One week of nothing exciting

Well, I try to post at least once a week... and it's been a week since my last post. We don't do much that's exciting around here. Slowly getting ready for Christmas, though I am way behind in my crafts. I had hoped to finish my niece's present by this Saturday so I can give it to her. But with everything else on my plate, I'll be lucky to finish a complete set for my girls by Christmas! It's not that I'm busy. It's more that the only time I can do it is when the girls are asleep and that's also my cleaning time around here. I think I'll have to push back my bedtime by an hour and see if I can't crank these things out!

It's been a nice, quiet week. We had our ward Christmas party Saturday night, that we had to leave before Santa pictures, since Cadence decided to be inconsolable. She literally ran screaming across the gym to get to me. That was after being restless the whole time. So we packed everything up (not that there's much to pack anymore, no bulky diaper bags for us!) and headed home.

Anyway our adventures of the week in pictures. Thursday night, we went grocery shopping and it took long enough (since we can no longer go during the quieter mid-morning and have to go in the late afternoon) that we just bought dinner on our way home. Megan loved the coleslaw:
Cadence wasn't a big fan of any of it. But she's loving the reindeer antlers we got from the $ section of Target:
We stopped at the dollar store to pick up some snack containers that we saw last time we were there, so the girls had little snack containers for church (since sandwich bags and sharing were not going well). We'd searched for similar containers while out and about running other errands recently, but found nothing. So back to the dollar store we went! Outside they had some rides and I happened to have some quarters:
Let's see... upcoming plans. We have the annual Christmas luncheon for James extended family next weekend. Trying to decide whether to crash another ward's Christmas party, just for another shot at Santa pictures. Looking forward to the next few weeks. Next week James only has a 3-day work week. And the week after that is yet another 3-day work week. So we get lots of James-time coming up. Two 4-day weekends in a row. Yay!

Cadence's 2 year check-up

Well, from here on out, Cadence only needs to go to the doctor for a once a year check-up. I think she'd be more relieved if she actually understood that idea. As it is, she was quite happy to run down the hallway towards the exit once today's torture was over.

As always, the doctor was impressed with our little girl. I'm starting to think it's all an act and he's impressed with all of them. But when he expressed surprise and questioned me further in her colors and letters knowledge, I was quite the proud mommy! Even if she did bury her head in my shoulder every time he got too close and refused to talk to him. She was quite calm through most of his exam until he had me lay her on the exam table so he could examine her stomach and hips and the like. At that point I felt like a rotten mommy because she just laid there with her arms held up and looked at me and cried.

Felt like an even more rotten mommy when I had to pin down her torso so they could administer the booster shot for her flu vaccine. Luckily, when they did the finger prick to check her iron levels so she was so curious about what the contraption on her finger might be, the prick was over before it even registered that she should cry about it. (At least that experience wasn't half as rotten as having to stand back while two nurses took Megan and gave her 6 shots last week. I find it much easier to handle the whole ordeal if I kind of hold her and whisper comforting things. Just watching my babies tense up and shriek and having to just stand there and watch... not fun at all.)

Anyway, Cadence's stats:

At 18 months-
Height: 33"
Weight: 23 lbs

At 2 years-
Height: 34.25"
Weight: 25.7 lbs

She's remained steady hovering right around the line for 25th percentile as far as weight, but she's dropped from 75th to just over the 50th percentile over the past year. The doctor was awesome and ran a quick calculator they have and said given her current growth curve and mine and James's heights, we can expect her to be about 5'6". Megan's curve is slightly taller, I think, so maybe 5'7"? Guess we'll know in 20 years!

Well, I suppose that's all for now. Be sure to check out the post below this for birthday pictures (in case you somehow missed them...)

Birthday Party Pictures

My dad was gracious enough to bring the pictures over to me after he got off of work today, so I can share them with those that were unlucky enough to miss out on the fabulous shindig:

First, my dollar store decorations to decorate the area of Pizza Hut we reserved. I was quite pleased with how easily the place transformed into a little party get together, without costing me an arm and a leg. We had crayons and coloring pages for everyone. It was a toddler party, after all. Crayons seemed a fitting theme. For the most part, everyone just hung out and chatted:
The tasty food we served. Gotta love pizza. Certainly can't go wrong there!:
Cadence having fun on the coin-operated car, though we didn't put any coins into it:
The lovely cake. I was quite pleased with how it turned out. So far from what I initially envisioned. But I made do with what I had and it turned out cute nonetheless. The smash cake was nothing special, so no need to share that. I just loved the crayon scribble idea:
Cadence attempted to blow out the candle with me:
Both girls enjoying their cake. Cadence was quite neat with it (until she attempted to clean her hands with her shirt). Megan dove right in. (Be sure to enjoy the video my dad took!):

Look, I was there too (it's not often I post pictures of myself, since I'm usually behind the camera. I couldn't resist). My mom took over cutting the cake soon so I could sit and enjoy Megan making a mess:
Opening the presents. Cadence and Megan got constantly distracted by all the new toys, but we did coax Cadence into opening a few between new toys. A few favorite shots:

Just another post of nothing important

Still waiting to get my hands on the birthday party pictures. We had a lot of fun with friends and family, but I'll have the details for the photo montage that I will hopefully have soon. The girls have been dealing with a cold that Cadence brought home from nursery. A few pictures to show off real fast.

Megan and her snotty nose (notice the surplus of Mega Blocks littering the floor):

Cadence chatting it up with me. Look how old she looks:

Daddy made sure her nose stayed clean (I love daddy-daughter pictures and wish I had a ton more of them):

They were counting to make sure all the soda cans were accounted for:

Things continue to be both quiet and hectic all at once. Megan is chatting up a storm and mimicking new words every day. She's walking like a pro and helping her sister get into everything they're not supposed to. Cadence has mastered about a dozen or so letters already, all from watching "Leap Frog Letter Factory" over and over and over... and over... But, the sucker works and it entertains her, so I let her watch it at least once a day. I'm putting off working on numbers until she gets all of them down. I don't want her confusing her numbers and letters, since the two have very different functions.

We put up our Christmas tree today and both the girls were fascinated. They weren't so interested until I plugged it in and it lit up. Then they were enthralled when suddenly toys were hanging on the tree, too. Unfortunately, my only shatterproof ones were silver, so our tree looks a tad plain (white lights, silver ornaments...). I'll be purchasing some more shatterproof ornaments in a different color to add some more sparkle to the tree. Cadence tried to put the ornaments on the tree, but kept trying to put the ornament directly on the branch rather than using the hooks. Megan's only contribution was to pull the ornaments off that she felt were in the wrong place on the tree and bring it to me to correct. So helpful. The tree would not look proper with our her critical eye...

Megan's 1 Year Stats

Megan had her check-up today. Been awhile since I did one of these posts, it seems. And after her 18 month check up, I'll only be doing these once a year. Anyway, teeny Megan still cannot be legally flipped to forward facing and at the rate she's going, she may not be legally able to for a few months yet.

Also, due to way too strict of regulations, she did not get her shots today. Her last set of shots were of 5/20. It has to be at least six full months and Megan went in on 11/19. That's right. Despite being reminded by my dear sister who went through a similar experience recently, I did not check the immunization records and took Megan in for her check-up one day too soon for her to get the next round of vaccines. So we'll be going in next week (this time with Cadence in tow, oh joy!)

Ah yes, but Megan's stats (again with her last round of them for comparison's sake):

Height: 28.75"
Weight: 17lb 3oz

Previous stats (August 19, 2010- 3 months ago)

Height: 28"
Weight: 16lb 4oz

I was a bit shocked that she barely grew over the past 3 months. She weighs less than Cadence did at 9 months old! She's dropped off the charts, if just barely, in weight, and is in the 25-50th percentile for height, so she's dropped a few percentiles there as well (remember, she started out in the 90th here)

The doctor's not concerned. She's meeting her milestones ahead of "schedule" and doing well besides. After just over a week of really working on her walking, she's walking I'd say 90% of the time. It's rare to see her crawl anymore. She's happy and playful and loving and energetic. I'm more or less unconcerned, but I admit I do have a few worries crowding in the back of my head where I've banished them. If she drops any further at her next appointment I'll make a point of pressing her doctor a bit. I kind of wish she had a 15 month check-up. Maybe she'll catch a cold around then, so I can take her in anyway...

Terrific Twos, here we come!

Ah, the power of positive thinking...

Cadence is two!!! Not only has one baby become a toddler, but the other is now on the verge of being a preschooler! She is so smart. I am amazed at how far she's come in a year.

She met most of her "big" physical milestones by one year old. But she's mastered running and stairs and jumping over the past year. She throws balls, she climbs up and down easily. She's learned to manipulate the world around her, especially in dragging a dining room chair into the kitchen to get to the counters. I can't say how much taller she's gotten, but I imagine she's got at least another inch or two. Her face no longer as the baby chub it did and her hair is still baby fine, but if you stretch the curls in the back her hair's almost six inches long in some places! She'll probably be getting her first haircut soon, if only to even everything out (since the hairs on top of her head are, at most, three inches long).

But, most of her leaps and bounds have been in words and the like. I can't even count the number of words she knows. If I were to try to write a list, I'd probably spend all day remembering "just a few more" to add to it and just as it was complete, Cadence would come up with a few new words herself for me to add. I don't even know where she gets them anymore! Just the other day she used the word "chocolate" instead of "mems" for her M&Ms.

She knows all her colors. Not only can she point to them, but she can hold up something and tell you what color it is without any prompting. I kind of helped her, I'd point out colors whenever I had the chance, but she picked them up so quickly once she put her mind to it! She counts to 10 regularly (while holding up her fingers appropriately) and we're working on her ABC's. Right now she loves the Leap Frog Letter Factory movie. We must watch it 2 or 3 times a day... in a row! She stunned me yesterday when the characters got the S-room and she began hissing the S-sound before anyone else even said the name of the letter. She hasn't done it since, but it was still a "whoa" moment.

She loves all songs. Nursery has really broadened her experience in that. I would sing to her, but she was never expected to sit and listen to my songs. In Nursery, her participation is expected, and she now loves songs. She knows all the hand signs for "Popcorn Popping" and sings "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes" often. She'll walk in circles singing her ABC's. One of her favorite requests is "Jesus", more commonly known as "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam".

She knows an amazing number of animal names and even knows the sounds for a large number of them. Her favorite is the chicken and she'll "bok-bok-bok" almost fast enough to be convincing! Right now all puppies are "Oreo", and most cats are "Hanna" (which sounds more like "nana" right now), but they "oof" and "meow" appropriately. And bears, tigers and lions all "roar" as well.

I could probably go on and on about everything she's learned over the past year. Any other mother of a 2 year old knows exactly how much they learn. But, I'm still impressed with my daughter (even if she might be only "average"). And she has an awesome personality. She may be stubborn and tantrum-prone, but she's so quick to please, eager to give a hug, and loves to just laugh at whatever she can. She loves shoes and "pretties" (hair barrettes). She'd spend an hour in the bath every night, if only the water would stay warm that long. If she could live at the playground, she would, especially if she had sidewalk chalk to keep her entertained for the rare moment the playground didn't. Such a sweet girl, even with her stubborn tendencies. :-)

One Year Old

One year ago today... wow. I've both dreaded and looked forward to this milestone, as if this first birthday is what makes my baby a toddler for good. It doesn't matter that she walks everywhere or that she already uses a few words... she's 1 and that makes her a toddler. Officially.

This past year with Megan has been so different from my first year with Cadence, and it only has a little bit to do with raising two instead of one. Megan is my laid back little snuggler. She smiles at the drop of a hat and always has (seriously, just smile at her and she'll grin big!). She's quite the distraction during church classes, but, luckily, nobody ever minds. She's just too cute to get annoyed with. She adores playing with her sister, but would gladly spend the entire day glued to my side if she had the chance. With as much as she wants to be held, it's a wonder she learned to crawl or walk! If I ever lay down in reach she'll crawl over and either lay against me or try to pull up my shirt so she can blow raspberries on my belly.

She's into everything, as all toddlers are. Her favorite toy to play with is a bin full of toys so she can take them all out one by one; or just swish her hands back and forth and listen to the toys clink together. Her second favorite toy is a tie between my pots and pans, and the singing puppy that Nana got Cadence last year for Christmas. She can semi-capably put the Mega Blocks together and will spend much of Sacrament reassembling the mini towers I break apart shortly after she completes them. She still crawls, but only about half the time. Walking is her first choice if she's already standing, and even sometimes when she's not. Crawling is her first choice is she's in a hurry.

She has a few "words": "All done" is delivered with her hands outspread in a helpless manner and is quite clearly stated. "Hello" is garbled, but she puts her hand up by her ear like a phone when she says it (or if you say it). "Meow" is always repeated after a cat or someone else. I suspect she's starting to use "ma" and "dada", but cannot prove it, so I won't say she is. But she has looked at me said "ma!" and fell forward for a hug and will point to James and shout "da!" and bounce. Still, they could both be random sounds as well. Only time will tell. She's quickly learning what the word "no" means, but only because I use it so often given her new fascination with plugs and outlets.

She loves sippy cups and will crawls across the apartment at full speed if she sees one laying on the floor. This certainly causes problems when it's one of Cadence's pink sippy cups! Other than night feedings, she's pretty much entirely on solids now, and we'll probably begin fighting her on the night feedings soon (I'm just too tired to bother, lol. Oh, the irony!). She's perfectly capable of long independent play, but she prefers having someone, usually her sister, playing nearby. She loves books and will do her best to interact with the book when we read our story at night together.

She's quickly evolving into a toddler, though. She scrunches up her face and throws a fit if you won't let her grab the cell phone, remote control, or game controller that she has her heart set upon. At one year old, she's got tantrums down rather well. I blame the influence of her big sister. ;-) So, while she's my sweet laid back kid, she's got a stubborn streak as wide as her sister's. Luckily most tantrums are smoothed over with a few snuggles.

Three years and still going strong

Who would have thought the broad-shouldered scruffy redhead who got grumpy with me the first time we met (because I pointed out he was doing something the wrong way, and I was right), would be the guy I've enjoyed three wonderful years of marriage with? I may not get butterflies every time I see him, but I still get them. Especially when he happily confesses, early, the surprise he'd had planned for me for our anniversary, which includes him home early and a cheesecake for us to scarf down right from the platter as we enjoy a late night Bill Engvall comedy show via Netflix.

Saturday night, my sister has graciously agreed to babysit, so we'll be scampering off to enjoy a hockey game, complete with hot dogs and sodas, from the cheap seats. I think it's going to be glorious. Honestly, at this point, I can't imagine a better anniversary. Who needs fancy dinners, candlelight, and jewelry? Cheesecake, hockey, and hot dogs sounds amazing to me.

Anyway, if there's any doubt, I absolutely adore my husband. I do. I probably don't tell him often enough (but he'll probably read this, so this is me telling him again, I guess). Sure, we have our moments where we probably just irritate each other to death. We live together, that's what happens. But three years later, we're still living up to our goal of never fighting. He still makes me laugh pretty much every day. I love watching him with our girls and I love how he takes pleasure in the small things, things I tend to overlook because I'm always around them. He takes his priesthood responsibilities seriously, and he's so passionate about fulfilling them to the best of his abilities.

I am amused that some children find him scary. Even his Sunday School kid once remarked "Do you realized how scary you are?" He has such a gruff exterior, but he's the biggest softy in the world, something I tease him about constantly. Yet, while other toddlers eye him nervously, our daughters know what a teddy bear he is and will gladly settle down to snuggle with him.

Yes, my husband is pretty amazing. I think I'll keep him around for a little longer.

Acting out for Attention

Cute stories, cute stories, cute stories. My kids may drive me up the wall and I may be relieved when bedtime finally arrives and I can sit back and put off doing the cleaning around the apartment. But, my kids are cute.

Cadence has begun actively seeking my attention. Especially in the form of mimicking her sister to get it. This afternoon, Megan got her leg tangled up in the cord of the vacuum and I swooped into rescue her. As I gave her kisses to calm her down, Cadence raced over and wrapped the cord loosely around her own leg and began fussing. She happily accepted my rescue and kisses and went about as if nothing had happened. Then, later, Megan toppled over and I ran into the room to once again administer kisses and snuggles for comfort. Cadence immediately rolled herself off of her bed and began whining for attention.

Later on, during bathtime, Megan was standing up. I very firmly told her to sit down and once she complied, I gave her a cheerful "thank you!". Almost instantly, Cadence popped up to a standing position and grinned at me expectantly. She was overjoyed when I also issued her the command to sit down and gave her the "thank you" as well. Silly girl!

Megan's also begun interacting more. We're loving it. Aside from insistently pointing to what she wants and throwing fits when she doesn't get her way, she's begun "singing" with me. I sing silly songs with Cadence on a daily basis. Her favorite song is the "3 Little Monkeys Swinging in a Tree". She loves it. I sing that song more than any other song. This evening, though, as I was waving my hands to be the 3 little monkeys, I noticed Megan holding her hands up and waving. As I got to the alligator she began clapping. I realized she was "singing along" in the only way she could.

Even cuter, after bathtime, she got a very serious look on her face and clapped her hands once. I grinned at her, but kept putting her in pajamas. Again, the serious look and her hands clapping once. She was beginning to look quite upset. On a hunch, I began singing the song again. She got the biggest grin on her face and immediately began waving her hands along with mine. Once we'd gone through it once she was perfectly content to crawl off.

It startles me, sometimes, how old Megan is getting. Cadence I'm used to aging. Each of her milestones is new, and while I love watching Megan master new things, sometimes it's easy to not treat her like she's a 1 year old. She's my baby. Cadence is my precocious toddler who masters new things daily, Megan is my sweet cuddly baby and she's supposed to stay that way. It's so strange to think that she's not a baby much longer. She'll be 1 in less than two weeks. She's walking more and more. Soon, she'll be talking. Heck, she already says "all done". When we finish diaper changes, or clothes changes, or when I asked her if she's done eating, she'll hold out her hands and say "all done". Sometimes she'll say it for no reason whatsoever. She claps and says "yay" and "whee" and she chases after Taz meowing the whole time...

Luckily, they're both pretty sparse on the whole hair thing, so until I have to start putting their hair in ponytails and barrettes, I can at least pretend they're still babies! Except, one of my babies starts Sunbeams in just over a year, and the other one starts nursery next May. Gah!

This is Halloween

Boys and girls of every age

Wouldn't you like to see something strange?
Come with us and you will see
This, our town of Halloween

I love that song from the "Nightmare Before Christmas". I think a part of my affection for the song stems from 8th Grade Show Choir, when we sang the song with flashlights under our face being turned on and off in a choreographed fashion. So very cool to a 13 year old...

Anyway, it is Saturday night, so the bulk of our Halloween activities are coming to an end. Tomorrow night we'll be handing out candy to the plethora of kids that live in our complex (and perhaps a few complexes over). We've got a skeleton on our door and pumpkins on our porch. So it's not completely over, but it's mostly there.

The girls have enjoyed three different parties. First a small playgroup get together, where the girls ate brownies and cookies at 10 in the morning and "trick or treated" down a hallway with all of three doors. The girls were dressed up as pirates. Cadence is technically wearing a "boys costume", but she's such a doll in it! And Megan looks precious in the pirate princess costume we'd initially bought for Cadence:

Anyway, Friday night we crashed Nana's ward's Halloween party. This was a fairly late start for a party, so the girls didn't do as well. They enjoyed the dinner and Cadence was happy to get a small bit of candy in her pail. She was tired, though, so we only made it once through the line (goodness knows there was enough candy to make it through multiple times before they even came close to running out) before we escaped.

Then tonight, we went to our own ward's party. This one started much earlier, which was convenient. Except Cadence went down for her nap late and we had to wake her up in order to be late for the party. Still, once she got to fish for some tootsie rolls, she was in a pretty good mood. Plus, they served hot dogs, which is always a favorite of hers.

She was much more awake and happy for tonight's trunk or treat, though she still threw a fit that we were steering her towards it (some days she refuses to go where we want her to go, just out of spite). Once we got to the first car and she was given a sucker, she calmed down. We got to the second car and she happily ate her sucker while I trick or treated for her. By the fourth or fifth car, she realized that when I held out her hand with the bucket people put more candy in there for her. By the end of our first trip through the cars, she was happily holding out her bucket with one hand and impatiently pointing to the empty space inside with the others until the people put candy in her bucket. She even insisted on two helpings from the bishop. She was also not shy about showing her disapproval of what one person chose to put in her bucket by taking it out, dropping it unceremoniously on the ground, and walking on to the next car.

So, tonight, we retire the costumes. I'll probably hold on to them until next year, just in case. But they'll most likely be replaced with new ideas. What fun is re-using costumes, after all? Maybe we'll just toss them in a bucket to become dress-up clothes.