Big Night Out

 On Friday night, Todd and I had a big night out for my birthday.  That's right, for the first time since she was born, we left Julie in someone else's care (well, it was the first time someone watched her where she didn't stay in her carseat asleep the entire time).  Of course, by "big night out" I mean that we left her for a 2 hours and 20 minutes, not that anyone was counting... The girls did beautifully and Reese was even asleep when we got home.  I was worried about how she'd do since she's needed her mommy a lot this week.  However, when the babysitter, Kat, came, she was so excited that she didn't even bother to say good-bye to us.  Now she keeps asking when Kat will come over again to play :-).  It was really nice to get out by ourselves for dinner and to take our time.  Dinner was great - I could even eat the dessert! It topped off a wonderful day of not doing any work, sleeping in, a surprise lunch from Chipotle, roses, German beer, Hershey's kisses, and shopping all by myself.  I am such a lucky lady.

Unfortunately the rest of the week wasn't as exciting.  Todd and I are both inundated with work right now so we haven't been able to do a lot.  On Monday when I picked up Reese from school, we stayed on campus at Notre Dame and had a picnic by the library.  The weather was gorgeous as were the trees whose leaves  are now changing colors.  Todd even joined us outside for a bit.  After Reese ate her lunch outside, the four of us went to Fiddlers to celebrate one of our friend's passing his candidacy exams.  I had thought that feeding Therese beforehand would be a good idea since I didn't think she'd eat much at Fiddlers.  Man was I wrong.  She ate more fries than I did!  I guess I should have known...  Anyhow, here are some pictures of our picnic.

Gooooo Irish!

After the enthusiasm Reese showed in singing Notre Dame's fight song (constantly....all week long...), we decided to take advantage of the nice weather and took the girls to campus on Saturday before the Pitt game in order to listen to the band.  Campus was busy (of course) but it was really gorgeous out.  While Todd got our burgers and hotdogs, I snagged a shaded spot along the sidewalk from which we could watch the players walk by on their way from Mass to the stadium.  That double-stroller really marks off a good amount of territory.  Reese loved her hamburger (and watering the grass with her water bottle) and drew a bit of attention thanks to her outstanding curls. As the time for the players to walk by drew near, I found out that the blonde woman straight across from me was a player's mom.  Then I started looking around and noticed that a lot of people had these white tags hanging around their necks.  We were right in the middle of the football recruits and their families.  The recruit two people to my left was acting very cool like this was no big deal.  Then the players came.  As they walked by in their suits, being cheered by fans who lined their entire walk from the basilica to the stadium, even he smiled and looked excited.  Reese was super excited to see the people she sees on tv every week.  Well, she was excited about the clapping and cheering anyway.  She thought it was very silly that they went to Mass on Saturday (we prefer Sunday nights).  Julie slept through the entire event.  After cheering for the players, we walked over to see the band play while Reese sang the fight song much to the delight of passing fans.  We found an amazing spot really close to the band and in the shade. As we waited, Reese started to fade.  We were an hour past nap time and had had quite the exciting day already.  When the band played, Therese wanted to be put down and to eat her chips until they played the fight song, which she greeted with a big smile.  At least Julie really enjoyed herself.  She was giving huge grins the entire time.  Today Reese was telling us about going to see the band when she said, "The horns were too loud.  I was listening from people's legs."  People's legs? I asked her if she had wanted to be put down when the band was playing because it was too loud.  She said yes.  I asked her if it wasn't as loud when she only saw people's legs.  Yep. :-)

While Saturday was certainly the highlight of the week, I was also excited to go to Curriculum Night at Reese's school.  While it was great to learn a bit more about Therese's teachers, her schedule at school, and the teaching philosophy behind the curriculum, the teachers were wise enough to know that what we all really wanted to hear was how our kids are doing.  Right away the head teacher said something about how Reese is a social butterfly.  She immediately recognized the shock on my face.  I told her I was glad but surprised - last year every report was marked by how she wasn't playing with other children yet or how she was engaging in a little bit of parallel play!  At some point the teacher was talking about how their class seems to be really interested in math and told a story about a kid who was holding 9 pegs and the teacher asked her, "How many would you have if I added these 2?" and she said, "11."  The teacher then asked, "If I had 8 pegs, how many would I need to have 10?" and the child answered, "2."  Yep, you guessed it - the teacher later told me it was Therese.

Of course Julie is learning and growing quickly as well.  She now not only sucks on her fist but on some of her fingers as well.  Of course this often results in her gagging herself.  She gets really upsest by this, makes a huge frowny face, and then seconds later is back to sucking on her outstretched fingers.  At least she doesn't pull her own hair anymore... In more exciting news, Julie has started laughing.  She just cracks up at the most random things. She starts laughing which makes us laugh which makes her laugh... It's so much fun. 

Anyhow, here are some pictures of our big outting yesterday (and a random one from today).  Enjoy!        

Reese was so excited to see the football players

Julie was excited too

Reese and Daddy

Walking along, singing her favorite tune

Mommy, Daddy and Reese waiting for the band

Me and Julie

Isn't she sweet?

Welcome to My World...

Two Big Days

Things continue to be a bit crazy around here.  In addition to the demands of two little girls, Todd's teaching, and housework, my job has become a bit crazy (and time-consuming) lately.  We've also been spending inordinate amounts of time on Todd's applications for jobs in exotic places like Omaha :-).  In the meantime, we just celebrated two big days in our house.  On Thursday Julie turned 3 months old.  Wow.  I can't believe it's been three months already.  I can't believe Julie is getting so big so fast.  I can't believe I haven't had a good night's sleep in three months... Actually, when I thought about writitng this post yesterday, I was noting that I'd have to write about how good of a sleeper Julie has become.  Todd's been handling her at night all week because I've had a very crazy (early) work schedule and she slept at least 7 hours every night.  Then last night happend.  She was up FOUR TIMES to eat.  Ugh.  She must be going through a growth spurt.  She is continuing to grow like crazy and loves to stand up (with a lot of help, of course).  She also loves to blow spit bubbles and has been soaking us (and herself) with as much drool as spit-up lately.  Above all else, she loves to look at the clock in our family room.  No matter what she's doing or how much I am trying to command her attention, she just takes a little glance at the clock and she shows off her gums in a toothless grin.  Julie must truly be getting older because last night, when our friends came over, at least four different times someone spied her playing in her bouncy chair and said, "Wow, I've never seen Julie awake before."

While Julie turning 3 months old on Thursday was a big deal, it was nothing compared to the excitement (at least from Therese) of Friday.  Yesterday - Friday - was Reese's feast day.  I know this because she woke us up at 6am screeching, "IT'S MY FEAST DAY!"  Of course she had been preparing for it all week.  Todd taught her how to spell St. Therese with the accents (note that I can't even do that on the computer) and to say say Therese of Lisieux.  She informed me on Wednesday night that we were going to have friends over on her feast day to eat the cupcakes she was going to make.  I said, "Really?  Who are we going to have over?" She proceded to name a number of our friends.  They did indeed come over to share in the festivities and Reese was soooo excited.  She decorated cupcakes by pouring green sprinkles all over them (and the table) and ate so much sugar that she acted a little drunk.  Overall I think she had a good night.  She was so tired from it all that she slept in and is now in the third hour of her nap.    

 Julie cuddling up

 Julie and Daddy

 Reese and her noodles

 Reese in the refrigerator

Cuddling with Pooh Bear

 Reese and her feast day cupcake. Can you guess who put the sprinkles on?

 Enjoying dessert

Julie being propped up for a picture.  She wasn't impressed.