Cousins!

Over the 4th of July weekend Annie got see to all of her cousins!

And the exciting news was that Annie and Liv actually started playing together! Everyone was home for a combination of the holiday and Annie's 2nd birthday party.

I must say, growing up there was always plenty of room in our house, but now when everyone's home space is becoming quite the commodity! But it is a lot of fun to have the house packed with everyone and all the kids get to play together.

All about Nicholas

Nicholas is 9 weeks old today! Time really does fly and it hardly seems like it's been 9 weeks. Actually it seems like he's been around for a lot longer. The trepidation you feel when you're adding to your family seems like a lot during the build-up, but after it happens, you quickly adjust and wonder how you ever got by without him.

In 9 wks Nichol has gone from a big baby weighing in at 8.5 lbs to clocking in at around 13 lbs. He is very good natured, and frequently gets a smile on his face when Annie is around. Of course, it may just be a precursor to wincing because usually Annie likes to get on top of him to give him hugs and kisses... He is a good sleeper, at night he usually makes it in at least 4 hr intervals, which is pretty handy. He has a crabby period in the evening around 7pm, but never gets inconsolable. He also has some pretty big eyes and frequently gives us a suspicious, big eyed look -- almost like he's about to say "whach you talkin' 'bout Willis."

He's already really strong, standing for bursts of time and has great head control. And probably the most surprising thing to people is that he's only 9 wks old... I think someone even remarked that we must be feeding him cream instead of milk.

Annie's 2nd Birthday Party Throw Down!

Annie's 2nd birthday was a few weeks ago. We had her party in NY over 4th of July weekend when all of her cousins would be in town. For her party Annie did not have too many requests. She's pretty easy going, for the most part, but she did have one request. When we asked her what kind of food she wanted, she said 'peppo-wroni pizzah.' Recently pepperoni pizza is her favorite food. She requests it at every meal and in every restaurant.

So the menu was pretty simply. Lots of pepperoni pizza... Instead of birthday cake Karen made these awesome banana cupcakes. Bananas are still pretty high on Annie's list, and she loved these cupcakes. Throw in some sides and sodas and you're all set!

For the big party my parents had the idea of renting a bouncy house. And man was that a great idea! Everyone loved it, it kept the kids in an enclosed area and they never got tired of it! We had the bouncy house for the whole weekend, it got a lot of use. We also had a double slip-n-slide, which was awesome. There's not too much better than a slip-n-slide on a hot day! Overall the party was a blast. We were so glad to have it at my parents where all of Annie's cousins could attend, and we could not have asked for better weather! Thanks again to everyone who came and made Annie's second birthday party a ton of fun!

Story time

Now that Nichol has entered the fray we've adjusted our routine accordingly. Some things we've tweaked, and some things we've been able to keep the same. Story time has remained pretty much the same. In the evenings Annie gets a bath, and then after her bath we read a book. Annie loves being a big sister so she likes having Nicholas next to her during story time.

Annie's favorite book used to be "I want a Dog" which we must have read every night for about 3 months. In the past few weeks that has changed and now her favorite book is "The Three Little Pigs" which probably gets read to her at least twice a day. Many days I'll read that to her in the morning, Karen will read it during the day and then it will get read again that night before bed! We're starting to get pigged out!

Hamming it up

Here are some recent pics of Annie and Nichol. Annie continues to show a very outgoing and playful personality, and Nichol is beginning to stay awake more and request attention.

Tuesday, the 29th is Annie's 2nd birthday! Hard to believe in two years time we went from no kids to two kids! My have things changed for the Fergusons, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Tomorrow we will be celebrating Annie's birthday at home, with her favorite dinner - Pepporini Pizza. Or as she says it, "peppowroooni pizzha." We can't figure out when this became her favorite meal, and we're fairly certain she was referring to something else at first, because she would call everything pepperoni pizza. But now it's official, when she says peppowroooni pizzha she means pepperoni pizza. This weekend we'll be in upstate NY for the holiday, so we're having her formal party at Magga & Pappa's and all of her cousins will be able to share in her big day!

New kitchen / early birthday present

Some of you loyal readers may know that our condo has been on the market. And as I'm sure anyone who has sold a home knows, having your place on the markets stinks. The market in Boston has been a little soft so it's taken longer than we thought it would. But we figured that if we're going to be staying in our current place, we should get the most out of our space. For the entire time we've lived in our apt the 2nd bedroom has always had an extra full sized bed for guests. And then when Annie arrived the room was big enough for the bed and her crib. All of this was fine, until Nichol came along and Karen was able to stay home full time with both kids.

The unintended consequence was Annie needed more room to play in since she was home all day. So we unloaded the double bed from her room and made a new play space for her. We also bought her a play kitchen set and some new pots and pans! She loves this kitchen, and she loves her new play area in her room. It's one of those things where after we did it, we both asked ourselves what took us so long. And since that space where the bed was is still open, whenever guests come we'll have an air mattress they can use. Win win.

Pimp my ride

With the arrival of another Ferguson, Karen and I were faced with the age old question, "to double stroller or not to double stroller." One of the reasons we purchased our stroller originally was because in addition to all the souped up accessories it came with -- you could also expand it into a double stroller when needed.

We purchased the UppaBaby Vista because it was so flexible. When you have a baby, there's an attachment to let you clip the car seat into the stroller (eliminating the need for a snap n go frame), or there is a bassinet that you can lay the baby in. When the baby can sit up, there's a child seat that snaps in. And you can you also change the direction the seat is facing so the child faces you, or faces forward. Which comes in pretty handy on sunny days.

And I think the coolest attachment is the Rumble Seat, which you can see Annie in. At first we were a bit hesitant because we didn't know if she'd like facing rear and not much of a view. So the first time we put her in there we gave her snacks, toys and books and it was like her own little space. She loves it and it's so cute to see her stick her head slightly out of the side to watch what's going on. And the other great thing about the Rumble Seat is that it didn't increase the width of the stroller at all. That's a good thing because a lot of the streets in town can be narrow, not to mention trying to navigate the subway and in and out of stores and restaurants... you get the point.

The other option was a stand that would attach to the front of the stroller where Annie could stand and hang onto the stroller while it was being pushed. We toyed with that option, but worried that Annie might get tired on longer walks and we also questioned how well she would hang on and for how long... We figured at least with the rumble seat we could strap her in, so even if she wasn't to keen on the idea she'd be forced to stay in one place! And you can probably tell from the photos above that Annie wasn't too keen on having her photo taken at that moment.

Nichol's first bath!

Nichol's first bath! And even though I'm about a month late posting this, I promise that it did not take us a month to give him a bath! The first bath at home is always a bit tricky. I remember when we brought Annie home that was the one thing we were so nervous about, and we were definitely nervous giving Nichol his first bath.

Luckily Grandma Drummy was in town that week, so we had someone to take photos while Karen and I concentrated on not dropping Nichol down the drain! As you can see from most of the photos, it actually looks like he is having a not so bad time. I'm happy to report we all got through the first bath relatively unscathed and most importantly, no one got peed on.

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down...

Here is Annie modeling some of the latest in inclement weather attire. The frog wellies she is wearing we actually bought last summer when we were in Seattle. At the time, we were not very good at estimating her size by looking at items... The boots are still pretty big and when you pick her up most times they go flying. But she loves wearing them around! She also likes going out in the rain, the minute she gets outside she says "rain" over and over and has the biggest smile on her face.

Memorial day mayhem

Pretty late with the posting... but here are some pics from Memorial Day weekend. Nicholas was only a few weeks old and was a real trooper on the car ride from Boston to upstate NY. Annie on the other hand, is becoming a bit of a handful and doesn't have as much fun in the car as she used to. At least when you're in the car for 5 hrs.

We had a lot of fun seeing family and Annie had so much fun with all her cousins she got to play with!