Baby Bird

Watch this one closely. Alex was babbling very animatedly during breakfast, but got skittish once I turned on the camera. And then, Dear Readers, approximately 16 seconds into the recording, she flips me the bird. Gratitude, folks. Gratitude.

Forward! (Mostly)

Yup, she's mobile now, and now that's she's crawling forward instead of backward, she can actually see where she's going. This is a plus, since it was getting tiresome untangling her from the couch legs. KIDDING! It was actually pretty fun untangling her from the couch legs.


I neglected to post about it, but Lily did have a birthday last month. I'm just now posting because I think we're finally done celebrating it. Lily managed to stretch her birthday out for the better part of a month - pretty impressive for someone who just turned three! We were traveling to Erie on her actual birthday for Eric and Katie's wedding, and Amy and Dan gave her an awesome afternoon birthday bash, complete with Tinkerbell ice cream cake. Then we had a second party the following week in New Jersey, which was a good thing, because Lily wasn't entirely sure that birthdaydom could cross state lines - the entire trip home she was asking us if she would still be three when we were back in New Jersey.


So we had a handful of Lily's friends over for pizza, kiddie pool, and trampoline, followed by gummi bear cake. The next day we took Lily's birthday money - which was an impressive pile of cash for a 3-year-old to be in control of - and took her shopping. Included in the haul was a tricycle and helmet, an Ariel doll, and a deluxe parachute guy. She was quite pleased with her shopping experience.


I'm pleased to say we have nothing exciting planned for August. Well, I'm turning 37, but other than that, nothing planned. With these two crazy girls around, there's no such thing as 'nothing exciting'.

What a difference a month makes! Alex has decided that table food is tasty now. As a matter of fact, she has now moved completely past baby food to finger which, it turns out is what she wanted all along. She eats waffles, cheese, yogurt, berries, peaches, applesauce, peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and last night, she stole some fish sticks and french fries from Lily. Lily was unimpressed.

Alex had her nine-month checkup this week - she is squarely in the middle of the charts for height and weight, and off the charts in cuteness. She is crawling now, but only backwards, which makes her very frustrated, but she has now learned how to turn around and back towards whatever toy she's after. She's not so great with forward locomotion, but she is crazy smart.

Lily had her second trip to the emergency room this past Monday. She was carrying a watering can in the backyard and tripped, cutting open two of her fingertips.

The cuts weren't that deep, but they wouldn't stop bleeding, so Jason took the night off, we dropped Alex with a friend, and took Lily to the hospital. She was her usual charming self and had all the doctors and nurses smiling. Not only did she not get stitches (just Steri-Strips), she got SIX Disney princess stickers. They wrapped her fingers in gauze in a complicated kid-proof way and sent us home with orders to follow up with our pediatrician.

The kid-proof gauze lasted almost all the way out of the parking lot.



Mostly we're just trying to beat the heat - it's been in the high 90's for most of July, so we're playing outside in the mornings and retreating to the air conditioning in the afternoons. Lily is increasingly interested in helping me in the kitchen, so we are working our way through a pile of kid-friendly recipes. Here is Lily's oven-baked macaroni and cheese -

Baby Food!

Remember the cute pictures of Lily trying new baby foods, when we would feed her new fruits and vegetables and she would grin? And eat? Like this one -







I bet you're wondering why I haven't posted pictures of Alex trying her first foods and looking adorable. Well, it's because all of Alex's 'Look, I'm eating baby food!' pictures look like this -














Which makes me think of this. And we'll just leave it at that.

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Draut!!!

Congratulations to my eldest brother and his blushing bride, Jennifer. The ceremony was held in Galveston, on the cruise ship that they sailed on for their honeymoon. Lily was the Flower Girl, a role she has been diligently studying for several months. She performed admirably for someone who is not quite three years old, strewing flower petals with reckless abandon, wandering aimlessly during the ceremony, and most importantly, performing the traditional Groom/Flower Girl fistbump at the conclusion of the vows.

Not to be outdone, Alex made copious loud farting noises during any and all quiet moments during the ceremony. We can't wait to see the videotape on this one.

But what if the goblins DO come and take her away right now?

Yes, that's a Labyrinth reference. Lily has been exploring the Netflix instant queue on our Wii. It's taken several conversations, but I'm pretty sure that she now knows that David Bowie isn't a woman.

It's been a busy, sleep-deprived month. Alex has decided to stop sleeping through the night, since she's been learning to roll over. And is teething. And, we discovered upon our return from Texas, has Scarlet Fever. This sounds a bit scarier than it is - Scarlet Fever is actually a rash caused by a Strep infection (I didn't know this. Thank you WebMD!).

We got back from Texas Wednesday night with two cranky tired kids, but only one of them had a fever. Alex had been a bit out of sorts for a few days, and I was going to call the Pediatrician anyway since she is due for a few shots. She woke up from her nap Thursday afternoon covered almost head to toe with a bright red rash. I'm not generally one to panic, but that one freaked me out. She is on antibiotics now and feeling much better, but still inclined to wake up twice a night.

Why were we in Texas? I'm glad you asked. Partly because we hadn't seen the family since before Alex was born and we wanted to introduce her. Partly because I really missed Whataburger and Shiner Bock beer.

KIDDING! My bubba got married!!!!!!!!

I was just thinking to myself yesterday, "I wonder when I'll get time to blog again," and then Alex woke up at 4:30 a.m. and just wanted to hang out. Problem solved!

Lily has started dance class. She loves it, and immediately demanded 'real dancer clothes'. Jason immediately volunteered to get her ABT sweatpants, a Diet Coke, and a pack of Marlboro Lights, but we opted instead for this.

Alex has officially rolled over a few times, but routinely forgets how. We started solids, but she isn't interested, so we're taking a week off from it.

When we're not wrangling crazy girls, we've been planting a garden in the back yard. Lily is fascinated by the strawberry and tomato plants, and is convinced that our pumpkin plant will grow jack-o-lanterns.

Don't cross the streams.

March was busy - Alex stopped sleeping through the night, due to a growth spurt and some teething, and Lily stopped sleeping through the night, due to some wicked hard-core jealousy.

Yep, the green-eyed monster has invaded. Lily loves being a big sister, but isn't a fan of me doing anything with Alex that doesn't also involve her. We're doing our best to find 'just-for-Lily' time, and she does her best to remind us when we don't.

Alex is inches away from both rolling over and sitting up - she doesn't get quite the amount of uninterrupted floor time that Lily did (see green-eyed monster, above). She is a really happy baby, lots of cooing and giggling, and lately, lots and lots of raspberries. We haven't started her on solids yet, but we will later this month.

Alex had her first modeling audition last week. It went well, but she didn't get the job. They did agree that she's cute, though. :-) It's interesting to see the other side of the business - I'm not used to watching auditions from the other side of the table. I'm also not a fan watching people reject my kids - we'll see how long I last as a stage mom.

Lily is currently obsessed with two movies - Ghostbusters and Little Shop of Horrors. Jason and I now know them both by heart, and Lily is endlessly fascinated by the plant and the Sta-Puft Marshmallow Man. I'm starting to wonder if she has a Rick Moranis fetish.

Lily also starts dance class this month - we found a Mommy and Me class called Ballet Princesses that seems to be right up her alley, and I like it because it's not a recital-based program.

Today we're off to the zoo - the weather is too nice to stay inside!

Meet Alex.

After much discussion (okay, not that much discussion, but a little), Jason and I have decided tocall Alexandra 'Alex' instead of 'Lexi'. It won't keep us from ever calling them each other's name, but we're hoping it will cut down on the number of incidents.

It's been sort of an uneventful week for us - Lily and Alex and I have been sharing a head cold, so between that and the ungodly amount of snowfall this week, we've spent most of our time indoors. Lily has been helping Jason shovel, though, and I managed to snap a few pictures of that.

Alex is not at all enamored of the snow and cold weather, which has made winter not as much fun as it could be. Now that Jason's schedule is a bit less frenetic, we are able to split our focus and take turns playing outside with Lily. I admit to volunteering for more of the indoor sessions - I'm not a huge fan of winter either.

When we do get Alex outside in the weather, we put her in this fleece jumper. Why? Because dressing your kid up as a duck is a parental privilege with a limited shelf life, and one should take advantage of it as often as one can.

Why yes, it was a boring snow day. Why do you ask?

I did not encourage this.

I did not go to Lily and say, "Hey put these panties on your head and demand that I take a picture."

This was all Lily. I'm just sharing.

We went to Boston for five days in January - Jason was done with White Christmas, and wasn't back at In The Heights yet, so we decided it was a good time to visit all those folks who live just a bit north of us, but we somehow never manage to see. And do you know what else? We didn't take a single picture. It was enough to just schlep our two kids and the astonishing amount of crap involved in taking the four of us out of the house.

It took seven hours to drive the four hours to Boston. Here is an example of why: we had crossed the state line from Connecticut to Massachusetts, and decided to just power through the last hour to Boston. Then Lily announced that she had to use the bathroom. While Lily was in the bathroom, Lexi woke up and needed to eat. Then she needed a diaper change. Then Lily wanted a snack. Then Jason needed a snack. Then I needed the bathroom. Then Jason needed the bathroom, and by then, enough time had passed that we took Lily back to the bathroom just in case. An hour and forty-five minutes after we pulled into the rest area, we were back on the road!

Since then we have been settling ( a bit) back into routine - Jason is back to his usual job. and Lily and I are back to waiting for Spring. Lexi is understandably not a fan of winter yet, so we're not doing a lot of playing outside as a group. I'm a pretty creative Mommy - we have had tea parties, spa days, cooking parties, and all manner of arts and crafts, but Lily and I are both ready for a good run around the park without ten minutes of coats, scarves, and mittens.

Lexi is sleeping a little more at night, so I am trying get some sleep myself - trying to bank a few extra hours before she starts teething!

Thank you, Friend Who Is Better At Photoshop!!!

Remember when I said I would love to add weapons to that picture of Lily and Lexi? It's good to know I have loyal readers. Said Loyal Reader actually went one better - I got these in my mailbox today. Thank you, Loyal Reader.

The aftermath.

Big on opening presents. Cleaning up, not so much.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a glorious, and peaceful, holiday season. We had a quiet Christmas at home, complete with porcupine ham (that's ham with pineapple rings and cherries skewered onto it with toothpicks).

Our friends Sonya and Shoshi came over for an old-school pajama Christmas - when we lived in Queens, Christmas meant movie marathons, porcupine ham, and everyone hanging out in their jammies. We watched UP, and after the kids went to bed, we watched The Hangover - just as good the second time.

Lily was a gift-opening whirlwind, and is smiten with all of her presents - great toys, cute clothes, awesome books. Lexi got equally great presents, but was less enthralled by the process.

We continued the tradition of Christmas jammies, though.