Kids in the Walker

Liam--almost 6 months

Bailey--6 months

Emily--5 months

Isn't it funny how much they look alike?  And I love the "decline" of the walker--poor Liam doesn't have any bears.  I remember Emily broke them off when Bailey was a baby!!  And they ALL did the chewing on the toy bar thing (like Emily is in her picture).  I don't have a picture of Bailey doing that but here's Liam:

Roly Poly Liam

Liam's 6 month checkup

I can hardly believe Liam is almost six months old!  He saw the pediatrician yesterday for his checkup.  He's doing great!  He's 20 lbs 9.5 oz and 26 1/2" long.  He has started eating some solid foods--so far he's tried rice cereal, bananas, pears, peas, and apples as well as rice rusks.  He loves all of the fruits and the peas but he's not crazy about the cereal.  He likes the rice rusks a lot.  He had a rough month or so of sleep where he was up two or more times a night, but we seem to be back on track now that he's getting some additional calories.  He is SO cute and chunky!  He now rolls over with ease and we are working on sitting up.  I just took out the walker yesterday and he immediately started rolling backwards around the house, which made me laugh because Emily and Bailey did exactly the same thing.  I will get a picture of him in it tomorrow to post here.

Swimming!

Emily learned to dog paddle today!  She was so proud of herself.  She practiced her "new trick" again and again.  Then, when Daddy got home, she didn't tell him she knew how to swim--she just jumped in and surprised him!  She was so cute; after she learned to dog paddle she said, "Now I learned EVERYTHING!"  I assured her that there is ALWAYS something more to learn in just about every area of life.  Here she is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cayXUkzPSh8

And here's Bailey:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oS-PdOEVkuY

Yo, Ho, Ho!

Emily has been really into telling "jokes" lately, but they are knock-knock jokes she makes up that don't make any sense at all, like "Knock, knock! Who's there? Banana.  Banana who? Banana shoe!" And then she and Bailey dissolve into a fit of giggles.  So, I taught Emily a joke: "What's a pirate's favorite letter?" And the answer, of course, is "R!"  Last week I told Emily to tell the joke to Bella.  So she said, "What's a pirate's favorite letter?" Bella thinks about it for a second and says, I don't know."  So Emily yells, "YO, HO, HO!" LOL :)

More swimming fun

Today Mimi, Grandpa, and Connor came over to swim with us.  It was a beautiful afternoon and we all enjoyed playing in the pool. I think it is going to be a wonderful summer!

POOL!!!

Our pool is done and it looks FABULOUS!  On Monday they came to apply the pebbletech finish:

When they left, it looked like this:

On Tuesday morning I went out for a while, and when I got home I saw this:

It took all day to fill the pool.  We thought it might be done around midnight so we set the alarm, but it actually took until about 3am to fill. 

Wednesday morning, the girls and I got right in.  I was expecting the water to be freezing but actually it is a wonderful temperature--not cold but not too warm, either!  Here they are, taking the very first dip!

On Thursday we added some furniture and a new grill, so now we are all set for a great summer of relaxation and entertaining!  More pictures coming soon!

Tinky Peet and other tales from toddler land

Wow, it's been a while since I wrote anything here!!  Bailey really has me rolling lately with some of the stuff she says.  Sometimes it's the context; other times it's just that she doesn't say all of her sounds yet and her sentences come out funny.  Last week I went into her room and she's sitting on the floor with her sneakers and a small bottle of baby powder.  We had this conversation:

"Bailey, what are you doing?"

"I put powder in my shoes."

"Why?"

"I put powder in my shoes so I don't get stinky feet."

BUT, our conversation sounded like this:

"Bailey, what are you doing?"

"I put power in my poos."

"Why?"

"I put power in my poos so I don't get tinky peet."

*  *  *

The very first time the girls and I got into the pool, Bailey decreed: "Mommy, I gonna be Upunzel, Lelly gonna be a mermaid, and you gonna be a pirate."

"Why do I have to be a pirate? I want to be a princess, too!"

"Because you big.  You big but you little."

Well.  Can't argue with that one.  Arrgh.

*  *  *

I was getting dressed in the bathroom one morning and because Will was in the shower at the time, I had the door locked to keep nosy little girls out.  Well Bailey came into my room, tried to open the door, and realized right away that it was locked.  So she yells, "Mommy!  Let me in! What the password, okay?" LOL!!!

Silly Bailey

Bailey was so cute and funny today!  This morning, she wanted to go potty at Emily's school.  In the bathroom there, they have recenty replaced the toilet paper holders and there are some holes in the sides of the stalls where the old ones used to be.  So Bailey says, "Why there are holes in here?"

Me, not wanting to get into it: "I don't know."

"Maybe a bad guy did it.  Maybe he did it with a screwdriver."  LOL.

Then, just a few minutes ago, I was folding some laundry and watching Food Network.  She comes out into the living room and asks, "Mommy, what she making?"

"I don't know.  I missed the first part."

"Me, too.  (Sits down dramatically) Great Ceasar's ghost!" LOL!!!!

We have a deck!

Yesterday at 6:30 am the crew showed up to pour the deck around the pool!  They were done by 11:30 and it looks great!  Next they'll install the screen, apply the pebble finish to the pool, install the baby fence, and then fill the pool with water! We're getting closer!!

Officer Emily

At school this week, Emily is learning about "community helpers" such as policemen and women, firefighters, etc.  She came home with a police hat and badge that she made.  Her badge says "Officer Emily" on it.  She said, "I am Officer Emily!  I am here to make sure everyone makes good choices." LOL!

Plumbing and digging and icky water, oh my!

Last week a man came and tiled around the top of the pool.  Also, the plumber came to put in all of the pipes--and there are a LOT of them!!--that will clean and circulate the water in the pool.  It was pretty nerve-wracking--he had a mini tractor that he was using to dig ditches right alongside the house.  Now if you open our back door, there's about two feet of dirt and then a 3-foot-deep ditch!

No one has been here for a few days, and some groundwater that seeped up through the still-unfinished drain in the bottom of the pool has gotten pretty icky!  I guess that's a lesson to us about making sure that filter is running! :)  I think we are waiting on an inspection and then the plumber will be back to finish up.  Next they will frame out and pour the deck and apply the pebbletech finish to the inside of the pool! We are getting closer--I am hoping within the next two weeks it will be done!!

Bad Words

This morning I had the following conversation with Emily:

"Mommy, I am going to be good today and not say any bad words."

"Bad words?  What do you mean?"

"You know, bad words.  Like Bailey says."

"But what do you mean by 'bad words'?"

"Like, 'I don't want to' or like when Bailey [is] mean."

"OH, okay.  Thanks, sweetie."

Love that kid!!  I was worried for a minute there! :)

Bailey turns 3!

We had Bailey's 3rd birthday party at Fort Mellon Park.  It was a gorgeous day and amazingly the park was not too crowded.  The kids had a great time playing in the splash pad as well as on the playground, and it was so cool and breezy under the pavilion that all of the adults were very comfortable.  Bailey had so much fun!  Here are a few pictures of her special day.

The Potty Train has left the station!!

Bailey is now on her ninth day with NO accidents of any kind!  I thought she was potty trained about a month ago, but then we had a 2-3 week regression where she had an accident (but really it was an "on-purpose" because she'd wait until I was taking care of the baby, and then go poop in her panties) EVERY DAY.  Sometimes more than once a day!  I was starting to think we'd never get there but we really seem to have turned the corner!  So YAY for just a pull-up at night!!  B turns three on Wednesday.

Mars

I just overheard this conversation between Emily and Bailey regarding Daddy's recent trip to Paris:

Emily: "If you land here, you have to go someplace very far away."

Bailey: "Disney World?"

Emmy: "No.  Disney World isn't very away.  I'm talking 'bout the place where Daddy went. It's very far away.  Its called Mars."

Pool Update!

Today the crew arrived to apply the gunite coating to the pool.

The girls and I were so excited!! They unrolled the hose and Bailey thought they were going to put the water in--LOL! I had to explain that if they did that, all we'd have is MUD! 

They put up this blue fabric to protect the house from overspray, and Emily looked out the window and said, "Looks like they're making us a SURPRISE!" :)

When they removed the fabric, here's what we saw:

And after a while, they smoothed it out:

Here's what it looks like now!  Next they will apply the pebbletech finish and pour the deck!  Hopefully we'll be swimming soon!!

Easter

Once again the Easter Bunny was very generous to the McDowell children.  When the girls woke up, they hunted for 64 eggs all over the house!  They also had Easter baskets.  Bailey got the movie Tangled, an egg spinner, a huge lollipop, and a chocolate bunny.  Emily got Bambi, an egg spinner, a huge lollipop, and a chocolate bunny, too!

In the afternoon we went to Mimi and Grandpa's house for dinner.  Mimi and Grandpa gave the kids baskets, too!!

We had a great Easter this year!

Our Pool!

We are getting a pool!  This morning the men showed up with the truck to dig the hole!  It was very exciting.  I will try to get lots of pictures and describe their progress.  Hopefully we'll be swimming by my birthday!!

Here's what the patio looked like before they arrived:

We'd (and when I say "we" I mean Will, Dad, and Uncle Bobby) moved the hot tub and other stuff over the weekend.  Yesterday the girls and I dug up the strawberries and cucumbers we had growing in the garden and transplanted them into pots.

Bailey was very excited to see the tractor being unloaded.

After they drove the equipment around to the back yard, they started breaking up the patio, which was pretty scary stuff!! They basically used the backhoe to pick it up, then dropped it a bunch of times so it would break into pieces.

I left to get Emmy from school and to go to the zoo, and when we got home around 4 pm, we saw this:

And here is the view from my back door right now!

Backyard Fun!

This week has been so hot that I opened the sprinkler Uncle Brian and Aunt Melissa gave the girls for Christmas.  They had so much fun playing with it and cooling off!