Little Lowes

Christmas on MLK weekend

2012-01-23T12:11:00.000-08:00

Circumstances required us to wait to travel for Christmas until Martin Luther King weekend. Here are some pictures we got at Jonathan's parents' house while we were there.

Happy Nine Months Anna!

2012-01-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

Happy 9 months to our sweet little girl!

Anna's 6 Month Pictures

2011-10-11T10:53:00.000-07:00

Just got back from Sears with Anna for her pictures. Here are a few of them:

The County Fair

2011-09-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

We went to the County Fair for kids' day today and had a great time. They loved the rides and the animals, and the free candy and balloons (even if they were from the Democrats' booth). Here are some pictures of our fun times:

The kids were clucking like chickens

The Circus and Other Things

2011-09-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

On Labor Day, we took the kids to one of those tent circuses (circii?) and they had a lot of fun! I hadn't been to one since I was a kid, so I thought it was pretty fun too.

We were very close to the end of the tent with the animals

Posing by the camel

And of course, a few days ago Anna turned 5 months old! Here are some pictures of her from Sept. 6:

And lastly, I finally dug the jumper/activity center thing out of the attic and spent all this morning cleaning it up (boy, was it nasty!) and Anna tried it out this afternoon! We think she likes it.

Some Old, Some New

2011-08-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

Here is a video from a few weeks ago when I took Caleb and Esther out playing in a rainstorm. I forgot I hadn't shared it yet. They had a blast!

And here's one of Anna rolling over. She did this a week ago, but I didn't catch it on video until today. After she does it, you can hear Esther say "She did it!!!" and then she runs over and tackles me and tells Anna "You did it!" Kinda cute. :)

Anna is 4 months!

2011-08-06T14:58:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful little baby girl is 4 months old today! Here are some cute pictures of her and her siblings:

Glen Burnie Carnival

2011-07-30T18:20:00.000-07:00

We took the kids to the Glen Burnie Carnival tonight. They had a good time! Here are a few pictures:

And a few videos:

She Laughs!

2011-07-21T11:39:00.000-07:00

I've heard a little tiny giggle every now and then from Anna, but today I tried "dropping" her to see if she liked it, and she started cracking up! Of course, when I grabbed a camera, she didn't do it as wholeheartedly, but still, you get a taste of it. There's a pretty good laugh in each one of these:

Anna is 3 Months!

2011-07-06T05:51:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe it, but my little baby girl is 3 months old already!

Cuteness

2011-06-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

Here are two cute pictures I took yesterday. You should see the 20 more I took of the three of them that were no good! This is the best I could get, and that is why I regularly take them to Sears. :)

A Little Comparison

2011-06-07T09:39:00.000-07:00

I took Anna to the doctor yesterday for her 2 month check-up. She was 12 lbs 2 oz and 24.25 inches. This makes her 90th percentile for weight and above the 100th percentile for height.

And here's a little comparison with Caleb, since he and Anna seem to be my off-the-charts big children.

At 1 month:

Caleb - 11 lbs 6 oz, 23 inches

Anna - 10 lbs 13 oz, 22.75 inches

At 2 months:

Caleb - 13 lbs 15 oz, 23.75 inches

Anna - 12 lbs 2 oz, 24.25 inches

So he was a bit chunkier, but she is TALL!

And here are some pictures of the kids:

She Rolls!

2011-05-26T11:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry I'm late getting this posted. Anna rolled over last Saturday, the 21st. She was 6.5 weeks old. And it wasn't just a fluke because she has done it several times since then! The first time she did it I missed it, so I put her back onto her tummy and ran to get the camera. By the time I got back, she was already partway over, so I only caught this:

Caleb helps with yardwork

2011-05-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

Esther Sings Jesus Loves Me

2011-04-26T18:25:00.000-07:00

Just make sure to watch all the way to the end.

(In case you can't tell, at the end she says "I'm all done!")

Visitors and Easter

2011-04-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

My parents and my brother and sister-in-law were here for the weekend before Easter, then Jonathan's parents were here for Easter weekend. Here are some pictures:

Anna smiling

Grandma with the girls

I think Caleb might have taken this picture

Grandpa and Grandma with all the grandkids

My pretty girls on Easter

Playing together

Mimi and Anna

Esther hunting for eggs

Caleb checking out his loot

Welcome Anna Alice

2011-04-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

Anna Alice was born at 5:17am April 6. She was 9lb 6oz and 20.5 inches.

Kisses for the new baby sister

All ready for the trip home from the hospital

Chillin' at home

Awww

Caleb likes Anna to hold his finger

Help Mommy! A giraffe is eating my head!

Some Random Cute New Pictures

2011-03-23T12:29:00.000-07:00

I thought the kids could use one more decent post before the new baby starts taking over our lives.

Esther begged me to take a picture of her

If only he'd been holding a pitchfork instead of a walking stick

Why are dryers so much fun?

Caleb and Daddy built a cool snowman

My little rock star!

Make that two little rock stars!

I used this picture to make a silhouette for a MOPS craft and it turned out so cute!

Caleb's Birthday

2011-02-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from Caleb's 4th birthday. He was so excited to have a Star Wars party! He had grandparents and friends from church and day care come to celebrate.

Tattoos and Snow

2011-01-28T07:12:00.000-08:00

Caleb's Mickey Mouse tattoo

Esther's Minnie tattoo and thug look

Esther's attempt to "help" shovel the snow

mmm...real snow cones

How delicious!

The tree branches that fell on our back porch and pool fence

Snow!

2011-01-13T05:54:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the kids had fun playing out in the snow. Esther helped me make a little snowman for Daddy and Caleb and I threw snowballs at each other. Mostly Caleb just ate the snow. And mostly Esther just followed Caleb around making trails in the snow.

Esther's snowman for Daddy

Playing in the recycling bin was great fun for some reason

Medical Lesson of the Day

2011-01-08T06:38:00.000-08:00

This morning Caleb asked me how babies get out of mommies' tummies. I did my best to explain both normal and c-section methods to him, and then Jonathan proceeded to tell him about other types of surgeries and showed him his scars from when he had his appendix out. He explained how the doctors used special tools to get inside and remove the appendix. Esther must have been listening because she went to their Handy Manny tool box and came back with a hammer and pliers and attempted to work on Daddy's tummy! Even Caleb laughed hysterically at that!

Piano Duet

2011-01-06T09:36:00.000-08:00

The kids did this today and I caught it on video. It cracked me up!

Christmas Trip

2011-01-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

Here are some fun pictures from our Christmas trip to Atlanta.

Making cookies at Grandma's house

Second cousins Caleb, Ethan, Ryker, Esther, Kaylee, and Brennan

With the great-grandparents Lowe

First tea party at Grandma's house

Caught! Caleb at a tea party too!!!

On the way home playing with her new Jessie and Bullseye dolls

Caleb likes his new toddler digital camera

We went in together with my parents to get the kids this hit gift. I believe this is going to be a lifesaver during the long winter!

Something New

2010-11-19T07:01:00.000-08:00

You might notice a new ticker up above. Yep, number 3 is on the way! The due date is April 4. And once again, we did not find out the gender, so all we know is there is a healthly-looking little baby in there. I'll try to update this blog more when I can!

Overdue Updates

2010-04-01T19:08:00.000-07:00

You can tell by the dates of post what effect two kids has on our blog posting schedule. I'm updating now because my family is out of town for a few days. Here are some recent pictures.

We took Caleb to the National Aquarium in Baltimore a few days after his 3rd birthday, since we didn't have a party for him. We all had a great time. He especially loved the dolphin show.

Esther's hair is getting quite long! So long, in fact, we picked up some small hair bands a few days ago. But a nice big hair spike is about all it's good for. It's still pretty cute!

Caleb has taken up a new hobby: photography. He's actually pretty good at it!

I tried to get some vacuuming done last Saturday while Esther was asleep and Caleb was playing. Then Caleb wanted to help. Then Esther woke up. Then they started playing and running amok. Of course, I was getting close to done so I couldn't stop! When I came out of the bedroom, I found this. Esther found a basket in her room full of confetti. At least the floor was clean under it all!

Esther's long hair makes for a nice mohawk.

Then of course Caleb wanted one, too!

August through November 2009

2010-01-24T11:25:00.003-08:00

Here are some new pictures and video. Finally!!!

From August:

Caleb at the Glen Burnie CarnivalMessy Esther

From September:

From October:

From November:

Caleb dressed up for the rehearsal to be ring bearer

in our friends' wedding

Esther and the birthday cake

Poor Esther, getting elbowed in the face at her own party

Happy Birthday Esther!

Esther's Baptism and Cute New Things

2009-08-03T18:21:00.000-07:00

We had Esther baptized on July 19th. Our parents and Eric and Jennifer and Kathryn were all able to come celebrate with us.

Esther started taking her first crawling steps the day we had her baptized. She has progressed quickly since then.

Here are some cute new outfits courtesy of the grandmothers:

Over the past weekend, Caleb wanted to watch "The Incredibles" because he has read the book so many times and Jonathan told him that we had it to watch on TV...anyway, so he was watching it and then I went to check on him and this is what I found:

Here is a video of some funny sibling interaction:

And the best for last. What happens when Daddy plays with the kids too long:

Should I Just Title this June?

2009-06-23T18:59:00.000-07:00

Here is Esther playing with some toys. I think this dress is really cute on her. Thanks, Aunt Jenn for sending it.

Caleb was taking a nap on the couch and we were trying to wake him up, unsuccessfully, of course. So we put Esther up to the task...

Esther likes lounging in the bean bag chair. She's also enjoying her Minnie Mouse doll that she got for Christmas.

Caleb went to spend a whole week with Grandpa and Grandma Waugh at their house. Here he is waiting for the plane with Grandpa.

Here he is toting his little suitcase through the Atlanta Airport.

They took Caleb to Stone Mountain and he loved riding the skylift way up high.

Caleb went for a ride on the riverboat. The captain let him drive the boat!

Grandpa and Grandma delivered Caleb home just in time for Father's Day. Here are the Dads opening their presents. The little ones wanted to help.

Esther's first time in the swimming pool!

We found out that Esther really gets a kick out of Blackjack. Here they are playing together:

Caleb has gotten really brave with the pool this year:

Wow I haven't posted in a long time

2009-05-30T18:53:00.001-07:00

First things first, we started Esther on solid foods. She did okay with the rice cereal, but she has been chowing down on the newer stuff. So far, she LOVES squash, bananas, and green beans.
Here is her first time with the rice cereal. Listen to Caleb in the background saying "oatmeal" over and over. We told him that was what the rice cereal was like. Watch the video to the end and then look at the picture below it.

Caleb really wanted to taste some of Esther's "oatmeal."

Cute but messy.

Jonathan's grandmother made this dress.
It's gigantic on her right now, but hilariously cute.

Just chillin'

Blackjack decided to join them

Esther petting Blackjack.

Caleb trying out the new glider my parents got us
for our anniversary. Yes, he has chocolate on his face.
We were sharing a fudgesicle just prior to this.

Also, I took Esther to her 6 month appointment and she is still on the 75th percentile curve for height, but had dropped to 50th for weight. (Caleb did the same thing--tall and skinny.) She is 26.5 inches and 16 lbs. I think now that she is eating solid foods twice a day, she is really chunking up quickly though. Anyway, she got her 6 immunizations and she's fine and doing well. I took her to Sears for pictures too. They turned out really cute. I'll try to get around to posting a few one day soon. If I have time...

Sitting and Playing

2009-05-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

Esther is starting to sit up a little bit. She can do really well if you support her just a little. But she can sit all alone for about 5-10 seconds. I can't believe how quickly she's growing!!
I think this is a really cute picture of Caleb. He's playing with the base of his Lightning McQueen lego car.

And here's a cute video of Caleb playing outside with Daddy. I was inside taking it through the window, so there's no sound. You can see when he notices that I'm filming him, and his reaction is funny.

Recent pictures and Easter

2009-04-12T14:15:00.001-07:00

This picture of Esther is really cute:

And here's a little video of Esther giggling. Sorry we didn't get her face for most of it. Jonathan was trying to take the video and make her laugh at the same time, and we didn't realize you couldn't see her face. But you can hear her, and that's just about as good. :)

I left Caleb on the potty the other day and I didn't hear him calling for me to come help him. When I came back, he was trying to complete the job himself:

And finally, here is our attempt at some cute Easter pictures. Caleb wasn't being very cooperative of the group photos, as you can see.

Caleb Helping with the Laundry

2009-03-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

Here is how "helpful" Caleb can be around the house:

A New Addition to our Family

2009-03-20T19:30:00.000-07:00

We have a new member of our family! Meet Blackjack. He's a 4-year-old Miniature Pinscher/Beagle mix that we adopted from a local animal shelter. Caleb loves him! And so do we!

Today's Dose of Entertainment

2009-03-12T06:07:00.000-07:00

First, a funny story. We were webcamming with Jonathan's parents the other evening, and Caleb was eating strawberries. Esther made a funny noise, and Jonathan's mom said "Did you just raspberry?" And Caleb responded very emphatically, "No, STRAWBERRIES!"

Now here are some cute and funny pictures and videos.

Caleb loves playing with his shotgun, and he pulled his orange hat out the other day to play with. Well, Daddy and Caleb were hanging out with Esther and when I came around the corner, I saw this:

Here are some more cute pictures of Esther:

Her first time enjoying the "jumper-saucer"

Aww

This is my new favorite picture of her

Here are some of Caleb and Esther together:

Bathtime!

Sibling love

I don't really have an explanation for the following video. I can only say I'm pretty sure we would never have done this to Caleb:

A few nights ago, Esther rolled over! Jonathan saw it first, and then she did it again for me, and then she did it again for the camera!

Yesterday was the first warm day we've had in a long time, so while Esther was napping, Caleb and I played outside for about 2 hours. We blew bubbles, played with sidewalk chalk, read books, and just had fun. I "taught" Caleb to play hopscotch. Here is his version:

Snow!!

2009-03-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

I just sat down to post this, and I'm looking out the window to see our neighbor kids (high schoolers) having their dog pull them on a sled down the street. It was quite funny. But anyway, I came to post some pictures of Caleb playing in the snow just a little while ago. We didn't stay out very long because it was really cold out there...25 degrees, but windy and feels like 12. Brrr!

Not quite sure he wants to venture out...

Really not liking this...

Finally enjoying himself

We made a snowman!

Caleb insisted that the snowman needed hands and a hat.

Esther's Room and Other Things

2009-02-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

I guess I forgot to mention that Esther's room is now complete. The walls are an ocean blue and the room is full of Noah's Ark animals. I think it looks really cute. Maybe I'll get around to taking some pictures of it one of these days.

Caleb is enjoying himself in his new "big boy bed" in his new room. He's also doing really well with the potty! Yay for that! He is even to the point now where most of the time he's telling us when he needs to go instead of us just taking him every couple of hours. It's so amazing to me how quickly he learned! He's also recently started wanting to watch Sesame Street every day. He knows what 9:30 looks like on the clock and knows that's when it comes on. Now I catch him singing the alphabet and counting all the time. He skips some letters, but the ones he says are all in the correct order. It's really cute. I'll have to try to video it. Of course, he never performs when I get the camera out.

I realized the other day that I only have 3 weeks left until I go back to work, which is very sad. I am excited to get back to work, but I'm sad that I will miss out on so much with Caleb and Esther.

Well, here are some cute new pictures:

And just as proof that Caleb did learn to say his new age:

Caleb videos

2009-02-21T13:01:00.000-08:00

Caleb is starting to learn how to sing songs. This is one of him singing "Jesus Loves Me." Sorry for the poor quality.

Earlier today, Caleb went off to play in his room. He was really quiet for a long time, then suddenly we heard him squealing with delight. We went in and this is what we found:

Some non-professional and some professional photos

2009-02-21T12:19:00.000-08:00

Here is a cute picture of Esther wearing a shirt that my grandparents gave me when I was little:

Here's a cute one of Caleb giving Esther a ride on his bike:

And here's one of Esther zonked out on Daddy:

I took the kids to Sears and here are a few samples from that:

Caleb's Second Birthday

2009-02-09T10:06:00.000-08:00

We took the kids to Atlanta and had a party at Jonathan's grandparents' house for Caleb (also for people to meet Esther). It was a lot of fun, and he loved it!

My mom made a cake for Caleb
and he enjoyed licking the batter

He really liked his "Cars" cakeBalloons!
Caleb liked the gigantic 2 balloon

yummy...cake
Playing with Darth Tater and the
Spudtrooper with his second cousin Ethan

Birthday Boy!

Esther had a little too much party

Here's Caleb blowing out his candles at the party:

Esther is 2 months!

2009-01-19T09:23:00.000-08:00

Hard to believe Esther is 2 months old already. At her doctor's appointment, she was 12 lbs 2 oz and 23.5 inches. That puts her still around the 80th-90th percentile for both, and her head size is still growing at the same rate it was... right around the 10th percentile. So she's still perfect, but we already knew that.

I forgot to mention that she started sleeping all the way through the night when we were at Eric and Jennifer's house the weekend of Jan 10th. When we got back home, she had a few nights of waking up again, but now she's back to sleeping through. She goes to bed around 10:30 and gets up around 7:00. Hopefully she'll keep it up!

Caleb got bed rails for the twin bed for Christmas, and we have him all pumped up that for his birthday he gets to move to the new bed in the other room. So now his favorite thing to do is go climb up on the bed and say "My bed!" We have to remind him that he still has to wait for his birthday.

Caleb also has really gotten interested in the Wii. He loves boxing. He'll come up to us and say "wii-mote, nunchuck, boxing" and when we let him play, he actually wins!

Christmas and New Year's

2009-01-16T17:04:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays we traveled to the Midwest to see my grandparents and then because of bad weather and full flights, we ended up being routed through Atlanta on the way home instead of Cincinnati. Flights were rough from there too, so Jonathan ended up going home and I stayed with the kids in Atlanta then we met up again a week later at Eric and Jennifer's house in North Carolina. Then we all drove home together. Poor Caleb got sick on the trip and we had to get him some antibiotics, and he still isn't quite himself but we're trying to get him back to a normal routine and hopefully that will work wonders for him. He's a trooper though. So is Esther...she did very well with all the travel. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Esther with her Great Grandpa and Grandma Weeldreyer

Caleb sledding with Daddy and Great Grandpa Waugh

Caleb kissed Toby right on the nose when we were visiting his Great Grandpa and Grandma Lowe

Here is Esther with her Great Grandpa and Grandma Lowe

Caleb is attempting to play with his cousin Kathryn... looks like she doesn't want his company too badly

On the other hand, Kathryn really seems to like Esther... they're already plotting how to make Caleb take the blame for everything

Here's Grandma Waugh with the girls

Cousins!

Caleb is Cute

2008-12-19T11:17:00.000-08:00

Here is a cute video of something new I taught Caleb the other day:

Esther's 1 Month Doctor Visit

2008-12-18T18:13:00.000-08:00

Esther had her one-month checkup this week. She is now up to 10 lbs 2 oz and 22.25 inches. That places her at 90th percentile for height and 75th for weight. She was very alert and good for the nurse and the doctor, and of course they thought she was beautiful. Here is some proof:

I finally caught a smile on camera!

Here's another one!

Here is our cute little star. In case you didn't know, Esther means "star."

Too Many Cute Pictures

2008-12-15T10:40:00.000-08:00

Isn't she just adorable?

This was going to be such a cute picture because
I had Caleb smiling and to keep him smiling, I said
"Say 'Hi Mommy'" thinking I could snap the picture
but he actually said it and waved before I could
catch the cute smile. But it's a cute picture anyway.

We were in Pennsylvania for Jonathan's company
Christmas party and here's Esther getting a bath
in the sink in our hotel room.

Here we are all dressed up and ready for the party.
I still look chubby even though I'm back down to
pre-pregnancy weight. Hopefully the
chubbiness will go away soon.

Here's Esther getting a bath again. I don't know
what it is that's so cute about her at bathtime!

Daddy was teaching Caleb a bad thing with this,
but it was pretty funny anyway.

And finally, this is my Christmas cactus that I've
had for like 6 years. It NEVER bloomed until
Feb 2007 right around when Caleb was born.
Then it got one blossom on it and never bloomed
again until the week when Esther was born
when it got all kinds of buds all over it. Here's what
it looks like now. I now refer to it as my
"Magic Fertility Plant"
because it knows when babies are born.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-08T10:31:00.001-08:00

We had a big houseful for Thanksgiving. Here are some pictures:

Daddy's new clan.

Grandpa playing with Esther.

Elisha's side of the family.

Jonathan's side of the family.

The New Blog

2008-11-24T09:52:00.000-08:00

I have decided to consolidate Caleb's and Esther's blogs to make things easier for everyone, especially me. :) So here is the new blog. Let's start off with some cute new pictures of the children.

Here is Esther all dressed and ready to go home from the hospital.

Here is Mommy ready to go home with Esther.

And of course Daddy is ready to get out of there as well.

Caleb insisted on having Esther on his back and cracked up like it was the absolute most hilarious thing in the whole world that she was sleeping on him like that.

Here is a cute little picture of Esther sleeping.

And now for a video: