— 1 —

We had a busy weekend, with Mr. SJ hosting his fantasy baseball draft on Saturday, and then all the extended family over for dinner on Sunday. I was not sure how the kids (well, G-man) would do with all of the commotion. Happily, he did GREAT. Saturday was a little bit hard for him because he so wanted to go down into the basement where the draft was occurring, but overall he did well with being told no. He very cutely had to go downstairs to say goodbye to one of the guys when it was time to go to bed however, and I did let him do that.

— 2 —

On Sunday one of the cousins brought his dog along with him to let her run around our backyard. I wasn’t there to see it, but apparently when the dog appeared in the backyard, G ran after her yelling in glee “I GOT A DOG!!!!”

— 3 —

G spent almost the entire day on Sunday playing in the backyard with whoever was out there. I saw him at one point pulling his second cousin (6 months older than him) around in his wagon. He loved all the company.

— 4 —

I was also really amused by him when we were eating lunch. He insisted that he needed to eat with “the guys.” All the older boy cousins (junior high/high school age) were out on the porch, and he demanded to go out there too. Fortunately all the guys are nice, and didn’t complain when a little guy joined them.

— 5 —

Baby girl was fairly happy being held by other people, especially one of the great uncles. It was very nice hosting in part because I could still put her down for her naps on her usual schedule. They ended up being really short naps, but still better than what she would have gotten if we’d gone to someone else’s house.

— 6 —

G has recently rediscovered the fun of putting on my shoes and trying to walk in them. He especially likes this one pair of red shoes that I got just before finding out I was pregnant with him. I think he’s worn them more than I have, because they were not especially pregnancy-friendly, or well suited for running after small children. I keep hoping that someday I’ll wear them, but at least he’s getting some fun out of them.

— 7 —

G has also been willing to play by himself in the backyard over the past few weeks. He’d vastly prefer me to be out there with him, but if the only option is to go by himself, he’ll take it. This is a relief to me because allergy season makes it so hard for me to spend any time outside at all. Thanks to the fenced yard, I can sit inside and watch him, and know that he’s not going to wander off.

Well, except for that day when the bungee cord that was securing the gate broke, and I spotted him driving his motorcycle on the driveway, but we’ve got that gate padlocked now, and the key is out of his reach.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

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— 1 —

Baby girl has finally started to eat some real food, instead of exclusively breastfeeding (from the source even. No bottles for this stubborn girl.) I know that all babies are different as far as when they’re ready for other foods, and at almost 8 months she wasn’t that late by any means. I wasn’t worried about her lack of interest in trying the food I was offering so much that I was aware of how much it was taking out of me to keep up enough milk production to feed my big girl.

My mom told me that I was almost a year before I was interested in anything other than nursing, and I also refused all bottles, so I couldn’t help but think it was just nothing more than my girl taking after me. Except for the fact that she was already 20 pounds at 6 months, and I didn’t hit 20 pounds until my 1st birthday, so I think she might be eating a lot more than I did.

(You’d never guess she has an older brother, would you?)

— 2 —

The nice weather here last week was such a help as far as keeping G happy. We went for walks, and he even went to the playground with a sitter one afternoon for almost two hours. Considering how much I hate going to the playground, that was also a major bonus for me. And of course all that activity wore him out, so it was an early bedtime too. Another bonus!

The babysitter also informed me that he was running around talking about “all the commotion” at the playground, and it was cracking her up that he was using the word “commotion.” His daddy likes to walk into the room where we’re playing/reading/whatever and ask “what’s all the commotion in here?” so I guess I know where he got that phrase. Bonus points to him for using it correctly I suppose.

— 3 —

The other day the kids were playing nicely together (a rare thing), and G kept calling the baby a “cutie boy.” Despite me telling him that no, she’s a girl, not a boy, so you can call her a cutie girl, he would have none of it and persisted with “cutie boy.”

— 4 —

I bought both kids some swimsuits in anticipation of our upcoming trip south. I can’t wait to see them in them because I think they are going to be beyond cute. I still want to get the baby some sunglasses but I’ve got G some. No idea if he’ll wear them or not though.

— 5 —

We’ve been trying to roundup some DVDs and other electronic entertainment to keep G content during the drive. If we’d made this trip a month ago we could have just taken two movies and he’d have happily watched them overandoverandover the entire time. Suddenly he’s a little picker though and I’m not sure what we’ll end up getting to try and keep him quiet. Because that’s really what it’s all about.

— 6 —

The baby isn’t so easy in that sense – she doesn’t watch tv or anything, and she gets tired of being strapped in her car seat after not that long, so I’m not entirely sure how this trip will be. We’re hoping to leave late afternoon and get a good chunk of driving done into the night so the kids should sleep for lots of it. Once again I guess it’s something that we’ll just have to see how it works out.

— 7 —

Hopefully this trip will at least not involve us getting stuck in an elevator again and having to climb out the ceiling. Because I don’t see that working quite as well with a 2.5 year old and an 8 month old as it did with only a 3 month old. And I’m trying to link to the post where I wrote about that adventure and I NEVER WROTE ABOUT IT!!! This will have to be rectified, although I guess I did give away the ending, didn’t I?

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

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— 1 —

One of the funniest parts of being sick this time was that the baby doesn’t like it when I coughed. She cried these awful sobs when I did, because when she tried to nurse and I coughed she couldn’t hold on and so she’d get angry. Then I guess she started associating my coughing with bad things because she would cry when I coughed even if she wasn’t trying to eat. So once again I felt somewhat like an awful mom, laughing at my crying child.

— 2 —

G-man is loving his trampoline, especially when someone new is around to watch him jump. And by “new” I really mean “other than mom.” He also likes to count while jumping, and then announce “good counting!” when he’s done.

His counting is good too, but he does always skip 14 and 15. And often 16 too. He also likes to count down from ten to zero, and then yell “BLASTOFF!” I’d love to get it on video, but he’s old enough to know what I’d doing with the camera and instead of continuing on with whatever I was trying to film, he runs over to “see pitchers!!”

— 3 —

The baby kicked off February by pulling herself up into a standing position. She’s been practicing that new move ever since and is getting really good at both the initial pull-up, and also just holding herself in a standing position. Once again it’s time to expand the baby-proofing to end tables and coffee tables, and other low surfaces.

— 4 —

I need to pack away G’s 2T shirts, but he keeps spotting them and wanting to wear them. One of these times I’ll manage to whisk them away after they’re washed and dried, but so far he’s been astonishingly good at finding them in the clean laundry. Although I’ll admit, a lot of it has to do with the fact that I don’t care enough to make a huge effort to get them into storage. So they’re 3/4 length sleeves – just means I don’t have to tug up long sleeves quite so much when he eats. And if his belly hangs out when he lifts his arms, it just gives easy access for tickles.

— 5 —

The baby’s sleeping routine took a huge step backwards when she got sick, but I am thrilled to report that she’s back sleeping for long stretches and has even moved into the crib in her room. No more pack & play in our room! She’s been getting up at 6 to eat, but then goes back to sleep easily until 8:30 or 9:00. I really hope I didn’t just jinx myself by writing that.

— 6 —

I had a babysitter watch G for two hours last Wednesday afternoon. TWO HOURS! It was wonderful. I used the time to pay bills and start on taxes. And yes, it was still wonderful, even using the time for something so mundane.

— 7 —

I am going to do everything I can to squeeze our budget to find the money to have her watch G & maybe H too for a couple of hours a week. Mama needs a sanity break. Thankfully highschoolers are fairly inexpensive.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary or Betty Beguiles for this week!

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— 1 —

I’ve had a very productive week. We bought some shelving units for the basement, and I’ve already got them filled so the basement storage area no longer looks like such a wreck. It still looks somewhat wreckish, because in order to not cram things onto the units so tightly that they’re impossible to use easily, I couldn’t fit everything we have. So all the baby and kid stuff is still loose. And there are still 3 boxes of household decor type items that are waiting to be unpacked. I’ve missed all my pictures!

(It no longer looks like this. Horray!)

— 2 —

We also had G-man’s 2 1/2 year-old well-child visit. That I’m just happy to have survived! He’s 36 1/2 pounds and 38 1/4 inches tall, so he is still really big.

— 3 —

Our kitchen table is, at long last, in our kitchen. If the house sale were to hit a snag at this point and not happen, we’ll take it back for staging purposes but right now I am absolutely THRILLED to have it. The patio table can go out on the screened porch, and so can the big clunky patio chairs that drove me CRAZY.

— 4 —

Next I am most thrilled about getting my desk and bookcases. And my nightstands. And sideboard. And dining room table, in that order.

— 5 —

While it will be nice from an attractive-standpoint, I don’t care so much about getting our headboard and the guest room headboards from a practical standpoint. They really don’t make much of a difference in our daily life. They are pretty though!

— 6 —

I ran out of sugar this week. SUGAR! How on earth is that possible? As much as I bake, that is an absolute tragedy and travesty. I felt lost when I realized I couldn’t bake anything because I only had about a quarter cup in the house, and that had to be hoarded for my sweetie’s tea.

— 7 —

It’s been snowy or rainy all week, and I really do not know how we’re going to survive the winter. I have got to get the boy some boots or other footwear that can handle the snow so that we don’t all go nuts when he can’t go outside.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

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