Clearly Ryan has been watching some You Tube lately. The girls find the most random stuff....PG of course, but random Barbie tutorials and play-dough how-to's. It must be rubbing off b/c the other day I caught her in the midst of production. This video is only one in a series of 4 or 5.
A few notes.
1. She uses the word 'persevere' - slightly incorrectly, but adorably placed nonetheless. It happens to be in her school creed so it is used daily.
2. Emerson's choking on cauliflower halfway through sounds worse than it was....love Ryan's quick dismissal of it.
3. We were in the midst of organizing the room so hence the random placement of items.
I will leave you as I'm sure you are anxious to learn how to draw flowers....
Blogging is becoming hard and for no good reason.....my apologies. A video of Reese dancing with cameos by Emerson (head bobbing and clapping) in return for your forgiveness.
I love my car. I really do. Especially since it has long since been paid off. But when the day comes that I get a minivan, I will be ecstatic. Currently all three ladies sit side by side in my back seat. Not ideal because A. Emerson has to sit on the side since there is no way I could get her seat in and out with two car seats on the ends. B. Even though Ryan could technically sit in a booster seat, they are so jam packed that buckling and unbuckling the seat belt would be almost impossible. Leading to C: they are so jam packed back there. As in she's hitting me, she's looking at me, her arm touched my arm jam packed. So every now and then I somewhat feel like riding in the car is a punishment, especially on extra ornery/crabby/sleep deprived days. Yesterday was no exception. Instead of quietly losing my mind, I turned on my video camera so I could 'see' everything that was going on after rounds of "Ryan kicked me....Reese elbowed me...Ryan's looking at me". I drove in silence for the remaining 8 minutes of my drive (sped up for your 2+ minute enjoyment). I especially like that they can ban together to do sort of a synchronized backseat driving routine (of which I had no idea they were essentially mocking me by playing into the camera the whole time as I was obviously driving and not watching them), I apparently need to tighten Reese's seat belt a bit more, and Ryan could be a mime.
But hey, they stopped fighting. So granted my right arm was numb from holding the camera up for 8 minutes, a little physical pain is worth a peaceful car ride. Am I right or am I right?
My little Reesers loves LOVES her sleep. You don't have to ask the girl twice to take a nap or go to bed (when she's ready). Anyway, she starts afternoon preschool (2 days a week) later this month so I haven't been pushing the naps - if she wants one, great.....if not, fine by me. On days she does though, they tend to be later and later in the afternoon....fine and dandy until she's like a crack addict at 9pm because she slept so late in the day. So I wake her up, usually no later than 4pm.....even if she just fell asleep 30 minutes prior. Yesterday I filmed it so I had another excuse to play around with my Vintagio app. A couple notes: Yes, she naps in our bed. Yes, she sucks her thumb. I could care less about the first, but working on correcting the second. Her beloved blanket (which goes hand in hand with the thumb sucking) has been relegated to sleep time only and sometime in the near future will be sent off in a farewell party to hopefully help kick this habit to the curb. If anyone out there has any tips or advice, sent it my way!
I'm so far behind with this blog that I don't even know where to begin to backtrack and catch up....so I'm not going to worry about it and just jump on in with this fun new app our friends turned us onto. Vintagio. You can take your video(s), set them to music and give them one of a few vintage finishes. For whatever reason the way the video was edited down it cut-off the girls' heads in most instances....but you already know what these ladies look like so imagine them with full craniums. It's my first post back, you can't expect perfection... While we were out in Colorado we caught up with my cousins one night and Ryan was gifted with the motherload of old dance costumes. It was raining Jon Benet outfits. At one point, Ryan came up to the group of adults sitting around outside and proudly announced that the 'show' would soon be starting in the basement and we were all to come down and watch. Here's the recap.....
I could not be more proud of Ryan.....she has come a long way this summer - it has been frustrating at times to say the least - but thanks to a couple of weeks with Mr. Chuck the lady did her first jump off the diving board this past weekend when we went to the pool with some friends. I can now say ISR lessons are the way to go (at least for our family) - if you are in St. Louis and considering it for your babe(s), call Mr. Chuck! You can start 'em out as early as 6 months - we'll actually enroll Emerson next spring so that in a perfect world, next summer we'll join a pool and I will feel confident taking three kids by myself during the day. A few tips from Mr. Chuck: pour, pour, pour water on your babies' heads during bath time. I made the cardinal error of trying to keep the water out of Ryan's eyes and it was a beast of a time getting her to not freak out about water in her eyes. So when Emerson takes a bath, it's like she's showering under Niagara Falls. And water wings are bad news bears. We were super guilty on that one all last summer. They instill false confidence and teach kids to try and swim upright when they really need to be horizontal. It's definitely a time commitment but so worth it, especially if you don't have the ability to teach your kids yourself. Reese will be finished with her lessons this week and then Ryan will finish at the end of next week for a grand total of about 6 weeks of lessons, everyday (Mon-Fri), 10 minutes per day, per child. ISR is a national program so if you are out-of-state you can find a local instructor here.
Pardon my obnoxious voice at the end of the video....do I really sound like that? *cringe*
My other pool-ready gals....Reese caught on much faster than Ryan did, so starting them early is key before they learn a zillion bad habits.
We can thank Emerson and her 4:30am wide awake chat session for this early morning post. While she has since settled back into a nice slumber, I am, of course, now wide awake with coffee and Morning Joe. Tired but enjoying the quiet. Anyway, I have random photos sitting in my iPhoto library that haven't been blogged (some are out there on Instagram) and some videos I'm trying to upload as well. Get excited.....27 (yes, twenty-seven + a video!!!) photos for your Wednesday morning enjoyment. How's that for a little 5:45am productivity?
Grant as a wee babe.... I see Emerson, anyone else?
He still poses like this after a bath...
Best buds...
Baby cheeks......and no, I'm not nursing mom:) She may or may not have thought I was emailing around a cute pic of Emerson while I was feeding her. That would be my arm.
Christopher was here a few weeks ago and he and Reesers did what they do best. Fight and be naked.
Ryan got some fun sprinkler/water toys for her birthday....Reese particularly liked the hop-scotch mat. I particularly liked watching her try to keep her balance, the darn thing was slippery as heck but Reese got a kick out of it. And thankfully no broken bones.
We have some nice neighbor friends down the street who have two older girls so lucky us, we are often on the receiving end of some really nice hand-me-down toys. This time around, a cute puppet stage. Reese gave us a show while Ryan and "Sparkles" watched and/or heckled.
Brown eyed girl.
Swimming is going well....love, love, love Mr. Chuck and Infant Swim. Reese on top, Ryan on bottom here.
Emerson even got a turn this week.....she'll get her turn for real next spring.
Ryan giving Sparkles a roller-skating lesson while Emerson and pile-o-Barbies patiently wait.
Dog on baby. Funny?
iPad viewing
New talent....
Goggles are key to success...
Smiles
Dad's car wash dates. Please keep in mind, these gals dress themselves. So Ryan's choice of neon orange ribbon-serving-as-belt is all her. Same with Reese's ruffle overload.
A little video to accompany the car wash....
Emerson and I went out to my folks awhile back for a slumber party, so Grant had a cross-off-the-St.Louis-bucket-list evening with Ryan and Reese and drove them over to Belleville, IL for a drive-in movie.
Killing time before the movie started...
Sisters helping sisters steal boatloads of paint chips....
Buds
Ms. Ryan
This girl, I tell ya.....she randomly came in with her swimsuit and goggles, got on the floor and proudly pronounced that she was practicing her swimming for Mr. Chuck.
After bath mirror admiration...
That's it! The girls did just start dance camp this week which is beyond precious so I'll have to get back to you all with some photos and videos.
What does one do when they have their cousin over.....why you dance! Duh.
*disregard the collision at the end, it's all part of the dancing art form - no small children were hurt in the making of this 'film'
New Year's Eve is always a good time to go through the old pics and videos.....thankfully my husband has yet to delete a single thing off his phone so imagine my delight and surprise when he had about 2500 pictures and videos dating back before Ryan arrived. Talk about tear producer (almost as bad as an episode of Parenthood)....I can't even believe the video below is of Ryan. I hardly remember her at this stage anymore and it's been a mere two+ years. Where the higgity hell has time gone? The attitude, voice, general craziness made me think it was Reese at first....even when I just showed Reese the video she was insistent it was her, not Ryan. Time needs to sloooooowwwww down. Let 2013 be the year of slowness (totally possible with 3 kids under 5, right?).
Simple disclaimer for any child protective services readers out there.....this was quite obviously Reese's crib at the time, not Ryans'. Thank you. Please don't show up at our house. Although, looking at it now, two big violations regardless of which child was in it: bumpers and it was a drop side crib. Fine. Show up at our house.
We're still here. Sorry for the long delay. We were laying low last week as Grant was in Belgium for about 7 days on a work trip......and hells no were we going to risk any early labor business while he was out of town (although it would have given me full naming rights.....so the thought did cross my mind). Hopefully we'll be back later today with a bump shot and update now that I'm on my weekly appointments.
But back to the leisurely week at hand. We dropped Grant off at the airport and despite the pic below, Reese gave him the saddest (break-your-heart) 'don't go daddy' you ever did see. I wanted to cry for him. But she recovered:
With daddy safely across the pond, Ryan had her first 'date' with her buddy Andrew - $1 taco night up the street. They even got their own table. Reese wasn't happy to be excluded from the special table and preceded to tell on me to the good natured family on the other side of our booth. "My mom isn't letting me sit with with Ryan and Andrew because I wasn't listening"....
And girlfriend doesn't waste time....since Andrew's father was out of town all last week as well (and his mom is also pregnant with #3), we were invited over for a pizza party that ended in the formation (and subsequent breakup) of a new band:
Continuing on the Andrew-train, the ladies also started swim lessons last month with him....all smiles before the first class:
And then Reese realized she would have to say goodbye to me (although I was a whopping 10 feet away) and go with the instructor.....needless to say, the ENTIRE first class Reese stayed right here:
No coaxing, encouragement, bribery or peer pressure would change her mind...but I am happy to report that the last two classes have been a complete 180 - she now loves swimming and can't wait to get in once class starts (albeit topless one week, but we'll save that story for another day or for child protective services).
It was only fitting that when we decided to head down to the lake for two days last week, the girls raided Grandma and Grandpa's closet and came out dressed head to toe in swim gear ready to swim in the pretend pool they setup in the bedroom.
The next morning I asked Reese to go get dressed and she came out looking like this:
So here we are....all caught up. Looking forward to Ella's visit this weekend, surviving one last 24 hour work trip for Dad (fingers crossed the babe stays put) and then cruising into Christmas and crazy, chaotic babydom.
And instead of two girls, did I birth two boys? Despite the dress, pearls and heels from my previous post....rest assured that at times I feel like I'm living in a frat house with these two. This is two minutes of my 'girls' throwing themselves on the ground while playing with a box. A box they found at Lowe's. Not because we purchased something that was inside of it....oh no...they saw an empty box in the aisle and then carted it around the store the rest of our trip, asked the checkout lady if they could take it home, and here it lives...in our family room.
And the two minute video below. This is not for everyone...as in not much is happening, there is no dramatic finale or funny punchline - this is straight up grandparent material. Although I will say that at the 1:42 mark though there is evidence of some female DNA....
And random side note, but props to Lowe's for the fun, new rolling baskets....the girls were in heaven.
On Friday we went to family day at swim camp - mom, dad, Reese, Grandma and Papa. Ryan was excited to show us all she has learned so far. And we couldn't have been prouder.....after a slow start (4 days of anti-head under water), we were shocked to see how far she has come. While we're not talking Michael Phelps or anything, we are making headway.
A moment with dad...
Showing us her 'dive'...
Reese was more interested in playing with Papa or attempting to jump in the water herself...
Showcasing her backstroke...
Don't let the pained expression fool you, she loved showing us her skills....and it was mildly humorous as she looked like she was in agony trying to keep the water out of her eyes.
Pep talk from one of her adorable teachers...
A supportive pat on the head from Papa:
Grandma was right there to towel off our swimmer...
With my girls...
We couldn't have been more proud of Ryan - she did awesome and we decided to send her for one more week so we'll see how much more she has progressed after this week!
