Picnic in the Park

Todd, the kids and I went to Boston Public Garden for Labor Day.  We brought along a picnic lunch and strolled around on a beautiful late summer day.

Natalie was a big hit, scoring lots of smiles with her angel wings on.  I mean, really, isn't she the cutest??? 

We also rode on the famous swan boats.  I had never been on them, and neither had the kids, so we took a little family cruise on the pond at the Boston Public Garden.  The sun was in our eyes, which is why Natalie has the sourpuss face on.  She was really good and had fun on the boat!

But I didn't have Grant facing the camera, so here is the big guy with his Mama on the boat.  Right after this picture, Grant grabbed my earring out of my ear and tried to fling it, but thankfully Todd caught his hand and took it away from him.  And thankfully I wear the kind of earrings that can pop right out when a baby grabs at them!

After our swan boat adventures, we went under a shady tree and had a picnic.  Of course, we forgot Natalie's lunch, so she had to eat some of ours.  G enjoyed a jar of green beans under the trees.  We didn't take any pictures of the picnic- it was a little chaotic!

The swans (the real ones - hey, they don't call them swan boats for nothing!) and the ducks were so comfortable around people, you could walk right up to them.  Here, Natalie had little interest in the birds, but was very excited about stirring a big stick in the pond.  Do you ever wonder what goes on in the mind of a 3-year-old?????  Fascinating stuff! 

Sippy cup

We keep trying to give Grant a sippy cup and this is pretty much all Ole Blue Eyes does with it:  not much.  But he looks cute doing nothing!!!

Sorry this next picture is blurry... this time, he kept trying to bend over to drink it.  He doesn't quite understand gravity yet!  But he did enjoy chewing on the rubbery spout!

Natalie's Gymstars I class

Natalie really enjoyed the brief, 10 week summer gymnastics class she took.  She was in the Tiny Tumblers class, but now she has moved up to the "big girl class" (as she calls it), also known as Gymstars I.  It's a little more organized now.  First, they sit in a circle and do songs and stretching and dancing. 

You can see here, she is doing a pretty good job of paying attention.  However, in the next picture, she is running around while all of the other kids are quietly seated.  Such is the attention span of a 3-year-old!

This picture is so awesome.  The only thing in focus is Natalie.  Pretty wild.  After the group sing-a-long, they go and break into smaller groups and do smaller obstacle courses.  Below, she is waiting in line to start one of the courses.

In the next shot, my little daredevil is climbing the ladder (with the help of one of her teachers, Mr. Gary). 

And lastly, here she is jumping on little squeaky pads.  Yes, that is her new leotard.  She was very excited to wear it and didn't want to take it off when she got home.  She said she wanted to wear it all day!

Big boy can stand by himself at a table

Sniff sniff... where is my little baby going????

Grant is standing alone at a table now.  We have to put him there- he can't pull himself up yet, but he can stand there for quite a long time, and doesn't even have to hold on with both hands!  He is showing us this in the picture above.  See the green train mom?

And I love the picture below, mostly because Natalie took it!  Notice how cautious mommy still has a hand behind his bum!  Just in case!

Also, Grant has finally decided that rolling over from back to belly would be a fun idea.  Most babies do this around 4 months.  Grant?  Almost 10 months!  (He started doing this on August 24th).  Both of my kids are proof that every kid moves at their own pace. 

Mesh Bag Baby Safe Feeder

Big G went absolutely bonkers for the mesh bag baby safe feeder that we got him.  It's a great little contraption.  It has a hard plastic handle that screws into another plastic piece that holds a mesh bag.  You drop in some food (doesn't matter what- chicken, bananas, peaches, broccoli, whatever!) and baby gnaws on the mesh bag and gets out all of the yummy goodness without the fear of choking.  The other night, I filled it with slices of a plum, and he couldn't get enough of it.  I was worried at first, because when we gave Natalie the same device, she had no interest and only wanted to gnaw on the hard plastic handle.  One time, she ate 3 grapes in it, and despite giving it to her a handful of other times, she had no interest.  But G actually cried when I took it away from him!

Natalie's 3 year stats

Well, there's not much to report that's new here (no real changes since we self measured her in June!).  Natalie had her 3 year checkup last Thursday and she is 38" tall and weighs 32 lbs.  This puts her in the 55th percentile for weight and 60th percentile for height.  She is 5% higher in height, which is the first time in her life that has ever been the case!  It was usually the reverse- slightly higher percentile for weight than height. 

She also had to have blood taken for the 3-year-old lead test.  In Massachusetts, kids have to be tested at 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years for lead.  I'm assuming she passed because no one called us on Monday!  Dr. Meisheid and I also discussed her potential peanut allergy... so they took a little extra blood and tested that.  Well, they called on Friday and told us she is NOT allergic to peanuts!  Hooray!  What a huge relief!

Natalie only cried during the blood work and was very good when Dr. Meisheid was poking and prodding her (despite being uncomfortable that she was only in her undies and socks!).  So after the appointment, I took her to Dairy Queen for some celebratory chocolate ice cream! 

Natalie's first day of preschool

Natalie started preschool this morning and is in the Teddy Bears class at FACE preschool in Natick.  Sniff sniff.  Her backpack made her look so tiny as she walked into the school.  Both Todd and I went and she played in the classroom for a few minutes before we decided to leave.  There was only 1 other little boy there at 7:30.  Don't these parents work??? Even after dropping her off at 7:30, I still didn't get to work until 8:45 and I was on the express train! One of her teachers said that some of the kids wouldn't be starting until next Tuesday (after Labor Day).  Natalie was most looking forward to playing on the playground and seeing her best friend Gaby.  Gaby is actually in the Chipmunks class, but I'm sure Natalie will see her at some point during the day. 

Natalie's first day of preschool is complete!  And she had a great time!  Here she is in the living room before we left with her backpack on:

And here's Grant and Natalie on the front porch before we left for school and daycare:

She was very cute in the morning.  As we were walking toward the school in the parking lot, Daddy took her hand which she held for a few moments before she said, "Daddy, I don't need to hold your hand because I'm a big girl!"

Once we got there, Natalie found out where her hook for her backpack is:

She had a great day and the teacher had nothing but good things to report about her.  She ate Cherrios with milk for breakfast, and for lunch, they had brunch!  She told us they had waffles and cucumbers for lunch, but I can't quite figure that out!  Some kids didn't nap, but Natalie definitely did.  In fact, they only napped for about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes, which is definitely NOT long enough for her.  Natalie normally naps for 3 hours.  So to cut that to less than half, she is definitely going to be a little grumpy in the evenings until she adjusts (oh please, let her adjust! This evening was not fun...) 

Above is Natalie with one of the teachers, Doreen.  She was getting ready to wave at us out the window, which she thought was pretty funny.  Natalie was also very good about using the potty and asked her teachers whenever she had to go.  She also stayed dry during her nap, which is sometimes hit or miss at home, but like I mentioned, she usually sleeps for 3 hours at home! She did see her friend Gaby, but I'm not sure for how long.  She also made a new friend when playing in the sandbox outside.  She couldn't remember her name but she said she had black hair like mine.  (HA HA, my hair is brown).  She also got to make a crown that she colored and put stickers on.  Of course, she was the only kid who had to have an "extender" because her head is so big! HA!  Overall it was a great first day!

Big Boy and solid food

We are introducing more solid foods to Grant these days.  Here he is with his first cracker.  There is some great video of him making funny faces on smugmug. 

The cracker didn't get much love from Grant.  In fact, it got broken into about 15 pieces and thrown on the floor.  But he did taste it, and didn't really like it.  Nor does he care for puffs or anything with lumps in it, much like his sister when she was his age.  He's been trying mashed up banana and yogurt, both of which he did okay with.  (Well, better than the cracker anyway).  Maureen is giving him mashed up fruits too.  He now has 8 teeth that have popped through (4 on the top, 4 on the bottom) so he's definitely ready to use them!

Weekend on the Cape

The weekend of August 14-15, we all went to the Cape!  Natalie and Grant got to stay with KK and the kids in South Yarmouth, while Todd and I went to Wellfleet to hang out with some of the Wilmington crew.  We went last year too, but I was really pregnant, so this year was much more enjoyable!  At KK's, Natalie and Seth got to go to a carnival, and Natalie was riding all of the big kid rides and according to KK, wanted to go faster!  Uh oh! I think I have a dare devil on my hands!  It probably helped that Seth was going on the rides.  She even went on a mini roller coaster!  They also went to the nearby pond and saw some minnows.

We had so much fun on the Cape except for the Great Tsunami of 2010, but more on that in a second. 

Right after we arrived in Wellfleet, we joined the Cucci's and some of Karen's work friends at White Crest Beach.  This beach is insane- it's on the opposite side of a massive dune.  I think it's like, 3 stories high or something.  

See the people walking up to the parking lot? Todd and I were joking it was like a CrossFit WOD just getting up and down that hill!  But the beach was really pretty and the weather was surprisingly warm!

Just another view of the beach- the waves were pretty big both days.  But I don't think the water was over 70, so you know I didn't get in!  There were some cute seals in the water too!  I mean really?  Seals?  Don't they love icy cold water?  Yeah, that "sealed" the deal for me!  Plus with recent shark sitings off of Chatham and now near Truro, no thanks, I think I'll be staying farther up on the shore. Anyway, the waves were big, but we were set pretty far back from the wave line. Or at least we thought, until a crazy rogue wave came up and drenched us all, and all of our stuff. Including my towel, which was lying on the beach with my shirt and shorts on it. And both Todd's and my BlackBerry's in between. Somehow, Todd's stayed dry and mine was drenched. And ruined.  And there wasn't a wave before or after that was as big as that one.  A lot of people asked me why I brought my BlackBerry to the beach? It's my cell phone and I have kids that were elsewhere, so I needed to have a phone in case of an emergency! (I shouldn't mention that there wasn't any reception/service on the other side of those dunes though!) I was so mad.  We went back to the house and put it in a bag of rice, which is what you're supposed to do with them, but with salt water in a BlackBerry under the touch screen, I am doubting it will ever be of use again.

Saturday night, we had a big cookout.  (Karen, Cooch, and Mike Morris enjoying the food, above!) Todd and I managed to even eat pretty clean on our Paleo diet with the exception of the beverages, of course!  Oh and the dang donuts that Rob brought.  Oh, and the smores we had by the firepit later in the evening.  OK, so maybe it wasn't all that paleo!  But it was sure tasty.  Who doesn't love a good smores though?  The Cucci's had those colossal marshmallows that were the size of a fist --- YIKES!  Well, Rybo found it amusing, anyway...

Sunday, we all got up and went to the beach again.  This time to Cahoon Hollow Beach. It was a bit overcast and much cooler, and we had to leave to go pick up the kids, so we left just before lunchtime.  So long beach, until next summer!!! 

Weekend at Grammi and Bean's

Every summer, the Maryland Bailey's take a week long vacation up to Massachusetts to visit the rest of us Bailey's that all live up here.  Natalie really loves all of her cousins.  And cousin Megan is off to Gettysburg College in a few weeks, which is really unbelievable.

(Grant, Megan, Seth, Natalie, Lauren, and Ryan below.  Sorry it's not cropped very well.  There were several taken, but this was the only one where everyone was looking in the general direction of the camera!!!)

We had a lot of fun when they were visiting.  We went to the pond one day and Grammi let Natalie use a fun raft to help her swim all around without Daddy's help.

Daddy said the pond was chilly so Mommy and Grant opted not to get in!  But I snapped a cute profile picture of baby boy anyway...

Mmmm, snackalicious!  Anyway, we also spent some time at the pool.  Natalie had fun in the kiddie pool, but even got to go in the big pool with Daddy, Lauren, and Hannah!  The girls are so sweet with Natalie and she really looks up to them all.

Thankfully, the little pool was nice and warm, and we had fun splashing around!  They always have a huge basket of toys at the kiddie pool and there's always plenty of things to play with.  Now that summer is winding down, we are looking forward to some fall weekends in Plymouth and Great Island's new heated indoor pool!  It's open to kids (but only if they're potty trained, sorry G) and families from 2-4 every day.  So we are looking forward to that!  We will miss the warm summer days though!