Aunt Dana Visits

This weekend we had a visit from Aunt Dana, who had been in town for Claire's dedication at our church in 2010 and wanted to be present for James' dedication too.

James is a happy guy when there's someone to hold him, so having a third set of arms to snuggle in is a bonus

He's also really ticklish and it gets us all laughing pretty well

On Saturday, we went to the zoo.

We're at a bird demonstration show and Claire was pretty distracted. While Claire had fun drinking from Aunt Dana's water bottle, there was a large hawk swooping 20 inches above our heads.

This is the first time she's shown an interest in the cutout board. I think this is going to become a regular stop on her visits with Mommy.

She's also getting better at sitting on shoulders, but her balance and my over-cautiousness means I'm holding onto her pretty tightly

The pandas put on quite a show, especially for a hot afternoon; it was a crowded room but that was fine for Claire who walked right under everybody.

Claire even gets a ride from Aunt Dana

It had been a while since Claire had been to the petting zoo. This was the most fun she's had there yet.

Once she got the hang of brushing the goat, she wanted to brush all of them.

The playground is also a necessary stop at the zoo

Bonus points to James who was quiet and cheerful the entire time. He did get a little hot so we took advantage of a powerful air conditioner in the car.

Claire had quite a melt-down after her nap. We're not sure why but she eventually wore us all down and got us to turn the TV on for 1 episode of "Little Bear". She invited Aunt Dana to join her which was a good opportunity to nap.

In the church garden, Claire figured out a new game of putting "brown grass" down the drain. These random games of meaningless tasks end up being pretty fun for a 2 year old (I once made a game of putting rocks on a step).

Active reading and a fun Sunday afternoon relaxing at home.

Cabin Trip

We have some wonderful friends at church who had been inviting us for quite a while to take our family to their cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. We're so grateful for the opportunity and can't believe that we didn't do it sooner; the cabin is beautiful (new timber-frame construction) with a wonderful view (steep drive up the mountain was worth it) so we had a great time. The little ones required quite a bit of attention so many aspects of the trip were exhausting, but we're still glad for the memorable weekend.

Claire enjoyed picking daisies and brought them to the supper table for sharing.

James enjoyed the big wide spaces, which meant that there were fewer walls to bonk his head on.

We went on two hikes. James piggy-backed on Mommy...

...and Claire piggy-backed on Daddy.

Claire wanted to hold James' hand, and he let her! It got both of them into a fit of giggles which meant we were all having a good time. This is one of those truly unforgettable moments that reminds us just how uniquely wonderful children are.

James enjoyed the piggy-back-pack so much that he didn't mind sleeping with a buckle in his eye.

We went to a waterfall and Claire was so hyper that she ran back and forth squealing with delight and singing nonsense songs. She eventually saw the waterfall.

James loves being outside...

...he is much happier for longer periods of time outside. This may be a good thing and means that he'll need a lot of time to play at parks in the future.

  

We went to the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville. The flower quilt was beautiful.

Claire had been picking flowers all weekend. It was amazing that she behaved and did not pick a single one after being told only once.

Even if she can't pick 'em, she loves to run through 'em.

There were some areas with dandelions and clover, which were blooms we figured the Arboretum folks wouldn't mind having a few picked out

She's going to be good at helping pick lawn weeds, and looking adorable doing it

We found a random mound of bark + sticks in a hut arrangement. No sign. Claire looked in and walked out. I imagine that a 2 year old James would've taken the opportunity to get a few spiders in his hair.

Looking up the chimney...

...and getting Daddy to look too

James and Mommy...

...are a pretty cute couple.

Fun times for everybody. Long day at the arboretum and no meltdowns (well, at least mostly).  After the arboretum, we visited a frozen custard shop where James got his first little taste of ice cream.

Last hike on Sunday, Claire wanted to walk by herself. She got a pretty good distance (maybe 600 yards?) but it took a while. See the gate behind Amanda's head? That was the entrance 15 minutes ago.

A few perilous bridges that we were not expecting. Claire and James were both in the back packs for these.

Visiting an old country house deep down on the trail. 

It was a great weekend with lots of outdoor time and perfect weather.  We hope to have many more vacations like this where we can show our little ones the overwhelming beauty of God's creation.

Mini In-Home Studio... An Attempt

James and Claire sat for some in-home-studio photos on Saturday afternoon. We set it up in the dining room during their nap so we would be ready for "happy"-James after he woke up. He was on his best behavior the whole time and didn't even make any messes in the "birthday suit" series.  Claire's favorite part was sitting on the table and playing with her teddy bear, a new favorite that until recently was always left hanging from the shelf in her room. She has a funny "camera smile" that she forces when we ask (not shown) and kept scooting away from James because she doesn't want him to grab her (also not shown).

Two black sheets and a few extra lights makes for a very simple baby/toddler photo studio. Add the new lens, a tripod, and some free photo editing software (I use Picasa, no pirated Adobe Photoshop here!) and things looked alright. There are 2 mistakes that I'll remember to fix next time: 1) the incandescent overhead made James' hair look orange so I'll switch that out for whiter light; and, 2) I forgot to turn off the electronic motion blur (this feature corrects handheld shots but adds fuzz to tripod photos). The third thing I might want to consider is a better flash... the built-in can only handle 4 consecutive shots.

James 7 Months, Claire 26 Months

It seems like James has officially left the infant stage and is a full-fledged baby now.  He sits up on his own for long periods of time and plays with toys.  Favorite toys include his snail, his zebra, and the stacking cups.  He's not officially crawling, but he can do an army-like scoot and get himself where he wants to go.  He can transition from his tummy to sitting up by himself.  He seems to have a radar system to detect anything that's either a) not a toy; or b) is a toy but one that Claire is interested in (actually that works both ways because Claire usually develops a sudden interest in whatever James has).  He can move remarkably fast when he sees something he wants to get his gums around!

James still isn't sleeping through the night, but we are making progress.  We took a break from letting him cry last week because he was sick and running a fever (another virus).  Last night, he fussed for 45 minutes once and for 20 minutes a few hours later but eventually put himself back to sleep without being fed.  We put him to bed around 7:30 and he usually is up before 6:30.  He normally takes three naps everyday.

I have made several big batches of baby food and our freezer is well-stocked.  So far, James has tried rice cereal, banana, sweet potato, avocado, oatmeal, pear, butternut squash, and peach.  His least favorites are the avocado and peach.  He will either eat everything very happily or not want anything at all.  It's hard to tell which way he will go at any given moment.

James still loves to see his big sister.  We have been able to roll a ball with him now that he can sit up.  I just love seeing them interact happily.  I think his first tooth on the bottom has barely broken through this week.  It seems to be taking its time.  His blonde hair is getting longer but continues to stick straight out all around his head.  Everyone comments about his fuzzy hair and many people (even some strangers) reach out to touch it.

James is wearing 6 month, 9 month and 12 month clothing.  It's hard to believe he can wear such a range, but the little t-shirts and shorts in the 6 month size still fit while things like onesies and pajamas are too short, so he needs a bigger size.  He's wearing size three diapers and weighed 19 pounds 9 ounces at his doctor's appointment last week.

All three of us seem to enjoy having places to go in the morning and we miss our school-year activities.  I have to work hard to keep them entertained at home, and we all were a bit grumpy after the sick days last week.  Claire has several "special" toys that she particularly enjoys playing with in addition to the toys she always has access to.  Favorites include play-doh, stickers, her first "real" puzzle, and the games of Memory and Candy Land.  She loves being outside but is only interested in swinging or finding flowers.  Claire memorizes things well and has quickly caught on to the days of the week and counting by 10s.  We have checked out some library books related to current interests and she enjoys the new, longer books.

Claire finds ways to get us into stitches at the dinner table and keeps everyone laughing when she's found the right punchline, which is usually an adorably mispronounced word or phrase.  Her conversational language skills are always getting better; she mimics our slang a little more than we anticipated (using words such as "yep", "oh...", and "sure") and she will now talk back and forth over the phone for about a minute. She has also started saying "I loev yeou mommy/daddy/James" all on her own. The greatest surprises these days are to get a sneak-attack hug around one leg, look down, and have Claire look back up to say: "I loev yeou!"

After over a month of spitting in the bathtub after we brush her teeth, Claire has started spitting in the sink again. We've switched her to regular toothpaste from the toddler kind and she hasn't seemed to mind the flavor change.  Claire sleeps from 8 pm until about 8 am every night with a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.  She is still a great eater.  She is wearing size 2T and size 5 diapers.

Both Claire and James are very happy to have Daddy around.  Claire asks where he is all day long and runs squealing to the top of the basement stairs when she hears the garage door open.  When he is in town, Matt handles the bath and bedtime routine.  I think he particularly enjoys reading to Claire and can't seem to resist the requests for one more book.

Video of Claire Singing

Here are some sweet videos of our little wiggle worm singing.  She sings all the time.  It's so fun to hear.

First up, some hymns:


Then "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star":


Finally, "Christ the Lord is Risen Today."  She's not too great with the words on this one, but I love her improvised ending!

Fun Things*

Daddy was home all weekend for Memorial Day weekend and neither Daddy nor Mommy had any significant chores or projects. For three days we enjoyed a fun-filled and inexpensive @home vacation.  The

On Saturday, we went to the Decatur Arts Festival (excellent - we highly recommend) and strolled through the booths, spent a long while in the Kids' area, and ate the best fish tacos either of us has ever tasted. In the Kids' area, Claire made mini art projects and played in a sandbox while James danced to the music. For supper, we grilled on the deck and ate outside.

* The title "Fun Things" is what we told Claire we were going to do Saturday morning. We didn't thing saying "Arts Festival" was descriptive enough. For the rest of the week, Claire talked about "we do Fun Things!" which is especially adorable because of the way she pronounces it.

On Sunday, Claire and James played in their new mini kiddie pool on the deck for a good long while. We all took long naps and played a little while more in the pool that afternoon. It was a good day of rest.

On Monday, we joined the Perrys (Andrew, Carolyn, and their son Samuel) along with Andrew's family at the Dacula Memorial Day Parade. Claire was extremely excited to see the parade and kept asking about the marching bands; though there were only two, she was not disappointed and had a great time. James sat in our laps and was pretty wiggly but he enjoyed looking at everything and always enjoys being outside. It was a really good small town parade. The most moving part was a large group of volunteers, each carrying a poster with photos and names of Georgians who had died in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last 11 years, and a man reading names aloud as they walked... there were so many...  .  After the parade, we joined the Perrys for a picnic at a nearby park. Claire swung in all 4 swings before we ate (she likes to try them all), and she played for a good long while in the gazebo as we finished our meal.  James and Claire napped on the way home and we had a quiet afternoon in the house.

It was a good weekend.

James gets into the new kiddie pool

They sat and played for a good long while. It's a lot like a bath, except with different toys.

James did really well sitting up...

...and Claire helped with her knee a little too

Not a lot of splashing going on... they're pretty mild mannered

Mommy says that James can play for 10-20 minutes with a box of Legos. Daddy is looking forward to many many many many many more Legos.

A good game to play together

Always time well spent

He looks so big!

Lots of cars at the parade. Claire has learned that "old cars" make a "ppppppttttttt"-sound, which is similar to a few other sounds she's learned but she doesn't seem confused

Tiny horses!

Everyone loves a picnic, especially when there's muffins

Handsome little guy. A lot of people stared and smiled at little James when they walked by.