Leyton's Pool Party

Aunt Kelly was nice enough to host Leyton’s 5th birthday/Father’s Day celebration.  It was a beautiful day.  It was Tommy’s first time swimming outdoors.  We swam both before and after lunch, Tommy apparently likes swimming a whole lot better on a full stomach.  He loved the water the second time around.  Maggie is getting pretty brave at sticking her face under water. 

 

Tommy looking crabby in his crab

Chillin' pool side

 

Maggie and Luca going for a gator ride in the deep end--unsupervised it appears :)

Maggie taking a whack at the pinata



Maggie's Father's Day gift to Grandpa--she was so excited to give it to him

Grandma and Tommy

Cousin picture--minus the two little girls



3/4 of the family

Tommy I have never seen that face before...

Puppy Love

I want to say Maggie was almost the exact same age when she started to notice Joey.  Tommy’s love/fascination for him is growing every day.  And so far Joey has been a good sport…Tommy pulls, pinches, bites, etc…Joey is much more tolerant of this behavior than mommies…. :)

Joey's ears double as handlebars

A scalp massage for Joey

Working out any kinks in Joey's neck

"Look mom, Joey is a pirate!"

Atleast one of them is having a great time.

Welcome to the Big Tub!

Within the last week we have let Tommy start bathing in the big tub with his sister.  He was getting too big and wild for his little tub.  He loves being in the big tub with Maggie.  They pretty much scream and splash the whole time.  They both think they are pretty funny.  It is nice to just have to do one bath a night vs. two separate ones.  Also, having Tommy bathe with Maggie has stopped Maggie from drinking the tub water.  Tommy had a reputation for going to the bathroom every time we set him in his little tubby and apparently Maggie hasn’t forgot this…. :)

One of Tommy's last baths in the little tub

They have a great time in the tub together

Mr. Smiles

Sister is hilarious

The bathroom floor was soaked by the end

Peanut Butter and Jelly?

We recently had some allergy testing done on Maggie, not because we were worried about her and foods so much but her breathing/cough attacks have gotten much worse lately.  We have had to use her nebulizer all spring and into the summer.  We saw a specialist who suggested a blood draw to check her up against some of the common allergens.  We have known she had some form of nut allergy—she had a reaction to peanut butter when she was about 1.5 years old and I tried to give her a little peanut butter on bread.  She broke out in hives and seemed to have trouble breathing…nothing severe - I say that now but at the time I was thinking of taking her to the emergency room…. :)  Susie and I were hoping she had out grown the peanut allergy or that maybe it wasn’t very strong and that someday Maggie could have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or Reese’s peanut butter cup. 

As a side note: Drawing a two vials of blood from a 3 year old was awful and so sad.  Mommies both had tears and so did she.

Well, we got the results and Maggie will have to settle for Almond butter and jelly sandwich and no peanut butter cups…ever.  Her peanut allergy came back greater than 100%--basically higher than the test goes.  The doctor said that a level that high will be a “tattoo” for life.  So that was a bummer but at least everything else is at manageable levels (the other top 3: Soy, Dog dander, and Outside mold).  Most importantly we have a healthy, happy, sweet, beautiful little girl….she will never know what peanut butter tastes like but I wouldn’t trade her for the world.  And Maggie doesn’t seem to mind, she always says “I don’t have nuts, nuts make me sick.” 

Waiting for the Dr. Helm

Sorry, I could get the report picture to turn!

A friendly reminder to family and friends….Maggie has an epi-pen…if for some reason she has a severe reaction make sure you use it and get her to an emergency room. 

We love EVERYTHING about you!

The Food Floodgates Have Opened

We started out pretty cautiously with Tommy’s solids, worried he would choke or have difficulty chewing some things.  Well, we have went from cutting Puffs and cheerios in half to feeding him spaghetti in record time.  Tommy currently has 5 teeth and is a magician with them.  He chews like a full-grown adult.  He has never really choked or had any “scary” moments.  He is now eating breakfast, morning snack, lunch, and afternoon snack at school like the big kids.  For instance, when I picked him up from school the other day his sheet said he had: breakfast combo, graham crackers for snack, pork sliders and mixed veggies for lunch, and yogurt and a Nutrigrain bar for afternoon snack.  He loves almost anything he tries and if he doesn’t he spits it out.  He is hilarious.  He still has baby food (butternut squash, sweet potatoes, carrots and peas) atleast twice a day too.  You would think with all this table food eating he has cut back on his milk consumption…not the case….I think it might actually make him thirstier.  :)

Eating spaghetti and meat sauce for the first time

We can now just hand him a peeled banana—that is how good he is at taking bites.

Big Stage for Maggie--2013 Helmer Dance Recital

Maggie had her first dance recital on June 8^th.  She took classes at Helmer Dance Studio in Hudson all year—literally all year.  It started in August and went through May.  Maggie loved every minute of it, but mommies were burnt out and ready for it to be done, or at least Mommy Tina was for sure.  I guess I am not ready to be a fulltime dance mom yet.  I am used to sports where basically every season is 3-4 months and then on to something new.  Anyhow, Maggie loved her teacher Mrs. Laura.  She would be so excited every Wednesday when we picked her up from school early to take her—she would sprint to the bathroom to put on her leotard.  After class, Maggie got to go to lunch with one of us, and just have a one-on-one lunch date—I think she really enjoyed this part also.  Maggie’s lunch time picks were either “Meatballs” or “Donald’s” (aka Subway or McDonald’s). 

 Maggie did great at the recital—danced the whole time.  She loves the “big stage” as she calls it—no stage fright whatsoever.  In fact, she is already asking when she gets to go on the “big stage” again.  Also more than 3 weeks removed from the recital and we still must play her “dance songs” in the car, at home, etc.  At her age, 2-3 year olds, they are only in ballet.  Next year, she can be in both tap and ballet.  She is already dreaming of being in more classes.  At dress rehearsal, she was fascinated by all the older kids and the “loud shoes” (tap shoes).  The second she saw/heard them, she turned to me and said, “Mommy I want to be in the loud shoes next”. 

 We had a great turn out of family and friends to watch the recital in River Falls.  Grace and Lucy also take classes at Helmer, but their recital was Friday night so most of the family was lucky enough to attend back-to-back recitals.  :)  Thanks to everyone who came and supported our little dancer!



She was excited to receive so many flowers

Posing with Grace and Ella

Letting Ella help hold some flowers

Cousin picture #1

Cousin picture #2

Grandma Morawitz and Aunt Gigi (Aunt Susan) traveled all the way from Missouri to watch

Grandma McNamara and Maggie

Showing off some of her moves

Family picture #1

Family picture #2

Sibling Love

Tommy's had enough love

Happy 8 Months Tommy

Tommy on 5/27/13 you turned 8 months.  You started eating solids.  Your first real table food was deli ham, turkey and cheese.  You also love yogurt.  I think your ears are finally feeling better.  You now have 5 teeth (2 on the bottom and 3 on top).  You have been working so hard at learning to crawl.  Currently you only army-crawl backwards, you find this very frustrating—you can’t seem to figure out why your toys keep getting further away instead of closer… :)  Tommy Jon, we love you! 

Look at all those teeth!

Mad but still Mr. Handsome

We love you Tommy!

 

Strong Bond

I could watch and listen to Maggie and Tommy interact all day long.  It is the sweetest thing in the world.  They already have this remarkably strong bond.  Tommy’s face lights up at the sound of Maggie’s voice.  If she will talk to him or play with him, she has 100% of his attention.  If she laughs, he starts laughing.  The other night both kids were lying in bed with me—Tommy was sleeping and Maggie was watching TV.  At one point, Maggie started laughing and Tommy while sleeping spit out his nuk and started laughing, then went back to sleeping.  It might be one of the cutest things I have ever witnessed.  Tommy lets Maggie throw him around like a rag doll, they recently started wrestling.  Sometimes if Tommy falls over, I will ask Maggie to help him sit back up, and she will be grunting, choking, pulling, anything she can to try and move him—it makes mommies laugh so hard.  I think both Susie and I, find so much pure delight in watching these two little sweeties care for each other. 

 

Maggie trying to help Tommy sit up

Sticking his nuk back in his mouth

 

Memorial Day at The Lake

We traveled to Missouri for Memorial Day.  It was a lot of fun and sad at the same time, as this was the first holiday at the Lake without Susie’s dad.  Grandma surprised all the kids with a new golf cart.  Maggie and I drove it to the Y Road store each day for a treat—it might have been her favorite part of the trip.  We went swimming despite the water being pretty chilly—Maggie jumped off the dock and went under water for the first time.  We rode jet skis, went on boat rides, shopped, ate delicious food and enjoyed getting to spend time with that side of the family.  We forgot our big camera and some how I only have 3 pictures on my phone.

Grandma's new wheels for cruising the neighboorhood



The adults had a wine tasting and the kids had a root beer tasting--Maggie wasn't impressed

Boat ride to dinner

 

 



Family Hiking

Back in May when we had a semi-nice day we took both kids hiking at Willow River State Park.  Maggie loves going hiking, all you have to do is tell her we are going on an “Exploradora Misson” like Dora, the explorer, and she gets pumped.  I think this particular day we went a little over 3 miles and I bet Maggie walked a little over half of it.  She is pretty heavy to put in the backpack but she still likes riding back there.  Susie and I took turns carry her and Tommy. 

All set to go

 



This is how big Maggie looks in the carrier these days

Tommy was loving the fresh air

 



We stopped and let Tommy have a snack before heading back



Maggie always wants to be the "line leader"