Body Parts

Ears

Speaking of ears, I took Magnolia in to see a nurse practitioner today because she was running a low grade fever and pulling at her ears again. After she had the flu in Early October she had gotten an ear infection which quickly spread to both ears. One round of antibiotics cleared that one up, but then a few weeks later, after a couple nights of Maggie not sleeping, screaming for no reason, pulling at her ears, etc. we took her back in to discover that yet again her left ear was infected. After 5 days on Amoxicillan Maggie was switched to a stronger antibiotic, because she wasn't getting any better. We completed the second antibiotic on Wednesday. Today both her ears are still red, and her right ear has a lot of fluid. Good thing we are seeing Dr. Beck, Pediatric ENT, on Tuesday don't you think?

Fingers

Eyes

Hair

Nose

I asked Magnolia to show me her ear so that I could do a post about her ear infections, but she thought it would be best to show you all even more body parts. She knows everything from head, to elbow, to toes!

I'm thankful for...

This child ate the ENTIRE day!

Boo with Uncle Brad

The Boys

Daddy, Mommy and Magnolia

"Mommy, stop taking my picture and HOLD ME!"

The Feast

• Mommy and Daddy
• My bugsy
• My dogs that tolerate me rolling on them (most of the time)
• Grandparents
• Aunties
• Friends (Especially Emma)
• Teacher Chris
• Peppa and Doudou
• My Blanket
• Babies that go "Nigh-Nigh"
• My Purse
• Apples, bananas and other snacks

It's THAT Time of Year!

Magnolia made her winter gifts for her grandparents and great-grandparents yesterday. They turned out soooo freakin' cute. I'm trying really hard not to keep them for myself:) You guys are going to love them!

Since this is Moo's first holiday season, where she'll be a little more responsive to what's happening, Zac and I realized we better step it up with some new holiday tradition. We'd been slowly moving further and further away from the whats and whys of the holidays. I'm sure we aren't the only ones guilty of this, but still, it's hard to admit. We are coming back to this though, as we process and solidify who we are as a family.

I read an amazing article recently that lets you evaluate the holidays from a personal context, and what you want to convey to your child. In addition, the article included ideas on how to do this in a culturally diverse and environmentally friendly way---it was a great article.

To begin, Zac and I discussed what we remembered most about the holidays when we were children. Here's some of my most important memories...

Hailey and Sara: Remember those late nights, laughing and giggling in bed together, after we opened our Christmas Eve gift? Remember laying around in PJ's all day, eating coffee cake, then board games in the evening? I know we were all pretty into the "stuff" we got then, but looking back, it was more about that time for us to just "be" with each other, because we didn't always get to see each other as much as we would have liked.

I want to convey this to Magnolia during the holidays---the joy of her family. Of loving and being with those that she's closest to.

Oh, and Grandma's MILLIONS and MILLIONS of APPLES! I learned something new that made me really appreciate all those apples she made us hang on her tree. I have a whole new love for apples, and can't wait to work them into our holiday.

In addition to these old traditions Zac and I are excited to try some new stuff as well. We are hoping to find our yule log and have a nice cozy fire, with some fresh snacks and some good company for Winter Solstice, this year the solstice will fall on December 21st.

We're going to try and give gifts with real meaning. Gifts we make, and gifts that come with a good cause. We're also using all those old grocery bags to wrap gifts this year!

So this year will be a new year of sorts. A year to take from the old and bring to the new. A year to renew, respect, appreciate and to love. A year to welcome what's to come...light, growth and more love.

Happy Holidays

Magnolia is Getting a BABY!

A baby cousin!

He, he, he! This was all Sara's idea if it freaked any of you out!

Baby Smith is due 6/14/10. Baby Smith is 11 weeks along now, and doing just great. Sara's feeling good too. I got to join Sara and Brad for the ultrasound this morning, then Sara and I enjoyed a day off together---looking at baby stuff, getting lunch and enjoying a movie.

FYI...Maggie didn't like Auntie Sara holding Marley this weekend, and insisted he get down and Aunt Sara hold her; this should be interesting!

Hellllloooooo???

Where is everyone? Has everyone grown tired of reading about the most beautiful little girl in the entire world?!?! I didn't think so.

Let me know what you like reading about. What you like to see Maggie doing.

If you've never commented before, haven't commented for awhile, etc., etc., now is the time!

Also, I spent all last evening looking at my first few blog posts on Mag's blog. You should definitely go back and take a peek at how much Magnolia has grown. I was telling Zac last night how I read about little things from those old posts that I had completely forgotten about!

Storytime for Mommy and Daddy

Maggie's teacher organized a parent night for us this evening, where Miss Tammy, one of the librarians at the Boise Public Library, came to speak to us about early literacy. We were served dinner as Miss Tammy shared lots of great information, and then our children joined us, after they enjoyed a nice dinner together, for an evening storytime. I was shocked how well all of them did as we approached their bedtimes, and just in general changed up their evening routines.

Maggie enjoyed it quite a bit, as did we!

Have I mentioned how lucky we are to have Chris as Maggie's first teacher?

Famdam Weekend!

Auntie Hailey, Mags, Mommy and Auntie Sara

Uncle Brad kindly accepted a big kiss, although Maggie's mouth was full of food!

Magnolia has enjoyed spending lots of time with her family this weekend. On Saturday, she spent the day with Grandma Tara while Mommy and Daddy went to the U of I/BSU football game. It wasn't such a good football game, but of course it's always good to be a Vandal. Maggie played with Boston and Bookin (her dog and Grandma's cat) at Grandma's house, and enjoyed a nice long walk with Grandma. She also mastered climbing all the way up Grandma's stairs. Today we went to lunch with Auntie Hailey, Great Auntie Julie, Auntie Sara and Uncle Brad. Maggie was giving all her family members big smooches. She also had a nice big blow-out towards the end of the meal---always fun. Auntie Hailey graciously offered to assist Mommy with the clean up job! Much appreciated Auntie Hailey!

Fall Semester

These are some of the things Magnolia has been up to at school this semester. She absolutely adores her friends at school. She talks about many of them all throughout the day. She has become very independent in the classroom, doing many things for herself. Of course, she continues to explore, learn, play and grow each day!

putting away her dishes

cleaning up the mess that comes along with learning to do something yourself

painting

more painting

watching the fish

getting picked up by Mommy and Daddy

going to the museum

buggy rides

playing in the sensory table

*see below for another new post*

In The Kitchen

Finally! Her apron is on, and she did it all by herself!

Sometimes accidents happen in the kitchen, like you completely drench yourself when you are "washing" your dishes!

Maggie has been very busy in her kitchen lately. Whenever I'm cooking something, I'll make sure that she can "cook" that as well. I add oats, noodles, and other foods to her kitchen regularly. Her favorite is when we fill up her sink with water so she can "wash." She washes everything--including herself. She also eats the bubbles, yum, yum, yum!!

Oh, the things we can do!

The nice thing about being a Child Development Specialist mom is that I research, hear about, and inform families about all the activities, resources and opportunities that exist in the community for young children. And the stuff I don't know about, Chris knows about! I figure it's only fair for me to get out and do, what I suggest to other parents they should do.

Maggie and I attend story time at the library every Thursday morning to hear stories, sing songs and dance, we go to Rafiki to play when her body really needs to move, and she goes to the monthly "Toddler Day" at the museum with Chris where she explores different art mediums!

Boise really does have a lot of great oppurtunities (most of which are free or fairly inexpensive) for families and young children.

The pictures are of Maggie at Rafiki. An indoor play facility that has creative, dramatic, gross/fine motor and adaptive play centers. She was the ONLY child that initiated interaction with the other children. Saying "hi" with a great big smile (un-prompted). She' s careful though...watching how something works, or how other children do it before doing it herself. By the time she's ready to try it though, she's generally got it down! This was the case with the slides and large climbing structure. When she got to the top of the large climbing structure, she turned to her mommy and said "slide." Mommy was a little hesitant because the slide is quite large and fast looking. We did it though, and both enjoyed ourselves!