Curly Do

I've done this to Meghan several times now. I have her sit while watching TV. It took 20-25 minutes to do, but it was fun! When it was time for Meghan to take a nap, she let me know she was concerned about her spikes! How cute!

Can you tell how much she loved the curls? I like the spikes as much as the curls...maybe more! To see how it's done, visit our first post about it (from March) here. If you try it out, you'll have to let me know!

(Yes, I know she looks like she's dressed for April and not October, but it works.)

Help...Someday

We play in the kitchen sink every once in a while. Let me just say that PLAY is the key word. She has never been interested in the dishcloth or any form of "washing."

Recently, Meghan requested to wash dishes when I was washing. It wasn't a good time (though I don't recall why). As excited as I was, I told her she could help the next day. She remembered! After breakfast, she promptly reminded me!

She put on her apron, and proceeded to wash some plastic dishes for me! The counters got quite wet.

I thought I was wise to put her apron on Meghan, but she was dry in the end. I was NOT dry. But we did have fun! How soon do you think she'll be washing them for me?

(We do have a dishwasher, but I wash all pots/pans, baby bottles, and a lot of plastic by hand. My dishwasher is my friend though! Neither Derek nor I grew up with one, but I really like using it!)

Mice

Our children and cat, Lucy, share toys. This is NOT an unusaual sight in our home. (It's just rare that we get it on camera since Evan is usually on the move.)

Here Evan is showing you how he makes the little birdie sing.

The yellow mouse on the left needed to be replaced when Meghan had claimed it for her own toy. However, it is hard to find a mouse with a nice tail that rattles. Many years later, we found a new mouse for Lucy and the kids.

You can probably figure out why Meghan immediately called the new gray mouse an octupus. Unfortunately, it took her parents a long time to figure out what she was actually saying.

(The yellow mouse went to the garbage can promptly after the photo shoot. He's dirty, germy, and his tail was vacuumed a long time ago.)

Kitty toys=Kid toys, right? I'm sure that's how it works in every person's home! The new mouse introduced Meghan to the game of Hot and Cold when we played hide and seek with it. Evan thinks the tail and tag are lovely for chewing/sucking.

We all win with a new kitty toy for Lucy!

Really?

Our toilet paper is significantly more narrow than it used to be. It is pretty obvious and annoying the way the roll just slides around the TP holder. Have you noticed a difference with your toilet paper?

(We use Quilted Northern.)

I checked the packaging. I did not see any notes stating that they were using less trees than previously. My days at Nature's Classroom taught me to conserve, and I am all for that, if it's effective. Honestly, I haven't really noticed a difference when using the TP, and that's what's important. I hope you understand that it really is not a concern, I'm just sharing something we noticed.

Apple Picking

We thought we'd be apple picking after church; however it was rainy. So I'll share some pictures from our first apple picking experience when it was a beautiful day. Meghan was just a few days away from her first birthday...and still toothless.

It's actually quite amazing what a toothless little girl can do to an apple.

She had fun eating them at home, too!

A Car for Two?

The other day Evan wanted to hang out in the little car.  Shortly after, of course, Meghan wanted to join him.  It doesn't exactly have a seat wide enough for two, but they made do.  They both laughed and laughed!

Let's Get Physical

No, silly, not me.  Though I need to be much more physically active, I am referring to Meghan.

I just had to share this.  In the past week she's been trying new things.  She has been hopping up the stairs, froggy style: knees on lower stair, hands on upper stair and jumping up.  Pretty fun.  It's tiring for me to watch, but it's lots of fun for Meghan.  Just in case you need clarifying that this is froggy style, she says "hop" with each jump.

But this is the amazing part.  One day she wanted to go up the stairs "wheelbarrow" style.  I held her ankles and she made it pretty far.  I was impressed.  Within a couple days she wanted to do it again.  This time, she started at the bottom of the stairs and made it all the way to the top of the stairs!  I was amazed.  I certainly don't think I could do it.

On a side note, I think Meghan is much more pleasant in the evenings if she gets outside to play for a decent amount of time.  A quick trip to the mailbox isn't enough, but if we're out for 15 minutes it seems to help.  It's even helps if we just go for a walk in the stroller.  Fresh air does all of us good! 

Our little girl is quite physical.  Evan is right behind her.

Meghan likes to push Evan down.  If she's in a bad mood, it means that she pushes him down so he cannot touch her.  If she's in a good mood, she will push him down and lay on top of him pinning his giggling body to the ground.  Then she'll take him, roll him, and then lay on him some more.  He loves this.  I enjoy that I am not the piggy-pile.  (Although that happens too.)

They must get it from their daddy, because they certainly didn't get it from me!

*DAME Update

So life around here isn't really just about Meghan talking and Evan standing and trying to walk a bit.  I would like to say we're a well-balanced family, but really, I'm not sure we are.  Like most families, we tend to think a lot about what the kids are doing, and especially here on the blog, I tend to neglect to share what else is happening.  Here is my effort to let you know about all of us.

D:  The day after we returned from our Lancaster trip, Derek's semester began.  He's taking another on-line graduate course.  He gets up at 4:30, is at work by 6 AM, home around 4:30.  By 6 o'clock he's back at the computer or at least upstairs reading for school.  It's not fun for him, and the kids and I miss him, but we know it's a good thing in the long run. 

A: I broke out the sewing machine!  It feels good to create again, even if I have to use the seam ripper repeatedly.  Today is my first day at Bible study, too.  I joined the local Community Bible Study.  It's a nondenominational Bible study...available in many towns nationwide.  It meets weekly.  I am not sure how getting out of the house in the morning each week will go, but I'm looking forward to it.  We'll be studying the book of Revelation.  (Our pastor did a series on the complete book a few years ago.  If you're curious about the end times, you can listen to the sermons here.)  I'm also looking forward to my local MOMS Club activities, too.  I'm not sure how things will change after Meghan is in preschool.

M: Meghan is doing well with her speech.  She's consistently putting mulitple words together, but we mostly hear the same phrases over and over.  We continue to do our crafts and lessons because she really enjoys it, and it gives a bit more purpose to our days.  She starts preschool after her third birthday.  If you didn't read about that, you can read here.  It's a pretty big deal.  Since we learned that she's going, we have had another evaluation.  We had some exciting news with that evaluation.  We learned that her preschool will be much closer than we had been told.  Not only that, at that speech and language classroom, her teacher is actually a speech therapist!  Isn't that so neat??  I am much more comfortable with the idea of her going now.  We'll go and visit the preschool on Monday.

E: I can't believe Evan will turn one next month.  He's so funny!  I just wrote about how he is starting to move his feet while standing (not holding anything).  I'm not sure if they are considered first steps, but it's still exciting!  He makes many more sounds than Meghan did (until she was about 2).  They are sweet sounds to this mama's ears!  Evan seems to be sleeping a bit better at night, and for that I am very thankful!  Evan loves to rough-house.  He giggles when his sister tackles him.  Meghan likes to just lay on top of him and pin him!  When Meghan pushes him down or kicks him, he isn't really phased.  (Yes, this is a big issue for us.  She's pretty mean.  Any suggestions??)  Evan will throw himself on pillows and just laugh out loud.

I love this time of year.  Our leaves aren't changing yet, but the temperatures are comfortable.  The humidity is gone!  Yippee!  In the next week, it looks like our temperatures will be comfortable in the 60's.  I think sunny and 70 is the perfect day, so I enjoy this.  I appreciate weather when I can wear jeans and short sleeves.  I also like my flip flops...sneakers need socks, so I prefer flip flops.

A few weeks ago we had another change.  We moved last July.  When we did we decided not to get cable.  We happily used our antenna to get a handful of stations.  It saved us money and we didn't miss too much.  Okay, I didn't miss too much.  With college football season upon us, Derek and I talked about getting cable again.  So after a bit of research, and more than a year of antenna TV, VHS tapes, and DVD's, we decided to get satellite.  In addition to being able to watch Monk and Psych (on USA) again, I have to say I really enjoy the DVR.  A LOT.  (If you've never watched Monk or Psych, we highly recommend them!)  We record a handful of shows for Meghan and us.  It's lovely to not mess with the VHS tapes any more!  The antenna was great, and a fabulous way to save serious money, but the satellite is definitely nice to have, too.

I will just apologize now.  I don't have spell check any more.  If you know how to enable it, please share!  In the mean time, please disregard errors! 

*DAME= Derek, Annette, Meghan, Evan

Baby Steps

Well, it's happening.  Evan has been standing without holding onto anything for a bit now.  Yesterday Evan moved a foot while not holding on to us or furniture.  I saw it, and then when I told Derek, he said he had seen it before, too.  So though this may not be walking, Evan is certainly on his way!

Here is a picture of Evan was about four weeks old.  My baby has changed a lot. 

BIG

We had the opportunity to see two GIANT steam generators.  A local road was used to transport these to Three Mile Island in the Harrisburg, PA area. 

These MAMMOTH things were parked close to us for the night.  Five state police cars were there to keep them safe and the people back.  It was like a circus...someone should have been selling hot dogs and cotton candy!  We saw a neighbor and Meghan's therapist while there...and lots of people we didn't know.

These pictures are from the AREVA website.  We thought they were moving and were in a hurry to get out the door when we heard where they were.  We did not take the camera.   (Though we do have cell phones, neither of them have a camera.)

"AREVA NP Inc. is in the process of delivering two 510-ton steam generators to TMI. AREVA’s project management team has researched many possible scenarios to find the most efficient and least disruptive route. It is a 75 mile course over land passing through multiple municipalities. The anticipated length of the journey is 20 days."~ From the AREVA website.

The steam generators travel at a maximum of three miles per hour.  Roads are closed since they are two full lanes wide.  They mostly travel during the day.  There were a ridiculous amount of tires...Derek counted (he would!)...well, he counted and multiplied.  208 tires total!  WOW!  They used so many tires to distribute the weight better. 

You can see transport info here.   You might not be interested unless you live along the route (which you can see), but it's pretty neat!  Each steam generator sat on two long beds, similar to a tractor trailor's but different, and much bigger (remember two lanes wide!), and connected with an additional bed.  (Think of Legos.  Imagine connecting two blocks with a third block on top.  That's what it looked like.) 

The steam generators are like giant double boilers.  Since they are replacement components, they are not radioactive.  You didn't think we'd endanger our little ones, did you?

To be quite honest, we don't get the local newspaper.  We only watch the "local" news once in a while...maybe every two weeks.  So we didn't know exactly what was happening or when.  It was just recently that some neighbors shared a bit with us, but we still didn't know the when or how or really, what!  When we went to see them, we didn't know exactly what we were looking at.  It wasn't until after we returned home and looked it up that we got a better understanding and knew what they were. 

(Meghan liked seeing the BIG TRUCK.)

Photo Shoot

Last weekend (right before we went away), we had some family visiting.  Arden is just two months younger than Evan.  We had a fun photo shoot.  You wouldn't believe how many hundreds of photos were taken...and still no "WOW" picture of the three children.  I noticed that they look grainy on the blog.  I'm not sure what happened, but I still want you to see how cute they look.

The children are sitting on little logs, so they aren't necessarily easily compared in size in the pictures, but Arden and Evan are about the same size.

The coordinating clothes in blue and white just worked out that way, though we did dress Meghan and Evan in Penn State clothing purposely.

Goose Egg

We were visiting at our neighbor's farm. Meghan and several other children were playing outside...unsupervised.

Meghan started crying. She couldn't be consoled until I read her a book. I really thought she was just overly tired or hungry, though it wasn't really time for either to happen.

Meghan isn't verbal enough to say what upset her, though she did tell me she had a boo-boo on her head.  My friend asked her five year old daughter. Apparently they bumped heads, but only Meghan seemed to be hurt. (The five year old doesn't speak English yet, so I didn't understand what she said. The Amish learn to speak English when they go to school.)

















I was quite surprised by how long it took Meghan to get over this, but I understood better when she woke up from her nap that afternoon. She had a big goose egg on her forehead. It was a bit colorful, too. This picture is from several days later.  She really enjoyed showing her boo-boo to anyone who would look.

Speech Update

Wednesday morning we had our speech evaluation to determine what services Meghan will receive when she turns three. 

We're going to be going through some big changes here, as you might imagine from what we've shared before.  You can read more details over at Live, Learn, Love if you like.

Time for Us

Derek and I went away for two nights...all by ourselves while his mom stayed with the children. We have gone away overnight each summer since Meghan was born (well, really since we were married), but this was the first time that we knew Meghan would miss us.  She did, especially during the night.  Evan wasn't phased though.  We missed the kids, but they were in good hands.

We went to the Lancaster area. (Our hotel was an hour from our home, but some areas of Lancaster are much closer.)  We stayed just a few miles from the hub of it all in a small (tourist) town called Bird In Hand.  The inn we stayed at was lovely.  Many people go to the area for Amish-related activities, but we didn't feel the need to do those.  There are lots of family activities to do, but we're saving most of those for another trip. 

We did a lot of shopping.  Actually, we spent more time browsing and shopping than anything else!  We were fairly close to the outlets (not that that means good deals...you have to be careful).  We also enjoyed the touristy stores and farmers market in Bird In Hand.  We found some things for ourselves and some things to give as gifts.  We saw the Biblical Tabernacle Reproduction, an important part of the Underground Railroad, and a dinner theater that was just okay.   There were some other attractions we were interested in, but the timing didn't work out with it being Sunday and Labor Day.  (Tuesday morning we headed out for a matinee at the dinner theater, so we didn't get to do much that morning.)

We took the camera.  Can you tell?

Since our nephew (and Derek's brother and sister in law) was here on Saturday we have some cute pictures to share soon. 

9-9-09...isn't that neat!?

Little Rabbit

She had fun pretending to be a rabbit. She hopped. She pretended to nibble. And she nibbled a bit.

The tiny carrot is from our garden. Not quite edible for us...too bad we don't have a rabbit for a pet. If we pull them out and they are still teeny tiny and soft, I think we'll visit our neighbor's horses.

First Tooth

At the age of ten months, Evan has his first tooth. He got it on Monday.

He was not quite himself that morning, but not awful either. Since then, well, let's just say that he and I could use some more sleep! Today he skipped his afternoon nap entirely! (At least he slept past five this morning though.)

Want to hear the funny part? It wasn't Derek or me that first noticed the tooth. It was Meghan's SLP, Ashley! In our defense, I will just share that we can't even get a good look at it, let alone with the camera.

FYI, Meghan was 13 months old when she got her first tooth!

Growing Up

Evan has started to stand without holding anything once in a while, but this was a real surprise! He was walking behind the lion push toy for a bit, by himself.























Evan also has become quite the artist drawing on our doodler (when he's not chewing on the pen).

This is one of those punching balloons. It's sturdy enough that I don't mind Evan playing with it. We've had lots of fun (and fights) with this!

"Camp" Fire

When we had family visiting for Evan's dedication, we had dinner over a fire.



















Evan isn't pictured. (I forget if he was sleeping or playing in the little car.) In the picture standing upright is Derek's grandpa, bent is my dad. Next to Dad is his wife, Karen, then Donna, Meghan, Derek's grandma, and last Derek. I took the picture, as usual.

Meghan helped make her own hot dog.
















She ate it. All of it. Even though it is made from meat (well, kind of).


















Then we had dessert: toasted marshmallows. Meghan really enjoyed them.

Dirt

We got a load of topsoil to fill in some areas around our yard that have been washed out or settled. With family visiting this weekend, we took the opportunity to use Grandpa's truck to get the topsoil.

You might notice that Meghan doesn't always use her shovel.


















Who needs a shovel?


















That's Donna (Derek's aunt).

All done! That was fun!