Summer's End

Back to school. Summer, and it's long days and unscheduled busy-ness are over. Week one went well. Calvin had fun watching the kids. He felt that he got to know Eliana better, having her for 8 hours straight, and is a terrific Mr. Mom. I got right back to it at the homeschool. My contract this year is three days a week and all of my assignment is with the homeschool--no juggling the high school schedule--which is so fabulous. My job will be much more focused and flexible, as I've almost only homeschool stuff to worry about.

Adessa has gone from saying: "Wanna talk." at bedtime, which meant that she wanted me to talk about the day, to: "I just want to talk about it, Mom." (seriously, complete sentences this month.) and then she talks all about the day. Pretty fun. She only wants to wear "beautiful gowns", which means her shorts, skirts, and pants are all lying neglected in her drawers, and her play dresses (which all her dresses are becoming) are getting lots of wear. She sings and dances and mimics gestures, and is fun to watch. She can do many bits and songs from her favorite movies (watched exclusively from musical selection to musical selection) which are Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Cinder Elmo, and Enchanted.


The girls day dreaming. (Or wondering when the photo opportunity was going to end.)


Adessa's first (responsive) phone conversation with Daddy.



This one kills me. Super earnest finger sucking, while clasping (random) blanket oh-so tightly.


Escaping the heat wave (don't get me started on how hot it's been.) Eliana liked the water, darling in what can most aptly be described as a "swimming costume".


(Not really) Chillin' in da crib.


Eliana talking.

It's All Happening at the Zoo...

I do believe it's true! We took a last hurrah, before-school-starts trip to the San Francisco Zoo. Very fun to see the animals live and in person, doing their thing.

Daddy and Adessa with the giraffes. This was the first animal we saw, and I think Adessa could have stayed there with the giraffes all day. But there was more!


Adessa walking in grizzly bear footprints at their exhibit. We got to watch them swim around.


Daddy and Adessa rode the little train.


Mommy holding "both my girls" in front of the gorillas. (We figured out about the smudged lense right around the lions, so some of these pictures have a bit of a halo effect.


How Eliana spent her zoo time. Riding in the stroller and sleeping in the Ergo.


At the Zooooo. At the Zooo-ooooo. (Thank you, Simon and Garfunkle.)

Girl Stuff

Today I see the problem with not knowing who in the world reads this blog. Because, I really think it may just be my mom and Arin, Sarah, Amy, Barbara, and Kim. All of whom I feel comfortable telling the following: I started my period! Menstruating! Aunt Flow got her months wrong. The baby is just three months old, and already my body is prepared to bring forth more life. And give me additional raucous mood swings. Or something. This is, in a word, infuriating.
*The rest of the post is going to be on the same subject, so the weak of heart should wait until we're back to our regular programing of a cute toddler and her antics and a very small, (only three months old for pete's sake!) baby.

Yes, infuriating. There is a reason that God gives most exclusively breastfeeding women a break from their monthlies for a GOOD LONG WHILE. Partly its for birth control and spacing between kids, and to give mamas a chance to recuperate and heal from the havoc of birth. And partly because how on earth is a woman supposed to take care of herself, with time constraints related to periods, and at the same time take care of babies? It's like now there are three of us in diapers. COME ONNNN! Its a lot to keep track of: who ate what when? who slept for how long? why is this one cranky? and where's the nearest bathroom? End rant.

Where Does the Tickety-Time Go?

Brace yourselves! Eliana is three months old tomorrow. Already. She is sweet sweet sweet, I tell you! She's starting to take notice of her toys, her hands can find her mouth most of the time, and she is getting strong as she tries to look around and see what we're all up to. Eliana smiles into my eyes and it's so uncomplicated, just sheer delight and love emanating out of her. Ohhhh. I love it. Especially when a certain two year old isn't very excited about me, I am appreciative of the soft sweet goodness of a baby.

Adessa has been doing really well, actually. Lots less tears and whining; she's starting to be able to control herself when asked and change her voice and use words instead of crying to tell us what she wants nicely, instead of demanding and wailing. Its an incredibly pleasant development, and I've been enjoying her. Whenever anyone in our house (Eliana, me,) is upset, she will run to find a binky (pacifier) for them. Calvin and I were having a... discussion, with, er, slightly raised voices, ahem, and she yelled from the other room: "Fighting? Binky for mommy?" Very nice of her to share those precious binkies. Her funny phrase of late is: "How that ohpd?" Which translated means: How do you open this thing?

Eliana and Daddio.


Eliana, sleeping with her binky in her eye. It did not bother her in the least.


Adessa and Elijah watching a movie on Adessa's new (to us) pink princess couch/sofa bed.


The younger generation of the Beck side of the family so far. And no, we couldn't get Adessa to smile. 8)


Eliana's first swim, at her godparents house. It was nice and warm and she loved it. This girl loves water, she is calmed by a shower or bath and even her feet in Lake Tahoe didn't phase her.

Tahoe!

We had a vacation in Tahoe. I was about to write an adjective describing said vacation. Common descriptors for vacations that I've used myself in the past ran through my brain: relaxing, carefree, quiet. However, with two tiny ones... I'm just leaving it at that: We had a vacation, it happened to be in Tahoe. We spent lots of time with most of my family, and in between wiping noses, chasing kids, and feeding everyone we had some good conversation. It was, as always, lovely to be in Tahoe. We enjoyed beautiful weather and views and lots of time to play in the water.

Here's Daddy and the girls in our cabin.

Here's Grandma with Jaden and Adessa.

Adessa at Moon Dunes, the favored beach, eating lunch.

Playing in the water, which we can do for happy hours.

Playing in the pool.

Can you tell Adessa's having a blast? 8)


How Eliana spent her time in Tahoe:
Snoozing at the beach.

Hanging out with cousin Noah.

Flying in her personalized cape. (Grandma made capes for all the kids, which were a terrific hit.)

Smiling and talking. She's really trying to coo and gurgle and talk. Adorable.

Fourth of July and More

We had a patriotic and fun Forth. Adessa caught on quick to the red-white-and blue decorations we saw as we drove around, and now says: "Fourth of July!" whenever she sees a flag. (Another, non-related cute thing she's said lately: "Where my knifers?" She was looking for her scissors! )

Friends from our mommy group got together at Ryan's house, where there is a POOL! and we cavorted and splashed. Swimming at Ryan's is a great arrangement for me, because his mom, Stacy, is okay with holding Eliana while I get to swim with Adessa (Daddy was working on the fourth, of course). We also tried to pose the kids for a picture, which turned out like this:


We are ever optimistic, though, that someday we will get all our kids sitting down on the darn couch! Our girls just leaned on each other through it all.



Visiting with great-grandma Ruth and great-grandpa Lou


The Two Month Old photo shoot--






Eliana's smiling, and it's the most heartwarming, cutest thing!


Daddy and the girls.



Just the four of us. We need some more work, both girls are blurry! 8)

The Girls

Who is who? Here's a game for you, which picture is which girl at which stage? We just happen to have some similar photos. Fun! Answers at the bottom.

Getting their first examination from the doctor(s).



Being held by Aunt Kristine.



Being held by mom, in the same maternity shirt, with the same disheveled hair.



Being held by dad at three weeks old (in the same pink onsie, that was planned.)



Bouncing in the bouncy seat.



Wearing the fuzzing pink hat from the Saads.



Could you figure them out? It went: Adessa, Eliana, Adessa, Eliana, Eliana, Adessa, Adessa, Eliana, Eliana, Adessa, Adessa, Eliana. Okay, thanks for humoring me. So...what you can gather is... they look alike, and are very cute.