Emerald City Girls

Imogen, who is eating Fritos with apple yogurt as I write this, experienced her third girls' weekend in Seattle last weekend. This time, we were also joined by Tess's practically-daughter, Emilie. And even though the weather was completely dreadful, including snow, wind, rain, and near-freezing temperatures, we still had a fantastic time.

First up, the now-traditional photo of Imogen with the Space Needle (you can see the pictures from the previous two trips here and here - notice that she's wearing the same hat at 6 months, 13 months, and 18 months - such a petite thing!).


We also had Grayson's velociraptor along with us again, and so of course we had to photograph him all over Seattle. First up, here he is having some ice cream with Imogen at the Cold Stone Creamery.


And here he is visiting Pike Place Market.



And of course he had to try on some shoes at Nordstrom's.


And here he is on our last morning in town, posing with the super nice guy from The Crumpet Shop.


Last up, here I am with Emilie and Tess (Imogen is riding on my back, even though she didn't make it into the picture), posing outside the yummy donut shop by our hotel (yummmmm, donuts!).


We're already looking forward to our next trip! And stay tuned in the next couple of days for the 18-month sibling comparison photos. Happy spring!

Nice Try, Kid

A couple of weeks ago, Elliot asked if he could have a new baby. He decided he'd like another sister. It was a pretty adorable conversation. (I didn't tell him there was no way it was going to happen in a million years.)

Then, driving home from school one day last week, Elliot looked around the back seat of our Subaru and asked, "Where are we going to put the car seat for the new baby? There's no room back here." Apparently he's still thinking about this whole baby notion. I said we'd need a mini-van like Papa Pat. And then I asked, "Why do you want another baby? Isn't Imogen good enough?"

Elliot considered the question for a moment. Then he said, "She takes things. That's why she's not good enough." I see. Nice try, kid.

What A Long, Strange Week It's Been

What a week we've had! On the Wednesday morning that Bubba Joe and P. were due to arrive last week, Imogen started puking, which continued in unpredictable increments over the next three days. On Friday morning, Elliot joined his sister in the puking department, and I joined them on Friday night. And while the kids were sick and laying around like lumps, Thomas didn't move from bed for five days, flattened by some sort of cold/flu bug (which he is still fighting, now coupled with the stomach bug). Elliot came down with the cold, which is accompanied by a hacking cough, on Saturday (and he still has the cough). And now I have the cold. We were a joy to visit with, let me tell you.

To my credit, I did call my dad and Pam at 4am while they were getting ready to go to the airport to warn them about the den of sickness they were about to enter in case they wanted to reconsider, but they decided to brave it. Luckily, Pam escaped unscathed, but unfortunately we sent Bubba Joe home with the cold. Don't say I didn't warn you! But we hope you're feeling better, Bubba Joe!

Despite the illnesses, we did have some nice times with Bubba Joe and P.

We even made it out to Ikea one morning.

But most of the time with the kids was spent like this:



And though Thomas stayed home with sick kids, the rest of us made it to the School of Autism auction on Saturday night and had a wonderful time. Thanks to everyone who attended, entered the raffle, and donated items!

So it's not all gloom and doom around here. To prove it, here are a couple of shots of pure cuteness. First up, Imogen doing her best ballerina impression.

And a rare, happy snuggle between the siblings.


Onward to getting healthy!

Tagline

The other day, we caught a blurb on the news in passing in which an individual (not sure if it was a victim or the bad guy) was summed up with the line, "Friends say he was a web surfer who liked dogs." Which got me thinking, what would my tagline be? Thomas decided that he would be "divorce attorney and father of two." All true, but definitely not as random and interesting as "web surfer who liked dogs." Thomas also speculated that I would be "housewife and mother of two." This depressed me a little. I mean, I love my kids, and I love that I can be home with them, but I don't think that line sums me up at all. But hopefully I won't need a tagline for the news anytime soon. And by the time I do, it'll probably contain some reference to a crazy cat lady.

In other news, I've been knitting, knitting, knitting for all the new babies being welcomed to the world this winter and spring. First up, here is Idgie modeling the hat I made for baby Cora.


Elliot has been pretty artsy himself, lately. Here is a drawing he made of our family on the trampoline (trampolines make great canvases, by the way). He decided to erase the sad-faced Elliot right away, though. (The sad-faced Little Critter, that is. Elliot has decided that his name is Little Critter now, after the Mercer Mayer character in the books he loves.)


And here is Elliot, apparently getting ready to audition for the Blue Man Group.


And Papa has become quite the hair stylist this week. He was the first to give Imogen her single top-of-the-head ponytail a couple of months back, and now he's moved on to pigtails. Two pigtails are super cute (nostril shot not withstanding)...


...but three pigtails are even cuter. Thomas calls this look "The Bjork".


And here are both kiddos enjoying the unseasonable sunshine we had last weekend. Spring is coming, we can just feel it!!


So, I'm off to work on becoming a more interesting tagline. Then I'll feel worthy of being "mother of two" to "energetic boy who loves elevators" and "impossibly cute girl who loves kitty cats." What would your tagline be?

I Heart

Happy Valentine's Day! We never make a big deal about the holiday here at the McElroy household (except, of course, for the meatloaf), but this year I just couldn't resist dressing Miss Idgie up for the occasion.

You want to be her Valentine now, don't you? Plus, today is also her 17-month birthday. Imogen has been having a language explosion these last couple of weeks, and most of what comes out of her mouth these days sounds like actual words. When she really wants something, she can be particularly articulate! So, here are this month's sibling comparison photos - Elliot and Imogen at 17 months old.

On another note, many of you may have gotten excited about the release of the movie Coraline this past week. We haven't seen it yet (though we really want to!), but there's an even more exciting Cora to announce this week! My cousin Tim and his wife Elexis had a baby girl, Cora Rhiannon, on Tuesday, February 10th. Hooray! Little Cora is cute as a button, and I wish I was in Colorado to meet her and cook dinner for her parents. Here is the new family.


Welcome to the adventure of parenthood, you guys! Before you know it, little Cora will be donning spectacularly cute girly duds and sitting on your lap to read you a story, like this.

Now I'm off to eat some chocolate. Because that's what Valentine's Day is really all about, right?

One Fish, Blue Fish

Now that I have kiddos, I appreciate many things about my parents that I didn't realize were pretty damn cool when I was growing up. For instance, my mom used to bake bread and create gourmet dinners with inspiration from all corners of the globe, and my sister and I would still beg for Wonder Bread and feed rejected forkfuls of our meals to the dog. Despicable.

My parents also let us have pretty much any pet we wanted (though I never did get that ferret or a horse), and we always had multitudes of them. Despite the fact that my dad was horrified by rodents, we had rats (thanks to Mrs. White, my uber cool first grade teacher who also played the saw for us), gerbils, hamsters, and guinea pigs. We had the usual cats and family dog, but we also had parakeets, a cockatiel, newts, and snakes (thanks to Mrs. Jones, my uber cool fourth grade teacher who kept a live rattlesnake in her basement and left us halfway through the year to become a park ranger).

I still have a herd of cats, and though we no longer have a dog, we keep chickens and a duck. I love being surrounded by animals, and Imogen loves them, too. Elliot, however, has never shown much interest in anything zoologic. He liked our dog Oscar for awhile, but now he is mostly wary of dogs, even though he's also amused by Nancy and Vic's crazy dachsund, Clancy.

But a couple of weeks ago, while out on an adventure with Nona and Mr. Vic Victor (visiting the Pet Smart to get supplies for Clancy), Elliot asked if he could have a fish. Neither Thomas nor I has ever been able to get Elliot into a pet store while out on elevator adventures in malls, but that's what grandparents are for, right? Not to mention that, other than food, Elliot never requests anything. Nona called us up, and Elliot asked Papa if he could please have a fish. So we let Nona buy him a fish.

Elliot named him Blue Fish. Here he is, hanging out in his little bowl in Elliot's room. (Note: it is almost IMPOSSIBLE to take a picture of a fish.)


Blue Fish is very low maintenance. We give him fresh water once a week or so, and he only eats every three days. He's pretty and likes looking at his reflection. And Elliot likes to talk to him while setting up blocks on the desk to use as elevator buttons.

Right along with his sister, Elliot has been having a language explosion these days. It's been wonderful to hear him talk about things he did at school, how he'd like to have friends over to play, what he's thinking about and feeling, and what he wants. What's one more pet when it's such a big step for our boy?

So welcome, Blue Fish. You're a nice addition to our zoo.

Headline: Scientists Successfully Relocate Old Faithful to Portland, Ore.

'Twas a lovely Thursday morning. Thomas had just headed down the stairs to leave for work. I was in the bathroom changing Imogen's diaper and getting her dressed, and Elliot was entertaining us by singing a song on the ukulele. While standing on the water supply line for the toilet, it turns out. What happened next Elliot describes as follows: "It rained in the bathroom."

Yup. Suddenly, a huge geyser shot out of the base of the toilet, hitting the ceiling directly above the changing table. Elliot escaped, screaming, with only a few drops on the back of his pants. Imogen and I looked like we'd just stepped out of a downpour, however. I scooped up Imogen, naked and soaked, and went screaming out of the bathroom myself, hollering for Thomas. Our hero came dashing up the stairs (he luckily hadn't made it out the door yet), thinking one of the children was hurt. He had more wits about him than I did, and he turned off the water supply to the toilet while the three of us panted and dripped at the bathroom door.

There was water everywhere. On the ceiling, dripping down the walls, inside the photographs, in every bin of diapers and extra toilet paper rolls. It took our entire supply of towels to mop up. Here is a picture of the aftermath, drying everything off while our clothes tumbled about in the dryer.

Thank goodness for husbands who can fix anything. One trip to Home Depot and 5 minutes of bolt tightening, and we were right as rain. So to speak.

In other news, Imogen had her first real fall last weekend. Elliot was never a climber, but I regularly find Imogen on top of chairs and tables, perched precariously and giggling her head off. Last Saturday, she did a flip over the side of a chair and onto the hardwood floor, resulting in a huge goose egg above her left eye and a big scratch next to her nose. She was just fine, but I admit to panicking about the possibility of a concussion for the next 24 hours. Such a daredevil girl.

But as you can see, she has recovered nicely.

And here she is hamming it up, having a bath (she still fits in the sink!), and then snuggling with her papa.

Here's to an uneventful weekend...