November News

November came and went in a flash! These baby days are going by way too quickly for my liking! At the beginning of the month, I took the kids to a neat farm. They have a petting zoo, hayrides, play areas, and nursery rhyme themed displays. It was a beautiful day and we had a great time wandering around and enjoying a picnic lunch.

Philip even got brave enough to feed the sheep

 

Andy had a conference in Baltimore. He invited us to stay at the hotel and I agreed to take the kids up for a night. We enjoyed walking by the harbor, meeting lots of people, having dinner with friends, and going to a beautiful church on Sunday morning.

 

The kids loved looking at the harbor from our hotel window.

 

After Andy's stay in Baltimore, we had a belated birthday celebration. His meal request has been the same since he was a kid and I always look forward to it. Dinner nachos - his Mom's recipe and it is really yummy. It is more like a dip then traditional nachos. He always requests chocolate cake for dessert.

 

Philip decorated the cake

 

I didn't let Andy know that he did this a few times until after we had eaten

 

 

We get lots of leaves at this time of year - in fact, we still need to clean up the backyard. The kids had a great time playing with the leaves and making a mess out of the pile the landscapers left.

 

 

  

 

 

Some friends of ours invited us out on a double date and it pushed us to finally get our first real babysitter (not a grandparent or friend, but a real teenager!). We went bowling and out to a movie and had a great time. The kids did well although the sitter said several times that Julia really missed me. Philip was helpful, but did not speak a word for the first three hours. He finally cracked his shell after the three hour mark and had a great time with Miss Natalie. He still talks about her.

 

A rare photo of both kids smiling  and looking at the camera

 

For Thanksgiving, we traveled down to my parent's house in Georgia. We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa! My Dad set up an electric train and that kept Philip entertained for many hours. They pulled out my old dollhouse and some other toys and it brought back so many memories - especially dollhouse furniture that I spent so much time playing with as a little girl.

 

Julia thought the My Little Pony stable made a nice seat.

Every time we opened the roof she would plop herself down inside.

  

One evening my parents took us out to a farm where we went on a hayride and got to see a really amazing light display. We all had so much fun and Philip is ready to go back again!

 

 

 

Julia bopping her head to The Wheels on the Bus

 

Julia is such a cutie - I just love one-year-olds! She learned to shake her head no. Sometimes it is helpful and sometimes I just wish she didn't know how to do it! She got a new tooth and two molars. Overall she is a pretty good teether - she is grumpy a bit, but not overly crazy! She started saying thank you, "dank eeee!" and please "peeeze!" Julia has lots of other words too, we are always amazed at what she picks up. She started making animal noises this month. She can meow, baa, moo, and woof. When she is tired she will wave to anyone in the room and say, "bye-bye." If she gets her hands dirty she will stop whatever she is doing and come toddling over to me or Andy repeating, "oh no" until we wipe her hands off. When she sees something she wants she will reach out her hand, rub her fingers together, and say, "num num num." We went to a couple baby sign language classes this month and I'm really enjoying it. Julia has picked up on a few things and it is fun to learn all the signs.

Ever since we started potty training Philip, I've been thinking that I need to put Julia on the potty, because she was so interested in it. I finally thought about it at the right time one night and put her on. She went on the very first try! Afterwards, we had her wash her hands and that started a new obsession. Julia wants to wash her hands anytime anyone goes into the bathroom. When I ask her if she wants to use the potty she makes a beeline for the bathroom, sits on the potty for 2 seconds, says, "Okay!" in a singsong voice, and then expects to be able to wash her hands for ten minutes. Her other big obsession is brushing her teeth. Perhaps she has a future in a healthcare profession?

 

Washing hands is so much fun!

 

Philip is doing great! He is having a good time at his school, though still shy, he is making improvements. He participates in everything, but won't say a word. His school is called an Atrium and he calls it the "Atri." When we get in the car to go to Atrium he always ask where all the other cars are going After I would tell him my thoughts he says, "No, they are going to the Atri." This is the first big thing he is doing on his own and now when I tell him we are going to any activity he always asks, "Are you going to stay with me?" We have dance parties at least one a day at Philip's request. Definitely before bed, and sometimes before naptime or at other points of the day. I never thought this would be the case, but the kids love Andy's guitar music. We have a couple favorites that we dance to each day (if you noticed on their birthday posts that both of their favorite songs were something you've probably never heard of "Tumeni Notes," that is why - it is an electric guitar song).

 

One week Philip asked me to take his picture every time he sat down for a meal.

This one was a keeper!

His phrases of the month were: "That gonna be dangerous!" "Nice to meet you, nice to meet you" while shaking your hand vigorously, and adding "I said" to the end of anything he tells us. "Go outside, I said!" He also started dictating how we are driving. "Go faster Mommy!" "No, go slower! That's too fast! That's dangerous!" I think he may be taking after his Grandma Susan.

Typical big brother - stuffing leaves down his sister's shirt

 

We had some family photos taken this month. They didn't turn out as good as I had hoped, but there were some cute ones of the kids. I'll end this post with them!