Those times when you REALLY shouldn't laugh...but you do anyways

Sometime within the past year, my cousin's wife gave Samantha a giant rubbermaid container full of barbies.  It was Samantha's first introduction to barbies.  I was never super into barbies as a kid so I wasn't sure what Samantha would think of them.  Well...she LOVES them.  Seriously.  She plays with the things constantly, by herself, with Zach, with me, with Chris, with the neighbor, you name it.  One of the sweetest parts of my day is Samantha's bed time.  Now I know you might be thinking "YES!!!  That's my favorite part too.  It's been a long day with an energetic 3.5 year old and now I can finally relax!"  But no, that's not why I like bedtime.  I like it because every night Samantha drags Chris upstairs to bed and begs to play barbies with him.  I love listening to the dialog (well what I can hear of it anyways) over the baby monitor and hearing Samantha's excited giggles as she shares this special one on one time with her daddy.

Tonight though it was a different story.  I heard her laughing and playing and then all of a sudden I heard her little footsteps thundering down the stairs while she is crying and screaming.  "I'm scared, I'm so scared" was all I could hear through her tears.  She raced up to me sobbing uncontrollably, so loud that she woke up Eliza who I had just gotten to sleep in my arms.  All I could make out was something about a head.  I had NO idea what was going on until Chris comes down the stairs barely able to contain his laughter.  One of Samantha's favorite Barbies is a Rapunzel doll.  She is super into princesses right now so this Rapunzel doll is one of the ones she plays with the most.  Right behind Anna and Elsa, of course!  Apparently Samantha picked up the Rapunzel doll and started her dialog, "Hello, what's your name?" like she always does so they can do their introductions.  Chris looked at the doll and realized her head was missing.  So, he replied "Oh Samantha, where is Rapunzel's head?"  Samantha looked down, did a nervous giggle, tried to be brave...really she did, and then raced out of the room screaming.  She wouldn't even look at the doll!!  My poor Samantha.  Chris and I couldn't control our laughter, I had to also control my bladder (thanks kids!), all while Samantha is still completely hysterical.

Chris told Samantha that Rapunzel was going to the hospital for the night as he tried to super glue her head back on.  Unfortunately it seems that she is permanently decapitated.  Guess I'll need to go shopping for a new Rapunzel barbie.  The last thing we'd need is for her to be playing with post hospital Rapunzel and have her head fall off again!!  I would say I wish that she would wake up in the morning with no recollection of this traumatizing event, but who are we kidding?  This is Samantha and she remembers everything!

RIP Rapunzel!!

Annual Leaf Day!

Every year I look forward to our annual leaf day because I get to take such adorable pictures!!  Our lot hardly has any trees on it so we really don't have a ton of leaves and only get one good leaf raking day each year.  Chris decided today was the day!  Sadly, I think I was the most excited out of everyone because Sam and Zach weren't too into jumping and playing in the leaves.  Rather disappointing!!

Samantha was a little bit into it and didn't mind walking around in the leaves.  Unfortunately Chris made the pile backwards with the big mound facing the sun so the pictures turned out pretty crummy.  It was a little chilly out so I didn't waste time moving around the leaves to get better pictures.  Oh well!

Yeah...Zach was barely into it.  He was screaming!  It probably didn't help that it was already past lunch AND nap time so he was pretty unhappy with everything.  I seem to remember him acting like this last year too!!

Finally at the end, the both got a little more into it.  Zach actually cried when he had to come inside, though he loves being outside so I'm not sure it was leaving the leaves that he was upset about.

Eliza however "loved" the leaves!  I mean, she didn't cry so that's practically loving them in my book since she cries for everything!  She looked so cute hanging out in the leaves and it makes me happy that I was able to get halfway decent pictures of at least one kid!!

Adios leaves!!  Until we meet again next year.

Eliza is TWO months old!!!

Eliza - Two Months Old

Little Miss Eliza turned two months old yesterday!!  I waited until today to make her post since she had her 2 month check up with the pediatrician this morning and I wanted to have her official stats on hand.  Her checkup went great although yesterday she was extremely cranky and had a few poopy diapers so I could tell her little tummy must be bothering her.  At the doctors she got very upset and was crying so hard she had a massive poop which resulted in a leaking diaper and her getting poop all over my pants...right before the doctor walked into the room!  Thanks Eliza!!

Weight: 11.4 lbs (47%)

Length:  23 1/4in (82%)

Eliza is growing right on track which is great!  She is still significantly bigger than Samantha and Zachary were at this age.  It is so weird to have a baby that has rolls.  One day I was holding her and she turned her head just right and I could smell all the sour milk in her neck.  So gross!!  We never experienced that with Sam and Zach since there were no crevices for it to get stuck in.

Clothes: 0-3 and 3 months

Diapers: size 1 disposables, small cloth

Here we are pretty much the same as last month, with the exception of adding in some 3 month clothes.  The three month onesies are perfect since they fit just right over her cloth diapers.  Three month pants however are pretty big and come about halfway up her chest.  Big sister Samantha was born in April so the seasons aren't quite matching up, but I am trying not to buy too many clothes so we don't go overboard as I have a tendency to do.  I am buying her SOME stuff as just hers because I'd hate for her to only have hand-me-downs.  I know she is young so it doesn't matter as much now, but it is important to me that she has some things that are just hers as well.

Eating: Eliza is still exclusively breast fed.  We took her to a pediatric ENT when she was 13 days old at Georgetown University Hospital where we found out she is tongue tied as well as upper lip tied.  We had her tongue tie clipped and she has been doing much better at eating.  She loves her mama milk!

Likes:

• being wrapped
• having her diaper changed
• her big sister Samantha

Dislikes:

• having a wet diaper
• when her big brother Zach smacks her on the head
• pacifiers
• being put down
• tummy time

Milestones:  Eliza still has a decent startle reflex.  Even if she sees me coming her hands jump out when I touch her.  I feel bad but I can't help but smile when she does it.  It's so cute!  She hates being put down and therefore hates tummy time.  She pretty much screams every time we set her down.  She does spend a lot of time being wrapped and gets practice holding her head up that way.  She is still a tiny bit floppy but overall, she does an amazing job of keeping it up.  She started smiling at 6 weeks and really hasn't stopped.  She is still colicky and cries a ton, but when she is happy, she lets you know it!!  I love all the smiles I get out of her.  I love taking pictures and she's learned what the camera looks like.  The second I put it up to my eye she bursts out in smiles!  She has also started tracking this month.  If I get up to do something her eyes follow me to where I am going.  She will also follow toys or other objects that are close by to her.  She is very focused and likes people watching and sometimes watching TV.  Once she finds something interesting going on, her gaze doesn't break.  She has learned so much this month!

Siblings:  Samantha is still in love with having a little sister.  She asks to hold her all the time and is very helpful with bringing me clothes and diapers.  She will randomly come over and give Eliza hugs and kisses and say how much she loves having a baby sister.  Zach is about the same as last month.  He still enjoys smacking her on the head which of course, Eliza doesn't care for very much.  He does enjoy helping out though and throws away diapers and brings me clean ones when I ask him to.  He's also loves to mimic what Samantha is doing.  For example, if Sam comes over and gives Eliza a hug and kiss, Zach will race over and do the same.  He also will pat her belly when she is crying.  I think she is starting to grow on him just a little bit.  ;-)

Even though Eliza only gained a pound since last month, her look has definitely changed.  I put up all her monthly pictures in comparison shots, which I plan to do each month.

We rounded out our check up by getting 3 shots plus an oral vaccine.  We also left with a prescription for Zantac since Eliza seems to be showing some symptoms of acid reflux.  Samantha and Zach also had reflux so it's nothing new for us, but still sad to know your baby is hurting.  She was doing good but the past few days she has been refluxing quite a bit.  Our doctor said we don't have to fill the prescription if we don't want to so we plan on waiting it out a few days to see if yesterday was just a fluke or if it is, indeed, getting worse.  Hopefully it was just a fluke and we won't need the medicine.  Overall a great checkup and we're thrilled to know our girl is thriving!

Busy Bag Sensory Bin

Last year our playgroup did a Sensory Bin rotation that was a HUGE hit.  We had 15 families participating and we enjoyed it SO much.  There was a huge variety in the bins and Samantha and Zach just loved playing with them.  They both cried every time we had to pass on a bin.  Apparently we weren't alone in our love for the train and the group decided to do it again this year.  We are already on our 3rd rotation and it has gone great so far.  Samantha and Zach are constantly asking to bring out the bins and they have been great at giving Sam and Zach an activity to play while I tend to Eliza.

This rotation we have a bin full of busy bags!!  These are awesome little bags that you can pull out and take anywhere...the car, doctors offices, church (wish I would have thought to bring some on Sunday!)  The maker of this bin did all sorts of things and I have to say, Sam and Zach have gone crazy for them.

The first bag we pulled out was full of matchbox cars.  Actually Zach saw this bag and of course went nuts!!  He asks to play with this one all the time.

Another bag included mini magnadoodles.  These have also been a huge hit!

 Mini etch-a-sketch!  Samantha has loved drawing "huge cities" on here.  Mostly Chicago!

Dry erase boards and markers.  Also a huge hit!

Spirograph!!!  A favorite from my childhood so I was super excited to see these!

Snack cups with pom poms.  I thought this would be perfect for Zach and a little too young for Samantha but they both love filling up the cups and then getting the pom poms out.

Wooden puzzles

Paper and crayons

Puzzles

Pipe cleaners and beads.  The beads have very tiny holes so this was difficult for Samantha at first, but she soon figured out how to do it!

Clothes pins and index cards.

Spectator Eliza!!

I have to say this bin is amazing!!!  I have an dentist appointment tomorrow that I will be bringing all 3 kids to and I will definitely pick a bag or two to bring so they have something to do in the waiting room and while I'm getting my teeth cleaned.  This bin has also inspired me to make busy bags of my own because, lets face it, I'm tired of being "that mom" with the noisy out of control kids in waiting rooms and church!!