Thursday, June 29, 2006

Alex, Alex, Bubble Eater

Alex got a new toy today: A bubble tumbler. It's a device that's designed to keep the bubble liquid from spilling because little hands will inevitably tip the container over. Alex, however, hasn't quite figured out the dynamics of blowing bubbles yet; instead he spent about twenty minutes this evening dipping the bubble wand in and eating the bubble liquid off, then sort of foaming bubbles out of his mouth. He did have a couple of big bubbles appear, and one even floated away, though we weren't quick enough to get a picture of that, it certainly reminded me of a cartoon where the character accidentally eats soap or something and then hiccups and bubbles appear.
Luckily, the bubble fluid is non-toxic, I just can't imagine it being too pleasing to the palate. It must be an acquired taste.

First tooth! First tooth!

Teagan has been exceptionally cranky as of late, even to the point that Mommie herself has difficulty consoling her. Mommie discovered the cause yesterday: a tooth! Teagan's first has arrived; it is one of the bottom incisors.

While she hasn't developed them as quickly as her older brother, Teagan appears to be getting her teeth much earlier than other children we know. With any luck, this one will come straight in without the gums growing back over it. Having a tooth emerge twice only doubles the discomfort!

Saturday, June 24, 2006

More Apple!

Alex’s diction has improved markedly. Mommie suggested it’s almost as if Alex is secretly absorbing sounds at night in his sleep and repeating them the following day. Instead of “moh,” now he says “more.” “Ah-ah” has become “apple.” “Mommie” and “Daddy” are gradually replacing “Ma-ma” and “Da-da.” He even tells us we’re funny, that we need to settle down, and to wait “a just minute.”

He has really come to enjoy Splash Island, the local municipal water park. Alex went from running away from the water unless Daddy was holding his hand to charging fearlessly into all the water sprays and getting back up without crying when he slips. We are planning to meet with one of my coworkers and his son (Rohit and Alex were born about two weeks apart) if the rain stays away.

Teagan is just a bright little bundle. She rolls over frequently, trying to get where and to what she wants; she could crawl any day now. So often, we can hear her cooing and see her smile. Teagan reacts very positively to smiles and sounds from her family. This has made for some happy-looking pictures lately, as we can get her to smile even while hiding behind the camera.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Teagan's Feeling Better



Teagan was feeling under the weather over the weekend. We went to Wichita Falls on Saturday afternoon to celebrate Father's Day, and Teagan started vomiting. She vomited twice Saturday, and then again Sunday morning. I gave her Pedialite via a medicine dropper until she could handle nursing, which I picked back up in the afternoon on Sunday. She was well all day Monday until about eight o'clock in the evening when we had another round with the vomiting. She didn't vomit at all today, so with hope it's just an icky stomach virus that has run it's course. I just wanted to let everyone know that she's now nursing as normal and feeling much better!

Sorry that we messed up the big Father's Day lunch that Nana had planned by heading home early.

Sorry I haven't posted lately

I've been busy, and it seems that by the time the kids are in bed, I'm ready to head there myself. So, I've added Pete as a member of the blog so that he can post messages, too. He has a lot more computer time during the day than me, and I thought that everyone would enjoy hearing his take on things! I hope you enjoy a daddy's perspective, and I'll try to get back into the swing of posting at least three times per week!

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Alex's Big Adventures

We've been taking Alex and Teagan on lots of excursions this week. Monday we went to the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History where Alex spent time playing in Kid Space and then we saw an Omni Max movie called Ride Around the World about cowboys in different countries. We didn't get to finish the movie because Alex was hungry and he got restless. I think that I may take him today and try to see that movie again. That evening we took a trip to the park (Preserve at McCormick) and fed the ducks and fish. We even saw a little wild rabbit.

  

Tuesday we stuck pretty close to home, though we did have an outing to the park in the evening. We were hopeful that we would see the little rabbit again, but no luck. We did feed the fish and ducks, and then Alex got to do a lot of sliding. The pics of the day today were taken there.

Yesterday, Pete took a family day off from work to look after Alex while I went to the doctor. I had to go see Dr. Griffith for a re-pap because there were some unusual cells on the one right after Teagan was born (he thinks due to inflammation from delivery). I took Teagan along with me while Pete and Alex headed over to the museum again. Alex played at Kid Space and got a cool penguin sticker while he was shopping in the Kid Space grocery store. Then they saw an Omni Max movie about fish, and Alex got to sit in his own seat in the theatre. We usually go to the quiet room, which is secluded from the actual theatre, in anticipation that Alex or Teagan will make a lot of noise. Pete said that he did really well watching the movie. Afterward, Teagan and I met up with them and ate lunch at McDonald's where Alex got to do even more playing. Wednesday evening, we made another trip to the park, and again saw the little rabbit. We fed fish and ducks and Alex got to go down the slide a bunch of times.

Alex has recently learned the crescent shape as "moon" so anytime he sees something that shape he identifies it. I've been feeding him Lunchables occasionally for lunch, and he likes to bite the round slices of meat and the crackers and then identify the remainder as "moon". He's learning so fast. And, he really loves his new bed.

Teagan is becoming more and more alert. She's playing with her feet a lot, and rolling all around. I recently retired the bassinet, and put her in the pack and play in our room to sleep. She can escape from her sleep positioner and go scooting off all around the bed, so I retired the positioner, too. Now she's sleeping "freestyle". Since she's strong enough to roll so well, the risk of sleeping in a prone position is drastically reduced. It's amazing ... Alex wasn't rolling this way until he was about eight and one half or nine months old.

Everyone is doing well. The garden seems to be thriving. Right after Teagan was born, I somehow managed to get to bed by about 10 each evening, but now I'm up until about 11:30, and I still seem to have things that need doing. I'll try to make time to keep posting!

Friday, June 02, 2006

Finally a free moment

Finally a free moment when I have time to write a short entry.

Pete is outside with Alex. The little Jordanian, Indian and Hispanic girls down the street came by and asked if Alex could come out and play. They're all much older than he is, but they like to have him and Sam (the little boy from across the street) come out and play with them. Our neighborhood is such a melting pot of different ethnicities. I think a direct reflection of the metroplex. There are a great number of Indian and Tongan families in our community. When I was pregnant with Teagan, I wanted to name her Zlata, and Pete thought that was too odd a name. My response was, "Yes, it really will sound odd considering she'll be going to school with our friend's children: Walied, Rohit, and Tarik." Oh well, as many times as I'm asked to repeat Teagan, and even spell it out, I'm probably better off having not named her Zlata.

I caught an excellent warehouse sale at Kidkraft today! They're warehouse is over in Dallas, and they have an annual two-day sale where they get rid of excess goods at ROCKBOTTOM prices. I purchased a neat wooden blender with break apart fruit for $5 ... it retails at walmart.com for $29.95! I got Teagan a toybox and I got eight inch wooden letters in pink to spell TEAGAN and in white to spell ALEX. I think that we may add some additional decoration, but it'll be neat to put their names up on their bedroom walls.

Pete and I worked steadfastly last Wednesday (05/24) rearranging and moving things to the attic where Pete added some additional plywood and expanded the usable space, and got most of the odds and ends cleared out of Teagan's bedroom. The crib and changing table/armoire thing are both in there, and I need to do a little more rearranging to have it complete for her. Alex's "big boy" bed is in his room and we've added a safety rail. He needs a step stool, which I will most likely be getting him tomorrow. The transition has been relatively painless. We still need to obtain an additional monitor for Teagan's room, and she'll be all set. I even put her in there for a nap once earlier this week.

Alex discovered the joys of Karaoke today. He found the microphone to my karaoke machine and was wagging it around, so I got out the karaoke machine, hunted down the power cable and hooked it up and let him sing along with some songs. I sang some songs for him, too. This was all before his nap, and on his way to bed, he kept begging for "more songs". I think that he really enjoys hearing his voice come from the speakers. He is saying new words everyday, so many that I almost need to carry a journal with me to keep track of all of them.

Teagan is rolling, rolling, rolling. She can travel a good six or seven feet from the spot where I lay her. We have some cute pictures of her after she rolled in front of Alex's Big Red Car push along toy. It looks as if she's about to be run over (and thanks to Alex, she has been run over by that car before). She is about four months ahead of where Alex was in gross motor development, but still no teeth. At this time, Alex already had about 3 or 4 teeth. I'm not complaining, especially since she refuses to take a bottle. The toothless babe definitely poses less risk to me!

All in all, we're doing well. I took some pics of our garden earlier this evening for everyone to see.

More later ... I'll do my best to keep posting!