Friday, December 7, 2007

YOU try and take this picture!

Curran's second tooth (it's on the bottom) is well in, so I thought I'd try to take a picture. Uh-huh. Try getting a 5-month-old to cooperate for that! You can't see the tooth, but I thought that the picture turned out rather cute (especially since it mostly cuts out the double chin factor, and he looks much more little boyish).



This sweetling starting eating rice cereal on his five-month birthday, and loves it! He's also enjoying baths more. I tried to hold him while bathing Avery the other day and he kept lunging for the tub. So, okay, I undressed him and plopped him in the tub. He had SO much fun just splashing his arms in the water...and trying to grab Avery's toys. That last bit is finally becoming more of a constant problem, because Curran thinks that his brother's toys are really neat! And of course Avery doesn't like Curran drool on his toys...which leads me to one last scenario:

Poor guy, Avery was giving Curran a good night kiss (which can take a while because Curran doesn't always cooperate by putting his cheek in a kissable position), and Curran had just nursed and...well...Avery got spit up on just as Curran was trying to chew Avery's nose. To Avery's credit he stayed remarkably calm given that he had sour milk all over his face...poor guy :)

Saturday, December 1, 2007

Fun with words

So this charming guy loves exclamation points. He's stuck on "they make it LOUDER", as I told him at first. What a big mistake! Now he takes every "!" as a chance to shout out the phrase as we read. So Aric and I tried to explain that exclamation marks can also make it more emphatic or forceful.

"Can you say 'em-pha-tic'?" we ask.

He tries several times, not getting it right.

"em-pha-tic," we repeat.

Eventually he shouts, "EMPHATIC!" then with a grin, he says, "I made it LOUDER!"

Aric and I just had to bust up laughing. :)

Monday, November 26, 2007

This is the centerpiece that I built...

<--Here are the centerpieces that I made for Thanksgiving. All done with stuff around the house and mother nature. The quaich we used at our wedding also graced the table and began our meal with a sense of sincere affection.









Here --> are the monkeys that helped me collect the leaves and acorns to create the centerpieces that I made for Thanksgiving. Don't they look cute? Avery thought it was funny to let Curran fall over, so this picture took about a dozen tries to get!










<-- Here is the meal that we served for the monkeys who helped me collect the leaves and acorns to create the centerpieces that I made for Thanksgiving. *whew* It was a long two days of prep, but it was totally worth it! Our friend Joshua made killer cranberry sauce and candied yams. Pam baked cookies and everyone helped watch the kids, even Doug! Thanks for a great meal together you guys!

Sunday, November 11, 2007

I am Mother

The strangest thing happened last night: Curran was having a really rough time settling down to bed. Aric and I were trying to watch a movie, and had been interrupted at least three times as he woke up about 10 minutes after I'd put him down fully asleep. So there I was rocking him again, and just at the point where I might normally get upset that he was wakeful for no apparent reason, there was a cosmic *ca-chunk*. I felt peaceful, and suddenly I felt like a Mother.

"Silly Stacia," you might say,"you've been a mother for over three years now!" Yeah, but I've felt more like a young woman babysitting, compared to my image of my mother. There is a physical and emotional kind of presence I associate with mothers, and until last night I didn't feel that I possessed it. 'Mother' settled into me. I looked at my legs rocking the chair and realized those legs would hold children for years of reading and carry me on walks with them. I looked at my arms holding Curran and realized those arms would cuddle sick children and try to protect them when they got hurt. I felt like an anchor manifested for my kids, as my mother was for me.

This was a singular and unexpected experience, so I just thought I'd share :)
It feels good.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Dancing Green Ghosts, Batman!

Here is Avery to the right, very happy to be a green ghost for Halloween just like he wanted. (Mama's happy she managed to cut a circle with armholes, then hem it!) I also made his little treats bag out of skeleton fabric. We had to cut out the ghost's whole face because eyeholes and 3-year-olds just don't mix :) He made it to quite a few houses, but Grandpa did end up carrying him the last stretch home. Lollipops were his favorite to eat the rest of the night.

I thought the length of the the costume was perfect, but was unfortunately bad for stairs. And it seemed like EVERYONE around us had stairs - go figure!




To the left is Avery just before his first ballet class on Nov 2nd. He is with our neighbor Jane who happens to be taking the same class! He did really well following directions, and just did a lot of looking around during the free dance time, trying to figure out what he was supposed to be doing. His class has eleven other girls in it, so fairly sizable, but the teacher handles them really well. I was so proud of his 'leap over the pond'; he even held his arms out in 2nd!

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Tickle-me-Curran

Curran is a very ticklish boy, and he loves having his tummy nibbled on. Of course I always advise changing the diaper before you nibble on his belly :)

He also just loves getting his diaper changed. I don't know if he just really likes to be dry, or if he likes to be undressed. I hope it's the former, because that would make potty learning much easier!

The Halloween Carnival

The church where Aric is interning, St Luke Presbyterian, had a Halloween carnival yesterday. Avery LOVED it! He started out fishing (for toys), then had to try out the giant castle bouncy house.









Then he got his face painted with a very cool dragon - he said he wanted something scary and green. Below you see him wielding the dart for the dart game (where he popped one balloon).


Saturday, October 27, 2007

The new shoes:

Ta da! Here is Avery's first pair of ballet slippers. His are the black ones of course. When we came home from the dance store, mama had to get out her well-worn ballet slippers so we could practice positions together :)

Like every child I have ever known, he loves to see how wide he can get his feet in 2nd position!

Whether or not he enjoys creative movement/ballet is yet to be seen, since class starts on November 2nd. Wish him luck!

Monday, October 22, 2007

His first loaf

This is Avery a couple of months ago with his very first loaf of self-made bread. I laid out various bread ingredients in paper cups, and he added them together as he liked. (I just added water to get consistency kinda right.) I turned out a bit glutenous, but definitely edible! He was sooo thrilled with himself.

Serious gamer already...














Here's Curran really involved in his first Settlers of Catan game. He helped Nick decide what resources to use *wink* We let Avery play on pbskids.org while we played the board game, and near the end he came downstairs with nothing less then a printed coloring page - and we don't leave the printer on! I couldn't help but bust out laughing after he said, "Mom! It's not working, but I got this!" Kids really do pick up on technology, and I'm going to have to watch this one!

P.S. Curran should have been a gunslinger in the old west, because man you should have seen how fast his hand whipped out two days ago to SNACH the glasses clean off of Aric's face! I think it shocked both of them :)

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Enter teeth!...Banishing sandman...

This is a dramatization of what Curran looked like yesterday afternoon, and why? Well after various attempts to discover the reason, I found a very red spot on his gum. And what was in the middle of it? Well, his very first tooth coming in! Since I'm nursing I can't say I'm thrilled about the early teeth, but at least these last three weeks when I thought he was teething, he really was.

Oh, also deserving mention is the fact that he rolled from his belly to his back no less than three times yesterday. He still doesn't seem quite sure what happened after each time, but it must be okay because he kept on going!

Friday, October 19, 2007

Bugeyes and tracing














Here's Avery getting ready for Halloween; practicing being freaky already! He wants to be a green ghost for Hallow'een, so there's a trip to the fabric store planned for today. We'll see if I can pull off what is supposed to be the easiest costume ever.

The other picture is how Avery traces his letters. First he traces them, then gives them all eyes and mouth to the tune of "ojo, ojo, boca"; that is how I said it when I first gave the letters faces. He's done it ever since. It makes his letter practice a lot of fun for him, and if he gives any sad faces, then the letter beside them gets a happy face and tries to make the sad one feel better. Sometimes we also draw clouds or flowers to make the sad ones feel better too :)

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Finally, introducing the new family member!


If you can't tell by the delay, I've been rather busy caring for two little ones in our household. The cutie above is our son Curran. The name is Irish and means 'hero'. He was born on June 23rd in the wee hours of the morning. My husband delivered him beautifully; and after a little whiff of oxygen his purple tinge turned back into healthy baby color. My parents, sister, and mother in-law were all present for this spectacular event; while father in-law and sister in-law were caring for our 3-year-old. This event was also spectacularly painful since I didn't take any medicine or have nitrous like I did with my other son. Still, I don't regret the decision. Just when you think it's too much to bear, then baby comes out and relieves all the anxiety, yay!

Friday, June 1, 2007

Expecting:




So here I am. I just finished my last day of work, a mere two weeks before my due date! Don't I look magnificent? I cried a lot leaving my students; it was definitely the best long-term job I've ever had. The baby's still wiggling, trying to get comfy (just like mama), and I've been cleared by my doctor for natural childbirth, yay!!! Soon enough, the adventure will begin, but hopefully I can relax for a *little* bit before then :)

Saturday, April 21, 2007

On his own...


Here's my cute boy after making his own "bed". He also started making his own bologna sandwiches a couple weeks ago (which surprisingly almost made me cry). I never thought apron strings would be a problem for me, but I'm beginning to wonder... I'm 7 months pregnant now, and finding child-bearing in the USA to be far more complicated than it was in Scotland. I try not to stress, but sometimes I just feel like going out to the forest and giving birth on a picnic blanket for simplicities sake.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Bat Rays and Birthdays

The picture above is from January when I went to Germany with my father and sister. It was an amazing trip. My energy was a bit down being 4 months pregnant, but still so glad I went! I'll try and put up a complete post about that trip once I get all the files.

We just spent a wonderful weekend in the Monterey area! On Saturday the 17th we went to the aquarium with cousin Callee and Keenan. Avery seemed most amazed by the kelp tank, and said his favorite part was the live birds (that didn't fly away). He also spent a lot of time at the sea otter tank. Oh! I almost forgot...by far the favorite part for both Avery and Keenan was the swirling light on the floor. They chased it around and around until I almost lost my lunch, and no amount of, "Let's go to the jellyfish over here" could tear them away from it.

Sunday was spent wishing Aiden a happy birthday, and I must say, he was very generous and let Avery use his bed and bedroom...not to mention all his toys. The household was full and lively. I loved it! It was wonderful to see everyone again.