Time with Dendi and Bapa

Between July 15 and July 25 we spent a few evenings and a few days with Dendi and Bapa. We were making up for our week away at the Lake House; we enjoyed their pool, and ate dinner at their house. Also, one day they came over so Bapa could help Scott work on installing our back screen door. Dendi got quite a few pictures of those visits, here are a few.

Here is Eli doing dot to dots with Bapa and Daddy.



And, my favorite pictures of Eli at their house -- Eli wearing Dendi's hat to eat his dinner. As you can see from this picture, in this shot he has his diaper on. As of now, he's basically 50-75% potty trained, depending on how you look at it. He only wears diapers now to poop. He hasn't had any accidents, and he now naps, sleeps and even leaves the house without a diaper. However, he has no interest in pooping on the potty. We've tried every bribe we can think of, to no avail. And, as I said before we have constipation issues, so I'm not interested in pushing it and having to have a doctor intervene. I'm hoping that like he has with many things he'll just come around to it on his own. He said that maybe he'll poop on the potty when he's 4 or 5. Let's hope not.

I've even tried appealing to his reason... The other night we were over at Grammie and Babo's for dinner. As we are trying to make sure he tries new foods that he hasn't eaten yet so that we won't cook separate meals for him, we told him he had to try the mashed potatoes. Of course after throwing a mild fit, he tried the one required bite then proceeded to eat about 4 or 5 more. Not surprisingly, he liked them. I told him the next day, that maybe pooping on the potty will be like trying potatoes. I bet once he tries it he'll like it. He wasn't convinced.



Here are a few pics that Dendi got of Keira -- happy girl in her swing. She is not as big of a fan of the swing as she used to be, but she still visits it from time to time.



Here she is perched high on Daddy's shoulder at Dendi's house.


She loves her bouncy/vibrating seats. Both Grammie and Dendi have a seat for her, and she may like their seats even more. Both of their seats have toys that she can actually touch. She sits staring at the toys, transfixed. You can tell that she's trying to tell her hands to reach out and grab a toy. As you can see from these pictures, she does occassionally grab one of them, but it seems to be on accident. She finally gives up her work of trying to grab a toy, her arms flail and she hooks one. Once she has it in her hand, she knows what to do with it.




Finally, here are a few pictures of her crooked smile, which she's always had and I adore.

Keira's First Swim

Later on July 19, after our hike, we went swimming in the pool at Dendi and Bapa's subdivision. It was Keira's first swim. I didn't plan on introducing her to the water this summer, so I never bought her a suit. When Scottie went last minute to find her one, he couldn't find any. And, the swim diapers that he found, size small, were gigantic on her. Do they even make a smaller size? Despite the wardrobe complications, she did go for her first swim. She didn't smile or cry, she wore a bland expression, like she was taking it all in, and along for the ride. Again, she demonstrated how mellow she is.





Another great surprise was that Eli was the most comfortable than he's ever been in the water. Last summer, in their pool he would cling to me or Dendi and was picky about who held him. This time he happily went to Bapa, too. He played in the water, and his face even got wet without much of a fuss. He still wasn't interested in dunking his head under the water. But, when I was holding him he almost felt like he was ready to push away from me and swim on his own. There was certainly no clinging this time. He even moved along the side of the pool by himself, hand over hand.

Keira's Second Hike

On July 18, Scott, Eli, Keira and I went hiking at Line Creek Nature Area in Peachtree City. It's amazingly beautiful there, and surprisingly, the trailhead is across Highway 54 from WalMart. I think it may be the best kept secret in Peachtree City. It was Keira's first hike. As it was our first attempt at hiking as a family of four, we didn't bring the camera. Fortunately, the hike was such a success, we decided to go again the next day. On July 19, we brought the camera and Dendi and Bapa.

I carried Keira in the Baby Bjorn and Scott carried Eli in the backpack when he wasn't walking. The whole hike is about 4 miles, so Eli did spend a good part of it in the hiking backpack. Keira slept most of the hike, facing forward in the Baby Bjorn.




About halfway through the hike we stopped for a little rest and to let Eli (and the rest of us) play in the creek. As Eli got drenched the day before, this time Scott and Eli both wore their swim suits to explore the slippery rocks.



There were plenty of hands to hold Keira and eyes to watch Eli, so everyone got to play in the water, even me.

Bri's Birthday

Uncle Brian turned 26 on July 15. To celebrate, Grammie took Aunt Seana, Uncle Brian and the four of us out to lunch at Pascal's. I couldn't resist putting Keira in a dress. I have so many cute ones, and not many occasions for them. Here are a few pictures that I got of Keira in her dress before lunch. I've been putting Keira in her dresses as much as possible now. I've realized not only do I love them, but she likes to play with them as you can see in the second picture. It's a toy that follows her everywhere.



Here are Grammie and Keira waiting outside Pascal's.


After our yummy lunch we went back to Grammie's for cake and presents. The rest of us had cheesecake, but knowing her grandson, Grammie got Eli his own chocolate cupcake. Of course, the frosting was his favorite part.



Keira's aunt and uncle both got an opportunity to hold her.

Keira at 8 Weeks and Eli's Sandy Pool

When we got home from the Lake House, we had some time to enjoy our new deck. Eli loved the lake front so much, that Scott decided to put some sand in his pool. It wasn't quite the same, but Eli had a ball.



Here's Keira hanging out in the shade on the deck, showing what a happy girl she is.

Lake House Vacation, Part V -- Screen Porch Living

With the weather as beautiful as it is in the summer at the Lake House we lived on the screen porch. Here are Scott and Babo relaxing with a few books.


We ate all our meals on the screen porch as Eli is demonstrating with his waffle.


I nursed Keira almost exclusively on the screen porch, too. As was Eli's preference when he was an infant, Keira is always much happier outside. Honestly, she's pretty happy inside too, but going outside works wonders when she is fussy like during her witching hour. It was wonderful for me, too. I could sit on a chaise lounge, nurse her and look out over the beautiful lake. Very relaxing.

The chaise lounges were perfect for interracting with her as well. As the picture shows, many of us took turns propping her up on our knees and talking to her. She loved it -- she cooed and smiled, and hung out with her brother.

Lake House Vacation, Part IV -- Napping

As you can see from these first five pictures, Keira slept her way through our time at the Lake House. She didn't discriminate much. I think she slept away most of her daytime hours in the swing. But, she also snoozed many hours in her sling, or in the hands (or on the chests) of a family member. One day, I think she slept almost eight hours in the swing -- in two four-hour chunks. Amazing. At night, our sleeping arrangements were a little interesting; all four of us slept in a king size bed. Although it was squishy, I have to admit that it felt awfully warm and soothing to have my babies on either side of me.

As I think I mentioned in a previous post, Keira's sleep habits have been in constant flux since we got back from the Lake House. At first, she wanted nothing to do with her blue chair or her swing and I panicked. We had a few exhausting days where the only place she wanted to sleep was on me: either on the Boppy after a feeding, on my shoulder or in the sling. Fortunately, that's passed, and she's finally letting me put her down in bed for her naps. Thank God, and just in time for Scott to go back to work. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. Thankfully, she sleeps in the Baby Bjorn, too. That will give Eli and I some flexibility while she sleeps. Lately, to try to whip my body into shape, I've been doing 20-45 minutes of yoga, then walking about an hour while Keira sleeps facing my chest in the Baby Bjorn. Then, if she wakes up, I just turn her around so she can face forward. She loves it. Her neck is a tiny bit wibbly wobbly still, so I have to be a little conscious when she's facing forward, but I think she'd stay in there for hours that way. That is, until she got hungry again.








Eli's sleep routine for naptime and bedtime are very similar. He has quiet time in his room, then we read him books (3 at nap, 5 at bedtime), then I sing him some songs (again, 3 at nap and 5 at bed), and finally we have some cuddle time. Lately, though, he's been occassionally falling asleep during quiet time by himself without any reading or singing. Often at home he goes to sleep by himself if he's been reading books in bed. One of his favorite things to do during quiet time is count page numbers. Therefore, he likes to borrow our books so that he can count to higher numbers. One day, he fell asleep with Steinbeck's East of Eden open on his lap. It would have made a classic picture, but we didn't want to risk taking a picture and waking him up. As you can see in this next picture, at the Lake House, Eli fell asleep while doing his puzzles. This picture was the best we could get, Scott didn't want to open the door and wake him up.



Speaking of puzzles, Eli has been so enamored with them lately, that he even wanted to help with the "big boy" puzzles that Daddy was working on.