Friday, March 25, 2011

Baby not included

That's what the box said that our new stroller came in.  We finally got it last week.  We had selected one, but there was no point in getting it before we got a new car because the stroller wouldn't fit in my old car.  So once we got the car, we just waited for the stroller to go on sale (because when Jerel starts researching things, we usually end up with the be$t there is, and since the stroller cost more than some cars I have owned, I insisted on waiting for a sale) and then we ordered it right up.  I had tried to go on a walk recently with Isaiah in the single stroller and Liza in the baby bjorn carrier, but then the next day I couldn't stand up straight because my back was so sore. 

Here's a picture with the kids in their normal seating arrangement.  The back seat has less of a view, so I let Zay have the front because I figure he'd whine more (or at least louder) than Liza if he couldn't see anything.  Zay really seems to like it, and Liza seems to really not care much.  My favorite feature?  The white wall tires.  I have always liked white wall tires on cars and seriously wish they'd come back in style (or at least be available to purchase, since I don't require things to be in style in order for me to use them), so I am delighted every time I see these ones.

Here are the cool things:  the back seat is removeable so you can use it as a single stroller if you want; it has really big, fully adjustable sun shades, which comes in handy when I go on long walks and the kids fall asleep; the handle is super adjustable so even shorties like me can push it comfortably--some strollers have such a high handle that my arms are way up high, like a little kid pushing a shopping cart; it has a much smoother ride because of the jogging stroller wheels so the kids get jostled less; it is so much easier to push than our old stroller--no more getting stuck everytime I hit a bit of uneven pavement!

Here's a picture with the sunshades up.  I love that there is a shade on the back seat too.  When I have that up I feel like Liza is pretty well insulated from the elements.  Zay hates having his sunshade up, but when it's sprinkling he doesn't have a choice.  The side/back of his sunshade also has a pocket on each side which is really handy for my water bottle, keys, iPod, etc.

  Here's another way you can arrange the seats, although Zay hates it so much we'll probably never be able to use it.  You can put a baby in the main seat (the one Isaiah is in in the previous pictures) and lay the seat flat so the baby can sleep.  Then you take the back seat off the back and attach it to the front, sort of on top of the baby.  It makes the baby a bit hard to access--you can see Eliza's little foot poking out under Zay's feet--but I guess if the baby was sleeping it would be fine.  Mine tends to be screaming and needing her binky popped back in every few seconds, so this arrangement probably won't work well for us at this point.

And here's our old stroller with the new stroller behind it.  One of my favorite things about the Phil & Ted's stroller design is that it takes two kids without being that much larger than a single stroller.  Many of the double strollers are either super duper wide so that you'd never fit through a doorway, or they have one kid in front of the other and the stroller is so long it feels like you're pushing around a train.  With this one since the front kid sits higher and the back kid is sort of underneath a little bit you don't end up feeling like you're at the grocery store with one of those enormous carts made to look like a school bus or something.

And that, my dear friends who actually read this whole post about something as boring as a stroller, is the latest excitement in our lives.  I love it so much already.  I think I've walked about 15 miles with it so far and it's great!  Tomorrow we're getting a rain cover for it so I'll be able to use it even more.  The rain cover is for the kids, in case you thought I was worried about my fancy new stroller getting wet, I'm not, I'm worried about my fancy new kids getting wet.

lingering effects of pregnancy

No, I'm not talking about how I'm still wearing maternity clothes, although that is true...I am still suffering from "pregnancy brain" which is basically when your brain stops working while you're pregnant. It seems to have turned into a chronic condition for me (of course, it sort of seems like pregnancy was becoming a chronic condition for me too...) Anyway, my tired brain mixed up Zay's size 4 huggies with Liza's size 1 huggies, which is why the diaper comes up to her armpits in this picture. In my defense both size diapers are the same color. And I think this mistake is easier to make than accidentally putting a size 1 on Zay!

In other news, now that it's the end of March and I'm definitely not pregnant, I think it's safe to say that 2011 will be known as the year the Atkinson's didn't have a baby... having one in 2009 and 2010 made me scared I was going to turn into one of those ladies who seem to be perpetually pregnant! And as much "fun" as we're having with 2 under 2 we've decided to leave 3 under 3 for braver, more energetic souls.
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Sunday, March 20, 2011

First skinned knee

Yes, it's a slow news day around here, but I thought I'd let everyone know Isaiah skinned his knee for the first time. He and I were on a walk and we started practicing jumping. He occsionally (accidentally) gets both feet off the ground at once, and this time he didn't land so well. He handled well though, quite a tough little fellow really.

He says some cute things sometimes. He always wants us to go upstairs to play with him because that's where his race tracks are. So he'll pull and pull on you towards the stairs. Then if you say "Do you want to go upstairs?" He says "Oh, okay!" as if it was your idea all along.

He can't say Eliza's name; he calls her "Gaga" instead. Every time he says "Gaga" we say "yes, that's E-li-za" but he hasn't made any progress yet. It's been funny because Jerel and I are both anti-baby-talk, not on any serious moral grounds, but just because it seems silly and annoying. We just call things what they're actually called, unlike my little sister who adds a "y" sound on the end of every word she says to her kids "Clary, come cuddy with mommy and we can coly" which means "Clara, come cuddle with mommy and we can color." At our house you would hear "Isaiah, come sit with mom and we'll color." Yep, we're boring like that. Of course we're not opposed to other people using baby talk with their kids--it gives us something to make fun of :) Anyway, despite all of our efforts to avoid baby talk, Zay says "mommy" and "daddy" and "booky" and a few others that I can't think of. I actually think it's kind of interesting. Maybe there is something to baby talk after all, since he comes up with these on his own, and we never reinforce the incorrect way of saying it, but he sticks with it anyway. I'm sure there's a good infant linguistics book I should read or something. (Oh, and by the way, I don't think "mommy" and "daddy" are incorrect, and I don't mind them at all, it's just interesting to me that although we never refer to each other that way, he's done it on his own.) (Oh, and also by the way, when I was younger I always thought for sure I would only have my children call me "mother." So for those of you who think I'm uptight, I am, but at least I've loosened up a bit.)

My favorite thing he's said lately happened a couple of weeks ago. He and I had gotten up (he gets up between 6 and 7) and were enjoying time reading books together and just having a fun morning. Then I heard Eliza starting to wake up and I thought "Oh man, Isaiah and I were having such a good time together, and now it'll all be interrupted. Ugh." But I didn't say that because I try to not complain about my children to my children. So I had to laugh when Zay said, in a very disappointed tone and with his little brow furrowed, "Oh. Gaga awake." followed by a heavy sigh.
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Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Eliza's blessing dress photos

I finally got them up...sort of...I accidentally added a bunch of other pictures at the end, so if you start seeing repeats that's my mistake, which I can't figure out right now, so I'm leaving it.  Click here to see pictures of Eliza in her blessing dress, in her tutu from Aunt Karee, and pictures of both kids in some hats I've made.

Some pictures

I finally got the pictures from Eliza's baby blessing festivities.  Click here.  Next I'll work on loading the picture Erika took (the formal ones, these are just candids from my camera & Karee's)