Lake Trelipe

We spent this past weekend at our friend/neighbor Erika's parents' cabin up North on Lake Trelipe with her husband Eric and baby Alex (born a day after Isla). Wow, did we have fun! Unfortunately I accidentally deleted ALL of the great photos and video clips that I had taken from Friday through Saturday afternoon. I lost it all - the waterskiing, the fishing, the boat rides. I am still angry at myself. However, we were able to get a few shots of the rest of the weekend, and it definitely didn't stop us from having a good time.

The trip began with a 4 hour car ride, the Mazda packed to the GILLS! Does anyone (Jamie Shea, I know you do) know how much "stuff" a family of 4, that includes a toddler and an infant, needs to pack for a weekend at a cabin in the woods? Unreal - the Pak n Plays, the diapers, the wipes, the clothes, the toddler cups/utensils, the snacks, the toys, the towels, the baby toiletries, the toddler lifevest, the sunscreen, the bug repellant, the blankies, the binkies...I could go on and on, but I'll stop here, you get the picture. Thank God we also packed the little portable DVD player. We took off at noon, so after a good 90 minute nap Addison woke up and proceeded to switch between watching Elmo's Potty Time and Finding Nemo the rest of the drive. Isla slept the whole way until we stopped at a funky little shop called "Sweets and Such" to get a taste of some of the best ice cream I've ever had! Addison had chocolate peanut butter from head to toe, but it was worth it. Wish I could show you the pictures, but they're gone. :( After feeding Isla, we took off again and made it to the cabin in time to unpack, do some waterskiing and throw some burgers on the grill.

The next morning Addison woke up at the crack of dawn, so we headed down to the dock to throw rocks for what felt like hours while Eric and Erika slept in (and by sleeping in I mean until like 8:30 or something), taking advantage of Alex's first sleep-through-the-night. We hung out on the dock and on the boat that day, and Addison surprised us all by having absolutely NO fear of large, scaly, live, wriggling "fishies". She loved to hold them in her hands, clamp them to her chest and give them a big hug. Unbelievable! Eric, a very experienced fisherman, said he's never seen a 2 year old so unafraid of live fish. Isla was a super-sweetie, so calm and happy the whole time. She enjoyed a dip or two in the water as well. We all got up on the waterskis (adults, that is) as Addison cheered us on, yelling words of encouragement from the dock.

We had some great food and tons of laughs, and Eric and Erika were the consummate hosts. We headed home on Sunday, which was another easy car ride with lots of sleeping from the kids, and strategized the whole way about 5 year plans and how the hell could we figure out how to get ourselves a cabin on a lake! For now though, maybe we will see about renting something on a lake for a week each summer. Between that and our annual trips with my family to Faria Beach in Ventura and to Palm Springs that we hope to continue as tradition, there should be lots of good family vacation memories for all.

Isla's first boat ride

Alex and Isla - best buds already

Fishing with Isla

Addison and her "fishie"!

Erika and Alex
Good Daddies

Huge dork

The dock and steps up to the cabin

Isla's first dip in the lake

Skinny dipping together already? Scandalous!

My little fisherwoman - Eric gave her a Dora the Explorer plastic fishing pole

Throwing rocks

Notice the rock in hand
DJ gathering rocks to throw
and Addison thanking him for it

This was Addison before Eric and DJ took her out on the boat Saturday evening to go fishing. Eric had given her a fake fishing lure, which she called a dolphin - she's looking for her dolphin in this clip

Smiley Isla

On the ride home Addison fell asleep with her "snake" in hand - a fake worm used as fish bate that Eric gave her

Five Word Sentence

In all of my child-related reference books it says that a 2 year old "may be able to speak in 2-3 word sentences." Well, Addison does that and more! I caught a little clip of her spouting out a 5 word sentence. I'll set up the situation for you:

I was sitting in the glider in the nursery feeding Isla when Addison grabbed the phone and joined us. She began pushing buttons and pretending to talk, like she always does. She pressed the "talk" button, then "speaker" and it was off the hook long enough to start beep, beep, beeping pretty loudly. She looked at me with her big eyes and an open mouth and started laughing. I hit the off button and put the phone down on the footstool. What came next is below...

What she's saying is "This button scared me now", referring to the yellow "speaker" button. Ha! I was cracking up, so of course she kept repeating herself. It's just another part of her new dramatics of exploring the emotion of fear. She's really into acting scared of random, non-scary things. But 5 words is the most we've heard from her so far. Pretty cool!

Isla's 2 Month Stats

The big 2 month check-up, shots and all, is over and done with. Isla weighed in at a hefty 11 pounds 8 ounces! This puts her in the 50-75th percentile, with a head circumference to match. Sounds great, right? Well it is, but here is where it gets funny. The little munchkin is only 21 inches long...25th percentile. She's a short little chubster! These measurements are very similar to Addison's height and weight when she was 2 months old. Our pediatrician was chuckling, commenting on how strong the short genes are in my family. I said "Dr. Luckow, I have told you a number of times now...any female born out of this body will have these proportions." She's even more curious than I am to know if the same would hold true for a boy. Stop pressuring me doc!

Isla did OK with her shots, but me, not so much. I cried like a baby to see her scream in pain for the first time. So sad. She was a little fussy that evening, but back to her good-natured self the next day. We also marked her 2 month month birthday by moving her into her crib in the nursery and out of our room. No issues there at all, thank goodness. The little cutie is a funny baby who mostly sleeps on her side. We put her down on her back and she immediately cranks her body to the right. Whatever works!

All smiles before her shots

Sisterly love

Callie love

In this picture she's laying on her back with arms over her head...

and in this one she's on her side

Isla's fun and funky wall initials, courtesy of super-crafty and creative Grandma Pam

We live in the most wonderfully close-knit cliche of a neighborhood. Tonight was National Night Out which is Minnesota's version of block parties. Each neighborhood has it's own little gathering, streets blocked off and all, typically held at one family's house/yard/deck in potluck style. We had a great time - we love our neighbors and they love taking care of our kids. I didn't hold Isla once, nor did I worry about feeding Addison dinner. The kids follow her around like she's the Pied Piper, and thankfully tonight they were intent on feeding her and getting her to drink water. The picture below was taken as we were trying to get out of there and the kids were asking Addison to repeat their names. She kept calling Cole "Poop", which was the most hilarious thing any of them had heard, so she kept repeating it over and over. Aye yi yi!

Summer Fun

This summer has been such a blast for us. I thought with a new baby I'd be bound to the house, but we're out and about more than ever, especially if the weather is cooperating. I think we're just much more relaxed with Isla, which turns out to be a benefit to Addison, as we don't let the fact that we have an infant stop us from doing too much....within reason of course. :)

We've been spending a ton of time in the water and can literally watch Addison grow more and more comfortable in it. Just in time for our trip to the beach house in September! We frequent Cedar Lake Beach and an aquatic center (read water park!), both about 5 minutes from our house. I've been able to hang out with Addison and her babysitter during the week at these locales also. We hit Como Zoo last week as well, where Addison rode the train and even the teacups in the little kiddie-ride land. Fun times!

DJ with Addison AND Isla - see that huge waterslide in the background? Addison went down that twice! In DJ's lap

Another fun pastime lately has been playing dress-up. Addison's got a whole toy chest full of fun dress-up clothes, thanks to Grandma Pam and her Grandpas. She prefers that we join in the fun and even tries to get Isla into the mix. Addison's becoming a VERY doting big sister, wanting to "cuddle" with Isla any chance she gets. We have to keep a close watch on her since her cuddling is more like smothering. Isla doesn't seem to mind....yet.

The binky twins. Even though Addison only gets it at nap and bedtime, the plan is that her beloved binky will be making it's exit within the next few months.

Addison's room

The cutest initials that Grandma Pam made for Addison! The pictures don't do them justice, they're adorable. Isla's initials are on the way.

Isla's 9 weeks old on Tuesday and growing by the minute! She's becoming a little butterball and I can't wait to see how much she weighs at her 2 month appointment next week. The cooing and smiling continue to increase, and she's about to laugh any day now.

This week at the Barat's...

Addison has been really into dressing up lately, especially since she received so many cool dress-up items for her birthday. She loves mixing it up like in the picture below. Who says you can't wear a lei and a tiara? This morning she walked out of her room in a lei, sunglasses and high-heeled cinderella heels pushing her little baby in the baby stroller. Sweet!

A couple of my co-workers came over for dinner last night and brought both the girls gifts. Addison got a really cool cape with her name and a princess crown with rhinestones on it. She was so excited she started running around (and showing off) singing twinkle twinkle little star. She wouldn't even hold still for a picture, but here's a video clip. She refuses to wear the cape as a cape, but insists on wearing it forward, like a huge bib.

Isla's been full of smiles lately, and sleeping like a champ! Last night she went from 10pm to 5:45am. DJ and I woke up feeling like new people, what a treat! She's 7 weeks today and the time keeps flying by. She's starting to coo, make cute noises and track us as we move around the room. She loves to be held and cuddled, and Addison is a doting big sister. She never fails to yell out "Isla crying!" when the baby is upset. She always wants to place blankets on her to make her feel better, but we are working on teaching her that the blanket goes over the body only, not the head!

New shelf in Isla's room

Smiles!

The lillies are in bloom

Two renditions of the ABCs

Isla at 6 Weeks

Wow, 6 weeks old already! I had to throw a shout out to the newest Barat up here today with a few pictures that reminded me of Addison at exactly this age. One of the nice things about having babies so close together is the ability to re-use our toys, clothes and baby accoutrements, one of which is the Baby Einstein playmat. Addison loved it, so does Isla. It's the spot she has tummy time each day and where she enjoys staring and cooing at the blinking, singing star...just like Addison! Take a trip down memory lane by clicking on the link. They definitely look similar at this stage, although DJ thinks Isla looks like Turtle from Entourage in these pictures - real nice! For those unfamiliar with Turtle, this is not a compliment. See below. http://addisonandisla.blogspot.com/2008/08/more-smiles.html.

Yikes!

Addison is a trip. She's currently obsessed with an Elmo Plays Music DVD, compliments of the Grandpas. She insists on watching this every night after her bath and before she hits the sack, then proceeds to babble on about the violin and bow. Mostly about the bow. We ask her if she wants to play the violin and she says yes. How cute would that be? How old does a kid need to be for violin lessons? I'm going to check that out.