June 30

I am typing this while wearing Daisy strapped to my chest in my ERGObaby carrier. She's had a rough evening, but now she's sleeping peacefully. (She did pause in the midst of that peaceful sleep to wake up screaming, then spew chunky spit-up down my arm, on my jeans, and on the floor. But it's been mostly peaceful.)

The best part of today happened early this morning.

Caleb, Daisy and I ate breakfast on the patio. It sounds so simple, but it was a really beautiful moment for us. The weather was perfect, the kiddos were cheerful, there was fresh fruit to be had, and my husband had made me a pot of hazelnut half-caf before he left for work. Eating outside is one of my favorite things ever, and it was so much fun to share a delightful morning with my children.

I made Caleb a patio-friendly breakfast of whole wheat toast with peanut butter and grapes. When I proudly set it down in front of him, he looked up at me and said, "Fork."

Because a fork was clearly required for this meal.

So I got up from my seat and went back inside to fetch the child a fork. If he wants to use utensils, who am I to stop him?

Daisy had already eaten her breakfast, so she didn't join us in the eating, but she was quite content to enjoy the blowing breeze and singing birds from her rocker.

"FORK!"

Yep. That's a fork, kiddo.

Completely unrelated note: today before naptime, Caleb and I read Sandra Boynton's book, Night-night, Little Pookie. We finished reading the book, I turned off the light, and I held him to my chest for a little bit. Caleb reached up, caressed my hair, and said, "Night-night Pookie ears. Night-night Pookie nose. Night-night Pookie eyes ready to close."

It was a nearly perfect quotation from the book. This kid has a crazy memory!

June 29

Today felt so busy, but in reality, we just did a few fun things. I suppose it's a good day that's busy with fun!

First, we met Sara and Carter and Cooper at the park. We tried a new park today, and it was a good choice: shady and toddler-friendly.

Caleb will finally let me put him in a swing again (he was terrified of swings for about 4 months!), and he and Cooper were happy to swing next to each other. Can you believe these boys will be 2 in just a week and a half?

Do you remember how little they once were?

(This was March 2010, when they were 8 months old.)

Now Caleb is such a big boy - he can sit at the table and write on the newspaper (and himself) with pen.

Also, just this week he started counting. He skipped right over the single digits, and can count up to fifteen all by himself.  (Why fifteen? Because we have fifteen steps from the first floor to the second, and I always count out loud as we climb them.)

Another new thing? He told me he loved me the other day. Out of the blue, he looked at me and said, "I love you." And then I died. Actually, he was being a real stinker at the time, so the "I love you" kept him from being in serious trouble. He also responds to our "I love you"s with, "I love you, too." How sweet!

After naptime, Jenny came over to play with us. 

She and Daisy had a great time laughing together.

Then Chris came home and took us out for Mexican food. What a great day!

June 28

I think we had a good day today; I just didn't manage to photograph any of it. I didn't get my camera out until I was finished with dinner. Oops!

Caleb's new fixation is this video of James Taylor and Carly Simon singing "You Can Close Your Eyes". It's one of my favorite songs ever, but for some reason he has latched onto this video and asks to watch it over and over. I think we watched the video at least 20 times today. Not even kidding. Luckily I love the song, and it's a beautiful rendition of it. Otherwise, we'd be in serious trouble.

He loves the video so much that we use it to get him to eat food he doesn't want to eat.

As in, "Eat two more bites of your fish, and then you can watch the video."

And it works. This is his face as he's watching the video during dinner. Today after lunch, he was up on his tippy toes, trying to see the video on the laptop.

He's obsessed.

Daisy was fussy during dinner, so Chris tended to her so that I could eat. What a good man.

Daisy's gradually allowing Daddy to spend more and more time with her. It's nice for all of us.

In other news, I weighed Daisy today, and she was exactly 10 pounds. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Actually, I know exactly how I feel about that: disappointed. I'm concerned. That puts her between the 10th and 25th percentile. At 4 weeks, she was 8 pounds, 10 ounces, and in the 25th percentile. She'll be 8 weeks tomorrow. I'm worried that she's not gaining weight very well, and because her new doctor just had a baby, we don't go in again until the end of August. I'm sure she's fine, but I really wish she were a big, fat, chubby baby who gained 2 ounces a day.

But I'm sure she's fine. Right?



June 27

Today started out with a thunderstorm. Usually I love a good thunderstorm, but a stormy morning with a toddler ends up being gloomy, boring, and slow. Luckily, the rain stopped by 9:30, and Caleb had a chance to show me what toddler boys are all about:

Caleb was clean, dry, fully shod, and playing happily on the patio when I ran inside for 30 seconds to check on Daisy. During that 30 seconds, he wandered into the yard, found the one low spot full of sogginess and water, kicked off his shoes, and began poking around.

Step. Step. Step.

Kick!

(Can you see that trail of water from his kicking foot?)

Later, the stars aligned and both of my children were asleep at the same time for two full hours. 

Even Tigerlily the kitty knew it was safe to come out.

I wandered the house, enjoying the peacefulness of it. 

Can you feel the peace? It was pretty amazing.

Then I came to my senses and took a nap.

Later, my sister Emily came over with her two boys.

Caleb and Max got naked and played with water on the patio.

Unfortunately, Ryan was a bit too old to partake in the naked fun.

June 26

Daisy and I visited my mom tonight, and somehow Mom and I ended up talking about Daisy's smile.

Yes, Daisy has a nice, normal, sweet-little-girl smile. But she has another smile, too.

This smile is the one that gets me every time.

This is Daisy's all-out grin, and it's my favorite.

Mom and I came to the conclusion that while it may not be the prettiest smile, it's a whole-hearted, genuine smile. I love the fact that it's lopsided. That she scrunches up her nose and wrinkles up her eyes. And more often than not, she opens her mouth up wide like she's so happy, she wants to take a bite out of you. I would do anything to make this little girl smile like this. It's a good thing she grins so easily!

Caleb loves it, too.

(This is him after dinner, blowing a kiss to Daisy. Love it.)

June 25

Saturdays make me happy. I wish the weekend could be longer.

This kid is so funny and sweet.

But this cat still hates him, even though he's been nothing but friendly to her.

After an early dinner, my family snuggled on the couch and read. 

I love that Daisy is staring up at Chris, and that Caleb has moved his foot so that it's touching Daisy's foot.

All by himself, Caleb reached out to caress Daisy's cheek.

Can you guess how much I love them?

To the moon... and back.

June 24

Today was a beautiful day that involved playing outside, shopping at Target, and lots of sleeping. In the midst of all of that fun, I didn't get my camera out until dinner time. So today, I bring you:

Caleb Eating

and

Daisy Snuggling with Daddy

I think this was a nectarine. I told Caleb this was a nectarine, just because it's so much fun to hear him say, "neck-a-reen".

After dinner, popsicles on the patio. Because it's way too messy for Caleb to eat one inside.

My sweet girl on Daddy's lap. I wish her outfit showed up better - she was wearing a yellow and white striped onesie, and her faux denim ruffled bloomers. There was something decidedly retro about it that I really liked.

I like the way the sunlight makes this one look faded and warm.

Happy Friday! I'm hoping for a laid-back, relaxing weekend!

June 23

Did you notice the new tabs at the top of the blog? I just finished Daisy's birth story today, so I added a tab for that, as well as Caleb's birth story. It's not the prettiest solution, but it works. So go ahead - hop on over and read Daisy's birth story. It's a little bit long, but home births are a little bit unusual, so I wanted to include lots of detail.

Today was an exciting day at our house. Why? Caleb got to pick (and eat) the first cucumber from our garden.

"What is this thing?"

(Really, he knew perfectly well it was a cucumber. He was just examining it closely.)

The kid ran and played all over the yard, holding the cucumber the entire time. He was really happy with it.

And then we ate it. Caleb ate half of the cucumber in one sitting.

Lately we've noticed that Daisy is really interested in the toys hanging over her vibrating chair. She seems to particularly enjoy the little dog with the red bone.  That smile on her face was triggered just by the delightfulness of her toys.

Chris had a late work meeting, so I did bedtime by myself. What a lucky mama I am - Caleb and I discovered his new superhero alter ego, Flying Naked Boy. I'm pretty sure this is one of those photos that will be forever used to tease Caleb. It's an instant classic.

Daisy was supposed to be sleeping, but all of the commotion woke her up. She thought Flying Naked Boy was pretty funny, too.

June 22

Today Caleb forced me to go for a run.

My motivation to run has been waning as the runs get longer and harder. I've skipped the past two runs because I'm a lazy bum. I fully intended to skip it today, when Caleb asked me, "Mommy, go a walk IN BOB?" It was right around the time we normally go, and I had no excuses. So we went. I'm glad that boy is forcing me to run!

Later, (after a three-hour nap for Caleb!) we had dinner at Chris' parents house. Of course the food was remarkable, and Caleb was so excited to see his grandparents! (I mean really excited. All day, he asked me, "Gamother? Gandad? Go a Gandad house? Grasshoppers? Play basketball a Gandad?" It was pretty funny.)

Daisy was cooperative for most of the evening, and enjoyed snuggles with Grandmother.

Aren't they cute?

While Grandmother snuggled Daisy, Caleb got to work watering the plants. He's a good helper.

My man. He's a good one.

Those plants really got a lot of water. Somehow, Caleb (and the rest of us!) managed to stay dry.

By the end of the evening, Daisy got a little tired and fussy, but I could tell she really enjoyed her visit with Grandmother and Grandad. It was a good night.

June 21

It was a rainy day today.

The kind of day where you wake to raindrops on the windowpanes and wet streets, but don't see any drops falling.

The kind of day where it clears up and the sun is shining, so you go for a walk, only to be attacked by a surprise cloudburst of big, fat droplets.

The kind of day where your kid asks repeatedly to go outside and you repeatedly tell him no, until you realize that he has a perfectly good raincoat and he won't melt.

And so you tell him yes.

I just think this photo is funny.

(Pardon the unfavorable angle - I was sitting on the top step, with Daisy on my lap, trying to keep both us and my camera dry. Surprisingly, it worked!)

Caleb learned a new phrase today - Japanese beetle. There was one swimming in his water table.

He clearly has picked up on, and shares, his father's attitude toward them.

Yuck.

So he got a cup and tried to scoop it out. I'm not sure how, exactly, but somehow he was successful.

When the rain stopped, he looked adorable in his denim overalls.

(Am I the only one who's a sucker for this look? Love it.)

As usual, Daisy napped in the shade. She's very helpful like that.

A full-length view of her nap spot. I promise, I'm sitting right there with a hand on her belly most of the time. Once she starts wiggling, we'll have to find a better place for naps.

Our funny little boy.

The end.

June 20

Chris and I were discussing yesterday the fact that Sunday holidays are the worst. You have so much fun, and then BOOM it's Monday and everything goes back to normal. Such was our day today.

We did the usual: played on the patio,

where Daisy napped on my lap while Caleb played.

When it got too hot outside, we played inside. 

Daisy enjoyed tummy time. Caleb enjoyed it too, especially once he decided his sister's back was a good place to put his oval puzzle piece.

He thought he was pretty funny.

Then, the thoughtful boy tried to put pretzel sticks in his baby sister's mouth. I had stepped out of the room for a moment, and came back just in time to stop this. (and photograph it)

After Daisy had enough of the tummy time, I rolled her over so that she could play with her friend in the mirror. She was a happy girl!