Turkey Day

Happy Belated Thanksgiving to everyone. Hope you all enjoyed your Turkey Day fixings. We hosted this year and somehow Karin managed to pull off Thanksgiving. Melissa, Jesse and new baby Lilliana stopped by as well. Dad was out sick with the flu so he got most of the leftovers.

Melissa, Jesse and Lillianna
What we appear to be most thankfully for is that Makena has stopped moaning, she seemed to moan for 90% of the time for the better part of the last three weeks and definitely pushed us over the edge. The two girls are interacting more, when Makena is in her exer-saucer Madelyn will show her how all the toys work much to her younger sisters delight.

"I do that all by myself"

Life has been a bit chaotic for the last few weeks. Well who are we kidding, the last few months. But what I really mean is we are in a new phase with Makena and its just a bit tougher. Hard to point to a reason why, it just is. So Michael started this post a week ago and I'm just now finishing it up. I found a photo taken back in October of the two girls (the one above) that I love. Its pretty damn hard to get them to pose together, let alone capture these sweet moments.

Cereal's good. What else ya got?

Makena loves to check out her sister. Maddy will get down on her level and stick her face right up to her and say, "Hi BK", this makes BK break out into huge grins. She still brings Makena toys if she thinks she does not have enough, most of the time that means 8-10, rather than the 2-3 that Dad gives her. And Madelyn is finally starting to call her "Makena" but we still hear "BK" occasionally. Makena's hair is still sticking straight up. Sleep continues to be a roller coaster. Some days are good, some are not so good. Probably more sleep training work ahead for us, fun. We have started on rice cereal with her as well. It took her a few days to get onto the eating bit, but she seems to like it.

Maddy eating Dad's Pesto Pizza. Hard to believe, but here is proof.

Madelyn favorite phrase this month is, "I do that all by myself", the little woman just wants to be able to do everything, and as long as it does not involve kitchen knives, paint or large power tools, we will let her have a go at it. The second favorite phrase is "Watt Dis?" (What This) And its asked over and over and over. Curious George is her favorite character right now, she just loves that little monkey to no end. She really got into Halloween this year so the holidays should be more fun with her this year. I love how little things still excite her, we showed up at the Doc the other day for H1N1 and seasonal flu shots, she squealed with delight over the fish tank in the lobby, grabbing my hand and dragging me over to the tank several times to make sure I saw the fish also.

Look they are both looking at the camera and smiling. Another small miracle.

Amelie and Makena laughing, while Maddy is passing out more toys.

Halloween Pictures II

Cow at Country Village

Toddler Class

Feeling Better

Rough week but we have put our first 2 child sickness behind us. Makena is up to all sorts of new tricks on a daily basis now. She rolls over, as well as crawls on her back by arching it up and down she can make it 3-4 feet. Big smiles are always easy to coax out of her. She will grab anything within her reach and if it's interesting enough, into the mouth it goes.

She's also discovered her feet :)

Tigger

Still needing practice dressing

This shot is not a one-off thing. Maddy grabs her dolly, finds a nursing pillow and just like Mom does to Makena, feeds her baby. The funny part about this is she sticks the doll on her belly-button (she has an outie). She continues to do somersaults in toddler class while the whold class has circle/song time. Sad day today, we ate the last of the season's raspberries from the neighbors berry patch.

Uggg Sick

Makena's first cold is 3 days old and she's a complete mess, not eating or sleeping well. The rest of us have avoided it so far but's it's making for some exciting tense times around the house. One sick kid was manageable last year, but a active 2 year old and sick kid are tough to manage.

Makena and Madelyn are starting to interact with each other, Maddy can get Makena to giggle and kick her legs. She'll also do a sympathy cry, the other night Makena woke up crying after we put the girls to bed and Maddy decided that if Makena had something to cry about she should chip in and cry about it also.

Madelyn continues to be Madelyn, I took her to toddler class on Friday and while everybody circled up and sat on laps for song time she decided to entertain everybody with not one but five somersaults in the middle of the circle. Sit on a lap? Why do that when there are all these great toys hanging around and I can show off? She still in love with all things Curious George, in addition to watching his show she has a few of his books that we continue to read over and over and over again, if Dad reads another one he is going to $hit a banana. Mom bought her a Dora the Explorer flashlight and she enjoys locking herself in the pantry or bathroom so she can check things out with it, "Oh my Gosh", is heard several times when she gets a hold of something this exciting. Words and sentences are tumbling out of her mouth at a furious rate, she talks in her crib to herself for about an hour every night.

On to other good news, Karin signed us up for Pictures for a Purpose again this year. proceeds from the photo shoot go to fight child trafficking, how can you beat that? Our photographer, Kara Hicks, coaxed a few great pictures in of the girls in between the tears. It was a pretty stressful shoot, though only 20 minutes. We'll have to try the whole family next year. Yes once we pay for the CD the watermark will be removed.

Not a Happy Camper

Hips!!

Dr White said that Makena's hips are just fine so we are done with the brace. Yippiee, one less thing to worry about. Mom can make Makena giggle but she's not so sure about laughing for Dad yet. She'll roll over on her side to check a toy out and will grab Madelyn or Mom's hair if it's close by.

It's hard enough trying to take a picture with one kid, and trying to pose two kids, forget it. This was as good as it got.

Enjoying a ride on the carousal

Lovely, thanks for that Smile kido.

Maddy says...

"I go home see my Mom, see my Dad, see Makena."

Little Chatterbox

The fun never stops around the Potter household these days. About a month ago Madelyn decided that she really wanted to start talking and its been nothing but chatter ever since. We sometimes shrug our shoulders at don't have a clue what she's saying but most of the time we can get the gist of it. It's been amazing to watch this leap in her language skills.

We've been snacking on the last of the neighbors raspberries lately. If I ask Maddy where they are, she's off and running to the berry patch. This impress me because it's about 50 yards away and I get the feeling she would have no problem going over there all by herself. She grabs at any semi-ripe or ripe berry that she can reach and when she's done she looks like a bloody mess, her hand and face covered in berries that did not make it into her mouth, Mmmmmmm good.

In the mist of all this chaos Makena is growing up, she's learned to giggle for Mom and we watched her roll over this afternoon. She's moved to her crib and for the most part will sleep for 11 hours a night, sometimes waking up only once and other nights she'll wake up 2-3 times. 45 minutes after she goes down she cries out for an encore, by the time you get to her room you would swear something was in the crib trying to eat her. Most of the time if you put the pacifier back in her mouth or pick her up and tell her it's ok, the episode will be over in 30 seconds flat. She's getting interested in food and loves to watch what Mom & Dad eat, we'll probably hold off until around Thanksgiving before diving into semi-solid foods with her.

New Phrases

"I big girl" - answer to "What is your name?"

"I go bike my Dad" - to Meme when she was talking about biking with Dad

"Big truck hurt me" - Loud truck in the parking lot was making a lot of noise.

"Wyatt kitty hurt me" - well don't stick your hand near him when he makes that funny face.

"I take Mom Dad bath" - She loves to take baths in Mom & Dad's tub.

Pumpkins

The Potter family headed out on a glorious Fall day to find some pumpkins. The patch was prime this year, little mud, light crowds and Madelyn's friend Molly(and family) was there as a bonus. She's making faces at Maddy on the Hay ride above. We also ran into her friend Phoenix. The trip was much more enjoyable this year.

Heading out after scoring some prime pumpkins :)

Makena slept for most of the trip, she could not resist napping on us while in the Bjorn.

Pick that one up and your name is Hercules

Snacking in the wagon with her frog boots, man life is rough.

Pigtails

Mom finally got some pigtails tied up on Madelyn's head. This is no easy task as Madelyn really doesn't want anything to do with having her hair done in any way, shape, or fashion. She would really like it to just be left alone! (I'm picturing a future Tom-Boy) I am not sure we'll have this repeated anytime soon..but we have pics to prove that this girl once had pigtails. I love them and think they are so dang cute. Too bad Maddy doesn't feel the same way. She was happy with them once they were in..but getting them in involved some whining, tears, and bribing. Lots of work for cute pigtails.

More phrases:

BK eat Mom - We asked Madelyn what Makena eats. BK is her nickname for Makena.

No, no go that way - backseat driving apparently starts at age 2 and continues though your 60's.

Big girl - answer to the question of "what's your name"?

4 Months

My sweet little newborn is 4 months old. I guess the newborn term has to be put away as she is definitely not that anymore. 4 months...what happened to the time? Look at how big Makena is getting... Its just amazing how fast it goes even though there are nights in those first few weeks, you are pretty damn sure time has officially stopped and your stuck in some sleep deprivation hell.

Stats:

Height 26 inches

Weight 16lbs.13oz

Life is pretty good for having a 2 year old and a 4 month old. Not much is boring, mostly chaotic, and always tiring...for everyone involved. Makena was sleeping through the night for a few weeks and then decided to keep it real for Mom and Dad, and regressed back to waking up at 3am. I can live with that but am hoping she'll soon remember how joyous it was to just sleep all night long. She continues to be a pretty easy going mellow baby and after knowing what her sister was like as a baby, I can very much appreciate that.

Big Sister still finds Makena interesting and gets the biggest giggles when Little Sis tries to reach out and grab her. She got in the crib with Makena recently as mom snapped some pics. Maddy thinks this is really fun..and Makena just stares in awe of Big Sis.

Don't wipe my butt

Life continues to move fast, we blink and weeks seem to wiz right on by. Makena's smile will light up a room, she's quick to watch your facial expressions and actions and react to them, grabbing on to your fingers or kicking her legs if she is really happily. I sneezed in front of her the other week and she must have thought I blew myself up, it took me 5 minutes to calm her down again. She can sit up in the bumbo and take a wack at any toys nearby as well.

We had to move out last week to a hotel to have our floors refinished after a water leak caused our floors to buckle in a few places. Madelyn seemed to enjoy her time there the most out of all of us, she tossed her tub toys into the hot-tub and found a light she could turn on and off all on her own. She was in 2 year old heaven to say the least. Mom came down with the stomach flu on the second day while Dad juggled jury-duty and tried to keep everybody happy. We were thrilled to move back into our house last Friday.

Maddy's phrases:

"Don't wipe my butt" - said on the changing table - 20 times last week. I'll happily stop wiping your butt when you figure out what that pink potty upstairs is for. It still amazes me that a human can go from a little bobble head of a baby to a toddler with an option like this in 2 short years.

"Out my ball game" - said when she wants you to sing her Take me out the Ball Game before naps

"Juicebox go outside" - Ummm let me think....yes, do you really thing we'll give you 8oz of fruit juice to squirt all over the inside of the house!?

"Curious George BubbleBath"- you guess it, that little monkey has his own brand of soap.

"Sing hush baby song" - A must before bedtime.

and on and on and on.......

Where did you get that hair!?

Makena is doing well and still has her crazy hair that sticks straight up like a butch cut. Now that she has her neck under control she's able to have more fun in bouncers. Life is still hectic with two little ones in the house, we have some days where we appear to have everything under control and others that just feel like a slow moving train wreck until bedtime.

She is also starting to recognize and interact with people more. We are getting lots of big smiles and coo's.

Edmonds Marina

The neighbors flower patch, 2 acres, is in full bloom and we head over ever day to check things out and feed the goats the old blooms. Apple season is in full swing and Maddy enjoys tossing them into the goat pen.