We had a great Thanksgiving with good food and good company and a wonderful Christmas with the four of us staying home to open presents and eat sour cream coffee cake (or ‘Happy Birthday Jesus’ cake, as Maggie called it). St. Nick brought Maggie a tricycle and Ruthie a walker wagon–which they both loved and rode all over the house for the rest of the day. We finally had to put the tricycle in ‘time out’ so it could ‘take a little rest’ since that’s exactly what Maggie needed. Although she still hasn’t quite figured out how ride her bike using the pedals, she manages quite well! Ruthie loves walking with her wagon until she reaches the end of the line (hits a wall) and looks around for someone to turn it around for her. All three of us girls have immensely enjoyed having Matt home for the week to hang out and goof off. But we’re looking forward to the New Year and curious as to whether the rumors that a terrible winter is still in store will come true or not! To be continued…
It’s hard to believe that Maggie is already two years old! It’s been such a wonderful and exciting adventure having her in our lives. Not a day goes by that she doesn’t inspire us to laugh, teach us something new, or enrich us in an unexpected way. We marvel at how she throws herself into every activity with unbridled passion and full force. She doesn’t walk around the house, she RUNS every place she goes. She is excellent at picking up toys and putting things back where they (generally) belong. I will often turn around to pick up discarded dirty socks, unorganized bills, or grocery list I was making only to find the dirty socks put away in the drawer with the clean laundry, the unpaid bills in the recycling bin, and the list with every box checked off and scribbled over heavily, telling me exactly what we need. She is most handy in the kitchen where she shoves and pushes her chair anywhere that someone might be chopping, stirring, cooking, or baking so she can take a nibble with one hand and stir the pot with the other. She is my little shadow and a joy to us both!
Here’s what we’ve been up to since July…swimming lessons, playtime, walks in the rain, ‘cooking’ in the kitchen, pumpkin carving, book reading, and much more. Maggie and Ruthie have just really started to discover how to play with each other the past few weeks. Watching them interact is so heart warming and sweet. It mainly goes like this: Maggie looks at Ruthie. Ruthie looks at Maggie. They both start laughing. Repeat. And repeat. Repeat again! 10 minutes of this passes. It’s wonderful.
Maggie is starting to express her own mother hen tendencies with Ruthie by feeding her snacks, giving her toys to play with when she cries (or wants Maggie’s toy), and letting her know pretty clearly that she should not be touching certain things–like plugs, night lights, and outlets–with a big ‘NO! NO Roofie!’ Maggie is starting to play with greater intensity, for longer periods of time and she knows the alphabet, how to spell her name, she can count to 12, recognize colors and half a dozen shapes. She’s started memorizing the books we read her as well as the prayers we say. It’s a joy to hear what she’s learning and how quickly!
Ruthie continues to delight us with her contagious smile and laughter. She is hilariously LOUD! She loves to hear herself talk and shout and she’s very determined. She works hard to keep up with Maggie but is still very independent so we often find her exploring the house and playing on her own. She is a big fan of music, clapping, and playing with the instruments we have. She’s starting to stand on her own and can walk while holding just one our hands so it’s only a matter of time!
Life in South Bend continues to keep us busy. We’re settling into a wonderful rental house that has a huge backyard and a lovely little four seasons room, perfect for the girls and the dogs. We’re all feeling more at home here in this house with all the space it has to offer. The summer weather has been a welcome change from the unbearably hot and humid Florida summers. Although we’ve had some 90 degree days, most days are pleasant so the girls and I have been spending time at the local zoo, feeding the ducks on Notre Dame’s campus, or just hanging out in the backyard blowing bubbles and watering the plants. On rainy days, we put on our boots and go to the library or splash around in some puddles. Maggie’s vocabulary is just exploding and she is desperate to talk to us more and more everyday. Our favorite words that she says right now are ’socks’ (sockas!) and ‘blast off’ (bwas toff!) both said with limitless enthusiasm! Ruthie is 6 months old and working really hard on her crawling, much to my surprise! She started hoisting herself up on all fours and rocking back and forth a couple of weeks ago. I’m not sure that I’m ready for that but she’s clearly proving herself to be a girl on the go! More to come soon!
Ruthie is almost 5 months now and she is such a sweet, smiley, and happy baby. She only cries when she’s tired or hungry and, even then, she can push through and still come up smiling. Here’s a little video of her contagious giggles.
A couple of months ago I attempted to take a sweet and touching photograph of the girls to put in a frame I had purchased for Matt’s birthday. With a 3 month old and an 18 month old as the subjects of my session I have to admit that I was pretty naive about how this was going to turn out. The following series is a sort of ‘flip book’ that documents a full on melt down in action. Enjoy!
Not too long ago, Matt was offered a position working in Student Affairs at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN. It was just the opportunity we had been hoping for so we delightedly said ‘yes!’ and started packing. Eventually, kids, dogs, and accouterments all made it to South Bend in one car trip or another, one weekend or another with the invaluable help of Matt’s mom, Kris. We’ve slowly been settling in, getting used to the colder weather, and enjoying having Matt’s brother, Greg, his wife, Suzi, and their 3 girls close by. I was so glad that we made it up here in time for Spring. Although the weather has been…interesting (it snowed right before Easter…??!!) every where you look on campus there are rows upon rows of tulips, daffodils, and Dogwood trees in full bloom. Gorgeous!
Ruthie hasn’t had time to notice the change in her surroundings yet, she’s been so busy sleeping, and I’m not quite sure Maggie has noticed a change either because she’s just been…well…too busy! But both girls are growing and thriving. Ruthie has the biggest and most beautiful smile and a hearty laugh to go along with it. Maggie has a new bruise on her legs or forehead every time I turn around. I swear she’s doing battle with cougars when I’m not looking because she looks so beat up from falling down! But she doesn’t complain, she just gets right back and keeps hard charging. Although we left the majority of our things back in St. Augustine until we find a home here, we’ve been making the most of whatever we have on hand–be it an empty box or time on the little deck off the kitchen. The pictures below are just some of the moments we’ve captured being around the house and a lovely Easter that we spent with family.
Going down the stairs can be a tricky thing to navigate for a toddler. Thankfully, she’s got this one all figured out. Good thing there’s plenty of room to ‘taxi’ down the runway before ‘take-off’.
If a picture is worth a thousand words then I can’t imagine how many a video is worth…
I had saved this little purse from the time I was in high school. This is very unusual for me as I don’t really save anything like this. I happened to come across it the other day when I was doing my weekly downsizing and voila! discovered it was the perfect size for Maggie. She took to it immediately!