Of parks, playgrounds and subways

Annie loves being outside! This is a far cry from last summer when she had serious issues with grass. In the weeks leading up to Nichol's birth, pretty much every nice weekend we were getting out there and doing stuff with Annie. She's at the age now where she loves to be active and can't sit still for long!

We're also very fortunate to have so many great parks so close to us. Annie hasn't found a playground yet that she doesn't like! Annie also really likes riding the subway. She loves watching trains and trucks, and especially likes seeing firetrucks.

Beach blanket bingo!

We've been having some great weather lately in Boston. Since I have gone back to work, Karen has started her new job, wrangling Annie & Nicholas full-time!

The hot weather has been somewhat of a challenge because we don't want the kids to overheat at the park, so why not take them to the beach!

Misc Annie

Annie has been adjusting quite nicely to her new little brother. And luckily the bouncy seat we have can still support her weight! Although she is always giving Nick-o-dee kisses when he's around, and wondering where he is when she can't see him, she doesn't miss an opportunity to jump into an empty bouncy seat!

Annie has also been asserting herself more... As you can see from the bottom photo, that's Annie in her time out corner, where she has been finding herself more and more. Most of the time Annie is really good and does what she is told. And sometimes she just wants to do what she wants to do. So in those situations Annie gets a time out and has to look at the corner. Her timeouts usually go something like this:
Justin: Annie, timeout.
Annie: No.
Justin: Go to the corner
(Annie sits in the corner, facing out)
Justin: Annie, turn around.
(Annie turns around. Then turns back around)
Justin: Annie, turn around.

You get the drift... Picture that same scene replaying itself over and over again for the next 5 minutes. She's pretty funny and has a very playful personality so most times it is very hard to stay serious when punishing her.

First Family Outing

Our first family outing was to the park! Here is everyone at the Bunker Hill Monument. We like coming here because there is a large grassy area that Annie can run around in, and there are always lots of dogs. Annie is in love with dogs. The minute she sees a dog she starts screaming "Doggie!" and runs full speed towards the dog.

Last Sunday we had an open house so we had to get out of the house, and luckily it was a beautiful day to go to the park. We brought a picnic and everyone had great time! Nichol liked being outside and enjoyed the fresh air, and I had a lot of fun chasing Annie down. She also loves jumping. Sometimes instead of walking or running places, she will jump. If she finds any ledge or curb she immediately gets on top and then jumps off! She also really like stairs. She will go up and down and up and down any stairs over and over again.

Nichol continues to be a pretty easy little guy to handle. He's still been sleeping about 80-90% of the time, and at night sleeps in 4 hr chunks, which is awesome.

The best big sister!

In the blink of an eye Annie has become the best big sister! While this pregnancy seemed to fly by (at least for me!), one of the things we were worried about was how Annie was going to adjust to have a little brother. We read lots of articles about the best way to prepare your child for a new sibling, bought some books for Annie about getting a new brother, and heard some horror stories from other parents. We also bought a gift for Annie from the new baby... so we thought we did as much as we could. And as you can see from the pics above Annie has welcomed Nichol with open (sometimes too open) arms.

She loves to kiss the baby, and point out his mouth, nose, ears and eyes. She gives lots of hugs to Nichol and is beginning to incorporate him into our family. When we ask who's in our family, she says "Mommy, daddy..... Annnn-O!!!" and occasionally we get Nick-o-dee. And now that Nichol is here, she has pretty much given up on trying to reclaim her bouncy seat and bassinet. Although she still lounges in the bouncy seat for old times sake when he's not in there.

Announcing the arrival of Nicholas Harold Ferguson

On May 12 @ 12:02 am Nicholas "Nichol" Harold Ferguson was born! It's only been a week, but we can't even imagine things around here without him! We think he looks a lot like Annie as a baby. They have very similar coloring and temperament. In the few days he's been home from the hospital, he has begun sleeping in 4 hr-ish blocks at night, which is awesome! Although he does have a touch of jaundice too, just like Annie. His bout looks to be clearing up sooner than Annie's, so that has been nice.

Annie is also adjusting well to her role as Big Sister. It's funny, until Nichol came we had no idea how big of a little girl Annie is! It seems like overnight she became this big girl who can do so much on her own. Including escaping from her crib... There's a bed next to her crib that she uses as a crash pad when she comes tumbling over the side of her crib. Last weekend we had an open house, and while we thought she was sleeping and we were picking up the house and cleaning, it turns out she wasn't asleep. She was tearing all the clothes out of her drawers and ripping everything out of the cabinet!

As we settle into our new routine, look for new content in the next few weeks as I have tons of overdue material to post!