Happy holidays!!!

Happy holidays from our family to yours!!

Gone fishin' at 45 weeks

--- Unscientifically, Fish is topping the scales at 22.8 pounds and is 30 long.
---He is still in size four diapers, no change there any time soon.
---He should be in 12-18 month clothes.  There are still some 9 month onsies that I'm trying to squeeze as much stretch out of them as possible.  I don't seem to have a lot of onesies in 12-18 month, so I'm trying to push the 9 month ones as long as they will go.  I have to say that the Carter onesies are usually pretty long which is where we are running into our size differential -- those legs go on for days!  It won't be long now though.
---We are still breastfeeding.  It's usually about six times during a 24 hour period.  Sometimes less.  He isn't as attached to the boob as Finn was.  I'm shooting for 12 months, but if he is as carefree about taking a boob or a sippee -- we may extend it.  Check back then.

---Fish is a voracious eater.  The kid can put AWAY!  Typical dinner for us...  He can eat a small can of veggies, a breakfast sausage, about 3 oz of fruit and then still eat about 1/2 cup of yogurt without slowing down.  The pediatrician said that I should feed him until he is full for the next three months.  We will see how much weight then and see how much he has gained in the three months since his 9 month appointment.  If it is a huge amount, we will confer then on the situation.  But more than likely, she said that he is just a growing boy that wants to eat and eat and eat...  Current favorites are beans, eggs, and breakfast sausages.
---He is an expert crawling now.  He races here and there and everywhere!  He is fast now as well!
---He is standing solo for about 10 seconds now.  He stands up on everything.  But he isn't standing up from a sitting position on his own yet.  But the object that he stands up on can be literally 4 inches high.  He always tries to stand up from a sitting position.  He can get his butt up into the air into a spectacular dogward dog -- but can't figure out how to completely stand up yet.

---We still only have two teeth.  There are no nubs -- no signs of any more coming right now.
---He is a big talker.  Nothing concrete.  He can say "baba", "dada" and "papa", but he doesn't use them very often -- only when mimicking me.  He doesn't lots of squealing and squawking.  He also does a lot of vocalized grunts.
---If there is one thing that he loves to do, it's to dance!  He is a HUGE dancer!  It can be music from a freaking commercial and the kid is scooting back and forth.  He also loves it when he is sitting in the high chair and I dance in front of him.  Dancing is his favorite!
---He is a great sleeper normally.  He still eats most nights at least once.  It's usually really close to 4-5am, so it could constitute and as an early morning feeding.  He takes a morning nap (usually about 90-120 minutes after we wake up) and a longer afternoon nap.  If he doesn't get a long afternoon nap, there is sometimes an evening nap -- but those are quite infrequent.

---He is a very happy boy.  He loves to smile and I always get big cheeser grins from him as he is standing up.  He will tilt his head way too far back and I will always think that he is going to topple over and he flashes this enormous grin my way.  One of my favorites.

Christmas in the City

We made a quick trip into NYC last week for a little photo surprise and is coming up next week.  But while there, we were able to visit with E's family and take in some of the Christmas that the city has to offer.  It was Finn's first time in the city and she LOVED it.  There was so much to look at and she really enjoyed seeing the sights.

The first thing we did on our Christmas outing was to stop at the Macy's windows.  Finn's eyes were so big as she looked through the windows.  Totally worth it.  I personally love going to the windows and while we lived in Jersey, had been known to make E take me in to the city way before we were even thinking about kids, just because I wanted to see them.

This was taken right inside the door of Macy's -- Christmas overload!

We also had to stop and get some warmed cashews from a street vendor.  Another holiday must (and another favorite of the little one!)

From Macy's, we headed down to Time Square to make a stop at the largest toy store in the world (I think).  Amazingly, while in the hustle and bustle of Time Square, Fish was sleeping quite soundly.  He didn't even wake up in the toy store as well!

The New Year's ball

After Time Square, we walked past Radio City Music Hall.  Wanna know the funniest thing about this photo?  The next day, I asked Finn what her favorite part of the day was.  Her response was "Those big things."  And I was like "What big things?"  She said "Those big things with the hooks on them that get hung on the Christmas tree."  Those red balls were her favorite thing about the day.  Not Time Square, not the Macy's windows, not the Saks Building, not even the Rockefeller tree which is below.  Oh, dear girl...

The full moon over St. Pat's Cathedral

Top of the Rock through the lit trees

There she is...

Someone wanted to get up close and personal with the tree!  That's my girl!

This is the Saks Building display this year!  Pretty darn awesome!  It happened every 10 minutes.

After all our Christmas sight-seeing, we stopped in The Pig & Whistle and someone put on QUITE the dancing display.  She was a huge hit with those walking by as well as the hostess that you can see to the right at the end of the video.

Our first Santa sighting!!!!

We have had our first message from Santa this season!  You can click here to watch it.  Santa's first message to Finn!

Her reaction to the video -- priceless...

She was amazed with the video (which are always done very well).  And after the video was sent, I realized that I could have really gotten shock out of her as I listed the wrong gift from Santa.  She likes dolls, but didn't ask for one from Santa.  She actually asked for a bell (as in the Polar Express bell).  I may be a mean mom for asking that she be put on the "almost nice" list -- but at least I didn't go full-blow naughty!  Sad to say, I didn't get the reaction that I had hoped for with the fact that she wasn't on the nice list.  Santa told me that he would check in again with us later in the season to see if she made it onto the "nice" list (and I'll tell Santa that she actually wants a bell).  Now every time she is bad to her brother, I ask her what Santa said.  I hope it works in getting her to be nicer to him.   It's not working yet...

A week in the life (v.2014.25)

Christmas has officially hit our household (as I'm sure that you were aware).  But I've finally put away the "getting out" bins (which makes E very happy).

Typical afternoon

We hit up the mall playground last week to get out of the house.  It was a big hit with both kids.

Someone's happy.

He is going to be walking before I'm ready...

Who doesn't want to ride a cow over the moon?

Don't let this photo fool you -- she doesn't usually play this nice with him.

With the holiday in full swing, the first set of baking as already happened as well.  Nap times became productive times last week.

 One of the finished products -- frosted rosemary trees.  Delicious!

We also make chocolate marshmallow cookies.  Will add more marshmallow next time -- never too much marshmallow!

Speaking of the holidays, we have a lover of Christmas music!!!!  (And this video cuts out at the end due to no more storage on my phone -- looks like it time to download them all to get them off my phone!)

She amazes me every day.  Look at the faces that she can draw!  The green lines in the lower left is hair (BTW).

Someone has figured out that he is a stomach sleeper.

Happy Thanksgiving from one of our little turkey!

Our rock 'n roll star and her groupie!  Again with the phone storage -- can you tell that I didn't want to delete them off my phone?

 On Black Friday, instead of shopping, we hit up the RainForest at the Cleveland Zoo.  Great time was had by all!

We are officially retiring the infant seat at the end of this week.  Slow tear slides down my cheek as I realize how big he has gotten.   (Like the capris?  Yeah, they are size 12 month pants.  Major high-waters -- MAJOR)

Someone wasn't happy that I was taking his photo instead of picking him up.  We had just came back from his flu booster.  The secretary making our next appointment (his one-year checkup) commented at how huge his hands were and how she thought that he was a lot older than his file stated.  Her words?  "He's a big boy!"

Munk has been so patient with the torment that he gets from Finn now.  She thinks it is SOOOOOO fun to try and jump all over him.

A little suburban wildlife -- the littlest buck still hangs around our place a lot.  The three bucks have split up for the fall.

We also noticed during the summer that a hawk (I originally thought a falcon) has taken up residence around our place.  I have now identified her as a Cooper's Hawk due to her black lines on her tail as well as her red eyes.  We hear her a lot, but yesterday she sat 10 feet outside of the window by the computer.  She was waiting for her lunch (a ground squirrel that lives in the colony located on our property) which she got a minute or two later.

Another photo of the Cooper's Hawk before her lunch

Just a small hint as what we are doing later in the week.