Busy Babies

I truthfully have to say I don't know how people with small kids keep up to date with their blogs. Some have great stories, pictures galore and captions for all. I'm lucky if every 3 months I get on here and get an update. Of course, maybe I'm just long winded and need to post more shorter entries. Anyways, even when our blog sits idle for months, keep checking back on our page if nothing else for the change in our flickr banner. If I find time, I usually upload pictures... because well I'm a shutter bug.

So just to let you all know how our busy "babies" are doing, here a short recap.

R - She's crawling, cruising, climbing stairs, "talking" (gabbing all day long or shrieking to match E's volume) and eating with her fingers. Her newest food is Puffs or Cheerios. She has been a super handful because she has decided that sleeping is over-rated and sleeps very short naps and sometimes not at night. Also, we really have to keep our eyes and ears out because she is super fast on those petite hands and knees she has. She also has a knack for reaching things and getting to stuff I don't think E could reach until you was over a year old. We love our little Bekah and she is getting to be quite a bit of fun. Her laugh is infectious and this is a great stage. Oh and she still doesn't have any teeth!! She's 9.5 months old! I'm not complaining though because she already likes to "munch" while nursing. Ouch.

E - She's going through a "terrible twos" period of testing every boundary and disobeying every things we say in hopes to get away with something. It's very tiring and trying, but we just constantly remind ourselves "It is just a phase." Also, E is now offically potty trained. Yay! She'll even (on most days) go through her nap and all the way through the night without wetting her diaper (which we still put on her because we're lazy and don't want to clean sheets constantly.) One thing that hasn't changed though is E's LOVE of her sister. She loves her... sometimes too much (bear-hug-squeezed). And her sister loves her! Our two girls are so cute together, especially when they play (nicely).

Ian - The end is near. Ian has finished his first draft of his dissertation. Now he's in footnote expanding, comment picking up and the "finishing up" part of his writing. Yay! Now let's hope theirs I nice amount of jobs come this fall for next fall.

Gilda - Same ole same ole with me. Only new thing is I am finally losing some baby weight (due to food diarying and calorie watching) and I'm trying to get back to that pre-baby routine of taking care of myself along with the rest of the family. Oh, and also I'm turning 30 next week. Wow, I can't believe I'm that old... actually I can. ha lol.

And so as we get more used to the neighborhood and get more involved at our church, we're hoping to build some great friendships and community... all as our family continues to be well (and busy).

Almost June, already?

I cannot believe that it is almost June already. Where did the month of April and May go? So many things have happened (and some things that haven't) - so many posts started in my head but never typed out - then one day, I turn around and it's almost June. Well, this would be a dizzingly long post if I wrote about all that has happened since the end of March, so instead ... the quickest of updates and a hope to post more often.

• Ian turned 29. What a youngan! We had a very low key dinner at our place with a smattering of our family. On the very same day as our get together, though, Ian's stepdad has a really horrible motorcycle accident. He broke a few ribs, shattered his right arm and I think he broke his pelvis. He's doing better now, but still has a lot of mending to do.
  
• We went up twice to Davis for a visit since we moved and also met up with a few friends around here. This helped E accept the move more (although if you catch her tired, she'll cry if anyone leaves). Oh but at least she doesn't lament about not having friends anymore evn though we still don't have a lot of new friends or anything close to the kind of community we had in Davis.
• We have started to get plugged into a church (Cornerstone in Livermore) and E is enjoying her Sunday School class a lot. Thankfully she has stopped calling this church "the new church." (This also goes for our house, the park, the store, etc. Everything no longer is precedded with "new" and she doesn't ask anymore to go back to the "old house".)
• R started on solid foods. I've made a few items, bought a few items and have tried to give her a new food each week. But we battle (once again) the problem of constipation as we move from easily digestable breastmilk to solids. Sigh.
  
• R had her first Easter. Ian was out of town (in Vancouver for a conference - his first time in Canada) and so I took the girls by myself to Stockton to see his family (since we see my family all the time and his still does the whole Easter shabang). E got to have a Easter Egg Hunt at the church and R got more used to be passed around (and taken care of by someone other than Ian or I). I also braved sleeping all of us in one room. Let's just say I did not sleep much that weekend... and I now can say the girls are not ready to share a room.
• Ian has not heard back from any of the schools in the very last round of applications - and so we have resigned ourselves to the fact that we won't be moving or starting a new job in the fall. Of course, Ian still has to finish his dissertation (which was put on the back burner as he taught a class) ... so I guess it all works out in the end. We hope for him to be done by September or December, walk in December and be out on the job market yet again (along with maybe some grad school applications in something different but related) during this coming fall. Keep praying for us that we'll be patient with God's timing and plan for all of us.
  
• We checked out the local Farmer's Market. And although the tractor ride was fun, it just doesn't even come close to the one in Davis.
  
• We spent two weeks passing back and forth a nasty flu full of sleepless nights, sore throats, snot and fevers.
• We made our biggest kid related purchase to date - a double jogging stroller (which I love). It's already seen a few miles as it becomes the "transportation" of the kiddos on days when Ian is up in Davis with our one and only car.
• We went to San Ramon's annual Art & Wind Festival. E got to sit in police cars, fire trucks, make crafts and got her face painted. Highlight for the weekend also was playing at the "water park" with a big water mushroom right next to the sand park and also flying a kite we bought. We didn't do that great at keeping it up in the air, but E shrieked with joy at seeing it fly.
  

So, that's our two months in a nutshell. Lots (and very little, at the same time) happens day to day here at "home" that it's hard for me to adequately share it on our blog... I just feel a bit at a loss of what to say. What is easy to share though, of course, is how the girls are growing.

E is now 2.5 years old and her vocabulary continues to grow by the minute. She says some of the cutest things like, "I love ____ (fill in the blank with anything she's talking about). That's my favorite". She also started making up her own songs and singing them to herself. Sometimes you catch a word or two, but usually they don't make any sense and they aren't even bits and pieces of other songs. The best milestone that E has crossed though is that hse is now potty trained. She'll have the occasional accident if she's stuck somewhere when she needs to go or is really tired and the day is waning - but all in all, she holds it when she needs to and goes when she needs to. She constantly says "I do it all by myself" and "I a big girl now." Yes, she is our big girl, now!

R is now 7.5 months old and has learned so many new things in the last two months - She can sit up on her own, she can turn over from her tummy to her back to her tummy she can transfer things from one hand to another and she is starting to "play" all on her own. She is also starting to reach over and try to grab things and trying to pull her legs underneath herself so that she can propel herself closer to those coveted objects out of reach. And even though she is progressing beautifully, she is still a peanut. She weights just a few ounces over 15 pounds (compared to E who surpassed that at around 4 or 5 months) and looks lean and long. But she is absolutely adorable, especially when she smiles ear to ear!

And so, that is us in a (still longish) nutshell. Be sure to check out our recent pics in our photostream to the right. (Lots of times photos will be uploaded even though our blogs remains silent.) Ta-ta for now!

So Sad... "Just Kids"

Poor E is taking the move so hard. She asks at least once a day if we can either go to PoPo's (Gilda's Mom's) house or home (which she means to be the Davis home). She refers to the house we live in as Auntie Gigi's house... and wonders why we are living here. Even with all the packing and the bringing of her bed, her clothes, her toys and her family (us)... she still wants to go "home".

The saddest thing of all though is on when on Tuesday she had the following conversation with Ian while they were returning from the park just around the corner from our new place.

E: I want friends.
Ian: You just played with friends.
E: No friends.
Ian: What about the boy you played with at the park?
E (matter of factly): No friends, just kids.

I guess in E's opinion you just can't beat the parks and spontaneous playing with friends at Russell and Orchard Park. Hopefully we'll meet some new friends and the children at the park won't be "just kids".

P.S. I just loaded some pictures on to Flickr of our last days in Davis... and it's so sad to see pictures of E so happy swinging in Russell Park when now a days she is often seen crumpled on the ground having a tantrum or trying to climb on us to be held or crying when any extended family member comes to visit but then has to leave. I just have to remind myself, this too will pass and our high energy ear-to-ear smile toddler will return.

Spencers on the Move

So it's been a month and a half of silence on our family blog... mainly because we were busy prepping, planning, being sick and moving. (If you're wondering about the potty training, it's still going... but of course with more steps backward than forward with all the family upheaval... sigh). Yep, we have moved!

Ian is still finishing his dissertation (although he hasn't worked on it in a couple weeks) and he is still going to be up in Davis at least twice a week (for a class he is teaching next quarter), but our family has moved down to the Bay Area while we wait to hear back from the last of the job openings for the upcoming school year. The economy being what it is and with the opportunities being sparse, we decided to move to aid our finances and be closer to family. We're still hoping to get a position somewhere, but only God knows the plan for the upcoming year(s). Keep praying for us, either for a job or a good transition-stay in the Bay Area as we wait (for how many months long it will be).

This last weekend was the big load the truck, drive down, unload the truck weekend. Then Ian spent two whole days back up in Davis cleaning our really dirty apartment, while I waded through boxes to find all the stuff we needed and sort all the stuff to be left in storage. Now, the end of the week is here and we are basically moved in with our essentials, even if there is still a few boxes in the garage (oh, isn't it lovely to have a garage!) and a few in our closets too that need unpacking. It probably helps that we don't own too much... and the majority of it is (not surprisingly) games and books. And we've also done all the really important stuff like change our addresses for all our bills. But moving is one of those things that the more you do, the more you realize you need to do. Case in point, the list of things to pick up continues to grow no matter how much stuff I buy and cross off the list... and I've visited Target three times already this week. Sigh. No wonder it takes people months and sometimes years to get settled and unpack that momentous last box. No matter how long we live here though, we really want it to feel like "home", especially for the girls. So far E has taken the move the hardest of us all... it's quite sad. She misses our Davis home, her one and only home since she was born. We miss Davis too, but know we'll be back to visit (soon).

And now for pictures. Here's some shots of our old place during the days of packing. Pictures of our new place (where we currently reside with Gilda's sister) will be coming soon.

Diaper Destruction and More Nighttime Adventures

Well the Toddler Nighttime Adventures continue...

Night 2 - E again woke up at 5 asking to be taken to the bathroom. She made her way out of the room and was sitting outside our door making little noises hoping to wake us up. But no mess in her room, so that's an improvement.

Night 3 - We were hoping for no night time wakings... but instead she woke up at about midnight (because I was on the phone and trying to wash dishes at the same time... it was a bit loud - oh, and yes, that is sometimes the only available time for me to talk on the phone or wash dishes... at midnight). Then when Ian went to put her back down, she asked to be put in the crib! So she slept there that night and we didn't have any incidents. Although the night was basically uneventful... during her nap the next day, we found her awake from her nap again playing semi-quietly in her room. More clothes were in a big pile on the floor and she was sitting right behind the closed door with her legs up in the air (on the door). Odd place to wait. :)

Night 4 - I fully expected E to wake up and want us to take her to the bathroom at 5 in the morning. She did and I took her to pee and put her down fairly quickly. Oh and I was already up because I had just finished feeding R. Hopefully this isn't going to be an ongoing "wake up" time for her... sigh.

Night 5 - E woke up several times last night, asking to be taken to the potty, asking for more water. I don't even think I heard the second time she got up (Ian attended to her), again at 5 am. This is starting to become a tiring routine, but at least we weren't greeted with surprises from E ... until this morning. That's when we encountered Diaper Destruction!

I was wondering why E didn't make noises when R and I had woken up... I was thinking "Could E still be asleep at 7:30am .. 8am.. 8:30am?" (we had skipped a nap yesterday and got in a little late, so it could have made her sleepier). Finally after being awake for almost an hour playing with R I hear a small voice coming from E's room "I poopy in my diaper". So, I go to her room, open the door and find diapers everywhere!! She had gotten into her trash can (full of pee filled or poopy disposable diapers) and had taken them all out and opened them. She also had the cloth diaper diaper pail open (and the smell that comes out of that is pretty rancid, especially since we're close to pick-up day which means almost a whole week of dirty unrinsed - because we use a service - diapers).

It looks like E was dumping all the poop in her disposable diapers into her diaper pail. Of course, that means she had to open all her disposable diapers to know which had poop and which had pee. Then in her attempt to put the diaper contents in their "rightful place" (the diaper pail), she ended up dropping a few diapers in there. I think while she was engaged in her dirty diaper adventure, she did end up pooping in the diaper she was wearing and that was when I heard her calling. And that is how I found her... with poop all over her hands, some dried stuff scattered around the trash can and diaper pail... and a little bit of poop on her clothes.

I guess these next few weeks will determine what can be left in the girls' room after we move. After a thorough cleaning of her room (with Clorox Antibacterial Wipes) and of E (three rounds of hands washing), we moved the trash can and the diaper pail out of her room (she doesn't get her diaper changed in there anymore anyways). We might end up moving other pieces of furniture (her clothes dressers) out of her room and replacing it with other ones.

Sounds like her next room (after we move) might have only beds and a few toys in there. I had a conversation with a veteran mom (of mostly boys) and she gave me some great ideas on how to lock the closet (sliding doors) and maybe we'll have to do a combination of a striped-bare room and locked closet at night.

All in all, though, we're still glad that E mostly likes her new bed and the mess isn't too bad. Even with Diaper Destruction at it's worse - it is still better than finding fresh smeared poop "art" all over the walls and floors -- Ah, the stories parents (mostly of boys) have to tell!

Oh, and here's our promised pictures of E in her new toddler bed: