Holiday Preparations

In the middle of all of the Christmas preparation Emmy started to be able to sit up. We went to a Christmas party on Saturday night and there was a little boy who was nine months old and sitting on his own. Emmy watched him and then the next morning she decided that she could do it too. Nothing like a little peer pressure! Aidan loves that she can sit with him and look at toys. He is really good with her and doesn't push her over or anything (yet!). It seems like she is a real person to him now - he was kissing her last night and telling her that she was his best friend. It really can't get much better than that!

Aidan and Emmy playing together

Emmy sitting in the kitchen

Emmy LOVES avocados

Aidan in the uniform he has been wearing constantly since last week

Emmy's on Solid Food

So it's a very exciting time for us here in the Cullinan household. Emmy's chair finally came and I started her on some solid food. She LOVES it - no suprise really! Here are some pictures of her first meal of rice cereal. Since then she has mastered both sweet potatoes and bananas. Avocado will be next followed by yogurt! She just loves sitting at the table with us and tries to grab the spoon out of my hand. She does get a little frustrated that it doesn't go very quickly but a hungry baby is a motivated baby - I'm sure she'll be eating steak by next week!

Christmas Tree

We put up our tree last week! Emmy thought it was great - she loves the lights. Aidan thought it was great too - he wouldn't hold still for a picture so we don't have any of him with the tree but I'll try tomorrow to get some! Here are some pictures of ornaments - I am still learning how to use my new camera and lenses but I thought these came out well.

Christmas Picture Trauma

I just love having a Christmas picture of Aidan and now Aidan and Emmy. I am a total dork because I love the cheesy Christmas backgrounds and props so we went to Kiddie Kandids to get the picture taken. Last year Aidan's picture came out cute and I actually had a few to choose from so I thought we should go back. I made the appointment for 10:30 which is great because it's after Emmy's feeding and between naps and Aidan is better in the morning than the afternoon. So we get there on time - a little early even! - turns out to be one of the biggest mistakes that I have made in a while - and believe me that is saying a lot! We were on time but they were running late - there were still two people ahead of us. Aidan was fine for about 20 minutes and then he started climbing on stuff. He was bored and he's 2 so really that was to be expected. But then I turn my head for literally 2 seconds and he had gotten himself wedged UNDER the desk where the computer is to view the pictures. And then he started screaming -because he is terrified that his head is stuck and he can't get out. Everyone is staring at me as I pull him out from under the desk by his ankles - now he is red and what's even better - has rug burn on his forehead - awesome. Then Emmy starts fussing because she has been up for an hour and a half and is starting to run out of steam. We get started with the pictures about 10 minutes later which is an eternity in tired kid time. Emmy can't sit up on her own and the photographer - who may have never used a camera before he started working at Kiddie Kandids yesterday - doesn't know how to pose them and just watches Aidan throw himself around the backdrop and keeps saying "I can't get the baby to smile"

We walked out. I've never walked out of anything in my life. It was horrible.

We did end up getting a picture the next day - it was almost as bad but Brendan was back from his business trip so he was there to help wrangle the kids and hold back the crazy lady.

Totally worth the pain and agony........

Thanksgiving Update

We went up to Brendan's parents' house in Marshfield, MA for Thanksgiving this year. It was a great visit - just really busy! Aidan was really happy that he got to play with his cousin Chase. We had a nice Thanksgiving meal on Thursday. On Friday we went to Edaville Railroad in Carver and on Saturday we had Emmy's Baptism and the entire Cullinan clan went to Fenway for family pictures. It was FREEZING! The kids were miserable and both Aidan and Emmy ended up crying by the end of it! On the up side - it was really cool to be in Fenway park when it was empty and the pictures are really neat!Chase, Brody, Murphy, Aidan and Emmy - ready for bed on Thanksgiving night

Murphy and Emmy

Aidan and Emmy on Santa's lap - Aidan asked for a pirate ship...

Emmy's Baptism

Us at Emmy's Baptism

Chase, Mary, Emmy, Brody, Aidan, Dan and Murphy at Fenway

Aidan, Brendan, Becky, Emmy, Joe, Murphy, Siobhan, Mary, Dan, Amanda, Brody, Justin, Chase, Nora, Tim and Dan at Fenway

Pre Thanksgiving

So it's been a little while since my last post and I'm getting a bit of flack from some of you - I didn't know that I had an adoring public!!! Anyway - it's been a busy week - my parents came last weekend and I turned 30 (ahhhhhh) on Monday. We had a really nice visit and even got to see some of the monuments. The weather was not so great - what you think of when you think of November - cold and rainy. Emmy also turned 5 months. She is really turning over well now and finally getting that arm out of the way. We've had a few setbacks with sleeping. She had started sleeping through the night on September 11 and was great for about a month. Then she started waking up again and acting hungry around 5 am. The doctor said not to feed her but I'm afraid she is going to wake Aidan up so I feed her and she goes right back to sleep. So I don't really know what to do - some days she wakes up at 3 and some days it's 5. I'm sure that it will pass but it is still a little painful.

My Dad and Mom with Aidan and Emmy at the Jefferson Memorial

A view of the Capitol and Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial

Aidan at a friend's birthday party at Gymboree

Aidan walking by the Potomac

Emmy almost sitting by herself

Emmy on her new tummy time toy

Parent Helping In Aidan's Classroom

On Tuesday I was the parent helper for Aidan's classroom. At a co-op preschool there is a parent helper everyday in class. With 12 kids in the class it works out to about once every 6 weeks and it is so much fun! The kids are great - 8 boys and 4 girls - all under 3!! Totally crazy but they are all pretty independent and get along really well. Thank goodness there are no bullies. They all say please and thank you - even to each other and take turns with the favorite toys (relatively) well. A big tree had fallen in the parking lot the night before so we didn't get to go out to play in the playground for fear that another weak tree might be looming. But they didn't seem to mind - all the more time to hang out in the loft and play with trucks and blocks.

Here is Aidan waving the flag during the Flag Song. The "co-op kid" (the kid with the parent in the classroom) gets to wave the flag. It is a very desired privilege...

Making the hand print stripes for a very big flag

Playing with the Fisher Price airplane

Some of the other boys in Aidan's class

Tauxemont's Halloween Party

On Tuesday afternoon Aidan's school had a Halloween Party. It was total chaos as you can imagine. Here are a few pictures - you can see Aidan in the school picture way over on the lefthand side playing a pipe flute.
Aidan's class - they are the youngest ones at school - it goes all the way up to Kindergarten.
Who would have known that HOURS of fun could be had by pounding golf tees into a pumpkin...

Emmy was a little overwhelmed by the commotion.

Halloween 2007

We went over to Gramma Page and Pop's house in Arlington to go Trick or Treating last night. It was pretty warm which was way better than how I remember many Halloweens - either raining or so cold you had to wear your parka OVER your costume. We walked around with the neighbors on either side and their pack of kids. Aidan and Brendan tried really hard to keep up - not so easy on those hills!! I trailed along with Pop and Emmy in the Bjorn - we all enjoyed the walk. Aidan in his flight suit and Stetson.
Emmy in her improvised costume - the one I got for Florida was too cold for last night!

She is just starting to be able to balance herself in a sitting position. This didn't last long - I had to use the timer on the camera to catch it!

Pumpkin Guts are Gross

So today after Aidan's nap - or non-nap - as I like to call those lovely days when he decides to spend the afternoon singing to himself and rolling the trundle bed out from under his mattress instead of sleeping - I thought we should carve pumpkins. I thought that Aidan would love it - digging into the pumpkin and pulling out the seeds seemed like something right up his alley! I kept asking him if he wanted to help me and he kept running away and refusing to touch the pumpkin. I thought he was just being difficult but I was wrong. I finally got him to come over and grab a spoon to scoop out some seeds. As soon as he dipped the spoon into the pumpkin he started gagging - I mean really gagging - I thought that he was going to throw up into the pumpkin. So there it is - just another reason to feel guilty. I am a terrible mother who didn't realize that pumpkin guts would gross out a 2 year old.............

We Finally Made it to the Monuments

Since Brendan is on a business trip and Aidan's school was canceled today, we had to get out and do something fun. As weird as it sounds, Aidan has been wanting to go to the Washington Memorial since the first day he saw it. If we didn't go soon he was going to have an aneurism! So we drove up to the Lincoln Memorial and totally lucked out on a parking spot which is so not what usually happens to me! We walked up to the Lincoln Memorial which was great and practically empty since it was overcast and sprinkled a little. Then we went to the Korean War Memorial and Aidan really wanted to go in the pond. All that water is so enticing! We walked down the reflecting pool to the WWII Memorial which is really cool and LOUD since there are so many fountains. Then we walked up to the Washington Memorial and Aidan was excited to run around and touch the marble - it was really nice that it was almost totally empty. We even got home in time for a late lunch and a good nap. :)The Lincoln Memorial The Korean War Memorial
The Korean War Memorial

Aidan at the Washington Monument
Some nice guy offered to take this picture....

The Mt. Vernon Fall Festival

Emmy slept through another fun family outing! We went to Mt. Vernon to go to their Fall Festival. The weather was great and we got there before the crowds. Aidan and Brendan watching the blacksmith - the lighting is real - no photoshop needed!
There was a cool maze made of hay bales - after one trip through with Daddy he insisted that he go by himself. Where does he get that stubborn streak????????
Turning everything into a drum.

Roasting apples and... eating them - not quite as good as it looks


Being in the band....

Recreation of George Washington's threshing barn at Mt. Vernon - built entirely with 18th century techniques - even the nails used were made by a blacksmith!