Meet Kelly

Kelly Anne McGee came into this world on 3/16/09 at 3:03 am. Not quite a St. Paddy's Day baby, but I'd say we are pretty lucky, wouldn't you?

We think she look a lot like her big sister did when she was born. Kelly has a good amount of dark hair and a blue-y eyes. She was 7 lbs 14oz and 21 inches long at birth.

All of a sudden, Shannon looks huge!

Yep, we're definitely lucky.

Big Sister Practice

Santa brought Shannon a baby doll and some baby accessories. Since she had so many other presents to enjoy, we decided to hold off opening the accessories until recently. Here's a video of Shannon playing with her baby and showing off some of her big sister skills.

The Great Big Mama

Growing up, my brother Mike went through the dinosaur phase in a big way. He had this Dinosaur Rock tape (kids music) which we listened to A LOT. There was one song about the Mama Brontosaurus hatching her eggs and the refrain went like this:

(Squeaky voice) All the tiny little babies...
(Booming voice) And the GREAT BIG MAMA

This song has been going through my head a lot these days.

Yep, that last one would be my big ole belly busting out a MATERNITY t-shirt. Even though I've gained way less weight than I did with Shannon, I am absolutely huge this time around. About two weeks ago, strangers out and about started in with the "Wow, you must be due any day now" comments. Not what you want to hear when (at that point) you've still got six weeks to go!

Now I'm just about 37 weeks and, for the most part, ready for this baby. I freaked out last week and went on a spree: bought newborn diapers, washed teeny-tiny undershirts & socks and packed my hospital bag.

Shannon is still mainly oblivious, but has been getting a little more into the countdown until this baby's arrival. We've been reading some big sister/new baby books, she likes to zerbert my belly and will say "hi!" to it if you ask her to.

I've got her trained to go up and down the stairs holding my hand instead of being carried. But she likes to make me go through a very dramatic "Oh, Mommy's back hurts. Let's walk up the stairs." performance nearly every.single.time. It's funny; she clutches her own back, gets all serious, nods her head and says "back, Mommy" until I verify that indeed, my back hurts and I can't carry her.

Keep this big old Brontosaurus in your prayers!

Big Girl Room

Shannon's got some new digs... check them out!

She's doing great in her big girl bed. Climbs right in!

Daddy was the clever one who dreamed up using bookcases to make the top of the bed enclosed so that she wouldn't fall out. (No tumbles yet!) We found these cute dollhouse bookcases at Target. One side is home to all of her books...

...and the other side is perfect for some toys.

Banana Phone

Everyone has different milestones that they look forward to. Monica couldn't wait to let Addie taste yummy foods. Samantha couldn't wait for Caroline to be old enough for ballet lessons. Amy was so excited to share her love of outdoor recreation with Hayden that he was out cross country skiing as a teeny babe (and now downhill skiing at age 2!)

By no means the thing that I thought I would look forward to as a parent, but still very exciting to me: Shannon now gets the banana phone joke.

She used to give me blank stares when I would snap one banana off the bunch and say "hello?" but now, if I am not in a comedian mood and forget to make the joke, she reaches out for it and says "telephone? hello? 'nana?" And then laughs up a storm.

PS.  Coming out of my blogging hole, so stayed tuned!

Pictureless Post

I know, I know... lame!

But since I'm getting dangerously close to going a full month without a post, I thought I'd at least add something for now. Been snapping lots of pics, but need to figure out the new drivers/software that came with our new camera and get in the habit of putting pics on the Mac instead of my laptop. (Not hard, I'm just tired and lazy.)

So, without further ado...

Shannon is little Miss Manners these days. We started teaching her to sign "please" and "thank you" in early December and she picked them up really quickly. Soon she started saying "peez" and "tay too" as well. Now she is obsesed with them. Perfect example: Dive-bombing an unsuspecting Mommy on the couch with a toy, shoving it in my face while shouting, "Tay too!!!"

She's a great helper too. Loading and unloading the dishwasher are big-time fun things to do. In particular, she thinks the little basket for all of her sippy cup parts and these great little name bands is tons of fun. And hand-washing dishes in the sink... don't get me started on how wet, messy and glorious that is. (PS. She likes to eat the suds, so any ideas on how to make her not want to eat soap are welcome)


She is a champion mess-maker. Loves taking any container and dumping it all out. Toy bins, dog dishes, Mommy's purse, school bag, laundry basket... you name it, she dumps it. Coincidentally, "mess" is one of her favorite words.

She's switched from calling us Mama and Dada to Mommy and Daddy. There was also a funny transition phase where she called me "M' ma" (think of saying it with a French accent).

The girl has got her opinions. Like if she wants to show you a toy or book, she'll pat the floor next to her and repeatedly say "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy," pretty much demanding that you come sit next to her. Or when she saw me set the grapes on the counter, she went over to the open dishwasher Daddy was unloading and brought me the cutting board. Gentle suggestion about what I might do? :)

She's learning identify things. She knows some of her book titles and will go get "Goodnight Gorilla" or "Pigeon" if you ask for them.

She loves to get a big reaction. In one of her books, Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?, there is a picture of a Boa Constrictor. Since I'm terrified of snakes, I always pretend to be really afraid of this page, shrieking with fear and making really big eyes. So now Shannon likes to bring the book to me with this page open, already making big eyes herself.

She's a funny girl!

Cutting our Christmas Tree

Sometime after Thanksgiving in the blur that has been December, we went to get our Christmas Tree. Since the weather was nice, we opted for the cut-your-own route this year.

So glad that we did! Linvilla Orchards runs a lean, mean holiday machine. You take a hayride out to the trees...

...and then they hand you a saw and point you in the right direction.

We searched high and, umm, low until we found our favorite.

Daddy did all of the work while the ladies sat on their butts and drank hot chocolate. (I see the makings of a tradition here...)

Then, a tree wagon comes and carts your tree back in and we got to go on another hayride.

While they are drilling, shaking off loose needles, and bundling your tree, there was a big bonfire with marshmallows waiting to be roasted and hot apple cider. Pull up to the loading station and they tie your tree on your car for you.

No wonder their tagline is "I love that place!" Everytime we've been to Linvilla we've had a great time!

(Pictures of the tree at home coming soon... unfortunately we have a technology curse on our house right now and don't have a working camera or cell phone camera to snap a pic.)