Are we crazy?

Yes, in fact we are. First point of evidence, Humphrey Goes to Europe. Second point of evidence, we're taking the girls camping this weekend with the Sperbers (Ayden). More to come.

Siena apparently already knows we're crazy. Yesterday she outright laughed at me. It couldn't have been the goofy faces, tickling or other hundred things I was doing to entice a reaction from her, it was definitely knowledge of the impending comedy that will be this weekend.

All Systems Go

Siena's checked out well at her 8 week doctor visit. (Yes, I know tht was two weeks ago).

Weight: 13 lbs 1 oz (96th percentile!)
Height: 23.5 cm (89th percentile)
Head: 40 cm (80th percentile)

Siena contines to be a big, happy, healthy baby. All her systems seem so to be functioning well (as are the relevant Mommy systems). She's going to need to keep growing fast to deal with Amelia:

Photo Dump

Finally, some great shots of Siena! Here are a bunch of pictures from the last few weeks or so. We finally got some good ones of Siena. It's a whole lot easier now that she's starting to show some personality. It's hard to believe, but she's already starting to loose that infant look. She has so much more muscle tone and presence about her. We've even been able to coax a few smiles out of her! She's making the cutest little noises and will even have a quick "conversation" with you if you mimic her well enough. Siena continues to be the easiest baby and is showing a patience beyond her years (err, weeks) with Amelia's "mothering". This girl is going to grow up tough and chill, she just doesn't get worked up, no matter what Amelia dishes out. Even when Amelia got out the mop and dusted Siena's face, Siena just grinned. She's still sleeping well, but the entire night sleeps aren't consistent yet, maybe 30% of the time she'll get through the entire night.

Things seems like they're starting to stabalize and settle into a routine around the Rustici household. Beth has had some hectic days, but seems to be picking up the zone defense well. Somehow we'll get this all figured out.

Amelia's doing great, but continues her tale of two two-year olds. Sweet as can be one minute, terror on two legs the next. Fortunately though the sweet times far outweight the terror times. She'll go from temper tantrum one minute to sweetly singing the Itsy Bitsy Spider the next minute. Singing is a new favorite pasttime as well. She's always busting out in song, especially in the car. Hit singles include "ABC's", "Twinkle Twinkle", "Ba Ba Black Sheep", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", and random fragments of whatever else is on her mind. Her vocabulary seems to jump every day. She'll pick and repeat anything that comes out of your mouth, so watch out. Notable quotes these days "Hey Mike!" (picked that one up from Beth), "ummm, delicious" (who knows where she got that), "Go Titans" (anytime she seems a football), "Two points" (everytime she seems a basketball), "popkisle" (juice popsicle), "take a walk", "bike ride", "meelaup" (slang for Mother/Father, please pick Amelia up), and "prize" (surprise, any time Daddy comes home from work...she used to hide and jump out, but now she just walks up).



Random Pics from the last few weeks:


Playing in the water fountains with Parker:

Let Freedom Ring!

Yes, yes, yes, I know it's Labor Day, not Memorial Day...but I'm not talking about the freedom to vote, speak or worship....I'm talking about the freedoms that really matter.

How about freedom from slime and stench? We're not our of the diaper woods yet, but Amelia did pee in the potty again this morning. There's light.

Victory #2 - after a solid five weeks of trying, Amelia finally succeeded in getting the pacifier in Siena's mouth. Yes, in her mouth, silencing the baby...and yes, she can now do this without sticking it up Siena's nose. For those of you who don't have kids and need a little context, this development ranks up above "Amelia, can you get Daddy a beer?". I don't know exactly how this relates to freedom, but it feels liberating.

And, yes, the moment we've all been waiting for FREEDOM TO SLEEP!!!!!! Reiterating my earlier sentiments, Sleep at last! Sleep at last! Thanks God Almighty, we can sleep at last! . Siena slept for seven hours last night! That's my girl!!!! We switched to a new fool-proof swaddling technique that she seems to love, and it's made a world of difference...that, and she's twelve pounds already might have something to do with it.

Monkez

As promised (and a bit earlier than expected): Amelia does a hip hop dance move to the techno version of "5 Little Monkeys Jumpin' on the Bed"



I think this puts her about two-thirds of the way up the ladder on the Evolution of Dance. (Her style is four minutes, four seconds in).

And, yes, that is her saying "Dadda dance, silly Dadda, silly Dadda, silly Dadda"....what is behind the camera will not be making the blog.

Also got a few more pictures from Thomas the Train day and just messing around the house.

Nice

A blog post with some pictures...nice.
Some video too...nice.
Amelia peed on the potty intentionally this morning...nice.
Siena slept for a 5 hour stretch a couple nights this week...nice.
Mamma let Dadda go to a Titans game Thursday night...very nice.
Mamma gets to go get a pedicure this afternoon in return...fair enough.

"Nice", that's the word of the day this week as in:

"Amelia, do you want to go to the pool?" - "Nice!"

"Amelia, do you like your ice cream?" - "Nice!"



Some quick video clips, we've got Amelia saying "duggleu" (W), snorting, her name and "helping" with baby sister.



Coming next week to a video blog near you (hopefully):

Amelia does a hip hop dance move to the techno version of "5 Little Monkeys Jumpin' on the Bed"

Bibliography:
Favorite word blog post concept - Copyright (c) 2007, Lori Giles, "The Giles Family - Home of Maya (oh yeah...and Justin and Lori)", Maybe