A Valentine's weekend filled with hearts and happiness!

We had a very quiet, laid-back Valentine's weekend and it was perfect! We started on Friday night by ordering a heart-shaped pizza which Kate thought was the coolest. And while we ate that cool pizza, we watched a princess movie that we had rented for Kate, which was the second coolest thing that happened to her on Friday night!

On Valentine's Day, Ryan took Kate to get doughnuts and coffee, not coffee for Kate but for me! She loves that special little time with Ryan running those two short errands, plus she gets to eat doughnuts when she gets home! We had a great day just hanging out and playing together. For dinner, Ryan made Kate a special grilled cheese sandwich and I made Maggie a special bottle...not really, but I did make it with love! And then after the girls went to bed, Ryan and I spent some time together enjoying a sushi dinner which is my favorite!

Sunday might have been the best day of all, at least in Kate's world because Kate and I went to Playhouse Disney Live. She had a blast singing and dancing to her favorite Disney characters and it was even better that Caroline was there to enjoy it with her! She told me her favorite part was Handy Manny...she loves that guy!

We heart our baby-sitters!

While I was happily (not really) at jury duty last week, our sweet friends/sitters helped us out on Monday and Tuesday by watching the girls. I can't say enough how incredible it is to have not one, but two people who aren't family members love my girls like Kara and Heather do. (At least that's what they tell me anyway!)

Kara watches the girls every Monday for me so I can run errands child-free which also means I get way more accomplished in half the time. Kate loves when she comes over because they usually do something fun that we don't get to do regularly. Last week, they baked Valentine cupcakes. I called at lunch to check on the girls and Kate got on the phone and excitedly told me that she had made cupcakes for me and to come home and eat mine! She had so much fun baking, icing and decorating.(If you hadn't noticed, Kate is quite into dress-up play these days. This is not a normal hair accessory that we wear out and about!)

Heather is our other wonderful sitter and she came over on Tuesday to play. She is always so quick with my camera to record precious pictures of Kate and Maggie and she even has taken a video or two of them. How she manages to be that quick is amazing to me. I'm usually still sitting there thinking about getting the camera by the time the fun is over and then I've missed it. She captured this sweet game of peek-a-boo between Kate and Maggie. I don't know who was having more fun, Kate or Mags?



And p.s...thanks to my mom for flying in on Tuesday night to help me out on Wednesday. Kara and Heather both work on Wednesday and I was in quite a bind. Luckily, I got released from jury duty Wednesday evening and so mom and I got to spend a couple of days with the girls together.

Snow Day!

Yesterday was an official snow day at our house...Ryan's office was even closed! Kate was dying to get outside and play in the snow. What she didn't realize, no matter how many times we told her, was that it wasn't snow but ice. Nevertheless, that didn't stop her from roping her daddy into going outside for some winter fun. She did better than I thought she would. She stayed bundled up, never asked to go potty, and stayed out for about 45 minutes. Maggie and I watched from the warmth of the house. We did, however, bundle Mags up and get documentation of her first "snow". Enjoy the picture and videos!

5 months!

Yes that's right, Maggie is 5 months old today! We are battling yet another cold, but so is big sister. I guess that's just part of winter. We are in the middle of another ice storm, closing schools today and tomorrow. Maggie's first winter will be remembered by colds and ice storms! She is still a sweet baby. I know I say that every month, but she really is! She always has the biggest grin for us when we talk sweetly to her. I want to just gobble her up! We did have a bit of a stressful week this month regarding Maggie. Fortunately or unfortunately, my girls have their daddy's eyes. Most that know Ryan well, know that his eyes look "sleepy" alot. At Maggie's 4 month check up, our pediatrician Dr. Hughes, was concerned that the shape of her eyes could be a characteristic of Down Syndrome. After sending us down to the lab to have blood drawn, we had to wait a grueling 8 days for the results and that was even with Dr. Hughes requesting the results stat (it usually takes 2-4 weeks). Those were truly the longest 8 days of our lives, but I'm so very happy to report that the testing came back normal and she fortunately or unfortunately has her daddy's eyes! Maggie owes us big time!!!

Again, pictures of both girls on their 5th month birthday. Kate is the top picture, Maggie is the bottom picture.

Kate the chef!

Kate has really gotten interested in helping me cook dinner these days. Every evening as I head to the kitchen to start preparing dinner, she follows me into the kitchen and demands, sometimes with a "please", that I get her ladder out so she can help make dinner. While I love that we can spend a few minutes together doing this, it can be frustrating as well. Kate is not the best at being the student. She wants to do it herself which is where the frustration comes in. It's difficult for a 2 1/2 year old to open cans, brown meat, and work over a hot stove. This is where the struggle usually begins and we have a minor melt-down, every time! I will say that as we continue to cook together, she is getting more patient and more willing to let me do the adult work and she handles the easy stuff. Her strength...stirring!

Is this bad?

I'm afraid we've created monsters! The pictures below show Kate and Maggie, yes, my 4 month old, completely mesmerized by the t.v...Yo Gabba Gabba no less!!!

(In this instance, they definitely are their father's daughters!)

Time flies...

Maggie is 4 months old! I can't believe that it's been 4 months since she joined us. She is such a sweet, sweet baby and still very content. My dad was saying that if you don't make the effort, you sometimes forget to give her much attention because she's just so quiet and loves to take it all in.

Maggie is getting into the really fun stage of babyhood. She belly laughs at about any silly noise or silly face and smiles all the time. She is still a wonderful sleeper and eater - in fact, she started rice cereal on Christmas and is trying to figure out the spoon and swallowing. I really can't think of one thing about her that is frustrating as a parent...although ask me again when she becomes mobile and/or starts talking!

Some "firsts" for this month were: her first cold and it was a bad one. I took her to the dr. just to make sure it hadn't gotten into her lungs because she had a terrible cough and runny nose. Fortunately it was just a cold, but unfortunately we couldn't do a thing to make it better except to wait it out and it took a good 3 weeks for all of her symptoms to clear up. We had a few restless nights and days, but we made it though. She also experienced her first minor ice storm. It was never really bad at our house, but out south was a mess and so we were home-bound for a few days which was kind of fun. We stayed in our pjs and just enjoyed hanging out. Maggie also celebrated her first Christmas. She got lots of great presents but will only remember her first Christmas by looking at pictures. She did have some really cute outfits for the season and it was fun to dress her and Kate alike!
4 months have gone so quickly...kind of makes me sad! She'll be turning 1 before I know it. Enjoy the pics of her. And again, I included a picture of Kate at the same age. (Maggie is the picture on the bottom left and Kate is the picture on the top right.)

Happy New Year!!