12.8.06

Jingle Bells!

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v48/erin978/?action=view&current=SV300379.flv

11.30.06

It's been awhile since I gave a lengthy update, I know all you readers are sitting on the edge of your chair, dying to hear what my girls are up to.

So Anna-Kate is a full time walker now. She blew us away when she starting trying to walk at 9 months. And she literally TRIED- she was persistent and even though her little legs weren't quite strong enough she kept trying! Well at about 10 months she was walking 3 steps here, 5 steps there and then somewhere around 10.5 months she started walking full time. She does not crawl much at all, she prefers to walk which surprises us.
Anna is also now talking! I had to go back and look at old Maegan videos today because it seems so early! I can't remember exactly when maegan said anything besides dada but I found videos of her at this age saying 'yaya' and grunting :) If I remember right she didn't say much until around 18 months. Anna is saying "uh oh," "hot," and "drew!" It is so cute when she says 'hot' because she kind of whispers it and then puts a definite "t" at the end. And then she shocked us on Monday by mimicking me when i was calling for drew! Here is a video of her saying his name this morning:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v48/erin978/?action=view&current=SV300300.flv
Sorry about the poor videoing, I was feeding both of them at the same time and trying to record.
Anna will be 11 months on Sunday!

Maegan is so funny these days. She went through a very rough period about a month ago, then had a nicer period for about 2 weeks and then this week it appears we are back in a rough spot. She's definitely testing our limits and trying to establish more independence. Last night we heard her get out of bed and was standing at the top of the stairs while we were downstairs watching tv. Ryan called her name and told her to get back to bed, and she yelled at him, "ZIP IT!" We probably should have addressed that but we were both laughing so hard we couldn't move. And she tells me that *I* "crack her up."
She is thrilled that it is Christmas. She doesn't quite understand that it is a month away still, she tells me it's Christmas in the living room and wants to know where her toy airplane is. She also wants a camera, a sled, a white sink (???) and a red race car.
School is going very well still. She loves to go and seems to be doing very well there. Dance class is also going well and her first recital is December 16th! I'm going to bawl like a baby!
Here are some recent pictures:


Maegan's school picture (yes, she's terrified!)


The girls with my nephews, Drew and Jesse:




And a kiss from Anna!
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v48/erin978/?action=view&current=SV300297.flv

11.14.06

Anna's new trick:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v48/erin978/?action=view&current=SV300163.flv

And she's now a walker!
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v48/erin978/?action=view&current=SV300164.flv

10.31.06

Happy Halloween!

The girls had a lot of fun Trick or Treating last night! Ryan and Maegan ran all over Eldridge while Anna and I hung out here passing out treats. Here is the girls before the night started, and oh how typical this picture is:


Maegan's going through a bad streak of sorts...she's just a handful and not all that easy to please right now! Let's hope this passes quickly.

In good news, though, we got Maegan's preschool progress report today and she is doing so well! They earn a "consistent," "sometimes," or "never" and she got a "consistent" on all 14 items. They are mostly evaluating her interactions with her teachers and peers, her knowledge of their routines, and how helpful she is. Ms. Klopp says that maegan shows a special interest in their animals and class pets :)

Anna has a small cold, which seems to bother me more than her because I constantly have to wipe her nose. I swear I'd rather deal with a 24 hour tummy bug than a runny nose! She's still trying to walk, taking about 4 steps sometimes. She really does seem to practice walking, which is something I dont remember maegan doing. She has four teeth, and maybe a couple on the way. She won't let me in there to look around anymore :)

Hope you all have a happy November! We have an extremely busy month so if I make it back here it will be a miracle!

Anna's 9 month portrait

she's a keeper, isn't she? :)

10.16.06

We went to the REAL pumpkin patch yesterday! No circus-like Pride of the Wapsi pumpkin patch for us- we went and tramped through weeds to find our pumpkins. It was very cool :)

Maegan and Daddy finding a pumpkin:


Grandpa and Anna-Kate:

ugh

now they show up in both posts. i give up. :)

ok

here's the pics to go with that last post! I dont know why they won't work there.

Maegan following miss klopp-


maegan's class (can you find my camera-shy sweetie?)


A-K 9 mos:


a comparison of Maegan at 9 mos-

10.3.06

Maegan's first school field trip was today! We went to Vanderveer Park for a scavenger hunt. I learned something on this trip- I thought Maegan just liked her teacher (Miss Klopp) but I now realize Maegan is OBSESSED with her teacher! She would not let Miss Klopp get 10 feet from her, everything she did she had to show Miss Klopp, and she was constantly on her heels whever she went. It's funny...and cute...and a little strange *ha ha* Miss Klopp said Maegan always comes into the classroom and the first thing she does is greet her, and ask her how she is. My little sweetheart.
We had a lot of fun on the fieldtrip. There are 17 kids in Maegan's class, and all but 1 had a parent there! Pretty amazing I think! It was so nice to talk to the other moms and see the kids and put names with faces.

Here's Maegan trailing Miss Klopp:




And a class picture:



On to my next topic-

Anna-Kate is NINE MONTHS old today!!!
My baby!


She's going to be 1 before I know it. :(

And a comparison pic, here is Maegan at nine months. Do they look alike?

9.29.06

Hey! It's us! Maegan (and Anna-Kate but she can't really talk yet!)
We want you to meet our new friend, Zallie Aristodemo! She belongs to mommy's friend Carrie. Isn't she sooooooo cute?! We can't wait until she comes home at Christmas to play with us. And Mommy can't wait to snuggle with her, she mentioned something about Zallie helping stop that baby bug from biting Mommy. I'm not sure what that means but if it's a bug, I'll find it!


And Mommy saw this picture of Zallie and said that it looks just like this picture of Anna-Kate except Zallie's face isn't all weird-scrunchy like Anna's is.
Zallie:

Anna-Kate:

9.22.06

Maegan recently adopted some pet caterpillars. The first one she found, named Freddie, disappeared in our house. I hope to God Anna-Kate didn't eat him. :)
The second, third and fourth caterpillars (named Whitey, Blackie and Brownie) are shown in this video. Whitie and Brownie are now in coccoons and we are hoping to have some butterflies soon!
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v48/erin978/?action=view&current=SV301390.flv



"I am VERY VERY sad!"


"But I'm getting so good at standing up on my own! I love to practice!"


"Crawling is still the fastest way for me to move though."


Maegan in her "kuh-wer-full" socks (I have a feeling they were discussed at school:)

9.15.06

A video of Anna-Kate playing her favorite game!
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v48/erin978/?action=view&current=SV301385.flv

9.12.06

Maegan's first tap and ballet class went extremely well! She was a good listener (from what i could see!) and participated in all the activities! We are so proud of her. I happened to catch a video the one time she just couldn't contain her excitement :) Enjoy! (ps, they are flying like birdies.)
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v48/erin978/?action=view&current=SV301379.flv

Preschool is going very well! Her class made applesauce today, which they will eat for snack on Thursday! She loves Miss Klopp and Mrs Owens, and the two friends she talks about are Ella B. and Paige. She loves the play food, specifically the egg they can crack. And she loves that there's a park right outside the door!

Anna-Kate is in teething he** :( She has two bottom teeth now, they are both broken through the skin but haven't made much movement up. The top right tooth bubbled up really big on Sunday and then was fine when she woke up Monday. Now it appears that a chunk of her gums there is missing, and there's a whitish (yellowish?) area that concerns me. I'm hoping it's just the tooth, but it just doesn't look right in my opinion. Im keeping a close eye on it.

Some pictures from the last week:
Maegan is going to be a pumpkin for Halloween- the problem is that all the pumpkin costumes are baby sizes! So here's Anna-Kate wearing the pumpkin hat for Maegan's costume (we'll have to have it made a little bigger.)


We went to Niabi Zoo with some friends from Mom's group last week, here's Maegan and Martha after the tackled the brontosaurus and took him for a ride:)


Anna-Kate does NOT like the ball pit (she won't even let me walk near it:)


Back to her happy girl self:

First day of school!

Maegan's first day of school went extremely well! She was so excited, running all over the front yard of the school before we were let in. She ran right in, hung up her jacket and bag and then was off to play without so much as a glance over her shoulder at us! Her teacher, Miss Klopp (and who maegan calls Miss Blopp,) said that all went well!

The obligatory first day of school pic (pay no attention to my one pot of thriving petunias and my one pot of near-death petunias:)


Holding Daddy's hand, as we walk into school:


And getting some help from Miss Blopp

8.27.06

The past four days have been BIG ONES for Anna-Kate!
- On Thursday she started crawling on all fours!
-On Friday she waved bye-bye for the first time!
-On Saturday she cut her first tooth!
-And on Sunday she was found standing in her crib after naptime! (and I forgot that now bedtimes are going to be a huge struggle of lay her down, she stands up, she cries until I come back, and lay her down again and then she stands up and so on and so on)

No wonder she's been a little cranky for a few days, she's had a lot on her mind! :)

This is the normal Anna-Kate, though, and we hope she comes back soon.


Maegan's final days of summer are here; she starts school on Thursday! We decorated her new school bag today, had 'unpack your backpack' night last week, and the girl cannot stop asking to go to school! We hope this means there will be no tears shed (by her) on Thursday. Mommy is another story.
Does she look like a preschooler?


Maegan is my little helper. She has been so good about helping me out now that I am watching Drew. Here is her latest fascination- helping feed the babies:


I got a few good pics (out of the 50 or so I snapped!) last week of the three of them. My favorites:




And here is poor lil A-K today, a little grumpy but content watching Baby Einstein:

8.9.06

well, finally i know that i have four people reading this blog! Thanks for the comments...it's nice to know i'm not talking into empty space :) (so- if you're reading this and not commenting, shame on you! take a second to let me know you are out there! lol)

We are healthy again! I've been better for awhile and Maegan is all better now too. A-K has a lingering cough that only seems to bother her at about 1:30 am, but other than that she seems to be great.

Some exciting things going on here- i've got a new job! I'm now Drew's babysitter, at least for the time being. Kelly was having a hard time finding childcare so I finally thought about it seriously and thought- hey, why not? If I can handle 2 kids surely I can handle 3 and i'm even considering taking on another kid or two! No, this is not a moment of temporary insanity. I think it's permanent.
So knowing that I'm going to have Drew here 3 days per week and possibly take on another animal or two, I had a great time getting the basement in order on Sunday. I cleaned the toy area and the tv area really well, and then worked on Maegan's art corner. So here's some pictures of those areas:
Art corner:



Play room:



Yesterday I opened the fridge and the tray of eggs came tumbling out, I must have left the cover of their little space in the door open. About four eggs came crashing down, breaking on my feet and the rug below my feet. Maegan said, "UH OH MOMMY! You're supposed to be CAREFUL." lol

Anna-Kate is currently fussing at me, because I am not holding her. This is a common theme here, she spots me from across the room and realizes that if i'm across the room then I can't possibly have my arms around her so she begins to cry as she inchworms across the floor. Here's the view from my desk:

7.31.06

hello all!

I have some new pictures to share :)

Here is Anna-Kate and cousin Drew at 7 months old (note- do not let my mom's hands in the picture fool you- Drew is a very strong boy and sits up amazingly well! In fact he also crawls like no kid i've seen before and pulls to a stand! I think he was just feeling a bit tipsy this day):


and a comparative shot- Anna-Kate and Drew at their first meeting. Anna-Kate is 4 days old and Drew is 12 days old!


Maegan ran the Jr. Bix this weekend! It was so hot, the high that day was like 95? 98? and then at 6 pm (when it started) down among the thousands of people that were there, it was probably over 100. And we were standing in the sun and had to wait like 30 minutes for her race to start! It was miserable, but worth it :)
Here is a great picture of the lady in pink running, I wish I knew her :P The pic is supposed to be of maegan, who you can see above that kid's giant head in the picture:


Here she is at the finish:


I told Ryan that this race was a little like childbirth- we'll have to forget all about what it was like and how painful it was before we decide to do it again :)

Miss A-K is up on fours and rocking! She isn't crawling on all fours yet, but after she showed her stuff at Ellie's birthday party, we're all in agreement that she is in fact crawling! My baby! (sob sob sob) If you've been around me at all in the past year I've been very public with the fact that I do not want anyone encouraging this kid to crawl, roll, walk, etc. But I guess it had to come, and a full month earlier than maegan crawled!


Ellie turned 3 yesterday! Here is a pic of Maegan double fisting it, Maegan style :)



Both girls are currently sick :( And the really sad part is this is A-K's second illness, and just like the first one it came from me! I came home from the Dells with a nasty cough, and now both girls are hacking away. Yesterday was sort of (REALLY) awful because they were both cranky, but so far so good today.

Maegan says:

(in a sad voice,) "I can't climb over a tree, I'm too short."

(in a demanding yell,) "I WANT A PIRATE FLAG AND A PIRATE HAT!"

(in a sweet voice, patting my back,) "This is my new mommy."

(mimicking mommy,) "HOLY SHIT!"

:)

The things that come out of her mouth now are astounding. And I guess I need to closer watch the things that come out of MY mouth!

We returned on Saturday from a short getaway to the Wisconsin Dells. I learned a few things from this mini-vacay:
1. Maegan is deathly afraid of waterparks. And I'm not exaggerating.
2. I'm not sure a few nights away from home are worth the pain of getting Anna-Kate back to the great sleeping she was doing.
3. Work conventions turned family vacations aren't really as fun as you think they are.
4. While Maegan is deathly afraid of waterparks, large groups of people, loud noises and basically everything, she loves to get on stage and dance in very noisy restaurants, whether it be with 20 other kids or all by herself. And she'll participate in a hula hooping contest.

Don't get me wrong- we had a lot of fun, but I will from here on out refer to going to work as "vacation" and going on vacation as "work." :)

Being coy:


We went to a place called Storybook Gardens which is a small zoo with a storybook theme, so they had these storybook displays all over the park that were so cute! It was the one thing we got to do that was totally Maegan oriented and didn't scare her at all :)

Hello 3 Bears!


"Why do I feel like I want to wear this hat?"


Cinderella's carriage:


How maegan felt every time we were near the waterparks (indoor or outdoor:)


The hulahooping contest!



So aside from the "work" we just went on, both girls are doing great! Maegan has started a new pom-poms class and a tumbling class at the dance school here in town. The new school year is fast approaching, only a little over a month until my baby begins preschool! (Is it wrong that I am happy about this and not sad?!)
Anna-Kate is a soon to be crawler! She's up and rocking, and can definitely move from place to place, yet I've never really seen how she does it! All of her slight movements put togther make her quite mobile. And you should see this little peanut up on all fours- she looks so cute! Also, she's way into her solid foods, and will stare you down if you are eating and she is not.
Anna-Kate has fallen head over heels in love- with her sister! They are quite the pair, especially when Maegan gets in her face and starts screeching like a hyena to make Anna-Kate laugh. And boy does she! So far maegan is the only one who can really make her giggle. She's a huge fan of mommy, but mostly just for cuddling and general transportation, and she loves her daddy as evident by the "DADADADADADADA" that she shrieks! She started that just over a week ago.