Halloween Take 1

Halloween, much like Christmas, seems to be a multiphased event when you have a child.  In Evie's world first comes the Halloween at school (usually a week or so before the real deal because of their fall break), then comes the neighborhood Halloween in the park and then the real night o' sugary spooky fun.  (With generally a trip (or two) to Valley of the Moon peppered in between.)  Well the Halloween season has officially begun with yesterday's Halloween parade, trunk or treat and party at IST.  Evie is reusing the princess costume my mom made last year and repurposing it as a witch.  It was perfect because I already had the hat and so all we had to do was go buy tights (one size fits most... aka fits no one) and a broom.  I decorated the Subaru and was a trunk for treating... it was a little bit of a strange thing to stand at the back of my car and hand out candy but the kids got a kick out of it for sure!  I brought a costume for Izzy but it was just too darn hot for it, they just don't make costumes for kids who live in the desert, so she just hung out either in the ergo or in her car seat for the trunk or treating.  Hopefully it will be a bit chillier for the actual event so she can go as a tiger.  What a great start to the 2 weeks of Halloween :)

Mommy and Daddy

Genevieve decided to brave our closet and dress as Daddy:

 

And as Mommy:

Theories (or rather hypotheses) of Elevation

The girls are asleep and Patrick is out of town so really I should be working/studying, but instead of such productive activities I find myself contemplating a new theory (well really a hypothesis).  This hypothesis is not a great unifier of the world nor a fabulous contributor to science as we know it, but make no mistake, it is critical to me.  About a month ago elevation became very important to Izzy.  Now I am not talking about the sort of elevation she achieved in a trip to the cabin or a jaunt to Brazil.  This elevation comes from the simple fact of a parental figure standing up.  Patrick and I have found that Isadora greatly prefers her lot in life (when she is upset) when it occurs at oh at least five feet above the ground.  In other words, when she is fussy we must be standing up.  When I discuss this with others they offer me all sorts of opinions to the origins of said phenomenon: "you must rock her more when your standing" "you hold her more securely when your upright" or the converse "you must be giving her more freedom when you're standing."  All of these alternative (and somewhat contradictory) theories have caused me, as has happened in the past, to borrow from my other job (in this case that of the student who is taking a methods in research class) to try to ascertain an answer.  So... like any good scientist... over the past few days I have conducted a series of experiments.  The first involved holding Izzy more tightly to my chest, like I might when standing, when she was fussy.  That having no noticeable effect, I tried holding her more loosely, and in both cases she howled until I stood up.  The problems with small (albeit random) samples aside, there seemed to be no correlation between the tenacity of my hold on her, because by god did she continue to scream. I then tried rocking her (in a rocking chair nonetheless) like I would standing and .... nope still screaming.  I will continue to search for alternative hypotheses because, as of this evening, Izzy has decided that not only does she prefer I stand when she is fussy (aka tired) she also would like a vertical mom when she is breastfeeding, and while I might be able to accommodate this request now, I most certainly will not be able to do so when she is 20 some odd pounds!

The 3 Month Old Izzy

The 3 month old Izzy is a bundle of happiness.  She is constantly smiling and cooing at just about everyone she meets.  She doesn't seem to be perturbed by much, except for when she is extra tired and cannot fall asleep.  Then the only thing that makes her happy is for you to be standing up and carrying her with her head on your shoulder.  You must be standing up, sitting just will not do.  (This was a bit problematic on our nearly 60 hour journey to and from Brazil... as you might imagine.)  She is all about her newly discovered hands and loves to bring them up to her little mouth and try to suck on them.  The result is a large and loud slurping sound that can be heard across the house.  It is one of the best ways to figure out that she has woken up because otherwise she will frequently just hang out in her bassinet for a bit staring at the ceiling.   She is a one in a million baby for many reasons but perhaps the biggest outlier is her sleep.  She goes to bed at about 8 pm most nights and wakes up at 6:30 am... and trust me this has nothing to do with me.  She is not, however, a good napper and will only nap for more than 45 minutes if she is in a carrier or being held and sometimes even then she is not too keen to sleep for more than a short stretch.  She clearly loves her big sister because she has more than once stopped fussing and started smiling and cooing when Genevieve comes over to talk to her and play with her. 

6 things

6 things (3 each) about our girls that give me joy right now:

Isadora: the happy, intoxicated way she looks at me when she is breastfeeding; her big toothless smile and cute little giggle; and her warm head that is so nice to nuzzle.

Genevieve: the cute and creative songs she sings; her genuine kindness for others; the way she is learning so much about the world and how she loves to share that love with Patrick and I.

OK and two bonus things that I love mostly because they make my life that much easier :)  Evie gets herself dressed every morning for school (sometimes without us asking!) and Isadora sleeps for between 8 to 10 hours a night... one is a welcome permanent addition to the way our house operates the other I have no hope for maintaining in the long term....but that is OK too.

Dora the explora

It has been awhile since we've updated on the Lacroix happenings... and for good reason because the happenings have been many.  I've been away from home for more or less two weeks now and little Izzy has been along for the ride.  Her first adventure was up to Flagstaff because I went to the AZ Hydrological Society meeting to present a paper and accept an award.  My Mom came along with me that time to help watch Izzy while I was at the conference.  (I brought up my camera but didn't manage to take even a single photo...)  Then we were home for two days and off again... this time on the big adventure that has been almost a year in the making.... Potro de Galinhas, Brazil for the World Water Congress!  I did bring the camera for this adventure but really didn't take too many photos because I was at the Congress for a good part of it and then also just spent too much time enjoying the scenery :)

Isadora was an awesome traveler!  It took us almost 30 hours door to door to get there and about the same to get home and she really just rolled with it.  Most importantly she continued to sleep about 8 hours a night the whole time.  This was a miracle for Patrick and I because man were we exhausted when we got there and poor Patrick had a cold for the first few days of the Brazilian babysitting adventure.

Of course all of this adventuring has put me way behind on my work so I'll leave it with just the photos of the trip for now... perhaps to elaborate later because as you can imagine there are some stories behind these photos!