Happy Birthday Daddy and Poppa!

Dave caught up to me once again, and hit the big 3-3 on Monday. We celebrated with Chipotle and cheesecake. Tessa really wanted a bite!
We also want to wish my dad, who turns 62 today, a very happy day! We love and miss you!

Happy Birthday Poppa! from courtney on Vimeo.

Re-creations

Just for kicks, I recreated some of my favorite photos of Calder -- this time with Tessa!

Halloween in July? Why not?

6 Months Old!

It's hard to believe that it has already been 6 months since Tessa completed our family! This is one of my favorite ages for babies, and I just want to bottle her up and keep her like this forever! She continues to be very easygoing and happy, although teething has been very rough for her lately. The poor little thing is just sooo uncomfortable! She's constantly trying to gnaw on everything in sight, and I am so thankful for Orajel! At her 6 month well visit this week she weighed in at 17 lbs, 13 oz. (84th percentile) and 26 3/4 inches (85th percentile). Aside from starting solids (so far, oatmeal and bananas are yummy...peas, not so much), here's what else she is up to these days...

She found her toes

She sleeps on her tummy

She's outgrown swaddling and moved onto wearable blankets

She plays with toys!

She loves to see what's behind her, especially if it's the TV
She's sitting up, with just a little support

And, she loves to chew on her dresses to show off her belly rolls!

Funny Daddy!

Funny Daddy from courtney on Vimeo.

Yum?

Tessa has officially entered the world of food! She had her first taste of baby cereal last night. Pediatricians say you can start baby food between 4-6 months. With Calder, I remember being so excited to try it that we started at 4 1/2 months. Perhaps it's a sign of 2nd child syndrome...but I was in no hurry at all with Tessa. I already feel like there aren't enough hours in the day, and this is just one more thing to do! And, honestly, she didn't seem ready to me until a few weeks ago. Anyway, we went straight for oatmeal, since Calder was never a huge fan of rice cereal. She seemed to be ok with it, despite being in a bit of a bad mood. She's teething pretty bad these days and I think she liked mouthing the spoon more than the actual cereal! She snatched it right out of my hand after the first bite! I think bananas are next on the menu...mainly because I have some nice ripe ones. They were always a big hit with Calder, so it will be interesting to see whether their tastes are similar. Will we have another fruitatarian?

Catching Up -- Trip to Pittsburgh

We took a trip to Pittsburgh over Father's Day weekend. While there, we hit the Pittsburgh Children's Museum, which just happened to be having a special Bob the Builder exhibit! We also visited with family and attended Dave's cousin's wedding. A great weekend!

Hanging out with Pilchard and Bob

Shadow Wall at the museum

Sliding with Zaidy

Storytime with Daddy

We had to top off the day with a stop at Gus and Yiayia's! Calder's first ice ball!

Ready for the wedding

Tessa and Aunt Maria

Cousin time! Madison (5 1/2), Julia (4). Abigail (2) and Calder

Favorite Colors

Calder loves to know about people's favorite colors. It's kind of funny, because his curiosity isn't person-based, it's color-based. For example,

Calder: "Who's favorite color is red?"
Mommy: "Daddy's favorite color is red"
Calder: "Who else likes red?"
(repeat for every color...)

So, last week I was making lunch in the kitchen, and I heard Calder call from the family room "Mommy, these toys are for you!" It didn't immediately register that he'd picked out a bunch of toys in my favorite color...
...until he said "And these toys are for Tessa!" He was quite adamant that yellow is Tessa's favorite color...but I think she might disagree!
By the way, he had also picked out a bunch of white toys and laid them next to Lucky, but Lucky got up before I had a chance to snap a picture! And, for the record, Calder's favorite color is still purple. :)

The Sleep Lady

About two months ago, I was at my wit's end with Calder's naptime and bedtime antics. He was napping less than 50% of the time, and the bedtime battles were exhausting and endless. So I checked out every toddler sleep book that they had at the library (4). There was no way I was going to be able to read four whole books on the topic, but I browsed them all and decided that this one was our best bet: "Good Night, Sleep Tight: The Sleep Lady's Gentle Guide to Helping Your Child Go to Sleep, Stay Asleep, and Wake Up Happy." by Kim West.

We didn't actually get around to implementing any of her tactics until about a week and a half ago. And, we didn't actually follow her full 'Sleep Lady Shuffle' plan either...we sort of just picked a few parts of the plan and went with it. The main thing that we did was come up with a 'Sleep Manners' chart - which is basically the same thing as a potty chart, but for sleeping. I had my doubts that it would actually work, since he couldn't care less about the potty chart. Essentially, the parents come up with 3-4 'sleep manners' (because 'manners' sounds better than 'rules'). These are the things that you really want to improve about your child's sleep. Our four things were:
1. Take a nap or quiet time
2. Put on your pajamas and brush your teeth without a fuss
3. Stay in your bed
4. Put yourself to sleep (this means we don't lay with him in his bed until he is asleep, which had been happening more often than I would like to admit)

So, the idea is that the child gets little rewards every time they get all their stickers for the day. And, if they get a whole week's worth of stickers, they get a bigger reward. Like I said, I had serious doubts that the chart would make any difference at all, but lo and behold...HE DID IT! A whole week's worth of stickers -- the very first week! We are so proud of him! Now this isn't to say that naptime and bedtime are completely seamless yet, but once we feel like he's doing a good job with these sleep manners, we can change them up to work on other issues. His big reward for getting all of his stickers was a dump truck, which he absolutely LOVES.

On Sunday we started Week #2, and decided not to change any of the sleep manners just yet. Hopefully last week wasn't a fluke, because he's already had 2 slip-ups this week. Oh well -- nobody's perfect, right!? And in the big picture, he's doing sooo much better. The naps alone make this whole process sooo worth it! Thank you, Sleep Lady!! (And thanks to Susannah for clueing me in on how to make a reusable chart! Sooo glad I don't have to make that thing every week!)

Catching Lightning Bugs

Happy Independence Day!

Happy 4th of July, everyone! The weather was beautiful today, and we had a great time at a local parade and then a cookout with friends!

Calder and Tessa are all decked out in their red, white and blue and ready for the parade!

We staked out a good spot and had brunch while we waited for the parade to begin. Here, Calder is telling me "No, no, no, Mommy, you will not go in the road. It is not safe!" Smart kid, but he sure is bossy these days...

Uncle Sam

Abe
Waving Old Glory

Mommy and Tessa enjoying the parade!