Earthquake

Last Friday night we had an earthquake. It was a magnitude 5.1 but located a bit away from us. Ellie and Calvin slept through it and there was no damage to our house, although there was damage closer to the epicenter but nothing too major.

On Saturday Grandma Pam and Grandpa Mike came down so Gpa Mike could meet Calvin. It was a nice day spent pretty much all outside. Nick cooked some burgers and dogs in the grill. Calvin slept pretty much the whole time but did flash his blue eyes a couple of times. We went to the "gnocchi restaurant" for dinner and Calvin did well. It was a great day.

















We did some arts and crafts over the weekend, including decorating some onesies for Calvin. And on Sunday, after ballet, we decorated some sugar cookies. We used some new food decorating pens so we could "color" the cookies. It worked really well, but didn't add any flavor to the cookies like frosting would.



























This morning Calvin decided he didn't want to sleep. He are at 3:00am and then burped and spit up per normal. But he didn't settle down in his crib. He was fussy, restless, and didn't sleep. The kid was also farting like a frat boy. He would sleep if I was holding him, which didn't help me at all. He finally settled down around 6:00am. And if course, Ellie was up at 6:30. So I'm sleep deprived at the moment.

But E got to school in time, with her hair up because she starts swimming lessons again. As such, there is no photo from this morning.

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The Elsa braid

I promised Ellie that some morning when we had extra time, I would try and make an Elsa braid for her. Well, today we had enough time that I told her we could try it. Now the Elsa braid is a French braid that wraps over the right shoulder (not the left, it has to be the right). I think the actual braid is a normal French braid that is long enough to throw over her shoulder. However, I did a French braid that wrapped around her head. It ended up being a little loose and we had to use a clip to hold some of the flyaways in and who knows how long the whole thing will stay in her hair!









Not bad huh? She was happy and very excited to show it off to her friends at school.

And I did it all while Calvin was crying and fussing in his bouncy seat.



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The wipe warmer

While at target I picked up a wipe warmer. We didn't have one with Ellie. It seemed a bit frivolous and Ellie never seemed bothered by cold or room temp wipes.

Maybe I feel bad he's a second kid and already is using mostly hand me downs. Also i figured he was a little more sensitive to colder wipes. And so I broke down and got a wipe warmer.

And it seemed to have calm him down during diaper changes. He prefers the warmer wipes. And he is a little less fussy and kicks less on the changing pad. Nick thinks I'm coddling him and I'll turn him into a mamas boy all because I bought a wipe warmer. I don't think it'll be just because of the wipe warmer...

This morning, oddly we all woke up at the same time. Cal started getting fussy around 6:40am. Ellie wandered in to check on Cal at 6:49...exactly one minute before my alarm went off. Needless to say, we made it to school on time (and I put on real clothes and makeup! Woot woot!!)



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Tummy time

Yesterday I started Cal with tummy time. He wasn't that impressed, but I didn't expect him to be.

This morning Ellie saw the tummy time mat out and wanted to see him do tummy time. He was awake, so I agreed to a few minutes. He was a little fussy, but with Ellie down at his level in his face he seemed to calm down a little.












Yesterday Ellie got a haircut. She was a little nervous because she has the longest hair in school and she wanted to keep that title. I ensured her it would just be a trim, and it was...but taking off 1"-1.5" she still has extremely long hair.












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Proof she brushed her teeth

So on my afternoon walk yesterday I ran into Ellies teacher who lives a few blocks from us. She told me that E told her, and the class, all about our crazy morning with Cal peeing on walls, while spitting up, and then pooping in the changing pad. I told her that was why E was a couple minutes late and her teacher laughed and said that that was a good excuse. Her teacher has twin sons who are 4, so she has been there and done that!

This early morning wasn't great. Ellie woke up with one of her potty accidents that wasn't. But of course it woke up her brother. The early morning Cal will usually sleep for an extended period, but this morning he was woken up by his sister freaking out. So I didn't get my extended stretch. But of course when they were supposed to, neither E nor C woke up to eat and get dressed. But eventually everyone was up. We got Ellie to school on time (and she got a sticker). But if course I didn't really get dressed or even wash my face. Whatever.

Often I have to check Es toothbrush to confirm she did brush her teeth if I'm not within earshot of the bathroom to hear the water or see her in the act. Well today, there was evidence down the front of her that she had brushed her teeth. You may not see it in the photo below but it's there. Why didn't I make her change? Because she didn't want to and it wasn't worth the battle. But she really didn't want her picture taken either, but I made her stand still.



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It finally happened

Ellie was late to school today. only by like 2 minutes. But still, the classroom door was closed and Ellie wasn't quite sure what to do.


And she can blame her brother entirely. It really was his fault, as much as a two week old can be faulted.

We were totally on time. Everything was going smoothly. We were going to get out the door and to school with more than enough time. But Cal needed a diaper change. He had pooped. And I decided to change him out of his sleeper because he had spit up in it. I saw that he hadnt peed in this diaper and weighing the odds that as soon as I took it off, he would, I left it in while I took off his sleeper and started to put on a clean onesie. Well, finally I had to take off the diaper and almost on cue he peed. So we had to change the onesie I had just put on him. But while I started that, he pooped on the table. While I was cleaning that up he spit up, a big one too. Then he pooped again on the table. While Ellie and I were laughing at the whole situation (poor Cal was crying and fussing) he peed one last time. It was quite humorous, as long as you have a sense of humor about changing diapers of infant boys. Ellie was very helpful grabbing towels and wipes and everything I needed to clean up. Finally we for him cleaned up, a new diaper on him, and a clean onesie. And we were out the door. Pfew.

Isn't he just so peaceful and cute??


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Sleeping in

Everyone slept well and actually kinda overslept this morning. But I embraced my okayness with Ellie being late to school and didn't rush, push, or hurry through the morning. Cal slept really well letting me have two (2!!!) stretches of 3 hours of sleep which was awesome. Ellie was a little hard to wake up this morning. But we got through all our morning to-dos.

While I was pumping this morning Cal was awake and hanging out in his bouncy seat with hiccups. Ellie had done 4/5 of her tasks. So she came into Cal's room, grabbed a "baby book" and decided to read to him. It was so sweet!









I'm not quite sure how much he really liked Yummy Yucky but he wasn't fussing or crying through his hiccups!

And after everything, Ellie got to school right on time. And she wasn't the last one there!

Cal has a dr appt this morning. Instead of heading home only to turn around, we decided to go to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf in Old Town (I recently found a parking lot with free parking for 90 min (score!!).



Yesterday Cal and I had two adventures. We went to a Breastfeeding support group run by the hospital he was born at. I picked up a new way to burp him with great results. And realized how lucky I am that both Ellie and Cal are great feeders and whatever issues we may have, are so minor compared to the majority of other Breastfeeding moms.

Ellies friends invited her to a play date at a playground yesterday afternoon. Usually we have to decline these play dates because Nick needs to rest and so E stays at school till the end of the day. But because I'm on maternity leave, I packed up a sleeping Calvin, picked E up early and headed to the playground. Ellie was very happy to have a chance to hang out with her friends outside of school.

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Happy Spring

So today is the first day of spring, and ironically it's going to be cooler today than it has been for a few weeks.

This morning started out as a good one. I got a good stretch of sleep in the early morning and Cal work up at 6:15am. As early as it was it gave me time to feed and change him as well as pump before Ellie was awake. I though she and I could have a relaxing morning together since her brother was satisfied for a bit...but it didn't work out that way.

As I was cleaning up in the kitchen, I broke not one but two glasses. Glass all over the kitchen floor. Fortunately I was wearing slippers. But it was a long cleanup process. And Ellie wasn't fed fast enough and went to "take care of" her brother which can also be translated to attempting to wake a sleeping baby. Fortunately Cal was cool sitting in his bouncy seat, with a pacifier...yeah we have started the pacifier. He's a champion eater and I'm not worried about it being a problem with nursing.



But we made it out the door and to school on time.

Nick got his Cubs season tickets yesterday in the mail. They came in a big tin. It was pretty exciting.


At school Ellie insists on giving her brother a hug and kiss before doing the same with me.



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What a difference a couple hours makes...

Last night Cal didn't want to sleep in 3 hour stretches like he did the night before. No, he wanted to be up and feed every hour for several hours in a row. Hopefully Nick wasn't kept awake and got his sleep while Cal and I were up. I definitely feel like a different person than I did yesterday. Yesterday, we went to Starbucks and Target and had a great day. Today, I think we may just get out if the house for a walk and I will be napping.

We just made it to school before it started, but we were on time.

Ellie also said she heard Cal cry last night...but this morning she wanted to come in and say hi before I took him out of the crib.






In other news, the day we got home from the hospital we also got Ellies caterpillars for her butterfly garden in the mail. We finally found a spot consistently warm enough for the caterpillars and we have been watching their growth. They have been eating and growing quite a bit and yesterday started hanging from the lid of the container. One even made their cocoon. So we are watching them make their cocoons now and it's getting exciting!



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On our own

Grandma Pam is back in SB. Nick is at work. Ellie, Calvin, and I had to all get up, dressed, and get E to school by 8:15.

Fortunately Calvin was awesome last night going 3 hours between feedings and giving me plenty of sleep. So I felt almost human this morning...and had time to put in real clothes and even a little makeup.

Ellie completed all her tasks, although she had a little trouble getting toothpaste on her toothbrush and earned a sticker on her chart. We made it to school on time, but not early enough to avoid all the kids and parents and the looky-loos.

I took the stroller and kept Cal in the carseat and attached to the stroller. He got lots of ohhs and ahhs. And the kids were good and stayed away from his face and didn't touch him.

Then because I was feeling almost human and pretty brave...Cal and I went to Starbucks! Our first outing was successful.


Out attempt at getting a picture of the three of us was only mildly successful.

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Here we go!

So here we are a new blog because, we have a new kid. So the intent of this blog is that you can get a daily dose of Ellie or Calvin or (on good days) both! We shall see how busy the mornings get and how crazy things get with two kids. 



Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. Today was Nick's first day back at work. Which meant that I had to get Ellie to school while caring for Cal (and myself). Fortunately Grandma Pam hung around for the morning to help make sure things happened smoothly. However, Nick got a little jolt this morning when he experienced a 4.4M earthquake which was centered in Westwood which actually happened during his show (producers and anchors ducking and covering on air!). We did not feel the quake here in Pasadena (well it didn't wake any of us up).



And we made it to school on time!



Ellie has been asking to start a sticker chart because she is coveting the Playmobil school or hotel (depending on the day). So we set up a sticker chart last night. She has to accomplish 5 different tasks each morning by herself to earn a sticker each day. Her tasks include 1) going potty 2) getting dressed (we will set out clothes the night before) 3) eat breakfast (that mommy makes) 4) brush her teeth and 5) put on her shoes and socks. Today she kept checking her task list and accomplished all 5 tasks. No arguments about shoes or socks.



We shall see how tomorrow goes without Grandma Pam to help move things smoothly.



Ellie was excited to go to school today for St. Patrick's Day. She wore a green dress with flowers because you can wear green, but only if you want to. But also her friend and her sisters will be coming to school to do an Irish dancing showcase (hopefully with full costume and hair!). Last Friday the class made Irish Soda Bread which Ellie really really enjoyed and put her in a baking mood during the weekend.

And a picture if Ellie ready for school with her brother.



And a photo of her brother recovering from the trip of taking Ellie to school. Apparently he loves the car seat and has been sleeping in it since we got home. I don't wake sleeping babies if I don't have to.