Happy 60th Birthday! Bill planed a fantastic birthday weekend for Kathy. We participated in Friday morning cake (flourless and made by Natalie the best 2-yr-old baker in the Midwest).
And an adults-only dinner in Saturday.
We are thankful for a happy and healthy Nana! May this be your best year yet! Filled with lots of hugs and kisses from the 3 and under crowd.
Ok. I am up on all fours. What’s next?
Hey. Wanna come with me???
On a different note, Poor E-man has a fever, cold and ear infection. This is really the first time illness has dampered his spirits. Let’s hope for a speedy recovery. Filled with lots of sleep for little E and me!
Meanwhile, his older sis is a potty champ!! No pee accidents since Day 1 – last Saturday!
See my Minnie tatto? One of many fun trinkets of the past week!
One of my first and dearest friends from
College, Daniele, and her husband Nick spent the afternoon with us on their way between South Bend and O’Hare.
Lets go to the grocery store!
I knew Daniele and Natalie would be fast friends. Daniele got more hugs in a couple hours than I have had all weekend – maybe week.
Pumpkin muffin baking party
After baking, we had a dance party to La La Bamba (who knew Red headed Nick was half Latino???), Bob Marley and Lion King.
Come again soon!!!
Happy Halloween! Chicago’s Halloween was a wet one this year. Growing up, I remember occasional snow in WI, and I have to admit – I think I prefer snow to rain. Nonetheless, Dora the Explorer had a fabulous time! Her sidekick, Boots the Monkey, was less enthralled with Halloween – at 6pm, I was literally running home, pushing the double stroller, as he was a little wet, somewhat hungry and very tired. He was in a good mood before we left though!
Dora’s purple backpack is one of her most distinguishing features….
And, for those who aren’t sure who Dora and Boots are, here’s the “real” dynamic duo….
Natalie chose Dora – first, she wanted to be a blue (her favorite color) Dora. She clearly doesn’t quite have the haircut to go with Dora, but she won’t even wear barrettes in her hair, so I wasn’t going to spend money on a wig! Natalie and Elliott adore each other, as do Dora and Boots, so it was a prefect match. Plus, we were hoping that having Boots the Monkey close by would help people recognize Natalie as Dora. Yet, when I sent out Happy Halloween texts tonight, Elliott was mistaken for a hippo by Aunt Leah! Natalie promptly FaceTime’d her to correct her – and scare her with a scary growl.
The prior weekend, E-man was also a giraffe at a church Halloween party (Thanks Trevor!) Some giraffes munch on leaves…. Elliott preferred to devour his book. (I think tooth #3 is coming in.)
We were super proud of Natalie. I told her in advance that she could have two treats today – she ate them nearly immediately and didn’t ask for any more. In fact, after each treat she got, she said, “I promise I won’t eat it. I’ll safe it for tomorrow.” (Tomorrow just means ‘later’ in her book – not today, maybe legitimately tomorrow, but often next week.) She always said “trick or treat” and “thank you”. She didn’t whine about being wet and was “brave” even though it was really crowded.
We also stopped by Nana’s and Pop’s house – they are in a hot spot for trick-or-treating (we actually went to that street last year, before they even considered moving there). The pictures with Nana, Clayton and Jira are on a different camera, so sorry not to include them here. We’re looking forward to when Jira and Elliott can toddle along with Natalie next year…. and hoping to maybe do Halloween in Green Bay in 2 years, since it will be on a Saturday and that was one of our fav holidays growing up. We’d love to join Trevor and his little brother/sister (due date next April, I believe!)
Erin made a post last week after visiting South Bend for the ND vs. USC game, staying with our good friends the Kennedys, and seeing other great friends like the Busers and Martins.
But I wanted to add a few more awesome pics! We said we wouldn’t indoctrinate our kids with Notre Dame stuff from a young age….yet, here my 2 year old is as “Touchdown Natbug” in front of the dome. Oh well.
When reading Fancy Nancy Halloween or Bust, fancy nancy said she excels at dressing up. I explained that excel means something you are really good at. Convo:
Me: What are you really good at?
Natalie: I dunno
Me: What is Dad really good at?
Natalie: I dunno
Me: What am I really good at?
Natalie: Brushing teeth!
Me: Yes. Thank you. I am really good at brushing my teeth. I excel at brushing my teeth. What are you really good at?
Natalie: Cleaning up my toys!!!
Me: (Pause, tempted to say ‘I beg to differ’ while internally thinking of examples from 20 min prior when that was not the case) ok. Natalie is really good at cleaning up her toys. Natalie excels at cleaning up her toys.
Aw, who can disagree with that adorable face? In all honesty, although she still bats 50% when it comes to toy clean up, Natalie often impresses me with how well she listens, models our behavior back [ the way she tells me ‘thank you for asking so politely mommy’], and helps her brother. Getting so grown up!
Natalie lined up her family of bath toys this morning. In order… Daddy Duck, Big Sister Duck, Little Brother Duck and Mommy the Whale. Good improvising, given that we don’t have 4 ducks. Sometimes, I feel like the Mommy Whale – no not, for weight, but for the fact that everyone always tells me my kiddos look like their Dad. Shouldn’t I get a little more credit/resemblance after carrying them for 9+ months?!?
Also, last night, Natalie and I drew our family (and her prior music teacher Suzanna – perhaps b/c she likes the song). She did the faces and chose the people. The blue scribbles started out as Grandma’s long arms… given the family a lot of hugs. I just love how toddlers think!
Elliott turned 7 months on Sat, Oct. 19. We celebrated by tailgating at the ND-USC game!
I am 7 mo. And very wiggly.
Karen – our dear friend from college – and her family were kind enough to host us. They moved to SB about 2 years ago. Natalie and Elliott LOVED playing at their house. Delia and Claire took very good care of Elliott… and Natalie loved joining in with the girls, but also loved Cormac showing her things.
When can I come back to Camp Kennedy?
(Note: Natalie wasn’t in this picture because she literally threw a temper tantrum about us leaving… she asked to stay behind, while the rest of us went back to Chicago because she so desperately didn’t want to leave.)
Girl time!
Weight/Height: No update here, but close to 22 lbs. We used to call Natalie “chunk light” sometimes – Elliott is “chunk heavy”. I am sore in all sorts of weird places after holding him a lot while tailgating and trying to keep up with his wiggles. He likes to lean to the side to be silly. He is solidly in 12 mo clothing.
Developmental Milestones: This boy is on the move! His sitting isn’t always 100% reliable (some tumbles), but his army crawl is in action. He loves to scoot to get anything and everything he’s not really supposed to – favorites seem to be his sister’s shoe collection and her dollhouse. His 2nd tooth broke through on his “birthday”.
See my two teeth!
Personality: Still as easy-going and happy as ever!
Hey, have you met my friend Hailey? Here, Hailey - feel free to chew on my squishy crab, Sophie the giraffe, or my sister's dolls
Foods: Elliott is getting to be a better and better eater – enhanced by his increasing fine motor skills. Although we’ll spoon feed him cereal and Gerber foods, he can pick up O’s, small bites of soft fruit and peas with his meaty little hands. He has seemed to like everything so far: oatmeal cereal, wheat cereal, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, garden veggies, bananas, applesauce, pears, O’s, strawberries, cantaloupe.
Schedule: He is usually up between 6:45 and 7:30am and sleeping by 6:30pm. He sleeps 3 times a day, spaced 2-3 hours apart. Sometimes, if the first 2 naps are longer, he only has 2 naps. I haven’t exactly figured out when and how much he should be eating, so he tends to eat after he wakes up and at dinner time with us.
(Seriously, how cute is this pic????)
Favorite Activities: Chewing on everything and anything. Bath time, especially when it involves chewing on a dolphin and splashing. Crawling. Getting into his sister’s things. Peak-a-boo (loves, loves, loves that – and often initiates it). Singing and dancing. Swinging at the park. The one thing he isn’t very into is “walking” with assistance – which Natalie LOVED at his age.
Let the hand-me-downs begin... you may recognize this hat and jacket (inside out) from Natalie in 2011... and these shoes were Trevor's in 2011 too!
Unique Traits: Hmm.. I cannot think of much to write about here. He has a little freckle on his bum. No bigger marks (like how Natalie still has her strawberry mark on her wrist).
PLAY DATE!!!!!!!!
Today also marks my Mom’s 34 months (2 years, 10 months – conveniently, just 5 days shy of Nat’s age) of no smoking!!! We are so proud of her and thankful for her commitment to this and love for her grandkids!
It’s spirit week at Nat’s preschool. Today was Crazy day. Its hard to see her full outfit but she wore the shirt that we made with the markers from the baby shower. And then, she wouldn’t wear a jacket to school (even though it was in the 50s), but I convinced her to wear her WI sweatshirt. So, she actually looks a little coordinated there. Her “twirly skirt from Grandma” has so many colors in it, almost everything kinda matched. Thursday is a day where she matches with a friend – luckily, she got her fav color – BLUE!
Jordan was in CA this past weekend, celebrating the wedding of a good friend from college. With working full-time and Elliott still nursing 5+ times a day, I opted out of the trip. And, Grandma and Grandpa came down to help out.
Natalie awoke Fri morning, calling “Grandma”. She seemed to know that Grandma was coming after Dad left and that Dad would be gone, but exactly what tomorrow vs. Saturday vs. another day means… we’re still working on it. We then called Grandma to tell her we couldn’t way to see her. Natalie asked Grandma to say “hi” to every one of her “friends” who sleep in her bed. She would hold up the phone and would expect Grandma to know which friend she was referring to. (We’re also still working on the concept that Grandma doesn’t have a smart phone.) Grandma only seems to be a morning person when it has anything to do with Natalie, Trevor or Elliott, so she cheerfully greeted Natalie’s friends for about 4 min at 7a.m.
Elliott has had the sniffles, so his morning naps were long. The only thing we really had time for outside of the house on Saturday was a picnic in the park.
Mom, why is Elliott wearing my pink Elmo bib??
Natalie loves playing hide and seek in the park. Elliott had a grand time too. (Note: this morning, I awoke to Elliott pulling his leopard onesie over his face as a greeting to me and shrieking with joy as I pulled it off.)
Whoa! How’d you find us?
On Sun, we ventured out to the zoo – one of Grandma’s favorites. Natalie has been resisting picture taking lately, but my trick to have Grandpa take a pic of just Grandma, Elliott and me brought her in for a fast cuddle. Granted, its not a smiling picture, but I’ll take a cuddle!
Hey Grandpa, you should get in on this picture with all of our favorite girls!
Mom, enough picture taking – I need you to hold onto me. This zebra is high!
I got more QT with Elliott than I have had since my maternity leave… which means that Natalie was constantly busy with Grandma. At one point, she asked me to give her and Grandma “a little privacy please”. Ouch. Jordan sometimes gets this, but I don’t. Miss Independent (or perhaps, Miss Dependent-on-Grandma). At one point, Grandma went over to look at Elliott and Natalie asked where she went. Grandma explained that she was coming back and Natalie said… “you were looking at Elliott!” As if she caught her doing something she shouldn’t have.
Quick – take our pic before my sister sees! P.S. Go Pack!
We are so blessed to have my parents close and more than happy to help out at any time. Unfortunately, they were rear-ended on the way down here (luckily, everyone is okay – if not the bumper and it was 2 miles from our house, which means they couldn’t turn around). Although my Dad would probably bypass the City of Chicago for the rest of his life, we have 2 cuties that keep them coming back!
