Dornan World 2007

The End of 2007 and The End of Dornan World

2007-12-31T19:24:00.001-07:00

What a great year it has been! Of course the most exciting and most wonderful thing that happened was the arrival of our beautiful Vaughn. I'm looking forward to 2008 and have set some goals for myself and for my children.

Me:
- Financial goals that would bore everyone but me so I'll spare you.
- Get back to my pre-pre pregnancy weight. Meaning pre-Kendall.
- Volunteer at the nearby children's hospital on a regular basis.
- Educate and influence at least 100 people on the upcoming presidential election

Kendall:
- Learn lower case letters
- Learn the sounds of all the letters
- Count from 21 to 100
- Learn how to read basic words
- Potty trained
- Dance & gymnastic lessons
- Ski lessons

Vaughn:
- Learn the alphabet
- Count from 1 to 20
- Shapes
- Colors

Daddy has no goals for 2008 (he made me write that).

2007 has come to an end and so must this blog.

Don't be sad though my dear reader.
A new blog site has been created for 2008:
http://dornanworld2008.blogspot.com

Another Day, Another Drama

2007-12-30T20:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from a few days ago...

Lately, I have been carrying both kids down the steps and setting them at the bottom so they can crawl their way to the playroom, rather than me carry them there. Oh, they get so mad at me. Both of them just yelling and crying away but they have no choice unless they want to hang out in the hallway all day.

Kendall has looked at this book everyday, several times a day, since she first received it for Christmas from my friend, Carly. I had put it up in the bookshelf and the next day Kendall kept looking for it yelling "Where's Eeyore book? The little one. The little Eeyore book." I had no idea which one she meant and responded "I don't know which book you mean honey." Oh she'd throw a fit! Finally, we went through every single one of her books and found that it's really the "Piglet" book with a picture of Eeyore in it. She loves this book and talks about it all the time.

"Snow kisses" anyone? She is really getting much better at smiling for the camera. Oh how that smile makes my heart just melt.

I have to get the picture just right the first time because she quickly loses interest. Back to the book!

Kendall and Vaughn play best separately right now. They cannot play in harmony together. Too much non-sharing going on. I hope that will change. Soon!

Moments of Frustration and Triumph

2007-12-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

The Bookshelves Are Up

2007-12-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that my back is killing me (spasms aren't a good thing, right?) from carrying each piece of the bookshelves from our 1st floor to our basement, after an entire week of carrying not just my son around, but my little toddler too, I'm happy that I got the bookshelves put together.

I love organization! I organized all the board books on the bottom shelf so that Vaughn had easy access to them, and the paper books on the 2nd from the bottom shelf for Kendall. When Kendall can start standing again, she'll also be able to reach the 3rd shelf.

One of the bookshelves has fun to read books...

While the other bookshelf has more of the learning books.

Then since I had so much room left, I put a lot of toys on the shelves too!

1 of 2 Bookshelves

2007-12-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

I spent tonight putting together 1 of 2 bookshelves that I bought with some of the Christmas money we received. It took me longer than I expected. I had hoped to have both done tonight but time just slipped away from me. I'll finish the 2nd one tomorrow night and post some pictures.

I'm so super excited about my bookshelves. It was something I had wanted for a really, really long time so that I could place all of Kendall's (and now Vaughn's) books and other stuff in it. So far, just having one up has made a huge difference in the clutter. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Standing Strong

2007-12-26T21:45:00.000-07:00

When I put Vaughn down for his nap, he rolled onto his stomach, crawled to the side of his crib, pulled himself up on his knees and then onto his feet. He stood their smiling and very proud. I ran and got the camera and was hoping to get a picture. I realized quickly that he didn't want to get down from that position anytime soon.

Getting him to sleep is going to take a bit longer now - at least for a little while. Bill had to lower the crib one notch before bedtime tonight.

Vaughn is in this phase where he will cry if I leave his line of sight. When it's meal time, I'm constantly getting up to go in the kitchen to get this or that and every time I do, Vaughn peeks around to watch me. As soon I head downstairs or into another room where he can't see me, he yells "EH!" I respond "I'll be right back." He responds with a "EHHH!" We keep going back and forth with each "EH!" getting louder and longer until he gets to the point where he's crying.

And my poor little Kendall is such a trooper. She's still not walking or standing and it's probably because mom is an idiot. I realized that I was giving her "infant" Motrin instead of "childrens" AND I was giving her a much lower dosage than what she should be taking. I hope we see a difference in her tomorrow.

A Dornan Christmas Day

2007-12-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve: As Bill and I were putting the presents under the tree while the kids were down for the night, I noticed that there were a couple of ornaments that were hidden deep in the tree, just laying on top of the branches. Kendall had placed them there after I had told her to place the ornaments back on the tree. That's her way of doing it.

Cookies, milk and a note were left out for Santa.

Santa, true to form, ate it, drank and took the note before we awoke the next morning.

Kendall noticed the presents right away when she came upstairs, and headed straight for the tree.

Vaughn didn't care so much, as he seemed more interested in the chair.

Shi Shi was interested in the snow coming down. It was a very, very white Christmas. The snow fell all night, into the morning and all day. It was beautiful and perfect. Bill shoveled in the morning and when he went to shovel again in the afternoon, he found a father and daughter shoveling are entire sidewalk and stairs! Bill ran downstairs to tell me and we wanted to do something nice in return. The only thing I could think of at the moment was to make them hot chocolate in a brand new tumbler they could keep. They seemed grateful and I thanked them. They replied "Merry Christmas" and I was just very touched by their kindness.

Back inside, Vaughn was most interested in the paper at first. He wouldn't stop putting them in his mouth. I think he actually swallowed some that we didn't catch, which caused him to vomit. Lovely.

Bill thought it would be funny to put one of the bows on Vaughn's head. I thought that was cute.

Vaughn found more paper to eat.

Bill and Vaughn having a father and son moment.

Kendall and Vaughn found this baby doll interesting and both wanted to play with it. There ensued an argument.

Eventually we were able to distract Vaughn with another toy.

After taking OVER AN HOUR to open presents (I have never been involved in presents taking THAT long to open! Sheesh. Kendall didn't want to open the next present because she was too busy playing with the last one she just opened. It seemed like it took FOREVER), we had our traditional Christmas breakfast: muffins and little cakes! Yummy! Kendall gobbled hers up very quickly.

Vaughn could only look on at all the delicious cakes and be content with his own bland oatmeal.

In the afternoon, we braved the snow and headed over to our friend's home for Christmas dinner.

The kids played, we ate DELICIOUS food (I mean sooooo delicious - it was hard to stop eating) and opened presents.

Then we all headed over to another friend's home and had a buffet of desserts! YUMMY!

Again, the kids played and we had so much fun. I love my friends! They are super cool!

Vaughn hung out with his friend Lucah.

The older kids left them alone in the room and it was cute to see them just kind roaming around on the floor.

Bill and I were talking tonight, reflecting on the day and this was by far the best Christmas we have ever had and we know it's just going to get better and better. It's all about the kids - loving them and seeing them happy.

Transient Synovitis

2007-12-24T20:32:00.000-07:00

After visiting the doctor's office and then the emergency room (about 5 hours total), they "guess" it's Transient Synovitis. Nothing serious. Time will heal Kendall. They examined her, x-rayed her and drew blood to rule out other possible conditions.

Kendall was a trooper and I feel like our bond is even stronger having gone through it together. I love this little girl with all of my heart, body, mind, soul - everything. She is my life.

Jo and Julia - Thank you so much for reaching out to me! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Baking Cookies

2007-12-24T00:53:00.001-07:00

The last time I remember baking cookies was in 7th grade, in my home economics class. I've never been into the whole baking thing but Bill and I thought it would be fun for Kendall to try baking cookies. (Yes - your eyes are telling you the truth - we did this on the floor - no comments please)

In the midst of mixing the ingredients together, she stopped and gave her brother a kiss! I was thrilled! They've been battling each other lately, so it was nice to see some love.

Kendall rolled a couple of balls but then wanted to wash her hands because it was "messy." After her hands were washed, she lost interest and soon wondered off to another part of the house to do who knows what.

After the cookies were done being baked, it was time to decorate! Since Vaughn couldn't really participate or eat them, we gave him his own special cookie.

We topped the cookies with icing and sprinkles. Kendall was really only interested in eating the sprinkles.

She only had one bite of her cookie and then ate as many sprinkles as she had the patience to pick up.

Saturday night, Kendall claimed her left knee was "hurt" and refused to walk or stand on it. Well, she would seem to forget here and there and would walk several steps but then immediately sit back down. She basically crawled everywhere.

Then today, same thing. She probably walked a total of 30 steps today. I took her with me to run some errands and I had to carry her the whole time.

I'm calling the doctor tomorrow if she is still not walking or standing on it. It was all of sudden. There is no swelling, bruising, cuts or abnormal angle. One second she was fine, the next she was not. Literally! She didn't do anything. Starting to really worry now.

Daddy's 35th B-Day and Vaughn Keeps Growing

2007-12-22T23:57:00.000-07:00

One of daddy's favorite ways to wake up is by having the kids crawl into our bed. Vaughn was the first to wake up and had nothing but smiles for his favorite guy in the world.

Kendall was next and walked into the bedroom yelling "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY! I LOVE YOU!!!" What could be a better greeting than that?

The very, very chocolate cake - daddy's favorite!

Kendall and I sang happy birthday and then Kendall and daddy blew out the candles.

Or at least tried too. They had to swoop in closer to get the remaining candles. Meanwhile, Vaughn successfully scraped his finger in the icing.

This was Kendall's favorite part of the day: eating the cake and ice cream. Poor Vaughn could only look on... He really wanted to eat some, saying "MMMMMMM!" and refused to eat any of his dinner.

After the kids' clothes were changed, daddy opened his present.

Vaughn was completely interested. Daddy loved it! Yaaay! Success!

After the kids went to bed, daddy got to have one of his favorite meals (which he usually doesn't get because mommy is a meanie!). WINGS! Throw in a little Talladega Nights movie and yeehaw - nothing but 1st class in our family!

Vaughn has two other teeth that have started to break through!!! I can see the white in his thinning gums. This makes tooth #7 and 8! One on top and the other on the bottom. He's growing too fast for my taste! Slooooooow down little son! I need more time to cherish everything. He's also starting to show a little interest in some sign language - meaning he doesn't completely ignore me when I try to teach him. Now he watches but then laughs at me, as if to say "Mommy, you look silly!"

Tooth #6 and More

2007-12-21T23:14:00.000-07:00

Vaughn has another tooth that broke through. I just noticed it today. He's got 3 on top and 3 on the bottom now. I discovered today that he likes triscuits so his teeth have come in very handy.

Here's a "Day in the Life of Kendall and Vaughn." As daddy was leaving for work, Kendall climbed up to the top of our couch and waved goodbye. "Goodbye daddy! See you later alligator! Bye Bye! I'll see you later!" She repeats this over and over at the top of her lungs until the car drives out of sight.

While I was "trying" to feed Vaughn his breakfast, Kendall decides she wants to climb up on my chair, to the high chair, to the window sill so that she can see a bird (which I never spotted). Nana always calls her "monkey" which is what animal she'd probably be with all the climbing she does.

At least Vaughn found it entertaining.

After breakfast, we headed down to the playroom where Vaughn crawled towards me with such a cute smile on his face - so I snapped a picture. I think the reason why he smiled was because he knew he was about to take a big bite into mommy's leg.

I wrapped daddy's birthday gift with Christmas paper but turned it inside out because we didn't have any b-day wrapping paper left. I instructed Kendall to color all over it. I know daddy will think this is the best wrapping paper ever! Vaughn wanted to know what all the commotion was about since mommy kept telling Kendall "Great job! I love your coloring!"

Soon Vaughn wanted in on the fun. I thought about letting him color but when all he wanted to do was put the crayons in his mouth, I said "You know what? You're still a little too little." Kendall replied "But Kendall is not too little. She can do it." And as I took the crayon away from Vaughn, he threw a fit!

After Kendall finished coloring the wrapping paper, she showed Pooh Bear what a wonderful job she had done. "See Pooh Bear? It's pretty." I was excited to watch Vaughn stand himself up over the box. I whooped and hollered and Kendall took notice.

She decided to show me that she could do the same thing. I gave her her props.

Then Vaughn decided to show me again.

And then they both decided to show me. There were a lot of compliments going around.

Then Vaughn decided he was going to go a little further and actually get on the box. He really liked looking at the coloring Kendall had done. He also drooled a lot on the wrapping paper. I thought that was his way of contributing to the wrapping paper decoration since he couldn't color. Now there are little dried up spots all over.

Later, Kendall proceeded to point out to me her "boo boo" for the 1,206th time since it happened which was two days ago. I respond "Yes, I know. Are you okay?" to which Kendall replies "I'm all right mommy." Or sometimes she'll just demand that I "KISS IT!!!"

At dinner time, Kendall had some triscuits. She pulled it apart and then brought them together again and said "They're hugging." I thought that was cute!

Vaughn decided to try on this cute skirt. Does it look familiar? It should. This is Mall Bear's skirt. I'd say it's a little too short for Vaughnetta.

Tomorrow's a super busy day as it's daddy's birthday! He told me today that he's feeling old. The kids and I will have to figure out a way to make him feel young again!

[By the way, if anyone has any Huggies Diapers, Huggies Wipes, Gerber Food, Boudreaux Butt Paste, Similac, Suave, Dove, Cascade, Triscuit, Yoplait Yogurt, ACT, Colgate, Purex, Eggo, Egg Beaters, Campbell's Soup, Teddy Grahams, Goldfish or Cheerios manufacturer coupons that they are not using and wouldn't mind sending my way, let me know. I will send you a self-addressed, stamped envelope to mail them to me. One of my new year's resolutions for 2008 is to cut our grocery bills by 25%-50%. I'm on a mission! I already have a spreadsheet drafted comparing prices of different grocery stores in my neighborhood. Thanks in advance!]

Baby Steps

2007-12-20T23:25:00.001-07:00

He's not there yet but I have a feeling it will be coming soon. What am I referring to? Stair climbing. He's very interested and he's trying but he's not there yet.

Fort

2007-12-19T23:48:00.000-07:00

As a little kid, did you ever make homemade forts? You know, where you take blankets and chairs, couch cushions and pillows and use them all to build a fort where you could hide in and imagine whatever it is you imagined? I don't remember doing it so much myself, but I do remember my little sister doing this all the time. She had one of the most wonderful imaginations as a kid. We didn't have many toys growing up, so my sister made do with household stuff. She would take vacuum accessories and make them into swords. She would take spatulas and also make them into swords. Ha ha ha! Anyway, I didn't appreciate it much back then but looking back on it, I really do now.

Kendall loves to make a fort out of her blanket and the gymini mat we used for her and Vaughn as a baby. She likes to hide and just lay there. Sometimes I'll hear her singing. Sometimes she talks to her stuffed animals: "Pooh Bear, do you want sippy? Yeah. All right. Let me go get it. Oh, it's upstairs. Playroom. Lumpy, do you want sippy? Yeah. All right." and on and on. She will repeat the same thing to each stuffed animal, and then circle back to do it all over again.

Sometimes, I lay down next to her, under her pink blanket. Our faces will be inches apart from one another, and we'll just look into each other's eyes (I totally love that!) and whisper whatever it is we whisper. I truly cherish these moments.

Milestones and Regression

2007-12-18T21:39:00.000-07:00

Vaughn has hit a couple of developmental milestones in the past week. He can go from a sitting position to a crawl position and a crawl position to a sitting position.

He and I also had our first real long conversation, that went like this:

Mommy: No Vaughn
Vaughn: Ah!

Mommy: No
Vaughn: Ah!

Mommy: No
Vaughn: Ahhh!

Mommy: No no
Vaughn: AHHHHHHH!

and so on. This seriously lasted about 5 minutes. I was putting him to bed and he wanted to roll over onto his tummy but I kept telling him no and gently pushing him back down on his back. Each time he responded with a "Ah!" No crying or fussing. Just "Ah!" as if he was saying "Yes!" It was really, really cute!

In other news, Kendall has regressed and decided she was going to do more crawling.

Cheerios - MMMMM - Good

2007-12-17T21:11:00.000-07:00

Anyone can easily tell when Vaughn likes a certain food. He says "mmmmmmmm" and opens his mouth for more, like a little baby bird. So cute! Well, he just loves Cheerios, gold fish crackers and teddy grahams. This boy can eat when it's food he really likes. He gets so excited over it.

Kendall noticed Vaughn was having a little trouble picking up his own Cheerios and putting them in his mouth, so she decided she was going to help out. I love it! So far she hasn't been bitten with his sharp teeth. Thank goodness because it hurts a lot!

Daddy's Day 1 of Birthweek

2007-12-16T20:35:00.000-07:00

Today is day 1 of daddy's birthweek. We don't get a present for each day like the kids do but we basically get to call the shots and do whatever we want. So what did daddy want to do today? Basically spend time with the kids and wife (he said he wouldn't want to be anywhere else - all together now - awwwwwww)...

went to several open houses (he LOVES going to open houses)...

and had one of his favorite childhood meals for dinner - rigatoni.

Unfortunately, Bill has so much work that he'll probably end up working a lot of hours this week. Yuck!

The Balloon Man

2007-12-15T23:38:00.000-07:00

We were at Eggs and Bacon play area when Kendall spotted a kid holding a balloon creature. She kept trying to take it from him so I had to intervene and tell her no. Then another kid had a different balloon creature and Kendall chased after this girl for about 2 minutes until the girl finally stopped and Kendall caught up to her, only to try to take her balloon away. Again, I had to intervene and stop Kendall from taking her balloon. After another 2 incidents of this happening, I finally noticed the balloon man making balloon creatures and knew this was the only way I could get Kendall to stop.

This guy was amazing. He made flowers, crabs, giraffes, and as requested by Kendall, elephants.

Kendall was so mesmerized by this guy's ability to twist and turn ordinary balloons into extraordinary creations. It was finally her turn and she was so excited when she got her own balloon animal. Can you see that this is an elephant? A circus elephant to be exact, balancing on a yellow balloon.

Kendall played it with it all day and didn't bother any of the other kids and their balloons anymore.

Rody's Love Rediscovered

2007-12-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

This red horse is Rody. Kendall first met him at a friend's house and played and played with him to no end. As a result, we felt we needed to have a Rody at our own home. After awhile though, Kendall started to ignore Rody, moving on to other toys she befriended. Poor Rody sat alone in the corner of the playroom with no one to play with.

Then one day, he was spotted. It was hard to miss Rody with his bright red colored coat. Vaughn was very curious to see who this red thing was. He inched his way closer and closer until he was right next to Rody. Vaughn looked up at him and smiled. It was "love" at first sight. Vaughn immediately tried to put Rody's foot in his mouth.

Soon after, Vaughn found himself on top of Rody and realized he could bounce up and down on his new friend. Joy! Vaughn could not stop smiling and squealing with delight. Then all of sudden Vaughn noticed something else. Right in front of him were the two most beautiful ears he'd ever seen. He grabbed a hold of them and showed how much he appreciated them by putting them in his mouth.

Vaughn has found it very difficult to part with Rody's ears and expresses his displeasure when his mommy tries to pull him away by screaming with frustration because he can't stop her, and by trying not to let go of the ears.

Not Quite Ready For Potty Training

2007-12-12T22:24:00.000-07:00

Kendall has been doing some things that makes me think she's getting closer and closer to being ready to be potty trained. Like holding her diaper as pictured below.

She's also taking the baby wipes and wiping herself OVER her pants. She sometimes let's us know that she is going to go poopie, and other times she let's us know that she has already gone poopie. When I change her diaper, she sometimes asks "See it! See dirty diaper!"

She's taking more interest in several of the potty books. She's a little weirded out when she gets to the part of the story that shows the little toddler having an "accident" on the floor. She says "Nooooo. No pee pee. It's an accident."

She always wants to follow me into the "potty room" but I think that has more to do with separation anxiety. I ask her if she would like to sit on the potty and she says "No. Mommy do it." I think she's still a ways out from being potty trained but it's interesting seeing her taking a little more interest. Someone told me she knew it was potty training time when her daughter was all of sudden disgusted that she made a mess in her own diaper. That is the sign I'm looking for in Kendall. So far, she's content on wearing a dirty diaper. In fact, she insists.

Mommy: Kendall, it's time to change your diaper.
Kendall: No mommy. I'm all clean.
Mommy: No honey. I smell poopie.
Kendall: Noooooo mommy. I'm all clean. It's baby's turn (to change diaper).

The Gold Handle

2007-12-11T22:03:00.000-07:00

Not sure why Vaughn finds this at all interesting but everyday he crawls his way over to this drawer and pulls on the handle. Everyday!! Maybe it's the gold handle that intrigues him. When he does pull it, he always bops himself in the head as the drawer comes out. Sometimes he cries. Sometimes it doesn't faze him. One day, he'll learn.

Also, Vaughn's 5th tooth has made an appearance. He's starting to really use his teeth more to bite into little pieces of grapes, bananas and clementines. His favorite is this "biter biscuit" thing that is basically just a cookie. He also likes to bite his mommy when she's least expecting it.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

2007-12-10T23:03:00.000-07:00

This weekend the snow kept coming down. It was so fabulous and beautiful! Very fluffy and light. The most perfect ski snow ever. I get regular emails with reports of how much snow the various Colorado ski mountains get and man it's a great season to be a skier or snowboarder.

When my in-laws come to visit next month, Bill and I are going to hit the slopes. I can't wait. It's been too long! When I first moved out to Colorado, I skied almost every single weekend. I'm not kidding. I went with a friend of mine, Ashu, and he would constantly challenge me to take risks. I'd be at the top of a steep mountain looking down and see him at the bottom patiently waiting for me. I'd yell down "I CAN'T DO THIS!!!!" and he'd yell back "YES YOU CAN YOU CHICKEN SH*T" and I would want to cry and hoped the ski patrol would come and rescue me. It was great!!! HA HA HA! I'm being honest. I love being scared half to death. It's part of the thrill!

Anyway, the family and I took advantage of the snow.

Don't you just love Kendall's matching outfit? Pink hat, dark blue and red gloves, purple sweatshirt with blue pants. Hey, she was warm. That's all I cared about.

Shi Shi wanted to hang out with us. She had fun at first, running along side the sled but she couldn't stay out for too long. It was too cold for her and she wouldn't stop shivering.

Vaughn seemed to enjoy the sled ride more this time around. He kept smiling whenever we would go really fast.

After Vaughn had been on the sled for awhile, we kept asking Kendall "Do you want to take a turn on the sled now?" and she'd say "Uhhhh no. I'm going to eat snow." and that's exactly what she did.

Mexican Feast & A Wave Goodbye

2007-12-09T21:12:00.000-07:00

Last night, our friends Nancy and Martin along with their two kids: Elijah and Isaiah, braved the snow and joined us for a Mexican feast. It was the perfect food for the cold weather and it turned out deliciously.

Martin is from Ireland and I thought it was so cute when he said the food was "gorgeous" because I'm just not used to food being described that way. I also thought the way Kendall pronounced Martin was cute too. Instead of Mar-tin, she pronounced it Mah-tin which he said was actually the correct way to say it.

I've been forgetting to take pictures and it wasn't until after they were about to leave did I remember to grab the camera. Here's a photo of Kendall and Elijah hugging goodbye.

I love this photo of Elijah and Nancy waving goodbye. Oh! Also, Vaughn waved goodbye!!! There was no question. He was going down for the night and as Bill carried him away, we all waved bye to Vaughn. He looked at us and waved his arm back! I was so surprised! My baby is growing!

Mama Mia

2007-12-08T23:20:00.000-07:00

Bill watched the kids last night so I could go to a party. This morning he informs me he taught Kendall something while I was gone. I roll my eyes because I know from past experience that this is not going to be something I approve.

Daddy (singing): Mama Mia
Kendall: Mama Mia

Daddy: Papa Pia
Kendall: Papa Pia

Daddy: My My
Kendall: My My

Daddy: Someone's got
Kendall: Someone's got

Daddy: the diarrhea
Kendall: the diarrhea

I inform Kendall that diarrhea means poopie, so now at the end of the song she says "...the diarrhea. That's poopie."

Where did my husband learn this song?!? All day long, Kendall wanted to sing this song "More Mama Mia Please!!!" So I changed the lyrics a little bit and sang "Daddy's got" instead of "Someone's got." Aren't we such a high class family?

Comb Over

2007-12-06T23:47:00.000-07:00

So I come home from work today and while I run (not walk - I always run) downstairs to see my children, I hear Kendall yell "Mommy! Mommy!" Oh music to my ears! Anyway, what greets me at the bottom of the stairs is my beautiful daughter with the funniest hairdo.

It reminded me of those guys who have comb overs. You know, where he's losing his hair and decides to grow one side of his remaining hair long enough to "comb over" his bald spot - and all you wanna do is just stare at it and ask "Why? Do you not have a clue that it looks so bad? Do you think that the rest of us don't recognize that it's balding under there?"

Well, even though I think comb overs look awful, I think it looks beautiful on my daughter. Of course I would think that. I'm her mother!

Popsicle Face

2007-12-05T22:50:00.000-07:00

Once in awhile, I let Kendall have a little bit of fruit popsicle if she's eaten a good dinner. The other night, as I was giving some to Kendall, Vaughn kept making these "MMMMMMMM" sounds. It's his way of saying "Me too!!!" So, I let him have a little taste and you can see by his reaction that he's not used to it. I know it looks like he doesn't like it but he really does. He kept leaning forward with his mouth open wanting more. He does this with each new food I introduce. So cute!

This set of photos cracks me up because he tastes it...

thinks about it...

and then comes the reaction... Oh I love my baby!

Tipping

2007-12-04T22:44:00.000-07:00

Can you guess who is hiding behind this toy?

If you guessed Vaughn, you're right! If you guessed someone else, then uhhh, you must be at the wrong blog. (Kendall is stripped down to her diapers because it's pasta night, which spells M-E-S-S-Y).

When we're on the hardwood floor, I sit Vaughn in his bumbo because I worry he'll fall backwards and crack his head. I know, I know. It's inevitable but I'm just trying to postpone it as long as possible.

Anyway, unless he's standing, Vaughn cannot really see the toys on this table so he ends up tipping it. That is until Kendall comes along and drags it far enough away from him so that he can't reach it. Oh dear.

A Preview of What's To Come

2007-12-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

What is he up to? Look at that smile on his face. You know he's up to something when he gives that look.

I'll tell you what he's been up to. Following his sister. Vaughn will be playing with something and notice that his sister is playing with something else across the room. He will creep crawl his way over to her and check out what she's doing.

He's been doing this for a little while now but it's getting more and more frequent and Kendall is just not having it. Although I've been trying very hard to teach her how to share, she rarely does it anymore. I think it's because Vaughn just grabs it and tries to just take whatever she's playing with away. I have a feeling it's going to get worse.

Kendall will give him a hard shove and that's when she gets in trouble with mommy. "Time out" I say. "Go to the bathroom right now for your time out." She cries and fusses and walks down the long hallway to the bathroom, then closes the door behind her (all while mommy takes a photo). It's so cute it breaks my heart. I love her so much but I will not let get away with deliberately hurting her brother, and vice versa. Vaughn has pulled Kendall's hair a few times and although he doesn't mean to hurt her, I let him know that that is not acceptable.

Botanic Gardens

2007-12-02T20:01:00.000-07:00

Every year, the botanic gardens is decorated with Christmas lights.

We went for the first time this year with our friends Deidre and Andy.

We brought our handy double stroller but it wasn't long before Kendall wanted out so she could walk.

I thought I did a good job of having both kids bundled up so they would be warm but poor little Vaughn's pants kept riding up so his legs were cold. (Look at Vaughn's eyes. He does not look happy having the strap up his nose)

He cried and cried and we had to get indoors to get him warmed up again.

Next time, I'll know to put leggings under his pants.

It was nice overall but I think we were expecting more than just lights. Like carolers and vendors selling all sorts of goodies.

Kendall seemed to like the chains they had set up throughout to keep people on the walkway path. She wanted to stop and touch every single one. You can imagine how much that adds to the length of time we spent there.

OSU Is Back On Top!

2007-12-01T22:58:00.000-07:00

My husband predicted that OSU would make it to the BCS National Championship game even after the loss against Illinois. I had my doubts because it was a long shot but he was right!

We watched part of the Oklahoma/Missouri game with our friends Deidre and Andy, and kept seeing scores for the West Virginia/Pittsburgh. We were just hoping that either Missouri or W. Virginia would lose so OSU could sneak into the championship game, and to our delight, BOTH teams lost. Now we just need to see who we will face on January 7th!

WAHOO!!! Go Buckeyes!

"V"

2007-11-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

Last year, I bought Christmas stockings for Bill, Kendall and I. Each stocking had our initials on it. Well, I went back to the store last week and discovered they didn't have "V" for Vaughn. So I went online thinking they must have been out of stock in the store, and I can just get it online. Wrong. They don't make stockings with Vs! I was so bummed out.

I was thinking well, I have two choices: I can either make one myself for Vaughn or I can buy the entire family new stockings. I would not consider having mismatched stockings. Especially if Vaughn's was the only one who didn't fit in with the rest. Luckily my nanny gave me the courage to make one myself. She helped me by finding the materials I would need to make it. Plus I really did not want to have to waste money on brand new stockings for everyone.

This is what it looked like before...

And this is what it looked like after! I know. It's not rocket science by any means but I was still very pleased with myself. Now if I can figure out how to get the crazy glue to come off my fingers.

Anyway, what attracted me to this style of stocking is the acrylic rhinestones. I love things that sparkle!!! I mean LOVE it! I always have. When I was little, I remember one of my favorite things about dance costumes was they usually had something on it that sparkled.

Do you remember in the 80s when the sequined headband and belts were popular? Yeah they are totally tacky now but I loved them! I never owned one myself but my one friend did and oh how I would always try them on whenever I went to her house.

I also remember walking on sidewalks and seeing the cement glitter. I honestly thought there were real diamonds in the sidewalk. I would bend down once in awhile and try to scrape it out. No such luck.

Did you ever notice that in the movie theater, when you're just sitting around waiting for the movie to start and the lights are a little dim - diamonds sparkle so well? I will sit there and just wiggle my ring finger back and forth to watch it sparkle, completely hypnotized until Bill nudges me with his elbow and asks "What are you doing?"

Anyway, I have all this leftover acrylic rhinestones now and my head is churning trying to figure out where else I could use them. Fun Fun Fun

Forming Circles

2007-11-29T22:37:00.000-07:00

Kendall is into circles right now. Circles? you say. Yes circles. "Mommy can you make circle please?" is what she says several times a day and has been saying for the past few weeks.

We make circles out of everything: grapes on her plate, memory cards, alphabet letters, stuffed animals and as you can see in these pictures - figurines and crayons.

She's pleased as punch and all smiles when it's been formed. She waves her hand over it like a magician would do when he says "Abracadabra" but she says "Ohhhh myyyy gooooodness." I have no idea where this whole circles thing came from. The nanny said she never taught her that. Bill didn't. I didn't. So I can only guess that it just came from her own mind.

I've learned now to make the circles big enough for her to stand in because that is what she likes to do. She'll just step inside it, stand there looking at the circle for a minute or two and then she's off to her next adventure.

Sometimes Vaughn will see it and creep crawl his way over, only to pick up one of the pieces and put it in his mouth while accidently knocking over the others. Oh how Kendall gets so upset. Hee hee. I can't help but laugh because the whole thing is just so adorable.

When she attempts to make the circle herself, it doesn't really turn out to look like a circle and she used to get so frustrated and start fussing and whining "MOMMY! Make circle PLEASE!" Now the frustration has worn off and she seems content in making a straight line instead. I tell her what a wonderful line she made and she seems pretty happy with that.

On a totally non-related topic: Today, Kendall and I were looking through one of her books about Easter eggs. There was a picture of all these little bunnies in a room, painting Easter eggs. One of the bunnies had dropped an egg on the floor and it was broken in 2 halves. In each half you can see the yellow yolk still in it's formed circle.

Kendall: Uh oh. He dropped it.
Mommy: Yes and look. The egg is now broken.
Kendall: And the sun came out.

I was taken aback because I just never would have looked at it that way. The yolk did look like a sun. So cute how their little minds work. I said "That's right. The sun came out!" and gave her big kiss and a hug because she is just too cute!!!

Elaine-Like Hairstyle

2007-11-28T21:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever watched the TV show Seinfeld? Remember the character Elaine Benes? She had this sort of bouffant-like hairstyle she wore in the early episodes. Well, Kendall's hair sometimes evolves into that same look. It's not done on purpose. I usually just stick it up in a half-up ponytail to keep the hair out of her face and throughout the day, it'll loosen up a bit and graduate towards this Elaine-like hair style.

It is actually my favorite hairstyle on her. I feel like it frames her face so nicely. (Notice the closed eyes. I attempted 4 more times to take a photo of her and each time she closed her eyes.)

The nanny and I were laughing so hard and she just got a kick out of it.

Finally, she gave me a smile directly towards the camera! (Look at Vaughn in the background wondering what the commotion is all about)

Anyway, I tried to create this hairstyle for her 2nd birthday party but she moved around so much, it didn't work out. I know this hairstyle is sooo out of date but I really do like it on her. It just works.

Super Nana

2007-11-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

Every week our nanny brings us something. EVERY WEEK! Today it was kid-friendly Christmas ornaments, a toy soldier for Vaughn, a Christmas Winnie the Pooh tie for Bill (Kendall would not stop wearing it today) and a cinnamon scented Santa Claus for me (I'm always complaining how I think our house smells).

Many times things just show up in our house and Bill and I will later discover that neither one of us bought it, so it must have come from our nanny: books, toys, clothes, crayons and coloring books, bottles of bubbles, hair ribbons - you name it - mostly for the kids. I keep telling her no more. We have too much "stuff" and our house is waaay too cluttered to take on more things but she won't listen.

If she sees we are low on something like trash bags, dish soap, wash cloths, etc... she buys it for us.

If she sees a sock that has a hole, she sews it up.

If she finds that our washer is leaking, she tightens up the pipe.

If our dog pees on the carpet (bad doggy!), she scrubs it out.

She'll bring me breakfast she bought on her way over to our house.

She made me meals while I was pregnant with Vaughn and on bed rest.

She's always volunteering and part of different charities trying to help out in anyway she can.

She takes in people who are in need of shelter and food without asking a dime.

She is very generous. She's full of knowledge and experience and has taught Bill and I many things.

She's very self-sufficient. She had to be. She's had a very tough life.

Plus, she puts up with me. That is an accomplishment in itself. Seriously! I'll be the first to admit that I am NOT AT ALL easy to work with. I'm so anal and I get frustrated easily and I tend to take things way too seriously. I want things to be done a certain way and if they are not done exactly how I want it done, I'm not happy. I'm very blunt about how I feel and she just accepts it.

Gosh, as I write this all out I'm just amazed at the kind of person she is. She is our "super nana" as I often call her. She blushes and giggles and says no no - but she really is super. She's helped Kendall learn her ABCs, 123s, colors and shapes and so much more. Most people treat kids as though they don't really understand much because they are still too young. She talks to them like they do understand every word she says. I think that is one of the main reasons why Kendall can communicate so well. I expect Vaughn will be the same way.

In the almost two years our nanny has been with us, I have never once seen her lose her patience with the kids. She has definitely taught me patience. She loves them and cares for them like her own- what more could I ask for? I don't know what I would do without her. I would seriously be devastated. She is like a 2nd mother to me. Wow! I've never really thought about it like that until now but it's completely true. You know, if I ever win the lottery (okay - first I need to start playing), I would totally give her a lot of money. She's like family to me.

Well, now that I've rambled, I'll make the rest of this short. One of the many things we received from her was this little hamper. I saw it in our laundry room one day and asked Bill why he bought a hamper. He didn't. Sure enough - it was from our nanny. Anyway, the kids love this hamper!

Their favorite thing to do is wear it over their heads.

When Vaughn sees it, he is immediately on the go to get it.

And like everything else, he has to taste it.

He was definitely enjoying this "toy."

I Dunno Know

2007-11-26T22:16:00.000-07:00

I'm a little troubled. Kendall has been acting very clingy tonight. The best word I can use to describe it is vulnerable. She would not let go of me and kept throwing fits if I tried to put her back down on the floor. I kept trying to ask her what was the matter but she would just whimper. My only guess is that she's been so used to me being at home for the past several days, that when I went to work today it upset her.

I gave her extra attention tonight and babied her which I usually try not to do too much. Bedtime usually takes about 15 minutes. Tonight it took 45. After I left the room, I kept a close eye on her using the video monitor and she kept waking up every 10 minutes over the next hour, fussing and sitting up. Hoping tomorrow is a better day. Maybe she's just coming down with something. My poor little sweetie.

Adventures of Waiting In Line For Santa

2007-11-25T20:22:00.000-07:00

Today we went to go meet Santa and get a picture taken with him. I wanted to go sometime before Thanksgiving hit to avoid the long lines but we just got too busy and had to postpone it. Last year, we went early enough that there was no one in line. The year before, we waited about 2 hours. This year, it was probably about 20 minutes. Not too bad, but I do dislike lines.

Anyway, while we waited in line I took the opportunity to snap some photos. Kendall made friends with the boy behind us because he had a reindeer whose nose would light up. It was pretty cool and the boy was very nice to Kendall and let her touch the reindeer.

A little while later, Bill says to me "Kendall has a booger in her nose" and he wanted me to get it. I sighed and thought 'oh - I'm sure it won't show on the photo' but when I took a look at it, I saw that it was huge! So I told Kendall that I needed to clean her nose, and she obliged. It came out easily - too easily that I didn't know where it went. It just fell out. Well, it ended up falling out onto daddy's pants. You can actually see it in this picture and you can also see Bill getting ready to flick it. Oh how lovely. Not sure if this will help lessen the queasiness you are feeling right now, but it was a dry booger. Not one of those gooey ones.

Vaughn was very patient throughout the entire process. Did not utter a peep. He was too busy watching all the chaos surrounding us as all the holiday shoppers were scampering from store to store.

I love this picture! I cannot believe I got Kendall to actually smile on purpose for the camera. Do you know how many photos I have of her with her eyes closed? Too many. So many good shots wasted because she deliberately closes her eyes when she sees I have a camera aimed at her. I can't believe I got both Vaughn and Kendall in the same picture, looking at the camera, and both have their eyes opened!!! It's a rarity that happens only once in a long while.

Anyway, we finally got to Santa and I was prepared. Last year, Kendall freaked out when we put her on Santa's lap. This year, I was hoping she would be okay with it because I've been reading her Santa stories and showing pictures of Santa. For the past few days, I've been telling her that she was going to see him and get her picture taken with him - and how she was going to sit on his lap. She even told me she was going to do so. Well, the time came and there was Santa. At first sight of him, she freaked and yelled "Mommy, carry you!!!." Sigh. So I knew there was no way we were going to get her to take a picture of Santa with just her and Vaughn. Bill and I were prepared and got ourselves dressed up as well.

I was squished up against Santa in his sleigh with Kendall on my lap. Bill held Vaughn and stood behind us. How did the photo turn out you ask? Ehh... After take 4, I said enough and just took whatever we got.

Brrrrrrr....It's Cold

2007-11-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

It is cold out there! I need to stop running out to the store with only a sweatshirt, pants and sandals on. In my head I'm thinking that I'll just run to the car, blast the heater, and run into the store and can manage just a few seconds of cold. What I keep forgetting is that I usually end up having to park far away, it takes me forever to load up the car and then unload the car. From the corner of my eye, I can see people looking at me thinking "Is she's crazy?!?"

Anyway, the snows been on the ground for a few days now and every time Kendall looks out the window she say "It's snooooooowing." She looks at it wistfully and tells us she wants to go outside. We usually reply with a "Not now. Maybe later."

Well, after a few laters we finally got her bundled up and outside. She heads straight for the snow with only one thing in mind: I'm going to eat the snow!

The only problem is we have a lot of people who walk their dogs along our sidewalk. You know where I'm going with this, right? So we just have to be careful that she doesn't get near any snow that looks yellow.

Step Ladder Brings Discovery

2007-11-24T00:07:00.000-07:00

We spent most of today putting up Christmas decorations. It's a long standing tradition in my family to decorate the day after Thanksgiving. Along with all the normal decorations, the step ladder is a crucial part of the process. Being only 5'1", I would be limited without it. Usually, when I use the step ladder, I put it right back into the closet but today, we left it out because I was constantly using it. When I wasn't using it, Kendall was and she had a good time. She discovered all the great treasures in "her" drawer where we store her hair ribbons, stickers, crayons, etc...

She also decided she was going to help me with the decorations. I can usually get them all put up within a day but with Kendall's help, it's gonna take me two days.

A Thanksgiving Feast w/Friends

2007-11-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had a great day today. We started with a little of the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. This is the first time the kids have seen a parade. Kendall liked the singing and dancing that seemed to comprise the first 45 minutes of the show. Vaughn watched for the 1st few minutes and quickly moved onto his toys.

I love this fur vest! I bought this last year and Kendall wore it a lot but it was worn as a full vest. This year, I'm amazed by how much she has grown because now it's worn as a half vest, as it is intended to be.

We spent Thanksgiving with our friends The Macs.

They are such gracious people and Melissa has really been such a supportive friend during some difficult times. Love them!

The kids played and ate and played and ate.

We got lots of hugs which is always so nice.

Aeron is an amazing chef! Amazing! He can cook anything! Melissa is a baking wiz! They seriously need to open up their own business.

We are so lucky because we end up getting a lot of leftovers to take home with us!

We will be spending Christmas with them too. Happy Thanksgiving!

A Shot of Milk

2007-11-21T20:24:00.001-07:00

There's nothing like drinking a shot of milk to help the dry toast go down.

I've been letting Vaughn feed himself toast, bananas and biscuits and you can see he's quite messy at it. He thoroughly enjoys it though and it's fun to watch him.

By the end of the meal, he's soaked from the milk dribbling down his chin to his shirt. Oh my little cutie patootie!

Why Do I Scare Myself?

2007-11-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen the movie, The Exorcist? It is probably one of the scariest movies I have ever seen. I hate that movie. I don't remember exactly how old I was when I first saw it but I couldn't have been older than 10.

My parents never get scared of horror films. My mom just laughs at my fear and says "It's only a movie. It's not real." but that doesn't help me - it's still scary!!! This movie had such an effect on me that I still have a very vivid visual memory of sitting in my family room, with my sister - who was no older than 5! - and my parents, watching this horrid movie. It was on regular TV! We didn't have cable, so it was definitely on one of the three major networks.

Anyway, after watching that movie, my sister and I slept in the same bed and I remember her back was to me. I stared at the back of her head just waiting for her to turn around and actually turn out to be the little girl, Regan, from the movie. I had trouble falling asleep for several nights. My sister was scared too. She doesn't remember it but I do. She would all of sudden start crying and I would ask her what was wrong. She would simply make a claw out of her hand and put it up to her mouth. I knew what that was right away. It was the little girl.

Years later, they re-released the movie in theaters. I thought to myself - I'm older now. I can handle this movie. I won't be scared. In fact, I'll probably laugh because it looks so ridiculous now, in the present time. Just like I did with Star Wars. Well, I was wrong. Bill and I went to see it and I was probably more scared the 2nd time around. Afterward, I kept having flashbacks of different scenes from the movie. I was completely freaked out. I hate that feeling.

Well, I haven't thought about that movie in a very long time until a couple of nights ago. I was feeding Vaughn green beans and seeing it all over his face, made me think of the little girl. Do you remember the green slime scene? Yes, that is what I thought of. I will never watch that movie again. Never ever ever. I just don't like scary movies. Although for some reason, I have no problems reading horror novels. In fact, I enjoy them. I don't understand me either.

It's Kendall, Bitch

2007-11-19T21:16:00.001-07:00

So I got the new Britney Spears CD a couple nights ago. Am I embarrassed? Nope! It completely rocks! If you love to dance, this CD is a must have! The first song starts off with "It's Britney, bitch." and at first I kind of smiled nervously at Kendall as I played it for her the first time. Did she care? Of course not. All she wanted to do was dance!

And man did she dance.

She could have gone on forever if it weren't for our cheap CD player breaking down. She was working up a sweat and was pooped from dancing so hard. I've been thinking of taking Kendall to dance classes but just haven't gotten around to it. Maybe we'll start that up in the beginning of the new year.

Introducing Vaughnetta

2007-11-18T19:23:00.000-07:00

Pictured to the left is the handsome Vaughn. Pictured to the right is the lovely Vaughnetta.

I was going through Kendall's drawers, trying to organize everything (what a mess!) and I came across her old pink headband. I love this headband. She probably only wore it twice. I tried to get her to wear it for me today but she refused.

So I put it on Vaughn and all of sudden he turned into Vaughnetta. At this age, you really can't tell if the baby is a boy or girl except by their clothes (and of course if they have a wee wee). I was going to try to put Vaughn in some of Kendall's old clothes to go with the headband but Bill drew the line there.

O-H!

2007-11-17T21:42:00.000-07:00

If you are a fellow Buckeye, then in your head you are yelling I-O! It was a good day in Buckeye nation as our team beat that state up north again! We had our flag hanging proudly today.

Kendall wore her cheerleading outfit (thanks Grandma Dornan!) and was jumping up and down with her pom pons!

She and Vaughn really loved playing with the oversized 2002 National Championship football.

Okay, so we are not really #1 this year anymore, thanks to last weeks loss against Illinois but at least we are #1 in the big 10 and on our way to the Rose Bowl (Still a slight chance of going to the BCS National Championship if we get a lot of lucky breaks).

Vaughn looks so small next to this football.

He kept busy just touching and rolling the football back and forth for awhile. He must know that this football is special.

By the way, Thursday night Bill went into the office and redecorated it with Buckeye paraphernalia. Everything from setting out football helmets, to hanging up framed pictures from past games to displaying old newspaper headlines in the waiting room area.

The next day, he had OSU music playing in the office.

To all my fellow Buckeye fans, I close this posting with the famous SCRIPT OHIO!!!

Building My Muscles

2007-11-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

What's up? What a day it's been. Can you see the little food crumbs still on my face? It's there. Right on my chin. Yeah. Well, Shi Shi has been kissing me all day. Now that I see this picture, I see why. Sheesh. I thought it was because she wanted to show me how much she loved me. Come on mom! How hard is it to make sure you get every last bit of food off of my face when I'm done eating? Yeah yeah. You thought you got it all but look! The evidence is in the photo. I think you need to either get your eyes checked or improve the lighting in our house.

The day was really going great. My big sister was being really nice to me. If she saw I didn't have a toy to play with, she'd hand me one but I don't know why she always wants to give me that pink butterfly of hers. I mean, it's okay but does it have to be the same toy over and over? Hey sis, I don't mean to complain. I do appreciate you getting me those keys that I kept dropping while sitting in my high chair because mom was too busy getting my lunch together. But man, I really wanted to play with this toy (see photo). Did you have to keep taking it away from me when I had worked so hard to reach it?

Thank goodness mom helped me out here. Oh by the way, see that little pink thing at the bottom of this photo? That's the pink butterfly my sister keeps giving me. "Here baby. You can have pink butterfly." Whenever I hear her say that, I think - Oh nooooo. Not again. Sigh.

I was pretty pooped by the end of the day. I've been doing a lot of pushups lately. Every time I go to a party or visit someone's house, people keep saying I've gotten so much bigger or that I'm really gaining weight well or "Look how chubby he is!" Hello?!? I'm right here! I can hear every word you are saying.

So, I've been trying to get in shape. It's not as easy as it looks. I'm hoping that the next time I see people, they say I look really built.

I don't even break a sweat when I do these pushups. Yeah. I'm that good. I can feel my muscles getting bigger already. Hey mom! Can you start feeding more protein? I need to feed these muscles!

Oh by the way, I have got another tooth coming in. It's one of the top middle ones. Yeah mom stuck her finger in my mouth today and squealed with delight when she felt another one of my pearly whites coming through. That's 4 teeth now that have come in since early October. I like them too. They are nice and sharp and I have been able to chomp through quite a bit of paper with them. Man do I like paper.

The Joy of Dancing

2007-11-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

Tonight, we pretty much just hung out in the family room, listening to one of Kendall's Pooh CDs over and over. Of course when we're at home and there is music playing, I've got to get up and dance and sing. I've always been that way. When I was younger, my mom and I would go shopping and there was usually music playing in the stores. So I'd start dancing and singing. My favorite was tap dancing, which I didn't know how to do very well but that didn't stop me from making a ton of noise with my shoes and embarrassing my mom. My mom would tell me to behave like a lady. Ummm. Did she realize who she was talking to? Besides, behaving like a lady is not fun! Well, now that I'm older I don't do that as much as I used to but only because I'm so busy trying to get in and get out of the store before my kids start getting too antsy.

So, now one of my favorite things to do is dance with one of my kids in my arms. They like it too because I bounce them up and down and twirl them around and around. They can't help but smile. Another thing I like to do is dance really crazy. They will sit and watch me with a big smile on their face, or even start laughing at me. I think they think I'm a really weird woman who needs some major help. Boy are they going to love me when they become teens! Tonight the blinds were open, so anyone walking or driving by could see me dancing and the best part of that, is it embarrasses the hell out of Bill. He tried to close the blinds so no one could see but Kendall had a temper tantrum about it and yelled "OPEN! OPEN!" So Bill, not wanting to see his little princess have a meltdown, left it open. Mommy continued to dance with a big grin on her face! Hee hee!

Here's Shi Shi making out with Bill, licking him behind his ears. She loves his ears! I don't know why but she does it every chance she gets. Ewwww.

Kendall doesn't have any pants on because according to our nanny, she's been doing splits all day and the pants were getting in the way. Kendall hearing the nanny tell me this, proceeded to show me her split. She's actually pretty good. And I'm talking a straddle split. Not a side split. She's only a couple inches off the ground.

Yep. Just another day in the Dornan household.

He's Crawling

2007-11-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

So I come home from work today and I ask our nanny how everything was, did the kids eat okay, did they nap okay, how long did they nap, what did you do, blah blah blah... Same questions I ask her everyday. She's so patient with me. Then I asked if Vaughn was crawling yet and she said no. Not yet.

So she leaves and we are all just hanging around on Kendall's floor when I see Vaughn move forward. And I mean move forward in a big way. I whip my head around and look at Bill with a wide eyed stare. "Did you just see that?!?!" Bill confirms he did. So, we just wait and watch him. A few seconds pass and he does it again. I yell out "Oh my god! He's crawling!"

Kendall did not end up going to bed on time because Bill and I wanted to continue watching Vaughn crawl. It's not graceful by any means and Kendall is finding out that this is going to have an impact on her personal space. Here's the first example...

1. Kendall is happily perusing through her book. Vaughn spots the book and reaches out for it. He's too far away. He crawls forward enough to touch the book.

2. Kendall looks over at Vaughn and moves the book out of reach, saying in the nicest voice "No Vaughn. No." Kendall turns her attention back to the book.

3. Vaughn moves forward a little more and touches the book again. Kendall begins to get upset but still in the nicest voice says "No Vaughn. No."

4. Here's a close up. Can you see the distressed look on her face?

5. Kendall looks back to her book but this time raises it high enough to keep it out of reach from Vaughn's hands.

6. Kendall soon relaxes her arms as she is completely absorbed in her book. Vaughn moves forward again and touches the book.

7. Kendall starts to turn away. Vaughn seeing this tries to quickly make another forward move.

8. Before he knows it, Kendall has set the book on top of the bed with her back completely turned to Vaughn.

9. Vaughn realizing there is nothing else he can do, turns his attention elsewhere. I then inform Kendall that Vaughn has nothing to play with. "Do you want to give him something to play with while you read your book?"

10. She puts her book down on the bed, looks around the room, and grabs one of her teddy bears. Carrying it over to Vaughn, she says "Here baby." Vaughn immediately nuzzles his face in it.

11. Quickly becoming bored with the teddy bear, he rolls onto his back and stares up at the butterflies hanging from the ceiling.

By the end of the night, he pretty much covered every inch of Kendall's rug. Either by crawling or rolling. We would set things out in from of him - just out of reach and he would crawl a little bit at a time to get it. It's exciting but at the same time I know that means I don't have the luxury of leaving him in the room by himself when I have to go to the bathroom or grab something from another room or whatever the case may be, unless he is completely in a safe zone. The adventures continue!

Photo Note: No. That is not a dirty diaper laying on the floor in the background of these pictures. It's an unused one. Kendall likes to undo the velcro tape on each side and lick it. Then I say "Ewwwwww!" She laughs and does it again.

Check the Toes

2007-11-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

Around 2 o'clock this morning, my little baby woke up crying. He cried and cried and we thought, well maybe he is hungry. So he was fed a bottle and passed out asleep in his crib.

He awoke again crying at 5. Could he be hungry again? Is he going through a growth spurt? So I tried feeding him but he only drank a 1/2 ounce and started crying.

Could it be a dirty diaper? He's never cried over a dirty diaper but I thought I'd give it a shot. I changed his diaper but there were no poopies. Still he cried.

I tried burping him. Maybe it was gas. Nope. No gas.

Was it his teeth? Was he sick and not feeling well? This is so unlike Vaughn to cry like this, I thought. So I gave him some Tylenol. After about another 1/2 hour of crying he finally fell asleep. Hmmm... Maybe that was it.

He was still asleep when I was leaving for work, but before I left, I told our nanny about his behavior and to just be on the look out for anything odd.

I came home later that day, anxiously asking our nanny if Vaughn did anything unusual. She said she discovered the problem.

Apparently a long single strand of MY hair was wound tightly around his three toes. When she tried to pull it off, he cried and cried with pain, kicking and screaming. After finally getting it off, she noticed it was very red, swollen and tender. His circulation was getting cut off!! She said he was just fine after that.

I recall reading some mother's posting on the internet a couple of years ago, before Kendall was born, and how this same thing happened to her but it took much longer to discover what the problem was. With Kendall, I remember constantly checking her toes if there was nothing else I could do to soothe her cries. I never discovered a hair twisted around them.

With Vaughn, I forgot all about that posting and never thought to check. My hair is everywhere. I can't contain it. I shed worse than the worst dog. It's been a problem of mine all my life. Bill still can't believe how much hair I lose and he's been with me forever. After the a room is vacuumed, one second later, my hair will appear on the floor. It's terrible.

Anyway, you can imagine the guilt I felt for causing Vaughn so much grief. My poor little baby. Oh it breaks my heart to see him cry. So to all my friends who have babies, if your baby starts crying, don't forget to check the toes.

Time Flies

2007-11-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

Has it really been a year since these pictures were taken? Looking at these pictures makes me miss this little girl at this age. It's a reminder to take advantage of every single day because time flies by too quickly.

There is no place I'd rather be than with my kids and husband. Life is so good.

Ending Birthweek With a Party!

2007-11-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

Last night while Kendall was asleep, Bill and I stayed up really late getting ready for her birthday party. We decorated our basement and when Kendall woke up and saw each detail, she said "Wow!" First thing she noticed was Pooh Bear!

Then as she turned around and walked down the hall towards the playroom, she exclaimed "Wow!" with each character she saw - Tigger...

Eeyore and Roo...

Piglet and Owl. She would pat her hand on each one and say "Wow Tigger!" and "Wow Roo!"

I had the playroom door closed and told her I had another surprise for her. I opened the door and turned around, only to find the decoration fell to the floor. She didn't notice and just stood there like "Where's the surprise?" So I told her that it was time to go upstairs to eat breakfast. Later, we got the decoration back up and of course, Kendall loved that too.

When we got upstairs she saw the Happy Birthday sign and said "Wow!" again. That's the most Wows I've heard in one day. I guess she was impressed. Yay!

She stared at the sign and kept wanting to touch it.

She opened up her final present from mom and dad and it was definitely her favorite out of all the ones we gave her.

She played with it for hours which was great because it distracted her while Bill and I tried to get everything ready for the party.

It's about one hour before the party guests were scheduled to arrive and Bill comes home with a bouquet of balloons. I'm sure Kendall was thinking "Could this day get any better?!?!" The balloons distracted her for another hour.

The guests arrived and we played Pin the Tail on Eeyore.

We also tattooed some of the kids with Winnie the Pooh characters. Notice the tattoo on Cooper's left arm.

Here's another one on Bowen's left arm. Some kids did NOT like the tattoo at all. Kendall included. I guess they felt they were still too young.

Here was the end result. Isn't it just adorable?!? Poor Eeyore. There are tails pinned all over his body. He even has a tail pinned to his forehead!

Only one kid did not participate. That is why you can see his tail way up top. He was too busy having fun playing with the toy vacuum cleaner and could not be distracted to play the game. He literally covered every carpeted part of the basement! Twice! All the kids got some fun noise makers as gifts which I'm sure their parents will appreciate so much! Hee hee!

After a quick dinner, it was soon time for her Winnie the Pooh birthday cake.

She blew out the two candles and...

the kids enjoyed their cake and ice cream. I love how these three kids are sharing two seats!

Kendall received lots of wonderful presents from her friends.

I'd say that overall, the party was a success.

Even though we tried to scale back the size of the party this year to a much smaller crowd, it's still exhausting. Now I'm going to try to recuperate and get some rest. It's been a busy birthweek and thank goodness Vaughn's doesn't come for another 5 months. Oh wait! I just remembered. Bill's birthweek will be here in about a month. Yikes! I better start thinking of something. And then there's Christmas. Holy Toledo!

Day 6 of Birthweek

2007-11-10T23:15:00.001-07:00

Another day, another present. Kendall received another Pooh Soundtrack CD from her favorite movie. We listened to it ALL DAY LOOOOOONG.

We took Kendall to a very kid-friendly bowling alley.

She only fell down once, which was a lot less than what I imagined it would be.

She was definitely a bit intimidated by the whole thing at first. She basically made me do everything.

She watched everything with such curiousity but honestly her favorite part about the whole thing was getting a balloon and putting her hands on the fan.

Day 5 of Birthweek

2007-11-08T23:29:00.000-07:00

We asked Kendall what she wanted to do today to continue the celebration of her birthweek and she said "Watch Pooh Bear DVD." Of course. That is what she says every day, if not just about every hour. So that is what we did and we did something we had never done before - we made popcorn! She has never had popcorn and it's probably been years since I've had it myself so we thought it would be fun to have her try it. She liked hearing it pop in the microwave and wanted to "See it!" but there wasn't much to see except for the bag inflating. I think her favorite part of it all was the crunchy sound it made when she bit into it.

Meanwhile, Vaughn is starting to do the inch worm move. He lays on his tummy and puts his weight on his elbows. Then he lifts the rest of his body off the ground as he pushes forward on this tippy toes an inch at a time. So cute! He can really get around the room when he wants to.

Daddy was excited to see Vaughn doing the inch worm but Kendall was to into the movie to notice, even though mommy and daddy were whooping and hollering. It is difficult to take her attention away from the TV when Pooh Bear is on.

Vaughn barely even paid attention to the movie and moved on to the jumperoo. He rarely stops smiling when he is in this contraption. He loves to just jump up and down and squeals with delight, and could probably stay in there for hours if I let him.

So while Kendall was engrossed in the movie, I left the room to get her birthday present. When I returned she looked up and saw the present in my hands. I forgot to hide it behind my back and was hoping to wait until after the movie was over to give it to her. She immediately said "Present! Open it!"

It was a personalized Winnie the Pooh book where they inserted her name throughout the story. They also inserted one of her best friend's name. She didn't seem that excited and quickly turned her attention back to the movie. Bummer. So later that night when I put her to bed, I read her the book and kept looking for somekind of reaction everytime I said her name in the story. She didn't seem to notice. Oh well, I will try again another day.

Day 4 of Birthweek

2007-11-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

Look how cool! Can you imagine Kendall's reaction? She couldn't stop looking at it or touching it. It looks way better in person because it lights up and shows really well in the dark. (Note the border around our coffee table. It is my way of childproofing because nothing I found would stay on. It is made up of bubble wrap and masking tape. Lovely, wouldn't you say? But it does the job and I get to keep it on there for a few more years.)

We had her open up another one of her presents we got her and when I handed it to her, she said "Thank you."

Then when she opened it up and discovered what it was, she said "Wow."

We were going to go bowling but on the way there, the traffic was horrendous. We were stopped way back of the line at a red light and when it turned green only one car actually got to go through. As we were waiting there, we saw a huge play area in this Burger King joint, so we decided to go there instead.

I couldn't believe how elaborate these things were. Not only did they have this play area where you could play video games, go through a maze of tubes, shoot hoops in a mini basketball court, slide down the giant tube slide, watch Dora the Explorer on TV, but they even had video games at each table! Sheesh! No wonder the place was packed with kids.

Kendall seemed to like it so I was glad.

Vaughn was entertained looking at all the kids running around. I love this picture because you can see his bottom two teeth.

In this photo, you can see his top tooth.

This one looks like he has fat lip.

Here is Kendall wasting her kisses on a mirror that could never appreciate them as much as I do.

Happy Birthday My Darling Sweetheart

2007-11-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

As I write this blog, tears start to well up in my eyes. I cannot believe my little girl turned two today. She is everything to me and I just love her so much, it makes my heart ache. Okay - enough of the mushy stuff!

Today started off with a wonderful surprise from her nanna. Kendall got this large sized Pooh Bear light set.

Then she got this really cute teddy bear charm with what Kendall calls an "I love you heart" on it's tummy. We strung it up with a cute little pink ribbon and made a necklace out of it. After placing it around her neck, we went and stood in front of the mirror where she lifted it up and kept staring at it in the mirror.

Later in the day, we sat Kendall down at the table to have her birthday cake. When Bill and I sang Happy Birthday to her, she looked at us and smiled. Oh how I love that smile. We've been to quite a few birthday parties this year and have sung that song for other kids but she knew that this time, it was for her and she liked it.

Once we finished singing, she knew to blow out the candles and did so one-by-one.

Once the candles were blown out, she said "More!" So Bill lit the candles again and we sang Happy Birthday. Again.

She blew out the candles again and then said "More." Hee Hee. We drew the line there and said no more and that it was time to eat the cake.

We took off her shirt because we knew it was going to get messy and oh boy did she love the cake.

Meanwhile Vaughn kept watch over Kendall's shirt.

Kendall kept eating and eating her cake. If she would only eat this well with all her other food... I finally said we had presents for her to open once she finished her cake, and that stopped her quick. "PRESENTS!" she demanded.

I guess Vaughn was ready to see the presents too.

She opened up her presents and received a coloring kit from my old college friend (thank you Carly!!!), another coat, some clothes (one of which she is wearing in this picture), and the soundtrack to one of her Pooh Bear movies. I played the CD and Kendall kind of sat silent, just listening as though she was amazed. And then she leaned over and kissed my cheek - just completely out of the blue! Oh WOW! I believe it was her way of saying thank you. When we got in the car and played the CD, she started shouting out the things that happened in the movie at the time that particular song was playing. I'm just amazed by her brain.

We drove to Cold Stone Creamery to get some ice cream! With sprinkles! She had monkey test the ice cream out first.

Then she helped herself to some ice cream.

In between each bite, she walked around the place and greeted just about everybody that walked in.

When I put her to bed tonight, I sang Happy Birthday a couple more times because it made her giggle. I wish everyday could be Happy Birthday for her. I love to see her so happy. It brings me so much joy. I think I received about 50 kisses from her tonight. I'm not exaggerating. Really. She kissed me once and I said "More." and each time I said it, she did. I think she found it amusing that after each kiss I'd say "Thank you! Thank you! More!" What a perfect way to end the day.

Day 2 of Birthweek

2007-11-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

Today, we did something that Kendall has never done before - paint! Why has she not painted up until now you ask? Because I never had the guts to deal with all that mess. So when a friend told me that they have painting at the children's museum, I knew that is where I wanted to take her for day 2. Especially since day 2 fell on a free day at the museum!

I will keep this painting and another that she did forever and ever. I just absolutely love them.

Vaughn hung out in the baby area while his sister painted. I think he really liked the change of scenery.

After Kendall finished painting, she had paint all over her hands - so after washing her hands about ten times, her shirt was soaked.

We did a quick change of clothes...

and she was off playing in the rest of the musuem.

Kendall got to open up another one of her presents today. It was a Winnie the Pooh sweatshirt that is about 2 sizes too big but that was the smallest I could find.

After putting it on, she stood in front of the mirror and stared at it for several minutes. I consider that a sign that she likes it. Plus she wanted to wear it to bed.

Day 1 of Birthweek

2007-11-05T22:49:00.000-07:00

When Bill and I were dating, he came up with the idea that instead of taking one day to celebrate your birthday, you took an entire week. Well, today was day 1 of Kendall's birthweek and what a great day it was.

Two big packages from Aunt Joan arrived for Kendall today. When we opened the first box, we discovered the present was wrapped in Winnie the Pooh characters! Kendall was ecstatic and started calling out each of the Pooh characters' names over and over.

In the box were tons of clothes that Kendall would desperately need for the coming winter months (Jo - you pick out the cutest clothes!)

Kendall noticed the party favors right away and after mommy showed her how to blow on it, she tried to do it herself. She tried and tried but didn't realize she needed to get her lips to tightly seal around the mouth piece. Oh well - we'll try again tomorrow.

Then we moved onto the next box which Kendall pointed out had Mickey Mouse on it...

and found a beautiful winter coat inside. Kendall, who loves things that are very soft to the touch, loved this coat.

It feels like mink inside. This coat is going to get a lot of use!

So of all the things that she received from Aunt Joan, do you know what she loved the most? The Pooh wrapping paper! As we were heading out the door, she wanted to bring the entire wrapping paper with us. We compromised and took just a small portion of it that had Winnie the Pooh's face. She looked at it, kissed it and talked to it.

Bill had the idea to take Kendall to the Build-A-Bear store. I had vowed no more stuffed animals because we have so many of them but because it was Kendall's birthweek, we decided to make an exception. If it was going to bring joy to Kendall, then why not? What's one more stuffed animal to clutter your already cluttered home. So we get to the Build-A-Bear store and there is a wall of all different kinds of stuffed animals. Kendall was so happy and anxious and called out "This one!" and pointed to just about every stuffed animal she saw. We walked up and down looking at each one and I told her she could only choose one.

Can you guess which one she chose?

It was the black teddy bear. As soon as I handed her the display one, she hugged it tightly. We took one of the non-stuffed black teddy bears and thus began the process. The store clerk hooked the teddy bear up to a machine which made a lot of noise as it "stuffed" the bear. Kendall was frightened by the noise and hid behind my leg. Vaughn was frightened too and started to cry.

But it was over rather quickly and the next step was to pick out a heart. Kendall chose the red one and inserted it into her new teddy bear. I asked the store clerk what the heart was for and he replied that every bear needed a heart - and it was another way to get the kids to help with the building process.

After getting sewn up, it was time for a bath and a good hair brushing.

Next we went to a little computer to fill out the birth certificate. When the lady asked us what the bear's name would be, Bill and I were stumped. We asked Kendall and after a minute she said "Mall." So we told the lady the bear's name was "Mall Bear." Earlier that day, we kept telling Kendall we were going to the mall to get her a new teddy bear and I guess that is how she came up with the name.

Then Kendall picked out an outfit for Mall Bear, which consisted of a cute tank top, a pink skirt and Hello Kitty underwear. Yes - Hello Kitty underwear. I know, you don't have to tell me. It even has a hole in the back so the tail can fit through. We drew the line when the lady asked if the bear needed shoes.

Kendall held Mall Bear as we walked through the mall and drew a lot of attention.

I'm sure Mall Bear was getting heavy in her arms and I kept offering to hold it for her but she would have none of it.

We checked out the giant winter snow globe before making our way to the indoor play area.

When we got to the play area, Kendall kept wanting to share Mall Bear with the other kids. She walked up to each kid showing Mall Bear and trying to thrust it into their arms. Some kids accepted the bear and I would have to run up to them and ask to have the bear back. That was not fun.

Vaughn seemed to like Mall Bear too.

It was almost the same size as him.

We finally had to take Mall Bear away from Vaughn because all he wanted to do was eat it.

PS: Vaughn had a 3rd tooth come in a couple of days ago. It's one of the top middle ones. He's also starting to scootch backwards on his tummy.

PPS: Instead of "Okey Dokey," Kendall says "Okey Donkey."

A "Hi" Is Not Always Welcomed

2007-11-04T21:45:00.000-07:00

So we were getting out of the car in the parking lot of a grocery store, when this lady, whose car was parked a couple of lanes down from us, starts walking towards her car.

Kendall being the socialite that she is, yells out a big "Hiiii!!!"

The lady smiles and returns a "Hi."

Then Kendall yells out "Hi grandma!"

HAHAHAHAHA! Ohhhhh my gosh! Bill and I were soooo embarrassed! I couldn't bear to look at her. I just kind of froze with a pasted smile on my face and then started to quickly walk towards the store, dragging Kendall along beside me. This lady looked like she was only in her late-30's. As soon as we got into the store, Bill and I busted out laughing. We couldn't believe we were just put in that situation. Ahhh well. Kids will be kids! I just hope that doesn't happen again. Wishful thinking I suppose.

The Swinging Duo

2007-11-03T22:23:00.000-06:00

I just realized that I haven't swung in years. How did this occur? I love to swing! That was the thing I looked forward to at recess time. As soon as the school bell rang and we were dismissed, all the kids would run outside to their favorite play area. Mine was always the swing. Sometimes, I wouldn't get their in time to beat out the other kids and oh how tragic that would be.

Then I would try to run towards the tire swing! I loved getting spun around and around. You would spin the tire in one direction as much as it would go, so the chains holding up the tire would get all crinkled up, and then you would let go and spin - spin - spin!

Jump roping was another fun activity! My friends would hold the rope on both sides and I would wait until that right moment to jump into the swinging rope, chanting Teddy Bear Teddy Bear Turn Around!

Last but not least, were all the little rhymes we'd say while clapping each other's hands in an elaborate choreagraphy.

Do you remember this one?

Miss Susie had a steamboat
the steamboat had a bell
Miss Susie went to heaven
the steamboat went to
hell-o operator
please give me number nine
and if you disconnect me,
I'll kick you from
behind the refrigerator
there sat a piece of glass
Miss Susie fell upon it and broke her little
ask me no more questions
I'll tell you no more lies
the boys are in the bathroom
pulling down their
flies are in the city
the bees are in the park
Miss Susie and her boyfriend
are kissing in the
dark dark dark

Go Scarlet & Gray!

2007-11-02T16:56:00.000-06:00

[Chanting] We're number 1! We're number 1!
After a humilating national championship game last year, our OSU guys must redeem themselves and earn the respect they deserve as being a tough and unbeatable football team.

The Ohio State University football team is currently ranked #1 and with only three more games to go, we could be heading to the national championship game again this year.

Last year, they were also ranked #1 but suffered the most humiliating defeat I had ever witnessed in OSU history. It was so difficult and heart wrenching to see our guys look so defenseless. So very helpless. It wasn't until mid-fourth quarter of the game, that reality finally set in my head that there was no way we could come back and win it.

All season long, my husband spouted off the greatness of the Buckeye team to his fellow co-workers and educated them as best he could - for these were Coloradians who really didn't understand OSU football, nor football in general. To get his colleagues in the Buckeye mood, he brought in the infamous Buckeye treats made up of chocolate covered peanut butter that he personally helped to make.

Most of his colleagues did end up watching that championship game and the downfall of our football team. The following day, when Bill returned to work with his head hanging low, he received a sympathy card that they all wrote messages in.

But it is a new season and I have faith that our wonderful coach Jim Tressel will never let what happened last year, happen again. I have faith we will once again claim the title of national champions and Buckeye fans all across the world will celebrate!

Go Bucks! Beat Wisconsin! Beat Illinois! Beat Michigan really, really bad! And beat whomever we face in the national championship game!

Water Love

2007-11-01T19:20:00.000-06:00

Oh how my kids love water. Not just pool water but any water.

Some examples include: Shi Shi's water bowl, the fish bowl, lawn sprinklers, puddles, rain, humidifiers, baths, water fountains and of course swimming pools.

Our challenge has been to get her to maintain self-control. Going for walks after it has rained can take 5 times as long as usual because of the amount of puddle play that occurs. If someone is watering their lawn with a sprinkler - forget it. I know that I'm going to have to change her out of her wet clothes.

Are these guys twins? Not only do they have the same bathing suits on but the same hair style too.

After getting out of the pool, Kendall noticed that she left a trail of water on the floor and would point to it, saying "Pee pee." Maybe she's right. I couldn't tell the difference.

Goodbye Halloween

2007-10-31T20:59:00.000-06:00

This is by far the best Halloween ever. Starting with the search for family themed costumes - to the decorations and pumpkin patch - to the carvings, pumpkin seeds, children's musuem and dress-up party - and ending it with trick-or-treating and passing out candy. I'll never forget this year's Halloween and I hope Kendall can relive it over and over by looking at the mass amounts of photos and video I took.

Today, Bill and I rushed home as soon as we could. We couldn't wait to take the kids trick-or-treating. We decided to take our little dog so she could pretend she was Toto.

Talk about having your hands full with two kids, one of whom cannot walk yet, a video camera in one hand, your spouse having the picture camera, keeping your eye on the dog to ensure she doesn't stray into the street and trying to guide your little toddler on where to go next.

Kendall was a little timid at the 1st house we stopped by but then warmed up to the whole trick-or-treating thing. She even said the entire phrase at each house we stopped at "Trick-or-treat. Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat." And sure enough she would get gobbles of candy at a time.

She also demanded we "Go inside house!" wanting to actually step inside each neighbor's home. When she realized we weren't going to do that, she'd take off running towards the next house.

She could have kept going and going if we let her but we wanted to get home to pass out candy, plus it was starting to get cold outside. To our disappointment we didn't have that many trick-or-treaters. Maybe less than 30 kids stopped by. Kendall didn't want to actually pass out the candy herself. She only wanted me to pick her up and watch me fumble around as I tried to open the door and pass out the candy. To Bill's delight, we got a lot of compliments on his decorations. The older kids seemed to appreciate it more.

Vaughn on the other hand, just chilled and enjoyed his miniature pumpkin.

Ummm...this is a photo of daddy sniffing Vaughn's butt to see if he pooped! Hee hee!

Look at those gums! I'm going to miss that gummy smile once his mouth starts filling up with teeth.

It was a little challenging to convince Kendall to get out of her costume. She has really taken a liking to that dress but after some negotiating, she caved in.

With the time change coming up, we started to push the kids' bedtime later and later. I actually like that the time change doesn't occur until after Halloween. With all the door bell ringing from the trick-or-treaters, it would be hard to keep the kids asleep anyway. Tonight, Vaughn was really into his toes as you can see. I realized I didn't have any photos of Vaughn with his toes in his mouth - so here it is!

Goodbye Halloween. Thank you for the fun memories. I'm looking forward to many more.

Results of the Pumpkin Carving Contest

2007-10-31T20:54:00.000-06:00

Although we seemed to have quite a few unique visitors to the site, we didn't have very many voters. So with only 2 votes a piece going to Mean Face and Happy Face, the Grim Reaper won with 4 votes.

The Mean Face was carved by my father-in-law.
The Happy Face was carved by Bill.
I carved the Grim Reaper.

However, I must state that my father-in-law and I used tracing paper - so according to Bill, we cheated even though Bill was the one who bought the stencils in the first place! Regardless, we had a great time and that is all that matters :)

Halloween Par-teh

2007-10-30T21:08:00.000-06:00

When I was young, the best part of Halloween was running as fast as you could from house to house, trying to get as much candy as you could before it was too late to knock on people's doors - when the supervising adults would tell us it was time to call it a night. I loved finding the house that would say, here - take the rest of the candy because it's getting close to the end and I don't think anymore kids are coming around. One of my favorite houses to visit was the one who gave away homemade candied caramel apples!!! Even though it was out the way of our trick-or-treating route, we always took a detour to that house 1st because they only made a few and if you waited too long, they would run out and you'd be stuck with just regular candy.

Now that I'm a mommy, the best thing about Halloween is seeing all the kids dressed up. We went to a Halloween party tonight, and everyone was flashing their cameras all night. Here's the cute polar bear and little lion.

The cowboy parents with their little horsey.

Mommy and her darling leopard.

Lion enjoying the local entertainment.

Horsey decided to reveal his true identity to Dorothy - The Naked Cowboy

Daddy and his little pumpkin.

Who knew pigs and polar bears could live together in harmony?

Curious George acting curious.

Older polar bear staring the camera down.

I was so tired of continuously taking off the lion's head piece (because it was too hot) and putting it back on for the cameras, that I finally just sat it on top of his head. Plus, everytime I did take it off or put it on, the little lion roared an unhappy sound.

It also happened to be Diego's (aka Nicco's) birthday, so we celebrated with cake and presents. Dorothy wanted so bad to help Diego blow out the candles but was able to restrain herself after hearing mommy telling her over and over not to do so.

Little lion shed his skin towards the end of the party and was so tired that he ended up falling asleep in the car ride home.

Wizard of Oz's Work Places

2007-10-30T20:46:00.000-06:00

Today was trick-or-treating at work day. We first went to mommy's work place, where Dorothy scored a ton of candy! Too much for mommy's liking. Then we headed off to daddy's. Dorothy was a little timid at first but then she opened up and was a complete ham, loving all the attention. Really. She was laughing and smiling and talking to everybody she came across.

Okay, we really need to stop this habit. Dorothy likes to close her eyes tightly when she poses for pictures.

Dorothy and my co-worker's son was talking up a storm. They only met once - a year ago around Halloween but they acted like they've known each other forever.

Children's Musuem

2007-10-30T12:13:00.000-06:00

Introducing the new Dorothy! The local children's musuem was having a Halloween celebration and so yesterday, we went to check it out.

One of the first things we saw was POOH BEAR! Dorothy was sooo happy to see the biggest Winnie the Pooh she had ever seen.

She exclaimed "Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness!" over and over.

Giving him a big hug, she was all smiles.

She wanted to climb up but the best I could do was set her upon the nearby haystack. She held his hand as best she could.

Dorothy was not interested in fishing in the little pool. She kept throwing her fishing rod in it so her hands were free to splash her face with water.

I thought I was well hidden but I guess I was wrong. I want to get more pictures of Dorothy and lion together but I'm finding it isn't that easy.

Our little lion was very well behaved considering he skipped his afternoon nap.

They had a really cool setup of a grocery store and kitchen area.

Dorothy thought the food was real. We don't have any pretend food at home that she plays with so she put everything she picked up into her mouth. Can anyone say major germs?!

There was a forest play area which I thought was very appropriate for Dorothy.

There were trees you could climb into, and caves with all sorts of creatures.

There was another area that was completely dedicated to kids 4 and under. Even babies! They had areas where babies could do tummy time and lay under mobiles. So cool!

We are definitely getting a membership once the little lion learns how to walk.

There was even an outdoor train ride for the little kids.

Dorothy walked away with a bagful of candy. They had little booths set up all over the musuem where kids could go around and trick-or-treat. Dorothy had a blast! Our little lion was entertained.

Behind the Scenes

2007-10-29T23:04:00.000-06:00

Here are some behind the scene photos of the pumpkin carvings. Maybe you can guess who carved what.

This is what was left of the original pumpkins after the squirrels got to them before we tossed them out.

Now you can see why they needed to be replaced. Trick-or-treaters would have come to our house thinking "What is up with their pumpkins?!"

To avoid having the new pumpkins getting eaten by squirrels, they are taken down each night before bedtime and put in the garage. They seem to be safe outside at night with the candles lit. It's during the day when the squirrels try to get to them.

Choose Your Favorite Pumpkin Carving

2007-10-28T20:00:00.001-06:00

Bill, Grandpa Dornan and I had a fun time carving pumpkins to replace the ones that the squirrels got to. We'd like to see which one is your favorite, so please vote on the right hand side of the page. Voting ends at 5PM on Halloween. Only one vote per computer will be allowed. There will be no more posts until the contest is over and I reveal who carved what.

Here are all three pumpkin carvings:

A: Grim Reaper

B: Mean Face

C: Happy Face

What a Pair

2007-10-27T20:19:00.000-06:00

We had some fun with cardboard cut-outs. Kendall and Vaughn practice their trick-or-treat stance.

Grandma and grandpa become more and more western with each visit.

We've been teaching Kendall the old saying "Trick-or-treat. Smell my feet. Give me something good to eat." When she gets to the "smell my feet" - she takes it literally and picks up her one foot to smell it.

Lipstick?

2007-10-26T20:27:00.000-06:00

No. That's not lipstick on Vaughn's mouth. That's some delicious carrots. Yummy!

My in-laws are in town and so that means some family bonding time with the grandparents for the kids.

Random Comment: Has anyone checked out the new Mac OS X Leopard?!? Soooooo very cool! I mean really super duper cool! I can't wait to buy it but I'm going to have to. Boo hoo. I need to keep my priorities straight and not spend my money on expensive toys.

Darn Squirrels

2007-10-26T09:35:00.000-06:00

Look! Just look at what those darn squirrels did to our pumpkins! Ha Ha Ha! Now Bill wants to go back to the pumpkin patch and get more pumpkins, have them carved and put out in front of our house in time for the Halloween trick-or-treaters.

Genius Bar

2007-10-24T22:31:00.001-06:00

So a few nights ago, my little iBook decides to crash on me. I freaked out! So tonight I went to visit the Genius Bar and thank heavens, they were able to repair my iBook. I was there for about 1.5 hours and to keep me occupied, they let me use another iBook and surf the internet.

I love the Genius Bar and all the genius people who work there! They have saved me time and time again. I love just pulling up a stool and sitting there, waiting while they fix my problem, and listening to other people express their problem and getting advice. I honestly could stay there all day long and just watch and listen to them. Does that make me a geek? Probably.

Anyway, here are some pics of Vaughn sitting and playing with a red balloon. He really likes balloons just like Kendall does. I haven't met one kid who does not like balloons.

Random Comment: My poor Rockies. What happened?!? I'm not giving up hope yet! Hoping tomorrow night will be better.

Pumpkin Carving Fun

2007-10-24T08:22:00.000-06:00

We got the garbage bags laid out and used them to cover our dining room table. Daddy found the old pumpkin carving tools, and we brought out the pumpkins we recently purchased at the pumpkin patch. Kendall would not touch the guts of the pumpkin, so we gave her the scooper to help remove the guts.

Vaughn patiently watched us carve away, as he held onto the stem of this pumpkin.

I had carved this one and since we wouldn't let Kendall touch the actual carving knife, we let her draw on the pumpkins with a pen and pencil. However, rather than draw she started stabbing it all over and then ended it with them sticking out of the pumpkins eyebrows. I thought that was quite fitting for Halloween.

After we carved the pumpkins, daddy lined them on our porch and stuck a candle in each to turn them into jack-o-laterns. I roasted the pumpkin seeds and Kendall and daddy thought they were a hit.

So this was all a couple days ago and everytime Bill and I come home from work, we see that our pumpkin faces are a little more chewed away. We have squirrels who love pumpkins and it's funny to see the eyes, nose and mouth starting to get eaten away, giving them a very goofy look. I'll try to get pictures of those.

1st Snow Fall

2007-10-23T08:28:00.000-06:00

This was Vaughn's first time witnessing snow, and we took full advantage of it because we knew it wouldn't last very long. When we first brought out the sled, we kept trying to convince Kendall to sit in it. She was too interested in walking around in the snow, so we sat Vaughn down in it instead. After making a big fuss about how cute he looked in it, she said "Vaughn move. Kendall sit in it."

So Kendall got in and daddy dragged her up and down and up and down the neighborhood. She liked it a lot but I think her favorite was dragging her mitten in the snow so that it would gather into a big pile, and then she would bring it up to her mouth and eat it.

Vaughn and I had a fun time watching Kendall and daddy.

Love love love my family!

What a cutie!

Kendall eating snow again next to the miniature snowman daddy made for her and Vaughn. Kendall was more interested in scraping the snow off of the snowman's head and eating it.

We got the fireplace going...

and I made some hot (or rather warm) cocoa for Kendall. She's never had it before and absolutely loved it.

Pumpkin Patch & More

2007-10-21T21:04:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, before the snow hit, we went to a great pumpkin patch. By far, the best pumpkin patch I've been to so far. There were so many good quality pumpkins available. You could drive around and park wherever, which was great because we didn't have a wagon to lug all the pumpkins back to the car.

Almost immediately, Kendall found her pumpkin.

Vaughn took a little longer to find his pumpkin.

Good things come to those who wait. He finally found it.

Daddy proud of the pick.

I was worried the stem was going to break off of this one.

We loaded the car up with our pumpkins and headed to the real fun.

We got to see some stinky but cool animals, like pigs, a cow, goats, a horse...

and alpacas. I tried to show Kendall how to feed the grass and hay to the alpacas but she rather just watch.

Kendall was so super excited to see this large elephant structure. It was very difficult to explain to her that she could not ride on top of it. She didn't care. She wanted to touch his trunk and head.

But she finally forgot about that and did a lot of jumping around.

Vaughn had a good time watching his sister.

They also had a super duper big slide! Kendall steadily climbed up and really didn't want any help, even though the older kids kept trying to provide their assistance.

She loved it. There were people cheering for her everytime she came down. I think she loved the attention more than she liked the slide. They were speaking another language so I couldn't understand what they were saying but I think they were impressed because she was probably the youngest one there.

We are definitely going to come back to this place every year. They had a corn maze too but we didn't do that this time around.

Welcome to Colorado

2007-10-21T21:03:00.000-06:00

Saturday, October 20th: 78 degrees and sunny...

Sunday, October 21st: 32 degrees and snowy.

Halloweird

2007-10-20T22:53:00.000-06:00

After much debate, daddy finally convinced mommy to let him put up Halloween decorations. Today was a perfect day to do just that.

Here, we have the handsome scarecrow...

The lovely wedding bitch but when Kendall asked us "What's that?" - we told her it was the wedding "girl"...

Tombstones...

A bat...

The severed arm. Kendall kept talking to the hand, saying "Give me five." and then proceeded to slap the hand.

Vaughn supervised the operations.

We didn't get a chance to put the cobwebs up yet and some of the string of lights were burned out, so I'll post additional pictures of those later, along with the skull, the green hand and some scary masks. Luckily I was able to convince Bill NOT to put up the head that had a hook going through it's forehead with blood pouring out!

GERONIMO!

2007-10-18T23:09:00.000-06:00

No explanation needed.

Found this bit of information:
During WWII, so the legend goes, a couple of greenhorn airborne paratrooper soldiers were trying to bolster their courage before their first jump.
One said to the other, "You're scared about the first jump tomorrow, I'll bet."
"Nope, not a bit," paratrooper replied. Having recently seen a movie about the exploits of Geronimo, he said, "I'll yell, 'Geronimo!' when I jump out the door." Next day, true to his word, the trooper yelled, "Geronimo!" for all his fellow soldiers to hear, and the word became part of the American lexicon.
That's the story of yelling "Geronimo."

Pickle Kiss

2007-10-17T22:42:00.000-06:00

What a very stressful and busy day at work today. Could not wait to come home and see my kids. Right now, I cherish the fact that I can hold Vaughn in my arms and hug him as much as want to because I know in a few months, he will be more independent and will not want to stay put for more than 5 minutes.

Anyway, I heard from our nanny that Kendall loves pickles. Never in a million years would I have thought Kendall would like pickles at this age. So, I gave her one tonight and sure enough, she chomped away.

I asked her if I could get a pickle kiss and she said yes! My first pickle kiss. I highly recommend them!

The Hand

2007-10-16T22:41:00.000-06:00

I have the luxury of working from home sometimes. When I do, I close myself off into my room so I can concentrate and actually work. Kendall knows that I'm home and if she can get past the nanny, she will sometimes come up to the door, crouch down on all fours and peek under the door. I then hear her say "Mommy? Mommy? Hi mommy." She then sticks her hand under the door and wiggles her fingers.

Sometimes I'll give in and say hi back, and touch her hand but I try not to because when the nanny comes to take her away so I can get some work done, she cries. And ohhh it breaks my heart.

MLB

2007-10-15T21:23:00.000-06:00

I would never claim to be a huge baseball fan. Heck, if you asked me 5 years ago how many baseball games I had been to in my lifetime, I would raise two fingers up. But that was before we moved to Colorado and rented a loft only two blocks away from the Rockies stadium. Now if you asked that question, I could raise both hands up and flash all ten fingers a few times.

Why am I talking about baseball, and how does this fit in with my two kids? Well, to answer the 2nd part of the question - it doesn't. To answer the first, it's because 2 of the 3 MLB teams that I would ever care about are probably headed to the World Series: Colorado Rockies and the Cleveland Indians (Cincinnati Reds aren't in the running). And it's my blog so I can talk about anything I want :)

I honestly almost never follow baseball. However, I do enjoy going to a game now and then. It's just such an "American" thing to do and there's a feeling of home and comfort to it all. One year, for the 4th of July, I bought tickets for Bill and I to see the Boston Red Sox play against the New York Yankees in New York. We loved it and had such a great time. Again, it just seemed liked such an "American" thing to do on Independence Day.

There have really only been two world series games I have ever followed:
- 1986 NY Mets against the Red Sox. My dad, sister and I watched the whole series and I have great memories of us whooping and yelling and cheering in our family room. My sister was a huge baseball fan and was rooting for the NY Mets, so I rooted for them too. I remember the NY Mets players too - like Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez, Mookie Wilson, Daryll Strawberry, and my favorite - Lenny Dykstra (sp?). Lenny only because at around 12 yrs old, I thought he was a cutie.
- 2004 Red Sox against the Cardinals. I watched that game because well, I wanted to see if the Red Sox would ever defeat the legendary Babe Ruth curse.

So anyway, it's pretty exciting to see the Rockies and Indians getting so close to the ultimate series. Who will I root for? The Rockies. There's no hesitation there but I will still be happy regardless of whichever team wins. Just a little happier if the Rockies do.

But I'm jumping the gun. The Indians still have to get past the Red Sox, and the Rockies against the Diamondbacks (although this one seems to be in the bag).

Go Rockies! Go Indians! But Go Rockies a little more!

A Bouquet of Flowers

2007-10-15T07:20:00.000-06:00

Daddy calls me up and says "Hey, I won these flowers in a raffle today. Do you want them?" Apparently, someone had brought in a bouquet of flowers as a gift for his firm, and at the end of the day, the ladies decided to raffle them off. Bill not caring anything about flowers declined to participate but one of the ladies entered him in anyway. And what d'you know? He won. So knowing that I really don't care much about flowers (unless they are actually hand-picked from one's own garden or from some wilderness area - rather than bought from a store) he figured I'd say no and he would let them redraw for the flowers. Well, knowing that Kendall loves flowers, I told him to keep it and we could give them to Kendall.

And as predicted, Kendall loved them. She kept touching each flower and trying to smell every single one. We had a couple of spills. Once from Kendall trying to reach another flower to smell, and twice from Vaughn who just wanted to grab it and pull it into his mouth.

We finally pulled a rose out for Kendall and she kept trying to smell it through her stuffed-up nose.

Sitting Pretty

2007-10-14T23:05:00.000-06:00

My boy is all grown up! Not really but he's growing, that's for sure. Here are the 1st pictures of Vaughn sitting.

The longest he's sat on his own without toppling over is about a minute.

We practiced a little standing too.

He likes this toy a lot. He really has only seen it from a lying down position until recently. Sitting and standing at it has brought a whole new perspective.

We are all still sick so we stayed in all weekend. Besides practicing his sitting and standing, we've been sleeping a lot. It's times like these that make me glad that I'm still feeding Vaughn my breastmilk so that he can receive my antibodies and use it to help fight the enemy!

Vaughn's Big Changes at 6 Months

2007-10-11T22:20:00.000-06:00

Okay. So I already told you Vaughn is eating solids. He started last week, the day he turned 6 months. Well, we discovered he has not one but two teeth coming in. That's why he's been so grumpy and fussy lately! I honestly thought it was a personality change. I stuck my finger in his mouth and man both teeth are sharp!

So, I tried to take a picture. Here is attempt #1.

Attempt #2.

Final attempt. You cannot see it. Even when I put the camera down and pried his mouth open, the teeth are barely out that you can't see them.

Another change that happened yesterday: Vaughn rolled from front to back. He's been rolling from back to front for a couple months now but he's never rolled from front to back. I saw him go from back to front to back!

ALSO, Vaughn is now starting to sit on his own. It's only for about 5 to 10 seconds but still, he's doing it. Yesterday, was the first day for that too. How exciting!

I'll try to get a picture of him sitting tomorrow.

Today, he had his 6-month checkup and everything checks out fine and his motor skills are on par with the average 6 month old. He is on the low end of the chart for height and weight but that is to be expected since he was 5 weeks early. If we were comparing his weight and height in the 5 month growth chart which is when he should have been born, he would fall right in the middle.

Two funny things happened at the doctor's.
1. We stripped him down completely naked to measure his weight. While he was lying there, I grabbed the diaper he was wearing and the nurse asked me if I wanted a new one. I said no, thank you - this one is still clean. No sooner did I say that when Vaughn started peeing. Pee was just going all over the place. I quickly took the diaper in my hand and covered his little wee wee. We were laughing and I said - uh yeah - I'm going to need a new diaper after all.
2. While Vaughn was lying down on his back, the doctor went through her normal routine and started by feeling his head, and working her weigh down his body. She got to his legs and was rotating them to ensure his hips were properly developing. She then lifted his legs up in the air, and as soon as she did, Vaughn let a big, long, rumbling fart rip! Hee hee! I told the doctor that his daddy would be so proud. I looked at Vaughn and he smiled back at me.

He only cried (full blown, really hard, wailing, face turning red type of cry) for about 10 seconds when they gave him FOUR shots in his thighs. Then mommy held him, whispered sweet nothings in his ear and kissed his little tears away. Oh my sweet baby.

Strolling Around The Neighborhood

2007-10-11T22:02:00.000-06:00

Fall. My favorite season. It's been very pleasant with temperatures in the 70's. The leaves are changing colors and falling off the trees. Kendall likes to step on the fallen leaves and hear them crunch. I love that sound too.

I love this double side-by-side umbrella stroller! I purchased it used off of Craigslist and got such a deal. It's super light weight, easy to fold or unfold and compacts nicely to fit in your car. The only downside that I didn't realize until AFTER I purchased it, is that it was missing the canopies. Grrrr. And where we live, the canopies are so important because it's so sunny all the time. Frustrating since I spent so much time researching and then waiting for it to show up with the right price on Craigslist. I think I got so excited when it finally appeared that I forgot all about the canopies.

So, I think I'm going to try to sell this on Craigslist for the same price I bought it for and buy one that does have canopies. Anyway, we took this with us when we traveled to Puerto Vallarta. It was very convenient in the airport, especially when you are scrambling around in a hurry. However, it wouldn't fit into the elevator's doorway at the resort, so we couldn't use it as much as we would have liked. I found that in the states, they pretty much fit everywhere but in Mexico, things are a little smaller.

Kendall loves walking Shi Shi. It's so funny to see her try to take control by pulling on the leash.

She even says "Come on Shi Shi" if Shi Shi is taking too long sniffing one spot on the ground.

We are trying to teach Kendall to command Shi Shi to say "Sit Shi Shi." I think Shi Shi knows Kendall's the boss.

The whole family is sick right now. Kendall got it first a few days ago. Started with a runny nose. Then I noticed Vaughn had a runny nose today. Tonight, I've got the runny nose. Daddy says his throat has been sore all day. Guess, we'll stay on the down low this weekend. We were planning on going to a pumpkin patch with a bunch of farm animals and a hay ride but I'd rather play it safe and keep the kids rested.

Mason's 1 Yr Birthday Party

2007-10-11T20:17:00.000-06:00

So we went to another birthday party, this one for Mason who turned 1 and almost as soon as we get there, Kendall finds and recognizes her favorite bear - Winnie the Pooh, sitting on the floor. She was so happy to see him and held onto him for the 1st half of the party. She wanted to take him home with us but I explained that this one did not belong to her and that she already had FIVE Pooh bears at home already! How many Pooh bears does one child need? Each of her Pooh bears have their own names too: Giant Pooh Bear, Big Pooh Bear, Baby Pooh Bear, Tiny Pooh Bear and Classic Pooh Bear. That was the only way we could think to distinguish each one.

Mason got this really cool play tent for his birthday (pictured behind him). Here he is headed towards his other present. It was Mr. Potato Head. It was still packaged in the box and Kendall kept demanding it be opened. "Open!" she repeated over and over, ready to throw a tantrum. Luckily we distracted her by telling her it was cake time.

The kids were seated around the cupcakes, ready to sing Happy Birthday. Don't you just love this cupcake holder?! I had never seen one of these before.

Each kid knew exactly which cupcake they wanted.

Mason ended up doing a very good job of eating his.

Kendall liked the cupcake but was way more into the ice cream.

Afterward, the kids played outside. Kendall really enjoyed the swing the best but it was tough for her to share it with the other kids but she did. She is getting better at this sharing thing. She also liked playing with the balls, her favorite being the soccer ball they had out there. Could she be a future soccer star like her cousin Lea?

No pictures of Vaughn because I didn't bring him to the party. He's been such a bear lately, so he ended up staying home with daddy. Today, we found out why. I'll share that with you in tomorrow's post! Oh the anticipation!

Noah's Under The Sea 2 Yr B-Day

2007-10-11T19:00:00.000-06:00

Noah had his 2nd year birthday party and the theme was Under the Sea.

Kendall hung out with the other toddlers...

While Vaughn hung out with the other babies.

Melissa, Noah's mommy, outdid herself again by baking this incredible cake. If you remember from my earlier post, she was the one who did Bowen's birthday cake too, shaped like a truck.

Each kid got to take home a chocolate sucker. Kendall picked out a yellow starfish and would not eat it for the longest time. She just wanted to hold it, look at it and sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star."

Each kid also got to take home a Betta fish and fish bowl, with fish food, instructions on how to take care of the fish, as well as a bag of gold fish crackers. How cool! Kendall named her fish Rainbow. So far, so good. He is still alive.

Look at these kids! They were all scrambling around, wanting a piece of that delicious cake!

Meanwhile, Vaughn tried to keep the other babies entertained by showing his sky diving techniques. Guaranteed, they'll be copying his moves in a month or two.

Kendall found it amusing that she could actually see through this balloon.

All Vaughn wanted to do was eat his.

When we wouldn't allow that, he got upset and we knew it was time to go home.

Goodbye PV

2007-10-11T08:50:00.000-06:00

It was our last day in Puerto Vallarta and the suitcases were pretty much packed.

Kendall wanted to go to the pool but there wasn't enough time.

Kendall and Vaughn were absolute angels on the plane. Kendall slept part of the way home.

When we received our boarding passes, I noticed we had seats in three different locations! I asked them to change it so we could sit together but they couldn't or rather wouldn't. Luckily the other passengers were accomodating and switched seats with us. Kendall and I got to sit together and Bill was in the row behind us with Vaughn.

Last notes about the trip:
- We stayed in a one bedroom suite and sleeping was a challenge. Kendall slept in our bed between mommy and daddy. Just like her daddy, she has night terrors. Not nightmares, but night terrors. She will scream in the middle of the night and just start wailing. We usually let her work through it herself when we are at home but at the resort, we had to try to get her to calm down as quickly as possible so she wouldn't wake up Vaughn. Kendall is also a kicker and tosses and turns a lot. One minute her head is laying against mommy's chest, the next minute, she has her head near the foot of the bed. And I can't even begin to count how many times I got kicked in the head, neck and stomach. Hee hee! That was definitely an experience.

- We had marble floors and that made it difficult for Kendall at first. She was constantly slipping and falling. Even when we took off her socks. Towards the end of our stay, she had gotten use to it and didn't fall as much.

- Swimming diapers don't work as well as you think they do. They are great for containing poopies but not for pee. I soon learned this after having the kids wear the swimming diapers outside the pool because we were running low on our regular diapers and I wanted to conserve our supply. After two attempts for each kid and discovering they had leaked through their diaper, I gave up on the swimming diapers. It lead me to think about how much pee was probably in the pools occupied by kids all across the world. You'd never know that they leaked because they are wet anyway from the pool water.

- I love love love my daughter. Of course I do but when she has these tantrums, my patience is tested to the max. She'll be turning two years old next month and I've always been forewarned about the terrible twos and that at this age, they challenge just about everything and try to establish some independence. Man oh man. When we were at the PV airport, she must have had a tantrum every 5 minutes. I'm not kidding! Ask my friends who were there! Normally, I won't stand for it and she goes in Time Out but where do you put a child in time out at the airport?!? When daddy and I tried to reprimand her, it just made things worse. On top of that, Vaughn was not having a good day and cried and fussed a lot. Granted the airport was pretty hot and humid but we should have been used to that by now, right? Anyway, in talking with some of my friends who have kids that are older, they say just you wait. The twos are nothing compared to the threes. The threes are worse! Is that possible? Don't get the wrong impression. We have so much fun with Kendall at this age. We really do. We feel that things just seem to get better as she gets older. She makes us laugh and amazes us just about everyday. So I can live with the tantrums but it's hard when you have to deal with it in public. I told my friend the other day that when Kendall is happy, I'm sooo super happy but when she not, I'm miserable.

"There's no place like home." I love my home. Home is where my family is most comfortable. As we pulled the car in front of our house, Kendall exclaimed "WE'RE HOME! YAAAAAY!" Mommy and daddy couldn't have agreed more. When I stepped into our home, I breathed a sigh of relief. That first night we were back, everyone was in such great spirits. Kendall was smiling, laughing and chattering up a storm. Mommy and daddy couldn't stop smiling and Vaughn seemed very content. It's so good to be home. I have learned that I'm happiest and most relaxed when it's just my family and I at home. I don't need to go out all the time or go on a vacation. Sure it's fun but playing with my kids, reading them a book, having meal times with them or just hanging out with my husband...I just love that the most.

Is This Heaven?

2007-10-11T08:47:00.000-06:00

This was our bed at the resort. Doesn't it look like it could be a heaven scene in a movie?

Friends Forever

2007-10-10T21:29:00.000-06:00

Our cameras would get foggy whenever we stepped out into the hot, humid air from the air conditioned restaurant. Hence, it made this photo look like it came from a dream. I love seeing Kendall and Bowen interact with each other. Aren't they adorable?

I'm sure Vaughn and Lucah could care less.

Spiderman Parachutes

2007-10-10T21:20:00.000-06:00

Here are photos of spiderman flying in the wind with his parachute.

Night on the Beach

2007-10-10T21:13:00.001-06:00

Here's Kendall on the beach.

Here's Bowen.

Kendall and Bowen had a fun time with Evelyn, playing with the waves.

Feeding Fish

2007-10-10T21:06:00.001-06:00

Our friend bought fish food the kids used to feed the fish. It was not very successful at first, because everytime the kids would throw the food, it would not travel far enough to reach the water where the fishes were, and would land on the cement. So we moved them to another area and they had more success there. The fish were all clamoring for the food.

Meanwhile, Lucah shared his stroller with Vaughn for this photo op.

Red and Blue Swing

2007-10-10T20:57:00.000-06:00

They had a mini playground at the resort. Kendall mainly focused on the swings. There were only two swings and she would swing on the red one for little bit.

Then run over to the blue one and swing on that. She would keep going back and forth.

Vaughn was too young for the playground, so we played superman!

Running in Circles

2007-10-10T20:51:00.000-06:00

Oh! This was so funny! Just about every evening, after dinner, and on our way back to our rooms, Kendall and Bowen would run around in circles, chasing after each other. They would laugh and laugh and it was so adorable! I was crying tears it was so funny. I love the way they would run too! Toddler running is just cute in general. In the last picture, they started running circles around Evelyn.

Why do I do this?

2007-10-10T20:45:00.000-06:00

I have no idea why I find this so entertaining but often times, when I'm removing Vaughn's shirt, I like to stop when it gets to his head! HA HA HA! I just think it's so cute! Vaughn didn't really think it was that amusing at all. This shirt in particular, made his face look different to me.

Fun in the Sun or Made in the Shade?

2007-10-10T19:28:00.000-06:00

The resort provided pack-n-plays you could use in the room and at the pool. So, when it was Vaughn's naptime, we put him in here. I used the towels to darken it a bit

If you look closely, you can see his little face peacefully asleep.

Kendall on the other hand was having fun in the sun! Daddy bought her this alligator to use in the pool.

But it got more use outside the pool, than in. She would bounce up and down on it in our room. Her friend Bowen seemed to like it a lot.

Kendall loved the strawberry daiquiris.

So did mommy and daddy!

Here is Kendall drinking the pool water again.

Walking around.

And drinking the water again.

Daddy liked splashing Kendall with the water.

So did she!

She also liked riding on the Orca floatie that someone let us borrow.

She looks like she could be one of those performers at Sea World. Especially with that wet suit.

More Photos of the Grounds

2007-10-09T23:16:00.000-06:00

They had peacocks roaming freely on the grounds of the resort. Pretty cool. Here are more photos of the grounds.

A Room With A View

2007-10-09T23:04:00.001-06:00

Kendall loved going out on our balcony and looking out at the grounds.

She later discovered she liked to drop things from the balcony too. Daddy put a stop to that very quickly.

The gardens are so well-maintained. There always seemed to be grounds keepers constantly working on them.

I love the flowers and plants that hung from the balconies too.

The resort was located right off the beach. The water isn't as nice as the Carribean but it was nice to look at. Bill went in once just to test it out, and discovered there were a lot of rocks and giant waves, so we decided to keep the kids away.