Random Summer Pics

Just a few random summer pics. No blog inspiration tonight. Soon maybe...

Big Sister and Little Sister. Happy Sister and Scared Sister. More to come, i'm sure.

Fancy face painting during after a trip to the local Farmers Market.

Can you tell how pleased she is?

Starting to walk....ever so cautious...every day a few more steps

This is what happens when you don't take your afternoon nap.

Love the snack trap still in full grasp.

Ahhh, the sunglasses. Is there any better toy?

Seaweed, Crabs, and Sand Castles

We spent Sunday afternoon at the beach in Edmonds. It was a gorgeous day and a very low-tide. Michael had checked the tide-charts on Friday and said we should hit the beach over the weekend, since we'd see some good stuff. We'd never seen the tide so low at Edmonds. It was quite fun with Dad picking up shells, crabs, and other stuff as we went. The girls were loving it and it felt great to be out on the water.

Big Girl Bed

Madelyn moved into a twin bed over the weekend. It was big news and a huge step in our house. The child who in the past has not done well with change, is now asking for new things and new experiences. I'm continually shocked on how much she is changing and realizing she is becoming this Little Girl and not a toddler anymore.

I admit, part of this was mom's subtle doing in planting the idea in Maddy's head. But she was off and running with it and couldn't stop talking about getting a 'Big Girl Bed'. So on Saturday Maddy and I, headed down to Ikea to pick out a bed. The trip was exhausting but Maddy was really good. Just hard wrangling her inside a big store with so many items to touch and see. We checked out our options, had some "discussions" and found one that was just right. Headed to the warehouse, where Mom soon found out how hard it was to hold onto a bunch of small stuff, track the child, and load large boxes onto carts. It was a workout, at one point holding two carts with a 35lb child inside one. But we did it, paid for it and headed home.

Making her bed and setting up all her 'fussies'

Dad had the bed set-up by late afternoon and then the true test began. Was she really going to sleep in it? And thankfully yes, she did. Bedtime took a bit longer with more stories, songs, and a threat of a move back into the crib...but she did go to sleep in her bed. All night long. I am amazed and she is so very proud....and its just about all she talks about. This morning she told me she didn't feel very good and was going back to bed. Okay, I said, head on up. It didn't last too long, but she is thrilled with that bed. Nap times have been more interesting. I found her sleeping on the floor, at the end of the bed, with her fussies. Not sure how she ended up there...and was very shocked when she woke up. And as long as she stays in that room, I don't care where she sleeps!

One Year Old

We are a little behind on the blog. Check back for posts in May.

Makena Hope is One Year Old. Its so hard to believe how fast it comes up, yet there are so many moments in the last year we felt like we were stuck in time. My sweet little baby is supposedly no longer a baby and now a Toddler. You can see her changing almost daily. Her reactions to new things, and giggles to others...and the way she interacts with Sister.

Then - 10 days old

Now - 1 year old

We celebrated her birthday with a small party of family and friends, thrilled she is turning one year old...and mostly so happy to have made it through this year. I'm excited to see her start walking and move into the next few months. I remember it was a good age for Madelyn, so we'll see what it brings for Makena.

Makena was having nothing to do with her cake. Big Sister tried to show her how its done, but Makena wasn't convinced. Funny thing is Maddy was the same way but worse!

We made it to the big One. The kids look a bit glassy eyed, but we did it.

Maddy and Meme sharing a moment.

Makena is not walking yet, but cruising from furniture to chair and around the room...and standing on her own for bits of time. She has only 5 teeth so far, and we are still trying to move her onto table foods. She seems to be picky about foods, just like Big Sister. I'm holding out hope this will change. She is now sleeping through the night, which feels miraculous. I almost hate to put it in writing because I'm sure I've cursed it. She had her One Year check-up last week and she is doing great. She weighs 22.13oz and is in the 75% for weight, and 31" long and in the 95% for height.

Next big hurdles - walking and more table foods. Sooner, than later we hope!

Farms and Muffins

We must finally be coming out of the first year baby fog, because I'm finally starting to do some creative stuff with my girls. I've had lots of ideas, but the time and energy to do them has been lacking.

A friend of mind blogged about making Hide and Seek Muffins quite awhile ago. I thought it was great idea and kept it in the back of my mind. And Friday morning I got it all ready and got Maddy involved. Huge smiles and her running to get the step stool. The recipe calls for strawberries, hidden in muffins and goes along with the cutest little book - The Big Hungry Bear. Huge Success. Of course, Maddy loved making the muffins..but not so much on eating the. She likes to pull them apart and talk about the strawberry - and basically make a huge mess. But I've yet to see her actually eat any muffins. Oh well - we'll keep trying. All about the experience, right?! Thank You to Katy for sharing a great idea!

Today we headed out to one of our favorite parks, Farrel McWhirter Park in Redmond. Maddy and I took a class called Family Day at the Farm. Fun class with just a few kids involving a tour of the farm, feeding all the animals, making homemade butter, stories, and a wagon ride.

She was a bit nervous about feeding the animals at first, but warmed up after a bit. I have to admit when the animal your feeding is as tall as you are...that's got to be a bit intimidating! But she jabbered on about all the animals and animal sounds for the rest of class. The class ended with a Wagon Ride, which she loved. I had no idea the class would be such a hit. We are headed back for a few others this summer!

April

The month of April flew by and I realized its been a couple week since we've done a blog post. The days have been tiring with the girls giving us a run for our money. Makena has had her top two teeth coming on and off for a couple weeks. It was brutal for a week and then calmed down and we can finally see it just about to break through. I didn't realize that Madelyn was a pretty easy teether, compared to her Little Sis.

Trip to the Cougar Mountain Zoo

Its nice the girls have been rather healthy and we've been getting out and about more. Always a challenge to actually get out of the house with everyone and everything intact, but once were on the road it all gets easier, well most of the time.

Maddy and her friend, Molly, at the Kirkland Indoor Playground

Makena is 11 months old and its amazing to believe almost a year has gone by. I'm looking forward to celebrating her one year birthday. More of a celebration for Mom & Dad making it through this year...as it has been much much harder the second time around. Her big sister keeps it real by showing us that the Terrible Two's really are all about testing your limits. Exhausting.

The girls playing. They can be so dang cute.

Makena melting mom's heart

Just about everyday after naptime, Maddy wakes up pretty crabby. We have a little ritual to try and get her happy face back on. On this day, it happen to include being wrapped up in mom's blanket and Clifford.

Curious George is on the top of Maddy's favorites.

Dad, Maddy, and Curious George is a perfect combination.

"And I didn't have to get a tooth pulled"

Madelyn had her first trip to the Dentist this week. Big deal in the Potter house, as Maddy in the past has had a difficult time with the Doctor (IE, lots of screaming) But she is getting older and a bit more adventurous, and it was just time. We talked it up lots..and I got really lucky.

I have a friend from my Moms Group, who is a Pediatric Dentist. How lucky is that? So instead of meeting a stranger, I just chatted with Maddy about how she was going to see Yoo-Lea who was a dentist. We headed into Dr. Yea's office which is all set up for kids. They did a brilliant job and my big girl went back to the chair all by herself, no crying...just walked on back. They had all sorts of tricks to make it fun for the kids and not scary. It worked, as they did a full polish and exam. I was so proud of my little girl and she had big smiles. The balloon and Pooh toothbrush helped a bit too! It is so wonderful to see her grow up and not be so nervous about new things.

We have also been reading about the Dentist in one of the Berenstein Bear books we own. I completely forgot how this book has a bit about how one of the bears has to get a tooth pulled. Well later that day, Dad was talking to Maddy about the big trip to see Dr. Yea, and Maddy says "And I didn't even get a tooth pulled!" Poor thing was worried about this and I had no idea.

We also squeezed in a trip to get haircuts as Maddy was getting a bit shaggy. You can tell she doesn't love having it done, but getting to watch a Curious George movie was all she needed to let someone fuss with her hair. I plopped down with Makena for a minute, as her bangs were in desperate need. Her hair is growing in a very peculiar way around her bangs...so my little cutie is going to have some funny baby hair for quite awhile, I fear. Oh well - makes for good pics.

"Super Maddy Naked"

Maddy is quite the handful at bedtime, like most kids she gets all wound up the closer to bedtime it is. Lately she has been dashing out of the tub, hopping up on our bed and jumping all around shouting, "Super Maddy naked". This goes one for a long time, after all what could be more fun than jumping up and down on your bed without your clothes on? The last of Maddy's two year molars are erupting though her gum line, seems the two year molars take years to come in, we have been working on all of them since x-mas.

Makena has more and more mobility every day, she loves the mountains of toys that her sister tosses around the room for her each day, she spends her time crawling to each toy and deciding if it needs more of her slobber on it or perhaps it would be fun to use it like a hammer and bang it on the floor or her sister. She's an expert at both of these activities. She currently has three teeth. Makena is dying to slobber on the laptop and pound on its keyboard.....sh ggh6 dHB,VJ 9M,I NH.

Easter

Whoa, the Easter Bunny came!!

I didn't get any candy!

What can I say...one daughter likes chocolate, the other has a shoe fetish.

Seriously, she is a magnet for any shoe lying around.

Neighborhood Egg Hunt with her friend Scarlett.

They were so cute and so very excited.

Brunch is served.

Babies playing. Makena and Cousin Lily had fun with each other.

Notice the 'smack-down' hand that Makena has up. Yeah, not the first time.

Family Shot.

I got grief over all our "staircase" shots from friends.

Notice, we are no longer on the staircase.

Hope you had a great Easter!

Spring

Spring is here and we are loving the sunny warm days. Thankful to be healthy and feeling pretty good, getting out more and having some fun.

There is a story behind this rather mundane picture. The girls and I were out at Kelsey Creek Park checking out the farm animals and playground area. See the rather large puddle in the background of this picture? Yes, well after she got off this fun little bouncy sheep..she headed over to the puddle. Only I was busy pushing Makena in the baby swings. I saw what was happening but really only had time to yell "STOP". Being 2.5 yrs old, she had no intention of stopping. She walked right into that puddle and quickly discovered a couple things - much deeper than most puddles and she wasn't wearing her frog rain-boots on to protect her from said puddle. Immediate crying and screaming ensued. I laughed out loud, grabbed Makena and went over to rescue her. We had crying and screaming all the way back to the car...more crying on discovering her socks were also wet....and more crying when I broke the news that I didn't have a change of clothes and she'd have to ride home in just her diaper. But dry towel, Clifford book, and snack managed to dry those tears. I like to think she might have learned her lesson about puddles and listening to Mom. But I highly doubt it.

Meme treated us to lunch at Red Robin the other day. Perfect for us right now..balloons, loud, doesn't matter how much of a mess we make. Meme ordered a shake and Maddy wasted no time in asking all about it. "What dat?" "Can I have some?" Meme looked over and asked after a couple bites "Is it okay?" Well how do you say no to this...Madelyn drooling over the shake and Meme all too willing to indulge her.

We went down to the Woodinville "All Fools Day" Parade this last weekend. The girls had a great time. Makena met Cooper, the Bulldog, and was all smiles about it. Cooper loved the girls and had no problem looking for some attention.

Spending some time at Meme's playing in the sandbox and pushing Makena around in the pink buggy. Look at that smile from Makena. It doesn't get much better than that.

Headed out to Fred Meyer last week. Walked in the store, loaded down with 2 kids and a diaper bag...arms about to break off. I grab the first cart and was about to load them in, when Maddy sees the Truck Cart. "Mommy, I wanna ride in dere!" The only problem is the cart she saw was being used by another Mom. And of course, I'm at the wrong entrance..and they don't have more. So we drag ourselves to another entrance...arms severely in pain at this point. And luckily they have one. Madelyn cheers and can barely contain herself to get in. Makena is amazed, wide-eye as I strap the both in. I attempt to steer this thing, which feels much like driving an RV down a grocery store aisle. Not nearly enough room for you, everyone staring and the girls are squealing with delight. I finally had to stop and take a picture as it was just too much. And if I didn't already feel fully enmeshed in Mom-Land, this made it official.

Makena is 10 Months old

Our favorite photographer, Sandi Heinrich, came over the other week and took some more great photo's of the girls. All pictures on this post and the slideshow are from her photo shoot.

Time has been moving pretty fast lately and our little girl is now 10 months old. She's climbing up on everything that she can and wants nothing more than to play with her sister. She's doing all the fun stuff that kids her age do, refusing to nap, sleep though the night etc...

Gotta love the grumpy face too.