"Amelia Two Years Old"

(From September 7) This is the statement we heard over and over again today, along with "birthday party." And when I asked her what she wanted for breakfast she thought for a minute and replied "cake." Yes our little girl is now two, and while she has already had some moments of typical two year old frustrations erupting, she is still usually a happy, helpful, energetic toddler, and we hope that continues through the coming year. She is a wonderful big sister, and as soon as Tristan starts crying, she offers suggestions of "baby milk," "poopy," or "burp" (complete with delivery of burp rag), to try to help ease his troubles, and often she is right on target.

To celebrate the big day, I made a cake to share with her classmates and after dinner we opened some presents that friends and family had sent her. On Saturday we had a birthday party at our house, and we had a bouncy castle for all of the kids (and some of the adults) to play in. It was a beautiful day, and I know I had a great time, so I hope everyone else did, too!

Welcome Tristan Alec Moffroid!

Tristan decided to make his arrival on Sunday morning, August 1, at 11:16am. After making us wait around for a few extra days, once he decided to come he was in quite a hurry, with the start of contractions to holding him in our arms only 3.5 hours apart. Our doctor had warned us that she was at a wedding for the weekend around 1.5 hours away, and she arrived in the delivery room only 10 minutes before Tristan appeared. Everyone is happy, healthy, and now home and recovering. Amelia is already a great big sister, and quite a little helper.

For the record books, he was 3.5 kg and 50 cm for those of you in Europe, and 7 lbs 11 oz and 19.5 inches for everyone on the other side. A few photos can be found by clicking here, and I am sure we will have lots more in the days to come!

Happy Anniversary!

Well, we can safely say we remained a family of 3 (plus furry family members, of course) through the end of our 6th year together. A few days late and no signs of our 4th family member yet, but I am sure he will be here before we get too far into year 7. Luckily baby's late arrival meant that Dan and I got to enjoy a wonderful night out by ourselves while my mom watched Amelia. I don't know when that will happen again! We decided to scrap all of the traditional wedding anniversary gifts (year of candy or iron didn't quite do it for us) and celebrated our 6th year with the gift of fish. Mmmm....sushi.

I am so happy to have spent this last year with such a wonderful partner and friend, and I am looking forward to spending the next years with our growing family. I hope you all can be so lucky.

So Long My Friend

So one of the things that we decided we needed to do with the impending arrival of baby #2 was get a more family appropriate car. So yesterday was the day that my adorable little Mini got traded in for a station wagon. With plenty of room for strollers, dogs, car seats, and who knows what else, my Laguna is very practical, but lacks some, or I should say, all, of the pizazz that the Mini had. Ah well, I had my fun, and Dan says we can talk about getting me another one when the kids are in college.

For those of you eagerly awaiting a more interesting post with upcoming baby news, well, so are we. With my due date only a few days away, we think we are just about ready for the little guy to arrive. Though I have a few projects for work I need to finish up, and packing my hospital bag has been on the to do list for a while now. Dan made me promise I would do it today, so I guess I am off to do that. When he does arrive, you'll be the first to know (well, one of the first anyway).

This time I didn't do it!

Sunday night I was putting Amelia to bed while Dan was walking the dogs, when from downstairs I hear "We have a problem." At first I was worried one of the dogs was sick or something had happened to one on the walk, and then Dan appears in Amelia's room with this little bundle of fur tucked under his chin. "What do we do with it?" he asked. To make a long story short, he looked for a mother, put the kitten in the area he saw another cat, the cat ran away, the kitten ran up a tree, got stuck, and when we checked on her later she was still there, so we eventually got her down with a ladder and Biju's scratching post for her to climb onto, though not before Dan broke a branch and scratched himself up trying to climb the tree. She spent the night in our bathroom and in the morning her eyes were nearly sealed shut with pus, but after a deworming, defleaing, and a couple of days on antibiotics she is much better. And once again we find ourselves trying to find a good home for a deserving stray. She is quite sweet and purrs a lot, and so far is very tolerant of Amelia's overly loving tendancies.

What I did with my weekend vacation...

I had forgotten the freedom of life before baby, but this weekend I caught a glimpse of it again as Dan and Amelia were off to France to visit his parents. Truly amazing both how much and how little you can do without a toddler around. Here is a smattering of what I was able to do with all of my new found time:

• Went furniture shopping for a toddler bed for Amelia, couldn't find anything I liked, so gave up and...
  
• Planned and built a toddler bed for Amelia (just need Dan to paint it, no fumes allowed for me)
  
• Went to the market and bought lovely organic blueberries, strawberries, rasberries and lots of veggies


• Spent some quality time with our original kids, who have been feeling a bit neglected lately


• Sat on the couch and read a magazine
  
• Finished a project for work
  
• Took a ridiculously long shower
  
• Watched some soccer and a really bad movie on TV
  
• Bought and installed a bell on Amelia's tricyle


• Started organizing the office
  
• Baked muffins


• Wrote a Blog :)
  
• Slept all night long and didn't wake up until I was ready!

There must be more I've left out, but it was a great blend of productivity and relaxation, and I'm feeling very refreshed. I was really looking forward to seeing Dan and Amelia when they got home yesterday afternoon, and got to have a picnic in the park while watching Portugal on the big screen. Of course the 7-0 win was a nice bonus, too! Here is Amelia's victory dance:

Summer is Here!

I'll keep this short since it is sunny and there is much playing to be done today! Amelia's favorite words right now seem to be play (which specifically means go outside to play), dirt (which also means sand), and water (as long as it is for playing in). With those essentials, plus a bucket, shovel, measuring cup, and a cake pan, she has already spent hours entertaining herself by mixing and pouring and moving from one place to another. Dan and I spent part of the last couple of weekends building a sandbox and digging out a corner of the yard to put it in, so that combined with blowing up the kiddie pool, means we are all set to take on summer. So here we go!