Cassidy - 3 Months, Where did the time go?

It seems like yesterday we brought Cassidy home, but here were are 3 months later. Mommy has returned to work and Grandma is here with the 2 girls. Cassidy is growing fast and is really taking an interest in everything around her, especially her big sister, oh, and football. The girl loves to watch football on TV - clearly she get this from her father.

Cassidy at 2 Months
Weight - 12lbs 13oz (80%)
Height - 23 7/8 inches (95%!)
Sounds like - Cass is a chatty one when she is awake. She even tries to answer when you say hi! Sounds more like a coo - but she looks at you while she does it. When she is sleeping, this kid sounds like a buzz saw with all the snoring.
Likes - hanging out in the baby Bjorn, napping in the swing, bouncing on the exercise ball - both sitting on your knee as well as wrapped up in a swaddle for sleeping
Dislikes - dirty diapers. Really, that is about it.
Things she can do - eat, poop (but thankfully she does it rarely), smile (BIG), watch a little TV (yeah, I know, bad parenting), look you in the eye, turn her head in both directions, hold up her head while sitting on your lap (assisted in the sitting, of course), and tries to pull herself up to sitting if you let her hold your fingers. Strong girl.

Cassidy at 3 Months
Weight - 14lbs 11oz (85%)
Height - 24 3/4 inches (90%!)
Sounds like - Cass is still snoring like a buzz saw, and still talking away. She also "sings" along if you sing her a song. Not really sure what she is saying, but she is trying to carry that tune.
Likes - Bouncing on the exercise ball, hanging out in the jungle, sitting in her bumbo (or really any form of sitting up), standing up and "jumping" on your lap or the floor, bathtime (doesn't even mind a little water in her eyes), the Winkle, and watching her big sister do anything
Dislikes - laying down flat (makes it kind of hard to have her sleep outside of the swing), slow bottles (she is hungry NOW), and car rides (she screams bloody murder for the first 5 min, everytime)
Things she can do - reach and grab at toys, roll to her side (both sides, but not roll over yet), try to sit up, sleep through just about anything (a loud house does not seem to be an issue if she is tired)

Here's Kendall's 3 Month for comparison.

Jack-o-lanterns

For Kendall's birthday we picked all those pumpkins, so of course, we needed to carve them. Or, in Kendall's case, paint them.

And paint them some more. Until the final product looked like they had been in a paintball fight.

Cassidy joined in on the fun for a short time, but as decorating pumpkins in taxing work, she decided napping would better serve her. The pumpkins were also bigger than her. And a whole lot heavier.

Nate went right to work on carving and picked out a fairly intricate design. I had never carved a pumpkin (I know, right? Who doesn't carve pumpkins?) so I hung back a bit. I picked simple patterns and went to work on the pumpkin. Mine did not turn out nearly as nice as Nate's masterpiece, but I thought it was cool. So did the squirrels once we put it outside.

Nate's, I have to say was awesome. It was a lot more complicated then you would think to carve that pumpkin, and took him a good 3 hours, but it was worth it. I fought the squirrels off his pumpkin daily for a week just to try to keep it intact for Halloween.

Yep, not scary, but Bert and Ernie made a darn cool pumpkin.

We only lit them up once, but got a cool picture before we put them out in the elements (by elements I mean put them out for the squirrels to eat).

Why do I keep mentioning squirrels? Because these pumpkins were on the balcony, and every day I would come into the living room to a squirrel chewing on a pumpkin and staring at me. Those squirrels we taunting me. I even had once on the dining room window, knocking to come in. Chasing them off wouldn't even work, they just stood there and stared. Kendall loved the squirrels and would not only talk to them, but invite them to stick around and have some pumpkin. I was not amused.

As cool as the pumpkins were, I was happy when we threw them out and got rid of our squirrely visitors.

Welcome to the Jungle

Having Cassidy has been like a weird walk down memory lane. The kids look a whole lot alike, Cassidy is wearing hand-me-downs, and now we are introducing the old toys. I'd say it is dejavu all over again, except it is different. The reactions are different, and Cassidy, although still not mobile and pretty lump-like, has a whole different personality of her own. So I am stuck on it being more of us looking at how different things are this time around.

In that vein, we recently introduced Cassidy to The Jungle. I remember when Kendall got this toy. It was a Christmas gift when she was only a couple months old, and when it was opened, her face actually lit up with a huge smile. It was the only gift she actually reacted to.

With Cassidy, the jungle has been more of a gradual transition. I tried it earlier on this time thinking, Kendall totally dug this, maybe it will work earlier this time. No such luck. But with Cassidy starting to reach out, grab, and hold onto things, the jungle is finally working out again.

Kendall loved the giraffe. I would find her "talking" to the giraffe in the jungle, but with Cassidy, it is the parrot. She totally digs that bird. Where Kendall spent a lot of her time yelling at the stationary butterflies at the top (similar to her treatment of her minions), Cassidy just takes it all in stride, checks out all the toys and wiggles around to scoot to each toy and play. Cass could care less if those guys move, as long as she can check them out.

What was old is also new again in our house and Kendall wants to play with all of Cassidy's toys instead of her own. This causes some problems when she takes Cassidy's toys away from her and hides them, or lines them up just out of Cassidy's reach. But with the jungle, it kind of works out. They get to play together and Kendall helps to show Cassidy all the jungle has to offer. That is when she is not lining up all her ponies and princesses all around the jungle. But Cassidy enjoys that too. Anything her big sister will do with her she just loves.

The jungle also has the added bonus of entertaining them both for at least 10 minutes so I can get something else done. Or just drink coffee. 

Sing-a-long time

Kendall's current favorite song is 'We Are Young" by Fun. This has been her favorite song for months. She asks to have the song put on everytime we are in the car, or anytime I put on music at home. And she belts out the chorus for all she is worth.

I don't think we have a singing career in our future, but I am impressed by her memorization. This is not the only song she can sing either. The most impressive (or wrong depending on how you look at it) is that she knows the words to "Polly" by Nirvana. It was a proud parenting moment for me - but I'm pretty sure teaching my 3-year-old the lyrics to Nirvana songs is frowned upon. Oh well, entertains me.

Laughing? I think so...

Just a little video of Cass right after she started laughing. She loves to be tickled and laughs out loud when you do it just right...

And she cracks me up.

Kendall's 3rd Birthday - aka The Year of the Pumpkin

Kendall is 3!!!

Where did 3 years go? Seems like it went by so fast. Our baby is now a big girl, and all the trouble that brings - aka she pushes the envelope more often than not.

For Kendall's birthday this year we skipped the party and did a family day at the All Season's Orchard out in Woodstock. Kendall loves the great outdoors, and we thought a little apple picking and a trip to the pumpkin patch would be a grand old time. Sadly, with all the heat this summer, the apple picking was bad and the orchard was not open on weekdays, but we were still able to hit the pumpkin patch and all the activities the place had to offer - and boy did it have a lot of activities.

Similar to our stay cation, we headed out mid-week for our excursion - Kendall's birthday was a Wednesday. This was the best move ever. We had tried to do the pumpkin patch a couple years back, but it happened to be Columbus Day and everything was so busy we gave up on the idea. Mid-week with no holiday, the Orchard was empty. Literally. When we pulled up there were only 5 cars in the parking lot, and we were the only visitors. Even though it turned out to be a colder day than we expected. we had the place to ourselves.

First up, we checked out what Nate and I referred to as the Goat Bridge to Nowhere. Really, it is a petting zoo with goats, sheep, llamas, and chickens. The goats have the bridge in the enclosure that they can climb, and you can send food up to them.

The animals in the petting zoo were looking for some food, and started following Kendall and her apple cider doughnut around. She looked like the pied piper. The goats and llamas were getting especially friendly and following her around from one end of the enclosure to the other.

Inside they had bunnies and chicks, as well as an area you could get closer to the animals and "pet" them. Since I am kind of weird about that, we passed on the petting, but did get to check all the animals out.

On the weekends the Orchard does pig races. This means these pigs run around a short track to get some food at the finish, while the workers clean out their pens. The signs all said they don't run the races on weekdays, and I was kind of bummed. Who doesn't want to see a random pig race? But, we were in luck, and as we walked past the pig track, the pig guy asked if we wanted to see them race - of course!! The guy was really nice and got Kendall involved, asking her to say "Ready, Set, Go!" to start the races, as well as asking her to bet on the pig that would win (they had colored ribbons on their necks). Kendall loved this!

 

Then it was on to the main attraction - pumpkins! This place had an awesome pumpkin patch full of all different types of pumpkins and gourds. We spent a lot of time wandering around picking out the best ones - or in Kendall's case the rotted ones that she wanted. Nate and I just went ahead and put those back and steered her towards a nice fresh pumpkin.

There were small pumpkins. These Kendall enjoyed the most because she could cart them around.

 

 

And large pumpkins that were almost the size of Kendall, and definitely bigger than Cassidy.

 

 

We really enjoyed wandering around the pumpkin patch and spent a good chunk of our time in there. We ended up taking home 2 huge pumpkins and a bunch of smaller ones - so in all a good pumpkin haul.

 

We checked out the rest of what the farm had to offer - which was a bunch of stuff for kids to go wild and climb all over.

Yep, that's me and Cassidy on the swings. What, can't see Cassidy? That's because she is in my jacket. It was chilly out there.

 

Kendall really dug this slide. She ran right up there and went down the slide - and it was high!

 

See, that is seriously high. And she went right on up there, no fear.

 

We wrapped up our day picking out some pre-picked apples and lots of pumpkins and headed on home.

 

 

All in all, it was a great birthday, and we capped it all off with the requisite cupcakes when we got home.

 

Happy 3rd Birthday Kendall!! You have kept us on our toes so far, and we have enjoyed every minute of it!



Cassidy - 2 Months of smirking

We have survived 2 months as a family of 4. Well, really 3 considering that I am just getting around to blogging about month 2. Things have been moving along swimmingly with the girls. More to come on their interactions with the month 3 post, but for month 2 they are getting along.

We have gotten out and seen the sites, hit swim class, and even had a dr appt together. So far, so good. At this point, Kendall is more of a handful than Cassidy - but that is just because she is the only one that is mobile. We'll see what happens when Cass gets her walk on - then we are all in trouble!

Cassidy at 1 month

Weight - 10lbs 15oz

Height - 22 inches

Sounds like - a snoring bear (kid is constantly snoring and grunting)

Likes - The ceiling fan, her big sister Kendall, being swaddled, eatting, her swing

Dislikes - dirty diapers, loud noises (which is rough living with Kendall), anytime the car slows down or stops (constant motion is a must)

Things she can do - eat, poop, spit up, pick up her head and move it around (has some control - just like Kendall did), grab onto shirts/hands/toys, sleep by herself in the pack-n-play (she is a good sleeper already, she started doing 5 hour stretches within 2 weeks).

 

Cassidy at 2 Months
Weight - 12lbs 13oz (80%)
Height - 23 7/8 inches (95%!)
Sounds like - Cass is a chatty one when she is awake. She even tries to answer when you say hi! Sounds more like a coo - but she looks at you while she does it. When she is sleeping, this kid sounds like a buzz saw with all the snoring.
Likes - hanging out in the baby Bjorn, napping in the swing, bouncing on the exercise ball - both sitting on your knee as well as wrapped up in a swaddle for sleeping
Dislikes - dirty diapers. Really, that is about it.
Things she can do - eat, poop (but thankfully she does it rarely), smile (BIG), watch a little TV (yeah, I know, bad parenting), look you in the eye, turn her head in both directions, hold up her head while sitting on your lap (assisted in the sitting, of course), and tries to pull herself up to sitting if you let her hold your fingers. Strong girl.

That smirk. This picture kills me, everytime. Cass is a happy little thing and makes us all smile. She loves her big sister and her big sister loves her too. She is such a little character already - no telling what kind of trouble my 2 girls are going to get into.

Here is Kendall's 2 month post for comparison.

The New Weekend Norm

 

 

 She is like her own comic strip.

 

 

Staycation 2012

When I had Cassidy in early August, I was able to take off work immediately. Pretty much because having a baby is like being put on the physically unable to preform list. Not that I am complaining, 12 weeks at home with the kids is a good thing. But Nate was not able to take the time off right away and really was pretty busy at work those first few weeks. So, after a lot of grumbling from me, Nate took the first week of September off, and we did a staycation.

A staycation? Yes. Taking a 1 month old to Mexico is not a good idea - or so I am told. So we did the Chicago/Milwaukee thing and took in the sites. Little did we know going into this is that the week after all the kids go back to school is the absolute BEST time to hit the city. Everywhere we went was wide open, and that was awesome.

We took it easy at home the first couple of days, hanging out with the girls, going for walks, relaxing stuff. Then we headed out - which is a lot more complicated with an infant in tow.

First on the staycation agenda was a trip to the Shedd Aquarium, which I forgot the camera for. That's okay, it is hard to take pictures in there anyway. We are Shedd members, so we go a lot, but that first week in September was a new experience. The place was dead. You could get right up and see all the exhibits. We even got seats by the Caribbean Reef and took in the feeding. Cassidy LOVED this. There is what is essentially a light show on ceiling in that room while they do the feeding of the fish that she checked out. We explored areas of the exhibits we usually skip because it is so crowded on weekends and we hate crowds. Going during the week rocked!

We then decided to spend a day up in Milwaukee and hit our favorite zoo. I did manage to remember the camera this time, and we got some cute shots.

By this time it was Friday, so we figured we might run into more people. We were so wrong - the zoo was empty. Again, this made it all the more exciting. We were able to get right up and see the animals as well as navigate a lot more ground not having to dodge people. I even learned that you can purchase a ticket to feed the giraffes. I was vetoed on doing it for this trip, but I am so feeding the giraffes next time.

View from the giraffe feeding platform. How cool!

I also learned that elephants swim under water. Seems like I should have known that, but I didn't and I was shocked when an elephant jumped into a pool of water and went under. Somehow it did not register that an elephant could swim.

We, of course, did a through tour of all the birds, including the aviary where the birds are free range. Freaks me out, but Kendall loves. We also saw a flamingo that appeared to have OCD. It kept spinning around picking at the ground, all the other flamingos were giving him a wide birth. Kept us entertained though.

Cassidy woke towards the end of the zoo trip and spent some time hanging out with us as well. Being a month old, she was not too interested in the zoo.

The day ended when the sky opened up and poured rain. Put a damper on wandering the zoo, but we were all tired after all that walking anyway.

We rounded out that trip to Milwaukee with the necessary stop at Pizza Shuttle - but by then the girls were asleep and ready to head home.

A successful staycation - and now we know when the best time of year to repeat this fun!

Trains, trains, and more trains - Our visit to Thomas

So, Thomas came to town. You know, the Tank Engine. He hit up the Illinois Railway Museum in Union Illinois. You say, where is Union? I say the middle of nowhere, aka halfway to Rockford.

Anyway, there is a large train museum out there. A train museum you say, and I say yes, and it is exactly what you are thinking. Lots and lots of old trains. Initially I thought it would be a couple old trains you could check out and climb on, but they even have trains that still work, and you can ride on them. Lots of trains you can ride on. But I digress.

Thomas the Tank Engine made an appearance for 2 weekends in August. There were ads all over PBS for it, so we decided to check it out with our cousin and some friends the last weekend in August. The main draw of this day with Thomas is that you get to ride on Thomas, which as it turns out is just Thomas pulling a bunch of 100 year old train cars. Still cool if you are 3, or 30 something. Probably lame anywhere in between.

Note Thomas in the background. That is about as close as you get to the good engine. And yes, his eyes move. Creepy.

We did the ride on Thomas, and fun was had by all. Kendall loves trains, always has. The train runs by Grandma and Grandpa Gorman's house, and was always a fun activity to watch, so she knows her trains. The ride on Thomas was a good time and she enjoyed it, checking out the scenery for the whole 30 min ride.

3 week-old Cassidy even got in on the action. Because I apparently think I am superwoman, I was traipsing around a crowded train yard with a 3 week-old. It went well, but I was much more tired than I would have thought after. Not my most brilliant plan, but fun none-the-less.

We also had a chance to check out some of the other trains while we were there. Below is an old L car for Howard St that Kendall is checking out with her cousin Nora.

There was also some old signage and signals to check out. Green means GO!

And plenty of trains to check out and and explore. Both alone and together.

The train yard was super crowded with the Thomas event going on, so we didn't get to see as much as we wanted to (and Nate did not get to ask Sir Topum Hat his burning question about why he is always so cross), but we were interested enough to think about going back on a non-event weekend. I like it better when we have these places practically to ourselves and can explore.

Besides, we need to go back and find the spot where this picture was taken of Nate and his brothers back in the day. Apparently the train museum is a Greaney Family destination across generations.

Cassidy's First Month

I did a monthly update on Kendall and would like to do the same with Cassidy, and maybe highlight some of the similarities and differences between my 2 darling girls.

Cassidy at birth
Weight - 8lbs 8oz
Height - 22 inches
Sounds like - a cooing dove, or screaming banshee, depending on when you catch her.
Likes - Sleeping, eatting
Dislikes - None really, pretty happy camper
Things she can do - stare blankly at us, eat, poop, spit up, pick head up





Cassidy at 1 month

Weight - 10lbs 15oz

Height - 22 inches

Sounds like - a snoring bear (kid is constantly snoring and grunting)

Likes - The ceiling fan, her big sister Kendall, being swaddled, eatting, her swing

Dislikes - dirty diapers, loud noises (which is rough living with Kendall), anytime the car slows down or stops (constant motion is a must)

Things she can do - eat, poop, spit up, pick up her head and move it around (has some control - just like Kendall did), grab onto shirts/hands/toys, sleep by herself in the pack-n-play (she is a good sleeper already, she started doing 5 hour stretches within 2 weeks).

One big difference we notice between the girls is that Cassidy values her alone time. She doesn't need, or want, to be held all the time. She likes to do her own thing a bit. She is very chill. Not sure if this is just her, or some of being the second child with calmer parents this time around. Only time will tell.

For comparison, here is Kendall's Month 1 summary. The similarities and differences are kind of interesting to note.

I'll make another one look just like you

Nate and I get a lot of questions about how different the girls are. Who do they look like? Well, not like me. Actually, they look like each other. These kids are twins, almost 3 years apart. (And let me tell you, that last pregnany felt like it took 3 years). Let's do some comparison shots to explain what I am talking about.

Here are both girls on day 2. Kendall is on the left, Cassidy on the right.

Maybe not the best shot... Let's try this one.

Still a non-believer? How about this one? Both girls at about a month (you can tell that I now have a better camera in these pictures though). Again, Kendall on the left, Cassidy on the right.

In summary, Nate and I have proved Bill Cosby right, we can make another one that looks just like you. But, apparently they all look like Nate.