We have Movement!

This morning, I dropped Megan off at school - she did great and hopped out of the car and walked on in. You could tell she was a little confused but never skipped a beat. My heart skipped several as I watched my baby walk away....

Then Nicole and I came home to have some one on one time - which was so sweet!

And she crawled for me!!!!!

Sorry the video isn't so great - but at least the moment is captured. This little dumpling has taken her time figuring out how to get moving. But she's got her knee foot schooch down now.

First Day of 3 Year Old Preschool

My little girl just didn't seem quite so little this morning! It was our first day of preschool. Megan picked out her dress and donned her new flashing school shoes and was armed with her backpack and new Princess lunchbox. But right before we left she grabbed Snowball and Blankie for a little moral support - a reminder that my baby is still my baby!!!!She was excited to meet her new teachers - Ms. Theresa and Ms. Mary Kay. In the 3 year old preschool, I just drop her off in the car pool lane (last year I walked her in). That's going to be great to not have to lug Nicole in and out of the car. It's just weird to think that I just drop her off and she goes in all by herself. BUT, today I walked her in because we missed open house last week so she hadn't been into the big building, didn't know where her classroom was, and didn't know her teachers. She was so excited, but I could tell she was also a little nervous. I was expecting a little resistance when I dropped her off - but she was a trooper. She had a moment of hesitation, but then grabbed 2 of the girls from her class last year (Elizabeth and Avalon) and they started a puppet show. We'll see how it goes tomorrow when I drop her off in carpool.

Today when I picked her up - she was all smiles!

I asked her what her favorite part of the day was and she said, "car church." It took me the trip home to realize that "car church" is when the 3 year olds go to sit in the church to wait for the mommies to come pick them up. How funny that that was the best part of the day. Then she remembered that she also really liked playing with Mr. Potato Head.

But the funniest "going home" story involved Megan's friend Macie. Macie and Megan are also church friends. They aren't in the same class - but evidently they got to hang out during "car church" (which is probably one of the reasons why it was her favorite part). Well Macie told Megan that she could come over for a playdate - but first she needed an invisible friend. Megan was telling me this and you could tell she was a bit puzzled as to why she needed an invisible friend and where to get one. Then she perked up and said, "hey, I don't need an invisible friend, I have an Elizabeth friend! I can just bring Elizabeth with me to Macie's house! Mommy will call Elizabeth's mommy and Macie's mommy to set up a playdate." I was grinning on the inside.

9 Month Stats

Here we are 9 months and 1 week - Nicole had her Dr's appt today so we have all the stats...
Little Miss Nicole weighed in at a whopping 24 lbs 2 oz (off the charts - officially they call that >95%). And her height was a hair shy of 29 inches (85-90%).

She's on the high end of the charts but she's maintained a steady and consistant gain.
No crawling yet, but she's exploring.
Her favorite game - peek a boo!
And when she gets happy - boy does she let you know it!

Hard to believe our next Dr's appt is at her 1 year birthday. wow - that just puts the passing of time in perspective.

My First Bun

TA-DA!!! I had a mommy first today..... I made a bun!

And it's not to bad, if I do say so myself!

Today, Megan started her new ballet/tap class. She has been beside herself excited about it. This is a lot different that her previous creative movement type classes.... for this one, she has to wear her "dance uniform" as I call it. And.... she gets to be in a recital in the spring. Although, I think Megan thinks it's next week. That's all she can talk about - since seeing her cousin Anna in her dance recital, she keeps asking when will it be her turn to dance on stage.

Her classes are at a church about 15 minutes down the road. They have an incredible dance ministry and it's so inexpensive (compared to most). The class happens to fall right at both girls nap time - but it was the only time that didn't conflict with Megan's school or my MOPS meetings. But today it didn't seem to be an issue. We made it a whole family affair....

Tom had to work late tonight so he had a little break in the middle of the day and was so excited he got to go to Megan's first dance class. Even Nicole seemed to enjoy the outing.

Megan was so cute doing all her moves.

Nicole practiced her moves too!

Here is Megan's sashay across the floor...

And then half way through it, they have a little Bible Story and change into their tap shoes.

If you ask her - that's her favorite part... the tap dancing. I wish I had pictures of me in my tap shoes when I was kid.

So fun! I'm so glad we found this program - and although I'll miss her teachers at our local park and rec - I'm sure I'll be back there with Nicole before you know it.

It's just so wild to realize that Megan is suddenly at that age where she can "do" stuff.... Ballet classes start, AWANA, and our church is going to offer Children's Choir to 3 year olds this year... thanks to some parent volunteers.... :^)

Fun times ahead!

Happy Birthday Grandma

Happy Belated Birthday Grandma!
While we were on vacation, we did get to celebrate Grandma's 75th birthday!

The girls were excited to help blow out the candles. With all our busy family schedules it's sometimes hard to get together on the actual birthday to celebrate - but this year it was super special because we were on vacation together.There you go mom.... 75 years and 5 beautiful grandkids to carry on your awesome legacy (and your 2 kids aren't so bad either, if I do say so myself).

We love you and cherish you - you've left your mark on everything you've touched!

We love that mark of love!

Perhaps I spoke too soon

Well, when I said I had finished up with the beach posts - perhaps next time I'll actually check my camera to make sure I'd uploaded all the photo's. Oops - only another 200 on there.
So I picked out a few of my favorites to share!

One morning Uncle Kevin was reading his book... so Megan joined him.
And one sad day, Grandma wasn't feeling too great.... so Megan climbed up on the couch for a snuggle. Because, we all know that snuggles just make you feel better.
And what do the grownups do once the kiddos are in bed?
Mexican Train Dominos!!!!! (the night before it was Yatzee).And I just love this sand castle crew....On Friday - our last day there - Megan had just gone down for a nap when the music started. Yep - the ice cream truck! All the other kids were grabbing their wallets for ice cream and Megan popped out of her room to let us know that the ice cream truck was there.... Well, it was the last day.... and surely a little ice cream wouldn't totally ruin her nap (and it didn't). And seriously, can you pass up a Dora popsicle????
Never mind that we had already planned on going to Seaside for ice cream that night.
Like Mommy like Daughter!Me and my girls!!!!Now, I have fully uploaded our trip!
And sadly, once again, we say farewell to the beach....

Just think - next year this little girl will be walking on it!

Happy 9 Month Birthday Nicole

Where has time gone? How is it possible that my little baby is already 9 months old - that's 3/4 of a year. Oh my goodness!

Nicole is celebrating her birthday by getting in a new tooth. Actually she's working on 3 of them - but one of them is finally breaking through. So welcome little birthday tooth - tooth #5.

So what is my little pumpkin up to?

Well, you'll have to wait till next week for the official stats from the Dr's visit. But she's working on crawling. She can't quite get herself moving forward yet. But make no mistake, she can get to virtually anything she wants. She has an amazing bottom schooch. She'll turn herself around 10 times on little pivots to get across the room. She's starting to pull herself up on things - but let's be honest - she's got some weight to pull up so it's still a work in progress.

Eating... I think this little girl would like to skip baby food and go straight to solids. She loves watermelon, cantelope, banana, rice, wheat toast, chicken, refried beans, carrots, and of course, cheerios. That's solid food... baby food - she pretty much looks at you with this "what are you trying to do to me look" when you feed her. But if you thicken food up with cereal she's more apt to eat it. On a good day, I can get you to eat 1 1/2-2 containers of stage 2 food in a day. Unless it's vegetables... she hates pureed vegetables. But she got some little pieces of carrots in her this week so if she'll eat solid veggies - I'm not worried about the purees.

We've realized that when she's teething, her reflux flares. So we are keeping her on her medicine through this first year. Seems like she's on the fast track to get her teeth in.

Her favorite "sayings" are "mama", "uh oh", "aarrggghhh", and "ba ba " (bye bye). She has started waving to people and started trying to clap. She's figured out "object permanence" and will drop things off her high chair constantly just to watch them disappear. If you are sitting near her - she'll lean over you to put a toy on the other side... then she'll get back to her bottom and then she'll lean over to see if it's still there. Very cute.

She is a good sleeper - going to bed around 8 or 8:30pm and sleeping until somtime around 6-7. We don't really know when she wakes up because she is so quiet and plays in her crib until 7ish. Nicole takes 2 naps (10-11 and 2:30-4:00). She LOVES her big sister and just lights up when Megan walks into a room. As soon as she sees her, she starts waving her arms and squeals with delight. It's so sweet to see!!!!

Speaking of that big sister... here's a reminder of what megan looked like at 9 months. Oh yeah - they are definitely sisters!

Family Beach Picture

While we were at the beach we had to spend an evening walking on the sand and finding a spot to capture that perfect family picture. Well - after about 50 shots, wrangling in 4 kids and a baby, all the adults, the sun setting at a very awkward angle... it wasn't quite as "picture perfect" as I had envisioned....

Right down the beach from us, we'd be checking out this huge piece of driftwood that had washed ashore. Let's be honest - it was a huge tree on the beach. And the perfect spot to frolic and capture those Kodak moments.

The kids liked the adventure....
Megan (3), Anna (6), Justin (9), and Daniel (11)

And we did actually get Nicole in one shot. Ok - so she was hysterically crying because (1) mommy put her down, and (2) she was way to close to the water and actually touching the sand.... but hey, we were there - it had to be done!

In no uncertain terms she let me know that she was over of all this photo shoot stuff!
And she was tired!But once she realized Mommy would hold her and she could hold onto my hair, she was good to go.We managed to get one family shot.And did get a photo of Grandma and Granddad with their 5 awesome grand kids!

As Megan would say,
"so long beach, see ya next year!"

My View of Vacation (and some behind the scenes commentary)

Oh yeah... this was my view of vacation (yes, those are my toes as I watch the kids frolic)...Ok, let's be honest about what was going on behind the scenes... with a 3 year old and an almost 9 month old - I didn't really get to frolic on the beach that much, and certainly didn't get to sit under that fabulous beach umbrella that much (which is obvious if you see my lack of a tan and the book I didn't finish reading). I just had the camera, so you don't see me jumping in the waves, building sand castles, and sitting in the house reading while a baby napped (or trying to keep her occupied when she was awake - it's very time consuming to get a baby beach ready for a whopping 20-30 minute visit).

But fun was had by all! This was one of the only pictures I got of all 4 of the cousins together on the beach. Uncle Kevin gave the girls a "ride" on his float.....

Now, behind the scenes.... what you don't see in that photo is that just seconds before Uncle Kevin swept up our little Megan as a wave was starting to crash down on her (see the wave in the corner). He just was in the right place at the right time as Daddy was running to save her from the surf.

The kids did have fun. About 3-4 days into it, Megan was ready for short beach days. It was hot and she was done with all the sand. Although, while she was at the beach - she was enjoying it! We did have a lot of non-beach time too.

At our beach house they had this fish floatie in their storage room. Both Megan and Anna really liked it (note to self for next year!). Here's Megan waiting for the perfect wave...

Ok- let's get another angle on that wave....

And hey, you know if you don't see the perfect wave - just pull up a beach and take a load off...

Now what you can't see in this photo is that Megan is drawing shapes and trying to write numbers (we'd been writing in the sand earlier and she thought that was soooo cool!).

This little girl loves her Daddy. It's so very sweet when she jumps in his arms and exclaims, "Daddy, I am your princess and you are my king." I just love it!

However, she calls me the sweet mommy dragon. HHHUUUUUMMMM... I might be offended by that, except it's how she interprets the pictures in one of her books, I Will Rejoice.

And here's the sweet Nicole giving Grandma and Granddad lots of love!!!!

Now behind the scenes... don't let that cute demeanor fool you. She just couldn't see me. Mommyitis continues with that little one. She did LOVE time with her grandparents, cousins, aunt and uncle - but in her little world... Mommy does still rule!

We have a favorite restaurant down there (Shade on the Loop - best fried shrimp!) and they have a game room for the kids. It's nice to keep them occupied while we are waiting for dinner to be served. Daniel was a great big cousin and helped Megan out on a racing game.

Now what you don't know... is that I am obviously NOT a good racer. It's one of those Tokyo Drift games and I obviously didn't learn how to "drift".... Megan played with me first but we pretty much just kept hitting everything. I wasn't much of a fun partner... I was replaced by a younger man!

Just about every day we headed to the beach for some awesome fun and made some incredible memories....

Laughter was constantly ringing in our ears!

And when we weren't on the beach.....

We had a few DVD's (and the disney channel)....

and a baby to watch.... We really thought she'd start crawling at the beach - but nope - she's just not ready yet. But she is an expert spoon chewer! Something about those 3 teeth that are about to break through!

No matter where we were, or what we were doing...

We were together!

That is the joy of family!!!!

For all those non-family folk... I have one more beach post (probably tomorrow). Then we'll move on to present day activities.