I'm baaa-aaaack

Whew! So, THIS time, I was gone for a long time because of how much we HAVE been doing! I feel like I should write this in outline format! The photos are way out of order but I am too rushed to fix it right now! Most of you all already know most of our news. Of course, we have moved and Alan started a new job. He seems to be liking it so far. His hours are really pretty good and he has his own office and Blackberry and can even go to the bathroom whenever he needs to (nope, wasn't able to do that before!) ... no longer the training peon! However, with that, comes the responsibility of the "buck" ending with him which may take some getting used to. He is back to going to the gym and running and hoping to run a half marathon in December. As for me, in December, I will be only one month or so from giving birth ... so no half marathons for me in the near future. Most of you may have heard our news ... and yes, it is only one this time (thank the Good Lord!). He or she is due on 2/1/10. I was feeling pretty rotten for a while but now am shaking out of it slowly but surely! There are times that I am really excited and times that I wonder how I will handle it all. The girls start a little mother's morning out for two mornings a week in the Fall which will help, I'm sure. I have very mixed emotions about leaving them with "strangers" and suspect that it will be an extremely difficult change for us all. OK, better leave it at that or I will cry! The only other big event was that the girls turned TWO! We are knee deep into the terrible twos with the tantrums and demands but there is a lot more that is charming about 2 than is frustrating (well, maybe not A LOT more =) so as my girls get to be closer and closer to being big girls I can say that there is more that I will MISS about 2 than I will be glad is gone! They are amazing communicators and are speaking in sentances ... all .... day .... long! As anyone who has spent any significant time with them can attest to. I have captured them pretty well on video, I just need to unearth my USB that goes to my Sony so I can post it online. It is amazing how much of myself I hear in them! They will put their cup (or whatever) down and say "put it riiiight there" ... b/c that is what I say when I put something down that I think they will want later ... "Mommy will put it riiiight there for when you want it later." When they hand each other something it is ... "here ya go sissy (or they will call each other by name)" ... When they leave the room it is ... "I be riiiiiiight back" ... When they share a toy it is ... "soooo nice, to share" ... When they have a toy taken "not nice, no take!" ... When they are pretend changing their babies' diapers or pretend cutting their toenails it is ... "IIIIIIIII know, no like it" b/c that is what I say when I am doing something they don't like ... "I know you don't like it." I could go on and on ... Toddlers are amazing little beings!

Their Grammy and Granddaddy Finley got them some furniture for their baby dolls (they are such girly girls ... loooove their baby dolls) for their birthdays. They like to put their babies "night, night" so we are starting to put the babies to bed every night before they go to bed. The first thing out of Hannah's mouth this morning was "play babies" ... so she got her babies up and put her turtle down, put the blanket over him and walked out of the room calling back "see you morning, turtle"

Meredith's way of getting her babies up was to get them out of the bed and toss them on the floor ... at least she waited for me to come in this time before she got out of the bed ... yep, yep ... two days ago I came in to get them up and found her on the floor saying "fell bed, fell bed" (As in, I fell out of the bed)! AHHHH! I thought we had a few more months before that ... so now I am debating between buying a crib tent or just moving them to toddler beds (oh, I rue the day!)
They put their babies in the highchair for "dinner" (guess they haven't quite figured out the difference between breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and called them "twins" ...

They got the changing table, also, from the Finley's and it is a bit tall for them ... so, their Wright Grandparents had gotten them these little stools as part of their bday gift (along with a bunch of clothes, Dora dishes/placemants, Dora beach balls, and little kid sized white rocking chairs for the porch which I need to take a pic of b/c they are so cute) and it goes perfectly with the changing table. They often report that their babies are "stinky" or "have pee pee in there" and I will help them "change" their dolls ...

For their birthday, from us, I took them to the Aquarium and purchased a year pass but also wanted to get them a little something new for the house and so I got this Melissa & Doug toy where they can practice cutting fruit. They love it ... especially Meredith ... this is Meredith here cutting the banana (or Ma-na ... they still haven't quite gotten that word down the right way).

Their Great-Grandma and Bop-bop (Finley side) sent them some money so we went to the toy store and picked out these "Zoobie" pets. They were recommended by the lady who worked there and she said even the college kids who worked there all had one! They are pillows or just stuffed animals this way or you can unzip them and they have these super soft blankets folded up inside. I thought it would be good for when they got older and slept over at other people's houses or whatever. Meredith picked out the pink Hippo and Hannah picked out the turtle and MAN are they hits! They drag hippo and turtle around everywhere! So now, not only do I have to carry them and binkie and blanky up and down the stairs (the FOUR flights of stairs) ... now, I have to make sure to grab hippo and turtle, too. It's OK though because it is so cute how much they love them! THANKS to Bruce and Sally for the contribution!

Happy Birthday! For their bday we just had a low key day. It was too much to try and plan a big party and move and all that so we will just have to have a big blow-out next year! We went to the Aquarium in the morning then after nap we went to pick blueberries. My friend Amy and her daughter Macey went with us and celebrated with us afterwards. It was a nice day!

Much neater with the cup cakes this year! Mostly b/c they have learned that, really, just licking off the icing and leaving the rest is the way to do it! Hannah in blue, Meredith in pink ...

I should have listened when Alan said that toddlers and open flames were not a good idea but I managed to blow it out in time!

SWEATY from the blueberry picking trip!

The girls aren't really very discriminating when it comes to picking blueberries! Oh, well, all in good fun!

The girls and Macey ... two out of three ... not too bad!

This is what I call the "Dora daze" ... they are addicted to Dora ... but they know a bunch of Spanish and can even count to 10 in Spanish (and count to 12 in English) so who am I to complain about some TV =)

Cooper is adjusting OK ... he can't go up and down stairs anymore and can't get up and down from the couch so he pretty much lives on the first floor (I take him up to our room at night where he has another bed) and in his smart new bed. Here are the girls hanging with Cooper.