And to all a good night

If my replacement wasn't already here, I might have volunteered to work all night.  Harper has drawn on her face with black magic marker.  C is not feeling well.  Christmas Day is going to be fun!

Spenser's new bed

Need to get some pillows and a blanket and it's all done.

Late October Musing

Why are snack size Almond Joy bars sooo much tastier than their full size counterparts?  (Smacks self for preemptively opening the Halloween candy and putting it in a bowl)

Stinky

Spenser's beloved Bear was starting to stink and was looking a little manky.  I just threw him into the wash on gentle with an extra rinse.  This method has worked for Elmo and Cookie Monster.  Fingers crossed it works for Bear.

Virginia Beach and Back

We spent a late summer weekend in Virginia Beach again this year since we had such a nice time last year.  We returned to a favorite place to eat...a tiny Cuban place called Mojito Cafe.  We were there fairly early for dinner and had the place pretty much to ourselves.  It's tiny, so being the only customers was great since the kids couldn't bother other customers.  Harper with her customary cheesy grin.

Mojito Cafe, unsurprisingly, has fabulous mojitos.  The challenge was convincing Spenser that it was a "daddy drink" and not a kid drink.

We started off with conch fritters as an appetizer.  After one taste, Spenser stole them all off the plate.

The next morning, we returned to a favorite breakfast place, the Pocohontas Pancake House.

Both kids ate up their pancakes.  Once again, it pays to be early at this place.  It's large, but gets really crowded quick.

We spent the early part of the day at the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center.  We visited here last year, but only had a few hours to explored the main building.  This time, we got to see it all, including the nice nature walk between the buildings.  Here, Spenser is making the seismograph jiggle by jumping on the ground.

They have a great tunnel to walk through with fish, sharks, and rays swimming overhead and all around you.

Eaten by sharks!  Again!

The next building over was more about Virginia aquatic life and had this nice play area for the kids.

Spenser inside a column shaped aquarium demonstrating the aquatic life in Virginia's bays.

After lunch, we went to Mt. Trashmore.  They have an amazing playground there and the kids ran and played until they were both exhausted.  Harper spent a lot of time inspecting this slide before going down it.

Spenser "rock climbing" at Mt. Trashmore.

After a nap, we spent the late afternoon at the beach, had some dinner and then headed back to the hotel.  If you can't tell, both kids were exhausted.

Just a great picture.  This is actually a little park we found on the way to Virginia Beach.  It was in the middle of a random neighborhood right off the highway.  Shout out to Yelp for always helping us find cool things to do.

We took the back way to drive home and stumbled on this great nature preserve.  It's part of an old farm that is being allowed to go back to native grasses.  The park bumps up against a waterway that dumps into the Rappahannock River and there is a canoe put in and a fishing dock.  Spenser had a lot of fun collecting sticks and inspecting the little garter snake we found.

Vacation

We are on the beach on our now second annual vacation to Virginia Beach.  The water is cold and rather rough.  The waves are strong enough for boogie boarding and occasionally surfing.  Neither Harper nor Spenser were interested in it after we let the waves wash over their feet.  Spenser loves digging in the sand and chasing sea gulls.  Harper seems to not like the sand at all and refuses to walk on it.  She stays on our beach lays instead.

Spenser's chalk art

More cookie face

Cookie face

Harper is 12 months old!

IMG_4010.JPG, originally uploaded by Sweetypants.

Baby girl is a year old! We travelled to Oklahoma for her big party, but I just haven't had time to sit down and sort through all the photos.

Our girl is walking all over the place now. She is almost off all her bottles. She still gets one at bedtime and frequently wants one in the middle of the night. She occasionally still has one during the day. She is babbling up a storm. So far, we recognize the words for hat, ball (bop), this, and that. She loves to point at things and repeat this, this, this until you get her what she wants. She is VERY opinionated about what she wants and does not want and will express her displeasure with a high pitched squeal. She loves to play with whatever Spenser is interested in. Spenser is not always excited to share, however. She continues to suck her thumb when she is tired. She loves to snuggle on anything that is soft and fluffy. ( Shades of her mother)

We flew to Oklahoma for a quick 5 day visit and big birthday bash. The kids did great on the plane with a minimal of fussiness and no great meltdowns. We continue to be grateful for our friends, Carrie and Jon, in OKC for allowing us to have a post airplane break. We get to have some great conversation, eat pizza from my old favorite place, and the kids get their wiggles out before we hop in the car for our two hour drive. My awesome sister and mom put together a great party for Harper. We had a houseful of people and it was great to see all of them there. Spenser was very shy for the first thirty minute before he finally warmed up and started playing with the other kids. He was also a great help in opening Harper's presents. Harper just toddled all over the place, charming everyone. Thank you to everyone for sharing her day with us.

Ferris wheel

Got one loop on the ferris wheel at the Fredericksburg agriculture fair before we has to bail due to lightening.  Torrential rain started on the way back to the car.   Spenser is laughing his head off because we are all soaking wet.

Partied out

Just finished Harper's first birthday party at Leslie's house.  Kids are worn out!

Spenser update

Spenser has recently found it hilarious to run away from us, particularly when we are in stores where there are lots of aisles and racks to run around and between and behind.  He giggles the entire time, thinking it is a big game.  We can usually keep him in sight and know where he is at all times.  We've been very lucky so far.  Saturday that changed.  He managed to slip away in the split second that I looked at C to tell him I had Spenser in sight.   We were in the middle of the ladies' section of a department store, so it was dense with clothing racks.  After about 90 seconds of searching the area we were in, I had a clerk page out a "Code Adam".  When that alert goes out, all employees stop what they are doing and start looking for him.  To our great relief, it was cancelled within 20 seconds, indicating that he was found.  A clerk from TWO sections over carried him to us.  When she found him, he was still running and giggling.  He didn't know he was lost even though his parents were scared out of their minds.  He was very quiet and he knew he was in trouble.  We talked to him several times about how he should not run away and that Mama and Daddy were very scared when we couldn't find him.  When I asked him later if he was in trouble, he said yes and when I asked him why he was in trouble he said, "Because I scared Mama" and "Because I ran away".  Lesson learned by us and hopefully by him.

In funnier anecdotes, that same night we had spaghetti for dinner.  Spenser had eaten about half his bowl of spaghetti, plain with no butter or sauce, when he asked to take the rest into the coffee table.  A little while later, he came back complaining about noodles in his nose.  Nothing was hanging out of his nose (it was spaghetti, after all) so we thought he was making a joke.  He kept complaining, so I had him blow his nose.....sure enough there was a 1/2 inch of spaghetti in the tissue!  I reassured him that he had blown it out.  He kept complaining of more noodles in his nose.  I looked up his nose and couldn't see anything , but had him blow again.  Another noodle in the tissue!  When C and I quit laughing about this, I looked at him again and there was a third noodle hanging from his nose.  I have no idea how he got three noodles up his nose, but I'm glad he had the sense to come tell us about it.  Little noodle-head!

Harper is 11 months old!

IMG_3911.JPG, originally uploaded by Sweetypants.

Our girl is getting big! We've been asked more than once if she and Spenser are twins. She has cut three teeth on top (all in one week) and is working on the fourth. She loves to play pat-a-cake and peekaboo. She immediately starts dancing when she hears music. No real words yet, but she has lots of babbling. She can stand independently for up to 30 seconds at a time and is able to squat down to pick something up and stand back up without a problem. She's been swimming and seems to be a natural. She automatically rolls onto her tummy and starts kicking her feet.. She is very determined and, dare I say it, stubborn. She is absolutely delighted by the cat and endlessly fascinated by the computer.

Harper is 10 months old!

IMG_3892.JPG, originally uploaded by Sweetypants.

Only a bit delayed in getting this published. Turns out two kids are twice the fun and more than twice the work. Harper has cut an upper tooth. It's not a central incisor, so she's looking a bit snaggle toothed. However, she is working on cutting both front teeth at the same time!. She is quite speedy with the crawling and will go up the stairs in a dash if you are not keeping a close eye on her. The girl's appetite is HUGE. For dinner, she will start with a bowl of mandarin oranges, followed by green beans and then pasta stars with sauce chased down with some graham crackers or animal crackers. After a bit of a wipe down, she will then be trying to pick food off of our plates. Guess she needs lots of energy to keep up with her brother. The walking should come any day now....watch out, Spenser!

Harper is enjoying her ride in the backpack while I get some yardwork done.

Tired boys

Just wanted to add this photo of my two tired boys.  Eating chocolate and looking for Easter eggs can wear a guy out.

9 months old!

Harper turned 9 months old recently  She weighed in at 20 lb 4 oz and is 28 inches long.  She has two teeth on the bottom.  She not only pulls to standing, but is cruising like a champ.  Any day now, she will have her balance settled and start walking.  She is a very determined girl when she wants something.  If we leave something on the coffee table that she wants, she will work her way around the entire table until she gets to the spot where she can reach it.  If you relocate her to a different room, as soon as she is put down she is off and crawling back to where you took her from.  She still sleeps through the night, with a once in a long while wake up for a bottle of milk in the middle of the night.  She has been getting harder to put down for the night though.  There is usually a 30 minute period of wiggling, singing and bouncing around before she decides to sleep.  Overall, she remains our happy, calm baby.  (Dress provided by Grandma Gail!)

Spenser Update

I realized that Spenser has been getting short shrift on the blog lately. Our baby boy is rapidly turning into a big boy. Our little chubby boy is growing long and lean. His vocabulary has expanded exponentially and he is always surprising us with things that we did not know. He recently became obsessed with tunnels and everything is a tunnel, including the highway overpass.
He loves to make silly faces just to make his laugh. This is his monster face with requisite monster voice.
Jumping on the bed is fun!
Saying cheese for the camera. This is a new and recent skill that he has picked up.
Worn out from playing hard. He rarely just falls asleep where he is at. He actively fights sleeping at naptime and bedtime.
Just a lovely smile. He's very sweet and generally a good little boy.
Stuffing his mouth with apples.
He eats the slices like little pieces of watermelon....eating the fruit and leaving the skin behind.
He has very expressive eyes and is always making funny faces to get a laugh.
Putting his shoes on all by himself.

Harper's 8th month Birthday

Harper is 8 months old! She continues to be a very calm, relaxed, laid back baby. She's very happy unless she wants to eat or sleep, then watch out. She recently showed a bit of a temper when I took away my car keys that she had been happily chewing on. She was angry and incensed that I dare take away such a cool plaything.


She loves playing with her big brother. He's generally gentle and nice to her. He gives her hugs and kisses and likes to "dance" with her. He pronounces her name "Hopper", which my Long Island-native neighbor thinks is hilarious. He gets a bit possessive and jealous when she starts to play with "his" toys that he hasn't looked at in weeks.

She crawls around like crazy and it's hard to keep up with her. She's pulling up to standing and she's started crawling up the stairs. Baby gates have been reactivated.


Nosy baby. This is a cat hole in the basement door so the cats can get down to the litter box. We are currently having cork flooring put into a spare room down there so we can turn it into a playroom for the kiddos. She's checking out what all the noise is about.

Baby Girl update

It's been really busy the past couple of weeks. I've put up a few photos on our flickr account and will try to add more here soon, as I get a few days off this weekend. Harper has been crawling pretty efficiently for the past 10 days or so. She is now consistently pulling up to standing when she can find something to hang onto. She has also started climbing the stairs in the past four days. I haven't had a chance to witness it myself as I've been working, but C has sent me photographic and video evidence. She looks sooo pleased with herself!

Blue eyes the color of the sky.

 

His lucky Irish shirt.