Have a Holly Jolly Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!!

Now on to the important stuff - let me assault you with pictures of the recent Wallace Christmas celebrations. We stayed in Charlottesville this year and had a nice Christmas just the four of us. Our tree looked like it had enough presents under it to last for several Christmases yet to come, and of course, Erin's pile was the largest.

Let me begin with Christmas Eve, which was spent largely with our friends John and Margaret several football games and their new HDTV. Not exactly your traditional Christmas Eve but being with special friends was nice. We did get out to the Christmas Eve service where Erin donned a halo and took part in the children's pageant as an angel. Unfortunately they didn't have any wings small enough for her.

Once we got home and tucked the kids into bed we began the assembly of the tree area (all the presents had been hidden in the basement) and Erin's present from her Nonni and Grandad. She was to be wake up the proud owner of a play kitchen complete with microwave, refrigerator, oven, sink and telephone. While Tom assembled the kitchen Meghan finished wrapping gifts and stocking stuffers. Amazingly the kids slept through it all and we were in bed by 1:30 AM.

Jeffrey woke us up around 8:30 - late for him and Erin was still asleep. So Meghan got Jeff up and ready and then gently woke Erin up. I asked her if she wanted to see if Santa had arrived and she woke right up. We headed down the stairs and Erin looked at the tree stating again, "so pretty." Then she noticed the kitchen. It took her a few seconds to soak it all in but before long she was cooking up a storm. It was nearly impossible to get her to open her stocking because all she wanted to do was cook in the kitchen. Once we were able to get her to focus on the ctocking she got really excited about it. Santa brought her Tinkerbell panties, a Dora coloring book, candy and even a toothbrush which she immediately brought up to her bathroom. It's amazing how thrilling little things can be.

Jeffrey was much more interested in things than I remember Erin being her first Christmas. He wanted to get right into the middle of everything. He helped open the gifts from Santa and even gave one the "chew" test before it even got out of the wrapping paper. Santa brought our little man his first sippy cup and several pair of socks to chew on.

After the long process of opening stockings, Tom began preparing breakfast. Erin cooked in her kitchen whipping up strawberries, corn and my favorite - coffee. We got her to eat a few bites of eggs inbetween cooking her own courses.

Once we started with the presents under the tree Erin showed a little more interest but was still obsessed with the kitchen. She slowly began to realize that more and more fun things were appearing. Jeffrey stood at the activity table near the tree and helped to open some of the gifts but mainly just watched. He continued to show interest in most things though. He did get really excited when he got to open his gift from Uncle Jeff and Aunt Robyn because it made lots of fun noises and had lots of lights. It also contained a hammer which was just as good for chewing on as it was for hitting his sister when she got in his way.

Tom loved his special calendar with pictures of both the kids. He also got a pod coffeemaker so he could bring hot coffee to work in the mornings. I got lots of yummy things to consume including coffee and coffee liquor, as well as a new DVD burner for my computer. I also got a book on how to work in Photoshop so you will all have to put up with more of my experiments.

Tom and I got Erin a working camera for Christmas. She has always shown an interst in our camera so we thought this would be a good idea. She knew almost immediately what to do with it and quickly asked to start taking pictures or in Erin-ese to "take a camera." We were both very glad that she was excited with it and I am looking forward to seeing what things look like from the point of view of a pre-schooler.

After an hour or so of wrapping paper and boxes flying around and each toy being played with for approximately 3.5 seconds no presents remained under the tree. I laid Jeffrey down for a nap and Tom proceeded to clean up breakfast. Then Erin and I put together Jeffrey's activity wall toy - which appears to be as much for Erin as it is for Jeffrey. The nap, which lasted a whopping 30 minutes, ended and Jeffrey was introduced to his new toy. He took a few seconds to look at it and found it somewhat interesting and daunting at the same time.

The rest of the afternoon was quiet and full of experimenting with new toys etc. I fixed a ham for dinner and John and Margaret joined us for the evening. We closed the weekend much as we began it - watching football with some special friends and sitting back as the kids settled into their new toys.

Several days later we've returned from a brief Christmas visit to Silver Spring, Erin continues to cook and serve coffee in her kitchen and Jeffrey has figured out how to stand at his playing wall. Requests to "take a camera" continue off and on. New sheets adorn Erin's bed and Jeffrey now has a toybox in his room. But other than that, things are beginning to return to normal after a wonderful and magical Christmas together.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night....

Imagine my surprise....

...when I realized that this



had turned into this.



While working in the kitchen I heard the familiar sounds of the activity table. Erin still plays there on a regular basis so nothing crossed my mind. Then I realized that Erin was supposed to be napping. I turned to give her a gentle reminder that she is to stay in her room until the music stops even if she's not asleep. What I found was Jeffrey standing at the table. He had pulled himself up to it without any help from anyone. He was pushing buttons and spinning the rattle without realizing that he was standing up.

Sigh, they grow up so fast. Not just physically but emotionally and mentally. I don't remember time seeming to go this fast with Erin. It felt like she was a snuggly little baby forever. It's the exact opposite with Jeffrey he seems in such a hurry to do everything. It is the rare occasion that I get a snuggle and when I do it only happens because I know he's tired and needs to sleep so I hold him tight. At those times I just try to sit back and soak it all in because I know it's not going to last.

Decorating Fun

We finally got the time and organization to go get a tree on Saturday. Unfortunately there are not any Boy Scout troops who sell trees nearby. Therefore we went to the local garden center and picked out a nice frasier fir. Erin and Jeffrey both came along for the trip. Erin tromped around the lot while Tom, Jeffrey and I picked out a tree.

When we got home, we set up the tree and let it stand for a while before decorating it. Jeffrey laid down for a nap and Tom and Erin baked Christmas cookies. It was quite a cute sight, Erin and Tom both dusted in flour cutting out cookies on the counter. I piddled around putting little decorations here and there. After the cookies cooled, Erin and I frosted them with pink icing. In a combined effort we managed to get MOST of the frosting on the cookies rather than Erin's clothes, hair, hands, the counter or the like. Erin did discover quickly though that any frosting that got onto her fingers was perfectly fine because she was able to eat it then. I even caught her licking the spreader at one point. Like mother like daughter I guess.

Once Jeffrey woke up we got the lights on the tree and began to put up our hodge-podge of decorations. Erin picked out the Pooh Bear ones as her special ones this year. And as usual she tried to hang all the ornaments from one branch. We have the perfect spot for the angel and Erin helped Tom put her on the top of the tree. Erin now walks by the tree and looks at the top, saying "so pretty."

This morning we went into church. I took Erin and Jeffrey to the nursery to give Jeffrey a test run to see how things might go if we decide to start leaving him there. After church one member took professional photos for the church fellowship list. It was the first professional photo of the four of us and may actually be the only photo of the family aside from a few at the Katie's wedding.

Both the kids looked so cute this morning that I did my own photo shoot when we got back home. I set them both down in front of the tree and Erin put her arms around Jeffrey to "hold him." It's good to see that she is still infatuated with him as he grows older - even though he now is very interested in all of her toys. The photos in front of the tree came out adorable. At least I think they did.

I'm expecting the tree to bring much joy and excitement as Erin realizes that something special is going to happen soon. It will also add another level of drama to Jeffrey's life serving as another item for him to crawl under, pull on, chew on etc...

So as we continue to count down the days to Christmas (even though Erin already Lost Baby Jesus and Mary from the advent calendar) we will all try to sit back and relax, say a few prayers and remember what Christmas is really about.

Dog Days of Winter

I love winter - the snow on the trees is beautiful and out here at the new house it is so pristine. Erin is getting more excited about the snow and looks for more snow every morning. BUT....

...the hill on our street is a sheet of ice. Since it's a dirt road there's nothing that really can be done except to sand it - which would at least help. Last night I got stuck half-way up the street and it hadn't snowed in almost a week. Thankfully the kids were not in the car to learn all sors of "new" words. But it means that this morning we are not able to get out to storytime - one of our weekly excursions that we BOTH look forward to.

...Jeffrey either got cold or hot or has a stuffy nose and spent the entire night alternating between screaming at me, snugled on my chest sleeping (which does not equal sleeping for me), nursing followed by more screaming at me.

...Erin woke up with green gunk flowing out of her nose and she HATES to have her nose wiped. It's a battle for everything with her when she feels like this.

Meghan: Let's sit on the potty Erin.
Erin: No!!!!! No potty.
Meghan: How about some milk.
Erin: No! Juice!!! Something to eat!!!
Meghan: OK, let's get dressed first.
Erin: No! No pants. Rocket!!!!
Meghan: You can watch Rocket after breakfast.
Erin: crumples into a ball on the floor screaming while Meghan walks off to the kitchen to get some much needed coffee.

I think you get the picture.

My only hope is that this is all this will be done and over with by Christmas next week and we are all back to being as happy, healthy and rested as possible.

And that the kids are not in the room when I call the maintenence person for the development and give him a piece of my mind. Maybe I should make him sit here with two housebound babies.

Not really about the kids but...

So I took my first mommy vacation this weekend. It had been over a year since I had had a weekend off from Erin and I had never been away from Jeffrey for more than a few hours. Mom had a conference in Boston and I LOVE Boston at Christmas so we used up some frequent flier miles and I went along to hang out at the ritzy hotel and walk around Boston for a few days.

The weather on Friday played some nasty games with us and I had to be routed through Charlotte in order to get to Boston. That's heading a hour south in order to get north, but hey it got me there. Mom also had to rearrange her flights and ended up landing in Boston during the middle of a white-out after having the plane struck by lightning. So needless to say the first place we headed was the bar at the hotel for a little something soothing - lol.

The kids gave Tom his own headaches. Jeffrey refused to drink anything for almost 12 hours. He was supposed to bring Erin to a friend's house on Friday, but couldn't get up the hill because of the ice so not much work got done on Friday. Erin tried to help with Jeffrey, but there's only so much a two-year old can do for her baby brother. When she can change his diaper, then we'll talk.

On Saturday I met up with Craig and we nabbed some lunch then headed out for a walking tour of Boston. We checked out the "holiday village" in the convention center and then walked through the city peeking into high-end hotels and wandering through the Common. We even found the store windows that were dressed up for the holidays. When I was a little girl we walked along those windows every year. So that meant a lot for me to find them. As I headed back to the hotel the sun was setting behind the skyine and it was completely gorgeous.

For dinner Mom and her friends and I went to Anthony's Pier 4, a special place from when I was a little girl. It had changed some but was still much the same. And very yummy.

Back at home base Tom got a little relief Saturday evening by taking Erin to Nathan's and for a break. He hung around with Jeffrey and watched a movie with Nathan's daddy while Erin, Nathan and his mommy watched "Rocket" and played computers. It didn't take Tom long to learn the value of a nearby friend after a long day with the kids.

Sunday led me up the Prudential building in Boston to take some awesome pictures. Then after a little Christmas shopping we all grabbed a cab back to the airport. Apparently while I was sitting in the bar eating a sandwich at Logon, Michelle Kwan walked down the hallway behind me and apparently headed to MY PLANE. As a longtime figure skating fan I searched for her, but never caught sight of her - bummer.

After a short talk with Tom encouraging him that I was heading home and Jeffrey would soon stop screaming I hopped aboard the flight home.

It was a nice weekend and I loved getting out around Boston again. Tom got some great bonding time with the kids and a true lesson in how tough it is being the only one in the house capable of diapering, feeding, consoling, rocking, playing etc... The most important thing I have to say is...

Thank you Tom and I Love you.

Adventures in Santa Hats

We got out the holiday decorations over the weekend and both kids had their own, but similar, adventures in Santa hats.

Here's Erin's:

Let's Try This Way



Almost There


Got it!!!!




And Jeffrey:

Where did I go?


Here I Am.


Aren't I Cute!!!


Merry Christmas to you all. Stay tuned for more adventures in holiday decorating.

What happened to the rest of November?

Where did the month go? I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is fast approaching. I'm completely ready to start decorating this year though. Erin is so much more aware of everything than she was last year. She already recognizes snowmen and Santa Clause and all of the other commercial holiday figures (it's sad how commercialized Christmas has become but hard to avoid at the same time). She is actually obsessed with Santa. Last year she was terrified of anything Santa, but this year she has seen Santa several times. He came to the end of the theater production I was in and she came to all the shows so Erin thought that every time we got in the car she was going to see Santa. It's very cute. I cannot wait for Christmas morning with her. I have a feeling it's going to be the most fun Christmas morning yet.

Both the kiddos are into everything - especially Jeffrey. I've got a gate up at the kitchen and doors closed at the stairs etc... He is certainly keeping me on my toes. He's not yet crawling on all fours but gets up on his knees and rocks back and forth. A few times he's made one move forward that way, but generally he launches himself forward and proceeds to army crawl around the rest of the house. The boy is going to have some super developed shoulder muscles.

He's still not sleeping really well - certainly not as well as Erin was at this point. He's up at least once in the night and often several times. Part of it may have been teething as he broke a third tooth through yesterday. I'm trying lots of different ways to encourage him to sleep through. I've stopped nursing him in the middle of the night so he won't think he HAS to eat to get back to sleep. Last night I was able to just go into his room and rub his back for a few minutes and he calmed right down.

I've also increased his solid food intake. He gets 3 solid meals a day now - cereal and fruit in the morning, fruit and veggies at lunch and then cereal with fruit and a meat at dinner. He's even sitting in the big high chair to eat his meals now. He certainly loves his solid foods now.

Erin is doing a lot of exciting things now. She LOVES to color and draw. She will put smiley faces in sunshines if you draw her a sunshine. She can sit at the table and do that for hours. She is getting much better at recognizing colors now too.

She still loves to play with Jeffrey and gets concerned if she can't see him at times. Her favorite game to play with him is "tickle" where she lays almost on top of him and tickles him under his chin. He LoVes this and squeals every time she does it. Thankfully she never puts her weight completely on him. I still have to watch her very carefully with him.

Erin's other obsession is the Disney cartoon "Little Einsteins." This is about 4 little kids and a rocket and they go on special missions each episode. The kids who are watching are brought into the show by doing special movements or helping to count etc... Erin can now count to 13 on a regular basis and mimics all kinds of physical movements such as clapping in a pattern. It's amazing to see all the things she can pick up on.

Well, I've written a novel here, but I feel like everything is happening so fast these days. One blink and I've missed something with both of them.

More playing with Photoshop

I've been playing some more with Photoshop these days. I've been experimenting with backgrounds etc... What do you think?

Erin found a cute seat to sit and eat her apple


Before


After

Too cute for words...

...but I'm going to give it a try. This happened a week or so ago and was just the cutest thing Erin has done in quite some time.

After coming with me to a long rehearsal we took some down time before going to bed and watched some football. Erin had two of her friends - her baby and Norman my old stuffed beaver - down in the basement. She decided it was time for them to take naps so she took turns bringing them upstairs to her bed and laying them down. Then she'd come back down and get the other one. This pattern went on for 15 minutes or so and is nothing new. I often find Little People, crayons, books tucked into her bed -- and sometimes even ours.

Well after one of her trips back downstairs with Norman, she climbed up onto the couch with Nana and me. We figured she was beginning to get tired herself and was going to sack out on the couch for a few minutes. Well, were we wrong. She looked at me and said, "Baby eating." I wasn't sure what she was talking about but what followed cleared up all my questions. Let's see if I can put it into words.

Erin turned Norman onto his side so his tummy was against hers. She then lifted her shirt up and snuggled Norman close. She was "feeding" him just like mommy feeds Jeffrey. She held him close for about 10 seconds, sat him up and proceeded to burp him -- a little vigorously but quite cute. She then laid him down the opposite way and repeated the process on the "other side".

Once she was finished with Norman she put him in one of her little red chairs to watch football. She went upstairs and got her baby and started all over again with baby. She repeated the process 5 or 6 times, feeding, burping and setting up to watch football.

I caught it video, but didn't get a still picture of it. She was very quiet and laid back about it that I could have very easily missed it.

It just goes to prove that Erin picks up on Everything she sees and hears.

I am 6 months old now

I am six months old now!!!!

I am 16 lbs. 6 ozs (50th percentile) and 27 1/8" long (75th percentile) -- that's about 1 pound heavier and 1 inch longer than my sister was at this age.

I still spit up.

I can army crawl all around the house and I love to find all the cords on the floor.

I can rock back and forth on my hands and knees.

I have 2 bottom teeth.

I can sit up on my own.

I sleep on my tummy (whether mommy likes it or not).

I drool a lot.

I chew on everything.

I still spit up.

I am starting to get a little more hair.

I have big-boy carseat because I was getting too heavy for mommy to lug around in my carrier.

I love to eat cereal and fruits and veggies -- bananas and sweet potatoes are my favorites right now.

I can make a mess with the cat food.

Did I mention I still spit up?

I squeal and squeak when I am happy.

I LOVE to give you my best smile.

I giggle at my sister because she's just so cool.

I stress my mommy out beyond belief because I am into everything and she wishes I was like my sister and would just sit in the middle of the floor and be happy.

I have decided it is very cool to be 6 months old.

Halloween Happenings

Each year, Halloween gets a little more fun with Erin. This year she had her first experience really helping to pick out pumpkins and went on her first door to door trick-or-treating experience. We dressed her up as Boo (from Monster's Inc) and Jeffrey tagged along as a cute little lion.

Although we picked out some nice big pumpkins, we didn't get a chance to carve them because Erin's great-Oma came down to visit on her 88th birthday. How many toddlers have an 88-year old best friend? It's great. Anyway, we didn't get time to carve pumpkins because it was so beautiful on Sunday we went up to a local orchard on top of one of our local "mountains". We picked out some apples and wandered through the pumpkin choices. Erin and Jeffrey sat down in the middle of the pumpkin patch for a little break. Although I couldn't get them to look at me, they were certainly a cute pair among the pumpkins.


When we got back to the house, Tom spiced up the house with the smells of cooking applesauce. Erin did get some time to paint the small pumpkins she had picked out. Here's a sample of her artwork. She LOVES to paint and has been asking every day since then to paint more pumpkins. It's great that she loves craft time because when I was her age (and a little older) I never felt like participating in craft time much.

On Monday it was close to 80 degrees out in the afternoon. Erin and I planted some daffodil bulbs in the yard and Jeffrey lounged on the back stoop in his bouncy chair. After playing in the dirt, I encouraged Erin to take a little nap by reminding her that she would get to go out with her pumpkin basket and get some candy.

We headed into town to hang out with some friends from the theater group we are part of. They all sit around in their front yard and hand out candy, listen to music etc... Erin's favorite part of the night was getting to dance to Sid's crazy music. We took Erin trick-or-treating from there and hit about 15 houses.

I gave Erin two glow-sticks, one to carry and the other to wear around her neck. We practiced saying "trick-or-treat" most of the day. Erin would walk with us to a house and as she walked up the sidewalk she'd recite "trick-treat,, trick-treat". She would knock on the door (she can't reach most doorbells still). Then she'd wait patiently with her pumpkin basket out. Whenever the homeowner would come do the door, I'd prompt Erin, "What do you say?" and Erin would just smile shyly. Everyone thought that was very cute. Then as we'd head back down the sidewalk Erin would begin chanting, "trick-treat, trick-treat". My silly little girl. Jeffrey came along in the stroller and was asleep by the end of the adventure.

As soon as we got back to Sid's, Erin returned to her dancing ways and picked out a sucker from her pumpkin. It was a great night, if just for the fun of watching Erin get more and more excited about Halloween. I can't wait for next year.

I don't know if this should be considered progress

Well, I have been working on getting Erin to pull her pants and panties down by herself to go to the potty so eventually I won't have to always "take" her there. I know she's only 2 1/2 so I didn't expect this to go very smoothly, but she's been trying.

Now for today's story. She's been a little...hrmmmm should I say "backed up"... the last day or so. This afternoon she kept telling me she had to go poopy. I'd take her upstairs and sit her on the potty. Then I'd give her some books, and even brought her a cup of milk in encouragement to get her to sit for a few minutes longer than she wanted. Generally this works well, especially in the morning. This afternoon it was not working at all though.

After several trips up the stairs a matter of 10 minutes, she headed upstairs on her own to play in her room. I let her do this because I can still hear her through the monitor in Jeff's room. Anyway, I'm sitting in the basement at the computer and I hear her hollering "potty mommy". I head upstairs with a slight air of relief that hopefully she's at least finally got it out of her system, even if it did end up in her panties. Imagine my surprise when I got upstairs.

Erin was squatting in the middle of the doorway to her room with her pants around her ankles and a very large (and thankfully solid) poop on the floor. She looked at me and had a huge smile on her face...

"no poopy in panties mommy!!!"

She was sooooo proud of herself that she managed to get her pants and panties down and didn't poop in her panties. She was not the least bit concerned that she had not made it to the potty (which really is only about 15 feet from her room). She stood up and stumbled towards me because she can get her panties down but not up yet. I scooped her up, before she stepped in her "masterwork".

I honestly had no idea how to respond to her. I wanted to laugh because there was poop on the floor. I wanted to scream because... well because there was poop on the floor. I did my very best to have no reaction at all. I explained that she did a very good job in trying to get the poop in the potty and that yes, it was a good thing that there was no poop in her panties. Then I grabbed some toilet paper, scooped up the poop and dropped it into the potty, and Erin followed me into the bathroom to say "bye poopy" as it went down the potty.
Now aren't you glad you don't have a two-year old at home?

Pictures from King's Dominion

Finally I'm able to get the pictures from King's Dominion online. Here are some pictures to go with the previous story.


Erin crusing around in a rocket



Erin flying her helicopter


Erin watching a rollercoaster go by -- There it Goes!!!


Jeffrey just hanging out, looking cool.

Size 7 - what do you mean size 7?

In the past few weeks, Tom and I have noticed that Erin's very cute pink sneakers have been getting a little tight. And over the weekend Tom decided that they really were too small (it feels like they were just only recently a little too big). So on a trip to the mall the other day I passed Payless Shoes (where else would I but shoes for someone who apparently grows out of shoes every month). I started perusing the shelves of sneakers and when an employee passed by and asked if we needed anything. I decided it had been a while since I'd had Erin's feet measured so asked if she could measure Erin's feet. She had her stand up like a big girl and said,

"OK, she needs a size 6 1/2"

I thought, wow I was standing in front of 6s thinking those looked to be big. Then she measured Erin's other foot,

"Well, this one measures a size 7."

"7? You've got to be kidding me!!"

So we moved along to an entirely new shelf and picked out two new pair of shoes - one pair of white sneakers and a pair of black shoes with Dora on them -- and of course both have little flashing lights on them. So now my baby girl is running around in size 7 shoes, tripping all over the place and I can't decide if she's tripping because the shoes are soo much bigger than she was wearing or if she's trying to watch the little lights as she runs and jumps everywhere. Most likely it's a combination of the two. Either way, I can't believe my baby girl is getting so big. Before I know it she'll be picking out a new backpack and heading off to kindergarten -- cry :(

There it goes....

As a late Anniversary celebration (only 2 months late) Tom and I went to King's Dominion with Tim and Jen and their kids and decided to bring Erin and Jeff -- especially since we didn't have to pay for Erin yet. It was a gorgeous fall day bright sun shining, and warm enough for short sleeves. We packed Jeffrey and Erin into the double stroller (along with a potty seat, 2 sets of extra clothes, 3 rattles, 1 paci, 2 jackets/sweaters, diapers, snacks, a sippy cup...) and spent the day wandering the park. Jeffrey spent the day lounging in the back of the stroller checking out the activity.

While Tom and our friends went to ride a couple of coasters, I took Erin and Jeffrey to the Nickelodeon Kids area where there were some rides for Erin (don't worry I got to ride all the awesome coasters too). She climbed around a little jungle gym. Then she found a helicopter and rocket ride. Imagine my big girl. As I walked out after buckling in I thought it was like taking my baby to college. She looked like such a big girl sitting there and she had so much fun. I didn't think to video it, but you could hear her squealing the whole time. Even the gentleman standing next to me said, "well that little girl certainly is having fun."

After 2 rides there, Miss Christina walked Erin through a "Mystery Cave" which might not have been the best idea, but could have been worse. Apparently she clung to Christina the whole time. When they got out Erin shouted - "Fun" and Christina looked at me and shook her head - "No...not fun." Then Erin saw a little swing ride for which she waited as patiently as a two-year old can through 2 rides until it was her turn. My swing fanatic certainly enjoyed this one too.

So you would think that sounds like the best part to Erin's day, but no.... Her favorite part of the park was watching the rollercoasters. While Tom and I waited with Christina to ride a coaster, Erin stayed with Tim and Jen. After a halt in the rid to search for some lady's cell phone that apparently fell out of her pocket during the ride, we found Erin and Mr. Tim running around near the coaster. Every time the ride would climb the hill, she would squeal and point at the train saying - "There it goes." For the rest of the day Erin watched every coaster with anticipation of the train coming around a corner. And every time she would squeal - "There it goes" and jump up and down and shriek with glee.

We spent a long day at the park and both Erin and Jeffrey were exhausted by the time we left. After mommy got one more thrill ride -- a new Tomb Raider spinning/flipping ride filled with pyrotechnics -- we loaded the kiddos up into the stroller to head out. But as we walked out of the park long after dark, Erin looked up to the Volcano ride and watched the train come by one more time to shout...There it goes!!!

A Special Day

Jeffrey was baptized on Sunday and it was a very special day for all of us. His Nana performed the ceremony, just like she did for Erin but made it different and special just for him. Since Jeffrey's Aunt and Uncles couldn't be there they send special letters that were given to Jeffrey letting him know how special he was to each of them. Nana, Grandad and Oma came along with Grandpa and Grandma. Jeffrey's surrogate Uncle John even came along to help celebrate our very important little guy.

Of course to make everything just a little more realistic Jeffrey spit up on everyone that morning - including Nana while she was holding him during the ceremony. Erin decided she was going to play shy and not tell anyone Jeffrey's name when Nana asked - even though 90% of the time that's the one question she always answers. Also, half-way through the rest of service Erin announced to me (and everyone else sitting around us) that she was ready to go home and wanted to watch "Charlie and Lola," her current favorite cartoon. Everyone has their priorities I guess.


We had hoped to finish the afternoon with a trip to the mountains to see the fall colors, but 4.5 inches of rain over 2 days put a damper on those plans. So we lounged around the house, ate way too much shrimp cocktail and chex mix and played cards, napped and watched football.

All in all it was a lovely weekend and certainly very special. Here are a few pictures from the special day.

Jeff's Sears Portraits

Just got back from Sears to get Jeffrey's pictures taken. Decided it was finally time, poor guy. By the time Erin was 5 months she had already had her pictures taken 3 times (by the end of October). I think they came out great. I'm glad I did take him. Hope you enjoy looking at our growing little man. Sorry the quality isn't that great. If you want a better look, let me know and I can send you a link to the Sears Portrait Studio.

And no. Jeffrey isn't sitting up on his own yet. That's a visual trick there. My hand is under the blue cloth he's sitting on and propping up his back. With the tricks of digital photography these days you can't even tell my arm is there. Pretty cool huh? But in 10 years I'm going to look back forget that my arm was there and think, "Wow he was sitting up really well at 5 months!!" We all know it's going to happen.

Someone Make Him Slow Down

What is happening to my little baby? He's getting to big and growing so fast and doing so many things. He certainly isn't the little snuggle-bug he was a few months ago. Believe it or not this guy is already on the go. He has figured out how to turn his flipping and rolling into directional movement. He also is a champion of pivoting around while on his tummy. The other night I watched him army crawl across the floor. Yes I used the word crawl!!!! Down on the hardwood laminate of the basement he would link his fingers together to make one big ball. Then he'd throw his arms in front of him and pull himself forward. At first I thought is was a fluke, then I realized he was going after a toy about 8 feet away. And guess what..... He Got It. Then he just looked up at me with that big (now toothy, remember) smile as if to say,

"Look at me mama!!!"

"I am looking at you. What do you think you are doing? You're not supposed to figure this out yet. Noooooo"

Ok, now I need to step back and take a big breath and realize that it's time to get out the babyproofing stuff again. I just can't believe it.

Ladies and Gentlemen.......

We have a tooth (it's true we all do). But most importantly Jeffrey has a tooth. It first broke through a little over a week ago and now it's a full-fledged tooth. Let me tell you, no one here is happy about it. He is a much crankier teether than Erin was. He's also been trying it out on me - OUCH. He goes through some periods where he just fusses and screams, mostly in the evening or afternoon. It makes for some long days especially that Tom has been traveling more lately.

It also appears that he's got his first cold to accompany the tooth. So he's also struggling with that. There are still moments where I get the big, now toothy, smiles but they are a little less frequent right now :(

Jeffrey has also moved on from rice cereal to squash. He LOVES it. He can't seem to get enough of it. When I was feeding him in squash last night he would scream every time I took the spoon out of his mouth. He opened up for more as soon as he saw the spoon again. I noticed he was also sucking on the spoon when it was in his mouth. I think maybe, he thought that there was an endless supply of squash on the spoon (like mommy has an endless supply of milk for him). When I took the spoon away he didn't realize it would come back with more. I could be way off base here, but that's what it seemed like to me.

Unfortunately the solid/pureed food has not helped the spitting up. He certainly is spitting up less than he was, but still spits. Now the spits are tainted with rice or squash, making them much messier than before. Hopefully this will not continue into our attempts with peas - yuck.

That's the latest on Jeffrey. Erin's still wild and crazy and talking up a storm. The potty is getting much better, I'd say we are about 95% trained for the pees and 70% on the poops. She gets very excited every morning to pick out her special panties (Nemo are her favorite right now).

Hope you all are enjoying reading about our adventures in childhood. Also something I noticed accidentally the other day. If you click on one of the pictures in the blog it will bring up a bigger version of the picture. Makes the ones at the park a little easier to see.

Playing with photoshop

I was playing with photoshop the other day and came up with this. I don't know how well it will come out in a smaller image, but the full sized one looks really cool. I'd like to do something more with the background - maybe a little texture to it or gradiate it from darker green to lighter, but I couldn't fully figure out how to do that. Let me know what you think.

I am editing this to put in the original picture of Erin and Jeffrey I used.

Park Pictures

We've had several trips to the park in the last month or so as the weather has cooled a little. I realized that I have many more pictures of Jeffrey on here than I do of Erin, so here are some shots of her from some of our recent trips. As you can see, she loves the park to run and jump and play.

4-month Stats

After a screw-up on the part of the people at the doctor's office (they never actually scheduled his appointment in the computer) I was able to get in to have Jeffrey's 4-month check-up today. We weren't able to see Dr. Quillian (she was on vacation, why they would have originally scheduled me for a day she was on vacation, I have no idea). We saw a fill-in Dr. who was nice, but not Dr. Q. She said Jeff looks great and is right along track for everything. Technically he's outgrown his carrier seat - by length not weight. We used Erin in her's long after she outgrew it's length, but it might be time to think about getting him a traditional seat - he's growing so fast and getting heavy to carry around in the seat. It's just sooo convenient.

Here are his stats:
Height - 26.5" -- 90-95%
Weight - 15 lbs 2 ozs -- 50%

Compared to Erin at 4 months who was
Height - 25.5"
Weight - 13 lbs 11 ozs

Looks like he might outgrow his big sister before she know's it.

"I'm not really sure about this mom"

Well, I've been waiting to try cereal with Jeffrey and we gave it a try Tuesday night. Let me begin by stating, I think this stuff looks gross and to make it palatable for him the suggestion is to make it really runny like rice soup. We grabbed a bib and set him in the bouncy chair on the kitchen table. He didn't seem to really dislike it, but made some precious faces of indecision. He eventually got the idea that he was supposed to swallow the stuff and got about half of it down before replacing the spoon with his fingers - what I took as a sign he was done.

The biggest problem was that he wanted to "help" and pull my hand with the spoon towards his face. Sometimes we hit his mouth other times it was closer to his nose or even eye. This was compounded by the fact that he is a kicking machine when sitting in his bouncy chairs so we were aiming for a moving target. HEHE.

So we're not really sure about the cereal, but I got this other picture earlier in the afternoon. It was simply gorgeous out and we took our chairs outside to enjoy the weather. This he truly liked.

Lessons of the last week

Wow - we've learned so many lessons around here in the last week. Things I should have known, but somehow am just picking up on now (hehe).

Lesson 1: It's not worth trying to shower - at all (unless Tom is home). If both kids are asleep invariably Jeff wakes up and screams and/or Erin gets up and runs into the bathroom announcing that she has to potty. If the kids are awake, Erin is no longer fully entertained by cartoons if her baby brother is lying on the floor. It's much more fun to sit on baby brother at that point.

Lesson 2: Naptime is now apparently optional, especially for Erin. I can put her in her room all sleepy and tired but not 5 minutes later I hear "Jumping on the Bed" accompanied by shrieks and giggles eminating from the room. She still doesn't seem to comprehend the "falls off and bumps his head" part of the story.

Lesson 3: Mealtime is also optional. It does not matter if I have prepared a favorite food (at least last month is was) if she doesn't want to eat, she won't. I guess she'll just have to be hungry. Jeffrey also views mealtime as optional. He would much rather look at his big sister than focus on eating with mommy.

Lesson 4: A baby brotther's squeals and giggles outweigh mommy's words. Apparently phrases such as "don't sit on your brother", "don't roll your brother over", "Be gentle with Jeffrey," "Don't Touch Jeffrey" all come across in a foreign language. The worst part of it is that Jeffrey seems to love all of this.

Lesson 5: Spit-up happens right after you change into good clothes. OK I've known this one for 4 months now, but it's continually being reinforced.

Lesson 6: I've still got a million more lessons to learn.

Intriducing the Amazing Flipping Jeffrey

Now remember, Erin didn't roll over on a regular basis until she was close to 10 months old. Well, her little brother has taken to rolling from his back to front at will. Actually, we struggle to keep him on his back these days. He's discovered that if he brings his legs into the air and lets them flop to the side, rolling is easy. So whevever and wherever I lay him on his back, he quickly flips himself over. I MUST now watch him very closely on the changing table and can't take my hands off him there any more to grab a onesie etc...

Unfortunately, he's not too adept at flipping from his tummy to his back. This is odd because he used to do it fairly often. Now when he's tired of being on his tummy (which really can take up to an hour) he just burries his face in the floor/carpet/blanket and screams. At that point someone (often Erin) provides assistance in rolling back over, although Erin is not the most gentle in her rolling.

I am truly amazed at how quickly it seems Jeffrey is growing. I just don't remember things happening this fast with Erin. He's already starting to fill up his 3-6 month outfits and may move up into the next size before too long. He also seems so much more physically advanced than Erin was at this point. I would not be surprised if he's crawling around by Thanksgiving from the way he already scoots about on his tummy.

As for Erin, she is doing well. Now refusing to poop on the potty (goes in her panties) but this past weekend she started telling me she had to poopy. Even though she couldn't let go on the potty, it was a step up from the past few weeks where there was no notice at all. The poops still ended up in her panties, but we're making progress again.

She is also singing a lot more little songs now. She will sing her ABC's (while reading her I SPY ABC book), Eensy Weensy Spider, and Twinkle Twinkle LIttle Star. In some of her counting books she actually points to things and "counts" them. Sometimes she even gets it right.

I can't believe my babies are growing sooooo fast.

My Budding artist...

Except that she has made a poor choice of medium - for example coloring on the walls in the stairwell. Very pretty - beautiful purples and reds. And impossible to clean off. I've already gone through 3 Magic Erasers and I'm only barely halfway through cleaning it off.

In the meantime, while I needed to feed Jeff, she went upstairs to her bathroom took MY stuffed animal and put it "inside" her little potty. I found her in the dark bathroom sitting on the big potty blowing bubbles for the stuffed animal. At least I had cleaned the potty after Erin's last trip.

As for Jeff, he's been very good these past days, thankfully. He's now very adept at rolling from his back to his tummy. He enjoys being on his tummy very much. He also got a Bumbo seat that allows him to sit upright, which he also enjoys but tends to spit up quite a bit because it crunches his belly a little I think. The exersaucer is also a favorite past time these days. Thank goodness he's been giving me a little break while Erin tests the limits.

OK, I must now go release said daughter from her room as she is refusing her nap and banging on the door. Sigh - she won't be 2 forever will she?

Cute Picture

Well, I finally got a picture of my two little sweeties together. This was on a day when Erin decided it was not worth screaming at me every second and Jeffrey was only drooling and not spitting up on everything. Let me tell you those days are rare.

Look what I Found!!!

Not quite so sure I like where this could possibly go, but isn't it cute? He's been doing this all day yesterday and today. At least I don't have to stress as much about where the paci is (although he still loves his paci too).

Noni-Oma

Upon returning from a few days in DC yesterday Erin gave me a great laugh and I thought I'd share it with you.

We left DC about 1:00 PM - Erin's naptime. Her Oma and Uncle Jonathan gave her kisses and buckled her in. She was pretty tired and didn't put up any fuss about going home. The drive back to Charlottesville went fine - we even stopped to pee at a 7-Eleven.

When we turned into the development, Erin let out a huge scream followed by "No!! Noni-Oma, Noni-Oma, Noni-Oma!!!!" Noni-Oma is what Erin calls visiting DC. Noni (supposed to be Nana) and Oma both being there, Erin's shortened it to Noni-Oma.

Anyway it took nearly 2 1/2 hours for Erin to realize we were not going back to DC. She got very upset and began burrying her head in her hands with big sobs.

Then she took it one step further. She started hollering, "Robyn, Jeff, Robyn Jeff, Robyn, Jeff." This is her Aunt and Uncle whom we have not seen in several weeks and don't see on a regular basis. As I stopped to pick up the mail she threw a "Rylie" (her cousin) into the mix.

I calmly explained that we were going home and eventually the sobbing stopped and she calmed down. I attempted to hide my laughter during this whole episode, but it was utterly hilarious. Isn't it amazing how a child's mind works.

Returning Home

We're back after a few days in DC. Erin and Jeffrey enjoyed their time with Great-Oma and Uncle Jonathan and the little bit they got to see Nana and Grandad. Erin, as usual, spent most of her day with Great-Oma. Jeffrey alternated between hanging out with mommy or Great-Oma and even Uncle Jonathan. Uncle Jon even got his first chance to babysit when mommy, Nana and Grandad went to the Neil Diamond concert (he puts on an awesome show, by then way) Wednesday night. Uncle Jon even changed diapers, fed Jeffrey, and put on his PJs.

Erin did fairly well with the potty while we were there, had 1 successful poop in the potty, but it seems we've hit a little regression. So.... back home and we're going to delve back into training headlong. Mommy's going to try to make it fun and exciting again and we'll see if that helps minimize some of our recent accidents. My guess is that something once new, is no longer fun and new. Therefore - the M&M's and cheers, stories, bubbles etc... are all coming back out. I'll keep you all posted on the progress.

Sigh - Long Poopy Day

I am sure some day I'll look back at this and laugh, but certainly not today. . .

Well, it was a very long day yesterday. Tom is again on travel for the week and had to leave early yesterday morning. All started out fine, we even made it to church, but there, the day began to go downhill. Erin had an accident while in nursery (I guess they didn't make it to the potty in time). That's OK, new person in nuresry - easily taken care of. As soon as service ended Jeff started screaming unconsolably. It probably looked fairly humerous, me trying to peel a banana for Erin while sticking my finger in a screaming baby's mouth (as the paci came out as soon as I put it in). Eventually Erin found a friend to help her with snacks and I whisked Jeff off to give him a little snack.

With that taken care of, we headed home, with a stop at the grocery store for Diet Coke and milk which Erin had been asking for all morning. Upon arrival at home, both were asleep. Managed to move Jeff inside without waking him. Erin woke in process of getting out of car and decided her nap was over. After sharing some soup for lunch I took Jeff to feed him again and noticed a familiar odor coming from Erin.

Let me explain - Saturday she pooped in her panties. I can't call this an accident because there was no remorse or even realization that anything was wrong. She didn't tell me she was poopy, I sniffed her out. Flash forward to Sunday, same time of day, just gotten off potty - poopy panties. Interrupting Jeff from his lunch (now he's screaming again) I put Erin in tub to clean her off - she throws fit, mommy looses cool. Now all are screaming and crying. Sit Erin on potty and remind her that "poop goes in potty" while I finish feeding Jeffrey.

Finally I get Erin down for a short nap and Jeff is somewhat content in his bouncy chair. Short nap over, Erin pees on potty and we head downstairs so I can work on computer. 5 minutes later she is squatting in the old familiar position. "Erin do you have to potty," mommy asks. "No." "OK" Two minutes later it happens again and mommy it too late - poopy in panties again - back to the bathroom to clean up. Sigh.

Rest of afternoon goes fairly well. Jeff spends some time playing in his exersaucer. Erin plays in her room and successfully tells me she has to potty several times (no poops though). I even make a nice dinner, which is rare when Tom's out of town (but I had to use up some thawed chicken before we headed out of town ourselves). Erin eats good dinner, Jeff takes short nap. Jeff wakes up for his dinner. Eats well and proceeds to scream for the next two hours.

Mommy puts Finding Nemo in DVD player to entertain Erin while trying to calm Jeff down. Turn out now Erin is scared of Finding Nemo so mommy got one screaming infant and one cowering toddler - "Calgon take me away." I call my mommy to keep myself from going off the deep end. Finally decide Jeffrey does not have a fever and might be teething. He calms down a little and mommy and Erin finish watching Nemo. Upon concluding mommy says the bad word, "Bedtime".

After one more fight up the stairs followed by another trip to the potty Erin's resigned to bedtime. Of course in the middle of potty time, phone rigs and Tom wants to tell me he's safely in North Dakota (lucky him). Jeffrey (screaming again) is brought into Erin's room for story time. We make it through stories with Jeffrey screaming, commence with kissing ritual which includes kissing each atuffed animal in Erin's bed at least 3 times. Go to turn out light and put on music, Erin demands one more trip to potty (mommy thinks she just wants M&Ms now) Small success and Erin's back in bed, light out, music on. One down.

Jeffrey - still screaming finally decides maybe he's hungry. Nurses like he hasn't eaten in 5 days and finally falls asleep. At this point, mommy crawls into bed and is asleep as soon as head hits pillow.

10 hours later Jeffrey wakes up - in a slightly better mood. Erin has had several successful trips to potty this morning, but no poops. At the moment Jeffrey is napping in his bouncy chair and Erin is entertained by the Wiggles (thank god for the Disney channel). And mommy is ready to go back to bed...

Updated Jeffrey's Website

I have finished updating Jeffrey's website. There are about 35 pictures on it now, so you can see how much he's grown up in the past 3 months. He's doing so much and the time has just flown by. It seemed like forever before Erin was 3 months, but not Jeff. It's amazing how much he has grown. There are some pictures that have the both of the kids in it so you can see how Erin has grown too. I have her website all ready to re-post (at least I did a month ago) but don't have the space on the server right now for 2 sites, so hers will have to wait a little. She's learning to share in so many ways - lol.

I'm going to try to put some pictures of Erin here on the Blog. These are her shots of her at her finest. I hope you find them as amusing as I do.




It's a pretty good day so far, except for Erin's whining. She must have wakened up on the wrong side of the bed today because everything is said in a whiny voice - "juuuuuice mommmmmyyyy" and the ever popular "noooooooo".


Jeff's Website