This and That

Hazel is full-on riding her bike without training wheels now.  She is still wobbly, but she can start on her own and turn around and man, she is fast.  She is too fast.  She hasn't dared to coast yet, so she is always pushing the pedals if she's not breaking, and if she's on a slope, she just blows past you.   I thought I was going to have a heart attack watching her today, but part of the problem was that my heart was already bursting with pride and joy for her.  She is loving it. 

Growling up in the tree - she was being a jaguar.

 

 

 

I got a sewing machine and have been using it to prep for Halloween.  Hazel asked a month or so ago if she could have a Peter Pan dress-up, and I told her I'd make her one as a costume if she was Peter for Halloween, and she could keep it in the dress-up box after that.  She was sold.  (I love that - last year it took weeks for her to choose between Rapunzel and a bat.  It's been awesome to have a solid plan with time to get everything ready.)  Anyway, I bought her leggings and sewed the top, but I chose the wrong type of material; it's ripped already and I'm going to have to make another one in a stretchy fabric.  But she wears it, and just says her clothes of leaves are getting worn out.   

It's pretty typical to catch Peter and Smee jumping on the couch around here.  Good thing we still have ghetto newlywed furniture so they can live it up. 

 Jack's taken a few super rough spills lately.  This lovely lump was the result of getting accidentally bonked by Hazel into the outward-poking corner of the wall as he headed up the stairs.  Then not a week later he got another goose egg on the other side of his forehead when we were camping. 

 Speaking of Jack, he is his father's son.  He lives for a reaction and is learning to be quite a pest of a little brother to get those reactions.  He totally does stuff only to bother Hazel, like drink from her water bottle when his is right next to it, or steal food off her plate and quickly stuff it in his mouth to set her off screaming when he's got the same thing on his own plate.  Hazel has no grasp of the concept of ignoring him, either.  I'm trying to teach her, but so far it only results in her covering her eyes and peeking at Jack through her fingers, while she says things like, "I am not thinking about Jack right now.  I am not talking to Jack or looking at him."  Mmm, hmm.  A couple days ago they had an awesome fight at lunch time that I so wish I had recorded.  It consisted basically of:
J: Uh-uh.
H: No, don't say uh-uh anymore. 
J: Uh-uh.
H: No more uh-uh!
J: Uh-UH!
H: Don't uh-uh anymore!!!
J: UH-UUUUHHHH!
Hazel was fully agitated, and Jack could not wipe the grin off his face.  Fun times to come, folks.  Fun times... 

 

We set up bunk beds for the kids almost two weeks ago.  That's been  ..... interesting.  I thought we'd made a deathly mistake the first couple of days and almost asked Todd to take it all apart.  Jack's been a maniac, out of bed and into everything, and doing it all (we finally realized a few days ago) just to hear Hazel saying, "No Jack, get back in bed!" for two hours every night.  There's a child lock on the door so he can't get out, and the last three or four nights we've put Hazel to bed on our bedroom floor and then put her in her bed when we go to sleep.  Parenting, it's such a cycle of re-learning concepts again and again.  Todd and I finally put two and two together and decided we needed to sleep-train Jack, so he's been solo and we've been ignoring his cries and knocks at the door, and sure enough, all it's taken was a few days and he's doing much better going to sleep in there now. 

 I was even able to put Hazel to bed with him tonight.  We've been re-reading J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan and tonight we read a part where Peter climbs onto the pirate ship making a tick-tick sound and Hook thinks Peter is the crocodile and is super scared.  After reading that, Hazel wanted to pretend to be Peter pretending to be the croc while she climbed into bed tonight, and she was brokenhearted that I wanted her to sleep on the floor in my room again.  I caved decided to just give it a go and put her back in their bedroom.  And it worked.  Just a couple bumps, but they were both asleep in half an hour or so, which is quite reasonable, so I think we're making it there with Jack-o and the Bunk Bed after all. 

Alright, one last thing.  It took a while to get a picture because I had to snag one from a friend (Todd had drill and wasn't there and I didn't bring my phone) and then I forgot I hadn't blogged about this.  I ran my 5K on September 8th! 

I was so proud of myself for accomplishing this (huge and monumental for me) goal.  I had never run a 5K before.  Heck, I had barely ever run at all before.  But I was bound and determined to do it (striving for an 8-pounder here).  I trained well: 30 minute runs three times a week for two months before the race.  It helped me gain weight more slowly than with my other two pregnancies.  Assuming I gain a pound a week from here on out, I'm on track to gain 29 or 30 lbs instead of 36 (Hazel) and 37 (Jack).  So the running did me good. 

But no, I'm not still running.  I hurt my back right before the race, and prayed fervently that I'd feel better for the race, and did.  But then the next week I went running again and threw my back out and it kept me out of commission for four or five days.  My belly's just too big, yo.  So I'm back to walking and pilates and Jane Fonda aerobics.  ;)  However, if running can melt my love handles when I'm pregnant, I'm looking forward to seeing what it can do when I'm not with child.  I will definitely be giving it another shot next year. 

Camping at Big Basin

We went camping again last weekend.  This time we stayed in a little cabin with a wood-burning stove at Big Basin.  There were pros and cons to the cabin.

Pro: We had a table to eat at in the warmth and beds to sleep on.  Also, the cabin made it possible for us to give Jack a real nap.
Con: The "mattress" sank down to nothing and it felt like sleeping on a wooden board. 

 Pro:We didn't have to take our shoes off to come in or out.
Con: Jack easily figured out the latch on the door and was in and out all the time, instead of being bound to where we wanted him like with a tent.  Also, two or three times he left the cabin while we were inside it and latched it from the outside, trapping us in.  Thankfully, Todd quickly figured out how to wiggle it free.

 Pro: We had somewhere warm to hang out when it got too chilly outside, especially at breakfast time.
Con: There was a serious learning curve to discover how to keep the cabin at a moderate temperature throughout the night.  Our first night we were either sweating or shivering almost the whole time.  The second night was quite pleasant.  

The kids climbed everything they could see.  Or rather, Hazel climbed everything and Jack tried to follow her and whined when he couldn't.

 We brought the kids' bikes and they spent most of their time riding the campsite loop again and again. Jack face-planted it our last morning and ended up with a sad goose egg. 

 Todd took Hazel to town to buy more firewood during Jack's nap and she fell asleep in the car.  After her nap, she snuggled with me for a while.  I loved it! 

 

Jack got really, really dirty.  

 We still found ample opportunity for make-believe.  Peter, Smee and Captain Hook had an epic sword fight. 

 We went on a guided night hike and learned about local nocturnal animals.  Hazel stood about two feet away from the guide and drank up every word about bats, raccoons, skunks, owls and mountain lions.  It was a huge hit for her. 

She's holding a rubber bat.  The guide had plenty of visual aids and let Hazel touch everything.

 The boys spent plenty of time by the fire.  Todd cooked every meal and I mostly corralled Jack away from danger and rested my huge self whenever I could. 

 

Todd's dad said Todd was either brave or crazy to camp with two little ones and a pregnant wife.   It was both, I think.  Definitely our last run for the year, but it was worth it.  Jack was an animal and we sure wished he was a year older and less of a danger to himself.  But Hazel was just right, loved every second of it, and I feel like she became closer to both me and Todd, and that makes it worth it all. 

Fall Kickoff

 There's a new crispness in the air.  A few trees have leaves which have begun to change color.  We're wearing jackets in the morning and evening.  Fall is coming, hooray!

Hazel's preschool class has begun.  I'm doing a co-op with a couple of close friends.  Teaching just three kids is super easy, and these kids gel so well together.  It's been a blast so far.  I surprised myself with how much I enjoyed prepping my lessons for class.  Last year Hazel's co-op was mostly a playgroup, and the other moms and I in this group have made a big effort to structure it like an actual preschool class.  It made it so much more satisfying to host.  I am really happy about how it's turning out. 

Jack's attending a toddler gym class on Mondays when I never teach.  He loves it! 

 Every two weeks we've got a field trip scheduled since we don't have a fourth to teach and want to keep our rotation smooth.  For our first outing, we took a nature walk and made fall wreaths.  Hazel took a surprising amount of pride in her project.  She was quite selective about what items would make the cut and go in her collection bag, and she loved choosing where to place each piece on the wreath.  She is bursting with pride that I hung it on our front door. 

 Today we went apple picking at an orchard in Watsonville.  We're making pie after church tomorrow!  Hazel loved chomping on our picks and lounging in the wheelbarrow.

Jack did not want to ride in the wheelbarrow.  He trundled along at the rear, nibbling on apples and drawing in the dirt.  He was super content.  I think he could have stayed there all day long.

 

After picking all we wanted, we hung out in the picnic area, eating lunch and playing.  Hazel went crazy climbing on and jumping off of some hay bales while Jack pushed a toy cart all over Tarnation. 

 When we got home, we took the training wheels off of Hazel's bike.  Poor Todd had a rough time hobbling along next to her with his gimpy foot, but he was a man about it.

Last item of news for the day: we converted Jack's crib into a toddler bed.  Not sure if that was a splendid idea or not, but we felt so guilty seeing him with his legs sticking out of the bars night after night.  He always climbs into Hazel's bed first and lays down there while I sing to him.  He wants a big bed so bad.

 It took about three seconds for us to realize we were going to have to put a child lock on the doorknob, though.  He was out and squealing with joy the moment I left the room, headed straight for the door to break out.  Hazel gave up after ten or fifteen minutes and lay down on our bed so she didn't have to referee the J-bird.  Thankfully, he settled down pretty quickly once he didn't have an audience.  We'll see how it goes tomorrow. . .  I'm betting he doesn't take a nap for a few days. 

Staying Caught Up.....

 We bought Hazel a 14 inch bike with pedals this weekend.  We've been thinking about it for a while, and decided it would be worth it to get it now instead of for her birthday or Christmas, so she can get in a lot of riding time in the good weather.  We're keeping the training wheels on for a few weeks, for two reasons.  One, Todd's foot is still jacked up, and I'm getting more pregnant, so neither of us can jog next to her real well to help her learn to ride.  Two, she has next to no experience with pedals, so we're giving her a bit of time to figure out the logistics before we throw her to the wolves.  But the whole point of getting her a balance bike (last Christmas) was to skip the training wheels phase, so we're only giving her a couple of weeks. 

Hazel absolutely LOVES her bike!  We've been out riding every day except Sunday since she got it.  Monday morning she was very anxious for me to get showered and dressed quickly so she could head out asap.  We've mostly been doing loops around our apartment complex, but also have a couple small parks close by with sidewalks that border the playground, so we've been to each of those a couple of times as well so she can go around and around and around.  

For the most part, Jack has kept up on his bike, but he's falling further and further behind as Hazel gets better and faster, and he has lost excitement for the novelty of riding just to ride and not to head towards a final destination.  So I've started packing him in the stroller when he loses his drive.  He's mad about that, but it takes forever when he gets pokey, and Hazel just wants to move! 

 In other news, we finally gave Hazel a steak dinner.  She ate twice as much meat as me.  Todd generously passed me his T-bone so I could nibble off the goodness, and Hazel was intrigued.  We told her it was like how lions eat all the meat off the bones and then leave the rest for hyenas.  She wanted to give it a try, and boy, did she go to town!  Not only was she in character (she's growling like a lion in the picture) but she bit and tore at the tiny shreds for ten straight minutes.  She didn't leave anything for the hyenas!  I've said it before, and I'll say it again: this girl loves red meat! 

Random Pictures and Silly Stories

 Summer is wrapping up.  Hazel starts twice-a-week preschool after Labor Day (a co-op with some buddies from church).  I'll start taking Jack to toddler gym class when she's gone. 

Hazel just finished eight weeks of soccer.  She liked it better than dance, but not nearly as much as gymnastics.  It was cute to see her running around in shin guards, giving the ball power kicks.  I'd like to do it again next summer. 

The kids love riding their bikes.  I finally came up with the genius idea of having them ride back and forth on the sidewalk between our stairs and our garage, instead of making Hazel stop at check points along the way to the park while Jack slowly caught up.  It's been much better.  No more worrying about cars.  They're actually playing together (usually Hazel pretends they're Peter Pan and Tink, dodging cannonballs).  Jack's only made one escape attempt so far (on the stair end where I couldn't see them), and Hazel alerted me to it in time. 

 Climbing trees has been a big deal this summer.  I'm glad.  I was always too scared to climb trees.  I love how brave and adventurous Hazel is. 

 Jack's been using the play kitchen a lot.  He makes things that are "hah, hah" (hot) and sticks them in the fridge to cool off before giving everyone a taste.  His vocabulary is starting to take off.  He says mama, da for Dad and helicopter, Ja for Jack, bluh for balloon, puh for poop, uh-uh, uh-oh, and has his own words for dog, truck, bye bye, night night, blanket, Hazel, outside, bath, ball, van, car, book, and a few others.  He is also starting to make animal sounds.  My favorite is a growl for jaguars and other wild cats. 

 Hazel is suddenly quite taken with coloring and will invest a lot of time in it.  Right now she's getting better at staying in the lines, and is far more interested in making her pictures colorful than making them look realistic.  Here is a sample of her current style:

 She's also starting to free-style draw a bit.  She likes it best when Todd draws with her, teamwork style.  The other night they drew a leopard and a cheetah together.  It was cute to hear them talking about how to shape the tail and what the pattern on the fur ought to look like. 

Hazel's still fascinated with getting tied up in our pretend play, but she's finally starting to expand beyond that plot-line on occasion.  Here she is being Tiger Lily tied up at Skull Rock:

 

 It's kind of boring for me when she plays Tiger Lily, because I have to hold up all the dialogue.  She's really good at staying silent and looking away from Captain Hook (me) just like in the movie, but she says almost nothing and expects me to continue to beg her to tell me where Peter Pan's hideout is. 

My mom and sister Kathryn came to visit last week.  My poor mom spent a ton of time trying to get this ancient sewing machine an old co-worker gave me to work.  No dice.  But it made me realize how much I want one, and ordered a machine on Amazon.  I can't wait for it to get here! 

I love this picture.  Mom impressed me with how patient she was, trying to figure this thing out while my kids were all over her.  She just lovingly showed Jack what she was doing and chattered right along with Hazel's make-believe.  I always feel like I can't get any "real" work done while the kids are awake, but obviously, that's not a problem for my mom!  With six kids, she probably had no other choice but to develop that skill. 

 Todd went boating with the Scouts and sprained his ankle doing a wakeboard flip.  Now he's on a serious evening routine of elevating, icing, and making me do his bidding.  Notice that impressive snack platter he's sporting?  Yeah, I'm a good wife.  I even napped on the floor on Sunday and let him monopolize the couch.  (Hazel uses our room for quiet time.) I expect a full return on my investment when I'm in my third trimester!

 Speaking of quiet time, it is going magnificently.  Hazel loves it.  I take a nap almost every day. 

 

On laundry days, the kids love to commandeer the laundry baskets.  This week, they were puppy crates.  Arf!  

That same day, I woke up groggy from a too-long nap.  Usually, Hazel wakes me up by about 3:30 as she decides she's done with quiet time.  This time, I wandered back to peek in at her and this is what I found:

 She swears she wasn't really asleep, just pretending to be the sleeping puppy, but she was out cold for half an hour after I took this picture.  I had to wake her up.  That looks so uncomfortable!

Hazel thinks she doesn't have enough coins in her collection of special things, so she's been doing a few odd jobs around the house to earn more.  She's dusted, cleaned the toilet, and washed the sliding class door.  I could get used to this!  

 So, her special things... Hazel's got this ongoing collection of small toys, shiny ribbons, jewelry, and other odds and ends that she guards possessively.  Todd finally bought her a little stationary chest with a code lock, so she can stop hoarding her stuff in all the high places in the house and FREAKING OUT any time Jack comes close to her stash.  It is a serious obsession.  She asked if she'd be able to have her special things in heaven, and I was torn between lying so she'd still think heaven was a great place, and telling her the truth so she'd start to learn that possessions aren't the most important things in life.  Now she says she's scared to die, because she figured out she might not have them with her up there. 

A few days ago, we read a book about a family whose house caught fire and they had to save money to buy a new chair because all their possessions were burned up.  It really got the wheels turning in Hazel's head.  Later that day, she announced that if our house caught on fire, she would run and save her special things, and not Jack.  She specifically said that!  So we had a couple big talks about how Jack is our family and our family (and people in general) are far more important than any of our stuff, even our special things.  Finally, we got her to say she'd grab Jack AND her special things at the same time to save them in the fire.  And the next day, she'd figured out a better answer: she'd save Jack first, carry him under his arms to me, and then run back real fast to get her special things before they burned up.  We're getting there... ;) 

 

Jack's had a wart on his foot.  His pediatrician said to cover it with duct tape.  It's actually worked, but the funny thing is how hard I've had to work to keep the tape on Jacks' foot.  It got to the point where it was only worth the effort after Jack was asleep.  Well, that only worked for a few weeks.  Jack has now trained himself to half wake up when he hears us come in to check on them at night, and pull the tape off right after I put it on, without even opening his eyes!  It's hilarious.  Now I'm taking a break for a week or two to get him out of the cycle before starting up again.  Funny boy.  

 Sorry for how long this post is!  Apparently, I need to blog more frequently. Kudos to anyone who read the whole thing! 

Baby Bonner #3 is a .......

We had our big ultrasound this afternoon.  Todd took work off early and we brought the kids along, so it was a big family affair.  We were in the room for over an hour, so thank goodness for goldfish and games on the iPhone, or Hazel and Jack might not have made it. 

Sticking with tradition (see here and here) we planned to go out to eat to celebrate after finding out if the baby's a boy or a girl.  Hazel has been totally gunning for a sister since she found out I was pregnant, because she "already has a little brother."  But when we told her we'd get sandwiches and salads and cheesecake if it was a girl, and steak if it was a boy, she totally switched teams!  That girl loves her red meat. 

She only slipped once in the past three days.  Last night, she put her hands on my belly and said she hoped the baby was a girl.  Then she said, "Wait, I mean I want it to be a BOY!  Because I really, really want to eat steak!!!"  She had a major short term/long term battle with herself this week! 

And so, it is quite funny to announce that Hazel was seriously disappointed to find out that the baby is a....

GIRL! 

 We celebrated at The Cheesecake Factory.  I had my favorite food, a chicken salad sandwich (and an enormous salad that will mostly be tomorrow's lunch).  The kids had sliders and corn dogs - kid food doesn't really count.  

Todd had an Asian cashew chicken salad.  (Also, he never seems to know what to look at when I take his picture...)

We finished it off with a knock-out divine German chocolate cheesecake. 

 We are stuffed, and pleased. 

Pregnancy Update

We find out on Tuesday if we've got a boy or a girl.  We're pretty excited!  I've been running three times a week solid for about a month now.  I've gotten myself up to two miles at a time, and have stagnated there for a week or so. This week, it's time to go a bit longer!  I've got four weeks to get myself up to three miles, all the while fighting my ever-growing belly and lowered energy levels.  I feel optimistic about it so far, but am being fair to myself and recognizing that I'm doing really well for myself, whether or not I manage to complete a 5K at a run by September 8th.  Some of my family members have been training along with me, via a google doc spreadsheet.  We're keeping track of our exercise and eating habits, and it's totally helped me to start eating a ton more vegetables and far fewer sweets.  Good things are happening.  My weight gain has been a lot slower this month than this point in my other pregnancies, so we're doing the right thing!  Here's to a smaller baby!  Hoo-rah!  (Hoping.)

Camping at Portola Redwoods

 We took the kids camping this weekend and lived to tell the tale.  I figured the kids would love it, but was surprised by how much I enjoyed it as well.  I was getting hit with all sorts of nostalgia from my childhood.  It was great to be unplugged from the world and truly together as a family unit. 

There were a few unexpected bumps, like not thinking to bring a spatula to cook our scrambled eggs with, and failing to realize Jack wouldn't eat a single bite of healthy food without being strapped into his booster seat. 

And we had no clue just how close an eye we'd have to keep an eye on Jack every. second. we. were. there to keep him nearby and away from the fire.  Jacko made me a pretty useless assistant to Todd.  Combine that with the handful of times I couldn't remember where I'd put something, and I totally called Todd out and said I bet he wished I was a man right about then. 

The kids were stoked that I bought them camping chairs their size. 

Even cooler were the "tree hollows" all over the camp grounds, including a pretty sweet one right in our campsite that was deemed "The Cave." 

 Like I stated before, Jack was completely obsessed with the fire.  Give this kid a fire, a stick, and a patch of mud, and he's happy as a clam.  What a boy! 

 Hazel's going through this phase (I hope it's just a phase!) where she won't eat hot dogs.  So we made tin foil dinners instead.  They were bueno.  The best part is that Todd assembled them at home before we left, so they were ready to go as soon as the coals were hot. 

Jack's very first s'more.  It was a hit.  And yet, he didn't seem to notice when we demoted him to plain graham crackers after his first one.  Perhaps he was too ravenous after boycotting his dinner...

We only stayed one night.  My pregnant body could have used some more padding on the ground, and Jack could have used a couple more layers since he was in a pack-and-play instead of a sleeping bag, but all told, it wasn't a bad night.  Maybe we'll go for two nights next time.