Monday, November 16, 2009

Family Christmas Pictures (or...the misery that is taking pictures with two kids)

Below are the five shots that were even close to being normal from our family picture session. We have always gotten the kids' pictures taken at the same place, and we're happy with the results. However, yesterday was an exercise in futility, mainly because Emily has decided that she doesn't like getting her picture taken. Our goal was to get a picture of all of us for the Christmas card, but my main hope was to get some cute pictures of the two kids. End result: One picture for the Christmas card which I'm not totally loving, and zero pictures of the two kids together. Emily wouldn't take a picture without us, and even then she had to be bribed with a flower the photographer would give her between snaps. We also discovered that it's next to impossible to get a 7 month old and 2 year old both looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. What follows is the best of the shots...and that's not saying much.




Tuesday, November 10, 2009

If it's not one thing...

I can remember my mom using the phrase, "if it's not one thing, it's another!" I usually try to stay away from any phrase my mom uses a lot (Dan and I have an entire list we love to tease her with), but it totally described the last week for us.

Picture it: it's Wednesday morning. I am (unusually) early when leaving for work. I am excited because it means I can stop for coffee AND I'll not be the last person to walk into my meeting. I made it all the way to Hanover when....BAM!...I got rear-ended at a light. Until I got out, checked my car, exchanged info, and listened to the guy who hit me swear up a storm, I was late to that meeting.

Thursday morning: I take all the stuff out to the car. Everything appears normal. I wake Emily, forcibly dress her as I do every morning, get Owen up and dressed, suit everyone up in coats, and head out to the car. I am not early this morning. I will make it to work just in time. I turn the key in the ignition. Nothing. I try again. Nothing. I take both kids out, walk back up to the house, and proceed to try to reach Dan for 25 minutes. Smoke is coming out of my head. I consider how long I will lay in a hospital alone and dying if a true emergency ever strikes me. Dan finally picks up. I was almost an hour late for work that morning.

Saturday: I am optimistic. My Friday went well, and while I have to be up early for the SAT's, the promise of a cream filled doughnut has made me giddy. I get to work. I get everyone set up in their testing rooms. I rush to grab one last answer sheet and speed walk it to the room. The clumsiness I am notorious for kicks in, and I fall - hard - onto the floor. As the day wears on, my foot and ankle hurt more and more. But...I have a job to do, and College Board takes SAT administration very seriously. So, it's not until I get home and kick off my heels that I realize something is very wrong. Dan makes me go to the ReadyCare. A cute doctor feels up my unshaven leg (it's winter!), takes some x-rays, and decides I've sprained my foot and possibly sustained a hairline fracture. Yep, giving the SAT's. Who knew it could be so dangerous? He hands me a very unattractive boot type thing, prescribes some painkillers, and sends me on my way.

This week is, however, looking up. Yesterday I got a new hair color that I love. I have been able to avoid wearing the hideous boot in public, and my foot is feeling better. And, I remember another favorite phrase of mom's: what's seconds is thirds. By my count, I had my three things...I'm due for some easy times.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Someone's Got Teeth!

Owen's first tooth pushed through last Wednesday! It's on the bottom, and he handled it pretty well. The big clue was the copious amounts of drool that poured from his mouth. He's got one right beside of it getting ready to break through...I give it a couple of days, tops. Hopefully soon I'll be able to get a picture of my little man with his new teeth :)

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween was so much fun for us. For one, we helped Owen celebrate his first Halloween. His babyhood has seemed to fly by; it's hard to believe that only a year ago, I was just beginning to look pregnant rather than just chubby, and we didn't even know if our new baby was a boy or a girl! Mom got the kids shirts to wear to their Halloween parties at school. Here's Owen modeling his (and sitting up all by himself)!
Emily wasn't much for having her picture taken that day, so unfortunately I only got two quick shots of the two of them in their matching Trick or Treat shirts. This was the only one I was allowed to post, though, since the person holding them is missing his shirt :)

Owen had a special My 1st Halloween shirt to wear on Saturday. We decided not to dress him in a costume since he wasn't actually going trick or treating.
Emily decided she wanted to be a pink fairy over a month ago. I was trying to get her to change her mind, since I figured something else (a princess, maybe???) would be warmer. But, the girl is stubborn, and no matter what I tried to suggest, she kept saying, "Fairy. Pink Fairy!" It actually worked out well, since Halloween turned out to have temps in the low 70's. We went up to my school where the Student Council puts on a Haunted Hallways for the employees' family members.
Emily loved having her picture taken this day! She couldn't get enough of her wings or star wand.
After the school's celebration, we went over to mom and Ron's for dinner and trick or treating. Our neighborhood doesn't really have a lot of houses that hand out candy, and mom and Ron's neighborhood is kid central on Halloween, so we ate, got dressed, and Dan, Emily, and I went out. Owen stayed home with Grandma March, Grandma Sipe, and Grandpa Sipe overseeing candy distribution. Emily LOVED trick or treating for the first time, and we were so proud at how polite she was. She would wish everyone a happy halloween and say thank you at each house.