Gobble Gobble, Part II

We're so hungry, we're all going a little crazy

Lindsey and Anthony after eating

Lucy


Pop and Cleo

Rob and Tira and Gus and I

Crazy Awesome Kerry

Poor Cleo doesn't feel so good

We had a great Thanksgiving at my parents. It was a really nice group: myself, Andy, the kids, Anthony, Lindsey, Kerry and Mom and Dad. Oh, and Lucy the dog. We all had such a great time together. My friend from high school, Rob, dropped by with his daughter, Tira. I haven't seen Rob for years and years, so it was really wonderful to see him and meet Tira. Unfortunately little Miss Cleo has been kinda sick all day, so we've had to watch her. I'm going to take her to the doctor tomorrow morning. She wasn't her cheery self today, which made me feel sad. But hopefully it is just a simple virus or something. More later...

Gobble Gobble

Cleo had her 4-month appointment yesterday. She was a little smaller than I thought she would be, but she's healthy and that's what counts. She's 13 lbs. 7 oz. = 45% for weight. She's 23.5" (even though I measured her at home and she was closer to 24") = 21% height. Her head is in the 10% for head circ. So she's still a short little chunk. She's so different than Gus was. I compared his 4-month stats and he was just over 18 lbs. and was 26" long. He has always been a pretty sturdy little guy. Cleo is just a little petite thing, but she has some chunky thighs! They are amazing...love chunky baby thighs. She had more immunization shots, and the doctor was able to fix one of her plugged eye ducts. We already noticed this morning that the one he fixed looks so much better. I hope he can unplug the other one at her 6-month appointment. When she cried at the doctor's office, Gus kept saying "It's ok, Keee-oo." Then later at home yesterday, she was lying on her playmat and Gus went up to her, got on his knees, put his hands around her little head, and gave her a kiss. It was so cute I almost teared up. I love seeing them interact. I hope Gus is Cleo's hero forever and ever, and I can tell already that Gus is so protective of his little sister and just adores her. It's what we had hoped for when we decided to have kids close in age. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there will be moments where the sibling love isn't overflowing, but it's the good stuff I'll focus on now!

Thanksgiving tomorrow! We're heading to Burlingame for the big day. Anthony and Lindsey and Kerry are coming, so that will be super fun. Kerry is coming tonight to spend the night with us. I rarely get to see her anymore, so that should be fun. I think Gus will have so much fun w/ both aunts and with "Uncle Tony." I'll post photos from the day, if I remember to take some...

I went on our annual shopping trip with the sisters and Mom last Sunday. I took Cleo so I could nurse her. BTW, the Nordstrom's bathrooms are amazing for nursing moms. Amazing...I was a little nervous about finding a comfortable place to feed her in Oak Park Mall, but Shana recommended Nordstrom's and it was perfect. They actually have a really nice sitting room just off the main bathroom for moms to feed their babes, complete with a comfy couch, some chairs, etc...and very private. I did meet another mom who was changing her kid's diaper. Her two girls were Sally and Annie. Sally was hilarious...she was five years old and just stared at me while I nursed Cleo. The mom said, "Sorry, you have an audience!" but it just made me laugh. Sally told me she thought Cleo was "the cutest baby in the world" (perhaps a bit of an exaggeration but so cute). She then said that she just loved my wedding rings. I love what 5-year olds say...so weird and fun! It reminded me of some of the great stories my friend, Marisa (who is an art teacher), tells us about her students. Anyway...the mom was so cool. We talked quite a bit about having kids and how completely sleep-deprived and whacked out you are for the first 6 months to a year...she was really nice. Fun times in the Nordstrom's bathroom! But Cleo did so well that day, and we all bought some fun clothes and shoes.

I'm trying to figure out when I might wean Cleo from nursing. It's going really well, and we are still supplementing with some formula, but I keep nursing b/c, well, it works and it's pretty easy now. But I'm tiring of pumping at work and I think I might be ready to stop when she is 5 months old or so. She turns 5 months on Dec. 22, so we'll see what happens then. I definitely won't go over 6 months. I can tell she's in the early stages of teething, and I'm not going to go down that road.

Ok, enough of this long post. More after the holiday! Have a great day full of food and drink and all that jazz.

ek

Kiddos

My new fave photo of Cleo

Here is a video of the babes. It's funny b/c Gus loves to push her in the swing, but it tends to scare Cleo. Ha!

They are so fun these days and Gus is really starting to interact more with Cleo. Cleo follows him around the room with her eyes, never really losing sight of her big brother. When she gets upset, Gus says "It's ok, Keeee-o" and pats her on the head.

Cleo has rolled over from her back to her belly at daycare and has almost done it for us, too. She really likes sitting in her Bumbo seat (thanks, Kelly!) and loves being on her back, just hanging out. Gus is talking up a storm, saying things like "That's cool..." (my personal fave!) and "Look, a peeeacccceee car!" (means "police car").

A few new photos posted on our Flickr site...

p.s. Sorry for the annoying narrative with this video. I always sound borderline insane on these things.

Baby Eloise

Update: They are going to call Eloise "Louie" for short. Too darn cute.

Jim and Hannah had their second babe this morning, around 3:45am, and they had a second girl! Her name is Eloise Anne and she was a whopping 10 lbs. 1 oz. Congrats, Davids! We can't wait to meet the little lady. She is almost as big as Cleo is now---ha ha! Well, Cleo is probably around 14-15 lbs., but STILL! Awesomeness! And, as always, I was so wrong on the gender prediction. I always am! But, our friend Tom Hegeman is always right (or he is 90% of the time, I swear!), so that's fun.

My new obsession

...is Facebook. I was reluctant to join and now that I'm a member I'm a bit neurotic about it. I knew this would happen. Myspace, what myspace? I barely check that one, now. It's all about Facebook. It's fun, though, b/c I really have been able to reach out to folks I haven't talked with in forever. Now I just need to get Mr. Dierks on board...

Other than checking my Facebook account every 3 minutes, this weekend was pretty laid back. Friday night Andy and I watched a film called Boy A about a guy who is released from jail after spending his childhood locked up for killing someone when he was young. It was good, but depressing and just sad. Andy is totally 100% in charge now of picking our Netflix movies. I contributed when we first joined, but since, I've just handed that over to him. He does a great job. We recently watched Control, the movie about Ian Curtis of Joy Division. We've already seen the documentary about him, and this was the movie. It was also good, but also depressing, as I knew it would be. I mean, how uplifting can a story be when you know the guy kills himself in the end? We did watch Raising Arizona last week, too. That's one of our all-time faves, along with The Three Amigos. Give me Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short together any day.

Saturday we had a baby shower for Jim and Hannah. It was so fun. It was a giant play date, really, with Ash, Gus, Ebina, Logan, Suki, Zeke and Cleo all there. It was so hilarious! The adults just hung out and enjoyed a brew and some food while the kids took over the house. I loved having them all there. It was so fun and lively and I think the kids had a total blast. I want to have them all over again sometime soon. I wish I had taken photos but our camera was out of juice. Bummer.

Saturday I also went to the spa to get a Carribean body wrap and massage. It was nothing short of AMAZING. 2 hours of complete bliss. I smelled like Aveda products for the entire day, and I was hesitant to take a shower b/c I didn't want to wash the smell off. But I realized that I might start smelling a bit ripe if I didn't take a shower...so...I did. But it was lovely. Andy bought the treat for me after having Cleo...it was such a great gift!

The kids are great. Cleo is little smiley pants right now, which is so fun. She laughed last week, but I haven't been able to get her to laugh again since. She's great, though. So lovely and just a great little lady. Gus has been a bit tempermental so we've had to really work on discipline lately. But he's great, overall. He likes to stand up on the couch and say, "Momma, look at me!" It's funny, even if he's not supposed stand on the couch...

I still haven't come off my high from the election. I don't think I really will. I'm so happy. As our brother-in-law said, the day after the election felt like Christmas! I still feel that way. So awesome...a new beginning.

By the way, this made me laugh, so perhaps it will help you out on this drab Monday, too. It's the Beyonce post on gofugyourself.com. Check it out. Beyonce's outfits absolutely crack me up. She's gone off the deep end. Enjoy!

ek

YES WE CAN!

I'm so nervous I could explode

So the election is upon us, and per the subject/title of this blog, my nerves are shot. I'm so trying not to overthink the election, but it's hard. I've been a little (ok, a lot) obsessed with this election since the primaries. I need to just accept whatever happens...with that said, I do have a really good feeling about the election. I feel change coming, and that change has NOTHING to do with the Republican ticket. As Gus would say, "GO OBAMA!"

Halloween was fun. Gus was a spider (we were working on his outfit Thursday night while watching The Office and 30 Rock). Cleo was a pumpkin. Andy took Gus trick-or-treating and he had a blast. He learned how to say "Happy Halloween...trick-or-treat!" so that was hilarious. I stayed home with Cleo and greeted little goblins looking for candy. We had a good amount of visitors...I would say around 30 kids total. That's the best we've had so far living in this neighborhood. It beats East Lawrence where we had zero trick-or-treaters (we had no sidewalks on Learnard Avenue, so that was the reason). But I'll never forget our one Halloween on Logan Boulevard in Logan Square (Chicago). We literally had hundreds (not kidding) trick-or-treaters and they lined up down our sidewalk. We handed out candy for hours. It was amazing! One kid dressed up as "Sha-na-na" from the Martin Lawrence Show, so that was my fave costume. Little did we know that Logan Square was a mecca for trick-or-treaters. It was awesome! Anyway...back to present day...we were also supposed to hang out with our friends Friday night but unfortunately little Ash fell off a teeter totter and broke her arm on Halloween day, so we didn't hang w/ the friends. Poor little Ash...I know she's doing better now, but I know that day was a hard one for her and Jim and Hannah.

Speaking of Jim and Hannah, they are due w/ baby #2 in about a month. Hannah very well may go early again b/c they are tracking her to do so. She went 3 weeks early with Ash and Ash was 9 1/2 lbs.! So we'll see. I'm so excited to meet baby #2 for them. We're having a baby sprinkle at our house next weekend for them, so that'll be fun. Leah and Dan are due at the end of January, and I am so excited for them, too! So fun. Time flies.

The kids are doing well. The past few nights Gus has been waking up around 4am to ask for more milk. He cries if we don't give it to him. I think tonight we're going to have to break him of this habit, b/c it's getting out of hand. But otherwise he is great and is saying new things every day. Cleo is such a sweetie pie. I've really enjoyed making her smile and coo. She acted like she wanted to laugh the other day, but didn't do it. I can't wait for her laugh! We've had fun dressing her lately. I've been putting her in tights and dresses, so that is super fun. And recently I bought her the cutest little red and black zebra striped booties...they are freakin' awesome. I'll take a photo and post it once she wears them.

We went to the KU football game yesterday (Andy's company hosted a tailgate party + game). It was really fun, and we creamed K-State, which was fun. :) I do always feel bad for my parents when K-State loses, though, b/c they are such huge Wildcat fans. I must say I just don't get into football nearly as much as KU basketball. I have tried, but it's just not the same!

Ok, that's it for now! More flickr photos posted.