11 Months

The second child seems to grow at twice the rate as your first. I guess Charlotte is nearly twice the size as Evy at this age, but what I mean is I cannot believe that she is 11 months old already! At 11 months Charlotte has a few "words." She says apple (baapple), dada, mama, bottle (ba-ba), hi, bye-bye, thank you (dank ew), ball, and water (wa-wa). She can stand up from sitting and cruise along furniture, she has taken two steps on her own but is not walking. She has reduced her bottle/formula intake, down to about 4 six ounce bottles each day and prefers to feed herself table food. She sleeps well at night, from about 7:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. She is pretty social, loves to wave at everyone and tell everyone hi. I'm realizing that most of our activity is dictated by big sister's interests so I'm not sure what Charlotte likes to do. She likes to read books and dance along to music. But for the most part she just goes with the flow and makes things easy on us!

Adventure

I often ask Evy if she would like to go on an adventure. In adult speak "going on an adventure" means that I have no plan and no where to go, but need to get the heck out of the house because the kids are driving me crazy. On Sunday Scott needed to do some work on the boat at the marina so we went along for an adventure. He dropped us off at a playground. We were at the playground for about 3 minutes and then decided to walk across the dam and go to the fossil gorge--about a half mile trek.The damn trail over the dam ended and left me two options to get to the fossil gorge. A) walk my children on a narrow curvy stretch of road for more than a quarter of a mile or B) traverse a very steep hill and traipse through a prairie with a jogging stroller and three year old. Naturally, I chose B. Evy made it down the hill great (the hill is just above Evy's head in the picture). I pulled the stroller up the hill (yes-pulled the stroller up...no pushing was required) as I walked down it. At the bottom of the hill Evy started complaining about the scratchy grass and told me I should have brought the double stroller! From the bottom of the hill to the bench pictured above I pushed the stroller and gave Evy a piggy back ride. After a quick picture to document this craziness we proceed to the fossil gorge. What an adventure! 

Bag Lady

When we moved into our house 9 years ago we never imagined the hassle our floor plan would create with small children in the house. Having Evy's room on a different floor than ours really became an issue once we moved her into her big girl bed. We strictly enforced a "do not get out of bed" rule as we didn't want her roaming around on a different floor or attempting the stairs on her own in the middle of the night. She became accustomed to us retrieving her from her room each morning and helping her carry her blankets and stuffed animal "friends" down the stairs. The "do not get out of bed" rule first backfired when she was potty trained. She was so used to the rule that she would yell for us to help her go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. With much bribery and praise she now mostly goes on her own. The "do not get out of bed" rule has also backfired on us now that we want her to get out of bed and come down the stairs on her own. She has a hard time getting through the baby gate and carrying all of her stuff down the stairs. A few weeks ago Aunt Julie gave us a shopping bag full of books which I left in Evy's room. The next morning I watched on the monitor as Evy packed her blankets and stuffed animals into the shopping bag. She sat the bag down as she opened the baby gate and walked down the stairs on her own, hands free. Problem solved...until the shopping bag rips.

County Fair

Last year on kid's day at the county fair it was hotter than heck and I was 8 months pregnant. I don't have fond memories of that day. That didn't deter me. We tried it out again this year and Evy had a blast. We spent $2 (price of the snow cone) for two hours of entertainment.

Charlie's version of the snow cone

Face painting and tattoos. I made Evy wash the face paint off before nap. The only way she agreed to let me wash it off was with the promise that I would re-draw the face when she woke up. Within five minutes of waking up she brought me a crayon and asked me to draw her whiskers. I used some old eyeliner and it looks good as new!

Planting her seed at the Kid's Farm

Milking a cow at the Kid's Farm

Cruising

Charlie is cruising along the furniture and standing up from sitting on her own. Probably just a few weeks away from walking!

Camping

We've been planning a backyard camp out since Memorial Day. Evy was sick that weekend so our plans got put on hold. The heat finally let up on Friday night and based on the extreme heat forecast for this week we thought we better take advantage of the decent weather. We planned to make smores in our fire pit, but due to the drought there is a burn ban. I didn't really want to be the people on the news who sent their entire neighborhood up in flames, so we decided we would just camp. And by "we" I mean Scott and Evy. Someone had to stay in the house with the baby. Evy was super excited to sleep in the tent and did a great job!

Hiking

Several of our friends rave about their Kelty Kid Carrier backpack so we were thrilled when we were given a hand me down. I don't know if it's because Charlotte is huge or if we have the carrier adjusted wrong but it absolutely kills us to carry! I took Charlie on a short hike one day and the pressure on my neck left me with a migraine. Scott lugged her around the lake last week and it left him with a shoulder/neck cramp for the next 24 hours. Major bummer because Evy is really into hiking and likes imagining what animals might be in the woods. When something makes noise she thinks it's likely an alligator, lion, or bear.

"Playing"

Here's a little summary of "playing" at our house these days.

Evy builds a tent and wants Charlie to come in the tent with her. Charlie has no idea what's going on or what a tent is.

We coax Charlie into the tent. She doesn't like it. She's crying. Evy is thrilled that they're playing together.

Wait just one minute. They are both happy for a second, but Charlie is on her way out of the tent.

Field Trip

It's 100 degrees, Scott is out of town, and I was in need of an afternoon activity. Off to Costco we went! Evy loved sampling all of the food and kept asking "Are there more ladies, Mom?"

Storage Space

So, that's what Charlie does with all the food from her tray!

Lost and Found, But Mostly Lost

It seems that adding a second child has decreased my ability to keep track of things! I am in a constant state of losing things. This spring I lost my North Face jacket. So mad at myself. A few months ago I lost Charlie's diaper changing pad that I keep in her diaper bag. Ugh! I presently cannot find my primary set of keys. Ugh! Statisticly speaking I'm doing ok because below is the list of items that I leave the house with. In most cases I come back with all of them. 100% of the time I come back with both kids--and isn't that all that really matters?!?!

Misc Items:
-One 23 pound child
-One 33 pound child
-Stroller
-Whatever random items Evy has in her hands


Diaper Bag containing;
-Diapers
-Wipes
-Changing Pad
-Change of clothes
-Bottle
-Sippy Cup for Evy
-Snack for Evy
-Sippy Cup for Charlie
-Snack for Charlie
-Toys to entertain Charlie

Purse containing:
-Wallet (Library Card, Children's Museum Membership Card, etc)
-Sunglasses
-Keys
-Hand Sanitizer
-Cell Phone
-Two year old gum, crumbs, old receipts, and other crap at the bottom

If poor weather:
-Coat and Hat for Me
-Coat and Hat for Evy
-Coat and hat for Charlie

If hot weather:
-Hat for Charlie
-Hat for Evy
-Sunscreen
-Water

Potty Mouth

Saturday night we were at my parent's house for my Dad's 60th birthday party. A band played until 10 p.m. so the kids were up late dancing and having a good time. At 11 p.m. Evy was still messing around, eating string cheese and not going to sleep. Scott told her, "Eat your cheese and go to sleep." Evy replied with a snarky look, "You eat your butt!"

This is funny to me because 1) She said it to Scott, not me. 2) This is the first time she has taken the "naughty talk" approach and 3) We will probably be wishing that "butt" is the worst thing she says to us when she is 16.

For the record, she was punished appropriately and we are only laughing about it when she's not in the room.

A Smokin' Hot 60th

This weekend we helped Papa Jake celebrate his 60th birthday. My parents hosted 100 people and had a live band for the occasion. With a heat index of 110 it was literally the hottest party of the year!

Opening presents at 8 a.m. My camera was fogged over by the humidity.

Some final touches on the landscaping.

Papa and his grand babies. Quick--take the picture while they are all happy and not sweating.

The whole family. That's a hot looking bunch! I don't think you can tell from here, but I had sweat dripping down my face and legs. Awesome.

Evy and Jacob stealing ice from the beer cooler.

Did I mention it was hot? Check out Evy's hair!

Grandma, Evy, and Jacob tearing it up with the band!

Happy Birthday Papa Jake!

Independence Day

 After a pancake breakfast we melted at the parade.

Charlotte, hanging out at the parade.

Doing some "snakes"

USA! USA!

Being silly at an afternoon BBQ

Our little firecracker

Boating

Charlotte-just doing her thing!

The previous owner of our boat left this Barbie lifejacket for us--Evy was thrilled!

When we're on the boat Evy never eats the bread in her sandwich--I think this is strategy--she loves feeding the bread to the ducks.

Today is the first time Evy went tubing. She asked to do it, she loved it. I'm a little shocked.