Elizabeth’s newest thing is to take her books for a walk. Betsy stays in the doll bed all day, but Charlotte’s Web needs to get out and see the sights! (The Pride and Prejudice Board Book is riding below, just in case you were wondering.)
Taking a Book for a Walk
Mar 2nd, 2012 by ECM
Kitchen Chairs, Before and After
Mar 1st, 2012 by ECM
Our kitchen chairs have been mismatched since we got married. They’re a set of ten, but we originally only had four in our apartment, which I covered with navy. When we added in the captain’s chairs after a year or two, I covered them with a different navy. And when we got the last four out of my grandpa’s barn, I didn’t bother covering the ugly yellow vinyl because I figured small kids would mess up fabric, anyway. But enough was enough. Mom M helped me pick out new fabric at JoAnn’s last week, then Dad M and I spent Friday afternoon stripping off the old stuff and recovering them.
Before:
We even sprayed them down with Scotch Guard, which I hope will work!
After:
Our Strange Sense of Humor
Feb 29th, 2012 by ECM
We had to get a new trash can because Susie is so fond of eating trash out of our old, lidless one, so naturally I felt compelled to stick her in it before use. Kindof reminiscent of the classic baby-John-in-the-new-toilet pictures of my childhood. I admit it–Willetts have a strange sense of humor.
And here you go. Style. Personified. All the runways models will be sucking their thumbs next season.
Susanna, Crawling and Walking
Feb 28th, 2012 by ECM
Just in time for Susanna taking 6 steps and standing for 20 seconds at a time, Derek has uploaded youtube videos from back when almost crawling was a big deal!
I’ll try to catch some walking on the camcorder, but your best bet to watch the early steps in a timely fashion is to set up a video chat this week.
Little Driver
Feb 27th, 2012 by ECM
Elizabeth loves her new sunglasses from Grandma!
Ventura Harbor
Feb 25th, 2012 by ECM
Tommy’s Birthday Cake
Feb 24th, 2012 by ECM
I just realized I never posted pictures of Tommy’s cake! He was very particular about what he wanted this year–he even drew me a picture to show me. “A brown, round cake with a hole in the middle with white frosting to look like whitewall tires.”
He was so cute–“That’s exactly what I wanted!”
Big Fans of Grandpa
Feb 23rd, 2012 by ECM
This is from a few days ago, but we’ve been so busy that I’ve gotten behind! Tommy and Elizabeth have been loving all the techy stuff they’re doing with Grandpa!
Santa Barbara Zoo with Grandpa and Grandma Muller
Feb 22nd, 2012 by ECM
Susie’s 10 Month Update
Feb 21st, 2012 by ECM
I am a bad mom, and I was too flustered at the doctor’s office to make sure I got Susie’s measurements written down, but as far as I remember, here are her 10 month stats.:
Weight: 16 lbs 1 oz (3%) (at 9 months, Tommy was 20 lbs 9 oz [50%] and Elizabeth was 18 lbs [25%])
Height: 28 inches? (38%?) (at 9 months, Tommy was 28 1/8 inch [50%]and Elizabeth was 27 inches [25%])
I don’t remember her head circumference, but it was in the 60%.
The big discussion with Dr. Antall was over her growth. She has grown a pound since she was last in, so he’s happy with that. We’re also happy that she’s eating so well–all table foods except meat (which is still too tough for her to chew without opposing teeth)! She got the go-ahead to try strawberries (huge fan!) and egg whites (in pancakes and French toast, also a fan), and she had no reaction to either. But she’s such a fan of table food that nursing just doesn’t interest her at all anymore. She’ll occasionally take a bottle if she’s feeling tired, but if I don’t catch her right when she wakes up or force feed her right before she falls asleep, she won’t even drink. Finger food is more exciting. I’m desperately trying to keep nursing her at least first thing in the morning and before bed, but I think it’s a matter of days before I can’t even manage that. At this age, the doctor said she should ideally be drinking 15-20 ounces, and my production seems so down that he guesses she’s not getting more than 2 ounces at a time. I’d guess she’s getting a combined total of maybe 12-13 ounces a day, so when I give up and let her finish weaning, it might actually be easier to get more ounces in her. Sigh. After all the struggles with nursing in the past 7 months, I know I should be happy that we’ve gotten this far, but every mom knows how emotional it is to wean, even if you don’t enjoy nursing.
Another possible reason for Susie’s slender physique might be her hyperactive behavior. I don’t think I’ve ever met a child as wiggly as she is. She races across the house to keep up with her siblings, and she squirms, rolls, and insinuates herself everywhere she doesn’t belong. Favorite activities include eating kleenex out of the bathroom trash and banana peels out of the kitchen trash, chewing on refrigerator magnets, and climbing out of her high chair.
Just in the past few days, she has started standing for 10 or more seconds at a time, and she took her first step this weekend with Grandma and I watching! (It was an accident, so I don’t think she’ll be walking for a little longer…) She claps her hands and waves bye-bye, shakes her head, says Dada, Mama, Baba, Nana, and makes air kisses.
And yesterday she went down the slide with Tommy and then “by herself.” She’s gotta keep up with the big kids!
