Things Are Starting to Click

This whole stay at home mom thing with two little girls is really starting to click! It sure helps that Annie and I are sleeping through the night most of the time now. Here are a few photos of our activities this past week.

Oh and a HUGE thank you to Aunt Stephanie and Uncle Jon for staying with the girls this weekend so Geoff and I could enjoy an evening away in honor of our 8 year anniversary. I know the girls enjoyed their time and it was great to spend an evening with just my husband again!



Last Tuesday I brought the snow inside for Lauren to play with. It was too cold to take Annie outside, but Lauren was really interested in the snow, so I brought it to her. She enjoyed using a spoon to transfer the snow from one dish to another.



On Wednesday Aunt Stephanie was kind enough to come with us to the aquarium. Thank goodness she was there! There is no way I can take both girls out to a place like that by myself these days. I LOVE the way Lauren is looking up at Aunt Stephanie in this photo. There was a huge snake behind the glass.



Aunt Stephanie with the girls.



I try to plan at least one art project per day for Lauren. She loves art project time. Last Friday she made her Valentine's to take to day care.



Lauren and her finished froggy Valentine.



Yesterday we spent the afternoon hanging out on the couch watching the Bears loose. It was a very relaxing afternoon, even though the game was a giant disappointment!


Geoff and the girls



When I clean the house on Mondays, Annie hangs out with me up on our bed. Lauren stays busy at Mariah's with her friends on Mondays and Thursday and those are the days I clean, work on laundry, and run errands, not to mention, spend some one on one time with Annie!

It's Tough Being Two!

Lauren has certainly started showing her independent side! It seems the two of us have gone head to head at least once a day for the past week. Whether it's about using the potty or having to leave a museum we have had our battles. This is really tough for me because up until now she has been so well behaved and such a patient little listener. I can only imagine how tough it is for her though because she is simply trying to figure what she can and can't do, while thinking she can do everything! We will keep working on it and I will prepare myself for years of battles to come!

On a positive note, Lauren still loves being Annie's big sister. She loves talking to her, giving Annie her pacifier, rocking her car seat to help her stop crying, and singing to Annie. In the photo below Annie was having tummy time and Lauren decided she should have some too.



Lauren uses a really high pitched voice when she talks to Annie. I guess this is how Geoff and I sound to Lauren when we talk to Annie and she is mimicking us. It really is pretty cute!



Annie loves her tummy time much more than Lauren did. She is awake much more now, so we get to see her beautiful dark, wide eyes even more often. Annie's fussy time is between 7-10 pm. That's ok though because Lauren goes to bed around 8 so that is the best time for us to give Annie undivided attention anyway. Annie loves her swaddle at night so we thought we would try to put her in in during these hours too. It worked! She is still a bit fussy, but pretty much just hangs out with us on the couch in her swaddle. Another difference from Lauren. Lauren really did not like her swaddle. In fact she would squirm and wiggle until she got out of it!



Annie is becoming a fantastic sleeper! She has pretty much stopped waking up for her middle of the night feeding. She used to eat every 4 hours, including 2am, but she has now started sleeping from around 11pm until around 5am. Throughout the day she now eats every 4 to 5 hours. We have a really great schedule working for us right now! Now if I can just figure out how to get Lauren to listen to me again, we will be all set! :)

Cooking Class

Last Friday started with Lauren insisting upon wearing this hat and scarf around all day. She wore them at breakfast and kept them on when we went to lunch with my friend, Gus. Although, I think they both did eventually come off after we were inside for a bit and Lauren became warm.



After a wonderful lunch in Skokie, we headed down to Chicago to hang out with Aunt Stephanie and then go to cooking class. Lauren was so excited to go to Aunt Stephanie's house and see Chicago. As we were driving down on the expressway and Lauren noticed all the skyscrapers she gasped and said, CHICAGO! She was also very interested in the trains that were running on both sides of the expressway.

We went to cooking class at The Kids Table on North Ave. I would highly recommend this location! What a great time we had. Lauren started by mixing whole wheat biscuits.



Next came chopping time. They had these perfect little choppers for little hands which were not sharp enough to cut fingers, but chopped onions, garlic, and fruit just fine.



Enjoying our meal of biscuits, gravy, scrambled eggs, and fruit salad. I was so excited because Lauren ate strawberries and grapes and said, "I like grapes, I like strawberries." She is really starting to enjoy more fruit.


A photo of both of us at the end of the class. Not only did we mix, chop, and eat, but we cleaned up afterward too. Lauren is currently very interested in washing dishes so this may have been her favorite part. They sinks the perfect size for Lauren and even little sponges for her to use. She also loved going over to the sinks throughout the class just to wash her hands. At least the germs were contained! What a wonderful evening we had together! A huge thanks to Aunt Stephanie for watching Annie. We will be sure to go to more classes at The Kids Table in the future.

Annie 1 Month Check-up

Last Monday Geoff and I took Annie to her one month check-up. Dr. Siegel was very pleased with her progress. She now weighs 9 lbs 7 oz and is 20 3/4 inches long. Just like Lauren, she has blocked tear ducks in her eyes so when she wakes up in the morning we have to clean her eyes. Hopefully this will go away on its own and Annie won't need to have a procedure done. This photo below was taken just before we left for Annie's appointment.




Not sure what Annie is thinking in this photo, but you can tell she is unsure about something!



Annie hung out with Aunt Stephanie last Friday night so Lauren and I could go to cooking class. Looks like they had a great time relaxing together.


Yesterday Annie spent about 1 1/2 hours on her tummy. I couldn't believe she was happy there for so long. Lauren did not like tummy time at all when we first started it. Annie gave us her first really big smile right before this so I bet she was just in a great mood! She smiled for Mammie when we were at the cabin, but I didn't see it because I was so busy playing cards and Monopoly. Annie's huge smile yesterday just made my day!

Happy New Year Snowman

One of the fun adventures Lauren and Papa had while up at the cabin was making a snowman. It was Lauren's first time making a snowman up at the cabin and she loved it. Lauren and Daddy made a huge snowman in our backyard last winter. Mammie and Papa got the girls a really great snowman kit for Christmas which had everything needed but the snow. Lauren loved putting the pieces in the snow to create the snowman.


One of the fun adventures Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Jon, Mommy, and Daddy had while up at the cabin was going out for New Year's Eve. Thanks to Mammie and Papa for staying with the girls! We headed through the dense fog over to Crystal Mountain's Vista Lounge to ring in 2011. There was a great band, fantastic people watching and even a bit of dancing involved in our evening. Here's to a wonderful 2011!

Cabin Fun

We were so fortunate to be able to spend some well deserved time up at my parent's cabin between Christmas and New Year's. I will let these photos speak for themselves!

Christmas 2010

We enjoyed a few Christmas celebrations throughout the past two weeks. Our first celebration was at our own house, just the four of us.


Lauren, Annie, and I got Geoff a pair of noise canceling headphones and Lauren LOVED wearing them. Geoff and I just love her smile in this photo.



Our living room was (and still is) a mess of gifts! My goal is to finally get it cleaned up tomorrow. In my defense, we have been out of town for just over a week!



On Christmas Eve we drove over to Rockford and stayed with Geoff's parents. Here is the Hanson family all dressed up and ready for Christmas Eve mass. Annie is still not so sure about the whole picture thing! She didn't make a peep during mass though and Lauren was fantastic as well. I think this means we are back to going to mass as a family. I really hope this continues, because going to mass all alone is lonely. We went to Christmas Eve mass at the church I grew up at and ran into a few of my elementary classmates. What a pleasant surprise! Lauren was very interested in Baby Jesus.



Annie got me a charm with her name and birthdate on it for my Tiffany bracelet. Now I have a charm for our wedding date, Lauren's birthday and Annie's too.



On the day after Christmas we went to my parent's house to celebrate. My Grandma and Bruce came over too to celebrate with us and meet Annie. What a great family photo!



Four generations. We took a photo like this on Lauren's first holiday which was Thanksgiving, so I wanted to take one on Annie's first holiday too.



Papa and Annie were both so tired after all the holiday activities!