Long time, no blog

July 2014, courtesy of Michelle Boyd Photography
Elise - almost 5 1/2, Jack - 3, Claire - 8 months

Wow, a lot has happened since I last posted.  The task of catching up on everything is overwhelming, but I'm going to document a few recent things about each of us.  At the end of May, we said goodbye to Baltimore and headed to Texas (via West Point to drop off Boss and a car).  The kids did really well with all the traveling.  We spent the month of June visiting our families in Texas.  The kids had a BLAST and can't wait to go back for Christmas.  On June 28, we flew to New York and continued living out of our suitcases while we waited for our on post house to be available.  We ended up renting a small house that was right on the Hudson River about 10 minutes from West Point.  The kids loved being able to watch for boats and trains all day long.  We survived the month with Legos, Magna Tiles, and trains... and a lot of trips to nearby parks!  On July 28, we moved our suitcases into the house on West Point and we finally got our household goods from the movers on August 1.  The kids were SO excited to get their beds and toys back.  It was definitely Christmas in August.  The girls had shared a room for the two months that we were in transit, and while that went extremely well, I know Elise was very excited to have her "big girl toys" (with small pieces) back in her own room.  Even though we have not quite been in our house for two months, we've already gotten to host visitors!  Mimi and Pop came for a week at the beginning of August and helped us start the organizing process.  Sarah, John, and Lila came right before school started for several days.  Gram, Grandpa, and Jennifer came for a week around Labor Day, and Mimi came back again mid-September.  We love having visitors!
  

Right after we moved in...

Side yard (look closely and you'll see the big playground across the street!)

The house is fabulous and we love the location.  It is on the main road that runs through West Point and is very close to the elementary school (we walk every day) and a lot of other fun things!  It is not uncommon for us to go a day or two without even getting in the van because we can walk so much.  Today, we biked (kids)/walked(me and Claire) to Starbucks, got a snack, biked/walked to a park, biked/walked to Subway to get lunch, and biked/walked home.  We can also walk to bible study, to Awanas, to Jack's gymnastics class, to the fire station, to many fun parks, to the hospital/doctor's appts, etc. The house is a former duplex that was renovated and converted to a single family home several years ago, so we have two front doors and two back doors, along with two doors that lead to storage rooms/basement.  On the first floor, there are four main rooms (large kitchen/breakfast area, dining room, play room, and living room) plus a hall bath and two 5x6 "mud rooms" (one is for Boss and the other is for toy storage).  Upstairs, there are four bedrooms, two bathrooms, a laundry room, and two walk-in closets that are large enough for a twin air mattress, crib, or pack 'n play.  So essentially we have six "bedrooms" available to use when guests come.  Perfect!)  There is a basement under the entire house, and our goal is to have half of it completely ready to go as a play area before winter arrives.  The other half will be for storage.  

Here's a brief update on everyone!

Mike:  While we are at West Point for the next 3 school years, Mike will be an instructor in the Math Department.  This semester he is teaching MA103, which is the first math course for most of the plebes (freshmen).  He is enjoying the teaching job and the fellow math instructors.  He especially loves that his boss encourages all of the faculty members to play intramurals over lunch!  They play ultimate frisbee in the fall, basketball in the winter, and volleyball in the spring.  We are about 1.5 miles from his office, so he rides his bike to work almost every day.  He looks forward to volunteering with the golf team, such a sacrifice :)  He also works with Awanas on Sunday evenings.

Steph:  Obviously, my day to day tasks haven't really changed with the move (playing/cooking/cleaning/laundry/errands/general taking care of the family), but I love it here.  I can think of at least three little reasons why the house is not perfectly set up yet, but we're getting there :)  We can already tell that we'll be sad when it's time for us to leave West Point.  Hopefully I can still say that at the end of every winter.  Since Elise has started school and I only have two at home, I've been running a lot with the jogging stroller.  We definitely go on Monday and Friday mornings right after school drop off (since I already have J and C in the stroller), and we usually sneak in an afternoon run right before we pick up Elise on a few of the other days.  Sometimes we meet friends to run and other times we go by ourselves. On Wednesday mornings after school drop off, we walk over to the post chapel for bible study.  We actually attend a church off post, but the PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) bible studies are open to everyone.  Miss Claire isn't a fan of going to the nursery during her usual morning nap time, so I have yet to make it through the whole session, but I really enjoy it and hope that she will be more tolerant next semester when she's a little older.   Mike and I also get to play volleyball on Thursday during lunch.  The community is absolutely wonderful and it has been so easy to make new friends and get plugged in.    

First Day of Kindergarten

Elise:  Elise had a great time swimming this summer.  We did not swim very much in Baltimore but our summer trips to Texas always involve swimming.  There is not an indoor pool available for kids at West Point, but there are two ponds with great swimming and beach areas.  We did two weeks of lessons, which are only offered for kids ages 5 and up, at the pond in July.  They have a great set up for families because there is a smaller "pond" and plenty of sand for younger siblings to play in while the older siblings take lessons.  We plan to do it every summer.  In August, Elise learned to ride her bike without training wheels and we now spend a lot of time doing that on the weekends.  We're soaking up the gorgeous fall weather here and spending as much time outside as we can.  And for the big news... 

On August 21, Elise started kindergarten.  I still cannot believe that my baby is in kindergarten!  She LOVES it and had no issues at all with the transition.  It took Jack a little longer to get used to his main playmate being gone from 8:30-2:50 every day.  Elise attends West Point Elementary School, which is 0.3 miles from our house.  We load up the double stroller and walk every morning and afternoon with all the other families that live nearby.  Almost immediately after starting school, Elise came home and initiated coloring, writing, spelling, reading, etc... all things that she rarely ever wanted to do before.  She got to choose one extracurricular activity and has decided on gymnastics, which is held at the gym where the Army gymnastics team meets.  She also goes to Awanas on Sunday evenings.  It's fun to see her excitement over learning new things and making new friends :)
   

First Day of Preschool

Jack:  
Jack is still completely enthralled by fire trucks.  This obsession has lasted almost 1.5 years, which is surprising at this age.  He absolutely loves the fact that we see a fire station and/or fire truck almost every time we leave the house.  His very first day of preschool was on September 9.  He will go Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9-12 at the CDC (child development center) on post.  He had been looking forward to it ever since Elise started school.  As we dropped him off on the first day, he said, "Sorry, Claire, you have to stay home with Mama while I am at preschool and Elise is at kindergarten!"  In addition to preschool, he also gets to take a little gymnastics class and go to Awanas.  He is loving the park scene and the fact that we see helicopters, trains, fire trucks, boats, buses, and even parachutists on a regular basis :)  Such a fun little boy!  

Claire:  Oh my, this baby is so much fun.  This has been the fastest 11 months of our lives.  She is the sweetest, busiest, cutest little thing and we have all had a blast with her.  She adores her siblings, adores Mommy and Daddy, and keeps us all on our toes.  I'll do a much more detailed post about her very soon (it's in draft mode), but at almost 11 months, she's busy crawling, pulling up on everything, laughing, cuddling, getting into everything, and just playing with anything and everything.  Her first word was "Mama" (9.5 months) and she also says "buh" (book) and "bah" (ball).  Her favorite food is Daddy's grilled chicken.  She's been a trooper about having to work her naps in around elementary school drop off and pick up.  What a perfect addition to our family :)     

Busy kids in the playroom

Here are some favorites from the July session in Austin.  Thanks, Aunt Michelle :)

Elise is 5!

Well, Elise turned 5 on January 23... and I'm pretty sure this has been a drafted post since January...

Happy birthday, sweetheart!  We adore you and are so, so grateful that you are our biggest girl.  You are smart, creative, energetic, compassionate, and strong-willed :)  We love you!

Stats:  At just over 5 years old, Elise weighed 45 lbs (75%) and measures 45 inches tall (85%).  She wears size 6 or 7 clothes and size 13, 13.5, or 1 shoes.

Sleeping:  Elise is a fantastic sleeper.  She rarely naps (maybe once a month after a long day or if she's sick) but regularly sleeps 12 - 13 hours at night.  Bedtime is usually between 7 and 7:30.  I foresee a difficult time getting her ready on time for kindergarten next year.  This child loves to lounge in bed after she wakes up.  She has a 45 minute "rest time" each day in her room while Jack and Claire are napping.  During this time, she typically plays with dolls, Legos, or clothes.

Eating:  Elise is a great eater.  She definitely has her favorites but will eat most things with little to no coaxing.  She's branched out a lot in the past few months and realized that she likes a lot of foods that she never really gave a chance (chili, enchiladas, taquitos, salmon, green beans, etc).  For breakfast, she enjoys cereal, fruit, oatmeal, yogurt, eggs and bacon, or whatever else is offered.  For lunch, she usually has a sandwich with peanut butter or turkey/ham and cheese, along with a few sides.  She loves all fruit.  Her favorite vegetables are cucumbers, red bell peppers, sweet potatoes, and asparagus.

Big Sister:  Elise LOVES her siblings.  We often joke that Claire is her favorite toy.  If Claire makes so much as a peep, Elise is the first one to comfort her, bring her a new toy, etc.  I really thought the novelty of having a baby in the house would wear off a little but her love and compassion for Claire keeps growing.  She absolutely adores her, 100% of the time.  It is one of the sweetest things I have ever seen.  She and Jack are best friends and buddies, even though they certainly have moments where one of them vows, "I will never let you play with me again!".  They would definitely go crazy without each other and they truly enjoy each other's company.

Favorite Toys/Activities:  Claire, dolls, "girl" Legos, clothes and accessories (she loves dressing herself and then changing outfits, over and over again), our basement trampoline, games, Duplos, Magna Tiles, zoo or aquarium trips, sledding and playing in the snow, hiking, shopping trips with Mommy, listening to someone read, singing songs from Frozen :)

Getting Ready for Kindergarten:  Elise still does not care for coloring or writing.  We implemented "mandatory" workbook practice every day beginning around her 5th birthday and she has made a ton of progress on her handwriting.  She's completed a few kindergarten workbooks with ease and I plan to continue this and/or "mandatory" reading time or spelling practice daily until she starts kindergarten.  My prediction is that she is going to love math.  She is quite good at adding and subtracting in her head and can easily complete a page of math problems like 12+3=, 20+10=, 10-7= , etc.  She quickly learned to recognize 3 digit numbers.  The other day on a long car trip she decided to count as high as she could go.  Once she reached 501, she said, "I think I'll stop here."  :)  She loves to build and create.

Elise goes to Pre-K from 9-12 on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.  She has made a lot of friends and is always happy to go.  At her spring conference, her teacher told me that she is definitely ready for kindergarten and also mentioned that Elise has a "strong personality"... no surprise there, ha!  A few times a month, she gets to stay for lunch bunch and never fails to mention that she can't wait to eat lunch at school every day in kindergarten.  She is really excited about moving to New York but even more excited about spending a month in Texas first.

For her birthday this year, we didn't throw a big party but we did celebrate her birthday several times with several cupcakes :)  Here are some pictures from her first "party" with Mimi a few weeks before her actual birthday.

Ready for some cupcakes!

Early birthday presents from Mimi and Pop - Duplo cupcakes and ice cream cones

On her actual birthday

Ready to open presents

She loves her American Girl doll (Marie-Grace) from Gram and Grandpa!

Opening the dollhouse and furniture from Mommy and Daddy 

And some dolls and extra furniture from Mimi and Pop

We had a crazy amount of snow this winter.  The biggest snowfall was over 20 inches in a span of 2 days!  Elise loves sledding and is a daredevil... she even sprained her ankle on a really steep hill and went back to sled on the same hill again after the next snowfall.

Playing in the front yard

Daddy made a snow slide

And a snowman!

First matching outfit with Claire

Sliding at the zoo

Fuzzy pjs

Daddy and his girls

Creating with Magna Tiles... I can't say enough good things about these toys.  She has gotten so creative with different things to build and new ways to use them with her other toys.

Elephant

Peacock

Bake Shop

After playing with them for several months, she now likes to make all of her creations symmetrical in shape and color

Elsa's Ice Palace (also completely symmetrical, even the "floor"!)

Symmetrical castle for Claire :)

Claire - 4 months!

Happy 4 months to Miss Claire!  You are definitely favoring your brother as you get older.  She reminds me a lot of 4 month old Jack in this picture.  Do you think there's a resemblance to 4 month old Elise?

Stats:  Claire's 4 month appointment is next week.  She is about 13 lbs (25-50th percentile) and 25.5 inches (90th percentile).  This is actually the same height that E and J were at 4 months, but they were both heavier.  She is definitely working on the big belly and thigh rolls and her hair is finally growing in.  She wears size 3-6 month clothes and a size 1-2 diaper.  No cloth diapers this time around... too much laundry.

Sleeping:  We dropped the swaddle about 3 weeks ago at the recommendation of her physical therapist (for torticollis), and she wasn't fazed at all.  I was so nervous that this would mess up her night time sleeping, but she didn't even miss a beat.  Girlfriend likes to suck her left thumb as a result :)  At 4 months, she now sleeps 11 - 11.5 hours at night and takes about 4 naps a day.  She had a growth spurt for several days this week and woke up one night to eat around 4:30.  I'm hoping that was the extent of the typical 4 month sleep regression.  The last several nights she's come very close to sleeping for 12 hours.  For naps, she's still sleeping well in her car seat for the 5-6 days a week that we go somewhere in the morning.  This has been such a blessing!  I have this Jolly Jumper cover on (it's freezing here!) as well as a dark blanket (a Rosk Woobee Plush that I got for a great deal on babysteals... love it) tied to it so that we can extend the life of the car seat nap as long as possible.  She must be a third child :)

So, our rough schedule is:
Sometime between 7 and 8 - wake, eat
8:45ish - nap #1 (usually in car seat)
10:15ish - wake, eat
11:45ish - nap #2
1:15ish - wake, eat
2:45ish - nap #3 (always in crib)
4:15ish - wake, eat
5:45ish - nap #4 (always in crib and always 45 minutes)
6:30ish - wake, eat
Eat once more around 7:30 or 8 and in crib between 8 and 9.

She usually puts herself to sleep with very little (or no) fussing.  Sometimes she wakes up at the 45 minute mark during a nap.  If that happens, she sometimes sucks her thumb and goes back to sleep on her own.  If not, since Mama doesn't have time (or a quiet house) to try to get her back to sleep, I feed her and she has wake time and we move on with our day.  She's still happy :)  So, on average, she sleeps for 2 full naps and 2 short (45 minute) naps each day.  After reading about Elise and Jack at 4 months, I'm thinking it may be time to experiment with three naps a day and an earlier bedtime.

Eating:  She's still nursing well (especially in a dark, relatively quiet room) and takes about 20 minutes to eat and get a new diaper.  The last feeding of the day can take longer.

Playing:  Claire is such a happy little baby.  It's so easy to make her laugh and smile.  She loves the activity mat, bouncer, a blanket on the floor, sitting or standing with assistance, etc.  Her face lights up when someone comes over to talk to her.  She's discovered her voice a lot more this month and often "squawks" happily at us or her toys.  Though she loves to chew on her fingers and will pass a toy from one hand to the other,  she has not started mouthing toys.  As mentioned in my previous post, she used to roll over but has apparently forgotten all about it.  She will stay on her tummy for quite a while before she fusses for us to turn her back over.

Events:  Claire recently "graduated" from physical therapy for her torticollis.  It only took about a month of "exercises" to help stretch her neck muscles and she now has full, 180 degree range of motion while on her back and no longer tilts her head.

Claire, you are such a joyful little baby and we all adore you!  Happy 4 months!

Jack "sharing" his fire truck