Share-ios

Well, wasn't that so nice of Michael to share his Cheerios and Puffs with his big sister? Ahem. The poor kid can't even enjoy his baby finger snacks without a 3-year-old hovering close by like a vulture. He just smiles at her as she snatches snack after snack away from him. Luckily, though, Michael's gotten pretty good with his small motor skills and can eat most tiny finger foods put in front of him. So, Katie can't steal ALL of his stuff....yet.

The Right Playdate at the Right Time

As you may have gathered from some of our blog entries, it's been a rough parenting month. If one kid isn't screaming from sleep deprivation or teething, the other is tantruming about potty training or cuddle time. Whew - now we know what people mean when they say the transition to two kids is tough. Anyway, sometimes those same crazy kids give you the greatest pick-me-up in the world in their own special ways. Today, our dear friends Patrick (3.5 years-old), Colleen (14 months), and Ms. Kim came over for a playdate. It was fun as usual, but the kids really made their mommies' days when they ALL decided to have some princess dress-up fun. Please see Patrick above slowdancing with Katie while wearing a spectacular Barbie princess dress. (Not captured in the picture: both kids had on Disney princess high-heeled shoes.)



Not to be outdone, the little ones also donned their finest tutus/gowns to make the moms chuckle. Now, this was the definition of GOOD chaos!

Sitting Pretty (Handsome?)

The little guy is finally getting the hang of sitting on his own. He's now able to hold/play with two things at once and can reach farther than you would think. (We found him with his head buried in a tortilla chip bag the other day.) He loves when you bring him a big bucket of his toys so that he can root around and chew on everything. Definitely makes life a little easier when you can plop the little one down to tend to the more demanding preschooler!!

Grass Stains? What Grass Stains?

Who cares about grass stains when you are Super Girl and you can roll, roll, roll? A couple of forward rolls not enough for you? How about a long roll down the hill??? We got tired just watching Katie this afternoon.

Big Boy, Battered Boy

The dreaded day has finally arrived....Michael has gotten too big for his infant carrier. We got him measured at the doctor's last week when he got his flu/H1N1 booster shots, and he finally reached the 29 inch height limit. Yeah, he might look comfy and cozy in this bigger car seat, but we had come to depend on his carrier to get him to nap when we were out and about. The poor kid is just going to have to live on even less sleep now.

Speaking of poor Michael, he pretty much gave his mother a heart attack this evening....even though the whole episode was 100% her fault. Traci was getting Michael ready for his bath on her bed when she stepped out for a minute to draw his bath water. Suddenly she heard him screaming but didn't immediately think much of it because he often gets mad when you leave him alone. Only when Katie yelled "Mommy!" did she realize that something might be amiss. When she came back into the room, she found that Michael had rolled off of her pretty high bed onto her hardwood floor!!!! After some pretty panicked moments searching for cuts, bruises, and other signs of distress, Traci checked him over pretty well in the bath tub. The main problem was that she didn't see the fall, so she had no idea where he may have impacted. Michael was decently playful and smiley in the tub, so - fingers crossed - Traci may have gotten away with some stupidity this time. Don't think she won't check on him multiple times tonight!!

Daddy's Little Girl

Now that she's actually needing more discipline, we guess it is no surprise that Katie is gravitating toward the more "softie" of the parents. The big surprise: Daddy is actually the softie in this family! Not that Katie totally has him wrapped around her little finger, mind you. But he's more likely to give that extra cuddle, give in to that extra whim, be the nice guy. It's actually sweet to see them bond closer every day. This is how it's supposed to be....a little girl's main guy should always be her daddy.

Oh, and just ignore the Speedo swim vest that is keeping this picture from being a classic. We can't help Katie's fashion sense these days.

A Little Off Rhythm

Three things to note with this video:

1.) Ummmm....guess dance class hasn't helped her to keep up with musical rhythm yet. We'll have to work on that.

2.) The little Super Girl outfit she has chosen to wear is the same one she wore for Halloween when she was 1 1/2. Perhaps we need to retire it as it now looks like a shirt on her.

3.) Can't believe we actually got a smile on video by her. She is 3 going on 13 these days: tantrums, pouts, no smiles for the camera, etc. Sigh......

Beautiful Babes

We may be a bit biased, but we feel like we have created two incredibly beautiful little kids. We spent most of the day outside in some gorgeous natural light, so we captured a few moments of wonder at the playground. We wish they could stay this young and innocent forever...

Bonding at Borders

The two kiddos were thrilled to have their daddy home from work today. Well....technically, he was working from home, but we still saw him a lot more! The highlight of the day was a nice lunch al fresco at a local restaurant and a quick stop at the nearby Borders. Katie quickly taught Michael the bookstore ropes: find the kids' section, get out all of the car/truck wheeled books, and park them in a nice row. Unfortunately, we had to take the books away from Michael when he started chewing them apart, but he still got to bond with Katie for a bit.

Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa!

Sounds like Michael is getting ready for his next visit with Papa! His babbling nonsense has graduated from the Ba-Bas and Ma-Mas to full-fledged Pa-Pa-Pa-Pas. Perhaps he'll soon honor Daddy with the discovery of the letter "D." In other milestone news, our almost-7-month-old is finally rolling over in both directions, although the front-to-back rolls are usually by accident. He also loves to spin in 360-degree circles while on his tummy to reach at anything he can get his hands on. And, for the first time today, we actually caught him up on all fours (hands and knees)!! He's a little behind on being able to sit on his own, but we think that is because he never wants to sit still. If you place him in a sitting position, he immediately lunges forward at something or another. He's working wonderfully through all of the pureed foods and has started the arduous process of picking up and eating cheerios/puffs. We've even been trying to train him to use a sippy cup, but he still gets a little confused with that. This coming weekend, we are going to start the slow process of weaning him from nursing. Our little boy is growing up too, too fast!!

Ralph Malph?

 

What do you think? I think the toothless grin and thinning red hairline bear a striking resemblance...

Barefoot in the Grass

Does anything bring back the memories of our carefree youth quite like running barefoot through the grass? Today, Traci even joined in a great game of chase with Katie and Connor while they enjoyed the cool, soft sensation of springtime grass. Ahhhhh, to be young again....

Oh, and don't worry - Connor wasn't just about to maim Katie with that stick. It just appears that way.

Oh So Snuggly

Thank God...we had our first decent night's sleep in awhile, so we got ourselves outside as much as possible today. (Who knows what will happen tonight.) Anyway, we headed to yet another playground so that Katie could get some of her energy out. It's actually quite easy to take her to playgrounds lately. Unless one of us is pushing her on a swing, she usually wants nothing to do with us. She latches on to a new friend within five minutes and happily plays with that kid until we leave. It's a lot of fun watching her interact with other kids. Very true to her form, she's ALWAYS the follower in any situation, but we think a lot of kids flock to her because she's willing to "go with the flow" with whatever they want to do. As for poor Michael, he's often relegated to his car seat....but doesn't he look "oh so snuggly" there? Soon enough, he'll be off playing on his own as well.

Sorry...We're Still Alive....

Sorry for the dearth of posts lately....we've just had a "perfect" storm of things that have set us so off-kilter that we can barely think straight. We've had one cold after another in this house, Katie has entered a definite nightmare stage, and we have travelled....which has led to the biggest case of sleep deprivation that we've ever faced. We're the Night of the Living Dead around here! Anyway, we'll try to get things going again soon. Can't believe we are contemplating moving the kids in to the same bedroom soon.... Based on last night (where Katie slept in bed with Traci, Michael was in his pack-n-play right next to us, and Mike slept downstairs where he hacked the night away), I don't think we will ever sleep again. Let's just say that both Katie and Michael woke up to every single sound the other made. Good Lord....

You Know You are the Second Child When....

You are given a greasy french fry container to pacify you during the rest of the family's lunch!

Thank You, Easter Bunny! Bawk, Bawk.

As mentioned earlier, we travelled to Pennsylvania to spend the Easter weekend with Traci's family. Thank you so much to Uncle David, Aunt Krystina, Julian and Nicholas for opening up their home, providing such a great Easter meal, and making our kids so very happy. Special thanks go out to Nico for giving up his room so that all four of us weren't scrunched into one room. Except for some major potty training setbacks, the trip was a smashing success. Katie couldn't stop beaming whenever her cousins were around, Michael ate and slept like a champ, and everybody was even well-behaved at Easter mass. Please check out our photo album to the right for some great photos from the trip.

Surprise! (Beat) Wahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

We've definitely learned our lesson the hard way: Surprises and Katie do not mix well!! To reward Katie for a couple of months of potty-training success, we had signed her up for a Surprise Cinderella Pizza Party, to be held at her dance studio. It was an advertised event, complete with a Cinderella character actress, song, dance, pizza, and parting gifts. What could possibly be more perfect for our little princess-in-training?

Well, we should have known that things might not go well when, in an ironic twist of fate, Katie started to completely regress in her potty training this week. She has unfortunately regressed so much that she's back in pull-ups for an indeterminate amount of time (or until we all cool down a bit....). So, here was our little girl, celebrating her potty-training prowess in diapers! :)

She had no idea what her surprise was going to be, but she was so excited when we pulled into her beloved dance studio. She got even more excited when she saw her dance teacher, Miss Monica, who was leading the surprise party. Unfortunately, her mood swiftly changed when Cinderella entered the room, heartily singing one of her classic tunes. Whereas, all of the other 15 or so little girls oohed, aahed, and gasped, Katie let out the loudest wail I've heard in awhile. I swiftly had to pull her out of the room so she would not spoil the grand entrance for everybody else. Unfortunately, I could not immediately swoop in and comfort her because Michael was attached to me in the Bjorn. She spent the rest of the party just watching from the sidelines, as pictured above. No singing. No dancing. No face-painting. No pictures with Cinderella herself. Miss Monica even came over to offer to hold her hand during the party, but Katie just started wailing again. (Unfortunately for Michael, this was right when I was nursing him. Needless to say, he was cut short and promptly placed back in the car seat. Sucks to be the second kid....)

Anyway, Katie didn't rest easy until the evil Cinderella (aka, Satan to Katie) left in her mini-van. (What, no pumpkin coach??) At least she enjoyed the pizza and juice boxes. Whew....and people wonder why we never throw this kid any birthday parties.

We Are The Champions!

Anybody who knows Traci can probably guess how ecstatic she was with last night's NCAA basketball championship game. She has been a rabid Duke (and Coach K) fan for as long as she can remember. After pacing a hole through her living room floor during the game, she was so happy to see her beloved Blue Devils finish off the upstart and talented Butler Bulldogs. (We won't even tell you who Mike was rooting for...booo!) Well, since all kids listen to what their mommies tell them, it looks like we have a budding, happy, little Dukie-to-be on our hands. To celebrate Duke's championship, we busted out the jersey and the basketball hoop. Now we just have to work on his shooting form and box-out abilities, and we might have a future Duke star on our hands!



Oh, and we wanted to include this second outtake because it pretty clearly shows the usual Katie-Michael dynamic when it involves toys in our household. Imagine, if you will, Katie shouting "NO, MICHAEL" as he pulls the hoop over so that he can give it a good gnawing. Happens with just about everything around here.

PS - Many more photos from our great Easter weekend in PA to come... Stay tuned!

Calgon, Take Me Away

We don't think he could be any more content in his bathtub if he tried. Ahhhh....warm water, toe in the mouth, strategically placed wash cloth....heaven.

Out like a lamb...

It's like Mother Nature said, enough with March already! April started off with a flourish today with some fantastic weather...mid-70s and not a cloud in the sky. What else would you expect on the greatest day of the year (i.e., Mike's birthday)? The new 35 year old April Fool had a wonderful day, complete with grilled steaks, cupcakes, gifts, etc. Thanks for the birthday wishes everybody...