Sprout Spot: October 2007

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Shaped Up

Last weekend we took Anna for her very first haircut. We went to a kids salon (if you can call a place like that a salon) and she was pretty happy when we walked in because they have a big jungle gym right next to the seats and almost every child there had either a balloon or a sucker. They also have little race cars and things for the kids to sit in during their haircut, and every one faces a TV where they can watch a movie or play a video game. She sat in a pink jeep and watched a Dora movie and frowned through her entire haircut, but she didn't cry or try to get away! That's a success!

I took this picture the night before. I was getting a little sad about changing her in any way.

Here I am asking the hairdresser if she could cut Anna's hair, but don't really ya know, change anything? Like trim it but keep her looking as much like a baby as possible?

Frowny and not pleased, but tolerating it.

That Dora movie saved the day! What a cute daddy too :)

Through the entire haircut Anna was saying, "I need a sucker. I need a sucker.". Here she is doing a little dance while I opened the wrapper.

So you're probably wondering where the after picture is, but she really doesn't look any different. All we had them do was trim the longer scraggly pieces, and she even put in a few layers to keep Anna's curls nice and fluffy. They gave us a little first haircut certificate and her picture is this hilarious frowny face, but it was so her that we just loved it. She's older than most of the kids getting the first haircut package, so saying her name and waving wasn't enough to get her to smile at the camera. Plus they were blocking the Dora movie.

Monday, October 29, 2007

More Fall Fun

This weekend we were busy. But almost all of it was fun! Saturday we took Ruby to the vet (no fun for her) and then took Anna to get her very first hair cut (pictures coming soon). Afterward we were thinking about going and buying some mums for our porches, as our house is looking a little sad since we cut down all of the 40 year old landscaping. On our way home from the haircut we passed a garden center that had a ton of mums and really good prices. It was overcast and a tiny bit rainy, but we still had fun!

Hey da da, you want some of these gourds?

Anna called this area the "flowery garden"

Her favorite part of the whole thing was running across the grass yelling, "Catch me da da!". This went on for quite a while.

She wasn't so sure about this guy, but she had to check him out. As we were walking away I saw her turn back around and say, "Whoa. He's big.".

More flowery garden

Noah was a little cold, a little bored, a little squishy...

Anna thought she could pull the flowers and pumpkins around, but she didn't get far ;)

Once back in the car, Noah and Anna were happy and warm.

Now that we're home, Anna loves walking to the door to see the mums and pumpkins on the porch. But she hasn't forgotten the day that she stood there and watched her daddy cut down our trees. Today as we were leaving the gym she said, "Leaves are falling on the ground. Those leaves are on the tree. Hey mommy, let's cut it down!".

Friday, October 26, 2007

"I was so very excited...."

Today Noah had his 6 month checkup, and both kids got their flu shots. The only available appointment was at 2p.m., right in the middle of Anna's normal nap time. I was worried about how it would go, especially considering she hadn't had any shots since she was 18 months old, too young to really see what was coming or remember it the next time we were there. Luckily Nathan had the day off and he came along to help.

Noah did just fine. He's growing and developing right on track. His weight gain has slowed a bit which we already knew, and now he's about 16 pounds. He's still tall for his age at almost 28 inches long. They recommended that we increase his baby food and told us that we can go ahead and start things like whole milk yogurt, which Anna didn't get until she was 9 or 10 months old. The doctor also confirmed what mommy had feared...two bottom teeth coming in fast! He got the usual shots and a finger stick to check his hemoglobin because he is "so fair complected" (turned out fine - he's just pale like his parents!).

Anna, unfortunately, had a much more difficult time. While waiting for the nurse to bring in the vaccines, she told us she needed to go potty. We really played up the idea of going on the "special doctor's potty" (you do what you gotta do, people!). Nathan was taking her out, when she stuck her fingers back in and got them smashed in the door. An ice pack, a sticker, and a check from the doctor and she was sniffling and telling us that she was okay. While the nurse was setting up Noah for his shots, we were talking about how Anna had gotten hurt and in a little sad voice she said, "I was so very excited". How cute is she?! All that talk about the special potty must have worked! She willingly got up on the table and laid down but that shot was a serious shock and I think I temporarily lost my hearing from the screaming that came next. But one mention of a sucker from the front desk, and she was ready to go again.

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Can-cakes!

What a happy day for Anna when her daddy decided to make a big stack of pancakes, something she asks for at least 10 times every day. She doesn't need any butter or syrup, just one "can-cake" to go, thank you very much.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Six Months

Noah turned six months old this week and I was determined to get his picture taken, since 3 months had flown by before we even knew it. He threw on a doggie sweater, some corduroys, and a jaunty little hat and we were off. I hoped to get a good sibling shot too, since we have so few of them together. We started with Noah, since the appointment was really for him, and I figured Anna could jump in on the last few if he was still happy.

I thought he might be sleepy, but luckily he was all smiles:

Anna was definitely not feeling smiley. She was terrified of the backdrop, the lights, the people, everything. We told her there was no need to be afraid, that we were staying close by. So then she just ran away crying, "I don't need to be scared! I don't need to be scared!". We tried to get her to hold Noah but just like at home she didn't really want him touching her, and she really needed to because he was falling over!

One of the guys working there started fake sneezing and that got her attention just long enough for her to stop crying and look a teeny tiny bit happy. It helped that we moved Noah too. Yay! A descent brother sister shot!

Thursday, October 18, 2007

My boys

What can I say? I love the bald one and the not so bald one so so so much. How cute are they?

It was so funny. Nathan asked me to take a few pictures of him and Noah, and Noah kept making these funny faces, sucking on his bottom lip and smiling at the same time. He was also humming a happy little song.

I like how he's doing ninja moves in this one. Karate chop!

But being a male model can make one sleepy :)

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Applesauce!

All the baby books and magazines tell you that it's best to wait until 6 months to start babies on solid food, to avoid allergies and all that bad stuff. We were only about a week away, so I thought we might make it but Noah seemed to be grouchy all the time and nothing I was doing would make him happy. So I decided that the next day I would feed him as much as he wanted, just as an experiment to see if he was more content. So we went ahead and started baby food and guess what....he was happy all day! He made a little sour face on his first few bites, but he went on to eat the entire container. And that was after nursing and a bowl of cereal! He liked it so much that he kept trying to grab the spoon and ended up with applesauce on his helmet!

With Anna I was insistent that we begin with vegetables but Noah got the good stuff right away. Lucky second baby gets the more laid back mama ;)

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Matilda Jane

Oh how I love this dress. I have been drooling over these clothes for years but I never wanted to spend the money on them while Anna was growing so insanely fast. Yes, she's still growing crazy fast but at least now I know we will get through the fall and winter and possibly even the spring before she outgrows it. The girls on the website wear jeans under theirs and you better believe Anna will be doing the same! Luckily, she loves her dress as much as we do. It is perfect for twirling after all.

And just when I start to think she looks like me....

Nathan goes and records more proof that she will always be his mini-me. I give up.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Funny Girl

Anna has been cracking me up lately with the little conversations we have. The more she learns to talk the funnier she gets!

Today, on the way home from lunch out with friends, she said from the backseat:

Anna: Mommy, I have an idea!

Me: You do? What is your idea?

Anna: It's magical!

I'm still wondering what the actual idea was, but I guess it was a good one!

The other day we were leaving the gym, and we pulled up next to a work truck that had a Shop Vac vacuum in the back. You couldn't really see the vacuum but the long hose was all wound around the top and we could see it over the edge of the truck bed. Pretty intriguing for Anna, who thought that hose was something much more exciting:

Anna: Look mommy! It's an elephant!

Me: Oh yeah? That does sort of look like an elephant's trunk doesn't it?

Anna: Maybe because it is one mommy.

She wasn't trying to be smart. She said it in such a sweet little way, like she was just helping her poor confused mommy who couldn't see the big elephant in the truck right next to her.

I just love talking to that girl!

Monday, October 08, 2007

Flashback

I know pretty much all 5 month old babies enjoy playing with their feet, but not all babies play with their feet while wearing a helmet! When I was changing Noah the other day I had a major flashback to when Anna was the same age. Sure enough I looked back through my pictures and found this:

September 2005

October 2007

Floppy

The little sprouts are not feeling so well. This weekend Noah was having trouble keeping his food down and last night Anna started the same thing and spiked a fever. Luckily, Noah seems to be all better, eating all day (nothing new there) and being smiley and happy again. Anna started out super sad and snuggly but as the day goes on she's eating a bit more and she's starting to giggle and talk more, even if it is from a couch piled high with pillows and blankets. Anna hasn't been sick like this since she could talk in full sentences, and it's so sad to hear her say, "I just a little bit sickie, mommy". We were supposed to go swimming with Ashley, Kate and Kendall on this 94 degree (!) October day, but we had to cancel.

Noah had a happy morning. In this picture you can sort of see that he's getting some hair. See it? If you squint and use your imagination a little?

Here's the floppy girl. I couldn't get a picture of her this morning where she wasn't rolling around either on the floor or the couch.

Unfortunately now the mama is starting to feel queasy, but I'm telling myself that it's just from a lack of sleep last night (fingers crossed).

Friday, October 05, 2007

Boredom Relief

Some days Anna gets a little stir crazy. It seems like she's always having to wait on me while I attend to Noah's needs and more than once lately she's yelled out, "Now I have nothing to do!", followed up by a few cries of, "Put Baby Noah in da bed!". So I was super excited to find this list, and we are slowly but surely making our way from 1 - 50. Mood changers are just what we need most days!

So hopefully she will have something to do instead of just staring at rocks on the driveway...

and waiting for that baby to finally get interesting.

Good thing this little noodle is still perfectly happy to chew on his hands all day!

Thursday, October 04, 2007

From my sister

My sister sent me this email (with pictures) the other day and it was so funny that I had to copy it here word for word. She has some good ideas!

I don't see why you bought Halloween costumes for your kids when you already had so many good options right there at home. :)

Disgruntled Chef

Hula Girl

Football Player

Mummy

Yeah, why did I buy costumes? Ha!

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

At the pumpkin patch

This weekend we took all the kiddies to pick pumpkins. It was the perfect day for a toddler. Her friends were there, she got to take a hay ride, she picked pumpkins, played on the playground, saw lots of animals, jumped on the jumping pillow and then had ice cream. So fun!

The concrete animals were the least scary and the most fun:

The pumpkin patch wasn't her favorite but she was still feeling kind of sad from getting her first bee sting on the hay ride :( Plus she thought the pumpkin vines were snakes.

Umm, wouldn't it be easier to just pick one out of this crate?

You don't generally see too many windmills in the city. Here she is looking at one and yelling, "Whas that?! Whas that?! Whas that?!".

Best friends in the wagon:

The cutest cow and pig that I've ever seen:

Coming out of the underground slide:

The little farmer boy enjoying some helmet free time to feel the wind in his....baldness?

Our blue eyed boy :)

This picture cracks me up. It's like Kendall is a scary monster sneaking up on Anna and Anna's face is saying, " What? A monster? Where?". Little cuties :)

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