Thursday, December 16, 2010

Al and Hope at 2.4yrs and 11.5mo

Hopie is now crawling like a real baby- no more dragging herself across the floor- and she pulls herself up on most everything, except moving objects. She loves butterfly kisses; they make her laugh out loud which is adorable. She doesnt say much, but lets out an occasional squeal of delight when her brother is around. (splashing her in the bathtub, crawling into bed with her or wrestling her to the ground... you know, the usual older brother moves). She eats like a champ and is just starting to refuse to let me spoon feed her, but is open to pretty much anything she can pick up. This is much unlike her brother who survives on pancakes, pumpkin bread, tortellini and bean burritos.

Al is refusing to nap or go to bed right now... my dad told me to start ignoring him when he gets out of bed, so last night I deceided I couldnt battle with him anymore and I would try to ignore him. Hilarious. I cleaned, folded laundry, watched TV, read a book all teh while he is in the bathroom washing his hands for 15 minutes and playing in the bubbles, moving ornaments from the little tree to the big tree, climbing on and off the counter, and finally ending up outside my door (bc I told him he was not allowed in... that was the one thing i did say to him during this "ignoring" process). He stared at me for 15 minutes until I turned out the light and went to bed, then he got up, walked to his room, and went to sleep... 10:30pm. ha!

Here are some adorable, yet really annoying things Al likes to say when he doesnt want to go to bed:

"I dont have to mommy"

"Its impossible" said more like 'im-pot-e-bul'

"I not tired, I wake"

"probably not go bed mommy, probably not"

On the contrary, last night Al was trying to go to bed-it was around 8:45- and Hope had woken up and was crying. So we can hear Al saying "Its okay Hope, its okay" in a calm and quite voice. And, as her cry turned into a scream so did his tone and he began yelling " IT's OKAY HOPE!!". Hilarious.

Monday, December 13, 2010

3 weeks in review

Much has happened, most of which I can't remember... Thank goodness for iPhones with camera capabilities.

Al loves to undo the bed I just made and this day he wanted Hopie to play trucks with him afterward...



Winnie and Al helped me make tortellini for dinner...



Beau and I went to an ugly sweater party on Friday and had a blast. I of course did not get the memo until 11pm on Thursday night, so I did not participate in that part of the party. (I was secretly happy, dressing up is not my thing)





(cb is channeling Cousin Eddie from Christmas Vacation)

Hope loves the bath right now, and trucks naturally since these are currently the only toys at our house (need some dolls)...



Al is showing Hope how to play basketball...

YouTube Video


And finally; Winnie and Al went out to play in the snow we got this weekend. Winnie was finished and freezing after 5 minutes, Al could have played for an hour...





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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Oh, Christmas Tree

Beau is out of town. I got home with the kids at 10:30pm. I was rocking Hope to sleep when....






Yes, that is my Christmas tree... Crashing to the ground. Not sure where to go from here. Tired.

Thank goodness for awesome neighbors. Andy came over and helped me stand the tree back up... It is a 9 footer afterall.




Survival of the fittest.
Don't worry, Beau's 4th grade ornament made the cut.

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Friday, November 26, 2010

Forget Black Friday...

...We have all the toys we need right here at the farm.



They are so content playing together these days- it is adorable.

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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

The Lunch Tray

In my current job I work with overweight kids and their parents-- which has strengthened my already sturdy interest in our food environment. Having kids only adds to this internal quest. I hope that when my kids are in school that I have to courage to fight for healthy options. (In the very near future 50% of our population will be obese... and our own families are not immune)
I found this blog today, which is what inspired me to write this post... check it out
www.thelunchtray.com
this post in particular is one of my favorites... http://www.thelunchtray.com/birthday-cupcake-debate/

thoughts?

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Texas




Drinking purple margaritas...go frogs



Spent the last tailgate in this TCU stadium with the Reid Family... They were pretty sad, but beer helped.

We had a great time reliving our college football days vicariously through my little sis... Thanks Leah!

I just checked the flights to go home for the week after Christmas and they are crazy expensive. Reality struck me; I have a husband and two babies and that makes traveling a pretty penny. I am sad. Sad that my family isn't just a little closer making driving with two small children more of a possibility, and so sad that my family can't see my babies adorable moments as they happen, only snap shots and stories. Not sure I am ready for this reality...

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Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Leisurely Tuesday Morning




The tv no longer entertains in the wee hours of the morning; now it's straight to toys. I am drinking my coffee while sitting on the hard wood floor now instead of my cushy bed. Darn... "Mickey house" why can't you come on earlier? ;)


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Sunday, November 14, 2010

"Oh damn"

This is Al's new phrase. Sweet.

Having children makes you acutely aware of all the phrases you and your husband use in a daily basis.


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Sunday, November 7, 2010

Happy "Halloween Lion"

From the moment I got this costume from Tara, I tried to get Al to try it on-to no avail. He loved to look at it and talk about being a "Halloween Lion", as he phrased it, but as soon as I would ask him to put it on-no way. However, by some miraculous turn of events, and A LOT of ditraction techniques, we got Al to not only put it on, byt keep it on all night. The fur matched his hair perfectly.
I just wanted Hopie to be something girly, so I decided on a butterfly princess. Can't get much more girly than that.

We went to Jason and Christina's for trick-or-treating, since this is difficult to do in a loft building (no porch lights to indicate you are waiting with candy, among other reasons)... Hope made it to one house before she decided this was bogus and she had had enough. Who needs candy, when you have breast milk?

This picture pretty much sums up the scene that developed as we attempted to get a group grandchild picture. We finally got Hunter to sit to the side of everyone instead of in front, Hope couldnt stand it any longer, Al was putting grass in Hunter's hair, and the picture was taken moments after Parker was coaxed into sitting in the chaos for a half second while mom snapped a picture.
Surprisingly, Al's favorite candy is a sucker, which he was determined to pick from the basket at every house, leaving Beau and I with little to be tempted by... thanks Al.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Hopie




This girl is a little bugger...but a cute one. In this picture I realized she couldn't even turn her head in the car seat with this coat on, frozen facing the back of the car... So sad.
She,much like her mother, hates to miss a moment, sleep as her sacrifice. She wakes up throughout the night on a regular basis and just wants to hang out with mom...which is awesome. Ha! I have no idea what to do. The girl will scream for hours until I come in there or her brother wakes up. Help!


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Sunday, October 24, 2010

Little monkey

Not sure if it is because she was Frank breech or she's just flexible, but Hopie uses her feet like hands...

YouTube Video

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

New smoothie recipe

1 cup strawberry yogurt
2 cups spinach
1 cup frozen cherries
1 ripe banana
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup skim milk

Blend until smooth...excellent way to get your son to eat spinach!
(Cary I thought you would appreciate this;))


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Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Forest Park pictures

We were in Forest Park yesterday for family pictures and they went flawlessly! (in spite of my anxiety... Al got a huge scab on his forehead the say before and beau got into poison ivy)
I can't wait to see the pictures!

A couple of weeks ago we went to the Zoo in FP with the Murphys and Grandma...our first successful trip to the zoo.












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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Hope is 9 Months!

Update:
Weight: 18 lbs 8 oz (50th%)
Height: 28.5 inches (75th%)

She is "ooching" around and having so much fun entertaining herself with the new toys she can get to now. She is too cute sitting up in her bed in the morning or after naps just talking and waiting patiently for me to come and get her. (This is one of the qualities I love most about my children, they both wake up happy and talking and are RARELY crying; which is so much more pleasant than the anxiey producing alternative.)

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

De-licious

I love this word and have taught Al to say this about most of the foods he eats which is so cute, I think. I won't have to convince Hope that food is delicious, however, because this girl LOVES food...






And I love this stage in a babies life, between about 6-10 months, when they will eat anything and still let you spoon feed them without grabbing the spoon or turning their head! I have so much fun making baby food and get a total thrill out of the variety I can give her (that is the dietitian in me) ... Parsnips, rutabaga, asparagus, cherries, plums, peaches, green beans, peas, potatoes, butternut squash with cinnamon, broccoli, zucchini... Delicious!


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Saturday, October 2, 2010

New York prep

Linda, Christina and I are going to NYC in April and Beau is already prepping Al for all of the fun things they are going to do while I'm gone...
Eat cupcakes
Watch movies
Sleep on a pallet (this is them acting it out tonight)...




I would like to act out the "sleeping in" I will be doing in NYC...


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Monday, September 27, 2010

Al singing

I finally got a couple clips of Al singing on the car ride home from grandmas this weekend. I couldn't show him that I was taking a video or he would stop so don't look at the video of my seats... Just for listening.

YouTube Video


YouTube Video

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Friday, September 24, 2010

New squeal and friends




Hope wakes up talking/squealing to herself and I always look over at Al and ask him if we should go say good morning to her. He usually says "go get Hope!" and runs in and climbs into her crib with her. It is so so sweet and she is really starting to react to him by smiling and grabbing at him. It makes me feel so good thinking about the friendship they might (hopefully) have one day. He also loves to hold her....


And Hope has this hilarious scream...

YouTube Video

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Monday, September 20, 2010

Al Update

I have to post this for my memory book. Al is now singing, which is simply the cutest thing I have ever heard (well, Hope's squeal is right up there too). He sings the following songs:
Bye baby bunting (a version where Albert is both hunter and baby, and one where he is the hunter and Hope is the baby)
Twinkle twinkle little star
Old Mac Donald had a farm
One- two- buckle my shoe

He is also making "I" statements where he used to talk in the third person when he asked for things... "I want milk". So amazing.


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Friday, September 17, 2010

Balloon Glow

We took the babies to Forest Park for the annual Balloon Glow tonight where they blow up the hot air balloons and light the fires in sync in preparation for the big race. Albert LOVED it!! He thought they were so cool. We got to walk in between all of the hot air balloons and see them literally up close.



We all had a great time and I love when I get the opportunity to get a photo with the whole family in it!
On a side note, Beau was unaware that this event included funnel cakes, corn dogs, lemonades, etc and began referring to it as a carnival... And "had he known this was a 'carnival' he would have been more monetarily prepared"...

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Saturday, September 11, 2010

Mortified

Honestly, I have never been embarrassed by my children. I usually chalk it up to "that's just the way kids are at this age" and dismiss the stares. But this was WAY worse and all my fault. I had to get a wedding shower gift at Crate and Barrel (first off, I forgot about the shower, it's beaus best friend so I didn't get the invite, I worked 60 hours this week including this Saturday so the only time I had to get this gift was Friday after work) ok.. I get in the store, hope in the Bjorne, al is walking. He immediately starts to touch every breakable item in the store so I grabbed his hand and he flipped out screaming at the top of his lungs. So I drug him as quickly as possible to the registry stand( which temporarily distracted him with the computer screen). As I am furiously reading for items that are left on the registry and trying to find where the heck they are in the store, al escapes my grasp and goes running... No seriously running full speed through every section of the store and I am frantically chasing him praying that he doesn't break anything in his haste. I finally caught him and he began the tantrums, kicking and screaming on the floor so I scooped him up and found someone who could get the item I decided on... Al screamed the whole time she was looking for the item, the whole time I was checking out, and the whole time to the car. Oh yes, and imagine this, as we are walking to the car, al crying, tears streaming down his face, he has insisted on carrying this heavy Crate and Barrel gift box; so to the many on-lookers it appears as though I am forcing my child to carry this heavy box and he is crying about it! (every time I passed a person I acted like I was trying to help him( which made him more mad bc he wanted to do it himself) so that they didn't think I was a slave driving mother...
Note to self: Never take a hungry, tired, two year old boy to Crate and Barrel

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Tuesday, September 7, 2010

More KC trip pics

Here are the two wild boys...

Posted by Picasa

Trip to KC

I am slow to upload pics these days, now that I have an IPhone and can blog from there super easily... I finally got some of the pictures from our trip to KC on the computer. We had such a good time with Allie, Tanner, Baby Dylan and Andy. They are still in the "baby wakes up 10 times a night" stage, so she is wiching for some much needed sleep, but those days will soon be over. I am so glad we finally got to meet Dylan. Al and Tanner played so so well together, a surprise to us all since you know how two year olds can be. We only heard the word "mine" once the whole weekend! No lie. The kids did great in the car as well. Fun all around. Cant wait to do it again soon!

Hope and Baby Dylan this will be cute if they get married ;)


Both of my kids LOVE the swing
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Thursday, September 2, 2010

Hope learns to talk...

She is getting so big!

YouTube Video

And so is Al who now weighs 29lb 6oz and is 36 in tall!

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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Such a cutie!







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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Round two

Yes we had yet another birthday celebration for al this weekend... I mean doesn't every two year old need a family party and a "friend" party. Let's get real here, the friend party us for me... Any excuse to get together with my girlfriends. ;)






Even sister got in party mode

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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Tough Love/ Sleepy Babies

I have been working with Hope to sleep through the night again (derailed at 6 months with the 4 new teeth). It has been 5 nights and we are slowly getting there. The first night she cried for 1hr 15min, the second night it was 30 min, the third nighth she had a revival and cried off an on ALL night (which I finally gave-in to bc my heart was breaking at 4am), and last night she only woke up bc Al was screaming off and on all night (isnt that so typical).
Sooo, of course Al woke up on and off all night and didnt go to bed until (10pm), not that I didnt put him to bed, but he was awake in bed until then, so he got minimal sleep and today was his first day of daycare/pre-school! And at pre-school they sleep on cots, which he has never done, so of course he only took a 45 min nap and he is exhausted. Beau said he looked so sad on the car ride home...I am working right now, so I had to get a second hand report.
In conclusion, we are looking forward to getting a FULL nights sleep again at the Reinberg Loft.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Happy Birthday 2 Albert

Happy birthday to my baby boy. He is totally adorable these days and I can't get enough of his dramatic sayings..."really icky, humongous! (this he said today while looking up at our building.. Out of nowhere. He must have gotten that word from Sesame Street), really hot, really tired". And everything is said with extra enthusiasm..."mommy lay!!!, basketball shoot!!!,mommy sit down!".
Tonight we took his new tricycle for a cruise around the block and he really got the hang of pedaling!

YouTube Video

And a woman saw us and thought we looked "really hot" and gave us a Popsicle from the box she was bringing to her friend; random, I know. I probably shouldn't take candy from strangers and give it to my son, but she seemed normal and the Popsicle was tasty.



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Friday, August 6, 2010

Look at these little lovers

They are just so sweet to eachother.

YouTube Video





And here is a more recent pic of Hope since I haven't put her on here lately.


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