June 9, 2006

7:05 Drop off

7:45 I made my special Super Baby Food oats thinking Ariel might like it. Ah, nope. Oh well, I like it, I just add a lot of brown sugar to mine.

8:05 Crib nap. Loooong crib nap. I cleaned both bathrooms.

10:45 Ariel finally woke up. She had her bottle on the front porch while the boys tried to impale each other with long sticks.

11:30 I still hadn't figured out our adventure of the day, but we needed to do something. I got the pool out of the shed and pumped it up. Ariel wasn't content to just watch, so I had to hold her while pumping it, while trying to get Alex to stop "helping."







12:00 Crissy called with an idea for a Fabulous Plan™ - the marketing place at the mall called her and asked if she wanted to watch a yogurt comercial for $25 - heck yeah! I fed the kids lunch and we got ready to go.

12:30 Leave, with a quick (well, as quick as it can be with 3 kids) trip to the post office.

1:05 Meet Crissy at the mall. I thought it might be easier to watch the commerical without kids, so I left Crissy feeding Ariel while the 4 boys played. When I got to the marketing place, they said all their computers were being used and to come back in 10 minutes. I was not having a great day and thought some ice cream could help. When I got back to the play area Crissy was calling me on my cell in a total panic because Adam was missing. Yikes. Security was already looking for him. In about a minute, he was found wandering who knows where. Lesson learned, 5 kids is way too many for one mom. I'm sorry for putting you in that position Crissy :(

2:35 We went back to the marketing place together. Crissy and I decided that Ariel had a fever, and was being a bit fussy, so we gave her some tylonel. Crissy did the commercial first with Ariel and Marcus, I went in with Alex, Adam and Gavin. The commercial was not all that exciting (how exciting could a yogurt commercial be?) but $25 is always nice. Crissy even had some extra time and smelled some perfume for another $5.

2:30 We left the mall. We were going to stay and play in the sandbox, but Alex and Gavin were running around and getting out of our sight, so I thought it was a good teachable moment to leave, especially after what happened to Adam.

2:45 Got home. Tried Ariel on some homemade peach puree. She didn't like it. Then I gave her some sweet potato/apple sauce and she nearly ate a whole stage 2 jar.

3:15 Post sweet potatoes:



The boy who almost had to live at the mall:



Adam was starting to feel a bit feverish and droopy as well this afternoon. Oh, and Ariel has been pretty snotty the past few days. Wonder what bug they've pick up this time?

4:00 Pick up.

June 8, 2006

7:05 Drop off. Ariel was easy-peasy this morning, just hanging out. The boys were pretending to be sleeping kittens:



8:00 Bottle

8:40 Crissy and I walked to the brand new, used-to-be-Peaberry's-but-is-now Starbucks. And I did not, I repeat DID NOT get anything. Crissy, however, had an iced caramel macchiato. Adam took pictures of all the customers but mostly his nose with Gavin's play camera.

9:50 We walked up to the photo store since we both had pictures to pick up (I was picking up Adam's two year pictures, which you can see here). Crissy and I have been talking about the photo store, they have been driving us crazy. Crissy managed to get her order, but they had only printed 2 of my 3, uh, orders. Ok, so I had 3 orders, sue me :)

10:15 We got home, Crissy and Gavin only stayed a few minutes before they had to go home.

10:40 Ariel had another bottle.

11:20 I put Ariel in the crib.

11:30 Ariel was asleep.

12:00 Adam really needed a nap, so I put him down in his bed. But he was waking when I would try to get up, so I stayed a while and dozed a bit.

12:45 Alex woke us all up pretty effectively with his banging the door, his signal that he needs his bottom wiped. Ariel went back to sleep for a bit.

1:15 Ariel up, ate a jar of stage 1 squash, and an ounce or so of water, from a bottle this time.

The boys painted while I made them lunch:



The eventually traded colors and Alex painted his whole paper red and said it was a heart. I think we'll be returning the valcano book for a human body one next week.

More fun sitting!





1:55 Another bottle.

2:15 Ariel fell asleep in the bjorn and I transfered her to the carseat.

2:50 We stopped by the photo store so I could pick up my third order. And then we went to Jamba Juice. My kids love smoothies, and I even got Becky one because I love her so much. And I'm such a nice person. And not because I had any paranoid crazy reason for making her try Jamba Juice. Yeesh.

3:35 Dropped Ariel off with Becky, since we were going to a park nearby it was easy for us.

June 7, 2006

7:05 Drop off. Ariel practiced sitting in the living room some more. She's doing really well now.

7:20 Put Ariel in crib. She was a bit fussy, and she took a lot longer to fall asleep, even though she was rubbing her eyes and clearly tired.

7:40 asleep

8:15 I discovered I broke two of the cardinal rules of parenting.

1. NEVER leave sharpies in a place that anyone under the age of 21 can access them.

2. ALWAYS investage when things get quiet.

Alas, I thought Adam was pooping quietly. Instead, he was creating a permanent work of art on our bay window:



Luckily, with only a mere 30 minutes of scrubbing, the Magic Eraser® got it off.

9:30 Wake up, bottle. Ariel was a bit fussy, even crying while she was drinking her bottle.

10:00 It was too hot already, and Ariel had woken up late, so we did not walk to the library. And I did not, I repeat DID NOT go to Starbucks, either.

10:15 Storytime at the library.

10:20 Ariel started crying again, so I took her outside. I met Crissy out there, who wanted a turn with Ariel.

10:45 Ariel was not calming down. She sounded like she was crying in pain, so we gave her some tylenol and then I called Becky. Becky said we should wait an hour to see how things went.

11:00 By the time storytime was over, Ariel seemed to be doing better, so we ran a quick errand - buying Adam some Crocs® afterall. Hee hee.

11:50 Home.

12:00 Bottle

12:30 Crib nap. She went down much easier this time.

1:15 Ariel woke up a bit, but fell back asleep with her paci.

1:50 I got Adam to take a nap.

2:00 With both babies asleep, I was able to read Alex his new volcano book. See, on Sunday he found a pumice rock, and ever since then he had been wanting to learn more about it. So we traded in the much loved Pasta book for one on volcanoes. I'm going to miss the Pasta book. I loved it when we were eating with Gavin and Alex turned to him and said, "You know, pasta starts out as golden wheat growing in the sun." Of course, eating pasta 4 nights a week has gotten a bit old. Anywho, Alex is into volcanoes now, he even drew a picture after we read the book:



2:25 Ariel woke up.

2:30 Bottle.

I wanted Ariel to practice sitting some more, so we went into Alex's room.







This was fun until Ariel spit up on Alex's sheets. I forgot that her spit up smells like puke now that's she's on solids, so I had to throw Alex's sheets in the wash. They probably needed it anyway.

3:30 Ariel had the rest of her green beans from Monday. Alex had an apricot for a snack.

3:50 We all went outside so Alex could plant his newly aquired apricot pit.



Given that the avacado seed(s) Alex planted never sprouted, I'm not worried that we are going to grow an unmanagable exotic forest anytime soon.

Oh, and here's Adam in his new crocs. Awwwww.



4:10 Ariel fell asleep in the bjorn, I transfered her to the carseat.

4:35 pick up.

June 5, 2006

7:00 Drop off

7:15 Ariel and I attempted a back to front rolling session on the bed, which proved to be unsuccessful. But I give her a B for effort.

7:40 Nap in crib

8:30 Wake up, bottle

9:00 Drive to Kaden's house for a playdate.

10:00 Ariel took a nap in Fiona's crib. And Fiona had a blanket over her window like Alex now does, and her room was nice and dark. And Ariel had a long nap. Methinks I need to put a blanket in Adam's room, it just so clashes with the nursery decor.

11:30 Wake up, bottle.

12:30 Go home.

1:00 Home - Ariel fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep in her carseat for a while. Long enough for me to transfer a sleeping Adam from the car to his bed.

1:40 Ariel woke up, I decided to feed her lunch before her next bottle. She had half a stage 1 green beans. And then I gave her a sippy of water to wash it all down. Ariel found the cup very confounding.



2:15 Ariel had a bottle.

2:40 Ariel took a nap on my bed, since Adam was still asleep. This worked out very well for me because I got a picture order in the mail and had a big project of sorting and framing pictures.

3:30 Ariel woke up.

4:10 We went outside to wait for Becky. Ariel decided that she can sit:







Sure, she toppled over gently a few times, but she sat a good long while.

4:25 Pick up

EXTRA - Ariel goes to the swimming pool!!!

Ariel's family joined my family for a morning of fun at the pool.

















Ariel was tuckered out by the time we got to the bagel store for lunch.


No trip to the outdoor mall is complete without Starbucks.

June 2, 2006

7:00 Drop off. Ariel was asleep upon arrival, but was soon awake.

7:05 As Becky warned, she was a bit grumpy, so I had her hang with Uncle J while I finished some chores.

7:20 Uncle J had to go to work, so Ariel went in the bjorn.

7:40 She looked tired, so I put her in the crib and she went to sleep.

8:15 Wake up

8:25 Bottle

8:35 Back in the bjorn. And our friends Crissy and Gavin came over to mess around with some pictures. Well, that's why Crissy came over. Gavin came over to play with Alex.

9:00 Asleep in crib.

10:00 Crissy and Gavin went home.

10:15 Ariel woke up.

10:30 Ariel, the boys and I went to the mall.

11:00 Haircuts at the mall. Alex went first and got a nice, even, short summer cut. Adam went next and was hysterical and came out with shorter, choppier hair. He sat on my lap for part of it, but wanted no part of the clippers. I tried to get a picture, but my camera battery was dead.

11:05 Bottle

11:40 We went over to play on the dinosaurs for a bit, but everyone was soon hungry.

12:00 Lunch at the food court. Pizza for the boys, fish tacos for me, and nothing for Ariel because she was asleep in the bjorn.

12:45 Leave mall for the doctor's.

1:10 Meet Becky at the doctor's office.

1:30 Bottle

Results of Ariel and Adam's well check:

Ariel was 13 lbs 9.5 oz and is now in the 15th percentile for weight. The doctor was a little concerned with her freakishly big head (95th percentile) but not enough to do any tests. I forgot her height, but it was decent.

Adam was 22 lbs 12 oz and 34" tall. Still a tiny guy, but growing on his curve.

And, alas, since my camera battery was dead, today will have to be a day without pictures. But fear not, I just ordered a second battery off of Amazon (and Crissy, a new 1GB card for the Rebel). Long live internet shopping!

June 1, 2006

7:10 Drop off, asleep, Adam's room.

8:00 Ariel had been playing with toys for a bit, but was finally done. When I went in to get her, I also changed a poopy.

8:30 Daddy took Alex to his last day of preschool, while Adam, Ariel and I went to Starbucks. We got two drinks cause...

8:45 ...Crissy's house. We were worried that Adam and Gavin wouldn't play together well, but they did much better than when Alex is around too. It's hard being a third wheel. Hmmm, unless you are a tricyle. Maybe three's a crowd?

9:00 Bottle

9:30 Nap on Crissy's bed

10:15 Wake up. Took some pictures of the princess. I just love her in blue!







11:00 Bottle

11:20 Another nap on Crissy's bed

12:00 Wake up. We took her outside on a mat while we ate lunch (uh, triscuits and cheese AND hummus for me). Ariel didn't realize she was sitting by herself and sat for over a minute!

12:40 Leave to go pick up Alex from preschool.

1:00 Alex's preschool. I had the momentuous task of herding 3 kids while picking up all of Alex's belongs. Without a stroller.

1:25 Home

1:30 Bottle

1:50 Lay down in crib

2:05 Asleep. I tried to get Adam to nap too but he wouldn't go down. When he got up to play, he went and pooped, so I guess that's why.

3:00 Ariel woke up but still looked crabby and sleepy. I kept putting in her paci and she was half a sleep and crabby for a while.

3:45 Ariel decided she had ENOUGH and I got her out of the crib.

3:50 2/3 bottle

4:00 Ariel helped me with some photo manipulation and graphic design programs while the boys watched some TV. Adam was clearly exhausted after being up so late last night, but it was too late to nap.

4:35 Pick up.

May 31, 2006

Welcome back to the next installment of Adventures with Ariel. Hope you had a good Memorial Day weekend. We had lots of fun at the ranch with Grammie and Pop-Pop and Crissy's family. Pictures are here.

7:15 Drop-off

Today is Adam's birthday!



7:50 Bottle

8:15 Crib nap

9:00 Wake up

9:25 Walk to Starbucks. Ariel napped in the bjorn.

10:00 Get to Starbucks. I was feeling a little frisky today, so I got a grande frappachino. And somehow I've used up all my Mother's Day gift card already.

10:15 Go to library for storytime. Ariel liked watching all the kids.

10:35 1/2 bottle

11:00 Crissy finally got to the library. She missed storytime, but we ran over to Starbucks again for her, and then over to Michael's so I could buy some black food coloring for Adam's cake. Crissy was so kind to come so I could use 2 Michael's coupons, I also got Alex a photo album to put in the pictures he took at the ranch.

11:20 Walk home. Ariel napped again.

12:05 Get home.

12:20 Lunch. Adam is not a big veggie eater, so I occassionally give him some sweet potato/apple sauce babyfood so he gets some orange. I called Becky to see if it was ok if Ariel had some too. Ariel thought it was pretty darn fun to sit at the cool kid's table and eat lunch with the big boys:



1:00 The boys heard the neighbors out in their front yard "mining" so we had to go over and see what they were doing. Ariel had 1/2 bottle. She had a big spit up so I waited to give her the rest.

1:30 Other half of bottle

1:40 Go home.

1:45 Crib nap

2:15 Brief wake up, I just had to put her paci back in and she went back to sleep.

3:10 Awake with poopy diaper. I put her in the exosaucer while I worked on Adam's cake.

3:35 Crissy and gang came over to help so I could finish getting ready for Adam's party.

4:00 Bottle

4:30 Adam's fabulous Two Years Old Birthday Party:

Aunt Becky came:



And David Someoneerother and Laura:



And of course Ariel was there:



And Daddy Carl:



Super Grammie's present to Adam was the hit of the party - an inflatable water pool:



Here's my masterpiece - homemade chocolate cake with homemade buttercream frosting. Rounded out with six - count them SIX - large pizzas and a strawberry spinach salad.



The birthday boy:







And our best family picture:



Happy Birthday Adam!

May 25, 2006

7:00 Drop off

7:30 2 oz of bottle. She had a big spit up so I held off on the rest

7:55 I put Ariel in the crib

8:10 She was officially asleep. And note, during 15 minutes it takes for her to go to sleep, she's not crying. She's just sucking on her pacifier and occassionally making small sad noises.

9:00 Woke up, took rest of bottle.

9:15 Changed a wet diaper

9:25 Crissy came over for our now standard Wednesday Fabulous Plan™ - walking to Starbucks and the library. Ariel fell back asleep in the bjorn.

10:00 We got to Starbucks. I was feeling a little wild and crazy, so I ordered a green tea lemonade. I must have been temporarily insane, I forgot I don't like ice tea (though in my defence, I did think it would be more lemonade than tea). So after we got the kids to the library for story time, I left Crissy with them and went back to Starbucks and traded in for my frappachino. Live and learn. Then I went over to the post office.

11:10 Ariel had a bottle at the library.

11:30 We walked home. Ariel dozed again.

12:15 Got home. Ariel was pretty warm in her pink overalls, so I changed her into the most adorable yellow number.

1:00 bottle

1:20 Lay down in crib

1:40 Asleep. I moved Alex's sound machine in her room hoping that would help. The boys were being kinda loud. After she was asleep, I brought Adam in to take a nap in his bed. The crib is in that room, and Adam won't nap anywhere but his bed, so I had to try them napping together in the same room.

2:00 Adam finally asleep. Yay!

2:13 I *almost* had time to finish my lunch before Ariel woke up. I didn't think that it was a long enough nap, so I popped her pacifer in. But since Adam was in there, I stayed there, laying on the floor, so I could either put the paci back in or grab her if she was really awake.

2:35 Ariel was back asleep, I was able to crawl out and finish my lunch.

2:40 Alex was talking to Zach through the fence and was invited over for a playdate. So off he went and I actually had a little bit of time to myself. I ate an ice cream bar (yes Crissy, the last Häagen-Dazs®), had a phone conversation with a real adult and then finished cleaning the bathroom. My life is so exciting.

3:35 Ariel woke up first, Adam was up soon after. I changed Ariel's diaper and then I took some pictures of Ariel's super cute outfit.



Then Ariel toppled over, but she didn't seem to mind.


3:50 We went out on the front porch and Ariel had another bottle.

4:10 Pick up.

We'll be out of town for Memorial Day weekend, so see you next week!

May 22, 2006

FYI - It has come to my attention that I have been spending too much time on the computer. So I'm not going to be able to update the blog during the day, but I will still write it up in the evening. Um, that's all.... carry on.

Hope y'all had a nice weekend. We spent it with Grammie. We went to the zoo, I love this picture:



Then on Sunday, we went to Grandma's house for Family Fun night to celebrate Becky, Mom (and Carl's) birthdays. Look how straight Becky's afro puff is, she got a hair straightener for a present:



The birthday girls. Becky turned 28 and Mom turned 39. How did that happen?



7:05 Drop off. Asleep, carseat, Adam's room. I was able to change all the bed sheets. And now I have to write whenever I do that in the blog so I can keep track of how long it's been.

8:00 Ariel woke up. Adam was glad to see her.

8:15 Bottle

8:30 Ariel hung out in the exosaucer outside while we planted pumpkin seeds. I really hope they grow, Alex has been talking about planting them since pumpkin season last fall. They'll have a better chance if Adam doesn't dig them up with his trucks...

9:00 Go to Crissy's house.

10:00 Bottle

10:15 Nap on the mattress on Crissy's floor. Um, it's a long story.

12:20 Ariel woke up. A nice 2 hour nap.

12:30 A little photo session (again, Crissy is holding Ariel up under the blanket, Ariel is not sitting yet):



We think Ariel might stand before she sits:



12:35 Bottle

1:15 Time to go home

2:20 I tried to keep Ariel up a bit longer for another bottle, but she was ready to sleep. I put her down in the crib and she lay their quietly until she fell asleep. Which was good, since Alex was freaking out in room time and Adam had just woken up from his car nap and was very grumpy.

2:35 Asleep in crib. See Becky?



The boys and I sat on the porch and watched the thunderstorm come through.

3:40 Bottle

4:30 Pick up.