First day of school

Well, it's true. As I write this (with one hand as Cael is in my lap), Teagan is at her first day of preschool. She'll be in Mrs. Cooke's 3-year old/3-day program on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 8:15-11:15a.m. Teagan has said, "Her name is Mrs. Cooke but she doesn't cook much of anything" :)

Our morning went pretty smoothly and yes, we made it to school with a few minutes to spare. Fortunately it's about a mile from our house :) I gave Teagan 3 choices of outfits this morning and she insisted on the purple top. I need to get some brown socks. She didn't want a shower (she bathed last night) and agreed to let me braid her hair instead (the hair was pretty wild upon waking). We used the spray-on conditioner and that went well. It even tamed it enough that we didn't have to braid it, but she still wanted the braids. Go figure! This is new. Normally she doesn't like anything in her hair. We had a test run on Sunday with braids. We'll see if they make it til the end of class. :)
As soon as she was dressed she asked, "Are we going to school this very minute?" I assured her we had some time to have breakfast and get our stuff together. I was good and packed her bag last night with her paperwork, requested dish soap and labelled ziplock bag of extra clothes, but I went through and showed her each item. She had her usual breakfast, which is to say, not much... an organic vanilla milk box and less than half a strawberry cereal bar on my insistence. We'll see how that goes over as snack isn't until near the end of class and she's used to snacking whenever she likes. Once we were dressed and packed and ready to head out the door we got her bookbag on (which is very large comparatively, but she needs to be able to put art projects in it) and she said "Okay, Mama, I'll see you later" as if I was just going to let her go on her own. :) So independent. I let her know that I'd need to drive her to the school and that I'd pick her up (with Grammy) after school so she could go to Grammy's with Cael and I'd go to work then.

She didn't have any problems leaving with the class. She was able to find her nametag with a little direction to narrow the field of choices. She was almost left behind as she was at the end of the line and had stopped to visit some older girls at their lockers. The rest of the class had continued on and Mrs Cooke was wrangling the lone screamer of the group, but Teagan ran to catch up and made the corner and then I left. Whew!

I wish I'd thought to bring the camera in, it was really cute to see the whole class line up and head down the hall. :) Here are a couple pics from this morning before we left though. :)


The height shot. I imagine we'll use this tree each year to measure. :)


Couldn't decide which picture I liked better so you get to see both. :) She looks so proud!


The hair and the backpack she picked out. Wild, huh?


Cael sees his big sis off to her first day of preschool. Yea!!

Another comparison

Looking back at how the two kids measure up.

Teagan, at her 2 month checkup was a mere 7 lbs! Cael was 11 lbs, 12 oz.



Top: Teagan at 2 months Bottom: Cael at 5 weeks

Now, here's where it gets fun because by 3 1/2 months, Teagan was 12 lbs. Cael is just under 3 months and about 12 lbs, so let's see....



Top: Teagan 14 weeks Bottom: Cael 10 weeks
(I'll try to get a better smile photo)

And yet here's Teagan at 5 months:



Anyway. That's all I've got for now. They are awfully cute though!

A Week Away

The subject is really two-fold. The first is, omg school starts next week?! And Teagan starts school the week after! Is it possible?! It seems so fast.

The other is what I'll expand on. We spent the last week away! First to Columbus for the annual Ohio School-based OT/PT Conference. Teagan stayed with my parents, THANK YOU THANK YOU and Matt came with to keep Cael nearby. An adventure to be sure, the three of us in a single room. It worked out alright, I think. Matt didn't sleep as much as he normally does what with "the little snuffle-snort", as we call him, waking in the middle of the night. The first day of the conference was intruiging. Barbara Connolly, PT spoke about dyspraxia. It was a condensed 16 hour course in a 6-hour session. The next day was "Addressing Sensory and Motor Needs through an Educational Team Approach" which was not-so exciting. Dinner at an Irish Pub with Jeff & Angela and a trip to Jeni's Splendid (and they mean Splendid!) Ice Cream. Yum!

THANK YOU THANK YOU to Andrea who brought Teagan from Cleveland to Columbus so we could complete the trip to Indianapolis. The convention was alright. It went by fast. Definitely some things we will do differently next time, including staying downtown again. Staying off-site didn't save money, I don't think with the drive and paying for parking for two cars and the convenience-factor shouldn't be overlooked. Next year I will take time to play some games too and be firmer about making plans with people. Anyway, got to see some out-of-state friends, of whom I didn't take pictures, sadly. I spent a ton of time with the kids, which was stressful at times, but overall lovely.

And here are some photos of our time together...


Silly Nekkid Time :)

Teagan adoring Cael. She still loves to pet him. :)

After bath-time...
.....more giggles!


A self-portrait. 2 of my 3 loves.


Matt's birthday dinner at Mikado.
Matching Hypnotoad shirts (Thanks Mom!)
and Matt with his little girl

Sunday before we headed back to Ohio, we stopped at the Indianapolis Children's Museum. It was awesome! Wish we'd had more time to spend there. Definitely a highlight and we will make it an annual stop whilst at GenCon. One of the special exhibits was about comic book superheroes. Here's Teagan running around in a Flash costume! :)




And that's all she wrote... for now ;)

Stats and Flowers

Cael had his 2-month check-up with the nurse practitioner on Wednesday.

He is now 11 lbs, 12 oz and 23" long which puts him in the 50th percentile for height and weight and having gained nearly 5 lbs in 6 weeks! Everything else checked out fine. He's met all his milestones for 2-months and is even showing an emerging responsive smile and coo. It's adorable. :) I'm trying to get a picture of it, but it's hard to capture. :) He got his DTaP immunization for diptheria, tetanus and pertussis which are most common in our area. I'll be taking him back in 2 weeks, along with Teagan, to get his next shot (either HiB or Prevnar) and the rest of her shots needed for preschool. Then before Hawaii he'll get the other immunization and possibly a second DTaP since we are travelling during cold & flu season on an airplane. He did fine with the shot. Actually recovered quickly in the office, but was fussy off and on the rest of the day.

Speaking of Teagan's shots for public school, we got the letter in the mail today about her preschool schedule. We have a parent meeting on Aug 25. On Aug 26, she gets to go to school for an hour with some of her classmates to get acquainted and then she starts Tues Sept 2. :) Her first monthly tuition is due August 15th! How much does preschool in Berea, OH cost?, you might ask. $120/month for 3-days a week, 3 hours/day.

Meanwhile, last night we got a call from Auntie Liz requesting our presence at David's Bridal as Jami and her bridesmaids were dress shopping and the wedding dress & coordinating flowergirl dress were discontinued, but in the shop. Time to buy! I've included pictures. Teagan was a riot! She wanted to know what her boyfriend (Jon, Jami's son) would say and then she wanted a purse and hat. :) Such a cutie!

On with the pictures....

Cael June 12, 2008 vs. Cael Aug 5, 2008



Princess, I mean, Flowergirl Teagan. Just FYI, the bow will be black to match the
bridesmaids dresses. This is almost an exact replica of Jami's dress, btw. The bridesmaids
will have red (maid of honor) and black (bridesmaids) dresses in a similar style, matte sateen fabric with the same sort of pick-up style skirt. :) Gorgeous!!

And while I'm here....

Happy 1st Birthday, Gavin!!!





Keith and Liz hosted a fabulous 1st birthday party for Gavin at Oak Grove Picnic Area in the Brecksville Metroparks. The weather was great. They cooked up hamburgers and hotdogs, made homemade potato salad, had grapes and watermelon, and a delicious almost-casada cake. (sans custard layer...so basically white cake with whipped cream and strawberry layers) So yummy! They had gift bags for each of the kids (including Cael), a frisbee and kite (until it got stuck in a tree), bubbles, swings nearby and most importantly lots of close friends and family. It was a pretty awesome party for a very awesome kid! (and awesome mama and daddy!) Congrats on surviving your first year as parents, Keith and Liz! Love you! The adventure continues!! :)

Forsaking sleep

I really should be sleeping, but instead I'm catching up on oh, billing, LJ posts to try to sell dipes, and this mini post.

Life is consuming, but I have been taking some pictures. So now I share a few of my favorite recent photos.....and I just realized that I'm in most of these.

So Some Things we've been up to...

Teagan has been working on her photography skills. She LOVES to take pictures with my camera. Prior to this photo the exchange went something like this:
T: Mama, say "Hotdog"
Me: Hotdog
T: Did you just call me a hotdog?! :) (just like when she gets her photos taken)
so cute. Here's the pic she took.

And she likes to take pictures of herself too.


Mom got this bike from the girl across the street for $5.00. :) Teagan's tolerance is still very short, but we're excited just the same.


Cael is officially 2 months old now! At 8 weeks I took this photo. It might be a new favorite.
I don't have his stats until Wednesday, but he's growing! Oh is he growing and I think his social smile is emerging!

Last weekend we were busy. Friday we went on the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. They had a special "The Little Engine That Could" ride. It was a nice afternoon. Here's photo from Andrea of my brother Keith, his son Gavin, me, Cael (in the sling) and Teagan. Teagan really loved the inflatable train and the pet zoo with pony ride.


Saturday we(I) walked 2.4 miles to the other side of Berea for an ex-coworkers party. Teagan had a great time with the other kids. She was so good. It was nice to get some exercise and have a sense of pride in walking rather than driving. No pics.

Sunday we did the 15th Annual Richfield Sweet Corn Ride....a family 10-mile ride. Lovely day. Keith hauled Teagan and Gavin in his ladybug trailer. We were joined by Liz and Mom. Dad rode the 25-mile with the Konsens and Matt, my darling, watched Cael so I could get back on my bike for the first time in almost a year....it felt great! No pics.

And last but not least, Cael's been loving his nekkid time.

Has it been too long?

Life is happening in this weird time-space-continuum. Slow, slow, slow paced at home and yet to find time to do much seems hard to come by. When there is an outing, it is a monumental undertaking and yet not all that complicated...just really time-consuming.

And whenever I finally sit down to get something done (like this post) Cael starts to fuss. Doesn't matter if he's been fed, if I've just set him down or if he should be by all intents and purposes...ASLEEP.....

(several hours later)

Trying to think of what we've been up to....
July 4th was fairly uneventful. Teagan was in a "young patriots" parade in my parents' neighborhood (quite by happenstance...she had spent the night). They decorated her tricycle and he made a flag and had ice cream. Sounds like she had a good time.

(2 days later)

July 5th had us visiting friends for a somewhat impromptu engagement party. Ben went to high school with my youngest brother. They were both in Dayton for college before Ben joined the armed forces (not sure which branch) and was sent off to Iraq. He's back now and has been dating Jami for a while now. (not sure of the exact duration). Jami has a son Jonathan, who will be 5 years old next month. We like them all very much. They are getting married in November and have asked Teagan to be the flower girl. We didn't think this would be possible as we were scheduled to be in Hawaii, but that may be postponed long enough to attend the wedding...seeing as how my brother will be in the wedding party. I believe the plan will be wedding Sat Nov 8, leave for Hawaii Sun Nov 9. But that's neither here nor there. Somewhat related....they are hoping to move up to Brecksville which means Teagan will have another friend nearby, which is great news. Stay tuned. The party was fun.

July 6th we had our Big Sister/Little Brother party. It was lovely. Sue made lots of very tasty food and overall it was pretty laid back. Two of our friends came with their kids (Penelope, soon to be 3 yrs; William 6?; Alex 8 and Mia, also soon to be 3). Overall, pretty small turnout but lovely just the same. Thanks to those that did make the effort to come help us celebrate despite the holiday weekend. :)

Well, onto the pictures as I don't want this post to go another day and it's time for me to get Teagan down for nap. Oh! Matt, Cael and I went to see a double feature at the drive-in Wednesday night. We saw Wall-E....very cute, and The Hulk...decent superhero flick. Cael managed to sleep through both movies!! Meanwhile, Teagan had her first sleepover at Nana's since she got the new bed. Of course, she didn't SLEEP in the convertible bed, but maybe next time. Tonight Matt and I are going with friends to see Hellboy2, oh yeah! Very exciting! And Dark Knight (the next Batman movie is next Friday). My folks are watching Teagan AND Cael. This will be Cael's first time staying with someone other than a parent. I've only been able to leave him on 2 occasions to run to the store while he napped and once so far for a treatment session.

Did I mention I picked up the extended school year contract? It's pretty light. 6 sessions each for 2 kids (each once a week, one for 30 minutes and one for 60 minutes). I'm able to bring Cael with me for the 60 minute session as arranged with the parent and so far that's working out alright. I leave Cael home for the 30-minute session.

Ok. Pics and then nap....and of course, who's waking up?
You got it! Cael!





Below: The new shark diaper sent from Morgan, Jon and family in GA. It's soft too!





Ok, not a great picture of Cael and he's wear a huge cloth diaper, but he is getting chunkier! :) I can attest to the amount of hours he has put in working on getting the chub on ;)

Photo Shoot July 1

So, we made it to Portrait Innovations today for our first professional photos as a family of four.
It didn't quite turn out as I'd hoped as we got a late start and then got lost (following internet alternate directions) limiting the amount of time I had to feed Cael. All in all I think we did alright. Here are some highlights.