Different personalities

Amazing how different children can be. It is so fun watching the kids grow and see how the respond differently in the same situation. For instance...

If we are walking out of school and an ambulance goes by (or a loud motorcycle), Ella is looking and trying to find out where that loud noise is coming from. Mary Catherine will run and jump in my arms.

If we want to praise Ella on something, we can say "High five" and she responds to that and lights up. The other day, I tried to do the same thing with Mary Catherine. As I sat there with my hand up in the air, she ran up to me and just glossed over my hand and threw her arms around me to give me a hug.

Ella talks and talks and talks and talks. Non-stop going to and from school. The other day I just didn't feel like talking back to her, so I let her just keep going and going. I finally started trying to count the seconds of quite time in the car - only made it to 6 seconds. Mary Catherine on the other hand, doesn't talk a lot in the car. When Ella was sick last week, it was just MC, Wesley and myself in the car going to and from school for 3 days. The car was sooo quiet those three days!

Gotta love 'em. Still think Mary Catherine is the one to watch out for...never know what she is up to!

First day back to work

My first day back to work was Feb 9 - and of course, it was HARD! It's always hard going back to work when you spend so much time with your baby. Seemed the worst this time than it did in the past, but I think it was because the kids stayed home with me more and we just got into more of a routine this time around. Plus, it didn't help that for at least 4 to 5 weeks prior to my return to work, at least one of the kids was sick every week. Mary Catherine had off and on fever, Wesley had RSV, then Mary Catherine had fever again. I thought they were all well until the night before I went back to work - Ella started running fever. Thank goodness Mimi was able to come over Wed morning to stay with her. She stayed with Ella for the rest of the week so that we could go back to work.


I took Wesley Monday for the first time and I couldn't even talk to any of the teachers. I cried and cried when I got in the car and then headed to the gym to release all of the emotional stress I was feeling. He did really well though. He didn't want to take his first bottle, but he chugged his second one down. He even took four 30-minute naps - and he was only there for 5 hours! He had another good day on Tuesday and I just cried a little :) I guess he is napping better at daycare than Mary Catherine did because he is already use to a lot of noise around the house :)

Here are some pictures of my first day back. Mary Catherine didn't want to get her picture made that morning :(

Gotta love these faces...

Diaper in hand

For Christmas, Barbara gave the girls new princess pajamas. They are the first "dress" pajamas that Mary Catherine has ever worn. This morning, Ella came running into our room and jumped in our bed. As she and I were cuddling, Clint and I could here a "Ohh-hh-hh Ohh-hh-hh" coming down the hallway. Mary Catherine walked into our room with her diaper in her hand. Yes, the diaper she had slept in - not a new dry diaper - but the wet diaper she had been wearing all night long. We couldn't do anything but laugh and laugh. Guess we will need to put some bloomers on her or something the next time she wears her princess dress pajamas to bed!

Ella - gymnastics

Ella loves her gymnastics - "nastics" as she still calls it. She looks forward to every Tuesday night! She loves her "teolard," too. We had parents night where I got to go into the gym with her and watch her take class. She gave me lots of hugs and kisses each time she passed by me.

Wesley - 12 weeks

Hard to believe that Wesley is already 12 weeks old! I think he has changed so much in the past couple of weeks!! He has really started cooing and making a rasping noise with his mouth. His whole face will just light up. The other day, while Clint and Ella were taking the decorations off of the Christmas tree (yes we are late getting everything down), as Wesley sat in the bouncy seat, he and I just carried on a conversation. We just talked and talked. It was so much fun!!

He loves his hands. He clasps them together all the time. He puts in them in his mouth all of the time too. I think he is searching for his thumb! He will still take his pacifier, but he loves his hands!! The other night after his middle of the night feeding, he couldn't seem to be able to go back to sleep right away. He wouldn't take his pacifier either - he just kept spitting it out. I finally just gave up and went back to bed. I could hear him over the monitor coo out loud a couple of times and I could tell he was eating his hands. Then the next thing I knew, he was sound asleep!!

He even rolled over from his tummy to his back yesterday for the first time. It was so funny! Ella and I were just playing with him and totally didn't expect him to do it - which of course, he didn't expect it either. You could tell he was a little freaked out by the change in direction. I have also noticed here in the past couple of days that he is reaching out for things now. Like tonight at dinner, he reached out to the zebra on his swing and was jut hanging onto it. He is mesmerized by the animals that hang down in the baby Einstein play gym. He will just lay there and stare and then swat at them.

My favorite moment right now is sometimes when he is finished nursing, he will just take those big eyes, gaze up at me, smile and then say cooooo. It is just sweet, genuine love.

Snow

Boy did it ever snow!!! We never dreamed that it would snow this much, but it sure did. It was pretty amazing! We didn't really play in it that much though. When Clint got home from work, he and Ella went outside and played around a little. It was a little too powdery to go sledding. Mary Catherine was tired and needed a nap. She was starting to get a cold, too, so it was a good thing she didn't go outside. Wesley was napping also when Clint and Ella went out.
Ella was measuring the snow.

In the front yard, it measured 8 inches!!!

Hard to see, but Mary Catherine and I were looking out of the kitchen window watching Ella and Clint. Mary Catherine thought it was fun!! :)

Lots and lots of snow!!

Measured 12 inches in the back yard!!

Looking down the street from our house.