Visit from Grandmas & Uncle Tyler

We had a few beloved visitors stop by this week. Here's Morgan and Mommy getting ready for their visit.

Grandma Reineke and Uncle Tyler arrived earlier in the week for Tyler's spring break and then headed back home today. It was a nice low-key visit that went by way too fast, as usual. On Friday Mommy took a vacation day, Morgan stayed home from school and we headed to Peddler's Village to enjoy the gorgeous day together.

And this weekend we also just happened to have a really nice afternoon visit from Grandma Brown.

Maya's Birthday

And if having music class this morning wasn't enough fun for one day, we went to Morgan's friend Maya's first birthday party after school.

Music Class

Every other Thursday Miss Judy from Kindermusik comes to Morgan's room at school for music class. The kids have so much fun (the teachers too) learning about different rhythms, playing with various instruments and hearing many types of songs.

Mommy happened to have some time in her schedule (and her camera) and headed over to enjoy music class today too. She loved every minute of it! After having so much fun this week, Mommy's hooked...she just might have to become a regular!

First Day of Spring

Today Morgan got outside for a little while after school to enjoy the first day of spring.

We are all suffering from a bit of cabin fever and definitely ready for the warm weather. Today didn't exactly bring the warm weather as we did have snow on our cars this morning, but that didn't stop Morgan from having fun in the fresh air before the sun went down.

Happy Birthday Daddy

Yesterday was Daddy's 30th Birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!

We are looking forward to helping him celebrate the big day tomorrow at Texas Roadhouse.

First Steps

And with the family cheering on the sidelines, Morgan reached a huge milestone today!

Taking her first steps! We are so proud of her!!!

And so excited we caught it on video. ;)

Brown Birthday Bash

Yesterday we had the Brown family over to our house for a big birthday bash. It was sort of one big family birthday celebration for Morgan, Daddy (his 30th!) and Great-Aunt Cathy.

We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone and enjoying the gorgeous weather...yet another beautiful day at the end of winter...Morgan has some great luck when it comes to planning parties. :) And Mommy ventured out with her very own cake creation (a first-time attempt) and it ended up actually turning out pretty good.

Overnight milestones

It's funny how some days it doesn't seem like Morgan changes much and some development takes forever and then some days, it just seems like she grows-up overnight. Today was a great example; Morgan just seemed older.

At school, today was her first day sleeping on a cot; no more crib during nap time! And it went really really well. The teachers had been struggling keeping her down for more than ½ hr. And today her nap (only 1 in the afternoon) was over 2 hrs! Everyone just went about their business and she was fast asleep, right there in the middle of it all...we always knew she isn't one to want to be left out. Also, during mealtime, she showed a lot of interest in actually eating the menu items and had multiple servings of everything offered throughout the day for the first time . We also made some steps in the weaning process, with today being the first time she was ok with not having the after school session…probably because of all the big kid food she actually ate at school for a change.

And it feels like we are getting closer to walking!

Month 13 in Review

The first week this month kept us busy with Morgan's birthday party (our good friend Judy just gave us the great picture below from the event); it was a lot of fun but was exhausting too. After the big event, it felt like we all needed some recovery time and spent the rest of the month relaxing and enjoying some free time.

Morgan had some neat milestones this month. She figured out how to crawl down the stairs backwards, which definitely helps when she can't get enough of going up them. Sort of going hand-in-hand, she also developed a sense of depth perception, which is really cool to watch. For example, last month she wouldn't understand that she couldn't just keep crawling off the top of the stairs…now she stops, turns around, and starts climbing down. The same goes for the bed, the couch, and this past weekend in Philly, a small tunnel at the museum. It was so cute…she climbed up the little step and through the tunnel, and when she got to the other side, paused, thought about her predicament (you could actually see the wheels turning), then turned around and crawled out of the tunnel backwards. Another milestone from this weekend, which is Daddy's favorite, is figuring out how to drink through a straw. You may not think it, but it was a big deal! Not something that is too easy to teach and definitely more convenient.

Walking update

Everyone has been asking so here's the current update…we have a 1-finger holder on our hands. :) She's getting close to walking on her own and building a bit more confidence every day.

Sleepover in Philly

This weekend we celebrated a belated V-Day, with a fun family sleepover in Philadelphia. We stayed at the fancy Bellevue Park Hyatt (directly on Broad St, courtesy of our Hyatt points) and enjoyed a great dinner at Bucca's (only a couple blocks away; thank goodness, b/c after our enormous meal we could use a little walk). For breaksfast, we had Mommy's favorite, these delicious Belgian waffles (w/ chocolate chips, of course) at a place called Bonte.

The next day we explored Philly's Please Touch Museum. A great place full of interative exhibits for kids of all ages. Morgan may have been a little young and a bit overwhelmed at times, but still overall had a great time.

When we were there, they just happened to be having their Jazz Festival; all the kids just loved the music! We had a lot of fun!