WATER BEADS AND KITTY KISSES

This was another idea from the Play At Home Mom site. We started "growing" them last night...

...and woke up to this:

James took a ridiculously short nap today (an hour and 10 minutes). So as not to disturb Cora (have I mentioned they nap on the same schedule finally - thank you K1 class!), we brought him upstairs to hang out with us. We broke out the water beads and played quietly in the sunshine. James' initial reaction was "impressed and excited":

But he quickly became very focused. We encouraged him to explore the texture with his hands and feet (but not to squish them). We talked about the colors ("boo", "puh-ple", and "geen" - or is that teal?...). We counted them (not ALL of them, obviously). We bounced them and spun them in circles in their bowls. We talked about not feeding them to the cats.

Sissy woke up before long and joined us. We kept the paci in her mouth to reduce the number of times we had to say "Cora, no eating the beads"...

They were even fun to roll on the floor...

And just to prove that we still love our cats, and our cats really do love our kids, here are Cora and Jude exchanging kisses after the water beads were put away for the day:

Usually, Jude prefers James (which make sense, since she was a little "mama cat" when he was a newborn, protecting him fiercely from Mouton and alerting us anytime he cried out by circling our feet) and Mouton prefers Cora. Of course, Mouton has less tolerance (and more stubbornness) than Jude. That doesn't stop Cora from chasing him and tackling him for hugs and "head love" and shrieking with joy whenever he walks into a room. She's just as stubborn as he is. And she has a bit of a cat-like personality to boot...

LITTLE FOOT

Cora has little feet, but they're growing. Lengthwise, anyway. They are SO narrow (just like her Mama's). Her size 3 shoes (6-9 months) suddenly have no room left for her toes (even though there's a good half inch of width or more unused, which makes her foot slide around). Luckily, I had two pairs of size 4 shoes stowed away just for this occasion. She tried them on, at the same time (and wouldn't take them off)...Unfortunately, these are the same brand (Smaller, by See Kai Run - our FAVORITE for James) and thus the width problem is only magnified with the larger size. So I'm on the hunt for narrow toddler shoes. Let me know if you have any suggestions!In the meantime, hopefully she can get away with wearing these with socks.Muah!

2ND CHILD + FEARLESS & INDEPENDENT PERSONALITY = OUCH

GOOD MORNING SPLASH

The weather is tolerable today. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say it's NICE. If only the Mississippi summers had more days like this! We took advantage and let the kids enjoy some time at the splash park this morning (while we enjoyed some adult conversation with our buddies). They waited patiently for their friends to arrive before we set them loose.Will Will was the first on the scene.Followed closely by Manu.We were only missing Desi. And David. And Azure. And Coltin. And Gabriel. And Marion and Mason and Grady, but they're too little to splash. LOVE that our kids' group of playmates is growing! So happy that we are able to set up so many play dates for them on the weekends these days! And just can't believe how adorable all these kiddos are!!Perhaps today will be Manu's last day as an only child? Sophie is 40 weeks TODAY, so we're all ready to meet the newest little man on the block! Probably not as ready as she is though. 40-weeks in August can't be easy, though she sure makes it look that way. Sophie, you look as amazing as ever. We're so excited for you and Alex and Manu. Come on out little man!

ROCK ON

PRECIOUS

There is nothing more precious than a sleeping baby...

...well, other than a sleeping baby that is napping on a schedule (hooray for the rigidity of the K1 class). And without a paci, like a big girl (we're super impressed that this transition has gone so well). Oh, and through the night too - we've been hesitant to blog about it, but Cora is FINALLY sleeping through the night again (more nights than not, anyway)! It's been a LONG 8 months without sleep, so we are beyond thankful for this recent change. And it's SO nice having a baby who wakes up happy and rested in the morning. See Sissy? Sleeping is good for you too. Mama and Daddy weren't being selfish all those nights when we begged you to sleep for 8-10 hours straight!

POSSESSION

I forget exactly when it started, since he's been doing it for a while now, but it's become so common lately that I thought it was worthy of recording: James is VERY into labeling things by who they "belong" to these days...

For example, on the way home from daycare, as we turn onto Nailor Road (2 turns from home), he'll say "Almost to James' house". He knows that the Jetta is "Daddy's car" and the Odyssey is "Mama's car". Likewise, he knows that the blue travel mug holds "Daddy's coffee" and the red is "Mama's coffee". And the black iPhone is "Daddy's phone", while the blue one is "Mama's phone". This is very convenient when I've forgotten my coffee in another room or my phone rings out in the kitchen - James is more than happy to go retrieve them for me!

He is very protective of his shoes. Probably because Cora is so obsessed with EVERYONE's shoes. Not just her own. He'll tell her "No Cora. Those James' shoes. Not Cora's shoes."

He labels all his toys: "That's James' airplane.", "MY monkey!", "My build it. Those James' blocks.", etc.

If you ask him to share his food or drink with you, he will refuse, saying "My some. My eat it." or "No JAMES' bite!"

If he sees one of his friends arriving or leaving daycare, he'll point to their parent's car and say "Coltin's car" or "Kade car". He also likes to show me other kids' sippy cups or shoes.

And this morning he didn't want to wake up, so Jay was trying to snuggle him awake. Hugging and tickling and pretending to eat his ears. James turned to him and said "No Daddy. MY ears. No eating the James."

FULL CIRCLE

Cora had her last bottle last night. When we got home from work yesterday and I was repacking daycare bags and sippy cups, I noticed that we had just one bottle liner left. Since we were planning to bottle wean her soon anyway, I figured yesterday was as good a time as any. And I thought it would be fitting to have Jay give her her last bottle at bedtime, just as he was the one to give her her first bottle almost 13 months ago, when she was only 5-weeks-old. Baby Doll sure has grown and changed a lot in the past year, and I could tell it was bittersweet for Jay to feed her last night, especially since he probably only bottle fed her about 10 times throughout the year (because he supported me in my decision to pump less and nurse more this time around, so there have been very few opportunities for him to give a bedtime bottle, and even fewer opportunities where he was alone with her during the day during feeding time).

There is something so sweet about seeing a daddy feed his baby the milk that mama made... I am thankful for these photos, and for the constant support and encouragement that Jay has provided. Last week was World Breastfeeding Week, and I couldn't have been more proud to be celebrating for my 3rd year in a row, something I never could have done without him.

K1 FOR CORA

While James headed to the doctor with Mama this morning, Cora started her first day in the K1 class. Our Baby Doll is a big girl, hanging with the 1-year-olds. So far, she is the only baby that moved up (Bella Kate isn't walking yet and Madison is still taking lots of bottles), so with James, Gabriel, Kade (Bella Kate's big bro - they're Irish Twins), and Zach moving up, there are still a lot of empty seats at the table... (When I sent these photos to Cora's grandmas earlier today, "Gamma" told me that she knew Cora was special, but had no idea she could replace FOUR kids! Ha!)That's Camille, John Thomas, and Will enjoying lunch with Cora. Poor Sissy, EVERYONE has more hair than she does. Even the boys.

We sent Cora with her one bottle today, just to help her adjust. We'll be giving her yogurt with dinner now, since she won't be getting spoon-fed for breakfast at daycare anymore. I hear she ate a great breakfast, lunch, and snacks, and she was finishing her 2nd sippy of coconut milk when I picked her up at 5:00.

Her teacher texted me after lunch to let me know that Cora slept very well during her first 12:00-2:00pm nap on a cot. Hooray for Sissy adjusting so well the first day! Who would have thought? Perhaps the fact that she woke up at 4:30am aided in her naptime compliance though...

HALF A DOZEN

This makes the 6th time James has had croup.

Saturday evening, he seemed a bit off his game (staring into space, not eating as well as usual), but had no signs of sickness. Then he woke up with the tell-tale cough on Sunday morning. And a slight fever. Throughout the day, his cough got worse, his fever spiked 102.5, he didn't want to eat (not even a milkshake!), his eyes were constantly watering, his nose was constantly running, and his throat was swollen (he willingly let us take a look, then started to inform us that it "huht" every time he coughed - poor kid). Yup, it was a doctor visit kinda day today. Luckily, we were in and out within 30 minutes this morning (that's a record, I'm pretty sure!) and sent home with an Rx and a shot in the leg. James was SO good for 3 hours at work with me (he watched WALL-E by request, for the 4th time since Saturday... it's hard to deny a sick kid), then we packed it in to get him home in time for nap. He barely lasted 2 minutes in the car before he was out cold...

"JUMP CORA!"

Remember how I said that Cora is growing by leaps and bounds these days? Well today she surprised us again. This evening, as we were playing after dinner, James started jumping down the hall. And monkey see, monkey do - Cora had to try it too. She's been bouncing in her crib for about 2 months now. Whenever she is ready to get up, she grabs the rail and bounces and whines and screams until we come to her rescue. Seeing her attempt to bounce (I mean, jump) without the crib rail had us cracking up. Her too.

Oh, and don't mind James and his crazy-eyed, dizzy spinning. I didn't even notice it until I uploaded the video tonight. That boy is something else...

MR. GRADY

On Friday we had the pleasure of meeting adorable little Grady and spending some time with his awesome mamas (when we weren't chasing our 2 munchkins around their house... Cora became comfortable over there surprisingly quick, and she was into EVERYTHING)! Even the kiddos thought he was cool:

It's so hard to believe Cora was once that small (Grady was born 2 weeks ago, and had almost the same stats as Cora, weighing in at 6 lbs 3 oz and 18.5 inches). It was so fun to hold such a precious little newborn again. Of course, when it was my turn, all he wanted was his mama (both times)!It's OK buddy, I totally understand. Mamas have the good stuff, after all. Congratulations Lauchlin and Olivia, we are so happy for you both!

FITTING

When I saw these jammies, I knew Cora just HAD to have them:

So fitting, right?

And speaking of fitting, while Cora is likely to fit in her 12-month and 18-month clothes and jammies for a LONG while still, we have had to bump James up to 3T for jammies. He can still easily fit into 2T shorts (or even 24-month, for that matter, since his little booty doesn't hold his bottoms up as well without the cloth diapers!) and 2T shirts (though he can definitely wear some 3T shirts without looking like he's playing dress-up in daddy's clothing, depending on the brand), but jammies must run smaller. ALL brands. That's OK. He wears his jammies out quickly anyway (since we tend to hang out in them all day long on the weekends...)

JUST WHAT WE WERE HOPING FOR

When I was newly pregnant with Cora, finding out we were going to be having 2 babies so close together, the thing that we hoped for the most was that James and his little sibling would become good friends and playmates at an early age. Siblings are wonderful gift. And while there can be jealousy and anger at times, it's really surprising us how quickly our little ones are becoming pals these days.

I actually snapped this photo 1.5 minutes after putting James in time-out for smacking Cora on the head. They had played SO WELL together all day long, but were getting a bit punchy as the dinner hour rolled around. James climbed up into the jumperoo (don't ask me how - he's a little monkey) and Cora thought it was awesome. Of course, as soon as she came over to investigate, he told her "No Sissy! My jump! Go away Cora!", then smacked her on the head. We don't give a 1, 2, 3 warning when hitting is involved. In our house, hitting (or biting, or kicking, or sassy backtalk for that matter) results in immediate time-out. James sat in place on the bottom step for all of 30 seconds before he stuck his head around the corner into the kitchen saying "Be nice to Sissy?", basically asking me if he could get up if he 'promised' to be nice. I told him no, of course. Time-out is time-out. He's 2-years-old, he gets 2 minutes. Cora had other plans though. She doesn't hold a grudge (with James anyway - with us she can stay furious for upwards of 20 minutes if she's so inclined). She walked right over and sat down next to him. So what's a mama to do? I told him to tell her sorry and give her a hug. Then they sat there smiling at each other and being adorable. So I had to grab the camera.

ICE PAINTING

I was recently introduced to a blog/facebook group called Play At Home Mom. These ladies have some great ideas for entertaining kids in new and interesting ways, encouraging them to branch out and explore new textures and colors and cause and effect relationships. After finding their group, my list of "to do" adventures with the kids is growing longer than my notepad allows. Not that we're usually lacking in entertainment around here - we're not, but sometimes it's nice to let someone else do the thinking for you. And the planning and instructing. Not to mention letting them be the guinea pigs. So, if you have little ones at home that could use some unique activities now and then, I highly recommend you check out Play At Home Mom.

Our first activity from their list was ice painting, and it was definitely a hit! I squirted a couple drops of food coloring into an ice cube tray (making different colors for each cube), added water, and stuck it in the freezer for a few hours. After nap this afternoon, we stripped the kids to their shorts and diaper, and let them explore. James liked it from the start and knew just what to do.

(Yes, the moon, star, and heart are MY creations. James asked me to "Color too Mommy?")

Cora was far more interested in eating the ice. Which led to an interesting technique for her painting. Might even be office-worthy/frame-able...

We'll certainly paint with ice again. Cleanup was easy (we just filled the kiddie pool and let the kids soak for an hour, while eating real popsicles and taking breaks to run through the sprinkler), the kids were happy (James was so happy with me today that he even shared his "cho-cat milk" with me at dinner), and it was a great way to stay cool in the August heat.

I think our next PAHM activity will be water beads...

BIG MAK

Cora's future husband was born on August 1, 2011. We made the arrangements when he was 12-hours-old. That's not too soon, is it? And she's a lucky girl, because he is BEAUTIFUL!

My best friends, Robyn and Stephen, welcomed Christopher Makai Johnson to their family. He was a week late, but I figure he was just waiting for the start of Shark Week. Those of you who know Stephen realize how fitting that is.

He weighed in at 8 lbs 7 oz and was 22.5 inches long. Big and TALL!

For anyone not in the know, Robyn and Stephen moved to Maui almost a year and a half ago. In Hawaiian, Makai means "by the sea". We think his name is perfect. He is perfect. And we couldn't be happier for our friends, who are so deserving of this joy! We wish we could witness their happiness in person, because we're pretty sure little Christopher's birth ranks right up there with their wedding day.

Congratulations again you guys, we love you!

(And no, they haven't decided on a nickname for him yet. Maybe once he's been around a bit longer. The possibilities are endless though! And personally, I like Big Mak!)

PANTLESS FRIDAY

What? You don't do Pantless Friday?

HOLY HADES!

The temperature was near unbearable yesterday. The car thermometer read 117 when we cranked it on at 5:00pm after work. 117! Holy Hades!

Can't we just skip August?...

In celebration of these record highs, we attended a work picnic for Jay's team. Outside. In the heat. It was so dang hot that nobody wanted to eat. Not anything but the cool salads (and cold beers), anyway. Our kids ate cake. And ran around in the freshly-mowed lawn until they were drenched in sweat with red faces and their little bodies were covered in grass clippings. Bedtime baths for babies became cool showers for everyone, and we all managed to fall asleep minus the sweat and stay asleep all night (yay Cora!).

Now, if only we could all get away with wearing "bubble" outfits like Cora for the rest of the summer...

ANOTHER MONKEY

I LOVE when she sits like this! And I love these jammies, one of the few "gender neutral" hand-me-downs we kept for her from her big bro.

ALL ABOUT CORA: 13.5-MONTHS-OLD

This girl of ours is impressing us daily. And since I didn't do a 13-month post, I figured I might as well do a 13.5-month post. That should get us through to 15-months, right?

Her skill set is growing at a rapid rate. Really. We had forgotten how fast things go once they hit 13-months... She's walking faster every day and becoming more and more agile (she can walk up and down stairs while holding onto one of our hands or the rail, she can spin on a dime, she slides off the couch and beds with ease, she jumps/bounces high while holding onto her crib rail, and she can get herself up off the ground by squatting without even using her hands for assistance). She knows where things go (for example, she knows where to find her shoes, she puts her baby doll in her cradle, she understands that the phone goes to your ear and the toothbrush goes in your mouth, and she puts books back on the bookshelf). She follows simple commands (such as "Take your shoes to Daddy", "Hand Mama your cup", "Find the ball", "Put your baby in her cradle", and "Don't touch the trash can"). She still loves to clap and dance, and will break into it the second you start singing to her, especially if it's the "Happy and you know it" song. She has over a dozen words/phrases already (car - which was her first word way back when, though she never really says it anymore, Mama - often said in a whine and with a cajun feel to it "Maman!", Dada or "Da-gu", uh-oh, whoa, go, Cora, hello - usually said while 'answering' a phone, bye-bye - said while waving, up - when she wants to be picked up of course, mine - she learned that one from James perfectly!, thank you - sounds like "kane-ku" and she even uses it correctly!, I got it - another phrase copied from James and while she doesn't say it clearly we know what she's saying, boop and poop - which she repeats whenever one of us says them), and ball (her latest word, which she says surprisingly clearly). I guess she tricked us with all those months of silence. She may not have been a babbler, but she's definitely going to be a talker!

She is down to one bottle per day at daycare (right after lunch/before naptime) and is taking two sippy cups of coconut milk. We used the last of my freezer stash on Friday, and I only had enough breastmilk for one bottle this morning, so there you have it. I refuse to put coconut milk in a bottle at this point, so she's moving up. I'm still pumping twice/day at work, so I'm still getting enough for one full bottle each day. Next week she moves up to the K1 room at daycare though, where bottles are not "allowed". We'll see what happens... She always holds her own bottle at daycare anyway (and has since she was really little, like around 5 months), so I wouldn't doubt her new teacher will let her drink from a bottle at lunch for a week or so while she transitions. We're not stressing over the transition from bottle to sippy this time though. Not like we did with James (Is he still getting enough milk? Is he staying hydrated? Is he getting enough calories every day?) She's not going cold-turkey, so she'll get used to it. She's getting to be a big girl already...

She's gaining again now that she's feeling better, but isn't up much. The home scale put her at 19.6 lbs tonight.