Why I Do It

Last week, Laura did a post about blogging.  It made me think about why I blog.  I like having a record of major events in Katie and Michael's lives, as well as just recording the everyday things we do too.  It's nice to be able to look back and see when we went on a trip somewhere or Michael's first day of school.  Michael had to do a timeline project for school earlier this year and I was able to use the blog to get some information.

I started blogging several years ago but it was quite sporadic at that time.  After Katie's arrival, I became more diligent about blogging on a regular basis.  Normally the second child comes along and a lot of things that you used to do fall by the wayside.  To me, it was even more important to record the moments in our life because I realized how special every moment really is.

I don't have many readers but there are 3 that are very important to me: Todd, Michael and Katie.  The kids love to look at pictures on the blog and see themselves when they were younger.  I can't wait to see how they react in 10 years at what I have captured in their lives!

March for Babies

This morning Katie, Michael and I headed down to the State Fairgrounds to participate in the March of Dimes Walk for Babies.  A good friend of mine delivered twin girls 9.5 weeks early in December and one of the girls passed away two days later.  They suffered from twin to twin transfusion syndrome.  My friend decided to organize a team to walk for her daughters and we joined them.  The great news is that she was the leading individual fundraiser for the race this year and the team was the top family fundraising team! 

The walk was 6 miles long and I had the double stroller for anyone who got tired.  Katie was not too happy to be put in the stroller but she complied once I gave her some snacks that I had brought.  Michael did pretty well and walked for at least 3 miles.  I made it all 6 miles, pushing almost 80 pounds in the stroller.  I was exhausted when we got home.

Our budding garden

About a month ago, Todd got our vegetable garden started for this year.  He normally does one big box on the side of the yard but decided to change the setup a little bit.  He put the tomato plants in their own little boxes and then had 2 decent sized boxes for the rest of the vegetables.

This year we are growing broccoli, spinach, lettuce (romaine and red leaf), cabbage, squash, zucchini and peppers.  We already have some decent sized tomatoes on the vine and a few small squash.  I am looking forward to seeing what we get to eat when everything is fully grown.

Gorilla Time

Todd was out of town for the weekend so I decided to take the kids to the zoo on Saturday morning.  We normally just walk around, look at the animals and head to the playground.  Today we decided to head to the gorilla area for their feeding time at 11:30.  The kids got to sit up front by the window to see them when they came up to get fed.  There were a few zoo workers on top of the building throwing lettuce and fruit down, as well as two colorful tubes with food inside. 

The kids had fun watching the gorillas eat, even though I think that Katie was a bit scared of them coming so close to the glass window.  Michael was thrilled to see them and used my phone to take a series of pictures.  He managed to capture quite a few good shots, although there were several shots of the gorilla's backside as well. 

After seeing the gorillas, we took a tram ride across the river to the botanical gardens and then rode back to the zoo.  The kids played in the playground and then we headed home for lunch and nap.  Since everyone was so good, we stopped and got Sonic slushes as a treat!

All Clear

This afternoon, Michael had his semi-annual checkup from his ear surgery last August. The doctor was going to check to make sure that the skin graft had been successful in patching Michael's eardrum. We got the good news that it had! So as of right now, Michael has been released from the ENT unless there are any further problems. I was so relieved to hear this as we have been going to the ENT for almost 5 years now. What a great start to the weekend.

Sleeping Everywhere

Ever since Katie has transitioned from her crib into the toddler bed, she has been having sleep issues. She doesn't want to stay in bed after we tuck her in. I hear her walking around upstairs and her bedroom door opens and closes several times in a row. We have started putting the gate on the door if she comes out more than 2 times but I usually take it off once we go upstairs so she can use the bathroom.

Her new thing in the past week or so is just falling asleep wherever the mood strikes her. This is on the floor in the hallway, bedroom, and the stairway landing. It's pretty funny because Todd and I never know where we may find her. These are just a few of the places she has fallen asleep. Why she wants to fall asleep on the floor and not her bed is beyond me. I guess she will learn once she wakes up with a stiff neck!

Teething: Round 2

I have been looking for Michael to have his first loose tooth. So far, there doesn't seem to be one. I find this to be a bit unusual because he got his baby teeth so early. I figured that he would get his permanent teeth early too. As I was looking in his mouth last week for a loose tooth, I saw a glimmer of white in the back of his mouth. Imagine my surprise when one of his 6 year molars was coming through on the bottom right of his mouth!

Just like teething the first time around, it seems to have no effect on Michael the second time around either. I consider us lucky that teething doesn't seem to bother him at all. He can handle some serious pain but not really the little things, like a cut or scrape. I guess teething falls into the serious pain category.

Introducing.....

our new niece and Katie & Michael's new cousin, Lila Alexander Baldwin, born on Thursday, April 5th. She was 5 days overdue and we were all anxiously awaiting her arrival, especially her parents, my sister Michelle and her husband Alex. Guess she wanted to get here before Easter!

We traveled up to Raleigh on Thursday night and went to the hospital to meet her on Friday. Both kids were excited to get to see her now that she was born. They both wanted to hold her but we told them they need to wait until she gets a little older and isn't quite so fragile!

Lila is adorable and looked so tiny to me. She made Katie and Michael look so grown-up. I loved holding her and watching her sleep so peacefully. Can't wait to see her again! Congrats to Michelle and Alex on the arrival of your beautiful baby girl.

Happy Easter

We had a really nice holiday here. The day started off with the kids coming downstairs to their Easter baskets. They couldn't wait to get into them! Katie's basket was filled with a lot of Dora and Disney princess items. Michael's basket was filled with Legos, Star Wars and Cars items. Both kids were so excited to open them up.



After they opened the baskets, they sat quietly playing with their new travel coloring books. It was surprising to see them sit together without fighting and watch them coloring side by side.



We had the Easter egg hunt in the backyard before we went to church. Katie was really into it this year and Michael is quite the pro now. They each got 10 eggs and a special egg. I love watching how happy they get when they find an egg after searching for them.






We all went to church and had some rest time after we came home before heading out to dinner. We went with my parents to the Japanese steakhouse for our dinner. This is one of the kids' favorite restaurants and they were very well behaved. Katie and Michael both ate almost all of their food. They love watching it being cooked in front of them too.

The day ended with some outside time playing in the yard and riding bikes. What a great day!!

The Colors of an Easter Egg

Katie and Michael colored one dozen Easter eggs tonight. They were very excited to do it and almost couldn't wait for them to boil. Once they were ready, we got ready to dye them using color cups. This was not nearly as messy as the cups we usually use to color them.

While coloring them, Katie dropped quite a few on the floor, causing them to crack. Every time one dropped, she would say, "Look at this egg, it hatched!". By the end we had almost as many "hatched" eggs as whole eggs.

Michael had fun writing on the eggs and using stencils on some of them. He was very interested in getting all of the eggs into the color cups without spilling.

Ready for Strawberries

Since the forecast is calling for rain for the next few days, I decided to take the kids to pick strawberries this morning. It was a good call since a big storm moved through tonight. I have been going to the same farm to pick strawberries for almost 10 years but we went to a different one today, as the old farm moved further away. This one was so much nicer with evenly defined rows for the kids to walk in and tons of berries to pick. They even had a port-a-potty with a running faucet, soap and towels to wash your hands (still gross inside but at least you could get your hands washed!).



It was the perfect day to pick berries as it was not too hot and overcast. There have been several years that we have gone when it's been ridiculously hot and sweaty. We got 2 buckets and headed down to the end of the row. Michael and Katie both did really well to pick only red berries and not a bunch of overripe ones. I showed Michael how to pull the berry leaving most of the stem on there. He was filling his bucket as quick as Katie, David and I were filling ours.



All of the kids enjoyed eating some berries so I let them. One thing that I remember about picking berries as a kid was that my mom always wanted us to wait until we got home to eat them due to the fact that they weren't washed. I ate a few too and they were delicious. I can't wait to make some baked goods and eat them straight from the bucket!