Monday, May 31, 2010

Never Been More Busy


Spring is here and Summer isn't too far away. The nice weather has finally settled in and appears to be here to stay - for a few months anyway.

Andrew now is nearly 6 months old believe it or not and Elizabeth is almost 3 years old with both milestones occurring in June. Andrew just started sitting up on his own a few weeks ago and just started solid food this weekend and has to be the happiest little boy I have ever seen and a fantastic sleeper during the night (but only a power napper during the day). Elizabeth continues to grow and amaze us everyday with the purity and warmth of her heart and just how smart she is - she is truly a special little girl.

Kate is wrapping up her PhD dissertation with her defense slated for July and two exciting offers for teaching / research jobs once she is finished. I'm very interested to see which one we end up choosing. Somehow on top of all of that she has found time to do Air Force reserve duty as well. I know its a welcome change of pace for her but the commute is terrible and the timing right now is difficult with her defense so close.
As for me, I'm leading a development program at work that has been every bit as much of a social engineering problem to solve as it has been an aerospace and electrical engineering problem. So far its been going very well but its exhausting keeping the ship sailing on the right course. Having just completed our critical design review we are now wrapping up some rather major last minute problems that popped up and starting to manufacture real hardware which is very exciting. Hopefully the pressure will let up soon.
Somehow I have also become a baby photographer having taken photos for several of our friends who had babies in the last few months which has been great fun and another one lined up in the next couple weeks depending on when "Aunt Tiffy" delivers.


Of course Andrew and Elizabeth have been having a lot of fun this spring with regular trips up to Pearl Street in Boulder, the Denver Zoo, birthday parties, and of course almost daily trips to one of the parks near by. Despite our chaotic schedules we have managed to keep the kids at the center of it all. Our off-Fridays at home with Elizabeth and Andrew are absolutely priceless and a wonderful way to spend some quality time with them.


Things have never been more busy in our house but fortunately things are going very well for everyone. We are all looking forward to Kate to completing her PhD and are excited for her. What an accomplishment!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Andrew 5 months old

I know I say this just about every post, but Andrew is such a happy little boy. He brings so much joy to our lives and you can't help but be happy when you're around him. His newest tricks this month include sitting up really well by himself and putting absolutely everything in his mouth. His favorite toy is the star on the Baby Einstein Exersaucer. He is absolutely enthralled with his big sister and just lights up when she comes in the room or pays him 30 seconds of attention. Andrew is becoming more interested in toys and books and Elizabeth is working a little harder with sharing as a result.




And this is how we roll lately. Elizabeth will ride in the buggy for about 10 minutes and then she wants to get out and walk. She is actually a really good walker for a 2.95 year old. We go on a two mile walk in the evenings when the weather is good and she can walk for a mile of it without getting tired. She is very motivated to see the horses down the street. She picks dandelions along the way and puts them on the fence for the horses. I'm really pleased that Elizabeth is so fond of animals. She likes them in all shapes and sizes. Some of her "favorites" are bugs. All kinds of bugs. This afternoon we spent an hour playing with two rolly pollies, a dead worm, 2 black ants and a spider. She is facinated by bugs and asks all kinds of bug questions. For example, do worms have eyes and a nose? What is the rolly pollie doing inside it's shell? And of course the constant, can I touch penguins, ducks, spiders, snakes, chipmunks, sea gulls etc? We go through the entire list of animals known to Elizabeth on a weekly basis. I've had to do a little research of my own to answer some of her questions. I hope that she keep asking all kinds of questions; what an inquisitive little mind! Elizabeth's favoirte mornings are the ones when it's raining as there are always a few worms on the driveway. She gets a little container and takes them to school with her. (According to my mom, when I was a little girl, I used to put my worm friends in my underwear drawer). Elizabeth is very good about putting the worms back in the dirt when her teacher tells her that it's time. However, last week, she put her worms in the dirt and one of the little boys smashed them with his foot. Needless to say, that has been a topic of discussion for the past week!




Friday, May 7, 2010

Happy Mother's Day

Andrew is such a happy little boy and so easy going. Elizabeth in her "terrible twos" sometimes has a bit of a screaming fit. Andrew just sits there, looking around, thinking who knows what but just as happy as can be. Nothing seems to phase my handsome little guy (and yes, Grandma, that is the 12 month old sweater that you just sent).

This month Andrew has really started to laugh - Elizabeth has always had a beautiful giggle, Andrew on the other hand laughs. He has one of those contagious belly laughs that you just can't help but start laughing yourself when you hear it. A laugh that you just wish you could bottle up and save for a rainy day.




Elizabeth loves her sippy cups. She always brings one with milk and one with water with her just about everywhere. At school, the kids really "identify" with their cups. I find it interesting as when we pick Elizabeth up from school, one of the other children will often go and get Elizabeth's sippy cups for her to take home. They all know exactly who the cups belong to, even though the kids bring different style/color cups each day. Yesterday I got Elizabeth two new sippy cups with straws and you would have thought I brought her to Disney World. The entire day today revolved around the new sippy cups. And I think she drank about a 1/4 gal of milk as the cups were just too much fun. And her new thing this week, head bands - hopefully she'll learn how to put them in herself really soon.


Just chilling as usual.


Lately we let Elizabeth pick out what she wears and it's pretty amusing what she comes up with.

British Isles!!! Mega Post!!!

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