Lower East Side Baby

Dave and I (somewhat) jokingly call our babies little country bumpkins now that we're living in Carson City. Aunt Kate & Uncle Keith gave Elliot this shirt; he'll probably think that the lower east side is in Reno!

Elliot loves standing at his Elmo table and pounding on all of the buttons. He stands every chance that he gets and is just starting to let go.

Doll

And here we are at breakfast, Delaney, Elliot, Mommy, Daddy and 'Doll'. Delaney calls all of her dollies 'doll', so when she starts screaming, 'Mom-Doll, Doll, Doll', I'm somehow supposed to instantly know which doll that she wants and be able to locate it within about 3 seconds. When I bring her the 'wrong' doll, she screams-'No, MO-OM DOOOLLLL'-like I'm deaf or just a little slow. Lucky for me, lately Delaney wants this little doll. Doll comes with us everywhere. On play dates. To the park. In the car. To dinner. Delaney even puts sunscreen on doll every morning.

Hungry Boy

Oh, I love this little boy. Elliot's starting to eat more and more 'regular' food and loves everything that we give him.

Child Protective Services

Delaney (and Elliot) have not had baths since Thursday night. I seriously had intentions of bathing them last nite, but we stayed too late at the fair, and despite being covered in sticky chocolate ice cream, I was not about to further delay bedtime.

This morning Daddy and Laney had a great time playing in the water and dirt of the Carson River, and then went grocery shopping, where Delaney ate six whole strawberries, covering herself in strawberry juice!

Despite being filthy after playing in the Carson River, Laney didn't want me to change her clothes since they were hand-me-downs from her beloved cousin Hannah. And to be perfectly honest, I didn't really try to hard to convince her otherwise-some battles are not worth fighting.

Laney refused to take a nap today and screamed for over an hour in her crib. While she was screaming, Dave took Elliot on a walk to the park, and could hear her all the way down the street. He insists that her windows must have been open, but I promise that they were closed.

Before dinner, she insisted on wearing a diaper on the outside of her pants and wore it like this for the rest of the night.

She ate sour cream for dinner.

Elliot's On The Move!

Elliot has been creeping and pulling up for the past few weeks, but he's officially crawling now! I'm excited for him but am also a little nervous about having two fully mobile babies. And Delaney, who's still getting used to his mere existence, has no idea what's coming.

For the record, the first time that Elliot 'officially' crawled, he was wearing his Mets onesie and crawled to the Mets ball. Could this be a sign of good things to come for the Mets???




We don't yet have a video of Elliot crawling, but this video shows Elliot trying his hardest to creep forward!

State Fair

After naptime (everyone got a nap today-even Dave and I!), we headed to the Nevada State Fair in Reno. Delaney liked the 'aminals' and watching the dog splash contest (dogs jump into a big pool), and both Delaney and Elliot loved the ice cream! It was nice to do something different and get out of 'town' for the evening.

Mommy, Laney and Elliot check out the livestock.

Laney is always a big fan of ice cream.

Elliot gets his first bite of a real ice cream cone!

Our Olympian

Delaney has never really been into tv or any baby videos (unfortunately-What mom couldn't use a 30 minute break every once in awhile?), but she has totally loved watching the Olympics-especially the gymnastics. At night, we can get her to leave her water table and red wagon outside and get into her pajamas by telling her that she can watch the Olympics. I'm not exactly sure what bedtime strategy we'll use when the Olympics are over, but we'll think of something!

She loves to imitate the gymnastics (note her perfect form!) and demands applause. She can make me laugh more than anyone. In case you're wondering, Delaney is wearing her pajamas, consisting of a onesie and silk diaper cover (from a dress), which she refers to as her 'undies'. Whatever makes her happy......

The videography could use some work, but it's still pretty cute.

Doctor's Visit

I had been dreading today for the last couple of weeks. I literally felt panicked this morning and didn't eat a bite until late afternoon. And apparently, I felt this way for a very good reason.

Take a fairly difficult two year old, add into the mix a squirmy nine month old and then have an absolutely insane (and exhausted) mother schedule their well baby visits during the sacred naptime-at best, this adds up to a difficult day, at worst, this day becomes impossible. I swear that I don't have a death wish and only scheduled their appointments during naptime because this was the only time that we could get in to see the new and highly recommended pediatrician.

Delaney had her first tantrum by 9:15 AM-so you can guess how the rest of the day went. Dave came to the appointment, and I don't know what I would have done if he wasn't there. The doctor was running about an hour late, and by this time, both babies were absolutely exhausted; Elliot was fussy and I had to give in to Delaney's every demand, to keep her from totally flipping out. When we finally got home, neither baby napped for long, and the rest of the day was difficult and painful-to say the least-but I did make it through the day without crying!

For anyone who's interested (that's you-Grandma B & Grandma Mary!) here are Delaney's and Elliot's growth stats:

Delaney is 20 lbs 4 oz (.26%tile!) and 31 1/2 inches (5%tile). Elliot is 17 pounds 2 oz (5%tile) and 28 inches (42%tile).

Two Little Teeth

Elliot got his first tooth on August 1st and his second tooth on August 5th. I was worried that I would miss his big, gummy smile, but now I've fallen in love with his two little teeth.

Sand Harbor

We've found another beach on Lake Tahoe that we love. We usually go to the beach in the mornings, because by the afternoon, we don't have enough motivation to squeeze the babies into swimsuits, slather on sunscreen as they scream (okay, while Delaney screams) and pack up the car, but the last week or so has been really, quite hot in Carson City and our little air conditioner-less house is HOT by the late afternoon, so we made a late afternoon / early evening trip to the beach and it was absolutely perfect. The water at Tahoe actually felt really refreshing and Delaney and Elliot had a great time swimming in the water. Elliot is at a tough stage to take to the beach-he can wiggle and creep off of the blanket and from there, it's just mouth-sand-mouth-rocks-mouth-sand-mouth-rocks....

Mommy, Elliot and Laney on the beach.

Daddy and Elliot cool off.

Laney loves everything about the sand.

Snow White

This is what happens when an agreeable little boy has a bossy older sister who LOVES to play dress-up!

Look Who's Two!

Two years ago, this little girl made me a mommy, and it's the most wonderful thing that anyone has ever done for me. She's been nothing that I expected, but probably everything that I need.

I know that as her mother I'm terribly biased, but she really is a beautiful little girl. And she's as mighty as she is tiny. She makes me laugh more than anyone else.

Her daddy describes her as 'mercurial' and Grandma D describes her as 'spirited'; she certainly is both. She can be absolutely exhausting-from the moment that she wakes up until she falls asleep at night. And demanding. She's relentless, and so strongwilled; it can be hard for me, but I hope that these characteristics stay with her as she grows.

We had our first argument before she could utter a word. She probably tells me 'no' a few hundred times before noon. But then, just when I'm about to go absolutely insane, she'll rub my back, give me a hug, and kiss the 'boo boo' on my forehead (a freckle), and all is forgotten. Even on a bad day, there is nothing that I would rather do and no one that I would rather be than this little girl's mommy.

She notices and imitates everything-absolutely everything. If I wear a new shirt, she notices in a second. She's been running around our family room, pretending that she's an Olympic gymnast, demanding applause! She's hilarious. She has an amazing imagination and loves to play pretend and dress-up.

When she says, 'icka, ickles, icka', I'm never sure if she wants pickles or tickles.

She sleeps curled up on her belly, on a blanket (that is carefully folded the 'right' way) made by her Aunt Sarmita. She holds a binky in each hand and sucks on a third. Each and every nite.

We love her to pieces. Happy birthday baby girl.

Birthday Celebration

We decided to celebrate Delaney's birthday a couple of days early, so both Daddy and Grandma B could be there for pizza and cupcakes. Delaney LOVES to cook, so she helped me make the cupcakes. She loved it when we sang 'Happy Birthday' to her. She was a little 'on edge' all day, but we managed to make it through the evening without a tantrum. Phew. I really didn't want to have to put the birthday girl in time-out-that would definitely qualify me as the meanest-mom-ever.

Since we live so far away from our families, it meant so much to me that my mom was able to celebrate Laney's birthday with us.


Mommy and Laney make cupcakes.


Three candles!-One for good luck!


Delaney takes a bite.

One happy girl!

Beach Girl

We showed Grandma B our beach at Lake Tahoe. It was a little windy and cool, but Delaney was delighted to be on the beach. Of course, she had a complete meltdown when it was time to leave and screamed in the car the ENTIRE way home. She certainly does have good stamina.

And We're Back.....

As my older sister Julie explained to me a couple of weeks ago, 'family travel' is very, very different from a 'vacation'. She is certainly correct. Family travel means packing, unpacking and more packing and unpacking, changing diapers on the plane, attempting to entertain a tempermental almost-2-year-old on a 7 hour flight (not to mention the hours in the car and waiting at the airport) and having two cranky babies that are on no type of schedule. However, that being said, I am so glad that we made the 3 1/2 week odyssey to the east coast. Along with all of the traveling hassles (and several mishaps!), we had a wonderful time with our families, and had many loving, helping hands. For better (or for worse), we had a complete break from our daily routines and had a total change of scenery. And, most importantly, Delaney and Elliot were able to enjoy their extended families.

While we were experiencing 'family travel', Elliot got his first two teeth and had his first bites of ice cream and pizza-two essentials; Delaney learned how to blow bubbles and do somersaults.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Long Island.

And a few pictures from our trip to the Hemlock Lodge and Pittsburgh-