15 Month Check-Up

The bird went in for her 15 month nurse visit yesterday. It wasn't a wellness visit, just a quick visit to give her a couple of vaccines. We did a weight check. She had all of her clothes on, even her shoes, so it wasn't completely accurate. The scale teetered between the high 19s and low 20s, but Janet said she'd guess about 19 1/2 lbs if she were still with no clothes. Which means the lady is BARELY on the chart. I was surprised because she seems so big to me lately, but she is only wearing 12 month clothes, which means she's probably the size of an 11-12 month old.

We love our teeny lady bird!

Punished

LB pushed the limits the other night by ignoring me when I told him not to pull a comforter around the house because it was dangerous AND he went upstairs and disturbed Ellen's bedtime routine after I asked him not to. His punishment is a week of no t.v. This may sound harsh, but he was displaying the "Mr. Hyde" side of his personality that night and took it too far. Anyway, I love this punishment. I kind of dread it too because I know there will be ZERO breaks for me this week, but I also love it because Lucas is pretty cool to hang out with and it gives us even more time together. It's getting to him though because the kid LOVES him some t.v. Here is a conversation we've had daily this week.

Lucas: "Mommy, when I say I want to watch t.v. I don't want you to say "no". Okay?

Me: "Well, you aren't allowed to watch t.v. this week because it's your punishment for not listening to me."

Lucas: "Mommy, tomorrow when I say I want to watch Wow, Wow, Wubzy, I want you to say "YES!" Okay? I just want to watch ONE show."

The Autrys in January

Carol and the kids visited us in late January. I realized when I was uploading the pics that they also visited the same date last year!

Who Knew?

That you could make playdough at home? Lucas had to make it for his preschool class to enjoy in January. We chose the recipe that includes Kool-Aid. It smelled good and the colors were lovely.

Just like her big brother...

Ellen surprised me the this week by climbing up in the chair next to Lucas to tell me that she wanted some Cheerios too. Every day I'm thinking to myself what a little kid she is becoming. It seems she is growing up faster because she's following Lucas's lead...

Trend Setter

The rest of the visit...

While Bryan, Ang and Wesley were here we stayed outside as much as we could so that we could enjoy the 70 degree warm front. It made me happy when the evening of the first night Wesley said that he wanted to do tomorrow EXACTLY what we had done that day : )

There was something about Bryan that Ellen was all about. She adored him and went to him just about every chance she got. She even reached for him after she had hit her head and was upset... she never wants to leave my arms, but she wanted Bryan to comfort her instead of me... amazing.

Wesley and Lucas

Wesley is here! Bryan and Angela drove up for the long weekend and we've enjoyed their company so much. I'll recap the wknd tomorrow, but for now here are some cute pics of the two cuz'es.

Dinner at Finn's

We were invited next door for dinner a few nights ago. It was really nice to just have to walk across the driveway and not load the kids up in the car. We said we were crazy not to do that more often... it was a nice way to spend a Sunday evening.

Silly Kids

Shall I dare say it? "It is getting easier." I'm sure tomorrow I'll report back that both kids were up all night and threw tantrums all day. But it IS getting easier. Ellen doesn't need as much physical care, so we can enjoy playing and being silly more and more these days. Both of them have such silly personalities. Actually, Ellen is a nut, but I'd say Lucas's dominant personality trait is still "serious." But when we are acting silly he's the craziest of all with his funny faces, funny voices, karate moves, and imaginary scenes. I think Ellen knows she's cute and hams it up whenever she can. Nobody is a stranger to her and if her smiles were money we'd be rich by now. Her thing this week is to bring us hats or glasses and ask for us to put them on her so that she can run and show another family member what she's wearing.

Should I be worried?

Scene: Driving home from preschool today.

Me: "Lucas, we're going to Whole Foods after lunch and you can have a cupcake (small bite sized one) as a treat."

Lucas: "I don't want a cupcake."

Me: "Why not, sweetie?

Lucas: "It has too much sugar... I just want to go home and clean the house."


HAHA - what a stinker.

So, let me explain. Wednesday is our house cleaning day and Lucas enjoys helping, as I've blogged about before. As for the sugar, he had a little bit of whipped cream on some waffles for breakfast about a month ago, and just so happened to get a little virus and throw up at school that day. He associated the throwing up with the whipped cream, so now he really believes me when I tell him that desserts have too much sugar.

Vasoline Heads

I left them alone for 2 minutes...

Typical

I love Lucas and Ellen together. They adore each other and I think they are so lucky to have each other. I always wanted a big brother and Jeff always wanted a little sister : ) So I say they adore each other... Lucas will show this by giving Ellen a toy he thinks she may want or helping her if she's about to fall. Ellen shows it with her adoring smile... he is still her hero. She wants to do what he is doing, even if it bugs him. In this sequence of events Ellen was bugging him during his quiet tv time. He ignored her for a few minutes, but then begin to retaliate. Tyson is used to it.

Bedtime Routines

Jeff is putting Ellen to bed now! Lucas still won't allow anyone but me to tuck him in, so we are thrilled. Ellen is such a quick learner. Jeff had put her to bed for the past several days and last night around 8pm (we were at a neighbor's house for dinner, so her bedtime got pushed out) she reached for Jeff and said "Dada, Dada". They both waved goodnight to Lucas and me and then he carried her up the stairs. I expected her to cry once she figured out that they were actually going to bed, but then I realized she initiated it and knew what she was doing. Jeff ended up falling asleep with her last night, which was great because she only woke me up once to nurse between the hours of 8pm and 5:30am.

Lucas is totally in our bed now, which we are both totally fine with. I will go as far to say that I prefer it and love it. If he starts in his bed, he makes his way to our bed eventually, so he might as well just start there. And he's a deep sleeper now, so we can move him or turn on the lights to brush our teeth after he is sleeping and he won't budge.

We are getting more rest... well rested family equals a happy family!

Our Little Worker

Lucas enjoys working around the house as much as any other activity. Vacuuming is his favorite chore and wiping everything down with one damp rag and one dry rag is his second favorite. He also enjoys the satisfaction he gets after cleaning the playroom. We've gotten into a good routine of putting everything away before dinner or at the end of a play date. He always runs to get Jeff, if he isn't helping, to have him come look at what a good job he did. He doesn't have any chores that are only his yet... just random helping out.

Saturday

We took the kids to Marbles this morning. We just renewed our yearly membership so that we have something to do during the brutal cold and hot months. We've been a few times in the past few weeks, just the three of us. Lucas was very proud today to have Jeff there and to show him all of the things that he likes to do there.

Jeff and I had an afternoon date tonight, of which I'm now a big fan. Karen got here at 3:30, Avatar at the IMAX started at 4:05, grabbed dinner to go from The Point at 7:00... home right at 7:30. An hour or so of bedtime routines and then the house was quite. I like this much better than the stress of going out to dinner and leaving two tired kids that can't go to bed without us at home.

Avatar was awesome, by the way.

Ellen in a Blanket

We got this little baby wrap when Ellen was born, but it was sized large and so it still fits her. It's coming in super handy during this cold spell in Raleigh. It leaves no room for the cold air to get to her legs or her belly.

Sleep

Here we are again, talking about sleep on this blog. Will we ever NOT be talking about that subject? My parents visited over the holidays and my parents were shocked that we weren't a happily rested family (we are happy, just not rested). My mom said that I don't talk about it on the blog like I did ALL THE TIME with Lucas. I guess I've just accepted that Ellen won't sleep well until she's 3yrs old, just like Lucas. At that age I'll be able to reason with her and hopefully convince her that sleeping is awesome. Lucas said the other day, "I like sleep now", so I know there is hope. For now, however, she wants me by her side all night and when she wakes up - sometimes 3x, sometimes 6x - she wants to nurse herself back to sleep. It took us 14 months, but Jeff and I are starting to question ourselves because we are just so tired and sometimes frustrated if the bedtime routine takes an extra long time or if I don't get enough rest and am grouchy the next day. I know, however, that I'll question myself and in the end do just what I'm doing... because it feels right. And Ellen is awesome. Maybe she would be awesome anyway, but maybe she's awesome because of the way we respond to her. Anyway, I know I'm not going to change me, so I'm trying to change her. She doesn't eat tons during the day. She can feed herself well, and prefers to, but then gets bored or distracted by Tyson (who is begging beside her high chair). So this week I put Baby Einstein on my computer and stuffed her with mashed potatoes and peas as she was entertained by the t.v. Maybe if she is more full she won't wake up as much. I'm sure I tried this with Lucas and I'm sure it didn't work, but I'm hopeful and that helps : )

Art Museum

The NC Museum of Art (on the outside) is one of my favorite spots in Raleigh. We went there this weekend while Sandy was in town. It was freezing, but we still enjoyed it. In the second picture you can see that the sculpture is just a pair of legs. In the third picture you can see Lucas laughing at his joke... he was dancing around singing, "Look at that booty crack!"

A mini Tom Cruise...

... without the tighty whities.

Super Cold in Raleigh

It usually doesn't get that cold in Raleigh, but we've been having January-like weather this

month

.

Happy Birthdays

Dada and SaSa. Notice how Lucas always sits next to the birthday person. He knows they are the 2nd person to get a piece of cake...

Imagination Toys

3 is the age that the imagination takes off, or so I've heard. We're seeing that with Lucas... he's having a blast with the blocks that Santa brought and the magnetic tiles that SaSa gave him. He usually likes to build them and then immediately knock them down, but sometimes he likes to save them... which is a challenge with Ellen-zilla around (thanks for the name, Jenn).