The big birthday party

John's big birthday party was January 9th, the day after his real birthday. We had the party at Grandma Kay's house, and all our local family friends were in attendance -- Ethan and Lindsay, Nick and Jan, Steve and Ruthanne, Beverly, Ray and Wrenne, the Repsholdts and the Beals. (Jack Beal is John's little neighbor buddy who will turn 2 next week). I made a big pot of chili, and Lindsay made an adorable dump truck cake and construction-themed cupcakes.

Before dinner, I filmed John and Jack playing with the new Cars toys that John had gotten from his friend Austin. I actually got John to tell the camera how old he was ("Two!" he shouts, holding up all ten fingers). I also got him to sing the "Happy Birthday" song.

Happy birthday to John from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

John didn't really care for his chili very much, but he loved the fresh veggie platter and the cornbread.

John opened his presents in the dining room. After opening a few by himself, he decided it would be ok to let Jack help him, so we put both kids on the table and let them go at it. John received so many nice gifts! One of his favorite gifts was a bright yellow flashlight from his Aunt Beverly.

I got a few videos of the gift opening.....

First bday present from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

More gift opening from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

I didn't get any videos of John blowing out his birthday cake candles because the camera was completely full (whoops!), but the photos I got turned out great, I think. John was acting very strangely the whole time we were singing "Happy Birthday" to him. I think he was actually a little embarrassed to have everyone looking and singing at him!

John wanted to sit on his Uncle Ethan's lap to eat his cupcake. This year, John actually wanted to eat the cake! (He definitely has a sweet tooth.) He started off slowly, but he soon realized it would be infinitely more yummy to devour the whole cupcake in two bites.

After he ate his own cupcake, John came over to where I was sitting and asked for a bite of my piece of cake. Mommy had to indulge the birthday boy, of course.

Speaking of cupcakes, Lila was an absolute cupcake during the party! She really enjoyed being held by her Aunt Wrenne and Aunt Beverly. The outfit Lila is wearing in this photo was a gift from her Uncle Ethan and Aunt Lindsay.....a fitting gift for her big brother's birthday party!

By the time the party was over, Grandma and I were exhausted. It had been a VERY long weekend of grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking and baking. Of course John was exhausted too. The night of his party, John didn't get into bed until after 8:30 p.m.! He slept in a little later than usual the next morning. And Lila, who went to bed around 10 that night, didn't wake up until 6 a.m.! I did a double-take when I saw the time on the clock. Sadly, she has not repeated such a stretch of sleep since then.

John is 2!!!

I can't believe it, but our little guy is now two years old!!! This past year went by even more quickly than his first year, I think. It feels like we just celebrated his first birthday.

John's actual second birthday, January 8th, was pretty quiet. We spent the morning at home but ventured out into the cold that afternoon for a trip to Target. It sounds like a boring thing to do on a two-year-old's birthday, but it was a big treat for John really. He ADORES Target because he gets to play in the toy section with one of the adults while the other adult does the shopping. I had a lot of groceries to pick up for his party, so John got to play in the toy section with Grandma and Lila for a very long time.

On the way home from Target, we stopped at Chipotle to pick up some dinner. I didn't think about it at the time, but John actually had Chipotle on his first birthday as well! It was a Chipotle date with his dear friend Elise. Look at this adorable photo of them before they got ridiculously messy eating their lunch!

I didn't take very many photos the day of his birthday, maybe because I knew I'd be snapping a million photos the day after during his party. I did take a few photos of him opening his presents from Great Grandma Schuchard, though, and I took two videos of him opening his presents from Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Jeff.

Here is the video of him opening the Thomas the Tank Engine book from Grandma ("Ma") Bonnie and Grandpa ("Papa") Jeff.

This next video shows him playing with his new Leapfrog alphabet magnet set from Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Jeff.

Here's John showing Grandma ("Jamma") Kay his new magnet toy.....


And here he is opening his gifts from Great Grandma Schuchard.....a book called The Little Blue Truck and a couple of Thomas the Tank Engine trains!

For the record, John had his two-year doctor's visit on January 19th. He is in the 50th percentile for both his weight (28.5 pounds) and height (34.25 inches) -- completely average for a boy his age! I found that interesting because he's always been a little below average in weight (25th-50th percentile) and a little above average in height (5oth-75th percentile). Anyway, the doctor gave him a clean bill of health (and he told me John was one of the most patient two-year-olds he had ever examined!)

Other things to note about John at age 2:

His schedule: John's schedule hasn't changed a whole lot in the last six months. I've just had to push his naptime and bedtime back slightly to account for the fact that he now wakes up in the morning a little later. A day in the life of John looks like this:

Between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. - John wakes up. Grandma Kay gets him out of his crib, changes his diaper and gets him dressed. They watch an episode or two of a preschool tv show, like The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse or Caillou, while Mommy and Lila sleep a little longer. (Lila still gets up two or three times every night so Mommy is tired.)

8:00 a.m. - Breakfast

9:00 a.m. - If it's Tuesday, John has school from 9 until 1. If it's Sunday, he's in the church nursery while we're at the church service. Three mornings a week I take him to the gym with me so I can go to the 9:30 workout class. John loves to play in the gym's child care center.

11:30 a.m. - Lunch

12:00 p.m. - Storytime

12:15 p.m. - Naptime

Between 1:30 and 2 p.m. - John wakes up

3:00 p.m. - Usually by this time John is ready to get out of the house for a little trip (especially if we didn't go anywhere that morning). Sometimes I take John by himself somewhere if Grandma is able to watch Lila at home. Sometimes we all go somewhere together.

5:45 p.m. - Dinner

6:15 p.m. - Bathtime

7:00 p.m. - Storytime

7:15 p.m. - Bedtime

Eating habits: John is still an amazingly good eater. He eats almost anything! There are very few things he doesn't like. The only things I can think of off the top of my head that he doesn't like are black olives (i.e. on pizza) and mashed potatoes. He is always willing to try new foods, which is great. I never thought a two-year-old could have such an adventurous palate.

John's favorite breakfast foods include applesauce, strawberries, yogurt, muffins, waffles and cereal (Cheerios, Shredded Wheat, or oatmeal). Although he will eat just plain cereal out of the box, he ADORES eating his cereal with milk in it. Actually, he will tell you (loudly) if he wants milk in it: "Milk in it! Milk in it!"

For lunch, he likes to eat fruit along with either a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or turkey cold cuts with cheese. Sometimes he'll eat leftovers from the night before. For dinner, he normally eats whatever Grandma and I are eating. I always try to give him at least one vegetable with dinner. He likes cut-up fresh veggies with dip, corn, carrots, peas, squash, sweet potatoes and green beans.

John's favorite snacks to eat are fruit and veggies purees (in those squeeze packets), pretzels, crackers and fruit strips. He usually eats his snacks while we are on the go instead of at the house.

Sleeping habits: Beginning in November, John started waking up really early in the morning (before 6). I thought maybe the problem was that his 7 o'clock bedtime was just too early for him now that he was almost two, so in early December, I moved his bedtime back 15 minutes to 7:15. That has helped a lot. He pretty much wakes up between 6:30 and 7:30 every day now.

Then, because he was waking up later in the morning, I decided to move his naptime back 15 minutes to 12:15 p.m. John never takes super long naps unless he is sick. I would say his naps average about 75-90 minutes. I wish he would nap for two hours, but I can't complain at all.

Potty training? No, not yet. I've been reading a lot about the subject, and John definitely does not meet the two major requirements for being ready to potty train: 1) recognizing the urge to go and 2) being bothered by a wet or poopy diaper. John won't even admit when he's pooped! The good thing is that I always know when he's pooping, and I've started asking him if he'd like to go sit on the toilet to go poop. (Sometimes he actually says yes, but he's never actually gone poop on the toilet.) After he poops in his diaper, I take him into the bathroom so he can flush the poop down the toilet and wash his hands. He likes doing that. This week I am going to buy him a little potty of his own or one of those things that goes on top of the toilet -- I haven't decided yet.

Playing habits: The winter weather has been tough for us because we can't go outside to play as often. Grandma did get John a sled that has a rope attached so we could take him for "walks" on the paths around her house. He loves to play in the snow whenever we're outside, even if we're just walking in the parking lot from the car to a store.

Luckily, John got a ton of cool toys and books for Christmas and his birthday. It's been so nice to have new things to entertain him this last month! His favorite gifts were the Fisher-Price Little People airport Ross and I got him for Christmas and the motorized Thomas the Tank Engine train set that our neighbors got him for his birthday. He has also been obsessed with the Curious George book Uncle Ethan and Aunt Lindsay got him for Christmas. We read it almost every day.

Well........

.....this post is detailed enough to do justice to our little boy's 2nd birthday. At two years old, John is an incredibly sweet and fun-loving boy. He makes me laugh so many times every day with the things he says and does! Even when I am utterly exhausted from taking care of him (Lila is definitely the easy one), he can put a smile on my face. Stay tuned for photos and videos of John's birthday party.....

Lila turns 2 months!

Lila turned 2 months old the day after Christmas, December 26th (but no, I did not take her shopping to celebrate.....maybe next year, when she's not so tiny and fragile!) Her second month was certainly less challenging than her first, even with the departure of all the visiting family members (including Daddy!) who had been such a tremendous help to us.

One of the best parts about that month was seeing how well she was gaining weight. At her two-month doctor's visit on December 28th, Lila weighed 10 pounds, 14 ounces -- exactly two pounds more than she weighed at her six-week visit (and only three fewer ounces than John weighed at his two-month visit)! As her pediatrician told me that day, her steady growth (gaining two pounds between visits) is the number one sign that she is thriving in spite of her throaty cough and congestion. He is going to continue to watch her, but he said he is very encouraged by her progress.

Another great part about Lila's second month was seeing her smile in response to someone else, which I believe she did for the first time on December 16th while we were at a Christmas luncheon. She was sitting in her car seat because we were getting ready to leave, and John came over to talk to her ("Hi Wiwa!"). When he started patting her head, she broke into this adorable smile, and then John started smiling too! There is something so gratifying about seeing your baby smile. It's even more gratifying when your baby smiles in response to your other baby! At least for now, the kids seem to like each other!

Here are some of my favorite photos from Lila's 2nd month.....

Lila doing some tummy time on her blanket:

John joining her on the blanket for some tummy time of his own (he loves her blankets and always wants to play on them with her!):

Mommy and Lila, with John trying to do a somersault in the foreground (all you can see is his butt in the air):

Watching Mommy while being carted around in the Ergo carrier.....she always looks so serious when she's in the Ergo!

Lila and Mommy all dressed up for church:

Another Mommy-Daughter photo:

Posing in the adorable outfit she got from her Uncle Jesse and Aunt Sarah:

Playing on her blanket (also see video below!):

Lila has the hiccups from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

Also during her second month, Lila.....

.....made the switch from newborn diapers to size 1 diapers

.....slept in her lamb chair at night (for most of the month), since it kept her upright enough that she could breathe more easily and thus sleep more soundly.

.....started LOVING her baths!

.....attended her first church service

.....decided she doesn't really like her swing

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2010

On Christmas Eve, we went to the 4:30 p.m. service at church. It was very hectic getting everyone in their Christmas outfits and into the car. It was even harder to get everyone into church, especially since it was snowing!

This photo was the best one of all three of us.....in the other photos, Lila was cross-eyed and/or John was doing his fake smile (the one where he closes his eyes), haha.


After church, we went to the home of our friends, the Jakubiaks, for a lasagna dinner. John was thrilled to have access to a huge bucket of toys belonging to the Jakubiaks' grandchildren. He also played with Ms. Dorothy, Wrenne's sister who was visiting from Tennessee.

We enjoyed a very leisurely Christmas morning. We were so, so happy to be able to talk to Daddy on the webcam for a little while. He even got to see John open one of his presents! Lila slept the whole time.

Obviously, John was much better at opening presents this year, at 23 months, than he was last year, at 11 months. He was able to tear off the wrapping paper pretty well, and he was certainly aware that there would be toys inside the boxes! Still, after opening each present, he wanted to play with the item right away rather than open the next present. For that reason, he barely got through half of his presents by the time we had to start getting ready for Christmas dinner at Steve and Ruthanne's house.

John opened his front-end loader toy while we were webcamming with Grandma Bonnie and Papa Jeff. Here he is with it.....

Here's a video of John playing with his guitar (from Aunt Katharine and Uncle Jarey) and dump truck.....

Guitar and dump truck from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

Here I am opening my present from Ross.....a super fashionable apron from Sur La Table! I've never had a "real" apron before (I don't count the two Starbucks aprons I have from when I worked there).....

One of John's presents from Grandma Kay was a big two-sided easel. There's a chalkboard on one side, and a dry-erase board on the other. My mom bought him chalk, dry-erase markers, and a couple rolls of white paper, which can be hung on either side. Here's John with his new easel.....

Easel from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

Mommy and John opening their stockings.....

Opening stockings from Sarah Schuchard on Vimeo.

John playing with the snowman gel clings that were in his stocking (this entertained him for at least half an hour).....

Lila with her new shirt from Uncle Jesse and Aunt Sarah.....yes, she is a Run DMC fan!

Opening more presents.....

Before we left the house, I took a whole bunch of photos of Lila in her adorable Christmas dress (this time without her sweater). I think they turned out pretty cute!!!! I love her little arms.

At Steve and Ruthanne's house, John showed off a few of his new toys that we had brought with us, including the very noisy guitar and the airplane that Wrenne and Ray had given him. He also got to watch The Little Drummer Boy.

Dinner was fabulous, as always -- beef tenderloin with a mushroom wine sauce, twice-baked potatoes, celery almondine and salad. Dessert was wonderful too -- creme brulee and an assortment of homemade cookies! John was excited to be able to eat his ice cream out of a snowman bowl. He had a chocolate-chip cookie with his ice cream.

After spilling a whole bunch of milk out of his snowman straw cup, John had to be shirtless for the rest of the evening. He didn't seem to mind! Ruthanne put an elf hat on him, and he ran around the house for a good long time.

Steve took a picture of the little elf on his iPhone and sent it to Ross so he could see his little guy!

We only wish that Ross could have been there with us! We missed him terribly that night.