Norah News: The Royal Wedding

I hadn't really made plans to watch today's Royal Wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton.  But as a subject of the Commonwealth, and having remembered Chuck and Di's wedding so many years ago, I tuned in shortly after I got up this morning.  Moments later, Norah was up and I invited her to come sit with me and see a real life princess. 

I'm not sure if the Disney notion of what a princess looks like has jaded her or if it was some kind of divine intervention, but she has it in her head that the two people getting married on the TV are Mary and Joseph.  No matter what I said to her, she would still ask "Where is Mary".  After a few tries I gave up, letting her believe whatever she wanted, because isn't that the nature of little girls and princesses?  She also had a few comments about the "farm buggy" they used to make their get-away.  I guess that was some kind of farm!

I think the pomp and circumstance did have some effect on her however, as she made a good case for wearing one of her own princess outfits to school (maybe just the shoes then??) We settled on a tutu over her clothes - after all it's Kate and Will's wedding!

Roddie Report: Trashed the Room!

The Roddie report is just a small anecdote for today.  As you know, he started crawling a week ago.  Well, suffice to say, he's mastered it in the intervening week!  He's all over the place, and getting fast too!  Where I used to be able to sit him in the living room with a few toys, and say, run to the bathroom, he's now right behind me, not wanting to miss a thing.  He's loving his newfound freedom, and coupled with his growing ability to pull himself up on things, it's made for some interesting times.

Apparently at daycare the other day the director stopped into the infant room, and was shocked at the disarray - toys everywhere, books on the floor, shelves empty.  Now recall, this is a lady who's worked in childcare for something like 20 years!  Anyway, I guess she asked the teacher what had happened, and the teacher just pointed at Roddie.

You can imagine what it's become like at home.

Norah News: How her Garden Grows!

On a cold and damp weekend a couple of weeks ago, Matt was outside in the weather burning brush and whatnot, and I was looking for a project to do with Norah (and Roddie to a lesser extent)  What we ended up with was planting some flower seeds.  3 year olds aren't generally great with delayed gratification, but Norah has been doing a great job of tended to her little window garden.  She checks it every morning and evening and has been great about watering it!

Well the sweat peas and sunflowers poked through over the weekend and are starting to thrive!  Here's our gardener with her first crop!

As the weather warms up, finally, I'm looking forward to transplanting those seedlings that started out on a cold and damp day out into the yard, and watching them, and my big girl, continue to bloom!

Easter: Cousin Chaos!

Most years at Easter, we head to PA to join Matt's family.  Festivities include decorating eggs, the blessing of the food on Saturday, a meal of ham, eggs, kielbasa and mac salad with Matt's siblings and their kids, and of course an egg hunt!  Norah was old enough this year to get into the egg hunt, but was left in the dust by her more practiced cousins!  She had fun nonetheless and I'm betting on her getting a big haul of eggs next year!  I suppose I could have prepped her on the ride down... oh well!  Including Roddie and Bryce, who were too young to join the hunt, there were 9 kids - Katelyn (9), Adam (7), Abby (6), Olivia (4), Norah (3) Brian (almost 3) and Ella (2.5).  Here they are in their Easter finery getting ready for the hunt! 

Another feature of any family get-together at Matt's family's place involving the kids is what I call "Cousin Chaos!"  The kids get a little riled up playing at Oma and Opa's, getting away with some things they might otherwise not.  It's all in good fun and I am sure Norah and Roddie will remember these times when they are older. 

Cousin Chaos usually wraps up with the kids all in their jammies before heading out. It doesn't always indicate that things have quieted down at all, not that you'd know from this last picture!

All in all it was a good trip.  The ride down was seamless, in part because we managed to get away early.  The ride back was interesting, as we seemed to have our parents in the car with us - or perhaps we have turned into them, because someone was heard saying "Don't make me pull this car over!!"

Foto Finish Friday: Week 17 - Easter

Foto Finish Friday: Week 16

Norah News: Big Girl Hairstyle

Like my father before hers, Matt styles Norah's baby fine hair with the hairdryer after her bath. They have a lot of fun and I think they both look forward to it in their own way.  Matt always gives her hair a little flip up at the ends and she looks as cute as a button.

A while ago, Norah got some hair-dressing type toys - a hairdryer, a curling iron, a set of scissors that sound ssurprisingly real as they 'cut' through your hair.  If you've been to our house recently, you may have been subjected to having your hair 'styled' by Norah. 

Up until now, she's had her few haircuts at Supercuts, where Matt goes.  I haven't been quite happy with the cut, and after a strange experience the last time around, I thought I'd take her to my own stylist.  I go to a local place, and I've gotten to know all the ladies there over the past couple of years and they were all anxious to meet Norah.  Norah was also excited to get her hair styled at the "Girls Haircut Place" and literally jumped out of the sandbox when I whispered in her ear a reminder of where we were headed!  She also told EVERYONE and talked about it non-stop until we got there.  Naturally, being 3, when she got there she was nearly silent the entire time.

Anyway she was great about it and looked so old and so grown up,especially after it was all done... check her out - such a pretty big girl!

Roddie Report: We're Moving!

Well, as of about 6:45 this evening, it's official - Roddie is crawling!  As I've written before, he's been close for a few weeks now and most evenings I try to lure him to move across the floor with toys with little success.  It was looking like today would be no different - I was trying to entice him with a toy pull-train when he demonstrated his keen problem solving abilities by simply pulling on the cord that I had left within reach!

Norah was laying on the floor playing with one of her toy computers and Rod wanted in on the action.  It was then that I saw him move hid legs in that crawling way!  After that it was easy and he was moving all over the living room rug!  You can see him here. 

I'm busting with pride and just as excited as I was when Norah first learned to crawl!  I'm also wondering how our mornings are going to go from here on in, but it was bound to happen regardless!

Roddie Report: Heading Towards Toddlerhood

Roddie has been outgrowing his clothes at a rapid pace!  It seems like things that have fit him for ages have all of a sudden become to small!  Some things I am glad to see go (one too many stains!), some things I don't care, and some things I am really sad to see get passed along.  He has these brown leather sneakers that I just adore!  We always get compliments on them and they just look so CUTE on him!  They are too small, and leaving them on him is going to start to affect his ability to stand and learn to walk, so I really need to move on.  Matt's been making fun of me, and asking if I want to bronze them.  I'm going to settle for posting a picture here, on the Bugle.

Obviously, it'a about more than just a pair of shoes.  We also moved him from his infant carrier car seat to Norah's convertible (and Norah has a big-girl carseat now)  He's learning all kinds of new things, and moving around on his own - not crawling, just moving.  My baby boy is rapidly moving towards toddlerhood.  *sniff*  I don't want to keep him a baby forever, but I'm not quite ready for him to move to the next stage yet either,  Luckily, these things happen gradually, so I can keep my baby a baby (at least in my mind) just a little while longer.

Roddie Report: 8 months

My how time flies!  This past week Roddie passed the 8 month mark and I thought it would be worthwhile to jot down a few notes about some of his recent accomplishments.  I still haven't seen him roll from front to back, but he's taken to sleeping on his side (with his feet in the rungs of the crib) and he gets pretty close to rolling/flipping top to bottom, so I am not really worried.  Other cool stuff he's been up to include

• Clapping!  First he discovered one hand with the other, and that he could put them together.  He moved on to random clapping and will now clap along with us!
• Crawling... oh so close!  He's refined the 'dive' from sitting such that he stays on his knees.  He then rocks or bounces to try to get moving.  Having discovered that that does not work, he's now reaching with one hand and just yesterday started to move his knees, though he hasn't figured out how to use all this to propel himself forward yet.
• Moving... that's not to say he's not on the move.  He's become a champ at slithering backwards, and I'll often find him with his feet stuck under the sofa, a few feet from where I left him.
• Standing... he loves to stand now, either holding on to something or someone.  He's not a jumper, like Norah was, but he's been bouncing, trying out his new moves.  I would not say cruising is imminent, but he's getting ready
• Eating... oh my this kid is eating!  Since he's been feeling better, he's kept up 25-30+oz of formula AND eating at least 3 full meals (baby sized!)  He's also started on finger foods - puffs, cheerios and small bits of bananas.  As a result he's busting out of all his clothing and also his infant carseat! 
• Best of all.... he has been healthy for the past 2 weeks - not a single trip to the doctor nor reason for concern!  I've been to work for 10 consecutive days, and as a result my stress level is reduced.  Life is good!

Foto Finish Friday: Week 15

RIP Sled Mountain

You may recall Sled Mountain - that big mound of snowy fun that Matt built in the front yard.  I thought for sure we'd have a small pile of snow well into July (ok, maybe not July, but for sure May!)  We were actually climbing on it over the weekend - it was much smaller than it's original size, but still there, offering tons of fun.  But a few days of temps in the 60's and one in the 80's brought the end (or close to it) of Sled Mountain... here it is yesterday evening.  With rain in the 40's today, I do not expect to see it when I get home tonight.  RIP Sled Mountain, thanks for the good times.

Norah News: Fancy Nancy meets Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

As you may recall, when Norah was a baby, she loved when Matt sang her a Fishin' Song.   Much like "Put a Penny" that my Dad sang to me, it was a sure-fire way to get her smiling.  It was with this in mind that we hatched a plan for Matt to take Norah out for the first fishing outing of the season - the local sportsmans club annual kids derby!  In each of the previous years the weather didn't co-operate and Norah was just too young to take out in the cold and rain - but this year the forecast was good and everyone was pumped to get out there!  The plan was for Matt and Norah to head over for start time, around 8am, and Roddie and I would join them an hour or so later when it warmed up a little.

As you can see below, Norah was decked out and as fancy as ever and ready to catch her some fish! 

Unfortunately the weather was against us again!  More specifically, the time of day and year.  Even though the day turned out to be beautiful and warm, at 8am it was just too cold for a 3 year old in fancy rainboots.  Rod and I never made it, but we did all have a great day outside nonetheless, and will try again next year.  

Foto Finish Friday: Week 14

Roddie Report: Loves Elmo!

Roddie has always been easily distracted when it comes to eating - I couldn't nurse him easily anywhere that wasn't very private, unlike Norah, who I could nurse pretty much anywhere.  He is very easily distracted by pretty much anything, and to this day we take him into the bedroom, away from all the toys and distractions to give him a bottle.

It turns out even the kids room is no longer distraction free - Roddie has a thing for the big Elmo book!  He literally will try to leap out of our arms to get at the book!  Last night, while wrestling with him while he tried to get to the book I realized I don't read to him nearly as often as I read to Norah at his age, so I decided to just give in and read the book to him.   He LOVED it! He started laughing and cooing at the book, and then - get this - he started making smooching noises at Elmo!  It was adorable!  Needless to say,I think we've just added a new thing to the bedtime routine!

Roddie Report: Another Rough Week

Last week was another hard one around here.  So hard, I could not even bring myself to blog about it, aside from sending the odd photo from my blackberry.  Suffice to say that Roddie was at home for 4 of the 5  days, we made 5 trips to the pediatrican, one to the ER and one to the lab.  Rod had 3 different kinds of antibiotics, 2 blood tests, 1 set of x-rays, 2 flu tests and one RSV tests.  The long and short of it was that he was running a really high temperature, on and off, for no apparent reason.  Because he is so young, they want to watch him very closely to make sure it isn't something more serious, like pneumonia, flu, or RSV.  The great liklihood was that is was simply a virus that needed to run it's course.  You may recall that something very similar happened with Norah when she was about 9 months old - it started and ended just as mysteriously.  This time around we were a little more seasoned, but a rough winter and two kids made it just as stressful! In any case, he remained pleasant throughout, much to the amazement of all the medical professionals we came in contact with and he seems to be on the other side of it now.

On the bright side, both Matt and I got to spend an extra couple of one-on-one days with Rod.  I really noticed a big change in how much he babbles and tries to talk - he may turn out to be just as chatty as his sister!  He also ended up mastering his sippy cup, somewhat by neccessity, as I had it in front of him virtually non stop some days to ensure he stayed hydrated.  He's also getting really anxious to crawl, and just can't seem to get the movements together - he moves from sitting to his hands and knees, but that's where it ends. 

Anyway, as you can see from the picture below, he's none the worse for wear.  Matt just pointed out that if I am catching up on blog posts, we must be recovered as well!

Foto Finish Friday: Week 13