Nap Battle

12:30-1:00: 30 minute nap in the car on the way home from Northfield

1:00: Car seat to crib transfer was a total failure, she got a 2nd wind

1:15: A little extra playtime to get tired again

2:00-3:45: Epic nap battle. EPIC. Epic. Ridiculously Epic. Mommy is done.

3:45: Daddy gets home and is doing his best to get her down.

Here is my problem: I'm stubborn and do NOT want to let her win. She can't win because maybe then she'll think she can win tomorrow. And I'm not about to fight this battle every day.

But it is already 4:00 and she isn't down, so what the heck we do?

Today is one of the frustrating days.

UPDATE: 4:15. We're clearly losers. Apparently a half hour nap and 2 hours 15 minutes hanging out in the crib is all a certain toddler needed today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

UPDATE #2: 8:00. We lost, but in the end, no big whoop. I got some "me" time while Daddy took her to G-ma and G-pa's, and when they got back I got some great cuddle time with a nearly naked toddler.

And now Daddy is putting her to bed while I finish my glass of wine.

Summer Sunshine

For the first time all summer (or so it feels like) the sun has been out...multiple days in a row! We have taken full advantage of the summer sunshine (and have gone through lots of sunscreen, don't worry!) We have a little fish on our hands. SHE LOVES WATER.

Yesterday afternoon we went to the pool at T&C with my family. SHE LOVES WATER.

Today we met the P.A. playgroup at a splash pool. SHE LOVES WATER.

I was able to get her out of the water long enough to eat a little lunch and play with her friend Makayla, who is 7 months old.

When not in the water, she just wants to be outside. Unfortunately, we have ZERO shade in our front yard, since they cut down our tree and replaced it with a mini-tree. So I try to keep her occupied indoors during the intense afternoon sunshine. She likes to do this...

Poor Kona from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

...and then when Kona eventually tries to escape, she does this...

At times she reminds me of (a cuter version of) the kid in the 1st Toy Story movie who goes after the toys with his big toothed smile:

Silly Callie, Tolerant Kona. I make it up to Kona by having Callie give her treats. She's fine.

Cal had her 18 month check-up yesterday and I'm happy to report she is perfect. She weighs 23 lbs 14 oz (43%ile), she is 2 ft 8 inches tall (67%ile) and is holding steady with her 98%ile head circumference.

Her vocabulary is also steadily increasing, which is a blast. I'm going to attempt to get video of her saying all the words she knows...so stay tuned!

And a nap update: she is keeping us guessing. Monday was a 2 nap day. Yesterday she slept until 8:45am, so she only took one nap. Today she slept in the same, so I'm assuming it will be a one nap day today too. All I know, is that a well slept baby is a happy baby. And the opposite...well, let's just say I don't want to ever go there. Happy babies are way more fun.

Weekend Wrap-Up: Nap Time Experimentation

So mylast post discussed our nap time issues of late. She turned 18 months on Wednesday and it is like a switch was flipped in her brain. A "Mommy-I'm-Too-Old-For-2-Naps-A-Day" switch. And, after doing some research on babycenter.com, I came to realize she's right. Most 18-month-olds transition to one nap a day.

Well, unfortunately for her, we had plans on Saturday based on her 2-nap-a-day schedule. So our experiment for that day was to get her up early (6:30) in hopes that she'd be tired enough to still take a morning nap. We were marginally successful- I got her down in 20 minutes at her normal morning nap time, and she slept for 45 minutes. Then didn't nap again for 5 hours, but was able to go down for a 1.5 hour nap fairly easily.

Today we decided to try the 1-nap-a-day thing. Luckily for us she slept until 7:30, which is later than normal. So we had her up and active until 12:15 and she went down pretty easily. But only for another 1.5 hour nap. Aren't the 1-a-days supposed to be longer? Hopefully we'll make it through this transition time and end up with a schedule that gets her enough sleep.

Okay, enough with the nap talk. On to the weekend.

Friday
We had a little ABC lesson

The ABCs from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Since it was finally a nice day out, we set up a little play area outside underneath a big umbrella so us pale white girls wouldn't get sunburned.

Saturday
Auntie Laura flew in for the night, so we got to hang out with her and Auntie Mari in the afternoon. We also went to a party at little George's house (which also happens to be G-ma and G-pa's neighbors' house). There were LOTS of kids at the party!

Then we spent a quiet evening at home.

Sunday
We went to the condo for a bit to see the Henderson Aunties again. The blondies had fun reading together.

After the nap, we spent a long time outside "playing golf" and playing with the girls who live across the street.

Ready for the links? from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

It was a fun weekend and now we're looking forward to a fun busy week ahead!

Nap Time...

...has gone REALLY badly the past 36 hours. REALLY REALLY bad. Like hour+ long battles involving lots of screaming and blankie/passy throwing. I'm chalking it up to me being so much fun that she doesn't want to miss a second. But, really, it is just super frustrating. For both of us I'm sure.

I'm also wondering if maybe we need to start moving towards a big nap once a day instead of 2 shorter naps...who knows. All I know is that it isn't very fun right now.

So I grin and grit my teeth, ignore the screaming, and think of this face:

18 Months Old!

We now officially have a year-and-a-half year old.

This milestone is making me all kinds of sentimental.

The baby stuff was great. She was cuddly. She slept a lot. Every facial expression or coo was something to marvel at (and make a video of). It is funny, because when I (or Callie and I) look back at her baby videos, we both get a little bored (not really, but you know what I mean!):

Babygoose26 from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

She even moves my hand to the mouse pad encouraging me to find a different video to watch. But regardless, it melts my heart to look back at what our little toddler was like as a baby.

The early toddler stuff was silly because it felt like the transition from baby to toddler was the LONGEST PROCESS EVER. Probably because it seemed like it took her FOREVER to finally walk!

Now we're in full-fledged toddler mode and she's turning into a little girl before our eyes. Her brain is a sponge and, like I mentioned a few posts ago, she's this adorable little person who understands me and has her own opinions. I'm in awe of her every day.

And the past few days she's gotten lots of chances to soak in fun experiences because we've been busy! We went to the MN Zoo yesterday with Kylie and Calvin. It has been a little under a year since we have been there, and it is quite a different experience with a walker. She spent a lot of time walking on her own. Such a big girl.

Today we went to Legoland and Sealife Aquarium with the P.A. Moms Group.

This afternoon we went to the Mill City Museum with my mom and Mari.

Then we went to visit Bops at his office (on the 40th floor!).

Do we sound busy? Don't worry, we still got all our naps in.

More pics from our adventures can be found here.

Weekend Wrap-Up: Happy Father's Day!

It has been such a busy day I haven't had time to do a proper Father's Day post. So we'll do the Weekend Wrap-Up backwards.

Today: Happy Father's Day to Daddy!

And, of course, we can't forget Grandpa and Bops!

Callie got to spend a few hours of today with Daddy AND Grandpa AND Bops (and Grandma, MorMor, Auntie Mari, Auntie Cathleen, and Mommy too!). We met for a picnic lunch and some croquet. It was a cool, cloudy afternoon. Perfect for some outside time with family.

We spent the rest of the day at home...napping, hanging out as a family, going on a walk, etc.

Yesterday:
Mari came over and did some serious work for us- weeding and organizing! She took our front closet from this:

To this:

Much better!

Yesterday afternoon we went with friends on a brewery tour, dinner, and then back to our house to hang out. Callie was with Grandma, Grandpa and Cathleen while we were at the tour and dinner, but joined us back at our house for a play date with Sydney.

I can't even tell you how wonderful it feels to hang out with my girlie every day. She makes me laugh constantly, loves to play but also wants to cuddle. She L-O-V-E-S reading books and playing with sidewalk chalk and bubbles. And she's still taking 2 naps, so I get some "me" time to boot. It pretty much ROCKS.

Summer Days

Fun with the P.A. Moms Group @ Edinborough

Pigtails and Bubbles

Playing with Ciri

Finally breaking out the new swimming suit

Watching airplanes with Auntie Cathleen

Not bad for the first week of summer vacation, I'd say.

And, as usual, tons more pics can be found here.

Oh- and I want to say congrats to my college friend (and freshman roommate!) Kellie, her husband Scott, and their little girl Rylan. They welcomed little Reid into their family on June 15th (three weeks early)! Our 2nd generation of Luther grads is growing! :)

Video(s) of the Week

I'm having a hard time picking just one video. In the 5 days that I've been off of work, I've taken a lot lot LOT of videos. But seriously, she's so stinkin' cute that I have to have my camera out and ready for whatever she decides to do next.

So, if you have a few minutes, take some time to watch these videos. I hope they'll make you smile.

"Feeding" Kona

"Feeding" Kona from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

**Side note. This makes Kona mad because she keeps getting excited that maybe she's actually getting extra food. Haha, Kona, no such luck.


Scaredy Cat(erpillar)

Scardey Cat(erpillar) from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

**Side note- she is obsessed with caterpillars lately. At Barnes and Noble she freaked out when she saw the Hungry Caterpillar book on display (and by "freaked out" I mean got SO excited). And one of her other books has a caterpillar in it that we read everymultiple times a day. Every time we get to the caterpillar she points to it on the page, and then points outside, like "Hey Mom! That's where the caterpillars live!".

And I just have to post a pic from today because I succeeded with pigtails and they are adorable!

We had a fun, busy day today which I promise to blog about later. Right now I have to get to bed!

Smart

I know I'm not the first parent to think this, but my child is frickin' brilliant.

She's this little tiny person that actually UNDERSTANDS me, even though she can't necessarily show it all the time.

She knows what she wants. She lets it be known. (As evidenced by her refusal for me to put her hair in ponytails most of the time. Or her refusal to wear 9 out of 11 pairs of her shoes).

We walked to the park today. Both of us walked- no stroller necessary. The route to the park consists of crossing a few streets, so I taught her that when we come to a street, she has to go "UP", and I carry her across.

Then tonight, when Chris got home, I was telling him about our day. I asked her what we did when we got to the street, and she said (clear as day) "UP!"

With the whole summer stretched out in front of us, I can't WAIT to see what we'll discover next.

Weekend Wrap-Up: Happy Anniversary MorMor and Bops!

First, and most importantly, MorMor and Bops celebrated their 35th Wedding anniversary today!

Yesterday was busy: farmer's market, shopping, dog park (we found a caterpillar), visit to G-ma and G-pa's house (hooray for the pretty garden and fountain).

Today we went to the Twins game with our friends Andy and Jenna (sans toddlers). Thanks to Chris for his usual I'm-Going-To-Mess-Up-Your-Picture face. He knows by now it goes on the blog anyway...haha.

Then we hung out at the condo and went to dinner to celebrate the big anniversary. As usual, fun was had by all, but only one was well documented.

The new word of the weekend:

Backpack from Baby Goose on Vimeo.

Tomorrow is the first official start of Summer Vacation. Throughout the school year I spend a lot of my time doing things for other people and other people's kids. But this summer I have made a few goals for MYSELF for the next 2.5 months:

1) Learn Spanish (weekly Spanish classes with Cathleen!)
2) Attempt(healthy)cooking (regular workout/cooking dates with friend Bethany)
3) Train for another Half Marathon (registered for one on August 21st)
4) Lose 5-10 pounds (see 2 and 3)
5) De-clutter our house (and make our office into another playroom)
6) Enjoy every second with my toddler
7) Soak it all up because it is going to go WAY too fast