Fun in the Snow

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Amy

Today it wasn’t windy and it finally warmed up enough that Miss could go outside and play in the snow with her Daddy. Based on her other experiences with playing in the snow, I was expecting her to want to come back in pretty quickly, but she had a blast!

She got a little taste of the snow.

She had a bit of a hard time moving around in it as it was over her knees.

But she did not want to come in, so Daddy got dressed more warmly and gave her a ride.

And then they just rolled around in it for a while.

One last ride before coming in.

Miss was not happy about having to come in. But she soon forgot to be upset and got good and warmed up by, what else? Dancing!! Lass had a lot of fun dancing too.

Then we made some cookies for the big game tomorrow. Miss didn’t eat dinner well enough to get to have one tonight, but she’ll get one tomorrow. Go Packers!

Family Dance Party

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Amy

You may have guessed from some previous posts that we love music and dancing in our house. My hubby plays the guitar. We sing. We dance. Music is always on. Miss badgers her daddy to put her up on his knee at his computer and listen to “moosic” with her. Tonight after dinner, we had a rocking family dance party.

Miss danced with her Daddy.

She showed off some fun new moves (that’s chalk and probably a bit of dinner – homemade potstickers – on her pants, BTW)

Miss wanted to dance with her Mama. She asked to hold both of my hands while we were dancing, but since I was holding Lass, she just grabbed on to her sister’s foot.

Lass thought it was all pretty fun too.

We spun and bounced and laughed.

Miss showed off some moves to her sister.

And to wrap it all up, lots of big hugs and snuggles.

These are the moments I will always remember.

I Love. . .

Posted on January 16, 2011 by Amy

I love stand up straight baby hair. It doesn’t lay down flat, ever (except for when it is really wet).

I love jammies in the afternoon – the other day, after her nap, Miss insisted on putting her jammies back on over her clothes. She kept them on until bedtime. Here she’s saying “I yay down” and “I go seep.” Yep. Love.

I love watching my girls love their Daddy. And vice versa.

I love this.

And even better, this.

Unfortunately Lass would not take a full bottle from her Daddy. She cried and cried at first, then I got her to start taking the bottle and passed her back to her Daddy, for whom she drank an ounce or two. Then she started crying again and wouldn’t take anymore until I gave it to her again. She drank about 4 ounces total before she refused it entirely, and I really am hoping she’ll get better at taking a bottle for someone other than me (kind of defeats the purpose if she doesn’t), but it’s a start. And I still love how adorable she looks chillin’ with a bottle.

I love sisterly love.

I love book clubs and playdates and conversations with other adults. Between Thursday and today I went to two book clubs (yes I did manage to finish and enjoy both books!), had a playdate at my house, and went to a MOPS meeting. It is really rejuvenating to have adult conversation, and even more so when I can do it without having to redirect a toddler or nurse a 5-month-old. I love my full-time mom job, but I also love being able to take a few hours “off” once in a while. Yes, I yuv it.

New Toys

Posted on January 9, 2011 by Amy

We are taking a trip to Arizona in a few weeks. It will be our first plane trip with two kids under two. In preparation for this, Miss got a new set of child-sized headphones so she can happily watch Yo Gabba Gabba on our DVD player without thoroughly annoying all the other passengers in ear-shot. She thought they were pretty cool.

And our little Lass is growing so fast!! I can’t believe she’s already big enough for this:

I knew those out-dated books from graduate school would come in handy some day. Actually, since she’s in the 90th %ile for height, she’s pretty much tall enough to reach the base of the exersaucer, so she doesn’t really need the book there at this point, but I keep it there just to give her a little extra to “stand” on.

She loves being in the exersaucer and it’s so cute to watch her playing in it.

Miss and Lass got an art easel for Christmas that my hubby put together today. It fits right onto her Learning Tower and had a chalkboard side and a dry erase side, as well as a magnet to hold a piece of paper in place.

She had so much fun with it today. Daddy was ordered to draw with her. He was allowed to use the blue chalk, and only the blue chalk.

But she didn’t like what he drew so she erased it.

She also got lots of magnets from Santa. She has animals and letters and she had fun putting all the animals on both sides of the easel today. This is such a great bonus to having the easel, since we cannot stick magnets to the front of our refrigerator (seriously, what kind of a refrigerator is it if you can’t stick magnets to it????)

My hubby asked Miss to draw a circle, and here’s what she did. We were pretty impressed!

I am crossing my fingers that she will continue to really love this and that it will be fun for her to do while I’m cooking dinner or getting other things done in the kitchen. I love that the Learning Tower has this accessory, as I really wanted her to have an art easel but didn’t want to have another big thing to take up space.

One of my goals this year is to blog more frequently. I really do love doing it and I love that some people actually read what I write and enjoy the photos of our day to day. But, I may be a little less present in the next week or so. I have two books to read for two book clubs this week, and one of them has been very slow-going for me. Plus I have three competency evaluations to write reports for, so please bear with me if I’m not posting quite as much for a few days. I’ll try to at least keep posting some photos of my girls!

Christmas – Take 2

Posted on December 27, 2010 by Amy

We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas day at the Farm with my in-laws. It was a very fun time. Miss got dressed up for Christmas Eve.

She had a blast playing with all of her cousins (Lass missed out on this photo as she had gone to bed).

And of course, she loved opening her presents.

She loved her new Yo Gabba Gabba backpack.

She took a break to read one of her new books.

She stayed focused on her task in spite of all the commotion around her with 25 other people also opening gifts.

Then it was time for Santa. We took the stockings down from the mantle and spread them around the living room upstairs while the kids were playing downstairs. Here are Miss’s and Lass’s.

Then Santa stomped around, yelled, “Ho Ho Ho!” and all the kids ran up the stairs and out onto the snowy deck to catch a glimpse of him running away down the driveway. One of my brothers-in-law also had a flashlight with a red light that he made look like Rudolph taking off. Miss went out with her Daddy to see, but she was cold and I don’t think she actually saw anything since she didn’t really get what she was looking for. But she did enjoy digging into her pretty stocking (all the members of my husband’s family have gorgeous stockings made by his aunt, the kids’ are all personalized).

Then my husband found an item that was not put there by me. Could it have been Santa?

He misplaced this ancient and much-loved sweatshirt a year and a half ago and has been pining for it since. He has asked everyone he could think of if he might have left it at their house. And now he has it back. We have no idea who brought it back to him (well, we have a good idea, but no one’s ‘fessing up) and it doesn’t really matter anyway. He’s just happy to have it back. He’s thrilled. In fact, I think I heard him say something like, “This is one of the best Christmas presents ever.”

Miss really loved her new placemat with animals on it.

She loved counting the different animals.

On Christmas day it was time for playing in the snow.

She and her daddy went out with all the kids to sled on the big hill. She requested to make a snowman.

She had really enjoyed being out the previous day, but on this day it was much colder and windier. She didn’t stay out long at all and didn’t get a chance to make her snowman.

We’re going to have a warm-up later this week, so maybe we’ll get out to make a snowman then. This morning, Miss finally got the kitchen that Santa left for her and Lass. She loves it. As I type this, she is checking on her “pizza” in the oven. Time to go eat!

Somebody’s Ticklish

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Amy

The progression of a dance party

Posted on October 30, 2010 by Amy

Two posts in one day, but I couldn’t resist sharing tonight’s antics by Miss and her Dad.

Pumpkins and Tiggers and Boots, Oh My!

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Amy

We went to a brunch and pumpkin carving on Sunday. Miss was sort of interested in watching her daddy carve the pumpkin.

She was more interested in this large chunk of pumpkin “mouth”

Got it!!

She did enjoy the finished project and likes to look out the front door at the jack-o-lantern on the porch. The Daddy did a great job, I think.

She loves music and dancing and is always asking me to play her favorite songs on my computer (which she calls a “pooter”), pointing to it and saying, “Dance! Dance! Mooz! (music)” She also has her own mini laptop computer. The other day she was playing mooz on her pooter when she scooped up Tigger and started this great dance, sort of waltz, with him.

By the way, the song was “B-I-N-G-O and Bingo was his Name-O”

And did I mention I have a thing for shoes? I just love these boots.

Our Weekend

Posted on September 13, 2010 by Amy

We had a nice weekend here. My hubby was on call and had to work all weekend, but we had fun anyway. Yesterday the girls and I went to a local store and cafe where they have lots of toys in a big play area, so Miss had a blast playing with other kids and some different toys. I was a little bit amazed at how long it took me to get ready and get out of the house with two kids, but we made it, only a half hour later than my intended time. And we weren’t meeting anyone, so we weren’t really late, just later than I thought we would get going. We got home just in time for Miss to have a nap. Lass wasn’t tired, so we had some bonding time while Miss slept. We lounged around.

And had a little tummy time.

And we snuggled.

Then Miss woke up just in time to watch the Michigan game. It was a pretty good football weekend. Michigan State and Michigan both won, and the Michigan game was exciting to watch. I didn’t watch the game, but Iowa beat Iowa State, which made my husband happy but my brother unhappy. My hubby went to Iowa for his undergraduate and medical degrees, and my brother went to Iowa State and played football there, so that game never really has a happy ending for me.

Naturally, since yesterday was 9/11 I spent some time thinking about that day nine years ago, the people who lost their lives and all that has happened since then. My brother participated in a cool 9/11 Stairclimb memorial event with other firefighters. Since my brother and my dad are both professional firefighters (dad retired), the part about the 9/11 tragedy that always seemed the worst to me was how many firefighters and other emergency personnel lost their lives running into the towers to save people. So the stairclimb memorial was a pretty cool tribute I thought.

Yesterday was also the one-year anniversary of this blog. I have gone back and read all the posts from the past year in the past week or so. Mostly I’ve done this while nursing Lass in the middle of the night. It’s been fun to see the things I’ve written about and the photos I’ve posted. I started this blog kind of on a whim, but I’m so glad I did. It has been very enjoyable for me to keep up with it and to look back at how much has changed in the last year.

Today was a beautiful day so we just hung around at home. Miss played some music this morning.

And she showed off her sparkly pants

and bedazzled shirt, which she loved to look at all day.

We played outside this afternoon. The weather was perfect and Miss had a great time in the yard as always. Lass hung out in my BabyEtte wrap again. Bubbles were blown, sticks were collected (and crab apples, and acorns. . .), and there was lots of happy running.

When the Daddy got home he had some good cuddles with both of the girls.

They read a magazine. A plane magazine, of course.

And Miss gave Lass lots of kisses, as she always does.

And finally, I am happy to say that the “transition jeans” I bought after my pregnancy with Miss are already way too big. Yay. It was a good weekend.

On Our Own

Posted on September 10, 2010 by Amy

This has been our first week on our own. Just the three of us. Just us girls. Just me, the Mom, managing a newborn and a toddler. Zone defense. I think I’ve done all right. We have had our moments. A meltdown here and there. I have let Miss watch waaayyy more TV than I ever have before. Which still isn’t a lot, since previously she pretty much watched no TV, but I feel a little bad turning on the TV to occupy her when I’m busy with Lass. But she doesn’t watch it much, and I’ve said many times to other mom friends who have had the same guilt, “A little TV isn’t going to hurt anyone.” So I should listen to my own reassurances and stop feeling bad about it I guess. Besides, Miss loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Yo Gabba Gabba. Has anyone ever watched that show?? Whoa. It is seriously weird, but Miss loves it and dances to the music and waves to the strange characters. The first time we watched it Jack Black was on. That was a little scary. Especially when he was suddenly and magically wearing the weird orange suit to match the DJ guy. Jack Black does not look good in that orange suit. I’m just sayin’.

Miss continues to do well as the Big Sister. She still tries to test me sometimes, and I am occasionally at a loss about what to do with her when she does this while I’m nursing or otherwise occupied with Lass and not very well able to correct her. But overall things are going well and getting better every day. I got a new gate to replace the stupid useless one I had previously purchased. I am always trying to encourage and praise Miss about being a Big Girl, and in that vein she got a new Big Girl Seat.

And then there’s this angel.

She is really a good baby. She eats well and sleeps well at night, for the most part. Some nights are better than others, but I know I have it easy compared to some. For example, a bad night for us is when she wakes up three times instead of one or two (Wednesday night) or when she is fussy and won’t stay asleep until I put her in the bouncy seat at midnight, and then she sleeps until 6 when I wake her up to feed her (last night). So really, even her bad nights aren’t all that bad. And she is just so snuggly!!

We’re chilling at home today, but the past two days we’ve gotten out and about a bit. Doctor’s visits for both girls on Wednesday, Lass is 11 lbs, Miss is 25 lbs. Having both of them together was a bit of an adventure, but it worked out okay. Yesterday we all went to pick up our produce box and then went for a nice walk around the neighborhood. Lass loves to ride in my BabyEtte wrap when we walk or go to the store, or even just around the house. She just snuggles right in and snoozes away. Yesterday she slept while I wore her for our walk and then just stayed in the wrap while I made dinner and ate. Handy.

And while us girls have been doing well on our own during the day, we sure do love it when Daddy comes home. He and Miss have been having little dance parties in the evenings. A breakdancing session turned into this: