Unpacking!

Oy, while the move has officially been completed, we are still unpacking! It's been a "one step forward, two steps back" sort of ordeal, what with Emily's "hellion on wheels" mentality. You can see her path of destruction. The door to the DVD rack open, movies in a heap on the floor. A few feet from that, papers torn out of a box that I was attempting to sort through near my desk. Then, just another couple of feet, an empty container laying next to a pile of puffs. This is with in minutes. It's incredible. The phone rings, making lunch, helping Elijah in the bathroom...she chooses her moments carefully.

Psh. Ma's crazy. I'm innocent!

So, the house came with washer and dryer hookups...and while we didn't actually own a washer or dryer, a generous relative had an older set in her garage and let us come pick them up from her-free of charge! Husband didn't really scope them out because, well, they were free so what difference did it make? Let's just say he could have saved himself some backache if he had inspected! The washer was (to put it delicately) ancient and held a load that wouldn't have supported a set of bed sheets. Plus, during the test run, the pipes leaked.

It wasn't the most exciting news that we were in the market for a washing machine; they're sorta expensive. Craigslist didn't have anything that seemed worth it...so Husband and J went shopping while I hung at home with the kids. They came home with a screamin' deal. Who knew that most places don't actually cary most washers in stock and that you have to have them delivered? We certainly didn't! Luckily, they had a washer big enough for what we required, in stock at the warehouse (thankfully close by), and because it was the last one in stock and they weren't planning on getting more in---we received a discount on top of it already being on sale! Now, needless to say, the kids have a new plaything. (Note: The triangular piece of cardboard to the right was deemed a "saw" by Elijah, and a moving box full of toys was successfully dismantled.)

I attended my second craft fair over the weekend. This one was far less "hoppin'" than the last one, I can only assume that's because the first one was a Holiday Fair. And while I didn't sell nearly as much as before, it was almost more exciting because someone recognized me from the Holiday Fair! Also, I was able to visit with a different woman who wanted to sell my lip balms at her cafe across the street from a local ferry, but had accidentally deleted my voicemail when I contacted her so she couldn't return my call. I was sure I had given her my card; regardless, she took down my contact information and I should be hearing from her soon! I'm selling my products at a local consignment shop that's in the complete opposite direction, so I'm super excited to be expanding like this!

A few days ago, I felt like taking a trip to the store. Past experience has taught me that taking the kids out in public is no longer a pleasant affair. Change of scenery seemed crucial, so I took a chance, and planned to leave after Emily's nap. It was a success! I took my sweet time, a whopping hour and a half, browsing through this place of shopping. Elijah, who typically enjoys walking around with me, agreed to stay in the cart because Emily was sitting in there, too. They were so well behaved. No shrieking, throwing binkies, tears, pulling hair, or attitude. Elijah had asked if they "had toys" in this store, and after I told him there were toys, he was anxious to go look at them. I let him know once I finished my shopping, we would go look. So they patiently waited for me to finish collecting the small odds and ends that we needed around the house before browsing through the toys. All by themselves, here is what they picked.

Em's "ba-ba" (baby)

Fire Watch!!!

I am extremely conscious of what sorts of influences are introduced to my kids (movies, toys, clothing, furniture, etc....) but it still amazes me what a "girl" Emily is and what a "boy" Elijah is. Oh, and Elijah totally loves his new watch. He's always telling me that the little hand is on ____ and the big hand is on _____. When I suggested putting a clock on his wall with all of the numbers to better understand telling the time, he told me, "No, Mama. I can tell you the time with my watch." Well okay then :}

Goodness.

I really want to be better about updating. It's easy to let the thought slip that my children won't be this small forever. Fascinating things happen everyday! I will be better about documenting it!

Ok, so Elijah turned three years old in October. I have a three year old! He is attending at a fantastic Montessori Preschool as of September 1st and absolutely loves it. Well, the first month he cried everyday I dropped him off, but really I think that happened mostly because he got in the habit of crying every day. When I pick him up, the first words out of his mouth are typically, "Momma, I had so much fun today!" Speaking of words, Elijah's speech has improved significantly and his vocabulary has expanded as well. His sentences are fluid and he is enunciating. I love that others are more easily able to understand him and that I only need to translate slightly more than half the time. While this means he's readily able to execute talking back, it's been enjoyable nonetheless. Though I will be more than relieved when he stops the "broken record" method of getting my attention:

"Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy......."

Elijah was a pirate for Halloween. It was rather unfortunate; he came down with a horrendous chest cold the day of Halloween. I was still so eager to take him Trick-or-Treating, though. We had planned to go around the neighborhood my in laws live in and were thankfully able to stop by a few houses. Elijah did have a blast despite the cold. We warmed up by the fireplace and sorted the loot. But the cold came out of nowhere, no inkling of sickness the day before, and BAM- he woke up on Halloween with the ugliest cough I've heard in a long time. The cough was one of those, deep, heavy sounds in his chest. Not really even cough-like. Once it started breaking up it sounded more like a cough. Naturally it got passed around the entire family and now Emily is on the tail end of the lingering cough.

Mr. Potato Head, right? The resemblance is uncanny!

My little M&M is nine months old (already!) and not only crawling and pulling herself up, but cruising around at every moment's chance! This girl is amazing. A blast! What a sense of humor this one has. She loves to laugh, play peek-a-boo, dance, and play the talk back game. We take turns making noises at each other. And when we play peek-a-boo, she's the one that holds the dishcloth over her face, then yanks it off quickly with a smile on her face. When she dances, she sits straight up and does this rock on her butt with her hands above her head. It's the cutest thing, ever.

It's interesting the amount of sass Emily has. It is not hard to figure out what this girl wants. Spoons get smacked out of my hand met with irritated cries, bread bits get swept off the highchair tray with one sweep. When we got shopping I know when she's eager for more attention because she'll take the toy she's playing with, hold it outside the stroller with her right hand, look me straight in the eye and drop it on the floor. Give it back to her enough times and she starts chucking it out. She's also gotten into the habit of tossing her pacifier out. I believe that to be her boldest statement. Emily loves her pacifier so I know she's fed up when that green soothie goes flying into the aisle of the grocery store and bounces against the shoe of some stranger. I've had to start carrying more than one nuk with me lest I have to run to the bathroom every few minutes to wash the flippin' thing. Regardless, I very much enjoy taking Emily shopping with me while Elijah is at preschool; it gives me a chance to get some one on one with her while taking care of errands.

I went to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra over the weekend and took my Mom and the kids with me. I'm glad I decided to go; I wasn't able last year and (regrettably) relinquished my tickets after a schedule conflict arose. The Trans-Siberian Orchestra is incredible and I strongly encourage everyone to experience them at least once! They tour every year during winter for the holidays. I wasn't going to let the fact that I couldn't have free hands hold me back. My husband was in Pittsburgh over the weekend so I couldn't ask him to sit the kids. In any case, Emily and Elijah had a great time. It's a long show (three hours) and at one point Elijah actually fell asleep for a little over an hour. Emily, being the trooper she is [insert eye roll here] only dozed for a mere 20 minutes. However, when both awake, they were enthusiastic and throughly entertained.

...Fine, we'll go see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. If we have to...

"Mmmah!"

That's what Emily is saying as she looks deliberately into my eyes. No joke, the girl is calling me! I was hesitant to assume that was the case until both Mom and Josh confirmed that was in fact what they were hearing as well. It's so exciting. I wanted Elijah to talk so badly when he was Emily's age; alas, he was not interested for a long, long while. Another wild difference between the two of them is how curious Elijah was with his toys. He was fascinated with the workings of his toys and didn't play with them per se, but investigated how they functioned. Emily is more interested in testing out her toys via her mouth, and then pounding them on the floor or at other toys - much like a typical baby would.

Someone loves to swing!

Ok, yes that is Elijah's hat.

Emily loves to observe though, much like Elijah did (does). She is much more interested in being on the move and catching up with Elijah. When Emily is having tummy time, I try to get her to crawl by putting a toy just out of reach. She'll get this determined look on her face, pull her lips in, grunt, reach with an out stretched hand.... and then go limp knowing that she's not quite ready to crawl. She puts her face on the floor and whines with an arm still stretched out in front of her. It's cute how quickly she gets frustrated; "If only I could crawl!" I know that once she's ready to crawl that she's going to just go. There won't be any practice/test crawls. It'll be more like next thing I know I'm racing after her because she's out of the room.

Elijah's third birthday is coming up (okay, not 'til October, but still!) and I've been shopping! I bought him a Toy Story bed tent, and a scooter, that is also Toy Story. He had his first experience on a scooter when he went camping with Josh and, from what I heard, wouldn't get off the thing. This has the handle bars complete with a zipper bag on the front. He saw me grab it at Target today and was all, "Momma! Momma! Momma! What is that? Let me see? We can play it outside?" There were only two left and I knew that if I came back later for it they'd be out of stock. Thankfully I was able to sidetrack him with a water gun from the $1 bin! My Mom and I found one of those huge floor pianos at Toys R Us, so that's what Elijah's getting from Grandma.

Elijah also got his hands on a number of those hand held touch screen gaming systems that are designed for children. There was one from Leapster that he did better with (ages 4-9, I might add). It was fun to watch him with the educational games - he rocked! I sent that bit of information along to my Mother-in-Law because I wasn't sure if she had an idea for him or not for his birthday.

He's going to have an awesome birthday. I want to have a pinata, also. My Mom took him to a birthday party a few months ago where there was a pinata and it was reported back to me that Elijah was just ecstatic over it.

Time to catch some ZZZZZs. I'm exhausted after going to the chiropractor, the post office, Target, and the post office again (the first post office had a sign up inside that said their credit/debit machines were down and I never carry cash on me) with the kids in tow.

Motherhood: The Musical

Motherhood can be so clever sometimes. I have come up with some a number of songs to help [successfully] divert stressful situations with both of my children. I thought it might be a good idea to share them, lest I forget them!

The Night-Night Song. I came up with this when Elijah was less than a year old. Using the word "difficult" is an understatement in what it took to get him to sleep. He nursed, and then he had to be tightly swaddled, rocked, bounced, sung to, etc... before he would sleep. I got pretty bored with all the lullaby's I knew off hand, so I started making stuff up.

(Sung to the chorus of "This Land is Your Land")

It's time to go night-night

And go to sleep

And rest your eyes

And have sweet dreams

And when you wake up

I will be right here

It's time to go night-night

Elijah's Marching Band. Elijah found a mini-flag I had from high school when I was in Color Guard. When I explained it was for marching in a band, he wanted to do it. While marching around the house, he wanted a song.This isn't sung to any particular song, I don't think.

It's Elijah's marching band

With this big colorful flag

We go march! march! march!

And stomp! stomp! stomp!

All through the house

It's Elijah's marching band

With his big color flag

We go march! march! march!

And stomp! stomp! stomp!

It's Eliiiijah's Maaarrching Baaaaaand

YAH YAH YAH

A song that I've sang to Emily since she was a newborn is simply just her name over and over again. I don't know the name of the tune, or if it even has one. But I repeat her name and then spell it at the end. It gets her to stop crying every time and she knows her name now! I also have a similar song for Elijah. It's more of a chant, really. I just spell his name to a specific rhythm. It's been a lot of fun because he's already learning how to spell his name. The last little song I have is repeating "Thank you, you're welcome" to another tune I've heard somewhere before I think. This has been helpful in getting Elijah more familiar with manners. He can be extremely polite.

That's all I can think of at this time, though I am sure there are more.

In other news, I've been looking at preschools for Elijah! I call it play school to Elijah, because that's what Caillou, his favorite cartoon, calls preschool. I really want him to attend a Montessori preschool. They're a little more expensive but I find comfort at the thought of him being taught in an environment by someone who is educated and qualified; not inexperienced and babysitting for the 3.5 hours he's there. The entire family went out today, dropped off some of Elijah's clothes that are too small at a consignment shop, and then found Elijah a backpack! It's a Toy Story backpack, go figure. Without having television as an influence, or before even knowing what Toy Story was, this little boy fell in love with Buzz Lightyear. The only television I let Elijah watch is the Sprout channel, and Nick Jr. Both of those channels do not show commercials, except for Sprout, which only shows commercials about insurance, cleaning supplies, and Your Baby Can Read! Guess it just goes to show that boys will be boys. And Elijah is so good at being a boy!

So the other day Elijah is getting frustrated because he can't get his underwear back on after going potty. He's slamming them on the floor and says, "Come on, god dammit!" I froze and stared at him. "Elijah just said his first swear word" I thought to myself. Great. Now what? I bend down and get eye level with him and explain to him that what he just said is called a Bad Word. We're not allowed to say bad words, I don't like bad words, and I don't want him to say bad words. Then of course I have to remind the rest of the house, no swearing, please. Other advancements in vocabulary include using the word "I" instead of "me". So now he says, "I want" rather than, "Me want".

Emily is six months old now! Sheesh, when did that even happen? This girl has a seriously vibrant personally. She's incredibly chatty, playful, and ticklish. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before, but I can totally get her hair into a pony tail now. Time to go buy some adorable bows! That's Daddy's headset she has her hand. She's amazing with her hands. She can pass objects from hand to the next, pick up and put her nuk in her mouth, and finger at objects with her index finger and thumb. I just know she'll be crawling before too long. When sitting up she can lung forward, almost to her knees, but not quite yet. Still no teeth, but they'll be here any day! Emily's hair still sticks up, but it's starting to fall to one side. I'll miss those days of hair standing straight on top of her head!

How Come?

A few weeks ago Elijah and I were having some lunch when I noticed an eyelash on his face. I told him to hold still while I carefully removed the eyelash and held it on my finger tip for him to see. "Think about Daddy" I told him; he paused for a moment and then smiled. "Now blow the eyelash off my finger!" He did so audibly by puffing out his cheeks and blowing out a huge rush of air with a few strings of spit. Elijah was very delighted upon the realization that he could "wish" on eyelashes and wanted to do it again. The next time an eyelash was discovered, it accidently fell from his finger and he became very upset. He quickly remedied this dilemma by picking his nose and wishing upon a booger. So now whenever there is an eyelash or a booger in question, he gets very quiet and whispers that he is thinking about Daddy before blowing it off his finger. Not that boogers come off of fingers easily, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Elijah has begun asking "Why", only he says "How come?" instead. I always knew that kids enjoyed playing the
Why Game, but now I realize that, for now, Elijah doesn't really expect an intelligent answer most of the time. Sometimes I know that he is actually interested in why he shouldn't do something, but other times I know he is just trying to get some wiggle room in which he can change my mind on the subject so he can get his way. Now the answer "Because I said so!" has quite a bit more meaning for me. I don't say that to him... yet. In other news, the potty strike rages on. Occasionally the potty has the privilege of experiencing Elijah's bodily functions, but not nearly as often as I'd like. Aren't those olive hands impressive? I didn't even tell him to do that; I think it's just part of being a child to put olives on the ends of fingers. Better than sticking his fingers in cat poop. Which he did do. He was digging around in the yard and unfortunately discovered some buried "treasure". This resulted in me telling him to extend his arm out in front of him as we marched inside to the nearest sink.

Speaking of treasure, Elijah had his first experience in a candy store.

His mouth was hanging open half the time as he hesitantly opened each plastic lid with thumb and forefinger, peering inside. I could practically hear his thoughts; "So this is where candy comes from. He was in awe of the gigantic suckers, and thankfully settled for one of the smaller 60 cent versions.

There is a small play area for children in the mall. I've always avoided it in the past because it's typically a madhouse. Not just madhouse in the sense that there are too many children there. More like, there are kids in there that are clearly too old to be running around in said area, knocking down the younger kids who are attempting to build confidence in their walking and climbing abilities. I met up with a friend who has a 19 month old daughter and thankfully all the little ones were age appropriate, so Elijah had a nice time warming up at his own pace. He's shy at first and isn't pushy like other younger children. He likes to explore with me with him. I love that.

Emily is pushing 15 pounds and she'll be three months old soon! She's a big 'un, for sure. My little love lump. She's got the biggest thighs and I can't keep my hands off of them. And I can't keep diapers over them. I use 100% unbleached cotton prefold cloth diapers on Emily, and started with size small. (I also use the snap fitted diapers, but as of now they're too small. At $70 for six diapers, I'm going to just wait until she thins out a bit instead of buying a bigger size.) The diapers I use quilts over each time that its dried, so buying a bigger size would result in difficulty with pinning. I had to buy the next size up and decided to buy cloth wipes as well. Why use disposable when I'm already washing cloth diapers anyway? I absolutely love these wipes. They are luxuriously soft to the touch and I look forward to wiping my little Em&Em's tush, no joke. I know that these wipes are gentle on her skin and chemical free. I purchased some bum cleaner and the ingredients are all natural. Guilt-free diapering, people. Do it! If you have kids, that is...

Emily is quite the curious little girl, and always has to be facing the action. I believe she'll be quite the social butterfly. She already is, as a matter of fact. Emily is extremely verbal and is constantly engaging her onlookers in conversation.

Her little noises have worked themselves into various vowel sounds. She works her mouth and tongue in different ways to produce different sounds. It's just adorable and fascinating. She is adorable and fascinating. She just wants to sit up and can even withstand her own weight on her feet. I love watching her wake up. She's just all smiles. It's inspiring, really. Waking up smiling, and ready for all of the experiences? Definitely something to be learned from that.