Four and Fabulous, Part II

The first F&F post earlier this month was to honor our birthday boy. This post, fondly referred to as F&F2, is in honor of his ever-loving sister, as today is the 4-month anniversary of the day we met Keira.

Four months ago today, hubby and I were in China, nervously and anxiously awaiting the introduction to our daughter.
This is the girl we met:

This is the girl we know today:

We hope that she is growing to feel the same way toward us, as we feel toward her. We hope that she is coming to learn and understand that she will be here forever, loved and cared for, safe and secure. Our time together as a family gets better and better. We are getting to see more smiles, more laughter, more hugs, and more kisses. We get to see more and more of her fun-loving personality. And best of all, we get to wake up to that every single morning.

Here's to another great 4 months....4 years....and 4-ever.

Long Distance Dedication

No, no....I'm not really trying to be Kasey Kasem here. BUT, I was in Ohio today visiting family and a certain aunt of mine (you know who you are!) not so subtly reminded me that, ahem, the birthday pix have been up for a while.
So, Aunt C, these are for you, with love from Indiana!

Keira enjoying the green, green grass....before it got covered with snow again!
And here, also enjoying the green grass (in the form of a mixed greens salad, apparently!)...it would seem her mom was too busy with the camera initially to notice just what was really going on!

On Palm Sunday, K actually smiling for the camera, while Q is still mad about not getting a doughnut after church:
Their first Easter Egg hunt - or as their father called it, the Easter Egg Stumble (since the eggs were everywhere!)

With the Bunny, after the egg-stumble (Keira is actually screaming at the giant fluffy white thing, and therefore the reason mom had to get in on the photo):

Easter morning, with their loot:

After church on Easter Sunday, all smiles:

You might get a kick out of Q's version of events: "Yeah, I know why we celebrate Easter, because some bad guys put Jesus in a cave and then when his friends went to look for him they found out that he had escaped! That was cool, huh?"

I guess when you are a 4-year old boy, everything unfolds like a superhero action story.

Four and Fabulous!

I've been a little late, OK - 2 weeks late, in dedicating a birthday post to our #1 son. Q turned four on "March twenty-one" (as he announced to everyone!) and is a super-bright shining star (so sayeth his parents). He's been a such a blessing to us and I feel so lucky to be able to spend more time than ever watching him grow.

Quinn was born in 2003, on the first Friday of the NCAA tournament. I knew that he'd be a smart kid right off the bat, since he had the good sense to be born during half-time of the Purdue game. (The last time they were in the tourney, by the way, until this year...the year his sis arrived....maybe the Boilers' tourney success depends on us having kids...hmm....)

Anyway, as is typical of most moms, I spend a lot of time marveling at how intelligent and insightful my son is. Like the other day, when we are playing the "Who loves you the most?" game (sorry, hubby, I make them say me!) :-) Anyway, the game starts when I say - while picking up Q and swinging him in the air: "Who loves you the most?" "Mommy does!" he shouts. "Who loves Keira the most?" I continue. "Mommy does!" he shouts even louder. But then here it gets interesting: Quinn takes over the game and adds, voice even louder, "Who loves everyone the most?"

I paused. Is he talking about me? I am supposed to love everyone, but, well....and before I even have a chace to answer, he shouts "God does!"

Oh. Wow. Well, that's right! Yippee for him!

Then, I think, Those Sunday School teachers at St. Luke's really are something.....

Nonetheless, and if you are a mom and/or a Seinfeld junkie, you know this next part: everything balances out. As in, for every fabulous oh-my-kid-rocks moment, you have a oh-my-gosh-he's-a-rascally-little-snicklefritz moment. Usually here, that takes the form of body-checking his sister into the baby-gate to prevent her from getting (insert name of toy du jour). We're working on that...and a few other in-her-face big brother habits. But all in all, he's a winner.

So, here's to you, little one. Ooops - I mean big one. Because, yes, I know (since I've been told a zillion times or so), you aren't the baby around here....

(Here he is, taking an important b-day call from Grandma!)

(Uh, what's with this Cubs hat, Dad? Isn't there a Reds hat around this joint somewhere?)

Must Love Cats and Dogs

Back in the early years of our marriage, hubby and I were often asked the ol' when-are-you-two-having-kids irritating question. Oh, we just got a dog we say - we are practicing on him.

A few years later, still no kids. But we did add a cat to the household. Same question would come our way. Same answer given by us...only modified to include the cat.

Well, fast forward to today (13+ years after the appearance of our first furry friend) and here we are with 2 real kids of our own. And we discovered recently that, after years of joking around about the dog and cat being our practice kids, our real kids are really quite like our dog and cat.

Our son is the dog of the family. And I mean this in the best possible way. Like man's best friend, he is friendly and eager to please his owners, um, I mean,uh, parents. You tell him to stop doing something and he pretty much gets it right off the bat. (Of course, he is 4 now, so there are times....)

And then there's Little Miss K. Yup - she's the cat. She's not lazy and fat and antisocial like our particular cat, but there's no telling her no. As in, No Keira - stop eating that refrigerator magnet. (Take away magnet and put back on fridge.) Two seconds later: No Keira, stop eating that magnet.

Repeat.

Repeat.

Repeat.

She keeps going back for more, totally lacking that admirable dog-like obedience gene.

But we love them all, dogs and cats alike.

And, as it turns out, getting those practice kids oh so long ago really might pay off afterall.

March Gladness

OK....sometimes, it really is madness around here, but I didn't want the NCAA after me for name infringement and all. (Their headquarters are right here in Indy, so who knows who is lurking where!)
Anyway, spring is about to officially arrive and we had some nice preview days last week. We all got outside to enjoy the sunshine and Miss K thought her new swing was, to quote her brother, "A Blast!!!"


As of this past Sunday, Keira is 15 months old and has been with us for 3 months. She is starting to walk more and more on her own and she is getting her sixth tooth - hence the madness sometimes, instead of gladness. Besides mama and dada and gege, she says UP! quite plainly. I think she also said thank you at dinner tonight. Really. Ask her dad. And she loves to point and blab at our dog. I think she is saying "go go dog" or something like that....maybe because Quinn likes the PD Eastman book "Go, Dog, Go!", or maybe because the Mandarin word for dog is pronounced "go" and whenever she points to Odie I say, "dog...gou...dog...."
Or maybe she's just saying "Why don't you ever let me pull his tail!??!"

Anyway, she's doing just fabulously, I think. Did I mention previously that she's hit the charts now? The growth charts, that is. She has officially gained 3 American pounds and that puts her at the 8th-percentile for her age. She is in the 25% for her height. And despite the noodle lovefest she displayed in China, she won't touch them now. What have we done? Is she an all American girl already? She wouldn't eat them the last 2 times we got Chinese food. She will, however, eat macaroni and cheese. And she ate barbecue and danced to country music when we took daddy-o out for his 40th b-day dinner. Yup...the girl's gone country. (We don't even really like country music much ourselves, but I guess there's no accounting for toddler taste!)

Well, time to slide out of here for now. I'll leave you with a little fish-lip kiss from Miss K herself:
(She's discovered recently that instead of crying when mommy tells her no, it is much better to just crawl on over and give lots of kisses.....and who am I to argue with that??!)

The Sands of Time

My dear hubby got a 40th (yes- 40th!) birthday card last week that said "When it comes to the sands of time.....You've built yourself a nice little beach!" Find below the beach bums enjoying daddy's 40th. (Cake, it's all about the cake....at least if you're 4, and not yet 40!)


When asked to comment on their father's birthday, Keira says:
heh heh heh....he's how old?

Quinn has no comment, but dwells sadly on the thought of his dad being over-the-hill....


Later in the week, the old man proved himself still useful by taking the whole gang for a walk around the neighborhood! (Keira's first wagon ride, which she loved, of course.)


Later, in a musical b-day gift to her dad, Keira entertained.
First, a piano and harmonica concert (that is, using the harmonica to bang on the piano!).

And then, a few dance numbers!

Happy 40th B-day, Daddy! We love you!

Little Hands and Big Heads

Earlier today, as I'm cleaning up the lunch dishes, Quinn is busying himself by playing with a robot and a racecar. He creates the following dialogue...

Robot (speaking to car): Did that baby just drop you? (Indeed, Keira had just thrown the car onto the floor from her perch in the highchair.)
Car: What's a baby?
[I can't wait to hear this, I think to myself.]
Robot: You know, they have little hands and big heads!

Ah, yes. The world according to a preschooler.

So, for your viewing pleasure this week, some photos of the small-handed/big-headed ones.

He cracks me up.....
....unless I'm trying to take his cars!

Now that he's not looking, I'm sure I can get this Mater....

Those somersaults look easy!

Huh? It wasn't me.

Stop following me! I can climb these stairs by myself!

As you can see Keira is getting along pretty well here. We've been home almost 2 months. At times, it seems like she's been with us forever; but there are plenty of times when we are reminded that this is all new. For all of us, but especially for her. For example, we had a fabulous time at a family birthday party this weekend, and she really enjoyed herself. But big social events like that are usually followed by a couple of nights of no-good sleep and a few days of extra-mommy-clinginess. We haven't yet left her with a non-parent. She's always been with either mommy or daddy. And mostly, it's been mommy. She might get her first taste of being away from both of us this Sunday at church. She hung out with me in the toddler room last Sunday and liked it a lot. New playmates; new toys. So now we will see how she likes it sans momma. I hope we are both ready for it! In the meantime, we will load up on kisses, hugs, snuggles and smiles. There are plenty to go around!

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

We are a day late, but Happy Chinese New Year! It is the year of the pig, if you haven't heard. The pig (boar) is your Chinese zodiac sign if you were born in 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, or 2007. I'm sure you caught the 12 year pattern here. There are 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac. Anyway, check here if you want to see what characteristics are possessed by those born in pig years. It's good stuff, really, and the Chinese consider babies born in pig years to be very lucky. They are expecting a bit of a baby boom this year, and for your viewing pleasure, here's how our babies are doing.

Ahhhh, baby.....

If I have to wear this thing, so does Elmo!

A foot and a half of snow is good for something....like making giant snowballs to throw at my dad!

Toothy smile on Valentine's Day!

What do you want? I'm trying to make out my birthday list here!

Happy New Year everyone. Oink oink!

And a very happy birthday to my monkey mom! We love you!

Where's The Beef?

Where? Right here in central Indiana! Courtesy of a Super Bowl bet with my sister-in-law, we were eating mighty fine last night. It all started over a picture she doctored up, to make our nice little Indy family appear to be Bears fans. You see, my hubby's family is from Chicago. He was born and raised in the suburbs. So, according to SIL's thinking, hubby should be a Bears fan. But, as it turns out, he was never much for the Bears. The Blackhawks he likes; the Cubs he likes; but the Bears, and football in general, were never a big deal to him. Then along comes me - we fall in love, get married, yada, yada, yada, and here we are in the middle of Colts country. So, the first year we move to the Indy-area, I buy some Colts season tickets (which unfortunately we no longer have thanks to our 2 lovely kidlets; but it was fun while it lasted!). He goes because he's a good sport. And the next thing you know, well, he's in a Marvin Harrison jersey on Sundays. I can be persuasive like that. Plus the whole, if-momma-ain't-happy-ain't-nobody-happy thing.
Anyway, after this whole photo, um, incident with my SIL, I say we need a wager. She agrees. And as you all know, to the victor go the spoils. And here, for your viewing pleasure, are all the delicious spoils.

This box arrived at our house 2 days after the win. I'll say, those Bears fans aren't all bad. And SIL sure is prompt on paying up!

Inside, sandwich fixins! Yum, yum. Thanks to subzero temps around here and an uninsulated garage, this box was frozen solid until we were ready to prepare the meal.

Is it ready yet?

Yummmm!!
Gimme more!

A mighty tasty sandwich!

Mine tastes better with my Super Bowl Champions hat on!

Thanks Aunt V and Uncle P! We loved it!

That's One Small Step for a Girl....

...and one giant leap into official toddlerdom! Yup, Keira took her first steps this weekend. She had been taking about 2 at a time in the previous weeks, before diving to me or daddy, but this weekend, she finally took more than 2 at a time! She walked about 5 steps from grandma to mommy on Saturday!
Keira was on her first ever trip to Ohio to visit my side of the family, and it was full of good times. She loved being around her cousins, aunts and uncles. And the grandparents too, of course. And she even got to meet her other great-grandma and a great-aunt and -uncle. She seemed to be very at ease and was laughing and smiling and playing. She's not mobile enough to get in on the big kid fun and games, but she loved watching and will be putting herself into the middle of the action soon. (You know, that Ohio atmosphere must be powerful - Quinn crawled for the first time at my parents house, and he took his first steps a few months after that while I was visiting some college friends...hmmm....of course, I can hear my mom now: see? move back!)
But anyway, Keira isn't totally mobile yet, but she was taking a few more steps around here earlier this morning. She is also doing other totally fabulous things like:
initiating peek-a-boo on her own,
giving me kisses on her own, and
picking up her doll and giving the doll big hugs and pats on the back.
Did I mention she gives me kisses??!
It is so much fun to see her learning new things and feeling more and more comfortable with us and her surroundings. It is hard to imagine sometimes that we just met her about 2 months ago. Of course, it is not always sunshine and roses, as any parents knows, but we keep growing, one day at a time.

Below are some recent pix of the kids.
Here, K is opening a gift from great-grandma, with the help of her big brother, of course. Does anyone other than the first child ever get to open gifts all on their own??? (By the way, she loves these singing Valentine's monkeys. Um, thanks a lot, Aunt L!) :-)

And of course, I'll imagine she put this in her mouth of her own accord (and not that it is Quinn's idea of some peace and quiet!)

The Indiana sun reflecting off all that snow is just too much!!

And here is Miss K by the Little People Garage, aka her own personal step ladder. This girl will try to get a leg up on pretty much anything. If only we had been able to catch her on camera when she was hanging from the edge of the pack-and-play, trying to hoist her leg up on the side, wanting to climb in!

That's it from here for now. We just got a new digital camera, so hopefully even better pix to come soon. And since they are calling for about a foot and a half of snow around here today and tomorrow, there should be lots of time to learn how to use it. I think our next photos will be of us enjoying some yummy Italian beef sandwiches we won from hubby's sister in our Super Bowl Bet. More on that later.

Zai jian!

We're Doing Just Super, Thanks for Asking!

Yes, all is well here in Indianapolis. No one really seems to notice the sub-zero temps. It feels all warm like Miami (but with snow instead of rain). Indy is basking in the glow of the first Colts Super Bowl Championship since the team moved here. (For trivia buffs, the last Colts Super Bowl victory was in Super Bowl V, I think, against Dallas.)

Anyway, the kids have been almost exclusively in blue for the last month or so. Well, OK, K has been in a lot of pink too, but you get the idea. The day before the big game, we attended a surprise b-day party for a friend in southern Indiana. There isn't the sea of blue down there like there has been around here, but nonetheless, we spruced up the place with Miss K looking smashing at the party in her Colts cheerleader outfit and Q wearing the 88. (Keira says the dress is for partying and the jersey for gameday. It is tough having to make such important wardrobe decisions at such a young age!) Anyway, besides the fabulous game, here are some other super happenings here....

Number 1, and most importantly, Keira continues to adjust well and is sleeping better too. Woo-hoo! She was kind enough to hold out until half-time on Sunday, and then she went right on to sleep and we didn't hear another peep from her the rest of the night. She has 4 teeth now (#4 broke through on Sunday) and has a pretty cute snaggle-tooth grin. Her big brother is doing well also, and manages to refrain from tackling her, although you can tell the temptation is there sometimes. They both fight over my lap occasionally, which is the kind of necessary roughness I like!

Today while Q was at preschool, K and I had a little girl-time and went walking. At the mall. Where they happened to be selling all the latest Super Bowl Champions merchandise. Well, how about that. Our lucky day. So, we will be sporting duds similar to what you see here.

Actually, K is going to have to hold out for hand-me-downs from her brother, but I think she will be OK with that.

Well, I think I'll sign off for now. I was going to offer my opinion on the game, but, well, we know that the best team won and there isn't much more to say than that. I won't comment on how the Bears and their fans were so confident that the "Bears football weather" would not be a problem for them. And I won't comment about all we heard about how fabulous their defense was and how the Colts were going to have trouble with their 2 running backs. Somehow, I think everyone got that reversed. Seems like the Colts handled the weather better than the Bears (not fabulous, but not Rex Grossman-ish either...and first "dome team" to win the Super Bowl outside). And I think it was the 2 Colts RBs that more or less ran (and caught) at will. And it was the Colts D that came up big (thank you, Kelvin Hayden and Bob Sanders).

Ooops, sorry. I said I wasn't going to comment. Well, guess I couldn't help myself. Still on that Super Bowl high.

Anyway, it was a fun game to watch, once I got over the opening kick off and Peyton's early throw for an interception. After that, as Stuart Scott on ESPN said, it was a "straight up beat down". (I don't usually quote ESPN, since I don't think they typically show enough respect to the boys in blue, but you know I wouldn't come up with a quote that hip all on my own!)

OK. I'm done talking Super Bowl. For now. I can't promise that there won't be more cute pix of the kids in blue. And I'll save my Why-My-Dad-Is-Like-Tony-Dungy essay for later.

Have a super week, everyone!