Wrong video

I actually meant to post this one...

Agh! Gemma is sick AGAIN. Remember how I told you we postponed her shots because she had been fighting a cold for 9 days? Well it's back. Thankfully she was healthy for the week of Thanksgiving and for her shots yesterday...maybe her shots is why she's having a relapse. I'm sick of it! I'm pretty tired of wiping snot off her nose, but mainly I just feel so bad for her. Her eyes are all watery and her nose is running enough to keep her upper lip perpetually red and chapped. I'm so used to her nasally voice I've almost forgotten what she really sounds like. She just seems miserable! Not only do I feel bad for her, but I'm constantly paranoid that Makael is going to get it too. He sounds a little congested but so far it hasn't interfered with his sleep. Speaking of which, he is a sleeping champ! He goes to bed at 8:00 p.m. and doesn't wake up for his first feeding until 5:30. I'm usually already up getting ready to go for a run. As weird as it may seem, I'm sad we don't have those midnight feeding anymore. He gets extra sweet during those late hours. He loves to burrow into my neck while I'm burping him and give out the sweetest little sighs.

I'm still worried about how little he's eating. He'll be 12 weeks on Friday and he's still only eating 2.5 ounces, with me basically forcing him. He either gets restless and fights me the whole time, or he stares at me and smiles...basically he'll do anything to avoid eating. What a weird baby! I guess I won't worry too much unless he stops growing. He's still pretty small, but growing non the less.

Makael and Gemma's bond seems to be growing every day. He gives her some of the biggest smiles I've ever seen, and she gets so distraught if he's crying and I don't tend to him immediately. It's cute!
Yesterday afternoon, Makael was getting tired so he was fussing as I walked into Gemma's room to get her up from her nap. She put out her arms and ever so sweetly said, "Come see me Makael, you be okay". I would love to be able to say that he calmed right down and all was well, but no, he continued crying while I got her a cup of milk and got her a snack. At least she tried to help :)

Sisterly love

Crazy Hair!

She managed to tape herself. I thought it was kind of funny when I found it. I think she was using the camera as a phone.

Thanksgiving

I'll start off by saying that I am unbelievably thankful for my two beautiful kids. God is good!

Makael spent his first Thanksgiving with 33 people at Nana and Papa's house. There was a lot going on all day long, and he didn't want to miss one second of it, so he refused to nap besides 10 minutes here and there. Thankfully the lack of sleep didn't seem to mess with his mood much and he gladly handed out smiles to anyone that asked for them. He's such a sweet boy! Gemma also did really well with no nap. It was definitely a fun filled day for all of us.

The best part of the day however was hearing Makael's first laugh. As I was getting him ready for the day, I happened to lean over him at just the right (or wrong) time and startled him. His eyes got huge before he let out the funniest cackle. It was so adorable! I got him to do it one other time but then he refused once David came into the room. Of course! I can't think of many things that are better than hearing your baby laugh for the first time.

The rest of our holiday weekend has been pretty lazy. I've been running a fever and David got pink eye so we've been laying low. Amazingly enough, the kiddos have been on their best behavior and so stinken cute, that we've both been able to relax and get better.

You wouldn't believe how hard it was to get this video! If Makael sees the camera, he just gets wide eyed and stares...so I had to keep the camera hidden, make sure he was still in the shot, and play peek-a-boo all at the same time. Not easy!

Why, presents, and doctors

Gemma turned two on Monday, and sometime in the middle of the night, someone taught her the word "why". It's now her favorite word!! Thankfully I learned pretty quickly that she doesn't always understand the response to her "why", so if I answer her with something completely off topic like "you're so cute!"...she forgets she asked and moves on. She's pretty smart though, so I don't expect that tactic to work for very long.
We had a small family birthday party, which quickly became not so small. There were quite a few people there to celebrate her! Once she got used to everyone's attention, she had a really good time. All her new presents have kept her really entertained the last few days which has been nice. It's hard to believe she's two already. Time flies! Before I know it, she's going to be headed into her teenage years.

Birth


1st Birthday

2nd birthday

We had the dreaded 2 year/2 month doctor visit yesterday. Gemma is now 35 inches tall and weighs 28 lbs. That's in the 50th percentile for both, so she's a pretty average kid (in some ways). She's been battling a cold for over a week so they postponed her only shot until she's better. So lucky for me, I only had to deal with one baby getting shots.Once again she impressed everyone with her talking ability, and since she loves going to the doctor, she was quite the outgoing and charming little girl.
Makael was not so lucky...he did have to get shots. Poor little guy! He let out the initial scream with the first two pricks, but then did the whole silent cry through the 3rd shot before he was able to catch his breath and really let it out. As a mom, watching your babies get shots are not fun moments, but we survived, and Makael is healthy, growing, and perfect! He is now 21.5 inches and weighs 10 lbs 7oz. Still a little guy :) Overall, it was a very uneventful, easy trip to the doctor's office.

Getting more and more handsome by the day :)

More pictures have been posted to facebook for those of you who might want to see some more cuteness :)
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.272206649469806.73119.100000414194522&type=3&saved#!/media/set/?set=a.272206649469806.73119.100000414194522&type=3

Happy 2 months

Today is Makael's 2 month birthday. I cannot imagine life without him anymore. He's an unbelievable baby. We officially have a routine now, and he's taken to it quite well. As soon as he started sleeping over 6 hour stretches, I decided to give him a bedtime. He goes to bed at 8 (just like Gemma) and sleeps until 3:30 or 4:00, and then is back up at 7. Our days are pretty easy now too. He's growing like a week, and smiles constantly. He's starting to really talk when he's awake now, and his little voice is just the cutest. My favorite thing though, is the fact that he and Gemma have started interacting more. She baby talks to him in a high pitch voice, and he just glows. If she walks into the room and says something, he immediately starts looking for her. Thankfully, I can still say I'm his favorite person...for now anyway. Next Thursday we have a big day. Gemma has her two year check up, and Makael has his 2 month check up. I know it's easier to take them together, but I don't know how I'm going to handle both of them getting shots on the same day. There will be tears shed that's for sure....and I'm sure G and M will shed a few too.
Here's a video of little man...
He looks a little funny. The lighting and angle were just weird, but at least you can hear his cute little voice. Gemma had a friend over to play which is why she's squealing in the background.

Happy Halloween

I have always loved the month of October. The weather cools down, the leaves turn, and everything seems more cozy with the anticipation of Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner. The only thing that ruins it, is Halloween. I've never understood why people like to dress up as ghosts and witches and decorate their houses with monsters and graves. And to make it worse, every decent t.v. show is replaced with some sort of gory horror movie.
Last night however, I experienced Halloween as I have never experienced it before. I spent the evening going from house to house with the cutest lady bug you'll ever see. I took Gemma on her first trick-or-treat outing and can't remember the last time I had so much fun. She didn't really take to it initially. She reluctantly went up to the first door and then cried when the nice lady put candy in her bucket. I was nervous about how the rest of the night would go. Thankfully, aunt Elly came to the rescue and opened a piece of candy for her and explained that the rest of the candy was going to go into her bucket for later. I guess I should have thought of that, but I was busy taking pictures. Once she grasped the whole concept, her demeanor completely changed and she began going from door to door like she had done this whole trick-or-treat business a hundred times. Gosh it was cute!! I wish I could have video taped the whole night. I think I might have had more fun than she did.
Makael obviously stayed back this year. But I already can't wait for next year when he can join in on the fun.

I wanted to be able to post all the pictures, but that would take so long, I decided to just post a link to the album. Please let me know if it doesn't work.


http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.293871873969950.78403.100000414194522&type=3&saved