Down to one Home

We sold our house in Wauwatosa, WI. Wooo Hooo. It was a bit bitter sweet with the way the market has turned. We sold for less than what we paid for it, but the good news is we won't have to worry about an empty house through the winter and paying double mortgages. It is also really sad letting go of the house I brought my babies home to. I am not complaining we defiantly have more room here and more amenities, but I do miss the quaintness, laundry shoot, bigger sidewalks, and the size when compared to here with cleaning. A lot of great memories to cherish.

Weigh In

Took Ellery in for her weight check today. She is up a whole pound weighing in at 15 lbs. Gaining a pound in a month is appropriate so in theory I can stop obsessing and worrying about her growth, but it is just a theory. I do have to keep reminding myself she is a happy baby and looks healthy and if she wasn't getting enough to eat she wouldn't be so sweet and sleep through the night like an angel.

Weekend Trip

We took a weekend trip to Sioux Falls, SD to visit Rob's brother. The purpose of our trip was to watch Marina play soccer and we were happy to watch two games. Mason was thrilled to watch her play and she was sweet enough to wave to him from the field. Rob took Mason out on the field at half time to let him kick the ball around and they both enjoyed it. I see Rob coaching a toddler soccer team in Rob's future and spare time. Uncle Tom also enjoyed playing and cuddling with the kids during the game. Ellery did great with everyone and Aunt Laurie enjoyed her as well. We think Laurie and Tom need grand kids soon, but we enjoy them spoiling our children in the mean time. We are giving them good practice for the future. They have toys, pack and plays, and baby gates. They claim the baby gate is for the dog.

We also got girl time and boy time. Laurie and I went out to lunch and left the kids with the boys and then the girls stayed home while the boys went out for golf.

It was great seeing everyone and catching up. Ed and Laine were able to come up and eat dinner with us along with Jenna and Bryan. Grandma Ellen also drove up to see everyone after being back in the country from her Holland bike trip for less than 24 hours. We all sat around the table eating and telling stories while Ellery was stuck up at the bar by herself. I don't think it phased her a bit, she had her puffs and was happy.

First Day on the job

My first day on the job as a stay at home mom was for the most part uneventful except I came into the living room and couldn't see Ellery. I look at Mason and ask him where his sister is and he points to the coffee table. She was up on the bottom ledge of the coffee table, it is about 4-5 inches off the floor. I looked at Mason and I asked him if he put his sister there or did she climb by herself and he responds with a "herself". She is a movin machine these days. I should have known she would crawl to that place, it is where we have books stored.

Ellery-7 Months

Time flies when you are having fun. I am not sure where the last month went, but it is gone and Ellery is now 7 months old. She is a very happy girl. She still doesn't have any teeth or hair for that matter, but we are currently working on both. Her hair is growing and stays spiked in the back and her tooth is trying to pop through. She adores her big brother and would follow him anytime or any place. She loves playing peek a boo with him at the table. They currently sit across from one another so no one can grab the other and we usually have some big object in the middle of the table that Mason uses to start the game. She squeals with delight. She loves her solids and eats anything we put in front of her, I actually think she enjoys it when Mason feeds her although I am still mad at Rob for starting this. He thought Mason would get bored. Ha! She is a crawling machine and the belly flop is less and less each day. She loves to sit up and can almost put herself in the sit up position but just needs a slight boost. She is also pulling up onto her knees with a stable object in front of her. She is starting to talk a lot more and actually will babble on and on. It is fun to watch, Mason wasn't a talker so we get to experience it with her. I have to watch myself, I could ramble on and on about her. I do have to say I get stopped in random placed by random people to comment on how cute she is. I used to get that about my wedding ring, but it is much more fun getting it about my child.

Leaving the Work Force

My new job title-M-O-M.

Today is my last day of employment. The last time I hear a 5 o'clock whistle. I am taking off for the holidays for sure and I include Halloween as a holiday and I will reassess what direction I want to go after the first of the year. A wise lady asked me if I had ever heard of a stay at home mom regretting her decision. I answered her with a No, I have never met a mom who regretted staying home only moms who regretted not doing it. I can always get a job and will have an education but I will never get the time back with my young children. We might have days where I wish I had a job, but I think we will have more days that I am glad I don't. Cheers to a shift in focus from a day job to a 24 hour job.

Creepy Crawler

Rob told me the day would come that Ellery wouldn't enjoy wearing dresses because they would get caught when she tried to crawl and I am sad to say the day has come. If she has a dress on she tends to just belly flop because she hasn't quite figured out how to get untangled. If I leave her dressed you can't see her move as good so here is a naked video of her crawling. She still belly flops now and then but she has the crawling on all 4's down pretty good now.

New Pet

Mason is obsessed with bugs. We hit the jack pot going out the front door the other day. We found a giant praying mantis. We are talking a good 5 inches. We caught him and he is currently living in a big plastic jar in our kitchen. We have fed him a grasshopper, fly, and moth to date. It is terrible watching him eat, but fascinating watching him catch his prey and hold onto it. Mason picks him up and carries him around until he gets pre-occupied with another toy. We haven't named it yet, I can't decide how long we should keep it. Our neighbor across the street has offered to take it, she found 2 praying mantis in her yard and put them in the same container and informed us that they were giving piggy back rides and then she found the other one dead. It is true the female eats the male after mating.

Omaha Zoo

I took Mason and Ellery to the Omaha Zoo today. Mason loved it and if you asked him where we were going to go he would say "zoooooooooo" and after we got home he would say "I went to the zoooooooo" He informed me on the ride to the zoo he was going to see monkeys. I have not been a good mom in teaching him the difference between monkeys and apes. Nor does he know the difference between an orangutan and gorilla they are all monkeys. He will repeat it after you tell him but his first response is to say monkey. Our goals are to teach Ellery correctly because we were informed by many zoo personal today that their is a difference. I have a feeling my child isn't the only one who stated his primates incorrectly, but I wanted to respond he is only 2, might be gigantic for 2, but he is only 2 so give him a break. The zoo is impressive but so big we haven't seen all the animal areas.

I go Pee Pee

Mason has been saying he needs to go pee pee and runs to the bathroom and sits on the toilet. We have not had any "results" until tonight. After his bath he said he had to go and ran to the bathroom sat down on the thrown and peed like a big boy!

Obsessions

You never know what the day is going to bring with Mason around. I was feeding Ellery and Mason went off to play and usually you can hear some sort of noise and one knows he isn't getting into too much trouble. It is when you hear absolute silence from him that you get worried and have to get up to investigate. Inspector mom found this after just a few minutes of silence. Why my child is obsessed with butt paste is beyond me. He usually just walks around with it and sticks his finger in it, but today he took it to a whole new level of painting. I have to give him a little credit, he did have a stinky, he just painted the wrong body part.

Hudson is a Baaaaaad Dog

I have to stop taking my frustration out on the dog in front of Mason. The frustration starts at dinner time. Hudson jumps uncontrollably at the door or if he is inside he keeps sneaking closer and closer to the table. He sometimes gets a nibble of something he shouldn't that Mason has catapulted off the table and I scold Hudson with "Bad Dog". I didn't realize that I say it in a deeper voice until we were sitting at the table and Rob just let Hudson in and he started creeping towards the table when Mason, in a deep raspy voice, says "Hudson is a Baaaadddddd Ddddooooogggg." Not just a bad dog, but a bad dog with a sheep baaa at the beginning followed by a long drawn out dog. Rob immediately looks at me and says, you know he didn't learn that one from me. Stinkin kids ratin me out. I was able to capture another incident on video.


On a lighter note I found Hudson going crazy in the yard and attempting to climb the play structure. He had chased a squirrel up the play structure and was determined to get it. The poor squirrel eventually took a leap of faith and jumped from the top of the structure over the fence and scurried up the closest tree. Hudson was disappointed that his prey had escaped and ran the fence barking at it for a good 15 min.

Rest in Peace

One might recall the past blog post where we won the armadillo sponsorship for Mason from the Milwaukee Co Zoo. Rob was very proud of his raffle win and Mason loves the stuffed armadillo that came with the sponsorship. We recently received a letter from the Milwaukee Co Zoo addressed to Mason stating they had some sad news. "Earth Mover, the armadillo that you have sponsored, has passed away." Poor Earth Mover but we are still sponsoring his spouse Zorro. Rob looked into sponsoring a polar bear here in Omaha and that would set us back roughly $3000 so we are looking into sponsoring a smaller animal to possibly give Mason and Ellery for Christmas.

Also, we just got news that Papa George's dog Zeke has passed away. The picture is from Christmas and he is the brown dog that Mason is pointing to in the picture. Nana's dog Toto is going to be sad without his little buddy.

Don't let this smile fool you

Ellery is teething and actually cutting her first tooth. She might look all sweet, but I can assure you she hasn't been so sweet on getting her first tooth. I felt bad for her the other night she was up and down multiple times. Baby oral gel did nothing for her and I finally broke down and let Rob drug her with some ibuprofen and that seemed to help. My sweet little toothless wonder is growing up on me. The tooth hasn't quite popped through but is swollen and ready to come through any day. I think the pain is over for now, but it was a rough few days for my usually happy girl.

She is starting to crawl a bit faster and isn't anywhere near where I leave her. She loves books and will put it in high gear to obtain one. She is also mesmerized by the dog and cat. She is eating solids like a big girl and now goes crazy for cheerios.

Singing in the Rain

Not sure if the rain we received had anything to do with Hurricane Ike, but Mason enjoyed playing in it. He likes to say "I do it" and hold the umbrella himself then he says "look at me". I let him play in the rain and he was thrilled. He would hold the umbrella over himself and listen to the rain drops and then take it away and let the rain fall on him. He really wanted to go for a walk in the rain but I put a damper on that fun. It was drizzling when we went out later and he asked for his umbrella. I had to do some hard talking and convincing that we didn't need an umbrella for a light sprinkle or drizzle.

Mason Feeding Ellery

Mason continues to be a big helper and a good big brother. Daddy was feeding Ellery solids and Mason gave his usual "I feed Ellery" I usually get him distracted in other games or toys rather than let him help me, but daddy is much braver than I am. It is a good chuckle and she actually paid more attention to Mason than I thought. She is easily distracted these days and very aware of her surroundings. If you watch closely in the video she turns her head side to side looking for the dog because she heard his collar jingle. Mason was thrilled in helping feed her.

Peanuts Booo Hissssss

It's official, we went to the allergist today and Mason is allergic to peanuts. They did the skin test and he welted up and started itching almost immediately. We had a sneaking suspicion, but we hoped we were incorrect. How can a child of mine be allergic to peanuts. I love peanut butter, my mother in law once gave me the book "The Peanut Butter Diet" as a joke because I eat so much peanut butter. Anyways, I have shed enough tears over the soga. We don't have any peanut allergies in the family and I can't help but wonder if all my peanut butter eating while pregnant and breastfeeding had any correlation on his allergy. One will never know but guilt has set in. We are now hoping we are in the 20% of children who out grow peanut allergies. My dreams of eating peanut butter waffles with Mason someday are still possible.

Keep your eye on the ball

My dad was always great at coaching me in sports and he used to always tell me to keep my eye on the ball. I have now passed this saying onto my child but I don't think Papaw meant it this way. Mason literally keeps his eye on the ball.He also is obsessed with going outside and playing with balls. He wants to shoot, dribble, hit, kick, and chase the balls. I am amazed at his hand eye coordination. I can throw the ball at him and he really does keep his eye on the ball because he connects the bat to the ball.

Mason at school

Mason has been going to school for 3 days a week for a little over a month. It has been a rough transition for him and he used to cry daily when we dropped him off and we would sometimes find him crying in the afternoons when we picked him up. I had many conversations with Rob if we should pull him out of school or let him ride it out. Rob assured his new teachers he was a fun kid and he would eventually come out of this phase and he would be one of the favorites. It did take longer than a few weeks but he is starting to come around and winning hearts at school. He gets a daily report with check marks on how he ate, how long he slept, when he was changed, and what his disposition was, etc... He used to get checked "other" with sad written in, but now he gets checked happy. They also used to bring extra help in at nap time because he would cry and wake up the other kids after only sleeping 30 min, but now he is sleeping an hour or longer. They leave all sorts of fun comments for us and one day he got a happy gram reading "Mason does a great job picking up toys. He always helps his teachers put books and toys away when it is clean up time, Mason is the first to help" we were very pleased with a positive note from him at school. Today however his comments read "Mason had another awesome day. He seems to be more comfortable here and has lots of fun! He likes playing musical chairs and started dancing as we walked. It was cute because the other kids started doing it too!." Hallelujah we can leave him in school now and not feel like a mean parent.

I also found Mason on the floor reading to Ellery the other day. It was the cutest thing. He would hold his book up to the side of him and show it to Ellery then bring it down to turn the page or reposition and hold it back up. He really concentrates when he does it and is it precious. The only thing I could think of is this must be how they read to him at school or in circle time.

Sitting Up and Attempting to Crawl Video

I felt I have been telling more stories and posting more video of Mason that I was leaving out little missy. I have to admit Mason is a bit more comical and it is more fun to share his stories and actions. Ellery is still tiny but hitting all her milestones. She is starting to sit up more and for longer period of times and can almost get herself from the belly crawling position into a sitting position. When she is after a toy she gets it, she might not be so graceful but she knows what she wants. She is a happy little girl and eating solids like a champion, she eats anything we give her and when we introduce something new she makes a few funny faces but she keeps eating it.

Mommy Brain Drain

I lined the kids up for a diaper change this afternoon and Mason and I now play the game of who goes first. Mason or Ellery? He sometimes chooses himself but for the most part he wants Ellery to go first. I asked him to get the diapers today for both of them and being the good student he is he brought me the diapers. We had bought size 3 diapers for little miss awhile back but they are for 15-who knows how many pounds. The point is we are out of 2's and opened the 3's and they are a bit large on her but they are working. We changed Ellery's diaper and after I get done wiping her Mason states it is his turn and then he cleans her up. I then say it is his turn and continue to change his diaper and I think to myself man he has really grown and he is outgrown size 6 diapers, what am I going to do. All of this happens in seconds and then I realize I have forced a size 3 diaper on the poor kid. My good little student brought me 2 size 3 diapers and I didn't pay any attention before I wrestled it on him.

Nap Time

Mason still takes a nap in the afternoons, but it has become increasingly hard to get him to take naps on the weekends for some reason. I kept at it today for 1.5 hours and he finally went down, but I found him doing interesting things and had to promise we would go see daddy at work if he took a nap. One might ask how do you get your pj top into this design. I believe he took his right arm up through the bottom of his shirt and out the neck hole. He wasn't bothered the least bit by it. He did take a 2 hour nap after this and I was true to my word and took Mason and Ellery up to the hospital to say hello to Rob since he had to work all day and night. My ulterior motif was to get Ellery weighed. She is up to a whopping 14.5 lbs that puts her almost to the 25%. WOOO HOOOOO!

Great Great Grandma Gray

Not many kids get the opportunity to have a great great grandma. We are very fortunate that we moved to the same town ours lives in and we have been able to spend more time with her. We don't have Mason call her Great Great Grandma, just Grandma Gray. She came over for dinner and delved right into the chaos. Mason had her talking to Elmo on the phone, cooking in his play kitchen and drinking imaginary milk, crawling in and out of her lap to read books, coloring, and looking at the imaginary bugs he caught in his hands. She also had a good time holding Ellery. It was great spending time with her and listening to her stories. She has a birthday coming up next month and I think she is going to be 97. I need to clarify that, but I hope we get her good genes in longevity. Also, when Mason woke up the next morning one of his first words was Grandma Gray. Mason had gone to bed so he didn't get to see her leave and was ready and rearing to go play with her some more.

Finger Painting

Nana gave Mason finger paints for his birthday and he requests to use them daily. We start out with a pretty dollop of each color and end with a huge mixed mess called art. He really does enjoy writing, painting, and coloring. I hope he gets some of Nana's creativity. We are a bit behind in our thank you notes, but thanks to Mason we now have the cards, just need to write the thank you note inside. I am tempted to just send out the cards with Mason's art on the outside and his attempt at writing the thank you on the inside. It would be a lot of circles and dots, that is what he is good at writing.

Just call me Lance

Mason is really starting to exert his independence and wants to be a big boy. He now requests to ride his bike aka the tricycle. He sees the neighborhood kids come zinging by on their bikes and wants to be like them. I have to say the drive way is a fun place around the Chaplin household.

Crawling Ellery

Ellery has been trying to pull up on all 4's, but hasn't been all that successful in her pull. She is now pulling up on all 4's and attempting to crawl. I think this is great but I would prefer she just sit like a slug and not burn calories and gain some weight. She is still at snail speed, but she isn't rolling to where she wants to go, she is trying to crawl to it. I think she has high motivation on moving so she can try to keep up with Mason possibly to get to a toy he left behind or get to a new angle so she can see what he is up to. We also now find her in wedged spaces when we do leave her unattended for a bit. Since she is a bit more mobile she gets to Mason toys and gnaws on them. Depending upon what they are depends upon the reaction Mason gives. We have been working on sharing so he thinks it is socially acceptable to rip the toy he wants from her and give her a less desirable choice he sees fit.

From Flips in Water to Somersault

So we went back for round 2 in the pool and we were fearful that Mason wouldn't want to get in due to the fact that last time he was in Rob flipped him and then he wanted out. We were wrong in our assumption, Mason requested to be flipped over and over and over again. So he went from doing flips in the pool
to somersaults on the ground all by himself. We have no idea where he learned how to do flips on the ground but he does them very well. He is starting to be a dare devil, jumping and twisting off anything he can. We are thinking of finding a tumbling class for toddlers for him. We also joined a gym that has a pool so we can take him swimming this fall and winter.