How is it already February?

It seems impossible that it is already February! Patrick had his four month check up last week; he weighed 18lbs, 14oz and was 27 inches long. If you're not familiar with babies, that's big. Really big. He's a pretty amazing guy! Mary and Patrick have been staying busy with a lot of singing, dancing and playing.

Patrick really loves his sister. He could smile at her all day long and just wants to be near her whenever possible.

Mary likes to help me make dinner at night but she tends to not be quite as helpful as she thinks she is. However, the other night I turned around from cooking at the stove to find her reorganizing all of our flatware. Large spoons facing up, small spoons facing down and later, forks in between the two. At first I was seriously impressed with her little toddler skills...how cool that she knew the difference between everything and organized accordingly. And then I got a little worried about future OCD tendencies. So we'll just have to wait and see with that.

And then the next night she decided to go vertical instead of horizontal. That tower of dry goods was all her. I couldn't believe she had gotten everything stacked so high...even successfully adding a pack of Mickey Mouse Valentine stickers to the top, all while balancing precariously on a step stool. (Don't worry, I was supervising. Kind of.)

Ballet classes have been going very well. She absolutely loves going and is catching on more and more every week. She is the youngest in her class, with probably the shortest attention span, but she is doing great. And just looks so darn cute, I can barely stand it! (Thank you Grammie for the beautiful "ba-la-lay" outfit)

And I leave with you Mary-in-a-box.

Some January Pics

I'm officially back to work two days a week and we're all settling into a routine. Patrick has been sleeping through the night (thank you!) - he goes to sleep around 8pm and usually wakes up at 6:30am. Now daytime naps are another story but I'll take what I can get!

Mary starts ballet classes on Wednesday and she is very excited for "ba-la-lay." Stay tuned for pics of our tiny dancer.

For now, here are a few iphone pics...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

We really did try to get a good holiday photo of the kids together but it was kind of impossible. With my sub-par photography skills, this was the best I could do. As you can see, the lighting and photo composition are impeccable. Mary can't be next to Patrick without kissing him, stroking his face and saying "awww, he's so cute" so if that makes for bad photos, there are definitely worse problems to have!

Here are some Mary pics from the holidays. She had a blast opening Christmas gifts but mostly just enjoyed the interaction with family. Grammie and Tia Kris stayed with us for a few days and Mary loved every second of it.

And here are a few pics of Patrick, a.k.a. Trick, a.k.a. Chunky Monkey. The two at the bottom clearly weren't taken by me because they aren't blurry and he looks adorable.