Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Last Week Recap, Part Two

So.... after we got home from NYC and picked up the girls from Camp Gram, things returned to normal for all of two days. On Thursday, February 18, 2010, my first born turned three years old. I can hardly stand to think about it too much, but as the photos I put in my last post clearly show, she's not a baby anymore. Looks like it snuck up on me sometime between last February and this February.

Even though we had a bit of a party planned for Saturday, I couldn't just let her actual day of birth pass by without any fanfare, so we cooked up some big fun. In the morning, I took the girls to our nearest nice mall (about 25 mins. away) where they have a play area in the food court. They both had a ball playing on all the toys and running around with the other kids. There was a boat that Kate immediately set up shop in, and even though she wasn't doing anything more exciting than just sitting there on the seat, she was grinning so brightly that other mothers were stopping to admire her! Alas, I have no pictures because I remembered all of the other 236 things I normally need whenever I leave the house with the girls, but I did not remember to bring the camera. At least that also means there's no evidence of how much they both cried when it was time to leave. But on to the next adventure!

After swinging by the Pottery Barn Kids store, which Maggie calls The Store with Bunk Beds and Also Regular Beds and Also Chairs (seriously), so that she could admire the bunk beds with Star Wars sheets, and also the regular beds with pink flower sheets, and also the Maggie sized chairs which come in all colors and sometimes polka dots, we headed over to the Rainforest Cafe. I worried a bit that this restaurant would turn out to be a disaster since it looks like a rainforest inside with fake jungle foliage and animatronic jungle animals that roar and a simulated thunder storm every half hour, and I'd heard that it scares the bajeezus out of some kids. We were given a table next to a big fish tank but not too near the gorillas or the elephants (the noisiest animals) or the waterfall. The girls had a blast! They weren't scared at all, even of the thunder storm. I got suckered into getting Maggie the giant frog-shaped sippy cup of cherry slush, but the joy on her face made it worth every penny.

By this point, Kate was fading fast, so we skibbled (any of you guys fans of the Eloise books??) over to the Mrs. Fields counter to grab some chocolate chip cookie cupcakes with pink frosting, hit the ladies' room at Macy's, and then headed out for home. Later that night I made breakfast for dinner - a favorite in our house - and then we sang "Happy Birthday," Maggie blew out her votive candle (the only one we had except for Kate's number 1 candle, we realized too late), and ate our cookie cupcakes with pink frosting. I think she enjoyed herself on her birthday.

Stay tuned for Part Three: The Party, coming soon (ish)! I promise!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Monday, February 22, 2010

Last Week Recap, Part One

February 2010 has been the craziest that I can remember. We've been running from day to day like chickens with our heads cut off. So I can not truly express to you how much I'm enjoying this sunny Monday morning because Maggie is in New Hampshire with Jane and cousin Ana, and Kate is upstairs taking her morning nap. One kid, two naps!! It just doesn't get any better than that! Kate is positively giddy being the only child for a couple of days, getting all the attention and playing with all the toys unhindered. Here's a video of her last night at dinner being beside herself (yes, we were winding her up a little bit):



So now let's flash back about a week. [Doodle-oo, doodle-oo, Wayne's World flashback fingers] Mike and I dropped the punks off at Gram and Grandpa's and took the Bolt Bus down to NYC to visit Amy and Roger while they could still have adult people sleeping on the floor in their nursery nook. The Bolt Bus is awesome - leather seats, wifi and electrical outlets, bathroom, convenient drop off points, cheap tickets. I highly recommend it if you are travelling around the East Coast... without children, that is. We thoroughly enjoyed napping, sitting quietly in the dark, reading, and staring slack-jawed out the window with nothing to do.

We had an awesome weekend bumming around the Lower East Side, Greenwich Village, and Chinatown/Little Italy with Amy and Roger! We went to the Tenement Museum, which was fascinating. We ate reubens and pastrami at Katz's Deli, drank beer at Lederhosen and Whiskey Park, and had Sunday bluegrass brunch at Nolita House. Then we watched the tail end of the Chinese New Year parade from the fire escape outside the Brandt's bathroom window! My intrepid sister-in-law practically pirouetted out the window despite her big baby belly, about which I am deeply impressed. Chinatown feasted and danced and banged on drums, the Empire State Building was lit up yellow and red, and confetti drifted through the air. It was pretty exciting. Too bad we couldn't stay longer!







Sunday, February 21, 2010

I've Been a Little Busy...

Photos of the Birthday Bonanza Extravaganza are now up on Snapfish. I'll be back with the play by play as soon as I can. Be patient!! :)

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

They Prefer the Cupcakes and Balloons Part

We had a big doctor's appointment today - Kate's year check up and Maggie's 3-year check up. Can you believe it?! Everything went perfectly; both girls are doing great and the doctor was happy with their progress.

Maggie weighs 28 lbs. and is 3 feet tall. We couldn't remember the exact percentiles, but we think it was about 20th for weight and just under 40th for height. That's close to what she always has been, so the doctor wasn't too concerned that she's so skinny. It's funny because she seems tall compared to other kids her age, but it must just be because she's so thin. She still wears 2T clothes, so I guess that's about right. She was able to show the doctor three fingers for how old she is, but she didn't talk very much out of shyness. He was also impressed that she was not wearing diapers even at night and that she used a full sized toilet instead of a potty chair. Yay for us! She did have to have some blood taken for anemia and lead poisoning tests, but Mike says she was a brave little soldier (I was out in the waiting room with Kate who was crying because she was missing her nap time - lucky me). Luckily, her next appointment at 4 years will be the last shots she'll have until she's 11, so we're almost through the woods on that one. And she officially has all her baby teeth, so teething is a thing of the past for Miss M. She's growing up!!! Ack!!!

Kate is 22 lbs. and 31 inches. That's about 50th and 87th percentile respectively. 87th percentile! She's a Baldischwiler! And the 22 lbs. is amazing to us because the nurse told us that Maggie was 23 lbs. at her 2 year check up last year. We can tell that because Kate is wearing 18 month clothes, which Maggie was still wearing the winter Kate was born! The doctor was not so impressed that Kate doesn't actually say any real words (sometimes she says stuff that mostly sounds like Dada or night night or bye bye, but it's not very clear or consistent). Just like last time, we've been threatened with intervention if she's not saying anything substantial by the next appointment at 15 months! I'm not too worried about it though because Maggie didn't talk until 18 months and she's obviously more than verbal enough now. I really think Kate is on the verge anyway. Kate had no shots and no blood drawn, so she got off easy this time.

We got a pretty good stack of snow today, and I had to drive home from the parking garage in it, but we all survived and lived to tell the tale. Kate slept all the way home, not even waking up when I transferred her from the stroller to the car seat! All in all, a very fine appointment.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Wonder Girls

You know how Kate likes to put stuff on her head, right? Here's a new favorite past time: fighting crime with vacuum cleaner attachments!







Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Tu(n)esday

And now for something completely different... This was originally a Beyonce song (for those of you, like me, who have no idea what's going on out there and don't listen to the radio). I'm not much of a Beyonce fan, but this cover is great. The band is named Pomplamoose, and there are only 2 of them. It's cool watching them play all the instruments and sing all the vocal parts themselves. They have songs of their own up on YouTube, but I like their covers the best. "Beat It" and "Mister Sandman" are two good ones.

Blog Award!



My cousin Amy, a blogger herself, gave me an award for my blog! In order to accept it, I must list 10 things that make me very happy and name 10 of my favorite bloggers. I don't think I know 10 bloggers, and the ones I read regularly are listed in my links, but here are my 10 happy things:

1. my girls & Mike
2. all the important people in my life - friends & family
3. a good book
4. live music
5. coffee
6. sleep
7. stretchy pants
8. puzzles
9. big cities
10. a job well done

Thanks, Amy! You're the best.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Best Card Ever

This is my birthday card from Mike and the girls:





I was also serenaded by Maggie singing her "O Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, It's Your Birthday" song that she made up all by herself! Not a bad way to turn 34, I have to say.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Girls Are Not Like Boys

You hear it all the time, almost always followed by the old saw that boys can turn anything into a gun, including a barbie doll. Well, here's some further proof. This picture shows some Matchbox cars folded into my kitchen towels. Maggie said they were taking a nap, and she put those books there so they'd have something to read until they fell asleep. She's such a good mommy!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Puppy Love

Yesterday I took the girls over to my friend Amy's house to see her new puppy, Acadia, and have lunch. I can not believe that we haven't had a single demand for a puppy yet because Maggie loved her so much. Kate thought she was hilarious at a distance, but was a bit anxious about her up close. Maggie got to give Acadia her lunch and take her outside to pee and play with her toys! She thought it was awesome. And Amy had juice boxes, so it was a most successful visit! The girls were both extremely interested in the dog's crate and both of them climbed inside and were quite thrilled by it. So we're going out this weekend to get them a cage. Don't worry, we'll get one big enough for them to be in there together so they won't be lonely!







Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Tu(n)esday

Last week I promised something un-country. I'm here to deliver. Get ready to have your head explode, because The Dead Weather, Jack White's newest band, is just that freakin' mind blowing. The singer is Alison Mosshart of The Kills, and I am going to be her in my next life. Mike and I saw The Kills open for some other band in a small club in Cambridge a few years back and we were underwhelmed. Apparently, when combined with Jackie White (and Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age and my favorite bassist [well, besides Kim Deal? I don't know], Little Jack Lawrence of The Greenhornes), she's a force of nature. And Jack plays the drums in this group, which proves that he does everything better than you do. The album is called Horehound and this song is "So Far From Your Weapon." Again, this video isn't a real music video, as this isn't one of the main singles from the album. My actual favorite song at the moment is "I Cut Like a Buffalo," but I didn't want to freak you out too much.