What's your name

I have been working for months to get Miss M to tell me (or anyone for that matter) what her name is.  We go to her gym class every week and when we go around the circle and the kids say their name Miss M always sits there in defiance and won't say anything.

Then last week on our trip she informed us her name was MadCat.  She is called MadCat regularly and every derivative in between that and her actual name.

Today I was able to get on video her telling me her name is MadCat.  Please note how focused she was on watching the TV. She doesn't take to interruptions to her TV time very kindly.

Celebrating 60 years

The main reason for our 1600 mile journey was to celebrate great grandma and great grandpa's 60th wedding anniversary.  It's quite an accomplishment to make it 60 years together which was evidenced by the folks in the greeting card industry as there were very few (one to be exact) cards to choose from at the store.

It was a lovely celebration with lots of people coming by to show their friendship and respect for great grandma and great grandpa.

Mr. Man was also able to meet great grandpa, whom he was named after.

 Miss M once again got a few 'prizes'.

This was how most of Jack and Craig's time was spent. Craig trying to get Jack to sit and Jack thinking he had other plans.

Jack's plans consisted of crawling/walking/running up the ramp then scooting down it on his belly as though it were a slide. Over and over and over again.

 Then the rascal tried to get in the cake.

 I think this is the only time he wasn't moving.

 Except this time...when cake was involved.

Aren't they cute?!? A friend of theirs gave GGma a medal with an inscription on the back saying "For putting up with Bill for 60 years". I am not sure I have ever seen GGma laugh as hard as she did when she saw the medal.

 Mr. Man and his namesake.

Mile after Mile

The kids and I loaded up the car and made a ten day trek around the Midwest.  I calculated the total mileage from each point A to point B (this did not include stops or general driving around town) and the total mileage was approximately 1600.  I drove 1600 miles in ten days with two kids...by myself.  I think the lack of sleep has made me crazy.  It went as well as could be expected until the last leg of the trip home.  I don't think we will be traveling anywhere too far away anytime soon.

It was really wonderful to see so many people and have people for Miss M to play with and entertain her while I focused on Mr. Man.  I am still struggling with learning how to balance two.  I think it is extra apparent how much I am struggling after getting back home and it just being the kids and I.  I think mainly I struggle with the guilt of not playing or engaging Miss M enough and letting her watch what feels like too much TV. I was feeling guilty today when I was feeding Mr. Man. Miss M laid on the spare bed in Mr. Man's room with her blanket in her mouth and when I asked her what was wrong she informed me she was "just sad".  Miss M doesn't throw tantrums like a normal two year old instead she kills me with guilt.  And she's good at it.  She slumps her shoulders, turns away sometimes to a corner, and gets really quiet. It's the saddest thing I have ever seen.  Therefore I have found her a babysitter for a couple hours a few days a week. Hopefully I feel less guilty and she is able to burn off some energy.

Anyway...back to our travels...I didn't take a lot of pictures but I have a few...

A loves all things babies...even the real ones.

When we were at Grandma and Poppy's house we walked to the neighbors and they let us pick out the clothes for their geese out front.  Yep, they dress two geese.  Miss M wanted to ride the goose like a horse

 Miss M got a few 'prizes' along the way.

She played in the pool while playing with O.  She now thinks there should be a pool at our house.  I don't think we will have one this summer...maybe next year.

She was in love with A's scooter. It was slightly terrifying to watch when she insisted she ride it down the driveway which had a downhill slope.

 Mr. Man just hung out.

 E took Miss M on wagon rides.

Overall, it was a great trip.  It didn't feel like we were traveling most of the time because we had our own space and beds which was helpful.  Usually E and Miss M play together quite well and they did this time to but with the Ohio kids in town for a few days E played with Ashleigh instead.  Miss M was fine playing by herself but the exciting part was there looks to be potential for Miss M and A to play together in the future!

Mr. Man is One Month Old!

Mr. Man officially turned one month old on Saturday.  Grandma D came up Friday to stay with Miss M Saturday so we could go to a wedding in Wisconsin.

Mr. Man was an excellent wedding guest. He slept through the ceremony and the reception.  The best part was the bride and groom had organized babysitters for the children so Mr. Man went stayed with the babysitters and slept for three hours.  He woke up around 8pm and we were exhausted so we left the wedding early and went back to the hotel and went to sleep.  Mr. Man had gotten enough sleep during the wedding and reception and decided he wanted to be awake from 3-6 am.  It is less than ideal to stay in a hotel with a baby.

Mr. Man had his one month check up.

He weighed in at 10 lbs and 8 ozs - 75%
He was measured to be 23.5 in long - > 98% (as a disclaimer I don't think he's that long but he probably is at least 23 inches which still makes him very long - it was hard to get a measurement due to him being hungry and squirmy)
His head is still in the 50%

Mr. Man has started to spit up a lot and with the spit up comes irritability and general discomfort. We were able to get an acid reflux prescription so hopefully this will help his feedings.

Mr. Man is a good baby (especially compared to Miss M - she was a pistol).  He's sleeping relatively well for being one month old. Miss M does okay with him since some days she likes him and some days there's a bit of jealousy.  She tells him that it's okay and she also tells me to put him down when she wants me to play with her.

We are surviving.  The help and assistance of everyone makes a big difference.  It makes things so much easier and better when there are an extra pair of hands around. We are going on a road trip for almost 2 weeks pretty soon. It could either be a disaster with everyone off schedule or fantastic because there will be people to help me and play with Miss M.  First I have to pack for three people for that long. I am procrastinating it because it's kind of overwhelming thinking of all of the stuff we will need for two weeks.

Then and Now

On St. Patrick's Day of 2011, Miss M wore a green outfit. I was able to use it again yesterday for Mr. Man.  There aren't many clothing pieces that they can share due to the excessive pink and blue available for purchase.

Miss M is all scrunched up still in the picture. She was only 5 days old.

And now Miss M is 27 months older and Will is almost one month old.  He's longer than she was which I noticed because when he wore the outfit it looked like shorts instead of pants.

There have been some people who say that Mr. Man looks like Miss M but I don't really think they look much alike.  He may have her chin/mouth but that's about it.

Family pictures

As I mentioned previously, we had family pictures taken two weeks ago.  I wanted to get newborn pictures of Mr. Man since we had pictures of Miss M when she was born. I am already slacking on equal treatment of Mr. Man compared to Miss M but that's the downfall of being number 2. I hold him less, talk to him less, take less pictures, and I am sure a lot of other things but I wasn't going to slack on newborn pictures (because we need stuff for our walls).

I am so pleased with how they turned out.  There are 166 pictures on the disk the photographer sent.  There is a b&w picture for every color photo.  I have no idea how I am going to narrow down the pictures to determine which ones I am going to purchase.

A visit from Mimi

Mimi flew in Tuesday afternoon and the kids and I packed up to go pick her up.  She came prepared with a prize for each day and quickly won Miss M over.  She was like Mary Poppins pulling stuff out of her suitcase every morning.  Miss M can definitely be bought with prizes.

Mimi was amazing.  She was amazing at entertaining Miss M and teaching her all kinds of things which are going to take some time to break.  She was really creative in finding things for Miss M to do or different ways for Miss M to play with the same stuff she normally plays with.  Mimi cooked dinners and cleaned them up!

Miss M was so excited about Mimi that when I left for Mr. Man's doctor's appointment Wednesday morning Miss M didn't shed a tear. I am still baffled by all of these developments since we all know Miss M usually takes some time to warm up to people.

Thursday we all packed up and went to Miss M's gym class and then to Costco because we needed some bulk food and some cheap pizza and hot dogs. Mr. Man woke up around the time that we were eating and was unhappy even after having a bottle since he has started spitting up more.  It was a bit stressful to get an overloaded cart, two kids, and Mimi and I out of the store.  Well, it was stressful for me. Mimi took control like a pro. She took both kids (while getting Mr. Man to stop screaming) and walked out of the store like it was just a normal day.

She's got Mr. Man in one hand and Miss M in the other.  Calm, cool and collected.

Mimi and Miss M played in the sandbox a lot.

Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of Mimi and the kids. I was so upset. I realized it after I dropped her off at the airport Saturday morning. I was planning on having Andrew take pictures before she left Saturday since we'd all showered and were presentable but then Mr. Man was feisty and it just slipped my mind. We'll have to get some next time as soon as she comes so we don't forget.

Mimi brought magnetic letters for Miss M.  I had no idea the door was metal therefore now we have even more room for stuff in the kitchen! Miss M is becoming more in tune and aware of letters. She has been previously unaware and uninterested but she's recognizing a few letters and what they stand for i.e. her letter is M and Mr. Man's letter is W and Aunt Nessie's letter is A etc.

Miss M has been working on her "cheese" face.

She's definitely seriously about cheesing here since you can see the veins in her neck pop out.  She's either a ham or a pistol and won't smile for the camera and you never know what you're going to get.

And now her "cheese" face is attacking the camera. 

While Mr. Man slept one day we took a walk to the park. I purchased a double stroller. I am in love with this particular double stroller and Miss M loves it too so we try to get out for small outings each day.

A rare picture of the two kids together. Miss M wants to do with Mr. Man does.  If he gets his diaper changed miraculously she wants her diaper changed.  And if he lays down on the floor she wants to lay down on the floor. I don't necessarily think it's because she wants to be close to him.