Weekend in Louisville with Nana, Michael, and Dessa

We had a great weekend last weekend visiting with everyone!

7 Months Old

We took this picture of Sydney last Saturday at the zoo when she turned seven months old.

Seth in the News

The local newspaper reporter interviewed Seth and his two co-authors/ buddies about their book/ preschool project last week. Mom asked his teacher how it went, and she said Seth talked A LOT :-) You can click on the article to read easier.

11 Years 3 Months Until He's Driving A Car..

Seth got a big bike today. He now has a bike as big as Lydia's. He's able to go much faster on it. It's amazing how fast and well he goes to only be four years old.

Teething Baby Enjoying the Beautiful Weather

The Meaning of St. Patrick's Day

Mom is not a morning person. She tends to work fairly late at night on her job, and she struggles for the first hour or two of the day :-) This morning as Mom was pulling Sydney and Morgan out of the van at Seth's preschool, Seth started questioning her on St. Patrick's Day. She was tired, and told him that it's just a day when you wear a green shirt. Of course, he wasn't satisfied with this. He kept questioning, but Mom couldn't really come up with a good, quick answer while she took everyone into preschool. The incident was forgotten for a few hours.

When she was making lunch, Seth yelled from the living room that he now knew what he was supposed to be doing on St. Patrick's Day. Mom was curious and went into the living room. The news was doing a story on DUI arrests. They were showing clip after clip of people wearing green shirts wildly drinking at bars.

Dada

Much to Dad's enjoyment, Sydney clearly said "Dada" this evening when Dad was dressing her. We're not sure if she's really old enough to officially talk yet, but we're calling it her first word.

"Cuse Me Sideee Gace"

"Cuse Me Sidee Gace" is Morgan speak for "Excuse me Sydney Grace" which is Morgan's language for "don't touch me, don't roll on me, don't pull my hair, don't pull my clothes, and don't touch the crown!" You can see the look of displeasure in her face during bedtime stories.

Heat Wave :-)

The temperature hit the upper fifties where we live today, and the kids were so excited! Mom and the little kids went to the zoo today, and the kids all played outside when Lydia got home from school. They couldn't be happier. We had so much snow in February that it still hasn't all melted. It was very strange for Mom to be outside in almost sixty degree weather watching the kids play in the snow.

Ramblings About No More Library DVD's

About a year ago, Mom said no more to getting movies at the library. It sounds like a good idea to get the kids movies there, but the movies are inevitably not returned on time, and at a dollar per day per movie, the fines add up quickly. However, last Saturday Mom forgot why she quit getting kids movies at the library and picked up some cool educational movies for the children.

This afternoon (a day late) mom realized the movies needed to be returned. She drove up to the side of the library on her way to pick up Lydia and the babysitter from school, and asked Seth to hop out and put the movies in the book/DVD return slot. She watched him run across the grass and go to the big, wooden flag collection container instead of the book return slot. She yelled, "NO SETH... NOT THAT ONE" but of course he didn't turn around to ask "not that one what Mom," until after he threw the movies in the flag holder. Mom didn't have time to deal with it before going to the school. She decided to come back.

She picked up Lydia and the babysitter and drove back to the library. Of course, the library was closed due to budget cuts. While the babysitter was earning money for sitting in the van watching, Mom took apart the flag collection container (no flags inside) to retrieve the movies. Her back is still sore from putting the big wooden thing on it's side. However, no permanent damage was done to her back or the container.

She was glad to be done with her DVD headache until tonight. Lydia was very excited this evening when she said, "look Mom, I found the movie you needed." Mom returned one of the kids' movies instead of the library movies. She'll be going there in the morning to return the correct one and retrieve the other one.

Family Pictures 2010

Sydney

Morgan

Seth

Lydia

On-The-Move

Sydney isn't an official crawler yet, but she's gotten very good at moving around the room. She uses a combination of rolls, dragging, and scooting herself to get where she wants to be. She can get up on her hands and knees so we're expecting her to really crawl soon.

One of the first times Sydney got off her little playmat (blue and green mat in the background,) Mom found Morgan dragging Sydney by her feet back to the mat. Morgan explained to Mom that the mat was Sydney's spot, and she was putting her back. We've now worked out with Morgan that Sydney is free to roam as she pleases :-)

Lydia and Grandma's Afternoon at Cooking School

Lydia and Grandma spent last Saturday afternoon at a cooking school near Cleveland. They took a class on making pasta and sauces. They had a great time! Lydia loves to cook, and she has been looking forward to the class for months. We've tried one of her recipes since she returned, and we look forward to trying more.

Morgan's Definition of Sharing

We need to work a little on Morgan's understanding of sharing. See the cool glasses she's wearing to brush her teeth? Dad was teasing her that they were his glasses, and she informed him that she's sharing them. She's explained this concept to us a lot lately. What this actually means is she went into Lydia's room, took something that appealed to her, and she's now sharing with Lydia. She just always seems to be on the receiving end of the sharing and the other person is rarely involved. Fortunately for her, Lydia thinks it's cute most of the time when Morgan takes her stuff. Other people may not share that opinion.

Hanging Out In Lydia's Room

The kids all hung out together in Lydia's room for a while this evening. It's fun to see the four of them spending time together happily without Mom and Dad. (Mom and Dad did keep an eye on Sydney though :-) )

Evenings with Dad

Sydney and Dad spend lots of time hanging out together in the evenings while Mom works after the other kids go to bed.

Sometimes Sydney sleeps or is happy....
Sometimes she wants to talk...

Sometimes she gets a little upset...

And sometimes she's not happy at all!

Our Future Librarian

We found Morgan on the stairs this way yesterday. She had arranged her books on the stairs and was working her way up looking at them.

6 Months Old

Sydney turned 6 months old on Saturday. She went to the doctor this morning for her check-up. He said she's doing well. She is 26.5 inches long and weighs 17 pounds 6 ounces. This puts her around the 75th percentile for height and weight.

"Congratulations Mom!"

Seth was very excited today to find out that Mom is married. (Mom has been married over ten years.) Mom thought she'd have to pull out her marriage license to prove it to him though.

She mentioned being married to Dad, and Seth informed her that they aren't married. She argued back that they are. He then told her that if she were married people would be calling her Aunt Jenny instead of just Jenny. He said he's never once heard anyone call her Aunt Jenny. He reminded her that when Sasha got married people started calling her Aunt Sasha. He was convinced that Mom was making up her marriage. He was insistent that when you marry, you become Aunt.

After a little explaining, Seth was somewhat satisfied (although he still may not be completely convinced) that Mom and Dad are married. He congratulated Mom and told her that was great that she's married :-)

Sydney's Bad Sleep Habits :-)

Mom and Dad were convinced after having Morgan that they were experts at all things relating to getting babies to sleep. Morgan was on a nap schedule, and she would go to sleep with no fuss in her crib pretty much every time you put her down. Mom and Dad attributed all the problems they had getting Lydia to sleep to their inexperience as parents. Then they had Sydney... they quickly realized that the personality of the baby has a lot to do with it!

Sydney likes to take short naps in her swing..
And she enjoys short naps in her carseat...
and she LOVES to sleep with Mom and Dad...

But she really hates her crib. She also resists any attempts to get her on a schedule, to get her to consistantly sleep more than a few minutes at a time during the day, or to get her to sleep through the night.

Mom and Dad have been trying to get a routine going with little luck. Sydney gets bedtime stories which she loves...

And her cool glow worm in her bed as well as her silky blanket and soft blanket. However, you can see in her face how much she likes her crib.

Last night Mom got up about every five minutes for an hour to squeeze the glowworm so it would play music and lights. Sydney finally fell asleep! Mom was feeling great about her efforts. Only to have Sydney wake back up about forty five minutes later :-( She ended up sleeping in all of her other favorite places to sleep before the night was over.

For Valentine's Day, Mom and Dad bought her the most expensive Valentine's gift they've bought a baby. She's getting little a projector that hooks to her crib, plays music, lights up, and projects teddy bears on the ceiling. Pictures to come next week :-)