Picture pages, picture pages

Ryan having fun at the museum.

Anna hanging out.


Two peas in a pod.

Maddie appearing to pick her nose during the Sunday School choir. I think she's just itching.

Dad and Maddie after getting dolled up with face paintings.

Me and Maddie hanging out on Sesame Street.


Anna learning to suck her thumb while doing her Alfred Hitchcock.

Pooped!

Just got home from a hectic day. It wouldn't be a Saturday at our house without it being hectic. We made a last minute decision to go to Lincoln today to exchange a shirt for Maddie's size and exchange a dress she didn't like for an outfit she does. We had planned to stay in Lincoln a little longer but saw that the interstate was closed west of Kearney and decided to make it a quick trip. We did get a chance to pick up some Colby Ridge, a delicacy not found in Omaha. On the way in to Omaha we made our weekly trip to Whole Foods. The girls did great for having to spend so much time in the car and carseat. Maddie passed the time watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory while Anna played and slept. Tonight we are planning a fondue night for fun. It should be a tasty evening. Tomorrow we're headed to see Sesame Street at the museum right after Church.

OH! That reminds me. Two weeks ago Maddie sang in her first Sunday school Church performance. She was so excited to do it and she wasn't nervous in front of the congregation. We are so proud of her and she was so proud to be a part of the Sunday school choir.

I also forgot to post a funny story that happened after our ice skating adventure. We stopped at Libby Lu's to buy Rebekah's birthday gift and Mary headed over to the intimates section. (for those of you who are not familiar with that section of a department store: it's the undies section). While Mary was shopping away Madeline picks up a pair of thong underwear and holds them up to me and says "There is something WRONG with these underwear MOM! I am going to go over to the sales lady and TELL her there is something wrong with them" to which I say "No, no I don't want you to do that". Now this was my first mistake: I sent Maddie over to Ryan and Teddy to tell them of the misfit underwear. I videotaped that part. She tells them that the underwear would not cover your bottom and that there's something wrong with them. I am not EXACTLY sure what happened next because I thought the whole thing was over, but the next thing I see/hear is Maddie holding up the thong underwear to the sales lady and asking her what they're for. A little mortified that Ryan and Teddy would let Maddie take the undies to the sales lady, I told Ryan to go do some damage control. He promptly explained that some ladies like to wear tight pants and they wear thong underwear to avoid panty lines. Maddie decided that it wouldn't be very comfortable. There you have it folks: undie education 101.

Time Flies

It's been a hectic week. I had a major stakeholders meeting with my leadership group. It went really well but it was a lot of extra energy. Today my boss was kind enough to give me most of the day off for free; didn't need to take any vacation time or anything. I spent almost the entire day with Mona. We hung out and eventually I got a lot done on the house. Maddie spent this afternoon and evening at Grandma and Grandpa's house. She was so unhappy when it was time to leave because she was having so much fun. Tomorrow the plan is to head over to the Children's Museum because they have a full scale mock up of Sesame Street. It should be pretty cool.

Anna is approaching 5 months and doing well on just milk. She watches us intently as we eat and her little mouth chews in sync. It's going to be a lot of fun when she starts eating "real" food. Ryan is really looking forward to feeding her.

Maddie's drawings have taken on a new life this week. Today she brought home pictures with rainbows, flowers, butterflies and people. It's the first time I can remember butterflies and rainbows. Monday will be the end of the two week "No chewy, hard crunchy candy" rule. She'll be very happy to chew gum again; it's the only thing she's missed.

This week Ryan is going to plant starter seeds for the garden. He has a very elaborate plan for the garden this year with several plating phases. It will be fun to see how it turns out. Last years crops were great, so it should be another good year. We're looking forward to seeing our raspberry, blueberry shrubs, peach and cherry trees grow this year.

Happy Birthday to ME

Today Ryan, Maddie and Anna (by default) took me to chuck E cheese for my birthday. It was so fun AND, get this, the pizza was GOOD! Maddie picked out some fun fiestaware for me. My work is having a shindig tomorrow since I was supposed to be in Lincoln today at the legislature. My friend Mona will be here on Friday and I am looking forward to spending the weekend with her. It's her birthday gift to me to come back and spend the entire weekend with me. I am so happy to have Mona all to myself. I got a few fun gadgets from Ryan too and a few cards came in the mail from my friend Becky, Aunt Babe, Grandpa John and Marie. It was a great birthday!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines day to everyone. Maddie decorated a box at school and the kids passed out Valentines. She came home with a big box of loot. Her box had hearts, flowers and people on it. She sent Disney princess Valentines with tatoo's on them, with a candy and a pencil attached. Aunt Mary picked her up after lunch on Valentines day and they had fun playing all afternoon. Thursday Ryan took Maddie out to lunch and I took her out on Friday. Needless to say, she had a fun week. Maddie loves playing with her Polly Pockets and Barbies. She prefers spending her morning playing with the Polly Pockeys rather than watching Arthur on PBS. Her drawing is improving and now the people in her pictures interact with each other by holding hands, picking flowers, etc. Most of the time she's drawing she writes letters and her own "Japanese letters".

Anna was 20 weeks yesterday. As usual she's doing well. She still nurses well during the week at daycare and I enjoy seeing her three times each day. She now takes longer naps during the day and is awake for longer periods as well. She's starting to go to bed around 730/800pm and sleep until morning. She still gets up about three times to eat, but is now sleeping in a 12 hour block at night. This helped phase out the evening fussiness she had been having. She is chattering a lot and loves to grab toys to put into her mouth. She's also started to pull herself back to me if she's still hungry. It's nice for her to be able to communicate a little with me about her needs. She enjoys tummy time more and is still a rolling fool. She's still a few weeks away from solids but I know she'll be ready when it's time. In the meantime she's enjoying her milk.

It's a three day weekend for Maddie and I. Ryan and Anna will be headed off to work/daycare respectively on Monday. We're going to do something fun, but we don't know yet what that will be. Maddie will be accompanying me to Anna's daycare while I feed her during the day. She loves the babies and will mother them while we're there.

Tuesday Anna and I are headed to Lincoln for a leadership session. My friend Teresa will be watching her while I spend the day at the Capitol and watch some legislative sessions. We're having lunch with a couple Senators and spending some time with the Govenor. I've been preparing my questions, related to planning issues and taxation, for them. I am looking forward to Tuesday. and it's also my birthday. Teehee.

Fillings

Madeline survived her first fillings today. I was a little nervous about the whole ordeal but it was nothing to be worried about. She had a little laughing gas while she watched tv. No novacaine was necessary since the cavities were pretty small. She also had two preventative sealants put on her molars. She will get four more sealants at her next checkup. About one minute after the laughing gas started she started giggling and giggling. It was so funny Ryan and I were cracking up. Of course we had to celebrate the whole process by getting ice cream. Shhh... don't tell the dentist! We're hoping these were her only two cavities she will ever have. She brushed and flossed three times today alone! She's banned from anything sticky (like fruit snacks and gum) and hard for two weeks while the sealants harden.

Roll Roll Roll

I forgot to post yesterday that Anna rolled from back to front. Of course when she gets there she is royally annoyed but she still does it. Silly girl! I think the one on one instruction with Maddie helped. :) She's also doing her own kind of grunty laugh.

Ice Skating!

Aunt Mary held Anna while Ryan and I helped Maddie learn to skate on her own.

Maddie is instructing Anna on how to roll over from back to front

Ted pushed Maddie around on the cone.

Anna loved ice skating too. She actually fell asleep!

It was Madeline's first ice skating adventure. We all had a blast. Mary educated Maddie on the rules of hockey after ice skating was over and the hockey teams started to play.

19 weeks

Miss Anna Renee


Maddie doing her Cindy Loo Hoo impression.


Newport News, Virginia

Miss Maddie in her new digs. (dad has such great taste!)

Anna will be 19 weeks old tomorrow. Time Flies! She is doing very well and has been healthy since recovering from the stomach bug. She's in transition to taking long naps and staying awake longer. This has been challenging in the evening when she's tired but doesn't want to give in to Mr. Sandman. It's resulted in, lets just say, some rather vocal protests.

Ryan was gone for two days this week. He enjoyed some frigid weather in Norfolk Virginia. Grandma JoLene came over to help out in his absense. He was supposed to be home early evening yesterday but a brain hiccup by Ryan caused him to be three hours later than originally planned. But it all worked out well and due to some frozen Heineken, Ryan got a free wine on the last flight!

He brought back some fun clothes for the girls. Maddie was so happy with her outfit she made a last minute wardrobe change before school today. Anna will not get to wear hers until next fall when she's closer to walking. But they're complementing outfits so I think the girls will wear those for fall pictures.

Anna is rolling over like crazy and lifting herself off the floor really well. She can do several push-ups. Her hemangioma hasn't grown at all. She chews and slobbers a lot. She's starting to spread out her feedings again. Her favorite thing to do is play with her sister, with looking in the mirror a close second. Maddie's favorite winter activity is watching movies, but she announced today that she doesn't want to watch as much tv because it's bad for her brain and henceforth she plans to play in her playroom. I haven't measured Maddie lately but I think she's close to 42 inches. She becomes more aware of her appearance daily and is now mildly obsessed with making sure all of her hairs are in place before she goes to school, when she comes home from school, before dinner and bedtime, well, you get the idea.

We're now planning a 4 day trip to Great Wolf Lodge in March. Anna will be the perfect age for a trip to the pool. She'll be starting solids around that time too so it will be a fun vacation; sweet potatoes and swimming!

Daddy Daughter Night!

Tonight was the night! Madeline and Ryan had a wonderful time. Ryan should be the one to post about it since I wasn't there. Annalise and I had a quiet evening at home.