Where do the days go?

Avery is keeping things interesting around here.  At one point I said to John, "I think our luck is running out with this girl."  I'll back up...

Probably the day after I wrote that I felt a change coming, change happened.  Avery dropped an entire feeding...so instead of 6, 9, 12, 3, 6, 9 (give or take) that we could rely on for getting out, planning our day, etc...we now have no real pattern on a clock.  We have had 5:30, 9:30, 1, 5, 9 and as different as 7:30, 11:30, 3:30, 6, 10.  One less feeding is great, but we are working on getting a new "routine."  Then she goes and has what I think must be a growth spurt for a few days and spends the evenings wanting to eat every 1-2 hours... no big deal because we haven't had much going on and she has still been sleeping all night (thankfully!).  Hopefully in the next week or so we can get back to a more consistent schedule.  And she is definitely more needy in the late afternoon/evening.  She doesn't sleep much at this point and needs attention, which is understandable.  But it usually ends with her crying because she is so tired and needs to get to sleep!

Avery has just about outgrown her 0-3 month clothes and we are moving onto 3-6 month outfits.  I was cleaning out her closet recently, putting newborn and 0-3 month clothes in totes, and little peach has some cute clothes!  ...sadly she didn't get to wear everything.  Babies are so much easier in sleepers!  But summer clothes look very promising... her chunky monkey arms and legs in some cotton dresses...can't wait!

Rudy has been needy quite a bit lately.  He was doing so good there for awhile, playing well by himself  while I fed Avery and didn't mind if I held her while we played... the tables have turned!  Today he screamed and cried... and I mean screeeeeamed... at me the entire time Avery ate.  I put him up on the couch with me and he still cried...picture this:  Avery laying across my lap eating while Rudy stood on the couch next to me with his arms wrapped around my neck while he sobbed and sobbed (real tears, snot dripped out of his nose), me with one arm holding Avery's head and my other arm around Rudy's back, telling him "I'm almost done.  Calm down.  You're fine."  And I had a snack sitting out for him, juice, and his favorite show playing.  Ugh.  He wouldn't be satisfied until I was holding him without his sister close by.  It breaks my heart to see him so upset, but man, he's got to get over that!  Fingers-crossed its just a quick phase.

So on my days alone with him, I make every effort to focus entirely on him when Avery doesn't need me.  I am completely unproductive mostly, but that's ok!

Lately, we have story time with Avery.  Here we are reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, one of Rudy's favorites.  He loves the last page with all the letters on it.  We sing the ABC's and point to all the letters.  He knows where the "R" is and we are working on others.

While Avery was napping, we made cupcakes.  Rudy was a big help.  He put all the cupcake liners in and even taste-tested the batter, ya know, to make sure it was ok.

 The cupcake liners kept him entertained for awhile, actually.  

 He even ate his goldfish out of them.

 Then we were able to enjoy the fruits of our labor...yumm!

And by this time Avery was awake and joined us on the counter.  Rudy found the ears I had dressed Rufus in in Rufus' basket recently and has been such a clown putting them on and thinking he is pretty funny.  So I put them on Avery and Rudy was cracking up!  He thought she was hilarious :)

Speaking of Rudy and Avery, Rudy "talks" to Avery.  We tell him, "Talk to your sister, Rudy."  And he will go to her and in her face say, "Hiii hii hiiii hiii.." in a high pitched voice.  Too funny!  Where would he learn to talk to her in such a high voice?!  It's always interesting to see how much he picks up on.

 Avery is getting pretty good at keeping her head up and her arms are getting stronger, too!  She is awake for a couple hours at a time now so we have been looking for ways to entertain her.

 We decided to get out the activity bouncer for her, and Rudy was happy with this idea...

 he has spent more time in it than Avery has!

A couple weeks back on a Saturday that John had to work, Gran and I took the kids to "Kid Fest" at the convention center.  It had several booths set up with kid activities, products, party ideas, lots and lots of bounce houses (that were too big for Rudy), a stage with hourly shows, a train, face painting, etc.  We took a quick stroll through -- love an opportunity to get out of the house and do something different!

Rudy knows how to kick back and enjoy a show, that's for sure!

The Animal Protective League booth was an obvious favorite

 and of course the train ride!

And last weekend Rudy graduated from "Toddle Bugs" gym class.  They had a bridge set up for the kids to walk across and get their certificate and name card.  We will likely be signing up for another session... Rudy really liked it there!

I find it more and more difficult to get to blogging.  With two kids to keep track of, I have twice as much to update about and half as much time.  If I just kept up with it more regularly, it wouldn't be so much at a time.. but the days just go by so quickly around here!  I want to share everything and blog it all so I don't forget a thing, but time just keeps moving on me!  I can't believe Avery is already going to be 11 weeks old this week.  This time with Rudy I was heading back to work in a week.  I am so grateful to still have 8 more weeks at home.  I love my life as a stay-at-home mom, its going to be quite an adjustment to share my attention with the workplace again.