Playgroup

We had some friends over this morning for playgroup: 6 kids, 4 moms and lots of noise. Overheard:

• "I don't think the kitty wants to wear a hat." (referencing the pail on top of kitty's head)



• "Eric, don't grab Jake by the hair; I don't think he likes that."



• "No climbing the step chest!" (referencing Jake up on level 3 of the chest)



• "I need a towel...for the kitty's water that is now all over the bathroom floor." (Eric)

Kate is still asleep (2.5 hours so far), so it obviously wore her out. We'll be doing more of this over the summer for sure.

Photo Update

3 months old.

Chubby cheeks.

Bar-Hopping With Your Children: A Guide

Friday night was the first night back in the squadron bar. The whole squadron building has been under construction for many months, and now most of the building is up and running. The guys had a casual Friday social at their new bar last week, and families were welcome. We, of course, took that to mean the "entire" family, so I showed up to the squadron at 1700 with Kate & Claire in tow. There was supposed to be food there, so I just brought Kate's sippy cup of milk, and Claire had already eaten. We arrived to some extra-crispy Tostino's pizza bites, some over-cooked chinese chicken, and the garlic romano bread that I had brought. Kate somehow found Daddy amongst the masses of green legs, and I put Claire in the Baby Bjorn so I could walk around hands-free. Kate immediately found the cord to the blinds on one of the doors and started wrapping herself up in it. An older woman saw Kate and helped her out of the tangled mess, since her parents were nowhere to be found.

Finally, as more people started showing up (with food), Kate had a more proper dinner to include fried chicken, pizza and chocolate cake. As I was trying to feed her a bite of cake while standing behind her, the cake fell on the floor. Before I could grab it up off the nasty bar floor, Kate wrapped her pudgy fingers around it and shoved it into her mouth. Mmm.

As for Claire, by this point she was sitting on the bar in her carseat, parked next to the Jeremiah Weed liquor dispenser. Damn, if I'd only had my camera.

The next night we went to Buffalo Wild Wings where Kate tried to drink some of Tim's beer while she flirted with a boy more than twice her age. I bet if you ask her she'll say she had a great weekend.

My sister is due in less than 2 weeks, so we'll probably be heading out for wings often to try to induce her. Keep your fingers crossed.

Aaah

Naptime, 12 weeks.

Can you hear it? The contentment in my voice? That serenity can only come with a good night's sleep, and that's what I got last night. Claire slept straight through from 10pm until I woke her up at 7:45am this morning. Say it with me: WOOHOO! She turns 12 weeks today, and I guess she decided that sleep was better than eating. I must say that I can usually agree with her on that one.

Tim had to sit Top 3 at 6am, so I woke up just after 5am when he was getting ready, so I didn't get to sleep in exactly. But I did have more than 2 hours of me-time before the kids got up at 7:30 and 7:45. I would have let them sleep a little longer, but it was co-op day and I had to get them ready so I could drop them BOTH off with Lisa and Shonda while I went to Target BY MYSELF. =)

Kate found McLaren's pants in the living room and put them on. "What?"

Tantrum

I'm not sure what this tantrum was all about, and it was hard not to laugh, but I know she was frustrated about something.

On another note, our yard is mostly finished. Here are some before and after shots:

Looking out from the back porch.

After a pool, a wall, some plants and a bit of gravel.

Side yard before.

Side yard after.

And let's not forget the bathroom.

I have finished painting, I just can't be bothered to actually take a 'finished' photo right now.

So Sad

There were several years in a row where '24' was the best show on TV. When we were in Korea, we didn't get all of the episodes, so we had Steph record them for us. When I got back to the US I layed on my sister's sofa for about 4 days straight, watching episode after episode. Just one more hour. It was an addiction, and I loved it. At the end of the season, however, I secretly hoped they would end it. Go out on a high note, Jack! Live on as one of the best shows in TV history. But no. My beloved Kiefer Sutherland signed on for 3 more seasons, and now we are left with crap. It's not his fault, really. The guy who plays the current president, I might blame him (he's terrible). Or the producers. It's just sad to see what was once a great show become so lame that I never watch it live, and even when it's playing on the DVR I'm off doing other things. Like complaining about it on my blog.

But Fox has come up with a new show, 'Drive', and so I forgive them. Did you see the first 3 hours? I think it's going to be a winner. I hope.

Kate Colors an Easter Egg

Kate colors an egg. And then drops it.

Husky, 10 weeks.

Whoa!

This is Kate's latest favorite expression. That, and 'more' everything. "More binky." "More airplane." More more more. It doesn't mean that she wants more of these things, she just likes to say 'more'. And now she also likes to add 'whoa!' to the mix. It's very cute. She is also beginning to understand counting, and counts her blocks (usually she only makes it to 2, but hey). We got her a Dora potty chair a few weeks ago, and she is wanting to sit on it more and more. I can't believe we might be at the potty training stage already.

McLaren has a touch of the stomach virus that is going around. She has been sleeping like a champ, trying to get over it, but is waking up a bunch at night wanting comfort. She's a happy baby, though, and is smiling through the vomit and upset tummy. Me, I'm trying to smile through the vomit. It's difficult.

I was supposed to talk about Easter in the last post, but was too tired and went to bed instead. Easter was fun; we took the girls to church, which is always challenging since we take them to the service with us instead of putting them in the nursery. I think church should be a family affair, which is why we like to take them in with us, but man is it hard to keep a toddler still for an hour or however long the service is. How do y'all do it? Nursery? Toys in the pew? Please share your secrets.

Ready for church.

We went to a different church for Easter service, mostly because we were running late (as usual) and this other church is closer to us. Holy cow. I have never seen so much livestock in a church before. Instead of a regular service, they put on a near-Broadway-like production of the Easter story. It was really cool, with singing, live horses and sheep, and a Jesus with a southern drawl. The only problem was that the lights went out and suddenly we were in a theater. With a toddler and a baby. And the toddler didn't want to sit still, even when the puppy (horse) with a Roman riding it trotted down the aisle next to us. "More puppy! More puppy!" This was not, of course, a quiet request by said toddler. I did mention everything is 'more', didn't I? So about an hour into it, Tim gave up on trying to get Kate to keep coloring on the church service guide with the pew pencil and took her out of the auditorium. I stayed on with Claire, since she was sleeping fairly soundly. A half hour later, after many glances at my watch and wracking my brain trying to remember when the next service was supposed to start, I left with Claire to go find Tim. I wish we could have seen all of it, and that we knew what it was we were going to be doing at the service, for we would have put the kids in the nursery and enjoyed the show. Next year.

The rest of the week was spent shoveling rock and raking the yard. We are almost done with the rock we have, but will probably have to order more, as I was not spot on when I estimated the size of our yard. Way to go, Jen.

Kate and I colored Easter eggs on Thursday (hey, she had no idea Easter had passed, and we were kinda busy last week). Kate enjoyed it for a short time. I imagine next year she'll be more into it. I have video of her coloring a purple egg, but I cannot get Google video to work for me at the moment.

More spoon.

Red hand, yellow hand, red dots on face.

From Babies to Rocks to Easter Bunnies

I can't believe it's been over a week since I last posted. I'd say I've been busy, but knowing how I love to blog and tell y'all about my daughters, you probably already know that busy is what has been going on here.

I got to host my sister's baby shower last Saturday. She is due in about 4 weeks? Three weeks? God, I just talked to her this afternoon and I can't remember. Three, I think. Anyway. It was fun; we played some (tasteful) games (not that stinky diaper game, which I think is so gross), ate some yummy food, had some cake, and she opened some gifts.

Jess gets gifts for the baby.

Right after everyone left, our rock showed up.

About 5 tons of rock. The other 6.5 tons went in the alley in the back.

We spent the rest of the 4-day weekend shoveling rock and raking it into place. We still are not done, and have most of the front yard to finish. I now have defined arm muscles, though, and am working on my farmer's tan.

And then Sunday was Easter. But I'm exhausted and so that will have to wait until (hopefully) tomorrow.

Off the Chart

It's well-baby visit time again. Kate had her 18mo well-baby check and McLaren had her 2mo well-baby check today. Kate, at 18mo, is off the chart when it comes to height. She is 34 3/4" tall, the height of your average 27mo old girl. I thought she seemed tall. She hasn't gained much weight in the past couple of months, and now weighs 27 1/2 pounds. She's still got her chubsy thighs, although I suspect she's growing out of them quickly.

McLaren is also a healthy eater, and weighs 12 pounds 6 ounces and is 23 1/4" tall.

Today was also shot day, and it did not go over well. Both girls are still mad at me, I think. Stickers helped a little, but in the end Kate just ate hers, and Claire had no idea what she was supposed to do with a Blue's Clues sticker.

Congratulations to Carrie & James and the kids on the newest member of the family: Isaac Jerald! He was born this morning at 11am sharp. We can't wait to see photos, you guys!

Dare I Say It?

I'll whisper, so as not to jinx myself: woohoo! Claire has skipped her 1am feeding 2 nights in a row, and is sleeping from 10pm-4am straight. Me, not so much, as I'm still stuck in the rut of waking up at that time out of habit. But I'll get there. For now I just look at the clock, listen to the silence, and smile as I roll over to go back to sleep.

It has taken this child much longer to skip this feeding. Kate dropped her 1am meal on her own. I remember, because we were in Vegas and one night she just slept through till 4am. I was amazed, since she was just 8 weeks and we weren't even at home. I thought kids were supposed to freak out and be up at all hours when you were on vacation.

Claire has been more difficult, surprisingly. She is now 9 weeks old and is just finally sleeping 6 hours straight at night. I imagine all the craziness here and there has caused some disruption in her life, which of course makes her want to eat. In any case, I'm just glad she is sleeping that long at a time and I can't wait until I get out of the habit of waking up at 1am so that I, too, can get 6 hours of sleep in a row.

Kate is having fun playing with playdough now. I didn't think she was old enough, but she got to try it out when I visited my friend Rae last week, and she had a blast. Today we made yellow playdough, and it's so much nicer than the stuff you buy. Kate knows it tastes horrible, but can't help herself. It's like a compulsion: she'll mush it into a 'shape' and then try to eat it. Then she'll make an outrageous face and look at me like, why didn't you try to stop me, Mama? This is icky. Very cute.

Big smile, 8 weeks.

Yawn. 9 weeks.

Sharing breakfast with Daddy, 18mo.