Four Days of Christmas

Christmas was an extravaganza this year, celebrated for four days straight, starting on Christmas Eve with the Stechers. Stacy and Michael hosted everyone at their place, and the kids opened up most of their presents that night. As you can see, Bridget was laughing hysterically at her new Madeline book (and showing off her Fighting Irish spirit!).


Megan practically flitted around the room in her new Cinderella nightgown (and headband!). Did I mention Megan sort of has a thing for Disney Princesses? In my former kidless life, I thought one could possibly avoid this road when raising girls. Not so. It may be a bad sign when your 17-month old can conduct "Once Upon a Dream" from her car seat.

Christmas morning was quite the event, too! Megan really "got it" this year, and was so excited to wake up and see what Santa Claus brought for her. Apparently, not as much as she expected! We actually have video footage of her arriving on the scene. Until I learn how to upload video from our camcorder, this play-by-play will have to do:

Matt: (as Megan rounds the corner into the living room) "Megan, did Santa Claus come last night?"

Megan: (scanning the room with a dejected look) "No, Santa didn't come."

Then she turned and walked out! What?? It must have been a smaller pile than she was expecting - whoops! Maybe we shouldn't have built it up so much. Actually, we got her quite a bit, but we didn't even attempt anything big since they were both spoiled by their grandparents later.
Matt also opened quite the stocking stuffer. At my last ultrasound appointment, I had the doctor write down the sexes of the babies and give it me in a sealed envelope. I wrapped it up in a little box, and put it in Matt's stocking. It was a really great surprise to find out that we're having ..... two more girls! (I know, old news for most of you who we blabbed to right away, but still worth documenting, right?) Needless to say, we're still getting used to the idea of 4 little girls. I don't even want to start thinking about 4 big girls, 4 weddings, etc. Here's a picture from Christmas day of the four of us, enjoying our small family while it lasts.

On the day after Christmas, we enjoyed a leisurely day and beautiful dinner at Sara and Tim's with Mop, Pop, and Uncle Kyle. It worked out really well - Mop and Pop had their own time with the kids, without the rush of Christmas day. Megan had the best seat in the house, briefly:

But, Bridget also got center stage for while. Here's one of her cuter moments.

She also has a new freaky party trick was only caught with Sara and Tim's camcorder, and it's probably better that it never makes an appearance here. She now thinks it's hilarious to roll her eyes into the back of her head, repeatedly, and for an audience. (She's done this since she was a couple of months old, but has recently gotten back into it!) Usually, she'll do it if we ask her, "What can you do with your eyes?" Strange!
And, on the 4th day of Christmas, for those of you still reading, we went to my uncle Joe and Aunt Libby's house for a Field family Christmas - a treat that we normally miss since it's usually on Christmas day. With 22 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren (and 6 more currently on the way) this is a big event, with the highlight being Uncle Joe moonlighting as Santa. FYI - He's wearing a Hawaiian shirt over his Santa outfit because he flew in from vacation to come to our party - duh! Anyway, Joey and Clara each took their turn on Santa's lap,
while Megan and Bridget contemplated from afar, but decided to wait until next year.

Speaking of next year, Megan is already thinking about what she'll ask for. Hmmm....

Merry Christmas and Happy 2009!

In Stecher Christmas tradition, we all gathered at the Olympic Club downtown for lunch, with the hope of walking around Union Square afterwards. The walk ended up being very brief and rainy, but we all had a great time inside during lunch. Before everyone arrived, Megan and Bridget both checked themselves out in the mirror - Bridget wanted to make sure her hair was sticking up just so. Check!

We had a private room, so the kids had a little room to run around and look out the windows.

For the sake of comparison, and cute pictures, here's Megan at her first Christmas lunch...

... and now. Time flies! But, she's still Daddy's girl!

Our smallest diners tried to order Reimer's fizzes, but they had to settle for water - maybe next time, Charlie and Bridget!

Megan proved she can (sort of) hold her own sitting next to cousin Jack. They spent most of lunch eating their bread and butter, zooming around under the table, playing with their little trinkets from Grandma, and of course, discussing the status of the greens on the Lakeside course.

Just for the record, I had to include this picture. Bridget does allow other people to hold her - occasionally. Nate won her over!We managed to get a couple shots with all of the kids (except Jack Sullivan and Abby - we missed you! If only I knew how to photoshop them in - someday!) Charlie meandered in for the second picture here.

Merry Christmas everyone!!

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!

Christmas has completely snuck up on us - what a whirlwind! Luckily, we got our tree right after Thanksgiving, so we've been able to enjoy it all month. The girls love it, and Megan is in charge of turning the Christmas lights on every day. She's very intrigued by Santa, so this year, Christmas morning should be really fun. Even Bridget can recognize and point to Santa, a snowman, angels, and the Christmas tree - she's a smartie!

The process of getting the tree and setting it up took about a week, of course. With kids, everything moves much slower than it used to! We set up the tree, strung the lights, hung the ornaments, and decorated the rest of the house all on different nights. Here's a little look at the progression, starting at the Christmas tree lot in Burlingame:

In order to fully educate our daughters on everything Christmas, we are currently in the possession of at least 20 Christmasy library books - I'm not joking - we have a good chunk of the holiday selection. (Sorry Meredith, since you're the only other person I know that might care about the Westlake Library children's book inventory!) And, once fully acquainted with Old St. Nick, we headed to SI to meet him in the flesh. This is a cute annual tradiiton for kids/grandkids of faculty members, and it was a lot of fun! Of course, as grandchildren of faculty, Joey and Clara were there too!

This was the best we could do for a Cecchin/Stecher family photo:

Megan was very excited to meet the man who's supposedly bringing her a Snow White toy!

But, when it came time to sit on his lap, she wasn't so sure. Incidentally, how cute is her little vest?

Bridget was not quite as excited to see Santa walk in,

and this picture speaks for itself! We'll try again next year!

Here's Bridget in a calmer moment:

Trouble, Trouble, Trouble

Bridget. That starts with "B," that rhymes with "T" and that stands for Trouble!!

Music Man, anyone??

Okay, well, we definitely have a little troublemaker on our hands here. Bridget has developed a personality bigger than her 17 months. She is in for a huge shock when two more babies make their way here in a few months, as she is a definite Mommy's (and Daddy's) girl, who loves to cuddle, hates to eat, and loves to sleep in our bed - every night. Our room might not be such an attractive option with two newborns wreaking havoc - maybe things will just correct themselves in that department soon enough. She's also very dramatic, emotional and high-maintenance! I actually took her with me to my most recent round of doctor's appointments rather than leave Sara with a baby that would probably scream for two hours, which is what happened last month.
As it was, she cried every time a doctor or nurse attempted to even touch me. And, right after they would leave the room, her crying would stop instantly, and she would go back to eating her Goldfish and reading her pop-up book in her stroller. Lovely. This was especially convenient during a 30-minute ultrasound.

As for our eating issues, this babyish girl sure likes to prove that she can do everything her big sister does. We recently figured out that Bridget is over her high chair, after every meal involved hysterical crying and a stubborn refusal to eat anything on her plate. She now sits on a booster seat with her own place setting. She's a new girl!

But, as you can see above, she's not quite so smiley on demand anymore. Her favorite expression when the camera comes out is this one, a darling one when attempting to get a good Christmas card shot!

Lest you think she's a troublemaker all of the time, she is a very loveable little girl. Even though she only sleeps for an hour on her own at naptime, she will go back to sleep if I lay down with her on our bed. She is the reason I'm able (rather, forced to) take a little nap every day and get the rest I wouldn't take on my own. And, she's already a good little mommy to her dolls - she loves to read to them and sing them songs. She'll be a very doting big sister! I'll leave you with some recent cute moments.

And, there's no description for this picture. It's just plain strange.

bibbidy-BOBbidy-boo

Megan finally got a real (not just a bangs trim) haircut last week, and it went great! Since cousin Joey has his hair cut just about once a week, it wasn't hard to coordinate a day for the kids to go together! We went to Snippety Crickets on Sacramento Street, where Megan was the perfect customer. She was excited (an understatement!) to be a pretty princess, and for Joey to be a pretty prince :)

We should have had her hair cut months ago, as evidenced by the before picture below. While Megan demonstrates one of the earliest pleasures in life in licking the mixer thing after making cookies, I can't help but notice she looks a little shaggy.

Magically, she's a pretty princess now - poof!

Halfway There!

19 weeks down, hopefully at least 19 to go :) Something tells me the second half of this pregnancy won't be as easy or as quick as the first half! We had our "big" ultrasound and did not find out the sex of the babies - we're hoping we can keep it a surprise, although it was very tempting. And, with an ultrasound every 4 weeks this time around, our willpower will be tested!


So, although we don't have any gender news, we know the babies are absolutely perfect and are growing right on track. Baby A weighs 9 ounces and Baby B weighs 11 ounces. When I picked up the girls at Sara's house after the appointment, she was quick to tell me that Baby B reminds her of someone else. When Sara and I were in utero, we were nicknamed Sooner (Baby A - Sara) and Boomer (Baby B - me), and I weighed in almost a pound heavier than Sara at birth. Not sure about the specifics here, but apparently Sooner has not forgotten!


In other related news, apparently I'm carrying around a little more baby weight than I thought. While I was lying flat on my back during the ultrasound, the weight of the babies pushed down so much on the blood vessel returning blood to my brain that I started to get really hot and nauseous, and actually blacked out for a little bit before I realized what was going on. After a lot of water and changing position, we got back to getting some amazing pictures. Enjoy!

Halloween 2008

This year, Halloween turned into a weeklong affair, and required our little Snow White to don her dress a few times before the main event. This didn't require much convincing, except for the foreign addition of a sweater - "Snow White does not wear a sweater!" When she lives in Daly City, and wants to brave Storytime at the library on a rainy day, she does need that sweater, unfortunately. Luckily, Bridget was more game, as evidenced by her willingness to pair her Little Mermaid dress with a knitted hat and puffy jacket.





So, off we went to the library, where Megan was as studious as ever. She didn't even seem to mind that there was another Snow White in the crowd, albeit with an inferior dress. Megan's is straight from FantasyLand at Disneyland - thank you Mop and Hop! Bridget, in case you're wondering, was not inhibited by the one-leggedness of her mermaid dress. She managed to get around the library with ease, leaving a trail of books behind her for me to put back in all of the wrong places.

The next day, we braved the cold again at SI to watch Matt's game against Serra. Before we left, Bridget fretted about dressing up a puppy - how inconsistent this would look in pictures - was she Ariel or a puppy??! And, it was Megan's costume from last year! Such are the problems in the life of a second child!

The game did not end well, but the girls got special access to the field after the game with Daddy.

And, they got their first Halloween candy from Grandma and Grandpa in the stands.

After the game, we got straight to the business of trick-or-treating! Sara and Tim came over with Buzz Lightyear (Joey) and a cute little chicken named Clara.

We did a quick trial run with the kids trick-or-treating at our door.

And, of course, Bridget wanted in on the action (she's back to being Ariel by night here). Beating her hands on her chest is her own sign language for, "Me too!!!"


It proved successful, except for the fact that we forgot to tell them to stay on the porch and politley take their candy. Megan waltzed right in the door of every house we went to, just like she she had done at our house. She really wanted to see where this candy was coming from!

Bridget wasn't as into the candy after all. She had fun all week with all of the Halloween paraphenalia around the house. Here she is showing that she can pull off the pumpkin look.