we are officially that family

yes, that's right, we went there. we got the double bob stroller. we did a lot of research on the double wide versus the caboose style and in the end settled on the double wide. we go walking a lot and it just made more sense. plus, one kid gets the shaft in the seating arrangement when it is the caboose style. and as soon as one of them decides that they don't want to look at the back of the chair in front of them, it's over. don't get me wrong, we also got a joovy caboose for things like airports, malls and such, but the bob double wide has been a real treat. i mean, this is a total investment. when i am pushing it i feel like i am about the same size as an electric smart car. and we definitely get looks from people. how could you not look at the bright orange monstrosity barreling down the park path.

plus, fiona is big enough that she can ride it without any special contraption or carseat. i love that.

95th percentile...what?!?!?!?

fiona had her doctor appt this week and she came in at 95th percentile across the board. talk about total 180 from the first time we did the whole kid/chart thing. olivia started out strong at a whopping 50th percentile initially and then quickly moved down to the 5th percentile. i don't hold too much in the charts, but it is fascinating to see our 2 month old weigh more than half the weight of our 3 year old! fiona is just a big girl all around. it's a good thing. one less thing to worry about in the large spectrum of postpartum worries.

and the sleep thing seems to be getting into a nice pattern as well. it is quite interesting how much more experimental i am this time around with the nap routine than i was before. and i am finding that if she has 2 solid naps, even at 2.5 months, we are almost guaranteed a good night's sleep (alseep by 8pm and up by 430ish). with olivia, i was so worried about 10 things at once, that i never really stopped to concentrate on one thing like naps or sleep patterns. it was more like...she needs to nap and why isn't the breastfeeding working and should i swaddle her and should we do a binky and can i get to the movies. with fiona, i am trying a different approach of focusing on one thing at a time.

another lifesaver is the sleep sheep. i swear by this thing. i had never heard of it until recently and it is doing wonders for our sleep world. it has 4 settings and we tend to do ocean and rain. basically, you turn it on right after you have put them into their cosleeper/crib and the sound lulls them to sleep. i had started having fiona fall asleep on her own during nap time using this sheep and then we carried it into the evening routine. brilliant, i tell you!

i like to sleep a lot

ya know...i am not entirely sure what my parents are expecting me to do, but i get the sense they want me to engage more. don't they understand that sleeping is what i am supposed to do at this point in my life. i mean, what can they expect. i cannot walk, talk, sit up and while i can hold my head up for short periods of time, i am not exactly brimming over with interactive behavior. sure, i will give them the smile on the diaper table and make cooing sounds when i am chillin' in my bouncy chair, but other than that, i am pretty happy getting swaddled and sleeping. recently they have been wedging me into the bumbo. yes, i am using the term wedge because i am not exactly short on pounds. i am well aware that i have rolls in places that i did not even think could have rolls.

i like the fair a lot

mom and dad took fiona and me to the fair last weekend. it was amazing! there was so much to look at. we had a lot of fun watching people scream on the rides. and people really screamed. a lot. dad also won a prize for me. it looked really hard. he had to roll the rubber ball into the same color slot 3 times. i got an awesome, big eyed monkey. mom and i went to throw darts at the balloon. my dart kept hitting the ground, but i still won a cool stuffed banana.





we even got aunt susie an awesome airbrushed shirt for her birthday. it was funny listening to mom and dad debate what design to get. mom really liked the hawaiian print, but dad said that was for couples. who knew he had so much airbrush design knowledge!

the food at the fair was so fun! i tried my first elephant ear and thought it tasted a bit like cardboard with sugar. we tried to get a sno cone, but the lines were too long. just as well. i was starting to get tired.

the farm animals were super cool as well. i had never seen baby goats before. dad kept using the term kid and it confused me. and i think this is a llama with an intense set of bangs.



on our way out we stopped in a big craft area and mom got really excited. she picked fiona right up out of the stroller and waltzed her in to look at all the stuff. i got an awesome apron that had a pouch sewn to the front that could hold 8 crayons, individually. it's my new art shirt!



i hope we go again next year. at least then my little sister will be able to enjoy it too.

fiona v. the bottle

given fiona is such a good eater, it never occurred to us that she would not take the bottle with ease. at about week 6, we gave her a bottle and with some coaxing, she took it. however, now at 2 months old, she totally refuses it. i'm talking crying, squirming, sweating, and screaming if we persist for too long. we thought it might be the milk because we have a lot of frozen milk and with olivia, my milk spoiled as soon as it was frozen. today, i pumped a bit and she still refused it. by today's end, she let the bottle go into her mouth, but rather than suck, she just bit it and within a few minutes, would start to get upset. so frustrating!

looks like we are going to start hitting the interwebs to see what we can find out about coaxing a stubborn, breastfed girl to take the bottle so that mama bear can go out for longer than 2 1/2 hours.

our new plan:
try different bottles/nipples - apparently playtex has a nipple that works with even the most stubborn of babies
have mom be out of the house
have mom feed her with the bottle
face her away from us in the glider rocker while trying to feed her with the bottle
try daily to have her take the bottle...apparently we should not try for longer than 10 minutes

my 3rd birthday!

i had so much fun at my birthday party. it was nice to have all my friends there, Arlo Big, Yuli, Tealie, Lincoln, Dahlia, Alder, Loic, Levi, Asher, Cash, Brazon, Metztli. i also loved that my big people friends were there as well. i cannot believe i am 3 years old.






mom and dad had organized for periwinkle possum to come. she was fabulous! it was an interactive puppet show and everyone seemed to really like it. and my friends and i got to make dragonflies to help wake the possum up. i punched the possum. not sure why. i think i thought i would wake him up.



the cake was amazing. dad made it. i got to have 2 pieces and pretty much just ate the icing. wow. lots of sugar for me. i played a lot with my very good friend lincoln. i actually call him my boyfriend. we played all night long and it was awesome!

From emo to smiles in 60 seconds

Oh, and thanks for the new dress, Grumpus + Barbara. I thought it would look good with the new striped leggings that my mom got for me. If I recall, Grumpus said he used to do patterns on patterns in college. Style runs deep in this family...

My friend Cash turns 3

I went to my friend Cash's birthday party this weekend. It was a lot of fun. There was face painting and a bike parade. We had so much fun decorating my bike. Mom did most of it, but I picked out colors and art directed.

The Lakeman Ladies

I heart my daddy, too

I heart cuddles

I love it when my big sister cuddles on me. She sings to me and tells me stories. Tonight she gave me lots of kisses and "held" me for a very long time.

Grumpus comes to town

Oh, what fun I had with Grumpus this weekend. I mean, he really knows how to have a good time. We did all sorts of things together. He read me lots of books and took me to the park + coffeeshop in the rain! And Barbara is great. I hope we get to see her again. She made me her official cooking assistant. We made a salad with avocado, grapefruit and peach. So yummy! We made a real mess on the floor though.

One night, Grumpus and Barbara surprised me with an early birthday celebration. They had a cake with candles and gifts. It was so much fun. I even wore a cool cat hat.






What else did we do...we went to their hotel and to a restaurant in chandler's cove. We also walked seward park and threw rocks in the lake, hung out at oddfellows, went to dinner at cafe presse and had a yummy brunch with pancakes at our house. Twice grumpus and barbara babysat me and fiona while mom and dad went to yoga.






I really miss Grumpus. I wish he lived closer to me....