March 6, 2006 - Big news at our house! Catie's first tooth finally popped through yesterday! Hopefully she'll start sleeping better again soon. Even through teething, she's still a happy baby. She's growing so fast. I forgot how quickly the first year goes and it always amazes me how much Catie seems to change in just a day's time. In the past few days she's been dragging around toys with her...easily done with her "scooting"! Usually it's either Ernie or Bert. And the cutest of all...the other night Jed and I caught Catie copying her sister...taking her Bert doll and trying to cover him with a baby blanket and giving him some "pats", which of course are more like whacks! She's also been throwing the Ernie doll into the baby swing. It is just too sweet to watch Catie mimic her sister playing. By far the cutest thing that's happened since I've had two kids!

Speaking of big sister...Ella is getting bigger and smarter every day. The new thing that we're working on is spelling. She'll sit and make me spell every word she can think of. She does know how to spell her name, although lately she forgets one of the "L"s. And the other day she totally surprised me by waking up from a nap and saying "M-O-M spells mommy!" Have I mentioned that Ella's a genius? It just amazes me the things that she remembers and how quickly she catches on. There are definitely times that I wish she wasn't so smart...like those few days when I couldn't leave the room without her jumping over the gate! I think we're all looking forward to Spring and not being so cooped up!

January 24, 2006 - Well, it's been awhile, so I have lots to write about! The girls are doing great. Ella gets chattier and funnier every day. Jed took her to visit friends two weeks ago who have a 3 year old, Makenna. Ella still randomly tells me, "I had fun Bakenna"! And the other day she was walking around with a cordless phone having a pretend conversation with Makenna saying, "You sing Twinkle? I sing Twinkle too!". Ella is also "reading" a lot and "swimming" in the bathtub. And yesterday my little girly girl made me paint her toenails and fingernails, then made me do the same for two of her baby dolls! We recently went for her regular kidney ultrasound and follow up with the urologist. Her kidney is growing, which is a good sign, but the swelling isn't going down. The doctor isn't concerned though since apparently these kinds of things can take years, and Ella isn't having any symptoms or problems. So we'll go back in a year and see if there's been any change.

Catie is becoming quite a little comedian too. She's crawling now...sort of. She crawls with one leg straight out to the side, which is hilarious, but she really zips around when she wants to! She's also pulling herself up a lot. She'll be cruising in no time. And she learned how to clap, which cracks Ella up and they end up sitting and laughing and clapping at each other! Catie is also eating baby foods and juice like a champ. As much as I think of her a baby, she is well on her way to toddlerhood! And she still shows no sign of getting teeth any time soon! We also had to take Catie to CHOP recently for a CT scan of her head because it's so big. I should be hearing about the results very soon, but I'm pretty sure that like her sister and her parents, she just has a big head. We'll be sending Catie to daycare in about a month so that she can be around other babies. She'll go once a week.

The holidays were great. Ella wanted to open everybody else's presents and Catie just wanted to eat wrapping paper. We spent Christmas at Jed's parents' house which was nice, especially since we were all there. Ella especially loved playing with her cousin Angelo and feeding her Uncle Ken's fish.

So that's the abbreviated version of what the kids have been up to. I keep saying this, but I really should write more often!

November 17, 2005 - So far my favorite part of having two kids is when Catie is fussing in the car, Ella will sing "You are my Sunshine" to her. Or when the girls are having breakfast and instead of eating they just sit and laugh at each other. Or when Ella insists that she is Elmo and Catie is Zoe. And I'm just going to pretend that they'll always get along this well.

November 14, 2005 - Ok, so my entries are getting increasingly few and far between. Sorry! I guess it was bound to happen! So here's the news:

Ella gets chattier and smarter every day. She no longer requires entertainment in the car. She just looks out the windows and talks about everything she sees! I think her favorite is when we drive past a car dealership and she sees balloons. We're getting ready to start some hard core potty training since, as some of you are aware, I've been having her problems keeping clothes and diapers on her. Wish us luck!

Catie's getting so big! She's eating cereal and peas now and sipping juice out of a cup. She's sitting up well now, although she still tips over sometimes. And she's rolling around all over the floor...anxious to play with her big sister!

October 26, 2005 - Ella is definitely Jed's daughter - as if there were any doubt! He taught her to say "Go Flyers"! So last night he was watching a hockey game and a commercial came on. Ella started crying and throwing a little tantrum and saying, "What happened go Flyers?" Later I saw Jed react much the same way when they went to commercial two minutes before the end of the period.

October 11, 2005 - Of course we knew that with two parents as hilarious as Jed and I are that Ella would naturally be a funny child. Still, her silly 2-year-old sense of humor amazes me. An example: We were at the pharmacy yesterday waiting for Ella's prescription. In between dashes down the aisles with a frantic mommy chasing her lugging Catie in her carrier and a large diaper bag (yes, that was hysterical), Ella stopped, picked up two cans of Pringles and held them up to her eyes like two telescopes. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes, and just as my vision became blurred, she took off again. Funny, funny kid.

October 6, 2005 - Well, we've hit more milestones. Yesterday Ella officially left the highchair and is sitting in a booster seat at the table. And today Catie had her first solid food. She did really well with the rice cereal and was slurping it right off the spoon! (See pictures)

September 28, 2005 - Now I know that pre-school / daycare would prepare Ella for when she goes to school, but I had no idea that it would be such good practice for me! Last week she came home from daycare with a pile of papers for me... a fundraiser form, homework for me (they're discussing routines, so I had to write down Ella's bedtime routine - typed and double spaced... no, just kidding), and a form for picture day. Now you wouldn't think that the picture day form would be so difficult, but there's a choice of backgrounds, pictures with or without borders, and suggested colors for my child to wear! But how excited am I for Ella's first school pictures!

I am also officially the mother of a toddler now! The new phrase around here is "Ella do it!". I am no longer allowed to do certain things for Ella, like brushing her teeth and putting her shoes on. And I made my first call to poison control when Ella ate a few Tums the other night. Apparently a 2 year old can eat up to 15 Tums with little to no problems!

And in other Ella news, her 2 year molars are all in now, and she's asking to pee on her potty every day! I taught her to play Ring Around the Rosies, so now she'll say "Get up! More Rosie!" all day. Another new game is "Up up and away" (like Super Grover) where she gets tossed up into the air.

As for Catie, well, she's still cute and squishy. She's rolling over and wiggling herself around the floor more and more now. We're working on sitting up, but if she's not supported, she slowly topples over. She's loving her exersaucer and her bouncy seat. And she's still all smiles and giggles, especially when her sister's around. She obviously very anxious to be up and running with Ella! We're working on weaning her to a bottle, but so far it's not going very well.

Wow I had a lot to say. I'll have to write more often!

September 8, 2005 - There's nothing like a toddler waking up and getting sick at 4 am to bring a family together. In the past few hours I've learned a few things. I learned not to start the washer until the illness has passed. I learned that a mother's first instinct is to catch her child's vomit in her hand (or is that just me?), while a father will hold her over the carpet to avoid being puked on again. And I learned that not even a stomach bug will slow Ella down...but I sure could use a nap!

September 3, 2005 - Well the last few weeks have been full of milestones for Catie. Just this week she rolled from belly to back and back to belly for the first times! She's also blowing her first raspberries. And she is now happily spending time in the exersaucer and bouncy. (See pictures)

Ella is her usual funny self. Her newest thing is singing... all the time! The songs she sings: ABCs, You are my Sunshine, Happy Birthday, Wheels on the Bus, Twinkle Twinkle, Elmo's World, C is for Cookie.

August 15, 2005 - Ella is so amazing. She was on the swings at Billy and Danene's. She fell off and landed flat on her back - cried for a minute and got right back on! And then she went in their pool - a 3 foot pool not filled all the way - and went under 4 times. Jed went in and stood her back up, but still couldn't get her out of the pool. We're so proud of her, but I have a feeling that things are going to get scary as she gets older!

Catie almost rolled over today. She was on her side a few times, then the last time she let out a big toot and went back to happily laying on her back! I guess I shouldn't rush things...the first 3 months have gone by so fast!

August 12, 2005 - Ella and I are awake too early today, but I can't complain. For the first time in weeks, both girls have slept through the night!

Yesterday was a big day. Catie's 3 months old, I can hardly believe it. Time for more pictures! I say this all the time, but she's such a good and happy baby. I love when she smiles and gasps and *almost* giggles!

I took Ella to the doctor yesterday to have her ears checked. Something's been bothering her lately, so I figured we should know if it's another ear infection. Well, it's not. She's getting her 2 year molars. I have to admit that I'm glad it's not another ear infection, but I'm so not looking forward to the molars coming in!

August 8, 2005 - Welcome to the first journal entry! Since blogging is the thing to do these days, I thought that this would be a fun way to share stories from our day to day life with friends and family since most of you live far away. So basically this is an outlet for me to tell funny stories about the girls!

So here's the first story: I was getting ready to change Ella's diaper after her nap. She grabs a wipe and starts wiping her knee and her foot. "Knee is yucky! Foot is yucky! EEWWW!"