baker's dozen

from RIGHT to left: greta, joe, otto, jessica, shamus, john, and roman. not pictured: melanie and selma.

so back in winter/early spring, joe had the foresight to purchase a set of reds tickets called the 'baker's dozen' after manager dusty baker. the tickets are for 13 (get it? baker's dozen?! ha ha) sunday afternoon reds games. even though the kids will miss their naps with the 1pm gametime, it's still probably the best option for taking kids to the games. joe went down and scouted out where our seats would be, and he picked out some perfect ones. right along the first base line (foul ball territory) and the seats are covered, keeping us out of the sun and rain. for our first game this season, my brother and his family headed with us to the ballpark and we had a blast!!
the kids enjoyed plenty of peanuts and cotton candy! and the coolest thing about these tickets is that it has made reds baseball, which joe and i both love, a big part of our family. the kids have been singing "take me out to the ballgame" and "god bless america" (which they call 'american') nonstop. greta also asked joe to teach her how to play baseball, and now she and otto will play....setting out bases and hitting triples and homeruns and then pretending there are fireworks. go reds!

snow white

i think someone needs a brother.

birthmark

selma has on her forehead what's called a hemangioma. our pediatrician noticed it at her 2 week check up. he mentioned it nonchalantly, and we thought nothing of it. i mentioned to him that i had one when i was a child as well, and dr. bird let us know that often they show up a few weeks after birth (which selma's did) and often fade away or break up by the time the child is 8 or 9. turns out, hemangioma's come in ALL SORTS of shapes and sizes, so we really have no idea how big selma's will get. so far it's stayed about the same size (about the size of a fingernail) and has gotten really red and raised. it's completely benign and doesn't cause any pain or harm....it's simply a birthmark. greta likes to kiss it, and it's so funny to see other children's reactions to it when they see selma for the first time. kids will often ask if she has a boo-boo or will simply point and say, "what is that?" and while i hope that it stays small, i think it actually is sort of sweet (is that weird) and i now can't imagine her beautiful little face without it.

sisters

greta is pretty into selma these days. even though greta is having some struggles that seem to be related to a new baby's arrival/change in family dynamic (more on that in another post), she really is great with her baby sister. greta is constantly wanting to hug her, kiss her, talk to her, show her toys, etc. in this picture greta wanted to read a book to selma. and she is so so gentle with her. i hope that they are always this loving with each other.

smiling selma

within the past week or two, selma has starting smiling and "talking". greta was one of the first things she smiled at, and since then greta will come up to her and say, "smile at me!! smile at me!!" in sort of a demanding way.
it's so cute to see selma watch greta and otto as they move around. and it amazes me to see selma really engaging with us....making eye contact, taking turns making sounds, etc.

boppy boy

otto is master of the art of sucking his thumb and snuggling. he loves to lay on pillows, be covered with blankets, that sort of thing. so when we brought out the boppy pillows for me to nurse selma, otto was in heaven. he is constantly saying, "i want to see selma", but i think he really just wants to lay on the boppy pillow with her. i thought he would have some jealousy issues when i was breastfeeding, but as long as there's room for him on the pillow he's content. here's a few pics (sorry for the poor quality...i'm unloaded the pictures from my phone) of him laying with selma. otto also has a thing for soft fabric. he likes to wear khakis ("they're soft") and hates corduroys ("they're scratchy") and will follow joe around when he has khakis on so that he can suck him thumb and feel the fabric of joe's pants. silly otto.

with this many kids.....

where do you put the groceries? look closely at my cart to see that there is indeed, no where to put groceries. the kids wanted to make joe some peanut butter cookies while he was out of town, so we all headed to the store to get peanut butter. one item. and this huge cart. but we never really take the kids to the grocery (i'm sure you can see why) so greta and otto thought this cart was fabulous.

at the zoo

we headed to the zoo again this week for tunes and blooms. we love the bands that were playing this week, the tillers and the seedy seeds. the kids were hoping to hear one of their favorite songs by the seedy seeds, "the coyote song", so we stayed out way past bedtime eating popcorn (otto) and dancing to see our shadows (greta). alas, we had to head out before they played the song, but we settled for rocking out to it in the car on the way home.

more from the zoo

photo shoot

so before selma was born, i was dead-set on getting coordinating shirts for our kids to wear at the hospital after she was born. in fact, i insisted that we decide on a name so that i could get these shirts ordered. and then selma was born and i forgot about the shirts. fast forward to 5 weeks later (last week), when joe said, "what was the plan for those shirts?" oops.
so i decided we'd dress the kids in them when we went to tunes and blooms at the zoo last week. beautiful flowers, gorgeous weather, and our adorable kids in coordinating shirts. right?
well, easier said than done. we barely got selma in the shots before otto and greta were over it. here are a few out-takes. maybe we'll try again this week.

side note: at the zoo, 3 different people asked if otto and greta were twins. i think it might have been the shirts (who knows why), but seriously? twins? i know they're close in age, but twins?

reds opening day

we love opening day in cincinnati. it's like a holiday, with all sorts of hype and tradition. when greta was just 6 months old, she attended her first opening day, and both she and otto have attended every opening day since then. with selma being only 5 weeks old, we weren't sure if she would make it to her first opening day. and with my c-section recovery being a bit rough this time around, we were thinking maybe selma and i should just watch the festivities from the couch this year.
but then my doctor cleared me from the restrictions i had been under, and the forecast warmed up a bit (to the low 50s), so we decided to brave it. all 5 of us headed downtown, with the plan that selma and i would stay as long as we could and then head home. but it was so much fun, and she was warm and toasty (unlike the rest of us) in both her carseat and the sling. we all made it through the parade and until the bottom of the 7th inning.
i think the kids' favorite part of the day was the parade. both greta and otto were loving the horses, dance troupes, bands, and mascots at the parade. selma pretty much slept through the whole day.....
we should have stayed til the end of the game, because in true reds fashion, they won the game in with a walk off home run!! go reds!!

first bottle

selma had her first bottle on wednesday in preparation for reds opening day on thursday. we headed to dewey's for dinner, and we all chowed on pizza while selma sucked down a bottle. it is always a bit of a relief to give that first bottle, knowing that even though it's still breastmilk, it frees me up a little bit.

full belly

another thumbsucker??

where did this little baby go?

these are pictures from a few days after we came home from the hospital. i feel like selma has grown and changed so much already!

maya sling

when i was pregnant with greta, my friend tierney gave me a maya wrap/sling for a baby shower gift. she had told me how fantastic it was, and that i would love it. and then greta came and i tried to use it, but always felt like i was doing it wrong. it felt like too much fabric, and greta often seemed fussy or unhappy in it. so i tried a few times and then put it away. with otto, i wore him in a couple of other types of slings/wraps, but i don't think i ever attempted to wear him in the maya. i felt so guilty for not putting this sling to good use, but thought maybe it just wasn't for me. but this time around, i knew i would need to have both my hands free as often as possible to chase around otto and greta. so i went to a babywearing class at park + vine, determined to get comfortable with the maya. well....i have. and it's AWESOME. AWESOME. it is great...i feel like selma is so secure in it and it really frees me up to get things done and she is always so happy and content when she's in it. so, three and a half years later, thanks tierney. you were so right!!

otto and selma

otto loves babies. so we figured that he'd love selma....love having a baby around 24-7. well, he definitely loves her. he's very curious about her, always asking "where's selma?" and saying, "i want to see selma". but he's also figured out that he gets attention, negative attention, for getting in selma's personal space. so....he's constantly getting in her face, trying to poke her in the eye, giving her loving/smothering hugs, etc. i think at first we thought he was still learning how to be gentle and how to give her some space. but he is very good at being gentle, he just has learned that more attention is gained when being rough with her. like today when i found him laying on top of her on the couch. he does love her though, that's for sure.