We bought a house! We're so excited. It's pretty much my dream house. Five bedroom, three and a half bathrooms, nice open floor plan, and it backs on a park!
And I know the children feel at home there too because Eleanor has been there twice and has had crazy blow out poos both times (I had to clean poo off of her elbow. It was everywhere.) and Bradley has already played in a toilet! Good times!
Bradley loves the low windows as well
We are so excited about this move. Not in a small part because we hope to stop moving for a while after this. Wish us luck as we pack up the house and prep for a move at the end of September!
In the meantime, we're still dealing with the aftermath of Grandma Kathy's visit.
Bradley enjoys using drinking fountains now, which is pretty cute
And Eleanor enjoys dressing up and going out for frozen yogurt! Yum!
Bradley wants a cookie after EVERY meal now. Thanks Grandma.
I told my mom about what she did and she laughed and said she was going to send more cookies when my dad comes out to visit. Someone is enjoying her grandparent spoiling privileges too much!
Bradley is so fun to be around (as long as he gets the cookies he requires). He is still enthralled by all things involving dogs and watched 101 Dalmatians from start to finish the other day, a rather impressive feat for a one year old I feel!
One has to have the right setup for watching shows
He LOVES pushing all the buttons and was delighted when I got out an old toy I got at Disneyland back in 2001. High school me did not realize that my child would eventually play with this toy.
And I pulled out his rain boots the other day to see if they'll fit for the fall. Sadly, they'll probably be too small by then. Bradley loves them loves them loves them and was very upset with me when I tried to take them off. So I let him clomp around the house with them for the rest of the afternoon.
They're frog boots, no wonder he thinks they're cool!
Eleanor is such a champ, I haven't given any height and weight updates but I think it's apparent that she's no longer a skinny little thing. Nope, this girl is now 23.5 inches long (86th percentile) and 12 lbs 14 oz (91st percentile!!). Such a good girl! You have to be sturdy if you're going to survive having Bradley for a big brother.
Smiling at her big brother
Looking excited as big brother tries to climb on top of her
Mellow and enjoying life as Mommy has to stop big brother from pulling her around the room
Bradley has a lot of fun pointing out Eleanor's nose to us but he wasn't aware until yesterday that she has a belly button too. What fun!
And the great thing is that Eleanor LOVES all the Bradley attention. He's always entertaining, that's for sure. It really is quite nice, I remember trying to keep Bradley occupied and entertained in the infant stage and I'm certainly not going to have to worry about doing as much of that with Eleanor.
She continues to grow on both Nathan's and my hearts as we get to see more and more of her personality come through. What a happy, easygoing, sweetheart baby.
Love love love!
Cheerful doing tummy time on top of Mommy
Happy in her cool kid chair. This child is so smiley, I can't believe it.
Standing up so big!
Sookie even thinks Eleanor is okay. Well, at least one can get cuddles from Daddy without having to worry about her pulling your tail. Poor kitties. Bradley loves have not grown any gentler.
All my favorite people together. Notice how Nathan isn't actually touching Bradley. Bradley is VERY focused when he gets to watch a tv show and doesn't want anyone touching him. It's pretty funny to mess with him (not that I would ever advocate such a thing) and try to rest a hand on his shoulder or leg and see how long it takes him to push it off. And it's funny because he is such a cuddle bug otherwise! What a kid.
I know I'd love any child we had because they would be our child but I
feel very fortunate that I have two children I genuinely enjoy being around. Bradley is such a fun little imp and Eleanor is just two months old and I adore her too! It's good we bought a big house because if every child we have is as awesome as these two we are going to have ALL the children.
Two months in and our little family is starting to get our routine down. Wake up, be adorable, cry and don't let mommy eat any real meals (thanks Bradley), go to sleep, repeat.
I adore this sweet face
Bradley LOVES family pictures!
Things are a little different with a second child. I've learned to breastfeed the baby while reading a book to a one year old, holding onto a one year old who is trying to jump up and down while balancing on my legs, and saving a one year old who is trying to walk off the top of a high play structure at the zoo. THAT was a blast. Walking around with a little blanket over my shoulder while I fed Eleanor and tried to save Bradley from killing himself on the play structure. At one point I got to pass my infant off to a stranger so I could climb up a ladder in order to save a crying Bradley who had managed to wedge himself into an impossible position on the big slide.
A rare park picture. Usually I'm running interference.
But overall we've settled in and are doing pretty well. Bradley is much less fussy and really enjoys trying to play with Eleanor. This sometimes means disaster of tummy times for Eleanor since I have to save her from the Bradley loving with great frequency.
Bradley loves Eleanor's nose
He loves helping her roll over
And he loves finding her tummy
As well as trying to lay on top of her for cuddles
Here is a rare tummy time video. At the end you'll see why I don't get the opportunity to take these videos very often.
But here's another one for good measure. I don't know why they upload upside down sometimes. Very annoying. But Eleanor had a big smile finale in this video so I had to include it anyway!
It's really sweet how proud Bradley is of Eleanor. Anytime we have someone over he yells "bayyybee" and points at Eleanor right away so he can show her off.
Here Eleanor is beginning to tire of the love
Bradley doesn't just love Eleanor, he now loves all babies. I had a girl from a mom group come over with her 9 month old daughter and Bradley spent the entire 45 minutes harassing that poor child. He was so delighted, kept on saying "baby" and kissing her and throwing balls at her to play with and running towards her from across the room shrieking with joy. She only cried a little, she was a tough little thing. But she did cry more frequently towards the end and look very concerned whenever Bradley came close ... which was often. Bradley loves so hard.
I've been hesitant to say anything until now because it's so tough to tell with babies at first but I think Eleanor may have BLUE eyes! I'm pretty excited about this! I love Bradley's dark brown eyes and his thick lashes (She didn't seem to get those. Figures good eyelashes would be wasted on a boy) but blue eyes are so fun and I really thought that there was no way I was going to end up with a blue eyed child because of my dominant brown eyes, brown hair genes. So I'm calling her Xena Warrior Princess now. But that may not stick, it will be interesting to see if her dark hair turns blonde on me. Who knows at this point!
Baby blues!
I think you may be able to see the blue better in this picture ...
Hmm, or cute bath pictures may be best for showing off blue eyes ...
Munchkin face!
She loves bathtime
Things have been going pretty smoothly overall with only a few hiccups here and there. Like the night that I had to have Nathan come back from his softball game because Bradley woke up crying at 9:30 PM and was not interested in going back to bed which made putting Eleanor down for the night much more difficult. Bradley was, however, interested in blowing bubbles.
Bradley has also gone down to one nap per day which generally goes pretty well now. However, it was not without its trials along the way. One day he took a nap from 9:30-10:15 in the morning in the car and then refused to nap for the rest of the day. Bradley almost fell asleep while eating his dinner that night.
But he's such a little love and Eleanor is getting so alert and likes to watch Bradley while he's running around. Perhaps there is some survival instinct in this, Bradley does tend to throw objects around and you never know when a lego is going to be thrown in your direction. He's such a bruiser, we went to the park this morning with his two adorable friends Andrew and Eli (one is two weeks older than Bradley, the other two weeks younger). Eli ran off to check out some flowers at one point so Andrew and Bradley followed. Andrew pointed at the flowers and said "bee" repeatedly in an adorable fashion. Eli smelled the flowers and tried to pick some, also adorable. Bradley bashed at the flowers with the shovel he had taken from the sandbox. Sigh.
Bradley is so hilarious and fun. I'm okay with chasing after my little imp who always has a mischievous gleam in his eye. He's been adding to his vocabulary right and left but my favorite thing is when he chatters in baby to himself.
He's so darn cute and fun. I'm so happy that we genuinely have a pretty fun time together most of the time.
Fun playing with trucks!
Fun watching a show while snuggling with favorite stuffed toy (we call him "oof oof") and his favorite ball
And Eleanor, oh my sweet Eleanor! She smiles so big now and all the time. I really wish I had more pictures of her soul destroying smiles, but she frowns and stares whenever I pull a camera out to take a picture. But anything makes her smile and it's so fun. Bradley is a happy sweetheart boy but I don't remember him smiling this much. I remember him driving me crazy by smiling at his daddy at first but not at me. Eleanor is very equal opportunity with her smiles.
Big smile!
Less blurry smile
We were happy to have two recent grandma visits, both Grandma Colleen and Grandma Kathy came to visit in the last couple weeks. We took all the Colleen pictures on her nice camera rather than on my phone so I'm going to have to have her send me the photos but I grabbed a couple of camera phone photos of my mom with the baby during some precious moments.
Sleeping cherub!
Ruffled out
We stuck a bow on her head and I got to get in on the frilly girl photo shoot
And here's the first of what I hope is a long and successful series of photos that I simply plan on calling: children tuckered out in the back seat
Eleanor smiles now! We've only seen a few so far but they're starting to come. I haven't gotten a picture of a full on smile yet but I'm working on it!
But there are still a lot of other faces for us to enjoy in the meantime. Quite the expressive child.
Bradley's relationship with Eleanor has gotten a little more complicated in the last couple weeks. While he still loves her and wants to smooch her always, he also is a bit jealous of the attention she gets.
Bradley is also kind of a huge stinker these days and has some pretty
funny quirks. He LOVES the show Jake and the Never Land Pirates and will
climb on the couch and point at the tv and yell to try to get me to let
him watch a show.
He also loves food so much. I can't sneak anything past this kid. I snuck into the kitchen to get a few peanut m&m's because my bowl of ice cream was two hours away and really, who could wait that long for dessert? He followed me and spotted me chewing so he started yelling "crak crak crak" which is short for cracker but really means anything food related at this point. I didn't think a peanut m&m was appropriate one year old food so I took him over to the counter by the sink where I had the chocolate cake (yes, we do have an impressive amount of dessert around the place). I gave him a small scoop because fair is fair, if I get a sugary treat he should too. Well, it backfired because no sooner had he swallowed than he was hollering and pointing at the new place he knew had food. More cake, more cake! He did not get any more cake and there was much sorrow. If anyone wants to go on a diet I can lend you my child, you will only eat at designated meal times and there will be someone to shout and yell at you and try to steal anything you try to eat that looks particularly tasty.
Bradley also continues to run away whenever he has a poo. The latest incident involved what I thought was a very fun game of peekaboo when he ran into the guest room and tried to hide behind the bed. Turns out my tricky child had a poo and this was the best hiding spot he could find on short notice. He's only 16 months old, what am I going to do when we hit the toddler years?
He also demands to have his clothes put on him now. Sometimes this means you end up with double socks on your feet but hey, clothes were meant to be worn. I gave him a pair of shorts fresh from the dryer the other day and he insisted that they be put on him despite the fact that he was already wearing shorts. So we took off one pair and put on the next and he was satisfied. However, he's not yet mastered this clothing game, last night he ran into Eleanor's room with a tank top of mine and tried to get me to put it on him pants style.
Bradley also has embarked on a climbing spree
Nathan wants to send a shout out to Amber and Steve for giving us the death trap toy that has not once been used for its intended purpose.
And we like to climb up the stairs. Backwards. And then escape.
On another "fun" parenting note, I have found that I know instantly and without question the sound of a child falling down the stairs. Why am I so against football? Does it really matter with this kid? He also likes to hit himself on the head with boxes or against the metal staircase railing. Thanks goodness our newest addition is a girl, I like to think she won't do these things.
Eleanor promises to learn from Bradley's rambunctious ways
Having a Spiderman moment
Poor poor Bradley. The picture below is actually of Bradley zoned out
watching a tv show while Daddy and Eleanor snuggle but it looks pretty
sad for Bradley on first look.
But Bradley really has gotten increasingly needy and sad and I'd actually say he takes more work than Eleanor currently. The picture below is the end of a looooong Bradley night where he ultimately ended up in our bed.
We've gotten tough on re-sleep training this boy since because there can only be one child at a time waking us in the night. Now if only if there was similar training I could use when he's crying and insisting that I carry him the same time that I'm walking around trying to get Eleanor to go to sleep for a nap.
Eleanor faces trials of her own though. This is her first photo after her first real bath. In a blue BOY crocodile towel. Oh, the indignity of it all.
So embarrassed. Where's the pink kitty towel that Mommy promised to get me?
She also is so busy all day long. First she has to make friends with the kitties who have trust issues with small children because of Bradley. Whose only real problem is just that he loves too hard. And throws toys. And now chases them around trying to grab their tails while chanting "mey ow mey ow" over and over. I'd stop him but it's hilarious and adorable.
Sookie says: "Another one? You have GOT to be kidding me."
Here Eleanor has to share Daddy's lap with Bradley
And then she has to work so hard playing with Daddy
... and his pathetic kitten friend. Our cats may be taking the new addition harder than Bradley
Fun Eleanor fact: she generally HATES leaning back or just lying sideways in your arms. She prefers to be held upright while slouching forward and will holler at you if her position isn't just right. Bradley really could be our calm, easygoing child between the two of them.
Lounging
Quite frankly all this hard work leaves a girl plumb tuckered out
Nathan's sister Abby visited for a week and we had a marvelous time with her. She and Eleanor quickly became best buds and Bradley loved playing with her when he wasn't crying and following me around demanding to be held. Like I said, it's been a rough transition for our little guy.
Eleanor chewing on her aunt. It's how bonding happens. Also, Bradley is in a bucket of stuffed toys in this video.
We went to the zoo and rode the carousel. This was the first of four animals that Bradley had Abby put him on before the ride started. I think he would have done a full tour of the entire carousel given the opportunity.
Eleanor's favorite position
We went to Paradise Park with Abby on a rainy day and we all had a pretty good time. Bradley showed that he was a highly advanced boy and followed a group of little girls into the art room and pretended to be interested in drawing so he could check them out. Doing his daddy proud!
When do the chicks come talk to me about my gentle, artistic side?
He also really enjoyed painting his face with Abby. He started grabbing crayons and trying to help after a while.
We called this: Mr Kitty Sunshine!
Final result of face painting
And this pretty much sums up Abby's visit in a nutshell
And this sums up Eleanor and her daddy's relationship right now. A girl has never been so cozy. We know this because of the snoring ...
She's such a little sweetie. It's so fun to watch her grow more alert each day.
And I leave you with the first of many sibling pictures. I hope they still do this when they're bigger and Mommy can't stage the pictures as easily.
Cute kids!!
Things are a little busy right now with two very young children and it's a bit tough here and there, especially with poor Bradley boy, but we're so enjoying both of these sweet kids and feel so lucky to get to spend our days loving them up.
