Game time

Updates:

Maggie is on her 4th round of antibiotics for her ear infections, hopefully this one will do the trick.  Meanwhile, we made an appointment with the Ear, Nose, Throat doctor (the same one we used for Colin) to check her out and see if she'd be a good candidate for tubes.  I will keep you posted.

Colin had a playdate with his cousin Olivia this morning for a few hours.  I felt like I got about 10,000 things done while Maggie napped for 1.5 hours.  We've almost got the house all ready to go, just a few little random chores left.  I got some touch-up painting done, laundry, vacuuming, baking, and just picked up the kitchen some.  It looks great now!

 Maggie took a break from playing (and practicing how to crawl) for a little photo shoot.

Can you tell she's teething like crazy right now?  A big top tooth popped through yesterday, but it looks like there's more bottom teeth ready to go soon.

She sure does chomp on her toys hard...poor thing!

On another note...

The MU/KU basketball game was today.  And, if you didn't know, Brian is a Mizzou fan, and I'm a Jayhawk fan.  We usually don't get too excited about games except when they play each other, especially basketball.  It kindof stinks, because someone's team always ends up losing...

Mizzou and KU played earlier this year in Missouri and MU won...

They played again, but this time in Kansas.  And, this was a special game because MU is leaving the Big 12 for the SEC next year.  Last rival game of ever...and it turned out to be a great one.

I made these little pretzel treats for the game.  Apparently we ate too many KU ones because I ran out of them while I was trying to spell "KU".

Mommy loves KU, Daddy loves MU, Colin loves MU, Maggie, well, she hasn't quite decided yet.

She started off the game wearing her super cute Mizzou cheerleader dress (which had some matching bloomers, that I had to take off of her because her chunky-monkey legs were too fat for them!)

 Our friends Brett and Andy came over for the game, and Andy made cookies.  Here is Colin at half-time of the game, giving me a thumbs up while eating the yummy cookies.

 Since the Jayhawks were losing by a TON at half-time, I went ahead and squeezed Maggie into this tiny Jayhawks shirt (size newborn!) so she could change the fate of the game.

Well, she did!

KU started making a comeback, cutting down the 19 point lead to just 2 or 3 points.

 So, Daddy decided to strip Maggie of her KU shirt to change the fate of the game again.

Since Maggie was cheering for no specific team in particular, 

it ended up in a tie and we went into overtime.

Eventually the game ended and...

Daddy and Colin were sad.

But it really was a nail-biter to the end.

 After the game, Brett was entertaining the kids.  They both just loved Brett and Andy so much.

 Brett and Maggie.  It took a little bit for Maggie to warm up to him, but after a while (as you can see), she loved him!

This & That

No pictures today, but you do get an update on how things are going...

We are crazy busy at our house, getting things all ready to sell our house.  We have plans to put it on the market in 1 week, yikes!

  

Things heard while house cleaning last weekend:

Me: Ugh!! This house is so dirty.

Colin: Yeah mom, it is.  We should get a new one.

Me: Sounds good to me!

If only it was that easy.

Maggie had her 9 month check up earlier this week.

She weighs in at 18 lbs 3 ounces (50th percentile),

measures 28 inches long (75th percentile),

and has a 17 inch head (25th percentile).

She still is having a ton of issues with recurring ear infections, and actually had an ear infection when we went to the doctor.  She had just finished up a round of antibiotics a mere 10 days before.  So, we are getting her some more meds and calling the Ear, Nose, Throat docs to see about tubes in her ears.  Colin had them put in when he was about 17 months old (after having issues with chronic ear infections), and they were AMAZING!  He hasn't had any problems since then, and we're hoping the same will happen for Mags.

I finished getting all of the paperwork ready for me to take a trip for a conference in San Francisco in May.  My company allows us to go to one scholarly conference a year, which is really cool.  I  am going to be there from a Wednesday to a Saturday, and Brian is flying to California to meet me on Friday night and we are going to stay and "vacation" for a couple of days, without kiddos!  I am really looking forward to some time with Brian, plus, he's never been to California before, so that should be fun!!

Any suggestions on things we should do while in San Francisco, please let me know :)

Valentine's Day Love!

 Valentine's Day snuck up on me this year.  

But, the boys and Maggie were prepared.

Colin and Maggie got cute little bags full of goodies.  Colin got a Mickey Mouse coloring book, a Mickey Mouse t-shirt, and 2 little boxes of chocolates.  Maggie got some new pants and some chocolates (which of course, she can't eat, so I will have to eat for her...darn it!)

Colin made me 2 Valentine's Day cards,

Brian got me flowers (tulips, my favorite), a really thoughtful card, and 2 more charms for my Pandora bracelet.
He also made dinner for us all, which was super appreciated since I was running late getting home from my dentist appointment.

My cards from Colin.  So beautiful!

My little lady Valentine!

Clapping her hands, her newest trick...

Our best attempt at a picture of the two of them.

Hey, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit, right?!

My beautiful tulips.

Some outtakes...

Right after Colin ripped the bow off of Maggie's head

Right after I promised Colin a cookie if he would smile for me.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

XOXOXO

Power Play day

Day 2 of "Colin weekend" was great.  Once again, Maggie stayed with Meemaw at the house and didn't miss us for a second.

We had 2 things planned for Sunday: Peter's baptism and my company work party.

We headed off to 10 am mass, and then the baptism was immediately afterwards.  Peter didn't so much like the holy water on him, but overall he did great.

Colin was fascinated with the baby, he probably doesn't even remember when Maggie was that little.  Suddenly, she seems to be quite large in comparison!

After the baptism, we headed off to Pizza Shoppe to celebrate.

The very yummy cake...Colin and Olivia took many swipes at the frosting after it was served.

Sugar Rush!!

Suzanne's Dad is an amazing balloon artist!  He made Colin a Curious George balloon, which he is still carrying around with him all over the house.  It was perfect!

We made a quick exit from the party to head to my company's holiday work party.   This year they held it at a place called Power Play, which is a HUGE arcade/bowling alley/go-carts/laser tag/etc place.

We knew Colin would have so much fun there, and we really wanted him to go bowling with us.  

So, we decided to for-go the nap for the afternoon, and headed off to Power Play.

We weren't sure how he would do, but he really did great (except for a minor meltdown on the way home).

Colin putting on his bowling shoes.

Can you see the excitement?!

The setup was perfect.  It wasn't busy at all.  We ended up playing the majority of the game with empty lanes on either side of us.  Colin let us help him one time, then decided he wanted to do it all by himself.  He carried up his 6 lb ball without problems, and was able to throw it down the lane fairly well, too.

Only one time did the ball stop halfway down the lane.  

And...he didn't crush his toes.

So strong!

Come on ball!!  Knock down those pins!!

Colin wanted to put his fingers in the ball like Mommy & Daddy.

Notice he has his thumb of one hand in the hole, and then 2 fingers of his other hand in the other holes.  

So cute!

After bowling we hit Skee ball, then played some basketball shot games, went on a Tilt-A-Whirl (which turned out to be a pretty intense ride), then stayed in the Tot Area with a bouncy house and a choo-choo train.  

Colin riding on the train

Headed down the slide in the bouncy house

Weeeeeeeeeee!

So much fun!

After his previously mentioned meltdown on the way home, we changed into our pajamas and watched a little Toy Story before bed.  

We had a lot of great times with Colin this weekend.

Let's Pretend

So for those of you that are questioning whether we still have 2 kids, the answer is yes, yes we do.  

Colin has just been sooo busy lately that it's hard to get him to stop to get a picture, or honestly, whenever I do get a picture, he has an awkward facial expression.

But, this weekend was all about Colin!

Meemaw came in from Topeka (gosh, we are so lucky to have her around!) so she could spend some quality time with Maggie Mae at home, while we took Colin to some fun "big boy" activities.  It was totally worth it!  The one-on-one time with Colin was sooo much fun for all of us.  Plus, Meemaw said she had a blast with Maggie (who apparently was an angel the entire time), so I think she had fun as well.

Colin's imagination is going wild right now.  Sometimes he talks about bunny rabbits in the kitchen, eating all of our dinner.  Or sometimes it's building bridges with all of our rugs rolled up and placed sporadically around our house.  Or sometimes it's chatting on the phone with Santa Claus, can you tell we're ready for him to come back and see us already!?

Well, I got an email from our Parents As Teachers group that we belong to, about an activity they were putting on called "Let's Pretend".  I got so excited about this as soon as I read it.

They had all sorts of stations set up, with different scenarios at each one.  It was busy, but not too busy that Colin got overwhelmed with the crowd.  In fact, this past weekend was really eye-opening for Brian and I, as Colin is starting to get a lot more comfortable with having other kids/parents around.  

It's pretty cool to see his personality evolve...

The first stop was the Car Wash.  It was an empty bucket with some dry sponges, but we cleaned those "dirty" cars up!

Then we hit the "Car Repair Shop" and played with some tools.  Colin didn't have too much interest in this station since he plays with Daddy's real tools at home.  You can do a lot more damage with an actual hammer and drill rather than these plastic ones :)

Next we headed to the "Grocery Store".  Colin thought we needed some green beans, some milk, a box of cake mix, and some cereal.  Our total was $100 (as per the little boy and girl at the register).  We handed them our credit card and they gave us back 2 credit cards and some cash.  I like how this grocery store does business!  I guess that's what you get when the store is ran by 2 and 3 year olds!

Our next stop was the "Doctors Office".  Colin and Daddy were checking out the stethoscope.  

Can you hear me now?!

Baby's checkup was good, and she didn't even get any shots!

Next stop was the "Fire Station".  Colin kept wearing his hat backwards, but I really liked the backpack and fire hose they had.  Notice the house on fire in the background!

Colin was rescuing a cat from the tree.  Such a brave little guy!!

We headed to the "Pizza Shop" next, where Colin made an awesome pizza with TONS of toppings.  This was probably one of his favorite areas.  He loved rolling out the dough, scooping up the toppings, and baking his pizza.  He even washed his dishes when he was done.  He must be learning something from us!!

Colin was sure to tell us the pizza was "hot" when it came out of the oven.  Thanks for the warning!  It sure tasted good!!

Colin checking out his pizza baking in the oven.

The last stop we made was the "Pirate Ship".  They had little binoculars, pirate hats, and cannonballs to launch at the crocodiles (balls of wadded up paper).  This was probably his other favorite station.  Of course, Daddy started launching cannonballs at Colin and Mommy in the pirate ship, so we had to get him back.  

Colin spotted a crocodile.  Watch out!!

Finally before we left, we went to the "Library" and practiced doing some puzzles.  We had to drag Colin out of there, he probably would've stayed all day.  He is still talking about how much fun he had there.  

And, the personal time with Colin was great for us as parents.  We think he's a pretty cool kid!

Getting Around...Backwards

Maggie is on the move...not really crawling, but somehow managing to get herself going backwards.

It's really funny to watch, her leg flops over to the side and she can twist around, too.

I know this only means that we get to re-baby proof the house soon.

Fun times ahead!

Such a serious girl...

Or wait...she's happy now...

And now...

she's over getting her picture taken...

She is like her Daddy, pretty sure I get this look from him quite a bit.

One day this weekend Maggie managed to get herself wedged under the ladder bookshelf.  

She had plenty of room, just couldn't get herself moving forward.

So, of course, we ran and got the camera.

Here she is, trying so hard to get a move on.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures EVER of her.  

Maggie does this thing.  This thing that makes Brian, Colin and I laugh so hard whenever she does it.

She will scrunch up her nose, purse her lips, and blow air out of her nose.  Picture in your mind, a bull snorting (except a cute baby, instead).  

This usually happens when she is frustrated, or tired of eating, or when she gets her icky medicine.

Hilarious!

Love this little pistol.

We also, tried yet again, giving Maggie some "people" food.  She usually just gags and ends up throwing up all of the baby food we've given her thus far.  

But, we keep trying.

On Super Bowl Sunday, we let her try some mashed up avocado.  She gave us this look.

Eventually though, she liked it enough to lick her lips.

Not totally sold on it, but she's at least doing better than before with new foods.

Oh, and we went to to Allergy doctor this morning, but I will update you on all of that later.