Moira and Grady

Finally getting outside!

2010-03-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

St. Patty's day green

We are finally getting outside! Although today snow, so weird!

Moira is really getting into Grady lately. They play pretend, although he doesn't know it... She said the other day "Mommy, I really love him, can we keep him?" She also said she wants to marry him so they'll never be apart! I told her so sweet but she can't marry her brother. She said "how about I marry you and we go to the shopping mall all day and Grady marries daddy and they sit at home and watch NASCAR?" Not a bad plan! She also said funny the other day "It's easy to tell that I am a girl b/c I have long hair, but it's more tricky to tell if I have a penis or not". True... very true....

Grady is talking a lot. New words are popsicles, duck, juice, chair, ow, some others, I forget. He said his first sentence- "there's a kitty!" He walks around going "tickle tickle tickle" and loves tickles and hugs. He is switched from formula to milk but he won't take it out of a sippy. I've tried them all. Shrug.

friends

2010-03-19T05:49:00.000-07:00

First Newborn Photo Shoot

2010-03-14T23:00:00.000-07:00

I asked my friend how many pics she might like of her newborn baby. She said just one for a frame. I took 385.... I think I might have a problem.... I got 78 pretty good ones. Here are a few.

Outside!

2010-03-11T18:51:00.000-08:00

So we've been outside some this week! Grady loves it, cries to go outside, cries when we have to go in. I need to think of ways to be outside more. I feel like Moira tried to make up for the outside time by doing double duty trashing the house when we were inside. It was actually impressive how messy she made her room in like 5 minutes. Although in her defense, she claimed a monster came in and did it while we were outside. Grady likes the trampoline and is trying to jump. It's funny. He also likes trying to eat very rotten apples. He also likes trying to run into Moi while she is swinging... Oh busy summer!

Making Art & sickness

2010-03-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

So we had kind of a rough weekend. Started really on Friday. I left early to pick Moi up from school (thankfully) b/c I wanted to walk Grady in a stroller around the neighborhood. I came down on my ankle wrong crossing the street and sprained my ankle. It was really bad. I had to find a guy to help me to Moira's school limping all the way. I went to urgent care saturday morning, it's just a sprain, but I've been moving pretty slow. Moira developed some horrible cough. She actually threw up saturday morning she was coughign so hard. Grady has a cold. I guess about a week is as long as we can go w/o illness here. Chris had a migraine sunday morning. Good times! Saturday Grady and I napped, Chris was working on the computer and Moira decided to "make art" on herself. See above. What is most impressive is that she wrote "art" on her leg. Chris said he didn't tell her how to write it. She said she just "knew herself". She had to miss school yesterday b/c of the cough. I have a cold now, gonna be a long week!

2010-03-05T03:14:00.000-08:00

I realized something yesterday that is very obvious. Moira takes after me in the giving department. I think most of you who know me know how much I love to give presents. My whole life, I have been giving and making. I think that's why I love photography so much, especially kid photography, it's like giving a gift to the kid and to the parent (and hey, doens't even cost anything). Well, Moira is just like that, I am calling it now. On the way to school, she picks up acorns or leaves to give to the teachers. She was too shy until the last few weeks to give it to them herself, she has asked me to do it. But lately she just goes "here you go! I got you an acorn!" Her teacher was proud of her b/c she asked if she knew what it would turn into if she planted it and Moira said "An Oak Tree!" Speaking of exclamation marks, Moi has been super into them when I read her books. She knows they mean excitedly and has been adding them in when she writes her made up words. But back to the presents, yesterday we were going to visit Allie and Abby and she wanted to make them cards. Then she thought that wasn't good enough and went looking around the house of things of her own to give them. She took a plastic cylindrical holder and put some of her little animals in it to give to Abby and gave Allie a plastic princess kaleidoscope, taped it to the cards she made and was just soooooo excited to give it to them. She is cute. Then before bed, she wanted to take things out of the shoebox that she sleeps with (with all her little stocking stuffers in it that Grady can't get to) and give it to Chris and I. She gave me a box of hair bows and Chris some letter M post it notes. She was going on and on about what we could do with them "You can put them in your hair anytime you want!" and "You can turn them upside down into a W if you want". Very sweet.

Kiss

2010-03-03T19:06:00.000-08:00

Proud

2010-03-03T16:17:00.000-08:00

More friend pics

Grady likes bubble, he calls them "balls"

daniela

So this might not seem like a big deal, but if you know Moira, you would know that it is. When she arrived at school her teacher was in the hall doing something and said "Hi Moira, how are you?" and Moira looked her in the eye, waved and said "Hi! I'm good!" She is really coming out of her shell. Also proud of Grady as he has slept through the night for 6 nights in a row. And he's been really into books lately. He looks at his books by himself for like 15 minutes or so. I'll say "Grady where are your books" and he'll go look at them. He's also started asking for juice. I give him water with just a bit of juice. He says "shuush". He also says "bottle" instead of "ba ba". HE says "dottle" We are off of formula, he is drinking whole milk. Moira refused to do this until she was 18 months old and I put chocolate in it! He will take the milk in a sippy but I still give him a bottle before bed and when he gets up.

Some pics from Grady's b-day photo shoot (by me) at the Conservatory

2010-02-27T19:16:00.000-08:00

Some stories I want to remember & pics of friends

2010-02-27T17:30:00.000-08:00

I told my friend Cheryl that I would get some pics of her little guy for his 2nd b-day present (and promised if I didn't get any good ones I'd buy him a real present). But I think it went really really well! Could not have asked for a better subject, really! They spoiled me for all future photo shoots.

I literally had about 75 images I was pretty pleased with! I know Cheryl was happy too, this makes me happy!

Amy & Davis came for a visit. I took their picture.

Moira dressed Grady up for a "hula party". Ha ha!

My college friend Susan and her little guy Andrew. I got to visit with them Saturday night b/c they are in Ohio from NY visiting Family

Moira's school BFF Carly. She came over for a play date and I took her pic

We HAD to get outside!

I didnt' feel like taking my new camera into the snow, this is my old point and shoot. Grady's first "walk" in our back yard!

Before bed just now, I spend about 10 minutes talking Moira through her anxiety about having bad dreams. I have lots of bad dreams so I understand. Chris never remembers his dreams so I guess she gets it from me. Tonight I told her we'd make her a dream catcher tomorrow to help catch all her bad dreams. She didn't exactly understand but seemed to like the idea. Hopefully it will help. The other day, she got up around 8 am and since Grady had eaten around 4 am, he was still sleeping. Moi came downstairs to our bedroom and was standing over the bed. She said "Mommy, I don't want to bother you, but can you just turn the tv on? Actually, it looks really cozy in here, can I get in bed with you?" She never ever comes down in the middle of the night or gets in bed with us at night, so this was kind of nice. She was telling me about her dreams, mostly about new episodes for Max & Ruby (note to self to call the producers with some ideas...). She also told me that she dreamed of easter and that she and Daniela were looking for easter eggs and the easter bunny brought them 2 chocolate chickens that they could have and didn't have to share. Tonight she told me all her dreams were bad and I said, what about the one about you and Daniela and the chocolate chickens and she said "I just didn't want you to be sad, all of my dreams are really bad". Only once in awhile does she call for us in the middle of the night though, knock on wood. We hardly ever hear her fussing at night. Also speaking of dreams Moira told me that she had a dream she and Grandma were playing and a real witch appeared. And she and Grandma were scared but then they put on hamburger costumes and danced around. The witch thought that was silly and danced away. End of dream.

Today I was putting Moi's shoes on and she said "Mommy you beautiful" with a big nice smile on her face. Then after thinking for a minute she said "But you aren't THAT beautiful. If you were a human you would be more beautiful, but you are much smaller than them". ???? Also, the other morning she came downstairs for the morning completely dressed (I usually have to prod her out of her jammies). She even had her glasses on. She announced to me "I am traveling to Far Far Away Land (from Shrek), maybe it will be Spring there." We are all so ready to go outside. We finally ventured outside in the backyard to the snow. Grady doesn't have boots and he wouldn't keep his mittens on so we didn't stay out for long.

Tonight before bed Moira said she wanted to kiss me all over from head to toe. I said "I wonder if you will still want to kiss me before bed when you are 13". I shouldn't have said this b/c she is very worried about growing up and not being with me. She said "I will always want to kiss you. When I grow up and get married and leave your house, I will still kiss you right before I leave". Then she started crying and said "Actually, can I just marry you? And Daddy can marry Grady. They can watch NASCAR and look at airplanes and you and I can go to the shopping mall and bake cookies". Not a horrible plan...

Can't remember if I told this on here, but the other day Grady was eating his bottle and he sat up and started looking around saying "ought oh, ought oh". I said "I wonder what is wrong" and Moira said "Maybe he wishes the house were more cleaner". Indeed.

For my reference, Grady has one molar in, top left.

Not much new with G-man. Walkin, working on talkin, etc. He has slept through the night for 2 nights in a row! We've had a bad couple of months with him being sick, seems like every other night at least he is up once. We'll see.

I have started practicing photography on my friends. Eventually I'd like to make it a bussiness,but no hurry, just doing it for fun. I uploaded some of my favorite friend pics so far.

Grady's 12 month well visit

2010-02-24T07:42:00.000-08:00

Grady had his 12 month well visit. He is 24 lbs 13 oz which is 80% for weight and 31 1/2" long, which is 85% for height. The Dr. said 1-3 words is the normal and he has- ought oh, ball, kitty, doggy, kodos, da da, ma ma, sissy, ducky, piggy, book, cookie, hi, backwards (said ak-ers), so we are good there. He is walking fully, even if, as the Dr. says, he looks like he just finished riding a horse. His ears are still clear. He got 3 shots. That's about all!

Here are some pics from their music class. Grady is quite a handful. We started this class with Moira when she was 14 months old. He is 12. He is way into where the egg shakers go and insistant upon getting into them when he isn't supposed to, trying to pull down the tablecloth that is under the stereo system, eating all the instruments. Moira never did any of that. I have a hard time believing it's just the 2 months of difference.... But he is a very good boy.

Moira is such a sweet girl. She is telling me all day how much she loves me, how she loves Grady, etc. I am very lucky mama to have 2 such great kids!

Florida pics, round 1

2010-02-18T04:14:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Grady!

2010-02-17T22:40:00.000-08:00

Grady got a new play kitchen. I thought Moira would be more into it than him but he seems to really like it.

Grady turned 1 February 12th! We didn't do a party for him, just made a cake and sang happy b-day. He didn't seem to mind :) His favorite things/word is "ball". I actually think this was his first word around 8 months. I made a "ball cake" in his honor. He is fully walking now, has been since about a week before his b-day. He is still unsteady and fall a lot. A LOT. But he always gets up and tries again. And he isn't afraid to go fast when he wants something. He is still pretty verbal, he has about 10 words which is awesome for 1 year old. The clearest things he says are "ought oh" and "kitty". He hasn't picked up a bunch of new words since he learned to walk, he's really had those words since about 11 months, but he did learn "duck" and "book" recently, which actually sound very similar. Funny Grady story, last night I said "are you ready to go to bed?" and he said "ought oh" and went running into the kitchen! I imagine that will only be funny the first time... Grady hasn't been a great sleeper. He's up every other night for about an hour fussing. He's had a lot of colds, 2 ear infections and 1 bout of the croup so I think that has a lot to do with it. I am hoping with Spring the illness will lift and he will sleep better. Hopefully by next winter, he will have a killer immune system. Moira has had some colds but she tends to get over them fairly quickly. I am writing this now at 2 am, he's been up since one. He finally sounds quiet though and I gave him a bottle, so hopefully he'll sleep in. When he gets up and eats, he tends to sleep in later but when he sleeps through the night, he's usually up at 5:30 and I find I am actually more tired on those nights than on the nights when he sleeps all the way. (so now you know it's the middle of the night so sorry if this doesn't make a lot of sense...)
I continue to learn about my new camera. I am hoping to use Sunday mornings to practice shooting other families. I've dreamed for years, really since taking a photography class at UVA, of being a professional photographer. I'm collecting my gear and it actually seems to be somewhat of a possibility now. It's nice b/c we don't NEED the money, it can really be a hobby until I feel pretty good at it. People I've taken pictures for so far have been pretty happy, but it's all been free so what's not to be happy about.

I had Moira's first parent/teacher conference yesterday. It went great, if they are all this easy, I will be extremely lucky. Here's how it went after initial pleasantries:
"Moira is really such a great girl, we really love having her in class. She's quite a leader with all the other kids, in a very positive way. She gets them excited about all the activities and they really look to her to set the mood and pace for the day. The kids all so enjoy her and really really miss her when she is gone. She is very creative but knows how to be Moira when it's time to be Moira. We have no issues whatesoever to discuss. Do you have any concerns or questions?" We talked about how she refuses to write lower case letters for her name. They just told me to tell her that there are two ways to write them and that is the way her teachers want for her to do it. We tried that last night and it totally worked. That's all! I am so proud of her!

2010-02-14T18:41:00.000-08:00

**** note**** photos are taking forever, I will try again tomorrow.
We went to Florida! It was good, nice weather, lots of fun stuff to do. Moira was good, she got her own room with a king size bed and a dvd player. Grady was recovering from croup and ear infection so we had a few rough nights and lots of early morning (6 am or earlier) so it wasn't overly relaxing but still nice to get away. He really took off with his walking over the week, he is not 95% walking, only crawls when he is hesitant about something. He loved the ocean, wanted to be IN the ocean, so that was also not relaxing. Moira and dad swam a lot. Grady didn't really like to be held in the pool, wanted to do it himself, which didn't really work. He was pretty good on the plane. Moira was awesome on the plane! I took about 650 pics, but as we all know my blogger is horribly slow so that's why I don't ever blog anymore. But here are a few of the best!
Not much else new here. The kids both have colds. Again. When is it spring??? Chirs has been working a lot, he finally got a weekend off. We went to a hotel for the night for valentines day. Thanks to grandparents Russell for babysitting!
Moi has been asking a lot of questions about God. I guess they talk about it a lot at school. One of my favories "Is God Real? If he is, why doesn't he come to our house for dinner?" and in the car out of nowhere "who made God?" Also today she said "YOu are the best mommy ever, I am going to tell God! Can he always hear me?" I said yes. She said "GOD! MOMMY IS THE BEST MOMMY EVER!" She also said "I love you. I'd love you more though if you let me do anything that I want. Did you hear me?"

I got a new camera, and it's awesome!

2010-01-18T10:25:00.000-08:00

2010-01-08T15:47:00.000-08:00

So I taught Grady something! There are 2 steps down into Moira's closet/mini playroom. He had been crawling faceforward down. This is fine the first step b/c it's not that big but the second one he inevitably konks his head when he crawls face first. I've been spinning him around and saying "backwards backwards". Well today I decided to let him try it himself and see if he could do it. He totally did! AND you probably won't believe me, but I swear to God he said "backwards" while doing it. Twice. I thought this last week a couple of times but now I am sure. Moira even said "He said backwards!".
Oh and did I mention he took his first steps? He did! Just a week shy of turning 11 months. He can walk about a foot from furniture to furniture. Not too far yet, but getting there. He's been trying for a few weeks but he hadn't figured out yet the top half of his body needs to move with the bottom half until now.

Good pic of Moira in Lightroom

2010-01-08T08:04:00.000-08:00

Lightroom!

2010-01-07T18:54:00.000-08:00

After
before
My parents got me Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for Christmas. Look how awesome it is! I am so excited. I just need to figure out a few things... Like how to lighten certain parts.

Christmas pics

2010-01-05T04:41:00.000-08:00

2010-01-05T04:27:00.000-08:00

I had to wake Grady up from his nap to go get Moi from school. He was sleeping on his hands.

Moira has an imaginary friend. His name is Max. He is a bunny. He is around her all the time. He is very naughty and gets in trouble a lot. She spend 2 hours yelling at him last night, mainly going "max! max! max!" It was giving me a headache! I told her if they can't play nicely he would have to go home and she threw herself on theground going "we'll get along! we'll get along!".

So much to catch up on!!! I don't even know where to begin! Grady is almost walking! I think he is trying to say "thank you". When he pics up toys he say "dank-que" Not sure exactly what this means.

Grady has started resisting his veggies. I put green beans, chicken and cheese on his tray and he picked up the green beans one by one and said "ought oh! ought oh! ought oh!" and threw them on the ground. So I got these freeze dried veggies from Raisin Rack. They are pretty good. I put them on his tray and he got all excited and went "ball! ball!" I couldn't figure out what he was talking about and then I realized he had the dried peas and was throwing them across the room. He thought they were balls! Ha ha!

Happy 10 month B-Day G-man!

2009-12-16T18:31:00.000-08:00

Moira drew this, one of her many creations. It's an angry polar bear in case you couldn't tell.

Moira and her boyfriends Denison and Davis. She changed about 10 times before they got here and kept wondering who would think she was prettiest.

Can you tell what color my eyes are? My mommy can't!

The other day we went to the the indoor play area at the community center. I head Moira tell another little girl "That's my brother. We call him G-man". Also, she decided on the way there that she was going to tell all the friends she would make that her name was Sally b/c that is "more fancy". So funny b/c we go there and some little girl came up to make friends and asked her what her name was. She said "My name is Sally" and I heard the other little girl calling her that as they played. Then she came up to me and said "I decided I am going to tell people my name is Alison" but couldn't find a friend to tell that one too. ????

Moi had her Christmas program at school today. It was funny. They did an obstacle course (not sure what that has to do with the birth of Jesus) then they sang some songs. She got to sit next to her best friend Carly. Carly plays Max & Ruby (bunny show on nick jr.) with her so they have really bonded. Moira is really into drawing these days. She spends hours a day just drawing pictures. She is pretty good! Really good actually. Today she made a book complete with a story line and taped it all together.

So I am going to brag here. Grady is up and cruising along the furniture. He will take a step from the furniture to me while holding my hands. He says "ought oh" on command and at appropriate times. He says his word for ball which sounds like "doll". Chris took the kids to a museum Saturday and they had a ball room and he was going crazy saying "doll! doll! doll!" He says it anytime he sees one. You never realize how many balls are in your house until you have a little man pointing them out to you. He calls balloons balls too. He also says "ma ma" and "da da" not on command but frequently in the right context, especially ma ma. Sometimes he says mom. Also, on Moi's learning desk there is a song about animal noises and I noticed that he was roaring along with the lion sound. I say "up" when I pick him up and he makes the "p" sound back to me. He says "I" for hi. He is very verbal, I must say. He does the sign language for "all done" when he is doing eating. He loves to smile back at everyone and I even saw him smiling at the poster of the lady holding the cheese its in the grocery store. Such a happy guy. Loves Chris, and it's so nice b/c he will let him hold him all day long. Such a relief and help for me!

2009-12-10T13:39:00.000-08:00

Trying to get to the Christmas tree

Kissing the baby in the mirror

At the Snowflake Castle at the Senior Center.

Grady's first snow fall.

Moira funny: "Mommy, if my butt was invisible, would it still be stink?"

Moira funny: "Mommy, God made this bathtub and he made you and me. But we aren't "woman" so we wear clothes."
(I guess they were talking about Adam and Eve at school?)

So Sorry....

2009-12-04T12:35:00.000-08:00

Moira and I waiting for our horse drawn carriage that rode around uptown westerville and our house during the Holiday midnight madness.

Franklin Park Conservatory Holiday lights night

They have really fancy Gingerbread competetion.

We made a gingerbread house. She is in her bathing suit b/c we were pretending like we were in Florida.

Moira on our "Girls Day"

Me and Moi on Girl's day!

I love this pic. So artsy and beautiful!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Life has just been crazy lately! As usual I guess.

Where to begin. I am so behind. Let me just do a little random stream of consciousness. That's the best I am going to be able to do I am afraid.

Last night we went to see the Fantasy of Lights at Alum Creek. It's $10 a car, which is kind of high, but the lights are just spectacular. 1/2 way through, you can get out and see santa and have some cookies and hot chocolate. Never before has Moira actually wanted to get near Santa. High five 2 years ago was the best we've ever done. I didn't figure she would want to see him, espcially b/c he was in this little room and it was just him, actually kind of creepy if you are a kid. But, I put Grady on his lap and she hopped on the other side. Grady totally freaked out. It was kind of funny. The lady taking the pictures didn't even want to show me the pictures, she just said "you won't like this". Although I would have, for posterity, but didn't have time to argue, I was too curious to see what Moira would do. She sat on his lap and said "Grady would like some new Mams (his pacifier, she decided beforehand that's what he would like. She is right.). I would like a new Videa dress (she saw this at big lots, I already got it for her, it's the mean fairy from tinkerbell, she likes this b/c it's blue, her new favorite color b/c it's Grandma's favorite color), a pupet theater and a cat." She saw the pupet theater and the cat at meijer. Not a real cat, this "furreal" cat that cousin Maren got last year. I ordered them online today b/c I wasn't sure when I could get there w/o her and didn't want to be looking last minute. Although the pupet theater she saw was blue and they didn't have that one online, only a purple one so I am hoping she doesn't throw a big fit. Anyway, a very successful trip to see Santa!

Grady is into everything. He eats everything. Things I can't even babyproof for, like curtains, sides of chair legs, the couch. Oh, and he's learned how to get outlet covers off and stick his fingers in them. He also bites people. He bit Moi really hard today. Poor girl didn't even see it coming. I tell him "no" but he's only 9 months. I swear I think he's talking. He looks at me and says "mom" (even Moira said "he's calling you mom and not mommy")and Chris and says "da da". Also "hi" and "ought oh". I could be wrong, not 100% sure. He is also standing up very well and stood by himself today not holding onto anything for like 30 seconds. Moi took her first steps at 9 1/2 months, but she also crawled earlier so we'll see. Oh and he's learned how to climb the stairs!

Moi decided she wants her name to be "Colonica". Grady should be "Tex" and I am "mommy Megan", Chris is "chrysaliss". ???? She changes her name a lot though. Today she was "Sally"

During the fantasy of lights, Grady was really fussy. He stopped Crying and I turned around and Moi was holding his hand. She said "I am holding his little tiny hand and he is smiling at me. I love him". So sweet! Also he got up from his nap and I sent her upstairs b/c I was in the middle of something in the kitchen and I heard her on the monitor going "It's okay Grades, nofing is wrong, it's okay". I went up there and she was laying in the crib with him holding his hand.

Funny Moi story. We were listing to this song and it goes "the more we get together the happier we'll be, cause your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends, the more we get together the happier we'll be". She said "mommy, that lady said she was going to take my friends". I tried to just explain what it meant, how if you share, you'll have twice as many and she said "Well, she can't have Allie or Daniela!". Then the next day we were listening to it and she said "That lady thinks she can take my friends, but my friends can't get into the tv (it was a lady from the Noggin Channel singing). ha ha ha!" Like, ah-ha, I got her!

Moi and I had an awesoem girls day a few weeks ago. It was our best day together ever I would say. She overheard me and Chris talking about how I was meeting a friend for a movie that night. She asked if she could go. It was the OSU/Michigan game day, so I got the idea to leave Chris and Grady at home to watch the game and nap and Moira and I had a girls day. She needed a haircut, so we did that. Then we went to the mall to get her glasses adjusted. I bought her a pink tutu, b/c you know, it was girls day, and then we played at the play area and did some shopping. AFter that we went to the dollar movie theater and saw ice age 2. She sat through about half of it. Then we went to the park on the way home where Chris and Grady met us. Chris surprised me by cleaning the whole house and he picked up dinner. Then I got to have a "date" with a girlfriend to see the New Moon movie.

Both kids have been really sick with bad colds this week. Moi finally seems mostly better, I sent her to school today. But it's been a looooong week. Speaking of school, Moi got an evaluation sheet last month. She got check marks for meeting or exceeding every category and the comment that they had was "Moira is a sweet little girl and has become quite the leader with the other children". That's my girl!

Grady is a daddy's boy. It is so nice, yet a little weird to me b/c Moi was soooo not like that and Chris doesn't get to see Grady that much. We went to the Franklin Park Conservatory the other night for the candlelight night (which was very very nice) and Chris met us there. Grady reached for him and he let Chris hold him for 20 minutes. I tried to take him and he didnt' want me! So weird! Then the same thing this morning. He loves his daddy. Chirs is already trying to figure out how quickly they can go to NASCAR races together!

Grady 9 month Dr. visit

2009-11-17T12:42:00.000-08:00

Grady weighed in at 22 lbs, 1 oz, 30 1/2" long. That's 95% for height, 80% for weight. The Dr. was pleased with everything and said he is "above the curve on every level" with his crawling, amount of teeth, verbal skills, and size. He said to expect molars next, and the other teeth will fill in after that. I think he might be getting them. He's been putting his fingers way back there and chewing on them a lot.
Both kids got the h1n1 vac today. The Ped office had it in stock finally. Moira had to get a shot, not the mist. She was mad about that and freaking out. Perhaps b/c she heard me and the Dr. talking about how weird the govt is being about distributing it. I made some joke about there being a tracking device in it and I think she heard me. She kept punching her arm for like 1/2 an hour saying "get this out of me!". Whoopsie.

2009-11-16T08:03:00.000-08:00

Hi guys! It's me! Sorry... been busy over here. Grady is crawling. Really really fast. And boy is he determined! It's funny b/c he's such a happy guy, you don't expect him to be so determined. He is strong too. When he sets his mind on getting something he twists and turns his body and uses his will to get it! It's pretty funny, and a lot of work! He is also really big on putting things in his mouth like most kids are. It's a full time job to keep stuff out of his mouth. It makes me realize how much stuff is on the floor b/c he is very observant and insists on picking up everything and putting it in his mouth. I think I am going to have to teach Moi the hymlic just to keep up! Sheesh. He seems to be a very verbal little guy. He says daddy/doggy (can't tell which) a lot, frequently when daddy/the doggy are near. This is a good thing b/c he is intent on getting on top of the dog, banging on her etc. I usually know when he is giong for the dog b/c I hear this word. Also sounds like he says "tee tee" when he sees the cat.

Moira seems to be maturing a lot. She has been much more accepting of things that she doesn't want to do. I try to give her lot of warnings about things coming up I know she won't like and she doesn't fight me too much on most things. She really is a good good good girl, we are in a good phase right now. She has so much love and kindness. She says "I love you" so many times a day, I can't even count. She tells Grady she loves him a lot too. She is very excited about Christmas and the holidays. She certainly has the Christmas spirit.

Well, I have more, but Grady is up from his nap now. Until we meet again....

2009-11-02T07:59:00.000-08:00

Grady really likes frozen raspberries.

Moira in fancy pink dress for trick or treat. She said she was cinderella. It was too cold to be wearing this, and she refused to put on a coat or wear comfortable shoes. She made it about 15 minutes and gave up. Fortunately for her, the neighbors were very generous, I think each house gave her about 4 or 5 pieces of candy. She hasn't asked for it since Saturday night.???

Grady as Pooh Bear!

Dressed as tinkerbell for trick or treat at Missys.

Moira's preschool class.

At the school haloween parade

Dorothy! Complete with ruby red slippers.

She kept reprimanding "to to" the whole morning.

Haloween Preview

2009-10-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

I talked Moi into getting in her cowgirl costume so she and Grady could be matching for some pics. If she doesn't want to wear something, it is very hard to get her to do so.

Grady is full on army crawling. It's funny. I wonder if he will ever "real" crawl with his belly off the ground.

We got Moira's glasses adjusted Friday, they are fitting much better.

That's all I got!

Fall fun

2009-10-23T04:22:00.000-07:00

We've been enjoying a lot of fall activities with this nice weather (in the 70's) the last few days! We went to a pumpkin patch with Moi's school Wednesday and then went to Pigeon Roost Thursday morning. We just love all the pretty fall colors.

Moira is taking to her glasses VERY well. Dare I say surprizingly well. She will ask for them. She says they make everything bigger. I don't really think they are helping the eye turn though. The Dr. said if it was going to help, it would only take a few days, but I can tell it isn't bigger. I have talked to a few people about the surgery and they said it's not a big deal, so we'll see.

Moira loves her new room! Our house might be on the small side but I am pretty sure MOira is one of the few 4 years olds with her own walk in play room, bathroom and flat screen tv! She hasn't asked to watch the tv even once! Although I thought we would leave it there for her to have some afternoon quiet time, but no quiet time for us....

Grady made the transition to his room just fine. He's been sleeping from 7pm(ish)-6 am(ish). He takes 2 1.5 hour naps, one in the morning around 8:30-10 and one from around 2-3:30, give or take. Finally a routine! He is sooooo close to crawling. He is army crawling now. He started waving this week. So cute! He waves at everything, including pictures on the wall. He seems to be a pretty verbal kid so far, making lots of consanant and vowel sounds. He is eating maybe 70% small pieces of regular food. I need to really push the baby food in the near future as we have quite a stock and I am afraid he is going to be "over it" soon. I realized yesterday when I was packing a lunch for the kids to eat at the pumpkin farm that most of the stuff Moira eats, Grady could eat too. Small pieces of cheese, mandarin oranges, cereal bar. He is still a very friendly happy baby!

Moira always has a hard time adjusting to the clothes of a new season but she is finally wearing long sleeves (pushed up) and long pants (with mild bribing). Only a matter of time before we are into fall wardrobe! This is a big deal for mommy.

Moira is 4! Grady is 8 months!

2009-10-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

Blowing out the candles.

New Glasses

So Moira turned 4 this past week! She had a big party with ALL 15 of her closest friends at the Worthington Community Center "Fish Bowl" room and pool. It went so well! I was hoping to have it at a location other than our house to avoid having to do a lot of work, but that didn't quite happen... But I kept telling myself that birthdays are so special and this is probably the first one she will really remember so I wanted to make it good. We went all out with the fish theme. Thanks so much to Missy for making a spectacular cake as usual! The kids played outside at the park for a bit, came in for snacks and crafts and then went swimming!

On her actual b-day, a Wednesday, she had school. I got up early and made her some chocolate chip pancakes in the shape of a cake with 4 candles. She was the "star" at school and we took in trailmix (her favorite) in little birthday bags. Then we went to Once Upon a Child (I wasn't trying to be cheapy, but we needed to get Grady some sleepers) and told her she could get whatever she wanted. She got a "Bella Bella Dancerella" set for $8! This is usually $60. So glad I didn't pay full price, she didn't end up liking it very much. Maybe when she's a little older. Then we picked up an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen. She's been talking for weeks about how she wanted this. We bake a lot so it was actually more of a special thing for her to go pick her cake than to bake one from scratch. When Chris got home, I made a little treasure hunt for her to get her gifts, which were a big cardboard clubhouse you can decorate, some my little ponies, a few books, and gosh, I don't even remember what else. I remembered today I got her some shirts last month, but they are long sleeve and she is still refusing to wear long sleeves. She had a good day!

Some big news is Moi has gotten glasses. I noticed a few months ago that her left eye kept being in the side of her eye, not the middle. I took her to the kids office of our family eye dr. and they said she did have an eye turn. I told the ped. and he wanted her to get a second opinion from the Opthamology dept. at Children's Hospital. We had that apt on Friday and they agreed that she does have both eyes turning in, the left one does it more. She is medium far sighted, which is actually a bad thing b/c if it was extreme far sightedness, glasses would be an easy fix. We don't know at this poitn if the eye turn is caused by the far sightedness or if there is an underlying muscle issue. She has to wear the glasses for a few months and see if that fixes it and then we will take it from there. She doesn't seen to thrilled with wearing them, but she did keep them mainly on this evening. Hopefully in a short time she will get used to them. The Dr. had me scared that if this doesn't work she will def. need surgery so we have a big incentive to keep them on.

Moira had her 4 year well visit today. She is also sick, as am I. We have a cough and nasal drainage. She coughed for 5 hours last night, it was horrible. He thinks it's just a cough, nothing serious, he gave me another prescription cough medicine script. It seems to have helped for tonight. No coughing so far. The Dr. said kudos to me for noticing the eye issue, as he thinks it's mild and he would NOT have even noticed it. Mommies always know when something isn't right! She is 41" and 36 lbs which puts her in the 80% for height and 55% for weight. He thinks she'll be about 5'-7" tall, which is interesting, I'd never heard a prediction before.

Grady is still my sweet happy guy. Until last night, he had been sleeping through the night great. He might be on the verge of getting whatever Moi and I have. He is 8 months old. He weighed 21 lbs 2 oz at the Dr. today. He is getting ready to crawl and I swear he is saying "Hi". It sounds like "I". He really loves the cat. He makes this squeal happy noise whenever he sees her. I always know when the cat comes in the room b/c of the noise he makes. He made the same noise when he saw Chris this weekend so he must like him too :)

Kodos got sprayed really bad by a skunk. It was horrible! The smell is still lingering. Chris really wanted me to mention this for some reason.

2009-10-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

Great hair pic

AT the park!

Moira made this picture of grandma & grandpa. They are holding hands and she drew hearts above their head b/c "that means love". She was so sad when it washed away. She is getting pretty good at drawing people. Almost as good as I can draw...

Grady sleeping. I had to wake him up to go take Moi to school. I hate waking up babies/kids. But he is so good natured, it didn't really phase him much. I thought he looked cute so I took a pic.

I think I am just going to update the blog once a week on sunday or monday. I will make it a priority to do this weekly updating and that way, those (few) of you who look at my blog often, won't need to check everyday to see if there is a post.

Grady is still a little snotty and is getting his 4 top teeth, but has been as easy going as ever! And, big news, finally for the last week and 1/2 he hasn't requested at all a night feeding. Whoo hoo! Time to remodel the house to move Grady upstairs next to Moira and Chris and I down here.

Moira's b-day party was a success. More on that later (I may throw in an extra post about that soon). I asked her what she wanted for her b-day and she said "A copy machine so that I can make more of me".

Sick. Bleh.

2009-09-23T18:07:00.000-07:00

She is not too sick to jump in puddles! We went to the conservatory b/c there aren't many kids there ever, and even if there are, they don't interact too much.

Moira got sick sunday night coming back from Cedar Point. Just a cold consisting of a low grade fever, runny nose and cough. Not toooooo bad, hasn't really slowed her down so much but she had missed school all week. I am pretty sure this hurts me more than it hurts her. Hopefully she'll be able to go to her friday storytime class. Chris, Grady and I are now getting it. Hopefully the baby won't get it so bad. Nothing worse than a sick baby. The babies don't know how to blow their noses.

Blogger has been so slow with uploading pictures lately. It is very frustrating! I can put them on facebook much faster. So if you would like more frequent pictures, sign up for facebook and friend me. Come on, everybody's doing it :) Like now, I've been waiting 5 minutes for 5 pictures to upload, and I uploaded like 15 on facebook in about 30 seconds. I don't have time for this!

Here is a cute story while I am waiting. Today Moira said "I think I'll go up to my room, put on a princess dress and wait for a handsome prince to drive to our house in his car and honk for me".

Grady has been sleeping pretty well. I realized that if I feed him when he gets up sometime between 4:30am and 6 am he'll go back down for a couple of hours, so that is good. He's been sleeping solid from 7:30ish until then every night for the most part since we let him cry it out. He still fights me a bit sometimes when I put him down, but usually he's right out! He is a rolling machine. Chris thinks he is close to crawling but I am not so sure. He can get whereever he wants by rolling. I still think it will be another month or so. He is such a good happy happy guy. He is eating a lot of finger foods. He pretty much loves any food you give him. He has 2 top teeth through on his left side and is working on the two on the right.

Moira is still being increadibly picky about her clothes. She will only wear dresses with shirts underneath them. Short sleve shirts. No pants. But, this changes from week to week. Hopefully she'll get some use out of her 4 billion long sleeve shirts and 60 pairs of pants.

I think we're a little sad that summer is coming to an end

2009-09-18T02:13:00.000-07:00

Fun at the Library

2009-09-16T05:24:00.000-07:00

Grady is a great puppet show audience

Reading books

First Day of School!

2009-09-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

First school lunch! She helped me pack it and said all the kids will think she is "extra healthy".

During the open house, playing playdoh.

She wanted me to take a pic with her and Grady and kissed his head and said "I will miss him". Sweet- esp. since she doesn't pay him much attention.

Love this picture of Grady and my Grandpa Russell!

Moira started pre-school today! She is going 4 hours and takes her lunch. For some reason, the packing lunch thing has made me emotional. She's done some kind of preschool for 2 years now, but the lunch thing seems so grown up! She seemed okay with going, even excited yesterday. A bit hesitant today, but mainly just nervous. She is there now! Hopefully it goes well.

Grady is 7 months now. We let him "cry it out" and it's worked pretty well. Although, don't tell, but I give in every now and then. He was up at 5 am today. Ugh. Maybe b/c he's getting his 4 top teeth! He's starting to get up on hands and knees, but I still think crawling is aobut a month a way.

Look who is so big!

2009-09-03T22:06:00.000-07:00

Here is Moira checking out her new big girl car seat. It is still a car seat and it can turn into a booster later. My friend Cheryl knows everything about car seats and car seat safety so I let her do all the research about what I should do now that Grady is getting ready to grow out of his infant seat and into a big kid one, and then I just coppied her. This is a Graco Nautilaus for anyone who wants to know.

I went to Moira's preschool tonight for the parent orientation tonight. Special thanks to Auntie Meredith and Uncle Chris for babysitting. I got to meet Moira's teachers. One of the ladies has been teaching there for I think 23 years and the other one for 19 years, and they have been teaching as a team for 15 years! How crazy is that! They seem very nice but also like they will run a tight ship and keep the kids in line, which I like. I was sad that I didn't recognize any of the other parents in her room, which means she won't know any of the kids in her class. I was hoping between the Tuesday and Friday class that she did last time, she would know somebody. She keeps saying she wants her same teachers and her same friends. Oh well, I know she will make new friends, it just would have been nice. I am expecting a few tears for awhile.

Speaking of tears, Grady is crying. We are on day 7 of cry it out. This is the 3rd night of the 7 he's actually cried. Last night he slept for 12 hours. We've definitely made progress, but still not excellent yet (as is evidenced by the sobs I've heard). But he's never cried for much more than 40 mintues, so we'll see. Wish us luck!

Sometimes when you have a big sister, you are going to wear a pink shirt.

2009-09-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

It's inevitable.

We met Cheryl, Daniela and Joseph at the Duck Pond today.

2009-09-02T18:43:00.000-07:00

Daniela really likes Grady. Really really likes him. Way more interest than Moira has. She was begging to hold him, whereas I had to bribe Moira with ice cream to get her to hold him for some pictures!

At the fountains after getting ice cream.

Look Ma, two teeth!

2009-09-02T18:24:00.000-07:00

Can you guess who likes the new baby holding contraption the most?

2009-09-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

Funny though, when she was his age, she hated it! It's nice b/c I can put him in it and not have to worry about every little thing on the floor. I doubt he'll be happy in it for more than a few months, but that will buy a little bit of time. I am terrified of when he is crawling and putting everything in his mouth. He is already rolling all over the place and putting stuff in his mouth. It's gonna be a crazy year or so!

Grady pics

2009-08-31T19:31:00.000-07:00

This photo shoot probably wasn't the best timing. He was so tired! Chris took Moi to the Dayton kids museum Saturday so Grady and I chilled out and had a photo shoot. I have done lots of posting tonight so be sure to keep scrolling down to see all my posts!

Grady loves puffs!

2009-08-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

Visiting Cousin Maren and Terra

2009-08-31T19:08:00.000-07:00

Cousin Terra is the cutest little thing ever! I just wanted to put her in my pocket and take her home!

"Hi Grady! Is that your ear! Don't forget I am older than you, even though we weigh the same!"

We got Maren a fancy dog cupcake from Whole Foods. Moira was extremely excited to take it to her.

Cousin hug! When we were in the car Moira said "I love cousin Maren!" and she wants her to come to our house to "wear dress up clothes, jump on the trampoline, play in my room and we can show each other our underwear!" I got Moi new princess underwear and she is very excited about them.

Moira is obcessed with Maren and talks about her all the time. I could elaborate, but I'm sure you can imagine. Obcessed pretty much sums it up. We went to the store the other day and all she could talk about was what cousin Maren would buy and what her mommy would buy.

Portsmouth Visit

2009-08-31T18:38:00.000-07:00

Me and Moi on the Ferris wheel

Me!

Moira on the way home. Grandma asked her to get her some cotton candy and Moi wouldn't let us leave until we found some.

Grady and Nana at lunch

Grady happy after nursing in the nurses station.

Oh my, our trip to Portsmouth was so long ago I feel like that I can't remember all what happened! Here are some pics from out trip to the county fair. It was HOT and Moira was kind of in a mood, but we stayed a few hours. The most exciting thing about the trip was we left Moira with my parents and Grady with Chris's parents for the night time and we went out to dinner and stayed at a hotel for the night! Our first nights w/o Grady! He did well for the most part other than waking a medium amount. Moira did great too and was begging not to leave!

We decided to let Grady "Cry it Out". I know it works from Moi and I was just waiting for the right time. I moved my bed to the queen size futon in the playroom. We are on night 4, so far pretty good. He slept though the night the first night (Friday) so that wasn't a true test. Saturday he had 2 spells where he cried 1/2 an hour. Once I was gone out to dinner with some friends so Chris just went in ever 5 minutes, comforted him quickly and then left. He did that again at 4 am and ended up going back to sleep. Last night he slept until 5:30. He had been asleep like 11 hours so I fed him and he went back to sleep. Keep your fingers crossed! Moira is still nuk free! Whoo hooo! So proud of her.

Moira is really into math. She is always counting and will add and subtract in her head. Basic stuff but still pretty good for her age. Like she saw 2 sets of two swings and went 2 plus 2 is 4. And she will say "We bought 5 lemons (she has to count EVERYTHING) and we ate one so now we have 4". I am wondering if this will be her subject. She seems very drawn to numbers and adding.

Hilarious bathroom humor:

Moira: "Pee pee is what potty's drink and poopy is what they eat! This potty is mighty hungry!"

After Grady's 3rd poop of the day Moi declared "Grady is a stinky diaper-aholic!"

Looking at some of her shirts she said "I don't like those shirts, I will only wear them if I have to toot!"

Speaking of Grady's bathroom, after having many diaper blow outs I took him to the Dr. and we are now in possesion of a "parasite test kit". I get to scoop up the next diaper explosion and put samples into these 3 vials and see if he has a parasite! He's just been pooping like crazy. I've been giving him only rice and banans for the last week and he is still crazy poopy. The dr. said it might be a long lasting stomach bug, so we shall see. He's still been in a very good mood and still babling and trying to crawl, etc.

I joined two Westerville Moms groups this week! I couldn't decide which one to do and two of my friends (who I have met through Moira's preschool) told me to do both. I am excited to have friends close to us and they have so many activities planned that should be fun. It's going to be a busy fall! Moira was doing every other friday for preschool but they called me and told me there was an oppening for the other half friday class so we are going to do that so she will have school 3 days a week. Another one of her friends, Cassidy, is doing both Friday classes and the teacher is the same, so I think that will be good.

Kings Island

2009-08-24T18:43:00.001-07:00

Little person with big blue ice cream cone

Me and Grady after his first ride ever. The Grand Carousel. We sat on the carriage next to another mom and baby. He kept trying to pat her arm but then the baby tried to take his Mam and he did NOT like that. It was kind of funny.

Moira on the kind of lame swings.

Leaving the park.

We had a good trip to Kings Island last Saturday. It started off a little rough. We went to CVS to get some bottled water and Grady pooed his pants so much that it was all out of his outfit, all over the car seat. We didn't want to use up our one and only extra outfit so we had to swing back home and get another one. When we got to Kings Island, all Moira wanted to do was the water stuff, so she changed into her bathing suit, but when she saw the water stuff, it was not what she pictured and was too scary. So she and Chris went on the water log ride and it got her all wet and she flipped out. But, after that it was all uphill. She ended up doing some kiddie rides and then was ready for the medium size kiddie rides. Then we headed over to the scrambler and the spider ride. We made a stop at the Grand carousel where Grady did his first ride. We sat next to a lady and her 13 month old baby and he kept trying to touch the baby and she tried to grab his Mam and he didn't like that. It was funny. He was a very good baby in his seat most of the time, other than 2 further poop explosionsm. We stayed until 8ish, which was a very long outing for us. Oh, I almost forgot. I was in the breastfeeding room, Chris and Moi came running in b/c she peed her pants in line for Scooby Doo. But, I had an extra outfit and it turned out fine. We finally left as it was getting chilly/dark. Moi fell asleep in the car on the way home. Grady didn't. I sat next to him making him laugh the whole time. Moi was so tired when we got home that she passed out on the floor of the living room. She has never done THAT before.

3 Nights Nuk Free and counting...

2009-08-24T18:38:00.000-07:00

Is there a support group for kids who give up their pacifiers?

I gave Moira a warning last Monday that on Friday the Nuk/Binky fairy WOULD be coming to take away her one last Nuk. She actually reminded me on Friday that it was time. I decided to be swift about it and we put it in a box and wrapped it up. Back up, I actually cut it into two pieces and put it in the box first. She had a little panic attack when I did this and went to her bed and quietly sobbed. I told her the binky fairy couldn't fit it in her pocket without it in pieces. Then we wrapped it up. She decided she would suck on a cup of water at night if she needed something to suck on. She went to bed fine, actually. The problem was she got up at 3 am and was scared about something and spent about 3 hours on and off crying about the scary thing (snakes coming into her room). We knew it was going to be a bad night. But, the binky fairy produced a cake the next morning and a whole bin of stuff that lucky Moira didn't realize was left over from her stocking, easter basket, valentines day stash (b/c I didn't have time to go to the store and get new stuff...) And we went to Kinds Island (which we were going to do anyway) to celebrate the next day. She hasn't asked for it once!

I'm 6 Months old today!

2009-08-12T18:02:00.000-07:00

I can roll both ways with ease. I can sit up if you help me a little bit. I can put my pacifier in all by myself. I eat lots and lots of baby food, 2 jars per meal. I just learned how to put soft finger food in my mouth- puffs, bananas, peeled blueberries so far. I think my big sister is hilarious. I love walking up and down the stairs, also hilarious. And jumping on the trampoline (when mommy hold me of course). I have 2 bottom teeth. I also have a little cold right now which is making it hard to breath. Tonight's bedtime went better though, so mommy has her fingers crossed I am not fussing all night. All and all, I am still a very happy and pleasant baby! I nap mainly 2 times a day, sometimes 3. It depends if we take a car trip or not. I go to bed early, around 6:30 or 7 and sometimes sleep until 5 am, and sometimes I'm up at 2. I'll mainly go back to sleep at 5, but sometimes I don't. On those days, Mommy is mighty tired! Good thing I'm so cute!

Pictures

2009-08-09T17:47:00.001-07:00

I got a new haircut! And ordered 6 months worth of contacts!

Grady was going poo today and Moira looked at him and said "I'm sorry Grady, you are pooping so hard your eyes are going to pop out of your head!"

Grady has started babling. It's funny b/c it sounds like "blah blah blah" He is so cute.

Wish I had more time or energy to blog! Grady slept a good 10.5 hours last night but got up at 5:30 so I am tired. Chris worked both days this weekend again :(

Pics

2009-08-07T17:37:00.000-07:00

We have teeth!

2009-08-06T04:38:00.000-07:00

I saw bottom right yesterday and bottom left today.

State Fair & Firsts

2009-08-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

Moira and Chris are up there somewhere.

Grady is always so happy in his stroller.

Look, no glasses! I got contacts that actually seem to be working (I've tried 2 times before with no luck).

G-man!

We had a very enjoyable trip to the State Fair on Sunday. Chris actually didn't have to work any this weekend which was awesome! Moi has been a bit under the weather, but she seemed okay so we decided to go ahead and go. We took the double stroller so she wouldn't have to walk as much, and that was great. We left here at 9:15 and stopped by Kroger to get discounted tickets ($6 as opposed to $10). We got to the fair right as it was opening at 10, which was nice b/c it wasn't very crowded at all. We went to the kids rides first. Moira got an "all you can ride" bracelet and we got 10 tickets for Chris and I, as some of them she needs an adult to go with her. She and I rode a couple of small roller coasters. Chris and I would have preferred that he do them but he was too tall for them. Then she did some by herself. She was in a very serious mood. She was having a good time but not really smiling. She has been kind of out of it with this cold or whatever she has. After about an hour and 1/2, we went into a building that was air conditioned and they had food stands. We got a table and I had some corn on the cob, Chris had a burger, and we ordered Moi some mac & cheese but she didn't want it, but she did eat the pb&j I brought for her. Then she and Chris went to the M&M's tent and got free samples of m&m's ice cream cones and I gave Grady some applesauce and rice. Then Chris and Moi rode the enormous ferris wheel. Grady took a nap at this point, which was nice. Then more kiddie rides. After that, we stopped at a bench and I gave Grady a bottle (there wasn't anyplace prive to breastfeed). He likes the Similac Soy formula so that's what we've been going with. He only has a few bottles a week. He gulped it all down and had a big poo while Chris and Moi went to the mural painting area. Then more rides and a few games, topped off by a trip to the bulk candy tent and home.

I think the coolest thing about the trip was that it went so well and we were out for 4 1/2 hours! That's a long time with a 5 months old, I think. He took 2 naps in his stroller and had lunch and a bottle out and was happy the whole time! Moi was also a champ. It was kind of touching, she hurt herself getting out of one of the rides but instead of whining and milking it, she tried not to cry and said "I'm okay" and hid her head under Grady's stroller awning and tried not to cry!

Grady is full on rolling back and fourth both ways. I put him down and he'll be like 5 feet away when I take a second look. My life just got that much more complicated. He can sit up by himself very very well too. He has been sleeping much better. I've started putting him down on his belly and he seems to like that (he can roll both ways so the Dr. said it's fine). He's been sleeping consistently from 7pm-4 am. He can't seem to get back to sleep well at 4 am, so he usually ends up in the bed with me so I can sooth him, etc. I am too tired at that point to think about what to do and I just want the crying to stop. Tonight I might try to change his diaper and give him some gas drops before I feed him and see if that helps. We'll see if I have the energy at 4 am.

Last week Grandma Russell came to visit for 4 days! That was very nice! Moira wants nothing to do with me when Grandma is around. She thinks of things for me to do so I will leave them alone. She'll say "Make me some mac & cheese" or "Grady needs a diaper change". She likes Grandma all to herself. Fine by me! We took both kids to see a movie. The theater in Worthington does $3 kids movies on Wednesday mornings so we gave it a try. Kung Fu Panda was on. It was a bit to action packed but Moi did well. Grady slept for the first 20 minutes. Not sure how as it was super loud. Moi wanted to go after like 1/2 an hour which was fine. I was worried it would get scary and I didn't want her to have nightmares. This was her first movie! And I guess Grady's first movie too!

We took both kids to the Westerville Community Center Pool on Thursday. Moi had a blast. Grady seemed to really like it too. He was kicking all around. I got this water carrier thing at the baby bargains sale. I think it was good b/c it kept him nice and warm and snugly on me. This was his first time in the pool.

Moira and Grady around 6 months.

2009-07-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

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

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

2009-07-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

So smart!

"What should I wear today?"

2009-07-27T18:35:00.001-07:00

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

2009-07-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-22T17:26:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-21T17:37:00.000-07:00

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?

2009-07-21T16:21:00.000-07:00

So cute!

2009-07-14T19:19:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-07-13T17:30:00.001-07:00

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!

2009-07-07T11:27:00.000-07:00

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!

2009-06-30T18:06:00.000-07:00

A clown mad her this balloon dog on a stick. She was terrified of the clown, but thrilled with the balloon.

This is Moi's friend Madison from preschool. We ran into them at 4th Friday.

Here are some pics from the 4th friday celebration in downtown historic Westerville, just blocks from our house.

I have just been too tired to blog lately. Grady has been sleeping poorly. He will do one 8 hour stretch, which is good, but it usually starts around 6 or 6:30 and I don't go to bed until 10ish. I know I should go to bed earlier, but I don't have a minute to myself all day and once Moi is in bed, usually about 8 or 8:30, I just NEED some time to myself. Grady has been getting up around 2 or 3 (usually he fusses at 1 also and I need to get up and put the paci in, but not feed him) and then he fusses on and off after that until about 7 when we get up. I get a little sleep, but it isn't restful for anyone. I have tried putting him in the bed with me, not putting him in the bed, it doesn't matter. Nothing is better or worse. Moi was like this too, so I know it will get better eventually. I'm not stressed about it like I was with her. Just tired!

But enough complaining....

Grady is hard core into solid foods. He's tried pretty much everything in the "first foods" category of babyfoods that Gerber makes. He's been eating almost 2 jars per meal, 3 meals a day! Breakfast is usually fruit and oatmeal, lunch is a veggie and rice and fruit, and dinner is veggie and fruit. We even tried chicken a few days ago. He didn't seem to like that very much. The first thing he didn't like. I mixed it with peas the next day and he ate it. I read somewhere that babies get sweet tastes first. Savory comes later, so maybe that is why. He is still a very happy baby when he is awake. The interesting thing is he is starting to know who is who and when we are in a new place, he gets scared if someone he doesn't know is holding him. He was also scared when a little boy from playgroup was close to him and I wasn't in eye sight, he screamed like somebody hurt him! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have thought he was hurt. But he did it again later. He is a very chill guy but when he gets flustered or scared, watch out! Sometimes Moira is really wild or in his face screamy (just playing around) but he flipps out! The good thing is, I can usually calm him by rocking him close to me and whispering in his ear. He is still rolling from belly to back but has no desire to roll the other way.

Moira did so great at her last creative movement class today. The parents got to watch. It was so adorable. I took like 10 videos. Blogger won't let me upload them anymore. I will try to put them on youtube. Soooo cute! We are def. signing her up again in the fall. She just loved it and learned so much.

Today Moira said "Mommy, I don't like boys. They lie and are stinky. I like only girls, and daddy, and Grady, and cheese!" I thought that was random, and funny. We've been talking a lot about lying lately, but I don't have the energy to get into that right now. Susan, if you are reading this, you need to e-mail me if you every reigned in Sammi's fibbing or have any tips. We are at that stage right now! Pretend world vs. lying is a very fine line and Moira seems to be crossing it a lot.

Moira says so many things that are hilarious but I can't think of them right now. I need to start righting them down.

Um, yeah, one of those days...

2009-06-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

Why yes, that is poop coming out of my butt and all over the exercaucer.

In case you missed it....

Some Pictures

2009-06-19T18:18:00.000-07:00

Moi at Daniela's b-day today

waiting for ballet

mmm...oatmeal....

2 for breakfast please!

Before Daniela's b-day party

trampoline!

At the Cosi "Big Machines" exhibit.

smilin in the backyard

Grady and Missy

How am I ever going to be able to say no to this face?

Everytime I go to blog these days I feel so behind! I never know where to start and always forget things I wanted to say.

We went to drain out Moi's baby pool which had been up for about a week and we noticed some little "fish" swimming in it. Moira said maybe they are tadpoles and we should save them. I had no idea so we "rescued" them and put them in her little aquarium that we weren't using. Chris googled it later and discoved that they were mosquito larva we had harvested. Whoops!

Thursday's ballet class was great! Moi went in no problem and did so awesome! She said afterward how she had "the most fun ever". Grandma and Grandpa Russell came to visit Thursday and Friday and that was nice. We had a good visit and I got to spend 4 hours shopping all by myself on Friday! Grady is eating solids hard core now. He's had 3 meals a day for the last 3 days. Oh my, the boy loves to eat. Surprise Surprise!

I'm sure I have other cute stories, etc., but I can't remember and I am tired so just enjoy some pictures!

So Proud!

2009-06-16T17:32:00.001-07:00

My new favorite Moi pic.

I think this is cute- Grady chillaxin and Moira in the background.

Pretzel break. She kept saying "this is a very healthy snack for me to have". It's white flour fried and dipped in Cinnamon and sugar.

So we all remember the ballet saga from last week. We worked since last Thursday on talking about the class, how it would be fun, mom would be right outside, etc. She kept saying she "didn't' want to do it, only watch". I told her I wouldn't make her do it, but we would have to ask them if they would let us keep watching in the corner! I really didn't expect her to do it b/c she has been relentless that she would not participate. We got to class and I told the teacher I think it freaked her out that I couldn't go in the room at all, and asked if I could walk in with her. She agreed, although didn't seem super excited about the idea. We walked in and all stood in the corner (there are only 3 other girls in the class and one of them wasn't there). They asked her if she wanted to go stand in line with the other girls and she just hid behind me. They said what if mommy does it? So I went and stood in line with the other 2 girls and Moi did too. I felt pretty silly, and poor Grady was just rockin in his car seat over in the corner probably wondering what the heck is going on... After only 2 or 3 minutes I whispered to her that I had to go check Grady. I assumed she'd come follow me but she didn't, she stayed in line doing the dances with the class VERY SHEEPISHLY. Oh, my heart melted, it was so cute. I wish I had a video camera to show how she was doing it, but it was definitely one of those moments that will forever be etched in my heart. I had to fight back the tears- just seeing her in that line in front of the teachers is a huge step for her, I can't even explain! So Grady and I sat in the corner for a few more minutes. He needed to eat and I knew he would start screaming soon. There is a door to another classroom right there so I opened it and sat in the doorway breastfeeding Grady (fun fun!) and then moved back into the waiting room with the other moms. They all cheered for us b/c they knew how horrible the week before was (since we had to leave with her in hysterics). I was so nervous those last 15 minutes that she would realize I wasn't sitting by the door anymore and freak out but of course, she was fine. When the classroom door opened the teachers came out but no kids. I was like, where did they go? Well, they all got to pick out a piece of candy from a big candy vat! Moira came running out with the BIGGEST smile I have ever seen. She was so proud of herself for doing it. Of course, I gave her the biggest hug ever. She immediately started telling me how much fun she had and asked if I was proud of her for doing it all by herself. She said "We even did ring around the rosie, my favorite thing!" She said the teachers asked her what her favorite thing about summer was and she said "going to yard sales". She's never been to a yard sale, I think she was referring to the stuff I brought her from the baby bargains sale. Anyway, it was just a great experience.

This afternoon, we went to the Easton Fountains. She had so much fun. We went inside to get some Auntie Anne's pretzels and came back out and played some more. At the end though, some 6 or 7 year old boy came running full on into her and knocked her legs out from under her and the were up in the air sideways I swear like 3' tall and fell onto the side of her face/head. Oh, it was horrible! I think it must have looked worse than it was though b/c she recovered faster than I would have expected. Grady was laughing so hard at the fountains, it was really cute.

Moira has been talking to the tv, to her cartoons, saying things like "Pinky dinky do, do you want to come to my house to play? It is really fun, I have a bed and a playroom!" It's kind of funny that not only does she think that they are real, but they are actually right there in front of her.

Today Moi was on the computer and I asked her something and she said "Don't bother me mommy, I'm concentrating. Do you know what that means?" Speaking of the computer. I taught her how to double click the Internet icon, go to favorites, and pull down Noggin, Playhouse Disney, Nick Jr., and Sesame Street! She can then play all the games she wants! There is a little icon next to each website with a mouse for Noggin, etc. It's very handy. Especially for the times when I am putting Grady down for a nap, I need something quiet for her to do. But you know it's getting a little crazy when the other day she said "Mommy, how do you spell dotcom?"

4 month checkup

2009-06-15T17:18:00.000-07:00

This is Moira at Grady's age! She was 16 lbs and 26", which is the 100% for girls.

Applesauce face!

Grady had his 4 month checkup today. We are all still sick so I didn't really know which side of the waiting room to stand on, so we went with the sick (we'll probably end up with a new bug b/c of that). He is 26 1/2" long, 16 lbs 13 oz, and head is 17". He's in the 80% for head and weight and 85% for height. "Good proportions, if you like big" according to the Dr. He gave me the go ahead for solids if I thought he was ready. We had some applesauce for lunch! He loved it. I had to cut him off b/c I didn't want it to be too much of a shock to his little system. He was fussy all evening, probably a combo of shots and that cold we still have. He was up ever few hours last night. Ugh.

We have dance class tomorrow. Moira is insisting she won't go, wish us luck!

Today Grady was in his exercaucer (thanks Cheryl!) and I looked over and Moi had her foot in his face and he was getting ready to suck on her toes. Her dirty, filthy, grubby toes. I was like "nooooo!" and she said "but he likes to eat feet". Yuck!

Sicky Sicky Sicky Sick

2009-06-14T17:18:00.000-07:00

You can see the big pile of tissues forming before dance, I should have known it was going to be down hill...

Flashing me at dance class

Grady in his Packer's gear from Aunt Jeanne

We love to eat our toes!

Who needs a pacifer when you can eat your feet?

Packers Butt!

Moira in her ballet uniform for the class that never was.

So what's new? Well, we are all sick. Moira started in with the runny nose Wednesday, but by Thursday it was clear it wasn't just a little cold, but a yucky, gnarly, fever included, 2 boxes of tissues a day, crabby mood kind of cold. Friday, Grady and I were snotty and I must say, I understand her crabbiness. I have never felt so bad at night with a cold. I told Chris this is almost as bad as getting through the night after the c-section. In the middle of the night last night I was thinking how glad I was today is Sunday b/c I was really hurting and definitely needed some reinforcements. I gave Moi some of her prescription cough medicine last night and that got her through the night okay (she was up at 4 am on Friday, poor Chris had to deal with her and then go to work). I wasn't sure what I could take with breastfeeding and I didn't want to make myself too tired last night b/c I figured Grady would be up a lot, which he was (every 2 hours). I finally took 3 Advil's around 3 and that really helped, wish I would have done that sooner. Chris has a sore throat and is now snotty. So nobody is missing this one! Moira seemed better today so hopefully in a day or two the rest of us will as well, since she was the first one to get it.
I signed Moi up for 6 sessions of a "Creative Movement" class at the little dance studio down the street from us. They are supposed to learn the beginning of ballet, tap, jazz and do some tumbling. She always watches the performances of this studio on the 4th Fridays and just loves it. We sometimes bop into the studio and just watch the practices when we are on walks. I wanted to get her in a class or two this summer where she would be away from me so next school year, it wouldn't be so hard on her to be away from me. She was very excited about her class, we picked out new ballet shoes and a ballet outfit, I paid my money for the class. We talked about how I wouldn't be in the class but I would watch her doing it. Well, when we got there, the class wasn't in the room I thought, it was in a closed door room and the teacher didn't even want me walking her in there. She freaked out. Major freak out. (this was also on the first day she was sick and I didn't realize it so that might have been part of the problem). Kept screaming she wanted to go home. The lady who just took our $52 check must have felt bad and told us there was an alternate door where we could watch the class if we were really quiet. We did that. Moi talked about how she might want to go do the things the other girls were doing but when I told the teacher that and the teacher came over she did the "ugh-ugh" and hid behind me. We finally left. I am just not sure what I should do in those situations. One of the other mom's said her little girl did the same thing the first class (all the other little girls had classes before) and she just left her in there screaming until she got over that. I mean, that's what we did at school- but school is 3 hours long. This class is only a 1/2 an hour and 1. I didn't want to ruin it for the other girls and 2. I didn't really trust that this college age girl could handle it. And how is she supposed to teach a class and deal with a hysterical Moira? Plus, Moira WILL hurt herself when she gets hysterical. So I came home and called the parenting help line at the Elizabeth Blackwell Center (the women's center in town) b/c I needed an expert opinion since this is something that is an ongoing issue for us. I told her how Moi really has severe adult/stranger anxiety and I just don't know what I am supposed to do. The lady, who was the facilitator at the new mom's group that I used to go to, was very helpful. Basically it all boils down to trying to prepare them as best as possible for a new situation when a child is an introvert, like Moira is. It was bad b/c I didn't tell her I wasn't going in with her (I didn't realize that I couldn't). Her brain needed time to process that and it totally freaked her out. She agreed that if you don't trust the teacher to deal with it, you shouldn't "throw them into the fire" b/c that could end up worse in the end. She also said something that made me feel better. She said they have done studies and kids that are introverts have more communication going on between their right brain and their left brain and they are hesitant to new people b/c their brain is busy communicating between sides. She gave me some tools to make it better like going to the library and getting books about characters that have to acclimate to new situations b/c kids this age are incapable of teaching themselves how to deal with things that make them uncomfortable, but they can learn from modeling on stories and characters. She said lots more stuff, but I think those are the highlights. We'll see how it goes this week! She said not to keep trying b/c then she will think that it WAS a scary place and she was right to be afraid.
Grady was sleeping well again until this sickness set in. We had 2 or 3 good nights of 8 hours.

Grady decidee this week that he doesn't like formula. I want him to take formula if offered just b/c I have like zero frozen supply and I don't want to have to stress if I am going to be gone for awhile. He eats very frequently and a lot during the day. Plus, my parents offered to watch him for the entire day so Chris and I can take Moira to Kings Island and there is talk of Chris and I leaving the kids overnight with his parents next month so we can go out for our 10 year anniversary (which we were coincidentally invited to a wedding on that same day). I will do my best to pump and store, but it would be nice not to have exclusive breast milk during those times so I don't have to worry if they run out. Plus, you are supposed to mix milk of some sort with the cereal and that will be starting soon, and I don't want to waste precious breast milk on that. It seems like for the first month or two they only eat very little and spit most of it out. The good news is, I did get him to take a few ounces of Soy formula today. I had a sample can that the formula company sent me. Also, we tried spoon feeding the leftovers with baby applesauce this afternoon. Just a tiny tiny amount. He liked it after he figured out what he was supposed to do with it!

On a good note, Chris was off all weekend for the first time in like 2 months. What a difference two weekend days make compared to one. We can actually get some stuff done AND have some fun! Chris took Moi to ride the rides at the zoo (that darn Jungle Jack's landing with the rides- Moi loves it, we'll probably never see another animal again) and they had a blast. She is finally 40" (which she attibutes to eating lots of carrots) so she can do the "big kid" rides as long as Chris goes with her.

Happy 4 Month Birthday Grady!

2009-06-12T17:54:00.000-07:00

Remember When....?

2009-06-10T18:19:00.000-07:00

Moira has an amazing memory. All the time she says "Remember when..." then goes into elaborate detail about things that happened sometimes a very long time ago. Like over a year, which I think is a long time for a 3 year old. She was talking about how Missy Judy really liked her Valentines Day candy, and that was the lady who did the in home preschool when Moi was only 2 1/2! Today she was talking about a time when Laura stopped over with her dog and about the dog Rupert and she only saw him for about 30 seconds.

Grady had a horrible night of sleep last night. Up every hour or less. I finally put him in bed with me around 12:30 and he was very gassy, which is weird b/c he hasn't been that way since he was about 8 weeks. ????? He is still super duper happy and easy going during the day. Not sure what is up, but I have learned you just have to roll with it with babies. They are gonna do what they are gonna to do. If he has a really bad night though, I might take him to the Dr. for an ears/nose/throat etc. check.
Moira has her first "Creative Movement" class tomorrow. She has mixed feelings about it. She is excited, yet her stranger/adult anxiety is getting to her too. She said she "isn't going to talk to anybody and if they try to talk to her she will spit in their face". I have told her she most certainly will not spit in anybody's face or she will get her nuk taken away. We'll see, wish us luck! She has a cold. She is very snotty and I could tell she had a fever before bed, so hopefully she'll be well enough to go.
Moira has been talking about weddings and who she is going to marry. She can't decide whether she is going to marry Allie or Davis, but pretty sure she has decided on Davis. We drive by a wedding dress store on Main Street on the way home and she always says "Can I wear a pretty dress like that when I am as big as you?" She said she wanted to marry daddy but I told her he is already married to me. She said "Well, I am going to wedding Davis and next time I see him I am going to tell him that really loudly!"
We got this book for her at the baby bargains sale called "David Gets in Trouble". I figured it would be right up her ally. There is this boy named David and there are pictures of him getting in trouble for all sorts of various things. There is one picture of him in a corner with soap in his mouth for saying a bad word. Chris asked her what saying a bad word meant and she said "tooting in someone's face", then she thougth some more and said "stupid".

2009-06-09T05:24:00.000-07:00

Moira is not in the mood to get her picture taken, so we have shots like this alot. Do you see the underwear sticking out of the leotard? I will have to ask some other mom's with girls who have dance if they are supposed to wear underwear with these outfits. I would assume so but it looks pretty unattractive.

Grady in the jumparoo for the first time. He seems to really like it, although his feet barely touch the ground right now.

Grady and Keegan

Mam boys (mam is the brand of pacifier)

Sorry I have been a blogger slacker lately. I am so behind!

Where to start. Well, Grady hasn't been sleeping great lately. Really I guess just the last 3 nights. I thought it was b/c he was off schedule Saturday but he did pretty bad last night also (think up every hourish). Not sure why, but I know Moira went through this at this age EXACTLY too. I kept a daily calender for what she was up to, like I am doing with him as well, and I was complaining a lot about sleep at this age. He does seem to get back to sleep better than she did, but is waking up more frequently. The good thing is, I've been through this before, so I know not to panic, it will get better eventually. I am trying to get him out of the fabulous, yet temporary, Fisher Price cradle rocker that he has been sleeping in. I was hesitant to mess with a good thing, but since he is sleeping poorly, might as well do it now. He is getting big and trying to roll over so we'll give it a whirl. Although if he really fights bed tonight, I might give in and put him back in it. He really faught bed last night though and it didn't help, so we'll see. He's still and exceptionally good happy boy during the day, so I can't complain.

Moira is cracking me up these days. She says really sweet things and really evil things all within the hour. The evil things I will just attribute to her growing vocabulary and grasp of concepts and feelings. I think she is an awesome amazing smart little girl who is just kind of pushing the envelope with some things. Like for example she said to me the other day "Mommy, I don't love you anymore". I said "why?" She said "I just thought it would be funny to watch you cry". I think this stemmed from she said "I don't love you" the day before b/c she was mad and I fake cried and she thought that was hilarious. But she also goes up to me for no reason and says "I love you. Does that make you smile? Let me see you smile." She also was singing a song to Grady the other day that went "Grady's going to die. Grady's going to die. I'm going to kick a ball at his face really hard and he's going to die!" I asked her what she said and she knew that was a bad thing to say. I said "Do you realize that's like the worst possible thing you could say?" and she said "I didn't do anything to him, he's fine. Look at him (touching his head gently) he's fine!" So I just moved him out of the room she was in and figured we'd sort through that later. She learned about dying b/c she ran out into the street the other day b/c I told her to hold my hand- she decided to do the opposite. So we had to have a heavy conversation about dying and death. I think she is trying to process it in her head.

Well, I have more, but the boy is up. He did just nap for about 1/2 an hour w/o the cradle rocker. His new trick is sticking his toes in his mouth. I remember Moira doing that. It is funny. He's also getting into his toys.

2009-06-02T12:17:00.000-07:00

I stole this idea from a blog I look at sometimes. Moi loves having snack in mini muffin trays! It's fun to make them up.

Grady spit up all over me today (nothing new), but it was a big one- all over the kitchen floor, yeah... Moira was very grossed out. She said "I do little burps" and then thought for a minute and said "You do medium burps and Daddy and Grady do BIG burps!" Kind of funny though b/c I can burp Chris under the table. We'll let her think whatever she wants though.
Grady is almost rolling from his back to his front. He's been doing front to back for awhile now. Also, I think it's cute that when he gets upset he says "Ma Ma!" That is just interesting b/c "ma ma" is usually one of the last consonant sounds babies have. Moira had "ba ba" and "da da" way before "ma ma". He has "goo" and "ma ma".
The other day out of nowhere Moi said "I can't wait to go to the planet earth!" Might explain some things...
Grady was 16 lbs 10 oz at the Dr. last friday (I weighed him at my Dr.'s visit).

Photos

2009-06-01T17:38:00.001-07:00

We did a little photo shoot out back this weekend. It was very impromptu. I am so happy with how the pics turned out!

Moira's new favorite thing is talking about America's birthday on the swing set. She could do it constantly. There are only so many things I can think of to say about it. All she really wants to hear about is how we are going to make a flag cake and go to see the fireworks. She says "tell me about the cake" and "tell me about the fireworks" over and over. It's kind of funny. I could go on and on, but I am getting exhausted just thinking about it.

Something Moira did the other day I thought was creative, yet lazy: She wanted me to help her look for her favorite shirt. She kept saying "find my shirt" over and over. I told her that it was HER shirt and HER responsibility to look for it and keep track of it. She said "well, I'm pretending like you are my twin, so you are Moira too, so help me find my shirt!"

2009-05-29T05:28:00.000-07:00

Some people think Grady looks like Pop, so I got a picture side by side for comparison.

It's 8:30 am and both kids are sleeping so I have a minute to blog before somebody gets up. Grady has already been up twice, but he is back down for his nap.

Yesterday I went to pick out some pants to go with the fireworks shirt that Moira got as a hand me down from cousin Maren that she is "never taking off". I picked some pink pants and Moira said "Mommy, that doesn't match, but thank you for trying".

Moira has an irrational fear of bug. Well, she did get stung by bees 3 times last summer, so maybe it isn't completely irrationall, but it is ridiculous. I think a fly landed on her yesterday at playgroup and she flung herself onto her front off the swing and was screaming and crying hysterically, like she couldn't even talk. The other moms thought another kid had pushed or hit her or something and I explained that she just saw a bug. Patty told me to tell her that the bugs that land on you don't bite and are nice and to make up a special "bug spray" bottle with water and a little bit of off that she can spray herself. She seems excited about that.

Grady is really into grabbing his toes and sucking on his fingers. He can also take his Mam out of his mouth and hold it. He's trying to get it back in, but most of the time ends up tossing it all over the place.

Well, I have more, but Grady is up....

Memorial Day Weekend Pics

2009-05-27T17:55:00.000-07:00

2009-05-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

Moira and Daniela on her teeter totter.

I've had a headache for about 6 days now. It is different than my usual headaches that are related to the weather. This one is like a dull ache, but painful. It feels like someone hit me in the head with a baseball bat the day before or I ran into a pole or something. Go away! Tylenol and Excedrin have not been helping. Anywho...

Not much new here. Just doing our thing. Moira has started reporting her dreams to me in the morning. This is cute to me b/c I am a big dream person. Mine are very vivid and I always feel the need to share them in the morning. When I used to have an office job whoever sat next to me in the morning got the pleasure of hearing my dreams from the night before. Moira's dreams seem to revolve around articles of clothing so far. She always tells me what she was wearing or frequently she is going shopping in her dreams. That's my girl.

Grady continues to be an awesome baby. His new trick is grabbing his feet. We got out Moira's old toys and his new toys this weekend b/c he has started checking them out. He's not really doing anything with them yet, but he does seem to be checking them out. Also cute- when I pick him up, he tucks his head into the nape of my neck and snuggles with me. And he always has a smile to return whenever you give him a smile. Not just me either, pretty much anybody.

We got the outside of our house painted. They finished up today. Looks pretty spiffy.

"The Most Special Thing Ever"

2009-05-16T16:53:00.000-07:00

We went to the mall Thursday. It was a rainy day and I needed some new makeup from Sephora. We almost made it out w/o a purchace for Moira until she spied the Disney Store. and it was all over from there. She talked me into this princess night gown, saying it was "the most special thing ever". I got it a size 5/6 so she can wear it for a few years. She freaked out today when she saw it in the laundry room saying I can never wash it b/c it is "too special". She wanted to wear it to school on Friday but I was able to talk her out of it w/o much of a fit. She just wanted to tell everyone about it. She claims all the kids were VERY excited to hear about it. I could hear her talking about it as I left the classroom. She actually asked me to take this pictures, even though she's been protesting pictures as of late. Friday was her last day of school. Of course, on the last day of school she was dancing around saying how excited she was to go to school. We were in charge of last day of school party cupcakes. It ended up being a disaster. They took twice as long to make b/c Moira wanted to help ice and frost them. Then I dropped the cupcake carrier upside down on the walk to school. I spent 1/2 an hour in the breakroom trying to fix them and came back early with extra sprinkles to make them even better. I would have just got new ones but Moira would have busted me. Then, right after the kids sang their songs, all the parents and kids busted out of the room, nobody stayed for the party but 2 kids! I was like, oh great, I spent all that time for nothing. One really nice dad made a big deal about the cupcakes and said thank you like 5 times. That was nice. I don't know what the deal was, but I was sad all our hard work was for nothing! But I digress...
Grady is still a good sleeper at night! I tried taking him out of the fisher price cradle rocker and it was back to 5 hours, so he is back in it for now and doing 10 hours again. He's been going to sleep at 7pm, not waking until 5 am (sometimes I have to put the paci in around 3 or 4) and then going back down for another hour or two!!!! Can you believe it? We'll take it while we can get it, I know babies sleep schedules are ever changing, but as of now, not to bad at all.

Grady had the most gigantic poop expostion EVER today. It was even on his shoulders, no lie. Chris was putting him to bed and rocking him to sleep and then realized he had poop oozing out everywhere. It just made me laugh. Chris was thanking his lucky starts that I was there to help deal with it. We ended up getting him completely undressed and I jumped in the shower with him. It was bad.

Moira has an imaginary friend as of today. Her name is Alison. She was arguing with Alison about who is more of a pirate. Aye matey!

Here is the Moira quote of the day: "I can't wait to go to Planet Earth!"

2009-05-14T02:07:00.001-07:00

Maren with Moira and her friend Mary Grace

Grady and cousin Terra

Moira and Luci at school

Moira getting her diploma

Grady at Moi's school

Their cupcake cake. The yellow ducks are thier mascot.

Outside after school with her goody bag.

Grady slept 11 hours last night and then rolled over today (from front to back) for the first time. I got his third roll on video after I realized it wasn't a fluke. He just did it with the same chillness that he does everything (Is chillness a word?) Just laying there one minute, on the other side the next!
Moira "graduated" from her 2.5 Tuesday class this week. I had to laugh b/c after kind of fighting school all year long, she kept saying "I am soooo excited to go to school" on the walk down there. She knew they were having a party that the parents were attending towards the end of class. When all the parents got there, we started eating lunch, then they handed out their diplomas (fotunatley Grady fell asleep in the stroller and I just rolled him into the nursery of the chuch, which is connected to their room). I think Moira expected more of a party b/c she said "when is the party going to start?" over and over. Whoops. It's sad that her school is ending this week. It's been good for her and I will miss the break! She starts back in September on Mon. and Wed for 4 hours and every other friday for 3 hours. They sang the "Make new friends song" for the moms. It's funny, when Moira was singing it later she kept saying "Make new friends, but keep me older, one is silver and the other's gold". Almost honey, almost....

We went to visit my cousins, Moira and Grady's second cousins, Maren & Terra today. Baby Terra I guess isn't technically a baby anymore, she is a 1 year old. She is about the cutest thing you've ever seen, I want to just eat her up. I told my aunt Emily that I just can't stop looking at her she is THAT cute! She has some awesome dance moves and just smiles! Moira ADORES Maren like you wouldn't believe. She was so excited to go over to their house she was yelling to the dog and cat "I'm going to cousin Maren's house!" Then of course she fell asleep in the car on the way over b/c she got up at 6:45 and was in a "Moira mood" and I have decided it shall be called (it involves pouting and saying "I'm not doing ANYTHING!") but eventually snapped out of it. I always enjoy talking to my aunt Emily, especially since I feel like Moira and Maren are VERY similar in personality. Every behavior change that Moira goes through, Maren has as well, and it's great to see how they dealt with it and see the end result on the other side!
I was just rereading that "Loving Two" poem that I posted on my Moira blog before the baby was born. I forwarded it to a lady whose blog I read who is expecting a baby and she had a post that reminded me of the poem. In rereading it, I realized I haven't really seen any of the new baby in Moira, although it would have been completely normal of her. Sure, she is more clingy at times (although who knows, that may have happened at this point in her development anyway) and sometimes gets frustrated when I can't get to her immediatley, but really, for the most part, she has been sooooo WONDERFUL. I have to laugh sometimes b/c Grady will be in his crib fussing sometimes and then he stops- when I go to check on him she will have climbed in there and is just smiling and grinning and entertaining him and his eyes are so wide open. It is too funny and hopefully the beginning of a life long friendship.
Okay, it's 5:30 am and both kids are sleeping so why am I bloggin? Well, I had to reinsert the pacifier and it seems to have worked. Now just need to figure out if I should go back to bed or not...

Happy 3 Month Birthday Grady!

2009-05-11T18:02:00.001-07:00

Grady 3 months

MOira 3 months

Grady 3 months

Moira 3 months

Grady 3 months

Moira 3 months

Here are some comparison shots. Moira and I had fun playing a game where I pulled up a picture and made her guess which baby it was! It can be tricky, they look pretty similar. I think they have the same mouth and nose, but Grady has Chris's longer eyes and she has my round eyes. They are both blue like Chris. Sigh, I guess the dog and I are the only brown eyed ones in the house.

Grady is definitely a more chill baby. I had a hard time finding pics of Moi smiling (finally dug out her first year cd's to put on the computer) and had a hard time finding ones of her smiling. Grady is smiling in most of his. Although maybe I jsut took more pictures of her. I was looking at the calendar I kept for her and she was sleeping 3 1/2- 5 hour stretches and every 3rd or 4th night she'd have those nights where she would go to sleep but then start crying inconsolably every 45 minutes or so and it would take everything in my power to get her back to sleep and then she'd do it again.... The shot of them in the bumbos- Moira hated it, but Grady was just chillin out it in, barfed on himself, smiled and kept chillin. It makes me nervous though b/c even with all of her idiosyncracies, Moira is a pretty darn good 3 year old. She is kind hearted, a good communicator, non violent (to other kids at least, which is the most important thing), listens for the most part- so I always told myself I paid it forward with the fussy baby to get a good toddler/preschooler. Hopefully that's not entirely true or I'll be in for it when Grady gets bigger. Although I hear boys are just a whole different animal no matter what, as I can imagine.

We went to music class this morning and a lady was visiting with her 3 1/2 month old baby girl. Grady looked like he could eat her for lunch! I am curious about how much he weighs, but I don't know if I am curious enough to go to a place with a baby scale to find out.

Grady slept for 9 hours last night. Pretty good, I thought maybe he'd be off with the trip for Portsmouth. Also of note, I took him out of the Fisher Price cradle rocker and just put him in the crib. For the second stretch, I did put him back in the cradle rocker b/c he didn't want to go to sleep, but then he slept another 2 1/2 hour stretch. Go Grady!

2009-05-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

This is Moira at 4 or 5 months. I wish I had more pics of her at this age to compare with Grady. I need to dig up the CD's.

So I got my dream for Mother's Day- a day all by myself! I feel a tad guilty reading friends facebook status updates about their awesome days with the kids when my wish was that everyone just leave me alone for as long as possible... but I think it's fair to say that I spend more time alone with my kids than the average mom, especially lately since Chris has been working 24/7. It was great- I organized the laundry room, emptied the cat box, cleaned out the fridge, and organized the cabinets. It was glorious. Oh, and I actually sat down to eat my lunch and dinner while watching Desperate Housewives on DVR from last week. I had to force myself to sit down, so not used to it. I did have Moira tell Chris that I wanted a "fancy phone just like Missy". Poor guy had no idea what that was and said he went to bestbuy to try to get a gift card buy there were so many different price ranges, he just "authorized" me to buy one for myself. I've been spending a lot of money lately though, so I don't know if I'll really indulge myself in that. I don't really NEED a fancy phone just like Missy, we'll see.

Grady took THREE bottles in a row yesterday. Chris took the kids to Portsmouth to visit with the Grandparents. I sent 2 bottles of breastmilk and he drank all of that and fortunatley, I sent a packet of formula, b/c he hogged that all down too. It was his first bottle of formula ever! I am a little weepy about that, but I am glad that he liked it. Some babies don't like it at all, so I am relieved that he would drink it if he had to. He continues to suck on anything! What a good baby! He slept from 8 pm last night until 5am, went back to sleep and is still in bed now at 8:45. The bad news is Grady sceamed in the car 1/2 of the way. We are supposed to go to UVA for my reunion in a few weeks, I don't know if I'll make it there with him screaming the whole way! May have to reconsider that....

Moira asked for Daddy to put her to bed last night b/c he is the "most fun"! I was so happy!

Moira has her last day of Tuesday school tomorrow. They are having a Luau party and all the mom's are invited. She is so excited. She has debated what she is going to wear all day. She has also debated what all the other kids are going to wear as well.

Misc.

2009-05-09T16:43:00.000-07:00

Playing at the Park

My old friend Jennie Brown Crawford sent these to Grady in the mail. How cute!

Didn't want her picture taken.

Sorry, I've been MIA. Busy busy around here. Facebook is sooo much faster and easier, so I usually update that and then don't feel like doing it again on blog. Plus, I feel like I have to say something of importance here, and it's hard to make sense of all my thoughts these days.

Grady slept from 7pm until 5:30 am last night! That's 10 1/2 hours people! I wonder if it was a fluke. We'll see. Only time will tell. He's such a goooooood baby. So happy, chill, good eater, good sleeper. Exactly what I always say on baby cards to people that I hope their baby will be. He has started laughing too. It's kind of just like "ha ha ha" in a dry way, but it is definitely a laugh. He's kind of batting at things. He can grab things and get them in his mouth, although I don't think he's necessarily trying to. He eats his hand a lot, but he's definitely a paci man. He loves the MAM brand paci's, doesn't like the NUK's anymore. (Moira has claimed them all saying Grady doesn't need them anymore) He can kick really hard, almost kicked himself out of his bouncy seat tonight! He isn't overly entertained by Moira yet. She gets in his face and says things she thinks are funny, but it's mainly really loud obnoxious gibberish. He just looks at her like "stop bothering me".

Moira. Where to begin. Going through lots of things these days that I hope/assume are phases and related to the new baby. She's been VERY attached to me. VERY. I tried to go to the bathroom at a friend's house- I told her I was going, she said she didn't want to go with me, but I soon as I was out of sight she had a complete meltdown. She even does that when I leave her with Chris sometimes. Also, very passive aggressively trying to bother me/Grady when I am trying to get him to sleep. Mainly yelling loud gibberish or playing her instruments really too loud. She doesn't want much to do with any other adults. Which, for the record, how come some people do not get it when a kid CLEARLY doesn't want to talk to you. She will be hiding literally behind me and some people just keep getting in her face, which makes her freak out more and more. I finally had to tell the hygenist at the dentist office SHE DOESN'T WANT TO TALK TO YOU. I was already annoyed at them, so I had no problem being borderline rude to the lady. I asked the teachers at his school if she ever talks to them and they said she'll respond if they ask her questions but very quietly and never initiates conversation. But I guess this is the way she's always been at school. Chris hid under the table for 2 years in preschool just saying "macaroni and cheese" to anyone who tried to talk to him, so at least she's out from under the table! She did, ironically, hide under the table for a few weeks. It's good to know she comes by it naturally. I guess she gets that from him and throwing things when she's mad from me... Ah the best of both worlds. But, if she is also getting the valedictorian gene from both sides, so she's got that going for her. I am trying to get her in some summer camps to help with the separation anxiety, and I've put an add in the Otterbein student job placement office for a part time babysitter. Some of my friends with kids said they'd help and take her for awhile over the summer just for an hour or two here and there so she gets used to me leaving her. So we have a plan.

Poor second kid and safety. I busted Moi with a handful of hand sanitizer and she was getting ready to "clean" his face with it. That could have been bad. I hid the hand sanitizer, no worries. I also asked her to clean his paci, and she got soap all over it and fortunately told me "I didn't rinse it very well" before I put it in his mouth, b/c it was still covered in soap. She head butted him the other day really hard. He didn't even cry though. I told her that was very bad and she could really hurt him and she said "I'm sorry" and gave him a kiss on the head. It was such a genuine "I'm sorry", it brought tears to my eyes. Usually when she gets reprimanded she goes "don't see me!" and runs and hides, but she actually felt bad!

Funny Conversations:

Right before bed, Moi was looking at me and started patting down my hair and said "Mommy, you hair looks disgusting".

Me: Moi, what did you learn at school?
Moi: Goose poop is disgusting!

Moi: Grady is bald just like Pop Pop!

Moi: Who is going to stay with me when you go go the hospital to have your girl baby?

Me: I'm not having anymore babies.

Moi: Why not.

Me: We are just a two kid family.

Moi: Well, we are only a ONE kid family, so where is Grady going to go?

I can't think of everything else I wanted to say, so I will end here. I am being cocky and staying up AFTER Grady and Moi go do bed. Hopefully he'll be a good boy tonight and have a good sleep.

Oh, that reminds me of the other thing. Moi has been FREAKING about bugs. It's going to be a long summer. She got up in the middle of the night hysterical b/c she thought she saw a fly. she was screaming and crying. Chris listens to her monitor b/c usually she goes to bed whenever and we don't hear from her at all all night. But she was up from 1-4 am really upset and in his bed watching tv until he put her back to sleep. Crazy girl.

Finally all healthy... for now at least.

2009-04-30T03:14:00.000-07:00

This bib is for Aunt Jeanne, who despises peas!

I finally got my hair did.

Double fisting the deserts after a long,hot day.

Cheese!

Lovin my new bouncy seat Patty let us borrow.

Chillin on the front porch

Sorry I've been a big blog slacker. Really, as of yesterday, I can FINALLY say that we are all healthy...for the moment at least! Grady got Moira's version of her bug after her, which was not nearly as bad, thank goodness. However a stuffy nose with a baby who only breaths through their nose is a BIG deal. He's still a TAD congested, but for the most part it's gone. He was a trooper through it all and had even been sleeping 8 or 9 hours at night. That's right, I said 8 or 9 hours! Not getting too excited though b/c last night he was up after 3 hours crying, put the paci back in and got another 2 out of him. He did wake me up at 5 am with the most ginormous poop you could ever imagine, so maybe that was part of the deal, hard to say. I used to blog in the middle of the night between feedings, but I've actually been SLEEPING somewhat if you can imagine that. He is a great baby! Lots of smiles, loves to chill out between naps. He gets a bit fussy as the day goes on but nothing we can't handle. The only thing is he takes very short naps. Like 1/2 an hour to 45 minutes. I am used to Moira going "awwww! no!" when he wakes up b/c we can't finish whatever game she wanted to play, I can never get a load of laundry folded at the same time, etc. etc. But I really can't complain with 8 hour stretches at night!
I was talking to one of my mom friends at music class the other day and she asked how it was going. I said okay,everybody is hanging in there and I mentioned I am starting to panic b/c I fell at 11 weeks here, I am worried people are going to start expecting me to be "normal". You know, I feel like we are doing pretty good as far as Grady is a good baby, I can take care of his needs, Moira is a good girl, I can care for her needs, but when am I supposed to 1. stop wearing sweatpants everyday 2. brush my hair on a regular basis 3. serve something other than hot dogs and applesauce for dinner 4. fit into my old jeans 5. have a normal conversation 6. not be a hormonal mess at least once a day 7. listen and absorb other people's problems 8. clean the house 9. Start spell checking (okay, I never did that before either) etc. We were talking about when is that magical transition in society from "Oh, your family just had a new baby, what can we do to help you?" to "Oh wow, you all are a big mess and can't get anything together at all!" I feel like that transition is coming soon, based on some things I've observed, and I am trying not to stress out about it. We are doing the best we can on any given day and the best we can is the best we can. My friend told me her second is 17 months old and she still feels like she is still struggling to get everything together. She said she got down the basic caring for the kids pretty quickly, it was just EVERYTHING else had to take a back seat. As they say, 2 kids isn't twice as hard, it's 10x as hard. I am not complaining at all, the kids make me soooo happy. I just wanted everyone to know we are nowhere near ready to being high functioning and 1. out of sweatpants 2. brushing our hair on a daily basis, etc. etc. so feel free to cut me a break ;) Moira has been having renewed separation anxiety at school and I was trying to figure out what was going on. It was just confusing me. Then I realized, this is really hard transition for her as well, so that is probably the issue there, and we have to expect she will need adjustment time just like the rest of us.

Moira has been saying "stupid" a lot lately. She picked this up from a hula dancing Homer Simpson doll. I really really really don't like that word. In my opinion, it's worse than a swear word, b/c it's just so mean, and can be very hurtful to other kids. Usually when you are cursing, it's jut at an object.... ;) Well, I probably made to big of a deal about her not saying it b/c she is on a mission to say something that sounds somewhat like it or dance around it all day long. I have tried to explain that it hurts kids feelings and means that you have no brains. She knew she wasn't supposed to say it and yesterday we were taking a walk and she started to say it. She went "stup...." and stopped and looked at me and said "Stup! stup! stup!" that the new sound of a dog barking. I thought that was pretty creative and at least we've made some progress.

Moira (and Daddy I think) are pretty excited for county fair season. She asks about county fairs all the time! She is also obcessed with when it is going to be her birthday. 2 of her good playgroup friends have had their 4th birthdays recently. She keeps saying "is it EVER going to be my birhtday?" It's going to be a long 5 1/2 months!

Well, off to do some laundry and wash my face. Whoo hoo!

2009-04-19T23:16:00.000-07:00

No pictures of Moira lately b/c she is 1. usually naked or 2. covered with snot.

Auntie Meredith stopped by for a visit yesterday. Grady flahed her his world class grin.

Moi is still coughing a ton, but fever never went about 99.5 yesterday. She has a very runny nose. We went to the Franklin Park Conservatory yesterday, just Moi, Grady and I b/c Chris had to work all day! It stinks when he has to work on the weekends, especially when Moi is sick and we can't go anywhere with kids. But, we managed as we usually do. We had fun at the conservatory. She was sweet, I couldn't go up any of the steps with the stroller, so when she wanted to go do certain things that she usually does there, like climb up the big tower, I felt so bad but I had to tell her no, she just went "Awww" but didn't fight me about it. On the way there I said "Do you smell that skunk?" she said "No, but I am the one who has the snot". She keeps saying "I don't want to be sick anymore". It's been a week now tomorrow!!! She hasn't seen any other kids and is starting to have conversations with her friends. It's so sad. She had a big elaborate conversation with her playgroup, who she pretending was outside with her. I forgot how she does this when she hasn't seen other kids for awhile.

Well, it's 2 am. Grady went to sleep finally around 9 after fussing for an hour. I had to get up to put the pacifier in and figured he'd be right up in a minute but 20 minutes later so I got up. To back to bed or not, that is the question? I hate getting woken up by the crying, so I 'll probably just stay up and wait. We put a bed in his nursery for me to sleep in (since his room is downstairs) but that hasn't worked out too well until this week. He has been the world's loudest sleeper letting out toots and groans no human being (besides him) could possibly sleep through. I have been sleeping on the couch in the living room for 2 months! It is not so comfy, especially since we have a 3 cushion couch, one of the cushions is right in my rib cage. But I am a little person, so it's not a huge deal. His gas has died down though, I've been able to sleep in the bed in his room. The only problem is that is creeks when I roll over so I need to be super careful or when I'm not thinking about it (like when I'm really asleep) sometimes I'll roll and then he wakes up and I have to put he paci back in. I am just saying this so you can "insert sympathy here". Chris took the kids out Saturday afternoon for a drive b/c I just needed a break. Last week was very stressful caring for a sick little girl and a baby, trying to keep her somewhat away from him, not being able to snuggle her like I wanted, not really being able to help him completely- I just needed a break. I should have been doing housework when they were gone but I went up and got snuggly in our oh so comfy bed and slept for 2 hours. So not like me to not be productive! Oh well, I'll get a decent night's sleep...eventually... Just trying to remember that one day I will miss being up in the middle of the night snuggling with a sweet baby!

Peace

2009-04-19T03:20:00.000-07:00

Grady has done great the last few nights. He's gone down to bed at 8:30 and slept 7 hours and then right back to bed after eating. His naps are shorts, unless we are driving in the car.He usually only naps half hour to an hour. But I will take it for a good night. He usually naps 4 times a day. He's been just kind of getting tired and falling asleep in my arms or even in the bouncy seat and I put him down and he is quiet and goes right to sleep. How nice!!! I certainly hope he keeps this up. We are actually in the "eat, play, sleep" mode that all the books say to do, but I was never able to do with Moira. He doesn't nurse to sleep at all. He doesn't even really need a pacifier most of the time. He does like the pacifier though. He will suck on any kind, he doesn't care. I had him on the Mam brand in the beginning, but he was biting me, so I switched to the nuk. When Nana was here the other day, she put a Mam in him from the shelf, and he took it for a lot longer than the Nuk brand. I always wanted him to have the Mam more b/c it is symmetrically, so when he gets to the age he can put it back in himself, it will be easier. Plus, it doesn't have a hook at the end, it has a knob. He also takes the bottle fine, even though he only gets about 2 a week on the weekends. Chris was commenting yesterday that he was able to keep him occupied and happy for an hour while I rode the exercise bike, etc. A few weeks ago, that wouldn't have happened. Hopefully his days of being "Mr. Malcontent" are over, but I know how jinxes work... so I won't say that... Let's just say, we've had a good week, Gradywise.

Maybe Grady has been so good b/c he knows Moira has been soooo sick and we can only take so much. Poor girl. She now has a horrible cough and runny nose. All last week after the initial day where she didn't leave the house literally all day (minus the Dr. apt), she started out the morning much better than we ended the day. It figures b/c I was just thinking to myself how she hadn't been sick for a long time, since Christmas, which was pretty good considering this is her first year of preschool. Also I was thinking that the weather is nice so we should be past most of the yucky illness time. Wrong! I remembered later that last year it was around this time when she got sick b/c we had to miss Allie's birthday party (Allie's birthday is next week). She missed her good friend Davis's birthday party yesterday at Magic Mountain Fun Center, which I hear was a blast, so I am super sad about that. Fortunately Moira doesn't know she missed it or she would be very upset as well.

We found the magic substance to hide her cough medicine in- YOO-HOO, so that is good. She had been refusing to take it, but she does so much better when we get a dose in her.

2009-04-17T18:26:00.000-07:00

Moira is still sick. She woke up at 11 am (thank you prescription cough medicine) and her fever was down, but she was coughing a lot as soon as she got up. She did eat most of a waffle and had a cup of juice. Her temp was back up to 100.3 before bedtime and she was coughing about every 2 seconds. I tried about 5 times to get this 1/4 tsp. of cough medicine in her and she just would not have it. When Chris got home we even held her down and tried to get it in her but she spit it all out. Usually I just hide it in sherbert or juice but she wasn't being fooled this time. Chris is out for a run and I am listening to both kids on the monitors and Moi was just horribly coughing so I went up and gave her some meds against her will. I am not entirely sure how much she got, it was dark. It doesn't seem to have worked yet. Sigh.

Grady has been an absolute delight all week. So happy and chill. His sleep has been good. We are still all hoping he doesn't get this nastiness. It's bad enough with a 3 year old, I can't even imagine a helpless little baby. Keep your fingers crossed.

Boo to Flu

2009-04-16T22:02:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Missy for the catchy title ;)

So Moira has the flu. It's horrible. She woke up early Tuesday morning (5:30) crying and saying her tummy hurt. I figured she had too much Easter Candy, although she didn't really have that much. She was saying "I had too much water". About an hour later, she started freaking out saying her legs had "too much fur on them". She was running in place going "ow ow ow". Then she said her head hurt. I took her temp and it was 103! We went to the Dr. at 2. They did a strep culture and it was negative. I managed to get her to pee in a cup and the culture for a uti was negative as well. The Dr. said that left the flu. Apparently there is a strain of Influenza B going around. She literally didn't move from the couch at all on Tuesday. She barely ate or drank anything. I was panicking that we would need some reinforcements and Nana was kind enough to take a day off to come help us. Moira woke us yesterday doing much better. The fever was way down and she was dancing around in the playroom. By the evening, it seemed more like a bad cold. Thursday, the fever was still around 99, but as the day went on she started loosing momentum again and kept getting crabbier and crabbier. Her temperature was back up to 101.5 and she was in a nasty mood. I got her to take a bath at 5, and she actually fell asleep in bed around 6. She woke up around 6:30 coughing horribly- so hard she was chocking herself and just sobbing in between. I tried to get her to take some cough medicine but she wouldn't. I finally just tricked her into opening her mouth and squirted some down there. Oh, she was so mad! But it was the really good cough medicine I paid $50 for last year and it REALLY worked. Sigh. Poor girl. I am already dreading tomorrow, I have a feeling it's going to be a rough day! I am really hoping Grady doesn't get it. He's obviously been very exposed to it, so it will just be the luck of the draw. I really wish we could have kept them apart but it's just impossible.

More Pics

2009-04-13T23:47:00.000-07:00

Grady with his Easter loot! He got a molie and robeez from mom & dad, diapers and toys from grandma & grandpa, and a Tony Stewart romper and a toy from Nana and Pop. Look at this smile, don't you love it!?!

Moi and Daniela at Connor's Easter Party.

In the backyard for Easter Egg hunt with Daniela.

Wow, a family pic!

Grady at the park after our walk.

My cutie.

Me & my cutie.

We had a good Easter Weekend. Grandma & Grandpa Russell came up Thursday and Friday for a visit. Moira was so excited. Thursday morning she woke up and said "I was talking in my sleep" I said "what were you talking about?" and she said "About Grandma and Grandpa coming". Friday we went ot Wendy and Connor's annual Easter Party. Wendy even arranged for a Fire Truck to stop by. No less than 5 fire fighters gave the kids a talk about the truck and then they could look through it. Then we came home and Grandma & Grandpa took Moi to Cosi and then the play area at McDonalds, which I think she liked just as much. Saturday I went to yoga and then Chris and Moi went to the kids museum in Dayton so Grady and I could rest. Chris stayed up giving Grady a bottle when he woke up Friday and Saturday night. He did well with his sleep, doing a 5 hour stretch both nights. I was able to sleep from 8pm until 4 am (just b/c I woke up) Saturday night. Sunday morning, I let Chris sleep in since he didn't go to bed until 4 am, so Moi and I hunted for her basket and some eggs around the house in the morning. The Easter bunny also got her a tepee maze set, b/c the clubhouse I wanted to get her was no longer available at Costco. So that monstrosity is currently in the playroom, but will move outside. She was so cute hunting eggs and kept saying "it's my lucky day!" Later Sunday, Moira's friend Daniela and her family came over for Easter lunch of ham, croc pot mac & cheese, broccoli salad and desert. The girls played in the playroom for awhile and then we told them the Easter bunny left eggs for them outside. It was so cute, they were on a mission and very good at finding the eggs. We rounded out the day out with a walk to the park down the street.
Grady just did a 6 hour stretch from 8 pm until 2 am! Speaking of sleep, when he had his bad week last week, my friend Cheryl offered to let us borrow this "cradle rocker" from Fisher Price that her little boy and all her nieces and nephews slept in. It's the same shape as the infant car seat. It keeps the babies all snuggled up tight and inclined. So far, so good, he really likes it! We'll worry about getting him out of it... later... I told the pediatrician today and he said he can sleep on a bed of nails if he wants, no worries.

Moi was up at 5:30 today saying she has a tummy ache. Gonna be a long day all around!

The other day I head Moira in the playroom, talking to herself and telling

Easter & Grady 2 month visit.

2009-04-13T05:27:00.000-07:00

I have more pictures, but Blogger is being slow, so I will do them later. I also have a ton of Moira funny stories, but not enought energy. I need to make time to write them down or I am afraid I will forget them over time.

This morning, Moi was rifeling through her Easter basket full of candy. She didn't touch the candy yesterday, go figure. She has been kind of anti-candy lately, other than ring suckers, which still serve to bribe her into anything. But she usually doesn't even finish those. I just state this to prove my point that my lacadazical attitude about giving her candy whenever has paid off, she doesn't care about it anymore! Ha! Really, I've been just too tired with being very pregnant and having a newborn to make a big fit about it. But seriously, I think not making it a big deal has made her not care. She got a big basket of eggs with candy in them from Nana and Pop, and she only ate 2 pieces (hmmm... I wonder where the other ones went....) When we went to Wendy and Connor's Easter party, they could pick from a table of toys and candy, and she picked all toys and only one pepermint patty, which she never even ate. Last year, she just sat there eating candy at the table like it was a candy buffet. HOWEVER, here is my funny story of what she said this morning:
Moi (while looking through her basket): I love you.

Me: I love you too!

Moi: No, I was talking to the candy.

She asked me to open the peeps. I wanted one so I said yes, but told her only one and she had only one. In other cool things news, I was putting Grady down for a nap this afternoon and she was doing her usual, follow me around from 1' away and being loud. I said "why don't you go clean your playroom". It was a wreck. I never in a million years figured she would. Well, it took me awhile to get him down. I came out and she had cleaned her whole playroom. She was so proud of herself. Here little tents had even been filled with toys and she put them all away. We called Grandma to brag on her.

Grady had his 2 month checkup today. Since last week when I took him in for being fussy, he has been very NOT fussy. Not sure what is up or why. They Dr. said gas/colic peaks between 6-8 weeks and then slowly gets better. That was 7 weeks, so makes sense. Grady checked out great. Everything looks good. He is 14 lbs even and 24" long. He is in the 75% for weight and the 85% for height. His head is in the 75%, but I don't know who really cares about that. He had his shots. He has been really off this afternoon, not taking a good nap and fussing in his crib. I don't know how the night will go... wish me luck! But last night was good, he slept 5 hours from 7:30-12:30 and from 1:30 or 2 until 5, and then from 6 until I woke him up at 8:45 for music class. The Dr. said in another 4-6 weeks he should be getting more decent stretches. He thought 5 hours was the most we could really hope for at this point, so I should be happy. He said one of the Jr. partners at the Dr.'s office just had a baby 2 months ago and is only getting 3 hours, and that is more normal, so go Grady! OH, and I am pretty sure he laughed yesterday! It was so cute.