New Year’s Resolutions

I love New Year’s resolutions. I love setting goals and making lists all year long, and the idea of a fresh start just makes it all perfect! I thought I would put my resolutions down here for all to see, in hopes that it helps me stick with them. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Run. My goal is to run for 35 minutes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning. I was going to train for a half marathon but Ben basically forbade that knowing that this semester is going to be a busy one for me with school and his new job. But I am still going to go running. I bought some fun new stroller accessories so I can keep the kids warm and dry in their stroller. And both my mom and dad got me cute jogging clothes for Christmas so I am ready!

I couldn’t have a totally picture free post. Don’t the kids look excited to be going for a run?

2. Lose 15 pounds. Ben and I are planning on heading to the beach this spring (sans kiddos) and I would like to lose about 15 lbs to feel better and look good in my bathing suit! I’m using the My Fitness Pal app on my phone to count calories. It is awesome. Basically, I am eating normal food, but I am sticking to an actual portion size and not going back for seconds!!

3. Organize the toys. I am almost done with this one! My main priority was to pack up all of Sam’s toys that contain small parts and only leave toys that were safe for both kids to play without direct supervision. I moved a lot of stuff around and now Sam has games, art supplies, and toys that require more parental assistance in a big closed basket on the main floor. It has been really nice to be able to start fun projects together and have all the supplies readily available. And it has also been really nice to cook dinner and let the kids play in the living room without worrying that Campbell might pick up a small toy of Sam’s and try to swallow it.

4. Organize my sewing/crafts area. This area takes up way too much room in our basement and is a mess. I am determined to figure out how to organize it all to be more accessible and also look a little prettier. Don’t really have any ideas yet!

5. Buy clothes for me. Ok, this one may sound a little weird. But I am determined to buy more clothes for myself. Ever since Sam was born, and especially since Campbell was born, I tend to spend all of my clothing budget on adorable things for them. That is fun, but it does feel good to have a few new and stylish items for myself too!

6. Be better about blogging! It is hard to find time to blog, but this blog is basically my baby book for my kids, so I really want to try to do a better job of updating it regularly. My goal is to write a post every week plus an additional two each month. Fingers crossed that I can stick to that goal.

So there it is! Here’s to a wonderful 2013!

Christmas Countdown: Part 4

This year, I did a Christmas Countdown with Sam and Campbell (click here for Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3).

Here are activities 19-25.

Day 19: Make Christmas Play-doh

This was fun! We added some peppermint extract to make the play-doh smell extra Christmas-y, but we didn’t add enough I guess because the scent dissipated quickly!

Day 20: Watch Video from Santa

Santa created a special video just for Sam to watch. It was so cute to watch, completely in awe. The video was very personlized and even had some pictures of Sam! If anyone wants to request their own special video from Sam, go here.)

Day 21: Christmas Tree Art

Sam LOVES any project that involves glue and is actually pretty good at it–he uses a very sensible amount each time. We made this lovely Christmas Tree and then wrote a little note on it and gave it to our neighbor, Ms. Tanya, as a thank-you for all the special treats she brought Sam in December (raisins, goldfish, cookies!).

Day 22: Drink Hot Cocoa

This is the day we drove all day to get down to Georgia. I thought “drink hot cocoa” would be an easy thing to incorporate into our travels, but by the time we finally got there, we were so exhausted we all forgot about it. Oops.

Day 23: See Christmas Lights

This was a really fun activity but I forgot to take pictures! After dinner and just before bed, we loaded all the kids up in my sister’s minivan and went to see some Christmas lights in a nearby neighborhood. The neighborhood we visited really does it right–picture the Griswold’s house!

Day 24: Talent Show

After our Christmas Eve dinner, my sister organized a talent show. Everyone performed something and it was very entertaining. The Miller Family Band sang Feliz Navidad with Ben on the uke, Campbell and I doing the bells, and Sam on the rhythm sticks. The pic above is right after the talent show but before present-opening time. The kids were ready to get to those presents!!

Day 25: Merry Christmas!

I didn’t really have an activity for this day, because I figured I didn’t need to add anything to Christmas Day! But aren’t the cousins all so cute in their Christmas PJs??

Christmas Countdown: Part 3

This year, I did a Christmas Countdown with Sam and Campbell (click here for Part 1 and Part 2).

Here are activities 13-18. Stay tuned for part 4 for the rest of our Christmas Calendar activities!

Day 13: Make a Hanukkah Star

This was just a cute little craft I saw on Pinterest. Nothing fancy, but Sam had fun painting, gluing, and glittering!

Day 14: Make Christmas Cookies

These were some delicious cookies! My friend Nicole had dropped off a jar filled with the dry ingredients as a little Christmas treat. So Sam and I just added the butter and eggs, mixed, formed into little balls, baked, and pigged out. Yum!

Day 15: Visit a Winter Wonderland (aka National Harbor)

The Gaylord Hotel at National Harbor puts on quite the Christmas show. We decided to take the kids down there for the light show, tree lighting, and indoor snow. It was pretty fun but SOOO crowded. It would have been a lot more fun with about 50% fewer people. Not sure if we will go back.

Day 16: Go See the White House Christmas Tree

This was a big fat fail! As we were driving downtown on Sunday night, it started raining. It didn’t seem that bad so we decided to just keep going, especially since we’d been talking it up all day. We miraculously found a pretty decent parking spot, got out of the car, and started walking to the tree. Well then it REALLY started pouring. By the time we got back to the car, we were all cold and miserable. But at least we can say we saw the White House tree!

Day 17: Make a Gingerbread House

I got this gingerbread kit from Trader Joe’s. It was very easy to put together and Sam found it to be very tasty!

Day 18: Make Snow

This was another Pinterest find. Just mix cornstarch and shaving cream. Makes a big mess but it was totally worth it. Sam loved it!

Christmas Countdown: Part 2

This year, I am doing a Christmas Countdown with Sam and Campbell (click here for Part 1).

Here are activities 7-12. Stay tuned for parts 3, and 4 for the rest of our Christmas Calendar activities!

Day 7: Watch a Christmas Movie

This was so much fun, and we will definitely do it again before Christmas. We got all ready for bed and then let Sam stay up late (while Campbell went to bed) to watch a Christmas movie with us. We popped popcorn and snuggled up on the couch. Sam was so excited to have such a special privilege, even if the movie wasn’t that great!

Day 8: Breakfast with Santa

Sam’s preschool does a great Santa breakfast every year. They have lots of crafts for the kids to do and of course breakfast and Santa. The kids had a blast (well, Campbell had more fun once she was done sitting on Santa’s lap)!

Day 9: Latke Dinner with Friends

Since we celebrate Hanukkah too, the next few days were focused on Hanukkah activities! We kicked off Hanukkah with a latke dinner with our friends the Mandells. They invited us to their house for a delicious dinner, lighting the menorah, and presents. Sam and Campbell had a great time and Sam had so much fun playing with sweet Micah!

Day 10: Buy Presents for Needy Children

Sam’s preschool runs a Christmas giving program with specific toy requests from local needy families. We picked Lincoln Logs and a stuffed animal. Sam came with me to pick up the presents and then we dropped them under the tree after they’d been wrapped up! I hope Sam is learning how important it is to give to those in need (although I think it will take a few years for that lesson to really set in).

Day 11: Read a Hanukkah Book

This is one of my favorite Hanukkah books and I was happy to share it with Sam (I first discovered it when I was still teaching). It is very simple and sweet.

Day 12: Make a Dreidel

This was a big fat fail. I bought this kit at Michael’s and was really excited to try it out. However, the plaster mix was completely the wrong consistency and leaked out the sides of the mold. Oh well! We had fun mixing!

Christmas Countdown: Part 1

This year, I am doing a Christmas Countdown with Sam and Campbell (mostly Sam). Last year I made this lovely advent calendar (inspiration here) where you take off one ornament each day to hang on the Christmas Tree. My friend Betty, another mom that lived in our neighborhood, gave me the idea of doing an activity advent calendar, so I decided to incorporate that into the ornament calendar this year. Since first hearing this idea, I have actually seen it mentioned in a few blog posts (here and here) and know several other moms that are doing something similar.

So far it is going great. Each morning Sam is so excited to take down an ornament and flip over the card to see what activity we have planned for the day. I have been snapping a pic or two for each event so that I can share it on the blog. As you will see, not all of the ideas are all that exciting while others are more special. Most of the activities are things I would want to do anyway, but this helps me stay organized and get to everything I want to do before Christmas. Plus, the format makes it really exciting for Sam (and for Campbell someday too!). Here are the first 6 activities. Stay tuned for parts 2, 3, and 4 for the rest of our Christmas Calendar activities.

Day 1: Go see Santa

This was not the activity I had originally planned for today but it worked out really well because Campbell got a high fever the night before and we were all pretty tired. But our neighborhood community center was having a little party with Santa so Sam and I just walked over. Sam told me he did NOT want to sit on his lap, but did agree to sit next to him for this picture. Seeing Santa will definitely be another calendar activity because I want to be sure to get a pic of Sam and Campbell with Santa to put in our red frame collection!

Day 2: Get a Christmas Tree

We had a lot of fun picking out a tree this year. We usually head to Meadows Farms to pick our tree. They have a good selection and serve hot cocoa while you shop. (This is what I mean that these activities are things we would do anyway!)

Day 3: Decorate the tree

I put the lights on the tree myself the night before (using this cool method) and then Sam helped me hang up all the ornaments. He was surprisingly helpful and with a little instruction he was able to hang ornaments by himself. We made sure to put the fragile ornaments high up, out of Campbell’s reach, and left some little soft ornaments down low for Campbell to play with!

Day 4: Buy a new ornament

I started this tradition with Sam last year, and next year I will include Campbell too. I took the kids to World Market and let Sam pick out one ornament. They have so many ornaments it is a little overwhelming, so I had Sam pick out about 10 that he liked and then he picked his favorite from those. Of course, no one will be surprised that he picked the truck!

Day 5: Make salt dough ornaments

We got a little salt dough ornament kit in a neighborhood craft swap (something I probably should have blogged about before!). I am not sure if I didn’t follow the directions or if something was measured wrong in the mix but when I added the water, it was not at all the right consistency. I added more flour and salt to get it to the right consistency but they didn’t really come out the way I expected. Oh well, the important thing is that we had fun! (Actually, Sam found the creating of the ornaments a little frustrating I think, but really liked painting them.)

Day 6: Read a Christmas book

This was the perfect activity for today because Sam had school all morning and then we met my dad for dinner right after his nap, so there was a pretty limited window for our activity. This was by far the least exciting activity I’d planned at this point, so I was a little nervous Sam would be disappointed but he loved it and even wanted to read the book twice. I tried reading the book with Campbell too but she kept trying to rip the pages and then started fussing for me to let her down. Ha! Next year.

Campbell is 10 months old!

Hey! Look who is posting this relatively on time!! I can’t believe Campbell is 10 months old already and in just two short months she will be 1. Eeek!! This has been a fun month for us around here. Unfortunately, I don’t have a ton of pics this time, but here are her updates!

Teething: Campbell is still working on those top two teeth. One has popped through but the other hasn’t. They seem to be causing her quite a bit of pain and she won’t let me put my finger anywhere near there. Poor little thing. A few days ago she developed a 102 fever but never had any other symptoms, so I am thinking it may have been caused by the teeth!

Eating: Campbell has been eating everything lately. It is fun now that I can give her whatever we are eating and she usually enjoys it. However, she is definitely not as in to food as her brother was at this age. I remember that he would get sooo hungry and would love to eat. But Campbell never seems to be super hungry and she often just kind of pushes food around and pops some in her mouth here and there. She also definitely still prefers for us to feed her!

Language: Campbell has her first real word and it’s “hi!” She says it all the time in the car or even in her room by herself when she is supposed to be taking a nap. Whenever the phone rings, she yells “hi!” (I guess she hears us say it when we pick up the phone). She loves to say it back to you, so all three of us have gotten into a never-ending cycle of saying hi to her. And if you say it to her in a whisper, she will even whisper hi in response. Here is a little video. Sorry it is so blurry–I think my lens was a little dirty!

Signs: I have tried to remember to sign with Campbell more often and she has learned how to sign “more” pretty well, though she sometimes gets frustrated with it. I guess next I will work on teaching her milk, water, and all done. I can’t really remember what other signs are useful.

Oral: Loves to put every and anything into her mouth! I can’t wait for her to be past this stage. It is gross but it also makes me nervous because I never know if she will find some tiny toy of Sam’s that got left out on accident!

Goofy: Campbell definitely has a silly streak and she especially loves making her brother laugh (which, frankly, isn’t too hard!). Here is a little video of her demonstrating her fondness for the fart noise and a few other silly moves.

Mobility: Campbell has gotten so good at army crawling and is really super speedy when she wants to be. Of course, this has caused a little tension between her and Sam now that she can get into his stuff and Sam often asks me to put her in the playpen. But he is learning to play with her and she is learning how fun Sam’s toys are.

Sleeping: still good. nighttime is 8-7:30 and naps are 10-11:30 and 2:30-4:30 (but she often wakes up about 15 minutes early from the afternoon nap).

Mommy and Daddy love you, sweet girl!!

Campbell is 9 1/2 months old!

Oops. I am late posting Campbell’s monthly update, AGAIN! Anyhoo, this has been another fun and exciting month with our crazy little girl. Here are her updates!

Stats:

Weight: 18lbs, 5 oz (50th %)

Height: 28.5″ (80th %)

This past month, Campbell has just kept on babbling! She now says mama to actually kind of mean mom, which is fun! It’s not like she is calling me by name (hey, mama!) but uses it more frequently in my presence and seems to associate it with me and milk. She also says dada (as mentioned in my last post), baba, yaya and some other more irregular sounds. I love how social she is becoming!
I should definitely be practicing sign language more with Campbell because she is ready! One night at dinner I tried to teach her the sign for more and she caught on right away and started using the sign and even saying “ma!” (more). But we are always rushing around so it’s hard to remember to practice the signs.
So I said in my last post that Campbell was almost crawling and I thought for sure by now that she would be a full-blown crawler, but she is pretty much at the same point she was at a month ago. She can get on all fours and move one knee forward, but then she just switches to an army crawl. That seems to work for her and she is pretty fast with it. But it does seem like she wants to figure out the crawling thing and she is definitely working at it. She is pretty talented, though, in getting from her belly to a sitting position and can even do a downward dog pose! She has pulled herself up onto furniture on her knees but not to a full standing position.

Campbell has been eating a lot more lately. She seems to be over her milk sensitivity so we have started feeding her cut up versions of what we are eating! If she doesn’t like something, she will dramatically spit it out so that it sprays everywhere. Feeding time is now a little more exciting. She can feed herself pretty well, but gets tired of doing that and still likes when we spoon-feed her.

Campbell loves making a little fart noise that sends Sam into hysterics. It is almost a Pavlovian response now, in that if she hears Sam laughing (even if he is on another floor), she will start making that fart noise.
She still knows all of her tricks. She loves clapping when we all clap and really likes to put her hands in the air when you ask, “how big is Campbell?” But her newest trick is peek-a-boo. She loves to play peek-a-boo and if you give her a napkin she will cover her face again and again. You have to go fast though: she doesn’t like to wait!

Campbell likes to stand up holding onto furniture (she can’t pull herself up yet) and pull off anything not nailed down to wherever she is standing. You definitely can’t leave her unsupervised though because she hasn’t yet learned that she can’t just let go!

Can’t remember if I ever wrote when Campbell got her teeth, but she has two bottom teeth that she got when she was 7 months old. And she is cutting one of her top teeth now (I am guessing it will be through by the next update)

We love you, sweet Campbell! You are wild and silly and crazy and adorable!

Happy Halloween!

(Better late than never, right?)

We had a great Halloween this year! We had a nice trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out some pumpkins and take some adorable pictures. (side note: while we were there Sam made friends with a very precocious little girl named Grace, who Sam called Grease. She whispered, and I am not making this up, “underwear” in Sam’s ear and couldn’t stopped giggling. Sam, for his part, didn’t get the joke!)

Then for Halloween, we put the kids in their costumes (Campbell the friendly ghost and garbage man Sam), went to our neighborhood Halloween party, and then did a little trick-or-treating. Sam was excited about getting candy but super nervous about going up to strangers and asking for candy (probably a good instinct!).

Barrel Oak Winery

Last weekend we had some beautiful weather here. It had been in the high 40’s/ low 50’s and overcast all week, but the weekend was predicted to be sunny and high 70’s. I was determined to make the most of what might be the last weekend of nice weather around here until spring, so I sent an email out to my neighborhood MOMS club and asked for ideas for outdoor activities. Several people recommended Barrel Oak Winery, which is about an hour outside of DC and is known for being pet and child friendly. We decided to pack a picnic lunch and invite our friends John, Deirdre, and Evie to join us. The winery was beautiful and we all had a great time. The wine was pretty good too! If you are in the area, I highly recommend checking it out!

Taking in the scenic view

Campbell dining al fresco

Evie and Sam: best buddies

Enjoying the live music

This dirt mound was a HUGE hit with all the kids there

Getting into trouble

Sam is Three!

Dear Sam,

You turned three just over a month ago. I haven’t written this post yet, in part because I’ve been busy and in part because I don’t know where to begin! How can our little baby be three already? Where did the time go? Your daddy and I could not be more proud of what a sweet, funny, and smart child you are. It feels like overnight you went from being a little baby to a little boy. Sometimes I look at you and think, how did we end up living with this funny little man? You make every day brighter and constantly put a smile on my face. I truly cannot imagine a life without you. Happy belated birthday, sweet Sam! We love you!

On the day you were born

Our sweet, smart, funny, and handsome little boy

Sam’s 3-year Stats:

Height: 39.5 inches (90th percentile)
Weight: 32.5 lbs (50th percentile)
Bedtime: Goes to bed at about 8 or 8:30 every night. He likes to sleep but he sure has learned how to milk every last second out of his bedtime routine. Ben is in charge of putting him to bed and there is a very exact number of things that have to happen. He needs to read a certain number of books, sing a certain number of songs, and drink a certain number of sips of water. He and Campbell are sharing a room and Campbell usually wakes up a good 30-45 minutes earlier than Sam would like. When I go in to get Campbell, I usually ask Sam if he would like to keep sleeping and he almost always says yes!

Two cuties

Naps: For awhile Sam was fighting his afternoon nap but he is going strong once again! For awhile I would put him down for his nap and he would just talk to himself and sing for hours (literally)–sometimes eventually falling asleep and other times not sleeping at all. I started telling him to not sing and talk when he went to sleep and miraculously that seemed to work. He now falls asleep very quickly and almost always sleeps for 3 hours.

Sam in his big boy bed

Eating: Sam is still a pretty good eater and loves foods a lot of kids might not (big fan of tofu and brussels sprouts). But he does sometimes tell us that he doesn’t like something new, when he hasn’t even tried it. We have a rule of at least two bites of anything we serve, and unless he is in a mood, he is pretty good about that. A lot of times when he tries something on our insistence, he’ll exclaim, “delicious!” and then politely decline any more. He loooves candy, goldfish, and any other processed junk! But he also loves fruit and I think would be quite happy to be a fruititarian.

Corn on the cob at the Carlyle

Hooray for PB&J!

Sam has turned in to such a big talker. He is constantly picking up phrases that he hears adults say and fitting them into conversations. For example, if we tell him he gets to have a cookie, go to the playground, etc., he’ll say, “that sounds like a GREAT idea!” Or he’ll tell us “you keep forgetting!” when we don’t immediately do something he has asked us to do. Or if he wants another piece of candy, he’ll say, “maybe just oooone more. Maybe just twoooo more.” When Campbell is crying, he puts on his highest pitched, most mothering sounding voice, pats her back and says, “It’s okaaaaay. It’s okaaay, Campbell.” Or anytime someone makes a joke (he’s really good at picking out the tone of jokes, even when the content is way over his head), he says, “goooood one!” nodding and pointing at the joke teller.

Crazy Eyed Sam

Lately Sam has been really into having us retell stories. If he hears us talking about something, even when it’s not much of a story (e.g. telling Ben I picked up the library books today), he tells us to tell him the whole story from the beginning.
Sam loves to laugh at Campbell or get her to laugh. They really feed off each other. He will run a joke into the ground if it got Campbell to laugh the first time. He’ll just do it over and over and over until she stops laughing and then he’ll try something else. Campbell likes to make fart noises, which cracks Sam up.

Haaaaa!

Sam is very into music. One of his favorite outings is going to Guitar Center with Daddy. They go and play the drums, test out the guitars, and pound on the keyboards. Sam also loves listening to our iPod with the headphones (the headphones are just for show though, the iPod is always docked and the music comes out through the speakers). Ben has done his best to get Sam hooked on grown-up music, not kid music and so far it seems to have worked. His favorite songs are Sabotage, Intergalactic, Tighten Up, Midnight City, Pumped Up Kicks, Cecelia, and Help.

Father-son jam session

Sam and his headphones

Sam knows some of his letters (especially S, A, and M). He has recently started asking me if something says Sam every time he sees an S printed somewhere. He loves to be read to and to pretend read by himself.

Family Story Time

He is good at counting and can show you how many on his fingers. I made these videos for a human development class I took over the summer. It shows how Sam is developing one to one correspondence when counting.

http://youtu.be/d9MwgxeyaJ4 Sam Trains
http://youtu.be/M7qH8ZetzNc Sam blocks

He is obsessed with garbage men, trucks, construction sites, buses, airplanes, and trains.

Just one of the many times sitting in a fire truck

Construction Man Sam

He has a vivid imagination and likes to pretend to be different community helpers. For a while, the only game he played was garbage man. He would stand on the landing and pretend it was the back of the garbage truck, holding onto the wall like the garbage men hold on to the back of the truck. Then he would dump everything in our house that wasn’t nailed down into the “back of the truck”. Lately he has been playing construction man and goes around hammering and fixing all kinds of things. The other day, he helped me deliver some orders and insisted on wearing a rain coat and carrying a bag so he could be like Keith, our very friendly mailman. His other favorite game right now is pretending to be a “restaurant man.” He takes everybody’s order, cooks it up on his grill, and then calls out, “Nuumber threeeee! Number threee!!!” just like they do at District Taco.

Restaurant Man Sam

Fireman Sam

Sam decided this dollar store mask made him an alien

He is really into friends lately and asks to go over to his friends’ houses or have his friends over. If we are going somewhere (lunch, park, etc.) he wants to know who else is going to be there. He also loves playing with our neighbors Beatrice and Jack. He always asks if we can go play outside with them and they all like knocking on each other’s doors to see if they are free to play outside.

Sam and Evie

Sam and his heroes, the big boys in the neighborhood

Two and a half was a little rough for a while, with lots of tantrums, lashing out, and hitting. But the last few months have been very smooth. He still gets mad at times, but is quicker to calm down. He is generally very happy and pleasant to be around, unless he is overly hungry or tired. He is a great listener most of the time and usually does what you ask him to do. If he doesn’t do something, I just start counting to 3 and almost never get past 1 (usually the consequence of getting to three is me forcibly making him do whatever it was. Like if I ask him to come upstairs and he still doesn’t do it once I get to 3, I pick him up and bring him upstairs. He is very independent and would much rather do it on his own). He loves to help out, especially with Campbell.

Helpful big brother

Sam started a new school this year and it is going great. He sometimes says he doesn’t want to go but is always happy once we get there and seems to have a fun time. He likes his teachers and his friends in class. He is a real minimalist when it comes to art projects and usually just scribbles the bare minimum (which is kind of funny because he usually loves doing craft projects at home).

Playing at school

Crafting at home

We can’t wait to see what the next year brings!!