Monday, September 29, 2008

He Did It!!!

By Tiffany George
I am pleased to announce that Mr. Andrew Cutie Pants George walked down the aisle at Aunt Val and Uncle Brian's wedding like a little pro. For those who know Andrew, you would understand my skepticism regarding his willingness to walk down an aisle surrounded by many unfamiliar faces. I honestly thought there was probably a 10% chance he'd do it, but that was until the rehearsal. Friday night he marched right down that aisle with flower girl Madison as if it was no big deal at all. This gave me hope. It wasn't that I would have been majorly bummed if he didn't do it, I just knew what a cutie he would be if he did!

The day of the wedding I put Andrew down for a super early nap at 11:30 (at least 2 hours earlier than normal). He didn't notice that it was weird when I prepared lunch at 10:30am...he just rolled with it. He ended up taking a 2 hour nap which was great. When he woke up Meme was here to help me get the kiddos dressed and ready to leave on time (thanks Meme!). Andrew was great putting on his shirt and pants, but when Meme put on the vest, it came off instantly. Andrew claimed that it was "too big", something he likes to say when he doesn't want to wear something (little tricky boy!). Having only a limited amount of time until we needed to leave, I had to think on my feet. I said "oh, Andrew that's too bad that it's too big, because if you put it on, I was going to give you a few M&Ms" (I'm not above bribery...hehehe!). He said "try Momma". I kept up the act, saying, oh no, it's too big, I don't want to force it on you, etc, etc. I was a trooper and I finally gave in, and alas, it fit! I worked this same angle to get on his tie and tuxcdo coat too. It only cost me 6 mini M&Ms, not too bad. I combed his hair and we were on our way.

Once at the church we headed downstairs so that Andrew wouldn't be overwhelmed by all of the unfamilar faces. At 2:30 we made our way up the stairs and he got to watch out the window as the white stretch Hummer pulled up. He was jumping up and down at this point. Grammy, Grampa, and the rest of the girls in the wedding came in and Andrew lined right up where he belonged. He held his little pillow out in front of him, as if he were serving it up to someone.

Grammy & Ann were seated and then Pete and another groomsmen rolled out the aisle runner. Andrew was so excited, saying "here Daddy comes, here Daddy comes!". Once the paper road was in place, Andrew stood and waited for my go. While standing there he spotted Papa down the aisle and gave a huge smile. On my go he went right down the aisle like a sweet little angel. Unfortunately I had to stay back with him so I didn't get to witness his preciousness first hand, but I know he must have been so sweet. Pete said that he had the same pucker lips when he walked down the aisle as he has in the photo from the rehearsal. (Since Pete was in the wedding and I was getting Andrew ready, we didn't get any pictures of him walking down the aisle. If you or anyone you know has one, please forward it to me!!!) He got up to the front of the church and sat with Papa. He didn't even ask for the special treat snack that Papa had loaded in his pocket.

Everyone else made their way into the church. Valerie was absolutely stunning. Big Pete walked her down the aisle and then at the exact second that the priest asked who was to give this woman to be married, Andrew noticed that Aunt Kate was sitting beside him. As if on cue, he announced "Aunt Kate, Aunt Kate". It was priceless. I'm so glad that I know Val & Brian well enough to know that I needn't be worried about this!

Aside from Andrew's adorableness, Natalie was a little jewel as well. Gail got her the cutest little white dress to wear and it even had green ribbons to match the wedding colors! She was a peach the whole day through, though that's not much of a surprise for her. The coolest thing was that just as the priest was saying "I now pronounce you..." Natalie bit down on my finger and I felt her first tooth! I will forever remember this day for so many reasons. So, despite cutting her first tooth, she was still a little angel. She enjoyed the music at the reception and even joined me in the congo line as I pushed her in the stroller. She fell asleep in her stroller, unfazed by the party going on. Andrew had a blast at the reception, dancing it up with Papa, Uncle KJ, and Matt, among others. Though the dancing was a hit, nothing could compare to getting to spend time with Anna. She is toooooo cute!!!

In other Natalie news, she also had her first rice cereal on Friday, September 26th. This was her first ever encounter with food and it went okay. She actually ate more this first day than on subsequent days. She sort of just tries to suck the food off the spoon and it is so cute. Over the weekend she would pretty much push back out anything that we put in, but she is learning! She loves to try to grab the spoon, making feeding her much more of a challenge now that we are used to Andrew! Tonight when Pete fed her she seemed to be getting the hang of it. She loves to get to sit at the big table with us during dinner, that's for sure. She was grinning from ear to ear.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

Anna & Papa

By K.J. Cardinal

You should've seen Anna and Papa last night.

We are up at my parent's house this weekend for a wedding, but last night Anna was in rare form thanks to Papa's antics.

Definitely one of my favorite Anna videos of all-time.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

It Takes a Village

By Tiffany George

For those who didn’t know, I threw out my back for the second time in as many months. What’s even worse than the pain I feel is the fact that I simply can’t lift the kids. As a stay-at-home Mom, this is obviously a prerequisite for my job, so it has been incredibly difficult. It has taken a Village to help me out around the clock for the past two weeks, and I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has helped out. The one extraordinary thing about this entire situation is that everyone who has come here has gotten to witness the cuteness that is Andrew & Natalie every day.

Thanks, first and foremost, to Pete. He has had to seriously step up to be both Mom and Dad, from cleaning and laundry to dishes and diapers, and that is on top of all of the other helpful things that he always does to help me out around the house and with the kids. I love you hun! Pete has even been good natured whenever the cute little girl has happened to puke on him. A little over a month ago Pete was kissing Natalie in her mouth and all of a sudden Pete started spitting on the ground. As it turned out, Nat Nat had puked in his mouth...a first for us. Just the other day, Pete was having her fly above him like an airplane and shockingly (not!) she puked on his face. Here's evidence:

Coming in a close second in the helping out department would definitely be Grammy. Gail has actually slept over on our couch two nights so that she could be here to help me with the kids in the morning.

A big thanks also to Meme, Papa, and Grampa for pitching in in any way they could. God knows Andrew was ecstatic to be surprised by Papa getting him out from his crib on Tuesday! My friend Lauren has also been so supportive and helpful. My friend Robin even came over at 7 in the morning to be here in case Natalie needed to be lifted from her crib. Auntie Sheila actually took the day off today and came over at 6:45am on her vacation day…some vacation. Amidst school, working out, and working at the Road House, Katie has also been a huge help two weeks in a row. I know that I am incredibly blessed to have so much help over the past two weeks. I love you all so much!!! If I have forgotten anyone, my apologies!

The best part about this has been getting a chance for other people to share in the joy that I get to experience every day.

Natalie is just growing like a weed. She recently discovered that she can stand up in her Exersaucer, and she loves it. Just yesterday she started bouncing in her Jumperoo too.

She loves to play with her toys, and she always wants to have something in her mouth. She is already starting to like things that are off limits. On Tuesday I was unwrapping a package of wipes to refill the wipe container, and the wrapper enthralled Natalie. I put it on the floor and told her that if she could get to it, she could have it. Well, of course the little cutie rolled this way, and rolled that way, and then got up on her hands and knees. She experimented by lifting one arm way up high, then the other, as she has been doing on and off for the past week. And then, she did it! She took two to three crawl steps forward and got that wrapper. I was so happy that Papa got to be here to witness her crawling for the first time (September 23rd). She hasn’t done it too much since, but we haven’t needed to refill the wipes yet either!

Natalie’s favorite toy is definitely her brother. She is so excited to see him and she likes to look at him, even when he is looking the other way. She gives her biggest smiles when she finally captures his attention. It is adorable.

Andrew is just so cute, and did I mention “so nice”? We all always tell Andrew that he is so nice whenever he is helpful, or when he helps out with his sister. Well, obviously we do this a lot because lately when he does something to help out he’ll say “AnYou so nice”. You’re right cutie, you are so nice.

He is also very polite. He loves to say “thank you Momma” when I do something nice for him, even without prompting. It was the cutest thing, last week we came home from a day at the Lake and my friend Robin had brought by a basket of food to help me out while I was laid up with my back. Attached to the basket was a helium balloon. You would have thought it was a puppy drooling chocolate, Andrew was so excited. He was jumping up and down, clapping, saying yay, you name it. Then he said “thank you Momma bought that you, thank you”. I regret to say that in the heat of the moment, I took the credit :o)

He has also started saying love you, or sometimes I love you. For anyone who has had the chance to talk to this cutie on the phone, you know that at the end he always says “bye love you”. Most of the time if he is chatting on the phone, he has to be wearing my blue tooth. It is adorable. Papa gets many mid-morning calls from his cute grandson dying to hear his voice. Lately Andrew has been saying I love you to me before bed. He also likes to play with Natalie, and yesterday he’d just come out and say Love You Nat. It is priceless, Gail is my witness!

We also went to a yard sale last weekend and bought Andrew this car shown below. He loves it so much. He could honestly play in it for hours, just driving around the deck or driveway. I think he likes the fact that he can steer it, move it, and drive it all by himself.

Andrew is getting ready for Aunt Valerie’s wedding on Saturday. He seemed to like the tux when we got it, as long as he could keep his PJs on underneath. We’ll see what happens come Saturday. He is the ring bearer for the wedding, and he has been practicing with the pillow. I bought him some little rings to tie onto the pillow to help him understand his role in the wedding. He picked out big bird, elmo, a pumpkin, and other fashionable rings that I’m sure Valerie and Brian will love!
I am trying to make a green tie to match the wedding party for Andrew to wear for the wedding. Yesterday I took out the sewing machine (actually Gail got it for me) and I started to sew. Both kids were entranced by this endeavor. Andrew was so focused on figuring out how it worked, watching the thread as it moved through. He was such a big helper too. I let him put the foot up and down at the beginning and end of each row of stitches and he loved it. I also let him hold onto the thread when I started sewing. He was in Heaven!

I’ll keep you posted as to how Saturday goes. Not sure if he’ll walk down the aisle or not, but we won’t pressure him. I have told him that he gets to walk down the paper road (aisle) all by himself. He looked right at me and said “no hold Momma’s hand?” (thinking it’s a real road). This seemed to excite him a bit, but we’ll see if the real aisle fits the bill. He knows that Papa will be at the end of the paper road with a special treat snack for him, so that may help too.

Here are some photos of my adorable kids. Enjoy!

Andrew being adventurous and climbing the big rock with Grammy.

Andrew relaxing at the Lake with Grammy. What a life!

Or is it Grammy who gets to do the relaxing?????? :o)

Andrew with Teddy, his most sacred possession. Today Teddy got a little yogurt on him and just the thought of Teddy needing to take a bath in the washing machine prompted a flood of tears from this sweetie.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Anna + molars = devil child

By K.J. Cardinal

On Friday, Angie took Anna to the doctor's because we thought she might have an ear infection. Thankfully, Dr. McCartney assured us she didn't have an ear infection, but she did confirm that Anna is about to cut a few molars.

So, we were glad that Anna was healthy and that her apparent irritation was just part of her natural growth. But, what we didn't realize was that the cutting of a molar was going to turn Anna into a devil child.

Seriously. Ninety-five percent of the time, we couldn't ask for a better little girl, but the five percent of the time when Anna acts up it's as if she's possessed by the devil.

This was never more evident then yesterday afternoon...definitely my hardest day as a work-at-home dad. Anna was in total freak-out mode for about two-straight hours and I tried everything to soothe her, short of tossing her down the basement stairs or holding her head underwater for a few minutes.

Obviously I would never do either of those things and don't go calling social services on me, but dealing with an inconsolable baby has got to be the most frustrating thing in the world. It was as if the harder I tried to console Anna, the louder she'd cry. It was terrible.

The only reason why Anna isn't still crying is because of a chicken bone. During Anna's tirade, I threw in the towel for a few minutes and decided to make myself a little lunch.

So, I took a left-over rotisserie chicken out of the fridge and started to pick some meat off the body. Anna was still screaming (d*mn Portuguese), but she was watching intently what I was doing.

I took a drumstick bone and handed it to her. Immediately she stopped crying. There weren't even a few straggling sniffles or wimpers...she INSTANTLY stopped crying.

I couldn't believe it. As those of you know who have ever been in a similar situation, after going through two hours of hell with a devil child, you will pretty much let them do whatever they want for as long as they want as long as they stop freaking out.

So, Anna stayed in her seat at the kitchen table playing, chewing and sucking on her chicken bone. She was there for about a half hour and was so quiet that I actually started to do a little work.

I looked over a few minutes later and this is what I saw...

She was asleep. You can't see the chicken bone because it's in her right hand, which was down by her side, but you can see remnants of the chicken on her face and on the table. Suddenly the devil child was back to daddy's little angel. She was so cute.

Now I was faced with the ultimate conundrum... do I try to fix Anna's potential stiff neck and risk her waking up and freaking out again, or do I let her sleep there???

I opted to move her to her playpen... and thank God, she proceeded to take an hour and a half nap, allowing me piece my life back together, untie the noose from a tree out back and calm down.

If Anna's going to act this way for every molar she cuts, then I'm in for a world of hurt. Please no!

Monday, September 22, 2008

A surprise 30th for Angie

By K.J. Cardinal

Angie's actual birthday isn't until Thursday (September 25), but on Friday night I threw her a surprise 30th birthday party.

I had Angie believing that we were having a get together this Friday, the day after her birthday, so she really had no idea about the surprise. I went to such confusing lengths as setting up two Evites, one for the surprise party and one for the fake party. I'm sure that some people will show up this Friday, thinking there is going to be a party, but hopefully not because we won't be home.

Anyway, this past Friday was actually Adam's birthday, so I used him, his wife Holly and their kids, Sam and Katie (pictured above with Angie) as the perfect diversion to surprise Angie. I told Angie that I wanted to take Adam out for his birthday...and naturally, she fell for it.

So, we had a good dinner at the 99 here in Hudson and then came back to our house for the shindig. When we got out of the car, my neighbor was outside with his wife and kids and he says, "Get inside and get that party going." So, after over a month of planning a surprise party, we made it until about 10 feet from the front door until the cover was blown...ughhh!

I acted as if I either didn't hear it or didn't know what he was talking about and Angie was a little confused by it all. So, it didn't entirely ruin the surprise, but still bummed me out a bit that everyone had done such a good job of keeping the surprise...except our neighbor : (

Regardless, I unlocked the front door and turned the light on for Angie and everyone jumped out and screamed "Surprise!" It was great.

There was a great crew of Angie's closest friends that came from all over to celebrate her 30th, so she was loving it.

I have to give props to our friends Scott, Mike, Jamie and Missy for all of their help in pulling the party off. Scott & Mike parked cars down the street so the surprise wouldn't be spoiled and Jamie and Missy got the food ready and whatnot. It was a great team effort...thanks guys.

I would also like to take this time to warn you all of The Headless Horseman. You see, Scott and a few of his buddies came up with this new drink The Headless Horseman. It's tasty, but crippling. You take a half of a pumpkin beer, pour it into a glass and then drop a shot of jagermeister into the glass and down the hatch it all goes.

It might not sound that great, but it actually tastes a little TOO good. The "nutmeg finish" on the beer really carries the shot. So you see, we did a number of these on Friday night and Saturday wasn't a real pleasant day in the Cardinal household. So, beware The Headless Horseman.

Anyway, happy (early) 30th birthday Angie!

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Don't be a leader, be a follower

By K.J. Cardinal

Blogger has launched this new free feature that I have added to The Cardinal Blog called "Followers".

How it works is you can click on the "Follow this blog" on the right, under the "TCB Followers" heading. You'll have to sign in with your gmail account, or create an account.

Being a "follower" doesn't get you a free gift package or discounts or anything, but it's just really a way to publicly show followers of the blog. If you'd rather not be an anonymous follower, then feel free to keep stalking my family as you currently are. But, if you'd like to let the world know that you're a proud follower of The Cardinal Blog, then sign up.

Think of it as my way of giving back to the readers and getting their faces on my blog. As I write this, there are currently three TCB Followers...myself, Angie and Steve, the genious author of the World Renown CricketSam.com blog.

If you go to Steve's blog, you will see that I am also a follower of his blog. Being a follower is also rather handy if you read several blogs on a daily basis because when you log into your blogger account you can see posts from the blogs that you follow on one easy-to-read interface.

You'll probably still want to visit each blog frequently, but if you're in a rush and just want to read the most recent posts, then it's pretty handy.

Anyway, another new feature that you will notice is the changes to the "Fellow Bloggers" section on the right. Not only are there links to the blogs that I "follow", but also the headline of their most recent post...and a note of when the blog was last updated.

Neither of these things are that earth-shattering, but I just thought they added two neat elements for those of you that are avid fans of The Cardinal Blog. Enjoy!

100 days 'til Oahu

By K.J. Cardinal

Only 100 days until I head to Oahu for a sweet 10-day, nine-night vacation.

I'm really looking forward to it, but also dreading it a little because I am flying solo...no Angie or Anna...YIKES!

You see, my buddy Scott works at Intel and he has his sabbatical coming up (when you work at Intel for seven years, you get an eight-week sabbatical...basically paid leave). So, what he decided to do was rent two places in Oahu from December 27 to January 4 and invite friends to come down.

Understandably, he didn't want kids included on this trip, so he invited Angie and I. Right away, we knew that we both wouldn't be able to go and leave Anna with family for 10 days without BOTH of us, so Angie wanted me to go (thanks hon!).

Anyway, that trip is only 100 days away and it's going to be so much fun. Some of Scott's friends that I don't know all that well are going, but I'm sure it's going to be a blast.

Since I'm somewhat of a resident expert in the blogosphere, Scott asked me to help him set up a blog for the trip. I obviously jumped at the chance and went completely over the top by setting up www.SurfwithMurph.com. It's got a sick logo that I designed (posted above) and also a web store where you can purchase your Surf with Murph gear.

I know I'm a total tool, but I couldn't resist. I unveiled the blog to Scott last night and he loved it. We have a lot of big plans for the blog while we're down there (photos, videos AND a LIVE web cam). The live web cam, which is going to depend completely on the internet connectivity when we get down there, could get some people in some serious trouble but is sure to be a lot of fun too.

So, while I'm down there I'll be trying to manage two blogs and also talk to Anna daily via iChat video. It sounds as if I'm going to need another vacation when I get back from that one.

Note: When I booked my flight, Angie made me pinky swear (that's legally binding, right?) that I wouldn't get home sick (read: miss Anna too much) and book an earlier flight home. She knows me all too well. Hopefully I can make it 10 days without my baby?!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

On guard!

By K.J. Cardinal

While we were up in New Hampshire this past weekend, Anna took some time out of her busy schedule to have a sword fight to the death with Papa.

OK, so maybe it wasn't "to the death" and it was really a wrapping paper holder instead of a "sword", but I know you're picking up what I'm throwing down.

Anyway, here are a few photos from the melee...an instant classic.



Sunday, September 14, 2008

Lions and Tigers and Anna...oh my

By K.J. Cardinal

Saturday was Christmas in September for the Cardinal Family as Uncle Matt took us all to York's Wild Kingdom in York, Maine.

Despite a forecast that called for rain, the weather was actually great and it was so much fun to spend the day with Uncle Matt, Meme, Tiff and Pete and, of course, all the kiddies...particularly Andrew.

Andrew has a love affair with animals, zoos and petting zoos, so I knew we were all in for a treat...and he didn't disappoint.

When you first walk in to YWK there is an area where there are ducks that you can feed. I swear that we could've spent the entire day there just watching Andrew feed the ducks and we all would have been perfectly content, but there was a lot more to the "Wild Kingdom", so there was plenty to explore.

My favorite part of the day was when we went to feed and pet the goats. Andrew was so funny to watch. From about three to four feet away, he LOVED the goats. He would smile and point and laugh and then as they would get closer and closer to him, you'd see that he would start to get a little more nervous each step they took...but he'd still have a little wry smile on his face. When Tiff was holding his hand, she said that she could actually feel Andrew shaking a little. It was so cute.

What I wasn't really expecting though was how much Anna loved the goats too. Not having a care in the world, Anna was all smiles as the goats would come right up to us. I'm sure when we go next year that Anna will have the same excited, yet nervous, reaction like Andrew, but she doesn't know any better right now, so she was unphased by it all.

Natalie was definitely too young to really enjoy the zoo, but I just have to say that she has turned into the best little girl. It's not like she was ever a bad baby or anything, but it's just so great to see how laid back and relaxed she is. I think that Andrew and Anna are two of the best behaved and happy go-lucky kids that I've ever seen, but on Saturday Natalie was actually the best behaved out of all of them...plus she's just so damn pretty.

While the goats were the best part of the day, a close second had to be lunch. At YWK they have a nice picnic area where you can bring your own food and bring our own food we did. Matt went shopping before hand and had quite the smorgasbord spread for lunch. Everything from chicken salad and Cherry Coke to Sun Chips and oatmeal raisin cookies. It was awesome...and definitely a great surprise.

So as you can tell, it was a great day. Thanks so much Uncle Matt for the Christmas present and we can't wait to do it again next year.

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

No Photo Needed

By Tiffany George

Andrew George just may be in the midst of potty training. For the past many months, he has had no interest whatsoever in going pee on the potty. He wasn't even interested in sitting on his potty, for that matter. He had shown some interest last summer, but it seemed as though that opportunity had come and past. With two little cuties to take care of, I'll have to admit that potty training wasn't necessarily high on my to do list. It wasn't that I don't want him to go through pottty training, it's just that I wasn't going to pressure him into it until he was ready.

Well, lo and behold, Sunday night I was talking to my mom on the phone when all of a sudden I see Pete and Andrew make their way to the bathroom to go potty. Much to my shock and surprise, Andrew did go pee on the potty! I hadn't put enough previous thought into what I would do when he actually took the leap to potty train, so I thought quick and rewarded him with a chocolate guitar pick. For those who were able to make it to Andrew's 2nd Birthday party, you saw the little chocolate guitar picks that made. Andrew covets these as much as yogurt raisins. Getting a guitar pick was like winning the lottery.

After the initial success, I called one of my friends whose daughter has been potty training to ask her how she rewarded her child. She said that a nurse at our peds recommended one M&M for trying, 2 for pee, and 3 for the big one! I decided that this would be my strategy. I plan to switch to M&Ms once the guitar picks run out. He's never had an M&M before either, so hopefully the transition will be fine. Otherwise I'll have to open up my own guitar pick making business.

Anyway, Andrew has been consistently going pee on the potty all week whenever we put him there. I know that potty training can be difficult, so I'm not getting my hopes up, but I am so proud of him.

The trouble is, he is just too smart. He has got to be the only person who can poop, jump up and down to get guitar picks, eat the 3 guitar picks, then sit back down on the potty to pee! Earlier I think he ended up with something like 8-10 guitar picks because he first pooped and then would only let his pee out in installments!

We have a lot of jubilation in our house right now, as Andrew is so proud of himself every time he goes on the potty, as he should be. Our excitement has prevented us from thinking to grab the camera to capture his cuteness, plus with potty training, I'd say there's no photo needed.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

Anna and Aiden

By K.J. Cardinal

Yesterday Anna had a playdate with her new friend Aiden.

Angie's friend Marisa is visiting from Oregon and we all finally got to meet Aiden and celebrate his first birthday. Anna took very quickly to her new friend...showing that she must have a thing for blonde hair and blue eyes.

Anna played the role of Aiden's shadow all day long, as wherever Aiden went or whatever he did, Anna was soon to follow. Anna tends to get a little too fired up around young kids and babies, so I fully expected her to pull Aiden's hair, poke him in the eye or knock one of his teeth out at some point, but she didn't do that.

She was definitely a little too touchy-feely at times for Aiden's liking, but overall she was less agressive than normal. So, we were happy that Aiden managed to escape unscathed.

And talk about a good kid, Aiden was so great all day. When he first came into the house he was crying a little, but that 30-second span was about the only peep he made all day. Aiden and Anna are clearly cut from the same mold as they both can just sit and play by themselves for long periods of time and are in general very good-natured and low-maintenance kids.

The kids were so well behaved in fact that we had some time to visit with Marisa and the rest of the crew (Scott, Jamie, Mike, Missy, etc.) that was on hand to celebrate Aiden's birthday.

Seeing Anna with Aiden definitely makes me want to get her some more interaction with other kids her age on a regular basis. I'm certainly not the type of guy to set up playdates or go to parenting groups with Anna, so we're exploring other options. Regardless, Anna is slowly learning not to accost children that she comes in contact with, so we're making progress.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Grocery Shopping Helper for HIRE

By Tiffany George

Andrew and Natalie are the sweetest kids ever. Last night we decided to go grocery shopping as a family for the first time since Natalie has been born. Boy, was it a treat. When we asked Andrew if he wanted to go you would have thought we had asked him if he wanted to hang out with Papa, that's how excited he got.


Once we arrived at Market Basket, Pete put Natalie's seat in the stroller and he pushed around the cart while Andrew and I found everything on our list. He would help me find each item and put it in the cart himself. He had so much fun being our little helper. By the time we got to the yellow peppers he about lost it. He was literally jumping up and down and clapping in the aisle. I am sure that he brought a smile to everyone who got to witness him shopping last night.

Andrew and I went down the meat aisle while Pete and Natalie took off in search of a loaf of bread. I told Andrew that we needed to get Daddy to pick out the meat instead. Without missing a beat he turned to head down the bread aisle yelling "HUN, HUN, pick meat". As you may know, I refer to Pete as Hun and Andrew has picked up on this. He doesn't always call Pete hun, he only does it when he needs to hollar to him in another room, or if he is upstairs or something. Pete thinks this is the sweetest thing ever and he always responds "yes, Hun?". They are both so darn precious I can hardly stand it!


Natalie is also doing wonderfully. She is a little happy yeller who is very much into her brother right now. All he needs to do is walk in to the room and she lights right up. She also loves to look up at her Daddy. She loves to stare at him while he is talking, smiling away. If she is not admiring one of her two favorite boys, she most definitely has something in her mouth to chew on, be it a burp cloth, toy, or her dress. She also loves to see the world around her at all times. Whenever I put her up on my shoulder she uses her mighty muscles to push back and away from me so that she can see what I can see. She also likes to look at me too! Today she was pushing herself away from me, looking around when she sort of startled herself by looking right at me, about 4 inches away. She gave me the sweetest smile that made me feel so loved!

Natalie also appears to be getting prepared to start crawling. It started when she was 4 1/2 months old and we honestly thought it was just a fluke. By now we know that it is a cinch for her to get up on her hands and knees to start rocking. Those who have had children know that once rocking starts it is only a matter of time before those cute little hands and knees learn to move in sync. I know that my world will take a dramatic change once I have two mobile kids. Look out Momma (or just plain Mom as Andrew has now started to call me)!


As you can see from the photos below, these kids just keep getting cuter and cuter. These pics are from our picking expedition at Butternut Farms a few weekends ago. Natalie seemed to enjoy the nice sunny day, plus looking at leaves is so much fun! We were there for over 2 hours and Andrew would have honestly stayed the whole day picking blueberries. He is so patient and self-sufficient while picking. He knows to only pick the blue ones and he does it all by himself. MY Papa would be proud.