Huuummmm, how do you get this open???
Can I just bite it open????
No - she's not really drinking a root beer... but she is trying to teeth on it. It's cold and Megan loves anything that's cold. Megan got ahold of a can of root beer when we were leaving Grandma and Granddad's house this weekend. She was so proud of herself and just looked so cute that I had to share.
My friend Amy has been having little sewing parties to impart her sewing knowledge to her friends. We've all been so amazed at some of the cute things she's making for her little boy - so she wanted to show us that anyone could do it. Today I met up with my friend Grace at Amy's house and she taught us how to sew a cute little dress. No joke, I made this adorable dress for Megan in a little less than 3 hours. It was a lot of fun and very doable, even for me. I love learning new things so it really got my imagination dreaming up tons of little projects. My friend Vanessa is going to let me borrow her sewing machine for a bit so I can practice and try out a few more cute dresses and projects. I think it'll be a fun summer. Now all I have to do is find some of that spare time! 
Here's my little doodlebug in her new dress (Grandma Maddy - the red is just for you!)- she's all ready practicing her model walk down the runway. And, I think she's as happy with it as I am!!!!
Nate found a great rock to climb on.
Will and Rayna crawled everywhere and had fun playing with their toys. 
Megan and Nate toddled all over the place. 
Missy kept up with Jackson and Shelby.
Nate and Megan shared a little plane ride.
Out of all the things to see and do at the park, it's amazing how much fun a stroller can be. And no one was actually playing with their own strollers - maybe that's why is was so interesting - seeing someone else's "stuff."
And Megan was totally captivated by the exciting bushes. Not sure of the fascination there - but from the picnic, to the playing, to the airplanes, to the park, to the strollers, to the bushes - it was a great outing. We are planing on making this trip in the near future!
Megan loves her Daddy! They have a lot of tun together outside!
(Note from mom... Megan is always trying to get to the keyboard so today I let her at it. :^) Uncle Dan, seriously, who would have known that the big inflatable pool whale would suddenly be such a hit - she was so amused with it that I actually got to cook dinner!!! And to anyone who is still trying to figure out what Megan wrote - bone up on those phonetic skills because when your kids start to write, you'll get lots of stories just like it - take it from a 1st grade teacher who had to learn to decipher all that!)
Friday night, we went out to dinner. Now that Megan is an official toddler - our trips to dinner have changed a lot. We prefer...
3. If they have balloons, that is a total plus!
Saturday we had a shower for some friends - Megan loved the company and all the extra attention! Thankfully the clouds and rain cleared away and we had a great cookout and really got to enjoy our backyard. After being outside all day - she decided to come in.... in the refrigerator! I turned away for a second to take some thing out and turned around and realized, not only was she exploring inside the frig (which is normal) but she also realized that she could climb into it. That's a new one.
Note to self.... turn water pitcher around so that the handle is not accessible to a climbing baby (use your imagination as to that one!) And have I mentioned... we seemed to have turned a corner in the bathtime arena. Megan now loves taking a bath again. Keeping her stationary is a bit difficult, but right now we are just happy that bathtime and hair washing don't including screaming.
This book will keep her occupied for a long time. Of course after about 5-10 minutes on her own it's Megan begging someone to read to her. It's so cute though because the books are only 4 pages long so she remembers them and anticipates what is next (as a teacher, I love that - it's a hard skill to teach) and then she starts to mimic the last page. I'll have to try to get a video of her reading a book. It's hysterical.
So I highly recommend this to all my friends - especially if your kids love looking at other babies. You can find it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/054500070X/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img
Of course we went for a walk... afterwards we sat in the backyard a bit. There were tons of airplanes out today for some reason so Megan was fascinated. And the birds aren't quite as scared of her anymore so they'll hop on the ground close enough for her to watch them. And when she gets bored she finds something to get into...
At this point I'm thinking... maybe I should stop her. But she had such a cute "hhuuummm, what to do now" look on her face that I wanted to see what she would do next...
She figured out how to get her feet under her. So I figured she'd hit a wall....
until....
Up she goes some more... At this point I'm getting pretty darn concerned.
She's just flat out proud of herself for scaling the giant stroller. I'm terrified because what does this mean is next????? Her goal, in case you are wondering, isn't actually just to stand up, it's to get to her snack bowl (which is by her hand - which she got to). At this point the photos stopped because I was worried that she hadn't thought about the coming down part. I was a spotter - but she got down to the bottom step really well.... I pretty much caught her at that point - she forgot it wasn't on the ground. :^)
And about an hour later, Tom was watching her in our playroom and I heard - "oh my goodness, sweetie, that's not a good idea, you're scaring Daddy!" (or something like that) - I was too busy laughing to myself thinking how many times I day I hear myself saying something like that. She had figured out how to climb up in her little rocker and stand up in it. Great..... Another adventure in toddler land.
A practice round for the current champ! Gary Player is on the tee, Retif Goosen is on the Rt., and Immelman is on the left in the blue shirt. This is on the 12th tee (part of Amen Corner).
Can't say you've been to Augusta without a shot of Tiger! This is Tiger in the fairway on the 15th. 
Michelson is the little guy in the green in the middle of the green. This is also at Amen Corner on 13th.
Tom and I.... and John and Patrece
Last week Tom's brother let me know about an incident involving one of his former students. Her name is Taylor Strand. Dan taught her in 4th grade. As a teacher, I know how horrible it is to know what one of "your kids" (which they are yours once you've spent a year of life with them) is in trouble.
I've never posted my own student here - Axel - but many of you know that I taught a student who is facing dire circumstances. He is in need of a kidney transplant. He has no functioning kidneys - actually last year they had to remove both dead kidneys because they were so infected they were making him sick. His name is Axel - he was one of my 1st graders. He has lived a long life for a little boy. When he was in Kindergarten he had surgery to remove a brain tumor. Then his Kidney disease hit. It's been heartwrenching on one had to watch this sweet little boy go through so much - but also a lesson in joy because you'd never know Axel was facing these things. He was ALWAYS the bright spot in my day. He's in 2nd grade this year and I pray that he will be able to raise the money for his transplant (they are uninsured) and that he'll have many many years to bless many more people the way he has touched me!
After I got home from the shower, we took advantage of the beautiful day. We are about to have another cold snap so we wanted to be outside with Megan while we could.
Walking outside is still a challenge for her with uneven grass and all. But she definitely pitched in and started in on her first day of outside chores!
Megan had a great time with all the tree trimming and bush whacking we did.
We are also dog sitting for our neighbors. This is the dog that Megan looks for everyday - Bailey. Today we let Bailey out in her backyard and played with her a bit. The boys next door have a new outside toy - a huge fire truck. Megan LOVES it.
We had a great Saturday. We soaked up the sun when it peeked through the clouds and just enjoyed a nice mild day. Tomorrow all that changes - gone are the 70's and here come the 50's. I guess I should be happy with that since it's snowing in MN. Ugh.
So in case you aren't getting it... that would be a bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup in the door that Megan has her mouth on. She's licking whatever dribbles might still be stuck there. Oh yeah - she knows where to find the good stuff!
Well, knowing that she was in good hands and that a sugar high would be on their hands - we left Megan early the next morning to head to Augusta for the Master's practice round... so fun! That will be a post for tomorrow (if I'm lucky enough to find the time to get the pictures on here.)
(sorry the lighting isn't the best)
This was from the beginning of April when she was starting to try to walk longer distances inside the house. I'll try to get a video of her now so you can see how fast she is learning.
And she loves to swing!
This is from the little swing park at the front of our neighborhood - we walk up there almost every day now.
Today I walked in and she was almost inside it - her little face had red marks where she was literally trying to get inside to figure out how to get the front door and windows open (by the way - the windows don't open). She was very frustrated that her head wouldn't fit inside. I tried and tried to show her how to crawl to the other side to look inside (makes for a great game of peek-a-boo), but nope - she wouldn't have it.
She was born with an extremely rare intestinal disorder called Microvillus Inclusion Disease, which prevented her digestive system from working. On March 5th she had a seven organ transplant (small intestines, large intestines, liver, stomach, bladder and two kidneys) at Miami Children's Hospital in Miami, FL.
She's still leary about walking on her own - but she'll take up to 15 steps in between Tom and I, or from a table to us or something else that she wants. She doesn't just up and walk on her own yet (thank goodness - I don't think I'm ready for that step of independence, to be honest.), but she's getting closer.
Megan's favorite game right now is to tell us how big she is..
How big is Megan?
SOOOOO BIG!
Note to family and friends - if you are trying to reach Tom - his cell phone is currently MIA - so if you need him, call our home phone or my cell phone. Thanks!
Please note that her bottom is completely in the air and not even resting on her feet. How on earth is that comfortable? But she slept like this for an amazing 2 1/2 hour nap yesterday. So who am I to question the validity of anyone's napping form, I guess?!?!?
