Beautiful Sunday

4-28-13

Pioneer Park, Florence, CO

What happens when you give Alanna some mini-M&M's? This:

Can you see the one stuck to her shirt?

Charlie was acting funny at the park today; sad, mopey, low energy - not his usual self. We got home and took his temp... yep. Feverish. Matt pulled up a baseball game online (It was even a Twins game!) and these two snuggled for a bit. I'm sure he's got the same virus as Alanna. Hope it doesn't turn into an ear infection for him.

First shorts/skort of the summer season! Look at those legs! Sigh.

Another Little Boy Milestone

4-28-13

Peeing standing up! Up until yesterday (4-27), we've always been helping Charlie pee standing up. Apparently, he now knows how to do it himself. He was outside with Matt (while Alanna and I were at the doctor), came around the corner and said, "I pee on rose bush." Matt requested that Charlie show him where, so sure enough, he took him over to the rose bush and pointed out a little wet spot. Matt checked his pants and found that Charlie pulled up his jeans but not his underwear (he can and does pull both up by himself), so they were still hanging below his cheeks. SO FUNNY.

Today, while outside, Charlie again requested to pee on the rose bush. I agreed since I was seeing the potty dance in full swing. I raced inside to grab the camer and capture this little gem. It's probably going to go down in my top-25 pictures of my son of all time list. Bike helmet and all!! :)

 

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

4-26-13

I took the kids to the zoo on Friday even though Alanna was still running a low fever. I seriously thought it was just her teeth so I gave her some tylenol and loaded them up. She seemed to have fun; maybe the change of scenery got her mind off the yet-to-be-found-out ear infection. :S

Anyway! I pulled into the CMZ parking lot and there were no less than a dozen buses in the parking lot. I nearly turned the van around and drove home! YIKES. I didn't really think about there being that many kids on field trips at the zoo! The parking lot attendant informed me that the buses would be leaving within the hour - whew. Onward! The new elephant barn is now open to everyone (it was members-only when we were there at Christmastime) so we got a peek at the 4 elephants and 1 rhino the zoo now has to offer. The lions got moved over into their new exhibit area, too. It is an amazing addition to the zoo. It's so much more of a zoo experience than just looking at a few animals in cages.

Checking out the elephants.

"Hi!"

Having a picnic lunch on one of the new picnic areas overlooking the giraffes and zebras. It's pretty sweet!

"Can't you just do something kind for Mommy for once in your lives?"

Checking out the grizzly bears!

Alanna's First Ear Infection :(

4-24-12

9pm. Alanna was up and crying. After about 10-15 minutes, I decided to go get her up and rock for a while. We rocked for almost an hour before I laid her back in the crib. She slept for about 90 minutes (10-11:30) and then was up until just before 2am just crying, crying, crying. I thought it was her teeth, but apparently it was much more than that. She had a fever and was quite inconsolable for much of the time she was up that night. I almost had her sleeping on my chest at one time (reminiscent of her newborn days!) and another time on the floor in her bedroom. Uffda. It was a rough night!

4-25-13

Snuggling with their blankies on the couch the day after the terrible night. Alanna's fever topped out at 102something and I actually ended up taking her in to the doctor on Saturday morning. I noticed on Friday night that she would hardly let me touch her left ear, so I figured it was an ear infection at that point. Poor little thing! Thankfully there's a family practice open on Saturdays - amoxicillin to the rescue. (Yes, I caved and let her have her pacifier whenever she wanted for the few days that she was feverish.)

Trucks, Pie, and a Bike Trailer

4-19-13

The day before this picture was taken, I took the kids to Pueblo for something different to do. After spending nearly an hour and a half at Barnes and Noble, I bought Charlie this truck book (because it was only $3.50 and it had awesome real-life pictures of trucks). Immediately when he woke up the next morning, he set up his semi-trucks and started reading the book. He sure likes it!

Strawberry pie. So, so good. 

4-21-13

We borrowed Karen's bike trailer and took the kids for an epic ride on Sunday afternoon. We left at 4 and didn't get home until 6:30! We tied Charlie's bike onto the back of the bike trailer so he could ride on the riverwalk once we got there. He rode 2 miles on the riverwalk! We stopped at the train park and at a spot on the river to throw rocks, too, so we were probably off the bikes for a total of about 45 minutes. Other than that, we were riding! The trailer didn't attach to Matt's mountain bike... so you know what that means... yep, I had to pull them. It was easy going downhill to the river but quite different going uphill home! We had so much fun - and came home to a chicken in the crock pot for supper!

Out of Charlie's Mouth

Yesterday in the car:
"Green means go, Mom."
"Thanks, Charlie. You're a good driver."
"Thank you!"

To Alanna this morning while I was changing her diaper:
"Do you have a penis? Do you have a butt?"

Charlie also sings "Kum Ba Ya, My Yah" and BINGO - two songs I didn't even know he knew!

Alanna @ 17 months

An update on Alanna!

- her words include good, hot, poop, bye/bye-bye/g'bye, baby, mama, hi, up, all gone, all done, socks, uh-oh, apple, help, go, yuck, thanks, oops, bubble
- her FIRST word was probably a tie between poop and good
- she arfs when she sees a dog
- she does a super cute thing with her tongue and voice when you ask her what a cat says or even just to say cat
- she makes a grunt sound for a pig, a roar for a lion, moo for a cow, baa for a sheep
- nods her head yes or no when you ask her questions
- probably weighs 20 pounds now (but I'm not positive - she's a tiny girl!)
- sleeps 8-8ish and naps for 2-3 hours in the afternoon
- eats all kinds of foods including meat (fish sticks, chicken, hamburger, sausage, etc)
- her ponytail on the top of her head now bends over (due to the length of her hair) instead of sticking straight up
- is very giving with her smiles and is really, really friendly
- can crawl up onto the couch by herself
- screams (literally screams - fists clenched, body tense, all-out screams) when she doesn't get what she wants OR if she gets something taken away
- still throws books at you if she wants you to read books
- swings her tiny little arm and hits you if she feels like she was wronged
- gives the cutest kisses - pucker and smacking lips and the whole works!
- knows her belly, hair, nose, ears, eyes, mouth, teeth, tongue, toes, legs, arms, hands, and sometimes chin
- still gets about 4 ounces of warm milk before bedtime
- only gets her pacifier at night and naptime
- goes up and down the step in our house standing up
- uses her spoon really well at meal time (and has for a few months now)
- wears size 3 diaper, size 3 4 shoes, size 12 month onesies, size 18 month clothes
- just got her first eye tooth - top left on 4-17-13