Rebecca Whitehead

September Photo Dump

September 7, 2018 by Rebecca Whitehead

Even though school had started, summer was still in full-swing during September (and often the hottest month of the year), so we still had some time to finish up our Summer Bucket List! September is usually the hottest month of the year, so we had plenty of opportunities to enjoy the beach and warm weather without all the tourists, who had gone home.

A life goal fulfilled! The twins were SO excited for their lemonade stand with Owen, Avery, Gavin and Lily! Lily sold slime, the twins sold lemonade and cookies, and the rest of the gang helped with advertising. All in all, the twins more than covered the cost of their supplies.

During the summer, we were spoiled by various teen babysitters helping me with the girls. Bri came a few times a week to take the girls to the splash pad, pool, or park if it wasn’t too hot, and Emily and Ana took the girls on outings a few times a month as well. The girls loved hanging out with everyone and it was a lifesaver for me not having to take Eleanor out in the hot weather. When our high school/college babysitters went back to school, it was a little harder to get out to the splash pad without it getting too hot. Once in a while, we had a rare afternoon where it wasn’t too bad and we could go out to the splash pad!

Eleanor became so interactive this month and had amazing head control for a 2/3 month old!

On a walk in her stroller bassinet.

Park morning.

After 4 weeks, Meredith’s knee was healed and she got her cast off! It was another 3-4 weeks until she was walking normally again, but she was a trooper.

Working on that head control.

Meredith loves nursery and isn’t afraid to dish it out to the boys who steal her toys. According to one of the dad nursery leaders, “We don’t need to worry about Meredith. She holds her own.”

Her friend, Greta, gets in her personal bubble a little too often!

Sheela held a little mom brunch one school morning and everyone clambered to be the next one to hold the celebrity baby.

Meredith with Mango the bunny.

Eleanor’s head control was good enough to plop her in the high chair with the back tilted, and life instantly got easier.

Sports Day at school!

Rock climbing and park day.

Hello there.

Teamwork!

Lounging.

sept

Goal setting: baby style. See toy. Raise arm in general direction. Swat toy. Goal accomplished.

Lunch and a walk in Dana Point.

The twins worked so hard memorizing their lines for the Primary Program at church, but somehow, the Primary leader got them mixed up, and in the wrong order! So they ended up saying each other’s lines!

Sister bear.

Jake likes to take random photos with me in them.

Samantha and Amelia are obsessed with climbing trees… foreshadowing! A few months later, Samantha ended up breaking a bone in her foot from this tree!

No idea why Sammy is wearing a bib.

Tree climbing owies.

It’s a good life being a baby!

Another random photo from Jake capturing storytime.

More tree climbing.

Baby gurgles!

Eleanor trying to make sense of all the crazy.

This is why a typical walk to the park takes 2 hours.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: eleanor 2 months, Eleanor 3 months, eleanor babbling, eleanor cooing, eleanor laughing, eleanor toys, lemonade stand, meredith broken knee, park, september 2018, splash pad, summer bucket list, tree climbing

Camp Surf

September 4, 2018 by Rebecca Whitehead

With Samantha and Amelia starting kindergarten, a whole new world of activities opened up for them this year. A few different moms from their school and from our neighborhood suggested checking out their Girl Scouts troops, but I was hesitant to make that time commitment considering Meredith was too young to join and I had a baby at home.

Enter Adventure Guides.

Formerly Indian Princess Guides (I personally don’t see anything wrong with this name, but I’m sure it became too un-PC to keep around), the Adventure Guides is a camping and adventure program for dads and daughters. Perfect! It’s only for kinder through 5th grade, so much to her chagrin, Meredith couldn’t join, but we decided to give it a try with the twins.

The Adventure Guides is a popular program in our area, so there are tons of dads and daughters that make up the troops in our town. The twins’ Expedition, made up of several “troops,” is the Rainbow Sky Expedition and the troop the girls joined is the Pink Panthers. It’s the smallest troop out of the expedition, which is perfect for them since they tend to get overwhelmed in large groups. They have a camp-out or activity each month, as well as a planning meeting before the campout where the dads divvy up who is in charge of food/activities, while the girls eat snacks and do crafts. Basically, it’s the twins’ dream activity!

At first, I was a little skeptical of the program, considering dads are in charge of all the planning, but wow, do I stand corrected! These guys are uber-organized with spreadsheets and calendars listing all the activities, campouts, prices, and who is responsible for what a year in advance. My dream! Every troop has their own themed gear and banners and the events themselves have been really organized and fun so far.

At the beginning of September, the twins and Jake went on their first campout to Camp Surf down in Imperial Beach, San Diego, as close to the border of Mexico as you can get.

It’s fun to stay at the… YMCA!

Amelia and Samantha thought the concept of a Lost and Found was interesting and kept wanting to take pictures by it. I’m thinking we could turn this concept into a creative Halloween costume one year!

Learning life skills and setting up camp.

The leader dad of the Pink Panthers troop is awesome at video editing and takes awesome photos with his drone/creates fun videos! I was so happy the girls had joined his troop because obviously I’m a sucker for proper documentation of events! It’s mostly his two daughters in the video, which is why you see the same dark-haired girls all the time, but there are some fun shots of the twins boogie boarding!

Daddy daughter time! The twins were so excited to spend a few days with Jake and were noticeably more tolerant of Meredith when they returned due to the great bonding time.

After a tiring first afternoon, the girls were ready for bed early.

Meanwhile back at home, it was scorching, so we played in the pool and did movie night by ourselves.

Eleanor was wondering why there wasn’t as much bickering and fighting going on. It totally changes the dynamic of the entire house when even one person is gone!

Since the campout was at the YMCA facilities, they ate their meals in the cafeteria and from the looks of it, ate like queens!

Grooving to the music and stuffing their faces.

The twins’ favorite activity at the campout was learning to surf and boogie board! I didn’t think the girls would be brave enough to try it since they don’t even like swimming in the ocean when we go to the beach here. Jake reported back that they were completely fearless!

The twins were fascinated by this game called “Ga-Ga.” Still not sure what it is, but apparently all the girls were obsessed with it.

Jake always says this phrase at home because his Grandma Lula said it growing up. Then they saw this print at the camp!

Crafts had to be right up there with surfing as the twins’ preferred activity.

Meanwhile, back at home, our cousins were in town, so they came over to swim with Meredith and hang out with Elle!

Uncle Steve and Auntie Lynn kept Elle entertained.

Hailey mostly hung out on the perimeter.

Meredith had some nice bonding time with Cousin Noah.

A special thanks to Zack for being the dedicated adult swimmer/pool monitor!

Later that afternoon, I took Meredith and Eleanor to San Clemente on a walk and to eat dinner, mostly just to pass the time! Meredith kept asking when the girls and Daddy would be home! It was definitely VERY quiet at our house that weekend.

Back at Camp Surf…

At night, the dads put on a legit skit night, complete with professional sound and lights. I was very impressed with all the planning that went into the campout– and all by dads!

While waiting for the skits to start, they had a little dance party.

So exhausted! After all the girls were asleep, the dads had their own “Midnight Meat” where they roasted a bunch of meat for the next day and watched sports or something, but I think Jake was too tired and just went to sleep!

Samantha and Amelia loved their first campout experience with Jake and the Adventure Guides and Jake said it was like the summer camps he always wanted to go to as a kid! More than just all the fun activities though, the twins really just enjoyed spending quality time on their own with Jake and came back with their little love buckets full.

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: camp surf, Meredith swimming, pink panthers

Washington Trip 2018

August 31, 2018 by Rebecca Whitehead

At the end of August, before the twins started Kindergarten, Jake took the twins and Meredith on an epic summer finale trip to Washington state. The girls had been looking forward to their trip all summer, and after having everyone home all summer long, it was a much anticipated break for me! Eleanor and I bid farewell to the jetsetting quartet and they were off! Needless to say between the squabbling twins and a two-year-old in a full length cast, Jake received many awed looks and “World’s Greatest Dad!!” comments from strangers in the airport!

According to Jake, the girls were great on the plane, thanks to snacks, Ipods and in-flight movies. We had the three girls sit together, with Jake beside them in the aisle.

After a flight, layover, another flight and an hour’s drive, they were excited to arrive at Uncle Kip and Aunt Gigi’s farm in Mattawa, WA.

Since there’s no town or anything nearby, I was worried the girls wouldn’t have enough to do and would drive everyone crazy for the five days they were on the farm, but I definitely underestimated the power of wide open spaces! The little wild animals roamed freely around the farm and exerted all their energy outdoors so that they conked out at bedtime without a fuss!

Raspberry picking in Aunt Gigi’s amazing raspberry patch.

Pizza night– the girls loved helping make pizzas and watching them be fired up in the outdoor pizza oven.

The girls’ favorite part was touring around the farm and seeing all the animals, especially the adorable baby cows.

Meredith didn’t let her cast stop her from hobbling around the barn to pet each and every cow. Poor calves looked terrified of her!

Pure joy.

So exhausted she conked out standing up!

Meanwhile, back at home…

Elle and I had the dreamiest staycation of all time! We got to bond, cuddle, enjoy relaxing walks and afternoons by the pool, and I got more things done that week than I had all year! I’m thinking this will definitely become an annual tradition, as the timing was perfect with it being the week before school started. It was such a refreshing break and I was able to recharge and get totally organized for the new school year.

Kip and Gig have five kids, but only the youngest, Mason, was around the hang out. Meredith became his best buddy and tagged along with him like a little puppy.

Climbing rocks at Wild Horse Monument.

Overlooking the Columbia River.

Sammy was here.

Throwing rocks into the Columbia.

I guess we need a treadmill! Anytime the girls slipped away, Jake would find them in the basement trying out the exercise equipment.

Lounging with their new doggie friend by the pool.

Endless activities!

Movie night!

The entire trip I kept hearing about all the delicious treats Aunt Gigi treated them to.

Four wheeling excursion!

The girls loved going to a local fair and all of the animals/greasy food that came with it!

Gigi and Kip said the girls were great, but the times that they inevitably did get cranky or whine, Kip would say, “No speaking Waaaaaahmby!” Meredith loved it so much that we’ve since adopted that phrase here and whenever the twins whine, Meredith with chime in with, “NO SPEAKING WAAAAAAHMBY!”

Jake found Meredith chilling with Mason and a bag of doritos while he played his video games. This was basically her heaven.

More “resort” activities.

The twins raved about how they were allowed to put as many m&ms in the cookie dough as they wanted.

Their reaction when Jake told them they were leaving the next day:

Aunt Gigi helping with the girls’ hair before their early am flight the next day.

On their way home.

Layover in SLC– hi Grammy and Grandpa!

Ginormous breakfast.

Elle and I were so happy to have the girls and Jake back and the girls couldn’t stop talking about the next time they want to visit. Not being there myself, it was a little nerve-wracking wondering how they would behave, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear from Gigi that they did awesome.

She posted: “My little brother Jake came to visit with three of his darling daughters this week! He is Dad of the Year in my opinion! Keeping up with these energetic gals is one thing but to keep them on a schedule, and do all the little things too?! He made sure they picked raspberries each day, had a physical activity, cleaned up after themselves and used their manners. The girls were so well behaved and funny I’d have them back tomorrow. Thanks for visiting us on the farm!”

I was so grateful for Jake, Gigi and Kip making my staycation a reality and thankful that everyone had a great time on the farm!

Lots of love,

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: airplane, aunt gigi uncle kip, baby cows, farm, meredith cast, pool, raspberry picking, summer, summer 2018, treadmill, washington, wild horse monument

Eleanor 2 Months

August 26, 2018 by Rebecca Whitehead

At Elle’s 2 month doctor’s appointment, the nurse couldn’t believe how much she had grown and re-checked her height and weight three times just to be sure! Eleanor was over the 100th percentile for weight and was in the 98th for height. Then, our pediatrician walked in and said, “She’s a Whitehead baby. Totally normal.” Eleanor is one huge baby, but not out of the norm for our family!

Height: 24 inches

Weight: 15 pounds

Photos by Sarah Arnoff.

At around 6 weeks, Eleanor started to drop the middle of the night feed (1 or 2 a.m.) and at 8 weeks, she started sleeping through the night 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. consistently. She’s a star baby.

Baby Elle is our most smiley/giggly baby at such an early age. She loves to be held, danced with, tickled, swung, and to go for stroller rides. Her favorite is when all her sisters make silly faces, dance, and sing to her– she cracks up like they are the most hilarious people in the world.