Numero Four!

At 4 pm today, Stephanie donned her birthday party hat and informed me that she had just turned 5.  At nearly 6:00, she told me she was 6.  Since time is passing oh so fast, I thought I should post Birthday Number 4 pictures!  It was a pretty good 4th birthday, as 4th birthday's go.  The day before, we made cupcakes for school and broke out the old Betty Crocker Bake and Fill cake mold to make a nice round cake.  She originally requested a tall cake, and I am grateful I thought of the bake and fill, as it was just interesting enough to get me out of making a layer cake!  Decorations went better this year, as you could definitely tell that I intended it to be a ladybug, whereas last year the cake had no actual relationship to Dora the Explore, despite my intentions.  By the time Gwen is four, I think I will have a handle on the cake making!
We did the cupcake handout at school (which was also her last day in that classroom- so sad, as I have become very attached to Miss Patty).  When I arrived at the prescribed cupcake time, Stephanie saw me, threw her arms up and loudly announced that I was NOT there to pick her up.  She was so, so very excited and proud to hand out the cupcakes (which were very VERY bright red, thus making me the curse of every parent spending time stain treating their children's shirts this weekend).  Back at home, we got to Skype Alaina AND Mary, while Kevin put together a little Mexican Fiesta.  I decorated the unfortunate Ladybug cake, and we enjoyed a family dinner, and she got a quick call from Aunt Tasha.  Cake Time! and I jog off to the kitchen to find our "4" birthday candle (which I proudly purchased well in advance)... which is nowhere to be found.  Kevin and I both start looking.  I inform Stephanie that I am searching high and low, but I don't know where it is.  A few minutes later, she says "I have something to help you search high low" and brings me her toy binoculars.  Super funny and so sweet, but no help whatsoever, as we still couldn't find the candle.  But Stephanie is nothing but flexible, and offered to just put 4 green candles in the cake.  Really, she probably mostly wanted cake, but I was so happy that she was okay (and I, too, really just wanted cake).
Her presents had been lingering wrapped around the house for some time, and she had never even once asked to open them.  That is, until the morning of her birthday, when she went right for the present begging.  We let her open something from Alaina that morning, but all others waited until the evening.
In the big party picture, we sort of failed, as dinner was late, the cake was bordering on tragic looking, and we invited no one, but but but Stephanie had such a great time being the center of all attention for the day and we all ended up on the floor playing with her new playdoh set for a good hour that night, so isn't that what counts??

Oh, and she loudly wished for snow... So now you know who to blame come February

This one was in bed long before the birthday cake, but look how happy she was to have pancakes the next morning!

The baby wars

I have been thinking a lot about the differences between the two girls.  Some of it, I am sure is simply because we are different and have to balance things differently, but many of the differences seem really intrinsic.  I find my memories of Stephanie as a baby have started to fade, but Gwen brings them back a bit.  If I let Gwen get too much bigger, I will forget some of her details too, so I wanted to take a few minutes to compare the incomparable...
In the battle of sleep:  Stephanie was a decent sleeper.  She slept through the night from six weeks to five months, but at five months we couldn't manage swaddling her anymore, and she woke once a night for the remainder of her first year.   Stephanie often nursed to sleep and was put in bed sleeping soundly.  Gwen, like Stephanie, also started sleeping through the night at six weeks, but hated being swaddled from day three, although we insisted on trying for a few more days, because of course she would want to be swaddled since Stephanie lived for it!  Gwen does not quite nurse to sleep, instead she seems to do better just being laid in bed.  She may cry a bit, but then she knocks right off for a good 12 to 14 hours a night.  Sorry Steph, but Gwen takes this one.
In the battle of food:  Stephanie had her first meal, oatmeal cereal, at just a week shy of 5 months.  She simply could not get enough, it was just wonderful.  She remains an adventurous and willing eater.  One night we told her we had a surprise for dinner.  Excitedly, she said, "Brussels sprouts?" She preferentially clears veggies and fruits from her plate before bothering with carbs of meat.  She has been known to eat dessert and then grab a beet or a piece of broccoli to snack on before going to bed... Agh!  We tried Gwen on cereal at just over 5 months.  She had a physical response that involved shivering and trying to get away from the spoon.  I have since offered pears, apple sauce, pancakes and yogurt, all of which elicited the same response.  It is actually pretty comical, presuming that it does not predict her future eating habits.  So far, that means Stephanie wins the food battle.
In the battle of smiles:  I am going to call this one a draw.  I am pretty sure that Stephanie smiled sooner and more often.  In fact, Gwen was slow enough on the smiling that I was becoming increasingly concerned about her.  But she seems to have caught up just fine.  I think she makes us work for them a bit more, but she has plenty to share.
Paci vs Thumb:  Stephanie loved her pacifier.  Like the swaddling, we had a long road to accept that Gwen was simply not that interested in one, but instead opts for her thumb.  This battle is also a draw.  I have never left Gwen's thumb at home or had to dig for it under the crib, but it is going to be a bit harder to put away in a box when it is time to give it up.  I am going with any comfort measure that gets you to sleep 13 hours straight at night is a good comfort measure and not even think about future battles.
Stephanie was a good baby.  Gwen seems even better, but I actually think a good part of that is because she has the constant entertainment that is her sister bouncing around the house.  It will be fun to keep these observations up as Gwen grows and changes even more!

Stephanie's first meal!

My name is Gwendolyn, and I am a Sleep-A-Holic

Virginia

We finally made it home to Virginia with the kids!  Mom and Dad had not yet met Gwen, so it was about time.  I put off my annual summer trip because our friends had planned a Richmond wedding in October.  A lovely and huge party with a group of good friends!  And we had eager babysitters!
Stephanie is a well-seasoned traveler.  In all honesty, there aren't many times that I see life through her eyes and think it is all amazing and fantastic, but airports are actually super cool when seen through her eyes.  Which is good, because otherwise they kind of just stink!  Gwen has only flown once before, from here to Seattle, during which she did fine.  She did not so fine this trip, as it resulted in a burst ear drum.  She screamed and cried for a good part of the flight there, tugging at her ear.  Kevin says, "I think her ear is bothering her."  I say, "No, she just does that when she is tired".  After landing, there was a pool of blood in her ear and she was happily sleeping.  Guess that point goes to Kevin.  On the bright side, bursting an ear drum apparently isn't that big of a deal.  She didn't sleep well the first few nights we were there, so I guess it might have been bugging her, or perhaps she didn't sleep well for any number of reasons and it had nothing to do with her ear.  Either way, by the day of the wedding, she was back to being her super pleasant self, and I was so happy my parents got to see the sweet happy baby we love!
As for the visit itself, Mom may have gone a bit overboard last Christmas with toys, and since we didn't want to rent a U-Haul to get home, we left some there.  It was really great to have new puzzles and games to play with when we got there.  So much so, in fact, that we didn't even leave the house for the first two days.  Then we had wedding things happening, and suddenly it was our last day.  At that point, I realized that my camera had been safely tucked away in my bag for the whole trip, and I made plans to get the pictures I needed for posterity.  And here they are, a mere 30 shots of hundreds:

Stephanie is holding Buzzy Bee 2 which mom made her in order to relieve us from traveling with Stephanie's Buzzy Bee.  I wasn't sure if it was really going to work and was worried about frantic sleepless nights without Buzzy Bee, but Stephanie actually completely adopted him as if he were the real thing.  Mom definitely gets points for this idea!

I made them haul the pumpkins to the site that I had envisioned for our family picture.

And then he let Stephanie actually drive the Gator.  Didy had to save us from a few close calls with trees.

Gwen's first Gator ride!

Not our best shot, but it was quite funny that when I took Stephanie to the area I had selected for pictures, her immediate instinct was to climb the tree.  

I think the cousins pictures was actually among the very best.  I love that Jared held the baby!

As if driving the Gator wasn't enough, let's let her drive the (sorry if I get this wrong, Jared) front end articulated loader.  

Jared did request, and rightly so, that Kermit drive while he cleaned the truck with the power washer.

Oh, and the fun to be had with Didy's hat.

Halloween 2014

Cold night here in Kansas, but Stephanie had a great Halloween night!  I realized as we walked down the driveway that we didn't bring a jacket for her, but no matter... hard to get cold when you run at top speeds from house to house!  In case you haven't seen Despicable Me and don't quite recognize the costumes, Stephanie is a minion, Gwen is a purple minion, and Kevin is Gru.  I was supposed to be a bad minion like Gwen, but I never got that far in on the costume designs!  Besides, I learned a long time ago that no one is looking at me when I have a cutie pie like Gwen attached!
As a side note, I would like to claim "minion" as my own idea, as I did have a plan in mind to pull it off and Kevin was totally on board, but mostly we needed workable ideas as Stephanie's suggestions for costumes included soap, the number five and a cookie.  I am interested to see what happens Halloween 2015.

Sunflower State

Speaking of all good things farm and Kansas, I just realized that I never posted pics from the sunflower field just north of Lawrence.  This is a super popular place to visit for the handful of days the sunflowers are in bloom, and helps us justify our state's nickname.  

Kaw Valley Farm Tour

This was our second year being agritourists around the Kaw Valley, and the farms did not disappoint.  We did three on Saturday (a pumpkin patch, an alpaca/bee farm, and a winery) and three on Sunday (a poultry farm, mini horse farm and an organic produce/eggs/goat farm).  The only repeat on this year's tour for us was the poultry farm.  Who knew that Turkey farmers put on such a nice event?  We did! And we wanted a second round this year.  Everywhere was really kid-friendly and Stephanie got to do all sorts of crafts, pet/brush animals (petting not always popular with her, but she had lots of chances to do it, and did a few times), and a surprising number of things to ride on... including, but not limited to "trains" (this is when farmers hook large barrels to wheels, attach them to a lawn mower and drive kids around... seemed odd to me how many places offered this), hayrides and even a mini-horse drawn buggy ride. Sadly, this year's pictures are lacking in actual farm animals, but we saw plenty, I promise!
 

Train 1

Gwen may have been a bit surprised to have corn flung on her.

Train 2... And sadly no picture of train 3... but you get the idea.

If you are wondering where Gwen's clothes are... She started the cold morning in fleece Santa jams chosen by sister, but it got too hot.  Luckily, I had thought ahead and packed several outfits to from which to choose.  Too bad I didn't actually put the bag with said outfits in the car.