our new home

We are moving at the end of the month. We will leave our 2 story home built in the 90s with no sidewalk on a busy street and move to a single story home built in 1955. The new neighborhood has lovely sidewalks and is walking distance to the trails along the bayou, a library, YMCA, Whole Foods, coffee shop, the kids' future elementary and middle school and one of our favorite parks in the area (less than a block away). It is an old home but has been completely remodeled with an open floorplan. Despite the updates, we are planning some major remodeling. We plan to expand some of the back of the house to create an adequate breakfast area, larger pantry storage, mudroom/laundry room, and more living space.

Home address hidden in pics below. There is a detached 2 car garage, driveway gate and pecan tree in the backyard.















Master bedroom and bathroom.





IJ's room.



ZJ's room.



Kids' bathroom.

Purim 2012

Tuesday afternoon I received an email from IJ's school that they would be celebrating Purim today and that the kids would be dressing up in costumes and having a parade. Last year I took him to school on a Friday to participate in the festivities but he was too young to realize he was one of the few without a costume. This year I did not want him to feel left out. So, Wednesday we went on a mission for a costume (he did not dress up for Halloween). I decided I would look for pajamas and hoped to find a fireman set and would then get a hat from a local restaurant. We went to the 3 kids clothing stores in the village with no luck so then drove over to Old Navy. There seemed to be nothing there either but someone helped me find a paratrooper pajama set in 4T. It's not really my thing and IJ certainly didn't know what it was but it would work, especially when it cost $3.47! When I got home I realized it would go perfectly with his camo boots. He had fun and brought home some hamentashen too.






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ZJ's 5 month and IJ's 32 month photo dump

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IJ visiting his future elementary school. Any guesses as to who it is named for?

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IJ checking out the brochure for our new house (if all goes as planned).

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ZJ is 5 months old!

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ZJ is a very happy and easy baby. She is content to lay on her tummy or back and watch what is going on. She still is not rolling (not sure what went on last month because I haven't even see her try this month). So she lays on the counter while I make dinner or the table while we eat and it makes things much easier. She still hates her bouncy seat though. She still only laughs when being tickled and even then it is a strange not quite laugh yet. She is content to hang out and suck her thumb...the left of course...just like her brother (and father did!!!). She is doing much better with car rides, probably largely due to the thumb sucking also. She likes to randomly spit loudly and constantly drools.

Her eyes are still a bluish grey but I think the middles might be turning more hazel. She has a natural mohawk. Her hair is very short and flat on the sides but longer and standing straight up in the middle. Her hairdo works together with her wardrobe of her brother's baby clothes to have everyone always asking me about "him" rather than "her" when we are out.

She takes 2-3 naps a day. Her schedule varies a bit because I can't always cater to her sleep times as I did with her brother. She generally takes an early morning nap and a longer one around noon and sometimes an afternoon nap if her earlier ones were cut short. On the days I take IJ to school she might fall asleep in the car and only sleep for 10 minutes instead of the hour+ she would have done at home and then shift her other naps around. She goes to sleep for the night at 7-8 pm and sleeps 11-12 hours usually. I usually wake her to eat around 10 pm and then she wakes me to eat anywhere between 2 and 4 am and then again around 6 am or so.

ZJ has been sick twice this month. She got a cold the day she turned 4 months old and now is sick since a few days before turning 5 months old. Both were colds from her brother.

ZJ's 4 month and IJ's 31 month photo dump

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ZJ is 4 months old!

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ZJ loves to have a conversation and make eye contact, watch her brother play, take a bath, wiggle on the counter naked and be worn. She is finally staying awake in the carrier and looking around for a while if not ready for a nap. She can hold her head up quite high when on her stomach and is starting to get her chest up. She is also attempting to lift her legs and arms while on her tummy. She no longer crosses her eyes. She drools quite a bit. She makes a few sounds when talking and will do a strange giggle if I tickle her just right upon occasion. She still hates car rides and screams till she is red, sweaty and exhausted. She eats/sucks her hands a lot and has just started finding her thumb to suck sometimes. She has rolled over from front to back twice, by accident, on the kitchen counter. I watched her trying again once but she got stuck on her arm.

ZJ began going to sleep around 10 pm earlier this month and just in the last week started falling asleep for the night between 7:00 and 8:00 pm!!! Along with the earlier bedtime she began condensing her naps to typically 3 a day. One in the morning, a long one around noon and one late afternoon/early evening.

She had one mild cold this month just after turning 3 months old and it was again, gifted from her brother. Her "official" weight at her Dr's office was 11 pounds. This is hard to believe and a very small weight gain since her last weigh of about 10 pounds at 2 months. Our scale shows closer to 12-13 pounds now.

Let's bake!

Mix


Roll


Cut


Decorate & Bake




Show off


Enjoy



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