Egg Hunts Galore

I have lost count of the number of easter egg hunts we've done this past week. You had one at the Del Sur community, another in Preschool, then we were invited to 2 other ones that we couldn't make, and of course we had one for you at home. Cameron is way to small to realize what's going on, but next year I think he will be all over it.

Since both of the kids were not 100% healthy, we decided we didn't want to go anywhere and had the cousins Angelina & Carolyn over for an egg hunt at our house. Of course both my family and J's dad's family came over as well, and we had a nice brunch feast at the house with Baba, Deda, Inna, Gregory and Aaron too. The girls played in the back yard until we told them to go inside so that we could hide the eggs. Cameron hung out with my mom, while Jeromey, Aaron and I walked around the back yard hiding all the eggs. You were super excited to run out there and start looking. The look on your face was priceless when you would see and egg and go after it. Once all done, all the girls sat down and counted their eggs and looked inside for the treats.

It was a wonderful morning! You loved your easter basket too! I got some fun goodies in it for you.

A trying week

The kids have been a bit under the weather again. This time around Cameron's cold is much worse and he coughs for a while and can't seem to clear it up. He is still a happy baby during the day, however we had 2 nights which have been pretty difficult.

From about 8:30 to 11:30, we couldn't put you down. You were so exhausted and up since 4:30pm. I tried to feed you around 8:30 and then off to bed, but you weren't having it. I had to pick you up and rock you, after about 10 minutes I would try to put you down in the crib and you start crying again. I didn't know if it was the breathing that bothered you or it could also be your tummy. Once we started solids, you haven't been pooping regularly like you used to. I even stopped doing the rice cereal and went to oatmeal and made prune puree, which seemed to help, but then you stopped for a couple of days again. So may be it was your tummy that hurt. We really couldn't tell, but the only time you would stop crying was when we held you. So we ended up taking you into the our bed, but every 45 minutes you would wake up and start crying again. I ended up nursing you, and once you ate you were happy as a clam. It was such a difference, almost like out baby got switched with another one at 8:30 pm and then returned back to us at 11:30.

The next night was similar, except for we were out for a friends birthday in the evening and I found my mom holding you in your room at 11:30pm. You were perfectly happy sleeping in her arms and as soon as I took you and tried to re swaddle you since you came out of it, you were mad. It took over an hour to get you back to sleep and once again I ended up nursing you, which I normally do not do this late anymore. Hopefully you'll be feeling better soon, especially since daddy is going to Florida this week to visit his grandparents, aunt/uncle and cousins.

Sascha has a similar cold too and on top of that has been a total hand full the last week or so. We've had so many frustrated nights. One in particular where she ended up in the shower and then sent to bed before 8pm bedtime. Not sure what happened this week, but she has gotten particularly stubborn and just don't want to listen and do anything that we ask of her, sometimes flailing to the floor. Getting you to do anything has been a challenge, putting on clothes, bedtime, and of course our usual mealtime where you refuse to eat just about everything unless it's your 5 favorite items (mac n' cheese, cheese quesadilla, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese & spaghetti). Good luck to anyone trying to feed you anything else. I really hope this behavior is temporary! You are still our cute little munchkin, I just wish you didn't test us the way you have been lately.

I know it's just a stage, and before I know it, we'll be moving on to something else, another challenge. Oh the joys of parenting! I sometimes think kids teach us, more than we teach them... for example I am finding patience that I never knew I had... :)

Cameron's first solid food - 5 months

Well I decided Cameron was ready to try some rice cereal. It also happened to be that you turned 5 months on that day. Sascha's first rice cereal experience was a bit earlier but I don't think she took to it right away. You on the other hand were totally excited about it. You opened your mouth and swallowed it all up, hardly spitting any of it out. I guess you really were ready. Aaah... another stage is upon us, solid feeding! I know I say this a lot, but I can't believe how fast you're growing.

At 5 months you are now starting to grab your feet, and you pick up toys and put them in your mouth. You drool a lot, especially while sitting down.

You are still such an good baby. You hardly fuss, unless you're tired or hungry or bored. Nights have been pretty steady at this point. You usually eat your last meal sometime around 9pm and by 10pm you are asleep. Most of the time you don't wake up till about 5:30 or 6am, but there has been a few times where you woke up at 4am and refused the pacifier so I had to feed you. I think it was because you didn't get enough to eat during the day. So you've been sleeping about 8-9 hours during the night. According to babywise you should be sleeping 10-11, and I think Sascha was doing that by this time, but I will take 8 or 9 and be happy about it. Of course it would help if I went to sleep when you go down, but that's my only time to clean up, do laundry, unwind, post to the blog, upload pictures and etc. Somehow before I know it it's midnight and I am up at 5:30! Oh well, there is never enough time to do everything.

I love this stage, where you are still stationary and you just love to cuddle. I just want to hold you all evening long. You are such a little sweetie. Even Sascha comes over and calls you "my sweetie boy!". The other day she came over dragging my boppy pillow on the floor, sat down next to the swing and started feeding her baby with a toy bottle of milk on top of the pillow... just like when I feed you. I had to snap a little picture, it was just the cutest little thing and she did it completely on her own.

You love to talk and giggle too. One night daddy would scare you with a "boo" sound and you would just be cracking up. Sascha joined in with her boos as well and you laughed and laughed. You love people, you smile at Baba, Deda, Inna, Grandpa... just about everyone who comes in contact with you.

Singing the ABCs

This was taken over 6 months ago (September 7th to be exact... you were 2 years and 9 months) and daddy finally found the time to edit it into a fun little movie of Sascha singing the ABC song.

I just Love it!!! We had you sing it over and over again and tried to capture it on video so that he would have different angles and shots to work with and put together. It was still a challenge to get them all, especially when you tried to run off in one take.

I just love watching these little videos from before. It makes us remember how little you were, and how cute your little voice is just learning how to talk.

Swimming classes at Floaties

Sascha started swim classes over a month ago while I was still on maternity leave, and I have forgotten to write about this. So after your semi-dramatic experience with swim to John classes (aka the Nazi swim school), we decided to try Floaties in Poway. I've heard great things about them from a number of friends. You have already been swimming last year after the intense 2 week swim lessons, but then something happened. We are not really sure what it was, but you were terrified to go into the water. You screamed and begged not to go. I am so glad we started these lessons, because you are so much more comfortable in the water after just a few sessions. Swimming became one of our activities that we did on Tuesdays, after your ballet/tap dance class. Now that I am back at work, we moved it to Tuesday evenings.

I was definitely nervous taking you to your first class. We talked about it in the morning, and you seemed ok with it, but once we got there and got close to the pool you started to cry. Luckily parents don't have to go into the water with their kids unless they are under 1 years of age, so after resisting for a few minutes I just picked you up and handed you over to Mr. Josh - your swim instructor. You actually calmed down pretty quickly, which was good because by then Cameron started fussing and I needed to focus on him. Mr. Josh didn't try to push you too much during the first lesson, so that you could start to feel comfortable with him and build trust. You got rewarded with a lollipop the first time, since I knew it was pretty hard on you because you were still so scared. You are now on your 6th lesson and doing great. The first few you still hesitated about going in the water, but no crying at all, and you seemed to have a really great time once you were in. Mr. Josh puts you at ease and you splash around and play with toys. On your 6th lesson, you were already putting your face in the water and you jumped in from the side of the pool. I think we'll keep going to these until you really start to get the hang of it and become a good swimmer.

Now about Mr. Josh. I think you have a little crush on him. Daddy doesn't like this one bit, in fact his face changes as he hears you talk about Mr. Josh. He even asked me, why didn't I get a female instructor, but in all honesty I didn't even think about it. We just happened to get this one because the time spot worked out for us. Now you get excited to see Mr. Josh for your swim lessons. One evening after seeing some hot air balloons in the sky from our house, you told us that you want to go on one of those with Mr. Josh. Very romantic! haha You'll say to us that you want to go swimming with Mr. Josh but not daddy or mommy. I think that makes us a little sad, but we understand. You have a lot of fun with him in the water and you have grown attached. I am just really glad you are no longer screaming when we go in the pool. This should make our summers going to the pool much more enjoyable.

Sitting patiently and waiting for your turn

Resisting putting your head under the water

Some funny things you crack us up with lately (not related to swimming):

Sascha: "Mommy if you take this (one of her toys), i am going to be really mad"

Sascha: "Daddy, can you turn on (TV) my little pony?"

Daddy: "Sascha there is no my little pony on TV, I already looked"

Sascha: "If you find my little pony, I will be really proud of you"

Sascha while driving with daddy in mommy's car: "Daddy, Mommy's car is smaller than yours"

Daddy: "yes it is"

Sascha: "When it grows up it will be bigger than your car"

Sascha: "Mommy, where you going?"

Me: "I am going to work"

Sascha: "But why?"

Me: "Because I have to"

Sascha not waiting for me to finish my last sentence: "Because you make money?"

Me: "Yes to make money, so I can buy you more pretty dresses like the one you are wearing now"

Sascha: "Oh"

Hilarious! Where do you get this stuff? We've never talked about money with you!?