Birthday Babies

We had family and friends over for a birthday barbecue on Saturday to celebrate the Sooy Babies' birthdays! We had a beautiful day and had lots of fun catching up with our family and friends and loving on the babies. I took 4 pictures, total - I was so busy during the party I hardly had a chance to grab my camera, but I did get snaps of the most important part - cake time! (And thanks to Uncle Peter for sending me some photos that he took, as well!)

Apparently Baby Clare has quite the appetite for cake (just like Mommy!) - she barely waited for us to stop singing before she palmed her cupcake with her right hand and started to eat it while grabbing for Sean's cake slice with her free hand.

Sean had an awesome time - he ran around like a nut for most of the party and enjoyed chatting with his guests and eating lots of food! At about 7, I went in the house with Clare to say good-bye to Grandma and Pa Pa Corcoran and when I turned to go back outside, Sean was right there saying he was tired - "it time for bed, Mommy. We can have more party tomorrow."

Three Years

Sean Sooy, you turned three years old yesterday! How can this be? It feels like not too long ago YOU were the giggling, drooling, babbling baby in the house. But today you seem more like a little boy than a toddler. Here are some things about our little buggins at three:

- You love books! You love to be read to and you love to leaf through books by yourself. Each time we read a book that is new to you, we must read it twice so you can really absorb it. You run through cycles of favorites but Curious George stories are a solid favorite.

-You love to eat! You love fruit, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, milk and cereal, and pancakes. You also love anything that is called a "treat." You switch between drinking from a sippy cup and a "big boy cup" - no problem.

-You can count to twenty, but sometimes leave out 14 or 17 (but who needs those numbers, anyway?). You can also count to ten in Spanish and know many words in Spanish - mostly colors, shapes, and comments on the times of day and weather.

-You can tell amazing stories! You mix up bits of books and movies with things from your memories and imagination and come up with really amusing tales.

-We're neck deep in the "terrible twos" and some days it feels like having something of a "Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde" thing going on with you. One minute we're having a great time and then all heck breaks loose. I think you try so hard to keep your "listening ears" and "helping hands" on, but they can they fall off so easily! No matter what though, at the end of the day, we put you to bed with a big hug and a kiss.

-You love your baby sister. You love to show her new things and sing songs to her. You'll share your toys and even sometimes your food with her. In the morning, you call out to her from your crib and you'll jump up and down on your mattress and laugh hysterically when she tries to do the same in her crib.

-As for TV and movies - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, and Aladdin are some of your favorites. Most recently we've seen "Monsters, Inc." and you loved that, too!

-You are such an active boy - always busy busy busy. On the weekends I feel like we have a little puppy again in that I have to think of ways to wear you out so you can get to bed soundly.

-You are very independent - you need to at least try to do things by yourself. This can add to your being such a good helper. You like to climb into your carseat by yourself, you like to try to get your self dressed and undressed, and you like to help me cook. We made pancakes for breakfast yesterday and you did ALL the mixing! I just had to add the ingredients and you stirred, stirred, stirred!

-Alrighty, we did Winne photos and at first you were reluctant, but I was able to coax a grin from you eventually...

Odds n' ends

The other day Sean did his usual "I'm gonna sit on Baby Clare and squeeze her!" thing but instead of merely crying and fussing like she normally does, Baby Clare bit Sean - hard - on the cheek!  Poor Seanybear was so surprised, he started crying hysterically and was only consoled after Baby Clare was properly scolded (although a part of me was amused/impressed with Clare's sudden ability to stand up for herself against her big bro).

so blurry- always moving!

Yesterday (Tuesday) morning I heard Sean in his crib chatting while we were getting ready for work.  "Today is Monday - Daddy comes to get me on Monday and we go to school. On Thursday, Mommy will get me and we will go to school. After Thursday is Saturday! No school on Saturday! After Saturday is... is... these are the days of the week. Too many days of the week! (sob) Too many! Nooooo! (sob) Too many days of the week!" I felt compelled to check on him since his outlook seemed so gloomy, but he promptly switched gears and started to chat to his "friends" about the movie "Monsters Inc.": "You know Randall (the villian)? He's not a bad guy. He's my pet. He's far away now, but he will come here in the car to get me and we will go to see Sully and we have to find Boo...."  After hearing this, I felt free to continue my morning routine until Sean started to call out, "Mommy Daddy Mommy Daddy I need to go pottttttyyyyy!!!!!!!" Good job telling us, Sean!

"No, Mommy! No takin' pictures! No cheese!" Sorry Seany, but I just gotta get a snap of that sweet face :-)

Happy Birthday, Clare!

You're one year old today, Baby Clare! It seems like only a short while ago we were wondering when the heck you would come out to meet us! Happy Birthday, little bird - here's what you're up to this month:

-Your new favorite sound is "ee-i-ee-i-ee-i!" which means we've been singing "Old MacDonald" a lot lately :-)
-You can climb stairs!
-You're basically walking, you just need something to hold on to - even if it's just the pinky finger of the person nearest to you
-You can nod your head for "yes" and shake your head for "no"
-You bob your head and bend your knees in a little dance when you hear a song you like
-Changing your diaper or getting you dressed is nearly impossible these days - you wiggle and inchworm your way all over the changing table and get so mad when we try to get you to lay still
-You start full-time in the Toddler A room tomorrow and we hope you're going to do really well - you had a great time going to Toddler A half-time last week and you even took your naps in that room for 2 hours at a time - on a mat!
-You make a cute little "mmmmmah  mmmmah" sound when you're hungry or super-tired
-You clap your hands and say "daaaahhh!" when you see Daddy
-You love Sean - he is absolutely your favorite person!
-Your favorite foods right now are mandarin oranges and graham crackers
-You're really improving with the sippy cup and we hope to have you off bottles in the daytime soon.

We're going to the doctor tomorrow night to get your stats, but here are your ONE YEAR Winnie photos!

The Sooys Go to Charleston

We took the Sooy Babies on a nice little trip to Charleston, South Carolina for some history, sightseeing, visiting, and Uncle Peter's wedding! The trip started verrrry early on Wednesday morning - we left our house a little after 3am! We were a little nervous about how the drive would go since Sean did not fall asleep until we were close to Baltimore!!

But after a nice long nap, both kids were ready to get up and out of the car! Luckily there was a McDonald's near the North Carolina border. After some hot cakes and a romp through the Play Place, the kids were ready to hit the road again...

And more napping!

We passed through South of the Border!

We stopped for the night in Santee, South Carolina and met up at the same hotel with Grummy, Pop Pop, Mama Jackie and Pop Pop Pop. The kids were excited to swim in the hotel's pool, watch a bunch of TV, and eat breakfast the next morning with their grandparents. The next morning, after a short drive, we arrived in Charleston. We enjoyed spending the next coupld of days walking around the city, seeing Fort Sumter, visiting a plantation, hanging out with family, eating good food, and sipping on sweet tea.

And did I mention we went to a wedding?  (More on that in another post!)

And on the way home, we stopped to visit Mommy's Aunt Pat and Uncle Dannie for some snacks and a banjo lesson for Sean :-)

Toddler A Room

Last week, the principal at daycare gave us a letter that started: "We are happy to let you know that Clare is ready to move up to the Toddler A Room!" Her first full day in Toddler A is on May 7, but this week Baby Clare is spending the mornings in her classroom and then switching to Toddler A after lunch.

Today was her first day on that schedule and the Toddler A teacher said Clare did really well. She liked meeting her new classmates, playing with new toys, and exploring her new classroom. Clare was so tired when I picked her up, she promptly fell asleep as we drove away from school and the little bird stayed asleep for almost an hour after we got home!

Luckily she woke up just in time for dinner and went to bed normally, so here's hoping Toddler A tired her out enough for a good night's sleep :-)

Arts n' crafts

The Sooy Babies were enjoying some finger painting on the kitchen floor, when Baby Clare decided that she was all done.  I cleaned her up and was getting ready to clean up Sean when Baby Clare crawled over to Sean's artwork and decided to leave her own... imprint on his work:

Sippy Cup

Baby Clare has been practicing with the sippy cup!  She's getting better everyday and learning that the cup is more than an instrument for smashing up her dinner :-) Good thing I've got a couple of videos to remember these early days with the cup (just like we did with Sean).

Adventures in the grocery store

On our way back from the beach this past Sunday, we came upon the grocery store.  Although Sean had napped for about 20 minutes total that day and Clare was due for a bottle in 30 minutes, I decided to take a chance and go in for our weekly trip. 

Unfortunately, there were no two-baby shopping carts anywhere! But I pressed on, putting Clare in the Baby Bjorn (which she's wayyyy too big for!!) and Sean in the cart.  This worked okay for a little while - the kids giggled and pinched each other's noses, but then Baby Clare started to fuss in the cereal aisle. And then Sean started whimpering in the spaghetti aisle and finally in the coffee aisle he announced, "My butt hurts Mommy! Too much sitting today!" Yeesh. 

So I let him out to walk with me under the condition that if he strayed, I would take away the bagel he was munching on.  So with a happy Sean chatting and walking and a happy Baby Clare sitting in the cart, the trip went much smoother.

And thank goodness for bagels! They make everyone happy… except for the checkout lady who saw the bagel in Sean's hand and asked, "is that the only one he's eaten?"  I wanted to say something snappy, but just chuckled at the thought that my Sooy Babies probably could put away more than one bagel on a shopping trip if they tried.

Beachy Keen

Mommy took the Sooy Babies to the beach on Easter weekend and this past weekend since the weather was so warm and because Daddy needed some "peace and quiet" to finish up his Spring class - he's all done now and has the summer off - yay!  Anywho, here are some snaps of Sean and Baby Clare enjoying their time in the sand... in April!!

Sean loves playing in the sand!

Baby Clare and Mommy!

Baby Clare tests out the sand... it's NOT food!

She crawls over to Sean's "castle"

School Pictures!

We got Sean and Clare's Spring picture day photos back!  But first, let's take a look way, way, way back to September... Clare was 3 months old and Sean was settling into being two. Clare had a rough time, but Sean hammed it up, of course:

Fast-forward to March and we find that Baby Clare had a much better time!  She smiled, giggled and was super-adorable:  

Sean's pictures make me smile ear-to-ear each time I look at them:

The photos of the Sooy Babies together are great - here's fall 2011:

And Spring 2012: