Nursery Expanded

I wish this expansion included square footage, but it just involves fitting more beds in the same space. With some creative rearranging we were able to add Cosette's crib to the room without having to loose the futon, which is really nice since we often sit in there and read with the kids.

The new view looking in their door.

 Cosette's crib all set up. The bummer and bed skirt were made by Grammie Gieseke and the mobile was Jackson's. It was fun getting to hand pick the fabrics to add a little pink to the room.

I finished her letters just before she was born

Our reading nook intact all set with readers ready to go

And the finished "new" dresser with my animal art painted on. We've got elephants, giraffes, and lions, plus zebra strips. All of our dressers seem to have a story. This one come off of Craigslist in good shape, but not very cute.

So we sanded her down, painted her off-white, and then I did some brainstorming to come up with something that would be cute for the drawers. Luckily I had matching paint left over from our last dresser project that matched the room perfectly.

I did love our old hand painted dresser, but it was just too small for both kid's stuff. Some other Craigslist family is enjoying it now.

And the biggest change of all, Jackson got his crib converted to a toddler bed. He had climbed out for the first time and fell on his face. I woke up to him screaming and bleeding from his nose, so it was time to let him learn to get in and out of bed on his own.

We were nervous that this transition would be difficult and he'd be out of bed and coming out of his room all the time. Nothing could be further from the truth. He loves his bed more than ever now and he does get up in the morning and play in his room, but he never comes out until I get him up. What a sweet boy!

Big Changes for Little Miss

This little girl figured out how to roll to her belly and now Blue Eyes like to hang out there all the time and smile at the world. These photos are all the same, but I feel like they are adorable and cute enough to put all of them here.

We also had a sleep break-through this week, finally. We did what my contemporaries call "sleep training" and what other generations called "let them cry." I felt like she was waaay too young to cry herself to sleep, but nothing else was working, and I mean rocking, nursing, walking, bouncing, swinging...nothing put this girl out and she wasn't napping more than 30 minutes all day, staying up until 10:30 at night, and not transferring out of our bed all night. So I put her down for a nap when she was clearly exhausted and 15 minutes of blood-curdling screams later, she was asleep in a sweaty pool sucking her thumb. Each time has gotten a little bit shorter and last night she just fell asleep with no yelling at all. The hardest part is keeping Dan from "rescuing" her. She has such an alarmingly high pitch cry that we're sure she's in mortal danger, only to run in and she stops immediately and smiles at us to be held. What a little stinker!

 

In another effort to grow up too quickly, she wants to eat solid food. She watches us eat, smacking her lips and lunging for out dinners. So here's her first food experience: a mushy banana that was well received.

We love you Silly Blue Eyes. We're glad you're 5 months old, but don't grow up too fast!

Goooooo Giants!

One of Jackson's favorite things to yell out these days. We all went to a game this afternoon with our friends the Chan's. They're great to attend with because their boy Noah was born within a week or so of Jack and they are good playmates without too much squabbling over toys or pushing and shoving (although there was a little bit of "wrestling" when the men took them into the club house to run around for a while. Not sure what "wrestling" means in this case).

 Ready to get going to the game. Cosette has taken over Jack's old Giants gear and she looks so sweet in it.

Cheering and playing with Noah's cars and Jack's helicoptors. Remarkable amounts of sharing going on here!

It got pretty windy, but the little lady was snug as a bug!

Learning to load and eat from his Giants pez dispenser. What an important life skill.

 Noah and Jack sharing a seat

 Terah trying to photo the cuteness, but Jack dove behind Noah just in time.

Notice there are no photos of the game itself, just cute playing with the boys. As a side note, Giants won 2-1 over the Cubs. We're going back on Monday for another game in this series. Should be a good time!

Jackson's Airplane Birthday Part 2

On Jackson's actual birthday he got visits from Papa, Grandma, Auntie Nay-Nay, and Uncle Dubb and even Daddy came home in the middle of the work day.

 Morning started out nicely with some birthday Barney watching (only the zoo animals episode will do!), cuddling Cosette, and helping with her bath.

 There were also birthday balloons all over the house and a new train set from friends Rory and Leah all set up and ready to play. What a cute little 2 year old!

It was so exciting when everyone arrived and we dove into gifts

 "Oh, precious tissue paper. I've never seen a better gift than you"

 Ready to rock some new crocks this summer.

 Out to the back yard for lunch and cupcakes round 2

The birthday crew prepares for departure.

 And then off to see some real airplanes at the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos. Ok, I need my dad for this post to get any of the details right. The first amazing thing we got to do was explore this Boeing 747 inside and out. This was the begining of Papa, Justin, and Dan having way too much fun on this trip.

Up the vertical staircase and into the cockpit

They're cruising.

Grandma almost tumbling down the stairs, or as we say in our family "Ma Down!"

Dan and Justin working the instruments as Jack oversees the flight. Why is pushing buttons that no longer work so fun? It is overwhelming how many instruments, gauges, and switches are in that tight little space. The cockpit looks bigger (and less sweaty hot) in the photos than it felt inside.

 

Watching the planes take off and land right in front of us at the little airport. It was awfully windy!

Finally inside the actual museum we stopped by the toddler play area for some fun rides.

 Everyone wants a turn.

Cautiously backing out.

Keeping baby sister cheerful

And finally to the displays inside. What a cool museum with a ton of full sized planes on display. It was lovely that we were practically the only ones there. We had the full run of the place.

Pretending to be Blue Angels

 

Chopper time

 

Flight simulator. Made me sick, but the guys love anything that's video-game-like.

 Watching Papa fly a mission under the Saint Louis arch.

More cockpits, simulators, and challenge games

 Zooming around the lobby with new toys from the gift shop - a new helicopter and some little planes

And finally back home for the rest of the gifts and dinner. He got an easel and art supplies from Papa and Grandma! Now to keep those pens on the paper and not everywhere else...

Drawing elephants with Papa. What a great day! Only regret is that we didn't find time for a nap and he got pretty over-tired by evening, but what are you going to do on a day this full?

 

We love our favorite two-year-old!