Liam in the hotel crib waiting to go to the wedding in his little man outfit!
Liam making a grab for the camera!
Kate and Aunt Madelyn.
Kate and Joe - members of the mutual admiration society!
Quick update and some pics of the kids! I cannot believe it is already mid-November! Time has been flying by and I, of course, have not even thought about all the holiday deeds to be done such as xmas gift buying, xmas cards, etc. etc. I have noticed that the television advertising for kid's toys has REALLY picked up. Kate never used to notice commercials, but now is being wooed by the corporations into wanting their wares. TV stations like Nick Jr. and Disney have ads for all things girly like "Little Mermaid" and the "Dancing Princesses" which are all the rage with Kate. I am sticking to channels like "Noggin" from now on which have NO commercials at all for their preschool programming. Just educational vignettes. I really don't need to be hearing from my three-year old "Mommy can I have THAT for Christmas?". Her number one gift request remains - A PUPPY!
This Puppy obesession was rekindled a couple of weekends ago. We all had the wonderful fortune to travel to a family wedding in Mississippi. It was truly one of the most wonderful weddings I have EVER had the pleasure of attending. Aunt Dora hosted it at her incredibly beautiful home right on the water. It was the exact image of Southern Elegance - a white columned manse, a sprawling immaculate lawn with glittering lights and flower arrangements fit for royalty, the sound of laughter and lovely lilting drawls along with the most perfect weather ever topped off by a spectacular sunset over the bay. True perfection. The ONLY downside was that I did not anticipate the Mississippi bug factor so late in the year, and my legs still show evidence of their feasting, but every nibble was worth the experience! :) Kate, as I mentioned, was in heaven because not only did she get to boogie to the live band, but Aunt Dora has two wonderful labs that Kate followed around and snuggled with. Cocoa and Sandy were too too sweet to Kate and as a result she has not only renamed her stuffed puppy (formerly cleverly named "Puppy") Cocoa AND she has reignited her campaign to get a real live puppy of her own. She wants one for Christmas. Do you know how HARD it is to deny her life's wish? We just cannot do it right now. Dogs are a BIG expense and a LOT of time. But someday..........
In other news of the happy sort, Nick is great. He just got a promotion at 3M and is now (it's a mouthful):
Manager
Strategic Business Development; Alliances & Acquisitions
3M Industrial/Transportation Business
I just copied that from his work email sign-off. :) I am so proud of him and he is REALLY excited to be working in this area. His new boss is great and, to the delight of my father, is a Naval Acadamy grad! :) Academy grads across the defense disciplines are really amazing people and it is nice that they get to collaborate here - sure to be extremely effective! Nick also just got to have a weekend with his Yale buddies in NYC. Much like I meet with my college girlfriends once a year somewhere in the US, Nick and his Yale lads make an effort to do the same - only on a more global scale. Last year it was in London and this year they took a long weekend in NYC. The guys are all so great and it sounds like they had a great time. It was a much deserved break for Nick who, aside from family jaunts, has been working insane hours leading up to his promotion.
I have been having fun with the kids. Liam is SO SO SO happy! He is 8 1/2 moths old and is adorably sweet. He is such a good little guy, with such a sweet disposition. He is crawling and has 4 teeth all the way through with two making their breakthrough. His new favorite activity is eating Cheerios. He gets into everything, though, being so mobile and I must confess I have resorted to using a playpen at times - something I never did with Kate because I felt bad enclosing her. But Liam is just thrilled to sit in it and play with his toys and look around. I put it by the window so he has lots of sunshine and he just babbles away and plays. It is all I can do to continue vaccuming or cooking or working on Ever After and not just snuggle him.
Kate is wonderfully saucy and spunky. She is so funny. Her latest discovery is the art of distraction. If she is getting a time out for being fresh or being scolded for not eating her dinner she will tilt her head to the side and get a dreamy look in her eye and say "Daddy, you are soooo handsome" or "Mommy, you're so beautiful". Sometimes this is accompanied by her patting her hand on our cheek in a gesture of total endearment! It is SO hard to keep a straight face and continue with the discipline when she does this - and she knows it darn well! Another thing she will do to evade a scolding is - just as we are about to commence with some lecture - she will cock her head to the side and say "Shh! I think I hear Small Baby crying! You will wake her up!" (Small Baby is one of her baby dolls, the other one being the aptly named Big Baby - who never seems to cry or be as upset as Small Baby seems to get!). She never succeeds in avoiding disciplinary action through these tactics, but you have to give her credit for trying!
Anyway - this has turned out to be quite a rambler, but it has been a while since I posted. Lots of fun tales to come, I am sure, with all kinds of things on the horizon....parent-teacher conferences for Kate (!), Thanksgiving and the road trips that go with it (Michigan), and more milestones for Liam. In the meantime, I continue to be amazed by the daily deeds of the darlings. Who knew that hearing a baby discover the "ba ba ba" sound or a preschooler develop her imagination by naming her ponies things like "Windy" and "Flower Catcher" would bring such indescribable joy?
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