Birthday number 2

 Grandma Diane was generous enough to host Edith's second birthday party on Tuesday.  We had Edith's favorite food (soup), presents, and cake

Alena had a school assignment where she needed to interview an immigrant.  She chose Aunt Gisele.  Gisele is due to have her baby in January.

Somehow we have ants in our upstairs bathroom.  We think it might have something to do with the candy wrappers and pretzels we found hiding behind the trash can.  Nora had to act quickly to save Edith!

This chair isn't for sitting, it is for climbing

I think she might have been encouraged.  

Edith got a talking chair of her own to take home.  She is also trying to teach Miles how to crawl.  Neither of her prodigies is quite ready.

Look at the cake Daddy made.  Edith didn't like the cake, but she did like the ice cream.

Edith's 1 year stats

Teeth: 6.  2 on bottom, 4 on top

Eyes: Gray-brown.  Could it be that we finally have a brown eyed kid?

Hair: Brown, and a pretty good amount.  Just after a bath her hair stands up in a cute spike.  And she still has very prominent eyebrows.

Weight: 18 lbs, 12 oz.  She is a little heavier than Nora was, but most of it seems to be her head

Height:  Shortest baby of all three.  We think she is due for a big growth spurt.

Food likes: Lentils, creamy potato soup, hummus on a saltine cracker.  This is pretty much her entire diet.  She does not like anything sweet like fruit or cake.

Favorite toys: Edith loves chasing balls around the floor.  Any size of ball.  Her favorite toy is anything she can stick in her mouth.  She mostly just wants to move around and climb.  She loves climbing up stairs but hasn't figured out how to avoid falling back down again.

Favorite activities: Swinging outside and riding around in the wagon.  People watching.  Trying to catch a cat.

What makes her laugh:  Daddy rubbing his head on her belly.  She starts to laugh before he even does it.  Otherwise it takes quite a lot to make her laugh, but she does give us plenty of happy smiles.

Best friends: Edith loves playing with Elias and Kendra at Connie's house.  They both just turned 3, but include her in all of thier games.  When I come to pick her up at the end of the day, she is always hanging out with them, but smiles and crawls over to me to say hi.  Connie now says when I come to pick her up that she had a good day!  It is a far cry from when she was a baby and she would scream so much.  We were always worried she would get kicked out of daycare.  Edith also loves her cousins Miles and Otto, and is by far the most outgoing of our girls and will crawl over to any kid she sees.

Sleep: Edith just started sleeping through the night.  Though I hate to jinx it by writing that.  She usually takes 2 naps a day at home but only 1 at Connie's because she doesn't want to miss out.  She still loves her knit rainbow blanket and likes to chew on it before going to sleep.

Strangers always comment: She is so cute!  What chubby cheeks!  (I think there is still a little extra steroid related cheek weight.  But she always did have a round head.  Her nickname before the steroids was "Little Round Head.") Edith will always give people a smile to prove how cute she really is.  She is not scared of strangers at all.

Thanksgiving part 2, birthday part 1

On Friday evening we celebrating Thanksgiving with the Ossmans.  All cousins were there, running in a pack.  There was a Thanksgiving play that the kids adapted from a Scholastic paper.  Everyone had costumes, and even Alice and Nina had parts. Finn and Alena were playing a new game they invented called "body ball" where they bumped an exercise ball around for hours (this even made its way into the play, because apparently it was a Native American game).  Lily wasn't interested in playing, so to Nora's extreme pleasure she spent some one on one time with Nora!  Nora just learned how to do a cartwheel and is doing them constantly: during supper, getting ready for bed, in the hallway...well, Lily just happens to love tumbling as well.  The two girls worked on synchronized tumbling in the backyard.  Nina and Alice played together, so that left Edith and Otto.  Otto isn't crawling yet, and Edith was trying to teach him.  She was also trying to use him to help her stand up.  

Saturday we had a little party with the Ossmans for Edith.  She had her first taste of chocolate cake (just a bite, then she went back to eating a saltine.) The cousins decorated the basement in a Harry Potter theme.  There was a make your own wand station, the sorting hat, and magic tricks.  Everything was a little chaotic, and Edith wasn't too excited to open her gifts.  There was no shortage of volunteers to open them for her, at least!  Edith got a book, some new outfits, and a new tricycle.  

We rushed through the present opening because we were headed to the Washington Holiday Parade.  There were cookies and cocoa, a horse drawn wagon ride, Santa, the parade, and most importantly: convenient parking.  We headed straight home after that, and all kids were soon asleep in the van.

FLAN (Finn, Lily, Alena, Nora)

Look at this cute little one: she is a fast crawler and is starting to take a couple of steps on her own!

Harry Potter themed cake and opening a present from Grandma Dee

Too much excitement!  But I love my cool new trike!

Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving day, we went to the Jensens' to celebrate.  The girls had a fun time playing with their cousins.  Grandma and Grandpa let the older girls in a 2 hour craft, gluing pinecones to a tree form.  They turned out well and are residing on our mantel with last year's paper houses.  We celebrated Sadie's 3rd birthday so there was cake and pie.  This was Edith's first Thanksgiving.  She tried a little of everything but really only liked the stuffing.

 Helping to decorate the Christmas tree is always fun.

Edith decorated her mouth with this plastic ornament

I want to help, Grandpa!

Countdown to Edith's birthday

It has been a super warm November.  We have taken advantage by swinging, hiking and leaf pile jumping.  We have also been counting down the days until Edith's first birthday!  Edith has just started taking a couple of steps.  She has taken up to 5 without support and consistently is taking two at a time.  She won't be full out walking by her birthday, but she will by Christmas!  She also likes pushing her push toy around and looking for small things to put in her mouth.  She has taken a couple tumbles down a stair here and there.  She has no fear when she gets to the edge of the stairs and will crawl right off the edge.  Edith gets very frustrated when she is not allowed to be on the stairs.  Overall she has been a happy baby lately and is so proud of herself when she walks.  She loves patty cake and claps when happy and when angry.

Nora showed Edith how to ride in the car at Hy-Vee. 

I bought a breadmaker at Goodwill and the woodland creatures came out to explore.  The first loaf was a little dense.

Edith was overwhelmed by the Christmas Little People.  The big girls kept taking the toys away from her because she was wrecking the village they were building.

Edith the acrobat

Edith was stuck.  She tried her best to get the yellow marker, it kept rolling away and she ended up int his position.  We all laughed for a bit, but eventually helped her out.

Peanut allergy

Poor little Edith has yet another health situation!  Sunday night, the night before Halloween, she had some peanut butter on a piece of bread.  Five minutes later while Ben was putting on her pajamas he noticed her lips swelling up.  Her face was turning red and swelling as well, so we assumed she was allergic to something and tried to give her some Benadryl.  She was screaming so much and refused to take any medicine or a bottle and then she started wheezing.  At that point we really became frightened and called 911.  In no time, the fire truck, then the police, then the EMTs showed up at our door.  Then several neighbors showed up to help.  Beth and Morgan took the big girls to their house and we rode with Edith to the ER.  Fortunately by this time her breathing was sounding better and when she arrived at the hospital her O2 was 100% and her lungs sounded good.  She was given an oral steroid and Benadryl and we were told to visit her pediatrician that week.  The whole event lasted only 2 1/2 hours.  Steve and Morgan drove our car to the hospital and they brought me back while Ben wrapped things up with Edith.  I went to get Alena and Nora and the were disappointed because they wanted to have a sleep over!  They were watching Frosty the Snowman and eating popcorn. 

 

When I took Edith to the pediatrician on Friday, she said it is probably a peanut allergy but there is nothing they can do at this young age, so just keep her away from peanuts and nuts as a precaution.  I am switching the family over to sun butter or soy butter because Edith is known to forage on the floor for food.  Just yesterday she managed to eat a bite of cat food and a cat treat on two separate occasions (which she enjoyed much more than peaches.)  After eating the cat treat, her face turned red, so we think she might be allergic to that.  Sorry Edith, no more kitty treats for you!  There is hardly any food that she does like to eat, and it is amazing how many foods are packaged in the same facility as peanuts.  We have only had success with savory items.  She likes hummus and pureed soups.  I also got her to eat some cut up kidney beans and some quinoa.  She will eat a pretzel and has not completely hated cheese.  If she doesn't like something, she wastes no time in spitting it out.

So much love!

Nora cannot get enough of Baby Edie.  She wants to hug her and carry her around all of the time and tells her, "I love you so much!"  Edie of course loves both of her big sisters.  She is 11 months now and just figured out how to clap.  She also for the first time prefered being held by Mommy than anyone else while at Grandma's.

Halloween

 For Halloween, Nora dressed as a spider, Alena as Hermione, and Edith as a grumpy flower.  Daddy dressed up like Professor Dumbledore.  The big girls were so excited to start trick or treating they were bouncing off the walls.  When Rowan rang the bell, they took it as a perfect excuse to start collecting candy.  I took Edith in the wagon down the dead end, then Ben took all of the girls down the hill.  Look at all the candy they collected!  We had about 30 kids this year which was a very manageable number.

Alena's sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house

While Alena was having her special sleepover, Nora packed as much fun into the weekend that she could.  She would write out things she wanted to do on a peice of paper and then cross them out at completion.  Some of the things she did when she was the biggest sister of the house:  Just the two of us went to Playtime Poppy.  On the way home we stopped at Dairy Queen, then to the All Saint's playground.  That night, Nora and Rowan rode their scooters up and down the street and crashed them into leaf piles.  Nora missed sleeping with Alena, so I stayed with her until she fell asleep for a treat.  The next morning she wanted to go for a bike ride to Bever Park and she did the monkey bars over and over.  Then we did puzzles and played games.  And she even watched a movie.  It is fun to hang out with your sister, but sometimes it is fun to have some special alone time.

Alena had quite the fun time with Grandma and Grandpa.  First, Grandma took her shopping.  She bought her a pretty Christmas dress and new shoes.  She got her nails painted and had Little Caesar's pizza for supper.  Then the three of them when to Orange Leaf for frozen yogurt.  Grandpa let Alena get whatever she wanted, but was shocked when their total bill was over $17.  I am afraid Alena won't be able to convince him to take her there again.

The next day after church, they went to Grandma's friend's house to see his animals.  Alena got to hold multiple snakes and watch a snake eating a rat.  She got to take two huge snake skins home with her.  There was an alligator and a black bear and emus.  But the highlight was riding on a tortoise.  How many kids can say they have done that?

The treehouse

Alena and Nora like to go on top of the playhouse in the backyard to play.  They call it their tree house.  Some days they eat a snack up there, and sometimes they bring their stuffed animals. 

Alena brought a paper with a fun idea for a snack home from school.  We made this neat eggs out of yogurt and a peach half.  The girls want to remember this idea for April Fool's Day.