And we are off. . .

So we are leaving in the morning for our Christmas "vacation". I put it that way because I am not sure it will feel like much of a vacation for most of the time. We are first driving to Michigan and then to Atlanta and back to IL- in like 8 days. I think if I calculated it it might be 1/3 of the time driving. Oh well. . . I am still excited. I have always liked roadtrips as long as I am driving, I get car sick otherwise. This will be the longest trip we have taken with the kids but thank God that we have a minivan now and not our tiny little Aveo. I mean, don't get me wrong, the gas mileage in that car was great but we just could not have possibly fit in there. Plus it is a bonus that the minivan has a DVD player too.

I am not sure that I will make another post for at least a week or possibly two so I am gonna go ahead and post some pictures I took today of the kids. The first is of Maggie singing "Mary Had a Little Lamb". She is wearing her "princess dress". As much and I wanted and tried to prevent her from having an obsession with princesses, I failed. She insists on wearing the dress everyday- and she wants to sleep in it. She has to wear the headband, tights and shoes with it too. The next picture is of her posing with Caleb. She is getting somewhat better about sitting still long enough for me to take a decent shot. The last is of Caleb's attempted sitting. You tell me what you think of it. I call it a sit but I am sure the pediatricians may disagree. I have more pictures but these are the highlights. Be sure to check back after Christmas for more updates from our trip.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!

P.S. Sorry I am such a pathetic wife and didn't do Christmas cards. Maybe after we have been married for 5 years I will have my act and addresses together enough to get that done!

Daddies are not Mommies

Okay, so let me preface this blog entry by saying that I love Mike- he is an AWESOME daddy, but- he is a dad and not a MOM. So tonight- I left to go to Target after dinner. I was gone for 20 minutes. When I came home, he told me to feel Maggie's hair. "What?!?" Why would I need to feel her hair? So- I felt it. It was totally stiff on both sides. What was the culprit?? Hairspray! I asked how it happened and why he let her get the hairspray and his answer was that he was giving Caleb a bottle. When she came out with the hairspray she said "I do hair like Mommy!" You know- I have that new 'crazy hair' (as she likes to call it) and so she was pulling out the sides of her hair and spraying it like she has seen me do. Really it is endearing that she emulates me so much, but I just had to share the story.

Growing Up

I took this picture a couple of days ago because I was so excited and sad about this new achievement for Caleb. It is such a bittersweet moment when babies start holding their own bottles. It is the first step to his independence and I feel like before I know it, he will be sitting at the table with us, eating with a "momma fork" all by himself. At the same time, it is a huge relief for the moment that I can give him his bottle and then walk away to tend to Maggie. He, of course, is not totally able to do this on his own and still drops the bottle from time to time, but for the most part- he's got it down. He is also rolling very well and scooting around on his belly in circles. I am not sure that you can call it sitting, but you can sit him up by himself and he kind of folds in half and sits for about 30 seconds to a minute before falling over to the side. I am working on this skill though because he really seems bored by laying on the ground all the time and his a too big for the bouncy now. All this movement is thrilling for Maggie- she announces his every move to me when they are playing and she loves the interaction she gets with him. Having two kids has turned out to be so much easier than I originally thought!

Here's Mike

So, I haven't noticed comments from anyone else about the absence of Mike from this blog, but he was just viewing it tonight and was concerned that he wasn't on here. So here he is! This was taken today after Maggie's nap. She walked into the living room and caught him eating cheerios from a cup. She said "Oh, I need popcorn too!" She tried to take his cup so I got her one instead. Then she crawled up there with him to watch football. It was a great daddy-daughter moment so I thought I would share it with everyone- for Mike.

Have you ever seen anything like this?

This picture was taken yesterday, December 14th. It is a picture of Caleb's ankle after I had a pair of socks on him that were apparently a little to tight. He wore the socks on Tuesday- this picture was 3 days after I took the socks off. It doesn't appear to have faded at all and is still the same today. It is crazy- like a bruise only red? I guess I need to buy my kid some new socks! But seriously have any of my mom friends ever had something like this happen to them before? I am blown away that it is still there.

Marsha's trip

So Marsha came to visit and I can't take any credit for these pictures because they were all taken by her. She also was patient enough to sit and watch me make this slideshow. I am so PUMPED that I was able to finally do something different from the regular, boring posts I had before. These pictures were taken at the Shedd Aquarium and the Adler Planetarium in Chicago. Maggie and Caleb were HUGE troopers on Monday as we took the METRA train into the city and then caught two connecting city buses to our destination. Maggie really enjoyed seeing the fish. She was screaming at the dolphins- which was a little embarassing but also a little cute. We decided to drive in the next trip which worked out much better but wasn't as much of an adventure as our first. We also visited the Museum of Science and Industry and I am not sure why Marsha has no pictures from there. . . or at least she didn't want to share them for this slideshow! I have some on my camera, but I haven't gotten around to downloading them (no surprise!). We watched an OMNImax movie there called Monsters of the Sea. I was so terrified that Maggie would flip out at the sharks attacking all of the fish, but much to my surprise she laughed and she came home telling Mike that the shark ate the fishies! She then says "I eat fishies too! I a shark!!" Ahh. . . the innocence of a child! She also sat very patiently through a movie called the Star of Wonder, about the star of Bethlehem. She later informed us that it "put her to sleep!" I must say I was falling asleep under the peaceful view of the stars projected across the ceiling. We are so glad that Marsha came to visit and will be willing and excited to have any other visitors. The kids LOVE it and so do I!!!

I poo-poo in potty!

No picture- I am more than certain that is okay with everyone. Maggie pooped on the potty chair tonight! I am hopeful that she is getting the hang of this potty thing. She was in her bed and then started crying for me so when I went in to console her she said, "Oh I pee-pee, hurry." So I rushed her to the potty chair but by the time we got her "purple jammies with shoes" unsnapped and unzipped she had already gone but she wanted to sit anyways. As we were reading her potty book I noticed that she was making a strange face. Sure enough she did it! What was so awesome though is that I am pretty sure she meant to do it. Now maybe it was just her way of distracting her from going to sleep, but she knew she had to go! I jokingly told Mike that once she is potty trained, we can start saving for her college!

Milestone for Maggie

I don't have a picture for this one, but I figured that was best as no one would really want to see it anyways. Maggie used the big girl potty today, twice so far! I am so pumped. I never thought that I could get so excited over pee-pee and poo-poo! I guess only my mom friends will get my excitement. We have been telling her for three weeks now that if she potties on the potty then she can have an Ariel sticker (the Little Mermaid is her thing for now), so the first thing she says after making a surprised face is "I get Ariel sticker!!". We are by no means totally potty trained I am sure, but at least this feels like progress for now. Any tips? Let me know.

Mommy's little helper

I am wondering when she will be old enough to really do a good job at this mopping thing. For now she loves to help but she is scared to walk on the wet floor still after a fall that she had over 6 months ago! She forgets nothing. Remember that if you are talking around her. She soaks up everything. Her newest thing is to tell her dad that he is driving too fast! She tells him to watch out for the cars too- I think she has been listening to me! Oops. =)

I just wanted to update everyone on the progress of Maggie and her random acts of violence. I think the stage is over. She now loves her brother so much I can't stand it! Sometimes she tells me, "No, momma, I take care of Caleb!" She sings Twinkle, Twinkle to him when he cries and she loves to sit next to him and hold his hand. She gets so excited when he talks to her and likes to lay in the floor next to him to play. She is constantly taking her toys to him and telling him to "hold it." In addition to singing when he cries, she also tells me when he needs to eat and when he needs rice cereal. At night when I put him to bed, if he starts crying before she falls asleep she gets up to check on him and yells for me. My worries about her being so randomly aggressive are over- I think it was more related to our move and just not being able to say what she wanted.

Another milestone for Caleb

This eating thing is serious business for Caleb. It took him about a week to get used to eating but now he is already to feed himself. He dives in for the spoon as we're feeding him and he always takes it away. He is quite the messy eater but Maggie enjoys the entertainment. Along with the rice cereal milestone, Caleb has been sleeping about 12 hours at night just like his sister! Mike and I are beginning to feel like life is normal again.

Halloween

So, since the costume didn't go over so well for our little Maggie, we decided to just take her to the pumpkin patch instead. What we didn't know was that the pumpkin patch also had a petting zoo and play area! She had a blast seeing all of the animals and climbing on the wooden play structures. She is getting so brave on those things! We went to dinner later on and she was fascinated with all the costumes she saw but still refused to put hers on even though we had it in the car for her. As we were leaving the restraunt we had her say trick or treat for a piece of candy and then she put it back!! (She canNOT be my daughter!)

Maggie the Dalmation

I took these pictures of Maggie during the 2-3 minutes she actually wore her Halloween costume. Sorry Amy, it didn't get much use this year. I posted the pictures in order. I guess with all her rolling around on the floor she really did look like a little doggie!

She only has two gears

It may look like we posed her this way but I swear, we didn't. This picture is to illustrate for everyone what I mean when I say this little girl has only 2 gears. We have recently moved her to a daybed with a toddler railing and for the first 3-5 nights she stayed in the bed without a problem until she realized she could get down. I am not sure when children decide to be scared of the dark but she for sure isn't there yet. She plays in her room in the pitch black! I have walked in to check on her, thinking she is asleep, and found her sitting in the middle of the room with a book, flipping the pages. This night she was playing in her "barn" (a U-haul box that we cut up and decorated for her). I guess she decided she was finally ready to sleep but didn't make it to the bed in time. I had the trundle bad pulled out for Marie and I think she was gonna use that to jump up onto her bed. She was totally out in this picture. Mike had to come and put her in bed and she didn't even seem to notice when we moved her. She is unbelievable!

Reading already

Caleb is just as interested in books as Maggie was at this age. Maybe I am raising two nerds, like me. Here he is reading with my friend Marie who just came to visit us from Texas. Thanks for helping with the kids, Marie! The even better part about this book is that it is written in 4 languages. I only read the English and Spanish but it also has French and Chinese. (Thanks to Erica for educating my children!)

Rambling

Okay, so I copied the travel thing from my friend, Jessica. Thanks for the idea. I was gonna do the whole family but I am not really sure everywhere Mike has been and I wasn't sure that it would even interest anyone. I have this issue when it comes to blogging that I feel like I need a cute picture to go with whatever I post, or that everything I post should be funny and/or exciting. My life lately hasn't been either one of those but my friend, Marie, informed me that it is okay to write without haven't a special event or moment to tell about. So now I will ramble for a little about what has been going on here. Mike is gone right now in Florida. I can't say I am not jealous. The weather here isn't too cold so it isn't that I am jealous of- I would just like to be in Florida too. Something about being in an apartment makes being home with 2 young children more stressful than a house. I think it is because it is so much smaller and the sounds of the screaming and crying just resonate off the walls all day long. Maggie doesn't have much room to run here but she has no problems sprinting back and forth across the 14ft living room or doing circles around the coffee table singing "Ring around the Rosie." This evening we went to the Fall Festival here at our apartment complex that was sponsored in part by the church we have been attending. I tried to convince Maggie to wear her costume but it only worked momentarily and not long enough to get out of the house even. I took it with us hoping that after seeing other children dressed up she would want to put it on but she insisted no. She bobbed for apples and went through a little maze made out of black tarps and sticks for little children. I tried to steer her away from everyone wearing masks because she is pretty scared by that sort of thing. She went trunk or treating at one car and got a miniature Hershey's bar. I ate half and gave her the other half- it took her almost the whole hour that we were there to eat it. She savors every bite of anything sweet that she can sink her teeth into. It is a stark contrast to the typical way that she shovels food in at a meal or snack time. I wish she would be such a dainty eater all the time. Caleb rolled over 2 days ago and he has done it again since then so I think that counts as a new milestone for us. He also has been sleeping a lot better on most nights. The morning that Mike left, he and Maggie both slept until 7:45am! I love having late sleepers. I always feel so bad for my friends whose kids wake up with the sun in the morning. I just would NOT make it. Tomorrow brings the promise of another long day. The perk is that it is "church day" and so I can count on Maggie getting some of her energy out there. Hopefully the sun will be out and the temps won't be so bad so we can go to the park or something instead of being inside- otherwise it is back to the mall again to play and walk. I will update again soon - and next time I promise to post pictures and not write so much!

My travels

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Loving Siblings

So I just had to post this newest picture of Maggie and Caleb to say that things have settled down for Maggie. We have not had any other random acts of violence. In fact, she has had a total turn around and is quite loving toward him now. This picture was taken by Mike one morning. She enjoys laying with Caleb on the couch and gets very excited when he holds her hand or "talks to her". Needless to say I am relieved that things have settled down. Now all I have to worry about is her picking him up!

So we had our own little private party at home but I couldn't resist getting all of our old friends together for a party in Lansing. I didn't really go all out- but we did have decorations, balloons, cake and about 28 people! Maggie had a blast. She was so excited about her cake and as you can see stuck her hands in it right away. I was impressed that she blew out her own candle without my help but my sister pointed out that as a result she spit all over the cake. Oops! (I don't think it was really that bad.) She crushed her piece of cake, eating it all by herself with a fork *sigh* I guess she is really growing up. Thanks to everyone who got to come! I wish it wouldn't have been so hot(87+ degrees) but at least it wasn't raining!

Maggie's 2nd birthday

Maggie turned two on October third. It is hard to believe two years has passed already. Her daddy took her to breakfast at Bob Evans and to the store to buy her a toy. When they got home she made cupcakes with me for her birthday. She really enjoyed cracking the eggs and would have done the whole case of them if I had not moved it in time. She enjoyed stirring the mix and quickly learned that it tasted good. At first she just got a little on her finger and licked it off but it wasn't long before she was sticking the whole spatula in her mouth. I finished mixing the cake while she licked her spoon and then she got to watch as her cupcakes cooked in the oven. When they were done she got to help put the icing on them and we sang "Happy Birthday" to her. She sang along! Surprisingly she ate only one mini-cupcake and then didn't ask for more. We had a great time.

Sibling love

I just had to post this to show that she can be sweet to him. She asks all the time "hold Caleb" or she tells me "Caleb sit" and she wants me to sit him next to her. She is a very proud big sister!

Caleb's first injury

I know it may look small but it was scary! See the little red dot at the top left of his forehead? That is where Maggie whacked him in the head with a wooden block while I was feeding him. I like to call that her random act of violence. She does that every once in a while but this was the worst one yet because as soon as she hit him it started bleeding. I freaked out a little but managed to stay calm. After I got it to stop bleeding I saw just how little the cut was but poor Caleb wailed for about 15 minutes. His cry is so pathetic. It sounded more like "how could you let this happen to me mom?" than a painful cry. It really broke my heart. If anyone has tips on how to avoid the random acts of violence please let me know. I don't want to tell Maggie she can never touch him but sometimes she is being gentle and then just out of the blue she smacks his face!? I can't figure it out but I am sure it has something to do with being 2.

I'm not sure what I was thinking

So I was back up in Michigan visiting my mom two weeks ago when she offered to pay to get my hair done. Of course, I wasn't going to say no and something definately had to be done with the mess I had if nothing else than to color over the gray. (For those of you who don't know I REALLY am GRAY- not just a little, A LOT. It's bad genes, I guess.) So I go to get it done and I am thinking I want a new cut but I am not really sure what to do, so I told the woman to do whatever she wanted. I told her to pretend she was Nick on TLC's What Not to Wear and to surprise me. So here it is. I asked for the blonde highlights after she cut it because I figured "why not?" She had me convinced that it is just hair and it will grow out. So now I am waiting for it to grow out. I don't hate it but it still shocks me when I look in the mirror. And it isn't exactly a great mom cut because it requires being washed and styled every morning or it looks horrible. I am not sure what I will do in the tweener stage as Mike called it but I am already searching for a different style.

Caleb's growing so fast!

So he isn't doing too much exciting yet, but I didn't want to leave Caleb off the blog. He is growing up so fast. We had him in for his 2 month appointment last week and he weighs 13lbs 12 oz and is 24 inches long. He has already outgrown his 0-3 month clothes and as you can tell from the pictures has quite the little belly and plenty of baby rolls. He is a very chill little guy. He really only cries when Maggie hits him, when he is hungry, or when he is tired. Other than that he just kind of sits and takes in his world. I love his smile and he gives them quite freely. He especially loves to smile at Daddy. He is cooing and making all kinds of noises. He loves mirrors and talks to himself everytime we put him in the car.

"It's Pretty"

So apparently, Maggie watches everything I do. Her newest obsession is to be like me. She has tried wearing my clothes, my shoes, my deoderant, and here's a picture of her wearing my make-up. I was busy feeding Caleb when she came out of the bathroom carrying my eyeshadow saying "make-up". At first I tried to take it from her but then I thought, "is this worth a fight?" So I let her play with it and she knew to put it on her eyes which goes to show how attentive she is. The funny part was when Mike came in and saw it. He asked her what happened and she said "It's pitty" (pretty). She was quite proud of herself and very upset with me when I washed it off.

We've made the move

We arrived in Romeoville, Il just over a week ago. The drive from Lansing took me and the kids a mere 6 hours as opposed to the 4 that it should have. We are now living in a 2bdr/2ba apartment that is only 1100 sq ft. It was quite the challenge fitting our 1800 sq ft furnishings in here but we managed. Maggie is adjusting well to apartment life and to her new little brother. She didn't even mind too much today when I put his bed together and told her they would be sharing a room. She has spent a lot of time playing on our front patio with her sidewalk chalk and play doh. We were hoping to get her some other outside toys but there is just absolutley no room for it. Instead we walk to the playground that is about 3 minutes from here for her to play. We haven't met any other children her age yet and she still talks about Max and Grace and Kaya and Kayden and Amy. She doesn't seem sad about it but I don't think she understands the move totally. Caleb is 6 weeks old now and is smiling often. The first night we were here he rolled over from his stomach to his back! Mike and I were both amazed at what we had just seen but it must have been an accident because he hasn't done it since. Right now he is asleep in his crib for the first time- and last night he actually slept for 4 hours! Mike is staying busy with pitching lessons and is excited to start work on September 1st.