Bamm-Bamm and Pebbles

My little cuties were Bamm-Bamm and Pebbles for Halloween. They had so much fun! Michael wasn't entirely sure what was supposed to be happening at first, but after the first people gave him candy for talking, he thought it was awesome! Meredith just loved following him around and watching all the other kids.

Georgia Aquarium

Nashville Zoo

Fall Break!

Hooray! It's Fall Break! So far we've built giant block towers and rearranged the living room. Plans are for the Nashville Zoo with Katie on Thursday and the Atlanta Aquarium with Grandma on Saturday. Who knows what else we'll stumble upon besides that!

Ear, Egg, Elephant, E, E, E

Meredith has ear infections. :( Yes, two of them. The doctor thinks its because all four of her top teeth are coming in at once! The drainage from the extra drooling is likely the cause of the infections. She's doing pretty well, considering. She is a bit cranky and clingy, but I totally understand why!
She's getting better and better at walking! Yay! However, she is excellent at climbing... apparently she's been watching Michael too much. ;) Today she learned how to climb on the little chair, then the little table, then onto our bed... all to get to Daddy! It was really cute!

Michael is a crazy talker! He talks constantly and is super curious about everything. It's so much fun! I am constantly amazed at how fast he learns new words and sometimes I don't even know where he learns things (all good, of course!). He loves being outside, especially as the weather is getting so nice. School is one of his favorite activities - he loves his friends!
The newest thing for Michael is his imagination! He is totally getting into creative play. For example, he is using his blocks to make "cakes." I don't know where he gets that from, lol! He also builds elaborate creations with his blocks and has definite opinions as to what he has made.
Michael continues to do great with pottying... we're still working on #2 in the potty, but he is totally pee-pee trained during the day. Most mornings he is dry, but none of us are ready to go without pull-ups at night. :)

Everything is going super great with school. I love teaching every day, particularly since I get done at 12:30! It's a perfect schedule. :) We're all so busy, but it's fun!

Happy Birthday, Meredith!

I can hardly believe my baby is one now! This has been an awesome year and I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. :) I can't wait to see what this next year will bring. I love you Meredith!

PS - Mad props to Katie for the rocking new header! <3

Life is crazy...

and awesome! School is going well... I hardly have time to blink before the day is over. My classes are great; I'm really enjoying everything. Michael and Meredith both love their classes. I have to drag Michael out the door most days.

Meredith is getting better and better at walking. She got another tooth on Tuesday, so now she has 1/2 of one tooth and 1/4 of another... almost a whole tooth now! ;)

Michael is talking like crazy... he wants to know everything! He knows pretty much all the main colors, can count to 13 (but he skips 5, on purpose, and 12). His favorite shapes are triangles and circles, and he can name and draw them. He loves animals and vehicles.

I haven't uploaded new pictures lately... sorry! Chris got me a laptop for my birthday and I'm still working on how to deal with my pictures. Right now they're still on my old computer and it's usually off. Hopefully I'll get some new ones up soon. :)

First day of school!

School started this past Tuesday... the kids love it so far! Michael is always so excited about what he did at school and loves all his friends. Meredith just likes being able to play!

We have a tooth!!!!

Yay! Meredith finally got a tooth! I was beginning to think she'd never get any, despite teething for 9 months. Today a little tooth poked through and I think the neighboring one isn't far behind. I would post a picture, but she refuses to have anyone take a picture of her mouth at the moment. :) If I get any time tomorrow night, I'll try to post some new pictures. Otherwise, check the Picasa album as I added a few new ones yesterday.

No crayons in your nose

Why is this something you have to tell children? Shouldn't that be clear... stuff comes out of your nose... nothing goes into your nose!

Turns out that "Mommy, crayon nose" is not something you want to hear first thing in the morning. Bath crayons are soft and wimpy... until they're in a nose. Then they turn stiff and unyeilding. Fortunately tweezers were on hand and the crayon was safely rescued! Then Michael felt compelled to announce... "more crayon nose, Mommy." Did I cry... No, but I wanted to!! No more crayons were to be found in the nose and the green residue on the "other nose" matched the crayon on the shower floor. Now he has a beautiful purple and green nose. Yay.

I know Mom... I put stuff in my nose and didn't tell anyone. But WHY!?! That's what's perplexing.

Have a great day everyone... I know I will! :)


PS - I don't feel like writing another post, but Michael did #2 in the potty yesterday! Hooray! He's doing so great! Only 1 pull-up per night and that's it - underwear all day long!

Another potty update

Yay! Michael is doing so great with his potty-training! He's trying #2 on the potty now... doesn't quite get the right idea yet, but he's trying. This is great because it means he doesn't wear pull-ups at all during the day - no more diaper changes - hooray! I'm sure he'll have it down in another day or so. Next is night-time training... not sure how that's going to work yet. He does have a little potty in his room in case he wakes up during nap-time; maybe that's what he can use at night too. Maybe I'll just give it a try one night and not put him in pull-ups. I wonder if Meredith is ready yet - I'd love to be totally done with diapers (just kidding, well, at least about Meredith being ready... I'm ready to be done with diapers!).

More Pictures :)

Well, I'm just now getting more pictures uploaded... I really should stop promising them on a particular day. Anyway, just a few since I updated Picasa as well.

Eating Cheerios

Meredith really, really wants to walk!

Cute ruffle-butt :)

Wearing Daddy's glasses and looking ever so cute!

Pictures: Part 1

These are some more pictures from their 9 mo and 2 yr shoot. I'll add some mommy pictures later today, hopefully. :)

Pointing at the fish in the Koi Pond

Hugs!

My beautiful butterfly :)

Concentrating!

Smiles!

Potty Training Update

I'm going to call it! I think Michael is basically day-time potty trained - Thanks Mom! He only gets pull-ups for night-time (not even naps!) and when he needs to do #2. He tries #2 on the potty, but doesn't like it yet. That's probably going to be a few more months. Michael wears big boy underwear all day, including while running errands. Hopefully this post won't jinx us. :)

9 month and 2 year pictures

Katie and I went to the Botanical Gardens yesterday where she got some totally awesome shots of the kids! Of course, they did NOT cooperate at all! Check out her new website... link at the right.

M & M pictures

You MUST visit Katie's website... link on the right... to see some totally awesome pics of the kids! She and Philip watched the kids Saturday while Chris and I went car shopping.

Doctor Visit Update

Michael and Meredith had Dr's appts this week. Here are their current stats!

Michael - 2 year appt.

• 25.5 pounds - 15th-%ile
• 34.5 inches - 25th-%ile
• 49.5 cm - head circumference - 60th-%ile

Meredith - 9 month appt.

• 17 pounds, 13 ounces - 25th-%ile
• 26.75 inches - 25th-%ile
• 45.5 cm - head circumference - 75th-%ile

So basically I have short, skinny kids with giant heads! I keep telling myself it's to hold their giant brains... right?!?!

Michael is practically a 3-year-old based on his developmental questionnaire. Dr said he was doing great! Meredith is right on track for her developmental age and is also doing great. :)

Michael needs to work on jumping forward (not just up) and dressing himself. Meredith needs to get better communicating without crying and should be working on standing alone and walking.

Playing with the blocks

Learning how to stack by watching big brother :)

All done with blocks... now on to squishing Michael

Serious crawling!

Don't know what was going on here... I just love it though!

Showing Mommy his drawing

Being terribly cute with Grandma!

Some of my favorite things...

Michael sitting on Kitty 1


What happens when face meets bench



Michael's new rocking toy


Carrying his new toy around



Playing in the rain!


Everything's wet and squishy! Yay!


Splash!


Having lots of fun in the rain


Relaxing, Michael style!


Meredith loves her bottle... especially now that she can feed herself!


Grandma and Meredith


Happy baby!


Meredith is pulling up on everything now!


An official crawling pic! And she can really move fast now!