Big and Bigger

Max and Claire had their 18th month well baby today.  I was looking forward to this appointment for many reasons, the major one was to discuss behavior.  The past few weeks have worn me out, so much I was wondering if you could have 18th month  postpartum.  Not really, but these last few weeks have not been the most fun.  When they were younger, I controlled everything.... sleep schedule, food, etc.. Now all I hear is "NO" 10000 times a day, throwing food, cups, toys, hitting, pushing, crying while holding my legs and the ever famous tantrums.  She assured me that was normal and I was ok for feeling the way I did and that it is very hard esp when you have 2 doing those things at one time... or spread throughout the day.
She suggested time out in the pack n play for one minute for misbehaving and to just ignore when they had tantrums.  Sounds easy right?  I try to ignore Max but after a minute of blood curling screams, I give in... a minute seems like 30.

On to the fun things...
they are doing great :)
Max:  30 lbs 1.5 oz 95%
          34 inches 92%

Claire:  24lbs 7oz 75%
            32 1/4 inches 75%

And if I can stay awake long enough tonight, I will blog about our "baller" status... flying (thanks to inlaws) to Philly Saturday and returning home Sunday (thanks to my mom for watching the kiddos)

Half Way

I just can't believe it (obvs. bc I am five days late).  Max and Claire are already half way to two!

Can it be that the last few months have been the most fun, yet the hardest?  They are so independent now and have an opinion about everything.  They  love to voice their opinions by saying "no" 10000x a day.  They smile, dance, jump, hug, kiss, run, stretch tall and touch their toes!  They also hit, throw tantrums, push and climb on any and everything possible.  Some of their favorite activities include: going to the Children's Museum, going to the park, going on stroller rides, playing with their water table/baby pool, going to the pool, and dancing.
They don't watch a lot of tv, but when they do, they love "choo choos".  Really they don't watch shows, I just have to rewind the opening song five times!  Their favorite song is Chugginton, followed by Thomas the Train.  And they still like watching a few of their Baby Einstein videos.

They know a lot of their body parts and love to sing "head, shoulders, knees and toes".  Claire is obsessed with belly buttons.  Their vocabulary expands every day.  Claire is learning to say "sorry" and "excuse me".  Max is still a few words behind Claire, but understands and tries to say the same things.  He tries so hard to say "milk" and it is the cutest.  He does this funny thing with his tongue when he says it!  They recognize a few of their friends, cousins and Nanny and Poppy (my mom and dad).  We are getting ready to spend a week with Justin's parents and I'm sure they will have their names down pat by the time we leave! We have been practicing!

Claire was rubbing his head.  They both have started to get a summer cold :(

They have become a little more picky with food....which is super annoying bc I hate wasting food! Not to mention half of it ends up on the floor (that's a whole different story).  Their favorites are eggs, nanas, grapes, blueberries, avocado, morning star chicken nuggets and pureed broccoli (that's the only way they will eat it). They would snack all day.  They go around the house saying "nack" "nack" "nack" or "bite" "bite" "bite" until you give them something.  They eat with a fork most meals...still working on the spoon!

Bear Bear is full of attitude.  Justin says she gets it from me, but I would say not!.....She is still a great helper.  She has started on the tantrum train and that is no fun.  I still have not read "The Happiest Toddler on the Block"... I blame it on 50 shades!  She has also started hitting, although I have only noticed her hitting family, not our friends - maybe she doesn't like us?!  She is starting to be a daddy's girl! It's so cute!

Stats:

clothes: 18 months

diapers: size 4

shoes: size 4.5/5

They have their 18 mo well child on Tues so I will update more then

Buds with his paci and bunny.  They both love their pacis and bunnies.  I usually make them keep bunny in their cribs, but lately they insist on bringing them out.

Buds is huge!!  I can't wait to see his percentiles.  I get asked all the time what their age difference is.  I think his is almost three inches taller and a good five pounds heavier.  He has huge feet.  In fact, the only shoes he has at the moment are flip flops and crocs.  He grew out of his new toms in 3 weeks :(  We did go get fitted and ordered a pair of new balance sneakers.  They will be in on Thursday.  He is still a Mama's boy.  He is so funny.  As I posted earlier, he likes to wear things on his head!  Cracks us up every time.  He is also a sweet heart.  My favorite is when he says thank you.  He does it often without us prompting him, signs it and says it in his sweetest voice.  He(they) still wave to everyone that passes, saying "hiiiiii" and "byeeeeee".

Stats:

Clothes: 18-24 all the way to 2T 

diapers: 5

shoes: 7 extra wide

Our babies bring us so much happiness and joy!

This kid

This boy of mine is hilarious! He has a thing for wearing items on his head (could be his jammies, Claire's bows, ear warmers, baby sunglasses, etc..) and pulling toys around house.

This is my necklace and a cow watch!

Baby sunglasses - he puts them on himself!

Ear warmers in 95 degree weather

Claire's bows

Haha!

Ah! Love them. Such characters!

This morning he got frustrated bc he couldn't get this rocker through the door!

Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Forget basketball, let's talk bachelorette brackets!

So... who watched last night's Bachelorette finale?  Not you?  Well we have a group of really cool girls that love Bachelor/Bachelorette and Bachelor Pad!  At the beginning of the season we decided to do a bracket, similar to one you would see for the NCAA basketball tournament!  Each week we gathered for drinks, food and a good time at a different person's house.  We really did it up for the finale.  The invite said for us to dress the way Emily would.  Some of us dressed up, some wore jeans, lots of cute jewelry and a cute top and some dressed as her daughter, Ricki!  The host went all out with decorations.... roses and champagne when we walked in, great food, Team Arie cups along with race car paraphernalia, Jef and his People Water, framed pictures of the final two and Emily and special drinks to mark their location!

 I was definitely team Arie, but this is the first season where I was happy with either winning.  I think Jef is a great catch too! I wander if they will last?  Odds are not in their favor!

And off the topic and an update on my running -
Sunday I joined in with three other girls that are training for a marathon.  We met at 6am at a local park.  It was a bit early for a Sunday, but so much fun! And the best part - I finished!   I was so proud and excited that I ran nine miles.   I look forward to running with them again!!

another self portrait

Retail therapy

I'm not sure what's crawled up my butt, but I've been extra pissy the past two days.
Today Justin went to play golf and was gone 6:30am-5pm. I am so happy he got to play, but the babes did not have their best day. They are starting to slip back to early wake up times again. (that might be part of my pissiness!) not to mention bad naps. This morning they decided to boycott their morning nap. They need this nap, but today I went with it to see what one nap would look like. We went to the gym, came home to get out bathing suits, went to our friends pool and then home for afternoon nap. So far, not so bad..... Wrong. They went down about 1:30 and only slept til 2:50. I was expecting a 2.5 or 3 hour nap!
Needless to say by the time Justin got home, I was ready for a break!

Off to the outlets!
I was in search for a new pair of shorts but ended up getting two pairs of pants and two shirts.




Looks like I wanna punch you! I sent this to Justin to get his opinion.  N




They were a splurge for me. They were $60. Not too bad, but I like to buy things on sale.  I love the color of the pants, but I feel like they look like leggings, not skinny jeans.  I'll keep the tag on and wear them around the house for a while to see if I really like them.
Then I found this great shirt!




All from Gap outlet. My wonderful husband gave me his golf winnings to go shopping with :)

Oh, and while I was on a search to get Max and Claire a matching outfit for upcoming beach pictures, I found these Nike jogging shorts for Claire! They were only $8!





Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Water bugs

My two babes are loving the water!  After our morning run (HOT) we came back and played in our water table and little pool..... in their birthday suits!

 You can't tell, but I made it an outdoor bubble bath!  They are obsessed with bubbles!

Trying to climb in...

...oops!

The other night, Justin was in charge of entertaining them while I was doing something (already can't remember) and this is what I walked into - 

Daddy's idea of water play!

And can't leave out Claire's boyfriend, Trevor!  

Claire loves her some Trevor!  She says "bye Trevor" over and over again once we get in the car! Young love :)

Deceptively Delicious

Lately we have been in a food rut.  Max and Claire eat the same four or five things for lunch/dinner.. time to be creative and make some new things.  They (mainly Max) have not been doing a good job eating their veggies.  Claire usually goes straight for the pasta and Max goes straight for the meat (usually Boca or Morning Star chicken patty)  

So... I borrowed my friend's Deceptively Delicious cookbook.  So far I have made Banana Bread and Scrambled Eggs.

Scrambled Eggs

-2 large eggs

-4 large egg whites

-1/4 c low fat sour cream

-1/2 cauliflower puree

-2 tbs parm cheese

I modified a little, using 2 eggs, 2 egg whites, probably only 1 tbs of parm cheese and greek yogurt instead of sour cream.  They were very tasty and I could not taste the cauliflower at all!  Max was a little hesitant, but I think it was the parm cheese. 

Banana Bread

-3/4 whole wheat flower

-1/2 all purpose flower

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-1/4 tsp baking powder

-1/2 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

-1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar

-1/4c canola oil

-2 large egg whites

-1 1/2 cups banana puree (this took me about 3 bananas)

-1/2 cauliflower puree

-1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix first six ingredients in one bowl and the rest in another, then combine and bake in a large loaf pan for 55-60 min at 350.

This was very good!  Even Justin, who does not eat bananas liked it!

I look forward to trying more of the recipes... esp the dinner ones!

Oh, I also made a batch of homemade mac and cheese then added mashed avocado to it.  It was meant for the babes, but Justin accidently took it for lunch instead of our left overs.  Mr. "I don't eat avocado" ate the whole container of mac and cheese!  It gives it an extra creamy texture!!

If you have any wonderful, kid tested recipes, please share!!

Oh my!

....er...um... Yeah, so I've started reading 50 Shades of Grey. I thought I knew what this was going to be like, but boy was I wrong! Hearing about it and actually reading are two different things! It's like a train wreck- I blush reading all these crazy things, yet I can't put it down! Ugh! I already know I'm gonna need to read the other two books!
In other news - I am 24hrs without a computer. My wonderful in-laws got us a mac pro for our bdays and anniversary! I took it yesterday to get all our data transferred from the dell.
I've heard a lot of people talking about training for marathons and running longer distances and that has motivated me to do more. Yesterday I ran 6.3 miles




That was probably the longest I've ran... Ever?! I've done a few 10k, but nothing more - until today!




I ran 7 miles!!! ( the treadmill cut off so it only shows this, but I finished the .14 :) to make an even 7!! I am now considering doing a 1/2 marathon on thanksgiving! We will see if I can keep adding distance!!
And can't leave off cute pics of the babes! Today we met our good buddy at The Natural Science center. The kids had so much fun! There was a fun indoor play area where they grocery shopped












then we went outside to see some animals!








I was hesitant to take them by myself, but it went pretty well! I definitely look forward to going with someone else so they don't have to be restricted to the stroller. It's hard to see all the animals when in the stroller!

And I have to add the cutest thing! Max and Claire probably hang out with their friend Trevor more than any of their other friends. The past two times we have been with him, Claire gets excited and will say "hi Trevor". It is so cute. I love that she recognizes him. When we were leaving the natural science center, she kept saying "bye, Trevor" and even said "I love you" melted my heart!!

Kelly- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Five

Yesterday Justin and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary (as well as his birthday!).  We had a great day with the kiddos, laid out in their kiddie pool the back yard while they napped, took them to the Children's Museum and had a nice dinner date.

We couldn't decided where to eat, so we ended up at our "go to", Village Tavern.  We had about an hour by ourselves, then our best friends happened to show up... so much for an anniversary dinner!  If I'm not mistaken, they ate with us three years ago, and last year we met them out after our dinner!  Good thing we like them!

I remember how lucky I felt when we first met.  I couldn't imagine a life without Justin.  He is my everything.  The most loyal, sweet, caring, handsome, understanding man I know.  Not to mention an awesome dad.  He works so hard to support us and allow me to stay home.  He has made me happy in ways I'd never dream.

One of my favorite pictures from the wedding... I'm pretty sure this was the last dance of the night.  He had stepped on part of my train so we had to tie it up!  Such a fun day!

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to the best husband in the world!






We love you!

Kelly - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Suckers!

Happy 4th of July!

This morning we met up with friends for our city parade.  I was so excited to take Max and Claire to their first parade.  I just knew they were going to love all the floats, trucks, sounds, people watching, animals, etc....

the beginning

....But I was mistaken... the parade was very lame.  I hate to say that, but I was embarrassed for our city.  I think there was only one float, one band, a few trucks(read: three or four), a donkey and a two or three dogs, not to mention just plain ole cars and a lot of political supporters.... BORING!  I was expecting, lots of local high school or college bands, big and elaborate floats, loud music...

Max loved the tennis ball

My favorite was this random little dog being pulled in a wagon!

After the "parade" we walked around the festival.  They had bounce houses, food trucks everywhere and lots of local vendors.  It was HOT so we only lasted about 45 minutes.  they started to get pretty fussy so we let them each have a sucker.  Wow! They loved the suckers so much. Claire cried when Justin wouldn't give her another!

Yummy!

After lunch a a much needed nap, we played outside in the water table and baby pool then headed to the church where they go to MMO to play on the shaded playground.

It was a fun filled day followed by a 6:45 bed time!  

Now it's time to get our butt in gear and get ready for Justin's bday cookout on Friday!