A New Year

It's hard to believe it's a new year, let alone a new decade!  I am stumbling over how to shorten 2010.  2009 was always "0-9", so is it just "10," or is it "0-10," or do I just say the whole darn thing?

We had a pretty eventful 2009 with Kelsea turning three and her baby sister coming one month later.  Wallis and I both took new jobs which have proved to be both challenging and interesting.  Our families have also had exciting news.  My Mom retiring, my brother and sister-in-law's pregnancy,  Wallis' youngest brother graduating high school and starting at Vanderbilt on an Ingram Scholarship,  and his oldest (younger) brother finding out he will be an Intel Officer in the Navy with the completion of his final year at Vanderbilt.

In 2010, we are looking forward to celebrating Kelsea's 4th and Lorelei's 1st birthdays, and anxiously anticipating the arrival of our first nephew!

In 2010 I simply hope to:

read a novel

run farther

stress less

lose the last five 

play more

Here's to a wonderful new year!

Two weeks ago

somebody turned 10 months old. And although there were plenty of pictures snapped to document this double-digit milestone, the holidays (among other things) interfered with my ability to actually post them! 

So here's a few updates this month:

Weighing 21.5 pounds (with clothes on and a huge meal in your belly), so lets just call it 20.5 pounds instead.   I'm sure your taller too, but measuring you is just not as easy as it once was so I think we'll wait until your one year appointment.  Hard to believe I'm writing one year.

Eating everything (that you can feed yourself).  We are buying a lot less yogurt.

Two new teeth have appeared on the top with two more on their way, which is making you a little grumpy.

We have made it halfway through flu season with just a couple runny noses.  In fact you still haven't been sick with anything other than a little cold.  Yes I'm knocking on wood.

You enjoy waving at just about anyone, and smile and giggle as if pleased with your new found talent.

You can stand without holding on to anything.  

You scream in delight when you are walking (whether it's us or a push toy you are holding on to).  Not that we are trying to encourage this kind of behavior.  We are perfectly content with the crawling phase.  

You have rekindled a love of the pacifier.  You had not used them in over 2 months and just when I was thinking about packing them up you discovered all their glory.  Sure makes diaper and clothing changes much quieter.  

You love giving us kisses, the mouth wide open kind.  I guess the puckering of the lips is a hard thing to learn at this age, which is okay by all three of us who can't seem to get enough of them!

And of course the same day Lorelei turned 10 months old, our not-so-baby-girl turned 47 months.  31 days (17 now) away from turning 4. Gosh 4 sounds so old (relatively).  Just a year and half left before "real" school.  

After taking pictures of the two of them, I got the ole "Mom I'm done taking pictures."  And begging and pleading proved unsuccessful.  I'll have to hold Disneyland over her head at next month's photo shoot. 

Ten on Tuesday

1. Penny update:  still waiting for it's arrival.  Looks like we will be taking Kelsea to get an x-ray this week.

2. We went ahead and saw Fantastic Mr. Fox on Saturday.  It was fantastic.  I think Wallis and I might have enjoyed it more than Kelsea.  Maybe if there was a princess thrown into the mix she would have been more excited about it?

3. While Lorelei was napping on me I asked Wallis to take some Thanksgiving pictures of the family before it got too dark.  This is what I came home with.  Not really what I had in mind to remember this Thanksgiving by...

I think Kelsea might be a better photographer than Wallis...

4. Inspired by an article I read on Thanksgiving, I spent my Sunday afternoon furiously making over our refrigerator.  I must have been feeling guilty about our Thanksgiving feast, but whatever the inspiration was, I'm pretty pleased with the result.

Here's the full length view:

And a close up of the yummy, healthy stuff:

5. Wallis was nice enough to make this delicious recipe from the same magazine.  We (actually that would be Wallis) is going to try this one on Saturday

6. I ate a cricket today.  

Are you asking why?  All for 100 points.  Want to know what the points are for?  Okay read on.  We (my office at work) went on a very thorough scavenger hunt through downtown Long Beach this afternoon.  This included a session of Dance, Dance Revolution, a game of Skeetball, a three seat bike ride, dressing up in a sumo wrestler bodysuit (hilarious), many pictures of random paraphernalia and several stops to stores/restaurants to find our next clue (12 to be exact).  I must admit the cricket eating place (Hot Licks) was my least favorite, and the "sour cream & onion flavor" didn't really help the fact I was eating a dried-up, crunchy bug.  Was it worth it?  Yes, we won. :-)

7. Lorlei will no longer let us spoon feed her (so much for all that baby food I just bought!)  This is what it looks like when she feeds herself.  

8. Due to the fridge makeover consuming my Sunday, I didn't quite get to the Christmas decorating as planned.  We at least got the advent calendar up tonight, so Kelsea will be happily surprised in the morning.

9. I still have two more November magazines before I get to my December ones.  Does anyone else have this problem?

10. Uh-oh, Kelsea is awake and crying and coming up the stairs...which means she will be snuggling with us tonight.  Does anyone else have this problem?

Ten on Tuesday

1.  I am going to have a nephew this Spring!  I am not the only one excited!  When we asked Kelsea if she wanted a boy or a girl cousin, she quickly replied "a boy, I already have a girl one." (referring to Lorelei)

2. Speaking of funny things kids say, Kelsea told me when she gets bigger her boobs are going to grow like bubbles.  LOL!

3. Kelsea swallowed a penny on Sunday.  We now have to make sure it leaves her body.  Yep, that's Wallis' job.

4. Lorelei had her 9 month well check today.  19 pounds, 11 ounces (75th) & 28 1/4 inches (75th).  Big girl!  We are also happy to report that her head size has bumped up from 5th percentile to 15th!  :-)

5.  No H1N1 vaccine available yet (they only enough for high risk kids).  At least it made the decision on whether or not to get that vaccine for Lorelei easy!

6. We are heading to GG's house for Thanksgiving.  Wallis is excited about playing two rounds of golf.  I'm just hoping to get through the rest of my November magazines.  Lofty goal, I know.

7. I'm actually still in awe that it's Thanksgiving already.  I am pretty sure I say that every year. 

8. I am just about done with my Christmas shopping.  What are you hoping Santa brings?

9. Debating taking Kelsea to see Fantastic Mr. Fox.  I adored Roald Dauls books as a kid, but they seem to think the appropriate age for this move is 7.  Anyone seen it or have an opinion?

10. I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with their families. I am thankful for the many blessings in my life, especially my incredible friends and family!  

9 Months

Well my littlest love, it's hard to believe that you are 3/4 of a year old.    You have mastered crawling, and way too quickly moved on to standing.  I know it won't be long before you're taking your first few steps so we are going to enjoy this smaller range of mobility while we can! Even if it has made picture taking a bit more difficult...

You are a healthy eater just like Kelsea.  We go through 7-8 jars of food a day and you are still drinking 20 ounces of formula.  Which probably still explains those chunky thighs and round belly (which might actually be bigger than your head).

You still only have two teeth, but we hope more break through soon, because you don't seem too comfortable with the teething phase.  

You also don't like to nap at daycare (just like your sister).  Oh dear, I'm seeing a pattern.  We are thrilled when your activity sheet says you've napped for an hour, but more often than not it's less than that.

You still love the bath, Emily's toys, and shaking you booty (as Kelsea likes to call it).

And sometimes you smile like a pirate...aarrrhhh

But most of the time you have your mouth wide open

and we just love how we can always catch you with a smile

Happy Halloween!

Before heading to the Village to go trick- or-treating we took a few photos.  Luckily with Halloween on a Saturday, we weren't rushing quite as much as previous years,  so I took quite a few pictures.  One-hundred-and-two to be exact.  So here's just a few (okay so more than just a few) of Lorelei's 1st and Kelsea's 4th Halloween.

First it was pictures of Princess Belle

Our little diva

and always a princess 

Then we brought our little bee out, so that we could compare the photos to Kelsea's first Halloween.

Peek-a-boo, I see you.

Maybe I can just crawl away from this craziness...

And Kelsea's first Halloween, three years ago.

And three years later loving her own baby bee

Here's Lorelei in her "real" costume.  The one she wore trick or treating (and one that is not her big sisters).

Mom, I'm really not enjoying this thing on my head. 

Won't someone help me out here?

Ok, so I guess we think the pig hat is a whole lot cuter than she does

And some with the parents

Lorelei is under there somewhere...I think

Hope your Halloween was a treat just as ours was!

Ten on Tuesday (with a special Bonus)

1. It would be interesting to have an expert psychoanalyze how Kelsea's dollies take naps.  One might say she likes structure and organization.  Not sure where she could have got that from?

2. I had (what I thought) was a great idea of taking Kelsea to see Mary Poppins as either a Christmas or Birthday present.  After realizing a decent ticket was going to cost well over $100, I thought it might be a good idea to ask her if she would like to see Mary Poppins live on stage. She was unusually quiet.

Me:  That's okay Kels we don't have to see Mary Poppins.  Maybe you would like to go in a couple years?

Kelsea: Contemplating this idea for a few moments.. Maybe when I'm 10. More thinking. I want her to stay in the TV.

Me: But you loved seeing her at Disneyland!  I bet you'll want to see her before that.  You love Mary Poppins!

Kelsea: More silence. How many years are you Mommy?

Me:  Thirty-two.

Kelsea:  When I'm thirty-two we'll go see it.

Well alrighty then, scratch that one off the list (thank goodness I asked)!

3.  I am very excited about having Halloween on a Saturday this year.  No rushing home from work to get the kids fed and dressed and ready for trick or treating (and photos of course).

4.Wallis made the mistake of telling Kelsea we were going to take her to the shoe store to let her pick out a pair of shoes since hers fell apart Friday.  Side note: I always buy shoes on sale with a pair waiting in the closet for when she outgrows the pair she is wearing. Which probably explains her excitement about going to the store to pick out a pair on her own. I unfortunately made the mistake of taking her to Nordstroms.  (And no, I don't know what I was thinking).  So, we came home with these.  Next time, it's a trip to Target.  

5. It only took one weekend of Lorelei crawling to find the best toys in the house (that are within a foot off the ground).  Oh the treasures to be found in a trash can (that can of course be placed in ones mouth)!  And what toy can beat the feel and sound of a doorstop!?

6. It's been 90 degrees here.  I'm ready for 65 degree fall weather, actually make that 68 degrees.  

7. Kelsea made me this lovely necklace out of floss (unused thankfully) and safety pins.  Maybe I can wear it on causal Fridays?

8.  Oh bummer- neither the Dodgers nor the Angels are in the World Series.  

9.  Weird things going on at the Laughrey house.  After several months of it not working, our wine cooler mysteriously turned on.  Back from summer vacation maybe? If  we hadn't been too busy (lazy) to figure out where to dispose of it, we would have replaced it.  Lorelei's light on her ceiling fan arbitrarily turns on at night.  The speed of the fan will increase randomly too.  Not sure if we should call a priest or an electrician?

10.  I still look at my Mac monitor in wonderment.  Really, there's a computer in there?  Genius!

BONUS- BONUS-BONUS

11.  I'm going to be an AUNTIE.  Oh I'm so excited!  Congratulations Steve and Jennie.  Baby Love expected to arrive late May/early June.