Playground Olympics

There is a point to all this eventually, so keep reading. I'm wordy and like giving background info. :)

I am so inspired by the Olympics! Part of me wishes I had pursued some sport a little more than I did, which was not at all, in my growing up years. I'm not much for team sports or even watching that much but I love individual sports. I think I might have enjoyed and maybe even been good at either swimming, track or gymnastics though not of Olympic caliber of course! Some of the other individual sports I like to watch are diving, syncronized swimming, figure skating, snow skiing, ski jumping and snowboarding. One team sport I enjoy is bobsledding.

So back to being inspired. I've been working really hard this summer to get the bed rest/pregnancy weight off that seems to cling to me like a 2 year old. :) I thought I was doing so well. I could get into more and more of my pants and looked much thinner. I'd been walking about 2 miles with my boys (around 60+ lbs with stroller) 3-4 times a week purposely hitting the hills around here, and unlike Oklahoma, there are some doozies around our neighborhood! Plus my sister had shown me some stretches/exercises that I tried from time to time. However, I was greatly disappointed when I went for my well-woman exam! How could it be that with all that hard work I'd barely lost 7 lbs since my post partum exam?? So, now I'm more instpired.

Also, Eric is going to hike a 14,000 ft mountain in Colorado over Labor day weekend while I'm basking in the rays on the beach with my sister and the rest of the family. :) He's been training for that doing stairs, going for runs and bike rides. So I want to do more of the same.

However, I am finding it more and more difficult even to get the walks in. David sleeps so much!! I am a nap nazi so I don't want to sacrifice his naps for my exercise. Plus, since the weather has been somewhat cooler (95 instead of 105!), I've been walking straight to the school playground in the mornings and letting Wes slide and swing a lot before school starts when we wont be able to use the playground anymore. So my walks are a lot shorter.

So how can I maximize my time and use the inspiration from the Olympics, my hubby and my lack of weight loss? It has been coming to me slowly over the last few days. Stay with me! As I said, this does have a point!

I was in Costco the other day and saw a cook book designed for Paleo diets which I had only vaguely knew about. I came home and googled about it because some of there recipes sounded good. While perusing, one sight had a link to a type of fitness method and business called Crossfit. We just so happen to know someone who has opened a Crossfit gym in Oklahoma. So I knew a little about that. It uses medicine balls, running, squats, pulls up, rings, rope climbing, gymnastics, jump roping, handstands, etc. with lots of variation. (This is a very bad summary!) I like it because it does have so much variation. I googled the links they had and googled some more because I obviously don't have the time to fit in a gym membership! I found lots of Crossfit-like exercises that I can do at home with no weights. Then I googled Calisthenics and came up with lots of good stuff. I wrote down a list of things I could do late last night.

So while I was at the playground with Wes today it came to me. Why don't I do these exercises while I'm out here with Wes. For instance, pull-ups. I don't have a place in my house to do those so I tried to do them on the monkey bars. Ha! In one of the 50 free Crossfit routines that I found, one of the options was something like 50 pull-ups, 50 sit-ups, 50 push-ups, 3 times! Well, I couldn't even do one pull up! How sad! So I decided just to cross the monkey bars. That was hard too but I managed to do it 3 times! I think I could have done more but my hands were rubbing blisters. Then I just tried climbing on the various climbing things on the playground, like up the sliding pole. Then I did some swinging which can really be a leg and arm workout if you do it long enough. However, since I've had David my stomach gets queasy if I swing to hard and high. Then I did some jumping jacks. I strapped the boys in and tried to sprint (while pushing the stroller) for a little ways. Then I did it again, two more times. When I got home I did some ab exercises, attempted some somersaults and I wanted to do some push-ups but David wanted his bottle more. I had a great time!

It gave me the idea that I can do this all the time wherever I am, in the backyard, at the playground, on vacation, etc and most I can do in the house during winter. So I made a list of a lot of exercises that appealed to me below. Maybe I'll see you on the playground! :)

Calisthenics 

Push ups 

Dips

Pull ups

Arm circles

Crunches

Bridge

Front plank

V sit

Hula hoop

Leg lifts

Sprints

Jumping

Elevated jumping

Squats

Squat jump

Split squat jump

Calf raises

Stairs

Upside down bicycle

Cycling

Swimming

Lunges

Jumping jacks

Hand stands

Somersaults

Jump rope

Back extension 

Wessie

Wow! There is so much to say about Wes. He's doing SO much!

He's talking up a storm! He is starting to put lengthy sentences together. Other people may not understand what he's saying but I can generally pick up what he's saying if there is some context for it. He says words that I didn't know he'd even heard of! He has good grammar and sentence structure and tries to really say a word correctly by looking at your mouth when you say it.

We are in the thick of potty training with him. Finally, I feel up to doing it and it's hot outside and we don't have anything else really going on. It has been a long haul; we are going on three weeks of trying. He does go in the big potty sometimes but he still has lots of accidents. We had a breakthrough tonight because he asked to go to the potty and he actually went! He's never asked to go before! Hurray!

Teaching a bear how to "go potty." This is what Mommy does when Wes is on the potty. Sit on the stool and read stories to him. 

Also, he learned several weeks ago how to climb out of his crib. So now he's sleeping in a twin bed with a rail. Since then his sleep has greatly suffered because he doesn't want to stay in the bed! Mamma and Papa and Baby Brother's sleep has all suffered as well! We've tried EVERYTHING to get him to go to sleep and stay in the bed. He does now go to sleep in the bed instead of on the floor  or under the bed which is a huge improvement but it still takes him a while to do it and he wakes up much earlier than when he was in the crib.

When he first started climbing out of his crib, naps were tough to get him to take. This was after such an attempt.  We was VERY hard to wake up! Thankfully his naps are much better now.

He is also learning lots of other big boy stuff. He can put his uneaten food in the trash and then puts his dishes in the dishwasher, all by himself! He helps to unload the dishwasher and does a great job and just loves to do it. He loves to help with anything! He loves to help Mama cook and bake by adding ingredients and stirring and tasting. This is one of Mamma and Wesley's favorite activities together. He tries to sweep but that gets kind of messy. He's good at cleaning up his own messes too and helping wipe the table after breakfast. He still loves vacuuming too and gets quite upset if I don't let him help in some way. He also helps Mamma water the flowers which sometimes turns into just spraying the hose all over himself. He can put his clothes in the laundry basket and he helps me do the laundry, transferring clothes from the washer to the dryer, from the basket to the washer or the dryer to the basket.

Wes likes to try on our shoes and to put our shoes on us. 

Wes also really enjoys coloring with markers. We are going to go broke keeping enough clean paper around for him! He just colors page after page after page. And he LOVES stickers! For some reason he finds it fascinating and hilarious to put stickers on our lips and pile them on top of each other all around our mouth or between our eyes. He decorated Mogley with stickers today.

Outside he likes to pile rocks up and transfer them from one pile to another or throw them in buckets of water. He also likes to throw the dirt around in Mamma's vegetable garden and eat Mamma's unripe tomatoes when I'm not looking!!!! Ahhh!!! He's picked them clean! I'm a hopeless tomato grower. One year it was Mogley who ate them. Last year a huge tomato worm cleaned out my plant overnight and this year Wesley has done the job. At least he can't pick the zucchini! He does like to help me in the garden though and tries not to step on the flowers.

Yes, he threw a piece of a log in his pool then wanted to drive through his pool with his big wheel. 

Wes is a fish!!! He really loves the water and swimming. He's only been swimming 3 or 4 times this summer in a big pool but he just loves it! This past Sunday he was putting his head under the water and jumping off the side of the pool and purposely wanting to go under water when he did! He was also trying to actually swim by kicking his legs and paddling with his arms. I'm so glad he's not afraid of the water because we love it too!

Going down the slide at the pool. 

He's still just as friendly as ever! He still says hi to everyone he sees, stranger or not.

He's been learning some things at church called a toddler catechism. So the first question is "Who made you?" Answer: "God made you." The next question is "What else did God make?" Answer: "Everything." There are about 6 or 7 questions they've been learning throughout this summer about God and the Bible and Jesus. Wesley's answer to every question is Jesus. The other day I asked him how old he is and he said "Jesus." I was also trying to teach him to say his name when someone asks him, "What is your name?" Every time I asked him his reply was, "Jesus!" I'm not sure where he got this from but I guess it's not a bad thing that his answer for everything is Jesus! :)

He still really enjoys music as well. He asks me to play music and wants me to sing songs to him, especially ones with some kind of movement. He's starting to learn to sing along to some of them and will spontaneously start singing one song in particular called Hot Cross Buns. It's one of the songs on one of his children's cds. He also likes to sing "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus." Mamma's sings this to him at nap time every day. We just recently acquired a piano and Wes enjoys "playing" it. It seems like he's really seen someone playing before because he plays it likes he's imitating a professional. It is quite funny.

One way to describe Wes is "physical." He is a constant machine in motion and everything he does has some kind of physical element to it - jumping, running, spinning, climbing, rolling, riding, pushing, pulling, throwing, wrestling, tickling, hugging, kissing and generally just flitting about. It can be very tiring but it is fun to watch.

Well, that is all for now. Hope you've enjoyed this tour through Wessie's life. (Wessie is Mamma's nickname for him.) Enjoy the rest of the pics.

Enjoying a snack after a hard swim.

He loves strawberries!

Chilling out while Mommy and Papa rearrange the house to find room for the piano. (Sorry it's fuzzy!)

Both our boys napping on the stroller ride. David woke up and was cooing and cackling but Wes kept right on snoozing, didn't budge a bit.

David - "The Godfather"

Finally, he will stand being on his stomach if he's propped up on the boppy. 

So I am sure you are wondering why we titled a post about our youngest after a mobster movie. Well, I was listening to David coo and babble as he does quite often, especially when he's tired, and it dawned on me that he has the voice of the "Godfather" except with a slightly higher pitch. Really, it's kind of low in the back of the throat and very breathy and not really loud at all. Just imagine the "Godfather" trying to sound like a 5 month old and that is what David sounds like!

David is a very laid back little guy. He goes with the flow and just generally hangs out with us if he's not sleeping, which he does still more than most babies I know his age. He takes 3 solid naps and sometimes a 4th cat nap in the late afternoon, usually on the deck in the bouncy seat if it's not 100 degrees or more outside. He usually dozes off in the stroller too. He sleeps from about 7:00pm to 6:30am with no interruption. It is very easy to tell when he gets tired. He just starts his little Godfather coos, gets a little louder until finally he's screeching. But if you get him to bed before the screeching he just goes right to sleep. He loves his crib too. He just smiles when I put him in it. And he's so happy when I go in to get him up. He smiles with his tongue sticking out and kind of acts bashful but has bright, happy blue eyes and looks at me with such delight.

For activity, I guess he does what most babies do. He kicks his legs a lot when he's in the bouncy seat, but this is usually when he's getting tired too. He loves looking at the trees outside and loves looking out windows. He's starting to enjoy being on his stomach a little more, but only if you prop him up on the boppy. I'd say his favorite toy still is his mobile. He also loves his little baby keys that he gets a little crazy with.

Any ideas who he looks like???

He really is pretty content doing just about anything, just about anywhere with or without toys. If he has no toys he enthralls himself with his fingers and thumbs and fist, looking at them closely or sucking and gnawing on them. He's becoming pretty adept at finding and sucking his thumb. He blows tons of bubbles and makes tons of raspberries and experiments with his voice and other sounds. It is so fun to listen to him. He also really likes to be sung too. He looks at you with delight and sometimes tries to sing along too. He's got such a funny little laugh. He goes, "huh, huh."

Sucking his thumb while watching his mobile.

He's a drool monster but there are no signs of teeth. He has rolled over a few times but he's just not into  it that much. In sits in the Bumbo a lot and can pull himself up to sitting in the Bumbo but outside of it, he's a limp rag. He just falls right over if you try to sit him up with nothing around him. Like I said, he's super laid back! I thought Wes was, but definitely not like this! Wes was much more active and spirited. David does like to sit up and see what is going on, just to be an onlooker. It takes things in but doesn't have that intense look of curiosity like Wes had. It just amazes me how you can tell differences in personalities in babies at such a young age. Of course, I'm not expecting them to have the same personality even if they were biological brothers, but I just find it fascinating how even though David is so young I can already see some personality. I think he gets it much more from Eric than from me!

Sitting in the Bumbo in the late afternoon. This is his tired look. 

I've started feeding him some baby food too, just a week or two ago. So far he's only had pears and squash. He makes the most awful face every time I feed him the first spoonful. After a few spoonfuls, he realizes how much he likes it and starts opening up his mouth like a little bird. He does pretty well with it, not too messy. He only eats a little though. He's not such a big eater. He does let  you know eventually when he's hungry and he's gotten on a good schedule (after mamma got a little lax with it for a while). He doesn't really eat a whole lot, on the low end of what most babies his age eat (Wes was always at the top end, which can be typical for a preemie once they figure out how to eat well - trying desperately to catch up) and he guzzles it up really fast. This is such a huge improvement from 2 or 3 months ago when it was taking us at least an hour to feed him!

A funny face after a taste of pears. He likes squash a lot better!

However, you would not know that he is a light eater! He's HUGE! He's wearing 9 month clothes most of the time. They are a little roomy in the girth but not in the length in the footie pajamas. His toes are at the end! I thought he and Wes would be able to wear the same clothes but David is at the end of what Wes wore during summer and we still have a few more months of warmth. All of Wes's 12 month stuff is for the dead of winter - thick, warm clothes and pajamas. But even though he looks beefy and long, it is quite deceptive. He's really pretty light when you pick him up. At his 4 month appointment he weighed almost 14 lbs (25th percentile) and was almost 26 inches long (84th percentile).

Look how big I am!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Boy! 

A swim with Papa.

He smiles with his eyes! 

David's 4 Months Old!

It is amazing how quickly David is developing and growing!

David still spends most of his time sleeping so there is not a ton to write about but he has definitely woken up to the world compared to the last time I wrote. 

He is such a happy little guy. I call him "happy, smiley." He is very content unless he gets super tired or super hungry. Even then he's still pretty laid back. He responds to any attention with big gummy, tongue-y grins and happy, bright eyes. He likes to smile at big brother and watch him, too.

He loves to coo. He's makes the sweetest cooing sounds and does it for quite a long time. I thought Wesley was very vocal but David just might have him beat! David is much quieter about his vocalizations though. 

David is quite good at soothing himself. He still enjoys a pacifier from time to time but is pretty happy sucking on any finger and sometimes all fingers at once! I've seen him try to cram both of his fists in his mouth at once! He generally likes two fingers (not a specific two just whichever ones make it in) or his thumb. And when he's sucking he makes the loudest slurping sounds. You can hear him across the house! He thoroughly enjoys it. 

Like his older brother Wes, he is totally enamored with his mobile. He just cackles when it is going and it is the ultimate soother. There has only been one time when the mobile wasn't sufficient to calm him if he was overtired or when we couldn't quite feed him yet because Wes needed tending to. 

He also likes a colorful caterpillar rattle, his toy keys and a set of three plastic, textured rings. A little gray bunny I made for Wes is becoming a favorite too. He also loves stroller rides. He almost always falls asleep. In fact he can sleep almost anywhere! He sleeps in the bouncy seat a lot in the late afternoon while we are all outside and sometimes on Mommy and Daddy's bed - not when they are in it though. 

He is such a sweetheart and an easy baby. He gives obvious cues for sleeping and eating and he just kind of goes along with whatever is going on here. Once he's asleep, he's pretty well out. The other day Wes became very quiet and so I wondered what he was up to. He'd climbed into David's crib and had snuggled up next to him. David didn't budge. In fact, he was so still even through the process of me getting Wes out of the crib that I had to make sure he as still breathing! 

Lastly, David is not so tiny anymore. I think he's still a light-weight for his age but he is long! He is outgrowing his clothes so quickly. I put an outfit on him the other day that Wesley wore loosely at 6 months. It fit David perfect. Not because he fills it out but because his body is so long. I an anxious to see how long he is at his appointment this Friday. He's gotten big and strong enough to sit in his Bumbo seat too. 

So that is about it for now. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. 

The French Chef: Getting The Onion Out

I have stumbled upon a great treasure. We subscribe to Amazon Prime and one of the perks is the ability to view many old movies and tv shows. I've been able to watch Downton Abbey, All Creatures Great and Small, Antiques Road Show, Star Trek: The Next Generation (did I really just sdmit that?) and Thomas the Train for Wesley. And to my great delight I've found The French Chef, Julia Child's cooking show! Ive kearned so much from her just by watching 3 episodes! So I thought I'd share some tidbits that I learn from her from time to time. Here's the first.

Julia says that after chopping onions, rubbing your hands with salt and then washing them makes the onion smell go away.

So, I tried it and it worked! It only takes a little salt, maybe half a teaspoon or less. I didn't measure; I just sprinkled some in the palm of my hand, spread it around, especially at the finger tips where the pungency seems to be the worst. Then I gave my hands a rinse. There was no lingering onion odor. Hurray!

I can't wait to see what else I learn.

Our Dear Wesley

Finally, I have a bit of time to devote to a blog entry about Wes. I am going to start posting on this site as well - the same thing on his blog.  

Wes is growing in to quite the cute little boy. He’s already 2 yrs and 3 months old! He is still very talkative and more and more we can actually understand what he’s saying! It is so, so fun to actually be able to communicate with him now. 

Enjoying a bit of Nutella, an occasional special treat. :)

He has such a cute personality. He has a playful personality and laughs a lot. He can also be quite serious and very curious. He’s always asking, “What’s that?” He loves going on walks and adores playing outside. While outside he helps Mamma water plants and pull weeds. He also loves to pull his wagon around the neighborhood and ride his big wheel on the deck. A new thing that he enjoys is playing with a tub of water and the hose - pouring water from different sized cups to others and playing with some of his bath toys. (He loves doing this inside at the kitchen sink as well, making for up to an hour of entertainment and a big mess!)I can’t wait till it warms up a bit more so he can play in his little swimming pool. He also just enjoys watching the birds at the bird feeder, listening for the different kinds of birds, digging for worms and chasing ants. Of course, if the neighbors are out he MUST say hi to them. Wes also loves trying to find the helicopters and airplanes when he hears them flying overhead. 

Pulling his wagon around the neighborhood

We keep this little riding toy inside most of the time so that he can have something to scoot around on inside. 

He is more social than ever, never meeting a stranger, especially if he initiates the greeting. He loves to be read to and enjoys picking out the books for us to read. He likes Mamma to sing to him when he goes “night-night”. He likes to sing and pray at breakfast time too and frequently reminds us when we forget. He loves listening to music, especially classical and bluegrass. Also, though we try to limit how much tv he watches, we do let him watch a little bit most days. He loves to watch Thomas the Train, his favorite and ours (because it is so simple and slow-paced), as well as Curious George, and Bob the Builder. When he wants to watch something he points to the tv and asks, “Trains?” or “Girge? or “Bob?” 

He’s been asking to sit on the potty and will read books for quite a while on the potty. Occasionally he goes on the potty. He definitely doesn’t like wearing a diaper though. 

Just recently we purchased a zoo pass. He loved watching the gorilla, elephants and polar bear. He also loves to swing and slide. We go to a “toddle time” at the community center every now and then so he gets to ride around on a bunch of different riding toys and interact with other little people. Coloring is a new interest although he still thinks it is more fun to eat and break the crayons than to actually color with them. He’s recently acquired some train track for all of his trains and he has a great time playing with those in his room. He’s also gotten really good at building things with his blocks, especially cars. 

This is something he gets to play with from time to time. It is a mix of  dried pasta, lentils and chick peas with various kitchen utensils. I loves it but it makes a big mess! We save it for rainy days.

He is doing okay with his new little brother David. He can be so sweet with him, telling me when he’s crying, giving him kisses, but then he’ll just whack him with something out of the blue just to see what happens. He is quite concerned for him as well though. He tells us that he’s hungry or sleepy and makes sure that we don’t leave him when we go somewhere. Once we were all out for a walk with his wagon. I had David in a sling but I don’t think Wes could see him. About 3/4 of the way through the walk, Wes shouted, “Beeby?! Beeby?1” as if to say, “Wait, where is the baby? Did we leave him? We must find him!” I had to show him David and then he was okay. 

Yay! I was finally able to grab a picture with the two of them together. 

We’ve enjoyed a couple of visits from Grandpa and Grandma Taylor and from Aunt Elizabeth. He even got to stay with Grandpa and Grandpa by himself for several days. He had a blast riding on a four wheeler, going to the park and Grandpa’s building and just playing with his grandparents. 

This was taken at Grandpa and Grandmas but just not with them. :(

Though he definitely has the traits of a two year old - testing all boundaries and desperately wanting independence, he is an absolute delight! We have so much fun with him!

Popcorn has become a new favorite snack. He asked for it frequently after his nap.

He loves helping Mamma cook, especially cookies.