separation anxiety

Jenna has not been happy with us when we leave the room for some time. But it's reached a new point -- she screeched as though she was in major pain when I stepped away from her in the kitchen. I turned back and she stopped. I turned away and again this blood-curdling cry came out. Awww.

good times with family

We rounded out the week-long visit from our Florida family with some UNO -- lots of it actually! I can't remember who won, so I'm just going to say it was me. :)

alex's 34th birthday

Alex's family was still in town and able to celebrate Alex's birthday with us. Yummy cake! Like father like son.

simon's 3rd birthday

Delayed due to the big snowstorm, Simon's 3rd birthday party was postponed to the day of Alex's 34th birthday. We spent the morning at the Fire Museum. Big hit! Tyler loved the trucks and even carried the toy trucks around with him during the tour. Then just as Simon was preparing to open his gift from us, Tyler yelled out, "It's Legos!" Too cute.

testing out the new toys

top row

My poor baby Jenna. She has had her two bottom teeth since she was five months old. In the past week the top ones have decided to join as well. And when I say top ones, I mean all four!! Starting with her left lateral incisor (one over from center) came in first, followed by her left central incisor. They seem to be popping in one by one from left to right because now the right central incisor is peeking through and the right lateral incisor is not long behind.

She has been a trouper through this painful rite of passage. She wakes up a few times now at night, either just after she goes to sleep or just prior to waking, but she just needs her binky to soothe herself. During the day she is all smiles -- a toothy smile soon that is!

christmas day

The Campbells, Reifins, Ordways, Joneses along with Christine gathered at our house for some quality time together in front of a decorated tree and views of snowy landscapes through the windows. Tyler was ecstatic and Jenna was happy to watch the show during her first Christmas! Tyler's favorite gifts were his bat "cage" cave from Santa and his kitchen from Mommy and Daddy, which was hidden in the laundry room with a ribbon trail. But honestly he went nuts for each gift he opened. But overall the holiday was bittersweet -- the first Christmas for Jenna and with our FL family up north, but also the first without my dad. Thankfully Tyler's enthusiasm was contagious and kept spirits high!

santa's cookies

Christmas Eve was filled with two of my favorite past times: family time and cookie making! After a day of making many, many yummy treats and decorating our cookies Tyler picked two to leave out for Santa. He also decided that he wanted to leave CHOCOLATE milk for Santa. He was SO excited for Santa to come!

florida family in town

For the first year ever, our Florida family headed North for the holidays rather than the other way around. We really missed Alex's sister and boys who didn't join the festivities, but we enjoyed ourselves no less. It was also the first time GG and Paul had been to our new home and met Jenna!


We kicked off their visit with a trip to the Capitol for a celebratory lunch for Alex's upcoming birthday only to find out that the Smithsonian restaurant had closed several years ago. We made do with another eatery, but had to cross the mall which was still covered with snow and ice from the previous storm. But all survived the trip unscathed!

snow fun

I think Tyler just nailed Luca with a snow ball!

Mmmm, snowball snack!

graham cracker

Jenna had her first chomp of real food: a graham cracker. Yummy.

under snow

Lots and lots of snow. We got about 2 feet which is much more than we are used to getting at one time in Maryland. It amounted to two passes at the driveway with the snow blower.

first sign, part II

ok, so we may have jumped the gun a bit. Jenna is doing the same that Tyler did when first learning sign language... she is using the milk sign as a universal "gimme milk/food" symbol. Now that she understands that she can sign and get something she wants, we need to add more signs!

first sign

Jenna communicated her first word -- she signed it that is! Milk! Now I guess it's time for me to go back and remind myself of all the signs that I taught myself and Tyler so we can share with her.

head check

We went back to the pediatrician to have Jenna's head checked again and her flu booster. Jenna's head had only grown the little bit that the doctor would have expected so we got the all clear there. And Jenna was very brave getting her flu booster too.

first dentist visit

Shortly after turning three, Tyler had his first visit to the dentist. I was told that most kids are overwhelmed by fear: something new, sharp tools, people wearing gloves and masks. I discussed with the hygienist during my visit the previous week how to prepare Tyler for his first checkup. Mostly Tyler and I just talked about what would happen, but it didn't hurt that there was a promise of stickers at the end of his visit. On the day of, Tyler was super thrilled to go and was an angel. He was only slightly hesitant to get in the chair until he knew that I was going to be nearby and then he was a perfect patient. He loved the cherry polish and the spitting water parts and as soon as the appointment was over he hopped out of the chair and said with a big grin, "I get stickers now?"

7 months

My beautiful baby girl is 7 months old. She is the happiest, most giggly little girl.

phone etiquette

Tyler loves to pretend he's on the phone. He'll use just about anything as his phone: a domino, a toy car, his sippy cup. Today we played telephone and in the middle of talking to each other he decided to tease me; he hung up and then said, "I hung up to you!"

naughty list

Tyler has been learning about some Christmas traditions. Today he exclaimed, "I don't want to be on Santa's naughty list!"

Daisy love

Jenna is hyper aware of Daisy now and LOVES to watch her. Jenna giggles with delight and wants to reach out and pet Daisy.

Christmas tree shopping

first snow

It was the first snow of the season and Jenna's first snow ever!

nap time

The no-nap incident was a fluke thankfully!

changing station fun

Compare to Tyler at five months.