Picture Thursday!

We have had a greeat week here at the McGann house. Stella has been a total joy and just beyond cute at all the right times. I took her to Princeton High School yesterday to pick up a dear friend and she just ran around being insanely cute and making me insanely proud to be her mommy. Jake just slept and smiled through the whole week. Well last night when we got home both kids started fussing like mad just as I was telling Brian how great they have been and they pretty much just kept on fussing all night.....into the morning and all the live long day. Stella's nose has been running constantly all day and she just looks sick. Poor thing. So when it came time to make good on my Picture Thursday commitment I didn't have the best luck with her. TeeHee!

As for Jacob he flashed his gums with a big smile. I weighed him at home and he is 17lbs. Roughly the size Stella was between 6-7 months....only he is 3 months!!! He is so cute, I want to bite him.

Bounce House!

Stella went in her first BOUNCE HOUSE yesterday! We have taken a -toddlers run around a gym like fools- class at the YMCA for the past 8 weeks and for the last session they had a BOUNCE HOUSE! It was so fun and I got a few pics of Stella on my cell phone. I was able to go in with her for a bit and a huge thanks to Jacob for sleeping through the whole thing!

I also included this cell phone shot of Stella shwoing me her thinking face! TeeHee.

Making faces with Stella

Our favorite new thing to do with Stella is to make faces. I think we got it from a Blue's Clues episode. Anyway, we do happy face, sad face, scared face, surprised face (a la McCauley Caulkin from Home Alone) and sleepy face. I managed to get photos of all of them tonight. She hasn't really mastered these yet, as you can see below...but it's so funny to see her respond when we ask her to do it!

(If anyone is looking at this...you probably shouldn't click the photo to see the hi-res version...it appears Stella needed a tissue tonight...)

Happy Face:



Sad Face (although she doesn't look very sad...):



Scared Face (she definitely needs to work on this one...):



Surprised Face (couldn't get her to do it with both hands tonight...):



Sleepy Face (she's supposed to have her eyes closed, but you get the idea):

Tons of pictures, Picture Thursday!

Ok, so I took these on Tuesday but I loved this outfit so I had to include them!

This is Stella making 'scrunched up eyebrows' which is from an episode of Blue's Clues we saw.

I asked Stella if I could take her picture and she went and stood as far away from me as possible. Little scamp!

Here is Jacob during playgroup this am in his Bumbo!

Stella and Daddy all smiles playing before bedtime.


Some really sweet shots I got of Jacob today. He is just so mellow and sweet. I could kiss his cheeks all day.

Picture Thursday!

With Valentine's day upon us I dug out Stella's first Vday outfit to seeif Jake could wear it to play group today. I was happy to see it wasn't to girly nor too small!


I love this shot of Stella looking out the window. I feel like she is looking for spring!

In her Valentine's outfit from Grammie after her nap.

Jakey Boy!

She is actually making kissy noises over his head....that is how she gives kisses.

Stella showing off her little bucket from playgroup today.

Having a dance with Daddy before bed.

3 month pics

I took Jacob to Sears today for his 3 month pictures. I had never used them before...not so sure I would again but here they are. He is so cute but pretty much refused to smile no matter what I did. Little buggar!

Jakey Boy

These cell phone videos never really come out too good, but here's Jakey Boy being smiley tonight while Mom & Stella were out at food shopping...




Well, who knows why the audio doesn't work but he does give a few cute smiles...

Happy Monthiversery!!!

Jacob is THREE months old today! I can't believe it. The time is going too fast. I don't get to sit and stare at him as much as I did Stella and I am sorry about that. He is a neat little guy already who is much more mellow than his big sister was at this age. Thank you GOD!

Sometimes Stella gets a little jealous when we feed Jacob so I will sing her little goofy songs or try to wrangle her up in my feet so she knows I haven't forgotten her. Yesterday I was singing a little song about a horse galloping galloping galloping and Jacob laughed! I thought it was a fluke but sure enough if I sing that song he smiles so big and even lets out a chuckle. I used to sing You Aare My Sunshine to Stella and so I don't really sing it to Jacob except if she isn't around-is that awful? Anyway, I sing him a song about how everything will be alright and it is wonderful to see him smile when he hears it.

Happy 3 months Jacob! Everything will be alright, be alright, day and nighttime, everything will be alright, be alright now Jacob's here.

Jacob and Daddy watching the Knicks. I love how he is craning his neck to see the TV.

This is a photo idea that I have that I can't quite get to work but thought it was cute anyway.

I love that you can see the shot of Stella on the wall behind and you can see how similar they look.

Cell Phone Picture Thursday

This morning I dropped my camera off at Canon to be cleaned and then found myself wondering what to do about picture thursday?
Thanks to my cell phone here is this weeks installment!

Stella enjoying a cookie-which is a word she says perfectly and passionatly!


Jacob-looking a tad yellow in his swing but smiley nonetheless!

Sweet Stella

Stella helped me give Jacob a bath this morning and though water was EVERYWHERE she rubbed his tummy with the washcloth and seemed to have fun. Great progress since she really doesn't interact with him at all. After his bath I had him on the floor of his room where I had gotten him dressed and he proceeded to fall asleep. Stella was playing in the room and when she noticed he was asleep she went right up to him to get a close up look. It was so cute. I asked her if she wanted to touch him...she NEVER says yes! This time she reached out and touched his little fingers and then looked up at me and smiled. After staring at him for another minute or so she held her finger up to her mouth and told me ssshhhhh...Jakey sleeping! How stinking cute is that!!??
Another insanely cute thing she did this afternoon was while we were coloring in the Kitchen. My parents gave her a beautiful table for her birthday with chairs my brother and I used as kids. The table is a tad big for where we have it but she loves being close by while I am cooking. Right now there is a cup of crayons on it and we color off and on throughout the day. So today I sat on the floor and colored and she got up from her little chair and came over and put her head on my shoulder and leaned up against me! I just melted. How could you not. What a sweet genuine moment. I had to blog about it so I never forget it. She is such a neat little girl. VERY feisty but so loving and fun. Last week was a tough one for us but this week she was just a doll and I love her to bits and bits.

Cheek to Cheek

Jacob has been doing so great the past couple weeks. He sleeps from about 10-6 or even 7. Last night though we couldn't quite roust him enough for that 10-ish bottle so I suspected he might not make it all night without a feeding. I was right. At 4am I heard him moving around via the monitor and knew he was wiggling like a bug in his swaddle and ready to eat. I went in to his little room and though the light was very dim I could see him looking up at me and after a second I got a big gummy smile. I sat and fed him....or should I say I held the bottle while he seemed to inhale it in two fast and furious gulps. I knew after that feeding frenzy I should hold him upright for a while to increase the chances it would stay in his belly where it belonged. As I held him up with his head on my shoulder I found us cheek to cheek and I couldn't help but hold him longer than I normally would have. That sweet baby smell he has mixed with his little formula breaths and almost brought me to tears as I know these cuddle days are fleeting. Just then I felt his little cheek rise and looked down to see him smiling. Babies often smile in their sleep and Jake is no different but I can't help but think he knew what I was thinking and how much I was cherishing the softness of his little cheek and the wonder that he is.