exersaucer

so we got the exersaucer down from the attic since carly was standing up a lot. we put her in it and she likes it. i love this thing... i can set her in it and have a good 15 minutes to get something done while she entertains herself. the older she gets, the more time she'll spend in here... yay!









oh, by the way... this is NOT how their legs go.... this is. she's so funny - she had no clue, she just hung there!

carly is 4 months!

we went to see dr. shults this morning for carly's 4 month check-up and she is doing great! we can start cereal with her now, so that should make for some good entertainment - and messes!

here's her stats...
her head size is up from 32% at 2 months to 40%
14.5 lbs, up from 12.5 lbs
24.5 inches, up from 22.5 inches



she's still chubby, and we love it. she found her thumb last week at the beach, and has really started trying to stand up, so we got the exersaucer down from the attic and cleaned it. she has started chuckling at us a little too, and is still full of smiles :)



caleb kept asking: is carly going to cry this time? - we took him with us to the health dept for her shots several weeks ago, and he cried more than she did... and remembered. i'm glad that he's concerned about his little sister


(this picture is from a couple weeks ago - i have trouble getting both kids AND the camera out the door!)

pick your battles! ...until they puke?

the other night we had a battle at bed time. caleb would NOT go to bed - this is not completely unusual. every few weeks he has a night where it takes a long time. we had no idea what was in store for us this time. he lost his blanket early on, and then lost his pacifier because he was throwing it across the room - all with ample warning, mind you. then after threatening and spankings, he still would not go to bed. this went on for over an hour, so finally nathan put the child lock on his side of the door and locked his door. then he kinda lost it.... "daddy, come in" "daddy, you locked it" "daddy, i want to see you" - this went on for like 15 minutes in between cries and screams - remember, he doesn't have his pacifier or blanket which are his comforts. then out comes caleb - he had torn apart the child lock and unlocked the door and opened it. he had also puked in his bed / the floor. seriously, kid? so as nathan started cleaning the floor and changing sheets, i changed caleb and took him into our bed with the lights out and just held him and rubbed his head and back. when his room was ready, i put him in bed and nathan held him until he fell asleep. so 2 hours later, he was asleep. the rule is to pick your battles carefully, but when you pick them, don't back down, right? so at what point do you back down, when they puke? we're a little torn and confused about the whole ordeal...

the beach

the beach trip was an overall success!

on the way down & back, we only stopped twice (each): i fed carly in the car while nathan and caleb went in to eat. caleb played on the playground until i got in with carly, handed her off to nathan and then i ate. when i was done, diapers were changed and we hit the road again. we ate at mcdonalds every stop, but they were the only ones with a playground - good idea, mcdonalds! caleb watched movies in the car and carly slept pretty well. we only had a few crying sessions longer than 10 minutes or so - good traveling kids!

the worst part of the trip was that caleb did NOT want to go to the beach. we tried to bribe and convince him for a while, and then i just made him go. i decided that we did not drive all the way to the beach for him to sit in the house and watch movies all day - we were going to the beach! he enjoyed digging in the sand when he got out there, but never wanted to go. we got some spill-proof bubbles at wal-mart and got him to the beach with those (once) by telling him that those bubbles were only for the beach. we got him out at night a couple times with glow sticks. and nathan got him in the water once by carrying him to look at the fish. every time he got out there he had a good time, but it was the getting out there that was so hard! he also liked to chase sand crabs and throw sand at them, as well as fill their holes with sand. he liked to build "sand castles" (one bucket full of sand) and then squash it - whatever, it got him outside.

carly was not a huge fan of the beach either, but by the time she got done eating and we got everybody sunscreened and dressed and down to the beach, it was almost time for her to nap again. we had a tent for her on the beach, but i think she would have liked it better if she could sit up in it. she did fall asleep twice out at the beach, which was nice - i got to hold her while she slept and that doesn't happen much! but how cute is she in the halter top bathing suit?

there were a lot of jellyfish the first few days... and here's what my dad saw from our porch... first - you've heard that peeing on a jellyfish sting will make it feel better right? well there were a group of young adults next to us and one of them peed on another one's back, while the rest of the group laughed at them - guess they were good friends.

nathan and i got some naps and rest, plus my dad and his girlfriend and her daughter were there so we had some extra hands and eyes, which made life a lot easier. so thanks to my dad and sheila's invite, we had a great vacation. this trip also encouraged us that we can do things with 2 kids (and a lot of baby equipment), and the older they get the more restfull and vacationish a vacation will be!