Busy Busy Busy

So much going on that I never feel like I have time to sit down and adequately get all my thoughts together for the blog. I'm starting this on a Thursday morning...will be interesting to see when it finally gets published :)

P&E had to miss PDO 2 weeks in a row due to sickness. Perry had diarrhea and Ella had a sniffly nose the first week...then Luca ended up with diarrhea too. When I got it, my first thought was that I had been glutened but when Ella got it too, we realized it was the stomach bug. So we stayed home a 2nd week. They've been back at PDO for 3 weeks now and have cried every time I drop them off. They settle down pretty easily but it's heart wrenching to see them upset. They are always very happy when I pick them up so I'm sure they're having a good time.

By the way, if you're keeping track, this is the THIRD TIME we've had the stomach bug this year. Ugh.

Luca is doing well. He is about 5.5 months old now and close to 20 pounds, 28 inches (according to our measurements at home). He is in the 90th percentiles for both...he's a big guy. We started giving him rice cereal once/day now (sometimes at breakfast, sometimes at dinner) because he had a few nights where he was waking up 1-2 times. We thought maybe his little belly wasn't getting full enough from the formula. Sure enough, it worked. He has gone back to sleeping through the night the last 4 nights. Yay! And he is also drinking much less formula which is a good thing.

He's rolling over...only to the right side. He *almost* rolled to the left the other day, but didn't quite get all the way over. He's also sitting up pretty well...can sit for a few minutes before toppling over. He's a happy baby, not much seems to upset him. Hopefully that doesn't make for a difficult toddler ;)

P&E have changed so much in the last few months. They both have grown a ton of hair, Perry's is slowly but surely filling in and growing out. They are also talking a lot more now. I made a list of the words they can say about 3 weeks ago and there were 50 words on it! Of course some of those aren't very clear (ga ga for grandma, ba for bath) but we know what they mean and that makes it easier to communicate with them. Ella has recently started saying "no" and "um hm" for yes...very cute. They are also working on using utensils with dinner and have been using "big girl" plates (Backyardigans) for awhile now. They use a spork to eat their veggies and pasta and a spoon to eat applesauce and yogurt. Ella is pretty good with it but Perry still turns it upside down right before she gets it to her mouth. They still LOVE The Backyardigans...as a matter of fact that is going to be their birthday party theme. The countdown is on...less than 3 weeks until they are 2!

We've been to the Zoo, Grant's Farm, and Gymboree lately. We need to get to the pumpkin patch soon but this warm weather kind of puts a damper on fall activities. Maybe this weekend.

Speaking of Halloween, we have our costumes all figured out. We originally bought P&E a scarecrow and lion costume from BRU with the hopes of finding Luca a tinman outfit. No luck. So back to the store went the scarecrow and lion in exchange for a pea pod costume for Luca. We were given princess outfits by our neighbors when the girls were born and even though the dresses are 6-12 months, they still fit the girls pretty well. So they will be princesses and Luca will be the pea. Dave doesn't know this fairy tale so he was a bit confused :)

We're having the kitchen and laundry room floors tiled next week so we'll be without a washer/dryer and kitchen for about 3 days. Not looking forward to that, but we'll manage. Guess if we have an emergency (i.e. Luca poop explosion), we can always use the neighbors washer/dryer.

Speaking of our neighbors, a new family moved in behind us this past January. They have 3 children...Dylan (11), Lindsay (8), and Brady (5). Our next door neighbors have 2 children...Riley (8) and Leighton (5). The 4 youngest ones have been playing with P&E out in the backyards and P&E just love the attention and playing with the "big kids". The 2 boys actually came knocking on our back door one night asking if the "babies" could come out and play. I smiled to myself thinking, "this started soon...the boys have come knocking on the door already". Another family behind us is moving so hopefully we will get some new neighbors with young kids. And hopefully they don't put a fence up. We have thought several times about fencing in our yard but having such a big open space with 4 yards to run around in is pretty nice.

Well, it's actually still Thursday morning and I'm about to publish this post. Guess I underestimated my ability to blog ;) Till next time!