Freeze Zone

Our house is so. cold.  We can handle it just fine, but poor Maggie is crawling all over the cold floor all day.  I'm trying to bundle her up without restricting her too much.

Cold temps can't get me down!

It looks like Maggie's first two molars are coming in on the bottom.  The gums look swollen and they feel different when I brush her teeth.  She's also been a little more dramatic than usual, but not too bad.  She's got another cold, which Jamie and I also caught.  I never used to get sick, but this little one brings some nasty stuff home from daycare!  Luckily it's been almost a month since she was last sick, so this is no big deal.

Really likes kissing herself in the mirror...
my little narcissist 

Maggie really likes to dance when she hears music.  Whenever a jingle or song comes on, she just stops and stares, and then eventually starts bobbing a little.  It's like the dog in "Up" when he sees a squirrel.  Also, Maggie is really into yoga:

Downward dog

How's my form, Mommy?

Jamie and I went to Chicago this past weekend to celebrate Rob's 30th birthday!  It was really fun to get away for a night, though it was sad to not tuck Maggie in.  I got to see a bunch of my harmas from college, which was awesome!

With my harma ladies

Not sure why I'm posing like this... perhaps I'm
getting ready to call the Power Rangers?

Most exciting news of the week:  Bobby and Al are having a little girl!  Maggie will teach her all the tricks about how to wrap daddy around her little finger:

Start with a turn-back pose

Then give him these eyes

Pretend to be interested in his stories

...and play video games with him!

Here's a couple other videos from the week:

Here is Maggie's first draft of her self-documentary:

New Playmate

Maggie is OBSESSED with her baby doll from Aunt Marleen.  She likes to feed and burp her, and transports her everywhere around the house.  She's still working on the whole carrying thing... if there were any brains in the baby doll to begin with, they would probably have fallen out of her ears by now.  I asked Snoopy how he felt about Maggie's new playmate, and he said he had no comment (but you could see the pain in his eyes).

Time to go in your house, baby

Eat your cheerios, baby!

Only slightly abusive

Let's practice walking!

We went to happy hour with some friends on Friday, and brought Maggie along... she has now reached a point where it is WAY too much work to keep her occupied and happy while we eat.  I guess it's time to start looking for those super fast restaurants (or maybe I should just cook more).

Feeding herself with a little help from Daddy

As a Christmas gift, Amy and Rex got us tickets to Royal Oak's beer fest last night and stayed home to watch Maggie.  Thankfully she slept through the night, because we were pretty "tired" by the time we got home.  It was a ton of fun, lots of new tastes, and a bunch of free snack food - I never met a free sample I didn't like!

Here's some other randoms: 

It's-a Mario!

She always has this pensive look in her photos...
where's my smiling Maggie?

Upside-down!!

Say cheese for the camera!

Sassy pants

This week was a good one with Maggie - she wasn't sick at all, and was such a joy to be with.  She's getting way more sassy when you tell her she can't do something, but otherwise she always has a great disposition.

She's learned where we keep the pacifiers...

Jamie thinks Maggie said her first real word this week - "bird" (we have an abnormal amount of bird things around the house).  I have no proof of this, but she definitely seems to be trying harder to communicate with us.

My lips are sealed!

Maggie is getting closer to walking each day.  She does great on her walker and will let us lead her with our hands.  She walks with her feet almost turned all the way out... I'm starting to wonder if her feet have been over-corrected with the braces.  We'll see her orthopedic doctor in a few weeks to check everything out.

We went to the ENT this week and Maggie did well.  We took a hearing test in a special booth that Maggie seemed to enjoy.  The doctor said that she still has a little fluid in her ears, but nothing to be worried about at this time.  He wants to check her out again in a couple months, and we'll figure out then if she should get tubes.

Look at all these germy toys I insisted
on playing with!

Maggie still loves her Snoopy - it's the only thing I see her hug and kiss:

 

Just whipping up a snack in my kitchen

Happy New Year!

Happy 2014!  I realize it makes no sense, but I always feel better when the year is an even number... this year will be great!

Maggie has been having fun at home with Daddy all week - he didn't have school Monday through Wednesday due to the weather.  She had a blast with her favorite man!

Maggie is eating great now!  She really likes to eat food herself, and is starting to get the hang of using utensils.  Scrambled eggs and yogurt are probably her favorite foods at the moment (besides Cheerios and puffs).  

We've gone to the doctor several times for ear infections in the past few months, and today we are going to see an ENT specialist to see if Maggie needs tubes.  To be continued...

Last week we met up with Erin, Dan and baby James while they were in town.  It was great to see them and hold a little bitty baby again (forgot how awesome that baby smell is).

Baby James!

Prime rib please

Here's some random photos from the past week:

Playing with Grandma

Shopping is exhausting!

Maggie LOVES her new push car.  We push her around in the basement (until the weather is better), and she screams and giggles.

Out of my way!

Playing with Kate!

My little prodigy... she's really into playing
that funky, dissonant, non-rhythmic music

After she plays her little piano, Maggie likes to crawl over to the real one:

Christmas!

Ah, finally a few moments to sit down and recap our Christmas celebrations from the week.  We were very busy each day, and as expected, Maggie got sick again.  She was a total trooper everywhere we went, but I think fewer naps and an irregular schedule made for an exhausted little girl.  Warning: this post has an excessive amount of photos!

Brace yourself, it's a long one!

On Christmas Eve, we made our traditional visit to Frankenmuth to visit Santa, shop for ornaments at Bronner's and eat a delicious "chicken dinner" lunch at Bavarian Inn.  Maggie was absolutely traumatized by Santa this year.  She first met him at Bronner's and started screaming the second I put her on Santa's lap.  Then Aunt Amy and Uncle Rex thoughtfully ordered a very special stocking to be delivered to Maggie at lunch... she liked the stocking which had toys and a personalized ornament, but was very upset that Santa delivered it!  Every time he came into the dining room to give another kid a stocking, Maggie cowered and whined.  We'll try to prepare her better next year!

Why are you doing this to me!?

Waiting in line with Uncle Justin

Get out of my face, it's cuddle time!

This isn't an old-timey photo, Maggie,
you can actually smile

Being a stinker for her godmother

That's a little better!

All the Donoghue kids

Hanging out with Grammer at lunch

The Donoghue siblings

We went to the children's mass at Guardian Angels, making sure to get there 30 minutes early... the church was already full!  The only spot left was the first row, so we took our seats there.  Maggie was rather fussy during mass, and I kept trying to get her to eat something.  I brought those squeeze-packs of food for her, but she wanted nothing more than the cap.  So I let her play with the cap and set the food down... but did not really think about what I was doing.  In the middle of the homily, we realized that Jamie had sat on the food and it squeezed out everywhere!  I was able to get most of cleaned up (thank goodness for baby wipes!), but Jamie still had a big spot of Mango Delight on his booty - good thing we were in the front row for all to see!  I'm still waiting to be forgiven for this one...

Christmas Day was very busy for us - we woke up around 7am and opened a couple gifts at home.  Daddy made our traditional bread pudding, and then we scrambled to get everything packed up and ready for the day ahead.  We went to the Donoghue house to open gifts - Maggie got some special new toys, including a new scooter from Grandma and Grandpa!  She did pretty well tearing the wrapping paper too!  We had a really hard time getting Maggie to nap, so she was pretty cranky towards the afternoon.

I love playing with Grandma!

Daddy will help me

Let's open it right now!!

We drove to my Aunt Marleen's for Christmas dinner, and decided to keep driving around so that Maggie could sleep in the car a little longer.  We drove through my old subdivision to look at my old house - it was actually rather emotional, I really miss that place.  The current owners only made a few minor changes - though they got rid of the holly bushes!  I'm very offended!

Tylenol please

Snuggles with Aunt Allison

Luke knows all about opening presents this year! 

My brother Bobby with an
important message

Christmas night Maggie started to run a fever.  It got up to 102 degrees, and we were getting really nervous.  At one point she just started babbling non-stop for 10 minutes, and I couldn't get her to look at me or react to anything.  I was ready to take her to the ER, but then her fever finally broke.  We took her to the doctor the following day, and got more antibiotics for another ear infection.  This is her third infection in the past few months, and the doctor mentioned the possibility of tubes if this keeps occurring.  On a gross side note, our doctor recommended the NoseFrida to suck out Maggie's nose because we just can't get the bulb aspirators to work - it looks really gross, but is a total lifesaver.  I recommend it for anyone with a baby!

Waiting for the doctor...

Yesterday we celebrated with my side of the family at my parents house.  My brother and sister were both in town, which was really great!  Most of my nieces and nephews were there too!  The annual foosball tournament was held, and I was absolutely useless to my partner Alex... Uncle Jamie and Gilly crushed it in the final match, winning the hollowed Peg-Leg trophy!

Fierce competition

Zach, enthusiastic as ever!

Winners!

Family photo 

Hanging out before dinner

Our photo with Grace-the-Great!

All four siblings together!

The original six

Most of the grandchildren

Maggie received some beautiful gifts this Christmas, but I think the most special was her rocking chair.  I remember this chair so well, and I'm so happy to have it here at home:

  

My fancy new rocking chair!

We have more hosting and visiting to do in the next few days, so I need to get some work done around the house - Merry Christmas to all!