Music, music, music

I have been meaning to write ever since Thursday. Ky and Coopie had a very fun Thursday, it started with Cooper having some one on one time with his Papa, while Ama, Ky and I headed to a music class for Kylie. We did a music class at the University of Redlands about a year ago and Kylie really enjoyed it, so when the opportunity presented itself again, we jumped on it. This class had 5 kids in it (Mish was one of them) and we sang songs, read stories, and danced. I am hoping that they will also get a chance to learn how to play some instruments. Kylie was attached to me the entire time, but I think she will get more comfortable as the weeks go on.

After the class, I headed to work for a few hours, Craig came back home from his working meeting and we were all back at Ama and Papa's by the late afternoon. We decided to walk down to market night. Of course we stopped for a pony ride, Tommy was the chosen one, and a visit to Goldie. We thought it would be like every other night at the market, but then we heard some singing. We headed to the park and on the stage was a group of 4 performers. They were taking turns singing Broadway hits! It was a Broadway Block Party! The singers were accompanied by a man playing the keyboard and with many of the songs they encouraged audience participation and provided a sheet with the songs words. It was SO fun! They had props that they would pass around, at one point Kylie was holding a stick with a star on it marching around in a little parade with all the other kids. There was hula hooping, limbo, a twist competition, beach balls and lots of singing and dancing. Kylie just ran around, arms stretched out singing at the top of her lungs, she was loving it. By the end we could hardly keep her off the stage, it was awesome.

Friday was a fun filled family day. Both Craig and I had the day off and we enjoyed spending time all together. My new camera body arrived, a Canon 60D!! I also enjoyed some mommy time and attended my first (non-prenatal yoga) class in about 3 years. It kicked my butt and I am feeling it today, but it was wonderful to move my body and have some time to devote to myself. In the evening we decided dinner out would be fun. We invited Tabitha, Darin, Portia and Nico to join us for our date night to Niko Niko. When we got there, there was a man singing and playing the steel drums. The weather was perfect and the music was wonderful. Our food took lots longer then we anticipated, but the girls had fun running and dancing and just enjoying the beautiful evening.

Today Craig headed to work, I got up early with him to try and get a jump on the household chores (and I still didn't get much done). I took the kids on a walk in the morning, came home in time for Cooper to take a nap, fed Ky and I lunch, then took them to my parents. I headed to work for a couple hours when my parents managed both kids. Cooper was not fond of taking the bottle, but was willing to suck the life out of a pink blanket. So my mom got creative and started dipping the blanket in the milk, then sneaking the bottle in to his mouth with the blanket, then resorted to hiding the bottle in the blanket and he ended up taking about 3 oz when all was said and done. He also took two naps for them, he fell asleep with no problem in the hiking backpack with Papa walking him. Both kids have been enjoying the wonderful swing in the backyard and today Kylie ended up falling asleep while swinging on the big one with Ama. I brought the kids home, we did baths and all laid down for bed. Coop nursed and fell to sleep, Ky nursed for about 45 minutes and then heard her daddy walk through the door. She was so eager to see him. That was around 9:15 and by 10:30 Craig was going to bed and Kylie was still playing full steam ahead. She finally fell asleep, drinking her bottle of milk and just cuddling with me, it was so nice to have her fall asleep without nursing. Within moments Cooper was awake and I was trying to get him back to sleep before Craig woke up. Now here I am, many many things on my list of things to do tonight, but writing the blog finally made it to the top, and it might be the only thing that gets done, 7am will be coming quick if I don't get at least a little sleep.
Good night,
Natalie

Rainbow with stars, her go-to with Goldie. She is also holding her "prize" that she sicked out, a pretend centipede, at least it is better then the pretend cockroach from last week.

 Broadway Block Party

 blowing bubbles for the limbo contest while we sang "Under the Sea."

 The parade of stars

 some practice with my new camera, just for fun...

 Portia was sporting her mustache

 singing Good Morning Baltimore on our neighbors lawn.

 Tandem one leg down dog

Home-made Pizza Party

Kylie's language has always been impressive to us, but lately we feel like she has been extra impressive. Saying things like "wow it's nice out today," completely unprompted while having a picnic with her friends, is just not what you expect from a 2.5 year old. This week has been fun so far, we did SkyTown on Monday and dinner at my parents house Monday and Tuesday night. She has been wearing pull-ups but does not seem at all motivated to try and use the restroom. Everyday her imagination gets better and better, we often hear about her husband Don and how he works in San Diego, was recently hit by a car and has been in the hospital getting better. Her demands during meal time have evolved from "one day one day one day...!" to "I'm thinking of an animal," "I'm thinking of a person" ("a hard one" she will say if she has guessed the others to easily), and most recently "I'm thinking of a place." It has been a nice break from the constant story telling and every once in a while we can get her to tell us one, it usually sounds like this..."I'm thinking of a person... it's a girl...with long hair...and his name is ____(fill in the name of a boy with short hair)," we can never guess right but she thinks it is fun.

Today I had breastfeeding group. We had another huge group of mommies, yay! It was wonderful to have two mommies tell me that they would have quite breastfeeding had they not come to the support group, it made my day to hear that. Cooper is such a sweet and patient baby boy, he sits and play with all the other kids and is content even with other mommies holding him while I run the group. He is growing so fast and already seems well past the infant stage, he is very strong and often rolls over from his back to his belly, especially when he is sleeping at night. He is making so many fun baby sounds, Kylie has been very entertained and will often say "Coopie just said AHHHH, silly little Coopie." He is chewing on his hands a lot and drooling all the time, it seems like he is working on a tooth, but I think it is still too early for that. He has started taking the bottle well for Craig, I work tomorrow so we will see if he will take it for my parents.

This evening we had a pizza making party at our house. The little girls all came over and made pizzas and we had a picnic in the front yard. It was so fun, we love having neighbors that we enjoy spending time with. I'm sure there is more to say, but I cant think of what it might be. Sorry I have not written the past few nights, I have been accidentally falling asleep with Kylie and then waking up around midnight with just enough energy to go climb in my own bed :o)
Good night,
Natalie

Kylie enjoyed a shopping trip with daddy 

Making pizza!!!!

 Eating pizza!

 BBQ with the family at Ama and Papa's house

 Wishing he could make his own pizza.

 SkyTown buddies.

 Kylie did a great job decorating her pizza, she put on sauce, cheese, olives and Canadian bacon.

 SkyTown

 Kylie is not always a fan of sharing her favorite SkyTown items, good thing it has not been too busy when we go.

What did you say Kylie?

A couple highlights from yesterday and today...

Yesterday Kylie played with Mish, Kylie said her name was Elsa, Mish said her name was Anna, and they were reading the babies stories before they had to go to the hospital. Everyday the imaginative play gets more detailed, I love it.

Craig fixed a delicious dinner yesterday then he, the kids and Tim went to market night while I was teaching at the BI. Kylie got her arm painted by Goldie and when she was told she could pick out a little toy to take home, she decided that a fake cockroach was her favorite item. When I got home she came up to me holding it, totally freaked me out. I must have jumped about 5 times last night when I would see it out of the corner if my eye, yuck.

This morning Kylie put on some cool new pull-ups that I bought for her. The have a special picture that disappears when it gets wet, I was hoping this might inspire her to want to go a little more, but not so much. She went once on the potty for me today, but still really enjoyed wearing her new pull-ups. I'm sure it will happen when it's time.

We had a wonderful morning, some friends came over for coffee and a play date. It was cool enough to play upstairs which we have not done in a while. This afternoon included a brief moment when both children were sleeping, yay, and a walk to visit Marta's house. Tim and Marta brought dinner over and we enjoyed another meal with them. Bath for Cooper and bedtime for all. There was one brief moment this evening that made us all laugh very hard. We (Tim, Melissa, Cooper, Kylie and I) were all sitting at the dinner table eating. We were talking about Coopers shirt that said "Giants" on it and Melissa asked Kylie "Ky, what is your favorite baseball team?" and clear as day she said "Dodgers." WHAT?!?! we all said "Dodgers" she said with a smile on her face. We all got laughing so hard, we have no idea how she even knows the Dodgers exist, I don't think that word is even said in our house. A littler later she said she also likes the Padres, huh?!? Who is this kid? I wish we had a video of Craig's face when he came home and we told him the story, priceless.

Good night,
Natalie

We survived another couple days in the crazy heat!

Ahhh somehow it is Wednesday and I am just now sitting here to write. The past couple days have been busy, Craig worked Monday, I worked Tuesday and today. Tim arrived and we had a family BBQ yesterday and Melissa started working night shift. It has been in the triple digits here, I think the highest our car said was 112, ahhhh. It makes it hard to get out and do anything. We went to SkyTown on Monday then headed to Chick-fil-a for lunch. Kylie was eating her lunch and all of a sudden said "mommy I need to go potty." So we jumped up and headed to the bathroom, her diaper was dry and she peeped in the potty! So exciting! just moments later I was holding Cooper and he had a major blowout that (without me realizing) ran down his leg and all over my lap. I guess he figured he could make a bigger mess since Ky did such a good job. We had a delicious dinner with Tabitha, Portia and Nico Monday night. I watched the kids while Tabitha cooked, it was so wonderful to have the company and teamwork while both of our husbands were gone.

Yesterday Cooper got to visit me at work a couple times, it is always so wonderful to take a couple minutes to reconnect with him during my day. We had a yummy dinner at my parents and enjoyed their ever-evolving backyard.

Today I had breastfeeding group. 22 mommies, 22 babies and 2 toddles! It was the biggest group we have had so far and it was so fun. I am so happy we have such a big group going, it makes it worth getting out of the house every Wednesday. Cooper took a bottle for the first time today and didn't make the trip to see me at work :o( I missed seeing him, but I am glad he took a bottle. We are trying to Tommy Tippee one and it seemed to work well. Craig made a great dinner tonight and we got to enjoy some family time. Then both Craig and I fell asleep (I guess it was a harder day then we thought).

Kylie just rolled off her bed, ahh, she has not ever done that before. She doesn't seem hurt and went back to sleep quickly but I hope it doesn't happen again. And of course Cooper started to fuss at the same time, so we both had to spring into action, but I think Craig is already back in bed so all is well again.

One more quick story...Kylie was looking at a new kids magazine that arrived for her during breakfast Monday morning. She asked me "who brought this book to our house?" "The mailman delivered it to us," I said. After a slight pause she said "I wish I could tell the mailman thank you." She made me smile, she is so sweet. On Tuesday as I was leaving for work in the morning she said "Good bye mommy, I love you so much. Have a wonderful day." It is so fun when comments like this come from her completely unprompted, she makes my heart melt. Speaking of melting hearts, Cooper has also started to laugh, it is not often, but it is so wonderful when it happens.

More to come soon (I hope),
Natalie

SkyTown with her friends

 Playing with Coopiem she loved giving him a ride around the play area

 Ahh nap time. Although just before they both fell asleep, Coopie gave me a little scare. He was nursing and started shaking, not violently and he was still nursing and breathing, but it was scary. He did it twice and it only lasted for about 5-10 seconds, but it was enough to make me call Craig at work and ask if I should consider bringing him in. It didn't happen again so I am hoping it was nothing.

 He was not happy about it, but he did fall asleep swinging in the backyard during the BBQ

Silly Kylie...

I have been feeding bad about not writing for the past couple days, so all day I planned to write tonight and update everyone on the past couple days. Two things happened to derail me again...one, I didn't know Craig wrote the other night, yay! Two, our wonderful Kylie decided that going to sleep was not part of the plan tonight and after more then an hour of her nursing and trying to put her had down my shirt, I have had enough and no longer feel enthusiastic about writing much.

In a nut shell, Craig has been working, I have been home, my family has been helping me. Melissa and I got a chance to go shopping for a little bit yesterday, we found outfits for the kids for her wedding, yes! Kylie loves her dress and was not eager to take it off after we had her try it on, but eventually she did. Cooper is still so sweet and patient. He had a little belly laugh today, couldn't get him to do it very many times, but it was so cute when it happened.

Ok I am going to go prep for the class I teach tomorrow and do my hair so there is one less things to manage in the morning :o) Craig works again, so my parents are with Kylie and maybe Cooper too, he still won't take a bottle so I might just teach while I wear him.

Good night,
Natalie 
P.S. one funny moment from today... I needed to take a shower, Cooper was having his morning nap and I had set Kylie up in the living room with Sesame Street to watch. She was just wearing a diaper (earlier in the morning I woke up to both kids soaking through their diapers and clothes, so everyone had been stripped down and new diapers were on) and had not wanted to put her clothes on yet. So when I got out of the shower, I opened the door and looked down the hall because I hear her walking around the living room. And there she is, her Cinderella shoes on, head band on her head and diaper no where to be found. Luckily she had not peed anywhere, she simply told me she wanted to spend some time naked, don't we all. 

From Papa, Kylie on the phone and wearing her baby :o)

Happy boy in our woven wrap today.

 Excited to go grocery shopping

 Ama and Papa finished their swing set, both Coopie and Ky loved it!

Coops Divergent Day

He doesn't know it, but his experience has already been quite different than his big sisters.  Nat went to work again today, but luckily for Coop (and us too I guess) Nat is no longer workin nights down at the dock.  Kylie experienced the emotion that comes with the realistic prospect of starvation (pay no attention to the rather large exaggeration), but not our chubby bunny.  Now, Nat's work involves leading a breastfeeding support group (which cozy coop gets to attend), teaching "get ready to have a baby classes" (which the wee one also attends), and a few hours a week of lactation support on the unit (during the day...usually around Kylie's nap time).  But wait. Before you start to feel bad about the little tank missing his mommy, you should know that he gets hand delivered to her (FedEx first class) every 2-3 hours so he can refuel and get some mommy time.  Ah.  If only he knew how good he had it.  Two children, with two totally different experiences.  I guess now I understand what Robert Frost meant. 

Since we are all coming to grips with the routine of Nat's back to work schedule, today, was a day like any other.  Coop frolicked and played at BF Support group while Kylie and I completed our routine while we played outside of Nat's classroom.  It goes something like this:  Kylie: Dad is we go find a golf ball to play with? (Nat's class is right next to a driving range) Me: Sure Ky, lets go see if a ball came rolling under the fence. Kylie: Is a ball roll under the fence? Me: I'm not sure sweetie lets go check. Kylie: Ok.  Do you see any balls yet dad? Me: Not yet. We'll keep looking.  Inevitably we always find one and then the next sequence happens. Kylie: Can we roll the ball down the ramp? Me: Go for it. Kylie: Can we roll the ball down the stairs? Me: Sure. Kylie: Can we throw the ball? Me: why not?... and so it goes.  I would venture to say that this exact sequence has played itself out no less than 6 times in the last few months.  As old Bert Lance would say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

The rest of the day was a lot of bouncing the Coop (He loves facing out and bouncing), watching him wiggle and kick on his play mat, rocking him to sleep while he sucks on his hand (also a favorite of his), Teaming up with Amma and Papa while Nat was working, and playing like crazy. 

As the roads diverge we continue to get a birds eye view.

More to come soon,

Craig

Kylie is 2 years and 6 months, ahhhh

Yesterday Craig had both kids while I was at work. He ventured to Sky Town! and then brought them to visit me at work so we could have a quick lunch while I nursed Cooper. He made it home with two sleeping kids and everyone was still sleeping when I got home a little alter, wow! That evening Craig headed to a meeting while I took over kid duty. Mish came over to play for a bit, then we took a walk down the street and visited with some of our neighbors in the 500 block of Eureka. It was a fun evening.

Both Craig and I had the day off today (the only day we have off together this month) and we were so excited to spend some family time. We decided to start the day with Kylie's first trip to the San Bernardino County Museum. Big Kylie and Mish joined us and the girls had a great time running around and looking at all the exhibits. We had a yummy lunch then headed home for nap time. We all took a nice long nap and then headed to the back yard for some fun in the sandbox and water table. Craig fixed us an amazing dinner, Marta joined us, and after dinner we had some more play time upstairs. It was s wonderful fun filled day that we thought would have worn Kylie out. But tonight after trying to put her down for 45 minutes, Craig had to tap in and take her out walking. He came back shaking his head, she was still restless, but once he put her down she seemed to fall asleep.

Breastfeeding group and work for me tomorrow, Craig has Mr. Mom duty, good thing he is amazing at it!
-Natalie


Kylie and Mish are actually playing with each other now, it is so fun to watch them interact. They worked together to make a "meal" then had a "dinner date," so cute!

I love getting to see my wonderful family in the middle of work, it makes my day. Thank you to a wonderful husband who is wiling to bring the kids :o)

 They wanted Cooper to join them, then they started arguing about who got to have the orange soda, don't worry, they worked it out :o)

And today they analyzed beautiful art work.

While Coopie enjoyed the most of the museum, and our lunch date, like this...

 This is George.

 Posing in the picture frames at the museum.

Kylie and Mish also got to touch the "fancy mice."

 Museum selfie.

Who says the ice chest can only be used for keeping food cold?

 She made each of us a birthday cake and sang.

At lunch today the owners daughter (3 years old) asked Kylie to play with her. Kylie said "sure." They sat on the other side of the restaurant and drew on old receipts.

 Bath time after back yard play time. We brought the legos with us and Coopie got to play with the spotted dog :o)