Wednesday, January 1, 2014

The Year in Cassidy - Part 2

Continuing where we last left off, let's cover the last half of the past year in all things Cassidy.

July 2013 - Cassidy is 11 months old. Here is Kendall at 11 months.

Cassidy started off this 11th month by talking. First word? This. Pointing and saying "this" was her favorite form of communication. This was closely followed by "da", "hi-ya", and "nigh nigh". Luckily, her chosen words were very useful in communication. When not saying actual words, Cass babbled, constantly. She is quite the chatterbox, and really does not mind if you are not listening to the chatter. Mom was feeling a little left out, but "mama" followed shortly after when she figured out it could get her out of her crib - at least I am good for something.

July also marked Cassidy's first accident. Cassidy and Kendall were visiting Grandma and Grandpa Gorman one day while I was working. Cass took a header over her sister doing yoga on the living room floor, right indo the corner of a coffee table. Funny thing, the coffee table had child bumpers, which she managed to completely miss when hitting it face first. Although freaked out, she was fine, but she did have to go in for some "stitches". Apparently they don't really stich up 11 month olds, so she just got her head glued closed. Fun times. The cut stirred up a lot of questions when we in public, which people did ask us in line at stores, everywhere, but also resulted in us holding off on those 1 year photos.
Clearly, she did not mind, not at all. Happy, happy baby. Even with a head wound.

August 2013 - Cassidy is 1 year old! Here is Kendall at 1 year. This is where the monthly comparisons end, and I got really lazy with the blog to begin with, so details on both kids get sketchy.

For the day of Cassidy's birthday, we took the girls down to the Shedd Aquarium, because Cassidy loves the fish. After checking out our favorite fish, since it was a beautiful, hot, summer day, we walked around by the lake and the Planetarium.
To celebrate Cassidy's birthday with the families, we threw a party at Nibble Play CafĂ©. This was a really cool restaurant built for small children to play while the parents eat. There are lots of "stations" with toddler friendly toys.  Both the girls loved it, and I think all our guests did too.

So, that brings us up to speed with Cassidy's first year. She has definitely changed all our lives for the better. Brings lots of smiles, and a new level of chaos to our days. And cuddles, lots of cuddles.

Next up, catching up to speed on Kendall.

The Year in Cassidy - Part 1

I have a lot of catching up to do on Miss Cass Cass. Last post, our baby girl was 3 months old. She is now almost 17 months. How time flies! She is now a walking, climbing, talking bundle of energy running around and torturing her older sister. Cass is one happy kid. She is always laughing, or singing, and smiles all the time. She loves having her picture taken, and will yell "cheese" anytime a camera is pulled out.

Speaking of cheese, that is her favorite food. There is never enough cheese. She also loves crackers - parties are clearly her idea of heaven with cheese and crackers within reach as far as the eye can see.

Cass loves to color. She will sit in her highchair with crayons and paper creating masterpieces right along side her big sister. Then, she attempts to hang them on the fridge. Art is a big part of both of the girls days - something they must have inherited from Nate.

Cassidy is a very cuddly, loving child. As soon as she mastered walking, and kisses, she would spend a good 10 minutes each night going back and forth between Nate, Kendall, and I giving kisses. Who can resist a toddler walking up to you puckered up and saying "mwha!".

Her newest talent is around knock-knock jokes. In the past few months, Kendall has gotten really into jokes, and she tells them constantly, laughing like a crazy person. Cass got in on this act pretty quickly, and would answer with a mumbled form of "who's there" to each of Kendall's knock-knocks. And then, she would laugh uproariously at the punch line. She has been an excellent straight man in their comedy routine. In the last few days though, Cassidy has started telling the knock-knock jokes. I am still not sure what she is saying all the time, but Kendall thinks it is hilarious.
 
Let's do a little monthly catch up since when we last blogged.
 
December 2012 - Cassidy is 4 months (here is Kendall at 4 months)
 
Cass is still pretty immobile at this point, but we are getting some big smiles.
This is also when Kendall passes on her love of Princess and Ponies to her younger sister. Little does Kendall realize that in the coming months, these much loved companions are about to become teething toys.
February 2013 - Cassidy is 6 months! At this point, she is 19 & 1/2 lbs (90%) and 26 and 1/2 inches (75%). Here is Kendall at the same age.
 
By this point, Cassidy is sitting up on her own, and has found the magic that is a container of wipes. Wipes, so many possibilities. She is also starting to crawl, which although awesome for her, means that all the rest of us needed to remember that little people like to chew on our stuff.
Lastly, reaching 6 months meant that Cassidy was ready to start swim lessons. Although I was not thrilled to be back in the pool every Saturday, Cassidy loved the water and enjoyed it right off the bat. Swimming is continuing to go well for both of the girls - and I am getting used to being in the water again every Saturday morning.
 
 
March 2013 - Cassidy is 7 months. Here is Kendall at 7 months.
 


Cassidy continued to make strides with her sitting and crawling in March. We also celebrated her first Easter as a family with both an egg hunt at home, as well as the annual Greaney Family egg hunt, this year at Aunt Sarah and Uncle Paul's. Cassidy mostly enjoyed chewing on the plastic eggs - which was the norm as we teethed our way through this first year.


April 2013 - Cassidy is 8 months. Here is Kendall at 8 months.

Since we love Milwaukee, we all felt it was high time to share the city with 8 month old Cass. We headed up with the girls for a weekend of fun in Brew city, staying in a hotel, hitting the zoo, checking out the 3rd ward, and the lakefront. Oh, and of course, no first trip to Milwaukee is complete without visiting the Fonz. Cassidy enjoyed this all from the comfort of her stroller - really, that is the best way to roll.


May 2013 - Cassidy is 9 months. Here is Kendall at 9 months.

May was the first time that Nate and I left Cassidy for a long period of time. We got away to attend the beautiful wedding of some friends in California. Not only were we away for the weekend, the girls were also away from each other - Kendall stayed with Grandma & Grandpa Greaney, and Cassidy stayed with Grandma & Grandpa Gorman. This was probably harder on Mom & Dad than the girls - they both had a fabulous time without us.

May also marked a pretty big milestone for Cassidy as she got more stable on her feet and standing up. She wasn't quite walking, but she was standing on her own, and starting to take those first few steps while holding on.

June 2013 - Cassidy is 10 months. At 10 months, Cass is 22.5 lbs (90%) and 29.5 in (85%). Here is Kendall at 10 months.



10 months marked a huge milestone for Cassidy, she started walking. Then running. Then climbing the walls. And she has not stopped since. She is an unstoppable force full of energy and curiosity - and getting into everything.

We were also able to get out of the house and enjoy the good weather - Mom's Friday's off were finally paying off!

Long time, no blog

Hello everyone! It has been over a year since my last blog post (November of 2012, really?), clearly I have not been very on top of things. A combination of 2 kids with school and activities, a slow computer, and an addiction to Pintrest have taken up quite a bit of my time. Oh, and there is that whole working thing, that takes some time out of the day. Now that we have a new year, I am going to attempt to get caught up on this blog, and maybe keep on top of things going on with Team Greaney in 2014. We will see how long this lasts, but I have lofty aspirations.

You will see a lot of posts from us starting today. After 2 kids, my memory is not what it used to be, so I may be foggy on the details, but I have a lot of pictorial evidence, if I can only remember if downloaded the pictures. I will also have to apologize for the quality of pictures. With Kendall's first year, everything was meticulously documented with the nice camera. With Cassidy in the mix, most of the pictures are of moving children on our camera phones. This means many are blurry, or you know, of children running wild and crazy.

What can you expect with all these blog updates?
  • 2 Christmases
  • Kendall starts Pre-school
  • Cassidy walks
  • Cassidy talks
  • Cassidy turns 1
  • Kendall turns 4
  • Lots of swimming, sprinklers, and kiddie pools
  • Stay-cation 2013
  • Apple picking
  • Halloween 2013
  • Kids' first Marquette game
  • Art projects taking over my home
  • SNOW!
And probably much, much more that I can't even remember because my brain is fried.

So, let's get started!