Pearls and Curls.

Ellie really enjoys anything that allows her to be like mama, as many little girls do. She likes when we wear our matching jean skirts, she likes wearing nail polish, she likes helping me put on make up (she especially likes curling her eyelashes.) Well, you cannot believe how thrilled she was the other day when I told her she could wear one of my pearl necklaces, just like me. She's been wearing it basically nonstop since, though she has paused to allow Lexi to take a turn (an actual turn even! Not one of those two second turns that ends with Ellie screaming and trying to rip back whatever she was "sharing.")

This morning despite the hot temps, I went out front to do some yard work, by which I mean the annual cutting down of all the invasive saplings on our hillsides. Any yard work that requires a hack saw is a little much, but I actually sort of enjoy it.

Ellie enjoyed it too. Especially because she looks so fabulous.

Mama, you made a big mess

And of course, please note that she's rocking her sparkle shoes too. The most fabulous, helpful of girls.

New Stereo System

...means GREAT dance parties!

Paddling Pool.

We had a low key weekend around here. Mimi and Pa took Ellie off our hands Saturday morning and kept her overnight (hooray!) so we had a relatively easy time managing our one, easy going baby. I did what anyone would do when they had some down time - I scrubbed my house! Who doesn't love a freshly vacuumed couch? (the cats don't, that's who.)

Before supper, when our backyard had gotten a little shady and cool, we pulled out the wading pool and went for a swim. At first, Ellie was content to just splash around and pour tea by herself, but then she asked if Adam could come in too. He'd been giving the water a hard stare, so I said sure.

He thought it was a pretty good deal.

Even when Ellie and her "bunny tail" squirted him. Please note that he is not sitting in the pool because he refuses to sit when he could be standing. I guess that's why they call it a wading pool.

FORCED SNUGGLING.

And speaking of bunny tails, here is what happens when we go to buy cat food.

Five Months.

Time is going so quickly, and all of a sudden our little sweetie man is five whole months old. He continues to be a good natured, go with the flow kind of baby. If he wakes up at night, he eats quick and then puts himself back to bed. Nap time is similar - he may cry for a few minutes, but once he flips to his stomach, he finds his thumb and is generally good to go. He'll nap in the ergo for miles and miles, and while he doesn't always sleep in the stroller nowadays, he at least has stopped screaming about exercise. Instead, he chews his lovey or Sophie and chats to himself, in his usual loud, emphatic cutie voice.

His favorite thing is to be held so he can stand (I fear he will never learn to sit up at this rate!) and rolling over and over. He also likes to drool like crazy and blow big spitty raspberries. If you pat on his mouth, he will start making noise so that he can whoop it up (observe below.)

Basically, he is a tiny baby dream boat. I cannot believe how fast the time is going though! Five months seems like no time at all, and yet it feels like he's been a part of our family forever. I am so glad we added him as our fourth and final member.

Like his sister, he hasn't quite mastered sitting up on his own.

All Growned!

It was a momentous morning! Ellie woke up dry after a full 24 hours in underwear, and we declared that she is DONE WITH DIAPERS! She is so proud of herself, and I am so proud of her. It seems like such a big, grown up thing, and today she was my big grown up girl, especially with all of her hair in a pony tail to go swimming. What happened to my chubby little baby? Who is this long legged Muppet?

Also sort of mind blowing - the other day I fell down the rabbit hole of watching old videos on my computer, and found one of Ellie and Lexi at the summer concert series in the park in Dana Point. Please to observe this video from last weekend:

And compare these two ladies to last year:

LOOK AT THEM! So pudgy and cute. And this was back when Ellie referred to Lexi as "baby La."

One last funny thing: so, when I was desperate for Ellie to show some interest, any interest in potty training, I told her that when she was big enough to use the toilet, she'd be big enough to start holding Thor. She has remarked on it since (in fact, the other day in a store told me that some grade school aged girl probably pooped in the potty, and so probably got to hold her kitties) but thankfully for Thor, she hasn't gone after him. He's the only one she could probably haul around (though mom also told her she could hold Petunia. If she could hoist her.) Ellie has been smart enough to not show any interest in picking up Lulu. It's the quickest way to earn a good facial scar.

Growth Spurting.

It has been a long couple of days. Pork Roast has been a little fighty on going to bed, then wakes up in the middle of the night, then wakes up at 6am. And during the day he's tired and whiny and fighting naps like crazy. I'm not quite sure what it is - growth spurt, sleep regression, teething, his big giant brain trying to get the whole rolling over thing completely figured out - but it's exhausting. It's a good thing he's cute.

And meanwhile, people point out "well, he's better than Ellie." He is, but you know, she still lives here. So when I'm desperately trying to nurse him to sleep, she's right at my elbow asking me what he's doing or yammering about what she's doing or crying because I'm not holding her/feeding her/reading to her/opening her playdoh container. Oh, that girl. 

Somedays, there are too many children in this house. And if it's not the kids, it's the cats staring at me and trying to occupy my lap. EVERYONE STOP TOUCHING MOMMY.

Thank goodness for preschool, and grandparents, and rum. And seriously, it's a good thing they're cute.

Adam giving Rocky some pets. 

And Ellie doing some excellent pool time. There is never a place where you can't be a bunny.

Cha-Cha-Changes

Lately I cannot believe how big the kids are getting. Ellie seems especially long and leggy now that she's in underwear and no longer has a big poofy diaper butt. She is so tall and grown up. I'm constantly amazed by the things she comes up with, the words and phrases she knows. She can be like talking to a tiny adult, and then sometimes she says the funniest little kid things, like when I served her a plate of tortellinis and she said "these are called jewels." My other favorite thing is when she tells me I look "so fancy." Our new fun challenge is the fact that she tries to request specific songs in the car, but she has no idea what the titles are, and her descriptions of the songs leave something to be desired. Occasionally I will get her to sing part of the song to me, and then I can sometimes figure it out. She is really loving the bluegrass songs off the new Steve Martin and Edie Brickell album, though last night she told us that a song about a woman drowning herself in the river was "a fun song" and the Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling" was a "sleepytime song."

Last week I painted my toenails during her nap, and she noticed them straight away when she woke up. She was so excited that I told her I could paint her toenails too if she wanted, and she was off to the bathroom like a shot, waiting for me.

She was so thrilled that we had matching pink toenails AND matching jean skirts.  She loves that jean skirt.

She also loves her stripey rainbow shirt, which is rapidly becoming too small for her. Friday she had pigtails AND a sparkly headband. Very Olivia Newton John, I think.

Yesterday after nap time she asked that Tim and Adam curl up with her "in a big cozy pile." She loves to tell us that things are cozy. Towels, blankets, pig-piles. All so cozy!

Meanwhile, Adam is bigger every minute. His legs are really starting to chunk out (hooray for fat babies!) He reaches for a lot of things now and knows what he wants. Mostly he wants to be in the same room as us at all times, be held so he can stand, and be allowed to drool on everything. He is also starting to eye us while we have dinner - it's hard to believe that it's almost time to start solids. Who authorized him getting so big? When he lays on my chest at night time, before I go put him in his crib, I am amazed at how much space he takes up now. What happened to the little tinykins tucked under my chin? Sometimes it's hard to believe he will ever be big enough to walk and talk like Beans, and it's hard for me to believe that she was ever so small.