Favorite-Things-Phone-Dump Friday

Once again, happy Friday!  Every week I'm amazed that Friday comes so quickly.  It makes me wish that time would slow down a little bit.  I have 13 weeks for maternity leave this time around (4 more weeks than last time!) and it is going SO FAST.  Argh.

Anyway...on to the favorite things...

We didn't have any play dates scheduled this week, and it was SO HOT.  So we had a lot of time at home.  Because of that, I took a lot of pictures of the girls.  The sisters are ridiculously cute together, and Maya is changing so much and awake so much more I just can't help myself.

Favorite Thing #1: The growing and changing baby

Favorite Thing #2: The sisters

I especially love it when they read together.

One thing we did do a little bit of each day was explore our "new" city: Sea Life Aquarium (not exactly new to us, but in our city), a splash pad and a park.  And we went to the library again too.

Favorite Thing #3: New and old things to do in our town

  Since I'm home with the girls all day, I do a lot of baby holding.  Which is awesome.  But what is also awesome?  When other people hold the baby and I get a bit of a break.

Favorite Thing #4: Family holding baby

On Monday night we had my family and our Johnson cousins (except Emily...we missed her!) over for dinner and to hang out.  It was so great to (mostly) be all together!

Favorite Thing #5: A Henderson/Johnson/Gosselin/Johnson-Knapp reunion of sorts

And then we have a few miscellaneous things...

Favorite Thing #6: Instituting "quiet time" because 2 days this week our preschooler decided not to nap...
SIGH...(that really is not a favorite thing, but I'm thankful she was willing to stay upstairs for quiet time)
Favorite Thing #7: Diner with friends and trying get a good picture of a 3-year-old, 10-month-old and 5-week old
(It didn't really happen, obviously)
Favorite Thing #8: Daddy working on getting a baby smile...she does it...we just haven't captured it on camera yet

Lastly, remember our potty difficulties?  I don't want to jinx it, but I *think* we might have turned a corner for the better.  This week she has been totally willing to go potty and has done it completely on her own a number of times.  Just now, she was upstairs playing and called down to me because SHE WAS ON THE POTTY GOING POOP.  I didn't tell her to, she just decided to do it ALL BY HERSELF.  She was very proud of earning that gummy worm.

Favorite Thing #9: Letting go and letting potty just happen

Thanks to Grandma (and the "potty station" she set up for Cal at their house) for getting the ball rolling on her going potty all on her own.

She was so happy she said "I'm so excited that I went POOP on the potty!" followed by "Tomorrow I'm going to do ONE HUNDRED poops on the potty!" 

On that note, have a great weekend!

Throwback Thursday

For this edition of Throwback Thursday, I'll start with baby smirks...

...and follow the cute baby faces with KUNG FU BABIES...

...and end with the babies and our sweet Kona Hope.

Preschool Parents

We went to parent orientation tonight.

We are officially parents of a preschooler.

And I'm not sure how that happened.  How did we get from here:

Baby Callie

To here?

Preschool Callie
(This picture will be hanging up by her cubby at preschool!)

I have no idea where the past 3.5 years went, but I'm so happy and excited for my Punkin Pie to start preschool.

It was strange being on the parent side of orientation tonight.  As a teacher for almost a decade, I'm so used to being the one giving the information to the parents.  Now it was my turn to BE the parent, and it felt weird.  I felt old, actually. 

But her teacher, Mrs. Lori, seems wonderful, the room was bright and cheery, and everything sounds like it is going to be great!

We go back next Wednesday for a conference so Callie can meet Mrs. Lori and see the room.  Then her first day of school is on the 9th.

Stay tuned for an adorable "first day of preschool" picture.

Weekend Wrap-Up

My sleep tank is running REALLY low, so I'm going to keep this pretty brief because I'm exhausted. Gotta love infants and their inconsistent sleeping patterns! :)

As I posted yesterday, we had a great morning at the State Fair.

After that we were all pretty tired so it was family nap time...including some cute Daddy/Maya cuddles.

On Saturday night Cal and Chris went to the Lynx game while Maya, Auntie Cat and I went to dinner and hung out at our house.

Sleeping through dinner

Today Chris and Cal went to the zoo this morning so I could try and get some things done around the house, but Little Miss Cranky Pants had a different agenda that included a lot of screaming unless she was sleeping ON ME.  OMG, I look SO tired.

Hanging out with a sleeping baby is tough work, apparently.
Well, it is if the baby was NOT sleeping and instead SCREAMING for
a good chunk of time before the sleeping.  Silly silly baby. :)

Who me?  Do I look like a screamer to you?

Boom and Bops came over for a bit this afternoon, and then Auntie Mari and Auntie Yoda came over for a bit tonight.

Today is the 2nd anniversary of the day that Chris, Nik, Dave and Nate were in their bad car accident out in Washington.  Chris, Nik and Dave were able to spend time together today to "celebrate" the anniversary, and I'm sure that they were talking with Nate as well.  Time flies and we're still so thankful that they are all okay.

State Fair

We spent the morning at "the great MN get together" with my parents and Auntie Yoda.

It was a great time as usual...hot, sweaty, yummy food, tons of people, fun things to do, etc.  We were there for about 2.5 hours and that was enough.

Callie did great- she walked for part of the time, rode on shoulders for a bit and had some stroller time.

Maya slept.  The whole time.  She was in the stroller for awhile, carried by Boom and Bops for a bit, and in the Baby Bjorn with Auntie Yoda for awhile.  Not matter where she was, she slept.

Here are some shots from our morning:



Things We Did: Space Needle, Ferris Wheel, Cow and Horse Barn...

And of course the big slide!

Alphabet Forest

Walking around/Resting

Last but not least...the food: mini donuts, corn, pronto pups,
freeze dried goldfish (or something like that), vanilla malt, fried pickles, YUM.

We love the fair!

1-Month-Old!!! / Favorite-Things-Phone-Dump Friday

Happy Friday!

This little Squish is already a month old today. 

WHAT?!?!?!?!  I feel like I'm saying that a lot.  But seriously, a month!  Already!  WHAT?!?!?!?!

Let's see...at one month she:
* is still getting up every 2-3 hours at night to eat (I'm totally ready for THAT phase to be done)
*is awake much more during the day (though she still takes long solid naps, especially in the morning)
*loves looking around (especially outside at trees)
*has a big sister who is STILL enamored with her (though not with her screaming).
*prefers to be held straight up (so that she can tilt her head back and look around)
*wears size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes (bye bye newborn clothes!)
*is pretty stinkin' adorable (as you can see from the picture above)

As for the phone dump, I decided to mix things up this week with my collages since the past few weeks have been so similar (though Maya faces are adorable, right?).  This week I did a collage per day, so I'll tell you my favorite things that way.

Favorite Things about Monday:
*Snuggling and playing at home
*Boom coming over so I could clean
*Making cupcakes for Craig's birthday
*Hanging out at Auntie Yoda's apartment

Favorite Things about Tuesday:
*Meeting Boom, Bops and Auntie Yoda for lunch downtown
*Hanging out with the girls

Favorite Things about Wednesday:
*Going to the zoo with Kylie, Calvin and Sylvie
*Hanging out with G-ma and G-pa
*Rocket Baby (don't you think the lighting in the bottom center picture that makes
her look like a Rocket Baby about to take off?)

Favorite Things about Thursday:
*Swimming and hanging out with Jenna, Charlie and Mabel (Maya dressed for the swimming
but slept the whole time)
*Kung Fu baby moves (left center picture)
*Practicing our numbers before bed

Favorite Things about Friday:
Ummm...today wasn't the best day, but I did take some pictures.
*A quiet (i.e. successful) Target trip with the girls
*Napping with a baby
*Lunch with my friend Amanda (alas, no pictures)
*A baby wearing hot pink
*Going to G-ma and G-pa's when the preschooler needed some family love
(like I said, today was NOT the best day)



I'm now waiting for #2 to calm herself down enough and go to sleep so this day can be over. I'm glad that tomorrow we get to start fresh...and we're heading to the fair! Foot-long pronto pup, here I come!

44-Months-Old/Throwback Thursday

First up, this girl is 44-months-old!

I keep referring to her as a toddler, but I think she is officially beyond that now- starting next month she will be a full blown PRESCHOOLER. 

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?

Yep.  We go to a preschool parent orientation next Tuesday, she meets her teacher on the 4th, and then starts going two mornings a week after labor day. 

I can't believe it.  But I'm so excited for her to start the school experience.  She is so smart and sweet and I think she will absolutely thrive (and I'm also really hoping it will help with some attitude/behavior/potty issues at home). 

Moving on.

For this week's edition of Throwback Thursday, we have the babies actually doing something besides sitting or laying.  Well, I guess technically they are still laying, but ON something.  And in different positions.

The first one is all about the tummy time mat.  Callie looks a little loopy and Maya looks like she is posing for some professional photographer somewhere.  But both appear to have strong neck muscles.

The second one is all about the play mat.  They're both just staring at the toys.  There is still very little control of the limbs at this point, so any attempt to reach for the toys is pretty much the result of flailing.

There you have it!  Until next time...adios!

Cranky Pants

Sooooo...Little Squish is not the first nickname for Maya that comes out of our mouths these days.

Her other nickname is CRANKY PANTS.  Here's why:

For the past week and a half or so, this is what she looks like a lot of the time that she isn't sleeping.  She is definitely a fussier baby than Callie was.  We're working on it- with Dr. Stewart appointments and lots of feedings and cuddle time.  She's starting to get the hang of the pacifier, too, which has helped a little bit. 

Her favorites are a different brand than Callie used, of course.

But there are times where she just screams.

So we're also working on getting used to it and being okay with it.  Because the times that she is awake and NOT screaming...well...she's freaking adorable.

I may scream a lot, but look at this face.

Gah, the chicken legs get me every time.

I hope this Cranky Pants nickname will be short lived and we'll be back to Little Squish in no time. 

Weekend Wrap-Up

Hey all!

We had a nice relaxing weekend.  Chris and Callie are at the Lynx game right now and I currently have a baby who may or may not let me put her down long enough to write much...so I'll let the pictures I took tell about our weekend.

Happy Saturday!

We tried going to Como Zoo but it was CRAZY busy, so we went to lunch and Menchies instead!

Sister time at home

Hanging with Uncle Dan

and Auntie Cat

We have a field by our house that we like to take Kona to. 
Lami and Auntie Cat joined us Saturday night.

Evening sun

This morning we participated in a walk in memory of Alison's mom Deb.
It was a beautiful day and a lovely walk.

Working on some tummy time.

School starts tomorrow for P.A.  As I said last week, it is so weird to not be starting a school year this year.  I've had a first day of school every year since I was in preschool.  That's a lot of years...enough that I don't want to count how many it actually is. 

Okay I just did the math.  It is like 27 years. 

But I'm having a ball being home and being the target of spit ups and the favorite spot for baby cuddles, and having the opportunity to participate in afternoon nap time.  The best part about it is being witness to the sister love.  Callie may be tough for me to deal with every day (though she most definitely has her good moments/hours/days), but she does not waver in her love for Maya Leigh.

Seriously.  Melt. My. Heart.