Merry Christmas

I hope all our readers had a merry christmas/happy holidays. We had a full house, but the girls enjoyed every minute of it. Here are some photos and video my brother created. Enjoy

Blast from the past

Here is an interview with Claire, age 2 years, 3 months.

Sleep overs

Last night we had two sleep overs. We got hit by freezing rain, which effectively shut down Atlanta - the city of Atlanta has 8 sand/salt trucks. The hardest hit area was Canton, where we live. The roads started icing about 4:30pm. At 4pm, our babysitter picked up Claire and was going to take Claire, with her family to Lake Lanier (about 30 miles away) to see the annual night of lights. Magen lives about 10 miles north of us and she went home after getting Claire. Of course, by the time she got home, the major roads in Atlanta were starting to become parking lots. So, they were stuck at Magen's house, where Claire spent the night. Laura and I were fortunate to spend the night at home.

"I want to go home! I want my mommy!" Poor little girl. Magen got her to settle down by giving Claire her christmas present and allowing her to open it. I am sure the rice krispy treats and candy didn't hurt either. Anyway, Magen said Claire did well and hopefully by 10am, the roads will be better and she can bring Claire home.

The other sleepover was mommy. Lynn was working yesterday with another professor, Vanessa, on a manuscript. Since school is over for the semester, they got primo parking on campus, on the top level of the parking deck right by their offices - normally reserved for students. Anyway, the parking deck froze and neither of them could get their cars out, so they spent the night at work, working. Several of our neighbors also spent the night at their offices because of the roads.

I drove home yesterday from grocery store which is normally 10 minutes, but it took nearly 45 minutes. When I got home, I told our nanny that she should go home right away (at 5:30pm), rather than wait until 6pm. She lives about 20 minutes away. It took her 3 hours to get home, but she did arrive safely. Anyway, we are thankful that everyone is safe.

Our suspicions are confirmed

One thing Lynn didn't mention about Laura's Dr. appointment was something the x-rays picked up. Laura has always had a great appetite, but lately she has been eating and eating and eating. She eats more than Claire does. The x-rays uncovered a hollow leg, which explains how she is able to eat that much.

Laura is also cutting her first tooth. Teeth actually. The bottom two front teeth are coming in. And surprisingly, she's been pretty good, in terms of not crying too much.

Today we had our first snow fall of the year. We didn't have as much snow as Uncle Larry did. And it wasn't as cold as it was for Uncle Paul, Aunt Taya and Lola last week when it was -30C. Anyway, it didn't stick to the ground, but Claire sure wanted to go outside and make a snowman. It's just been cold and windy.

I have posted some photos of Laura here and I have more of the girls to upload in a few days.

SANTA!

The girls got to visit with Santa today. He happened to stop in at the River Green Heritage Club and we went to talk with him about Christmas and to get our pictures taken. Here are a few from the visit.

Laura also had her 9 month check up on Wednesday. She measured 29in long and 18lbs 3oz. So, that's 86% for height, 32% for weight and 21% for head circumference. Her little noggin is starting to catch up with the rest of her. Dr. says she looks great and is developing perfectly, "A+". She regularly rolls back and forth and somehow manages to get exactly what she wants without crawling yet. We aren't worried about her not crawling yet, as many developmental pediatricians think crawling is no longer a milestone - some kids just wait and walk! We'll see.

Anyway, the girls are doing great. Claire is still such a delightful little girl. Polite, funny, sweet and kind. Laura is blossoming into the sweetest little baby who loves to laugh at her sister and play pattycake with the rest of us.

That's all for now. We'll post more, including more pictures from the fall, later.

Has it been a month?

Yup. Hard to believe. A lot has happened since the last posting. I am sure I will forget some of it and I am sure that Lynn will post something as well to fill in the blanks.

Grammy and grampy came down to visit on their annual trek to Florida. We had a great visit and spent some time at a pumpkin patch, which was down to about a dozen pumpkins. Nevertheless, we had a great time going on a hay ride and Claire even rode a pony!

Laura spent her first Hallowe'en in the girls' new red Radio Flyer wagon, being pulled around the neighborhood in her Swiper costumer. While she didn't end up with any candy (one of the drawbacks of not having any teeth), her sister made out quiet well in the candy department, though I am not sure where all she candy went. Claire dressed up as Boots for Hallowe'en.

On Nov 12, we piled in the car and drove 6.5 hours to The Villages, FL, where Grammy and Grampy are spending Nov and Dec. The girls were great on the whole trip. On Nov 15, Lynn and I left Laura with grammy and grampy and told Claire that today was her "Special Day". We took her to Disneyworld. I think she was a little too young to appreciate it, but she loved meeting Mickey and the rest of the clubhouse gang, and Winnie and Tigger.

I flew back home on Tuesday morning to work and then flew back to Orlando on Friday. Interesting tid-bit about Orlando, it has two airports. My lovely wife who came to pick me up from the airport on Friday went to the wrong airport - yes she is a geography professor. Anyway, we are packing up today, because this evening we are going to drive back to Atlanta because I have to work tomorrow. I promise it will not be a month until my next posting.

Poor Claire

By now you know that Claire is shy. Put her in a room full of kids and she grabs on to your pant leg for dear life. Last weekend we had our annual neighborhood cookout. There were probably 20 kids under 10 years there. Initially Claire sat behind our chairs, almost hiding. We finally got her to play with Ella and Cassidy (both around 8 years old). They were excited because they thought they taught Claire to count to five.

Lynn made unofficial plans to meet with a couple neighbors and their daughters (2-3 years old) later that week, but forgot to confirm with them. So Lynn and Claire are sitting outside on the rocking chairs waiting for Alexis and Callie to come play and they didn't come. Next Lynn was telling Claire that they were going to a new tumbling class and that Claire would meet some new kids. They went to the tumbling class and Claire was the only one who showed up.

Poor girl is going to have a complex when she grows up.

Rejoinder: Callie and Alexis are coming over tomorrow (10/20/10) to play with Claire! Lynn has me cleaning up the entire house!