Snow Day

Day 2 of Spring here in Oregon, and we are totally loving the snow (= When we awoke this morning, everything had gone extremely very white, and here it is nearly 3 pm and still snowing!

I took the kids out to build a snowman this morning, but they quickly got cold and tired. So, I put Sabrina down for a nap, snuggled Edgar up in front of a show, and headed out to finish those snowmen!

WARNING: you CAN NOT build a giant snowman with one person. Snow is too heavy to lift a giant snow belly onto a giant snow bottom. So, I punted, and made a giant snow CATERPILLAR! (It's kinda hard to see--but there are 2 or 3 smaller balls past the first 3, with wiggly sticks for legs)

We called Alex home for lunch on account of there not being enough snowmen in our yard. We ate quick and got back out into the cold, with this awesome result:

Oh! Pierre! You surprised us!

It's okay Pierre. Not EVERYONE is out to get you. You can calm down now.

 

Y-M-C....a?

Put 'em up, Pierre! Now keep 'em up! Good snowman.

 Fun day!

Family of Four

A few months ago, when I was cleaning the bathroom--I was just struck by these four toothbrushes. It made me grin to see a Daddy toothbrush, a Mommy toothbrush, a Big Brother toothbrush, and a Baby Sister toothbrush. For some reason this little mundane piece of our life just really hit home to me that we are a real family. Not just a brand new little family--but a real live Husband, wife, and 2 kids family. And I LOVE my family.

So, here is an overdue update/catch-up on our family over this past winter.

Alex successfully got older.
The next day we left for Utah/Christmas.

The car trip in the snow with 2 kids went great. No problems.

We stayed at my folks for Christmas. It was fun to spend time with family...but would have been better without the stomach flu ripping violently through the whole family.

It was so fun to see the little ones interact. Edgar and Calvin were good pals by the end. And, Lexi and Sabrina were super cute. Even if they did try to pull each other's hair and poke each other's eyes out.

Then it was back home. HOME! We have really enjoyed our new house. Alex and I spent most of our winter evenings here:

...in our living room reading books by the fireplace or playing board games after the kids go to bed.

Heaven: evenings spent together after the kids go to bed about 8:00.

The week after we got back from Utah, Anna (my best friend since I was 9 years old) came to stay with baby boy for a week while she attended some workshops in Portland. It was so great to have so much uninterrupted best friend time! My sweet husband even used a day off of work to watch the kids so we could go spend a whole day together. He is totally awesome (=

At Multnomah Falls

That same week, Sabrina turned ONE YEAR OLD! I seriously can't believe how fast that goes!

And a few weeks ago, I successfully got older too.

And so our busy family of four just keeps busy. I love my job of being mommy to these kids. Time is moving too fast! I feel rotten about not documenting this time better...but then I never feel like I have the time to stop and organize pictures / blog / write in their journals...etc. etc.  I guess if I want to remember how much we are enjoying this busy time--I just have to do it!

So, here is a little update on each of the kiddos.

Edgar is "Two and a half" (he turns 3 in 1 1/2 months). His day is summed up well by the following picture:

He LOVES cars. He watches Cars movies. He reads books about cars. He plays with Cars (Disney and otherwise). He sleeps with his current favorite 1, 2, or a dozen cars under his pillow. They accompany him to the bathroom, downstairs to do laundry, up to the dinner table, to read scriptures, etc. The have names, personalities, and good guy or bad guy status. He plays pretend scenarios, acts out scenes from movies, and pretends they are people that he knows. He is always telling me what is going on with his cars. All day. His world is complete if he has his favorite cars with him.

Edgar is a funny guy who likes to tell jokes. Actually, he only knows 2 jokes, but we hear them alot. He is always saying the funniest things (which I regularly and shamelessly post to facebook).

He loves music. Alex and I just got our new records/cds in the mail for the band we are in. When we brought one to show to Alex's parents, Edgar proudly declared, "That's us! These are OUR very own records." He likes to play music with us. We are babysitting some drums for a few weeks while we rehearse for our record release show, and I have really enjoyed listening to Edgar play them. He has a great ear for good sounds (=

Edgar has decided what he wants to be when he grows up: A daddy. Here, he is visiting Daddy's office. He pretty much adores his daddy. I think it would be fantastic if he grew up to be just like daddy (=

Sabrina is our Monster Truck Princess. She loves anything pink, frilly, cuddly, or furry. She doesn't have a favorite stuffed animal--she adores them all equally. She loves babies, clothes, shoes, and jewelry. Also, she loves monster trucks and cars. How could she not? My favorite "picture" of her (I didn't have a camera) was when she was at church all dolled up in a super girly outfit...driving her monster truck complete with sound effects (rrrrrrrrrrr!) Love it!

Sabrina is a happy giggly girl. She loves to wrestle with her brother. She ofter instigates it by smacking him on the head, tackling him, tickling him--and then laughing her head off. (He totally loves it...most of the time). She is really enjoying books and trips to the library lately. She likes to take a book to the window cushions and sit and read.

Sabrina doesn't talk a lot yet..but communicates quite well. She says Ma-ma, Da-da, Ed-duh (edgar), Grah-pa (grandpa), Dah (dog), Beh (bear), Bau (ball), Heh-yo (hello), Ni-Ni (night night), uh-oh, ba-ba (banana), di-puh (diaper), crah-crah (cracker), crrrrrr (car), ticka-ticka-ticka (tickle), and <> Breeta-breeta-breeta-bree (for her name--what Edgar and I often call her: Brina-Bree)

She is also learning some signs. She loves watching Signing Time. Here are some of the signs she uses a lot: ball, baby, more, all done, eat, drink, candy, cookie, diaper, outside, dog, cat, bear, please, thank you, milk, and hat.

And, she shakes her head yes and no pretty emphatically. It's pretty darn cute.

I just love these kids. They make my life full, busy, crazy, hectic, and wonderful.

The Countdown...

The New Year is here...and the countdown has begun. I'm not exactly sure WHEN we are counting down to...but I imagine that within the next week or two we will be welcoming Baby Girl Carmichael into our home! (Nope--no name yet--we have a short list of 3 and a longer list of alternatives...but, I'm not worried. She'll have a name by the time she comes home...probably).

And...the last minute flurry of preparations has begun...including the all-important Danita Pappas photo shoot. It was pouring outside, so we hit the local used bookstore as a "studio" of sorts for the photo shoot--turned out fantastic. It will probably take a while to get all the photos, but Danita (good friend and photographress extraordinaire) posted a few teasers for us.

I LOVE this family of mine. We had a fun New Year's Day--we meant to do a lot of cleaning/organizing the house to prepare for new baby (and we did get some of those important things done), but mostly we just ENJOYED each other. All three of us seem to be feeling huge loving amounts of joy toward one another. I know that baby girl will only add to that--but in part we know that we are losing--(not quite the right word)--changing our current picture of "family," and I think we are all trying to squeeze every last drop of enjoyment from our perfect little family.

I guess I'm feeling a little nostalgic: Letting go of the old and ringing in the new, and all of that.

I can't wait to meet this baby girl and to see what our new family dynamics will be like--and until then, I will do all I can to enjoy the countdown!

The Dandelion Experiment

Conclusion: Flowers are not good for eating.

Mustachioed Traditions

This, my friends, is a moustache vending machine.

That's right, I said, "moustache vending machine."

It is located at the Skipper's Restaurant in Salem, OR.

This is where we go for lunch after every Edgar doctor appointment.

A new tradition was born: Trip To Doc = A New Moustache.

Trip #1:

Trip #2:




Trip #3:

Hi Da!

My son is absolutely enamored with his dad. This new development is very welcomed! The first thing he says in the morning is "Da Da!" We go and find dad and Edgar lights up. He loves to wave bye-bye to dad when he leaves for work...and then he watches out the window to see if dad waves on his way to the car.

Edgar also insists on calling dad on the phone during the day. He often picks up the phone and pretends to talk to dad, "Hello? Hi Da!"
This video is oh so cute...sorry that it's blurry! But the audio itself is worth it (=

When Alex comes home from work, Edgar screams, "DA DA!" and crawls super fast to the door to great him. He insists on being picked up so that he can examine dad's buttons, headphone cords, tie, and beard.

At bedtime Edgar loves to tease his dad by offering a kiss, and then shaking his head no at the last second...only to change his mind a plant a big slobbery kiss on dad's face.

What a sweet boy! What a sweet dad!

Ed (NOT!) in the Bed

"Ed (NOT!) in the Bed"... or ... "The Continuing Adventure of (trying to) Sleep for New Parents"

This is an update to the Ed in the Bed post from 4 months ago.

(Caution: this is a genuine sleeping picture. It was early in the morning. I do not look my best, but the picture is so sweet that I must share it without shame.)

It is a bittersweet accomplishment to have my baby now sleeping in his crib...in his own room...while Alex and I sleep in our bed in our OWN room!!! I feel a great amount of freedom...but I must say that I will cherish those sweet times of sleeping with my baby. (I still pull him into bed sometimes in the early morning or for naps. I don't want to give it all up yet!)

Thank you for everyone's support and ideas from the previously mentioned post. I will share our story for those who care...because I did a lot of online reading on the subject when I was trying to find a plan that would work for our family.

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We more or less followed the previous plan, with a little adjustment. We found that our crib was structurally sound with only three sides, so we pushed the crib up next to the bed in a co-sleeping style for most of the last 4 months. This meant that I could sleep right next to Edgar and nurse throughout the night with him in his own space (and get our bed back!).

This was a GREAT blessing to our sleep and family happiness. However, after many months of that, we were all ready to have our own room. I suspected that our snoring would wake Edgar and that my physical closeness deprived him of the chance to just roll over and go back to sleep.

So, we started by putting the fourth side back up on the crib, but we continued sleeping in our bed next to his crib for a few weeks. We started a routine that worked really well:

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"Okay Edgar. This is how tonight is going to go..."

(Pointing at Alex's side of the bed) "Daddy will go ni-night here"

(Pointing to my side of the bed) "Mommy will go ni-night here"

"And...." (Edgar would get excited and look at his crib) "Edgar will go ni-night in his crib! With is dog! (Edgar hugs his stuffed dog) And his blanket! (rub blanket on his face).

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This worked beautifully. He would go to sleep often without even crying. (A big deal for this attached kiddo). Of course...lots of nights he would cry for a while in his crib and daddy would end up on the air mattress in the other room...but after a few weeks the night time nursings were usually a good 2 hours apart (in the beginning it was 45 minutes to an hour apart...I started by nursing him if he had slept for at least an hour. After a few days he had to wait 2 hours).

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Anyway, Saturday I was quite sick and miserable. I was sure that my coughing and blowing my nose would wake Edgar, so I slept in the other room and responded to his nursing requests throughout the night. It worked so well that we moved the bed out the next day!

We continue the cute "where does everybody sleep?" routine (starting in mommy and daddy's room, and then moving to Edgar's room and kissing daddy good night). It works really well to let him know what is going on.

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It's been 4 nights and it is very promising. He often goes 3-4 hours without needing to nurse back down (a few whimpers here and there...sometimes 10 or 15 minutes of crying or tossing and turning) but then he rolls over and goes back to sleep. Also, his bedtime naturally adjusted to an earlier time--so Alex and I can actually spend some time together in the evening. (This does mean he doesn't sleep in until 10...so I actually have to get up early--but it's worth it!)

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So...that was pretty long. But, this whole sleeping thing has been a big deal for us. Edgar sleeps more than half of his day--so I feel a lot of responsibility to make sure that I am responding to his night-time needs in a way that shows him love and compassion... but in a way that also works for our family as a whole (Alex, me, and Edgar). I think that is the key--listening to what the baby needs, what the rest of the family needs, what your own body needs, and using trial and error to find a solution that fits those needs as best as you can. And then adjusting regularly to meet with the constant changes! And, as always, I find that parenting is universal--but very personal. Between husband, wife, and God you can find a solution to your parenting problem that fits your family.

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(I apologize if the formatting is weird. I couldn't get blogger to give me any decent paragraph breaks, so I tried to fake it out).

9 Months

This cute kiddo has now spent more time out of the womb than in (=
Edgar is getting to be very inquisitive and talkative. He wants to know the sound for the things he is interested in. Fun stuff Edgar says:

"bah" for ball (785 times a day), "dah" for dog, "ca" for cat

ma-ma, da-da

"na-na" for nursing, "numa-num" for food, smacks his lips together when he wants a drink

What does a dog say? "aaaawwoo" or he pants with an open mouth

What does a cat say? "eeeooow, eeeeooow"

What does a cow say? "mbooo, mbooo"

What does a monkey say? "oooo ooo ahh ahh"

telephone is "hah!" ("hi") with his hand to his ear

Should we check your diaper? *shakes head side to side*

"OW!" said right before he pulls mom or dad's hair or bites mom.

He is crawling super fast, standing whenever there is something to pull up on, and walking (nearly running) around any place he has something to hold on to.

He discovered the stairs, and proceeded to crawl all the way up (with daddy close behind) and knock on the door to the upstairs neighbor's.

Luckily the stairs are in a landing that can be closed off with doors. We are now very careful about closing the door behind us every time we move rooms (=

Food is always an adventure. At Skippers last week the nice old man brought Edgar some J-E-LL-O ("I hope I'm not interfering ma'am."). That's fine with me old man, you are the one cleaning the floors!

Edgar was super excited to realize he could take off his own bib. I was not quite as excited as he.


Peek-a-boo!

Our answer to being cooped up this winter: Weekend Adventures! In the last few weeks we have been to the Sea Lion Caves (Edgar thought they were dogs), The Columbia Gorge Interpretive Center (Edgar thought the yellow-bellied marmot was a dog), and some little towns near Eugene (Edgar thought Greta's My Pet Monster was a dog...I'm starting to think that any non-cat, non-cow animal must be a dog in his eyes).

Edgar and me at the museum in The Dalles. We were on a boat.

Edgar and Alex chillin' at the Builders and the Butchers concert.

For the most part, life is grand. There is a bit too much biting, and not quite enough sleeping--but all in all, we are very blessed.