Into Everything!

I am afraid of the day that Andrew walks on his own. Even though he can only cruise and crawl, he gets into everything.

The Land of the Dutch

As most of your know our family is considering an expatriate assignment in Maastricht, Netherlands. It is a wonderful career opportunity for Ned and an exciting opportunity for the kids. Two weeks ago we went to check it out.

Maastricht is the oldest city in the Netherlands. There are, I believe, about 150,ooo people. There are a lot of surrounding "suburbs" so to speak. More like villages or very small towns, most with their own "city center." It was very quaint. We found the people to be very friendly and everyone spoke English.

There was a lot to see and do. Tons of sightseeing (if we didn't have two small kids in tow) and fabulous shopping! We mixed productive tasks like house-hunting, looking and preschools and dinner with Ned's future colleagues with fun things like Kinderstad indoor playpark, a couple castles, and Gaipark Zoo.

If you would like to check out more about Maastricht... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maastricht

Katie by the castle

Ned and Katie at the castle

Maastricht - restaurant lined streets

Market day in Maastricht

At Kinderstad

SMILE!

Katie looked so cute a few days ago. Hair done, no visible food on her face, cute dress and shoes. So, I put her on a stool and told her to smile. OK. Seems easy, but how do you teach someone to smile? Katie gets and "A" for effort but I think she has some practicing to do.

So NOT into it

Katie's school had a Halloween Parade last Friday. Ned took the day off to participate in one of Katie's school functions. She has been a little less than enthusiastic at drop off and Ned and I are both trying to be as supportive of her "bravery" for going to school as much as possible.

The kids paraded from the school down to City Hall where they collected candy and then sat on the steps and sang Halloween songs. Or, were supposed to, as was the case with our daughter...She was so not interested in walking. She wanted to be carried. And, then when the sitting on the steps and singing was set to start... Well, see for yourself. (note where Katie is sitting...it is as close as we could get her)

If looks could talk...I think Katie's would say "there are so many other places I would rather be!"

Happy Halloween...a Little Late

Andrew is a Lion and Katie is Tasha from Backyardigans (Nick Jr cartoon)

Dr. Seuss and Thing One

Katie was very interested in carving pumpkins this year... Like last year, she loved to scoop out "the guts" and smell them and say "it stinks!"

Andrew, too, got into it. He liked sticking his hand inside the pumpkin. It was messy and gooey...what more could a little boy want!

Second Child

As you know, Andrew is reaching his milestones at rocket speed... Too fast for mom, to be quite honest. When Katie started to cruise around 10 months, we bought push toys and encouraged her to walk. Andrew is a different story. We hide the push toys. Literally. He has to improvise.

New Hampshire Fall Fun

The start of our fall has been fun. There are a lot of fall festivals and farms to visit in the nearby towns. To date, we have been to 4 farms and 4 festivals. Katie loves to pick pumpkins. Each one is hand picked for a particular person.

In the video clip you can hear her telling me who each pumpkin is for. Then, she realizes she forgot a few people and it's off to the pumpkin patch to get more! We planned on getting 4 pumpkins, one for each of us, but came home with 10! It was hard to say no when her intentions were so good.

Demeritt Farm with Grammy and Andrew

Emery Farm on the hayride and Katie's friends:Meredith, Katie, Uma and Sylvia

Butternut Farm with Mommy, Daddy and Andrew

Climbing!

I subscribe to various parenting websites and magazines. All of which include when your baby should be reaching his or her milestones. I just got one yesterday via email that said "don't be surprised if you go into your babies bedroom and find him standing in his crib." Ahhh... been there, done that... a month ago. We are in shock and busy trying to re-baby proof our house suitable for Andrew!

Crawling at 6 1/2 months old
Pulling up to a stand at 7 1/2 months old
Cruising at 8 months old
Climbing at 8 1/2 months old
Walking at ???

Here's his latest -

Say Cheese!

Finger foods are a fav for Andrew. He is very good at picking up cheerios (old hat), pieces of meat, banana, bread, etc. This particular day we were trying shredded cheese. He loved it but what a mess!

(Please disregard the middle finger...I think ~hope~ it was unintentional)

So Big

Two months shy of THREE years old. I can hardly believe it. Katie is growing up before our eyes.

Since early summer, there have been a lot of "Big Girl" Moments.

#1 Big Girl Moment: No Binky effective July 8th

The summer started with Katie's first visit to the pediatric dentist. She got at "A+" on dental care, but she told us that it was time to lose the binky. Hmmm... The pediatrican didn't have a problem with it. Their philosophy was "Three C's" - car, crisis, crib. I was OK with that. To me we were ahead of the game, Katie had only been allowed the binky in her crib for well over a year...Sort of...there were always exceptions. Like, in the car or upstairs only when Katie took it out of her crib I was too lazy to take it away. :) I think I was in denial that she didn't need it any more, that she was still a baby (my baby, to be exact). That, and I feared NEVER sleeping since we now had Andrew who was up 3 times a night at 5 months old. Anyway, like most things it went a lot better than I thought it would. Only a couple hours of tears the first night.


#2 Big Girl Moment: Potty Trained effective September 5th

We started in May. Actually our baby sitter initiated the process. Me, again, didn't think she was ready. Apparently she was. After one week, she was completely #2 trained...sorry for those of you saying TMI but it is a big deal as a parent to not have to change THOSE diapers. It took a few months and some regression after spending a week with Katie's 11 month old cousin Charlie (at the time) but now she's got it. No more accidents. Next step, staying dry at night. Not a huge deal to me. Afterall, she is only 25 pounds so she can probably stay in a diaper until she is seven! (just kidding)


#3 Big Girl Moment: Toddler bed effective September 28th

99% of Katie's friends have been in toddler beds for months. Me again, stalling. I was terrified that I would hear the pitter patter of her feet all night and that she would STOP napping. Andrew as most of you know, does NOT sleep through the night. Not even close. So, I rely on naptime to myself nap from time to time. Especially after one of his "I think I will stay up for hours around 2am nights" -- Argh. Again, Katie was ready and surprised us both. She loves to climb in and out of her bed and cross your fingers and toes, she has not gotten out of bed yet at naptime or nightime.

More Big Girl Moments:
Dressing herself, pedaling her tricyle, starting preschool, singing silly songs that she makes up the lyrics to...And, many more to come!

Love you Katie!

Katie riding her trikeToddler bed

Oh Where, Oh Where, has my Cheerio Gone?

Pretty uncanny....Both of these pictures were taken at eight months old...
Different location (of the cheerio), but same dilemma.

Katie

Andrew

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Andrew finds himself in strange predicaments pretty much every day. He likes to crawl under things like the Exersaucer, Leapfrog Learning Table, chairs, tables, etc. Most of the time he gets stuck. Today, it was the bar stool. He, of course, couldn't get out, but before that, I got a picture. And, as usual, big sister joined in the silliness.

How time flies

The first few weeks of life with baby #2 were exhausting to say the least. Very tired from surgery, very sleep deprived, and very emotional to say the least... But, if memory serves, that wasn't what made it so challenging. It was Katie. She LOVED her new baby brother. Too much some days.... She constantly wanted to hold him, change him, cover him with blanket after blanket. Etc...


The novelty wore off as I expected it would. Now, at just 7 and 33 months, they are friends. They laugh at each other, bug each other, but most of all share a strong mutual love for each other. It is endearing.


But just the other day Katie made me have a flashback. She asked to give Andrew his bottle. She hasn't asked to do this in months. I was a little scared that she might tease him or try to squirt it in his mouth, but I said "yes" like a patient mother would do. She did a great job and they both got a few chuckles out of it.

I got the camera to document just one more moment that made me smile.
.



Andrew at a couple days old



Andrew at a couple weeks old



Andrew 7 1/2 months old, Katie 33 months old

Discovering the Dog Dish!

This speaks for itself. Andrew is into EVERYTHING!

One Two Three UP!

Andrew is upright...And, like his sister, once he got it, he GOT it. He first pulled up mid week last week and now he stands on everything....train table, exersaucer, crib, people, stools, sofa...











Next milestone is cruising. Please god, give me a couple more months until he is completely mobile!

He's got it!

It took just two weeks since he started his floppy crawling and now he is totally coordinated and moving FAST!

Katie's first day of Preschool - August 26th

Katie started "My School" today. She will be going Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9:00am - noon. Her first day was a success. Minimal tears and she didn't want to leave when it was time to go.

Here are her fellow Appleseeds:
Posing for a picture before we left.
Walking into school.

One for the rehearsal dinner slideshow

I am sure this won't be the only time Andrew is subjected to his big sister's game of dress up!

Got to admit, he does look good in that headband :)

Fun with Pop

Andrew has been waking up at least twice a night for the last week or so, I have lost track. And, some nights is up for at least an hour in the wee hours of the night...it is exhausting. I should mention, too, that most days, Andrew starts his day by 5:30 am (yesterday 4:45am) and Katie is generally up by 7:00am. No rest for the weary.

So, to keep me sane while Ned was in the Netherlands this past week, my Dad came for a visit. Katie loves her "Pop" as she calls him. He wants to be Grandpop, but Pop seems to be sticking. Katie gets to be the trend-setter since she is the first grandchild I suppose.

We had a great visit as always. Here are a few pictures of York Wild Animal Kingdom.