Being a Little Brother

We've learned that, as with anything in life, there are some upsides and downsides to being Izzie's brother.  Some things that have not been awesome...

1.  When your sister forgets the back of the grocery cart is occupied (she's used to shopping without you) and tosses a bag of mini carrots into your car seat.  Where they land on your face.  While you're sleeping peacefully.  Or WERE sleeping peacefully.

2.  When your sister makes you the backdrop for her princess stickers.

3.  When your sister blares Tangled music and dances during nap time.  Or has a tantrum outside your bedroom door while you attempt to sleep.

4.  When your sister assumes being a baby means you are essentially blind, and chooses to talk 3 cm from your face.

"Oh, buddy.  It's okay buddy.  I'm right here."  Yep.  He can see that!

5.  When your sister gets bored of you just sitting there, so she tries pinching your feet to see what you'll do.  This, however, is preferable to when she licks your face.  "Just cuz."

6.  When your sister insists on interrupting every bottle feed with really important business.  Like checking your heart rate with her stethoscope.


However, there are some things that are pretty awesome about being Izzie's little brother...

1.  She loves you so much that she shares everything with you.  Including *gasp* Punzel and Jerry.  Often and joyfully.

"So.  You new around here?"

2.  She runs to you for hugs and kisses when she's hurt.

3.  She says, "I got him!" when she hears you crying from the other room and runs to comfort you.  Sometimes by crawling into your crib... Whoops.  But adorable.

I was in the other room and heard him fussing.  Izzie said, "I got him, Mom!"
I found them like this.  Don't tell me she can't multi-task.  Such a mom already!

4.  She says, "I just miss brother!  I need to see him!" if you are away from her for more than a few hours.

5.  She watches your face like a hawk and wipes the milk off if you dribble while eating or spit up later.  Usually pretty haphazardly and aggressively, but the good intentions are there.

Do you like our DIY double stroller?

6.  She reads to you.  All the time.  Every where.  Every night before bed.

Different days.  Same idea.  We do this a lot.

7.  She's bigger, so she does all the heavy lifting.

Buddy is 3 Months Old!

My sweet little man is 3 months old (technically this happened last Tuesday).  He is just the apple of all of our eyes and we don't know what we'd do without him.  This family of four thing is working out just lovely!

Some things about Levi at 3 months...

1.  Mr. Occasional Smile has turned into Mr. Smiles All the Time for Mommy.  He is happy to smile for other people, too, but they come pretty easily for momma these days.  He smiles and turns his head and straightens his arms like, "Oh, MOM!  You're here!"  It's delicious.

2.  At first we were under the impression that Levi was not a fan of music.  He pretty much hated all the lullabies we sang.  But it turns out we were singing all the wrong songs.  Levi first fell in love with "Bent" by Pink on Tuesday, then "All About that Bass" on Thursday, and finally "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" on Saturday.  In fact, when I sang the last one and said, "The sweet caress of twilight" (doing a french accent for "caress" of course) he laughed.  Three times in a row.  It's been a big week.

3.  Levi has a lovely sense of humor.  I was feeding him his bottle and he whimpered and made a sad face (which is still the cutest and saddest sad face there ever was).  I said, "Oh, baby!  What's the matter?"  He smiled and said, "Ha!" and started sucking his bottle again.  I know it was a coincidence but it was super funny.

4.  Levi's cheeks are smushable and squeezable and chewable.  I practically can't even fit a whole cheek in my mouth because they are so chunky.  I mean... I couldn't if I tried... but who would do that...?

5.  Little Man has found his love:  Jeffrey.  Jeffrey is identical to Jerry except he is an orange giraffe with a  brown blankie attached as opposed to Izzie's pink version.  T made him some cute little minky blankies when he was first born, and I was super excited because I thought that he would love them and then she could always make more so we wouldn't have to worry about them getting lost.  He liked them just fine.  But then one day Izzie loaned him Jerry.  She has done this often in the past, but this day he buried his face in him and wouldn't let go.  I told her to go get him his blankie just like it (the Turners had given us one when he was born so he could match Izzie) and it hasn't left his side.  He has an iron grip on that thing and loves covering his face with it.  Just like his sister did when she was a baby.  What is it with those things?  Bryan said it had to have a different name or it would be confusing.  Jeffrey it is.  Let the stockpiling begin.

6.  Buddy is so darn content it's ridiculous.  He will entertain himself with a hanging toy off the side of his crib for a half hour, or lay on his boppy and look around his room until he falls asleep, or sit in his swing and listen to his sister playing.  He's so low maintenance!  Just don't go past time on his bottle.  Then there's a high pitched girlie scream headed your way.

7.  Levi has turned into a mover and a shaker.  He scootches all over the place.  His belly button was even with the strap when I laid him down (in the picture above), and he talked and squeaked and scooted up there.  He does the same in bed, or if he gets laid on his play mat.  He pulls his feet up, plants them, and pushed himself backwards.  Strong little baby!

Babies growing up!

I finally cut my Bellie's hair.  I had been feeling like I should for awhile, but then I would chicken out.  It had reached the point where it was ridiculously easy to tangle and needed to be cleaned up, so I decided it was time.  I had been prepping Isabel for awhile -- the first time I mentioned cutting her hair she said, "No, that's okay.  It's long and beautiful."  And I had to agree.  But I just kept mentioning it and (as always) she came around when she had enough time to think about it.  The first time she agreed to getting her hair cut she said, "I want to get my hair cut purple!"  We still had a ways to go, clearly...  But when we found out Caden was getting his hair cut we decided to go at the same time so that it would make it more fun.  

Caden got his hair cut first and then Iz went.  She was totally fine with it and sat just lovely.  (But I realized that she bites her lip when she's nervous -- you can see it in the pictures.)   The stylist got out the scissors and I panicked a little.  "Just the trimmiest of little trims there ever were!"  So we didn't get much cut, but it was a baby step.  Luckily enough, it just happened to be Halloween, and they just happened to put the most lovely princess braid in her hair when she was done (if you saw the Rapunzel braid from Halloween and thought, "Allison can't do that", you were right!).  

I took 32 pictures of her hair the night before.  But come on!  It's gorgeous!

And my little man.  He is suddenly super observant of everything around him.  (I joke that he has learned to be on high alert with an active and aggressively adoring sister.)  He loves watching the bugs I hung from his car seat.  He loves laying on the floor and watching an open window or a light.  He LOVES his playmat with all the hanging toys.  And he has recently become obsessed with sucking on his fist.  If only he could stick his little thumb out...

Fall fun

Grammy and Popper had a lovely fall party.  Pumpkin carving, decorations, snacks, a fire pit, and flashlights for nighttime adventures.  What more could you want out of a fall party?  (This was the weekend BEFORE Halloween, however I'm finally getting around to posting about it.)  Auntie Leslie was here from Texas to meet Levi for the first time, and we had a blast!

Isabel and Avery painted their pumpkins instead

There's no messing around with this crew! (Popper was an excellent supervisor.)

What a fun surprise to find all the colors together make the most delicious purple!

As usual, Levi enjoyed the festivities in
an extremely adorable and cuddly way.

T R O U B L E

Come on!  LOOK AT THOSE PUMPKINS?!  T made the Ninja Turtle,
Caden made the jack-o-lantern, I made the Cinderella, Daddy made the
Huskers and Auntie Leslie made the bats.  Basically professional work.

Here are some pics of my munchkins on Halloween in their Halloween outfits -- not to be confused with their costumes.  Totally different.  The pictures got increasingly worse as the photo shoot went on...  Further proof that perfect pictures of toddlers and babies require intense photoshopping abilities. 

Well, he's just ALWAYS cute.

Yes, he does love him Mummy.

Okay, well a smile would have been nice...

Hmm.  A little intense.

Ohhhkay.  time for a new pose.  Maybe that's the problem.

Could one or both of you look at the camera?
 

Isabel, your brother is falling!  

Well...don't PUSH him.  And smile!  It's a picture!

Okay, thanks for smiling!  Please stop pushing!

Well...that's...okay.  We're going to call that good.

Yeah.  We are clearly done here.  Poor, confused, falling baby.

But doesn't he sleep nicely?

Tricks and treats and too much cuteness

We had a crazy busy week full of Halloween fun!

MONDAY:  Boo at the Zoo!  Izzie took this very seriously.  Once she realized the more people you talked to the more candy you got, she was all over the place.  We got done and she said, "Wasn't that so fun, guys?!"

Rapunzel and her buddy, Pascal

We took a shuttle bus to the zoo from Lincoln High.  She loved it.
Now every time she sees a city bus she asks, "Is that OUR bus?"

WEDNESDAY NIGHT:  Trunk or Treat at church.  Since brother didn't come along this time, she chose to be Cinderella.  (If you own every color of princess dress in the world, you have options when it comes to dressing up.)

THURSDAY:  Dress up day at school!  Grammy picked Izzie up and took her and Caden to school (Avery was having surgery).  They thought it was pretty cool to get to show Grammy around.

The clock struck midnight for this Cinderella...

FRIDAY:  Halloween for real!  Rapunzel and Pascal showed up again!  We visited some family and then did some trick or treating (while Levi hung out in the warmth with Grammy).  Izzie walked around like she owned the neighborhood.  And she was so confident and polite -- I was so proud!  One time she came back from ringing a doorbell and I asked if she had said thank you.  She said, "Whoops!" and ran back up the driveway to tell the lady.  What a good girl!  She was probably just as excited about the leaves in the yards as she was the candy in her bucket.  She picked them up at every house we went to.  "Look at that one!  So pretty!  This one's red!  I got a big one!"  

39 pieces of candy and 22 leaves.  That a girl!