I'm Sweet like Sugar!

Jude Starts School/Corinne Goes to the Doc

It's official!  As of yesterday, Jude is a pre-schooler.  Ryan and I both took him to Columbia Baptist yesterday where he will be going to school this year two mornings per week.  We were all geared up and ready for the big event, camera in hand.  It turned out to be somewhat anticlimactic.  A group of 2 year olds and parents gathered outside the classroom awaiting the clock to hit 9, and then that was it.  The door opened, Jude walked into the classroom, having never met the teachers before, we said good-bye and that was that.  No tears, no anxious glances.  He was ready to begin!  When I picked him up yesterday he was a little sweatball from having just played on the playground.  The teacher said he had a great time (I still have no idea what they actually did for 3 hours!) and was well-behaved.  Her only comment was that at snack time after being given apples, he asked for graham crackers and continued to ask for them until class was over.  Hilarious!  To explain, the only "classroom type setting" Jude has ever been in is nursery at church and Parent's Morning Out last year--in both settings the snack is always graham crackers.  :)  Clearly, the apples threw him off a bit!  Have I mentioned before that Jude is a boy who really likes his routine?!  No curve balls, please.

While Jude was at pre-school, C and I stepped over to the doctor's office for her 9-month check up.  9 months!  Seriously, time flies.  She's doing just great.  Not much to report besides the fact that the doctor didn't even ask me about milestones--she could tell that she was way ahead of the game through watching her crawl around the exam room, pull up on chairs and cruise along the walls, babbling all the way.  She said we didn't even really need to have a conversation about it!  The biggest news (literally) is that Corinney has gained 5 pounds since her last check-up at 6 months, putting her in the 97th percentile for weight (and 94th for height).  That just means we have more of her to love!!

Swimming

 Alas, I am a bad blogger.  I prefer to think of myself as a busy person rather than a bad blogger, but call me what you will.  The funny thing is that when I sit down to make a post, it's so enjoyable that I think, "why don't I do this more often?"  And then the laundry, dishes, work assignments, and of course general busyness of chasing around two littles chime in response, and I have my answer.

It could also just be that as summer has set in we have ended up spending a lot of time in the pool in order stay cool during our ridiculously (as predicted) hot summer.  Tonight we went to the pool with Uncle Kevin, Tia Dri and Cousin Lucas.  Quick sidenote to say that this post can be partially made possible to Adriana's kindness in giving me a jumpstart by sending me these photos.  Here are the cousins in a couple of shots.  It's virtually impossible to take one with all three smiling, which is why I had to throw in an extra of Corinney with her twin cousin Lucas.  We had a lot of fun!!  We're looking forward to more cousin fun at Lake Anna in a couple of weeks.  If you're lucky, I'll actually write a post about it!  :)

TEXAS!

We've had a great time in Texas!  Sad to go back to Virginia tomorrow.  We have lots of cute photos, so I'll make some posts over the next few days to share.  Hoping for a smooth, uneventful flight with the kiddos tomorrow morning!

Catching up to speed

 Having a little blog binge this evening since I just downloaded photos to my computer from the last two months!  Here are some of my photo favs from April and May.  

 Jude in his "Curious George" T-shirt.  Not much Jude loves more than George right now, which can be great because if you need to entertain him for 20 minutes to be able to attend to something else turning on George never fails.  It unfortunately has become a bad and a bit annoying habit because George is an everyday, multiple times a day request per Jude, and when it's not time to watch, there is a 50% chance of total meltdown.

 Uncle Landon was here for two weeks in April.  It was so fun to have him over to play with the kiddos.  They really enjoyed him.  Corinne has a ton of drool running down her face in the above photo, but we're confident that Landon is used to it and probably more often from less cute patients.

 Jude with his new George T, a present from Uncle "Yandon".

 Hello, little miss Hokie bird!

 Corinney at age 5 months (4/29/11)

 Love this little Winnie the Pooh frock that I picked up in New York when I went with girlfriends while still pregnant with C.

Looking extra boutique-y in her little outfit from Netta.  You'll notice many more of my photos are of Corinne the past couple of months.  It's not because I think she is cuter.  I try to take just as many photos of Jude, but many of them end up being the back of his head because he starts running away from me the moment I turn the camera toward him.  Oh well!  Maybe there will be more photos of Jude in the next batch a couple of months down the road!  :)

First Tastes

 On Friday, we went to our follow up appointment with the pediatric GI specialist who gave us the green light to start solids.  So today, we gave Corinne her first spoonfuls of baby oatmeal (which was recommended over the rice because it will hopefully not have as much of an impact on C's already very slow BM pattern).  Jude enjoyed helping Daddy feed her some spoonfuls.

 Initially, C wasn't too sure what she thought about the oatmeal, so we got some faces like this one.

But...by the end of the bowl, those spoonfuls could not come fast enough!  She loved it!

Daddy's Home!!

Every night the kids (well, and me included) wait anxiously with anticipation for the moment Ryan walks through the door.  Jude wants to wrestle, Corinne wants to join in, and I just want a little break!  :)

Ruffles!

Had to snap a few photos today of Corinne in my very favorite outfit she has worn so far, courtesy of Great Aunt Mary and cousin Ellyce.  I'm so sad she's going to outgrow it soon!  There are some baby outfits that you just wish you had in lots of sizes to support their growth.  This is definitely one of them!

HAPPY EASTER!

 We had a great Easter!  Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day:

 Jude woke up to his own personal Easter egg hunt.  We told Jude he could have one jelly bean.  About three minutes later, we found him hiding with more jelly beans in his mouth!  

 The kiddos before we headed to church.

 Twinkle toes!

 What would Easter be without an opportunity to dig dirt?

Corinne with her cousin Lucas, who is older than she is by 11 days.

Hangin' Out, Bein' Cool

My kids are not looking at me, because they are mesmerized by the TV.  But they love each other!!

Falls Church Community Easter Egg Hunt

 ON YOUR MARK,

 GET SET,

 GO!  

This morning we went to our 2nd annual Falls Church Easter Egg "hunt"...for Jude's age group, it's really more like an Easter Egg "pick-up" as there isn't much need for searching.  All of the eggs and candy are laid out very clearly in a roped off section of a field.  It's always super crowded, but still lots of fun! 

 Corinne at her first Easter Egg Hunt...it's crazy to think that this time next year she will be walking!

 Buddies!

Jude ready to eat up some of his winnings.  That is a forced smile, for sure.  But mommy said she wouldn't open the candy until he smiled for the camera!  :)

Mr. Stoic

Try as I might I just could not get a smile out of Jude this morning...he's not really an "on command" kind of a guy!  But he's still a pretty handsome fellow!

LOVE Me Some Leggies!!

Baby Bloomer

 I am a HUGE fan of infant headbands.  I love them, and usually I think the bigger the better.  However, I put this little flower on Corinney last week, and even I can concede that this one is just ridiculously big!  That flower is the size of her face!  Maybe it'll be a little more proportionate when she's 2!  But she still looks pretty darn cute!

 Little Corinne turned 4 months old last Thursday, the 29th.  Two days earlier she finally rolled over (from back to front) after spending many weeks trying her hardest but just not quite making it over her right shoulder.  When she rolled for the first time my friend Jess and her baby Clara were over visiting.  We were sitting on the floor, and Jess saw Corinne make her move to roll over.  She made a comment about "oh, she's rolling over!" and I said, "no, she gets about this far and then can't get over her shoulder."  And then right there before our very eyes she was on her tummy!  So that was Tuesday.  On Sunday morning, we were getting ready for church, and I put Corinne on her back on her Baby Einstein mat.  She immediately flipped over (as has become her per usual).  I walked out of the room for a couple of minutes and when I came back she was very clearly not where I left her.  I called Ryan into the room and right before our very eyes Corinne just rolled and rolled (back to front, front to back, etc.)  Pretty impressive!  Although now I have no way to entertain her for more than 5 minutes because she's no longer interested in looking at her Baby Einstein star.  Bummer!

 Sweet photo with Daddy...Ryan's going to be a good daughter daddy, I'm sure of it.  I pity the poor boys who come knocking on our door to take Corinney on dates!

Jude is officially in love with his baby sis.  He genuinely loves her and it is precious!  I'll write more on that in a future post.  G'night!

Baptisms

 We received an email today from Jude's godmother, Kimberly Henneberg, to remind us that today is the 2-year anniversary of Jude's baptism.  I did a little searching around on my computer and found the above photo of dressing Jude is his baptismal gown back at St. Brendan's on March 28, 2010.  We recently baptized Corinne at The Falls Church on March 11, 2012.  The below photo is of dressing Corinne in her baptismal gown.  Jude was two and a half months old in that photo, and Corinne was about three and a half months old in this photo.  I think I see some resemblances!  What ended up being very cool, is that our pastor at St. Brendan's now works for The Falls Church.  He so happened to be preaching on the Sunday of Corinne's baptism, so we were able to request that he baptize Corinne.  So both of our children have been baptized by the Rev. Bill Haley, which was very special for us as he has played a big role in our family's growth in the Christian faith since we began attending St. B's shortly after we were married.  

 Cool fact:  This was my baptismal gown, which Corinne also wore for her baptism.  Corinne decided to make her entry into the world on November 29, 2011.  I was baptized on November 29th 25 years ago (or maybe a few more than that but who's counting?)

Photo of the family and godparents (Landon & Lauren Ludwick in case you don't recognize the faces!) the morning of Corinne's baptism.  (Sidenote:  I look at this photo and think to myself, "I am so short!"  I don't feel that short, but there is an obvious dip in this landscape, and it is me!)  Corinne's baptism was beautiful.  Our pastor John Yates asked us some questions, which Ryan answered on our behalf because he is much more articulate than I am.  Ryan had great responses...I don't remember every word, but I know that he said something about Corinne's baptism being significant to us because it is the day that we welcome her into God's family.  It's the day that we made promises to raise her to know the love of Christ and to teach her how to follow Him.  

Growing up, my family always had the tradition to take out our baptismal candle, light it and sing a few songs and hymns on the anniversary of our baptism.  I think as a child (ok, teenager) I found this to be a little cheesy, but looking back, I am so glad that my parents celebrated this anniversary with us every year.  I am looking forward to reminding our children of their baptisms and what they mean.  Of course, I may need help remembering the anniversaries of their baptisms, but thankfully I have godparents who will email me with reminders!  We have started reading some from a children's Bible to Jude, saying simple prayers with him, singing songs and in other ways teaching him about the God in whom we believe.  I am so excited to see how these conversations will become richer as our kids grow older--as a parent, it is one of the things that I look forward to the most!

Spring is Here...and we were more than ready for it!

First of all, I KNOW that I am so, so behind on blog posts!  I blame my very old yet trusty laptop that just does not have enough storage space.  I've had several photos ready to download from my camera for a while now, but I had to move other photos to the external drive to make space.  I'm sure there is an easier solution (perhaps buy a new laptop?!), but this is my method!  :)

A few weeks ago, just as Spring was arriving in northern Virginia, I caught Jude putting these sunglasses on.  I don't even know where he found them, but it made me think, I am so, so, so, so glad that winter is O-V-E-R.  We had an ultra mild winter in our part of the country.  We never even got a real snow, which means that Jude's Christmas present from his grandparents--a snowsuit--is still hanging in the closet sporting its tags.  But regardless of weather, this is one of the more severe winters of my whole life!  I think that at least one person in our household was sick (and most of the time more than one) every single week between Christmas and the end of February.  We saw the pediatrician at least once a week and most of the time twice a week during that time and even got to spend a whole weekend at Hotel INOVA Fairfax Hospital courtesy of an awful RSV virus that Corinne picked up--poor baby.  That was definitely the lowest point of our winter, but we are very grateful that we got admitted to the hospital because she received excellent care and was better within a few days.

We have been enjoying Spring for a couple of weeks now.  Mostly 60-70 degree weather with some days spiking to the low 80s.  It is delightful, and the kids and I are loving getting outside to play and go on walks often!  Of course, the fact that Spring sprung early might have an ultra hot summer in store for us, but I'm not going to think about that right now...

I'll make more posts throughout the week now that I have lots of photos on my computer ready to share!

No Nap!

This afternoon I gave Jude his 5 minute warning for nap time.  I told him I was going to change baby's diaper, and then I'd come back to get him.  Well, I went to change baby's diaper, and when I came back to get him, he was nowhere to be found.  I looked in every room in the house, calling his name as I went.  He was perfectly quiet.  Suddenly, I heard a faint voice singing "baa baa black sheep" to himself and found him under our console table, which sits behind our sofa.  Clever little boy!  I gave him to the count of three to come out, but had a little trouble hiding my smile, because I was sort of impressed by the lengths that he went to in order to avoid his nap.  He's sleeping now.  He always goes down but usually not without at least a little fight.  :)

Walking...

Today Jude requested that we go "walking."  Going "walking" takes no small amount of preparation.  It is usually at least a 15-20 minute ordeal, which includes getting our very heavy, but wonderful stroller out of my trunk, getting a snack and water cup for Jude (because he does not know how to sit in a stroller without them!), putting Corinne in her fleece suit, putting Jude in his coat, hat and shoes and then finally loading up the crew into the stroller.  This is our process when things go well.  Usually it never goes this smoothly.  Usually there is something that trips us up.  Either I remember that it's been about 2 hours since Corinne ate, and so we either feed her right away or walk 15 minutes before she starts screaming from hunger and have to head back home.  Or, in the forever long process it takes to get us ready Jude loses his interest and then it's like pulling teeth to coax him into the stroller.  Somedays I just throw in the towel and decide the walk wasn't worth it after all.  And then somedays, like today, we actually make it outside.  Fresh air is good for us.  And the 45+ minutes of peace and quiet is good for momma.