Temple Square Visit

Today, the children and I ventured downtown to visit Temple Square with some of the cousins. We went to see the flowers and to visit the children's exhibit at the Church History Museum. I had never been to the Church History Museum before, so it was fun for all. After eating our lunches and terrorizing the tiny cabin next to the museum for a while, we walked around the tabernacle to see the flowers. I was surprised that Eddie allowed me to take his photo. Maybe it was peer pressure.

After we saw all the flowers the children could handle (about 5 minutes worth) we went to the museum to play. Since I was wrangling Eddie, I didn't get a chance to see much of the museum. We stopped off on the second floor to see the Angel Moroni statue and then moved quickly on to the children's area. In my opinion, this place rivals the Children's Museum at the Gateway. They have Nephi's ship, where kids can go fishing. Luckily nobody was standing too close while Eddie cast his line.

They have giant foam shapes to build with, computer games to play, a truck for the kids to sit in, and a place where the kids can dress up and dance along to a video. Sarah put on a skirt so she could dance like the lady on the screen, so Eddie demanded a skirt, too.

Since Violet was sleeping in the stroller the whole time, she didn't really take part in the fun. However, I had to include a photo because today I put her hair in pigtails for the first time. She is now three months old and is growing up really fast. She has started grasping things and putting toys in her mouth. Despite her insistence on eating three times per night, she really is a joy and I can't really remember what life was like without her.

Number Two

I always said that I would never have a three year old still wearing diapers. Boy, was I naive. Now here we are, with two weeks until Eddie's third birthday, and I am just happy that we've started potty training, even though I'm fairly confident it will not be completed by May 3.

After one reading of My Big Boy Potty a few weeks ago, Eddie decided he wanted to use the potty. And so it began. By now, when I consistently make him sit on the potty, he is pretty good about using it. He still doesn't understand that he can tell me in advance when he needs to go. I'm not really sure how to teach him that part.

Once he got pretty good at using the potty for #1, I started getting frustrated that he continued using his diaper for #2. So we resorted to bribes. Eddie is currently obsessed with the movie Cars. Even though he already has two McQueens, we decided that the best bribe would be another one.

We bought a blue McQueen and kept it in the closet. Every day, I would remind Eddie that all he had to do to get a new blue McQueen was to do you-know-what in the potty. I even resorted to telling him that blue McQueen was bored in there, just waiting for him to do his duty so he could come out and play. Finally on Sunday, when it was obvious that Eddie needed to go, but refusing to do so (and even claiming that he wanted us to take blue McQueen back to the store), I got the car out of the closet so he could see it, and demanded that he sit on the potty. About ten seconds later, we heard "I did it!"

Since then, Eddie and blue McQueen have been inseparable. He went to church with us. He took a bath with Ed. And he slept with Eddie and his other two McQueens last night.

So even though potty training isn't going as quickly as I would like, we are making progress. And, if nothing else, it has led to some amusing conversations with Eddie (which I won't post… because I'm sure he would hate me for it later).

Hair Horn

Violet's hair is too long and wild to consistently mohawk nowadays. However, in between sessions of conference, I started playing with her hair and got a nice horn going, so I grabbed the camera.

I had just changed her diaper, hence the reason for a changing pad being the less than ideal backdrop.

Soon Eddie joined her on the floor for some snuggles.

We've got cute kids.

A little while later, her hair settled back into her standard combover.

Violet's Two Month Stats

Yes, our sweet baby is already two months old! Ed and I took her in to the pediatrician today for her check-up and to get her official stats. She weighed in at 12 pounds, 3 ounces. That is the 84th percentile. She measured 24 inches long, which is the 99th percentile. Yes... 99th! The doctor just kept saying "she's so big!" I am no longer surprised that she is already wearing 6 month size pajamas and 6-9 month size shirts. The biggest problem with her growing at this rate is that she will outgrow her infant car seat and we'll have to buy a bigger car to accommodate the convertible car seat (aka barcalounger) until she's old enough to face forward. So keep your fingers crossed that she doesn't grow more than 5 inches in the next 10 months. I'm not going to hold my breath. The good news is that she is healthy and happy.

Violet is starting to reach the stage where she is a little more fun. She is a very smiley and social baby. She loves when people talk to her and look at her. Luckily, she's got me and Ed around all day, so there is plenty of talking going on. She is still a binky baby. Sometimes when she is upset, she takes the binky and has a hard time deciding whether she should suck on it or if she should still cry, so she does both, making an "ah-oo-ga" sound. Lately, she's had a little cold and has been congested. If she gets too clogged up and I'm not fast enough with the nasal aspirator, she takes care of it herself by snorting over and over until she clears her own nose. It was alarming the first time it happened (in the middle of the night, no less), but now it's just funny.

She still has tons of hair, though it has started to fall out across the back. She still has plenty on the top and sides, and she still has a great 2-inch mullet. Despite all the cute hair accessories we have, I usually don't bother to do anything with her hair because it is so unmanageable. It sticks out at all angles and is too fine to really hold anything for very long.

Eddie still loves her and throws a fit if we don't let him hold her whenever he asks. He tries to get her to play with toys. He says "she wants it" and puts the toy on her face. I think he'll be excited when she finally does start to play with toys. He likes to call her "Squeaky" because he thinks she makes funny noises. After the first time he called her that, Dave and I discussed whether or not we should encourage it and came to no conclusion. It didn't matter, though, because Ed persists in calling her Squeaky. We'll see if it sticks.

Chatterbox

There is a lyric from the U2 song "All Because of You" that perfectly sums up Eddie at the moment, "I like the sound of my own voice, I didn't give anyone else a choice." Sometimes it seems like Eddie never stops talking. Our exchanges with him typically take three forms.

The Inquisitor

Eddie: Where are you, momma?
Kristen: In my room.
Eddie: You are?
Kristen: Yes.
Eddie: Are you right there?
Kristen: Yes.
Eddie: Are you okay?
Kristen: Yes.
Eddie: What you doin?
Kristen: Nothing.
Eddie: You are?

Eddie: Where's Calvin's house?
Dave: In Syracuse.
Eddie: Where's Syracuse?
Dave: It's that way (pointing north)
Eddie: Where's that way?
Dave: Over there (gesturing randomly)
Eddie: It is?
Dave: Yep.
Eddie: Where's Calvin's house?

The Negotiator

Eddie: Is it Christmas time?
Dave: No, Christmas is over.
Eddie: It's not over. It's on right now.

Eddie: You wanna come upstairs?
Dave: No.
Eddie: You do?
Dave: No.
Eddie: You do?
Dave: No!
Eddie: You do?
Dave: Okay, fine.

The Unintentional Comedian

Eddie: You got legs comin' out of your skirt?
Kristen: Yep.
Eddie: Are they so white?

Eddie: I'm a superhero.
Kristen: You are?
Eddie: No, that would be crazy.

Eddie: You pull my leg sleeves down?

Dave: Did you find a rock?
Eddie: It's called a big so rock it is!

Stranger: What's your name?
Eddie: I don't know. It's Eddie.

Eddie in a rare moment of quiet introspection.

Eddie Loves Violet

Even though Eddie is sometimes not very nice to his sister, he still loves her a lot. Yesterday, he just wanted to hold her all day long. Luckily, she is usually good-natured enough to allow this. Here they are yesterday morning, smiling and snuggling on the couch:

And here they are after Dave got home, kissing on the couch:

Hopefully Eddie will soon learn not to hurt Violet so they can be buddies all the time.

7 Weeks Old

Today Violet is 7 weeks old. I feel like it has been too long since I posted about her and she has changed a lot! She is getting big and strong. I have recently had several people ask how much she weighs now. Since we don't get an official weight for a couple more weeks, I decided to get an estimate using our bathroom scale, which only rounds to the half pound. She weighed 12 pounds fully clothed, so she is probably about 11.5 pounds, which is about what Eddie weighed when he was two months old. Unlike her brother, Violet loves to stand up. Her legs are strong and she can support her own weight for a few seconds at a time, even if she can't balance herself. I am hoping this means that she does not have the same problems Eddie had and won't have any delays.

Violet has started to smile a lot. She loves being talked to, so she always has big smiles for her momma (who talks a lot). She also smiles at Eddie a lot, probably because she does not remember how mean he is to her. Over the last few days, I have discovered something else that makes her smile: her car seat canopy. This makes me feel like I have done something right, since I made the canopy. When we put her in her car seat, she loves to gaze at the flowers on the canopy and smile and wiggle. It is so cute that I had to take some photos before I got her out when we came home from church today:

I have also had a lot of fun buying clothes for Violet and dressing her in cute outfits. Dave thinks I am living vicariously through her, since she gets to wear cute stuff that I could never wear. He is probably right. Today she got to wear a dress that I bought before she was born and it is one of my favorite things in her closet currently. I must say that the raspberry pink tights really complete the ensemble:

Eddie's First Day of School

Last fall, our friend Kristina told us about a preschool for two year olds that is run through the Jordan School District Child Development Center (the same place that did Eddie's physical therapy). Her twins have been going all year. I thought about signing Ed up back in the fall, but since I was pregnant and feared that my immune system would tank when winter hit, I decided not to enroll him so that we could avoid being sick all winter. I'm not sure if this helped us avoid disease or if we both just have stronger immune systems than we have had in previous years.

Well, now it is March and Eddie and I have been cooped up in the house for way too long. We know how to drive each other completely crazy and we definitely have cabin fever. So I asked Kristina about preschool again and promptly signed Eddie up for the rest of the year. The classes are actually designed for kids who are developmentally delayed, but they need non-delayed peers in the classes, too. He goes every Thursday and today was his first day.

This month the class is learning about colors. I'm sure Eddie dazzled the teachers because he knows all his colors (and because he talks so much). He got to paint a picture to bring home. Here is his picture, which is now proudly displayed on the fridge:

He told me that he painted a spider web. I'm not sure if he came up with that or if one of the teachers suggested it. Either way, I think it's pretty convincing. He was a little confused about how his red and blue picture ended up completely purple, so we had a discussion about how mixing colors makes new colors.

We are both very excited about preschool. I think he'll learn a lot and get some much needed social interaction... and Violet and I will get an Eddie-free time every Thursday!

Strolling in Style

I took a long time trying to decide if we should get a double stroller or not. We test drove huge monstrosities at Babies R Us and I decided there was no way I was going to push a full-size double stroller around and started looking for other options. I looked at side-by-side models, but couldn't find any that could really fit through a standard doorway. Besides that, we needed one that could fit an infant seat since Violet probably won't be ready to sit up in a stroller for a few more months.

Eventually, I ended up researching the sit and stand stroller (otherwise known as a "stroller and a half"). After much deliberation (and not entirely logical reasoning), I decided to get the Mia Moda Compagno. This was a risky move because it was the only one I had not seen in person. But I like the way it looks and some of the features that it has that its competitor does not. We got the stroller yesterday and I assembled it fairly quickly with only minor help from Dave (he was busy working and entertaining Violet). After Eddie woke up from his nap, we took it for a stroll to the park.

The stroller is great because it includes a universal car seat adaptor, so Violet's seat fits securely up front. The way the canopies work, she is shielded from the sun, but I could still see her the entire time. Eddie has the option to either sit or stand on the back. He has a nice padded bench seat (including a three point harness) and a standing platform. There are handles for him to hold when he's in either position, a pad for him to lean against while standing, and a strap across the back to make sure he doesn't fall off when my steering gets a little sketchy.

All four of us enjoyed our walk in the nice weather. For her first extended trip outside, I think it was the longest that Violet has been happily awake since we left the hospital. She kept smiling at us while we walked and Eddie liked being able to change position and get in and out by himself. He especially liked where the stroller took us.

New Baby Carrier

Violet and I tried out our new ErgoBaby carrier today for the first time. Check us out (but pardon my crazy eyes):


Violet likes to be held as much as humanly possible. I can't say I blame her since whenever she is unguarded, she gets smacked in the face by her brother. During the daytime, she won't usually sleep unless she's being held. Occasionally, she will sleep in the bouncer or swing for a little while, if she is kept in constant motion and her binky stays firmly in place.

I had been debating about buying a soft carrier and borrowed a Baby Bjorn from my neighbor to try out for a while. I like the Baby Bjorn, but after taking a walk up the hill, pushing Ed in the stroller, I decided that the Baby Bjorn puts too much stress on the shoulders and there was no way I would be able to carry a larger baby in it for long. That is when BabySteals had a great deal on the ErgoBaby Sport. Since it was about 60% off, I decided I'd better just buy it. I had heard good things about it and since it has a waist belt, it distributes the baby's weight a lot better. Technically, for babies younger than 4 months, you should have an infant insert to better support the baby. But, I figured that Violet holds her head up well enough that we could give it a try without the insert (since we don't have one). I am amazed at how easy it was to get on and how comfortable it is to wear. Violet seems plenty big enough to fit in it and likes being able to hold her head up and look at me while I carry her around, hands-free.

Hopefully this will make it possible for me to get something done around the house during the day and go grocery shopping without lugging a giant car seat around. Of course, I'm not sure how easy it will be when Eddie screams, "HOLD YOU! HOLD YOU!" and demands that I carry him while I have Violet strapped to me.