Fun in Indiana

One of my favorite activities in Indiana was the Apple Works apple orchard and petting zoo in Trafalgar. Mom, Rachel, and I took the four kids there and we all -- young and old alike -- had a blast. They have a small petting zoo (turkeys, sheep, goats, horse, chickens), a huge slide that comes out of the top of a barn, a plywood tractor to ride, a straw pyramid to climb, and of course a working apple orchard. We skipped the apple-picking, but had a great time with the other attractions.

Nonna and Adelaida look at the turkeys at the petting zoo


Adelaida pets a goat


Nonna helps Adelaida feed a goat


Rachel feeds two goats


Adelaida takes a break in Simon's stroller


King of the Straw Mountain!


Adelaida is on top of the world!


Simon drives the tractor


Simon is 2 feet, 2 inches tall


Adelaida is 2 feet, 8 inches tall


Adelaida and Nonna at the Apple Works store


The best part of Apple Works was the crisp, sweet apples they had. We bought two (gigantic) bags full and snacked on them the rest of our trip. Yum!

Three months and look how they've grown!

Three months ago today, I held my baby girls for the first time. I remember thinking how tiny they were and looking from face to face to see if I could tell them apart. Estella had a stork bite on her eyelid and a "receding" hairline and long face; Cordelia's hairline was straight across her forehead and she had a very round face. I looked for these characteristics every time someone handed me a baby for the first two weeks.

Soon, Cordelia and Estella developed very distinct looks and very distinct personalities. Estella had a warbling cry and had more trouble nursing. Cordelia was always ready to sleep and would squeeze my finger while she nursed, just like a little kitten.

Today, I can tell them apart at a glance and can even distinguish their cries apart (at least most of the time). I am reminded every day that Estella and Cordelia are two very different girls who just happened to be born on the same day.

newborn Cordelia
 

one-month-old Cordelia
 

two-month-old Cordelia
 

Three-month-old Cordelia is quick to cry and quick to smile. She is serious about everything she does, whether it is nursing, batting at toys above her, or sleeping.


newborn Estella
 

one-month-old Estella
 

two-month-old Estella
 

Three-month-old Estella has great big bright blue eyes that never seem to close. She watches everything around her and is easily distracted, as if she doesn't want to miss anything.


Both girls are getting bigger -- over 11.5 lb now -- and are becoming much more interactive. Although I'll miss the brand-new-newborn stage where they just curl up on my chest and are so precious, I know that the next stage will be a lot of fun and look forward to the babies sitting up, rolling over, cooing and gooing more, and starting to communicate in ways other than crying. I'm sure they will grow up even more in the next month!

The Indianapolis Zoo

The last full day of our vacation in Indiana, Rachel, Dale, and I decided to take the kids to the zoo. We had actually planned to take them on several other occasions during the trip, but something always seemed to delay the outing.

We delayed so long that the only day left for us to go was a bleak, chilly, rainy, dreary day ... but we didn't let that stop us! We arrived 45 minutes after the zoo opened and had "pole position" parking. (Thanks to Uncle Rob and Aunt Laura for letting us borrow their car ... we wouldn't have been able to transport all the kids without it!)


Because it was such a dreary day, the zoo was almost deserted and we were able to get so close to the animals. Also, Adelaida was able to walk at her own pace, often quite far behind us or ahead of us, and we could keep her in sight easily so she didn't have to stay right next to us the entire time.

We saw some fun animals, including white-handed gibbons, brown bears, rhinoceroses, and bongos (reddish-orange antelopes with vertical white stripes), as well as several other animals.





Dale and Adelaida fed the giraffes together, as did Rachel and Simon.



We had a great time and had just gotten to the elephant exhibit (with a very young baby African elephant!) when the skies opened up and it started pouring on us! We quickly ran to a relatively sheltered spot, pulled out our coats and covered the babies as well as we could, and ran the length of the zoo back toward the entrance. Despite the rain at the end, it was a perfect trip to the zoo. I look forward to taking the kids to the Indianapolis zoo again soon!

Spending the day with a good friend

My best friend from high school lives in Illinois -- it is only a 3.5-hour drive from my parents' house in Indiana to Karen's house in Illinois, but unfortunately we have found it more and more difficult to get together now that we both have kids. My trips to Indiana are often packed with visits to various family members, so I'm rarely able to take a day away to spend with Karen.

Roommates together again after a too-long absence!


Since I last saw Karen, she had her second child, a beautiful girl named Liliana, I gave birth to Cordelia and Estella, and our older kids (my daughter Adelaida and Karen's son Hamilton) both grew up from babies into active toddlers. So when Karen suggested that she could drive to Indiana to visit with us while I was staying at my parents' house, I was overjoyed!

Adelaida with Baby Michael


Hamilton poses with the birds by the house


Karen, Hamilton, and Lilianna drove to Greenwood on a Sunday evening, just in time to introduce our kids to one another and then put them to bed. We talked for a while that evening, then got as much rest as we could that night. The next day, Karen's parents drove up from southern Indiana to join us and we had a whole day together, talking and laughing and playing with the kids. Karen's parents brought a big box of sidewalk chalk, so we spent about an hour outside, with a blanket on the grass for the little kids to lay on while the big kids colored on the driveway.

Adelaida, Cordelia, Estella, Lilianna, and Hamilton


Lilianna gets tummy time while Cordelia and Estella sleep


Pat sits with Adelaida on the blanket


When the kids were done with their sidewalk chalk, Dave helped Karen and me take the kids for a walk -- with two strollers containing three infants and two toddlers running around, we didn't go very far, but we found some good puddles to jump in and interesting flowers and trees in the neighborhood.

The day flew by and, before I knew it, Karen was loading her kids up in the car and we were saying good-bye. I miss Karen but will try to see her again before we both add more kids to the family!

three thumb-suckers

Over the past two months, both Estella and Cordelia have become quite proficient at sucking their thumbs. Despite secret fears that they will still be sucking their thumbs when they are teenagers, I'm really quite happy that they are able to soothe themselves with their thumbs. They've never taken pacifiers so we won't be hunting for pacifiers when they are upset, or getting up repeatedly in the middle of the night to replace pacifiers that have fallen out of their mouths.

Cordelia sucks her right thumb, and she sucks vigorously! She usually holds her right hand with her left hand, as if she has to hold her thumb in place to suck it.


Estella sucks her left thumb while using her right hand to twirl or stroke her hair. She sucks rhythmically and calmly and almost always calms down as soon as she gets her thumb in her mouth.


Two years ago, Adelaida was a thumb-sucker as well. She sucked her left thumb and placed her hand such that the fingers of her left hand covered her face while she sucked her thumb. We were lucky with Adelaida -- she started sucking her thumb when she was six weeks old, was very comforted by it, and quit naturally when she was about nine months old. I hope we are as lucky with Cordelia and Estella!

Playing with Daddy

One wet and chilly morning while we were in Indiana, we decided to go to the park. My parents and grandma were eager to love on Cordelia and Estella, so we left the babies with them while Dale and I spent some quality big-girl time with Adelaida at a local park.

I suspect the weather kept some people away, and we were almost the only people at the park. The absence of other little kids made Dale bold and he tried out some of the equipment to encourage Adelaida to use it. Soon, she was doing everything Dale did and having so much fun playing on the playground with her daddy. Fortunately, I had my camera and took a few pictures:

swinging

riding on the bouncy horses

walking the balance beam

Dale demonstrates the monkey bars, then helps Adelaida across the monkey bars

sliding down the tube slide

teetering on the lame teeter-totter

sliding down the double slide together

one of my favorite pictures -- Dale and Adelaida sitting on top of the monkey bars together

Meeting Simon

Just after Labor Day, I flew to Indiana with Adelaida, Cordelia, and Estella for a two-week vacation and my sister's wedding. Dale couldn't take two weeks off work, so stayed in Albuquerque for the first week and then joined us for the second week. I really don't think I could have flown back with the three girls by myself, so I'm so grateful to my dad and Mary Jo for traveling to Indiana with us -- three adults proved much better able to handle a toddler and two infants than one adult would have been!

six-month-old Simon meets two-month-old Estella

One of the first things I did in Indiana was meet my newest nephew, Simon! Simon James was born in March and was considerably older, bigger, and more mature than his baby cousins. He tried to teach them all kinds of cool tricks, like holding his head up and rolling across the floor and talking "GAA YAA YAA BAA" and grasping toys (or really anything else within Simon-reach). In return, Adelaida tried to teach him some cool tricks, like jumping and climbing onto chairs and eating solid food.

Simon is big, strong, and full of energy! He is also a really happy baby, smiling and talking all the time. And he absolutely adores his momma -- and I suspect that the adoration is mutual!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Simon:

Simon and Estella contemplate each other


Wow, I had forgotten how to feed an infant! Simon was a great sport about it and didn't seem to mind all the butternut squash that ended up on his face, bib, clothes, hands, and tray.


Adelaida decided Simon was an OK kid. She lavished him with kisses and tried to talk to him every time he started talking his adorable baby talk!


With a little help from his mom, Simon drives the tractor at Apple Works.


Simon is over two feet tall -- and growing!


Papaw carries Simon and Adelaida.


Simon hanging out with his cousins -- Simon, Estella, Cordelia, Adelaida.


We look forward to seeing you more, Simon!