Dance Eddie Dance

I know, I should be packing and cleaning but.... I was trying to contain Edison in his high chair with some puffs when I took this video. Forgive the quality and shakiness - I was trying not to laugh. Eddie seems to like Pandora's choices today.

The head starts bobbing


The toes start tapping

California

Mommy: Where are we going tomorrow?
Anara : Umm.... ummm... ummm.... to Jody's wedding. Ummmm... we are going to fly in an airplane and then Disneyland and then to the beach Mom.

Tomorrow we leave for CA. We have to be at the airport nice and early and we will be in LA by noon (with one plane change). I am posting to the blog when I should be scurrying around cleaning and packing, but for some reason I like the last minute rush. We are trying to limit ourselves to two suitcases but with all the kid supplies this is proving to be more difficult than I anticipated. The first suitcase is dangerously close to the weight limit and the 2 liters of saline pushes it right over the edge.

I have some last minute stuff to buy (disposable diapers, wipes, snacks...) and tons of little odds and ends jobs that I keep remembering and forgetting. Edison and Anara are both a little snotty and I just started sneezing - I am hoping this doesn't become anything.

A roommate of mine from college is getting three of us into Disneyland for free next week. My mom is coming with us tomorrow and my brothers are flying out to meet us on Saturday. Andrew was kind enough to book a whole week's hotel with his Marriott rewards. Nate was able to get us Tonight Show tickets for Tuesday night.

I think we are excited. We are all sharing a small hotel room and Edison hasn't always been real flexible as far as sleeping arrangements. Hopefully we will all get enough sleep to keep us healthy and not test our moods too much. Edison is still breastfeeding and refuses bottles. I am sure Nate and Mom will find some way to feed him while I am gone participating in pre-wedding festivities. We will be pretty busy with wedding excitement until Sat. evening. Then we have the entire next week to enjoy California. We will be back late on the 2nd. I will try to post a couple pictures of our beautiful flower girls (and maybe even one of myself as a bridesmaid but that will all depend on the finished product in the dress). I am going to do a little spray tan tonight to hide some imperfections.

I better get busy.

Children's Zoo

We had a pretty fun time at the Children's Zoo a couple weekends ago. I was glad to see so many things that I remember from my childhood. Here are some pics from our zoo day.

Brushing the goats

Riding the tortoise with the real one in the background Anara's typical tongue out pose


Sharing our lice
Oh yeah, rub that lice around

You Little Stink!

I repeat this phrase multiple times throughout the day and now the girls are saying it too. We always say it with a smile but maybe I should think of something else to call this busy boy.

What is Eddie up to....

*He is cruising around furniture and pushing things across the floor but he hasn't ventured to take his first steps.
*He has 6 teeth.
*His words, Bye, baby, ball, dada, mama, uh oh, all done, & no no no (doggy has disappeared). He mimics words we say with the same sounds and inflection. Sometimes we think he says "up" or "down".
*He signs "nurse" (milk) and "no". He tries to sign "more" with one hand and sometimes attempts "all done".
*He loves being chased and crawls away laughing if you say, "I'm gonna get you."
*He climbs the stairs when I'm not looking.
*He rearranges the cabinets.
*He likes to play with his sisters (or at least take whatever they are playing with).

That was fun

Caught eating chalk
Taking his dog for a stroll

Got it!
Rearranging Rubbermaid

Watching Sicily

Pulling Olivia's hair

Impatiently waiting

Vi found the baby supply box

Yesterday Anara's stoma bandages came and I put the little, cardboard box on the dining room floor. I was writing a blog post and ignoring Edison. He pushed the box to the dining room chair and pulled himself up on it. I wasn't paying attention but something registered that Edison seemed too tall. I turned around and pulled him off the box. I pulled the box back and grabbed the camera. He repeated the process. I took pictures of him grabbing at the girls toys on the table. I was pretty impressed with his problem solving. I realize it might have been a coincidence but I thought it was amazing for a 10 month-old.

Lousy

This past weekend we had some uninvited guests. I was practicing with curlers in Anara's hair when I came across three small, gray bugs. My mom confirmed that they were lice and I found them on both Violet and Anara's heads. I was so grossed out! I wanted a quick cure and opted to go with a pesticide. We used Nix on all of our heads (except Edison) and found bugs and nits in mine as well. Anara definitely had the worst infestation with over 30 bugs and I don't know how many hundred nits. We picked for a couple hours and I am still finding nits (hopefully dead ones). I have no idea how long she has had lice. I put barrettes and pony tail holders in their hair almost everyday and have never noticed anything. Poor Anara had little scabs on her head from digging and I hadn't even noticed her itching. Now of course I notice every time either of the girls touch their heads. I haven't stopped itching and I am just hoping they are gone.

I am pretty confident we got them from our neighbors. I have seen the mom picking the girls hair on a few occasions. They have long, thick hair that is probably a haven for lice. My initial response was not to let the kids play but that only lasted a second. It would be ridiculous and there would be hurt feelings and broken hearts. And, lice is probably the least thing I should be concerned about them picking up from the kids. Yesterday they came over to play (outside this time) and for some reason Violet busted out the firefighter hats. Oh well. Just one more bit of control for me to let go of here in the neighborhood.

Naraboo

Anara had her routine ultrasound, x-ray, and urology appointment this morning and we are happy to announce that everything was normal. No stones and no other surprises. Her urologist was thrilled and we don't have to see him for another 3 months.

Sparkle the Spider

The spider pictures in the previous post were from a couple weeks ago. Anara just pointed out that there is still a spider in the same place. This one is much fatter. We are going to assume it's the same spider, which Violet has now named Sparkle. Here are a few updated pictures of Sparkle as well as a video of her wrapping her prey. Sorry about the crummy videography. I couldn't hold it still with it zoomed.

One Fine Day

"Sometimes we have fun." - Anara

I took these pictures on a particularly fun day. Violet would say that her friends rarely come over, but what she really means is that a minute of the day spent without visitors is one minute wasted. This day Dewey (Victoria) came over, and as you can see there was lots of fun.

Violet setting up "school" in the morning

Edison on the keyboard

Eating CSA watermelon

Edison watching the girls play

Here are the girls marching around the yard making music.

Ssssspider, he is our hero

A web in our boxwoods

You can see a little of the spider

A yellow garden spider

The neighbor kids gave it a bee

It wasn't interested in the bee - it was already working on dinner