Smile!

I was just checking the closet to see what I have for Miss Sheila to wear before the spring Catholic Consignement sale in a few weeks. I learned two things: 1) Baby girl clothes are kinda cute (see example outfit below) and 2) I have a LOT of them already... in fact, I don't think I have to go shopping for her, which is sad. Well, at least MJ is getting bigger, so I know I could get some stuff for him.

Sheila is very spoiled that Daddy works from home most days.

This big brother loves to hold Sheila.

And this big brother loves to play with her.

Many "Starts"

Joey realized he is two years old and started throwing more tantrums. Monday he had at least 6 major tantrums, and since then he's been having fewer. I forgot about this stage in a child's development and had hoped that our sweet, joyful Joey would simply skip over all of this. He actually seems to be handling them quite well. He is growing up in so many ways. I think we should officially start toilet training for Joey as for the last month he's been occasionally using it. The last 2 weeks he has been consistent just before his bath but likes to stand up like MJ does. This is just going to be so different from toilet training MJ...we'll see how it goes.

Sheila has started being awake more during the day and we've all enjoyed making her smile. It's cute when MJ makes up his own songs to sing to her. I believe Joey and Sheila understand each other in a way we cannot see. Here is Joey sharing his favorite cars with Sheila (this reminds me of MJ's first encounter with baby Joey).

As MJ is now 4 years old, I thought we should start trying pre-school with him for a bit. We've only had 2 days of it, but I really love teaching him. It's been fun going through the many materials that I saved from my teaching days (which Mario always felt accumulated way too many boxes). But I really enjoy seeing how MJ thinks and seeing him as a big kid like the ones I taught 5 years ago. Our first day he decided to call me Teacher when we were doing school, and thought it was pretty funny that when school was finished and I made lunch for him I became Mommy again. We've been doing school in the morning, and today as I was finished with all I wanted to get through, MJ was still asking for more. And then around dinner time, MJ asked if we could do more school. Now, I know this is not a compliment to me as that kids his age just love to learn. I fondly remember the comment of one of my kindergarten student's on her first day of school, "I've been waiting for this my whole life!"

Here are a few pictures from our visit to St. Louis 2 weeks ago... I realize I never posted them, and I was out of cute pictures of the kids.

Big Girl bath tub!
In the same bassinet that I had as a kid.
This onesie was made at a baby shower when I was pregnant with MJ. We've gotten a lot of use out of it!

Joey's Birthday

From Joey's expression, we believe he had a fabulous 2nd birthday. Thanks for all of your Happy Birthday wishes! He woke up a little sad, but as he realized that he was the birthday boy, he got progressively happier. He was able to open one present in the morning (a truck that will be great in our dirt box outside). Daddy worked from home, so Joey got extra birthday hugs from him all day. He was very excited about his cake, which we think is the best I've made so far. We have 1 birthday in each of the first four months of the year, so I get a lot of pracitce (well, and now with Sheila in December, we have 5 birthday months in a row!).

Joey got a new WALL-E toy which he loves, but has been able to share with MJ. He also got the movie Horton Hears a Who. Now, I know that sparked some controversy on this blog in the past, but after seeing it I think it really has a great message and perhaps should be given a second chance. The reference to home-schooling was so minimal compared to the message that a "person is a person, no matter how small". This movie brings tears to my eyes and I can't help but think anyone invovled with the movie or anyone who watches it must see the connection between the littlest lives in the womb who we cannot see, hear, or feel but still matter so much. It is rare to see any major movie these days with such reverence for life.

In other news, we spent an hour at the doctor today for Joey's 2 year and Sheila's 2 month well check-ups. Everyone behaved very well, and the kids are doing great. Thanks to my sisters-in-law who have paved the way for alternative vaccination schedules, I felt well prepared and had no troubles at all. Joey is actually shorter than MJ was at 2 years (36 inches compared to 36 1/2) and he weighs 4 lbs less (32 lbs 4 oz). Sheila seems small to me for a reason - she only weighs 12 lbs 10 oz (which is a little less than how heavy her brothers were at 1 month old). But she's still in the 90%. She's not as tall as her brothers were either, about an inch shorter, but she is 24 inches (95%) Blah blah blah...lots of numbers which are probably boring you... I have my own spreadsheet of our family growth chart to compare, I guess the bottom line is she's big, which doesn't suprise us very much.

DC Auto Show

On Sunday, we enjoyed our 3rd annual trip to the DC Auto show. We all had a great time, though I don't think Sheila will remember anything from the trip as she slept for the 1 hour ride there, the 2 hours we were there and the 1 hour ride back. However, I think she looked adorable in her fluffy dress. My mom saved everything from when we were kids - each time we go back we try to sort through more stuff to get rid of or keep. Now that I have a girl, I guess it's time to bring out the frilly dresses my sisters and I wore as kids.

Joey was really tired, but hung in there until the end.

I believe this dress was first used for Erin's first Christmas when she was 3 months old.

Happy Birthday Joey!

Our little Joey is now 2 years old! I had a lot of fun searching through pictures from his first 2 years of life, and I apologize for posting so many. I couldn't decide which ones to get rid of.


2 months old - on a road trip to Notre Dame - already quite the traveler
2 months old - happy kid
5 months old - ready to drive
5 months old - love the baby rolls
1 year old - always adventurous
13 months - deep in thought
1 1/2years - we won't be looking down on you at this angle for much longer
1 1/2 years - Such a big boy!
1 3/4 years - a creative kid who loves football

We love you Joey! Happy Birthday!

Celebrating Life

My sister-in-law just posted this on our family blog... I thought they were pretty neat videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AqPRcF7ZC0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qj3nWy7HMs

SNOW!

We love SNOW! I've been asking for it all winter, and it finally arrived, the week that I am supposed to drive to St. Louis alone (well, with the 3 kids). We had to delay our trip one day, but staying to play in the snow was well worth it. I guess those visitors from New York decided to share some with us after all.

First we headed over to the hill behind our old townhome - still the best hill that I know of in Ashburn.
In the afternoon, we decided to take the short walk behind our house to the hill at St. Teresa.

This hill isn't as large, but it has some perks. It's close... so some day the kids could come here on their own. And the parking lot to the church is lit, so I think we could manage to get some sledding in at night if we wanted to.

There's a park by it, so if you can brave the slippery steps, the slide is well worth it. The kids were getting some good air at the end of the slide. I wanted to catch MJ as he flew off the end, and Joey decided to run by. They ended up missing each other by a few inches.

This is how Sheila spent her first snow day.

Our second snow day had a nice cover of ice that was not too thick. It added a little extra zip down the slopes. Eating ice is a little different than eating snow, as MJ will be able to share.



And here are a few attempts to get the kids smiling.