New Shoes!

I think I mentioned a few posts ago that my friend Ann-Elise was visiting and brought Katie some adorable new shoes... that she made! Anyway, I attempted to make them myself. Here was the trial pair... too small for Katie and a little crooked around the edges.

Then I got serious. I shopped for cute fabric and, after a few false starts (including a visit to the sewing machine repair shop because I threaded the machine wrong), I finally came out with these.

Now, they're a little big for Katie right now. I think I used the wrong size pattern, but they'll fit soon enough. I'm excited to make another pair!

Sick Baby

I know it's been a while... it's been a rough week all around so rather than complain on here I decided to just take a break. Anyway, Katie is pretty sick. I think she's feeling a little better today, no more fever, but she still sounds bad. Here's an example from yesterday of her Katherine Hepburn voice.



Now, Owen isn't immune to sickness, but I feel like since he's been in school he hasn't gotten sick too much. I think he's become more of a carrier child... he carries around the sickness and passes it out to people at random. Anyway, he isn't sick this time, thank goodness, but here's an example of his budding little boy humor.

What a busy day we had! Dan and I basically took turns running errands and Owen came with us every time. He was really good today. Even when we had to wait 30 minutes at Joanne's Fabric to have 1/2 a yard of fleece cut because of the obnoxiously rude women in front of us. He was very patient and really really good. So I let him get Oreo's at the grocery store. We rarely get them because Dan eats them really quickly... okay, okay, Dan and I eat them really quickly. :) Here he is enjoying his 3rd oreo which he talked me into giving him so he could taste what it's like to dip it in the milk. I know, I'm a sucker.


Here's Katie just being cute, as usual. She's sporting her new shoes and her POOP (Protest Outrageous Oil Profits) t-shirt from Grammy & Grampy.


Dan gave her a clementine to suck on earlier. I'm pretty sure it says somewhere that babies shouldn't have citrus yet but she sucks on lemons and has no problem. Anyway, she loved it and was very angry when we took it away. Shortly after this video she managed to get a piece of orange off of the rind and sucked it right into her mouth. We pulled it right out but it was a little too stressful for us so we had to take away the orange.

A Crafty Day

Today my friend Ann-Elise visited with her kids. They live up in Vermont and we went to college together. It was a great time, we haven't seen each other in years and it was really nice to catch up. Anyway, she's unbelievably crafty and she taught me some new tricks today! I'm so excited I'm going to head to Joanne's Fabric tonight so I can get started. She showed me how to crochet a rug out of old t-shirts. It will be making an appearance as a bath mat once I'm finished with it. She also showed me how to make adorable shoes/slippers for Katie. I couldn't get Katie to sit still long enough to take a picture so here's a video of the ones Ann-Elise made for Katie. So cute!!

All about Katie

Did I already do a post all about Katie? I just uploaded all of my pictures onto the computer and they were all of Katie. Should I feel guilty about that? Well, there was a video of Owen and Caroline talking. I hid in the hallway and eavesdropped on their conversation.

Anyway, today's post is about Katie. I call this her little bird mouth... she's waiting for me to feed her.


Here she is loving the wooden rocking horse at my parents house.

The Three Stooges and Valentine's Day

I was napping this morning and woke up to the sound of Owen laughing. When I came downstairs he was alone in the living room watching The Three Stooges. I guess their humor never gets old. I thought this video of him was particularly funny because of the nose-wiping. I was taping him but watching the show and Dan was on the couch watching the show. You can clearly see him checking to see if we're looking while he wipes his nose on his sleeve, then onto his pants. That's why Dan, Katie and I are all sick right now... because of our carrier child.


We started Valentine's Day with a nice cuddle in bed.

We celebrated last night with some yummy cupcakes.

Here's Owen showing off his present.

The Aquarium

It's late and I'm exhausted, but I feel guilty for not posting for a few days. So here are a few pics from our visit to the aquarium on Friday. Sorry about the poor quality. I had my flash turned off for most of the visit until I complained about my camera and Meredith suggested checking the flash. Then, when I realized it was off and that was why it was taking bad pictures, she wouldn't go back and retrace our first hours there. Can you imagine??! Anyway, enjoy!

Meredith playing a game in the Jellyfish exhibit


Checking out the Jellyfish


Enjoying lunch


Katie and Owen looking at the Giant Ocean Tank



Making friends with the turtle


Measuring up to the shark


Taking a break outside the touch tank


Owen holding a starfish in the touch tank


Checking out the Seahorses

93 minutes and $50

I just spent 93 minutes on the phone with HP technical support. It cost me $50 so they could tell me that my computer wasn't working because the trial version of Norton Antivirus wasn't completely uninstalled when I uninstalled it. I think Norton has a good racket going because first you pay so they'll protect your computer, then when you get sick of them harassing you to renew and you try to uninstall the program you actually have to go to their website to download a special uninstaller! But nobody tells you that when you install it. So if you don't know that you end up with a computer that won't work and you spend over an hour on the phone for $50 so someone can tell you that Norton isn't done annoying you. Anyway, now that I've dealt with that I can tell you about our day yesterday. Caroline came over and played for a while. She managed to convince the boy across the street to pull her around on the sled.

This is just a video after the kids ate massive amounts of food for dinner.

Just go to bed!!

It's truly amazing the things that my child will do to delay bedtime. Let me replay our story this evening. We read a Spiderman book.
Me: "Like a spider, I can climb walls."
Owen: why can he climb walls?
Me: because that's what spiders do. "My fingers can stick to anything."
Owen: why can his fingers stick to anything?
Me: because that's what a spider can do. "I can swing through the city on a strand of webbing."
Owen: why does he shoot his web?
Me: that's how he gets around. "I can flip, dip, and whirl."
Owen: why does he flip, dip and whirl?
Me: (laughing) "I am strong enough to fight four bad guys at once!"
Owen: why does he fight four bad guys at once?

At this point I just gave up. He pretty much did that throughout the whole book. Then we finished and talked a little about what we'll do tomorrow. Now I'm downstairs and he's already been down here once. This is precisely why Katie has been in her crib since 3 months and will never be invited into our bed. I'm pretty sure Owen will still be coming into our room well into Elementary school. We'll see.

This feeding thing isn't all it's cracked up to be...

Okay, we tried Green Beans for the millionth time today. Here's the picture after two bites. I'm not kidding, this is after only two bites.


There really wasn't much excitement today. Actually, I did manage to chip away a lot of the driveway ice which was kind of fun. Dan finally took some alone time and went skiing. It was a great day for it too. Sunny and warm (compared to other days) and good snow. Owen had to try out the boots first though.

Please...

All I want is some peace and quiet. Is that so much to ask? I know it's a really hard job to be a stay-at-home Mom, obviously I know this. I'm just having one of those days where I'm not enjoying the job so much. I would like my children to do what I ask them to do the first time and I would like them to stay where I put them. I would also like someone to invent a drug to make preschoolers nap. It sounds bad but I think it would work really well for parents and kids if used responsibly. :) Okay, I'm kidding about the drug. Here are some cute pictures from today. I'm going to take some Advil and make dinner for Dan. Ugh, and Owen just told me that Katie spit up on her floor... except she doesn't spit up anymore because she eats regular food, so now it's more like throwing up. I feel like walking around the house repeating the Serenity Prayer over and over.

Pizza Night!

We had Caroline come for dinner tonight. They made their own pizzas. It's not nearly as messy as when they decorate cookies. Anyway, they had lots of fun. We only had one snafu when Owen decided he wanted a heart pizza like Caroline, luckily I just cut it into the right shape and everything was fine again.




Just for the record... I uploaded these photos and video, blogged about it, and did some stuff online, and Caroline is still eating! She eats like her mother, slow as a snail!

Get that out of your mouth!!

My child puts everything into her mouth. Seriously. We were at the grocery store today and I took the reciept and as soon as I touched the cart, she grabbed the reciept from my hand and shoved it in her mouth. I'm not kidding, she literally shoved it in her mouth. It's like she knows I'm going to take things away so she tries to taste them as quickly as possible. But then, when it's something you would normally put in your mouth, like say, food, she spits it right out, or worse, won't even open her mouth to take it in. It's a totally new experience for me because Owen was not like that at all. I guess everything is a new experience with this crazy child. Lately she is much more interested in feeding herself than in anything I give her. Today we tried peas and carrots for dinner. It was really cute the way she picked out all the peas and left the carrots on the tray.


After lunch we met Kevin and Caroline at the NAZ (Nature Adventure Zone) at our gym. It's a fun place for the kids to run around and climb, especially when it's cold outside. They get nice and tired and then come home and have quiet time. At least, that's what I aim for.


Then, while I was getting dinner ready this evening, I glance over next to me and this is what I see.

Yeah, right next to me Owen is "fishing" for Katie. Somehow he's climbed up onto the counter right next to me without me noticing and Katie has crawled away from her pile of toys and is trying to climb up after him. I'm convinced that I gave birth to myself twice and now I'm stuck with me at two different stages. Two very difficult and hard to keep up with stages. I'm just waiting for Owen to shave something he shouldn't or Katie to climb the stairs without me noticing. Hey, if my parents made it through I guess I can.

I'm a Yogi!

I'm so excited! Tonight I managed to do the wheel in Yoga class! I was really excited and had noone to tell since my husband goes to bed at an ungodly early hour. Well, I guess Meredith was right next to me in class when I did it, but I wanted to tell someone else! I was just going to pop up to the crown of my head like I usually do but I went all the way without even trying! It was awesome! Then I was like, "holy crap! what do I do now!" Anyway, here's a picture of the pose...

Isn't that picture crazy? Obviously it's not me, but that's totally what I wear to yoga! Just kidding. I just thought it was so weird looking that I had to use it. Okay, Meredith is picking me up for the gym in less than 7 hours so I have to go to bed. Goodnight!