best bubba in the world

stilettos

the girls are already practicing for when they will wear high heels. this is ellie, but claire loves to do it too.

both girls love to get up on their tippies toes and walk around. it cracks me up!

crawling attempts

ellie was trying so hard to crawl. she can get up on all fours and then she lunges forward, but she can't figure out how to move her arms to go with her legs. she might have some rug burns pretty soon on her face if she can't figure it out. i snapped this video today at my parents house. don't mind the weird cat blanket - it is a long story.

big changes

within the last week charlie has stopped using his bapoo and sleeps in the big bed and ellie and claire sleep unswaddled. these are big changes for babies who were wearing the miracle swaddle blankets to fall asleep (think baby straight jackets).

charlie decided to jump out of his crib and so his decision to move to the big bed meant no bapoo. it is funny how you can expect these changes to be dramatic and then they suddenly surprise you. bill just told charlie that big boys don’t have bapoos and babies do and that was the end of it. he has basically forgot about it since then and has not asked for it this whole trip. he is doing ok sleeping in the big boy bed. it was a quick change at home and then we were traveling to green bay so he has basically learned how to sleep on a bed here. after one nap in the car seat again he has been doing much better. who knows how things will go when we get back to rochester, but I am sure glad his bedroom door locks from the outside .

the plank

meet ellie – future pilates/yoga instructor. here is ellie’s plank move.

if she didn’t have jeans on you could see the space between the carpet and her legs. she sometimes goes into a pike.

it is hard to capture in this picture, but she literally does planks all day. she will try to get something and go into a plank. she is also beginning to pull her knees up to her elbows and will sometimes get up on all fours.

here is claire on all fours. she is also working on her crawling skills, but doesn’t do ellie’s plank move.

they are really moving a lot and I think will crawl/move forward somehow pretty soon. this is how they currently move forward. they pick up one half or more of their body and push off with their toes and plop forward. they spend a lot of time with their faces in the carpet.

bill and I are calling this time the calm before the storm. they are not as unhappy as they were a month ago, but once they start moving things are going to get crazy.

classic

this morning the girls both slept until almost 7 am (6:45) and charlie jumped out of his crib. classic.

ellie and claire both have been sleeping better and better. we put them down around 6:30 and then at 10:15-30ish we do a “dream feed”. basically we stick a bottle in their sleeping mouths and they suck down about 4 ounces each! they have been sleeping later and later but today was the first time to both make it to almost 7. I should feel well-rested, but I was up way to late (midnight) and then did have to calm claire down at 2 am for a bit. poor bill was working on a project until 2 am so he didn’t get a full night either.

then c-little decided to jump out of his crib this morning. I knew this was coming because he started jumping out of his crib while on vacation, but it is so fitting that it would happen just when the girls start sleeping better. no way are we going to get good sleep around here for awhile. for nap today I put him in his crib with his bapoo and said goodnight. after dealing with the girls for about 30 minutes I heard some action on the train set. sure enough – he actually jumped out to get out of nap time. time to give him choices. he can 1. sleep in the big bed without his bapoo or 2. sleep in his crib with his bapoo. under no circumstance can he leave his bedroom. if he does the door will be locked and he will not come out of his room until he has napped. today he decided to sleep in the big bed with no bapoo. this is when having a video monitor is the best thing ever…seriously, if you don’t have one get one for these situations. I was able to watch him upstairs and see him flail around in the bed, play with trains and then get out of the bed. so I went down there and reiterated the rules. he ended up choosing the crib with bapoo this time. if he does it again I will choose for him. I am actually hoping he will start sleeping in the big bed with no bapoo soon. I am determined to kick the bapoo habit at the same time I am dealing with the transition to a big bed. we will see if I can keep this plan. it will probably depend on how sleep deprived I am getting. 

anyone want to come be our night nanny???

madeline island

tuesday mid-morning we left hudson and headed 3 hours and 40 minutes north to Madeline Island. It is one of the apostle islands off the shores of northern Wisconsin. the drive up included a lot of crying, but we made it with one quick stop at a mickey d’s. who doesn’t like eating cheeseburgers, fries, an ice cream cone and coffee on a road trip? our highlander was packed to the brim. we had our rocket box on top and our bikes on the back. 3 pack n’ plays, 4 suitcases, a swing, bumpo, chariot, cooler, dry food, diapers…you get the point.

we arrived in bayfield wisconsin and then took a ferry to madeline island. here is charlie after getting out of the car. bill took him up on the top deck of the ferry while I stayed with the girls. charlie had just gotten his mitts on the TJ’s cheetos. love them.

ellie and claire. they were delighted to get out of their car seats. even if just for a bit.

after a quick drive to our little cabin we finally arrived! praise God! check out the adorable wood burning fireplace. the first night it was cold enough we had to light a fire to stay warm. so fall!

this was the main room.

the hard wood floors were a bit tough with the girls. they roll off of anything we lay them on so they would bump their heads. we ended up putting one of the pack n plays in the living area for them to “play” in. imagine that!

drinkin’.

doing a little book reading. charlie is really into green eggs and ham lately. you can see lake superior out the windows. it was so beautiful.

the cabin had kayaks and these great Adirondack chairs. so wish bill and I could have enjoyed a cup of coffee or a glass a wine while sitting in these together. guess we will have to go back ALONE next time.

here is a view of the cabin from the beach.

bill and ellie. the dock you see is the only dock near the beach we were on and it was totally quiet the whole weekend. the sand was butter and it was so private. we loved it.

this is my lame attempt to put everyone’s footprints in the sand. bills are on the far left, then mine and you can see little marks for charlie, ellie and claire. I tried, but it was hard to press their feet in!

wednesday morning we woke up and thought we would take a “quick” bike ride into town for a mid-morning activity. it is a 10 mile ride into town and it ended up taking us a lot longer than we thought it would (40 minutes). for the trip we had borrowed a toddler bike seat that sits on the back of a bike. bill had charlie in that and I was pulling the girls in the chariot with all our gear. it ended up being a lot heavier than normal because we had a bunch of extra junk along (diaper bag, tire pump, baby carriers, etc). the ride in felt like forever because we kept looking for a road that we thought existed. it really messed with our minds. anyway – once we arrived in town we sat down at mission hill coffee shop for some coffee and muffins. the town of la pointe is REALLY small, which made it easy to check out. we also decided madeline island might be wisconsin’s serious hippie capitol (these are not your madison southeast dorm ‘rastafarians’). there is probably a lot of pot being smoked on that island.

we had to find a quiet place for me to feed the girls so I sat on a log to nurse them. charlie entertained himself with this sand toy. this dog just begged and begged for us to play catch with him.

in the picture above you can see how the rafters are all open in the small cabin. there were 2 bedrooms with a bathroom in between, but there were not any ceilings on the bedrooms which made sleeping a bit more challenging. after we got home from the bike ride we hung on the beach and had lunch and then it was time for everyone’s naps (bill and I were dying for one!). things got interesting when charlie decided to not nap. he played and played in his pack n play. then after an hour or more of this he decided to just “pop” out. fun times. this is not the place we intended to have him start sleeping in a big bed. so it began…another standoff. charlie was determined not to nap and bill (and I – but mostly bill) was determined to have him nap. bill said he would have made him stay in the pack n play until nighttime if he didn’t nap (he didn’t tell charlie this). basically, bill explained to charlie that he was going to nap no matter how long he tried not to and if he “popped” out of the pack n play again he was going to get strapped in. charlie actually decided to have bill strap him in. so bill got charlie’s car seat and strapped him in and reclined it back and there he sat. he protested for a bit in the car seat, but finally fell asleep around 3:45-4pm! (he started his nap around 1:15!).

by this point the girls were up so there was no baby break for us that day. drinkin’ new age. family trips are hard work!

the nice thing about charlie sleeping late was then we could put the girls down to bed and build a bonfire and hang out with charlie on the beach. bill and charlie while the sun was going down. someday charlie will master the smile. I was putting the final touches on the honey badgers.

I was able to make it down to the beach just in time for sunset. it is so much fun hanging out with charlie on the beach. you can just let him do whatever he wants.

thursday our plan was to just hang on the beach. here is charlie in the morning starting to play with his “cucks”.

the water was crystal clear. there wasn’t any wind. it was just perfect. bill and charlie went out for a few spins in the kayak. I threw a bit of a fit about them not having life jackets on, but seriously wherever bill was the water was probably only up to his thigh. you could walk out about 100 feet without going above your waist. charlie loved the kayak.

kayaking is another thing we said would have been so fun without kids. we could have just cruised the shoreline together.

he so badly wanted to go out on his own.

after the girls early nap we got them into their swim suits, lathered them with sun screen and moved them to the beach. I was hopeful that they might lay on under this sun shade for a bit. yeah right! it lasted about 1 second and then they started up. it was just too bright and not fun for them.

not happy.

bill took the girls in to put them to sleep and I got to play with charlie. I would build something in the sand and then we would smash it together. the turtle, dori, and nemo actually looked different. the fire truck, ambulance, and pappy’s truck all started to look the same. you can see one of the “cucks” in the background.

smashing it!

thursday for lunch we drove into town. we ate lunch at the beach club, which ended up being perfect for us. wherever we go we are the entertainment. no matter how much I think we have it in control we cannot avoid drawing attention to ourselves. this eating experience was no different. we sat on the porch and it had a beach right in front of it. there were ducks all over and charlie was in heaven. he loves feeding ducks and geese. he basically spent his entire lunch on the beach with the ducks attacking him.

sitting next to us were these three nice ladies. they instantly liked charlie and were giving him their old fries for him to feed the duck. he would eat a few of them and then feed a few to the ducks. classic. then the ladies realized we had TWO babies! I had claire in the bjorn and ellie had come in sleeping in her car seat. ellie woke up right when our food arrived and it was so sweet. one of the ladies said…do you ever let strangers hold them? bill and I said YES instantly. before we knew it claire and ellie were being taken care of by the ladies and charlie was wading into the water. we scarfed down the delicious food just in time to relieve the ladies. 

by this point charlie was getting more and more comfortable in the water and with the ducks. right before we left he had waded up past his waist. he would have gone swimming if we had let him. we left the restaurant with 2 crying girls and a very wet toddler who didn’t want to leave. do you think anyone noticed?

here is charlie just getting comfortable.

this is where the girls played for most of the trip.

reading a book before dinner.

thursday night we had another bonfire after the girls went to bed. I love roasting marshmallows. the best is that bill thought he had found roasting sticks at the cabin, but they were actually shish kabob sticks. his hands were burning the entire time. he also speared his thumb at one point which gave him a serious toby thumb to match his twin toby toes he has been rocking all summer.

bill was the designated roaster. I just burn my mallows. we also discovered the most amazing mallow treat. you perfectly roast the marshmallow. pull off the outer shell. let charlie eat the middle. put a square of milk or dark chocolate in the middle of it. enjoy!

bill showing off the perfect toasted mallow.

charlie eating the middle.

the delicious nugget.

then to end our night we found a toad that bill and charlie played with. it peed on bill’s hand and that is all charlie could talk about.

saturday morning we packed up quickly and headed to the ferry by 8 am. we landed at bayfield and went to a coffee shop for breakfast. I had the most amazing honeybee latte (honey and vanilla) I have ever had. I am not sure if it was the best latte ever because I was starving and I knew we were leaving or if it was just that good. again – we definitely drew some attention while we were in bayfield, but I guess I just need to get used to it. around 10 am we hit the road to go back to hudson. bill and I were talking about our trip and how much fun we had, but we were so exhausted.  we needed a vacation from our vacation. it was definitely the appropriate length of time to be on the island and we were ready to head back home and put the kids in their rooms! I am excited for our many family vacations – I mean trips - to come.

labor day weekend

we spent our labor day weekend at the river (surprise, surprise). it is a wonderful place to be. the entire fam is there, laura forces us to go out to eat without kids, people are genuinely interested in holding babies, and we drink lots of new age. mary and I even went shopping for a bit this past weekend!

the girls were delighted to see paul again. he is already out growing them at 12 weeks old! ellie is on the left gripping paul’s arm.

 

another perk about hudson is we hang out in our pjs for a long time. charlie loves his bubba.

a classic scene. one of the girls fussing and paul just chillin.

charlie is so sweet to paul. I bet he can’t wait until they can do guy stuff. it was probably during this kiss that he gave paul the wicked cold he had. by the end of the weekend everyone had caught c-little’s cold. lovely.

oh paul. why do you have to be so diffcult?!??!  this kid rocks. he really does nap a lot in big beds.

we attempted to lay all the kids down. charlie would not stop chewing on the wheels of mater, claire and ellie kept trying to roll or sit up and were fussing and paul just hung back and took it all in.

it was a pretty cold labor day so we did a lot of hanging around. I got mastitis again on saturday and was thankful for the help on sunday to recover.

I wish I had more pictures of the hold hold holding that goes on while we are at the river. there are many many hands on deck to help out with the babies and it is quite a love fest. dotes does a mean two-step lunge squat move that calms claire down. tombo and ellie have mini convos. pete and charlie have unkie/nephew bonding time shooting the paintball gun. E&E (eliot – mary’s boyfriend and ellie) hang and enjoy sharing almost the same name. bubba is in high demand by all the babies. margit slaves over paul and the honey badgers. it has been such a blessing to be able to spend so much time as a huge schmitt family this summer. even if it is often disturbed by fussing or screams we have loved having bill available to go to hudson frequently and since the kiddos are up at the crack of dawn we get extra hours of chatting over coffee (and key’s sticky buns) each morning. next year we will be chasing 3 – 1 yr olds and 1 – 3 yr old around in the morning…do you think we will be chatting more or less?

on tuesday morning we left from hudson to drive to madeline island for our first family “vacation” (read – Trip with a capitol T) with just the 5 of us. a lengthy post will be coming soon…