We found out that we're having another little boy and are so excited! Nathan had the best time of his life at the ultrasound because I had been telling anyone who asked that I was sure we were having a girl because I was so wise and just KNEW. I could not believe it when the little boy parts flashed up on the screen.
Sorry about the amount of tummy displayed here. Thanks to Nathan for capturing the moment ...
And I'm honestly very happy and delighted to have another boy, who couldn't want another boy when they have a sweetheart Bradley boy? I just was so sure it was going to be another girl. Whoops.
Nothing against the girl we have, but in some ways it is a relief to be having another boy. Bradley was a bit exuberant and wild at this age but Eleanor has a devotion to forbidden items and adorable naughtiness that far exceeds anything Bradley ever did.
Case in point ... look at that face with the forbidden matches that used to live on the table next to a candle. The matches have since found a new home.
The kids are in both in such fun phases. Lately Eleanor has been begging to get to nap with Bradley and when I ask if she promises to fall asleep fast she'll make this face
She looks very asleep to me
Bradley does not mind Eleanor cuddles, to say the least. We are delighted that our oldest child is this sweet, cuddly boy. He'll run up to Eleanor when she's upset and say "You okay baby Ellnor?" Makes us melt every time.
Insisting that she sit in his lap. There were kisses involved.
Fun Eleanor quirk: I've been trying to get her to walk from the car to wherever our destination is while holding my hand and she's wanted nothing to do with it. Until she got to hold Bradley's hand while walking ... now we walk in to places with me holding onto Eleanor who is holding onto Bradley. I've tried to have her just hold my hand if Bradley is on the other side of me or something and she still wants nothing to do with me if Bradley is not holding her hand as well. Very clear rankings around here.
It was warm enough for a park outing the other day and the kids took turns pushing each other on the swings.
Bradley enjoyed Eleanor pushing him although he had a few complaints he voiced about how high he was going
Not all is perfection in the Scott house though. Sometimes children have to be disciplined for doing naughty things. We may err on the side of snuggles when it comes to time outs though ... here is Bradley in time out after throwing a toy at Eleanor or something.
She joins him in time out pretty much every time. Especially if he's there for doing something to her.
And here's the video. I think Bradley is very penitent and has learned his lesson ...
Bradley has been my little parrot lately and it's quite adorable when he says things like "oh my goodness" or lets out a sigh in the same tone as I do but it's of more concern when he starts hollering "Go AWAY other cars!" and "Go AWAY other people" (at pedestrians in our way while we're driving). I didn't think I told cars and people to get out of our way on a regular basis but I am a little whiny about the stupidity I encounter when I drive places ... I'm going to have to watch myself.
Couch cuddles have been amazing ever since Eleanor decided she loves the show Bubble Guppies. We watch a couple episodes every day and she hollers "Guppies! Guppies!" when I tell them it's time for their show.
And she decided this was the way she wished to cuddle with Nathan during football this past Sunday. A little unorthodox but Daddy will take all the cuddles he can get!
What a little doll. She's been a stinker lately, especially now that she's talking and can boss us all around. For instance, I'm working on this blog during one of their morning shows and she just ran over waving her hand at me while saying "Sit! Sit!" insistently. So I took a break to go over and sit by her and Bradley on the couch. If she wasn't so darn cute maybe I wouldn't cater to these whims.
This past week we went to a kid Christmas party thrown by my mommy group and guess which two children ate the ENTIRE time. It seems that I've been depriving them of chips, chocolate covered popcorn, and marshmallows.
And in celebration of finding out we were going to have another boy I went out and got a bunch more girl clothes. If I'm only having one girl we're doing this right! Eleanor is a big fan of her new pink boots. Pink boots! I get told off when I have to put on another pair of shoes for her. I'm very pleased she has good fashion sense and knows that pink is best.
Other cute things that the kids have been doing these days have been during diaper changing time. Eleanor likes it when I pinch her bare little bottom and yells "Mo! Mo!" when I stop. Bradley has started tickling his own armpits when I'm changing his clothes as an indication that he'd like for me to tickle him. Crazy kids. Who begs for pinches and tickles?
They're going to go nuts when they have a baby brother to play with. The little guy is in for more loves than he's going to know what to do with!
I have been so fortunate lately to be receiving excellent parenting assistance from sweet Bradley who lets me know when Eleanor is doing something wrong and even suggests ways to correct the behavior.
It's serious business for a little boy. It's probably not great that my initial reaction was to say "whaaaaat?" with a huge grin on my face and then unsuccessfully try to keep from laughing.
There is a fair bit of parenting to do with our sweet Eleanor though. I have to say things that I never thought I'd say, like "the pony is not a hat" as she said "hat hat hat" while whacking Bradley over the head repeatedly with one of the my little ponies.
Bradley adores her though, he mostly acts a bit bemused when she "gets" him. And while he has been refusing to kiss either me or Daddy lately he has no problem with smooching his sweet little sister.
Buds
And one of my favorite new developments is Bradley demanding that Eleanor be the one to take off his socks for him whenever he decides it's time to run wildly about. (We have a no socks rule when running on wood floors - fewer slips and falls this way)
This literally happens every time. He'll plop down and holler for Eleanor to come help him and she'll toddle over and happily pull off his socks.
I'm also going with a parenting strategy that I call "You Can't Get in Trouble if You're Being Nice to Your Sister." Bradley has been bringing the step stool out of the bathroom so he can use it by the Christmas tree to touch forbidden ornaments (the ones I LOVE that were made by his great grandmother) but he gets away with it because he sets the stool up by the tree then instantly begs Eleanor to come stand by him on it.
He'll help her up and then will generally help hold onto her.
We've been giving Bradley "foot baths" lately to help with stinky feet and both kids are huge fans. Bradley asked for a foot bath during a regular bath the other night so I'm fairly certain he's been enjoying them. I just enjoy any excuse to take pictures of these cute kids with lots of sweet baby skin showing.
Nathan has been getting in on the Bradley and Eleanor love fest lately.
Sometimes he's even awake for the cuddles. To be fair, this was after a pretty long day at a very cold Seahawks game.
Eleanor is finally into tv shows but with the caveat that cuddles are involved. She'll run over to the couch and start yelling "guppies, guppies!" (her favorite show is Bubble Guppies) and then holler "sit, sit!" and pat a spot on the couch next to her so you will know to sit by her and cuddle. It's tough dealing with someone so cute, I used to love putting a couple shows on for Bradley so I could get things done around the house but how can you say no to cuddles when it's this?
Yep, Layla usually gets in on it too.
And then things got ridiculous. I don't know which of the three was happiest about this situation.
Bradley has been a Daddy's boy lately and I took a rather sweet video of him asking about Daddy when Nathan had left on a work trip.
It may help Nathan's popularity that he does things like take Bradley to his first movie at a real movie theater. Bradley was excited, to put it mildly.
He saw the Penguins of Madagascar. I heard a lot about bad guy octopus and monster penguins when they got home.
We went to a luminary walk at the Overland Park Arboretum this past weekend and the kids were adorable little maniacs. As far as I could see, we were the only ones there with toddlers and no stroller or wagon. The Scott children are not interested in sitting still and watching the world go by.
Bradley smiles for pictures now! Very exciting development.
Eleanor wild and free. Things went downhill fast when we tried to reign this in.
They had a free Santa at the Arboretum and I was kicking myself for not dressing up the kids ... until we realized that Eleanor was mad that Santa was keeping her from being wild and free and she fussed and cried until she was able to run around again. No fear of Santa, fear of being kept away from all the cool lights and fun things.
Bradley, on the other hand, was VERY excited about Santa and had to be held back from cutting in line and running ahead to him on his own. We've read enough Christmas books that he's in the know about Santa and he is a big fan.
Our favorite moment was after pictures when Santa asked Bradley what he
wanted for Christmas and Bradley bounced around excitedly without saying
anything for about ten seconds until he finally yelled out "CHRISTMAS
TRAIN!" Neither Nathan or I or Santa really knew what that meant. Which makes it even more awesome.
We did go and visit this lit up train immediately after Santa time. Perhaps he was talking about this? No idea.
Bradley is so much fun to take out to places now. He's into everything and he's pretty good about listening to us.
Gnome village at the luminary walk. Seriously cool.
On our way out.
We've been getting to do a bit more with the kids lately, I don't if they've gotten easier or if we've gotten more accustomed to the crazy. We finally went out to eat with the kids at a place beside Costco a couple weekends ago and had a surprisingly delightful time.
Bradley only shrieked with joy at the fireplace behind us for about five minutes and both kids loved the food at Panera.
We even had reasonable table manner and used utensils and everything. This is generally not the case at home.
My mom has been sewing up a storm lately and Eleanor has been the high fashion queen at church.
Even her name embroidered on the front. Grandma is too much. So amazing!
Our little sweeties. We are so smitten with these two.
New Eleanor phrases "I don't like it" and "help me please". She races Bradley into the bathroom to wash hands for meals and he howls with sorrow when she beats him. She chugs loudly when she drinks out of her cup (so funny) and she says "five, six!" on repeat when counting something. During prayer time before naps and bedtime she'll starting saying "row row" in a singsong voice because she knows that songs follow prayers. She's going through a rather intense Mommy phase which is cute but clingy.
New Bradley sayings "oh my goodness!" and "that's a big nono". He can sing the whole alphabet more or less correctly but refuses to do it on command and often combines it with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. We like to ask him if he's our big boy and he always responds "no, I'm a LITTLE boy."
It's so strange to think that we'll have another one of these little persons in about four and a half months. The pregnancy has been going well although I've been told I'm a little whiny about having to eat as often as pregnancy requires. Today at the kids' snack time I told Bradley I wasn't feeling great so I had to eat so he came over to me once he was down from the table and started rubbing my belly a little bit and said "I keeping baby safe" while trying to hug me. He's going to lose his mind during my ultrasound this Wednesday. Can't wait to find out baby gender!
Two days after my last blog post we spent a lot of the day playing in leaf piles.
I think it's safe to say the kids loved it, especially Bradley who begged his daddy to toss him in again and again and again.
Kids being cute in leaves
Bradley being thrown into leaves and enjoying it far too much
After the kids got covered in gross leaves and dirt and grass etc we decided to let them take a quick shower to rinse off before bedtime. We've done this many times before but on this particular time Eleanor slipped at just the wrong spot and fell and hit her head on the metal base to the sliding shower doors. It was just a big enough cut that we knew that we needed to take her in to get stitches. We are so grateful for the church friend who came over to put Bradley in bed while we took Eleanor to urgent care.
Eleanor did pretty well for most of the proceedings and we were so happy that the cut didn't seem to be bothering her at all while we were waiting on being checked in and getting everything processed so she could be taken care of.
However, when it came time for the actual stitches ... not a happy little girl. She couldn't feel anything, they had put numbing ointment on the wound for 30 minutes prior to any stitches. But she was not interested in being held firmly down while people messed with her face and she rage screamed / growled for at least ten of the fifteen minutes it took to put in her five stitches. It took three adults to hold her down while she was wrapped in a blanket and I got to sing soothing lullabies to try to calm her down. I don't know if it was the lullabies or the fact that it was an hour and a half past her bedtime but she finally fell sleep about two minutes after I was thinking that this was basically a scene out of the Exorcist minus the split pea soup.
Here's our sleeping girl with stitches. Note that her face is bright pink from all the crying and under her head the paper liner is soaked with sweat.
Remarkably, she was happy and perky when she woke up a few minutes later and she sweetly waved bye bye at all the staff as we exited the urgent care building. It's a good thing the girl doesn't keep a grudge.
Her eye looked a little puffy the next morning but besides that she seemed in good spirits.
She loves showing us her "big ouch." Stitches were taken out just four days after she was first hurt and we're putting on a lot of vitamin E oil and leaving a bandaid on so she'll heal like a champ.
And don't worry, Bradley has been so careful with her ever since she got hurt ...
Please note the HUGE grin on Eleanor's face
So that was a bit of an ordeal but as far as a first trip to urgent care goes, it really wasn't too bad in the grand scheme of things.
The rest of our Halloween adventures we kept fairly mellow for this
year. Bradley loved helping Daddy carve pumpkins.
That face! Pumpkin guts are very interesting.
We had our friends Kory and Fatima over for Halloween evening to
hang out with us and help pass out candy while we trick or treated with
the kiddos.
Both kids love Fatima and had an excellent time doing crafts with her before the evening festivities
Bradley tried to refuse to wear the awesome outfit his Uncle Thomas got for him in Hong Kong but like any good parent, I threatened him (a lot) and told him repeatedly how he wouldn't get any candy if he didn't put it on. I don't understand what wasn't to like about it, it was basically just a puffy shirt and pants which was perfect for a chilly Halloween night. Kids. Sometimes you just have to threaten to take away all the candy and sunshine. But look how cute Bradley and Eleanor look in matching Hong Kong outfits! We got a lot of compliments, Uncle Thomas. Bradley was the only critic.
Eleanor can say "trick or treat." We can't believe how much she can say versus what Bradley could say at this age - or really most other kids for that matter. Eleanor loves to parrot phrases back to you and she quickly realized that this was a very important phrase and used it with great effect on Halloween night.
The beginning of this video is adorable, the end where Bradley becomes very sad because Eleanor stole his pumpkin is not so necessary to watch.
The rest of the weekend was spent with Nathan's mom and stepdad. I realized after sorting through pictures that I had literally zero shots of Grandma and Bradley together. Grandma and Eleanor have quite the bond these days.
Here's a video for proof that Bradley was around. He's a cute little maniac, while Eleanor is a sweetheart who happily likes to collect nuts with Grandma.
Grandma did one of her awesome crafts with the kids, we have cute glitter fall leaves on our windows now.
And snuggles before Grandma has to go bye bye. On one of their walks in the park Eleanor demanded that Grandma carry her at least half the time. Grandma happily obliged!
Bradley and Eleanor are two little peas in a pod now. Sometimes it's adorable, like when they run around and hug each other and fall down together and think it's all beyond hilarious. I can't believe she can say things like "I fall down".
They both are so kind and generous and help their daddy out when he decides it's a good idea to try to get some work done at home.
They like to swing together and both yell at me to push them "way big high." Both of them. Eleanor cackles with glee when she's going high enough that her bottom loses contact with the seat. No wonder Bradley thinks his sister is so great, she loves the same things as him.
The picture below is a pretty accurate depiction of their relationship.
And anything Bradley does, Eleanor MUST do too. Climb on a fallen log? Is Bradley doing it? Yes. It must be done.
It's mostly cute that she wants to be his little shadow but it's tough for certain things, like being able to take a stroller anywhere (hah) or being able to put a child in a cart while grocery shopping. Bradley is pretty good about walking near the cart (as long as he gets a LOT of reminders) and Eleanor can't understand why she can't walk too. Obviously being in the cart is wrong wrong wrong. So I get to hold a crying little girl and say "Cart or Mommy! Those are your choices! If you cry while Mommy holds you I'm putting you in the cart!" while shoppers meander by me and give us little smiles. I generally end up carrying Eleanor through the entire shopping trip now and I've told Nathan that premade Costco dinners count as a homemade meal in terms of effort. Carrying a 23 lb toddler for approximately an hour of shopping is no joke.
Speaking of 23 lbs, we recently went in for Eleanor's 15 month and Bradley's 2 1/2 year checkups. Eleanor weighs in at 23 lbs 5 oz (48th %) and 31.5 inches tall (67th %) and Bradley is a whopping 36.8 lbs (96th %) and 3 ft 2 in (85th %). Thank goodness our clingy child is the petite one.
Bradley has his moments though. The other day Nathan had a work dinner that he had to go to in the evening so the kids weren't going to get to see him again after he left first thing in the morning. I told Bradley about his daddy's evening plans and he started crying and said "I just want to hug him one more time!"
Daddy may have said his heart melted when I texted him this picture and told him why Bradley was so sad.
The kids are all about being read to these days. Everyone loves this.
And the very real benefit of Eleanor often being a clingy mess is that she gives the BEST cuddles.
I am having such a blast with these two. I enjoyed bits and pieces of being home with the kids before but I send Nathan genuinely happy updates on most of the events of the day now. And we can do crafts! Being stuck indoors will not be a death sentence to Mommy's sanity this winter (have I mentioned that last winter was tough??)
This is what self sufficient children look like. Minimal assistance required. Glorious.
However, sometimes Eleanor steals Bradley's scissors (which she has no clue how to use) and she knows she wants them more than anything and is so naughty happy at his angst. Poor Bradley. But don't worry, they both do fine jobs of standing up for themselves. Bradley tattles on Eleanor whenever she does something that he gets in trouble for (Her pushing me! Baby Ellnor said "NO".) Ahh parenting. I can handle anything as long as I've gotten seven hours of sleep the night before and can halfway verbally communicate with the parties involved.
We went to a fire station with our mommy group last week and I got a couple of cute photos of the kids. The poor fireman tried to give us an informational tour when he just needed to let the small children climb all over the fire truck and hand out candy or something. We brought some homemade cookies for the firemen and Bradley and Eleanor were so happy to be able to provide taste testing assistance with cookie dough at breakfast. And then they tested freshly baked cookies right before we got in the car to drive to the fire station. And ate a cooled cookie at lunch. I got a lot of positive feedback from the children about fire station trips, they said they would be okay if we went every day.
We had a difficult time convincing Eleanor to leave the cool seat she found in the inside of the fire engine.
Things are going pretty well now as a whole! Nathan and I have been getting in some good date nights and we are excited to see my Nebraska family for Thanksgiving. And Christmas - I can hardly wait to put decorations up. There have been enthusiastic responses to the Christmas aisles at Costco and we go and look at the trees and talk about snowmen and nutcrackers and Santa decorations every time we go. These kids are going to go nuts when we decorate the house.
