Swimming

Julia loves, loves, loves to "swim" without her swim floats on. She dives under water and wriggles around collecting dive sticks.  As far as I know, she figured most of this out on her own.  I'll admit I'm making that assumption based on the fact that I have yet to see anyone successfully instruct her how to do anything.  She listens for half a second and then just wants to try it on her own.  We'll see how preschool goes this year :)  Should be interesting.

She's in the red and orange swimsuit.  The boy that keeps yelling her name (that she keeps ignoring) is her good friend, Aydin.  Dax shows up at the end of the first video in his green swimsuit.  And that's probably all you need to know about it ... possibly more than you wanted to know :)

Car Conversation

(Please excuse my frog croak of a voice. It is Spring and we live in East Tennessee. 'Nuff said.)

(Also, for those who don't know, "Nanna" is Dave's Mom and "Pappa" is Dave's Dad.)

Today's Snippet

A lazy day in PJs before the start of a crazy week of playdates ...

(WARNING: A rather lengthy video)

Where Was Julia?

While Dax was climbing caterpillars at the baby playground at the mall, Julia was running around the same playground gathering a group of friends. Julia loves to play with her "frens," but often in cases where we are at the playground or mall, she doesn't know anybody. Not that it stops her from calling every little girl her "fren." The only problem is that she is too shy to actually go up and introduce herself (especially if Mom is watching!) so she ends up running about three feet behind some little girl that has no idea why this three-year-old seems to be chasing her. Depending on the girl, I either end up with Julia having a great time running around and eventually interacting with her "fren," or I end up with Julia in tears, crying that "my fren not pway wif me." (My friend not play with me.) In this instance, Julia ended up in a large group playing "Ashes"

To Get The Full Effect ...

... you really need to experience his Little Boy Voice crying, "Wook at meeeee! Wook at meeeee!" over and over and over again. It actually makes it even cuter (hard to believe that's possible)


Edited: I remembered this video on my phone that I took at the "baby playground" at the mall. You can barely hear his "Wook at meeeee!" over the noise of the crowd (around the 21 second mark and again, but softer, around 29 seconds in), but it's all I've got right now :)

"The Zebra Movie" (Madagascar)

My gracious, these children love this movie. We watch it about four times a week. I'd like to blame that on the rainy, cold weather, but the truth is that I love, love, love watching their response to the start of the movie. Can you blame me?

(WARNING: Long video)





Some things to know:
1) That's the second? no, third day in a row that Dax has worn those pants. He loves them and throws a massive fit if we take them off.

2) Julia laughs every time Alex pops up and scares Marty.

3) Yes, we've repeatedly told Julia that Alex is a lion, not a tiger, but she doesn't care.

4) The kids have had runny noses and coughs. That's why Julia sounds so odd and keeps licking her upper lip. Gross, I know.

5) Julia narrates the beginning of the movie the same way every time. She usually gets more enthusiasm and response from Mama which is why she keeps looking at me.

6) Dax just recently started raising his arms at the start of the movie. Before, he would just spend the time pointing and grunting.

Rollin' With The Changes

We are once again changing things around here. Due to some issues with accessibility, we'll be moving back to an open blog.

*ahem*

If those of you who have been able to access the blog would kindly stop rolling your eyes and refrain from commenting that the others haven't missed much, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank You.



I have a little bit of an excuse for the past couple of weeks.

I headed West ...



And my traveling companions were ...

Sporty Dwarf

Disgruntled Dwarf

and

Fuzzy Dwarf

We didn't do much sightseeing.

Although Echo kept trying to see beyond the backyard ...


And who could blame her? Things were so interesting out front ...



We did get in some shopping ...



And Julia played her first computer game (I love the way she nods her head to tell Natalia that "Yes, she can take that lawn mower and mow the lawn") ...





Dax was busy, too. He showed Grayson how to walk :)


The kids were super helpful on the way home ...


And didn't complain at all about not being able to sit in their high chairs to eat their peanut butter sandwiches ...



But lest you think I'm some kind of SuperWoman that drove the nine hours straight by myself, think again. We took a little detour to a lovely lake house in Gallatin, TN where Julia was able to ride the "little boat." (She remembered going out on the boat the last time we were at Aunt Bev and Uncle Richard's house. When we got to their house this time, she told him all about how she was going to put on her "pinck like jackek" (pink life jacket) and go out on the boat. And there was no way Uncle Richard could refuse! But the big boat wouldn't start so he ended up taking Julia out on the "little boat" aka the jet ski.)





The kids did really great on the car ride(s), but Echo was by far the best traveler of all of us. Next time, maybe I'll take her with me and send the kids an alternate way ...


(And, yes, I did take my nice Nikon with me. I just didn't turn it on. In fact, it hasn't been used much this summer at all. Which is a little bit of a bummer, but I'll try to do better!)

And just to make this post even longer, I'll tell you that my brother finally installed Photoshop on my computer and so I zipped over to Pioneer Woman's website to download her Action Sets so I could play with our pictures. (The one of the kids in the box went through her "Boost" action and the "Slight Lighten" action. She's going to make my photos look good!)

The Seventies Action is by far my favorite ...



But I also like the Old West ...

Olympic Material?

or

When Did My Babies Grow So Big?!?!?!

Just In Case

You get the mistaken impression that our children are little angels ...

Bounce USA

I took the kids to Bounce USA the other day. Julia had a blast! Dax hated it. I had to carry him around the whole time. I wish I had video of me trying to carry Dax while rescuing Julia from the giant obstacle course inflatable. She insisted on going in and wouldn't let me come with her. I watched other kids start the course after her and come tumbling out of the finish with no sign of Julia. Finally I heard, "Help you me!" and had to go in after her. It was fun except for the crying little monkey I had clinging to my front :) Julia then moved on to the giant slide and spent the majority of her time on it. She went down so often she had burn marks on her elbows. Here's our brave girl showing her complete lack of "Wait Your Turn" skills (She's in khaki pants and a red shirt)





I think we'll be heading here more often once the weather gets too cold to play outside!

DaxMan Talking

For those of you concerned about the lack of posts focusing on funny things that Dax says around here, I hope this post sets you at ease. Frankly, the reason for the lack of DaxQuotes is that his most frequent vocal expressions are grunts:



What he's trying to let you know in that video is that there is a picture of a DOG! DOG! DOG! DOG! on that piece of paper. (That's the children's menu from Applebee's. I wish I had taken the video while we were there. Because there's nothing like fifteen minutes of excited grunts from a 17-month-old in the middle of a crowded restaurant as he tries to tell you, with increasing volume, that he sees his favorite animal in the whole wide world.)


But, I'm being a little unfair. Dax can indeed (when he wants to) say a few words ...

no: "nuh-uh"
yes: "uh-huh"
Mama: "ma-ma"
Daddy: "da-da"
cracker: "cra-ker"
ball: "bah"
help: "hup"
and his favorite ...
Echo: "ah-HOE!!!"

He's just not really interested in performing for the camera ...

Late, But Still Cute

Julia practiced and practiced for Daddy's birthday. (The kids are playing with the bottles from Dave's birthday present. We currently have a plastic keg in our closet just a fermenting away.)

You Should Really Check This Out!

Tuesday night we were hanging out in the kids' room and Dave tried to get Dax to walk for the camera ...



(He does best with small objects in his hands. We think it tricks him into thinking he actually is cruising.)

And I would like to say that I cannot believe my baby will be ONE YEAR OLD in nine days!!!! He'll be facing forwards in the car and we'll be able to send all our bottles to the recycle bin (unless someone requests them ... we've got Soothies and Vent-Aires and Drop-Ins and a Nuby and possibly one or two other random brands) I don't think I'm ready for this yet ...

Our Days, Part Three

5:45pm - DADDY'S HOME!!!! Everyone celebrates his arrival :) He and Julia let Echo out to run while they go out to get the mail. Dax watches them through the door. Once back inside, David heads to our room to change and kindly takes all our critters with him. He entertains everyone until I manage to finish getting dinner ready.

6:00pm - Then it's all hands on deck as we strap kids into high chairs and dish up food and hand out cups. Eventually we all settle in for Eatin' Time :)

6:45pm - Dinner is done and things are cleared away. It is time to play!! Lately we've been trying to get Dax to walk ... he'll do pretty good if Daddy's coaxing him along ...

{We still have no video of this. Right now, he just plops down if you try to get him to walk. Stubborn boy.}

And then Julia gets jealous and has to have a go in the spotlight ...



and we spoil her a bit and let her. Because it's just too cute to watch her "try" to walk to Daddy :)

7:30pm - Bath time if the kids are especially dirty. Otherwise we get milk cups, bottles, diapers and PJs ready to start our bedtime routine.

8:00pm - All piled in Mommy and Daddy's bed. Fresh diapers, clean clothes. We snuggle up and drink milk (Julia) or a bottle (Dax) and listen to Daddy read the bedtime story. Then it's teeth brushing, kisses and hugs all around and TIME FOR BED!!

Our Days, Part Two

(You can read about the first half of our day here)

12:00pm - Lunchtime! This is the part of the day where several of my Mommy Promises go out the window: the kids eat cheese pizza (pita bread, pizza sauce, cheese) four days out of five [No Variety! No Veggies! GASP!] plus an hour of Miss Spider is often on the TV (Julia is entranced while Dax could care less except during the music when he sways back and forth) [TV! TV During A Meal! GASP!]. I've decided to let these things go. Right now, it gets us through. Besides, one of my favorite things right now is hearing Julia say "Pizza."



1:00pm - TV is off and naptime begins. Dax goes down in the Pack N Play in our room and Julia is in her crib. I can't handle my irritation if they are both in the same room yelling and screaming and throwing things and NOT NAPPING! This does limit my opportunity to snuggle down in our comfy, cozy bed with a book and laze naptime away. But that's probably a good thing. As it is, I'll go ahead and eat my lunch (and read) and then clean up the kitchen. If I'm not too exhausted, I'll do some prep work for dinner. Oh! And I always do a quick cleanup of the toys. I get much less stressed if the area in my immediate view is tidy.

3:00pm - Naptime is over, time for snacks and juice!! We hang out on the couch reading books while the kids eat their goldfish/Cheerios/graham crackers/mini Saltines and drink their juice. Well, Julia usually sits with me (and picks out the books), Dax is typically crawling around on the floor trying to grab Echo's tail. After we finish eating, playtime commences.

Dax treats his snack as more of a game ...
in the cup, out of the cup, in the cup, out of the cup ...

I liked his feet in this one.

Julia perches on the couch and reads while eating.
She gets this from someone ...
(This is one of her favorite dresses to choose to wear.
It is several sizes too small and doesn't even go past her diaper.)

And when trying to get the picture above, I got this one. Which made me giggle:

4:00pm - Sometimes playtime continues. Sometimes we take a bath! Depends on how much whining is going on and what Mommy's tolerance level is :) Baths are fun and take up lots of time before Daddy gets home!! (Bath time also depends on how much prep work Mommy managed to do on dinner and how complicated the menu is for the night :P)



5:00pm - The phone rings! It's Daddy telling us he's headed home and asking if he can pick anything up at the store. Sometimes he's telling us he needs to work a little late, but we don't like to think about those times :) This is the time of day things usually start to fall apart ... you know, The Witching Hour (as my Mom calls it ... and my Blogger friend, Aubrey). I'm trying to get dinner done; the kids are trying to get my attention; the dog is underfoot begging for food. This is usually the time I set the oven on fire or drop dinner on the floor or do something else incredibly foolish. Most days I can simply breathe through it. The days I can't, I shoo everyone out of the kitchen and block the door with chairs and just have to listen to the crying and screaming that ensues as we all wait for ...

Pre-Breakfast Snack

Julia's Nanna and Pappa got her a Kitchen Helper for her birthday this year. Julia loves to watch and help me cook, but I had a hard time finding something tall enough for her to stand on that fit right up next to the counter and didn't slide out from under her if she leaned too far forward. This little stand is great! We've used it many times as Julia helps me to wash veggies in the sink and measure out ingredients for our bread. Plus, the platform adjusts to four different levels so if we ever have a kitchen with counter tops the right height for Dave, I'll be able to use it, too! :)

It folds up for storage, but doesn't quite fit into the spot I had pictured it in. I still wish it was a little bigger, though. It's a tight fit if you have two kids wanting to stand at the sink and eat satsumas ... as you can see.

[Notice two things: 1) Julia fastidiously pulling every last tiny string off her segments and then just sucking the juice out of each piece before tossing the rest in the sink AND 2) Dax is double-fisting it and has, in one hand, an entire satsuma that he managed to grab half-peeled and has been eating his way down through the middle.]

Christmas

Last night, we started discussing our plans for this week and realized that between work and social events and visitors and visits, we won't have a free evening just for family until New Year's Eve. So, we thought we'd let the kids open their main Christmas gift from us. And by open, I mean the box. We didn't even wrap them. Because we're Scrooge. However both gifts seem to be a big hit.

Well, Julia's is a big hit .. Dax isn't too sure about his yet. He's a little short for it.

We bought Julia a mini version of the bounce house type inflatables. Except there's no roof. So it's just like a tall-sided, enormous inflatable swimming pool. But with a door. (Yeah, I know, of all the big, ugly, plastic toys this is one of the biggest, plasticiest and ugliest, but an Heirloom Quality Wooden Jump Ring just doesn't sound as fun.) For those who don't know Our Julia, she LOVES to jump. Right now, it's her favorite thing in the whole world to do. (See if you can guess what she's saying around the one-minute mark.)






Dax got a Bounce and Spin Zebra. He's a little less enthused, but we're optimistic that he'll enjoy it once he gets a bit older. If the fit Julia threw when we had her get off so we could film Dax on it is any indication, he's going to love it!

Our Current Nominee For FUNNIEST VIDEO EVER

At The Park (video)

This is Julia's favorite video right now. We watch it over and over and over. She talks back to herself at 9 seconds (she says "Wheeee!" back to her video self) and at 15 seconds (she answers whatever question Video Julia asks sitting at the top of the slide. note: she always answers with the same thing so I guess she understands what she's asking. i don't.) She also asks "Oh! Where did she go?" every time Video Julia climbs up the stairs.

Her sliding skills have improved a lot since her first solo attempt a week ago. She doesn't hit her head anymore. It also helps that Mama remembered to put her in pants instead of a dress. Easier to slide when your legs don't stick!

Learning Fast (video)

An enormous video that only grandparents will probably have the patience to let load. But if you do, you'll see that DaxMan is getting around. He seems to alternate between the Inch Worm Crawl and Army Man Crawl. He's slow and doesn't always take the most direct route and tends to get distracted from his original goal, but he's movin'! (In fact, yesterday morning I left him asleep in the middle of our bed with pillows all around him while I ran to the kitchen to take my medicine. When I got back, he was just about to lunge himself off our king-sized bed! He's faster than I thought.)