Zoo with Jude & Eli - Africa

August 17 was the first Monday that Rachel had free so we decided to make a play date and head down to the North Carolina Zoo. In case you hadn't already noticed - I LOVE the zoo. I love how happy it makes my children. I love how much walking you get it. I love how shady it is. I love how Monday mornings aren't crowded at all. I love all the space that the animals receive at this zoo. I love how there isn't just one of each animal, but many, at this zoo.

And while this trip was a scorcher and extremely humid, we made the most of it and saw a lot of really cool things. Every time I come here, I always learn something new and it seems magical all over again. This time we saw all the baby lion cubs all grown up.

The baby monkeys came right to the window and played with the children who were watching/observing them. They knocked on the window and the kids all squealed with delight. So the  chimpanzee would repeat the process all over again.

I saw millions of birds that I had never seen before. For some reason, I'd never made it to the aviary section of the zoo. Maybe that's because Michal hates birds. Maybe it's because I'd been oblivious to it being there, but inside it was full of colorful and interesting birds that you could reach out and touch. Of course, if you did they would run away or bite back. So we just remained good little observers.

We  saw an elephant decide to take a bath. But instead of just spraying his back and legs with the help of his trunk, he decided to completely wade into the water and lie down. All you could see sticking out of the water was his little trunk so he could breathe. I've never seen this before and I found it fascinating.

Apparently two weeks ago there was a huge storm at the zoo and it knocked over thousands of trees and damaged a lot of structures and animal enclosures - so the "Africa" side was closed. It reopened two days before we got there but we could see the effects of the storm still. The misters by the elephants were all damaged. Some viewing decks had to be rebuilt. And many pathways were still inaccessible due to trees needing to be cleared from the road.

The next time we go to the zoo, I'll try to do something different - like feed the Giraffes, take a carousel ride, see the dinosaur exhibit, or buy a magnet from this zoo. Oh the possibilities!

Marco 7 Months

SEVEN MONTHS - 8.22.2015

• Out of the blue this baby became active! He wiggles and crawls and is happy all the time! 
• We have put away all the 3 month clothes and pulled out larger sizes, but Marco is still a tiny baby. 
• Marco has continued to eat a new baby food about every 3 days, but really prefers foods that he can grasp in his hands and shove into his mouth himself. He gets too excited and unless I pay close attention he has a mouth full of food and can't break anything down to swallow.
• Second tooth came in.
• The biggest achievement of this month was that Marco started sleeping through the night. We went through one week of awful sleep training and about 2 hours of sleep a night for Mommy, but after that we put him to bed around 8:00 and he sleeps until about 5:00-5:30. This was a huge improvement and I can't tell you how much additional sleep has made me a happier person.
• Each day he interacts more and more with us and his big sister. Watching the two play together just warms my heart. They have so much love for each other and I just want them to be a tad older so that Marco doesn't get squished every time Lily decides to hug or kiss him. 

And since we were taking photos of Marco, we had to make sure that we included Lily so that she didn't feel left out. So here is her own private photoshoot courtesy of her mother!

Lily's Lip

August 20 - Mother of the Year Award goes to...

...

After Marco awoke from his afternoon nap we went outside to swing on the porch swing as I clipped Marco's fingernails. When we were all done, and had enough of the nasty mosquitoes, we headed inside. I was holding Marco and Lily wanted help jumping down, but my grip wasn't good enough and she slipped as I was holding her. Right out of my hands and her head smacked straight down onto the hard concrete floor. I immediately picked her up - rushed inside and tried to assess the damage. But lip injuries are nasty and produce a lot of blood. So it was hard to tell what I was dealing with. I tried to give little girl a popsicle (which always makes her feel better) but she didn't even want one. And that's when I knew something was wrong. So off to the doctors we went. Michal met me there and I came home with Marco to put him to bed. As soon as I got him asleep, I began cleaning up the blood. There was a huge mess on the porch and a trail of blood inside to where we were sitting. It took me about an hour to clean up this mess, and since Michal hadn't returned home I kept on cleaning the house playing a game to see how much I could get done before they walked in the door. It also helped keep my mind occupied because I felt horrible about what had just happened. As luck would have it, the moment I finished cleaning the whole house (minus bathrooms) the garage door went up and in came Lily telling me she had an owe and needed a band-aid. And thats when I knew that everything would be okay.

The next day I pampered this little girl and let her eat whatever she wanted. Ice cream for breakfast, grilled cheese for lunch, and about 20 popsicles in between! Also in between we had to visit the pediatrician and the plastic surgeon. Both appointments yielded in no news (which is good news) but just plenty of attention and love for this little girl. It has taught me an important lesson to never be in a rush, and to be more cautious, but also that accidents happen. It could have been so much worse and I'm so grateful it was a minor scratch compared to any other alternative.

Puzzles

Let me start by saying, "I love puzzles."

(Disclaimer: Michal does not).

So to brainwash my child into liking puzzles (so that we can put them together together when she gets older) I decided to stock up on puzzles. I usually find them at local consignment sales and the puzzles I've purchased range in difficulty according to her skill level. 

The first time I brought out the puzzles, Lily sat there and quietly played by herself for over an hour. And a few times a week she still pulls them out and keeps herself busy for 30-45 minutes.

I never spend more than a dollar on each puzzle because they quickly become too easy for Lily. 

I never thought about pulling out the harder puzzles until Lily's Babcia sent over some Frozen puzzles. I opened them up for her and went to go feed Marco... and while feeding him - Lily was as quiet as could be... almost too quiet. So, I went to go see what she was up to and she had put together one of the puzzles completely on her own. I was completely blown away. I had no idea that she was this smart and could do this advanced of puzzles on her own. Granted... it was only 24 pieces - but she wasn't even 2.5 years old. 

Since then, I've brought puzzles to church every Sunday and Lily is so quiet and reverent and excited to put together her puzzles. Especially her "Jesus Puzzle" that Grammy sent her.

Since discovering her talent and liking for puzzles, I've tried to stretch her to see how hard of puzzles she can do. Within weeks she did a 48 piece puzzle, and just last week did a 60 piece puzzle. I've noticed that she can do puzzles of characters she easily recognizes, but when it's puzzles of animals, fish, trains, etc. she has a harder time fitting the pieces in the correct slots. I believe it's because she recognizes different characteristics of Elsa (her hair, her dress, her braid, etc.) whereas with trains, it's hard to recognize what fits together because it's not familiar or as intuitive to her.

I love this progression and how smart she is. I love how excited she gets every time she opens up a new puzzle and puts it together. I love how smart she is. 

And...

I can't wait until we put together our 100, 500, or 1000 piece puzzle together.

Lily 2.5 Year Dr. Appointment

August 14 - Lily had her 2.5 year wellness checkup to make sure that she is aging properly.

She was such a champ at getting measured. She didn't put up a fight and kept saying, "Look at me Mommy. Getting checked." 

For some reason I didn't get a print out of her stats, so I don't know what percentile she's in and I'm going to have to edit this post when I do find out what they are.

Height = 36.75 in (93.345cm) %

Weight = 29.2 lb (13.245 kg) %

Head Circumference = cm ( in) %

Marco also got weighed in. Because he is so small, they want to make sure that he is gaining enough weight proportionately. He only gained 1.5 ounces in 16 days. That made me worry, but the doctor didn't seem to concerned about it. Instead, she just gave me suggestions about high caloric foods to feed him now that he is not solely breastfeeding.

Meeting with the doctor is the best part. You get to hear how awesome/smart/adorable your children are - from a medical professional! Plus, this doctor makes checkups fun. Little kids don't like it when foreign objects are stuck in their ear, so she tells them that she is looking for the princesses. In our case, Lily only let her look in one ear to find the princesses - the other ear Lily wanted us to check and see if we could find Nemo. When she listens to her heart and lungs she makes it into a game and says that she is measuring her for a princess dress. Lily loved her appointment so much she had to give the doctor a hug good-bye before she left.

I used to dread doctor appointments, but now that Lily has so much fun and just adores our doctor, I look forward to them and can't wait to see each child's progression.

Kids Morning Out

August 11

This month's 'Kids Morning Out' was in historic Old Salem. And since the weather was overcast and didn't look too friendly, we thought that it would scare away most of the crowd - so we headed on over to check it out. 

This specific site was more intriguing for adults, but there wasn't as much for children to do.

The activities included:

 - Making clay marbles

- coloring

- eating one Moravian cookie

- story time

- tossing rings on a stick and bean bags in rings

- and touring the gardens

(and yes, that is my child who was trying to eat a jalapeño pepper while I was busy chatting with another mom).

To make this day more entertaining I decided to round up all the mothers and see if they wanted to do Chick-Fil-A lunch together. (Who doesn't just love chick-fil-a?) Unfortunately, the closest one didn't have a play area. 

I heard a bunch of the other moms saying that this particular KMO was a bust. It wasn't as fun and there weren't a whole lot of activities for the kids to do... but... I loved it. I love getting out. I love experiencing new things. I love watching Lily play with other children her age. I love interacting with other moms. My child's head was wet from her sweating. And the whole time she was running around squealing with delight. That to me is a successful morning. If she had fun it was all worth it.

Harrison's Birthday / Going Away Party

On August 8th the Sharpe family hosted a going away slash Harrison's second birthday part-ay! We love Harrison. We love the Sharpes. We put this on our calendar weeks in advance and started the count down for our last summer evening with this incredible family. 

In preparation for this party, Emily and John bought a huge water slide for the kids to play on. It was a hit. 

And in addition to the slide they had a huge blow up pool and lots of other activities (sidewalk chalk, cupcake eating, and swings) to keep the children entertained long enough for the adults to sit back and enjoy the company of everyone else present.

At first Lily was super nervous to climb up on her own and wanted Daddy there to make sure she was safe. But as soon as all the other kids were distracted by eating cupcakes, sidewalk chalk, and playing with all the toys Harrison opened - Lily took advantage of the empty slide and became brave. I had no idea that she would do this on her own. But she loved it. In fact, from how much she loved it, it kinda makes me want to get one of these slides just for her (and Marco).

This evening was perfect. Perfect food. Perfect company. Perfect weather. It was just so nice and relaxing and easy. I wish all Saturday evenings could be this entertaining and beautiful, but since they're not it sure makes me appreciate the ones that are!

Thank you Sharpe family for hosting a fun filled evening at your house and for inviting us to tag along. Happy Birthday Harrison! Thanks for being such a good friend to Lily!

Sharpe Family

The Sharpe Family

On August 13 this family left North Carolina to start a new adventure and chapter in their lives.

We didn't get to meet them right away when they moved into the ward, however, John was assigned to be our home teacher. Because of how open, honest, funny, and talented he seemed - we wanted to get to know his wife also, so we asked them to come over for dinner at our house. Not only is Emily extremely smart and kind but she and John compliment each other very well. Every time we spend time with them we have learned all sorts of interesting things about saving money, cool iPhone apps, how to take better pictures, cooking skills, unique gadgets, great Costco finds, and (most importantly) everything you ever wanted to know about anesthesia.  

Once we got to know them better we were always coming up with excuses to get together and play. We had countless Sunday dinners together, several date nights, great text message wars, and kept each other awake during Church when lessons weren't particularly interesting.

We cannot wait until we get to go on an epic adventure overseas together. We couldn't think of anyone else we'd rather travel with and go exploring other lands with.

Thanks for being such great friends! And thanks for all the memories we created together! We are really going to miss your family!