More Winter

Since having kids, the end of January marks the time where I start to go a little crazy and am itching for spring.  This year I'm feeling especially stir crazy.  I think it's because there have been so many freezing cold days- too cold to go out and play, and on days where it was warm enough there wasn't any snow to play in or it was raining.  

It feels like we've been really busy even though I can't put my finger on what we've been busy doing.  Sitting inside?  Probably.

We did go to a birthday party at the Saratoga Children's Museum.

cutest fire woman ever!

We've been experimenting with new inside activities.  Tapioca pearls (edible water beads) are a huge hit! I saw the activity here.  It was amazing- kept MiniM.E. occupied for hours.  Actual ones, not "hours" which in preschool language is the equivalent of 5 minutes.

And we've been testing out "exercise swap" with a mommy-three-year-old pair where moms trade of exercising and watching kids for half and hour each while the preschoolers sit on the couch and watch Daniel Tiger... Hey it's early in the morning in the winter. 

Cuddles and Skating

MiniM.E. and LittleL.G. have been having some quality cuddle time lately.

MiniM.E. also had her second skating lesson.  Tons of improvement from last week, but a long way to go...

Happy 3 Months LittleL.G.!

LittleL.G. is 3 months today.  It has flown by.  I remember the days of MiniM.E.'s first three monthsfelt long, especially before she could smile.  But with LittleL.G. weeks go by in a flash!

It is also fun to see LittleL.G. growing into her own person.  I used to think that she looked just like a Mini MiniM.E. but she is so different now.

MiniM.E. at 3 months

LittleL.G. at 3 months

LittleL.G. is such a mellow, happy baby.  She is curious and alert.  She loves her playmat and her swing.  We're starting the bumbo and she's spending more time in the jumper.  And she loves cuddling and watching TV with MiniM.E.

New Activities for a New Year

MiniM.E. has been doing the same activities for a while.  This year we decided to switch it up and try some new activities.

We will be taking a new music class starting on Monday.  We didn't do Kindermusic this year (even though we loved it) because at 3 kids have to participate without a parent, and school is enough to do without Mommy for MiniM.E.  This music class is a family class, so we can all participate, even LittleL.G.

MiniM.E. is also trying soccer for the first time:

MiniM.E. was a little intimidated as the only girl in a class of 12 other 3-5 year old boys, but she did a great job and is excited about next week.  We've been practicing our "tick-tock" dribbling around the house.

We also started ice skating yesterday with the brand new ice skates MiniM.E. got for Christmas.  MiniM.E. isn't so sure about it yet, but considering she couldn't even stand up off the ice at the beginning of class, we're making huge progress.

Go MiniM.E.!  Way to try new things in the new year!

The Difficulty of Photographing Kids

I used to think it was difficult to photograph MiniM.E.  The first few months were cake.  She slept and was still.  Even as she found her hands and started moving around, she was a baby and even if her arms or legs were a little blurry in a photo, its not like she could go anywhere, so most of the photos I took were decent.  Hence the thousands of photos I have of MiniM.E.'s first few months.  Once she was mobile it was a little more difficult to take decent photos and more often than not I would delete half the photos I took because they were blurry.  But still, a one year old isn't that fast, so I still had a pretty high photo-success rate.

Once she learned to jump and run, things were a little more difficult, and more often than not a photo had a least one blurry part.  But I learned to take LOTS of photos of everything, and usually I came out with a few decent photos where the whole kid was in focus.

Fast-forward to having a three year old and an (almost) three month old.  Caputuring a photo of both of them that is not blurry and where both are looking at the camera NOT making stupid faces is near impossible.  There have been countless times where I have spent 5 minutes trying to take a photo of them being adorable together and have looked at the photos later to find that EVERY. SINGLE. ONE is unusable.

Take today for example.  Uncle Billy sent an outfit for Christmas and I wanted to get a photo of LittleL.G. wearing it.  About 20 photos later, these are the best three:

cute of MiniM.E., Little L.G. ready to faceplant chair arm

cute of LittleL.G., MiniM.E. angry that LittleL.G. is grabbing her

the only photo where nobody is blurry

Bah.  I suppose it doesn't help that I'm using my iPhone for photos.  I probably need "kid-shutter-speed" But if I only used my "good" camera, I wouldn't have any photos because my diaper bag is already overflowing with a smaller bag for actual diapers, a potty seat, changes of clothes, snacks, water bottles, toys and a wallet.  No room for camera.  And I only got the iPhone because I wanted to always have a camera with me...

In other news, and illustrated by some reasonably decent photos, MiniM.E. and LittleL.G. spend every morning (and some afternoons) cuddling on the couch or in LittleL.G.'s rocker:

this is the best of 17 photos of them sitting in matching pajamas... can't say I didn't try

LittleL.G. is rocking tummy time:

MiniM.E. figured out that my phone has games and photos on it but can also be used by her to take photos:

And we went to a play date where MiniM.E. dressed up in a Belle outfit for hours, played princess and had the most adorable 3-year-old lunch date:

Happy New Year!

We have not stayed up for New Years since having kids.  This year, for the first time in four years, we stayed up... even PAST midnight!  We went to our friends' house and had a "sleepover" with our family and theirs- our three year olds' first sleepover.  The girls thought they stayed up until midnight with the help of Madagascar's countdown, and MiniM.E. could not have been more excited to stay up late and toast with "fizzy juice".

Cheers!

New Year's Day cuddles

 Since the new year, things have been quiet as we get back to everyday life.  MiniM.E. has been pretty upset that it isn't Christmas anymore, and I also have a bit of the post-Christmas blues.  I'm postponing taking down the tree to make the season last as long as possible.

At least having the tree up too long gave us a chance to get in our annual family Christmas photo.  And yes, this is the best one...

In other news, LittleL.G. made her debut in the jumperoo at the insistence of MiniM.E. and loves it for five minutes at a time:

And MiniM.E. got a stylish new haircut:

Feelings

MiniM.E. is a very emotional preschooler.  All her emotions come on hard and strong.  She can be super happy, is extremely empathetic, and is one of the silliest, funniest kids I've ever met.  But at the same time, her negative emotions are equally as intense.  The smallest disappointment can bring her to tears and if she's angry it's an all-out tantrum.

Auntie Jen bought her the best present, a book about feelings, In My Heart.  It's about feelings and I'm hoping it helps her figure out what she's feeling.  So yesterday she was having a hard time, it being the day after Christmas and all, and she had been pretty cranky all day.  She was especially sad last night and as we were reading our usual chapter book, she said, "Mommy, I feel sad, can we read the heart feelings book?" And so we did.  And for every feeling I asked, "When do you feel _____?" and she was so sad that it wasn't Christmas anymore, she said, "The day after Christmas" with a big pouty face.

Even though it was a bit of a let down that it wasn't Christmas anymore, MiniM.E. and Baby#2 had a good time playing with all the new toys and enjoying Grams' house.

bonding over a bottle

taking a bath: "... this isn't my whale tub..."

matching owl jammies!

Today we drove down to CT for our family Christmas, but unfortunately, I got whatever Bob had right before Christmas and I was hardly feeling well enough to be there, so no photos... Maybe next year- there will be four kids running around!

Tomorrow its back to NY to unpack all the toys (and find them homes) and get ready for the New Year!