Right on Track

Aside from being born with a full head of blond hair, Ricka's claim to fame around here are her two front teeth.

As I discovered today on Tuesday, she just cut her two front bottom teeth and was only a little more sleepless than usual for a few days to show for it. At 5 months and four days old, she took the title of 'youngest tooth getter' in our household. Dolly previously held that record at 5 months, 2 weeks.

swing'n

"oooh! This looks interesting." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ "It's pretty good, you should try it."

She spends a lot of time in the swing - well, she used to, now she leans as far forward as she can... which causes the swing to stop... which results in a complaining Ricka.

Sitting up.

Other than that, she's sitting without being held upright, although she does still tip over after a while - but it's a gradual tip-over now instead of the sudden crash style. She rolls over onto her back with all the confidence of a well seasoned veteran - she's still working on the other direction but is very close to success. And for Ricka, tummy time no longer holds the original horrors all babies insist of, because she can cover surprisingly large areas on her tummy by going in circles to reach her desired destinations. I watched her cheat and pull the bouncy chair to her this the other afternoon so she could get the little toy car that she was after. And I actually took pictures of that progression, so I'll stick them here as well:

"I want that car."


"Hmm, 'can't quite reach..."


"Ok, what if I try... this!"


"Got it!!"

When I grabbed all the pictures off of the camera this last time, I was surprised to see so many shots of Emma and Ricka posing together. Here are a few of the best of them - just for fun:

November 2, 2011


Serious girls.


November 11, 2011 - Five months old.


Grandma C. made these jumpers for Dolly and Emma.


November 13, 2011

Fitting...

After the kids were finally in bed and the doors were all closed and most of the talking had quieted down, Sir and I retired to the couch. He with his laptop and me with Ricka to nurse. We'd just started to enjoy the peace and quiet when some voices murmured in the boys' room. Then some little feet slapped across the bedroom floor and then the door to the boys' room slowly opened.
"PC! close the door." one of us called out. The only answer was the sound of the little feet making a beeline back to the bottom bunk and the noise of the plastic mattress cover as Butler launched himself back into bed.
"Butler, you stay in bed! Do NOT open your door." Sir reminded. This is when I told Sir that PC probably told Butler to open the door since it opened just after the talking had occurred.
"Mommy....?" This time it was PC.
"PC, come here." Sir called. Almost instantly PC was in the living room - he must have already been on his way out to talk to us.
"Why did you tell Butler to open your bedroom door?" Sir bluffed.
Our guess was confirmed by the shocked 'how did you know?' look on PC's face.
Sir: Why did you tell Butler to open your door?
PC: I donno.
Me: Why did you want the door open?
PC: So I could talk to you.
Sir: Then why didn't you open the door yourself?
PC: Because.
Sir: 'Because' is not an answer.
PC: It was dark in my room.
Me: So, you told Butler to open the door, so you could walk out of your room to talk to us about what?
PC: Mommy, can I change my pajamas? These ones are too hot.
So, he changed out of his pajamas and went to bed and they were quiet after that.
It seemed fitting that Butler was taking orders from PC (prince charming) and opening doors for the higher ranking sibling.

Nonstop

Ricka still nurses about every 3 hours. And every afternoon between 2 and 3 we're gone for school pickup. So, this is what happened the rest of the time last week which might explain why I'm looking forward to sleeping trying to sleep in tomorrow.

On Saturday I finished icing Emma's birthday cake and we had a birthday party for her that evening.
On Sunday we went to meeting. Then we went shopping for fishing bait on our way home.
On Monday there was no school, so Sir took the day off from work and we went fishing at a lake 45 minutes from home. We invited Grandpa and Grandma C to join us and agreed to meet them at the lake at 8am - except we got stuck in traffic the whole way there so we were late. And it rained ALL day long. We fished in the rain from 9-3 anyway and didn't catch anything. So, we ordered fish and chips and had Grandpa and Grandma C. and Dee over for supper.
On Tuesday I took the dog to the vet for an infected foot. Then I swapped stuff around in the storage unit so I'd have more jars at home to can with. The rest of the day was spent doing load after load of laundry because everything got wet and muddy on the fishing trip. Then Sir and I went out on a dinner date and left Ricka for the first time! It was really nice.
On Wednesday the kids and I went shopping for more canning stuff. I spent the afternoon chopping vegetables to add to our garden tomatoes for salsa. Then we went to meeting. Well, the kids went to meeting. I got there and spent most of the time in the nursery with Ricka. When I wasn't in the nursery I was picking Sir up from the skytrain so he'd get to meeting before it was over.
On Thursday we drove Sir to work and then Emma and I canned the salsa when we got home. I picked the kids up from school 15min early and took Dolly to the dr. for an infected eye. After we got home I finally got the laundry folded so the living room looks a bit less like a laundromat now. And (gasp!) I played a game of Age of Empires between interruptions like homework, chores, dinner, baby etc. (Hey, at least the little people in the game keep doing what I told them to do until its either done or I tell them to do something else - it's therapy :))
And today... well, I am going to take a shower if it's the last only thing I do! I also need to blanch and freeze the corn before it spoils, and the plan is for me to go across the border after school for gas and a package pickup. We ordered a shop vacuum so we can clean the wood stove before we start having regular fires.
But for now... I'll start with my shower.

If You're not Tired

On our way home after a late night out:

Dolly: Do I have to brush my teeth when we get home? 'Cause I'm really tired and I don't feel like brushing my teeth.
Me: You're going to brush your teeth... it won't take that long.
Dolly: When we get home can I just get my pajamas on, go potty, brush my teeth and tell Daddy 'good night'?
Sir: Yes... Isn't that what you do every night, Dolly?
Dolly: But do I have to drink water!?
Me: No, you don't have to, but you can if you're thirsty.
Emma: Can we brush our teeth without aksking?
Me: Emma, you're just going to get ready for bed like normal. Just do it quickly. It's very late.
Dolly: Yeah, like almost the middle of the night right? I'm not gonna have any trouble going to sleep 'cause it's soo late and I'm really tired.
Emma - in a matter-of-fact tone: But if we're not tired and we can't go to sleep, we can just talk. Right?

Right. That explains a whole lot!

Ricka's 1 Month Portrait

"And they blessed Rebecca, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions."
Genesis 24:60

This was Ricka the day after her 1 month birthday. Because I was behind on some of the other kids' pictures, I tried a different photography place, and the lady that did these pictures was probably the best photographer I've ever had. She was creative, patient, and fast! Well, fast when it came to capturing poses - it took longer to prepare them. She also gave me a great deal on the package that I was buying, which is why I ended up with so many poses this time.

This is actually the picture I chose for the package. The top photo was the 10x13 for my wall, and I could choose a different pose for that picture since it was an extra cost. But this picture was the best one of Ricka with her clothes on. She decided to pull a 'PC' and be unwakeable for her first professional pictures. Which means she wouldn't even open her eyes until she was down to nothing but a diaper.

Of course, babies are adorable in any state of modesty (or lack thereof) and this picture is one of my favorites. You wouldn't know that I was only able to hold this pose for all of 2 seconds because of how much Ricka was kicking and squirming, but the photographer managed to take at least 4 shots in that time to get the one she was looking for. This was also about when I decided I had a new favorite photographer. :)

Anyway, we did a few of the classic poses. You know, 'baby in the basket' 'wedding rings and baby toes' 'naked baby positioned just so to be barely modest' to name a few. They were all excellent shots and definitely begging to be added to the package, but I really did have a bottom to my pockets.

Then while I was hemming and hawing over which pictures to choose and how much extra I could afford to spend and admiring all the enhancements they put together to entice you to spend even more, the photographer asked me if I was to choose a collage photo which one would it be?. There were about a dozen enhancements and a handful of beautiful collages, but none of those are an option when you're just purchasing the basic promotional package and a few extra wallets. Anything else starts to really add up, so I told her, that as lovely as the collages were, I wasn't going to be ordering them because I had a budget I needed to stay within. "Yes, I know, but IF you were to choose one, which would it be?" she pressed. After a split second to scan over the collages enough to give her an answer, I pointed one out, but told her I still wasn't going to be able to add it to my purchase. "That's ok." she said, "I'll just throw it in for free!" And that's what she did!

Our little Freckles*

"Mommy! There's a green spider in the bathtub! Do you want to come and see it? Come on, Mommy! It's a green spider and it's MOVING!"

Since this was such an urgent and exciting matter, and Ricka had eaten enough to fall asleep on the job, I put her in her bassinet and followed Emma to the kids bathroom. She did a little dance in excitement as I peered into the bathtub at her latest find. "Can you give it to me, Mommy?! Please, can I have it?" she begged. I scooped the badly maimed grasshopper up and carefully put in in Emma's outstretched palm and then went to find my camera.

Emma slowly followed me, never taking her eyes off her treasure. "Isn't he nice, Mommy? He's soo cute! Don't you think he's cute Mommy?" I assured her he was and took a few pictures of her. Then the rest of the kids came in and Emma proudly showed them her bug.

"Can I hold him?" Dolly asked as she was already trying to get the insect from Emma's shirt sleeve to her own. When Emma realized she was being relieved of her pet, a short scuffle ensued and order was restored once the bug was returned. Dolly tried a different approach, "Can we keep him, Mommy? We can put him in a little cage, and give him grass to eat..." Emma's eyes lit up and suddenly they were best friends on a mission.

("Oh! That is a real one.")

Then PC came by... "Oh! That is a real one. The other ones don't have wings. Let's feed him to the chickens - they would like to eat him!" "No!" both girls screamed in protest and then Dolly remembered that we don't have any chickens. "It's ok, Emma, We don't have any chickens, so he can't do that." After that they all traipsed outside to 'make a house'.

Home sweet home - complete with flowers.


They named him Charles.

*As in Gene Stratton-Porter's book character.