Catching Up With Mariella

Now that Jacob's birthday has come and gone, it's time to catch up with little miss Mariella. She has been one busy girl. We're not sure if it's innate or learned behavior, but she is starting to become quite the little stinker. She has a mission to find every piece of paper that finds its way onto the floor. Her preferred mode of transportation is skilled rolling. She has scooted a few times and sometimes tries to get up on her hands and knees, but finds that rolling is much faster for getting from point A to point B. It's important to be able to get away from all the baby toys quickly and find the nearest Jacob toy with tiny parts that pose a choking hazard.

Mariella is also becoming very opinionated. She knows what she wants, and no longer asks politely for things with a sweet, soft little voice. She is LOUD. I think that is in part due to needing to be heard over her chatterbox brother, but we might need to work with her on using her inside voice. We do like to hear her talk, though. She likes to tell long, elaborate stories that usually end with drool everywhere. She's experimenting with different sounds, like "la, ma, and ba." And, of course, she is a smile factory. We love our smiley little girl, and she is also very good at eliciting them from anyone else who crosses her path. No one can resist that dimply, tiny-toothed grin. Speaking of teeth, those top ones are threatening to poke through any day now. She's been pretty fussy, but we're muddling through. And now for pictures:

This was one of the first times she rolled to follow me. I saw her peek around the couch and she was so proud of herself.

Checking out the slide. It's fun to slap your hand on it and make sounds!

A common sight: chewing on fingers

Toothy, dimply grin

She did this all by herself, rolling herself perfectly into the parking space next to the ancient computer.

Jacob brought her some toys to keep her company.

Motivation: big brother's puzzle piece just a few feet away, even though baby chew toy is right there

Getting ready to roll again

Oh, hi! I didn't know you were there!

Jacob let her play with his brand new cars on his birthday! What a nice brother!



A cute little furrowed brow. She makes faces like this a lot, and it makes me wonder what she really thinks of us.

Swinging at the park on Jacob's birthday

WEEEEEEEEEE!

Cucumber

Jacob was going through his play food yesterday. We've always let him call the cucumber a pickle because it's easier to say. Yesterday, Tom told him it what it really was. Jacob's pronunciation: "pew cover."

Birthday pictures below

Jacob's birthday pictures are below.

Feeding Experiments

For some time, we've been trying to get Mariella interested in a bottle. She is not. We've tried a few different kinds with the same results. She likes her milk from the source.

A couple of months ago at her check up, I was told we could start solids when we were ready. I'm not really ready, even though she's been extremely interested for awhile. The one thing she isn't doing that is recommended for solids is sit up by herself (it's a development thing, not anything to do with the process of feeding her). With Jacob, we started right at 5 months and he loved it. He loved anything he could get in his mouth.

Mariella has tried rice cereal (8/28/09). She is not impressed. We're going to keep letting her try it, but after this trial period we might move on to something else. Then we'll know if it's the solids she doesn't like, or just the taste. I'm OK with waiting awhile longer on solids since she is growing really well, but if she doesn't learn to take a bottle then she's going to be out of luck when we start going to football games this fall! Or maybe it's Grandpa and Grandma who will be out of luck.

Despite the appearance in the pictures that she liked it, these are her first couple of bites when she was very interested. Once she realized it wasn't milk, she started making faces and pushed the spoon away.

Birthday Pictures

Thursday was Jacob's birthday, and it was a very busy, fun-filled day. We started the fun with his playgroup friends. They all had fun playing in the backyard with toys and the sprinkler pool until the mosquitoes got hungry. When the people got hungry, we had pizza, applesauce, and cupcakes for lunch.

Here are a bunch of the kids having a snack at the party. It was the only picture I took, sadly.

Birthday cupcakes! Jacob helped make them, and they are topped with Cars candies. They also contain $3 eggs. It's a good reminder to make sure you have the proper number of eggs before you start dumping ingredients into the bowl. This prevents you from paying convenience store prices.

Playing with one of his new cars. It makes revving sounds, plays "Rock Around the Clock," and races forward. Pretty cool!

Happy 3-year-old! (Even if he's not cooperating with my picture)

Jacob imitating my reaction to all his new noisy cars

Trying on his new toolbelt. This is good to have, because he is always looking for his tools to fix things around the house.

After Tom got home from work, we packed a picnic dinner and went to a park. We figured that would be Jacob's choice for a perfect way to spend his birthday.

Spreading his picnic items out on the table. Notice that his juice bottle, snack container, and lunch bag all have Cars on them. The snack container and bottle were brand new today!

Brother and sister playing on the swings together

A picture just for Uncle Ty: here is Jacob showing off his tattoos

We got home from the park and it was time for one more birthday cupcake. We sang "Happy Birthday," as directed by the birthday boy, and he got to blow out the candle one last time.

Here is one very excited boy after blowing out his candle. He's three!

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Happy birthday, Jacob!
We're in the middle of a great day. Many pictures to follow.

Not Three Yet, But Still Time to Party

Last weekend was Jacob's birthday party. We were celebrating not only the fact that he is about to turn three, but also the fact that he is about to be "not two" anymore. That all changes at midnight of their actual birthday, right? I suppose we can't count on that. Only 3 days until we find out for sure. Stay tuned. I'm working on a tribute to "the year that was two," but who knows when that will be finished.

Really though, it was a good day. The weather guy told us it would be. He was mostly right. It rained a little while the tables were being set up, and it looked like our grilling plans might be ruined. But the rain passed and it stayed cloudy, but that was OK because it wasn't so hot that way. By the way, this is the second time that Jacob has been on TV for a birthday-related reason. Now he's ready for when he turns 100 and can be on with Willard. Do they still do that? (I couldn't figure out a good way to get this from DVR to computer, so I recorded it on the camera. Picture and sound quality are not great, but oh well.)

Here is Mariella in the morning while I was getting the house ready (picture taken through the window). What is she doing?

Jacob and Daddy having a breakfast popsicle in the backyard. I guess it was snack time somewhere.

Here is the complete picture. Poor Mariella!

Jacob was on party patrol as we were getting tables set up outside and people started to arrive.

Mariella enjoyed getting attention from Uncle Mike and Aunt Katie. They were getting a sneak peek of life with a baby. New cousin, arriving in January!

These are the fancy indoor decorations

Cars, Cars everywhere. I had to get the giant balloon. It got a great reaction from the birthday boy. It hasn't lost a bit of air after 8 days, not bad!

THE CAKE

Jacob working on his 4-foot-long firetruck puzzle

Jacob gave up, so Daddy had to work on it

Cool new trains! This fun set came with the bridge pictured and 2 new trains. The engine is battery powered, which is even cooler. I'm glad that sometimes he still just pushes the trains on his own. Boy-powered trains are classic.

That's all I have for now. I was using the video camera a lot and didn't take many pictures. I'm sure I'll eventually get pictures from the grandparents to fill in the blanks. He got some really fun toys and new clothes that will fit him for a long time. It was a fun day, and we're glad everyone could come celebrate with us.

A Few Laughs

Before I forget, there are a few things Jacob has said recently that were kind of funny. The one that I'm still laughing about came earlier this week. As I previously mentioned, Jacob is kind of territorial about his things when Mariella gets her hands on them. We were in his room getting ready for the day, and she rolled over to the box of wipes. She examined it and then tried to put her mouth on it. Jacob snatched it away from her and said (in his best scolding voice), "Mary! Those are MY butt wipes!"

The one that Jacob finds the funniest is his own "joke." We've been saying, "See you later alligator" at bedtime, and he was responding, "See awhile crocodile." When he says crocodile, it sounds like cracker-dile. I commented on it one day, and then he got the bright idea to say, "See awhile graham cracker-dile." Now he always says it, and thinks it's hilarious.

This one is more cute than funny, but we've been teaching him that he's going to be three years old. He now tells us he's going to be three candles old.

Finally, here is a video of him singing the alphabet. This is his latest version, where you have to growl it. He's been heard singing this version in his room at night from time to time.

Baking

One thing I always looked forward to when having kids was baking with them. We don't do it a whole lot, but when we do it's a lot of fun. As Jacob has gotten older he's gone from just watching to helping stir to adding the ingredients. He's always been good for licking the bowl, but now he usually waits until the batter is out before sticking his fingers in. Our most recent culinary delight was brownies. He will one day marvel that brownies don't have to come from a box, but for now it's nice to only have a few ingredients to add. And yes, there is raw egg in the batter, but I'm sure a few little licks won't hurt. With the amount of cookie dough I ate when I was pregnant, he probably has an immunity to raw eggs.

Licking the spoon

"Want some, Mommy?"

Hmmm, it doesn't say anywhere on here that it should be all over my face

Guess I better wipe it off!

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I'm just putting this here to acknowledge that I'm behind on posting. I have a backlog of pictures, video, and stories. The one piece of news I can share right now is that the kids came up with this great new nap schedule where Mariella naps, then when she wakes up it's Jacob's turn, and then when he wakes up she's about ready for her next nap. That leaves me little to no kid-free time.

We're also getting ready for Jacob's birthday party this weekend, and I am working on finding a place for us to take a family vacation next summer. I am determined that we will go somewhere next year! My other excuses include making a double pediatrician appointment for my soon-to-be 3 year and 6 month olds, and figuring out when and how to get their pictures taken. Exciting times around here!

5 Months Old

Our baby girl is getting so big! She has really changed a lot over the past month. In addition to getting her first two teeth, she is giggling and babbling up a storm. She greets us every morning with a radiant smile, and there is no better way to start a day.


Tummy time is no longer a chore. In fact, she loves it and usually rolls there herself to play. She has become a tummy/side sleeper, and has figured out that rolling can be used as a mode of transportation. It is mostly helpful for getting to things that she is not supposed to be near, like walls and chair legs. And Jacob's toys. (For his part, Jacob has been telling Mariella not to touch his stuff. It begins!)


Mariella is such a happy little girl. We are amazed by her. She loves to smile, be played with, giggle, coo, and just be silly. She never wants to be held facing your shoulder; she always has to be looking out. She loves to sit up, and stand up. Her newest sounds are "ma" and "ba." They are usually repeated in a long string, as in "ma ma ma ma ma." She also makes this gurgly sound in the back of her throat that we're pretty sure she picked up from Jacob. Mariella is just in love with her big brother. The feeling is almost always mutual. He can't wait for her to be just a little older so she can really play with him.


She has become a very curious little girl. This translates to grabbing at everything, from toys to carpet fuzz to hair and faces. Whatever she can get, she feels and scratches with both hands, then examines it closely before bringing it to her mouth. She used to just put things in her mouth and ask questions later, but now she has to investigate first. Her curiosity has also led to her being very distractable while she's eating. If she hears anyone talking, or sees anything moving, she has to look. It can get frustrating trying to feed her when she's constantly looking around, but I like that she is so interested in everything around her.