Skeeto Fights

Potty training. Noise. Lots of noise....these things define our home lately. But here's a funny moment recently.

http://youtu.be/0MTMujZGFx4

Spring time is great for Puddles!

Andrew and I have been busy busy busy with the children. A friend mentioned having them so close in age like this is like having twins. Yes, yes it is. Two sets of diapers (hopefully only one set soon!), lots of nonsensical crying and laughing, two babies. But it's going too fast since we are so busy. We are accumulating lots of photos and videos. And I think those are better at telling the story of where we are at right now then I am...so enjoy browsing the latest installment of more beautiful moments and fun times in the McD household.

Playing in the rain. (video)

Photos of good times

We'd love to hear from you with comments. While we are busy, we think of you often and love to hear from our friends and family.

First Birthday

Our shining little sugar pie is already one. Wow. But how fun! Every day she shows more personality and character. She's a little shy, but after a moment of warming up is surprisingly extroverted. She has nerve, walking away - and keeping going - in order to investigate her surroundings. No matter if Mom follows! She takes no guff from her older brother, and holds on to what she wants when he tries to remove it from her grasp. She'll even instigate occasionally by walking up to him and tapping him on the head. They'll wrestle and giggle. Of course, it can go too far sometimes, but she certainly can hold her own for a while. She loves to eat still, but it's organizing more into fruits and dairy versus meats or protein.

Anyway, we had our little birthday party for "Raggedy Annabelle" (it was a Raggedy Ann theme). She desperately needs girlfriends because she was the only girl at her party. But, as I mentioned, she held her own with all those little boys! We enjoyed cupcakes, some gifts and she explored the feeling of cake icing between her fingers. We all had a great time. And now -- spring!

Annabelle's Birthday March 15, 2011

Bloggety blog blog

Where does the time go? Our poor little blog is fizzling out, but not because there isn't plenty going on these days! Oh my gosh, it's a loud, busy, constantly moving and changing household over here.

Annabelle is not only walking now, but she can walk backwards and is so cute when she backs up into your lap or a small little chair. She seems so proud of herself that she can do that. She understands everything! But does she always listen? Umm, no. She obviously loves, loves, loves to laugh - which we love. And she is keeping up quite well with her older brother. Sometimes, he'll go by and she'll grab hold and not let go! He ends up dragging her around. It's pretty funny and I love that she's turning into a tough little cookie.

We are celebrating her birthday next weekend. Can't wait to see her dive into those cupcakes.

Drew is --- well, a little boy now. Getting into everything, bothering his sister, making mischief...but at the same time sweet as can be. He uses words like, 'symbiotic' and 'brachiosaurus'...thanks to Go Diego Go. There's not a day that goes by that he doesn't watch Diego who has supplanted Thomas the Train videos. He still regularly plays cars and loves to still play chase and hide n seek. He's able to sing his ABCs (adorable!) and count to 'fiveteen'. He's a smartie. We're working on the potty training - hopefully that'll happen before he's five.

Andrew's taken a new position at work, or I should just say more responsibility. So we're excited about that...should be an interesting year workwise for him. And I am still doing freelance graphic design work.

We are looking forward to spring and being outside before it gets too miserably hot. There's plans for a play set, sand box and deck. Should be fun!

Pictures of recent good times...

February - March 2011

Fleeting moments from our recent past...

Random Good TImes in McD House 1-11 And other good moments...

She Walks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQGJocvjF8Q

Baby steps

Belle took a step the other day. She's been crawling, pulling up on things and cruising for about 2 months already, so it's no surprise. Since she's so short, being only 9 months old, we figure we'll invest in a bike flag, the kind that has the orange triangle on a long skinny pole that you connect to the back of a bike, and we'll attach it to her waist so we can know that she's coming.

She's understanding more and more these days, clapping her hands when asked to, saying Momma and Dada. She's got 4 teeth total, two top and two bottom and I expect she's working on more. She's can eat massive amounts of food and sometimes can sleep 14 hours at a time, so I'm guessing she's about to have a growth spurt.

She's a determined little lady who knows what she wants when she wants it. And, sometimes, she is the happiest little girl on the planet. Giggling and laughing, goofing with her brother...she's just a treasure.

Drew is talking up a storm. We can actually have conversations now...mostly about Thomas and what he doesn't want to wear, but we're communicating nonetheless. He loves to play outside regardless if its only two degrees, and he hopes that Santa will bring him cars. He really can't get enough of trains, trucks or construction. We still park outside construction sites here or there so he can watch all the digging, scooping and dumping going on.

We are traveling up to Saginaw for the holidays. First time flying with both children together. Should be a hoot. Just know that if the kids are going haywire and we seem to have lost all control, it's true. We are most likely vacated our right minds and in our virtual happy places. Just shake us when we arrive in Sagtown.

Meanwhile, Andrew and I just returned from St Maarten. It was a lovely vacation away. The kids stayed with their Grandma and Granje here in MO (thank you both, again!). It was a quiet, relaxing vacation, filled with lots of eating, sitting, staring into space and listening to the surf, or, actually having complete conversations since we don't get to have many of those uninterrupted anymore. (There's a whole lot of conversations in mid-stream hanging out in the space somewhere waiting to be finished someday). It was good that the island was really small without much to do, so we could literally just sleep late and veg without guilt. Click here for photos.

It was a wonderful homecoming though. And we visited with Bill and Jean for a few more days. We ate out 5 out of 6 meals, exchanged Christmas gifts, had our first Hanukkah meal with authentic latkas (yum!) and simply enjoyed each other's company.

We're excited about the holidays, made even more festive by the two little ones and their beaming faces. We went to see the big guy yesterday, Santa, but the kids weren't impressed. In fact, they were terrified. At least I know he heard my wish list.