Hide and seek

Gemma loves to hide. Her favorite part is to hear you calling her name and then peeking out to see your face. Can you find her hiding spot in the pictures below?

Amelia writes

Amelia loves to trace letters while William does homework. It allows her to be a "big kid" AND she loves the colorful markers to uses to trace. So proud of you Amelia!

Amelia v.4.5

Amelia is 4 and a half today! We are so proud of our big girl. She is...well... A lot of things. She is stubborn, inquisitive, silly, creative, too smart for her own good, has personality to spare and most importantly, ours.

Amelia is SO motivated by school work and learning. She can often be found breathing hard down William's neck as we do school work. She just cannot wait to go to kindergarten. She is ready! She is reading, doing simple addition and subtraction problems and writing well. She can also do the monkey bars solo as of this month, so we can check that one off the list (do we have video John?).

Amelia started her ballet classes again and enjoys this activity so much. We are proud of how hard she is working in this class.

With William in school all day, Amelia and I have finally had time to work on her letter writing and other skills while Gemma sleeps. This little girl is so smart (I'm her mama, in supposed to brag! Plus, it is true.). There really isn't anything she can't do. Her biggest problem is that everything comes so easily she gets frustrated quickly when she doesn't understand something. We're working on it.

She is also working hard on her big sister role. She gets to spend a lot more time playing with Gemma now that her first playmate (William) is in school. It has been very fun to see Amelia emerge as the older sister with Gemma. Fun and terrifying at the same time because Amelia believes she can do everything she sees me/John/William do with Gemma. For example, she thinks she can lift Gemma down off of a table without help or even lift her out of the crib. Terrifying.

The take home message is this: we love this little girl to the moon and back. Good days, bad days and all the in betweens Amelia Ann, we love you!

Gemma's Secret Place

Gemma seems to not like the vacuum, yet she can't seem to stay away. So usually we end up carrying her while vacuuming. When I was vacuuming her room, she spotted some toys that needed to be rescued. I put her down the turned away for a bit to pick up some other stuff. When I turned back, Gemma was gone. I figured she must have gone into her secret place.

William Versus the Bonnethead Shark

The Bonnethead shark is the smallest of the hammerhead shark species.

William Versus Stingray

At the Stingray exhibit at the zoo.

A compliment?

Today while we were at the zoo eating lunch.....


Amelia: mama?
Mama: what?
Amelia: do you have to work today?
Mama: what? No!
Amelia: but you look so pretty today!
Mama: thank you!
Amelia: usually you just look pretty when you are going to work.
Mama: OH!... Hmm... Really?
Amelia: I saw a fish today on the side of the can.


Lessons learned:
1. Maybe lay off the yoga pants a little
2. Beauty is wearing earrings according to my 4 year old

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The zoo

It was a perfect day for the zoo. The temperature was cooler and it wasn't super busy yet. We got up and ready in order to make it there early enough. The first hour the zoo is open, several of the paid exhibits are free. We took in the sting rays, reptiles and a sea lion show before coming home for some naps. Here you'll see the kids with a sea lion after the show- all 3 of the kids were totally mesmerized by the show.

John has some additional pictures I'm hoping he will send tomorrow.. (hint, hint)

Cheese!

Is Gemma's newest word. Dinner prep time continues to be the hardest time of the day- she can frequently be found face down crying on the kitchen floor or parked in front of the refrigerator pointing at various food items she'd like you to put in her mouth. That is, until last week. She was standing up on a kitchen chair in order to supervise and come up with her best strategy to create maximum chaos. John pulled a bag of shredded cheese from the fridge and set it on the counter.

Gemma: cheese (points vigorously at bag)

Mom and dad: jaws dropped

Gemma (more loudly): cheese! ( pronounced "chee...s")

M&d: (scrambling to get the girl some chee...s already)

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My day off

I don't work on Fridays, so in a way, it is my day off. Here is one example of how I spend my days off:

7am: up with the kids. They are fighting about who is strong enough to lift Gemma out of her crib. When I arrive at lightening speed (a good 50m dash to start the day off right), they have rigged up several totes and a play desk in order to accomplish their task. Creative, right?

7:10-feed kids
7:25-Dishes, clean up
7:40 -chase kids into clothes. Help kids make their bed and brush their teeth. Decide to drive William to school as we are cutting it close on time.
7:55- Walking through the kitchen feels like taking a walk on the beach due to the crumbs. Sweep kitchen. Halfway through, Gemma decides the broom is the most hilarious toy ever. A 10 minute task becomes a 25 minute one. While waiting for her to be done playing with the broom, I notice the windows are super dirty and covered with window markers. I clean all the windows in the kitchen. Then I resume sweeping.

8:20 poopy diaper
8:25 Argue with Amelia about her hair. I prefer to see her face. She prefers to have her hair long and in her face a la Rapunzel. She concedes to a braid and then pulls it out. I finally arrive at a barrette compromise, but it does not match her shirt. I'd like to tell you this isn't the end of the world, but in truth it makes me CRAZY.

8:30 Brush my teeth, hair in ponytail, contact, yoga pants, ready to go

8:35 quickly put together the box of sorted items to drop off at the church garage sale.

8:40 chase kids into shoes, load van

8:50- Drop William off at school

9:00- Bring Amelia to her Spanish class that meets at her preschool. When I open the door to unload her, I discover Gemma has thrown up. Amelia has no idea when/how/why this has happened. There isn't a lot, but it has covered a large area including carseat, straps, shirt and pants. I strip Gemma to her diaper and wipe the seat with wipes. I walk Amelia to her Spanish class with Gemma wearing only her diaper and favorite red shoes.

9:10 Try to figure out how to put Gemma in the carseat with out getting yuckiness on her (or me).

9:20- Drop off box of items at church garage sale.

9:30 - Arrive home. Scrub carseat some more. Gather Gemma from the side of the house when I notice she has stepped in dog poop. Dog poop in our yard again. Her favorite red sandals have dog poop on them....

9:31 Gemma in the tub. Scrub her up clean. Scrub her sandals while she plays in the tub.

9:40- Gemma dressed, sandals are drying
9:41 Bleach and scrub the bathtub and sink.

9:50- Load Gemma back into the carseat with towels around her to prevent yuck touching.

9:55 Pick up Amelia.

10:00 Arrive back home again. Disassemble carseat and find enough crumbs to feed a small country. Wash carseat components, vacuum carseat. Wipe off seat in the van.

10:30 Make a call to the local animal control people. We are talking about 10+ years of dog poop in my yard.

10:40 read books to the girls

10:55 hang up carseat components so they will be dry when it is time to collect William this afternoon.

11:00 realize Gemma's carseat is nearing expiration, make a mental note to start looking for a new seat for Gemma.

11:05 start another load of laundry

11:15 make lunch for Gemma. Gemma refuses to eat.

11:25 make lunch for Amelia. Gemma falls asleep in her high chair.

11:30 Gemma to her crib.
11:35 Amelia refuses to eat the lovely beans I made her for lunch. She insists on carrots. Wash, cut and prep carrots.

11:40 Amelia and I eat lunch together. As a special Friday treat, I am having a sliced apple and exactly 1 T of peanut butter (operation pants fit better is underway) along with my turkey wrap. Amelia swipes an apple and half of my peanut butter in one bite. I decide it is too much work to get more.

....and it's only NOON! Can you imagine the relaxing activities I have planned for this afternoon? (includes laundry sorting, folding, exercise, showering, and MAYBE a few stolen moments with my new library book.)
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Note to self

When Amelia is 14, crawl into her bed at 5:30am. Put your ice cold feet on her legs and then proceed to recite the pledge of allegiance in your most patriotic voice over and over again.

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Bye bye

Gemma says bye bye in the video- she is SO SO adorable I can hardly stand it. She says bye bye and I can't resist scooping her up and covering her day cheeks with kisses. So adorable.

Kind of helps erase the fact she brought a bouncy ball into the grocery store in her hand and then let it looked in the crowded cracker aisle. While I chased it up and down the aisle, she took the opportunity to unload the cart onto the floor. All somehow managed while she was buckled in.

5 Month Appointment

We had Gemma's 15 month appointment this morning. We were in and out as there just wasn't much to discuss.

Current stats:
Height:32.75 inches (off the charts, over 100%ile for kids in her age group)
Weight: 24lbs 4 oz (85%ile for kids in her age group)
Head: 18.74 inches (90%ile for her age group)

In general, there weren't any real concerns about her growth and development, although I had to giggle when he warned me about the molars she would start cutting "any day now". She has had those molars for the last 3-4 months or perhaps longer. Gemma had her 3 shots and took it like a champ - she cried during but quit right away. She quit crying immediately and then continued to send very dirty looks towards the nurse.

The biggest issue we had was waiting for the appointment. Gemma had 2 tasks on her agenda:

1. Lick all the toys in the sick waiting area. Then the floor.
2. Crawl/wiggle behind the giant fish task in the waiting room. Then play with the wires. Or attempt to climb into the tank itself.

You'll be shocked to find I wasn't on board with her plans and thwarted her at every turn. Or tried at least. The secretaries behind the counter did their best, but at one point both of them were laughing out loud at her antics while she was trying to climb out of my arms with little regard for her own safety.

During her running, I noticed her poor little toenail fell off :( Poor baby! You'll all be glad to know I did not collect the nail for her baby book. Your welcome Gemma. No gross toenail legacy for you.

Uh oh....

Walked into William and Amelia's room and this is what I found. She got up there all by herself.

William's hair

I was trying to convince Amelia to let me put her hair up in a special way to celebrate being student of the week. She wasn't buying it, but William was. He came running and said " I want my hair spiky mom!"

I tried to talk him out of it because his hair is uncooperative. It is super thick and in its current long stat, I don't think it will stay up. It's just too long.

He was not convinced, so we gave it a try. He kept telling me it wasn't right and I went to comb it down when he finally said "yes!!!!! Just like that!" So we went with a spiky spike look. Or whatever you'd call this.

Gemma does laundry

Here is Gemma helping me with more laundry yesterday. She is such a good helper! Highlights include Amelia reading to herself in the background and Gemma's signature "silly face" partway through (watch for the scrunched up face).

Student of the week

Amelia is student of the week this week at school. Her teacher requested a special book to read to the class and a little poster about her to share. I don't know why it is upside down, but here is what the 2 of us came up with!

Gemma is 15 months old today! She was not cooperative 1 minute of her photo session with me today. We have a pile of blurry pictures if anyone would like to see them. Just ask.

The details:
Gemma is wearing 18-24 month clothes and some 2t.
She wears size 4 diapers.
We are down to one looooong nap a day.  This transition was difficult and I felt like throwing in the towel on multiple occasions.  I'd like to tell you that I didn't because I am a patient and kind Mama.  However, I wasn't sure how to go backwards once we pushed forwards, so ahead we went.  In hindsight, it all worked out fine.  

In the last several weeks, Gemma has fully weaned and is now drinking whole milk from her sippy cup like a champ. I'm a little sad, but also ready to move on. 

Gemma loves to eat! Any time someone goes to the kitchen, she will appear moments later with her pudgy hand outstretched for some of whatever you are having. She is a huge nuisance in this way, especially at dinnertime.  If we are in there cooking, she is underfoot and demanding food.  If she doesn't get something to eat, she will become louder and louder and put herself directly underfoot.  As a last resort, she will park herself directly in front of the refrigerator so you cannot access the fridge OR get through the walkway to the table.  We probably need to crack down on this bad habit because it is dangerous and not a very efficient way to make dinner.  Will have to squeeze that one in sometime.

She likes mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn on the cob, noodles, cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, cheese, breads, corn, and she will try anything I put on her try once. She also wants to eat anything you have on your plate. Anything she doesn't like I can usually get her to eat by mixing it in yogurt or applesauce. I don't love the idea of strawberry yogurt with green beans, but she eats it. And she is going to keep eating it until she eats more vegetables on her own. We're working on green beans, carrots and strawberries this way.

Gemma continues do be fearless in all manners until she scares herself. She will climb anything and runs headlong after her siblings. She has tried to run down a slide on more than one occasion as well as attempting to get out of a moving swing.  Surprisingly, she is scared/fascinated when dogs bark.  She will come and find me for some reassurance and a hug while pointing outside.  This wouldn't be a big deal, but we have some neighbors who leave their dogs out most of the day and barking is quite frequent in the neighborhood.  She is learning how to push her bike along with her feet.

The talking is coming along with more words each day. I think I might be the only one who can understand her, but still good progress has been made
.
The sleeping has been wonderful as late (which I afraid to talk about too much).*  Gemma sleeps in her own bed from about 8:30-7am and then takes a nap from about 12-3ish most days.  I'm happy about this arrangement and I'm not looking to change it.  Which is why she will probably change it up tomorrow.




*Here is the point where I nodded off and accidentally sent the email I was was writing.  It was halfway complete, which made John crazy.  At his request, I'm back to finish it up.  Here's hoping I can stay awake long enough.

Good help is hard to find

A full basket quickly became empty today as my glee filled toddler set to work. She industriously took each article of clothing out and shook it with a crow of happiness before chucking it to the ground. Then she got down and literally rolled around in the mess. Silly baby.

5 OR Stop?

Tonight after dinner time I was singing a song (to the tune "Barbara Ann" with the words changed to "Amelia Ann"). Gemma was laughing her head off - clearly she appreciates my talent like no one else does.

Amelia mentioned several times that she wasn't a fan of the "loud singing" and the "bad singing". However, Gemma was still laughing her head off because I am H.I.L.A.R.I.O.U.S. And I am a sucker for my baby girl's laugh. I'm willing to do just about anything in order to get her to do it.

Finally, Amelia stood up and put her hand out with the palm facing out. Fingers were tightly pressed together. STOP she said with her hand out.

John and I looked at her and tried not to laugh. She took the biting of lips and escaping giggles to be that of confusion.

Amelia: This means STOP (palm out, fingers tight)

This means 5! (palm out,fingers spread wide apart.

This looks the same, but it means something different. It means STOP singing! (palm out, fingers tightly pressed).

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What?!

I was just informed this is called the pillowcase game. The top picture shows the two big kids each wearing two pillow cases each. What? After disclosing this information, I was ceremoniously escorted out of the room by a child who still had their lower half in a pillowcase. He hopped me to the door.

The joys

1. Yesterday I had to use stain remover twice on our poor carpet. First, a curly headed someone found a bright blue sucker and discarded it in a pile of goo after awhile. (Suckers and other treats usually live on top of the fridge. They haven't found their way back home yet). Later, the same little person found a full diet coke to upend on the carpet. Keeping up is a full time job.

2. Today I noticed Gemma has discovered how to remove the covers from the vents. And also how much fun it is to put stuff into them. I got the vacuum out to clean up the bits of paper she was storing inside. The big surprise came when I removed the other vent cover in the room (figured I should vacuum that one out too since I was doing it). Hello friend!

Grafton ferry

It's that time of year again! This morning we set out and boarded the first ferry to Illinois to go apple picking. I prefer a lower temperature (low 90s was a little warm for me while toting a 20+lb toddler a camera and several bags of apples.), but one of our favorite apples was in season (honey crisp). So it was a hot one, but we came out with a big pile of apples and a considerably smaller pile of peaches. The kids enjoyed running around and looking for the perfect apple.

Gemma was enthralled by the boat ride and spent most of the trip with her little finger pointed out the window as if to say "hey guys? Should there be water all around the car?" I was totally taken by surprise by her fear of the orchard transport tractor, she spent the whole ride firmly about my neck.

Meet Betty. She arrived on Thursday and has been making delightfully small ice cubes and has produce drawers that won't slice your skin when you open them.

((shivers))

There is a game we've played with every baby/child in our house.

The rules:  Any time there is a railing with slats in it, you stop and push your face through (not all the way through, it wouldn't fit.)  Any family member standing on the other side of the railing is obligated to stop what they are doing and kiss your face until you remove it.

I was coming up the stairs and I saw Gemma's face pushed between the slats of the railing.  "Mmmmm..." she hummed, which is her way of saying she is waiting for a kiss.  I reach on my tiptoes and cover her chubby cheeks with kisses until she giggles breathlessly.  I press my face between a different set of bars, which is consistently the most hilarious thing ever ("Hey look!  You were here....and now you're over there! Unbelievable!!")

Gemma leaned over and to allow me to kiss her (although the rules of the game dictate SHE kiss ME, she never does.  She just leans in and waits for me to do the kissing.) when she suddenly leaned away with a confused look on her face.

She looked down at the vent (the air had just kicked on).

Then she blew out with her mouth (like blowing out a birthday candle) and shivered while saying "oooohooo".

This girl is hilarious.

Ball

Can you hear it??

Those shoes

It was time to go.  I called to the big kids, who were playing in their room to put on their shoes.

I grabbed a few things and came into the laundry room (that leads to the garage) to find Gemma sitting on the rug in front of the door.  This is a new habit of hers that I find charming, adorable and convenient as well.

I grabbed her shoes off the washer (otherwise she carries them around the house and I find them stuffed in the oddest places.  Also, I CANNOT find them when it is time to leave the house) and bent to put them on her all the while reminding William to grab his backpack, Amelia to put on her school shoes, etc.

I was taken aback when it registered that Gemma was pushing the sensible pair of tennis shoes away from me.  When I looked closer she had a frown on her face and was most certainly pushing the shoes away and kicking her feet so I wasn't able to put on the shoes.  Her tiny pointer finger directed me back to the washer.  I grabbed a less sensible, yet adorable pair of pink shoes that match her outfit next.  I let the big kids out into the garage while I bent to put the shoes on my girl.  Hands waving the shoes away, frown, feet kicking, a squawk of displeasure, and the tiny finger directing me back to the washer.

With a sigh, I pull down the pair of red sandals that do NOT match what she is wearing.  This should not matter to me, but it does.  It matters because I hate people feeling sorry for my neglected (opinionated) child who has to wear mismatched clothes because her mother is too busy to figure it out.  In reality, I know I am probably the only one who notices, but it still makes me crazy.


I get ready to put the red shoes on and notice the great big smile on Gemma's face.  She helpfully lifts one foot and then the other so I can slide the mismatched shoes on her feet (with socks no less!  The horror!).

Yes.  My child is 14 months old and I am already choosing my battles with her.  Can you imagine when she is 14 years old?

Gemma's words

It has been a long wait for this mama! Gemma is our latest talker of the bunch, although that expected due to her super early and strong gross motor development. Still, a mama likes the reassurance that vocabulary development brings. In the last week, we have been hearing words consistently. Previously, she would pick up a sound, use it randomly for a few days and then never use it again.

In use, we now have:

Hat (haa)- pats head when she sees a hat

Ball (baal)- when she see a ball, wants the ball, is holding the ball or when someone takes her ball away (which happen frequently)

Book (bk)- this one is hard to tell if she is saying ball or book. I usually have to look around to see if there is a ball or book. And I get it wrong at least 50% if the time.

Hi (ai)- to everything. William, Amelia, the school bus, cars driving by while we wait for the bus, dolls and other toys, to daddy, but not to the lady at the grocery store.

Belly (buh)- and lifts her shirt to reveal adorable belly

Amelia (mei)- very hard to catch and understand still, but it is coming along

William (lim)- ADORABLE. Kills me every time. Again, somewhat difficult to distinguish from her other random babble. William totally lights up when he hears it though.

Baby (bayb) when holding a baby upside down by the foot.

Woof - when she hears the neighbor's dog barking or sees a dog outside.

This little monkey made us wait, but she was usually able to get her point across using body language, facial expressions and her adorable little pointer finger.

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The Cousin Get Together

The cousins have managed to get together for the Labor Day weekend for
the last several years. With all the miles we have traveled this
summer, we decided this one we needed to stay home. The to-do list is
at an all time record length. After being gone much of the summer, we
have SO much to do to get caught up.


Then, at 8:30am we decided seeing family has always trumped almost
everything and anything. This time that should be true also. So, we
packed the car and hit the road 2 hours later.

The kids saw all of their cousins (8!) in 3 short days. They played
and played and played. It. Was. Amazing.

We didn't get pictures with Andy and Zelda, but we did manage a group
shot of the Heidt cousins.