Playdate with Lucy: OMG, New tricks

We had discussed after Tuesday night's swimming lessons that Kate & Lucy should come over for a playdate. Kate announced that she was OFF on Wednesday so, we invited them to come play. (The photo of Sydney playing with my new cell phone was taken by Mike. He was proud that he got a picture of Sydney, looking like he is texting "his girlfriend" so, I used it for this layout.)

While they played, we laughed because they would both run into the kitchen or would both run hide behind the recliner. We teased that they were "looking for privacy". At one point, Lucy disappeared into the kitchen and didn't come running right back out. Kate announced "Oh, crap. She's probably inside your washing machine." Sure enough, she was. Turns out, she wasn't partially IN, but all the way inside. (Sydney witnessed her being pulled out by her mom and we decided that it was best to make sure that the laundry doors are kept CLOSED when Lucy comes over. I had hoped that he didn't notice, but he seems to pay attention to EVERYTHING! Oh, how I wish that hadn't have happened... but he probably would have done it eventually on his own someday anyways.)

Lucy also climbed onto our couch to say HELLO to Eddy. Then, with static-charged hair, she started jumping UP & DOWN on the seat of the couch. Ironically, Eddy didn't move from the back of the couch; I think he may have been paralyzed with fear. Sydney, of course, thought it looked like GREAT FUN to jump on the couch. Thankfully, he's still mastering the art of jumping; his style keeps his feet planted and he raises his body up & down by bending at the knee. Someday, he'll have that mastered as well. Lucy IS a few months older.

Mike and I are AMAZED at how much Lucy talks! Sydney still does NOT say much... just a few words here and there. She also identifies all of the Sesame Street characters (clearly) by name, as well as colors, animal sounds and toy food. Kate said that "all morning, she has been walking around our house asking SYDNEY? SYDNEY?" - wondering WHEN we were coming to your house to play. 

We know that SOMEDAY he will talk... when he is good and ready.

Hanging out with Lucy is a good gauge of what behaviors are coming our way... YIKES! (I guess THAT is why they remind parents at the Well Child appointments that "Toddlers at this age need CONSTANT SUPERVISION.")

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18 Jan 2011: LUCY, U WANT 2 COME 2 MY HOUSE 2MORROW 4 A PLAY DATE? - SYDNEY

19 Jan 2011: Lucy came to our house to play. She & Sydney dragged out most of the toys that we own, as well as the adult balance ball. They hugged. They chased each other. They ran. They read books. They played in the toy kitchen. They played with blocks. They had juice. LUCY EVEN TAUGHT HIM A FEW NEW THINGS: how to stand on the couch to JUMP up & down AND... how to climb INSIDE the washing machine! (EEK! Maybe he didn't notice. Yeah, right!)

KATE: Where is...

SYDNEY: (pointing) RIGHT THERE!

Sesame Street Christmas 2010

We seem to have had a Sesame Street theme going this Christmas due to Sydney's GREAT LOVE of the show. Here are a few of our 2010 Christmas memories...

(If you click on the image, it SHOULD open larger in another window.)

Thanks to everyone for these WONDERFUL GIFTS!

Traditions are Mmm, mmm good

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I had asked Mike about any specific holiday food or tradition the he recalled. He mentioned his Grandma Guard's KRINGLA. When I asked more about it, Mike and Lowell both had a difficult time describing it to me

Mike found a recipe online so, Lowell baked them at our house on Sunday.

Recipe for Norwegian Kringla –

Ingredients: 

1 c. sugar

Butter (the size of an egg)

2 egg yolks, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. buttermilk

1/2 c. sour cream

1 tsp. baking soda

3 c. flour

2.5 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

a dash of nutmeg

Directions: Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks and vanilla. Put the soda in the sour milk and sour cream. Add to the egg mixture. Add the sifted dry ingredients. Chill well. Roll into long rolls and form into bows, pinwheels or pretzel shapes. (Grandma Guard's were always figure-8's, I'm told.) Bake in a hot oven 450°F, until light brown (or paler, if you like).

Now, I see why they are hard to describe..

not really a muffin, not really a cake, not really a cookie, not really a bread.... hmm... delicious, light, sweet.

Then, yesterday, when we got home from Sydney's check-up, there was a box on our doorstep: Goodies from Grandma Carol!

YUM! 

Thanks for the Guard Family Treats!

While we enjoy the tasty baked goods, Sydney is enjoying chewing on his Baby Einstein dragon. (Teething... we think.)

Scrapbook: Baby's First Squash

Big day of firsts for Sydney (w/PHOTOS)

FIRST TIME IN A HIGH CHAIR on 10.30.09

Yesterday, we shopped around and found a highchair that we liked. Daddy assembled it when we got home. Then, when it was time to eat dinner, Sydney was able to join us at table-height. He seemed to like it a lot.

FIRST HALLOWEEN on 10.31.09

Today, we had cool temperatures in the 40's and very windy so, when Mommy went out to run errands, Sydney got to wear his fleece reindeer outfit, which was fitting since it was Halloween. We went to visit Daddy at work. I'm pretty sure that he was the cutest reindeer that ever stepped foot there.

It was his first time riding in the seat-part of a shopping cart today as well.

FIRST CEREAL on 10.31.09

Scrapbook page detail:

10.31.09 BABY'S FIRST CEREAL -

Tonight, we pumped breastmilk while Grandpa Lowell & Sydney took care of our few Trick-or-Treaters. Then, we decided to give RICE CEREAL a try since we got this new highchair yesterday. Wearing his Halloween bib from Grandma Carol, Sydney enjoyed cereal while Daddy videotaped and Grandpa Lowell took pictures. Surprisingly, Sydney liked it and knew what to do with it. He even opened his mouth and leaned towards the spoon for more. (It was kind of fun to blow bubbles on the spoon, too.)

A close-up with minimal mess on his face. MY FIRST HALLOWEEN bib was sent by Grandma Carol.

YUM! Rice cereal!

Mommy, I can help you... look how good I am with my hands! 

Daddy, are you catching this on video? 

Grandpa Lowell, I'll try to make a good face for the camera.

We had a hard time capturing it on camera, with the 3+ second delay and the flash, but Sydney would open his mouth and lean towards the spoon to eat more. We were quite impressed with this, being that it was his first time eating. We did manage to capture those precious memories on our video camera.

Sydney did GREAT at cereal today! We have to try it for 4 days to rule out allergens before introducing something new again. We were SO PROUD of our "little big guy" today!

Fall 2009 scrapbook page (1)

Here is a scrapbook page that I threw together while waiting for Sydney to wake up this morning. I hope to do a second page as well once we take pictures of him dressed up in his Halloween costume.

Here's an overview of our pictures:

• Sarah carves her own pumpkins. Mike had bet that she wouldn't be able to do it because it might feel gross. (She has carved pumpkins before, you know.) Mike inspected the quality and craftsmanship of his wife's CAT carvings.)

• Sydney laid in the leaves while we were visiting Grandma & Grandpa Olson's house. He liked to suck on them, for some odd reason.

• Beamer wore a pumpkin antenna while we sat on the front porch passing out Halloween candy to Trick-or-Treaters.

• We baked our pumpkin seeds and they are DELICIOUS!

• Sydney got a few gifts for Halloween. Kerri Hintz gave him a homemade Frankenstein card and some spooky socks (as well as a non-Halloween teething toy). Kristen Raboine sent him his first Halloween card in the mail, as well as a LITTLE PUMPKIN photo frame. Grandma Carol sent him a MY FIRST HALLOWEEN bib. Sydney sat on the table with our Halloween stuff; Mike hid behind him to make sure he wouldn't fall off the table.

• Our centerpiece decoration for the table. Sydney enjoyed playing with a piece of faux wheat. Of course, he licked it. The cats like to play with it too.

• Sarah poses with Otto in her lap. He hopped up while she was carving his (fat cat) pumpkin. We had been gone for a few days so, he missed all of us a lot.

Big, burly man notices BABY BOY (scrapbook)

Scrapbook page detail:

10.03.09 - We went out to visit Daddy at work. Then, we stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a few groceries. While we were there, a BIG, burly man passed us, glancing into our cart. He smiled at us and announced "CUTE KID" to which Mommy replied "Thanks." Mommy thinks that he especially liked YOUR BOOTS!

(NOTE: Click on it to view it larger.)

Sydney was dressed in brown Polartec pants and a coordinating MOOSE LODGE red Polartec sweatshirt. He finished his 100% BOY outfit off with little, tan work boots.

P.S. Sorry for the BLURRED PICTURES... when photographing, our target (the moose, of course) is known to be on the move quite a bit.

OOPS, did I do that? (Scrapbook page)

This scrapbook page, with photo taken by Kerri Hintz, speaks for itself:

OOPS! Did I do that? Sorry Mommy!

Bald is Beautiful (scrapbook) wk2 vs wk15

Scrapbook page detail:

BORN WITH A FULL HEAD OF HAIR

06.10.09 wk2

THEN VS. NOW

09.10.09 wk15

BALD IS BEAUTIFUL

When you were born, you had a full head of hair. It was pretty dark in color, but in time had started to lighten up so that you looked blonder in pictures.

Whenever you got a bath, your hair would curl. You have a big cowlicky swirl in the back of your head.

The hair at the base of your skull always flips up (or flips out).

We recently noticed that you had started rubbing bald spots onto your head when you laid on the floor and played, especially on the back of your head above your ears.

Your hair continues to thin and fall out, while you look like a little old balding man. Bald is beautiful in our eyes, as are you!

• • 15 WEEK UPDATE • • 

You have taken a fond liking to sucking on (or chewing) your fingers. A couple of times, you managed to get your thumb successfully into your mouth, but most often, you prefer the 2-finger combination of index and middle fingers. You are growing in skill, starting to reach for toys and being able to hold onto them for longer periods of time. You still LOVE to hold onto your shirt, especially when you are hungry. 

Lately, we have been trying to get you to pet the cats so that you can all get used to each other. Surprisingly, Eddy remains the scaredy cat, but perhaps that is because you BOTH probably weigh about 15 pounds now. For weeks now, Otto has hopped onto Mommy's lap while you were eating and he almost always lets us use your tiny hands to pet him. (Sometimes, he even purrs!) He still outweighs you by 5 pounds or so.

Your eyes are still a deep shade of blue. Your smile delights us. You have found your voice and you love to "talk", especially during (or following) a diaper change. You wake up happy (like your mom) when waking on your own, but are a grumpy bear if we are the ones to wake you when you are not ready.

You love when we sing to you. Our latest song was: 10 little, 9 little, 8 little Indians... 7 little, 6 little, 5 little Indians... 4 little, 3 little, 2 little Indians... 1 little Indian boy. (You still like to sing along to the E-I-E-I-O-part of Old McDonald.)

You initially loved going for rides in the Baby Bjorn carrier or the Moby Wrap and HATED the stroller. We've tried the stroller a few times, as of late, and you seem to tolerate it now. We still bring one of the carriers along though... just in case. Yesterday, we took the stroller for a walk to the post office. (Pushing the stroller UP that crazy-big hill is A LOT HARDER than walking with one of the carriers on!!!)

You are a GREAT ADDITION to our family!

Teething... already?

Might he be TEETHING?

At three months old, we're noticing that you are now drooling and have started to CHEW ON ANYTHING you can get into your mouth... fingers, fist, toy or pacifier. Other than your own hands, getting toys into your mouth is more LUCK than skill, but you are getting better with practice each day.

Because you love to stand so much, we'll be keeping our eyes out for a sale on this Baby Einstein Activity Center once you are stronger at sitting up. We think you will LOVE this because the seat swivels 360° so that you can play with anything you want to and you will be able to look anywhere you want by rotating yourself. (You'll be able to watch the cats... Eddy and Otto... as well.) We'd better keep practicing sitting up and giving you plenty of TUMMY TIME so that you build a strong core.

3 month Photo Shoot

Today, we went in for Syd's 3 month portrait and had all intentions of doing the 1-pose package for $9.99. However, almost 2 hours later (and $99 poorer*), we left with a wide selection of photos. Here is our favorite photo... jazzed up a little by Mommy.

*NOTE: The $99 comes out of our kitchen remodeling job.

G is for Giraffe (scrapbook page)

Kerri came and visited us Thursday and part of Friday. She got to hold Sydney quite a bit because Mike was hoping that it would help cure the MAMA'S BOY SYNDROME. Sydney wore the "G is for Giraffe" outfit that Kerri gave us as a pregnancy present and it now fits him PERFECTLY!

We've been struggling with Sydney, on and off, where he doesn't seem to want to go to bed some nights, despite being tired. Friday night was one of those nights where we battled from 8pm until close to midnight, with only short bursts of sleep. (Mommy had even wondered if the early afternoon half a can of Coke classic had anything to do with it most recently.)

Scrapbook page detail:

G is for Giraffe... OR for "GO AWAY, I'm trying to nap!"

08.22.09 – Lately, we are starting to wonder if we're letting you nap too much during the day because you are a livewire (not wanting to go to bed) some nights. 12 WEEKS OLD

Our first picnic

Click on it (photo) to view it larger.

Here's what the scrapbook page says:

Our picnic 

{from your perspective}

Today, we enjoyed our first picnic in the park. 

It was a beautiful summer day... 80°F with a light breeze, blue sky and sunshine. Daddy didn’t have to be at work until 2PM so we had all morning to spend together. We picked up sandwiches from Jimmy John’s, packed drinks and dessert into a cooler and headed to the park that we had often admired while driving by. You enjoyed looking at the trees and listening to the kids playing. - august 11, 2009

Following our picnic in the park, you had a lot of awake time this afternoon with time spent smiling and talking. Mommy read you your newest Nursery Rhyme book and sang you songs. We went for a walk with neighbors Kate, Claire and Lise while enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. 

This evening, you had been rubbing your eyes and yawning so, Mommy thought you were tired, but you were resisting going to sleep. After multiple attempts to get to you sleep, Mommy finally took you for another walk down the street. While we were walking, we heard a group of girls coming from behind us. We stepped aside for the girls cross country team and they thanked us for sharing the sidewalk. As they ran past, Mommy said "Look, LOTS of babysitters!" to which the group of girls laughed.

You continued to be fussy for another hour or so after that. In fact, a few nights earlier you were fussy like this as well and we said it was because you were wearing your CRABBY PANTS (sea life pajamas with crabs & fish on them). Tonight, you cried so hard that you had a real tear run down your cheek. Mommy nursed you again, while you had an over-tired and glazed look in your eyes. She snuck you back in your bed asleep and you slept just a few minutes and are now fussing YET AGAIN. 

Looks like it is time to go snuggle.... AGAIN!

EDITED: You nursed AGAIN for just a few minutes before falling asleep. You're back in your crib and mommy hopes to at least gather the garbage for garbage day tomorrow. Good thing we napped together this afternoon! Mommy had a rough night with you while Daddy was working. MAYBE... you missed Daddy saying Good Night to you?