Pow-Pow-Power Megan!

Megan has a new and big toy at her Gennrich grandparents' house now - a Kawasaki Power Wheels four-wheeler.  My dad's cousin's kids had outgrown it and they thought of Megan.  We put Megan on it today thinking that she was too young for it and that she would soon bore and want to come off.  Well, as soon as it started going forwards and backwards, she was hooked and ended up doing many loops in front of the house.  She just needed someone to turn the corners for her but she was able to hang on for herself and also press down the pedal.  By the end she was also waving to us while "driving".  In case you can't tell by the looks on Megan's face, she thought she was hot stuff!  Who needs a stroller when you can ride Power Wheels!

Too Cute Tuesday: Water & Watermelon

The whole Lewis clan gathered at Miller Park on Sunday to watch Michael's team play baseball.  John's parents were generous to grill and provide food for the entire team and fans.  The girls sure had a good time playing in this big water fountain!  I think it was their highlight to the afternoon and both girls were soaked by time we left. 

Megan's favorite food of the day was the delicious watermelon.  I had to keep reminding her that we don't eat the green part but she did really good with it.  A perfect outdoor food!  Yum!

Just Another Day at the Office

One of Megan's (and Alexa's) favorite things to do at home and at G&G Lewis's place is to play office.  Here are a couple pictures taken a week or so ago of Megan and Alexa playing "office" together at Grandpa's computer desk.  (Thank you, Grandma, for sharing the pictures!) 

 

And then to prove that Megan never takes a day off, I took some pictures of her playing with her laptop on a Saturday morning. We even colored a picture together to use as the screensaver.



Hot Outside?

I saw this cartoon on a deal blog that I follow and thought it was too cute not to share... Stay cool, everyone!

Megan at 16 Months

It's time for another Megan update now that our little girl is 16 months!  There are plenty of new things going on, so let's get started!

The first thing I wanted to mention is that Megan is sleeping soooo much better than when I wrote her 15 month update. We have a routine down now where she will have just a little milk while we read 2-3 books together.  Lately, Megan has been so good with the stories and I can actually read all the words on the page before she turns the page.  After the books are done we fold our hands for a bedtime prayer.  When I put her in the crib and tell her to put her head down and she will generally put herself to bed.  Bedtime goal is still around 8pm (may get to be later if she's antsy because she's working on filling her pants - which has been quite a bit lately!)  Naps can be a little trickier and Megan's still giving us either one or two a day.

Megan's biggest accomplishment this past month has been baby sign language!  John and I had been casually signing "more" to her during meals since she was about eight months old.  However, about three weeks ago she finally caught on and signed back to us!  And she caught on to the next few signs we showed her as well like please, milk, cracker and now book.  I checked out a "Baby Signing Time" DVD from the library which she really enjoyed but was mostly help me learn words to introduce to Megan later.  Our biggest challenge is to keep encouraging Megan to use the signs instead of whining and to use the appropriate signs.  Sometimes I will ask her what she wants and she will sign everything she knows.  For this reason I'm trying not to introduce any more signs to her until we get these learned better.  I sort of made up my own sign for book (I put my hands open hands together and then showed Megan how to open and close them using the side of the hand as a hinge...).  She is very proud of this sign and I like it because it sure cuts down on a lot of whiny points at bedtime.  The other signs are nice because Megan can point to something and then pat her chest for "please" or sign "more" when riding in her carseat so I know to pass her another cracker or food.  Overall, it's definitely a lot less whining and Megan's patience has noticeably increased.

Megan's still saying plenty of words but hasn't learned too many more lately, maybe due to the signing.  Her favorites right now are up, hi, no, all done, dog and uh-oh.  However, she has started saying some animal sounds.  She was experimenting with a roar sound and we told her that was a lion and will now do it on command.  The next animal sound she learned was "woof".  She sees plenty of dogs during the week but started woofing after my parents got new neighbors with really, really loud dogs.  Now when she sees a picture or real dog she will either say dog or start woofing.  Yesterday we went down the pet aisle at the grocery store and Megan had to point out all the dogs and cats on the liter and pet food containers.  Finally, and I have no idea why Megan picked this sound up, but she learned that a cow says "moo" or "ooooo" as how she would say it.

It's a subtle change, but Megan s doing a lot btter with the stairs recently.  She barely uses her knees anymore shen going up but still uses her hands to help her.  Going down, she enjoys holding onto me with one hand and the wall with the other.  She is so proud!  Of course, this climbing is better also is her climbing onto everything else.  She sits on our desk chair to play "office" and yesterday we looked over and she was standing on the desk... Ugh!

I will leave you with one of Megan's recent fasinations... Every time I give Megan a bath she has to look up into the bathtub faucet and poke her finger in there to make the diverter go up and down.  Her little brain is working overtime to figure out what all this stuff is for.  One thing I almost forgot... Megan now dances for us when we ask.  In response to the Hokey Pokey, her dancing is her twirling herself in circles until she falls down!

Another Music in the Park Outing

Today is Megan's 16 month birthday and we celebrated with another Thursday outing.  Music in the park is over in Waconia but still going strong in NYA.  My parents and John's mom as well as Kristin and Alexa joined us this week.  We had other ideas in mind for the night but I am glad we went this route.  The band was really good and it was an Elvis tribute.  Valerie and my dad really enjoyed the music and danced along to many of the pieces.  The girls thought the playground was lots of fun as you can see in the pictures below.  Both the slides and the swings were a big hit!

Megan went down the slides on her tummy the entire night!

 Yes, Megan climbed all the way up on her own, at least three times (we actually lost track after awhile).

 Alexa had to stop for a water break!

 

 Higher, Daddy... Higher!

We left the park all smiles and still jammin' to Elvis tunes!

My New Curtains!

Since I moved in to our townhouse, I have wanted to put some type of window treatment on our big downstairs window.  We've had the curtains up now for a couple weeks and I absolutely love them!  They look a little darker in person but they add so much to that window and the living room in general.  We had to order them extra long so we had enough fabric to make a runner for on top of the bookshelf and a valence for the front door.  Also seen in the picture below is the new shag rug that John snagged up at Home Depot!  Our living room looks pretty nice when not strewn with toys!

Too Cute Tuesday: Pigtail Pride!

John and I really like Megan's new hairdo - Pigtails! They make her look so grown up and she wore them well all day today. As an added bonus, Megan and aunt Becca had the same hairdo at softball tonight!

Megan's First Parade

It had been a long time since either John or I had gone to a parade, so we decided to join my parents at Mayer's parade this afternoon.  Luckily, my parents were able to snag a space under a shade tree right at the beginning of the parade route.  Megan had never been to a parade before and she absolutely loved it.  She didn't run up to grab the candy that was thrown but we had plenty of people hand it to us (an advantage of sitting with an older crowd), plus my dad did plenty of running for the candy himself. 

One of the first things that was handed out were freeze pops (and actually about four more exhibits gave out the same thing).  Megan quickly ate up this orange one and then started a cherry one.  What a great thing to eat outside on a hot day.

Megan saw all of us waving to the people on the floats and it didn't take long until she was waving just as much as we were. 

It turns out that all of that waving paid off.  We had a family sitting right in front of us, but we actually had several people walk around them to drop candy and other snacks into Megan's lap.  Here are her big handfuls of tootsie rolls and teddy grahams.

Megan liked so many different exhibits.  One of them was people riding around on horses shooting guns.  We thought she'd be scared but she actually laughed when the shots were fired.  She loved seeing all the animals including dogs riding in the trucks, someone dressed up in a cow suit, and then the horses in the picture below.  After seeing the dogs she was "woofing" for the next 10 minutes!

Fourth of July Weekend of Fun - Part 2

Monday morning I did something that I haven't done in a long time - slept in!  And I did until 7:38 when Megan woke up.  It felt wonderful.  We decided to stay home during the morning so Megan could get a good nap in before heading to the Gennrich get-together.  Megan actually gave us a couple good naps at home that morning and after our late pancake brunch she was ready to roll. 

Our party was in Eagan at the home of my aunt, uncle and cousins and it was another great day outside.  We tried to keep Megan in the shade which was pretty easy since they had a good swing for her to sit in.  John and I battled it out in a neck and neck bean bag toss.  I lost but put up a great fight!  John was sweating... literally!

Here are a few fun pictures from the day.






I didn't realize it when we dressed for the day, but we made for a very festive family!

Fourth of July Weekend of Fun - Part 1

What a fun 4th of July weekend we had!  I left work early on Friday so I could get home and do my weekly chores and then not feel bad about enjoying the rest of the weekend with family.  Saturday was basically a relaxing day at home with Megan after a Rainbow run in the morning - I had to double my coupons after all!

Sunday the real excitement began.  After early morning church we packed up and headed to my sister Rachel's new apartment.  She has a pool area and access to a grill there and we thought this would be the perfect opportunity for a barbeque.  Grilled pork chops, potato pouches, sweet corn and watermelon tasted great outside.  Of course we remembered plenty of sunscreen!  As you can see, Megan really enjoyed the pool - especially with Daddy!

Our fun time with Auntie Rachel ended too soon but Megan needed a nap and we had a gathering at John's parents to go to next!  While Megan napped we all had a cherry picking party.  We picked well over a gallon of cherries and I have been baking cherry crisps like you wouldn't believe and still have more to put in the freezer.  Yum!  We also had a fantastic grilled dinner here of hamburgers and hotdogs and every tasty side you could think of.

The highlight at the evening at the Lewis's was the girls playing outside in kiddie pool.  Megan and Alexa were both in and out and in and out.

The girls really liked being hosed off by Auntie Kristin at the end.  She would spray them and they would run away because of the cold water.  But they didn't stay away for long - they kept coming back for more and more sprays of water.