I Need Hug

Davey is continuing to develop ways to try to get out of trouble. When he has done something that earns him a time out, he now will come over to the disciplinarian to rub their arm while saying "I need hug!" I think he has a position in a future administration of the Chicago mayor to be the front man who softens people up.

Pretty in Pink

That laugh--nothing makes me happier.

My Funny Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day from my funny little Valentine. She is delightfully entertaining these days with coos and smiles and outright laughing. She is just starting to get the idea of peek-a-boo, although I think this game will become more fun for her in the coming months. She is also about a hundred times happier about and more interested in tummy time than Davey was, but that is not hard because he detested it.

Julia's Updates for Months One, Two and Three

Well, I am feeling a tiny bit guilty about not having done Julia's one and two month updates, so I am rolling them into one giant one, two and three month update. There are going to be many great things about being the third born child in our family (mom and dad will be more relaxed about parenting, two big brothers to play with), but having the same minute-by-minute coverage of her babyhood is probably not one of them. But there are plusses and minuses to everything, I suppose. So here goes.

One Month Update

The biggest piece of news from Julia's first month was getting her Ear Well devices installed and going through that process. I have written quite a bit about that already in other posts and so won't go into it again here. We got out baby pictures for AJ and David and think it is remarkable how much Julia looks like AJ when he was a month old. They have the same widow's peak and same eye shape. When Julia was born, the labor and delivery nurse thought she looked just like David, so it will be interesting to see as time goes on who she resembles more. Julia eats and sleeps like a champ and Joe and I keep waiting for her to get fussy or the other shoe to fall, but so far, she is the easiest baby either one of us has ever known. She also smiled for the first time just shy of one month when she broke into big grins looking at Grandma Julie on Thanskgiving Day and smiled consistently after that as well (unlike AJ who smiled at me three times on day and then didn't smile again for two weeks, making me think I had imagined it the first time.)

Two Month Update

Julia is a smiley girl this month and still sleeps like a champ. This was a big month for her with Christmas hosted at our house and lots of family in town to snuggle with and marvel at what a contented baby she is. Julia had her first visit with her cousin Violet, and Auntie Nicki and I are hoping that Julia, Violet and Nicki's little girl who is due in April will be a tight posse of girl cousins one day. They are already off to a good start on sharing hand-me-downs. And I couldn't resist the urge to buy matching Christmas dresses for them this year. They wore them to their first ever three-generation tea (more on that in a later post).

Three Month Update

In her third month, Julia was cooing up a storm. She loves "talking" to people and watching their faces. I read somewhere that girl babies spend more time studying faces and researchers think this is because they were previously more dependent on the group and getting along with other people for survival. This may have biased me, but I do think she is much more attentive to watching people's faces than the boys were. She is content to sit and "talk" to me for twenty minutes at a time.

Julia also has developed an interest in the toys on her bouncy seat, watching her mobile from her crib and watching the ceiling fan make its rounds. She does not like having her back washed or rinsed under running water. She also is not a fan of cold milk and when she takes a bottle, it must be heated to just the right temperature.

Here are pictures of Julia at one, two and three months, as well as links to three month updates on AJ and David for comparison.

Groundhog's Day and Art Projects

Happy Groundhog's Day from a groundhog who has seen better days. This one-eyed wonder is a preschool art project that Davey made. In case you are wondering what, exactly, it is, this is a groundhog peeking out of the ground in honor of February 2.
This is a good excuse for me to do a blog on preschool art projects, which bring me great joy. My problem from a home organization perspective is that I want to keep all of them. (Okay, nearly all of them...sometimes they bring home a piece of construction paper with a few hasty swipes of crayon on it and I have no problem sliding those into the recycling bin when no one is looking.) I am in awe of preschool teachers who seen to have an unending supply of creative ideas that can be done on a dime.

Here is a partial list of some of the best I have seen come out of the backpacks from the past year:
-A fishing pole made out of a paper towel roll, some yarn and a construction paper fish
-A kaleidoscope made out of a toilet paper roll with cellophane paper over the ends and grains of rice in the middle
-An aquarium made out of a old plastic water bottle filled with blue tinted water, some plastic sea horses and fish and lots of glitter
-A gingerbread house made out of an orange juice carton covered in graham crackers and candy
-A Valentine's lollipop made out of a ruler and a poster board sucker top
-A turkey made from a handprint (or let's be honest--anything made from a child's handprint)
-And my favorite of the year, an advent calendar in the shape of an angel with a construction paper body and wings made from coffee filters (this one I actually had Joe laminate so we can use it over and over each year)

I also love that I can catch up on what they have been doing during the day and use it as an in to hear more about preschool. A typical conversation goes like this:

Me: What did you do in school today?
AJ: Nothing
Me: That must have been boring if you did nothing. Are you sure you didn't do even one thing?
AJ: I remember what I did, but I am not going to tell you!
Me: Hmmm, let's see what's in your backpack. Oh, what is this??? An aquarium? Who made this beautiful aquarium?
AJ: I did!!!!
Me: And what's in it?
AJ: Fish and sea horses and some plants at the bottom for them to hide in. Mama, some fish eat plants and some fish eat smaller fish...

From there he is on a roll and goes on and on. These art projects represent the emergence of the boys' creativity and beginning fine motor skills like cutting, coloring and pasting. But they also represent nostalgia for me of fun times when your only care in the world is when it will be your turn to use the glue stick. Please pass the crayons.