New Tricks and Sad Goodbyes

It has been a busy, but lazy couple of weeks since our last post. I personally have been struggling with a long to do list, fatigue and sickness. When we returned from vacation we started Phoenix on solids and Axel was out of food. Lets just say that equated to hours and hours of cooking and baking to get both of the kids food made. Since then Phoenix has done well with the sweet potatoes, butternut squash, carrots, broccoli and most recently chicken! Next in line is asparagus and beets, which are already made. The first fruit will be cooked peaches, then pears, which I will make later this week. Axel finally has a bunch of food made for him, except tortillas, because he eats them up too quickly and they are labor intensive. So besides all of the food cooking, we have all recently come down with a mild summer cold and I am getting over a bout of gastritis from drinking too much wine :)

 A couple of weekends ago the weather was beautiful so we decided to do a family run to Baskin Robins. Phoenix enjoyed chewing on the spoon while Axel enjoyed his chocolate ice cream.

 The first of August we went to visit Auntie who is on maternity leave and patiently awaiting the arrival of baby Braylin.

 We enjoyed a trip to Fairy land and then went back to Auntie's house for lunch.

 Phoenix broke in a few of Braylin's toys and Axel had fun helping Phoenix figure out how to play with them.

 Phoenix has really developed physically over the past month. I mentioned she is rolling over both directions last time and pushing herself up, but now she is showing signs of getting ready to crawl. We are all excited to see Phoenix crawl and chase after her brother!

 She is still working on sitting and can sit for up to 10 minutes unsupported if  she is not distracted. She can still fall backwards so I like to make sure I place a pillow behind her or spot her.

We do a lot of laundry, as you may expect. Axel has always loved the laundry basket. To keep Phoenix from rolling everywhere I placed her in it, which renewed Axel's interest. We are now doing a lot of laundry basket rides around the house!

 This past week has been about the neighborhood kids playing together as much as possible. Every night they played for an hour just like most of last year. It has been sad that the boys really haven't played on a regular basis since the holidays last year and then the arrival of Phoenix and Nishka (Rishaan's sister) in January.

 Hema, Elisa and I tried to get as much chat time in together as well. (This is what led to the too much wine incident, but that is another story for another day :) )

 Here is a typical view of the kids playing and the parents talking!

 Rishaan and his family left for vacation on Wednesday so this is the last moment of all three kids together on Tuesday night.

 Axel was able to play with Max on Wednesday and Thursday night before Max and his family moved to Singapore. Here is a picture of Max, Sophia and Axel the night Max took off for the airport. We were able to help out with last minute packing.

 I feel so sad for Axel because I remember the feeling of having to move and leave friends. I never expected he would have the opposite problem and have to deal with the sadness of seeing all of his close friends move away from him. He is young enough and resilient enough that I am not sure if it has even phased him yet. He did great with Mason, his closest friend at daycare, moving in early July. I think when Rishaan's family moves in the next year or so and he doesn't have any neighborhood kids to play with, he will have a harder time with it. It is hard to predict the future though. I am glad he has had a year or two of good childhood memories playing with Max, Sophia and Rishaan.

 This past Friday we went to the Palo Alto Museum and Zoo again. He absolutely loves it there.

 It is cool to see him trying to figure out how everything works. He explained in detail where the tennis balls goes in this "self- power" exhibit.

 Axel has really become quite coordinated himself over the past couple of months. He is running and climbing as well as other kids his age now.

 He is also becoming more brave and doing things himself. It has been really fun to see this transformation.

 After talking with a friend about finger food and Phoenix's allergies, she sparked an idea to feed Phoenix chicken as a finger food. Phoenix and I were both happy because I know that she wants to experiment with feeding herself just as much as I want her to be able to feed herself.  I plan on doing this with a few more atypical foods for an infant since Phoenix will likely be "grain" free for up to 2 years.  Meats are low on the allergy list in case you were wondering why I chose chicken. I never use to think of meat as baby food, but now I don't think it is so weird after all :)

 Today we went to a birthday party and we have another next week. I hope to post a few pictures from these events next week. Until then, we will continue to try to cherish each moment, friend and loved one as much as we can!

Big Boy Axel!

From afraid to get into the big pool 2 years ago, to Mr. Fish! So much fun to see Axel grow and develop. 

Enjoy!

Phoenix is 6 months old!!!!

The week leading up to Phoenix's 6 month milestone on July 21st was action packed with new tricks and events. The most exciting event for Axel was sister starting solids on Thursday July 19th. Phoenix has shown interest in food for well over a month. Phoenix did great for her first meal of sweet potatoes/ yams. She was a little weirded out by the texture of having something besides milk or toys in her mouth but it didn't take her long to get the hang of eating. By Friday, she was consuming the entire ice cube of yams. Last night, Thursday the 25th she at 2 cubes for the first time. One cube of butternut squash and one cube of yams.

She fights me for the spoon so I often give in and give her a spoon and then get another spoon to continue to feed her with. I am really excited to add more foods and am hopeful that she will tolerate the low allergy foods well.

 As I mentioned in the last post she started showing the ability to sit without support. By Sunday the 21st, Phoenix starting sitting for 20-30 seconds without any support. She is currently sitting for up to a minute now! It is amazing to me how milestones seem to happen almost over night. I forgot to mentioned over the wedding weekend, we put together the world puzzle Keith received for his birthday during our down time. Annika and Marlena finished it on Saturday night while we were at the reception. It was a goal of ours to do the puzzle in 1 day and with team work we did it!

 Phoenix's hair is finally starting to come in again and grow longer.

 The bald spot on the back of her head is almost gone. I can't wait to see how she looks with long hair :) She looks like such a big girl in this picture sitting all by herself in her play gym.

Besides sitting she is also working on turning onto her stomach from her back towards the left. She has been turning on her stomach over her right side for weeks now, but just started practicing towards the left. She is extremely close, but hasn't fully turned on her stomach towards the left.

She has also come a long way in reaching, grabbing and pulling. She is able to easily grab her animals in her play gym and successfully pull them into her mouth. I can't believe how strong she is.

The last big new skill is she is starting to bring one knee/leg up under her while she is on her stomach. This is the first step to scooting and crawling. Although she isn't quite doing either skills she is able to get an object a foot or two away from her by lifting her butt into the air with her legs straight to propel herself forward. It is really cute!

She continues to babble and talk often. Her babble is becoming more word like with dada, aga, hi, yeah, aba, etc. She continues to squeal with delight and laughs often. Both Phoenix and Axel have the most contagious laugh that melts the hearts of all who hear :)

Phoenix is also becoming more coordinated. My friend Gwen loaned us a jumper that she has come to love. She is absolutely adorable jumping and laughing for joy!

Yesterday, July 25th I took Phoenix in for her 6 month check up. She weighed in at 14lbs and 4 oz, which kept her about the same at 14 percentile. The big news is that she measured 27 and a quarter inches which puts her at the 90th percentile! I knew she was in a growth spurt by her increased appetite the past week or so, but I had no idea she grew 2.5 inches in 2 months! Phoenix normally only consumes 20 oz per day and when she is in a growth spurt consumes 25 oz per day. It amazes me how much she can grow on such little food it seems. 

She is still getting up once a night to eat around midnight. The doctor said as soon as I get her on 2 meals a day and 16 oz of milk during the day I can take out the night time feeding. I can't wait!

We are also in the process of sleep training Axel again. We have been very accommodating because of his skin needs. Although he had started to sleep through the night a couple of times per week, his sleep took a turn for the worst during our vacation. I decided two nights ago that enough is enough. He needs to learn how to sleep and he needs to learn how to not depend on us so much. The first night was easy and he slept through the night. Last night was rough and he was up screaming from 2:30-4:00 off and on. Although he took all of his clothes off and went to the bathroom he managed to have his clothes on in the morning when he woke. That proves my point that he is able to sleep without needing aquaphor in the middle of the night, us to help put his clothes on, re-tuck him in bed and give him hugs and kisses. These have all been crutches. As I told Axel, we love him way to much for us to keep enabling him! Tough Love is awfully hard!

This weekend is a nice mellow weekend that we are looking forward to spending at home!!!

More vacation fun!

On Monday morning we headed over to Matt's house. Matt and Keith have been best buddies since they were 4 years old. They lived across the street from one another from 4 until they went off to college. For someone who moved around alot it is mind boggling to have life long friends. Matt and his wife Sarah have two kids. Teagan is a couple of months younger than Axel and Sawyer is a year older than Phoenix. Teagan and Axel had a great time playing together. Axel was relieved to leave the hotel and play in a house filled with toys all day long!

After arriving I put Phoenix down for a nap. When Phoenix woke from her second nap at Matt's I noticed that she was starting to sit by herself for a few seconds at a time. This was a whole new thing for her and something I was looking forward to her achieving.

Teagan and Axel played outside in the water and played family and were non stop for over 6 hours. Unfortunately the only picture I was able to capture was a posed picture right before we left on Tuesday morning. I wouldn't be so bummed about it if the picture actually turned out.

Keith really enjoyed hanging out with Matt and was grateful that he took the day off work to spend time with him. Here is a picture of Keith and Matt with their children before we left Tuesday morning.......34 years of friendship! Absolutely amazing to me :)

We headed back to Aunt Josie's house on Tuesday and Hannah and Axel were able to play a bit more. We also went to their local pool for some more pool fun on Tuesday evening. With the extremely hot and humid weather, Axel's skin and allergies being off the hook and the sleep deprivation by all four of us we decided to head out on the 7:30am flight Wednesday morning instead of the 7:30pm flight.

 Our travels returning were AWESOME! The kids did so much better with the morning flight than the delayed later flight on our way out East. Axel got invited up in the cock pit and not only met the pilot but she let him sit down in her seat and get his picture taken. We were all very excited at the opportunity.

We arrived back home by 1 pm in the afternoon on Wednesday, which allowed us to decompress, do laundry and unpack all of our luggage. This was very helpful because on Thursday I was able to take my time packing for our weekend away in Cloverdale. The kids did awesome with the time change by going to bed early and sleeping extra long that night. Friday morning I packed the car and then we headed to Cloverdale for Mark and Brenna's wedding. Mark and Keith are old time college buddies. We brought Annika and Marlena, our sitter and her sister, along to watch the kids while we attended the evening events on Friday and Saturday. It was amazing having them around. They were extremely helpful and I was really able to enjoy myself and not worry about the kids. We stayed in a "luxury Kabin" at the KOA that was a half a mile from the little Inn where all of the wedding events were. It was quite an interesting experience for us all, but we had fun. To make a long story short the cabin was really small and wasn't worth the $265/night, but we were really glad to be able to attend the wedding and have enough beds to sleep the 6 of us.

On Saturday morning/afternoon there was a pool party/BBQ where lots of fun was had by all of the families attending the wedding. As you can see both Phoenix and Axel LOVE the water.

After hours of fun in the sun, Axel managed to take a two hour nap before the wedding and Phoenix decided to talk to herself instead of napping. After the two hours of rest time the main event was starting. Axel picked out his outfit which turned a lot of heads. He looked so handsome and stylish that daddy was embarrassed by his casual outfit, despite the wedding being a casual event.

Here is the family before we sat down. We were trying to stay as cool as possible in the shade since the wedding was outside under the beaming hot sun.

After the ceremony Phoenix cracked because of lack of sleep so the girls took her back to the cabin and put her to bed. Axel stayed with us and made a new friend, Jason, who he played games with during dinner. After dinner he ran around with over a dozen kids who were there playing "doggy where is my bone". He had a ton of fun and was disappointed to go home, but it was 9:30pm. We dropped him off at the cabin and then headed back for some dancing fun. 

                                   

We headed home Sunday morning and boy, were we glad to be home. After unpacking the car the kids took a three hour nap! They slept from 2-5pm!!! Keith and I slept an hour and a half. Although we had a great time at the wedding and on the East coast we were both glad be home. It is official, travelling with kids is EXHAUSTING!!! :) 

Massachusetts continued.......

Saturday we woke with the excitement for the days events. I however, was worried about Phoenix who hadn't slept without being rocked to sleep since we left our house over three days before. Grammy Carol appeared to be a bit stressed that Phoenix didn't want to go to sleep when Keith and I were out the night before. I felt like it was my duty as a mom to help Phoenix get back on track. Therefore, I let Phoenix 'cry it out' for her morning nap on Saturday. My patience paid off and Phoenix took a 2 hour nap and then a 45 minute nap later in the day and was able to put herself to sleep within 5 minutes for her second nap and for bed that night. 

After Phoenix's stellar nap we headed to the 'Rec' for the day event of Keith's high school reunion. Families were suppose to get together for a picnic and games, but again many people who planned to attend didn't make it because of the morning rain. Four families showed up, which happened to include two of Keith's closest friends. We had fun playing "Pig"for a couple of hours and then headed back to the hotel to rest and shower before the night's event.

After putting Phoenix down for the night and getting Axel ready for bed Keith and I took off and headed to the reunion. Keith and I had a great time. There was about 70 people, 40 classmates that attended, which was a good turn out for there class of 140.

Here is Keith and his best friend since 4 years old, Matt.

Two other very close friends of Keith, Chris and Jamie are pictured below with their wives. Jessica, Colleen and I had a blast talking and dancing while our spouses reminisced about the past.

Here is a group shot at the end of the night with the classmates that were still there.

Sunday morning we dipped in the pool while waiting to go on Jamie's parent's boat. Phoenix was a natural in the water. She kicked away on her stomach and back while I held her with one hand. 

She inspired Axel to lay his head back in the water and try swimming without his turtle. By the end of the day he was jumping off the side by himself with his floating turtle, put his head back to float on his back and try swimming. He improved so much over the three days that we were at the hotel.

Sunday afternoon we went on Jamie's boat. Axel was extremely brave and jumped right into the lake with daddy. Keith and I were really impressed with how much he has overcome his fears.

 Sunday night we went out to dinner with Grammy and Grampy again and then Axel wanted to show off his new found skills in the pool. They were both equally impressed.

 Today we are hanging out at Matt's house. Axel is having a blast playing with his 4 year old daughter Teagan. Axel said that he doesn't like to be on vacation with just his family. Three nights in the hotel was just a bit too much for him, considering the most he has ever stayed in a hotel has been one night.
Hopefully, I will capture some pictures of them playing. We are headed back to Brookline tomorrow and then back home on Wednesday night. Hopefully, the airlines have caught up and we won't be delayed, otherwise we won't arrive home until early Thursday morning.

Check back soon for more vacation adventures as we head off to a fun wedding weekend in Cloverdale next weekend!

Massachusetts here we come!

Wednesday, July 10th arrived and the Szolushas set off for the first adventure as a family of four. Before we left we made sure to check on our flight schedule because of the unfortunate crash at SFO the previous week. The computer said our flight was on time, but when we arrived at the airport we were given the unfortunate news that our flight was running two hours behind. Keith and I were up late packing and making sure Louis was taken care of for the 8 days that we would be away. The Zimmermans would be watching over Louis and giving him some love when ever possible. I was up early to attend to Phoenix so I felt a little sluggish after my 4.5 hours of sleep. My sluggishness turned into nausea and abdominal discomfort by 7am. By the time we checked our luggage I was feeling more than awful. The two hour delay didn't help and became almost three hours by the time we took off the runway. Keith started feeling the same flu like symptoms as soon as we boarded the plane. 

The 6 hour flight seemed longer than usual because of us both feeling less than perfect. We both couldn't get down any food and Axel didn't want to eat either. Phoenix was struggling to sleep and when she did the naps were not more than 30 minutes, which just wasn't enough to provide her the rest she needed. Axel did great initially on the little sleep and no food until the last 2 hours of the flight where he started cracking. Luckily, we landed safely at 10pm with no complaints from our fellow passengers. By the time we picked up our luggage and rental car and sat in Boston construction traffic we arrived at Aunt Josie's just before midnight. That made for 13 hours of travelling and the longest active sick day that both Keith and I can remember.

At 5am Axel and Phoenix woke. My 4 hour stretch of sleep was just enough to get me through Phoenix's feeding. Luckily, Axel was able to fall back to sleep after crawling in bed with us. The four of us were all in the same room. Phoenix was in the pack n play, Axel was on the floor next to Phoenix and Keith and I were in the bed. The bedroom has a window AC unit that provided us with relief from the 80-90+ degree weather with 80+% humidity.   

 We managed to take two naps on Thursday when Phoenix napped. Every time we slept we felt better and better. By the time we woke from our second nap, both Keith and I felt over 80% better. Because of this we were able to venture off to the park and get some fun play time in with the kids. Here is Phoenix in a swing at the park for the first time. She absolutely loved it.

 For dinner we all ate quesadillas. Here is a picture of Alex, Hannah and Axel enjoying their dinner.

After dinner we celebrated Keith's birthday with some yummy birthday cake. 

Axel had a cookie that I made for him and brought from home. He is such a good sport about what foods he can and cannot eat. I am very impressed with his maturity at accepting his severe food allergies.

 Hannah and him were instant best friends again. They played all day together.

 They had a great time making each other laugh!

 After dinner everyone went out back to play street hockey and then it was off to bed.

 The next morning was much cooler. We took off to spend the morning in Boston. Alex and Hannah wanted to go to the fountains. There are a series of parks over the "big dig" that have recently opened. They were beautiful.

 Here are some of the fountains that the kids ran through.

 Here is one of the newest parks that we enjoyed.

 I thought the labyrinth was a very cool idea. The kids had a blast running along it.

We then walked by the Boston aquarium and checked out the sea otters that are in an exhibit outside the main building. Keith was able to capture one looking at the kids/ camera.

 On the way back to the 'T" we stopped by Faneuil Hall. I love touristy things so this was a special treat for me :)

 Once we got back to Brookline and ate lunch we were off to Sturbrdige. We arrived at our hotel, settled in and then went out to dinner with Carol and Kevin, Keith's mom and stepdad.

 After dinner they kindly watch the kids at the hotel while Keith and I went out for a bit.

 We were suppose to meet up with some of his high school friends, but everyone cancelled last minute. Instead we went to the new ice cream place in town. In the corner they had a bigger than life size picture of Justin Beiber. Afterwards we went down stairs to a bar and grill for a beer.

 Back at the hotel the kids were fast asleep. Axel slept above us on the ledge to the Murphy bed. We had to switch rooms from a two bed to a one bed with a refrigerator in order to preserve all of the food that I made and brought from home for Axel. Axel slept through the night until 4am and Phoenix slept well after being rocked to sleep by Grampy Kevin. She only woke once to eat which was great and both kids slept until 6am. This night of sleep became crucial for us as the next two night were really hard on us.

To be continued....