Post from the Past

Recap of our trip to Fredericksburg!

Christmas in Houston

We had a spectacular trip to Houston over the weekend! Our good friends Brady and Cash invited the girls to their house for breakfast with a special guest - Santa! Claire was so looking forward to seeing him, but when the time came to actually talk to him, she wanted nothing to do with it. She wouldn't even take a present from him! And Madeleine was not any better....Looks like the girls are taking after their mother!

While we were in Houston, we decided to try and see as many of our friends there as possible, since this is probably the last time we'll be there in a LONG time. We got to play with Nathan and Nolan a bunch, Emma and Sam met us at the park, and a lot of our co-workers met up with us Saturday night. It was so great to see so many people and introduce them to Madeleine.

We finished off the weekend with breakfast on Sunday with Nathan and Nolan, and when we told Nathan and Claire it was time to leave they got soooo mad at us! They grabbed each other's hand and marched away. Claire was so angry she wouldn't even tell Kellie bye. Those two are something special, and it is so incredibly sweet to see them together.

Click here for pictures of the party and our breakfast with the boys! Thanks, Kellie, for being our photographer!

Happy Birthday, Madeleine!

Oh, Miss Madeleine, how are you already a whole year old???

For now, let's just focus on what you've done over the last month:

You're still in a size 3 diaper, but I think we're down to the last box of those before moving up to 4's. You wear 12-month clothes pretty regularly, but in some brands you need to go up to 12-18 months. I have no idea what you weigh, but I would guess around 20lbs.

You get to ride facing forward in the car! You hate the car, but being turned around has helped a bit. We usually have to distract you with nilla wafers or goldfish while you're riding.

You are a walker! You can go pretty good distances on only your feet, but if you want to get somewhere fast, you still prefer your super-sonic crawling.

You are a talker! You've been trying out lots of words lately: water, book, Aunt Jamey, Jack (Honey and H's dog), good dog, and kitty have all been popping up lately. And you love to sing along in your own little way to songs on the radio.

You have SEVEN teeth!

You have developed quite a personality over the last month: you discovered you had a temper. Or, at least, the rest of us discovered you had a temper, and you figured out how to show us. You are a little hot-head when things aren't going your way, or when Big Sister gets something that you don't. You even tried to bite Claire the other day, which was absolutely hilarious. I know we won't think that behavior is funny if you start doing it regularly, but that very first time surprised everybody.

You still love to eat! You know what you want, too, so now we just open the fridge or the pantry and you point to what you'd like. You're willing to try anything, and the only things you don't seem to like are ground beef or salmon. You discovered yesterday, thanks to Big Sister, that Oreos and Sonic tater tots are pretty darn tasty.

You are able to give kisses and hugs, and they are wonderful!

You're starting to understand basic directions, like putting toys away. But getting toys out is still much more fun.

Happy, happy birthday sweet Madeleine Moo! We love you!

Life in the Fast Lane

Whew, what a Fall it has been! Hmmmmm, where should I start recapping?

Around the middle of October, J and I were ready to meet with a realtor and get the process going of listing our house to sell. We were given a great reference, and immediately started rolling as soon as possible. We had a long list of little jobs to get done around the house, then the stager turned our house into a model home, and we finally were up and running on MLS on the evening of Friday, Oct. 29. Because it was late on Friday when the listing appeared, we were warned that no showings would probably happen that weekend because realtors would have to log on to their computers to find it. We headed out of town for a wedding on the morning of the 30th, with the house ready to show, just in case.

Since we were sooooo lucky in Houston with selling that house, I was naively optimistic that we'd have the same luck this go around. By the afternoon of the 30th I was pretty bummed that we hadn't gotten a call yet about a showing getting scheduled. So, there we are, trying to juggle two little girls in a silent church with the wedding about to start, when Jason leaps up out of the pew, grabs his phone, and runs outside. I thought it must have been his "the world is ending" phone, but he came back fairly quickly with a peculiar look on his face. And, just as the bride is about to walk down the aisle, he whispers, "We have an offer." So, I sit through the whole ceremony (thank you, Methodists, for the 20-min service!) wondering what the heck he's talking about since we never received a call that anyone wanted to see the house. Well, it turns out that somebody randomly drove by, saw our realtor's phone number on the sign, and called her. And, since she knew that we were out of town, they skipped the whole keeping-the-sellers-informed part of the process and looked at the house anyway.

So, in less than 24 hours of listing the house, we had an offer! We all agreed on the asking price by Sunday, the 31st of October, along with a closing date of November 30th. So we had exactly one month to figure out what in the world we were going to do.

J doesn't report in to the Air Force Base in Dayton until February 4th, so we decided to have our household goods packed up and moved to Ohio, where they will be stored until we get there. And, in the meantime, we're living with Honey and H.

I will skip the part of the story involving very sick children and my first ever experience with military movers. Needless to say, I was stressed. Let's just leave it at that.

So, now with our house sold, we need to figure out where we are going to live in Ohio. The housing market is horrible there, and knowing that we'll be moving again in five or six years, I initially voted for renting. But, it turns out everyone has that idea as well, and there's absolutely nothing I want to live in for the next five minutes, let alone years. J had a course to teach in Dayton for the last week, and we figured he might as well look at houses while he was there. Maybe he'd see something worthwhile and we might actually be able to close on a house in January so that we have a place to land when we arrive for real with a cat and a dog and two little girls in the middle of winter. And, as luck would have it, he found exactly what we were looking for in the neighborhood we wanted. So, as of January 25, 2011, this will be our new home:

We're giving up about 1,000 square feet and a quarter of an acre, but we'll be in the best neighborhood in Dayton. It's their version of Rice Village or Alamo Heights, with these huge houses next to more modest ones. The schools are top-notch and there are parks everywhere. Even though we really don't want to leave San Antonio, I think we've done our best at making lemonade.

Thanksgiving

We had a low-key Thanksgiving up at the ranch with lots of good food and good company. As tradition holds, we had perfect weather, so we spent lots of time walking off the calories and playing outside.

Run, run, run

Sweet girl with Daddy

Tired of walking

And just plain tired

Birthday Celebration Catch-Up

Here are some links to entries from Claire's birthday:

Birthday Girl, Part I

Birthday Girl, Part II

Our Hauntingly Fun Weekend

We had quite an adventure with our special friends from Houston, Brady, Cash, Nathan, and Nolan. In the mommies' attempt at getting some time to actually see each other and have a conversation, we decided to rent a really old farm house in the middle of nowhere so the kids could play outside and run free. The fact that a really old farm house could potentially be super creepy never occurred to me until we got there and went inside. The place gave me the serious creeps. I put on a brave face, but I will now admit that I was thisclose to packing up the entire household each night and driving us all back to our house to camp in the backyard. Kellie and Kelley, I suspect, felt the same way, because none of us was particularly interested in going to bed either night. And when we finally did, I stayed awake all night waiting for the ghost I was sure would be walking across my bedroom.

Other than one little girl's voice calling for mommy from upstairs (when my little girls were fast asleep DOWNSTAIRS), we didn't have any mysterious visitors. Instead, we probably scared them with all the running amok that went on. It was pretty cold, so our attempts at getting everyone outside failed a lot of the time, but Kelley saved the day with lots and lots of great crafts to keep the kids busy. Even though I was utterly exhausted by the end of the weekend, we had a wonderful time with our wonderful friends. Claire is still talking about living in the house with Nathan and Brady and wonders when we can do it again. Next time, however, I think I'll be voting for a resort with child care.

Craft Time


Big Boys


(Not so) Little Boys


Having a great time


Hot Chocolate!

Madeleine is Eleven Months Old!

Thanks to Miss Magoo's mandatory monthly updates, we're back on the blogging train. Be expecting lots of pictures (as well as a status update on our move) soon.....

But, in the meantime, happy eleven months, Miss Madeleine! You are becoming quite a big girl!

You:
*are all leg - 9 month shirts and 12 month pants are your current sizes.
*still fit into a size 3 diaper.
*crawl at super-sonic speeds.
*stand for a good bit of time all on your own.
*have taken single steps here and there for the last couple of weeks, and yesterday, you took two!
*started a Little Gym class and love it.
*can say "Hi, Daddy" and wave.
*call Claire "Claaaaaah", and Mommy "mamamam".
*still say "num num" for food.
*love to clap and say "yaaaaaah!" when things get exciting.
*use a separate, sing-songy voice when you talk to the pets.
*are very curious. Nothing can be left undiscovered and put together nicely.
*can go up stairs very well, but going down is another story. You're slowly figuring it out, and at least you've stopped taking headers.
*have figured out that certain things are off-limits, like the electrical outlets. When you get close to one, and I tell you to stop, you turn around and flash me the most ridiculously cute smile. And then you proceed to keep going.
*definitely have opinions, and this face is one we see a lot now:
*are really not that into your happy (our word for pacifiers). You will use one only if you are really tired, but otherwise, you'd rather be eating.
*have discovered that Yoplait Greek yogurt is delicious. As well as Chick fil A (oh, how standards change for second-borns!)
*are so sweet and love to put on a show for an audience.

And, now the reason you visited in the first place - pictures!

Aggieland

We checked off another item of our "Bucket List" this weekend - taking the girls to College Station for a game day. We headed out Saturday morning and arrived in town just in time for lunch at CJ's BBQ in Bryan, which was surprisingly empty. Then we headed to campus. We walked all over, showing the girls all things Aggie:

Finding Great! Grandpa Scott's name on the wall at the Association of Former Students:

Watching the Cav parading around. Claire got lots of practice at Gig Em-ing.

Playing under the Century Tree:

Posing with Sully:

And strolling the halls of Zachry:

By the time our tour of campus was complete, we were ready for step-off on the Quad. We found some of J's buddies and caught up with them while watching the spectacle. Neither girl was crazy about cannon booming, but Claire was tickled with her chance at petting Reveille. We walked with the Corps to Kyle, petting Reveille every chance possible, then continued on to dinner at Mi Cocina. (Either they've gone way downhill, or my standards are much higher now....) We got back to our car right at kick-off. I can't think of a better ending to our fun day than the sound of 90,000 Aggies yelling in the background.

Oh, and for the record, the Aggies beat OU 33-19. Whoop!

Halloween

Claire was lucky enough to have two different costumes this year. She was Sleeping Beauty for her school party, then transformed into a pink kitty for trick or treating.

C's school has a Halloween parade around the gym so everybody can see everyone else's costume. Last year, C wanted nothing to do with dressing up, and seeing some of the other teachers dressed up scared her. This year was different. She thought for weeks about which costume she should wear, finally deciding on Sleeping Beauty. She was so excited the morning of the parade and could not wait to get to school. Madeleine and I arrived just in time to get a front-row spot just as the parade started. And, to C's surprise, Daddy showed up right as she was walking in front of us! After the parade, the kids headed back to their classrooms for a pizza party and cupcakes. Even Madeleine joined in to eat, but all the costumes kept her firmly seated in her stroller.



Next up was the night C had been waiting for - time to trick or treat! She watched out the front window for most of the afternoon, looking for any early birds. Finally, it was time to head out. The girls put on their costumes - C as a pink kitty, M as a black one - and away we went. We only did our street, but C had a great time. She's already planning what she wants to be next year - a Super Kitty, whatever that means.

Day Trip to Fredericksburg

We checked off another item from our Texas Bucket List with a day trip out to Fredericksburg with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Jamey, and Uncle Jeff. We played at a playground, did some shopping, ate at the brewery, then finished off the day at the Becker winery.

4-Year Stats

Claire had her dreaded 4-year check a couple of weeks ago. All I can say is, thank goodness she doesn't have to get another shot until she's 11. She knew going into it that she'd have to wear special headphones and listen to sounds, look at a poster and tell the shapes she sees, and get shots. And she was very brave going in to it. But before the exam could even begin, things started going downhill. The nurse made her do what any pink-loving 4-year old girl would dread the most--take off the beautiful pink pants, and put on horrible, blue, way-too-big paper shorts. She finally was bribed into putting them on with the promise of a princess sticker, and she did perfectly with her hearing and vision screen. (As I suspected--the child can hear a whisper on the other side of the house. Especially when it has to do with ice cream or chocolate.) And the exam from the doctor went equally as perfectly. Here are her stats:

Weight: Gained 3.5 pounds since last year, which puts her at 29 lbs, 12 oz: 9th%
Height: Grew 3.25 inches since last year, which puts her at 39.5 inches: 44th%
Body Fat: TWO percent. Lucky thing.

And then the nurse came back.....The first item was the flumist, which wasn't awful, but I think it surprised her. No tears, just a bit of shock. Then we moved her to the table, and I held onto her hands and leaned over her chest. Evidently I was also in charge of holding down her legs, which I didn't know until the first shot went in, and Claire kicked. So the needle tore her leg. It wasn't like a huge gaping tear or anything, but it was definite slice. Poor, poor thing. She wailed. And then wailed some more with the next 2 shots. She calmed herself down quickly enough to be able to leave the office with decency, but then she whimpered the whole way home. She spent most of the rest of the day in our bed watching tv because her leg hurt so much.

She's all better now, thank goodness, but ever since that day, she's been obsessed with booboos and bandaids. Every little bump needs a bandaid, and we're constantly shopping for another box of them. I'm really hoping the phase is over soon.

Madeleine is Ten Months Old!

What a special day for Miss Magoodle--it's 10/10/10, and she's turning 10 months old! She's had quite a month for herself, working hard on communication and mobility.

Little Miss Chunky Thighs is wearing size 9-month shirts and 12-month pants. She's still in a size 3 diaper.

Her hair is really starting to grow, so bows are becoming a wardrobe necessity. Too bad she doesn't think so--she just pulls them out and sticks them in her mouth most of the time.

We're also starting to get her used to shoes, which she isn't very fond of, either.

Moo waves all the time--especially to Big Sister--while she's eating. She takes a bite of food, then lifts up her right arm and waves while she chews. She's also clapping! This just started about a week ago, and she loves the attention it brings her. She has remarkable timing as well, and seems to know exactly when to start the applause.

Mooskie has graduated to professional crawler. She can really move--fast. Her balance is also becoming much better, so now she lets go of whatever it is she's pulled up on. She's still too wary to try taking a step, but she has no problem pushing toys and light pieces of furniture around and walking behind them.

We've also discovered another allergy....eggplant! She broke out in splotches again, but they weren't nearly as bad as the egg reaction.

We've been working on drinking out of a sippy, but aren't having much success. We've tried around 5 different types of cups, and wouldn't you know, the cheapest kind is the one that's giving her the most luck. I think it's because it leaks so she doesn't really have to try hard to get any water out of it.

Happy 10-month birthday, Miss Moodle!

9-Month Stats

Madeleine had her 9-month well baby check yesterday, and we learned some surprising news--she's tall and, huh?, skinny!

Weight: up 2.5 pounds from the 6 month visit to 18 lbs, 8 oz: 36%
Height: up 3.25 inches to 29.25 inches: 90%

It really shows how tiny Claire actually was if we consider the 36th percentile to be chunky! haha

It was a good thing we had a doctor's appointment already scheduled for yesterday, because she developed a rash and a fever on Tuesday afternoon. It turns out she has a mild case of hand, foot, and mouth disease. Luckily, the blisters are staying out of her mouth, and she's feeling like herself today. I just hope Claire doesn't catch it!

No shots for Moo this time, but Big Sister has her big, bad 4-year appointment tomorrow...gulp...

Birthday Girl, Part II

We came home from the ranch for the next party!

Little Sister enjoying herself:

Some post-party quiet time with Uncle Jeff: