The Wills: Portman, Caitlin, Harper, Roman, Ada

While packing this morning I came across letters that Harper wrote to her teachers at the end of the year (transcribed by me). They are on scrap paper, so I didn’t want to save them, but couldn’t throw them out until they were preserved somehow! So here they are:

Dear Ms. Julie,
I love hopping and jumping. Jump, jump, jump! I love coloring. I love ABC’s “ABCDEFG!” I love going potty. I love that. I love you! I love number 1 and 2. Three. I love teeny tiny Ada. I love Jingle Bells. I love Mama. I love fire trucks.
Love, Harper

Dear Ms. Elaine,
I love Ms. Elaine. I love brushing my teeth. I love writing letters. I love “Ada Pants.” I love making food in the kitchen. I love peeing at school. I love playing with Ada. I love painting. I love you Ms. Elaine and hop, hop, hop! I love art projects.
Love, Harper

 
Life has been busy lately, and it’s about to get busier. We close on our new house tomorrow and move in just 2 short weeks, so this will likely be my last post for a while. Since I’ve totally neglected my Ada updates, this one is for you baby girl!

Ada is, amazingly, 10 weeks old already. She’s growing like a weed, is finally over that nasty infant acne, and overall is adjusting well to life in a busy family. We had her 2-month checkup a few weeks ago, and she weighed in at 11 pounds even (50th percentile) and was about 22 inches long (also 50th percentile). She is now taking a healthy dose of Pepcid each day to curb her reflux, which was causing severe nasal congestion. We actually had to take her to an ENT because her congestion was so bad. He shoved a small camera up her nose and down her throat and it turns out it’s just reflux, despite our pediatrician’s concern that either Harper or Roman had stuck something up there. A few days of Pepcid cleared it right up and now she is sleeping and eating just fine!

I call Ada my “buddy” because we are rarely, if ever, apart. She is very attached to me and typically won’t let anyone else hold her for long, including Portman! She has been sleeping with us until we move, and I think it’s going to be a challenge getting her to sleep alone. She is an easy, sweet baby and sleeps really well. She falls asleep at night shortly after the other kids’ 7:00 bedtime, wakes up a couple of times to eat, and sleeps in with me until 8 or 9 (yes, I sleep in until 8 or 9 – my husband is amazing). During the day she naps, nurses, and survives constant hugging and kissing attacks from her siblings. Harper absolutely adores her and is constantly asking to hold her. She is very sweet and protective of her. Roman is still a little jealous, mostly when Portman is holding Ada, but he is doing much better. He doesn’t seem to care at all if I am holding or nursing Ada – he only gets upset if Portman picks her up.

I took a few photos of Harper holding her the other day. Seriously, Harper cannot get enough of her baby sister. Hopefully she will still be excited about her when I move Ada into Harper’s room next year!

Tonight I am catching up on photos from the past few months, and I am reminded of how lucky the kids are to have such great friends. Harper loves her friends so much that whenever we go anywhere, the pool, the park, etc., she asks “are dare gonna be friends dare?” We’re even luckier that we have seen a lot of them this summer:

Memorial Day with the Bastos clan: Aunt Jenn, Uncle Dave, Katelyn, Megan and Abby (or, according to Roman, “two Abby’s”)

Memorial Day neighborhood party with Rachael and Nicole:

An afternoon in DC with the Bastos clan:

I asked the girls if they could find the Washington Monument. Easy:
 
Feeding ducks at the Sculpture Garden:
 

Dinner with, big surprise, the Bastos:

Wintergreen weekend with Cousin Charlie:

Harper: “Can I ride my bike?”
Me: “No because Roman and Ada are sleeping right now.”
Harper: “Well I can do it by myself.”
Me: “No you can’t, you need to wait for me.”
Harper: “Yes I can! I’m not afraid!”

Me: “Harper, have you seen the clickers?”
Harper: “Yeah they are in my backpack.”
Me: “Well can I have them?”
Harper: “Yeah, but put them back when you are done because I need to take them to school to measure them.”

Roman looking for his Buzz Lightyear toy:

”Buuuuh-uuhz, are you? Are you, Buzz? Are you?”

Roman: “I push Harper!”
Me: “No, we don’t push.”
Roman: “I kick Harper!”
Me: “No! We don’t kick either.”
Roman: “I kick mama?”

Me: “Harper, why are you naked?”
Harper: “Because my dress is twintle.”
Me: “What does that mean?”
Harper: “It means I don’t want to wear any clothes.”

Roman is all boy… need I say more?!

Uncle Gordon is visiting us from Cambodia, and once again he chose a game that mommy would “definitely” approve of! He promised me that after the “haircut game” they would play the “vacuuming game."

Harper, Roman and I enjoyed our first morning at the pool, while Portman and Ada stayed home and napped. The kids had a great time and Harper was very enthusiastic about swimming… finally! Roman was more timid, but had fun once he saw Harper in the water. Harper was very confused about her 2-piece suit and kept trying to pull the two pieces together to cover her tummy. Although, she somehow managed to still show everyone her tush!

Roman has recently started talking a lot (finally!), and like a typical boy, it’s mostly about poop.

Roman: “Ewe, yuck poop!”
Me: “You’re doing a poop?”
(several minutes of grunting)
Roman: “Ta-da poop!”

Roman: “Baby Ada!!! Baby Ada ewe yuck poop.”

Must. Keep. Blogging.

I’ve obviously had a hard time keeping up with this blog over the past few weeks, but I do have some time this morning to share a few tidbits from the past week. To lead off, Harper has been saying some really funny things this week. I have to constantly remind myself not to drop f-bombs or any other inappropriate words in front of her because she is clearly parroting me! Here are a few of my favorites from this week:

Holding a box of mac n’ cheese at 3:30 in the afternoon:

“Mom, seriously, you HAVE to let me eat dis!”

Trying to get her pj’s on:

“Good lord! I can’t get dis on!”

Responding to me yelling at her to hurry up:

“Chill out, mom! I’m getting my shoes!”

Shouting from the potty:

“I’m done! I did poopies! You can say ‘holy cow’ now!”

Last weekend Ya Ya and Pop Pop came up for a visit, and we took the kids to Burke Lake Park for a picnic and train ride. Ever since then, Harper and Roman have been staging “choo choo picnics” in the living room. They lay out a blanket and Harper serves them play food from her kitchen while Roman drives a Thomas train around the blanket. It occupies them for a LONG time and is so cute!

Here are some recent photos of everyone. I also haven’t had much time for picture-taking, but I manage to get a few every now and then.

I thought this was really funny for some reason – the barricade in the middle of the tub. They end up like this almost every night!

Playing choo-choos while wearing choo-choo pj’s. That’s about as fun as it gets!