First crawl to Pokey

Finley crawled for the first time today!! Ok, so this was Finley's second time crawling...first time I watched with pride, then got my video camera, and seduced her with Pokey the orange clay pony. She also crawled her way across the room, tipped over the garbage can (office) and started eating paper. My goodness she is quick, and I realized that I wasn't quite prepared for her speed.

Day for Dad

Everyone who knows Eric knows that he is an incredible father, but the girls and I get to see it firsthand. They are very lucky little girls to have him as a dad. I am really really proud of his fatherhood. Some dad's ask for some free time away from their kids on father’s day. I can totally relate to that, but not Eric. He was up early, allowed ME to take a nap and also spent the entire afternoon with both girls so I could go re-rent our townhouse in Ballard. We all feel a little 'withdrawal' on Mondays when the weekend is over. I am so lucky to have such an amazing parenting partner. I love you Eric. We love you DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD! We used food as a form of celebration. Dad's day dinner was seared scallops over angel hair with a piquillo pepper seafood sauce and fried capers. Eric was a happy dad.

Happy girl at brunch

The girls got him a new pair of soccer cleats, the least they could do....

At rainbow park

So Ryanne turned 2 and a half years old last Wednesday. She is so much more advanced that I ever thought any 2 1/2 yr old would be able to do, like hold down a full conversation, even a debate (which I usually win because it’s about something she doesn’t want to do). She recites songs, full books, nursery rhymes, remembers names and places. At 2 1/2 years, it’s a daily adventure.

Here is Finley in her first shopping cart. By the end of the trip both feet were above the handle bar.

Finley started clapping on Monday. It was from mimicking her sister and mom. I often play lots of music in the house. Some kid music and some mom and dad music. I fall victim to singing the kids songs in my head, sometimes in the middle of the night. I have been able to seek out decent kid music that I can actually listen to like Jack Johnson's Curious George, and 'They might be Giants’ ABC's and 123's. (Actually kind of catchy). I can sing this one word for word:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6h7LEru69U

We also picked up ‘Caspar Babypants’, also known as "Presidents of the United States of America", who is from Seattle and plays here live a lot.

Just like kid music, our daily morning ritual of Sesame Street may be getting to me a bit too. Should I be nervous if I start seeing words in bright puffy letters above my head, especially when I’m really tired? The early mornings can really hurt; all you can do is amuse yourself. The other day I woke up singing: “its prime time, time to make a rhyme, its prime time for rhyme time”…as cats and bats and rats were dancing in a circle in my head.

Ryanne’s last day of school was fun for her. I had asked what she wanted to get them as a little gift for loving, encouraging, and teaching her all year, and she thought the best present would be “a sandwich”. That probably was her best idea since it was dinnertime, I had to laugh to myself since we wouldn’t be giving it to one of them for a few weeks. We settled on nicely scented soaps.

Along with being such a great dad, Eric speaks highly of me in front of Ryanne and Finley. The other day I had a white shirt on, and I gave Ryanne another white shirt to wear as her dress for her nap. She said " I look pretty, like Mommy". It was so nice that she said that, but I also know Eric tells her that too. Luckily my 2 1/2 yr old cannot recognize any flaws just yet, and my loving husband sees past them. =)

These photos are from a day I had nothing on the calendar...just my girls and our imaginations at home...ALLLLLLL day.

I love introducing new foods in the summer

Ryanne and Finley's first wrestling match..

Sisters bath

Naptime

This morning the sun came out. I decided we were going to attend one of my local stroller strides workouts. It’s a workout that you bring your kids to. That said, it’s never the most focused, but it’s better than nothing. I ripped Finley out of her first and best nap, threw everyone and everything in the car (vests, snacks, water, toys, shoes, and kids). We got through the workout with some tears and many tic tac mints later, and we walked up to the car to unload and Ryanne asks “Can I drive?”, I was laughing out loud but in my head, my future flashed in front of me…approximately 13 years and counting.

When we got home I rushed to make sandwiches and forced my kids outside for a picnic because I have been dying to be outside in sunny weather. The picnic lasted through only half of her sandwich when she looked at me worried and told me she had pooped her pants. Without getting angry, I just tell her we need to go inside and clean her up. So I gathered Finley, the plates and cups and head inside. As we head inside, Finley starts shoving Ryanne's peanut butter and jelly into her mouth (not a good thing), Ryanne starts freaking out because a bug landed on her head, and I had to hide the dead mouse that Shush left as a present under my hovering shoe. It was chaos. After managing Ryanne's pants, I turned the TV on, and just had to take 2 minutes to take a shower...it was all I could do to wash off the poop, peanut butter, sweat and potential rabies. I decided I would pretend the day just began once again and write off the morning all together.

A new look...

I have a lot of ground to cover, loads of photos and videos...Bear with me...and I hope you like the new Schlog design....For those of you who were concerned that it wasn't the correct site, you can breathe easy, (you know who you are...........)



Thanks to Shush, Finley pulled herself up to a standing position. Finley was playing in a laundry basket (which I have found she loves to do) as Shush walked by, she got so excited she grabbed the side of the basket and stood right up. Now I seek out positions that allow her to practice this..like a cardboard box or her favorite, crawling up my legs. She is SO close to crawling, rocking back and fourth. But she knows how to roll over, twist her body and get across the room for something she REALLY wants. I'm sure the crawling photos will be here before you know it. She has been eating so well too...its hard to believe that I am buying groceries for 4 people now.

The bjorn says it can hold a kid up to 26 lbs...my back says otherwise.......

Mother of the year award goes to me for allowing my baby to sit in a giant
box/fort playing with plastic packaging.....

Ryanne called this "pup pup drums"

Mimi was here all last week. Ryanne got ALOT of attention, and she also learned that going into someone else's purse for candy is not ok. She knew it too, as she tried to hide it away after getting caught. Luckily, Mimi wasn't mad, rather tickled by the fact that Ryanne sucked on the outside mint package because she couldn't get it open. Turns out she likes a lot of candy. We were on a significantly long road trip coming back from Bellingham for a family graduation party on Sunday. I gave her a lollipop because she was so well behaved all day and, like I said, it was a long drive. Her comment was "I could eat this alllll day". Eric and I had to laugh.

Mimi was able to spend lots of time with Ryanne during bedtime. They did bath time and read lots of books and it allowed me to make dinner at a reasonable hour. While I was cooking, Ryanne told her Mimi that the cooking aromas coming from downstairs "smells like Mommy". Ill take that as a huge compliment. She is already interested in cooking, as most toddlers are, but she gets to make some pretty special things like homemade granola bars and her scrambled eggs and grilled pizza. I continue to try to find things to help her explore with me in the kitchen. I can just hope that she and her sister will share my passion for cooking, or at least create really great food memories.
We also went to the park with Mimi, went out for lunch with my friend Charis in West Seattle but mostly stayed at home to encourage good napping. Low key as usual. Perhaps Mimi can share some of her favorite photos of her trip.

From a coffee shop in West Seattle -hysterical!!

Our Jacobia park. Ryanne calls it "rainbow park" because we see so many
rainbows here.

All kids want to climb up the slide and down the stairs...and of course try it backwards too

Ryanne has been doing a lot of things that make us giggle. Even if she has short sleeves on , she pretends to roll up her sleeves before washing her hands. I think she knows it makes us laugh..Thank You Ryanne for always putting a smile on our faces. This morning I was trying to teach her how to play a game on the computer, and she said "Mommy, you are trying really hard!"...We always say that to her, especially when she gets frustrated with something and wants to quit.

Finley has been saying Dada for weeks and now she says Mama...I just love it. We try and communicate back and fourth with her...sometimes its just too much and all she does is opens and closes her mouth..You're trying really hard Finley!

Ryanne and I had a great day of exploring on Sunday. It was during Daddy and Finley's Sunday naptime. The sun was bright and we headed out to see what the neighborhood had to offer. The "Bob's" or workmen were not there, so we explored the usual building sites and large machinery. But what she really like is BUGS. In particular, we found a bush with a lot of ladybugs. She was talking to ladybug, singing to it, we talked about its ladybug family and let them crawl up and down our arms. She was so excited that she was shaking. I asked if having the bug on her made her nervous, but she just said she was happy and excited.



A tender moment between the girls, besides the first wrestling match, was after both of their naps, still with nap hair, I brought Finley into Ryanne's room. I started stroking Ryanne's hair and Ryanne was stroking Finley's hair. So sweet.

Ryanne's last day of school is this Friday. Her first graduation. She'll go back next year and to a summer camp for a week this summer. Im really glad we stuck it out.




Her teachers think she really excelled in art. She is great with drawing and painting and has a pretty steady hand for a 2.5 yr old. I allowed her to take some photos outside on my phone camera and I was impressed. The same day, we came in and she drew her very first face (aka: cone head). I was blown away.....here are her recent works of art:

She drew this loop and added a stem and told me it was "a pear"

Her Photo Session: