Happy birthday, Maddie!!

Can't believe Maddie is 6 months old today!!

Fall Already!!

Ok, so I haven't written in MONTHS!! Sorry about that. Been busy with summer stuff, I guess! Now it's already the end of September, and Oliver's 3rd birthday is only a little over a month away! Our summer was great, especially when we got to spend time in Maine, which was quite a lot! Oliver was a regular at the beach, and Maddie seemed to like it, too - she always zonked out in her carseat, perched on a rock, lulled to sleep by the sound of the surf. O made lots of new friends, and by the end of the summer, he seemed to understand the concept of helping other kids build sandcastles, instead of smashing them!!! We've had a good time in NJ, too - lots of playdates with local friends, including a ride on the commuter train from Mt. Arlington station to Hackettstown (see photo), just for FUN!

Maddie is growing so much, and she's such a happy, calm baby -- I'm really glad I had Oliver first, because if I'd had her first, I would have thought that's how babies ARE!! And then when Oliver came, I would have freaked out!! She sleeps at least 9 or 10 hours a night now... I don't talk much about what a good baby she is, because I don't want to annoy my mommy friends whose babies more resemble Oliver at that age!

Oliver has just "grown out" of a rascaly couple of weeks, and has been a most lovely boy for at least 3 days straight. He loves his new 2-wheeler bike with training wheels, mowing the lawn with daddy, and Wonder Pets -- no luck with potty training yet. :-(

Not much more news to report... find me on facebook for more day-to-day updates! Here are a few photo albums from our summer adventures, compiled recently so we could make prints - the second one has some older photos in it that we just hadn't printed yet. Enjoy!

SUMMER FUN 1

SUMMER FUN 2

Oh! Almost forgot my other recent project -- working on the website for our cute little house in Maine, which we hope to rent from time to time. Take a look at the Greatest Cape!!

.

Summer fun

Sorry, long overdue for an update... I posted a new album on Facebook recently, but haven't been on here for a while! We've been having lots of fun in Maine with all the grandparents (Andy's parents were here for over 2 weeks in June), and will be back up there soon for a couple of weeks - Andy will come up for a long weekend, but I'll stay longer with the kids. Oliver just loves it there - he runs around the beach and says, "happy here!!"
Here are 3 of my recent favorite photos... I'll write a "real" update soon!

A week on my own!

Ok, so it's Friday, the last day of a whole week on my own here with the kiddies - Andy left last Saturday for a week of meetings in England. It's the first time he's been away since Maddie was born, and it was definitely a bit tough at times!! The worst time was around 7 or 8 pm, when I had to get Oliver fed and up to bed, and that's also when Maddie is most fussy... so lots of times I tried holding her and reading him stories in bed at the same time, but she was howling the whole time, so it wasn't the highest quality storytelling!!! Once I had to leave her in her swing crying, but you know, she lived to tell about it. Truth is, lots of moms out there don't have dads around *at all* to help out, so who am I to complain?!

To start off the week, my friend Sharon came down for a night (see photo above), and it was great to see her - plus, it happened to be one of Maddie's fussiest nights!! Sharon was a huge help, I'm just sad she didn't get to see a more chilled-out girl, as she's usually not nearly so fussy. And by fussy, I mean screaming at the top of her lungs for ages on end. On Sunday, we all went out for a dim sum lunch, which was super yummy, but a bit frantic since it's always a race against time when there's a 2 1/2 year old and an 8 week old in tow!! M was fine, dozed happily, but Oliver kept trying to run around, though he did enjoy his pork shu mai.

The rest of the week, we just went to playdates at different parks, ran errands, etc. Maddie turned a corner at 8 weeks - started sleeping 8 hours straight at night! Even a bit more sometimes, but she seems to have settled into 8.5 right now - impressive!! I'm a lucky mom. On the other hand, Oliver just coughed himself into a frenzy during his nap upstairs, and puked up all over the bed, just in time for Dad's return! After I stripped the bed, cleaned him all up, gave him some water, and put him in new clothes, he said, "Thanks, mommy." Melted my heart!

Ian's visit

The OTHER Ian! Not my brother, but Andy's best friend from back home - Ian Hall - has just visited us for a couple of weeks. He helped us out like crazy with our big move (including a rental truck!) to our new summer place in Maine, and also lots and lots down here, besides just having fun... I was sad to see him go today! I probably got used to regular adult conversation during the day... and plus, he's just a really great guy! I think after spending so much time here with a 2 1/2 year old and a 7 week old, he's going to relish his quiet bachelorhood even more when he gets home! He's so great with Oliver, though, they had tons of fun playing - I know Oliver is going to miss him, too. Here they are on a diesel train in Flemington, NJ (Andy was the photographer) --looks like Oliver was reading Ian all the most interesting parts of the brochure. I stayed home and went shopping with Maddie (you can see how much fun she had in the next photo!). And there's Andy illustrating just how easy and relaxing it is to take care of 2 little ones... ha ha!

Anyway, in only about a week and a half, Andy's parents will be visiting us, and we'll be spending most of the time up in Maine - can't wait!! That's the news of the day. xoxo

Deep Thoughts

You know you're a mom of 2 when....
You wake up in the morning with your crying baby, and your very first thought is, "Maybe I'll be able to have a nap today."
You know that 9 out of 10 times, your 2 kids don't nap at the same time, so no mommy nap...
You realize with dismay that it's Friday, and you haven't had a shower since Tuesday.
You wonder, for the umpteenth time, why your *right* nipple aches when your baby starts nursing on the left side, and vice versa.
You're anticipating with glee the arrival of your fancy new diaper bag.

With 2 kids going in different directions sometimes, daddy needs his own bag as well - which he picked out himself and is also anticipating only slightly less gleefully than you.
You love heavy cloud cover, as it means you don't have to worry much about sunscreen.
Remembering that baby #1 seemed impossibly challenging at the time, but now that routine seems like a walk in the park compared with having two.

Quick one here, too many things to do before Maddie wakes up again (thank you notes being one of them... they'll get mailed someday!). Mostly just taking each day as it comes - trying to get Oliver out to a playground or to meet with friends most days, avoiding the temptation to stay holed up at home. We had Oliver's bff, Anja, and her parents over for dinner a few Friday's ago, so much fun!! (see photo) Oliver is (only just!) starting to put two words together (I don't want to hear about it, all you mothers of crazy talkers!!) - the other day he was outside playing, and he looked into his little blow up pool and said, "bee dead!" Indeed, huge floating dead bee in the pool. One of his most sophisticated sentances to date, that.

Maddie has sleepy days and restless, fussy days, usually one after the other, rotating. She usually has one 4-5 or so hour stretch of sleep at night, so that's good, can't complain too much. By the end of the week I'm pretty much spent, and I get to sleep in with Maddie while Andy plays with Oliver, yay. Can't report too much more on Maddie - she's still very much in the eating, sleeping, pooping, repeat - stage. She's definitely moving into the "look around with bright, wide eyes" stage, too. Not to mention the "be exceptionally pretty" stage. :-) Although, right after she has a bath, I call her Pat Benetar, because her short brown hair is totally full and spikey, reminding me of the 80s icon... see photo!

Big Brother, Little Sister

Quick one here, I keep thinking I'll have time for new posts but noooooooooo... anyway, we're doing pretty well in general. Nursing is exhausting, nothing new there... and we're dealing with a heat wave in NJ (90 degrees today) so that's not helping!! Staying fairly cool inside, though. Sad the weekend is nearly over. We had a great little dinner party with Oliver's bff, Anja, and her parents on Friday night - photos to come! Oliver hadn't seen her for a few weeks and he literally kept running around her in circles, and tugging gently on her pigtails, and poking her playfully - I think he wanted to be sure she was real. She was a bit freaked out by it, understandably, but was a good sport. We're seeing her again tomorrow at the park, so that's good!

The other day, Maddie was resting on our bed under a blanket, and Oliver decided to climb in next to her and get under the blanket - TOO CUTE - I had to take a photo. Enjoy!!