As yet unnamed!

Less drama and big girl bed time!

Noemie is in her big girl bed! Well, it's her cotbed with the side removed. We're also meant to remove part of the footboard but as it's not a problem to leave it on, we've left it on for now. Just in case we decide WE'RE not ready for her to be in a big girl bed. Of course, being the highly intelligent parents that we are, we took the bedside off at around 7:45pm, moments before Noemie was due to go to bed. She was totally overexcited, Charlie was in her room and going nuts as well. It's now nearly 10pm and we can hear her playing with her sticker book. It's not unusual for her to be up (but in bed) at this time but hopefully she will remain there. And not fall out. We've put one of those safety sides on just in case. Earlier on when we first left her in bed, we could hear her running around all over the place between the bedrooms. When she'd then hear Kirk going upstairs to check on her, she'd go running back and jump into bed. One time her bedroom door was wide open and slowly closing after she had flung it open and jumped back into bed. Next time around when it's Charlie's turn, we'll do it at naptime rather than bedtime!

 I managed to finish one sock this afternoon using my practice yarn. Mimi was very excited about it (we call Noemie Mimi, not to be confused with our cat who is also called Mimi) and insisted on wearing it. (For the record, she usually wears more clothing but when she poops right before bathtime and had her diaper changed, we don't bother getting her dressed again). She then said "more sock?" I suppose this means I will have to knit the other one to complete the pair. They look mammoth on her of course and look mammoth in general but once you put them on, they look totally right. My Mom has already claimed them and wanted them just a bit above ankle length which is why they aren't as long as you'd expect. With the left over yarn I will have from both balls, I will knit up a pair for Mimi to wear. They are really warm and surprisingly soft as well. Totally wild and crazy in color but super fun!

  Charlie is still as crazy as ever but was less irritating today. Less squealing from Noemie which was nice for everyone. Here he is considering going down the stairs into the living room, head first. I won't be surprised if that happens one day. Just hope he doesn't get hurt. Just to prove that they do in fact like each other, they played well during bathtime tonight. They were sitting in the empty bath once we had pulled the plug and were happily playing with the toys which remained. Charlie was awfully close to Noemie and even touched her a few times but they both just giggled along. 

 I'm off to start the other sock now :)

Toddler Dramatics

And it's all because of this little fella. Charlie is cute. And sweet. But he IS the pesky little brother who can't see straight because of his adoration for his big sister. He wants to do EVERYTHING she is doing. WITH her. He may not like a toy but then as soon as Noemie is playing with it, it's suddenly THE coolest toy Charlie has ever seen. He's constantly in her space. He's constantly staring at her. Touching her. Grabbing at her. He even tried gnawing on her arm today. Though that last bit might have more to do with his "teething" (a term we loosely use to explain anything about Charlie that we can't otherwise explain. He's officially been teething for 6+ months but not a single tooth in sight). Poor Noemie had a rough day with Charlie. So much so that Kirk and I split them up for a bit. I spent some time painting this afternoon with Noemie in the playroom. Kirk spent an hour chasing Charlie around the house. The little boy is a menace. We can't leave the kitchen door open as he dashes out and up the stairs before you can even turn around to realize it. He went up the stairs from the kitchen to the top of the house today, though Kirk was with him for that. Noemie is really good though and no matter how much Charlie is irritating her, she doesn't hit out at him. She just screeches, cries and runs away. I feel so awful for her but also feel badly for Charlie who just wants to be with his sister. I am sure we have years of this to come but will also have moments where they play together and get along. Something Kirk and I have never experienced as we're both only children.

 I don't have any photos of Noemie's drama but I do have a few other ones to share. The first one is her getting to eat an entire Starbucks croissant of her own. Usually Kirk gets a muffin for Noemie and she takes a nibble and then ends up eating half of my croissant while he gets to enjoy not only his but also HER muffin. Finally I got to eat mine on my own and Noemie ate nearly all of one herself. The other photo is Noemie "helping" Kirk frost some cupcakes he made last night. She was eating the thing off the kitchen counter and was covered in frosting. Very yummy :) My parents were here today for lunch during which time all was quite calm. Noemie was happy to have grandpa to drag around the house. They watered the garden together then did some paper crafts with glue. Then she got to sit next to grandma and have lunch. Noemie definitely loves all 3 of her grandparents :) 

To top off what was a difficult day for her, Noemie climbed out of her cotbed and crash landed. Lots of crying followed with Kirk and I running up the stairs to check she was okay. It's time to take her cot side off and we've known that for a few weeks now but have been trying to delay as much as possible. I've already bought one of those support sides to put on her bed to stop her from falling out but had stored it away in the hopes we had a bit more time of having her caged, I mean secured, in her cotbed. SO not looking forward to how many times she will wander out of her bed. Luckily once she is asleep she is a good sleeper so I doubt we'll see her in the middle of the night or early in the morning. But still... sigh.

Charlie's good hair day

Charlie had a good day today. He slept until nearly 8am so was hugely popular with Mom and Dad. When he woke up, I sat in bed for about 15 minutes just listening to his little gurgles through the monitor. So cute. Reminds me of when Noemie used to do that. Now she chats away to herself with (mostly) real words. To make his day perfect, Charlie also had really good hair. Usually it's super curly and borders on strawberry blond (I refuse to say ginger as the Brits would as that makes it sound... bleh). Today it was straight-ish and blond-ish. Just the way I like it. Kirk will be so happy to see this. The photo was taken this afternoon sitting on the nanny's lap in the conservatory. He just looked so sweet and cuddly. Considering he took a 30 minute nap all day, he was in a really great mood. 

If Charlie could say more than "Ba" and "Da", he would be saying "Noemie wait for meeeeee". Here they are going upstairs for bathtime. I thought it was so cute to see two little butts going up the stairs. Charlie looks huge to me in this photo, just about the same size as Noemie? The nanny was trying to show him how to come down the stairs on his tummy today, like how Noemie learned at first. I have visions of Charlie sliding down the stairs at 60mph pretty soon. Not a pretty thought considering our stairs have a turn at the top and at the bottom. Luckily Charlie is pretty well padded though so we just need to get him a little something to protect his head. Perhaps I could knit him some protective head gear with my delicious new yarn I bought today... that's an entirely separate blog entry though and I'm not quite ready to admit how much I've spent on these gorgeous, luxurious hand dyed skeins of cashmere and silk yarns... sigh. I told Kirk I wanted to cuddle one tonight when I go to sleep and he just gave me an odd look. Sounded like a perfectly normal thing to me...

C is for...

Charlie but it's also for CHEEKY. I remember I said if we had to describe Charlie in one word, it would be determined. While this is still true about him, my word for today would have to be cheeky. He woke up in a great mood as always, having slept through from 7pm last night until 7am today. Once he got downstairs he was relatively happy in his chair for a bit, watching a show on the laptop while I made my coffee and such. Once he started getting antsy though, it was all over. He was like a baby on speed or something. Darting around all over the place, moving very quickly, throwing everything, grabbing everything, took a quick pause to burp and spit up some milk and then carry on with his activities. When it was time for Kirk to leave, he crawled out into the hallway from the kitchen, up the stairs and headed straight for the door. I'm talking about Charlie of course; Kirk doesn't crawl up the stairs anymore. He was a little mischievous boy all day long. He spent ages at the sand table throwing sand in the air and into his hair and face and thought it was hilarious. It was all in his ears and everywhere. At bathtime, he went up the stairs with the nanny following right behind him but he went up to the first floor entirely on his own. It will be a while before he figures out how to go back down the stairs of course. It is just amazing how insane he is in comparison to how Noemie was at this age.

A not so great but fun photo of the kids playing in the kitchen after dinner. When they go to playgroup, sometimes they do this thing where the kids play under some big parachute type fabric thing. So our nanny today tried to recreate it with a fleece blanket we have laying around. They both thought it was the coolest thing ever and the nanny and I thought it was hilarious as Noemie's hair was standing up on end with the static from the fleece. We all laughed so much today which was great. It's nice sometimes to laugh so hard you cry. Anyway, I better go for now. With any luck we'll have more fun photos tomorrow! I'm off to do some sock knitting... yet another thing I've decided to try :)

Time to....

rename the blog to "occasional drivel"? I seem to have lost the will to blog lately...maybe if I blog for a few days in a row I will get back into the habit again? 

Nana was with us for the past week and left this morning to go on an airplane. We didn't take too many photos this time as I didn't grab the camera much. I think Nana got some photos so hopefully she'll email them to me and I can share them. 

These photos were taken on Aug 22. I had to document Noemie's love of veggies in case she decides she hates them in a few years. This was her second helping of peas and corn. Both big portions. She's the weird kid who will eat her veggies rather than having dessert. She's always loved her fruit and veg and hasn't been a huge junk food loving kid. We don't discourage her from eating snacks by any means, she just chooses not to have them. Charlie loves just about everything as well. Not sure how we lucked out on two good eaters at this point. The photo of Charlie was just him being himself: smiley and cute.

  Here is Noemie helping Nana make some cinnamon rolls. She's doing some "mixy mixy-ing". Anytime I get a bowl out she thinks I am going to bake and says "mixy mixy". She soon loses interest though and again being the weird kid, she refused to taste the cinnamon sugar icing that goes in the rolls. Me? I could've happily taken a straw to drink the stuff. Perhaps that is why Noemie is naturally thin and I have to really work at it.

 

Photo taken this morning of Nana and Charlie moments before the car came to take her to the airport. Noemie was in a bit of a mood and refused to smile for the camera. She was pretty upset that Nana had to go. She asked for Nana after breakfast, when they went out to playgroup, after her nap... and I kept having to say "Nana is on an airplane" and did the arm movements and flying sounds like Kirk was doing the other weekend in the park. Noemie found that pretty amusing. Luckily Nana will be back with us again very soon so not too long to wait until we see her again. 

Noemie and Charlie had a very sweet moment this morning. In fact, two sweet moments. First was upstairs when we went up to wake Noemie so she could spend some time with Nana. Noemie went to our bedroom and was laying on the bed and Charlie crawled over and stood up at the end of the bed and kept trying to touch Noemie. N would back away and then move forward again and Charlie thought that was THE coolest game ever. Then Noemie walked away and Charlie followed her of course and she ran back to our room and got on the bed and called out "Charlie, Charlie" and off goes Charlie crawling as fast as he can to resume his position at the foot of the bed. A little while later in the playroom (formerly known as our conservatory), Nana and I realized it was very quiet in there despite the fact the two were in very close proximity of each other. Usually that results in N squealing and running away as Charlie is too close to her. So Nana peeks in and they are both happily playing with their kitchen. By the time I grabbed the camera, N was doing her squealing routine. It was sweet while it lasted though. So that about wraps up the last week or so. Hopefully I'll get some more good photos of the kids so I can share more stuff. Dad, I know you are reading this... hope you are happy I have finally blogged!

The Weekend

Kirk took Friday off so we went out to lunch together to a gastro pub nearby called The Harwood Arms. It was pretty good, especially the garlic butter potatoes and the jelly donuts. Not together of course. 

In the morning I went to a sewing machine shop in Battersea which turned out to be the biggest waste of my time. Then of course no cabs are cruising around down there (I was in the NOT so nice part of Battersea). So I had a choice of a bus or walking and no way I was getting on a bus in that area so I walked. And walked. And walked some more. Didn't get mugged which is a positive. Finally got a cab at Battersea Bridge and went to Peter Jones. They have machines but no longer demo them. So I went home, we went to lunch and afterwards I cabbed it up to Oxford Street to John Lewis. Finally got a new machine courtesy of my Mom (thanks Mom!). I had been looking at a few of them ranging in price from around £350-£1400. I ended up with the least expensive one as it suits my needs for now. The other ones are great but only if I am sure I want to machine quilt all my quilts. I quite enjoy hand quilting so am happy to do that on smaller projects and can always send out the larger ones. The piecing goes so much faster on a machine. I got a lot done this weekend. 

The football season started again this weekend with a home game on Saturday. Kirk has bought Chelsea kit for both kids and here is Noemie wearing this seasons away kit. Charlie I believe was napping at the time and didn't wear his kit. Maybe next time. Noemie loves wearing her kit and often wears it randomly. Sort of like how she is with her tutu. Both kids are doing much better, slight runny nose but that's about it. We went to the park twice today and Charlie went on the swings and had a blast. Noemie is more daring and climbs on things now which is a bit scary as she doesn't seem to really understand fear. We had a nice relaxing Sunday... which started when we all woke up at around 9:15am. Charlie did wake up at 3:30 once though so it's not like he slept through ALL night. Kirk had to wake Noemie up as she was still sleeping. We are so lazy. LOVE IT!

And another week blows by!

I really need to be better about this blogging thing. Just have other stuff that is more fun at the moment though!!! Anyway, have some photos to share from the past week. We did manage to go and feed some ducks last weekend and I took photos but haven't edited those yet. So many to wade through so I lost interest.

Charlie has a fascination with the washing machine. When he was a tiny baby, he had a thing for the dryer. I could put him in the kitchen in his moses basket, turn the dryer on and he'd pass out for a few hours. Even now he seems to sleep well when the dryer is on as he can hear the vibration through the floor as he is somewhat above the kitchen where the dryer is. If he is in the kitchen and the washing machine is going (which is like 99% of the time), he crawls over to it and then bangs on the door and makes all sorts of sounds. He'll sit in front and just stare for a while. It's his version of TV or something. Now that he can pull himself up to standing he does that at the washer as well. I'm sure in some countries it's a sign of high intelligence.

 
Kirk and Noemie over the weekend acting like airplanes. Noemie started doing this a few weeks ago but now it's more like Kirk does it and Noemie copies him and then she stops and stands and stares at him being an airplane. If he stops, she says "more more Daddy". Amazing how having a little princess can make a grown man comfortable with acting like an airplane in a park full of people! 

Noemie has a play kitchen that I got for her earlier this year. Of course now it belongs to Noemie and Charlie though Noemie would beg to differ. They had a moment of playing nicely together though. Noemie was the cook and Charlie was the dish washer. She's going through a phase where Charlie really irritates her. He's constantly grabbing her, the toys she's playing with and it drive her insane. Ever since he has been crawling and now pulling himself up, she no longer finds him cute. She even refused to get dressed in his room after her bath tonight. Instead she pointed up the stairs, said "Mimi room", nodded her head yes and put her arms up for me to take her up there to get dressed. I have to admit, I sometimes get a bit annoyed that Charlie grabs my arm or pinches my face. He's so grabby. Awfully adorable but grabby.

I've had a busy week of quilting and then card making. Stayed home today for a change, saw the kids, and my folks came over for lunch. Kirk took the day off tomorrow so we're going out to lunch together. I'm going to go look at sewing machines in the morning, Kirk, the nanny and the kids are going to playgroup or something and then who knows what we will do in the afternoon. Both kids are just getting over some sniffles. Noemie was fine within 36 hours and it was nothing more than a runny nose. Charlie struggled a bit more yesterday with last night resulting in himself bathing in his own puke in bed. Poor little fella. Shocking, but I managed not to freak out despite being home alone at that precise moment (Kirk had stepped out to get us some dinner and the nanny had already gone home as it was around 8:30). In fact, it didn't even bother me at all. Weird. Charlie woke up crying so I went to give him his dummy which he spat out, threw up a little bit so I turned to grab a cloth to clean it up. I turned back and he was a fountain and there was nothing I could do to stop anything. While I grabbed more cloths Charlie rolled over into it all. It was a mess. He was a mess. Luckily Kirk came home just then so I could run a bath and while Kirk got him all cleaned up I cleaned up his bed. He went to sleep after that but was very restless all night. He's been much better today and is sleeping okay tonight. Noemie has been fine so hopefully it was just a quick bug. Time to go to bed early I think. Didn't sleep too well last night...

Charlie in the morning

Here is a photo of Charlie taken this morning by Kirk. Charlie was a good little sleeper and didn't wake up until 8:00am. I was getting my coffee ready so Kirk went up to get Charlie changed so I asked him to snap a few photos. Sure enough, Charlie was standing up holding onto his cot side when Kirk opened the door. He is so proud of himself! He tried to pull himself up on the little chairs in the playroom today but tumbled over and hit his head a bit and screamed. He tumbled a few times today but I guess that's going to happen as he's so determined to get going. 

Looking forward to the weekend. We have a lot of old bread so might take a walk down to the river to feed the ducks or white ducks (seagulls) as the nanny calls them.

Slack blogger

During one of the days last week we went to our local baby shop. Kirk found this pretty very English style floral dress for Noemie and this pixie dress caught my eye. It has little bells on it as well so she jingles when she dances about. Her face lit up in the store when I showed it to her. So cute!

 

The cheeky monkey Charlie is 10 months old today. He is SO big. He started crawling properly over the weekend and today he started a different style of crawling. He's been big on pulling himself up. We stand him up a lot in his cot and against Noemie's but last night was the first time he pulled himself up on his own using Noemie's step stool. Then he did it in his own cot and he's been unstoppable. He is so proud of himself, he practiced for an hour past his bedtime last night. This morning when he woke up and I went to get him, I opened the door and he was standing up and smiling at me. I'll have to try and remember to leave the camera outside his door tonight in the hopes of getting a photo tomorrow morning. He gets really angry now if you won't let him crawl/move about when he wants to. He is such a different character from Noemie and is just so strong physically and also strong willed. He is going to be a handful! 

Not much else to report. My parents came over for lunch today. It was nice during the day so we all ate out in the garden and my Dad played with Noemie and her sand table after lunch for a bit. Then once the kids went for a nap my Mom, the nanny and I all decided to do some gardening. No, I don't expect my nanny to garden. She loves to do it though! Once my parents left, we kept working in the garden for another hour or so until the kids woke up. Better go do some sewing or something. I've spent the last 2 weeks obsessively playing Farm Town on Facebook for hours every night. I've fallen behind on everything else as a result!!!

Photo share and our week in review

On Tuesday we all went to a local playgroup about 15 minutes walking distance from our house. I have been there once a long time ago when one of the nannies found out about it and I went along with them to see what it was like. I never went back as it was my worst nightmare: a place filled with children and babies. Love my kids... could do without being surrounded by other peoples' kids! It wasn't too bad this time though. The kids both had a nice time. In the afternoon we did the usual trip to the local park. These photos don't have much relevance to the day really... just some fun photos showing how crazy the kids are. Must come from the Lindstrom side of the family. 

On Wednesday we went to Harrods and visited the toy area. Noemie had a lot of fun running around and looking at things. Charlie had fun just being there. The kids got a few toys of course. We also stopped by the pet section and saw some adorable bunnies and a Bengal kitten. There were some chihuahuas but honestly... why would anyone want a dog that looks like an overgrown rat? Kirk got a new toy. He bought a great Cuisinart Ice Cream maker. We've had frozen yogurt and also coffee ice cream so far. Yum! 

Thursday my parents came over and we all went to lunch at the local pub. We also got a builder to come in and assess our bathroom and discussed what we might want done so now we are just waiting on the quote so we can keel over in shock. In the afternoon we walked to the pet store to order some more food for Mimi and Noemie got to wave at the bunnies and birdies. She loves bunnies. Luckily we have a cat so a bunny is out of the question for now. 

Friday we went to the Battersea Park Children's Zoo. It was pretty small and not all that impressive compared to the London zoo but it's less than 2 miles away so it was easier to get to. We also figured Noemie might not really be old enough to appreciate the London zoo as that is more serious of a zoo. We took quite a few photos at the zoo so I'll share those next and then one of Charlie when we got home. 

 
This is Charlie near the donkey area. I wanted to take a photo of him near the sheep but that would've made me a bad Mommy as he was sobbing. The sheep are pretty loud and he was watching them when one came up and went "BAAAAAAAAA". I was standing behind the stroller and saw him jump as his arms and legs went in all directions. A few moment later a little kid standing next to me said "he's crying" at which point I look at Charlie and he is sobbing but silently. I decided I should probably pick him up rather than take a photo just to document the story. Looking back now, I wish I had taken the photo first as a few extra seconds wouldn't have hurt him. He can be such a baby sometimes. 

There were a few rides in a little barn so of course Noemie went straight for them. We decided Charlie should get to ride as well though Daddy had to act as a seat belt. The lighting was not great unfortunately but it was quite sweet to watch them together. The other ride was single kid only so they each took turns. Charlie was really confused by the cat sitting next to him and kept looking up and then away and then up again and touching it over and over. 

 
I quite like this photo of Kirk and Noemie together. She refused to sit on the hay as she said it was "dirty". She is a weird kid in that even at the playground if a slide is damp from rain or something she will ask for a cloth to wipe it first. I put a spare burping cloth down on the hay and she sat down right away. I don't know anyone else in our family like this. Ok... maybe I do. *I* was like that as a child. I still am a bit weird about stuff like that. That's the only weirdness I have passed on though. The rest of the weirdness is from Kirk's side. Just wanted to make that clear. 

This next photo will just further show my point: Charlie was digging in Noemie's pants/socks/accessories drawer yesterday and Kirk put some of Noemie's pants on Charlie's head. *I* would never do such a thing. Charlie just happily kept playing. He went back to try and dig through the drawer some more today. He is just into everything. He goes to the toys in the living room and pulls everything out and throws them around the room. He is SO determined. Once he sets his mind to do something he goes for it and not much deters him. If we had to describe Charlie with one word, that would be it. Determined.