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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Santa Success!



Geoff had the day off today....so we made it another Family Fun Day (we had one the day before Thanksgiving, too, but I've yet to post about it). Anyway......I am too tired to post about our whole day, but did want to share these photos.

We decided to take the girls the Northpark Mall to see the trains (Thanks, Jodie!). Only..........we got sidetracked on our mission and decided to see Santa instead. I had really wanted Geoff to go with us this year since he has never been able to go. And what was even better....was that since it's actually early this year....there was not a long line at all! (And just so you know....this is the only thing in my life right now, or in the recent months, that has been done early.....so I am going to try to enjoy this as much as I can....for I see it far, far into the future before I will be able to cross something off of 'my list' early again.)

Parker's first Christmas...she was 3 months old....I was a new mother.....and why would I take my new 3 month old to see Santa with all of those....germs?? (Oh...brother.) Haha. :) Now- I have a totally new perspective.....Germs are good!!! They keep us healthy. (except for when they make us sick, but this is a whole other discussion for a different day).


So the first year she saw Santa, she was 15 months old. She did pretty well. There were tears....but nothing too dramatic.


Last year....at a little over 2 years....she acted excited to see Santa before we saw Santa....but when the time came.....there was nothing doing! She was clinging to me and would not sit in his lap!



This year- didn't really know what to expect. Kind of thought Parker would be ok with Santa...and kind of thought Grace would be ok with Santa, too, because she is my laid back baby.

And I'd say it was all a Santa Success!

I had mentioned to Parker a couple of times before we got to Santa that she was going to sit in his lap and was going to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. I asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she said with a smile on her face, "Ummm....lot's of toys!"

Anyway.......our turn comes.

She walks right up to Santa and just stands in front of Santa and just starts talking. She had business to take care of and she was not wasting any time at all! We may have gotten a picture of this, but I have not uploaded the pictures yet. While all of this is happening....Geoff is holding our camera....I'm still trying to push the stroller up the small ramp, sweating, and trying to hold my wiggle-worm 10 months old!

I look up and see this and rush to get our Flip video out of the camera bag. Of course....it took me forever to get out...but I did get some video....which I will hopefully post soon.

Santa finally got her in his lap and she continued to tell him all that she wanted (too bad I couldn't hear what she was saying!)......they started to try to take pictures and she just had this blank face. And even after we tried to get her to smile....she continued to talk to Santa. So we decided on this picture.....because this picture really captures her visit with Santa. To her....she was really visiting Santa....not just this crazy, photo op that some of us parents (including me) thinks is so fun and important, you know?


Now onto Grace. I just had this strong desire to have them sit with Santa separately. I would love to have one of them together, but I just felt like they deserved to still see Santa alone.

So when Parker was 'done' (because, honestly, I think she could have gone on for a few more minutes).....I'm asking Geoff.."Where is Grace's head band?" (that she had taken off and won't keep on for the life of her!)

Luckily- the photography saw it on the ground and handed it to me. I quickly put it on her head....and placed her in Santa's lap....my thoughts being that once she was in Santa's lap, she'd be so distracted she'd leave her headband on.....and score! She did!

A couple of times she looked like she wanted to cry, but with the help of an Elmo doll and the young photographer....we got this sweet smile!


Our visit with Santa was great! We may try to go next week with Aunt Sis and Payton...and I think I'll try to just put them together for this one. The deal is (and it's kind of funny)...I think I'll enjoy it more because the pressure will be off to get the picture with Santa.

And with all of that being said. Who really cares?

Monday, November 22, 2010

Grace @ 10 months

This month has been great. She is really letting her personality shine through and she's just a blast.


-She has gotten a few new teeth? And they are coming in kind of crooked. She comes by it honest, though! She got in one tooth on the bottom and her right front tooth.

-She can say, "Ma-ma!" and "Da-da!" And she uses the words discriminately most of the time. If she is upset and crawling and crying and trying to find me....she will just say over and over again..."ma ma ma ma ma..." in her pathetic, little, so sad voice. Pitiful, I tell you. :)

- I have started to try to get her to say "Baby"....and a few times she has responded with, "Bwa-buh"....which is exactly how Parker said baby! Although- she has no idea what a baby is.

-She wears size 2 diapers (she didn't shrink from last month when she was wearing size 3....but they started leaking, so we moved back down to size 2....we are not almost ready for size 3 again....in case you were wondering)
-when she opens a book by herself, she'll start 'pointing' to things....imitating what we do with her.


-pulling up on everything

-starting to cruise around on the furniture

-when we turn music on, she will usually start smiling and then 'dancing'. Parker never really did this, so it is fun to see.

-Sometimes I hold something in front of her like I am going to give it to her, then as she reaches for it, I pull it away. I do this a few times and she just gets the biggest kick out of it. So now- she will hold things out...and as we reach for them, she pulls them away and starts laughing.

-When she starts to get into things.....like starts touching the playstation and cable box, I"ll say, "Nooo Grace. No, no!" Or something to that effect (NOTE: I am not yelling or even raising my voice, it's just kind of funny to see what she does." She'll stop....turn to look at me....then shake her head no...then laugh at me....and will sometimes say, "Nah, nah!"....then goes right back to doing what she was doing.

-Loves to pull her sister's hair and bother her. I secretly laugh inside because I feel like it is Grace's little way of paying back her big sister for all the poking and prodding she has/is/was doing to her.

-As I am walking into her room to put her to bed....she will usually lay her head down on my chest....and I will pat her back a few times, then rub it. So now....as we are entering the hallway to get to her room, she pats my harm a few times and then rubs it. It took my a while to figure out that she was doing that to me because I do that to her. Her soft little hand is so sweet rubbing my arm!


-She knows how to gives kisses.....but will rarely give them to me anymore. :( Little stinker! She knows exactly what she is doing.

-When she has a dirty diaper....I say, "Shew-ie, shew-ie!".....and shake my hand in front of my nose/face. The other day, I just said it (with no gestures)....and she started shaking her hand in front of her face. I laughed out-loud. Kristin tells me that she remembers that Parker did this, too. But I honestly don't remember. Makes me sad, though....that I don't.

-If you give her a bowl of some sort to play with....she'll put the things that are laying around her, into the bowl.


-She has starting picking up our cordless phone....pushing buttons...then putting the phone up to her ear and starts 'talking' saying, "aah! aah! aah!" or something to that effect! I tried to get her doing it in a picture, but of course, I did not.





-She pick everything up off of the floor. Ev-er-y-thing! Below...you'll see that she has found a crumb of some sort on the floor. Reeeaching....

And now....eeeeating. Do you think I deserve mother of the year for this?


-She just started walking using the push toys...and can walk while we hold her hands.


And she was so happy when I sat her on this riding/push toy.





-Loves, loves, loves to eat! But....if you try to give her something that she does not want....she will say, "Nah, nah, nah!"...and shake her head and hands....and push the food away.

What's funny is.....I opened up a can of peas the other day and gave Grace a few....and she acted as though she loved them. The next day- I gave her some more....she still acted interested. But something in me....call it a mother's intuition.....knew that her 'love' of peas would be short lived. So I decided to have a photo shoot of her eating the peas (and no- I do not have a lot of free time as it would seem....but what else are you going to do?).











- She still nurses 4 times a day (around 7, 11, 3, 7) and eats her food around 7ish, 11is, and 5ish. She goes down for her naps around 9:30 and 2:00....and will sleep anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.

-Can turn the light on and off. Geoff taught her how to do this... and when we are walking out of a room, she reaches for it.

-still doing patty cake


"patty cake, patty cake!"

"roll 'em up, roll 'em up!)

"throw 'em in the pan!"


Hoping to maybe get her growth chair picture tomorrow. I'm such a slacker!

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Our Pumpkin Patch Trip 2010

The Friday before Halloween, we took the girls to the Arboretum's pumpkin patch. It was a beautiful day....not too cold, not too windy, and not too hot!

Ready to go!

She's definitely my laid back baby.................most of the time! :)

We tried to get a cute picture of the 2 girls together. But again....why do we try? :)

As I was looking through these pictures last night (for the first time)....I couldn't help but smile and laugh a little bit about them. It's like......the girls are in their own little world.....and we're all just living in it. Haha!


So....as I am sure it is no surprise....I am posting all of the pictures to show are attempt at getting a picture of our girls together. And I love them....




I'm sure Parker was talking about something 'over there' and Grace is probably smiling/making a funny face it me...because, more than likely, I am making a funny face at her.

Parker's really been into twirling her hair lately. Wondering if this is a nervous habit? I do notice that I may do this on occasion.....but only when my hair has been straightened....which is rare.


Now here we go.....Parker in full swing....Grace playing the drums on the pumkin/squash......







This face just cracks me up....

Maybe this one would be the best of Parker's eyes weren't veered off to the side...and she didn't look so....umm....nevermind. :)









And I try really really hard not to forget to take pictures of them by themselves. I remember going through my baby pictures for our wedding video.....and there were a lot of pictures of me with my brother and sister, but not really a lot of me. I see how this happens....and at no one's fault.....but I still want to try.

And I think this is pretty good of her, too. Not too, too cheesy? Hey....we take what we can get from our 3 year old!


But I think this might be my winner. No- it's not the best picture ever. But for some reason....I just really like it.

And here is Geoff taking video of.....I can't remember. I'll need to upload those videos. Someday.


And I can't help myself. I am loving BabyLegs. And I got her these pumpkin ones. She wasn't actually supposed to wear her BabyLegs with this dress....she was supposed to wear her black leggings. But on this day- we could not find her black leggings, and so we gave up.


I'll tell you- I have been having trouble keeping up with my kids' clothes lately. I get them all clean....have trouble getting them put away.....then can't find what I want when I want it. Oh- and sometimes one kid's clothes ends up in the other's.

I digress.

We took their pictures pretty much right when we arrived....then we went to the hay maze (maze of hay?). Grace loved being able to stand up and eat play with the hay...

And Parker enjoyed running around....

....And throwing the hay....


And kudos to Geoff for taking this great picture (in my opinion!).

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