Moira and Grady around 6 months.

Moira is a little sexier, I think. Grady looks like, well, a boy. As he should.

"Look Mom, the sun made a music note!"

So smart!

"What should I wear today?"

That's the first question Moi asks me every day. For some reason she has scammed me into countless summer dresses but now all she wants to wear is long pants and some sort of semi-stained logo shirt hand me down from cousin Maren. She has lots of logo shirts, and wants to wear a new one every day and loves these red pants. She could look so adorable yet is always mismatched and wearing a shirt that is stained b/c she wears her favorites over and over. And he HATES shorts. Sigh. Also a favorite topic of discussion on our way to go somewhere is what will everyone there be wearing. She also likes for she and I to be matching, but I have put a stop to that. I don't have time for that!

Moira's ballet class videos finally

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNgR-TxWUXU&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eyoutube%2Ecom%2Fuser%2Fmeghogan1&feature=player_profilepage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CviwOWa82oM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eyoutube%2Ecom%2Fuser%2Fmeghogan1&feature=player_profilepage

Air Show Meltdown and Grady on the swing pics

cutie pie in a swing

At the air show before the meltdown (see below)

AT the park on the swing. It's nice that he's big enough to do the swings at the park now. Something else to so other than sit in the stroller or have me carry him around.

Moira didn't want to be in the "baby swings" but I put her in for a size comparison.

This big orange bouncer is what Moi was in when the really really loud airplane few by.

So we went to the Dayton Air Show on Sunday. Chris loves air shows and airplanes. We knew it was a risk b/c Moi has "It's too loud!" issues. We asked her if she wanted to go and warned her it would be loud. She said she did. Chris got out his nascar sound muffling head phones and showed them to her. They work really well, so it seemed like a good plan. We got down there without any problem. Grady slept the whole way and Moi was good. We had to park far away and take a shuttle. Moi liked going on a big bus ride. We got there and some guy gave us free tickets. He had extra- he said "courtesy of Pepsi" so I guess they were a sponsor. That was great b/c they were $19 each! Then we got in and it was a little loud from the announcer. Moi went back and fourth between wanting to wear the headphones or not. We found a kids area with about 6 or 7 HUGE bouncy things. Moi LOVES bouncy things. The only bad thing was these were HUGE and they had mazes, which made me nervous she would get lost in them and freak (like she did at kingdom of bounce) but I am trying not to be too overprotective and she said she wanted to do them. I had to feed Grady. Okay, Air Show ranks as world's WORST place to breastfeed. Seriously there was NOWHERE good. So, I busted out my reserve bottle of formula I carry in my bag. But I had no water. I asked the guy selling tickets to the bouncy things if I could buy a bottle from him and he just gave one to me (that was nice of him). Grady actually drank an ounce or two of cold Enfamil (notable b/c he had only been drinking soy up to this point) in the middle of a LOUD field. Then, all of the sudden this really loud-REALLY LOUD- F-18 Hornet came buzzing by. Okay, the really really bad part about this was Moira was in the middle of a humungo bouncy house. I was feeding Grady and pardon the language but I knew Moi was in a bouncy house and it was seriously soooooo loud, even the grownups were covering their ears, I was like S$#@!!! Anyone who knows Moira KNOWS how much she would totally be freaking out to be in the middle of a bouncy house when a noise that sounds like sounds like the world is coming to an end and her not really knowing where she is. HORRIBLE. We left carrying her out, well, Chris was, having a complete meltdown. And the worst was it kept buzzing by over and over. I've never seen her so upset in my life ever, including stitches incident. Pretty much the worst trip ever, buy hey, at least the family was together and I'm sure it will be a memory we will never forget, so that's something at least. Oy.

Grady is funny. He can really manipulate his pacifier. Sometimes when he is done eating I put like 5 of them on his tray table and watch him work them into his mouth. Also, I hold one in my hand while I am feeding him and let him know it's there and when he is done eating he takes it and put it in his mouth, to indicate "I am done eating, just want to suck now". Smart! Also, something so sweet is when he is eating, he hold my free hand with his hand and rubs his other hand up and down with his other hand. And then when I pick him up and pat him to burp, he also pats me on the back (Insert awwwwwww here). When he is sleeping or trying to sleep, all I need to do is go in and hold his hand- he reaches for my hand right away and grabs in and loves to hold it. It's so sweet.

Portsmouth & Complainy Post

Grady and Great Grammy and Grampy

Grady and Great Grammy

Moira pretending like it's her 5 year birthday party. Grandma put some candles in a pancake.

johnny jump up

Grady and Nana and Pop

At the lodge pool

Grady and Connor McClure, one of my longest lifetime friend (Leslie Rodeheffer)'s baby. Les and I lived across the street from each other and our mom's hung out when we were little. We then spent every morning 2 chairs away in home room from 6th grade until High School. Connor is ADORABLE, as you can imagine if you've ever seen Leslie! This encounter between Grady and Connor was funny b/c 1. Made me realize how huge Grady's head is and 2. Grady freaked out b/c he was afraid of Connor! I am not used to babies who are his age, about 10 months. All the 3 year olds know you aren't supposed to put your fingers in baby's eyes, etc. But 10 month olds don't. I forgot and had grady on the floor and he started screaming and I noticed connor's fingers were in his eye sockets. After that, everytime Connor would come near him Grady would freak out and get really red and SCREAM! (which he never does). It made me laugh though and that stopped the screaming. Made me realize he needs some baby friends.

Moira fell asleep with M&M's in her hand on the way to the lodge pool. Apparently she woke up at 5:30 am at Grandma & Grandpa's house and said "googly mooogly" or something to grandma.

I made this sweet diaper cake for a friend. It's a combo big-brother present too b/c I put suckers down in each diaper and have sippy cups with the brother's names on them. I also rolled matching bibs up and put those in place of some of the diapers and stacked toys and spoons in the ribbons. It was fun to make. Funny though, Moira looked at it and said "Mommy, I want a sucker, but not one that tastes like diapers" and did a shudder at what I presume was the thought of a poo flavored diaper.

I am always so behind on the blog these days. I blame facebook.

Where to begin. Chris worked most of the weekend weekend before last and so I was starting to go insane by early last week. I called the Grandparents in Portsmouth and got the A-OK to drive down there and trash their houses for a few days. I think what makes me insane more than anything else is the trashing of the house. And this is funny b/c I used to be a big slob. Here is my official apology to my parents and all my college roommates and Chris before we had kids (although he never cared). I think it's b/c we are home so much (even though we get out and about at least once every day), it's all I can do to just keep up with laundry and dishes, let alone the enormous amount of mess that a 3 year old can make. And now that Grady is into hard core solids 3 times a day, we have all that mess. It's just all a mess! Anyway, fortunately we have grandparents to go and visit to take some of my edge off. I did feel bad b/c I went to drop off this diaper cake to a friend and she just had a baby. She was having a hard time, 1.5 weeks after c-section and she asked me if it gets any easier, dealing with 2 kids. I said, oh yes, it totally does. Then she asked me why were were going to Portsmouth and I said "Oh, I was about to go insane, so I just threw all of our stuff in the car and we are driving away". I realized later that probably didn't make her feel any better.... We had a nice visit. We went to the Lodge pool one day, visiting Great Grandparents, and mainly just laid low. Honestly, it was nice for me to get to put Grady to bed w/o having to rush it so Moira doesn't get bored and come in and disrupt him while he is doing his last feeding. I am always so nervous b/c at 5 1/2 months, right before he goes to bed, he really needs quiet and no distractions or we need to start all over. It's asking a lot of Moira to ask her not to come into his room those last 10 minutes. She does pretty good but every now and then we have some sort of "emergency" and she'll bust in yelling or half crying. Anyway, it was nice to just focus on him. Poor second child- I focused on Moira ever single night before bed for 3 1/2 years and he kind of gets dragged along for the ride. Good thing the guy is easy going, he has to be! Although I don't totally believe the "second child is always easier" rumor b/c I have had several friends with colicy/fussy seconds, so you never know. Now what was I saying... I don't remember. Oh yeah, it was nice to just put one kid to bed and wake up with just one kid. So much easier. I had forgotten! Chris is always at work when Grady goes to bed around 7 and barely gets to see Moi in the week- only if she's happened to nap in the car will he get to see her much. It's just me all day. And w/o Moira napping, it's a looooong day. I was remembering how good I had it when Moira was Grady's age. She was pretty much sleeping through the night. She'd get up at 7 am, we'd play. She'd nap from 9-10:30 and I'd do 45 minutes of exercise then shower and get ready. Then we'd go out and about. Then she'd nap again from 1-2:30 and I'd clean the house and dinner prep. Then we'd play a little bit and she'd take a late 3rd nap when I could do some laundry or house clean, work on a craft or e-mail. Now with 2, I just don't get anything done!!! Although, I have realized I can do more when they are both awake than before. Like today. I laid Grady on a blanket and put on a show for Moira in our room and rode the exercise bike. Grady let me go 25 minutes. He just plays with his toys and looked out the window. Every now and then I just say "hi!" and he smiles. Also he loves his jumparoo so I can fold laundry while he does that and Moi plays computer games or reads book or whatever in the playroom. So it's not sooooo bad, just busy. And I could really benefit from a husband who is home at a reasonable hour, but now I'm just talking crazy. Chris's firm is just really busy. Always.

Okay, enough complaining. Here are some funny stories.

Moira was on the trampoline today and she was just looking at me not moving. I said "what are you doing?" She said "You have to click the mouse button to make me jump!" Perhaps too many computer games... Also, she's been adding "dotcom" to the end of random words. Like "mommy, can you get me a Popsicle.com". She is really good at the computer though, and it is excellent when I want to put Grady down for a nap. She plays Nickjr.com, noggin.com, and playhousedisney. In fact, she can open Internet explorer, go to favorites, pull down her game and then scroll through all games. Her preschool offers a computer class and I was thinking she could probably teach it.

Grady is working himself into a half way decent nap schedule FINALLY. He had been taking 4-45 minuteish naps all day. That's fine, but it just seemed like I was constantly putting him down and getting him up. Very frustrating for Moira who would get excited to finally have mommy time and then he was up. She even started turning off the monitor when he was napping so I wouldn't hear him get up (scoundrel). The last few days I've tried to keep him awake a little longer in the morning even though he is fussy for the last 20 minutes or so and he's been sleeping about 1.5 hours twice a day with a shorter 3rd nap.

My back is killing me from carrying him around. I really think I have to stop typing now b/c it hurts sitting here so long! I asked Cheryl who also has an enormous boy if it gets better once they start walking and she said no, b/c you still have to carry them in the parking lot and whatnot. She said that it even feels like one side is getting longer than the other. Grady was 19.4 lbs when I weighed him at home the other day. Oy.

Okay, I could write more, but will have to do for later.

Oh, and I am excited b/c the first Internet "friend" I have made had a baby yesterday. I have been reading this blog for about a year and I finally e-mailed the writer when she was talking about her feelings about having a baby and how it would affect her daughter, so I had to send her the "Loving Two" poem I put on Moira's blog. She wrote me back and didn't think it was weird that I started my e-mail "you don't know me but I read your blog". Apparently she gets that from time to time. Anyway, she comments on my blog sometimes and I comment on hers. She is such a good writer and I love her daily stories and pictures. They had a boy yesterday and even though I don't really know them, I feel like I do and am very excited for them! www.bellyville.net.

Can you guess what I am doing?

So cute!

Moi and I were outside today and I noticed these chalk drawings on the trampoline cover. I asked her what they were. She and Chris had been outside the night before doing smoke bombs (one of their favorite things, I got some on clearance at Meijer this week, but that will be the last of the fireworks now!). She said the top one is her and daddy happy b/c they are at a county fair, and she drew hearts b/c hearts mean love. The other one is her and daddy and a crazy roller coaster. The roller coaster drawing made me laugh! It does look like a roller coaster, the big hill and then all scrambled around at the end.

Moi and I were sitting on the trampoline today eating veggie chips and drinking ice water and she said "Mommy, this sure is the spice of life, isn't it?" Yes, Yes it is my girl.

Grady rolled over all the way today from his back to his belly. I put his pacifier just out of reach of his mouth and he had to come fetch it!

We did a little photo shoot in the back yard with their "Big Sister/Little brother" shirts that the Selby's got for us. We got some cute ones.

Moira funnies:

"Mommy, I can't wear THOSE underwear to bed, they are too stinky and too scratchy, just like a raccoon!" (for the record, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the underwear I wanted her to wear)

"Oh good, Grady is 5 months now! He is big and I can play with him AND throw balls at his head!"

Grady is super graby lately. He rolled over almost 90% of the way today from his back to his belly. He can sit up fairly decently. Oh, and I almost forgot, he has Hand, Foot and Mouth disease. It sounds worse than it is. I guess almost all kids get it at some point, you just might not know b/c sometimes it's only in the mouth or a really mild case, then they are immune to it (I think). I noticed these pimple things on his feet and did some research and yep, that's what it is. It makes sense b/c I had seen a blister or 2 in his mouth last week when I was checking for teeth and he had a mild fever also. It's not a big deal, just a virus. Actually, it can be really painful to them if they get it down thier throat, but he hasn't fussed much about it.

Grady loves it when I jump with him on the trampoline and when you throw him up in the air. He laughs so hard. It's cute.

Moira's new thing is "Let's have a race!" She wants to race everywhere and play tag. That kid is always moving!

My back has been killing me lately from lugging Grady around and trying to do things with one hand and carry him with the other. And it's only going to get worse. He needs to learn to walk soon.

In Meg & Chris news, our 10th wedding anniversary was on Friday! A friend of mine who is getting ready to have a baby asked me a few weeks ago why there are never any pics or stories about Chris and I on here. I hated to tell her that once you have kids, you are the ones taking the pics and your kids are the stories of your life for the most part... But 10th wedding anniversary is definitely worth mentioning. We went to a friends wedding, which was nice and good b/c it was an excuse to get dressed up. Nana and Pop babysat and the kids behaved themselves, which is always good. Actually, Grady slept for 11+ hours that night even though he didn't take a bottle. He must like Nana, the last time he slept that long was when we stayed at their house 2 months ago!

At the parade

Loud parade

Grady likes looking at himself in this mirror

The other day, Moira went upstairs to get some pants. She didn't come down very fast, so I went up after a little while to see what was going on. She had emptied out all 3 drawers of pants onto the floor. There was one big pile with about 3/4 of her pants in it and another with the rest Here is how our conversation went:

Me: Moira! Why are all your pants on the floor???
Moi: I put them in a "keep it" pile and a "sell it" pile!

Me: What?
Moi: See, these pants (pointing to the keep it pile) I really like and want to keep, and these pants (pointing to the sell it pile) I don't really need anymore. See these ones are too tight and don't feel good. But they are orange and orange is a boy color, so how about we don't sell them and we save them for Grady? I will fold them and you can put them in his drawer. And I don't have anything to match this skirt, so we can sell it.

She went on and on with why all the items were in the sell it pile. It was so hilarious!

In Grady news, I was holding him in one hand and his pacifier in the other hand and he swiped it out of my hand and put it right in his mouth. It was very cute. Sometimes I put him in his booster seat with a bunch of pacifiers in front of him and let him try to get them in his mouth. Sometimes he does. He didn't like ham the other night (strained baby ham) so I think he's just not a meat guy yet. All the fruits and veggies he likes.

We had a good "America's Birthday". As some of you might remember, Moira was soooo excited about the 4th of July! We actually made our flag cake a few days early on her prompting. I am bummed, I accidentally deleted all of the pics of the cake along with a video of her saying "I Love you b/c you give me cake". Chris took Moi to the rides part of the zoo on Saturday. That is their thing. She'll probably never see another animal again now that she knows they have rides. Then we went to the parade that she quickly declared "too loud" but we convinced her that the loud part was only at the begininning which fortunately it was. Then she took a big nap in the car and at night, Chris took her to the Westerville fireworks. Grady had a fussy day so I didn't want to wake him up for them. She had so much fun! WE had DVR'd Red White and Boom (the downtown Columbus fireworks) from the night before and we watched that about 20 times in the morning. When she got to the Westerville fireworks there was no music so she started singing and made her own music!

Did I mention Moi can push herself on the swings now? Oh, and Grady slept 10 hours last night. 8pm-6 am! That's the best in awhile. Keep your fingers crossed he keeps it up.

Sunday my parents came up to get Moi to take her to Portsmouth for a few days so I can start baby proofing and move some of her toys to her room. It was been weird without her! They will be back soon, and Grady is up, so that's all for now!