Just a couple of random pictures

Dawn promoted me from comment-maker to assistant to the co-editor. I was going through some of our recent pictures and found these two that I thought were worth sharing.

Where is Thumbkin?

As Amelia's cold slowly winds down, I'm starting to feel desperate about her return to thumb-sucking. She used to sleep 8-10, and even up to 12(!), hours at a stretch when she and her thumb were getting along. I'd hear her stir, maybe even give a cry or two, but then she'd get her thumb and be back asleep in no time. Oh, how I miss those days! Now, when I hear her begin to stir in the night, I hold my breath and cross my fingers, silently urging her to find her thumb. But, by the time her cry reaches a wail and she's groping around for me, I know it's time to give up hope she's going to soothe herself back to sleep.

But, I refuse to give up hope entirely. I deserve this. I've paid my dues with one child who, essentially, breastfed continuously throughout the night for well over a year. Maybe I should try getting her a blankie.

Sweet Spot

In the morning, Marley's usually up before Amelia. He has a really hard time waiting for her to wake up. One of his first requests of the day is to go and get her. When she does awaken, he's in there in a flash smothering her with hugs and kisses. She, too, acts as if they've been separated for weeks, beaming her big, gummy grin up at him. Even if this only lasts for a short while, I'm totally loving this sweet spot we're in right now where they absolutely adore each other!

Ps. I know I've been totally lacking in the video department lately. I have a few that need editing and a few that I just haven't gotten around to posting. I'll get working on that.

Amelia's first trip to the pool

Every week Jeff and Marley meet Troy, Jada, and Miles at the Tukwila Community Center pool.  Never having taken a formal swim lesson, Jada and Marley (and now, Miles and Amelia) are learning how to swim simply by having regular opportunities to practice in a relaxed environment with plenty of support from their Daddies.  Last week, Amelia, Sarah, and I decided to join them. Sarah did a great job capturing the action for us!

Wearing the life vest helps Marley build confidence and independence

He is learning how to move forward, backward, and spin around in the water

Miles loves floating around, and the occasional dip in the water, while Jada,  at age 4, is able to swim quite well independently

Jada swims over to see what Amelia thinks of the water

We saw neither tears, nor smiles.  I guess we can count that as a success

Already Amelia is learning about the properties of water

Remember when Sarah was here...

The day after Sarah headed back to the East Coast, Marley remarked during dinner, "Remember when Sarah was here?" We went on to relive Sarah's visit, and talk about how much fun we all had, and that Sarah's favorite color is brown:) Here are some of my favorite photos from her stay.

Happy Hallo-weekend!

For weeks before Halloween, Marley insisted that he was going to be Spiderman.  I kept telling him that we would have to look and see what they had at Goodwill, and that they may not have Spiderman.  We went shopping for the kids' costumes with Sarah, and she was able to find the one and only Spiderman costume - and it was in Marley's size.   We bought that and the "strawberry", which turned out to actually be a chili pepper:)  Later, Sarah and I spotted the elephant costume in a consignment shop window for $2.  Surprisingly, Marley chose the elephant for all four of our Halloween outings. 

Two parties, two rounds of trick-or-treating, and one carnival later, I think we are finally Halloweened out. We did an embarrassingly bad job this year of photographing/videoing our Halloween experience. Sorry, Grandparents.  In fact, I'm tempted to put Amelia back into her costume and take a couple more shots.

Getting ready for round one of trick-or-treating at Admiral Junction businesses

The Elephant and the Chili Pepper

Amelia was really difficult to hold in her uni-leg costume

Hiawatha Community Center Carnival

Marley was thrilled to be invited to Reid's Halloween-Birthday Party

Super fun Halloween party with the Huson's

Double Ear Infection

Just when it seemed like things were starting to improve, we had our worst night yet on Sunday night. Marley woke up crying around midnight and pretty much stayed that way until about 7 am. Amelia's congestion was still bad enough that she couldn't suck her thumb, so she woke up every hour or so. Jeff took Monday off work and we brought Marley to the doctor - double ear infection.

He started antibiotics and began feeling better right away. His last two nights of sleep were 14 hours (!) and 12 hours long. Unfortunately Amelia didn't get the "we're sleeping now" memo, and she's been up a lot during the night. She's still a little congested, so I'm hoping when that goes away she'll go back to sucking her thumb at night.

Despite the sleep deprivation, we enjoyed a lovely sunny Seattle day today. We traveled on foot to the post office, bank, toy store, library, and grocery store.