Sunday, April 25, 2010

Spring Time Fun

Christopher climbing his waterfall wall...









At the Baltimore Zoo...

Amy and Sophia look at the "pengys" as Sophia likes to call them.




Mr. Handsome enjoying the penguin exhibit.





Our stroller lineup at the zoo. Mom had a great time helping out with all the kids. Next to Christopher is Zach, his buddy from playgroup. Mom, Amy, Sophia, Heidi, Zach, Elias, Cara, Sophie, Christopher, Lilly and I were able to make it on a beautiful Friday.

A Day Out With Thomas

As a birthday gift to Christopher, Ryan and I bought tickets to spend a day with Thomas at B&O Railroad Museum. What a great day it was! We left Lilly home with Lulu (say that 3 times fast) so Christopher could have a day just with Mommy and Daddy. This was the second time for CRW and I at the Museum, and I think he liked it even more than the first time. We boarded engines and cars, road Thomas, saw Sir Topham Hatt and train gardens. Christopher played on 3 different Moon bounces and road a kiddie train. He had a great time and was a very good boy all day!
Sitting side by side on a wooden coach.

At the controls of a massive engine. The lower right of the picture is where the coal burns. Christopher knew this from Thomas episodes. See, he really does learn stuff from TV.


Looking down the track.



Riding on Thomas. Note punched ticket in his hand. (I'm always getting pictures mid-blink...aggravating!)




Yay Thomas!


In line to get a picture with Sir Topham Hatt. Once I took the picture, which turned out great, the camera got a glitch and the card read "data error". Oh well, Christopher enjoyed just getting to see the Man in charge of all the engines!


Mr. Engineer!


He was very happy to ride the little trains. This is an improvement from last summer, when he wouldn't get on a single kiddie ride at Kings Dominion.

Friday, April 16, 2010

March Photos

My camera is seriously dysfunctional, hence the lack of pictures lately. Tonight I happened to find old photos still on it, when I thought it was empty. Kinda like finding money in your pocket. Kinda.

Christopher helps clean up after making oatmeal raisin cookies.

Helping Mommy make cookies. On this particular day he was in a great mood, being a good listener and very patient. So I took the opportunity to bake with him, something I've wanted to do for a long time. He was very good and had a great time. He measured every ingredient! It took a while, but was so worth it. He has mentioned the experience many times since, saying "scoop and pour".

Lilly takes a bath . Love the chub.


I thought the kids would like having their first of many baths together. The two like being together always, that is obvious already. Lilly is often looking and smiling at her big brother.



Christopher eating yogurt. I overheard him in the kitchen saying "OH! What a messsss!" I rounded the corner to find him like this.
Lilly is reaching for her toys now. Its amazing how quickly babies change. She is very alert and smiles constantly. She is such a happy baby. Our daily routine is so smooth. Christopher is the first to rise, then Lilly, then finally Mommy (then later still-Ryan). Lilly likes to play in her rocker chair in Christopher's room while he very busily gets into something. I just enjoy watching them while I sip my morning coffee in Christopher's overstuffed arm chair. Lilly then has her morning nap while Christopher and I have breakfast and ready ourselves for the day. After her morning nap its outing time. Usually we go to the park, library, playgroup or run errands. Then its back home for lunch and naps. I am very fortunate to have two kids who nap simultaneously, at least for the most part. During naps I prep for dinner and tidy up. The evenings are spent wandering around the yard until Daddy comes home. Then its dinner and -my favorite part- bedtime! I get Lilly down and Ryan does Christopher. Sometimes we leave the rooms at the same time and exchange a high-5. Cheesy but true. God help us when number three comes along!





Jail Break!

We had it coming to us sooner or later. But it still surprised the heck out of us. We heard the startling thump in the middle of the night. Parents, you know the one I'm speaking of: the sound that lets you know that your days with a contained child are over. Christopher escaped his crib, opened his door, then entered our room saying "I want Daddy's pillow". We were so shocked we just let him lay in bed with us for a few minutes. He recited some of his books out loud in the dark until we had had enough then back to bed he went. He continued the escape routine several times the next night, to the point we decided it was time to just convert his crib to a toddler bed. We aren't interested in prolonging the crib. I look at this as another milestone; in fact something to be celebrated. After all, he is growing up and its time to do new big boy things. So no crib tent or gates for us. He will learn to stay in his bed all by himself. It is an interesting process, this sleep training. He goes down at 7:30 without objection or bed exits. Then sometime around 11pm the Jack-in-the-box routine starts. He gets out (or falls out), comes to find us, we lead him silently back to his bed where he will sleep, without protest, for a couple hours until the process repeats itself. It really isn't that bad and I think after a few nights he will get the hang of it. Until then, he is a bit more cranky than usual during the day, having had a broken up night's sleep. We'll survive.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Easter Lilly

Our Easter was, well in a word; warm. I think it broke a record and was well into the 80's. Backing up, on Saturday Ryan, Christopher and I dyed Easter eggs. It is quite a challenge dying eggs with a 2 year old. He kept trying to grab the cups of dye. But we were able to see the project through with only one egg broken. Funny thing is, Christopher has been watching "The Easter Beagle" everyday leading up to Easter, so he totally understands the decorating and hiding of the eggs. (So far we are really on a roll using the Peanuts gang to educate Christopher in holiday traditions.) Easter Sunday I still had a cold and I wasn't up for Mass with two kids in an over crowded church. We settled for the story of the first Easter and a family walk instead. We had dinner at Nana and Pop Pop's. Afterwards the kids took nice naps and awakened happy and refreshed. Christopher enjoyed the Easter egg hunt and found every egg with just a little help. I think his highlight was riding the tractor (a real farm tractor) with Poppa.
This dress is from Oma Ru. It fits her perfectly, but its hard to get a great shot of a baby in a dress while being held. Lilly often likes having her tongue out. What a cutie.


Posing with Aunt Kristi. Happy Easter!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Big Brother Christopher

I can not say enough how well Christopher gets along with Lilly. He has always been super interested in her, and very affectionate. He comes over while I'm nursing her, climbs up and mimics her panting breathing. Then he lays a smooch on her cheek. He does this several times a day. Lately Lilly has had more awake periods. Christopher is constantly trying to entertain her. He usually stands in front of her and says "Baby Lilly is looking at you (me)". Or "Baby Lilly is so cute" or "Baby Lilly has tiny little fingers". As of recent, he is teaching her how to play with the toys on her bouncy chair. He instructs "Lilly, reach and touch". Last week while I was making dinner in the kitchen I heard Christopher say "Baby Lilly says 'thanks for the red hat, Christopher'." When I came to investigate, I found Lilly buried under his fireman's hat, with just her legs sticking out. It was such a comical site, I laughed out loud. Christopher then said "that hat's too big for Lilly".

Today Lilly batted at her toys on the bouncy chair intently for the first time. I never tire of watching developmental milestones. Its like watching a flower blossom. She is very social lately, giving us plenty of smiles.

Christopher milestone: he now has his last bottom two molars.

Christopher shows Lilly how to play with her toys.

Lilly holds a ring, assisted by Lulu. Good work Lilly!

Sweet smiles.


"Reach and TOUCH!"



"Lilly has chubby cheeks" Christopher would say.