I have been horrible about updating this.
Quentin is 4 months old now. He rolls both front to back and back to front but since he doesnt do tummy time as often as I would like (hard to work that in with a toddler and preschooler running around him), he can roll to his back when he decides he is done with tummy time but sometimes gets stuck when he rolls from his back to his tummy in his crib and can't seem to remember how to get back, crying for help when he has had enough. He smiles a toothless grin that I can't seem to catch on camera. He has the cutest curly cue belly button. He is usually pretty mellow still although he has had a few instances of prolonged screaming in my ear to which we can't find a cause and end up treating him for teething, gas, and anything else just to calm him down. Luckily he is just as, if not more, go with the flow like Elijah and often naps while I babywear him to run errands with Elijah while big sister, Nicollette, is in preschool two days a week.
Elijah is two and just a helpful and sweet big brother, wanting to give kisses and baby snuggles and hold hands at his own naptime. He is saying more words and using all the cutest toddlerism, especially when he uses his best manners of "peas" and "tanks." While he occasionally says Quentin correctly, he usually calls him baby "Pootin" since he has a hard time with his name.
Nicollette seems to be doing well with preschool. Since we often speak to her like an adult and just wait for her to ask us to explain bigger words, she says some pretty funny things sometimes, repeating in the correct context things we often say to her. Funny just because she says things you don't expect a 4 year old to say.
p.s. I will try to remember to update with photos whenever I get around to putting them from the camera onto the computer
Baby Ticker
Monday, February 29, 2016
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
And baby makes a family of 5
Quentin Ezra was born Oct 28th at almost 8 in the morning. He is our only morning baby. We decided not to stay in the hospital the whole time we are allowed since Nicollette and Elijah both had coughs and we didnt want to bring to the hospital because of that. They were excited to meet their new little brother at home.
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| big brother and big sister |
Quentin is doing well. But adjusting to life with a newborn, a toddler and a preschooler is a learning experience, especially since daddy had to work unusually late most of his first week of life.
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| one week old |
I have updated our Shutterfly Sharesite if you want to see more pictures. I will probably add some more posts to this blog and back date them so they are in chronological order since I havent been keeping this blog very updated in the last year.
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Update
SO I haven't kept this as updated as I would have hoped, but I love having it to look back at. It is just so busy with a toddler and a preschooler and another on the way to find time to type or even keep up with getting photos off the camera. Yes, another one is due in late October although I keep joking that with my track record that I wouldn't be surprised by early November birth.
Elijah still doesn't talk too much, but his sister was the same way so we aren't too worried. He seems to be working on those last canine tooth and according to his doctor that just leaves his 2 year molars. Nicollette moved to a twin bed so we moved Elijah to her toddler bed but in his room at least until he is better about staying in it and not bugging his sister. There isn't much room in his sisters room anyway since we opted to for a trundle bed to make it easier to climb into. But he can easily stay in his room until the new baby is probably six months old or so since they usually stay in the Rock n Play in our room that long.
Nicollette will be starting preschool in the fall. So hard to believe how much she has grown up, although she has her days when she doesn't act it :D
Elijah still doesn't talk too much, but his sister was the same way so we aren't too worried. He seems to be working on those last canine tooth and according to his doctor that just leaves his 2 year molars. Nicollette moved to a twin bed so we moved Elijah to her toddler bed but in his room at least until he is better about staying in it and not bugging his sister. There isn't much room in his sisters room anyway since we opted to for a trundle bed to make it easier to climb into. But he can easily stay in his room until the new baby is probably six months old or so since they usually stay in the Rock n Play in our room that long.
Nicollette will be starting preschool in the fall. So hard to believe how much she has grown up, although she has her days when she doesn't act it :D
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Elijah turns ONE!
Our sweet little boy is one year old, not a baby anymore, now he is toddler. He can crawl super fast, and he stands, and walk a few steps on his own. He want to climb in and on all the toy storage containers. He is starting to hold his own against his sister when she plays a little rough. He may only have 5 teeth but he likes to try to eat some of the same food as everyone else.
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| 10 mos old |
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| 11 mos |
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| standing on own |
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| he does this sometimes when he gets upset |
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| Birthday |
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| sister "helping" |
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| unsure about messy cake |
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| zoo time |
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| day three - getting the hang of cake |
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| cool toy put together - sister wants to play |
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| I want to play with the flags |
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Elijah is 9 mos
He is very mobile. Around Memorial Day when Oma and Opa visited us, he was just rolling and scooting and sitting like a tripod and just a few weeks later he was crawling and really sitting up. Now he is pulling up to standing and trying to cruise along the toy bins and couch. He is eating more baby foods and acts like he could live on Cheerios if I let him. We gave him some baby food pouches to try and he has gotten good as sucking on them, which made our weekend trip to Mall of America a little easier. I forgot a pouch one night for dinner and after some resistance he ate some mashed potatoes.
He says "ba-ba-ba" all the time and has started to say "ma-ma-ma" and "da-da-da" sometimes. He has two tooth on the bottom and at least one tooth coming in on the top.
He says "ba-ba-ba" all the time and has started to say "ma-ma-ma" and "da-da-da" sometimes. He has two tooth on the bottom and at least one tooth coming in on the top.
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| love my toy at 7 mos |
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| 7 mos |
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| 7 mos -getting so close to crawling |
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| still kind of a tripod in this pic |
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| Cheerios |
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| tea time with sister at 8 mos |
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| 8 mos |
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| time to lower the crib |
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| only one hand to stand up |
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| 9 mos old |
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
in the car for a roadtrip
For our recent car trip to Mall of America (about 7 hours with kid stops) I searched online for things to occupy my toddler and infant in the car (and the hotel). I did find some good ideas but a lot of ideas didn't work for us since both kids are rear-facing and I was worried about choking and projectiles. We have another roadtrip from NE to IN at the beginning of August and a Christmas trip from NE to GA.
So I thought I would make a post about what I did bring. First I pulled things from the house and put some of them away a few weeks before the trip so they would be "new" and then I purchased a few things for this trip. I had a few travel things from trips with just our oldest as well. I try not to bring things I would hate to lose, so lots of things from the dollar store, target dollar spot, ikea, etc. I hand them each just a few toys at a time and then hand them more as them seem to be done with those or get bored. The oldest knows to put them in them in the middle when she is done with them. Other trips I wrapped up some like presents, this time I didn't. I did use some felt baskets from Easter to hand them some things.
Plus I packed toys for hotel, if your kids are older you could use these in the car, but I like to have different toys from the car so they aren't tired of them.
if I had more time I found lots of ideas on pintrest for- printable travel games, quiet book pages, felt activities
So I thought I would make a post about what I did bring. First I pulled things from the house and put some of them away a few weeks before the trip so they would be "new" and then I purchased a few things for this trip. I had a few travel things from trips with just our oldest as well. I try not to bring things I would hate to lose, so lots of things from the dollar store, target dollar spot, ikea, etc. I hand them each just a few toys at a time and then hand them more as them seem to be done with those or get bored. The oldest knows to put them in them in the middle when she is done with them. Other trips I wrapped up some like presents, this time I didn't. I did use some felt baskets from Easter to hand them some things.
- soft/cloth books - I have several including Peek-a-Boo Forest and Sunny Day
- indestuctibles books
- dollar store board books
- chik-fil-a under 3 kid meal books
- finger puppets
- hand puppets
- bath mitts
- small plush toys - target clearance,dollar store, ikea - we have a few of these in the car all the time
- look n find book
- plush toy cars
- Soft Travel Tray (we only used this part of the time with the things below)
- Two-sided activity
- mini water painting mat (aka aquadoodle)
- homemade playmat - inspired by this post - I printed some scenes on paper and put them in a clear plastic envelope with a zip closure.
- homemade sponge blocks
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| trying out the sponge blocks before the trip |
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| Farm playmat with some plush farm animals |
Plus I packed toys for hotel, if your kids are older you could use these in the car, but I like to have different toys from the car so they aren't tired of them.
- toy figures (like Mickey and friends)
- ponies
- zip bin playmat box
- Little People -duplicates from home
- kid meal toys
- mess free coloring (water surprise/water wow or color wonder/imagine ink)
- magnet drawing (aka magna doodle) I used to use this one when my oldest was younger but now I just use this one
- crib/stoller toys
- teething toys
- rubber ducky (this one tells you if the bath is too hot)
- cards (flash cards, playing cards, or memory/matching, etc)
- soft balls such as splash balls
- sand/water toys like stacking cups
- colander
- measuring cups/spoons
- chenille sticks (aka pipe cleaners)
if I had more time I found lots of ideas on pintrest for- printable travel games, quiet book pages, felt activities
road trip with a toddler and infant
So we spent a weekend at Mall of America (and Ikea) and overall it was a pretty good trip, there were a few moments of why did we do this to ourselves though. It was good practice for the roadtrip in August for my brother's wedding reception and our Christmas trip to the in-laws.
Our family room/playroom looks like an Ikea ad now with a tent for Eli, a roadmap rug and a collection of toy boxes with wheels that also stack or divide the space when they dont want to play together.
Bribes are the name of the game with a toddler and our trip long bribe was a teddy bear from Build-a-Bear with daddy if she was (relatively) behaved at the Mall. Plus we thought it would be a good bonding experience since she is so clingy to me. After we talked her into an actual bear (not a Little Pony), the one she picked only had a display one left, but since I don't think she understood the whole stuffing process/line it worked out. It is two shades of brown with velvety fur including a brown embroidered heart belly button. After they got it I was looking at the care instructions which said it was machine washable if it didn't have any mechanism, so I was feeling around and found it has a box in its paw to make it roar which sounds like a combo of a grizzly and a dino.
Some of the other highlights from the trip include Rainforest Cafe, Bubba Gump, Lego play area, cookie sandwiches, and countless toy stores, we tried to do a little shopping but only ended up with a handful of purchases since a toddler has a short attention span.
We had planned a few other things but then actually seeing them (mirror maze, mini golf) worried they wouldn't be right for her at this age. We think it deserves a future revisit when she is old enough to ride the rides in the Nickelodeon Amusement park in the middle (it looked like fun but we both commented on the outdated theme-ing from shows we don't think are even on anymore) Also we skipped the aquarium this time since it seemed expensive although we kept getting coupons for it.
Our family room/playroom looks like an Ikea ad now with a tent for Eli, a roadmap rug and a collection of toy boxes with wheels that also stack or divide the space when they dont want to play together.
Bribes are the name of the game with a toddler and our trip long bribe was a teddy bear from Build-a-Bear with daddy if she was (relatively) behaved at the Mall. Plus we thought it would be a good bonding experience since she is so clingy to me. After we talked her into an actual bear (not a Little Pony), the one she picked only had a display one left, but since I don't think she understood the whole stuffing process/line it worked out. It is two shades of brown with velvety fur including a brown embroidered heart belly button. After they got it I was looking at the care instructions which said it was machine washable if it didn't have any mechanism, so I was feeling around and found it has a box in its paw to make it roar which sounds like a combo of a grizzly and a dino.
Some of the other highlights from the trip include Rainforest Cafe, Bubba Gump, Lego play area, cookie sandwiches, and countless toy stores, we tried to do a little shopping but only ended up with a handful of purchases since a toddler has a short attention span.
We had planned a few other things but then actually seeing them (mirror maze, mini golf) worried they wouldn't be right for her at this age. We think it deserves a future revisit when she is old enough to ride the rides in the Nickelodeon Amusement park in the middle (it looked like fun but we both commented on the outdated theme-ing from shows we don't think are even on anymore) Also we skipped the aquarium this time since it seemed expensive although we kept getting coupons for it.
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| Rainforest Cafe |
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| "pink car" -Barbie's VW bug |
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| Bubba Gump |
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| Lego play area |
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