Rain, Rain, Go Away

We had such a beautiful weekend that it is a complete disappointment for Monday to come along and dump rain on us. It is so much more difficult to get the kids in and out of the car when it's raining, so today we stayed inside. This turned out ot be the right choice because last night we were at McGinty's Pub hanging out with some old Notre Dame friends and the girls were out a bit past their bed time. Harper came close to losing her mind while we literally had to pull Hadley off of the dance floor. At any rate, the girls needed some long naps and relaxation today.

But what do you do when you're inside all day after a weekend of sunshine? Here's a little game I like to call: "Spoon water into ice cube trays and see how long it entertains a 2 year old."

This kept Hadley entertained for about 40 minutes. Quite successful if you ask me. We did this last week with food coloring but it was such a mess I didn't want to do it again so I was hoping Hadley would be just as content to simply play with water.

Here's a little video of the activity. I apologize if you happen to get dizzy while viewing. I thought I'd get Harper as well and I was holding her so the camera gets a little shaky.

While this was fun activity, what Hadley worked on until lunch time was the empty coffee pot box that I gave her. I had to buy a new one this weekend because the one I had sounded like it was going to blow up Friday morning when I pushed the "start" button. It wasn't so much scary to know that it was broken as it was to know that I might not be able to drink my coffee. Anyway, I got another one so I won't have to be scared like that again. And Hadley had a great time coloring and putting Dora stickers on the box.

Here's another video of Hadley singing her own version of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." She's begun to make up new verses or endings of the songs she knows.

And here's one more picture of Harper on her tummy. She is so close to rolling over. I remember watching Hadley and cheering her on while she tried to so hard to roll over, and Harper is doing the same thing. You start to wonder how they are ever going to do it.

I'll leave you with one more anecdote about Hadley. Recently, I've been trying to find some books to read to her to introduce Jesus and the stories of the Bible. For about three weeks now I've been reading her All Things Bright and Beautiful which I can tell Hadley enjoys because we talk about each picture in detail. As many of you fine Christian readers know, part of the song goes like this, "The Lord God made them all." The other day Hadley pointed to the girl in the picture and asked, "Is that God?" I told her no, the girl wasn't God. Then she pointed to the dog next to the girl and asked, "Is that God?" Again, I said no. After a minute she said, "Well where is He?"

Happy Easter

And here's one of me and Hadley in our matching trench coats:

Lessons I Learned from "Mommy and Me"

First a pop quiz. Can you tell who is Harper and who is Hadley?






I just threw these pictures in here because I didn't take the camera along to our outing today and I know better than to post something without pictures.

Today the girls and I went to something called "Mommy and Me." These events are every other Thursday and basically it's a chance for radio stations, hair salons, real estate offices, baby stores, etc. to advertise their stuff under an umbrella of handing out candy and doing sing song activities. Of course I knew this going in, but it was a beautiful day today and I figured it'd be something fun to do. Here is what I learned:

• When someone is dressed up as a bunny rabbit, expect a large crowd. Also expect that kids will be either attacking/hugging the bunny rabbit or screaming for their mothers and yet not moving an inch or taking their eyes off of the bunny rabbit so that there is no getting around the crowd.
• If you are ever thinking of dressing up as a bunny rabbit and hanging out around kids, you should be more considered about the mothers than their children. This poor guy had so many mothers insisting they take pictures of him with their kids, you'd think he was Peter Rabbit himself. The ladies aka "bodyguards" finally had to say, "Mr. Rabbit needs to take a 10 minute break." Still the cameras flashed.
• There is not a more dangerous place to drive than in a parking lot filled with mothers. I believe I can safely state this as a fact because I've driven in both Chicago as well as Washington D.C., including the Dupont Circle, and I would drive either of those before I'd deal with what I dealt with today. My advice - park as far away from the event as you can.
• If there is a moonbounce and your child is older than 12months, assume that she will want to go on it. We stood in line for 30 minutes - Hadley was an angel, and Harper was quite content playing with her hands - so Hadley could jump for 5 minutes.....do you have a guess as to where this is going?
• There is nothing more fun than watching your kid enjoy herself. I would stand in line for 90 minutes just to hear Hadley laugh and watch her jump on the moonbounce again.
• Going into a moonbounce to get a child that doesn't want to come out is harder than you'd think. You've got the unstable surface for one thing. Plus, a kid pushing you away and screaming, "No Mommy! I still want to jump!" Add to that it's just darn embarrassing.

This won't be the last event that we go to where I'll be rolling my eyes and wondering what I got myself into. I'm sure my parents did the same thing at the number of Drill Team competitions they had to attend. Seems like a lot of silliness. But I can assure you, Mom and Dad, that the way Hadley felt jumping on the moonbounce today was the same way I felt being on Drill Team. So hopefully all of it was worth it. At least you didn't have to drag me off the court kicking and screaming, "No Mommy and Daddy! I still want to dance!"

More Conversations and bigger clothes

Harper wants to know whether you think these pants make her look fat:

While they may be a bit big, she is wearing most of the 6-12 month clothing which is fun. Pulling out the all of Hadley's old clothes brings back memories of when she was a baby. Hadley is definetely a little girl now with only remnants of babyhood (one of those remnants is the pacifier she refuses to give up).

I mentioned in an earlier post that Harper likes to lay on her little playmat and yell/scream at the animals dangling from it. Here is a clip that sort of shows what I mean:

Take that, monkey.

On Friday Hadley and I went to Starbucks together while Harper and her dad hung out at home. After we sat down and I gave Hadley her juice, she said, "Well, Mommy, we're at Starbucks and it's not windy in here." To which I said, "You're right, Hadley it's not." After a bit Hadley noticed the large exposed air vent that runs across the ceiling. She wanted to know what it was.

"It's an air vent." I said.

"What kind of air vent?" she asked.

"An air vent that's on the ceiling of Starbucks." I replied.

"What kind of air vent on the ceiling of Starbucks?" she asked.

"Do you want another piece of cookie?" I asked. Hadley stared at me in mild disgust because I could not answer her question and then asked, "Mama, can we go home and get my pink stool so I can reach that air vent on the ceiling of Starbucks?"

"Are you sure you don't just want to finish your cookie?"

Earlier that day Hadley asked me what the Spanish word for "ant" was. (She is really into the shows "Dora the Explorer" and "Go, Diego Go.") I told her I didn't know, but this wasn't good enough so I said, "El anto." You all can "tsk tsk" all you want, but just re-read the previous conversation 100 times over and and you may have an idea of what I deal with on a regular basis.

Here are the girls having some "tummy time" in Hadley's crib (Hadley likes to show Harper how it's done):

And here they are flipped over. Sorry I couldn't get the picture flipped around.

I have to give props to my cousin-in-law, Julie, who made the sheets the girls are lying on. Hadley calls them her "Old MacDonald sheets" and they are her favorite. She doesn't like it when they are not on her bed.

So there you have it. Lots of fun going on this Spring in the Feyen household. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom now and they are beautiful. As much as I love Chicago, you can't beat the spring in the DC area. It is magnificent.