Our Busy 4th Weekend

Brendan doesn't have a lot of extended family, and those he does have live far away.  But each year they get together at the cottage for the 4th of July.  For some reason we haven't gone in a long time, but this year we made sure we did.  I'm so glad we did!  We had a blast.

Ingrid was in love with the kids.  Brendan's cousin has four kids and their youngest is six.  Calvin and Ingrid had fun chasing each other around the house.  Over and over and over.  Never lost its charm.

Otis was awesome and slept wherever.  He took a nap in a bed one day, he fell asleep outside another day.  All that fresh air and activity wore both kids out and they slept like logs. 

We did lots of swimming.  We did lots of hanging out in the backyard.

Otis practiced sitting.

The weather was perfect.

And when we came home we took baths and put on new summer pjs and lit sparklers. 

I'm exhausted and I still have four loads of laundry to do.  Back to reality.

Thrifting, Snuggling, and Decision Making

Yesterday we treked up to an out of the way thrift store.  I used to go there all the time, but it's been forever.  Man, that place is kinda ratty!  But those are the best ones to get good stuff at because they're not trying to be anything special.  They just throw all the junk out there and make you sort through it.  We found some good stuff, including these little overalls.  Just in case we forget what Otis is, they'll remind us.

And just to show he's not always crying:

He is just the snuggliest sleeper!  I love it, he gets all cozy in his blanket (much like Ingrid used to do) and just sleeps and sleeps.  God I am so glad he sleeps.  Ingrid still doesn't.  Blah.

Also brought home from the thrift store, a new puzzle for Ingrid and I to do together.  We just finished a 1000 piece puzzle--our first to do together!  She helped find the edge pieces, and then I'd ask her to find the sky or grass or building pieces and she'd dig through the box and find them.  It's been fun because it keeps her entertained and it's relaxing for me.  The new one is from 1967 and round! 

And on decision making...we are having a really hard time with it!  I took Maryanne's idea of using cards that she could use to order her breakfast.  I used clip art and printed these out:

The idea was that she could grab a picture and hand it to me when she was ready for a drink.  However, this morning she handed me all the cards and said let's play this game!!  It's a work in progress.

Siblings, and a Growing Baby

Ingrid likes being a big sister.  Sometimes she freaks out when I'm feeding Otis, or if I ask Brendan to deal with her because I'm holding him.  But for the most part she loves him and is a great little helper.  She loves to get diapers or clothes for him, whether I ask for them or not! 

Yesterday we were doing a little floor time with Otis.  He's pretty strong but he'd much rather look at people's faces so he doesn't last for too long.

I was on the computer listing more stuff for the shop when I hear "I can hold my brother all by myself!"  I look over and there's Ingrid, holding her brother.  All by herself.  And walking around on the hardwood floors.  Where she's been known to slip and fall ten times in two seconds.  I had a heart attack and yelled NO NO NO NO NO!!! which made her burst into tears because she had been so proud of herself.  Poor kid thinks she's ready for anything and everything...

But Otis was fine, just wide eyed looking around, like usual.  This kid is growing like a weed!  I'm not sure how much he weighs now, but he just switched over from newborn clothes to 3 month!  How exciting.  And he's outgrown the XS Bum Geniuses we have.  Also, he is just starting to act more like a normal baby and not a sleepy, snoozy newborn.  He smiles and makes eye contact and has started cooing and almost making the wee-est little giggles when you touch his nose or chin.  It's amazing to think he was this tiny little 4 lb. skinny chicken legged thing with tons of hair all over his body to help keep him warm.  Now he has an enormous head and a little fluffy faux-hawk. 

And this kid is a sleeper!!  Hot damn, we deserve a sleeper.  He goes to bed around nine or ten and sleeps until five-ish.  It's amazing.  If only Ingrid could do that.  She's almost three and still gets up three times a night, crying for her blanket or lately it's "I'm so lonely, I really need you, mama!"  God she knows how to tug those heartstrings, doesn't she?

Otis loves his mama-milk!  I just love the drunk look he gets on his face after he eats.

Ahhh, that's good stuff.  The nursing is going extremely well, another thing I'm amazed by.  It's so funny because I see all this stuff about no pacifiers, no bottles, until they get good at breastfeeding.  This kid has had everything in his little mouth and still nurses just fine.  Or takes a bottle.  He doesn't care.  Where did they get this whole "nipple confusion" thing from?  I think the first month of nursing is just hard, no matter what, whether you have pacifiers or bottles or not.  I'm just so glad the hard part is over and now I can just feed him whenever, wherever.