Happy Valentine's Day!

My parents have been in Florida for nearly two months, and my dad came home for the weekend for a bank board meeting.  He came to our house for dinner and a bed on Monday night, and Melanie could not have been more excited to see him.  The pictures above illustrate her love of her Valentines presents - cookies from Paula and stickers from G&G Worzala; and the present of having her Poppy home.  As Mel was showing us all of her Valentines from her school party, she showed me the one from Blake.  I asked her what Blake starts with - she answered "B."  I asked her what else starts with "B" - she looked at my dad with some shyness, and then answered "Butch."  Later, out of the blue, she looked at Poppy and said "Your name is Doan."  With some prompting, she spelled Doan (from memory from a shirt I had worn a few days earlier).  It was a fun night, and made Melanie even more excited to see Poppy in Florida. 

Joey was in bed by about 6:30....I don't have any V-Day pictures of him!  I need to step it up with his presence on this blog!!

Monkey Melanie's/Monkey Molly's

The weekend of the 12th, Melanie got a lot of play time in.  On Saturday, we went to the library's play room, and then straight over to the Chick-Fil-A playground.  Sunday, Julie and Molly came over and we headed to Monkey Joe's.  Melanie took a while to warm up, and then followed Molly's cues on bravery.  There were a couple of times I had to bail one or both of them out from getting trampled by the bigger kids; it was really crowded!  The girls have some strange game where they chase each other around in circles yelling "Kitty!!"  It wears them out and mystifies us.

Children's Museum

Sunday morning, after we dropped Julie & Molly at the airport for their trip to Florida, Melanie and I went to the Children's Museum.  They open at 10am, and that is the ideal time to arrive, we learned!  The museum has a new Dora & Diego exhibit, which I thought Melanie would like since she has newly become addicted (with her Daddy's help) to these two shows.  However, she wasn't really into that exhibit; instead she spent the majority of her time in the Barbie exhibit.  Yikes.  We enjoyed a couple of hours of playing before she started fading from her late night the night before. 

Weekend Plans

Friday night, we had Paula & Tom over for cocktails and appetizers.  Melanie did not need her typical "warm up" time when they arrived, and was busy entertaining them during their whole visit.  She even read books with Paula, which was progress, as she usually favors Tom (as she does in most male/female dynamics -she warms up to the man).  At one point, we were in the master bathroom with Tom & Paula (showing them the renovations), and Melanie was shouting from the kitchen.  I went in to determine what was going on - she replied "I was just singing Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." 

Saturday night, Julie & Molly watched the kids while Jeff & I went to dinner with the Dorans.  When we returned home, this is how I found the girls, cuddled up on the couch.  It was a late bedtime for all three kids, but mine made up for it on Sunday with some great naps and early bedtimes.

During the weekend, Joey had several unassisted steps.  He seems pretty excited by the newfound skill, so it's anyone's guess when he'll be off and running.  We also discovered this weekend that Joey is very ticklish.  So I spent most of Sunday listening to his belly laughs while I tickled him.  Melanie received about 10 new plates as hand-me-downs from Jeff's coworker Sarah. Those plates were the focus of her entertainment all weekend, setting the table, re-setting, re-setting....We finally have a new rule, no playing with plates while Joey is sleeping.  On Sunday when Joey woke up from his second nap, Mel's first question was "Can I play with my plates now?"

"Snowpocalypse"????

We were under a huge winter storm advisory starting on Monday, 1/31/11.  So, lo and behold, IUPUI closed their campus for Tuesday before 6pm on Monday!!  It was unheard of.  Subsequentally, ITT and Noah's Ark canceled Tuesday - so, before we went to bed Monday, we knew we were all four out on Tuesday.  Jeff, predictably, went stir-crazy.  Despite the "bad roads," he went to Home Depot twice, to the gas station once, and who knows where else.  The rest of us enjoyed 8,432 puzzles, and a lot of other indoor activities.  We basically stayed in our pajamas all day long....although Mel's interpretation of that was wearing her swimsuit.

Before we went to bed on Tuesday, we learned that we were ALL home again on Wednesday!!  This time, we planned ahead.  We invited our friends over for a PJ breakfast for Wednesday morning, and played the morning away.  It was a great way to pass the time, and the girls loved the diversion.  This time, Jeff went to Home Depot once, to the cleaners, and drove to work "just to see how bad the roads really were."  Joey got into the habit of only taking one nap a day during this timeframe, so Tuesday night, he slept 14.5 hours!!  He was in bed by 5:30pm, and slept until about 8am. 

Before bed on Wednesday, we once again learned that both IUPUI and Noah's Ark were canceled for Thursday!!  Things were really getting strange.  Luckily for Jeff, he was back at work.  Luckily for our sanity, we were able to get out of the house.  Having free days with the kids was great - but even the best of people can start climbing the curtains when you don't have anywhere to go!!-Plus the fact the kids are both still at the age to need mommy or daddy there at all times....(need or want, depending on which one).  Thursday the kids and I went to Babies R Us, went out to lunch, and then headed to Lebanon to Suzi's house.  Melanie, after her traditional warming-up period, did not want to leave.  We had a great time seeing faces other than those who live in our house :)

A couple of funnies from the kids....at Suzi's house on Thursday, she had an orange balloon floating around (which Melanie had told me as she was eating her cake "I want this balloon away from me.")  Suzi gently kicked it at Joey while he was crawling around, and he started crying and crawling away.  So, of course, this mean mommy kicked it to him about three more times, each time he got more hysterical about it.  I have no idea what his aversion to balloons is - Suzi and I then sat down and showed him it was not dangerous.  Also at Suzi's, Melanie was playing with a toy cash register.  She then got my wallet out of my purse and was playing with it.  Later, Suzi found a "real" $5 bill in the register, which Mel denied placing there.  Wyatt confirmed he witnessed the transfer.  I think it's funny she made that connection on her own and made her contribution to the cash register.

As of this post - Thursday night - everyone has work and school tomorrow. The roads are fine - as evidenced by the fact we drove to Lebanon and back today. However, IPS is canceled yet again tomorrow, which is completely unheard of.

Happy 9 Month Birthday, Sweet Boy

Joey's nine-month birthday was marked with his doctor appointment.  One of the many reasons we love Dr. Megremis - if you show up at 9am for your 1pm appointment, they'll work you in anyway!!  At nine months, Joey weighs 18 pounds 1.5 oz (14%), measures 28 ¾ (68%).  His head circumference (which I'm not too concerned with) is 45 ¾ cm (64%).  The doctor was pleased with all of his milestones, and everything looked great.  Earlier we had been slightly concerned about a slight bowing in his legs, but now that he is standing & moving, the doctor is pleased with how he's grown out of that. His ears look clear, and he has the go-ahead to eat whatever we eat, within reason.

It's official - nine months goes much faster when the baby is outside of my body.  The time has flown, and we are very blessed to have Joseph Pierce in our lives! 

Random Melanie Update

At 2 years and 10 months, Melanie weighs 25.8 pounds.  She recently changed daycare classes, and she is now in with the 3-year-olds.  She was one of only two kids to transition, due to the fact she's potty-trained (she still wears a pull-up at night).  We had a really rough first week in the new classroom, since she is dropped off and picked up in the gym with bigger kids.  This is the second week in the new room, and now she looks forward to going and talks about her new friends.

Melanie's vocabulary cracks us up on a daily basis.  She never hesitates to let us know what is on her mind, and will repeat it until she is sure you understand.  She is still a finicky eater, but it's more about her mood.  She likes a lot of food, it's just a matter of what she wants that particular meal. 

She loves playing with her friends, playing with Joey (this usually results in Joey's tears, because she will steal his toys or sit on him), bossing us around in her playroom, and putting all of her stuffed animals night-night in random locations throughout our house. 

Another random child update, but I just wanted to get her weight and other information recorded for my memories!