Dexter!

Dexter will be 8 weeks on Monday, and is a very happy little boy overall. He's started smiling to beat the band this past week:

Grandparent Love

I've wanted to post pictures of the kids with their grandparents ever since they came to visit, and here they are! It was wonderful to have so much help, and Frankie certainly became attached to her Nonnie, Pawpaw, and Mimi while they were here.

Nonnie and Dexter

Pawpaw and Dex

Nonnie and Frankie

Mimi and Dexter

Mimi taught Frankie to garden and she had so much fun her fingernails were full of dirt!


Mimi and Frankie

Summertime Fun

We've been up to all kinds of summertime fun recently. We got a new (longer) hose and a sprinkler, and the girls had a blast today playing in the water.

The nodding that Frankie is doing in the video is a very pleasant recent addition to her communication repertoire. This literally just appeared a few days ago, and it's been wonderful to have her so agreeable after several months of the "nos".

We went to the park last Friday that's within walking distance from our house and participated in craft day, sponsored by Boston Parks and Recreation. The girls decorated "parade flags" and got their hands painted (they were a little unsure about getting their faces painted). Frankie liked the hand-painting very much - she stuck out her other hand as soon as the woman was done with the first, and then before she was finished with the butterfly on her second hand, she was pointing to other spots on her arm that were bare and could use a little something.

Nell and Macai came to visit, and the kids proved that you're never too old for a little time on the playmat. Macai is walking now, and is taller than both Hannah and Frankie!

Chris is out of town until Wednesday night, and I'm doing well considering. I was able to successfully put Frankie to bed, and Dexter went "down" around 7:30, although he's already been up three times since then.

The Mullet Morphs

Many times in the last few months I have been tempted to trim the mullet. Sarah kept encouraging me not to, reminding me that soon I'd be able to put the hair into a pony tail, just like our adorable friend, Ella Defoyd. The day has arrived! The mullet morphed into pigtails yesterday for about 30 minutes. Just long enough to take pictures before Frankie won the battle to pull out the rubber bands.



We also took our first outing yesterday all by ourselves! We went to the Ashe's house - very safe. While Frankie is wearing her "Big Sister" t-shirt, she still loves to imitate her "big sister" Elizabeth.

Surviving

We are half-way through day 1 of being On Our Own, with no more grandparent backup arriving until the end of September. It was wonderful to have so much full-time help. I will be posting a longer post with pictures and video of Mimi's visit, but wanted to throw up a quick post to let you all know we're hanging in there. I even managed a shower this morning.

Frankie is still sweet to her baby brother. She got really frustrated the other day when she kept trying to share her toys with him and he wouldn't take them. I tried to explain that he did not have the large motor skills yet to do so, but she still seemed exasperated at him.

Frankie gives Dex a massage (Kristen, I know you're going to laugh as hard as I did at Dexter's expression)

Tummy time!

I love you, baby brother.

Smiles! He's smiling at us now.

Sisters

Big Sister

Frankie has been a sweet big sister to her baby brother. He has been more alert recently, and has been enjoying some "activity time". Frankie likes to sit next to him and read him books, and give him hugs and kisses. She's generally very gentle with him, which is a relief. She's started to say his name too, which is fun.

Sometimes she still needs her momma...







Frankie feeds the wildlife

Projects galore

Mom and I have been working on house projects while she's been here, mainly because I know the inevitable will come, she will leave me to take care of my family by myself, and I will not be able to do much other than eat and sleep and take care of my children (and bathe occasionally? I hope? Those of you who see me hope?). It's been amazing to have her here so long, and I am preparing to cry like a big baby when she leaves this Sunday.

We have painted a high chair for Frankie that we got free from the Salvation Army, mom re-upholstered some dining chairs the previous owners left us, I'm almost done with the first slipcover of two for my wing-backed chairs in the living room, I re-painted much of the hallway and kitchen in an effort to "touch-up" the paint. I think it had been a few years since the previous owners had done so, and there were a lot of fingerprints in the 3-foot range. Not that my children will not replace those marks, but at least we can start with a clean slate. These are just a few of the major projects, other minor projects have included various installation and hanging of pictures, baby gates, curtains, etc.

Frankie helps Nonnie shake the paint for her chair:


My new sewing machine is finally here, out of the box, and being put to use! It's doing a wonderful job on the thick upholstery fabric that I'm using for the slipcovers.

Frankie's photos

The other day I went to download the pictures from the camera, and there were 61 photos. I was surprised at the volume, until I saw the majority of the photos were of this ilk:



Our little Ansel Adams.

Happy 4th of July!

Why wear one pair of sunglasses when you can wear two in this land of plenty?

Mommy's little firecracker

Happy birthday, America!

Roommates

The Murrys moved in! For those of you who hadn't heard, our good friends, Jeff, Sarah, and Hannah Murry are living with us on the third floor of our house for the next 6 months or so. They will soon be adding another baby girl to their family; Sarah is due August 24th. We're going to have 4 kids under 18 months in this house!

Have I mentioned how much I love our new house? It's been wonderful. Right now, there are 5 adults, 2 toddlers, a newborn, a dog, and a fish all living comfortably in this 5+ bedroom, 2.5 bath house. The downstairs has a living room, dining room, half bath and kitchen with a nice deck on the back and a small yard with a grassy area and lots of squirrels for Maisy dog to chase since we actually have three trees in the backyard! The second floor has three big bedrooms, a full bath, and an office. The largest bedroom in the front of the house we've designated as a playroom/guest room. It connects to the office, and has been a pleasant, sunny place to spend time during the day. The third floor has two more bedrooms and a full bath where the Murrys are living. With almost 3000 square feet, there is plenty of room to roam.

We've been getting used to the new neighborhood, finding out where the best places are to eat, shop, etc. We've meet a number of our neighbors. Everyone has been so friendly, wanting to introduce themselves and get to know us. Many of the residents on our street have living here for a long time, and consist of families in a wide range of ages. Coming from Cambridge where everyone (it seems!) is in their 20's, it's nice to have a mix on our street.

Frankie's Mimi sent her and Dexter a box of clothes - thanks, Mimi! While the clothes are adorable and mom and dad appreciated them, Frankie and Hannah particularly enjoyed the box:



One of Frankie's new dresses:

Dexter is gaining weight well, he's at 9lbs, 7 ounces at last check. And he should be, because he eats all the dang time. He's a bit of a lazy nurser - he eats for 5-10 minutes, falls asleep, and I have to wait for him to wake back up again before he wants to eat again. He's still hungry, mind you, he just needs a little digestion time or something. This makes for some rather long nursing sessions where he eats on and off for 90-120 minutes. I've learned to do other things while I wait for him to wake back up, like write this blog post!

Sometimes he gets down to eatin' and is done in 30 minutes, but those sessions are usually followed by 30-120 minute sessions of gas pains. He'll sleep for 10 minutes, and then cry for a few seconds, want to be held, and then go back to sleep. This is one thing during the day, but like water torture at night. Just as I think it's finally over, put him back down, and drift off to sleep, he's fussing again. The good news is when he doesn't have gas pain, he sleeps soundly, and for several hours at a time, so I'm hoping that once his digestive system gets a little more robust and the gas pains subside, he'll be a good sleeper.

He's not eating on any kind of discernible routine. I would love for him to eat consistently every 3 hours at this point, but we're not there yet. I've decided to give him until at least 6 weeks before I try and start helping him to eat bigger meals every 3 hours, instead of getting away with snacks that don't really fill him up. I know I could start this now since he's so big, but I feel that he's still so young, and I have help with my mom here, so it's not so bad.

Sleeping with his arms above his head, just like Daddy:

This boy has crazy hair. I try and comb it down after a bath, and as soon as it's dry, it does this: Just like his dad, again.