Laughing Together

Today in the car, Eric was kicking his legs and moving his head side-to-side singing and Ellie started laughing. So he kept doing it and they were cracking up laughing together. It was so sweet because it was really the first time that they really paid attention to each other without anyone else involved.

Happy Birthday to Eric

Eric had an awesome 2nd birthday. He wore his special green shirt with a car on it that he picked out himself. He had 5 friends over and they ate cupcakes and played with cars. Eric got Wiggles, Thomas the Train and basketball balloons.
We had his family party today and he was so excited! He ate more cake and clapped and sang along with everyone. He got so many presents but he seems to love his remote control car from Auntie Julie and his basketball from Auntie Carole and Roger!

True Love

True love is when a little boy falls asleep clutching a mini basketball and a mini football. Soooo sweet.

8 months and Almost 2

Only one more week until Eric's birthday! He is getting very excited. Ask him how old he will be and he says "one for baby Aya" and "2 Eric." He is starting to sing Happy Birthday and Ring Around the Rosy.
Ellie is 8 months now. She is starting to talk saying da, da, da, da. I guess Mama is never a first word! She has a little personality now.
Lately the kids have been playing in the pack and play together. I know Eric is a little old for this but he is jealous when she is in there so now they go in together.
Eric's latest phrases are: By the way, oh man, don't do that, please, thank you, welcome, and my favorite "love you" which he said for the first time on Valetines Day!

Talking Machine

Yes, Eric is a talking machine!!! He repeats everything and is chatting every minute. Some of our favorite words of his are lambourghini, fire truck, mango, basketball, snow shovel, tuna. We just like that he can answer a question... or do we? (no, no, no, and no)
Ellie is the sweetest baby ever. She just sits and watches Eric all day and is never demanding or fussy unless she needs a bottle. Her favorites these days are the jumper, exersaucer, and her new highchair. She can roll over both ways now and is getting dangerously close to crawling. She grabs anything in sight to chew on, especially matchboxes, gotta watch out. No teeth yet. One more month until we have a two-year-old!

Holidays

The holidays were a blast. We spent Christmas day at Gay Street and at Auntie Carole's for dinner. The kids were both so good all day. Eric definitely has the hang of opening gifts. He hopefully says 'car' as he rips each one open. He pulled the tree down a couple weeks ago. He was just too mesmerized by it.
We drove down to North Carolina to visit Tina, Mike and the kids. We had such a great time. We went hiking and went to a nature conservatory. We walked through Asheville downtown in the pouring rain. Eric loves spending time with his cousins and the dog is still talking about them. The kids took a bath together while we were there and amazingly Eric joined them. We have Marley and Allysun to thank for teaching Eric that baths are fun, he practically jumps in with his clothes on now. We miss them already.
Not much else new, may be a quiet few months. The countdown to the Terrible Twos begins.

Time is Flying

So much has happened since my last entry. Ellie is 5 1/2 months now. I have weaned her onto formula because she was eating a million times a day. She now eats baby food and oatmeal or rice cereal. She loves her Exersaucer, Jumper, and just lying on the floor playing.
Eric is 21 months. He is so active. Still into cars along with trains, scooters, and anything that moves. He is talking so much now and repeating a lot. He calls his sister "Baby Aya." His milk is "nookie." The two things closest to his heart, binky and blankie, he can say very clearly.
Eric got to play out in the snow for the first time. He wasn't too sure at first, but soon he was following Daddy around trying to get the shovel. The Boston Globe will be publishing a picture I sent in of Eric reaching up for the snow shovel.
We all went to Disney World while we were down in Florida for Thanksgiving/Jerry and Lisa's wedding. Eric got to go on the Indy Speedway with Daddy and Ellie was most excited about It's A Small World. Eric is obsessed with his grandparents' dog Chloe. He longing calls "Chlope" everytime he sees a picture of a dog.
In other news, Eric pulled down the Christmas tree the other day. He was shocked himself and stays away from it now for the most part. Aside from a few broken ornaments there was no harm done. (Next year tabletop tree!)
The kids are both sleeping in their room now. When Ellie waked up crying Eric either sleeps through or sits up in crib and says "Aya" over and over to alert us of her crying. What a sweet brother already.
At Ellie's 5 month appointment she weighed 15lb 7oz and was 26 inches tall.... which is the height limit for her carrier. Yikes! How will we carry two kids out of the car without the carrier...we'll see.
Everyone is getting excited for Christmas!

3 Months Old

Ellie just turned three months old! I can't believe it. She is awake so much now. She loves the Kick and Play seat and she likes being talked to. She is always smiling and laughing. I have a feeling she'll be a chatterbox. She is just starting to grip things and Eric likes to put Legos and cars in her little hands to hold.
Eric says more words now than I can list. Last night he pointed out the window and said "dark." I think he saves up words and says them when we least expect it. He is also on a hunger strike. He will only eat what he wants when he wants. He broke his two favorite plates by balancing them on his head after finishing. Eating is a big game now so we are hoping for his appetite to return soon. It has been raining the past 2 days so we have been stuck inside.
Last night was the first night we needed the heat on so today Eric got three new pairs of feety PJ's. (thanks Nannie!) Ellie has a ton already.
Getting ready for our big trip to Atlanta this weekend! (1 1/2 day trip)

Philadephia Trip

We took the kids to visit Grandpop, Aunt Barbara, and Uncle Ted last weekend. They were amazing in the car, both very well behaved and slept most of the time. Eric had such a fun time playing with everyone. Grandpop got Eric some new cars and a track. We were also able to take both kids out to dinner. We had a great trip!
It rained all day today so we didn't do much. We did go to playgroup this morning where Eric got to play with playdough and markers. He was really upset about the marker on his hands and kept trying to rub it off. He had spaghetti for dinner which I think is his favorite. He calls it "Gegi."
Miss Ellie has alternated sleeping and smiling all day. Eric has fun pointing out her nose, mouth, hands, etc.

Doctor- 18 Month Visit

Today we went to see Dr. Daley for Eric's 18 month visit. He is 24 lb. 11 oz. and 33 inches long. (more than 1/2 as tall as mommy!) He is tall for his age and weight is average. Dr. Daley said Eric is one of the best behaved 18 month olds she has seen. She said this before the tantrum caused by the bandaid. There was no problem with Eric having his finger pricked for his iron test but he was adamant that he did not want that bandaid! He flirted with the nurses, blowing them goodbye kisses.
This morning we went to see Music with Phillip which was suprisingly relaxing for Mommy because Eric just sat on my lap the whole time watching instead of running around like a madman. Ellie is smiling away in her kick and play. She slept through Philip's music and the doctor's office but now that Eric is in bed... Ellie is thinking PARTY!

Eric's words of the day: oval, crab

Pickles

Today Andrew made homemade dill pickles. I am very impressed because it was quite an undertaking. He got cucumbers from my dad's garden, a recipe from the 1930s, dill from our garden, and mason jars. He even had to immerse the full jars in boiling water. Can't wait to try them.
Eric is 18 months, 1 1/2 today! I can't believe it. Everyone says how they grow so fast but you don't realize it until you have your own. We just came back from the mall where Eric was very excited about the American flags everywhere. He loves to point and say 'ga' which means 'star.' He also got Nannie to buy him a new car.
Ellie is doing great. She seems like she is going to be super happy like her brother. We certainly hope so.
Funny Eric moment of the day: I was half under the bed helping Andrew adjust the mattress and all of a sudden I was screaming because cold water was running all over my head, neck, and back. Eric managed to unscrew a bottle of water and pour it on me!!!

Igee, Zygote and Other Eric Words

Eric is obsessed with oranges, or should I say 'igees.' He loves them. When he wants a snack he will run up to the fridge and say 'igee.' 'Igee' and 'taxi' are my two favorite Eric words. Here are a couple of other things he can say:
car, dog, kitty, purple, mama, dada, nannie, papa, auntie, cow, star, puffs, Kix, apple, bubbles, kite, Kate, moon, Ellie, more, help, belly, nose, eyes, neck, moon, sky, ear, and zygote. (repeated when we were talking about him being in London as a zygote.) Now that he is a repeater he can say a lot more than this.
Some funny pronunciations:
Lego-gegu Lindsay-Gigi
moon-mmmm star-ga
car-cah cah dog-dog dog
kitty-kiki taxi-tacky

Haircut

The kids are getting cuter by the day. Eric is running every minute now, lining up his fleet of cars and pointing out all the things he recognizes. Eric’s favorite things are stars and cars. He notices every American flag and says ‘ga.’ We read Goodnight Moon every night and so last night Eric looked out the front window waving and smiling, his first time seeing the real moon. Daddy gave Eric a haircut yesterday. The long curls have been buzzed off and Eric looks like such a grown up boy now. Very cute. Ellie is growing like a weed and eating as much as she can. She is a smiler like her brother and loves to be talked to.

Tot Lot

Andrew took Eric to the Tot Lot to play today. We have been taking him to the park all summer. I tried to go a couple times a week. In June it was hard. I had to bring Rachel because I couldn't move being pregnant with Ellie. Watching Eric at the playground really shows how much he has grown. Before he wouldn't go near the slide or bridges. Now he is so confident, climbing all over everything. He carefully watches the bigger kids and follows what they do. Eric's favorite things to do at the park now are dig in the sand and go on the seesaw with Mommy. One day last week, Eric was following two older girls around dancing and showing off... a ladies man already!

Blueberries, Kayaking, and More

Just came back from Maine, where we went to visit Becky's Mom's B&B. It was a great inn at a great location in Southwest Harbor. We did a lot of walking and sightseeing. What a beautiful area! Andrew went kayaking with Rich and Becky had to go save them when they got stuck. Eric loved going on a hike.. he tried to pick up big boulders along the trail. We went to Acadia National Park. Andrew and I loved all the scenery but I think Eric was most impressed with the toy store that had dozens of the same mini-hummer that he has.
The kids were both so well behaved in the car and on the trip. Eric loved showing his cars to everyone and setting them up in a line over and over. Eric was especially impressed by the amount of blueberries in Maine. Ellie slept practically the whole trip but we did take some pics to show she went along.
The last night we went out to a lobster place by the water. We paid in three separate groups so they put a star on each of our receipts to show we were together. Imagine Eric's excitement at seeing those stars! Poor Ellie had one of her first major meltdowns at the restaurant so Mommy had to walk her around outside.
We had a really great time!!

Car Car

We are adjusting to life with two children. Eric is very sweet to Ellie but doesn’t quite know how to be gentle. He calls her Aya. Ellie seems like she can already sleep through lots of noise. She is only fussy when she is hungry and is a sleepy baby who likes to be all bundled up. Eric is definitely into the car phase. Has a ton of toy cars and keeps getting more from everyone and loves to sit in his car seat and say ‘car car.’ Very cute!

Ellie Rose is Here!!

Ellie Rose is here! Ellie was born on July 6, 2005, a rainy, cold Wednesday. I woke up in the morning with contractions that were about 3 minutes apart. We picked up Auntie Rachel to watch Eric and then we went to the hospital where I got hooked up to the monitors and an IV. I was just glad that I was dilated to 5cm so I wouldn’t be sent home again. (We had a false alarm on June 22nd) The nurse predicted Ellie would be born by 2pm… not the case. I had contractions all day and they started to get painful in the afternoon so I had an epidural. Andrew noticed that my epidural was leaking on the floor. I knew something was up because I could still feel my legs and with Eric I couldn’t. Anyways, they hooked it back up again but I was already 8cm and the doctor decided to break my water at 5pm. The doctor had me lie on my left side to try to get Ellie to turn a little bit but she didn’t like that and started moving around a lot which was very painful for me!! So I needed oxygen because I was crying and in a lot of pain. The contractions were really painful and all of a sudden I felt like pushing. Dr. Diaz came in (the same doctor who delivered Eric) and I was screaming and crying.. she told me to stop crying and get mad and push her out. After 3 pushes and a ton of pain Ellie came out crying! She was 19 inches, 6 pounds 13 ounces. Perfect. 9 and 9 for Apgar scores. Andrew got us a Lazy Man Lobster dinner from the Chateau and we ate it together in the hospital to celebrate. Dad said when they were babysitting Eric the night Ellie was born Eric dragged over my dad’s coat and Eric’s little yellow water shoes and said ‘Mama’ because he wanted to go see me. What a sweet boy he is. We are so lucky to have Eric and now Ellie!

Chatty Eric

Eric and Daddy went to Florida for the weekend to visit his grandparents and aunts. He had so much fun! I missed you a ton. Daddy said Eric was an angel on the plane. We went to a MOMS Club meeting today and you played with playdough and crayons. You love crayons. Luckily the playdough was edible because you had to taste it. Tomorrow I am going to the hospital for a non-stress test to make sure everything is okay with the baby. I think Eric has a little cold, probably because the weather has been crazy. 2 days ago it was 90 degrees and now it is 50. Wow! You have been talking a lot saying ‘car’ ‘cracker’ ‘mama’ and ‘dada.’ I think your dog fascination has been replaced by one for cars.

Food Shopping

Eric is such a sweet baby. He is starting to give hugs and kisses to me and Daddy. Today was a fun day. We went food shopping and he was content with a bagel and a piece of cheese while I was shopping. The cashiers were so impressed with him waving at them and smiling on our way out. We went to visit Eric's great grandmother and he spent a lot of time playing with two little cars she had. Then we went to Nannie and Papa’s for dinner and then we came home and spent some time playing before bed. Eric's baby sister has been kicking me a lot the past few days just like you did. We’ll see if she too is an early arrival!

It's A.....

GIRL!!! Eric is going to have a baby sister. She is very healthy and already 3 pounds. I was just small because she is low. (an early arrival perhaps?) Today is Mother's Day and we just came back from Mom and Dad's where we had breakfast. Eric loved the pancakes and fruit. Being pregnant, I loved everything! We have started buying a few pink things for the baby but aren't sure about a name yet. Eric is still asleep after 3 hours... wow!