Richard turns 33 years and Moses turns 14 months

Last weekend I took the girls to the farm (as usual) and it was in its full Fall form. We played in the newly constructed hay maze and we picked two pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. The weather was gorgeous.

Grace in pink and Frances in gray

Gracie and Francie being silly

Francie and Gracie with their pumpkins.

We’ve taken advantage of the school playground and the big rocks by the front of our complex.

MiMo and the girls

Grace at the top, and Francie waiting her turn

On Friday I worked on a simple project that's taken me THREE years to complete! Can't wait to hang them up!

Frances, Grace and Moses

Sunday was Richard’s 33rd birthday! The girls helped me make an allergy-friendly apple cake that everyone could enjoy (even MiMo!). I cooked it a little too long, doh. I knew I should have trusted my instincts and not followed the baking directions on the recipe, but there’s always next time. Anywho, still tastes good to us.

Frances in foreground and Grace in back

Measuring sugar!

Moses will be 14 months old tomorrow! He still only has 7 teeth, I swear the 8th one is still simmering under the gums. He waves goodbye and can say “bye.” He likes to put the play phones up to his head and say “heh-ro” – sounds like Scooby. He says “shoes” and “car” and “agua.” He likes pointing at the picture of the girls as babies and saying “BABY!” He makes lots of animal sounds. He’s not really close to full on walking. I was hoping by 14 months, but maybe by 15? Yesterday he walked from the front door, around through the kitchen, out through the diningroom and only sat down to go down the step into our sunken livingroom. So he can go far, he just decides crawling is easier for the most part. Here is a video I took of him walking in circles at the basketball court:

Squirrels, Maryland Zoo, Perfect Weather, Hockey!

We've all been nursing a lingering cold for almost 3 weeks now. So we haven’t had much to update on as we've been holed up inside.

We did have a squirrel issue for about a week. We knew one had fallen into the chimney. It was scratching in the fireplace. We tried Howard County Animal Control, but weirdly, they don’t handle “wild” animals. So we had a hard time finding a company that actually dealt with wild animal removal – that didn't want to charge an arm and a leg. Many of you know, I have had a personal experience chasing/catching a squirrel in my living space before (college), so I know how hard it is, and having kiddos around, I wanted a pro to do it. We finally got a hold of a company, scheduled them to come, but they never did. Last Saturday we called them back but they wanted to double the charge for a “weekend call” – even though it wasn't our fault they didn't show up. Anyway, we didn't hear much from the squirrel, so we figured it had expired. But then Sunday night, we heard it scratching like crazy again! So I called the pest place back and made another appointment. Richard graciously stayed home to wait in our allotted time period. But nobody showed up. He called and had trouble getting hold of them. Then they claimed they’d been calling him, but nobody had. Then they said we never had an appointment (I had made it just the day before, really?). So anyway, they claimed they were going to make a quick trip out to us. They finally showed up and we had TWO dead squirrels in the fireplace. Blah. So they are supposed to come back to replace the cap on the chimney – sometime??? Ah well, hopefully no more animals get trapped.

So after all that hassle, I decided we needed to get out of the house, since people we feeling a bit better. So last weekend, with the nice, cool weather, I decided to make a “girl trip” out to the Maryland Zoo (Richard stayed home with Moses). I had never been before, and I guess my expectations were low given my allegiance to the National Zoo. Pleasantly though, it was an amazing visit! Even more kid oriented than the National Zoo. You could bring strollers in everywhere!! And there were zoo staff all over the place, providing interesting tidbits of information. Plus, lots of play stations (things to climb on, slide down, climb in, etc.). And the exhibits were a lot closer, so you could actually feel like you were close to the animals. Oh it was a big hit. I’m thinking a season pass will be a nice Christmas gift this year!

Grace and Frances!

We saw some animals we didn't get a chance to see at the National Zoo (either because they weren't there and/or we didn't have time). We saw the giraffes, the warthogs, the chimps, the penguins, the crowned crane (Uganda!), lots of leaping lemurs, polar bears, and a kookaburra (a personal fav of the girls). And of course, many, many others.

Francie and Gracie
This was a bit higher up on the trail, we were able to go closer!

Finally! A giraffe, and sooo close!

Penguins!

I can’t wait to go back! Yes, me (hehe).

On Sunday I took the girls to the farm in the morning. The cashier asked where we had been the week prior – I told her we were home, nursing colds – I guess we’re definitely recognizable as regulars!!

Grace and Frances being silly

The fairy cottage in the Pine Tree maze (where Sleeping Beauty was raised)
The girls hear "a witch!"

In the afternoon we went out to Centennial Park. Love that place.

Grace in blue and Francie in pink
Can't wait for the leaves to start changing...

Tackling Moses with kisses

Moses loves the outdoors!

Throwing pebbles

Tuesday night, Richard and I had an actual date night! Wow! It was a belated anniversary/early birthday present for Richard. I had bought us tickets to the Baltimore Hockey Classic: Caps vs. Bruins. The game was awesome. Ended in a shootout. Caps lost, but we still had fun!

Moses is 13 Months Old

Moses turned 13 months old on the 1st of September. He's still not walking yet. But he's taking little jaunts here and there. Yesterday he walked a good five feet by himself. So I know by 14 or 15 months old he'll be walking full-time. I was a late walker - 18 months old - so I think he's doing better than I was at the same age.

He's talking a bit more now. Not clearly, but the intent is there. He says, "hi", "thank you," "pee-boo (peek-a-boo), and "Agua." And whatever else he was saying before. Still not the vocabulary his sisters had at this age, but he's just taking his time.

Moses' hair was getting quite long, so Richard broke out the clippers for his first haircut. We were surprised how emotional we would be about it. It was sad to see the curls go and see this "little boy" emerge from where our "baby boy" had been. He looks very handsome though - growing up way too fast.

Haircut aftermath, all those soft baby curls...

Back view

Front view

Looking like a big boy!

The girls are changing too. Just today, Frances woke up, made her bed, got dressed and came downstairs - all by herself. They are  more and more independent. I had to go get new shoes for them as the ones from the spring were running a bit small. We got "cookie" inserts to support their arches since they were pronating while walking.

The latest Wacha Sayin'?:

After a marathon clothes-changing in the morning, I had told them, "no more until after breakfast." I'm in the kitchen and I hear them whispering, "Geez, Mommy is being bossy!" I had to laugh.

A recent favorite phrase, "That's boring..."

MY current fav: "I love you sooo much."

Adventures with the Cousins!

My brother, sister-in-law, and nephew and niece came down for a visit the last week in August. They drove down on Wednesday. On Thursday we made a late trek out to the National Zoo (to avoid morning rush hour – we still hit the evening one though). It was my kids’ first visit to the Zoo. Oh it was a hot day but the kids enjoyed the visit. In fact, my girls keep talking about the Zoo and all the animals they saw – and didn't get to see.

We saw the big lion. There was a window overlooking his paddock and the kids, I’m sure, looked like lovely little appetizers to him.

Francie, Isaak, Savannah, and Gracie checking out the lion

We also saw the fancy new elephant area. It was like a scene out of Jurassic Park. Very cool. The kids were bummed that there were no more giraffes at the zoo because of the elephant expansion. Ah well.

Isaak, Gracie and Francie
with the elephants in the background

Here is a nice shot I got of the whole family (sans me) at the Amazonia exhibit. The kids thought it was cool that the monkeys were just hanging out above us in the trees.

Moses, Richard, Isaak, Amber, Savannah, Tom, Grace and Frances
in the Amazonia Exhibit

We saw gorillas. This one liked checking the kids out.

Grace, Frances and Isaak checking out the gorilla

A golden tamarin tried to eat Grace’s hair beads through the glass haha. And we saw orangutans. The girls saw the orangutan throw up, then eat it – they said “Ewww! Gross!!!” haha. We saw tortoises, alligators, snakes, naked mole rats, tarantula, wolves, sea lions, beaver, etc. There was a wave pool by the sea lions that the kids enjoyed (until Amber noticed a lady getting in after taking a Band-Aid off – extra ewwww, we got out just in time!).

Frances and Grace in the wave pool

They had a farm section at the end of the Zoo. And of course later on, when we were home and I was asking what animals we saw at the Zoo, Frances kept saying, “We saw a cow!” I’d say, “And a lion!” and she’d respond, “And a cow, mommy, a cow!” Haha. Always with the darn cows. They see those every week! Silly girl.

On Friday, Richard stayed home with MiMo while the rest of us went out to the local petting farm. It was another hot day. The kids enjoyed it though. We went through the storybook area. Took a picture by the Clark’s sign and another on a big ol' tree that fell during Hurricane Sandy.

Savannah, Isaak, Grace and Frances

Aunt Amber, Frances, Savannah, Grace and Isaak

We did all the rides: cow train, pony rides, and the hayride.

Grace, me, Frances, Uncle Tommy, Savannah, Isaak and Aunt Amber

We also fed the goats and sheep.

Uncle Tommy, Savannah and Isaak
feed the sheep

And visited the other animals.

Checking out the donkey with Aunt Amber

We also did the Pine Tree Maze. It was nice to be in the shade!

Isaak, Savannah, Grace and Frances
in the Pine Tree maze

Frances, Grace, Savannah and Isaak

We finished out the day at Centennial Park playground.

On Saturday we went down to Aunt Signe (aka Great) and Uncle Freddy’s house for some BBQ. There was a brand new playground and splash park that had just opened up the week before, across the street. So we made our way over there and it was a BIG hit with all the kids.

Front to back: Frances, Isaak, Uncle Tommy, Savannah and Gracie

Frances, Isaak and Grace

MiMo loves the water!

Tiana and Ajanja met us there.

Uncle Glenn and Ajanja

Ajanja and Moses on the swings!

After playing we went back to the house to dry off and eat some BBQ. Ajanja introduced Moses to the wonderful world of potato chips.

Ajanja, Aunt Tiana, and Moses

Tom and the family were heading back home from Great’s house. We took one last photo of the kids on the front swing before they left. Unfortunately, Savannah fell off the swing, poor girl. But about 10 minutes later she was calmed down and doing better. Man, I wish I was that resilient!

Isaak, Savannah, Gracie and Frances on the swing at Great's house

All in all, it was a great visit. As the kids get older, I’m sure we’ll have even more adventures with the cousins.

Fun Times in August!

It’s been busy! So I apologize in advance for the abbreviated descriptions of our adventures.

A couple weekends ago we had a playdate with the Arnolds! My friend April invited us to come hang out with her, her sis-in-law, and her nieces, at Clark’s Elioak Farm. We tried our hardest to make all our kids besties… I think they are all too young to appreciate our efforts though. Haha. They did have a ton of fun though. Afterwords the girls kept talking about Sophie and Maddie. So I think we may have a future playdate in store. April took a ton of good photos (check out my facebook). Here is the one photo I took:

Fun with the Arnolds!
Frances, Maddie, Gracie, April, Sophie and Colleen

We decided to take the whole family out to the farm. It'd been a long while since Moses had been, so we thought he might enjoy it, and he did.

Moses giggled at the sheep and tried to rip the goat's hair out.

Francie, Gracie, MiMo and daddy

My in-laws stopped by last weekend! We were able to see baby Zekiah again (3 months old now). He’s definitely getting bigger and his personality is starting to show – smiling, giggling, cooing. AND I saw him roll over!

Aunt Eveck and baby Zekiah

This past weekend Aunt Amy came to visit! We hadn't seen her since maybe Moses was 3-months old or so? So we were definitely excited to see her again. I’m missing her already! Wish they still lived close by. We didn't get to do a whole lot outside the house on Saturday, I spent the morning doing Frances’ hair. But we trekked out to Wegman's and the mall with the kiddos. I got the girls some new earrings – too cute! Sunday she helped me convert the girls’ cribs to toddler beds (even Moses loved this change!). And afterword we went to the petting farm to show Aunt Amy around.

Amy, Frances and Grace feeding the sheep

We went late in the day, we usually go first thing in the morning. Grace went to hang out with her usual goat friend and I think the goat had a tough day and jabbed her in the leg with its horn. She was scared, but I calmed her down and she went right on petting the other goats. Moses had fun with a chicken – fitting since he’s always saying “bek bek bek.”

Mo and his chicken friend

The girls also liked playing with Aunt Amy’s hair!

Fixing Aunt Amy's hair

Aunt Amy and Mo

And it was fortuitous that Uncle Rawknee came to visit while Aunt Amy was here. They hadn't seen each other since being godparents at the girls' baptism! MiMo was all about Uncle Rawnee and couldn't stop crawling up onto his lap.

The girls had their 3-year checkup today (see previous post). The kids are changing a lot. Moses even more so. He’s been standing a lot on his own.

Pass me the ball, daddy!

And yesterday he stood up a bit more than a foot away from their wooden activity cube and he toddled 3 steps to get to it!!! I screamed and Amy thought somebody got hurt. Haha. Later he was by the couch holding a toy and toddled 2 steps towards me! I wasn't able to see the girls take their first steps, so it was fun to see Moses’! Hopefully, within the next month, he’ll be a full walker. And his teeth are SLOWLY coming in… he just got his 7th and 8th teeth this past week. He hasn't enjoyed them coming through, but he’s still better at teething than his sisters were – it’s just that they got their teeth (and a lot of them) much faster.

And we have a new "pet," that I've named Charlotte, because I think she's a barn spider - like in Charlotte's web (so cliche, I know). I'm just happy that, so far, she's an outdoor pet...

Charlotte and her guest/dinner

This week my brother and his family will be visiting. So even more adventures to post!

3-Year Checkup

Grace on left and Frances on right, waiting for the doctor

The girls had their 3-year checkup today. No shots! They had fun, and brought their Doc McStuffins dolls along for support.

Here are their stats:

Frances is 38.3 inches tall (73%) and 31 lbs. 4 oz. (53%)

Grace is 38.3 inches tall (73%) and 30 lbs. 4 oz. (43%)

The doc was a bit concerned about their weight gain. She said at this age kids gain an average of 5 pounds a year – but the girls only gained 3 pounds. She said their weights would be okay on average but compared to how they gained before, it’s a big difference. I told her I was a fat baby and then thinned out. And we all know Richard is skin and bones. So she said it could be genetic. We’ll just have to keep an eye on it and make sure we try our hardest to get them a more balanced diet. They are still tall for their age, so maybe they’ll take after daddy?

She recommended Pre-K since the girls are in-home and not interacting with other kids as much – and separate classes, so they learn to function independently. She said it will probably help their language development as well. Not sure how we’ll swing that one since we don’t qualify for the public pre-K (stupid Maryland). So cross fingers money starts growing on trees so we can get into private pre-K. Or we’ll just have to wing it and hope all goes well for Kindergarten.

Happy One Year Old, Moses!

One year old!

Moses officially turned ONE on August 1st. The girls eagerly helped me make him some allergy-free cupcakes and frosting. And they were more than willing to help him blow out his candle. I got him a balloon from the store, but it was defective, only lasted about an hour. Ah well. Fortunately he has short term memory and forgot all about it.

I called the allergist’s office to see what we can try now that he’s a year old. We were told we could try meats, black beans, white beans, red beans, and oats (last). Well, we started with black beans and he broke out with a rash in the diaper area. So we’ll give the beans a bit more time. So far he seems to be doing okay with chicken. We’ll try beef and fish next, and then oats. He’s to stay on his EleCare infant formula until his December check up with the allergist.

My parents both came down on July 19. We had the joint birthday party for all 3 kiddos that Saturday (see previous post) and then my dad headed back up to NB, while my mom stayed for the week to help watch the kids with our neighbor, Jas. Oh the girls had fun to arts and crafts all week with grandma and Jas. And MiMo had fun too! My dad came back down last Sunday and, at my mom’s urging, installed a nice new tile backsplash for our kitchen. We went with large cream subway-style tiles (neutral and easier for re-sale down the road). They took the girls to the farm. And the girls road the Cow Train for the first time! My folks left the morning of Moses’ birthday so they could give him his birthday greeting in person before they left! Oh we had so much fun with grandma and grandpa, wish they could have stayed longer.

Oh and last week, in the chaos of having my folks here, and my dad doing some tiling in the kitchen, along with the introduction of a new, more powerful microwave, Moses suffered an unfortunate accident. He got burned with some hot food, because he’s a strong kid and able to knock things out of your hands fairly easy. As a result he got a blister on his cheek and 3 blister on his fingers on his left hand. I took him to the doctor’s office since one was close to his knuckle. Fortunately, while “huge and nasty” [the nurse’s words], it was just shy of his knuckle! So he “lucked” out. We put the Neosporin on right away so no infection so far. His blisters popped last week, but skin broke open over the weekend, and he didn’t like that too much. Richard gained more blood stains on his shirts. Poor little dude. But he moves around like nothing ever happened, which is a good sign, the doc says.

I took him for his 1-year well checkup today.

Here are his stats:
Height: 30.8 inches (82nd percentile)
Weight: 25 lbs. 8 oz. (95th percentile)
Head circumference: 48.5 cm (97th percentile)

Comparatively, at a year old, his sisters were about 2 lbs lighter, 0.8 inches shorter, and their heads were about 2 cm smaller.

He cried the whole time. So I knew the shots would be a disaster. He got 3 shots MMR, Chicken Pox, and something else. And he got his finger pricked for anemia test – which came back fine. Poor little dude hated everything. Even getting his head measured.

She said his burns are looking okay. Just keep the Neosporin 3x/day. And she said to put sunscreen or a band aid on them when we go outside or they will burn more (and scar).

He’s doing well. Has a bit of a breakout on his chest. Probably allergy to something new or residual from the beans? Who knows. He’s doing well. He still only has 6 teeth. He says, “Mama”, “dada”, “baba”, “baby” and various animal noises. He can stand up and get down in the middle of the floor with no help, but only on occasion – he’s not making a real habit of it yet. He LOVES playing peek-a-boo with his sisters around furniture. My gosh, they are all so cute when they enjoy playing games with each other. He loves playing with his toy vehicles and pushing them around, he also makes a “mrrrroomm, mrrrooommm” sound too. He loves throwing balls too. He thinks it’s hilarious.

His next appointment is in November.

And the latest Wacha Sayin’?
Frances, upon observing Moses naked, and pulling on his “boy parts”: “Oh no! MiMo gonna pull off his tail!”