Where did July go?

I cannot believe that half of the summer is already gone! I think I have forgotten that the summer is for relaxing . . . hopefully I can make up for it in August. I spent the first full week of July helping with an Elementary Science Academy for the County Office. I had an amazingly fun week helping elementary teachers to see what science should look like in their classrooms and getting a look into what fun my kids are going to have when they start real school (we are two years away for Madeline, why does it seem so soon). I didn't like the reminder that pumping anywhere other than my usual places pretty much sucks, since I ended up spending twenty minutes three times a day pumping in my car with the air conditioner blasting so I wouldn't melt. The things I do for my baby! After the ESA week, I spent a week at SDSU for my Noyce fellowship. There, I had three pumping buddies and a breastfeeding mom and her adorable son to spend my pumping time with. It is a little ridiculous how many of us have already had babies and how many of the girls are pregnant currently considering that we have only been together for a year as a group. We may add scary numbers to the population of San Diego if this keeps up for the next four years!

Beating the heat

"I want it"

We have continued on our quest to sell the condo and buy a house. Sadly, nobody had put an offer in on the condo yet, but plenty of people have looked! Matt is hoping that if we drop the price a bit and have another open house, we may get a bite. If not, we may be renting the condo in the fall (not ideal, but doable). The upside is . . . we are in escrow on a super awesome perfect little house in Talmadge! It is a gorgeous little 1948 home. Updated, but still with its original floors, windows, kitchen cabinets, and charm. We are so excited to have a one-story house with a yard for the dogs and kids! I keep finding myself day-dreaming about decorating rooms and what I want to buy, but Matt is keeping me on a very short purchasing leash (at least while we have the condo still). The home inspection went well, the seller has been very nice, and all in all the process of purchasing a home has been way less painful than I expected. While I am so excited to be living in the new house, I am not at all excited about the process of moving. Part of me wants to pack everything in the house right now so that it is done, but I know I can't pack a lot while we are still showing the condo to potential buyers and living/eating in it! I am terrible at waiting and really think we should have gone with a short escrow!

I am so hanging this in the bathroom. Needless to say, Ella has begun pulling up to a stand!

In between all of this, we have been enjoying family time. We have spent as much time in the pool as possible. Due to Madeline's love of swimming as she continues with her lessons and to the knowledge that we won't so easily have a pool to swim in come the end of August. Madi is realling improving in the pool. She can climb out by herself now (elbow, elbow, pull up the belly, knee, knee). She likes to jump in and even get "rocketed" under to get her face wet. Madi's kicks, bubbles, and arm movements are getting stronger, but still have a way to go before they are coordinated. Eleanor has been enjoying the floatie. She loves being outside and the pool time is a natural extension of that, especially with warm water.

"Watch me Mom"

We had a small rain (with some awesome thunder). Madeline felt the need to dress for the weather!

Madi comes home from school now with very definite ideas about eating in or eating out. We have been hearing a lot of "I want to go to Miguel's for dinner." Since Ella is a thousand times easier to go out with now that she sits in a high chair and eats solids, we have been honoring Madi's request more often. Eleanor loves finger foods! She is eating pieces of french fries, anything steamed and small, small slices of melons, pizza crust, cheese, etc. It seems like she would much rather feed herself than eat off a spoon, so I am doing the best I can to accommodate her. I am not feeling as easy at the solid transition as I was with Madeline though. I am sure this has to do with the amount of time I have, but I also think the fact that Madeline was pretty much done nursing during the day by 7 months has something to do with it too. While Ella loves solids, she is very attached to the boob. I am just not sure how weaning is going to happen, but I know that we need to start soon! With how lovely the girls have been at restaurants, we decided it would be fine to bring them with us to Melanie's 40th birthday party at Tower 23 (they were invited). With the help of a few bouncy balls from Michael for Madi and Colden to play with and some french fries for Eleanor, the kids survived the couple hours at the restaurant very well! I am so glad we got the chance to celebrate with Mel!

Meaty Bloody Mary

Mel made Rose Macarons

Madi eating her Macaron

Look at my treat

"more fries"

Last week I wasn't technically working anywhere! Yay! This means that I worked at home for a day, ran a workshop one day, went to the County Office one day, went by school to see what I would be teaching for the last week of summer school, and tried to work in some pool/gym/reading time! It was the perfect balance of busy and relaxing. Madeline also requested a day with me since I wasn't working. She had earned a visit to Sea World with her bedtime stamps, so we decided that on our day together we would go to Sea World as soon as it opened, meet Daddy for lunch and then hang out at home together until swimming class. Sea World was perfect. We missed the majority of the crowds by arriving at 9 and leaving by 11:30. Madi loved the penguins, Belugas, and turtles. She actually touched the sting rays too! Madeline wanted to see the Orca show, but after ten minutes of sitting in the sun, she decided she was melting and we had to go. I can't decide if her feelings about the sun "agh, the sun, the sun is hitting me" are hilarious for a kid that lives in San Diego or just irritating. If she continues to feel this way, she may have to move in with Cat and Jeff in Portland. Madeline got to choose her favorite lunch of Mac and Cheese at Panera (so rich and yummy) and then we played with bubbles, painted on the patio, and tried for a little quiet time at home in the afternoon. It was such a nice day, I forgot how easy it is to just have my big girl with me! I am really looking forward to my individual days with the girls in August.

Eleanor's first time on the swing. Madi was very excited to have her sister with her!

The polar bear is back. He was very active (waiting for breakfast I think)

Too cute

We watched the fishies clean the turtle for about ten minutes

Johnson family

Sisters in love

Fourth of July!

July 4th was a Friday this year, allowing Matt and I to have a long weekend with the girls. I'm not sure if I have the love of long weekends that I used to! There was no sleeping in, no relaxing on the beach, and no laying in front of the tv. What we did have a ton of: snacks, whining, driving to induce naps, swimming, running, crying, and snuggles. Matt and I were more than ready to go back to work by Monday.
We celebrated the actual 4th at the Gross house. The Kelly's and Henrikson's also made it, providing many shrill little girls having fun and a couple of boys to add to the chaos. I am loving how much fun the girls have together. They "swam" in the kid pool and loved getting dragged by the dads along the slip and slide. There was sliding, swinging, and climbing on the playset. And digging in the sand box. Eleanor took advantage of her new skill of sitting, by hanging out in the shaded playpen on the patio. She played with toys, watched the other kids, and generally was super relaxed for most of the day.Madeline had an awesome time and was worn completely out when we put her in the car. This didn't mean she wanted to sleep in the car though, so we still had to endure a bit of a bedtime battle at home.

Learning to serve their dads beer

John in charge of the kids

First Otter Pop - Is 6 months too young?? Oh well, it helped the sore gums.

At the zoo with Dad

Look at me!

Matt trying to get some sleep in Madeline's bed after she woke up early and came to ours!

Ella is 6 months old, summer is here, and life keeps moving forward . . .

As usual, Matt and I can't stand to let life settle down around us. With the end of the regular school year, I somehow managed to fill my summer calendar (until August) with summer school, professional developments, my SDSU fellowship, and work for the county office. On top of this, as the school year came to a close, Matt (and I)  decided that it was time to put our condo on the market and really start looking for a house! We furiously cleaned, put our garage and some of our house stuff in storage and have spent the last week being ready to remove the dogs, kids, and messiness of daily life at a moment's notice.

Dining room all cleaned up

Living room looks huge when not filled with kid crap

Clean Kitchen!

Storage Unit

The girls and I spent the weekend of our open house in San Clemente. We got the double fun for our work of being out of the house to keep it clean, but also seeing Wendi and Kathy who were visiting from Wisconsin! We had gotten to seen them Tuesday night when they stayed with us (politely saying the couch and our close quarters were comfy, but I think that was exhaustion talking).

Dinner out

Playing at Grandma T's

Ella and Rivers (3 weeks older than her). I was so happy to see another big baby!

Guard dogs at Grandma T's

Lani and Bella resting

Eleanor is officially a half now (as Madeline puts it)! She is gigantic. I sometimes look at her in the morning and think she grew overnight! Matt had the fun of taking Ella for her 6 month appointment (and shots) poor guy. Eleanor's current stats are: weight - 18.9 pounds 90th percentile, height - 27 1/4 inches 90th percentile, head 17 1/4 inches 85th percentile. I wish I could compare this to Madeline's info, but my book is currently in storage so I can't. My guess is that Ella is bigger than Madi was at this age since she has almost regularly been in the 50th percentile weight and 75th percentile height. It's a little crazy to me that Ella is so big since Madi had much more formula in her diet and was better at eating solids at this age.
At 6 months, Eleanor is eating some cereal, cheerios, num nums, and has tried carrots, cantaloupe, watermelon, peaches, applesauce, and vegetable medley. She also had a little funfetti frozen yogurt. Ella doesn't seem to be stoked on pureed solids though she does love to try to pick up her cheerios. She is sitting extremely well and trying to pull up and hold herself in a stand against furniture. Ella babbles all of the time, blows tons of raspberries and has a giggle that brightens my mood every single time I hear it. She loves watching the dogs and Madeline, is very happy watching any of Madi's cartoons on tv and still prefers to sleep in our bed (though she does start most nights in the crib).

Solids

"I'll just eat this toast my sister made"

Hanging out on the green belt while people look at the condo

First dual bath!

Reading Pinkalicious. Ella is enthralled with Madi

We had the opportunity this week to take the girls to their first baseball game. Padres versus the Reds. We got tickets from Dru/Greg who now have offices at Petco Park (go Bumblebee Tuna). The seats were incredible (even though we only made it three innings in the seats since Madi got antsy) and the park has some amazing food and beer choices now. I haven't been to a game since I was pregnant with Madeline. Madeline's favorite park was the tot lot and cotton candy, Matt's was the seats and beer, mine was the wine tasting area, and Ella was just happy to be outside.

Madi and a piggie

"Cotton Candy!!!"

sweet seats

Padres Mickey

Swinging at the tot lot

Madi's favorite activity. Spinning!

 We are fighting bedtime battles with Madeline (it's awful), trying out a sticker chart to get her to go to bed without screaming and kicking. I know we will get past this time and that I will look back at it with humor (Occasionally I have to be careful not to laugh directly at Madi when she throws a fit. She is little and furious and so darn funny). We've been having so much fun, even though life is too crazy and too busy. The quiet times at home are even more relaxing than before. I love the time I get to spend with my girls and seeing how well they are growing.

Madi and I doing a Pinterest Project

Jameson baking

Posing dogs

Sisters in the playroom

Summer is coming!

We had a fabulous weekend getting ready for summer fun. On Saturday we relaxed around the house, did some chores (like taking Jameson to get his nails trimmed) and then went out to dinner at Station Tavern since Madeline wanted to "eat out." She has begun making this request at least once a week. Matt and I usually say yes since, if she asks to go out, Madi tends to be in a great mood for the whole meal. It has been getting easier to go to dinner, Ella is starting to be in a better mood at the table though she grabs everything her hands come into contact with!

Ready for bed

Saucer time - Ella is able to reach, pull, and chew all of the toys now!

Sunday was a full day. The girls and I went to church in the morning. Eleanor struggled a bit due to being exhausted but refusing to nap, but Madeline was awesome! She ate her snack, sat in the pew and tried to follow along with what I was doing for mass. Post-church we picked up Matt and headed to Mission Bay for a birthday party for twins in Madeline's class. It was wonderful to see Madi playing with friends she knows. She is such an introvert that in new situations or with new people, Madi becomes very shy and drops back to observe. This means that she often spends time with people being very quiet and not playing. She also tends to need warm-up time with our friends' kids since many are bigger than she is or are already playing together when we get somewhere. Matt and I worry that we model this introvert behavior ourselves (unconsciously) and have both been trying hard to jump right into conversations with people when she is with us. Seeing Madi be able to go up to a group of kids she knows and get right to playing, running, etc was something we both needed to witness!
After the party, we headed home to try to get naps out of the kids (we failed at this). Then we packed up and went to the Sullivan house for a pool party. Of course, the kids fell asleep in the car. Matt hung out in the driveway with them (Ella lasted about ten minutes, but Madi lasted half an hour). Jeremy and Soledad were there with their 5 year old daughter, Lilah. After some shy time and with help from Mom talking to Lilah, the girls eventually began playing together in an out of the pool. Madeline had no fear in regards to getting right in the pool (I am sure this was helped by the super warm temperature) and was excited to show Matt some of what she has been learning in swimming. She did ice-cream scoops using the pool noodles and lots of kicking. Madeline also learned about how great pool loungers are. She and Lilah spent quite some time on and off the floating loungers! Eleanor had a quick dip in the pool. She didn't cry and seemed to enjoy it. She then spent the remainder of the afternoon in the exersaucer or in the Bjorn. I finally got a nap out of her and that helped the evening along tremendously! It was a gorgeous night and just the fun we needed. I was so sad driving home to realize that I still have a week (and more) of work left!

Pool time

Pool play with Daddy

Noodle fun!

Ella borrowing William's saucer. She was entertained for hours.

Growing Growing

The girls are growing in leaps and bounds right now. Like every parent, I think they are growing way too quickly and (in some areas) way too slowly, all at the same time. Matt and I are waiting, very impatiently, for Eleanor to start sitting up. Not that she is behind at all! We put her in the exersaucer, strap her into the high chair, lean her on pillows and generally encourage her to work on her core! She laughs at us and tips over regularly. In other areas, Ella is already moving ahead. She has two bottom teeth (two!!!) and is eating rice cereal with her breakfast and dinner. It took Eleanor only a day or two to figure out how to get food off the spoon and scoop it with her tongue. She loves the cereal, but will show her lovely gag reflex if you try to feed her more than a tablespoon per meal. Fruit will be tried next week.

The face Ella makes when I try to take a picture of her teeth. Not helpful!

Happy Madi!

Ella using a high chair out for the first time

Madeline had her first swimming lesson this week. Though she is comfortable in the water thanks to the time we spend in the pool at home, she needs to learn how to swim without a floatie and safely. I was sure Madeline would refuse to get in the pool at her first lesson (since I don't have to get in, yay!), but she did it! Admittedly, Madi was timid about the water and a little shy of her teacher and classmates, but she got in, she paid attention, and she learned! I managed not to say something extremely rude to the mother who was so busy on her phone that she didn't even notice her rude child spit water in Madi's face or continually misbehave for the 30 minute lesson, so props to me too! I am guessing that I won't be able to contain myself through many more classes, so I have been working on polite ways to ask her to discipline her daughter when she does something rude to mine. I have also been reminding Madi to use her "no thank you" for the kids in her lessons just like she does at school. Part of me figures if I leave it alone, Madeline might solve the problem her way . . . with teeth. I don't want her to bite, but I am okay with it if the problem with this little brat gets solved. These are the times when I wonder what kind of mom I am.

Hanging out on the "pirate ship" practicing her "mermaid hands"

After a great Memorial Day at the New Children's Museum and the carousel with Brennan and Eric, we may have just had our best weekend yet as a family of four humans! On Friday, Matt and I had a grown-up night out for dinner and the Book of Mormon. Dinner was great, especially since we had some friends go with us and we have not all been out to dinner together since before we all had kids. The play was hilarious. I almost peed my pants a few times, and have been singing some of the song lines to myself all week. While we had a playdate, Madeline had her first sleepover at Jocelyn's. They ate frozen yogurt before dinner, played with the kitties, colored, and generally ran around. I am so proud of Madi for spending the whole night and being okay in the morning! Thanks to Amelia for being willing to take her on, we are ready for Jocelyn to stay here whenever you are! Eleanor also had a first, she stayed with Melanie and Axel while we went out, managed to go to sleep around 7, and stay that way until we picked her up! Thanks Schwarz family for taking our little pumpkin on! On Saturday we had a beach bbq with friends. It is so much fun to see the girls running around together, digging in the sand, eating hot dogs, and looking at the babies. (yes girls, since little William is the only boy in a sea of girls).

Madi and Joss enjoying dessert first!

Ella sleeping in Aunt Mel's arms.