There's no room for error

We employed a quality control supervisor to ensure Mike was building things up to par.  His review notes are pending but I will let you know as soon as we receive them.

Mike and I are eagerly awaiting his opinion!

Happy Four Month Birthday Ellis!



Well this is a new record. Ellis is one week away from 5 months old and I'm just getting his 4 month update posted. I will really try to do better...pinkie swear!  I also promise to keep the 5 month updates out of this post...because boy has the kid done some fun stuff lately.

At the beginning of his fourth month, Ellis started laughing (mainly for nana) and turning from his back to his tummy.  He also began handing out the smiles to his big brother.  Cavin reads this as the answer he needed to the question: "can I drag the baby around the living room by his feet?" At first we would stop this before Cavin could start. Then one time we realized that Ellis was actually smiling while Cavin harassed him...so we let it continue until Ellis' bottom lip curls down, he yells, or the tears start flowing...which to be honest, rarely happen.  Ellis is already proving to be a tough kid.  And apparently this mom needs to prepare herself for some rough-housing.

In much more important sleep news, Ellis slept through the night 5 nights in a row this month!  (This didn't last though....but is very exciting nonetheless because I know he is capable!)  We are also working on a slow transition out of the swaddle due to one night when we looked to see him sleeping nose down in the crib mattress.  He was very comfortable that way but gave his parents a slight heart attack in the moment.  So we immediately made him sleep (which he didn't) the rest of the night without the swaddle.  His startle reflex kept waking him up so we eventually compromised by swaddling him but leaving one arm out in the event he rolled himself over again (which he did...many more times).

Cavin got pretty involved in the Elmo shoot this month.  In previous months we placed him in his room with some trains and he knew no different. This month he directed the shoot...I mean he is loaded with experience!

So I scanned out to give you an idea of what Mike was dealing with.  Cavin, Toby, Ellis, the Elmo nose the prevents kids from balancing on the chair properly.  It isn't an easy job!

Now for the stats:
Weight: 16 pounds, 7.5 ounces (90th percentile)
Height: 27.75 inches (100th percentile)
Head: 44cm (90th percentile)

Happy 4 month birthday Ellis!!

The status of Disneyland

We are patiently awaiting for project Disneyland to be completed...but I think we will be waiting a while.  Mike is working very hard and it is looking great but, geez, there is a lot to this thing.

This is Mike giving me all kinds of excuses and stories as to why it is taking so long and what else he has to get done.   You know that adult teacher in the Charlie Brown episodes?  Yeah, that's what he sounded like to me.

So we ended up employing him a supervisor to monitor his progress.  In other words, momma got tired of watching both boys all the time and took off to get her eyebrows done...and this is what I came home to.

Ellis approves of the progress!

 

Enjoying his first Father's Day...

...and I'm not talking about Mike b/c this isn't his first rodeo.



Houdini

Riddle me this.

I put Ellis down in some foot-less pajamas last night.  Due to this, I put some socks on his feet.  When he woke up this morning, I went in to find this...

!!!?????  As great as this child is, I do not believe he is capable of unwrapping his swaddle, taking off his socks, placing them down, then re-swaddling himself.  I mean, the kid just found his left foot yesterday!  I will get to the bottom of this.

This reminds me of a few other mysteries that have occurred in our household:

1) The mystery of the stolen newspaper (Location: San Francisco circa 2009) - Every day for weeks - maybe months - our newspaper was being taken from outside our house.  Mike was furious.  We were convinced it was a crazy, mean neighbor and wanted to catch him in the act.  So, Mike set up a secret hidden camera on our garage door and practiced taping the act.  So somewhere we've got a video of Mike 'pretend stealing' our newspaper.  He also set up a hidden camera in our car that was parked on the street.  Neither approach worked.  One day, Mike got home and noticed the paper was there.  Then went back outside 5 minutes later to retrieve it, only to find it gone!  So I grabbed my camera and raced out to the balcony in the nick of time to video our neighbor coming down the back stairs holding our newspaper.  We attached the picture to a letter to his landlord.  Bam! The funniest part about this is...the newspaper was free.  Like you just have to go online and sign up.  But it was the principal of the matter! - CASE CLOSED.

2) The mystery of the disappearing cat food (Location: San Francisco circa 2009) - During the same time as the newspaper incident we noticed that we'd get home to an empty cat bowl.  You see...we kept that cat bowl downstairs on top of a really tall chest of drawers.  We locked the dogs upstairs.  So even if they could get downstairs, they couldn't get to the food b/c it was on a really tall chest.  Yet every day we'd come home to this empty bowl.  Even our pet sitter got involved.  He was convinced it was a raccoon in our bedroom!  Well, low and behold it was Jerry.  He would shape-shift his body to get through the banisters on the stairs and then was able to jump on top of the chest, eat the food, jump down, and shape-shift back through the banisters. We were left none the wiser. - CASE CLOSED.

3)  The mystery of the disappearing Gymboree package (Location: Concord circa 2010) - I ordered this adorable Christmas sweater with matching gloves and hat for Cavin to sport during the holidays.  It never showed up.  On December 19, 2010 I contacted Fed Ex who stated it arrived on December 9th, 2010 at 2:36pm and gave me a confirmation number.  I contacted the postal service who Fed Ex contracted through and Gymboree - who could care less if I got my cute sweater.  I warned neighbors too.  American Express performed their own investigation too...and no one found the package.  However, Amex ended up reimbursing me for the amount so in that sense the case is closed.  I still keep an eye out for kids in my neighborhood. If any of them show up wearing that sweater it is on!

4) The mystery of the disappearing cookie bouquet (Location: Concord circa 2011) - After Cavin was born, Craig and Amanda sent us a yummy cookie bouquet.  They did the same thing after Ellis was born as well.  When they never heard from me, Craig followed up to ensure we had received it.  Nope...it had been 2 weeks and nothing.  I began to worry that it was stolen from our porch and someone in our neighborhood was indulging in MY Ellis' sugar cookies!  Well, low and behold, Craig gave them my old address in Lafayette.  I'm not sure how Craig did it but he was able to get the cookie company to send me another bouquet.  Meanwhile the new tenants in our old house enjoyed some cookies too! - CASE CLOSED

So my son may of woken up with his socks outside his swaddle...and that may seem strange.  But I will find out what happened and get back to you. In the meantime, it made for a funny moment this morning.

Construction has begun!

If you were not aware, we are in the middle of building the most enormous play structure this side of the country.  I kid of course except that it is true.  Okay that was a joke as well.

  

Mike may not like me confessing this but the size of this thing was a source of contention in our household.  He wanted to bring Disney World into our back yard while I wanted something that "fit" the size of our yard.  I quickly realized that Mike's sole priority was the happiness of the boys and not to blatantly ignore my requests and I was once again reminded why I married this man and how he is the best father to my children.  So I conceded.  BUT I still reserve the right to poke fun at its size.

So the other thing is that the instructions state that it can take approximately 14 hours for TWO people to put this together.  As hard as Cavin is trying, I do not think he counts as a whole person when it comes to the construction of this thing.  Oh, and not to mention it also states it takes 2-3 hours just to organize the parts!

Cavin and Ellis brains will explode when it is all said and done.  They will have swings, a slide, a rock climbing wall, a sand pit, a fort up in the air, and some stools to sit and rest.  I think this thing comes with a drive-thru Starbucks as well!  Another joke.

Gotta love the 2s!

This is our toddler.

Many times he's like this.

Or this.

But don't be fooled because sometimes he can be like this.

If you see a naked body thrashing around on the bathroom floor. Don't worry.  It's just our toddler.

If you feel a gust of wind inside a public place and then about 10 seconds later you see Mike or myself running past you in frantics.  No fret.  That was our toddler.

If you are at a restaurant and a fork, cup, or train narrowly misses your face.  We apologize b/c it is our toddler. 

If dogs begin barking uncontrollably around you, nothing to worry about...they've just exerienced the high pitch scream of our toddler.

The Brat Pack

Liam, Cavin, Cole, and Brodie

Brothers

 Recently Cavin has showed even more interest in his little brother.  He not only has become somewhat helpful by bringing us burp cloths, wipes, and throwing dirty diapers away but he's also loving to kiss, hug, and hold his little brother...sometimes borderline smothering.  We get nervous that Cavin is going to upset Ellis but then Ellis gives him a big 'ole gummy grin so we are hoping this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Cavin wanted to hold his little bro and carry him across the room to place him in his chair...

Enjoying some daddy time...

 

Playtime!