Loong Day

Yesterday I had to take both kids for their well-visits. Nathan for his 4-month and Megan, her 2-year. The pediatrician's office had rescheduled the appointment 3 times, pushing it back over a month from it's original date. I tried to reschedule THIS one to an earlier time or a different day -- late afternoon on Wednesdays is never a good time. The receptionist informed me that she couldn't get us in for another month if I did that... eergh! Since Nathan really couldn't wait another month for his next set of shots, I took the badly timed appointment.

The appointment went just as I expected. Two crying kids! :-) Megan started whimpering as soon as the nurse called "Nathan and Megan." Megan only got louder as we walked down the long hallway to the exam room while Nathan giggled and grinned in the stroller, oblivious to the pain that awaited him. Megan didn't need shots or anything painful, but she certainly did not like the nurse or doctor poking and prodding her. My shoulder was soaked from tears and a drippy nose. After the doctor left the room, she sniffled, "sticker?" When I told her that, yes, the doctor told her she could get a sticker...smiles reappeared. Megan doesn't need to be seen again until she's three...but, since she'll be with me for Nathan's appointments, I'm still expecting doctor days to be full of fearful tears for her.

Nathan did fine. He whimpered a bit when he could hear me but I left his line of vision. Shots went fine...stopped crying as soon as I picked him up. Quite cranky from the time we got home until he finally fell asleep around 9 pm. He seems a little better this morning.

STATS: Both kids are healthy.
Megan - weighs 20 pounds and is about 30" tall. Hard to get an exact measurement when she's trying to jump off the scale. She has dropped into the 0 percentile... I think that just means there's no one else like her in the whole wide world!! :D
Nathan - weighs 13 1/2 pounds and is 24 1/2" tall. He is in the 3 percentile. And, no matter what any chart says, we think there's no one else like him in the whole wide world, either!! :D

Here are a few pictures:



Nathan seems to enjoy the Johnny-jumper thing. Megan hated it as a baby, but loves it now! She thinks Nathan is a big toy to bounce and spin around!



Ready and anxiously waiting for daddy to get home from work:


Phew! That was a long post! Hope you all have a good day! I hope the kids take good naps...I'd love to squeeze one in myself!

Like Father, Like Son

(Thanks, Nana!!) :-)

Fun at Grandpa and Grandma's!

We visited with Grandpa and Grandma P this Saturday. It was a beautiful day, so Megan got to ride in the little wagon that was daddy's when he was little. Even Nathan took a few loops around the yard! Every time the wagon stopped - either to prop Nathan back into an upright position or for the wagon puller to catch his/her breath - Megan would jiggle the side of the wagon and chant, "bumpy! bumpy!" - which translated, really meant, "GO! GO!!" :-) After the wagon ride, Megan got to play a little baseball, too. Both kids (and grandparents!) had fun!

Here are several pictures from the afternoon:

Enjoy the week!

RAAAYYERRR!

I came into the kitchen the other day to find Megan on a chair, pulling the curtain, yelling, "RAAAAYY-ERRRR! Raaaayyyy-errr!!" It took me a couple of seconds to realize she was calling for our dog, Razor! Up until now, Megan has always called him "goggie" or "puppy." It was so very cute! :-) At least Megan was calling for Razor so sweetly...we usually yell out that window to quiet him when he's barking! :-) My, how our children pick things up!

Forgot to mention in the last post that Nathan is growing, too! Several nights in a row last week, he woke up with a leaky diaper! Ick! I figured that meant it was time for a size change! Yep! Our big boy has now graduated to size 3's... and, no more leaking! :-) Both kids have doctor's appointments next week -- Megan's 2 year visit and Nathan's 4 month -- so, we'll see how big he really is then.

Have a great weekend!

Growing and Changing...

Life gets so busy nowadays...with two! :-) When I wake up in the morning, I feel like I just went to bed...and when I fall into bed at night, I feel like I just woke up...? I still take quite a few pictures, but they stay on my camera a lot longer! Transfering them to the computer often gets forgotten.

Nathan is learning to sit with the help of the boppy. He doesn't stay there too long - he'd prefer to roll back and forth from one end of the living room to the other.

He also loves to watch Megan as she plays. You can't see her in this picture...but, that's who Nathan is staring at. Megan, of course, rarely pays attention to him - unless he is grabbing a toy she thinks SHE should have! Lessons in sharing have begun! :-)


Grandpa and Grandma P gave Megan (and/or Nathan?) a ball and bat. Megan has loved learning to hit the ball...and, I can tell daddy loves to be teaching her! They have been having a lot of fun on the rare nights that Ben gets home before Megan is in bed.


Megan doesn't swing the bat, yet...just holds it. So, it takes a lot of talent for Ben to throw the ball just right so it hits the bat! :-)


Megan seems to have gotten the head cold that Nathan had at the end of last week. We've had quite a few nasty coughing spells around here. A little tylenol and cough syrup seems to be helping the miserable!

Hope you're all doing well! We love hearing from you!

Megan's Birthday

First of all, thank you for your prayers for Josiah. The procedure went smoothly, and Josiah did very well. Andy and Stacey probably won't know the results until early next week. Please keep Josiah in your prayers as he continues his feeding therapy. As Stacey said on her blog, it'd be GREAT if he would eat and enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with us!

Megan had a lot of fun entertaining both sets of grandparents while they were here to celebrate her 2nd birthday! She was given many fun and pretty things to enjoy - among them: Mr. Potato Head, Princess jammies, new crayons, a puzzle, a new purse...and more! Megan ate pizza for supper and cake and ice cream, of course, for dessert!

Mommy made the cake. It was my first attempt at a "frozen buttercream transfer." The short of it, place a piece of wax paper over any image (like a page from a coloring book), then, trace and fill in with frosting. Freeze just enough to make the image hard enough to transfer to your cake. Megan LOVES Curious George...so, I chose him to grace her cake. She didn't seem to notice - too much going on. But, the next day when Ben was getting out the leftovers, she got all excited, pointed and said, "GEORGE!!!!" :-)

Cake and ice cream eating was MUCH neater this year! :-) But, I think it was enjoyed more! Only 2 bites of cake were left on her plate!





I'm pretty sure Megan had a GREAT birthday! :-)

Prayer request

Please be in prayer tomorrow morning (Monday, July 13th) for our nephew Josiah. He will be undergoing an Upper Endoscopy - where they put a scope down his esophagus and take a biopsy of it. For those of you who don't know, Josiah has autism and for him, is mostly displayed in severe feeding issues. He is 3 years old and does not eat solid food. You can read what Stacey wrote about it in the 2 most recent entries on her blog.

Yesterday, we celebrated Megan's 2nd birthday with both sets of grandparents. I'll be back tomorrow with more pictures from the day!

Cousins at the Zoo

Were our cousins AT the zoo?? Or did we go with our cousins TO the zoo?? You can decide, but those monkeys looked a little familiar... :-)

Ben had the 4th off, and we decided to make a quick trip to visit Grandpa and Grandma W. We had a nice picnic on Friday afternoon with Mike and Leah and Andy and Stacey. Then, on Saturday morning, we wanted to take Megan to the Seneca Park Zoo. Our nephews (along with parents and grandparents) came along, too. It was a gorgeous day and everyone seemed to have a good time. Megan seemed to like the seals and elephants best.

Cousin Riley's hat passed to Megan, now passed to Nathan:


Swinging:



Nathan and Micah (3 1/2 months apart):

In the butterfly house:


Waving at some animals:


Who wants to ride in a stroller when you've got a daddy?? :-)


Watching the elephants:

Nathan was so good at the zoo! Of course, someone was always holding him, which puts him in happyland!


A snack break...and family picture:


WOW! An empty polar bear exhibit! The polar bears were sleeping on a rock... Actually, there was a waterfall, creating bubbles that Megan was looking at:


A pooped baby:

We had a fun weekend! Hope you did, too!!

Oh yes, new with Nathan -- he can now roll from his back to his belly! Now, he rolls all over!! He's on the move...no stopping him now! :-)

Megan's TWO! Happy Birthday!!

We now have a 2-year old!! We can't believe it! We'll be celebrating this next weekend with both sets of grandparents. So, we didn't do much for Megan today. She got to eat ice cream for supper and will be sleeping in her brand new TWIN big girl bed (Thank you, John and Tracey for helping us get it)! She also got to open some alphabet/number fridge magnets which she loves playing with. We also let her have a tea set that my cousin Carla gave Megan when she was born. I've had it packed away and knew that it was the right time for Megan to enjoy. Right away, she began pouring and stirring "tea" and serving it to mommy and daddy. :-) Thank you, Carla and Rachel! We'll send you pictures of an official tea party soon! :-)

Happy Birthday, Megan! We love you!



Helping daddy put together her new bed:



The big girl bed! (Funny sidenote - Megan doesn't like the sheet over her. She loves her blanket from Aunt Michelle...and, MUST poke her toes through the holes. She kicked off the sheet, found HER blanket, poked her toes through, and THEN was happy in her new bed)! What a silly girl! :-) If you look closely, you can see her toes through the blanket! lol!


Tea time!

Another day...

That glazed over we're-not-fully-awake-but-we-love-to-watch-Saturday-morning-cartoons-specifically-Tigger-and-Pooh-together-on-Saturday-mornings look:


Cheap snack you must try, if you never have: homemade microwave popcorn! Pour 1/4 cup popcorn kernels, 2 tsp oil, and 1/4 tsp salt into a brown paper lunch bag. Fold top edge tightly, 3 times. (Online instructions say to use 2 staples...I'm a little nervous to put a staple in the microwave, although it's said to be fine for this application)! Shake to coat. Place bag in microwave and cook for 2-3 minutes. YUM!!

I can't wait to try some different variations! We've already added a tsp of sugar for kettle corn -- and that turned out not-so-bad! The very bottom cooked a bit too much because of the sugar -- it didn't burn, but it was close! :-) I'm also on the lookout for popcorn salt...couldn't find it in the grocery store. It's finer and supposed to stick to the popcorn better than regular table salt - also causing you to use a bit less.

Let me know if you give the brown paper bag a try - and any yummy versions you come up with!