Talker

Just realzed we have not posted any talking vids in a while and madeline was telling us about her friend Eliana today so we thought we'd share.

baptism video

trying to get a video posted from sunday.
we wish you could have all been there
especially Godfather Shawn and grandparents/great grandparents but
we felt it was especially poignant to have her baptised at our church in
san mateo before we left and had to do it sort of last minute.
im sure you are all used to that from us by now!!

let me know if it works on your computers, ok?

long time coming

Its been too long but with traveling, the move and madeline's baptism, houseguests and rounds of illness, im sure you all understand..

i wont write much but just want to post a few pics from this month:

At the zoo with her boyfriend, Zygo (her godmother, Jill's husband of 3 years- congrats!)

Pretending she's a big girl- you cant fool me, you will always be our little baby!

Swimming last week at school, having a blast

Posing at church before her baptism with our surrogate family in California (nana and papa and tina, maria and her godparents minus Shawn of course)

Fun in SF with Grandma and Jason

My Mom found this awesome African drumming circle and she just could not wait to jump in and dance with them! it was so crazy. Check out the video of mom learning how to Caipoera!



Okay, well maybe it was Madeline who wanted to jump in to the frey. she was a boogie crazed little girl with her dad so we went over to see up close.
She was fascinated by the drums and the dancers and they thought she was a perfect fit.



She had some fun with Uncle Jason, we went to lunch in Hayes Valley and then we took this pic in the park on the way home.
Mom is so mad at me for posting it bc she forgot to smile- but we had to prove she was here after all!


We had a blast this week with Grandma Mary here. (Madeline calls her Maury, i think. It sounds like the Gaelic word for grandma but we still havent heard it officially pronounced.)
We went to the zoo, the city, shopping, the parks, out to dinner on the water- the works. Grandma got a few chances to babysitt and play with Madeline- they never even noticed i was gone. it was a great time. We are so glad we had this week together! (but we dont have many pics to show for it since mom wont let me post them!)

grandma mary is here

don is gone so mom flew in to keep us company!
she brought a dress up costume for madeline who promptly put it on
and kept saying "hood" and "walk".
so grandma had to take her for a walk to show off her spots!

they are having such fun together it is so exciting to see.

Here is a quick sneak peek since things are kinda chaotic
right now.
more eventually...

ergo contest

http://www.alongfortheride.biz/contest-s/49.htm

here's a link to a contest for an ergo baby carrier-
i get an extra entry just by posting it. yay
xoxo

Uncle Michael

So... about 2 years ago, my godfather, Uncle Michael, started asking us what
we were going to name the baby- and we weren't telling.
So he decided that this was because we were going to surprise him, and name the
baby after him.

he knew she was a girl.

but so he started calling her by this funny nickname and for xmas olga and mike gave us this outfit:



Baby Uncle Michael Mann

cherry blossoms

we just came back from a week in DC, during the height of cherry blossom season.
my mom went on and on about how we could not miss them and i was like "yeah yeah"
but okay, she was right. have a look!



this is the neighborhood at the end of the block from where our aunt peggy lives.
can you believe it?
and these houses cost about one quarter of what they'd be on Palm Ave in san mateo.
its insanity!

anyway, i know... the winters suck and the summers suck worse. but it is sure giving us a little bit to think about....

a snapshot

just thought i'd post something since we have been out of town for a week and i have not given you anything new!

this month she is totally into buckles, zippers, fasteners of any sort, getting her jacket on and pulling her pants on herself. she climbs in and out of her high chair and carseat, bike and wagon on her own and is all about putting on her own shoes etc.
She really likes to focus on something and see it through till its completion.

and this morning don left a shirt in the kitchen. madeline scooped it up
and put it on herself. it was a riot!
she looked like alvin and the chipmunks.
here is a pic!

oh yeah- a faux hawk

finally enough hair for the classic shot

evil canevil

madeline loves to ride her bike
and now she has all the accessories she needs to be safe too!

so hard to get that darned helmet on w/ out pinching her little chin ;(

playing with baby

Madeline gave us a good half hour of playing by herself.
she was entertaining herself with her "babies".
you can hear her saying "hug" with her rabbit in the stroller
and then she gave the baby a hug from the rabbit.



and then she spent 20 min trying to put her diapers on her
baby. it is so funny how she grabs the baby by her heels and lifts her
bottom. she is a little mimic! she didnt even notice when don and i came
in to film her- she was intent.


it was so nice to see her playing using her imagination and just occupying herself
while don and i got things done around the house.
she is very busy.

xoxo

easter remnants

love finding that old sd card with pics from weeks ago-
here is madeline at her other egg hunt in our local park
there were like, 1 thousand 2 year olds hunting for eggs this day
and we were lucky nobody knocked madeline down for hers.
so we kept taking her eggs and re-hiding them so she could find
them again and again. this is the fun part- she has no idea-
we thought we were so clever but
next year it wont be quite so easy, huh?

enjoy the clip!

yum

another gourmet dinner thanks to birthday gifts sent from afar!
don is loving these steaks, dad thanks!

Its the Wiggles!

So madeline had her first Beatles experience
...only it was with Wags the dog.

Big fan. Big big fan- who knew?! But when he came out on stage she
was starstruck and when they announced he was leaving... well just have a look
and listen.



needless to say, trimming her nails will be easy from now on because that
is when we let her watch the wiggles. and now that she has seen them live
and in concert its like meeting Ringo himself.

Also a big fan of Dorothy the Dinosaur. especially since this show had her dancing
with some lovely ballerina fairies!


We had a blast with Shane and Hayden at the show yesterday and are so lucky
to have shared our first concert with such good friends!
thanks for all the fun uncle shane!

xoxo

Easter

Here are a few pics from our Egg hunt on Sunday.
we marked madeline's eggs with an M so that the her older
friends would not pick those up by accident, look inside and
say "ewe, raisins and cheerios- yuck!".



She loved breaking into her eggs and especially
chasing her friends around the yard.




Allie kept putting Madeline's eggs in the basket for her. She
hardly had to do any work!

It was a great day spent with loved ones.
xoxo

A Tragedy

taking a break from the madeline/easter photo uploads to share this moment
of agony with you.

this shot was taken 2 blocks from our house.

easter

quick pic of us on our way into church yesterday... more to come

Signing time -top 10 contest

The top 10 reasons why Hip Moms watch Signing Time:

1. Hip moms know that signing helps develop spoken language: Madeline’s first spoken words were the signs she first used (milk, mama,more, kitty cat).

2. Hip moms like not having any tantrums- Madeline knows how to tell me what she wants when she doesn’t have the spoken vocabulary to do so!

3. Hip moms take ASL in their spare time and Signing time helps me get ahead! sorry honey I’m studying!

4. Hip moms like to watch Signing Time because its time to clip the kids nails and this keeps them focused on Alex and Leah instead of the clip clip.

5. Hip moms love PBS and signing time is on our local station!

6. Hip moms love supporting other hip moms- if we don’t, who will? Way to go Rachael!

7. Hip moms like to be able to communicate with kids and big people of all abilities and signing time helps us do that.

8. Hip moms like it when their kids and their kids friends break into “there’s singing time, and dancing time and laughing time and playing time” together. We all feel like we belong to a special club. Our friend sings “…laughing time and money time” when its time to pay at the checkout!

8. Hip moms like to be able to communicate with their hip husbands across a room with nobody else knowing what we are saying to eachother! “I’m bored, its time to go!”

9. Even hip moms need a break every now and then. thank goodness for Hopkins and his friends- all those adorable little kids!


And finally

10. The number one reason why hip moms watch Signing Time: its just darn good fun. Thanks for a great show!

St Patrick's day green

I had to post at least a couple pics of madeline and her friend eliana all greenified for st pat's day yesterday.
Eliana came to spend the morning with us as her new baby brother was being born! (Congrats to the Wong's for their new addition)



too bad madeline looks like she could be eliana's boyfriend in these pics

so i had to get a closeup of the flower barette- that she promptly pulled out of her hair.


harumf!


and then they played dress up and sat down in the book nook together- totally unprovoked. i caught this snapshot as they were sitting down and chatting to one another!