First day at the beach

We spent this Labor Day at Port Aransas with my parents. Our rented beach house has decks looking out to a lagoon on one side, farmland on another, and 100 yards to the dunes from the front. A couple hundred feet of boardwalk through the dunes brings you to the beach.

Upon arriving today, we headed off for the kids first beach experience. And wow... they LOVED it.


Across the boardwalk.



Uncle Chris and Papa introduce Lily and Evan's toes to the Gulf of Mexico. At first they aren't so sure. Lily is proudly sporting her new pink polka dot bathing suit from G.G.



"The ocean is wonderful!" This kind of true joy happens rarely in life. How great to capture it when it happens. Papa, Tia, and mom provide support. This is sure to be the first of many trips to the beach. Fortunately their Grandma Gloria lives in Florida close to many great beaches. :)



Holden hanging with Grammy, in burnt orange (from uncle Jason) ready for the horns opening game.



Evan makes daddy proud and befriends a group of nice young ladies. Here Evan and Will reap the rewards in their borrowed tubes.



Papa and Tia guide Evan and Will through the waves.

We all returned to the beach house safe and tired, concerned about Gustav but optimistic about the rest of the vacation.

Oh, Lily

Sweet Lily. I'm so sorry, somehow I have lost your keepsack lock of hair from your first haircut. I put it in my purse after your haircut but didn't arrive home with it. It breaks my heart, it was white blonde baby hair. I still have a bit of hope that it will show up somewhere. I promise to keep some from your next haircut. In the meantime this photo of you the day before will have to take it's place.

Lily, you are a born nuturer. I catch glimpses of how you will be as a mother. You are quite a darling. I see you immitate me or your other mother figures like Carmen, Gigi and Clare. You give Holden gentle kisses on his forehead. This evening you patted Will on the back when he fell. You say 'come on boys' when it is time to wash hands before dinner. You will give kisses and hugs freely to your siblings, but are strong and a bit fiesty too. You won't think twice about biting back when acosted and yes, maybe you have started it when a toy was threatened to be taken.

Lily, I know it will be tough at times, growing up with three brothers. But I hope that it will also shape you in a positive way. And they love you so dearly, I know they will take good care of you as you grow up together.

House Paint Part II

Still debating dormer paint, need your votes... Judi, that means you.

There is really not a simple solution but here are two options.

Option 1: dark trim, light siding.

Option 2: all dark

btw - I think my photos make the dormer look more strange than real life because the camera angle is up towards the dormer, giving it too much prominence...

Snif, Snif

Holden is seven months old and got his first nub of a tooth yesterday, not the full tooth but the tip is peaking out and it will be a matter of days until he has his first tooth.

As if time doesn't fly fast enough he just refuses to be a baby. He's been crawling since four months, crusing since six months. He skipped the whole rice cereal thing and went from soft foods to waffles and a cheeseburger in a blurr. He can feed himself and yes, he ate half a cheeseburger and a small order of fries this weekend.

He loves loves broccoli and although usually easy going he will show a bit of a temper if you try to take it away. I bought one of those net things that you can put table food in to make safe for babies. We use that a lot, but he seems to manage fine without it.

Here is Lily feeding baby Holden who is almost as big. Much to Lily's dismay he prefers to hold his own spoon and is pretty good at putting it in his own mouth. Lily is so sweet to him, huging him and patting him to comfort him. They often get in a fit of giggles when they look at each other.

He is now wearing the big boy's pjs and would like to join their fun.

The boys are not so sure they want to share their toys. But I'm sure they will be running around having fun together in no time.

Family Dining Part II

My previous post about toddlers at the dinner table spurred a flurry of emails. Thanks ladies for all the advice. I guess some are a bit shy about posting. But I welcome all your comments on my blog, especially the lengthy ones sharing your experiences and tips. Most of my readers are moms of young kids and in particular other multiples moms facing the same challenges.

So here is a recap of the advice I received:

1) Everyone thought moving to the family table was a good idea for various reasons including learning that chairs are for sitting not for climbing. A particularly important lesson for those of us with HOM (higher order multiples). As one child getting into a little mischief can quickly become or three or more toddlers gone wild.

2) Use booster seats and, for the love of all that is good, strap them in! Do not let toddlers roam free (probably not until at least 2 1/2).

3) Once they get more comfortable with sitting at the table, advance to no buckles BUT keep highchair at bay for unruly days and for rule breakers. Give one warning if they are standing on chair, climbing (or marching in some instances) across the table, running around like wild banshees. Second offense lands child back in secure highchair (or in the case of the booster seats, put tray or buckle back on).

4) Lower expectations. Don't expect meals to last more than 15 minutes.

5) Use distractions to help your child(ren) stay at the table. Give them a quiet toy, sing a song or ask where is their 'eye, ear, belly button?' (by the way I tried singing itsy bitsy spider tonight and Lily said 'no!' until I would stop so maybe the song thing isn't for me)

Almost Civilized

Inspired by fellow same age group triplet mom Kelli we have had tried several meals as a family at the table. (but look how much taller her children look at the table) I'm also tired of our tacky plastic highchairs with all the parts to clean and wanting to experiment with some other options before we move into our newly remodeled house.

This photo looks nice but doesn't tell the whole story. We have only had mediocre success. They will sit nicely for a few minutes but then they start to try to climb on the table or 'experiment' with their food. Will poured his cereal milk down his chest and into his chair this morning because it looked or felt interesting, or both. It is really difficult for Evan to sit still. He is enjoying the freedom too much, roaming the room, eating off other's plates, climbing in other's chairs. Generally causing michief. Evan poor thing has been spending a lot of time in timeout, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Lily can now say 'mischief'.

We have had a few moments of nice family meals, especially when David and I sit with them but we need more practice. I'm also not sure I'm ready for them to have all this freedom. It means I have to stay on my toes to quickly clean sticky hands before they run off and get food on the furniture.

Hairs Lair

Finally, long overdue haircuts today...

Evan went first. He was a bit unsure but very patient, quite a good boy.

Memo cried the whole time like last time.

Lily's new style. She nearly didn't get a haircut. She was screaming and clinging to me. Finally she would sit in my lap while I sat in the chair (thus no pictures in action). Margot, our hair dresser let Lily hold the whole box of little toys to get her attention and made it clear that this was a rare very special treat for Lily's first haircut. I was thankful and very pleased with Lily's darling bob. We took home the first cut lock and a certificate for the baby book.

Sneak Peak

A few photos of the house progress...

Looking from the dining into the kitchen.

The island bracket Armando designed and built for us.

Dining room french doors.

Kitchen cabinets, the uppers still need to be installed.

More kitchen cabinetry under the stairs. Our cabinet maker designed several pull out shelves and drawers to make use of every inch of space, even a couple 3" deep shelves to utilize the wall space. When finished it will look like a full wall of cabinetry.

New french doors in master.

Starting to tile in children's bath.

Exterior paint is looking better now that the windows are cleaned.

I promise to post some kid pictures Friday after their haircuts, the first for Lily!

Pick a Door

Vote for your favorite door for our house using the poll on the left.

I'm thinking of painting it a dark glossy black or perhaps stained a deep brown.

Option 1

Option 2 (ignore the fancy glass panes)

Option 3

Option 4

This simple plank style door graces the entrance of designer Tia Zoldan's home. I found a place online that would replicate it for us but my contractor wants to work with someone local who can come and measure, so not sure if I can pull it off yet.

House Paint

They have started painting the exterior. The trim color looks great. We are trying to decide if more of the dormer should be painted the lighter color. It is hard to tell with the windows painted over. It won't look so heavy once that is removed.

I'm not sure if I like the siding color yet. It is a tan color but surprisingly it is looking a bit yellow in the bright sunlight, at least in the front. The back of the house looks pretty good.

I like the dark trim color on the doors.

The samples were supposed to be put up on the front dormer but they put them up in the back of the house instead. Of course it was last minute and they wanted to get started so I approved them. In hind site I should have made them put the samples on the front to be sure.

If I could do it again I think I'd go with a darker stony or beige color like BM grant beige or BM tapestry beige for the siding but hoping this will turn out OK.

They finished floating and texturing the walls yesterday. Cabinets will be installed tomorrow. The next step is the interior trim and bathroom tile. I hope to have some good updates over the next few weeks.

Second Degree

When we were leaving the park this morning we had an accident.

There was a three year old birthday party and they had a portable bb grill right there by the playground. We had to go pretty close to the party because the celebrant and his friends were playing with our wagon. David was loading them up while I was packing Holden into his stroller and Lily ran into their grill! Poor thing, she burned her hand quite severely, second degree with an almost one inch blister on her left thumb.

I can't believe they would have a grill right next to the playground and unsupervised. I didn't even see it. They had a bunch of little ones in their own party for peets sake. Geesh.

And Lily, our sweet Lily, was in a lot of pain. But what shook me up most is how it could have been much worse, very easily. The hostess just said to me, I think your daughter ran into our grill, my daughter did the same thing once at the beach. Just put some ice on it. I was speechless and just went to follow David rushing home with the kids.

***

Updated. The blister kept swelling and extended to the tip of her finger. It hurt her a lot today. She kept shaking her hand and saying ow-ee, ow-ee. It finally popped and it looks really tender. It is bad but thank God it wasn't worse. How easy it could have been a lot worse.

Also, I don't know why I didn't know this but you shouldn't put ice on a burn, it can burn it further. From my Internet searching it seemed that the common recommendation is to run the area under cool water for 20 mins - and for those with small kids, they say to hold their hand under the water even if they cry because it will reduce the impact of the burn. Then of course turn your attention to calming and comforting the child.

The pharmacist recommended treating with a burn gel or spray with lidocane for pain and aloe for soothing and healing. And once the blister pops to treat with Bactrim, not Neosporin. I'm not sure why the one antibotic and not the later.

Butterflies

Chaos

Will can climb out of his crib. Evan can unzip his crib tent.

Last night I finally put Will in Evan's crib with tent and zipped him in. Since Evan can get out anyway I put him in Will's crib. Eventually everyone went to sleep but this morning Lily's crib had been moved to the other side of the room.

Happy

Not a Baby

Holden doesn't know he is only six months old. He wants to do whatever his siblings are doing whether it is playing at the train table or eating popsicles.

He is really agile, he can easily pull himself to standing, hold on with one hand and even reach down to help sit himself back down. That's an 8 or 9 month old task. Last night marked his first time 'cruising' on our ottoman. It won't be long before he is walking.