Adventures in Gift Buying

Ava is going to a sleepover at Genevieve's house this evening. It is part of Genevieve's 6th birthday celebration. Ava is super excited! She's been missing Genevieve a great deal lately.

We went to Terra Toys to pick out a gift, since they have some interesting things there. Unfortunately, Ava decided that she wanted some things for herself, and really did not put much effort into finding a gift for Genevieve. She is particularly jealous of Genevieve's horse collection. Ava wanted some of the same kind of horses, and she wanted them today! Unfortunatley, those horses are a little pricey.

For Genevieve's gift, Ava finally settled on a ladybug necklace in a velvet ladybug case, and I chose a The Berenstain Bears Have a Sleepover. I thought we could find one other small item, but Ava was done looking for gifts. I had to reprimand her a few times because she wasn't helping me find something for Genevieve. This upset Ava a great deal, as well as the fact that I wouldn't get her any of the items she kept bringing to my attention.

To make matters worse, Roman spit up on the ladybug case and chewed on the book. So, it is going to look like we got Genevieve some secondhand gifts.

So, on the way home, I had two kids crying in the car. Roman was tired, and Ava was very upset that I embarassed her and didn't buy anything for her. It was a fun trip!

Mind you, I warned Ava upon entering the store that she wasn't going to get anything.

I guess I'll be picking out the gifts on my own in the future. On the bright side, I know where we can go to get Ava's Christmas gifts!

Silly Baby

Last night when I was putting Roman to bed, I was having trouble getting the CD player to recognize that it had a CD in it. I blew air out of my mouth in frustration, sort of a sigh with an "f" sound (but I wasn't saying anything). I didn't think anything about it until Roman started trying to do it himself! It was so cute, but it got cuter when I did it on purpose. He thought it was hilarious! I did it over and over, and he cracked up every time. I called Gianni and Ava to watch, and he still giggled. I tried it a few times today, and this joke continues to be golden.

Is there anything sweeter than a baby's laugh?

The Bully and the Incredible Shrinking Baby

Guess which child is which?

On Monday, I received an email from Ava's teacher, Mrs. Lugo. She told me that on Friday, Ava hit another girl on the playground. The other girl thought that something she had found was gold, but Ava said it wasn't. To help the girl see the error of her ways, Ava hit her. Then, on Monday, she hit a bilingual boy who was trying to help her clean up. The gall of some children! So, Ava was sent to the office to speak with the principal. She was terribly embarassed and didn't want to talk about it. She immediately dissolved into tears when we tried to bring it up. Gianni and I are hoping that this won't happen again. However, she bopped Roman on the head (not too hard) tonight. He was trying to pull down something she was building. She lost story time for that!

Speaking of Roman...we took him for his 9 month old checkup today. He is doing great, but he appears to be shrinking. He isn't actually getting smaller, but he isn't getting bigger, either. He was at the 75th percentile at his 6 month checkup for both height and weight. Now he is at the 10th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight. His doctor says that this is actually normal for breastfed babies. Also, his 6 month checkup happened when he was closer to 7 months old, so that may account for him being in a higher percentile. The studies indicate that you really can't predict future height until age 2 anyway. I'm just glad he's healthy!

Weekend Visit

Gianni and I wanted to go out last Saturday, so our favorite traveling babysitter came for a visit. Ava and Roman loved having Mimi (Judy to some, Mom to others) around. Gianni and I enjoyed her visit, too (and not just because of the free babysitting). We also got to visit with Jared and Kristen, who we never see, since they live so far away!

Roman demonstrated his exceptional crawling skills, while Ava wowed us with her creativity. Actually, she showed us her new hide and go seek skills. While Mimi was counting, Ava snuck over to the entryway wall, banged on it, then silently ran into the kitchen. She was using the bang on the wall to mislead Mimi! Jared found this to be particularly funny, since he has participated in hide and go seek with Ava at younger ages. Until recently, Ava would pretty much hide in plain sight and laugh loudly as you approached. Or, she would yell, "I'm over here!"

Roman in the Rain & CRAWLING

I'll try to get better footage of Roman crawling, but here's some Saturday morning video. In this one, he is contemplating the rain. I got more footage of him in the rain (more like drops from trees), but the files were too big to post.


In the next one, he is playing around the recycling bin. You'll see trash strewn around, and that is from Roman pulling it out. Sometimes, we just have trash everywhere, but this time it is from Roman.


Here are some pictures of him playing with some puzzle pieces that were in a box in the recycling bin. I put them in the box to hide them so that he wouldn't eat them, since he had already eaten one. He didn't really eat it, but he chewed it up pretty well.Finally, here's Roman crawling towards Harley. Nobody has inspired my children more than sweet Harley! The talking/strange music in the background is from Gianni's true crime show, The First 48.

Sad Day in Katyland

Well, I made the decision today to go ahead and give Roman formula at daycare. I'm having trouble (1) pumping enough milk and (2) doing my job, since I pump during my planning period. I could give up my lunch like I did last year, but I really enjoy my time with my colleagues. Plus, my friend Jody has a different planning period this year, so lunch is the only time we can catch up.

I made a goal to nurse Roman exclusively for one year, but school is kicking my booty right now. Theoretically, I could start pumping again when things settle down, but let's face facts. Pumping is a pain! I am really tired of it. I just feel terrible because I feel like I'm letting Roman down.

I take comfort in 3 things:
1. I'm still nursing him when he is with me.
2. He's on solid food, so he's not taking as much milk as he used to.
3. Ava was on formula at daycare starting at a younger age and she seems healthy.

Still, I wish I could have reached my goal. I was embarassed to be seen buying the formula. I wanted to tell everybody that I had nursed him exclusively until tomorrow, and that I'll still be nursing him at home.

I know Roman will like the formula because twice they had to make him a formula bottle at daycare because he ran out of breast milk. They used a container of sample formula I had received in the mail. I just bought that same kind today, since I know he likes it okay.

If I was a stay at home mom, I would have had no problem avoiding formula. So, now I'm even more frustrated with my job!

I'll get over this, I know. I guess it isn't worse than feeding him a bottle of water or juice. It has more nutrients than those two, I guess. I don't give him just juice or water yet because I feel that he needs the fat and protein found only in milk/formula.

Little Victories

1. Roman is starting to get up on his knees before crawling, but he hasn't put it all together yet for a real crawl. I'm in no rush for him to start motoring around even better than he already is! By the way, Ava didn't put him in the position in the photo. She's just making sure he stays there so I can get the photo. He is being Grumplestiltskin, which explains the expression.

2. Ava started making books and she is spelling words correctly on her own. She spelled lost and help all by herself! Yay! These pictures are from the cover of a book called "The Lost Winget". I don't know what it is about.

Star Trek Convention Pics

Gianni was finally able to prepare these photos. He was having major problems with the camera when he was taking these, so the lighting was all messed up. It was frustrating, because the test pictures were great, then the flash wouldn't work or whatever. We couldn't ask these people to pose forever, so we had to take what we could get. Anyway, fill in the blanks as to what Roman is thinking here!


Tip: Double click on the pic to see a larger view.