Washington DC

I have seriously neglected getting this post up because no sooner had we gotten home from our family getaway then I came down with an awful chest cold. Which turned into walking pneumonia. So I've pretty much been managing the household on borrowed energy (thankfully, Mike got off a little early for me yesterday to cover a lot of the parenting duties) and just haven't sat down to get all the pictures up. But, here they are!

Our first stop on the trip was at the American Girl Place in Tyson's Corner. Logan's been asking to see more of her bitty baby things so we thought it'd be fun to eat some lunch at the bistro and let her see and pick out some things she might like for Christmas, afterwards.

Lunch was fabulous. You pay one price and get an appetizer and an entree each. The food was really good and the atmosphere was so fun.

Logan's baby, Lucy, got her own special seat!

AND they brought Lucy her own cup of "chocolate milk" for Logan to give her.

This is what Brody thought of the whole affair:

I think we heard "there's so much pink!" about 10,000 times.

This was such a special experience for me to have, having grown up on American Girl Dolls. I think I still have all 4 of mine at home in Miami. Logan got to play with them while we were there last summer! I can't wait until one day we can go back with my mom and Carolyn!

The boys were huge troopers. It's not easy stuck in a room of wall to wall pink when all you want to do is be out running around or watching sports.

My favorite part of the room? The overhanging flower chandelier. If I had all the money in the world, I'd outfit Logan's room with one of these. It was beautiful!

After lunch we headed downstairs to look at the bitty baby stuff.

Then she wanted to go see the big girl dolls. She LOVED the Molly display--but only because that's the first one I got. She kept saying things like, "Mommy! There's your Mowy Doll! Can you ebeeve (believe) they have it? I want Kit or Juwie (Julie), but there's your Mowy!"

And here we are in front of the Kit display. I think it's funny that she tended to gravitate toward the dolls that looked more like her.

She did NOT want to leave the store without this carseat. She kept telling me how unsafe it is that she has to hold "Lucy girl" in her lap without a buckle. Sigh. She really is becoming a little mommy with this doll. We also let her pick an outfit there to take Lucy home in and that was a real treat, though, it took us about 30 minutes and 3 or 4 loops around the area for her to actually make up her mind.

Daddy and his girl:

It was raining and nasty that day so any plans to go walking were squashed. We decided to just go hang out at our hotel. Now, we pricelined this hotel and up until we got there had spent right at $40 on it. Then there was the $18 parking fee...but that's not here nor there. It was FABULOUS. We knew there'd be a kitchen so we had brought some mac and cheese to make for dinner but found that there was no need because the hotel PROVIDED dinner free to it's guests Mon-Thurs. I guess when you usually charge $239 a night you can afford to keep your guests comfy like that, can't you? I will say that Logan was entirely too disappointed that there'd be no macaroni and cheese. Until she found the unlimited bounty of cookies they had at dinner. Of which she only had one. Though she would have loved a million more.

The next morning the sun was shining so we took the opportunity to head out early. But not without a stop at Georgetown Cupcake for some treats!

For those of you that have no idea what the significance is, Georgetown Cupcake is where they film TLC's DC Cupcakes. Logan and I watch it together on occasion so it was fun to actually go and see what all the hype was about.

Then we headed to the Washington Monument. We thought we'd just walk around the National Mall until lunch time but we took half a loop around the monument and it was like 45 degrees with a windchill making it closer to 30 and the kids were having nothing of it. So we took some pictures and headed out.

And the kids have several layers on and had tons of blankets in the stroller, so it looks like Brody only has a light jacket on but he really has much more under it!

Really wanted to catch one of the two of them together but Brody was not ok with that.

So we headed home and enjoyed our Georgetown cupcakes after dinner. And yes, they are worth all the hype. Every. last. bite.

Here are a couple of random shots taken either right after we got home or the next day. Brody enjoyed playing outside when the weather warmed up a bit:

And this is our FAVORITE feature of Mike's new store! The outdoor fireplace!! I can take the kids and sit near the fireplace, keep warm, drink my coffee and Logan can be free to be a little louder than when she's inside without getting dirty looks. It's bliss.

Brody Crawls!

It's been a long time coming with all of the rocking on all fours that this little man has been doing for months. But yesterday, in attempt to get to a pile of shoes mommy had just organized, Brody started crawling!

(please excuse my daughter's wardrobe--we were finishing a load of laundry and this was what we had left while we waited)

8 Months Old!

How is it even possible that my little newborn isn't little OR newborn anymore? I didn't like how quickly time went with Logan and I'm liking it even less with Brody because that means that both of my babies are growing up way too quickly!

This month Brody:

- Learned to go from laying down to sitting up all by himself.

- Started using his little pinchers to grab at things. Yes, this means the rug must be vacuumed every. single. day. (sometimes 2 or 3 times a day)

- Learned to find his paci and put it back into his mouth on his own after waking in his crib. Hallelujah!

- Started saying "mama" with a purpose. When I go into his room after he's woken from his nap he happily exclaims "ma!" over and over. Melt mama's heart.

-Started saying dada.

- Is still great with his schedule. Still sleeps wonderfully, though, has been waking about once a night to scarf the last several days and I'm thinking we're in the middle of a growth spurt.

- Has tried and loved: spinach, peas, pumpkin and zucchini. Hates green beans by themselves but eats them well if mixed with some kind of fruit. Can't blame him--I tasted them and they're AWFUL when they're all blended up.

-We're working on signs this month. He hasn't picked any of them up himself but is starting to recognize some.

- Favorite book is whatever his sister wants to read.

- LOVES to watch football with daddy. Seriously, he is entranced when it's on.

Brody is SUCH a joy and wonderful addition to our family. We love him so much and can't wait to see him grow and learn. We thank God for him every day!

Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween! Or, as I like to refer to it, happy day before you can start listening to Christmas music without people thinking you're totally crazy! You might still think I'm crazy, but it's my favorite time of the year and I intend to maximize it. I think that two months is still not enough time to really enjoy the music...but I digress...

This year we had grand plans of taking the kids out trick or treating with another couple from our small group and their kids (Olivia and Kingston--Olivia is pretty much Logan's "best-iest friend"). We've been planning for weeks and this afternoon when the rain hit I had to prepare Logan (and myself) for a possible change in plan.

We went to chick-fil-a for a free dinner and then hoped for a quick weather change that never happened. It was cold. And rainy. And just kind of gross all around. The most disappointing part for Logan was the inability to wear her light up Tinkerbell shoes, as she had to wear her rain boots to keep her little feet warm and dry. I thought the boots added a nice whimsical touch, though.

Me? I had plans to get some sweet pictures of the girls doing their thing and really document Logan's first experience with trick-or-treating. Instead, I ended up sending Mike out in the rain with her while I stayed in with this little guy:

He's just getting over a bad cold and we thought it best not to expose him to the elements.

We did the whole themed look for the kids this year. I know there won't be many years where I get to decide what everyone wears so I'm enjoying the coordinating powers while I have them. Have you seen a cuter Tink and Pan? I haven't!

Logan knew she wanted to be Tinkerbell this summer so we picked her costume up when they had the semi-annual sale at the Disney Store. Peter Pan was just a natural fit for Brody! I made the costume for him this week and am just thrilled with the way it turned out, he made it shine.

The best part about trick-or-treating with a two year old? Raiding her candy bucket knowing she'll have no idea what went missing in the morning. Next year we may not be so lucky.

2nd Ballet Class

I promise not to post before every single ballet class. But we picked up Logan's "dress code" stuff for class this week and she wanted to have her picture taken in the new stuff. Of course, you'd never know this since she refused to really look at the camera.

...without being silly.

This is one of her new Loganisms-- you ask her to do something and she needs to "think" about it and she'll tap her cheek like that until she decides what to do. This doesn't fly when homegirl tries it to get out of things in which she's got no choice.

She's loving this class. She gets up in the mornings and asks if it's ballet day yet. I'm thrilled that we've found a good program for her.

And I know if you aren't related to us you probably have no interest in this video or will have no idea why I find it hilarious and you may feel this way even if you ARE related to us. This is Logan's favorite part of the class, though, when they pretend they little fairies getting ready for bed/sleeping/then wake up to water their garden. They actually may not really pretend they are fairies but this is what Logan says. And she could very well think this because she watches Tinkerbell movies almost exclusively right now. But that's another post.

Fall Afternoons

We haven't been back to the pumpkin patch but I found a fun alternative to our fall pictures this year. We stopped at a local pumpkin vendor last week, bought a huge pumpkin and carved it out deep enough to fit this little guy in:

We actually lugged the pumpkin to a local park so we could get some "scenery" pictures and lo and behold we got there and my camera batteries died. And the spare set we brought died. So we took a few iphone pictures and called it a day.

Attempt 1 at getting the kids to pose together for a photo:

Love his big blue eyes!

He eventually figured out how to rock the pumpkin so he could get out and that was the last of our shots for that day.

Yesterday, with batteries charged and ready to go, I hauled the pumpkin up the hill behind our house and no sooner had we gotten up there than Logan needed to go to the bathroom or she was "going to go in her pants." Always happens that way, doesn't it? So I took a few quick shots and then ran her upstairs.

Logan wanted a picture with her doll, Lucy:

More of the baby blues:

Attempt #2 at a picture with both kids:

We are LOVING this cool, crisp, fall weather. It's been so nice to play outside in the afternoons. We bundle up, I grab a hot cup of coffee and we enjoy our "front yard."

And the insides of the pumpkin? Made a TON of baby food with it!

7 Months Old!

Brody is 7 months old! He's such a huge part of our family, now, that it really feels as if he has always been with us. We can't imagine our lives without him and are so glad that he gets to be a part of our family.

(sadly, I seem to have misplaced his 7 and 8 month ties so the next two months will be without)

This month Brody:

- Started trying to pull himself up to standing. He can get about halfway there most of the time. He's gotten all the way up a couple of times. However, if you just stand him up, he'll happily hold on to whatever and stand and play. He especially loves to do this in Logan's kitchen

Love seeing them interact like this. Such sweet siblings.

(here's Logan at nine months when she first started standing up and Brody just shy of 7 months. She looks so petite!)

- He tries to crawl. He'll rock back and forth on all fours but never seems to get the forward motion. He's pretty content just sitting and observing life, right now. We're ok with it because he clearly likes to get into things and so having him contained is absolutely ok.

- Started eating more solid meals. He eats about 2 solid meals a day and nurses the rest of the time. His favorite food, hands down, is an avocado/banana mixture. He could eat several bowls of that at a time if I had enough of it. He also loves carrots, peas, plain bananas, mangos, pears, peaches, apples and sweet potatoes. So far he's eaten and enjoyed everything he's been given.

- Had his first little bout of separation anxiety. He's pretty good about being passed around and does just fine in the nursery on Sundays but had a really hard time when I left him for my first MOPS meeting. They said he cried on and off the entire 2 hours. He also will not stay with the babysitters we have on Monday nights for our small group. I have a feeling that's because it's bedtime, though, and he's not used to being awake that late. Last week we went early and put him to bed in another room and I was finally able to sit and participate.

- Took his first sippy cup! I pumped and put the milk in a sippy cup for the MOPS meeting and he took it just fine.

- Really has started interacting with Logan. They actually play together sometimes, now. She likes to sit and build block towers for him to knock down. He really loves it when I put her in his crib with him after he's just woken up and let them snuggle. Both of our kids are little snuggle monsters and we LOVE IT.

- Got his first two teeth!

- Is wearing 6-9 month clothes.

- Wears a size 2 shoe.

- Weighs 17lbs.

(another case of sibling abuse in our household...though, she promises that it's because he's a king, not a princess)

- Is still such a great sleeper! He's sleeping 10-12 hour stretches every night.

- Is on a great schedule. He wakes up at 7:30am, eats then plays until 9:30, naps until 11-11:30, eats lunch at 12, goes back down for a nap at 1 and usually sleeps until 4, plays, eats at 6, takes a bath, gets a story, nurses and then goes to bed at 7. It's so nice that things are so predictable with him.

- He seriously is the happiest baby ever. If he fusses or whines he needs something, is tired, or has a dirty diaper. Otherwise he's content and just smiles away.

Here's Logan vs. Brody at 7 months. He's definitely starting to get a more distinctive look, though, some pictures we look at and if Logan wasn't in pink with a bow we'd have trouble figuring out which was which.

All 7 months: