don't faint and fall out!!!

sorry for the lapse...again! as with everyone, life just gets so busy! our life has been fun and entertaining lately. our house is on the market, and for some reason, people ONLY want a showing during nap times :( so, sarah and drew are both on weird sleep schedules. that always makes for an interesting start to your day! i figured it was about time to WRITE a little about what's going on in our family.

pretend you just received a fancy envelope in the mail with beautiful calligraphy with MY address as the return label. pretend you sit down with a nice cup of hot chocolate to enjoy reading your mail. imagine you open my envelope and discover a precious picture of my kids and a lengthy note that begins by exclaiming, "happy january 2007!".

sarah addison: sarah is talking so much...and saying the darnedest things. she told me a few days ago, "i just told you momma, i going to spank you!" now, what a little stinker! she is bossy bossy bossy! (no one knows where she gets it!) she tells drew and the puppies what to do all day long. she has picked up on a lot of the "vernacular" parts of the english language...she says, "so mommy, how was your day?" or "so daddy, what do you want for dinner?". she'll answer questions with, "probably", "sure", or "maybe". its amazing! she has absolutely NO interest in potty training (she's 28 months today)! discussing how using the potty is for big girls, or talking about her friends who do it, promising all kinds of rewards...NONE of it has any effect on her. so, we drop it for a few days and then try again. i guess she'll be using the potty before she walks across the stage at high school graduation :) she LOVES drew so much. she's always looking out for him, trying to calm him when he's upset (especially in the car), wanting to know where he is and what he's doing, and wanting to feed him. she is also VERY into the show "little bear" on noggin. she has learned a lot from watching it. there is an episode that talks about little bear "being scared". now, she has NO idea what being scared means, but she says she is scared all the time. its hilarious. she really has learned the meaning of so many words and phrases already, so it tickles me so much when she does misuse a word. tonight as we were getting in the car, she said, "its so hot!" (its like 35 degrees outside). before i even corrected her, she started saying, "brrrrrr". she's just at a really fun age right now. she know her first, middle, and last names, my and tim's names, her brother's name, and mimi and poppy's first names. sometimes when you ask her drew's name, she'll answer, "10 months". apparently, it made a big impression when i told her last month how old drew was! i guess that's sarah in a nutshell. she's really always saying or doing something worth blogging about (of course she IS my daughter)...but i'll leave it with that.


andrew quinn: drew took his first steps last week (!) but still hasn't ventured into full time walking. he'll go a few feet and then go back to crawling...he turned 11 months on the 26th. we are planning his first birthday party already! this year has gone by so quickly! the little man still doesn't have any teeth. well, i shouldn't say that anymore. there appears to be a teeny tiny white spot in his bottom gums that if you press on pretty hard (poor guy) does appear to be the top of his first tooth. but, i'll believe it when i see it :) he is everywhere all the time. i have to strap him in his highchair to get anything done without him immediately undoing it!!! he has already found A MILLION hazards around our house that sarah has never seen before! its really true what they say about little boys vs. little girls. i swear, drew will learn to crawl out of his crib before sarah does!!! he has ended up really well adjusted to preschool and nursery during church. he actually lunges out of my arms to his preschool teachers now! and he is apparently really good the whole time i am gone! he is an eating machine now! he shovels hand fulls of food into his mouth at a time! his teachers call him a "bulldozer"! its pretty funny. he always eats like we've never fed him before. we are working on getting him onto all finger foods and sippy cup only by his first birthday which is presenting quite a challenge since he has no teeth to bite into his food with! he is apparently not too bothered by it though. now, weaning is going nowhere fast. he LOVES nursing. well, he pretty much loves cuddling in general, so i think that has something to do with it too. plus, he's totally totally spoiled rotten (by me!). i totally get the whole mama's boy/daddy's girl thing now! its a living breathing phenomenon in our household!!! drew has developed into the great little sleeper like his sister! most nights, both kids are down by 7pm and we don't hear a peep again until at least 7am! its so nice! of course, according to the grandparents, we are SO CRUEL for letting our kids learn how to put themselves to sleep. i think of it like teaching them to feed themselves, use the potty, tie their shoes, etc. they need to learn how to go to sleep independently. and they can either learn so early that they never remember a different way, OR you can fight the battle when they are old enough to really cause a war!!! ok, enough of my soapbox (well, actually Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth, MD).

well, if anyone is still reading at this point, thank you!!! i'll give you the readers digest condensed version on tim and me soon! (well, you've heard THAT line before!) i've also got a video of drew the night he took his first steps, but my computer savvy husband will have to assist me with that one!!!