Furman Girls: The Next Generation

Last week my Furman friend Kelley was coming through town with one of her daughters, so I dropped Nathan at school and took my girls to go meet up with her in Chapel Hill.  We met at emu's house, and of course her two daughters were also there, so...

Yeah that's a lot of Furman girls in one place.

Kelley, me, Liz... and our girls*

And somehow we were all wearing purple.  (Wasn't planned.  Swear.)

Anneliese- 2, Charlotte- 3m, Sienna- 3, Sally- 2m, Annie- 2

Which means I'm pretty sure some of these babies are destined to be sweet Furman friends eventually too.  (I just cringed as I wrote that. Being a mommy means thinking about college in terms of tuition dollars.  Ugggggggh.  But, um... yeah. I mean, go Paladins! #fuallthetime)

It was a great morning of catching up with great friends and a handful of great laughs. 

(And Kelley has hinted at coming out of blogging retirement for a post with outtakes and attempts at this group picture.  You heard it here first.) (Update: she did it!)

*We're actually missing one from these families of Furman girls, because Kelley's oldest daughter Kiran, the original Furman Girl: Next Generation, was back at home. Next time!

Pehistoric Lego Creations

Legos never get old around here.  True story.
Nathan is dawning on a new age of dinosaur love (an era I was told to expect, an apparent requisite phase for all little boys).  So of course he has been very busy building the perfect prehistoric creature. 

Your daily Nathanosaurus

Look I made a lego dinosaur!  It's a brontosaurus and it has six legs.

Um, yeah. Of course it does. Points for effort?

Glimpses of Wateree

The big kids have spent a few weekends recently with their Opa and Oma down in South Carolina.  First when Mark dropped them off for a visit while he went to a football game in Clemson (leaving me at home for another easy fall weekend with just Charlotte), and then they rode down with Uncle Nick and Aunt Barbara for Thanksgiving last week (Mark was working, Charlotte and I found ourselves in Huntersville with my dad's family).

It's kind of bizarre to be all split up on weekends like that, but it's fun afterwards to look through picture updates and see what my babies are up to when I'm not around.

(If I had to base those assumptions on what Anneliese told me, it'd be limited to something like big puppy! big boat! Opa's house! Nay-nay biiiiig booooat!  Yeah.)

Who doesn't love a fabulous new hat?  I mean really.

Why do they both do this with their fingers?

So I'm gathering the canoe is not his favorite, then?

But they both seem pretty happy on the big boat.

And I'm pretty sure this is my new favorite picture of Nathan.

Today I'm feeling thankful for sweet grandparents and relatives who enjoy and know my children.  It's no small thing, really.

Chef Nathan

I've mentioned before that Nathan has become legitimately helpful in the kitchen.  But now that he gets up before us, gets himself dressed, gets his own yogurt and (pre-poured) cup of milk for breakfast, and can make his own lunch?  I'm pretty sure he should just take over all the cooking duties.

Your daily Nathan: maybe a budding chef, but no awards for speed

I mean, it's just one small step from pb&j to chicken casserole and potatoes au gratin, right?

Babies Holding Babies

Nathan and Anneliese both spend a lot of time begging to hold Charlotte. They love it.  Every time we take a few minutes and sit down and let them (and then bust out the camera, of course), I think it's going to turn into another in a series of Awkward Sibling Photos.

But seeing two kids who are so joyful at being big siblings, and a baby who just takes it all in stride, like being adored is the most natural thing in the world...

...well I just don't have much to poke fun of about that.  It just seems sweet and happy to me instead.  Awkward sibling hilarity and snark will have to wait for another week when they aren't being so beautiful and sincere.

The World Through Nathan's Lens

I went through the pics on the cameras last week and there were a ton taken by Nathan. I found lots of shots of his sisters, his toys, his clothes, and our house, all taken from his height.  It's actually kind of fascinating, the things he finds photo-worthy. 

(He might say the same about me.)

So here are a  few pics of the world according to Nathan... these made me smile:

the beloved orange shoelaces

classic Mommy

baby sister Charlotte

I promise my driving is better than this picture indicates

Bowden, from behind

smiley self-portrait

happy sister Anneliese

Mommy and Nathan

I love seeing the world through his eyes, a little bit. :)

Mommy's Girls

My friend emu took this picture of me with Anneliese and Charlotte last week when we had a Furman-friends playdate at her house.

Whoa.  I have two daughters. 

I love this picture. And the babies in it, and everything it represents about being their mommy. 

(Including the plethora of purple.)

Tis the Season? Already?

Charlotte doesn't seem too thrilled at the way-to-soon arrival of her first Christmas season in early November.

Your daily Charlotte: Christmas already? Yikes!

Little does she know, this is likely going to be her hat for the whole winter.  Maybe she should join the #OccupyAdvent movement.

Another Day, Another Dress-Up

Mommy's new favorite hoodie is also Anneliese's new favorite hoodie.

Your daily Anneliese

It just might look cuter on her.  Maybe. ;-)

Youth Choir Paparazzo

Nathan and I went to a youth choir rehearsal to take some pictures for our church's new website.  He was a little bit excited about seeing his teenage fans, and a lot excited that I was going to let him "help" with the picture-taking.

And perhaps I was a little bit paying attention to the youth choir, and a lot paying attention to Nathan being their paparazzo.

And because it makes me smile, here's the rehearsal from his perspective:

I think he does a good job of capturing the excitement and splendor of teenage girls singing worship music around a piano, yes? ;)  He's pretty much an artiste.

Boxelder Nightmare

So the newest homeowner adventure we've been battling recently is the discovery that we're cohabiting with a bunch of boxelder bugs. And by bunch, I mean like... tens of thousands of boxelder bugs.  Do you know boxelder bugs?  I didn't know them til we moved here.  They look like this:

like roaches. with red trim. oh and they fly.
all togther now: *ew*

You might remember from Nathan's tick story that I'm not in love with bugs. That they make me cry.  And throw up.  And feel all panicky inside (and out). I'm a smart rational confident adult, but I do not do bugs.

We had noticed them outside the house sometimes, but didn't pay them any particular notice. Just another of the bajillions of bugs that crawl on our planet that I try not to think about too much.  Then a few weeks ago I saw one on Charlotte's bedroom wall and (calmly, I swear) asked Mark to kill it. But then we saw another.  And another. And pretty soon we had killed about forty. It was not a good start to date night.

Several days, several google hours, and one visit from our pest people later, we had more info.  Boxelder bugs, attracted to boxelder trees (note to self: find all boxelder trees in our neighborhood and cut them down), don't bite or eat plants, love warmth and sunshine. 

So they're mostly harmless except that as the weather gets cooler and they have a hard time finding their warmth and sunshine outside, they think they should move into our house to get it.

HA HA NO.

Our pest people brought a big truck and motor and spray system and ladders and attacked the house with poison.  They were liberal in the application. I told them I was more freaked out by the bugs than the chemicals.  I might or might not have stood outside crying and saying die mother f-ers while they were spraying.  (Not my finest housewife moment.) (Bugs bring out the worst best of my profanity abilities.)

(I also might or might not have spent an afternoon huddled in the kids' bathroom with two terrified children and one hungry baby after bugs were spotted in all their bedrooms and naptime just wasn't happening.  That day we were four out of four for people at our house crying.  Not my finest mommy moment.)

Charlotte's bedroom window. This is the stuff of horror films.

So basically they swarm around the southwest side of our house (the bonus room downstairs and Charlotte's room upstairs), where there is lots of sun in the afternoon.  And then come nightfall, they apparently find ways into the house to keep warm.  Dormer closets, crawl spaces, window frames, our baby's bedroom. Their numbers do seem smaller now, but I'm not sure whether that's because the spray was effective or they're just staying in the house walls now.

Excuse me while I throw up.  Again.

Charlotte at Three Months

Charlotte is three months old!  And... we're all still pretty much exhausted. Which is why we have mostly cell phone pics and not much else. Hey, life with a newborn, right?

Here's what's new with Squeaky C this month:

Babbling!  She has become quite talkative, far more babbly than I remember Nathan or Anneliese being at this age.  Sometimes I swear she's saying hi!!!  She has a funny and pipsqueaky voice and we get to hear it most when her brother and sister are around.

Sleeping!  She spent a week of sleeping through the night.  The whole night.  Like, twelve hours.  And just when we had convinced ourselves we had a new normal, she changed her mind and went back to being up twice a night.  Suuuuuper.  But at least nowadays when she gets up, she eats then goes right back down, no more up forever with a wide awake baby at all hours. Still, I am ready to be done with the zombiemom thing.

Grabbing!  Charlotte can now reach for and grasp small toys.  Mostly Jolene.  And my hair.  Hi there, major milestone.

Spilling!  This is what our family calls spit-up (thank you Nathan, circa 2009). And Charlotte does it like a champ.  She's a spit-up superhero.  And her superpower is the amazing ability to get it everywhere except on the burp cloth. Between her spills and my boob leaks, I'm basically always a hot wet mess. As is the furniture.  And carpet.  And other children.

Giggling!  Her laugh is more of a chuckle right now than a full-on giggle, but it's still music to my ears.  When we bounce her right before or after a feeding, she's tickled enough to share it.  Here's hoping there's lots more of this to come.

Sitting!  Well, in the bumbo.  And her head still droops a little.  But it kind of counts!  Or maybe not?  Yeah she's as floppy as her brother and sister before her.  I make floppy babies.  True story.

Scooting!  Okay so it's obviously not intentional mobility, but when we put Charlotte on the floor, she arches her back and presses against her feet, which means she can work her way around a room in no time.  Which also means our floors are covered in spit up everywhere, not just on the towel where I originally laid her.

Self-soothing! She's still loving the thumb. And I'm still loving her, loving the thumb.

Eating! She nurses well and often (still about 10-12 times a day, including morning and evening clusterfeeds), and is almost guaranteed to accept a bottle when we need her to.  Or want her to. Which means date nights are back. Win.

Chillaxin'! I'm about to say this to the internet, although I'm scared it will bite me in the badonkadonk later: I think the colic has passed.  Charlotte gives us many many spells of awake-yet-peaceful these days. She is still fussy at times, but it's rarely inconsolable, and it's never for hours on end.  I have one thing to say about that: whew.

Happy three months, sweet Charlotte!

Chorister Nathan

Part of Nathan's preschool is a weekly worship service, and part of that worship service is teaching the older kids (whoa. mine is now one of the older kids) to lead in singing.  In a choir.

I guess it goes without saying that his favorite part of this is wearing a robe (like mommy! awww).

But the truly unexpected amazing thing is this: Y'all! He actually sings! I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.  But our little social wallflower... he totally sings. Out loud!  (While avoiding making eye contact with anyone he knows, before during or after.  Whatevs.  Baby steps.  He sings!)

And it's maybe the sweetest thing I have ever seen.  I might or might not have cried.

Your daily Nathan: sweet choirboy

It is almost incomprehensible to me that my child is standing in the sanctuary wearing a robe and singing anthems when he was just born... like, a couple weeks ago or something, right?  Whoa.

Best. Mad. Face. Ever.

Okay folks.  I'm going to ask you to stretch your imaginations here for a bit.  Can we all just agree to not remember that Charlotte was born at the beginning of August, and not notice that it's now the beginning of November, and not do the math to figure out how old she is for today's milestone?  And definitely can we agree to not judge anyone based on those things we're not noting?  Okay?  Cool?  Cool.

That being said... Charlotte has officially had her first bath!!

(Get excited.)

She was okay with it at first... and then she wasn't.

Which is okay with us, because her mad face can't be stressful when it's this... awesome.

So basically, she shrieked.  Amidst a chorus of Nathan clamoring to help wash her, and Anneliese constantly narrating what was happening (baby. chey-ette. baff.) (baby. water.), she shrieked.  Lesson for the day: first baths are not unchaotic in a family our size.

Other lesson for the day: clean babies are sweet and fuzzy-headed and oh-so-cute wrapped in towels, and might be worth the effort of bathtime a little more often.  Maybe.

Llama Alpaca

Last week I saw a picture of a llama on twitter.  It made me laugh.  Nathan asked why I was laughing. So I showed him the llama picture.

Did he think it was funny too?  I don't know.  I'll never know, because he instead chose to respond with...

(wait for it)

...but that's not a llama, that's an alpaca.

I don't... I can't... um, whaaa? Did that sentence really just fall out of your mouth? Well excuuuuuse me.

Hey, Mom? Dad? I hereby offer a sincere apology for all of those moments in my childhood when I ruined a perfectly good moment by being a know-it-all. I repent in sackcloth and ashes.

(And after a very thorough google image search, I still don't know what the eff this "llama" is.  Maybe a llama.  Maybe an alpaca.  Maybe a camel. Someone enlighten me.  Someone who is not four, please.)