Happy Holidays!

I know I have a lot of catch up to do before 2010 comes to an end.  But before that - I just wanted to wish everyone a happy holidays.  Have a safe and cheerful Christmas!!

Pictures!

So, it's been a while since I last posted, and I'm not sure I have too much to say.  Life is extraordinarily busy, but also incredibly fun and rewarding.  Graham is now sitting on his own and very, very close to crawling.  Any day now and he'll be crawling all over the place... 

During September we went apple picking and I took photos of Sophie for her 3rd birthday.  Here are some of the results!  I also recently took photos of Graham to document his 6 month milestone.  Thanks Grandma Charlotte for helping with that outing!  

In Sophie's Words!

I've decided that each year on Sophie's birthday (and Graham's once he's old enough), I'll ask the same 4 questions so we can watch how the answers change over time.  I'll also ask a fifth question that will be different each year.  So - here's Sophie at age 3:

1 - What is your favorite color?  Pink and purple
2 - What is your favorite food?  Macaroni and Cheese
3 - What is your favorite tv show?  Dora the Explorer (no surprise there!)
4 - What is your favorite book?  Dora Saves the Mermaid Kingdom (although, mommy thinks that Dr. Seuss's ABC book comes in a close second)
5 - Who is your best friend?  Owen

And, for good measure.... here's one of my favorite things that Sophie has said recently:

Allen asked Sophie if she could wink. Sophie's response?  "No, I can't wink, but my finger can....see."  She then proceeded to push one eyelid down with her finger.  It was pretty cute.

Sophie is 3!

Yes, this post is nearly one week late.  You'll have to forgive me, but life has been very busy lately.  Last Friday Sophie celebrated her 3rd birthday.  I honestly cannot believe that my baby girl is 3!

Here are a few photos of our brief family celebration on Friday night... we had a larger celebration with Allen's family on Sunday. 

Here's Sophie's reaction to our present to her, which was too large to wrap....

Her exact words were -- "Woa - that's a big house!"

We celebrated with Allen's family on Sunday after Sophie's first Sunday School class, which I also happen to be teaching.  I ended up with 7 three-year olds on Sunday morning....lots of fun, but also chaotic!  Anyway, here are a few photos of Sophie's Dora cake! 

Waiting for the cake to be unveiled!

I feel like when a child turns 3 the whole world opens up to them!  Upon turning 3, they can go to preschool without a parent, attend Sunday School (in our church anyway), and take various classes and activities without a parent also participating.  So, Sophie started dance classes on Saturday after her birthday.  She's in a 45 minute class on Saturdays, and it is half tap and half ballet.  The first class was a challenge - she was really shy and didn't want to go into the room.  Since the class always starts with tap, I kind of knew it would be tough...she's much more excited about ballet than tap.  So, she just watched the teachers and other girls during tap, but she did participate during ballet!  I walked past the room during the second half of the class and she was at the barre with Miss Elena doing plies.  So cute!!  I remember all those years of dance classes (9 to be exact), and I'm so excited that Sophie's starting classes too.  My baby really is growing up!

Updates in photos

Not much to say, just wanted to post some recent photos.  Graham loves playing in the exersaucer and Sophie is a dancing fool!  I'm completely in love with Graham's leg rolls -- baby fat is so cute!

Hey mom!  I want that ball!!!

Reason #1 I think Graham will be crawling within the next month.  He can get that butt in the air and knees under himself...

Sophie pre-dance classes... We'll have to see how her technique improves after ballet and tap classes ;o)

She loves to twirl around in her Dora-inspired Fiesta dress...thanks, Grandma Diane for replicating the dress!

Ballerina in training!

My baby girl is growing up!  Yesterday, we registered Sophie for dance classes, to start on September 18th.  She was fitted for ballet slippers and tap shoes - the 45 minute weekly class includes both ballet and tap.  And, we met her teacher Miss Elena yesterday.  Sophie's been talking about dance classes for a while now - she's been known to say "I turn 3 on September(s) seventeen, and then I take dance classes."  (So cute!)  I'm hoping she'll enjoy the classes, and I'll be sure to share photos of her on her first day of class soon!

Imagination

Sophie astounds me with her imagination.  For the last two days she has spent at least an hour each day "exploring."  She takes her plastic camera, backpack, and a map I drew to the "rainy forest" with her.  She tells me - "mommy, we have to go to the rainy forest and take 7 pictures of wild animals... a sleepy sloth and a mountain goat."  Clearly, Dora has made an impact on my Sophie.  But, I love that she can completely delve into her own version of Dora's exploring.  We've "explored" inside and out this weekend.  While outside, the swing set became one of the locations for us to play before finding our wild animals.

And, watch out for Swiper (a.k.a. Graham)!  Apparently, Swiper the fox is a wild animal whose picture must be taken, and Graham is the personification of Swiper.  Truth is, he is starting to take hold of some of Sophie's toys as he grasps for things and starts to scoot on his tummy in the living room.  I'm going to have to come up with some way to redirect this whole "Graham is Swiper" thing.  I think Sophie is in for a rude awakening when I start to readily offer Graham some of her older toys....

Grandma Diane

A couple weeks ago my mom visited us from Texas.  Sophie was so excited to see Grandma Diane and really enjoyed the visit.  Even though I had to work a lot of the time she was here, we were able to sneak away to the botanical gardens on Friday and watch Sophie play with some of the interactive displays there.  Grandma, Sophie, and Graham definitely had fun together.  Thanks for visiting mom!!  We wish you lived closer!

Here are a couple pictures from a few weeks ago.  I especially love the second photo.  Graham kept putting his head down, and knowing that I wanted Graham to look at the camera, Sophie gently pushed his chin up.  I love Graham's expression -- could my kids be any cuter?

M.I.A.

Yes, I've been completely absent from this blog for over a month now, and it perfectly corresponds to my return to work on June 7th.  I enjoyed 12 amazing weeks off of work after having Graham, and the return has been much more difficult than I was ever expecting.  Sophie is at such a fun and entertaining age, and I truly enjoyed having her home with me all the time.  I feel like we accomplished a lot in those 12 weeks - potty training, recognizing her letters, Spanish, etc.  And, I just wish I had her home more to continue to work on these things and just to have lots of time together!!

Anyway, I went back to work on June 7th and for the first 3-4 weeks I was feeling completely overwhelmed. I don't know how other working moms do it all -- cooking home cooked meals, cleaning, working, parenting, and finding more than just 15 minutes of quality time with their kids each and every day.  I was feeling really sad and a bit lost and anxious.  It seemed (and still seems) like every time I looked around there was one more thing I "needed" to get done, but all I really wanted was to read to Sophie or just sit in awe of her as she recited books to Graham or played with her toys.  I've slowly been feeling like I've found more of a routine, although some days are better than others.

Two weeks ago, I spent the entire week commuting back and forth to Lansing (about an hour drive) for fieldwork for a large MDOT project.  I (and a colleague from our Austin office) was spending 10 hours a day in the field and driving home at night to nurse Graham and put them both to bed.  Let me just say - pumping while working in the field (read - gas station, fast food bathroom, or the car) is incredibly frustrating and completely sucks.  I hate pumping, in general, which is why Graham usually only goes to daycare one day a week and stays home with me while I'm working the rest of the time.  But, to have to pump on the go and then store the milk in a cooler with ice packs until getting home at 8pm is inconvenient and annoying.

So, my return to work has been a constant battle between trying to stay focused on work and my wish to spend my days with my kids.  When in college, I never would have guessed that I would so desire to stay at home rather than work.  But, now that I'm blessed with two beautiful children, I find myself longing for just that (and a little side business in photography as a creative outlet).  I'm still trying to find my way through this new life, and I hope that soon it will get easier.  In the meantime, I'll try to do a better job of updating this blog, at least with photos of the Sophie and Graham.

So - first up - photos from the Fourth of July.  Allen was in Seattle for Paul and Meredith's wedding during the holiday weekend, so I had the kids to myself for about 3 days.  We went to the Northville parade on Saturday and then to our neighborhood picnic on Sunday the 4th.  On Sunday evening, I decided to take them to the Ann Arbor botanical gardens to walk one of the trails I hadn't yet visited and to explore the historic red barn at the end of that trail.  Sophie is still talking about the parade on the 4th - especially the "silly clowns" and the sirens on the fire trucks and police cars.  Lucky for me she didn't find the parade scary, in the least.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Allen.  Sophie and Graham are so lucky to have you as their daddy.  Thank you for being such a wonderful father (and best friend!).