Rice Cereal

I am in total shock that Owen is old enough to start on solid foods. I know this is so cliche, but it really seems like yesterday I was packing his bags for the hospital. But it's time for cereal. He tried his first bites this weekend, and was very typical baby. He was insanely interested in the spoon, and seemed really into the concept of eating. I think of the small tiny bowl of cereal we tried to feed him, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 of a baby spoonful made it into his tummy. The rest we wiped off of every inch of his body.

We tried again a few days later and had a little better luck. This time I mixed in just a little bit of applesauce, because let's be honest, that rice cereal does not taste good at all. I figured maybe he just had a very mature palette and was too sophisticated for rice cereal. OK, not really, I just thought the applesauce would taste better. And it worked, for like 3 bites. Then he just spit the rest out. I let Madeline try and feed him a few bites. She was lecturing him on the importance of eating and getting good nutrition so he can be as tall as her one day. That didn't really work either. He was very cute as he spit out his food, and seemed like he had fun. Maybe next week he'll get the hang of it a little better.
I am pretty sure we will look back on this day in 13 years and laugh at the little boy who didn't really eat his food. From my understanding of boys, this will be the only time he doesn't eat.

Another Awesome Weekend!

I am so lucky, I have had such an amazing May. I love the weekends, who doesn't. It's so nice to be around the people I love all the time, not to put down my coworkers, because I really do like all of them, but they can't compete with my two little ones, and Andy. This weekend we had lots of great family time. Saturday was filled with farmer's market adventures, a golf outing for Madeline and Andy, scrapbooking, and an evening picnic.


Sunday I didn't take many pictures, because a lot of it was spent at the pool, and that just doesn't seem like a safe place to bring my camera. If you had been there, you would have seen 2 very cute little girls (my best friend, Breck, and her boyfriend and his daughter were in town and we all went to the pool together), and the most adorable little boy in the world. Every time I looked around people at the pool (mostly other moms), were pointing towards us with giant smiles on their face. Owen loves the water. He loves baths, and he most definitely loves swimming. He just relaxes and takes it all in. Next time I need to remember my point and shoot camera to take pictures of Owen. And Madeline is really starting to get the hang of swimming. She has work to do, but I'm predicting a short solo swim by mid-summer. We did have some pajama time at the end of the day that I caught on camera. Madeline and Owen are really amazing siblings. They truly enjoy each other so much. They both light up around each other. It's very cool to watch their love grow every day.

Our next two weekends are already full, and then I'll probably have to work through the following weekend, so this weekend was especially nice and peaceful. And how awesome is it that we got to spend the whole weekend together.

5 Months

My mom had the best idea when Madeline was born to take a monthly picture with a stuffed animal so that we could look back and see how much she grew and changed each month. We did this with Madeline, but like so many things I start, I never really followed through very well. This is my eternal problem. I'm not short of great ideas, or good intentions, and I think I'm really great at beginings. I'm just not always the best at follow through. Looking back at Madeline pictures it looks like I lost interest / got busy and forgot at about month 9. I am going to really try to not do the same to Owen. It has been 5 months, and I have been very dilligent with the monthly pictures. Hopefully I can keep it up.

Fashion Show

Fashion Show, Fashion Show, Fashion Show at lunch!

That is from one of my all-time favorite Office episodes and I find myself singing that all the time. Now Madeline knows it.

For her birthday last week Andy and I gave her 2 gifts, kind of a his and her gift, but they were both from both of us. We gave her a set of golf clubs, I'll address that on another day, but no we are not crazy parents who are going to push her into jr golf at age 4. We also gave her a shopping spree. This is not nearly as tween-ey annoying as it sounds. Madeline has outgrown a lot of her summer dresses. She usually gets a lot of clothes for her birthday, so I intenionally held off on buying her anything this year. But she had a fun birthday year and got lots of great non-clothes gifts. Usually I got clothes shopping without her. It's easier, and then I can pick out the clothes I like for her, and she doesn't wind up with a wardrobe of exclusively Dora and Barbie. So for her birthday, we went shopping online together. I gave her the choice of shopping online the day after her birthday or waiting until the weekend and going together. She chose online because she loves getting mail. Last week the clothes arrived, and Madeline did a great job of picking out new clothes. She wanted to try them all on, and insisted I take pictures of each outfit. She danced and pranced in each outfit. I didn't know a 4 year old could be so excited about clothes.

Owen does not need the excuse of new clothes to wear 5 outfits per day. He is quite the little drooler and manages to get everything soaking wet. This weekend I gave in and let him wear just a diaper for several hours.

Lazy Weekend

Last weekend we accomplished nothing; it was the most amazing weekend in such a long time. I have a tendancy to plan out every minute of our day, so it was kind of nice to have nothing to accomplish. Plus, it rained almost the whole weekend, so it was the perfect time to just stay in and enjoy each other. Andy went out of town to visit a college friend who finally graduated after 14 years. I was a little nervous going into the weekend. It was my first time with both kids for more than just a couple of hours. Madeline has figured out that she can get away with infantely more when I'm feeding Owen or trying to get him to sleep, and she has started taking advantage of that. It puts me in a very precarious position, do I raise my voice and risk waking Owen up, who fights sleep so hard, or just ignore whatever she is getting in to. I was nervous, but I was also a little excited. I really wanted us to have a fun weekend, and really wanted to prove to myself that I could survive outnumbered.

We were stuck inside almost all day Saturday, but Madeline was amazing. She watched her dance recital video about 5 times, and danced along with every class. Owen and I watched her, and occasionally joined in, but couldn't perform up to Madeline's standards most of the time. I discovered that Owen loves watching the rain. I set his swing up facing the window outside and he loved it. He is going to enjoy summer afternoons on Grandma and Pappy's porch watching the storms roll in with Pappy and Rusty. In the afternoon we worked on a mosaic pixie picture that she had gotten for her birthday. It finally stopped raining in time for us to make a trip quick to the park. Madeline does not stand for her clothes to get wet, so she wore her rain boots, and hiked her dress up as she stomped through the puddles. Owen watched very intently as Madeline tried to explain how to pump your legs so you can swing like a big girl. This is a skill she aquired very recently, but she talks like she is an old pro. My good friend Ashley came over for a dinner of mac and cheese and hot dogs, and then we went to our favourite cupcake place for dessert. It was such a slow peaceful day.

Sunday we had a picnic in the backyard and played silly games that Madeline made up. Madeline decided she was old enough to hold Owen in her lap without any help. She did a great job, and he cooperated nicely. I think that might have been her happiest moment all weekend. She is such an amazing big sister and has so much love for Owen. And he adores her.

I was so nervous going into the weekend that it was going to be hectic and crazy, but it was just the opposite. It was so nice to just enjoy each other and just play. I wish Andy had been there to enjoy it also, but the good thing about weekends is they're only 5 days apart.

Happy Birthday Cupcake

Madeline's 4th birthday was last week and she totally rocked it. She had about 5 parties, and I made more cupcakes in one week than I did all of 2009. I taught myself a little about cake decorating, and was really glad I made a practice cake in April. Her birthday cake was about 500 times prettier than my first attempt. Madeline really wanted her party this year at an inflatable place, and it was perfect. She had lots of friends from school and life excited to celebrate with her. One of my friends has a daughter that is abut 2 1/2 years old. Madeline's big sister instincts kicked in to gear and held Isabella's hand taking her to all of the different inflatables. She really adored having all of the attention. It was a really fun weekend, and a great early mother's day treat for me.


For her actual birthday, she had a little celebration at school. For birthdays at her school, we had to make a poster with pictures of her previous birthdays. They talk about different milestones met at each age, I'm guessing to really understand what getting older is about. The birthday child also gets to hold a globe and walk around a candle as everyone sings a song, "The Earth Goes Round the Sun". So bonus, she learns a little science. Andy went to her school for that. he said she smiled the whole time, so happy to have 40 little eyes fixed on her. For her birthday dinner, we told her we would go anywhere she wanted or I would make anything she wanted. I will admit that I worked very hard to sway her, and we did not go to McDonalds. We went to Hasta La Pasta and she got to wear her Fancy Nancy shoes and got a birthday cake at the restaurant. She had a really great birthday, and is already planning for next year!



My 4 year old!

First Recital!

On May 1st, Madeline had her first dance recital. She did a phenomenal job. She actually danced the entire song, and knew most of the moves. Julia and Zac, and my parents came in town for the weekend. Aunt Anne, Uncle Wen, Hannah, Pappa George, and Granna all came to watch. It was a really special day for Madeline. The dance company hired an outside videographer, so there was no photography during the performance, but we got plenty beforehand. Afterwards, we went for post-recital ice cream at Julia's favourite place, Baskin Robbins (or BR 31 for Julia). I was so proud of Madeline and so happy she has so many wonderful people to support her.

2 busy months

So it's been 2 months since I last blogged. It's been a busy 2 months. First, I went back to work. That was actually really hard this time. With Madeline I was ready to go back to work. I was ready to be around adults again, and I was ready to be around people I could relate to. A lot has changed though. Now I have friends that have children, I have grown into motherhood, and I have learned how to have friends that don't have children. I was not ready to go back, not at all. But, I did. I went back because that is the path we chose a few years ago, and it is the what it is. And good things have happened. I cherish the evenings with both children more. I get to really enjoy our weekends together. And Owen has gotten to meet a lot of new people, and a lot of new people have fallen in love with him. And I have gotten a chance to see my friends more, which is always nice. Here are some of my favourite pictures of the kdis that I have on my screensaver that make me smile at work.