Summer colds

Sorry for the lack of updates, but there hasn't been a whole lot going on around here in the past week and a half or so thanks to the nasty summer colds that we all managed to catch. The never-ending summer colds - it's been over 10 days and we're still on the mend. Lily got an ear infection, Charlie got an ugly cough, I lost my voice for days and Joe suffered terrible nasal issues. But after going through boxes and boxes of tissues and using the bulb syringe on Charlie and Lily so much that Lily actually started requesting it, we seem to be reaching the end of the snot. We mostly laid low last week - the colds coupled with the extreme heat we were having here in NJ didn't give us much choice! Thankfully yesterday we were all feeling much better, so we celebrated with a day at Sesame Place. Nothing lifts the spirits like a hug from Bert, or "Burp" as Lily calls him ;)

We still managed to have fun at home though, while fighting the colds. Charlie and Lily worked on their balance. This kept them busy for a loooong time ;)
And then there as this....
And this! You never know when the papparrazi may pop up, so it pays to eat all your meals incognito, just in case!
And now I need to brag a little bit, because hey, it's my blog and I'm allowed to do that ;) Charlie and Lily have been learning SO much lately. Charlie can identify every letter of the alphabet, and Lily can sing her ABCs up to the letter E. They can both count to 3, and fill in the numbers when we count to 10 with them. They know all their colors and their shapes too. They love to sing - we've been taking them to Music Together classes since the spring and they LOVE them. Charlie constantly asks us to put on "mu-ZIK" for him and sometimes we'll just hear one of them start singing a song to themselves. It's so cute. And the talking! They are talking SO much. They repeat everything, but also say plenty on their own. Lily will say phrases like, "I see you!" and Charlie utters, "Come on!" all the time, lol. The other day I sneezed and Lily said, "Bless you, Mama." Every day they're saying something new and it's so fun!

In other news, I recently started working again. Not full time - it's important to me and Joe that I stay home with Charlie and Lily during the day, so I started waiting tables in the evenings at our local Cracker Barrel. Serving is exhausting, but luckily my role as a mom to two toddlers has me more than used to taking orders, fulfilling odd requests and cleaning up from messy people, so I'm doing okay! And Joe is doing awesome holding down the fort at dinner time and bedtime. He's even become and expert with bath time - not an easy feat!

2 Year Stats

Today we took Charlie and Lily for their 2-year well visit at the pediatrician. We are so happy with their stats! Charlie weighs 25lbs 14oz and is 33 1/2" tall. He is in the 22nd percentile for both weight and height on the chart for his actual age. Lily weighs 26lbs 14oz and is 34" tall. She is in the 50th (!) percentile for both height and weight for her actual age. It's still amazing to us that these teeny preemies are now so big and strong!

Out and about

This past week Charlie and Lily have been hitting the town! Last weekend they attended two birthday parties - happy birthday, Ava, Sofia, Gia and Danny! They went and played at Kid Junction, attended the March of Dimes March for Babies awards reception and topped it all off with a trip to Friendly's. Here are some pictures from all the fun!

First thing first - ice cream! This afternoon we met Aunt Jill at the park to play, then went to Friendly's for dinner with Jill and Uncle Aaron.
After they ate their dinners, we treated Charlie and Lily to cone head ice cream sundaes. This was the first time they've ever had their own sundaes, and they certainly enjoyed them!
At their friend Danny's birthday party, Charlie and Lily had a blast using the swing set, splashing in the water table and running on the slip n' slide. And of course, Lily managed to get hands on her favorite toy - a ball.
Danny is the son of my good friend Lauren, and she and I decided that it would work out nicely for us if Lily were to marry Danny one day. And Lily and Danny seem open to the idea - here they are on their first date ;)
Tuesday night was the March of Dimes March for Babies awards reception. I gave my speech (the one I gave at the actual walk) again before the awards were presented, and Charlie and Lily spent a lot of time charming all the guests. Congratulations to everyone who contributed to or was a member of Team Three Cheers for Babies - we won 3rd place family team in Mercer County after raising over $5,000 for the March of Dimes. Thank you all so much!

Soaking Up Summer

So far, our summer has been very fun and very busy! There has been lots of swimming, a few trips to Sesame Place, lots of birthday parties and plenty of playground time. We're also trying to fit in some one-on-one time with Charlie and Lily, which is something we're rarely able to do. This past Friday was one of those days, however, and it was a lot of fun! The morning kicked off with some monster cookie pancakes (mix from Target!) that Joe whipped up for us. Charlie approved :)
After breakfast, Joe and I headed out with our dates - me and Charlie and Joe and Lily. Charlie and I made our first stop at Crackers' office for a quick visit. After greeting everyone in the office and mooching cookies off my mom's co-workers, Charlie and I were off again. We went to Barnes & Noble to read some books (and pick out a few new truck books for Charlie) , then to PetSmart to see the animals. Then it was lunch at Chick-fil-a. Friday was "Dress Like a Cow Day", and while we weren't dressed like cows ourselves we did enjoy watching all the other patrons in their get-ups. Plus the Chick-fil-a cow made an appearance and visited Charlie at our table, which he loved. We also discovered that Charlie likes ketchup - he had a great time dunking his waffle fries in it.

Lily and Joe made their way to the mall. Lily rode the escalators, which she loves to do, and went on a carousel ride. Then she and Joe hit Build-a-Bear (thanks for the gift card, Aunt Rhea and Uncle Larry!) and made her very own, wonderfully tacky, monkey. She chose Monkey all by herself and also chose Monkey's outfit of black spandex pants and sparkly pink t-shirt. After the mall, Lily and Daddy hit Wendy's for a kids' meal and a Frosty.
Between all our activities, we try to spend a little time at home. Apparently we need to invest in a second pink princess ride-on toy.
I've put our weekly lessons on hold for the summer since we have so many other things going on. Still, Charlie and Lily have been excelling! They are talking up a storm - they repeat everything and say words that we had no idea they knew. Lily even said her first sentence the other day - "I in the pool!" Charlie can identify all of the letters up to "J" and when we sing the ABCs and stop at random points he can fill in the next letter. If we ask Lily how many of something there are, she can count them...well, up to 2! And they both know all their colors. We're so proud of them! (As a side note, I highly recommend the Pre-School Prep DVDs. After just two viewings of Meet the Colors, Charlie and Lily could identify all the colors and spent an afternoon walking around the living room pointing to various things and calling out their color.)

We've also done a few art projects, including letting Charlie and Lily paint for the first time. Messy, but fun!

And of course, we've been to Sesame Place! On this trip we spent our time in the Teeny Tiny Tidal Wave Pool, which Charlie and Lily adored. Lily and I also went on the tube slide (Charlie freaked when we tried to put the life vest on him). She LOVED it! We also saw the Elmo Rocks show. When the characters came on stage Lily started yelling and shrieking and waving her arms around and screaming out their names...apparently she's a groupie ;)

4h of July Fun (and happy birthday, Kim!)

What's 4th of July weekend without a cookout? Yesterday we headed over to Aunt Patty's to celebrate cousin Kim's birthday (and the 4th).

Lily was happy to show off her American pride in this adorable outfit from Grandma.
Charlie is patriotic too!
The weather yesterday was really dicey - pouring rain, thunderstorms, sunshine, then more thunderstorms. But we managed to sneak in a little time in the pool at the cookout between rain showers.
After swimming, it was time for birthday cake! Lily stopped to take a picture with Kim, the birthday girl, but you can tell that her mind was on all the desserts on the table!
"Wait a minute, I get to eat cake AGAIN?!!? I love all these summer birthdays!!"