Friday, December 31, 2010

Finally - a Real Nursery for Kylie

Kylie has finally outgrown her Moses basket so we needed to re-group. Today, we assembled her crib (finally) and set up her cute froggie theme. It was so sweet to put her to bed tonight in her REAL bed.

A Mis-understanding For Sure!

We had a nice New Year's Eve dinner at home this year. Given the kids - it seemed to make sense. We had a wonderful New York strip steak, baked potato and asparagus. Yum.

Hugh and I were enjoying the dinner, but I noticed that Kate wasn't eating much dinner. Normally, I try to ignore it when the kids aren't eating much - but she hadn't had much for the past 2 days. So I implored her to taste some of the steak. She kept shaking her head no - and after a little while just looked at me and said "NO SNAKE!". No wonder she didn't want to try it!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Gram and Sir John Come for a Tea Party


Kate and Connor were throwing a tea party today, so Jane and John came over to visit for the morning. It was a special week for Gram since Sir John had given her a beautiful ring for Christmas - so all kinds of reasons for us to celebrate.



We played in the playroom and had tea (ok - Kate had coffee since that's what Mom drinks). Connor showed us that you can eat the candlesticks (bad idea) and Kate showed us that she has unlimited energy.

Kylie? She showed us that she has good lungs by crying most of the visit :-0

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas Morning



What a fun morning. I just wish I could have gotten more pictures as the kids were opening their presents (but heck, I just wanted to enjoy the moment!)

Kate and Connor came down the stairs and ran over to the tree to see what Santa brought them. Santa and our family brought a truck for Connor, along with a train set, a work horse and lot's of Thomas the Tank train books. Kate received a doll, a castle (tent), and lot's of Curious George the Monkey books.

Rookie mistake from the parents : we didn't know to take the toys out of the boxes - so each gift took 10 minutes to cut out of the packaging.




One of my favorite moments today... I put M&Ms in the kids stockings, as it is an O'Farrell family tradition. The kids have never had M&Ms before, so I knew this would be a big treat. They got to open their stockings at breakfast, so I was prepared for them to get sugar-ed up - but only so much. So, I put out about 10 M&Ms each. After Connor finished his, he asked for more emm emms, and he got a few. Kate wanted more too, so she asked for "more stocking??"



Kylie was just a little doll and watched the Christmas tree lights sparkle and listened to the happy voices.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve


Mommy is up late tonight, so I was able to get a peak of Santa. He found our new house and came down our chimney with lot's of toys.


He even nibbled on the chocolate chip cookies that we made for him. Hope Rudolph gets him home safely tonight as we hear it will be a white Christmas tomorrow in Atlanta.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

She's Just a Living Doll!

Kylie is smiling and cooing these days. So much fun. Any more words needed???

Friday, December 17, 2010

Mom and Dad go out on date night


I know the kids just love Miss Shirley when she babysits for them - but maybe the picture tells a little bit of the reason why... she's their size!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Hanging out in our PJS

Nothing special going on.... just the kids loving their PJs while Mommy finally decorates the Christmas Tree. Kylie is (at last) sleeping peacefully.




I considered not purring up a tree this year. There certainly is a lot going on with a new baby and a move to a new house. But - how else would Santa find us if I don't put up a tree and our stockings???

Saturday, December 11, 2010

The Davis' come to Dinner

Shirley was so thoughtful and brought us dinner tonight. I know she hasn't moved in a while, but she must remember how frustrating it is to not be able to find anything in your own kitchen. So very nice.

We had a great visit, and Cousins Kevin and Lauren were awesome playing with the kids.



Aunt Anne comes to visit



I'm so glad to have Aunt Anne living near by - it's going to be tough when she moves to Washington State next year.




Anne came by with Christmas presents for the twins. Boy does she know how to get just the right thing. She gave Connor a Thomas the Tank Train (with remote control!), and she gave Kate a kitchen with groceries and it teaches her Spanish. Both presents are perfect (and Connor likes the kitchen as much as Kate likes Thomas). Also, Anne brought Kate a real black beret from Paris, which Kate would not take off all day. Very cute!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

The New House Must Be Lucky For Us...


... because last night was the FIRST night that Kylie slept through the night! She slept from 10pm until 5am. That may not seem like a long time to you - but it is awesome to me. Also - her colic seems to have lessened a good bit - so let's hope she out grows that nasty problem SOON!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Out from one house, in to another



We finally moved today! The home that I have loved so much for 5 years is behind us. I'm hoping we can stay in touch with so many of the dear friends and neighbors that we met there.

Connor, Kate and Kylie all went to Miss Tracy's today so that they wouldn't get under-foot of the movers. It was a very cold day, and the doors were open all day long - so not conducive to anyone being in the house at all. The twins say "cheers" as they get ready to leave.


After a long day (and only about half way done with the move), Hugh and I went to pick up the kids. It was an uneventful trip home until the last 500 yards when Connor got motion sick. He's such a sweet little lamb. As I cleaned him up, he said "I'm sorry Mommy." Bless his heart! Now if only I had a working washer and dryer to clean up his PJs and favorite blue blanket. No such luck!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Two month check up


It was time for our 2 month check up with Doctor B today. I so love Doctor B - she has a wonderful way about her and she just LOVES children.


Kylie is now 22 1/4 inches long (50%) and 13 lbs (97%), while her head is 39 3/4 cm (75%). While I think Kylie looks wonderful - I know by her stats that she is not quite where we need her weight to be. Doc B lovingly suggests that we dilute Kylie's formula with a little water to try to help her slim down. I guess I shouldn't be worried - Kate and Connor had the SAME feedback from Doc B and they are perfect now.

Her colic is still flaring up some nights - so Doc B keeps her on that nasty smelling (and expensive) Alimentum formula. Ughhh.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Visit With Santa, Part Deux




We went to see Santa again today. I had hoped that after seeing Santa a few weeks ago and talking about Santa, and singing Christmas songs - that Kate and Connor would enjoy Santa. I was wrong.

Connor tolerated seeing Santa. I think mostly because he had just eaten 5 or 6 cookies and a juice box and was now in a sugar coma. Kate on the other hand, HATED seeing Santa (and even bribing her with a cookie wouldn't work). Oh well - at least Kylie was peaceful seeing Santa.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Kylie is 8 weeks old



Kylie is 8 weeks old today. She has been doing so much better in the past 2 weeks. She had some terrible colic from about 3 weeks until 6 weeks old. After trying some different formulas, she is a new baby! Much happier, much less screaming. Good for Kylie; very good for Mom and Dad.

Look at that sweet little smile!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Uncle Chris (or Uncle Kiss)



Uncle Chris came over yesterday to join us for Thanksgiving weekend. After eating and drinking, it was time to read some books. Chris did a great job reading and playing with them Kate especially liked playing hide-n-seek with him.
The kids loved playing with "Uncle Kiss" (they couldn't quite say Uncle Chris).

Thursday, November 25, 2010

The Best Toys....



Some times, the best toys are FREE. This year, I decided to not "make" Thanksgiving dinner, but to "make it possible." When I brought home the meal, it was packed in a huge box, that I promptly emptied and placed on the floor. It only took seconds for Kate and Connor to find it and declare it a train, or a school bus (or who actually knows what they were really saying at this age).

The only problem with this toy is that there was only ONE box. After a few tears, everyone got a turn to sit in the box.

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Shelby Comes to visit

Shelby was off school and came to see the kids today. It's been a while since she's come to the house to see the twins, and she hadn't met Kylie at all - so it was great for her to come over. I told her that she was a natural holding Kylie, but she should probably wait a few years before she has her own. As a graduating high school senior, I hope she waits quite a few years!



Notice the precious outfit that Kate is wearing. She has become quite the fashion diva in the mornings. She is very particular about what she will and won't wear. The outfit that Aunt Roxie and Uncle Ross sent made the cute for sure! And for Connor, any shirt with trucks, trains or dinosaurs will do!


Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Ring Around The Rosie




After a few days of rain, the kids were getting stir-crazy to play outside. Connor would stand by the kitchen window and plaintively say "outside? outside?" So, while it was cold today, it was sunny and dry - so the kids went outside to play.

Connor ran around and around - up and down the berm in the yard, picking up sticks and leaves. Kate had other plans - she wanted to be in the swing to play, but not to swing. Her new request is that you spin her around and around, and then release the swing seat so that it spins around in the opposite direction. A daredevil in the making.

What really got them giggling, though, was playing Ring Around the Rosie. They do it really well, and Connor likes the "all fall down" part so much that he does it way to early. I captured a video too....


Sunday, November 14, 2010

Smiles!

Kylie gave me a true smile today! No pictures (heck, I was too busy smiling myself) - but it was very sweet. Especially after 4 weeks of screaming, raging, colic - a smile was certainly in order. Kylie is 6 weeks old now.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Off to see Santa



We had a family outing today to see Santa. All week, we've been talking about what Santa says (Ho Ho Ho) and showing the kids pictures of Santa.

After quite the struggle to get the kids dressed up and out the door, we finally made it to see Santa. Turns out Santa is popular - so we had to wait about an hour to see him. That's a long time with 3 little ones - but it was worth it!

Kylie slept through the whole event (good). Kate decided maybe this Santa thing wasn't such a good idea after all, and Connor totally ignored Santa once he received his candy cane.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Veronique visits


Veronique came by to visit with the kids and to bring dinner (a yummy version of Shepard's pie). It was great to see V-Dawg hold Kylie... there's a Mom in training for sure (many years from now).