Out and about

We have been keeping really busy these days. I try to get Baby Girl out every day for some sort of activity. It may be hot outside, but it is easier to keep her happy if there are other children to play with or slides to run around on. Last week we went to Tower Grove Park for a children's concert series. It was really great. It was all different percussion instruments and music from around the world. The park is a city park and the neighborhood has really beautiful old huge homes that are just gorgeous to look at. My parents considered moving to this area a few years back so we toured many homes. The neighborhood is still in a bit of flux, but mostly it seems to be just a few pockets where it is not so nice. The one thing that took me by suprise was the lack of diversity at the performance, given the neighborhood. Not that St. Louis is that diverse, because it is not. We do have the largest Bosnian population of any city in the US, but even they are European. However, for this sort of event I would have expected more diversity. Even the preschools that attended were overwhelmingly white. Additionally, all of the musicians were white. In DC, if you were going to hear music from East Africa, more than likely, an East African would be the one to play that music. Not that the musicians were not tallented. I actually thought it was cool to see 4 white guys playing music from all over the world.


My parents put up the tape for the stripes in Baby Girl's room. So Mark just has to paint the other two pink colors and then we just need to do the polka dots in the baby's room. My mom is working on the bedding. I am hoping in two weeks that the rooms are ready to go. I would like to wash baby clothes this weekend and get at least some put away. I am starting to get tired. With Baby Girl I was comfortable up until the weekend before she was born. This time, all the playing on the floor and chasing a toddler has me wanting to give birth sooner than later. Although, I'm not sure it will be easier with a newborn and a toddler, but at least I will be able to move faster.


Baby Girl has started to love swimming. The other day at the pool she wore her vest, and I put her in a ring and she would not let me hold the ring. She wanted to "swim" on her own. So she kicked her little feet and made her way around the entire pool, singing and smiling the entire time. Now she wakes up in the morning saying pool, and doing the signs for cookie and ice cream.


She also loves Barney and loves to see him on TV and do the dances they do on the show. She is so funny to watch. She did not watch TV until about 15 months, and even though I thought I would hold off longer, she really has enjoyed the few shows she gets to see--Little Einsteins, Sesame Street, and Barney. We watch Little Einsteins after her nap when she is really crabby and she drinks her milk and has a few cookies and some grapes or other fruit. She loves patting to the music and today she started doing the ballet moves from the Blue footed booby bird episode. Too cute to watch. My favorite episode is the puppet princess. She asks for this one by saying puppet. When she watches it she likes to march with the puppets, and do the 3 dances to get the puppets out of the sticky sap. She must also have her triangle to play music along with the show. Mark and I need to get these on video. I need to get to bed. We have an early day at the park scheduled.

Baby Girl Moves To A Big Girl Bed

So, as most of you know, when Mark was in Vegas last year Baby Girl, who was 11 months old, decided to climb out of her crib, open all of her drawers and throw all of her clothes around her room. She greeted me crying at her door. I was able to distract her by sleeping on her floor for a few weeks until she decided that she should not crawl out again. Well, Tuesday morning, when Mark went in to get her, as he does every morning, she was standing happily at her door. She had been able to crawl into her crib for weeks, but had not tried to get out. Clearly it was time for a big girl bed.

We bypassed the toddler bed because she is already 36 inches tall, so really that would only last a short while. We set the bed up in her room today and she was very excited to jump on it and off of it. I was really worried about how the bedtime would go. Surprisingly, it went fairly well. I started off by laying down with her and then trying to leave. That failed. She was out of her bed before I had the safety rail back up. Then we tried laying down in my bed, which was part of our previous routine. Again, failure. So we went back to my bed, Mark placed several babies, dogs, and horses in her bed and then I took her back to my bed. I told her a story about a baby who had lots of little babies to look after and when the baby went to bed in the big girl bed, she would wake up to be a princess. When I asked her if she wanted to be a princess, it was a big yes. Then I asked if she wanted to sleep in her big girl bed to become a princess--big smiles and another big yes. So off we went to bed, I gave her a kiss and said I love you little princess and she has been sleeping ever since. All told, bedtime only took about 20 minutes. I just hope it continues to be this easy.

It amazes me how much difference 1 year has made. This time last year she was just getting stage 1 baby food, and maybe a few tiny puffs. Now she won't let us feed her or break up her sandwiches--they must be cut like mommy's. And most nights she refuses the highchair. She is very interested in the potty and we purchased one for her the other day. So now I just have to set it up for use and begin letting her explore it. Today at Home Depot she squealed, screamed and clapped when we past the toilets, so I think she is definitely interested. I'm just not sure I am ready for that kind of commitment yet. Exploring it is fine, but stopping and running to the bathroom every time we are out and she "wants to go potty." I know at some point I have to do it, but right now I'm just not into it. It may not be to practical with the Little Miss on the way. We will just have to wait and see with that one.

Also, 1 year ago she was not signing at all. Now, she can learn a new sign as soon as we introduce it to her. She combines signs and words and really listens to what you have to say. She actually sits to read a book, and even brings us books to read--something we never thought would happen outside of her bath. Being with her daily, it is difficult to see the changes, but when we sit back and think about it, it is absolutely amazing. It is very true when people say the days are very long, but the years are short.

A visit with the grandparents

Mark's parents just left after a 3 day visit with us. Baby Girl loved having them here. We took them to the Zoo, the MO Botanical Gardens and the Fox Theater during the day. Our evenings were spent eating at on The Hill, enjoying Ted Drews, and playing at Little Gym. It was quite a long week. We are at home recovering today.

The weekend before they came we all went to Faust Park, where we played on the playground and visited the Butterfly House. While we were at the Butterfly House they had a free craft session going on in the education center. Baby Girl made a visor, a sun catcher, and colored with markers for the first time. The markers were a big hit. She loved taking the caps off and trying to get them back on.

Now we are ready to get back into our routine and we need to get working on decorating the rooms. We purchased all of the paint for the girls' rooms. And we purchased paint for our room, so it looks like the next few weeks will be spent painting away. Baby Girl is getting a pink striped room with Princess stencils. And the new Little Miss will be getting a pink and green room with various sized polka-dots in pink and green. We purchased the bedding material for my mom to make the quilt for the Little Miss, but we are still searching for bedding for Baby Girl.

In other news, Baby Girl now climbs into her crib and can take her sleepers off. Mark walked into her room about a month or two ago, only to find her completely naked in her crib. Fortunately the mess was minimal. Even though she had a dirty diaper, she did not get into it too much. We only had to sacrifice the bed sheet. All of the babies and animals survived. Now we make sure the buttons are snapped in addition to the zipper. And soon she will make the move to the new big girl bed.

Baby Girl is also refusing her high chair. This may be good because now it will be ready to take the Little Miss, and since it fully reclines we can put the baby in there as soon as she comes home from the hospital. The down side for Baby Girl is that she likes to move between the chairs while eating, so this makes meal time a bit stressful. We are going to try a booster, but I have little hope for this. I'm happy she is so independent, but it scares me too. And I miss feeding a little baby. She has not let us feed her for months now-unless she is really hungry and has no patience to do it herself.

Baby Girl gets a little sister, and our Disney Vacation

She finally stopped hiding, and let all of us see that she is a little baby girl. Sisters, how sweet. I can't wait to pull out all of the baby clothes and use these again. How perfect that they will be 23 months apart, so seasonally, everything should work out just fine. What I am not looking forward to--pulling out the swing. Baby Girl loves to swing and she is going to be pissed that she can't get in the house swing. She also loves the Intellitainer, but I don't care if she gets in this, she can't get hurt. And the new baby will not use it for about 3 or 4 months.

We just returned from a 2 week Disney vacation--well, Mark worked for half of it, but the rest of the time was vacation. We had a great time. One day when we were down there, I woke up and felt the baby moving in all sorts of new ways. I guess overnight she decided it was time to start getting ready. I had a good feeling that we would know the gender when we returned. I was pretty confident that she was no longer breech. We stayed at a Disney hotel, just across the street from Downtown Disney. It was great because any package we purchased at Disney could be delivered to our hotel, free of charge.

We had a 7-day pass to the parks so we went to all 4, and to Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom twice. The employees at Disney are all trained very well. They do a great job of making you happy and keeping the place spotless. And they enforce the no-smoking policy. I thought this was great. I always hate going to crowded events where people are smoking. Aside from the smell, which makes my stomach turn during pregnancy, I am always afraid I will get burned when walking past someone.

I was pleasantly surprised that I could ride the majority of the rides. I had fully intended to sit outside while Mark and Baby Girl enjoyed the fun. The only thing they went on that I could not, was the Jungle Safari at Animal Kingdom. I did this last year, so it was no big deal. I highly recommend it to anyone going to Animal Kingdom--and get the FastPass as soon as you arrive, because they are usually gone by 1 or 2 pm.

MGM was the only park that I found disappointing. It was a sea of concrete, difficult to navigate, and not really too much to do. However, the real problem was the dining choices. There were very few quick places that had AC, and all of the full service places were booked months ago. If you plan to go to MGM, make dining reservations in advance. They start booking 180 days out. The same goes for all of the parks. However, aside from the Character dining, most places can accommodate you if you call a day or so in advance. We did take Baby Girl to a 30 minute musical production of Beauty and the Beast. She loved it. She watched and danced and pointed through most of it. Only a few times did she completely seem uninterested. 20 minutes would probably have been better for her, but even so, I was happy to see her enjoy herself.

Magic Kingdom is really the best of the parks. There are so many rides and the parades and fireworks at the end of the evening were really spectacular. We sat at a table near Main Street, where you could see the parade, and then we could get ice cream and wait 30 minutes for the fireworks to star. The fireworks were slightly blocked by the trees, but since Baby Girl is so young, we figured, it was better for us to be comfortably sitting while waiting. As we waited for the fireworks, many people walked by, looking for a spot to sit. It was funny to listen to the 40-50 year old dads comment about the possibility of seeing Tinker Bell fly by from our location. She was blocked for a moment, but then you could see her just fine.

Animal Kingdom is beautiful. It is easy to forget you are in an amusement park while you are there. And they have lots of good snack options. Some of the places have a great fruit and cheese tray. It was nice to have a change from traditional snacks. They did a good job of creating traditional looking structures throughout the park.

Epcot had great food in the World Showcase. I had been wanting a gyro for months, and when we went to Morocco for lunch, I saw it as soon as we walked it. Baby Girl was asleep in her stroller, so were were lucky enough to enjoy a great lunch without a squirming baby. The Future World Showcase had some fun rides, and some interesting organic gardens, but some of the inovention stuff left off with the advances of the Internet--the Internet starting getting big almost 15 years ago now. If they don't update soon, they may need to change the name from Future World. This was the most relaxing of the parks, lots of rides and shows in the AC. We watched a movie about France that made me want to travel there. We found a great spot to watch the fireworks and light show.

Well, that is about it for all of the parks. Downtown Disney was great. They had lots of fun free shows for children. One night while Mark worked I took Baby Girl to Wolfgang Puck's for dinner (we ate there like 6 nights because it was so good). After dinner we went by the lake where two Disney employees were doing a dance and singing show that had all sorts of follow-me dances. Baby Girl was out there dancing and following along as best as she could. She was knocked over a few times by some older children, and once by a crazy mom, but she would just get right back up and start dancing again. We stayed for about 2 hours, then i took her back to the room, where she was down for the night. I did not have my video camera with me since I was by myself. I would have loved to have some footage of that night.

I should have known better

Ever since I went on a PAT nature walk with Baby Girl this past spring, and we did our little craft project, I have been saying I want to do more crafty things with her. We bought some playdoh, crayons and a drawing pad, a doodle-pro, a little tykes art desk, and a playdoh desk. So I have made progress. However, I wanted fun things like paint, glue--all those messy thing. But I never got around to it. So this summer I thought I would look for an art class for her age. The Magic House has monthly themed classes during the school year that I kept meaning to try, but never did, so that has to wait until September. Everything else starts around age 3.

I'm impatient--I want to play now! So I did what I never thought I would do, and called Gymboree Play and Music. They have classes for babies starting at 18 months. Now I have never heard great things about the programs there, until recently. A few moms have been talking about how much fun the kids have going there. So, I figured I would try it.

Disaster. Apparently two teachers were out with the flu--no big deal, this happens, and with a 9 am class, that can be hard to schedule around. However, if you can't properly run a class, cancel it--don't fake it. I would not have minded at all to have had a early morning call stating the class was off, or even have been told that once we arrived.

The class began by moms/dads and babies sitting in a circle on the floor with a cafeteria tray and a ball of playdoh. After a few minutes the teacher brought out cutting tools and molds. Now I have read lots saying that this age group is too young for molds because it takes away creativity--I don't know, but it was clear that neither did the teacher. So, you would think she would have known how many balls of dough to prepare (they had name tags pre-made for all child/parent partners in the class) Each time a new baby came running into class, the teacher went into a tail spin trying to get more dough out. We were the 3rd pair there--so I witnessed this about 8 times.

There was no direction as to how long we were supposed to play with the dough--after 15 minutes of class time and 5 before class time (so 20 minutes total) I was about to leave head to MoBot to go to the Children's garden. Just then the teacher walks over and says that they usually do a gathering song first, then 10 minutes of dough time to help the children learn about texture and shapes. But she did not do the gathering song, because she needed to figure out what was going on for the day. My thoughts--do the gathering song, let people know there is a delay, and then figure it out. And stop saying you don't know what is supposed to happen. It is a standard curriculum, printed in a book. If you are teaching the class, you should be qualified enough to follow the directions. A substitute teacher does not spout off all day that she/he does not know what is going on because they just walked in. They read the plan and go. It may not be perfect, but they make the best of it. Seriously, these are infants, hand them a paint brush, tell the parents what to do, and show the example.

Ah, the example--there was not one. Not even a picture of one. The teacher left mid-day yesterday after getting sick at work, so someone maybe should have looked ahead and set her stuff up for her. I would say this falls on the owner, who was there, working very hard to sell me the package today, but not helping his employee at all. I get that the sale was important to him, but his priority should have been the 40 children coming in today to do different art classes. As we did the craft, the teacher never once talked to any of the children or parents, aside from stating if we needed more wipes we could ask for them.

Add to all of this, the ac was broken in the room (which was all windows on two full sides), there was no cute background music, the craft involved sunflower seeds, which Baby Girl wanted to eat, the smocks that they offered were t-shirts that may have not been washed in years (could be why 2 teachers and several children from yesterday have the stomach flu), and the room doubled as the music play room, so there were fun music things in plain view all around the room. Baby girl was much more interested in pulling these down to play with them. Following the pathetic craft, the teacher pulled out a "tactile table" --This was a covered table with black beans in it, and a handful of shovels, one plastic turtle, and a tiny plastic snake. Again, I am no expert, but shouldn't a tactile table involve feeling items--and potentially feeling items that are different from one another.

I have never really cared for the marketing Gymboree Play and Music uses--they focus on the fact that we live in a competitive world and that enrolling babies in the various programs will help them succeed. While on a basic level this makes sense--as parents Mark and I do try to help Baby Girl and the unknown one, have every opportunity, which we hope will help them later in life. I take my prenatals, avoid alcohol, nitrates, sushi, etc. We have Baby girl in music classes, and Little Gym--I'm in playgroups and moms clubs. We take her to zoos, art museums, kids museums. We limit tv and play and read to her lots. I know all of these things are good for her, but we also know these things are fun, and she enjoys her days when we have these fun activities. We don't want her in Kindergarten at 4, or skipping grades, or graduating college early. We want her to be successful and enjoy life.

I do have one good outcome. Gymboree has a new magazine--Hybrid Mom. The magazine is tying way to hard to include SAHMs and WMs; it almost has no focus. It is not terrible, but not great either. The articles were so-so, the layout was average, but the ads were really great. I actually found myself more drawn to the ads than the articles and I found some fun sites by looking at the ads in the back of the magazine. I'm sure it will do well. Gymboree has a loyal following, for both clothing, and play and music. But I am happy to say, I'll stick with just the fashions, and skip the play and music.

So, this is a long post--but I wanted to write down all my complaints so that when Allen calls to see what I thought, I'd have a guide to go from. I'm not about to spend $70 per month to play with dough for 15 minutes, do a 5 minute ugly craft, and have Baby Girl dig at black beans.
So, I think I will talk to some moms I know, and start having a craft day at the local park. Maybe once the weather gets bad, and my basement gets cleaned, we could do it at my house.

still hiding

This little baby is giving us such trouble. He or She is still hiding. Maybe this means we can expect a shy, gentle, sweet little baby that colors and sits still to play with toys. There is probably no chance of that once the baby starts trying to imitate our sweet little Baby Girl. I just hope the baby moves before 32 weeks. I really don't want a manipulation--that sounds painful. Although labor sounds painful too, and that was not bad.

In fun news, we bought our double stroller. We took it out for a test today and it was so nice. We got the Maclaren Twin. It is a side by side stroller and I was concerned about fitting through doors, but never had any trouble at the mall. Baby girl of course wanted to continuously switch sides, but that will end once the new baby is beside her. I'm guessing we will need to wait about 4 months before we can actually use this stroller for both of them since it can't take an infant carrier, but that is not a problem because I will just sling the little one and keep using our single stroller. I just did not like the idea of the front and back seats. With most only one seat reclines and then once the baby in the back can kick, the one in the front will be frustrated with getting kicked, and I just don't see these as practical past the infant stage. Also, they are really difficult to steer. I like that the Peg Perego has a child tray, and the wheels seemed a bit bigger and less likely to get kicked since there are fewer in the back, but I have heard they fall apart easily. I have heard much better things about the Maclaren. I'll just buy some sort of activity bar for the front of the stroller.

We really only need a few things for the new baby--clothes if it is a boy, a bouncer because Baby Girl did not have one, I want a hotsling and a Maya wrap, and a bumbo--babies look so cute in these. Oh and I do want a new tummytime mat. I love the new rainforest Fischer Price one--and that is the bouncer we want too. We have everything else--we just need to set it all up again.

We need a few things for Baby Girl too-- a twin mattress for her new bed, a potty seat, a step stool for brushing teeth, and booster seat. She is quickly growing tired of her highchair, but she is too wiggly for the regular chair. Even when she is hungry and eating well, she moves around with such excitement that she has fallen out of her seat on occasion when I let her sit at the table for a meal. I can't believe she is getting so old.

I also bought some really cute outfits from Gymboree today. I love the new line. If you have a little girl, you need to check it out. We don't usually buy so much from one line, but we just could not resist--it all looked so cute. We of course had to wrestle her into the clothes in the store. At one point she was running loose in just a diaper. She did not get far, a sweet little 10-year-old girl helped us entertain her between outfit changes.

Well, I am up way too late. I must get to bed. But the laundry had not been put away in weeks, so I have been hanging and folding, and now I only have Baby Girl's clothes left to put away. We even carried up the rest of our summer clothes from the basement and put those away. I'm hoping to have the rest of the basement organized in the next two weeks.

Happy Memorial Day--a bit late

We hope everyone had an enjoyable holiday weekend. We attended a few parties and had a good time. Baby girl got to go swimming for the first time this season. Even though she went every day last summer, it was a bit of an adjustment getting in again this time. I had intended to take her a few times over the winter, but just never got it together to go, so now we need to make a big effort before heading off to Florida for Mark's conference. If I can't entertain her at the pool, the days will be very long. Sleeping in the hotel room watching Price is Right, Ellen and Oprah will not have the same appeal as it did last year when we went to Florida with Mark.

She did have one big fall this weekend. She was sitting in a little chair, reaching for pretzels on the table--never mind she already had about 5 in her hands, and the chair tipped forward, causing her to hit her head right on the metal outdoor table. I was sitting right behind her and as soon as I picked her up, her head was blue in the center. I placed her on my shoulder and then pulled her back to look again and a huge bump had already started to grow. My mom went to get my cell phone and another person went for ice. By the time they got back--less than a minute--she had already stopped crying and was searching for more pretzels. I called the doctor anyway, and just watched her the rest of the afternoon, but she seemed fine. Another mom there had a friend who is a nurse and the nurse suggested putting Vaseline on the bump to reduce bruising. It worked. The bump was nearly gone the next day and the bruise is fading quickly too. I have heard of this for cuts on the head, or witch hazel pads for stopping bruising, but maybe there is something to this too. I am always amazed at how fast babies heal.

Giving up on Flickr for the moment

So, since Mark is in charge of Flickr, I am giving up on it for the moment. Hopefully I'll get it together soon, but in the interim I have posted recent pics to Walgreens. Here is the link.

http://photo.walgreens.com/groups/hendersonfamily

Email me (ehenders@gmail.com) for a password if you want to see pics. You can even order them if you have a Walgreens. Once we get Flickr set up again, you'll be able to order from there too, through Target. They just announced the partnership this week.

We tried Picasa--googles image catalog system--wow--powerful, but a bit too much and somewhat confusing with the way we have our pics backed up and organized, so we are staying with Flickr.

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend. We are going to a barbeque, cleaning and hanging pictures--it will look like a real family lives here.

We have so many pictures framed, and many empty frames that have not been put up in years, so it will be so great to get our house together. On the first floor we only have one room left to paint, and then we move on to the bedrooms upstairs. We have the designs picked out for the baby's room (well, two designs at this point--one girl, one boy) And we have decided on a design for Baby Girl's room too. I can't wait to get started. And we are going with the same green for our bedroom. So the hard part is done for us, the painting will be eaiser than the selection of design. Look for pics sometime in july.

Baby Girl gets a tricycle

I never really planned on getting her one this year. She has a little ride on princess toy that she loves and rides it all around the house. We bring it outside too now that the weather is nice. However, she loves to get on the neighborhood kids' tricycles and bikes when we are all outside.

So I figured I would go tricycle shopping. She got a cute little radio flyer tricycle that is purple, pink and white. I was looking for something more gender neutral, so it could be used for a boy and girl, but no such luck. I can't believe all the character bikes now.

We bought her a little Disney Princess helmet and it came with knee pads and elbow pads. And it is a good thing it came with those. She started out great. We pushed her and she knows right where to put her feet and how to hold on. Then the grandparents show up, and granddad pushed her down the driveway hill without holding on. So, of course she fell over-even though the hill has a tiny incline, she's 19 months-she can't steer or stop- and her love affair with her new tricycle ended in that second outing. We even caught it all on tape. After 10 minutes outside and placing her baby doll on the bike she was more interested in getting back on, but she quickly got off. So we will see if this toy stays or gets put away until next summer. No telling at this point if she was bored, or just did not like it anymore. I'm thinking she will like it again, and be out riding it all this weekend.

Boy or Girl??

We are still waiting to find out. The little baby is proving to be less cooperative than Baby Girl. This one is breech, sideways and legs crossed. Baby Girl was head down and ready to go from my ultrasound at 20 weeks. Of course she was still 8 days late. Bonus--I get another ultrasound through insurance because the tech could not get good spine, lip or heart pics. Everything looked good from what they saw, so that is always nice to hear.

So, you should be getting our moving announcement cards in the mail soon. We took that picture in January and I had the cards in February, but yeah--printing the labels took forever. So, I made it just in time before stamps went up, which was a good thing because they were already stamped and I did not want to spend the time to put extra postage on all of them.

We've been busy lately with the good weather. We've been to the Zoo, Grant's Farm, lots of parks, and Mo. Botanical Gardens. I gave Mark a GPS system for his birthday, so we are planning on starting GEO CASHING. Should be fun and get us out exploring the city.

Baby Girl is growing so tall. She is over 100% in height for her age. She is quite the active little one. She loves Little Gym and now swings from the even and uneven bars. She also discovered the fun of jumping a few weeks ago. so now rather than jumping from one object to another, she jumps on the ground, much safer. She is starting to recognize her letters. We play with a puzzle and she can pick out specific letters when asked, so that is fun to watch. She also picks up new signs every day. I love the baby sign language.

I'm almost caught up posting our pics up online and when I do we will be providing a link.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Nature Walk at Powder Valley

Baby girl and I went to Powder Valley for the Parents As Teachers Stroll with Me event. We had a wonderful time. They had 5 stations set up--songs and rhymes, viewing station, bubble on the blanket, parachute play, and a nature craft. The nature craft was adorable. She made her first real craft project. (pictures to come) We of course are getting it a frame and hanging it in the office. It was such a simple idea for a various group of ages. I was suprised at how calm the area was and how all of the children were enjoying the craft.

We have had a great year with Parents as Teachers. It is really unfortunate that this program is not available to all families in the US. We have loved every minute of it. We are looking forward to next year's events and repeating favorites with the new baby.

She had her 18 month visit last week and she is certainly her daddy's little girl. Aside from looking just like him, she has his height--over the 100% for her age. She is doing very well with everything and sounds like she will be talking any day now. She has lots of signs and learns new ones as soon as she is shown, so communicating is not too difficult.

A day at Purina Farms

Today baby girl and I went to Purina Farms with some other moms and children. The Easter village was too cute. Baby girl loved looking at the little pigs, bunnies, chicks, and dogs. She of course thought all of the cows and horses were dogs, and would say woof, woof to them. Then when we got to the dog area she was so happy. She kept running from dog to dog sticking her hand and face up to the kennels so they could kiss her. She also gave out many kisses to the dogs that were out with the handlers. She must have really had a lot to say, because she talked to one of the employees off and on for a good 20 minutes. I am so happy I have been able to do these things with her. We have such a good time and the day really flew by. We got there at 10 and did not leave until after 1. She only had one brief period of crying, and then passed out on the ride home. I did take a few pics and if I ever get our Flicr account linked here, you'll find the pics under the April 2007 folder. If you have not been to Purina Farms, I certainly suggest making a visit. It is very child friendly and free, so it is worth the drive.

Big News

Mark and I are expecting baby number 2. I am due September 25. We are both excited to grow the family. I'm not sure baby girl is excited yet, but she does love babies. Of course she usually carries her baby around by the head and smashes her in the trunk of her car when riding it around. I may have to really start working on teaching her gentle in the upcoming months.

Everything else is going great as well. We have been busy with everything other than the house so it is now time to focus back on getting that together. Baby girl has been enjoying Little Gym and Kindermusik. She walks on the balance beam (holding my hand) and today even layed down for the baby massage part of music class. This was a first--I never believed it would happen.

We went to Missouri Botanical Gardens this past weekend for the Orchid show. How beautiful. If I ever get my flick account linked here, I'll share some pics. Baby girl was really good. She stayed in her stroller and looked around most of the time. We of course got the typical reaction when people asked how old she is. She's soooo tall! We all laugh when Mark is with us and people comment on her height. Of course she is tall, look at her daddy. Although, I do have to admit, that she does look kinda funny with those little feet hitting the bottom of the stroller and that tiny little nearly toothless head pearing out.

The snow has melted

Wow. The past week was freezing. Baby girl and I stayed inside as for days. Mark was gone so it made for a long week. We did go to the free family night at the Magic House Children's museum. (What a great concept, once a month, a free family night, so wonderful for those who can't afford the $7.50 per person admission price.) We spent about 1.5 hours there and had the best time. I think we will be purchasing a membership because I can really see us going there a lot. It is close to home and a great activity for those long afternoons when she wakes from her nap early and it is a struggle to keep her up until bed time.

Things are back to normal now with Mark home. Today we went to visit an old friend of mine who has a sweet little baby girl who is still in the non moving phase. So while the little one sat playfully on a blanket, I ran around my friend's house calling my little explorer back to the area where I could see her. I guess baby girl just wanted to take a tour of the entire house.

I'm hoping the nice weather continues for a bit. I really want to get outside during the day and take a walk. I'd really love to go to Mo Botanical Gardens or the Zoo this weekend. Guess we'll have to check out the weather reports.

Other than that, we have our gym and music group classes this week. Baby girl sure loves these. She is so happy to see the other little babies. And she is starting to really like the teachers too.

So many new things to do

We are getting a very busy calendar. I've signed us up for a class at The Little Gym. We had our first class this past Tuesday. It was great. The class is small and there were a few dads there, which is great since Mark comes along.

Next week we start Kindermusik, just baby girl and me. It's a daytime class so no daddy. We went to a trial and of course had a great time. She loves the music and loves to see the other kids and play games.

And our parent educator came for the first time today. I just have to say--Parents As Teachers is THE BEST PROGRAM EVER. Seriously, I think the people at Fit Pregnancy need to explore St. Louis more because I can't believe the support given to families here. PAT has the most amazing workshops, and they are all free. Some are child and parent activity classes and some are parent only classes. We have all of our home visits scheduled and I can't wait to see what we learn from each session. Not to mention, our parent educator is a great resource for fun, free events and places for babies and toddlers.

We've also started going to the MOMS Club events and we had a great time at the social. Baby girl ran herself all around the gym. She hopped on the backs of cars and little boys took her around, she sat and ate a snack, and played with everyone there. She's certainly not shy.

I'm really excited to check out a new place in Mapplewood, CooperElla. This sounds great. And it is near another favorite place of mine, Kangaroo Kids, a resale shop that has great stuff and best of all, lactation consultants, a nursing support group, and baby slings.

Well, enough for tonight. More this weekend on what fun stuff that we have planned for the next couple of weeks.

Happy To Be Home

I have recently moved back to St. Louis with my sweet daughter and wonderful husband, who left his family, all of his friends and a lifetime of living on the East Coast to make me happy. While there are things that I miss about the East Coast, I am ecstatic to be back here. I'm hoping to use this blog to share thoughts on all the things for moms and families around the St. Louis area. I really do think this is a great place to raise a family and I want to share all the wonderful things to do with anyone who wants to read. Please feel free to let me know of your favorite mom and family events too. I'm always looking for things to do.