Max is here and Cate is two!!

If I was a little more organized, this would be two separate posts, but I'll blame my delay on being busy with a newborn and a toddler!

As you all know, Maximilian "Max" Jacob Andrew Messing was born on September 18th at 8:22am. He weighed 8 pounds, 8 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches long.  At his two week appointment he was already up to 10 pounds 3 ounces and 22 inches!! He loves to eat.

Cate has been a great big sister from day one.  She was excited from the moment she saw him. She loves to bring him little toys and becomes very concerned when he cries (perhaps even a little angry if we don't seem to address his crying quickly enough!).










Cate, of course, celebrated her second birthday just two weeks after Max was born. First, she had a little cupcake party at daycare. I was able to attend this year since I am home on maternity leave anyway. The next day she had her two year old Well Child Check where her measurements of 27 pounds and 33.5 inches put her at the 50th percentile. She also had to get two shots, but any pain was forgotten once the nurse brought her stickers, bracelets, a pencil and a lollipop!

Over the weekend we celebrated Cate's birthday at The Little Gym. They have lots of mats, bars, and beams and the staff put on a great party for all the kids. Several kids from daycare came, as well as some of our friends' kids. All the kids enjoyed licking the icing off their cupcakes (apparently two-year-olds don't actually eat the cupcake?!). As if that wasn't enough excitement, we also went to a birthday moon bounce party for one and three year old brothers the next day.

Cate is still enjoying being in the twos classroom. She can count to 20, knows all the main colors, and is working on her alphabet. She is also making progress potty training (yay!). More and more words are recognizable, although she will still go on rants of her own little language. Her word of the week has been "okay"...every time you ask her a question she will just reply okay, whether it actually makes sense or not.

I still have three weeks home with Max before I will go back to work and Erick will take over for a few weeks before he starts daycare in December!

Happy Birthday, Cate!

Cate's birthday weekend started with a party at daycare on Friday. Erick got to leave work early and go to take pictures of Cate and her friends eating cupcakes

On Saturday, we celebrated at the Navy tailgate with Auntie Jen, Uncle Phil, and some other friends.  Cate was all dressed up and we had MORE cupcakes.  She also tried to tackle a 5-year-old boy playing football a couple times...girls rule!

On Sunday Erick had a half marathon in the morning (he did very well!), so we opened gifts around lunch time.  Cate, of course, tried to chew on several of the packages, but eventually got the hang of opening her gifts.  As would be expected, she liked the box the biggest gift came in more than the gift itself!

I just can't believe how quickly Cate is growing up! She has finally learned to crawl down the steps between the kitchen and the living room...yay!! She also has other new little skills, like closing doors (sometimes with you in the room, or sometimes to keep you out). She gets into and rearranges all the cabinets (well, now Erick has childproofed all but one kitchen cabinet, which we have deemed to be Cate's).  She can even get herself down off the couch or bed, although her landing isn't that steady, so we still provide a little guidance.

Cate has about half a new tooth on the bottom, and one about to break through, so soon the top and bottom will be equal.  She still eats like a champ!