Bardolf Babies

Beauty and the Beast 3D

2012-01-26T08:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas Catch-Up

2012-01-10T17:43:00.000-08:00

Wish I could say things have been too busy to post lately, but it's been more a combination of moderate busy-ness and a little bit of laziness. As is typical for the holiday season, we had a whirlwind couple of weeks full of parties, friends, families and presents. The most exciting part of the holiday was Xmas eve...we were busy getting ready for Xmas eve festivities at Nonna's, while the kids ran around playing upstairs. Audrey was practicing throwing a Cat a Hat doll in the air and then catching it. One spin later, and she was "headed" straight into the corner of the wall and we were headed to the emergency room. She held it together pretty well for the most part, until they strapped her down to glue the cut closed. We thought we had experienced the helpless parent feeling before, but this was definitely a whole new level. Thankfully we got through the rest of the holiday without further incident.

Here Comes Santa Claus

2011-12-06T18:57:00.000-08:00

With the Xmas spirit overflowing at the Bardolf household these days, and Audrey quickly learning lots of carols, we decided to take the kids to the mall see Santa. We were both pretty anxious to see their reactions. Since Audrey has had her list of things to ask Santa for together for a while now (legos and a train set)we had a good idea that she would enjoy the visit, but we weren't too sure about Brennan. Well, they both really enjoyed the line to visit Santa, consisting of a man-made winter wonderland complete with ice, snow and the whole nine yards. Brennan even learned to make his first snow angels. When it came to the visit with Santa, we made sure Audrey knew that Brennan might be a little scared and that he might feel better if he held her hand. She hopped up on his lap with no problem, but Brennan was a little more hesitant. To put it lightly. If history is any indication, it's unlikely that he's scarred for life, but you wouldn't know it by his reaction. It's nice to see that Audrey isn't phased at all.

Out with Thanksgiving...in with Xmas

2011-12-06T18:43:00.000-08:00

We spent the day after post-Thankgiving Thanksgiving getting into the full Christmas spirit. Audrey was a great helper for the most part, though once we broke out the Frosty snow globe she got less helpful and much more distracted instead. Surprisingly, both of the kids were pretty good about decorating the tree, and we managed to make it through the entire thing without any casualties to the ornaments. We'll see if that's still the case by New Year's.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-12-06T18:12:00.000-08:00

Seems hard to believe that Thanksgiving was almost two weeks ago - time sure flies. Thanksgiving was sure a whirlwind fews days. We spent Thanksgiving morning hanging out in the basement watching the Macy's parade (which kept the kids' attention much better than we thought it would), then headed over to Nonna and Poppa's for a little pre-Thanksgiving turkey dinner before the real deal at Aunt Cammie's in the afternoon. As always, Audrey had a great time hanging out with Parker and Sophie, while Brennan and Bridge ran around here, there and everywhere.

We spent most of Friday setting up for post-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving with the Bardolf family on Saturday. The kids loved helping out organizing the dining room and setting the dinner table, and Audrey kept wondering when we were going to eat in the "Thanksgiving room". Shows how much time we spend in there in the course of daily life. Thanksgiving #2 went off without a hitch - Audrey spent most of the day hanging out in the basement with cousins Kollin and Brady, sending them upstairs periodically to fetch her food or drinks. Those two would do almost anything for their little cousin, even play with her my little ponies.

Brennan - 15 Months

2011-11-23T18:00:00.000-08:00

Brennan had his 15 month check-up with Dr. Myers on Monday and got a clean bill of health. He weighed in at 25.5 lbs and 34 inches tall, good for the 75th and 90th percentiles, respectively. He was able to avoid getting shots this time around, but despite all of the poking and prodding managed to put on a brave face.

All in all there's not that much new to report on Brennan. He continues to love eating (most of the time) and being outside, playing with brooms, throwing things in the trash, and has a somewhat obsessive, love/hate relationship with vacuum cleaners. And he absolutely loves brushing his teeth. He is also starting to understand and try to communicate more and more everyday. He still doesn't say much, limited to "Da-da" really, although he did squeak out "hi" a few times recently. Most of the rest of the time relies on a lot of grunts and gesturing. Mabel taught him "more", "please" and "me" in sign language, but he only uses them sporadically at this point. We're pretty sure Audrey had a much larger vocabulary when she was his age, but we know he'll figure it out eventually so we're not using much sleep over it. He also really likes playing on the iPad, mostly with flash cards and animal sounds, but recently it's become one of his favorite things to do.

Not much new exciting since we spent the last few weekends outside cleaning up leaves - it's great to finally have both kids old enough to occupy themselves. Can't wait until they're actually old enough to help...

Trip to Philly

2011-11-15T17:47:00.001-08:00

We took a trip up to Philly the first weekend in November to see some friends and visit the Please Touch Museum. We went on a Friday afternoon, which turned out to be the absolute perfect time to visit since we ended up having the place basically all to ourselves. The museum isn't really a museum at all, but more like an endless kid play area where nothing's off limits. There was a water area, an African rhythm room, a grocery store, a shoe store, a McDonald's, a construction site, a medical center, a tree house, a section devoted entirely to Alice in Wonderland, puppet shows, a carousel, etc., etc.

Needless to say the kids absolutely loved it. The grocery store was probably the favorite, followed by the medical center (Audrey) and the mail truck (Brennan) in a close 2nd. Both kids were completely running on fumes by the end of the afternoon, but they loved every minute of it.

Saturday we went to the zoo, but after a long Friday afternoon, we were only there long enough to see some monkeys (including one that was very inappropriate), reptiles, the aviary and the lions/tigers. It was a totally whirlwind weekend, but lots of fun and a great time for the kids.

Happy Halloween!!

2011-11-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

It's been a hectic and fun-filled few weeks leading up to Halloween, and the weekend proved no disappointment. Despite a wintery mix on Saturday, Sunday turned out to be a sunny, warmish day, perfect for the annual Burke Station Square halloween parade. The whole Morgan crew turned out, and the kids were great sports through the whole thing. Brennan was a little reluctant to keep his alter ego a secret, but we were eventually able to distract him enough that he kept his mask on for almost an hour, from parade to pool parking lot party.

So, after all of the practice on Sunday, the costumes were like second nature for the kids in time for Monday evening's festivities. The night kicked off with the annual (only 2nd for us) cul-de-sac party with our neighbors, followed by a little trick or treating. Audrey, Brennan, Parker and Bridge all hit a few houses in our neighborhood, then went down the street to the Lowdens neighborhood - except for Brennan - he wasn't particularly interested in the trick or treating, and spent most of his time trying to avoid holding hands, stumble down the sidewalk, and check out the garage doors on each house we stopped at. Audrey and Parker really enjoyed themselves, though they're still both a little too shy to give an enthusiastic "trick or treat"! I'm sure they'll get the hang of it by next year.

We spent the rest of the night hanging out by the fire in the cul-de-sac, while Audrey hung out with our neighbor Lauren and the rest of the older neighbor kids, and exchanged all of their unwanted candy (Audrey mostly just sat, watched and listened), but she seemed to have fun anyway.

Pumpkin Patch(es)

2011-10-25T17:51:00.000-07:00

Grandpa and Gma visited last weekend and spent some quality time with Audrey and Brennan so that we could go to a wedding Saturday night. Sunday morning was spent visiting the pumpkin patch of all pumpkin patches at Cox Farms. The kids spent hours riding slides, feeding cows and goats, checking out the other farm animals and generally running around. This past weekend was a visit from Grammy and Grampy and a trip to the pumpkin patch at Burke Nursery on Sunday afternoon. After pumpkin carving, the Burke Station halloween parade and trick or treating next weekend, it's fair to say these kids will have had a well-rounded Halloween experience. Can't wait to debut the 2011 halloween costumes next weekend...stay tuned.

Recently

2011-10-11T19:00:00.000-07:00

Apple Pickin'

2011-10-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday was our annual trip to Homestead Farms for some good ol' fashioned apple picking. Audrey is an old hand at apple picking these days, and despite it being his first trip out, Brennan proved a fast learner (after we finally convinced him that the apples on the ground should stay there). All in all it was a great morning full of apple picking, hay riding and pumpkin picking. Now to start compiling apple-related recipes to get rid of the 20+ lbs we managed to pick...

Goal!

2011-09-24T18:41:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was also Audrey's first soccer "game". It's a U-4 program, so it isn't as much a game as it is 7 kids running around in one minute bursts. The whole crew came out to watch Audrey pretty much does whatever she wants. She at least sits in the group and listens to the coach, and although she doesn't necessarily do what the coach says, it's still a huge improvement from soccer camp this summer. Example: see the picture of Audrey sitting on her ball while the rest of the kids are straddling theirs (based on coach's instruction).

Also, this story...they play a game where the kids all have to sing something about an alligator, then race to the other side of the field while the coach tries to steal the ball. When it's time to sing, then time to run, Audrey just stands there, until her parents encourange her to kick and run after the ball, at which point she'll do it (and she's really very good :)). Then today, we're in the basement and I ask if she wants to play soccer. She gets her ball, stands there, then sings the entire alligator song word for word. So at least we know she's paying attention - just not participating. Who knows if that's better or worse. But we could also be the parent's whose kid made them stand on the field next to him, so I'll take it at this point.

A couple more weeks of dis-interest and we're planning to switch her registration over to Brennan - we can't keep him off the field.

York Fair

2011-09-24T18:23:00.001-07:00

Last weekend was our (sometimes) annual trip to the York Fair. We think it was Audrey's 3rd time there, and it was Brennan's 1st trip (he was less than a month old for last year's fair). We made the trip with cousin Brady, and met friends from Philadelphia that have a little girl that Audrey was quick friends with, despite this being only the 2nd time she's seen her. Brennan didn't get to have the full experience since his Mom and Dad kept him strapped to the stroller for most of the night, but he did get a chance to walk around a bit in the animal exhibit. Until he tried to pick up dirty pig straw. Hopefully next year will be a different story.

Recent Developments

2011-09-24T18:01:00.000-07:00

Brennan had reached a few new achievements recently (evidence below):

1) He said his first word - Dog. It doesn't necessarily sound like dog, but it definitely is. He first said it sometime last month, and has decided to use it constantly since then. The only trouble is that everything on four legs is a dog - squirrels, horses, squirrels, etc. But he does love them. Today in the car he shouted dog for at least a full minute, just to make sure that the rest of us knew he saw two walking down the street. Most of the rest of his communication is still limited to a series of grunts/groans (i.e., Ah, Eh, Uh, etc.).

2) He started paying attention to books a little more, which makes us grateful because we've tried numerous times (though not as frequently as we did with Audrey) to read to him without much success. He typically slithers out of our laps after the first minute, or smashes our fingers trying to close it on us. He's still more content paging through them by himself than sitting on a lap listening, but he's starting to turn around.

3) He started eating with utensils. Sort of. He still ends up eating most of his mail with his hands, but he's really interested in using utensils and probably eats about 1/3 of his meal that way.

4) He developed a new interest in running - his mother describes it as "barreling forward" and it makes her incredibly nervous. But it's fun to watch him get a little more bold in his old age.

1st Day of School

2011-09-12T18:49:00.000-07:00

Today was Audrey's first day of preschool. She is in the "puppies" class with 13 other 3 year olds. We met her teacher, Mrs. Newell, before we went to the beach so Audrey could see her classroom and meet her before school officially started. The rest of her classmates were supposed to meet the teacher last week, and have one "abbreviated session", where two halves of the class come in for an hour so the kids can get acclimated. Thanks to the monsoon in the area last week, the abbreviated session that was scheduled for Friday was cancelled, so Audrey didn't miss a thing.

Long story short, after a little bit of sadness and hesitation, Theresa managed to reassure her enough to make the drop-off incident free (even though Theresa was right down the hall). The teacher said Audrey was a sad for a few minutes, but otherwise did well. She spent the hour painting, playing with sand in the water table, and listening to a story, so it seems there will be enough to distract her and keep her happy during class (we hope). She has one more abbreviated session on Wednesday before a full 3-hour class on Friday, so hopefully things continue to go well - only time will tell.

So Long Summer

2011-09-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

We spent the week of Labor Day down in the OBX with a group of friends - a grand total of 5 couples and 8 kids made for quite fun, albeit not necessarily relaxing, week at the beach. Despite what sounded like feet of rain in the NoVA area, we managed to make it through the week with only a few hours of rain. There was a pretty rough ocean from the hurricane the week prior (red flags 4 out of 7 days) and a lack of dependable beach access until later in the week (the stairs were washed away), we suffered through by spending most mornings poolside, followed by afternoon walks on the beach collecting sea shells. There was also a dip or two in the hot tub, which by far was Audrey's favorite of the three. Brennan still causes us a little panic around the pool, since he'll basically just walk straight in, so most of his time was spent down at the beach or hanging out on the pool stairs. A week filled with bike rides, make your own sundaes, face painting, kite flying and a general overload of activities made for a pretty good send off into fall.

Happy Belated

2011-08-30T18:01:00.001-07:00

So much for being prompt with the birthday post. Brennan is now 12 months and two weeks old, which is almost impossible to believe. We had a quiet birthday celebration with just the four of us for his actual birthday. Despite his practice at the combo party the weekend before, he seemed just as confused with the cake in front of him.

He has really started to grow a personality lately - while he stays happy and content most of the time, we're both aware that we're going to have our fair share of tantrums every one in a while. Brennan likes what he likes, wants to do what he wants to do, and can get a little irritated when things don't go his way. He's a very determined/persistent little guy.

Het gets around pretty well now by himself, even picks up some decent speed from time to time, which is just as nerve-wracking as it was with Audrey. Although so far he seems to be a lot more durable than she was. Some of his favorite pasttimes are: pushing almost anything (lawn mowers, toy vacuums, brooms/rakes, etc.), throwing/chasing any kind of ball, wrestling (pictured below), overseeing Dad's mowing/leaf-blowing and generally wandering around from place to place. He got a completely clean bill of health, with a tale of the tape of 24 lbs. 2 oz. and 33 inches tall. Apparently that's big for his age, but given his pedigree I'm still not placing bets on him being an NFL lineman.

Audrey generally adores him, though she sometimes has a hard time containing herself (much to her brother's dismay). He's obviously fond of her too, but he's also quickly discovering ways to get under her skin every once in a while. Probably payback for 12 months of teasing and toy-taking.

Birthday Boy

2011-08-16T17:42:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday we had a joint birthday party for Brennan and Parker at the Lowden's house. All in all it was a blur of kid-related activity, but we're pretty sure everyone enjoyed themselves. There was even a surprise showing by the guests of honor - Buzz Lightyear and Woody. Brennan wasn't quite sure what to make of all of it, but he was a huge fan of Woody (or his hat, anyway), even refusing to go to his Mommy when she tried to take him back. And he got his first extended exposure to cake - he was a little hesitant at first, but it only took one taste of icing for him to completely dive in. And as much as he liked the cake, it might have been trumped by his first taste of rice krispie treat. We can't wait to do it all again on Thursday (his actual birthday)...hard to believe the little guy is already a year old.

Look Who's Walkin' II

2011-08-08T18:07:00.001-07:00

We spent a portion of last weekend down in OC in an effort to take advantage of one of our last free weekends of the summer. For the last couple weeks Brennan's been taking a few steps here and there, gradually getting more comfortable on his feet, but usually ending up in a crawl after one (or more) falls. This weekend he made big strides, at the least in terms of his attitude toward walking, and rather than ending in a crawl, decided he would rather get up and keeping walking each time he stumbles a bit. And while he still has a way to go, he's making quick progress.

Feed Me

2011-08-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

Brennan is still a food lover. In fact, it's almost a daily struggle to keep him content while dinner is cooking if he gets a glimpse of it first. His favorites are big fan of spaghetti (with meat sauce) and oranges, but he's also a big fan of almost any other kind of noodle, peaches, bananas, waffles, and pancakes. This past week he's been introduced to a couple of new foods - corn on the cob, chinese food and tacos. He's had corn off of the cob before, and taco sides (rice and beans, etc.), but it was his first introduction to the whole cob and to taco meat. He loved the corn, and despite our fears that the taco meat might be a little too spicy, he mowed through it without an issue.

The chinese food was a little bit of an experiment...we started off with just a little bit of chicken lo mein and some edamame, but he wasn't particularly interested in any of it. Then he saw me take a bite of an egg roll - he made it clear he'd like to try it, and it seemed like the easiest thing to do was just to let him munch on it. Which he did, until the 3/4 he had was gone. There's been no gastrointestinal side effects so far, but we'll rest easier once a couple more days have passed.

Cruisin'

2011-08-02T17:55:00.001-07:00

The whole family came over last Sunday for a little get-together, and ended up with a flash forward into the future - the cousins cruisin' through the neighborhood. We like to think it won't be in a bright pink convertible 13 years from now, but you never know.

Look Who's Walkin'

2011-07-25T18:14:00.000-07:00

Or starting to, anyway...

Eyes and Teeth

2011-07-25T17:53:00.000-07:00

At her 3 year appointment with Dr. Myers, apparently Audrey flunked the bottom row of her eye exam. So, Dr. Myers suggested we take her to the eye doctor to get her checked out just to be sure she's seeing ok. Long story short her eyes are fine (or as fine as eyes are supposed to be for kids her age), and it was sure an interesting experience for her - complete with dialated eyes and all. She was a good sport through the whole thing, maybe because of the lollipop they gave her, but she did keep telling Theresa that she couldn't see anything. Probably a distant memory for her at this point.

To round out a couple of exciting weeks, she also had her 2nd dentist appointment with Dr. Farrah last week. It was a pretty uneventful trip - she had her teeth scraped a little bit, got them cleaned with chocolate toothpaste (her choice) and her 1st (professional) flossing. And most importantly, a clean bill of health. She was excited to have her brother there to watch, and she was a trooper the whole time. It probably also helped to have her Mom and her Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist book there to comfort her.

Sorry for the pics...they came from Theresa's phone...

Picture Time

2011-07-19T19:43:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Theresa and Melissa took the kids to the picture place in Fair Oaks. We had Audrey's pictures taken the last two years fairly close to her birthday, but now that Brennan is in the picture it made sense to take the two of them together. It's amazing to see how cooperative the two of them were, and thanks to the wonders of digital photography, we managed to get some pretty good ones.

Brennan in Action

2011-07-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

Brennan has been doing a lot more unassisted standing lately (i.e., letting go of whatever he's pulled himself up on), a lot more cruising, and seems to be interested in walking a lot more. He still seems unsure about actually taking the leap of faith, and often still relies on dropping down to a crawl rather than trying to use his legs and/or feet. But we're confident he'll get the hang of it pretty soon. In fact, he was doing a lot of assisted walking down at the beach with a little kiddie chair, and seemed proud enough of himself that we're hoping it provides the incentive for him to start trying by himself. (Also, videos of Brennan on one of his good beach days, crawling around without a care in the world, and his first fork eating)

Happy 4th

2011-07-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

Only a little bit late. We headed to OCMD the Wednesday night before the holiday to maximize our beach time. That meant a rare solo day at the beach for the Bardolf family before we were joined the rest of the extended Morgan family. Parker and Nonna came early so that the girls could pal around together, and the Lowdens arrived just in time for a trip to the boardwalk on Friday night. The girls had a blast, as usual, riding rides and gorging on the typical boardwalk fare. The lack of crowds meant we could take advantage of a lot of things we normally pass up, like Thrasher's fries, which are one of Mommy's favorites. Turns out they are one of Brennan's favorite foods too - he'd make a face if he got a fry a little heavy on the vinegar, but he was never deterred from digging in. And he even had his first taste of milkshake, which technically he shouldn't have, but he wouldn't be denied (sidebar: he learned how to drink out of a straw during our Dutch Wonderland trip - there actually wasn't much learning, because he got it the first try. So far straws have led him to a slurpy, soda and milkshake, so with that being his only experiences (i.e., good ones) he freaks out pretty much any time he sees a straw).

Audrey and Parker spend pretty much all of their time at the beach digging and/or building sand castles by the water, or running around in the surf. Brennan still has his good days and bad, but seems to enjoy himself for the most part. He's started to enjoy bouncing/playing in the surf, provided it's not too cold or deep, and while he still waffles on whether or not he really enjoys the sand, he definitely doesn't shy away from getting dirty.

Most of the family (including Daddy) left on Monday to go back to work Tuesday, so there was a smaller crew for the fireworks, but it seems like the girls enjoyed them just the same. Mommy, Audrey and Brennan stayed the whole following week, and daily trips from the pool and/or beach left Audrey not wanting to come home last Sunday. Can't say we blame her...if we could spend all summer at the beach we would too.

Dutch Wonderland

2011-06-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

We took a relatively spur of the moment trip up to York this past weekend so we could make a side trip to Dutch Wonderland. We took Audrey last summer, but judging from her reaction to this trip, it was probably a year too early. She rode almost every ride in the place, including multiple trips on the log flume, the big water slide (with Daddy), two roller coaster rides and a boat ride, had a picnic, and capped it all off with a slurpy (purple, of course). Brennan slept for an hour or so at the park, but managed to get in a ride on the log flume beforehand. It was probably slightly negligent behavior the part of his parents, but neither of us wanted to miss the trip with Audrey, and since we consider him to be bigger than a "handheld infant", we deemed him eligible for the trip. Besides, no one tried to stop us. I can't say he was completely gung-ho about the ride, which he let us know about once or twice, but he certainly wasn't traumatized either. And we warmed him up with a ride on the cars (Mom/daughter proved too fast for father/son), so it's not like he was going in completely inexperienced.

We spent Sunday at Grandpa and Gma's hanging out at the pool. And we finally figured out the secret to a (relatively) stress free pool experience with a 3 year old...a swim vest AND water wings. The combination meant Audrey could float around with little effort, and much less worry from Mom and Dad.

Mr. and Mrs. Saucier

2011-06-27T17:12:00.000-07:00

Uncle Bugs and Aunt Nikki officially tied the knot last Saturday, June 18th (which means Audrey will have to find someone new to marry). It was an eventful weekend filled with rehearsals, rehearsal dinners, limo rides, nap skipping, and plenty of fun. Thankfully Grammy and Grampy came down to help out, so we were able to leave Brennan at home to sleep while the rest of us went to the rehearsal dinner. Audrey and Parker spent their time playing under the table, eating sugar packets, while the adults celebrated the occasion. Audrey hung in like a trooper for most of the dinner, and set a new personal record bedtime of 11pm. She spent most of Saturday hanging out and getting ready with the ladies while Brennan prepped with the groom and the rest of the guys. He didn't quite make it to the ceremony though, spending the processional passed out in Daddy's arms while the three of us walked down the aisle. The flower girls, Audrey and Parker, were like old pros (must have been the thorough rehearsal) and pulled off their walk down the aisle without a hitch. You couldn't have rented cuter flower girls.

Do You Smell Fire?

2011-06-13T19:08:00.000-07:00

Let's hope not...

Birthday Girls

2011-06-13T18:55:00.001-07:00

Last Friday night we went out to dinner for Audrey's birthday at her request...for Chinese food. She's mostly a fan of egg rolls, but is generally a fan of almost anything. And of course, we capped it off with a M&M ice cream cake, also a personal favorite. Saturday night was dinner downtown for Theresa's birthday, then Sunday at Nonna and Poppa's to celebrate Audrey, Bridge and Theresa's birthdays. By the time we recover from this flurry of birthdays it will be time for Brennan and Parker's birthdays in August. Seems like summers are going to be pretty busy from now on.

Pow-Pow-Power Wheels

2011-06-13T18:43:00.001-07:00

The birthday party was so chaotic (not to mention not her actual birthday) that we decided to wait to give her her presents until her actual birthday. A few weeks ago Theresa bought a pink Barbie mustang power wheels from her friend, and we've been hiding it in the basement ever since. She saw me carrying it across the front yard Friday morning, and made it outside about 5 seconds later.

She's still getting the hang of it so far - she's got the shifting down, and knows where the gas pedal is, but her steering still leaves a lot to be desired. I imagine she'll get the hang of it sooner or later, despite a few minor head on collisions (which she doesn't seem to mind). We're hoping it lasts long enough for Brennan to get some serious use out of it - after a paint job. He seems to like it already.

Happy Birthday!

2011-06-13T18:33:00.000-07:00

Audrey's 3rd birthday was last Friday, June 10th, but for a slew of different reasons, we held a birthday party for her (and cousin Bridge) a couple of weekends ago. Nothing like 15+ kids and four times as many adults to make for a good time. The part seemed to go by in a flash, but the sight of whining/crying kids being dragged away by their parents is alwasy the sign of a good party.

Memorial Day 2011

2011-06-13T17:44:00.000-07:00

Delinquent again...but at least it's been less than a month this time. Following tradition, we spent Memorial Day weekend in Ocean City. The only difference was have Brennan with us. This trip marked his first trip to the beach, which means first real experience with water, sand, etc. And it was the first trip since late last summer for the rest of us, so we were anxious to see if Audrey's opinion of the beach changed at all since last year. Short answer - no. She could spend all day running around in the water and playing in the sand, especially with Parker her partner in crime. Brennan was a bit of a different story - saying he enjoyed himself is probably a little much, but he was definitely entertained at times, a little unsure other times, and a little pissed the rest of the time. But we kept plenty of snacks on hand to keep him in good spirits. He was generally not a fan of the water, which was still pretty cold, but was a bit more fond of the sand. He even managed to keep it out of his mouth for the most part.

We also took the two of them to the boardwalk one night for some rides. Audrey got right back on the horse, so to speak, (carousel, cars, roller coaster), but as seems to be typical, Brennan was much more hesitant and wouldn't let Theresa get him out of her arms on the carousel. Pictures don't do it justice, but the death grip can be seen below. All in all it was another successful beach trip, we're glad to see Brennan at least tolerates the beach at this point, and hope he'll start to enjoy it eventually.

Ladies' Man

2011-05-24T17:56:00.001-07:00

Theresa spent much of last Sunday at Nikki's wedding shower, so Brennan and I had some serious bonding time back at the house. With the wedding coming up, and a brand new suit sitting on the hanger, it seemed to be a great time for a fashion show. I don't remember James Bond ever wearing lavender, but never say never...

Say What?

2011-05-24T17:55:00.001-07:00

9 Month Check-Up

2011-05-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

Last week was Brennan's 9 month well visit with Dr. Myers. He's still right around the 75th percentile for weight and height, at 21 lbs. 8 oz. and a little over 30 inches long. His favorite pasttimes are crawling around, gnawing on anything he can find, and pulling himself up on every piece of furniture in the house. Audrey's favorite pasttimes are taking his toys, teasing him with other toys and running away as fast as she can. Needless to say we're working on it, but it's funny to see how natural that type of behavior seems to be (or she just gets it from her father).

Other updates:

Brennan took to finger foods so well that he basically hasn't had a bit of baby food in the last month or so. He finally got the hang of clapping, though he rarely shows off his skill. He's been doing a lot more "talking", to the point that we swear he can say the word "up" (coincidentally, his sister's favorite movie). He seems to dislike any kind of prolonged motion outside of the car, including bike and train rides (it remains to be seen if the helmet and loudness of the train played into it, but we'll see). He loves it outside, and is always crawling to the screen doors and windows to see what's going on.

Otherwise, it's the same old, same old with Audrey. She also loves it outside, but unlike her brother is a much bigger fan of bike rides. She just picked up the word "dammit", but we've been able to convince her to use it sparingly at this point - Theresa can't figure out if it's from her or from Grammy (I had no part in that one). She also started calling Theresa "Trice" and "Tricey" - we have no idea where she got it from, but Theresa considers it a term of endearment, so we're letting it slide.

Since we've been remiss in posting updates for the past (almost) month, here is some of the goings-on around the house.

Comic Relief

2011-04-28T19:18:00.000-07:00

Even though she still hates sharing her toys, and even takes most of his, Audrey will do almost anything to make Brennan laugh and/or smile. And sometimes you can tell that he just can't wait until he can do everything she can.

News

2011-04-28T18:55:00.000-07:00

Brennan's top two teeth sprouted a couple of weeks ago, and ever since he's been living on a steady diet of finger foods. It's made life a little easier for us (since we don't have to actively feed him at mealtimes), though we'll have to remind ourselves how to bake in some variety into the diet. We started off with just bread and noodles, but gradually expanded into more normal food (veggies, fruits, etc.) So far favorites have been mac n' cheese, spaghetti, rice, avocado, potatoes, and all kinds of meat.

He's close to having mastered his crawling, though he's still not that speedy, and it didn't take him long until he decided to use his new found ability to move to get into absolutely everything he's not supposed to, and try to pull himself up on almost everything that barely supports him. Not sure if it's the difference in gender, or the fact that it's the 2nd child, but we're much less fixated on the small bumps and bruises that we were so neurotic about when Audrey was his age. And even though it's a little nerve-wracking at times, it's definitely been fun to watch how quickly he's figured it out - at this point he's normally up in a couple of seconds. The good news is that he's pretty quickly gotten good at getting back down, and he's certainly not that graceful, he definitely gets the job done.

Easter Weekend

2011-04-28T18:33:00.001-07:00

Following tradition (for the last few years anyway), we spent part of Easter weekend at Uncle Steve's house in Bethany Beach, DE. We spent Thursday night going to Fager's Island with Grammy, Grampy, GG, Aunt Mere and cousins Kollin and Brady for dinner and to watch the sunset. The rest of the weekend was spent doing nothing in particular - playing hide and seek, hanging out at the house, painting Easter eggs - aside from an early Easter (and Grandmom's 85th bday) celebration in Ocean City, MD. Audrey had a great time hanging out with her cousins, and both she and Brennan got to spend some quality time with Riley and Channing (the dogs). Despite being at their mercy at floor level, Brennan couldn't have been less phased by either of them, and seemed eager to follow them around as much as possible.

Despite some wacky weather, we even managed to get out on the beach a couple of times. It made for Brennan's first time ever, though he only spent a few seconds in the sand before he tried to cram handfuls in his mouth. And for some reason, despite an almost uncountable number of times at the beach, Audrey also decided to spend her beach time eating sand by the seashell-full. Seriously. Like a spoon. At least it was smart of her to devise a scooping strategy.

Greatest Show on Earth

2011-04-16T05:29:00.001-07:00

We spent yesterday morning taking Audrey and Brennan to their very first circus...Ringling Bros. is in town right up the street at George Mason, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity. Neither Theresa or I had been to a circus since we were kids, and it was amazing how things have changed (or at least since we remember them). In addition to the usual (tigers, elephants, trapeze-ers, etc.), there were song and dance numbers and a lot of other fanfare that we didn't remember.

Audrey really loved it - it was either the circus itself, or the face painting, soft pretzels, popcorn, lemonade, and snow cone she managed to consume before noon. Even Brennan seemed to enjoy himself, both before and after his 30 minute nap in Mommy's lap - he was particularly enamored by the cotton candy (and basically everything else he isn't allowed to have). I have no clue how a kid can fall asleep with all of that noise going on, but he didn't seem to have much of a problem. Even though neither of them will remember their first circus a few years from now, we have a couple fun pictures to show for it.

Easter Bunny

2011-04-16T05:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday morning Theresa took Audrey and Brennan to the mall to get their picture taken with the Easter bunny. I thought it would be a renactment of Audrey and Parker's picture with Santa from a couple of years ago (complete and utter fear), but apparently Audrey really liked it. Which is odd, because she typically hates those type of characters (Chuck E Cheese, etc.). Personally, I think the fact that it was a relatively normal looking bunny, instead of the typical, cartoony, white Easter bunny that made it easier for her to handle. Brennan didn't quite feel the same way, but managed to control his emotions for the most part.

Crawling? Sort of...maybe...

2011-04-12T17:26:00.001-07:00

Depends on your definition of 'crawling'. But he'll get the hang of it soon enough...

Cherry Blossoms

2011-04-12T17:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend our friends Troy and Micha, and their daughter Kim, visited from Philadelphia, which gave us an excuse to go tour the city with Audrey and Brennan. Luckily we were able to avoid a government shutdown, which would have rendered all of our plans useless. We spent Saturday at the Air & Space and Natural History Museums, and even caught some of the cherry blossom parade that morning. Just by chance we happened to park near what seemed to be the staging area for the parade participants, so we got to see a slew of marching bands and dancers, and the tail end of a couple of floats heading up the street. Sunday we headed down to the tidal basin, but only managed to catch about 50% blossoms and 50% leaves, so the trip was pretty unspectacular. Add the crisp 50 degree weather (when it was supposed to be 70), and you end up with only a little more than an hour of walking around before heading back home. Audrey got to see the Jefferson Memorial for the first time (Brennan wasn't really paying attention), and spent about 20 minutes climbing the steps and then hopping back down them.

Despite never meeting, Audrey and Kim (who's 5) made fast friends and spent most of the time almost inseparable. Most of their time in the house was spent playing in the basement or up in Audrey's room, drawing/playing with stickers, and otherwise pal-ing around. Kim even helped with some firsts for Audrey - head stands, playing dog and cat, and a ride in a simulator at the A&S museum which (much to our surprise), Audrey didn't want to leave.

Random

2011-04-12T17:02:00.001-07:00

Brennan

2011-03-29T17:19:00.000-07:00

A few recent updates on Brennan:

He has yet to meet a food that he's not willing to eat. The fact that he still only has his two bottom teeth has kept us from trying to give him as much finger food as we might like, but recently we've more or less been moving forward despite his lack of teeth. So far that only includes rice puffs, rice crackers, random small pieces of fruit (grapes, blueberries, mango, etc.), but as of tonight was expanded into bread and pieces of cheerios. Though he loves his regular food, he continues to show more interest in grown-up food, so we're hoping to continue to expand his finger foods over the next month or so. He's having mango in the video below, and if it's not obvious, he's basically dying to be fed. He only does this with actual food, not puffs or his 'baby' food.

The past few days he's been gnawing on everything and drooling like crazy, so he's likely to have another couple of teeth in the not so distance future.

He's trying his best to get on the move, but so far he's been relying strictly on his barrel-rolling ability. If he's in the right mood and you leave the room for a minute, he'll be 10 feet from where he started. While non-lateral movement has been slow going, he's definitely started trying more. Most of the time he's moving forward from sitting up on his tush to lying down on his belly. In between he's up on his arms and his knees for a second, but hasn't figured out how to stay there for much longer. Otherwise, he spends much of his time on his side, one arm propping himself up, one arm extended, trying to sit up. Not much luck there either so far, but he'll get there eventually.

He absolutely hates having his face wiped, but loves having his nose sucked. So weird. Not sure if testosterone leads to some inherent desire to be dirty or what, but saying he absolutely hates it might even be an understatement. And he's developing quite a bit of a temper too...based on the fits we've seen the last month or so, we can't say we're looking forward to his terrible twos. That said, he tends to reserve his fits for 1) when you try to wipe his hands or face, and 2) you take something he's playing with and/or chewing on. All in all he's still a sweet, good natured, lovable little guy, just terribly passionate about his toys and facial cleanliness. (The video gives a little taste, but in this instance his squeal rates as a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10 of overall pissiness. So multiply this squeal by 5, take away the smile, and add a dash of anger and you'll get the picture.)

Editor's Note: Theresa is concerned that some of you may think we sit around listening to Hootie and the Blowfish, so I promised to specify that the background music is simply a product of a random radio station, and not by choice.

Shiner #2? #3? Or is it #4?

2011-03-29T17:07:00.000-07:00

Quite frankly, we've lost track at this point. The latest was of the fall-off-of-the-toilet variety. That's coming straight from the source anyway, since no one was there to actually witness it happen. From what we can piece together, Audrey was sitting on the toilet, minding her own business, when she decided to grab one of the Minnie Mouse figurines that sits on the bathroom vanity only inches away. Apparently it was one or two inches too many, as she tipped off the toilet and banged her face right on the corner of the vanity. Ouch. For whatever reason, it took us a day or so to get a really good picture of the shiner, so what you see here is actually an improvement from the day of 'the incident'. At this point she could go pro in injury icing.

Movin' On Up...

2011-03-18T18:50:00.001-07:00

...and out of his infant carrier. Brennan is so close to the size limits of his infant carrier (the same one Audrey fit relatively comfortably in until she was 12 months old) that we decided to move him into a rear facing seat to give him a little more room to stretch. Poor thing has seemed so cramped in the carrier - there's been no room to even tighten the straps for the last month, it seems. Today was his first ride in the new seat. It's a little cramped behind the front passengers seat, but he seems to enjoy the extra room.

In other news, we've been trying to take advantage of the decent weather as much as possible. Audrey's spent the last couple days testing out her driving skills, mostly on her bike (which she's trying to learn to pedal solo), but also on her sweet new Lighting McQueen scooter. It was a Xmas present from Santa that we just put together. She's mostly resigned to coasting at this point, or pushing it around, but she'll do some actual scooting from time to time. Usually it's uphill, and she struggles to understand why the scooting part is so difficult. Either way, she enjoys it.

Day at the Park

2011-03-18T18:35:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday we had a hint of spring weather (mid-50s), so we decided to spend a good part of the morning exploring Lake Royal, or Royal Lake, a relatively small lake about a 3 minute drive from our house. There's a playground, basketball court, softball field, and some trails around the lake and surrounding areas, and given the close proximity, we thought we should check it out. We let Audrey do a little sliding and swinging, checked out some geese and ducks, then took a walk around the lake while Brennan took a nap. Audrey really loved the geese, so we had to promise that next time we go back we'll have to bring something to feed them. After our walk, we let Audrey run loose on the playground again - Brennan also got in the 2nd swing of his life. You can tell he's a little unsure at times, but he's definitely enjoying himself most of the time.

Baptism

2011-03-18T18:21:00.001-07:00

Brennan (along with cousin Bridge) is officially (original) sin free as of March 12th. Hopefully he hasn't done anything yet to change that. A large majority of the family came for the service, which was a little chaotic with Brennan and 3 other youngins', and joined us at the house for a little party afterward. Everyone seemed to have a good time, Audrey got to hang out with all of her cousins, and Brennan seemed to enjoy getting dressed up for the occasion. He was pretty well-behaved through the whole ceremony up until he tried to eat the deacon's finger. We should have warned him that anything within a 2 inch radius of Brennan's mouth is bound to get chewed on at some point.

Comic Relief

2011-03-07T17:54:00.000-08:00

Audrey has found a new purpose in life...making Brennan laugh. Thankfully the goodie bag from cousin Sophie's birthday party supplied her with plenty of props. I suppose that we should start teaching her knock-knock jokes or something soon before her material starts getting stale...

Northern Visitors

2011-03-07T17:33:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Audrey and Brennan got a visit from their northern cousins, Kollin and Brady. Audrey loves playing with them - we haven't decided if it's because they play whatever she wants to play, or because neither of them are a threat for her toys, but the little time they were here was spent with Audrey following Brady around outside, or the three of them disappearing to the basement to play. They certainly make great older cousins, and although she probably doesn't know one way or another at this point, it seems fairly obvious that she already looks up to them. We didn't do much in terms of exciting outings, but the kids had plenty of fun just hanging around the house.

Brennan - 6 Months

2011-03-01T18:43:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday was Brennan's six month appointment with Dr. Myers. She gave him a clean bill of health, and was happy to hear about how well he's been eating. She didn't have much to say about his lack of lengthy naps except that often 2nd siblings have a harder time establishing patterns (due to constant running around with the 1st) and that since he's sleeping well at night we shouldn't really be bothered by it. Even though it deprives us (mostly Theresa) of a few hours of downtime during the day. Here's how Brennan stacks up against the competition:

Length - 28.5 in
Weight - 19 lbs 3 oz

Both are around the 75th percentile, so he continues to be a pretty big boy relative to his age. The bigger concern for us is that he is only barely within the size constraints of his infant carrier (limited to 22 lbs and 29 inches), so at some point soon we're going to have to move him to a 'regular' rear-facing car seat. Which means no carrying a napping Brennan from car to store to car, etc. We could upgrade him to a bigger infant seat, but given the weight of him in the current carrier, I'm not sure either of us would be able to carry him for more than 100 feet with out complete bicep fail.

Update

2011-02-15T18:01:00.000-08:00

Despite the lack of blogging recently, it hasn't been for a lack of action. In summary:

Brennan has his 6th month appointment next week (can you believe it?), and Theresa and I are anxious to check out his stats. We theorize that he's having some sort of growing spurt because the past few days, he's been drinking like a machine (30+ oz. per day) and also eating 3 meals a day. The first few weeks his actual food eating was a little hit or miss, but after an introduction to pears he's been going full force. We think he liked pears so much it completely changed his perspective on solid foods altogether. He seems to like fruit the most so far, but not necessarily bananas, and he peas are by far his least favorite, though he still manages to gobble them up, begrudgingly. He's been eating 3 "meals" a day for the last few days, because he has been eating so well, and has been hungry for formula so much, we thought he seemed ready to make the leap. So far so good, although we'll see if Dr. Myers agrees (neither of us can remember the progression from when Audrey was younger, so we're sort of winging it). He also sprouted his front two bottom teeth last week, but only took a break for a couple of days before he started gnawing anything in sight again. A 2nd pair of teeth might not be that far behind. He just learned how to roll from front to back (back to front was a few weeks ago) and can sit up by himself (relatively unassisted). He continues to sleep pretty well at night, despite a series of 5am disturbances, but he typically falls asleep pretty quickly afterward. His napping hasn't changed, consisting of a series of 20ish minute naps throughout the day. No matter the circumstances, he rarely sleeps longer than that, and although at this point he should be down to around 2 long-ish naps a day, he seems to prefer power napping.

Audrey's potty-training is still going great. A few pee accidents have occured, but that's to be expected, and she is so good at using the potty the rest of the time we're certainly not concerned about it. She's become adept at going by herself for the most part, and we've outfitted most of the toilets with kiddy potty seats and step stools to facilitate her independent potty usage. Recently, her favorite past times are doing puzzles and playing grocery store. Her imagination is starting to blossom - she is a wonderful check-out lady, a thrifty shopper, and we've even started making up stories at night. It's like fill-in-the-blank. Last night involved two tigers, one of whom loved sausage, a panda and a walrus. And for the past few weeks she's graduated from taking baths to taking showers at night. Not sure why we didn't try it before, but it actually requires a lot less effort on our part, so it's been a good transition for everyone. Last night she decided she was having a picnic with all of her bathtub toys (complete with a washcloth blanket), so she has a lot of fun too.

Nonna's 60th

2011-02-15T17:45:00.000-08:00

The Saturday before the Super Bowl also happened to be Nonna's 60th birthday. Despite her lack of interest in having party, the rest of the Morgan crew thought differently, and had a family get-together to celebrate. Audrey had a great time playing with all of her cousins (and most of all helping Nonna blow out the candles), and Brennan seemed to enjoy being passed around and spoiled by almost everyone at the party. We're hoping he continues to be happy getting passed around like that, though lately at home he doesn't like to let us out of his sight.

Winter Wonderland

2011-02-01T18:00:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday night we had 6-8" of snowfall overnight, and despite the almost 3 hour commute for me and 6 hour commute for Theresa, thanks to the typical state of panic around the DC area, we were able to get out and enjoy it eventually. So Thursday afternoon we took a walk down the street and made the most of the little hill in our neighborhood common area. Audrey was a little hesitant and took a little while to warm up while we smoothed out the trail, but she eventually warmed up and really enjoyed herself. Brennan seemed to enjoy himself, and although he didn't get to do any sledding or playing in the snow, he did get some snuggle time with big sister.

Afterward, it was back to the house to help Daddy shovel the rest of the driveway. After almost two hours earlier that morning, I had to take a break. Next winter she can help me snow blow.

More Pee

2011-02-01T17:47:00.000-08:00

Here we are a week later, and we've made significant progress on the potty training front. Audrey is consistently going #1 and #2 on the potty, and has only had a few 'accidents' (thankfully only #1) since last week. And the only poopy diapers Theresa and I have had to clean in the last week have been Brennan's. At this point she is in underwear all day, except for naps and nighttime, when she's wearing a pull-up. She's even made trips out of the house to Walmart, Target and to her my gym class in only underpants with no trouble so far (knock on wood). It's funny to see how happy and proud of herself she is at her new accomplishments. It's also funny when she asks you to leave the bathroom, and close the door, so she can do her business in peace. Tonight she managed to disappear upstairs, only to be found a few minutes later pulling up her pants and flushing the toilet, having gone up to the potty all by herself. Maybe it's the Pez (her treat) that's keeping her incented to keep using the potty. Either way, we're hoping things continue this way without any setback...but we're prepared for anything at this point.

We Have Pee!!!!

2011-01-25T10:53:00.000-08:00

Just yesterday Theresa was telling me how frustrated she's been that Audrey has not so much as even accidentally peed in the toilet in her over 2.5 years of existence (despite hours of toilet time), and what happens that very night? Pee in the toilet.

As the story goes (I was in the basement during the whole sequence of events), Theresa took the kids upstairs shortly after dinner for bath time, which is our typical nightly ritual. Audrey started getting undressed, including her diaper, at which point she said she she was going to go potty. Since we've been through this a million times before, each resulting in about 20 mins on the toilet with no results, Theresa said "ok", then left to get something out of our room. Moments later she heard "I did it! I did it!" coming from the bathroom, and walked in to see a toilet full of pee. I came up about a minute later after hearing all the screaming (from Theresa) to find Audrey standing on her stool (courtesy of Aunt Sherry) with an ear to ear smile on her face.

Of course, she proceeded to poop in her diaper about 30 minutes later, and peed on the floor in our bedroom this morning, but we're still calling it progress. Hopefully some more time sans diaper will help her repeat.

1st Dentist Visit

2011-01-21T18:50:00.000-08:00

Thursday was Audrey's first trip to the dentist. Theresa had to go to work, so I stayed home to watch the kids and take Audrey to her appointment. We've been talking about the dentist for quite a while, prompted by a Berenstain Bears book involving a loose tooth and trip to the dentist that is one of Audrey's favorites. It must have had an impact, because she was whining to leave the house about an hour and a half earlier than we had to. She even asked if Brother and Sister were going to be there. It must have been a bit of a letdown when they weren't.

There have been a number of times that Audrey's been excited about something, only to end up a little apprehensive (feeding goats and riding ponies come to mind), but she really seemed to enjoy herself. She was super-excited to climb up into the seat, and even though she got a little nervous when Dr. Farrah did a little poking in her mouth, for the most part she kept her mouth open wide (must have been all the morning practice with Daddy) and did very well. Of course, the whole thing took about 5 minutes, and all the dentist did was count her teeth (turns out all of her baby teeth are in), but I think she'll do just as well next time, when the plan is to brush her teeth, and maybe do a little cleaning. But she got a clean bill of health this time around (no cavities), and she got plenty of momentos to take home with her.

Recently

2011-01-21T18:30:00.000-08:00

Sorry for sitting on this stuff for so long (again), but here are some recent updates:

1) It took a couple of slightly rough nights, but Brennan has been sleeping through the night for the last week or so (roughly 7:30 to 6:30 or so). Both of us are thankful to be reminded of what it feels like to have a full night's rest.

2) He's also starting to sleep a little bit longer during the day. We've had a few days of hour plus naps recently as opposed to the 20-30 minute power naps we're used to. Don't know what that means, but thought I'd share.

3) He's also started rolling over from back to front, although he still pretty much hates to be on his front. The good news is that it's basically built in tummy-time, and we don't have to be the bad guys that way.

4) The bad news is that he seems to always end up rolling over at night, so if he wakes up in the middle of the night, he can get a little irritated about facing the wrong direction. Audrey used to sleep face down too, but she was face down, tush up, whereas Brennan is more just splayed out on his belly, face awkwardly tilted to one side or the other. It looks terribly uncomfortable, but whatever works for him.

5) After the holidays we started him on rice cereal and oatmeal, and last week started with other 'solid' foods. So far he's been through squash, sweet potatoes and carrots. Carrots seem to be him favorite so far, but we'll see if that continues. And even though we've been through this within the last two years, neither of us really remembers the protocol for introducing solid foods, so we're kind of winging it, and we went straight from him eating once a day to twice a day. He seems interested in eating when the rest of us sit down to eat, so we've just been feeding him. We'll continue to wing it and see how it goes...

Sport Bounce

2011-01-21T18:07:00.000-08:00

Last week Theresa and Aunty Betty took Audrey, Parker and Brennan to Sport Bounce, which is a giant warehouse full of all kinds of inflatable apparatus. We thought it would be a good idea to get them both out of the house/daycare to have a little fun. Both of them are pretty fond of your every day bounce-house, and love a good slide at the park, but they had ever experienced anything to this degree. And by all accounts, neither of them flinched the whole time they were there. Needless to say that an hour and a half later, they had two tired little ladies on their hands.

4 Month Check-Up

2011-01-05T18:08:00.001-08:00

By now I'm a couple weeks late with this post, but Brennan measured in as follows at his 4 month appointment:

Weight - 16 lbs. 8 oz.
Height - 27 inches

Both of those measurements are somewhere around or above the 75th percentile, which made us wonder how they stacked up to Audrey's measurements at the same age. Thankfully, blog history tells us that she was basically 2 lbs. lighter, and 2 inches shorter. She was pretty chunky at this point herself, but it was good to know that at least Brennan isn't 2 lbs. heavier at the same height - that would really put him over the top.

Jumpin' II

2011-01-05T17:57:00.001-08:00

A love for jumping must run in the family, because Brennan took to the jumper just as naturally as his sister did at his age. He has a more even, gradual pace than she did, but he seems to enjoy it nonetheless. Unfortunately, he has also followed in her shoes in that he likes to have all eyes on him while jumping, or it doesn't seem to be nearly as much fun (and then the whining commences).

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-19T17:48:00.000-08:00

The way things have been going I doubt I'll get to another post before Christmas, so I figured I would post some holiday-related pictures. And we didn't send Christmas cards this year, so please accept this as a substitute.

First Cereal

2010-12-19T17:31:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow (12/20) is Brennan's 4 month check up, so we'll be able to update with his official stats (probably 75th %ile +) afterward. We had been waiting until we talked to Dr. Myers to start him on cereal, but given his eating history and general good health we thought it was just a formality, and we finally caved and decided to give him his first taste of cereal this weekend. Long story kind of short, here's why: when Brennan gets hungry for his bottle - like really hungry - he does this thing when he gets in feeding position (almost laying down), where he shakes his arms and basically pants/hyperventilates. In other words, he semi-freaks out with hunger and excitement. I should also preface this by saying that 90% of the time when we're eating dinner he is sitting on Theresa or my lap watching everything that's going on. Anyway, last weekend we were out doing some Xmas shopping and stopped somewhere to grab something to eat. Not long after Theresa had her plate put down he started doing the same arm flapping/hyperventilating that he usually saves for the bottle. So we figured he was looking for some variety. That, and he tried to eat Theresa's sandwich today at lunch. Seriously. He still has some work to do before he's at sandwich level, but he definitely doesn't seem to hate the idea of non-bottle food.

Gingerbread House

2010-12-19T17:23:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we spent Sunday afternoon at Nonna and Poppa's helping Audrey and Parker make gingerbread houses. The whole procedure was intended to be a fun experience for the two of them, but quickly turned into a project for most of the rest of us (me, Uncle Clarke and Uncle Bugs in particular). It was only my second experience with gingerbread houses, and I don't think most of us realized how delicate the actual house-building process is. Once we got the houses up, we did let the girls do a little decorating. Audrey was especially proud of her house, and even though we all put so much work into it, she wasn't particularly attached. As a matter of fact, right now the house is only a shell of what it once was...but it looked pretty good at one point.

Giggles

2010-12-19T17:22:00.000-08:00

Bloody Married

2010-12-03T18:33:00.000-08:00

So, the weekend after Thanksgiving we went up to Grandpa and Gmas to hitch a ride up to Penn State in the RV for the Penn State/Michigan State game. I spent a little while Friday morning making bloody marys for the tailgate. Since the recipe is nothing but clamato juice and various spices, and Audrey typically like semi-spicy stuff, we thought we'd let her try it and capture whatever terrible reaction she had to the taste. We never expected that 1) she'd like it, or 2) she would be so confused by the 'mary' part of the name.

Happy Thanksgiving...

2010-12-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

...only a week and a half or so late. Due to work conflicts, we didn't join the rest of the extended family down in OCMD, so we celebrated with the immediate family here in NoVA. We spent the morning hanging out here at the house and watching the Thanksgiving day parade, which I never quite appreciated, but finally see how people (kids, especially) might find it entertaining. And even though we had 30(ish) fewer people, we still had the same amount of food, including two turkeys. That's about 2.5 lbs of turkey per person. True to form, Audrey packed her fair share away. Brennan has been dying to help out, but unfortunately he's stuck on the bottle for a more few weeks until we can start oatmeal.

Funny How?

2010-11-24T17:35:00.000-08:00

Not much is new with Brennan these days...he started laying on his side in his crib at night, continues to munch on his hands at every opportunity, and his coordination is sharpening enough that all of the hangy toys in his play yard are at his mercy. And he's been doing a heck of a lot more smiling, and even a little giggling every now and then. Mostly for no reason, mainly following the crowd. But it sure is cute.

Pimp My Ride

2010-11-24T17:25:00.001-08:00

Audrey, Theresa and Mabel (the new nanny) spent a good bit of the morning creating some new wheels for her to play around in. Apparently there were some engineering challenges throughout the manufacturing process, but the finished product shows some quality work. And at least we're making good use of some of the boxes still in the basement. Either way, Audrey really loved it and has been playing in it for a good bit of the day. It's complete with doors, seatbelts, steering wheel - the only thing lacking is a radio, but the iTouch provided a good substitute. Poppa was even lucky enough to stop by for a ride. She keeps saying we're driving to the apartment across the street (there isn't one), and doesn't seem to like the suggestion that maybe we just walk, since it's only across the street. Maybe Santa will bring her the real thing for Christmas.

Thanksgiving (Take 1)

2010-11-24T17:06:00.000-08:00

Last weekend was our first Thanksgiving of 2010 up at Grandpa and Gma's house. The whole crew was there, including the southern VAers, and both kids seemed to love every minute of hanging out with the family. Brennan was content getting passed around, and Audrey mostly followed Brady and Kollin around watching whatever they were doing, not letting them out of her sight. We even got to spend some time with Grammy, Grampy and GG before heading out of town.

Update (Finally)

2010-11-18T15:46:00.000-08:00

Things have been busy around here lately, but it doesn't feel like we have much to show for it in terms of blog postings. The last few weekends have been filled with random yard work, leaf raking, and lots of other relatively uneventful, unbloggable activity. Last weekend was an exception, when we went out to a cabin (which was really a large house) in the Shenandoahs with friends. This has turned into an annual trip, but expanded this year with two more couples and about five more kids (new kids, and some of us continue to multiply). The grand total was around 10 kids all under the age of 5, which certainly resulted in a whirlwind of activity around the 'cabin'.

We had to take the pack n' play that Brennan's been sleeping in (in our room) with us on the trip, so since our return he's graduated to his crib. He's been doing pretty well, still waking up only once a night to eat and go back to sleep. The better news is that without him 10 feet away, it's easier to ignore when he's stirring around 5am. Thankfully he's been content to play by himself for a little while before falling back asleep on his own again. Photos of recent goings-on follow...

Pumpkin Party

2010-10-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

That's how Theresa and I have been referring to the pumpkin patch at Burke Nursery the past month in an effort to get Audrey geared up for the event. Even though this was her 3rd year attending, we got to do a little more this time around...took a pony ride, rode on the merry-go-round, did the bounce-house, the 'wobble wagon', the hay ride (which had no hay) and a bunch of other fun stuff. And true to form, Brennan slept through the whole thing again. We're starting to resort solely to pictures of Audrey posing next to the stroller just to prove that Brennan was at these events. The pumpkin party was supposed to be followed up by pumpkin carving at Nonna and Poppa's, but we didn't quite make it as far as actually carving any pumpkins. But Uncle Bugs and Mike and Aunt Nikki and Betty did surprise everyone with some uncharacteristic halloween spirit. The verdict is out on Audrey's official take on the costumes, but they definitely gave the rest of us a chuckle.

Halloween Parade

2010-10-30T19:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the annual halloween parade in Nonna and Poppa's neighborhood. Not much fanfare, but there's probably 100 or so people walking a few blocks down the hill to the pool house parking lot, followed by a bunch of fun games and assorted sugary treats. Audrey always has a blast, and this year she got to try out her halloween costume...that she picked out all by herself. Bridge and Brennan even got into the halloween spirit...

Horsin' Around

2010-10-30T18:55:00.001-07:00

Audrey loves trips to Costco as much as her mommy...probably because of things like this...

2 Month Check Up

2010-10-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

Brennan had his 2 month check-up with Dr. Myers on Wednesday, and here's the breakdown:

Weight: 13 lbs 8 oz (95th)
Height: 24 in (90th)
At least his head circumference is only at the 75th percentile

Recently

2010-10-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

Bake Off

2010-10-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

Three apple pies, six apple turnovers and some leftover baked apples later, we've managed to make our way through our entire stash. Luckily we have a good helper, which makes the baking a breeze. We may also have the next Vanna White/Barker's Beauty on our hands...she picked up on mommy's hand-model coaching pretty quickly.

Apple Pickin'

2010-10-11T17:38:00.000-07:00

We made our 2nd annual trek out to Homestead Farm last weekend for some apple pickin'. We'd been waiting for some fall(ish) weather to hit, and finally got lucky enough with a sub-80 degree day. As has become his routine on our excursions, Brennan slept through the whole thing. This year picking seemed a little more difficult than last year (apparently the stink bug invasion had some impact on the crop), but we still managed to pick enough to get a discount...a little more than 26 lbs.

Brennan's 1 Month Appointment

2010-09-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

Last week Theresa took Brennan to his 1 month well visit. He's bulked up to 11 lbs 11 oz, which is up a little more than 2 lbs from his previous visit. He's falling out at the 90th to 95th percentile for both weight and height, and was generally given a clean bill of health. He continues to sleep pretty well, from about 8pm to 2am-ish, then back to sleep again until 5 or 6. We couldn't ask for much more.

My Gym

2010-09-30T18:32:00.000-07:00

Last week Theresa signed Audrey up for a class at My Gym, which is essentially a giant padded room for toddlers to go crazy in. There are slides, a ball pit, balance beam, parallel bars, a zip line, trampoline, and a variety of other padded apparatus. The membership allows Audrey to go to open play sessions at any point during the week, so we've already been twice this week to let her run around. She seems to really like it, and has completely surprised Theresa and I with her leaping ability (pictured below). If Guiness kept a record for toddler aerial long jump, I bet she'd have broken it. Even Brennan loves it - not sure how much he's picking up, but the shear chaos seems to keep him entertained.

Zoo Bound

2010-09-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

Last week Theresa, Hilda and Aunt Betty took Audrey, Brennan and Parker to the zoo for the day. Apparently it was a scorcher, but they all managed to have a good time regardless.

Big Sister

2010-09-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

Audrey still continues to essentially obsess over Brennan, helping fetch diapers, burp clothes, pacifiers, etc. Just wanted to share some photos of the general goings-on around the house.

Pumpkin Patch:Take 1

2010-09-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

We took Audrey and Brennan to their first pumpkin patch of the season a couple weekends ago, mainly to get Audrey out of the house and running around for a little while. This particular pumpkin patch was a lot bigger than the one we normally go to, and Audrey had fun trying out some of the what seemed to be 20+ slides, petting a cow, feeding some goats and generally running around. She was a little uneasy with the goats at first, and surprised us at her willingness to participate. We had a bit of a setback when a goat decided to sneak attack her, but she got back to it pretty quickly after. And of course, she had to drive every single tractor on the premises. Brennan also took his first trip in the bjorn, and seemed to like it, since he slept for the whole 2+ hours we were there.

Burke Centre Festival

2010-09-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the fall festival in Burke Centre (close to our new 'hood). Since we may not be making it to the York Fair this year we're trying to get our fill of similar festivities anywhere we can. Audrey was a little bit of a grump at first, and didn't want to participate at all, but eventually she came around. She got in the bounce house (though she did no bouncing - only staring and pouting), and got to tour an ambulance, police car, and fire truck. There was also pony rides and face painting, but her negligent parents weren't interested in standing in line for the hour or so it would have taken to participate in either. And her brother was kind enough to snooze through the entire thing.

Sunday some family came to visit - Grammy and Grampy, GG, Aunt Mere and Uncle Jereme, and cousins Kollin and Brady came down for a couple hours to say hi. Brennan can't wait until he can run around with his big sister and cousins.

Sigh

2010-09-15T18:23:00.000-07:00

That basically sums it up right now...goes without saying that we've had a busy few weeks, and are finally starting to catch a little breather. A little advice for everyone/anyone that reads this - never attempt to have a child and move in the same week-long period. It's pretty difficult. Luckily we had a bunch of help from Aunt Betty and Nonna the few days right after we moved in, either helping to watch the kids or unpacking kitchen boxes. And it only took us the next few weeks to unpack our clothes and get a little more organized (thanks to Theresa, since I've done much of nothing since). Baby steps.

So since I last posted, we've moved, unpacked a little, made it down to OC to send off the summer and tried to maintain our sanity. Reading that doesn't sound quite as hectic as it's been, but it certainly feels like things have been a little crazy. Some more updates:

Brennan has his next check-up next Tuesday - he's still only had the one and since he's so "healthy" the doctor didn't see the need to see him again until he's 1 month. He didn't make it to the beach, but did make his first trip to the boardwalk to watch Audrey ride her last rides of the summer. She's definitely gotten a lot more adventurous, and asked to go on the ferris wheel this time around - which is a frightening experience for the parents of a 2 yo who won't sit still and doesn't understand that she's 500 ft in the air. She's also still a big fan of Brennan's, and continues to make sure he's well taken care of. In fact, after work tonight she brought me his burp cloth, pacifier and bottle, making sure to tell me that I "needed" each of them as she delivered them. Oh, and she's turned into a pretty big fan of singing - the video is her helping to make a cake for Aunt Nikki's birthday. Her secret ingredient is love (pardon the camera angle - this is Theresa's handiwork).

Brennan's 1st Check-Up

2010-08-25T06:42:00.001-07:00

Brennan had his first appointment with Dr. Myers yesterday, and left with a clean bill of health. And Audrey got a butterfly stamp on her arm, which she was definitely pleased with.

Stats are as follows:
Weight - 9lbs 8.5oz, which is up from 8lbs 12oz when we left the hospital (told you he's an eater)
Height - 22.5in, or thereabouts
Head circumference - don't remember, but we've never paid much attention to that anyway

Dr. Myers was surprised to see how quickly he had gained his weight loss back (and quickly surpassed it), but said as long as he's not spitting up or having issues with the amount he's eating, keep feeding him. He's up around the 75th to 90th percentile in weight and height, but I imagine that will start to normalize at some point. Either that or we're going to have one of those 40lb 1 year olds on our hands. Theresa and I just continue to be thankful that he isn't (at least so far) showing any of the issues Audrey had with GERD, or reflux, or whatever the issue was. Let's just hope that continues.

Big Sister

2010-08-23T18:17:00.001-07:00

Audrey seems to be relishing the role of big sister. She frequently dotes over Brennan, rubbing his hands and face, saying hi, and generally exuding sisterly love (at least for now). She's itching to change a diaper, but she's probably a year or so from doing that successfully. Besides, if she can change his diaper, then she better start using the potty herself.

All in all she's transitioning pretty well. She's most affected when Brennan's crying, which she doesn't like at all, but only because she's so concerned that something is wrong with him. We've done our best to explain that crying the only way he can say he's hungry, wet, tired, whatever, but so far the lesson is slow to absorb. And he's still sleeping so much that to this point she hasn't been exposed to too many crying fits. And she even got to hold him for the first time today. I wasn't there to see it for the first time, but it seems like she enjoyed it.

Updates on Brennan: his first doctor's appointment is tomorrow morning, so we'll get an idea of whether he's gained that hospital weight back or not then. He's eating like a champ, downing about 3 oz. at a time, sometimes twice in a two hour span. We've only had two nights out of the hospital so far (not counting this one), but he's done pretty well so far. The first night he woke up every 3 hours or so, but only to eat and go back to sleep again. Last night sort of mirrored the first until about 3:15 when he ate, then pooped, then had the hiccups forever, then ended up being hungry again around 4:45 or so. But he slept from around 5am to about 9 or so, which would have been much better if 1) I didn't have to go back to work, or 2) Audrey understood exactly what was going on while she's sleeping and stayed in bed for another couple hours. We continue to cross our fingers and knock on wood that he continues to sleep relatively well at night.

Visitors

2010-08-23T18:06:00.000-07:00

Brennan's fan-base is ever-growing, and despite a large number of visitors in the hospital, people just can't get enough of him. So, that means visitors. Grammy came down from York with Aunt Mere to see Brennan on his birthday, and she came down again on Friday (and brought Grampy on Saturday) to lend a hand and get some quality bonding time with Audrey while Theresa was in the hospital. With the big move coming in just a few days, they were a great help packing stuff that hadn't been packed already, cooking for us, and generally helping out however they could. And naturally, Nonna and Poppa have made a visit or two to say hi as well.

Brennan Russell Bardolf

2010-08-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

Brennan was born August 18, 2010 at 1:28pm, weighing in at a generous 9lbs 3 oz and 21 in long. Theresa and I checked in at the hospital around 7am for a scheduled induction that morning. She was measuring at 3cm when we got there, so the doctor broke her water and hooked her up to the petocin and commenced the waiting period. Around noon the doctor checked in, Theresa was around 5 cm, but Brennan's head hadn't come down, or "engaged" at all. We had a sonogram a few weeks ago that showed that Brennan was about 7.5 lbs, so there was always some concern over whether Theresa would be able to deliver "regularly", or would have to have a c-section. This particular doctor was a pretty big proponent of a c-section for Theresa all along, especially given Brennan's weight 3 weeks ago, and the fact that he hadn't started moving down at all made the decision easier. So at around 1pm they gave me my scrubs and wheeled Theresa into the operating room. About 15 minutes later they were pulling Brennan out and putting him on the scale. And he's been eating and sleeping ever since.

Two days later Theresa is up and moving around, walking up and down the hall, and in generally much better shape than she was on Wednesday and yesterday. Audrey is transitioning pretty well, dishing out hugs constantly and worrying like crazy when he cries (she's really not a fan - it bothers her the most so far, but she'll get the hang of it). Mommy and baby are scheduled for discharge tomorrow, so that's when all the fun really begins.

Vacation 2010

2010-07-26T17:34:00.000-07:00

We spent last week in Duck, NC for our 2nd annual summer vacation with Audrey's (mostly) York-based family. Despite 95+ degree temps every day, with almost freezing cold water temperatures, we still managed to have a great time. The week consisted of playing in the sand, neighborhood trolley rides, a couple of naps on the beach, afternoons playing in the pool, outdoors showers, and evening trips for ice cream. There was even a solo trip out with Grandpa and Gma. The good news was that despite cooler than normal water temperatures, we had a nice, long sandbar for most of the week that meant pretty calm waters to run around in. We also discovered that she loves sand crabs, getting buried in the sand, and that she has a new found interest in boogie boarding, even though she needs some help with that (and it's more like surfing). And even after a long week away from home, Audrey was still ready for more, asking to "go Nonna's beach house?" as we were heading out from the OBX.

Fruits of Her Labor

2010-07-26T17:25:00.000-07:00

The day before our weekly summer vacation with her York family, we literally stumbled upon the first vegetable from our garden. After a month or so of hard work and diligent watering, Theresa unearthed the mother of all cucumbers, much to all of our surprise. Unfortunately, we left it in the fridge the next morning, so none of us got to try it, but we did manage to eat #2 (which tasted just like a cucumber) and have the promise of quite a few more on the horizon. Audrey would very much prefer they were pickles, but she'll take the cucumbers regardless. In a couple weeks...tomatoes!!

4th of July

2010-07-06T18:17:00.000-07:00

We spent the 4th of July weekend in Ocean City with Nonna, Poppa, and the whole crew. Audrey continues to prove that she's a total beach baby...we were out on the beach by 10ish, and not back home until late afternoon almost every day. And we're still batting 1.000 on naps on the beach, which makes Mom and Dad pretty happy, because we get at least a little beach time where we just get to relax. Her favorite beach pasttimes are dumping water on the sand, playing in the surf, and eating snacks. She was a little wishy-washy about actually getting in the water, which was a little cold, but that makes us feel a little more comfortable that maybe she won't just sprint into the ocean one day. But I've become resigned to the fact that I will almost always end up leaving the beach as sandy, or even sandier, than she does.

Saturday night we took Audrey and Parker to Jolly Roger (which is literally right up the street from the new place) for a little excitement instead of fighting traffic down to the boardwalk. We weren't around for Parker's last trip to the boardwalk, but it certainly seems like the rides are that much more enjoyable with a partner. Audrey has ridden on the cars more than a handful of times by now, but we've never seen a bigger smile on her face.

In other news, Audrey has become a bit of a novice singer, with her favorites tunes including "Happy Birthday" (which is by far her best), "Jingle Bells" (which we think Hilda has been teaching her, and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" (which she mostly makes Theresa or I sing). Here she is entertaining herself on the ride home on Monday. I should preface this by saying it was completely unprompted, including her use of the prop. This was going on for about 5 minutes before I decided to start recording.

Poser (Literally)

2010-07-01T06:13:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday we had some people coming to look at the house, and a pool party to go to in Burke, so we took a trip over to Nonna and Poppa's house to hang out for the afternoon. With Nonna and Poppa out of town, Audrey pretty much had the run of the place, and stumbled across a couple of aprons that Nonna bought for her and Parker. Almost immediately after we put one on her, she got a big smile on her face like it was the coolest thing ever (even though she's worn plenty of aprons). Regardless, Theresa asked to take her picture, and this is by far the most cooperative Audrey has ever been with picture-taking. It was like a mini photo-shoot. I guess she thought she looked good and wanted to make sure she had a record of it down the road.

The first one is a product of saying "cheese" and the last one is because I was kneeling in the second picture, so she just had to be a copycat.

Trip to York

2010-07-01T05:54:00.000-07:00

Our trip to York surrounded a celebration of Audrey's Aunt Ally's 21st birthday and a visit to go see Nana. Nana was even nice enough to give Audrey a ride on her new bed, which she really seemed to enjoy.

We spent a good bit of time by Grandpa's pool for Aunt Ally's birthday party. Audrey is becoming a serious fan of pools, although she still has to learn that she can't jump in without Daddy (or someone) there to catch her (she actually shooed me aside at a pool party we went to on Sunday, but wasn't terribly happy with the result...a nose full of water). A majority of the day was spent jumping into the pool with Kollin and Brady, playing with her only York friend, Aubrey, and trying out the birthday present we bought for Aunt Ally.

Dutch Wonderland!!

2010-07-01T05:33:00.000-07:00

We took off last Friday to take Audrey to Dutch Wonderland on our way to York - technically, we had to go past York to get there, but that's not important. Our day started with some 8am beltway traffic, then we swung by York to pick up Grammy and off we went. For anyone not in the know, Dutch Wonderland is a kid-centric amusement park in Lancaster, PA. And after we saw how much Audrey enjoyed herself on the rides down in OC, we thought it would be a good experience for her, and some fun for Mom, Dad and Grammy too. It was a scorcher (about 95), but we still managed to have a good time. And we made good use of the water park section to help cool off. Audrey even took her first flume ride, which I thought would be a little more tame given the general park theme, but found out too late it was a full-scale flume, with drops of about 20 and 40 feet, respectively. Thankfully, she actually enjoyed it, and was even asking for more when the ride was over.

This is Audrey pointing out the stage show to the princess she met...

OC (Again)

2010-06-22T17:50:00.000-07:00

We spent last weekend in Ocean City and made our first summer trip down to the boardwalk to let Audrey ride some of the rides. She and Parker both had a good time on most of the rides last year, so we thought it would be fun experiment to see what may or may not have changed since last year. The answer - not much, but you can tell she enjoys the rides a lot more instead of being sort of confused by them. She wasn't too fond of the carousel last year, but really enjoyed it this year. Her favorite is definitely the cars, to the point where we had to do some serious negotiating to even get her out of her car after the ride.

Cousin Bridge

2010-06-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

Audrey's new cousin, Bridge Clarke Lowden, was born Friday morning, June 11th, at 7am something in the morning. He weighed in at almost 8 lbs., and while Audrey wasn't able to see him when he was still in the hospital, she managed to make it down for a visit Sunday night. And apparently she was being very polite, gentle, and nice to/with him, which hopefully is a good sign come August.

Happy Birthday!!

2010-06-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe that Audrey was born a little more than two years ago. Like our parents always said, the time has just flown by. We spent last Thursday celebrating as a family, and last Saturday having a big party for Audrey, our family, and some of her friends. Although it must have been confusing for her, because we spent all week hyping up her birthday, then when it came time for her actual party, we had to explain to her that it was actually Mommy's birthday that day too. I don't think she really believed us, but since we were all in the mood to celebrate regardless, it didn't much matter anyway. And we're sure she'll figure it out eventually.

Despite our requests for no gifts, she was showered with love from her insubordinate friends and family. And after spending all day Sunday cleaning out 1/3 of the house in preparation for listing it (we just bought a new place in Fairfax), we have plenty of space for the new stuff. Favorite gifts so far: the bike that Mommy and Daddy gave her, the toy hamster from her friend Maya (which really is awesome), and a toy weedwacker from Aunt Nikki and Uncle Bugs. But she really loved everything, and was full of "oohs", "aahs", and "oh, wows" while she opened the gifts.

Summer Kick-Off

2010-06-05T04:48:00.000-07:00

We spent Memorial Day weekend down in OC, which was also our first stay at the new house. Most of Thursday, Friday and Saturday was spent getting stuff organized, but the weather wasn't that great on those days anyway, and we did manage to get out to the beach and pool on Sunday and Monday. We were a little concerned about whether Audrey would still have the same love of the beach she had last year, but it didn't take long to figure out that not much had changed. She almost immediately went down the water, and almost always needed to be persuaded to head back up to the blankets and chairs. And while she did try to jump out of my arms directly into the water at one point, we do think she's learning her limits with respect to playing in the surf - at one point I spent about 20 minutes sitting in the sand while she ran up and down toward the water, with no attempts to swim out to sea. We both hope the trend continues, because it will make our beach lives much less stressful. Audrey and Parker also both love to hang out on the docks, which is also a huge concern, but Theresa has already mandated that they wear life jackets at all times when on the dock - neither of them seem to care too much, so for the time being it's working out pretty well. And the previous owner left behind all kinds of inflatable goodies, which we did our best to take advantage of while we were down there. Audrey was a little cautious during her first boat trip out on the bay, but she said she liked it. The second one didn't go as well, with her wanting to return to the dock about 10 seconds after we left. But at least we can check a boat ride (in a mostly inflated boat) off of the list of life experiences.