Summer in full swing...Alaskan style.

Summers in Alaska mean extended daylight hours and work, work, work. Joel is teaching piano a couple days a week and attacking projects at the school and at home. I'm at Coal Point Trading Co. on the Homer Spit full-time. The kids spend the day with Nana and Papa and come home with Joel.

Developments: First birthday was June 23rd. Ethan was for-sure walking about two weeks before the birthday. We looked up one day and there he was, walking across the living room. Evan has the ability but enjoys crawling as he thinks its faster and safer (smart kid). He likes to walk from me to Joel, almost running full tilt at the end, knowing we'll catch him. We celebrated their birthday with a BBQ at Nana and Papa's and enjoyed some great food, thanks to Nana.

Right now, Ethan is miserable with a fever due to teething, I think. Both boys are getting four top teeth each. He is clingy and not his usual, enthusiastic self. This too will pass. I'm excited to see how their teeth change their "look" and also to be able to give them new foods to match their new chomping abilities!

Evan is the first to get the signing thing. He is proficient at saying "more." Ethan seems to think that Evan signing it is enough and "why bother?" Evan also like to tattle on his brother and will say "nn-nn-nn" when Ethan is getting into something he knows he shouldn't. Pretty funny stuff.

Big sis Elsa is enjoying the summer days. Nana constructed a fun play yard for her outside. The boys can join her as it is entirely fenced in. They love to play with her and watch her go down the slide. They love it when she gives them attention and plays with them. She is a very good big sister. She calls the boys individually "my brother" and Ethan has a special moniker, "funny guy." Evan is "the other one."

Today is Sunday and I'm enjoying a day home with the family. Love it.

Summer's Coming!

Summer will start for us soon. That means end-of-year recitals and wrapping up the school year. It is a time of year full of extra little jobs but it's well worth it at the end of the season. We have three recitals today. Always an adventure!

The boys are eleven months tomorrow. Since I haven't posted anything for two months, I'll list the major developments. Both boys have two bottom teeth. This is particularly satisfying for me; I love the sound they make when they bite into Cheerios with their tiny little teeth! Ethan does a real true crawl on his hands and feet; he is quite fast. Evan still prefers to crawl/slither on his belly. He will crawl on his hands and knees if he puts his mind to it but inevitably ends up closer to the floor. I think he thinks its faster.

They both will beeline for the stairs or bathroom if I don't put the gate up. They crawl the stairs very quickly and with a sneaky grin...I have no idea how they figured out that we don't want them climbing by themselves. Both are walking with assistance. Nana has two neat walkers at her house and the boys enjoy being able to walk the length of the house, which is substantially more room than at our place. If you are on Facebook, there's a video of them walking on my wall that's funny. Evan is pushing Ethan around on one of the walkers. Built-in buddy...the best!

Evan will make little barking noises if you ask him what a doggie says. He will also growl like a bear. Ethan likes the bear growl, but won't bark just yet. Both boys say "Ball" although their B's sound more like D's so its more like "Dall." I'll take it...super cute. Their favorite toys are balls. Ethan will attempt a dribble and both like to play toss (imagine Joel's joy!)

Elsa is enjoying being outside more. It's hard sometimes being a kid in Alaska. She's not a fan of clothes so getting bundled up to go outside can be frustrating. We try to go for walks as much as we can. The weather has been predominantly pleasant, a trend we hope continues through the summer months.

This summer should be interesting. Every year we try to build a summer program at the school with very little success. So, this summer, Joel will be teaching piano a couple days a week and I will be working at Coal Point on the spit full time. I'll have the PM shift so this means Joel will be Mr. Mom for that time. I've got some meal planning and such to do. I think he's looking forward to the change of pace. Of course, we have another large project to do at the school; we are planning to add another studio for a percussion teacher!

I'll try to be more faithful to post more regularly...but I'm not promising anything. Alaskan summers are crazy busy.

I knew this would happen

So, it's been several months since my last post. Life has a way of getting a hold on you and before you know it, you've neglected completing several of your tasks (like dusting; I can't remember the last time I dusted).

What's new? Let's see...its 2010. The boys are going to be nine months in a week. Their new skills include crawling, eating real food, and being real cute and coy. Evan was the first to figure out how to go forward even though Ethan had been on his hands and knees forever. Evan army-crawls on his belly. Now his clothes show a different pattern of abuse. Used to be the feet were dirty from jumping and the neck was dirty from eating. Now, the belly is trashed, as are the knees and one side of the sleeves. Ethan followed his brother in crawling; his crawl is hilarious because he doesn't always alternate legs (he's on his belly too) and so he looks like a frog. Also, he only extends one arm...well...I'll post a video.

Eating! Now that's fun. I didn't push real food, I just waited until they were good and interested. Both enjoy their food immensely and to my relief, they almost prefer to feed themselves. This is important because we still have to feed Elsa sometimes. She would rather not be interrupted from her important agenda for the boring, useless activity that is eating. I have to admit I don't remember if I really gave her the chance to eat herself or if I fed her all her meals. With the prospect of feeding two boys, you brace yourself for the millionth cheerio on the floor and just clean up afterward. Evan is particularly fun to watch eat a banana. He'd probably eat two whole ones, if I gave him the chance. He fills each fist with chunks and squeezes his hands to make the pieces pop out between his fingers at which point, he can get a piece in his mouth without relaxing his grip on the rest of the bits. All of this is done with great fervor and haste, as if the pieces will spontaneously disappear if he doesn't get his hands on them first.

To our joy, the boys have a very special place in their hearts for big sis' Elsa. They grin and laugh at her. She is also very affectionate and playful with them. She will entertain them at my request, when I need them distracted for a moment. She fetches things for them with a willing heart and has learned the rules of what makes an acceptable baby toy (big, round). Her idea for toys is usually beyond the scope of the toy box; she'll dig in the kitchen for measuring cups and give them her shoes.

I told Elsa that the boys probably wouldn't be able to say her name at first and it might sound like "El-da." She replied, "they can just call me Sissy." I didn't bother to tell her that might be harder to pronounce as it was such a sweet thought. Last night, we were talking about kids and she announced she was glad she didn't have a baby sister because she liked her two brothers. She calls them both "brother" because she can't tell them apart yet.

Elsa seems to get bigger and bigger every day. She's made a very successful start at reading, writing, and math; we work on something every day at home as well as with Nana during the week. My mom (Nana) bought the kids "Your baby can read" DVDs and Elsa has learned many words from that. The boys find the DVDs highly enjoyable. They grin at the girl at beginning who says "Hi!".

We started taking Elsa to the ice rink to learn to skate. We aren't particularly interested in getting her into hockey but thought she should learn how to skate. We bought a pair of used toddler figure skates and she seems to really enjoy it. She's only gone a couple times but she's getting the hang of it very quickly. Kids are amazing.

Well, that's all I have time for right now. I've got cranky boys with low-grade fevers and runny noses. Not sure if it's just a cold or if they are actually going to get some teeth finally...

Up and coming

So glad we have a break coming up. It means planning for Elsa's birthday party (she's turning FOUR!) and general Christmas prep. We just bought a new Christmas tree at the Home Depot in Kenai. Sometimes it hits me how crazy it is to have to drive an hour and a half to the nearest Home Depot. Most everyone else probably has one within fifteen minutes, depending on traffic. We managed to find a budget-friendly, skinny, pre-lit tree. It took minutes to set up. Perfect. Elsa is enthralled with decorating for Christmas. She helped Nana with tree decorations and we enjoyed listening to her "ooohs" and "aahhhs" as she discovered the many treasures that Nana has for the tree. Every ornament elicited exclamations of joy and wonderment.

I have the invitations to Elsa's party finished...just have to hand them out! The theme is Noah's Ark. Over the past couple years, she and Nana have been collecting those very realistic looking plastic animals for the "ark," a resin-cast ark that Nana purchased. The collection of animals no longer fits in the ark and have their own box now. Elsa will spend hours setting them up, putting the mommies and daddies and babies together. She sorts them from smallest to largest. We will often find a trail of animals extending far from the play area. I guess the next exercise is to count them. When we are out shopping, Elsa has a mental list of the animals that we are missing for the ark collection. "Mom, the baby zebra needs a daddy!" It seemed the right theme for the party this year.

Ethan can no longer be on the floor on his back without rolling over. He's mastered the skill. Evan seems content to lay which ever way we put him. Just an observation of the differences in their developmental timeline, despite their shared DNA and similar "nurturing." Pretty fascinating! Both boys are remarkably happy and are very good-natured; they always smile upon waking and are going to be responsible for many smile lines, as Nana puts it.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

It's December. My favorite month for many reasons. First, we usually get some snow. I'm not into any winter sports, per se, but I love watching it snow. I love hot chocolate, slippers, and having a really good reason to stay inside, warm and cozy. I will occasionally venture out. Elsa and I built a snowman this morning at Nana's. The snow up on the hill was wet and perfect for snowman construction. It was amazing how quickly it turned into a big snowman. Alas, when I returned this evening, he had lost his middle and head. We will have to reconstruct.

I also love Christmas. The music, scents, colors, and foremost, the reason for Christmas. I think we have over-commercialized the holiday in our efforts to make it special, but that's not enough reason to call it off! I particularly love gift wrapping and gift giving. It gives me tremendous satisfaction to make a gift look amazing. Often the outside looks better than what's inside...

Elsa was born in December. She was nearly two weeks late and I just wanted her to have some time between her birthday and Christmas so it was easy to differentiate between the two events. As it is, there's just over a week between her birthday (16) and Christmas (25). People tend to be around and available for parties, so it's working out pretty well.

The last reason I love December (that I will list here, anyhow): peppernuts. You've got to be a family member to get this one. Well, it's the only time of year we make them and I can't get enough.

It starts with Thanksgiving; I'm always very grateful through the holiday season for family, home, and health. This year should be quite interesting with our two newest additions to the family. I'm looking forward to it all!

Cousins rule...

Big news! Joel's brother, Seth, and his wife, Ashley, are having a GIRL! So far, all the Pietsch boys with kids have had girls first. Coincidence?

Also, Ethan rolled over several times from his back to his front. I have succeeded in missing the actual event but I know he had to roll over to get to where he ended up. Evan laughed at a toy, a cute little hippo wearing a tutu. Evan's big development is reaching up when he's about to get picked up out of the seat he plays in.

And my almost-four-year-old is starting to read. Elsa (and the boys) are doing a great program called Your Baby Can Read. It's fun to watch her figure out things and recognize words she knows, however out of context. I was hoping that the S-P-E-L-L-I-N-G out of words we don't want her to hear would last a little longer. She is master of the remote...since she can read the word P-L-A-Y!

Evan (l) and Ethan (r) enjoying tummy time