It's a hard knock life!

Carlee, age 2 1/2, is our little fashionista. She has very definite opinions about what she will (or will not) wear. Every morning is a struggle to reach a meeting of the minds between her and Carolyn.

The same thing is true at night, when after having taken a bath she digs through her drawer full of (mostly) pajamas and gowns. She pulls them out one at a time, gives them a look and then throws the ones not in favor on the floor.

Last night, Carolyn fussed at her and told her she would be in trouble if she didn't get all of them picked up and put back in the drawer. So, Carlee complied and feeling like she was being overworked, spontaneously started belting out "It's a Hard Knock Life." Most of you probably know that is the song in "Annie" when the orphans are being punished and have to work at cleaning their dormitory in the middle of the night. It's a great song and Carlee certainly sang it at the appropriate time!

I've asked Carolyn to try and get that on video. If she does, I'll upload it here and let you know when it gets posted. Carolyn says that both girls sing it; she saw them "cleaning" the tub and singing it, but Carlee is usually the song leader...using the real words. Kate is more into ad-libbing words and music.

Veteran's Day Program at St. Philip's

The St. Philip's Veteran's Day Program was held on the front lawn of the school. Boy Scouts raised the flag and then a number of songs were performed by the students. Instruments played included flutes, clarinets, trumpets, guitars, drum, recorders and bells. I had no idea they had so much variety in their music department. When I was going to school there, eons ago, they finally had a piano teacher about the time I was in 6th grade. I took from her, as well as from about 3 other piano teachers. I'm not sure what that says about me. I know I wasn't a prodigy, so I can draw a rather bleak conclusion from the number of teachers I had.

But, enough about me...

Carolyn thought that the pre-K 4 class was going to perform since Kate had come home singing patriotic songs lately. But, that wasn't to be the case. The little ones just sat and watched. Jax enjoyed the program, too. He was a very good little guy, especially considering that he hadn't had a nap and this was his 2nd program of the morning; they were at Gage's program earlier.

Here are a couple of pics of Kate telling Jax goodbye with hugs after the program.




Carolyn and Jax

Jax at 6 months

Jax turned 6 months old on October 29. He's a pretty easy baby...easily entertained and happy to watch his sisters or anyone else who sits near him. Of course, you understand that his sisters rarely sit. They are very busy, very noisy little girls. But they make him (and us) laugh.

Jax seems to be very zen...he spent a few weeks studying his hands, but now he seems to have moved on and particularly enjoys watching the palm trees sway outside the windows.

He seems to know that it's theoretically possible to travel from where he is put down to another place in some other manner than rolling. He's experimenting with a couple of different methods. One way is to plant his face on the floor, push his toes down and straighten his knees. That forces his bottom up (like he's in the middle of a jackknife dive) and has some potential. The problem, however, occurs when his heinie is at its' highest point. In that position, since he's using his face instead of his arms, he just can't keep his balance and he invariably falls to one side or the other. Imagine how far he would go if we took him off the blanket and put his head on a skateboard! Wow!!!

A second method he has tried is just to keep his belly down on the floor and kick his legs. It looks very similar to the way Kate crawled early on, but she actually used knees and hands. She seemed to exert an enormous amount of will power to keep her legs under control, but then all of a sudden one leg would fly up and waggle around a little bit until she regained control of it and got it back down on the floor. But to be fair, I'm sure she was a little older than Jax is now when she got to that point. So, we have that to look forward to with him. As I said, he keeps his belly down and kicks his legs and occasionally one of them goes high up in the air, but no forward motion can be hoped for unless he has some snake muscles in his belly.

I keep trying to get a picture of either his jackknife position or his leg up in the air, but haven't managed to capture it yet. The picture below is the closest I've come.

Kate

Here we see Kate (black headband, braided ponytail) showing some skills.



I sometimes forget to move the camera, so at the end of this clip you can hear, but not see, Kate saying "Hi, Mom!" as the play passes in front of us.

Carlee and sausage

Carolyn and Carlee were in the kitchen alone. I think Kate was at soccer practice. Carolyn had cooked a link of the sausage that Dee had given her. It was on a dish on the counter top, cut into bite-size pieces and was very, very good.

Carolyn told me that Carlee was standing on the kitchen step-stool, eating the sausage with the tongs. At one point she leaned toward Carolyn, looked her in the eye, and said very emphatically, "I like it!"

So, do I. It's really good sausage!

Jax and veggies

Jax has been really interested in the food that others are consuming for a couple of months now. The pediatrician told Carolyn at the 4 month check-up that she could start him on cereal any time she wanted, but she hasn't been in a hurry. For one thing, it's certainly more work to prepare food for and spoon feed an infant. Carolyn has always made all their baby food from scratch...no Gerber's in a jar for those kids!

The girls didn't seem to notice other food when they were his age...about 5 1/2 months now. But Jax has been watching food get picked up on spoons and forks; and he has been watching it get put into mouths; and he has definitely been interested.

So, a few weeks ago started him on cereal, which he took to right away and really seemed to enjoy. This week she decided to start him on a vegetable. She decided on avocado, which, I know, is technically a fruit...but, it's not sweet. The girls LOVED avocado, so she thought that would be a good one to start him on. She snapped the photo below after his first bite. Not loving it, I'm guessing.


In the next picture, he looks like he's doing the Tom Hanks bit from "Big" where Tom takes a bite of caviar and then tries to clean it off his tongue with the napkin.

Carolyn said he was a real trooper, however, and never spit it out or turned his head. But, he sure looks scared!

Jax singing and playing

I put Jax on his little play mat and started taking a video. The voice you hear at the beginning is his, sounding like the ending of a very simple song.

• FYI: This was supposed to be a very short clip. I edited it in Picasa, but then couldn't figure out how to get it to the blog...so, I had to just do it the usual way and upload the whole thing, which makes it a minute and 21 seconds. Feel free to quit watching as soon as you want.

I took the following video a little while later. He had been playing with the little roll-y thing, making it spin, but the seat had turned slightly and he just couldn't get coordinated again. You'll notice that he keeps looking at that taller purple toy...he seems to be suspicious of it...like maybe it's trying to sneak up on him.

• Again, I edited to make it shorter, but then couldn't get it to the blog.
  

Jax-at 5 months

Carolyn had a couple of patients coming and Jax was not napping, so she asked me if I could come over. He seems to be bigger every time I see him. He just turned 5 months last week. He loves to watch the girls play and laughs at them all the time.

Carolyn said he has been very attentive when they are eating a meal, paying close attention to the food. She said she didn't remember the girls being interested at this age. So, a week or so ago she started him on cereal, which he seems to really like.

He was on the floor in the living room, rolling all over the place. He basically rolls in a circle, though. At one point he stopped and watched his hands for a while. Then he napped for nearly an hour while I played games on my phone.

Here's Jax watching me watch him.
A little pause to study his hands...
He's rolled all the way around the mat now; at one point he had rolled himself up in the blue blanket.

Flu

Dee and I were on our way back home after our trip to Dallas when Carolyn called. We were actually on 961, about a mile from my house. I can't remember why she needed me to come over. Kate was home, sick with a possible mild case of swine flu. It could have been that she had a patient coming, I'm not sure, but she asked if I could come. So, just as soon as I got home and changed into my comfy clothes, I went over there. Kate seemed fine, playing, eating and acting normally. She wasn't allowed to get close to Jax and had to wash her hands often. Carolyn said that in the evening, when she was feeding Jax, she could smell the Lysol that Brent was spraying on everything.

Carlee also ended up staying home on Friday. They were both back in school on Monday, all well. If it was flu, it was mild, though fevers were pretty high at times.

Since I had been at the flu house, Wendy wouldn't let me come to their house to see the boys. Can't say I blame her.

Here's Kate: After taking her nap, she went downstairs and fell asleep again on the mat in front of the door.
And here's Carlee: The budding rock star...she is on her "stage" belting out "Tomorrow" from "Annie" on the "mic". She loves to wear skirts that she can twirl in.

Jax's "busy" morning

Carolyn asked if I wanted to go on a little shopping trip with her today. In seconds I had visualized the trip...Jax crying all the way there and back...he doesn't like to travel; pushing the stroller through the mall and through racks of clothes, trying to stay out of the way; probably having to feed him in the car at some time... I offered to babysit him at their house instead. Carolyn can make the trip to the mall in peace and I can relax and either read, play games on my phone, or try to catch up on some blogging.

Of course, I was aware that Jax has decided to wake up within minutes of Carolyn leaving me with him. And that's exactly what he did...probably less that 10 minutes after she left he woke up. Luckily, there's a video monitor so I can watch him and see what's going on without having to constantly run up the stairs.

Carolyn said that sometimes he just need to burp, so I tried that and then put him back in his bead and dashed out of the room before he had a chance to even lift his head up. As soon as I got back to the office, I realized that I had left my glasses in his room...crap! Meanwhile, he had flipped over to his back and was clearly not going to fall back asleep quickly.

I watched him for a few minutes, then dashed up and retrieved my glasses. Back in the office, I could see that he had flipped back to his tummy and might try to go back to sleep. Nope, back on his back, but just looking around. At what? The fan isn't on and other than the bumper pad and Carlee's name in wooden letters above the bed, there's just the ceiling and green walls to look at. But, I guess it doesn't take that much to entertain him, because he's still looking around.

An hour later...while he's not really fussing, it's clear that he's probably not going to go to sleep. He has worked his way to the head of the bed and has his nose on the bumper pad, so I guess it's time to bring him downstairs so he can stare at new stuff.

Naturally, as soon as I decided to go get him, he turned back to his tummy, plugged in his thumb and appears to be settling down for a little nap.

What a fascinating post!

Kate's real birthday

Kate got an awesome gift from Uncle Bert and Aunt Leslie for her 4th birthday...a real mike. In the video clip below, she is singing some kind of made-up song while Zane stands by, almost twitching he wants to sing so badly. When she backed away from the mike, he saw his opening and stepped up to sing this song. We were all surprised when he started singing...then started laughing at his selection. Unfortunately, he wasn't standing quite close enough to the mike to be able to hear it really well, but I was glad I happened to be videoing. I didn't want the clip to be too long as it's sometimes a real pain to upload, so I stopped before he completed the song.



Here are some other pictures from Kate's family birthday party, starting with the princess bear cake that her mom made.


Figuring out how to cut the cake was tricky, so we did the best we could!



The kids' table...Zane can't be seen because of the high-backed chair.

I can't remember what this gift was, but they all look pretty interested.


They had lots of fun taking turns singing into the mike. Carolyn tells me that Kate has turned into some sort of disc jockey, making announcements, asking people to come over and sing, etc. She is really enjoying the mike. I don't know whether the amp came with it or if they already had it. Super gift for a child who likes to be onstage!

And, finally...we sing happy birthday to our little princess...well, one of them anyway.

Little cuties

Carolyn took some cute photos of the little ones.


I don't know how she got them to sit still long enough to snap a photo.


Jax looks pretty startled here!


Awwww!

A brief visit with Brent, Kate, & Carlee

Carolyn called me while I was shifting bags of groceries from the cart to my car this afternoon. She needed some eggs to make egg salad for lunch on Friday and wanted to know if I had any...which I did. She said Brent and the girls would come down to get the eggs when I got home.

They arrived, on the Mule, as I was putting the groceries away. Kate came in first and immediately wanted a glass of milk. She never got it because Brent and Carlee came in about that time so the girls ran off to the playroom. The playroom looks like heck right now because of the leak that had been giving us trouble. Things are moved away from that corner of the room and there's a square opening cut to give the plumber access to the pipe which was leaking. They had to pull off the trim at the bottom of that wall, so that is leaning against another wall...nails sticking out ready to snag someone. It's very messy and, if the past is any indication, it will remain looking like that for quite a while.

Brent, meanwhile, had given me a plastic bowl with a lid in which to place the eggs. I had the cardboard tube from a finished roll of paper towels, so I cut 3 small sections from it and slit them so that I could insert the eggs and keep them from rolling around and cracking during transport. I got the eggs ready to go and remembering the nails, etc. in the playroom, told Brent to check on the girls. He went out there and called the girls, who both came running back into the kitchen.

When she realized they were leaving, Carlee was not happy and was refusing to go...even after I complimented her on her pink leather big girl thong sandals. So, I told her she could carry something back with her. I looked around and saw the remaining section of cardboard tube...about 3 inches long and grabbed it and handed it to her. She looked at it and I thought it might work. I thought that for the whole 5 seconds or so before she gave me a disgusted look and threw it at me!

Luckily, I was able to find a replacement...a small pack of tissues, which must have been acceptable. Then Kate had to have something, so I found a Sonic atomic straw that came with a kid's meal on the countertop and gave that to her. Her dad told her not to open it, so she tore it open within seconds. We got it put back in the package, got sandals back on them, led them to the Mule and got them belted in. Then off they went!

When I walked back into the living room later, I saw that in the very short time they had been there, they had moved the little Elmo easy chair and the cushion that acts as a footstool into the living room. On top of the footstool was a toy from the playroom. I doubt if they had been in the house for more than 10 minutes, but it was a busy 10 minutes!

I was at the Garner's house for a short visit this afternoon, so naturally I needed to stop at the Bubela's on my way home. The girls were exuberant in their welcome, as usual. I always try to brace myself so they don't tackle me and put me on my back.

Carolyn was finishing up preparing their dinner of chicken enchiladas, salad, and fruit. I got there just in time to hold Jax while they all ate together. Of course, they asked me to join them...but, since I had no idea what I was going to give Wayne when he came in, I thought it would be in bad form to eat there. Turns out I gave him leftover smothered steak, noodles and fresh pineapple. I had started some sausage, but he came home too early for that to be ready.

After they finished dinner, I read to the girls...about 4 pages was all they managed to listen to before their attention was captured elsewhere. Brent or Carolyn put on a music video that Kate & Carlee really like, so they started dancing. Carlee was really into the music until I got the camera out. Then she started mimicking everything Kate did. They eventually danced for a little while, but you could tell they knew they were being filmed, so they acted goofy...or goofier, however you want to look at it.

4th of July at Port Alto

By the time Kate and Carlee got to the bay on July 4, Gage and Zane's pool had just about given up. The top and bottom rings were almost empty. It made it easy for Carlee to get in and out though, so it turned out fine. Kelly reinflated them later and it was a challenge for Carlee to keep from falling in or falling out. She got used to it, though, and had a good time swimming.

The families went on a boat ride with Virgie and Bo while I stayed at the house with Jax, who slept the entire time...gooood boy!

Kate and Zane both vie for Gage's attention. He tries to be diplomatic, but nearly 4-year olds don't get diplomacy and try to make him choose between them. He's pretty patient with them, I must say.

Carlee is a regular 2-year old, cute as can be most of the time...a little terror occasionally. When she gets mad about something, she usually just lays down wherever she happens to be. I haven't seen her scream or cry, so I don't know whether that's sometimes a part of her behavior. When I've been present, she just lies down and ignores you until she gets over it. At Schlitterbahn, it was in the middle of the walkway once and under a picnic table at the pool another time. It could be face down or on her back...whichever suits her.



I'll get around to posting some of the photos from Schlitterbahn. I don't know why it's taken me so long to get around to it.

End of the day at New Braunfels

I snapped this sweet photo when Kate and Gage were sitting on the porch at Schlitterbahn, waiting for everyone to gather. It was late afternoon, after a full day of sliding, swimming, splashing, etc. I have one from the front, too...but I like this one best.

Chad and Robin handled our supper of grilled hamburgers with all the fixings on Monday night. What can be better than grilled hamburgers after a busy, fun day? We had cheese dip & chips to start and watermelon to finish out the meal.

Our two units each have a small screened-in porch which open to a shared concrete patio with two picnic tables. It's shady there in the late afternoon and we can watch people float by on two tube chutes that run past the units.

All around the town

Carolyn and I (and Kate and Carlee), made what was supposed to be a quick trip to the grocery store to buy food for the Schlitterbahn trip. Naturally, it didn't turn out to be so quick, but considering all we accomplished, I'm pretty happy.

Carolyn's new suburban has all the bells and whistles, including a drop down screen for viewing DVD's. The girls were watching "Happy Feet" when I took this photo. Kate was screeching just like Mumble does when he's trying to sing "his song." Carlee is clearly enjoying the movie.
So, we get to town and Carolyn drops me off at Merle Norman so I can run in and buy a wedding gift. While I was occupied with that task, she and the girls drove the few blocks to the post office to mail things for me and for her. Then she zipped back a few blocks the other way to take some recycling to the collection area. Just a few blocks back to where I was waiting for her and a couple more blocks and we were at the grocery store. It's great to live in a small town!

We unloaded the girls into the carts, and headed inside, each of us with the full list. I gave Kate the list and a pencil. She would ask what we needed and when I would tell her she would "write" it on the list. She was quite a big help. Somehow Carolyn and I managed to shop different areas and get most of what was on the list. Then we checked out, loaded up the groceries and the girls, headed across town to get ICEE's and then drove home, getting there about the time Jax was ready to eat. I think we were only gone for about 2 hours, but it felt like it was longer.

I had to call the grocery store when I got home to comment about something that happened at checkout. I have "green" bags which I take into the store with me when I shop. I always put them on the conveyor belt first so the sacker doesn't start getting out the plastic. I'm pretty organized (duh...with my Excel lists, etc.) and put things on the conveyor in groups: cold things, produce, canned goods, etc. Among the green bags is a "blue" bag which is lined with material designed to help keep cold things cold. Today, when I got out to the car I noticed that the brisket and 6 lbs. of hamburger meat were in a regular bag. I saw pepperoni and cheese in other regular bags, so I wondered what the heck was in the blue bag. I opened it to check and there was one 1/2 gallon of milk and 100 foam plates! Meat in a regular bag and foam plates in the cooler bag! So that's why I called the grocery store. I was pleasant...really...but I suggested that the sackers might need some instruction about the blue bags. I wish I could say that was only the 2nd or 3rd time this has happened. Heck, I wish I could say it only happened half the time. The person I spoke to said she would be sure and tell the manager when she got there.

I've made other suggestions which haven't been acted upon, such as having hand sanitizers located around the store, so I'm not really expecting much change. The thing is, I can't get my basket unloaded quickly and watch what the sacker is doing at the same time. I shouldn't have to, though, should I?

New look

Yes, it looks different. I've noticed how much cuter other blogs are and have been wanting to work on mine. This afternoon I asked Christy how she got her pretty template and she said just to go to thecutestblogontheblock.com and follow the directions to cut and paste the code into the layout. It really was easy. The hardest part was the trial and error part...where I had to copy the code from the other website, "add a gadget" in my blog, paste the code and then view it to see whether I liked it or not. If I didn't like it, I had to go to that gadget, remove the code (which then removed the gadget), go back to the other website to browse through some more backgrounds. Then, select a new background, copy the code...blah, blah, blah.

Then I did the same thing for The Garner blog. I think they both look pretty spiffy! Maybe I'll work on Free Form next time.

I spent several hours doing this when I should have been getting things ready to go to New Braunfels. I still have to update the grocery list because Carolyn and I are going to whiz through the store at breakneck speed tomorrow morning. And don't think I've been idle. I've got an Excel spreadsheet with 5 tabs on it detailing meals, rooms & rates for this year and for next year, the grocery list...color coded so everyone knows what they are responsible for, and a sheet of things to bring from home. I'm crazy for Excel! Ask anybody.

Photos of Jax

I sat with Jax while Carolyn took Kate to a swimming lesson this afternoon. First, I propped him on the bed and took a bunch of pictures with my digital cameras. He didn't seem to like that very much. I haven't really gotten good pictures of him when he is propped that way. The pictures I've liked best are the ones I've taken with my iphone. The tricky part is I have to do it while I'm holding him in one arm and trying to snap the picture with the other hand. You have to hold the phone in one hand, leaving the index finger free to touch the little camera icon on the screen...without being able to actually see whether you're touching the icon or if he's in the frame. So, it's kind of hit and miss. I ended up with more pictures than I meant to take, because I had set it to silent and since I wasn't hearing the "click", I thought I was missing the icon. He was a good little fellow, though and seemed to enjoy those pictures the best, since he was being held. He even gave me a goofy smile or two.

He stayed in his papasan swing for almost an hour and then started getting a little restless, so I held him and then eventually put him on his tummy in the cradle. The first time I put him down, it took him just a few seconds to flip to his back. So, I turned him to his tummy again and he did it again. I got the digital camera to take a video...(don't worry...I'm not going to post it) but he wasn't able to do it again. He kept lifting his head and eventually got turned crosswise in the cradle before I put the camera down and got him settled with the pacifier.

He is 6 weeks old today!

The long and short of sliding

I forgot to post this video from Robin's birthday. Brent was using the slip and slide to teach Gage how to slide into a base. What a fun way to learn to do that!




As you can tell in the other video posted here, Zane has his own way of doing things.

Photos

Robin brought some new pajamas for Kate and Carlee. Kate tried them on over her clothes and then proceeded to ham it up. I'm not sure if she was actually posing, or if I just happened to catch her in action.

I mentioned somewhere that Carlee really likes to eat. In these photos, she's licking the plate clean. She truly enjoyed the cake with chocolate frosting!

The babysitting gig

This video was taken a little while before Carolyn, Brent & Kate left for the dance recital. I had curtsied to them and you can see that Carlee is attempting to curtsy several times during this clip. In case you don't recognize the song, it's "You Are My Sunshine", loud.

Carlee was very upset when she realized they were going to leave without her. I called to her to come into the house while they were loading up, whereupon she gave me a very angry look and waved her arm quite rudely at me. Carolyn asked her if she would like a prize for staying with me and Jax and her attitude did an instant about face. She got her little tube of SweetTarts and we sat on the couch and watched Barney while she slowly ate her prize.

Jax wouldn't go to sleep without being held, so I held him...hey! what could I do? Of course, I had my cell phone handy and took about 15 pictures of him. Don't worry, I won't put them all on here. Most of them look pretty similar.

Carlee had on a little tutu skirt that Aunt Robin brought from New ICM. Then she found the hat that Brent got her last week and put that on, so I got a couple of cute pictures of her. The one with her hands on her ribs (probably meant to be on her hips) isn't focused, which is a shame, because it's so cute otherwise.

I only have one picture of Kate in a costume at this time. I took it when then got home. Kate was finishing her post-recital treat. I don't know why I took it with my phone instead of the camera, which I had with me.

The little dancer

Kate has been taking dancing this year and it's finally time to see her in action! The dance recital is Saturday evening. I was planning to go, but had a moment of clarity and offered to babysit Carlee and Jax instead. I suddenly pictured Brent & I with Carlee and Jax while Carolyn tended to getting Kate dressed. It wasn't a pretty picture. Carlee probably would not like being still for that period of time...and who wants to take a 4-week old to that sort of thing?

I suggested to Carolyn that she try to video Kate's dances during the dress rehearsal, which was this afternoon, instead of at the recital. It was under consideration.

About an hour after the dress rehearsal started, I had another moment of clarity when I realized I could have gone to the dress rehearsal and watched her then, as they were taking the other two to Patsy & Frank's. Dang! Hope the video is good...although, Carolyn did tell me that instead of dancing Kate spent the rehearsal time waving at people in the audience. I'm not sure she did any dancing at all.

It's all about Carlee

Carlee had her 2-year check-up this week. Carolyn, Brent, Carlee and Jax drove to Sugar Land to a pediatrician there while Kate was at school.

Carlee weighed in at 31 1/2 pounds and was 35 1/2 inches tall. She was at the 75th percentile mark in both weight and height. It's been said that you can double a child's height at age 2 and predict how tall they will be when grown. This would put Carlee at about 5' 11". Carolyn likes that for her. She likes being tall herself, (well, I guess 5' 8" is not that tall, but it's taller than average) and wishes she were taller.

They had scheduled a visit with a photographer for after the check-up, so that was next on the agenda. Carlee doesn't particularly like to have strange men talking to her, so she wasn't happy or cooperative at first. Once they got her talking about familiar people...Cookie and Pop, NaNa and Pa, however, her attitude changed and they got some really cute shots. Here are a few of them.

Brent dashed into the mall while Carolyn, Carlee and Jax waited in the car. While there, he picked up the hat that Carlee is wearing in one of the photos. He also got a matching one for Kate. Isn't she a stylish little lady?