Hello! We're still here...

Hi everyone! We're still here even though you wouldn't know it by my lack of posts.

The kiddos have been growing, learning, changing, and having fun every day. Anna Claire is talking more and more and has great problem solving as well as climbing skills (I'd rather her have NO climbing skills as she's taken a tumble or two that scares the life out of me). She tries to do whatever her big brother does (don't tell me I can't... it'll just make me try harder - the above picture should tell you that) and she usually succeeds. She's in love with her babies and loves to feed them, rock them, or push them in the stroller. She's still a cuddle-bug and would rather be held or snuggled than not most of the time.

Owen is becoming a little boy and is growing taller each day (it seems sometimes that I can see him growing right before my eyes). He knows all of his upper and lower case letters most of the time and is very interested in what a word "starts with." He enjoys coloring, painting, and cutting but really likes to run around the back yard and he REALLY likes to "kung fu fight" with daddy (mommy does not kung fu fight...). He's all boy and rough and tumble but still a sweetie (especially when he needs a hug from mommy).

We've been enjoying this not-so-wintery weather by playing outside as much as we can. (Thank goodness we've got a fenced in back yard, it is truly a saving grace.)

I promise to post more so that I can share pictures and cute kid things with all of you.

Hope you're all having a great new year!

the cowboy and his sister (notice she's sitting on the table... thank you new gross motor skills)

our cute girl - she just loves her hats (and Owen's hats)

I drew a pumpkin!!!

10 & 11 months update

Well, I got a little behind on everything and didn’t get a chance to post when Anna Claire turned 10 months but I’m back and have lots of cute pictures. We were very busy planning vacation (Owen & Anna Claire were at the beach for the first time!) and just doing regular stuff that keeps us busy every day.

Here’s a quick 10 month update for Miss Priss. At ten months, Anna Claire was crawling on her belly and attempting to get into hands and knees to crawl. She moved around the house at a quicker speed than before even though she seemed to be dragging herself more than crawling. She was fingering feeding herself a few snack foods and attempting to use a sippy cup to drink water. She began holding and looking at board books just before turning 10 months (although for quite a while, she had been very interested in looking at books when she’d sit on my lap while we’d read Owen’s books). Just before she turned 11 months old, her sixth tooth popped out (that explained the previous two weeks of up every two hours!).

Owen is, of course, constantly learning lots of new things and attempting to exert his independence (yikes!) on an hourly (or maybe minute by minute) basis every day. He can be the sweetest and most challenging child I’ve ever met all at the same time (can you tell I’m not a huge fan of 2 years old?). Most recently, he has learned to spell his name and identify it when he sees it; identify the “A” for Anna Claire; hold up one finger, two fingers, and five fingers and identify which amount he’s holding up; sit on the big potty without a potty seat; and wear underwear and stay dry with few to no accidents during waking hours. He is definitely “all boy” and loves to wrestle and climb and shoot stuff (don’t worry, it’s only a squirt gun or a play gun). He’s still in love with Toy Story and he really prefers TS 2 & 3 to the first one because Jessie is in the second and third movies. I think we’re looking at a Toy Story themed birthday party as his love has yet to diminish for “Rootingest Tootingest Cowboy” and his crew. Thanks to Poppa, we took Owen to see Toy Story 3 on ice in May and it was so exciting to see his face as each character came to life in front of him. He was truly in awe and had a great time. I’m hoping to take him to see the new Cars movie this summer, it will be his first movie theater experience and I’m sure he’ll enjoy it. He still loves to watch Curious George but Toy Story is his favorite thing to watch right now (I think we could have it playing 24 hours a day for a month and he wouldn’t be tired of it).

At the beginning of June, we went to Fort Walton, Florida and had a great vacation. We hung out with Poppa, Aunt Laurie, Uncle James, Lilly, and Elliot and spent some time with Aunt Steph, Uncle Tiger, Lexi, and Amber. Owen loved digging in the sand and splashing in the pool but was a little hesitant to go into the gulf (I think it was just too loud, too big, and moved too fast). Anna Claire liked digging her feet in the sand and was lulled to sleep by the sound of the waves. She hung out on the beach with mommy and even took a few naps right there on the beach (which gave mommy a little reading time – yay!). Just before going to Florida, Anna Claire had learned to pull to standing but she perfected it while we were there. I have to say that one thing I was happy about seeing when we got home was our own “child proofed” house – it was so hard to keep her out of all of the stuff in the condo since she was moving so fast. I have to say that our first family vacation and first trip to the beach was a success! We had a great time and hope to be able to do it again.

At 11 months, Anna Claire is a very mobile and talkative girl! She is cruising along the furniture, crawling on hands and knees, climbing onto things much taller than her (oh yes, she is a CLIMBER!!!), and, in general, moving FAST! Her favorite thing to do right now is to climb up on Owen’s train bed and then attempt to climb down (which looks as if she’s going to fall on her head and snap her neck but she somehow makes it work, most of the time…). She says, “mama” “dada” “Owa” (Owen) “Poppa” “ni-ni” (night night) “uh oh” “hi” “bye bye” and “bay-bay” (baby). She waves hi and bye and is starting to imitate the signs for “more” and “all done” at meal time. She will sometimes give a kiss on request and loves to pat-pat and hug. She clicks her tongue, makes “lubble” sounds with her tongue (moving it all around while humming), and says, “p p p p” (she does all of this in play and in imitation). She is a loud talker and has a huge laugh. She puts the phone (or remote) to her ear and “talks” and puts a headband on her head (she’s even managed to get it to stay a time or two). She is still taking morning and afternoon naps and wakes up at night (sometimes once, sometimes three times…). She is eating a huge variety of foods and the only thing she hasn’t been directly exposed to is nuts and shellfish. She finger feeds herself most of her food and knows how to sip water out of a sippy cup. When she is finished eating, if she’s not taken out of the highchair quick enough, she starts waving her hands on her tray to sweep all of the food off. She’s all smiles most of the time but when she’s mad, she lets you know! She loves to chase Owen around and tries her best to keep up with him. I can’t believe we’re planning her first birthday – this year has gone by in a blink!

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of months:

Anna Claire pulling to stand for the first time!

Playing outside in the pool (no, there's no water, it's like an outside playpen!)

Our first Family Beach Vacation!

The boys watching the waves...

Poppa and his babies

Our Little Monkey (no, he didn't climb up there himself)

aVERY happy baby girl

9 months! (so sorry, post is a little bit late...)

Hi everyone! I know I'm really late with this update (I should have done it about 3 weeks ago but we are busy busy - isn't everyone?). Anna Claire and Owen are growing and moving and keeping us on our toes! Anna Claire weighed in at 22 lbs 4 oz at her 9 month well visit and measured 30 inches long - that's about the 90 percentile for weight and over the 100th for height (no petite babies here). She is a very happy baby and really has no complaints except when hungry or very tired. She is a go-with-the-flow kind of baby and her sweet personality is developing more every day. She is eating lots more table food and has tried almost everything except nuts - even cake and cookies (just little bites). She is quite the eater and is interested in trying everything she can (hmmm, sounds like she might be related to us...). She is not very interested in a sippy cup although I give it to her to play with in her high chair but she does take sips from a straw.
Anna Claire's a mover and moves quite fast on her belly with her legs and arms pumping away. She's a pro at commando (or army) crawl and will get from one end of the house to the other in a few seconds - she even tried to crawl out of the doorway and down the step when I left it open to get something out of the car! She gets onto her hands and knees and rocks but hasn't yet figured out how to move. She holds all of her weight in standing and even took a few steps yesterday while I was holding both of her hands. She's pulling up to her knees from sitting when next to something she can hold on to.
She loves toys that make noise or that react in some way. She really likes to look at books and will usually sit on my lap and look at the book while we ready stories. She will release a tiny object into my hand and has started to clasp her hands together but has not yet clapped. She
is teething a lot and while she already has a total of five teeth (two on top and three at the bottom), I think she's got another one on its way. I can't believe how fast she's changed in just a few months and that her first birthday is just around the corner.
Owen is growing taller and he is potty trained!!! He is about 95% potty trained and only wears pullups or a diaper at night or nap and wakes up dry most of the time (yay, that means we've got $40/month for something other than diapers!). He is quite a little monkey and climbs on anything that he can - I actually made a deal with him that he could sit on the table outside as long as he didn't stand on it (I couldn't believe what I was saying...). He knows how to hold two fingers to show "2" and five fingers for "5" (he worked on this for a couple of days and was so proud of himself when he figured it out). He climbs up the slide then turns around and slides down. He matches shapes and can identify most of them. He draws a circle and accidently drew a triangle and identified it a couple of weeks ago. He can verbally spell his name and identify the "O" in print as well as identifying his name out of a choice of two names. He knows his "whole big" name and sometimes knows daddy's as well.
Owen had lots of firsts this month - he caught his first fish (reeled it in himself!), rode on a huge army truck (I'm told it's called a "deuce and a half"), and had his first easter egg hunt (wow, eggs with candy!!! - he asked to do it again the next day, go figure!). He LOVES to do new things and figure stuff out. Lately he is really exerting his independence and loves using the words "no" and "I do it myself" (can you hear my exhausted sigh...) so we've had a bit of a struggle in figuring out who is in charge.
All in all these two little people are growing and changing too fast and make us laugh (and sometimes cry) on a daily basis. They are more fun than a barrel of monkeys and generally smell better too! I really love watching them do stuff for the first time because it's so neat to see someone experience a sight, sound, taste, or activity with so much wonder.
Here are a few (ha ha) pictures from the past month.

Owen decided that painting cookies is not as
important as taste-testing them!

8 months old!

Our baby girl is 8 months old today! She's growing so quickly and learning new things - just yesterday she woke up and could get onto her hands and knees and rock back and forth as if she could crawl away. She's usually pretty happy and quite the chatty girl. She's been introduced to more table food this last week and enjoys eating Baby Mum-Mums (this puffy rice treat that is in the shape of a surfboard). She likes playing with "new" toys and doesn't even reach for those that she's seen recently. She loves playing with the little tykes piano and xylophone piano. She likes shaker toys and toys that make a good "bop" on the highchair tray. We think she's the pretty baby girl we've ever seen and we love her so!

In honor of her 8 month "birthday" (and because she makes a gorgeous model and I needed a few pics of some new bibs), we had a mini-photoshoot and here are a few of the best:

Smart Kiddos and a few pictures

Today Owen matched letters!! Not kidding - he played with BeBe's Iphone - she has an app for "my first words" - and he was moving those letters around and placing them right on top of the matching letter with no help! He's a genius (or at least we think so)! Anna Claire didn't want him to be the only one showing off today so she wiggled her fingers "bye-bye" for the first time today.

When we played outside today, I finally remembered to bring the camera. Anna Claire loves her swing (as you can see) and I've been wanting to get a picture of her big grin when she is swinging. She sat in the grass and chewed on a stick and a few flowers and, all in all, had a fun time. Here are a few pictures from today.

new word

Anna Claire said, "ma ma ma" for the first time TODAY! Yay - makes me sooo happy! I've been waiting for this for a while.

7 months old

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the lack of posts but I hope you like the pictures I've got. Miss Anna Claire is growing and changing every day. She's a happy little girl who loves her big brother (and he's quite fond of her too!). I don't know what she weighs but I suspect she's gained a pound or two since her six month visit (at least she feels like it).

She is moving around on her tummy with her arms and is so close to figuring out how to bring in the knees so she can crawl around. She loves toys that make noises like shaking and crinkling. She really loves paper but of course can't have it because she EATS it! She chews on anything and everything she can find and is eating a big variety of baby food. She says, "na na na" and "ba ba ba" and "da da da" and I have yet to hear "ma ma ma" but I try every day to make her repeat it. She loves looking at herself in the mirror (I don't blame her, she's pretty darn cute) and really loves when I sing silly songs to her. She sits up better by herself each day but will still tilt backwards from time to time.

That's all the "new" things I can think of at the moment but I'm sure she'll come up with something else tomorrow! I took her to get her 7 month pictures done (wanted to do them at 6 months but things kept popping up) and we'll be mailing them to lots of you soon.

As for Owen, he has a new love of his life - Buzz Lightyear! He has an actual talking Buzz, Buzz shoes, and Toy Story 1 & 3 (he got 1 for Christmas and 3 was on sale for 9 bucks so we'll get to 2 later). He likes to say, "that was when I was little" when he talks about seeing himself in pictures or about things that baby's use. He is such a boy and will stomp and play in the mud outside and usually has to take a bath before naptime because he's so filthy from playing outside in the morning. I've stopped putting his socks on him before he goes out to play because he's ruined several brand new socks by stepping (and stomping) in mud puddles.

He recently painted the outside of the windows (after I specifically said, "do not paint the windows, only paint the paper") when I left him alone with (washable) paints for 3 minutes. After washing the windows with the hose and walking back in the house, I caught him spraying the windows (and his friend) and had to run out and drain the hose to prevent further soakings...

Here are a few pictures from today.