Saturday, April 30, 2011

Winery picnic

This get-together was way overdue! But we were finally able to coordinate our schedules and what better way to do it than by taking a picnic to a great winery. Katie and I finally got to meet each others babies in person!

The weather was gorgeous and after our tasting we bought a bottle of our favorite white to share and went out to the grounds for a picnic. The babies were so cute together and Owen had a ball blowing bubbles and running up and down the hills.

It was such a nice way to spend the afternoon. We had so much fun catching up with Katie, Grady and Graham and look forward to doing it again sometime real soon. We're already thinking about which winery to go to next time!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Owen can swim!

Owen had his second to last ISR swim lesson today and he did GREAT! (We had a minor setback two weeks ago when his instructor attempted to do fall-ins with him and it scared him. So after taking two days plus spring break week off, he got right back into it this week and was again swimming like a champ after taking the first two days back a little easy.)

He did his test yesterday with clothes and shoes on, and of course I forgot the good camera and only had my phone to take videos with. Unfortunately they all were too big to email to myself in order to try to post, so I will have to go out to the AT&T store at some point to get the USB cable that will allow me to download the pictures and videos that have been accumulating on my phone's memory card. I'll get to that some day.

All in all, his swimming skills went from about nothing (other than being able to hold his breath under water) to being able to swim, float, swim in a matter of 5 weeks. It's a pretty amazing program and we are so fortunate to have been able to enroll Owen. Maybe we have a future backstroker or water polo player on our hands? Only time will tell!

I was sure to put the camera in my purse and charge its battery while I was at work so that I would be able to tape Owen's lesson today. We are so proud of how far he has come in such a short amount of time!

(Sorry for my crummy camera skills - I was trying to watch him at the same time as I was filming which clearly wasn't the best idea. Notice as he gets into his float in the middle of the pool he looks up and over at my and smiles then gets all excited and squeals before swimming to the side. Funnyman.)

Tomorrow is his final lesson with Miss Nancy and I'll be getting in the water with him so that she can show me how to practice with him. Then on Sunday morning he starts lessons at Carlile Swimming, so we'll see how he does in a class with three other preschoolers. :)

Monday, April 25, 2011

Vivian rolls from back to tummy

Vivian rolled from her back to her tummy for the first time on Easter Sunday. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a video until the next day. (Mommy is a little impatient in the clip, but this is only because I had been filming for over 5 minutes before she actually was able to do the roll. I spared you all the failed attempts.) :)

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Happy Easter!

Sunday we celebrated Easter by going to an early mass (8:45am) but apparently not early enough as it was so crowded that we had to stand. When Owen first woke up we took him downstairs and he found the Easter basket that the Easter bunny left for him. He LOVED the special soccer ball fan toy that my mom and dad sent him and it served as great entertainment during church since it was quiet.
After church we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Marshall's for an Easter egg hunt and lunch. The Easter bunny had a lot of help from Aunt Hillary, who filled and hid 40 plastic eggs for Owen to find. He had a ball! He would find one, pick it up and say, "I wonder what's in this Easter egg Mommy!" and would make us open it and show him before he went on to the next egg saying he would "save that for tomorrow" as he dropped it in his basket. (That was what we told him to do so that he wouldn't ruin his appetite for dinner and it worked like a charm!). We got to play with Aunt Hillary's new puppy Maggie who is such a sweet pup. By the end of the afternoon Owen was feeding her out of his hand.


The weather was gorgeous, so we hung out outside while Owen searched for all the eggs, then headed inside for a yummy lunch/dinner that they had prepared. Everything was delicious and then there were two cakes for dessert! Easter bunny coconut cake that Hillary made and a chocolate tea biscuit cake (a Royal treat in celebration of the Royal wedding!) which Curt made. Both were amazing. Owen especially liked the green coconut grass. :)
Grandma, Aunt Hillary and Grandpa spoiled the kids with lots of Easter gifts and the Easter bunny left Owen his very own Easter basket at their house too! They made it a very special day for us all and we thank them very much.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Vivian's 4-month check-up


Today was Vivi's 4-month check-up. A little past her 4-month birthday, but that was only because we wanted to see our favorite doctor at the practice and that was when she was available. She got one oral vaccine and two shots - not fun at all. She did her fair share of screaming, and then once I got her in her car seat, popped her paci in, the crying stopped and she promptly fell asleep. It's rough being a baby.

Here are her stats:

Weight: 16 pounds, 14 oz (95%)
Height: 25 inches (75%)
Head: 17" (90-95%)

Because her head size is at the top of the growth curve, her doctor wants us to come back in a month to have it checked again. If at that point it has grown significantly again, they'll have us go for a CAT scan. She said it's just a precaution because when heads grow large like that, they worry about fluid on the brain. She said that most of the time everything is fine, and that will probably be the case, but wanted to inform us so we know what to expect.

Looking back at Owen's 4-month stats, his head was also 17", but we didn't have the size re-check with him. I guess girls are supposed to have smaller heads?

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Pretty girl


Mommy found this adorable little outfit at Carter's and this was the perfect day to wear it. The temp hit 86 today!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Owen shares with Vivi

Tonight when we were playing with the kids before dinner, Owen said, "I'm going to get my jeep for Vivi!" and he went over to get it for her. She seemed to know that Owen was trying to play with her. It was so cute.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Water table!

It was really warm today, so when we got home from work, Ben set up Owen's water table on the deck so he could play before dinner. Vivi enjoyed hanging out with Mommy. All was wonderful until we had to get Owen inside for dinner. Let's just say that there were lots of tears but in the end his hunger won over and he eventually joined us for some chicken tacos that Daddy cooked up.
(I never realized it, but it's pretty obvious in this picture - I guess Owen got his dimple from me.) :)

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Weeping cherry


Our tree is in full bloom! Sneezing and runny noses are going crazy in our house from all the pollen, but it sure is pretty.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Red stripes

I dressed the kids for school this morning and was so sleepy while doing so, I didn't realize that I had put them both in red stripes until I got downstairs. So of course I had to sit them on the couch for a few pictures before we headed out the door for school.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

After bathtime, we dry off


Ben went to happy hour with his friends tonight, so I did bathtime solo. The kiddos had a ball, and then we had to take turns getting out. Vivi first, wrapped in her towel, placed in her bouncy seat, then Owen, wrapped in his towel. I somehow got them to sit still long enough to snap this picture. The only thing that could have made it better was if I would have wrapped Vivi in her yellow duckie towel instead of this boring old white one. Shoulda, coulda, woulda ~ right Mol? :)

Oh well, I guess we'll have to save the "kids in their animal towels after bath" picture for another blog post. Stay tuned.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Monday, April 11, 2011

Dresses are fun!

It was supposed to be 86 degrees today, so Mommy dressed me in this cute little number for school.

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Vivi is 4 months old!

Today Vivian turned 4 months ~ wow, how the time has flown.

Here's what she's been up to lately:
  • Battled her first cold - complete with stuffy/runny nose and sneezes, not fun, but she survived
  • Wearing size 3 diapers and size 3-6 month clothes, some 6 month clothes
  • Drinking 6 oz bottles every 3.5 hours
  • Napping three to four times a day for about 45min to an hour, sometimes she takes 2 hour naps, but she's more of a power-napper
  • LOVES the exersaucer and standing up holding onto your hands
  • Started sleeping through the night without being fed when she wakes; we just pop the paci back in and she goes back to sleep. We've had several nights where she's slept 7pm-7am without waking once, but for the most part we're usually up doing the paci thing. Hoping once the cold is completely gone she'll go back to the 12-hour sleeps.
  • Still sleeping swaddled because she hasn't figured out how to roll from back to front yet, just tummy to back. Her daycare teachers said she "scooted" backwards during tummy time last week, but we haven't seen it at home yet - probably because since I'm back to work now I never want to put her down in the evenings and on weekends.
  • Lately is all about putting her hands in her mouth and gets mad when you try to take them out
  • Starting to get more blond hair (but still not enough for cute little clippies, much to mommy's dismay), and eyes are bright blue
  • Won't know her stats until her 4-month well-visit on April 21st

Saturday, April 9, 2011

My babies and their lovies

Angel Dear makes the best lovies. Owen has sleepy lamb and sleepy bunny. He takes one to daycare for the week and the other stays home. They get washed every week and then he switches which one he takes to school. The bunny was given to him as a gift when he was a baby. He became attached to it around 16 months or so, and that is when I ordered the second one. You know, "just in case" he ever lost it and wasn't able to sleep without it.
Vivi received her sleepy giraffe from my cousin and his wife when she was first born. She doesn't sleep with it yet, but definitely enjoys cuddling with it after tummy time. I have a feeling we'll get her a "spare" when the time comes. The website knows all about the "just in case" and goes one further with A Pair and A Spare. Genius!

Friday, April 8, 2011

Floating is fun!


Owen wrapped up his fourth week of ISR lessons today. He has been doing really well, as per his instructor, and is on track to graduate at the end of next week when he (hopefully!) passes the tests. We've been impressed with his progress so far and look forward to his next series of swim lessons with Carlile Swimming starting in May. It's an Australian program that was brought to the US by former Olympic swimmer Tom Dolan who grew up in Arlington. We're so lucky that they decided on Ashburn for their location and Owen will be in the Tadpole class on Sunday mornings with three other kids his age. We can't wait!

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Banana Splip


It was so warm today that when Owen and I were driving home from swimming (Ben had picked up Vivi from daycare on his way home from work), I said to Owen that we should go out for ice cream after dinner. We practiced the sentence "Daddy, can we go get ice cream after dinner?" since it was a long one, and when we walked in the door, Owen proudly said to Ben "Can we go get ice cream after dinner Daddy?" Of course, Ben said yes.
Owen loved his very first banana split, aka banana splip. :)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Big girl jammies

Since Vivi has started sleeping through the night (knock on wood - this just started last week and we hope it keeps going), I started putting her in her big girl jammies. I had always been a fan of the sleep gowns that Carter's and Gerber make because when you're changing a diaper at 2:30am the last thing you want to deal with is snaps or even zippers. But now that we're not changing diapers in the wee hours of the morning, the Children's Place zipper pj's are now the go-to jammies.
I just think she looks like such a big girl in them! Our baby is growing up too fast. Stop Vivi! Stay little for a little longer! (But do keep sleeping through the night. Mommy and Daddy like their sleep.) :)

Monday, April 4, 2011

Boy lashes

I sure hope Vivi's lashes grow in like Owen's have. Otherwise she will probably be very jealous.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Fireman Owen

This morning Grandma Marshall, Grandpa and Aunt Hillary came out our way early so that we could all go to the Ashburn Fire Department breakfast. Owen was decked out in his fireman rain coat that Aunt Hillary had given him for his 2nd birthday. Grandpa treated us and we all had a delicious pancake breakfast at the fire station. Owen was a bit distracted during breakfast because he could not wait to get outside to check out the fire engine on display.

He got to sit in the driver's seat and it was quite a different reaction than last time we were there. One of the firefighters even let Owen get an inside look at an ambulance! He LOVED it (as you can tell from the expression on his face). It was a fun way to spend Sunday morning.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Happy 1st Birthday Nate!

My godson Nate turns 1 on the 5th, but today was his 1st birthday party. Molly and Tim did such a great job with all the decorations, food, cupcakes and favors. Everyone had a great time hanging out and the kiddos ran around playing all afternoon. Nate is walking and it was so cool to see him running around with the big kids when the last time we saw him he was still doing the army crawl. (He took a tumble on the driveway the other day, hence the boo-boo on his nose - a rite of passage for every baby at this stage.)

When it was time to sing "Happy Birthday", Nate was ready to tear into his cake. He had so much fun with his smash cake!

Before everyone headed home, we gathered the Birthday Boy with his buddies for a group picture on the couch. Owen held his little sister and Kayla held her baby brother Ryan (just 10 days old!).

Happy 1st Birthday Nate!!!