Random 10PM Thoughts...

I'm traveling for work today, and earlier in the day I was super excited about the prospect of going to bed early and getting a full night of uninterrupted sleep. Lately, Olivia has decided that sleeping through the night is overrated and has been waking, almost like clockwork, around 4AM nightly and is having a hard time falling back asleep.  This sure makes it hard to get moving when morning rolls around!  

Well, as luck would have it, here it is, after 10:30 and I can't sleep...so much for that going to bed early part.  I keep thinking about my two little girls back home and how much I miss them, how much I love them, and how much fun they both are.  Madeline is getting so big, and it's really a joy spending time with her and having actual conversations with her.  There's so much going on in that little head.  Just yesterday as I was taking her out of her car seat she said, "Now we have two girls."  I replied that yes, mommy and daddy are super lucky to have two incredible little girls. We talked about how lucky we are that Olivia joined our family and how much fun it is having two girls. I think Madeline has really been thinking about Olivia's position in our family lately. She's told me about three times this week, "Olivia is such a good baby, I think we can keep her."  I just chuckle every time she says this because, as Brian pointed out to her, "I don't think the baby store would take her back at this point!"  

So, in this season of thankfulness, I am so thankful that Madeline is such a great big sister. I am so happy that "now we have two girls" and I can't wait to watch how they grow together and become best of friends. I love the way that Olivia watches Madeline, the way Madeline can bring out these huge smiles in Olivia, and the way that Madeline looks out for her little sister. There is a lot of love between them!  I don't know how I got so lucky to be mommy to these two amazing little people.   And, for as much as I miss them when I'm gone, I'm super thankful for a supportive husband who is a super daddy to these two little girls.  We are so very blessed!

So, with those thoughts, I'm off to bed, ... there's still hope for an uninterrupted night of sleep!

Trick-or-Treat

We took Madeline around the block to let her have the whole Trick-or-Treat experience.  She understood it much better than last year and didn't require prompting to say "thank you."  She was a bit intimidated by the other kids with painted faces and masks and wouldn't go up to one house that was playing music and all decked out in Halloween style. 

Madeline and the neighbor girls

Dad's fabulous pumpkin

So happy!

4 Month Checkup

Olivia had her 4 month doctor visit today complete with immunizations.  It was a bit of a rough day, as she was already a bit under the weather with a cold.  She hasn't been a very happy camper tonight :(

Her stats:

• Height: 24.75in (68%)
• Weight: 14lb 6oz (66%)
• FOC: 16.75in (75-90%)

Pre-Halloween Fun

We've had a big weekend, taking advantage of all the fun Halloween activities.

Here is our friendly, nice witch and her black cat.

On Saturday morning, we ventured out to the Houston ArBOOretum.  It was set up really nice, with educational stops about animals with activity stations.  Madeline had a ton of fun exploring everything.

Fishing for Texas species

Climbing through the wolf spider tunnel

Catching her insects in the lizard challenge

Playing ballerina witch on the boardwalk

Gliding like a flying squirrel

All aboard the choo-choo!

There was a decorate-a-pumpkin station where she let her creativity flow (with a bit of help from dad)

The perfect pumpkin

Artist hard at work

Her signature on the back

Posing with her final masterpiece

Picture perfect day!

Today, we ventured out to Zoo Boo, and it turned out to be a beautiful day.

Silly sisters

Madeline witch and the bongos

Feeding the giraffes

Giving the goats a little TLC

Adding her touch to the mural

We finished the weekend with a little pumpkin carving.

"Look, seeds for roasting"

As it turns out, pumpkin may have been my first food!

Olivia's 4 Month Post

Little girl is 4 months old today and brings us so much joy!

4 months old!

Some of her favorite pastimes include:

Keeping an eye on the kitty

Staring at and talking to her hands

Smiling at that baby in the mirror

When you stand her in front of the mirror she always gives this huge open-mouthed grin

Conversations with big sister

And, tea parties with big sister.  Notice the huge feast that Madeline has prepared for Olivia

Post-daycare evening snoozes

 And, for firsts this month, we have...

First day of daycare

First pumpkin patch

 And new developments...

Being able to manipulate toys to get them to her mouth

 ...finding and grabbing her feet
....lots and lots of cooing

An interest in toys (and on a side note, she's starting to lose her Einstein hairdo)

Learning you can interact with toys

 I still need to schedule her 4 month check-up and will be very interested in her stats.  I know she is much bigger than Madeline was at this age!

Austin weekend

We spent last weekend in Austin enjoying the fall weather.  It was a combined weekend getaway, cycling trip and business trip, all in one.

We spent Saturday exploring Zilker Nature Preserve which was really cool.  Madeline had fun exploring the grounds and digging for dinosaur bones.

 They had these great big sand boxes where you could dig for dinosaur bones.  Madeline loved trying out all the different types of shovels.

 Olivia shows off her new bubble blowing skills

 Madeline shows off her bat pose in front of the bat mosaic

 Playing at the playground on the antique firetruck

Austin has a huge food truck scene, so we ventured out to the trucks for lunch.  So many choices, everyone was happy.

 I bet you'll never guess which truck was Madeline's favorite!

Daddy rode in the LiveStrong ride on Sun.  Madeline was excited to watch for him at the finish and cheer as he crossed the finish line

 Olivia was happy to sit and watch the trees sway in the wind

The post-ride activities included a kid zone complete with jumping castles, so of course, the big girl had a ton of fun.

She discovered that evening that she had her first "chain bite" on her leg from helping daddy with his bike.  She thought this was super cool!

  Madeline, Olivia and daddy had to occupy themselves on Monday while mommy went to some work appointments.  Madeline passed her time posing for the camera...

 

 

We had a lot of fun and enjoyed seeing some areas of Austin that we had yet to explore.