March 2015

Happy Fourth Birthday Aurora! You are turning into such a lovely little lady. I am continuously amazed by your intensity, curiosity and will. I know that they will serve you well in life. You brighten our days and provide a constant source of laughter. I love you with all my heart and am truly honored to be your Mama.



We took Aurora to the children's theatre for her birthday and she loved it! We saw Androcles and the Lion and she talked about it for days. I was a little worried that she wouldn't be able to be quiet through the performance but she was so enthralled that she didn't make a peep.



Aurora's birthday fell on Purim (Jewish Halloween) so she got to dress up like a princess for preschool and also got to skip around the room during Shabbat sing for her special day. I was so proud of her because I didn't think there was any way she would do it but she was so happy to be the focus of attention she skipped around with a giant grin on her face :)

Aurora got her very first haircut! It only took four years and her younger brother got one first, but she was very pleased with the results. It is soooo much easier to brush in the morning!

We were about to pull Aurora out of school because she was still having enormous stress and upset about separating at school. I had just had enough of the screaming and crying so we went in to talk to her teachers for next year and Aurora's eyes got all big when they showed us a picture routine for the day that they have up in their class. We made one for Aurora and that combined with ending her afternoon enrichment class has yielded an entirely new kid! For the past two weeks I have dropped her off at class and she smiles, waves and says "see you after preschool Mama!" Amazing.

We have started doing Aurora's reading lessons again which are going really well. She tends to want to do a lot of lessons all at once and then take a big break.

I'm pregnant! #3 is due to join the family mid September and we are all thrilled. I think it is still pretty abstract for the kids though because when we told Aurora she got a big smile on her face and said "Yay! Now can I go do stickers?" ;)

We had Aurora's princess party the end of the month and it was a lot of fun, but so much work! The kids decorated swords and tiaras with paint and gems which seemed to keep them happy for the entire party.



Aurora loved having all her friends over and we were very proud of how well she behaved the entire time. I don't think she had one behavior issue or melt down the whole morning. What a big girl!

-- Connor at 15 Months --

You want to walk everywhere. Often when I am carrying you you point down and yell "WA! WA!" until I put you down and let you walk yourself. You LOVE the playground. You are so much more fearless than Aurora was at this age. You will go down the big slide all by yourself and could probably do it over and over again for hours.

If you are ever too quiet it is a fair bet you are playing in the dog's water bowl and making a giant mess.

You are starting to really understand what we are saying to you now which is a lot of fun. You can follow some directions and definitely respond appropriately to what we say to you. It definitely makes things a little easier when we can effectively communicate.

You are talking quite a bit. I'd guess you have around 30 words. Your words so far are ::

Hi, Bye bye, Ball, Book, Milk, Doggie, Mama, Dada, Get it, Again, Cold, Hot, Snow, This, That, No, Banana, Apple, Cheese, Baby, Aurora, Nose, Mouth, Down, Walk, Boots, Shoes, Socks

February 2015

We have had some really warm weather lately. I think we had a whole week of 70 or 80 degree days which were lovely; however, only make the return of the cold that much harder. The kids loved playing outside and digging in the dirt.

Unfortunately preschool isn't going well. The stress usually starts as soon as Aurora wakes up and ends with her hysterically crying when I drop her off at Temple. It is completely exhausting and I feel terrible that she is so unhappy for so much of each school day. If she was happy and content after I left that would be one thing but apparently she is usually sad for quite a while.

We celebrated Matt's birthday! Unfortunately we didn't get to celebrate on his actual birthday because I picked Aurora up from school to find her a complete disaster complaining of her ears. I took her to the pediatrician and she had an ear infection in both ears. Poor girl!

Connor got his first haircut! He was so cooperative and looks like such a big boy now!

We finished ski school! Getting Aurora to her lesson was pretty brutal but luckily we ended on a good note. She left her last class saying how much fun she had and that she wanted to come back next year. She may feel differently when next year actually rolls around… but for now I'll take it!

-- Connor at 14 months --

You are finally eating a little bit more. I think part of the problem lately may have been your teeth. When you are being extraordinarily picky you will still usually eat soft things like packets and yogurt so I'm wondering if your mouth just gets really tender. Even though you won't eat most things, you are obsessed with banana. Any time you see them you shout "nana!" over and over again until we give you some ;)

You have picked up your second nap again.

You are finally not screeching so much. You can now yell "mama!" whenever you wants something.

For Valentine's Day your Dada got you and Aurora giant bears which you both love. You especially love "attacking" them by walking over, shouting "ahhhhhhhhh" and throwing yourself on top of them. It's hysterical.

You have recently discovered a love of books. You want to be read to all the time and will often sit by yourself and look through them. You also like to point to the pictures and "talk" to them.

New words :: gig git (get it), ma "moose"

January 2015

First time on the magic carpet

This month has been pretty quiet for us aside from traveling to the condo most weekends for ski school.  Being up at the condo is starting to feel much easier -- packing is getting somewhat routine and we finally got our new furniture at the condo. It looks so much better! It finally feels like a home and not a hotel. The wall art still needs some work but we will get there.

Taking the kids out to breakfast by myself

Ski school has been going well for Aurora. One of the little boys in her preschool class is also in her ski school class which I think helps a ton. Aurora and Beckett have apparently become good friends. She gets excited to see him and apparently they hold hands everywhere they go ;)

We had friends from New Canaan come out to ski for a weekend. Nicole and Tyler brought there two boys, Henri and Andrew and stayed at our condo. Unfortunately circumstances made it so we were only able to visit on Saturday but it was still really nice to see them. Aurora and Henri were good friends when we lived in Connecticut and it was fun to see how well they got along even after all this time.

We finally figured out our preschool plan and got our applications in. I am so lucky Matt is good at filling out applications because it would have been a huge burden for me to do on my own. Aurora has already had her visit at Inspire and we both absolutely loved it. I think she would do much better in a smaller school like Inspire. We are still having a lot of issues getting Aurora to go to Temple without lots of tears and distress. We find out about Inspire February first while Graland and Ricks will tell us in early March.

Unfortunately we lost our lovely babysitter this month. Miss Lauren got an internship at CU Medical Center so she no longer has time to come to us during the day. She will continue to come one evening a week but I am going to have to find a new daytime sitter.

-- Connor at 13 months --

You are walking! Right at the beginning of the month you decided you had figured it out enough and have been walking ever since. You almost never choose to crawl anymore. It's hysterical to watch you, your Dada and I say you walk like a big old grizzly bear because you will crawl for a little and then stand up and hold your arms way up over your head and wander about.

You are a leaky disgusting mess lately. Both your nose and mouth have been running almost all month. I think you are getting new teeth and I wonder if that has something to do with the fact that you are eating almost nothing lately. You will eat bananas, yogurt and sweet potatoes but not much else.

It also could have something to do with the fact that you have been super cranky lately. It doesn't help anything that you have been fighting your second nap. It has been almost two weeks since you started refusing it. I really hope you aren't giving it up for real but only time will tell. Needless to say you have been a total disaster by bedtime.

You have quite a few words now -- "ba" ball, "mama," "dada," "Ro-ro" Aurora, "da-da" doggie, "nana" banana, "ch" cheese, "boh" book

Playing outside in the random 70 degree winter weather

You still sign "more" "all done" and now "please" which is quite cute

December 2014

Rora started ski school. She is pretty excited about her all pink outfit! She will be going almost every Saturday in December, January and February so it will be interesting to see what she is able to do at the end of the season. So far it has been ugly getting her out the door but she seems happy and says she had fun at class when we pick her up.

We traveled to see Nanny and Grumpa twice this month! Once in Farmington and once at their new place in Scotsdale. Both were quick trips but fun. I flew down to Farmington ahead of Matt to give the kids enough time to settle 

Scotsdale was an even quicker trip. We were only there for one full day and two half days but we still got in some good visiting. We took the kids to the train museum and got to ride in a small kid sized train all around the property.

We have been meeting with an educational councilor to try to figure out what on earth we want to do with Aurora for pre-k next year and then kindergarten after that. It has been helpful but we are still undecided exactly what to do. The politics of school applications is stressful!

We went to see Santa! I am not sure if Aurora was more excited about seeing Santa or about visiting the Frozen Ice Palace ;) Unfortunately I planned poorly and went the morning of the 23rd. The line was enormous. I think it took us about 2 hours to get into the Ice Palace and then meet Santa.

We had a great Christmas. We didn't travel on Christmas Day this year which was so nice. We got to relax at the house all day. I will say though, you know your children have too many presents when they ask to take two breaks before they can get through opening them all!

We started trying to teach Aurora to read a few months ago and even though she has been asking to learn for over a year she hasn't been interested since starting preschool. Recently we picked up her learn to read book again and have been making some good progress.

-- Connor at 12 months -- 

You are almost walking! I think you are totally capable but you haven't quite got the confidence to take off yet. You can walk between things and you are starting to choose to walk from one thing to the next but you won't just start walking unless your destination is close. Actually you did just take off once but landed on your face so I think that dissuaded you for a while!

You are also talking a lot more. You can sign "all done" and "more"

You are becoming such a picky eater it is driving me crazy. I am not quite sure how to deal with it so for now I am just continuing to offer you choices which you hardly ever eat… I think if you could live on sweet potato, banana and yogurt you would be a happy camper!

Family Pictures 2014

We had Kristin take family photos again for Connor's one year and our Christmas card pictures. The pictures came out awesome… except for the Christmas jammie pictures because I didn't realize I had bought "girl" jammies for both the kids. Oops. They were red, white and navy so I thought they were gender neutral but as I was putting Connor's shirt on at the shoot I realized there was scalloped "lace" around the collar and wrists. Fail.