Silly Boy

I have the funniest picture of Otis to share with you.  We were playing in Ingrid's bedroom with Zoey and he reached out to grab at her.  I happened to catch this look:

Ha!

And another cute picture of him in his birthday suit last night before bath time.  Why do I have such skinny kids??  Both of them love to eat and yet have no rolls on them whatsoever.  They must get that from the Liddle side of the family, I was a chunk as a baby.  (Still am, haha!)

One last picture--a girl and her cat.  I can already tell this is going to be Ingrid's pet.  She is in love with Zoey!  She wants to play with her, cuddle with her, pet her, and tonight she even had to include her in the good night hugs. 

Kittens

Oh man, Zoey is amazing.  She is tiny and cute and squeaks a little meow when she's near you.  She instantly purrs.  My favorite thing is that Ingrid and Otis both can reach out to her and she just rubs up against them instead of hissing and clawing.  Today I fondly watched as Otis sat on the floor playing with his toys and Zoey would come up and purr at him and he'd reach down and pet her.  She'd prance away and come back again and he'd reach down and giggle and she'd purr.  They are going to love each other and be friends and she's not going to be a psycho cat like Frances is.  Hooray!

The Newest Liddle

We have a cat, her name is Frances.  She is psychotic.  For real.  She loves Brendan and I (most of the time) but anyone else she hates.  She will come into a room, sit and stare, and then hiss whenever you look in her general direction.  She is declawed, and yet has given Ingrid huge gashes on her arms when she was silly enough to try to pet the kitty.  I'm guessing she's learned how to use her teeth...In our old apartment we had stairs up to the bedrooms and bathroom.  My mom swore when she'd go upstairs to use the bathroom that Frances would sit at the bottom and just stare up at her and hiss.  She can be a little scary sometimes.

So, obviously with kids this is not ideal.  We want them to have a pet they can actually, I don't know, PET?  We had another cat but he ran away.  Of course, the nice one ran away...So we went to the Humane Society yesterday and adopted a kitten!  Her name is Zoey (Ingrid's choice, good, right?) and she is two months old.  She's a calico with white paws and she is the squeakiest little thing. 

We have no idea what kind of personality she'll have, but we're hoping for a mellow cat that loves kids.  And we're also hoping the cat we already have does not hate her.  They are in seperate rooms right now and will be introduced later this week, if I can remember to keep the door to our bedroom closed.  Super fun!  I'm so happy to see the kids grow with this little kitten and have her be a part of their childhood. 

Sickly

Today Otis was not having a good day.  He was all snotty, cried at the drop of a hat (which is really unlike him) and just did not feel well.  I was so tired by the afternoon, all I wanted to do was take a nap.  Ingrid went to sleep right away.  Otis, however, got a second wind as I changed his diaper.  He was blowing raspberries, kicking his legs, yelling and screeching.  Good lord.

I worked on him, though, fed him and rocked him and sang to him, and lo and behold he fell asleep.  I got up gently, put him in his crib ever so softly, where he stiffened out and started screaming at the top of his lungs.  So I got him back in my arms, he immediately calmed down again, we rocked and he was snoring wee baby snores.  Again, go put him in his crib and he freaked out. 

*sigh*

It was one of those afternoons.  I even tried to lay down with him in my bed but he was not having it.  So after two hours of this b.s. we went back into the living room.  He sat on his blanket with his toys and looked up at me with the saddest teary-eyed, snotty nosed face and I just had to take pictures.  My poor sickly.  Hopefully he'll sleep well tonight and take naps tomorrow. 

Why Am I So Boring?

I want to have something interesting to say, but I feel like there isn't much going on lately.  Ingrid was sick and now Otis is, too.  Sleep has been hard to come by, and I have felt completely unmotivated.  Blah.

But I have an awesome family!

This dress is from Fuzzymama Vintage.  Is it not the cutest thing you've ever seen?  I love it!!

Sunday we went to the birthday party of a little girl I used to nanny for.  It was great to see the family again, it's been a few years.  I whipped up a fall fairy crown for the birthday girl and I love how it turned out.  I'm amazed Ingrid gave it up so quickly, she really liked it!

Okay, that's it.  Not much else.  I'll be back next time anything moderately interesting happens. 

9 Months!

Today Otis turned nine months old.  He has one tooth and one that's almost there.  He is really close to crawling--he gets from sitting position to all fours and then doesn't know what to do.  He tries though, he gets up on his tiptoes and sticks his butt up in the air.  It's hilarious.

He is our smiley guy.  This kid is like mellow goodness 85% of the time.  He loves sitting on the living room floor with his basket of toys.  He just sits and talks and chews on things. 

He can wave.  His whole arm goes flapping around, it's pretty funny.  When he's falling asleep sometimes he'll start to do that while I'm nursing him.  I've gotten a few baby fists to the face...

Love love love love.  He brings so much joy to our family!

Little Helper

Ingrid helped feed Otis his dinner last night.  It was a messy adventure.

Otis did not seem to mind the mess.

And in other news, Ingrid being in school during one of Otis' naps is amazing.  Yesterday I put on Mad Men (streaming through Netflix, yay!) and sewed up some of these little owls.  I haven't made any in a long time but I thought they would be a good fall thing to put in the shop.  I love the light blue and orange one, I may have to keep him for Otis' room...

First Day of K3!

Ingrid got into a local Montessori school and she started today.  She was pretty excited to go, although I'm not sure she understood that it wasn't the same place she went to this summer.  She has to wear a uniform, red top/dark pants, and she has this huge backpack that is bigger than she is.  I feel pretty torn if I'm excited for her or wondering how she got so big? 

We went and signed papers and there were three other girls her age in the office.  She immediately jumped in their pictures their gramma was taking (lol, photo bomb!) and started chatting away with them like she'd known them all her life.  I love how gregarious she is!  After signing papers, we headed into the maze of halls and corridors to find her room.  I don't know what it is about these big city schools, but they intimidate me like nothing else!  Everything looks the same, lockers on the wall, doors here and there.  My elementary school was small and had three grades in it, and seriously had one hallway.  No upstairs or downstairs, just a hallway with rooms, a gym, an office, and a library. 

We found the room, and all the kids were already seated in a circle around the teacher.  Ingrid just sat herself right down and said hi, I'm Ingrid!  She didn't even look back to see me leaving.  And when I picked her up she was bouncing around talking about how fun it had been.  I think she likes school.

I'm so amazed at my fearless little girl.  She just takes an unknown situation and puts herself right in the middle of it with complete confidence and a cheerful smile.  Day one down, let's see what the rest of the week brings us!

My Weekend With Otis

This weekend Brendan took Ingrid camping with his parents.  I stayed home with Otis since he's getting another tooth and was not sleeping very well the few nights prior to them leaving.  Truth be told, I was looking forward to a weekend of relaxation, which I knew I would get with only one baby.  Who naps twice for two hours.  And goes to bed at 6:30pm. 

I got so much done this weekend!  Sewing, cutting out other things, hanging out with Otis, catching up on sleep.  It was amazing!  It was so strange how quiet our house was without Ingrid in it!  Seriously made me realize how loud and talkative she is. 

We got some homeopathic stuff for Otis' teeth, which helped.  I am still going to get an Amber necklace, I just need to see if I can find one locally.  But whatever it was I gave him seemed to work.  My  my, aren't I a great mom?  I don't even know what the hell I squeezed into his mouth--I just know it worked to calm him down!  He slept marvelously and it was wonderful to have one on one time with him.  He is so drooly and smiley and chatty and rolly and man, I'm so glad he's part of our family!

Teething Babies and Big Sisters

Otis has a tooth.  It's sharp.  Another one is on its way in, so he has been a basket case lately.  Nothing seems to work except nursing 24/7 and sleeping thisclose to me all night long.  Which means I am awoken by many little fists and feet thrusting their way into my face all night long.  Tired mama.  TIRED.  But to wake up to this is almost worth it.

Yesterday we went over to H&M to check out their kid's section.  I have gotten hand me downs from there that I really liked, but I have to say, I was not impressed.  They had some sweaters that were okay but nothing too great.  And the girl section sucked big time--tons of Hello Kitty and Minnie Mouse, not my cup o' tea...But they did have this hat for Otis.  He is such a little Irishman!

We went to the park yesterday morning, and it was freezing!  I am simply amazed how quickly our weather turned this past week!  Ingrid had fun on the swings and these little seats that spin around.  She looked so big on them, she's so lanky and tall and just not a baby anymore...

Today we are headed to the store to get goodies for camping!!  I'm so excited, totally not nervous like I was last time.  Well, maybe a little nervous, as Otis is having trouble sleeping.  But the fresh air will knock him right out, right?  Right?

Labor Day

We took another trip to the cottage this weekend to see Brendan's cousin and his family.  It was COLD!  I loved it!  The kids played, I sat around and read the Help, we all enjoyed each others company.  Another lovely weekend with family. Ingrid loves her other set of cousins. 

Otis was awesome and just sat there playing with toys, watching all the big kids run around.  He got a tooth (finally) so his tongue is constantly running over it.  He looks so silly.

And now this week is another short one, as we've decided to leave Friday to go join Brendan's parents up in Door County for another camping trip!  So three days of finishing up laundry, packing, and sending out Etsy orders.  Yay!