As my family has pointed out/nagged, I haven't updated the blog in quite some time. Hopefully people realize that although I may not have time to type something up, I do try to update the gallery pictures every month, so there are November and December galleries with plenty of pictures from our end of year adventures. Now I have to remember where I left off...
The holidays were a bit hectic and exhausting. Thanksgiving had its ups and downs. We left for Massachusetts the Sunday before Thanksgiving and I worked out of a subsidiary of Scholastic Media in Watertown for the first few days of the week. What seemed like a great plan to have a more relaxed visit with less travel stress and more time with Mima became a bit stressful as Quinn decided he didn't like being away from home and would cry all night long, no matter where he was in the house and who was with him. Top that off with Mima being sick all week and it was a tricky week to get through. The day after Thanksgiving we were able to visit with some of my old friends at a USY (Jewish youth group) reunion at my former temple. It was great to see people I hadn't seen in ages and all of their kids.
In December, Lyla and I made a special trip to the Dora and Diego exhibit at the Children's Museum of Manhattan. It was Lyla's second time there and my first. Lyla and her friends Lily and Zoe (and their respective mom's) went to Macy's to check out the store's winter wonderland. Back in Astoria, we all had a great time at Lily's house for the moms' holiday party.
Then we headed out to Oshkosh for Christmas and brought our menorah with us, as the first 7 nights of Hannukah were during our trip. Unfortunately, Quinn also brought his aversion to sleeping anywhere away from home which made for some sleepless nights for either Erin or me each night. On the positive side, Lyla and Quinn had a great time playing with Keira and Will and getting lots of love from Grandma Jane and Grandpa all week. Lyla got to build snow forts and snow men in the deep Wisconsin snow. We also got to visit with lots of Erin's friends, which is always a lot of fun. Then the girls got down on the dance floor at Kelly Hoxtell's wedding.
Back in Astoria, we spent New Year's in Astoria at Zoe's (and her parents) house. The kids actually made it to about 11:00pm, but we had to leave at that point and they were asleep by the time the new year rolled in.
Belated Happy New Year to all! (Or relatively recent if you're Chinese!)
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Thursday, November 20, 2008
On Our Way to Thanksgiving...
First the plug! Erin has an online store at www.blacksrock.etsy.com. It's a great location for holiday shopping for you and every single person you know, so get the word out! Don't make your friends, relatives and passing acquaintances lose out on the best holiday gift opportunity of their lives.
The problem with not updating on a regular basis is that I forget the millions of little cute things the kids do day-to-day that I think I should update. I updated the October picture gallery a few weeks ago, so don't forget to check for new pics, even if I don't get a blog update. I previously had the pictures up from our local Halloween parade and then I added the pictures from Halloween proper.
For those of you who didn't hear, Quinn and I had a brief appearance on the Today Show. Quinn was modeling a "Last-minute Halloween Costume" for Scholastic Parent and Child Magazine. If you didn't get to see it on Halloween, you can check out the video clip online. Erin and Lyla were with us, but didn't make it on camera, even though Lyla was wearing her adorable flower outfit. One of the camera men trained his camera on her, but it didn't make it to the show.
Quinn had his 5 months doctor's appointment on Nov. 14th and measured in at 27" (90th Percentile) and 15lbs 14oz. (50th Percentile) We've started feeding him his first solid foods. He didn't react very well to rice cereal and spent much of the night crying the two nights we gave it to him, so after a break, Erin switched to oatmeal cereal and he seems to like it a lot and hasn't had any stomach issues with it. Aside from his fickle eating habits, Quinn is doing very well.
He's a very happy boy. His smile and laugh can light up the room. Every day when I come home, he watches my every move until I look at him and then he smiles wide and laughs. Erin says it might because he thinks I'm ridiculous. She may be right.
Lyla still loves the heck out of her brother. Sometimes she likes to crawl right on top of him while he's lying on the ground to hug him. That can be a little bit scary, but it's all about the love. She also looks out for him. When Erin has Quinn lying on the ground to strengthen his muscles and learn to turn over, he sometimes gets upset and cries with frustration. Lyla pleads with Erin to help him, because he's so little and needs her help. Leaving him be is paying off, though as he turned from his back to his belly for the first time just a few days ago. He had turned from his belly to his back awhile ago, but doesn't really seemed interested in doing it so much anymore.
We're getting ready to head up to Massachusetts for a week. I'm going to work out of our company's office in Watertown for a few days leading up to Thanksgiving, so we have some extra time with family and aren't so rushed over the holiday weekend. The day before we go, Erin will be selling her sweaters and puppets at a craft fair in Manhattan. But since you probably won't be able to make it, don't forget to check out the store at www.blacksrock.etsy.com
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Happy New Year and Halloween
Shana Tova! October has been running by very quickly. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur brought Uncle Arthur out to Astoria for services and he was able to spend some time with Lyla and Quinn. I actually joined the local synagogue and am looking forward to be coming more active there in the future.
We're all getting very excited for Halloween! Lyla helped Erin put up all of the Halloween decorations and picked out a couple big plastic spiders at the store that are sitting on an end table in the living room. She didn't seem to understand Erin telling her "Daddy is arachnaphobic" and, in fact, likes to chase Daddy around with the spiders in her hands. She named them Dukel and Calladay (or something like that). She has also named two of her dolls Coco and Solange. We don't know where she comes up with this stuff.
Erin has the kids costumes made and we've got an Astoria Halloween Parade to go to on Sunday. But first, Erin and I are heading to a wedding out of town and Mima is coming to babysit the kids for the weekend. Uncle Arthur and cousin Michelle are going to visit part of the time as some backup, 'cause seriously, these two are more than a handful.
Quinn's last doctor's appointment was on 10/14 and he measured 24 3/4" and weighed 14lbs 15.5 oz. That puts him in the 50th Percentile for both. We're working on getting him to sleep longer through the night, but it's rough going. When he does manage to sleep for a long stretch, Lyla decides she needs to wake up in the middle of the night. We're also working on getting that to stop.
Quinn is often happy and cheerful. His laugh is infectious and he absolutely ADORES Lyla. He smiles happily whenever she comes near him and she loves to hug him and kiss him and tell him how much she loves her baby brother. The other night, she read him a bedtime story. It was one of the sweetest things Erin and I have ever seen.
Lyla has been growing up awfully fast. She currently has a potty chart that she puts stars on when she goes potty and has rewards at certain points. Lyla picked her own rewards (with some help from Erin). So far, she has earned ice cream, new shoes, new bows and a new book. For the new book, I took her in to Barnes and Noble in Union Square and we also walked around the farmer's market and bought some produce. Soon she will be able to watch a movie (DVD), eat broccoli and have a day with Mommy. Yes, that's right. For her reward, Lyla wants to eat broccoli. She's a bit odd.
The video below was taken during our trip to Oshkosh in September. Let me know if you can't understand what Lyla says, 'cause it's pretty dang funny. I should start subtitling...
We're all getting very excited for Halloween! Lyla helped Erin put up all of the Halloween decorations and picked out a couple big plastic spiders at the store that are sitting on an end table in the living room. She didn't seem to understand Erin telling her "Daddy is arachnaphobic" and, in fact, likes to chase Daddy around with the spiders in her hands. She named them Dukel and Calladay (or something like that). She has also named two of her dolls Coco and Solange. We don't know where she comes up with this stuff.
Erin has the kids costumes made and we've got an Astoria Halloween Parade to go to on Sunday. But first, Erin and I are heading to a wedding out of town and Mima is coming to babysit the kids for the weekend. Uncle Arthur and cousin Michelle are going to visit part of the time as some backup, 'cause seriously, these two are more than a handful.
Quinn's last doctor's appointment was on 10/14 and he measured 24 3/4" and weighed 14lbs 15.5 oz. That puts him in the 50th Percentile for both. We're working on getting him to sleep longer through the night, but it's rough going. When he does manage to sleep for a long stretch, Lyla decides she needs to wake up in the middle of the night. We're also working on getting that to stop.
Quinn is often happy and cheerful. His laugh is infectious and he absolutely ADORES Lyla. He smiles happily whenever she comes near him and she loves to hug him and kiss him and tell him how much she loves her baby brother. The other night, she read him a bedtime story. It was one of the sweetest things Erin and I have ever seen.
Lyla has been growing up awfully fast. She currently has a potty chart that she puts stars on when she goes potty and has rewards at certain points. Lyla picked her own rewards (with some help from Erin). So far, she has earned ice cream, new shoes, new bows and a new book. For the new book, I took her in to Barnes and Noble in Union Square and we also walked around the farmer's market and bought some produce. Soon she will be able to watch a movie (DVD), eat broccoli and have a day with Mommy. Yes, that's right. For her reward, Lyla wants to eat broccoli. She's a bit odd.
The video below was taken during our trip to Oshkosh in September. Let me know if you can't understand what Lyla says, 'cause it's pretty dang funny. I should start subtitling...
Thursday, October 2, 2008
September Recap
I just got the September Gallery up, so you can see what we were doing while summer was ending and the cooler weather was beginning to set in. Quinn had a doctor's appointment mid-month and measured in at 24" and 13lbs 6.6oz, which puts him in the 25th percentile for both. He's been having some eating issues that we're trying to work through, but it causes for some lack of sleep.
We are now serving him the most expensive formula, which must be derived from caviar, lobster tails and kobe beef. He seems to be doing a bit better now, so hopefully he'll outgrow whatever was causing nights of fussiness and we can put him on regular formula.
Lyla had some sleeping issues of her own as we had a hectic travel schedule and she didn't get to sleep in her own bed for a little bit. We went to Boston for cousin Trevor's Bar Mitzvah and after a quick stop at home, headed out to Wisconsin for cousin Kai's wedding. Now we're back and trying to get everyone settled back into a routine, so hopefully, one day, everyone can sleep through the night.
We are now serving him the most expensive formula, which must be derived from caviar, lobster tails and kobe beef. He seems to be doing a bit better now, so hopefully he'll outgrow whatever was causing nights of fussiness and we can put him on regular formula.
Lyla had some sleeping issues of her own as we had a hectic travel schedule and she didn't get to sleep in her own bed for a little bit. We went to Boston for cousin Trevor's Bar Mitzvah and after a quick stop at home, headed out to Wisconsin for cousin Kai's wedding. Now we're back and trying to get everyone settled back into a routine, so hopefully, one day, everyone can sleep through the night.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Summer Days
Like every month, our August has been busy. We had a double header doctor's appointment for Lyla's 2 year and Quinn's 2 month appointments. Lyla measured in at 37" (97th percentile) and 32.6 lbs (90th percentile). We didn't get Quinn's percentiles, but he was 22 3/4" and 11 lbs 11 oz.
Lyla still loves her Quinny, though she will tell Erin that she wants daddy to hold Quinn and mommy to hold her or just "don't hold Quinn, hold me!" Usually, she's pretty good. She has told us not to talk about Quinn and to talk about her, though. I then start to talk about how smelly and gross she is. Just kidding! I never say she's gross.
Quinn is very happy and likes to laugh a lot. Sometimes he even does it in his sleep. As he is still a baby, there isn't much to tell about him. He eats, he sleeps, he laughs and smiles, he poops and then repeats the cycle.
Lyla, on the other hand, has been very busy becoming a big girl. She has given up her night time pacifier and is starting to use the potty regularly. She's very excited about getting her big girl undies, but isn't quite there yet. We've been lucky enough to have some pool time the last couple of weekends at Uncle Arthur's in the Hamptons and at Tammy Heftler's birthday/naming party. Lyla loves to play in the water.
That's all I can think of right now. I've got the August gallery up and will try to update it sometime this weekend with the end of the month.
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