Simply BLESSED!!!

A few weeks ago we were so fortunate to be able to share Christian's baptism with those we love in Long Beach Island, NJ. Christian is most certainly our little blessing and it was THE perfect day! It meant so much to us that everyone came to meet Christian! I know he will grow up feeling all of the love that surrounds him from all of you! Thanks to everyone who shared in his special day! We spent the week down there and boy did we luck out with the most gorgeous weather! No surprise that Nicholas had the time of his life and continues to ask when we will go back to visit the beach again!

Here are some of our favorite pictures from the trip.

The God Parents, my brother Christian and good friend Lisa.

Christian did not have a nap that morning so he fell asleep in my arms during the mass. He is asleep in most of the pictures. I guess the holy water over his head must have put him right to sleep!

Asleep with grandparents Pop and Mimi.

Grandparents Pop-pop and Mom-Mom

Uncle Christian and Grandpop Bob

Christian's delicious cake that he did not get to try.

Poor Christian, he wanted to dig in so badly! He'll have to wait another 6 months!

Cousin Audrey is ready for cake!

No cake for you, hold this napkin instead, haha! Christian and Aunt Patty

The McCaffrey-McFadden step siblings; haha, that kind of sounds weird to say!

Childhood friends, minus one who happened to have a baby the day before!

Big, strong Nicholas pulling his cousins.

Phew, tired now!

Blessed and fortunate to have gotten to spend so much time with the cousins!

Nicholas had a blast spending time with Lucas and Aiden!

Nicholas loved watching the big boys play!

Crabbing...

Ahhh, beach time! Lucky for us, we had such perfect weather!

Getting ready to jump in the waves with Pop!

1 - 2 - 3 - Jump!

Christian actually didn't care too much for the cold water. It wasn't too bad once you got all the way in.

Feeling much better on the sand with Daddy!

After a long day at the beach!

I am simply blessed!

Snuggle time! (with Fin, but you can't see him in this shot)

Play time!

What's the shore with out ice cream treats?

Gorgeous day at the light house!

Nicholas made it all the way to the top of the light house.

Christian's first time on the swings, he loved it!

Chris says he looks like a little man in this picture. No, he wasn't really riding it all by himself, it was just a cute photo op.

Nicholas and Chris in Pop's fishing bike, again, another photo op. Nicholas didn't really get to ride it for long since we didn't have his helmet.

Nicholas' first kayak ride in the bay. Chris has been waiting years to take him on a boat!

Nicholas in his first life jacket!

So blessed that Christian got to spend time with so many people that love him!

Christian and Christian

He loves his Pop-pop!

Mimi and Christian

Mom-Mom and Christian

The best part of being around all of our family - babysitters!!!

Lucky for us (and everyone around us) the kids traveled great!

Growing Up!!!

Nicholas sure has been making some major changes lately! He is becoming so independent and often tells us he wants to do things all by himself. He is now in the "why?" stage, and can often ask it up to 50 times in a single conversation regardless of your answer. Sometimes cute, sometimes annoying! He is a nosey body and if we are having an adult conversation he often asks "what are you talking about guys?" And he is also very curious often asking "What does that mean?"

But the biggest change is that he wears big boy underwear!!!! He is officially potty trained. I can really take no credit, as I think Nicholas was just completely ready. He threw out his diapers nearly two weeks ago (I went and pulled them out to save them for Christian) and I can count how many accidents he has had on one hand. It has been much easier than I thought, but only because I think I waited for his perfect time! We will see how it goes as we travel this coming week! We are so proud of him! I know he will kill me in later years for posting the pictures below!

Underwear model

so proud of himself!

His pediatrician said at his 2 year visit that sometime between the 2nd and 3rd year they go from not liking stranger attention to reveling in it. Well, I think it is certainly true in Nicholas' case. Today he fell while playing and said he needed to go to the doctor, a year ago he would have cried at the idea of visiting a doctor. He also got his haircut this past weekend and sat perfectly still again; it use to be a nightmare taking him for a haircut.

He had his first dentist appointment and he was so good! He got a full cleaning and opened nice and wide the entire time. He got to play with new toys, watch a movie on the ceiling and get his "teeth tickled", he was in heaven! He even walked out of there saying, "I had fun!"

say aahhhhh!

I'm loving this new stage, but I am also secretly sad that he isn't so dependent on us any more. His quest for independence can also lead to some stubborn behavior sometimes which clearly tests my patience but I wouldn't change being a mother of a two year old for the world!

Christian is 6 Months Old!!!

Christian turned 6 months old yesterday! Today we had his wellness visit at the doctors office. Everything is great, he continues to follow the same growth pattern of long and lean. He is 14 lbs and 11 oz (10th percentile) and is 28 3/4 inches (off the chart, 99 percentile and above for height). I looked at Nicholas' 6 month information and Christian is 1 1/2 ponds lighter than Nicholas was and two inches taller than Nicholas was at 6 months. Wow!!! What a difference! Christian is nearly half of my body height!

He is adorable and happy as can be! He is eating solid foods now and loves carrots, sweet potatoes, avocado and pears. He has no teeth as of yet, although one week I thought for sure he was going to get one, he was so cranky and waking up a bunch at night, I even thought that I felt something but it must have been in my own sleepless imagination! Anything and everything that he can get his hands on goes in his mouth. He cracks up at everything, but mostly at his big brother. He has his own way of making his way from one side of the room to the other via rolling. He sits up on his own for a few minutes before eventually toppling over. We love each new day with Christian here and can hardly believe 6 months has passed! I can't believe he is half way to one, it seems unimaginable that in another 6 months he will be walking around!

P.S. I got a new camera, aren't the images great?!!

Happy, happy playing in his exersaucer!

gnawing at his fingers

sitting up, but on his way down

doing the super-man on his belly

pure joy!

More of Summer ~ 2010

Well, I cant believe it's Labor Day already. The summer has really flown by. It seems like just

yesterday was Memorial Day. This summer was so much fun. Having two keeps me very busy!

I realized today that I needed to post some more pictures before the summer is officially gone in a few weeks!

We spent a day on the Puget Sound a few weeks ago with our friends. The Puget Sound is what connects Lake Washington to the Pacific Ocean. It was amazingly beautiful and we got to see more natural marine life than at the Aquarium. These pictures were taken by my friend, but I wish that I had remembered to bring my camera. Hundreds of the most gigantic starfish I have ever seen; purple and orange ones! Huge anemones, we were too scared to touch and lots of big crabs. Only in the Pacific Northwest will you see our little ones dressed in boots and sweatshirts while others kids were in bathing suits swimming in the water. The Puget Sound, in my opinion, is too cold to swim in with water temperatures in the high 50's. Thank goodness for the lakes, they are much warmer for swimming!

Nicholas and his buddies gazing out into the Sound.

On our way to check out the starfish under the ferry docks!

We've also had lots of time to check out cool playgrounds and parks!

Nicholas and India on the see-saw.

and enjoying a hike on a near by nature trail!

We spent many warm summer days swimming in the pool in our backyard. One day it was so hot that Chris and I joined in the fun and got in too!

King of the pool!

Cutie pie laying in the shade!

and taking a quick dip!

We have so many fantastic lake beaches to choose from around here, all within a 10 minute drive. Few houses have air conditioning around here because it only reaches the 90's maybe two weeks out of the summer, so everyone flooded the beach on Lake Sammamish on this one hot summer day.

Coincidentally, we ran into our neighbors so Nicholas played with them in the sand and ate lunch with them under their big beach tent. Nicholas was such a gentleman sharing our watermelon with all of the girls!

Another warm day swimming in Lake Washington.

with his buddy Hudson, after a mommy stroller work out along the lake.

He has already started climbing trees like his favorite monkey, George. (yes, that is his new favorite, almost trumping Thomas!)

Great-Grandmom and Grandpop McFadden's visit.

We had such a fantastic time when my dad and grandmom came to visit us for a week. I am blessed to see my children spending time with their Great-Grandmother because it brought back so many memories of all of the fun times I shared with her when I was a little girl. I miss them both so much already and can't wait for their next visit!

Having fun throwing rocks into the water on Lake Washington.

Grandpop Bob and Nicholas watching the boats.

Our day at the zoo!

My dad carried Christian around the entire zoo that day.

Chilly afternoon at our downtown waterfront.

Me and the boys at the park down the street from our house.

Nicholas playing in the park pushing a truck while his brother got to socialize with some other babies. Hmm, is he a little grumpy because not all of the attention is on him?!

Christian holding hands, that's him in the plaid jumper!

We try to give Christian as much one on one time as possible which can sometimes prove challenging since Nicholas is so demanding of our attention lately. Sometimes he gets bath time with Mommy...(he is a natural back floater!)

...and other times he gets snuggle time with Daddy!

I just wish he would stay this little forever...

But I know that he won't! Big boy started rice cereal this past week!

We also had a great weekend visit with our friends, the Rowell family from Sandpoint, Idaho. To see pictures of our fun weekend together click on the link below:

The Rowell Family: Summer Vacation - Take 3! Seattle!