Lets Get Jumping!

We recently got out the Johnny Jump Up and Chan enjoys just hanging out in it.  At first he just spun around and pushed himself back and forth but now he's getting some small jumps in.  We have to be careful that Esme doesn't interfere too much cause she can really get that thing moving!  For the most part she's really gentle with her brother and always wants to be around him.  The other day while we were laying outside under the tree Esme leaned over and kissed Chan on the head and said, "I love you baby Chan."  I was shocked cause it just came out of nowhere but was so adorable.  

Faye's Daycare recently moved to a new house this past week.  It's just down the street from the original house but the nice thing is that the kids have much more room now.  It's a single story home and is completely devoted to the daycare and the yard is almost 3 times larger than the old house.  Esme gets excited to go there every morning and we're hoping that Chan will nap better at this house cause there's an entire room for the infants.  We learned that the reason he wasn't napping well before was because Esme was always fussing over him when he slept but now that he can sleep in the infant room with the door partially closed, she can't get to him as easily.

  

Esme trying to "help" baby Chan

Thanks Aunty Nicole for the fun onesie :)

Crescent Bar 2013

We had our annual weekend at Crescent Bar with the Haldey girls and Mitchell family this past weekend.  We didn't go boating on the river this year but we still had lots of fun with all our kiddos combined.  The girls definitely outnumbered the guys, 7 to 3!  But the kids don't outnumber the adults yet so we're still safe.  Ha ha!

Esme enjoyed her playtime with Libby and Natalie, riding on the golf cart, swimming in the pool, running on the golf course, and so much more.  It's hard to say what Chan enjoyed but he was relaxed like usual the whole time.  He seemed to be interested in baby Jordyn who's just 3 1/2 months older than him.

Esme slept on a twin mattress that was on the floor and did great.  She still sleeps in her crib at home and usually uses a pack-n-play when we're travelling.  We're thinking this might be a good time to transition her to a big girl bed since she did so well with it.  We just need to get a railing for the bed in our guest room where we'll transition her to.  Then baby Chan can go to the crib and then maybe he'd sleep better.  Maybe.........

It's been a long time since Esme's been in the Ergo

Our morning walk to the top of the hill 

Daddy Allen on baby duty with Chan and Jordyn

The kiddos combined!

Girls and golfcarts with the dads

Christy and I bonding while breastfeeding

Pool time with our little girls

Esme loves to hold baby Chan

Daddy Allen gets kid duty in the pool too

Peek-a-boo

TGIF!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our first official week of mommy and daddy working and both kids in school is over!  Amazingly we made it through just fine too.  We managed to have a warm home cooked meal for dinner every night, everyone got bathed and read to before bed, the laundry still got done, and the house stayed relatively clean.  I have no idea how it happened but it did.  We may have come close to a few meltdowns, kids and adults alike, but I think that was to be expected.  Ha ha!

Chan's slowly transitioning to the school environment.  He seems to be taking shorter naps there which I assume is because he's still adjusting to the noises and such.  He's taking his bottles just fine so I think he's finally getting used to that.  He gave Nana a hard time with them last week.  Strangely he didn't poop for four days after starting at Faye's so I don't know if that's his new schedule or if he just wasn't comfortable enough.  Regardless he didn't seem fussy so I wasn't too worried.  Apparently Esme is very protective of baby Chan when he's at school with her.  She's constantly reminding them that he's her brother and tells everyone how to take care of him.  Our bossy little girl!

Chan's really enjoying batting at objects in front of him these days and putting his hands in his mouth.  He's still working on getting his thumb in his mouth but it's not the most comfortable since he still clenches his fists shut most of the time.  He rolled over weeks ago but is slow to do it again, however he still enjoys his tummy time.  We're still working on his sleep routine too.  He was waking twice at night to feed but we're working on changing that to only once.  Now when he wakes up around 12-2am I just flip him to his stomach and he goes right back to sleep till at least 4am and that's when he nurses.  Maybe soon we can stretch that to a 6am feed and we'll be all good!  He continues to use his voice and is practicing his loud yell at random times.  It really surprises us when he does it and it makes Esme laugh.

Esme's also growing up a lot since baby Chan's arrived.  She continues to love singing and reading her books.  By far her favorite song is Happy Birthday and she sings it regularly and always inserts a different persons name.  Recently she's really been into imaginary play and make believe.  We love to hear the stories she tells us.  She likes to pick out her clothes and shoes in the morning and put them on herself.  And most of the time she's got it right with just a little help from someone.  This summer she's had fun eating the food from our backyard - apples, cherry plums and cherry tomatoes.  She likes helping daddy pick them and popping them right into her mouth.

Potty training was a complete success too since she was just ready.  I think we've had less than 5 accidents total since we started which is great.  What amazed us was how she stopped peeing during her nap time completely and at night she still wears a diaper but it's much less soaked in the morning.  We're still working on pooping in the toilet though.  Right now she asks us for a diaper just to poop in so we're giving her a little more time on that one.

Baby Chan turned 3 months old last week and Esme turned 2 1/2 this week!

It's moments like these that make it all worth it :)

  

First Day Of School

There were some tears at the airport yesterday when Nana left :(  We had such a great week together and she was such a big help that it was hard to see her go.  Esme kept trying to comfort me and asking "You wanna hug Mimi?" whenever she could tell I was getting sad.  She was also all ready to go on the plane with Nana so she could go see all her cousins and aunties and uncles in Hawaii.  Someday soon hopefully...

So now that Nana's gone it means that daycare is back open and so Chan and Esme started school together today.  Esme's been talking about this day for a long time now.  We kept telling her that when baby Chan got bigger he'd be able to go to school with her and the day has finally come.  Esme was very excited to take him to school with her and I was happy that I knew they'd both be in such a great place together.  Chan's the only infant at Faye's right now so that's nice too.  There were more tears again on my part when I dropped them off this morning but I was quickly distracted with work.  And I was soooooooooo happy to see them at the end of the day and to hear Esme's report on how Chan Chan did.  According to the sheet that got sent home he took 4 short naps so I assume he's getting used to his new surroundings and will sleep better soon.  He also ate up the 3 bottles I sent.

First day of school together

  

Summer Fun

Well it's been summer fun for the kids at least.  They've been home with Nana while mommy and daddy work which has made this transition easier.  Next week they'll both start at Faye's Bilingual Daycare.  I've been pumping at work and also running home during my lunch break to nurse Chan so that's one less bottle Nana has to feed him.  We made sure to offer him bottles since he's been born but he's been a little resistant this week.  I'm curious how it'll go once he starts daycare.  Of course I've missed him like crazy and he lets me know how much he's missed me too.  When I go home to nurse he latches on and won't get off for the longest time!  He's still sporadically waking up anywhere from 1-3 times at night and I'm working on cutting some of those out.  I think it's more habit than anything because he only nurses on one side and then falls asleep.  I would looooooooooove to get a full nights sleep soon!

This is what Esme wanted to wear to the pool on Sunday.  I couldn't convince her otherwise and she wouldn't even let me tuck those strings in.  She's very into her shoes too and always has an opinion on which ones she wants to wear.   

Chan fell asleep with his mouth on Nana's tasty knee while Esme enjoyed her swim time.  

Esme loves to hold her little brother and is very gentle with him.  Now that Chan's getting sturdier it's a little easier for him to sit in her lap without us worrying so much.

Chan Chan enjoying some one-on-one with Nana.  He's been giving her a hard time when taking the bottles of my pumped milk but otherwise he's loving the attention.

This was the day that Chan Chan found his thumb.  He's always been very oral and loves to suck but his pacifier never quite does the trick.  So now we have another thumb sucker in the family.  

Esme and Tabby enjoying a meal at Remlinger Farms together.  Cousins!

Another precious Esme and Chan moment.  

Summer Break

Faye's Bilingual Daycare is closed for summer break this week so Esme and Chan get to hang out with Nana!  Yes, that means I also went back to work this week but more on that subject later.  Nana came in late last Saturday night so she got to surprise Esme when she woke up the next morning.  Esme was all smiles and rollling around in her crib because she was so excited!  We spent Sunday at Esme's open swim time at the community pool, visiting with Aunt Trina who drove up from Portland, and getting Nana familiar with the kids routines.  They've kept her busy ever since!

It's been a nice transition to go back to work knowing the kids are home with Nana and then they'll both go to Faye's next week.  I was definitely sad driving to work though on Monday, more so than I think I felt with just Esme.   I worked Monday and then had my normal Tuesday off so that was also a nice way to transition into my week. Now it's Wednesday to Friday straight so we'll see how we do. I get to go home during my lunch break to nurse Chan so that's one less bottle Nana has to feed him. Apparently she's learned that he only takes them when he's happy and distracted. Otherwise if he's fussy then she can hardly get him to take anything. I miss him like crazy but he makes up for it in the evening. He's still waking up at least once at night and sometimes more. Those nights make for harder days at work but we're getting through it. Pics to come later :)

Lots of Talking

Baby Chan's found his voice this week!  He just loves to talk up a storm, day and night.  And he really likes it when we talk with him.  I took this video this morning while we were getting Esme ready for school.

He's also grabbing at objects and holding them in his hand.  Esme thinks this is soooooooo funny!  We have to stick with board books when we read to him because he's got an iron grip when he gets ahold of a page!  Soon he'll be ready for the Johnny Jump Up because he loves to stand and push up with his legs.  He just needs to work on his trunk strength a little more.

Esme's been doing awesome with the potty training and no accidents at school this week.  I must say, that's the nice thing about waiting so long until she's really ready.  She's great about telling us when she needs to go and running to the potty.  She's still worried about pooping and so she'll wait till she has a diaper on for nap or bedtime or she'll just ask to put one on at a random time to poop in.  I figure that'll just come with time.  Luckily she's not constipated though.  We used to struggle to get Esme to drink any liquids but since we've started potty training she's been drinking everything.  It's worked out great.