Nursing no more

I'm feeling sad, nostalgic, content, and free all at the same time, as I report this week that I have officially weaned. Yesterday morning was the last time. I made it to just past 11 months, a few weeks shy of my goal of 1 year. Nevertheless, a huge accomplishment. Jeff took this picture of me nursing on May 26, 2006 (Andrew was a week old.) I didn't post it back then, but today it seems like the right time as I commemorate the passing of this special time. I loved nursing, frustrating and constraining though it could certainly be at times. I will miss those quiet moments. I'm sad, but in a sweet, satisfied way. I hope that makes sense. Here is the picture:

Fun in the yard on a hot spring Saturday

Artsy Andrew

Andrew walks at 11 months!

He took his first steps last Thursday (the day he turned 11 months). Here he is one week later.

Front Yard Photo Shoot

Outings with Wendy Part Three: The Park

Sometimes when they don't have a scheduled activity, Wendy takes the kids to the park. Here they are at Holbrook Palmer.

Beach trip with the Weirs

We went on a road trip to the beach with our friends Jody, Martin, and their son Riley. We all piled into Jeff's bus and off we went. I haven't downloaded pictures from my camera for a while, so these are a few weeks old but I didn't want to miss out on reporting on this fun day! Here we are:

Super-Grandpa!

Accidental picture posting, but cute!

I actually didn't mean to post this picture, but since it's so cute, I'll go with it. Here is Andrew at 11 months:

All of us!

There aren't too many pictures of all four of us, so this is a rare gem! It's from a trip to the beach a few weeks ago. We are clearly enjoying ourselves!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Today is Jeff's Birthday! The cake was made by my Mom last week for our Easter family gathering, where we celebrated Jeff in advance. Andrew added his own embellishments to the cake's decor, deciding to get a hand into the middle of it before any of us could stop him. It just adds character, I think! Happy Birthday Jeff!

Outings with Wendy Part Two: Parents Place

Every Thursday Andrew and Julia go to Parents Place with Wendy. It's a wonderful resource. As you can see from these pictures, they have a darling and beautifully equipped preschool classroom, and a very nice teacher (Heidi, seen reading to the kids in the bottom picture.) Kids and their parents or nannies can drop in any Thursday morning. It's for kids from 0-5. Heidi is an experienced and trained parent educator, so I occasionally send Wendy in with questions for Teacher Heidi. She has advised us on potty training, bedtime refusal, and other toddler topics. Julia and Andrew both love going to Parents Place. You can see Andrew in the background behind the blue horsey, standing up on a sit'n spin.

Outings with Wendy Part One: Gym Class

Every Wednesday the kids go to gym class with Wendy. She brought her camera the other day and caught some cute pictures of Andrew, Julia, and some of their friends.

Here is Julia with Aiden, waiting for class to start:
Here she is monkeying around:
When Andrew first began accompanying Julia to gym class, he was about 3 weeks old, and slept soundly in his portable car seat the whole time. Now he's a full participant:
After gym class, Julia hangs out on the benches outside with her friends, sharing snacks. Here she is with Gabriel, and then with Ella. As it turns out, Gabriel will be in Julia's preschool class at Footsteps in the fall.

Easter Egg Hunt

We went to Mom & Dad's for Easter, where the kids were treated to an Easter Egg Hunt in the front yard. We got SO many cute pictures of the kids -- Julia, Andrew, Nathan, and Hannah. I just love the one of Julia diving for an egg. There were so many other great ones I just couldn't choose, so I uploaded the lot to shutterfly so you can see them all.
Click here for more.

Susan and Paul Visit, we head to the Zoo

Susan and Paul visited the last weekend of March and we spent the morning at the zoo.

















































Back at home, Julia and Paul settle down for a reading of Rechenka's Eggs. Susan brought it up from her school, where she builds it into a lesson for her learning center children. Julia LOVED the eastertime story. We (mostly Susan) read it to her at least 9 or 10 times during the 2 day visit.

Toes

From idyllic to trouble

Scenes like this one:



So often devolve into scenes like this! ("Not in the mouth Andrew!")

Andrew at 10 months

I'm finally blogging again after a very very long break! I'm far behind and have many cute pictures and events to catch up on, so stay tuned! I'll start with Andrew at 10 months, very interested in the camera!