Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Merry Christmas from the Monkey Family!
We're headed to MN for lots of family celebrations tomorrow. Hopefully we'll be ahead of the giant snow storm that is coming this way. Thanks for reading my blog in 2009, have safe and happy holidays blog land!
Sunday, December 20, 2009
The final countdown
December is moving along quickly! M.G. has been into her advent calendars this year and we're down to just 4 angels left to add to our advent angel chain that we were given. That surprised me this morning as I looked at the list of things I need to get done before we head out to visit family.
This time of year I get a little homesick for family traditions from my childhood, especially the family gatherings we used to have that now, of course, have changed as people have gotten older and families have grown.
We tried out a small tradition tonight. My mom's mom used to make jello Christmas trees for me and my cousins when we were down there over the holidays. She'd have cool-whip and sprinkles for us to decorate them with. I don't know why this was so exciting to me then, but I always looked forward to it. I inherited two of the tree molds and M.G. was very excited about the whole idea.
Unfortunately, neither of them like jello! She put on a good face for a few bites and M2 let his first blob of jello fall out of his mouth as he said, "yucky, yucky." So... maybe not the tradition for us. But I'm thinking they'll forget their dislike of jello by next Christmas.
She lives in her Cinderella dress now. The tiara is for when she is "princess Cinderella" and just the dress is for the rest of the time.
This time of year I get a little homesick for family traditions from my childhood, especially the family gatherings we used to have that now, of course, have changed as people have gotten older and families have grown.
We tried out a small tradition tonight. My mom's mom used to make jello Christmas trees for me and my cousins when we were down there over the holidays. She'd have cool-whip and sprinkles for us to decorate them with. I don't know why this was so exciting to me then, but I always looked forward to it. I inherited two of the tree molds and M.G. was very excited about the whole idea.
Unfortunately, neither of them like jello! She put on a good face for a few bites and M2 let his first blob of jello fall out of his mouth as he said, "yucky, yucky." So... maybe not the tradition for us. But I'm thinking they'll forget their dislike of jello by next Christmas.She lives in her Cinderella dress now. The tiara is for when she is "princess Cinderella" and just the dress is for the rest of the time.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Christmas vacation
M.G. had her last day of preschool a week ago. I was just as emotional dropping her off as on the first day, the semester went so fast and she just seems to have matured somehow.
She and I have been having fun watching Christmas movies and making cookies over the last week. They helped me shovel one day and it was a lot of fun for them to play in their own yard.
She seems to be getting a little stir crazy, so I am happy that the holiday celebrations will begin soon. I'll have to think of some fun activities for our afternoon in January before school starts up again!
She and I have been having fun watching Christmas movies and making cookies over the last week. They helped me shovel one day and it was a lot of fun for them to play in their own yard.
She seems to be getting a little stir crazy, so I am happy that the holiday celebrations will begin soon. I'll have to think of some fun activities for our afternoon in January before school starts up again!
Monday, December 14, 2009
Birthday party!
All 4 grandparents came to visit this weekend for M2's birthday party!
He really got into things, shouting "Happy Birthday Joe-joe!" whenever he could.
M.G. wearing the Cinderella dress that Grandma B made.
"What's in here?"
Tractor party!
Tractor cake!
Yum!
He really got into things, shouting "Happy Birthday Joe-joe!" whenever he could.
Dump truck!
M.G. wearing the Cinderella dress that Grandma B made.
"What's in here?"
Tractor party!
Tractor cake!
Yum!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Normal Development: 2 years old
M2 woke up his normal, chipper self this morning. In retrospect, the reaction yesterday was really bothering him, but it was so gradual that it was hard to trust what I was seeing. Poor guy.
I think the medicine helped him sleep too, which is a big bonus. I was worried he would be awake a lot in the night if he went to bed so early. He still was up at 5:15 this morning, but I'm sad to say that is normal for him. He is just lucky that M.G. got us used to getting up at 5:45/6:00.
The doctor gave us a sheet yesterday with information on the normal development of a guy his age. Here are some of my favorite bullet points from the list:
I think the medicine helped him sleep too, which is a big bonus. I was worried he would be awake a lot in the night if he went to bed so early. He still was up at 5:15 this morning, but I'm sad to say that is normal for him. He is just lucky that M.G. got us used to getting up at 5:45/6:00.
The doctor gave us a sheet yesterday with information on the normal development of a guy his age. Here are some of my favorite bullet points from the list:
- is constantly in motion
- wants own way
- claims everything is "mine"
- cannot be reasoned with much of the time
Thursday, December 10, 2009
M2 at 2
Today is M2's 2nd birthday! He's such a happy little guy. Always talking (in 3-5 word groups now!) and wanting to be a part of things. He has a great sense of humor and really looks up to his big sister.
We're having his small party this weekend when all the Grandparents plan to visit. But, this morning he opened his gifts from us and we had homemade cinnamon rolls for a special breakfast treat.
He really had fun with all of the birthday wishes and singing, but would also say Happy Birthday to everyone else as well.
I made him a little pillow with cars on it and a tractor apron. We also gave him a coupe and he was so excited to see it.
In school last week M.G. made him a special birthday bracelet. He likes to name the colors and try to count the beads.
We brought him in for his well-baby visit today as well. He's 25.6 lbs (20%) and 32.75 inches (10%). We were all surprised that he is so low on the charts, but looking back M.G. had the same trend and is slowly working her way back up the chart. Those active toddlers burn a lot of calories.
The doctor suggested we try him with peanut butter and this afternoon I gave him the smallest layer on bread. He mostly played with it, making a mess of himself. Not long after, a small portion of his lower lip swelled up. It was so sudden that I thought I missed him falling on it. After a few hours his lip went down, but he was coughing a lot and complaining about his mouth and tummy hurting. As that happened, his face was getting kind of irritated looking and after another hour he was feeling good again, but had tiny hives and a red skin all over. After talking with the doctor we got him some Benadryl and he fell asleep early at 5:30 tonight. So, we're avoiding nuts now. I'm a little confused because we haven't been that careful with exposure. He hasn't been given food with peanut butter, but we all eat it and he's had food that has come in contact with peanuts. It's hard to know how to proceed, but I'll be looking into it.
We're having his small party this weekend when all the Grandparents plan to visit. But, this morning he opened his gifts from us and we had homemade cinnamon rolls for a special breakfast treat.
He really had fun with all of the birthday wishes and singing, but would also say Happy Birthday to everyone else as well.I made him a little pillow with cars on it and a tractor apron. We also gave him a coupe and he was so excited to see it.
In school last week M.G. made him a special birthday bracelet. He likes to name the colors and try to count the beads.
We brought him in for his well-baby visit today as well. He's 25.6 lbs (20%) and 32.75 inches (10%). We were all surprised that he is so low on the charts, but looking back M.G. had the same trend and is slowly working her way back up the chart. Those active toddlers burn a lot of calories.The doctor suggested we try him with peanut butter and this afternoon I gave him the smallest layer on bread. He mostly played with it, making a mess of himself. Not long after, a small portion of his lower lip swelled up. It was so sudden that I thought I missed him falling on it. After a few hours his lip went down, but he was coughing a lot and complaining about his mouth and tummy hurting. As that happened, his face was getting kind of irritated looking and after another hour he was feeling good again, but had tiny hives and a red skin all over. After talking with the doctor we got him some Benadryl and he fell asleep early at 5:30 tonight. So, we're avoiding nuts now. I'm a little confused because we haven't been that careful with exposure. He hasn't been given food with peanut butter, but we all eat it and he's had food that has come in contact with peanuts. It's hard to know how to proceed, but I'll be looking into it.
Monday, December 07, 2009
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...
Still trying to unpack and prepare for the holidays here!
We had our first attempt at Christmas card photos:
I took the kids to Portrait Innovations last Friday and was pleased with how it went. M2 refused to look away from my shoulder for the longest time, but eventually a huge bear lured him to the middle of the room. As soon as the photographer took the first photo, M2 ran back to me. I actually told him if he took a few pictures we'd go to MickyD's for lunch and he ran back to the bear. He sat still for about 5 pictures, but that was enough and he then yelled, "McDonald's," periodically the rest of the morning until we finally went for lunch.
The photos are cute and the photographer did an awesome job of getting a good smile out of M.G. Often her photo smiles look really forced and weird. He had a few of those, but managed to get her to really smile a lot too. I liked that the photographer didn't rush M2 and that they print the photos right then so we didn't have to make another hour drive just to pick up the prints.
St. Nick came yesterday and did not disappoint. These aren't the best photos, but the kids were so surprised by their full shoes. In the 2nd photo they both have huge grins. Right away M.G. said, "There are two chocolate Santas, which are my favorite. They are the size of two treats, so I think we're each supposed to get half." We told her that St Nick maybe wanted her to have treats for several days.
We've been having light, fluffy snow here almost every day and it just looks so pretty. You can kind of see it glittering in this photo. Our back yard has huge trees and we are planning to weed out a few to give us more room back there. The trees are great if you just sit on the deck and look around - very private. But, if we want to actually play in the yard we'll need to remove some of them.
The apple tree in the center of this photo was scheduled to be the first to go. It has killed most of the grass back there, takes up so much room, and left a carpet of rotting crab apples for us when we moved in.
We should have just done it right away, because now I've been looking out at it with the pretty snow and have started to like it. Especially how it blocks the view of that house back there. And it has bird feeders we could fill, and it would be perfect for a tree house and climbing tree (I'll have to post a photo of its neat shape), and it will bloom so nicely in the spring...
Since we are still unpacking and busy with house tasks we decided to just decorate our mini-tree this year. The kids were still very excited and have spent a lot of time just looking at it. Here M2 is helping Kermit to see the tree too.
We had our first attempt at Christmas card photos:
I took the kids to Portrait Innovations last Friday and was pleased with how it went. M2 refused to look away from my shoulder for the longest time, but eventually a huge bear lured him to the middle of the room. As soon as the photographer took the first photo, M2 ran back to me. I actually told him if he took a few pictures we'd go to MickyD's for lunch and he ran back to the bear. He sat still for about 5 pictures, but that was enough and he then yelled, "McDonald's," periodically the rest of the morning until we finally went for lunch.The photos are cute and the photographer did an awesome job of getting a good smile out of M.G. Often her photo smiles look really forced and weird. He had a few of those, but managed to get her to really smile a lot too. I liked that the photographer didn't rush M2 and that they print the photos right then so we didn't have to make another hour drive just to pick up the prints.
St. Nick came yesterday and did not disappoint. These aren't the best photos, but the kids were so surprised by their full shoes. In the 2nd photo they both have huge grins. Right away M.G. said, "There are two chocolate Santas, which are my favorite. They are the size of two treats, so I think we're each supposed to get half." We told her that St Nick maybe wanted her to have treats for several days.
We've been having light, fluffy snow here almost every day and it just looks so pretty. You can kind of see it glittering in this photo. Our back yard has huge trees and we are planning to weed out a few to give us more room back there. The trees are great if you just sit on the deck and look around - very private. But, if we want to actually play in the yard we'll need to remove some of them.
The apple tree in the center of this photo was scheduled to be the first to go. It has killed most of the grass back there, takes up so much room, and left a carpet of rotting crab apples for us when we moved in.
We should have just done it right away, because now I've been looking out at it with the pretty snow and have started to like it. Especially how it blocks the view of that house back there. And it has bird feeders we could fill, and it would be perfect for a tree house and climbing tree (I'll have to post a photo of its neat shape), and it will bloom so nicely in the spring...
Since we are still unpacking and busy with house tasks we decided to just decorate our mini-tree this year. The kids were still very excited and have spent a lot of time just looking at it. Here M2 is helping Kermit to see the tree too.
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