Rock Stars

Luca, my rock star toddler, has decided that he's ready to be potty trained. We've worked on it here and there the last couple of weeks, but this weekend it just clicked. The diapers are gone and the underwear is on! Yay Luca!! (And yay mommy and daddy's pocket book!!)

The only problem is that his motivational reward has been Skittles. At first, it worked great, but now my babe who has never had candy before in his life has almost polished off an entire bag. I've been giving him 2 skittles per pee and 5 per poop, but he pees about 20 times a day! (Possibly working the system, I don't know...)

I tried to limit it down to one skittle, but this was the response I got: "Two skittles pee, five skittles poop mommy. Luca pee, two skittles please." He's a little negotiator already.

Still, we're SO proud!!



Avery has just started to reach out and play with her toys on her exersaucer, and she holds full conversations about it! :)

Picnic at the Park

A gorgeous end-of-summer evening, bread, cheese, prosciutto,
berries, a blanket and the park.

Perfect!

Luca's Day

Anthony and I decided it would be fun to have a day alone with Luca. So, a friend came over to watch Avery and the three of us headed off for our day at the State Fair! The first adventure (and the best part for Luca, I think) was his first bus ride. They have an express shuttle service from the mall by our house directly to the fairgrounds. Luca loves buses, so we thought he would love to ride on one and we were right! He was grinning from ear to ear as we got on. He did really well too, sitting on the seat for the ride. It was definitely odd to not see him in a car seat!

It was a gorgeous day for the fair. Lower 70's and sunny blue skies. We went to the Miracle of Birth center and saw all the baby animals. We saw the cows, pigs, sheep, horses, rabbits and poultry. We ate greasy delicious fair food and rode across the fairgrounds on the sky glider.

The funniest part was probably when I was about a foot away from a horse and we got into an unintentional staring contest. The horse neighed incredibly loudly right at me, and I screamed and jumped. Luca said for the rest of the day "The loud horse scared mommy." I hope I didn't scar him for life. :)

It was a really fun day, and I'm glad we had the chance to take him on a special date!




Piggies!!


This was NOT the scary horse. :)


Luca loved the bunnies!


As we were heading out, this was the crowd that had gathered.


Daddy and Luca talking about the fair on the bus ride home

Just Another School Day

Luca adores school. I don't know what he would do without it.
Here are some pictures from outside at school...


Chillin with his girlfriend ;-)


Doing some sweeping


Hanging some laundry


Having a snack


And of course Squishy gets to go outside too...
She's deep in thought. :)

Sprinkler Day

Peeking through the toddler window into Mommy's room

Luca and Maddie getting ready to go outside

Anxiously waiting...

Braving the sprinkler

Avery's New Toys

Now this is the way to view the world!


I wish mama would turn me so I could see the Olympics a little easier...


This is my toy, Luca...


Tiny hands learning to hold


Luca helping Avery from Julie R on Vimeo.

Blooming Butterflies

Blooming Butterflies exhibit at our zoo

Sickies

Well... what a day.

Both babes had a rough night. Not awful, but I could tell something was off. Today, Avery was fussier than usual, refusing bottles, and not sleeping the best. And when I picked Luca up from school, he looked miserable and was leaning on his teacher who was taking his temperature. It was in the ballpark of 104 and I could tell he was not doing well at all. I had to carry him to the car (with a little help from a coworker carrying Avery) and carry him into the house. We all got into bed and snuggled, watching The Tigger Movie. Only minutes in, both babes were asleep... at 4 pm... Highly unusual.

At 5:30, I got Avery into the car and then carried Luca out again. We had a 30 min wait at the pediatrician and the whole time Luca sat on Anthony's lap with his head on his chest. We have NEVER seen Luca like this. Even when he's sick, he's usually still full of energy. The doctor, however, couldn't find anything wrong. She said he has a heart murmur from the fever (which initially freaked me out because I've never heard of that) but she said it will have no long term effects once the fever goes down. His ears and lungs were clear. His strep test came back negative. They even drew blood because his fever was so unexplainably high, but the numbers all looked fine. So, she said to keep an eye on him, lots of fluids, and check him thoroughly to make sure it's not a tick. The one thing she did say was that his tonsils are huge. This is the third time we've been told this... so, his adenoids and/or tonsils may come out at some point.

She also checked Avery, but same story... she's fine.

So, we're assuming it's a random virus and hopefully they will be better tomorrow. So far, both are sleeping well.

Avery's 3 Month Portraits

A friend commented about one of her photos... "Ok, not only is she beautiful, but she has the greatest smile! How do you not melt?"

Oh, I truly do melt!! I absolutely love this little girl. She is just SO endearing! :)

Potty Humor

Anthony: Luca, do you have poops in your diaper?

Luca: No! Poops all gone!

Anthony: Where did they go?

Luca: On a trip!

Famous for a day (or maybe just a few minutes)

Last week, I was contacted about my blog post regarding the bottle returns at Babies R Us. The reporter interviewed me and asked if she could share my blog.

Here I am, in the paper! :)

http://www.twincities.com/ci_10047357?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com

Three Months

What's new: Avery started school this week! She did remarkably well. Other than having to wake her in the morning, she has been about the same at school as she was at home. She hangs out in the bouncy seat, on the floor under the toy bar, or is in mommy's lap. She adjusted to napping in the nap room just fine! I swaddle her and lay her in her crib and she's out. Yay for Avery! :0)

She also is starting to suck on her hands, blanket, shirt or dress if she can get it to her mouth. She seems much more interested in her hands than Luca was. She does pretty well on her tummy, but still prefers her back. She rolls tummy to back randomly, but not every time. She is starting to stand up on mommy's lap or the floor with help and is getting stronger sitting with help too. She should be able to go in her exersaucer soon!

We are starting to hear small laughs, although not consistently yet.

She is still the happiest baby on the block! She likes to watch what's going on around her and smile at anyone that walks by. When someone talks to her, she lights up and rewards us with smiles and coos. She especially loves her big brother! Once in a while his loud shrieks startle her, but for the most part she loves watching his every move. She really is extremely mellow and we are in awe at how lucky we are to have such an easy baby!

She is drinking 4 oz bottles every 2-3 hours. I think she could drink 5-6 oz, but she seems to spit up more, so we limit her to 4 oz. I believe she's drinking about 28 oz a day.

Sleeping: She is still a super star sleeper as well. Naps are about the same, every 1-2 hrs after being awake. We're able to just lay her down awake and leave now, which is really nice. She's still swaddled and sleeps with her paci. Her normal naps last about 40-50 minutes, with a few 1-2 hour naps mixed in. She goes to bed around 7, wakes to eat between 4:30-5:30 am, and then we wake her at 6:45 am on school days. She sleeps so much more than Luca ever did, it's been nice.

Health: She is a spitter. :( Even on the Zantac and Gentlease formula, she still spits up quite a bit. We are keeping an eye on it to see if it's more than just spit up (ie: whether she needs a different med or soy formula). She got over her ear infections and cold and has been healthy so far. We'll see how long that lasts after starting daycare!

Happy three months old baby girl!

You are just the perfect addition to our family!! :)