September & December Babies

Someone hand me a Mr. Clean magic eraser...STAT.

2012-01-31T14:10:00.005-05:00

Found this on our wall going down the stairway today.

Thank you Mr. Owen.

All I can say is that I do buy tissues and Boogie Wipes for my kids. When I remember. Probably need to work a little more on teaching them how to use these products instead of their fingers.

Saturday dinner playdate

2012-01-28T20:59:00.001-05:00

Erica, Greg and Blake happened to be free tonight, so they came over to hang out and have an early dinner with us. It was so nice to catch up and see the kids play together. Ben made sliders and Erica and Greg brought homemade blackberry frozen yogurt and cookies which were the perfect ending to the meal. (For the record, my contribution was a roasted green bean/mushroom side, but it didn't come out all that great. Another validation that I am absolutely terrible at cooking and should just retire and leave all future meal planning to Ben.) Other than my crummy veggie, it was a fun evening and the kiddos went right to bed after our guests left.

We had tried to get a picture of the three little ones on the stairs, but Owen was too enamored with the Matchbox car set they gave him, so he wouldn't sit for a picture. The girls posed for us though. Blake has such an adorable smile, doesn't she? :)

Frying Pan Farm on a chilly morning

2012-01-28T20:45:00.001-05:00

Owen and Vivian were walking ahead of us, and when her mitten came off while he was trying to hold her hand, he tried his hardest to help her put it back on.

Me love.

Fresh air

2012-01-26T13:41:00.000-05:00

We're all pretty much over our colds, so since we haven't been out much and the weather was nice enough today - we headed out to the backyard for some fresh air. Lawn mowing and basketball were a welcome change from laying on the couch watching DVD's.

Don't try to hard-boil and egg in the microwave

2012-01-25T21:43:00.005-05:00

Okay, so hindsight is 20/20. But when you're in a hurry to feed a hungry toddler a snack, you don't usually think things through all the way. I'm sharing so that if you're reading this, you don't make the same mistake I did.

(You're probably a lot smarter than me about cooking in general, and most likely you wouldn't do this. Let alone give a toddler a hard-boiled egg as a snack. I mean, who does that? They are more of a breakfast food. In this case, I hope you at least get a good chuckle out of reading this post.)

In my own defense, I was trying to get her to try new foods. Plus, we were running low on good toddler-esque, healthy snacks. So I figured, while she munches away at the last of the Cheerios on her tray, I'll stick an egg in some water in a microwave-safe container (see, I thought part of it through, right?) and in 10 minutes I'd have a hard-boiled egg.

WRONG.

Five minutes into the 10 minutes I had set it for, it sounded like a gun went off in my kitchen. (And I know what guns sound like now when you shoot them. Check my Facebook profile if you didn't see me shooting guns in FL a few weeks ago.) My 15-year old GE Profile microwave oven shot open and out spewed the egg that it had exploded. Everywhere.

To make it even more fun, the house then smelled like burnt eggs. Yum.

I thought maybe it had died from all the excitement, and that maybe I'd get a new microwave/oven combo out of the deal. But alas, I was wrong again. The light bulb blew during the explosion, but my handy husband will likely be able to fix it.

When I told Ben about the incident during the kids' bathtime, he asked: "So is that why the kitchen was all clean when I got home?"

You learn something new everyday, don't ya? I guess I should stick to microwaving Ivory soap instead of eggs. Much cleaner.

Kiwi Crate #2

2012-01-23T21:01:00.001-05:00

Last week our second Kiwi Crate arrived in the mail! I saved it for today so that Owen and I would have a fun little project to do together while Vivian napped.

It was all about underwater fun. We made an aquarium and colored the fishies and creatures that live in the ocean with these cool plastic pastel pencils that were sent in the crate, and then Owen got to "fish" for them.

We're saving part 2 of this crate for later this week when rain is in the forecast. Aren't I such a good little planner?

Go away colds!

2012-01-22T21:46:00.005-05:00

Last night no one really slept all that well. Ben and I watched a few old LOST episodes after the kids went to sleep, and so it was after 10pm when we got to bed, only to be awoken around 12am by Vivian. Baby Tylenol for her and she was back to sleep, and so were we. Or so we thought.

Owen woke up crying at 1am. I went in and tried to calm him down. Took him to the potty, gave him some Children's Tylenol, and tucked him back in.

Less than a minute after crawling back into bed, we heard him on the monitor crying again. Ben's turn.

He ended up just staying in there with him (now that he's in a single bed there is a little room for mom or dad - you didn't think Ben would fit into the toddler bed, now did you?).

I went back to sleep. Ben and Owen weren't so lucky.

Ben came back into our room at 4:30am. Tag - I was it.

I crawled into Owen's bed and tried to get him to close his eyes until the sun came up. That didn't quite happen. I only lasted 30 minutes before giving up. We went downstairs, I put on Cars 2 and gave him juice. He said he wanted pancakes, but wouldn't eat them once I made them. Then he said his ear hurt and he wanted to watch another movie. The urgent care place didn't open until 8am, and it was only 6:45, so I put in the original Cars and he snuggled up in his beanbag chair. Within 15 minutes he was snoring away.

Vivian woke up at 7:15, so I got her up and fed her quietly while Owen and Ben slept. Owen woke up around 8 and we went over to the urgent care place. Sure enough, he has an ear infection in his right ear and she put him on a 10-day course of the pink stuff.

Source: Uploaded by user via Jennifer on Pinterest

(I found this cool trick on Pinterest for keeping track of taking it).

I think I may have become re-infected too. We all took naps this afternoon which helped. That, and another big batch of homemade chicken noodle soup. Need to get this house healthy again! :)

More bath bubbles

2012-01-21T21:43:00.000-05:00

Tonight after coming home from a toddler birthday party, we decided to add even more bubbles to our bath time thanks to the bubbles in our favor box.

Owen to Vivi: "I think I caught one."

Vivian says no

2012-01-20T22:43:00.000-05:00

Bubbles

2012-01-20T21:10:00.003-05:00

Since the kiddos have been sick all week, we've been doing the Johnson & Johnson's menthol bubble bath to help get all the snot out, and then Vick's baby rub on their chests to help them breathe better at night. We don't usually do bubble baths, so it's been a treat. Anything to make them feel better.

Tonight when I filled up the tub and the bubbles started, I swear Vivi said "bubble"! I heard her say it twice, pointing to the bubbles, and then Ben ran up and heard her once.

I want to keep doing bubble baths for them now since I love hearing her say bubble.

Guess we need to put some Mr. Bubble on the grocery list this week. :)

Another drooler

2012-01-19T22:55:00.002-05:00

The little miss is working on a few more teeth...

Sick kiddos

2012-01-19T22:45:00.006-05:00

This has been a long week of terrible sleep for both kids. The massive amounts of icky snot in their poor little noses has made it tough for them to breathe, and Owen now has a cough on top of it. :( Naps haven't really existed this week other than a 20-minute one here and there (Owen even woke himself up from what I thought was going to be a great nap yesterday because he sneezed twice) and nighttime sleep has been interrupted at least once a night for each of them. Owen stayed home from preschool yesterday and today. He misses his friends and activities. I missed my downtime. But we had been healthy for awhile, so I knew we were due. I read in one of my baby's health books that when you have a toddler in the house, you should expect them to be sick with a cold-type virus about once every 6 weeks or so during their first couple of toddler years and I've noticed it to be true no matter how much hand washing I patrol or sanitizing gel I apply.

Humidifiers, Vick's vapor rub, lots of juice and baby Tylenol have helped. A little. And I've caved and let them watch more movies (we've seen Cars 2 about 5 times this week) and Baby Signing Time DVD's than usual.

Ben and I had it too, but not as bad as the kids. Hoping by the weekend everyone will be feeling better.

Blogiversary

2012-01-18T18:12:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was my 4-yr blogiversary. When I say that the time between the first post and this one has flown by, it seems like such an understatement. The time has gone by so incredibly fast. But thanks to the blog, I can look back whenever I want and remember each and every week. That's priceless to me. (Really. I mean, I'm actually still amazed that blogging platforms are free. Just kinda waiting to see fees crop up any month now, but for the time being, I'll remain very thankful for the freebie. And we all know how much I love getting stuff for free. Pass the coupon, share the love.)

Blogging has become such a big part of my life for me in that, it's not only my online baby book for the kids, but also a place where I come to reveal my parenting mistakes and the lessons I've learned from those mistakes. I think the only way we can grow as parents is to stumble sometimes along the way, but then pick ourselves right back up and keep going.

I have learned so much from other blogs I find online. My Blog List on the right side of my own blog is where I usually start my day, clicking through my friend's links to see if anyone made any updates since the time I went to bed. But I also find blogs of other moms out there in cyberspace am I'm just drawn to their writing.

Take Momastery, for example. I found it via Facebook, from another mom who had shared Glennon's recent "Don't Carpe Diem" post. I read it, quickly, and then bookmarked the page so that I could go back and read it later. I am still reading. Quite frankly, I can't stop reading. One of my favorite posts so far has got to be this one, or this one, or this one. Seriously, I am hooked.

She writes with such honesty, such shear heart and emotion. And she's freaking hilarious. Even got Ben laughing to the point he had tears in his eyes with this post. If you pack your husband's lunch, it's a must read. Trust me. I now consider myself a Monkee and I like to think I might run into her one day. She happens to live in the same town. Small world.

I am so thankful that blogs exist because there is a whole lot of information sharing and good deed doing going on out there.

Here's to many more years of blogging.

(And hopefully my kids won't disown me when they grow up and read what I wrote when they were babies.)

Swim lesson #2

2012-01-17T23:09:00.001-05:00

We started Vivi in swim lessons at the same place Owen is going (Carlile Swimming, but they're changing the name to The Tom Dolan Swim School in February).

Here we are in the changing room before going out to the pool deck. My friend Becky gave us this adorable suit that one of her twins outgrew. I love it because it is part ballet/part swimming, and I loved both growing up. :)

It's a mommy and me class that we go to while Owen is at preschool. It's fun, but she's the only baby in the timeslot right now, so it's been basically a private lesson these last two weeks. So far her favorite parts are floating on her back and walking on the big foam float on top of the water. I'm hoping more babies join soon so she can have some friends in her class.

Sliding

2012-01-17T22:38:00.001-05:00

I bought this slide for $7 at a consignment sale a few years ago. We brought it upstairs from the playroom since Vivian had so much fun learning how to slide on her own with Daddy's help. He even taught her to slide down backwards, wasn't that cool of him??? (not so much).

I love how they play together with it. 9 times out of 10 they share and take turns, and we haven't had any major tumbles since it's only 2 feet high. Love Little Tikes products.

Getting into dinner

2012-01-14T22:35:00.000-05:00

yum Mom.

Sippy leash

2012-01-13T21:15:00.000-05:00

Made this today seeing as I have been getting so annoyed when Vivi launches her sippy cup off her tray lately when she's done with it.

Too bad it doesn't work since I didn't have any no-slip grip to put on the side of the elastic that goes around the sippy.

Guess I'll be dealing with run-away sippy cups for another week or so until I can get myself to the craft store. :(

Undressing and dressing

2012-01-10T22:32:00.000-05:00

Owen has a fascination lately with taking off his shirt. It has lead to him then taking off his pants and running around in his underwear.

Tonight he did just that, and then decided to put his pants back on himself. When I turned around to see why he was stumbling, this is what I saw:

A lesson in "how to put your pants on the correct way" was taught before bedtime.

Heading home

2012-01-09T22:24:00.002-05:00

Today we had to pack up to fly home. It was sad to say goodbye, but we now get to count down the days until our family beach trip this August.

Don't fret Vivi, only 213 to go! (And I'm pretty sure I'll be the one making that face when Daddy and I are driving 14 hours with two toddlers.)

A Latte Fun

2012-01-08T22:02:00.000-05:00

Today we went to A Latte Fun so the kiddos could burn off some energy.

They started off riding the Harley's:

Then Vivian did some grocery shopping. She remembered to use her coupons like Mommy taught her. :)

The obligatory crawl through the tunnel:

Smile after the slide:

Trying on some dress-up outfits:

Hitting the gym for a few minutes of cardio:

And quite a few jumps into the big blue pit of foam blocks. (I have a great picture of Mike throwing Owen into the pit, but it's on Mike's camera, so I'll have to ask him to email it to me or post it on Max's blog.)

The trampoline was another favorite, but since I was too busy jumping on it with the kids, I don't have any pictures of that one on my camera. I think it was safe to say that A Latte Fun really was a lot of fun. LOL.

We stopped at a Mexican place for lunch and were able to keep the kids awake for the drive back to Mike & Lindsey's where all three then proceeded to pass out for two hours due to all the fun of the day. That was when Lindsey and I made our exit to the nearest nail salon for pedicures. Ahhhhhh Mommy bliss. :)

Rub-a-dub-dub

2012-01-07T23:00:00.000-05:00

Three babes in the tub. :)

Flamingo Gardens

2012-01-07T21:23:00.000-05:00

We took ~~a picnic~~ Subway to Flamingo Gardens in Davie today. The weather was beautiful, and the kids had a great time checking out all the animals.

Max and Vivian rode together for awhile in the wagon. When we were buying our tickets to get in, the lady behind us asked if they were twins. :)

One of the first exhibits we saw when we walked in was the aviary. Vivian was in heaven ~ she was enthralled with the birds, it was hilarious! She kept walking up to them waving her arms up and down saying "ba! ba!". We caught it on camera:

Amazingly, after about 20 minutes in the aviary, no one got hit with bird poop. We had to tear our daughter away from her feathered friends to see the other animals.

Vivi and her new BFFs.

Max didn't quite share Vivi's fascination with birds.

When we put the babies back in the wagon, the seatbelt had broke. Luckily for us, Mike had remembered his Leatherman, and he was able to fix it with his handy tool. :)

So we kept going and found some turtles and big tortoises. They were pretty cool.

There were also snakes, alligators, a bob cat, and a few other animals I'm forgetting now. But lucky for Vivi, she got to see more of her favorite animal before we left...
(notice how Ben couldn't get her to look at the camera for this picture.)

It was a very fun family afternoon at the gardens. :)

Lightning McQueen

2012-01-07T21:19:00.003-05:00

Owen was so excited to drive cousin Max's Lightning McQueen racecar around their house.

The funny thing was, he spent a lot of the time just sitting in it. His favorite thing to do was to drive it from the front door to the kitchen, and then park it beside the refrigerator and hang out there while we watched him from the family room. He'd sing songs in it all by himself and was so content just chillin' in his race car.

Vivi probably did more driving than he did once she learned how to press the button. HA!

Pizza night at Tony & Dotty's house

2012-01-06T21:57:00.003-05:00

Tony and Dotty hosted Pizza Friday tonight! It was so fun to catch up with our friends. Andrea and Troy were there, and so was Susie and Georgia stopped by too. The pizza was delish and we all ate til we were stuffed and hung out until the babies told us with their fussiness that it was time to head home for bedtime.

But before we left we took the customary "kids on the couch" picture. Owen enjoyed it a pinch more than last time. :)

I love how Grant is checking Vivi out.

It's as if he's thinking, "hey baby." Ha!

Sunny Playground

2012-01-06T21:46:00.001-05:00

We took a picnic to a local playground today where we met up with our friends Dotty, Wyatt and Grant. Uncle Mike, Aunt Lindsey, and cousin Max came too! The boys had a blast chasing each other around, and Uncle Mike even turned on the sprinkler for a few minutes. Luckily, no one got soaked.

After the playground, we headed over to stay at Mike & Lindsey's for our last few days in Florida. Owen was super excited to have a chance to drive cousin Max's Lightning McQueen car. We're hoping for a nap. We'll see who wins this battle.

Playing in the backyard

2012-01-05T14:36:00.001-05:00

This morning we woke up and had breakfast, then got ready for the day. The kids played with their toys for a bit, then the girls went shopping while the boys went to a local park where they could watch the airplanes and helicopters - Owen's favorites!

In the afternoon after naps, the kids played in the backyard while Grandma watered some of her plants and Teddy ran around.

Vivi played some basketball on the patio:

At one point I noticed she had gotten her panties all in a bunch.

Don'tcha just hate it when that happens???

Cupcakes

2012-01-05T13:55:00.001-05:00

Grandma made cupcakes this afternoon. Owen devoured a few when he woke up from his nap.

I must ask him several times a week if I can borrow his eyelashes. He always says no.

He must know that the ladies will love them someday.

Sunny FL here we come!

2012-01-04T14:10:00.003-05:00

This morning we got up at the crack of dawn to hop on the first flight down to FL. The kids did extremely well the entire trip. We used our Britax Roundabout for Owen (both to wheel him through the airports strapped to the back of a piece of luggage, and to keep him buckled in during the flight) and Vivi was on our laps during the flight. Vivian slept during the middle portion of the flight, which was perfect, and we made it to FL a few minutes early, around 10:40am.

My dad picked us up and we headed over to Grandma & Poppy's house. After lunch we got to open gifts that Santa had left for us and the kids from Christmas, and we gave them our presents.

That evening Mike, Lindsey and Max came over for dinner. It was so great to have the family all together and to see the cousins playing side by side. It was a delayed Christmas celebration, but no one seemed to notice since we were more focused on enjoying each other's company.

I think it is safe to say that the best gift was the guitar tee shirt that we gave Mike. It actually played, but, as Mike pointed out once he started to play around with it, there aren't many songs out there with only 7 chords. Oh well, the novelty of it was worth it. :)

Reading

2012-01-02T14:03:00.001-05:00

Just this week Vivian has started to enjoy reading books. Her favorite right now is Little Quack loves Colors, but she also will sit through Where is Baby's Belly Button? and two of the baby Sesame Street board books: Bubbles, Bubbles and At The Zoo.

It's so neat to be able to say to her, "Vivi, go pick a book" and she goes to get one, brings it to you and sits on your lap. Just like Owen used to do when he was her age.

I'm so happy to see that she is finally excited to read with us! After months of closing the book or throwing it aside, I was beginning to wonder if her love of reading was ever going to emerge.

Thankfully, I think she's getting there. She just needed to do it in her own time. :)

New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-01T13:40:00.002-05:00

Happy New Year!!! Here are the things I'd like our family to accomplish in 2012 (in no particular order):

Re-arrange the basement to make a craft corner for my sewing machine and sewing/crafting supplies (need storage furniture)
Re-paint the family room and remove the mirror above the fireplace
Paint the kitchen
Create a good budget plan and stick to it (easier said then done, but this is a must now since I'm staying home)
Read more with Vivian
Prepare a will
Teach Owen to ride a big boy bike (with training wheels of course) this spring
Take more family pictures

I'm sure there are more things that we'd like to do this year (I may end up going back to add a few), but for now, this is the list.

What are your new year's resolutions? Maybe we could keep each other on track. ;)

New Year's Eve

2011-12-31T13:25:00.001-05:00

Grandma and Grandpa graciously agreed to babysit for us tonight so that we could go out for a festive New Year's Eve with Kelly & Matt (and this crazy dude, Juan).

Juan's wife Steph knows the staff at Stones Cove Kitbar in Herndon, so we were hooked up all night with awesome food and fun drinks. It is a unique restaurant/bar in that the kitchen is the center of the restaurant, and the tables are different sections of bars surrounding the kitchen so you get to see your food being prepared. We got to try the lobster cones, filet of beef sliders, and mackinac and spinach & artichoke flatbreads. All the food was delicious, we are already looking forward to going back again sometime.

We were actually going to stay up to see the ball drop ~ can't remember the last time we did that! (Little did we know, Owen would also stay up to see the ball drop! Who knew he could keep his little eyes open that long!?) I took a few photos with my Blackberry and let me just say that they were pretty funny to look through the next day. :)

Such a fun night with old friends and new friends Juan, Steph, Katie and Brett. Thank you so much to Grandma and Grandpa for staying over to babysit so we could have a night out.

I need to think about my New Year's resolutions. I am going to write them down this year in hopes of actually accomplishing them. In the past when I've taken the time to write down goals, it makes me more accountable and I tend to follow through better.

Kiwi Crate #1

2011-12-30T13:13:00.001-05:00

Grandma & Poppy sent Owen a 3-month subscription to Kiwi Crate as a Christmas gift and today we received it in the mail and dug in.

This month was all about the solar system and rockets! While Vivi napped this morning, we did the first part of the solar system craft ~ punching out the stars and planets and painting them! Owen did such a great job and had a lot of fun.

Then once they were dry in the afternoon, we tied string to each piece and assembled the space mobile. We also did the second activity, building your own personal rocket out of paper, ribbons, tape and a big straw this afternoon, but Mommy had to take Owen's away since he thought it was fun to use his sister as a target. :)

He was so proud of his creation:

Can't wait for next month's Kiwi Crate! Thanks Grandma & Poppy!

Driving my tractor

2011-12-29T21:31:00.003-05:00

We used to watch this YouTube video and Owen always loved it (all of the Barefoot Books on YouTube are awesome for kids).

Now he sings it as he drives his tractor. My little farmer.

Luckily he just pretends that he has a heavy load in his trailer, instead of putting Vivi in there. :)

Christmas pictures

2011-12-25T20:45:00.001-05:00

Christmas morning

2011-12-25T20:21:00.000-05:00

Ben and I woke up around 6:30am this morning. He wanted to inflate the race car to put it out under the tree, and I wanted to have a cup of coffee (from our new Cuisinart coffee maker ~ thank you Grandma & Grandpa!) before the craziness began.

Here is what our Christmas morning looked like before the kids woke up.

Christmas morning video

2011-12-25T20:15:00.000-05:00

Milk & cookies for Santa

2011-12-24T20:29:00.000-05:00

Tonight we wrote Santa a little note to go along with the milk and cookies we left him.

And of course we couldn't forget a few carrots for Rudolf and the other reindeer! (Owen drew the map to our house himself.)

Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T08:50:00.001-05:00

Christmas Eve started off with some cleaning by Mommy while Vivian napped and Owen & Daddy did some last-minute shopping. Then it was lunchtime and time to get ready for the big afternoon & evening ahead of us.

We met up with Kelly, Kayla, Ryan and Jen at the Children's service at the Methodist church down the street from our house. They were having a live nativity scene outside and then a children's choir singing about the story of the birth of Jesus, which we thought was perfect for the kids this year. It was a beautiful service, and Owen was very into it all, so that was fun to see. Our plan was for the kids to skip their naps so that they would sleep on the drive over to Grandma & Grandpa's after church, but Vivi fell asleep in my arms at church during "Silent Night" (how appropriate!) and Owen fought sleep the entire drive he was so excited, so he never had a nap.

We had appetizers and then a lovely dinner with Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Hillary. They had very strategically "wrapped" the doorway between the kitchen and the family room with Santa/Frosty paper which Owen commented on several times. :) After everyone ate, we heard jingle bells outside and knew that Santa and the sleigh had flown by! We headed into the family room to see if Santa had stopped in. And boy, did he!!!

Santa had left Owen a John Deere tractor with a trailer to haul stuff! He was over the moon. We spent the next hour opening gifts and toys for the kids. Santa remembered the tow truck that Owen asked him for when he sat on his lap at Clyde's last week! Vivian got a little overwhelmed at one point, but we made it through by giving her a bottle and then it was time to head home for bedtime. Santa had left the tractor plugged in so that it could get a full battery charge, so Grandma and Grandpa agreed to bring it out to us tomorrow so that Owen could try it out. :)

Happy Christmas Eve to everyone!

Christmas craft gift

2011-12-23T20:26:00.001-05:00

I got this cute idea for an ornament gift via Pinterest. This blog gave step-by-step instructions on how to make them. They were super easy and fast, and the kids had fun, except Vivi got a little annoyed that I was using her toe after the fourth ornament. (I did Owen's thumb print, but figured it would be challenging to use her thumb so I opted for her big toe instead and it worked perfectly.)

You put their name and year on the bottom of each ornament with a Sharpie, do the prints, let them dry, then add the antlers and eyes with the Sharpie and finish with a dot of red paint for the nose. So fun!
It's almost Christmas Eve!

Potty time

2011-12-23T09:03:00.002-05:00

Little People Nativity

2011-12-22T21:44:00.004-05:00

Look what Grandma and Poppy sent Owen & Vivian ~ just in time for Christmas!

Heading home

2011-12-22T20:12:00.006-05:00

This morning we packed up at my mom and dad's place and headed over to Gigi's to say goodbye. Vivian took a nap while Gigi finished up some yummy Gingerbread cookies to send us home with, and then we took a few pictures before packing up the car. I put Vivi in one of the cute dresses Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Mike sent for her birthday and the colors in the dress matched her colorful eye. At least I can see it healing.

We met up with my high school friends Amy and Rochelle at the Hershey Grill for lunch before getting on the road to home. We had such a fun visit, it was hard to say goodbye to Hershey.

Trains at the Hershey Antique Auto Museum

2011-12-21T20:06:00.000-05:00

Our good friend Cindy met us at the Hershey Antique Auto museum this afternoon and treated us to tickets to see the train display and the museum decked out in lights and Christmas decorations. Owen LOVED the trains! He cried big tears when we had to leave. (The lady had to actually shut them off so that we took the hint that they were closing up, ha!)

Thank you so much Cindy! So great to see you and catch up!

Christmas cookies!

2011-12-21T19:34:00.001-05:00

This morning we baked Christmas cookies with Gigi! She found an incredible recipe for spritz cookies and Owen did a great job of decorating with the sprinkles. :)

At one point when Grandma and I were cleaning up (Vivi napped the entire time we baked), Owen was also cleaning up - a marble game that he had been playing with. He proudly showed me how he fit all the pieces back into the box (completely on his own - if you know me, I would have just shoved them all in the box - this shows how much he is like his father.)

Visiting Gigi in Hershey

2011-12-20T19:15:00.000-05:00

Today we packed up and headed to Hershey for a few days to visit Gigi and my friends Amy and Rochelle who was home for the holidays from CA. The kids did so well on the drive there. I stocked a reusable shopping bag full of books and a few little toys and stuck it inbetween the two car seats. Owen was able to reach the goods and even gave Vivi a few things to play with when she woke up towards the end of our drive.

We had lunch with Gigi when we got there and then took a quick outing to Chocolate World which both kids loved. Gigi made fried chicken and fresh veggies for dinner and then it was time to head over to my parent's condo for bathtime and bedtime. The weather was so dreary, but we were so glad to be able to spend time with my Grandma.

Christmas playdate & Vivian's first ER visit

2011-12-19T20:55:00.008-05:00

It was a good and a bad day. First, the good. My old college suitemates and I all have boys and thought it would be fun to get them together for a little Christmas playdate. Mindy offered to host and the kids looked so cute in their matching GAP Christmas sweaters.

The boys played with Lucas' train set and checked out the Christmas tree while the mommies caught up. Mindy had some cute crafts for the kids: gingerbread men ornaments which they decorated with sparkly dots and stickers and wreaths made by threading Fruit Loops onto pipe cleaners.

After crafts, Mindy made an awesome lunch: reindeer fluffernutter & PB sandwiches, pretzels and fruit for the kids and chicken salad on croissants for the moms. Cole let us borrow his highchair, and stupid me put Vivi into it without buckling the seatbelt thinking, "I'll just remember that I don't have her buckled when I go to take her out". Uh, yeah. That didn't happen. Poor baby fell out of her highchair and landed facedown on the rug. She cried right away, I scooped her up and started crying myself for being so ridiculously stupid. She calmed down after a few minutes and I packed up the kids to head home and call the doctor. I knew from past experience when Owen fell once when he was around 18 months, that the main things to watch for were vomiting and loss of consciousness, and she had neither. But I was still extremely shook up over it and was watching very closely the entire drive home.

I called the pediatrician when we got home and spoke with one of the nurses. Vivi was following me around while I spoke to the nurse and she could be heard giggling in the background. The nurse told me she was likely just fine, it was an accident and to try not to beat myself up about it. She said it was okay to put her down for a nap, but that if she was sleeping longer than 2 hours, to gently wake her to check on her.

Vivi slept for about an hour and 45 minutes before I got anxious and woke her myself. She woke up in a good mood, and I strapped her in her highchair to give her and Owen a snack. As she was munching away at some grapefruit and Cheerios, I kept looking at her eyes and thought that her one pupil looked slightly larger than the other. Another call to the pediatrician and they said to bring her in to the ER right away.

Of course I freak out at that point. We jumped in the car and headed over to the hospital. It took about 15 minutes to get checked in, and the nurse looked her over. The doctor came in and checked her out, but Vivi was upset by the entire situation and was crying so they couldn't get a great look at her pupils. They recommended we do an MRI just to double-check that there wasn't a skull fracture because of the fall. She cried through most of it, but did surprisingly well during the scan. The doctor told us that they have a state-of-the-art pediatric MRI machine which emits the lowest level of radiation necessary for the picture, which was reassuring.

Took another thirty to forty minutes before we had the results. Owen was entertained the entire time by a cart of books in the hallway, and Vivi just wanted to walk around the room and check everything out, even with the little toe heart rate monitor thingy hanging off her foot. I knew everything was okay when I saw the doctor's face as she walked towards the glass door of our room to tell us the news. Everything checked out fine, thank GOD.

By the time we got home it was 7:30pm and as I fed her I noticed Vivi had developed the beginning of a black eye. :(

I cannot stop thinking about what happened and am just so thankful that she is okay. Things can happen in a split-second. I'm trying to forgive myself, but in reality, I don't know that I ever will. I am trying to remember that I am a good mom who made a mistake, but with my Type-A personality, it's challenging. Especially now with the constant reminder when I look at my baby. I'm hoping she'll be more forgiving of me than I am of myself. I hope that anyone who reads this post learns from our experience and always, always, always uses the seat belt buckles on the highchair. I know I will.

2nd annual Christmas playdate with the Southworths and the Taeschners

2011-12-18T18:51:00.000-05:00

Since last year's Christmas playdate, we've added two more babies to the mix. And in only about 8 weeks (or less!) we'll be adding another. :)

This year Molly & Tim hosted and they made a delicious lasagna in addition to an artichoke dip and Kel & Matt brought an Italian platter to munch on before dinner. We had fun chasing the kids around and watching football before the craziness of the gift exchange took place.

We took the customary "kids on the couch" picture. Ben and I look forward to taking our turn to host next year.

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

2011-12-17T18:46:00.001-05:00

Today was Grandpa's birthday! To celebrate, we met up at Ozzy's for dinner. Yesterday Owen helped me pick out his gift: an indoor remote-controlled helicopter! Just what he needed/wanted! :)

Happy Birthday Grandpa ~ we love you!

Little ballerina

2011-12-15T15:33:00.002-05:00

Shhhhhhh!!!!!

Don't tell Vivian, but she's getting this cute purple tutu for Christmas! (made by yours truly thanks to this tutorial.)

Love me some chubby little legs in a ballerina tutu! :)

Teacher gifts

2011-12-14T15:24:00.003-05:00

Today Owen helped me make homemade sugar scrub for his preschool teachers as part of their Christmas gift baskets. We used the recipe from The Krazy Coupon Lady's website and I think it came out pretty well. We scented them with almond and coconut extracts. They smelled yummy! Owen had a ball mixing up the sugars. We put it in a jar and tied it with a pretty holiday ribbon.
I forgot to take a picture of the finished basket, but we also included a Nivea Lip Balm/Gloss, a set of chocolates and homemade chocolate-covered graham crackers with crushed candycanes on top. (You can never have too much chocolate, right?)

We'll give them to Miss Karlene and Miss Jessica tomorrow on his last day before the 2-week holiday break.

J is for Jellybean

2011-12-13T15:21:00.000-05:00

Me: "Owen, why aren't there any jellybeans in the sixth jar?"
Owen: "I guess somebody just ate them."

Vivian's First Year video

2011-12-12T19:55:00.001-05:00

Make a video - it's fun, easy and free!
www.onetruemedia.com

The last sticker in the pack

2011-12-11T20:40:00.003-05:00

* Wearing some 12-mo & mostly 18-mo clothes

* Size 5 diapers

* Drinking whole milk (mixed 1/2 and 1/2 with the remainder of the formula we have) in bottles at breakfast and bedtime, but we're starting to wean to just sippys

* Has three teeth with the forth cutting through and waking her up in the middle of the night this week :(

* Sits in her high chair to eat meals with us

* Loves Cheerios, bread, bananas, pears, and YoBaby yogurt

* Drinks water out of her sippy at mealtime

* Still sleeping with her paci, sleepy giraffe, and silky blankie

* Still not fond of most diaper changes, but less squirmy

* Not that happy about being in her carseat for trips that involve multiple stops. I've learned that she can only really tolerate one errand a day.

* LOVES walking around everywhere, usually leans over when you're holding her to signal she wants down

* LOVES bathtime and splashes around constantly

* Still enjoys giving sloppy open-mouth kisses on command ~ so cute

* Is more and more vocal every day. I think now that she's mastered (for the most part) walking, she's ready to focus on learning to talk

* Started signing this week!!! Signs "milk" often and "eat" once.

* Favorite playmate is her brother. Most of the time. :)

12-Month Stats:

Weight ~ 23 pounds, 12 oz

Height ~ 28 & 3/4 in

Head ~ 18 & 1/2 in

Happy First Birthday Vivi!

2011-12-10T19:56:00.004-05:00

It is hard to believe that a year has gone by. It's feels like just yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital to meet her big brother. She has brought us so much joy to our family. I love starting each day with her to see what new thing she will do.

On this special day, we had breakfast and then Vivi opened her presents from Mommy, Daddy and Owen. (Owen was more than happy to help with the gift-opening.) Owen picked out a fun set of bath toys for his sister and Mommy and Daddy got Vivian her very own Cabbage Patch doll!

Grandma and Poppy sent Vivi an adorable outfit and a fun LeapFrog birthday cake! You can light up the candles and then actually blow them out ~ it's pretty cool.
Then it was off to Brunch with Santa at Clyde's with Grandma and Grandpa! (We missed Aunt Hillary, but totally understand her need to be studying hard for finals and we wish her the best of luck this coming week. Those long hours of studying will definitely pay off.) We got to see Kayla and Ryan there too and took a few family photos for them. Owen loved getting to talk to Santa and tell him what he wanted for Christmas (a new tow truck), but Vivi wasn't too fond of the stranger with the white beard and glasses.

After lunch we came back to our house to open presents and have cake. Grandma and Grandpa showered Vivi with lots of fun toys, a new book, cute peacoat, and several stunning new outfits! She had fun exploring all the new toys and Owen was just in heaven too. Then it was on to cake!

She loved the cake ~ chocolate, of course! A sweet treat for our sweet baby girl on her first birthday.

Baking a cake for the Birthday Girl...

2011-12-09T20:18:00.000-05:00

while she was upstairs napping away. :)

Vivian's first sign

2011-12-08T20:01:00.001-05:00

Owen started signing when he was 16 months. I am so impressed with Baby Signing Time. It's so fun to communicate with your baby before they start speaking!

Disclaimer: My sing-songy voice is so annoying - I must apologize in advance. :0)

Walking up a storm now

2011-12-07T20:11:00.000-05:00

Vivi wants to show off and walk everywhere now. It gets a little dangerous when you are carrying her up or down the stairs, as she sometimes leans forward to try to signal she wants to be put down. (Because of this she is mostly walking up the stairs herself these days). She is becoming very independent, but also loves to snuggle occasionally.

Hard to believe that she's a year old on Saturday. Where did the time go?!?!

Playground pics

2011-12-06T08:52:00.000-05:00

Went to our favorite playground last week on Friday, and I'm just now getting a chance to post the pictures. Took some shots with our new 50mm lens.

Funny things Owen has said recently:

2011-12-05T18:00:00.003-05:00

(The local news is on in the background as we were making dinner, some story about a crime at a Target store was being discussed)
Owen: Mommy!! Look, it's Target!!! We live there!

(Driving home from the library last week)
Owen: Mommy, look at this booger!
Me: Owen, please don't pick your nose.
Owen: Okay Mommy.
(a few seconds later...) I put it back in my nose.

Boys. Love him.

Homemade babylegs!

2011-12-04T14:07:00.000-05:00

I was shopping the other day at Old Navy and saw this tube of knee-high girls' socks on sale while I was waiting in line. I remembered reading on Pinterest that you can make homemade babylegs legwarmers out of them, so I grabbed one to try.

It was so easy! All I had to do was snip off the ankle of each sock, slip it around the sewing machine tray, and sew a zig-zag stitch along the cut edge while stretching it a bit. It made a cute ruffle edge for the bottom of the legwarmer!

I was able to do four out of the five pairs before my bobbin ran out and I had to make lunch for the kids. After they ate, I asked Vivian to model a pair for me so that I could see how they came out. Pretty cute on her chubby little thighs, huh? :)

Date night!

2011-12-03T14:01:00.004-05:00

Grandma came over tonight to babysit so that Ben and I could go on a date: out to dinner with Kel, Matt, Molly and Tim, and then to Missy & Randy's Christmas party in Arlington. Grandma brought over all kinds of goodies for the kids: wind-up toy snowman and Santa, a Santa lunchbox with candycanes inside, Christmas books, a Christmas CD, Christmas ornaments to add to our tree, and the best part: cookies to decorate!

Owen had so much fun decorating Christmas sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies with Grandma. He entertained himself for a long time by scooping up sprinkles with his toy digger. :)

Thank you to Grandma for letting us go out on a date night!

Daddy's specs

2011-12-01T14:00:00.001-05:00

Vivi's new shoes

2011-11-29T23:04:00.000-05:00

Thank you Grandma Marshall and Aunt Hillary for my beautiful new shoes! :)

New tooth

2011-11-28T21:14:00.001-05:00

This sucker has been pushing its way out for what seems like a few weeks now.

New lens

2011-11-26T21:11:00.001-05:00

We purchased a new 50mm portrait lens today as an early Mommy/Daddy Christmas present! I had fun taking some photos of Vivian in the backyard today since it was such a beautiful warm afternoon.

Happy Birthday Grandma and Potty training Day 5

2011-11-25T21:50:00.001-05:00

Today is Grandma Marshall's birthday!!! Happy Birthday Grandma! We baked her some special cranberry chocolate chip biscotti on Wednesday and are looking forward to going out to brunch on Sunday as a family to celebrate.

Ben had to work today (boo!) and Owen's swim school was actually open today, so we had a lazy morning in our pj's working on potty training. Vivi went down for her morning nap as usual around 9:15am, and Owen and I hung out and played. I could tell that he needed to do #2, so I kept urging him to use the potty. We had a little tantrum and he finally relented and sat. When he did it, he looked over at me and said: I made poop! Want to see?! I couldn't stop laughing! And cheering for him! Soooo happy.

Just as we were finishing up washing hands, Vivi woke up. We went upstairs to get her changed and ready to go to swimming, when Owen got this look on his face like he had to go again. I was in the middle of changing Vivian's diaper, so I told Owen to run downstairs to his potty and go! He listened, and I was in shock when I saw what came out. He must have felt REALLY good after that one. Daddy got another lovely report (with pictures). And Owen got tons of praise, high-fives, and a big Lightning McQueen sticker to put on his chart.

Perfect timing too, because we had just enough time to get packed up and over to the swim school. You know what the first thing he told his teacher was? You guess it: I made poo-poo and pee-pee on the potty! So proud.

We had a good day at home the rest of the afternoon and Ben came home from work early. He got out the Christmas decorations and put lights on the outside of the house and we got the tree up. Me and Vivi have acquired Owen's cold, so now we're pretty miserable. But it was still a fun night decorating the tree while we listened to Christmas music and ate Thanksgiving leftovers.

Warm and cozy!

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!

2011-11-24T21:31:00.002-05:00

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We started off the morning cleaning and working on potty training, and then got to work cooking. Ben brined the turkey overnight. He decided to get some wood chips for extra flavor, so Owen got to go on an excursion out of the house in his big boy underpants! Came home without an accident - yay!

Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt Hillary came over right as the kids woke up from their naps. The weather was gorgeous, so everyone played outside a little while Ben and I finished up cooking. All the food came out delicious ~ we ate until we were stuffed. Vivian LOVED the turkey, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. Owen ate less than we thought he would, but to me that is a sign that he needs to go number 2, which he didn't do yesterday. He's been reluctant to go #2 on the potty, but after he does, he says his belly feels better, so he knows he needs to.

Overall though, today has been the BEST day of potty training yet. Only one tiny wet accident, and he totally caught himself and said he had an accident and then filled up the potty with pee instead of his pants. It's really starting to click. During our Thanksgiving prayer before we ate, I even threw in a "I'm thankful that Owen is pretty much potty-trained!" to add to our list of things we were thankful for this year.

Potty training Day 3

2011-11-23T21:13:00.002-05:00

Today we have painters coming to paint the ceiling in the upstairs hallway, foyer, and Owen's room where we had water damage from our roof leak. Lucky for us, the insurance agency covered the roof replacement and we had enough money left over to get the paint job done as well.

Unlucky for me, this most likely means another day of no nap for Owen. We had a good morning of potty success - lots of pee-pee on the potty and only one little wet accident. It was a little challenging to juggle dealing with the painters, Vivi's nap (because I had to go around the painters and all their equipment) and keeping tabs on Owen, but we made due. I decided that the timer was working well, and I needed to stick to a more consistent reward system, so I made sure to remember to set the kitchen timer for 30 minutes and whenever he went on the potty, he got to choose a sticker to put on his chart. This seemed to help reinforce the good behavior of using the potty.

In the afternoon, the painters left and I pulled Owen's mattress, pillows, and blanket down to the family room so that he could try to nap. Vivi took her afternoon nap, and Owen laid down while I checked email. Poor kiddo is trying to tackle potty training and he's also fighting a nasty cold. I was really hoping he could get some rest since it was pretty cloudy out and the family room was fairly dark once I pulled the blinds shut. But, he had more important things to do! He came over to the potty twice to pee, and then a third time - for a big poop! YAY! More celebratory texts to Daddy!!! :)

(Pardon the outfits, we've spent the week pretty much in jammies since it's potty training week.)

I think we're starting to make some good progress. Owen has started to get annoyed with my constant reminders of: "let's go sit on the potty!". He often replies, "not yet Mommy". So I do think he's starting to get it.

Potty training progress

2011-11-22T21:04:00.004-05:00

Day two of potty training started out much like day one. Lots of little successes, and some accidents. After what felt like a very long day - day two of no nap and after a small poop accident, I sat down on the couch and cried a little. Owen came over and said he was sorry. I told him it was okay, that we just needed to keep trying.

So that's what we're doing. I'm starting to go stir crazy from being in this house for two days straight. But we gotta do it sometime. Plus, it's been rainy anyway.

Our PottyTime Signing Time DVD came in the mail today, so we've watched that a few times and it seems to be helping. My favorite song has a verse that goes like this:

"If you fall of your chair, or go potty in your underwear: Uh-oh! It's an accident!".....it's a catchy little tune that I've been singing all the time now. :)

The one thing that is driving me nuts is that he'll pee his pants, come over to me, and say: "I had an accident!" then burst out laughing. I'm trying so hard to be nothing but positive, but it wears on you after the third or forth accident of the morning.

Just gotta keep plugging along. I'm hopeful that tomorrow will be better.

Potty Training begins

2011-11-21T20:47:00.002-05:00

For the past few months, Owen has been waking up from his naps completely dry. We have been using the potty right when he woke up in the morning, before and after naps, and before and after bathtime for awhile now. I decided that it was time we took the leap to big boy underpants this week since he's off from Preschool for Thanksgiving break. I am determined not to go back to diapers (except at night) because I believe he is ready.

All week I've been trying my best to get him excited about potty training by hyping it up every chance I got. Heck, I even started looking forward to it. (I think I was also trying to convince myself that it wasn't going to be as ~~difficult~~ messy as I was fearing.)

After swimming on Friday, we made a trip to Target so that Owen could pick out his favorite big boy underpants. I basically showed him all the boy versions and we got one of each design in his size, including a 2-pack of Gerber cotton training pants with waterproof outside which I thought would help us to contain accidents while still letting him feel wet.

Owen seemed to get the message that we were really going to do this. He even told his preschool teacher and his swim teacher that he was doing potty training this week, unprompted by me. It's starting to sink in. No more diapers for Owen.

This morning we got up, went potty and he picked out the Lightning McQueen underpants to start with. I brought his potty into the area between our kitchen and family room where we spend most of the day when we're home, and put a towel underneath it to help with any sprinkles of tinkle or poop accidents. I thought this would be a good tactic to have the potty close by so that it would be in his mind throughout the day and he could get to it quickly if he had to go.

A friend of mine said that her husband trained their son by putting him in underwear and setting a timer on 30 minute intervals. I decided that it sounded like a good idea, so that's what we did. I offered him an M&M after he went on the potty. We had a few accidents in the morning, but nothing terrible. What started to frustrate me was that he would pee on the potty, then ten minutes later he'd pee in his pants and say, "I had an accident!" and he thought it was hilarious. He also was refusing (along with throwing tantrums) to poop on the potty. "No Mommy! No poop! Just pee-pee!" was what he was saying all morning.

He refused to nap, so instead he played for awhile and then he said he had to pee on the potty. He sat while I was working on putting together our holiday cards on the computer. I looked over and he said, "I made poop on the potty!" all proud of himself. I was amazed. Tons and tons of praise, high fives and hugs/kisses, and some M&M's followed. I actually texted a picture of Owen showing off his potty full of poop to Ben, as gross as that is. I was so proud!

We did okay the rest of the afternoon, some successes and some accidents. Ben got home from work and I had to run to the grocery store, so I got a break while Daddy took over. I got a text during my first 15 minutes in the store: Poop accident.

I am just so thankful that he's no longer holding in his poops, like he was this past May when we ended up in the ER.

It was a long day. I hope tomorrow is better. "Owen, let's go potty!" is about the only thing running through my head right now.

Visit with Baby Will

2011-11-20T13:43:00.000-05:00

Luke and Erin invited us over to watch football, eat chili, and most importantly, meet their new baby ~ Will. He's completely adorable and I was even able to settle him down for a nap shortly after we arrived. We had fun catching up and look forward to our next visit hopefully in December or January.

1st Annual Taeschner Pre-Thanksgiving

2011-11-19T09:56:00.001-05:00

Kelly and Matt hosted an awesome Pre-Thanksgiving feast in their new home. They had about 26 people, so tables, chairs, and plates were rented for the occasion.

We started off with drinks and apps. One of Matt's friends brought a homemade bacon-infused whiskey. I stuck with a nice winter brew and then moved on to Chardonnay. We fed the kiddos while the turkey and sides finished cooking.

Matt fried a turkey and they also did a traditional roasted one which he soaked in a brine first. There were so many delicious sides: green beans with mushrooms & french fried onions, roasted butternut squash and spinach with cranberries, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with pecan topping, andouille sausage stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, and fresh baked bread from the new bakery in town. We feasted until we couldn't eat any more and barely had room for dessert. But there was pecan pie, pumpkin pie, cookies, cupcakes and brownies and of course, s'mores made over the fire pit out back.

It was so nice to spend time with great friends who we are so thankful for. Happy Pre-Thanksgiving everyone!

Too cold for the playground....

2011-11-18T21:05:00.002-05:00

We decided to make a quick trip to the playground today after naps, but Mommy didn't realize how cold it had become so we only stayed for about 20 minutes. Vivi practiced her walking on the semi-soft (and kinda wet) mulch, they rode the motorcycle/side-car, Vivi tried climbing the slide, and Owen showed her how to make mulch cookies ~ his favorite.

I guess the temperature was the reason we were the only ones at the playground. Oh well, we still had fun.

Daddy gets home tomorrow!!

Grandma Marshall comes to play

2011-11-16T20:55:00.003-05:00

Ben had to go to Denver on business this week, so Grandma Marshall came over after school to help out with the kiddos. While Owen napped, Vivian and Grandma played with his dumptruck and I heard the cutest giggles from her when Grandma showed her how to dump the babydoll out of the truck.

Vivi also had so much fun showing Grandma her new steps, and Owen had a ball baking Lightning McQueen and Mater sugar cookies with the cookie cutters she gave us. Mommy even got to sneak out for her hair appointment while Grandma finished up feeding the kids dinner and they were in the tub when I got home.

Thank you Grandma for coming to play and for helping Mommy!

Mommy's helper

2011-11-16T20:48:00.001-05:00

Today during lunchtime, Owen decided that he wanted a pear, but I was in the middle of feeding Vivian some YoBaby. So I asked Owen if he could be my helper while I washed the pear and cut it up for him. Then, I taught him how to feed his sister. She LOVED it. :)
So much more fun when Owen does the feeding. I should probably use this trick more often.

Faces of Vivian

2011-11-15T20:40:00.003-05:00

Here's Vivi in her new Bippy Wrap bib that I won from a blog giveaway! They are like a mini-cape and come in cute patterns.

(The face in the upper right corner is the one she's been making most these days. It's as if she's saying, "I wish these darn teeth would come in already!!")

Holiday picture fun

2011-11-14T08:22:00.003-05:00

In an attempt to take a holiday picture of the kids that I could use on a holiday card, I found an image on Pinterest to use as inspiration:

I asked Ben to grab a string of Christmas lights and we worked together to try to get the kiddos to cooperate. Here are some of our outtakes:

Here are my favorite two:

Playdate with Blake

2011-11-13T20:18:00.002-05:00

Erica and Blake came over this afternoon for lunch and a playdate. The girls had fun playing with all the different toys that take up our family room, and the mommies had fun catching up. We were able to snap a few cute pictures, but with Vivian's fussiness because of her teething, and their constant movement, it was definitely a challenge. Blake however, had no lack of smiles for the camera ~ cutie!

Takeout night

2011-11-12T21:54:00.002-05:00

We had the Taeschner's and Molly and Nate over for dinner tonight since Tim was out of town. The kiddos had a ball playing together and us adults enjoyed some tasty Thai takeout. In February we'll have another baby to add to our collection. :)

Vivian is 11 months old!

2011-11-10T07:23:00.002-05:00

* Wearing 12-mo & 18-mo clothes

* Size 5 diapers

* Drinking 26-28 oz of formula a day

* Has her two bottom teeth and just this week cut one of her top middle

* Sits in her high chair to eat meals with us

* Loves Cheerios, puffs, yogurt melts and YoBaby yogurt

* Actually drinking the water out of her sippy now at mealtime

* Still sleeping with her paci, sleepy giraffe, and silky blankie

* Starting to laugh more easily for us, especially after meals and in the bath

* Still not fond of diaper changes, but less squirmy this month

* Crawling fast now, going straight to anything that she can pull herself up to standing with

* Can stand up on her own for awhile and loves to wave her arms to show how good she is at balancing :)

* Started walking - can take 5-6 steps before falling on her bottom

* Enjoys walking while holding onto our hands, even giggles sometimes while doing it

* Loves giving sloppy open-mouth kisses ~ so cute

* Says "da", "ma-ma" and "ba" and is starting to point at things

* Smiles when I use baby sign language with her

* Favorite playmate is her brother

Video clip of Vivi walking

2011-11-09T17:25:00.000-05:00

Finally got a good clip today!

Happy 11 months to our little girl! (11-mo photoshoot re-scheduled for tomorrow due to extra long naps today. This walking stuff is hard work!) :)

First steps

2011-11-08T22:04:00.004-05:00

Vivian took what I would call her first steps tonight! And she waited until Daddy got home from work to strut her stuff so he could see too and we could celebrate together!

I got a few videos, but haven't had a chance to upload them yet. I'll work on that tomorrow. :)

Silly boy

2011-11-07T21:32:00.003-05:00

Owen went to bed as usual around 7:45pm tonight. At about 8:45pm he woke up and I heard him on the monitor. I looked over and he was sitting up at the foot of his bed. I went upstairs to see what he needed.

Me: "Owen, what's wrong bud?"
Owen: "I need to go pee-pee on the potty."
Me: "Okay, let me unzip your sleepy blanket."
Owen (proudly sticking his index finger in my face): "And look at this big booger!"

Ahhh, the joys of toddlerhood. And yes, it was a nice green one the size of a pea. :)

Like father, like son

2011-11-06T22:32:00.000-05:00

Go SKINS! (even though they lost)

Teething hurts

2011-11-05T21:19:00.000-04:00

Miss Vivian has been super fussy lately since her two upper middle teeth are making their way through the gums. I wish they would just cut through already and put her out of her misery. Luckily, she's been a trooper. It won't be long now.

Sippy love

2011-11-03T21:18:00.000-04:00

Viv's getting good at her sippy. Now we just gotta break big brother of his sippy habit.

Ivory soap experiment

2011-11-02T21:02:00.002-04:00

I read about an Ivory soap experiment you could do with your kids on a Mommy blog and wanted to try it with Owen. (Vivi happily munched some yogurt melts while we conducted this very scientific experiment.)

I cut an Ivory soap bar in half. We put it on a paper plate and I asked Owen what he thought would happen. He said it would "get hot".

We put it in the microwave for 60 seconds. This is what happened:

After it came out of the oven, it was a little warm to the touch. We let it cool off, and then I let Owen "decorate" it with drops of food coloring. He had a ball making his sculpture all different colors. We then did the other half of the soap bar, letting it go a little longer this time. It got even bigger!

At the end, we crumbled the second soap sculpture up into tiny pieces of snow to use later as hand soap. We recycled! :)

It was a fun little experiment and I'm glad we did it. It was definitely worth the 15 minutes of busy time.

Trick-or-Treat!

2011-10-31T20:49:00.000-04:00

Owen went over to Kayla's neighborhood for Trick-or-Treat this year.

Last night, he woke up from a sound sleep at 9:30pm coughing and wheezing like he couldn't breathe. It was so scary. Ben put him in the car and was halfway to the hospital when he turned around and came home because he said he thought he was better. We called the advice nurse and she thought he might have had an asthma attack or something of the sort.

We decided to pull his mattress in our room for the night and he slept fine, although Ben and I were on pins and needles most of the night. At 7:30am this morning, I took him in for a checkup while Ben stayed home with Vivian. The doc thought the same, and put him on an oral steroid and the nebulizer for a few days. He goes back tomorrow for a checkup.

He was dragging a bit tonight, but overall had a fun time. Vivi and I stayed home to man the candy-giveaway. She was a trooper and stayed up until 7:30, but was ready to hit the hay at that point. Owen came home with a pumpkin bucket FULL of candy! We let him choose one piece to have tonight and he picked a Reese's peanut butter cup ~ Mommy's favorite too!

Once he was in bed, he was out fast. It was a very fun Halloween this year!
(Thanks Kelly for the great pictures! The big one on the left was the kids smiling, and the upper right was the kids yelling "candy!"). :)

SNOW before Halloween?!?!

2011-10-29T22:01:00.005-04:00

We decided to check out "Air & Scare" this year at the Udvar Hazy Center near Dulles Airport. Apparently, all of Ashburn, Chantilly and Herndon decided they were going to see what it was all about too. It opened at 2pm and we got out the door at 4pm, but that must have been everyone else's idea too because we came to a dead stop about 2 miles away from the museum's entrance.

At least it didn't take too long to get through all the traffic and find a parking spot. But boy was it crowded. Kids (and some parents too!) in costume all over and they got to trick-or-treat throughout the museum, thanks to M&M Mars (c'mon Hershey, gotta step it up and sponsor next year!). :)

It was a very fun event and I think we'll be making it an annual tradition.

We survived the entire week without Daddy

2011-10-28T20:58:00.003-04:00

I'm backdating (as taught by Andrea)...since it's been a long week and I haven't had any time to keep up with the blog. Ben had a business trip in San Diego this week, and while we had originally planned for me and the kids to join him, unfortunately the ticket prices made that idea financially challenging at this moment.

So we stayed home and held down the fort while Daddy enjoyed the week in sunny Cali. We missed him like crazy and tried to keep busy to make the days go by fast - couldn't wait to see him again today.

Owen had a dentist appointment today - he did GREAT! No cavities, which is awesome, especially since we accidentally missed his last 6-mo checkup and it had actually been a year since his last appointment. Oops. At least I got it in before Halloween. :)
He really enjoyed the dentist, which is very much the opposite of how his Mom handles her visits. He got a goody bag with a new toothbrush and toothpaste, both of which he got to hand select, as well as a balloon and a token to put in the toy machine. He decided on a bouncy ball to buy with his token and he loves it. Mommy even got some goodies too - a lip balm and handy hand sanitizer spray for her purse. Love me some freebies. :)

After Owen's visit, we had a text from Daddy that he had landed, so we headed over to the airport to pick him up. Looking forward to having a nice relaxing weekend at home as a family.

Rainy Thursday

2011-10-27T22:10:00.001-04:00

It was rainy all day today so we just hung out at home and had some quality playtime. I snapped this picture of Vivi this afternoon.

Halloween playdate

2011-10-26T21:40:00.001-04:00

Today after Mom's Morning Out, we met up with our friends Hunter, Matthew, and Austin (plus Mommies and siblings) for a Halloween playdate that Hunter's Mommy had organized. The weather didn't quite cooperate, as it started sprinkling, then raining, on our way over to the playground. But luckily there was a covered pavilion where we could eat our picnic lunches and the kids didn't mind playing in the rain for a little while. The boys loved the Halloween cupcakes that Hunter and his Mom made. Owen had 1 & 1/2! :)

They were so worn out from all the playtime that they both took great naps this afternoon. When they woke up we took another quick trip to the library to get some more DVDs since they're calling for rain tomorrow too. Owen's field trip to Great Country Farms is likely going to be cancelled, so that's a bummer.

So after getting home from the library we just played with the train table and watched a few DVD's together, and before we knew it we were all hungry for dinner. After dinner it was bath and bedtime for Vivian, and Owen was such a good boy watching a show downstairs by himself while Mommy put Vivi down. Vivi is having so much fun crawling up the stairs each night when we go up for bath. She's practicing walking, and loves to walk holding your fingertips, but hasn't taken a step on her own yet. I predict it will be soon though!

After Vivi was snug in her crib, Owen and I did his Goodnight Moon puzzle and read a few books and then was time for Owen's bedtime. Finally Mommy gets some quiet time to herself.

Vivi plays peek-a-boo

2011-10-25T22:06:00.001-04:00

She had been doing it a few times before I finally remembered to grab my camera, so this is all I got:

Notice the red mark above her left eyebrow....seems with all her mobility comes lots of tumbles. Good thing she's a tough cookie. She pretty much has a new one every other day.

Nice day for a walk to the park

2011-10-24T21:23:00.002-04:00

This morning Ben headed out to San Diego on a business trip. He left at 5:30am, long before the kids wake up (usually around 7am), so he didn't get to say goodbye to them before he took a cab to the airport.

Most of the pictures from this week are from my phone (note the fuzziness) since I didn't usually remember to pick up my camera.

We woke up like usual, and had breakfast then Vivi took her morning nap. It was a short one, so when she woke up we packed a lunch and walked over to our favorite playground to get some fresh air and exercise. It was a gorgeous morning for a walk. We ate our lunch on one of the picnic tables and then Owen ran around playing and Vivi tried to tag along. She's getting close to walking that I even joked to Ben that she might be by the time he gets home.

The kids had fun and Vivian must have been tuckered out because she slept the entire walk home (about 35 minutes). Owen refused to nap when we got home, so instead we drove over to the library and hung out reading for awhile. Then we just had to make a stop at Zinga, our new favorite spot in town. It's a frozen yogurt place kindof like Pinkberry, but a little less pricey. Owen is a huge fan:

When we got home, I attempted to make a healthy dinner recipe that I had read in a magazine recently. In order to do this, I had to prop Vivi up in her highchair since it was her bottle time and I was in the midst of cooking, while Owen was in front of the TV watching a DVD we had picked up at the library.

Owen took a few bites of the meal, but didn't like it as much as I did. He did eat the noodles, which are one of his favorites. The rest was sundried tomatoes, yellow squash and zucchini, and garlic. So much for my cooking. It was fun at least.

Massanutten 2011 - Day 2

2011-10-23T09:43:00.001-04:00

This morning we had another nice breakfast (smoked salmon & cream cheese croissants - yum!) and then packed up to head home.

Before hitting the road, we stopped at Dream Come True Playground near JMU which Ben had spotted yesterday. The playground is specially designed for “children of all abilities.” Pretty neat stuff. Owen loved it so much he threw a tantrum when we went to leave.

A huge thank you to Grandma and Grandpa for the fun-filled weekend!

Massanutten 2011 - Day 1

2011-10-22T20:50:00.001-04:00

We arrived last night around 8pm right behind Grandma and Grandpa. By the time we got both cars unpacked, ate a quick dinner, and put the kids in their jammies, it was almost 9 and they were ready for bed. Owen was a big boy and slept on the pull-out sofa all by himself!

The kids woke up right on schedule - 7am. Owen helped Grandma make blueberry pancakes and sausage and then devoured half the pile! :)

After Vivi's morning nap, we went to the water park for a couple of hours and both kids had a ball. It wasn't too crowded and the water was nice and warm. Vivi found the lazy river to be very relaxing and when we took a quick dip in the hot tub at the end, she almost fell asleep. That was our cue to head back to the condo for lunch and naps.

Grandma and Grandpa graciously took over baby duty while Ben and I ran over to JMU to grab lunch and shop at the bookstore. After 14 years, my original JMU hoodie sweatshirt is so worn out that I should probably toss it, but it has sentimental value to me so I haven't had the heart to. Tish told me to pick out a new one as a Christmas gift, so I chose a purple one with white embroidered "James Madison University" lettering. I also found a black fleece jacket on sale that I couldn't pass up.

We got back in time to take the kids over to the playground on the resort for an hour while Grandma and Grandpa took a little break. I took the opportunity to snap a bunch of pictures of the kids and Ben, although the bright sunset light was making it challenging.

The kids had more quality time with their grandparents while Ben and I went over to one of the resort's restaurants for a date night. Thank you so much for babysitting Grandma and Grandpa! :)

Headed to the mountains for the weekend

2011-10-21T21:36:00.000-04:00

We're off to enjoy some brisk mountain air with Grandma and Grandpa Marshall!

Vivi climbs the stairs

2011-10-20T20:48:00.000-04:00

Please pardon the saggy diaper and mommy commentary! :)

Kayla comes over for dinner

2011-10-18T21:33:00.000-04:00

Matt had a business trip this week, so we had Kelly, Ryan and Kayla over for dinner and playtime tonight. The kids had fun running around while the mommies caught up and Ben grilled some BBQ chicken for us all.

Owen's big boy room

2011-10-16T21:30:00.003-04:00

We really have no excuse for having put off finishing Owen's big boy room. When it comes to home improvement projects, we tend to drag our feet a bit. But today I had a surge of motivation to get it finished, so when the kids napped, I left Ben in front of the TV watching the Redskins while I ran over to Home Goods to search for a mirror and some prints for the walls.

My mom had picked out the quilt comforter and matching pillows, and yesterday she gave Owen this cool play mat that has a race track and roads on it for his cars, which also matches the car/truck/helicopter theme to his new room. I had to scour the kid's section of HG, but the extra time I took paid off when I found a set of 3 matching transportation prints (car, helicopter, truck) in the perfect colors. I also found a great mirror with a pale green frame which also coordinated really well.

I was so excited to get home and have Ben help me put it together. Owen had just woken up from his nap, Vivi had just had a bottle, and the game was almost over. Unfortunately, the Skins lost. Ben did an awesome job of mounting and leveling the hooks for the mirror, and then I finished putting up the transportation decals on the wall. I found Owen's letters from his nursery and they went up easily above the mirror. I think it came together pretty nicely, if I don't say so myself. And the final touch will be the window treatments Grandma is sewing up this week.

Owen loves his big boy room! :)