician by refusing to let him look in her eyes until she was done assembling a puzzle, counting a bunch in Spanish, naming all the colors on her diaper, and singing her abridged version of the ABC's to Michael. She had a blood draw from her toe that took about five minutes and two shots, and didn't cry at all.

Michael is 27 inches tall and 16 pounds 11 ounces - hovering above the top line on the growth chart for height and about 75th percentile for weight. If he's a "healthy weight" baby I honestly don't know what an overweight one looks like. The pediatrician thinks he looks just like Daddy and might have the biggest feet ever seen on a 4-month-old. Michael currently sleeps about nine hours at night with 1 or 2 breaks for eating, and is settling into two decent naps during the day. His favorite activity (besides jumping on my lap and eating) is grabbing toys and faces.

I would go get my camera to see if I have any pictures for you, but the humidity has glued me solidly to my chair.

Big Boy Clothes

Two posts in a row about Michael's attire... Daddy will like the pattern.

Since Michael is long out of the 3-month and most of the 6-month clothes, he is wearing all sorts of outfits that make him look way too grown up.


I can't take it.


I'm going to only put him in onsies from now on. Maybe when he's 12 I'll let him wear a button-down shirt again.

The Baptismal Gown

Somehow, when Mary was baptized, I did not end up with a single good picture of her in her pretty white dress. I have a lovely engraved frame to commemorate her baptism, but I don't have any pictures to put in it. I'm not kidding - it currently holds a random picture of her from from that general time frame because I couldn't find a good one of her from the whole baptism day. I have no idea why I did not realize this in time to just put her back in the dress and take a few pictures. I think it's a little late now.

But it's not too late for Michael. I barely got my camera out last Sunday, what with trying to wrangle the girls through the whole church service, the brunch afterwards, and sending off the family visitors shortly thereafter. So today when Michael was in what appeared to be a pretty accommodating mood I slipped him back in his baptismal outfit and took a couple (hundred) pictures.

After a few rounds of deletions, I'm down to these.






(No, those last four were not the same picture.)




Dear Lord Baby Jesus...


Please let my mom stop taking pictures of me.