First Steps!

Our lady bird took her first steps tonight! We were at the Ray's house, upstairs in their playroom. She was standing a few feet away from me and I could tell that she wanted to come to me, so I said something like, "Come to Mommy, Ellen" and she took three steps! She did this a few more times and then again when we got home when Jeff was watching. The most she has taken is three so far, but I bet she gets the hang of it quickly.

Birthday Party

We were invited to Charles's house tonight to celebrate his Aunt Amanda's 30th birthday. When Lucas heard there would be cake at the party, he headed for the door. You would have never known that Mark and Wendy have a 3 month old baby... they were great hosts, as usual!

We rarely get family shots, so I was happy when Wendy suggested it...

Lucas was eating his cake when I sat next to him with my piece. He started to eat mine, so moved my plate a little. He said, "Mommy, you have to share with me." in a matter-of-fact tone. So of course I did... little fatty.

Charles was a little shy, but Wendy was as pretty as every : )

Science Museum

Since I've gone p/t and had the afternoons with Lucas, we've mostly gone pools, play dates and parks. I'd like to occasionally fill our afternoons with something educational, so yesterday we visited the Science Museum in Raleigh. It has bugs, lot's of nature exhibits, a live butterfly rain forest type room, it's in downtown Raleigh, and it's free. So we parked a few blocks away and walked through the city, which I thought was a bonus educational part of our trip, but I realized that he's a little young to appreciate it. When we first walked in, he was slightly impressed by the huge dinosaur skeletons. Next we moved into this room where the walls looked like an aquarium, but the sea creatures were not real... neither were the wild animals that were scattered all over the room. Lucas immediately asked why they weren't moving and then said he wanted to do something else, so we moved on. I pointed out a cute little deer and he said, "Does that deer move, Mommy?" When I told him that it didn't he let out a frustrated sigh, "ughhhh" and moved on. This went on for an hour. He was a little more impressed with the live bugs, but not too impressed that he couldn't touch them. Finally I got a rise out of him when we came up the escalator and he saw the cafe... "HEY! I didn't know that they had lunch here!"

We finally called it a day when I couldn't find anything better than the cafe to impress him. We'll try again when it's a little cooler (yes, I'm blaming his lack of interest in science on the heat).

The Lucas Tower

We've been lucky that our schedule has matched up with Lucas E. and Susie's schedule lately. The other day we met them at Roanoke and then Susie took them back to her house to play for a couple of hours. They are growing up so fast... pretty soon they'll be having sleepovers! Susie said they worked together well to build this tower. Thank you, Susie! I was able to straighten up the house and get a head start on dinner (not the coolest way to spend an extra 2 hours, but oh well).

Ellen and Her Boys

Ellen is lucky... I always wanted a big brother. Lucas and his friends adore her... especially little Lincoln. From the look on her face, she seems to just be tolerating them : )

Already?

Scene: Lucas standing at his train table playing with his trains. Ellen crawls up and tries to get in on the action.

Lucas: "No Ahllen, this is my work."

Ellen: continues to poke around at his stuff

Lucas: "No!" as he gently pushes her away and she falls back on her bottom.

Ellen: A look as if she is going to cry, that quickly changes to determination as she reaches out her entire hand, grabs a fist full of the skin on his leg, and pinches him with what seemed like intent to harm!

Lucas: "owwwww!"

I didn't think a 3 year old and a 10 month old could have a fight, but I guess I was wrong...

Hello Parks...

We're starting to visit the parks again in the afternoons. I'm over the pool and all of the packing that is required. Plus, Ellen is much easier at the park and she probably likes it more because she has more freedom. The park near our house is shaded, which is nice in this 90+ degree weather. In this first picture you can see that Lucas made some friends with some random boys and Miss Ellen was entertaining herself with a shovel and bucket...

Lucas had fun with this little kid... his name was Cole.

And the Lady played in the sand for almost 2 hours!

Where did these silly kids come from?

Our kids are pretty silly. I hope they stay this way. Ellen's new move is to stand up and then throw her hands in the air as she squeals at us and bounces. I'll miss this age - she's so darn adorable.

And then there are these two turkeys. I asked them to touch their ears so that I could get a picture... this is what they thought I meant:

This is what I actually meant...

Her favorite thing to do these days...

The lady loves to climb the stairs! We've recently put a gate at the bottom and if she crawls over there and find that the gate is up she plops back on her bottom and throws a mini Ellen tantrum. If we do let her climb them she climbs them very fast, plopping each hand down very loudly and then pulling her legs up quickly behind her.

Nicknames

Ellen - Lady Bird, Lady, Bird, Bird Face, EC, E to the C, Baby Doll (Jeff), Skinny

Lucas - LB, The Kid, Lucas Bryant, L to the B

Jeff - Sweetie, JB, Jeffrey B, Sir P

Shanna - Sweetie, Shannanana, Madam P

Tyson - TT, Punkin

Cars - The Ta, The 2 Tone

The Lady Bird with Mommy and Daddy

Swimming Lucas

When we were in Florida in July, Lucas started swimming. One of the positives to his intense little personality is that he isn't afraid. He had been swimming with his life vest on for 2 months prior, but had been keeping an eye on the bigger kids that were not wearing one. He got to the point where he'd jump into the water with his vest on and then stick his face in the water because that he what he saw the other kids doing (swimming with heads in water). My parent's pool had a shallow end where his feet could touch the ground, so he took off his vest and started experimenting (mostly on his own will). After a few tries he realized that if he lifted his feet off the floor that he could move his arms and cover some distance... and he was swimming. Now he likes to jump into the deep water (only 4ft) and swim to the wall or ladder.

Here is the turkey jumping in (usually doesn't wear goggles).

And here he is swimming to me...

With his head under the water...

Oh, and what pool day would be complete without an ice cream treat?

Oops, here we are catching the unheatlhy eating on film again! This time Charles and Christopher were also guilty.

But their mommies were close by, so they aren't to blame. Notice Ellen trying to make friends with Caroline. After these pictures there was a piece of pizza that Ellen had been chewing on near Caroline's mouth. Ellen was trying to make friends by sharing her pizza : )

Later this afternoon when our other friends had already gone home, Lucas and Lucas made up a game where they'd put a towel over their heads and have us jerk it off. They were laughing so hard. Such silly boys. Lucas has so much fun with his friends!

Lucas B. and Lucas E.

Our summer days afternoons at the pool have been so much fun, but they haven't gotten harder as Ellen has gotten more mobile. In May when the pools opened, I would wear her on my chest in the water and she'd often take a long nap. Now she is on the go. She likes the water, but doesn't love the baby float for long, so I have to hold her as she squirms to get down. I sometimes let her crawl around on the pavement, but it is often hot or she tries to put everything into her mouth. So this is my view a lot of the time... Lucas full speed ahead and Ellen wanting to be right there with him!

Have you ever seen a cuter little white, skinny girl?

Daddy was even able to join us this day (which Lucas loved).

And here is the lady bird in her float...

Ellen

Smile that you can't get enough of...

A girl that LOVES the playground now...

Even when she is horizontal...

And a girl that likes to stand swing, like her brother, with her long, white legs!

Who needs a housecleaner...

... when you have a Lucas Bryant that loves to help.

One of our first serious conversations...

Lucas's last day at his first school, Stone Montessori, is 8/31. And then he starts a nearby church pre-school on 9/9. He doesn't know it yet and I've been wondering how to tell him. I want to make sure there is closure with his current teachers and friends (although we hope to see them often for play dates). He meets his new teacher, Mrs. Rosemary, next Tuesday and I wanted to make sure that we told him before this (obviously). Yesterday at Max and Ben's house I saw an opportunity...

We were getting ready to go the pool and Max's new kindergarten teacher called to meet him. Lucas witnessed this and seemed interested. Now fast forward to an hour later at the pool...

Shanna: "Max, are you going to start a new school soon?"
Max: "yeah!"
Lucas: "My school has Ms. Xenia, Mr. Len and Nicholai!"
Shanna: "Lucas, you're right that Ms. Xenia, Mr. Len and Nicholai are at your school now. But just like Max, you are going to start a new school soon too. There will be new friends there, a new playground and a new teacher."
Lucas: no response, just thinking
Shanna: "Your new teacher will be named Ms. Rosemary." Pause. "How does this make you feel?"
Lucas: "Ummm, happy!... Max, watch me go under the water!"

So I don't think he gets it, but at least it may all come together next week. I had basically the same conversation with him last night during his bath. When I told him that he wouldn't see Ms. Xenia, Mr. Len and Nicholai every day, but that he could still visit them he said, "Why can't I see them every day?" I told him that mommy is able to pick him up after lunch now and that we have to go to a school where all of the children's mommies' pick them up after lunch.

I'm going to make him a photo album of his teachers and friends and give it to him next week. Any other suggestions for transitions like these?

After an afternoon at the pool...

Afternoon at LB's House

Lucas loved having is friends Charles and Lucas E. over to play in the sprinklers...

Lucas E.

Lucas B. and Charles

Lucas, Lucas and Charles

Lucas, Charles, Wendy, Baby Caroline, Susie, Me and Ellen

Co-Sleeping with a Twist

So here we go. Yet another post about sleep on this blog. Yawn. To recap, Ellen slept for 12 hours straight, in her crib, at a very young age. It went downhill from there. The months of June and July are blurry (and the posts on this blog are lighter) because she made it a habit of waking up three times a night, on a good night. That was bad, but what was worse was that I would get into her crib with her (yes, in her crib) to nurse her back to sleep and fall asleep myself. I'd wake up with a stiff neck and go back to my bed. Then we'd do that again at least two more times. So she was waking up three times a night, but I was waking up six! And sleeping in odd positions. My back was hurting so bad that I couldn't exercise and things were coming unwound quickly. A couple of weeks ago, however, we found the fix! We now have a queen mattress on her floor and she and I both sleep there each night. At first I just went to sleep there for the night, but now I nurse her to sleep at 8pmish, go to sleep in my bed, and then go into her room when she wakes up around midnight. She probably wakes up the same amount, but neither of us really wake up. She just nurses for a minute and we both drift off to sleep again... cuddled together : )

I can tell that Ellen likes the new setup as much as I do. Now when she gets tired she crawls into her room, onto her bed, grabs her bunny and binky and smiles at me. The Montessori folks actually do the mattress thing from day one. I can see why now - I love it. If I had another kid I'd not even fool with the crib.

As for me, after a few good nights of sleep I am feeling like myself again. My back pain was gone almost instantly. It's amazing how healing sleep is for us.

When she isn't smiling...

Our lady smiles a lot, but when she isn't smiling she has a certain look. Jeff calls it The Standard Bird look. Her lips are a little pouty and slightly turned down into a frown. This is when I'm sure that she has an old soul.

Speaking of pouty lips... Lucas has perfected them.

Things the kid is saying...

Lucas seriously makes us laugh several times a day with the cute, funny, sweet, serious and smart things that he says. And when we're not laughing we are looking at each other with looks that say, "Did you hear what he just said?!" This age is so much fun because we are getting to hear all about what Lucas thinks about the world. Here is a taste...

"Shera mit keek" - what he said one day when I asked him the name of one of the characters in his made up game. He makes up a lot of words lately and then dies laughing at how funny he thinks he is.

"Trees on my head." - similar to the line above, he is really into being silly. I was playing with him and told him that I like to wear a silly hat on my head and he responded by saying that he likes to wear trees on his head... and then the t.v., flowers, ellen, etc... naming all of the things that he could see. After each one liner he would open his mouth wide, let out a laugh and throw his head back to make his laugh look even bigger. I would do the same thing. Now we do it every day and he loves it.

"I not growed up. I still small, see?" - This one kind of breaks your heart a little bit every time he says it. We remind him that he's a big boy sometimes and last week he responded with this comment as he put his hand up to his head to show us how small he still is.

"We saw the microphone. M-m-microphone." - He probably didn't say it this clearly, but this is what I heard coming from the back seat after school a couple of weeks ago. He and Ellen were back there and I'd just picked him up from school. I responded by asking him if that is what he worked on at school that day. He firmly replied, "Mommy, I talking to Ahllen!" Ha! Since then that has happened a few more times. They are already forming their own little relationship and telling us to mind our own business! Ellen loves it, of course. We hear giggles coming from her all the time as he talks to her (and throws stuffed animals at her).

"I want to watch the TVD." - he calls the tv this even if it is on the normal channel. I remember that Kristen told me that she was sad when Sophie stopped calling the cream cheese the cheese butter. I didn't correct him when he said this because I like it that there is still a little baby left in him that gets words wrong.

"I'm not in timeout, I'm just sitting here." - little stinker always has to get the last word. He has never sat in timeout for us, but recently did it. We were on the porch and he was playing with the water hose. I don't even remember what he did, but I told him that he needed to sit on the rocking chair for a few minutes to calm down and think about it. He wouldn't have done it, but I had leverage because I turned off the hose and took off the nozzle so that he couldn't turn it back on. So after a few minutes he pranced over and sat in the rocking chair. I tried to act casual and not show how I surprised I was that he actually did it. And then I hear, "I not in timeout Mommy... I just sitting here." Oh well, we made a little progress!

Busy, but having fun....

I remember when I used to blog each and every day. Now I am going several days with no updates on the kiddos. I think about the blog a lot and form cute stories in my head, but then when the kids go to bed at night I choose to spend a few minutes alone with Jeff or collapse into bed. So I've decided that the cute stories with pictures will have to wait for now. I'm going to try and blog more often. I can't promise that I'll use complete sentences!

So I've been spending the afternoons with the kids for about 6wks now. It may have been the best decision that Jeff and I have ever made! I absolutely love it and can tell that Lucas loves it too. I think that our bond has grown stronger and I feel a better connection to him. The connection is important as it seems that 3yrs old is a frustrating age for children as they want to me more independent, but can't always express their needs clearly.

I feel busier than ever. My day starts when I log into my computer at 7am and work until noon. At noon I shut down the computer and leave to pick up LB from his Montessori school. I forgot to allow time for breakfast and lunch - oops! So I eat on the run. I take Ellen with me to get Lucas and we usually go on an outing from there. Outings include pool, park, friend's house, monkey Joe's jumping place, library, toy store, target, or grocery store. When we get home around 3pm Lucas has a snack and we rest for a little while on the couch while watching Curious George, Sesame Street or Noggin. We then play upstairs or outside in the sprinkler until Jeff gets off work at 5 or 5:30. From there we play some more, work on dinner, eat dinner, bath, play and bedtime. It's a busy and exhausting day!

The focus of entertainment is on Lucas, but Ellen tags along and is learning and growing so quickly. She wants to keep up with him and is constantly trying to get into his business. Her laid back personality is changing a bit as she gets older. She is always on the go, exploring and getting into things. She has a little temper now and gets MAD if you take something away from her or change her direction (like when she goes up the stairs).

Jeff and I think it's important to exercise and eat well for our sake and for the sake of teaching the kids. We have a workout schedule that allows us to both workout several times a week. It changes as opportunities change, but for now this is what is working for us: Shanna - Tues morning 6am swim, Wed night weights, Thurs morning 6am spin, Friday 30 min run, and Sat or Sun short run. Jeff - Monday lunch, Tues night group bike ride, Thurs swim class, Sat morning group run. We are constantly comparing schedules and who gets to do what when. We try to sit down and eat as a family each night, but sometimes if our workouts interfere then Lucas and Ellen eat sooner and we eat later. I feel strong and confident when I work out. I feel opposite of that when I don't!

Tyson needs more attention. Poor guy.

We have an awesome nanny. Her name is Karen and she is like an extension to our family. She is here every morning and is super helpful when Ellen is sleeping. She is awesome, awesome, awesome and makes my life easier.

Montessori School Friends

Lucas will be leaving his Montessori school at the end of this month and enrolling in a p/t church preschool program with other children from our neighborhood. We make this change with mixed emotions that I'll document later. He's made some great friends at this school that we will hopefully continue to get together with for years to come. Here is one of his buddies, Parker, at Pullen Park last week...

Daredevil 1

Lucas amazes us that he seems to not be afraid of trying anything. We don't know where he gets it. I was the kid that hid behind my parent's leg until I was 5yrs old, and I don't think Jeff was as fearless as Lucas is either. I love it though. He really does live life to the fullest. I hope that never changes. Anyway, these thoughts were prompted by his first slip-n-slide experience the other day. It took him about 2 min to figure out how to get the most speed out of his slide. And yes, now we have one at our house and he slides daily...

This may look like he fell, but it was an intentional "stunt"... such a spaz.

Daredevil 2

Ellen showed her brother up the other day by riding the boats at Pullen Park as a 9 month old with no fear (it took Lucas three years to get up the courage to ride the boats.) The sign says that children have to be 13 months old to ride, but Ellen is a daredevil and told the attendant that rules are for sissies. She stood up for the entire ride as she held onto the steering wheel and bounced up and down... grinning the whole way!