Almost There

 We've been couped up with various illnesses the past few weeks and are looking forward to a vacation this weekend and celebrating Michael's first birthday with family.  Here are a few photos to tide you over until we can post something in November.

Just bumming around.

 Just a few photos to show you all the kids are alive and well.   I'll leave you with a few highlights:

Michael walked over so Sadie's step stool this morning, climbed onto it, and stood up.  And stayed up.  God Help Us.

We've started on the "Me too!" stage.  For both siblings.  Michael gives a performance worthy of a professional mourner if you try to give him anything that isn't a big, complete size like his sister.  Like an entire apple, an entire piece of flatbread, or an entire banana.  Sadie insists that she needs something to chew on because her teeth hurt too.  The upside to this?  Sadie insists on splitting things with Michael and sharing.  We'll see how long this lasts...

 Sadie is actually helpful in her 'helping' now.  We have a little trash collector, dish washer, and baby bather on our hands.  Now to just teach her how to use the washing machine...

We'll post more after Michael's birthday.

Indian Summer

We've been enjoying the milder weather around here lately.  We had a week of cold and now it's the type of temperatures we've come to expect for the late Fall and again in the Spring here in the South.

What we've been up to:

 Michael is walking about half the time.  Right until he needs some speed and then he drops down and zips along on his hands and knees.

Sadie is hitting the dreaded 3 year old tantrums + attitude stage.  We're keeping our fingers crossed that once the kids are used to the new fall schedule she will quiet down a little.

Changes

 Things have been changing so much lately it's hard to keep up.  For the sake of updating all the family we haven't had time to call, we're going to put things into a quick and dirty list.

SADIE:  Potty trained.  In three days.  We're really proud of her.  It's awesome.  Except that now, Sadie has access to a bathroom and all the random and creatively diabolical mischief that can only be done in a bathroom.  Like unravelling a whole roll of toilet paper into the toilet then trying to flush.  Or rubbing Brian's deoderant with his toothbrush. 

Sadie is also in possession of several packs of flash cards with animals, jobs, insects, and dinosaurs which she loves to go through with us.  It's been so crazy hot this summer, that we've built up a collection of indoor activities for her.  It's fun, but it's hard to keep up with the inevitable mess of puzzle pieces, crayons, cards, paper, and whatnot.

 From her brief sojourn at the Gym Summer Camp, Sadie picked up some more tumbling and dancing skills.  She loves to do the splits and somersaults all around the house. 

MICHAEL:  Picking up chunks of soft foods, and eating like a champ.  He is standing up and taking steps all on his own and can manage to toddle around a good distance when he holds my hand.  He loves his big sister and absolutely loves to play with her.  Sadie is a pretty good sport about it as long as he doesn't steal her toys. 

<- Sadie calls this a 'Grandma Hat.'

Stats

As you can see, Michael is finally getting the hang of this solid food thing.  In fact, he LOVES it.  I was a little surprised that he could handle peas so early, I had thrown down a couple as a distraction fully expecting to be swiping them off the roof of his mouth after a few bites, but he scarfed them down like a CHAMP.  Sadie also decided that she was going to eat nothing but peas and dumped the entire dish onto her plate.  She definitely does not share Brian's little pea problem.  :)
 Michael has been standing for a while now, and can let go and stand on his own for longer and longer stretches.  He is bending his knees like he wants to try it on his own, or maybe take a step and his face lights up with anticipation.  As soon as he takes a step, I predict he will be off after his sister.  We can barely keep him in the playroom and let him crawl through the house with a careful eye on our grotesquely uneven steps into the sunroom and the rough edged bottom of the rock wall that's in there.  Once he's a steady walker we won't be so concerned, but jagged rocks are NOT the place you want to learn to stand and walk.

We can't really get a good photo because they're on the bottom - but this kid HAS TWO TEETH!  ...and four more in the process of coming in.  He's not waking up exactly at night, but he is dream feeding, rolling, and skooting.  And not sleeping more than an inch away from me.  I'm too tired to make socially appropriate facial expressions most days, but it's still kind of exciting that he finally has teeth.  I can seem him poking them with his fingers or running his tongue over them and grinning as though he knows he's done well.  

At his nine month well baby check, Michael came in just above 29 inches, and 18.25 pounds.  He shot up over two inches since his last check, but is exactly the same in weight.  This kid has been pounding down milk and solids like there's no tomorrow, so that gives you an idea how darn active he's been.  Every once in a while I catch him stepping onto toys and reaching for new things just like his sister and climbing on top of things in the playroom.  It looks like we've got another crazy monkey child on our hands, except this one is silent and patient.  Or maybe not so silent lately.  Michael finally formed coherent words.  Right after Brian left for work one day, Michael looked at the door and said, "Da da. Da da."  Of course he looked a the bookcase a few minutes later and said the same thing, so we won't quite count it yet.  ;)



 Sadie has been doing a great job listening and helping out.  She helped me make dinner tonight and she likes to fold diapers, sweep the floor, and clean up in the house.  We've been a little cooped up due to the extreme heat, but she's been a champ about it and we've managed to avoid the TV trap most of the time.  We added a six foot play tunnel to our toy ensemble, and it has worked WONDERS.  The kids chase each other in and out of the tunnel for a solid hour each day.  It is GLORIOUS.  On a slightly less glorious note, Sadie jumped on my leg and dislocated my knee last week.  It went right back in and didn't hurt more than usual (it's the fourth time I've dislocated a knee), but it's still acting up so I have some X-rays and a physical therapy evaluation coming up.  It's hard to get to appointments with my Moms club responsibilities and Brian's Navy responsibilities piling up, but it would also be nice to run without limping afterwards.  Especially when I'm chasing Sadie all over the place.

Siblings Learning to Play with Each Other

Posting this week: Brian O'Callaghan. It's been a great couple weeks. Both Sadie and Michael are going and changing in ways that continue to thrill and amaze us. Sadie is definitely becoming more expressive in her language, and she is also becoming more considerate of her brother. Speaking of Michael, our little man is showing lots of interest in playing with his sister, usually communicated by a string of expectant grunts.

We adults finally finished our big round of cleaning and have restored some sense of sanity to the house. Last Friday we invited some friends over for dinner and evening games. It had been a while, and hopefully we'll be able to host something similar in the not too distant future.

No huge plans at this point--mostly we're just trying to live through this hot weather. However, we've been talking about starting some vegetables in the backyard (I know, I know, it's really late in the year for that sort of thing). Maybe it will help me lose a bit of my belly (Sarah calls it my baby weight).

Check out these great pictures. My absolute favorite is the one in her knight gear; it's the skirt that really completes the ensemble.

Milestones

Crawling

 Michael just started crawling with some accomplishment in the past week and a half, and yesterday he crawled over to the chair in the playroom and Stood. Up.  Just put his little hands on the low seat and got one leg and then the other underneath him and stood.  He lasted for 2 seconds which was long enough to run over for the inevitable face first plunge to the floor.  I can't say I'm too surprised since he's been bouncing on his hands and toes since he first started this moving thing. 

Potty Training *and* Zoo Planning

I should emphasize that we are *not* potty training Sadie yet.  We are testing the waters - and the waters are looking pretty good.

Watching the Animals

Riding the Elephant

Playing with the Big Kids

Sock Fever

Previously Chewed Dog

Chores

 

Working on the Zoo Train

Tired out from Bathing

We were able to take a mini vacation earlier this month to Columbia, SC.  We had a wonderful day at the zoo, stayed at a luxurious (there were no toys, dishes, or laundry lurking in the corners) hotel, and finished up with a three course dinner. After breakfast and a little walking on the lake trails behind the hotel we headed off to EdVenture.  Sadie and Michael had a blast, and Brian and I even got to play a little. 





I've been telling Sadie all about her cousins, aunts, and uncles up north, and about the Madison Children's Museum and the Vilas Zoo.  She is very excited to see her cousins and especially baby Cora. She is also excited to see Grandma and Grandpa O and Cal dog again. 



































We're looking forward to seeing family and friends in the coming months and finding ways to escape the heat.  And we're looking forward to seeing what crazy stuff our kids do next...

Summer

 Michael wants so badly to be following his big sister around but it's just not working out for him.  He had an afternoon of glory where he was coordinated enough to bounce and skoot himself forward one try out of five but has not shown such coordination since.  He mostly bounces and slides himself backwards like a sad little lobster. He loves to 'stand' with us and is starting to sit himself up from his hands and knees so I sometimes wonder if he will crawl late and breeze right on through to the standing and walking.

Sadie had a perfect day today.  The Carnival is in town with the Fort Gordon SpringFest and the morning and early afternoon were full of animals, bounce castles, and fair rides.  Sadie rode her first pony and got to pet a giraffe and a zebra among other farm animals.  This was all eclipsed by being able to ride on a 'car' carousel with the big kids. 

One of our garden lizards taunting Mish Mish.

We are eagerly awaiting word on taking leave in June or July to visit with family in Illinois and Wisconsin.

Blue Skies

 I know that there was some wicked weather all across the country yesterday, but we are all snug and fine in our little part of eastern Georgia. 

The visit to Indiana for the kids and I was great.  I got to spend a lot more time with my family than I usually do and was especially glad to get to hang out with my Grandpa Carter so much. 

Here is Sadie playing in the water at the PlayScape exhibit.

 As you can see, Sadie had a GREAT time.

Steve and Mary Ann came up for Easter and got to spend time with their six month old grandson.  Michael even started getting ready to crawl a little for grandma and grandpa.  I foresee a lot more floor cleaning in the near future...