Walking (or more accurately, Toddling)

So I'm a a bit late sharing this update considering she's been steadily walking for almost a week now.  But when it started, both our camera and my cell phone were broken.  (Camera still is, boo.)  So now that my cell phone/video camera is back in action, I present to you our newest Toddler.



Although she owns many pairs of shoes, none of them were quite right for a new walker so I took a trip to Shoe Train with the kids this past weekend.  Margaret was unsure about Miss Laura, our shoe fitter for this trip, until Miss Laura started putting shoes on her feet.  Then Marg proceeded to dance around the store, kicking her little feet in the air so everyone could see her new shoes.  We ended up paying for the sparkly pair while they were still on her feet because she was not giving them up.

365 Days of Margaret

Still working on tracking down a few photo files off phones or other cameras, but here is a rough cut of Margaret's first full calendar year: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajdavis/sets/72157632423695455/

January 1, 2013

December 31, 2013
3

Florida (take 3)

I was 21-years-old when I went to Florida for the third time in my life.  Margo was 11 months by the time she made her third trip to the Sunshine State.  This past weekend we headed south for our cousin Zach's bar mitzvah.  We're still dealing with Margaret's inability to sleep soundly when outside her own crib.  So although the trip was good, we were all exhausted.

Whoa, have you seen what's out here?

We had some time on Friday to explore and spent the afternoon at the Boca Children's Museum.  We literally had the place to ourselves and both kids had a ball.

Saturday morning was the bar mitzvah followed immediately by the party and luncheon.  I stole this picture from Facebook to share how adorable Aaron's cousins are.


As you can see from the pictures below, the kids were very interested in the service.


Zach really did an impressive job, essentially reciting the entire service.  The celebration that followed was a lot of fun.  It's a shame for Nate that it was midday because that meant he missed his nap and was too grumpy to enjoy kid-paradise.  Candy bar, cupcakes, sundae bar, games, and music.  I knew Nate was tired when Katy Perry's Roar came on and he showed no enthusiasm.

Overall, a really nice trip with family.  Looking forward to our next trip south sometime in 2014!

What I wouldn't give for one picture with both kids looking at the camera and no fingers in their mouths.

Fall Update

So, what's keeping us so busy that there is no time to tell anyone why we're so busy?

These two.  Known around our house as McGillicuddy and Magoo.  Or Magoogle if said in a "MacGruber" sing-song.

Two words - Constant motion.  If one of them is still, the other is likely climbing on top of the quiet one.  And it goes both ways.  They are the best of friends and clearly love each other so much.  Marg lights up when she sees her brother in the morning and uses the consonant N sound to "say" his name.  Nate looks forward to running into her room every morning and listens for the first sound of her stirring so he can loudly alert us, "Margaret's awake!"  He's been known to expedite her waking up process by creeping into her room when we aren't looking.  This morning he did so while I was in the shower.  He then excitedly ran into the bathroom to alert me that she was awake but too heavy for him to get out of the crib.  I'm not sure I want to know if he actually attempted this maneuver.  By the time I got out of the shower to get her, Nate had turned on her music, given her some toys, and was sitting on the floor next to he crib repeatedly saying, "It's okay, Nate's here."

For Halloween Nate knew he wanted to be Mike Wazowski so Aunt Meghan kindly made Miss M a Boo costume to go along with big brother.  Margo was surprisingly patient with the costume, once we got it on her, and didn't bother with it most of the night. She made an appearance at a few neighbor houses and then went home to hang out with her four grandparents while we took Nate around some more.



Then we were joined by these guys:

2013

As a retrospective:

2010

2011

Missing 2012 because we were stuck in Cleveland, thanks Super Storm Sandy.

Other things going on at Chez Davis:

Preschool open houses - Aaron and I have been looking into our options for Nate for Fall 2014.  We thought we'd tour one or two and an obvious choice would appear.  But we underestimated the vast number of options and some of the really cool things going on near us.  Words like Montessori, language immersion, Reggio Emilio, play-based, and creative curriculum are running amok in our house.  We've agreed to stop looking, there are already plenty of good choices.  Now we need to start deciding.  More to come on this, I'm sure.

Soccer - Nate's been playing soccer this fall.  I'm using the term "playing" very loosely.  I think everyone in the family will be happy after tomorrow's final soccer practice.  He was very excited about playing, and talks about it with enthusiasm during the week.  But then he get shy when it comes time to play.  The team is 3-5 year-olds so he is among the youngest.  The older kids' parents have told us this is really common and he'll likely be a different player by next fall.

Work - While there's nothing terribly exciting to report here, unless you count Aaron's trip to Reno as exciting, work has been keeping both of us very busy.  Thankfully, I've just finished budget season so things will slow down here until after the holidays.  Hopefully.

Planning for Margaret's first birthday - Nearly impossible to believe, but our little one is turning one in a month.  For her celebration, we're going to a puppet performance of the Nutcracker with a party afterwards.  We are really looking forward to having friends and family together for her big birthday.  We've been so blessed with this sweet little girl.

Same

Nate - 10 months

Margo - 10 months

Summer, where did you go?

As you can tell from our lack of writing, the month of August flew by in a snap.  When Aaron worked in Congress, August was our month of rest, relaxation, and family time.  But this August?  It was one of those months we just braced ourselves and tried to make it through.

We got off to a great start with Nate's birthday party!  But then our work travel began.  Aaron and I both had trips for work this month that left our house feeling like a revolving door.  One parent came home and unpacked his/her suitcase just in time for the other parent to repack and fly off.  Lucky for no one, Aaron's trip to Louisiana coincided with a nasty stomach bug hitting our house.  It started with Marg and no sooner did I have her crib sheets changed and rocked her back to sleep, Nate wakes up and joins the club.  Get him back to sleep only to have Margaret wake up again.  Thank the good Lord that I managed to stave off the bug until Aaron flew home at which time I immediately got sick and holed up for the next 20 hours or so.

Between multiple work trips, we also managed to squeeze in a little family time with a weekend visit to our cousins in Princeton.  They have three girls who adore our kids and were fantastically helpful all weekend.  The highlight of the visit for me was when, out of the blue, almost-five-year-old Emme reaches for my hand and says, "I'm so lucky you're my godmother."  I'm sorry, what did you say you wanted for your birthday?  A pony?  Done.



Nate was in heaven with three "big kid" playmates and an entire house of new (to him) toys.  And a pool in the backyard.  Heaven.  He even sampled his first lobster and clam and enjoyed them.  Although not as much as he enjoyed his favorite, corn on the cob.

On the way to New Jersey, we spent a day in Lancaster visiting Dutch Wonderland with the Schochs.


And then on the way back, we spent the night with Nate's Bubbie and Zeyda and visited Sesame Place.  We were really fortunate to be joined by Aaron's best friend, Khyber, and his oldest daughter, Juniper.

Nate loved the park and rode all the water slides at least once and the roller coaster three times.  As we waited in line for one of the slides, he told, me, "We're not going home."  Thinking he was loving the park I asked, "You think we should live at Sesame Place?"  "No," he responds, "We're going back to my cousins' house." No doubt, you'd be welcome there.

Belated Birthday Roundup

Nate's third birthday lasted 9 days.  On his actual birthday, we flew to Florida to celebrate Grandma Shirley's 90th.  Nate was in heaven spending time with his cousins.  He has asked many times since then when we can go back to Florida to see the kids.

with Great Grandma and Millie

Cousins Arianna, Zach, and Ben

Then the following weekend, we had a Handy Manny pool party for the Birthday Boy.  The lucky kid had all four of his grandparents, two uncles, and two aunts all come to town for the party.

Based on this picture, you'd never guess I'm 5'7".

Aunt Flann and Aunt Ashley made birthday cupcakes for the party.  I think they were a hit.